Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (15-17) vs. Cyclones (14-17) – May 11-13, 2060

The homestand opened facing the #1 offense in the Federal League, along with the #4 pitching staff. Somehow that added up to a +36 run differential and sitting three games under .500 for the Cyclones, who looked just as confused as I was. This series had last been played two years ago. The Raccoons had lost the last two meetings with the Cyclones, both times two games to one. Regular third baseman Matt Ruskin was out on the DL for Cincy.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (3-2, 3.26 ERA) vs. Joe Chalmers (2-2, 3.58 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (2-0, 2.27 ERA) vs. Luis Palacios (1-2, 2.84 ERA)
Zach Stewart (2-3, 4.93 ERA) vs. Cameron Parks (3-3, 3.83 ERA)

Palacios was the only southpaw we’d face in this series, in the middle game on Wednesday. After a day off on Monday, we’d play the 13 games on this homestand without another day off, so everybody could expect at least one day off in the course of it all.

Game 1
CIN: 3B A. Duncan – 2B J. Sanchez – SS Monck – RF MacDonnell – 1B Saulsberry – C Fink – LF Puckeridge – CF M. Cooke – P Chalmers
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Suriel – P DeRose

The Cyclones had four hits before the Raccoons had any, but scattered them across three innings and didn’t get close to scoring. Alan Puckeridge received a warm welcome back in Portland (Manny Cooke less so), and grounded out with Brycen Fink on base in the second inning to help the Cyclones not score any early runs. Instead, DeRose and Joey Christopher hit back-to-back doubles in the third inning to give the Raccoons a 1-0 lead. Cooke got a single for Cincy in the fifth, but was doubled up by Chalmers on a bad bunt. Jordan Sanchez’ loud leadoff double in the sixth looked like trouble, especially with five straight left-handed batters coming up after that against DeRose, but Rich Monck popped out, John MacDonnell walked, Marquise Saulsberry flew out to Christopher, and Fink flew out to Caswell to again prevent the Cyclones from scoring. The bottom of the order made three loud outs against DeRose in the seventh, with Pucks sending a ball flying all the way to the warning track, but Christopher got there to make a catch. The Cyclones continued to make loud outs in the eighth while the Coons’ skinny 1-0 lead feared for its life. Adam Duncan hit a deep fly out, and then DeRose’s day ended on a 2-out single to center hit by Rich Monck. The Raccoons went to Ricky Herrera, who was met by righty PH Jerry Morales, who worked a walk. Marcos Onelas was another right-handed pinch-hitter, but now we went to Ryan Sullivan. Onelas hit a fly to deep right, but this one also came down with Christopher on the warning track and ended the inning. The Raccoons’ pinch-hitters helped them to load the bases in the bottom 8th, with nobody out, as Nick Fowler doubled for Suriel, Joe Agee drew a walk, and then Christopher’s single to left filled them up against first Chalmers, then Ernesto Rios. Lonzo dinked a 3-2 pitch into shallow left for an RBI single, but Cas’ grounder to third base was tailor-made for a 5-2-3 double play. Nick Nye came through with an RBI single to center, though, before Starr flew out to Pucks. Matt Walters struck out the first two batters he faced in the ninth, Cooke hit a single (!?), but Jose Garza then struck out to end the opener. 3-0 Raccoons. Christopher 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Fowler (PH) 1-1, 2B; DeRose 7.2 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-2) and 1-2, 2B;

And then, no Palacios on Wednesday. Cameron Parks was moved up into the middle game.

Game 2
CIN: 3B A. Duncan – LF J. Garza – 2B Onelas – RF MacDonnell – C J. Morales – 1B Saulsberry – CF M. Cooke – SS J. Sanchez – P Parks
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Gonzales – P Riddle

Cincy found the scoreboard first on Wednesday, loading the bases with singles from MacDonnell and Morales, and a walk drawn by Saulsberry, in the top of the second inning before being held to one run on Manny Cooke’s sac fly. Riddle didn’t show much finesse and didn’t miss many bats in this start, and relied on the defense to make things right for him. While that mostly worked out, give or take a fifth-inning run scored by the Cyclones through singles by Jordan Sanchez and Adam Duncan, the other side of the box score with the Raccoons’ offensive heroics was just an absolute wasteland. Through five innings we had one pitiful base hit, an Angel Perez single, and one walk drawn by Starr, and hadn’t been remotely close to scoring a run.

Joe-Chris drew a walk with one down in the bottom 6th, and Lonzo quickly followed up with a single, so the tying runs were at least on base for once. Cas and Nye both popped out to a middle infielder, though, to ensure the tying runs remained on base. In turn, Riddle was torn to nothing but shreds in the seventh inning, facing four batters and giving up four increasingly loud base hits, starting with a Saulsberry single. Cooke (!) and Sanchez bashed RBI doubles, and even the pitcher chimed in with an RBI single by Parks that whizzed up the middle. The response by the Raccoons was … non-existent. They laid down and took it, and didn’t reach base again in the last three innings… 5-0 Cyclones.

Cameron Parks finished the game with a 2-hit shutout, which was very nice for Cameron Parks.

Noah Caswell meanwhile was 2-for-36 in his last 11 games and got a day off rather early in this string of games… This was despite no left-hander showing up; the Cyclones instead went with right-hander Bob Ruggiero (2-3, 2.91 ERA).

Game 3
CIN: 3B A. Duncan – LF J. Garza – 2B Onelas – RF MacDonnell – C J. Morales – 1B Saulsberry – CF M. Cooke – SS Wartella – P Ruggiero
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – CF Caballero – 3B Fowler – P Stewart

More of the same in the rubber game. The Raccoons couldn’t get a bloody thing going early on, while the Cyclones scored a run in the second on Saulsberry’s double and a Matt Wartella single, then another run in the next inning, which was unearned thanks to a throwing error by Nick Fowler that put Garza on second base, from where he swiftly scored on Onelas’ single to center. The Raccoons bled singles left and right, and didn’t reach base safely even once the first time through the order themselves. This did not include Joe-Chris getting nailed to put him on in the bottom 1st. He was duly stranded. Nick Nye reached base on an error in the fourth inning, but was stranded by Brassfield, and the Raccoons remained hitless until Lonzo dropped a double into right-center in the sixth inning and was also strictly stranded as quickly as feasible.

Stewart lasted only six laborious innings of 7-hit, 2-run ball on 101 pitches, lacking stuff and barely getting as much defense as he needed to not get wiped out early. Bravo held the Cyclones close in the seventh, giving up only a 1-out single to Duncan. Brassfield then dropped a single into leftfield to begin the bottom 7th, and was moved into scoring position when Maresh drew a walk behind him in a full count. Caballero struck out, but Nick Fowler dropped a ball into shallow right that MacDonnell dove for, missed, and then had to chase backwards while the Raccoons scored a run (hh!!) and moved a pair of runners into scoring position on the single and error. Angel Perez batted for Bravo, popped out uselessly, and then Christopher drew a walk, which in itself wasn’t very helpful with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Lonzo batted with nowhere to put ‘em and two outs, but flew out rather easily to MacDonnell…

The very next pitch thrown by Ruggiero then became a game-tying homer hit by Joel Starr in the bottom 8th, but he of course batted with nobody on base. Ricky Herrera had at least put together a 1-2-3 eighth to keep the Cyclones within reach. Maybe Ricky Herrera’s black devil magic was doing something here, because not only did the Raccoons get Brass on base with a 1-out single, but Adam Duncan also threw away Maresh’s grounder for two bases, putting another pair in scoring position. Oscar Caballero had the best shot to get the go-ahead run home, but his fly to Chris Anzo in shallow left wasn’t getting anything done. That left Nick Fowler, who faced Ernesto Rios, and shoved the first ball through the right side for a 2-out, 2-run single. Offense…! Wheee…! Caswell then batted for Ricky Herrera, on his way to sneaking another W, and suddenly bopped a 2-run homer to right. That was it for the 5-run inning; Ryan Sullivan held the Cyclones short in the ninth to take the series. 6-2 Critters. Brassfield 2-4; Fowler 2-3, BB, 3 RBI; Caswell (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI;

Ricky Herrera was now up to 3-0, and DeRose was the only starter on the roster with more wins (four).

Raccoons (17-18) vs. Titans (18-15) – May 14-16, 2060

From the #1 offense in the FL (which didn’t score *that* many runs against the Raccoons) to the bottom-ranked offense in the CL, with the Titans scoring under 3.6 runs per game. Now, they were also allowing the fewest runs – with a -1 run differential – so the Raccoons, a whopping 11th in runs scored in the CL, might have more scoring issues here. Boston, without Matt Gilmore and with an ailing Manny Rubin on the roster, led the season series, 2-1.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (3-3, 6.07 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (3-2, 3.00 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-5, 4.03 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (3-2, 2.44 ERA)
Justin DeRose (4-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (4-2, 2.87 ERA)

Only righty opposition scheduled here.

Game 1
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B Leitch – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – C Burkart – 3B Elkins – 2B W. de Leon – P Brenize
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Agee – 3B Suriel – P Fox

Chance Fox sucked, and there was no way to talk it nice. Jonathan Watson and Alan Leitch reached before Ted Lloyd socked a 3-run homer in the first inning, and he nailed Jon Elkins and Eddie Marcotte before walking Watson and giving up two more runs on a Leitch single in the second. He didn’t get out of the third inning at all; Bruce Burkart doubled, Willie de Leon singled him home, 6-0, and a walk to Brenize did his head in for good. Alex Rios walked Marcotte before whiffing Watson and getting outta there. Rios and Harris were then put in the crusher in the fourth inning, giving up four more runs between them. Adam Harris was then burned in the middle innings and put on the very next bus going down I-5, while Ruben Mendez started the seventh inning by nicking PH Jim Auld, and went to allowing three RBI knocks facing Leith, Lloyd, and Valdez from there. The rout was not complete, though, until Bruce Burkart hit a 2-out, 2-run homer off Bravo in the ninth inning.

For bright sides, Armando Suriel got his first major league hit with a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, which told you a thing or two about how well the offense was going once again. And, oh yeah, he was also stranded. It was one of five hits the Raccoons cobbled together in this game, three of them coming in the last inning, which Trent Brassfield “crowned” (?) with a 2-out, 3-run homer off ex-Coon Mike Lane that I wished he would have saved for tomorrow. 15-3 Titans. Fowler (PH) 1-1; Brassfield 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Suriel 1-2, BB;

Good news for Boston: they were no longer bottoms in runs scored.

“Peppers” Harris (0-0, 1.80 ERA) threw 36 pitches before being demoted again. He took Joe Agee (0-for-5, nada, nada) right with him. Jack Kozak returned, having batted 10-24 with two homers in just six games in St. Petersburg, and Bobby Sneeze was brought up just to soak up some innings. He had a 1.42 ERA in St. Pete.

Game 2
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B J. Watson – C Arviso – 1B Abecassis – LF Y. Valdez – RF Lloyd – 3B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – P Musgrave
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – 3B Suriel – P B. Herrera

The relentless Titans offense (cough! cough!) put a 3-spot on Bobby Herrera right in the first inning, starting with a Watson double and a walk drawn by Jorge Arviso. Alex Abecassis’ RBI double, Yoslan Valdez’ RBI groundout, and Ted Lloyd’s RBI single then brought in the three runs in order before Willie de Leon struck out. But don’t you worry, it got well worse, and fast, from there, as Trent Brassfield began the bottom 1st with a single to left, then broke a finger sliding into second on a confused hit-and-run with Lonzo in which he was nevertheless forced out thanks to the spanker at Leitch that Lonzo had hit. Brass was out of the game (and for a while) and was replaced with Caballero. Lonzo was then caught stealing.

Starr then opened the second inning with a single to center, but was doubled up by Perez. Suriel and Caballero hit singles to go to the corners in the third inning, but Lonzo hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Starr drew a 2-out walk in the bottom 4th, then tried to go to third base on a Perez single to left-center, but was thrown out by Marcotte.

While all that **** was going on, Bobby Herrera pitched five halfway decent innings after the baffling first, giving up one more run along the way when Lloyd doubled home Valdez, but apart from that the Titans contained themselves, for it was reasonable for them to believe that they had all the offense they’d ever need. The Titans added a run in the seventh inning on Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!), who couldn’t get through the inning and put Marcotte and Watson on base with two outs, Ricky Herrera, who gave up the RBI single to Arviso, but also Kozak, who dropped an Arviso pop in foul ground that could have, should have ended the inning. At that point the Raccoons were still looking for ways to get on the scoreboard that didn’t involve bribery of or outright violence against officials. They did so in the bottom 8th, when Cas drove home Lonzo for a pity run, and Joel Starr hit a home run off Josh Carlisle in the ninth inning, but the Raccoons managed to fall well short. 5-2 Titans. Brassfield 1-1; Caballero 3-3; Caswell 2-3, RBI; Starr 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Christopher (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Funny part: we actually, somehow, out-hit the Titans, 13-8. I can’t even… explain… hoooow…

With a broken claw in a ghastly-looking splint for at least a month, Trent Brassfield went on the DL and took the team-leading 146 OPS+ (among regulars) with him. With rehab, he wasn’t expected back before July.

Ben Morris was batting .312/.400/.464 in 30 games with the Alley Cats and was brought up. There was for sure a spot in leftfield which he could have fights over with Kozak and Caballero now…

Game 3
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B J. Watson – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – LF Y. Valdez – RF Lloyd – 3B W. de Leon – SS Leitch – P Craddock
POR: RF Christopher – SS Fowler – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – LF Morris – 3B Gonzales – P DeRose

Jonathan Watson struck out twice … in the first inning. Which already told you a bit of a spoiler as to who completed a series sweep on Sunday, as the Titans, despite starting with two strikeouts against DeRose, still managed to ravage him for a 5-spot by putting eight straight men on base. Arviso single, Rubin double, Valdez single, Lloyd reached on an error (which would be the only thing that kept DeRose’s ERA somewhat nice) by Gonzales, de Leon singled, Leitch walked, CRADDOCK SINGLED, and Marcotte drew another walk before Watson left the ******* bases loaded.

To anybody’s surprise, the Raccoons got three 2-out hits from Starr (single), Nye (double), and Cas (2-run single) to make up *some* of the damage in the bottom 1st, but only for the Raccoons to fudge it all up even harder in the top 2nd. Rubin and Valdez had 1-out knocks against DeRose and were in scoring position when Fowler fumbled Lloyd’s grounder for another error. One run scored there, and an extra run on de Leon’s grounder to Nye. Leitch grounded out to strand a guy in the … (sigh) … 7-2 game. Morris and Gonzales hit leadoff singles to begin the bottom 2nd. DeRose, who could not be disposed of this early and still somehow finish the game with pitchers alive and having arms attached, bunted the runners into scoring position, Christopher whiffed, but Nick Fowler pushed another 2-out, 2-run single to right to narrow the score to 7-4.

But nothing helped, and DeRose was bludgeoned out of the game after all in the fourth inning on four more base hits by Arviso and Rubin with leadoff singles, and after Valdez’ groundout a 2-run single by Lloyd and an RBI double off the wall mashed by de Leon. That made it… well, a whole lotta runs on the board, and in all the wrong places. The Raccoons burned Ruben Mendez for two innings and small change, then went to Bobby Sneeze in the seventh inning again. Sneeze (gesundheit!) was immediately lit up with Alan Leitch’s leadoff jack wrapped around the pole in leftfield, 11-4 or something, then failed the bags full after that and allowed two more runs to score on a Rubin single. Sneeze pitched the eighth as well, until he was blue in the face, and Alex Rios added a scoreless ninth. So did Mike Lane for Boston after eight by Craddock. 13-4 Titans. Fowler 2-4, 2 RBI; Gonzales 2-3, BB; Mendez 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K;

In other news

May 11 – The Bayhawks might be without LF Grant Anker (.278, 5 HR, 15 RBI) for two months after the 23-year-old suffered an oblique strain.
May 12 – WAS 2B Joo-chan Lee (.270, 0 HR, 13 RBI) will miss three weeks with a back strain.
May 15 – Blue Sox catcher David Johnson (.323, 6 HR, 26 RBI) will be sorely missed by the Nashville ballclub for at least a month after suffering a broken thumb.
May 15 – SAC RF/CF Will Buras (.315, 7 HR, 21 RBI) leads off the first inning for Sacramento with a home run, and that bomb will stand up for a 1-0 win against the Warriors.

FL Player of the Week: TOP LF/RF Dan Martin (.317, 6 HR, 26 RBI), batting .588 (10-17) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA INF Miguel Veguilla (.283, 3 HR, 10 RBI), hitting .500 (14-28) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

-44. Our run differential after 38 games is … -44. (confused paw movements)

Chance Fox narrowly avoided deletion this week because I am such a generous and charitable person. We have to support the weak and feeble-minded in society after all. Not gonna suffer another 2.2 IP, 6 ER outing from him, though…

Then again, if we deleted every pitcher that sucked, we’d be left with Matt Walters… and … uh…

I wonder what’s Preston Pinkerton is up to.

Could get much worse next week when he play the damn Elks for four and the Aces for another three games.

Fun Fact: The Titans have scored 42 of their 150 runs scored this year – 28% – against the Raccoons.

In case you weren’t sure, they didn’t play 28% of their GAMES against the Raccoons this year. It’s closer to 18%.

It’s not quite 18%, though.

It’s 16.67%.

(calmly unscrews bottle of Capt’n Coma)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-21) vs. Canadiens (13-25) – May 17-20, 2060

The Pacific Northwest was (including the Wolves) a combined 45-66 to begin this season, so things could have gone better up here. Maybe the water was to clean. Maybe Nick Valdes could do something about this. Players weren’t getting all their metals and chemicals they needed. Anyway. The damn Elks were bottoms in the division, but the Raccoons were collapsing fast. This was the worst offense facing the worst pitching, with the Elks also bottom four in runs scored with a -57 run differential (Coons: -44). The Raccoons had not lost a season series against the Elks in six years and had won the last four, including a 12-6 campaign last year.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (2-1, 2.90 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (1-6, 5.53 ERA)
Zach Stewart (2-3, 4.43 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (4-1, 2.67 ERA)
Chance Fox (3-4, 7.24 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (2-5, 5.22 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-6, 4.26 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (1-4, 5.82 ERA)

Overy was the only left-hander in this set. Meanwhile the Elks had four players on the DL that I had never even heard off, which didn’t quite offset the giant hemorrhaging wound that the Trent Brassfield injury had torn into the Raccoons lineup.

As expected, there was also a roster move, with Bobby Sneeze (0-0, 10.13 ERA) sent back to AAA to begin the week to make room for fresh fodder for the giant fuming machine out behind the fence in centerfielder that kept grinding our pitchers to dust. So here was Brad Loveless back with his own ERA hugging 10 as closely as possible.

Game 1
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 2B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – RF D. Moreno – SS Younce – C A. Maldonado – 3B C. Sullivan – CF B. Needham – P Overy
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Caballero – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P Riddle

Tyler Riddle did two things really well in the first four innings of the series opener: giving up singles precisely over the second-base bag, three in total, and then either having Mark Younce caught stealing third base or just striking the Elks out until order was restored, whiffing six in total in four innings. At which point Angel Perez hit a 2-run homer with Starr on base in the bottom 4th for the first actual runs in the game. Angel Perez wasn’t done murdering Andy Overy yet, though; after Riddle got three groundouts in the fifth inning, the Raccoons went back to work. Joe-Chris and Lonzo hit 1-out singles in the bottom 5th, and Nick Nye plated a run with a groundout. Joel Starr drew a 2-out walk, and then Perez deposited another souvenir in the stands, now for a 3-piece that extended the score to 6-0 and sent Overy to the showers. Riddle completed seven innings on exactly 100 pitches, giving up an unearned run in the last frame he pitched. Damian Moreno singled to center while Younce reached base when his slow roller near the first base line was picked by Perez and thrown into Moreno’s back, from where it glanced into foul territory for a 2-base error. That came with nobody out; Riddle got a K from Alex Maldonado, but gave up a sac fly to Chris Sullivan. Bobby Needham grounded out to Starr to end the inning. Perez would get another good knock on a pitch by Matt McDonald in the eighth inning, but flew out to Danny Garcia in deep left on that, being denied a third homer. Meanwhile, Alex Rios, Brad Loveless, and Reynaldo Bravo put six outs together without allowing a run, although an Elk reached in each of the last two innings. 6-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Perez 2-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (3-1);

Game 2
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 2B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – RF D. Moreno – SS Younce – C A. Maldonado – 3B Triplett – CF B. Needham – P Brink
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Maresh – LF Morris – 3B Suriel – P Stewart

Zach Stewart was perfect the first time through, including six strikeouts, which sure looked impressive. He also caught a liner off Bobby Needham’s bat that tried to decapitate him, so all was well besides a need for fresh pants. Well, give or take some actual Raccoons offense; the Critters had no base hits the first time through, either, and in fact it would be Alex Maldonado with a 2-out single in the fifth to not only kill Stewart’s 14-up, 14-down, but also put the first base hit into the box score at all.

Ben Morris had reached on an error in the bottom 3rd, but had been left on base after stealing second. In the bottom 5th, the Coons’ first-sacker Starr-ted at second base thanks to a 2-base throwing error by Jose Campos. He advanced on Maresh’s groundout, while Morris walked. The go-ahead run then scored on a wild pitch. Whatever works! Suriel grounded out, and then Zach Stewart got the first base knock for the Raccoons, a 2-out RBI double to right, then scored on Christopher’s own RBI double to right-center. Lonzo grounded out, but we were now up 3-0. This was extended to 4-0 on a solo jack by Nick Nye in the bottom 6th.

Stewart struck out the side in the sixth then, reaching 11 K for the game, then made it a dozen with a K on Thomas Whittington to begin the seventh inning. With two outs, though, Damian Moreno drew a walk and Mark Younce singled to left before Maldonado ran a full count – but struck out. Only here did Stewart’s pitch economy derail, because up until here he had been on pace for a shutout despite all the strikeouts. He still batted for himself in the bottom 7th, hitting a leadoff single, then scored on back-to-back 2-out doubles by Cas and Nye. New reliever Carlos Torres then got bombed to right by Starr, doubling the score to 8-0 in the inning. Stewart returned for the eighth then, but got no more strikeouts. He walked Doug Triplett, but got a double play from Chris Sullivan and finished the inning, but was then on 108 pitches, which was well enough for him. Danny Garcia hit a leadoff double against Ruben Mendez in the ninth, but Mendez then struck out the next three batters for a total of 16 Elks gone down in flames in this game. 8-0 Furballs! Nye 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Stewart 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 13 K, W (3-3) and 2-3, 2B, RBI;

Game 3
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 2B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – RF D. Moreno – SS Younce – C A. Maldonado – 3B Triplett – CF B. Needham – P A. Jesus
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Morris – 3B Suriel – P Fox

The Raccoons didn’t need a shutout from Foxie Brown on Wednesday, but they needed *something*. It could not get any worse than it already was, which with a 7.24 ERA was not a particularly high bar to fall over. The baseball gods had already made up their mind, though. The game began with an infield single by Garcia to Lonzo, then another infield single by Whittington that Nye knocked down but could not play for anything. The first mound conference was called nine pitches into the game, but it at least worked. Campos whiffed, Moreno grounded out, and Younce flew out to Christopher to end the inning. The Coons then went up 1-0 in the bottom 1st on a walk drawn by Christopher, who stole his 10th base, tying Lonzo for the team lead, and scored on Nye’s 2-out single. Christopher reached base and scored his next time up as well, getting an infield single of his own with one out in the bottom 3rd. He advanced on Lonzo’s groundout, then scored easily anyway when Noah Caswell hit a bomb over the fence in right-center, 3-0.

Fox held the Elks scoreless until the fifth, when a throwing error by Lonzo undermined his efforts. It put Doug Triplett on second base with nobody out, and Needham singled to right immediately afterwards. Triplett came in to score, but at least the Raccoons trapped Needham in a rundown between first and second when he tried to gain the extra base and slapped him out. Cas answered that (unearned) run with a solo jack to right in the bottom of the same inning, restoring a 3-run lead. Foxie Brown’s counts ran long by the sixth inning, but the Elks didn’t get any better contact than before. He struck out two in full counts in the sixth, while Maldonado reached on a 1-out single in the seventh inning before being doubled off, 6-4-3, by Triplett on Fox’ 100th pitch, which would be enough reclamation of respect for this day. Jesus was still going in the bottom 7th, filling the bags with a 1-out single Nick Fowler hit in Fox’ place, then two walks to the 1-2 pair. Like Perez on Monday, Cas made a serious bid for a third homer, but hit it entirely to the wrong part of the ballpark. Needham tracked down his long fly, but it was good enough for a sac fly at least. Christopher moved to third base, Lonzo stole second after that, but Nye’s fly to deep right was caught by Moreno and the inning ended. Portland tacked on a run in the eighth on a pinch-hit, run-scoring double play grounder by Chris Maresh, which wasn’t the stuff that ballads were written about, but at least stretched the score some more before Jose Campos’ homer off Ryan Sullivan in the ninth inning, which in the end remained inconsequential. 6-2 Raccoons! Christopher 1-2, 2 BB; Caswell 2-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Nye 2-4, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1; Fowler (PH) 1-1, 2B; Fox 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (4-4);

Can we have a sweep and get back to .500 …? If we can overcome Chance Fox, we can surely overcome whichever black devil curse befell Bobby Herrera…!

Game 4
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Younce – RF D. Moreno – 1B J. Campos – 3B Whittington – CF B. Needham – C F. Chavez – 2B Roldan – P Broad
POR: RF Christopher – SS Fowler – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – 3B Suriel – P B. Herrera

The Elks *really* crammed that lineup with left-handers, and only Younce and Campos would bat right-handed against Herrera, but they held themselves to a single in each of their first two innings batting and didn’t score. The Raccoons did, with the help of their pair of first basemen, in the bottom 2nd, as Starr doubled off the wall in right, and then scored on Kozak’s 2-out single. The Elks continued their one-runner-per-inning thing; Younce drew a walk in the third, and Whittington got an infield single in the fourth, but so far they didn’t even reach third base. The string only ended when the 8-9-1 batters struck out in order in the fifth.

Some tack-on offense would be nice, but Broad didn’t give up a lot either; in fact, both pitchers surrendered only three base hits in the first five innings of the game, although Tipsy Bobby struck out eight Elks against three Critters for Broad. No strikeouts in the sixth for Herrera, but three groundouts would do. The seventh began with a K to Whittington, but Fernando Chavez singled with two outs after running a long count, and now Herrera was on 108 pitches while the damn Elks hit one lefty batter for another as Chris Sullivan pinch-hit for Ruben Roldan. If they could remove one lefty stick for another, we could sure switch one Herrera for another! Ricky Herrera secured a fly to Christopher and the inning was over.

Unsatisfyingly, Ricky H. then gave up a leadoff single to Larry Broad in the eighth inning. Garcia flew out easily, but the Coons moved to Ryan Sullivan, who successfully frittered the narrow lead away with Angel Perez. Younce hit a single, the two runners advanced into scoring position on Moreno’s groundout, and then the tying run scored on a … passed ball. (facepaws!) Campos wound up striking out, but that didn’t give us the lead back. But who could? Lonzo! Armando Suriel, who was nearly invisible otherwise, began the bottom 8th with a single against Broad, then advanced on a wild pitch as Lonzo was hitting for Sullivan. Lonzo lobbed a single over Chris Sullivan at short, and Suriel read it well and dashed for home with the go-ahead run, 2-1. Lonzo stole second, Christopher walked anyway, and while Fowler grounded out for the first retirement of the inning, Cas found the space between Needham and Moreno in rightfield for a 2-run double…! Nye flew out to left, but Younce threw away a grounder by Caballero, hitting for Starr, to plate Cas anyway and take off the save opportunity for Matt Walters. An error by Broad, who somehow only now reached 100 pitches, also put on Perez, Kozak loaded the bases with a four-pitch walk drawn, but Suriel struck out and the inning ended. Brad Loveless put the Elks away in the ninth, allowing only a single to Chavez. 5-1 Raccoons! Kozak 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, RBI; B. Herrera 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K;

(high-fives with Slappy)

Raccoons (21-21) vs. Aces (17-22) – May 21-23, 2060

Here was a middling team then to finish the homestand. The Aces were eighth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed (still beating the Coons, though), and their rotation was the second-worst in the league with an ERA near five. They hit homers pretty well, but didn’t have much in terms of OBP and speed. They also had starter Ray Benner, closer Alex Flores, and outfielder Scott Laws all holed up on the DL for the long run. Last year’s season series had gone to Vegas, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (4-3, 3.48 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (1-3, 4.31 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (3-1, 2.54 ERA) vs. Steve Hunter (5-0, 1.96 ERA)
Zach Stewart (3-3, 3.70 ERA) vs. Andres Flores (0-4, 6.31 ERA)

Hunter was the only left-hander in their rotation. They had been off on Thursday, so they had room to skip the mildly horrendous Flores for Bobby Shenk (2-3, 4.17 ERA).

Game 1
LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – 3B A. Alfaro – LF K. Hummel – 1B Andersen – C Burgio – CF Manley – RF Plancarte – P Robbins
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – 2B Gonzales – LF Morris – 3B Suriel – P DeRose

Portland took the early lead with a leadoff double by Joe-Chris and productive outs by Lonzo on the ground, and Cas with a sac fly to centerfielder Matt Manley, but the Aces answered two innings later with a leadoff single by Julio Plancarte, who was bunted to second base and then scored on veteran Jim White’s single to left-center. Miguel Veguilla doubled off White to end that inning.

The Raccoons’ bottom four in the order had a total of zero RBI going into this game, although David Gonzales shook off the goose egg with a sac fly of his own in the bottom 4th, following up on Perez’ leadoff walk and a Starr double to right with his own fly to deep right that Plancarte caught on the edge of the warning track, but which was still plenty deep enough to get Angel Perez home from third base. The rest of the bottom of the order there vanished into thin air though; Suriel was walked intentionally and didn’t have much choice, but Morris and DeRose both whiffed. Gonzales hit a solo jack his next time up to extend the lead to 3-1, which was his third career home run and the first as a Critter. This time Morris on a walk and Suriel an infield single got on base behind Gonzales, but DeRose hit into an inning-ending double play. DeRose was then nearly lifted after a 1-out walk to Jeff Andersen in the seventh inning, with three left-handed sticks behind the first baseman, but DeRose hadn’t given up hard contact in a long time, and the Raccoons rolled the dice – successfully, as two weak groundouts from Casey Burgio and Manley ended the inning. White had another knock in the eighth, but that was with two outs and Veguilla floated out quite easily to Christopher.

The Raccoons tried to tack on and shot themselves in the hindpaw at the same time in the bottom 8th after Joel Starr opened with a infield single against Jose Cintora. Gonzales flew out to center, and then Nick Nye batted for Morris, striking a double to left-center, and straining an abdominal muscle on a highly awkward slide into second base. Caballero pinch-ran for him, but Suriel and Maresh made poor outs and the pair of runners was stranded in scoring position. At least Matt Walters, rarely used in recent times, showed no obvious signs of rust and retired the Aces in order… 3-1 Raccoons. Starr 2-3, BB, 2B; Nye (PH) 1-1, 2B; Suriel 2-3, BB; DeRose 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (5-3);

Nick Nye was day-to-day at least for the rest of the weekend and would probably not be used anymore in this series. And on his day off…! The good news, there was hope that he’d be back to 100% early next week…

Lineup getting a bit thinner here…

Game 2
LVA: CF Chairez – SS Veguilla – LF K. Hummel – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B Andersen – 2B J. White – C Mathews – RF Plancarte – P S. Hunter
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – LF Caballero – 1B Kozak – 2B Gonzales – 3B Suriel – P Riddle

Tyler Riddle struck out three batters in the first inning… after Andy Chairez and Miguel Veguilla singled to left and Ken Hummel struck a 3-run homer without an out no the board. It didn’t get much better for Riddle, who easily clocked in the worst start for a Critter this week no later than Hummel’s second homer, a 2-piece collecting only Veguilla, in the third inning. In between the Raccoons had loaded the bases with two gone in the bottom 1st, and Jack Kozak singled home Lonzo and Perez, but after that resorted more to collecting runners rather than scoring them. Pairs were on base for Portland in the second and third innings, and stranded, and then the team entered a lull and didn’t threaten again until the seventh. There, Lonzo and Perez hit singles, but Caballero struck out to end the inning. Raccoons relief was scoreless after Riddle was gone after six innings of 5-hit, 5-run ball (grumble grumble), but the Raccoons could not put anything together against Hunter, who went seven and remained unbeaten, and three relievers, the last of them being former Raccoons left-hander Geoff Sather, who retired the 1-2-3 batters in five pitches. 5-2 Aces. Lavorano 2-5; Perez 2-4; Kozak 1-2, BB, 2 RBI;

Game 3
LVA: CF Chairez – SS Veguilla – LF K. Hummel – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B Andersen – 2B J. White – C Mathews – RF Plancarte – P Shenk
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – LF Caballero – C Maresh – 2B Gonzales – 3B Suriel – P Stewart

The bottom 1st was busy, as Joey Christopher struck out, but Kyle Mathews lost the ball temporarily, then had to throw around a running Christopher, who was called out at first on a disputed bang-bang play that almost saw the rightfielder ejected before the first base coach shoved him into the dugout. Lonzo was then drilled with a fastball, limped to first base, then stole second out spite. That ball, too, got away from the second baseman Jim White, and Lonzo scampered to third base, scoring from there on another Cas sac fly. That was the only early run; Stewart was not as sharp as he had been on Tuesday and the strikeouts weren’t there, but the Aces still struggled to make contact. Stewart offered two walks and a hit batter in the first five innings, but Vegas found two double plays to keep the traffic to a minimum.

The Coons tacked on in the bottom 5th when Gonzales hit a scratch single to get going but did not advance on Suriel’s pop. Stewart got him to second with a bunt, and Christopher got him home with an outfielder-splitting double in left-center, 2-0. Lonzo cashed Joe-Chris with a single near the leftfield line, 3-0, then stole his 14th base of the year, but Cas flew out to right-center and he was stranded. On the other side of the box score, Andy Chairez singled with two outs in the sixth to take off the no-hitter, although Stewart was already near 80 pitches and not only two thirds of the way through at that point. But Veguilla made a kind out after that, and Stewart had a quick seventh, continuing into the eighth inning after being nicked by Justin Rocco in the bottom 7th. Stewart walked White in the top 8th, then got a double play from Mathews. Plancarte appeared to ground out to Gonzales, but then reached on Gonzales’ throwing error. With a right-handed bat, Gustavo Larrea, now appearing in the batter’s box, the Raccoons went to Ryan Sullivan, who got an easy grounder to short to end the inning. When the Raccoons didn’t find additional offense in the bottom 8th and it remained a 3-run game, the Coons stuck to Sullivan nonetheless against the right-handed top of the lineup. Chairez reached on a drag bunt single, but Sullivan got two poor outs before running into Alex Alfaro, a righty-munching switch-hitter with a .297 bat and 10 homers on the year. Walters came in here, and got the last out and a save rather cheaply with a fly to center. 3-0 Raccoons. Caswell 0-1, BB, RBI; Gonzales 2-4; Stewart 7.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (4-3);

In other news

May 18 – Buffos right-hander SP Josh Barcellona (5-2, 3.08 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout in a 13-0 rout of the Miners.
May 18 – The Blue Sox send 1B Andy Metz (.313, 5 HR, 21 RBI) to the Thunder for AAA 2B/SS Nick Kelly, who batted .243 with 3 HR, 42 RBI in 94 games with the Thunder last year, and #135 prospect SS/2B Mark McCarty.
May 19 – Warriors SP Ricardo Montoya (6-0, 0.34 ERA), who had allowed two runs in 53.1 innings to begin the season, while striking out 70 batters against seven walks, will miss the rest of the season to rehab a partially torn UCL.
May 19 – Falcons SP Neil Mongillo (4-2, 2.39 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Knights for a 5-0 win.
May 20 – The Warriors send 36-year-old 3B Steve Dilly, who had a single at-bat so far this year, to the Pacifics for INF William McColgin (.305, 3 HR, 11 RBI) and a prospect.
May 22 – Both the Falcons and Indians score runs in the 10th and 12th innings, but the Indians walk off after the Falcons sleep in the top of the 14th inning and a home run by IND INF Matt Kilday (.317, 1 HR, 19 RBI) ends the game as a 14-inning, 8-7 Indians win.
May 23 – The Scorpions snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the 17th inning against the Cyclones after having taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the inning when SAC MR Eric Reese (1-2, 2.41 ERA, 1 SV) serves up a 3-run walkoff home run to CIN LF/1B/RF Alan Puckeridge (.313, 1 HR, 10 RBI). Cincy wins, 7-5.

FL Player of the Week: WAS INF Angelo Flores (.304, 2 HR, 21 RBI), clipping .452 (14-31) with 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB INF/LF Xavier Reyes (.363, 2 HR, 15 RBI), slapping .484 (15-31) with 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I could try and lie, but it is true: if the Raccoons had consecutive 10-game losing streaks only interrupted by sweeping four games from the damn Elks with a 25-4 wipeout run total, I’d still be merry.

I hope the boys don’t take this as encouragement to conduct an experiment…

It was a magnificent sweep though, especially after getting absolutely demolished by the Titans on the prior weekend. Of the four runs the Raccoons conceded, three were unearned; only the homer Ryan Sullivan allowed to Jose Campos counted in the ERA column. The four starters each went at least 6.2 innings, walked four batters and struck out 37!

The third base situation remains unresolved, with Armando Suriel also not exactly looking like The Thing. With Brass out for a while, the Raccoons are sniffing around a few options for an early trade to thicken the lineup again, but there’s nothing concrete on the table yet.

Monday will be off, and then it’s a quick road trip to the Thunder and Condors before we’ll have *another* 2-week homestand. Remember this stretch when you wonder in August where the Critters have disappeared to… 28 games in August, 19 on the road.

Fun Fact: Lonzo gained seven bases on the career lead in stolen bases among active players in the last five+ weeks.

When we last looked at the leaderboard, Lonzo was 36 behind Alex Vasquez, but it’s now down to 29. Vasquez is rotting like the rest of the Miners, with just six stolen bases on the year up to this point. That’s still more than all the other actives in the career top dozen, except for Omar Sanchez, who has nine bags taken so far this year, so Lonzo’s 14 lead this group quite easily at this point.

1st – Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (HOF) – 708
3rd – Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos (HOF) – 677
5th – Alex Vasquez (active) – 620
6th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 591
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 503
9th – Omar Gonzalez (active) – 495
10th – Oscar Mendoza – 494
11th – Chris Navarro (active) – 493
12th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 492

[Westheim]

2060 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

The Raccoons had a 122-strong shortlist for this year’s adolescents auction, including – weirdly the first – a whopping five two-way players, which – weirdly the second – all were much more interesting in one way than the other, with one exception, Case Hayden, a – weirdly the third – catcher slash closer? Could he handle both ends of the battery in the ninth inning himself?

(confused head shake by “Banjo” Pigg, holding the paper with the hotlist)

Okay, before I sink any lower, here’s the hotlist with the dozen-or-so most promising talents that we’ve picked out (* high school player):

SP Jeff Applegate (14/12/11) – BNN #3
SP Gabriel Rios (13/13/9)* – BNN #5
SP Nate Nilson (11/14/12) – BNN #2
SP Melvin Lebron (11/13/019*

CL/C Case Hayden (14/16/11)
CL Joe Toth (18/13/9)

C Ryan Marty (20/17/10)* – BNN #7
C Steve Varner (14/10/8)*

INF Adam Yocum (17/1/7)*

OF Jonathan Merrill (14/5/10) – BNN #1
LF/RF/1B John Bentley (10/11/10)
OF Nate Marazzo (10/11/10) – BNN #8

I already asked “Banjo” whether he got anywhere near to the Capt’n Coma with his rating of Ryan Marty, who would be a generational talent if he can fulfill that level of promise. Maybe this was the right time to mention that the Raccoons had the #19 pick and were thus probably 17 to 18 picks below where they needed to be to get a slice of Marty come June. Andy Yocum looks like a little Lonzo, except that he might hit .300+ on a regular basis and be even more of a terror on opposing teams with more chances on base.

Hayden meanwhile had great ratings on either side of the roster divide, being right-handed in both cases. As a closer he offered a late-dropping sinker at 94mph, with complementary changeup and knuckle curve, although those two pitches were not that impressive. Groundballer for sure, though. His batting profile as catcher promised well above-average contact and power with a decent eye. No speed on the bases, but you don’t need speed if you whack ‘em 400 feet. His catcher ability was decent, with a surprising lack of vigor when throwing because it took him too long to get up out of the crouch. Weird one for sure, and I was not yet sure which way we’d twist him if we actually got a hold on him.

Finally, a shoutout to a right-hander that was not actually on the hotlist, but inside the top 20 pitchers we had shortlisted for the draft, 20-year-old Kevin Butte from Windsor, IL, a genuine knuckleballer that actually looked like he could make it to the majors. He topped out at 85mph with his knuckleball, and if that wasn’t slow enough he also offered a fork, change, and curve, going down into the low 70s with the soft stuff. For a knuckleballer, he had very good control – he was not first-round material, but if he was around in the second or third round… who knows.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (23-22) @ Thunder (21-24) – May 25-27, 2060

Monday was off and on Tuesday there was still nigh a Nick Nye anywhere near the Raccoons lineup as the team began a 3-game set in Oklahoma City. The Thunder were third in the South, fourth in offense, and bleeding the second-most runs in the CL. Their rotation and bullpen both had ERA’s in the 4.70s, which ranked in the bottom two in both categories, and worst in bullpen ERA. They were also in the bottom four in home runs and had the absolute fewest stolen bases in the league – out-stolen by Lonzo and matched by Joey Christopher with ten bags taken across the entire team, which had a corps of position players that was on average 31 years old. The infielders averaged almost 33 years of age, which also shed a light on their worst defense in the league. The Coons had won the season series last year, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (4-4, 5.95 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (4-3, 3.88 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-6, 3.77 ERA) vs. Jim Reynolds (1-2, 1.29 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-3, 3.10 ERA) vs. Eric Barnes (0-5, 7.14 ERA)

Three right-handed pitchers here, but mind the off day.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Caballero – 2B Gonzales – 3B Suriel – P Fox
OCT: CF Martaranha – 3B Soberanes – 2B Woodrome – RF Whitlow – 1B Metz – LF Weant – C Dye – SS Gaxiola – P Ju. Juarez

Fox needed 45 pitches the first time through the Thunder order, which amounted to only six outs, with a throwing error of his own, and two walks amid a number of long counts running up the tally early, and that was before the Thunder actually got on the board against him in the bottom 3rd, when Ed Soberanes and Ian Woodrome hit 1-out singles. Eric Whitlow flew out, and Andy Metz’ grounder to third base should have ended the inning, but Suriel botched the play and Soberanes scored. Tim Weant then flew out to Joe-Chris in right. The Raccoons were hitless through three innings; Caswell hit a 1-out single to right in the fourth and 2-out walks to Starr and Caballero loaded the bases, but David Gonzales’ easy grounder to Woodrome was not going to bring in any runs any time soon. Gonzales then bungled another 2-out grounder that should have brought the curtain down on the bottom of the of the fourth inning, but instead put Bernaldin Martaranha on base along with Juarez and allowed Ed Soberanes to whacked an unearned 3-run homer. Fox was yanked after an equally awful bottom 5th in which he fell to 3-0 against Whitlow, who then flew out to right, listlessly walked Metz on four pitches, and then got a 1-0 double play grounder to Lonzo from Weant. That one was, for a nice change, not fudged for another error…

The Coons didn’t make the scoreboard until the seventh with an infield single by Caballero, a walk drawn by Gonzales, and then two fielder’s choices hit into by two pinch-hitters, Ben Morris and Nick Nye, which wasn’t enough with a slam-sized deficit, nor was Christopher’s groundout to Soberanes, who then hit a bomb off Reynaldo Bravo to re-establish slam range in the bottom 7th. Angel Perez then derailed a top 8th that began promising with Lonzo and Caswell singles against lefty Ryan Hogues, but a double play grounder was gained from new pitcher Jordan Juarez from the sluggish (not: slugging) catcher, and while Joel Starr managed an RBI single to plate Lonzo with two outs, the inning ended with Caballero. The ninth was similarly fruitless. 5-2 Thunder. Caswell 3-4, 2B; Starr 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Fowler 1-1;

That homer Bravo served up? The 300th of Ed Soberanes’ career. The 36-year-old was one of the many reasons while the Thunder infield played like a bunch of old men, but he could still whack ‘em with the young ‘uns.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – 3B Fowler – LF Morris – 2B Gonzales – P B. Herrera
OCT: CF Martaranha – 2B Woodrome – RF C. Santiago – 1B Metz – 3B Soberanes – C T. Anderson – LF Whitlow – SS Gaxiola – P J. Reynolds

This was only the third start of the year for Reynolds, who had otherwise appeared out of the bullpen. He allowed three singles in the first inning; Christopher was caught stealing, but Lonzo didn’t get a good jump, however, he was singled home by Perez with two outs for an early 1-0 lead. Starr popped out to short. The Thunder were on the corners immediately in the bottom 1st as Tipsy Bobby nailed Martaranha with his very first pitch of the game, then allowed a full-count single to Woodrome. However, he handled Cesar Santiago’s comebacker perfectly for a 1-6-3 double play and then got Metz flown out to center to strand even the leadoff man at third base.

