Portland Raccoons (ABL) - Page 218

Westheim · 12-13-2023, 03:56 PM

Raccoons (8-10) @ Thunder (10-8) – April 23-25, 2058

The Raccoons were two games under .500 with a +5 run differential, while the Thunder were two games over .500 with a +9 run differential. They were fourth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed, with the bullpen an especially sore spot after the first few weeks of the season. Oklahoma City had won the season series last year, 6-3, against the Coons. For now, they were without outfielder Danny Guzman, who was out with a herniated disc.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (0-1, 8.27 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (0-2, 6.19 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-1, 3.93 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (2-2, 2.73 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (0-1, 4.13 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (2-1, 4.12 ERA)

The Thunder brought up three right-handers here, but mind the off day on Monday.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – P DeRose
OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – CF Bagoim – 2B Whitlow – LF Weant – C T. Alvarez – RF J. Mendoza – P J. Juarez

The Raccoons had walks to Labonte and Caswell in the first, and a Brassfield single to center, but Labonte was thrown out at the plate trying to score and the inning ended – because scoring first was hard. Very hard. Brassfield also had the team’s second base hit, a fourth-inning single that also moved Marcos Chavez and his 1-out walk to second base. Juarez also lost Brobeck in a full count, but with the bases loaded rung up Jesus Martinez. Pucks then – and a 2-out, 2-run single to right, and actually a 2-0 lead for the Raccoons! DeRose struck out, but the more amazing thing was that he had yet to give up a run while scattering three hits in as many innings, including a leadoff double for Eric Whitlow in the bottom 2nd. Like all things, DeRose being semi-passable was transient. Raimundo Bagoim started with a single to center, stole second, but there were already two outs. But then DeRose walked Tony Alvarez, Jose Mendoza hit an RBI single to left, and Juarez tied himself up with DeRose with another RBI single to center. Omar Lira made it three in a row with another RBI single and gave the Thunder a 3-2 lead. Ed Soberanes popped out to end the too busy inning. It didn’t get any better for DeRose after that, giving up a single to Whitlow and a homer to Tim Weant in the fifth for a 5-2 deficit.

And that was about it for the game… almost. Nobody in the Raccoons’ lineup found another base hit until the ninth inning, when almost all was said and done. Patrick Jones was pitching for the Thunder. He walked Pucks, and he walked Tyrese Sheilds. Labonte popped out, bringing up Lonzo with two outs, and Lonzo snapped a single to center. Pucks scored, 5-3, and the tying runs were on base for Noah Caswell, who struck out… 5-3 Thunder. Brassfield 2-4; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1;

How many abominable starts does Justin DeRose have left?

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – P Sensabaugh
OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – CF Bagoim – 2B Whitlow – LF Weant – C T. Alvarez – RF J. Mendoza – P Aa. Harris

Sensabaugh struck out four the first time through the Thunder order, but also incurred a 1-0 deficit for the triple that Tim Weant hit in the bottom 2nd, after which Tony Alvarez’ sac fly to center got the runner home. Another run for Oklahoma in the third inning, but also an injury – Ed Soberanes walked and Bagoim singled, and they were on the corners with two outs for Whitlow, who doubled between Martinez and Caswell in right-center. One run scored, the other was thrown out at home plate by Martinez, and Whitlow strained some thing or other and left the game in favor of Alfonso Jimenez, a 25-year-old rookie on the Thunder bench.

Sensabaugh struck out seven batters in six innings, but took 109 pitches to make it that far thanks to a score of long counts in the middle innings, lots of 3-1 and 3-2. On the scoreboard it was still 2-0 home team, because the Raccoons were subsisting on a Caswell single and absolutely nothing else through six innings, whiffing eight times (Harris would eventually strike out a tenner’s worth of Coons). Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the seventh, but was immediately doubled up by Caswell, while the Thunder added a third run on Ricky Herrera in the bottom 7th when the left-hander allowed a 2-out single to Omar Lira, and then another one, and another one… and that was it for the game. 3-0 Thunder.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – RF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – 3B Sheilds – P B. Herrera
OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – CF Bagoim – 2B Whitlow – LF Weant – C T. Alvarez – RF J. Mendoza – P Brink

Lonzo singled in the first, stole second base, and on Caswell’s single to right – was thrown out at the plate by Mendoza. Instead, Whitlow on a leg and a half gave the Thunder the lead with a solo home run in the second inning. Bobby Herrera was again serviceable, but far from $6M-great, and needed over 50 pitches through three innings, also doing annoying things like allowing Tan Brink to hit a sharp leadoff single in the bottom 3rd.

The score remained 1-0 through four innings, but Pucks hit a single to begin the top 5th before the Rule 5ers in the lineup did – nothing. Herrera singled with two outs, moving Pucks to second base to begin with, and a wild pitch by Brink advanced both runners further. Paul Labonte hit a 2-1 up the middle, where a two-legged second baseman would have had a play, but Whitlow didn’t, and the infield single tied the game. Lonzo lobbed a duck snort over Omar Lira for a go-ahead RBI single, Brink walked Caswell, but Brassfield grounded out to leave those bags full. Bobby Herrera took 84 pitches through five innings in a 2-1 game, decidedly too many. He had two more full counts to Bagoim and Whitlow in the sixth, walking the latter, and since his spot led off the seventh, that was his game. Steve Royer batted for him, singled, was forced out by Labonte, who stole second, and Noah Caswell’s 2-out double actually got an insurance run home for the Critters. Even more astonishing was perhaps the fact that more or less for the first time the Raccoons got to actually “mix and match” Sencion and Tanizaki for the last two innings; Bravo set them up well with a scoreless seventh, and while both Sencion in the eighth and Tanizaki in the ninth gave up a single, Sencion got a double play grounder from David Worthington, who otherwise did zilch in the series, and Tony Alvarez flew out rather calmly to Caswell to end the game. 3-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB; Royer (PH) 1-2; B. Herrera 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-1) and 1-2;

Pray to every god you cherish that this isn’t the best Bobby Herrera has to show, because there’s another ******* $35M on that contract.

Raccoons (9-12) @ Canadiens (9-12) – April 26-28, 2058

Both these teams brought up the rear of the CL North at this point in the season, and to win the series was to break that unholy tie. Elk City ranked fifth in runs made and second-worst in runs suffered, but the Raccoons had just played three games against a team with ghastly pitching and had scored all of six runs. The Elks probably didn’t have to worry about their 2-0 season series lead.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (2-1, 2.11 ERA) vs. John Morris (1-0, 6.60 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (0-2, 4.79 ERA) vs. TBD
Justin DeRose (0-2, 8.06 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (0-5, 9.82 ERA)

Saturday would be Luis Arroyo (0-2, 6.86 ERA) taking a turn, but he was suspended for the weekend, and we didn’t know whether the Elks wanted to draw a spot starter or send the rest of the crew on short rest. They had no off day to utilize here to make things easier. Morris was the only left-hander we saw coming.

I wasn’t in Elk City anyway, but I was busy being at the ballpark in Portland while the game was going on and could only take casual quick glances at the TV while holding a critical meeting with an expert to improve the weather situation during the baseball season. Miraculous Moe was Portland’s most famous wizard, and if he didn’t have a solution, nobody would!!

Game 1
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 2B Bribiesca – P Stewart
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 1B Saunders – C Weese – CF D. Moreno – 3B Lundberg – RF Magnussen – 2B R. Price – SS Kuchta – P J. Morris

Danny Garcia walked, Manny Saunders walked, Kevin Weese singled – three on, nobody out in the bottom 1st, and just as Maud brought in the coffee. At my sign, she distracted Moe, and I was able to pour some Capt’n Coma into my coffee. Damian Moreno and Tyler Lundberg then struck out, and Adam Magnussen was retired on a grounder up the middle on a wonderful play by Bribiesca, and the Elks got no runs from their runners. Not that Stewart was getting actually good now; he just walked Rick Price and Rich Kuchta to begin the bottom 2nd, but Morris struck out bunting and the Elks didn’t get a run from that situation, either.

I missed the next two innings while going to the top of the ballpark with Moe, to check out the best spots for perpetually burning pyres to be installed, but when we came back with Jesus Martinez leading off the fifth inning, the game was still scoreless. The Coons actually took the lead right there while Moe looked into his crystal ball and stroked his flowing white beard, while I kept glancing at the TV, where Martinez, Stewart, and Royer hit three singles to put an actual run together. Lonzo walked, but then Brass grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to kill the entire effort… The Elks, too, hit into a double play in that inning, but NWSN informed me that this was the third one they hit into in three straight innings, so Stewart was sure busy on the hill.

“Flowers!”, Moe exclaimed, and we went down to the field where the grounds crew was doing basic maintenance and was looking on with curiosity as he drew a satchel from his purple tunic and sprinkled seeds around the infield, then pointed at a particular spot and demanded an oak tree be planted there. – But Moe, that’s second base. – Fine, fine, second base must go. (reassures head groundskeeper with a paw motion behind Moe’s back)

We came back to the office for the ninth inning, and still a 1-0 score, with Stewart and Ornelas shutting out the damn Elks. Bernardino Risso was out for the 6-7-8 batters, who were retired in order. Eloy Sencion was then brought in for the bottom 9th, with Tristan Waker pinch-hitting for Tyler Lundberg. Sencion nailed him on the first pitch, then struck out Magnussen. Rick Price, to my great dismay, rocked a double to left, but Waker couldn’t possibly score on that one and had to hold at third base, but those were the tying and winning runs in scoring position. Full count to Kuchta – and a K for the second out. Switch-hitter Shane Larsen then batted in the #9 hole. He ran a 3-1 count against Sencion, then swung big – and popped it up behind the plate! Chavez made the catch and I gave Moe a big old hug on the way out! 1-0 Blighters. Royer 2-4, RBI; Stewart 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (3-1) and 2-3;

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Imai – P Carreno
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – RF Magnussen – C Waker – CF D. Moreno – 2B R. Price – 3B Lundberg – 1B V. Cruz – P A. Jesus

Anton Jesus went on short rest, but you couldn’t tell at a glance. The Raccoons were harmless to begin the game, and Carreno quickly corked up a big inning, which was his specialty. Waker and Moreno hit singles to begin the bottom 2nd, and eventually Victor Cruz romped a huge 2-out homer to give the damn Elks a 3-0 lead. Jesus Martinez answered in the fifth inning with a 2-run homer, finding Pucks on base after an infield single, to at least narrow the score, but Lonzo’s leadoff single in the sixth was met with a great big nothing response. Funnily enough, Carreno ONLY allowed those three hits from the second inning through five frames, and offered no walks while striking out three batters. Unfunnily enough, his bottom 6th then consisted of a Kuchta single, Magnussen walking, a Waker single, a Moreno’s sac fly to extend the damn Elks’ lead to 4-2, and Rick Price gave Noah Caswell quite the run for an inning-ending flyout in deep center. The Raccoons didn’t do anything in the seventh, the Raccoons didn’t do anything in the eighth, but in the ninth – … in the ninth…! In the ninth they didn’t do anything against Bernardino Risso either. 4-2 Canadiens.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – CF Royer – P DeRose
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – RF Magnussen – C Waker – CF D. Moreno – 2B R. Price – 3B Lundberg – 1B V. Cruz – P Kozloski

Jeff Kozloski (2-1, 2.10 ERA) also went on short rest on Sunday, not like doing so had hurt Jesus, but Marcos Chavez hit a tater to begin the second inning to put the Raccoons 1-0 ahead. Bottom 3rd, and DeRose gave up a 1-out single to Kozloski, and then Brassfield fudged Danny Garcia’s grounder for an error and a second runner on base. Could DeRose wiggle out of this one? Kuchta popped out to first, so that was a neat second out, but Magnussen singled to center in front of Royer, and that loaded the bases. And then Tristan Waker grabbed hold of a lazy fastball, and that one emptied the bases all over the 335’ sign in right.

Labonte drove in a run in the fifth inning, plating Royer to shorten the score to 4-2, but it was genuinely hard to out-hit a rotting pitcher like DeRose, who went six. Not that the lineup was all that brilliant. It took until the ninth inning for the Raccoons to get a paw into scoring position again, still trailing by two against Bryan McDuffie. Pucks hit a 1-out single, but Brass popped out. Royer singled with two outs, and Morgan Lathers pinch-hit for Mike Siwik. And he flew out to right. 4-2 Canadiens. Brobeck 2-4; Puckeridge 2-4; Royer 2-4; Imai (PH) 1-1;

All runs off DeRose were unearned after the Brassfield error, not that that would scratch us out of last place now…

In other news

April 24 – The only hit of TOP INF Alex de los Santos (.210, 3 HR, 11 RBI) in the Buffaloes’ 6-5 win in Los Angeles plates the winning run in the top of the *20th* inning. Apart from that, de los Santos goes 1-for-8 with two walks. Funnily enough, the game entered extra innings tied at two before both teams scored three runs in the 15th inning.
April 26 – The Aces score ten runs in the sixth inning alone as they beat the Thunder, 16-6. LVA OF Jose Ambriz (.340, 0 HR, 11 RBI) goes 5-for-6 with a double and three RBI.
April 28 – WAS SP Hironobu Hanzawa (2-3, 4.94 ERA) could be out for the season with a nasty case of should inflammation.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 2B Mike DeFusco (.256, 1 HR, 9 RBI), batting .565 (13-23) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA 1B Jason Schaack (.296, 3 HR, 16 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 1 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Hey, hey, Bobby Herrera won a game. Now he’s merely cost $36M per win for the team!

There really isn’t a lot to say about this week, which was just crummy top to bottom. Pitching eh, offense meh (11 runs this week), and that’s how you go 2-4 against middling opposition and find last place eventually.

And I don’t have much of an idea on how to fix this situation right now.

Next week: Titans and Capitals.

Fun Fact: Jason Brenize leads the ABL in ERA with a 1.35 mark.

That’s the rookie we gave some on the snout when he had his September call-up last season. He is now 21 years old and I am very afraid of what he’ll be like when he’s 25.

He’s still on the wicked Titans, though, who can’t score for him (despite leading the division) and in addition to his league-leading ERA his actual record in four starts is 1-2.

Because baseball as usual makes no sense.

Westheim · 12-15-2023, 03:47 AM

Raccoons (10-14) vs. Titans (16-9) – April 29-May 2, 2058

Speaking of Jason Brenize, here were the Titans. They sort of surprisingly had started well enough to lead the division ahead of the twice-defending CL pennant winners from New York, scoring the third-most runs and giving up the third-fewest for a +25 run differential. Their rotation was the best in the CL, but the pen ran an ERA near five. The Coons had won the season series last year, 11-7, but would we be so lucky again?

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-2, 3.70 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (1-2, 1.35 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (2-2, 3.45 ERA)
Zach Stewart (3-1, 1.59 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (2-1, 3.38 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (0-3, 4.88 ERA) vs. Adam Gardner (2-1, 4.21 ERA)

After three right-handed pitchers the Titans would also give us a left-hander on Thursday.

Game 1
BOS: CF Torrence – 2B J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – RF I. Santiago – 3B W. de Leon – LF Y. Valdez – SS Leitch – P Brenize
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – 1B Imai – P Sensabaugh

The Raccoons returning home also meant there was the obligatory third-inning rain delay, although Monday’s lasted only about 20 minutes and both starters continued. Brenize’s spot atop the CL leaderboard for ERA was in danger after Brobeck singled home Lonzo for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Yoslan Valdez had sort of a day against Sensabaugh, driving in four runs in his first two at-bats; a 3-run homer following Israel Santiago and Willie de Leon singles in the second inning, and then another RBI single in the fourth to plate Jorge Arviso, which in total flipped the score to 4-1 Boston rather clearly. When the Titans scored a fifth run in the fifth inning, it was Brenize coming around on little else but a throwing error by Morgan Lathers and an error picking a grounder by Toushi… In turn, though, Manny Rubin dropped a feed by Jonathan Watson that put Sensabaugh on base to begin the bottom 5th, and then Paul Labonte came up with an RBI triple into the right-center gap, 5-2. Lonzo hit a sac fly to Ethan Torrence to get to 5-3, but nobody else reached base in the inning.

Lonzo, who entered the week with a 12-game hitting streak, extended said streak his next time up in the seventh against Ramon Montes de Oca, putting his fuzzy bum on base as the tying run after Steve Royer had drawn a leadoff walk to knock out Brenize, but Caswell flew out easily and Brobeck whiffed to end the inning. The Raccoons got scoreless relief from Ornelas, Hamann, and Bravo after six icky innings by Sensabaugh, but the offense couldn’t put anybody on base in the eighth inning, then faced last year’s Critter Alex Mancilla in the ninth inning. Toushi singled. Royer walked. Labonte walked. Three on, no outs. Yes, this is like I remember Alex Mancilla! Lonzo grounded out to short, but all the runners advanced, which meant a run scored and the tying and winning runs were both in scoring position in a 5-4 affair. However, Royer had stayed in the game over Noah Caswell earlier, so the pitcher was in the #3 slot now and Jesus Martinez came out to pinch-hit against the right-hander. He clanked the first pitch clean to center for an RBI single, but Labonte had to hold at third base. HOWEVER – tied game, and again no win for Brenize!

The game, though, went to extras on Brobeck’s foul pop and Pucks’ groundout… Toushi and Royer reached against Mancilla *again* with two outs in the bottom 10th, but were stranded when Labonte flew out to left. Tanizaki threw two scoreless for the Raccoons in overtime, then got a sterling chance to snatch the win in relief when Xavier Caston served up a gapper to begin the bottom 11th that Lonzo legged out for a leadoff triple! Martinez – who had replaced Pucks in right – now popped out foul, and Brobeck was walked intentionally. Marcos Chavez pinch-hit for Tanizaki, was retired on a comebacker to Caston, and Brassfield’s fly to deep left was caught on the warning track by Hector Weir. And I had thoughts of murder. Ever out of relievers, the Raccoons then sent Brobeck to the hill for the 12th, which somehow didn’t instantly result in an offensive explosion for Boston and he instead had a scoreless inning (!), while Caston in the bottom 12th walked the bags full with Lathers, Royer, and Lonzo (!), but there were also two outs for Jesus Martinez coming to the dish with nowhere to put him. Caston was off the rolls, though, could not find the zone for his life, and walked Martinez on four pitches, and thus ended the game. 6-5 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5, 2 BB, 3B, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Martinez (PH) 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Royer (PH) 1-1, 3 BB; Tanizaki 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Brenize didn’t win the game, and lost the CL (and ABL) ERA lead to Zach Stewart, of all people, although the Titans could do something on that on Wednesday.

Before that, however, the schedule put Bobby Herrera on Tuesday, and thus probably also tornadoes.

Not even kidding – it stormed all day long on Tuesday, and Herrera’s start was washed away. Double header on Wednesday. If the baseball gods were so inclined.

Game 2
BOS: CF Torrence – LF Ma. Gilmore – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – RF A. Cruz – 3B D. Mendoza – P Broad
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Sheilds – P B. Herrera

Portland took a 2-0 lead in the first, getting Labonte (double) and Caswell (walk) to the corners before Pucks and Martinez hit a pair of 2-out RBI singles, while Brass grounded out to Willie de Leon. Herrera appeared to fine initially despite an annoying habit of beginning innings with a full count, but he got somewhat well through three innings before the fourth began with a Matt Gilmore homer, Rubin doubling, and Arviso jacking another homer to give the Titans a 3-2 lead. After that, Herrera retired another nine out of ten batters faced, the only exception reaching on a Lonzo error. His start then ended after 85 pitches on account of an hour-long rain delay, because how could it be any ******* different??

Mike Siwik gave up another run on two base hits in the seventh inning, while the Raccoons then had the tying runs on base in both the seventh and eighth innings, but Labonte grounded out to end the former and Martinez grounded out to end the latter inning without getting anybody across. Mancilla then retired Brass, Sheilds, and Toushi in order in the bottom 9th. 4-2 Titans. Bribiesca 1-1; Sheilds 2-4, 2B;

I’ve seen some strong gypsy curses in my time, but Bobby Herrera’s is special.

Lonzo went 0-for-4 to end his 13-game hitting streak.

Thanks to the rain delay earlier, the second game of the double-header started well late, 45 minutes from midnight Boston time.

Game 3
BOS: RF I. Santiago – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Weir – CF Ma. Gilmore – 2B W. de Leon – P Musgrave
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – C Lathers – 1B Imai – 2B Bribiesca – P Stewart

Stewart sure fit the billing of “league ERA leader” by allowing a single to Alan Leitch, who was doubled up by Rubin, in the first, then another single in the third (to Musgrave, *cough*), and nothing else through five, although he also ran a couple of full counts and walked a pair in the fourth inning. The Titans remained shut out, though, but so were the Coons; Pucks had a double in the second, Bribiesca had a single in the fifth, and that was mostly it, except for Lonzo reaching on an error and stealing a base in the fourth inning, but that didn’t lead to a run either.

Manny Rubin ended the collective shutout with his seventh home run of the season, a solo jack to center, in the sixth inning, and Stewart allowed a single to Diego Mendoza, walked PH Danny Encarnacion, and then surrendered a second run on de Leon’s double in the seventh. Musgrave fanned, but the Raccoons then brought Tanizaki with two outs and a pair in scoring position, to which the Titans answered with Yoslan Valdez to pinch-hit for Israel Santiago. His sharp grounder was niftily played by Bribiesca, and the inning ended. When Pucks singled in the bottom 7th he was immediately doubled up by Martinez. Musgrave further gave up leadoff singles to Toushi and Bribiesca in the bottom 8th. Caswell hit into a fielder’s choice, and Royer hit a sac fly, but that narrowed the score only to 2-1. Lonzo singled up the middle, but Caswell was thrown out trying to steal third base afterwards, and that ended the inning on a rather sour note. Reynaldo Bravo held the Titans to their 1-run lead in the top 9th, while right-hander Dan Lawrence got the bottom of the inning and the meat of the order. It took two outs for Martinez to put the tying run on base by drawing a walk, and then Lathers grounded out to second easily. 2-1 Titans. Puckeridge 2-4, 2B; Bribiesca 2-3;

Game 4
BOS: CF Torrence – LF Ma. Gilmore – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – RF I. Santiago – 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – 3B D. Mendoza – P A. Gardner
POR: 1B Royer – 2B Bribiesca – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – SS Sheilds – P Carreno

Steve ******* Royer had the Raccoons’ first hit on Thursday, a 2-out, 2-run bomb to left, plating Tyrese Sheilds and also putting the first markers of the game on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Carreno had allowed a hit and a walk, but had faced the minimum the first time through thanks to a double play hit into by de Leon and Diego Mendoza getting caught stealing. De Leon then was caught stealing himself in the fourth inning, but counting on all claws hints at more traffic than that in the inning in question. Indeed, Matt Gilmore had drawn a walk, and Jorge Arviso had gone yard to right to swiftly tie the contest at two already.

The Coons reclaimed a lead in the bottom 4th with a leadoff single by Chavez, Brass walking, and then two long fly outs for a sac fly to get the catcher around to score, 3-2. Sheilds whiffed, leaving Brass on first base. Brass also ended the bottom 5th on base, getting caught in a rundown between first and second after finding Royer (double), Bribiesca, and Chavez (walks) on base and dishing a 2-run single to left-center. While a pair scored, Brass had fully expected Chavez to make a dash to third base, but after going 20 feet Chavez threw the anchor and scurried back to second base, leaving Brass as dead as disco behind him, and the inning ended with a 5-2 score.

Carreno was then knocked out on three singles from four batters to begin the sixth, with Hector Weir already in and Gilmore and Rubin on the corners. Eloy Sencion popped out Arviso and whiffed Santiago to bail out still ahead by two, but while Sencion and Ornelas held on in the seventh, Hamann and Tanizaki corked it all up in the eighth inning, surrendering four singles and two runs between them. More atrociously, the actual tying runs really scored on two passed balls charged to Marcos Chavez, so everybody had a share in that *******. Mike Siwik then retired a pair to begin the ninth before walking Antonio Cruz and allowing him to score on Torrence and Encarnacion singles. There *was* hope for the bottom 9th, though, because the Titans still pretended that Alex Mancilla was their closer. Mancilla walked Martinez and Sheilds to get the winning run on base, but Toushi popped out for the second out, and that brought back Royer as the last straw, and he grounded out on the first pitch he was offered. 6-5 Titans. Royer 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

(moans)

Raccoons (11-17) @ Capitals (16-13) – May 3-5, 2058

Washington was having a superficially good start, but a -8 run differential with the #6 offense and #8 pitching in the Federal League. Their rotation was the main problem, pushing an ERA over 4.50, but the defense was mediocre and the offense didn’t excel in any one category either. To add injury to insult, they had just put pricey Korean addition and April Rookie of the Month Joo-chan Lee on the DL, where he joined Mike Allen and Hironobu Hanzawa. These teams had not met another in four years; back in 2053, the Raccoons had a 3-game sweep over the Caps.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (0-3, 6.35 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (1-2, 4.63 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-2, 4.15 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (0-4, 7.28 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Jaden Williams (3-1, 3.21 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday!

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – P DeRose
WAS: RF D. Flores – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – CF M. Roberts – 3B Law – SS Mullen – LF van de Wouw – 2B O. Rivera – P Ratliff

Labonte, Chavez, and Caswell all hit singles in the first inning; Labonte stole a base as well and scored in between on Brobeck’s sac fly to Neville van de Wouw in left. That was the score for a bit; DeRose was good and wasn’t good at the same time. He retired the first eight batters in a row, but also gave up three deep fly outs, then a single to the opposing pitcher, a walk to David Flores – traded from St. Pete to Washington this winter – and then barely survived another deep fly to right by Alejandro Ramos, the 38-year-old veteran mostly known from the Blue Sox. Singles by Jose Cantu and Mike Roberts to begin the bottom 4th, then three more fly outs allowed the Caps to tie the game on Dan Mullen’s sac fly to center. The next inning, they took the lead on a 2-out single by Flores, Ramos’ RBI double in the right-center gap, and then the inning ended on Cantu singling to right and Ramos getting thrown out at home by Jesus Martinez, those 38-year-old legs showing their age.

On the bright paw, Justin DeRose went eight innings without allowing any more damage, giving up just one more single in his last three innings. On the other paw, the Raccoons still trailed 2-1 entering the ninth inning, themselves getting only two base knocks all the way past the first inning… Brobeck reached base to begin the ninth against righty David Williams formerly of New York, but only because Mullen fumbled his grounder. Caswell drove a ball to deep center, and Mike Roberts couldn’t get that one – and then fell down and the Raccoons were off to the races. Brobeck scored, and Caswell made it to second base for a game-tying RBI double. There he threatened to remain. Brass grounded out, Pucks grounded out, and Martinez grounded another ball to Mullen to leave Caswell on third ba- …oops, no, Mullen threw poorly to first, Ramos couldn’t dig it out, and Dan Mullen’s second error of the inning gave the Coons a vastly unearned 3-2 lead. Royer grounded out against Pete Becker to finish the inning, and Mullen hit a double off Eloy Sencion in the bottom 9th, but that wasn’t enough to overturn the results of the top 9th, and Sencion struck out Henry Howie to end the game. 3-2 Blighters! Labonte 2-4; Caswell 2-4, 2B, RBI; DeRose 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-3);

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – C Lathers – 1B Imai – P Sensabaugh
WAS: RF D. Flores – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – CF M. Roberts – 3B Law – SS Mullen – LF W. Jenkins – 2B O. Rivera – P Colwell

Sensabaugh looked like a burden on the bullpen in the making with a long first inning that saw three full counts, two walks, but ultimately a K to Bryant Law to bugger out of his own mess, and then Pucks went yard to right to give the Raccoons a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Martinez and Toushi also reached base against Colwell, who struck out Sensabaugh, but on a 1-2 pitch gave up a 2-out RBI single to Labonte, and another one of those to Lonzo, then in a full count, for a 3-0 lead, but Caswell’s grounder found Oscar Rivera to end the inning.

The bullpen was active by the bottom 2nd, however, as Sensabaugh managed to walk no fewer than five batters in the inning and was yanked from the contest with the game already tied and the bases loaded with two outs. Ivan Ornelas gave up singles to Law and Mullen to score all the remaining runners before Jenkins grounded out, and the Caps turned a 3-run deficit into a 3-run lead.

Colwell wouldn’t win, leaving the game with an injury after three innings, so now both teams were in their bullpens. Right-hander Tim Coco pitched two scoreless innings before Rivera’s 2-out double in the bottom 5th knocked out both pitchers. Ornelas’ long relief had been doomed from the start this time, and Neal Hamann surrendered an RBI single to pinch-hitter Matt Cox to give him a run of his own on his ledger, 7-3. Jesus Martinez’ single leading off the top 6th, two groundouts, and a wild pitch by Matt Shapira gave a run back to the Coons, but by the bottom 6th we had Brobeck pitching and that was the game then. Brobeck threw 61 pitches in just two innings, walking four, giving up three hits, and three runs, and I wondered loudly how he had survived in an actual major league rotation for a little while at least, much to the bemusement of the Caps fans within earshot. For crowning glory, Reynaldo Bravo pitched in the bottom 8th and retired the first two batters before walking Oscar Rivera, Mario Villa, David Flores, and Alejandro Ramos in order to force in another ******** run. The Coons went on ten pitches by Tim Betty in the ninth… 11-4 Capitals. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Martinez 3-4; Sheilds (PH) 1-2;

Raccoons pitchers ****** up 15 walks in this game, not far short of our unholy record of 18 for a 9-inning game; but even then Ornelas didn’t walk anybody in three innings.

Game 3
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 3B Sheilds – P B. Herrera
WAS: RF D. Flores – 1B Ale. Ramos – CF M. Roberts – LF M. Cox – 3B Law – C Howie – SS M. Villa – 2B O. Rivera – P J. Williams

Bribiesca led off with a double and was immediately stranded on Sunday, and after Brass singled to begin the second inning he was doubled up by Pucks, so that was a great start… Meanwhile, Bobby Herrera showed for the first time a glimpse of what we had thought to see in his demo before cramming $36M up or down the orifice of your choosing – he allowed two soft singles, one of the infield variety, to Bryant Law and Henry Howie in the second inning, but otherwise struck out EIGHT Caps in just four innings, which was a Jonny Toner level of dominance almost. In between, a Brass homer – his first of the year… – gave Herrera a 2-0 lead in the fourth, but hard to explain walks to Howie and Rivera, plus a 2-out RBI singles for Flores – the D. stood for devil – nibbled a run off the lead, but Ramos popped out to Bribiesca to keep the Coons ahead 2-1 through five innings. Only complaint: Herrera needed 82 pitches to make it this far.

Top 6th, and more offense was on the way. Williams nicked Lonzo to begin the inning, and Lonzo objected by stealing his tenth base of the year. Royer then plated him with a wallbanger double in left, Chavez walked, and Pucks hit an RBI single after Brass whiffed. Mike Roberts’ bad throw to home plate allowed the trailing runners into scoring position on the play. The Caps walked Martinez intentionally, then sent Williams home for Pete Becker, who conceded a run on Sheilds’ grounder. Herrera grounded out to strand a pair, then had a 1-2-3 inning while throwing 22 pitches in the bottom 6th… The W appeared to be his, though; Becker walked Bribiesca and Lonzo to begin the seventh, there was a double steal, and then Rivera threw away Chavez’ 1-out grounder to allow both runners to score. Brass’ RBI single made it 8-1.

Herrera actually pitched a seventh inning despite a Martinez error in right, with Lonzo helping out by starting a 6-4-3 double play on PH Eddie Moreno. The eighth was uneventful with Ricky following Bobby Herrera, but the Caps made a stir in the ninth inning. Lonzo had the last frame off, but Bribiesca mishandled a Cox grounder at short, and then Neal Hamann gave up an RBI double to Howie for the final run of the week. 8-2 Raccoons. Bribiesca 2-4, BB, 2B; Royer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (2-2) and 1-3;

In other news

April 30 – SAL SP Alfredo Llamas (2-1, 2.88 ERA) throws a 1-hit shutout against the Scorpions, who only get a single from Omar Gonzalez (.246, 0 HR, 13 RBI) in their 4-0 loss.
May 2 – Condors LF Tim Duncan (.340, 1 HR, 5 RBI) was expected to miss six weeks with an inflamed elbow.
May 4 – Loggers reliever Curt Rosato (1-0, 4.11 ERA, 1 SV) is out for the season after suffering a stretched elbow ligament.
May 5 – PIT OF Tomokazu Kaneshiro (.410, 0 HR, 7 RBI) is out for the year as well after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament.
May 5 – The Aces’ OF Jose Ambriz (.331, 0 HR, 13 RBI) could miss the rest of the month after spraining his wrist.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 1B Kevin Price (.318, 3 HR, 12 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL LF/RF Perry Pigman (.395, 1 HR, 16 RBI), swatting .500 (15-30) with 1 HR, 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.384, 4 HR, 23 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: ATL C Marco Nieto (.429, 1 HR, 16 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: TOP SP Ben Karst (5-1, 2.17 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: LVA SP Scott Evans (4-0, 1.81 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: WAS 2B Joo-chan Lee (.340, 0 HR, 10 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ 3B/RF Eric Frasher (.288, 3 HR, 7 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Twice this week Jason Brenize went six innings and allowed two earned runs without getting enough offense/relief from the Titans to notch a W, so he’s still looking for that second win. Him and Stewart exchanged the CL ERA lead three times this week while going a combined 0-1 with a 2.89 ERA, which in some world surely made sense.

The offense remains woeful. We’re bottoms in home runs, which you probably guessed without me specifically pointing it out.

In depth news, Carlos Solorzano ****** up his knee in AAA this week and will miss the rest of the season. He was hitting .294 in 14 games for the Alley Cats at the time of shredding his posterior cruciate ligament.

We’re home next week, in case your masochistic and want to suffer in person. After a day off on Monday, we’ll have the Warriors and Loggers in.

Fun Fact: Zach Stewart is the CL ERA leader while posting even worse peripherals than during his 5.51 ERA season last year.

Back then he walked 4.8 and whiffed 6.6 per nine innings. This year he’s up/down to 4.9 and 5.9 respectively. What keeps him alive? A 65-point swing in his favor in terms of BABIP. And last year’s was closer to the mean…

Westheim · 12-16-2023, 05:52 AM

Raccoons (13-18) vs. Warriors (15-16) – May 7-9, 2058

Ranking sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, the Warriors were struggling especially to keep their sheets clean behind the FL’s best rotation with a 3.16 ERA on those guys, more than a run and a half better than the hideous bullpen. The defense was splendid, however. These teams had met last year, with the Raccoons meeting a grisly end in a 3-game sweep. Julio Moriel was the only significant injury for Sioux Falls, the infielder being on the DL with a broken foot.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (3-2, 1.80 ERA) vs. Bubba Wolinsky (3-2, 2.06 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (0-3, 4.91 ERA) vs. Ed Nadeau (3-1, 2.89 ERA)
Justin DeRose (1-3, 5.45 ERA) vs. Victor Salcido (1-4, 4.05 ERA)

What a nice surprise, the Warriors bringing in not one, but two former Critters to start against Portland this week. Salcido had last pitched for the Coons in 2053, and Wolinsky went back all the way to 2051. Wolinsky and Nadeau were left-handers, but mind the common off day on Monday.

Game 1
SFW: 2B DeFusco – CF E. Maldonado – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF Marroquin – C E. Sanches – SS Barre – RF A. Huerta – P Wolinsky
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Stewart

The crowd was above-average for a Tuesday night in 56-degree weather, as the fans liked to be reminded of better days with Bubba Wolinsky in the house – he got hold of two rings in our 2040s trifecta of championships – but were soon reminded of current-day Raccoons business when Mike DeFusco opened with a single to left, was forced out by Elmer Maldonado, who stole second, and finally scored on a 2-out single to left hit by Steve Dilly. The team failed the bags full in the third inning when Lonzo and Brass let a DeFusco pop to shallow left drop between them for a single, and Stewart walked Miguel Medina, threw a wild pitch, walked Dilly, too, and then somehow got out of it when Jose Marroquin popped out to Jesus Martinez to strand the whole bunch, but now he was already on 59 pitches. Next, Stewart struck out bunting after Brassfield reached on an error to begin the bottom 3rd, although Lonzo and Royer hit 2-out singles to tie the game before Chavez grounded out to Dilly.

Stewart held his own, but Bubba found his way into a jam in the bottom 5th after a leadoff walk to Brassfield. Stewart bunted well this time, but the bags filled up on two singles by Bribiesca and Lonzo, which was weird enough. Neither ball left the infield, and Brassfield reached third base on Bribiesca’s grounder/single, but had to hold when Lonzo rolled one near Esteban Sanches along the third base line. To everybody’s surprise and for some perhaps even dismay, the Raccoons now took Bubba apart. Royer singled in two, Chavez and Brobeck each singled in one, and after a walk to Caswell, Jesus Martinez added a sac fly to center. Evan Alvey then came in and retired Brassfield to end a 5-run inning.

The Coons went on to squeeze out Stewart for seven innings and 109 pitches, which worked out to keep the score at 6-1 by the stretch. Javier Cortes was pitching for the Warriors before leaving with an injury, bringing on the third former Coon on that staff, Phil Baker, who was taken deep for a solo home run by Kyle Brobeck in the bottom 7th. Cas and Martinez then went to the corners with a pair of singles, but Brassfield whiffed his way ever deeper into a slump. Baker was still around in the eighth, gave up a pinch-hit single to Labonte, who stole second, and then scored on a Lonzo single to right-center. Royer singled, Chavez doubled, Lonzo scored, and Baker was yanked for Darren McRee, also an Oregon veteran, but with the Wolves, who got out of the inning without conceding another run. 9-1 Raccoons. Labonte (PH) 1-1; Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Royer 3-5, 3 RBI; Chavez 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Brobeck 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Caswell 2-4, BB, 2B; Stewart 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (4-2);

Game 2
SFW: 2B DeFusco – C F. Rivera – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF E. Maldonado – RF Marroquin – SS Barre – CF Tarver – P Nadeau
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Carreno

After a 9-run outburst, we just xeroxed in Tuesday’s lineup against Nadeau again. Thing was, Carreno was pitching, so nine runs were probably needed again. The sophomore retired the Warriors in order in the first, which created a treacherous false security, because the top 2nd began with a walk to Dilly, a Maldonado single, and then enough productive outs to get Dilly around to score in the inning. DeFusco reached on a Bribiesca error in the third, followed by a Rivera single and Medina double. One (unearned) run was in, while the two earned runners were stranded with Martinez making a sliding catch hustling in on a Dilly dinker, and Brassfield racing into the gap to snare a Maldonado rocket before it could get to the wall. Carreno added facepaw to headshakes when he came up following Martinez doubling and Brass walking to begin the inning, and forcefully bunted into an out at third base, which allowed Nadeau to bugger out of the inning.

He wasn’t so lucky in the fourth, though, nicking Brobeck with two outs before getting shown the rightfield stands with Noah Caswell’s game-tying homer. The Coons then even took the lead in the fifth inning thanks to defense, and Brassfield drawing another leadoff walk. This time Carreno got the bunt down nicely, and Lonzo’s 2-out single brought in the run for a 3-2 edge. Royer popped out, brining the fifth to a close. Dilly nearly homered the game tied in the sixth, but was caught by Martinez on the warning track instead. Martinez then paired up with Caswell and two outs in the bottom 6th to create more offense. Cas singled to center, then was in motion when Martinez peppered a double to left-center and scored quite comfortably. Brass got the four-fingered salute, and Nadeau got out when Carreno grounded out to DeFusco. Carreno got two more outs, even though one of them was Devin Tarver singling and being caught stealing, then was lifted after a pinch-hit double by Andy Hudson in the #9 spot. DeFusco then fired a drive to deep right against Ornelas, which Martinez also caught while bouncing off the fence. Sheesh! Boys!!

Steve Royer’s homer in the bottom 7th extended the score to 5-2, coming off right-handed sophomore Danny Zepeda. Ornelas pitched another inning, then made way for Tanizaki in the ninth. Maldonado drew a leadoff walk, but was doubled off by Jose Marroquin. Tristan Barre singled, but Tarver grounded out to Lonzo. 5-2 Raccoons. Caswell 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Martinez 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Brassfield 0-1, 3 BB; Carreno 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-3);

Then – disappointment. Salcido was removed from the Thursday start in favor of longtime Warriors ace Ricardo Montoya (2-2, 3.38 ERA), who had not had the greatest start to the new season. He was a right-hander anyway, and the Raccoons crammed as many left-handed bats as possible into the lineup, because the Loggers might yet rock up another two southpaws to begin the weekend set. Only Lonzo remained for right-handed bats.

Game 3
SFW: 2B DeFusco – C F. Rivera – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF E. Maldonado – RF Marroquin – SS Barre – CF Tarver – P R. Montoya
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Royer – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – C Lathers – 3B Sheilds – P DeRose

Solo homers! Caswell hit two of them in the first and third innings for a 2-0 lead, while Dilly got the Warriors on the board with one of his own in the fourth inning; not that all things were DeRosey, as the Caswell homers were the only Coons hits at that point, and this time Pucks was the guy picking near-bombs off the fence, pulling down a pair in the first three innings as DeRose looked easily whackable. He somehow got around a DeFusco wall-tickling double to begin the fifth inning, but came unglued for good in the sixth. Marroquin singled to right. Barre singled to right. Devin Tarver hit a ball all the way to the moon, and the Warriors had a 5-2 lead. Montoya’s single knocked out DeRose for good.

The tying runs were on in the 5-2 game to begin the bottom 6th as Lonzo singled, Caswell walked, and Royer hit a scratch single through the right side. All eyes on Pucks – but the first pitch was wild and Lonzo scored that way. Pucks grounded out poorly, not advancing the runners further, and Toushi hit a sac fly, 5-4, before Alvey rung up Morgan Lathers to end the inning after Montoya got dumped. In turn, Medina homered off Siwik, who was left over from replacing DeRose an inning earlier, and Dilly singled before we brought in Hamann, who exploded further for another three base hits, a Marroquin single, Barre’s 2-run double, and Alvin Huerta’s pinch-hit, 2-out RBI single.

And yet, down five, the game wasn’t quite over yet. Lonzo opened the bottom 8th with a triple off Phil Nelson, then scored on Cas’ groundout. Royer homered, ejecting Nelson for Kellen Lanning, who got outs from Pucks and Toushi. The Warriors put two on against Tanizaki in the ninth, but left them on the corners before giving the 3-run lead to Zack Stahl. Lathers opened with a single, but Sheilds popped out to first. Jesus Martinez batted for Tanizaki, hit a hard grounder at Josh Wall at third base, and 5-4-3 went the Coons. 9-6 Warriors. Lavorano 2-4, 3B; Caswell 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Royer 2-4, HR, RBI;

Sigh. The rotation.

Raccoons (15-19) vs. Loggers (16-18) – May 10-12, 2058

The Loggers had won four straight games, as well as three straight games against the Critters. Overall they were third in runs scored and very much bottoms in runs allowed, with a terrible rotation – worst in the CL – and a mediocre pen that had a lot to do. Injuries included Ryan Bishton, Nick Roseto, and Curt Rosato, which sounded like one of those cryptic crossword riddles.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-3, 5.63 ERA) vs. Sam Webb (2-3, 4.50 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (2-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (1-1, 5.79 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-2, 1.71 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (3-2, 3.56 ERA)

Not *two* southpaws from Milwaukee. *Three*.

Game 1
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – 2B Garmon – LF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – RF Callaia – SS Sostre – CF Konecny – C Dye – P S. Webb
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Sensabaugh

The Loggers went up quickly, 1-0 on walks to Corey Garmon and Perry Pigman, then a 2-out single by recent Critter Gaudencio Callaia. Bill Sostre popped out to shallow center to end the inning, and Bribiesca and Royer flattened the score with a pair of doubles in the bottom 1st. 2-out walks to Caswell and Brobeck filled the bases eventually, but then Martinez popped out and the game remained tied.

The third began with a Robby Gaxiola single, and Garmon flicked one over the infielders as well. Perry Pigman was not content with that, and instead waffled a 3-run homer well up into the rightfield stands. The Raccoons answered with three doubles and two runs, whacked by Royer, Chavez, and Brobeck in the bottom 3rd, which left us a run short at 4-3, but there was still a way to go. Probably not for Sensabaugh though, as he gave up a fifth run on hits by Jonathan Dye and Gaxiola in the fourth, then another homer to Pigman and a walk to Dave Robles before getting disposed of. Ornelas got out of the inning, but gave up a walk, a single, a double steal and a balk, and ultimately two more runs to Gaxiola and Garmon in the top 6th. Brassfield’s leadoff jack in the bottom 6th merely made it 8-4, but then Labonte singled, Lonzo singled, double steal part deux, and then Royer doubled to right, driving in two, and knocking out Sam Webb. Chavez flew out against Josh Costello, but Caswell singled, however, Royer was thrown out at the plate by Pigman, and the inning ended.

The seventh was remarkably calm in comparison to anything else, with Ricky Herrera and Costello just going about their business. Siwik had a clean eighth, then was hit for with Pucks, who singled to begin the bottom 8th against Brett Lillis jr., then replaced by Roberto Navarro. Bribiesca singled, but Lonzo crashed into a double play *hard* and Royer flew out to Pigman at the warning track. Sencion then gave up a run in the ninth; Pigman got on, but was caught stealing; yet with two outs Callaia doubled to right, Sostre singled to left-center, and Callaia scored an extra run. The tying run though reached the batter’s box with nobody out in the bottom 9th after Ryan Dow allowed singles to Chavez and Caswell right out of the gate. Now Brobeck got doubled up, 4-6-3, and Martinez grounded out to Robles… 9-6 Loggers. Bribiesca 3-5, 2B; Royer 3-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI; Chavez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB; Labonte (PH) 1-1, Puckeridge (PH) 1-1;

Plain awful.

Game 2
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – CF Valenzano – LF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – RF Callaia – SS Sostre – 2B de Kok – C Dye – P V. Marquez
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P B. Herrera

Marcos Chavez reclaimed sole possession of the team home run lead with his fifth bomb, a 3-run smack in the first inning after Marquez had already allowed a double to Labonte and brushed Lonzo. Marquez also walked the 7-8 batters in the bottom 2nd, who were bunted over by Herrera. Labonte’s single and a Sostre error plated them, 5-0, and right about at that time it began to rain.

No ****.

The third inning saw Gaxiola and Robles land hits off Bobby Herrera for a run, while Marquez was taken deep for a 2-piece by Jesus Martinez, 7-1, and did I mention the 27-minute rain delay already? Marquez disappeared after that, while Herrera at least soldiered on through five innings to at least qualify for the W, if the pen would be so inclined. He needed 80 pitches to get there anyway, but had actually needed more pitches per inning before the rain than after it, because then the Loggers found him less sharp and made contact early, simply hitting it at the defense. Herrera faced four batters in the sixth inning and retired none of them. Walk, double, RBI single, plonked – that’s how it went against the 3-4-5-6 batters, and then he was unceremoniously yanked. Bravo gave up a sac fly to Teo de Kok, but got a double play grounder from Dye to bugger out still ahead by a slam. The Coons’ offense had gone to bed, so we needed to piece nine outs together from the pen. Neal Hamann got five of them, then allowed three straight 2-out singles, a run, and the tying run to reach the box in the top 8th. Tanizaki and Sheilds entered in a double switch that removed Brobeck, and Dye hit a sharp grounder to Sheilds’ left that was played for the third out in a way I seriously doubted Brobeck would have managed to. Right-hander Roberto Alvarado then walked the Rule 5ers with one out in the bottom 8th; Labonte flew out to Callaia, but Lonzo found a space to drop a 2-out RBI single to plate Toushi. Pucks batted for a hitless Royer, but whiffed to end the inning. Tanizaki remained on the hill, aiming for a 4-out save in the ninth, which began with a pop over the infield by Kelly Konecny. Gaxiola’s fly to deep left was caught by Pucks. Steve Valenzano struck out. 8-4 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 1-2, BB, 2B; Tanizaki 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (3);

We were out-hit, 8-7, but drew seven walks as well.

The Raccoons had faced MR Danny Zepeda (1-1, 5.17 ERA) just earlier this week with the Warriors, now had a chance to do so again, as the Loggers acquired the 26-year-old in a trade for a third-rate prospect between games. This did of course nothing to rid us of Riddle on Sunday.

Game 3
MIL: CF Valenzano – 2B Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Mi. Gilmore – SS Sostre – LF Callaia – 3B Gaxiola – P Riddle
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – P Stewart

Stewart disappeared from the ERA race in the first inning, giving up two singles out of the gate, then a 3-piece to Robles. Dave Robles also doubled home a run in the third inning, in which the Loggers smashed Stewart around for four hits in total, and another run singled in by Gaudencio Callaia. To Stewart’s credit, while he wasn’t fooling anybody, he at least dragged out his stint on the hill to six innings, and it wasn’t like the offense was coming to his rescue either. Normally we would have parked him after five innings and 90 pitches with a 5-1 deficit, but the sixth was against the all-left-handed bottom of the order, and Stewart retired those in order.

For offense, Royer had singled home Bribiesca in the third inning but the Coons’ box score was mostly barren otherwise until the bottom 6th when Chavez, Caswell, and Brobeck slapped straight singles to score one run and bring the tying run to the dish. Brass grounded out, Pucks whiffed, and that was about as good as it got. Brobeck hit into a double play to quell a tiny uprising with Cas’ leadoff single in the bottom 8th, and instead Ricky Herrera and Siwik allowed another run between them in the ninth inning. Lillis then finished the game on the Coons. 6-2 Loggers. Bribiesca 2-4; Caswell 2-4; Brobeck 2-4, RBI;

In other news

May 6 – In the only two games played on Monday, two shutouts are pitched by BOS SP Ryan Musgrave (4-1, 2.33 ERA) against the Scorpions, and VAN SP Luis Arroyo (1-3, 5.40 ERA) against the Pacifics. Both get away with a 5-hitter. The Canadiens win 3-0, the Titans by double that margin.
May 6 – The Falcons surprisingly swap SP Josh Clem (2-1, 3.71 ERA) to the Pacifics for two prospects, including #156 SP Alex Gomez.
May 7 – Pittsburgh acquires RF/LF/1B Angel Angulo (.268, 5 HR, 17 RBI) from the Stars in exchange for SS/2B Trevor Niemiec (.265, 0 HR, 7 RBI).
May 8 – The trades continue with the Condors taking on C Tristan Waker (.191, 3 HR, 21 RBI) and almost $1.5M in cash from the Canadiens in exchange for 1B John Rosenstiel (.213, 1 HR, 3 RBI) and #62 prospect SP Mike Perez.
May 9 – The Crusaders sweep a double-header from the Blue Sox with a pair of walkoff wins, 7-5 in the 12th inning and 4-3 in regulation. New York’s INF Zach Suggs (.246, 5 HR, 15 RBI) homers for the first one, while rookie OF Sean Zeiher (.262, 2 HR, 7 RBI) wins the second one with a walkoff double in his 12th ABL game.
May 12 – The Cyclones’ only hit against the Buffaloes is a 2-run double for OF Mike Thomason (.200, 0 HR, 2 RBI) with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, followed by a sac fly hit by 1B/2B/OF Greg Gill (.158, 0 HR, 5 RBI). Combined with a sac fly hit by 2B/SS/LF Mike Tovar (.284, 1 HR, 12 RBI), the Cyclones beat the Buffos, 4-2, with the Kansas team scattering eight hits for no greater good.
May 12 – New York acquire LF/RF Tony Rodriquez (.250, 1 HR, 6 RBI) from Atlanta for OF Dan Nork (.302, 1 HR, 14 RBI) and a prospect.

FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Nick Nye (.354, 4 HR, 14 RBI), slapping .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR OF/1B Noah Caswell (.306, 4 HR, 12 RBI), batting .500 (11-22) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Caswell won Player of the Week after slumping the few weeks before, but I thought Steve Royer had nearly as good as a week before Cristiano showed me the actual numbers. Nothing to sneeze at; he hit .400 (10-25) with two homers, three doubles, and drove in nine runs. Maybe I’m a sucker for RBI’s because getting those means you actually ******* did something with three on and nobody out…

So whenever I said this winter that Steve Royer would be paid $3.12M for rotting on the roster on his way to inevitable free agency after the 2058 season, I didn’t quite foresee him hitting for a .925 OPS in 28 games. He looked like warming the bench and subbing people here and there for markedly less than his 300 at-bats from last year, but right now it’s hard to take him out of the lineup, especially with what we hoped would be a formidable pair of corners outfielders, Martinez and Brassfield, vastly underperforming. Give that man a 5-yr, $25M contract, quick!

Speaking of contracts, Steve from Accounting pointed out that I was consistently mixing up the 6-year deals of Bobby Herrera ($24M) and Noah Caswell ($36M). I’m sorry, Steve. It’s a lotta money anyway. Now excuse me, I have to get in my ’89 Pontiac and grab dinner before the donut store closes!

The Raccoons would fly around aimlessly the next few weeks, from New York back home to play the Aces, and then back out to Atlanta for consecutive series, which made no sense. No off day until after that Knights series, either.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have hit 22 home runs, none by a guy you can state with conviction that – yes! – that’s an infielder!

All the guys cycling through first base have the odd one while playing as *an* infielder, but they are really outfielders, except for Toushi, who has no home runs to his name (since 2053). The exception is Kyle Brobeck with two homers, and it’s well-established by now that our answer to “What’s Kyle Brobeck, really?” is more or less “**** all…” …

Westheim · 12-18-2023, 06:31 AM

Raccoons (16-21) @ Crusaders (20-15) – May 13-16, 2058

This is where it was probably going to go really ugly. The Crusaders had won the season series against the Raccoons 13-5 in both of the last two years, they had won the CL pennant twice in a row, they were just half a game behind the Titans after a middling start, and they were only allowing the second-fewest runs in the CL. Where were we going to score against them? Their offense had trouble getting going, though, with just the seventh spot in runs scored (though with the fewest games) and a +13 run differential. No injuries, though.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (1-3, 4.31 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (1-5, 4.85 ERA)
Justin DeRose (1-4, 5.83 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (4-0, 3.43 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-4, 6.44 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (3-0, 3.33 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (3-2, 3.56 ERA) vs. Kennedy Adkins (2-0, 1.25 ERA)

Adkins was the sole southpaw, and three fourths of that rotation had been either a Raccoon until last July or had been actively courted by the Raccoons in the offseason. And then there was Joel Luera.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – C Lathers – P Carreno
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF O. Caballero – 3B J. Ojeda – P Cantrell

As far as former Raccoons went, Oscar Caballero gave New York a 1-0 lead with a second-inning home run, while the Critters had Lonzo on with a single and a stolen base in the first inning, while in the third Carreno and Labonte hit a single each, and then Lonzo found a double play to hit into. Same in the fourth: Royer and Pucks opened the inning with a pair of singles, and Brobeck bobbed into a 4-6-3 double play. The remaining runner scored on a wild pitch before Jesus Martinez grounded out to short…

Carreno meanwhile had no stuff and no strikeouts through five innings, which was alarming, but that Caballero homer aside gave up very little hard contact and only three base knocks in total, instead feeding persistent grounders to the middle infielders. His reward was seeing Noah Caswell hit a leadoff double to right in the sixth inning, then get stranded at second base, followed swiftly by Omar Sanchez legging out an infield single, stealing two bases, and scoring on a groundout by Zach Suggs for a 2-1 New York lead, which sugged. Carreno churned on for another two innings to complete eight, all the way up to a 65-minute rain delay right at the end of the eighth inning when the weather turned Oregonian.

Since the game was close, the umps at least didn’t wave it off, and eventually the Raccoons got their shot at Ben Lussier in the ninth inning, starting with Royer, who drew a leadoff walk. Brass batted for Pucks against the left-hander and also walked. Brobeck then grounded to Omar Sanchez in a bid for another double play, but Sanchez butchered the play and all paws were safe. Three on, nobody out! Oh boy… Martinez promptly struck out before the Raccoons threw their remaining right-handed bench bats at Lussier. Marcos Chavez hit a sac fly to center, which tied the game and took Carreno off the hook, and Arturo Bribiesca got his first RBI of the year with a clean 2-out RBI single to leftfield…! Labonte singled to center, Lonzo singled to the edge of the infield dirt by Sanchez to get an insurance run in, and then Lussier was dismissed for Jose Ortega, who immediately gave up a bases-clearing triple to Noah Caswell in the right-center gap…! The inning ended like it started, with Royer, this time flying out to center. Neal Hamann pitched the bottom 9th to get the W in the books. 7-2 Raccoons. Labonte 2-4, BB; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Caswell 2-5, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 2-3; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1, RBI; Carreno 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-3) and 1-3;

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Brassfield – P DeRose
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 1B Standard – 3B J. Ojeda – P Luera

Luera nicked the Coons’ 2-3 batters in the first inning, which created some bickering from the brown dugout, but no actual base hits and no runs. Caswell would put the Raccoons up 1-0 with a solo jack in the third inning, while DeRose looked treacherously competent, allowing a single to Tony Rodriquez in the first inning, but had Suggs hit into a double play and otherwise faced the minimum through three innings, but K’ed only Luera. But, hey, that was already more strikeouts than Carreno piled up on Monday!

It was more fly balls than Carreno had, too, but that included a few pops. Sean Zeiher, the rookie wonder, sent Caswell back to the warning track in the fourth inning, but apart from that, the Crusaders remained spectacularly harmless. Bottom 6th, Jeff Standard opened with a first-pitch single up the middle though, and sharply hit. Juan Ojeda hit another sharp ball, but that was a liner that Lonzo reached for and snagged, and Standard had been going and was doubled off first base with a zinger to Royer. Luera then doubled, just in case you felt too comfy with DeRose on the hill, but Sanchez flew out easily to Brassfield. The Coons then gained some distance; after being silent for the entirety of the middle innings – both teams had three hits apiece through six – Pucks drew a leadoff walk, and Jose Ortega relieved Luera, only to serve up a homer to Brobeck, 3-0. Ortega’s appearance was brief and disastrous as he went on to allow singles to Brass and DeRose to put those on the corners, balked in one run, and conceded the other on Labonte’s double to left before Kyle Turay restored order, but then allowed the 5-6-7 batters on base without retiring anybody in the top 8th, Chavez walking and the other two hitting singles to left. Brass hit a sac fly all the way to the fence in leftfield (…!), DeRose bunted, and Labonte singled in two more.

DeRose went seven and two thirds, but put Mike Seidman (double) and Juan Ojeda (walk) on base in the bottom 8th. When Aaron Kissler pinch-hit for the shaken Turay, the Coons went to Ricky Herrera, who got the catcher to ground out to Royer. Top 9th, and Caswell socked another homer to right off Austin Guastella. Ricky Herrera returned for the bottom 9th, but allowed a single to PH Chad Williams and an RBI double to Rodriquez before pointing out an issue with his thumb and left the game. Reynaldo Bravo allowed two more singles and Rodriquez to score before finishing out the game. 9-2 Raccoons! Labonte 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Caswell 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Brobeck 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; DeRose 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-4) and 1-3;

Ricky Herrera was probably gonna be fine, but was day-to-day with a sore paw. And before the Crusaders put two runs on him, they briefly had a -1 run differential.

Lonzo and Steve Royer both got a day off on Wednesday, with Caswell scheduled a day off for Thursday against the lefty Adkins. That should get everybody through this long string of games, since everybody else was rotating right now anyway.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – LF Puckeridge – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – SS Sheilds – P Sensabaugh
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 3B J. Ojeda – P Taki

Pucks homered to left against Taki in the first inning, 1-0, and Taki allowed another two singles in one of those first innings, which conveniently for the Raccoons stretched into the second as well. Brass walked, Sheilds smashed an RBI double to right, and then scored on Pucks’ 2-out RBI single. The inning ended with Pucks being caught stealing – that infectious #2 spot, huh? Brobeck also doubled home Chavez in the third inning for a 4-0 lead, but there came the point where we had to talk about J.J. Sensabaugh, and not even through a fault of his own. While New York didn’t score through two innings, they sure hit the ball much harder than against any of the other two failing starters that went before him. When the Raccoons started punching the walls on defense, the game threatened to go south in a real hurry. Sheilds’ bobbled Taki’s grounder to begin the bottom 3rd for an error, Rodriquez hit a 1-out single, and Pucks dropped Suggs’ fly for ANOTHER error, which REALLY sugged. Three on, one out, and a mound conference. Sean Zeiher fell to 1-2 before hitting a fly to right. Martinez made the catch, out #2, and Taki went for home – and was thrown out with a murderous throw! No runs scored in the inning…!

The Coons had the bags full with one out in the top 4th as Sheilds walked, Sensabaugh singled on a 1-2 pitch after failing to bunt, and Pucks would draw another walk after Labonte popped out. Caswell’s sac fly ended Taki’s day, but Zachariah Alldred got Chavez to ground out to strand a pair. The score remained 5-0 through five innings, even though nobody knew how the Crusaders were NOT scoring against Sensabaugh, who was backstabbed again by Labonte with a throwing error in the fifth inning, but stumbled through that, too, all the while striking out absolutely nobody, not even Alldred on an 0-2 pitch in the same inning…! It was a game on the very edge of reason. It took New York seven innings to score against Sensabaugh, who allowed a walk to Wiliams in the bottom 7th, then 2-out knocks to Rodriquez and Suggs, which plated a run and put runners on the corners, and brought on the cavalry in Eloy Sencion. Zeiher hit a lazy liner to left, and Pucks was on it, making the catch to strand the pair on base. Gunner Epperson singled off Sencion in the eighth, but was then doubled up to end the inning when Seidman grounded to Sheilds against Siwik.

Guastella’s ninth saw the bags full again with hits by Labonte and Lonzo (hitting for Pucks), and Caswell walked, all with one out, but Chavez smacked into a double play, 6-4-3, to end the inning. Siwik put the game away without any more accidents, though. 5-1 Critters! Puckeridge 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Caswell 2-3, BB, RBI; Brobeck 2-4, 2B, RBI; Siwik 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Four hits, four walks, no strikeouts for Sensabaugh, who looked crummy despite shortening his record to 3-4 in this game. It was enough to keep his job for another week, though.

Now that the terrible trio posted three wins in a row and with only five runs conceded in total by everybody combined, there was no reason not to expect Bobby Herrera to get run over by a hover cab well before making it to the ballpark in the first place on Thursday…

Game 4
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – P B. Herrera
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 1B Standard – 3B J. Ojeda – P Adkins

Pitchers’ duel! Neither team did much of anything for five innings, being held to two hits each by the other team’s pitcher, although New York had a double from Adkins (!) and had a few juicy flies to left that Brassfield all pulled down, though. The Raccoons would break through first, getting Bribiesca on base with a leadoff walk in the top 6th before Lonzo snapped a single to left. Unexpectedly, the Raccoons went for a double steal and pulled it off, but Royer and Chavez made poor outs with a pop and a K; but Brobeck came through with a single to left-center that plated both runners and gave Herrera a 2-0 lead. Adkins answered with a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, which gave him a supermajority of his team’s base hits in the game, and threatened to be stranded again until Zach Suggs singled to center with two outs. Adkins was held at third base, though, and wisely so, but when Sean Zeiher grounded out to Bribiesca, the team was turned away altogether.

