Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

The Raccoons added personnel (carefully avoids calling it “talent”) at the start of September. Four pitchers were added in J.J. Sensabaugh, Colby Bowen, Adam Harris, and Elijah LaBat. Sensabaugh had his St. Pete ERA down to 2.79 and might even get another whiff at a couple of starts down the line. Bowen was only here for garbage innings, while the other two increased our lefty headcount in the bullpen to *six*.

For a third catcher, we didn’t want to use up another spot on the 40-man roster, so that left only Deshawn Beard and Cortez Chavez as options, who had hit .170 as backup with the Coons either this year or last year. In the end we grabbed Chavez, who at least wasn’t ancient. Chavez had worn #18 last year, since reassigned to Joey Christopher, since moved to the DL. Chavez got #40.

For first base prospects, Joe Agee had unfortunately moved to the DL and Forbes Tomlin had already disappointed (in very limited chances, though) and we instead went to the other half of the trade for Angel Perez this summer and brought up 1B/CF (!) Jack Kozak. Neither position was an available spot on the roster right now, but we had already started to accustom him to leftfield in the minors in the last month. He had hit for an .815 OPS in 31 games with the Alley Cats, so at least the stick seemed to be working, and should be face another left-hander, ever, he would slide into the lineup for either Starr or Caswell.

The final two call-ups were 21-year-old centerfielder Ben Morris, who had already been up for a few games last year without hitting anything, but who had a .395 OBP in St. Pete and with the way things were going we were ready and willing to toss him into the leadoff spot for a week; also Vernon Hudalla, because we definitely needed more lint options for the middle infield.

Raccoons (70-60) @ Knights (70-59) – September 1-3, 2059

While the Raccoons pretended they had rallied into contention again, the Knights were in *actual* contention, only half a game out in the South. They were sixth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed with a -20 run differential, though, so it was still hard to take them seriously, except that they led the season series, 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (5-6, 3.69 ERA) vs. Morgan Aben (12-5, 4.01 ERA)
Chance Fox (12-4, 3.65 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (4-8, 4.60 ERA)
Bobby Sneeze (1-2, 3.52 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (12-7, 3.64 ERA)

More tip-toeing around southpaws, missing Jose Villegas (3-10, 4.26 ERA) by a day.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – 2B Ortega – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – C Monaghan – P Damasceno
ATL: SS Moya – CF Nork – LF Abercrombie – 1B C. Rice – 2B del Toro – C G. Mendez – RF Callaia – 3B Triplett – P Aben

Ben Morris never showed up in leftfield, striking out to begin the game, while Bernie Ortega grounded out. Cas and Brass then hit singles, but Cas also limped off the field with a tight hammy. The outfielders were reshuffled without ever putting on their mittens, with Morris to center, Brass to left, and Konecny showing up in rightfield, at least after Starr fanned to end the inning. The Raccoons then continued to be offensively illiterate, while DD feigned competence for a few innings, but then offered a leadoff walk to Morgan Aben in the bottom 3rd and it was pretty much downhill from there, even with Joaquin Moya hitting into a double play. Chris Rice drew another leadoff walk in the fourth, Juan del Toro (pff!) doubled, and the runners then scored on a Gabriel Mendez sac fly and a single by another ex-Coon, Gaudencio Callaia. Damaseceno also walked Doug Triplett, and the inning didn’t end until after Aben’s bunt and Moya’s groundout to Ojeda. Dan Nork hit a leadoff single in the fifth, but didn’t advance. Damasceno had racketed up the pitch count, though. He got a grounder from Mendez to begin the sixth, then was removed after 96 pitches.

The Raccoons then got outs from LaBat (three), Rios (one), and Sencion (four) to get through eight innings without much offense from the Knights, either, but Morgan Aben was still pitching a 5-hit shutout in the ninth inning. Konecny grounded out on the first pitch of the inning, but then Brass socked a double to center and Starr walked in a full count, and for some reason, even with the tying runs on, the Knights stuck to Aben – even after an error by Triplett put Ojeda on to load the bases. He wasn’t removed until after Labonte batted for Sencion, grounded out to bring in a run, and *now* Ryan Dow came out to get one out in a 2-1 game with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Angel Perez batted for Monaghan, fell to 1-2, and then turned it around and struck a score-flipping, 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run double to left! Dow threw a wild pitch, then gave up an RBI single to Hudalla (!), and then the Knights went down quickly against Matt Walters in the bottom 9th. 4-2 Blighters. Caswell 1-1; Brassfield 2-3, 2B; Perez (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Eloy Sencion got an unlikely W here.

The good news about Cas was that the hammy was still intact, but he was sore on Tuesday and listed as day-to-day. He might miss a day or two, but that should be it. Morris (0-for-5 and reaching on an error only) would start in centerfield, and Jack Kozak would make his Raccoons debut in leftfield. It was not his ABL debut – he had appeared in 17 games with the Pacifics last year, batting .192 with no homers.

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – 2B Labonte – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – SS Bean – 3B Benitez – P Fox
ATL: CF Nork – 1B C. Rice – C M. Nieto – LF Abercrombie – 2B del Toro – 3B Triplett – RF Jarvis – SS Moya – P En. Ortiz

Ortiz left with an injury in a scoreless game after just 2.2 innings, departing with Jon Bean on second base. His replacement, Oscar Juarez, walked the bags full with Morris and Labonte, but then got Brassfield to ground out to Triplett instead of tripling in a triplet. The Raccoons remained woeful at the dish. Starr singled to begin the fourth, but was stranded. Morris drew a 2-out walk in the fifth, stole a base, and was stranded. Finally, Foxie Brown, who had held the line so far, ran face-and-whiskers-first into a 3-run inning in the bottom 5th. He walked del Toro to get going, which was always great, then gave up a single to Triplett, an RBI double to Bobby Jarvis, an RBI groundout to Matt Worden, balked, and then allowed an RBI single to Dan Nork before finally fanning Chris Rice.

The Raccoons responded with Joel Starr… reaching on an error by Triplett. It got better, though; Jack Kozak singled after whiffing in his first two times up, and then Jon Bean found the gap in right-center for a 2-run double. Tony Benitez was walked intentionally with two outs, but the Raccoons were not shy about yanking starters in September, sent Kelly Konecny to bat for Fox, but only got a groundout and the inning ended. We then needed three pitchers to get through the bottom 6th, as Adam Harris allowed singles to Marco Nieto and Abercrombie, Bobby Jarvis walked against Bravo, and finally Ricky Herrera got a groundout from Moya to leave the bases loaded.

Baseball remained wicked even as the leaves turned yellow. Ricky Herrera pitched the bottom 7th as well, wobbling Dan Nork to third base but then whiffing Rice and getting Nieto to pop out and leave the insurance run 90 feet away. The Raccoons then started the top 8th with a fly to left from Starr that was caught by Abercrombie, but Perez’ fly to right dinked in for a double. Kozak whiffed instead of jacking, but Juan Ojeda batted for the hero from two innings ago, Bean, when the Knights went to left-hander Amari Walker, and Ojeda socked his second homer of the year over the fence in leftfield to flip the score and put Ricky Herrera in line for an unprecedented 11th win in relief as a Raccoon. Sencion and Sensabaugh, the wicked pair, held the 4-3 lead in the bottom 8th, but the Raccoons only got a Labonte single and then saw him caught stealing in the ninth inning, so there was no insurance for Walters, who faced the bottom of the order again in the ninth inning. Jamie Harmon pinch-hit for a leadoff single to left, but then Moya, Matt Diskin, and Gabriel Mendez whiffed in order to put the game into the books. 4-3 Raccoons! Bean 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Ojeda (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; R. Herrera 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (11-4);

R. Herrera now had more wins than B. Herrera…!

Oh, baseball. You silly goose.

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – P Sneeze
ATL: C M. Nieto – CF Nork – LF Abercrombie – 1B C. Rice – RF J. Harmon – 2B del Toro – SS Moya – 3B Triplett – P Harman

The Knights went up 3-0 on one base hit, which ended the inning, in the bottom 1st, which sounded wicked, and it was. Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) was garbage, walking Dan Nork with one out, then nicking Chris Rice with two, and then walking another three batters in a row before giving up an RBI single to Triplett on which del Toro was thrown out at home by Morris to end the bedeviled inning. Sneeze then retired six straight in the next two innings, which was all the more perplexing. The Raccoons didn’t get on the board until Caswell – back in the lineup, thank goodness! – socked a leadoff jack to right in the fourth, his 18th of the year and breaking the tie for the team lead with Brass, who struck out. Singles by Starr and Bean and a 2-out error by del Toro that put Ojeda on base then loaded the bases with the pitcher’s spot up, and Sneeze was yoinked. Bernie Ortega struck out, but at least we tried…

Ornelas walked Moya and gave up an RBI double to Triplett in the bottom 4th to restore the 3-run gap, while Harman seemed to get better as the game moved along. He had eight strikeouts in six innings, but then suddenly faced the bases loaded with nobody out in the top 7th, and none of the three singles that got him there had been hard it. Ojeda had snuck a slow roller right over the second base bag and out of reach by the middle infielders. Kozak hit a bloop single over del Toro’s head. And Morris legged out a grounder to Moya’s right. However, three on and nobody out was not exactly a guarantee that the Raccoons would have a good time, even with the big bats near. Labonte struck out. Cas popped out. Brass… struck out.

After Brad Loveless got lit up for two runs in the bottom 7th, the Raccoons had three on and nobody out against Harman *again*, but at this point I was past pretending after Starr walked, Perez singled, and Bean was… beaned. The Raccoons scored exactly ZERO runs again, this time with Ojeda hitting into a depressing 9-2 double play and Kozak whiffing. Colby Bowen gave up another run in the eighth, and the Raccoons had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth against right-hander Jake Hill, who walked in a run against Joel Starr, and then was lifted for Ryan Dow. Perez hit a sac fly, but Bean’s groundout ended the game. 7-3 Knights. Gonzales (PH) 1-1; Perez 3-4, 2B, RBI; Bean 2-4; Kozak (PH) 1-2;

Harman struck out 11. The Coons also had 11 hits, but they managed to leave a full dozen on base. The total of individual runners left on base was 30.

We gained a game on the Crusaders during the whole thing, however, as they lost their series with the Bayhawks, two games to one. We thus ventured to New York with a 7 1/2-game deficit.

Raccoons (72-61) @ Crusaders (80-54) – September 4-7, 2059

So we were down by seven(-ish), had seven left with the Crusaders, and had already won seven from them this year (against four losses). That’s a lot of lucky sevens, if you ask me! (deranged stare) New York ranked fourth in runs scored and second in runs allowed in the CL and had a +104 run differential (Coons: +57). The only real injuries for them were Kennedy Adkins and Nick Fowler.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (6-9, 3.39 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (8-11, 4.45 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-10, 3.06 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (16-6, 3.25 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (5-6, 3.68 ERA) vs. Jose Luera (9-6, 2.10 ERA)
Chance Fox (12-4, 3.70 ERA) vs. Mike Cantrell (11-8, 2.80 ERA)

There was no left-handed starter on staff for the Crusaders.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – P DeRose
NYC: CF Branch – LF Deeley – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – C Seidman – 3B V. Velez – 1B Sevilla – SS Zucal – P J. Ortega

DeRose was getting whacked around from the beginning, and the Crusaders had all the petals picked out of him by the third inning. The first was scoreless, but the second he already gave up a single to Victor Velez, a double to the opposing pitcher, and then an RBI single to Tommy Branch with two outs before Chris Deeley made the final out. In the bottom 3rd, there was no end to it. DeRose faced eight batters and gave up six hits, including doubles to Omar Sanchez, Mike Seidman, and Velez, which scored two runs; then an RBI single to Raul Sevilla and a single to Roger Zucal. Ortega bunted the pair on base into scoring position, and they scored on a wild pitch and Branch’s single. LaBat replaced DeFlowered, but got LaBattered, retiring none of the three lefty batters in the 2-3-4 spots, surrendering Branch’s run, and then finally getting a groundout from Seidman to leave the bases loaded in an endless inning. The score was now 7-0, and we could run out the trash can crew and prepare for Friday’s duel of aces. There was never a hunch of a rally; the Raccoons had all of two base hits in the game against Ortega, who went into the ninth inning, but ran out of juice and was replaced by Medardo Regueir for the last two outs. The best part of the game was the garbage relief, with J.J. Sensabaugh offering three innings of 1-run ball. Loveless and Colby ******* Bowen also pitched. 8-0 Crusaders.

Well, now that we got *that* out of our system…

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – LF Ortega – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – C Monaghan – P B. Herrera
NYC: CF Branch – LF Rodriquez – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – C Seidman – 1B Seeley – 3B V. Velez – SS Zucal – P Seiter

The Coons needed Bobby Herrera to be at the top of his game to overcome Ben Seiter, and he seemed to deliver in the early going, striking out four in otherwise uneventful two innings to begin the game. Seiter had two strikeouts in the first two innings, but then ran into a spot of bother in the top 3rd, giving up a leadoff double to Eric Monaghan, which was bad enough. Herrera then singled to center, and the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead on another single to center by Labonte, but Seiter then got his crap together and got three poor outs from the next three batters, not even getting Herrera home from second base. Bobby remained perfect the first time through, adding two more whiffs of Zucal and Seiter to complete three.

No K’s in the fourth, but Tipsy Bobby retired a dozen straight, but then got worked for a leadoff walk by Zeiher in the bottom 5th. Zeiher would steal second base, but Seidman popped out and Mark Seeley and Victor Velez struck out to keep him stranded. Seiter didn’t get strikeouts in the middle innings, but he kept getting meek contact. Brass hit a single in the sixth, but then was immediately doubled up by Starr, and that was close to describing the entire extent of offense for the Raccoons in the middle frames. Roger Zucal’s leadoff single in the bottom 6th was the beginning of the end then. Seiter bunted the runner to second, and then Tommy Branch got a hanger and punted it over the wall in left-center to flip the score to 2-1 Applemunchers…

When Labonte walked in the eighth, he too got doubled up on an Ortega grounder to short, ending the inning. Both pitchers ended up going eight innings, with Seiter hit for to no effect in the bottom 8th as Herrera held the 2-1 line. The Raccoons brought up the meat of the order against Zachariah Alldre(a)d in the top of the ninth. Cas grounded out to Sanchez. Brass grounded out to Velez. Starr drew a walk to delay the inevitable. Konecny batted for Ojeda… and grounded out to Zucal. 2-1 Crusaders. Brassfield 2-4; Monaghan 1-2, BB, 2B; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (10-11) and 1-3;

And now it was really, actually, definitely over.

We would still pretend for the last two games in New York, but there was no way back from here, now 9 1/2 games out with 27 to play and not ******* hitting anything. Youth would get more of a chance from next week on.