Offense then mostly died for a few innings. The Raccoons had only one more hit through five innings, while the Thunder got leadoff singles from Woodrome in the fourth and Travis Anderson in the fifth, but both times then struck out a couple of times and didn’t even get the runners into scoring position. The Raccoons had their 1-2 pair on base to begin the sixth inning with Joe-Chris’ double to left and a walk drawn by Lonzo (!), but Cas’ sharp grounder to right was intercepted by a diving Woodrome and turned into an out at first in a bang-bang play. Perez retained ownership of 100% of RBI’s in this game with a sac fly, especially with Starr whiffing to end the inning. The Thunder pulled the run back though in the bottom 6th, where Herrera suddenly walked a pair after being rather sturdy for the previous hour, and while Santiago hit into a double play, Andy Metz singled home Martaranha to get to 2-1. Soberanes also singled, but Anderson grounded out to Starr to end the inning.

Top 7th, and Nick Fowler led off with a single to center that bounced off MArtaranha’s chest for an error and an extra base. Ben Morris pounced (as unlikely as that sounded) with a swift RBI single, 3-1. Gonzales hit another single to right before Nick Nye batted for Bobby Herrera, but popped out over home plate. Christopher broke through, though, with a 2-run double to right-center. Lonzo flew out to center, but Cas dropped an RBI single into left for the final mark in a 4-run inning that extended the lead to 6-1. Gonzales drove home Starr with a 2-out hit in the eighth for a tack-on run, and it was not too exuberant to keep scoring because Ricky Herrera put a pair on base in the bottom 8th while getting two outs each in the seventh and eighth before Ryan Sullivan failed his runners across with a balk and a 2-out double knocked by Soberanes (who else?), which got us down to 7-3 again before the inning ended with Anderson, like most innings seemed to. The Coons couldn’t tack on despite another Christopher hit to begin the ninth, but at least Sullivan stopped brittling in the bottom of the inning and got the last three outs… 7-3 Raccoons. Christopher 4-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4; Gonzales 2-4, RBI; B. Herrera 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (2-6);

Finally pried off the stretcher on Thursday: Nick Nye, which moved Gonzales to third base, but we didn’t seem to be able to get last year’s Rule 5 pick out of the lineup right now…

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Maresh – LF Morris – 3B Gonzales – P DeRose
OCT: CF Martaranha – 2B Woodrome – RF C. Santiago – 1B Metz – 3B Soberanes – LF D. Guzman – C T. Anderson – SS Gaxiola – P Barnes

DeRose threw 36 pitches and gave up three hits in three innings, of which Martaranha’s single ended up doubled off the bases on Woodrome’s grounder to Nye, Guzman was caught stealing after a 2-out single in the bottom 2nd, and Robby Gaxiola hit a solo jack for the first marker on the board in the third inning. And then it pretty soon started to rain for a 50-minute rain delay in the top of the fourth. The Raccoons, although it took a while, would tie the game in that inning when Ben Morris singled home Caswell with two outs, and DeRose returned after the prolonged interruption, and at least wasn’t immediately trashed by the Thunder offense. He was good for the fourth and fifth, but the counts ran long in the sixth inning. Woodrome singled, Santiago reached on an error, all with two outs, but Nye then turned the third out on Metz’ grounder and DeRose held the 1-1 tie, but was removed after 85 pitches at that point because he had lost command, owing to the long intermission.

The Coons’ wins leader (!?) had to settle for a no-decision because the Raccoons didn’t reach base in the top 7th other than Gonzales getting on base on Woodrome’s 2-out error. Caballero flew out to left in the #9 spot to end the inning. Rios held the score in the bottom 7th, but the Raccoons then sent four relievers into the bottom 8th, which is already the first red flag. Loveless retired nobody, allowing a single to Gaxiola and nicking PH Eric Whitlow. Ruben Mendez faced PH Juan Ojeda, last year a Critter, and got him to pop out. Ricky Herrera then walked the bags full and gave up an RBI single to Santiago before being yoinked for Sullivan, who found a way out of the inning with the bags stacked without total obliteration, with a force at home on a Metz grounder and Soberanes’ groundout. The Raccoons had also no answer to Jerry Washington in the ninth inning. Ben Morris got on base with two outs, but Fowler lined out to short in Gonzales’ place. 2-1 Thunder. Morris 2-3, BB, RBI; DeRose 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

(blows)

Raccoons (24-24) @ Condors (27-19) – May 28-30, 2060

The Condors led the South, which hadn’t happened at a meaningful point of the season in a while (their last first-division finish was in 2049!), and did so with the #7 offense and the third-best pitching in the league, especially a strong bullpen. There was a lot of average to their output in the offensive categories, but the defense also shone for them so far this year. The Raccoons had lost two of three against them in April.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (3-2, 3.02 ERA) vs. Aaron Sloan (3-3, 4.87 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-3, 3.20 ERA) vs. Marco Clemente (5-4, 2.93 ERA)
Chance Fox (4-5, 5.28 ERA) vs. Miguel Batista (8-1, 3.26 ERA)

Sloan was the only southpaw we would encounter this week.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P Riddle
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – 2B Palmieri – SS C. Ramsey – C Samuel – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Frasher – RF Alade – CF B. Fish – P Sloan

The first inning was uneventful except that Bob Palmieri, who was listed as day-to-day to begin play, left the game pretty much as soon as it began and was replaced with Luis Chapa. The Coons had no hits the first time through the order, but Kozak and Gonzales drew walks to begin the third inning before being bunted into scoring position by whom? Tyler Riddle of course. There was no easy answer to the question who should drive them home, though, and both Christopher and Lonzo fanned. Nobody scored… Nor did Jason Sturgeon, who doubled in the bottom 2nd, but then was thrown out at home by Caswell on Jon Alade’s single to center.

Nick Nye got the first base hit for the Critters, a single to center in the fourth inning. Cas popped out, but Perez beat Bobby Fish in center for a double, so the Raccoons were right where they had croaked in the previous inning: runners on second and third and one out. Joel Starr worked a walk, which filled the bases, but also left the batting to the lint at the bottom of the order. True to reputation, Jack Kozak popped out and David Gonzales… whiffed. It took a Riddle single to begin the fifth and Nye’s 2-out double to get a ******* run on the board…

The sixth was uneventful, but the Raccoons despite little countable on the board had at least chewed up Sloan for nearly 100 pitches and were in that vaunted bullpen by the seventh inning. Of course they immediately put Gonzales and Christopher on the corners in the top 7th against lefty Jesus Chacon, and Lonzo barely stayed out of the double play on a grounder to Casey Ramsey to get a second run across the board. He stole second base, but was stranded.

Riddle threw 112 pitches for 7.2 shutout innings, then yielded for Bravo, who nailed Ramsey and allowed a single to Nick Samuel before getting chased off the mound. Walters, who had not pitched in Oklahoma, entered in a double switch with Morris, who replaced Kozak in left, got Sturgeon to 0-2 before allowing an RBI single, and then walked Eric Frasher. Gabriel Brown was kind enough to strike out, ******* finally, and leave the bases loaded.

Insurance was on the way, though, as Brett Lillis jr. struggled once more against his old team in the top 9th. Gonzales hit a leadoff single and Christopher was nicked with one gone. Lonzo’s groundout moved the pair into scoring position, which had not been a winning proposition for the Raccoons so far in this game, but now Nick Nye knocked one to left-center, past Alf Mendez, and cashed a 2-out, 2-run double. Righty Justin Cullum replaced Lillis and got Cas out on one pitch, but Matt Walters had the ninth inning under control. 4-1 Critters. Nye 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Gonzales 2-3, BB; Riddle 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-2) and 1-1;

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – LF Morris – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Fowler – 3B Gonzales – P Stewart
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – C Samuel – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Frasher – 2B L. Chapa – CF B. Fish – P M. Clemente

Alf Mendez doubled and scored on Scott Moore’s single to begin the bottom 1st, but when the Raccoons tried that with Nye’s double and Starr’s single to center in the second inning, Bobby Fish threw out Nye at the plate and the team didn’t find a way to get Starr home either, but the combo worked better in the fourth inning. Nye singled, Starr homered to left, and that was two runs on the board. Also a tied game, since Stewart had taken it upon himself to give up a leadoff single to Clemente to begin the previous half-inning, and then, lacking stuff rather obviously, surrendered that run on a 2-out single by Ramsey. Bottom 4th, Sturgeon, Frasher, and Luis Chapa loaded the bags with two hits, a walk, and no outs, which was a bit concerning. Stewart was talked to in a mound conference that took an umpire to break up, and then Fish popped out, Clemente lined out to Starr, and Mendez flew out to center. Maybe the Raccoons were contagious?

Ramsey made an error to put Fowler on base to begin the top of the fifth inning. Gonzales hit a scratch single, and Christopher also eked out a soft single to shallow left with one out… but Stewart had popped out trying to bunt and the runners hadn’t been advanced, so nobody scored – the bags were loaded with one down for Ben Morris, who hit a fly to Fish in center that was just good enough to get Fowler home with a sac fly for a 3-2 lead before Caswell grounded out to strand a pair.

Stewart remained terrible, though. He got three groundouts in the fifth, but had long counts and a walk in the sixth inning. The seventh was even worse, as he started with two walks, then got yanked. Rios gave up an RBI double to PH Gabe Brown, and another run scored on Ramsey’s grounder. This flipped the score to 4-3 Condors, but Samuel and Sturgeon made two more outs to keep Brown on base. The Raccoons’ 2-3-4 disappeared in order in the eighth inning, and Ricky Herrera allowed two hits, but no further runs, to the Condors before Lillis jr. came back into another ninth inning. He was met with leadoff singles by Starr and Perez before Lonzo batted for Fowler against the southpaw, and drilled a sharp bouncer threw a diving Frasher at the hot corner for an RBI double in left…! Perez was held at third base, and the Raccoons had second and third with nobody out, which I felt I had already seen before. And now what? Gonzales and the pitcher’s spot (with Ricky Herrera, hint, hint) were up next. Gonzales was originally advertised as the against-lefty part of that unholy double-switch-hitter platoon at third base, so he batted for himself, which was truly fuzzy logic. His piss poor grounder kept the runners pinned, and left me pissed. Oscar Caballero batted for Herrera, was walked intentionally, and then Kozak came out for Christopher, who was not having a great day. Nor was Lillis, who couldn’t get Kozak to bite and walked him on five pitches, pushing home the go-ahead run with Perez, 5-4. Morris would have been hit for with Maresh, but the Condors brought right-hander Pat Fortune, and so Morris stayed in the game, popped out, and Cas grounded out, and we left the damn bases full. Thankfully Matt Walters was a thing. He struck out Jon Alade in the #2 hole, got a grounder from Ramsey to Lonzo at short, and then also rung up Samuel in a 1-2-3 ninth. 5-4 Critters. Kozak (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Nye 2-4, 2B; Starr 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Ricky Herrera, 4-0. Just saying. He’s wicked. He’s a force that’s hard to harness.

The Condors meanwhile announced the Bob Palmieri (.283, 0 HR, 14 RBI) was expected to miss the rest of the season with a concussion, and in a half-sentence at half-volume that he probably shouldn’t have gone on the field on Friday to begin with.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Caballero – P Fox
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – C Samuel – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Frasher – CF B. Fish – 2B N. Cross – P M. Batista

Chance Fox batted before he pitched, and struck out to end a 6-hit, 4-run first inning for the Raccoons against the CL leader in wins. Joe-Chris and Lonzo got on base initially, but then two outs were made before straight 2-out knocks by Starr, who doubled home two, and singles by Perez (RBI), Fowler, and Caballero (RBI). The Raccoons stranded five more runners without scoring in the next two innings, as Christopher, Caswell, and Starr all got on and were left on by Perez, and Caballero and Christopher were stranded on the corners in the third inning. Batista threw 72 pitches to make it that far, while Foxie Brown retired eight out of nine the first time through and got his ERA into the fours.

Also into the fours was Batista, but only the fourth inning. Nye singled and stole a base, then was driven home by Angel Perez with a 2-out single, running the score to 5-0 before Batista was removed for Pat Fortune. Christopher was also into the fours by the fifth inning, getting his fourth hit, an infield single, with one out. Caballero went second-to-third on that, then scored on Lonzo’s soft single to center, which also sent Christopher to third base. Cas’ single added a run, but deep flies to left by Nye and Starr were caught to keep it a 7-0 game… at least until Alf Mendez hit a 2-out, 2-run homer off Fox in the bottom 5th after Bobby Fish had led off the inning with a bloop single. Brown had seven strikeouts through five, so he *was* having a pretty good game.

Until then. It ended pretty fast in the bottom 6th, which began with a Nye error, but then quickly devolved into two RBI doubles by Samuel and Sturgeon, a walk to Frasher, and Fox’ dismissal from a 7-4 game with the tying run in the box. Brad Loveless extricated the Raccoons from that sticky situation against the bottom of the order, retiring Fish, Nigel Cross, and Alade in order without conceding the runners.

Christopher drew a walk to begin the seventh, so the 6-hit game receded into the distance. He stole second, but was left on base by the 2-3-4 batters. In the eighth, Jesus Chacon walked the bags full before arriving at the pitcher’s spot with one out and getting lifted for another lefty, Joe Cash. He faced Chris Maresh, who struck out, and Christopher, who also struck out, and the bases were left full again. No help arrived in the ninth inning, either, and Matt Walters was back in for the third straight day (but Monday was off at least…) against the all-lefty bottom of the order with the 3-run lead. Fish grounded out, Cross whiffed, and Nye got another grounder from Jose Gutierrez to end the game. 7-4 Raccoons. Christopher 4-5, BB; Lavorano 2-6, RBI; Starr 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Perez 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Caballero 3-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 28 – Knights right-hander Cory Ellis (1-1, 3.40 ERA, 1 SV) shuts out the Crusaders on three hits in a 7-0 win.

FL Player of the Week: WAS 1B Jay Rogers (.285, 7 HR, 25 RBI), batting .400 (8-20) with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B Dave Robles (.317, 5 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .400 (10-25) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

10-3 in two weeks is a nice run, and maybe we will one day find out whether we want to be an above- or below-.500 team.

We end the month with a day off, and then have another 13-game homestand with the Knights, Loggers, Crusaders, and Scorpions.

Fun Fact: This is Ed Soberanes’ 10th season with the Thunder, and his first one was his best.

That year he batted .300 with 31 HR and 122 RBI, winning the homer and RBI titles in the CL as well as the Player of the Year award, but he wasn’t particularly close to the batting title. Over his career with the Miners and Thunder the right-handed Dominican ballpicker has also won a Gold Glove besides seven Platinum Sticks and 11 All Star nods (and don’t forget the 2053 World Series), but Chance Fox was in elementary school when that happened (2045).

The only other “led the league in X” for Soberanes was OBP in the FL in 48, but he’s been a consistent .300 hitter even at age 36, even though his power and speed has diminished. Yes, speed, he stole 40+ bases (with a career-best of 50) in each of his first six full seasons.

For his career, Soberanes is hitting .306/.396/.486 with 2,523 hits, 300 homers, 1,315 RBI, and 398 stolen bases.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-24) vs. Knights (23-28) – June 1-3, 2060

Atlanta was fifth in the South, but only six games back in a division without much spread. They sat eighth in both runs scored and runs allowed, however, and that made for a -21 run differential (Coons: -14). Remarkably they were second-worst in both home runs and stolen bases in the CL. Missing Enrique Ortiz and Juan del Toro was unlikely to help them and Josh Abercrombie was day-to-day with a balking back. We had won two of three games in the first series of the year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (2-6, 3.55 ERA) vs. Jose Villegas (2-5, 4.28 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-3, 2.93 ERA) vs. Cory Ellis (1-1, 3.40 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (4-2, 2.69 ERA) vs. Joe Napier (4-1, 3.64 ERA)

Villegas was the only left-hander on offer for this series – but not on Tuesday, which after a sunny Monday that was scheduled off for both teams brought steady rain and no window to squeeze in a ballgame.

Thusly, double header on Wednesday and another ruined rotation. Yay!

Game 1
ATL: RF Ellwood – LF Abercrombie – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – 1B C. Rice – SS Sowell – CF K. Hawkins – 3B N. Fox – P Villegas
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – RF Caballero – 3B Gonzales – CF Morris – P B. Herrera

When play finally began on Wednesday, Bobby Herrera quickly failed the bags full with a leadoff single for Bobby Ellwood and walks issued to Abercrombie and Willie Acosta. An error by David Gonzales plated a run on Chris Rice’s grounder before Ken Sowell grounded into a double play, 6-4-3, but Angel Perez also hit into one of those in the bottom 1st to derail an effort that began nice enough with Nye and Lonzo singles, and nobody scored. Bobby Herrera then had his useless pelt ripped off his back in a 5-run third inning in which both ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie and ex-Elk Kyle Hawkins bashed 2-run homers, and I wasn’t entirely sure which of these was worse, and if any of those was worse than Marco Nieto hitting a single and advancing on both a wild pitch and a steal of third base before being brought in by Willie Acosta. Since this was a double header, Herrera kept getting run back out there until he filled up 100 pitches, which he did in the fifth, with one out and Nieto and Acosta on the corners for another walk and a single. Ruben Mendez replaced him, retired none of the next three batters for a walk to Sowell and two singles by Hawkins and Nick Fox, and the Knights stormed out to an 8-1 lead, the “1” stemming from Perez having singled home Nye in the bottom 3rd for no particular reason other than to be contrary. He wasn’t gonna hit one that mattered, though!

Joel Starr’s leadoff triple led to a run and a screaming Knights catcher rolling around the dirt in the bottom 6th. While Jack Kozak remained utterly useless and popped out, Oscar Caballero hit a ball deep enough to rightfield that Starr dared to come home. The throw and Starr arrived at the same time, and Nieto’s awkward reach into Starr’s path got his glove hand caught under Starr’s body as he slid across the plate, jarring the ball loose and leading to Nieto leaving the game with what looked like a paw squished good. Gabriel Mendez replaced him. Brad Loveless pitched three scoreless and pointless innings to finish out the game here, which would win him nothing more and nothing less than a trip to Florida. 8-2 Knights. Nye 2-5, 2B; Lavorano 2-4; Perez 2-4, RBI; Caswell (PH) 1-1; Suriel 2-3; Loveless 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

If there was some saving grace to this ****** game, then that we somehow used only two relievers while Bobby Herrera continued his quest for a new single-season record for losses by a Raccoons starter.

Gary Simmons, 21 in ’81.

Although Victor Merino also lost 19 games just a decade ago.

Game 2
ATL: CF J. Parker – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – 1B C. Rice – SS Sowell – RF Ellwood – C G. Mendez – 3B N. Fox – P C. Ellis
POR: RF Christopher – SS Fowler – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Maresh – LF Morris – 3B Suriel – P DeRose

When DeRose was roughed up for three runs in the first inning in the nightcap I poured some rost remover into my Capt’n Coma, because why not have some fun while the baseball part of life was ****? DeRose even got two outs before getting on the snout, with a walk to Acosta, a Rice single, an RBI double to left by Sowell, and a 2-run single also to left by Bobby Ellwood, before Mendez grounded out to Nye at second base. Bottom 1st, and the Raccoons had the tying runs on base after a Fowler single, Caswell double, and a walk drawn by Nye, all with one out. The Coons got two runs on a Starr sac fly and a passed ball charged to Gabe Mendez, but left the tying run on third base, while the Knights immediately put the two runs back on the board in the worst of ways: a double by the pitcher, a 2-base throwing error by our catcher, and then just the odd 13-bouncer through the nearest hole with two outs, dribbled by Acosta, 5-2, and Chris Rice nearly hit a homer to right that Christopher had to rush to the warning track for to catch. And WORSE YET, Noah Caswell then hurt himself on a sliding/tumbling catch of a Sowell drive to left-center at the start of the third inning. Caballero replaced him, and I upped the rust remover to whatever was bubbling in that bottle of drain unclogger, which kept bubbling in the Capt’n Coma.

The only thing that saved DeRose from getting beaten with a block of soap in a sock after the game was that he calmed his fuzzy tits from there and allowed no more drama while pitching all the way to the stretch. Similarly, the Raccoons stunk up the joint on offense, too, even when Maresh and Morris managed to mingle in scoring position with one out in the bottom 6th, but Suriel struck out to keep them there. It took an appearance by Reynaldo Not-so-Bravo to add a run on a Sowell homer in the eighth inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Starr and Maresh reached base before anybody made an out, but Lonzo popped out, Suriel whiffed, and Kozak… whiffed. It was a great team effort!

Bottom 9th, and David Hardaway made an appearance for the Knights. He had an infinite ERA after having missed almost two years with shoulder *and* elbow woes, and having made just one big-league appearance after a monthlong rehab assignment, in which the Crusaders crushed him for five runs for nobody retired. He struck out Christopher, actually giving him a 135.00 ERA at that point, and then Fowler and Caballero hit singles. Nick Nye cranked a shot through Nick Fox at third base that went all the way to the corner in leftfield for a 2-run triple, and suddenly the tying run was at the plate. Starr singled to right on a 1-2 pitch, running Hardaway’s ERA to 216.00, after which he was disposed of. Maresh was the winning run, but was rung up by Hironobu Hanzawa. The pitcher’s spot was next, with Angel Perez batting with two outs for … huh, Ricky Herrera. Walkoff? No, groundout. 6-5 Knights. Fowler 4-5, 2B; Caswell 1-1, 2B; Starr 2-3, BB, 2 RBI;

Gah.

There were roster moves on Thursday, not involving Noah Caswell, who had not been run through the meat mincer yet and so Luis Silva didn’t have a diagnosis ready. Brad Loveless (1-2, 5.14 ERA) was sent to AAA, along with Armando Suriel (.205, 0 HR, 0 RBI), because we needed an outfielder even when there was none available on the 40-man roster. Cortez Chavez ended up on waivers and DFA’ed to make room for Todd Oley, hitting .335 with three homers for St. Pete, and .313 with one homer in 105 career games up in Portland. Don’t inquire about the BABIP, please.

Game 3
ATL: CF J. Parker – LF Abercrombie – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – 1B C. Rice – RF Ellwood – 3B N. Fox – P Harman
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – CF Oley – LF Kozak – P Riddle

Facing Vic Harman (6-2, 2.60 ERA) was Tyler Riddle, who was so nice to not explode on contact, faced the minimum the first time through, and struck out four without allowing a base hit, while the Raccoons scored an unearned run each in the second and third innings, both involving 2-base throwing errors by Nick Fox and Ken Sowell, respectively. Starr reached to begin the bottom 2nd and scored on two productive outs, while Sowell’s error came with two down in the third and Kozak on second base, as he fired Lonzo’s grounder away to wave Kozak home.

Johnny Parker drew a walk to begin the fourth inning, the first Knight to reach base against Riddle. He was forced out by Abercrombie, who in turn was doubled up by Nieto, who was playing with a generously taped hand. Chris Rice hit a 2-out single in the fifth to get the Knights into the H column, where they now actually tied the Raccoons in base hits – we only had a Christopher single from the bottom 1st, and he had been doubled up by Nye. Joe-Chris had another one in the bottom 5th, with two outs and driving home Todd Oley from second base, who had started the inning with a single lobbed over Acosta’s head.

Riddle held the Knights to two hits in eight innings, whiffing eight as well, but Harman was on 9 K through seven innings despite the multiple jagged knives in his back. He retired the 2-3-4 in order in the bottom 8th, but didn’t get another strikeout. The lead then went to Matt Walters, who had gotten three days off after pitching for three straight days on the weekend. He allowed an infield single to Parker, but otherwise got two strikeouts and a lazy grounder to short from Nieto to salvage a game from this series. 3-0 Raccoons. Christopher 2-4, RBI; Fowler 1-2, RBI; Riddle 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (5-2);

Boy, did we need that Tyler Riddle start.

Raccoons (28-26) vs. Loggers (24-27) – June 4-6, 2060

The weird thing about the Loggers was their +17 run differential, which made them above-.500 pretenders. They had a top 3 offense, for crying out loud! Can we have some?? They were first in batting average, last in homers, and first in stolen bases, so that kinda team. We were up 4-2 in the season series, but still had no useful news on Noah Caswell as the series began, and no starter for Sunday. Great times.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (4-3, 3.47 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (4-3, 3.09 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-5, 5.29 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (0-3, 4.81 ERA)
Angel Alba (0-0) vs. Jesus Aquino (3-4, 3.80 ERA)

We penciled in 23-year-old righty Angel Alba, who was 7-2 with a 2.53 ERA in St. Pete, for the Sunday game, which would be the #60 prospect’s (#3 in the system) major league debut. We were not sure who he’d face for the occasion because the Loggers had played their own double-header on Tuesday, but with the benefit of an off day on Thursday, so had no roster crunch. Pritchard was the only left-hander on staff. The alternative to Aquino was Ernesto Culver (6-5, 3.42 ERA).

Game 1
MIL: CF Franks – 3B Lange – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – LF Milian – SS D. Miller – 2B Serna – P Pritchard
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – CF Caballero – 3B Gonzales – RF Oley – P Stewart

Scott Franks had the first two Loggers hits, singles in the first and third innings. Both times Ralph Lange ended his on-base presence with grounders to short, first for a double play and then for just the third out of the inning. Lange also had a throwing error that put Oley on first to begin the bottom 3rd, after Gonzales had already committed a throwing error in the second inning, but the Loggers hadn’t scored on that either. Pritchard dinked Stewart in the leg, which upset the Raccoons’ bench, and Nye’s single loaded the bases, which upset me, because now it was three on and nobody out, and everything was gonna be horrible, although a slumping Lonzo briefly drew another breath with a clean RBI single to center and the game’s first run. Perez’ groundout and Starr’s sac fly got home additional runs before Kozak grounded out to end the inning for good. Kozak got another chance to do some damage in the bottom 5th with Nye and Perez on the corners and two outs, but drew a walk instead, delegating responsibility to Oscar Caballero, who hit a lazy fly to Perry Pigman on the first pitch he got and the inning ended.

The Loggers reached the base when Franks drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, stole two bases, and scored on Pigman’s single. Not that the in-between innings had been calm for Stewart, who had constant traffic on base, and usually to begin the inning. The bottom 6th saw a 1-out single to center for Oley, who stole second base again as Stewart, unable to get a bunt down, fanned on a 2-2 pitch. Nye walked, knocking out Pritchard, but Lonzo burned his replacement Jeremy Fetta with a screamer for a 2-out, 2-run double to left, 5-1. Perez’ fly to left ended the sixth inning.

Stewart went into the top 7th, got stuck, and left with the bases loaded after a single and a pair of 2-out walks. Ryan Sullivan replaced him and ****** it up, allowing a 2-run single to Lange on an 0-2 pitch that was dumped into right-center, and then another RBI single to the persistent pest Perry Pigman. Mark Reed flew out to left in a full count to end the inning with a skinny 5-4 lead left over. Ruben Mendez’ eighth was much less annoying with two strikeouts to Marcos Chavez and David Milian, and an easy grounder by Danny Miller to Nye. The Raccoons went just as quickly against Alex Diaz in the bottom 8th, then went back to Matt Walters. He struck out Fidel Carrera, got a grounder from Corey Garmon, and then allowed a 2-out knock to Franks, who went unretired in the game. Lange whiffed to end the game. 5-4 Raccoons. Nye 1-2, 2 BB; Lavorano 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Oley 2-4;

Saturday brought … no Noah news. I still saw him limping around the premises though, so perhaps it wasn’t *that* bad.

Slappy, thanks for reminding me that’s it’s always at least *that* bad.

Game 2
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C M. Chavez – 3B Lange – 2B Serna – P L. Wilson
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – LF Caballero – C Maresh – CF Morris – P Fox

After a groundout by Joe-Chris the Raccoons had a string of batters reach base with one out in the bottom 1st on Saturday. Lonzo walked (!) and stole second, but Starr also walked. Nye singled in Lonzo with a ball into left near the line, and Fowler singled to load the bases. Wilson continued to struggle, walked in a run against Caballero, then actually retired Maresh on a groundout, but that scored another run. Ben Morris walked to refill the bags for Foxie Brown, who took a K to end the inning, but took the 3-0 lead back to the hill. He had a long second inning, walking Fidel Carrera before getting Chavez and Lange struck out in long counts to end the inning, while Carrera stole a base. To begin the bottom 2nd then, both Christopher and Lonzo reached base and then stole second, bringing up Starr with two in scoring position and nobody out. Wilson walked him in a full count, making for SIX walks and 51 pitches for three outs for the Milwaukee right-hander. The Nicks nicked him for three runs with a pair of base hits, Nye to left for two and Fowler to right-center for one run, although the 6-7-8 then disappeared ineffectively without getting in another run. Wilson was hit for in the next half-inning.

So, through two-and-a-half everything was dandy. Then it started to rain. After a 35-minute rain delay before the fourth inning, Fox went back out, but Pigman singled, Robles walked, Carrera singled, and while Marcos Chavez struck out, Ralph Lange got hold of a breaking ball and bashed a grand slam to left, axing the Coons’ lead down to 6-4. The Raccoons answered with the Nicks going to the corners with leadoff singles against Sansao Tyson in the bottom 4th, and Caballero then cleaning up with a run-scoring 6-4-3 double play…

Scott Franks was injured sliding into second base on a stolen base attempt in the fifth inning when Lonzo’s knee came down on his reaching wrist, which conveniently also kept him from touching the base and slapped him out, helping to drag Fox through five innings after the earlier battering. He came back for the sixth, but put another three runners on base, two of whom scored as Marty Serna singled home Chavez, and Lange scored on Matt Lock’s groundout against Sullivan, narrowing the lead down to one run. Nick Nye’s solo homer extended the Coons lead to 8-6 again in the bottom 6th, after which Sullivan allowed a leadoff single to Garmon in the top 7th before being kicked out of the game. Adam Harris struck out three batters, but not without seeing Robles reach on a Fowler error. The tying runs were stranded, though, then were right back on in the eighth with Bravo’s leadoff walk to Lange and a Serna single. Somehow the Loggers then made straight outs from Milian, James Wilks, and Garmon, and didn’t get the runners beyond second and first. Fowler drove in Christopher with two outs in the bottom 8th against Alex Diaz to push another Portland run across. The 3-run lead then went to Ricky Herrera – Matt Walters was not sent out for three straight for the second week in a row. The Loggers got a hit from Robles, but no runs, and the game ended with a golden sombrero for Marcos Chavez. 9-6 Critters. Nye 4-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Fowler 4-5, 2 RBI;

Hits by Nicks: 8
Hits by Anybody Else: 3 (Joe-Chris, Lonzo, Morris)

The top four each scored at least two runs (Nye scored three). The bottom four in the lineup went 1-for-15.

That was the least of our problems by Sunday, when Noah Caswell was no longer limping around, put in a brace and on crutches, and disappeared onto the DL for the balance of the season with torn ankle ligaments.

Game 3
MIL: RF Pigman – 2B Lange – SS F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – C M. Reed – CF Wilks – LF Arcos – 3B Serna – P E. Culver
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – LF Kozak – P Alba

Alba retired the side in order, with a K on Lange, in the first inning, then was spotted a 2-0 lead thanks to a leadoff walk drawn by Christopher, a Lonzo tripled to left-center, and a Starr sac fly. The Loggers got a walk from Mark Reed in the second, but didn’t get close to scoring. Instead, Kozak reached base against Ernesto Culver in the bottom 2nd and stole second base before Alba could bunt much. That took the bunt off, and Alba responded with a clean RBI single to left-center on his first time at-bat in the majors, making sure he’d go home with a bushel of commemorative baseballs from this one-off appearance. He also scored when Joey Christopher unloaded on a Culver fastball for a 400-footer, extending the lead to 5-0.

The Loggers got three singles from Serna, Lange, and Carrera in the third inning to get a run on the board, and when Alba actually bunted for the first time after Kozak’s infield single in the bottom 4th, he hit into a double play, so there were setbacks after the brisk beginning. Top 5th, a leadoff walk to PH Corey Garmon, a Pigman single, and a Carrera sac fly gave the Loggers another run, 5-2, and it was tough chewing for the debutee by this point, with 81 pitches needed to get through five innings.

Jeremy Fetta then maneuvered into a three-on, no-out situation with hits allowed to Lonzo and Starr, plus a walk to Nye, in the bottom 5th. But don’t you worry; the Raccoons didn’t do him no harm, as Fowler struck out and Perez found the shortstop for a double play. Fetta and Girolamo Pizzichini then walked the bags full with Critters in the sixth: Morris, Kozak, and Christopher were all aboard with one out and blinking at Lonzo to do something about them on the bases. Lonzo spanked a ball hard to the left side near the bag; Serna dove and knocked it down, then scrambled and fell on the base just ahead of Kozak for a strange 5-U second out while a run scored. Starr’s fly to deep left was caught by Roberto Arcos, who had nearly hit a homer to left himself the previous inning.

Alba went six and a third before giving up a triple to right to Milian and departing in a rare lefty-for-lefty exchange. “Peppers” Harris conceded the run on Pigman’s groundout, but the inning at least ended with the Coons still up by three. Harris got two more outs in the eighth while giving up a single. Rios then struck out Chavez to get out of the inning. That was the only out Rios got, since Portland didn’t add in the bottom 8th. Walters got the bottom of the order in the ninth inning. It didn’t go *that* well. Arcos singled, Serna doubled. Milian grounded out, but a run scored. Pigman was the tying run in the box, and struck out on a breaking ball tickling the corner. Pigman vividly disagreed, slammed his bat on the ground, and then was ejected. The sweep was completed with a K on Lange. 6-4 Coons. Christopher 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Starr 2-3, RBI; Kozak 1-1, BB;

In other news

June 1 – The only runs in the Cyclones’ regulation 3-0 win against the Warriors score on a walkoff home run by 3B Matt Ruskin (.200, 1 HR, 4 RBI).
June 2 – Two singles, two doubles, and two errors by the Stars allow the Rebels to rally for five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and snatch up a 7-6 walkoff win.
June 3 – Scorpions OF/1B Israel Santiago (.359, 2 HR, 13 RBI) will miss six weeks with a thumb sprain.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF/RF John Kaniewski (.284, 15 HR, 51 RBI), bashing .522 (12-23) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.279, 13 HR, 39 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: WAS INF Angelo Flores (.327, 2 HR, 28 RBI), hitting .402 with 2 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT INF Robby Gaxiola (.378, 5 HR, 24 RBI), batting .398 with 2 HR, 14 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SAC SP Preston Young (6-2, 3.39 ERA), going 5-0 in six games, with a 2.80 ERA, 23 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Ben Seiter (9-0, 2.36 ERA), a sharp 5-0 in six starts, with a 2.60 ERA, 39 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN OF/1B Natsu Nakamura (.306, 3 HR, 17 RBI), batting .294 with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: CHA 2B/SS/LF Takuro Yoshikawa (.304, 3 HR, 26 RBI), poking .326 with 2 HR, 16 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I was gonna complain a lot about the pitching again, but with Noah Caswell going on the DL for perhaps the rest of the season, none of that matters anymore. We’re not gonna recover from that. That also means that we’re not gonna tear out a limb for a new third baseman anymore, because Cas already tore one out and it got us nothing, and because we’re not gonna replace that offense anyway. So, the string to play out this year amounts to, from Sunday, 106 games.

(deep sigh!)

That also means Chance Fox can get clobbered as much as he wants, it’s not gonna make a difference. Angel Alba had a decent debut on Sunday, but he will not hang around for the moment and go back to the Alley Cats instead for a bit more seasoning. The Raccoons will finish the homestand with the Crusaders and Scorpions.

Fun Fact: Marcos Chavez did not enjoy his return to Portland.

1-for-10, 6 K. He’s only hitting .208 for the year, which has been a struggle against the .200 mark from the very start. He has no homers and just 8 RBI. Remember that is the guy that once hit 6 homers in a quarter-season and 13 homers in a full season with the Coons.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-26) vs. Crusaders (39-16) – June 7-10, 2060

I’d say this series could make or break our season, but with Cas and Brass down and the pitching not steady, and everything… (moves paws around) … The Crusaders were first in runs scored, second in runs allowed, and already had a +120 run differential, so perhaps a healthy Cas and Brass would not have made a meaningful difference anyway. New York was up 3-1 for the season series.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (2-7, 4.26 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (4-4, 3.48 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-4, 3.03 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (5-2, 4.14 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (5-2, 2.41 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (10-0, 2.34 ERA)
Zach Stewart (5-3, 3.65 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (4-3, 4.71 ERA)

The Crusaders brought up four right-handers; they had Milt Cantrell and Medardo Regueir on the DL.

The Raccoons returned Angel Alba (1-0, 4.26 ERA) to the Alley Cats for .115 flailing third-sacker Tony Benitez for a lack of a better idea.

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – LF Austin – C McLaren – RF Zeiher – CF Branch – 2B Spehar – 3B R. Wright – P Luera
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – LF Kozak – P B. Herrera

Right away on Monday, a pitchers’ duel broke out between Tipsy Bobby and Luera. The Raccoons’ starter faced little issues through three innings, then gave up a triple to Aubrey Austin in the fourth that led to no runs, coming with one out and nobody on and leading to a K on Matt McLaren and Sean Zeiher flying out. Ryan Spehar drew a walk and Ryan Wright reached on an error by Nick Nye in the top 5th, but the Crusaders didn’t score here as well; Luera’s bunt was the second out, and Omar Sanchez went down on strikes. The Raccoons didn’t even manage to make this much noise through five innings, but Joey Christopher managed to lead off the bottom 6th with a double to left, and Lonzo reached on an error by Sanchez. Joel Starr struck out, but Nye hit a sac fly to right, which gave us a rather riotous run in a heretofore scoreless game. Herrera went seven innings, then was hit for with two outs and Angel Perez on second base in the bottom 7th. Oscar Caballero, who had prior stints with both these teams, hit an RBI single to right, and Christopher also singled against a suddenly fading Luera, who gave away a 2-out, 2-run triple to center to Lonzo to extend the lead to 4-0 before Starr flew out to center. Ricky Herrera held the Crusaders off base in the top of the eighth, but Addison Leonard gave up another run on balls nicked for hits by the Nicks in the home half of the inning. Zeiher and Tommy Branch would find the corners with two outs against Mendez in the top of the ninth, but Spehar struck out to end the game. 5-0 Critters. Christopher 2-4, 2B; Nye 1-2, BB, RBI; Fowler 2-4, RBI; Caballero (PH) 1-1, RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (3-7);

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – LF Austin – C McLaren – RF Zeiher – CF Branch – 2B Spehar – 3B Webler – P Taki
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – LF Caballero – CF Oley – P DeRose

The Crusaders did score on Tuesday, and quick, with McLaren whacking a 2-piece to center in the first inning after DeRose had walked John Rosenstiel and had thrown a wild pitch. He proceeded by hitting Sean Zeiher with a breaking ball, which led to some glaring and hissing, but no major kerfuffles. The Raccoons made one run from three hits in the bottom 1st; Christopher singled, stole second, and was driven in by Starr’s single. Nye grounded out to advance Starr to second, and Fowler’s 2-out single to right motivated Starr to run through the stop sign at third base, after which he was duly thrown out at the plate by Sean Zeiher, putting an end to the first inning.

There was no throwing out of Sean Zeiher at home when he was up next to bat himself, for he hit a 2-run homer to right in the second inning, capping a 6-run effort for the Crusaders, all earned, against a completely off-kilter DeRose, whose engagement in the game ended after this disaster of an inning. He had already been taken deep earlier in the inning by John Webler, then had loaded the bases with a single and two walks before giving up a bases-clearing double to McLaren with two outs. Zeiher put the dagger in, but that didn’t mean the Crusaders stopped scoring. Bravo got four outs, but the Crusaders piled on Adam Harris in the fourth inning with a 3-run homer to left whacked by Tommy Branch, which put the score at 11-1. At this point, the Raccoons would much bemoan the lack of a real long man that could go four innings or something… In the event, Harris was made to pitch until his paws turned blue, which amounted to 50 pitches (not a lot…) and just 2.2 innings. Aubrey Austin doubled off him in the sixth, but was at least stranded when Ryan Sullivan got a groundout to end the inning. Sullivan did another inning, and then Alex Rios failed his way through the last two innings, throwing 50 pitches as well while giving up a run in the eighth before loading the bases in the ninth, but eloping. The Raccoons never rallied, not even remotely. Joel Starr once hit a leadoff double and was brought around to score on two productive outs, which was as much heroics as the boys could muster. 12-2 Crusaders. Starr 3-4, 2B, RBI;

DeRose ended up in bed with flu-like symptoms by Wednesday, probably having caught a cold from all the sharply hit balls whizzing by his fuzzy useless ears. The torched pen left by his non-performance (1.2 IP, 8 ER) left us to make more roster moves. Adam Harris (0-0, 3.60 ERA) was optioned to AAA, and Alex Rios (0-0, 4.76 ERA, 1 SV) with his 17 walks in 22 innings was put on waivers and DFA’ed. Elijah LaBat and Bobby Sneeze were collected for temporary garbage duty.