Adkins was gone after seven innings, while Herrera had a 1-2-3 bottom 7th before giving up a leadoff triple to Ojeda, over Royer’s head, in the bottom 8th. Kissler singled in the run, 2-1, but Herrera starved that tying run on base and the Raccoons still led into the ninth. Ben Lussier got on his big mouth again when Jesus Martinez hit a homer to center for an insurance run, but Herrera didn’t return for the ninth inning with left-handers Zeiher and Epperson leading off there. Sencion was brought in, beaned Zeiher out of the game, but got a pop from PH Oscar Caballero to Bribiesca. Tanizaki then replaced him, got a double play grounder from Alejandro Silva, and the Raccoons completed a staggering sweep! 3-1 Furballs! Lavorano 2-4; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (4-2);

Hu-wheeeee!!!

The Raccoons jumped all the way to fourth place with this sweep, while the Titans suddenly had a 3 1/2 game lead atop the CL North again.

Raccoons (20-21) vs. Aces (22-20) – May 17-19, 2058

The Aces were living on their offense exclusively, putting up the second-most runs in the Continental League, but they were also allowing the most markers to the other teams. The rotation was crummy, and the pen was the outright worst with an ERA well over five at the first quarterpost. Portland had won the season series five years in a row, with a 7-2 rush in ’57.

Lots of injuries for the Aces, though, including pitchers Scott Evans, Ray Benner, and Hugo Saucedo, as well as outfielder Jose Ambriz and his replacement Scott Laws, the rookie switch-hitter having left the Aces’ last game with an injury that was undiagnosed as of Friday at game time. Their ace Evans (6-1, 2.66 ERA) was dealing with back stiffness while still on the roster, so the Aces were entering with 23 available players.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (4-3, 2.44 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (5-0, 3.91 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (2-3, 3.97 ERA) vs. TBD
Justin DeRose (2-4, 4.93 ERA) vs. Andres Flores (2-1, 5.21 ERA)

Saturday would be Evans, but he was not going to be available. Josh Wilson (1-6, 6.34 ERA) would be next in line if the Aces sent guys on short rest. All living starters within sight were right-handed.

Game 1
LVA: CF Thayer – 1B Jacinto – RF Austin – 3B A. Alfaro – 2B J. White – SS Huddleston – LF Grewe – C Mathews – P Robbins
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – RF Royer – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – P Stewart

The game was scoreless through three innings, with only a Chavez single on the Portland side, while Stewart gave up a hit in both of the first two innings, but also struck out four to stifle traffic. The fourth inning began less promising with an Alex Alfaro double to left, and Jim White singling to right. They were on the corners, at least until White stole second base. Phil Huddleston grounded out to Brobeck, and the runners held. Bobby Grewe whiffed, after which the Raccoons gave Kyle Mathews directions to first base intentionally to bring up the left-handed batting pitcher Robbins, casually hitting 9-for-19 with 4 RBI on the year. He struck out… in a full count…

Chavez and Royer singled with two outs in the bottom 4th, but Brobeck flew out to left. Nick Thayer hit a leadoff single in the fifth, stole second, but the Aces kept striking out, with K’s on Aubrey Austin and Alex Alfaro, and didn’t score, but finally broke through in the sixth with another leadoff single and stolen base for White. Huddleston also singled, and Grewe’s groundout and Robbins’ 2-out RBI single (gnashes teeth) gave Vegas a 2-0 lead. Thayer then flew out.

The tying runs were in scoring position immediately in the bottom 6th as Labonte singled to center and Lonzo doubled to left against Robbins. Caswell hit a sac fly, 2-1, but Robbins struck out Chavez and Royer to kill the inning. Stewart ran out of juice in the seventh and was rescued by Siwik with a guy on base, while Ornelas then had a clean eighth, all waiting for a Raccoons rally to keep the winning streak going and reach .500 again. Lonzo singled his way on with one down in the bottom 8th, but before he could even think about stealing a base, Caswell wrapped him up in a double play to end the inning. Ricky Herrera’s ninth was fine and he kept the Aces to their lonely run’s worth of lead, while the Aces sent left-hander Justin Rocco into the bottom 9th. Chavez struck out, but Royer and Brobeck hit singles past either side of Phil Huddleston. The Coons had only two right-handed bats left on the bench (Brass had been used) for the 7-8-9 batters coming up here, so Pucks still hit for himself, flying out easily to left. Martinez then batted for Toushi… and struck out. 2-1 Aces. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Chavez 2-4; Royer 2-4; Stewart 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, L (4-4);

(looks dismayed)

Game 2
LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – RF A. Austin – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – CF Manley – 3B D. McMullen – C M. Castillo – P An. Flores
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – P Carreno

The rookie Flores was sent on short rest and fell behind 1-0 in the first with singles to Lonzo, who stole his 16th bag of the year, and Caswell, who drove him home. Next time Lonzo was up he batted with the bases loaded and two outs after walks drawn by Brass and Labonte, with a Carreno single in between, but flew out to Ken Hummel on the first pitch. Caswell then opened the bottom 3rd with a jack to right, 2-0. Carreno, when not being a terror with the stick, didn’t look nearly as stoic and solid as on Monday, and the contact was harder from the beginning, but the Aces took a while to get going, hitting singles through Gustavo Jacinto and Matt Manley in the top 4th before Carreno was torched for a score-flipping 3-run homer by Danny McMullen, who hit his second career bomb at age 28-and-quite-a-bit, five years after the first one, and who hadn’t appeared in a major league game in nearly three years, then with the Knights – this was his season debut.

Carreno wobbled on, allowing a single and a walk in the fifth before Lonzo hit his first home run of the year to tie the game at three in the bottom 5th. Caswell also reached base, but was stranded in the inning. Carreno walked Jacinto to begin the sixth, then gave up a liner to Manley that Lonzo caught, and a liner by McMullen that nobody caught and that fell for a double. Manny Castillo popped out, but when Nick Thayer pinch-hit for Flores, Carreno was yanked along with him. The Aces took the lead when Thayer legged out a silly grounder on the infield for an RBI single, 4-3, but Jim White popped out after that… Bottom 6th, Brass and Lathers were retired by Andy Younge before Toushi pinch-hit and singled. Labonte got on, Lonzo got on – three on and two outs, and Caswell with a fly to deep right…! Go! Go! Go! No, the ******* thing was caught on the warning track by Austin…

Siwik and Hamann then stepped on their own tails in the seventh. Each allowed a run and a hit, and McMullen singled home a pair of insurance runs with three on and nobody out against Hamann. The Raccoons wound up with a scoreless eighth from Bravo, but no rally of their own, and then sent Kyle Brobeck out against the meat of the order in the ninth inning, as if that wasn’t a recipe for further disaster. Brobeck walked two, but struck out the D. McMullen – the D stood for DEVIL – to end the ******* inning, which I would go to proclaim as my moral victory for the day. No actual victory was to be had, and instead Caswell got dinged up on the basepaths in a collision with Miguel Veguilla at second base after hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 9th and getting forced out by Royer. Brobeck hit into a double play to end the game. 6-3 Aces. Lavorano 3-5, HR, RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1;

Caswell had to hit the DL with a sore/strained shoulder, but there was hope that he would only miss 15 days and then return as good as new. The Coons brought up OF/1B Joey Christopher, age 22, who had been acquired from the Miners last year in the Sean Sweeton deal. He had hit .346 in 52 AB by then for Pittsburgh, but had been assigned to AAA since then, batting .275/.446/.443 in 74 games in St. Pete. Center was not his strongest position, but he was more agile than anybody besides perhaps Royer and Pucks among our remaining outfielders. He was in the lineup on Sunday right away.

Game 3
LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – 3B A. Alfaro – RF Austin – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – CF D. McMullen – C M. Castillo – P Jo. Wilson
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – 3B Sheilds – P DeRose

Both teams scored two runs in the first inning, but only the Aces’ runs were earned, coming on Ken Hummel’s 2-out single after White walked and Alfaro doubled against DeRose in the top 1st. Lonzo reached base on a crazy throwing error by Veguilla before being doubled home by Steve Royer, who himself scored after a Chavez single and Pucks’ groundout.

Things could still go either way from here, but DeRose was absolutely ravaged in the third inning when first Alfaro and Hummel had base hits, and then four runs scored on back-to-back homers by Gustavo Jacinto and DANNY MCMULLEN. DeRose hung around for the fourth, but the Aces kept making loud noises and he was disposed of after that. The Coons tried to rally in the bottom 4th, getting Pucks and Martinez into scoring position with a 1-out walk and double, respectively. Joey Christopher had whiffed his first time up, but now rolled a ball under Wilson’s glove for an infield single, getting his first Coons RBI along with it. Sheilds came up as the tying run, whacked an RBI double to left-center, but Christopher was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first base. Toushi batted for DeRose, but flew out to McMullen to end the inning.

Hummel homered off Ornelas in the fifth, 7-4, while Jacinto singled his way on after that, but was forced out by McMullen, whom Ornelas would pick off to end the inning. Bottom 5th, the tying run was back in the box following Lonzo’s 1-out single and a walk drawn by Royer. Chavez fanned, Pucks grounded out, and the whole effort remained futile. Pucks at least threw out Aubrey Austin at the plate, trying to score from second base on a Hummel single in the seventh inning, still with Ornelas pitching, then caught Jacinto’s fly to left off Hamann to end the inning.

Brobeck’s pinch-hit double knocked out Wilson at the start of the bottom 7th, with Jim Woods giving up a single to Labonte to bring the tying run up yet again. Lonzo whiffed, Royer hit a sac fly, 7-5, and Chavez singled to actually further our cause with two outs. Pucks found Jim White though for an inning-ending groundout. Brobeck then somehow ended up on the hill for the second straight day, walked Castillo, but struck out White for a scoreless inning. When Sheilds drew a 2-out walk off Woods in the bottom 8th, Brobeck batted as the tying run against Younge, but grounded out, and didn’t return to the hill after that, although he couldn’t have done much worse than Eloy Sencion, who gave up an infield single to Austin, then another Hummel homer. Lonzo and Chavez hit singles in the bottom 9th to remove Younge for ex-Coon and left-hander Geoff Sather, the answer to which was Brass batting for Pucks. On one pitch, he grounded out to Jacinto. 9-5 Aces. Lavorano 2-5; Chavez 3-5;

Hummel went 5-for-5 with two homers and 5 RBI, while the Coons went oh-for-bozillion with runners in scoring position…

In other news

May 13 – The Titans trade CF/RF Antonio Cruz (.135, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to the Rebels for #112 prospect INF Jordan Hernandez.
May 14 – A herniated disc forces LAP SP Jim Reynolds (4-2, 4.06 ERA) on the DL; the Pacifics hope to have him back by July.
May 16 – The Blue Sox trade SP Levi Harre (1-2, 3.48 ERA) to the Warriors for two prospects. The deal includes #178 prospect SP Nick Reaper.
May 16 – A cracked shoulder blade to which is none-pitching arm is attached will cost TOP SP Bill Hernandez (1-2, 5.30 ERA) at least a month on the DL.
May 16 – Sacramento beats Denver, 7-1, scoring all their runs in a 7-run ninth-inning rally that includes a grand slam for veteran 2B/1B Erik Stevens (.250, 1 HR, 13 RBI).
May 17 – SAL INF/RF/LF Jeff Buss (.283, 5 HR, 27 RBI) goes all-out with five base hits and hitting for the cycle in a 10-3 win over the Capitals. Buss drives in five runs in his five-hit barrage that includes two singles.
May 18 – NYC SP Ben Seiter (5-3, 4.27 ERA) 3-hits the Knights in a 6-0 shutout, striking out six against no walks.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 1B Alex Abecassis (.246, 5 HR, 23 RBI), torching .450 (9-20) with 3 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Ken Hummel (.254, 7 HR, 32 RBI), slaying .583 (14-24) with 4 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Ka-BLAMM!! We swept the Crusaders, in New York!! (giggles madly)

And then we stumbled over the Aces as hard as anyone possibly could. Oh well. You win some, you lose more. It hurts more when you lose to Danny McMullen going 4-for-5 with 5 RBI after him spending nearly three years dilly-dallying through – in no particular order – Hampton, Fort Wayne, St. Louis, Au Sable and Corpus Christi. In short, this week made no sense whatsoever.

Lonzo’s game-tying homer on Saturday, in game #43 was then indeed the first home run by an actual infielder on the roster this year. This actually won Maud this year’s “Dumb **** These Suckers Will Do This Year” bingo, in which she had been off to a racing start when the Raccoons got swept in the first series, and the big three additions worth $81M total all having slumps in April also gave her a key space on her card… I had those two as well, but I would have needed them to lose a game in 18 innings or more to win…

Not having Caswell for two weeks sucks, but it could have come worse. Royer’s still hitting… a little. Caswell is second in WAR in the whole league as of Sunday night with a 2.7 … behind Ken Hummel (2.9);

Next week: road trip to Atlanta and Charlotte.

Fun Fact: Erik Stevens is a 15-year veteran in the league despite never hitting for much of anything.

Warriors, Buffos, Falcons, Pacifics, Crusaders, Elks, and now the Scorpions; the 36-year-old right-handed batter has been around.

He took a ring with the ’56 Crusaders, and a Gold Glove when he was much younger, but he hit for an OPS over 100 in a season in which he wasn’t traded just once, with the ’51 Falcons, going .259/.376/.371 with his career-high of ten homers included. Despite this, he still has a career 96 OPS+ as a beacon of “not great, but not killing us either” consistency. Besides, that glove also played quite nicely for many years.

Stevens didn’t become a full-time player until arriving in Charlotte at age 27, having spent his first four-and-a-half years coming off the bench for the Warriors. The Buffos first used him regularly in the second half of 2048. Overall he was a .242/.369/.323 batter with 1,215 hits, 48 homers, and 513 RBI. He also stole 64 bases.

Westheim · 12-22-2023, 01:52 AM

Raccoons (20-24) @ Knights (23-21) – May 20-22, 2058

The Raccoons came in having gotten swept by the Aces, who were now somehow near the top of the CL South, while the Knights had lost five straight games (including three in a row to the Crusaders, who like the Coons had been through an “interesting” last week) to drop away from the same spot in the division. They had the second-most runs on the board in the CL … while allowing the most runs overall, but still carried a +13 run differential. Their bullpen, interestingly, had the best ERA in the CL… roughly half that of their 5.49 ERA rotation. The Raccoons had won the season series for two years in a row, both times by 6-3 marks.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (3-4, 5.65 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (4-3, 5.34 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (4-2, 3.21 ERA) vs. Joe Napier (4-3, 3.58 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-4, 2.47 ERA) vs. Morgan Aben (2-4, 5.93 ERA)

Only right-handers for this series.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – 3B Bribiesca – P Sensabaugh
ATL: C M. Nieto – 1B Wheeler – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – RF Wada – CF Nork – P En. Ortiz

The Raccoons put two quick runs together to begin the week, getting Labonte and Lonzo on the corners with opening base knocks against Ortiz, a double and a single, and then scored them with Royer’s groundout and Pucks’ 2-out single, respectively. Similar story in the second, with leadoff singles by Bribiesca and Sensabaugh – only after failing to bunt repeatedly and two strikes – and a wild pitch and Lonzo’s 1-out single. Royer reached on Doug Triplett’s error, but Chavez and Pucks made poor outs afterwards. But be beware of the pitcher; Sensabaugh had two walks in the bottom 2nd, putting Triplett and Nick Fox on base, then allowed runs on Jushiro Wada’s single and a wild pitch himself. 4-2 after two innings, and this one promised to be far from over in terms of scoring…

Sensabaugh failed the bags full with a Marco Nieto single, a walk to Willie Acosta, and nicking Triplett in the bottom 3rd, but Fox then popped out to Lonzo to end the inning without an Atlanta run. He outlasted Ortiz, but not by much; the Knights pitcher was hit for in the bottom 4th, in which Wada walked and Nieto bopped a 2-run homer, tying the score at four. Sensabaugh completed five innings… on a whopping 105 pitches. At least he held the tie, but the Coons had no comforting amount of relief available, then had Reynaldo Bravo cough up a couple of walks in the bottom 6th before Jeff Wheeler’s RBI single gave Atlanta the 5-4 lead.

The Raccoons had been silent on offense for all of the middle innings, but Labonte and Lonzo began the seventh by reaching base again. However, Royer hit into a fielder’s choice, and then Chavez and Pucks did even worse, and the tying and go-ahead runs were stranded on the corners against Chris Jones. That turned out to be their last rally attempt in a game that got increasingly soggy as the weather worsened along with my mood. The last two innings were played in considerable rain. Bravo was abused for two innings by the Coons, and Tanizaki pitched the eighth, all in vain. 5-4 Knights. Labonte 2-4, 2B; Lavorano 3-4, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bribiesca 2-4;

Sensabaugh (3-4, 5.81 ERA) was purged the same evening, now finally with more walks than strikeouts on his ledger again. Due to the off day on Thursday, no starter was brought up right away, and instead we helped us to an extra reliever in righty Alex Rios, who didn’t have a run allowed in St. Pete this year.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – P B. Herrera
ATL: C M. Nieto – 1B Wheeler – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – RF Wada – CF Nork – P Napier

Three straight singles gave the Knights a run before they made an out on Acosta’s pop and Triplett doubled up the rest of the runners, but perhaps it was too much to expect Bobby Herrera to pitch a nice game once in a while for four bloody million bucks a year. Triplett singled home Nieto and his leadoff double with two outs in the bottom 3rd instead, while the Raccoons had zero base hits and only a double play hit into by Pucks the first time through against Napier. The Knights’ starter retired 11 for 11 batters before Steve Royer singled with two outs in the fourth inning. Chavez walked, and Pucks hit another single to load the bases, after which Brobeck and Brassfield tied the game by just holding still while Napier kept melting, drawing a pair of bases-loaded walks. Jesus Martinez, the expensive fool, then of course had to poke at a 2-0 pitch and flew out to Wada, leaving the bases loaded.

By the fifth, Portland was on top. Straight 2-out hits by Lonzo (single), Royer (double), and Chavez (2-run single) gave us a 4-2 edge before Pucks grounded out to short on a 3-1 pitch. Herrera needed 79 pitches through five innings (again), while scattering eight hits and getting four strikeouts. He lumbered on into the seventh, once there walking Josh Abercrombie (waves hi) before getting knocked out by Acosta’s 2-out triple well over the head of Royer in deep, deep center. Mike Siwik was no help, either, allowing a game-tying double to Triplett. Nick Fox walked, but Pedro Almaguer lined out to Lonzo to end the bedeviled inning, the score flat at four again.

Royer and Pucks walked against Eli Dupuis in the eighth inning, but nothing good came out of that for a lack of hits, while the tie was broken in the bottom of the inning by Matt Waters. That used to be good news, but it wasn’t anymore, because Matt Waters was no longer a Raccoon, as weird as it felt. Waters bombed Ricky Herrera to left for a tie-breaking homer, pinch-hitting in the #9 spot, and then the Coons went in order against Ruben Mendez in the ninth inning… 5-4 Knights. Royer 2-3, BB, 2B; Chavez 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – C Lathers – P Stewart
ATL: CF Nork – 3B Triplett – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – LF Abercrombie – RF Alade – 1B Wada – SS N. Fox – P Aben

Pucks drew a leadoff walk after an uneventful first inning, then stole his first base of the year. Brobeck singled him to third base, and Brass’ single gave Portland the 1-0 lead on Wednesday. Toushi’s grounder was mishandled by Fox to load the bases, after which Lathers whiffed, Stewart popped out, and – totally alien to the usual way three on, no out situations dissolved for this cursed franchise – Paul Labonte snapped a 2-run single through Triplett to up the lead to 3-0. Lonzo ended the inning with a fly to Abercrombie then. Jon Alade got his first hit of the year with a second-inning single that led nowhere; he had broken his hand like five minutes into the season and was returning only now, making his first appearance back from rehab in Corpus Christi.

The Coons had the bags full without the benefit of a base hit when Aben walked Pucks and Brobeck, then nailed Toushi with two outs in the top 3rd. Lathers’ fly to right left all of them stranded, though. The Knights then erased the 3-0 lead a run at a time; Nick Fox’ leadoff walk was brought around to score in the bottom 3rd, Abercrombie’s double and Wada’s single procured another run in the fourth, and in the fifth it was the pitcher Aben to hit a leadoff single and score on a base hit by Triplett with one out. Jushiro Wada walked in the bottom 6th, but was doubled up by Fox, and Stewart settled for six innings of *that*, having also get plonked around for nine base hits.

Lonzo’s leadoff single off Mario de Anda in the seventh led nowhere as first Royer forced him out and then Pucks hit into a double play altogether, but Ivan Ornelas held the Knights in check in the bottom of the inning, and then we got a SIGN – miracles DID happen! Two were out in the top of the eighth inning when David Hardaway thew a 91mph fastball to Toushi Imai, and Toushi Imai BATTERED the ball over the fence in rightfield for the first major league homer he’d hit in soon FIVE years!!

Would the bloody thing also be good for a W? Ornelas retired Nieto to begin the bottom 8th, but then Sencion allowed a walk to Acosta, a double to Abercrombie on which Acosta was thrown out at the plate by Jesus Martinez, who entered in a double switch with Sencion, and then another walk to Almaguer. Jesus H. Christ in a boat!! Tanizaki replaced Sencion, Wada hit a deep fly to center, but Steve Royer tracked that one down and the inning finally ended. Both the Raccoons and Knights then failed to reach base in the ninth inning, and the Raccoons narrowly ended their own 5-game losing streak. 4-3 Critters. Brobeck 2-3, BB;

Raccoons (21-26) @ Falcons (25-22) – May 20-22, 2058

After an off day, which the team unanimously voted to spend at a regionally renowned all-you-can-eat chicken emporium in Woodruff, SC, which led to more than one restroom break on the last 90-mile leg of the trip to Charlotte, the plan was for a 3-game set against the Falcons, who we had beaten 2-1 in the first series of the year. Charlotte ranked fourth in the South, three games off the lead, with the #5 offense and #6 pitching and a +10 run differential. Two of the top 3 teams in stealing bases in the CL were assembled for the weekend. Travis Edwards and Jayden Ward were notably absent on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (2-4, 4.22 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (4-4, 3.50 ERA)
Justin DeRose (2-5, 5.57 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (4-4, 4.18 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (4-2, 3.45 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (0-3, 6.43 ERA)

Sciuto was the only sciouthpaw we’d meet this week.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – CF Royer – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – RF Martinez – P Carreno
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – SS Hullander – P Schaeffer

Labonte singled and was caught stealing to nix the chances for a run in the top 1st, and the Raccoons would not get much more from the next bushel of singles they hit. Pucks’ with two outs in the second inning went nowhere, while Martinez and Labonte hit singles to take to the corners in the third inning. Lonzo flew out to Danny Ceballos, who threw out Martinez at the plate for a double play to end the inning. Pucks would do that trick to the Falcons in the same inning – after five straight Falcons had reached against Carreno. The game had started really, really well for Carreno, who retired the first six batters in a row, but the bottom 3rd began with Luis Miranda and Joe Hullander singles, and then he ****** up Schaeffer’s bunt to load the bases. Jose Rodriguez and Kyle Fisher hit RBI singles to give Charlotte a 2-0 lead, but Ceballos’ fly to left was then converted into the 7-2 double play on Schaeffer. Jason Schaack grounded out to Labonte, stranding two on base.

Carreno then suffered along with everybody else, walking two in the bottom 4th, which ended with the bags full and Martinez running down a Rodriguez fly ball in right-center to keep everybody stranded. The Coons got another three quick innings from their starter after that, with two toilet breaks in between, and he didn’t return from the ******* when his turn to bat came up in the top of the eighth and had to be removed from the game. It wasn’t like any sort of rally was taking place; the Raccoons had one base hit from the fifth through the eighth innings, a Brobeck single, and Pucks doubled up that runner right away. Hamann and Siwik held the Falcons to what they already had in the bottom 8th, while Schaeffer was still stirring in the ninth inning. Lonzo opened with a single to left, then was immediately doubled up by Chavez. Royer grounded out. 2-0 Falcons. Labonte 2-4; Carreno 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, L (2-5) and 1-1;

(knocks on bathroom door) Ramon, are you done? – Ramon? – Ramo-hon! – (waves for janitor) No, I can still hear him hacking, but let’s open the door with your master key.

Sigh.

Game 2
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – P DeRose
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 1B J. Caballero – SS Hullander – P Sciuto

Marcos Chavez stole his first career base by accident in the first inning on Saturday, misunderstanding a sign that told Lonzo to go from second base, but Chavez went along with him, which was not at all expected by the Falcons, who tried and failed to nip Lonzo at third base, leaving the Coons with a double steal. Brobeck hit an RBI single, Royer a sac fly, and Martinez singled after that, and Brassfield drew some more blood with a 2-run double to left-center before Pucks lined out to short to end the inning. 4-0 Coons, which felt like 1-0 with DeRose pitching. Or 0-0. The ******* dimwit didn’t even get the 4-run lead through ONE ******* inning, as Rodriguez and Ceballos singled, Bobby Anderson walked, and with two outs Luis Miranda cracked a bases-clearing double. Jorge Caballero added a game-tying RBI single. My rage could not even be contained by him hitting a leadoff single in the top 2nd. Bribiesca also singled, Lonzo hit an RBI double, and Chavez added a run with a groundout, 6-4, and Sciuto was yanked when his spot led off the bottom 2nd, with Doug Conner singling and getting doubled off by Rodriguez. Ceballos drew a leadoff walk the inning after, and Anderson then homered the game tied. Woodrome and Miranda reached, and DeRose was yanked after that and purged from the roster while the game was still going, which was technically against league rules, but Maud made the call to New York anyway after my call to Portland with her ended when I tore the payphone out of the ballpark wall in my fit of rage.

Siwik wiggled out of the inning to keep the score even at six, but fell behind in the bottom 4th on two singles and a Bobby Anderson sac fly. That Falcons lead was erased without making an out in the top 5th as Royer drew a leadoff walk from Franklin Mendoza and then scored right away on Jesus Martinez’ double to left-center. Brass walked and Pucks singled to right to load the bags with nobody out, and the Coons took the lead on Toushi’s pinch-hit sac fly to center, but the 1-2 batters then made soggy outs. The Coons then held that 8-7 lead with two scoreless innings by Alex Rios of all people, which felt like a cheat code nobody had found so far, while a tack-on run was added in the seventh when Pucks hit a homer off the remains of Raffy de la Cruz. Stingy relief by Ricky Herrera and Tanizaki followed, getting the Coons and their 9-7 lead through eight innings, but the bottom 9th began with Pucks dropping Alex Gomez’ fly for an error, and then Sencion walked Rich Fish and the tying runs were on base with nobody out. Kyle Fisher grounded to third base, Brobeck getting Fish out at second, but a double play wasn’t in the cards. Sencion had Ceballos at 0-2 before the slugger grounded to Bribiesca. Again the out was made at second base, but a second out wasn’t feasible, and the unearned run scored. Still, all we needed was an out on Bobby Anderson to end the game. A grounder to Lonzo did the trick. 9-8 Coons. Bribiesca 2-4, BB; Brassfield 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, HR, RBI; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

DeRose was BeGone, taking his 2-5 record and 6.34 ERA with him to St. Pete. Remarkably, we didn’t have a plan beyond Monday at this point; Bobby Herrera had the rubber game (on regular rest), and we had Stewart on Monday, and perhaps we could get rain on Tuesday to make things work out?

But anybody remember Colby Bowen?

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Imai – CF Christopher – C Lathers – P B. Herrera
CHA: C L. Miranda – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – CF Conner – SS Hullander – P Doyle

Miranda doubled to right and Ceballos’ single to center drove him in for a 1-0 Falcons lead against the routinely disappointing Herrera, who allowed more hits to those two in the third inning, walked Anderson too, and then was dealt another 2-run single by Woodrome with two outs. In that inning alone he reached four 2-strike counts, and didn’t whiff ******* anybody. The Falcons clubbed him for nine base hits in 96 pitches through five ****** innings, while the Raccoons didn’t do ANYTHING against a guy with a 6+ ERA. Herrera’s return for the bottom 6th yielded two singles and a Miranda sac fly before he was disposed of. Bravo finished that inning.

Down 4-0, the Raccoons had looked dead from the waist up for the entirety of six innings, but then the Falcons decided they had chanced their luck enough with Doyle and went to right-hander Adam Eutsler. Two blinks later, Lathers, Brass, and Labonte were on base with one out and Lonzo was batting as the tying run. He hit no more than a sac fly, but Eutsler then issued another eight straight balls to Brobeck and Pucks, forcing in a second run, before being yanked for ex-Coon Justin Johns, who was met by Royer batting for Martinez, but Royer grounded out calmly to Woodrome and that ended the inning. Hamann held the Falcons to their 4-2 lead in the seventh, but Colby Bowen allowed a single to Conner, nailed Hullander, and after Alex Gomez bashed into a double play conceded a run on Miranda’s 2-out RBI single. Colby Bowen things anyway (shrugs). 5-2 Falcons. Puckeridge 0-1, 3 BB, RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1; Sheilds (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 22 – The Condors lose SP Jay Everett (2-7, 4.71 ERA) for the season; the 25-year-old is down with a torn labrum.
May 22 – Five games across the league end in walkoffs on Wednesday, but the only one of those that goes extra innings is the Capitals’ 6-5, 12-inning win against the Pacifics, which ends on a home run by OF/3B Bryant Law (.215, 4 HR, 23 RBI).
May 23 – The Capitals walk off, 6-5 again, in regulation against the Pacifics on Thursday, this time on an error by Pacifics 1B Chris Rice (.331, 2 HR, 17 RBI).
May 25 – New York OF Oscar Caballero (.370, 3 HR, 8 RBI) hits a home run for the only scoring in the Crusaders’ 2-0 win over the Condors, who get their only base hit from their debutee pitcher, 24-year-old SP Mike Hall (0-1, 2.70 ERA).
May 26 – Thunder southpaw SP Thomas Turpeau (4-3, 4.93 ERA) faces 12 months on the sidelines with a torn UCL.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.358, 7 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF/1B Mike Harmon (.268, 9 HR, 23 RBI), batting .368 (7-19) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Coons baseball. Yaaay.

It sure felt like the journey to Nowhere began in earnest this week with the disposal of half the rotation. Carreno could go on regular rest on Wednesday, and Thursday was off, so we needed at least one starting pitcher to fill up the rotation for next week. Ryan Wade was the likely replacement for the culled numbnuts DeRose and Sensabaugh, and beyond that… (expressive shrug!)

This weekend, Matt Walters started a rehab assignment with the Alley Cats. We think he should be good to return after four or five outings, maybe a week from now.

Home week against West Coast teams coming up, with both the Condors and damn Elks flocking to Portland.

Fun Fact: Matt Waters has yet to make it into the lineup for the Knights this year.

By now he’s 37 years old and coming exclusively off the bench. At least he’s having success with that, hitting .333 with four homers and 12 RBI in those very limited appearances.

Last year Waters hit just .219 with the Caps, with 8 homers and 30 RBI in 84 games (half of them starts). He’s a career .262/.344/.428 hitter with 1,708 hits, 245 homers, and 960 RBI, plus 210 stolen bases. Most of this as a Critter, of course, including his two home run crowns in 2048 and 2053, and the FOUR rings!

Westheim · 12-23-2023, 06:14 AM

Raccoons (22-28) vs. Condors (15-35) – May 27-29, 2058

The Condors were scoring a healthy 3.4 runs per game, worst in the league, and combined with the fourth-most runs allowed and a -61 run differential, they were scraping the bottom of the barrel in the CL South. There was so much misery in the Condors’ lineup, they had NO position players even having at-bats to qualify for the batting title race…! The Coons were up 2-1 against them three games into the season series.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (4-4, 2.67 ERA) vs. Jose Salazar (1-5, 4.42 ERA)
Ryan Wade (0-0) vs. Miguel Batista (1-1, 2.72 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (2-5, 4.03 ERA) vs. Mario Clemente (2-2, 3.50 ERA)

The Condors brought up three right-handers, but had lost SP Jay Everett for the season and were without three regulars from the lineup, Nick Samuel, Jamie Harmon, and Tim Duncan.

Game 1
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – C J. Morales – 3B Frasher – 1B H. Ramsay – 2B Chapa – RF Burkhart – P J. Salazar
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – CF Christopher – RF Brassfield – P Stewart

The team that never scored scored first when Stewart leaked leadoff walks to Eric Frasher and Harry Ramsay to begin the second inning, Tim Burkhart singled, and Salazar hit a sac fly on a 3-1 pitch. Yaaay. Thankfully, Toushi was to the rescue and popped a home run to right to even the score in the bottom 2nd, and more solo home runs it was from there: Brass jacked one to begin the home half of the third, and Marcos Chavez added a leadoff bomb in the fourth for a 3-1 lead.

Those three home runs aside, the Raccoons had only a Pucks single and stolen base through five innings, while the Condors laid low until the sixth inning when Frasher drew another walk from Stewart, Rams singled him to third base, and Luis Chapa got an RBI with a groundout before Burkhart found Lonzo for an inning-ending double play. That maintained a 3-2 lead, but Salazar, the mean slugger, hit a leadoff single off Stewart in the top 7th, Alfredo Mendez added another single to center, and when Ornelas replaced Stewart, he ddin’t do anything helpful, loading the bases by giving up a single to Casey Ramsey, and then a bases-clearing double into the rightfield corner that sort of caused anarchy on the scoreboard. Ricky Herrera had to scrabble the team’s way out of that miserable inning.

Not all was quite lost yet, despite being down 5-3 in the eighth to a team that never scored in positive integers. Lonzo singled with one out in the bottom 8th, actually knocking out Salazar, and reliever Hector Montenegro immediately gave up a banger RBI double off the wall in left to Chavez, 5-4. Brobeck grounded out, moving the tying run to third base, while the Condors sent left-hander Jesus Chacon in. Jesus Martinez batted for Pucks, whiffed, and that ended the inning. Tanizaki somehow survived two leadoff singles in the ninth without giving up a run, after which right-hander Cody Sears got the bottom 9th. Toushi grounded out, but Christopher singled. However, fly balls by Brass and Sheilds were both caught by outfielders Mendez and Burkhart, respectively, and the Raccoons continued their miserable run. 5-4 Condors. Chavez 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Zach Stewart now had a losing record to go with his 2.84 ERA.

The Raccoons brought up Ryan Wade for the start on Tuesday, sending back Colby Bowen, who had managed to reclaim his 9.00 ERA in his first and so far only outing of the season on Sunday. Wade had gone a sturdy 1-3 with a 5.67 ERA for the Critters last year.

Game 2
TIJ: 2B Chapa – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – C Waker – 1B H. Ramsay – 3B Frasher – LF A. Mendez – RF Reina – P M. Batista
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Royer – 1B Brassfield – P R. Wade

Saying the Condors were ready for Wade would be an understatement; Luis Chapa banged a leadoff triple on Tuesday, Bobby Fish lined out hard to Labonte, and then Casey Ramsey went deep to left for a 2-run homer. Wheee! The inning mercifully ended after that, and Frasher grounded out to begin the second inning, but then Wade walked Mendez, nailed Reina, and at least managed to handle a bunt. Chapa singled in two runs then, Fish was drilled as well with another pitch nowhere near the zone, Ramsey hit an RBI single, and then Tristan Waker went whoopsie to right for a 3-run homer. Then Rams hit another homer. (opens bottle of Capt’n Coma and walks over into the screaming closet, firmly closing the door behind himself)

By the fourth, Brobeck was pitching much better than Wade (which didn’t mean a whole ******* lot), while the Coons put up a big rally by getting the 2-3-4 batters on base right at the start at the bottom 4th. Pucks then crashed into a double play, 4-6-3, and Lonzo’s run was the only one that scored in the inning. The Condors answered with two off Brobeck in the fifth inning, and two more off Hamann in the sixth, these last ones coming on another Harry Ramsay homer, making the six people in the stands and yours truly really wonder where the actual **** that Portland power had been all those bloody years!?

Down by a dozen to the league’s worst offensive team sparked at least some sort of reflex in the team; we can’t have that around here, so they drew four walks off Batista and Cory Leonard until Lonzo forced in a run in the bottom 7th, but otherwise struck out, struck out, and struck out in the inning, the last one being Chavez. Ricky Herrera allowed a leadoff single to Bobby Fish in the top 8th, with the runner then opining he had to steal second base. Rios was on the mound by that, then drilled Waker in retaliation. Ramsay grounded into a double play to clean up the mess on the basepaths, and the game mercifully ended not long after. 13-2 Condors. Chavez 2-4; Imai (PH) 1-1; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Jesus H. Christ in a laundromat!

Game 3
TIJ: 2B Chapa – CF B. Fish – C Waker – 1B H. Ramsay – 3B Frasher – LF A. Mendez – SS N. Fowler – RF Reina – P Mauricio
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Royer – 1B Brassfield – 3B Sheilds – C Lathers – P Carreno

The Condors brought right-handed spot starter Edgar Mauricio (2-2, 3.20 ERA) up on Wednesday, figuring they had this one in the bag anyway, but they’d be mistaken. Labonte opened the bottom 1st with a triple and scored on Lonzo’s sac fly to left, and in the bottom 2nd the Raccoons got Brass and Sheilds on base. Morgan Lathers, who had been useless for the entire month, struck out, but Carreno bopped a double down the line. Brass scored, but Juan Reina threw out Sheilds at the plate; Labonte singled home Carreno from second base, though, before Lonzo’s pop ended the inning with a 3-0 score. The Raccoons took Mauricio apart for good in the third, then, beginning the inning with no fewer than four straight hits, followed by a Sheilds sac fly and another RBI single by Lathers, that already off right-hander Pat Fortune. Labonte drove in a fifth run with a single, and the score was up to 8-0. Now we only needed Ramon Carreno to keep having a decent outing.

Carreno showed neither stuff nor efficiency, but at least he didn’t load the bases with crap all the time. The Condors were shut out through four, but got solo homers the next two innings by Nick Fowler in the fifth and then Bobby Fish in the sixth, which was alright – the Raccoons had romped Fortune for another three runs before his dismissal, with the RBI’s going to the battery of Lathers and Carreno for a pair of bases-loaded singles. Carreno tacked on another two scoreless innings after the homers for a genuinely nice outing when we needed the consolation most, but took 105 pitches to get there and wasn’t brought back for the ninth. Hamann did the job instead. 11-2 Critters. Labonte 3-5, 3B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5; Martinez 3-5; Brassfield 2-4, BB; Lathers 3-4, 2 RBI; Carreno 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-5) and 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI;

Morgan Lathers had his waiver documents prepared by Maud after striking out his first time up in this game, then went 3-for-3 to save his bacon for the weekend. Even with the 3-for-4, he’s still under .200 for the year.

The Condors? Still bottoms in runs scored.

Raccoons (23-30) vs. Canadiens (21-30) – May 31-June 2, 2058

The Raccoons were down 1-4 in the season series against the damn Elks, and also completely off the rolls in every regard as the month of May was coming to a close. The Elks were in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a -28 run differential (Coons: +3…!?)

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (4-3, 3.71 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (2-9, 7.44 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-5, 2.84 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (5-2, 2.97 ERA)
Ryan Wade (0-1, 48.60 ERA) vs. John Morris (4-2, 4.17 ERA)

Not a typo.

Southpaw Sunday, but that still meant looking at a damn Elks having some moss and leaves stuck in his antlers while pitching, and who wants to see *that*?? ALSO… you already knew that Anton Jesus was going to pitch a shutout, right?

Not on Friday though, when persistent rain washed out – well, of course, it was a Bobby Herrera start after all. Double header on Saturday, maybe.

Game 1
VAN: CF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – LF K. Hawkins – RF Needham – C Burgio – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B Lundberg – 2B S. Larsen – P A. Jesus
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – P B. Herrera

Bobby Herrera managed to throw 36 pitches to six batters in the first inning, walking Danny Garcia and serving up a 2-piece to Kyle Hawkins in the process. (opens bottle of Capt’n Coma)

Portland evened the score though in the third inning. Joey Christopher singled to lead off, and Lonzo, Chavez, and Brobeck all hit singles with two outs, with Chavez and Brobeck both driving in a run to get even at two. Pucks grounded out to end the inning at that point, though. Herrera was not as obviously terrible as in the first inning, and even made a nifty defensive play on a bunt by Anton Jesus, slinging the ball to third base to get the out on Shane Larsen, who had just opened the top 5th with a double to left. After that 36-pitch first inning, Herrera covered six frames on just 63 offerings, which was genuinely hard to comprehend. Business as usual for the offense, though, which did nothing after four singles in the bottom 3rd – the Coons were still on five base hits in the seventh inning. Labonte singled off Jesus with one out in the bottom 8th. Lonzo flew out, but Chavez hit another single, sending Labonte to third base. The Elks stuck to Jesus against Brobeck, who hit a fly to deep center – and Danny Garcia was *one* step late, but that was what turned a soul-withering F8 into a 2-run double and a late lead. Jesus then gave up another three 2-out singles and two more runs before being taken out of the game after all. George Youngblood got the last out for the Elks, and Ricky Herrera retired three straight with two strikeouts in the ninth inning. 6-2 Coons. Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Chavez 2-4; Brobeck 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

The W went to Eloy Sencion for a scoreless top of the eighth.

Now for part deux –

Game 2
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – C Weese – CF D. Moreno – 2B K. Hawkins – RF Needham – 3B Lundberg – 1B Rosenstiel – P Kozloski
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Bribiesca – CF Royer – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – P Stewart

Neither offense looked particularly up for another game on Saturday night. The Raccoons had two hits in five innings, and the Elks had four in the same span, scoring the game’s lone run so far in the third inning on Tyler Lundberg’s single, John Rosenstiel getting nicked, a bunt, and a groundout. What a rush of hitting. Top 6th, Kevin Weese singled and Damian Moreno walked with one out, and Hawkins nearly whacked another homer, but was denied of a 3-piece to right by about as many feet, and a hit at all by Pucks racing back to the fence and making the catch while feeling for the wall with his other paw. Bobby Needham chopped an RBI single through the left side, anyway, but Lundberg flew out to Brass.

Royer and Brobeck hit back-to-back singles in the bottom 6th, but the Raccoons didn’t make it further than Pucks’ sac fly that narrowed the score to 2-1 again. Stewart got knocked out in the eighth after two more hits by Weese and Moreno, with Neal Hamann holding the game together somewhat and stranding the runners in scoring position when Needham popped out foul to Brobeck. Kozloski offered a leadoff walk to Royer in the bottom 8th, putting the tying run on base. Brobeck singled to center on an 0-2 pitch, with Royer taking a big lead and reaching third base on the play. From there, Pucks hit a pathetic grounder that kept Royer pinned, and Toushi hit a pathetic grounder that kept Royer pinned, and Brass was down 1-2 against Kozloski with Royer and Brobeck in scoring position when he finally flicked a ball into play and over Rich Kuchta’s glove for a score-flipping, 2-out, 2-run single…! Rafael Flores replaced Kozloski, walked Lathers, but then got Martinez out in the #9 spot. The Raccoons went for Tanizaki in the ninth, which began with Lundberg flying out to Royer. Rosenstiel worked a walk in a full count, becoming the tying run on base, but Dave Bowden popped out. Danny Garcia hit a dangerously deep fly, but there was Pucks again, at the fence, reaching, feeling, and catching…! 3-2 Blighters. Royer 1-2, BB; Brobeck 2-4;

The win for this went to Hamann, so both ends of the double-header were won by a left-handed reliever in the eighth inning. Whatever works!

Playing on Sunday? Didn’t work. More rain moved in and we had out second rainout in three days.

In other news

May 27 – The Gold Sox not only beat the Miners, 13-0, but score all their runs in the seventh inning for a good old 13-spot.
May 28 – The Pacifics acquire MR Roberto Ramirez (2-0, 3.91 ERA, 9 SV) from the Stars for two prospects.
May 29 – The Aces could be without 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.294, 5 HR, 36 RBI) for a month; the 25-year-old left the last game with an ankle sprain.
May 31 – IND SP Shane Fitzgibbon (6-5, 4.50 ERA) and three relievers combine for a 1-hitter against the Crusaders in a 4-1 Indians win. New York doesn’t make it past a Mike Seidman (.270, 1 HR, 8 RBI) double in the second inning.
June 1 – Scorpions 2B/1B Erik Stevens (.250, 1 HR, 16 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow.
June 1 – CHA 3B Bobby Anderson (.245, 4 HR, 30 RBI) will be on the shelf for the month of June after separating his shoulder.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.306, 8 HR, 38 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 3 HR, 12 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT LF/CF Tim Weant (.299, 9 HR, 30 RBI), batting .429 (9-21) with 4 HR, 11 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: TOP INF Alex de los Santos (.302, 9 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .367 with 6 HR, 19 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL LF/RF Perry Pigman (.384, 5 HR, 37 RBI), bashing .388 with 5 HR, 26 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SAL SP Blake Sparks (8-2, 2.66 ERA), being a perfect 6-0 with 1.96 ERA, 23 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: BOS SP Ryan Musgrave (6-2, 2.50 ERA), going 4-1 with a 1.98 ERA, 25 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL C Ben Newman (.272, 7 HR, 32 RBI), hitting .284 with 3 HR, 16 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ SS Casey Ramsey (.295, 1 HR, 17 RBI), batting .298 with 1 HR, 13 RBI

Complaints and stuff#

Much has been said about the weather in Portland this year, all of which is true. (sits calmly on a soaked brown couch in a yellow raincoat as it appears to even rain INSIDE the office)

Sunday’s rainout will be made up in a double-header on July 5. Yes, that is a double-header right in front of the All Star Game, and at the tail end of that string of no-days-off-for-you-suckers. Always great for a team that has no pitching to begin with.

The team is playing frightfully against other bad teams, which makes me shiver at the mere thought of having to play the Crusaders again in the near future.

Not next week, though, where we head to Indy, then play the Wolves. Yay, more getting wet in Oraingon! Then even with Noah Caswell again, who will rejoin from the DL on Monday, replacing Joey Christopher.

Fun Fact: 60 years ago today, Manuel “Bam Bam” Movonda threw a no-hitter for the Raccoons against the Condors.

While June 2, 1998 was a day to celebrate, the lineup from that day (Concie Guerin, Luke Newton, Neil Reece, Mike Crowe, Clyde Brady, Jay Utting, Werner Turner, Steve Caddock, and Movonda) will hint at a thing or two that didn’t work that year and wouldn’t work for another decade from there.

We still love Neil Reece, though. And Conceico Guerin. And Clyde Brady was around for a long, long time.

This was also the last no-hitter in which the successful pitcher allowed a run – 2-1 final – until Dallas’ Mark Holliday lost a 1-0 no-hitter to the Warriors in 2037.

Movonda went 12-12 with a 2.84 ERA in his only season in the brown shirt before moving on to the Wolves and Knights to finish out his career. He was chiefly successful with the Falcons in the late 80s, although he led the league in strikeouts with the Aces in 1993. Overall, the Colombian right-hander went 190-192 with a 3.85 ERA in 527 games (514 starts), striking out 2,663 batters in 3,494 innings.

Westheim · 12-24-2023, 04:15 PM

2058 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

The Coons had a whopping 137 players on the shortlist for the upcoming amateur draft, for which we’d have the icky #13 pick in every round as well as a supplemental round pick; in actual numbers that worked out four picks just inside the top 100.

As usual we had prepared a bit of a hotlist with the shiniest talent (*high school player):

SP Ian Peters (15/14/13) * – BNN #9
SP Kelly Whitney (14/12/12) * – BNN #2
SP Paul Egley (13/13/15) *
SP Vince Ellison (13/13/12)

2B/SS Mark McCarty (12/10/14) *

OF Jake Evans (12/14/13) – BNN #7
OF Steve Scarpa (12/8/10) – BNN #5
OF Wade Griffith (12/7/12) * – BNN #10
OF Isaiah Birth (12/8/14) – BNN #4

Yeeeeah… it was not the best draft pool, to be honest. We had a *long* shortlist, but the hotlist was not exactly voluminous. There was half a dozen pitchers with excellent stuff and only two pitches and/or no control – a few of them actually inside the BNN top 10, namely John Knapp and Butch Money – which was not usually the stuff Hall of Fame plaques were made from. It was also a lot easier to find a shortstop with a glove than a shortstop with a stick, and catching was mostly desolate for yet another year.

Westheim · 12-25-2023, 10:36 AM

Raccoons (25-30) @ Indians (26-31) – June 3-6, 2058

The Raccoons were to play four games with the Indians, who they had already played four games against, splitting the whole affair two and two. Indy was bottoms in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed in the Continental League, lugging around a -40 run differential that looked a lot like it was gonna get bigger. Maybe not this week, though.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (3-5, 3.82 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (3-6, 4.15 ERA)
Ryan Wade (0-1, 48.60 ERA) vs. Jeremy Fetta (2-3, 3.47 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (4-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (6-5, 4.50 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Josh Barbieri (2-6, 5.02 ERA)

Fitzgibbon was the only southpaw to come up against the Critters in this series.

The Coons had been rained out on Sunday. We kept Carreno on regular rest on Monday, then moved Ryan Wade to Tuesday. Herrera and Stewart had both pitched on Saturday, so neither would be on regular rest to start on Wednesday. We might figure out something, use Brobeck, call someone up from AAA, or maybe meet somebody in the hotel lobby, a travelling insurance salesman that wanted to give pitching a go his whole life. Couldn’t be much worse than Wade.

Noah Caswell had been activated for the opener, and Matt Walters was still rehabbing in St. Pete, but was due to rejoin the team this week as well. He had so far pitched three times, and I wanted him to go out at least four times, maybe five.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – P Carreno
IND: 2B Kilday – 3B An. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – CF Abel – C Lefebvre – P B. Lawrence

Bill Lawrence retired 15 of 16 Raccoons he faced in the first five innings, only seeing Brobeck reach on an error in the second inning, and that was it for the Raccoons early on, while the Indians didn’t get *much*, but they got Carreno for a homer to left by Antonio Rios in the third inning, and Quinteros lashed a 2-out, 2-run double with Matt Kilday and Rios on the corners in the fifth inning for a 3-0 lead for the home team. The Raccoons loaded the bases in the top 6th through precious little talent of their own. Jesus Martinez slapped a leadoff single, and Carreno failed to bunt, poking for a duck snort single at 0-2 instead. Labonte tried the old 6-4-3 vanishing trick with a grounder to Ricardo Vargas, but Vargas bobbled the ball and the Coons instead had the tying runs all on with nobody out. Lonzo’s slow grounder to third base allowed a run to score while he was thrown out at first base by Rios, but Noah Caswell made all the doctor bills worthwhile with a game-tying single over the head of Vargas. The inning fizzled out after that, while Pucks and Martinez drew walks in the seventh inning against Lawrence, but Carreno bunted into an inning-ending double play, then continued his bid for an L when he allowed Kilday on base with a 2-out single in the bottom 7th. Kilday stole second, Rios socked an RBI double, and Quinteros would single home another run off Ricky Herrera when the Coons were finally full of Carreno’s act. Lawrence went eight, and Randy Slocum held up the lead for the Indians in the ninth despite a leadoff double by Marcos Chavez, who was stranded on second base. 5-3 Indians. Martinez 1-2, BB;

Matt Walters came back on Tuesday after throwing 17 pitches on Monday. Alex Rios (0.00 ERA) was returned to St. Petersburg.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – 1B Royer – LF Brassfield – P R. Wade
IND: 2B Kilday – 3B An. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – CF S. Thompson – C Lefebvre – P Fetta

Thankfully there was never a concern that Matt Walters might pitch on Tuesday. Ryan Wade briefly fooled me by starting the game with two outs, then walked Quinteros, nailed Orlando Ramos with an 0-2 pitch, threw a wild pitch, allowed a single to Chris Lovins, walked Vargas, and then Steve Thompson singled, another wild pitch, Michael Lefebvre doubled, ANOTHER WILD PITCH, and then a K to Jeremy Fetta finally ended the 5-run inning. Wade ****** another run on the board in the second, then walked the bags full in the bottom 3rd before hitting Fetta with another ****** pitch. He was yanked for Hamann, and was on waivers before the game was over. Hamann was also no more helpful than a wet rag, allowing RBI singles to Kilday and Rios, and another run to score on Quinteros’ double play grounder. 10-0 at that point, by the way. The game was essentially over, and it wasn’t like the Raccoons did any rallying. They scored a run in the fifth inning, getting on base Royer and Brass to begin the inning, but only scored on Fetta’s wild pitch. Yay. Ornelas allowed a run to Indy in the seventh that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. 11-1 Indians. Sheilds 1-1;

Ryan Wade (0-2, 46.64 ERA) was surely never going to be seen again around here. The vacated roster spot was used for Cameron Argenziano to make a spot start on Wednesday. The 30-year-old left-hander was 2-7 with a 4.20 ERA with the Alley Cats, and across an inexplicably long time of ferrying back and forth between Portland and St. Pete had accumulated a 10-12 record with 3.95 ERA in Portland.

Game 3
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Argenziano
IND: SS Kilday – CF Oldfield – 1B B. Quinteros – LF Abel – RF O. Ramos – C Lefebvre – 3B R. Vargas – 2B Bahena – P Fitzgibbon

I was begging the baseball gods for five innings from Argenziano and being vaguely in contention after that, but the Raccoons were actually up 2-0 after five innings, having scored their runs in the top 3rd, which began with … an Argenziano double. Lonzo doubled home the pitcher, and Caswell singled home Lonzo for the runs, while Argenziano was not flashy, but serviceable on the hill, though Noah Caswell did some heavy lifting in centerfield as well. Four hits, two walks, three strikeouts on 79 pitches through five didn’t scream ace, but hinted at the possibility of more spot starts, because the baseball gods knew the Raccoons needed a lot more spot starts…

The Coons couldn’t score in the seventh despite leadoff singles from Royer and Martinez, while the bottom of the inning saw an infield single from Bernie Bahena with one out, and the runner reached third base on Hugo Munoz’ pinch-hit single. Kilday grounded out on an 0-2 pitch, plating Bahena, and when Antonio Rios pinch-hit for Cory Oldfield, the Raccoons went for Tanizaki, who nearly gave up a homer to right on a 1-2 pitch. Martinez made the catch on the warning track. Top 8th, Ben Akman came on for Indy and retired nobody; Lonzo singled, Chavez tripled him home, Caswell hit another RBI single, and Brobeck walked. Jameel Williams then restored order and retired the 6-7-8 in a row, holding the Coons to a 4-1 lead. Lots of loud noises and base hits by Kevin Abel and Lefebvre gave Indy a counter-run in the home half of the eighth, ultimately setting up Matt Walters for his first ABL save chance of 2058. He converted it in three batters. 4-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, RBI; Argenziano 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-2, 2B;

Game 4
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – C Lathers – P B. Herrera
IND: 2B Kilday – 3B An. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF O. Ramos – CF Oldfield – SS R. Vargas – RF Abel – C Villafan – P Barbieri

Bobby and Barbieri traded zeroes for three innings before the Indians’ right-hander left with an oblique tweak and the bullpen took over for them. It took two innings of Matt Green for Brass to single and steal a base, then come home with two outs on Labonte’s single through the hole on the right side. Offense was very much at a premium for either side, with three base hits for either team by the time of the seventh-inning stretch. Herrera had only allowed one hit to actually leave the infield. The bottom 7th began with Ramos reaching on a Brobeck error, which wasn’t great. Oldfield struck out, but Vargas legged out another infield single, which was mildly annoying. Same for the wild pitch that Herrera threw at 0-1 to PH Steve Thompson. The runners moved up, but Thompson’s poor second out didn’t allow for a run to score, and Willie Villafan’s fly to center ended up with a hustling Caswell to end the inning. The eighth was calm and collected, and the ninth presented a conundrum. The stinky Coons had not gotten past a 2-out single by Jesus Martinez in the top 9th, but Herrera looked absolutely in control whenever Brobeck wasn’t sabotaging him. So instead of bringing in Matt Walters, we brought in Tyrese Sheilds to bring calmness to third base. Quinteros flew out to center, but Ramos walked. Oldfield popped out. Vargas went down on strikes. 1-0 Blighters! Martinez 2-4; B. Herrera 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (5-3);

First career shutout for Bobby Herrera! Finally!

110 pitches, but Herrera’s build says he can take that easily, like Taki most recently.

Raccoons (27-32) vs. Wolves (33-26) – June 7-9, 2058

Bragging rights for best team in Oregon were on the table on the weekend, with the Wolves coming in for three games. This was the third straight year of these teams meeting each other in the regular season, with the Raccoons also having a 3-series winning streak, going 2-1 on the Wolves in ’57. Salem was tops of the FL West, though, with a rather average offense, but allowing the third fewest runs in the Federal League. That was with the best rotation and the second-worst bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (4-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Ben Peterson (4-4, 4.12 ERA)
Chance Fox (0-0) vs. Gabriel Casanova (5-3, 3.56 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (3-6, 4.08 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (9-2, 2.69 ERA)

The series would start with us facing two southpaws, and then a right-handed ace on Sunday. Oh woe is me.

Chance Fox had been a #3 pick in the 2053 draft, and had made it up the levels rather slowly for being that high a pick. He had ranked as high as #29 as a prospect, but was #52 going into this season. He would turn 24 later this month. He was a southpaw and threw a 96mph heater, slider and changeups for groundballs, and way too many balls in general, but we needed a warm body and he was next in line. He also wasn’t on the roster yet, and I wasn’t exactly sure how to get him on after all.

Game 1
SAL: CF Calhoun – 3B Crist – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Fuller – CF J. Gutierrez – RF Rock – 2B Pietsch – P B. Peterson
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Stewart

‘nother pitching duel; Stewart and Peterson were trading 2-hitters through five innings, with one of the hits Stewart served up having been a Peterson single. Both were walking a couple as well, but neither team had managed to shove anything across home plate. A leadoff walk to Tom Crist in the sixth inning didn’t change anything about that, but Jose Gutierrez singled up the middle to begin the seventh, and out of bloody nowhere Stewart gave up back-to-back bombs to PH Jose Campos and Nate Pietsch for a 3-0 deficit. Siwik replaced him after that, while the Raccoons got a leadoff single from Brobeck and Steve Royer to hit into a double play in the home half of the same frame… Top 8th, Jeff Buss and Belchior Fresco hit singles off Siwik, who got a double play from Tim Fuller, but Buss scored an extra run from third base. The Raccoons looked beaten even when Toushi hit a surprise home run in Siwik’s place in the bottom 8th, and then got another run scratched out against Jason Posey in the ninth when Pucks singled home pinch-runner Paul Labonte, but by then I was sobbing uncontrollably because Labonte was running for Caswell, who had banged up his knee sliding into second base on his earlier double and limped off the field. Martinez ended the game with a fly to center then. 4-2 Wolves. Brobeck 2-3, BB; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

His knee is bruised, Luis? – How bruised? – I mean, can he zoom around like a Gold Glove centerfie…– *Fine* I’ll put him on the DL…

WELL. At least that opened a roster spot for the one-off cameo for Chance Fox… One-off for now, because we’ll have a day off five days from Saturday, so he won’t hang around after the start.

Game 2
SAL: CF Calhoun – 3B Crist – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Newman – RF D. Gonzalez – CF J. Gutierrez – 2B Pietsch – P Casanova
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – P Fox

Merely 4-4 with a 4.85 ERA in St. Pete, Chance Fox struck out Aidan Calhoun to begin his major league career, and whiffed three in total the first time through the Wolves order, giving up nothing outside a Belchior Fresco single. Of course, we can’t have nice things here, so the fourth inning began with a Tom Crist single to center, then walks to Buss and Fresco. Three on, nobody out, Fox whiffed Ben Newman, whiffed Dave Gonzalez, nailed Jose Gutierrez with a 2-strike pitch, NAILED NATE PIETSCH WITH A 2-STRIKE PITCH, and then gave up a bases-clearing double into the left-center gap to the ******* opposing pitcher. – Maud, no!! Take your paws away and LET ME THE **** GO!! (tries to hang himself from the highest shelf of the bobblehead display while Maud keeps tugging around on the noose and Cristiano Carmona tries to hold up his hindpaws to keep it loose while having Clyde Brady and Luke Newton bobbleheads rain down on him)

Fox ended up going two-and-a-third more innings without allowing much at all, ending up with a wicked line that included three hits, three walks, and five earned runs, not that he didn’t deserve every single one of them up his furry tush.

The Coons were bloody awful and had two base knocks before the stretch, then a Brobeck homer over the fence in rightfield right out of the stretch, narrowing the score all the way to 5-1. Brass and Martinez hit singles to knock out Casanova, while right-hander Brian Fuqua walked Pucks in the #9 hole, but Labonte ended the inning with a grounder to short when he batted for Bribiesca with three on and two already out. The only other run that was scored in the game came off Brobeck in the ninth inning on two more Salem hits. 6-1 Wolves. Brobeck 2-4, HR, RBI;

(sits loudly bawling at the foot of the shelf in a sea of 2000-ish Raccoons bobbleheads)

Game 3
SAL: CF Rock – 3B Crist – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Newman – RF D. Gonzalez – LF J. Gutierrez – 2B Pietsch – P Sparks
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – CF Oley – C Lathers – 3B Sheilds – P Carreno

Todd Oley had batted .275 with no homers for the 2057 Raccoons and was similarly powerless in AAA this year, but was brought up as a new left-handed outfielder after Joey Christopher had been rather disappointing during Caswell’s most recent DL stint. Oley also got an RBI single in his second at-bat of the year, driving in Brass, who had just doubled the game’s first run across. Oley was then caught stealing to end the inning.