Game 3
POR: 3B Benitez – 2B Ortega – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – RF Konecny – SS Bean – P Damasceno
NYC: CF Branch – LF Rodriquez – RF Zeiher – 1B Seeley – 3B V. Velez – 2B Russ – C Reese – SS Zucal – P Luera

Three on and one out in the bottom 1st, and of course the Crusaders were less of ******** ***** than the Raccoons and after Branch singled, Tony Rodriquez was nicked, and Sean Zeiher walked, scored two runs on a Seeley groundout and Velez’ sac fly before Andrew Russ grounded out. Damasceno had less trouble with the bottom of the order, but the top of the order came back ‘round eventually at the start of the bottom 3rd. Branch doubled, Rodriquez walked, and Zeiher socked a 3-run homer. Damasceno was shanked after loading the bases again the inning after with nothing but idiocy, a leadoff walk to Justin Reese, fudging Luera’s bunt into an extra runner, and then another walk to Branch. Eloy Sencion struck out Rodriquez and got a pop from Zeiher to keep the score at 5-0 while Luera was casually no-hitting the Critters.

That ended in the fifth inning with leadoff bloopers by Starr and Perez that both dropped in for singles. Konecny hit an RBI double to left in one of his rare flashes of competence, and while Bean made a soggy out, Ojeda hit a sac fly in the #9 spot. Benitez singled, but Konecny only got to third base, and the two were stranded when Ortega as the tying run grounded out to Velez. The Raccoons managed to slaughter Luera for good in the fifth inning, though. Doubles by Cas, Perez, and Konecny scored two runs, and Bean’s 2-out RBI single tied the game and knocked out Luera. With Ornelas in for long relief, we took the third out with him, preferring for him to stay on the mound a bit longer. Turns out, even 16 pitchers on the roster are sometimes not enough…

Ornelas pitched seven outs, followed by LaBat to complete the bottom 7th while the game remained tied at five. Angel Perez hit a fly to deep left off Regueir in the eighth, but had it picked at the fence by Chris Deeley. Andrew Russ, the professional piece of ****, then zapped a leadoff triple to right against Reynaldo Bravo in the bottom 8th. While Bravo got a K from Reese, Zucal’s grounder brought in the go-ahead run. Bravo then continued to smell and loaded the bases with runners before getting yanked for Ricky Herrera, who walked in a run against Zeiher in a full count before whiffing Seeley to get out of the miserable inning. No 12th win for Herrera either, due to no measurable offense against Alldred in the ninth. 7-5 Crusaders. Perez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Konecny 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ornelas 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 4
POR: LF Morris – 2B Ortega – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – P Fox
NYC: CF Branch – LF Rodriquez – 2B O. Sanchez – C Seidman – 3B V. Velez – 1B Seeley – RF Deeley – SS Zucal – P Cantrell

Chance Fox, always good for being annoying, ran three 3-2 counts with two outs in the bottom 1st. All the runners reached base, and a walk and two singles gave them a 1-0 lead. A walk to Deeley and a Branch homer added two runs in the second, and in the third inning Fox was even taken deep by .143 hitter Mark Seeley, for crying out loud, while the Raccoons had once more no base hits in four innings. Starr then got a leadoff single in the fifth again, and went to third base on Ojeda’s single. Gonzales popped out, which helped zero, while Chance Fox, useless on the mound, hit an RBI double to right to get the Raccoons on the stupid scoreboard. Morris then fanned big as the tying run.

The Raccoons failed forwards into the seventh inning when singles by Morris and Ortega with one out put the tying run in the box again, with Cas facing right-hander Jason Rhodes. He hit into a fielder’s choice that had Ortega out at second, and Brass flew out to Rodriquez to end the inning. Adam Harris held the 4-1 line in the bottom of the inning, after which Starr opened the eighth with a triple to center against Kyle Turay. Perez’ grounder to third base kept him pinned, but he scored on Ojeda’s single to left. Konecny batted for the Rule 5er Gonzales and singled as well, and now the tying runs were on the corners. Labonte popped out foul, and with two outs Jack Kozak batted for Morris – and tied the ******* ballgame with a double to right…!! First Coons RBI’s for Jack Kozak! The new pitcher Cory Leonard got Jon Bean on a grounder to the right side, though, so the inning ended.

J.J. Sensabaugh then held off the Crusaders long enough to send the game to extra innings, where Starr hit a double to right with two outs against Leonard, but everybody else was hellbent on grounding out to second and the Raccoons didn’t score. The top 11th had Richard Castillo offer 1-out walks to Konecny and Labonte in the 8-9 spots before the Raccoons batted Monaghan for Sensabaugh in the #1 spot … and he found the double play that killed the inning, 6-4-3. We brought our secret weapon in the bottom 11th, getting a scoreless inning from 11-time winner Ricky Herrera, which would surely win us the game in due time! Except that after a leadoff walk to Jon Bean in the 12th, nothing good happened anymore as the 3-4-5 collectively croaked. Instead the Crusaders walked off against Sencion, who offered a leadoff walk to Rodriquez in the bottom 12th, followed by an error made himself, and two singles by Velez and Zeiher to end the game. 5-4 Crusaders. Kozak (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Starr 3-6, 3B, 2B; Ojeda 3-5, RBI; Konecny (PH) 1-1, BB; Sensabaugh 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

September 3 – The Crusaders win their game with the Bayhawks in the first inning with an unanswered 10-spot, then take it casually from there for an 11-3 win.
September 3 – The Aces score in every inning but the third in their 15-2 takedown of the Indians. Outfielder Ken Hummel (.302, 13 HR, 88 RBI) has four hits, a double and three singles, and drives in a team-high six runs.
September 4 – One of the weirder lines in a box score is posted by NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.217, 15 HR, 49 RBI) in a 16-5 rout of the Capitals. Roman goes unretired and walks four times, steals two bases, and still finds time to hit two home runs and drive in five runs in the game.
September 4 – A torn posterior cruciate ligament will put RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.326, 22 HR, 75 RBI) on the shelf not only for the rest of this season, but is likely going to cost him the start of next season as well.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF/RF John Kaniewski (.311, 16 HR, 79 RBI), slapping .600 (12-20) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC OF Tommy Branch (.231, 15 HR, 51 RBI), romping .483 (14-29) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Well. That’s that then.

Branch against Portland by the way: .500 (8-16) with 2 HR, 6 RBI. He’s a 24-year-old rookie that was ended up in New York when they traded Jeff Buss to the Wolves in ’57. He was a #6 pick three years ago. That’s the same bloody draft where we got all of Joe Agee, Elijah LaBat, and Bobby ******* Sneeze (gesundheit!) with three of our first four picks, *and* then still Cortez Chavez in the seventh round.

We’ll see more of our own younger guys in the last four weeks of the season. Which is a hell of a long string to still have to play out.

Sigh.

First impressions of Ben Morris (.111/.304/.111) are more like he’s not going to be the solution. Not that we *need* Joey Christopher for much of anything anymore this year, which is, fun fact, over. Although there’s one question still left to answer: can Ricky Herrera become the Coons’ win leader for the season…!?

The Raccoons will now take their ball and their 5-game losing streak and go home. Monday will be off, and after that it’s a 3-game series against Indy, followed by a weekend trip to Elk City that I will gladly skip.

Fun Fact: Boston’s Randy Wilken (.266, 31 HR, 88 RBI) is playing with his hair on fire.

The 36-year-old yearlong rental had stormed into the home run lead in the CL by hitting .225 with 12 homers in August. He hit another one this week, and he hit two in late July, so since July 27, in 148 at-bats, Wilken has punched 15 home runs for the Titans.

(looks at Cas and Brass)

Ah, we’re fiiiine.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-65) vs. Indians (66-70) – September 9-11, 2059

The string began with the Indians on Tuesday, who were in for the penultimate set of the season. The Coons were up 7-5 against Indy, with the Arrowheads in the bottom three in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. They had a flurry of injuries, with Roberto Oyola, Orlando Ramos, Kevin Abel, Steven Thompson, Blake McConnell, and some fringe personnel all out on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (6-10, 3.72 ERA) vs. Marcos Rivera (13-9, 2.93 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-11, 3.03 ERA) vs. Josh Barbieri (4-7, 4.46 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (11-11, 3.28 ERA)

Well, at least a look at some southpaws, in this case Rivera and Fitzgibbon.

Well, yes, Maud, I lack enthusiasm for these games. – How did you know? – (looks at the mentioned basket with donuts that sits untouched right next to him) Oh Maud. Why bother with sugary treats anymore, when all we’re made to be is to wither and die…..

Game 1
IND: 2B Kilday – CF Ewers – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – 3B Niles – LF Chilelli – P M. Rivera
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – C Perez – CF Caswell – 1B Brassfield – LF Kozak – RF Cooke – SS Benitez – P DeRose

Jack Kozak flubbed a fly ball for an error *and* struck out to leave the bases loaded all in the first inning, which was exactly a great advertisement for future considerations. Nobody scored in the inning, but the Raccoons went up 1-0 on an unearned run in the bottom 2nd. Manny Cooke drew a leadoff walk, Tony Benitez reached on a 2-base throwing error by Nathan Niles, and with a pair in scoring position and nobody out we could barely get one run in with DeRose’s grounder before the O-O pair atop the lineup produced two pop outs. The O-O’s would go on to go to the corners with a pair of 2-out singles in the bottom 4th, leading to a run on a wild pitch by Rivera, but Angel Perez then grounded out. Cas and Brass meanwhile were on base in the third, where they were stranded, and again in the fifth inning, then with a leadoff single and Brass getting plunked by Rivera, who was then removed from the game. Dave Corrao allowed a single to right to Kozak that filled the bases with nobody out. Surprisingly, the Raccoons turned this into a 4-run inning, with both Manny Cooke (!) and Bernie Ortega driving in two runs on a base knock. Benitez and Ortega were still in scoring position with one out in the inning before Ojeda popped out and Perez grounded out to Niles. The Raccoons kept putting them on base against Indians relievers, though. Benitez, DeRose, and Ojeda loaded the sacks with one gone against Randy Slocum in the seventh inning. Perez singled to center to bring home Benitez before Slocum walked in a run against Caswell, Juan Vasquez walked in another run against Trent Brassfield, and then Kozak and Starr hit pops to leave the bases loaded.

And nothing has been said about DeRose pitching so far, and that because there was nothing to complain about. If anything it was that he held the Indians not quite hitless, but certainly witless for eight innings, scattering three singles and a walk without ever being in real danger, even when Kozak flubbed that ball early on; he didn’t last nine innings, though, being tired after eight. Brad Loveless got the last three outs from the top of the Indians order on just six pitches. 9-0 Raccoons. Ortega 4-6, 2 RBI; Ojeda 2-6; Caswell 2-4, BB, RBI; Brassfield 1-1, 3 BB, 2B, RBI; DeRose 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-10);

Game 2
IND: 2B Kilday – CF Ewers – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – 3B Niles – LF Chilelli – P Barbieri
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – P B. Herrera

By contrast, on Wednesday, Bobby Herrera plainly sucked. The Indians had a leadoff base hit in each of the first three innings, and all three runners came around to score; Matt Kilday tripled in the first and came home on Kevin Ewers’ sac fly. Chris Lovins hit a leadoff double in the second and scored on a 2-out single by Nate Chilelli. And Kilday had another hit, a single, leading off the top 3rd, stole his way to third base, and scored on a groundout. Now the Raccoons were the ones that had *nothing* going. Herrera was a little less terrible in the middle innings and got a few strikeouts, but was knocked out on a single by Ricardo Vargas, Chilelli doubling, and then a run-scoring groundout by Barbieri in the sixth. Elijah LaBat got a fly to left from Kilday to end the inning, with the Raccoons down 4-0 and hitless against Barbieri, who walked three, but did not allow a base knock until Trent Brassfield snuck a grounder up the middle in the bottom of the seventh inning. That hit also led absolutely nowhere, just like scoreless relief by Rios, Harris, Bowen, and Sencion in the last three innings. Barbieri didn’t finish the shutout, though; Labonte and Brass hit soft singles in the bottom 9th, the latter with two outs, and the Indians had no faith left in anybody on the roster and sent Rich Morrall to replace Barbieri. Morrall got Starr to ground out to Kilday to close out the game. 4-0 Indians. Brassfield 2-4;

Game 3
IND: 2B Kilday – CF Ewers – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – 3B Niles – LF D. Salas – P Fitzgibbon
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – C Perez – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – SS Benitez – CF Morris – P Sensabaugh

The Raccoons started with O-O singles in the first inning, barely scored a run on two productive groundouts, and then went into hibernation, while Sensabaugh’s vague competence in relief turned into some tense innings in the second and fourth, when he shoveled the bases full every time, but then came up against the opposing pitcher, and Fitzgibbon ended the top 2nd with a sharp grounder to Starr and the fourth with a line out to Tony Benitez. Ewers hit a 1-out single in the fifth, but Bill Quinteros also lined out and Alex Gomez’ fly to deep left was caught by Kozak. In the sixth, it was again Fitzgibbon that came up in the big spot after Sensabaugh walked Vargas and allowed a double to Danny Salas. The pair was in scoring position with two outs, and Fitzgibbon flew out to Kozak.

The Coons got scoreless innings from Ricky Herrera and Alex Rios in the seventh and eighth, respectively, but the offense remained completely paralyzed, which left the 1-0 lead to be handed off to Matt Walters, facing the bottom of the order in the ninth inning. Niles flew out to left, Willie Villafan fanned, and Victor Cruz grounded out to short. 1-0 Blighters. Ojeda 2-3; Sensabaugh 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

Raccoons (74-66) @ Canadiens (60-79) – September 12-14, 2059

At least I got the kits out of my sight for the weekend, as they waggled off to the frozen wasteland of Elk City, somewhere up that arctic circle. The damn Elks were fifth in the division, mathematically eliminated, and combined the #3 offense with the #11 pitching for no great success. The Raccoons had already clinched the season series, 11-4. These were the final three games to be played.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (5-6, 3.97 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (8-12, 3.63 ERA)
Chance Fox (12-4, 3.77 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (10-11, 4.67 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-10, 3.54 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (9-10, 4.40 ERA)

The menu was three right-handers. Booooring.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – P Damasceno
VAN: LF D. Garcia – CF Scarpa – RF D. Moreno – 1B J. Campos – 3B Whittington – 2B Younce – C S. Contreras – SS E. Solano – P Kozloski

Despite making two outs to begin their half of the first inning, the Elks batted through the order in the bottom 1st, thanks to getting five straight base knocks with RBI’s for Jose Campos, Mark Younce, and Santiago Contreras, before a walk to Edwin Solano loaded the bases and Kozloski then grounded out to leave them loaded in the 3-0 game. A rare Eric Monaghan homer with two outs and Joel Starr on base made up two of those runs in the next half-inning, but Damasceno just kept getting whacked, giving up a sharp RBI single to Damian Moreno in the bottom 2nd after Danny Garcia had drawn a leadoff walk and stolen second base.