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – LF Austin – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – 1B Caban – 3B Webler – P Seiter
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – LF Caballero – C Maresh – 3B Gonzales – CF Oley – P Riddle

The undefeated Seiter had pitched an 8-hit shutout against the Raccoons in April, in a game that had also ended in an 11-0 rout. At least Riddle didn’t explode as soon as he was exposed to sunlight, and the Crusaders didn’t score early on, although they threatened. Critically, Seiter failed to get a bunt down in the third inning after leadoff singles by Armando Caban and Webler and struck out, leading to Omar Sanchez hitting into a double play to end the inning. Conversely, Tyler Riddle stuck a knife into Seiter’s thigh in the bottom 3rd after Gonzales had reached on Ryan Spehar’s error and Oley had singled to begin the inning; a defensive misplay had also allowed both runners into scoring position before Riddle singled up the middle and plated both runners for a 2-0 lead. After that, Joe-Chris whiffed and Lonzo hit into a 5-4-3 double play with vigor to kill the inning.

The middle innings were mostly uneventful, but Riddle kept the pitch count down nicely while clicking off Crusaders, but then ran into a spot of bother in the seventh inning with a 1-out walk to Branch and a Zeiher double to right. Curt Goodwin was kind enough to strike out though, and Caban grounded out to Lonzo to end the inning with the tying runs stranded in scoring position, and the pitch count still at 84. Oscar Caballero then hit a 1-out triple in the bottom 7th, and that actually led to a run …! Chris Maresh walked against Seiter, while Gonzales fanned. Todd Oley zinged a soft single over the head of Spehar, though, and that brought in Caballero for a 3-0 lead. Riddle then grounded out and went back to the hill, throwing eight more pitches in the eighth inning while getting torn to shreds with a wallbanger double by Webler, an RBI triple by Seiter, and an RBI single from Sanchez, before being yanked. The tying run scored on Ruben Mendez’ watch when Maresh peppered away a pickoff attempt of the basestealing Sanchez, and productive outs by McLaren and Aubrey Austin got him across to get the teams level at three.

Seiter remained undefeated thanks to a scoreless, runnerless bottom 8th, and because Elijah LaBat’s leadoff walk to Zeiher in the top 9th ended with the runner being caught stealing. The Coons were up against righty Jason Rhodes in the bottom 9th, but the 4-5-6 also went in order and sent the game to extras. LaBat walked Rosenstiel and Wright in the tenth inning, and Ryan Sullivan could not maintain order after coming in with two outs, giving up a 2-run double to Aubrey Austin. I sighed, and Rhodes retired another three straight to end the game. 5-3 Crusaders. Caballero 2-4, 3B; Oley 2-3, BB, RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K and 1-3, 2 RBI;

LaBat walked three for getting five outs and ramped his ERA over five as well. Is there anybody in this organization that is NOT useless??

(Lonzo looks up from his food bowl and the cheeks stop munching)

Game 4
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – LF Austin – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B Webler – P J. Ortega
POR: 1B Starr – SS Fowler – 2B Nye – C Perez – LF Caballero – RF Oley – CF Morris – 3B Benitez – P Stewart

Zeiher drove in a run with the third soft single of the first inning against Stewart, who also walked Branch after Sanchez and Spehar had gotten on, and faced a big inning until Goodwin hit into a 6-4-3 double play to get him out of the inning. The deficit was overturned in the bottom 2nd on Perez’ leadoff jack at first, then back-to-back 2-out doubles by Morris and Benitez (!!) after Todd Oley had been on base and had been caught stealing… That didn’t fix the problem that Stewart seemed to not get anybody out. The third inning began with Spehar’s sharp single to left, then a walk to Austin. Branch and Zeiher then both hit hard liners to Caballero and Fowler, respectively, before Goodwin struck out in a full count. The bottom of the order was retired more easily in the fourth, but a leadoff walk to Omar Sanchez – who had not even attempted to steal a base in this series, but had 14 on the board for the year – led to a long fifth with several throws over, despite the Crusaders not getting the tying run off first base. Instead, Tony Benitez hit another double to lead off the bottom 5th. Stewart whiffed, Starr walked, and Fowler hit into a fielder’s choice, before Nick Nye finally got the run in with a single to left with two outs, 3-1. Perez then grounded out to Sanchez at short.

Stewart was on the clock in the sixth inning with his shoddy start to the game, but the Crusaders were retired in order and there was no reason to yoink him yet. Webler tried to foul out behind the plate to begin the seventh, but the ball was dropped by Perez to keep Webler at the plate; he grounded out eventually. Stewart went on to strike out Ortega, but then walked Sanchez and was removed with the right-handers coming up. Bravo struck out Spehar to end the inning.

Things kept getting stranger with Tony Benitez, who then began the bottom 7th with a jack to right – his first career homer in 297 at-bats! The Raccoons then boldly put Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) in for the eighth inning, getting a leadoff walk to Austin and a K to Branch before going to Ricky Herrera. Zeiher hit into a fielder’s choice, erasing Sneeze’s runner, so when Goodwin bashed a home run to left-center, the two runs were on Herrera. Ricky H. would get out of the inning and Walters didn’t allow anybody on base in the ninth, so the Raccoons somehow got out of this set with a split. 4-3 Critters. Benitez 3-3, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (33-28) vs. Scorpions (28-33) – June 11-13, 2060

The good news for Sacramento: they had the best bullpen in the FL by ERA! The problem was just that by the time it became engaged, the game had already been lost by the rotation, which had the second-worst ERA in the FL. They were ninth in runs scored, with a -5 run differential. Crucially, that offense was now also missing two key outfielders in Mario Ceballos and Israel Santiago. These teams last played in ’58, with the Stingers taking two out of three games.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (6-5, 5.76 ERA) vs. Tom Delaney (3-6, 4.81 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (3-7, 3.86 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (6-4, 3.04 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-5, 4.08 ERA) vs. A.C. Stebbins (2-7, 4.56 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday!

Game 1
SAC: RF Buras – SS C. Navarro – C Danis – LF T. Duncan – 3B Corrales – 1B M. Harmon – CF Roura – 2B R. Price – P Delaney
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – C Perez – LF Caballero – CF Morris – 3B Benitez – P Fox

The next roster move was probably gonna be Chance Fox, who gave up a (badly played by Ben Morris, but still…) 1-out triple to Chris Navarro in the top 1st, then singles to Nate Danis (for the RBI) and Tim Duncan, and then nailed Victor Corrales, who didn’t want to be a Raccoon two winters ago for reasons beyond me, then got yelled at to get his **** together. He struck out Mike Harmon and Dave Roura without allowing another run, and four in a row overall before Will Buras’ single to center in the top 2nd, but he was left on base by Navarro. Danis drew a leadoff walk in the third, though, and Tim Duncan reached on a throwing error by Benitez. Corrales then got revenge with a 3-run homer to right.

The Coons, after a sodden first run through the order, put up a 3-spot of their own in the bottom 4th, put together with a Nye double, a walk drawn by Perez, Caballero’s RBI single, and another walk squeezed out by Morris. Benitez then singled home two – all with two outs – before Fox grounded out and left runners on the corners. The score was tied at four in the bottom 5th; the leadoff pair got on base as Christopher walked and Lonzo singled. Starr’s sac fly got us even, Nye was walked intentionally in that spot, and the Raccoons did a double steal out of spite, leading to another sac fly for Angel Perez and a 5-4 lead. Rick Price made an error on Caballero’s 2-out grounder, but then handled Morris’ grounder to end the inning.

As soon as we had the lead, Chance Fox got the ball back, and things… “developed”. Leadoff single for Price in the sixth, then a full-count walk to PH Steve Wyatt. Buras’ grounder was butchered for an error by Starr, and the bags were full with nobody out. Fox was yanked, Mendez came in and allowed a fly to center to Navarro. Morris made the catch, Price made for home – and was thrown out! The remaining runners advanced, though, but a K to Danis took care of the threat.

The Coons pen then pieced together six outs between Sullivan, LaBat and Ricky Herrera without blowing the skinny lead, but the offense also failed to tack on, getting only one single in the three innings after taking the lead, and that wasn’t gonna add up to an insurance run. The ninth then saw Matt Walters give up a leadoff walk to Buras, who advanced on Navarro’s bunt, then an infield single to Danis that put the tying and go-ahead runs on the corners. Well, then with strikeouts? Walters fanned Duncan for the second out, and then Corrales, too…! 5-4 Raccoons. Nye 2-2, 2 BB, 2 2B;

This gave Chance Fox the team lead in wins with seven. He also had the highest ERA, and it wasn’t close…

Game 2
SAC: RF Buras – SS C. Navarro – C Danis – LF T. Duncan – 3B Corrales – 1B M. Harmon – 2B R. Price – CF Roura – P Turay
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Maresh – LF Kozak – CF Oley – P B. Herrera

Bobby Herrera retired the first six batters in order, then was slapped around for a team cycle in the third inning as Price tripled, Roura singled, Buras homered, and Navarro doubled before getting stranded, putting the Scorpions in the lead, 3-0. The Raccoons had yet to collect as much as a single, which they did on Kozak’s duck snort to shallow right in the bottom 3rd, and which led to Herrera bunting into a double play when it was his turn…

Portland scored two in the fourth on straight hits by the 2-3-4 batters. Lonzo and Nye both singled to left while in between Starr doubled to right-center, driving home Lonzo and then scoring from second on Nye’s ball, narrowing the score to 3-2. Herrera had another two clean innings, then another “what the…?” sixth as Duncan reached an error by Fowler, and Corrales and Harmon got soft singles, all with nobody out. Price’s sac fly brought in a run, but Roura hit into a fielder’s choice to Lonzo and Turay struck out in a full count, but that was all we got out of Tipsy Bobby, who left on a 4-2 hook, and that didn’t get better with the 2-3-4 batters now disappearing in order in the bottom 6th.

The bullpen didn’t make it any better, either. Bravo was taken deep by Tim Duncan in the eighth inning, 5-2, and Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) issued a leadoff walk to Roura in the ninth before Danny Mijangos reached on a brutal throwing error for two bases by Fowler. A passed ball charged to Maresh brought in one run, but Mijangos had to hold out through two weak outs before Danis powered a 2-run homer to put the game away for good. Ex-Coon Steve Watson fooled around in the bottom 9th and walked everything with legs and willing to listen before Ben Morris singled home two runs with two down, but that didn’t even get us close… 8-4 Scorpions. Morris (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Game 3
SAC: 2B R. Price – SS C. Navarro – LF T. Duncan – 3B Corrales – 1B M. Harmon – RF Grewe – C Poindexter – CF Roura – P Stebbins
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – C Perez – 1B Starr – CF Caballero – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – RF Christopher – P DeRose

DeRose’s fuzzy ears were probably still ringing from Tuesday’s drubbing and mid-week illness, but he was well enough to take the start on Sunday and give up a first-inning solo piece to Tim Duncan. Nye tied it up with a solo home run to left of his own with two gone in the bottom 3rd, after which the Scorpions stung DeRose for three singles and another run in the fourth inning, but the Raccoons tied it up again on hits by Starr and Gonzales in the bottom 4th, and we were even at two. Starr would be on second base again with two outs in the bottom 6th for Gonzales, having been pushed there when Jack Kozak drew a 2-out walk, but this time Gonzales popped out to short and the briskly advancing game remained tied at two.

DeRose, who was on 62 pitches through six, then ran three full counts in the seventh inning. Mike Harmon and Bobby Grewe both struck out, and Manny Poindexter flew out to Christopher in deep right. But returning him for the eighth immediately backfired with walks to Roura and Wyatt on just nine pitches… Ryan Sullivan replaced him and couldn’t have been of less use if he’d been a living room lampshade. Price singled, Navarro brought in a run on a groundout, and Duncan singled home another run against him. Ricky Herrera replaced him and got five outs on ten pitches, starting with a double play grounder hit by Corrales, while in the ninth inning even finding the time to see Lonzo drop a Poindexter pop to put a 2-out runner on base.

Sacramento came up with right-hander Justin Round, who was over 10 K per nine innings against the opposition, but offered a leadoff walk to Oley, who batted in place of Kozak. This brought up the tying run as Fowler batted for Gonzales, but grounded out. Christopher singled to right, plating Oley from second, 4-3, and Benitez batted for Ricky Herrera, with the winning run now in the box. Benitez grounded out, moving the tying run to second base, but Nye flew out to Duncan in left and the game ended prematurely for Ricky Herrera to scratch another win… 4-3 Scorpions. Nye 2-5, HR, RBI; Starr 2-4;

In other news

June 8 – WAS SP Jon Reyes (6-4, 2.50 ERA) could be out until the All Star Game with back soreness.
June 8 – The Gold Sox trade C Jose Cantu (.285, 5 HR, 17 RBI) to the Bayhawks for SS/3B Jesus Nunez (.291, 4 HR, 21 RBI).
June 8 – The Blue Sox beat the Capitals, 18-14, with 15 runs being scored in the second inning alone. The Blue Sox put up two separate 8-spots in the second and sixth innings. NAS INF/RF Robby Cox (.305, 10 HR, 45 RBI) puts up three hits, two homers, and five RBI.
June 10 – The Stars take a hit with the news that OF Tyler Wharton (.264, 2 HR, 20 RBI) would miss two months with shoulder inflammation.
June 10 – Rebels 3B Bobby Anderson (.299, 6 HR, 28 RBI) was not expected to play again before late July, being plagued with back spasms, an old man injury at age 36.
June 10 – The Indians put CF/RF Steve Thompson (.283, 4 HR, 22 RBI) on the DL with a case of shoulder tendinitis. The 23-year-old is expected to miss two months.
June 12 – San Francisco adds SP Joe Chalmers (2-5, 4.16 ERA) from the Cyclones for two prospects. This includes the #13 prospect, SP Danny Tabares.
June 13 – The Knights’ SP Vic Harman (7-3, 2.34 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout and strikes out 11 Cyclones in a 10-0 shutout, despite the fact that the game’s very first batter, Cincy’s Marcos Onelas (.211, 2 HR, 14 RBI) hit a triple off Harman.
June 13 – NAS SP Levi Harre (4-1, 3.31 ERA) 3-hits the Condors while whiffing seven in a 7-0 shutout.
June 13 – Warriors 1B Miguel Medina (.312, 7 HR, 30 RBI) could miss a month with an intercostal strain.

FL Player of the Week: NAS C David Johnson (.353, 8 HR, 30 RBI), hitting .667 (8-12) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL SS/2B Fidel Carrera (.304, 8 HR, 36 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons lost Alex Rios on waivers to the Aces this week. Rios went 4-0 with a 3.27 ERA and 1 SV in 99 games across five seasons, but had been walking almost seven batters per nine innings this year, and was making all the other problems worse that way.

Now, how can I lose the rest of the roster…

The Raccoons have Monday off. The team starts a road trip to Nashville and Elk City on Tuesday, which will also be the day of the draft in New York.

Fun Fact: The Coons would tie for the lead in the CL South.

But in our own division, we’re a proud 11 games out of the first place. Oh well. Maybe next year…

[Westheim]

2060 AMATEUR DRAFT

After a Monday off day, the boys played in Nashville on Tuesday, but I took my little brown suitcase and Honeypaws and head scout “Banjo” and buggered over to New York for the annual draft, for which the Raccoons had prepared a shortlist with 122 names, and a hotlist with a round dozen names of young players that we wanted to dig the claws into.

Here’s the hotlist with the dozen-or-so most promising talents again (* high school player):

SP Jeff Applegate (14/12/11) – BNN #3
SP Gabriel Rios (13/13/9)* – BNN #5
SP Nate Nilson (11/14/12) – BNN #2
SP Melvin Lebron (11/13/10)*

CL/C Case Hayden (14/16/11)
CL Joe Toth (18/13/9)

C Ryan Marty (20/17/10)* – BNN #7
C Steve Varner (14/10/8)*

INF Adam Yocum (17/1/7)*

OF Jonathan Merrill (14/5/10) – BNN #1
LF/RF/1B John Bentley (10/11/10)
OF Nate Marazzo (10/11/10) – BNN #8

Picking 19th in every round of course meant that we were by no means guaranteed a selection from this list. As the ********* team of 2059, the Cyclones had the first selections and went straight for Ryan Marty, which was sort of predictable, but Adam Yocum going as high as #2 to the Stars was a bit more surprising. The Loggers took Jonathan Merrill with the #3 pick. Steve Varner was the #4 pick by the Elks, and it just kept going with Nate Marazzo going #5 to the Aces. The Blue Sox’ #6 pick was the first one off the hotlist, as they took C Tommy Guitreau, which, yes, made for three catchers going inside the first six picks.

No pitcher was selected until the Indians took Gabriel Rios with the *eighth* selection, which looked somewhat unique in the history of the draft. Double trouble Case Hayden went to the Wolves at #10, followed by the Gold Sox’ #11 turning out to be Nate Nilson, and the Caps’ #12 pick being Jeff Applegate. At that point we had just three hot boys left and still six teams picking ahead of us – five of which did not select off the hotlist, but the Pacifics couldn’t help themselves and snatched Melvin Lebron away from under our pokey black wet sniffy nose with their #18 pick.

That left lefty closer Joe Toth and corner guy John Bentley, not the easiest comparison; it was always easier picking one of two pitchers or one of two batters. I also like to complain a lot. If Toth had had a few more pips in control, I probably would have gone that way, but since “Banjo” and OSA were relatively even on their wildness assumption, I swerved over to the potential everyday player, and totally not because the Brooklynite Benton was something I could snatch away from under the nose of the Crusaders, in smelling distance of whose ballpark he had grown up in.

Toth wound up taken at #24 by the Buffaloes and the hotlist could be put aside. Annoyingly we also didn’t get the knuckleballer Kevin Butte, who was also snatched by the Capitals at #28.

+++

2060 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#19) – LF/RF/1B John Bentley, 20, from Brooklyn, NY – looks like a solid left-handed bat with good contact, power, and patience at the plate, but not much going on in terms of speed, and his range wasn’t overwhelming in the field.
Round 2 (#59) – SS Jonathan LaGreca, 21, from Wichita, KS – adept defensive shortstop with a killer arm that might be even better suited at third base and a singles/OBP bat that probably allowed more for occasional power, but he could also steal a dozen bases or two.
Round 3 (#83) – C Tom Johnson, 18, from Whitehall, OH – ordinary catcher with ordinary potential in all the ordinarily important categories for catchers.
Round 4 (#107) – SP Tony Shadwick, 18, from Bethesda, MD – left-hander with a nice slider and an 88mph fastball that can still fill out a bit; of concern are the rudimentary changeup and the low stamina.
Round 5 (#131) – SP Matt Schmieder, 18, from Tuscaloosa, AL – right-hander throwing 90 and mostly dead straight, but with a neat curveball and a lot of stamina; second pitcher in a row we drafted with a rather rudimentary changeup for a third pitch
Round 6 (#155) – CL Trevor Seitz, 22, from Greenville, MS – left-hander with a nice curve and throwing 88 and also mostly dead straight, but at least he had no plans to ever throw a chummy changeup…!
Round 7 (#179) – OF Marquise Early, 19, from Shreveport, LA – taking this right-handed outfielder with enough laziness to wait out ball four twice over, but neither speed nor power, in an attempt to pack all the Deep South states into a single draft
Round 8 (#203) – CL Tim Morris, 20, from Atlanta, GA – “Banjo” was very much confused by this selection of a right-hander with a cutter/slider combo and no command to speak of, but I had my paws in the Deep South cookie jar now
Round 9 (#227) – CL Mike Wind, 21, from Tallahassee, FL – actually throws three pitches, primarily a 90mph heater and a changeup, but has very low stamina and can’t competently start games; he can keep painting the map though
Round 10 (#251) – 2B Chase Schmitt, 21, from Roaming Shores, OH – light-hitting second-sacker with good defense and quite a bit of speed that would be more useful if he ever got on base, ever
Round 11 (#275) – SP Scott Covert, 20, from Houston, TX – this southpaw fit just too perfectly into all the boxes that needed ticking as a Nick Brown Memorial pick and also a Deep South kid; oh yes, he was throwing 88 and had a slider and a please-spare-me-this changeup, like everybody else these days…


…and then, with the #293 pick, the Bayhawks drafted C John Larsen, which made the entire house of cards collapse into itself. Larsen was the last player from South Carolina left in the pool. Once again, my life’s work – in ruins!!

Round 12 (#299) – LF/RF Josh Allison, 21, from Copiague, NY – had some pretty interesting ratings in his scouting report for a contact/OBP bat, and also at least three red stickers that he was the laziest piece of **** in the entire draft pool. But nothing mattered at this point, so why not…
Round 13 (#323) – [2B] Andy Marullo, 19, from San Antonio, TX – entered in the draft as a second-sacker, but with rather shoddy infielder ratings. He was however throwing 93 and fooling around with a slider, so we’d convert him into a right-handed reliever.

+++

All draft picks were assigned to Aumsville. Purges were taking place at the same time, with undoubtedly the oldest victim being 35-year-old catcher Deshawn Beard trying to hang on with the Alley Cats after playing 17 games with the Coons in 2059.

Other position players sent home included: INF Logan Sexton (2054, 7th round), who had been briefly in AAA last year, but was now back in Ham Lake and doing nothing of note as a 25-year-old; LF/RF Cody Friedman (2056, 13th round), who had clearly hit a wall batting .136 in Ham Lake; INF Dan Roberts (2058, 12th round), consistently pushing a low .500s OPS in Aumsville;

Among pitchers, we released – among others – Jason Slayton (2056, 5th round), stuck in Ham Lake with terrible control and almost 25 years old; Josh Wittrock (2059, 9th round), walking absolutely everybody in Aumsville and going on 23;

[Westheim]

Raccoons (34-30) @ Blue Sox (32-31) – June 15-17, 2060

The Raccoons came up against the league’s top team in runs scored, putting out 5.2 runs per game while giving up … nearly as many, third-most in the FL, but it was still enough for a +34 run differential that made you wonder why they weren’t further above .500 and instead sat ten games out in the FL East. These teams had last played in 2059, with the Critters taking home two of three wins.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (5-2, 2.53 ERA) vs. Juan Sanchez (9-3, 3.76 ERA)
Zach Stewart (6-3, 3.45 ERA) vs. Travis Baker (3-5, 4.52 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-5, 5.73 ERA) vs. Jason Fick (2-4, 5.46 ERA)

The series, which started on Tuesday and the day of the annual amateur draft, so I wasn’t in town for the opener, would see the Raccoons up against two southpaws, then a struggling rookie righty with more walks than strikeouts to his season.

Game 1
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – C Perez – 1B Starr – CF Caballero – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – RF Christopher – P Riddle
NAS: 3B Lundberg – SS R. Cox – C D. Johnson – CF Roman – 1B N. Dingman – RF Gordon – LF Sheridan – 2B Bratlien – P Ju. Sanchez

The Blue Sox loaded the bases in the bottom 1st on an error by Nick Nye that put Tyler Lundberg on base, then walks to Robby Cox and Tony Roman, but got nothing out of it. Instead of dingering, Nick Dingman bounced merrily into a 6-4-3 double play and that ended the inning. While Jack Kozak put the Raccoons in the lead with a second-inning solo home run, Riddle never quite found the groove in this outing. He issued another walk in the second, escaped there, too, and then somehow wobbled from frame to frame, but through five innings had only one strikeout, many long counts, and needed 77 pitches to make it even that far. Held a 2-0 lead, though; the second run came about in the fifth inning from David Gonzales’ leadoff single that saw him forced out on a Joe-Chris grounder, a bunt, and Nye’s 2-out RBI single to left-center. It went all away at once, though, in the bottom 6th, when Tony Roman drew another walk, and then Dingerman remembered that he was supposed to ding the pitcher, and deposited a game-tying 2-piece behind the leftfield fence. Riddle left after that inning, but still got a posthumous lead because the Raccoons put another run together in the seventh just like they had in the fifth. Gonzales got on base, was forced out by Christopher, and Nye was available for another 2-out RBI knock. Stingy relief by Ryan Sullivan for four outs and Elijah LaBat for two more outs carried the skinny 3-2 lead through eight innings, before the Coons faced right-hander Jimmy Dingman in the ninth inning – not related to catcher slash first baseman Nick Dingman! It was all very confusing. Also confusing, how Joe-Chris and Lonzo could hit singles and Roman could bungle the pickup of the latter in center for an extra base for the runners, and the Raccoons still stranded a pair in scoring position without scoring, as Angel Perez’ groundout to short ended the inning. Also two singles in the ninth inning: the Blue Sox. Malik Crumble hit one off Matt Walters with one out, a looper behind Nye, but Kevin Schwarz struck out. Elmer Maldonado, the third pinch-hitter in a row, added a 2-out single to center, and now Crumble made it over to third base with the tying run. That was as much as they got, though, as Tyler Lundberg went down on strikes to end the game. 3-2 Coons. Nye 3-5, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-4; Morris (PH) 1-1; Gonzales 2-4;

Game 2
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – C Perez – 1B Starr – CF Caballero – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – RF Oley – P Stewart
NAS: 3B Lundberg – SS R. Cox – C D. Johnson – CF Roman – 1B N. Dingman – RF Gordon – LF Crumble – 2B Bratlien – P T. Baker

Lonzo walked (!) and scored on a Perez double into right-center for a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first, and there was a chance to tack on in the second with hits for Gonzales, Todd Oley, and a walk drawn by Stewart, which brought up Nick Nye with three aboard and one out. Nye denied to wait around, shoved the first pitch up the middle and narrowly past Jacob Bratlien into centerfield. Gonzales scored, Oley scored, but Stewart ended up in a confused rundown between second and third and was slapped out for the second retirement of the inning. Lonzo reached on an error by Robby Cox, but Perez grounded out to end the inning, Portland up 3-0, although the Blue Sox got a run back in the home half of the inning. They had stranded two runners in the first against Stewart, who struck out three in the bottom 2nd… but in between Bratlien hit a double to left and scored on a Travis Baker single to center, all with two outs…

Stewart didn’t get a clean inning; Roman singled in the third, and in the fourth he put a guy on with an error of his own, which somehow also caused commotion, but neither runner scored. Instead, the Raccoons tacked on with a leadoff single by Lonzo and Angel Perez’ homer to left, going up 5-1 in the fifth, but the inning continued. Oscar Caballero had doubled his last time up, but did so again with one out in the top 5th, then scored on a Kozak single to center. Gonzales popped out, but Oley drew a 2-out walk before Stewart got a ball through Nick Dingman for a 2-out RBI double…! Reliever Josh Rivera fanned Nye to end the inning at 7-1. Stewart responded to that excitement by walking leadoff man Lundberg in the bottom 5th. Cox singled, but was removed in a fielder’s choice by David Johnson. Roman popped out and Dingman grounded out to third base to strand runners on the corners. Making it this far had taken Zach Stewart 82 pitches.

The Raccoons then added more offense. Caballero’s third double on the day plated Perez with one out in the top 6th, with Joel Starr going first-to-third. Kozak and Gonzales made poor outs then, leaving a pair in scoring position, while Stewart couldn’t get through the bottom 6th. Austin Gordon drew a leadoff walk, was forced out by Malik Crumble, and Bratlien singled. Kevin Schwarz hit a fly ball to the warning track in right, caught by Oley, but that was enough for Stewart … and also Kozak. Bravo and Christopher entered in a double switch, and a K to Lundberg ended the inning with another pair left on the corners. Nye’s homer off Eddie Blenkhorn extended the lead to 9-1 in the seventh, and after Bravo finished the Blue Sox 1-2-3 in the bottom 7th the Raccoons hoped to get six more outs from Bobby – (tries to hold it) … (still tries to hold it) … Sneeze!! … Thank you, thank you (nods to surrounding well-wishers); anyway, Sneeze got six outs – three strikeouts in the ninth, but three *loud* fly outs in the preceding eighth. There was also a single in either inning. 9-1 Critters. Nye 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Perez 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Caballero 3-5, 3 2B, RBI; Sneeze 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The Sox changed rookies for the Thursday game then, sending Marshall Ward, one day shy of his 26th birthday, for his fifth major league start. He had yet to win one, going 0-2 with a 4.30 ERA in the first four.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Maresh – LF Caballero – CF Morris – P Fox
NAS: LF E. Maldonado – SS R. Cox – C D. Johnson – CF Roman – 1B N. Dingman – RF Gordon – 3B Schwarz – 2B Bratlien – P M. Ward

Oh boy did Chance Fox need a good game… It just wasn’t gonna happen (again). While the Raccoons had mild chances in the first two innings and found two double plays from Starr and Caballero, the Blue Sox made solid contact from the beginning, but consistently found the defense the first time through until they took a lead on David Johnson’s solo home run in the bottom 3rd.

Lonzo tried to steal his 600th career base in the fourth inning after hitting a single off Ward, but was caught stealing, which also didn’t help with overturning the 1-0 deficit. The defense held Fox and the rest of the team in the game in the middle innings, and Fox came to bat in the top of the sixth just after Ben Morris had stuck a leadoff triple into the rightfield corner to put his furry tush on third base as the tying run. Ward tried to fool Fox into fanning, but was out-Foxed and lost him on balls. Christopher laid off more trash and drew another walk, which loaded the bags with nobody out. This was reason for getting dizzy, and Lonzo fell to 1-2, but then flicked a single over the head of Bratlien to advance everybody a base and tie the game – with the bags full, though, there was no chance for another run at #600 here… at least unless the traffic cleared. Starr’s pop to short did not help, but Nye hit a sac fly to right for a 2-1 lead. The Coons’ remaining pair didn’t go, though, but Christopher went for home on a 2-out, 2-strike single to left hit by Fowler… but was thrown out by Elmer Maldonado, which ended the inning, and Fox couldn’t hold the 2-1 lead and was dinged for singles by Roman and Schwarz, and the tying run, in the bottom of the same inning…

We then thought he’d get a free out from Marshall Ward, who was not pinch-hit for to begin the bottom 7th. Instead, he walked him. The hook was quick at that point, and Ruben Mendez got three outs in order to keep the game tied. Ward didn’t get the first career W, either, while the Raccoons tried to force taking the lead in the ninth inning by pitching Ricky Herrera in the bottom 8th. He retired the Sox’ 4-5-6 in order, after which Jimmy Dingman came in to face the Portland 3-4-5 in the top 9th. Starr and Fowler hit singles to go to the corners with one out, but Maresh fanned and Caballero grounded out, and the ploy failed.

Sullivan delivered a scoreless ninth to send the game to extra innings. Morris led off overtime with a single, but was never moved off first base. Bravo gave the Raccoons two quick innings in the 10th and 11th for 22 pitches, but the Raccoons could not get the offense going and the game continued deeper into extras, by then with both teams having the pitcher in the #2 slot after both Cox and Lonzo were removed in double switches. Nick Nye hit a double off ex-Coon Kevin Hitchcock in the top 13th, but with nobody on, two outs, and no help from Nick Fowler, and that was the furthest advance by the brown team in extras, and after 13 innings we were really out of relievers outside of Matt Walters and Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!), who was in there for the second game in a row, and for a second inning for the second day in a row, as the Raccoons were begging to lose in 14 innings rather than 21. Austin Gordon’s leadoff double to right in the bottom 14th was a nice start to that end, and while Lundberg and Bratlien made outs, Nick Kelly in the #9 spot slapped a single to center to end the game. 3-2 Blue Sox. Lavorano 2-3, BB, RBI; Nye 2-5, 2B, RBI; Fowler 2-6; Maresh 2-6; Morris 2-6, 3B; Bravo 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

With that, the team headed off to Elk City, so I really was only with them for two games this week.

Raccoons (36-31) @ Canadiens (24-42) – June 18-20, 2060

The Elks were horrendous, but had somehow swept the Stars in Dallas during their interleague half of the week. They were still bottoms in the North, by a lot, and ranked second from the bottom in runs scored and bottoms in runs allowed, their run differential being a ghastly -93, well short of the halfway point of the season. The only department in which they were not horrendous was stealing bases, where they ranked third in the league. The Raccoons had swept a four-game set from the Elks so far this year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (3-8, 3.90 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (2-6, 7.51 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-6, 4.18 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (3-9, 4.50 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (6-2, 2.56 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (5-6, 4.65 ERA)

Overy would be the third southpaw of the week, and also the last one.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – LF Caballero – CF Morris – P B. Herrera
VAN: CF D. Garcia – C A. Maldonado – 1B J. Campos – RF D. Moreno – LF Cardenas – SS Younce – 3B Corpus – 2B Roldan – P Kozloski

The Coons were up 3-0 in the Friday opener while I was still lugging snacks from the kitchen to the couch at home; Kozloski walked Christopher and Starr, and the Nicks drove in three runs with a pair of singles, one for Nye, with runners getting an extra base on a poor throw to home plate from Chad Cardenas, and two for Fowler. Angel Perez then hit into a double play, and the Elks made up two runs on a routinely shoddy Bobby Herrera in the bottom 1st, as he gave up just as many runners, two hits, and two walks, but got off on one run less, despite sucking no lighter than Kozloski, including walking in a run against Cardenas with the bags stuffed. Mark Younce’s groundout brought in the second Elks run. Alex Corpus grounded out to second to leave a pair in scoring position.

Lonzo then stole #600 on the most hostile turf out there in the third inning after hitting a leadoff single off Kozloski. There was *no* acknowledgement of the feat on the Elks scoreboard, and I was frothing from the mouth. There was also no run scored in the inning because the 3-4-5 batters all made meek outs, but I was madder at the first one…

From there through six there was then nary a base runner for either side as the Raccoons crept forwards with their 3-2 lead and both pitchers approaching a pitch count of 100 through six innings, neither being especially efficient. Ben Morris then opened the seventh inning with another leadoff triple, as if that would do him any good. The Raccoons did not hit for Tipsy Bobby yet – we had gone 14 the day before and every out was precious. Herrera whiffed, Christopher walked, and Lonzo’s groundout at least FINALLY brought home Morris and extended the lead to 4-2. Starr, silent in the last few weeks, really, then fell to 1-2 before sloshing an RBI single past a diving Rafael Roldan into rightfield, 5-2. The inning escalated from there against righty Carlos Torres, with two more singles for the Nicks, and then an RBI double for Perez, which ran the score to 7-2 before Caballero grounded out. Tipsy Bobby delivered one more inning before sitting down after 107 pitches, while the Coons tacked on two more runs in the top 8th against Jim Woods, but those were unearned after a 2-out error by Jose Campos that put on Lonzo in addition to Christopher. A wild pitch and Starr’s single then plated the runs. LaBat got into the bottom 8th, but put Danny Garcia and Jose Campos on base before being lifted for Mendez, who got a K on Chad Cardenas to finish the inning. Matt Walters then got the ninth with a 7-run lead because we didn’t want any more relievers at best sorta-available after two straight days of work. The Elks went in order. 9-2 Furballs! Starr 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Nye 2-4, RBI; Fowler 3-5, 3 RBI; Perez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1; Morris 3-5, 3B, 2B; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, W (4-8);

Tipsy Bobby did not allow a base hit after that rough first inning, and only two more walks.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – C Perez – 1B Starr – CF Caballero – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – RF Christopher – P DeRose
VAN: CF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – RF D. Moreno – LF Cardenas – SS Younce – C A. Maldonado – 2B Corpus – P Overy

Things fell apart quickly on Saturday, as DeRose, who had gotten on the snout his last few times out, tried to get on the snout again, but only put them on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 2nd before leaving the game with a calf strain, which was guaranteed to destroy the Coons pen just trying to get through nine innings. Or eight. Probably eight, because Reynaldo Bravo was torn up for three runs in the same inning, giving up a double to Alex Maldonado and a triple to Danny Garcia; two runs were on DeRose, of course. Bobby Sneeze was next, on only one day off after back-to-back two-inning outings, which was guaranteed to punch him a ticket to St. Petersburg. A Campos single and Moreno’s homer to right extended the score to 5-0 on Sneeze’s watch in the third, and Alex Corpus led off the fourth with a triple and was brought in by Overy.

The Raccoons only scored in the fifth inning; it took not one, but two two-base throwing errors by the Elks on this woeful day, first by Thomas Whittington to put Gonzales on base, and after Christopher drew a walk from Overy, another throwing error by Maldonado on Sneeze’s bunt. Somehow, this turned into an entirely unearned 5-spot for the Raccoons, nearly erasing the 6-0 deficit, when Nye lobbed an RBI single to left, Lonzo hit a sac fly, and Starr socked a 2-out homer to center. Caballero finally struck out to end the inning. But the respite was brief; Sneeze retired nobody in the bottom 5th, gave up a single to Moreno, a walk to Cardenas, and an RBI single to Younce, and then was removed, all snotty in the face. Ricky Herrera got out of the inning for the cost of one more run against the bottom of the order, the score 8-5 after five.

Two calmer innings followed while we just tried to piece the pen together. Ricky Herrera got six outs and Ryan Sullivan got the seventh in… but we reeeeally also needed him to pitch the eighth or burn Walters for the entire weekend just pitching garbage innings. Then the eighth rolled around and Josh Costello got the ball for the Elks, who had not gotten Overy through the sixth inning. Before long, the bags were full with Starr, Caballero, Kozak, and nobody out. Oh, and agony on the couch at home, because we could ill afford batting for Sullivan, who was three spots away. Gonzales popped out, new pitcher Patrick Jones caught a comeback liner by Joe-Chris for the second out, and now we *had* to bat for Sullivan. Nick Fowler ******* flew out to left. From three on and nobody out, once again nobody ******* scored. LaBat was then burned pitching for a third straight day in the bottom 8th, where the Elks eagerly made contact, but only got a double and no runs, while in the top 9th Erik Swain gave up a single to Nye to begin the inning and then Corpus butchered Lonzo’s grounder for an error, and the tying run was at the dish with nobody out. Perez struck out. Starr popped out. Maresh struck out. ******* *****. 8-5 Canadiens. Nye 2-5, RBI; Starr 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; R. Herrera 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The Raccoons then axed a quarter of their pitching staff by necessity. DeRose (5-7, 4.38 ERA) went to the DL with the calf strain, which would cost him a month, probably. Our next off day was on Thursday, so we would not need a fifth starter next week, which was the only good news after this clonker of a game. Sneeze (0-1, 8.38 ERA) and LaBat (0-1, 3.63 ERA) were both used up and optioned back to St. Pete just to get some fresh blood on the roster: whoever was on the 40-man and had a pulse was grabbed from the Alley Cats for Sunday and perhaps the next series against Boston as well as we added Brad Loveless, Bryan Erickson, and does anybody remember that young talent Colby Bowen?

Me neither.

The Elks moved Anton Jesus aside and instead pitched right-hander Tan Brink (7-4, 3.68 ERA) in the rubber game on Sunday.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Fowler – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Caballero – CF Morris – 3B Benitez – P Riddle
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Corpus – 1B J. Campos – RF Cardenas – CF D. Moreno – 2B Younce – 3B Whittington – C A. Maldonado – P Brink

Brink brought barely a benefit to the Elks on Sunday. He lasted two batters before leaving with back pain and leaving Alex Lodes and the rest of the pen to the remaining 25 outs they needed from the Critters. Lodes kept the game scoreless into the third inning, but a leadoff single by Benitez, a bunt bungled by Whittington, and an infield single for Joe-Chris loaded the bases with one out. Fowler popped out and Nye grounded out to drive me ever more insane.

Joel Starr’s leadoff jack in the fourth gave the Coons a 1-0 lead against Lodes, with Riddle having whiffed four in three scoreless innings, but getting close to 50 pitches with a number of long counts. Perez and Morris then hit singles to get on base, but Benitez and Riddle both struck out to leave them on, and Riddle got plonked for three straight 2-out hits in the bottom 4th to give the newly-found lead right away again. Alex Maldonado’s leadoff double and Corpus’ 2-out RBI single then gave the Elks a 2-1 lead in the fifth.

Riddle struck out nobody in the middle innings, then was hit for with Morris, the tying run, on second base and one out in the top 7th. Oley batted for the pitcher, grounded up the middle, but the ball was intercepted by Mark Younce. And then it was thrown away by Mark Younce, another 2-base error that waved home Morris, tied the game at two, and the go-ahead run was now in scoring position. Christopher walked, but the Nicks failed to nick home Oley, and the game remained tied… at least until Alex Maldonado homered to right-center against Loveless in the bottom 7th. The Elks tacked on one against Sullivan in the eighth, Younce driving in the insurance run with a 2-out single to plate Campos. The Raccoons never reached base in the last two innings… 4-2 Canadiens. Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Morris 2-4;

In other news

June 15 – Falcons RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.326, 7 HR, 34 RBI) puts out his 2,000th base hit at the tender age of 29 in a 3-1 win against the Warriors in which he contributes an RBI single in the eighth inning against SFW MR Matt Stephens (5-2, 6.31 ERA, SV). Ceballos, a career Falcon that debuted at age 18, is batting .332 with 98 HR and 744 RBI for his career, plus 495 stolen bases, and has won three batting titles and a Player of the Year award in his career.
June 15 – Crusaders 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.302, 6 HR, 53 RBI) could miss six weeks with a torn abdominal muscle.
June 15 – The only score in the Wolves’ 1-0 win against the Knights is a ninth-inning walkoff home run by SAL UT Jeff Buss (.277, 3 HR, 27 RBI).
June 18 – SAC INF Victor Corrales (.266, 5 HR, 38 RBI) hits for the cycle and then some in a 5-hit day with a cherry double atop the cycle and 4 RBI in a 14-11 tussle win over the Gold Sox. He joins Pablo Sanchez (2021), Mike Crenshaw (2050), and Nate Culp (2052) as players to hit for the cycle with the Scorpions.
June 18 – Cyclones closer Willie Cruz (3-4, 3.41 ERA, 11 SV) puts away the Capitals in an 8-5 win for his 300th career save. The 34-year-old has been a closer for five different teams in his career, and is 48-61 with a 3.28 ERA in 691 appearances. He got a World Series ring as a cup-of-coffee rookie with the Gold Sox in ’49.
June 18 – The Crusaders trade INF/LF Roger Zucal (.247, 0 HR, 9 RBI) to the Indians for lefty reliever Michael McLaughlin (4-1, 1.88 ERA, 1 SV) and #184 prospect CL Kody Mello.
June 20 – Crusaders 2B/SS Ryan Spehar (.306, 2 HR, 15 RBI) has been diagnosed with a broken rib and will miss a month.

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF Matt McInnis (.346, 10 HR, 46 RBI), hitting .600 (9-15) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND C/1B Alex Gomez (.228, 8 HR, 32 RBI), batting .440 (11-25) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Lonzo got his 600th stolen base! (and #601 too!) …and that was about the best thing about this week.

The DeRose injury tears a bit of a hole into the rotation and I can’t wait to find out how we’ll fill that. For now, the bullpen is also stuffed with all sorts of lint. The good news is that we don’t need a fifth starter next week while playing the Titans and Falcons, but that off day on Thursday is the last one before the All Star Game.

Trent Brassfield might start a rehab assignment next weekend, but even then he’s not returning before July. Besides, the Raccoons are already 11 games out in the division and aren’t gonna pose a threat anymore this year. Maybe we can still sort some things out. Like what to do with Nick Fowler. And no, that will not involve sitting down Lonzo.