Carreno had a 1-hitter until he didn’t when Tom Rock, Tom Crist, and Jeff Buss all flicked singles to center or left-center at the start of the sixth inning. There was no mercy. Belchior Fresco belted in two runs, and Newman’s groundout and Dave Gonzalez’ sac fly cleaned up the bases pretty good for a 4-2 Wolves lead. Carreno got a few more outs and Sencion got some more. Ornelas gave up a run in the ninth. The Coons offense never ever ******* did anything anymore and the team ended up swept. 5-2 Wolves. Oley 2-3, RBI;

In other news

June 3 – It’s 2,000 career hits for SAC SS/2B Chris Navarro (.306, 0 HR, 19 RBI) with a 2-for-4 day in a 5-1 win over the Warriors. The 2-time FL stolen base and 2-time FL triples champion locks down the milestone with a second-inning single off SFW SP Victor Salcido (2-8, 5.01 ERA).
June 5 – SAL OF Tom Rock (.300, 2 HR, 4 RBI) hits his first two home runs of the season, including a 2-run walkoff home run in the bottom 10th to beat the Stars, 9-8. The game was tied at three past eight innings before both teams scored a 4-spot in the ninth. Dallas offered one run in the top 10th, but was outbid by Rock’s second longshot.
June 8 – NYC SP Ben Seiter (8-3, 3.51 ERA) 1-hits the Pacifics in a 9-0 rout, striking out nine L.A. batters. Only INF Steve Diaz (.234, 3 HR, 26 RBI) hits a double for the Pacifics while New York’s LF/RF Danny Ramirez (.417, 0 HR, 3 RBI) goes 5-for-5 with an RBI.
June 8 – ATL OF/1B Jon Alade (.192, 0 HR, 8 RBI) will miss another four weeks with a torn thumb ligament.
June 8 – The Scorpions beat the Indians, 6-4 in 16 innings. Six of the game’s ten runs are scored in the 16th inning.
June 9 – The Thunder will be without 3B/RF Ed Soberanes (.338, 7 HR, 31 RBI) until the All Star Game. The 34-year-old was laboring on a strained hammy.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.342, 9 HR, 46 RBI), punching .630 (17-27) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC INF Zach Suggs (.285, 12 HR, 41 RBI), hitting .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 14 RBI

Complaints and stuff

14 runs in seven games ain’t much. Not even honest work. (glares at some position players in the other corner)

It took just five days to re-break Noah Caswell, so now he’s on the DL with a bum knee. Maybe in two weeks we’ll get to marvel at our $36M man again.

No claims on Ryan Wade. No ****, I wonder why!

The season promises to grow long from here. Another 100 games need to be played by the Critters, which probably means they’ll score another 200 runs.

Next week: Cyclones, Crusaders, more tears, and the annual draft on Saturday.

Fun Fact: Kyle Brobeck leads the team in batting average among qualifiers.

Our best batter is a pitcher that can’t pitch anymore.

No, Maud, I want that on the bloody 2058 yearbook.

Westheim · 12-28-2023, 05:08 AM

Raccoons (27-35) @ Cyclones (25-38) – June 10-12, 2058

Cincy ranked second from the bottom in both runs made and runs served up in the Federal League, which combined with the Raccoons’ wild ineptitude made for a series that was definitely worth watching if you wanted to sober of your baseball addiction. They had the worst rotation; we had the worst OBP – and both teams were contenders in a multitude of other categories. Subtle difference, though: the Cyclones were worst in defense in the FL, but the Coons *led* the CL in defense – despite Brobeck at third and leftovers at first and Lonzo having reached the wrong side of 30. These teams played last year as well, with Cincy taking two of three wins.

Projected matchups:
Cameron Argenziano (1-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. Cameron Parks (6-6, 3.54 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (5-3, 3.21 ERA) vs. Marcos Rivera (3-5, 3.48 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-6, 2.90 ERA) vs. Jordan Ramos (5-3, 4.48 ERA)

Rivera was a left-hander, the other two were not.

The Cyclones had 31 home runs as a team (second-worst in the FL by itself), with 14 of those mashed by John MacDonnell, a 26-year-old that had hit 17 last year. Yes yes, the Raccoons had just 36 homers themselves. No need to snitch…

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – RF Martinez – CF Royer – P Argenziano
CIN: SS Wartella – 2B Humphries – C Wheat – RF MacDonnell – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Elkins – CF Volker – LF G. Perez – P Parks

By the end of the first inning on Monday, nothing remained from Argenziano’s somewhat decent outing last week. Matt Wartella doubled, Joe Humphries hit an RBI single, and after two outs were made Joe Sturgeon singled, Jon Elkins hit an RBI double, and Tony Volker walked the bags full before Geraldo Perez mercifully grounded out to Labonte to keep it 2-0. The Coons had a walk from Labonte in the first, and a single from Labonte in the third, and then Chavez opened the fourth inning with a double to center. Two well-placed groundouts scored that runner for a change, but the same was true for Jon Elkins and his leadoff double to right in the bottom 4th, Elkins scoring on Perez’ sac fly to restore a 2-run gap. Another run scored in the fifth, although it was unearned on Argenziano, thanks to Royer’s throwing error on MacDonnell’s single to center, the second hit in the inning.

The best that could be said about Argenziano was that he made it through six-and-a-bit, getting Parks on a pop to Labonte to begin the bottom 7th before Wartella singled and put him out of his misery. Reynaldo Bravo came on, struck out Joe Humphries, and Wartella went on the 2-2 pitch and was caught stealing by Chavez to end the inning. Top 8th, Parks plonked Jesus Martinez, who growled, but went to first base orderly. Royer popped out before Toushi batted for Bravo and plonked one over the fence in right for his fourth homer of the year, narrowing the score to 4-3. Labonte then zinged a triple to left-center, which all of a sudden put the tying run just 90 feet away. Lonzo slung a double past Elkins and up the leftfield line, but that was the end of the sudden rally – so sudden that the Cyclones didn’t have anybody up in the pen when Parks exploded. The Cyclones, however, returned the favor just as fast, bashing Tanizaki for three hits and a run in the bottom 8th. Sturgeon singled, Elkins doubled him home, and PH Brycen Fink hit another single before Eloy Sencion rung up PH Greg Hendrix to get out of the damn inning.

Top 9th, and Willie Cruz, who had been a right disaster as Coons closer some years back, gave up a double to Martinez and a game-tying single to Royer with one out. Was this the right time to mention that Toushi was still in the game, having stayed at first base earlier while Brass moved out to leftfield, with the pitcher now in Pucks’ spot? Toushi batted again, and crashed another 2-run homer!! The madness! TOUSHIIII!!

The Coons went on to load the bases against a myriad of relievers (*there* they were!), but Bribiesca popped out to center to strand everybody without a tack-on run. This would cost us severely. Matt Walters struck out Mike Thomason to begin the bottom 9th, but then Labonte threw away Wartella’s grounder for two bases. Humphries grounded out, but Tom Wheat singled home a run with two outs, which brought up the monster MacDonnell. The game ended on a 382-footer, his 15th homer of the season. 8-7 Cyclones. Labonte 3-4, 3B; Imai (PH) 2-2, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

(blinks slowly)

Game 2
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 1B Royer – CF Oley – P B. Herrera
CIN: SS Wartella – 2B Humphries – C Wheat – RF MacDonnell – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Elkins – CF Gill – LF Volker – P M. Rivera

The Raccoons got a Lonzo double and two Cyclones error for a 1-0 lead in the first inning; technically Brobeck got the RBI, but I actually was already grumpy that they didn’t make more of it. Herrera came off a shutout last time out, his first in the ABL, but would have no such luck this time for the single that Jon Elkins hit in the bottom 2nd, and much more for Tony Volker’s score-flipping 2-out, 2-run homer that followed. He was back to inefficient, too, and gave up the odd long double as well, including one to reliever Matt Otte to begin the bottom 5th, although in that case a strikeout to Wartella and two pops stranded the runner. Why was Rivera out of the game? Nothing the Coons did for sure; he left in the fourth with what was later labeled “arm fatigue” and he’d miss at least one start. The score remained 2-1 until Elkins lobbed another 2-run homer off Herrera in the sixth, which made it jump to 4-1.

Toushi batted for Herrera in the seventh inning, doubled to right, but was stranded by the 1-2 pokers. Bottom 7th and a bit of a spectacular play; Neal Hamann was pitching for Portland, got two outs, then allowed a single to Humphries. Tom Wheat hit a drive to deep right, Martinez was going back to the fence, leapt, didn’t make the catch, and both him and the ball caromed off the wall while Humphries was chugging around the bases. The ball bounced right in front of Martinez though, and the Cuban fired a real javelin of a throw to home plate where Humphries was thrown out and then stared in disbelief at how that had been possible. Martinez also hit a single in the eighth inning, but that was the last squeal made by a Critter in this game. 4-1 Cyclones. Imai (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Pitching change for Cincinnati on Wednesday: they brought Keith Thompson (2-6, 7.96 ERA) into the final game of the series. The right-hander would probably shut out the Raccoons for a 6-game losing streak.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – RF Martinez – CF Royer – C Lathers – P Stewart
CIN: SS Wartella – 2B Humphries – C Wheat – RF MacDonnell – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Elkins – CF Volker – LF Anzo – P K. Thompson

Labonte and Lonzo hit singles to open the game and scored on two groundouts by the 3-4 batters and a Toushi single, respectively, for a 2-0 lead on Stewart, whose game started with Wartella reaching on catcher’s interference, but Humphries hit into a double play to make up for that injustice. Wheat walked and MacDonnell bid for #16, but only made it to the warning track and Pucks’ glove for the third out of the bottom 1st.

Also, don’t you dare thinking the Raccoons were tearing Keith Thompson a new one; after the three singles in the first inning they didn’t get another hit until Brobeck got a single in the third, and didn’t score then either. Through five it was still a 2-0 game even though Stewart was begging for homers with at least four scary deep drives off him, but only two actual base hits for the Cyclones. Come the sixth, he walked Humphries with one out, then gave up a double on the leftfield line to Wheat, presenting MacDonnell (.263, 15 HR, 46 RBI) with the tying runs in scoring position. MacDonnell fell to 0-2 ripping, then settled for a poker through the right side for an RBI single, 2-1. Sturgeon struck out, Elkins flew out, and the tying run remained on third base. Stewart retired the 7-8-9 in order after the stretch, then was hit for with Sheilds as his spot opened the top 8th. Sheilds drew a walk, but Labonte popped out and Lonzo hit into a double play to kill any effort at an insurance run in the cradle. Three different relievers held on to the 2-1 lead in the bottom 8th. Ricky Herrera only gave up a single to Wartella, while Bravo got two outs from Humphries and Wheat, and Sencion managed to keep MacDonnell in the park and where Martinez could jog to make a catch. Walters saved the game this time, thanks to no errors behind him. 2-1 Blighters. Stewart 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (5-6);

Keith Thompson pitched a complete-game ******* 4-hitter.

Raccoons (28-37) vs. Crusaders (36-28) – June 14-16, 2058

If somebody had a chicken to pluck with the Raccoons, it was these Crusaders, who had been caught up in a stupefying 4-game sweep against the Raccoons in May and were still trying to catch up with the Titans for that. They had won five in a row, had the best pitching in the league, and were scoring at least sufficiently, fifth in the CL and with a +39 run differential. Except when they played Portland, in which games their run differential was -18. (snickers then immediately ducks fearing retribution from the baseball gods)

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (3-7, 4.19 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (8-3, 3.51 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (1-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (3-7, 4.52 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (5-4, 3.40 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (7-2, 3.16 ERA)

Only right-handers readying for the Crusaders here. Missing from the action would be two pieces from the lineup, though, as Tony Rodriquez and Juan Ojeda were both on the DL for them.

Game 1
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – C Seidman – RF Zeiher – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Sevilla – LF D. Ramirez – CF O. Caballero – 3B Adame – P Seiter
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – RF Martinez – CF Oley – P Carreno

New York came out swinging – literally. Mike Seidman singled in the first, and then Sean Zeiher and Zach Suggs both homered to left, and just like that it was 3-0 on Carreno, and pretty much the ballgame over, even before Carreno completely collapsed in the fourth inning. Leadoff walks to Danny Ramirez and Oscar Caballero, then a single by Alex Adame, and with the bases loaded even Ben Seiter hit an RBI single. It was straight into the ****** from there, four runs scored in the inning, and when the Raccoons, who didn’t get any hits off Seiter in the first three innings, packed five singles into the fourth inning, they still only scored two runs in return before Seiter finally rectified his act and struck out the L+L pair atop the lineup with the bases loaded to bugger out of the frightful jam.

The Coons dragged on, eventually scoring a third run when Toushi drew a walk, advanced on two groundouts, and then scored on a wild pitch. Ornelas threw two innings for no runs, while Hamann tossed one frame and got scuffed for a 2-run homer by Raul Sevilla. Inevitably, Brobeck then found his way to the hill in the eighth. Omar Sanchez drew a walk, then was caught stealing, keeping his lead over Lonzo in the stolen base category at 21-19. Brobeck walked the bags full for no additional outs in the ninth inning, and Bravo conceded all the runners after coming on in “relief”, offering a bases-loaded walk to Danny Ramirez, an RBI groundout to Caballero, and a wild pitch. 12-3 Crusaders. Royer (PH) 1-1, RBI; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Complete-game 5-hitter for Ben Seiter, for whatever it was worth.

Game 2
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – 3B Ale. Silva – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – C Seidman – 1B Sevilla – CF C. Williams – LF O. Caballero – P Cantrell
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – CF Royer – RF Brassfield – 3B Sheilds – P Argenziano

Argenziano served up a solo jack to Sevilla in the second inning, which was one thing, but then began the third with the nice sequence of Cantrell double, walk to Sanchez, wild pitch, and a walk to Alejandro Silva, which was another steaming pile of **** entirely. Stunningly, the Crusaders were just as bad, as Zach Suggs popped out, Sean Zeiher hacked himself out, and Seidman hit a cozy fly to Pucks to strand all the runners. The Raccoons meanwhile had Labonte on and stealing a base in the first before being stranded, Royer on and stealing a base in the second before being stranded, and Labonte being caught stealing to end the third before that awful string could continue any further, thankfully, much obliged.

Not much else happened from there to the sixth, with the home team dragging on Argenziano regardless of results, because what other pitchers did we really have? It was still 1-0 when Cantrell nicked Lonzo to begin the bottom 6th, and Lonzo scooped his 20th base of the year, then immediately scored on the next pitch, which Chavez hit for a single to left-center. Pucks walked, while Toushi, who had hit a deep fly for an out the last time up, grounded out to move the runners into scoring position. Royer lined out to short with Pucks almost doubled off second base, but Brassfield then managed to miss the wide-ranging Suggs and hit a 2-out, 2-run single to left-center, giving Portland a 3-1 lead! Argenziano went back to the hill in the seventh, but retired only Cantrell before Sanchez singled. Mike Siwik then got two flies to Royer to get out of the inning. Eloy Sencion retired three in a row in the eighth inning; same as for New York’s Jose Ortega.

Walters then got the ball for the ninth against the 7-8-9 batters. Chad Williams walked on four pitches, and **** went downhill from there. Caballero grounded out, but Alex Adame hit an RBI single, Sanchez walked, and Eric Cobb pinch-hit for a soul-destroying 3-run homer. Even Ben Lussier couldn’t blow that comeback win in the bottom of the ninth anymore… 5-3 Crusaders. Labonte 3-4; Chavez 2-4, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, 2 RBI;

(blank stare)

Game 3
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – C Seidman – RF Zeiher – SS Z. Suggs – CF Epperson – 1B Sevilla – LF Cobb – 3B Ale. Silva – P Luera
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – RF Martinez – CF Royer – C Lathers – P B. Herrera

The skies looked as they usually looked for a Bobby Herrera start in Portland, so the only hope was to get through five as soon as possible and hope for the rest of the Portland Dolders (casual check on everybody’s ancient Critters history) to somehow scratch out a run. Herrera held New York to two singles in the first three innings before he actually did get a lead in the bottom 3rd. Morgan Lathers, completely invisible since a hot start in April, singled up the middle to begin the inning and was bunted to second by Herrera. Labonte then singled to right, where Sean Zeiher overran the ball to allow the Raccoons to wave home Lathers for the game’s first run, while Labonte wound up at second base, briefly, before being singled home to score by Lonzo, who stole his 21st base, but was stranded by Pucks and Brobeck.

One more inning in peace and tranquility for Herrera, and then it started to rain. We had a 40-minute rain delay on our paws before the bottom 4th was over. Herrera batted for himself and struck out with Martinez and Lathers on the corners to end the inning, then returned to the hill. At least he had only thrown 48 pitches before the inevitable drowning from above, so maybe he was good to go through at least one more inning for a sniff of a win? Raul Sevilla opened the fifth with a blooper into shallow center for a single, but Eric Cobb popped out and then Herrera struck out the 8-9 batters to get five innings in. Everything beyond that would be glazing now. Omar Sanchez got a leadoff walk from Herrera in the sixth, stole a base eventually, but the inning ended with a K to Zach Suggs and Sanchez stranded at third base.

Herrera resumed to pitch in the seventh, except that was the other Herrera, who got two quick outs from Gunner Epperson and Sevilla before a double switch brought in Siwik and Brassfield, who took over first base. One more pitch completed the inning, Cobb grounding out to short. Luera got one out in the seventh before walking Lathers and being lifted for Kyle Turay. Brass singled, but Labonte popped out. Two down, Lonzo lashed a ball through the left side for a 2-out RBI double, 3-0, and on the next pitch Pucks fired a laser through the hole on the other side for a 2-run single! Brobeck grounded out, but Siwik had a 1-2-3 eighth, and then the wheels came off when Neal Hamann got paws on the ninth inning. Mike Seidman cranked a leadoff jack, 5-1, Zeiher reached on Labonte’s error, and after two outs were actually made, Sevilla singled sharply to center. Switch-hitting Chad Williams pinch-hit for Cobb in that situation; the Raccoons turned him on his (slightly) weaker side with Tanizaki, and Williams grounded out to Labonte to end the game and avoid the sweep. 5-1 Coons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Oley (PH) 1-1; Lathers 2-2, BB; Brassfield 1-1; B. Herrera 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-4);

In other news

June 12 – San Francisco’s 37-year-old journeyman SP Julio Nunez (4-4, 4.37 ERA) and CL Oscar Juarez (2-1, 1.67 ERA, 13 SV) pitch a combined no-hitter in a 1-0 win against Sacramento. Nunez only allows a walk to SAC 2B/SS Chris Navarro (.309, 0 HR, 26 RBI), who is doubled up by C Mitch Korfhage (.253, 0 HR, 13 RBI), so the Scorpions only come to bat 27 times in the game. Nunez is pinch-hit for in the ninth inning in a desperate attempt to create any offense at all – successfully – and Juarez finishes out the game.
June 12 – There’s still a measurable pulse on VAN SP Anton Jesus (3-11, 6.88 ERA), as he pitches a 5-hit shutout against the Gold Sox. Vancouver wins 1-0 on a home run by 1B John Rosenstiel (.202, 1 HR, 11 RBI).
June 14 – A partially torn UCL ends the season of SAL SP Josh Elling (3-4, 3.63 ERA). Whether the 23-year-old right-handed former #3 pick and #3 prospect will be available for Opening Day in 2059 remains to be seen.
June 16 – The Wolves acquire MR Dave Lister (2-1, 4.50 ERA) from the Bayhawks for two prospects, including #146 SP/MR Jorge Solis (0-0, 4.61 ERA), who already had a brief stint in the majors with the Wolves.
June 16 – Indians veteran RF/LF/1B Bill Quinteros (.280, 10 HR, 38 RBI) would miss time until at least the All Star Game, having suffered a strain in his 37-year-old hamstring.
June 16 – The Aces beat the Knights, 4-1. All runs score in the 13th inning.

FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Nick Nye (.322, 12 HR, 38 RBI), batting .440 (11-25) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ SS Casey Ramsey (.333, 4 HR, 29 RBI), plonking .417 (10-24) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Bobby Herrera hates pitching in Portland. And I can’t blame him.

April 2 vs. Elks – rain delay in the sixth inning
April 8 vs. Falcons – rain delay in the fourth inning
April 13 vs. Indians – actually no rain, just freezing
April 30 vs. Titans – rained out and postponed to May 1
May 1 vs. Titans – rain delay in the fifth inning
May 11 vs. Loggers – rain delay in the third inning
May 31 vs. Elks – rained out and postponed to June 1
June 1 vs. Elks – no rain, just a stiff wind
June 16 vs. Crusaders – rain delay in the fourth inning

None of his eight starts on the road have been rained on.

Rain was a thing in AAA as well, and it ruined our plans to bring back Chance Fox into the gaping hole in the rotation by Tuesday. Both Fox and DeRose ended up pitching in a double header on Friday, and both threw over 100 pitches, so neither was going to be available for a Tuesday start against the Loggers. Wade was injured, Sensabaugh had pitched on Saturday, so Tuesday was now either Brobeck being made to shoot fireworks from his furry tush or one lucky winner from the stands.

Things were so bad, word was sent to St. Pete to set Craig Kniep aside if push came to shove came to locusts and diarrhea. – CRAIG KNIEP, Maud! (waves with all four paws and can’t get any more words out)

Oh yeah, it’s us and the Loggers and Baybirds next week. The off day on Thursday will be the last day off before the All Star Game and 18 games in 17 days.

Fun Fact: It has been almost 12 years since the league’s previous combined no-hitter, for which the Scorpions were also on the receiving end.

Salem’s John Gano and Jake Cusick prevailed in a 3-1 win back then.

Westheim · 12-28-2023, 05:09 AM

2058 AMATEUR DRAFT

There was not much enthusiasm for this year’s draft, with even much goodwill not able to bring the hotlist to even ten players despite 137 players on the shortlist. And here were those nine hotlist players again (*high school player):

SP Ian Peters (15/14/13) * – BNN #9
SP Kelly Whitney (14/12/12) * – BNN #2
SP Paul Egley (13/13/15) *
SP Vince Ellison (13/13/12)

2B/SS Mark McCarty (12/10/14) *

OF Jake Evans (12/14/13) – BNN #7
OF Steve Scarpa (12/8/10) – BNN #5
OF Wade Griffith (12/7/12) * – BNN #10
OF Isaiah Birth (12/8/14) – BNN #4

The Raccoons had the #13 pick in every round as well as the tenth pick in the supplemental round, but the draft started with the Aces, and they went with outfielder Jake Evans. The Stars selected Ian Peters at #2, while the Cyclones used their #3 pick on outfielder Matt Ewig, who was not on the hotlist. *Interesting*. This was followed by left-hander Butch Money getting taken by the Thunder; Money had been mentioned in the original draft class summary as a “stuff, but…” sorta pitcher.

More hotlist outfielders then; Wade Griffith went #5 to the Rebs, and Steve Scarpa at #6 to the damn Elks. Indy took Kelly Whitney at #7, and fellow pitcher Paul Egley went to the Bayhawks at #8, followed by another “stuff, but…” pitcher, Bryce Wallace, going to the Titans. Vince Ellison was the #10 pick by the Condors, and that emptied the pitching side of the hotlist.

Mark McCarty and Isaiah Birth were the only players from the hotlist that remained for when the #13 pick came up; right-handed batting outfielder or left-handed batting infielder? Both had speed, and both had in common that OSA didn’t exactly share in our power potential enthusiasm. The Raccoons eventually settled on Birth, mostly because BNN had also taken a liking to him. McCarty would fall to the #26 pick, taking in the supplemental round by the Thunder.

With our own supplemental round pick we almost drafted outfielder Craig Pepper, who was attending Pepperdine University, and thus had undeniably the weird sense of humor that could make a player subsist in the wicked Raccoons farm system, and he was near the top of the board for us at that point, but we just couldn’t pass up on another player from Cali, right-hander John Bollinger. Pepper came close to falling to the Raccoons in the second round proper, but instead ended up staying in California when taken by the Bayhawks with the #57 pick.

+++

2058 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#13) – OF Isaiah Birth, 20, from San Antonio, TX – right-handed hitting outfielder with a wide range and great speed, and capable of hitting for average, drawing walks, and having at least a bit of power. He also likes to collect and catalogue plant specimen. Weirdo.
Supp. Round (#32) – SP John Bollinger, 21, from Union City, CA – right-hander throws 94 with the heater and has neat curves, forks, and a changeup for variety. Main concern was stamina, which was a bit on the lower end, but still well workable for a starting pitcher.
Round 2 (#62) – 1B Alex Vargas, 18, from San Angelo, TX – switch-hitter that swings at pretty much everything, but if he actually meets the ball, the ball is usually out of sight in a hurry
Round 3 (#86) – C Jeremy Healy, 18, from Zion, IL – can hit for average and power, but his throwing arm is a bit on the softer side
Round 4 (#110) – SP Malik Padgitt, 21, from Los Angeles, CA – left-hander throws a mean changeup, but the 90mph fastball could use as much work as his overall control and command
Round 5 (#134) – SP Justin Clark, 18, from Tampa, FL – the stuff of 91mph heater, curve, change, and splitter – all serviceable – promises loads of befuddled hitters, while his lack of control promises frustration for catchers and coaches alike…
Round 6 (#158) – INF/RF/CF Joe Gardner, 18, from Springfield, MA – plays many positions well and can run like heck, but whether he ever amounts to much other than a singles slapper remains to be seen
Round 7 (#182) – RF/LF John Tyner, 17, from Allen, TX – bit of a longshot pick here, because his stats didn’t merit even being picked *this* high, but “Banjo” saw huge power potential here if a myriad of other issues could be sorted out, not least of which was Tyner talking to himself in the batter’s box to everybody’s annoyance…
Round 8 (#206) – CL Bobby Meagher, 20, from Roswell, GA – right-hander throws the heater at 91 and has high promise for the slider, but it’s not there yet
Round 9 (#230) – C Miguel Guinea, 18, from Ivins, UT – one for the curiosity cabinet, the left-handed hitting, weak-armed son of Nicaraguan-born beekeepers; some power potential, though.
Round 10 (#254) – LF/1B/RF Matthew DeHart, 19, from Harker Heights, TX – his report cards are full of remarks about his astounding laziness, which is all the more shame considering his undoubtable contact and eye potential; if he could at least be bothered to run after fly balls…!
Round 11 (#278) – SP John Wiemers, 17, from Kalispell, MT – left-hander (obviously) with a very nice curveball; unfortunately his heater barely reaches 85mph…
Round 12 (#302) – INF/RF Dan Roberts, 18, from Vancouver, WA – defensively versatile with a keen eye, but not much actual stick action
Round 13 (#326) – C Garrett Wackler, 18, from Denver, CO – made it on the shortlist, but all the way to the 13th round; Wackler is so-so behind the plate, and will mostly hit for singles, but has surprising speed and baserunning qualities for a catcher

+++

Of course there was also the accompanying purge in the minor leagues. All in all, 17 players were dismissed from the system, while all new draftees were sent to Aumsville.

Pitchers dismissed included left-hander Jim Hunt (2052, 12th round), who had run into a very dead end in Ham Lake, and from Aumsville the following personnel: Jalen Canady (2057, 9th round), Patrick Finney (2052, 11th round), and D.J. Spitler (2057, 12th round);

In Ham Lake we also dismissed the two primary catchers, batting .183 between them, 2055 third-rounder Corey Crawford and scouting discovery Generoso Castillo; also Aumsville catcher from Brazil and a $20k signing in the 2053 July IFA period, Teobaldo Escalante.

The group of position players situated in fair territory that was handed their papers was headed by 1B Pedro Rojas cut from the Alley Cats roster. Rojas, 26, had been a scouting discovery ten years ago and had played bit parts in Portland for the last three seasons, hitting .236 with no homers and 7 RBI there. He was now being crowded out by other first-sackers. In fact we had Joel Starr there pushing upwards to the big team, and two guys in Ham Lake trying to advance, Joe Agee and Forbes Tomlin. Also dismissed were Ham Lake outfielders Jason Robinson (2053, 13th round) and Justin Zych (2056, 8th round), and from Aumsville we axed 2055 second-rounder Tyler McGovern, an all-out bust that had been dragged around by his tail for three years now and had to make room.

Westheim · 12-30-2023, 06:51 AM

Raccoons (29-39) vs. Loggers (37-32) – June 17-19, 2058

The Loggers were chasing after the division lead, being just two games away on Monday morning, and with their most favorite punching bags of recent to play for three games. They were doing it all with the #3 offense and some cruddy pitching that gave up the fifth-most runs, but a +29 run differential (Coons: -21). They were up 5-1 in the season series, and the thing you had to watch out for was their reckless abandon on the basepaths, which resulted in the #1 spot in stolen bases, but they were not hitting home runs at any appreciable rate. Dave Robles (.305, 11 HR, 50 RBI) had a full third of the team’s output of 33 bombs.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (5-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Sam Webb (4-7, 4.92 ERA)
TBD vs. Victor Marquez (6-3, 4.36 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (3-8, 4.73 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (7-2, 2.98 ERA)

The Coons would come up against all the Loggers’ left-handers. We literally didn’t have a starter lined up for Tuesday. That Kyle Brobeck wasn’t in the lineup on Monday told you a thing or two about how bleak things were.

Game 1
MIL: LF Garmon – 3B Gaxiola – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – CF Konecny – 2B Roseto – C Mi. Gilmore – SS D. Miller – P S. Webb
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – CF Royer – 3B Sheilds – P Stewart

Singles by Robby Gaxiola, who stole second base, and Perry Pigman, who brought the runner home, gave the Loggers a nearly immediate 1-0 lead. A leadoff walk to Mike Gilmore and Webb’s surprise 1-out single up the middle combined for another run, and it could have been worse in that second inning, which saw Royer drop a Corey Garmon fly for an error, but Webb didn’t trust his own legs and only dared go to second base, ending up stranded at third in that top of the second inning. Steve Royer singled home Brassfield in the bottom 2nd with two outs, but Dave Robles whacked #12 to begin the top 3rd, a Lonzo error put Nick Roseto on base, Danny Miller drew a 2-out walk, and Sam Webb flicked another RBI single to extend his own lead to 4-1. That last run of the inning – Garmon flew out – was unearned, but the pain was all too real.

Stewart was limited to four-plus innings, getting yanked after plunking Kelly Konecny to begin the fifth inning after a staggering 107 pitches. Konecny got himself caught stealing after Bravo was inserted in relief. The inning ended peacefully, and then Ornelas took over in long relief in Lonzo’s #2 spot, Labonte having been used to pinch-hit for Bravo in the bottom 5th. Amazingly, the Raccoons would first make a second outfield error, and third in the game, when Pucks also flubbed a fly ball, but then rallied in the bottom 7th when Webb walked Bribiesca and Chavez, Ornelas bunting in between, before giving up a rousing 3-run homer to left to Jesus Martinez. All even at four – Maud, how about a round of coffee, this feels like it could take a while.

Indeed; we got an uneventful eighth inning, Ornelas going that far, then a 1-2-3 ninth in the 4-4 tie from Matt Walters, during which it began to rain, and then we had a rain delay officially clocked at 33:34, and that extra second was bothering me like no tomorrow. The bottom 9th would see right-hander Ryan Dow up against the 9-1-2 starting with Labonte, who flew out to Ryan Bishton, and groundouts by Bribiesca and Toushi sent the game to extra innings. Sencion gave up a double to Pigman in the tenth, but nothing else, and the runner was stranded, before Dow came back for the bottom 10th. He got two outs, then allowed a single to Pucks and a walk to Brass. Royer grounded out to Bill Sostre at third base, though, and the game continued. Sencion ached through the top 11th, allowing two runners himself before Garmon popped out to end the threat. The Coons answered with nothing, but Ricky Herrera had a 1-2-3 inning himself in the top 12th, then was hit for by Todd Oley, who singled up the middle against Roberto Navarro in his second inning of work, then stole second base immediately. Chavez struck out. Martinez flew out, with Oley to third base. Oh come on, boys!! Pucks walked, which was not extremely helpful, either. But Brass’ lasher up the middle was, because it whizzed through between the middle infielders, and became a walkoff single! 5-4 Coons. Oley (PH) 1-1; Martinez 2-5, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Brassfield 2-3, 3 BB, RBI; Ornelas 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Sencion 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Todd Oley’s (.385, 0 HR, 1 RBI) reward was getting optioned to AAA after the game to make room for Craig Kniep, a career 16-20, 4.27 ERA, 5.6 BB/9 failure in the majors. Brobeck was in the lineup at third base on Tuesday, but there was every reason to believe he’d eventually pitch…

Kniep wore #35 as before, even though Chance Fox had been assigned the number just ten days ago.

Game 2
MIL: LF Garmon – C Mi. Gilmore – RF Pigman – CF Konecny – 2B Roseto – 3B Sostre – 1B Callaia – SS D. Miller – P V. Marquez
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – CF Royer – P Kniep

Kniep was behind every batter right out of the gate, but the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Bribiesca single and stolen base, Lonzo reaching on an error, and a well-placed groundout by Chavez. Somehow, Kniep faced the minimum the first time through, allowing a single to Konecny, who was doubled up by Sostre, and didn’t walk anybody despite throwing more balls than strikes, which was almost expected at this stage. He struck out Marquez, though, which at least beat Stewart giving up two RBI singles to the ******* opposing pitcher on Monday. Top 4th, Garmon and Gilmore struck out, but Pigman held out for a walk in a full count before Konecny flew out to Royer. Brass singled home Martinez in the bottom 4th for a 2-0 lead, but the Loggers came close in the fifth inning. Sostre walked, Miller smashed a 2-out double, but Sostre thought there was one out and stopped at third base. Marquez then lined out softly to Bribiesca to strand the tying runs in scoring position.

Five and two thirds it was in the end for Kniep. The counts were getting longer, and Garmon and Pigman singled plated a run in the sixth inning, 2-1. Konecny flew out to Royer, and then it was over after 90 pitches of holding your breath real hard. Siwik got out of the inning against Nick Roseto, and then Martinez drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 6th and scored right away on the next pitch, on which Pucks hit a trickshot triple to right, the ball bouncing barely fair halfway up the line, darting into foul ground, and then ticked off the very edge of the sidewall there, completely fooling Pigman, who was going towards the corner, but the ball was now darting in the direction of the gap. RBI triple, 3-1 lead – and it remained a 3-1 lead, with Pucks staggeringly stranded at third base. That included a walk drawn by Royer, and Siwik whiffing, but we needed him to continue. Besides, the bench was thinner than thin.

And for what? For a meltdown in the seventh. Bribiesca’s error put Gaudencio Callaia on base, and Miller singled off Siwik. Marquez popped up a bunt, but with two outs Bishton batted for Garmon and whacked a 2-run double to tie the score. Hamann retired Gilmore – too late – but then gave up four singles to Pigman, Konecny, Sostre, and Callaia inside five batters in the top 8th to get drowned in a barrel. Jonathan Dye would hit a pinch-hit RBI single off Tanizaki when he replaced Hamann, and three total runs scored in the inning, and that’s trying to ignore the two deep fly outs Tanizaki gave up otherwise.

The Coons filled the bases against a selection of relievers in the bottom 8th then. Pucks, Royer, and Toushi all got on, and Paul Labonte was batting for Bribiesca and facing right-hander Josh Costello with one out. His groundout scored one run, but Lonzo struck out to end the inning and leave the remainders in scoring position… Chavez, Brobeck, and Lathers were retired in order by Ryan Dow in the ninth to even the series. 6-4 Loggers. Puckeridge 2-4, 3B, RBI; Brassfield 2-3, BB, RBI; Royer 0-1, 3 BB; Imai 1-1;

Despite allowing only one run in 5.2 innings, Kniep was sent right back to AAA. The Raccoons added corner outfielder Elijah Johnson. The lefty hitter was bashing .366 (but with little power) in St. Pete.

Game 3
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – C Dye – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – CF Konecny – LF Callaia – 2B Sostre – SS D. Miller – P Riddle
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – CF Royer – P Carreno

Only Pigman and Pucks reached base in the first three innings, both with a single. Pigman was caught stealing, and Pucks was simply stranded, which is what the Coons did best. A leadoff walk to Gaxiola in the fourth did Carreno in; the runner did steal second this time, advanced on a grounder and then scored on Pigman’s sac fly. When Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the home half of the inning, Chavez doubled him up immediately. Konecny also hit a leadoff single in the top 5th, stole second, and was thrown out at home on Callaia’s single to right. Sostre then found another double play to hit into.

Brassfield’s home run to left in the bottom 5th tied the game at one, but he then dropped Labonte’s feed on a roller by Riddle for an error in the sixth. Luckily, Carreno got his three outs even without the easiest one there. Lonzo reached on an error with two outs in the bottom 6th, but never got off first base.

Through six, then seven innings, both teams were exactly even at one run, three hits, and an error each. Carreno was still going in the eighth, but offered a leadoff walk to Callaia. Sostre’s grounder advanced the runner, and Sencion replaced Carreno when Bishton batted for Miller, striking out the pinch-hitter in a full count before also axing Riddle, who was not hit for despite the late situation and the go-ahead run being in scoring position. Riddle began the bottom 8th on 83 pitches. Within 17 more, he gave up singles to Brass, Toushi, and Labonte to load the bases with one out and Lonzo coming up. In a full count, Lonzo found the shortstop Mitch Sivertson for a double play to kill the rally and my soul. Walters pitched in a tie in the ninth again, nicked Jonathan Dye, but got out of the inning without damage. Riddle was STILL up for the middle of the order in the bottom 9th, oversaw three straight outs to Sostre at third base, and what the **** do I know about baseball…?

For the second time in the series – extra innings. Walters got around a Konecny single to complete the tenth inning for the Raccoons, while Dow was up *again* in the bottom 10th. Brass singled, but that was as good as it got. Bravo in the 11th, Hamann in the 12th, and Siwik in the 13th all turned in scoreless frames in relief then, but the Raccoons were just as ineffective offensively, and then ran out of pitching eventually and for the 14th inning had to send Brobeck to the hill after all. Dye singled with one out, as did Pigman. Robles hit a sac fly, and Konecny added an RBI single. The Loggers were on their third inning of Brett Lillis jr. (waves hi quite enthusiastically) in the bottom 4th, and it didn’t start well … for Lillis. Labonte singled. Lonzo singled. Nobody out and the winning run was in the box. Chavez popped out, but Brobeck snuck a single to center to load the bases for Martinez, who was a sturdy 0-for-5 in the game. A strikeout made it six. Curiously, the Loggers then went to a right-hander – Navarro – for Pucks with two outs. Pucks hit a 1-0 pitch to center, and quite good. But it wasn’t going out. And it wasn’t beating Konecny either. F8. 3-1 Loggers. Labonte 2-6; Lavorano 2-6; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1; Carreno 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; Walters 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Pfffff….

Raccoons (30-41) @ Bayhawks (33-37) – June 21-23, 2058

Off to the Bay, where nothing good ever happened. We were up against the #9 offense, but second-best pitching in the Continental League, which netted them a -16 run differential and fifth place in the CL South. Two fifth-place teams were engaged here, in fact. We led the season series, 2-1.

Projected matchups:
Cameron Argenziano (1-0, 2.79 ERA) vs. Josh Swindell (1-7, 5.76 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (6-4, 3.19 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (4-6, 5.63 ERA)
Zach Stewart (5-6, 2.95 ERA) vs. Julio Nunez (4-5, 4.70 ERA)

How do you have the second-fewest runs allowed in the league and bring up that trio of starters…?? Anyway, Jackson would be a fourth southpaw to face this week. Bob Ruggiero was the only notable DL occupant for San Fran, while the Coons would activate Noah Caswell on Saturday. He would take Elijah Johnson’s roster spot, so Johnson got the start on Friday after making an out as pinch-hitter on Wednesday.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – RF Johnson – CF Royer – P Argenziano
SFB: SS X. Reyes – C Mittleider – 2B A. Montoya – 3B Wilken – LF Anker – RF Tomko – CF Bumpus – 1B P. Fowler – P Swindell

Portland jumped out to a quick lead against Swindell despite making two outs to begin the game. Chavez and Pucks then walked around a Brobeck single, and Toushi – back in the lineup in between the slew of lefty pitchers – pushed a 2-run single over Xavier Reyes’ glove. Johnson grounded out hard to first base to end the inning. Reyes and Jon Mittleider reached base right away against Argenziano then in the bottom 1st, but in a reversal of fortunes the left-hander than retired three in a row without giving up a run. In turn, Labonte hit a 2-out single in the top 2nd, stole second, and scored on Lonzo’s single to left-center. Chavez walked, Lonzo stole third base, but Brobeck grounded out to strand the pair.

Bottom 2nd, leadoff double by Chris Tomko, and then another zinger to left by Adam Bumpus. It hit in front of Pucks, but bounced awkwardly and hit him in the thumb. Tomko scored, Bumpus went to second, and Pucks kept shaking that mauled claw until getting medical attention from Luis Silva. He ended up being removed from the game and replaced with Brass. Pat Fowler hit the next sharp ball then, singling to center, but Royer threw Bumpus out at the plate. Argenziano balked, but retired Swindell and Reyes with flies to Royer, staying ahead 3-1. Top 3rd, Brass opened with a triple, scored on a Johnson triple, and Royer hit an RBI single off the defenseless swindle Swindell. Argenziano’s bunt was thrown away by Mittleider, because Swindell really had NO friends. Labonte’s groundout scored another run, 6-1, and Swindell was yanked. Lonzo grounded out to end the inning.

Things continued so-so. The Baybirds pen calmed down the Coons’ sticks, while Argenziano did alright, but gave up a run on an RBI double by Mittleider in the bottom 5th. The Coons then lost Labonte, who did not re-appear for the sixth inning as he complained about a stiff neck. Bribiesca took over for him as the bench emptied. Argenziano at least went seven innings without giving up any more actual damage, even though in the latter half of his outing he increasingly got into long counts and looked like an implosion waiting to occur. Tanizaki and Ricky Herrera were spotless in the last two innings, but so was the Bayhawks pen, who pitched 6.1 innings for only three hits allowed and no runs. 6-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Chavez 2-4, BB; Royer 2-3, RBI; Argenziano 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

Okay, casualty report: Pucks’ sore thumb was much better on Saturday, but he would not be in the lineup against the left-hander Jackson. He was expected to return on Sunday. Labonte’s neck was pretty cranky on Saturday and he was listed as day-to-day. Luis Silva thought it could take a week to unlock the second-sacker’s neck, and he’d be pretty useless in the meantime. The Raccoons for now would try to cope without him. Noah Caswell came off the DL meanwhile, taking the spot of Elijah Johnson, who went 1-for-6 with that RBI triple in his brief time up.

Game 2
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 2B Bribiesca – P B. Herrera
SFB: 3B X. Reyes – C Mittleider – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – 1B P. Fowler – SS Sherrick – CF Lindauer – RF Tomko – P B. Jackson

Caswell returned with an RBI double in the first inning, driving home Royer’s unearned run after Chris Tomko had began the game with a dropped fly ball. Armando Montoya’s leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd tied the game, however, and the Raccoons began the third inning with singles from Herrera and Royer, loaded the bases, and then croaked. Caswell hit a long fly to right, but Tomko made the catch on the warning track.

The game then dawdled along until the bottom 5th. Jackson led off with a grounder to second, just past Bobby Herrera, who reached for the ball both awkwardly and in vain, then winced and began to shake out his arm. I got watery eyes immediately, and Luis Silva got some extra mileage in with another slow trot to the field, only to remove the player in question in an even slower trot. Siwik replaced Herrera and got out of the inning. The plan would have been for him to get a few more outs, but his spot came up just after Jackson had walked the bags full with the 6-7-8 batters in the top of the sixth inning. There was nothing but lefty sticks on that bench, though, and the Coons went for Toushi, and Toushi went for the double play…

Montoya’s second homer of the day, off his second Herrera of the day, in the bottom 6th was negated when Caswell got his second RBI knock against Jackson in the seventh, again plating Royer, this time in earned fashion. Chavez’ single knocked out Jackson, but Sam Heisler suffocated the Coons and stranded a pair on base. Ornelas had the seventh dealt with, but Tanizaki put a pair on the corners in the 2-2 game in the bottom 8th. Sencion came in to see Pat Fowler with Adam Peltier and Armando Montoya ready to be driven in, gave up a high fly to deep left on the first pitch, but it was too high and not deep enough, and Brass made the catch *right* against the fence to end the inning. Sencion remained in the game in the bottom 9th after the Coons did zilch in between. Jamie Sherrick singled on an 0-2 pitch, then stole second while Jeremy Lindauer struck out. Tomko reached on an error by Lonzo, putting the winning run on third base, and from there Sherrick scored on Keith Redfern’s fly out to Brassfield. 3-2 Bayhawks. Caswell 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; B. Herrera 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K and 2-2;

(watery eyes)

Luis Silva opined that Bobby Herrera would miss only one start with a shoulder subluxation, but maybe we should be cautious about rushing him back. What was that supposed to mean??

He remained on the roster for the time being, although I was puzzled by how to manage our way out of this one.

Come Sunday, Toushi batted leadoff in a bit of a “well, I am out of ideas” move.

Game 3
POR: 1B Imai – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – C Lathers – 2B Sheilds – P Stewart
SFB: SS X. Reyes – RF Tomko – 2B A. Montoya – 3B Wilken – CF A. Walker – LF Anker – C Redfern – 1B P. Fowler – P Ju. Nunez

Three straight singles gave the Baybirds a 1-0 lead to begin the bottom 1st before Randy Wilken lined out to Sheilds and Tomko was doubled off second base to help Stewart wiggle out of the inning with a K to Aaron Walker. The Coons remained wickedly helpless at the plate, even when Nunez not only issued a leadoff walk to Stewart in the third inning, but in fact walked Toushi and Pucks as well. Lonzo, Caswell, and Brobeck especially made poor outs, the latter popping out fowl to first. Martinez then drew another leadoff walk in the fourth inning off a completely unhinged right-hander. Two pathetic outs later, a fed-up pitcher socked an RBI double to right, Toushi drew another walk, and Lonzo then slipped an RBI single to left for a 2-1 lead before Caswell grounded out to Montoya, who began the bottom of the same inning with a leadoff double to right and scored on Walker’s sac fly before long. All even at two, then.

Nunez was gone after 4.2 innings and a seventh walk to Martinez, but held the no-decision. The score was still locked in the seventh when Lonzo opened with a single to left off former Coons farmhand Kenneth Spencer, then stole second off the lefty. Caswell walked, Pucks’ grounder advanced the runners into scoring position, but Brobeck popped out ******** AGAIN, this time to short. Martinez was walked intentionally to bring up the rather useless Lathers, 0-for-3 in the game. The Coons shoved all the chips into the middle of the table – Brass pinch-hit while Marcos Chavez was already getting into his own gear, fell to 1-2, but then dealt a single to left-center that scored two runs! San Francisco went to get another left-hander, Mark Jacobs, and the Raccoons sent Bribiesca in for an equally oh-fer Sheilds, resulting in another single to left-center, that one plating Martinez. Since Stewart was on only 62 pitches and were now up 5-2, Chavez kept the gear on and did not pinch-hit for him. The inning ended with a K, and then the Bayhawks loaded the bases in the bottom 7th. Aaron Walker, Grant Anker, and Jeremy Lindauer all reached base by the time there were two outs and Reyes was back in the box. Reyes grounded out in a full count – but not until after Stewart had balked in a run at 0-1. How do you even ******* balk with the bases loaded anyway in that situ– … (has steam come out his fuzzy ears)

Jesus Martinez tied the CL record for five walks in a game when he was intentionally pointed to first base in the top 9th. This was in a 5-3 game, with Pucks at third base after a leadoff double off southpaw Travis Davis, and one out. Davis then struck out Chavez and Bribiesca, so who am I to judge…. At least Walters had the thing under control in the bottom 9th… 5-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Martinez 0-0, 5 BB; Brassfield (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Bribiesca (PH) 1-2, RBI; Stewart 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (6-6) and 1-3, BB, 2B, RBI;

In other news

June 21 – Young Titans right-hander Xavier Caston (1-2, 4.22 ERA, 1 SV) would miss at least 12 months to repair a flayed rotator cuff.
June 22 – OCT INF/LF/RF Omar Lira (.305, 3 HR, 24 RBI) has put together a 20-game hitting streak after two knocks in an 8-0 loss to the Loggers’ SP Adam Foley (7-5, 4.20 ERA), who pitches a 5-hit shutout.
June 23 – Dallas sophomore SP Alex Quevedo (5-4, 3.67 ERA) takes a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Cyclones, but loses it on a leadoff triple by CIN RF/LF Gerardo Perez (.214, 0 HR, 4 RBI). Quevedo gets one more out, conceding the run on a groundout before being relieved as the Stars settle for a combined 1-hitter in a 4-1 win.
June 23 – The Loggers beat the Thunder again, 3-2, to complete a sweep, and also snap the hitting streak of Omar Lira (.299, 3 HR, 24 RBI) at 20 games. Lira goes 0-for-5 in the game.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 1B Andy Metz (.309, 13 HR, 49 RBI), hitting .647 (11-17) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.274, 12 HR, 38 RBI), batting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We have no starter for three games next week. Is this the right time to mention that we won’t have another off day for a few weeks? How do you manage around Bobby Herrera missing at least one start with an injury now…? Write your answers on a postcard, please. – What do you mean, Cristiano, “what’s a postcard?”?? – Oh, you kits!!

Well, we can bring back Chance Fox. He can actually start on Monday and Saturday. That leaves us to plan around Bobby Herrera’s demise while we contend with the Aces and Indians.

On Sunday night, half the teams in the league were either leading their division, were tied for the lead, or at most two games out of the lead. A full three quarters of the league were at most 6 1/2 games out, including the entire FL West being under a blanket. In case you didn’t dare look into the Agitator and the standings for a while – we’re not.

The time is also coming for some trimmings around the roster. Tyrese Sheilds and Morgan Lathers aren’t hitting anything. Neal Hamann is a fourth southpaw in a pen that doesn’t need four, but he’s also untradeable and I’d hate to pay out the $1.4M or so that he’s still due. I wonder what door knob signed him up to that contract…

Lathers might be the first to get the axe. Seventh-rounder of the Class of ’56 Cortez Chavez is hitting .320 in 29 games in AAA and why not try him behind the dish from time to time? That would give us a catching duo of Chavez and Chavez.

If you can’t be good, at least be silly.

Fun Fact: Jesus Martinez is the first ever Raccoons player to draw five walks in a single game.

81 years in, still setting new milestones!

Tah!

(assumes his rolled-into-ball-to-weep position)

Westheim · 12-31-2023, 05:45 AM

Raccoons (32-42) @ Aces (39-36) – June 24-26, 2058

The Raccoons entered the new week eight paws short with both Bobby Herrera and Paul Labonte being unavailable or day-to-day and not expected to get better for the entirety of the Vegas series. The Aces had swept the Raccoons in the first meeting of these teams in ’58 and were having their best run in a while, sitting just one game behind first place in a tightly packed CL South. They were scoring the absolute most runs in the CL, but were also giving up the absolute most runs, for a +3 run differential, so there was still a lot of room for improvement. Ray Benner and Alex Alfaro were notables on the DL for Vegas.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (0-1, 7.11 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (7-3, 4.23 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (3-8, 4.45 ERA) vs. Marcus Wilkins (3-5, 5.26 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (2-0, 2.73 ERA) vs. Adam Johnson (1-1, 9.20 ERA)

We were expecting nothing but right-handers. Johnson was a 35-year-old AAA veteran with ten career starts and barely over 130 innings in the majors across the decade of the 2050s that was probably actively contemplating retirement right now.

Meanwhile, how did we get Chance Fox on the roster? That was an interesting question. The axe almost fell on routinely lackluster Cuban import Jesus Martinez, and if Labonte hadn’t come down with the craned neck then Bribiesca might have taken the fall now, but in the end Ricky Herrera (1-2, 3.67 ERA) stumbled over being one of four lefty relievers on the roster and the only one with options, no right to refuse a minors assignment, and not being named Matt Walters. I assured him that it was only temporary until we could sort everything else out, but he looked at me like I had just taken away a box of donuts from him.

Game 1
POR: 1B Imai – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Sheilds – P Fox
LVA: CF Ambriz – 3B Villarreal – RF Austin – LF Hummel – SS Veguilla – 2B J. White – 1B Jacinto – C Mathews – P Robbins

The Raccoons had two walks and two hits in the first inning and scored zero runs, thanks to Lonzo doubling up Toushi, and after the 3-4-5 hitters all reached and filled the bases, Pucks grounded out to Jim White for absolutely nothing. The Aces also had the bases loaded in the first, but with nobody out. Jose Ambriz and Tony Villarreal singled, Fox threw a wild pitch, and Aubrey Austin drew a walk. There was a mound conference 13 pitches into the game, but in the end the Aces went up 2-0 on Ken Hummel’s sac fly and Miguel Veguilla’s groundout. White also grounded out to end the inning. Villarreal’s 2-out, 2-run double chased home Gustavo Jacinto and Ambriz in the bottom 2nd, and while the Coons made up those two runs in the top 3rd when Toushi hit a leadoff double and scored on Noah Caswell’s RBI single, the bases filled up *again* for Pucks, and this time he’d draw a bases-loaded walk to push a run across before Brass and Tyrese Sheilds popped out foul and flatly whiffed, respectively, none of that made Fox’ tossing any better. The Aces would keep whacking balls around, but after the second inning they found the defense a lot and never put more than a runner on base in any inning that Fox pitched from there, which turned out to be another five frames, and didn’t score another run at all. Neither did the Raccoons, all the way up into the ninth inning, where they faced Geoff Sather, ex-Coon, and the lefty gave up a 2-out, pinch-hit homer to Jesus Martinez. It *could* have tied the game, had Bribiesca not hit into a double play to erase Brass’ leadoff walk just ahead of him. Steve Royer scratched out a pinch-hit single to keep the game going, but Lonzo, who had a bleak day with two double plays and a caught stealing, grounded out to Veguilla to end the inning. 4-3 Aces. Imai 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Royer (PH) 1-1; Caswell 2-4, RBI; Brobeck 3-4; Martinez (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

No Aces player struck out in this game. Not in seven innings against Fox, and not in the eighth against Mike Siwik either.

Game 2
POR: 1B Imai – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Sheilds – P Carreno
LVA: CF Ambriz – 3B Villarreal – RF Austin – LF Hummel – SS Veguilla – 1B Jacinto – 2B J. White – C M. Castillo – P Wilkins

It should be noted that the Aces’ lineup on Monday was heavily right-handed, and they rocked up much the same lineup on Tuesday against Carreno, so he should have it easier than the southpaw Fox, right? Well, both sides had only one base hit in three innings and didn’t get anywhere near scoring, but the Raccoons then dinked out three singles by Caswell, Chavez, and Pucks in the top 4th to take a 1-0 lead before Brass and Sheilds choked again. The lead was short-lived since Villarreal drew a leadoff walk in the home half of the inning, advanced on Austin’s grounder, then scored on a pretty impressive throwing error by Lonzo for two bases. Jacinto singled home the go-ahead run with two outs, and it was 2-1 Vegas.

Top 5th, the Coons loaded the bags as Toushi walked and Lonzo and Caswell singled, all with one out. Brobeck popped out to Villarreal for no gains, but Chavez got a ball up the line in left for a score-flipping 2-run double before Pucks slashed a grounder through the right side of the infield for two more runs on a single, 5-2! And yet, Carreno would not get a win, not even qualify for a potential win. In the bottom 5th he walked Manny Castillo, walked Ambriz, gave up an RBI single to Austin with two outs, walked Hummel, and walked in a run against Veguilla, then was dismissed. Neal Hamann got a grounder to second from Jacinto to bugger out the bloody inning with barely a 5-4 lead on the board.

Royer and Lonzo reached base in the sixth with singles, but Caswell’s long drive to right fell short and ended up in Austin’s glove to end that inning. An error by first baseman Phil Huddleston put Brobeck on base to begin the seventh against right-hander Andy Younge, though, and Pucks would drill a double into the left-center gap to allow Brobeck to score from first for an insurance run. The throw to home plate was late and allowed Pucks to third base. Brass walked, and Sheilds hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, but at least got a runner home. Royer then flew out, bringing on the stretch.

The Coons asked Tanizaki for two innings then, but got three walks to load the bags in the bottom 7th before Nick Thayer barely was called out on a borderline 3-2 pitch to end the inning. That took 35 pitches and we weren’t eager for more. Top 8th, the Coons had the bags full on a potpourri of failure, as Bribiesca reached on an error, Lonzo was nicked, and Caswell only got on with an infield single. Three on, nobody out! Jim Woods hit Brobeck, his second nailed batter of the inning, to force in a run, and then the Raccoons popped out, popped out, and flew out to Ambriz in what was at least a token effort by Brassfield…

The Coons then asked Ornelas for two innings with an 8-4 lead, but he retired nobody and was dismissed after Jim White’s leadoff jack and two walks to Castillo and Huddleston. Siwik got two outs, then walked Austin to fill the bases with two outs. Ken Hummel whacked the first pitch he got through the right side and up the line for extra bases – but perhaps the Aces still had Pucks out there mentally. Pucks was a *good* rightfielder, but Jesus Martinez had a *great* arm, and Martinez had entered with Ornelas in a double switch. Two runs scored, but Martinez thundered down Austin at the plate to end the inning and keep the Raccoons on top by a skinny run. Matt Walters held firm in the ninth inning to ache the W across. 8-7 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-3, BB; Caswell 3-5; Chavez 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI; Royer (PH) 2-3;

Game 3
POR: 1B Imai – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 2B Bribiesca – C Lathers – P Argenziano
LVA: CF Ambriz – 3B Villarreal – RF Austin – LF Hummel – SS Veguilla – 2B J. White – 1B Jacinto – C Mathews – P A. Johnson

Jesus Martinez went deep for the rubber game’s first run in the second inning, but the Raccoons weren’t done. Bribiesca and Lathers drew 2-out walks, and Argenziano snuck a single through between White and Veguilla that allowed Bribiesca to score from second base. Toushi grounded out, and the Aces tied the game in the same inning, starting with a Brobeck error. White singled the unearned runner Veguilla to third base, Jacinto hit a sac fly, and Johnson whacked a 2-out RBI double before Ambriz grounded out to get even with Argenziano in every regard – except that the runs on Argenziano were unearned. But Tony Villarreal took care of that with his leadoff jack in the bottom 3rd, and now Argenziano also had an earned run on his ledger. Also a 3-2 deficit, yay!

Top 4th, bags full once more; Johnson walked the 6-7 batters, Lathers hit a soft single, and that brought up Argenziano with one out. He struck out, but Toushi sliced a fast grounder past a reaching Johnson and through between the middle infielders for a score-flipping 2-run single. Lonzo added an RBI single to left, and Caswell was only barely retired on a very fine play by Veguilla, ending the inning with the Coons back on top, 5-3. Johnson was pinch-hit for in the bottom 4th, but Andy Younge didn’t do much better, giving up a double to Martinez and a 2-run homer to Bribiesca in the fifth, then a 2-out, bases-clearing double to Pucks in the sixth that brought in Toushi (walk), Lonzo (single), and Brobeck (walk) and put the Coons in double digits. Martinez lashed an RBI double to left against new reliever Andres Flores, who threw a wild pitch, but got Bribiesca to ground out.

The Coons pushed Argenziano as far as possible with the enlarged lead, which turned out to be six and two thirds before Hummel’s RBI double narrowed the score to 11-4 and him and Villarreal were in scoring position for Veguilla. The Coons went to Bravo, who gave up a sharp grounder to Brobeck, but he made the play and the inning ended. The Coons got the run back in their next half-inning as Brobeck and Pucks reached to begin the inning against righty Marco Macias, and Bribiesca now hit an RBI double to left. Lathers fanned and Bravo went to the plate and grounded out, because we wanted another three outs from him, which we also got. Macias loaded the bags with nobody out in the top of the ninth; Toushi doubled, Lonzo was brushed, and Caswell singled to left. The only run in the inning scored on Brobeck’s double-play grounder to Jim White, for which he got no RBI. 13-4 Furballs! Imai 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Martinez 3-4, BB, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Bribiesca 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Offense? Offense!

Raccoons (34-43) @ Indians (35-44) – June 27-30, 2058

The teams were virtually tied for fourth place and the season series was tied at four wins apiece, so perhaps this was an even matchup. Indy was battling a .232 team batting average, worst in the league, and scored the third-fewest runs, while their pitching was average at best and they had a -43 run differential (Coons: -10). The Indians had lost a bunch of infielders, with Brent Andrews and Bernie Bahena potentially out for the season, and most notably 16-year veteran Bill Quinteros being out with a strained hamstring.

Projected matchups:
Neal Hamann (2-2, 5.00 ERA) vs. Josh Barbieri (2-8, 4.82 ERA)
Zach Stewart (6-6, 2.98 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (8-6, 3.69 ERA)
Chance Fox (0-2, 6.07 ERA) vs. Jeremy Fetta (3-5, 3.59 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (3-8, 4.42 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (4-5, 4.68 ERA)

Fitzgibbon was the only southpaw we’d see this week. Meanwhile, Bobby Herrera was obviously not ready to take his scheduled start, so the Raccoons improvised with Neal Hamann making a spot start. Hamann had gotten a single out on Tuesday, throwing three pitches, and that had been his only action in the last seven days, so I’d qualify him as rested. Whether he’d qualify as qualified remained to be seen. He sure had starting experience, though – this would be his 80th ABL start against 306 relief appearances. More than half his starts came with the Crusaders (though even then irregularly) in the first half of the decade.

Also, it was just not possible to fit another chum on the roster without culling the Rule 5ers or indeed sending Martinez away, and he had just popped two homers.

Still no Paul Labonte – who had not made an appearance in the Aces series – either, and Lonzo had the day off on Thursday in this long string of games. Caswell, Pucks, and Toushi were all planned to be off on Friday, if we could make that work even.

Game 1
POR: 1B Imai – LF Puckeridge – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Royer – SS Bribiesca – 2B Sheilds – P Hamann
IND: SS Kilday – 3B An. Rios – RF O. Ramos – CF Oldfield – 1B Lovins – 2B Ewers – LF S. Thompson – C Villafan – P Barbieri

In the week of the Coons having the bases loaded, the Coons had the bases loaded in the first inning as Pucks walked, Caswell was nicked, and Chavez hit a scratch single. Brobeck doubled home a pair, but Royer and Bribiesca made poor outs. All three of these croaked in the third inning after Cas and Chavez reached base again to start off, and that choke job in turn saw the Indians get a leadoff single from Barbieri in the bottom 3rd and then never let go of Hamann’s throat. Matt Kilday singled, Antonio Rios doubled, Orlando Ramos hit a sac fly, and with two outs Chris Lovins slapped an RBI single to give Indy a 3-2 lead. Kevin Ewers grounded out to end the inning after all.