Joel Starr tickled the foul pole in right with a rocket leading off the fourth inning, shortening the score to 4-3. Jon Bean then doubled… but the bottom of the order croaked entirely and he was left on third base. That was also the score Damasceno left the game in after just five innings of nonstop busy baseball, offering up seven hits and four walks for four runs (but also seven strikeouts) for just over 100 pitches…

Bean walked in the sixth, and Labonte singled in the seventh, but the Raccoons just couldn’t get that tying run anywhere nice before the Elks tacked on an unearned insurance run in the bottom 7th, where Thomas Whittington drew a 1-out walk from LaBat, stole second, and then scored on a throwing error by Monaghan. Kozloski would go eight innings of 8-hit ball, and Aaron Hain retired the Critters in order in the ninth to put the game away. 5-3 Canadiens. Morris 2-5; Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Bean 1-2, 2 BB; Monaghan 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Gonzales – P Fox
VAN: LF D. Garcia – CF Scarpa – 1B J. Campos – 2B Younce – 3B Whittington – C Burnham – RF Hambrick – SS E. Solano – P A. Jesus

Beleaguered Ben Morris drew a leadoff walk, gained two bags on Cas’ single, and then scored no a sac fly to left-center by Brassfield for a quick 1-0 lead. Starr grounded out, while Mark Younce committed a throwing error to begin the second inning, putting Angel Perez on second base for nothing. And it was for nothing indeed, since the bottom of the order couldn’t even get him to third base, let alone home plate. Chance Fox, problem child, meanwhile retired the first seven Elks before abruptly walking the bags full in the bottom 3rd, but Edwin Solano, Danny Garcia, and Steve Scarpa were stranded when Jose Campos flew out to Morris in left.

Angel Perez’ third career homer extended the Coons’ lead to 3-0 in the top 4th, coming as it did after Starr’s leadoff single to right in the inning. Fox singled with two outs in the inning, but that didn’t develop into anything much, while the Coons loaded the bases with Labonte, Brass, and Starr (the first and last of whom drew walks) and one out in the fifth, bringing back Perez. He hit another hard fly, but this to the wrong end of the park, and Scarpa caught it at the edge of the warning track in centerfield. Still good enough for a sac fly and a 4-0 lead, however. Bean popped out to leave two, while Fox drilled Solano and gave up a 2-out RBI single to Danny Garcia in the bottom 5th as he continued his wobble from mess to mess.

Fox didn’t issue another walk after the three in the third inning, at least for a while, before walking Whittington and Luke Burnham in the bottom 6th with two outs, ruining plans to maybe get him through seven. We barely got him through six with a K on Christian Hambrick, a 24-year-old outfielder that was in the starting lineup for the first time in his career on this Saturday.

Brad Loveless nicked Adam Magnussen and allowed a single to Garcia in the bottom 7th instead, but also got a double play from Scarpa to end the inning. Top 8th, and a couple o’ hits; Jon Bean hit a 1-out double and was on third base after a grounder by Gonzales. Kozak then pinch-hit and was drilled, while Ben Morris got his first career RBI in 72 plate appearances with a single to center, 5-1. The inning ended with Labonte, but with the 4-run lead we went to Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) and would stick with him until serious trouble (e.g. save situation) would arise. None ever did, and Sneeze got six outs from seven batters to finish out the game. 5-1 Raccoons. Caswell 2-5, 2B; Perez 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Sneeze 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – RF Konecny – SS Bean – C Monaghan – P DeRose
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – CF Scarpa – 2B Younce – C A. Maldonado – RF C. Cardenas – SS E. Solano – P B. Lawrence

There was another early lead with a Labonte double and him scoring on Starr’s scratch single with two outs in the first inning. DeRose put a pair on the corners with a Whittington single and a Campos walk in the bottom 1st, but worked his way out of that with Scarpa and Younce fly outs, and the Raccoons somehow tacked on in the third; Morris hit a 1-out single, but Labonte flew out. Caswell then reached on an error by Whittington, and Lawrence filled the bags up with a walk to Starr, then also walked Juan Ojeda for good measure, pushing in the game’s second run. Konecny grounded out to third base, stranding the full selection of runners.

DeRose then got on the snout a bit in the bottom 4th, in which the damn Elks hit two triples; Scarpa hit one to begin the inning and scored on Younce’s single, but Younce was then caught stealing. Chad Cardenas whacked a 2-out triple to right-center, but Solano whiffed to leave him on base. That cut the lead in half, and after Ben Morris reached on an infield single and was caught stealing for no greater gains in the top 5th, DeRose fudged up the rest of the lead in the bottom 5th, allowing a leadoff single to Lawrence, forcing out that runner on Garcia’s grounder, but then allowed a single to Whittington, a groundout to Jose Campos to move the tying run to third base, and then painfully balked the tying run across… Scarpa grounded out to leave the go-ahead run on third base…

DeRose finally got on the hook he so craved in the bottom 6th with leadoff singles by Younce, who stole second, and Alex Maldonado, who drove in the lead runner to put the revolting Elks up 3-2. Cardenas drew a walk as well, and eventually Ricky Herrera had to get out of the inning, stranding two runners on base, and he stranded another two runners following two infield singles by the damn Elks in the bottom 7th. Bravo and Loveless fudged together an insurance run for the stupid Elks in the eighth, but it wasn’t like the Raccoons had been on base in the two innings prior anyway. Lawrence went seven, three different pitchers pieced together the eighth for the pink team, and then Aaron Hain got the ball in the 4-2 game in the ninth. Konecny drawing a 1-out walk was as good as it got. 4-2 Canadiens. Morris 2-4;

In other news

September 8 – The season of Bayhawks closer Brett Lillis jr. (4-8, 3.81 ERA, 27 SV) ends with a ruptured finger tendon.
September 8 – The Canadiens smother the Titans, 13-1, on the strength of a 10-run third inning.
September 9 – The Aces’ SP Ray Benner (9-4, 4.72 ERA) is done for the year due to a torn labrum.
September 9 – The Buffaloes walk off on the Capitals, 5-4 in 10 innings. TOP SS (.299, 2 HR, 22 RBI) draws the fourth of four free passes to get the winning run home in the bottom of the 10th inning, which is par for the course for this game, in which the Buffos are out-hit 11-3, and yet still win.
September 9 – The Condors beat the Thunder, 8-7 in 14 innings. The walkoff RBI double by TIJ OF Marco Asencio (.229, 2 HR, 19 RBI) marks the only run in the second half of those 14 innings.
September 9 – Denver puts ten runs on Dallas in the first inning and then coasts to an 11-5 win.
September 12 – Knights SP Enrique Ortiz (6-8, 4.11 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout with ten strikeouts in an 8-0 win against the Condors.
September 13 – September call-up LVA OF/1B Dusty Gray (.400, 3 HR, 7 RBI) makes a splash with three home runs and six RBI in a 14-10 football score against the Thunder.
September 13 – Pacifics OF/1B/2B Jimmy Hartgrove (.298, 2 HR, 18 RBI) hits a home run for the only score in the Pacifics’ 1-0 win against the Warriors.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 3B/SS Alex de los Santos (.273, 21 HR, 93 RBI), hitting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ SS Casey Ramsey (.298, 9 HR, 70 RBI), batting .500 (14-28) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Meh week, but they’ve been meh for a month, so why would I expect better? Not only is the top of the order limp, but the big three in the middle have all cooled off now and aren’t producing anything of value. In one stat, we’re scoring 3.15 runs a game in September. For comparison, it was still 4.3 in July, after we started the year with a flat 5.0 in April.

Meanwhile in the rotation, we’re back to J.J. Sensabaugh. Yaaay.

Final homestand coming up with three series against the Crusaders, Falcons, and Thunder. So Monday will be off, and then we get bashed for another three games at least.

Fun Fact: The last three 3-homer games have occurred in the last three Septembers.

Randy Wilken hit three bombs on September 10, 2057 with the Pacifics against the Warriors. The Warriors then got three wallops from Miguel Medina against the Scorpions on September 25, 2058. And now on Saturday, the CL got involved with three-time September call-up Dusty Gray thumping the Thunder.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (75-68) vs. Crusaders (87-57) – September 16-18, 2059

The Crusaders were all but through with the division, even mathematically. This series was more about saving stripey face for the Raccoons, who had no hope to come back from their 11 1/2 games deficit anymore. The Crusaders had taken the lead in the season series by sweeping the Critters in New York two weeks ago, now being up 8-7. They ranked fifth in runs scored and second in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (10-12, 3.12 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (17-7, 3.22 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-0, 0.64 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (9-11, 4.34 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (5-7, 4.11 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (10-6, 2.26 ERA)

The Crusaders were still only bringing right-handed starters.

Game 1
NYC: CF Branch – LF Rodriquez – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 3B V. Velez – SS N. Fowler – P Seiter
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – P B. Herrera

The left-handed batters in the 2-3-4 spots all slapped hits off Bobby Herrera in the first inning to allow the Crusaders to take a 1-0 lead when Sean Zeiher doubled home Tony Rodriquez, and that was after Omar Sanchez was caught stealing by Angel Perez. The Raccoons crowded Seiter in the bottom 1st, though. Morris walked, Labonte was nicked, and while Cas flew out easily, Brass singled in the tying run, after which Starr drew a walk to fill the bags. Perez’ groundout to short brought in the go-ahead run, but Jon Bean also grounded out to end the inning. Herrera continued to struggle, though, whether it was with Starr making an error to put Mike Seidman on base to begin the second inning, or another visit on base by the 2-3 batters in the third inning. The ship finally sunk in the fourth, when he walked Nick Fowler with two outs, then allowed a single to the ******* opposing pitcher. Tommy Branch singled home the tying run, and Tony Rodriquez bashed a 3-run homer. Herrera gave up another run on a Victor Velez hit that drove in Zeiher in the fifth inning, then was dismissed.

In the meantime, after the rough opening frame, Seiter hardly missed a beat until he arrived in the bottom of the sixth, where he offered a leadoff walk to Trent Brassfield, then immediately was taken well deep to left by Joel Starr for a 2-run homer, 6-4. Adam Harris then gave up a run in the top 7th, but the Raccoons loaded the bases with nobody out (oh-oh) in the bottom of the same inning. Morris walked, Labonte singled, and Cas reached on an error by Fowler, which filled the sacks, but Seiter was not taken out of the game despite the tying runs being all assembled and Trent Brassfield coming up. Brass promptly proved them right by grounding into a run-scoring 6-4-3 double play, 7-5, but Seiter was now removed anyway. Starr hit an RBI double off Jason Rhodes, but Perez grounded out to end the inning. New York then used three relievers against three batters for three outs in the bottom 8th before sending Zachariah Alldred into the bottom 9th with the top of the order up and no insurance. Morris grounded out to second, but Labonte reached on an infield hit, allowing the big bats to appear as the winning run. Noah Caswell promptly ended the game, but not with the usual double play grounder to short – nope, he thumped a 2-run homer to right-center, and that was a walkoff…! 8-7 Raccoons! Labonte 2-4; Caswell 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Ojeda 3-4, 2 2B;

Alex Rios bettered his record to 3-0 with a scoreless ninth inning, while Caswell, who had slumped a bit in the last weeks, reached 100 RBI with the walkoff blast.

The Crusaders went straight to Luera on Wednesday.

Game 2
NYC: CF Branch – LF Rodriquez – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 3B V. Velez – SS Zucal – P Luera
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Gonzales – P Sensabaugh

No score in the early innings in the middle game, although the Crusaders had them on the corners right in the first inning against their former prospect Sensabaugh, who finally stumbled over the top of the order in the fourth inning, offering a walk to Rodriquez, a double to Sanchez, and then surrendered the two runs on productive outs by Zeiher and Raul Sevilla. Cas hit a deep fly to right in the bottom 4th, but it was caught at the fence by Zeiher.

Sensabaugh’s pitch count went up quickly and he was lifted in the sixth inning for Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!), who immediately gave up a solo homer to Sevilla, 3-0. The Raccoons gained little to no ground against Luera until the sixth, with 1-out hits by Morris and Labonte. Cas hit into a fielder’s choice, but Brassfield found an RBI single in left. Starr hit a grounder to the right side that both Sanchez and Sevilla went after, but Luera didn’t cover first base, and the Raccoons somehow loaded the bases on that “infield single” (should have been scored a collective brainfart, but eh!). Angel Perez then swiftly emptied the bases with a 3-run double into the right-center gap, turning the score around to 4-3 Critters out of the literal blue nothing. Ornelas held the score in the seventh, while Morris singled and scored on a Labonte double with two outs and Jason Rhodes pitching in the bottom of that inning, bringing in an insurance run. Ricky Herrera walked Omar Sanchez, but held him at first while getting outs from Rodriqueh, Zeiher, and Sevilla in the eighth, and Roger Zucal’s 2-out single off Matt Walters in the ninth came too late to save New York before Mark Seeley struck out to end the game. 5-3 Raccoons. Morris 2-4; Starr 2-4; Perez 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 3
NYC: CF Branch – 3B V. Velez – 2B O. Sanchez – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – LF Deeley – C Reese – SS N. Fowler – P J. Ortega
POR: CF Morris – 2B Labonte – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – LF Kozak – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – P Damasceno

Joel Starr rushed a solo jack to right for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, which remained the score in the game for a while. DD flubbed a few walks early on, but settled into a groove; prior to back-to-back 2-out singles by Sevilla and Chris Deeley in the sixth inning the Crusaders had landed only one base hit, and those two runners were stranded on Justin Reese’s grounder to Ojeda. The Raccoons, too, hadn’t exactly beaten Ortega senseless, sitting on four hits and two walks, but no additional runs through five innings. That changed in the bottom 6th, which Brass began with a single to left. He stole second base, then advanced on a balk by Ortega. Jack Kozak brought him in with a sac fly to right-center, 2-0.

Fowler and Branch found another pair of singles against Damasceno in the seventh inning, but they were held on the corners when Mark Seeley struck out and Omar Sanchez flew out to Morris in center. That last out came on DD’s 107th pitch, courtesy of the early-inning wobbles with poor control, and was his last action in the game.

Kozak wasn’t done though; he got his seond RBI in as many innings in the bottom 7th, coming up with Labonte on second, Starr on first, two outs, and singled right into that no man’s land in shallow right-center that allowed Labonte to score rather easily with two gone. Zeiher’s throw was to third base, where Starr was safe, and Kozak rallied onwards to second base, and Jon Bean then doubled home the pair of them with a liner into the rightfield corner. Ojeda extended the score to 6-0 with an RBI single to right, then ended the inning with being caught stealing. The last six outs were then brought in by Eloy Sencion and Colby Bowen (!) to complete a 3-game sweep of the Crusaders, that unfortunately no longer mattered. 6-0 Critters. Starr 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Bean 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ojeda 2-4, RBI; Damasceno 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K, W (6-7) and 1-3;

Raccoons (78-68) vs. Falcons (72-74) – September 19-21, 2059

Despite their nothing record, the Falcons still had a chance in the cruddy CL South, being five games out with two-and-a-half weeks to play. They were ninth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, none of which radiated excellence. They were up 4-2 on the Coons this year, but they also had a myriad of injuries, especially to pitchers: Art Schaeffer, Mario de Anda, Matt Malone, and a few more relievers were all out, as were stick star Danny Ceballos and sidekicks Cory Oldfield and Jorge Caballero.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (13-4, 3.70 ERA) vs. Neil Mongillo (6-8, 4.31 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-11, 3.58 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (2-2, 2.33 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-12, 3.31 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (5-11, 6.60 ERA)

Two southpaws up front in this set for the Raccoons to deal with, which would shake up the lineup some more, before we’d get the struggling righty Doyle on Sunday.