Fun Fact: Willie Cruz saved 50 games as a Raccoon in 2050-51.

He came over from the Gold Sox in a 6-player trade that notably also gave us Eloy Sencion in the winter of 2049-50, and then had two tumultuous years at the sharp end of our bullpen before being wrapped up with Bubba Wolinsky and Juan Mercado for the Stars’ Juan del Toro.

Oof.

Del Toro lasted half a season in Portland – batting .275 with 6 homers after hitting .360 with 23 homers for the Stars the year before and pretty much like that for four straight years – before being flicked on to the Cyclones. At least that trade wasn’t for nothing. It was for Trent Brassfield.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-33) vs. Titans (37-30) – June 21-23, 2060

Back home the Raccoons had the Titans to deal with, who so far had won five of six games from the Critters this year. They were bottoms in runs scored, but second in runs allowed with a +16 run differential. They had also won four games in a row. Infielders Jonathan Watson and Jon Elkins were on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (7-3, 3.32 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (3-8, 2.78 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-5, 5.48 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (6-5, 2.82 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (4-8, 3.80 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (8-2, 3.36 ERA)

Looks like Grant MacKinnon had no friends on that team. He had lost five starts in a row, never allowing more than three runs, but he had gotten only four runs in support in those five games. Not average. Four runs total. Over the course of the year, the Titans had scored one or no runs for him seven times already.

The Coons were down to the four-man rotation for the entire week with DeRose on the DL; no fifth starter was needed until next Tuesday.

Game 1
BOS: 3B W. de Leon – C Burkart – 1B M. Rubin – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – SS Leitch – CF Ma. Gilmore – 2B Jurado – P MacKinnon
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Maresh – LF Kozak – CF Morris – P Stewart

There was no early Boston motion to create any sort of offense, while the Raccoons had Starr hit into a double play in the first inning, and then stranded a pair in the second. Lonzo had a rough inning in the bottom 3rd, getting nailed after a 1-out single by Joe-Chris, and then slapped out roughly by Alan Leitch on a fielder’s choice as Starr tried to hit into another double play, but Leitch was out of shape after the collision with Lonzo, who was no worse for wear thankfully, and Starr reached first base safely enough to have the inning continue, which was all well and dandy because the Nicks, Nye and Fowler, then both hit RBI singles to right-center and the Coons took a 2-0 lead. Maresh walked, but Kozak whiffed to end the inning, leaving three aboard. The following frame, the lead was doubled to 4-0 with a Stewart single to center and Joe-Chris’ third homer of the year, a shot to right.

MacKinnon was pinch-hit for in that fifth inning, but the ugly truth was that Stewart had been so inefficient that he needed 100 pitches through five shutout innings despite only six Titans base runners, and we were not quite sure how he had managed to do *that*. He returned for the sixth because Yoslan Valdez was batting left-handed and led off with a groundout, but then was replaced with Bryan Erickson, who finished off the inning. David Gonzales then pinch-hit for Erickson and hit a leadoff double in the bottom 6th before scoring on a Lonzo groundout, 5-0. At that point we developed the coocoo idea to have Colby Bowen pitch a 3-inning save and then send him back to AAA. And you know what? It bloody ******* worked. Bowen scattered a bunch of runners, and the Titans scored an unearned run in the ninth inning because Ben Morris dropped a fly ball that would have ended the game, but Bowen got nine outs on 47 pitches without blowing up entirely…! 5-1 Raccoons. Christopher 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Maresh 3-3, BB, 2B; Kozak 2-4; Gonzales (PH) 1-2, 2B; Bowen 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

The career highlight for Colby Bowen? Given his career, it didn’t mean much, but in any case it was his first career save in 57 appearances, in his sixth season as occasional cannon fodder reliever and premium subscriber to the waiver wire. In the end, we didn’t even send him back to St. Petersburg, since he actually helped to almost completely reset the parts of the bullpen we would actually boldly trust.

Game 2
BOS: CF Marcotte – C Burkart – 1B M. Rubin – LF Y. Valdez – SS Leitch – 3B W. de Leon – RF Ma. Gilmore – 2B Jurado – P Brenize
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – LF Caballero – CF Morris – P Fox

…which was all the better given Chance Fox’ atrocious 32-pitch first inning on Tuesday, in which he walked three, struck out two, and escaped without allowing a run when Willie de Leon popped out fowl to Fouler, but oh dear god, will he ever get his ducks in a row…!? He wasn’t gonna be long for this game, it seemed, but the Raccoons still scored first in the bottom 2nd when the Nicks opened with a pair of hits and Caballero’s groundout brought in an early run, but Fowler was left in scoring position.

Foxie Brown was in a better position through five than Stewart had been on Monday, being still under 90 pitches (whee?), but he had also blown the lead in the fifth inning. Eddie Marcotte singled, stole a base, advanced on a fly out and scored on Alan Leitch’s 2-out single, with Manny Rubin getting nailed in between, but was left on base. It all came apart in the sixth, though, with a leadoff infield single by Matt Gilmore, who came up lame and was replaced with Ted Lloyd, and then Denny Jurado’s 2-run homer to dead center, and dead center was dead deep in this ballpark… Fox also allowed a single to Brenize, then fudged Marcotte’s bunt, and barely made it out of the sixth inning at all. Bottom 6th, and Lonzo opened it with a double to center, then scored swiftly on Starr’s single to left-center, which was bungled by Valdez to allow Starr into second base. Nye and Fowler made poor outs with the tying run in scoring position, but Angel Perez was to the rescue with a 2-out, 2-strike double to center that took Fox off the hook. Caballero’s groundout left him with a no-decision.

Both teams stranded a pair in the seventh; Loveless walked two and was bailed out by Mendez before Oley and Christopher reached base for Portland with one out, but Lonzo’s grounder and Starr whiffing wasn’t getting anything done. Another pair was left on in the eighth by the Raccoons as Perez singled and Kozak reached on an error by de Leon against Mike Bell, but the right-hander rung up Maresh, who was batting for Morris, who was striking out all the time. Sigh. Matt Walters got the top 9th in a tied game and did his job competently, so the Raccoons, still up against the righty Bell, needed just one run to walk it off in the bottom 9th, with Oley leading off batting ninth. He struck out, as did Christopher. Lonzo hit a 2-out single, then took off on the 2-2 to Starr in a hit-and-run. The ball was in the dirt, and Lonzo took his 25th bag of the year uncontested, moving his furry tush into scoring position. Starr’s fly to Marcotte left him there, and the game moved to extras, where Walters offered a leadoff walk in a full count to de Leon, and then saw Bravo getting taken pretty deep by Lloyd to break the tie and lose the game. 5-3 Titans. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Starr 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nye 2-5; Perez 3-5, 2 2B, RBI;

Game 3
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Torrence – C Arviso – RF Y. Valdez – 3B W. de Leon – 1B Dorey – SS Leitch – 2B Jurado – P Craddock
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – LF Caballero – CF Oley – P B. Herrera

Yet another game for Bobby Herrera in which he was incinerated. The rubber game started calmly enough, with a walk to Marcotte, who stole a base and scored on a hit by Jorge Arviso, but it remained 1-0 into the fourth inning before **** hit all the fans surrounding the mound. Valdez hit a 1-out single, and Bill Dorey’s double and Alan Leitch’s single each drove in a 2-out run in the inning before Denny Jurado struck out. The fifth was the worst then. Marcotte drew another walk. Ethan Torrence singled, and Arviso doubled both of them home. Herrera then allowed another three singles, allowed two more runs, and the only out made after this was a baserunning blunder by Yoslan Valdez. Mendez replaced Herrera with two outs in the fifth and got a groundout to keep the score at 7-0… It didn’t get much better after that, not only that the offense was blatantly incompetent, but after a clean sixth from Erickson the Raccoons put Loveless into the seventh. He got bombed by Arviso, 8-0, and spun around so fast to catch one last glimpse of that ball before it would enter orbit that he tweaked his back and had to leave the game. Three more relievers completed pitching duties for the Raccoons in this stinker of a game, while Craddock was still going strong for a shutout in the bottom 9th, but gave up leadoff knocks to Starr (single) and Nye (double), putting a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Fowler popped out, and then Arviso conceded a run on a passed ball before Angel Perez singled home Nye. That was the extent of the rally, however, and Craddock finished the game. 8-2 Titans. Starr 2-4; Perez 3-4, RBI; Oley 2-4, 2B;

Yikes.

Brad Loveless was off to the DL with back soreness, and the Raccoons kept flinging left-handed relievers at the wall in the vain hope that one day, one would stick. Mike Goldfield, with a 10.80 ERA in nine outings for the Coons last year, was brought back from St. Petersburg.

Raccoons (38-35) @ Falcons (36-35) – June 25-27, 2060

The Falcons were second in the South and came in with an average of offense, but some tidy pitching allowing the fourth-fewest runs in the Continental League. They had a +21 run differential, but had no power to speak of despite Danny Ceballos on the roster. Portland led the season series, 2-1, and the Falcons had not had a day off prior to this series.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (6-2, 2.59 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (7-5, 2.17 ERA)
Zach Stewart (8-3, 3.12 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (4-6, 4.92 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-5, 5.40 ERA) vs. Phil Baker (0-8, 4.50 ERA)

Sciuto was the only southpaw in the group, and Phil Baker was the only one that was obviously cursed, but he was also a former Raccoon, so nobody was particularly surprised.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – LF O. Caballero – CF Oley – P Riddle
CHA: 3B Carbajal – CF T. Stone – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 1B Valcarcel – LF K. Fisher – 2B J. Caballero – SS Hullander – P Schaeffer

Boos rained down on Tyler Riddle when he hit Ceballos in the forearm in the first inning, but Ceballos shook it off and tigered to first base. This came after a Tim Stone single and before Luis Miranda singled home the aforementioned Stone for a 1-0 Falcons lead, which appeased the crowd for the time being, although the Raccoons would erase the deficit in the top 3rd on a solo homer by Todd Oley.

When he wasn’t trying to kill the fan favorite, Tyler Riddle was pretty damn good in this game, striking out *11* Falcons in just five innings, although with the expected pitch count explosion. They had only one extra hit against him through five, and hits by Fowler and Caballero were pieced together in the fifth inning for a 2-1 Coons lead. Stone drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 6th but two flies to center and a dozen-filling K on Jesus Valcarcel ended the inning, albeit with almost 100 pitches on Riddle’s extensively-stitched clock. He issued another walk to Joe Hullander in the bottom 7th before whiffing a not-hit-for Schaeffer for his 13th strikeout and that was as far as he would get in this game. Joe Christopher hit a 2-out jack in the top 8th off Schaeffer, who then saw Hullander bungle Lonzo’s grounder for an error and gave up 2-out singles to Starr and Nye to bring Lonzo around to score as well. Fowler grounded out to strand a pair, and Sullivan and Ricky Herrera put the eighth together with a 4-1 lead before Matt Walters had a stumble in the ninth inning and allowed leadoff hits to Miranda and Valcarcel, putting the tying run in the box with nobody out. Kyle Fisher popped out, but Jorge Caballero hit an RBI single. Hullander whiffed, and Braden McCarver … whiffed as well…! Phew! 4-2 Coons. Fowler 2-4, 2B; Riddle 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K, W (7-2);

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – CF O. Caballero – 3B Gonzales – P Stewart
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 2B Yoshikawa – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – LF K. Fisher – 3B Carbajal – 1B J. Caballero – SS Hullander – P Sciuto

Stewart also had a trying first inning against Charlotte, giving up a walk and three singles as well as a run until Ricky Carbajal – batting with three on and one out – lined into a double play to David Gonzales to kill the inning. Jorge Caballero and Sciuto hit more singles off him in the bottom 2nd, though, meaning that of nine batters to face Stewart, five had hit singles and one had walked. Caballero also scored in the inning to up the score to 2-0. Stewart then tried to get back at Sciuto with a leadoff single of his own in the third inning. Christopher legged out an infield single, but was doubled up with Lonzo’s grounder to short. Nick Nye got an RBI single to center, though, Starr also singled, and Perez grounded out to short…

While Stewart couldn’t stop sucking and gave up another run in the bottom 4th on a Caballero single and a Hullander RBI double, he also drew a leadoff walk against the opposing lefty in the fifth inning. Christopher also walked, and Lonzo doubled something up again, but this time with a gapper in left-center narrowly missed by Fisher, and contained fast enough by Jose Rodriguez to keep Christopher from scoring, but the score was narrowed to 3-2 and there was a pair in scoring position with nobody out, AND the 3-4-5 were up…! And the 3-4-5 ******* ****** up, going pop, lineout, flyout, and nobody could give a flying **** and bring in the ******* tying run from third base.

Both pitchers were done after six busy innings, but my jaws had yet to unlock again as I was blowing hot steam from my poky black nose STILL. The Coons’ 1-2 set up another opportunity against righty Jeff McFadden in the top 7th as Christopher drew a leadoff walk and Lonzo then singled to left-center, with Christopher reaching third base. Again: nobody out. Nye grounded out poorly, allowing Lonzo to second, but keeping Christopher pinned, and Starr whiffed altogether. Two outs, yay! Angel Perez then fell to 0-2, and I was ready to explode, but Perez then stuffed a ball past Jorge Caballero and down the rightfield line for a score-flipping 2-run double after ******* all. New pitcher Josh Doyle struck out Kozak to end the top 7th, but Ruben Mendez retired the Falcons in order as the Portland pen began operations. Goldfield got into the bottom 8th only for Ceballos, getting a fly to right from him, then was replaced with Bravo, who insisted on walking a pair before striking out two to end the inning. At least Matt Walters was back to delivering 1-2-3 ninths… 4-3 Blighters. Lavorano 2-4, 2B, RBI; Nye 2-5, RBI; Starr 2-4;

Sometimes a win is a win is a win, but Jesus Christ on the city bus, they could make it a bit easier on their old GM…!!

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – LF Oley – C Maresh – CF Morris – 3B Benitez – P Fox
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 2B Yoshikawa – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Valcarcel – LF K. Fisher – 3B Carbajal – C McCarver – SS Hullander – P P. Baker

Bases loaded for the Falcons in the bottom 1st without the benefit of a hit – Fox chanced the first two batters on base with walks, Tony Benitez chipped in an error, and somehow Kyle Fisher whiffed and Carbajal flew out to Morris to keep them from scoring… McCarver drew a leadoff walk in the second inning, but was left on, while Takuro Yoshikawa opened the bottom 3rd with a triple and Ceballos didn’t wait around for long and hit a sac fly to center for the first run of the game. But Fox kept getting drubbed, filled the bases, and allowed two more runs in the inning on a groundout and a Hullander double before Baker whiffed to end the inning…

The middle innings were uneventful, partially because the Raccoons were absolutely useless, and partially because the Coons defense made some better plays on the rockets flying everywhere, dragging Fox, who looked like an early departure in the third and fourth inning, through six still stinking segments. Erickson was then lit up in the bottom 7th; Ceballos’ 1-out single was followed by a pair of doubles for two runs, and ultimately a third run was conceded on a second throwing error for Benitez in the game. Bowen replaced Erickson as a white flag, allowed another run on Hullander’s RBI single, and then finally ended the inning with a fly to Oley. Jeff McFadden pitched two scoreless innings after Phil Baker’s seven to give Baker his first W of the year. 7-0 Falcons. Nye 2-4, 2B; Morris 2-4, 2B;

In other news

June 22 – A solo homer by NAS RF Austin Gordon (.305, 9 HR, 30 RBI) is enough to beat the Buffaloes, 1-0.
June 27 – Richmond’s SS Jason Turner (.306, 3 HR, 10 RBI) hits a single for the only Rebs hit in their Sunday game against the Scorpions… which they not only win 1-0, but the single has nothing to do with the game’s lonely run, which is manufactured when SAC MR Steve Watson (4-3, 3.06 ERA) walks the bags full and RIC C Ramon Lopez (.246, 1 HR, 24 RBI) hits a sac fly in the eighth inning.
June 27 – The Cyclones beat the Pacifics, 3-2 in 17 innings. CIN 1B Marquise Saulsberry (.300, 5 HR, 23 RBI) has five hits, three singles and two doubles, but does not get an RBI in the marathon.

FL Player of the Week: DAL SS/2B Trevor Niemiec (.250, 3 HR, 10 RBI), hitting .667 (8-12) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL RF/LF David Milian (.348, 1 HR, 32 RBI), poking .450 (9-20) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(beats Tony Benitez with a rolled-up magazine while the team is waiting for the bus to roll up to bring them to the airport) I don’t care! (whack!) Stop – (whack!) – ******* – (whack!) – crying!!! (whack!)

Dumb week. Dumb team. The string is still very long. I don’t know what to do with Chance Fox, I don’t know what to do with the infield, I don’t know what to do with the bullpen. Maybe I should just let Colby Bowen run the ******* place.

Or Chad.

Trent Brassfield started a rehab assignment on the weekend. He should rejoin the team around the middle of next week.

Straight baseball from here until the All Star Game. We’ll stop by in Vegas on the way home, and then play 11 games at home against the Crusaders, Indians, and Loggers. The Indians will then also be the first opponent after the break to open a 10-game road trip.

Fun Fact: 19 years ago today, the Crusaders’ Ernesto Lujan no-hit the Titans in a 1-0 ballgame.

Lujan was by then 38 years old and in his 17th ABL season. He went 12-8 with a 3.43 ERA for New York that year – his last season as a starter before some long man assignments in his final years. Lujan, who went 150-163 with a 3.92 ERA and 12 saves in a career spanning 583 games (385 starts) and 2,789 innings with 1,592 strikeouts holds the weird distinction of 20 years in the majors without having won an award or a title, and without having led the league in any meaningful category outside of games started, which he did twice in the FL in the 2020s.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-36) @ Aces (33-42) – June 28-30, 2060

The Aces had found the bottom of the CL South again with their second-worst offense and the #8 pitching in the league, which amounted to a -36 run differential (Coons: -20). They were near the bottom in team OBP, but had the fourth-most dingers in the league, while the rotation struggled with a 4.61 ERA, but the pen remained remarkably steady. We led the season series, 2-1, and they were down a few pitches, including closer Alex Flores, and outfielder Scott Laws.

The Raccoons began the week by designating both Colby Bowen (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV) and Tony Benitez (.169, 1 HR, 7 RBI) for assignment. Angel Alba was brought back to slide into the rotation slot vacated by Justin DeRose a few weeks earlier, and a callup went out to Jon Bean for a few days until we could get Trent Brassfield back from his rehab assignment. Bean had batted .254 for the Coons last year, starting hot and turning into dry ice at the end.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (4-9, 4.29 ERA) vs. Andres Flores (2-7, 5.43 ERA)
Angel Alba (1-0, 4.26 ERA) vs. Steve Hunter (7-3, 2.58 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (7-2, 2.50 ERA) vs. Bobby Shenk (5-5, 3.54 ERA)

Hunter was left-handed in this group.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – LF Caballero – CF Morris – P B. Herrera
LVA: RF Chairez – SS Veguilla – 3B A. Alfaro – LF K. Hummel – 1B Andersen – C Burgio – CF J. Evans – 2B Huddleston – P A. Flores

The Coons scored first on Monday with a Joel Starr homer to left, 1-0, and two more runs were brought in to score in the second inning, which began with a Perez single and Caballero double to right, after which Morris hit a sac fly and Tipsy Bobby hit an RBI single to center. Flores continued to get whacked: Starr and Nye opened the third inning with singles and were in scoring position after Fowler made an out. Angel Perez pushed a sharp single through the left side that allowed both runners to score, 5-0, and Caballero drew another walk before the 8-9 batters let the inning fizzle out. On the hill, Herrera caused no complaints in the early going, shutting out the Aces on two hits and three strikeouts through three innings.

Alex Alfaro hit a ground-rule double off Herrera in the fourth, but as a whole the Aces failed to threaten and went down on just 50 pitches in five innings, which was a wholly new concept for Raccoons starters. The middle innings breezed by, while the bottom 7th was the first frame where Bobby ran three long counts, but still retired the Aces in order for it. Jake Evans, Phil Huddleston, and Kyle Mathews disappeared in order in the eighth as well, the last one on a strikeout, and Herrera was still under 90 pitches at that point. In the top 9th, we met Alex Rios, recently removed from us on waivers, and who had gotten whacked a bit since arriving in Vegas, with his ERA over five now. It didn’t get better for him any time soon, either, as Nye led off the nyenth with a single to center, and then scored on Fowler’s double to right, the first Raccoons run since the third inning. Perez singled, Caballero hit a sac fly, and Morris and Christopher walked around Herrera’s pop. Lonzo hit a drive to deep left, but Ken Hummel robbed him of extra bases to end the inning, and then Tipsy Bobby was back on the hill for the bottom 9th. Daniel Amburn struck out. Miguel Veguilla struck out. Alex Alfaro… walked. Killjoy. Hummel flew out to center to end the game, though. 7-0 Coons! Starr 2-3, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Nye 2-5; Fowler 2-5, 2B, RBI; Perez 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Caballero 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI; B. Herrera 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, W (5-9) and 1-5, RBI;

Fourth career shutout for Tipsy Bobby, and the first this year!

Joel Starr got a day off against the southpaw on Tuesday, although he would probably pinch-hit at some point. Starr was the only Critter with a perfect attendance record in 2060.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – LF Caballero – 1B Kozak – C Maresh – 3B Gonzales – CF Morris – RF Oley – P Alba
LVA: CF J. Evans – SS Veguilla – 3B A. Alfaro – LF K. Hummel – 1B Andersen – C Burgio – RF Kokel – 2B J. White – P S. Hunter

The strike zone would persistently elude Angel Alba in his second career start, but at least the homer that Casey Burgio hit in the second inning didn’t come with any of the three guys that Alba walked the first time through on board. Only Ken Hummel walked the second time through but the fifth inning in the 1-0 game began with a Veguilla single and then Alba walked the bags full with Alfaro and Hummel and was yoinked after 79 pitches, only 35 of them strikes. Two runs scored against Ruben Mendez, who got Jeff Andersen to 0-2 before giving up an RBI single, and the other run came home on Burgio’s 4-6-3 double play grounder. Chaz Kokel K’ed to end the dismal inning.

Also dismal: the offense. The team had just two singles before Jack Kozak hacked a homer to left with his eyes closed in the seventh inning, 3-1. That was the only blip on Hunter’s ledger, which stretched eight innings before he was hit for with Kyle Mathews with two gone in the bottom 8th. Mathews hit an RBI single, scoring Kokel against Mike Goldfield for an insurance run before the Aces boldly put Alex Rios into another ninth inning against the top of the order. Nye grounded out, Lonzo doubled, but Starr and Kozak both fanned and the game ended rather meekly. 4-1 Aces. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Erickson 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Lonzo had gone 0-for-6 on Monday, then had half the team’s hits on Tuesday, and got Wednesday off as a reward.

Erickson was by far not a long man, but he managed to cover two innings in 21 pitches here.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – CF Morris – 1B Starr – SS Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – 2B Bean – LF Oley – P Riddle
LVA: 2B J. White – SS Veguilla – LF K. Hummel – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B Andersen – CF J. Evans – RF Amburn – C Mathews – P Shenk

The rubber game was over before everybody had taken their seat, as the Aces ripped Riddle a new one in a 38-pitch first inning. Veguilla singled, Hummel doubled, Alfaro walked, Andersen and Evans singled, and Mathews doubled as the Aces batted through the order. Five runs scored, with two RBI for Mathews and one each for Hummel, Andersen, and Evans. When the Raccoons had three singles in the second inning, they failed to score, with former Raccoons farmhand Daniel Amburn throwing out Nick Nye at home on Oley’s 2-out single to end the inning. While Amburn took Riddle deep to extend the lead to 6-0 in the third inning, the Coons got singles from the Nicks in the fourth, and then an inning-ending double play by Angel Perez…

The Raccoons for the second straight day had to wait for a Kozak homer to get on the board, and this time he wasn’t even in the lineup. Thankfully Riddle was blown out early, so we were eagerly pinch-hitting by the fifth inning (throws fists in the air as if the Coons had just won something), but of course it was also a solo issue. The Raccoons ached their way to another run on three singles by Oley, Christopher, and Morris in the seventh inning, but after that Starr flew out to Hummel and the tying run went from the on-deck circle back to the dugout. Two were on again with singles in the eighth as Fowler and Perez both hit 1-out dinkers into shallow left, which was the end for Shenk. Right-hander Hector Estevez took the ball, but gave up an RBI double to right to Jon Bean, and now the tying run was in the box in the 6-3 game. Lefty Justin Rocco came in for Oley, who was hit for with Maresh, whose grounder brought in a run, but in the greater scheme of things was none too helpful. Caballero pinch-hit for Ryan Sullivan, but flew out weakly to Amburn in right. Goldfield held the Aces close in the eighth, and then lefty ex-Coon Geoff Sather came out for the … lefty top of the order in the ninth inning, and our bench was empty save for a David Gonzales. Joe-Chris singled to right, but then was caught stealing when Morris flailed on the hit-and-run, and the Raccoons ended up going down in three batters. 6-4 Aces. Christopher 2-4, BB; Nye 2-4; Fowler 3-4; Bean 2-4, 2B, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Raccoons (41-38) vs. Crusaders (52-25) – July 1-4, 2060

In case you wondered why we weren’t busy trading for new players, the Crusaders’ record was impressive, and our budget space was not. They were up 5-3 on the Coons this year, and the fact that they ranked #1 in runs scored and runs allowed in the CL gave me little hope that we’d remain close to them by season’s end in any category. +159 run differential after 77 games??

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (9-3, 3.21 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (7-2, 3.43 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-6, 5.33 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (5-5, 2.86 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (5-9, 3.91 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (5-6, 3.23 ERA)
Angel Alba (1-1, 5.23 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (7-4, 4.01 ERA)

Only right-handers and no Ben Seiter (11-2, 2.44 ERA)!? Was this our lucky day? (Probably not)

The Raccoons brought back Trent Brassfield from his rehab assignment. Todd Oley (.224, 1 HR, 2 RBI) ended up being sent back to St. Petersburg.

Game 1
NYC: CF Konecny – SS V. Velez – 2B O. Sanchez – LF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – 1B Caban – 3B Webler – P Taki
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – P Stewart

The Coons went in order the first time through on Thursday as the offensive dearth continued… despite a leadoff double by Angel Perez in the bottom 3rd. Morris flew out to advance him, and Stewart flew out to Sean Zeiher to tempt him to go home, where he was thrown out at the plate. The game was scoreless to here, but Stewart then allowed singles to Victor Velez and Omar Sanchez, nailed Tommy Branch, and had the bags full with nobody out. This time a run scored on Zeiher’s watch, even though he hit into a 4-6-3 double play to make it happen, and Curt Goodwin’s whiff ended the inning with rather mild damage. Stewart would fight his way through the Crusaders lineup for seven innings, allowing one run in his final frame as John Webler and Kelly Konecny put out singles to scratch one out, then left at the stretch with a 2-0 deficit, because the Coons couldn’t do ******* anything. Taki didn’t even have a strikeout through six innings, and they still managed to suck the air out of the entire ballpark. When the tying runs were on base in the bottom 7th, this came on a Webler error to put on Starr to begin the inning, then a walk to Nick Nye. Brass flew out to center, but Fowler loaded them up with a single to right. Perez, the master of disaster, wasted no time and chomped a high bouncer at the shortstop Velez for an inning- and soul-murdering 6-4-3 double play. A leadoff single by Ben Morris in the bottom 8th led to exactly ******** nothing, and in the ninth they spared everybody the tedium of getting on base in the first place. 2-0 Crusaders. Fowler 2-3; Morris 2-3; Stewart 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (9-4);

(deep sigh)

Game 2
NYC: CF Konecny – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B O. Sanchez – LF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – SS V. Velez – 3B Webler – P Cantrill
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Maresh – CF Morris – P Fox

He walked Curt Goodwin and he nicked Vic Velez, and he needed 37 pitches the first time through, but he didn’t explode as soon as the Crusaders put their pants on, which was already good news with Chance Fox these days. Cantrell went down to begin the third inning, and then things started happening. Kelly Konecny singled for the first base hit on Friday, and then Fowler fired away John Rosenstiel’s grounder for a 2-base error. Sanchez was drilled, and the bags were full with one out, and Fox easily looked discombobulated. A mound conference tried to calm him down, but the umpire shooed everybody back to their positions before Maud could bring the soothing tea to the dugout for it to get relayed to the hill. Still, Tommy Branch hit an easy comebacker that Fox took home for an out at the plate, but the bags remained loaded for Zeiher with two outs. Zeiher, too, hit a comebacker to Fox! …and Fox fired it 17 feet over the head of Joel Starr for a 2-base, 2-run error. (takes off Coons cap and fires it into the display with the bobblehead collection, sending arms and heads flying across the room) The inning wasn’t even over. The Crusaders were still batting. Goodwin socked a 2-run double to left. Fox, dissolving, walked Velez. John Webler finally grounded to Nye, but Nye, too, threw ******** to first base and pulled Starr off the bag for the THIRD ******* ERROR OF THE INNING, and the Crusaders had the bases loaded again, but hold on, no, the ball was loose again, and everybody was in motion again, and Goodwin scored, and it was now 5-0. At this point, Fox only remained on the hill because the next batter was the opposing pitcher, Cantrill, who grounded out. All runs were unearned. But I was just as pissed.

Maresh and Morris began the bottom 3rd by getting on base (!), but Fox whiffed and Christopher and Lonzo made ****ty outs, and nobody scored. In a pointless game in a generally pointless effort to do … anything, really… the Raccoons dragged Fox through five innings (he didn’t give up an earned run, yay?), then prepared to use up Erickson and Goldfield in the next few innings in an attempt to gain ground and then bring in fresh meat from St. Pete. They couldn’t not have been more useless if they had come in on unicycles with both arms tied behind their backs. Neither pitched a full inning, both gave up a run, and Goldfield somehow managed to hit two batters and walk another without getting completely exploded. Bravo was needed just to get through the seventh after Goldfield made a dark spot on the rug.

Bottom 7th, Brass and Fowler and Maresh all hit singles to begin the inning and gave us more nightmare fodder at three on and nobody out. Morris brought in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder that saw Maresh out at second, Kozak brought in a run with a sac fly in Bravo’s spot, and Christopher doubled home Morris, but Lonzo’s fly to left was caught to end the inning. It was all for naught of course, and not just because the Crusaders would clip Sullivan for two hits and a run in the ninth inning. Even before, the Coons had still been short by a slam. 8-3 Crusaders. Maresh 3-4; Bean (PH) 1-1; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

“Bad Team Plays Badly”, titled the Agitator on Saturday.

I had no defense, in more ways than one.

Erickson stayed, but Goldfield (0-0, 6.00 ERA) was gone and replaced with … (deep sigh) … LaBat? Heck, LaBat it is…

Game 3
NYC: SS V. Velez – C McLaren – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – CF Branch – 1B Rosenstiel – LF Konecny – 3B Webler – P Luera
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Caballero – 3B Gonzales – P B. Herrera

Off a shutout, Bobby Herrera struck out six batters his first time through the order, but also gave up hits to Zeiher, who was doubled up by Branch, and Webler. The early scoring was Portland’s though, with Lonzo getting brushed in the bottom 1st, stealing second angrily, and then scoring on a Nye single with two down. Lonzo was nicked *again* in his second plate appearance, but nothing came of that, while Tipsy Bobby struck out two more batters in the fourth inning for eight on the day, and 100 for the season in 105.1 innings.

Nobody had a base hit in the middle innings, and in fact, through six the Raccoons still sat on nothing else but Nye’s RBI single from the first inning. The pitchers’ duel kept raging, with Herrera definitely more flashy and with ten strikeouts in six innings, but the seventh inning got sticky. While he struck out Zeiher and Konecny, in between Branch singled and Rosenstiel walked, and by the time Webler popped out to Nye to end the inning, his pitch count was at 103. A shutout didn’t look feasible here, but he got two more outs in the eighth from right-handed batters Armando Caban, who grounded out to short, and Victor Velez, who whiffed, the 13th K on Herrera’s ledger for the day. From here, the Critters went straight to Matt Walters for a hopefully 4-out save. He rung up Matt McLaren to finish the eighth, but the Coons could not offer any insurance run against Alex Mancilla in the bottom 8th – which might have required a base knock, so forget about that right away. Sanchez and Goodwin struck out to begin the ninth, and Branch’s floater to center was picked up by Ben Morris for the final out in a tight squeezer. 1-0 Blighters. Nye 1-3, RBI; B. Herrera 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 13 K, W (6-9); Walters 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (26);

This team…

Game 4
NYC: LF Deeley – C McLaren – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – CF Branch – 1B Rosenstiel – SS R. Wright – 3B Webler – P J. Ortega
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Caballero – SS Bean – 2B Gonzales – P Alba

The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an erratic Angel Alba, in an inning that had everything: a hit, a walk, and hit batter, catcher’s interference, and a double play not turned. How the Crusaders didn’t spin it into a 4-spot was a mystery, but with the bags full Ortega struck out and Chris Deeley grounded out. Rosenstiel doubled home two runs the inning after, though, with Sanchez on with a walk and Zeiher with a bloop single. The Raccoons in the meantime got their first base hit in ten innings in the bottom 3rd as Jon Bean singled and then was swiftly doubled up by Gonzales.

Webler doubled and Deeley singled him home to extend the score to 4-0 in the fourth as Alba was clearly not up to snuff against the Crusaders, but the Raccoons reached the scoreboard in the same inning. Ortega, who had faced the minimum the first time through, walked Christopher in a full count to begin the bottom 4th, then gave up a wallbanger double to Fowler in leftfield. Brass snuck a single into centerfield to plate a run, and bring up Starr as the tying run. Ortega lost him on balls to load the bases with no outs, and Angel Perez singled in a pair with a hard zinger to center on the very next pitch, but the inning then quickly fizzled out with three meek outs from the 6-7-8 batters, keeping the Raccoons a run short. Or, as soon as Sean Zeiher whacked a 2-piece over the fence in right against the hapless Alba in the fifth, three runs short.

Alba was hit for in the bottom 5th, after having been torn up by a mostly left-handed lineup, which made it the more infuriating when LaBat failed just as badly and got plonked for two more runs in an inning and small change by the Crusaders. Another run would be given up by Erickson in the ninth, not that me personally I was still counting… 9-3 Crusaders. Bean 2-4;

In other news

June 28 – News surface that BOS CL Josh Carlisle (3-0, 0.64 ERA, 23 SV) was bitten by his neighbor’s dog on Sunday night and would miss at least two weeks with an undisclosed injury.
June 28 – It takes 12 innings for a single run to be scored in the Stars’ 1-0 road win in Pittsburgh.
June 30 – SFW SP Evan Alvey (5-6, 5.57 ERA) puts all his eggs into one basket and no-hits the Blue Sox in a 7-0 Warriors win. The left-hander still offers five walks and strikes out four batters. This is the 100th no-hitter by a single pitcher in league history and the second consecutive no-hitter against the Blue Sox after Sean Sweeton of the Miners held them hitless last July.
July 1 – The Miners deal SP Kodai Koga (6-5, 3.29 ERA) and #63 prospect OF Evan Mottern to the Blue Sox for C/1B Nick Dingman (.242, 7 HR, 25 RBI), who is himself still ranked as the #9 prospect.
July 1 – The Knights score ten runs in the sixth inning on their way to whack the Condors, 16-5. Batting eighth, ATL INF/RF Nick Fox (.310, 4 HR, 45 RBI) goes unretired with four singles, a walk, and three RBI.
July 2 – CIN SP Luis Palacios (5-5, 3.73 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout against the Miners, claiming the W in a 2-0 game.
July 3 – A broken elbow ends the season of Rebels SP Dan Garicia (5-6, 4.73 ERA).
July 3 – Oklahoma acquires C Bruce Burkart (.259, 4 HR, 17 RBI) from the Titans for outfielder Andy Lee (.250, 1 HR, 9 RBI) and a prospect.
July 3 – The Wolves send SP Dave Robinson (6-8, 3.62 ERA) to the Pacifics in exchange for #158 prospect SP Justin Coban.
July 4 – The Condors lose to the Knights, 9-8 in 15 innings, but TIJ 1B Jason Sturgeon (.322, 7 HR, 29 RBI) goes 6-for-7 with a walk, a double, and an RBI.
July 4 – The Cyclones beat the Miners, 5-2 in 15 innings, although their feat to strand only four runners in a 15-inning game could be looked at from two sides…
July 5 – The Indians deal MR Rafael de la Cruz (1-2, 6.31 ERA) to the Condors for a prospect.

FL Player of the Week: RIC CF/RF Antonio Cruz (.340, 11 HR, 52 RBI), whacking .583 (14-24) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND OF Orlando Ramos (.268, 14 HR, 54 RBI), batting .440 (11-25) with 3 HR, 13 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: RIC CF/RF Antonio Cruz (.324, 10 HR, 47 RBI), batting .402 with 5 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.284, 15 HR, 51 RBI), hitting .348 with 4 HR, 16 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Alex Quevedo (5-1, 2.01 ERA), going 4-0 in six starts, with 1.15 ERA, 42 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: BOS CL Josh Carlisle (3-0, 0.64 ERA, 23 SV), saving 8 of 12 games pitched, with a 2-0 record, 0.60 ERA, 18 K
FL Rookie of the Month: PIT OF/1B/SS Tyler Bender (.362, 1 HR, 9 RBI), hitting .397 with 1 HR, 9 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: MIL SS/2B Fidel Carrera (.293, 11 HR, 48 RBI), batting .300 with 4 HR, 19 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(gnashes teeth)

The Raccoons have failed their way to the bottom in runs scored in the Continental League now. Tied with the Aces for now with 319 markers each, but for how long can that still go well…? I don’t even know … why … and how…

Bright sides: we reached the halfway point. And… do I have to come up with anything more? Really? Only 79 more games of agony!

Fine, let’s cast a quick look on the stolen base leaderboard now that we passed another quarterpost. Lonzo is on pace for about 53 bags this year, and if he can keep that up through 2062, he’d come out at the top of the whole bloody thing…!

1st – Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (HOF) – 708
3rd – Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos (HOF) – 677
5th – Alex Vasquez (active) – 630
6th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 603
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 515
t-9th – Chris Navarro (active) – 497
t-9th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 497
11th – Omar Gonzalez (active) – 495
12th – Oscar Mendoza – 494

That is, if he also manages to pass Vasquez. In the last six weeks or so, Lonzo stole 12 bags, while Vasquez took 10, so there wasn’t a lot of gain in there. Omar Sanchez also took 12, including three on the weekend. There’s a lot of gasping for air below that.

The Coons play the Indians and Loggers next week, and then it’ll be the All Star Game.

Fun Fact: Jason Sturgeon became the first-ever Condor to clip six hits in a ballgame on Saturday.

That is already hard to believe after 83 1/2 years in this league, but there’s even one team that’s never had one do it: the cycle masters from Nashville (with ten neatly sorted four-packs of hits over the years) have never seen somebody put out six hits in a game.

[Westheim]

May 1 is Euro-style Labor Day, so you'll get your Critters a bit earlier than usual today!

+++

Raccoons (42-41) vs. Indians (47-33) – July 5-8, 2060

Four and four with the Indians now, who were a bit of a surprise in second place, scoring the second-most runs in the CL, but lacking in pitching with the fourth-most runs allowed and a +20 run differential (Critters: -30). Their rotation was cruddy, their pen was worse, and they needed help, but they were up 3-1 on the Raccoons this year.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (7-3, 2.93 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (7-6, 5.19 ERA)
Zach Stewart (9-4, 3.16 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (5-4, 3.06 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-7, 5.01 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (4-1, 2.73 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (6-9, 3.63 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (8-5, 3.69 ERA)

Two right, two left from the Indians, while the Raccoons contributed three southpaws to a majority-lefty series.

Game 1
IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – LF O. Ramos – CF Abel – 1B Schaack – 3B R. Vargas – 2B Zucal – P M. Guerra
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – P Riddle

The Raccoons scratched out an early run with a walk drawn by Joe-Chris, a Lonzo single, and a run-scoring grounder to short for Nick Nye, but Lonzo was left in scoring position. Second inning, second run on Ben Morris’ sac fly after Fowler and Perez went to the corners with leadoff knocks against Guerra. That was it for early offense, while the Indians had three hits against Riddle in the first three innings, but also hit into two double plays. Chris Lovins’ leadoff jack in the fourth narrowed the score to 2-1 and the Indians got Alex Gomez and Orlando Ramos on base as well with singles, but Kevin Abel flew out and Riddle struck out Jason Schaack and Ricardo Vargas to wiggle out of the jam. The Vargas K was also his 100th K of the year in 111.1 innings. Roger Zucal, just recently added by Indy from New York, led off the fifth with another single, but was stranded on third base after a bunt, Matt Kilday’s groundout, and a K to Lovins. In turn, Nick Nye hit a home run in the bottom 5th to re-establish a 2-run lead.

The game remained close; the sixth was uneventful, but Schaack was nicked with a breaking ball by Riddle to begin the seventh inning, and the Indians managed to maneuver pinch-runner Ernie Mitchell around to score after Vargas drew a walk to shove him to second base with nobody out, but Riddle again got the critical out from Kilday to strand the tying run on third base. The Coons in the bottom 7th then had two walks (Joe-Chris, Nye) and a triple (Lonzo), and didn’t score because Christopher was caught stealing right away, and the runners on the corners were wound up by Joel Starr’s 6-4-3 grounder to short. Riddle came back for the eighth for Lovins, but the lefty hitter flicked a first-pitch single to left and Ruben Mendez was already lined up to follow on. He threw a wild pitch, got two outs, but the Indians sent left-handed batter Mike Weber to bat for Kevin Abel with two outs in the inning, with Lovins on third base. The Raccoons brought Walters in a double switch for an attempt at another 4-out save, but lost Weber in a full count, and then fell to a duck snort single to center on an 0-2 pitch by PH Ricardo Alvarez, tying the game after all before Vargas grounded out. In the ninth, Walters had to pitch around a Fowler error, but held the game tied. The Raccoons didn’t reach against Hyuma Hitomi, however, and the game went to extras, where in the top 10th secret weapon Ricky Herrera gave up three singles to Alex Gomez, Gaudencio Callaia, and Vargas as well as the go-ahead run, which wasn’t in my script… Left-hander Cody Kleidon (who?) got the bottom 10th for Indy, which started with Lonzo, who was not impressed with Kleidon walking more than he whiffed and singled to right to begin the inning. Nye’s grounder to short forced Lonzo at second base, and Starr had been removed in the double play, so Kozak pinch-hit for Ricky Herrera, but flew out on a 3-0 pitch, which left me aghast. Brass walked with two outs, and Chris Maresh batted for Fowler, but grounded out to Kilday. 4-3 Indians. Lavorano 3-5, 3B; Morris 1-2, BB, RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K and 1-2;

Game 2
IND: 3B R. Vargas – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – CF Abel – 1B Schaack – SS Zucal – LF R. Alvarez – 2B M. Weber – P R. Oyola
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Maresh – CF Morris – P Stewart

Christopher hit a single to lead off the bottom 1st, and that was the only Raccoons knock until most of the crowd had fallen asleep. The Indians got a run on Weber’s leadoff single and a Vargas double to left in the third inning, then another one when Schaack homered off Stewart in the fourth, and another one on another solo homer by Alex Gomez in the sixth, but they also lost ex-Coon Oyola to injury in the fourth inning and would have to piece the rest of the game together with their pen. Christopher then hit another single to lead off the sixth for the Coons’ second hit of the ballgame, whee. Lonzo singled, Christopher was caught trying to steal third base, Nye singled Lonzo to third base, and Starr found another double play to hit into, and that ended the inning.