No W for Barbieri though – he left after four innings with an apparent injury. Same for Hamann, except that he managed to get another three runs beaten over his head before being dismissed. The Coons ended up getting two innings from Ornelas, but only one rally run the entire time when Caswell singled home Pucks after the latter hit a double. The Raccoons, trying to make ends meet somehow, forfeited the game by sending Brobeck to the hill, which also ended up spelling the end of Lonzo’s day off with an XXXL bucket of chicken wings in his clutch on the bench. His fat-soaked paws almost had a Kilday grounder slurch through between his greasy claws, but the defense held up and Brobeck pitched two scoreless innings (!!), but no offense was mounted in the late innings and the Raccoons went down in defeat. 6-3 Indians. Caswell 2-2, BB, RBI; Chavez 2-4; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Brobeck 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Turned out it wasn’t feasible to go without all three of Cas, Pucks, and Toushi on Friday, so Pucks was in the lineup again, manning first base. He’d be off on Saturday instead.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – RF Martinez – 1B Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – CF Royer – 3B Bribiesca – P Stewart
IND: SS Kilday – 3B An. Rios – RF O. Ramos – LF Abel – CF Oldfield – 1B Lovins – 2B Ewers – C Lefebvre – P Fitzgibbon

Stewart walked three Arrowheads and gave up two runs right out of the gate, so that was excellent, especially for a team with a completely plundered bullpen at this stage. Antonio Rios and Kevin Abel singles and an error by the returning Labonte added an unearned run in the bottom 3rd, and that was the score through to the seventh-inning stretch: 3-0 Indians, on just four hits off an erratic Stewart, who needed 87 pitches for six innings. The Raccoons offense was abjectly horrendous; up to the stretch they found six singles and three double plays, two of them on Trent Brassfield. We ended up squeezing out Stewart for 105 pitches to get through the seventh, which began with a Kilday double. The runner was barely stranded at third base on a string of groundouts. Fitzgibbon allowed a 1-out double to Bribiesca in the eighth inning, but Caswell and Labonte grounded out pathetically. Very much giving up, the Raccoons sent out Matt Walters for the bottom 8th. Cory Oldfield’s leadoff triple and Chris Lovins’ sac fly to left dropped an extra run on him, while Fitzgibbon continued in the ninth inning until he walked Chavez and Martinez singled softly with one out. Bill Lawrence replaced him, giving up a long fly to Pucks, but that ended up with Oldfield. Toushi batted for Brassfield and walked, which brought the tying run to the plate in Royer after all – and Royer’s first pitch was grounded to Kevin Ewers for the game to end miserably. 4-0 Indians. Puckeridge 3-4; Stewart 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, L (6-7);

Stewart only made it to the honorable mentions for resilience, not for actually pitching well.

The good news was that Bobby Herrera was healing up and we expected him to pitch on Sunday now in place of Carreno, but Fox took the start on Saturday as scheduled.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – RF Martinez – LF Royer – C Lathers – P Fox
IND: SS Kilday – 3B An. Rios – RF O. Ramos – LF Abel – CF Oldfield – 1B Lovins – 2B Ewers – C Villafan – P Fetta

A single, a walk, an error, bases loaded, and Jesus Martinez grounding out to short to keep everybody stranded – Saturday’s game began as if we had to chew the same old boot all over again. Indeed, Fox walked Rios and then fell behind 1-0 on 2-out singles by Abel and Oldfield before Lovins struck out. Top 2nd, Royer drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and was stranded on third base by a whole loada nothing. Lonzo’s leadoff single in the third ended with him being caught stealing, but Caswell walked and was driven home by Brobeck to at least get even. For like five minutes. Kilday and Rios went to the corners with leadoff singles in the bottom 3rd, and while Ramos whiffed, Kevin Abel’s grounder to third glitched through Brobeck’s silly paws for an error, and Kilday scored, 2-1 Indy. Oldfield sloshed an RBI single to left before Lovins fanned and Ewers flew out to Martinez to leave two aboard. Indy doubled their output in the fourth inning in just nine pitches: Willie Villafan singled to left and gained 90 feet when Royer overran the ball, then was bunted to third base. Kilday popped out, but Rios bashed an RBI double and Ramos crushed a huge homer to right-center. 6-1.

Aside from a pinch-hit RBI single by Pucks later in the game, there was absolutely no rally in the useless pelts, either, and the Indians comfortably went on to win yet another game in the series, but at least we got Brobeck in to pitch in the eighth (and give up a run) again… This somehow still lowered his ghastly ERA…… 7-2 Indians. Brobeck 2-4, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Morgan Lathers (.189, 1 HR, 4 RBI) was optioned to St. Petersburg after the game and replaced with rookie Cortez Chavez, a 24-year-old seventh-rounder from two years ago, hitting .296 with one homer in 33 games with the Alley Cats.

Game 4
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Sheilds – P B. Herrera
IND: SS Kilday – 3B An. Rios – LF O. Ramos – CF Oldfield – 1B Ewers – RF Abel – 2B M. Weber – C Lefebvre – P Kaye

Labonte singled, Lonzo singled, Caswell walked, and the bags were full with nobody out in the first on Sunday. Kaye threw nothing but balls to Chavez to force in a run, but then the Raccoons tried to get cute and poked pointlessly. Pucks still hit a sac fly, 2-0, but Martinez and Brass popped out and two runners were stranded. Straight hits by the 2-3-4 folk gave Indy a run back off the returning Bobby Herrera in the bottom 1st, however. The Raccoons took the run back – in unearned fashion. Tyrese Sheilds reached on an error by Kaye, who maybe hurt himself on that play already, but soldiered on through the inning, giving up the unearned run on a Lonzo single, but then was already hit for in the bottom 2nd.

Also, when was the best time to point out that Herrera was atrocious? He walked Mike Weber in the second, got around that, but then nailed Rios to begin the third, allowed a sharp single to Ramos, and then an RBI single to Ewers, narrowing the score to 3-2. He wasn’t fooling anybody, and the Indians were following the trail of a topsy-turvy Raccoon to complete the sweep.

IF they could sort out their own pitching; for the second time in the game Tyrese Sheilds reached base to begin the fourth inning, this time with a single, and again scored on a 2-out single by Lonzo, who both times stole second base, and was stranded by Caswell twice. Herrera meanwhile stumbled around a leadoff double by Michael Lefebvre in the bottom 4th when Martinez rushed to catch a Rios looper on the run to end the inning with Lefebvre left on third base. Oldfield and Ewers took the corners in the fifth until stranded on Weber’s grounder to Labonte, and Herrera was not brought back out after three long at-bats in the sixth, but maintained a 4-2 lead.

Lonzo remained unretired with a 1-out double off Bill Lawrence in the seventh inning, but was then caught stealing third base after Cas walked. Cas moved up to second, from where Marcos Chavez doubled him in. Tanizaki threw a scoreless seventh before Lawrence got drubbed to begin the top 8th. Martinez doubled loudly, Brass was walked intentionally, but Sheilds socked another double and drove in a run. Toushi was walked intentionally when he batted for Tanizaki against righty Tim Jacoby, who then rung up Labonte. Lonzo grounded out, but added another run to the tally doing so, unlike Caswell, who also grounded out to Weber at second. Siwik handled the eighth, and Cortez Chavez officially made his debut as pinch-hitter for Martinez in the ninth inning, grounding out to short. Eloy Sencion handled the ninth, not giving up a run despite giving up two hits. 7-2 Coons. Lavorano 4-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, RBI; Sheilds 3-5, 2B, RBI;

In other news

June 25 – Miners middle infielder Ryan Spehar (.295, 6 HR, 31 RBI) is ruled out for six weeks with a broken rib.
June 26 – Indians and Thunder play 14 innings until the Indians prevail for an 8-5 win, with more than half of the game’s runs scoring in that 14th inning, which begins in a 3-3 tie.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF/RF Jose Marroquin (.230, 10 HR, 45 RBI), thundering .323 (10-31) with 6 HR, 15 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS 3B/2B Diego Mendoza (.351, 5 HR, 36 RBI), hitting .650 (13-20) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.326, 11 HR, 58 RBI), bashing .383 with 6 HR, 30 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: BOS 3B/2B Diego Mendoza (.351, 5 HR, 36 RBI), dishing .430 with 2 HR, 17 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: LAP SP Andy Overy (6-4, 4.50 ERA), going 4-0 in 6 starts, with a 1.04 ERA, 38 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Kennedy Adkins (6-2, 1.94 ERA, 10 SV), going 3-0 in 6 starts, with a 1.49 ERA, 24 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DAL OF Tyler Wharton (.251, 1 HR, 21 RBI), hitting .292 with 1 HR, 12 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: BOS 3B/2B Diego Mendoza (.351, 5 HR, 36 RBI), filling his trophy cabinet quite nicely

Complaints and stuff

(groans) …and it’s another eight games in seven days until the sweet release of … well, the All Star Game. It’s *another* 73 games after that… The horror.

The horror!

Noah Caswell is the only batter with an OPS+ over 100 on the roster, and Sencion and Bravo are the only relievers with a FIP better than 3, and the only starters with a FIP better than 4 are Stewart and … Fox??

Cristiano tries to assure me that it’s growing pains with Fox and that he can hold his own in the majors. He didn’t strike out anybody on Monday, but whiffed six on Saturday. Yeah, and he also got whacked like doomsday was upon him. Great.

Daniel Amburn was stricken off the 40-man roster to make room for Cortez Chavez. Amburn had been acquired from the Thunder two winters ago but had never made it to the Raccoons and wasn’t close to doing so in the future either. He was 26, and far from the only 26-ish-year-old nothing-second baseman lingering in AAA. Ryan Allred, anyone?

The new month starts on Monday and with that the International Free Agent window opens. The excitement for us is limited this year, since we blew $1.6M compared to a $700k-ish soft cap last year, and won’t be allowed to sign anybody for more than precisely $62,500 this year.

Titans, Elks next week. Might be tight schedule to find last place by the break, but if a team can do it and sag five games to the Elks in seven days, it’s this one.

Fun Fact: Bill Quinteros missed 20 games or fewer in 12 of his 16 major league seasons.

Won’t be this year, though. However, he played 127+ games in all but one year, the exception being his annus horribilis in 2049, when he tumbled from injury to injury: quad, concussion, hand laceration, shoulder bursitis – he played in only 75 games, mostly miserably, that year, hitting .235 with 15 homers. Still good for a 127 OPS+, mind, but he’s a regular in the 150s to this day at age 37, a slip two years ago when he hit just .238/.388/.347 aside.

Everybody’s waiting for Quinteros to come back in Indy, because they’re waiting for his 300th homer. He currently has 299 with 1,135 RBI. He stole 213 bases earlier in his career and took home six Platinum Sticks while batting .272/.401/.447 with 2,157 hits for his career.

Westheim · 01-01-2024, 05:52 AM

New year, new Coons!?

+++

Raccoons (35-46) vs. Titans (46-36) – July 1-4, 2058

Half a game out of first place, the Titans needed wins, and they had eight games with the Raccoons in the next two weeks to get them. Boston was 3-1 against Portland this year, scoring the sixth-most runs and the third-fewest runs allowed. Their run differential was +28. They had the second-best rotation, even though the defense was a bit crummy. They were top three in homers, but bottom three in stolen bases. Outfielder Israel Santiago and pitchers Justin Martin and Xavier Caston were out and on the DL, the latter two for the rest of the year.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (3-8, 4.42 ERA) vs. Grant McKinnon (0-1, 5.29 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (3-0, 2.73 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (9-3, 2.59 ERA)
Zach Stewart (6-7, 2.95 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (4-4, 3.22 ERA)
Chance Fox (0-3, 7.50 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (4-7, 4.47 ERA)

We’d see a full set of right-handers for this series. We’d also have a double-header on Friday, consisting of Bobby Herrera and Mystery Man.

Game 1
BOS: RF J. Harris – LF Ma. Gilmore – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – CF Tobin – 3B D. Mendoza – P MacKinnon
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – P Carreno

Speaking of seventh-rounders from two years ago, that was what MacKinnon was. He was making his fourth career start on Monday, loaded the bags in the bottom 1st with a Lonzo double and two walks, but Pucks then flew out to Matt Gilmore. He drew a leadoff walk off Carreno in the third inning, which Jonathan Harris hitting a soft single right afterwards. Gilmore hit into a fielder’s choice, Carreno walked Jorge Arviso to fill the bags as well now – but Manny Rubin found Lonzo for the inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Lonzo kept stirring, hitting a 1-out single to left in the home 3rd. He stole second, his 28th bag of the year, MacKinnon walked Caswell, and Marcos Chavez dropped a single into left-center that gave Lonzo ample time to hurry home from second base and score the game’s first run. Brobeck then found another inning-ending double play.

The next two innings were uneventful, but the Titans then suddenly flipped the score in the sixth inning with a leadoff single for Arviso and then a homer to left mashed by Willie de Leon. Arviso himself hit a home run off Neal Hamann in the eighth inning to extend the score to 3-1, while the Raccoons appeared to have disappeared by that point, but Chavez hit a long fly to right that was caught in the bottom 8th, and then Brobeck and Royer hit a pair of 2-out singles … but Martinez struck out; all that against Alex Mancilla to boot. Alex Diaz got the ninth; the right-hander walked Brass to bring the tying run to the plate to begin the inning, then put the tying on base with four straight balls to Toushi. Labonte narrowly singled past Danny Encarnacion at short on a 2-1 pitch, Brass raced home, and the score narrowed to 3-2. Lonzo’s own soft single loaded the bases and the winning run moved into scoring position. Cas whiffed – but Chavez came through with another single up the middle. Toushi scored, and Labonte raced around from second base and scored as well for a walkoff…! 4-3 Raccoons! Labonte 2-5, RBI; Lavorano 3-5, 2B; M. Chavez 2-4, BB, 3 RBI; Brobeck 2-3, BB, 2B; Royer (PH) 1-1;

The Titans made a trade overnight, acquiring SP Mike Pohlmann (5-5, 3.81 ERA) from the Bayhawks, along with half a million in cash, for two prospects, including #192 SP Dan Graham. Pohlmann was an option to pitch in the last game of the series.

Game 2
BOS: 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – RF J. Harris – CF Ma. Gilmore – LF Weir – 3B D. Mendoza – P Musgrave
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Royer – C C. Chavez – P Argenziano

Paul Labonte had the first two base hits of the game, a pair of singles to begin the bottom 1st and then again in the bottom 3rd. He was doubled up the first time by Lonzo, and the second time singled Cortez Chavez, who had walked, from second to third. Chavez only scored on a wild pitch, and Lonzo struck out to end the inning. The Titans didn’t get a base hit until the fifth inning, but then found back-to-back singles from Hector Weir and Diego Mendoza. Musgrave bunted them into scoring position, but de Leon grounded out to Lonzo and that stranded the runners. They were getting closer, though – Manny Rubin and Bruce Burkart had more back-to-back, 1-out singles in the sixth. Jonathan Harris struck out, but Matt Gilmore walked, loading the bases. Weir, however, hit a soft comebacker to Argenziano and was out at first by a mile, stranding a full set of runners.

The Raccoons would have the bases loaded of their own in the bottom of the sixth. Lonzo reached on an error by Mendoza, last week’s/month’s batter/rookie of the thing, stole another bag, while Cas walked and Pucks singled after Brobeck K’ed. Jesus Martinez socked a long fly to center, but it was caught by Gilmore. Lonzo scored, though. Royer hit another long fly, but this one got into the gap and fell in for a 2-run double, extending the lead to 4-0. The Titans walked Chavez intentionally, but then Musgrave gave up another 2-out hit, an RBI double to Argenziano. The shame! The demolition finished with a 2-run knock by Labonte. Musgrave was yanked, although all six runs in the inning were unearned. Argenziano went eight innings, giving up a solo home run to Rubin in the final frame he pitched. Ornelas’ 1-2-3 ninth capped off the game. 7-1 Raccoons. Labonte 3-4, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4; Argenziano 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, W (4-0) and 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Game 3
BOS: CF Torrence – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – LF Y. Valdez – RF J. Harris – 2B W. de Leon – 3B D. Mendoza – P Glaude
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – P Stewart

Everybody seemed to hit the ball really hard off Zach Stewart in the first inning, but the Titans got sharp singles from Alan Leitch and Manny Rubin and then nothing else. Burkart struck out and Yoslan Valdez grounded out sharply to Brassfield to end the inning. Then it seemed fine, until the fourth rolled along. Valdez and Harris socked more sharp singles, de Leon walked, and then Mendoza finally came through with a 2-out, 2-run single, the first runs in the game. Glaude grounded out, leaving two aboard, but he was no-hitting the Critters at this point, so he was doing *something* right. Stewart really wasn’t, giving up a double to Leitch and then the run on another Burkart single in the fifth inning, falling behind 3-0 in the process. The no-hitter ended on a 2-out triple by Brassfield in the bottom 5th, but there was A) nobody on, and B) no help coming from Stewart either.

Stewart pitched into the seventh, but was removed after a walk to Rubin, with Siwik going out to finish the inning. Glaude ran into his own spot of bother in the bottom 7th, nicking Brobeck and giving up a single to Pucks with one out. Martinez then based a drive into the gap, and Harris, the mean bean, raced in there and picked it out of the sky for a frustrating second out. Brass’ RBI single and Toushi’s RBI double narrowed the score to 3-2 then, but Labonte grounded out, leaving the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. The Titans then went through four relievers in the eighth inning. Between them, Mancilla and Dave Parra and Ramon Montes de Oca and Dan Lawrence put Cas and Brobeck on the corners, but then got Pucks to pop out to de Leon to end the inning. Arf!! Instead, Boston got an insurance run in the ninth thanks to Mike Tobin’s leadoff double off Eloy Sencion, who surrendered the run on a Leitch single; they then sent in Alex Diaz again. Martinez, Brass, and Royer went down without much of a fuss. 4-2 Titans. Brassfield 2-4, 3B, RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Lonzo needed a day off, especially with the double-header looming, and wasn’t in the lineup on Thursday.

Game 4
BOS: CF Torrence – 2B W. de Leon – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – RF J. Harris – SS Tobin – LF Weir – 3B D. Mendoza – P Brenize
POR: 2B Labonte – 1B Imai – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Brassfield – SS Sheilds – P Fox

We needed a solid outing from Fox, but there was no Chance for that, was there? Singles by the 2-3-4 batters and Brobeck’s groundout gave the Raccoons barely a run in the first inning, and while Fox pitched around a Brobeck error in the first inning, he took it right to the face in the second. Tobin singled, Weir doubled, and Mendoza’s groundout tied the game. Brenize struck out, but Ethan Torrence gave Boston a 2-1 lead with a single before de Leon grounded out to Labonte to end the inning. It got better, though; he started to put up some strikeouts again, although quite in the long counts, and the Titans didn’t score, and also fumbled their lead. Chavez and Pucks tied the game with doubles in the third, and Portland went up by one in the fourth as Fox doubled and scored on Labonte’s single to center. The Titans didn’t get much of anything in the middle innings against Fox, aside a Burkart double with two outs in the fifth inning, and Burkart thought it was a triple, finding Pucks to disagree and throw him out at third base to end the inning.

Fox pitched into the seventh – yay! – but nicked Danny Encarnacion and allowed a single to Torrence – boo. Tanizaki replaced him with two outs and got a grounder to Brobeck from Manny Rubin, and Brobeck made a nifty play when we really needed it and threw him out at first to bring on the stretch. Boston offered southpaw Dave Parra in the bottom 7th. Martinez batted for Toushi and got dinked, but then two poor outs were made before Brobeck singled. Lonzo pinch-hit for Pucks as Parra persisted, and perplexed plenty, peppering a pound to deep left – and gone!! 3-run homer by Lonzo!! That put the game away for good, and no Titan reached base against Tanizaki and Ornelas in the last two innings. 6-2 Coons! M. Chavez 2-4, 2B; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Fox 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (1-3) and 1-1, 2B;

Raccoons (38-47) vs. Canadiens (30-53) – July 5-7, 2058

The Raccoons had distanced the damn Elks quite a bit in last place now, which didn’t mean we would be above getting swept for four in three days at home now. The Elks had a 4-3 edge in the season series, but were in the bottom three in the CL in both runs scored and runs allowed, including bottoms in offense, with a -88 run differential. Their rotation was the second-worst by ERA, reaching nearly five on average, their defense was horrendous, and they weren’t in the top half of any appreciable category in the league.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (7-4, 3.13 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (5-13, 6.34 ERA)
Neal Hamann (2-3, 6.25 ERA) vs. TBD
Ramon Carreno (3-8, 4.31 ERA) vs. Ernie Gomes (5-6, 4.69 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (4-0, 2.41 ERA) vs. John Morris (5-5, 4.72 ERA)

Ya. Hamann in the second game of the double header. The alternative would be Brobeck. We just didn’t have the wiggle room on the roster right now. There were reserves on standby as well, with Ricky Herrera and Colby Bowen flying in from St. Petersburg.

Meanwhile, no clue what the Elks were gonna do; we expected Gomes and Jesus on Friday, but Gomes was scratched and moved to Saturday with a sore shoulder, as if 24 hours were gonna fix that. They didn’t have any other starter that could go on even three days’ rest on Friday. Also – it’s Bobby Herrera pitching at home, so it’s probably gonna ******* rain anyway. Morris was the only southpaw we saw coming up right now.

Game 1
VAN: CF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – RF Magnussen – C Burgio – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B R. Price – LF Needham – 3B Bowden – P A. Jesus
POR: 1B Imai – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 2B Bribiesca – P B. Herrera

Nothing happened out of the gate, but a ********** of a third inning gave the Elks a 2-0 lead. Bobby Needham singled on the first pitch of the inning, but was forced out by Dave Bowden. Jesus bunted terribly, forcing out another runner. Then, a passed ball, a walk to Danny Garcia, an RBI single for Rich Kuchta, and then Pucks dropping Adam Magnussen’s fly to left for another run to score. Casey Burgio grounded out to strand a pair in scoring position. Portland made up one run the unearned way in the bottom 3rd, as Bribiesca opened with an infield single, then scored on a throwing error by Kuchta.

Herrera then struggled along against the all-left-handed lineup while the brownshirt offense did the same against Jesus, amounting to only two hits and still a 2-1 deficit through six innings. Herrera got stuck in the seventh after a Kuchta single and a walk to Magnussen. Sencion got the last out from Burgio and three more in the eighth inning, then was hit for with Labonte to begin the bottom 8th. Labonte socked a triple into the gap in left-center, only Portland’s third hit on the day, but now the tying run was in scoring position with nobody out. (calmly reaches for a bottle of Capt’n Coma) Toushi grounded out to first and Labonte stayed put. Lonzo grounded out to short and Labonte stayed put. I was breathing more laboredly, but Cas finally dropped a ******* single into center to get the tying run home with two outs. Chavez flew out to deep left, and Siwik’s scoreless ninth kept the game tied. Yes, let’s play 16! Off Rafael Flores, right-hander, in the bottom 9th, Brobeck hit a leadoff single. Martinez singled with one out, then was forced out by Bribiesca with a grounder. Brobeck moved to third base with two outs, Royer batted for Siwik, and Bribiesca – the dumb **** – was picked off first base by Flores to send the game to overtime.

Excellent.

Matt Walters was used up in the tenth against the flood of left-handed bats, getting three outs without any trouble. Royer was then back at the plate to begin the bottom 10th against Flores, as he had replaced Pucks in the field to not waste a bat for nothing. He drew a leadoff walk, then found second base when Toushi grounded out. Lonzo grounded to short, which in itself was not a game-winner, but Kuchta’s capital throwing error sent Royer dashing after all, and the Elks were so slow to retrieve the ball from foul ground that Royer scored to end the game. 3-2 Blighters. Labonte (PH) 1-1, 3B; B. Herrera 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

The Elks then sent John Morris to start the second game – on TWO days’ rest. He could not possibly last long, but they were really long in the tooth now.

Game 2
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – RF Magnussen – CF D. Moreno – C Weese – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B Lundberg – 2B Larsen – P J. Morris
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – CF Royer – 1B Imai – C C. Cortez – 3B Bribiesca – P Hamann

Two pitchers totally unqualified to start this game from either end of course equated for a skinny 1-0 lead for Portland through five innings, courtesy of Lonzo and Royer hits in the bottom of the third inning. Morris was holding out through five innings, admirably, while Hamann was using 78 pitches to go through five innings, scattering six hits and two walks for no runs, and twice was dug out by Lonzo starting an inning-ending double play with an Elk on third base. Cortez Chavez also got his first major league hit the first time through, a single to center.

Hamann was out of juice by the sixth; Damian Moreno doubled with one out, Kevin Weese moved him to third base with a sharp groundout, and then John Rosenstiel got nicked. Bravo came in and struck out Tyler Lundberg to drag Hamann out of that inning by his fuzzy tail as well. Bravo struck out two more in a 1-2-3 seventh, but the really fun part was how to continue from there. The only remaining relievers that hadn’t pitched in the first game were Ornelas and Tanizaki. The former got the eighth and narrowly held the 1-0 score despite putting Magnussen and Weese on the corners. Rosenstiel flew out to left to strand that pair. The Raccoons were doomed to not score in the bottom 8th either as Lonzo and Pucks hit singles, did a double steal, and then Brass was walked intentionally by Bryan McDuffie. Three on, no outs, Royer hit a sac fly, Toushi popped out, and Cortez Chavez grounded out. (sigh!) Tanizaki was the last guy standing in the pen and walked Lundberg to begin the ninth inning. Yes. Exactly what I needed. Shane Larsen grounded out, and Rick Price and Danny Garcia both went down on strikes to complete the Friday sweep, however. 2-0 Blighters. Lavorano 2-4; Caswell (PH) 1-1;

The damn Elks!

This was the last of INF Rick Price (.237, 2 HR, 15 RBI) as an Elk; they sent him to Dallas on Saturday morning for a prospect, #108 SP Martyn Polaco.

Game 3
VAN: CF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – LF K. Hawkins – RF Magnussen – C Burgio – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B Bowden – 3B Lundberg – P E. Gomes
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – C C. Chavez – P Carreno

We weren’t exactly stuffed in the pen for Saturday either, but Carreno was socked around right away in the first inning. He hit a batter and allowed three base hits, including 2-out RBI singles to both Casey Burgio and John Rosenstiel. The Coons responded by going down in order in the first, then putting three on with nobody out in the second against Gomes. Martinez struck out, I was already taking a deep breath to start screaming, and then Chavez minor flicked a ball over the infielders on the left side for a 2-run single to tie the game. That was also the only runs that scored in the inning. Top 3rd, and Carreno threw seven straight balls, walking Kyle Hawkins before getting Magnussen to fly out on a 3-0 pitch. Burgio then found a 4-6-3 double play. Caswell then hit a solo home run in the third, which made for a 3-2 lead that didn’t stand up because Carreno was ******* horse *****. Bowden and Lundberg reached base in the fourth, one run scored on Garcia’s 2-out infield single, and then Kuchta just blasted one outta here for a 3-piece.

The stupid Coons couldn’t score a run in the bottom 4th even when both Elks middle infielders made an error, at which point we could also just throw in Brobeck to pitch, because … why bother? The usual smacking sounds ensued and within two innings and 40 pitches Brobeck was swung around the ballpark by his striped tail for four hits, two walks, and three runs. Gomes pitched into the ninth inning with his sore shoulder, giving up one more meaningless run in the eighth when Pucks, Toushi, and Royer hit three straight singles with two outs. 9-4 Canadiens. Puckeridge 2-4; Imai (PH) 1-1; Royer 2-4, RBI;

If that’s a guy with a sore shoulder, I want all my guys to have sore shoulders, too!

Noah Caswell was not in the lineup on Sunday in deference to his All Star selection and him having played a long string of games already. Let’s get everybody three days off!

Game 4
VAN: LF D. Garcia – C Weese – RF Magnussen – 2B K. Hawkins – 3B Lundberg – 1B V. Cruz – SS Kuchta – P Kozloski
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – C M. Chavez – CF Royer – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Sheilds – P Argenziano

Jeff Kozloski (7-6, 3.17 ERA) was pitching on short rest as well, not that it helped us all that much so far in this series. The Raccoons did grab a 1-0 lead in the second inning, though, as Chavez and Martinez hit singles, and Brassfield at least placed his groundout up the middle so that Chavez could run home from third base. Sheilds remained hopeless and grounded out to first. That lead, too, was transient, as the Elks tied the game in the fourth when Argenziano walked Weese and gave up the game-tying single to Hawkins, but that was one of just two hits for the damn Elks in five innings, and it was once more on the dead offense to actually score something here, which just … didn’t happen. Argenziano stretched the 2-hitter through six, seven, and eight innings, until finally hit for with Toushi and nobody on and two down in the bottom 8th. Toushi singled, and so did Labonte. Bribiesca pinch-ran for Toushi at that point, but Lonzo flew out to Moreno in center, and that was that chance squandered. Walters had a scoreless ninth (would he ever get a save again?), and the Raccoons would have walked off in the bottom 9th on Chavez’ long drive that banged for a double off the base of the wall in dead center, when it would have been well out over like 85% of the outfield circumference. He settled for a 1-out double, but we didn’t have any more pinch-runners. Royer grounded out to Lundberg, but Jesus Martinez was kind enough to get through with another double to center. 2-1 Blighters! Labonte 2-4; M. Chavez 3-4, 2B; Martinez 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1; Argenziano 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

In other news

July 1 – IND SP Josh Barbieri (2-8, 4.81 ERA) could miss a full year with elbow ligament damage.
July 2 – A 3-hit performance in an 8-4 win against the Pacifics allows SFW 3B/SS Julio Moriel (.362, 1 HR, 10 RBI) to reach the 2,000 hits mark at age 30. The career Warrior singles in the first inning against LAP SP/MR Pat Birkemeier (0-1, 5.51 ERA) for #2,000. Moriel, a 2-time All Star, led the FL in runs scored in 2051, and has been batting .315/.378/.396 with 24 homers and 547 RBI alongside 295 stolen bases for his 13-year career.
July 2 – DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.315, 12 HR, 54 RBI) would miss at least one week with back spasms.
July 3 – Falcons catcher Luis Miranda (.256, 5 HR, 44 RBI) could miss the rest of the month after straining a hammy.
July 4 – WAS 1B/RF/LF Willie Jenkins (.265, 10 HR, 37 RBI) drives in six runs on three hits, including a 3-run homer, as the Caps trounce the Rebels, 16-3.
July 4 – Capitals 1B Eddie Moreno (.217, 4 HR, 18 RBI) will miss the rest of the year after tearing a back muscle. Whether the 39-year-old will come back from this remains to be seen.
July 4 – An oblique strain means a month on the sidelines for IND OF Orlando Ramos (.231, 4 HR, 31 RBI).
July 5 – Indy trades SP Jeremy Fetta (5-5, 3.51 ERA) to the Knights for #116 prospect C Vinny Atenzio.
July 5 – Dallas LF/RF Josh Bursley (.245, 6 HR, 34 RBI) could miss a month with a strained rib cage muscle.
July 6 – The Wolves beat the Pacifics, 1-0 in 11 innings. The walkoff, fittingly, occurs on a wild pitch by Pacifics CL Ryan Sullivan (2-7, 3.63 ERA, 14 SV).
July 7 – SAC INF Andrew Russ (.257, 0 HR, 19 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games thanks for an eighth-inning single in Sacramento’s 6-2 loss to Dallas.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.330, 15 HR, 73 RBI), batting .556 (15-27) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ C Tristan Waker (.289, 8 HR, 45 RBI), hitting .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Despite all the sucking and complaints, we somehow won six games this week in eight tries. The fact that we scored 3.75 runs per game doing so tells you a thing or two about how well the opposition played. 2.75 runs allowed per game, which sounds off, but Cristiano Carmona has run the math four times at my insistence.

Maybe the problem is that Cristiano sucks at running anything.

The Raccoons have three All Stars this year, which convinces me that the silly people that fill out these ballots don’t even watch the games and only smear around their phones for three hours. Noah Caswell was perhaps a solid choice even, but then we stuffed the roster with relievers Eloy Sencion and Reynaldo Bravo. Those two made the team for the first time, but it was the third selection for Caswell, with three different teams. He had previously been an All Star with the Pacifics in 2053, and the Wolves last season.

The damn Elks are damn funny. They offered a catcher – Casey Burgio – for two prospects, including Brett Cotton, the #9 pick from last year. Cotton turned 20 this week, and has been putting up a 5-2 mark with 2.68 ERA in Ham Lake since getting promoted there in May. Yeah, we’re totally trading him for a backup catcher.

We are after three “value” options in the IFA pool, a pitcher and two second basemen, but it’s possible we’ll get priced out of all of them in the bidding process, since we’re hard-capped regarding how much we can sign any player for this year.

On the other side of the All Star Game, we’ll play four games in Boston. Long road trip, actually: the week after that we’ll be in Milwaukee and Oklahoma City before returning home.

Fun Fact: Ramon Carreno has a -0.1 WAR for the season.

Worse than random AAA scum.

Yes, he’s our third-best starter.

Westheim · 01-03-2024, 03:25 PM

All Star Game

The Federal League beats the Continental League, 5-2, in the annual All Star Game, taking a 3-1 lead in the first inning on NAS 1B Andy Metz (.327, 14 HR, 56 RBI) hitting a 3-run homer off NYC SP Ben Seiter (11-4, 3.36 ERA) and never looking back. Metz wins MVP honors for these early heroics.

As far as the Raccoons are concerned, Noah Caswell hits a pinch-hit single and spends a few innings in the field, while Reynaldo Bravo pitches a scoreless inning, but Eloy Sencion allows a solo home run to RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.341, 15 HR, 50 RBI) in the sixth inning.

Raccoons (41-48) @ Titans (50-39) – July 11-14, 2058

The Raccoons had evened out the season series with three of four games won in Portland the week before, and now got to travel to Boston, where nothing good ever happened, for a rematch. The Titans had dropped out of first place, trailing the Crusaders by a game and a half. They were sixth in runs scored and third in runs allowed now, with a +28 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (7-4, 3.03 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (5-4, 3.18 ERA)
Zach Stewart (6-8, 3.03 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (10-4, 2.46 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (4-0, 2.20 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (4-8, 4.52 ERA)
Chance Fox (1-3, 6.20 ERA) vs. Mike Pohlmann (6-5, 3.84 ERA)

Glaude had taken the only W against Portland the prior week, but had then faced Stewart. Only righty opposition coming up here. Ramon Carreno was surplus to requirements and could optionally be skipped on the coming Monday, which was an off day for the Critters, could be used in long relief, or start Tuesday in Milwaukee. It was all up in the air and we’d make **** up as we went on a daily basis.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 1B Imai – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Weir – LF Ma. Gilmore – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – 3B D. Mendoza – RF J. Harris – P Glaude

The Coons had three singles in the first, plus the benefit of an error by Willie de Leon and a wild pitch by Glaude, and scored a total of one run, thanks to Lonzo doubling up Labonte right away. Cas and Chavez hit singles again, Pucks reached on the error, and the run scored on the wild pitch… Bobby Herrera in turn started with two full counts, and Hector Weir and Matt Gilmore reaching the corners on a leadoff walk and a single, two strikeouts to Jorge Arviso and Manny Rubin, and then gave up a score-flipping wallbanger double to de Leon on a 1-2 pitch in the bottom 1st, so there was already plenty of reasons to be grumpy within 15 minutes of the All Star break ending.

Labonte reached on an error in the third inning, then was doubled up by Caswell, while Herrera, the very expensive piece of ****, went into the fourth with a leadoff walk to de Leon, who stole second at some point, but was on third base with two outs and Jonathan Harris, a dangerous .122 hitter, batting. Harris of course doubled on a 3-2 pitch, driving home a run to make it 3-1, and Herrera went on to walk Glaude in a full count, threw a wild pitch, and then walked Weir in a full count. Gilmore flew out to Caswell on an 0-1 to leave the bases loaded, which should be an automatic demotion to single-A. Herrera sucked his way to the showers by the sixth inning, while Glaude was pitching a 3-hitter with ten strikeouts on a relatively decent pitch count, 75 offerings through six innings. He struck out Chavez and Pucks to begin the seventh, reaching a neat dozen, then allowed a soft single to Brobeck and a harder single to Martinez, but Toushi made a quick third out to the top 7th. While the Titans got an extra run off Ivan Ornelas in the bottom 8th, the Raccoons got the tying run to the plate thanks to Alex Diaz offering 2-out walks to Pucks and Brobeck in the ninth inning. Martinez grounded out to short on the first pitch, and that was the end of that day’s agony. 4-1 Titans.

No honorable mentions. Everybody sucked.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – P Stewart
BOS: 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – RF J. Harris – CF Ma. Gilmore – LF Weir – 3B D. Mendoza – P Musgrave

Friday’s heroics included a third-inning leadoff double by Zach Stewart in a scoreless ballgame, which was met by Labonte whiffing and consecutive pops by Lonzo and Caswell, leaving the rather dismayed looking pitcher stranded at second base. Boston took a lead the inning after on Alan Leitch’s leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, and that threatened to remain the only score of the game as the Raccoons remained exceptionally feckless even by their standards, and the Titans didn’t seem to get too much off Stewart either. The Raccoons’ least-awful left-hander needed 92 pitches through seven innings, with the bottom 7th ending on a 9-5 double play when Pucks caught Ethan Torrence’s pinch-hit fly to shallow right and used it to strike down Bruce Burkart trying to go from second to third on the play.

Caswell and Chavez hit back-to-back singles off Musgrave in the eighth, which made a full pawful of hits for the Critters in the game, but the unfazed Boston starter rung up Pucks and got a cozy grounder to short from Brobeck to end the inning. Stewart offered up seven more pitches to do the bottom 8th, which would reward him with a complete-game 4-hitter (and a loss) unless the Dumpster Gang made a stir in the ninth inning against Alex Diaz. Brassfield flew out to Harris in deep right on the first pitch, but Toushi walked on four pitches. Royer ran for him and Martinez batted for Stewart, then launched an out-of-the-blue 2-run homer over the fence in left…! The complete game was off for Stewart, but suddenly a win was on the table! Lonzo reached on a Leitch error with two outs and stole second base, but was left on by Caswell. Matt Walters got the ball for the bottom 9th. Leitch doubled with one out, but Walters quelled the rising with two strikeouts to get only his fifth save of the year. 2-1 Blighters. Martinez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Stewart 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (7-8);

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – C C. Chavez – P Argenziano
BOS: CF Torrence – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – LF Y. Valdez – RF J. Harris – 2B W. de Leon – 3B D. Mendoza – P Brenize

Were the Titans concerned that their platinum prospect Jason Brenize had the same number of wins than infinitely-often waived Cameron Argenziano, who had spent half the year as garbage reliever in triple-A? Probably. The Coons also loaded the bases right out of the gate as Torrence’s error put Labonte on base, Lonzo doubled to left-center, and Caswell walked. Pucks, the good boy, hit an RBI single ahead of three rapid and mostly soggy outs, Brobeck popping to second, Royer whiffing, and Martinez at least sending Harris backwards as he flew out to strand a full set of runners. The bases were loaded with nobody out *again* in the third inning, then with the 2-3-4 batters on. Lonzo and Caswell singled, the former also stole a base, and Pucks was nicked on a 3-1 pitch. Brobeck at least hit a sac fly this time, 2-0, but Royer popped out. Martinez walked to refill the bags, and Cortez Chavez came through with a 2-run single to center, leaving Argenziano to end the inning. The Titans didn’t have a base hit through all of this against *Cameron Argenziano*, although Leitch singled in the fourth, but was also left on first base. Harris singled in the fifth, but was caught stealing.

Bottom 6th, still 4-0, and the Titans loaded the bases in facepaw fashion. Hector Weir flew out to left hitting for the luckless Brenize, but Argenziano then walked the 1-2 batters and nicked Burkart with two outs. Yoslan Valdez grounded out in a full count – but not until after Argenziano threw a wild pitch to concede a run at 1-1, ruining his sub-2 ERA. Yes. Sub-2. Briefly.

The top of the seventh saw another instance of three on, nobody out for the Raccoons, as Dan Lawrence walked Cas and Brobeck around a Pucks single. Royer popped out, but Martinez drew a walk in a full count to push a run home. Cortez Chavez then got himself a 4-RBI day with another 2-run single to center, knocking out Lawrence for Dave Parra, who regained control of the situation. Argenziano finished seven innings of work for four hits and a run, but the Raccoons’ pair of All Stars then exploded for two runs in the bottom 8th as Bravo walked a pair and Sencion conceded the runs on Yoslan Valdez’ double to right. Tanizaki’s 1-2-3 ninth put the game away, though. 7-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, RBI; C. Chavez 2-4, BB, 4 RBI; Argenziano 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (5-0);

Cameron Argenziano!?

Game 4
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 2B Bribiesca – P Fox
BOS: CF Torrence – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – RF J. Harris – 2B W. de Leon – LF Weir – 3B D. Mendoza – P Pohlmann

The Raccoons didn’t get a hit off Pohlmann the first time through on a dark Sunday, but Fox gave demotion to St. Pete an honest effort right out of the gates, walking Torrence before giving up three quick runs on a Rubin triple and Burkart’s homer to left. He then faked competence for a few innings before having another outburst in the fifth inning. This time Rubin hit a 3-run blast after Torrence’s infield single and a walk to Alan Leitch. Another walk to Burkart led to Fox’ disposal. Siwik replaced him, fudged around the lower half of the Titans’ lineup until he gave up a 3-run homer of his own to Diego Mendoza, and the Raccoons scrapped the whole concept of pitchers pitching and sent out Brobeck for the sixth. He showed flashes of casual competence in a 9-0 deficit, and actually completed the pitching duty for the day in the hopelessly lost game, giving up just one unearned run in three innings. Just ignore the two hit batters, and the two errors behind him by Lonzo and Sheilds, and it was almost like we were using an ordinary pitcher and were an ordinary team. Pohlmann was never threatened in a complete-game 6-hit shutout, whiffing nine Raccoons. All the hits he gave up were singles. 10-0 Titans. Caswell 2-4; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 3.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

July 8 – The Canadiens trade INF Shane Larsen (.299, 6 HR, 26 RBI) to the Falcons for a prospect.
July 8 – Recurring back spasms put Thunder OF/2B Eric Whitlow (.339, 16 HR, 63 RBI) on the DL for up to six weeks.
July 9 – The Thunder are involved in two separate deals on the day of the All Star Game. The Buffaloes acquire 1B David Worthington (.268, 13 HR, 63 RBI) from the Thunder for RF/LF/1B Cesar Santiago (.313, 9 HR, 41 RBI), while they send OF Raimundo Bagoim (.255, 1 HR, 10 RBI) to the Warriors for veteran catcher Luke Burnham, who spent all of 2058 in the minors so far, but was with the Thunder from 2049 through 2056.
July 11 – The 20-game hitting streak of Sacramento’s Andrew Russ (.254, 0 HR, 19 RBI) does not survive the All Star break as he goes hitless in four at-bats in a 9-3 loss to the Wolves.
July 12 – The Miners beat the Cyclones, 9-8 in 10 innings. A dozen runs score in the eighth inning alone, which sees the Cyclones turn a 3-1 deficit into an 8-3 lead before squandering the whole of it in the following half-inning, and eventually the game as a whole.
July 14 – PIT SP Kodai Koga (6-10, 5.89 ERA) lightens up a stinker of a season with a 3-hit shutout of the Cyclones, whiffing eight batters in a 6-0 win.

FL Player of the Week: TOP LF/RF Dan Martin (.298, 16 HR, 86 RBI), batting .421 (8-19) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B Dave Robles (.294, 14 HR, 62 RBI), hitting .500 (8-16) with 2 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

What’s wrong with Cameron Argenziano, and can we somehow bottle it and force-feed to the younger Critters that are actual prospects?

Will Kyle Brobeck actually win his valiant fight against the 9.00 ERA mark? Tune back in next week when we will certainly see more garbage relief behind some overwhelmed young ‘un…

The Raccoons spent a total of $125k on international free agents, signing all three of the youngsters they were after for cheap. Right-hander Melvin Luco cost $61k to sign. Second basemen Frank Vasquez and Ricardo Manzanarez each cost $32k to sign. They’re all 16, with the first two from the Dominican Republic, and the latter one from Venezuela.

Next week: Loggers, Thunder on the road.

Fun Fact: Lonzo had two hits and stole three bases this short week, which is decidedly in the “mixed” bag of emotions.

Then again, he has now rallied away (almost) a huge deficit he had on Perry Pigman in the stolen base race in the CL. Pigman is on 36 bags taken, and Lonzo has nearly caught up with 34. Xavier Reyes sits in between with 35.

There’s no reason for regular updates on the career leaderboards in stolen bases this year, since it was always a bit of a longshot to even make up one position this year, but Lonzo is now up to 545 stolen bases, 25 behind 6th-place Rich de Luna, and 36 behind the Miners’ Alex Vasquez, the active leader, who slowed down greatly this year and has only six stolen bases so far.

Westheim · 01-06-2024, 05:20 AM

Raccoons (43-50) @ Loggers (49-44) – July 16-18, 2058

The Loggers were scoring the third-most runs in the league, but also gave up the fifth-most, good enough for just a +29 run differential and a 5-game deficit to the Crusaders. They had especially trouble with their rotation, which had a 4.52 ERA on aggregate. It was enough to pummel the Critters, though, with a 7-2 edge for Milwaukee so far this year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (7-5, 3.10 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (7-4, 3.34 ERA)
Zach Stewart (7-8, 2.90 ERA) vs. Adam Foley (9-7, 4.02 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (3-9, 4.61 ERA) vs. Julian Dunn (7-9, 5.76 ERA)

Riddle would be the only left-handed pitcher in *this* set, but the Loggers had not used southpaw Sam Webb (4-9, 5.80 ERA) yet coming out of the All Star break. That being said, we skipped Ramon Carreno, who had not pitched against the Titans in Boston, behind the 1-2 punch here as well, partially to break up the three straight left-handers we had for a moment there with Stewart, Argenziano, and the bloody smear that was left of Chance Fox.

Game 1
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 2B Bribiesca – P B. Herrera
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – CF Valenzano – LF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – RF Bishton – 2B Roseto – C Dye – SS D. Miller – P Riddle

Soft singles by Royer and Caswell, an error by Robby Gaxiola, and Chavez’ sac fly gave the Raccoons a first-inning, single-run lead, because while Trent Brassfield walked to fill the bases again, Pucks made a meek third out, and it didn’t get any better in the third inning, when Pucks whiffed to strand the bags full of Caswell, Brobeck, and Brass, who had reached on another Gaxiola error, a double, and a 2-out walk, respectively.

The fourth inning brought some upheaval; Tyler Riddle left the game with an injury, while Bobby Herrera was unhorsed after three solid innings when Steve Valenzano rolled a single through the left side of the infield to begin the inning, and Perry Pigman walked. The trailing runner, CL leader in stolen bases, partook in a double steal that was not only successful, but also saw Chavez fire the ball well over a leaping Lonzo into centerfield for an error. Valenzano scored for the tie, Pigman scored on Ryan Bishton’s subsequent single for a Loggers lead, and Herrera’s wild pitch to Nick Roseto and a 2-out single by Jonathan Dye made it 3-1 Milwaukee, and all three runs earned on Herrera, too.

That was the only glitch on Herrera’s ledger through six innings. The Coons stranded Brass and Pucks on base in the sixth, while the seventh saw Caswell and Brobeck get on base with one out. Chavez flew out, but the Loggers shed another pitcher there as Roberto Navarro *also* departed from the game with an apparent injury, and his replacement Danny Zepeda gave up a 2-out RBI double to Brassfield, but Pucks croaked for the third time, and first time against a right-hander, with a groundout to Roseto, leaving the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position as the stretch broke over us. While Herrera went seven and Hamann and Bravo somehow pieced a scoreless eighth together despite trying their very best to get the Loggers an insurance run or five, Cas’ 1-out single off Ryan Dow in the ninth inning at least put the tying run on base once again. Brobeck hit a deep fly to center for nevertheless an out to Kelly Konecny, but Dow walked Chavez, moving Caswell up to second base. Brass was unretired in the game – until he struck out here. 3-2 Loggers. Caswell 2-4, BB; Brobeck 2-4, BB, 2B; Brassfield 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI;

The injuries to Riddle and Navarro weren’t major, but in the short term this would hamper the Loggers even more, leaving them short in the pen for at least the rest of this series. They also made the switch to start the aforementioned Sam Webb on Wednesday, so we got a second consecutive left-hander – not that I was so certain that this was to our lineup’s liking right now…

Game 2
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – 2B Bribiesca – P Stewart
MIL: CF Valenzano – 3B Gaxiola – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – 2B Roseto – C Mi. Gilmore – LF Bishton – SS D. Miller – P S. Webb

Again the Raccoons went up 1-0 in the first, this time with Cas’ double that drove in Lonzo from first base. Lonzo had been nicked by Webb with a breaking ball. Top 2nd, Brass and Martinez got on base to begin the proceedings. Bribiesca flew out to right, but Stewart dished a double to deep left that scored the lead runner, but not the rather surprised Martinez. Both Martinez and Stewart scored on Steve Royer’s subsequent single to right-center, however, while the Loggers took the third hit in the nether regions when Perry Pigman very audibly hurt himself as he threw the ball towards home plate. He left the game for ex-Coon Mitch Sivertson as the Loggers’ roster rapidly thinned itself out. They were still good to put their first five batters on base in the bottom 2nd against a drowning Stewart, though. Starting with Robles: single, walk, single, single, single, and three runs scored eventually to shorten the score to 4-3, but they also had Roseto thrown out at the plate on a perfect throw by Brassfield. The next couple of innings brought a bit of a breather, but Stewart still completed the blowing of a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning, giving up a leadoff single to Valenzano, who stole his 20th base of the year and scored on two deep fly outs by Gaxiola and Sivertson. All even at four, then.

While Stewart got stuck in the sixth and was relieved by Tanizaki, who retired Danny Miller to strand Mike Gilmore on second base, Sam Webb was only picking up the pace. While Cas and Brobeck reached base in the seventh inning against him, he also struck out three batters, including Chavez for his 10th K of the game and to strand the runners for good. The tie was not broken until the ninth inning, then even with Webb out of the game. Ryan Dow allowed a 1-out walk to Steve Royer, who was then caught stealing just ahead of a Lonzo double to left. Caswell got four wide ones rapidly after that, but the Loggers still stumbled over Brobeck, who singled to right-center and with two outs and himself as the go-ahead run Lonzo would always score on that one. Brass grounded out to end the inning, while the Raccoons brought in Walters for a save and Tyrese Sheilds for D at third base, but Miller still hit a roller past Sheilds for a leadoff single in the bottom 9th. Jonathan Dye grounded out, and then Walters carved up Valenzano and Gaxiola with strikeouts to get the game over with. 5-4 Raccoons. Royer 2-5, 2 RBI; Caswell 4-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 2-4;

Perry Pigman (.356, 7 HR, 55 RBI) would be out for a month with a strained rotator cuff, which was certainly offering an opening for Lonzo to shuffle himself in front in the stolen base race again.

Game 3
POR: RF Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – 2B Labonte – C C. Chavez – P Carreno
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – C Dye – 1B D. Robles – 2B Roseto – CF Valenzano – LF Konecny – RF Callaia – SS D. Miller – P Foley

For the third time in the series the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead early on, this time as Royer singled home Labonte from third base with two outs in the second inning. Cortez Chavez tried to also score from second base, but was thrown out at the plate by Valenzano; this was after Royer had opened the first inning with a triple and was then stranded after a cacophony of failure behind him. Another triple was hit in the fourth by the otherwise foundering Labonte, all the way to the base of the wall at the 431’ sign in dead center. What would have been a homer in almost very other park in the league at least scored Toushi from first base for a 2-0 lead, but the battery croaked to leave Labonte stranded at third base.

The Coons had two runs from eight hits through four innings and were waiting for the inevitable collapse of Carreno, but he was pitching nicely (with no strikeouts however), at least until a fifth-inning rain delay that lasted about 30 minutes. Carreno finished the inning afterwards, but Luis Silva took his pulse extra-thoroughly afterwards. Foley also continued to pitch and walked Brass and Toushi to begin the sixth, but then the 7-8-9 batters fell off a cliff again and no runs were added. When Carreno offered two walks himself in the bottom 6th he was yanked right away; Eloy Sencion found a way out of the inning while preserving the 2-0 lead, but then walked Callaia to begin the bottom 7th and allowed a single to right to Miller that Royer overran for an error and suddenly the tying runs were in scoring position. Foley hit a sac fly to center, 2-1, while once Tanizaki gook over Corey Garmon pinch-hit for Gaxiola and got the tying run home on a ******* suicide squeeze. Bottom 8th, Valenzano drew a 1-out walk, and Hamann replaced Tanizaki at that point, but gave up a single to PH Mike Gilmore, an RBI double to Callaia, a sac fly to Miller, and another RBI single to Bishton. 5-2 Loggers. Royer 2-4, 2B, RBI; Labonte 2-4, 3B, RBI;

(stares)

Raccoons (44-52) @ Thunder (51-43) – July 19-21, 2058

The Thunder were back atop the CL South and salivating at the chance to make an CLCS without getting bopped by the Raccoons. They were ahead in the season series, too, 2-1, but actually ranked only fifth each in runs scored and runs allowed with a modestly meager +12 run differential. They probably still had work to do at the deadline if they actually wanted to make the playoffs. They also had Thomas Turpeau and Eric Whitlow to replace, both of whom were on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Cameron Argenziano (5-0, 2.09 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (10-5, 2.92 ERA)
Chance Fox (1-4, 7.22 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (8-8, 5.74 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (7-6, 3.14 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (6-6, 3.93 ERA)

These three Thunder starters were all right-handers, but they had been rained out on Thursday and had the chance to skip southpaw Jorge Quinones (6-2, 4.43 ERA) into the series.

Game 1
POR: RF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – 2B Labonte – P Argenziano
OCT: RF J. Mendoza – 3B Soberanes – C Burnham – 1B F. Martinez – 2B C. Jimenez – SS Lira – LF Weant – CF D. Guzman – P Aa. Harris

A Caswell single and Brassfield’s 2-out RBI triple gave the Coons a quick 1-0 lead again, although this game after Pucks reached on an error by Chris Jimenez, was forced out by Lonzo, and Lonzo was then caught stealing. Argenziano however began to regress to his grim mean with a plunked Jose Mendoza to begin the bottom 1st, a walk to veteran Ed Soberanes, and singles by Felix Martinez and Jimenez that flipped the score to 2-1 Thunder before long. Jimenez, Omar Lira, and Tim Weant would hit a string of 2-out singles for an extra run in the third inning, after which Danny Guzman flew out to Caswell to strand a pair. Argenziano’s pitching left much to be desired on this Friday, and the Thunder spanked him for nine hits in total over six innings, but couldn’t get any more runs off him. Harris also spanked him with a fastball in the fifth inning, right into the furry tush, but paid for it with a rally run when he threw a wild pitch and gave up an RBI single to Pucks, narrowing the score to 3-2.

The score seemed frozen there, especially with the Raccoons doing nothing much of anything against Harris anymore, the Thunder righty giving up five hits through eight innings. The Raccoons had a scoreless seventh from Bravo, then brought Hamann for the bottom 8th, which ended with two walks for two outs. Siwik replaced him, walked Mike Harmon, gave up an RBI single to Cesar Santiago, and then was taken deep by Ed Soberanes for a grand slam. 8-2 Thunder.

Game 2
POR: 1B Royer – RF Puckeridge – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 2B Labonte – 3B Sheilds – P Fox
OCT: RF J. Mendoza – 3B Soberanes – C Burnham – 1B F. Martinez – 2B C. Jimenez – LF Weant – SS McNeal – CF D. Guzman – P J. Juarez

Although Fox walked a Thunder batter in each of the first three innings and didn’t strike out a position player when Cristiano “Sir Knows-It-All” Carmona always waffled that he struck out plenty and would turn things around with that soon, the Raccoons still scored first despite not getting much of anything against Juarez through those three innings. Pucks homered to begin the fourth, 1-0, and Cas, Chavez, and Brobeck then found a way to load the bases with singles. Drowning hard, Paul Labonte at least managed a sac fly, but Sheilds whiffed to end the inning.

Fox’ middle innings suddenly saw him turn things around with four strikeouts to position players, no walks, and just an infield single hit by Jose Mendoza, keeping the Thunder shut out in the 2-0 game. Guzman popped out to begin the seventh, but that was as good as it got. PH Omar Lira singled, and then Mendoza banged a ball off the fence for an RBI triple. The Coons pulled the plug, two batters too late, then found out that the bag with their emergency parachute – Reynaldo Bravo – contained nothing but bowling balls. Soberanes singled home the tying run, and Luke Burnham hit a home run to right in a full count, and the Raccoons were dealt with for another day. 4-2 Thunder. Caswell 2-4; Brobeck 2-4;

That night, I rented a car and drove up to Kansas, just to have a drink. **** Oklahoma. **** dry states.

HOW CAN YOU STAY DRY WITH THIS ******* TEAM???

Game 3
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – RF J. Martinez – 2B Bribiesca – P B. Herrera
OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – CF D. Guzman – RF M. Harmon – 1B C. Santiago – LF Weant – 2B F. Martinez – C Burnham – P Quinones

The Coons took their habitual 1-0 lead in the first inning, unearned with Royer reaching on an error, stealing a base, and eventually scoring on Brobeck’s groundout, then looked for ways to get obliterated. Tim Weant nearly went deep in the bottom 2nd, but Tipsy Bobby actually retired the Thunder in order the first time through – but with no strikeouts.

Portland took a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Quinones nicked Caswell and was taken deep by Brobeck in retaliation, and that wasn’t all for the inning. Chavez singled on a 1-2 pitch, but Brass popped out. A wild pitch advanced Chavez, while Martinez grounded to short. Lira’s throw was well past Cesar Santiago and into the first base dugout for a run to score and Martinez to get put on second base, while Quinones, when the dust settled, still stood around the infield hunched over and with his paws on his knees until he was collected by the Thunder trainer. Noah Hollis replaced him, threw a wild pitch to move Martinez to third base, fanned Bribiesca in a full count, but then gave up a 2-out run when he conceded a single to center to Bobby Herrera – which marked Herrera’s first RBI in the league. Herrera would be stopped at 11 straight retirements when Guzman hit a double into the gap in right-center, but he was stranded when Harmon popped out.

Top 5th, Caswell singled, stole second, and scored on a Brobeck double to center, 6-0. Chavez singled, Brass hit a sac fly, and that was it for Hollis, replaced by Garrett Giustino. The Thunder’s fifth began with a Santiago double to center. Tim Weant popped out, but Felix Martinez walked. He also got doubled off first base when Burnham lined out to Steve Royer, 3-U to end the inning. Lonzo singled home Bribiesca with a 2-out run in the sixth inning, but the Thunder finally broke through against the still strikeout-less Herrera in the bottom 6th. Jose Mendoza socked a leadoff triple, Omar Lira doubled, and Soberanes singled. Guzman’s sac fly narrowed the score to 8-2 before a mound conference appeared to at least calm Herrera down a little. Ironically, his pitch count was GREAT for once, but he was now getting blasted…! He got out of the inning, but STILL no strikeouts. He grounded out in the top 7th after Jeff Boyce had loaded the bases, stranding absolutely everybody, then gave up another triple to Felix Martinez, who scored on Burnham’s sac fly, 8-3. Herrera was yanked after a 1-out walk to Guzman in the eighth, with Sencion getting out of there, and him and Siwik held the Thunder away in the bottom of the ninth. 8-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Brobeck 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; M. Chavez 2-4; Labonte (PH) 1-1, 2B;

In other news

July 16 – The Capitals acquire SP Ernie Gomes (6-7, 4.89 ERA) from the Canadiens, who receive two prospects.
July 16 – Also gone from the Canadiens is catcher Casey Burgio (.294, 4 HR, 28 RBI), who is picked up by the Aces in a trade for MR Jim Woods (5-1, 4.03 ERA, 1 SV) and another prospect.
July 17 – The Gold Sox beat the Wolves, 1-0, on a home run by DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.325, 17 HR, 77 RBI).
July 18 – The Bayhawks trade OF/2B/3B Jeremy Lindauer (.298, 1 HR, 18 RBI) to the Miners for two prospects.
July 20 – LVA SP Marcus Wilkins (4-8, 5.16 ERA) will miss the rest of the season, felled by shoulder inflammation.

FL Player of the Week: DAL C/1B Jason Bothe (.288, 8 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .500 (10-20) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN 1B John Rosenstiel (.252, 6 HR, 36 RBI), batting .500 (10-20) with 3 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We don’t appear to have much to trade at the deadline. Various players have already been dangled on the shopping (chopping?) block, but the return offers were largely disappointing. While the Elks are shedding players left and right, we might not actually make a trade at the deadline.

Monday is another day off, but then we begin 17 straight games with a 6-game homestand against the Knights and Condors. The final series of the month will be a 3-game set with the Bayhawks in San Francisco, ending on Deadline Day.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons will not win the season series against the Loggers for the fifth straight year, but that’s not remotely close to the record.

The Raccoons didn’t win the season series against the Loggers for the entirety of the Decade of Darkness from 1997 to 2006. Two 9-9 ties in that period, but it was mostly 7-11 and 6-12 years. That 1997-2006 Loggers run ended with a 13-5 Coons comeback in 2007, while 1996’s 10-8 win only narrowly kept the Loggers’ string of dominance there to 10 years. The previous winning Raccoons season in that set was in 1993, an 11-7 year.

Well, our darkness coincided with the first really strong stint that the Loggers enjoyed, so it’s not a huge surprise: we didn’t post a winning record once in that span, while the Loggers took until 1994 to post a winning record at all, but then right away won the North with a modest 85-77 mark and that kicked off ten straight winning seasons for them, with a total of two division titles (but no rings), and seven second-place finishes, mostly to the Titans. They went 81-81 in 2004 and then hit their own valley of wailing for a decade after that, not reaching 82-80 again until 2015, at which point both teams were gearing up for a late-2010s bit for the division. The Coons won the division every year from 2017 to 2019 (but always lost in the CLCS), but the Loggers beat the Coons to it in a second tie-breaker in 2020 (thanks, Nick Lester) before winning the division outright in ’21 – when they finally won their first championship.

More recently, the Loggers didn’t lose a season series to the Raccoons from 2039 to 2043, including one tie in ’43, and took their second and most recent championship in 2041.

Westheim · 01-07-2024, 03:12 AM

Fell out of bed at 5 today. So. There you have it.

I need to go for another ... (yawwwwwn) ... round of... (blinks) ... closed-eyes...... -.-

+++

Raccoons (45-54) vs. Knights (51-48) – July 23-25, 2058

The Knights were struggling to get their stuff together. While they were scoring the most runs in the CL – just one marker shy of five runs per game – they were giving up even more and were rocking up with a -2 run differential (Coons: -23). They were tops in batting average and OBP, middle of the pack in home runs, and absolute bottom in stolen bases, their entire team just barely out-stealing Lonzo. Their rotation was the worst by ERA, reaching nearly five in that category, too. We lost two of three games to them in our first meeting of the year.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (7-8, 3.06 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (8-7, 4.87 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (3-9, 4.40 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (8-8, 4.82 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (5-1, 2.32 ERA) vs. Jeremy Fetta (5-6, 3.59 ERA)

Three right-handers, and no southpaws in their rotation to begin with. I mean, we were pretty steady in losing games to anybody, regardless of handedness…

Game 1
ATL: CF Nork – 1B Wheeler – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – LF Abercrombie – RF Alade – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – P Harman
POR: RF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – 2B Labonte – P Stewart

Lonzo added a stolen base, #36, in his quest of out-stealing the Knights (39) right in the first inning, nipping second to make up for forcing out Pucks, who reached base on balls to begin the bottom 1st. Caswell, the sole actually functioning batter in that bloody lineup, hit an RBI single to drive him home, and for the 53098232th game in a row – I counted, Maud! – the Raccoons scored first.