Last time the Raccoons played the Falcons was also the last time Bobby Herrera won a game. He was 0-4 with 3.92 ERA in his last nine outings, not getting into the W column since beating the Falcons 8-2 on July 30. This was with a paltry 3.3 runs per game of support. Of the five no-decisions he had, the Coons had eventually won four of the games, which was one way the baseball gods sometimes just plainly told you no.

Game 1
CHA: 1B Wheeler – 2B Woodrome – LF K. Fisher – C L. Miranda – 3B Carbajal – CF Girod – SS Knight – RF M. Burr – P Mongillo
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – SS Benitez – P Fox

Fox struggled with control, as usual, and issued a leadoff walk in three of the first five innings, but none of those guys came around to score; instead the Falcons scored their run in the fourth inning on clean singles by Kyle Fisher – who was yet another leadoff runner on base – and Gerard Girod, who got the 2-out RBI. That was the only run in the game at that point, with the Raccoons struggling to size up Neil Mongillo, amounting to two hits, one walk, and zero threats in five innings.

Fox went six, with Girod first hitting a 2-out single, then being caught stealing to end the top 6th after all. Ojeda and Cas then took the corners with 1-out singles in the bottom 6th. Brass then hit a high looper to left-center, and both Kyle Fisher and Girod closed in, but neither could quite get there. It dinked in for a single, Ojeda scored the tying run, but with the close play Cas barely made it to second base. Mongillo walked Starr to fill the bases, but Perez popped out to short and Kozak whiffed to end the inning.

Ornelas then gave up a new 2-1 lead to the Falcons in the seventh, giving up hits to ex-Coon Matt Knight and Jeff Wheeler to fall behind. Tony Benitez then began the bottom 7th with a single to left. Manny Cooke, still lingering on the roster awaiting release at the end of the year, pinch-hit for Ornelas and hit a pop behind first base that Wheeler inexplicably dropped, putting a second runner on base. Ortega popped out, Ojeda hit into a fielder’s choice, and Noah Caswell finally got the tying run home with a sharp RBI single past Wheeler. Brass added another 2-out RBI single to take the lead, but the inning then dissolved slowly but surely. The top 8th took almost forever; the Raccoons used Bravo, Loveless, and Rios, and the Falcons put Ricky Carbajal and PH Braden McCarver on base, but eventually Joe Hullander pinch-hit and popped out to end the inning with the Raccoons still leading by a run. Manny Cooke, who had remained in the game in leftfield, was then the last guy besides maybe R.J. DeWeese to have guessed to give the Coons an insurance run with a homer to left against Yoshinari Kuroiwa. Not that Matt Walters needed it! 4-2 Critters. Caswell 2-3, BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, 2 RBI; Benitez 2-4; Cooke (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI;

Ivan Ornelas got the W in relief, and was now also at 7-2. Not quite Ricky Herrera territory, but ahead of Damasceno and tied with DeRose…

Game 2
CHA: CF T. Stone – LF K. Fisher – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 3B Carbajal – SS Hullander – 1B Naranjo – RF Holder – P Sciuto
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Kozak – SS Gonzales – LF Morris – P DeRose

The Raccoons disappeared in order the first time through, but the Falcons also didn’t get any runs from two base hits off DeRose in those three innings. Both pitchers struck out three in the early going. In exchange for their nothing burger early on, the Raccoons then got pairs of singles to start both the fourth and fifth innings. This amounted still to almost nothing, but they at least scored a run on Brass’ sac fly after Ortega and Ojeda got on base in the fourth. Kozak and Gonzales singling led to nothing at all in the bottom 5th. Ojeda drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, and Brass obliged, shooting an RBI double to center, 2-0. This was all with DeRose constantly wobbling in the middle innings, but never falling, although the Falcons put a runner on third base in the fourth and sixth innings without scoring. DeRose offered another leadoff walk to Joe Hullander in the seventh, but the bottom of the order produced nothing whatsoever for the Falcons before the stretch came along.

David Gonzales hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, then advanced on a groundout and a wild pitch before coming in on a pinch-hit sac fly by Eric Monaghan. It was not a great show, but at least it nibbled together one run at a time… Sencion and Walters then got six rather unmolested outs from there. 3-0 Blighters. Gonzales 1-2, BB; DeRose 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (8-11);

Game 3
CHA: CF T. Stone – 1B Wheeler – C L. Miranda – 3B Carbajal – SS Hullander – LF Naranjo – 2B K. Cox – RF Holder – P Doyle
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – C Perez – RF Konecny – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – P B. Herrera

Tipsy Bobby had another slow start and saw Jeff Wheeler reach on a single and Luis Miranda on balls, but worked through it for a scoreless first inning. The bottom 1st saw the bags full with nobody out as Doyle walked Morris and Caswell while also giving up a single to Labonte. All three runners scored, but no more after that, as Starr drew a bases-loaded walk in a full count, Perez hit an RBI single, and Kelly Konecny blundered into a run-scoring double play. Ojeda grounded out to short then.

Kevin Cox and Rex Holder hit more singles off Herrera in the second inning, but he also struck out three to keep them on base. The Falcons had two more runners in the third without scoring, but at least Herrera got through the 7-8-9 in the fourth without giving me any more headaches… Jeff Wheeler hit a solo homer in the fifth inning, though… Doyle took the opportunity and allow another leadoff walk to Ben Morris in the bottom 5th then, and the quick Morris swiftly scored on Labonte’s following gap double, 4-1. After that, the 4-5-6 failed to get that runner home from second inning with three pathetic grounders. Two innings later, Tony Benitez hit a leadoff double in Herrera’s spot and was stranded on third base… Alex Rios walked Luis Miranda and struck out three other righty bats in the eighth inning to maintain the 4-1 lead, and Rios remained in the game to begin the ninth inning after the Raccoons scratched out another run in the bottom of the eighth. Kozak hit a leadoff single in Starr’s place and scored on a 2-out knock by Bernie Ortega, another pinch-hitter. Rios got a fly to left from Kyle Fisher, but that was the last right-handed bat in line, and the Raccoons moved on to Brad Loveless, who struck out Kevin Cox and got a fly to center that Cas caught from Rex Holder. 5-1 Raccoons. Labonte 2-4, 2B, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1; Perez 2-4, RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-1, RBI; Benitez (PH) 1-1, 2B; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (11-12);

In other news

September 15 – The season of Cincy OF Tony Volker (.209, 11 HR, 39 RBI) ends with a torn labrum.
September 16 – Cyclones OF Sebastiao Bloomingdale (0-for-1, 0 HR, 0 RBI) as a pinch-runner scores the only run in a 10-inning, 1-0 win on a throwing error by the Buffaloes. It is the fourth career game of the 26-year-old Brazilian.
September 19 – NYC SP Milt Cantrell (13-8, 2.76 ERA) 3-hits the Condors with eight strikeouts in a 5-0 shutout.
September 20 – A day later, fortunes are reversed in Tijuana, where the Condors now get a 3-hit shutout of the Crusaders from SP Marco Clemente (10-10, 2.75 ERA) while claiming a 6-0 win.
September 20 – VAN 3B/2B Thomas Whittington (.276, 10 HR, 65 RBI) has a lone single in a 4-0 loss to the Bayhawks’ SP Jesse Connors (11-8, 3.78 ERA) and MR Travis Davis (2-5, 4.80 ERA, 4 SV), who split duties for the combined 1-hitter.
September 21 – VAN SP Jeff Kozloski (10-12, 3.53 ERA) shines in a 2-hitter pitched against the Bayhawks that ends up a 3-0 shutout.
September 21 – The Indians score in every inning but the sixth in their 15-0 home rout of the Knights.

FL Player of the Week: SAC INF Victor Corrales (.306, 16 HR, 85 RBI), batting .419 (13-31) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT RF/LF/1B Cesar Santiago (.283, 11 HR, 38 RBI), slamming .450 (9-20) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

No, Bobby, I don’t think the league will let us play against the Falcons every week from now on.

The Raccoons posted a 6-0 week including a sweep of New York, but BNN still says, nah, the Crusaders’ playoff odds are supposed to be 100%. And I agree. We have yet to follow up a 6-0 or 5-1 week with something other than despair. Also, the Crusaders’ magic number was six. They’d probably win the division even if they did nothing but twiddling thumbs from here on out.

Joey Christopher was a couple more days away from returning from the DL, which would end the miserable Ben Morris experiment in the leadoff spot.

None of our minor league teams made the playoffs, but the Alley Cats finished second in their division, five games out.

We had just three more home games with the Thunder before finishing the season with a 3-city road trip to Milwaukee, Boston, and Indy. Also, unless we managed to go 0-13 from here to the end of the season we’d end that string of seasons without a winning record before it grow into an actual topic.

Fun Fact: Sebastiao Bloomingdale is the 10th Brazilian to play in the ABL.

He made his first appearance last season during a brief cup of coffee, getting his first two career hits then. Originally a free agent signing by the Wolves he was released and resigned a few times before winding up in the Cyclones organization in 2057.

The most prominent Brazilian player was current Wolves 1B Belchior Fresco. The 29-year-old had a career .265/.397/.405 slash with 569 hits, 63 homers, and 308 RBI between the Caps and Wolves. Funnily enough he had been a scouting discovery by the Critters, but had been wrapped up in a trade for Juan Mercado, a lefty starters, who didn’t last at the Willamette, and was now journeymanning his way through the Federal League.

Other notable Brazilians include righty relievers Hipólito Sendim, a journeyman for seven different teams from 1988 to 2004, posting a career 3.43 ERA in 648 games, and Pedro Cruz, who pitched mostly for the Scorpions, Wolves, and Loggers from 1985 to 1997, putting together a 3.74 ERA in 628 games. 1B Gastao Rosado was a regular for the Rebs and Gold Sox in the 2030s, but only got some bench assignments amid AAA stints in his 30s, batting .279 with 40 homers in 635 career games.

But the only Brazilian major leaguer the Raccoons ever featured was shortstop Daniel Bullock, a longtime bench piece in the 2020s that took home a ring in ’26, but batted an excessively lightly .234 with four homers across 538 games. He had a brief stint with the Aces in 2029, but that was really it for his career.

I know, Cristiano, you remember Daniel Bullock fondly. You still have his yearbook picture on your desktop background for some reason I can’t figure out.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (81-68) vs. Thunder (78-71) – September 22-24, 2059

The Thunder were tied for the lead in the CL South with a paltry +24 run differential and without raking in the top three in either runs scored or runs allowed. Their pen was the second-worst in the league, and the South as a whole was a giant muck of .500 ball, with even the last-place Aces entertaining mathematical playoff chances with just two weeks left on the calendar. The season series between these two teams was even at three.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-0, 1.37 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (14-7, 3.13 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (6-7, 3.88 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (10-9, 4.45 ERA)
Chance Fox (13-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (5-11, 6.59 ERA)

Three right-handers to close up shop at home for the year.

Game 1
OCT: CF Martaranha – 1B C. Santiago – 3B Soberanes – 2B O. Lira – SS N. Kelly – RF J. Mendoza – C T. Alvarez – LF Weant – P Llamas
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Benitez – SS Bean – C C. Chavez – P Sensabaugh

Bernaldin Martaranha walloped a pitch over the fence when I was still settling into my spot on the couch, giving the Thunder a quick 1-0 lead, but the Raccoons answered with a Ben Morris double to begin the bottom 1st, then three singles by Caswell, Starr, and Benitez; the centerfielder and third sacker each got an RBI as the score was flipped around before Jon Bean struck out to strand a pair. The Thunder then had somebody on base every inning through the fourth, and Cesar Santiago nearly hit a 2-out, 2-run homer in the third inning, but couldn’t get over the hump against a wobbling Sensabaugh, who instead – after bunting into a double play his first time at the plate – hit a 1-out single to left in the bottom 4th, then scored a run to up the score to 3-1 on Morris and Labonte singles before Cas crashed into a double play, 4-6-3. Sensabaugh then walked Tony Alvarez on straight balls leading off the top 5th, but Tim Weant hit a ball so hard at Joel Starr that the Coons could turn a 3-6-3 double play. Next thing anybody heard was a thundercrack, but not for weather issues (the skies were dark, though), but for the pitcher Llamas socking a homer to left-center. Sensabaugh, never shy to create “excitement”, then issued yet another leadoff walk to Santiago in the sixth, but this time Ed Soberanes spanked a ball hard into a 5-4-3 double play.

In between, the Raccoons had tacked on a run with Brass and Starr singles and a well-placed RBI groundout by Bean in the bottom 5th, but all that went down the river when Tony Alvarez singled and Tim Weant socked a game-tying homer off Sensabaugh, who was then yanked from the game in the top of the seventh. Brass was on base again with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, but was largely ignored. After a 20-minute rain delay (like I said, the skies were dark), the Raccoons got a 1-out walk from Ben Morris in the bottom 8th. Right-hander Jordan Juarez then allowed a single to Labonte, with Morris rushing for third base. Getting a 2-1 fastball, Caswell bashed well, but narrowly missed a home run in rightfield, having to settle for an RBI double and a pair in scoring position for Brassfield, who got better hold of another lazy fastball and thumped it over the wall for a 3-piece…! Elijah LaBat would protect the 4-run lead in the resulting ninth inning. 8-4 Raccoons. Ben Morris 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Labonte 2-4, BB, RBI; Caswell 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Starr 2-4; Benitez 3-5, RBI;

This clinched a winning record for the year, not that I felt we had been a particularly good team…

Joey Christopher came off the DL on Tuesday.

Game 2
OCT: CF Martaranha – 1B C. Santiago – 3B Soberanes – RF M. Harmon – C Almaguer – 2B Gaxiola – SS McNeal – LF Weant – P Ju. Juarez
POR: RF Christopher – C Perez – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 3B Ojeda – 1B Kozak – SS Gonzales – 2B Ortega – P Damasceno

DD was battered around in the first inning as the Thunder again scored without making an out, this time on doubles by Martaranha and Santiago, then added Mike Harmon and Pedro Almaguer singles for a second run in the inning. Damasceno would never find his groove in the game, and both sides put on a steady supply of base runners, but usually made poor outs once somebody reached scoring position. The Thunder added a run on a throwing error by Kozak in the third, which Portland made up in the bottom of the inning on hits by DD, Perez, and Brassfield, but Juan Ojeda then struck out.