Stewart got stuck with runners on the corners in the seventh inning, where Ryan Sullivan bailed him out, getting a fly to center from Gomez to end the inning. The Indians were still sort of cruising by the stretch with their 3-0 lead, but then Ben Akman loaded the bases with the 5-6-7 batters – on a hit and two walks – and nobody out in the bottom 7th. Morris, Kozak, and Christopher then all grounded out to second base in order. The first two brought in a run each, 3-2, but Christopher ran outta outs. The eighth was uneventful, but the ninth started with Elijah LaBat allowing a leadoff single to Alvarez and a walk to Weber, putting on two with nobody down. Callaia then hit a hard chomper back to the mound, and LaBat went all-in, flinging it to third base for a force on the slow-starting Alvarez, and Fowler threw out Callaia at first for a 1-5-3 double play. Vargas whiffed to end the inning. The bottom 9th went to Cody Kleidon, who bungled a bouncer by Brassfield to put the tying run on base right away. Fowler grounded to the right side, and Schaack fudged that ball for a second error…! That put the winning run on base, and the Raccoons sent both their righty catchers against the southpaw Kleidon. Maresh whiffed, but Perez singled to left, brought home Brass, and the game was tied. Caballero and Christopher both fanned to send another game to extras… Kleidon, the walk monster, then struck out two more in the bottom 10th without issuing a free pass to anybody. The Indians broke through in Reynaldo Bravo’s second inning of work, the 11th, with an Alvarez single and Orlando Ramos’ pinch-hit 2-run homer to right; both were left-handed batters, but we didn’t have anybody available to face them… Facing Hitomi in the bottom 11th, the Raccoons got the tying runs on the corners with one out as Fowler walked and Gonzales hit a pinch-hit single for Bravo. Caballero hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, scoring Fowler, but Christopher flew out to left… 5-4 Indians. Christopher 2-6; Nye 2-4; Perez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Gonzales (PH) 1-1;

Boys, if you gotta lose, at least lose in nine. Thanks.

Game 3
IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – LF O. Ramos – 1B Schaack – CF E. Mitchell – 3B Zucal – 2B M. Weber – P DeWitt
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – CF Caballero – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – RF Christopher – 3B Gonzales – P Fox

Wednesday went pear-shaped quite quickly despite a Nye homer to begin the bottom 1st. DeWitt then got Lonzo to 0-2 before nailing him with a fastball in the forearm, which Lonzo did not approve of. He flung the bat, raced out to the mound, and with the undrilled right paw punched DeWitt right in the kisser before getting tackled from behind by Zucal as pandemonium broke out. It took over five minutes to restore order and for the game to proceed, then without DeWitt and Lonzo, who had both been ejected. Jon Bean replaced Lonzo at short, but I had a hunch that he’d get a suspension once we heard that the Indians were looking for an emergency dentist appointment for DeWitt. Angel Perez hit a 2-run homer off ex-Coon Hyun-soo Bak when the inning finally continued, so Portland was up 3-0 through a tumultuous first inning.

It was 5-0 after two; Christopher led off with a double and scored on Fox’ sac fly, but the inning continued with 2-out hits by Nye, who stole second, and Bean, who got the RBI. Foxie Brown then struck out the next four batters he faced in the third and fourth innings, then two more in the fifth for seven K through five innings in his best start in a while, keeping the Indians to two hits so far. The Indians didn’t reach in the sixth, and when Alex Gomez hit a leadoff single to left in the seventh, Ramos popped out and Schaack grounded to Bean for a double play. Fox was at 86 pitches through seven innings, but he was also the first starter here that would only come back after the All Star break, so we’d squeeze him a bit harder than usual here if he kept the shutout going, which soon became bold words, because he gave up a leadoff single to Ernie Mitchell in the eighth, then struck out the 7-8-9 batters, but that shot him well over 100 pitches for the day. He did come back for the ninth, still with a 5-0 lead because apparently the Indians emptying their entire bullpen was not good enough for the Coons to tack on some. Kilday flew out to Caballero on the first pitch of the ninth, which was neat, but the next pitch, #108, nicked Lovins on base. Gomez then resisted for eight pitches before whiffing, but Fox would still get the left-handed Ramos, whom he got to 1-2 before a passed ball by Perez advanced the Indians’ runner. The count ran full before Ramos hit a liner on the eighth pitch of that at-bat – and right into Foxie Brown’s reaching mitten! Ballgame! 5-0 Raccoons! Perez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Fowler (PH) 1-1; Fox 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K, W (8-7) and 0-2, RBI;

TEN GAME SUSPENSION for Lonzo…! TEN!!! Maud, no!! We will appeal!! How DARE the league suspend my favorite toy for TEN GAMES!!

(walks around the office screaming)

Nick Nye would slide over to play shortstop for the time of the Lonzo suspension, since that was defensively preferrable.

Game 4
IND: SS Kilday – CF Abel – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – 3B R. Vargas – 2B M. Weber – C J. Kelly – 1B R. Alvarez – P Fitzgibbon
POR: RF Christopher – SS Nye – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Caballero – 1B Kozak – 3B Gonzales – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera

No shutout on Thursday from Bobby Herrera, who came off two excellent outings, but walked Matt Kilday to begin the game, then struck out two, and then went on to allow SIX 2-out runs. Chris Lovins hit one out, Vargas walked, and then the Indians rapped off four straight 2-out hits, including an RBI double by the pitcher Fitzgibbon to drown Herrera in a barrel. He would continue to pitch though so we wouldn’t have to churn through the entire pen yet again, while the Raccoons were offensively hapless in the early going. In fact, the biggest hit the first time through was a Herrera double in the bottom 3rd, although he was topped an inning later, when the bottom 4th began with a Brass walk and a Perez single, and after Caballero popped out, Jack Kozak hit a 3-run blast over the fence in left to cut the 6-0 gap in half.

Herrera was hauled in after five innings with no notable Indians offense in the latter four. Ben Morris doubled in his spot in the bottom 5th, but got no assistance and remained on base. Perez and Caballero then got on against Fitzgibbon to begin the bottom 6th, bringing back Kozak as the tying run. He gave a 3-2 pitch a good ride to right-center, but had to settle for an RBI double off the base of the wall. Fitzgibbon’s 1-2 pitch to David Gonzales was wild and scored Caballero, 6-5, and Gonzales’ sac fly to left-center tied the game, chased Fitzgibbon, and got Tipsy Bobby off a well-deserved hook for what would have been his 10th loss of the season.

Ruben Mendez held the game tied at six in the top 7th, after which Hyuma Hitomi walked Christopher, who stole his 20th base, walked Brass, and had the bags fill up on a soft 1-out single by Perez. Caballero ran a full count before laying off a pitch outside to draw the third walk of the inning and pushing home the go-ahead run, 7-6, and that brought back Kozak, who had four RBI in the game, but hacked out. Gonzales flew out to Lovins to leave the bases loaded. Ricardo Alvarez and Roger Zucal went to the corners with 2-out hits against Ryan Sullivan in the eighth. The Coons brought Ricky Herrera for Kilday, who struck out to kill the rally. No insurance run was produced in the bottom 8th, but Walters struck out Abel and got two grounders to Gonzales to end the game. 7-6 Critters. Perez 3-4; Kozak 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Morris (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Just when I wanted to demote Kozak to make the shortened bench more flexible…!

Woe is me…!!

Raccoons (44-43) vs. Loggers (39-45) – July 9-11, 2060

The sorry Loggers had just lost Perry Pigman (.324, 1 HR, 32 RBI) for the season with a broken elbow, joining Fidel Carrera and Eli Dupuis on the DL for them. They were tops in batting average and stolen bases and nearly bottoms in home runs, and also second-worst in starters’ ERA. This worked out to third in runs scored, 11th in runs allowed, a -14 run differential and another cruddy season in Loggerland. The Coons led the season series against them, 7-2, after years and years of struggling against them.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (1-2, 7.04 ERA) vs. Julian Dunn (10-4, 4.39 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (7-3, 2.99 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (7-5, 3.28 ERA)
Zach Stewart (9-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Jesus Aquino (3-8, 4.51 ERA)

One more lefty before the All Star Game on Saturday with Pritchard.

Game 1
MIL: LF Lock – 2B Garmon – CF Franks – 1B D. Robles – C M. Reed – RF Milian – SS D. Miller – 3B Serna – P Dunn
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – CF Morris – 2B Bean – P Alba

The Raccoons scored first on Friday when Starr led off the second with a triple to left and came in on a Brassfield grounder, and that was all there was to the inning, but Jon Bean drew a walk to begin the bottom 3rd. Alba, who was 1-hitting the Loggers early on, bunted him to second base, and Christopher cashed him with a single to left-center, 2-0. Trent Brassfield doubled that in the fourth, again finding Starr on base and hitting a jack over the wall in left, 4-0! That was not all for the inning, as Morris got on base by means of four balls, then stole his fourth base of the year before coming around on a 2-out, closed-eyes single flicked into center by Angel Alba. Dunn got a grounder to third from Christopher to end the inning.

Alba kept unscored upon for a while longer. David Milian hit a single in the fifth, but was caught stealing, and Marty Serna was nicked by a pitch to begin the sixth, but was stranded. Dave Robles then ended the parade with a seventh-inning jack to left-center, his 14th of the year. Milian singled in the inning, but Alba struck out Danny Miller before the Raccoons went to LaBat for Serna, with Caballero entering over Morris in a double switch. LaBat got four outs, stranded Alba’s runner, and got around a walk to ex-Coon Marcos Chavez in the eighth inning, all while keeping the 5-1 lead intact. A Maresh homer tacked on a run in the bottom 8th, but Bravo retired the Loggers in order in the ninth anyway. 6-1 Raccoons! Starr 2-3, BB, 3B; Alba 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (2-2) and 1-1, RBI;

Unfortunately for Alba (2-2, 5.32 ERA), the Raccoons with a day off on the Monday following the All Star Game would not need another fifth starter for the length of Lonzo’s suspension and opted to send him to the Alley Cats to get an extra bat on board.

Get another debutant in: the Raccoons had six years ago signed a right-handed Venezuelan outfielder named Felix Ayala for the budget price of $32k in the July IFA period. He had worked his way up the minors steadily since then and was batting .330 with three homers in 47 games in St. Pete this year. Ayala, 23, could play all three outfield positions and was agile, but didn’t have a great throwing arm or much power. He was right in the lineup on Saturday though against the southpaw Pritchard.

Game 2
MIL: SS D. Miller – RF Wilks – CF Franks – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – 3B Lange – LF Milian – 2B Serna – P Pritchard
POR: RF Christopher – SS Nye – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Kozak – 3B Gonzales – CF Ayala – 2B Bean – P Riddle

For the second time this week, Nick Nye homered to give the Coons a first-inning, 1-0 lead. It was his 10th bomb of the year. Bottom 2nd, Kozak walked and Gonzales singled before Ayala’s first time in close proximity to a major league baseball ended with a groundout. The Loggers didn’t pitch to the left-handed batting Bean, opting for the intentional walk and to have Riddle bat with three on and one out, which worked out for them as both him and Joe-Chris popped out on the infield… On the hill, Riddle retired seven straight before serving up a Serna single, but kept the Logger on base. In the home half of the inning, Nye led off with a single, stole second, and then watched two strikeouts before Kozak doubled to left to get him home, 2-0. Gonzales’ sharp RBI single to left-center narrowly allowed Kozak to score, but Ayala grounded out.

The Loggers again made it onto the scoreboard with a home run in the fifth inning, hit by Ralph Lange, which was going a bit against their season-long stats, but the Raccoons shrugged it off and in the sixth got straight singles from their 8-9-1-2 hitters to tack on two runs with RBI’s for Christopher and Nye as they extended the score to 5-1. Riddle was still looking good, but gave up 2-out singles to the 7-8 batters Milian and Serna in the seventh. The pinch-hitter Willie Martinez was rung up, though, and the inning ended for Milwaukee. Riddle completed eight, retiring the top of the Loggers lineup in order in his final inning, then was hit for with Morris against right-hander Girolamo Pizzichini in the bottom 8th. Morris walked and stole a base, but nothing came of the inning, really; I just wanted to say “Girolamo Pizzichini” real bad. Erickson handled the ninth perfectly to end the game. 5-1 Coons. Nye 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzales 2-4, RBI; Bean 2-3, BB; Riddle 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (8-3) and 1-2;

Felix Ayala went 0-for-4 with three groundouts and a pop, but at least didn’t fumble any balls on defense, or got too close to an established players food bowl…

For Sunday the Raccoons would want to stay away from Matt Walters, who was nominated for the All Star Game, but everybody else was available; no living position player on the roster, nor starter Zach Stewart would make the trip.

Game 3
MIL: RF D. Wright – LF Garmon – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – 3B Lange – SS D. Miller – CF Wilks – 2B Serna – P J. Aquino
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Morris – 2B Bean – P Stewart

The Raccoons got the first run again on Sunday, and right in the first inning, although the clumsy Loggers helped as much as they could. After Christopher singled, Fowler reached on an error by Serna, and they also couldn’t turn two on Nye’s grounder to short. Aquino walked Starr to fill the bases, then walked Brass to push home a run. Perez hit a sac fly to center, and Morris turned an 0-2 pitch into a soft RBI single to right-center. Bean grounded out, but it was 3-0 rather quickly. Stewart then walked a pair himself to begin the top 2nd, putting Ralph Lange and Danny Miller on base. James Wilks, Serna, and Aquino then made three quick and poor outs and nobody scored for them. The next leadoff walk to Dave Wright came around to score, though. The Loggers made two outs, but then clubbed three straight singled with Chavez, Lange, and Miller. Lange and Miller both drove in a run, and Lange was thrown out trying to go first-to-third on Miller’s single, which ended the inning with Portland still up 3-2. Stewart kept melting like ice in the sun, though; he nicked Serna, mishandled Aquino’s bunt for an extra base runner, and then surrendered the tying run on Wright’s double to left. Wright pulled something on the turn at first base, and was replaced with Milian. Corey Garmon’s groundout put the Loggers up 4-3 before Robles fanned to end the third sticky inning in a row.

Bottom 5th, Christopher was on base with a 1-out single. And if I had a dime for every time Fowler reached on a Serna error in this game, I wouldn’t turn rich, but by the bottom 5th I’d have two dimes. Nye’s single to center then loaded the bases. Aquino then walked in another run in, tying the game when he lost Starr in a full count. Brass hit a sac fly in another full count for a 5-4 lead before Perez grounded out to strand a pair, but the bottom 6th brought more trouble for Aquino, who put Morris, Bean, and Caballero on base with nobody out. But there was still no big knock – Christopher hit another sac fly, 6-4, but Fowler whiffed and Nye popped out. Aquino kept getting run out into the bottom 7th until he gave up a homer to Joel Starr, 7-4, and that ended his day, finally.

The Raccoons used Sullivan and Mendez to cover the next two innings and get through eight, but also didn’t tack on. We still didn’t want to use Walters, if we could sneak our way through a ninth inning with a 3-run lead and Reynaldo Bravo facing the bottom of the Loggers lineup, though. The Loggers obeyed and went in order and with two strikeouts. 7-4 Coons. Christopher 3-4, RBI; Starr 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Brassfield 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Morris 3-4, RBI; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 5 – Buffaloes INF Zach Suggs (.299, 11 HR, 49 RBI) gets his 2,000th base hit in a 7-5 win against the Capitals. The milestone is a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning against WAS CL Ben Lussier (1-5, 3.46 ERA, 18 SV), two pitches ahead of Dan Martin (.310, 10 HR, 64 RBI) whacking a walkoff home run. For his career Suggs is hitting an even .300 with 262 HR and 1,088 RBI, and has won two rings, four Platinum Sticks, and two home run titles in the CL.
July 6 – Charlotte swingman Andres Lopez (3-2, 2.74 ERA, 1 SV) pitches 5.2 innings of 3-run ball to claim victory in a 14-3 rout of the Bayhawks. While his pitching was unremarkable, he also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a grand slam off SFB SP Mark Jacobs (7-5, 3.16 ERA) and *6 RBI* in total. Lopez had just four career RBI prior to this game, his 39th career start.
July 6 – The Loggers beat the Titans, 6-4 in 15 innings.

July 7 – The Aces send 1B Jeff Andersen (.271, 4 HR, 36 RBI) to the Rebels for OF/1B Matt Schrock (.251, 3 HR, 24 RBI).
July 7 – The Wolves trade SP Gabriel Casanova (5-7, 2.96 ERA) to the Blue Sox for a prospect with the delightful name Palmiro Derbyshire.
July 8 – The Buffos kill the Capitals in a 22-4 thrashing, with half their runs scored in the fourth inning alone. Every position player in the Buffos’ lineup reaches base safely at least three times. TOP INF/LF/RF Adam Peltier (.228, 3 HR, 25 RBI) leads the team with five RBI on two hits including a first-inning grand-slam.
July 9 – The Falcons bring in OF/3B/2B Chris Tomko (.259, 6 HR, 32 RBI) from San Francisco for UT Ricky Carbajal (.218, 5 HR, 32 RBI) and #109 prospect CL Brad Fales.
July 9 – VAN SP Jeff Kozloski (2-9, 7.57 ERA) has his miserable season end with a torn labrum.

July 10 – A torn rotator cuff will put SFB SP Eric Braley (6-9, 4.42 ERA) on the DL for the rest of the year and perhaps the start of next season.
July 10 – SAC C Nate Danis (.285, 8 HR, 36 RBI) was expected to miss a month with an oblique strain.
July 10 – The Indians raid the Canadiens in an 18-1 game. IND INF Matt Kilday (.325, 1 HR, 38 RBI) has four hits, a double, and drives in three runs from the leadoff spot, with the entire lineup contributing.
July 11 – LVA SP Scott Evans (7-4, 5.23 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 7-0 game, striking out six.
July 11 – The Gold Sox acquire SP Ben Peterson (5-8, 5.96 ERA) from the Scorpions for LF/CF Rick Miles (.309, 0 HR, 10 RBI).
July 11 – The Wolves send SP Marcos Rivera (7-8, 2.78 ERA) and cash to the Blue Sox for OF Diego Montero (.234, 3 HR, 13 RBI).
July 11 – SAL SP Blake Sparks (4-9, 5.74 ERA) would miss two months with a forearm strain.
July 11 – Cincy LF/1B/RF Alan Puckeridge (.299, 3 HR, 23 RBI) shines with two home runs and six RBI in a 12-7 win against the Buffaloes.

FL Player of the Week: TOP INF Zach Suggs (.307, 13 HR, 61 RBI), hitting .462 (12-26) with 2 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 1B Andy Metz (.285, 14 HR, 53 RBI), bashing .433 (13-30) with 3 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The unremarkable Raccoons had three All Stars, two of which would actually show up walking on their own legs: Tyler Riddle and Matt Walters. The other Critter there would be on crutches, as Noah Caswell had gone down to torn ankle ligaments in early June, but had still won the fan vote for centerfielders. It was the fifth All Star Game nod for Cas, and the fourth straight at that. Walters went for the fourth time in five years. Brittle Riddle went for the third time, and his first after a 3-year break mostly cause by injuries.

The Lonzo suspension makes him dead weight on the roster for a staggering two weeks, up to and all the way through most of the Titans series *after* the All Star Game, which comes *after* the back end of the four-and-four with the Indians. It would also sap his attempt at a stolen base title, since he was currently just four bags behind Danny Garcia of the damn Elks, but hadn’t had much momentum to begin with right now.

And, well, he was occupying a roster spot for nothing.

Lost in all the rage on Wednesday was the second career shutout of Foxie Brown. He also 4-hit the Knights last year.

For administrative completeness, Brad Loveless came off the DL this week but was outrighted to AAA straightaway. We also signed up four youngsters in the July IFA pool for $359k: two Dominican pitchers, one from each side, for low six figures each, and two catchers from the value bin. We bid on two more players, but bowed out because they didn’t seem worth it going into penalty territory with a signing: infielder Israel Diaz with a high-contact, won’t-K bat and highly questionable defense, as well as Venezuelan righty Jorge Flores with six pitches, but none of them too good.

On the other side of the All Star Game, the Raccoons will go on a 3-city road trip to Indy, Boston, and the Bay.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons won the season series from the Loggers for the first time since *2053*.

That was a mighty long time against a team that didn’t necessarily play great during these six years. Three of the years ended with a 9-9 tie between the brown and green teams, and twice the Loggers prevailed 10-8. Only in ’57 did they really bowl the Raccoons over with a 14-4 season.

This year it’s 10-2 Coons though with six games to play.

[Westheim]

Tried to do the whole road trip, but ran out of time here. We’ll try again for a 3-series set tomorrow.

+++

All Star Game

The CL beats the FL, 5-3, in the annual All Star Game. All runs for the winning league are driven in by Vegas’ Alex Alfaro, who goes 3-for-3 with a walk, a homer, and the five RBI for an obvious MVP title.

For the Raccoons, Tyler Riddle and Matt Walters each pitch a scoreless inning, the latter for the save.

Raccoons (47-43) @ Indians (51-36) – July 15-18, 2060

The back “half” of the season started with a three-city road trip and a four-game series in Indy in particular. The Raccoons entered with a 5-game winning streak, including taking the last two of the four games with the Indians the week before in Portland. Indy was 7 1/2 games behind the Crusaders and needed the W’s. They had the second-most runs scored and the sixth-fewest runs allowed in the CL, and a +33 run differential. The season series now stood 5-3 in Indy’s favor.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (6-9, 3.95 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (5-4, 2.96 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (8-3, 2.87 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (8-6, 4.89 ERA)
Zach Stewart (10-4, 3.36 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (8-5, 3.86 ERA)
Chance Fox (8-7, 4.52 ERA) vs. Jarrod Morris (5-6, 5.13 ERA)

Fitzgibbon was the only left-hander in the group for the Indians who like the Coons only had four available starting pitchers, but also had to carry the dead weight of the fallout of last Wednesday’s tussle between Lonzo and Mike DeWitt, who were both still suspended until next week.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF B. Morris – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
IND: SS Kilday – CF Abel – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – 3B R. Vargas – 2B M. Weber – 1B R. Alvarez – P Oyola

Neither team got anything done offensively the first time through, but Matt Kilday drew a walk in the third inning, stole second, and then was driven in by Kevin Abel. Although the Raccoons responded right away with Starr singling home Fowler in the fourth, Indy went right back in front in the same inning with a 2-out walk drawn by Mike Weber, the fourth free pass issued in as many innings by Tipsy Bobby, who stole second, and then scored on a single hit by Ricardo Alvarez in an 0-2 count. Oyola was rung up to complete the fourth.

All the ill command and long counts prevented Bobby Herrera from completing six innings, and he left trailing 2-1 despite having only given up three base knocks. He didn’t get the L, though, even though the Raccoons tried their royal best to hang it on him. They had four hits against Oyola in seven innings, but the former Critter overstayed his welcome. Ben Morris opened the eighth with a single, then was caught stealing. Jon Bean also singled, contained himself, advanced on Caballero’s groundout, and then was driven in with the tying run on Joey Christopher’s 2-out double to left. Another double by Nick Fowler to right-center flipped the score around entirely, and Ryan Sullivan held the 3-2 lead in the bottom 8th despite Mike Weber’s 2-out single. Alvarez struck out. Two days after putting away the All Star Game, Matt Walters finished off the Indians in eight pitches for his 28th save of the year, ending with a K on Abel. 3-2 Raccoons. Fowler 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 2B Gonzales – CF Ayala – P Riddle
IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – LF O. Ramos – CF Abel – 3B R. Vargas – 1B Schaack – 2B Zucal – P M. Guerra

Riddle was perfect the first time through the order, whiffing six, including the first four batters he faced, but the Raccoons were retired just as tidily by Guerra, even though without the flash; he did not strike out a single Critter in the first three innings. So of course it was Guerra who retired another three Raccoons in order in the fourth inning, while Riddle was slapped around for a 4-run inning. Matt Kilday led off with a triple and scored on Chris Lovins’ sac fly, but then the Indians also got another pair of singles from Orlando Ramos and Kevin Abel, Riddle balked, and finally gave up a 3-piece over the fence in left to Ricardo Vargas.

In the end it was the bloody rookie Felix Ayala that killed Melvin Guerra’s 16-out perfect bid with his first career base hit, a single to right. He was also left stranded on base, because Raccoons. Riddle meanwhile struck out nobody the second time through the order, then allowed leadoff singles to Alex Gomez and Orlando Ramos in the bottom 6th before K’ing Abel. Vargas hit into a double play to clean up in a different way this time.

The Nicks also began the seventh inning with a pair of singles and a full-count walk to Starr loaded the bases, which suddenly produced the tying run in the box. Brass was struggling, and didn’t get an RBI, but that was because Guerra threw a wild pitch before also walking Brassfield. After Perez whiffed and Gonzales popped out, the Coons were eager for damage and sent Caballero to bat for Ayala. The veteran drew another walk in another full count, pushing in a second run, before Kozak batted for Riddle but struck out swinging. Bravo in the seventh and Ricky Herrera in the eighth did well to keep the score at 4-2, but the Raccoons came up against lefty Cody Kleidon in the ninth and fanned (Starr) and popped out (Brass) before Perez doubled to right with the team down to the final out. Gonzales drove in the meaningless run, then went to second on a Caballero single. Chris Maresh was the only righty option on the bench to bat for wins leech Ricky Herrera, but grounded out to deny the southpaw. 4-3 Indians. Ayala 1-2; Caballero (PH) 1-1, BB, RBI;

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Nye – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 1B Kozak – 2B Gonzales – CF Ayala – P Stewart
IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – LF O. Ramos – CF Abel – 3B R. Vargas – 1B Schaack – 2B M. Weber – P Fitzgibbon

Joey Christopher led off the game on Saturday with a triple on a 1-2 pitch, and then was stranded with two strikeouts and a pop to Jason Schaack immediately after that. Kozak didn’t fare much better when he hit a double in the second inning. Meanwhile, Stewart was perfect the first time through with five strikeouts, which gave me the oddest flashbacks and terror to the prior game. He was not blown up in the fourth inning, but he sure tried. Kilday and Lovins hit long fly balls for outs on the warning track, and Gomez was plunked on an 0-2 pitch, which ended the perfecto. The no-hitter was taken away when Ramos singled, and somehow Abel grounded out to David Gonzales without derailment.

The scoreless duel between the starters ended in the fifth inning, not because of offense but because Fitzgibbon left the game with an injury after curating 13 outs from the Critters for just three base hits. The pen wasn’t yielding either. Antonio Pichardo and Ben Akman brought the game to the stretch without allowing a run, with Felix Ayala’s fly to the warning track the best Coons attempt at something, anything. It was Orlando Ramos to break the ice, though, with a solo jack in the bottom 7th off Stewart, only the second base hit against the Coons southpaw… The Raccoons then stuck with Stewart to begin the eighth inning – and he singled. Whatever works, boys. Christopher singled, and Nick Nye exploded an Akman fastball for a score-flipping, 3-run homer…! Hyuma Hitomi replaced Akman, but Brass reached on an error and Perez singled. Fowler hit into a double play, but Joel Starr batted for Kozak against the right-hander and came up with a 2-out RBI single to centerfield. Stewart completed the bottom 8th despite a 2-run triple to center by Kilday, ringing up Lovins to strand that runner at third base and maintaining the 4-1 lead. The Coons then crowded Hitomi again in the top 9th, with leadoff hits for Ayala and Morris, the latter batting for Stewart. Joe-Chris walked, giving up three on and nobody out. And then Nye failed, and Brass failed, and Perez went down 0-2 and I was ready to release a huge sigh, but then Perez released a huge knock, 357 feet around the left foul pole – GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

With that, Matt Walters was re-wrapped and the Raccoons went to Bryan Erickson for a scoreless bottom 9th. 8-1 Critters. Christophers 2-4, BB, 3B; Perez 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Starr (PH) 1-2, RBI; Morris (PH) 1-1; Stewart 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (11-4) and 1-3;

Late bloomers…!

Game 4
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – CF B. Morris – 2B Bean – P Fox
IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – LF O. Ramos – CF Abel – 3B R. Vargas – 1B Schaack – 2B M. Weber – P J. Morris

Scoring had concluded with a Critters bomb on Saturday and opened with a Critters bomb on Sunday, as Joel Starr hit a 2-piece with Nye aboard right in the first inning. Fox tried to give it all back right away, allowing a single to Lovins and then walking the bags full with one gone in the bottom 1st, but Abel hit into a 6-4-3 double play. He also walked Schaack in the second, but got out with a K on Weber and a pop by Jarrod Morris. The walks didn’t stop; Lovins drew one in the third, Gomez singled on a 3-1 pitch, but Ramos and Abel made meek outs after that and the Indians kept letting Fox escape into the woods again and again before finally dinging him with three 2-out hits in the bottom 5th by their 2-3-4 batters. Ramos singled home Lovins to narrow the score to 2-1 before Abel whiffed to leave a pair on the corners.

The Raccoons were deep a-snooze at that point, with no base hits since the Starr homer. Starr supplanted himself in the “last H” category with a sixth-inning double with two outs, then was singled home by Brass for a 3-1 score. Fox meanwhile continued to try and get blown up with a leadoff walk to Vargas in the bottom 6th, but had Schaack hit into a 5-4-3 double play. ANOTHER walk to Weber, the sixth of the game, then ended Fox’ day after 5.2 ****** innings, but Bravo rung up Zucal in the #9 hole to end the inning. Bravo hung around to bunt in the seventh after Jon Bean got nicked on base by Pichardo ahead of him. The extra base gained allowed Christopher to hit a 2-out RBI single to left-center and extend the lead to 4-1 before Fowler flew out to Ramos. Bravo and Mendez each offered a scoreless inning, and then Morris began the top 9th with a triple to right-center. Bean hit an RBI single, then was doubled up by Ayala. This extra run meant that the lefty on duty in the bottom 9th was LaBat… at least until he allowed singles to Weber and Alvarez with one out and the Raccoons went to Walters belatedly anyway. Uncharacteristically, Walters allowed a loud double off the wall to Kilday that scored both runners, but then finished the game with the tying run at the plate just fiiiine… 5-3 Raccoons. Starr 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (50-44) @ Titans (51-40) – July 20-22, 2060

Eighth in runs scored and second in runs allowed, the Titans had a +48 run differential and were up 7-2 on the Raccoons this season, which made this perhaps a bit of a pointless trip to South Maine. They had the worst team batting average in the CL, though they were also second in dingers. The Titans had just lost Ted Lloyd and his .273 bat with 13 homers to a torn labrum, and he joined Will Galude, Matt Gilmore, and Jon Elkins on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (6-9, 3.85 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (9-5, 2.97 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (8-4, 3.02 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (11-4, 3.06 ERA)
Zach Stewart (11-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (9-6, 2.71 ERA)

Only right-handed pitchers in that Titans rotation! …and still two games without Lonzo…

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Caballero – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B J. Watson – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – LF Torrence – SS Abecassis – 3B W. de Leon – P Brenize

The Raccoons got on the board early with a Nye triple and Starr double in the first inning, but then did a lot of nothing after that and eventually Bobby Herrera, who lacked stuff and had only one strikeout in the first four innings, allowed the tying run to score when Alex Abecassis and Willie de Leon put two hits together in the bottom 5th. Both sides were even at one run on four hits through five. The score was broken wide open in the sixth, though, when Bobby Herrera shoveled the bags full with a walk to Manny Rubin, two singles to Alex Lee and Ethan Torrence, and then gave up a bases-clearing double to Abecassis. Brenize did not skip another beat through eight innings before handing off the 4-1 lead to Josh Carlisle, who put away the Coons’ 2-3-4 batters in seven pit- no, Joel Starr narrowly legged out that grounder to Denny Jurado for a 2-out infield single…! Oh well, he got them in nine with a Brass grounder to third base… 4-1 Titans. Starr 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Musgrave then came a day earlier on Wednesday; the Titans rotation was a bit jumbled with the break, Monday off, and an injury to Will Glaude on the weekend.

Felix Ayala was in the lineup on Wednesday, but he already knew that he was getting sent down again at day’s end. Lonzo’s suspension would FINALLY end, and the Raccoons needed their fifth starter back. Justin DeRose had already made two rehab appearances in AAA and was in line for a start in the opener in San Francisco on Friday. Ayala so far had gone 2-for-11 in his cup of fifth-outfielder coffee.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – 2B Bean – LF Ayala – CF Morris – P Riddle
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B J. Watson – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – SS Leitch – LF Auld – 3B W. de Leon – P Musgrave

Portland took the lead in the top 1st again on Wednesday when Perez singled home Fowler, who had drawn a 1-out walk and had gained second base on Starr’s 2-out single. Jon Bean grounded out to Alan Leitch to end the inning. The Titans tied the game immediately in a *********** of a bottom 1st, in which Riddle put three on with nobody out, walking Marcotte and Jonathan Watson to begin his day, then walked in the tying run facing Andy Lee after Rubin whiffed. Leitch also struck out and Jim Auld grounded out to leave the bases loaded. Riddle very much looked like he was at odds with all his limbs and kept putting runners on base, although the Raccoons would turn double plays for him in the next two innings.

Ben Morris was on base and stole second twice in the first five innings, and never got any support from Riddle or Christopher. The Raccoons only scored again on a stray homer to left-center hit by Angel Perez in the sixth, which gave them a 2-1 lead. Riddle took that and ached through six innings with it; the back three were less onerous than the front three for him, but he had run his pitch count into the 60s through those first three and had nothing left after the sixth; besides, his spot to bat was also up in the top 7th. Morris hit another 1-out single and gained second base when Andy Lee fumbled the pickup in rightfield, but was stranded AGAIN with weak outs from Brass and Christopher.

Bottom 7th, and the Raccoons got two outs from LaBat before bringing Sullivan against Marcotte, who doubled to left. When Abecassis pinch-hit for the right-handed Watson, Ricky Herrera was called in and secured a K that stranded the tying run on second base, but then blew the lead himself when Manny Rubin took him deep to left in the bottom 8th… The ninth saw Perez hit a leadoff single before getting doubled up by Bean, and Ruben Mendez’ 1-2-3 sent the game to extras.

The tenth saw Morris lead off for Portland, but he had given up on being the token ding-dong to get on base and be exposed to the elements out there while nobody else gave a **** and grounded out instead. Joe-Chris then of course hit a 2-out double against Mike Lane, but was left on with Fowler’s groundout. Bryan Erickson walked two and struck out three in the bottom 10th to keep the game going. The Coons had a new battery for the bottom 11th because Bravo was the last reliever available before we’d have to burn Matt Walters, and to get two innings out of him he went into Perez’ spot with Maresh entering. Top 12th, Ayala singled after going 0-4 with 3 K so far, then was picked off first in a game that was becoming extremely annoying very quickly. Bravo allowed a pinch-hit single to Jorge Ortiz in his second inning of work in the bottom 12th, with Denny Jurado hitting into a fielder’s choice before being caught stealing to send the game to the 13th, which Maresh opened with a double to left off lefty Jorge Quinones. Marcotte then dropped Christopher’s fly to center, which put runners on the corners with nobody out and meant that if the boys didn’t score NOW and SOON, there would certainly a few tails and ears pulled after the game. They did score… barely. Fowler’s fly to right was caught by Lee, with Maresh sent for home out of despair. He slid in safe, partly because Lee’s throw was off line, and Christopher was caught stealing to help fizzle out the inning. Walters got the 3-2 lead, struck out Jorge Arviso and Rubin, and then allowed a bloop single to Lee. Leitch popped out. 3-2 Critters. Perez 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Morris 2-4, BB; Maresh 1-1, 2B; Bravo 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-3);

As intended, Felix Ayala (.188, 0 HR, 0 RBI) was back to St. Pete after that game and DeRose returned to even the roster with the full complement of 12 pitchers.

Also, hey-hey, Lonzo’s back on the good side of the league office now…!

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – CF Morris – 3B Gonzales – P Stewart
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B J. Watson – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – SS Leitch – LF Torrence – 3B W. de Leon – P Craddock

Four singles from their first five batters barely scored a run for the Coons in the first inning, since Nye would hit into a 5-4 double play that eliminated both Christopher and a well-rested Lonzo from the base paths ahead of him. It then took two more singles to plate him for the third first-frame, 1-0 lead held by the Raccoons in this series. Morris then started the second with another single, stole second, and came in on Gonzales’ single, which made 6-for-8 batting against Craddock, although Stewart then bunted into a force at second and Craddock retired three straight to exit the inning.

It started to rain in the third inning, and Stewart was 1-hitting Boston through four before a 20-minute rain delay that turned out to be mostly hot air (it stopped to rain as soon as the tarp was spread) disrupted his day in the top 5th. He returned to the hill, having thrown 50 pitches so far, with a 2-0 lead in the bottom 5th, but allowed a leadoff single to center to Leitch, an infield single to Willie de Leon, and with two outs a game-tying double to left-center to Marcotte… Watson drew a 2-out walk, too, but Arviso then flew out to Morris in deep center in a full count. Gee, thanks, Blue!

Stewart settled for a no-decision through six innings, but the game remained tied at two even longer. Craddock was less affected and was *better* after the interruption, and the Raccoons couldn’t scratch anything together against him in eight innings or Lane in the ninth. The Raccoons got Sullivan to retire the Titans orderly in the seventh, then went to Ricky Herrera. In a short pen, Ricky had a strong eighth, then faltered in the ninth, getting picked apart for three hits and a walkoff single with two outs by Andy Lee… 3-2 Titans. Starr 2-4, 2B; Brassfield 2-4, RBI; Maresh 2-4;

In other news

July 12 – The Falcons send left-hander Aaron Sciuto (4-8, 5.01 ERA) to the Stars for two prospects.
July 13 – Denver loses OF/1B Hector Weir (.327, 9 HR, 35 RBI) for the rest of the year due to a broken elbow.
July 17 – BOS SP Will Glaude (4-6, 3.67 ERA) is shut down due to shoulder inflammation and will not pitch again until late August.
July 18 – SFB LF Grant Anker (.278, 6 HR, 16 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak thanks to an eighth-inning double in a 5-3 loss to the Falcons.
July 20 – Washington picks up SP A.C. Stebbins (4-10, 4.40 ERA) from Sacramento for a prospect.
July 22 – The Aces put up a 10-run seventh inning to rally out of a hole against the Falcons, beating them 12-7 in the end.

FL Player of the Week: TOP INF Zach Suggs (.317, 16 HR, 72 RBI), raking .429 (9-21) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 3B/2B Marty Serna (.279, 3 HR, 29 RBI), clipping .700 (7-10) with 2 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The offense can’t get going and we’re bottoms in the CL with 3.9 runs a game. Lonzo isn’t gonna overturn that all single-pawedly, and it will be back to the drawing board in the winter.

(sad GM noises)

Road trip continues to San Fran, with DeRose getting back on the horse and hill in the Friday opener. After a day off on Monday, we’ll finish the month with series against the Thunder and Knights at home.

Fun Fact: Bobby Herrera this year is 0-4 against the Titans with an 8.44 ERA.

Got choked in April, ravaged in May, smothered in June, and incinerated in July. I think he has two more in him, too.

For comparison, against literally everyone else, Tipsy Bobby this season has gone 6-6 with an ERA of 3.01 … more than a third of his runs allowed have been against the Titans.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (51-46) @ Bayhawks (44-52) – July 23-25, 2060

The Baybirds were about in the middle in many categories in the CL, sixth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed with a -13 run differential included. Collectively they considered ball four a slight to their reputation and valued the longball, sitting bottoms and tops, respectively, in those categories in the league. They also had lost five straight games. The Raccoons had won two of three from them so far.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (5-7, 4.38 ERA) vs. Mark Jacobs (8-5, 2.96 ERA)
Chance Fox (9-7, 4.35 ERA) vs. Jesse Connors (1-1, 2.14 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (6-10, 3.93 ERA) vs. Hector Montenegro (6-6, 4.01 ERA)

We’d get two southpaws to begin this weekend series, then a right-hander on Sunday. Eric Braley was missing from their rotation, and Armando Montoya (.292, 19 HR, 67 RBI), who led the CL in home runs, had left Thursday’s game with an injury and was so far undiagnosed, while the Raccoons had just gotten Justin DeRose back from rehab.

Grant Anker (.292, 6 HR, 20 RBI) entered the series with a 23-game hitting streak.

The Raccoons put David Gonzales in the leadoff spot on Friday, which wasn’t as insane as it looked on paper with his .224/.255/.270 slash this season. Against left-handers, his OBP was .339 … and that was 32 points up on Joey Christopher.

Game 1
POR: 3B Gonzales – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – CF Caballero – P DeRose
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B D. Williams – LF Anker – 2B Sostre – C Cantu – CF A. Walker – RF Escalera – 3B Carbajal – P Ma. Jacobs

DeRose quickly was back in the groove, allowing a leadoff single to Xavier Reyes in the bottom 1st, and a stolen base, Dustin Williams’ single, and a productive run-scoring double play grounder by Grant Anker got the game’s first run home. Bill Sostre hit another single before the inning ended with Jose Cantu, and Aaron Walker whacked a leadoff double in the bottom 2nd, but was unhelpfully stranded by the bottom of the order. The Raccoons had not a lot cooking the first time through the order, but then suddenly broke out viciously in the fourth inning, in which they scored four runs on four extra-base hits: doubles by Nye, Brass, and Starr, and then a Kozak RBI triple, with the fourth run scoring on Caballero’s groundout. The bats then turned silent again just as quickly, while DeRose struggled onwards, giving up a leadoff single to Juan Escalera and an RBI double to Ricky Carbajal in the bottom 5th, 4-2. Ikuo Ogawa then singled to left, batting for Jacobs, but Kozak fired home in time to have Carbajal thrown out at the plate, and Lonzo started a double play to end the inning on Reyes’ grounder to short.