As usual, it didn’t last, mostly because Stewart was all over the place and piled up 68 pitches in just three innings. He walked four, hit a batter, and somehow gave up only one run on two hits, on an RBI double by Jon Alade with two outs in the top 3rd specifically. That tied the game, driving home Marco Nieto, who had earlier hit into a fielders choice that was mostly enabled by Jeff Wheeler hurting his hammy halfway between first and second base. He left the game for Eric Miller and was off to the DL by the time we finished up losing this week’s Tuesday opener.

Stewart exasperated himself through five innings, giving the Knights a 2-1 lead in his last frame with a Nieto single and an RBI double by ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie, who was batting .303 with seven homers and now 64 RBI, in other words, he looked quite usable in our soggy lineup. Nick Fox’ leadoff triple and Harman’s sac fly added a run off Reynaldo Bravo in the sixth, on which Hamann and Siwik followed up with scoreless appearances that just didn’t seem to matter because the Raccoons’ offense was – after some early success – being completely suffocated by Harman, who had gotten into a right groove. The Critters had four hits through five innings, and nothing thereafter as he went eight innings. Miller and Nieto singles and a wild pitch of his own saw Tanizaki concede a fourth run in the ninth inning, Ruben Mendez was brought in by the Nights for the kninth, and Marcos Chavez at least drew a leadoff walk. Brobeck grounded out, advancing the (useless in itself) runner, Tyrese Sheilds popped out in what was now the pitcher’s spot, and Labonte snuck an RBI single up the middle that actually did get the tying run and Jesus Martinez to the plate with two outs. He grounded out to Doug Triplett. 4-2 Knights. Labonte 2-3, BB, RBI;

Game 2
ATL: C M. Nieto – CF Nork – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – RF Alade – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – 1B Wada – P En. Ortiz
POR: RF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – 2B Labonte – P Carreno

Lonzo again scored the game’s first run in the first inning, this time without the benefit of a stolen base, but a single of his own. Caswell’s grounder moved him to second this time, after which the Raccoons hit three straight 2-out singles for two runs before Toushi grounded out. Labonte’s double to left and Pucks’ RBI single to right added a third run to the Coons’ tally in the second inning. It also made Pucks the first Critter to reach *40* RBI this year, near the end of ******* July.

The Raccoons would walk the bags full against Ortiz in the third inning, but then brought up Carreno with two outs and the pitcher grounded out, then, as the good host he was, tried to give back that 3-0 lead in the fourth inning. Three straight singles by the 4-5-6 batters plated a run for the Knights before Nick Fox grounded out and Jushiro Wada flew out to left to end the inning with the tying runs left on base. Bottom 5th, Ortiz allowed three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out and Toushi next in line and hitting a comebacker that led to Brass being forced out at the plate by Ortiz, who then walked in a run against Labonte, whiffed Carreno, and finally drowned with another bases-loaded walk issued to Pucks, leading to his removal. Lonzo flew out to Jon Alade against left-hander Jose Villegas to end the inning, but now with a 5-1 lead. Still with Carreno pitching though. Carreno was hardly convincing anybody, but the defense kept picking him up and he made it through seven innings without giving up another run (and without striking out a position player). He was not even hit for in the bottom 7th with Toushi on base, popping out. Jesus Martinez then pinch-hit for Pucks against Mario de Anda and bashed a 2-run homer to add to the lead, 7-1.

Carreno went back out for the eighth and got two more outs before Alade singled and he nicked Triplett with a breaking ball, signaling it was removal time. Eloy Sencion struck out Nick Fox to strand the two runners, and then the Coons tried to have a meltdown. Ornelas got the ball for the ninth inning. Wada singled to right, and Pedro Almaguer walked on four straight balls, which was not a great start. Nieto socked an RBI double to left, and Nork flew out to Martinez in right, with the catcher Almaguer scoring on a throwing error by Martinez. Hamann arrived, gave up Nieto’s run on an Abercrombie grounder, then was taken well deep by Willie Acosta. Exit Hamann, enter Walters, and the ******* game finally ended on Alade’s fly to Caswell. 7-5 Raccoons. Martinez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-4, BB; Brassfield 2-5, RBI; M. Chavez 3-4; Brobeck 2-5, RBI; Labonte 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Carreno 7.2 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (4-9);

First W for Ramon Carreno in almost two months. He had most recently beaten the Condors in an 11-2 laugher on May 29.

This was also the final game of RF/LF/1B Jushiro Wada’s quad-A career with the Knights, as he was traded to the Loggers that night, taking his .246 clip with 2 HR, 25 RBI, and #167 prospect OF Kyle Prettyman with him. The Knights received Gaudencio Callaia (.306, 1 HR, 34 RBI) in the deal.

Game 3
ATL: CF Nork – RF Alade – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – LF Abercrombie – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – 1B Callaia – P Napier
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Royer – 2B Labonte – C C. Chavez – 3B Sheilds – P Argenziano

The Knights re-arranged their pitching by moving Joe Napier (6-6, 4.45 ERA) into the rubber game instead of Jeremy Fetta. Napier held the Coons at bay for the first three innings, allowing just two base hits, while the Argenziano thing seemed to be wearing off slowly but surely. The Raccoons turned two double plays in the first two innings to erase a pair of runners behind him, but when Pucks overran the second of Alade’s and Nieto’s 1-out singles in the fourth inning it gave the Knights a pair of runners in scoring position. Acosta popped out, but Abercrombie had that killer instinct that wholly and fully and completely absent from the Raccoons’ lineup and singled right through between Royer and Labonte for a 2-out, 2-run single. He also stole second, but Argenziano got the K in on Triplett to bugger out of the inning with a 2-0 deficit. The Raccoons got on the board right afterwards with a leadoff jack by Martinez. Hey, hey, not even August and we have somebody with ten homers!! …

It was still 2-1 when Martinez drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning. Napier walked Royer, too, but Labonte hit into a fielder’s choice, but the bags were full with another walk to Cortez Chavez. All those runners, and we were bringing up Tyrese Sheilds and Cameron Argenziano, the latter batting .182, which was still almost 20 points more than Sheilds, who ran a full count before flying out to Alade in right. Martinez went from third base – and was thrown out at the plate. Ace! (opens bottle of Capt’n Coma to clench his jaws around something other than a table edge)

At least Argenziano never batted again in the game, putting Triplett and Fox on base and getting removed for Tanizaki, who retired pinch-hitters Pedro Almaguer and Danny Munn to get out of the inning still with a 2-1 score on the board. Bribiesca batted for him at the start of the bottom 7th against Chris Jones, finding the gap for a pinch-hit triple…! *And* - for once the Raccoons got that damn run home without drama as Pucks singled through the right side to tie the game. Lonzo and Caswell made poor outs without major gains, but, oh, Martinez! Long drive to left, and outta here, and the Raccoons had the lead…! Royer went back-to-back with a shot to right-center, and Labonte got on against Mario de Anda after Jones’ disposal, but Chavez popped out to end the 4-run inning that turned out to be decisive – Bravo and Walters didn’t allow any more baserunners to the Knights in the last two innings and the Raccoons took the series. 5-2 Furballs! Puckeridge 3-4, RBI; Martinez 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Royer 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1, 3B;

Raccoons (47-55) vs. Condors (41-58) – July 26-28, 2058

The Condors lingered in last place in the South, but had just swept the folding Titans. They ranked ninth in runs scored and runs allowed, with a -61 run differential. Their problem zones were defense and the bullpen, the latter posting a cruddy 4.55 ERA. The season series was even at three.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-4, 6.43 ERA) vs. Mario Clemente (5-4, 3.35 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (8-6, 3.17 ERA) vs. Edgar Mauricio (4-6, 4.45 ERA)
Zach Stewart (7-9, 3.08 ERA) vs. Miguel Batista (3-3, 4.58 ERA)

We’d see three more right-handers in this series. The Condors didn’t have a southpaw in their rotation, and only one in their pen.

Game 1
TIJ: C J. Morales – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – LF T. Duncan – RF J. Harmon – 3B Frasher – 1B H. Ramsay – 2B Chapa – P M. Clemente
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – 2B Bribiesca – P Fox

Fox gave up a second-inning run with hits by Jamie Harmon and Luis Chapa, then hit a 2-out single himself in the bottom 2nd that loaded the bases for Pucks to do some real dam- … or ground out to second and the Raccoons wouldn’t score. Jerry Morales drew a leadoff walk from Fox in the third inning, but was stranded on three poor outs, while the Raccoons got a 1-out single from Cas, who stole second base. Martinez popped out, and Chavez flew out to lef- oh, no, Tim Duncan had the ball sludge through his glove and hand and behind him for a pretty gross run-scoring error, and the game was tied. Brobeck grounded out to Chapa, though, before more substantial damage could be done.

No game was tied for long with Fox around, though, and he issued walks to Chapa to begin the top 5th, and Morales to continue it. Bobby Fish strung a single into center to plate Chapa from second and give the Condors a 2-1 lead. Casey Ramsey popped out, and Duncan whiffed, after the pitching coach had a good yelling at Fox following the Fish single. Fox continued to have his moments, including a 1-2-3 sixth inning in which he struck out Jamie Harmon and Eric Frasher, giving him 6 K for the game, which would be fine if not for the four walks. And then he had a moment of the third kind in the seventh, giving up a bloop single to Morales and a pinch-hit wallbanger double to Tim Burkhart with two outs that put two Condors in scoring position. Siwik came in to face Ramsey, who grounded out to second base on the first pitch he saw. Could we get a rally going to take Fox off the hook? Lonzo tried, bashing a 1-out double to left in the bottom 7th. Clemente got a grounder from Caswell that moved Lonzo to third, then walked Martinez. Clemente fell to 3-1 against Marcos Chavez, but Chavez then chose to ground out to short and strand the tying and go-ahead runs on the corners…

Instead, Siwik walked Duncan, and Sencion walked Frasher, and then Sencion gave up a 2-out, 2-run single narrowly by Bribiesca to significantly widen the score to 4-1 in the eighth inning. Brobeck singled off Mike Hall to begin the bottom 8th, then was doubled up by Toushi, and that inning ended in another big goose egg on the board. Brobeck pitched the ninth inning, allowing Burkhart on base with a single, but he was then caught stealing. Burkhart went on rob Paul Labonte of potential extra bases out of the #9 hole to begin the bottom of the ninth and the whole damn ballgame ended with Lonzo forcing out Pucks, who had drawn a 1-out walk from Corey Leonard, and then getting caught stealing. 4-1 Condors.

Wholly and completely atrocious.

Saturday first and foremost brought roster moves. After four months, the Raccoons disposed of their Rule 5 picks, both at once. Tyrese Sheilds (.160, 0 HR, 8 RBI) had been spectacularly useless and was returned to the Condors, while Toushi Imai (.220, 5 HR, 21 RBI) had clubbed some good homers, but overall just wasn’t hitting a damn thing, and we had somebody to bring up from AAA, who was also batting left-handed. If not for Joel Starr batting .319 with 20 homers across the full 12 months since he’d been acquired from the Miners with the Alley Cats, Toushi perhaps would have lasted the season, but Starr was 25 and needed to be tried out *now*, and they weren’t both gonna fit on the roster. Tony Benitez, who had batted .244 in some limited action last year, would take over covering the left side of the infield.

Sheilds had of course been taken from the Condors, but was not assigned before the Saturday game.

Game 2
TIJ: RF J. Harmon – 2B Chapa – SS C. Ramsey – LF T. Duncan – C Waker – 1B H. Ramsay – 3B Frasher – CF B. Fish – P Mauricio
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C M. Chavez – 2B Labonte – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera

Pucks hit a jack on Mauricio’s second pitch of the game for a 1-0 Coons lead, but the team didn’t pile on despite Mauricio nicking Caswell and walking Starr in the inning, then saw Bobby Herrera glitch the bases full with a leadoff walk to Duncan, a Tristan Waker double, and another walk to Harry Ramsay. Frasher whiffed and Fish got put in a 4-6-3 sandwich to defuse the situation and keep the 1-0 lead alive, but Jesus H. Christ at a truck stop, can we ever get somebody to pitch a nice game???

The 1-0 score stood for a bit, while Caswell was hit again by Mauricio in the bottom 3rd. Waker was then drummed by Herrera in the fourth, and certainly there was absolutely no connection between those two. (stands at the big window overlooking the field and holds up a sign reading “GOOD JOB” in blood-red)

More calm ensued; Pucks’ homer, the Waker double, and another single by Pucks in the middle innings were the only base hits in the entire game through six innings, but Waker sure gave a ball a ride to begin the seventh inning, having to get back at Herrera. The drive had homer length, but not direction, and was picked by a rushing Caswell in deep center for the first out. The Condors remained off the bases, while Martinez and Starr slapped back-to-back singles in the bottom 7th, only to get stranded. The pen was up, but stirred in earnest after Fish’s leadoff single to center in the eighth, but Jerry Morales pinch-hit for a double play grounder to Lonzo to clean the bases, and Jamie Harmon flew out to center to complete eight for Herrera, who had a pitch count best described as “up there”. The Coons loaded the bases with the 3-4-5 batters and two down in the bottom 8th against righty Blake Lewis, but the Caswell double and two walks ended up being for naught when Chavez popped out to short on the first pitch. Herrera, on 105 pitches and with the skinniest of leads, did not return for the ninth inning. Matt Walters did a fine job, though, striking out two and removing the Condors’ 2-3-4 batters in order. 1-0 Blighters. Puckeridge 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Caswell 1-2, 2B; Starr 1-2, BB; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (9-6);

First career hit for Joel Starr, who made one appearance with the Miners before being traded last year, but went 0-for-3 in that.

Game 3
TIJ: C J. Morales – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – LF T. Duncan – RF J. Harmon – 3B Frasher – 1B H. Ramsay – 2B Chapa – P M. Batista
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – 3B Brobeck – 2B Labonte – C C. Chavez – P Stewart

Cortez Chavez kept driving in runs in pairs with a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom 2nd that plated Starr and Labonte for the first runs on Sunday, and the inning even continued with 2-out singles for Stewart and Pucks, the latter allowing Chavez to score for a 3-0 lead before Lonzo grounded out to end the inning. Chavez broke out of his habit in the fourth inning, however, hitting a sac fly after a Labonte triple to right-center to make it a 4-0 game. Stewart was looking really well early on, not allowing a base hit until Fish singled in the fourth inning. He nicked Ramsay in the fifth, but got around that, and kept breezing along with his own 1-hit bid until Frasher drilled a 2-out double through Brobeck in the seventh inning. Ramsay grounded out to Labonte, which was right how I remembered him in the brown shirt, absolutely useless with runners in scoring position; never mind that he had 39 RBI to go with a .272 clip and seven homers right now and would absolutely contend for the Raccoons lead in RBI …

The shutout didn’t happen, however, because Stewart grinded out eight innings, but needed 110 pitches to get that far, and shrugged and told the pitching coach after the top 8th that he had nothing left in that left flapper. The score was still 4-0 because the Raccoons had more or less stopped bothering to exchange their plate of cake and fork for bats when it was their turn in the box ever since the tack-on run in the fourth, but the Raccoons managed to finish off the game just fine. Hamann got a groundout from Fish, and Tanizaki retired the two right-handers after that to complete the game. 4-0 Raccoons. Labonte 2-3, 3B; C. Chavez 1-2, 2B, 3 RBI; Stewart 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-9) and 1-3;

In other news

July 22 – The Cyclones acquire SP/MR Brian Fuqua (2-3, 4.24 ERA) and cash from the Wolves in exchange for infielder Jon Elkins (.232, 3 HR, 16 RBI) and a prospect.
July 24 – The Bayhawks receive 37-yr old reliever David Williams (6-3, 2.15 ERA) and a prospect from the Capitals for INF Jamie Sherrick (.284, 1 HR, 28 RBI).
July 25 – A torn flexor tendon could mean a full year on the sidelines for 23-year-old Falcons SP Aaron Sciuto (8-8, 4.08 ERA).
July 26 – The Loggers might be without 1B Dave Robles (.288, 16 HR, 70 RBI) until September after the 25-year-old broke his wrist.
July 27 – Washington acquires LF/RF Willie Sanchez (.271, 12 HR, 54 RBI) from the Rebels for three prospects.
July 28 – The Canadiens keep disbursing players, with C Kevin Weese (.313, 5 HR, 19 RBI) going to the Gold Sox for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: SAL C Ben Newman (.263, 18 HR, 64 RBI), swatting .368 (7-19) with 5 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.398, 1 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .600 (15-25) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Shutting out the Condors for the last 19 innings played on the weekend allowed the Raccoons to just narrowly zip in front of them and win the season series for a fifth year in a row, and the 13th time in the last 14 years.

Pucks generated some interest in the loosest sense of the word in that there were a couple other teams out there that liked to take him on (and maybe seven figures in cash to balance their books) in exchange for an assortment of personnel, f.e. whatever was left of 38-year-old, former-Critter-for-half-a-year Wade Gardner.

The Rule 5’s are gone, but I don’t see much else changing, because nobody wants the veterans on expiring contracts – so Royer and Hamann and the like will stick for another two months – and the few players that do generate interest I don’t fancy trading. Like, we have Bobby Herrera and Caswell tied up for another five years, why would I shill them off *now* for some second-rate prospect? They are the guys to build a new team around.

And Caswell might well be the ONLY batter left on that team from here. Okay, Lonzo was free reign here at least as long as he’s a serviceable shortstop defensively, but apart from that…

2-week road trip beckoning now. We’ll tour the country going from Cali (San Fran) to New England (New York and Boston) and back to Cali (Sacramento) before returning home again in the middle of August. We’ll actually fly out to New York twice this month; it’s both the first and last series on our August schedule.

Fun Fact: Ramon Carreno’s W on Wednesday was the 6,900th regular season win for the Raccoons.

And, well, he’s a sucker!

Westheim · 01-09-2024, 04:22 PM

Raccoons (49-56) @ Bayhawks (54-49) – July 29-31, 2058

The Raccoons traveled to the Bay for the last series of games against the Baybirds this year. Portland led the season series 4-2 against the #8 offense and #3 pitching in the league. San Francisco ranked second in the South, just one game out of the top spot, and needed to make a comeback here. They had no injuries right now, but the only qualifying starter they had at this point was Eric Braley.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (4-9, 4.19 ERA) vs. Josh Swindell (2-10, 7.23 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (5-1, 2.37 ERA) vs. Mark Jacobs (4-4, 3.45 ERA)
Chance Fox (1-5, 5.83 ERA) vs. Eric Braley (7-6, 3.03 ERA)

Jacobs would be the sole southpaw opponent for the Raccoons in town.

Game 1
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Starr – 2B Labonte – P Carreno
SFB: SS X. Reyes – C Mittleider – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – 1B P. Fowler – 3B Peltier – CF A. Walker – RF Tomko – P Swindell

Pucks and Cas reached in the first inning, but Jesus Martinez hit into a double play and the Bayhawks took the lead instead with a Jon Mittleider double and Armando Montoya’s single in the bottom 1st. Portland answered, though – Chavez and Brobeck reached base to begin the second inning, and it became quickly apparent that Swindell was ready for a beating. Starr hit into a fielder’s choice, but Paul Labonte tied the game with a single, Carreno filled the bases with another single, Pucks drew a bases-loaded walk, and Lonzo’s sac fly made it 3-1 Coons before Caswell grounded out to Xavier Reyes. The next two innings did not yield more runs for the Raccoons, but Carreno gave up a run in the fourth with three straight 2-out batters reaching base and Aaron Walker getting the RBI with a single before Chris Tomko flew out to Pucks to end the inning.

Top 5th, and the rookie Joel Starr batted with the bases loaded and one out after Cas got nicked, Chavez walked, and Brobeck singled. He fell to 1-2 against Swindell, but then hurled a looper over Reyes for an RBI single in shallow left for his first career RBI and a 4-2 score. The 8-9 batters then both chose to pop out to short and three runners were stranded, and while I didn’t blame Carreno for not hitting a bases-clearing double when the chance presented itself, I was a bit grumpy about the moonshot he surrendered to Grant Anker in the bottom 6th that narrowed the lead to a single run again. Starr batted with two on in the seventh and found Montoya for a double play to kill that inning, and then was removed in a double switch when Carreno walked PH Randy Wilken with two outs in the home half of the inning, with Pucks going to first and recently-neglected Trent Brassfield taking over leftfield and batting ninth. Reynaldo Bravo got out of the inning and Brassfield cracked an RBI double to score Labonte against Oscar Juarez in the top 8th. Brass actually stole third base, then scored on a sac fly by Lonzo. Up 6-3, Neal Hamann gave up back-to-back doubles to Anker and Montoya in the bottom 8th, but at least Mike Siwik got the last out there from coonskinner Adam Peltier on a single pitch and a grounder to short. Matt Walters had a really relaxed ninth inning to take the opener and the season series from the Baybirds. 6-4 Raccoons. Brobeck 2-4, BB; Labonte 2-4, RBI; Brassfield 1-1, 2B, RBI; Carreno 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (5-9) and 1-2, BB;

Game 2
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – RF Martinez – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – 2B Bribiesca – P Argenziano
SFB: SS X. Reyes – RF Tomko – 2B A. Montoya – 3B Wilken – LF Anker – C Redfern – CF Bumpus – 1B Escalera – P M. Jacobs

In the second inning on Tuesday, Cameron Argenziano went from almost singling in Jesus Martinez with two outs and starting from second base to give himself a lead – but Martinez was thrown out at the plate by Adam Bumpus to end the inning – to getting strafed for three runs in the bottom 2nd after walking a pair and running into an RBI double by Jose Escalera, then a 2-run single by Jacobs. That one stung a bit. The Raccoons flipped the score, though; Royer and Caswell hit singles in the top 3rd, and Chavez and Martinez packed a pair of power drives for a game-tying and a go-ahead homer, respectively! Argenziano however was immediately upended again, thanks to leadoff walks issued to Tomko and Montoya in the bottom 3rd. Two groundouts tied the game, and Keith Redfern’s 2-out single gave San Fran a new lead.

Jacobs was gone by the fourth inning after allowing a leadoff single to Argenziano and a walk to Royer. Jorge Solis’ first pitch nicked Lonzo to fill the bases with nobody out. Caswell’s groundout brought in the game-tying run, 5-5, but Chavez whiffed and Martinez grounded out to leave a pair on base.

Argenziano held out through five, despite being mildly terrible, then got a new and sizeable lead in the sixth inning. Royer, Lonzo, and Chavez all whacked doubles, the latter both getting an RBI, and Brobeck’s RBI single and Brass’ sac fly added more runs. Argenziano would add another inning to at least fill in the craters in his ERA with some loose debris, then yielded after six for the bullpen, which was mostly blameless. Ornelas gave up a run in the seventh on Montoya’s disputed 2-out RBI triple to right, which sure didn’t kick up MUCH visible chalk as it bounced suspiciously far to the foul edge of the line, but Sencion had a clean eighth and Walters’ only base runner, Xavier Reyes, reached on an error by Labonte. 9-6 Critters. Royer 2-4, BB, 2B; M. Chavez 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Martinez 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Brobeck 2-5, RBI;

Game 3
POR: LF Puckeridge – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – SS Benitez – C C. Chavez – P Fox
SFB: SS X. Reyes – C Mittleider – 2B A. Montoya – 3B Wilken – CF A. Walker – LF Anker – RF Tomko – 1B Escalera – P Braley

Fox gave up a run in each of the first three innings; Montoya took him deep in the first, Braley singled in a run in the second, which ended with the bases loaded and Montoya popping out to Labonte, and Chris Tomko socked a loud RBI double in the third inning. The Raccoons actually made up two runs in the fourth after being very much silent in the early innings as Labonte hit a leadoff single, then was forced out by Cas. Martinez singled, and Brass’ double and Brobeck’s sac fly both scored a run to narrow the tally to 3-2.

While the offense stalled there, Fox at least put three scoreless together after the early crud, and thus managed to save his roster spot and furry tush into next week. The 3-2 score stood through six even when Tony Benitez made an error behind him that allowed Wilken on base to begin the fifth inning. The next three batters went down on six pitches. Benitez made *another* error behind Bravo in the seventh inning, and while short was not his best position, this was a bit of an annoying act. Bravo, Hamann, and Siwik offered scoreless relief in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Bayhawks pen shut down the Raccoons just has hard after Braley went seven innings with that many hits allowed. 3-2 Bayhawks. Brassfield 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Starr (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (51-57) @ Crusaders (64-43) – August 1-4, 2058

The Crusaders were perhaps still confused by the 4-game sweep they suffered by the Coons in the first set of the year in New York, even though they had taken two of three in Portland in the meantime. They were #3 in offense in the CL and had the best pitching outright, so they were clearly the team to beat and were increasingly out of challengers as the Titans had fallen away by 6 1/2 games already.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (9-6, 2.99 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (14-4, 3.06 ERA)
Zach Stewart (8-9, 2.90 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (8-8, 3.43 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (5-9, 4.19 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (12-5, 3.48 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (6-1, 2.78 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (7-6, 3.73 ERA)

We’d miss their only lefty starter and along with Taki ex-Coon Kennedy Adkins (9-3, 2.39 ERA), who had pitched on Wednesday. So, only right-handed opposition for this long weekend set.

Game 1
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 2B Labonte – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 3B Ale. Silva – P Seiter

While the Raccoons put pairs of runners on base against Seiter in the first two innings without scoring, and had Caswell on again with a third-inning single and then doubled up by Chavez, Bobby Herrera retired the Crusaders in order the first time through. The middle innings were a much different beast, however. Seiter was suddenly *on*, and Bobby Herrera gave up five hits the second time through the lineup, taking two runs to the cheeks in the fourth inning, and saw Mike Seidman, Ben Seiter, and Omar Sanchez load the bases in threatening manner in the bottom 5th before Tony Rodriquez grounded into an inning-ending double play. Instead, Zach Suggs hit his 19th homer of the year in the sixth inning, which sugged. Trent Brassfield’s own leadoff jack to right-center in the seventh did not spark a major (or even minor) rally, and when Lonzo reached on an error in the middle of deep, deep slump in the eighth inning, nobody could be found to make something out of that, either. Not even Ben Lussier in the ninth offered the Raccoons a way back to tie or even win the game. 3-1 Crusaders. Caswell 2-4; Brassfield 2-4, HR, RBI;

…and the silly goose that I am I really felt semi-confident after the first few innings that we might win the duel of the aces here…

Less hope, more drink. I’m such an amateur.

Game 2
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – RF Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – 1B Starr – 2B Labonte – P Stewart
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – CF Epperson – C Kissler – 3B Adame – P Cantrell

Stewart gave up five hits and a run the first time through, with four hits and the run coming in the first inning, as the 1-2 and 4-5 batters all hit singles, and Zach Suggs brought in a run with a double-play grounder. The Coons offense was highly invisible again even when Cantrell rolled his ankle after three innings and had to leave the ballgame, while Stewart was constantly on the verge of blowing up entirely. Even then, Rodriquez homered in the third inning, and Omar Sanchez drove in Alex Adame with another run in the fifth inning to extend the score to 3-0. Stewart got a little more solid in the later innings, eventually pitching six and two thirds on 105 pitches, but not seeing Suggs a fourth time; Tanizaki took care of that. Hamann had a scoreless eighth inning, but the Raccoons never found a footing against six innings of bullpen action for the Crusaders. Across the game, Lonzo hit for three quarters of a cycle, but the Raccoons never scored a run thanks to having only two singles outside of Lonzo’s futile heroics. 3-0 Crusaders. Lavorano 3-4, 3B, 2B;

Lonzo needed that, but as a whole it was still a horrendous game.

Game 3
POR: 1B Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 2B Labonte – P Carreno
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 3B Ale. Silva – P Luera

Carreno survived issuing three walks in his first run through the Crusaders lineup, but then gave up solo bombs to Tony Rodriquez and Sean Zeiher in the bottom of the third to find a 2-0 deficit that way, with the Raccoons stuck on a Caswell single and… well, Brobeck reached on an uncaught third strike, if that counts for anything. No? Aw.

Luera was not overly dominant, but the Raccoons continued to smell like corpses, and how the game remained remotely close with the way Carreno was going was also a mystery. He walked Sanchez and Zeiher in a long and tedious fifth inning, only for Raul Sevilla to pop out to Lonzo and strand the runners on the corners and keep the score at 2-0 into the seventh inning, where he departed after a Suggs double with two outs. Sencion and Royer entered in a double switch at Martinez’ expense, and Zeiher hit a duck snort RBI single over Lonzo at Carreno’s expense – not that he didn’t deserve the L. Luera ran out steam in the eighth and departed with a 1-hitter still intact. The pen finished the inning after Royer reached with a walk, while Jameson Monk was assigned the ninth in the 3-0 suffocation. Caswell reached base on Omar Sanchez’ error to begin the inning, which put the tying run in the on-deck circle when it just as well could have been in Mauretania. Chavez hit into a double play to Sanchez, and Brassfield grounded out ordinarily to short. 3-0 Crusaders.

Getting a bit long in the tooth here!

Game 4
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Starr – 2B Labonte – C C. Chavez – P Argenziano
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – C Seidman – 1B Sevilla – CF O. Caballero – 3B Ale. Silva – P Taki

When Steve Royer and Lonzo Lavorano started the game on Sunday with a pair of singles to left to give the Raccoons more of a threat of offense than they had put together in three days all at once, I almost felt like it was gonna happen, and we were gonna score a run for the first time in 21 ******* innings, and then Pucks struck out, and Martinez struck out, and Brobeck grounded out to Omar Sanchez, and I sobbed.

The Crusaders took a while to warm up, but got Alejandro Silva on base to begin the bottom 3rd when Martinez dropped his easy fly to right for an error. Silva then stole second base with the pitcher at the plate, but Taki’s bunt was bad and he was thrown out at third base. Taki was safe at first, then tried to get an extra base on Sanchez’ single to center, and was thrown out at third base. In some parallel universe, Tony Rodriquez then hit an RBI single off Argenziano’s kneecap or something and I finally died of that aneurysm I had been working towards for some 80 years, but he grounded out pathetically to Labonte and nobody scored.

Top 4th, and Joel Starr hit a 2-out double that led nowhere after Martinez had grounded out on a 3-0 pitch and Brobeck had popped out on a 3-1 pitch. In the fifth, Argenziano bunted badly to get Cortez Chavez and his leadoff single erased at second base, and nobody scored. The game dragged out without such funny events in the next few innings, and was perhaps most charitably described as a pitcher’s duel, even though the pitchers were far from dominant and it was really just everybody being stupid and bad at everything in a scoreless ballgame by the stretch. Bottom 7th, though, and Mike Seidman started with a single off Argenziano. Chad Williams’ grounder moved him to second, and Oscar Caballero walked. Silva grounded out, advancing the runners, and the Crusaders had to finish the game by October to be eligible for the postseason, first place or nah, and thus batted Alex Adame for Taki. He popped out to Argenziano on the very first pitch, and the runners were left in scoring position.

Ross Mitchell retired three in a row in the eighth inning, while Suggs doubled off Argenziano with two outs in the bottom 8th, but Zeiher grounded out meagerly to Labonte to waste that chance as well. Lussier’s ninth-inning leadoff walk to Martinez led exactly nowhere, and Argenziano was done after 116 pitches in eight innings and the Raccoons sent Tanizaki into the bottom 9th. Aaron Kissler pinch-hit for Seidman and hit a ******* jack. 1-0 Crusaders. Argenziano 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K;

In other news

July 29 – The Miners have acquired LF/RF Salvatore Rodrigues (.371, 5 HR, 46 RBI) from the Pacifics for young 3B Matt Ruskin (.196, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and a prospect.
July 29 – Falcons reliever Steve Watson (3-4, 4.15 ERA, 3 SV) could miss a full year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
July 30 – The Titans acquire MR Josh Penington (1-5, 6.80 ERA, 2 SV) from the Cyclones for two prospects, #112 INF Jordan Hernandez and #185 CL Blake Anderson.
August 1 – Knights outfielder Dan Nork (.252, 3 HR, 38 RBI) connects for all the parts of a cycle in Atlanta’s 14-0 rout of the Aces, going 4-for-5 with three RBI.
August 1 – Yes, the Knights slapped the Aces 14-0, but that didn’t give ATL SP Morgan Aben (5-10, 5.17 ERA) a 2-hit shutout on top of that by default.
August 2 – More than two months after #299, Indy RF/LF/1B Bill Quinteros (.285, 11 HR, 50 RBI) hits his 300th home run in an 8-2 win against the Titans. While Quinteros missed a month on the disabled list, he actually returned in the middle of July, but still had to wait nearly three weeks for the milestone blast, which came in the first inning off BOS SP Will Glaude (7-5, 3.21 ERA). An Indian for his entire career since being a #1 pick in the 2042 draft, Quinteros has put together a career .272/.401/.447 line with 2,179 hits, 300 homers, 1,147 RBI, and in his early days also 213 stolen bases. He is a 9-time All Star with six Platinum Sticks, but never won a title with the Indians, or even won the home run crown despite hitting 20+ bombs with regularity.
August 3 – Dallas OF Tyler Wharton (.252, 4 HR, 32 RBI), the 20-year-old boy wonder, will miss much of August with a sprained ankle.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 1B Andy Metz (.328, 19 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .323 (10-31) with 4 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL C Marco Nieto (.369, 6 HR, 51 RBI), punching .571 (12-21) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.333, 20 HR, 89 RBI), batting .404 with 7 HR, 22 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: TIJ C/1B Tristan Waker (.304, 11 HR, 59 RBI), bashing .408 with 6 HR, 19 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP Steve Hawkins (11-8, 2.99 ERA), going 5-1 with a 2.56 ERA, 23 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Aaron Harris (13-5, 2.68 ERA), posting a 5-1 mark with 2.33 ERA, 36 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL C Ben Newman (.269, 18 HR, 66 RBI), mashing .353 with 8 HR, 23 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ SS Casey Ramsey (.311, 7 HR, 47 RBI), batting .300 with 2 HR, 13 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Curse Brassfield for that stupid homer on Thursday – now I can’t complain that we went to New York for four days and didn’t score a single ******* run! We scored ONE run, in 36 innings, and none in the last 29.

Let’s just say the Portland animal shelter will get a few new inmates when the road trip finally finishes.

No moves at the deadline. While we got the odd offer for Pucks, Marcos Chavez, and Bobby Herrera throughout the month, none of them were enticing. Also, shopping Argenziano hoping for a team to go stupid didn’t bring in any great offers, and Sencion and Tanizaki found no takers at all.

Craig Kniep went to the DL this week with a frayed rotator cuff. Maybe that bothered him for a whole while already. In any case, he’s on the shelf until next season. You know who moves into our rotation for the Alley Cats now? 2056 third-rounder Bobby Sneeze. Boy, I can’t wait for Bobby Sneeze to reach the majors. Whenever he gives up a homer, we can say “Gesundheit!” – it will be a lot of fun!! …

We have lots of fun here in general. All the time.

Whee.

Titans, Scorpions next week.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are bottoms in runs scored in the Continental League.

You don’t say… .123/.177/.180 in August.

Westheim · 01-11-2024, 05:13 PM

Raccoons (51-61) @ Titans (60-52) – August 5-7, 2058

The Portland Dimwits travelled further up the coast to Boston for a 3-game series there starting on Monday, while not having scored a single run themselves in their last three games, and only a singular run on a stray Trent Brassfield homer in their last 41 innings. It looked a lot like they had quit for the year. The Titans, sliding ever further out of the picture in a no longer tight CL North race, had the seventh-most runs scored, but second-fewest runs allowed in the Continental League and badly needed the Critters to hold still for another three days. The season series was even at six.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-6, 5.66 ERA) vs. Mike Pohlmann (8-7, 3.80 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (9-7, 3.03 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (12-4, 3.15 ERA)
Zach Stewart (8-10, 2.95 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (7-5, 3.21 ERA)

We’d see only right-handers, not that handedness of the opposing pitcher mattered much right now.

Game 1
POR: RF Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Starr – 2B Bribiesca – P C. Fox
BOS: CF Torrence – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – LF Y. Valdez – RF J. Harris – 2B W. de Leon – 3B D. Mendoza – P Pohlmann

The scoreless streak did not extend to infinity, courtesy of Noah Caswell’s first-inning solo home run off Pohlmann that gave the Raccoons the early lead. The physical presence of Chance Fox in the ballpark of course meant that a 1-0 lead wasn’t gonna do, but when Pohlmann failed the bags full with a Brobeck double and walks issued to Bribiesca and Fox with two outs in the top 2nd, Royer popped out in foul ground to let the chance slip away. Brobeck’s error in the bottom 3rd and a Pohlmann single put two Titans on base to begin the inning then, but Fox withstood the 1-2-3 of the lineup, getting a pop, a K, and a grounder to short from Ethan Torrence, Alan Leitch, and Manny Rubin, respectively, to slip away from potential damage. Joel Starr hit a triple to center in the fourth inning, but with two outs and nobody on, and an intentional walk to Bribiesca and Fox’ pop to Yoslan Valdez in shallow left meant that no additional run was scored. Bottom 4th, and Brobeck made his second error to begin an inning, bobbling Bruce Burkart’s bouncer, badly. Valdez followed up with a near-homer to deep right that Royer caught while bouncing off the fence. A four-pitch walk to Jonathan Harris and a K to Willie de Leon followed before Diego Mendoza bounced to Brobeck – and Brobeck’s throw to first was terrible and barely kept on the field by a lunging Starr. All Titans were safe, bringing up Pohlmann with two outs and the bags full. He flew out to Caswell, somehow, instead of hitting a doubly-unearned grand slam.

The Titans finally flipped the score in the bottom 5th, with Fox blowing the game all on his own, allowing a walk to Leitch, a single to Rubin, and then with two outs back-to-back RBI singles to Valdez and Harris, 2-1 Boston, before de Leon grounded out to second base. Top 6th, and Joel Starr tied the game with the third single of the inning after Brass and “Three-Fingers” Brobeck had taken to the corners already with the first two hits of the inning. It was the first run scored on a ball in play by the Raccoons since Wednesday, approximately 6,928 innings ago. Bribiesca’s RBI single completed the re-flip of the score to 3-2 Coons, but Fox and Royer made poor outs with a guy on third base. Fox made it through six innings, but when he returned after the stretch walked the first two Titans coming up and then was yanked for Siwik, who got out of the jam without getting rid of the skinny lead, and also popped out Mendoza to second base in the bottom 8th; Eloy Sencion got the last two outs in that inning, setting up Walters. Leitch hit a sharp leadoff single to right and would advance on a wild pitch with two outs, but apart from that the Titans remained just as harmless as when Brobeck was still creating panic in the field – Tony Benitez had taken over by now, though – and went down on two pops and a strikeout to Walters. 3-2 Raccoons. Brassfield 2-4, 2B; Brobeck 2-4, 2B; Starr 2-4, 3B, RBI; Bribiesca 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1;

Fox gave up seven hits, four walks, and was attacked by Brobeck with three errors across six innings, and the Titans still couldn’t get in front of him. Maybe they had no place in the playoffs after all.

Game 2
POR: RF Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 2B Labonte – 1B Starr – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera
BOS: 2B W. de Leon – LF Ma. Gilmore – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF Y. Valdez – SS Leitch – CF J. Harris – 3B Torrence – P Broad

Lonzo singled, stole his first base in a while, and then scored on Brass’ single for another first-inning 1-0 lead for the Coons. Little else happened in the early innings; Tipsy Bobby kept the Titans to a walk against three strikeouts, and no base hits, while the Raccoons went on to load the bags in the fourth inning with Cas and Brass, who did the dirty double steal, and then Labonte, who walked. Starr batted with one out, but his fly to left-center was caught by Harris and he was held to a sac fly. Tony Benitez, already 0-for-11, flew out to Matt Gilmore to strand the remaining runners. Boston answered with a run in the bottom 4th as Jorge Arviso singled, Manny Rubin doubled, and Valdez hit a sac fly of his own to Royer. It got worse from there; Ethan Torrence hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 5th and Broad’s fly to center was dropped by Caswell. De Leon and Gilmore got a single and a walk out of Herrera, and then Arviso got one out of the park for a 6-2 Titans lead.

When the Raccoons next loaded the bases with Chavez, Labonte, and Starr in the sixth inning, they only got a double play grounder to end the inning from Benitez. Pucks, Royer, and Lonzo then hit straight singles to begin the seventh – now down 7-2 after Bravo gave up a run in between – to knock out Broad and bring in the pen with righty Dan Lawrence. One pitch to Caswell was a strike, but the second one was launched over the fence in right for the second four-piece of the game. GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

While nothing takes air out of an inning quite like a grand slam, the Raccoons kept scratching even after making two outs following the blast. Labonte then singled with two outs and Starr sent a ball up the leftfield line for an RBI double to tie the score at seven! He was left there when Benitez walked and Pucks flew out to right. The Coons sent out Ornelas for two innings then, which worked well enough in the bottom 7th, but not the eighth, which Torrence opened with a double to right. A grounder and a sac fly scored the runner against Sencion and gave the Titans a 1-run lead going into the ninth inning with Josh Penington and his 6.56 ERA going out to the mound. Marcos Chavez grounded out, but Labonte singled through between Torrence and Danny Encarnacion on the left side. Starr grounded out to first, moving the tying run to second base, and Brobeck then batted for 0-for-zillon Tony Benitez. He singled to right on the first pitch, Labonte went from second base, Valdez got to the ball and fired home hard – but not on point, leading Arviso to vacate the plate and chase the ball. Labonte scored, Brobeck went to second base, and the game was extended, although Cortez Chavez then whiffed to end the inning. Bottom 9th, Neal Hamann came, saw, gave up three singles, and then a game-ending sac fly to Hector Weir… 9-8 Titans. Lavorano 3-5; Caswell 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB, RBI; Labonte 4-4, BB; Starr 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Brobeck (PH) 1-1, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-2;

Arf.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – C C. Chavez – P Stewart
BOS: CF Torrence – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – RF J. Harris – 2B W. de Leon – LF Weir – 3B D. Mendoza – P Glaude

Offense through five innings was negligible, with only two hits for the Raccoons and no threat worth waffling about. The Titans had a leadoff triple from Mendoza in the bottom 3rd, but Glaude struck out, Torrence grounded out poorly to Brobeck, and Leitch grounded flew out to Pucks, keeping that runner stranded. It was Pucks though to invite the Titans to take a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning later on, dropping a fly ball from Leitch that would have ended the inning if caught properly, but as it was the error allowed Hector Weir to score from third base after having drawn a leadoff walk. Rubin also walked in the inning, but Bruce Burkart flew out to left to end it. Stewart struck out five batters in the first three innings and none in the middle three innings, in addition to coming apart entirely in the bottom 6th. Harris walked, de Leon singled, Weir singled home a run, but Mendoza popped out at least. Stewart had PH Yoslan Valdez at 0-2 before beaning him, and then gave up a 2-run single to Torrence, leading to his removal. Rubin singled in another run against Tanizaki with two outs and Boston took a 5-0 lead. Another run scored off Brobeck (…) in the eighth inning as Mike Tobin got walked to begin the inning and was bunted over, stole third base, and came around on Leitch’s groundout. The Coons never got even close to scoring position in the late innings. 6-0 Titans. Lavorano 1-2; Puckeridge 0-1, 2 BB;

Tony Benitez was batting 0-for-14 at this point and was obviously to blame for everything and purged to St. Pete for the off day. Next candidate: Richard Anderson, batting .239 even in AAA…

Raccoons (52-63) @ Scorpions (62-52) – August 9-11, 2058

The Scorpions were two and a half games out in the FL West and needed the wins, which was such a good coincidence for them; why not play a team that never scores…!? Whether Sacramento deserved the playoffs was another thing entirely, because while they were ten games over .500 they were actually 10 runs under .500, giving up more runs than they scored and sitting seventh in both runs scored and conceded. These teams last played three years ago, with a two-to-one series win for Portland.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (5-10, 4.18 ERA) vs. A.C. Stebbins (11-3, 2.63 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (6-1, 2.51 ERA) vs. C.J. Harney (7-12, 4.93 ERA)
Chance Fox (2-6, 5.37 ERA) vs. Mike McCaffrey (6-8, 4.13 ERA)

We’d see the sole left-hander and the only starter with an ERA better than 4 on that roster in the opener, and on Sunday struggling star Mike McCaffrey, who had four FL Pitcher of the Year crowns, including in the last two seasons. This year he seemed cursed with a .335 BABIP, and the walks were creeping up. He was still striking out 11 per nine innings, though.

Game 1
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 2B Bribiesca – P Carreno
SAC: SS C. Navarro – 2B Russ – RF Buras – 1B S. Wyatt – LF Velasco – CF Gough – C Korfhage – 3B Arguello – P Stebbins

Carreno was begging for a beating from the start, but the Scorpions stranded pairs of runners in scoring position in both of the first two innings before getting their two runners to second and third without much provocation and especially without anybody out in the bottom 3rd. Andrew Russ (hiss!!!!) and Will Buras both singled, and Carreno boldly balked them ever onwards. Steve Wyatt’s groundout and Andres Velasco’s sac fly both plated one of the runners and the Stingers were up 2-0. Stebbins didn’t set a foot wrong, really, until Brobeck hit a leadoff double in the fifth inning and Martinez snuck a single through the left side, putting runners on the corners for the Raccoons in a rush of offense that nevertheless died a sad and lonely death as Bribiesca popped out, Carreno whiffed, and Royer flew out to Buras. Nobody scored. Ever. The Coons got six sullen innings from Carreno, then botched the rest together with Bravo, Hamann, and Ornelas, who somehow allowed four runners between them but again no runs against clumsy Scorpions, who won by two runs but it felt like seven. 2-0 Scorpions. Brobeck 3-4, 2B; Martinez 2-4;

(groans)

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – P Argenziano
SAC: RF Velasco – 2B Russ – SS C. Navarro – CF Buras – 1B S. Wyatt – C J. Luna – LF Gough – 3B Arguello – P Harney

Argenziano gave up a run without a base hit in the first inning, walking the bases full before giving up a sac fly to Wyatt, but in turn hit a doubly-unearned 2-run double in the second inning after both Joel Starr and Pucks reached on errors with one out. Brobeck hit an RBI single to tie, Argenziano batted himself ahead, and Labonte added another single. Lonzo lined out to John Gough in shallow left, which prevented Argenziano from going, and Caswell also made a meek out to leave runners on the corners. Brassfield then went yard in the third inning to extend the lead to 4-1.

Argenziano ran up the pitch count fast, despite allowing only one hit through four innings. Four walks and five strikeouts put him at 69 pitches through four, and he didn’t get through the fifth at all. Harney whiffed, but then Velasco singled and Russ and Chris Navarro both hit doubles, narrowing the score to 4-3 on the latter drive. Buras popped out, but a 2-out walk to Wyatt ended Argenziano’s day after four and two thirds innings. Siwik entered with Jesus Martinez in a double switch (Pucks went home), Jose Luna hit an infield single on a 3-0 pitch (…), but Gough then grounded out to short to strand the bases loaded in a 4-3 game.

The Coons couldn’t score in the sixth despite a single by Martinez and an error by Luna, then made two outs in the seventh against righty Tim Moore before Bribiesca batted for Siwik in the #7 spot and singled. Brobeck hit another single, and Martinez found the gap in left-center on an 0-2 pitch for a 2-run double, 6-3…! Labonte legged out a single that died on the infield grass against lefty Eric Reese in relief of Moore, but Lonzo ordinarily grounded out to short to end the inning with runners left on the corners. The Scorpions answered by stranding a full set in the eighth inning as Eloy Sencion got out two left-handed bats, but walked right-handers Gustavo Pena and Andres Velasco, whilst Russ (growl!!!!!) reached on an error by Brobeck (releases steam from his fuzzy ears) to fill ‘em all up. Tanizaki came in, ran a full count against Navarro, and then somehow beat the speedster to the bag on a grounder to Starr’s right. Starr made an error himself in the ninth inning behind Matt Walters, but the closer pulled through … 6-3 Coons. Labonte 3-5; Starr 2-5; Brobeck 2-5, RBI; Martinez 2-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Puckeridge – 3B Anderson – P Fox
SAC: LF Velasco – 3B Gates – SS C. Navarro – RF Buras – 1B S. Wyatt – 2B Russ – C J. Luna – CF Gough – P McCaffrey

Lonzo reached on an error, stole second and reached third on another error, and scored on a Caswell sac fly for first-inning “offense” against the 36-year-old McCaffrey, who gave up an earned run in the fourth inning on a Chavez double and Starr’s RBI single to make it 2-0. At this point, young Chance Fox was perfect, although this stopped at 11 straight retired Scorpions when Chris Navarro hit a double to right in the bottom 4th, but was stranded by Buras’ fly to center. In an otherwise rather uneventful game, Fox outlasted McCaffrey, who was replaced with Reese after giving up a hit to Pucks and a walk to Anderson with two outs in the seventh, but Reese then went on to whiff Fox and no runs were added.

When I say Fox outlasted McCaffrey, I also mean that he outlasted his 2-0 lead, which went up in flames in a 4-single, 2-run bottom of the seventh. Of course that abomination of hells unseen, Andrew Russ (eagerly lobs a whole clove of garlic at the field) had a twisted hoof of his in the scheme, singling home Navarro with two outs in the inning, followed by more singles by Luna and Gough. He finished the inning, but the Raccoons went in order in the eighth and the chance to win games back-to-back was gone. Much the contrary, Tanizaki shuffled the bags full with sheer ineptitude in the bottom 8th, nailing Velasco with an 0-2 pitch, allowing a single to Prince Gates, and walking Navarro – all with nobody out. His replacement, Eloy Sencion was no less *****, allowing a run on a grounder, one on a sac fly, and two more on a Luna double after a walk to Russ. (tears a seat out of its bolts and screws in section 327) … 6-2 Scorpions. Fox 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

August 5 – Shoulder inflammation ends the season of Miners closer Cruz Madrid (6-6, 3.88 ERA, 24 SV).
August 6 – Another closer down: SFB CL Oscar Juarez (3-2, 2.21 ERA, 25 SV) might not even be ready for next season after tearing a flexor tendon in his elbow.
August 7 – Cyclones LF/CF Juan del Toro (.236, 3 HR, 20 RBI) reaches 2,000 career hits with a 2-for-4 day against the Miners. Pittsburgh wins 8-2, while the 2048 FL Player of the Year and 7-time All Star lands the milestone in the first inning with a single against Cincy right-hander Chad Shultz (5-0, 3.05 ERA, 1 SV).
August 7 – Los Angeles takes on the last year and a half on the contract of 3B Bobby Anderson (.252, 8 HR, 52 RBI) and $3M in cash in a trade with the Falcons, who receive two prospects.
August 7 – The Knights’ C Marco Nieto (.375, 6 HR, 54 RBI) has put together a 20-game hitting streak after putting out two singles and a double in a 12-5 win against the Aces.
August 8 – The Aces get revenge on the Knights with an 8-2 win and also kill the hitting streak of Marco Nieto (.371, 6 HR, 54 RBI), who goes 0-for-5 in the game.
August 8 – MIL SP Tyler Riddle (10-4, 3.27 ERA) is headed for 12 months on the mend with a damaged elbow ligament.
August 10 – The season is over and the next Opening Day questionable for Capitals outfielder Neville van de Wouw (.282, 3 HR, 25 RBI), who has torn a medial collateral ligament.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.356, 23 HR, 74 RBI), thrashing .458 (11-24) with 5 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.409, 2 HR, 49 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We’re closing in on the point where any hot paw in AAA can find playing time in the last quarter of the season. No obvious candidates come to mind right now, though.

We’ve known for a while that Steve Royer and Neal Hamann are only here to sit out the final years of their contracts, but the Kyle Brobeck tenure also looks to be coming to an end here, as he is no longer remotely useful as a garbage pitcher and his defense is so horrendous that it doesn’t merit further bothers with what is this year a decidedly mediocre bat.

They’re all mediocre, aren’t they?

Tales from the field hospital: Last year’s #9 pick Brett Cotton was 8-4 with a 3.73 ERA and 9.7 K/9 after a May promotion to Ham Lake, but has now been shut down for a case of elbow inflammation. A tender 20 years old, he might still appear in St. Pete next year.

Heading home to look like horse **** against the Miners and Indians now…

Fun Fact: Fun is dead.

Dead and forgotten.

Westheim · 01-12-2024, 02:10 PM

Raccoons (53-65) vs. Miners (63-55) – August 13-15, 2058

The string continued with three games against the Miners, who had faced the Raccoons in each of the last three seasons and each time had lost two games to one. Their team this year ranked fourth in runs scored in the FL, but ninth in runs allowed, with a +38 run differential (Coons: -32). They had a pile of injuries to contend with, including Salvatore Rodrigues, Tomokazu Kaneshiro, and Cruz Madrid.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (9-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (5-0, 3.05 ERA)
Zach Stewart (8-11, 3.09 ERA) vs. He Shui (7-9, 4.64 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (5-11, 4.13 ERA) vs. Sean Sweeton (11-7, 3.63 ERA)

Two ex-Critters and three right-handers were lined up by the Miners for this series, which started after a common off day on Monday.

Game 1
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 1B K. Price – 3B Corrales – RF Angulo – C Monaghan – CF Lindauer – LF B. Rivera – P Shultz
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – P B. Herrera

Kevin Price took Herrera deep to right in the top 1st, but Portland made up the run in the bottom 1st, with some kind support by the Miners. Lonzo walked (!), took an extra base on a bad pickoff throw by Shultz, and then made up the rest of the distance with a deep fly by Caswell and Chavez’ 2-out single to center. The tie would be broken by a home run in the second inning – by Paul Labonte! He had hit five in his rookie season, but none (in more at-bats) so far this year, but after Brobeck and Herrera took to the corners with 2-out singles in the bottom 2nd launched a drive over the fence in right to give Portland a 4-1 lead.

The Miners had only three hits off Herrera in five innings, but one was that Price homer and another was Angel Angulo’s double to left-center in the top 5th that opened the inning. Jeremy Lindauer walked after a groundout by Eric Monaghan, and Bobby Rivera’s fly to deep left was enough to get at least Angulo home, even while being caught on the track by Brassfield. Mark Haney batted for Shultz, but made a poor third out to strand the tying runs. A homer to left by Brassfield off Felix Castano re-established a 3-run lead in the same inning, and Herrera survived more instances of the leadoff batter reaching base in the sixth and seventh innings, Angulo drawing a leadoff walk in the latter to remain a threat. Bottom 7th, and Lonzo opened with a single to right against Pablo Paez. Several failed attempts to get a jump on the right-hander with Caswell batting and the accompanying attention then kept him too close to first base to score on the double that Caswell hit eventually, but there was a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Chavez’ liner to Ryan Spehar and the soggy infield pops by Brass and Starr meant that pair remained there throughout and beyond the inning…

Paez retired two more to begin the bottom 8th before Jesus Martinez batted for Herrera and singled. Labonte also reached base, and then Lonzo and Caswell cracked back-to-back triples to drive in three earned runs, while Caswell scored on an error by Victor Corrales for a fourth, unearned run. Leonardo Ramos popped up Brass to end the inning after all. Matt Walters was kept in storage after the save was no longer on and instead Neal Hamann was sent out against the all-lefty 3-4-5 batters in the ninth. Price singled, Corrales whiffed, and Angulo hit a ball off Starr’s chest on the bounce for an error on the rookie. Peter Bivens then appeared as a fourth lefty bat off the bench, hit an RBI single, and Hamann was purged. Siwik popped up Lindauer and got a K on Bobby Rivera to end the game before Matt Walters actually had to get back up. 9-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB, 3B, 2B, RBI; Martinez (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (10-7) and 1-3;

Game 2
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 1B K. Price – 3B Corrales – C Monaghan – RF McIntyre – LF Angulo – CF Bivens – P Shui
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – 3B Brobeck – P Stewart

Lonzo scored in the bottom 1st again, as should be the law, hitting a single off his old teammate Shui and stealing a base, while Caswell reached on an error. Chavez’ groundout then brought in Lonzo with the game’s first and only early run. Offense was at a premium and people queued around the block for it, but the only other hit the Raccoons put together through five innings was Lonzo getting plonked by Shui in the fifth, stealing another base (his 40th of the season), and then being stranded out there in the wasteland. The Miners had two hits off Stewart in five innings, with 6 K for the Portland southpaw, and the most meaningful threat having been a Will McIntyre double off the wall in leftfield.

Stewart went 6.2 innings before walking McIntyre in a drawn-out plate appearance, which put him at 106 pitches, *and* the Miners sent Lindauer to bat for the left-handed Angulo. Reynaldo Bravo answered with a strikeout… but not without throwing a wild pitch at 1-2 first. Martinez’ leadoff single after the stretch off Paez then was only the second Critters base knock in the game, and we can’t have such a rush of offense, so Brobeck hit into a double play immediately. Bravo handled the eighth in the 1-0 game in 1-2-3 fashion and with two strikeouts, and the Raccoons did nothing with Labonte’s leadoff single in the eighth inning. Walters got into the game *this* time, but walked Ryan Spehar to begin the ninth inning. Price popped out to third base, however, and Lonzo received a grounder from Corrales that was easily spun around for two outs. 1-0 Blighters. M. Chavez 0-1, 2 BB; Stewart 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (9-11);

The two stolen bases meant that Lonzo overtook Xavier Reyes of the Baybirds for first place in the CL with 40 stolen bases. This was also the ABL lead, with nobody in the FL having even reached 30 at this point.

Game 3
PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 1B K. Price – 3B Corrales – RF Angulo – C Monaghan – CF Lindauer – LF N. Daniels – P Sweeton
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 3B Anderson – P Carreno

Carreno met disaster as soon as he put his brown pants on as Vasquez bunted for a base hit on his very first pitch on Thursday, while his own error put Spehar on base, and singles by Price and Corrales first loaded the bases and then brought in two runs. Somehow the Miners went from that to making three straight poor outs against “Pinata” Carreno then, but they were back in the third inning with a Corrales single and Eric Monaghan’s 2-run homer to left, 4-0. While the Coons did diddly squat, Carreno wasted more oxygen going into the fifth inning, then was taken deep by Corrales himself in solo fashion, allowed a hit to Angulo, an RBI double to Monaghan, and then a 2-run homer to Lindauer to double the score to 8-0. Neal Hamann got a pop from Nathan Daniels to finally end the inning, then was hit for with Brobeck, who was then seamlessly inserted for garbage duty and proved that yes, miracles DO happen – not that the Raccoons would make up an 8-0 deficit, nah, Sweeton pitched a 7-hit shutout; but Brobeck pitched FOUR SCORELESS to get the game over with. 8-0 Miners. Labonte 2-3; Starr (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Where did that come from??

No, Slappy, four scoreless from Brobeck; I’m entirely used to Carreno getting blown to Kingdom Come by now.

Raccoons (55-66) vs. Indians (54-68) – August 16-18, 2058

Fourth place in the South was still hotly contested between these two teams, who were the two worst in terms of scoring runs in the CL, with the Raccoons even 29 runs behind the Indians at this point, not that the numbers surprised me a lot. They were eighth in runs allowed, carrying a -73 run differential. They also led the season series, 7-5. The Indians were without four B’s, all on the DL: Barbieri, Brent (Andrews), and Bernie Bahena;

Projected matchups:
Cameron Argenziano (6-1, 2.69 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (6-4, 3.72 ERA)
Chance Fox (2-6, 5.04 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (8-10, 4.25 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-7, 3.18 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (4-9, 5.07 ERA)

Oyola would be the third straight ex-Coon to face the team. All options were right-handed, but Ben Akman (4-4, 3.93 ERA) and Kaye had both pitched in a double header on Tuesday and both were regular-rest options for the Raccoons.

For the time being there was another double header entirely, as the Friday game was washed away by persistent rain that lasted into the night. Two games were thus on the plate for Saturday.

Game 1
IND: SS Kilday – 2B Ewers – CF O. Ramos – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B R. Vargas – RF Lovins – C Lefebvre – LF Oldfield – P Oyola
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – LF Puckeridge – C C. Chavez – 3B Bribiesca – P Argenziano

So what we needed more than anything else was Argenziano give up two hits, two walks, and two runs in the first inning, the runs coming on Chris Lovins’ 2-out, bases-loaded single. Michael Lefebvre grounded out to Labonte to strand a pair. Argenziano went on to give up a solo homer to Kevin Ewers in the top 3rd, but ultimately only surrendered one more hit and one other walk against seven strikeouts through six innings, which still took him 107 pitches and wasn’t making the pitching plans for the rest of the day any easier. The Raccoons were scattering four hits against Oyola through five innings, once having on Lonzo with a single, but he got caught stealing by Lefebvre before Martinez singled and Starr doubled with two outs and both were stranded in scoring position by a Pucks pop.

Neal Hamann held the Indians at bay in the seventh inning before Jesus Martinez opened the bottom 7th with home run #13 on the year (quite pathetic for a team leader), and the Raccoons also got Pucks and Cortez Chavez on with one out. Bribiesca whiffed against Oyola, but Steve Royer drilled a ball into the right-center gap in his first appearance of the entire week and then legged out a game-tying triple…! Labonte struck out to leave him in scoring position, though. Tanizaki walked a pair in the eighth and somehow wasn’t blown up, ending the inning with strikeouts against Lovins and Lefebvre. Ricardo Vargas’ error at the hot corner then put Lonzo on base to begin the bottom 8th and Oyola allowed a single to center to Caswell that sent Lonzo all the way to third base. Martinez’ sharp and clean single to left got Matt Walters warming up in earnest, but then Pucks tripled in two more runs and scored on an error by Quinteros when Brobeck pinch-hit with two outs. That took the save off again. 2-out singles by Richard Anderson and Paul Labonte filled the bases against righty Dave Corrao, and Lonzo dinked a ball into the right-center gap on a 1-1 pitch. Brobeck scored, Anderson scored, Labonte tried to score, but was thrown out at the plate to end the 6-run rush. Brobeck then completed the game on the hill, two days removed from four innings in garbage relief, getting three easy outs from the Arrowheads. 9-3 Coons. Labonte 2-5; Lavorano 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martinez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 3-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Royer (PH) 1-1, 3B, 2 RBI; Anderson (PH) 1-1;

What a display of “we don’t care any more about this” on multiple levels by having Brobeck pitch the ninth…

Game 2
IND: SS Kilday – 2B Ewers – CF O. Ramos – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B R. Vargas – RF Lovins – C Villafan – LF McConnell – P B. Lawrence
POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C M. Chavez – 3B Anderson – 2B Bribiesca – P Fox

Matt Kilday singled, Kevin Ewers walked, and Ramos’ fielder’s choice to short and Quinteros’ deep fly to Royer got home a quick run against Chance Fox in the first inning of the nightcap. A walk to Lovins and Blake McConnell’s 2-run homer in the second inning tripled the score already, and Cristiano, if you tell me ONE MORE TIME how good Fox’ so-and-so stats are, I will print out this box score and stuff your snout with it!