The Raccoons didn’t hit for Damasceno in the bottom 4th, which began with hits for Jack Kozak and David Gonzales, and then frittered out with three standard outs that didn’t advance the runners one iota. The return for that was a leadoff walk to Soberanes and a no-doubt-about-it homer by Mike Harmon in the fifth inning, and Damasceno was excused further beatings at that point. Bobby Sneeze and Ivan Ornelas each pitches two scoreless innings from here, while the Raccoons found two … double plays to hit into, Brass in the fifth and Bernie Ortega in the sixth.

The Raccoons looked pretty dead going into the bottom 9th, trailing by a slam. David Gonzales grounded out against Jerry Washington, before Kelly Konecny batted for Eloy Sencion in the #8 hole and doubled to left-center. Labonte then rushed an RBI triple into the right-center gap and scored on Joe-Chris’ single to center. Suddenly the tying run was at the plate and the Thunder sent right-hander Cody Lovett to replace Washington. Angel Perez lined out to Alvarez at first and this almost doubled up Christopher, but he dove back into the bag. Cas then drew a walk, bringing up Brass as the winning run. Ending the game he did – but with a groundout to Soberanes. 5-3 Thunder. Perez 2-3, BB; Caswell 2-4, BB; Gonzales 2-4; Konecny (PH) 1-1; Sneeze 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Crusaders were rained out on Monday, but swept the Knights in a double-header on Tuesday, which also gave the Thunder sole possession of first place in the South. New York had their magic number down to three, cut from six on this Tuesday.

Game 3
OCT: LF J. Mendoza – 3B Soberanes – 1B F. Martinez – RF Whitlow – CF Gillum – 2B O. Lira – C Dye – SS N. Kelly – P Brink
POR: RF Christopher – CF Morris – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 2B Labonte – SS Bean – 3B Benitez – P Fox

For oddities, Joel Starr singled and Paul Labonte slugged a home run, just his second of the year, for a 2-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, but just when I wanted to say to Honeypaws how Chance Fox looked much less punchable today, he walked the opposing pitcher, gave up a bloop double to Jose Mendoza, and then a run on Soberanes’ groundout in the top of the third inning. At least that tying run remained on base in that inning… but not in the fourth, when an error by Fox put Brian Gillum on base after Eric Whitlow had already walked, and Omar Lira’s grounder and Jonathan Dye’s sac fly got the two teams even at two. Felix Martinez’ single and a Gillum homer then put the Thunder 4-2 ahead in the sixth. It was the second career bomb of the 27-year-old cup-of-coffee hustler Gillum.

Joel Starr got the Coons even in the same inning. Christopher and Morris had groundouts to begin the bottom 6th, but then Brass singled to left. Starr did him one or two better and chucked a 2-out homer over the fence, now knotting the score at four. Angel Perez then launched another deep fly, but this one was picked by Jose Mendoza at the fence. Fox pitched up to the stretch, but had to settle for a no-decision, while Bravo and Loveless handled the eighth inning against an army of left-handed pinch-hitters, none of whom reached base. The bottom 8th then saw Jack Kozak drop a single into shallow right batting leadoff in the #9 hole as pinch-hitter for Brad Loveless. He rushed to third base on Joe-Chris’ single, and now the Coons were on the corners. Needing something other than a strikeout, we sent Cas to bat for Morris, for which we got a first-pitch pop behind third base… that Soberanes dropped for an error, then chased up the line, and that allowed the go-ahead run to come home. Whatever works! Brass and Starr didn’t, hitting into a double play and whiffing to end the inning. Matt Walters got around a 2-out single by Steven Spalding to finish out the game and the home half of the season in the ninth inning. 5-4 Raccoons. Starr 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (83-69) @ Loggers (57-95) – September 26-28, 2059

In Milwaukee, the Loggers were bidding for 100 losses with the worst offense *and* the worst pitching in the league. By now, they had racked up a scary -206 run differential, but at the same time the Coons struggled mightily to play against them and were only up a skinny 8-7 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (8-11, 3.45 ERA) vs. Adam Foley (4-18, 5.71 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (11-12, 3.24 ERA) vs. Sam Webb (7-10, 6.10 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (2-0, 2.39 ERA) vs. Jesus Aquino (1-7, 5.78 ERA)

The Loggers would offer one left-hander for this series, Webb on Saturday.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – LF Morris – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – C Perez – 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – P DeRose
MIL: 2B Carmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Sostre – CF Valenzano – LF Arcos – SS D. Miller – P Foley

Single, walk, single, and the bases were loaded before an out was made in the Friday opener. The Raccoons took the lead on Joel Starr’s sac fly to Steve Valenzano, but Angel Perez popped out for the second out. Foley walked Labonte to fill the bases again, and Juan Ojeda dished a sharp grass cutter through the hole on the right side and all the way to the wall and the corner for a bases-clearing double, 4-0. Gonzales flew out to Roberto Arcos in left on the next pitch to close out the inning. The worst offense in the league then answered in the bottom 2nd against the worst waste of oxygen on our roster. Bill Sostre’s leadoff double, Valenzano’s single, and a walk to Arcos loaded the bases with nobody out for Milwaukee, and Danny Miller’s groundout got a run home. Foley then hit an RBI single, and Corey Garmon drew a walk that filled up the bases again. Perry Pigman brought in a run with a sac fly, Dave Robles drew *another* bases-filling walk, and when he had Chris Maresh at 1-2, DeRose first threw a game-tying wild pitch, then gave up a 3-run homer.

While I was breathing into a paper bag, DeRose bumbled along for another inning, down 7-4, before being pinch-hit for in the top of the fourth. Foley maintained control of the Coons’ lineup in these innings, however, while the Coons sent out Colby Bowen for two innings, in which he allowed another run amid numerous hard-hit balls. Foley clicked until there were two outs in the sixth, then gave up a walk to Labonte and a double to Ojeda, followed by a 2-run single to David Gonzales that put the tying run in the box, that being Trent Brassfield against left-handed reliever Sansao Tyson. Brass socked a drive to deep left, but it didn’t get over the fence, instead clonking off the wall for an RBI triple. Christopher then struck out, leaving the tying run in scoring position, now down 8-7.

Alex Rios did two scoreless innings to keep the Loggers close, but the Raccoons didn’t get any more out of Tyson in the seventh inning. Starr drew a 2-out walk, but was left on by Perez. Labonte then drew a leadoff walk from right-hander Danny Zepeda in the eighth, but Ojeda, Gonzales, and Konecny made nothing but meek outs. Curt Rosato retired another three in a row in the top 9th as the Raccoons couldn’t put anything together between Joe-Chris, Bernie Ortega, and Caswell. 8-7 Loggers. Caswell 2-5; Labonte 1-2, 2 BB; Ojeda 2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; Rios 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

The Crusaders had swept the Knights on Wednesday, then had been off on Thursday along with us. They lost to the Titans on this Friday, when a win would have sealed the division for good for them. In other words, the magic number was now one.

The Loggers moved Jesus Aquino up to the middle game then, so no southpaw for the time being.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Bean – 3B Benitez – C Monaghan – P B. Herrera
MIL: 2B Carmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Sostre – CF Valenzano – LF Monson – SS D. Miller – P Aquino

The meat of the order all reached base and Starr singled home Cas for a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Bobby Herrera continued to founder, allowed three hits in the bottom 1st along with a double steal by Garmon and Pigman and the tying run. After that trying first inning, Herrera then broke out the stuff and racked up seven strikeouts through the end of five, but then of course without the benefit of accompanying offense by his own team, and we were still in a 1-1 tie at the end of five innings. Starr hit a double in the sixth that saw him stranded in scoring position, while Tipsy Bobby walked Chris Maresh, who was doubled up by Sostre, to begin the bottom 6th, then allowed a single to Valenzano, who in turn was caught stealing. Kyle Kohlman drew another walk off Herrera, who did finish that seventh inning with a strikeout to Garmon, though, and remained in the 1-1 tie.

Danny Zepeda walked Starr with one out in the eighth, and Bean hit a soft single to right to move the go-ahead run to second base once again. Tony Benitez and Kelly Konecny both were rung up, and that ended another semi-threat. LaBat then walked the leadoff man in the bottom 8th, but had his furry tush rescued by Ornelas. But the Raccoons still couldn’t bloody score, so to avoid extra innings for no greater gains, the Loggers did off Ornelas in the ninth. Scott Franks drew a 1-out walk in a full count, Marcos Chavez singled, another double steal was done, now on Cortez Chavez behind the dish for Portland, and Roberto Arcos ended the game with a groundout. Bean tried to throw out Franks at home, but was simply late. 2-1 Loggers. Labonte 2-5; Starr 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K;

The Loggers thus eliminated the Raccoons from the postseason race for good, because New York and Boston were rained out and the Crusaders probably watched the Coons poke and flail and huff and puff while giggling merrily for three hours straight.

The Loggers…!!

Also, no southpaw from the Loggers at all. They found righties to be working too well against us. Cory Ellis (7-9, 4.48 ERA) got the Sunday assignment, in which the Raccoons would have to win to at least scratch out a dead heat in the season series against a team that was playing .372 ball against everybody else.

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – C Perez – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – 2B Ortega – P Sensabaugh
MIL: LF Franks – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Sostre – CF Valenzano – 2B Garmon – SS D. Miller – P Ellis

The Coons had another huge first inning, and just like on Friday Juan Ojeda cleared the bases with an extra-base knock, this time a 1-out, 3-run triple to run the score to 4-0. Brass had already singled home Morris with a run, and only Cas had been retired so far. Ojeda was stranded as Bean lined out and Ortega whiffed, but Perry Pigman hit a solo homer off Sensabaugh right in the bottom half of the inning. Sensabaugh answered with a leadoff single before a Perez walk and Cas getting nicked filled the bases; Ellis had already hit Perez with a pitch in the first inning. Brass then whiffed and Starr grounded out to plate absolutely nobody. In turn, Ellis singled against Sensabaugh in the bottom 3rd, but of course he was brought around to score on yet more hits by Scott Franks and Dave Robles… Those two were stranded by Maresh whiffing and Sostre flying out to center, keeping it a 4-2 game.

The Coons then tried again in the fourth with *another* leadoff single from Sensabaugh, and the bases were loaded with nobody out as Morris walked and Perez singled. Cas struck out. Brass struck out. Brass … walked! Huzzah! And then Ojeda flew out to center and we were held to that one miserable run, and Sensabaugh hit his third single of the game through the left side in the fifth inning, but that was with two out, nobody on, and I couldn’t make myself get excited anymore. Bottom 5th, Franks and Pigman hits, a wild pitch, and two productive outs got the Loggers back to 5-4, and that remained the score through seven innings as Sensabaugh failed his way through six, and then Sencion and Bravo barely held the lead together in the seventh after Pigman hit a double.

The top 8th began with Ortega flying out, but then Vernon Hudalla doubled in the #9 spot after entering with Bravo in a double switch. Morris was walked, and the Coons got a double steal down, then got a tack-on run from Angel Perez’ single through the right side, 6-4. It just wasn’t Noah Caswell’s day, as he struck out *again*, but Brass came through with an RBI single whizzed past Garmon. When the Loggers went to Sansao Tyson, Jack Kozak batted for Starr and drew a walk that filled the bases, but then Labonte fanned to end the inning. Bravo and Walters then put the game away to secure a .500 season against Milwaukee. Whee. 7-4 Coons. Perez 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-5, 2 RBI; Hudalla 1-2, 2B;

In other news

September 22 – The Buffaloes survive a scare when INF Zach Suggs (.278, 24 HR, 100 RBI) leaves a game against the Pacifics with a knee injury, but it turns out to be a knee contusion and he would be available for the playoffs, which the Buffos are inches from clinching.
September 22 – NAS OF Elmer Maldonado (.282, 9 HR, 50 RBI) drives in the only run in the Blue Sox’ 11-inning, 1-0 win against the Warriors. Maldonado has three of the Sox’ four hits in the game.
September 23 – The Thunder clinch the FL East with a 4-3 win against the Pacifics.
September 23 – The Bayhawks win a 10-inning, 5-4 walkoff against the Titans by means of an 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.278, 26 HR, 120 RBI) single, then two throwing errors by Boston’s MR Josh Carlisle (6-2, 2.64 ERA, 12 SV) and 3B Randy Wilken (.274, 31 HR, 99 RBI).
September 24 – Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.294, 15 HR, 80 RBI) drives in five runs on two doubles as the Aces cream the Canadiens, 13-3.
September 25 – Wolves super utility Jeff Buss (.308, 18 HR, 87 RBI) will miss the rest of the season with a quad strain.
September 26 – SFB SP Jeff Crowley (8-15, 5.03 ERA) gets within two outs of a no-hitter before allowing a single to the Knights’ Josh Abercrombie (.316, 11 HR, 93 RBI), who comes around to score after Crowley loads the bases with walks and allows a sac fly to Juan del Toro (.266, 9 HR, 68 RBI). Crowley, with cushion aplenty, finishes the complete-game 1-hitter for a 12-1 win, though.
September 26 – Vegas SP Scott Evans (13-12, 3.58 ERA) pitches a 2-hit shutout against the Condors, striking out six in a 5-0 win.
September 28 – The Buffaloes beat the Rebels, 1-0 in 12 innings. INF Alejandro Silva (.188, 1 HR, 18 RBI) hits the walkoff single, a week shy of his 38th birthday.

FL Player of the Week: TOP C Matt McLaren (.275, 15 HR, 57 RBI), dealing .647 (11-17) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ 1B Chris Thayer (.318, 4 HR, 18 RBI), batting .500 (7-14) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The string is stringy. At least the #13 pick is not a topic for next year, our record is already almost too good for that. While there is a mathematical chance for a protected pick with an 0-7 week at the end here, the odds would be long even with losing every game from here.

And why lose intentionally. We can lose perfectly well when we’re not trying to.

The Titans and Indy are left for the last week. No Raccoon is in contention for leading the CL in any meaningful category anymore, although Joel Starr has snuck up to second place in the OPS category with a .897 mark, 50 points behind Alex Alfaro in Vegas. The sole exception would be Matt Walters, two saves behind Zachariah Alldred.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have not won the season series against the Loggers in six years.

Getting Decade of Darkness vibes.