Bill Goda faced two batters in the sixth inning, giving up a single to Brass and a homer to Joel Starr, who took the team lead with a pathetic dozen in late July, but at least the lead was extended to 6-2. DeRose pitched into the eighth inning with that before allowing his base hits #9 and #10, 1-out singles to Reyes and Williams, for which he got yanked. LaBat came in for Anker, but allowed another single to right. Reyes went for home from second base – and was thrown out by Brassfield, the second out the Baybirds made at home at home. Sostre then flew out to Kozak in left to strand two runners. Instead Lonzo singled home Caballero, who hit a ground-rule double, in the top 9th for a tack-on run, and Ruben Mendez ended the game cleanly in the bottom 9th. 7-2 Raccoons. Brassfield 2-4, 2B, RBI; Starr 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 2
POR: 3B Gonzales – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – CF Caballero – P Fox
SFB: SS X. Reyes – RF Escalera – 1B D. Williams – LF Anker – CF A. Walker – 2B Carbajal – C Redfern – 3B Sostre – P Connors

While the Raccoons went up 1-0 in the second when Caballero singled home Perez with a 2-out scratch single, no lead was safe with Chance Fox, especially not with two outs and nobody on in the bottom 3rd. Reyes and Escalera hit singles in that situation, which was still manageable, until Fox walked Williams, nailed Grant Anker to tie the game, and walked Aaron Walker (duh!) to give San Fran a 2-1 lead. He deserved to give up a grand slam in that situation, but instead got a strikeout in…

The Coons were still down 2-1 when they loaded the bags themselves… well, with some Cali help. Caballero was on base on merit, singling with one out in the inning, but Fox merely had his bunt flung away by Keith Redfern in an attempt to get the lead runner out at second base. Gonzales drew a walk, which brought up Lonzo with a full set on base, but he popped out to first on the very next pitch… I sighed, but Nick Nye managed to drive a ball to deep left, where it hit on the same patch of apparent concrete that Caballero had found in the ninth on Friday, and hopped over the fence for another ground-rule double, which also was a way to flip the score to 3-2 Coons. Brass’ grounder ended the game, and Escalera flicked a jack in the bottom 5th to tie it all up at three.

Neither pitcher got a decision; Connors left in the sixth after a consultation with the team trainer, while Fox completed six innings, but teams still weren’t breaking the tie in the seventh inning, by which time Bravo was pitching for Portland. That went well, but three relievers in the bottom 8th did not; LaBat struck out Pat Fowler, but Erickson put Redfern and Sostre on base with singles. Andrew Russ (hiss!) grounded out, advancing the runners, and Sullivan entered with Christopher in a double switch (Kozak went to bed), but gave up a clean 2-run single to center to Xavier Reyes to lose the game. 5-3 Bayhawks. Caballero 2-3, BB, RBI;

Anker went 0-for-3 with a walk, ending his hitting streak at 24 games, but the Baybirds also killed their L6 for that small price to pay.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Maresh – CF Morris – P B. Herrera
SFB: RF Escalera – 1B D. Williams – LF Anker – SS X. Reyes – C Cantu – CF A. Walker – 2B R. Carbajal – 3B Sostre – P H. Montenegro

Nye socked a homer to left in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, and a pair of doubles by Fowler (off the wall in right) and Maresh (to left) doubled the score as well in the second inning. Third inning, third run: Christopher sent a double to left leading off, advanced on Lonzo’s grounder to short, and then scored when Nye flew out to center for a sac fly. Starr and Brass also reached base after that, but were stranded on Fowler’s groundout to Carbajal. All looked well, also with Bobby Herrera retiring seven in a row after Escalera had opened the bottom 1st with a bloop single on a 1-2 pitch. Then Montenegro singled with one down in the bottom 3rd, and Escalera hit another single to center. Herrera walked Williams and Anker to force in a run for San Fran before Reyes poked and popped out and Jose Cantu grounded out to Nye to end the inning with three runners still on base.

Offense stopped entirely at that point. The next four innings were nearly hitless, with the exception of a Ben Morris single and stolen base, but apart from that every rushed through the end of seven with a 3-1 score until the Bayhawks replaced Montenegro with lefty Zane Fenlon. That did not change the offensive characteristics of the game, with the Raccoons’ Nye, Kozak, and Brass disappearing in order against Fenlon, while Bobby Herrera logged another three clean outs in the bottom 8th to hand the game directly to Matt Walters – screw those middlemen. Except that Ben Morris ruined the well laid-out plan when he saw David Gonzales on base with a pinch-hit single in the top 9th and chose this point to pepper his first career home run, a 2-piece to right, which took off the save chance – at least until Ruben Mendez gave up doubles to Cantu and Walker with two outs in the bottom 9th. With the lead down to three, Walters came in and got a sharp grounder to Kozak at first base for the final out from Carbajal. 5-2 Coons. Christopher 2-5, 3B; Gonzales (PH) 1-1; Morris 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (7-10) and 1-3;

Raccoons (53-47) vs. Thunder (42-55) – July 27-29, 2060

The Thunder and Raccoons both were 15-ish games out in their divisions and were eagerly awaiting the arrival of winter. Oklahoma ranked eighth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed with a -50 run differential (Critters: -2). They had no speed, little power, and the worst defense in the league. They also held a 2-1 lead in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (8-4, 2.95 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (7-9, 2.93 ERA)
Zach Stewart (11-4, 3.21 ERA) vs. Mike Chartrand (2-10, 6.09 ERA)
Justin DeRose (6-7, 4.20 ERA) vs. Mike Hall (5-7, 3.99 ERA)

Hall would be the only left-hander in this group.

Game 1
OCT: CF Martaranha – RF Whitlow – 2B Woodrome – 3B Soberanes – C Burkart – SS O. Lira – 1B Metz – LF Weant – P Aa. Harris
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – P Riddle

Tyler Riddle’s agent was seen weaseling around the ballpark on Monday, sparking speculation that he was on the way out to be turned into prospects two thirds through his 1-year probation contract, but he took the start in the series opener on schedule, although he didn’t look that sharp and got only one strikeout in the first three innings before the Raccoons got on the board in the bottom 3rd with a walk drawn by Christopher and a 2-out, 2-run hammer dropped by Nick Nye, his 13th of the season. Starr and Brass added a run on a pair of doubles before Fowler flew out to Tim Weant. That still didn’t make Riddle pitch better, but he got a K on Andy Metz after a 2-out double by Omar Lira in the top 4th, which was at least something.

But something seemed to click there; the K on Metz was the second for Riddle in the game, but then struck out four straight between the fifth and sixth innings from Harris to Ian Woodrome, the sixth inning ending on a pop by veteran Ed Soberanes. He continued into the eighth inning, with two more strikeouts, until Bernaldin Martaranha hit a 2-out single on his 103rd pitch of the game. Righty Reynaldo Bravo came in for Eric Whitlow and gave up an RBI double to left. Lefty Ricky Herrera came in for Ian Woodrome and gave up an RBI double to right. Then Soberanes finally grounded out to end the inning.

The bottom 8th saw the Raccoons get leadoff singles from Nye and Starr, then Brass rumble into a 6-4-3 double play, and Fowler left on Nye on third base, too, and then we got an hourlong rain delay, while Matt Walters was ready for the ninth inning. When the ninth inning was eventually played after all, he wasn’t sharp. Bruce Burkart flew out to Morris in center. Danny Guzman whiffed in a full count. Andy Metz singled cleanly to center to put the tying run on base. Jonathan Dye hit a fly to deep left…… but Brass was there and made the catch…! 3-2 Critters. Christopher 2-3, BB; Nye 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-3, BB, 2B; Riddle 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (9-4);

For Wednesday, the Thunder went from Chartrand to Eric Barnes (3-10, 6.02 ERA), who was such an improvement.

Game 2
OCT: CF Martaranha – RF Whitlow – 2B Woodrome – 3B Soberanes – C Burkart – SS O. Lira – 1B Metz – LF Weant – P E. Barnes
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – P Stewart

The first time through the order, Zach Stewart struck out four Thunder, walked one… and nailed THREE. Something was off there, but the Thunder left the bags full in the second and didn’t put anything on the board, for they didn’t get a base knock in addition to all the welts in the upper arms. Before we would find out whether Stewart would be long for this game, though, we got a lead in the bottom 2nd. Brass hit a single, was forced out by Fowler, but Angel Perez then socked a 2-run homer.

Indeed, Stewart would not last in this game, but not for arm or shoulder troubles. He strained a hammy legging out an infield single with two outs in that bottom 2nd, which was such a dumb injury for a pitcher… Bravo was offered the free W by insertion in the third inning, but conceded a run quite quickly with a leadoff walk to Martaranha, a wild pitch, and an RBI single for Woodrome. The Coons clawed the run back in unearned fashion when Lonzo reached on an error by Omar Lira in the bottom 3rd, stole second, and then was driven in by Brassfield with a 2-out double, only for Bravo to give up another run in the top 4th with a leadoff walk to Andy Metz and a Tim Weant double. LaBat held the Thunder to a Martaranha sac fly, 3-2, before squeezing through and out of the inning on Eric Whitlow’s fly to left.

The game promised to remain a mess for the time being. Angel Perez hit a leadoff double to left in the bottom 4th, but couldn’t get across the hump with Morris and Bean making poor outs, and then Christopher only walked with two outs. Lonzo was to the rescue with an RBI single over the head of Soberanes, 4-2, the runners did the double steal, and Nick Nye then won a full count battle against Barnes for a 2-run single to left-center, putting him at 60 RBI for the year, and Barnes out of the game. Nye was then out of the game after just four innings because we needed to somehow make it through the game without a real long man and wished for two innings from Ruben Mendez, so Bean remained in the game at second base. That plan went so ******* wrong, it was hard to put into words, but Mendez faced six batters, put five of them on, including a 1-out bases-loaded walk to Metz and a bases-clearing, game-tying double to Weant, then was kicked down the stairs to the clubhouse for being useless. Erickson then imploded further, giving up the go-ahead single with two outs to Martaranha, and another single to Whitlow, before Woodrome flew out to center on a 3-2 pitch. It was 7-6 Thunder, we were nearly out of pitchers, and it was THE FIFTH ******* INNING. (angrily bites the neck off a new bottle of Capt’n Coma)

Erickson pitched another long inning while the score remained the same. Jon Bean hit a leadoff single from the #9 spot in the bottom 6th, then was forced out by Christopher. A wild pitch advanced the runner, but Lonzo whiffed. Jack Kozak batted for Erickson, who could not have much left in him, and ran into a fat one by righty Jordan Juarez, who by then was two innings deep into his own garbage relief outing – and crushed a score-flipping 2-run homer to left, 8-7…!

Much-needed actual relief was then provided by Ricky Herrera, who pitched two innings on 21 pitches, and held the skinny lead, too. The Raccoons got singles from Caballero and Lonzo in the bottom 8th, but couldn’t piece a run together with that, and so the 1-run lead went to Walters in the ninth inning. Soberanes opened with a single to center, but was doubled up on a 6-4-3 by Burkart, to Lonzo and to Gonzales, the third second-sacker employed by the Coons on the day (Bean was in rightfield by now). A strikeout on Lira finished the game. 8-7 Raccoons. Caballero (PH) 1-1; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Nye 2-3, 2 RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-4, 2B, RBI; Perez 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; R. Herrera 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Unsurprisingly, roster moves!

Zach Stewart would miss a month with the bum hammy, so there was the hole in the rotation again. A fifth starter would be required next time ‘round, but for now the bullpen needed some stuffing out, and Erickson (2-1, 3.24 ERA) took the fall. The Raccoons recalled Duarte Damasceno, now 10-2 with a 2.05 ERA in St. Petersburg, and “Peppers” Harris as a non-Colby Bowen long man option. Damasceno might slot into the open spot in the rotation, but if needed could be burned in relief as well.

Game 3
OCT: CF Martaranha – 2B Woodrome – RF Whitlow – 1B Metz – SS O. Lira – 3B Gaxiola – LF R. Hummel – C Burkart – P Chartrand
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – CF Morris – 2B Bean – P DeRose

Joel Starr’s leadoff double and two productive outs, including Maresh’s sac fly, gave the Coons a 1-0 lead in the second inning just before DeRose tried to blunder it away with two walks and a single allowed to Burkart, Martaranha, and Woodrome in the top 3rd. Whitlow struck out swinging to strand all of them, but they filled the bases again in the fourth, with Lira singling, a Randy Hummel double, and with two outs an intentional walk to Burkart to get the pitcher back in the box. Again, DeRose DeParted the inning with a strikeout. Not that the Coons were idle; they wasted pairs of singles by their 1-2 hitters in the third, then their 7-8 hitters in the fourth. Christopher then drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th, but could not get a jump off, then was doubled up by Nick Fowler…

Despite the myriads of horrors and six dozen stranded base runners, it was a 1-0 game through seven innings, somehow tended to by DeRose, who was hit for with Caballero, who fanned, to complete the bottom 7th. LaBat and Sullivan navigated the eighth in tandem, but Matt Walters had been out three of the last four days already… Some offense would help! Chartrand returned for the bottom 8th, walked Fowler and allowed a single to Starr, but got Brass to fly out to Hummel, and that ended the inning. With left-handed bats up in the ninth, the Raccoons resorted to Matt Walters for the third straight 1-run lead in three days rather than the unproven Harris. He merely struck out the side. 1-0 Blighters. Christopher 1-2, 2 BB; Starr 2-4; Morris 2-4; DeRose 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-7);

Okay, Matt Walters was now REALLY unavailable for the opener against the Knights…

Raccoons (56-47) vs. Knights (54-49) – July 30-August 1, 2060

The Knights and Raccoons had fought each other to a draw so far this year with three wins for either team. Atlanta was 6 1/2 back in the CL South while scoring the third-most runs and allowing the seventh-most markers in the CL. Their run differential was a modest +25. They were third in OBP and defense, but second-worst in stolen bases and – worse perhaps – bullpen ERA.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (9-7, 4.35 ERA) vs. Joe Napier (9-4, 3.96 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (7-10, 3.76 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (11-4, 2.27 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (9-4, 2.85 ERA) vs. Jose Villegas (7-7, 3.69 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! Finally life was worth living again!

Game 1
ATL: C M. Nieto – CF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – LF del Toro – 1B C. Rice – RF K. Hawkins – 3B N. Fox – P Napier
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Morris – 3B Bean – P C. Fox

Chance Fox struck out three in the first two innings, then gave up three singles for a third-inning run in the Friday opener. The thing that irked me was that Napier hit the first of those three singles, but Fox got him back in the bottom 3rd with a 1-out double to left that soon turned into the tying run with Christopher’s game-tying double to right. Lonzo fell to 1-2 before shoving a ball up the middle and through for an RBI single and Portland went up 2-1. Lonzo stole second base, his 31st of the year, but Nye popped out. Starr drew a 2-out walk, and Trent Brassfield wrapped a 336-footer around the 331-foot pole in leftfield to extend the lead to 5-1…!

The Knights got a run back in the fourth right away with Chris Rice’s 1-out triple to center, after which he scored on Kyle Hawkins’ sac fly to make it 5-2, and Fox labored through the fifth, which Marco Nieto opened with a single. He was doubled up by Josh Abercrombie’s grounder to short, but Willie Acosta hit another single to left, stole second, and was finally stranded when Ken Sowell flew out to left. Fox was already on 77 pitches through five, but had a quicker sixth, and then Trent Brassfield re-established slam range with his second homer of the night, and this one, a leadoff jack in the bottom 6th, finally sent Napier to bed. The inning would drag on, as the Knights brought in the charred remains of Kennedy Adkins, who wasn’t fooling anybody. Morris singled, stole second, reached third on a bad throw by Nieto, and scored on Bean’s sac fly. Then the Coons loaded the bags with two outs as Fox doubled (again!), Christopher walked, and Lonzo was plonked. The pain was for naught, as Nick Nye grounded out to Ken Sowell to end the inning.

Chance Fox went into the eighth, but gave up a leadoff single to Abercrombie before striking out Willie Acosta with his 109th and final pitch of the night. Sullivan got one out from Sowell before the last four outs were assigned to Adam Harris, a task he completed to our full satisfaction. The Raccoons added a run in the bottom 8th with three hits of Hironobu Hanzawa, the RBI going to Lonzo with two outs. 8-2 Critters. Christopher 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Lavorano 2-4, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Fox 7.1 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (10-7) and 2-3, 2 2B;

The Raccoons were now ten games over .500, and still only in fourth place in a rather lopsided division with the Loggers and Elks far, far off the pace. Not that we were close to first place, either, 13 games out…

The Foxes came out about even from this game, Nick Fox going 1-for-3 against Chance Fox.

Game 2
ATL: C M. Nieto – LF Abercrombie – 1B C. Rice – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – RF Ellwood – CF K. Hawkins – 3B Gallo – P Harman
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – CF Caballero – P B. Herrera

Vic Harman entered the game with 171 strikeouts on the year and added three the first time through the order, but also allowed the first two runs of the game in the bottom 2nd no Starr and Brass doubles and a Fowler RBI single to right. Tipsy Bobby struck out two the first time through the Knights lineup, including Harman, who fell further behind on Nick Nye’s 14th longball of the season in the bottom 3rd, 3-0. All of that lead went out the window in the fourth; after Chris Rice and Willie Acosta reached the corners against Herrera, Bobby Ellwood launched a 3-piece to right to tie the game back up again.

Well, the Coons retook the lead in the bottom 4th with a Brassfield hit and … well… an error by J.P. Gallo, a passed ball, and a balk – all in one inning. Whatever works! …temporarily. Marco Nieto’s leadoff single and errors by Perez and Starr tied the game back up in the top 5th as the game took a bizarro turn. Lonzo then made another error on a Harman grounder in the sixth inning, With Gallo already on base after a 1-out double, the Knights were on the corners, and Marco Nieto socked another double off a hapless Herrera. That gave Atlanta a 5-4 lead, put two in scoring position, and led to a pitching change. Ricky Herrera got a poor out from Abercrombie on a roller in front of the plate for the second out, but then still flung the two remaining runs on the ******* board with Chris Rice’s 2-out single, 7-4. Harman finished seven for Atlanta holding that score, but topped out at five strikeouts, which was not the W I had been after…

Ruben Mendez was pitching in the eighth, but left early with a tweak in his back, leaving Adam Harris to pitch for four outs for the second straight game. Before he could put that together, the Raccoons were batting again in the bottom 8th. Lonzo opened with a single and Nick Nye rocked another homer, which narrowed the score to 7-6. David Hardaway got the next two and had Angel Perez in a 1-2 count, then gave up another jack, that one tying the game at seven. The Knights answered with three base runners against Harris in the top 9th, none of whom scored. Ellwood doubled up Sowell and his leadoff single, and two more were stranded after that. The Raccoons didn’t reach base at all in the bottom 9th, and the game went to extras, for which we were ill prepared with our perpetually beleaguered pen. Abercrombie singled and Acosta walked against LaBat in the tenth then, but Sowell grounded out to Fowler to end the inning for Atlanta. Bottom 10th, Lonzo grounded out against ex-Coon George Youngblood before Nye and Starr reached on a full count walk and soft single, respectively. Brass’ pop to second didn’t help, but Angel Perez zinged a liner to left-center that fell in, and with two outs Nye got a great start and was already turning third by the time Joaquin Moya, the leftfielder, was picking up the ball. It was a walkoff single! 8-7 Raccoons. Nye 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Starr 2-5, 2B; Perez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4, RBI;

Mendez was going to be day-to-day for a few days with a sore back and the Raccoons needed a new reliever. Adam Harris (0-0, 2.84 ERA) was out again, and Brad Loveless called up again.

Game 3
ATL: C M. Nieto – CF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – LF del Toro – 1B C. Rice – RF Ellwood – 3B N. Fox – P J. Villegas
POR: 3B Gonzales – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – CF Caballero – P Riddle

Singles by Nieto and Sowell put the Knights up 1-0 in the first, but the Raccoons responded immediately with a Gonzales single to center, a Lonzo double to the wall in left, then a game-tying sac fly to right for Nick Nye. The lead was taken on a double by Trent Brassfield, who however tumbled into second base and Ken Sowell all the same, and then left the game with Luis Silva for medical attention. Christopher replaced him as pinch-runner and scored on Perez’ 2-out single, 3-1.

The lead was blown right away by Riddle, who couldn’t seem to get anybody out, and loaded the bases with the 6-7-8 batters to begin the second inning. Villegas whiffed, but Nieto’s sac fly and Abercrombie’s RBI knock tied up the contest. It didn’t get better for him even after Acosta popped out. Nick Fox got nicked with a pitch to begin the fourth inning and scored on a 2-out hit by Abercrombie to give Atlanta a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning.

The Raccoons then shed ANOTHER outfielder on a fourth-inning, 1-out double, as Caballero slid into second base, then held his leg, sitting on the base. Ben Morris replaced him, but that emptied the bench of qualified outfielders – no more ouchies, boys! Next, Riddle drew a walk, and then out of the blue lightning flashed and thunder roared and August announced itself with a brief, but intense rainstorm that forced a rain delay of almost 50 minutes, surely ending Riddle’s day. When play resumed, Riddle was the go-ahead run on base, while Villegas resumed pitching. Gonzales popped out, but Lonzo strung a double to left to bring in Morris with the tying run, then reached second base without amputating any of his own limbs…! Riddle, who could not be run for with the already depleted bench, had to be held at third base, though… but only for three more pitches, and then both him and Lonzo scored on Nye’s 2-run single to center. That knocked out Villegas for lefty Amari Walker, who struck out Starr to complete four drawn-out innings with Portland up 6-4.

The Raccoons didn’t see how they could send Riddle back out with good conscience after 85 pitches in four innings and the rain delay, then went for the long option, Brad Loveless, who in the fifth offered a leadoff walk to Sowell, but struck out del Toro and got around the mess. Starr them thumped Amari Walker with a leadoff homer in the bottom 5th, extending the lead to 7-4, and Perez and Morris also reached base, but the inning ended with Loveless, who *had* to bat.

Loveless would be getting wrung out here. The rain started again after a bit, but only briefly, and he kept putting runners on base; two in the sixth and two more in the seventh, including another leadoff walk to Sowell, who scored on an Ellwood sac fly after del Toro drove Sowell to third base with a hit, but himself would be left on base as Loveless completed three innings, then batted for himself in the bottom 7th to get him back out for the eighth. He only struck out Joaquin Moya in the top 8th, then was relieved. Maybe the rest of the pen could find five outs without blowing a 2-run lead…? Sullivan retired the 1-2 batters on two pitches to complete the inning. Maybe some tack-on runs, too? Gonzales and Lonzo went to the corners with leadoff singles against George Youngblood to begin the bottom 8th. Nye ran a full count, then looped a soft single over Sowell to drive home a run, 8-5. Lonzo stole third base, and then Christopher slapped a 2-run double to right to get the team into double digits…! Left-hander Tim Webb then got the next three batters out and stranded Joe-Chris on second base. The Raccoons stuck with Sullivan, who got get a 5-out save here and did so in just ten total pitches. 10-5 Furballs! Gonzales 2-5; Lavorano 4-5, 2 2B, RBI; Nye 3-4, 4 RBI; Brassfield 1-1, 2B, RBI; Christopher 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Starr 2-5, HR, RBI; Perez 2-5, RBI; Caballero 1-2, 2B; Loveless 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-3); Sullivan 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (2);

In other news

July 23 – Loggers rookie SS/2B Fidel Carrera (.291, 12 HR, 51 RBI) could miss a month with a lat strain.
July 23 – Miners C/1B Nick Dingman (.270, 10 HR, 38 RBI) is dinged up and could miss two months with a partially torn labrum.
July 23 – The Pacifics beat the Capitals, 10-8, in a double-length, 18-inning game. Both teams also scored two runs in the 12th inning. LAP OF Carlos Mata (.222, 2 HR, 10 RBI) goes 5-for-8 with two walks, two doubles, a triple, and five RBI in the marathon.
July 25 – A strained hammy may cost Blue Sox INF Robby Cox (.294, 15 HR, 67 RBI) most of the remainder of the season.
July 25 – Thunder 1B Andy Metz (.284, 17 HR, 63 RBI) drives in five runs on three hits with two homers in a see-saw, 11-10 win against the Loggers.
July 25 – It takes 13 innings to score a run in the Wolves-Blue Sox game, and then it only scores on a wild pitch by Salem’s Jason Posey (4-4, 2.51 ERA, 25 SV) for a 1-0 walkoff win for Nashville.

July 26 – The Miners acquire 3B/SS Adam Duncan (.275, 2 HR, 28 RBI) from the Cyclones for OF/1B/SS Tyler Bender (.313, 1 HR, 13 RBI).
July 26 – The Loggers trade SP Jesus Aquino (4-10, 4.72 ERA) to Vegas for two prospects.
July 26 – CL Justin Round (3-6, 3.00 ERA, 23 SV) is traded with almost $2M in cash from the Scorpions to the Rebels, who in turn part with five prospects, none of them ranked in the top 200.
July 27 – SAC LF Tim Duncan (.267, 20 HR, 66 RBI) goes yard for the only score in a 1-0 win against Pittsburgh.
July 28 – Charlotte picks up 1B/RF/LF Chris Jimenez (.234, 5 HR, 18 RBI) from the Wolves for two prospects, including #174 OF Jake Griffin.
July 29 – The season of Vegas catcher Casey Burgio (.249, 7 HR, 32 RBI) ends with a torn back muscle.
July 29 – The Aces trade infielder Phil Huddleston (.283, 6 HR, 17 RBI) to the Bayhawks for #192 prospect, right-hander Dan Graham.

FL Player of the Week (16): DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.336, 9 HR, 63 RBI), batting .583 (14-24) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week (16): TIJ 1B Jason Sturgeon (.328, 8 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

FL Player of the Week (17): NAS RF Austin Gordon (.327, 15 HR, 49 RBI), socking .526 (10-19) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week (17): POR INF Nick Nye (.319, 15 HR, 67 RBI), bashing .458 (11-24) with 3 HR, 11 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: TOP INF Zach Suggs (.314, 17 HR, 77 RBI), batting .369 with 7 HR, 30 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: IND OF Orlando Ramos (.295, 19 HR, 73 RBI), bashing .409 with 7 HR, 27 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT SP Sean Sweeton (7-13, 5.70 ERA), recovering with a 4-2 mark, 1.80 ERA, 24 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: CHA SP Esteban Duran (12-5, 3.09 ERA), going 4-0 with a 1.07 ERA, 29 K
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP 1B/2B Alejandro Olivares (.273, 1 HR, 17 RBI), batting .303 with 1 HR, 14 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: MIL RF/LF David Milian (.360, 1 HR, 45 RBI), slapping .400 with 13 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Seven straight wins – yay!

Still being fourth in the division and shedding three players to injury in a single weekend – boo…. Neither Brassfield nor Caballero were diagnosed as of Sunday night, and there was no off day either, so the next few days could get… *interesting* in all the wrong ways. This was just me waffling off right now, but Loveless was used up anyway after a messy, but nevertheless absolutely crucial long relief outing on Sunday, for which he got a W, and would probably be back to AAA if we could not clear the injured players on the DL by Monday.

The offense started to click again this week and we lifted us up to ninth in runs scored in the league and a +13 run differential (while being 12 games over .500). Of course, losing Brassfield would be rather counterproductive for scoring runs. And it was not like we had a flood of outfielders ready to go in AAA, either with injuries to Matt Hamilton and prospect Miguel Ulloa. Ayala and Oley were on the 40-man roster, and the only other healthy Alley Cats outfielder was Carlos Solorzano.

With the way things were going it looked like a promotion to AAA was coming for Ham Lake’s Jose Corral, a 19-year-old former July IFA signing ($350k), batting lefty for a .275/.367/.404 clip for the Panthers after starting the season in single-A. Corral would not turn 20 until December. He could not play center, though; he was confined to the corners, and his murderous arm made him ideally suited to rightfield. Oh, and he was the #4 prospect in the league.

Sunday’s outing notwithstanding, the Raccoons are happy to announce a contract extension with Tyler Riddle, who came off missing a year and half and being one of the best pitchers in the CL this year. He had a $2.8M deal for this season, and we agreed on a 4-yr, $16M extension from here, which was probably still not overpaying…

…IF he held together and didn’t miss years on the DL again…….

The Raccoons will spend most of August on the road, playing only eight more home games before the end of the month. It’s a 2-week road trip now, zigzagging across the continent to Charlotte, Elk City, Indy, and Dallas before going home for just three games against the Caps, and then back to the Northeast teams on the following road trip.

Fun Fact: 71 years ago today, Mark Dawson hit for the cycle in 13-3 win against the Knights.

Mark Dawson was 35 years old in 1989 and was in his ninth season with the Raccoons, where he got moved around from corner to corner over the years, playing right, left, first, and – his best position – third base, where he won five Gold Gloves over a 13-year stretch between the Buffaloes and the Raccoons.

Dawson also won two home run titles in 1982 and 1988, bashing 31 bombs in the latter season. Hitting for average or drawing walks was never his thing, so his career slash looked a bit ghastly at .243/.299/.425 and despite batting 304 homers and driving 1,268 runs on 1,913 hits in his 15-year career, he got only token Hall of Fame consideration.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (59-47) @ Falcons (48-54) – August 2-4, 2060

The Falcons were third in the South, 12 1/2 games out, and waiting for the end of the season, just like the Critters. We led the #10 offense and #5 pitching in the CL, four games to two this year. Their rotation had taken a beating with Neil Mongillo and Art Schaeffer on the DL, and outfielder Kyle Fisher was also out.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (0-0) vs. Phil Baker (2-11, 4.60 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-7, 3.86 ERA) vs. Andres Lopez (4-3, 3.14 ERA)
Chance Fox (10-7, 4.23 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (2-1, 3.35 ERA)

Both Lopez, the only left-hander up in this series, and Doyle had started before in their careers, but had spent the majority of this season coming out of the bullpen.

Speaking of injuries, the Raccoons had a 22-man roster available for the series opener, and that already included the reluctantly recalled DD in the opener. Ruben Mendez was day-to-day (back), Trent Brassfield was day-to-day (hammy), and Oscar Caballero was out and in fact still stuck in Luis Silva’s portable inflatable beep machine and squealing for help. Neither Mendez nor Brass were expected to contribute much in this series, but Brass would be available to pinch-hit.

A roster move was made, with Brad Loveless (2-3, 5.12 ERA) was returned to AAA after going all-out in garbage relief on Sunday and was replaced with a fresh(er) arm, fellow lefty Mike Goldfield. So the pen was supplied, but the best spare outfielder we had on the roster was Jon Bean…

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Maresh – 3B Fowler – CF Morris – LF Kozak – P Damasceno
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – LF C. Jimenez – SS Hullander – 3B Tomko – P P. Baker

Joey Christopher opened the week with a single and getting stranded on base, while the Falcons loaded the bases with Takuro Yoshikawa, Chris Jimenez, and Chris Tomko in the bottom 2nd against DD, but then saw Phil Baker whiff and Jose Rodriguez pop out to Nye to end the inning. When the Raccoons loaded the bases as well in the top 3rd it was mostly on Falcons errors. Christopher opened with a single, but both Lonzo and Nye got on base on defensive mishaps, creating three on and nobody out terror for the 4-5-6 batters. The usual doldrums passed us by though – each of the next five batters would get an RBI one way or another, as Starr drew a 4-pitch walk off a discombobulated Baker, Maresh brought in a run with a groundout, and Fowler and Morris chopped RBI singles. Kozak hit a sac fly, and DD still hit another single with two outs, then was caught in a rundown on Christopher’s inning-closing RBI single; 6-0 in the middle of the third inning…!

Baker was gone after that inning, and while Damasceno was not giving up runs early, he also wasn’t very efficient, needing 64 pitches through four shutout innings, and the Raccoons would have liked a little length from him. Jose Rodriguez and Luis Miranda hit singles off him in the bottom 5th and while the Falcons stranded the runners on the corners, it took DD up to 90 pitches to deal with the situation in nearly exclusively long counts. But he shut out the Falcons through six eventually, which beat Mike Goldfield, who got whacked for three hits and a run while getting just two outs in the bottom 7th before requiring rescue by Reynaldo Bravo. Rescuing him Bravo did by getting a groundout from Luis Miranda, then struck out two while also dealing with the eighth inning. The Coons then had to go to Matt Walters in the ninth despite a 5-run lead, because somehow we still didn’t have enough pitching. Walters hadn’t pitched since going out three straight games against the Thunder, gave up an infield single to Rodriguez, but finished up with a K to Falcons star Danny Ceballos. 6-1 Raccoons. Christopher 3-5, RBI; Morris 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Damasceno 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

No, they didn’t hit a lick after the 6-run outburst.

Goldfield (0-0, 7.36 ERA) was whisked right back off the roster to get up a right-hander, who turned out to be Bobby Sneeze.

Gesundheit.

Oscar Caballero could use some gesundheit, too, but he had a bum knee with some inflammation flaring up and would be out for at least a week, and the Raccoons weren’t gonna fudge around with that and DL’ed him. Right-handed outfielder Felix Ayala, who had batted .188 in six games with Portland earlier, was recalled, leaving the Alley Cats to fight on with just two healthy outfielders.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – CF Ayala – P DeRose
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – SS Hullander – LF R. Holder – 3B Tomko – P A. Lopez

Christopher and Nye socked bombs to left off Lopez right in the first inning and since Lonzo singled and stole a base in between, the Raccoons got a 3-0 lead on the board nearly instantly. Nye stole a base himself after drawing a leadoff walk in the third inning, then was driven in by Kozak with a 2-out single to add a fourth run while the Falcons were hitless one time through the order against DeRose. It was Ceballos to break the hits ice for Charlotte with a leadoff single to center in the fourth inning, but he was then also immediately doubled up on a comebacker by Miranda, 1-6-3 style. DeRose had a quick fifth, then gave up a leadoff single in the bottom 6th to Chris Jimenez, batting for Lopez. DeRose balked, then hit Rodriguez, which was preferable to the other way round, then got a comebacker from Jesus Valcarcel that he turned into an out at third base. Ceballos popped out and Miranda struck out to leave two runners on base.

Ayala opened the seventh with a single after some silent middle innings from the Portlanders, then stole his first base. Falcons veteran Jim Larson filled the bags with a walk to Christopher and a brushed sleeve on Lonzo, but Nye hit into an inning-ending double play. DeRose got into the eighth, but ended up facing Ceballos after Chris Tomko and Jose Rodriguez had put themselves on base with a pair of singles. The Raccoons maneuvered Ricky Herrera into the game in a double switch in what was a save situation with the intent for the lefty to get the last four outs after wasting Walters the day before. Herrera struck out Ceballos… then retired nobody in the bottom 9th. Miranda walked, Yoshikawa singled, Joe Hullander reached on an error by Lonzo, and Rex Holder doubled to left. It was 4-2, the tying runs were in scoring position, and there wasn’t a single ******* out on the board. NOW came Walters… He gave up a sac fly to Tomko, 4-3, but Holder held at second with the tying run. Tim Stone struck out. Rodriguez grounded to Nye on the very next pitch, and the grounder ended the game. 4-3 Critters. DeRose 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (8-7);

We had seven hits, and no player had more than one.

Ruben Mendez reported back for duty on Wednesday, but Brass was still day-to-day with sore hammy. He had not appeared in the last two games, but was expected back in the lineup on Thursday.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – CF Morris – LF Kozak – P Fox
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – LF C. Jimenez – SS Hullander – 3B Tomko – P Doyle

Foxie Brown would try to make it ten in a row on Wednesday, but had to labor hard in the first inning after a Valcarcel double and a full-count walk to Miranda to get a K on Yoshikawa and bugger out of the inning with runners on the corners. Both pitchers only allowed one hit the first time through, but Joel Starr then committed a rare error at first base to put Rodriguez on base in the bottom 3rd. The runner advanced on Valcarcel’s groundout for the second out of the inning, then scored on a Ceballos single to center to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Mirada grounded out to short. Yoshikawa opened the fourth with a double, but Fox then struck out the 6-7-8 in order to get through that. Doyle then grounded out to begin the bottom 5th before Fox hit Rodriguez. That opened the gates for all sorts of mayhem. Rodriguez stole second, then scored on a Valcarcel single. Ceballos singled, Miranda plated a run with a groundout, and Morris dropped Yoshikawa’s inning-ending fly to center for another error and run. From there, the Falcons poked another three 2-out singles, running the score to 5-0 to end the Coons’ winning streak.

It got WORSE from there, with Lonzo coming up lame on a defensive play in the sixth inning and leaving the game with Luis Silva. Jon Bean came in as defensive replacement at second base, with Nye to short. Fowler singled home Starr for a token run in the seventh inning, but apart from that the Coons went down silently with just four total hits in the game. 5-1 Falcons.

A dark day in Portland once more as Lonzo was off to the DL again with a mild hamstring strain. He might miss the rest of the month, so there went the stolen base title – at the time of the injury, he was second in the CL with 34 steals, three behind the damn Elks’ Danny Garcia.

Speaking of the damn Elks…

Raccoons (61-48) @ Canadiens (39-69) – August 5-8, 2060

The Raccoons led the season series against the last-place Elks, 5-2. They were having a horrendous season, sitting bottoms in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a -172 run differential and 54 games to play. The only thing they managed somewhat competently was stealing bases (third in the CL, just behind the Critters), and they had a bunch on the DL as well with Jeff Kozloski, Steve Scarpa, Alex Maldonado, and a few bits and pieces more all out and injured.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (7-10, 3.88 ERA) vs. Larry Broad (3-10, 4.49 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (9-4, 3.02 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (5-13, 4.55 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (7-11, 4.63 ERA)
Justin DeRose (8-7, 3.54 ERA) vs. John Morris (1-3, 5.60 ERA)

Right, left, right, left from the Elks, while I was sitting in the office in Portland and trying to keep calm with Maud’s embroidery hoop, making an honest attempt of stitching an image of Lonzo sliding into second base safely with lots of brown and green yarn strewn around the place… and a bottle of Capt’n Coma or two.

The Raccoons brought up Bernie Ortega to share second base duties with Jon Bean and David Gonzales, while Nick Nye would now play at short again with Lonzo on the DL. Ortega, 24, was batting .341 for the Alley Cats. He had hit .265 with e homer in 67 games in Portland last year.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF B. Morris – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Younce – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – CF D. Moreno – 3B C. Sullivan – C E. Salazar – 2B Roldan – P Broad

So of course the damn Elks would get singles from Mark Younce and Jose Campos, then a 3-run homer by Damian Moreno to right in the very first inning… The Raccoons lacked notable offense the first time through, but began to crowd Larry Broad in the fourth inning with the very successful, always great, never failing method of putting three on with nobody out through singles by the Nicks and Starr drawing a walk instead of just ******** leathering one. – Maud, I think I accidentally stitched the bottle into the … the thing. Do something. Please. … Brass did something, laying off a precariously borderline 3-2 pitch and getting the call, pushing in the Coons’ first run on the bases-loaded walk, 3-1. Perez’ sac fly narrowed it further, and Morris hit a scratch single to load the bases again, also in a full count. Jon Bean’s grounder up the middle was knocked down by Rafael Roldan, who got a lob to Younce off, but the Elks had no double play and the tying run scored. The inning ended with Herrera, but he retired the Elks in order in the bottom 4th and the Raccoons then took the lead in the fifth as Christopher drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and then jogged home on Starr’s 2-out homer, 5-3.

“Taki” Herrera went into the eighth inning allowing just one hit in the six innings following the initial clobbering and holding the 5-3 lead, but then walked Danny Garcia and allowed a single to Jose Campos. Chad Cardenas popped out to short for the second out, but with Moreno up the Raccoons went to Ricky Herrera, who gave up loud thud to deep right and Moreno thought he had his second 3-spot of the game, but the ball ended up coming down in Christopher’s glove on the warning track to end the inning with the tying runs left stranded. The ninth was no easier despite Matt Walters’ deployment. Chris Sullivan flew out, but Enrique Salazar singled. Roldan whiffed, but Juan Aragon snuck another single to center. Danny Garcia hit *another* single, driving home pinch-runner Bobby Needham from second base. Younce flew to right – and to Christopher to end the game. 5-4 Raccoons. Fowler 2-4; B. Herrera 7.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (8-10);

(shows off his embroidery) Does this look like a batter’s helmet to you, Slappy? – So you see the M1 Abrams in this one as well…

Game 2
POR: 3B Gonzales – 2B Ortega – SS Nye – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – CF Ayala – P Riddle
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – CF D. Moreno – 2B Younce – C E. Salazar – SS C. Sullivan – P Overy

The Elks got two soft singles in the first, but no homer, and Younce socked a leadoff double in the second, but a grounder by Salazar and two strikeouts stranded him at third base. Danny Garcia was doubled up with Thomas Whittington’s grounder to short after another leadoff hit in the bottom 3rd. Whittington’s 2-base throwing error to put Brass on base didn’t help the Raccoons to score in the fourth inning, and instead the Elks finally plonked Riddle for three singles and a run, driven in by Sullivan with two outs, in the bottom 4th before Overy struck out. Seven hits and five strikeouts in four innings for Riddle – improvable. He evened it up with two more strikeouts in the fifth.

The Coons had one base hit through five innings, a Perez single, so that was also very much improvable, but besides a pair of flies to the deeper regions in left hit by Perez and Starr in the seventh inning, the Brownshirts made no inroads on that 1-0 deficit against Overy. Riddle finished seven innings without allowing another hit, but putting up a total of ten strikeouts, but was still trailing one-zip. Kozak, Ayala, and Fowler went in order against Overy in the eighth inning, too. Ryan Sullivan held the Elks to their lone run in the bottom 8th, while Overy was sent back out for the ninth inning. Gonzales grounded out, but Maresh then batted for Ortega and drew a walk that ended Overy’s day and brought on right-hander Erik Swain. Nye popped out and Brass grounded out to end the game anyway. 1-0 Canadiens. Riddle 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, L (9-5);

Angel Perez – one base. Everybody else – zilch.

(stitches some flames into the stands in the background of the Lonzo scene)

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – CF B. Morris – 2B Bean – P Damasceno
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Younce – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – CF D. Moreno – 3B C. Sullivan – C E. Salazar – 2B Whittington – P A. Jesus

The Raccoons, suddenly struggling for runs again without Lonzo (surely that was the reason!), had pairs on base in the first and third innings, but Brass popped out to strand Nye and Starr in the first instance, and after that Christopher and Fowler were left on by Nye and Starr. We had no runs through five, nor did the Elks, who collected three scattered hits and two walks, almost all from their left-handed batters, but also couldn’t get a run across, and on top of that lost Thomas Whittington to injury running the base paths and being replaced by Roldan.

The Coons’ middle of the order went down in order in the sixth inning, but the Elks got Cardenas and Moreno on with 1-out singles, plus Chris Sullivan by means of a walk, and then took a 1-0 lead on Salazar’s sac fly in the home half of the sixth. I sighed and stitched the Raccoons having zero runs on the scoreboard at the top of the embroidery scene. Roldan grounded out to leave on two, but we were on pace for another 1-0 loss now, at least until Garcia socked a homer in the seventh, 2-0.

The tying runs were on base to begin the eighth inning. Kozak walked in DD’s spot, and Jesus then *plunked* Christopher. Oh, to get a base knock now…! Fowler popped out (…), but Nye singled to left, however, Kozak had to stop at third base, and the bags were full for Joel Starr, who hit a ball good to deep right – but not good enough to beat Cardenas or the fence. Sac fly, though, and Brass fired a drive to left after that for a 2-out RBI double, which at least got us even. Maresh, with a pair in scoring position, drove the next pitch to deep center and Moreno could not catch up with that, the ball falling for a 2-run double…! Morris popped out to end the inning. Bravo and LaBat put the bottom 8th together without allowing a base runner, and it was back to Walters in the bottom 9th. There was a pinch-hit single by Aragon, but the Elks went down quickly. 4-2 Raccoons. Nye 2-4; Damasceno 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, W (2-0);

14 games over .500, 14 games outta first, and still fourth in the division.