The Coons took until the fourth inning to get to the board, scoring a 2-out run on singles by Starr, who stole second in a confused hit-and-run botch call that left Willie Villafan even more befuddled than Anderson, and then Anderson, plating Starr from second base, 3-1. Same deal in the fifth; 2-out singles by Lonzo, who stole second base, and Brass, narrowing the score further to 3-2. Lawrence didn’t throw a strike to Martinez, but then Starr popped out to strand a pair.

The bottom of the sixth began with Lawrence walking Chavez and Anderson before getting replaced with Melvin Guerra, who popped out Bribiesca. Fox was retained to bunt, purely to confuse the Indians further, but Royer flew out to center to strand another pair. Fox got an out from McConnell in the seventh before singles by Steve Thompson and Kilday knocked him out. Siwik struck out Cory Oldfield and Orlando Ramos to kill the inning for Indy, though. Indy even loaded the bases against Eloy Sencion in the eighth inning before both McConnell and Thompson struck out to keep a soft single by Vargas and walks drawn by Hugo Munoz and Villafan on the bases. This was all screaming for a comeback by the home team, and Joel Starr singled off Randy Slocum to begin the bottom 8th, and Thompson overran the ball in rightfield to give him an extra base. Chavez’ and Anderson’s fly outs were both deep enough for Starr to advance, and Anderson’s sac fly tied the game at three. Bribiesca singled, but Caswell popped out against Dave Corrao to end the inning.

Walters was used to keep the Arrowheads in their place in the ninth, with the top of the order leading off the bottom of the hopefully-last inning, even though we still had a couple of relievers available, including Ivan Ornelas for multiple innings. Royer reached on a Vargas error to begin the inning, then was caught stealing. Lonzo singled and stole second base for real, but had to hold on Brass’ grounder to third base, and Martinez merely walked on an open base with two outs. Starr lined out against Matt Green, with a fine catch now by Vargas, to end the inning and send the game to extras. The Coons stuck to Walters for the tenth, which turned out to be the wrong move. Lefebvre drew a walk coming off the bench into the #6 hole, and singles by McConnell and Thompson brought him in to score with two outs before K-ilday ended the inning. That was the fifth strikeout for Walters in the outing, but he was still on the short end of the stick now. Portland didn’t go down all that easily in the bottom 10th, though. While Jameel Williams struck out Chavez and Bribiesca, pinch-hitters Labonte and Pucks reached with a 1-out single and a 2-out walk, bringing back a rather successless Steve Royer … who struck out as well. 4-3 Indians. Brassfield 2-4, BB, RBI; Starr 2-5; Anderson 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Labonte (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – LF O. Ramos – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B R. Vargas – CF Oldfield – C Lefebvre – 2B Ewers – P Kaye
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C M. Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Anderson – P B. Herrera

The real problems developed when Bobby Herrera appeared to have NOTHING to start the Sunday game. The Indians began the game with clipping three singles for a run, and Quinteros hit a sac fly, 2-0. Vargas walked, Oldfield hit another single, and Lefebvre thankfully found Lonzo for a 6-4-3 double play. Herrera didn’t get out of the *third* inning, which the Indians opened with four straight hits, and it was 5-0 with a pair in scoring position and one out in the inning when he was yanked after allowing nine hits and a walk. Ornelas took over, got a comebacker from Ewers, and a grounder to short from Kaye to at least limit the damage to what it already was.

Ornelas held out for the middle innings without allowing a run, and while the Coons had only a stray homer by Caswell in the first five innings, the bases were loaded with nobody out to begin the bottom 6th against Kaye as Labonte singled, Lonzo doubled, and Caswell walked. Martinez popped out next to first base in foul ground, and Starr’s fly to right that allowed Labonte to score was the only run in the inning as Chavez was robbed by Lovins charging into the gap and snatching his 2-out drive. Hamann had a smooth seventh in the 5-2 game, but Bravo walked three and plated a run with a wild pitch before needing to be rescued by Sencion in the eighth. Tanizaki got romped even worse, giving up a 2-run homer to Quinteros and a solo shot to Oldfield in the ninth as the rout concluded rather unmercifully. 9-2 Indians. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Caswell 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ornelas 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

In other news

August 12 – More long-term injuries every day: Rebels SP Antonio Alfaro (9-7, 3.81 ERA) will be out for a full year after suffering a tear in his UCL.
August 12 – Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.332, 16 HR, 78 RBI) won’t be available until September with a torn hamstring.
August 13 – DEN SP Raul Ontiveros (9-10, 3.16 ERA) 2-hits the Condors in a 7-0 shutout.
August 13 – The Warriors lose 2B Mike DeFusco (.235, 5 HR, 39 RBI) until the middle of September after the 28-year-old has suffered a strained rib cage muscle.
August 15 – The Pacifics beat the Gold Sox, 10-6, thanks to a 10-run first inning, then spend the rest of the game kicking back and managing.
August 17 – Another catcher has put a 20-game hitting streak together after two singles and the only RBI of the game are entered into the box score of a 1-0 win against the Falcons by SFB 1B/C Jon Mittleider (.307, 1 HR, 43 RBI).
August 17 – The Condors out-slog the Aces, 14-11 in 11 innings, hitting six home runs, with 3B/RF Eric Frasher (.243, 13 HR, 51 RBI) chipping in a pair.
August 18 – San Francisco’s Jon Mittleider (.306, 1 HR, 43 RBI) goes hitless in a 4-3 loss to the Falcons and ends his hitting streak at 20 games.

FL Player of the Week: LAP 1B Chris Rice (.321, 8 HR, 58 RBI), batting .407 (11-27) with 2 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.321, 15 HR, 67 RBI), smacking .424 (14-33) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Five scoreless innings from Brobeck this week – he’s totally gonna be in the rotation next year!

No, we have no clue how to form this hapless lump of broken pieces into an actual winning team right now.

Next week: three at Loggers, then three at home against the Aces. No starter lined up for Wednesday, either; the off day is on Thursday.

Fun Fact: Lonzo stole six bases this week, and seven in the last eight days.

He got ONE in the preceding 17 games. Baseball is a funny thing.

Westheim · 01-14-2024, 04:34 AM

Raccoons (56-68) @ Loggers (61-63) – August 19-21, 2058

The Raccoons were 3-9 against the Loggers on the year, and 33-51 across the past several, and the reasons for that remained elusive to me; I mean, aside from the whole “not scoring anything for days and days on end”, repeatedly. (Ramon Carreno stumbles over his own paws and takes a noisy tumble in the background) And that. Milwaukee had faded from pretend-contention a while back and sat a distant third in the division. Scoring the second-most runs in the CL had been almost entirely wiped out by allowing nearly as many runs, third-worst for the CL, with just a +14 run differential (Portland: -35). They had lost a bunch of pitching to injury, foremost Tyler Riddle and Victor Marquez, as well as their home run (16) and RBI leader (70) Dave Robles, who had broken his wrist in July, but was expected back by September.

Projected matchups:

Zach Stewart (9-11, 2.96 ERA) vs. Jamie Kempf (0-0, 7.88 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (5-12, 4.43 ERA) vs. Roberto Alvarado (2-3, 4.40 ERA)
TBD vs. Adam Foley (11-10, 4.13 ERA)

Three right-handers, and two swingmen stuffed into the gaping holes in the rotation to begin the series, although both Kempf and Alvarado had been regular starters as recently as 2056.

Raccoons options for Wednesday ranged from a short outing by Argenziano or Fox, who would both go on short rest, to spot starts by Ornelas or Brobeck. Cramming another guy entirely on the roster seemed like it was gonna be hard, though.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – C C. Chavez – P Stewart
MIL: LF Garmon – 3B Gaxiola – CF Valenzano – RF Wada – SS D. Miller – 1B Kohlman – 2B Roseto – C Mi. Gilmore – P Kempf

Zach Stewart batted before he pitched as the Raccoons exploited Kempf being entirely off kilter and also an error by rookie first-sacker Kyle Kohlman that helped the load the bases with Jesus Martinez after Lonzo and Caswell singles in that top of the first. Starr drew a bases-loaded walk for the game’s first run, Brobeck hit an RBI single, Pucks added a sac fly, and Cortez Chavez chucked a 2-run double for a 5-0 score in a real hurry. Kempf would go on to linger into the third inning, but gave up a 2-out, 2-run triple to Labonte there, which extended the deficit to 7-0, although Nick Roseto would hit his own 2-out, 2-run triple off Stewart in the fourth inning. The Loggers had somebody on base in every inning up to that point, but usually stalled them at second base until Roseto beat Caswell’s range in deep center to bring in Steve Valenzano and Jushiro Wada.

That fourth inning added a lot of pitches to Stewart’s counter which got him to 100 by the sixth. He didn’t get out of there thanks to soft singles by Roseto and former Critter Mitch Sivertson, but Mike Siwik struck out Corey Garmon to end the threat and keep it a 7-2 game. That was as good as it got with Siwik, who would stupendously walk the bags full with the 2-3-4 batters to begin the bottom 7th. Bravo came in and did relatively well in whiffing Danny Miller and popping out Kohlman, but Roseto then dropped in a 2-run single in shallow center. Mike Gilmore was rung up, the lead down to 7-4 with two innings to go. Tanizaki had a scoreless eighth (against two singles…) in his third day out in a row, as the Coons started to wear themselves thin and longed for the September roster extension. At least Matt Walters, he only remaining option that hadn’t pitched on Sunday, let alone two straight days, had a 1-2-3 ninth inning to get things over with. 7-4 Raccoons. Caswell 2-4; Brobeck 3-4, RBI; Puckeridge 0-1, 2 BB, RBI;

Kyle Brobeck was not in the lineup on Tuesday, which could mean literally everything, including the worst.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 1B Starr – 3B Anderson – P Carreno
MIL: 3B Gaxiola – C Dye – CF Valenzano – RF Bishton – 2B Roseto – LF Konecny – 1B Wada – SS D. Miller – P R. Alvarado

Single, walk, single, and the 4-5-6 batters loaded the bases without making an out in the top of the second inning. For once, the team scored bigly in that situation; Joel Starr singled home two with a ball rushed past Jushiro Wada at first base, Anderson was walked intentionally, Carreno popped out, but Labonte hit an RBI single to center and Lonzo got a sac fly to right, 4-0, before Caswell grounded out. The offense then went to bed, but at least kept showing up for defensive duties, which Carreno required badly. The Loggers hit a lot of balls hard, but got only two base hits with a bunch of sharp grounders to the middle infielders – all handled well – and a few drives to Brassfield in particular to hold the 4-0 score together into the sixth, when this sort of jazz finally ran out and Garmon hit a leadoff single, and Robby Gaxiola and Steve Valenzano both socked RBI doubles to where no outfielder ain’t.

The Raccoons were so desperate for extra outs that we kept Carreno out there in the seventh, where he surprisingly got three quick outs, and would have sent him back out yet again for the bottom 8th if his spot hadn’t come up with two outs against Roberto Navarro in the top 8th. Martinez’ leadoff single, an intentional walk to Starr (no homers, but much respect?) with two outs, and then Richard Anderson’s clippy RBI single to right-center extended the lead to 5-2 and Steve Royer grabbed a stick and shoved another single through the left side. Starr scored from second, 6-2, the Loggers changed pitchers for fellow righty John Norris, and Labonte hit another RBI single anyway, and Norris balked in another run on top of it. The lead re-enlarged to 8-2, the Raccoons played their trump card… Brobeck. He finished the game with two innings of 1-hit, 1-walk, 1-hit-batter, 1-wild-pitch ball, not that it was pretty. In between, back-to-back doubles by Brass and Chavez added another run in the top of the ninth. 9-3 Critters. Labonte 2-5, 2 RBI; Martinez 3-5; M. Chavez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Starr 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Anderson 2-3, BB, RBI; Royer (PH) 1-1, RBI; Carreno 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (6-12);

The good news, aside from back-to-back wins, was that we didn’t use a regular reliever in the game, and had everybody but a tuckered-out Tanizaki available for Wednesday. The start would be Argenziano’s but he’d be on a pitch count of 75 and Ornelas would likely pitch two innings behind him.

That was the plan at least. I’m sure the baseball gods have their own designs.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – CF Royer – 1B Starr – 3B Bribiesca – P Argenziano
MIL: 2B Roseto – 3B Gaxiola – CF Valenzano – RF Wada – SS D. Miller – LF Bishton – 1B Liberos – C Mi. Gilmore – P Foley

Not one, but two throwing errors by Bribiesca and Chavez allowed the Loggers to score a run in the first inning, but the Loggers remained not above dealing fatal wounds to themselves, like in the bottom 2nd when Manny Liberos singled, Mike Gilmore doubled, and Foley then lined into a 5-U double play when Liberos, a 42-year-old fossil that spent most of the summer in AAA, mindlessly started to limp home at the first loud noise he faintly heard in the distance.

Foley pitched four perfect innings and whiffed six before Brassfield hit a leadoff single to left in the top 5th. Royer also singled, but nothing more came of that, and Argenziano was removed after a 1-out single by Roseto in the bottom 5th on his 77th pitch of the game. Hamann got out of the inning, and Argenziano was taken off the unearned hook in the sixth when Lonzo zinged a ball past a rushing Wada for an RBI triple with two outs, plating Bribiesca and tying the game at one. Chavez struck out then to keep it tied.

Ornelas pitched two orderly innings in the sixth and seventh, then tried to bunt Joel Starr and his leadoff single onwards in the eighth, but popped foul twice before whiffing, and the runner was stranded. Valenzano then hit a single to right off him in the bottom 8th and Ornelas appeared to have tweaked some thing or other and left the game after a consultation with Luis Silva. Eloy Sencion took over and kept the go-ahead run stranded at first base. Lonzo then hit a leadoff double to right off Ryan Dow, almost exactly where he earlier drilled the triple to, and three batters later the bags were full after two walks and a strikeout had occurred. Royer found the hole on the right side to sneak an RBI single through for a 2-1 lead, but Starr tumbled into a double play to end the inning. It was enough for Matt Walters, though, who got around an infield single by Mike Gilmore to complete the sweep in four batters in the bottom of the ninth. 2-1 Critters. Lavorano 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Royer 2-4, RBI; Argenziano 4.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Ornelas was diagnosed with a sore shoulder when we were back in Portland. This required a trip to the DL, but Luis Silva opined that he’d return before the season would mercifully end. Poor sod Ricky Herrera, who had been squeezed off the roster more than a month ago through no fault of his own, thus returned a bit earlier than the September 1 roster extension that would allowed him to return anyway. He had pitched for an 0.92 ERA in St. Pete.

Raccoons (59-68) vs. Aces (55-70) – August 23-25, 2058

Not entirely unlike the Loggers, the Aces were very good at scoring runs (fourth in the CL at least), but their pitching was getting spanked day in, day out, with a round 700 runs allowed through 125 games, bottoms in the league. The -94 run differential of course didn’t lead to greatness in the standings, but they were 4-2 against the Raccoons for the year anyway…

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (2-6, 4.97 ERA) vs. Scott Evans (7-10, 4.81 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-8, 3.41 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (9-8, 5.04 ERA)
Zach Stewart (10-11, 2.96 ERA) vs. Josh Wilson (7-13, 4.51 ERA)

Only right-handed opponents in this series as well. Also, no Aubrey Austin, Marcus Wilkins, or Casey Burgio, all on the DL.

Game 1
LVA: CF Ambriz – SS Villarreal – 3B A. Alfaro – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – 2B J. White – C Goodwin – RF Laws – P S. Evans
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 1B Royer – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – P Fox

Fox remained unhinged at best, and unwatchable at worst, beginning the set with a walk to Jose Ambriz, a single to Tony Villarreal that allowed both runners into scoring position after a sub-par throw from Pucks, and then conceded the runs on a deep sac fly by Alex Alfaro and a wild pitch. It didn’t get much better on his ledger in the next few innings, even though the Coons turned the game around with a solo home run by Royer in the second, and Cas singling home Lonzo and a Chavez homer in the third inning, 4-2; never mind that the 3-run third was entirely unearned since Lonzo only reached on an error by Jim White. Fox never got comfortable (or watchable) for the rest of his start, which ended up lasting 5.2 innings and ended with the bases loaded and Jose Ambriz batting. Bravo entered in a double switch with Richard Anderson at Brobeck’s expense to get a grounder to Labonte to defuse the inning.

Meanwhile the Coons merrily kept scoring. Labonte scored Pucks with a sac fly in the fourth, Marcos Chavez hit a 2-run homer in the fifth, and Labonte tripled to plate Anderson and his leadoff single in the sixth, then scored on Lonzo’s infield single. Only Hyeok Kim in the seventh inning stopped the onslaught, while the Raccoons got four outs from Bravo, three from Hamann, and three more from Siwik to end the game. 9-2 Furballs. Caswell 2-4, RBI; M. Chavez 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Brassfield 2-4; Puckeridge 2-4; Anderson 1-1, BB;

Kris Robbins was bypassed for the time being and we faced Josh Wilson on Saturday.

Game 2
LVA: CF Ambriz – SS Villarreal – 3B A. Alfaro – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – 2B J. White – RF Laws – C K. Mathews – P Jo. Wilson
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – P B. Herrera

For something different, Bobby Herrera faced the minimum through five innings with as many strikeouts, but it wasn’t an “is he gonna…??” game, because Jim White hit a single in the second inning before getting caught stealing. Lonzo was also caught stealing in the first, but did swipe a bag in the third inning, only to be left on base by Caswell there. The game was still scoreless in the bottom 5th when Brobeck singled, and Wilson misfielded Herrera’s bunt for an error. A soft single by Labonte loaded the bases for Lonzo with one out, and while his fly to left-center was caught by Ken Hummel, it was just deep enough to get Brobeck home from third base for a marker on the board before Caswell whiffed to strand the remaining pair.

The Aces didn’t reach base again until Alex Alfaro hit a 2-out single in the seventh inning, but he was also left on with Hummel’s easy fly to Caswell. Same inning, a Pucks double and Labonte single scratched out a second run for the Critters, not that Bobby Herrera looked like he’d give the ball away any time soon, but the pitch count was at 87, so there was an eye on that. Gustavo Jacinto singled past a diving / falling-over Brobeck on #88, but Jim White and Scott Laws both struck out in full counts (mind the pitch count) before Kyle Mathews flew out to left. Anderson was in for D at the hot corner in the ninth and Walters was ready in the pen, but Bobby Herrera went back out for the ninth, which began with Andy Chairez in the #9 spot. He flew out to Martinez. Ambriz grounded out to Lonzo in another full count, and Cristiano Carmona made motions that it was time to remove Tipsy Bobby now because something in his stupid numbers. – No, Cristiano! He needs just one more out from Villarreal! … and he got it! Villarreal grounded out to Anderson, and that completed the 3-hit shutout! 2-0 Furballs! Labonte 2-3, BB, RBI; B. Herrera 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, W (11-8);

(firmly covers Herrera’s pitch count in the box score with his paw) DON’T LOOK AT IT. NO!! (claws at Cristiano with his other three paws)

(hiss!!)

Game 3
LVA: CF Ambriz – C Goodwin – 3B A. Alfaro – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – 2B J. White – SS Huddleston – RF Laws – P Robbins
POR: CF Royer – 2B Labonte – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – 3B Brobeck – SS Bribiesca – C C. Chavez – P Stewart

Scoring remained at a premium on Sunday, with three double plays hit into in the first two innings, two by the Aces and one by the stomping Critters. The third was quiet, while in the fourth we got Martinez on with a single and Starr with a double… but Brobeck grounded out and the runners remained on base and the score remained a big zilch. Instead, Jim White drew a leadoff walk from Stewart in the fifth, and then Phil Huddleston chucked a homer to left-center for a 2-0 Aces lead. Stewart didn’t make it out of the sixth inning at all, then. Leadoff walk to Curt Goodwin, double to left by Alfaro, Hummel RBI single, and after a pop by Gustavo Jacinto, another walk to White, the fifth issued by Stewart in the game. He was removed; Bravo came in, struck out Scott Laws, and got Robbins to ground out to third base, stranding a full set of Aces in a 3-0 game.

Royer singled and Martinez walked in the sixth inning before Starr grounded out when I was still waiting for his first career home run, and what would have been a better opportunity than a game-tying 3-run homer here? No luck with that, but Robbins filled the bases in the bottom 7th with nobody out. Brobeck walked, Bribiesca singled, and seven pitches to Cortez Chavez resulted in another walk. Caswell batted for Ricky Herrera, who had pitched a neat top 7th, and this time there was no disappointment; Robbins threw Cas a ham, a bam, a – GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!

Singles by Labonte and Pucks didn’t lead to any more runs, but at least Tanizaki and Sencion combined for a 1-2-3 eighth. Matt Walters didn’t skip a beat either, and had his own perfect inning to complete a week’s worth of wins for the Waccoons! 4-3 Critters. Labonte 3-4; Caswell (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI;

In other news

August 20 – The Rebels, in a 3-0 loss to the Miners, are held to a single by Mario Delgadillo (.355, 26 HR, 82 RBI) in a combined 1-hitter for Pittsburgh’s Sean Sweeton (13-7, 3.29 ERA) and Matt Stephens (1-3, 4.25 ERA, 7 SV).
August 21 – Three weeks into his Pacifics stint, 3B Bobby Anderson (.248, 8 HR, 57 RBI) might miss most of the remaining season with a sprained wrist.
August 23 – Nicaragua’s Finest, ATL 2B/SS Willie Acosta (.303, 11 HR, 90 RBI) will miss at least three weeks for an oblique strain to heal out.
August 25 – IND CF/LF Cory Oldfield (.251, 11 HR, 53 RBI) beats the Thunder with a second-inning home run, 1-0.

FL Player of the Week: TOP LF/RF Dan Martin (.294, 23 HR, 110 RBI), batting .417 (10-24) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 1B/C Jon Mittleider (.314, 2 HR, 47 RBI), clicking .440 (11-25) with 1 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

6-0 week! While the opposition was marginal, we hadn’t done particularly well against the Loggers for a while. But somehow the offense was humming and the pitching was mostly strong as well, reflected in the runs tally: 33 for, 13 against!

I hope the Crusaders get sweaty from their magic number compared to us seemingly frozen at 13. The whole division spanked the South though, going 14-4 on the weekend. Only the Loggers lost two games to the Condors, completing an 11-game losing streak before finally winning a game on Sunday.

Second career shutout for Bobby Herrera on Saturday. He had previously shut out the Indians in June, then on four hits. The good news after his long outing of (COUGH COUGH COUGH) pitches is that he will get an extra day off since we’ll be idle on Thursday and he’ll instead open our weekend series in New York. Ahead of that, though, the homestand will conclude with the last three games against the Thunder.

Rosters expand next Sunday. Justin DeRose should be back after putting together a nice couple of months in AAA (10-2, 2.88 ERA, 6.9 K/9), but even though the Alley Cats for the first time in a while are leading their division there’s not a whole lot in it for young position players...

Probably Colby Bowen, though…

Fun Fact: Wednesday’s 2-1 squeaker marked our 800th win against the Loggers all-time, most against any CL team.

It’s not particularly close either. We have 774 wins against the Indians, and then nothing else is even within 50 games of the Loggers tally.

Fun Fact (Bonus Round): The Raccoons needed 127 2/3 games to get a batter to reach 50 RBI this season.

Marcos Chavez did it with his double-whammy on Friday, after the team entered the opener against Vegas with no fewer than NINE batters with 40+ RBI, but nobody daring to reach for 50:

Pucks – 48
Lonzo – 47
M. Chavez – 46
Brass – 43
Martinez – 43
Brobeck – 42
Caswell – 42
Royer – 41
Labonte – 40

Poor Lonzo, sliding ever backwards for the team RBI crown…….