The Loggers…!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (84-71) @ Titans (80-75) – September 29-October 2, 2059

Final week, and these two teams were still in the running for second place in the division. The Raccoons were up by four games on the Titans, with four to play between them, and an 8-6 lead in our favor for the season series. Boston was eighth in runs scored and second in runs allowed, with a +72 run differential, almost matching our own +73 mark.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (6-8, 4.04 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (9-4, 3.11 ERA)
Chance Fox (13-4, 3.64 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (16-7, 1.92 ERA)
Justin DeRose (8-12, 3.73 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (11-16, 3.63 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (11-12, 3.18 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (12-6, 3.61 ERA)

Due to a double header last week, the Titans could have either Glaude or Ryan Musgrave (8-14, 4.03 ERA) in the final game. It didn’t really matter; all five starters were right-handers.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Kozak – SS Bean – C Monaghan – 3B Benitez – P Damasceno
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B R. Wilken – RF Y. Valdez – 2B Leitch – LF Ma. Gilmore – P MacKinnon

Joe-Chris drew a leadoff walk and was caught stealing in the first, so the Raccoons didn’t get the early start, and instead we waited for Damasceno to make nothing into something, which happened in the bottom 2nd, when with two outs he allowed a single to Yoslan Valdez, walked Alan Leitch, and gave Boston a 1-0 lead with another sharp single surrendered to Matt Gilmore. MacKinnon then finally grounded out to leave two on, then allowed a leadoff double to Tony Benitez in the top of the third, but then struck out DD and Joe-Chris, and then had Labonte fly out to strand Benitez at second base. The Coons got on the board in the fourth inning, and it was with a 2-out rally. Jack Kozak singled, Jon Bean was nicked, and Eric Monaghan fired a double over the head of Eddie Marcotte that went all the way to the wall and allowed both runners to score to flip the game around to 2-1 Coons.

Damasceno tried to fall over from there. He first struck out after an intentional walk to Benitez to end the top 4th, then allowed 2-out walks to the 7-8 batters in the bottom of the same inning. In the fifth, he nicked Manny Rubin, and in the sixth, Valdez and Leitch reached base again, but Gilmore popped out and PH Bill Dorey grounded out sharply to Kozak. DD was then pinch-hit for in the top 7th, where right-hander Mike Bell first walked Benitez and Ben Morris, then struck out the all-left-handed 1-2-3 in the Coons order, *in* order. Have you ever wondered why neither of these teams got anywhere near the Crusaders this year…?

The Coons’ pen then suffered an implosion in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bravo put Marcotte and Rubin on the corners, and it kept melting from there. Sencion walked Arviso with one out to fill the sacks, then couldn’t handle Randy Wilken’s grounder that became a game-tying infield single. Alex Rios secured a pop from Ted Lloyd, but when left-handed Ethan Torrence batted for Leitch, we brought Ricky Herrera, who surrendered a 2-out, 2-run single through the left side before Diego Mendoza finally flew the **** out. Portland would not reach base in the eighth inning, but Monaghan zinged a leadoff double off Mike Lane in the ninth that brought the tying run to the dish. Benitez struck out, Starr grounded out, and Christopher flew out, never moving that runner. 4-2 Titans. Bean 2-3; Monaghan 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Benitez 1-2, 2 BB, 2B;

Well, that was awful all around…!

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – CF Morris – P Fox
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Y. Valdez – 1B M. Rubin – 3B R. Wilken – RF Lloyd – C Burkart – 2B J. Watson – SS Leitch – P Craddock

Foxie Brown wasn’t spotless in the early innings, but at least kept the Titans off the board, give or take a Rubin double in the first. The Raccoons would again create a stir mostly from the bottom half of the lineup. Perez and Ojeda went to the corners with 1-out hits in the top 2nd, with the first run scoring on Jonathan Watson’s bobble of a grounder by David Gonzales. The error was followed by a wild pitch, and Ben Morris then hit a sac fly to make it 2-0 before Fox grounded out, but Fox would hit a 2-out RBI single his second time up, bringing home Ojeda, who had stolen second base with two outs and Morris batting. The Titans elected the intentional walk, and Chance chose to punish them for it, going up 3-0 before Christopher grounded out.

Craddock’s day ended in the fifth with a double given up by Brass, immediately followed by an even louder noise as Joel Starr whacked his 19th homer of the year to extend the lead to 5-0. He tied Cas for the team lead in bombs and my dearest wish was for somebody to get at least to 20.

Xavier Caston and Mike Pohlmann then shut up the Raccoons offense, while Fox meandered into the bottom 7th with some long counts, yet a shutout, but then had it quite loudly taken from him after a leadoff walk to Bruce Burkart in the inning. Jonathan Watson fouled off no fewer than six 1-2 pitches before shooting a sharp single, and while Leitch fanned, Dorey then pinch-hit and socked a very deep 2-run double on another 1-2 pitch, and Fox was hauled in. Elijah LaBat got out of the inning without allowing another run, an error by Labonte with two outs be damned. Rubin struck out as the tying run, leaving guys on the corners in a 5-2 game. Bottom 8th, Ivan Ornelas struck out the first two batters he faced, but then got squeezed on two singles and a walk by the 6-7-8 batters, who filled the bases. When Ethan Torrence pinch-hit, Matt Walters was called on for a 4-out save, and rung up Torrence to dispel the most immediate threat. Marcotte drew a leadoff walk from him in the ninth inning, however, then ended up stealing second base. Randy Wilken romped a double to left with two outs and two strikes to get the run home, but Lloyd struck out to end the inning. 5-3 Raccoons. Christopher 2-4, BB; Perez 2-4, 2 2B; Ojeda 2-4; Morris 0-1, 2 BB, RBI;

First run allowed by Matt Walters in almost two months, when the Bayhawks got him on August 6. That was also the last time he blew a save, having converted 13 straight in 16 total appearances since.

The Warriors had their magic number down to one in the FL West on Tuesday night, but the CL South featured the Knights, Thunder, and Bayhawks all tied for first place. The Condors and Falcons both were four games back and playing each other and it was *technically* possible for one of them to still end up in a 3- or 4-way tie for first place, all at 82-80, by winning out their last five games as long as the Thunder and Bayhawks, also playing each other, would split their last two games. None of the top three would go against another top three team on the final weekend.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – LF Morris – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – 2B Ortega – SS Gonzales – 3B Hudalla – P DeRose
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B R. Wilken – RF Y. Valdez – 2B D. Mendoza – LF Ma. Gilmore – P Brenize

DeRose was again throwing too many pitches to not enough batters, and while he still got around having the bases loaded in the second inning with an easy exit against Brenize, who still struggled in his day job, he then seamlessly put Marcotte and Watson on base to begin the bottom 3rd as well, then was finally and deservedly taken deep by Jorge Arviso for a 3-run homer. Watson, Rubin, and Wilken loaded the bases again in the fifth inning, and this time DeRose was yanked with two outs and 81 messy pitches in the books. Eloy Sencion got a pop to Vernon Hudalla from Yoslan Valdez to end the inning.

At that point the Raccoons were on the board, thanks to a leadoff double by Bernie Ortega in the fifth inning. He scored on productive outs by Gonzales and Hudalla, reducing the deficit to two runs, but we only had three measly hits against the former #2 pick and #1 prospect Brenize so far. He didn’t walk anybody – quite an issue of his normally – until Cas got a free pass in the sixth inning, but already with two outs. Perez singled, and Starr also singled, plating Caswell from second base, 3-2, but Ortega was then rung up to close out the inning.

Sencion had another scoreless inning before doubles by Rubin and Arviso with two outs in the seventh against Alex Rios tacked on an insurance run for Boston. The Raccoons didn’t get another base knock until Trent Brassfield’s 2-out single against Josh Carlisle in the ninth inning. Kozak then batted for Hudalla and struck out. 4-2 Titans. Starr 2-4, RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1;

Game 4
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – SS Benitez – C Monaghan – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B R. Wilken – RF Y. Valdez – 2B Leitch – LF Caron – P Musgrave

Tipsy Bobby tried to reach .500 for the season, which was noble goal for somebody making more millions than I had claws on any of my paws, and the Raccoons at least faked trying to help with straight singles from the 4-5-6 batters to begin the top of the second inning against Musgrave. Benitez and Monaghan then fanned a bunch, and Herrera sent a floater to shallow center that Marcotte – … dropped. With two outs and in motion, two runners scored on that bobble, and Joe-Chris’ groundout ensured it was only two for the inning. The Coons’ third run of the game was also unearned, coming in the top 3rd after Labonte singled and stole second when Watson threw away Brass’ grounder quite badly for two bases. Two pops followed, keeping the score at 3-0, none of the runs being earned.

While Herrera was still no-hitting the Titans in the most inefficient way possible (he was north of 60 pitches after just four innings), the Raccoons finally got an earned run and I got my dearest remaining wish when Noah Caswell hit a solo homer to right in the fifth. 4-0, and that was his 20th of the season. Herrera was also having to work overtime because Tony Benitez bungled not one, but two grounders behind him inside five innings, but the Titans didn’t get through to score any runs off that either, although a single by Anson Caron in that bottom 5th finally got them into the H column – not that Herrera would have lasted nine in this one.

But nobody got stabbed in the back as badly as Ryan Musgrave, who put Labonte on third base with two outs in the seventh inning, but got Brass to ground out to Alan Leitch, except that Leitch also fudged the play and the Raccoons got their fourth unearned run of the game. Herrera finished seven mildly inconvenienced innings of 1-hit ball. The Titans’ second hit of the game was a Marcotte homer off Colby Bowen in the eighth before Elijah LaBat got the last four outs of the game to split the series down the middle, but give the season series to the Raccoons. 5-1 Critters. Labonte 3-5, 2 2B; Brassfield 2-5; Konecny (PH) 1-1, 2B; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (12-12);

Bobby Herrera had entered the game with an outside chance at 200 K, but would have needed to whiff 11 Titans for that.

The longshots in the South were eliminated with the Thunder taking their last two games from the Bayhawks. Since the Knights split their two games with the Aces, the Thunder were now one ahead of the Knights, and two up on the Baybirds. These three played the Condors, Falcons, and Aces – in that order – now on the weekend. A 3-way tie was of course still possible here.

Raccoons (86-73) @ Indians (76-83) – October 3-5, 2059

Such shenanigans should not bother the Raccoons in Indianapolis on the weekend. We were assured of a second-place finish, no worse than ten games behind New York. In theory we could still wind up tied for the third-best record in the league, which was a bit confusing. A protected pick was long off the plate. Despite all the suffering during the season, we were guaranteed to have at least the eighth-best record in the league. Indy meanwhile was ninth in runs scored, seventh in runs allowed, and had to sweep the Critters to still get into a split for the season series.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (3-0, 3.06 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (9-11, 3.84 ERA)
Bobby Sneeze (2-3, 3.79 ERA) vs. Marcos Rivera (14-11, 3.33 ERA)
Chance Fox (14-4, 3.61 ERA) vs. Matt Green (8-7, 4.23 ERA)

No more Damasceno and another shot for Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!). He would wipe his pokey black nose, then oppose the last southpaw starter for the season, Marcos Rivera.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – C Perez – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – LF Kozak – SS Bean – P Sensabaugh
IND: SS Kilday – CF Abel – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – 3B R. Vargas – 2B Ewers – LF McConnell – P M. Guerra

Sensabaugh was torn to shreds inside three innings on Friday. He walked the bags full and allowed a 2-out, 2-run single to Ricardo Vargas in the first inning, then got roflstomped for three runs in the second when Kevin Ewers, Blake McConnell, and the opposing pitcher all landed leadoff hits against him. Ewers scored on McConnell’s double, Matt Kilday scored the leftfielder with a fielder’s choice, then stole his 49th base of the year and scored on a single by venerable Bill Quinteros. Sensabaugh was axed after getting out Alex Gomez, but then soon having the bases loaded again with one out and the #9 hitter up, even though in the bottom 3rd a Labonte error had added to the mess. Adam Harris replaced him, walked in a run against the ******* opposing pitcher, and then gave up a bases-clearing triple to Kilday, and probably still wondered why he was rotting in St. Petersburg most of the year.

The Coons were down 9-1, the “1” part being courtesy of Bean and Labonte putting all of two hits together in the top 3rd. That was quite the rally. It was also as good as it got. The ball was back with Colby ******* Bowen, who actually put a zero on the board in the fourth, but then put runners no the corners and was lifted with two down in the fifth inning. Elijah LaBat came in, walked Quinteros, walked Alex Gomez, and … walked Chris Lovins, forcing in two runs before being disposed wholesale with Angel Perez for an entirely new ******* battery of Ornelas and Cortez Chavez in a double switch. Ornelas then proceeded to walk Vargas, and I was slowly but surely having trouble breathing. Kevin Ewers slapped a 2-run single before McConnell finally struck the **** out. It was now a 14-1 game.

Those were also the last runs for the Indians. Ornelas, Rios, and Loveless each put a zero on the board after that, as if it still mattered, and we managed to keep our total of walks issued to 11, even though it felt worse than that. No offensive rally of any size ever came to pass, either. Guerra finished a complete-game 8-hitter. 14-1 Indians. Morris (PH) 1-1;

Knights and Thunder won in the South, but the Bayhawks lost to the Aces in 10 innings and were eliminated from contention.

Game 2
POR: LF Ortega – C Perez – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 1B Kozak – 3B Ojeda – SS Benitez – 2B Gonzales – P Sneeze
IND: SS Kilday – CF Abel – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – 3B R. Vargas – 2B Ewers – LF McConnell – P M. Rivera

Sneeze (gesundheit!) went like glue in the first two innings, needing 37 pitches, but also getting three strikeouts against two hits and wasn’t already down by an awful pawful at that point. In fact the game was tied scorelessly when he reached base on a 1-out Kilday error in the top 3rd. Rivera then walked Ortega, and Perez was nicked to fill the bases for Brass, who wanted to get to 20 homers too and bashed a brash bomb to straightaway centerfield to at least make it 19 – GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

That was the Coons’ only base hit in four innings, before Bernie Ortega found a leadoff single in the fifth. Perez added another one like that right away, but the middle of the order croaked with a fly to right, a fielder’s choice, and a K. The Indians then also got to Bobby Sneeze in the bottom 5th, who was yanked before finishing the inning. McConnell singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Kilday 2-out single. Kilday was running riot and stole his 52nd base already, and then Sneeze hatchooed the bases full with two walks and was lifted. Alex Rios was brought in, walked Alex Gomez on four pitches to force in a second run, which pissed me off to no end, but then struck out Lovins to escape the stupid inning.