(stitches frowns onto the faces of the spectators)

Joel Starr got a day off on Sunday. Some bum still had to bat left-handed, though, and that turned out to be Ben Morris.

Game 4
POR: 3B Gonzales – 2B Ortega – SS Nye – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Kozak – LF Ayala – CF B. Morris – P DeRose
VAN: C E. Salazar – 3B Corpus – 1B J. Campos – CF D. Moreno – SS Younce – LF Needham – RF Aragon – 2B C. Sullivan – P J. Morris

Both teams drew two walks in the first inning, but only the Elks also added four base knocks to torch DeRose for five quick runs, all earned, with the biggest hit being Needham’s 2-run double. Kozak’s solo home run in the second inning wasn’t enough to make up the difference, and both teams drew two walks again in the third inning. While Perez hit into a double play to kill the Coons’ effort, the Elks also had a Younce single ahead of walks to Aragon and Sullivan, then brought up John Morris with three on and nobody out. Morris jammed into a double play to kill that inning, too, but DeRose still wasn’t brought back after the third inning.

Kozak began the fourth with a single, and Ayala added a double on the next pitch. Ben Morris’ sac fly reduced the gap to 5-2, and Fowler walked in the pitcher’s spot. Gonzales’ single loaded the bases. Bernie Ortega was 0-for-7 since being called up and now had the tying runs on base – and he finally got a hit, an RBI single to center, 5-3. Morris lost Nye to a walk in a full count, his fifth free pass issued in the game, and that got us to 5-4, and then Brass hit a grounder in front of home plate that Salazar jumped on and tapped home for a force there, and Perez flew out to right, stranding three runners in the 5-4 game…

Instead, the Raccoons sent up Bobby Sneeze to gain ground, but instead they gained the bases being walked full in the bottom 5th and Rafael Roldan socking a bases-clearing triple to re-establish slam range from the #9 spot. Well, back on the rally horse then. Christopher, Gonzales, and Ortega started the top 6th with singles against Alex Lodes, with Ortega already driving home a run, 8-5. That brought up the middle of the order as the tying runs, and Trent Brassfield indeed smacked a homer…!! It just didn’t tie the game because Nye had nicked one into a double play ahead of him and instead we were only back to 8-7.

Mendez put two on in the bottom 6th and required bailing out by Ricky Herrera, whose spot then came up with runners on the corners and one out against Josh Costello, who had just given up a pair of singles to Ayala and Ben Morris. On one paw, we wished for more outs from Ricky H., but on the other paw Joel Starr was a perfect match for Costello on the hill, and that was the tying run on third base. Starr pinch-hit, got home the tying run, but only on a grounder to short. Morris went to second, and was stranded when David Gonzales grounded out to Campos.

In the 8-8 tie, LaBat got four outs for the Raccoons and Bravo collected two more to get the teams to the ninth inning, where the Elks brought out the closer Swain. The Coons’ 5-6-7 went in order, but Chris Sullivan, Enrique Salazar, and Alex Corpus beat up Bravo for three singles and a walkoff in the bottom of the ninth. 9-8 Canadiens. Gonzales 2-4, BB; Ortega 2-5, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak 2-5, HR, RBI; Ayala 2-5, 2B; Morris 1-2, BB, RBI; Christopher (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 3 – Aces SP Bobby Shenk (9-7, 3.68 ERA) 2-hits the Indians while striking out seven batters in a 6-0 win.
August 3 – Crusaders OF Sean Zeiher (.317, 18 HR, 91 RBI) could miss six weeks with a broken thumb.
August 6 – LAP SP Dave Robinson (8-11, 4.02 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Warriors, but also walks five in a 4-0 win.
August 6 – Scorpions LF/CF Rick Miles (.292, 0 HR, 16 RBI) is a homer shy of the cycle in a 5-hit day against his prior team, the Gold Sox. The Scorpions lose, 8-3.
August 7 – Pacifics and Warriors go deep into extra innings on Saturday before L.A. prevails, 8-5 in 15 innings.
August 8 – Crusaders OF Kelly Konecny (.267, 2 HR, 24 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 9-0 win against the Loggers, with some cherry on top, since the mandatory home run is a grand slam and he drives in six of the team’s nine runs. It’s the second cycle for a Crusaders player in Loggers Ballpark in three years, as Gunner Epperson achieved the same feat in April of 2058.
August 8 – DAL SP Ray Walker (9-9, 4.06 ERA) shuts out the Wolves on three hits in a 10-0 rout.
August 8 – The Gold Sox lose two players to injury: 1B Bill Joyner (.339, 11 HR, 68 RBI) would miss six weeks with a knee sprain, while SS/3B Jesus Nunez (.251, 4 HR, 32 RBI) was out for the year with a broken elbow.
August 8 – The Cyclones beat the Capitals, 2-1 in 15 innings. Both teams score one run in the ninth inning before the Cyclones, who out-hit Washington 16-6 in the game, finally get on top in the 15th. CIN OF Bob Wright (.275, 1 HR, 25 RBI) has five hits with a solo home run in the ninth inning.

FL Player of the Week: RIC C Ramon Lopez (.286, 4 HR, 42 RBI), batting .519 (14-27) with 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL 2B/SS Ken Sowell (.290, 12 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .423 (11-26) with 1 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Doesn’t matter how much we’re winning, we remain in fourth place in the division, and it’s not like the gap to New York is narrowing at all. Another 49 games of string!

Speaking of string, Maud, I think I stitched my paw into the death ray shooting alien starship hovering over the ballpark here, can you … can you lend a paw…

Nothing else to say really, besides that losing Lonzo for three or four weeks sucks, and since Lonzo isn’t gonna be around for the quarterpost of the season, we can cast a quick look on the top of the career stolen base table right now, because nothing matters anymore.

1st – Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (HOF) – 708
3rd – Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos (HOF) – 677
5th – Alex Vasquez (active) – 636
6th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 611
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 519
9th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 504
10th – Chris Navarro (active) – 502

Despite a 10-game suspension and a few games of injury to finish the week, Lonzo gained two bags on Vasquez, beating him 8-6 in the last five weeks, being idle for roughly half of it. Sanchez got four, Ceballos got seven, and Navarro five, the latter two becoming the ninth and tenth members of the 500 SB club.

Did we mention Lonzo is also in a contract year? (Also: Stewart, Caballero, Maresh)

Next week, the back half of the awkward road trip with stops in Indy and Dallas.

Fun Fact: Kelly Konecny did not hit a home run as a Raccoon in 2059.

(calmly keeps stitching scenes of Armageddon in the ballpark)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (63-50) @ Indians (65-45) – August 9-11, 2060

Even in second place, the Indians were double digits behind the Crusaders by now and didn’t really have any chances on the playoffs anymore. They ranked second in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the CL and had so far split a dozen games right down the middle with the Raccoons this year.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (10-8, 4.20 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (8-5, 2.81 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (8-10, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jarod Morris (8-7, 4.99 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (9-5, 2.94 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (13-6, 4.38 ERA)

We’d get nothing but right-handers to face in this series.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF B. Morris – 2B Bean – P Fox
IND: 3B R. Vargas – RF Lovins – LF O. Ramos – C A. Gomez – 1B Schaack – CF S. Thompson – SS Zucal – 2B M. Weber – P Oyola

Ricardo Vargas homered on Chance Fox’ fourth pitch of the game, but Ben Morris (!) got Oyola back in the top 2nd with a 3-run homer that was mostly nonsense, since Starr reached on an error by Jason Schaack and Brassfield legged out a grounder clumsily played by Vargas for an infield single to provide extra runs. A leadoff walk to Joe-Chris in the third inning was also punished with an RBI double to center by Nick Fowler, but the middle of the order then neglected scoring a guy on second base with nobody out, so I was assured that this was still my team and not some impostors.

The Indians answered against a shoddy Fox in the bottom 4th, though, with a leadoff single for Orlando Ramos and a no-doubter for two runs brawled over the centerfield fence by Schaack. That cut the score all the way back to 4-3. While the Raccoons didn’t produce anything of note in the middle innings, Ramos and Alex Gomez hit another pair of leadoff singles ahead of Schaack in the bottom 6th, which looked like trouble all the way to Portland and back. Schaack now hit one on the ground to Nye, though, and found a 6-4-3 double play that moved the tying run to third base for the cost of two outs. Steve Thompson’s fly to right was well hit, but not well enough and caught by Joey Christopher to end the inning. The tying run was in scoring position again in the bottom 7th against the hittable Fox. Mike Weber singled and stole second base. Ricardo Alvarez whiffed for the second out, but the switch-hitter Vargas would come up against Ryan Sullivan, grounding out to Starr to end the inning.

By the eighth, the brown team had the first chance at a tack-on run in a while when Nick Fowler doubled to right against Hyuma Hitomi’s first pitch of the inning. Nye’s soft single moved the insurance run to third base, but Starr’s poor grounder brought no advance for Fowler, although Nye went to second. Brass walked the bags full for the double-uppable Angel Perez, who was also 0-for-3 on the day. No lefty stick of note was on the bench, but the Raccoons sent Jack Kozak, and Kozak came back with a jack to left on the first pitch he saw – GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

That put the game away quite decisively and the slam was in fact the last scoring event in the game. Sullivan and Ricky Herrera collected three outs each for the Raccoons from here. 8-3 Critters! Fowler 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Brassfield 2-3, BB; Kozak (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – CF B. Morris – 2B Gonzales – P B. Herrera
IND: CF S. Thompson – C A. Gomez – SS Kilday – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – 3B R. Vargas – 2B M. Weber – 1B Callaia – P Jar. Morris

The Raccoons struck first, squeezing out a run in the first inning on a Christopher single and theft of second base, Fowler’s groundout and a sac Nye, but the Indians flipped the score in the same inning on three base knocks, all on two strikes and with two outs, by the all-lefty 3-4-5 bunch of Matt Kilday, Orlando Ramos, and Chris Lovins, who drove in a pair with a single to right. Two strikes remained a dangerous spot for Herrera in the next few innings, with a couple of deep flies hit off him when batters should actually be defending. At least he got off the hook in the fourth inning … on a 2-out error by Kilday, but at least Starr and Brass had reached base under their own power with a single and a walk. And never mind that Weber almost hit a 2-out, 2-strike homer to right in the bottom 4th…

The Coons stranded a pair in the fifth and in the sixth; however, before they did the latter, they took a lead on Joel Starr’s jack right out of the gate in the sixth inning. From there, Brass and Morris reached base and pulled off a double steal, which prompted a 1-out intentional walk to David Gonzales. Tipsy Bobby helped himself with a sac fly to center, extending the score to 4-2, but Christopher fanned. Chris Lovins then answered with a solo home run (in a full count) in the bottom 6th, 4-3. Portland had a pair – Nye and Starr – on base again in the seventh inning. Dave Corrao struck out Brass and had Perez at 2-2 with one more strike to reach the stretch, but then gave up an RBI double to left-center. Ben Morris drew a walk, but Gonzales grounded out, stranding the whole damn lot of them.

LaBat’s scoreless seventh kept the 5-3 lead in one piece, and the eighth went to Mendez, but he nicked Thompson with an 0-2 pitch to begin the bottom 8th. Alex Gomez ran a full count, but Thompson ran from first base on the 3-2 pitch, which Gomez swung at and missed, and Thompson was thrown out at second by Angel Perez for a double play. Mendez also got Kilday to get through the inning. The Raccoons stranded another two runners in the ninth inning as the wasteful evening continued, but Matt Walters didn’t waste any time with the Indians and put them away on 11 pitches. 5-3 Coons. Starr 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB; Perez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-1;

Nick Nye was a bit sore on Wednesday and got the day off even with Thursday being an actual off day for the team.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF B. Morris – 2B Ortega – SS Gonzales – P Riddle
IND: SS Kilday – 3B R. Vargas – C A. Gomez – 1B Schaack – CF S. Thompson – RF R. Alvarez – LF Abel – 2B Zucal – P M. Guerra

The teams combined for five hits in each lineup’s first run through the order. Four of those were scattered Indians singles that led to nothing, and the fifth was a Starr homer in the second inning that gave Portland a 1-0 lead. We were keenly aware though that Riddle didn’t look sharp and had only one strikeout in three innings, when normally he almost got a K per frame. The second time through the lineups yielded one hit for either side, singles by Ben Morris and Roger Zucal. Morris was doubled up.

Top 6th, and Christopher’s 1-out walk was followed by Fowler and Brassfield singles as well as the second run of the game being scored on Brass’ dinker into shallow left-center. Starr came close to an opposite-field homer, but had the ball caught at the fence by Kevin Abel, and the two runners were eventually stranded by Perez popping out. Kevin Abel then also ably tied the game in the bottom 6th with a homer to left of his own, finding Thompson on base on another single that Riddle so carelessly scattered.

Riddle was done after six innings, tied at two. The Coons then got a runner to third base with nobody out for basically nothing in the top 7th as Ben Morris reached on catcher’s interference when Alex Gomez stuck his glove into Morris’ swing, then did a funny dance around home plate, but stayed in the game. Morris then stole second, and reached third base on Gomez’ dismal throw that got away from Zucal. The Raccoons then also made three piss poor outs from Ortega, Gonzales, and Nye to keep Morris stranded at third base… Christopher had a little more luck in the eighth, reaching base on a single, stealing second, and that ball ALSO got away from Zucal for another error on Gomez, who looked banged up but wouldn’t let go of the catcher’s gear. This time the Raccoons finally scored the ******* runner on third base with nobody out, Fowler collecting the go-ahead sac fly, 3-2. In the ninth, the Raccoons AGAIN had a guy on third with nobody out, and an error involved. This time Perez doubled, Morris walked, and Bernie Ortega reached on an error by Hitomi to fill the sacks. Jon Bean pinch-hit and popped out. Kozak pinch-hit and whiffed. Christopher was not pinch-hit for and still made a ****** out. I was banging my head against the nearest wall to much concern shown by bystanders throughout the rest of the ninth inning, which took a while. Matt Walters got two outs on pops from Abel and Zucal before Gaudencio Callaia reached base on Starr’s error, and then Kilday legged out an infield roller for a 2-out single… Vargas popped out to Morris on an 0-2 pitch, though. 3-2 Raccoons. Fowler 1-2, BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, RBI; Morris 1-1, 2 BB;

Sweep!

And somehow we’re STILL in fourth place!

Raccoons (66-50) @ Stars (54-60) – August 13-15, 2060

The weekend took the Raccoons to the Stars’ shoebox in the heart of Texas, where they were somehow only scoring the sixth-most runs in the FL, but giving up the fourth-most. The rotation was crummy, and the pen was even worse. Having no D to speak of and Tyler Wharton on the DL also didn’t help. These two teams had met last season, with the better end, two games to one, for Dallas.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (2-0, 1.38 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (6-10, 5.17 ERA)
Justin DeRose (8-7, 3.90 ERA) vs. Ray Walker (9-9, 4.06 ERA)
Chance Fox (11-8, 4.19 ERA) vs. Alex Quevedo (7-3, 2.64 ERA)

Sciuto in the opener was the only southpaw we expected to see here.

Game 1
POR: 3B Gonzales – 2B Ortega – SS Nye – RF Brassfield – C Perez – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – CF Ayala – P Damasceno
DAL: RF Almanza – 2B E. Stevens – LF Pritchett – 3B D. Sandoval – 1B Pritchard – C Bothe – CF Sauceda – SS D. Mercado – P Sciuto

First of all, putting Chad PritchETT and Tommy PritchARD into the same lineup was borderline bonkers and should merit a reprimand from League HQ, and I had Maud on it right away. At least one of those two hit into a double play his first time up, but don’t ask me which one, there was literally no telling them apart. The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the top 2nd when Starr, lowered to #7 against the southpaw, singled home Angel Perez and his double, which was something at least. Sciuto then walked the leadoff batters in the third inning, putting Ortega and Nye on base. Brassfield singled to left, with Ortega making a run for it from second base, and the throw in by Pritch-uh getting away on the infield, allowing Ortega to get across home plate uncontested while the trailing runners moved into scoring position with nobody out. Sciuto kept melting, walking Perez on four pitches, then gave up an RBI single to right to Kozak. Starr hit a sac fly, Ayala hit into a fielder’s choice, and Damasceno came to bat with two outs… and flicked an RBI single over Domingo Mercado into shallow center to tack on *another* run. Gonzales grounded out, keeping the score at 5-0. The Raccoons then resisted the urge to score more runs any time soon with the timely deployment of double play grounders by Nye in the fourth and Starr in the fifth.

Meanwhile, DD tried to see how far he could go without either a strikeout nor a run allowed against Dallas. Turned out, four innings. Then Manny Sauceda whiffed and Trevor Niemiec homered to right, 5-1. He still needed only 47 pitches through five innings, the fifth ending with a pop by Roberto Almanza. Top 6th, and ex-Coon Ryan Harmer made a serious attempt at getting harmed beyond his already wild 6.97 ERA. DD singled, Gonzales and Ortega reached behind him, and the bases were loaded with nobody out. Nye hit into ANOTHER double play, but this time got at least a run home… but that was all the Coons got. Brass was nicked and Perez whiffed to end the inning.

Damasceno’s low pitch count was exploded in the bottom 6th when not only did the Stars suddenly not swing at *everything*, but they also dinged him for four straight singles from Pritchett, Dan Sandoval, Pritchard, and Jason Bothe. One run in and three abord, Sauceda struck out again, and Mercado popped out to right to end the inning without getting closer than 6-2. DD made it into the eighth, but was removed after a leadoff double from Pritch-one-or-the-other. LaBat and Bravo then got three outs without conceding the runner from second base, which was pretty neat.

Top 9th, Portland made three runs before they made an out. Pat Woodyard allowed hits to Brass, Perez, and (an RBI single) Kozak before being yoinked for Devin Crawford, who allowed an RBI hit to Starr, then balked in another run before fanning Ayala. Starr scored on Ben Morris’ pinch-hit groundout. Those were presumably enough runs to get cocky and send Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) into the bottom 9th, and he made it out of there without conceding a run or eight. 10-2 Raccoons. Gonzales 2-6; Brassfield 3-4, RBI; Perez 2-4, BB, 2B; Kozak 3-5, 2 RBI; Starr 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Damasceno 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (3-0) and 3-4, RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Morris – C Maresh – 2B Bean – P DeRose
DAL: RF Almanza – 2B E. Stevens – LF Pritchett – 3B D. Sandoval – 1B Pritchard – C Bothe – CF Lower – SS D. Mercado – P Quevedo

Ben Morris was active early in this game, throwing out Almanza at the plate on Sandoval’s 2-out single to center in the bottom 1st, ending the inning, then doubled himself to right-center in the top 2nd after which Maresh walked and Jon Bean drove him home with an RBI single for the game’s first run. DeRose hit into a double play there, then walked the bags full in the bottom 2nd, and got a K from Quevedo and a groundout from Almanza to end that inning without allowing a run, which … was *something*.

After the Coons put three on and scored nobody, the Stars got even in the bottom 3rd on a 2-out double by Sandoval and Pritch-who? finding space in right-center for an RBI single. Jason Bothe also singled, but Matt Lower grounded out to strand a pair. Neither team found the rather short fences before the end of five innings… and a rather stunning 25-minute rain delay that was highly unusual for Dallas during fire season.

Nature’s Revenge aside, the Raccoons and Stars continued to flail away in a 1-1 tie through seven innings, and the Raccoons still had nothing going in the eighth. Pritch-something got on base and was caught stealing for Dallas to begin the bottom 8th before Bothe reached on an error by Fowler. Ricky Herrera came in for Sauceda and got a two-for-one on a single pitch, and also his pokey black nose near a W, should the Raccoons actually find a run in their desert survival kits. They sure started well against righty Jon Dominguez in the ninth inning, with Morris and Maresh taking to the corners on a pair of leadoff singles. Jon Bean popped out, but Kozak batted for Slicky Ricky and singled to center, which brought in the go-ahead run, 2-1. A whiff and a pop killed the inning from there and brought in Walters against the 8-9-1 batters. The Stars swung away readily; Mercado and Isaiah Dickerson made outs on the first pitches they saw, and Almanza grounded out to second to end the game on all of three more. 2-1 Blighters. Morris 2-4, 2B; Bean 2-4, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1; DeRose 7.1 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K;

Ricky H. waited a long time for this – his last W had come on May 29 in Tijuana.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – CF Morris – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – C Perez – 2B Bean – 3B Gonzales – P Fox
DAL: RF Almanza – 2B E. Stevens – CF Pritchard – LF Pritchett – C Bothe – SS D. Mercado – 3B Freet – 1B Weese – P R. Walker

The Stars brought an all-righty lineup against Foxie Brown, although it didn’t … *really* work for them? Well, neither team scored through four innings. The Coons didn’t even get a hit until Nye singled with two outs in the fourth, while Fox allowed one hit and one walk in the first three innings, but also whiffed nobody. In the bottom 4th, he offered walks to Pritch One, Pritch Two, and Pritch Cado, but Joe Freet grounded out on Nye on the very next pitch and that ended the inning.

Bean and Gonzales were offered 2-out walks by Ray Walker in the fifth, but Fox then struck out. The Stars went in order and the game remained scoreless, with neither team having as many as two base knocks, though five. The same shtick played off in the top 6th for Portland: two walks to Nye and Starr with two gone, and then Kozak fanned. Fox got no more outs; he walked Erik Stevens, allowed a single to Pritch Tops and walked Pritch Bottoms before being yanked, six free passes in five-plus on his ledger. Mendez inherited a right mess, and like a real piece of **** just waved everybody in, allowing an RBI single to Bothe before giving up a wild pitch, a balk, and another RBI single to Mercado, at which point it was already 4-0. Mendez committed ANOTHER balk in the same inning, then gave up a 2-out RBI single to Walker to really rub the loss in.

The Coons dropped Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) into the bottom 7th to get the game over with. He allowed two singles, but got a double play and the score remained 5-0 before Walker returned for the top 8th, gave up leadoff doubles to Fowler and Christopher, and A RUN, and then departed for Alfredo Llamas. Morris grounded out, but Nye singled home a run. Starr singled. Suddenly, the tying run was in the box. Kozak singled, and the tying run was on base. Perez’ groundout shortened the score to 5-3, and the tying run was in scoring position. Jon Bean struck the very next pitch through the right side and up the line for a 2-run double, and the tying run was on the board, a 5-spot! Brass batted for Sneeze, but grounded out against new pitcher Willie Mendoza, while the Raccoons sent Sullivan into the bottom 8th, where he got two outs before walking Kevin Weese and allowing three straight singles to Dickerson, Almanza, and Stevens to wave two runs on the board again.

Back to the drawing board it was then against Jon Dominguez in the ninth inning. Fowler grounded out, but Christopher drew a walk. Morris bashed a ball to center, Sauceda couldn’t get back in time, and the Coons had the tying run in scoring position on an RBI double…! Nye struck out, but Starr reached on a shy single that wasn’t good enough for *anybody* to score from second base, including Morris. Runners on the corners for Kozak … who got ahead 2-0, and then popped out behind the plate to lose the game. 7-6 Stars. Nye 2-4, BB, RBI; Starr 2-3, 2 BB;

65 pitches for Chance Fox, 37 of them balls…

In other news

August 9 – A torn quad will cost Warriors 1B Miguel Medina (.298, 11 HR, 47 RBI) the rest of August.
August 10 – With a 2-run lead and two runners already on base, LVA CL Alex Rios (2-4, 5.48 ERA, 8 SV) issued four straight walks to the unsuspecting Knights to give up sufficient runs for a 6-5 walkoff win for Atlanta.
August 12 – The Rebels demolish the Miners, 16-5. Five runs are driven in on three hits by veteran RIC 3B Bobby Anderson (.302, 9 HR, 41 RBI).
August 15 – VAN RF/CF Damian Moreno (.253, 7 HR, 51 RBI) homers in the ninth inning for all the offense of a 1-0 win against the Wolves.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 2B Mike DeFusco (.255, 10 HR, 55 RBI), batting .407 (11-27) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT INF/LF/RF Omar Lira (.328, 7 HR, 47 RBI), hitting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We constantly put up winning weeks and we never get closer to the Crusaders. Not that I had any hope. By May.

Next week: all of three games at home against the Caps, and then it’s off to New York. Hey, there we can get closer! Sneak right up to them for cuddles!

Fun Fact: Matt Walters leads the CL by nine saves over Boston’s Josh Carlisle.

Third is a former Raccoons southpaw, Brett Lillis jr., saving 28 games for Tijuana. Lillis was 2-for-3 with an L against the Critters this year, while Walters was 4-for-4 with two hits and no runs allowed against the Condors.

Lillis wore the brown shirt from 2049 through 2056 before stints with the Loggers and Baybirds. He was 30-33 with a 3.19 ERA and with 88 SV for his career, whiffing 452 batters in 527 innings. He was an All Star in 2054, the same year he won a ring with the Raccoons.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-51) vs. Capitals (51-67) – August 16-18, 2060

The Raccoons had beaten the Caps each of the last three times these teams had met for a series, including the last two years. Coming in 24 1/2 games out of first place in the FL East, the Caps had no bigger goals to play for anymore than maybe end the odd streak like this here or there. They were average in scoring runs in the FL, but allowed the third-most runs around the worst offense in the league and a highly volatile bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (9-10, 3.88 ERA) vs. A.C. Stebbins (4-11, 4.56 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (9-5, 2.94 ERA) vs. Josh Barbieri (0-2, 6.11 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (3-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (4-9, 3.72 ERA)

Stebbins was the only left-hander in that setup for Washington. Unusually for a Federal League pitcher, this would be Stebbins’ second appearance against the Raccoons this year, having previously fought them to a no-decision on June 13 when he was still with Sacramento. He had been traded to the Caps in July.

The Raccoons began the week with a roster move, sending Felix Ayala (.176, 0 HR, 0 RBI) back to AAA as Oscar Caballero came off the DL.

Game 1
WAS: SS Sherrick – 2B J.-C. Lee – CF Epperson – 3B A. Flores – RF D. Flores – 1B H. Ramsay – C C. Gowin – LF Calhoun – P Stebbins
POR: 3B Gonzales – LF Kozak – SS Nye – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Starr – CF Caballero – 2B Ortega – P B. Herrera

Two innings were scoreless to begin the series, but then Bobby Herrera offered a leadoff walk to Jamie Sherrick in the top 3rd and things happened from there. Although Tipsy Bobby got two outs after that, he was then also picked apart with an RBI single and RBI double, respectively, by the Floreses Angelo and David, walked former Critter Harry Ramsay, and gave up another RBI single to another former Critter, Chris Gowin, that made it 3-0. Aidan Calhoun loaded the bases with another single, but Stebbins popped out to leave the bases loaded. Herrera lasted only five innings with the next two also being drawn out with long counts, but with no more runs for Washington. The Caps’ A.C. Stebbins went into the seventh with relatively little trouble before Caballero, Bernie Ortega, and Chris Maresh loaded the bases with three straight 2-out singles. All that did was bring up David Gonzales, who got a 3-1 count, and then flew out easily to left, but there just wasn’t a right-handed bat on the bench besides Maresh…

The Caps tacked on two runs in the eighth inning, both on Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!), who failed the bags full, then walked in a run against Joo-Chan Lee. Ricky Herrera replaced him, gave up a second run on Gunner Epperson’s groundout, but at least got out of the inning with Angelo Flores’ fly to center. David Flores hit a homer off Herrera to begin the ninth, and things just kept unraveling. Herrera put two more on base, then gave up a 2-out, 2-run double to Jamie Sherrick, and the Raccoons had to bother Ryan Sullivan just to get the ******** game over with. The Raccoons never got going, really, and lost by a whole bunch. 8-0 Capitals. Ortega 2-3; Fowler (PH) 1-1; Maresh (PH) 1-1;

Bobby Sneeze (0-1, 8.04 ERA) wound up on waivers after this game to make room for 27-year-old lefty Curt Therien, who had a 2.05 ERA in AAA this year and got the callup to the majors five years after being taken in the fourth round of the 2055 draft. He was *Canadian*, but what can you do…

Game 2
WAS: LF Law – 2B J.-C. Lee – 3B A. Flores – CF Calhoun – C C. Gowin – SS Sherrick – RF Epperson – 1B London – P Barbieri
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Morris – C Maresh – 2B Bean – P Riddle

Surprise: the Raccoons were still batting on Tuesday and actually scored a run in the first inning…! Starr hit a sac fly after Christopher and Fowler had reached base with singles. Riddle struck out the first two batters he faced in the game, then in the second inning both got a 4-6-3 double play turned behind him with two aboard as well as hit into one for a mixed bag of a frame.

That was still better than the fifth inning, which was another one of those innings in which everything went wrong all at once. Two leadoff walks to Sherrick and Epperson surely didn’t help, but at least Mike London flew out. Barbieri then hit an RBI single for his first run driven in this year, and Riddle nicked Bryant Law with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Lee then rolled a 3-2 pitch through the left side for two runs and a 3-1 Washington lead. Flores struck out, Calhoun grounded out, but enough damage had been done in the 3-run fifth.

Another gluey sixth inning left Riddle toast after just six innings and 109 pitches, whiffing seven but getting on the snout enough to be on the short end. The Raccoons were basically invisible in the middle innings, with Barbieri still going strong through seven, but then gave up a leadoff double to PH Oscar Caballero in the bottom 8th. Christopher walked after that, so the Raccoons technically had the tying runs on base before the two Nicks procured three outs with a Fowler whiff and a 5-4-3 double play grounder hit by Nye, bye-bye. Therien made his ABL debut in the ninth inning, getting taken deep by Epperson for a solo homer. Starr and Brass hit singles against Ben Lussier to begin the bottom 9th, but the Raccoons couldn’t even topple that memorably toppleable left-hander anymore. Ortega, Maresh, and Kozak made three poor outs in succession and couldn’t even move the lead runner to third base. 4-1 Capitals. Christopher 2-2, 2 BB; Caballero (PH) 1-1, 2B; Mendez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 3
WAS: SS Sherrick – 2B J.-C. Lee – CF Epperson – 3B A. Flores – RF D. Flores – 1B H. Ramsay – C C. Gowin – LF Law – P Ratliff
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Morris – C Perez – 2B Bean – P Damasceno

By the 20th inning of the series, Joel Starr retained 100% of the team’s RWI (runs wheezed in) with a solo jack to left in the bottom 2nd on Wednesday, again giving the Coons a 1-0 lead. The third was silent, while in the fourth both teams stranded two runners on base. Epperson singled and David Flores walked for Washington, while the Nicks got on to begin the bottom 4th and then got exactly nowhere from there. Chris Gowin singled to begin the top 5th and Law got bopped with a breaking ball, so there were two on and nobody out for Washington, but Ratliff did poorly on the bunt and knocked it back hard to DD, who got an aggressive out on the lead runner at third base. Sherrick’s grounder to Bean then was good for a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. There was an even bigger threat in the sixth inning, which began with a Lee double to left before the Caps made two weak outs. Damasceno then walked the bags full with David Flores and Ramsay before bringing Gowin up with three on, two outs, and fell behind 2-0 before Gowin hit a ball to deep center… but Ben Morris got back in time and made the catch on the run, ending the inning.

The Raccoons then did the unthinkable and scored a second run when Starr doubled and scored on a Perez single in the bottom 6th. The bags filled up there with two outs, but the Raccoons wanted more from Damasceno and saw him pop out against reliever Adam Foley. In the end, the Raccoons got only two more outs from DD on long counts against Law and Calhoun in the top 7th, then brought LaBat, against whom Sherrick grounded out. He got two more outs, and Bravo got one, in the eighth inning as the Raccoons tried to squeeze out a win here. And it worked – a bit better rested than at times in the last four weeks, Matt Walters retired the Caps in order in the ninth inning. 2-0 Blighters. Starr 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Perez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Damasceno 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (4-0);

No, we don’t know how DD does it, either… (shrugs!)

Raccoons (69-53) @ Crusaders (80-40) – August 20-22, 2060

Look, we asked the League Office whether we need to travel out here to get whooped, and they said yes. (shrugs again!) The Crusaders had the best offense, the best pitching, an 8-4 lead against Portland this year, and little concern that they’d build on that.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (8-7, 3.71 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (7-9, 3.52 ERA)
Chance Fox (11-8, 4.24 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (9-7, 3.15 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (9-11, 3.93 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (12-3, 3.18 ERA)

Only righty starters for the Crusaders, but they had a few regulars on the DL, missing all of Tommy Branch, Sean Zeiher, and John Webler with minor injuries at this stage. All were expected to return by early September. While we were not exactly catching them with their purple pants down, Branch and Zeiher accounted for 37 homers and 172 RBI and were 1-2 in both categories on the team.

Game 1
POR: CF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – C Perez – 2B Gonzales – P DeRose
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – RF Austin – C McLaren – LF J. Acuna – 2B Spehar – CF Konecny – 3B V. Velez – P Luera

A single, a walk, and a Fowler error loaded the bases for New York in the bottom 1st with nobody out, but they only got one unearned run on Matt McLaren’s double play grounder before Javier Acuna grounded out to keep John Rosenstiel stuck on third base. Angel Perez hit a solo homer in the top 2nd to erase the gap, while DeRose offered a leadoff walk to Ryan Spehar, then struck out three in a row to get out of the home 2nd.

The Coons took a lead on Trent Brassfield’s solo jack in the fourth inning, 2-1, but then got some help from the Crusaders for a 3-run fifth inning that they started with nobody on base and two outs. Christopher then walked, and reached third base on a hit-and-run with Fowler, on which the third-sacker singled to left and Acuna bumbled the ball to allow Fowler to second base. Both then scored on Nye’s single to left, and Nye reached third base when McLaren fired away the ball on his stolen base attempt. A wild pitch by Luera ended the latter’s day and gave the Coons a 5-1 lead. New York lost the first reliever out of the pen, Noah Hollis, to injury then, and the second, ex-Coon Alex Mancilla, was taken deep to right by Kozak for another run in the top 6th.

DeRose then conceded two hard fly balls in the bottom 6th to Aubrey Austin, who got his 2,000th career hit earlier this week, and McLaren, which was enough to let him seek out medical attention for a craned neck and led the Raccoons to go to their own bullpen with two outs in the bottom 6th. Bravo got two outs from there and Therien got five (!), all without allowing a Crusaders run through eight innings. The last (hopefully) inning then began with straight leadoff walks offered by Richard Castillo to Gonzales, Morris, and Joe-Chris, but the Coons had to settle for one run on Fowler’s 6-4-3 grounder, and Nye grounded out to Vic Velez. Ryan Sullivan finished the game 1-2-3 then. 7-1 Raccoons. Fowler 3-5; Nye 2-5, 2 RBI; DeRose 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (9-7);

DeRose might miss a start with the craned neck, but there was an off day on Monday to work with, should he be ready to go by next Saturday.

Game 2
POR: CF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – C Maresh – 2B Bean – P Fox
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – RF Austin – C Goodwin – LF J. Acuna – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B V. Velez – CF Konecny – P Cantrell

Nick Nye knocked a homer to left in the first for a 1-0 Coons lead that soon enough tied of Chance Fox. The left-hander had walked six against no strikeouts in his last outing, but whiffed three in two scoreless innings here before the stupid crept back into his game in the bottom 3rd. Kelly Konecny hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd and was bunted to second base, and then Fox plonked consecutive hitters in Omar Sanchez and Ryan Spehar. Austin hit a sac fly and Curt Goodwin grounded out to strand a pair, but good grace…..!

By then, Joey Christopher was already undressing after being ejected in the top 3rd for loudly protesting a strike three call, with Ben Morris taking over centerfield. The Coons scratched out a new lead with a run on singles by Starr (forced out by Brass), Kozak, and Maresh in the top 4th, the latter two hits with two outs. Cantrell Beaned the bags full, but Fox grounded out to short, and that lead died a grim death as well on base hits by Cantrell (…) and Spehar in the bottom 5th. Austin reached on a Bean error with two outs in that inning, but Kozak caught up with a Goodwin fly to left to keep the game at least tied for the Critters. Kozak and Bean then were on the corners in the top 6th, only for Fox to rumble into an inning-ending double play,

Seventh inning, third try to take a lead and hold it. Fowler socked a homer to right with one out, Nye singled, and Joel Starr hit another homer, a 2-piece to center, to zoom out to a 5-2 lead and knock out Cantrell. The Coons then loaded the bases with Brass, who reached on a flub error by Spehar, and walks Erik Lee issued to Maresh and Bean with two outs, and the Raccoons chose violence and sent Caballero to bat for Fox. Lee embraced violence, knocking Caballero down with a fastball into his shoulder, which forced home a run, while Caballero, who had two stints as a member of both teams, eventually picked himself up, stopped shivering, and took an emotional support blanket and went to first base. Morris grounded out to end the inning, but not until after Lee threw a wild pitch to bring in another run, the last of five in this inning. The Crusaders tried to cover distance with Lee, now that he had been hung with a likely L anyway, but he only gave up a 2-run homer to Starr in the eighth inning and was finally yanked, and Michael McLaughlin and Jason Rhodes held the Raccoons decent from there. The Crusaders never rallied against LaBat, Mendez, and Ricky Herrera. 9-2 Critters! Nye 4-6, HR, RBI; Starr 4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Kozak 2-4, BB; Maresh 2-4, BB, RBI; Bean 2-3, BB; Fox 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (12-8);

Whoop! Where did that come from suddenly??

Game 3
POR: CF Christopher – 3B Fowler – SS Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – C Perez – 2B Ortega – P B. Herrera
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – RF Austin – C McLaren – LF J. Acuna – 2B Spehar – CF Konecny – 3B V. Velez – P Taki

Christopher and Rosenstiel hit doubles in either half of the first inning, but got zero support from their team and were stranded. Bobby Herrera continued to founder, loading the bases in the bottom 2nd before narrowly escaping on a Velez strikeout and Taki flying out to left, and when he got a 2-0 lead from another Christopher hit and Fowler’s second homer of the week, he immediately frittered it away in the bottom 3rd, walking Rosenstiel and giving up RBI knocks to Acuna and Spehar. Konecny then grounded out in a full count to leave two Crusaders on base. Herrera needed 95 pitches for five innings, allowing a runner into scoring position in both the fourth and fifth innings, although the game remained tied at two.

Tipsy Bobby threw just four pitches in the bottom 6th, which then somehow worked out for three outs. Konecny singled on the second pitch, and Velez’ double play grounder to Fowler and Taki’s grounder to short on the next two pitches cleaned up.

As happened so often these last two years, Ricky Herrera then got into a tied game, pitched a scoreless inning, and then things occurred when the Raccoons came back to the plate, in this case Fowler mashing his third homer of the weekend and the second off Taki. With Christopher on base, it gave the Coons a 4-2 lead in the top 8th, with nobody out. An infield single by Nye knocked out Taki, Nye stole a base, but Juan Carrillo walked the bags full anyway, bringing up Kozak with nobody out. The Coons then struck out, struck out, and … had Morris pinch-hit for Ortega, but fly out to Konecny in center to strand absolutely everybody. Ricky H. got one more out, and Bravo got two in a 1-2-3 eighth for the Crusaders, and Walters then got the 4-2 lead in the bottom 9th. Konecny struck out, but Velez singled past Fowler into left. Goodwin struck out, but Omar Sanchez *doubled* past Fowler into left, and Velez came around to score on the play. With the tying run in scoring position, however, Walters struck out Rosenstiel and completed the sweep! 4-3 Raccoons! Christopher 2-4, BB, 2B; Fowler 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI;

In other news

August 18 – In a rare 7-4 loss to the Blue Sox for the Crusaders, their 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.307, 11 HR, 73 RBI) hits a then-go-ahead 2-run home run off NAS SP Marshall Ward (5-6, 4.24 ERA) in the second inning for his 2,000th career hit. Austin, age 35 and in his first year out of Las Vegas, has a home run title and a Gold Glove among his achievements in a 13-year career, batting .292/.389/.462 with 217 HR and 965 RBI. He also led the CL in doubles three times.
August 19 – The Knights put out 11 runs in the first inning on the Scorpions and win 12-6 in six innings by the mercy rule… or a mighty thunderstorm that hits the area and causes a power outage, too.
August 20 – The Loggers beat the Indians, 11-7 in 16 innings, after blowing a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth. This is only the first game of a split double-header, which finished nary 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled start of the nightcap, which the Indians win 9-0.
August 22 – Salem 2B Myong-joo Park (.405, 1 HR, 16 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 12-10 win against the Pacifics, driving in four runs in a 4-for-5 day in just his 19th ABL game. Park, age 26, signed a minor league deal with the Wolves out of Korea in 2058 before debuting against the Miners in late July. The Wolves score 10 of their 12 runs in the fourth inning.
August 22 – The lone run in the Bayhawks’ 1-0 win against the Aces is a home run by SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.292, 22 HR, 82 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: SAL 2B Myong-joo Park (.405, 1 HR, 16 RBI), batting .632 (12-19) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.292, 22 HR, 82 RBI), hitting .391 (9-23) with 3 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders have lost five in a row, six of seven, and eight of their last eleven games, while the Titans won 11 in a row before a Sunday loss to the damn Elks to rapidly close the gap in the North down to six games. It’s a bit like last year when the Raccoons were 15 games out at the All Star Game and got as close as six as the season neared its conclusion. To be fair, we’re not that far behind and back in single-digits of deficit, and if the Crusaders keep sagging some more, maybe the division will actually be interesting. Its now in fact the closest division in the league.

We have Monday off, giving us a chance to slide DeRose to the end of the line and maybe make it through the week without having to bring on another starting pitcher. The road trip finishes in Boston, after which we’ll start a 10-game homestand by hosting the Aces.

Lonzo might come off the DL in time for the series opener in Boston! Isn’t that exciting…!?

Fun Fact: Nick Fowler’s first two home runs of the year also came in consecutive appearances.

He knocked three off the Crusaders on Saturday and Sunday, and before that hit one each against the Loggers and Indians on May 2 and 4. Those were not consecutive games *played* for the Raccoons though, as the May 3 game, the opener with the Indians, was postponed by weather to May 4, and Fowler did not appear in the first game of the double-header.

Fun Fact (Bonus Round): For the second time in three seasons, a Crusaders cycle is followed by a Wolves cycle within five weeks.

It was Gunner Epperson for New York and against the Loggers, then Jeff Buss for the Wolves against the Capitals in April and May of 2058. This month Kelly Konecny has repeated the Crusaders-on-Loggers crimes, two weeks before Sunday’s Myong-joo Park rookie cycle against L.A.

[JackOnAMacYT]

Is Nick Nye related to Bill Nye?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by JackOnAMacYT

Is Nick Nye related to Bill Nye?

I can neither confirm nor de-Nye that, but I am assured that Jon Bean is related to Mr. Bean.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-53) @ Titans (74-49) – August 24-26, 2060

Despite the league-worst .243 batting average, the Titans had reeled off 11 straight wins and were now just 6 1/2 games back of the Crusaders, who won a game on Monday to shake off the sweep they had suffered by the Raccoons on the weekend. The Titans, who were up 9-3 against Portland this year, hoped to exploit the lovely Brownshirts further to get even closer to New York. While they ranked 7th in runs scored in the CL, they were giving up the fewest runs overall and had a +96 run differential (Coons: +37).