12-13-2023, 03:56 PM	#4341
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (8-10) @ Thunder (10-8) – April 23-25, 2058 The Raccoons were two games under .500 with a +5 run differential, while the Thunder were two games over .500 with a +9 run differential. They were fourth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed, with the bullpen an especially sore spot after the first few weeks of the season. Oklahoma City had won the season series last year, 6-3, against the Coons. For now, they were without outfielder Danny Guzman, who was out with a herniated disc. Projected matchups: Justin DeRose (0-1, 8.27 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (0-2, 6.19 ERA) J.J. Sensabaugh (2-1, 3.93 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (2-2, 2.73 ERA) Bobby Herrera (0-1, 4.13 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (2-1, 4.12 ERA) The Thunder brought up three right-handers here, but mind the off day on Monday. Game 1 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – P DeRose OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – CF Bagoim – 2B Whitlow – LF Weant – C T. Alvarez – RF J. Mendoza – P J. Juarez The Raccoons had walks to Labonte and Caswell in the first, and a Brassfield single to center, but Labonte was thrown out at the plate trying to score and the inning ended – because scoring first was hard. Very hard. Brassfield also had the team’s second base hit, a fourth-inning single that also moved Marcos Chavez and his 1-out walk to second base. Juarez also lost Brobeck in a full count, but with the bases loaded rung up Jesus Martinez. Pucks then – and a 2-out, 2-run single to right, and actually a 2-0 lead for the Raccoons! DeRose struck out, but the more amazing thing was that he had yet to give up a run while scattering three hits in as many innings, including a leadoff double for Eric Whitlow in the bottom 2nd. Like all things, DeRose being semi-passable was transient. Raimundo Bagoim started with a single to center, stole second, but there were already two outs. But then DeRose walked Tony Alvarez, Jose Mendoza hit an RBI single to left, and Juarez tied himself up with DeRose with another RBI single to center. Omar Lira made it three in a row with another RBI single and gave the Thunder a 3-2 lead. Ed Soberanes popped out to end the too busy inning. It didn’t get any better for DeRose after that, giving up a single to Whitlow and a homer to Tim Weant in the fifth for a 5-2 deficit. And that was about it for the game… almost. Nobody in the Raccoons’ lineup found another base hit until the ninth inning, when almost all was said and done. Patrick Jones was pitching for the Thunder. He walked Pucks, and he walked Tyrese Sheilds. Labonte popped out, bringing up Lonzo with two outs, and Lonzo snapped a single to center. Pucks scored, 5-3, and the tying runs were on base for Noah Caswell, who struck out… 5-3 Thunder. Brassfield 2-4; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1; How many abominable starts does Justin DeRose have left? Game 2 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – P Sensabaugh OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – CF Bagoim – 2B Whitlow – LF Weant – C T. Alvarez – RF J. Mendoza – P Aa. Harris Sensabaugh struck out four the first time through the Thunder order, but also incurred a 1-0 deficit for the triple that Tim Weant hit in the bottom 2nd, after which Tony Alvarez’ sac fly to center got the runner home. Another run for Oklahoma in the third inning, but also an injury – Ed Soberanes walked and Bagoim singled, and they were on the corners with two outs for Whitlow, who doubled between Martinez and Caswell in right-center. One run scored, the other was thrown out at home plate by Martinez, and Whitlow strained some thing or other and left the game in favor of Alfonso Jimenez, a 25-year-old rookie on the Thunder bench. Sensabaugh struck out seven batters in six innings, but took 109 pitches to make it that far thanks to a score of long counts in the middle innings, lots of 3-1 and 3-2. On the scoreboard it was still 2-0 home team, because the Raccoons were subsisting on a Caswell single and absolutely nothing else through six innings, whiffing eight times (Harris would eventually strike out a tenner’s worth of Coons). Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the seventh, but was immediately doubled up by Caswell, while the Thunder added a third run on Ricky Herrera in the bottom 7th when the left-hander allowed a 2-out single to Omar Lira, and then another one, and another one… and that was it for the game. 3-0 Thunder. Game 3 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – RF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – 3B Sheilds – P B. Herrera OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – 1B Worthington – CF Bagoim – 2B Whitlow – LF Weant – C T. Alvarez – RF J. Mendoza – P Brink Lonzo singled in the first, stole second base, and on Caswell’s single to right – was thrown out at the plate by Mendoza. Instead, Whitlow on a leg and a half gave the Thunder the lead with a solo home run in the second inning. Bobby Herrera was again serviceable, but far from $6M-great, and needed over 50 pitches through three innings, also doing annoying things like allowing Tan Brink to hit a sharp leadoff single in the bottom 3rd. The score remained 1-0 through four innings, but Pucks hit a single to begin the top 5th before the Rule 5ers in the lineup did – nothing. Herrera singled with two outs, moving Pucks to second base to begin with, and a wild pitch by Brink advanced both runners further. Paul Labonte hit a 2-1 up the middle, where a two-legged second baseman would have had a play, but Whitlow didn’t, and the infield single tied the game. Lonzo lobbed a duck snort over Omar Lira for a go-ahead RBI single, Brink walked Caswell, but Brassfield grounded out to leave those bags full. Bobby Herrera took 84 pitches through five innings in a 2-1 game, decidedly too many. He had two more full counts to Bagoim and Whitlow in the sixth, walking the latter, and since his spot led off the seventh, that was his game. Steve Royer batted for him, singled, was forced out by Labonte, who stole second, and Noah Caswell’s 2-out double actually got an insurance run home for the Critters. Even more astonishing was perhaps the fact that more or less for the first time the Raccoons got to actually “mix and match” Sencion and Tanizaki for the last two innings; Bravo set them up well with a scoreless seventh, and while both Sencion in the eighth and Tanizaki in the ninth gave up a single, Sencion got a double play grounder from David Worthington, who otherwise did zilch in the series, and Tony Alvarez flew out rather calmly to Caswell to end the game. 3-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB; Royer (PH) 1-2; B. Herrera 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-1) and 1-2; Pray to every god you cherish that this isn’t the best Bobby Herrera has to show, because there’s another ***** $35M on that contract. Raccoons (9-12) @ Canadiens (9-12) – April 26-28, 2058 Both these teams brought up the rear of the CL North at this point in the season, and to win the series was to break that unholy tie. Elk City ranked fifth in runs made and second-worst in runs suffered, but the Raccoons had just played three games against a team with ghastly pitching and had scored all of six runs. The Elks probably didn’t have to worry about their 2-0 season series lead. Projected matchups: Zach Stewart (2-1, 2.11 ERA) vs. John Morris (1-0, 6.60 ERA) Ramon Carreno (0-2, 4.79 ERA) vs. TBD Justin DeRose (0-2, 8.06 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (0-5, 9.82 ERA) Saturday would be Luis Arroyo (0-2, 6.86 ERA) taking a turn, but he was suspended for the weekend, and we didn’t know whether the Elks wanted to draw a spot starter or send the rest of the crew on short rest. They had no off day to utilize here to make things easier. Morris was the only left-hander we saw coming. I wasn’t in Elk City anyway, but I was busy being at the ballpark in Portland while the game was going on and could only take casual quick glances at the TV while holding a critical meeting with an expert to improve the weather situation during the baseball season. Miraculous Moe was Portland’s most famous wizard, and if he didn’t have a solution, nobody would!! Game 1 POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 2B Bribiesca – P Stewart VAN: LF D. Garcia – 1B Saunders – C Weese – CF D. Moreno – 3B Lundberg – RF Magnussen – 2B R. Price – SS Kuchta – P J. Morris Danny Garcia walked, Manny Saunders walked, Kevin Weese singled – three on, nobody out in the bottom 1st, and just as Maud brought in the coffee. At my sign, she distracted Moe, and I was able to pour some Capt’n Coma into my coffee. Damian Moreno and Tyler Lundberg then struck out, and Adam Magnussen was retired on a grounder up the middle on a wonderful play by Bribiesca, and the Elks got no runs from their runners. Not that Stewart was getting actually good now; he just walked Rick Price and Rich Kuchta to begin the bottom 2nd, but Morris struck out bunting and the Elks didn’t get a run from that situation, either. I missed the next two innings while going to the top of the ballpark with Moe, to check out the best spots for perpetually burning pyres to be installed, but when we came back with Jesus Martinez leading off the fifth inning, the game was still scoreless. The Coons actually took the lead right there while Moe looked into his crystal ball and stroked his flowing white beard, while I kept glancing at the TV, where Martinez, Stewart, and Royer hit three singles to put an actual run together. Lonzo walked, but then Brass grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to kill the entire effort… The Elks, too, hit into a double play in that inning, but NWSN informed me that this was the third one they hit into in three straight innings, so Stewart was sure busy on the hill. “Flowers!”, Moe exclaimed, and we went down to the field where the grounds crew was doing basic maintenance and was looking on with curiosity as he drew a satchel from his purple tunic and sprinkled seeds around the infield, then pointed at a particular spot and demanded an oak tree be planted there. – But Moe, that’s second base. – Fine, fine, second base must go. (reassures head groundskeeper with a paw motion behind Moe’s back) We came back to the office for the ninth inning, and still a 1-0 score, with Stewart and Ornelas shutting out the damn Elks. Bernardino Risso was out for the 6-7-8 batters, who were retired in order. Eloy Sencion was then brought in for the bottom 9th, with Tristan Waker pinch-hitting for Tyler Lundberg. Sencion nailed him on the first pitch, then struck out Magnussen. Rick Price, to my great dismay, rocked a double to left, but Waker couldn’t possibly score on that one and had to hold at third base, but those were the tying and winning runs in scoring position. Full count to Kuchta – and a K for the second out. Switch-hitter Shane Larsen then batted in the #9 hole. He ran a 3-1 count against Sencion, then swung big – and popped it up behind the plate! Chavez made the catch and I gave Moe a big old hug on the way out! 1-0 Blighters. Royer 2-4, RBI; Stewart 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (3-1) and 2-3; Game 2 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Imai – P Carreno VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – RF Magnussen – C Waker – CF D. Moreno – 2B R. Price – 3B Lundberg – 1B V. Cruz – P A. Jesus Anton Jesus went on short rest, but you couldn’t tell at a glance. The Raccoons were harmless to begin the game, and Carreno quickly corked up a big inning, which was his specialty. Waker and Moreno hit singles to begin the bottom 2nd, and eventually Victor Cruz romped a huge 2-out homer to give the damn Elks a 3-0 lead. Jesus Martinez answered in the fifth inning with a 2-run homer, finding Pucks on base after an infield single, to at least narrow the score, but Lonzo’s leadoff single in the sixth was met with a great big nothing response. Funnily enough, Carreno ONLY allowed those three hits from the second inning through five frames, and offered no walks while striking out three batters. Unfunnily enough, his bottom 6th then consisted of a Kuchta single, Magnussen walking, a Waker single, a Moreno’s sac fly to extend the damn Elks’ lead to 4-2, and Rick Price gave Noah Caswell quite the run for an inning-ending flyout in deep center. The Raccoons didn’t do anything in the seventh, the Raccoons didn’t do anything in the eighth, but in the ninth – … in the ninth…! In the ninth they didn’t do anything against Bernardino Risso either. 4-2 Canadiens. Game 3 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – RF Martinez – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – CF Royer – P DeRose VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – RF Magnussen – C Waker – CF D. Moreno – 2B R. Price – 3B Lundberg – 1B V. Cruz – P Kozloski Jeff Kozloski (2-1, 2.10 ERA) also went on short rest on Sunday, not like doing so had hurt Jesus, but Marcos Chavez hit a tater to begin the second inning to put the Raccoons 1-0 ahead. Bottom 3rd, and DeRose gave up a 1-out single to Kozloski, and then Brassfield fudged Danny Garcia’s grounder for an error and a second runner on base. Could DeRose wiggle out of this one? Kuchta popped out to first, so that was a neat second out, but Magnussen singled to center in front of Royer, and that loaded the bases. And then Tristan Waker grabbed hold of a lazy fastball, and that one emptied the bases all over the 335’ sign in right. Labonte drove in a run in the fifth inning, plating Royer to shorten the score to 4-2, but it was genuinely hard to out-hit a rotting pitcher like DeRose, who went six. Not that the lineup was all that brilliant. It took until the ninth inning for the Raccoons to get a paw into scoring position again, still trailing by two against Bryan McDuffie. Pucks hit a 1-out single, but Brass popped out. Royer singled with two outs, and Morgan Lathers pinch-hit for Mike Siwik. And he flew out to right. 4-2 Canadiens. Brobeck 2-4; Puckeridge 2-4; Royer 2-4; Imai (PH) 1-1; All runs off DeRose were unearned after the Brassfield error, not that that would scratch us out of last place now… In other news** April 24 – The only hit of TOP INF Alex de los Santos (.210, 3 HR, 11 RBI) in the Buffaloes’ 6-5 win in Los Angeles plates the winning run in the top of the 20th inning. Apart from that, de los Santos goes 1-for-8 with two walks. Funnily enough, the game entered extra innings tied at two before both teams scored three runs in the 15th inning. April 26 – The Aces score ten runs in the sixth inning alone as they beat the Thunder, 16-6. LVA OF Jose Ambriz (.340, 0 HR, 11 RBI) goes 5-for-6 with a double and three RBI. April 28 – WAS SP Hironobu Hanzawa (2-3, 4.94 ERA) could be out for the season with a nasty case of should inflammation. FL Player of the Week: SFW 2B Mike DeFusco (.256, 1 HR, 9 RBI), batting .565 (13-23) with 5 RBI CL Player of the Week: CHA 1B Jason Schaack (.296, 3 HR, 16 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 1 HR, 3 RBI Complaints and stuff Hey, hey, Bobby Herrera won a game. Now he’s merely cost $36M per win for the team! There really isn’t a lot to say about this week, which was just crummy top to bottom. Pitching eh, offense meh (11 runs this week), and that’s how you go 2-4 against middling opposition and find last place eventually. And I don’t have much of an idea on how to fix this situation right now. Next week: Titans and Capitals. *Fun Fact:* Jason Brenize leads the ABL in ERA with a 1.35 mark. That’s the rookie we gave some on the snout when he had his September call-up last season. He is now 21 years old and I am very afraid of what he’ll be like when he’s 25. He’s still on the wicked Titans, though, who can’t score for him (despite leading the division) and in addition to his league-leading ERA his actual record in four starts is 1-2. Because baseball as usual makes no sense. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-15-2023, 03:47 AM	#4342
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (10-14) vs. Titans (16-9) – April 29-May 2, 2058 Speaking of Jason Brenize, here were the Titans. They sort of surprisingly had started well enough to lead the division ahead of the twice-defending CL pennant winners from New York, scoring the third-most runs and giving up the third-fewest for a +25 run differential. Their rotation was the best in the CL, but the pen ran an ERA near five. The Coons had won the season series last year, 11-7, but would we be so lucky again? Projected matchups: J.J. Sensabaugh (2-2, 3.70 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (1-2, 1.35 ERA) Bobby Herrera (1-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (2-2, 3.45 ERA) Zach Stewart (3-1, 1.59 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (2-1, 3.38 ERA) Ramon Carreno (0-3, 4.88 ERA) vs. Adam Gardner (2-1, 4.21 ERA) After three right-handed pitchers the Titans would also give us a left-hander on Thursday. Game 1 BOS: CF Torrence – 2B J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – RF I. Santiago – 3B W. de Leon – LF Y. Valdez – SS Leitch – P Brenize POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – 1B Imai – P Sensabaugh The Raccoons returning home also meant there was the obligatory third-inning rain delay, although Monday’s lasted only about 20 minutes and both starters continued. Brenize’s spot atop the CL leaderboard for ERA was in danger after Brobeck singled home Lonzo for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Yoslan Valdez had sort of a day against Sensabaugh, driving in four runs in his first two at-bats; a 3-run homer following Israel Santiago and Willie de Leon singles in the second inning, and then another RBI single in the fourth to plate Jorge Arviso, which in total flipped the score to 4-1 Boston rather clearly. When the Titans scored a fifth run in the fifth inning, it was Brenize coming around on little else but a throwing error by Morgan Lathers and an error picking a grounder by Toushi… In turn, though, Manny Rubin dropped a feed by Jonathan Watson that put Sensabaugh on base to begin the bottom 5th, and then Paul Labonte came up with an RBI triple into the right-center gap, 5-2. Lonzo hit a sac fly to Ethan Torrence to get to 5-3, but nobody else reached base in the inning. Lonzo, who entered the week with a 12-game hitting streak, extended said streak his next time up in the seventh against Ramon Montes de Oca, putting his fuzzy bum on base as the tying run after Steve Royer had drawn a leadoff walk to knock out Brenize, but Caswell flew out easily and Brobeck whiffed to end the inning. The Raccoons got scoreless relief from Ornelas, Hamann, and Bravo after six icky innings by Sensabaugh, but the offense couldn’t put anybody on base in the eighth inning, then faced last year’s Critter Alex Mancilla in the ninth inning. Toushi singled. Royer walked. Labonte walked. Three on, no outs. Yes, this is like I remember Alex Mancilla! Lonzo grounded out to short, but all the runners advanced, which meant a run scored and the tying and winning runs were both in scoring position in a 5-4 affair. However, Royer had stayed in the game over Noah Caswell earlier, so the pitcher was in the #3 slot now and Jesus Martinez came out to pinch-hit against the right-hander. He clanked the first pitch clean to center for an RBI single, but Labonte had to hold at third base. HOWEVER – tied game, and again no win for Brenize! The game, though, went to extras on Brobeck’s foul pop and Pucks’ groundout… Toushi and Royer reached against Mancilla again with two outs in the bottom 10th, but were stranded when Labonte flew out to left. Tanizaki threw two scoreless for the Raccoons in overtime, then got a sterling chance to snatch the win in relief when Xavier Caston served up a gapper to begin the bottom 11th that Lonzo legged out for a leadoff triple! Martinez – who had replaced Pucks in right – now popped out foul, and Brobeck was walked intentionally. Marcos Chavez pinch-hit for Tanizaki, was retired on a comebacker to Caston, and Brassfield’s fly to deep left was caught on the warning track by Hector Weir. And I had thoughts of murder. Ever out of relievers, the Raccoons then sent Brobeck to the hill for the 12th, which somehow didn’t instantly result in an offensive explosion for Boston and he instead had a scoreless inning (!), while Caston in the bottom 12th walked the bags full with Lathers, Royer, and Lonzo (!), but there were also two outs for Jesus Martinez coming to the dish with nowhere to put him. Caston was off the rolls, though, could not find the zone for his life, and walked Martinez on four pitches, and thus ended the game. 6-5 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5, 2 BB, 3B, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Martinez (PH) 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Royer (PH) 1-1, 3 BB; Tanizaki 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Brenize didn’t win the game, and lost the CL (and ABL) ERA lead to Zach Stewart, of all people, although the Titans could do something on that on Wednesday. Before that, however, the schedule put Bobby Herrera on Tuesday, and thus probably also tornadoes. Not even kidding – it stormed all day long on Tuesday, and Herrera’s start was washed away. Double header on Wednesday. If the baseball gods were so inclined. Game 2 BOS: CF Torrence – LF Ma. Gilmore – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – RF A. Cruz – 3B D. Mendoza – P Broad POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – 3B Sheilds – P B. Herrera Portland took a 2-0 lead in the first, getting Labonte (double) and Caswell (walk) to the corners before Pucks and Martinez hit a pair of 2-out RBI singles, while Brass grounded out to Willie de Leon. Herrera appeared to fine initially despite an annoying habit of beginning innings with a full count, but he got somewhat well through three innings before the fourth began with a Matt Gilmore homer, Rubin doubling, and Arviso jacking another homer to give the Titans a 3-2 lead. After that, Herrera retired another nine out of ten batters faced, the only exception reaching on a Lonzo error. His start then ended after 85 pitches on account of an hour-long rain delay, because how could it be any ******* different?? Mike Siwik gave up another run on two base hits in the seventh inning, while the Raccoons then had the tying runs on base in both the seventh and eighth innings, but Labonte grounded out to end the former and Martinez grounded out to end the latter inning without getting anybody across. Mancilla then retired Brass, Sheilds, and Toushi in order in the bottom 9th. 4-2 Titans. Bribiesca 1-1; Sheilds 2-4, 2B; I’ve seen some strong gypsy curses in my time, but Bobby Herrera’s is special. Lonzo went 0-for-4 to end his 13-game hitting streak. Thanks to the rain delay earlier, the second game of the double-header started well late, 45 minutes from midnight Boston time. Game 3 BOS: RF I. Santiago – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Weir – CF Ma. Gilmore – 2B W. de Leon – P Musgrave POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – C Lathers – 1B Imai – 2B Bribiesca – P Stewart Stewart sure fit the billing of “league ERA leader” by allowing a single to Alan Leitch, who was doubled up by Rubin, in the first, then another single in the third (to Musgrave, cough), and nothing else through five, although he also ran a couple of full counts and walked a pair in the fourth inning. The Titans remained shut out, though, but so were the Coons; Pucks had a double in the second, Bribiesca had a single in the fifth, and that was mostly it, except for Lonzo reaching on an error and stealing a base in the fourth inning, but that didn’t lead to a run either. Manny Rubin ended the collective shutout with his seventh home run of the season, a solo jack to center, in the sixth inning, and Stewart allowed a single to Diego Mendoza, walked PH Danny Encarnacion, and then surrendered a second run on de Leon’s double in the seventh. Musgrave fanned, but the Raccoons then brought Tanizaki with two outs and a pair in scoring position, to which the Titans answered with Yoslan Valdez to pinch-hit for Israel Santiago. His sharp grounder was niftily played by Bribiesca, and the inning ended. When Pucks singled in the bottom 7th he was immediately doubled up by Martinez. Musgrave further gave up leadoff singles to Toushi and Bribiesca in the bottom 8th. Caswell hit into a fielder’s choice, and Royer hit a sac fly, but that narrowed the score only to 2-1. Lonzo singled up the middle, but Caswell was thrown out trying to steal third base afterwards, and that ended the inning on a rather sour note. Reynaldo Bravo held the Titans to their 1-run lead in the top 9th, while right-hander Dan Lawrence got the bottom of the inning and the meat of the order. It took two outs for Martinez to put the tying run on base by drawing a walk, and then Lathers grounded out to second easily. 2-1 Titans. Puckeridge 2-4, 2B; Bribiesca 2-3; Game 4 BOS: CF Torrence – LF Ma. Gilmore – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – RF I. Santiago – 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – 3B D. Mendoza – P A. Gardner POR: 1B Royer – 2B Bribiesca – 3B Brobeck – C Chavez – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – SS Sheilds – P Carreno Steve ***** Royer had the Raccoons’ first hit on Thursday, a 2-out, 2-run bomb to left, plating Tyrese Sheilds and also putting the first markers of the game on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Carreno had allowed a hit and a walk, but had faced the minimum the first time through thanks to a double play hit into by de Leon and Diego Mendoza getting caught stealing. De Leon then was caught stealing himself in the fourth inning, but counting on all claws hints at more traffic than that in the inning in question. Indeed, Matt Gilmore had drawn a walk, and Jorge Arviso had gone yard to right to swiftly tie the contest at two already. The Coons reclaimed a lead in the bottom 4th with a leadoff single by Chavez, Brass walking, and then two long fly outs for a sac fly to get the catcher around to score, 3-2. Sheilds whiffed, leaving Brass on first base. Brass also ended the bottom 5th on base, getting caught in a rundown between first and second after finding Royer (double), Bribiesca, and Chavez (walks) on base and dishing a 2-run single to left-center. While a pair scored, Brass had fully expected Chavez to make a dash to third base, but after going 20 feet Chavez threw the anchor and scurried back to second base, leaving Brass as dead as disco behind him, and the inning ended with a 5-2 score. Carreno was then knocked out on three singles from four batters to begin the sixth, with Hector Weir already in and Gilmore and Rubin on the corners. Eloy Sencion popped out Arviso and whiffed Santiago to bail out still ahead by two, but while Sencion and Ornelas held on in the seventh, Hamann and Tanizaki corked it all up in the eighth inning, surrendering four singles and two runs between them. More atrociously, the actual tying runs really scored on two passed balls charged to Marcos Chavez, so everybody had a share in that ****. Mike Siwik then retired a pair to begin the ninth before walking Antonio Cruz and allowing him to score on Torrence and Encarnacion singles. There was* hope for the bottom 9th, though, because the Titans still pretended that Alex Mancilla was their closer. Mancilla walked Martinez and Sheilds to get the winning run on base, but Toushi popped out for the second out, and that brought back Royer as the last straw, and he grounded out on the first pitch he was offered. 6-5 Titans. Royer 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; (moans) Raccoons (11-17) @ Capitals (16-13) – May 3-5, 2058 Washington was having a superficially good start, but a -8 run differential with the #6 offense and #8 pitching in the Federal League. Their rotation was the main problem, pushing an ERA over 4.50, but the defense was mediocre and the offense didn’t excel in any one category either. To add injury to insult, they had just put pricey Korean addition and April Rookie of the Month Joo-chan Lee on the DL, where he joined Mike Allen and Hironobu Hanzawa. These teams had not met another in four years; back in 2053, the Raccoons had a 3-game sweep over the Caps. Projected matchups: Justin DeRose (0-3, 6.35 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (1-2, 4.63 ERA) J.J. Sensabaugh (2-2, 4.15 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (0-4, 7.28 ERA) Bobby Herrera (1-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Jaden Williams (3-1, 3.21 ERA) Southpaw Sunday! Game 1 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – P DeRose WAS: RF D. Flores – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – CF M. Roberts – 3B Law – SS Mullen – LF van de Wouw – 2B O. Rivera – P Ratliff Labonte, Chavez, and Caswell all hit singles in the first inning; Labonte stole a base as well and scored in between on Brobeck’s sac fly to Neville van de Wouw in left. That was the score for a bit; DeRose was good and wasn’t good at the same time. He retired the first eight batters in a row, but also gave up three deep fly outs, then a single to the opposing pitcher, a walk to David Flores – traded from St. Pete to Washington this winter – and then barely survived another deep fly to right by Alejandro Ramos, the 38-year-old veteran mostly known from the Blue Sox. Singles by Jose Cantu and Mike Roberts to begin the bottom 4th, then three more fly outs allowed the Caps to tie the game on Dan Mullen’s sac fly to center. The next inning, they took the lead on a 2-out single by Flores, Ramos’ RBI double in the right-center gap, and then the inning ended on Cantu singling to right and Ramos getting thrown out at home by Jesus Martinez, those 38-year-old legs showing their age. On the bright paw, Justin DeRose went eight innings without allowing any more damage, giving up just one more single in his last three innings. On the other paw, the Raccoons still trailed 2-1 entering the ninth inning, themselves getting only two base knocks all the way past the first inning… Brobeck reached base to begin the ninth against righty David Williams formerly of New York, but only because Mullen fumbled his grounder. Caswell drove a ball to deep center, and Mike Roberts couldn’t get that one – and then fell down and the Raccoons were off to the races. Brobeck scored, and Caswell made it to second base for a game-tying RBI double. There he threatened to remain. Brass grounded out, Pucks grounded out, and Martinez grounded another ball to Mullen to leave Caswell on third ba- …oops, no, Mullen threw poorly to first, Ramos couldn’t dig it out, and Dan Mullen’s second error of the inning gave the Coons a vastly unearned 3-2 lead. Royer grounded out against Pete Becker to finish the inning, and Mullen hit a double off Eloy Sencion in the bottom 9th, but that wasn’t enough to overturn the results of the top 9th, and Sencion struck out Henry Howie to end the game. 3-2 Blighters! Labonte 2-4; Caswell 2-4, 2B, RBI; DeRose 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-3); Game 2 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – C Lathers – 1B Imai – P Sensabaugh WAS: RF D. Flores – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – CF M. Roberts – 3B Law – SS Mullen – LF W. Jenkins – 2B O. Rivera – P Colwell Sensabaugh looked like a burden on the bullpen in the making with a long first inning that saw three full counts, two walks, but ultimately a K to Bryant Law to bugger out of his own mess, and then Pucks went yard to right to give the Raccoons a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Martinez and Toushi also reached base against Colwell, who struck out Sensabaugh, but on a 1-2 pitch gave up a 2-out RBI single to Labonte, and another one of those to Lonzo, then in a full count, for a 3-0 lead, but Caswell’s grounder found Oscar Rivera to end the inning. The bullpen was active by the bottom 2nd, however, as Sensabaugh managed to walk no fewer than five batters in the inning and was yanked from the contest with the game already tied and the bases loaded with two outs. Ivan Ornelas gave up singles to Law and Mullen to score all the remaining runners before Jenkins grounded out, and the Caps turned a 3-run deficit into a 3-run lead. Colwell wouldn’t win, leaving the game with an injury after three innings, so now both teams were in their bullpens. Right-hander Tim Coco pitched two scoreless innings before Rivera’s 2-out double in the bottom 5th knocked out both pitchers. Ornelas’ long relief had been doomed from the start this time, and Neal Hamann surrendered an RBI single to pinch-hitter Matt Cox to give him a run of his own on his ledger, 7-3. Jesus Martinez’ single leading off the top 6th, two groundouts, and a wild pitch by Matt Shapira gave a run back to the Coons, but by the bottom 6th we had Brobeck pitching and that was the game then. Brobeck threw 61 pitches in just two innings, walking four, giving up three hits, and three runs, and I wondered loudly how he had survived in an actual major league rotation for a little while at least, much to the bemusement of the Caps fans within earshot. For crowning glory, Reynaldo Bravo pitched in the bottom 8th and retired the first two batters before walking Oscar Rivera, Mario Villa, David Flores, and Alejandro Ramos in order to force in another ****** run. The Coons went on ten pitches by Tim Betty in the ninth… 11-4 Capitals. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Martinez 3-4; Sheilds (PH) 1-2; Raccoons pitchers ** up 15 walks in this game, not far short of our unholy record of 18 for a 9-inning game; but even then Ornelas didn’t walk anybody in three innings. Game 3 POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 3B Sheilds – P B. Herrera WAS: RF D. Flores – 1B Ale. Ramos – CF M. Roberts – LF M. Cox – 3B Law – C Howie – SS M. Villa – 2B O. Rivera – P J. Williams Bribiesca led off with a double and was immediately stranded on Sunday, and after Brass singled to begin the second inning he was doubled up by Pucks, so that was a great start… Meanwhile, Bobby Herrera showed for the first time a glimpse of what we had thought to see in his demo before cramming $36M up or down the orifice of your choosing – he allowed two soft singles, one of the infield variety, to Bryant Law and Henry Howie in the second inning, but otherwise struck out EIGHT Caps in just four innings, which was a Jonny Toner level of dominance almost. In between, a Brass homer – his first of the year… – gave Herrera a 2-0 lead in the fourth, but hard to explain walks to Howie and Rivera, plus a 2-out RBI singles for Flores – the D. stood for devil – nibbled a run off the lead, but Ramos popped out to Bribiesca to keep the Coons ahead 2-1 through five innings. Only complaint: Herrera needed 82 pitches to make it this far. Top 6th, and more offense was on the way. Williams nicked Lonzo to begin the inning, and Lonzo objected by stealing his tenth base of the year. Royer then plated him with a wallbanger double in left, Chavez walked, and Pucks hit an RBI single after Brass whiffed. Mike Roberts’ bad throw to home plate allowed the trailing runners into scoring position on the play. The Caps walked Martinez intentionally, then sent Williams home for Pete Becker, who conceded a run on Sheilds’ grounder. Herrera grounded out to strand a pair, then had a 1-2-3 inning while throwing 22 pitches in the bottom 6th… The W appeared to be his, though; Becker walked Bribiesca and Lonzo to begin the seventh, there was a double steal, and then Rivera threw away Chavez’ 1-out grounder to allow both runners to score. Brass’ RBI single made it 8-1. Herrera actually pitched a seventh inning despite a Martinez error in right, with Lonzo helping out by starting a 6-4-3 double play on PH Eddie Moreno. The eighth was uneventful with Ricky following Bobby Herrera, but the Caps made a stir in the ninth inning. Lonzo had the last frame off, but Bribiesca mishandled a Cox grounder at short, and then Neal Hamann gave up an RBI double to Howie for the final run of the week. 8-2 Raccoons. Bribiesca 2-4, BB, 2B; Royer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, W (2-2) and 1-3; In other news April 30 – SAL SP Alfredo Llamas (2-1, 2.88 ERA) throws a 1-hit shutout against the Scorpions, who only get a single from Omar Gonzalez (.246, 0 HR, 13 RBI) in their 4-0 loss. May 2 – Condors LF Tim Duncan (.340, 1 HR, 5 RBI) was expected to miss six weeks with an inflamed elbow. May 4 – Loggers reliever Curt Rosato (1-0, 4.11 ERA, 1 SV) is out for the season after suffering a stretched elbow ligament. May 5 – PIT OF Tomokazu Kaneshiro (.410, 0 HR, 7 RBI) is out for the year as well after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament. May 5 – The Aces’ OF Jose Ambriz (.331, 0 HR, 13 RBI) could miss the rest of the month after spraining his wrist. FL Player of the Week: PIT 1B Kevin Price (.318, 3 HR, 12 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 3 HR, 11 RBI CL Player of the Week: MIL LF/RF Perry Pigman (.395, 1 HR, 16 RBI), swatting .500 (15-30) with 1 HR, 8 RBI FL Hitter of the Month: DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.384, 4 HR, 23 RBI) CL Hitter of the Month: ATL C Marco Nieto (.429, 1 HR, 16 RBI) FL Pitcher of the Month: TOP SP Ben Karst (5-1, 2.17 ERA) CL Pitcher of the Month: LVA SP Scott Evans (4-0, 1.81 ERA) FL Rookie of the Month: WAS 2B Joo-chan Lee (.340, 0 HR, 10 RBI) CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ 3B/RF Eric Frasher (.288, 3 HR, 7 RBI) Complaints and stuff Twice this week Jason Brenize went six innings and allowed two earned runs without getting enough offense/relief from the Titans to notch a W, so he’s still looking for that second win. Him and Stewart exchanged the CL ERA lead three times this week while going a combined 0-1 with a 2.89 ERA, which in some world surely made sense. The offense remains woeful. We’re bottoms in home runs, which you probably guessed without me specifically pointing it out. In depth news, Carlos Solorzano ** up his knee in AAA this week and will miss the rest of the season. He was hitting .294 in 14 games for the Alley Cats at the time of shredding his posterior cruciate ligament. We’re home next week, in case your masochistic and want to suffer in person. After a day off on Monday, we’ll have the Warriors and Loggers in. Fun Fact:** Zach Stewart is the CL ERA leader while posting even worse peripherals than during his 5.51 ERA season last year. Back then he walked 4.8 and whiffed 6.6 per nine innings. This year he’s up/down to 4.9 and 5.9 respectively. What keeps him alive? A 65-point swing in his favor in terms of BABIP. And last year’s was closer to the mean… Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-16-2023, 05:52 AM	#4343
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (13-18) vs. Warriors (15-16) – May 7-9, 2058 Ranking sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, the Warriors were struggling especially to keep their sheets clean behind the FL’s best rotation with a 3.16 ERA on those guys, more than a run and a half better than the hideous bullpen. The defense was splendid, however. These teams had met last year, with the Raccoons meeting a grisly end in a 3-game sweep. Julio Moriel was the only significant injury for Sioux Falls, the infielder being on the DL with a broken foot. Projected matchups: Zach Stewart (3-2, 1.80 ERA) vs. Bubba Wolinsky (3-2, 2.06 ERA) Ramon Carreno (0-3, 4.91 ERA) vs. Ed Nadeau (3-1, 2.89 ERA) Justin DeRose (1-3, 5.45 ERA) vs. Victor Salcido (1-4, 4.05 ERA) What a nice surprise, the Warriors bringing in not one, but two former Critters to start against Portland this week. Salcido had last pitched for the Coons in 2053, and Wolinsky went back all the way to 2051. Wolinsky and Nadeau were left-handers, but mind the common off day on Monday. Game 1 SFW: 2B DeFusco – CF E. Maldonado – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF Marroquin – C E. Sanches – SS Barre – RF A. Huerta – P Wolinsky POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Stewart The crowd was above-average for a Tuesday night in 56-degree weather, as the fans liked to be reminded of better days with Bubba Wolinsky in the house – he got hold of two rings in our 2040s trifecta of championships – but were soon reminded of current-day Raccoons business when Mike DeFusco opened with a single to left, was forced out by Elmer Maldonado, who stole second, and finally scored on a 2-out single to left hit by Steve Dilly. The team failed the bags full in the third inning when Lonzo and Brass let a DeFusco pop to shallow left drop between them for a single, and Stewart walked Miguel Medina, threw a wild pitch, walked Dilly, too, and then somehow got out of it when Jose Marroquin popped out to Jesus Martinez to strand the whole bunch, but now he was already on 59 pitches. Next, Stewart struck out bunting after Brassfield reached on an error to begin the bottom 3rd, although Lonzo and Royer hit 2-out singles to tie the game before Chavez grounded out to Dilly. Stewart held his own, but Bubba found his way into a jam in the bottom 5th after a leadoff walk to Brassfield. Stewart bunted well this time, but the bags filled up on two singles by Bribiesca and Lonzo, which was weird enough. Neither ball left the infield, and Brassfield reached third base on Bribiesca’s grounder/single, but had to hold when Lonzo rolled one near Esteban Sanches along the third base line. To everybody’s surprise and for some perhaps even dismay, the Raccoons now took Bubba apart. Royer singled in two, Chavez and Brobeck each singled in one, and after a walk to Caswell, Jesus Martinez added a sac fly to center. Evan Alvey then came in and retired Brassfield to end a 5-run inning. The Coons went on to squeeze out Stewart for seven innings and 109 pitches, which worked out to keep the score at 6-1 by the stretch. Javier Cortes was pitching for the Warriors before leaving with an injury, bringing on the third former Coon on that staff, Phil Baker, who was taken deep for a solo home run by Kyle Brobeck in the bottom 7th. Cas and Martinez then went to the corners with a pair of singles, but Brassfield whiffed his way ever deeper into a slump. Baker was still around in the eighth, gave up a pinch-hit single to Labonte, who stole second, and then scored on a Lonzo single to right-center. Royer singled, Chavez doubled, Lonzo scored, and Baker was yanked for Darren McRee, also an Oregon veteran, but with the Wolves, who got out of the inning without conceding another run. 9-1 Raccoons. Labonte (PH) 1-1; Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Royer 3-5, 3 RBI; Chavez 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Brobeck 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Caswell 2-4, BB, 2B; Stewart 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (4-2); Game 2 SFW: 2B DeFusco – C F. Rivera – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF E. Maldonado – RF Marroquin – SS Barre – CF Tarver – P Nadeau POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Carreno After a 9-run outburst, we just xeroxed in Tuesday’s lineup against Nadeau again. Thing was, Carreno was pitching, so nine runs were probably needed again. The sophomore retired the Warriors in order in the first, which created a treacherous false security, because the top 2nd began with a walk to Dilly, a Maldonado single, and then enough productive outs to get Dilly around to score in the inning. DeFusco reached on a Bribiesca error in the third, followed by a Rivera single and Medina double. One (unearned) run was in, while the two earned runners were stranded with Martinez making a sliding catch hustling in on a Dilly dinker, and Brassfield racing into the gap to snare a Maldonado rocket before it could get to the wall. Carreno added facepaw to headshakes when he came up following Martinez doubling and Brass walking to begin the inning, and forcefully bunted into an out at third base, which allowed Nadeau to bugger out of the inning. He wasn’t so lucky in the fourth, though, nicking Brobeck with two outs before getting shown the rightfield stands with Noah Caswell’s game-tying homer. The Coons then even took the lead in the fifth inning thanks to defense, and Brassfield drawing another leadoff walk. This time Carreno got the bunt down nicely, and Lonzo’s 2-out single brought in the run for a 3-2 edge. Royer popped out, brining the fifth to a close. Dilly nearly homered the game tied in the sixth, but was caught by Martinez on the warning track instead. Martinez then paired up with Caswell and two outs in the bottom 6th to create more offense. Cas singled to center, then was in motion when Martinez peppered a double to left-center and scored quite comfortably. Brass got the four-fingered salute, and Nadeau got out when Carreno grounded out to DeFusco. Carreno got two more outs, even though one of them was Devin Tarver singling and being caught stealing, then was lifted after a pinch-hit double by Andy Hudson in the #9 spot. DeFusco then fired a drive to deep right against Ornelas, which Martinez also caught while bouncing off the fence. Sheesh! Boys!! Steve Royer’s homer in the bottom 7th extended the score to 5-2, coming off right-handed sophomore Danny Zepeda. Ornelas pitched another inning, then made way for Tanizaki in the ninth. Maldonado drew a leadoff walk, but was doubled off by Jose Marroquin. Tristan Barre singled, but Tarver grounded out to Lonzo. 5-2 Raccoons. Caswell 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Martinez 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Brassfield 0-1, 3 BB; Carreno 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-3); Then – disappointment. Salcido was removed from the Thursday start in favor of longtime Warriors ace Ricardo Montoya (2-2, 3.38 ERA), who had not had the greatest start to the new season. He was a right-hander anyway, and the Raccoons crammed as many left-handed bats as possible into the lineup, because the Loggers might yet rock up another two southpaws to begin the weekend set. Only Lonzo remained for right-handed bats. Game 3 SFW: 2B DeFusco – C F. Rivera – 1B M. Medina – 3B Dilly – LF E. Maldonado – RF Marroquin – SS Barre – CF Tarver – P R. Montoya POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Royer – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – C Lathers – 3B Sheilds – P DeRose Solo homers! Caswell hit two of them in the first and third innings for a 2-0 lead, while Dilly got the Warriors on the board with one of his own in the fourth inning; not that all things were DeRosey, as the Caswell homers were the only Coons hits at that point, and this time Pucks was the guy picking near-bombs off the fence, pulling down a pair in the first three innings as DeRose looked easily whackable. He somehow got around a DeFusco wall-tickling double to begin the fifth inning, but came unglued for good in the sixth. Marroquin singled to right. Barre singled to right. Devin Tarver hit a ball all the way to the moon, and the Warriors had a 5-2 lead. Montoya’s single knocked out DeRose for good. The tying runs were on in the 5-2 game to begin the bottom 6th as Lonzo singled, Caswell walked, and Royer hit a scratch single through the right side. All eyes on Pucks – but the first pitch was wild and Lonzo scored that way. Pucks grounded out poorly, not advancing the runners further, and Toushi hit a sac fly, 5-4, before Alvey rung up Morgan Lathers to end the inning after Montoya got dumped. In turn, Medina homered off Siwik, who was left over from replacing DeRose an inning earlier, and Dilly singled before we brought in Hamann, who exploded further for another three base hits, a Marroquin single, Barre’s 2-run double, and Alvin Huerta’s pinch-hit, 2-out RBI single. And yet, down five, the game wasn’t quite over yet. Lonzo opened the bottom 8th with a triple off Phil Nelson, then scored on Cas’ groundout. Royer homered, ejecting Nelson for Kellen Lanning, who got outs from Pucks and Toushi. The Warriors put two on against Tanizaki in the ninth, but left them on the corners before giving the 3-run lead to Zack Stahl. Lathers opened with a single, but Sheilds popped out to first. Jesus Martinez batted for Tanizaki, hit a hard grounder at Josh Wall at third base, and 5-4-3 went the Coons. 9-6 Warriors. Lavorano 2-4, 3B; Caswell 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Royer 2-4, HR, RBI; Sigh. The rotation. Raccoons (15-19) vs. Loggers (16-18) – May 10-12, 2058 The Loggers had won four straight games, as well as three straight games against the Critters. Overall they were third in runs scored and very much bottoms in runs allowed, with a terrible rotation – worst in the CL – and a mediocre pen that had a lot to do. Injuries included Ryan Bishton, Nick Roseto, and Curt Rosato, which sounded like one of those cryptic crossword riddles. Projected matchups: J.J. Sensabaugh (2-3, 5.63 ERA) vs. Sam Webb (2-3, 4.50 ERA) Bobby Herrera (2-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (1-1, 5.79 ERA) Zach Stewart (4-2, 1.71 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (3-2, 3.56 ERA) Not two southpaws from Milwaukee. Three. Game 1 MIL: 3B Gaxiola – 2B Garmon – LF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – RF Callaia – SS Sostre – CF Konecny – C Dye – P S. Webb POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Sensabaugh The Loggers went up quickly, 1-0 on walks to Corey Garmon and Perry Pigman, then a 2-out single by recent Critter Gaudencio Callaia. Bill Sostre popped out to shallow center to end the inning, and Bribiesca and Royer flattened the score with a pair of doubles in the bottom 1st. 2-out walks to Caswell and Brobeck filled the bases eventually, but then Martinez popped out and the game remained tied. The third began with a Robby Gaxiola single, and Garmon flicked one over the infielders as well. Perry Pigman was not content with that, and instead waffled a 3-run homer well up into the rightfield stands. The Raccoons answered with three doubles and two runs, whacked by Royer, Chavez, and Brobeck in the bottom 3rd, which left us a run short at 4-3, but there was still a way to go. Probably not for Sensabaugh though, as he gave up a fifth run on hits by Jonathan Dye and Gaxiola in the fourth, then another homer to Pigman and a walk to Dave Robles before getting disposed of. Ornelas got out of the inning, but gave up a walk, a single, a double steal and a balk, and ultimately two more runs to Gaxiola and Garmon in the top 6th. Brassfield’s leadoff jack in the bottom 6th merely made it 8-4, but then Labonte singled, Lonzo singled, double steal part deux, and then Royer doubled to right, driving in two, and knocking out Sam Webb. Chavez flew out against Josh Costello, but Caswell singled, however, Royer was thrown out at the plate by Pigman, and the inning ended. The seventh was remarkably calm in comparison to anything else, with Ricky Herrera and Costello just going about their business. Siwik had a clean eighth, then was hit for with Pucks, who singled to begin the bottom 8th against Brett Lillis jr., then replaced by Roberto Navarro. Bribiesca singled, but Lonzo crashed into a double play hard and Royer flew out to Pigman at the warning track. Sencion then gave up a run in the ninth; Pigman got on, but was caught stealing; yet with two outs Callaia doubled to right, Sostre singled to left-center, and Callaia scored an extra run. The tying run though reached the batter’s box with nobody out in the bottom 9th after Ryan Dow allowed singles to Chavez and Caswell right out of the gate. Now Brobeck got doubled up, 4-6-3, and Martinez grounded out to Robles… 9-6 Loggers. Bribiesca 3-5, 2B; Royer 3-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI; Chavez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB; Labonte (PH) 1-1, Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Plain awful. Game 2 MIL: 3B Gaxiola – CF Valenzano – LF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – RF Callaia – SS Sostre – 2B de Kok – C Dye – P V. Marquez POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P B. Herrera Marcos Chavez reclaimed sole possession of the team home run lead with his fifth bomb, a 3-run smack in the first inning after Marquez had already allowed a double to Labonte and brushed Lonzo. Marquez also walked the 7-8 batters in the bottom 2nd, who were bunted over by Herrera. Labonte’s single and a Sostre error plated them, 5-0, and right about at that time it began to rain. No **. The third inning saw Gaxiola and Robles land hits off Bobby Herrera for a run, while Marquez was taken deep for a 2-piece by Jesus Martinez, 7-1, and did I mention the 27-minute rain delay already? Marquez disappeared after that, while Herrera at least soldiered on through five innings to at least qualify for the W, if the pen would be so inclined. He needed 80 pitches to get there anyway, but had actually needed more pitches per inning before the rain than after it, because then the Loggers found him less sharp and made contact early, simply hitting it at the defense. Herrera faced four batters in the sixth inning and retired none of them. Walk, double, RBI single, plonked – that’s how it went against the 3-4-5-6 batters, and then he was unceremoniously yanked. Bravo gave up a sac fly to Teo de Kok, but got a double play grounder from Dye to bugger out still ahead by a slam. The Coons’ offense had gone to bed, so we needed to piece nine outs together from the pen. Neal Hamann got five of them, then allowed three straight 2-out singles, a run, and the tying run to reach the box in the top 8th. Tanizaki and Sheilds entered in a double switch that removed Brobeck, and Dye hit a sharp grounder to Sheilds’ left that was played for the third out in a way I seriously doubted Brobeck would have managed to. Right-hander Roberto Alvarado then walked the Rule 5ers with one out in the bottom 8th; Labonte flew out to Callaia, but Lonzo found a space to drop a 2-out RBI single to plate Toushi. Pucks batted for a hitless Royer, but whiffed to end the inning. Tanizaki remained on the hill, aiming for a 4-out save in the ninth, which began with a pop over the infield by Kelly Konecny. Gaxiola’s fly to deep left was caught by Pucks. Steve Valenzano struck out. 8-4 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 1-2, BB, 2B; Tanizaki 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (3); We were out-hit, 8-7, but drew seven walks as well. The Raccoons had faced MR Danny Zepeda (1-1, 5.17 ERA) just earlier this week with the Warriors, now had a chance to do so again, as the Loggers acquired the 26-year-old in a trade for a third-rate prospect between games. This did of course nothing to rid us of Riddle on Sunday. Game 3 MIL: CF Valenzano – 2B Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Mi. Gilmore – SS Sostre – LF Callaia – 3B Gaxiola – P Riddle POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – P Stewart Stewart disappeared from the ERA race in the first inning, giving up two singles out of the gate, then a 3-piece to Robles. Dave Robles also doubled home a run in the third inning, in which the Loggers smashed Stewart around for four hits in total, and another run singled in by Gaudencio Callaia. To Stewart’s credit, while he wasn’t fooling anybody, he at least dragged out his stint on the hill to six innings, and it wasn’t like the offense was coming to his rescue either. Normally we would have parked him after five innings and 90 pitches with a 5-1 deficit, but the sixth was against the all-left-handed bottom of the order, and Stewart retired those in order. For offense, Royer had singled home Bribiesca in the third inning but the Coons’ box score was mostly barren otherwise until the bottom 6th when Chavez, Caswell, and Brobeck slapped straight singles to score one run and bring the tying run to the dish. Brass grounded out, Pucks whiffed, and that was about as good as it got. Brobeck hit into a double play to quell a tiny uprising with Cas’ leadoff single in the bottom 8th, and instead Ricky Herrera and Siwik allowed another run between them in the ninth inning. Lillis then finished the game on the Coons. 6-2 Loggers. Bribiesca 2-4; Caswell 2-4; Brobeck 2-4, RBI; In other news May 6 – In the only two games played on Monday, two shutouts are pitched by BOS SP Ryan Musgrave (4-1, 2.33 ERA) against the Scorpions, and VAN SP Luis Arroyo (1-3, 5.40 ERA) against the Pacifics. Both get away with a 5-hitter. The Canadiens win 3-0, the Titans by double that margin. May 6 – The Falcons surprisingly swap SP Josh Clem (2-1, 3.71 ERA) to the Pacifics for two prospects, including #156 SP Alex Gomez. May 7 – Pittsburgh acquires RF/LF/1B Angel Angulo (.268, 5 HR, 17 RBI) from the Stars in exchange for SS/2B Trevor Niemiec (.265, 0 HR, 7 RBI). May 8 – The trades continue with the Condors taking on C Tristan Waker (.191, 3 HR, 21 RBI) and almost $1.5M in cash from the Canadiens in exchange for 1B John Rosenstiel (.213, 1 HR, 3 RBI) and #62 prospect SP Mike Perez. May 9 – The Crusaders sweep a double-header from the Blue Sox with a pair of walkoff wins, 7-5 in the 12th inning and 4-3 in regulation. New York’s INF Zach Suggs (.246, 5 HR, 15 RBI) homers for the first one, while rookie OF Sean Zeiher (.262, 2 HR, 7 RBI) wins the second one with a walkoff double in his 12th ABL game. May 12 – The Cyclones’ only hit against the Buffaloes is a 2-run double for OF Mike Thomason (.200, 0 HR, 2 RBI) with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, followed by a sac fly hit by 1B/2B/OF Greg Gill (.158, 0 HR, 5 RBI). Combined with a sac fly hit by 2B/SS/LF Mike Tovar (.284, 1 HR, 12 RBI), the Cyclones beat the Buffos, 4-2, with the Kansas team scattering eight hits for no greater good. May 12 – New York acquire LF/RF Tony Rodriquez (.250, 1 HR, 6 RBI) from Atlanta for OF Dan Nork (.302, 1 HR, 14 RBI) and a prospect. FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Nick Nye (.354, 4 HR, 14 RBI), slapping .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 7 RBI CL Player of the Week: POR OF/1B Noah Caswell (.306, 4 HR, 12 RBI), batting .500 (11-22) with 3 HR, 5 RBI Complaints and stuff Caswell won Player of the Week after slumping the few weeks before, but I thought Steve Royer had nearly as good as a week before Cristiano showed me the actual numbers. Nothing to sneeze at; he hit .400 (10-25) with two homers, three doubles, and drove in nine runs. Maybe I’m a sucker for RBI’s because getting those means you actually *** did something with three on and nobody out… So whenever I said this winter that Steve Royer would be paid $3.12M for rotting on the roster on his way to inevitable free agency after the 2058 season, I didn’t quite foresee him hitting for a .925 OPS in 28 games. He looked like warming the bench and subbing people here and there for markedly less than his 300 at-bats from last year, but right now it’s hard to take him out of the lineup, especially with what we hoped would be a formidable pair of corners outfielders, Martinez and Brassfield, vastly underperforming. Give that man a 5-yr, $25M contract, quick! Speaking of contracts, Steve from Accounting pointed out that I was consistently mixing up the 6-year deals of Bobby Herrera ($24M) and Noah Caswell ($36M). I’m sorry, Steve. It’s a lotta money anyway. Now excuse me, I have to get in my ’89 Pontiac and grab dinner before the donut store closes! The Raccoons would fly around aimlessly the next few weeks, from New York back home to play the Aces, and then back out to Atlanta for consecutive series, which made no sense. No off day until after that Knights series, either. Fun Fact:** The Raccoons have hit 22 home runs, none by a guy you can state with conviction that – yes! – that’s an infielder! All the guys cycling through first base have the odd one while playing as an infielder, but they are really outfielders, except for Toushi, who has no home runs to his name (since 2053). The exception is Kyle Brobeck with two homers, and it’s well-established by now that our answer to “What’s Kyle Brobeck, really?” is more or less “**** all…” … Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-18-2023, 06:31 AM	#4344
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (16-21) @ Crusaders (20-15) – May 13-16, 2058 This is where it was probably going to go really ugly. The Crusaders had won the season series against the Raccoons 13-5 in both of the last two years, they had won the CL pennant twice in a row, they were just half a game behind the Titans after a middling start, and they were only allowing the second-fewest runs in the CL. Where were we going to score against them? Their offense had trouble getting going, though, with just the seventh spot in runs scored (though with the fewest games) and a +13 run differential. No injuries, though. Projected matchups: Ramon Carreno (1-3, 4.31 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (1-5, 4.85 ERA) Justin DeRose (1-4, 5.83 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (4-0, 3.43 ERA) J.J. Sensabaugh (2-4, 6.44 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (3-0, 3.33 ERA) Bobby Herrera (3-2, 3.56 ERA) vs. Kennedy Adkins (2-0, 1.25 ERA) Adkins was the sole southpaw, and three fourths of that rotation had been either a Raccoon until last July or had been actively courted by the Raccoons in the offseason. And then there was Joel Luera. Game 1 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – C Lathers – P Carreno NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF O. Caballero – 3B J. Ojeda – P Cantrell As far as former Raccoons went, Oscar Caballero gave New York a 1-0 lead with a second-inning home run, while the Critters had Lonzo on with a single and a stolen base in the first inning, while in the third Carreno and Labonte hit a single each, and then Lonzo found a double play to hit into. Same in the fourth: Royer and Pucks opened the inning with a pair of singles, and Brobeck bobbed into a 4-6-3 double play. The remaining runner scored on a wild pitch before Jesus Martinez grounded out to short… Carreno meanwhile had no stuff and no strikeouts through five innings, which was alarming, but that Caballero homer aside gave up very little hard contact and only three base knocks in total, instead feeding persistent grounders to the middle infielders. His reward was seeing Noah Caswell hit a leadoff double to right in the sixth inning, then get stranded at second base, followed swiftly by Omar Sanchez legging out an infield single, stealing two bases, and scoring on a groundout by Zach Suggs for a 2-1 New York lead, which sugged. Carreno churned on for another two innings to complete eight, all the way up to a 65-minute rain delay right at the end of the eighth inning when the weather turned Oregonian. Since the game was close, the umps at least didn’t wave it off, and eventually the Raccoons got their shot at Ben Lussier in the ninth inning, starting with Royer, who drew a leadoff walk. Brass batted for Pucks against the left-hander and also walked. Brobeck then grounded to Omar Sanchez in a bid for another double play, but Sanchez butchered the play and all paws were safe. Three on, nobody out! Oh boy… Martinez promptly struck out before the Raccoons threw their remaining right-handed bench bats at Lussier. Marcos Chavez hit a sac fly to center, which tied the game and took Carreno off the hook, and Arturo Bribiesca got his first RBI of the year with a clean 2-out RBI single to leftfield…! Labonte singled to center, Lonzo singled to the edge of the infield dirt by Sanchez to get an insurance run in, and then Lussier was dismissed for Jose Ortega, who immediately gave up a bases-clearing triple to Noah Caswell in the right-center gap…! The inning ended like it started, with Royer, this time flying out to center. Neal Hamann pitched the bottom 9th to get the W in the books. 7-2 Raccoons. Labonte 2-4, BB; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Caswell 2-5, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 2-3; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1, RBI; Carreno 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-3) and 1-3; Game 2 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Brassfield – P DeRose NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 1B Standard – 3B J. Ojeda – P Luera Luera nicked the Coons’ 2-3 batters in the first inning, which created some bickering from the brown dugout, but no actual base hits and no runs. Caswell would put the Raccoons up 1-0 with a solo jack in the third inning, while DeRose looked treacherously competent, allowing a single to Tony Rodriquez in the first inning, but had Suggs hit into a double play and otherwise faced the minimum through three innings, but K’ed only Luera. But, hey, that was already more strikeouts than Carreno piled up on Monday! It was more fly balls than Carreno had, too, but that included a few pops. Sean Zeiher, the rookie wonder, sent Caswell back to the warning track in the fourth inning, but apart from that, the Crusaders remained spectacularly harmless. Bottom 6th, Jeff Standard opened with a first-pitch single up the middle though, and sharply hit. Juan Ojeda hit another sharp ball, but that was a liner that Lonzo reached for and snagged, and Standard had been going and was doubled off first base with a zinger to Royer. Luera then doubled, just in case you felt too comfy with DeRose on the hill, but Sanchez flew out easily to Brassfield. The Coons then gained some distance; after being silent for the entirety of the middle innings – both teams had three hits apiece through six – Pucks drew a leadoff walk, and Jose Ortega relieved Luera, only to serve up a homer to Brobeck, 3-0. Ortega’s appearance was brief and disastrous as he went on to allow singles to Brass and DeRose to put those on the corners, balked in one run, and conceded the other on Labonte’s double to left before Kyle Turay restored order, but then allowed the 5-6-7 batters on base without retiring anybody in the top 8th, Chavez walking and the other two hitting singles to left. Brass hit a sac fly all the way to the fence in leftfield (…!), DeRose bunted, and Labonte singled in two more. DeRose went seven and two thirds, but put Mike Seidman (double) and Juan Ojeda (walk) on base in the bottom 8th. When Aaron Kissler pinch-hit for the shaken Turay, the Coons went to Ricky Herrera, who got the catcher to ground out to Royer. Top 9th, and Caswell socked another homer to right off Austin Guastella. Ricky Herrera returned for the bottom 9th, but allowed a single to PH Chad Williams and an RBI double to Rodriquez before pointing out an issue with his thumb and left the game. Reynaldo Bravo allowed two more singles and Rodriquez to score before finishing out the game. 9-2 Raccoons! Labonte 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Caswell 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Brobeck 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; DeRose 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-4) and 1-3; Ricky Herrera was probably gonna be fine, but was day-to-day with a sore paw. And before the Crusaders put two runs on him, they briefly had a -1 run differential. Lonzo and Steve Royer both got a day off on Wednesday, with Caswell scheduled a day off for Thursday against the lefty Adkins. That should get everybody through this long string of games, since everybody else was rotating right now anyway. Game 3 POR: 2B Labonte – LF Puckeridge – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – SS Sheilds – P Sensabaugh NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 3B J. Ojeda – P Taki Pucks homered to left against Taki in the first inning, 1-0, and Taki allowed another two singles in one of those first innings, which conveniently for the Raccoons stretched into the second as well. Brass walked, Sheilds smashed an RBI double to right, and then scored on Pucks’ 2-out RBI single. The inning ended with Pucks being caught stealing – that infectious #2 spot, huh? Brobeck also doubled home Chavez in the third inning for a 4-0 lead, but there came the point where we had to talk about J.J. Sensabaugh, and not even through a fault of his own. While New York didn’t score through two innings, they sure hit the ball much harder than against any of the other two failing starters that went before him. When the Raccoons started punching the walls on defense, the game threatened to go south in a real hurry. Sheilds’ bobbled Taki’s grounder to begin the bottom 3rd for an error, Rodriquez hit a 1-out single, and Pucks dropped Suggs’ fly for ANOTHER error, which REALLY sugged. Three on, one out, and a mound conference. Sean Zeiher fell to 1-2 before hitting a fly to right. Martinez made the catch, out #2, and Taki went for home – and was thrown out with a murderous throw! No runs scored in the inning…! The Coons had the bags full with one out in the top 4th as Sheilds walked, Sensabaugh singled on a 1-2 pitch after failing to bunt, and Pucks would draw another walk after Labonte popped out. Caswell’s sac fly ended Taki’s day, but Zachariah Alldred got Chavez to ground out to strand a pair. The score remained 5-0 through five innings, even though nobody knew how the Crusaders were NOT scoring against Sensabaugh, who was backstabbed again by Labonte with a throwing error in the fifth inning, but stumbled through that, too, all the while striking out absolutely nobody, not even Alldred on an 0-2 pitch in the same inning…! It was a game on the very edge of reason. It took New York seven innings to score against Sensabaugh, who allowed a walk to Wiliams in the bottom 7th, then 2-out knocks to Rodriquez and Suggs, which plated a run and put runners on the corners, and brought on the cavalry in Eloy Sencion. Zeiher hit a lazy liner to left, and Pucks was on it, making the catch to strand the pair on base. Gunner Epperson singled off Sencion in the eighth, but was then doubled up to end the inning when Seidman grounded to Sheilds against Siwik. Guastella’s ninth saw the bags full again with hits by Labonte and Lonzo (hitting for Pucks), and Caswell walked, all with one out, but Chavez smacked into a double play, 6-4-3, to end the inning. Siwik put the game away without any more accidents, though. 5-1 Critters! Puckeridge 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Caswell 2-3, BB, RBI; Brobeck 2-4, 2B, RBI; Siwik 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; Four hits, four walks, no strikeouts for Sensabaugh, who looked crummy despite shortening his record to 3-4 in this game. It was enough to keep his job for another week, though. Now that the terrible trio posted three wins in a row and with only five runs conceded in total by everybody combined, there was no reason not to expect Bobby Herrera to get run over by a hover cab well before making it to the ballpark in the first place on Thursday… Game 4 POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – P B. Herrera NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 1B Standard – 3B J. Ojeda – P Adkins Pitchers’ duel! Neither team did much of anything for five innings, being held to two hits each by the other team’s pitcher, although New York had a double from Adkins (!) and had a few juicy flies to left that Brassfield all pulled down, though. The Raccoons would break through first, getting Bribiesca on base with a leadoff walk in the top 6th before Lonzo snapped a single to left. Unexpectedly, the Raccoons went for a double steal and pulled it off, but Royer and Chavez made poor outs with a pop and a K; but Brobeck came through with a single to left-center that plated both runners and gave Herrera a 2-0 lead. Adkins answered with a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, which gave him a supermajority of his team’s base hits in the game, and threatened to be stranded again until Zach Suggs singled to center with two outs. Adkins was held at third base, though, and wisely so, but when Sean Zeiher grounded out to Bribiesca, the team was turned away altogether. Adkins was gone after seven innings, while Herrera had a 1-2-3 bottom 7th before giving up a leadoff triple to Ojeda, over Royer’s head, in the bottom 8th. Kissler singled in the run, 2-1, but Herrera starved that tying run on base and the Raccoons still led into the ninth. Ben Lussier got on his big mouth again when Jesus Martinez hit a homer to center for an insurance run, but Herrera didn’t return for the ninth inning with left-handers Zeiher and Epperson leading off there. Sencion was brought in, beaned Zeiher out of the game, but got a pop from PH Oscar Caballero to Bribiesca. Tanizaki then replaced him, got a double play grounder from Alejandro Silva, and the Raccoons completed a staggering sweep! 3-1 Furballs! Lavorano 2-4; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (4-2); Hu-wheeeee!!! The Raccoons jumped all the way to fourth place with this sweep, while the Titans suddenly had a 3 1/2 game lead atop the CL North again. Raccoons (20-21) vs. Aces (22-20) – May 17-19, 2058 The Aces were living on their offense exclusively, putting up the second-most runs in the Continental League, but they were also allowing the most markers to the other teams. The rotation was crummy, and the pen was the outright worst with an ERA well over five at the first quarterpost. Portland had won the season series five years in a row, with a 7-2 rush in ’57. Lots of injuries for the Aces, though, including pitchers Scott Evans, Ray Benner, and Hugo Saucedo, as well as outfielder Jose Ambriz and his replacement Scott Laws, the rookie switch-hitter having left the Aces’ last game with an injury that was undiagnosed as of Friday at game time. Their ace Evans (6-1, 2.66 ERA) was dealing with back stiffness while still on the roster, so the Aces were entering with 23 available players. Projected matchups: Zach Stewart (4-3, 2.44 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (5-0, 3.91 ERA) Ramon Carreno (2-3, 3.97 ERA) vs. TBD Justin DeRose (2-4, 4.93 ERA) vs. Andres Flores (2-1, 5.21 ERA) Saturday would be Evans, but he was not going to be available. Josh Wilson (1-6, 6.34 ERA) would be next in line if the Aces sent guys on short rest. All living starters within sight were right-handed. Game 1 LVA: CF Thayer – 1B Jacinto – RF Austin – 3B A. Alfaro – 2B J. White – SS Huddleston – LF Grewe – C Mathews – P Robbins POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – RF Royer – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – P Stewart The game was scoreless through three innings, with only a Chavez single on the Portland side, while Stewart gave up a hit in both of the first two innings, but also struck out four to stifle traffic. The fourth inning began less promising with an Alex Alfaro double to left, and Jim White singling to right. They were on the corners, at least until White stole second base. Phil Huddleston grounded out to Brobeck, and the runners held. Bobby Grewe whiffed, after which the Raccoons gave Kyle Mathews directions to first base intentionally to bring up the left-handed batting pitcher Robbins, casually hitting 9-for-19 with 4 RBI on the year. He struck out… in a full count… Chavez and Royer singled with two outs in the bottom 4th, but Brobeck flew out to left. Nick Thayer hit a leadoff single in the fifth, stole second, but the Aces kept striking out, with K’s on Aubrey Austin and Alex Alfaro, and didn’t score, but finally broke through in the sixth with another leadoff single and stolen base for White. Huddleston also singled, and Grewe’s groundout and Robbins’ 2-out RBI single (gnashes teeth) gave Vegas a 2-0 lead. Thayer then flew out. The tying runs were in scoring position immediately in the bottom 6th as Labonte singled to center and Lonzo doubled to left against Robbins. Caswell hit a sac fly, 2-1, but Robbins struck out Chavez and Royer to kill the inning. Stewart ran out of juice in the seventh and was rescued by Siwik with a guy on base, while Ornelas then had a clean eighth, all waiting for a Raccoons rally to keep the winning streak going and reach .500 again. Lonzo singled his way on with one down in the bottom 8th, but before he could even think about stealing a base, Caswell wrapped him up in a double play to end the inning. Ricky Herrera’s ninth was fine and he kept the Aces to their lonely run’s worth of lead, while the Aces sent left-hander Justin Rocco into the bottom 9th. Chavez struck out, but Royer and Brobeck hit singles past either side of Phil Huddleston. The Coons had only two right-handed bats left on the bench (Brass had been used) for the 7-8-9 batters coming up here, so Pucks still hit for himself, flying out easily to left. Martinez then batted for Toushi… and struck out. 2-1 Aces. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Chavez 2-4; Royer 2-4; Stewart 6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, L (4-4); (looks dismayed) Game 2 LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – RF A. Austin – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – CF Manley – 3B D. McMullen – C M. Castillo – P An. Flores POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Royer – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – P Carreno The rookie Flores was sent on short rest and fell behind 1-0 in the first with singles to Lonzo, who stole his 16th bag of the year, and Caswell, who drove him home. Next time Lonzo was up he batted with the bases loaded and two outs after walks drawn by Brass and Labonte, with a Carreno single in between, but flew out to Ken Hummel on the first pitch. Caswell then opened the bottom 3rd with a jack to right, 2-0. Carreno, when not being a terror with the stick, didn’t look nearly as stoic and solid as on Monday, and the contact was harder from the beginning, but the Aces took a while to get going, hitting singles through Gustavo Jacinto and Matt Manley in the top 4th before Carreno was torched for a score-flipping 3-run homer by Danny McMullen, who hit his second career bomb at age 28-and-quite-a-bit, five years after the first one, and who hadn’t appeared in a major league game in nearly three years, then with the Knights – this was his season debut. Carreno wobbled on, allowing a single and a walk in the fifth before Lonzo hit his first home run of the year to tie the game at three in the bottom 5th. Caswell also reached base, but was stranded in the inning. Carreno walked Jacinto to begin the sixth, then gave up a liner to Manley that Lonzo caught, and a liner by McMullen that nobody caught and that fell for a double. Manny Castillo popped out, but when Nick Thayer pinch-hit for Flores, Carreno was yanked along with him. The Aces took the lead when Thayer legged out a silly grounder on the infield for an RBI single, 4-3, but Jim White popped out after that… Bottom 6th, Brass and Lathers were retired by Andy Younge before Toushi pinch-hit and singled. Labonte got on, Lonzo got on – three on and two outs, and Caswell with a fly to deep right…! Go! Go! Go! No, the ***** thing was caught on the warning track by Austin… Siwik and Hamann then stepped on their own tails in the seventh. Each allowed a run and a hit, and McMullen singled home a pair of insurance runs with three on and nobody out against Hamann. The Raccoons wound up with a scoreless eighth from Bravo, but no rally of their own, and then sent Kyle Brobeck out against the meat of the order in the ninth inning, as if that wasn’t a recipe for further disaster. Brobeck walked two, but struck out the D. McMullen – the D stood for DEVIL – to end the *** inning, which I would go to proclaim as my moral victory for the day. No actual victory was to be had, and instead Caswell got dinged up on the basepaths in a collision with Miguel Veguilla at second base after hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 9th and getting forced out by Royer. Brobeck hit into a double play to end the game. 6-3 Aces. Lavorano 3-5, HR, RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1; Caswell had to hit the DL with a sore/strained shoulder, but there was hope that he would only miss 15 days and then return as good as new. The Coons brought up OF/1B Joey Christopher, age 22, who had been acquired from the Miners last year in the Sean Sweeton deal. He had hit .346 in 52 AB by then for Pittsburgh, but had been assigned to AAA since then, batting .275/.446/.443 in 74 games in St. Pete. Center was not his strongest position, but he was more agile than anybody besides perhaps Royer and Pucks among our remaining outfielders. He was in the lineup on Sunday right away. Game 3 LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – 3B A. Alfaro – RF Austin – LF Hummel – 1B Jacinto – CF D. McMullen – C M. Castillo – P Jo. Wilson POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – 3B Sheilds – P DeRose Both teams scored two runs in the first inning, but only the Aces’ runs were earned, coming on Ken Hummel’s 2-out single after White walked and Alfaro doubled against DeRose in the top 1st. Lonzo reached base on a crazy throwing error by Veguilla before being doubled home by Steve Royer, who himself scored after a Chavez single and Pucks’ groundout. Things could still go either way from here, but DeRose was absolutely ravaged in the third inning when first Alfaro and Hummel had base hits, and then four runs scored on back-to-back homers by Gustavo Jacinto and DANNY MCMULLEN. DeRose hung around for the fourth, but the Aces kept making loud noises and he was disposed of after that. The Coons tried to rally in the bottom 4th, getting Pucks and Martinez into scoring position with a 1-out walk and double, respectively. Joey Christopher had whiffed his first time up, but now rolled a ball under Wilson’s glove for an infield single, getting his first Coons RBI along with it. Sheilds came up as the tying run, whacked an RBI double to left-center, but Christopher was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first base. Toushi batted for DeRose, but flew out to McMullen to end the inning. Hummel homered off Ornelas in the fifth, 7-4, while Jacinto singled his way on after that, but was forced out by McMullen, whom Ornelas would pick off to end the inning. Bottom 5th, the tying run was back in the box following Lonzo’s 1-out single and a walk drawn by Royer. Chavez fanned, Pucks grounded out, and the whole effort remained futile. Pucks at least threw out Aubrey Austin at the plate, trying to score from second base on a Hummel single in the seventh inning, still with Ornelas pitching, then caught Jacinto’s fly to left off Hamann to end the inning. Brobeck’s pinch-hit double knocked out Wilson at the start of the bottom 7th, with Jim Woods giving up a single to Labonte to bring the tying run up yet again. Lonzo whiffed, Royer hit a sac fly, 7-5, and Chavez singled to actually further our cause with two outs. Pucks found Jim White though for an inning-ending groundout. Brobeck then somehow ended up on the hill for the second straight day, walked Castillo, but struck out White for a scoreless inning. When Sheilds drew a 2-out walk off Woods in the bottom 8th, Brobeck batted as the tying run against Younge, but grounded out, and didn’t return to the hill after that, although he couldn’t have done much worse than Eloy Sencion, who gave up an infield single to Austin, then another Hummel homer. Lonzo and Chavez hit singles in the bottom 9th to remove Younge for ex-Coon and left-hander Geoff Sather, the answer to which was Brass batting for Pucks. On one pitch, he grounded out to Jacinto. 9-5 Aces. Lavorano 2-5; Chavez 3-5; Hummel went 5-for-5 with two homers and 5 RBI, while the Coons went oh-for-bozillion with runners in scoring position… In other news May 13 – The Titans trade CF/RF Antonio Cruz (.135, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to the Rebels for #112 prospect INF Jordan Hernandez. May 14 – A herniated disc forces LAP SP Jim Reynolds (4-2, 4.06 ERA) on the DL; the Pacifics hope to have him back by July. May 16 – The Blue Sox trade SP Levi Harre (1-2, 3.48 ERA) to the Warriors for two prospects. The deal includes #178 prospect SP Nick Reaper. May 16 – A cracked shoulder blade to which is none-pitching arm is attached will cost TOP SP Bill Hernandez (1-2, 5.30 ERA) at least a month on the DL. May 16 – Sacramento beats Denver, 7-1, scoring all their runs in a 7-run ninth-inning rally that includes a grand slam for veteran 2B/1B Erik Stevens (.250, 1 HR, 13 RBI). May 17 – SAL INF/RF/LF Jeff Buss (.283, 5 HR, 27 RBI) goes all-out with five base hits and hitting for the cycle in a 10-3 win over the Capitals. Buss drives in five runs in his five-hit barrage that includes two singles. May 18 – NYC SP Ben Seiter (5-3, 4.27 ERA) 3-hits the Knights in a 6-0 shutout, striking out six against no walks. FL Player of the Week: TOP 1B Alex Abecassis (.246, 5 HR, 23 RBI), torching .450 (9-20) with 3 HR, 13 RBI CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Ken Hummel (.254, 7 HR, 32 RBI), slaying .583 (14-24) with 4 HR, 11 RBI Complaints and stuff Ka-BLAMM!! We swept the Crusaders, in New York!! (giggles madly) And then we stumbled over the Aces as hard as anyone possibly could. Oh well. You win some, you lose more. It hurts more when you lose to Danny McMullen going 4-for-5 with 5 RBI after him spending nearly three years dilly-dallying through – in no particular order – Hampton, Fort Wayne, St. Louis, Au Sable and Corpus Christi. In short, this week made no sense whatsoever. Lonzo’s game-tying homer on Saturday, in game #43 was then indeed the first home run by an actual infielder on the roster this year. This actually won Maud this year’s “Dumb These Suckers Will Do This Year” bingo, in which she had been off to a racing start when the Raccoons got swept in the first series, and the big three additions worth $81M total all having slumps in April also gave her a key space on her card… I had those two as well, but I would have needed them to lose a game in 18 innings or more to win… Not having Caswell for two weeks sucks, but it could have come worse. Royer’s still hitting… a little. Caswell is second in WAR in the whole league as of Sunday night with a 2.7 … behind Ken Hummel (2.9); Next week: road trip to Atlanta and Charlotte. Fun Fact:** Erik Stevens is a 15-year veteran in the league despite never hitting for much of anything. Warriors, Buffos, Falcons, Pacifics, Crusaders, Elks, and now the Scorpions; the 36-year-old right-handed batter has been around. He took a ring with the ’56 Crusaders, and a Gold Glove when he was much younger, but he hit for an OPS over 100 in a season in which he wasn’t traded just once, with the ’51 Falcons, going .259/.376/.371 with his career-high of ten homers included. Despite this, he still has a career 96 OPS+ as a beacon of “not great, but not killing us either” consistency. Besides, that glove also played quite nicely for many years. Stevens didn’t become a full-time player until arriving in Charlotte at age 27, having spent his first four-and-a-half years coming off the bench for the Warriors. The Buffos first used him regularly in the second half of 2048. Overall he was a .242/.369/.323 batter with 1,215 hits, 48 homers, and 513 RBI. He also stole 64 bases. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-22-2023, 01:52 AM	#4345
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (20-24) @ Knights (23-21) – May 20-22, 2058 The Raccoons came in having gotten swept by the Aces, who were now somehow near the top of the CL South, while the Knights had lost five straight games (including three in a row to the Crusaders, who like the Coons had been through an “interesting” last week) to drop away from the same spot in the division. They had the second-most runs on the board in the CL … while allowing the most runs overall, but still carried a +13 run differential. Their bullpen, interestingly, had the best ERA in the CL… roughly half that of their 5.49 ERA rotation. The Raccoons had won the season series for two years in a row, both times by 6-3 marks. Projected matchups: J.J. Sensabaugh (3-4, 5.65 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (4-3, 5.34 ERA) Bobby Herrera (4-2, 3.21 ERA) vs. Joe Napier (4-3, 3.58 ERA) Zach Stewart (4-4, 2.47 ERA) vs. Morgan Aben (2-4, 5.93 ERA) Only right-handers for this series. Game 1 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – 3B Bribiesca – P Sensabaugh ATL: C M. Nieto – 1B Wheeler – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – RF Wada – CF Nork – P En. Ortiz The Raccoons put two quick runs together to begin the week, getting Labonte and Lonzo on the corners with opening base knocks against Ortiz, a double and a single, and then scored them with Royer’s groundout and Pucks’ 2-out single, respectively. Similar story in the second, with leadoff singles by Bribiesca and Sensabaugh – only after failing to bunt repeatedly and two strikes – and a wild pitch and Lonzo’s 1-out single. Royer reached on Doug Triplett’s error, but Chavez and Pucks made poor outs afterwards. But be beware of the pitcher; Sensabaugh had two walks in the bottom 2nd, putting Triplett and Nick Fox on base, then allowed runs on Jushiro Wada’s single and a wild pitch himself. 4-2 after two innings, and this one promised to be far from over in terms of scoring… Sensabaugh failed the bags full with a Marco Nieto single, a walk to Willie Acosta, and nicking Triplett in the bottom 3rd, but Fox then popped out to Lonzo to end the inning without an Atlanta run. He outlasted Ortiz, but not by much; the Knights pitcher was hit for in the bottom 4th, in which Wada walked and Nieto bopped a 2-run homer, tying the score at four. Sensabaugh completed five innings… on a whopping 105 pitches. At least he held the tie, but the Coons had no comforting amount of relief available, then had Reynaldo Bravo cough up a couple of walks in the bottom 6th before Jeff Wheeler’s RBI single gave Atlanta the 5-4 lead. The Raccoons had been silent on offense for all of the middle innings, but Labonte and Lonzo began the seventh by reaching base again. However, Royer hit into a fielder’s choice, and then Chavez and Pucks did even worse, and the tying and go-ahead runs were stranded on the corners against Chris Jones. That turned out to be their last rally attempt in a game that got increasingly soggy as the weather worsened along with my mood. The last two innings were played in considerable rain. Bravo was abused for two innings by the Coons, and Tanizaki pitched the eighth, all in vain. 5-4 Knights. Labonte 2-4, 2B; Lavorano 3-4, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bribiesca 2-4; Sensabaugh (3-4, 5.81 ERA) was purged the same evening, now finally with more walks than strikeouts on his ledger again. Due to the off day on Thursday, no starter was brought up right away, and instead we helped us to an extra reliever in righty Alex Rios, who didn’t have a run allowed in St. Pete this year. Game 2 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – P B. Herrera ATL: C M. Nieto – 1B Wheeler – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – RF Wada – CF Nork – P Napier Three straight singles gave the Knights a run before they made an out on Acosta’s pop and Triplett doubled up the rest of the runners, but perhaps it was too much to expect Bobby Herrera to pitch a nice game once in a while for four bloody million bucks a year. Triplett singled home Nieto and his leadoff double with two outs in the bottom 3rd instead, while the Raccoons had zero base hits and only a double play hit into by Pucks the first time through against Napier. The Knights’ starter retired 11 for 11 batters before Steve Royer singled with two outs in the fourth inning. Chavez walked, and Pucks hit another single to load the bases, after which Brobeck and Brassfield tied the game by just holding still while Napier kept melting, drawing a pair of bases-loaded walks. Jesus Martinez, the expensive fool, then of course had to poke at a 2-0 pitch and flew out to Wada, leaving the bases loaded. By the fifth, Portland was on top. Straight 2-out hits by Lonzo (single), Royer (double), and Chavez (2-run single) gave us a 4-2 edge before Pucks grounded out to short on a 3-1 pitch. Herrera needed 79 pitches through five innings (again), while scattering eight hits and getting four strikeouts. He lumbered on into the seventh, once there walking Josh Abercrombie (waves hi) before getting knocked out by Acosta’s 2-out triple well over the head of Royer in deep, deep center. Mike Siwik was no help, either, allowing a game-tying double to Triplett. Nick Fox walked, but Pedro Almaguer lined out to Lonzo to end the bedeviled inning, the score flat at four again. Royer and Pucks walked against Eli Dupuis in the eighth inning, but nothing good came out of that for a lack of hits, while the tie was broken in the bottom of the inning by Matt Waters. That used to be good news, but it wasn’t anymore, because Matt Waters was no longer a Raccoon, as weird as it felt. Waters bombed Ricky Herrera to left for a tie-breaking homer, pinch-hitting in the #9 spot, and then the Coons went in order against Ruben Mendez in the ninth inning… 5-4 Knights. Royer 2-3, BB, 2B; Chavez 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Game 3 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – C Lathers – P Stewart ATL: CF Nork – 3B Triplett – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – LF Abercrombie – RF Alade – 1B Wada – SS N. Fox – P Aben Pucks drew a leadoff walk after an uneventful first inning, then stole his first base of the year. Brobeck singled him to third base, and Brass’ single gave Portland the 1-0 lead on Wednesday. Toushi’s grounder was mishandled by Fox to load the bases, after which Lathers whiffed, Stewart popped out, and – totally alien to the usual way three on, no out situations dissolved for this cursed franchise – Paul Labonte snapped a 2-run single through Triplett to up the lead to 3-0. Lonzo ended the inning with a fly to Abercrombie then. Jon Alade got his first hit of the year with a second-inning single that led nowhere; he had broken his hand like five minutes into the season and was returning only now, making his first appearance back from rehab in Corpus Christi. The Coons had the bags full without the benefit of a base hit when Aben walked Pucks and Brobeck, then nailed Toushi with two outs in the top 3rd. Lathers’ fly to right left all of them stranded, though. The Knights then erased the 3-0 lead a run at a time; Nick Fox’ leadoff walk was brought around to score in the bottom 3rd, Abercrombie’s double and Wada’s single procured another run in the fourth, and in the fifth it was the pitcher Aben to hit a leadoff single and score on a base hit by Triplett with one out. Jushiro Wada walked in the bottom 6th, but was doubled up by Fox, and Stewart settled for six innings of that, having also get plonked around for nine base hits. Lonzo’s leadoff single off Mario de Anda in the seventh led nowhere as first Royer forced him out and then Pucks hit into a double play altogether, but Ivan Ornelas held the Knights in check in the bottom of the inning, and then we got a SIGN – miracles DID happen! Two were out in the top of the eighth inning when David Hardaway thew a 91mph fastball to Toushi Imai, and Toushi Imai BATTERED the ball over the fence in rightfield for the first major league homer he’d hit in soon FIVE years!! Would the bloody thing also be good for a W? Ornelas retired Nieto to begin the bottom 8th, but then Sencion allowed a walk to Acosta, a double to Abercrombie on which Acosta was thrown out at the plate by Jesus Martinez, who entered in a double switch with Sencion, and then another walk to Almaguer. Jesus H. Christ in a boat!! Tanizaki replaced Sencion, Wada hit a deep fly to center, but Steve Royer tracked that one down and the inning finally ended. Both the Raccoons and Knights then failed to reach base in the ninth inning, and the Raccoons narrowly ended their own 5-game losing streak. 4-3 Critters. Brobeck 2-3, BB; Raccoons (21-26) @ Falcons (25-22) – May 20-22, 2058 After an off day, which the team unanimously voted to spend at a regionally renowned all-you-can-eat chicken emporium in Woodruff, SC, which led to more than one restroom break on the last 90-mile leg of the trip to Charlotte, the plan was for a 3-game set against the Falcons, who we had beaten 2-1 in the first series of the year. Charlotte ranked fourth in the South, three games off the lead, with the #5 offense and #6 pitching and a +10 run differential. Two of the top 3 teams in stealing bases in the CL were assembled for the weekend. Travis Edwards and Jayden Ward were notably absent on the DL. Projected matchups: Ramon Carreno (2-4, 4.22 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (4-4, 3.50 ERA) Justin DeRose (2-5, 5.57 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (4-4, 4.18 ERA) Bobby Herrera (4-2, 3.45 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (0-3, 6.43 ERA) Sciuto was the only sciouthpaw we’d meet this week. Game 1 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – CF Royer – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – RF Martinez – P Carreno CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – SS Hullander – P Schaeffer Labonte singled and was caught stealing to nix the chances for a run in the top 1st, and the Raccoons would not get much more from the next bushel of singles they hit. Pucks’ with two outs in the second inning went nowhere, while Martinez and Labonte hit singles to take to the corners in the third inning. Lonzo flew out to Danny Ceballos, who threw out Martinez at the plate for a double play to end the inning. Pucks would do that trick to the Falcons in the same inning – after five straight Falcons had reached against Carreno. The game had started really, really well for Carreno, who retired the first six batters in a row, but the bottom 3rd began with Luis Miranda and Joe Hullander singles, and then he **** up Schaeffer’s bunt to load the bases. Jose Rodriguez and Kyle Fisher hit RBI singles to give Charlotte a 2-0 lead, but Ceballos’ fly to left was then converted into the 7-2 double play on Schaeffer. Jason Schaack grounded out to Labonte, stranding two on base. Carreno then suffered along with everybody else, walking two in the bottom 4th, which ended with the bags full and Martinez running down a Rodriguez fly ball in right-center to keep everybody stranded. The Coons got another three quick innings from their starter after that, with two toilet breaks in between, and he didn’t return from the *** when his turn to bat came up in the top of the eighth and had to be removed from the game. It wasn’t like any sort of rally was taking place; the Raccoons had one base hit from the fifth through the eighth innings, a Brobeck single, and Pucks doubled up that runner right away. Hamann and Siwik held the Falcons to what they already had in the bottom 8th, while Schaeffer was still stirring in the ninth inning. Lonzo opened with a single to left, then was immediately doubled up by Chavez. Royer grounded out. 2-0 Falcons. Labonte 2-4; Carreno 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, L (2-5) and 1-1; (knocks on bathroom door) Ramon, are you done? – Ramon? – Ramo-hon! – (waves for janitor) No, I can still hear him hacking, but let’s open the door with your master key. Sigh. Game 2 POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – P DeRose CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 1B J. Caballero – SS Hullander – P Sciuto Marcos Chavez stole his first career base by accident in the first inning on Saturday, misunderstanding a sign that told Lonzo to go from second base, but Chavez went along with him, which was not at all expected by the Falcons, who tried and failed to nip Lonzo at third base, leaving the Coons with a double steal. Brobeck hit an RBI single, Royer a sac fly, and Martinez singled after that, and Brassfield drew some more blood with a 2-run double to left-center before Pucks lined out to short to end the inning. 4-0 Coons, which felt like 1-0 with DeRose pitching. Or 0-0. The *** dimwit didn’t even get the 4-run lead through ONE *** inning, as Rodriguez and Ceballos singled, Bobby Anderson walked, and with two outs Luis Miranda cracked a bases-clearing double. Jorge Caballero added a game-tying RBI single. My rage could not even be contained by him hitting a leadoff single in the top 2nd. Bribiesca also singled, Lonzo hit an RBI double, and Chavez added a run with a groundout, 6-4, and Sciuto was yanked when his spot led off the bottom 2nd, with Doug Conner singling and getting doubled off by Rodriguez. Ceballos drew a leadoff walk the inning after, and Anderson then homered the game tied. Woodrome and Miranda reached, and DeRose was yanked after that and purged from the roster while the game was still going, which was technically against league rules, but Maud made the call to New York anyway after my call to Portland with her ended when I tore the payphone out of the ballpark wall in my fit of rage. Siwik wiggled out of the inning to keep the score even at six, but fell behind in the bottom 4th on two singles and a Bobby Anderson sac fly. That Falcons lead was erased without making an out in the top 5th as Royer drew a leadoff walk from Franklin Mendoza and then scored right away on Jesus Martinez’ double to left-center. Brass walked and Pucks singled to right to load the bags with nobody out, and the Coons took the lead on Toushi’s pinch-hit sac fly to center, but the 1-2 batters then made soggy outs. The Coons then held that 8-7 lead with two scoreless innings by Alex Rios of all people, which felt like a cheat code nobody had found so far, while a tack-on run was added in the seventh when Pucks hit a homer off the remains of Raffy de la Cruz. Stingy relief by Ricky Herrera and Tanizaki followed, getting the Coons and their 9-7 lead through eight innings, but the bottom 9th began with Pucks dropping Alex Gomez’ fly for an error, and then Sencion walked Rich Fish and the tying runs were on base with nobody out. Kyle Fisher grounded to third base, Brobeck getting Fish out at second, but a double play wasn’t in the cards. Sencion had Ceballos at 0-2 before the slugger grounded to Bribiesca. Again the out was made at second base, but a second out wasn’t feasible, and the unearned run scored. Still, all we needed was an out on Bobby Anderson to end the game. A grounder to Lonzo did the trick. 9-8 Coons. Bribiesca 2-4, BB; Brassfield 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, HR, RBI; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; DeRose was BeGone, taking his 2-5 record and 6.34 ERA with him to St. Pete. Remarkably, we didn’t have a plan beyond Monday at this point; Bobby Herrera had the rubber game (on regular rest), and we had Stewart on Monday, and perhaps we could get rain on Tuesday to make things work out? But anybody remember Colby Bowen? Game 3 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Imai – CF Christopher – C Lathers – P B. Herrera CHA: C L. Miranda – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – CF Conner – SS Hullander – P Doyle Miranda doubled to right and Ceballos’ single to center drove him in for a 1-0 Falcons lead against the routinely disappointing Herrera, who allowed more hits to those two in the third inning, walked Anderson too, and then was dealt another 2-run single by Woodrome with two outs. In that inning alone he reached four 2-strike counts, and didn’t whiff *** anybody. The Falcons clubbed him for nine base hits in 96 pitches through five ** innings, while the Raccoons didn’t do ANYTHING against a guy with a 6+ ERA. Herrera’s return for the bottom 6th yielded two singles and a Miranda sac fly before he was disposed of. Bravo finished that inning. Down 4-0, the Raccoons had looked dead from the waist up for the entirety of six innings, but then the Falcons decided they had chanced their luck enough with Doyle and went to right-hander Adam Eutsler. Two blinks later, Lathers, Brass, and Labonte were on base with one out and Lonzo was batting as the tying run. He hit no more than a sac fly, but Eutsler then issued another eight straight balls to Brobeck and Pucks, forcing in a second run, before being yanked for ex-Coon Justin Johns, who was met by Royer batting for Martinez, but Royer grounded out calmly to Woodrome and that ended the inning. Hamann held the Falcons to their 4-2 lead in the seventh, but Colby Bowen allowed a single to Conner, nailed Hullander, and after Alex Gomez bashed into a double play conceded a run on Miranda’s 2-out RBI single. Colby Bowen things anyway (shrugs). 5-2 Falcons. Puckeridge 0-1, 3 BB, RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1; Sheilds (PH) 1-1; In other news May 22 – The Condors lose SP Jay Everett (2-7, 4.71 ERA) for the season; the 25-year-old is down with a torn labrum. May 22 – Five games across the league end in walkoffs on Wednesday, but the only one of those that goes extra innings is the Capitals’ 6-5, 12-inning win against the Pacifics, which ends on a home run by OF/3B Bryant Law (.215, 4 HR, 23 RBI). May 23 – The Capitals walk off, 6-5 again, in regulation against the Pacifics on Thursday, this time on an error by Pacifics 1B Chris Rice (.331, 2 HR, 17 RBI). May 25 – New York OF Oscar Caballero (.370, 3 HR, 8 RBI) hits a home run for the only scoring in the Crusaders’ 2-0 win over the Condors, who get their only base hit from their debutee pitcher, 24-year-old SP Mike Hall (0-1, 2.70 ERA). May 26 – Thunder southpaw SP Thomas Turpeau (4-3, 4.93 ERA) faces 12 months on the sidelines with a torn UCL. FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.358, 7 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI CL Player of the Week: OCT OF/1B Mike Harmon (.268, 9 HR, 23 RBI), batting .368 (7-19) with 4 HR, 8 RBI Complaints and stuff Coons baseball. Yaaay. It sure felt like the journey to Nowhere began in earnest this week with the disposal of half the rotation. Carreno could go on regular rest on Wednesday, and Thursday was off, so we needed at least one starting pitcher to fill up the rotation for next week. Ryan Wade was the likely replacement for the culled numbnuts DeRose and Sensabaugh, and beyond that… (expressive shrug!) This weekend, Matt Walters started a rehab assignment with the Alley Cats. We think he should be good to return after four or five outings, maybe a week from now. Home week against West Coast teams coming up, with both the Condors and damn Elks flocking to Portland. Fun Fact:** Matt Waters has yet to make it into the lineup for the Knights this year. By now he’s 37 years old and coming exclusively off the bench. At least he’s having success with that, hitting .333 with four homers and 12 RBI in those very limited appearances. Last year Waters hit just .219 with the Caps, with 8 homers and 30 RBI in 84 games (half of them starts). He’s a career .262/.344/.428 hitter with 1,708 hits, 245 homers, and 960 RBI, plus 210 stolen bases. Most of this as a Critter, of course, including his two home run crowns in 2048 and 2053, and the FOUR rings! Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-23-2023, 06:14 AM	#4346
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (22-28) vs. Condors (15-35) – May 27-29, 2058 The Condors were scoring a healthy 3.4 runs per game, worst in the league, and combined with the fourth-most runs allowed and a -61 run differential, they were scraping the bottom of the barrel in the CL South. There was so much misery in the Condors’ lineup, they had NO position players even having at-bats to qualify for the batting title race…! The Coons were up 2-1 against them three games into the season series. Projected matchups: Zach Stewart (4-4, 2.67 ERA) vs. Jose Salazar (1-5, 4.42 ERA) Ryan Wade (0-0) vs. Miguel Batista (1-1, 2.72 ERA) Ramon Carreno (2-5, 4.03 ERA) vs. Mario Clemente (2-2, 3.50 ERA) The Condors brought up three right-handers, but had lost SP Jay Everett for the season and were without three regulars from the lineup, Nick Samuel, Jamie Harmon, and Tim Duncan. Game 1 TIJ: LF A. Mendez – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – C J. Morales – 3B Frasher – 1B H. Ramsay – 2B Chapa – RF Burkhart – P J. Salazar POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – CF Christopher – RF Brassfield – P Stewart The team that never scored scored first when Stewart leaked leadoff walks to Eric Frasher and Harry Ramsay to begin the second inning, Tim Burkhart singled, and Salazar hit a sac fly on a 3-1 pitch. Yaaay. Thankfully, Toushi was to the rescue and popped a home run to right to even the score in the bottom 2nd, and more solo home runs it was from there: Brass jacked one to begin the home half of the third, and Marcos Chavez added a leadoff bomb in the fourth for a 3-1 lead. Those three home runs aside, the Raccoons had only a Pucks single and stolen base through five innings, while the Condors laid low until the sixth inning when Frasher drew another walk from Stewart, Rams singled him to third base, and Luis Chapa got an RBI with a groundout before Burkhart found Lonzo for an inning-ending double play. That maintained a 3-2 lead, but Salazar, the mean slugger, hit a leadoff single off Stewart in the top 7th, Alfredo Mendez added another single to center, and when Ornelas replaced Stewart, he ddin’t do anything helpful, loading the bases by giving up a single to Casey Ramsey, and then a bases-clearing double into the rightfield corner that sort of caused anarchy on the scoreboard. Ricky Herrera had to scrabble the team’s way out of that miserable inning. Not all was quite lost yet, despite being down 5-3 in the eighth to a team that never scored in positive integers. Lonzo singled with one out in the bottom 8th, actually knocking out Salazar, and reliever Hector Montenegro immediately gave up a banger RBI double off the wall in left to Chavez, 5-4. Brobeck grounded out, moving the tying run to third base, while the Condors sent left-hander Jesus Chacon in. Jesus Martinez batted for Pucks, whiffed, and that ended the inning. Tanizaki somehow survived two leadoff singles in the ninth without giving up a run, after which right-hander Cody Sears got the bottom 9th. Toushi grounded out, but Christopher singled. However, fly balls by Brass and Sheilds were both caught by outfielders Mendez and Burkhart, respectively, and the Raccoons continued their miserable run. 5-4 Condors. Chavez 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Zach Stewart now had a losing record to go with his 2.84 ERA. The Raccoons brought up Ryan Wade for the start on Tuesday, sending back Colby Bowen, who had managed to reclaim his 9.00 ERA in his first and so far only outing of the season on Sunday. Wade had gone a sturdy 1-3 with a 5.67 ERA for the Critters last year. Game 2 TIJ: 2B Chapa – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – C Waker – 1B H. Ramsay – 3B Frasher – LF A. Mendez – RF Reina – P M. Batista POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Royer – 1B Brassfield – P R. Wade Saying the Condors were ready for Wade would be an understatement; Luis Chapa banged a leadoff triple on Tuesday, Bobby Fish lined out hard to Labonte, and then Casey Ramsey went deep to left for a 2-run homer. Wheee! The inning mercifully ended after that, and Frasher grounded out to begin the second inning, but then Wade walked Mendez, nailed Reina, and at least managed to handle a bunt. Chapa singled in two runs then, Fish was drilled as well with another pitch nowhere near the zone, Ramsey hit an RBI single, and then Tristan Waker went whoopsie to right for a 3-run homer. Then Rams hit another homer. (opens bottle of Capt’n Coma and walks over into the screaming closet, firmly closing the door behind himself) By the fourth, Brobeck was pitching much better than Wade (which didn’t mean a whole ***** lot), while the Coons put up a big rally by getting the 2-3-4 batters on base right at the start at the bottom 4th. Pucks then crashed into a double play, 4-6-3, and Lonzo’s run was the only one that scored in the inning. The Condors answered with two off Brobeck in the fifth inning, and two more off Hamann in the sixth, these last ones coming on another Harry Ramsay homer, making the six people in the stands and yours truly really wonder where the actual that Portland power had been all those bloody years!? Down by a dozen to the league’s worst offensive team sparked at least some sort of reflex in the team; we can’t have that around here, so they drew four walks off Batista and Cory Leonard until Lonzo forced in a run in the bottom 7th, but otherwise struck out, struck out, and struck out in the inning, the last one being Chavez. Ricky Herrera allowed a leadoff single to Bobby Fish in the top 8th, with the runner then opining he had to steal second base. Rios was on the mound by that, then drilled Waker in retaliation. Ramsay grounded into a double play to clean up the mess on the basepaths, and the game mercifully ended not long after. 13-2 Condors. Chavez 2-4; Imai (PH) 1-1; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Jesus H. Christ in a laundromat! Game 3 TIJ: 2B Chapa – CF B. Fish – C Waker – 1B H. Ramsay – 3B Frasher – LF A. Mendez – SS N. Fowler – RF Reina – P Mauricio POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Royer – 1B Brassfield – 3B Sheilds – C Lathers – P Carreno The Condors brought right-handed spot starter Edgar Mauricio (2-2, 3.20 ERA) up on Wednesday, figuring they had this one in the bag anyway, but they’d be mistaken. Labonte opened the bottom 1st with a triple and scored on Lonzo’s sac fly to left, and in the bottom 2nd the Raccoons got Brass and Sheilds on base. Morgan Lathers, who had been useless for the entire month, struck out, but Carreno bopped a double down the line. Brass scored, but Juan Reina threw out Sheilds at the plate; Labonte singled home Carreno from second base, though, before Lonzo’s pop ended the inning with a 3-0 score. The Raccoons took Mauricio apart for good in the third, then, beginning the inning with no fewer than four straight hits, followed by a Sheilds sac fly and another RBI single by Lathers, that already off right-hander Pat Fortune. Labonte drove in a fifth run with a single, and the score was up to 8-0. Now we only needed Ramon Carreno to keep having a decent outing. Carreno showed neither stuff nor efficiency, but at least he didn’t load the bases with crap all the time. The Condors were shut out through four, but got solo homers the next two innings by Nick Fowler in the fifth and then Bobby Fish in the sixth, which was alright – the Raccoons had romped Fortune for another three runs before his dismissal, with the RBI’s going to the battery of Lathers and Carreno for a pair of bases-loaded singles. Carreno tacked on another two scoreless innings after the homers for a genuinely nice outing when we needed the consolation most, but took 105 pitches to get there and wasn’t brought back for the ninth. Hamann did the job instead. 11-2 Critters. Labonte 3-5, 3B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5; Martinez 3-5; Brassfield 2-4, BB; Lathers 3-4, 2 RBI; Carreno 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-5) and 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Morgan Lathers had his waiver documents prepared by Maud after striking out his first time up in this game, then went 3-for-3 to save his bacon for the weekend. Even with the 3-for-4, he’s still under .200 for the year. The Condors? Still bottoms in runs scored. Raccoons (23-30) vs. Canadiens (21-30)** – May 31-June 2, 2058 The Raccoons were down 1-4 in the season series against the damn Elks, and also completely off the rolls in every regard as the month of May was coming to a close. The Elks were in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a -28 run differential (Coons: +3…!?) Projected matchups: Bobby Herrera (4-3, 3.71 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (2-9, 7.44 ERA) Zach Stewart (4-5, 2.84 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (5-2, 2.97 ERA) Ryan Wade (0-1, 48.60 ERA) vs. John Morris (4-2, 4.17 ERA) Not a typo. Southpaw Sunday, but that still meant looking at a damn Elks having some moss and leaves stuck in his antlers while pitching, and who wants to see that?? ALSO… you already knew that Anton Jesus was going to pitch a shutout, right? Not on Friday though, when persistent rain washed out – well, of course, it was a Bobby Herrera start after all. Double header on Saturday, maybe. Game 1 VAN: CF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – LF K. Hawkins – RF Needham – C Burgio – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B Lundberg – 2B S. Larsen – P A. Jesus POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – P B. Herrera Bobby Herrera managed to throw 36 pitches to six batters in the first inning, walking Danny Garcia and serving up a 2-piece to Kyle Hawkins in the process. (opens bottle of Capt’n Coma) Portland evened the score though in the third inning. Joey Christopher singled to lead off, and Lonzo, Chavez, and Brobeck all hit singles with two outs, with Chavez and Brobeck both driving in a run to get even at two. Pucks grounded out to end the inning at that point, though. Herrera was not as obviously terrible as in the first inning, and even made a nifty defensive play on a bunt by Anton Jesus, slinging the ball to third base to get the out on Shane Larsen, who had just opened the top 5th with a double to left. After that 36-pitch first inning, Herrera covered six frames on just 63 offerings, which was genuinely hard to comprehend. Business as usual for the offense, though, which did nothing after four singles in the bottom 3rd – the Coons were still on five base hits in the seventh inning. Labonte singled off Jesus with one out in the bottom 8th. Lonzo flew out, but Chavez hit another single, sending Labonte to third base. The Elks stuck to Jesus against Brobeck, who hit a fly to deep center – and Danny Garcia was one step late, but that was what turned a soul-withering F8 into a 2-run double and a late lead. Jesus then gave up another three 2-out singles and two more runs before being taken out of the game after all. George Youngblood got the last out for the Elks, and Ricky Herrera retired three straight with two strikeouts in the ninth inning. 6-2 Coons. Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Chavez 2-4; Brobeck 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; The W went to Eloy Sencion for a scoreless top of the eighth. Now for part deux – Game 2 VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Kuchta – C Weese – CF D. Moreno – 2B K. Hawkins – RF Needham – 3B Lundberg – 1B Rosenstiel – P Kozloski POR: 2B Labonte – SS Bribiesca – CF Royer – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – 1B Imai – LF Brassfield – C Lathers – P Stewart Neither offense looked particularly up for another game on Saturday night. The Raccoons had two hits in five innings, and the Elks had four in the same span, scoring the game’s lone run so far in the third inning on Tyler Lundberg’s single, John Rosenstiel getting nicked, a bunt, and a groundout. What a rush of hitting. Top 6th, Kevin Weese singled and Damian Moreno walked with one out, and Hawkins nearly whacked another homer, but was denied of a 3-piece to right by about as many feet, and a hit at all by Pucks racing back to the fence and making the catch while feeling for the wall with his other paw. Bobby Needham chopped an RBI single through the left side, anyway, but Lundberg flew out to Brass. Royer and Brobeck hit back-to-back singles in the bottom 6th, but the Raccoons didn’t make it further than Pucks’ sac fly that narrowed the score to 2-1 again. Stewart got knocked out in the eighth after two more hits by Weese and Moreno, with Neal Hamann holding the game together somewhat and stranding the runners in scoring position when Needham popped out foul to Brobeck. Kozloski offered a leadoff walk to Royer in the bottom 8th, putting the tying run on base. Brobeck singled to center on an 0-2 pitch, with Royer taking a big lead and reaching third base on the play. From there, Pucks hit a pathetic grounder that kept Royer pinned, and Toushi hit a pathetic grounder that kept Royer pinned, and Brass was down 1-2 against Kozloski with Royer and Brobeck in scoring position when he finally flicked a ball into play and over Rich Kuchta’s glove for a score-flipping, 2-out, 2-run single…! Rafael Flores replaced Kozloski, walked Lathers, but then got Martinez out in the #9 spot. The Raccoons went for Tanizaki in the ninth, which began with Lundberg flying out to Royer. Rosenstiel worked a walk in a full count, becoming the tying run on base, but Dave Bowden popped out. Danny Garcia hit a dangerously deep fly, but there was Pucks again, at the fence, reaching, feeling, and catching…! 3-2 Blighters. Royer 1-2, BB; Brobeck 2-4; The win for this went to Hamann, so both ends of the double-header were won by a left-handed reliever in the eighth inning. Whatever works! Playing on Sunday? Didn’t work. More rain moved in and we had out second rainout in three days. In other news May 27 – The Gold Sox not only beat the Miners, 13-0, but score all their runs in the seventh inning for a good old 13-spot. May 28 – The Pacifics acquire MR Roberto Ramirez (2-0, 3.91 ERA, 9 SV) from the Stars for two prospects. May 29 – The Aces could be without 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.294, 5 HR, 36 RBI) for a month; the 25-year-old left the last game with an ankle sprain. May 31 – IND SP Shane Fitzgibbon (6-5, 4.50 ERA) and three relievers combine for a 1-hitter against the Crusaders in a 4-1 Indians win. New York doesn’t make it past a Mike Seidman (.270, 1 HR, 8 RBI) double in the second inning. June 1 – Scorpions 2B/1B Erik Stevens (.250, 1 HR, 16 RBI) is out for the year with a broken elbow. June 1 – CHA 3B Bobby Anderson (.245, 4 HR, 30 RBI) will be on the shelf for the month of June after separating his shoulder. FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.306, 8 HR, 38 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 3 HR, 12 RBI CL Player of the Week: OCT LF/CF Tim Weant (.299, 9 HR, 30 RBI), batting .429 (9-21) with 4 HR, 11 RBI FL Hitter of the Month: TOP INF Alex de los Santos (.302, 9 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .367 with 6 HR, 19 RBI CL Hitter of the Month: MIL LF/RF Perry Pigman (.384, 5 HR, 37 RBI), bashing .388 with 5 HR, 26 RBI FL Pitcher of the Month: SAL SP Blake Sparks (8-2, 2.66 ERA), being a perfect 6-0 with 1.96 ERA, 23 K CL Pitcher of the Month: BOS SP Ryan Musgrave (6-2, 2.50 ERA), going 4-1 with a 1.98 ERA, 25 K FL Rookie of the Month: SAL C Ben Newman (.272, 7 HR, 32 RBI), hitting .284 with 3 HR, 16 RBI CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ SS Casey Ramsey (.295, 1 HR, 17 RBI), batting .298 with 1 HR, 13 RBI Complaints and stuff# Much has been said about the weather in Portland this year, all of which is true. (sits calmly on a soaked brown couch in a yellow raincoat as it appears to even rain INSIDE the office) Sunday’s rainout will be made up in a double-header on July 5. Yes, that is a double-header right in front of the All Star Game, and at the tail end of that string of no-days-off-for-you-suckers. Always great for a team that has no pitching to begin with. The team is playing frightfully against other bad teams, which makes me shiver at the mere thought of having to play the Crusaders again in the near future. Not next week, though, where we head to Indy, then play the Wolves. Yay, more getting wet in Oraingon! Then even with Noah Caswell again, who will rejoin from the DL on Monday, replacing Joey Christopher. *Fun Fact:* 60 years ago today, Manuel “Bam Bam” Movonda threw a no-hitter for the Raccoons against the Condors. While June 2, 1998 was a day to celebrate, the lineup from that day (Concie Guerin, Luke Newton, Neil Reece, Mike Crowe, Clyde Brady, Jay Utting, Werner Turner, Steve Caddock, and Movonda) will hint at a thing or two that didn’t work that year and wouldn’t work for another decade from there. We still love Neil Reece, though. And Conceico Guerin. And Clyde Brady was around for a long, long time. This was also the last no-hitter in which the successful pitcher allowed a run – 2-1 final – until Dallas’ Mark Holliday lost a 1-0 no-hitter to the Warriors in 2037. Movonda went 12-12 with a 2.84 ERA in his only season in the brown shirt before moving on to the Wolves and Knights to finish out his career. He was chiefly successful with the Falcons in the late 80s, although he led the league in strikeouts with the Aces in 1993. Overall, the Colombian right-hander went 190-192 with a 3.85 ERA in 527 games (514 starts), striking out 2,663 batters in 3,494 innings. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-24-2023, 04:15 PM	#4347
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	2058 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS The Coons had a whopping 137 players on the shortlist for the upcoming amateur draft, for which we’d have the icky #13 pick in every round as well as a supplemental round pick; in actual numbers that worked out four picks just inside the top 100. As usual we had prepared a bit of a hotlist with the shiniest talent (high school player): SP Ian Peters (15/14/13) – BNN #9 SP Kelly Whitney (14/12/12) * – BNN #2 SP Paul Egley (13/13/15) * SP Vince Ellison (13/13/12) 2B/SS Mark McCarty (12/10/14) * OF Jake Evans (12/14/13) – BNN #7 OF Steve Scarpa (12/8/10) – BNN #5 OF Wade Griffith (12/7/12) * – BNN #10 OF Isaiah Birth (12/8/14) – BNN #4 Yeeeeah… it was not the best draft pool, to be honest. We had a long shortlist, but the hotlist was not exactly voluminous. There was half a dozen pitchers with excellent stuff and only two pitches and/or no control – a few of them actually inside the BNN top 10, namely John Knapp and Butch Money – which was not usually the stuff Hall of Fame plaques were made from. It was also a lot easier to find a shortstop with a glove than a shortstop with a stick, and catching was mostly desolate for yet another year. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-25-2023, 10:36 AM	#4348
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (25-30) @ Indians (26-31) – June 3-6, 2058 The Raccoons were to play four games with the Indians, who they had already played four games against, splitting the whole affair two and two. Indy was bottoms in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed in the Continental League, lugging around a -40 run differential that looked a lot like it was gonna get bigger. Maybe not this week, though. Projected matchups: Ramon Carreno (3-5, 3.82 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (3-6, 4.15 ERA) Ryan Wade (0-1, 48.60 ERA) vs. Jeremy Fetta (2-3, 3.47 ERA) Bobby Herrera (4-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (6-5, 4.50 ERA) Zach Stewart (4-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Josh Barbieri (2-6, 5.02 ERA) Fitzgibbon was the only southpaw to come up against the Critters in this series. The Coons had been rained out on Sunday. We kept Carreno on regular rest on Monday, then moved Ryan Wade to Tuesday. Herrera and Stewart had both pitched on Saturday, so neither would be on regular rest to start on Wednesday. We might figure out something, use Brobeck, call someone up from AAA, or maybe meet somebody in the hotel lobby, a travelling insurance salesman that wanted to give pitching a go his whole life. Couldn’t be much worse than Wade. Noah Caswell had been activated for the opener, and Matt Walters was still rehabbing in St. Pete, but was due to rejoin the team this week as well. He had so far pitched three times, and I wanted him to go out at least four times, maybe five. Game 1 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – P Carreno IND: 2B Kilday – 3B An. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – CF Abel – C Lefebvre – P B. Lawrence Bill Lawrence retired 15 of 16 Raccoons he faced in the first five innings, only seeing Brobeck reach on an error in the second inning, and that was it for the Raccoons early on, while the Indians didn’t get much, but they got Carreno for a homer to left by Antonio Rios in the third inning, and Quinteros lashed a 2-out, 2-run double with Matt Kilday and Rios on the corners in the fifth inning for a 3-0 lead for the home team. The Raccoons loaded the bases in the top 6th through precious little talent of their own. Jesus Martinez slapped a leadoff single, and Carreno failed to bunt, poking for a duck snort single at 0-2 instead. Labonte tried the old 6-4-3 vanishing trick with a grounder to Ricardo Vargas, but Vargas bobbled the ball and the Coons instead had the tying runs all on with nobody out. Lonzo’s slow grounder to third base allowed a run to score while he was thrown out at first base by Rios, but Noah Caswell made all the doctor bills worthwhile with a game-tying single over the head of Vargas. The inning fizzled out after that, while Pucks and Martinez drew walks in the seventh inning against Lawrence, but Carreno bunted into an inning-ending double play, then continued his bid for an L when he allowed Kilday on base with a 2-out single in the bottom 7th. Kilday stole second, Rios socked an RBI double, and Quinteros would single home another run off Ricky Herrera when the Coons were finally full of Carreno’s act. Lawrence went eight, and Randy Slocum held up the lead for the Indians in the ninth despite a leadoff double by Marcos Chavez, who was stranded on second base. 5-3 Indians. Martinez 1-2, BB; Matt Walters came back on Tuesday after throwing 17 pitches on Monday. Alex Rios (0.00 ERA) was returned to St. Petersburg. Game 2 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – 1B Royer – LF Brassfield – P R. Wade IND: 2B Kilday – 3B An. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – CF S. Thompson – C Lefebvre – P Fetta Thankfully there was never a concern that Matt Walters might pitch on Tuesday. Ryan Wade briefly fooled me by starting the game with two outs, then walked Quinteros, nailed Orlando Ramos with an 0-2 pitch, threw a wild pitch, allowed a single to Chris Lovins, walked Vargas, and then Steve Thompson singled, another wild pitch, Michael Lefebvre doubled, ANOTHER WILD PITCH, and then a K to Jeremy Fetta finally ended the 5-run inning. Wade **** another run on the board in the second, then walked the bags full in the bottom 3rd before hitting Fetta with another ** pitch. He was yanked for Hamann, and was on waivers before the game was over. Hamann was also no more helpful than a wet rag, allowing RBI singles to Kilday and Rios, and another run to score on Quinteros’ double play grounder. 10-0 at that point, by the way. The game was essentially over, and it wasn’t like the Raccoons did any rallying. They scored a run in the fifth inning, getting on base Royer and Brass to begin the inning, but only scored on Fetta’s wild pitch. Yay. Ornelas allowed a run to Indy in the seventh that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. 11-1 Indians. Sheilds 1-1; Ryan Wade (0-2, 46.64 ERA) was surely never going to be seen again around here. The vacated roster spot was used for Cameron Argenziano to make a spot start on Wednesday. The 30-year-old left-hander was 2-7 with a 4.20 ERA with the Alley Cats, and across an inexplicably long time of ferrying back and forth between Portland and St. Pete had accumulated a 10-12 record with 3.95 ERA in Portland. Game 3 POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Argenziano IND: SS Kilday – CF Oldfield – 1B B. Quinteros – LF Abel – RF O. Ramos – C Lefebvre – 3B R. Vargas – 2B Bahena – P Fitzgibbon I was begging the baseball gods for five innings from Argenziano and being vaguely in contention after that, but the Raccoons were actually up 2-0 after five innings, having scored their runs in the top 3rd, which began with … an Argenziano double. Lonzo doubled home the pitcher, and Caswell singled home Lonzo for the runs, while Argenziano was not flashy, but serviceable on the hill, though Noah Caswell did some heavy lifting in centerfield as well. Four hits, two walks, three strikeouts on 79 pitches through five didn’t scream ace, but hinted at the possibility of more spot starts, because the baseball gods knew the Raccoons needed a lot more spot starts… The Coons couldn’t score in the seventh despite leadoff singles from Royer and Martinez, while the bottom of the inning saw an infield single from Bernie Bahena with one out, and the runner reached third base on Hugo Munoz’ pinch-hit single. Kilday grounded out on an 0-2 pitch, plating Bahena, and when Antonio Rios pinch-hit for Cory Oldfield, the Raccoons went for Tanizaki, who nearly gave up a homer to right on a 1-2 pitch. Martinez made the catch on the warning track. Top 8th, Ben Akman came on for Indy and retired nobody; Lonzo singled, Chavez tripled him home, Caswell hit another RBI single, and Brobeck walked. Jameel Williams then restored order and retired the 6-7-8 in a row, holding the Coons to a 4-1 lead. Lots of loud noises and base hits by Kevin Abel and Lefebvre gave Indy a counter-run in the home half of the eighth, ultimately setting up Matt Walters for his first ABL save chance of 2058. He converted it in three batters. 4-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, RBI; Argenziano 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-2, 2B; Game 4 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – C Lathers – P B. Herrera IND: 2B Kilday – 3B An. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – LF O. Ramos – CF Oldfield – SS R. Vargas – RF Abel – C Villafan – P Barbieri Bobby and Barbieri traded zeroes for three innings before the Indians’ right-hander left with an oblique tweak and the bullpen took over for them. It took two innings of Matt Green for Brass to single and steal a base, then come home with two outs on Labonte’s single through the hole on the right side. Offense was very much at a premium for either side, with three base hits for either team by the time of the seventh-inning stretch. Herrera had only allowed one hit to actually leave the infield. The bottom 7th began with Ramos reaching on a Brobeck error, which wasn’t great. Oldfield struck out, but Vargas legged out another infield single, which was mildly annoying. Same for the wild pitch that Herrera threw at 0-1 to PH Steve Thompson. The runners moved up, but Thompson’s poor second out didn’t allow for a run to score, and Willie Villafan’s fly to center ended up with a hustling Caswell to end the inning. The eighth was calm and collected, and the ninth presented a conundrum. The stinky Coons had not gotten past a 2-out single by Jesus Martinez in the top 9th, but Herrera looked absolutely in control whenever Brobeck wasn’t sabotaging him. So instead of bringing in Matt Walters, we brought in Tyrese Sheilds to bring calmness to third base. Quinteros flew out to center, but Ramos walked. Oldfield popped out. Vargas went down on strikes. 1-0 Blighters! Martinez 2-4; B. Herrera 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (5-3); First career shutout for Bobby Herrera! Finally! 110 pitches, but Herrera’s build says he can take that easily, like Taki most recently. Raccoons (27-32) vs. Wolves (33-26)** – June 7-9, 2058 Bragging rights for best team in Oregon were on the table on the weekend, with the Wolves coming in for three games. This was the third straight year of these teams meeting each other in the regular season, with the Raccoons also having a 3-series winning streak, going 2-1 on the Wolves in ’57. Salem was tops of the FL West, though, with a rather average offense, but allowing the third fewest runs in the Federal League. That was with the best rotation and the second-worst bullpen. Projected matchups: Zach Stewart (4-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Ben Peterson (4-4, 4.12 ERA) Chance Fox (0-0) vs. Gabriel Casanova (5-3, 3.56 ERA) Ramon Carreno (3-6, 4.08 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (9-2, 2.69 ERA) The series would start with us facing two southpaws, and then a right-handed ace on Sunday. Oh woe is me. Chance Fox had been a #3 pick in the 2053 draft, and had made it up the levels rather slowly for being that high a pick. He had ranked as high as #29 as a prospect, but was #52 going into this season. He would turn 24 later this month. He was a southpaw and threw a 96mph heater, slider and changeups for groundballs, and way too many balls in general, but we needed a warm body and he was next in line. He also wasn’t on the roster yet, and I wasn’t exactly sure how to get him on after all. Game 1 SAL: CF Calhoun – 3B Crist – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Fuller – CF J. Gutierrez – RF Rock – 2B Pietsch – P B. Peterson POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – CF Caswell – 3B Brobeck – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – P Stewart ‘nother pitching duel; Stewart and Peterson were trading 2-hitters through five innings, with one of the hits Stewart served up having been a Peterson single. Both were walking a couple as well, but neither team had managed to shove anything across home plate. A leadoff walk to Tom Crist in the sixth inning didn’t change anything about that, but Jose Gutierrez singled up the middle to begin the seventh, and out of bloody nowhere Stewart gave up back-to-back bombs to PH Jose Campos and Nate Pietsch for a 3-0 deficit. Siwik replaced him after that, while the Raccoons got a leadoff single from Brobeck and Steve Royer to hit into a double play in the home half of the same frame… Top 8th, Jeff Buss and Belchior Fresco hit singles off Siwik, who got a double play from Tim Fuller, but Buss scored an extra run from third base. The Raccoons looked beaten even when Toushi hit a surprise home run in Siwik’s place in the bottom 8th, and then got another run scratched out against Jason Posey in the ninth when Pucks singled home pinch-runner Paul Labonte, but by then I was sobbing uncontrollably because Labonte was running for Caswell, who had banged up his knee sliding into second base on his earlier double and limped off the field. Martinez ended the game with a fly to center then. 4-2 Wolves. Brobeck 2-3, BB; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, RBI; Imai (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; His knee is bruised, Luis? – How bruised? – I mean, can he zoom around like a Gold Glove centerfie…– Fine I’ll put him on the DL… WELL. At least that opened a roster spot for the one-off cameo for Chance Fox… One-off for now, because we’ll have a day off five days from Saturday, so he won’t hang around after the start. Game 2 SAL: CF Calhoun – 3B Crist – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Newman – RF D. Gonzalez – CF J. Gutierrez – 2B Pietsch – P Casanova POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – P Fox Merely 4-4 with a 4.85 ERA in St. Pete, Chance Fox struck out Aidan Calhoun to begin his major league career, and whiffed three in total the first time through the Wolves order, giving up nothing outside a Belchior Fresco single. Of course, we can’t have nice things here, so the fourth inning began with a Tom Crist single to center, then walks to Buss and Fresco. Three on, nobody out, Fox whiffed Ben Newman, whiffed Dave Gonzalez, nailed Jose Gutierrez with a 2-strike pitch, NAILED NATE PIETSCH WITH A 2-STRIKE PITCH, and then gave up a bases-clearing double into the left-center gap to the ***** opposing pitcher. – Maud, no!! Take your paws away and LET ME THE GO!! (tries to hang himself from the highest shelf of the bobblehead display while Maud keeps tugging around on the noose and Cristiano Carmona tries to hold up his hindpaws to keep it loose while having Clyde Brady and Luke Newton bobbleheads rain down on him) Fox ended up going two-and-a-third more innings without allowing much at all, ending up with a wicked line that included three hits, three walks, and five earned runs, not that he didn’t deserve every single one of them up his furry tush. The Coons were bloody awful and had two base knocks before the stretch, then a Brobeck homer over the fence in rightfield right out of the stretch, narrowing the score all the way to 5-1. Brass and Martinez hit singles to knock out Casanova, while right-hander Brian Fuqua walked Pucks in the #9 hole, but Labonte ended the inning with a grounder to short when he batted for Bribiesca with three on and two already out. The only other run that was scored in the game came off Brobeck in the ninth inning on two more Salem hits. 6-1 Wolves. Brobeck 2-4, HR, RBI; (sits loudly bawling at the foot of the shelf in a sea of 2000-ish Raccoons bobbleheads) Game 3 SAL: CF Rock – 3B Crist – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Newman – RF D. Gonzalez – LF J. Gutierrez – 2B Pietsch – P Sparks POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – CF Oley – C Lathers – 3B Sheilds – P Carreno Todd Oley had batted .275 with no homers for the 2057 Raccoons and was similarly powerless in AAA this year, but was brought up as a new left-handed outfielder after Joey Christopher had been rather disappointing during Caswell’s most recent DL stint. Oley also got an RBI single in his second at-bat of the year, driving in Brass, who had just doubled the game’s first run across. Oley was then caught stealing to end the inning. Carreno had a 1-hitter until he didn’t when Tom Rock, Tom Crist, and Jeff Buss all flicked singles to center or left-center at the start of the sixth inning. There was no mercy. Belchior Fresco belted in two runs, and Newman’s groundout and Dave Gonzalez’ sac fly cleaned up the bases pretty good for a 4-2 Wolves lead. Carreno got a few more outs and Sencion got some more. Ornelas gave up a run in the ninth. The Coons offense never ever *** did anything anymore and the team ended up swept. 5-2 Wolves. Oley 2-3, RBI; In other news June 3 – It’s 2,000 career hits for SAC SS/2B Chris Navarro (.306, 0 HR, 19 RBI) with a 2-for-4 day in a 5-1 win over the Warriors. The 2-time FL stolen base and 2-time FL triples champion locks down the milestone with a second-inning single off SFW SP Victor Salcido (2-8, 5.01 ERA). June 5 – SAL OF Tom Rock (.300, 2 HR, 4 RBI) hits his first two home runs of the season, including a 2-run walkoff home run in the bottom 10th to beat the Stars, 9-8. The game was tied at three past eight innings before both teams scored a 4-spot in the ninth. Dallas offered one run in the top 10th, but was outbid by Rock’s second longshot. June 8 – NYC SP Ben Seiter (8-3, 3.51 ERA) 1-hits the Pacifics in a 9-0 rout, striking out nine L.A. batters. Only INF Steve Diaz (.234, 3 HR, 26 RBI) hits a double for the Pacifics while New York’s LF/RF Danny Ramirez (.417, 0 HR, 3 RBI) goes 5-for-5 with an RBI. June 8 – ATL OF/1B Jon Alade (.192, 0 HR, 8 RBI) will miss another four weeks with a torn thumb ligament. June 8 – The Scorpions beat the Indians, 6-4 in 16 innings. Six of the game’s ten runs are scored in the 16th inning. June 9 – The Thunder will be without 3B/RF Ed Soberanes (.338, 7 HR, 31 RBI) until the All Star Game. The 34-year-old was laboring on a strained hammy. FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.342, 9 HR, 46 RBI), punching .630 (17-27) with 1 HR, 8 RBI CL Player of the Week: NYC INF Zach Suggs (.285, 12 HR, 41 RBI), hitting .448 (13-29) with 3 HR, 14 RBI Complaints and stuff 14 runs in seven games ain’t much. Not even honest work. (glares at some position players in the other corner) It took just five days to re-break Noah Caswell, so now he’s on the DL with a bum knee. Maybe in two weeks we’ll get to marvel at our $36M man again. No claims on Ryan Wade. No , I wonder why! The season promises to grow long from here. Another 100 games need to be played by the Critters, which probably means they’ll score another 200 runs. Next week: Cyclones, Crusaders, more tears, and the annual draft on Saturday. Fun Fact:** Kyle Brobeck leads the team in batting average among qualifiers. Our best batter is a pitcher that can’t pitch anymore. No, Maud, I want that on the bloody 2058 yearbook. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