Bottom 6th, and Eloy Sencion gave up three straight singles and a run as his collapse continued right to the end of the season. He needed to be rescued by Reynaldo Bravo, who struck out Abel with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position to get out of another bloody stupid inning. The Coons then put Ortega and Perez on the corners with another pair of leadoff singles against righty Tim Jacoby in the seventh inning. Brass struck out and Cas grounded into a double play, and I was glad that the season was over and I was gonna get them outta my sight within 24 hours…

Bravo blew the 4-3 lead in the bottom 7th. He struck out Quinteros before putting Gomez and Lovins on base… and then threw not one, but two wild pitches with two outs and Ewers batting to tie the game. Ewers then flew out to center. The Coons had runners on the corners against Jacoby again in the eighth, then with 2-out singles by Benitez and Gonzales. Joel Starr batted for Bravo and slashed a ball through between Ewers and the largely immobile Quinteros (age 38) with the very first offering from Jacoby to break the tie in the Coons’ favor, 5-4, but Ortega grounded out to Vargas at third base and that was that. Ricky Herrera had a quick bottom 8th to hold the lead, and the team loaded the bases against Rich Morrall in the ninth inning. Perez hit a leadoff single, and two poor outs later, two walks to Kozak and Labonte filled the sacks for, well, Tony Benitez, who struck out on a 3-2 pitch. Matt Walters put the game away, but not without walking Gomez for some more terror. 5-4 Raccoons. Ortega 2-4, BB; Perez 3-4; Brassfield 1-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Gonzales 2-4, 2B; Starr (PH) 1-1, RBI;

The Knights won and the Thunder were blown out by the Condors to tie the South with one game left.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Ortega – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – C Monaghan – P Fox
IND: SS Kilday – RF Lovins – CF Abel – C A. Gomez – 1B B. Quinteros – 2B Ewers – 3B R. Vargas – LF McConnell – P M. Green

The regulars were in the lineup on Sunday, but the plan was to have them all replaced after about six innings. The game didn’t matter, we were just wasting everybody’s time anyway. Cas made the most of what time he had and followed an Ortega single with a 2-run homer to left, probably taking the team home run crown for good. Fox then offered a leadoff walk to Kilday, who stole his 53rd base eventually, making it five in this series, but who was also thrown out at the plate by Brassfield on a 2-out single by Alex Gomez. Kilday singled, stole ANOTHER base in the bottom 3rd, but was stranded by Lovins and Abel. Brass also singled and stole a base, his ninth of the year as he tried to rally after Kilday and probably in vain, but at least he was brought around to score with well-placed grounders by Starr and Ojeda, who was almost certainly making his final appearance as a 1-year rental Raccoon.

Fox was then ****** to bits in the bottom 4th in what was the baseball gods’ way of telling me that they still hated my guts and always would. Alex Gomez led off with a 3-2 single, and Quinteros walked. Ewers singled, three on and nobody out. There, Vargas legged out an infield single to get Indy on the board. McConnell’s sac fly made it 3-2, and Green’s bunt was fudged by Fox himself with an overly ambitious non-play at third base. Kilday then hit ANOTHER infield single to tie the game, and Chris Lovins’ bases-clearing double ended Fox’ season, crammed with seven runs in 3.1 innings. Seven, because of course Alex Rios would give up a 2-run homer to Alex Gomez.

The game was obviously in the bin then, just like my mood, and I wished them all to where the sun don’t shine. Ornelas was torn up for four runs in two innings of futile long relief before Loveless and even Damasceno put up the required zeroes to get the game towards its merciless conclusion. Tony Benitez drove in a meaningless run as a pinch-hitter for Ornelas in the seventh. It was our last run of the year. 12-4 Indians. Benitez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Caswell 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Morris 1-1;

In other news

October 2 – The Warriors beat the Stars, 4-3, to clinch the FL West with three games to spare.
October 2 – Capitals OF/1B Gunner Epperson (.294, 11 HR, 43 RBI) has places to be and no time for extra innings, and ends a game tied in the bottom of the ninth against the Cyclones with a walkoff grand slam for a 7-3 Washington win.
October 3 – The Bayhawks’ season ends when SFB MR Zane Fenlon (3-7, 3.57 ERA, 2 SV) nicks Las Vegas’ Andy Chairez (.287, 1 HR, 24 RBI) with a 1-2 pitch and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning, forcing in the run that gives the Aces a 6-5 win.
October 4 – The Thunder suffer a blowout loss, 22-1, against the Condors to lose their 1-game lead in the CL South with one game to play. Condors LF Tim Duncan (.205, 18 HR, 82 RBI) has the best day with three hits, two homers, and seven RBI. Six different Condors players had three hits apiece in the game and everybody in their lineup scores at least one run.
October 5 – Both the Knights and Thunder lose their last game of the season, the Knights in 1-0 fashion, to set up a tie-breaker game on Monday.
October 5 – Wolves and Pacifics cash overtime pay on Closing Day, which for them goes 14 innings for an eventual 6-3 Wolves win.
October 6 – In the CL South tie-breaker game, OCT SP Aaron Harris (13-9, 3.37 ERA) and ATL OF Dan Nork (.188, 2 HR, 19 RBI) are ejected in the third inning for fighting, but the Thunder rally around their bullpen and erase an early deficit to run away for an 8-3 win and a playoff ticket.

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC RF/CF Will Buras (.373, 22 HR, 107 RBI), going .387 with 5 HR, 25 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN 3B/2B Thomas Whittington (.278, 11 HR, 68 RBI), bashing .389 with 3 HR, 18 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Ethan Alvey (11-10, 3.20 ERA), throwing 4-1 ball with a 1.60 ERA, 38 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: TIJ SP Miguel Batista (17-12, 3.32 ERA), a perfect 6-0 record with 1.62 ERA, 22 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Pedro Parada (.329, 8 HR, 34 RBI), batting .354 with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: NYC OF Tommy Branch (.232, 16 HR, 58 RBI), hitting .301 with 3 HR, 14 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Thank goodness, this is over. Awful end to an awful season. There are without a doubt some good foundations on the roster, like that 3-4-5 part of the lineup and maybe we can even hammer a major leaguer out of the unformed ingot that is Joey Christopher, who dropped his OBP to .370 and was .500 in stealing bases.

Oh well, next year, Lonzo will be back and all our problems will be solved!

La-lala-lala, all is well… (dances into the sunset of the season)

Fun Fact: The Raccoons won the season series against every CL North opponent this year, except for the one against …

…the Loggers…!!

The Loggers…!!!

[Westheim]

2059 ABL PLAYOFFS

The playoff field was set in the ABL once more, and only four teams now still entertained the thought of winning the championship. Three of those teams would soon have their aspirations rendered mere illusions, and only one would host the trophy.

The 94-68 Crusaders had run away with the CL North in the first half, but had played more or less .500 ball since the All Star Game and weren’t exactly hot. They had won the division on the strength of pitching, tying for the fewest runs conceded in the Continental League with the Titans, but they had come out only tied for fifth in runs scored, which still made for a +109 run differential. Their offense revolved around OBP and keeping the line moving rather than power or speed, categories in both of which they ranked in the bottom third of the league. The rotation was sturdy, though, with Ben Seiter (18-8, 3.24 ERA) and Joel Luera (11-7, 2.53 ERA) leading a quartet of strong right-handers. In the lineup, Omar Sanchez (.328, 1 HR, 58 RBI) would create tumult on the bases while Sean Zeiher (.271, 18 HR, 104 RBI) led the team in homers and RBI. The lineup was well balanced, but they had only one left-hander in the bullpen in Medardo Regueir (4-4, 3.64 ERA, 3 SV), setting up for CL saves champ Zachariah Alldred (9-8, 3.22 ERA, 43 SV).

The Thunder took a tie-breaker against the Knights to make it into the playoffs with an unconvincing 85-78 record in a thoroughly mediocre CL South. They had finished fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed for a mere +9 run differential. Their offensive makeup was pretty much the same as the Crusaders’; high OBP and batting average, and mediocre in home runs and stolen bases. They would however show up with a bullpen in disarray, the third-worst defense in the league, and probably without SP Jorge Quinones, creating a hole in the rotation for the fourth starter spot. Even then, Alfredo Llamas (15-7, 3.16 ERA) and Aaron Harris (13-9, 3.37 ERA) didn’t look quite as impressive, and then Harris had been suspended for fighting in the tie-breaker game and was not available until Game 7. Offensively, 36-year-old Ed Soberanes (.296, 13 HR, 75 RBI) led the team in home runs and RBI, and was second only to Omar Lira (.313, 6 HR, 75 RBI) for batting average. The lineup was mostly left-handed, and the rotation figured to be exclusively right-handed.

In the FLCS the Buffaloes had run away with the FL East, which they won by 13 games and two weeks to spare. They had ended up tops in the Federal League in both runs scored and runs allowed, and with a +162 run differential. The team had the highest OBP in the league at .360, and the middle of the lineup was fearsome: Alex de los Santos (.278, 26 HR, 104 RBI), Zach Suggs (.278, 24 HR, 100 RBI), and Dan Martin (.300, 23 HR, 101 RBI) were not going to take any prisoners. Ben Karst (14-7, 2.42 ERA) had been second in the league in ERA, and southpaw Pablo Lara (18-8, 3.27 ERA) led the team in wins. There was hardly a game that CL Bill Hernandez (10-6, 1.47 ERA, 38 SV) couldn’t save, but behind him chaos reigned. No fewer than four relievers were injured and on the DL, and middle relief was going to be a complete and utter mess; the Buffaloes absolutely required their starters to go long in the games.

Completing the field after winning the FL West by four games over the Pacifics were the 91-71 Warriors, who came out third in runs scored and second in runs allowed in the Federal League, with a +124 run differential. They didn’t have any injuries, and entered with the second-best rotation, led undoubtedly by triple crown winner Ricardo Montoya (18-3, 2.34 ERA). Despite no injuries, their bullpen was naturally average though, with the third-worst bullpen ERA in the Federal League. On offense they didn’t make the top four in the league in any particular category. The middle of the lineup with Miguel Medina (.280, 19 HR, 86 RBI), John Kaniewski (.305, 24 HR, 109 RBI), Josh Bursley (.282, 11 HR, 76 RBI), and Steve Dilly (.239, 15 HR, 79 RBI) was dense, but they had trouble filling a couple of spots at the bottom of the lineup.

+++

In terms of playoff appearances, the Thunder made October baseball for the 22nd time, closing up to the record holders from Portland, the Raccoons, with 23 appearances. The Crusaders were in their 16th playoff campaign, the Warriors checked in for the 15th time, and the Buffaloes had their 13th appearance.

By championships, the Crusaders were tied for second with the Raccoons and eight titles, trailing the Titans (10). The Warriors and Thunder each had three titles to show for, while the Buffaloes were one of only two teams (Miners) without a championship. The most recent championship for the Crusaders had come in 2056, while the Thunder had won in 2053. The Warriors went back to their back-to-back titles from 2033-34.

The Crusaders and Thunder faced each other for the fourth time in the CLCS. New York had won the pairing twice in their most dominant period in 2011 and 2013, while the Thunder had knocked them out on their way to the title in 2053.

The Buffaloes and Warriors had met in the FLCS twice, in 2001 and 2029, and both times the Buffaloes had prevailed, only to then lose in the World Series.

For previous World Series matches between the four playoff teams, history started all the way back in 1978 with the Warriors beating the Crusaders. In fact, in all four cases here, the FL pennant was won by the Warriors: the Thunder beat the Warriors in both 1994 and 2000, so two thirds of their rings had come against that team; and the Warriors were beaten yet again in 2014, then by the Crusaders for the middle championship of New York’s second three-peat of the period.

+++

2059 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

SFW @ TOP … 2-5 … (Buffaloes lead 1-0) … SFW John Kaniewski 3-3, BB; SFW Josh Bursley 2-4, 2 RBI; TOP Matt McLaren 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI;

SFW @ TOP … 2-5 (10) … (Buffaloes lead 2-0) … TOP Alex de los Santos 1-2, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; TOP Dave Blackshire 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; TOP Bill Hernandez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0);
OCT @ NYC … 6-7 (11) … (Crusaders lead 1-0) … OCT Omar Lira 2-5, BB, HR, RBI; OCT Pedro Almaguer 3-4; NYC Tony Rodriquez 3-6; NYC Omar Sanchez 5-6, RBI; NYC Nick Fowler 2-5, 2 RBI;

For the month’s first big headline, reserve infielder Dave Blackshire, who spent half the season in AAA, whacks a 3-run walkoff home run to sweep the first segment of the FLCS in Topeka. Blackshire went .218 with 3 homers in 76 games with the Buffos in the regular season.

In New York, the Crusaders scatter 16 hits against the Thunder, but with just three doubles included fail to topple the Thunder in due time. In the end the Thunder beat themselves with a wild pitch by Ryan Hogues (0-1, 27.00 ERA) allowing Tony Rodriquez to score the winning run in the 11th inning.

OCT @ NYC … 6-5 … (series tied 1-1) … OCT Felix Martinez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; NYC Tony Rodriquez 2-3, 2 BB; NYC Omar Sanchez 3-5, 2 2B; NYC Sean Zeiher 2-4, HR, 3B, 4 RBI;

CL saves champ Zachariah Alldred (0-1, 10.13 ERA) can’t nail this one down, giving up a game-tying home run to Felix Martinez and then two more hits that allow the Thunder to flip the game around with a 3-run ninth inning.

TOP @ SFW … 1-5 … (Buffaloes lead 2-1) … SFW Miguel Medina 3-4; SFW Steve Dilly 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; SFW Phil Nelson 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

TOP @ SFW … 2-3 … (series tied 2-2) … SFW Miguel Medina 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; SFW John Kaniewski 3-4, 3B, 2B;
NYC @ OCT … 14-4 … (Crusaders lead 2-1) … NYC Tommy Branch 2-5, BB; NYC Tony Rodriquez 3-4, 2 BB, RBI; NYC Sean Zeiher 2-4, 2 BB, 3B, 3 RBI; NYC Mark Seeley 3-6, HR, 3B, RBI; NYC Justin Reese (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; NYC Nick Fowler (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; OCT Felix Martinez (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI;

Maybe Felix Martinez (3-for-3, 2 HR, 5 RBI) should be in the starting lineup.

TOP @ SFW … 2-6 … (Warriors lead 3-2) … SFW Mike DeFusco 3-5, RBI; SFW Miguel Medina 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;
NYC @ OCT … 4-0 … (Crusaders lead 3-1) … NYC Ben Seiter 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

Offense is scarce overall in Game 4 in Oklahoma City, and the Crusaders lump all their runs together in an eighth inning that feeds mostly off Sean Zeiher (.278, 1 HR, 11 RBI) hitting a bases-clearing double. Felix Martinez doesn’t even get to pick up a bat.

NYC @ OCT … 5-1 (10) … (Crusaders win 4-1) … NYC Victor Velez 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; OCT Omar Lira 3-4; NYC Zachariah Alldred 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-1);

Victor Velez, who made just 46 appearances in the regular season and spent most of the year in AAA Lexington, hits a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning off Jerry Washington (0-1, 7.71 ERA, 1 SV), then adds a 3-run home run, also with two outs, in the tenth off the same 21-year-old right-hander to punch the Crusaders’ ticket to the World Series.

SFW @ TOP … 7-8 (10) … (series tied 3-3) … SFW John Kaniewski 3-5, HR, RBI; TOP Matt McLaren 3-6, HR, RBI; TOP Dan Martin 2-5, BB, RBI; TOP David Worthington 2-4, RBI; TOP Rafael Guzman (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

The Buffos have to scramble for a run each in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth innings to erase an early deficit and have to tie the game in both the eighth and ninth innings before finally walking off to force a Game 7. Dan Martin (.240, 1 HR, 3 RBI) ends the game with a walkoff single, plating Alex de los Santos (.227, 0 HR, 3 RBI) and his leadoff double.