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (9-6, 3.00 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (14-5, 3.07 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (4-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (4-6, 3.69 ERA)
Chance Fox (12-8, 4.18 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (12-5, 2.57 ERA)

The Titans, who were without the regulars Ted Lloyd and Jonathan Watson that were lingering on the DL, worked with only right-handed starting pitchers.

Bernie Ortega (.231, 0 HR, 2 RBI) was sent to AAA as Lonzoooo came off the DL to begin the series. Lonzo returned to the team trailing Elk City’s Danny Garcia by eight in the stolen base race, but where there’s a will, there’s a way, and where somebody puts a box of donuts on second base, there’s a Lonzo trying to get to it as quickly as possible.

The Raccoons were also hoping that Justin DeRose would heal up in time to make a start on Saturday, and shake off that neck –

That’s where my notes end, but I feel like there’s a line missing, because I don’t see how far it’d get us to fly to Vegas and start Justin, the Headless Forkball Gunner.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – P Riddle
BOS: CF Marcotte – RF Y. Valdez – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 2B D. Mendoza – LF A. Lee – SS Leitch – 3B Elkins – P Craddock

Lonzo came off the DL ready, cocked, and loaded, and after Joey Christopher hit a double to left to open Tuesday’s opener, hit a jack over the wall in leftfield for a quick 2-0 lead…! And that was it for offense, because from there, the innings breezed by. Nick Nye hit a single and stole his 21st base, and Andy Lee hit a single for the Titans, but suddenly six innings were over and it was still a 2-0 game. The Raccoons got Angel Perez into scoring position in the seventh when he reached on a throwing error by Diego Mendoza, but Morris and Riddle made basic outs and left him on base. Riddle had seven strikeouts at the stretch, then whiffed away the middle of the order in the bottom 7th, and continued with a K to Lee in the bottom 8th. Alan Leitch popped out, but Jon Elkins and Bill Dorey then hit 2-out singles, and the Raccoons were panicked enough to send Ryan Sullivan against Eddie Marcotte atop the order. He gave up the third straight base hit through the left side, a double up the line, and Elkins scored, but Dorey was thrown out at the plate by Brassfield trying, which ended the inning. The Coons failed to get an insurance run after Brass walked and stole a base in the top 9th, but Matt Walters began the bottom 9th with a fly to center from Yoslan Valdez for the first out. Manny Rubin singled to left, but Jorge Arviso’s grounder up the middle was taken by Lonzo, who stepped on second, avoided the sliding Rubin, and zinged to first base in time for a game-ending 6-3 double play…! 2-1 Raccoons. Lavorano 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Riddle 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, W (10-6);

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – P Damasceno
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF A. Lee – C Arviso – RF Y. Valdez – 2B D. Mendoza – SS Abecassis – 1B Dorey – 3B Elkins – P Glaude

Nick Nye left the game in the first inning with some back soreness and was replaced with David Gonzales batting third, which was certainly gonna turn out great going forwards. Other problems soon followed, with Damasceno retiring the first six batters he faced before giving up a single to Dorey and nicking Elkins on base in the bottom 3rd. Glaude got the bunt down, but Marcotte whiffed. Andy Lee was down 0-2, but then got hold of a hanger and brawned it some 440 feet into the next county over for a 3-run homer.

The Coons offense lacked Lonzo homers, or base hits in general, until Glaude, who racked up seven strikeouts through four innings, offered a leadoff walk to Fowler in the top 5th. Angel Perez doubled, putting a pair in scoring position, but Morris whiffed, and Damasceno’s fly to right was caught by Valdez, who then threw out Fowler at the plate to end the inning.

When the Raccoons finally had the sac fly they were craving, it was already the seventh inning and Starr and Fowler had gone to the corners for Perez to fly out to Valdez in deep right. That shortened the score to 3-1, but Morris’ groundout then also ended the inning. Ethan Torrence’s pinch-hit, 2-out RBI single against LaBat that plated Dorey, who was Damasceno’s runner, then quickly re-established the 3-run gap on the Raccoons. In turn, Lonzo hit a 2-out single in the eighth, stole second base, and was driven in by David Gonzales of all people, who now had 21 RBI in a year and three quarters of being on the roster. Gabe Hill then walked Starr to put the tying run on base, with Mike Lane replacing him to face Brassfield, but he gave up an RBI single to left on a 1-2 pitch, and the score was now 4-3. The Titans brought yet another pitcher, southpaw Jorge Quinones, which drew Jack Kozak off the bench to bat for the left-handed Fowler. The reward was appealing, another 2-strike RBI single into right-center to tie the game…! Perez then grounded out to end the inning.

Bravo and Ricky H. split the bottom 8th between them to keep the Titans tightly tied, but while Christopher and Lonzo had 2-out hits in the ninth inning, Gonzales flew out easily to Matt Gilmore in leftfield to end the top 9th. Ruben Mendez’ scoreless ninth sent the game to extras, where the Coons wound up with Curt Therien in an attempt to get length. The Raccoons couldn’t get a paw up on Mike Pohlmann in long relief, but the Titans’ Diego Mendoza sure did on Therien, who got four outs in extras before serving up an 11th-inning walkoff homer to the second-sacker. 5-4 Titans. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Fowler 1-2, BB; Kozak (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Nick Nye would miss two weeks with back soreness and was off to the DL, which was surely gonna help with the offense…

Uh. Anybody remember Bernie Ortega?

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Maresh – CF Caballero – 2B Bean – P Fox
BOS: CF Marcotte – RF Y. Valdez – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 2B D. Mendoza – SS Leitch – LF Ma. Gilmore – 3B Elkins – P Brenize

A Lonzo hit, a walk to Starr, and Brassfield reaching on Elkins’ error loaded the bases for the Raccoons with one out in the first inning, but Nick Fowler killed the whole thing with a 6-4-3 grounder to short. Instead Boston took a 1-0 lead when Fox took his Chances with a leadoff walk offered to Eddie Marcotte in the bottom 1st, and conceded the run on an Arviso single to right.

With that run on the board, the next three innings passed quickly and without much incident before Brenize walked Chris Maresh at the start of the fifth inning and Caballero stuck a double into the rightfield corner. That put a pair in scoring position for Jon Bean, except, no, the Titans were putting him on intentionally. So, three on and nobody out for Foxie Brown, batting a sturdy .128, or .125 after hitting a grounder to short that was quick enough for Leitch to go home and throw out Maresh, who, fun fact, was *not* quick enough. Christopher got the bare minimum done with an RBI single to center, tying the game at one, and Lonzo’s sac fly gave the Coons a 2-1 lead. Starr’s scratch single loaded the bases again with two outs, but Brass just wasn’t in the groove right now and flew out easily to Gilmore in medium-depth leftfield. Fox got three in a row in the bottom 5th before allowing a single to Brenize in the sixth. Marcotte hit into a double play, though.

By the bottom 7th, the Titans were hitting the ball harder, so the Raccoons got the pen ready despite Fox being on only 76 pitches through seven. Sullivan would put down the 6-7-8 batters in the bottom 8th; Gilmore singled, but was doubled up easily on an Elkins grounder to Fowler, 5-4-3. With late game offense for the Raccoons being basically a Starr single and nothing else, Walters got another 1-run game in the bottom 9th. He struck out Alex Abecassis, then gave up a game-tying homer to Marcotte, and the game went to extra innings for the second day in a row. This time the end was even more dismal, with Bernie Ortega’s leadoff single in the top 10th leading to absolutely nothing, not even a runner getting into scoring position *eventually* against Mike Lane, while Reynaldo Bravo in the bottom 10th walked Arviso, allowed a single to Leitch, walked Gilmore, and walked the Titans off with another ******* walk to Elkins. 3-2 Titans. Christopher 2-5, RBI; Starr 2-3, 2 BB; Ortega (PH) 1-1; Fox 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K;

Well, you know the saying about what happens in Boston.

NOTHING GOOD.

Raccoons (73-55) vs. Aces (52-75) – August 27-29, 2060

The Aces were in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, and were dragging a -85 run differential towards the season’s merciful conclusion. It was in all likelihood going to be their eighth straight losing season, and perhaps their fourth straight red lantern in the CL South. The season series between these two teams was even at three, though.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (9-11, 3.90 ERA) vs. Jesus Aquino (4-12, 4.47 ERA)
Justin DeRose (9-7, 3.52 ERA) vs. Scott Evans (7-11, 5.47 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (10-6, 2.92 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (4-14, 5.29 ERA)

No southpaw here unless they skipped Steve Hunter (11-9, 3.32 ERA) into the series, which they could do on Sunday.

Game 1
LVA: LF K. Hummel – CF Schrock – 3B A. Alfaro – RF J. Evans – SS Veguilla – 1B Jacinto – 2B M. Roberts – C Mathews – P J. Aquino
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Morris – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera

Bobby Herrera struck out five the first time through, while Aquino was whacked for six base hits. Lonzo and Starr singles dissipated with Brass’ double play grounder in the first, but Fowler legged out an infield single to begin the bottom 2nd and Angel Perez then right away whooped a homer for a 2-0 lead. Morris and Bean hit more singles, were bunted into scoring position by Tipsy Bobby, and then left there with Joe-Chris popping out and Lonzo grounding out, but the Aces cashed Kyle Mathews’ leadoff double in the top 3rd with two productive outs and cut the Perez-sponsored lead right in half.

Herrera got up to 9 K through five innings, and more importantly also held the lead. He grounded out to begin the bottom 5th but Christopher and Lonzo then landed hits to get on base and Lonzo stole his way to second base before they both scored on Starr’s single to right, aided by Jake Evans’ defensive bobble in right that also allowed Starr to second base, but he got two RBI’s for his bothers. He was stranded out there with groundouts by Brass and Fowler, keeping it a 4-1 game.

Evans hit a leadoff single to left in the seventh inning, but the Aces didn’t get a leg up on the Coons, and Herrera in particular, permanently. He retired the next three batters in order, striking out Miguel Veguilla and Mike Roberts while Gustavo Jacinto popped out to short. Herrera was also closing in on 100 pitches, but batted for himself and singled in the top 8th, leading off. Christopher forced him out, but stole second, and Aquino allowed singles to Lonzo and Starr to get Christopher around to score. Brass and Fowler made meek outs again to fritter away more runners, though. Herrera struck out Mathews in the bottom 8th, his 13th K in the game, before allowing a 2-out single to Ken Hummel. Matt Schrock grounded out on Herrera’s 104th pitch, but Herrera still batted with the bases loaded in the bottom 8th, hitting into a run-scoring double play that scored Perez against lefty Jose Cintora. Oscar Caballero batted for Christopher and hit an RBI single to plate Bernie Ortega, who had pinch-hit for Morris, from third base. Lonzo was nicked, but Maresh batted for Starr and popped out to end the inning. Bobby Herrera then retired three Aces on three grounders to complete the game in 113 total pitches. 7-1 Critters! Caballero (PH) 1-1, RBI; Lavorano 3-4; Starr 3-4, 3 RBI; Perez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-1; Kozak (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, W (10-11) and 1-3;

Game 2
LVA: LF K. Hummel – CF Schrock – 3B A. Alfaro – RF J. Evans – SS Veguilla – 1B Jacinto – 2B J. White – C Mathews – P S. Evans
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Brassfield – CF Morris – 2B Bean – P DeRose

The first five Aces all reached base against DeRose, Ken Hummel doing so on a Fowler error, but after that they got a walk and three singles, with RBI’s for Jake Evans and Miguel Veguilla on hits, as well as Jacinto with a sac fly, before Jim White and Mathews grounded out to end the bedeviled inning. The Aces got two more hits off DeRose in the second, and three more hits, all 2-out singles from their 7-8-9 batters, in the top 3rd to extend the lead to 4-0 with an RBI for Scott Evans, while another run scored on an error by Brassfield on Hummel’s fly to left. That was the end for DeRose, who was yanked after 2.2 innings of 8-hit, 5-run (three earned) ball before his head would *actually* come off. Bravo whiffed Schrock to end the inning, while Lonzo singled, stole second, and was doubled home by Joel Starr to get the Coons on the board in the bottom 3rd, 5-1. Perez singled, but runners were stranded on the corners with a Fowler pop and Brass’ fly to center.

Bottom 4th, the Raccoons filled the bases with a Bean single on a 3-0 pitch with one out, a first-pitch single by Kozak, batting for Bravo after four outs, and then a walk drawn by Christopher. It was then Jake Evans’ turn to fudge a fly, this one by Lonzo and also bringing in a run, 5-2. But then Starr whiffed and Perez grounded out, and another splendid scoring opportunity was tossed in the dumpster… Similarly, when Joel Starr came up as the tying run in the bottom 6th after singles by Therien (!) and Lonzo, he just bounced one over to Jim White to end the inning. Therien pitched for 11 outs in garbage relief before being removed after giving up a single to PH Omar Gonzalez on his 42nd pitch. Ryan Sullivan then had nothing better to do than give up a homer to Ken Hummel. *******. A walk to Gonzales, a balk, and a Christopher single drove in a run for Portland in the home half of the eighth, but other than that I had nothing better to do than to gnash my teeth until it was over. 7-3 Aces. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Starr 2-5, 2B, RBI; Maresh (PH) 1-1; Kozak (PH) 1-1; Therien 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K and 1-1;

Game 3
LVA: LF K. Hummel – CF Schrock – 3B A. Alfaro – RF J. Evans – SS Veguilla – 2B J. White – 1B Jacinto – C Mathews – P Robbins
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Kozak – CF Morris – 2B Ortega – P Riddle

Christopher’s leadoff walk in the first inning of the rubber game was followed by a Lonzo single that sent Joe-Chris to second, from where he scored on consecutive deep fly outs by Starr and Perez for an early 1-0 lead. Lonzo then ended the inning by getting caught stealing – oops. The Raccoons had them on the corners again in the second, if only for Riddle to pop out. The Aces also had runners on the corners in the third inning before running out of fizz. After Lonzo doubled and was left on base in the bottom 3rd, nobody reached for a bit, although Kyle Mathews in the fifth came close to a game-tying homer to left, but was caught by Kozak at the fence instead.

The next base hit was … a Lonzo single to begin the bottom 6th… and again the Raccoons couldn’t go anywhere with that, and Lonzo was caught stealing in a hit-and-run in which Angel Perez failed to hit. Or even swing. Inevitably, Riddle responded with a meltdown, walking Veguilla, who stole second base, in the top 7th, and then crashed and burned with RBI knocks for Jim White and Mathews that flipped the score to 2-1 Aces. He finished the inning by retiring Robbins, but was both replaced after that and also had to watch the Raccoons not getting any hitting done against Robbins, who went eight innings before handing the ball off to Alex Rios, who had a 4.76 ERA in Portland before going to Vegas on waivers, and now had a 6.91 ERA with them, so he would also be my and Honeypaws’ absolute first choice to save a 2-1 ballgame. Perez hit a single off him, and Fowler hit into a game-ending double play… 2-1 Aces. Lavorano 3-4, 2B; Riddle 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, L (10-7);

In other news

August 23 – Monday sees the 2,500th career base hit for 34-year-old SAC 2B/SS Chris Navarro (.287, 0 HR, 40 RBI) in a 6-2 loss of the Scorpions to the Warriors, a sixth-inning single against Warriors SP Evan Alvey (9-8, 4.69 ERA). Navarro, who was a Rookie of the Year with the Condors in ’48 and has led the CL in stolen bases and in hits twice, has never won a major award or been an All Star while batting .298 with 17 HR and 772 RBI, plus 505 SB for his career.
August 25 – The Stars place OF Tyler Wharton (.266, 2 HR, 20 RBI) back on the DL; the 22-year-old’s injury-addled season might be over with a strained rib cage muscle.
August 27 – RIC SP Chad Shultz (7-10, 4.52 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout with six strikeouts for a 2-0 win against the Pacifics.
August 27 – The Crusaders beat the Thunder, 8-5 in 14 innings, on a walkoff home run by Victor Velez (.227, 1 HR, 11 RBI). Both teams had before that scored a single run in the 13th inning.
August 28 – IND OF Orlando Ramos (.295, 24 HR, 89 RBI) has his quest for a home run title end with torn ankle ligaments sending him to the DL for the rest of the season.

FL Player of the Week: TOP INF Alex de los Santos (.292, 14 HR, 76 RBI), hitting .474 (9-19) with 1 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL 1B/RF/LF Bobby Ellwood (.287, 5 HR, 46 RBI), batting .526 (10-19) with 1 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Another awful week for the offense. Let’s focus on the bright sides, though. Lonzo has a 14-game hitting streak across his DL stint. Lonzo batted 12-for-26 with 1 HR, 4 RBI this week.

(silence)

Next week: San Francisco, roster expansion, the damn Elks.

Fun Fact: Joel Starr has the fourth-highest OPS (.906) among qualifiers in the league this year.

Third in the CL behind Willie Acosta (.939) and Sean Zeiher (.917), and in the FL only David Johnson (.913), the Blue Sox’ catcher, sits higher. Zeiher, Johnson, and Starr are all remarkably close batting around .320 with around 20 homers at this point, while Acosta does it with an oddly-shaped .282/.458/.481 clip, but still 14 homers to support that OPS.

Acosta, the Pride of Nicaragua, has won the CL Player of the Year award in the last three even years (2054, 2056, 2058), each time also leading the league in OBP and walks. The odd years are usually the ones where he struggles with the batting average, and last year he played in just eight games before a torn UCL ended his season on April 15.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (74-57) vs. Bayhawks (62-68) – August 30-September 1, 2060

Battle of the third-place teams, with the Bayhawks being ten games back in the South, while the Raccoons were eleven games behind in the North – so probably no cookie for either team at the end of the year. The Coons were up 4-2 against the CL’s #5 offense and #8 pitching. San Fran was near the bottom in OBP, but led the CL in bombs. They had three pitchers on the DL, including starters Eric Braley and Hector Montenegro.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (4-0, 1.89 ERA) vs. Mark Jacobs (12-7, 3.47 ERA)
Chance Fox (12-8, 4.04 ERA) vs. Garrett Giustino (7-4, 5.82 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-11, 3.75 ERA) vs. Jeff Crowley (5-10, 4.07 ERA)

The series would open with a left-hander, but after that it was a bit up in the air due to the Montenegro injury that had occurred just a few days prior. Also, the rosters would expand on Wednesday, the finale of this series.

Game 1
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – C Cantu – CF A. Walker – RF C. Morris – 3B Carbajal – P M. Jacobs
POR: 3B Gonzales – SS Lavorano – LF Kozak – RF Brassfield – C Maresh – 1B Starr – CF Caballero – 2B Ortega – P Damasceno

San Francisco went up fast with a four-pitch walk offered to Xavier Reyes and a Jose Escalera double to right-center that put a pair in scoring position real quick, and then an RBI groundout from Grant Anker and a 2-out RBI single by Jose Cantu, who also got himself thrown out at second base to end that inning on the same play. But Jacobs also stumbled out of the gate: David Gonzales and Lonzo hit singles, Jack Kozak popped an RBI double that barely dropped in behind Grant Anker, so Lonzo was caught in between going and retreating for a bit and then had to stop at third base. A walk to Brass filled the bases with nobody out (dreadful expression). Maresh tied the game… with a 6-4-3 double play. Jacobs walked Starr, then fell behind on Caballero’s RBI single that brought in Kozak from third base. Bernie Ortega grounded out to end the inning. Maresh hit into another double play his second time up, while DD failed to blow the 3-2 lead in the top 3rd with a leadoff single and his own error before getting anybody out, then tried again with a Chris Morris leadoff single followed by nicking Ricky Carbajal in the fourth. Jacobs bunted successfully, and walks to Reyes and Escalera pushed in the tying run before Grant Anker singled in two more. Armando Montoya and Jose Cantu flew out to keep it at three for the inning, and 5-3 overall.

While Damasceno was returning to expected form, the Raccoons had the tying runs in scoring position to begin the bottom 4th as Starr walked and Caballero doubled to left. The Bayhawks opted for the intentional walk to Ortega, and the Raccoons opted for a pinch-hitter with three on and nobody out. Joe-Chris hit a sac fly, 5-4, before Gonzales grounded to short, but Reyes dropped the ball when he tried to start the 6-4-3 double play and instead got nobody, bringing Lonzo back to the plate with the bases loaded. Lonzo lobbed a ball over Reyes into shallow left for an RBI single, tying the score and ending Jacobs’ day. Roberto Mendez got a pop to shallow right from Kozak and whiffed Brassfield to end the inning with three runners stranded.

It was 6-5 Coons after five, thanks to Maresh having no double play available to him leading off the inning and instead doubling to right. Starr walked, and two productive outs moved Maresh around to score, the go-ahead RBI going to Bernie Ortega. Didn’t last, though; Reyes’ triple and Anker’s homer to right flipped the score against Curt Therien in the sixth inning, but the Raccoons would get even at seven in the seventh with Brass getting nicked by Bill Grau. The southpaw then gave up singles to Maresh and Caballero to bring Brass around, but Maresh was also thrown out trying to go first-to-third on the Caballero knock.

Reynaldo Bravo got five outs across three innings, retiring Reyes on a pop to begin the top 8th for his final action of the game. Ricky Herrera then sorted out the next two hitters on two more pops, then slid his furry tush into the potential W column when the Raccoons scratched out a run in the bottom 8th on Nick Fowler’s leadoff single, pinch-hitting for Ricky H., Gonzales’ groundout that moved him to second base, and then Lonzo’s fourth base hit of the day, an RBI single to left-center…! The Bayhawks changed left-handers to Travis Davis, who walked Kozak and allowed a soft single to Brass to load the bases, but Maresh popped out and Starr flew out to Anker in left. San Fran began the ninth with a Montoya single off Matt Walters, but that was as good as it got for them. Cantu popped out foul to Starr, and Aaron Walker and Chris Morris went down flailing. 8-7 Critters. Gonzales 2-5; Lavorano 4-5, 2 RBI; Maresh 2-5, 2B; Caballero 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Fowler (PH) 1-1;

Ricky H. was now 7-2, lechering another three wins in his last six outings.

Ricky H. (23-9) now had more career wins than Justin DeRose (22-29).

Lonzo played like his tail was on fire, and normally he had gotten a day off quite regularly in a full week-plus of games in a row, but right now we’d keep him in the lineup and feel his pulse daily, at least until he posted an oh-fer.

Game 2
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – 2B A. Montoya – LF Anker – CF A. Walker – C Redfern – RF Ogawa – 3B Sostre – P Giustino
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Brassfield – CF B. Morris – 2B Bean – P Fox

Fox’ ERA went down to four-sharp before Keith Redfern and Ikuo Ogawa reached and Bill Sostre socked a 3-run homer in the second inning, which surely didn’t help the ol’ ERA, nor did Sostre’s second homer of the game, and 12th for the season, a solo shot in the fourth. Sostre clobbers accounted for all RBI’s in the 4-0 game at that point, with only modest offense for the Raccoons so far. Lonzo extended his hitting streak to 16 games in his second attempt, singling to center with two outs in the bottom 3rd before getting himself caught stealing to end the inning. Bottom 4th then, and within six pitches the Raccoons’ 3-4-5 batters hit three singles and loaded the bases with nobody out. This time Brassfield hit into a run-scoring double play, although Ben Morris knocked in a second run before Jon Bean was knocked by a fastball. Fox grounded out to leave the tying runs on base, though, then got lit up even further in the top 5th. The Bayhawks there also started the inning with three singles, scoring a run, and Fox was yanked after a 1-out walk to Ogawa. Ruben Mendez popped out Sostre, but then gave up a stinging 2-run double to Giustino before Reyes flew out to Christopher. 4.1 innings for seven runs, all earned, and surely not helping Foxie Brown’s ERA…

So while that ended Fox’ day after not even half a game, technically, the Raccoons never got Giustino out of the game. The right-hander went all the way with a scattered 9-hitter, without getting a single strikeout (!!) – it was just an abundance of miserable contact whenever somebody was in scoring position for Portland, for whom Therien won more garbage duty in the last two innings and gave up a run in both of them, although at this point in time we were just abusing that left-hander… 9-2 Bayhawks. Perez 2-4; Brassfield 3-4, 3B;

And with that, rosters expanded.

The Raccoons didn’t bring up a starting pitcher at this point, but Zach Stewart was doing rehab now in AAA and would be back next week, probably. Three pitchers were added, including swingman J.J. Sensabaugh, who put up a 4.65 ERA in 124 innings for the Alley Cats, and relievers Bryan Erickson and Adam Harris.

For batters – NO third catcher at this point. Cortez Chavez was out for the year, and Matt Stanton was also injured right now, and was not on the 40-man (which was full) anyway. We’d have to work something out there, but right now there were only ten healthy catchers in the system, and it wasn’t like we were pushing for the division title.

Furthermore, none of the two AAA first basemen Joe Agee and Forbes Tomlin, who had 32 homers between them (but with 24 for Agee) with the Alley Cats, were brought up. We already had two first basemen! I … I just didn’t know where to put them all. Every cupboard you opened in this ballpark, you found a furry first baseman sitting in there and emptying a cookie jar…!

Only two batters were brought up at this point: Todd Oley and Armando Suriel. Neither figured to play a lot.

Game 3
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – C Cantu – CF A. Walker – RF C. Morris – 3B Carbajal – P Crowley
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Brassfield – CF B. Morris – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera

Angel Perez hit his 13th home run of the year in the first inning, and Aaron Walker answered with his 14th home run of the year, but Perez had Starr on base and so his bomb counted for two and the Coons had a 2-1 lead in the early innings. Starr socked a leadoff homer to right his second time up in the bottom 3rd, 3-1, while Perez reached on a throwing error by Reyes, then scored on a 2-out single by Ben Morris. Both Bean and Bobby bopped a single after that, allowing Morris to score as well, but Joe-Chris was then rung up to end the 3-spot.

The top 4th saw the bags full with nobody out for San Fran as Cantu and walker clipped singles off Tipsy Bobby, and Christopher then clonked a Chris Morris fly to right to fill the bases. Herrera reared back, struck out Carbajal and Crowley, and got out of the mess on Reyes’ full-count grounder to Jon Bean…! After a few rather quick early innings, the middle innings were rather chewy for Herrera, though, and his pitch count rocketed up over 90 by the completion of six frames, although the 5-1 lead was still in one piece. He grounded out to lead off the bottom 6th still, after which Crowley walked Christopher and Lonzo drove a double to left, extending the hitting streak to 17 after starting out with an 0-for-3. Starr was walked with intent after which Perez’ comebacker was taken to home plate by Crowley for the last out he got in the game. A walk to Nick Fowler pushed home the Coons’ sixth run and saw him replaced with Bill Goda, who struck out Brassfield to strand a full set on base.

Herrera got two more outs, including a long fly out by PH Ogawa, then lost Reyes in a full count and was replaced, giving the army of lefty relievers in that pen. Reyes stole a base off Adam Harris, but Escalera struck out and the inning ended. Ricky H. and Erickson got the last six outs from there, while the Raccoons got Christopher to third base in the bottom 8th, but left him there. 6-1 Raccoons. Starr 1-2, 3 BB, HR, RBI; Perez 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Bean 2-4; B. Herrera 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (11-11);

My, it’s barely September, and Bobby Herrera already has a .500 record…!

Raccoons (76-58) vs. Canadiens (54-79) – September 2-5, 2060

The Raccoons had a chance to clinch a losing record for the damn Elks this year, and the season series at the same time, if they could win three out of four in this weekend set. So far we led the series against the Elks 7-4. They were bottoms in runs scored (although we were just 15 runs up on them), and also bottoms in runs allowed, with a -158 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (9-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (7-14, 4.43 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (10-7, 2.91 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (9-14, 4.66 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (4-0, 2.89 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (11-5, 3.24 ERA)
Chance Fox (12-9, 4.35 ERA) vs. Guillermo Herrera (0-2, 10.31 ERA)

Overy was the only southpaw on offer here.

Crucially, the Elks’ Danny Garcia (.273, 4 HR, 32 RBI) had gone down for the season with torn hoof tendons on Tuesday, while leading the CL stolen base race with 44 bags. Now, there were other people in between (and by now tied (MIL Scott Franks) with) him and Lonzo, and Lonzo had been caught in his last three attempts to nap a sack, and Lonzo had played for nine games straight, and Lonzo had a 17-game hitting streak, and Overy was the left-hander, and SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME MAKE UP MY ******* MIND.

Cristiano and “Banjo” sorted out that Lonzo should start against the southpaw, but Friday was penciled in as a day off for him, no questions asked beyond that, while I sat back in the corner, holding Honeypaws while rocking back and forth and suckling my thumb.

Game 1
VAN: 2B Roldan – 3B Corpus – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – CF D. Moreno – SS Younce – C A. Maldonado – LF Hambrick – P Overy
POR: 3B Gonzales – SS Lavorano – 1B Kozak – RF Brassfield – C Maresh – LF Caballero – 2B Ortega – CF Morris – P DeRose

The Elks grounded out three times to Lonzo in the first, nastily trying to break him like it was their nasty nature, while Overy walked three in the bottom 1st, but the Coons only got a scratch RBI single from Maresh and eventually left the bases loaded when Ortega flew out easily. DeRose did not allow a hit the first time through, but then conceded leadoff singles to Rafael Roldan and Alex Corpus in the fourth inning. Jose Campos’ fly moved Roldan to third base, and the Coons couldn’t wind up a pair on Chad Cardenas’ grounder to second base, having to settle for an out at second base, while Roldan scored and tied the game. Damian Moreno walked, but Mark Younce grounded out to short.

For Portland, Ortega in the fourth and Brass in the fifth hit into double plays; the latter came with Lonzo and Kozak on the corners, but Lonzo was still looking for a base knock in the game, having reached base with a walk (!). The Coons took a 2-1 lead an inning and a batter later on Chris Maresh’ jack to left-center. Caballero doubled after that, but didn’t go anywhere nice from there. Alex Maldonado’s 2-out double in the seventh knocked out DeRose in conjunction with the left-handed Chris Sullivan batting for Christian Hambrick. Elijah LaBat came in, allowed a single to put the runners on the corners, then walked another lefty pinch-hitter, Thomas Whittington to fill the bases. Juan Aragon was ANOTHER lefty pinch-hitter for Roldan, but he FINALLY struck out and the bags remained stacked. Lonzo began the bottom 7th with a fly out to left, which probably ended his hitting streak unless the Raccoons could put some offense together and bring him back to the dish in the bottom 8th. Walks offered by Josh Costello to Kozak and Maresh, plus an error by Campos that put Maresh on, certainly moved the Coons through the lineup, but Joey Christopher struck out batting for Ortega and the bags were left full for the umpteenth time this week. The bottom 8th saw Morris and Fowler go down against Costello before Bean batted for a hitless Gonzales… and walked! That gave Lonzo another chance at the plate… but he struck out. Walters drove the nails in with a 1-2-3 ninth. 2-1 Blighters. Kozak 1-2, 2 BB; Maresh 2-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Caballero 2-3, BB, 2B; DeRose 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (10-8);

Hitting streak over. (mopes) The Coons had only six hits in this game, but the Elks walked TEN Critters. And we managed to hit into three double plays and still strand more than a dozen (13). What a special team we are!

Game 2
VAN: CF Scarpa – 2B Corpus – 1B J. Campos – SS Younce – 3B Whittington – RF D. Moreno – C E. Salazar – LF Hambrick – P A. Jesus
POR: RF Christopher – CF Morris – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Fowler – LF Kozak – 2B Bean – 3B Suriel – P Riddle

Alex Corpus went deep to center in the first inning to give the Elks a 1-0 lead, but the Raccoons got their chane eventually when Armando Suriel led off the bottom 3rd with a soft single to left, and Riddle’s bunt was fielded by Enrique Salazar, who then threw the ball into Riddle’s furry tush as he ran to first base. The ball glanced into foul ground, and the Raccoons got two bases out of it, putting a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Christopher, ever happy to walk, walked, which wasn’t helping in that moment, giving us three on, no outs. Morris grounded out to Corpus, which brought in the tying run, and Starr drew another walk, allowing Perez to hit into another double play…

The Elks immediately retook the lead in the fourth inning with singles by Whittington and Moreno to get to the corners, and Hambrick’s RBI single to make it 2-1 Elks. Jesus then flew out to Christopher to end the inning, and Nick Fowler socked a leadoff jack to right to tie the game back up. Bean and Suriel followed up with 1-out singles, but Riddle lined out to short and Christopher lined out to left and no runs were scored, as usual. When Corpus tripled and scored on a Campos sac fly in the fifth, that ticked off the hard half of the cycle for him. It also gave the stinking Elks another lead, at least until the Coons’ own sac fly in the bottom 5th tied it up *again*. For the second time in a row, it was Fowler to get the score-knotting RBI, plating Morris with him and Perez on the corners. Morris had singled, stolen second, and gained third base on a Whittington error, which made that run unearned – as well as the ones that scored on Kozak’s RBI double and Bean’s RBI single that followed and put the Coons up 5-3!

Riddle never found a groove, striking out just two batters in 6.2 innings of work. He left with Chris Sullivan on third base, merit of a leadoff single from the #9 hole and two groundouts, putting a dent into Corpus’ cycle bid, too. Bravo came in for Campos, gave up a scary deep fly to left, but Kozak caught it on the warning track. The eighth was pieced together from Bravo, Ricky H., and Mendez; the first two each put a guy on base, and the third one allowed Salazar’s sac fly to score Bravo’s runner, Mark Younce and his leadoff single. Maldonado pinch-hit and grounded out to Bean to let the Coons get away with a 5-4 lead.

Lonzo’s day off ended in the bottom 8th, which began with a Bernie Ortega double to left off lefty David Figueroa, that one being hit as pinch-hitter for Jon Bean. Suriel popped out before Lonzo batted for the pitcher, singled up the middle, and that allowed Ortega to score with the insurance run! Lonzo stole second base, which prompted an intentional walk to Brass batting for Christopher. Caballero singled in Morris’ place and the bags were full. All for naught – Starr popped out and Perez flew out to left, and we stranded a full set AGAIN. And then Walters almost tripped up in the ninth, offering a leadoff walk to Cardenas and a single to Corpus, who missed the cycle by the double in the end when Campos took a 3-1 pitch, spanked it hard at Suriel, and the coons turned a game-ending 5-4-3 double play. 6-3 Furballs! Morris 2-4, 2B, RBI; Caballero (PH) 1-1; Fowler 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Bean 2-3, RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-1, 2B; Suriel 2-4; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
VAN: CF Scarpa – LF Hambrick – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – C A. Maldonado – SS Younce – 3B C. Sullivan – 2B Roldan – P Brink
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Brassfield – CF Morris – 2B Bean – P Damasceno

The Elks had three singles and four strikeouts against DD the first time through, stranding runners on the corners in the second inning when Brink struck out. The Coons had only one hit from their first six batters, but then had Morris hit a 2-out double in the bottom 2nd. Bean singled and drove him home, and DD hit another single, but Christopher grounded out and the score remained 1-0. That score did not survive because Damasceno kept giving up hits. Cardenas doubled and Younce singled to score him and tie the game in the fourth. With two outs, Roldan drew a walk, and then Brink hit an RBI single to give himself the lead… (gnashes teeth) Steve Scarpa then grounded out to Bean to strand a pair on the corners.

Damasceno didn’t make it out of the sixth inning, knocked out by Chris Sullivan’s 2-out single, the eighth hit against him on the day. Therien then struck out Roldan to escape and got two more outs in the seventh, then was replaced with Ruben Mendez in a double switch that put Gonzales on third base instead of Fowler. Hambrick popped out against Mendez to bring on the stretch. The Coons just couldn’t get going; Perez doubled with two outs in the sixth and was stranded by Fowler, and Morris walked in the seventh, but was caught stealing.

Mendez also got two outs in the next inning, then allowed a single to Maldonado. Adam Harris came in and conceded the run on two pinch-hit singles by Moreno and Corpus, who got the RBI, before finally whitting Whiffington. Bottom 8th, Gonzales grounded out before Christopher singled off Brink on the first pitch he got and Lonzo reached on an error by Scarpa, and a double steal put them into scoring position with one out for Starr who grounded the middle, but the play was made by Corpus. Christopher scored, 3-2, but Perez grounded out to short and Lonzo was left on base. The 2-run gap was re-established with a pinch-hit jack by Salazar off Bravo in the ninth. Erik Swain retired the Critters in order. 4-2 Canadiens.

Just one of those games, but every L to the L-ks feels like you just swallowed a whole full ashtray…

Game 4
VAN: CF Scarpa – 2B Corpus – 1B A. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – SS Younce – C A. Maldonado – 3B Whittington – LF Hambrick – P G. Herrera
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Kozak – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Brassfield – CF Caballero – 2B Bean – P Fox

The Coons’ first three batters packed the bases in the bottom 1st before the next three again did precious little. Perez whiffed, Fowler brought in the only run of the inning on a groundout, and Brass flew out to Hambrick. The Elks answered with straight singles from Younce, Maldonado, and Whittington to tie the game with nobody out in the top 2nd, and got another run after Fox walked Hambrick and gave up a sac fly to Herrera. Scarpa and Corpus then both flew out. Bottom 3rd, bases loaded again for the Coons. Lonzo forced out Christopher and then stole second, while Perez walked and Fowler singled, bringing up Brass with three on and two outs, and he popped out to Younce…

No, it took a Chance Fox double with two outs and nobody on base to get a run home on the following Christopher single. That tied the game for like five minutes before the Elks retook the lead on Corpus’ single and stolen base and a 2-out RBI single by Cardenas… Maldonado then led off the sixth with a double to left, then went on to score on two very deep fly outs by Whittington and Hambrick, the latter getting the sac fly to go up 4-2, while the numbnuts in the brown shirts hit into double plays in the fifth (Fowler) and sixth (Caballero). The Elks knocked out Fox with Corpus’ 1-out walk in the seventh. Corpus stole second against Erickson, who walked Campos, too, and LaBat gave up Fox’ run on a pinch-hit single by Damian Moreno, who was caught stealing as the Elks worked their way out of the inning. And Lonzo hit into another ******* double play in the bottom 7th because the baseball gods forbid we ever beat a tosser with an ERA in double digits…! EVERYBODY sucked in this game. Harris was put into the eighth and gave up two walks, two hits, and two runs before being yanked for Sullivan to find a way out of the ******* inning. The Raccoons put a pair on the corners without scoring in the eighth – but no double play! Progress! Yay! – before going down in order in the ninth. 7-2 Canadiens. Christopher 2-3, 2 BB, RBI;

In other news

August 31 – NAS SP Travis Baker (8-12, 4.29 ERA) 1-hits the Wolves, who get an eight-inning single from C Mike Seidman (.304, 0 HR, 17 RBI) and nothing else in the 3-0 Blue Sox win.
August 31 – CL stolen base leader VAN OF Danny Garcia (.273, 4 HR, 32 RBI) will miss the rest of the year after tearing finger tendons.
September 1 – The Thunder beat the Loggers, 9-5, on a walkoff grand slam by OCT 1B Andy Metz (.291, 24 HR, 96 RBI).
September 1 – Gold Sox RF/CF Chris Lauterbach (.271, 11 HR, 53 RBI) will miss three weeks after suffering a biceps strain.
September 2 – A broken foot ends the season of Warriors 2B Mike DeFusco (.254, 13 HR, 67 RBI).
September 3 – The Gold Sox lose their closer Josh Penington (1-1, 2.01 ERA, 35 SV) for the rest of the year. The 34-year-old had to undergo surgery to scratch bone chips out of his elbow.
September 3 – The Cyclones beat the Capitals, 17-16 in 10 innings. The Cyclones put up a 13-spot in the fourth after the Caps scored 11 runs in the first three innings. WAS LF/RF Tony Rodriquez (.258, 7 HR, 39 RBI) and CIN INF Matt Wartella (.297, 4 HR, 31 RBI) each have a home run with five RBI, with Wartella never taking the field, appearing as pinch-hitter for the fourth churned-up Cyclones pitcher and batting twice in the 13-run fourth before being replaced with another pitcher.
September 4 – Crusaders UT Omar Sanchez (.318, 2 HR, 49 RBI) collets five base hits, including the 2,000th of his career, in a 9-5 win over the Loggers.
September 5 – WAS CL Ben Lussier (4-9, 3.13 ERA, 32 SV) puts away his 300th save in a 3-1 win against the Cyclones. The 2-time All Star won a ring with the 2056 Crusaders and is 51-65, with a 3.64 ERA for his career.
September 5 – SAC OF/1B Israel Santiago (.359, 2 HR, 13 RBI) announces his retirement at age 28 after having suffered a knee injury terminal to his career ambitions in July. Santiago batted .272 with 20 HR and 163 RBI in a six-year career with the Titans and Scorpions.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 3B/SS Brendan Mayer (.282, 8 HR, 48 RBI), batting .625 (10-16) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND INF Matt Kilday (.334, 1 HR, 63 RBI), batting .519 (14-27) with 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.295, 12 HR, 69 RBI), batting .389 with 3 HR, 18 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT INF/LF/RF Omar Lira (.335, 8 HR, 55 RBI), going .413 with 4 HR, 20 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: WAS CL Ben Lussier (4-8, 3.11 ERA, 30 SV), closing 10 games while going 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, 13 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Aaron Harris (11-11, 2.79 ERA), with a 4-1 record, 2.04 ERA, 36 K
FL Rookie of the Month: CIN OF Bob Wright (.294, 2 HR, 32 RBI), batting .394 with 2 HR, 12 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: CHA 1B Jesus Valcarcel (.283, 6 HR, 60 RBI), hitting .299 with 1 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

A 4-3 week that felt like 1-6 with the way they were constantly choking with people on base. I’m so angry, I could throw half of them through the nearest brick wall right now…

Tyler Riddle claimed the team’s 7,100th regular season win on Friday.

10 1/2 games back I don’t see us making another run for it from here, so prepare for me being even more annoying about individual achievements. Matt Walters leads the CL in saves with 46, nine ahead of Josh Carlisle and 15 ahead of anybody else. Bill Hernandez of the Buffos also has 46 and an 11-save lead in the FL.

And yes, I will totally screech more about Lonzo and the stolen base table. He stole four against the Elks for a season tally of 41, and is now just four behind the CL leader Scott Franks of the Loggers, who was 45 for the year. The only other opposition – with Danny Garcia’s demise on the DL – was Indy’s Matt Kilday on 44. Nobody else was within ten of Franks. Joey Christopher’s 32 bags ranked him sixth in the CL.

Nick Nye should come off the DL by Friday and Noah Caswell will also make a late-season return inside the last two weeks perhaps, not that they will do much to rally us from another bottom-half finish in runs scored…

Next week: chaos in the schedule with a 3-trip to Loggerland followed by a 3-game homestand against the Indians.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have scored 800 runs in a season just once.

That was in their all-time best season in 1996, when they went 108-54 and won nothing for it, a whopping 840 runs, 51 ahead of the nearest seasons of 1989 and 1992. That dynasty back there also occupies another spot in the franchise top 5 with 1995. Only one recent season makes it into the top 5, in fourth place, with 775 runs in 2044: Bryce Toohey, Jesus Maldonado, Matt Waters, Manny Fernandez, and Sal Ayala drove the offense that year, each with 65+ RBI, and a great supporting cast behind them.

And the first of five straight pennants and three rings in four years!