12-28-2023, 05:09 AM	#4350
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	2058 AMATEUR DRAFT There was not much enthusiasm for this year’s draft, with even much goodwill not able to bring the hotlist to even ten players despite 137 players on the shortlist. And here were those nine hotlist players again (high school player): SP Ian Peters (15/14/13) – BNN #9 SP Kelly Whitney (14/12/12) * – BNN #2 SP Paul Egley (13/13/15) * SP Vince Ellison (13/13/12) 2B/SS Mark McCarty (12/10/14) * OF Jake Evans (12/14/13) – BNN #7 OF Steve Scarpa (12/8/10) – BNN #5 OF Wade Griffith (12/7/12) * – BNN #10 OF Isaiah Birth (12/8/14) – BNN #4 The Raccoons had the #13 pick in every round as well as the tenth pick in the supplemental round, but the draft started with the Aces, and they went with outfielder Jake Evans. The Stars selected Ian Peters at #2, while the Cyclones used their #3 pick on outfielder Matt Ewig, who was not on the hotlist. Interesting. This was followed by left-hander Butch Money getting taken by the Thunder; Money had been mentioned in the original draft class summary as a “stuff, but…” sorta pitcher. More hotlist outfielders then; Wade Griffith went #5 to the Rebs, and Steve Scarpa at #6 to the damn Elks. Indy took Kelly Whitney at #7, and fellow pitcher Paul Egley went to the Bayhawks at #8, followed by another “stuff, but…” pitcher, Bryce Wallace, going to the Titans. Vince Ellison was the #10 pick by the Condors, and that emptied the pitching side of the hotlist. Mark McCarty and Isaiah Birth were the only players from the hotlist that remained for when the #13 pick came up; right-handed batting outfielder or left-handed batting infielder? Both had speed, and both had in common that OSA didn’t exactly share in our power potential enthusiasm. The Raccoons eventually settled on Birth, mostly because BNN had also taken a liking to him. McCarty would fall to the #26 pick, taking in the supplemental round by the Thunder. With our own supplemental round pick we almost drafted outfielder Craig Pepper, who was attending Pepperdine University, and thus had undeniably the weird sense of humor that could make a player subsist in the wicked Raccoons farm system, and he was near the top of the board for us at that point, but we just couldn’t pass up on another player from Cali, right-hander John Bollinger. Pepper came close to falling to the Raccoons in the second round proper, but instead ended up staying in California when taken by the Bayhawks with the #57 pick. +++ 2058 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS Round 1 (#13) – OF Isaiah Birth, 20, from San Antonio, TX – right-handed hitting outfielder with a wide range and great speed, and capable of hitting for average, drawing walks, and having at least a bit of power. He also likes to collect and catalogue plant specimen. Weirdo. Supp. Round (#32) – SP John Bollinger, 21, from Union City, CA – right-hander throws 94 with the heater and has neat curves, forks, and a changeup for variety. Main concern was stamina, which was a bit on the lower end, but still well workable for a starting pitcher. Round 2 (#62) – 1B Alex Vargas, 18, from San Angelo, TX – switch-hitter that swings at pretty much everything, but if he actually meets the ball, the ball is usually out of sight in a hurry Round 3 (#86) – C Jeremy Healy, 18, from Zion, IL – can hit for average and power, but his throwing arm is a bit on the softer side Round 4 (#110) – SP Malik Padgitt, 21, from Los Angeles, CA – left-hander throws a mean changeup, but the 90mph fastball could use as much work as his overall control and command Round 5 (#134) – SP Justin Clark, 18, from Tampa, FL – the stuff of 91mph heater, curve, change, and splitter – all serviceable – promises loads of befuddled hitters, while his lack of control promises frustration for catchers and coaches alike… Round 6 (#158) – INF/RF/CF Joe Gardner, 18, from Springfield, MA – plays many positions well and can run like heck, but whether he ever amounts to much other than a singles slapper remains to be seen Round 7 (#182) – RF/LF John Tyner, 17, from Allen, TX – bit of a longshot pick here, because his stats didn’t merit even being picked this high, but “Banjo” saw huge power potential here if a myriad of other issues could be sorted out, not least of which was Tyner talking to himself in the batter’s box to everybody’s annoyance… Round 8 (#206) – CL Bobby Meagher, 20, from Roswell, GA – right-hander throws the heater at 91 and has high promise for the slider, but it’s not there yet Round 9 (#230) – C Miguel Guinea, 18, from Ivins, UT – one for the curiosity cabinet, the left-handed hitting, weak-armed son of Nicaraguan-born beekeepers; some power potential, though. Round 10 (#254) – LF/1B/RF Matthew DeHart, 19, from Harker Heights, TX – his report cards are full of remarks about his astounding laziness, which is all the more shame considering his undoubtable contact and eye potential; if he could at least be bothered to run after fly balls…! Round 11 (#278) – SP John Wiemers, 17, from Kalispell, MT – left-hander (obviously) with a very nice curveball; unfortunately his heater barely reaches 85mph… Round 12 (#302) – INF/RF Dan Roberts, 18, from Vancouver, WA – defensively versatile with a keen eye, but not much actual stick action Round 13 (#326) – C Garrett Wackler, 18, from Denver, CO – made it on the shortlist, but all the way to the 13th round; Wackler is so-so behind the plate, and will mostly hit for singles, but has surprising speed and baserunning qualities for a catcher +++ Of course there was also the accompanying purge in the minor leagues. All in all, 17 players were dismissed from the system, while all new draftees were sent to Aumsville. Pitchers dismissed included left-hander Jim Hunt (2052, 12th round), who had run into a very dead end in Ham Lake, and from Aumsville the following personnel: Jalen Canady (2057, 9th round), Patrick Finney (2052, 11th round), and D.J. Spitler (2057, 12th round); In Ham Lake we also dismissed the two primary catchers, batting .183 between them, 2055 third-rounder Corey Crawford and scouting discovery Generoso Castillo; also Aumsville catcher from Brazil and a $20k signing in the 2053 July IFA period, Teobaldo Escalante. The group of position players situated in fair territory that was handed their papers was headed by 1B Pedro Rojas cut from the Alley Cats roster. Rojas, 26, had been a scouting discovery ten years ago and had played bit parts in Portland for the last three seasons, hitting .236 with no homers and 7 RBI there. He was now being crowded out by other first-sackers. In fact we had Joel Starr there pushing upwards to the big team, and two guys in Ham Lake trying to advance, Joe Agee and Forbes Tomlin. Also dismissed were Ham Lake outfielders Jason Robinson (2053, 13th round) and Justin Zych (2056, 8th round), and from Aumsville we axed 2055 second-rounder Tyler McGovern, an all-out bust that had been dragged around by his tail for three years now and had to make room. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

01-03-2024, 03:25 PM	#4354
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	All Star Game The Federal League beats the Continental League, 5-2, in the annual All Star Game, taking a 3-1 lead in the first inning on NAS 1B Andy Metz (.327, 14 HR, 56 RBI) hitting a 3-run homer off NYC SP Ben Seiter (11-4, 3.36 ERA) and never looking back. Metz wins MVP honors for these early heroics. As far as the Raccoons are concerned, Noah Caswell hits a pinch-hit single and spends a few innings in the field, while Reynaldo Bravo pitches a scoreless inning, but Eloy Sencion allows a solo home run to RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.341, 15 HR, 50 RBI) in the sixth inning. Raccoons (41-48) @ Titans (50-39) – July 11-14, 2058 The Raccoons had evened out the season series with three of four games won in Portland the week before, and now got to travel to Boston, where nothing good ever happened, for a rematch. The Titans had dropped out of first place, trailing the Crusaders by a game and a half. They were sixth in runs scored and third in runs allowed now, with a +28 run differential. Projected matchups: Bobby Herrera (7-4, 3.03 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (5-4, 3.18 ERA) Zach Stewart (6-8, 3.03 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (10-4, 2.46 ERA) Cameron Argenziano (4-0, 2.20 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (4-8, 4.52 ERA) Chance Fox (1-3, 6.20 ERA) vs. Mike Pohlmann (6-5, 3.84 ERA) Glaude had taken the only W against Portland the prior week, but had then faced Stewart. Only righty opposition coming up here. Ramon Carreno was surplus to requirements and could optionally be skipped on the coming Monday, which was an off day for the Critters, could be used in long relief, or start Tuesday in Milwaukee. It was all up in the air and we’d make ** up as we went on a daily basis. Game 1 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – 1B Imai – P B. Herrera BOS: CF Weir – LF Ma. Gilmore – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – 3B D. Mendoza – RF J. Harris – P Glaude The Coons had three singles in the first, plus the benefit of an error by Willie de Leon and a wild pitch by Glaude, and scored a total of one run, thanks to Lonzo doubling up Labonte right away. Cas and Chavez hit singles again, Pucks reached on the error, and the run scored on the wild pitch… Bobby Herrera in turn started with two full counts, and Hector Weir and Matt Gilmore reaching the corners on a leadoff walk and a single, two strikeouts to Jorge Arviso and Manny Rubin, and then gave up a score-flipping wallbanger double to de Leon on a 1-2 pitch in the bottom 1st, so there was already plenty of reasons to be grumpy within 15 minutes of the All Star break ending. Labonte reached on an error in the third inning, then was doubled up by Caswell, while Herrera, the very expensive piece of *, went into the fourth with a leadoff walk to de Leon, who stole second at some point, but was on third base with two outs and Jonathan Harris, a dangerous .122 hitter, batting. Harris of course doubled on a 3-2 pitch, driving home a run to make it 3-1, and Herrera went on to walk Glaude in a full count, threw a wild pitch, and then walked Weir in a full count. Gilmore flew out to Caswell on an 0-1 to leave the bases loaded, which should be an automatic demotion to single-A. Herrera sucked his way to the showers by the sixth inning, while Glaude was pitching a 3-hitter with ten strikeouts on a relatively decent pitch count, 75 offerings through six innings. He struck out Chavez and Pucks to begin the seventh, reaching a neat dozen, then allowed a soft single to Brobeck and a harder single to Martinez, but Toushi made a quick third out to the top 7th. While the Titans got an extra run off Ivan Ornelas in the bottom 8th, the Raccoons got the tying run to the plate thanks to Alex Diaz offering 2-out walks to Pucks and Brobeck in the ninth inning. Martinez grounded out to short on the first pitch, and that was the end of that day’s agony. 4-1 Titans. No honorable mentions. Everybody sucked. Game 2 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – P Stewart BOS: 2B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – RF J. Harris – CF Ma. Gilmore – LF Weir – 3B D. Mendoza – P Musgrave Friday’s heroics included a third-inning leadoff double by Zach Stewart in a scoreless ballgame, which was met by Labonte whiffing and consecutive pops by Lonzo and Caswell, leaving the rather dismayed looking pitcher stranded at second base. Boston took a lead the inning after on Alan Leitch’s leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, and that threatened to remain the only score of the game as the Raccoons remained exceptionally feckless even by their standards, and the Titans didn’t seem to get too much off Stewart either. The Raccoons’ least-awful left-hander needed 92 pitches through seven innings, with the bottom 7th ending on a 9-5 double play when Pucks caught Ethan Torrence’s pinch-hit fly to shallow right and used it to strike down Bruce Burkart trying to go from second to third on the play. Caswell and Chavez hit back-to-back singles off Musgrave in the eighth, which made a full pawful of hits for the Critters in the game, but the unfazed Boston starter rung up Pucks and got a cozy grounder to short from Brobeck to end the inning. Stewart offered up seven more pitches to do the bottom 8th, which would reward him with a complete-game 4-hitter (and a loss) unless the Dumpster Gang made a stir in the ninth inning against Alex Diaz. Brassfield flew out to Harris in deep right on the first pitch, but Toushi walked on four pitches. Royer ran for him and Martinez batted for Stewart, then launched an out-of-the-blue 2-run homer over the fence in left…! The complete game was off for Stewart, but suddenly a win was on the table! Lonzo reached on a Leitch error with two outs and stole second base, but was left on by Caswell. Matt Walters got the ball for the bottom 9th. Leitch doubled with one out, but Walters quelled the rising with two strikeouts to get only his fifth save of the year. 2-1 Blighters. Martinez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Stewart 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (7-8); Game 3 POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – 1B Royer – RF Martinez – C C. Chavez – P Argenziano BOS: CF Torrence – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – LF Y. Valdez – RF J. Harris – 2B W. de Leon – 3B D. Mendoza – P Brenize Were the Titans concerned that their platinum prospect Jason Brenize had the same number of wins than infinitely-often waived Cameron Argenziano, who had spent half the year as garbage reliever in triple-A? Probably. The Coons also loaded the bases right out of the gate as Torrence’s error put Labonte on base, Lonzo doubled to left-center, and Caswell walked. Pucks, the good boy, hit an RBI single ahead of three rapid and mostly soggy outs, Brobeck popping to second, Royer whiffing, and Martinez at least sending Harris backwards as he flew out to strand a full set of runners. The bases were loaded with nobody out again* in the third inning, then with the 2-3-4 batters on. Lonzo and Caswell singled, the former also stole a base, and Pucks was nicked on a 3-1 pitch. Brobeck at least hit a sac fly this time, 2-0, but Royer popped out. Martinez walked to refill the bags, and Cortez Chavez came through with a 2-run single to center, leaving Argenziano to end the inning. The Titans didn’t have a base hit through all of this against Cameron Argenziano, although Leitch singled in the fourth, but was also left on first base. Harris singled in the fifth, but was caught stealing. Bottom 6th, still 4-0, and the Titans loaded the bases in facepaw fashion. Hector Weir flew out to left hitting for the luckless Brenize, but Argenziano then walked the 1-2 batters and nicked Burkart with two outs. Yoslan Valdez grounded out in a full count – but not until after Argenziano threw a wild pitch to concede a run at 1-1, ruining his sub-2 ERA. Yes. Sub-2. Briefly. The top of the seventh saw another instance of three on, nobody out for the Raccoons, as Dan Lawrence walked Cas and Brobeck around a Pucks single. Royer popped out, but Martinez drew a walk in a full count to push a run home. Cortez Chavez then got himself a 4-RBI day with another 2-run single to center, knocking out Lawrence for Dave Parra, who regained control of the situation. Argenziano finished seven innings of work for four hits and a run, but the Raccoons’ pair of All Stars then exploded for two runs in the bottom 8th as Bravo walked a pair and Sencion conceded the runs on Yoslan Valdez’ double to right. Tanizaki’s 1-2-3 ninth put the game away, though. 7-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, RBI; C. Chavez 2-4, BB, 4 RBI; Argenziano 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (5-0); Cameron Argenziano!? Game 4 POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – RF Martinez – LF Brassfield – 2B Bribiesca – P Fox BOS: CF Torrence – SS Leitch – 1B M. Rubin – C Burkart – RF J. Harris – 2B W. de Leon – LF Weir – 3B D. Mendoza – P Pohlmann The Raccoons didn’t get a hit off Pohlmann the first time through on a dark Sunday, but Fox gave demotion to St. Pete an honest effort right out of the gates, walking Torrence before giving up three quick runs on a Rubin triple and Burkart’s homer to left. He then faked competence for a few innings before having another outburst in the fifth inning. This time Rubin hit a 3-run blast after Torrence’s infield single and a walk to Alan Leitch. Another walk to Burkart led to Fox’ disposal. Siwik replaced him, fudged around the lower half of the Titans’ lineup until he gave up a 3-run homer of his own to Diego Mendoza, and the Raccoons scrapped the whole concept of pitchers pitching and sent out Brobeck for the sixth. He showed flashes of casual competence in a 9-0 deficit, and actually completed the pitching duty for the day in the hopelessly lost game, giving up just one unearned run in three innings. Just ignore the two hit batters, and the two errors behind him by Lonzo and Sheilds, and it was almost like we were using an ordinary pitcher and were an ordinary team. Pohlmann was never threatened in a complete-game 6-hit shutout, whiffing nine Raccoons. All the hits he gave up were singles. 10-0 Titans. Caswell 2-4; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 3.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K; In other news July 8 – The Canadiens trade INF Shane Larsen (.299, 6 HR, 26 RBI) to the Falcons for a prospect. July 8 – Recurring back spasms put Thunder OF/2B Eric Whitlow (.339, 16 HR, 63 RBI) on the DL for up to six weeks. July 9 – The Thunder are involved in two separate deals on the day of the All Star Game. The Buffaloes acquire 1B David Worthington (.268, 13 HR, 63 RBI) from the Thunder for RF/LF/1B Cesar Santiago (.313, 9 HR, 41 RBI), while they send OF Raimundo Bagoim (.255, 1 HR, 10 RBI) to the Warriors for veteran catcher Luke Burnham, who spent all of 2058 in the minors so far, but was with the Thunder from 2049 through 2056. July 11 – The 20-game hitting streak of Sacramento’s Andrew Russ (.254, 0 HR, 19 RBI) does not survive the All Star break as he goes hitless in four at-bats in a 9-3 loss to the Wolves. July 12 – The Miners beat the Cyclones, 9-8 in 10 innings. A dozen runs score in the eighth inning alone, which sees the Cyclones turn a 3-1 deficit into an 8-3 lead before squandering the whole of it in the following half-inning, and eventually the game as a whole. July 14 – PIT SP Kodai Koga (6-10, 5.89 ERA) lightens up a stinker of a season with a 3-hit shutout of the Cyclones, whiffing eight batters in a 6-0 win. FL Player of the Week: TOP LF/RF Dan Martin (.298, 16 HR, 86 RBI), batting .421 (8-19) with 2 HR, 7 RBI CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B Dave Robles (.294, 14 HR, 62 RBI), hitting .500 (8-16) with 2 HR, 3 RBI Complaints and stuff What’s wrong with Cameron Argenziano, and can we somehow bottle it and force-feed to the younger Critters that are actual prospects? Will Kyle Brobeck actually win his valiant fight against the 9.00 ERA mark? Tune back in next week when we will certainly see more garbage relief behind some overwhelmed young ‘un… The Raccoons spent a total of $125k on international free agents, signing all three of the youngsters they were after for cheap. Right-hander Melvin Luco cost $61k to sign. Second basemen Frank Vasquez and Ricardo Manzanarez each cost $32k to sign. They’re all 16, with the first two from the Dominican Republic, and the latter one from Venezuela. Next week: Loggers, Thunder on the road. *Fun Fact:* Lonzo had two hits and stole three bases this short week, which is decidedly in the “mixed” bag of emotions. Then again, he has now rallied away (almost) a huge deficit he had on Perry Pigman in the stolen base race in the CL. Pigman is on 36 bags taken, and Lonzo has nearly caught up with 34. Xavier Reyes sits in between with 35. There’s no reason for regular updates on the career leaderboards in stolen bases this year, since it was always a bit of a longshot to even make up one position this year, but Lonzo is now up to 545 stolen bases, 25 behind 6th-place Rich de Luna, and 36 behind the Miners’ Alex Vasquez, the active leader, who slowed down greatly this year and has only six stolen bases so far. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

01-12-2024, 02:10 PM	#4359
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 12,667	Raccoons (53-65) vs. Miners (63-55) – August 13-15, 2058 The string continued with three games against the Miners, who had faced the Raccoons in each of the last three seasons and each time had lost two games to one. Their team this year ranked fourth in runs scored in the FL, but ninth in runs allowed, with a +38 run differential (Coons: -32). They had a pile of injuries to contend with, including Salvatore Rodrigues, Tomokazu Kaneshiro, and Cruz Madrid. Projected matchups: Bobby Herrera (9-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (5-0, 3.05 ERA) Zach Stewart (8-11, 3.09 ERA) vs. He Shui (7-9, 4.64 ERA) Ramon Carreno (5-11, 4.13 ERA) vs. Sean Sweeton (11-7, 3.63 ERA) Two ex-Critters and three right-handers were lined up by the Miners for this series, which started after a common off day on Monday. Game 1 PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 1B K. Price – 3B Corrales – RF Angulo – C Monaghan – CF Lindauer – LF B. Rivera – P Shultz POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – P B. Herrera Kevin Price took Herrera deep to right in the top 1st, but Portland made up the run in the bottom 1st, with some kind support by the Miners. Lonzo walked (!), took an extra base on a bad pickoff throw by Shultz, and then made up the rest of the distance with a deep fly by Caswell and Chavez’ 2-out single to center. The tie would be broken by a home run in the second inning – by Paul Labonte! He had hit five in his rookie season, but none (in more at-bats) so far this year, but after Brobeck and Herrera took to the corners with 2-out singles in the bottom 2nd launched a drive over the fence in right to give Portland a 4-1 lead. The Miners had only three hits off Herrera in five innings, but one was that Price homer and another was Angel Angulo’s double to left-center in the top 5th that opened the inning. Jeremy Lindauer walked after a groundout by Eric Monaghan, and Bobby Rivera’s fly to deep left was enough to get at least Angulo home, even while being caught on the track by Brassfield. Mark Haney batted for Shultz, but made a poor third out to strand the tying runs. A homer to left by Brassfield off Felix Castano re-established a 3-run lead in the same inning, and Herrera survived more instances of the leadoff batter reaching base in the sixth and seventh innings, Angulo drawing a leadoff walk in the latter to remain a threat. Bottom 7th, and Lonzo opened with a single to right against Pablo Paez. Several failed attempts to get a jump on the right-hander with Caswell batting and the accompanying attention then kept him too close to first base to score on the double that Caswell hit eventually, but there was a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Chavez’ liner to Ryan Spehar and the soggy infield pops by Brass and Starr meant that pair remained there throughout and beyond the inning… Paez retired two more to begin the bottom 8th before Jesus Martinez batted for Herrera and singled. Labonte also reached base, and then Lonzo and Caswell cracked back-to-back triples to drive in three earned runs, while Caswell scored on an error by Victor Corrales for a fourth, unearned run. Leonardo Ramos popped up Brass to end the inning after all. Matt Walters was kept in storage after the save was no longer on and instead Neal Hamann was sent out against the all-lefty 3-4-5 batters in the ninth. Price singled, Corrales whiffed, and Angulo hit a ball off Starr’s chest on the bounce for an error on the rookie. Peter Bivens then appeared as a fourth lefty bat off the bench, hit an RBI single, and Hamann was purged. Siwik popped up Lindauer and got a K on Bobby Rivera to end the game before Matt Walters actually had to get back up. 9-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Caswell 3-4, BB, 3B, 2B, RBI; Martinez (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (10-7) and 1-3; Game 2 PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 1B K. Price – 3B Corrales – C Monaghan – RF McIntyre – LF Angulo – CF Bivens – P Shui POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – 3B Brobeck – P Stewart Lonzo scored in the bottom 1st again, as should be the law, hitting a single off his old teammate Shui and stealing a base, while Caswell reached on an error. Chavez’ groundout then brought in Lonzo with the game’s first and only early run. Offense was at a premium and people queued around the block for it, but the only other hit the Raccoons put together through five innings was Lonzo getting plonked by Shui in the fifth, stealing another base (his 40th of the season), and then being stranded out there in the wasteland. The Miners had two hits off Stewart in five innings, with 6 K for the Portland southpaw, and the most meaningful threat having been a Will McIntyre double off the wall in leftfield. Stewart went 6.2 innings before walking McIntyre in a drawn-out plate appearance, which put him at 106 pitches, and the Miners sent Lindauer to bat for the left-handed Angulo. Reynaldo Bravo answered with a strikeout… but not without throwing a wild pitch at 1-2 first. Martinez’ leadoff single after the stretch off Paez then was only the second Critters base knock in the game, and we can’t have such a rush of offense, so Brobeck hit into a double play immediately. Bravo handled the eighth in the 1-0 game in 1-2-3 fashion and with two strikeouts, and the Raccoons did nothing with Labonte’s leadoff single in the eighth inning. Walters got into the game this time, but walked Ryan Spehar to begin the ninth inning. Price popped out to third base, however, and Lonzo received a grounder from Corrales that was easily spun around for two outs. 1-0 Blighters. M. Chavez 0-1, 2 BB; Stewart 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (9-11); The two stolen bases meant that Lonzo overtook Xavier Reyes of the Baybirds for first place in the CL with 40 stolen bases. This was also the ABL lead, with nobody in the FL having even reached 30 at this point. Game 3 PIT: 2B A. Vasquez – SS Spehar – 1B K. Price – 3B Corrales – RF Angulo – C Monaghan – CF Lindauer – LF N. Daniels – P Sweeton POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 3B Anderson – P Carreno Carreno met disaster as soon as he put his brown pants on as Vasquez bunted for a base hit on his very first pitch on Thursday, while his own error put Spehar on base, and singles by Price and Corrales first loaded the bases and then brought in two runs. Somehow the Miners went from that to making three straight poor outs against “Pinata” Carreno then, but they were back in the third inning with a Corrales single and Eric Monaghan’s 2-run homer to left, 4-0. While the Coons did diddly squat, Carreno wasted more oxygen going into the fifth inning, then was taken deep by Corrales himself in solo fashion, allowed a hit to Angulo, an RBI double to Monaghan, and then a 2-run homer to Lindauer to double the score to 8-0. Neal Hamann got a pop from Nathan Daniels to finally end the inning, then was hit for with Brobeck, who was then seamlessly inserted for garbage duty and proved that yes, miracles DO happen – not that the Raccoons would make up an 8-0 deficit, nah, Sweeton pitched a 7-hit shutout; but Brobeck pitched FOUR SCORELESS to get the game over with. 8-0 Miners. Labonte 2-3; Starr (PH) 1-1; Brobeck 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Where did that come from?? No, Slappy, four scoreless from Brobeck; I’m entirely used to Carreno getting blown to Kingdom Come by now. Raccoons (55-66) vs. Indians (54-68) – August 16-18, 2058 Fourth place in the South was still hotly contested between these two teams, who were the two worst in terms of scoring runs in the CL, with the Raccoons even 29 runs behind the Indians at this point, not that the numbers surprised me a lot. They were eighth in runs allowed, carrying a -73 run differential. They also led the season series, 7-5. The Indians were without four B’s, all on the DL: Barbieri, Brent (Andrews), and Bernie Bahena; Projected matchups: Cameron Argenziano (6-1, 2.69 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (6-4, 3.72 ERA) Chance Fox (2-6, 5.04 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (8-10, 4.25 ERA) Bobby Herrera (10-7, 3.18 ERA) vs. Chris Kaye (4-9, 5.07 ERA) Oyola would be the third straight ex-Coon to face the team. All options were right-handed, but Ben Akman (4-4, 3.93 ERA) and Kaye had both pitched in a double header on Tuesday and both were regular-rest options for the Raccoons. For the time being there was another double header entirely, as the Friday game was washed away by persistent rain that lasted into the night. Two games were thus on the plate for Saturday. Game 1 IND: SS Kilday – 2B Ewers – CF O. Ramos – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B R. Vargas – RF Lovins – C Lefebvre – LF Oldfield – P Oyola POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – LF Puckeridge – C C. Chavez – 3B Bribiesca – P Argenziano So what we needed more than anything else was Argenziano give up two hits, two walks, and two runs in the first inning, the runs coming on Chris Lovins’ 2-out, bases-loaded single. Michael Lefebvre grounded out to Labonte to strand a pair. Argenziano went on to give up a solo homer to Kevin Ewers in the top 3rd, but ultimately only surrendered one more hit and one other walk against seven strikeouts through six innings, which still took him 107 pitches and wasn’t making the pitching plans for the rest of the day any easier. The Raccoons were scattering four hits against Oyola through five innings, once having on Lonzo with a single, but he got caught stealing by Lefebvre before Martinez singled and Starr doubled with two outs and both were stranded in scoring position by a Pucks pop. Neal Hamann held the Indians at bay in the seventh inning before Jesus Martinez opened the bottom 7th with home run #13 on the year (quite pathetic for a team leader), and the Raccoons also got Pucks and Cortez Chavez on with one out. Bribiesca whiffed against Oyola, but Steve Royer drilled a ball into the right-center gap in his first appearance of the entire week and then legged out a game-tying triple…! Labonte struck out to leave him in scoring position, though. Tanizaki walked a pair in the eighth and somehow wasn’t blown up, ending the inning with strikeouts against Lovins and Lefebvre. Ricardo Vargas’ error at the hot corner then put Lonzo on base to begin the bottom 8th and Oyola allowed a single to center to Caswell that sent Lonzo all the way to third base. Martinez’ sharp and clean single to left got Matt Walters warming up in earnest, but then Pucks tripled in two more runs and scored on an error by Quinteros when Brobeck pinch-hit with two outs. That took the save off again. 2-out singles by Richard Anderson and Paul Labonte filled the bases against righty Dave Corrao, and Lonzo dinked a ball into the right-center gap on a 1-1 pitch. Brobeck scored, Anderson scored, Labonte tried to score, but was thrown out at the plate to end the 6-run rush. Brobeck then completed the game on the hill, two days removed from four innings in garbage relief, getting three easy outs from the Arrowheads. 9-3 Coons. Labonte 2-5; Lavorano 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martinez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 3-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Royer (PH) 1-1, 3B, 2 RBI; Anderson (PH) 1-1; What a display of “we don’t care any more about this” on multiple levels by having Brobeck pitch the ninth… Game 2 IND: SS Kilday – 2B Ewers – CF O. Ramos – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B R. Vargas – RF Lovins – C Villafan – LF McConnell – P B. Lawrence POR: CF Royer – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C M. Chavez – 3B Anderson – 2B Bribiesca – P Fox Matt Kilday singled, Kevin Ewers walked, and Ramos’ fielder’s choice to short and Quinteros’ deep fly to Royer got home a quick run against Chance Fox in the first inning of the nightcap. A walk to Lovins and Blake McConnell’s 2-run homer in the second inning tripled the score already, and Cristiano, if you tell me ONE MORE TIME how good Fox’ so-and-so stats are, I will print out this box score and stuff your snout with it! The Coons took until the fourth inning to get to the board, scoring a 2-out run on singles by Starr, who stole second in a confused hit-and-run botch call that left Willie Villafan even more befuddled than Anderson, and then Anderson, plating Starr from second base, 3-1. Same deal in the fifth; 2-out singles by Lonzo, who stole second base, and Brass, narrowing the score further to 3-2. Lawrence didn’t throw a strike to Martinez, but then Starr popped out to strand a pair. The bottom of the sixth began with Lawrence walking Chavez and Anderson before getting replaced with Melvin Guerra, who popped out Bribiesca. Fox was retained to bunt, purely to confuse the Indians further, but Royer flew out to center to strand another pair. Fox got an out from McConnell in the seventh before singles by Steve Thompson and Kilday knocked him out. Siwik struck out Cory Oldfield and Orlando Ramos to kill the inning for Indy, though. Indy even loaded the bases against Eloy Sencion in the eighth inning before both McConnell and Thompson struck out to keep a soft single by Vargas and walks drawn by Hugo Munoz and Villafan on the bases. This was all screaming for a comeback by the home team, and Joel Starr singled off Randy Slocum to begin the bottom 8th, and Thompson overran the ball in rightfield to give him an extra base. Chavez’ and Anderson’s fly outs were both deep enough for Starr to advance, and Anderson’s sac fly tied the game at three. Bribiesca singled, but Caswell popped out against Dave Corrao to end the inning. Walters was used to keep the Arrowheads in their place in the ninth, with the top of the order leading off the bottom of the hopefully-last inning, even though we still had a couple of relievers available, including Ivan Ornelas for multiple innings. Royer reached on a Vargas error to begin the inning, then was caught stealing. Lonzo singled and stole second base for real, but had to hold on Brass’ grounder to third base, and Martinez merely walked on an open base with two outs. Starr lined out against Matt Green, with a fine catch now by Vargas, to end the inning and send the game to extras. The Coons stuck to Walters for the tenth, which turned out to be the wrong move. Lefebvre drew a walk coming off the bench into the #6 hole, and singles by McConnell and Thompson brought him in to score with two outs before K-ilday ended the inning. That was the fifth strikeout for Walters in the outing, but he was still on the short end of the stick now. Portland didn’t go down all that easily in the bottom 10th, though. While Jameel Williams struck out Chavez and Bribiesca, pinch-hitters Labonte and Pucks reached with a 1-out single and a 2-out walk, bringing back a rather successless Steve Royer … who struck out as well. 4-3 Indians. Brassfield 2-4, BB, RBI; Starr 2-5; Anderson 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Labonte (PH) 1-1; Game 3 IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – LF O. Ramos – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B R. Vargas – CF Oldfield – C Lefebvre – 2B Ewers – P Kaye POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C M. Chavez – LF Puckeridge – 3B Anderson – P B. Herrera The real problems developed when Bobby Herrera appeared to have NOTHING to start the Sunday game. The Indians began the game with clipping three singles for a run, and Quinteros hit a sac fly, 2-0. Vargas walked, Oldfield hit another single, and Lefebvre thankfully found Lonzo for a 6-4-3 double play. Herrera didn’t get out of the third inning, which the Indians opened with four straight hits, and it was 5-0 with a pair in scoring position and one out in the inning when he was yanked after allowing nine hits and a walk. Ornelas took over, got a comebacker from Ewers, and a grounder to short from Kaye to at least limit the damage to what it already was. Ornelas held out for the middle innings without allowing a run, and while the Coons had only a stray homer by Caswell in the first five innings, the bases were loaded with nobody out to begin the bottom 6th against Kaye as Labonte singled, Lonzo doubled, and Caswell walked. Martinez popped out next to first base in foul ground, and Starr’s fly to right that allowed Labonte to score was the only run in the inning as Chavez was robbed by Lovins charging into the gap and snatching his 2-out drive. Hamann had a smooth seventh in the 5-2 game, but Bravo walked three and plated a run with a wild pitch before needing to be rescued by Sencion in the eighth. Tanizaki got romped even worse, giving up a 2-run homer to Quinteros and a solo shot to Oldfield in the ninth as the rout concluded rather unmercifully. 9-2 Indians. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Caswell 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ornelas 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; In other news August 12 – More long-term injuries every day: Rebels SP Antonio Alfaro (9-7, 3.81 ERA) will be out for a full year after suffering a tear in his UCL. August 12 – Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.332, 16 HR, 78 RBI) won’t be available until September with a torn hamstring. August 13 – DEN SP Raul Ontiveros (9-10, 3.16 ERA) 2-hits the Condors in a 7-0 shutout. August 13 – The Warriors lose 2B Mike DeFusco (.235, 5 HR, 39 RBI) until the middle of September after the 28-year-old has suffered a strained rib cage muscle. August 15 – The Pacifics beat the Gold Sox, 10-6, thanks to a 10-run first inning, then spend the rest of the game kicking back and managing. August 17 – Another catcher has put a 20-game hitting streak together after two singles and the only RBI of the game are entered into the box score of a 1-0 win against the Falcons by SFB 1B/C Jon Mittleider (.307, 1 HR, 43 RBI). August 17 – The Condors out-slog the Aces, 14-11 in 11 innings, hitting six home runs, with 3B/RF Eric Frasher (.243, 13 HR, 51 RBI) chipping in a pair. August 18 – San Francisco’s Jon Mittleider (.306, 1 HR, 43 RBI) goes hitless in a 4-3 loss to the Falcons and ends his hitting streak at 20 games. FL Player of the Week: LAP 1B Chris Rice (.321, 8 HR, 58 RBI), batting .407 (11-27) with 2 HR, 10 RBI CL Player of the Week: LVA 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.321, 15 HR, 67 RBI), smacking .424 (14-33) with 4 HR, 8 RBI Complaints and stuff Five scoreless innings from Brobeck this week – he’s totally gonna be in the rotation next year! No, we have no clue how to form this hapless lump of broken pieces into an actual winning team right now. Next week: three at Loggers, then three at home against the Aces. No starter lined up for Wednesday, either; the off day is on Thursday. *Fun Fact:* Lonzo stole six bases this week, and seven in the last eight days. He got ONE in the preceding 17 games. Baseball is a funny thing. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 88 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.