SFW @ TOP … 2-3 … (Buffaloes win 4-3) … SFW Miguel Medina 2-4, 2B, RBI; TOP Alex de los Santos 2-2, 2 BB; TOP Dan Martin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; TOP Pablo Lara 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (2-1) and 1-3;

For the second day in a row, Dan Martin drives in the winning run, this time with a home run all the way early in the third inning. No runs are scored after that anymore as the pitching staffs grind the opposing lineups to dust.

+++

2059 WORLD SERIES

And then there were two, as the Buffaloes squeezed past the Warriors into the World Series to face the Crusaders. Home field advantage was with the Buffos, and they needed every bit of it after an FLCS in which the home team won every game.

The Buffaloes were still without half their bullpen, but at least they hadn’t packed any more injuries on top and they seemed to be reasonably clutch at this point. Their lineup was mostly right-handed, though, except for the left-handed McLaren and the switch-hitting Martin who were batting .321 with a homer, and .276 with two homers, respectively, in the FLCS.

The Crusaders lost switch-hitting first baseman Raul Sevilla to injury in the CLCS and would have to do with Mark Seeley in the World Series. The rookie had batted .113 with 1 HR* and 5 RBI in the regular season, but had jumped allll the way up to .211 with 1 HR, 3 RBI in the CLCS after replacing the fallen Sevilla. The Crusaders lineup thus had four left-handed batters against the Buffaloes’ three right-handed and one left-handed (Lara) starters, and Lara would not make an appearance until the series went to New York after toughing it out on short rest in Game 7.

Advantage New York?

+++

NYC @ TOP … 2-3 … (Buffaloes lead 1-0) … TOP Matt McLaren 2-3, BB, RBI;

NYC @ TOP … 1-4 … (Buffaloes lead 2-0) … NYC Mark Seeley 2-4; TOP Matt McLaren 2-4, HR, RBI; TOP Alex de los Santos 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; TOP Austin Wilcox 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-1);

TOP @ NYC … 11-4 … (Buffaloes lead 3-0) … TOP Jose Ambriz 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; TOP Alex de los Santos 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; TOP Zach Suggs 3-4, BB; TOP Dan Martin 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; TOP Dave Blackshire 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; NYC Omar Sanchez 3-4; NYC Mark Seeley 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; NYC Roger Zucal 2-2, 2 BB;

The game goes back and forth for the first six innings with the Crusaders holding a narrow 4-3 lead before having the score flipped on them in the seventh inning with two runs, and then explode in a 6-run, 3-homer eighth inning that gives the Buffos all the matchballs in the world to win their first championship!

TOP @ NYC … 5-6 … (Buffaloes lead 3-1) … TOP Alex de los Santos 2-4, BB, RBI; TOP Zach Suggs 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; NYC Sean Zeiher 3-4, 2 HR, 2B, 4 RBI; NYC Victor Velez 2-4, 2 2B, RBI;

The Buffaloes get to within two outs of hoisting the trophy before Bill Hernandez (1-1, 4.91 ERA, 4 SV) gives up a game-tying home run to Sean Zeiher (.306, 3 HR, 16 RBI) in the bottom of the ninth. Mike Seidman then walks and is doubled home by Velez (.200, 2 HR, 5 RBI) for a walkoff, season-saving win for New York.

TOP @ NYC … 2-9 … (Buffaloes lead 3-2) … TOP Alex de los Santos 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; NYC Omar Sanchez 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; NYC Seisaku Taki 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

The Crusaders forcefully send the series back to Topeka with a 7-run sixth inning, although nobody stands out in the team effort. The runs scored and runs batted in are both distributed between seven different players.

NYC @ TOP … 9-1 … (series tied 3-3) … NYC Tony Rodriquez 2-4, 2 BB, 2 RBI; NYC Omar Sanchez 3-6, 2 RBI; NYC Sean Zeiher 3-4, BB, 3 RBI; NYC Mike Seidman 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; NYC Joel Luera 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (1-1);

Pablo Lara (2-2, 4.99 ERA) has his skull caved in for eight runs in 2.2 innings and the Buffos amount to all of two base hits in a wholesale deletion in Game 6.

The all-deciding Game 7 will be a Battle of the Bens: Seiter (1-1, 4.15 ERA) against Karst (1-1, 4.30 ERA).

NYC @ TOP … 1-6 … (Buffaloes win 4-3) … TOP Zach Suggs 1-3, BB, 2 RBI; TOP Ben Karst 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (2-1);

An error by Mark Seeley (.267, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and two walks load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first inning, and Ben Seiter (1-2, 4.25 ERA) doesn’t recover from there, allowing a 2-run double to ex-Crusader Zach Suggs (.216, 2 HR, 6 RBI), conceding another run on an error of his own, and a fourth run on David Worthington’s double play grounder. The Buffos, up 4-0, engage the autopilot at cruising altitude with Karst (2-1, 3.34 ERA) lining up zeroes before running out of steam in the seventh inning. The Crusaders only make up one run against Ralph Needham in the eighth inning before being forced to concede.

The two lasting images of the night are the Buffaloes going absolutely bonkers in their celebration, and that of rookie Mark Seeley, who draws a leadoff walk from Bill Hernandez (1-1, 4.32 ERA, 4 SV) in the ninth inning, sobbing unconsolably as he walks off the field after Eiji Kinoshiita’s grounder to short forces him out at second base to end the game and the entire 2059 season.

+++

2059 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Topeka Buffaloes
(1st title)

.
.
.

*Chance Fox, obviously…

[ayaghmour2]

Wow! A first time champ! Are there any others left who haven't won yet? Crazy its almost a full century of history!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Wow! A first time champ! Are there any others left who haven't won yet? Crazy its almost a full century of history!

The Miners are now the last team with an empty trophy shelf.

[Westheim]

New winter, new opportunities. We’d try with a new hitting coach and perhaps some new hitters, and not a whole lot of additional funds to work with. Nick Valdes, allegedly gray-coated and sort of frail these days, did not bother to show up in person for the entire season, and also didn’t care to give me more millions to get anywhere. This was carefully worded, because we’d have *one* additional million with a budget increase from $54M to $55M. This kept the Raccoons in 14th place among all teams as far as the budget size was concerned, with a distinct advantage against the Crusaders that just finished seven games ahead.

Top 5: Crusaders ($82M), Knights ($82M), Buffaloes ($75M), Thunder ($74M), Pacifics ($74M)
Bottom 5: Condors ($43.5M), Loggers ($43M), Cyclones ($41.5M), Indians ($41.5M), Aces ($34.5M)

Thing was that a million more was all nice and well, but some other teams really went for it. The Knights f.e. jacked up their budget by $11M and few teams went backwards. The average budget for the teams in the league was up to $58.10M, an increase of about $1.93M from the previous season. The median budget was up to $56M, an increase of $1M compared to last year.

The remaining CL North teams were right around us. The Titans remained 11th with a $57M budget, while the damn Elks slipped to 17th with $53M.

+++

Many roster decisions had already been made during the year. Juan Ojeda showed a reliable paw at third base, but hit next to nothing and barely outperformed replacement level kits, which was not a great return for $2.35M, but I had also never seen him as more than a 1-year rental. Manny Cooke was rightfully atrocious after coming over from Salem, batting 4-for-32 while mostly being hidden at the far end of the bench. Eric Monaghan hit a shocking .182 with four homers and was immediately replaced with Angel Perez upon the latter’s arrival. Monaghan had a contract for $3.24M for 2060, but with the asterisk of a team option on a 10% payout, and sure as hell I was gonna tear up that option. He was sent on the road as well. For some wicked reason, Monaghan ended up as a type B free agent then, but the Raccoons would not offer arbitration, because this was absolutely not a risk worth taking. He wouldn’t get $3M again on the open market, but he might sure get it from some brainless arbitrator.

The only upcoming free agent that actually gave me thoughts was Ivan Ornelas, who was such a good long man. Now, being efficient at garbage relief isn’t something that makes your momma proud, but the Raccoons were in a weird position in that they finished the year with ten relievers on the roster, and only four of those were right-handers, including Ornelas. Included in the tally of four was perpetual master of disaster Colby Bowen, so in actuality we had only three right-handed relievers. Whether that made Ornelas worth a million bucks, his 2059 salary, was up for discussion.

That left five players that were up for salary arbitration. Two were position players, and in both cases you could argue that we’d do fine without them: Arturo Bribiesca and Kelly Konecny. Bribiesca, after two full seasons as backup infielder on the Raccoons, was banished to AAA straight from the DL in July and never returned, while Konecny came over from the Loggers, never hit anything, and made the occasional mess on the rug. Like Ojeda, both barely cleared the .600 OPS bar, but at least they each did it for the minimum salary. While neither of them had been worth the attention, they were probably still reasonable to keep around in AAA, especially if they could be signed for around $500k each.

On the pitching side, we had two no-doubt relievers that were essential to keeping that silly bullpen glued together in Ricky Herrera (11-4!) and Reynaldo Bravo, even though the latter had his blackouts. They were not going anywhere. Duarte Damasceno had come back from the Bayhawks last winter, had done somewhat decent as starter in AAA, then was brought up after the season-ending injury to Zach Stewart in late May. While he posted a 3.90 ERA, he barely out-whiffed the contingent of batters that he walked and wasn’t exactly a thrill to watch. He was a piece resembling half of horse eye in a giant pitching staff jigsaw puzzle when the box said the finished puzzle would resemble a city scene at dusk.

Probably still worth half a million, though. He was a right-hander!

Speaking of right-handed starting pitchers at least in name, J.J. Sensabaugh was named Pitcher of the Year in the Alley Cats’ AAA league, going 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA. In the Bigs he went 3-1 with a 4.67 ERA in just 11 games (5 starts). He was 27 years old, had a 4.86 career ERA with the Raccoons, and normally we wouldn’t bother. There had been a noticeable trend though in that he walked fewer batters and struck out more (at both levels), so maybe he wasn’t ready for the shredder quite yet.

And the Raccoons needed at least one starter. Zach Stewart had missed most of the season but was under contract for 2060 and would be back in the rotation. Bobby Herrera wasn’t going anywhere, and while Chance Fox and Justin DeRose were prone to rough results and raucous ridicule, they also had both managed to stay under the league average for ERA, and Fox had led the team in wins. The team needed somebody that would slot into the #2 or #3 slot here, at the very least. It also needed a strong righty reliever, because we couldn’t run around with four southpaws in the pen and a desire to be taken seriously. That made somebody like Eloy Sencion available to other teams, if anybody wanted him after that horrendous second half. He posted easily his worst year outside of that awful 2052 season when he was a third-year player, put up an 8+ ERA, and sucked his way all the way down to Ham Lake before coming back the other way the following season.

Fun Fact: Eloy Sencion was the second-longest-tenured Raccoon on the roster, having made appearances in every year of the decade. He was only narrowly beaten out by Lonzo Lavorano, who made his debut in late 2049, and who missed almost all of the season with a torn labrum. (puts the handkerchief away)

On offense we had our core of Cas, Brass, and Starr in the 3-4-5 slots. Angel Perez had hit .306 after arriving from L.A. in July, and next year he could try and do that for a full season. Joey Christopher had slumped to a .367 OBP by season’s end and was under 50% success rate for stolen bases in his career, but still beat out all the other candidates for the leadoff spot. Lonzo was coming back to play short and I wasn’t taking no for an answer. He’d also bat second at least until I could somehow out-scream Cristiano Carmona about that. Perhaps he needed more rest days going forwards. Then Perez could bat second.

What the Raccoons needed was a new third baseman (obviously) and also an upgrade at second base, because Paul Labonte’s second full season at the position had somehow been even worse than the previous one and that 120 OPS+ he had put together in the second half of ’57 looked like a rather distant memory now. We needed offense, offense, offense. I already had my big black googly eyes on somebody, an established star on a faltering team that had a big, but reasonable contract for a few more years, who had played short most of his career, but should be at second anyway because the throwing arm wasn’t that great. Did we have the prospects, though? More on that later.

All the other roster bloat on the infield was not going to get us any further. Bernie Ortega and Jon Bean had both started like a fire engine after promotion and then had gone silent. David Gonzales had survived as a Rule 5 pick, but surely not excelled. Tony Benitez remained a disappointment whenever he was plonked into the lineup. Vernon Hudalla had been so useless he was placed on waivers to make room to empty to 60-day DL. Players mentioned by name in this paragraph and the previous one with an OPS+ better than 100 this season OR for their career? Zilch.

In fact, the only position players that got triple digit at-bats for the Raccoons last year *and* a triple-digit OPS+ were Angel Perez (113), Noah Caswell (127), Trent Brassfield (129), and perhaps the surprise winner because he still somehow looked the most unassuming: Joel Starr (149!); Lonzo hit for a 128 OPS+ in just 21 games and 82 at-bats. He had such a hot start that smoke started billowing forth from his right shoulder…

Everybody else was cruddy. Labonte with a 94 OPS+ might still get a passing grade, but we needed better. Christopher wasn’t up for discussion right now because of his leadoff qualities, but sometimes even I change my mind about a player after another 600 unproductive plate appearances. How about 1,200?

When it came to backup infielder spots we would of course prefer to have somebody with many quality positions, so David Gonzales and Jon Bean had perhaps a paw up in that regard. Gonzales was even a switch-hitter, although his marmalade side was against left-handers, so he wasn’t a great combo with Lonzo if the goal was to not run out Lonzo for more than seven games in a row.

(three sets of whiskers and sniffing wet noses pop up behind the couch) What? – Yes, I said marmalade. – No, it was about… oh whatever. Maaauuud! We need a bucket of marmalade in here! – (bickering) – Make it strawberry!

So. Second base, third base, starting pitcher, righty reliever. Sounds like the same shopping list we had last year. And the year before?

[Westheim]

First note to the offseason proper was that Vernon Hudalla went unclaimed and was handed down to the AAA roster without incident, as if anybody wanted a part of his .164 (career) bat.

Early on in November, we signed 1-year extensions with Reynaldo Bravo ($650k) and Ricky Herrera ($575k), none of whom were interested in having their arbitration years and some free agency time bought out with a longer-term deal at this point. Duarte Damasceno ($520k) and Kelly Konecny ($550k) soon followed. In those cases, we had no vested interest in a long deal at this point.

I was then growing increasingly concerned because the Loggers sent a pitcher to a certain declining FL team that I tried to do business with, and received prospects back from them, when what I had in mind was to excise a certain star from that other team, and had already extended my claws that way, and they had been playing hard to get. No, no, guys, listen. You’re supposed to enter rebuilding mode now!

+++

October 31 – Blue Sox RF/LF Tony Ontiveroz (.283, 37 HR, 206 RBI) announces his retirement at age 28. Ontiveroz suffered a ruptured disc in his back just 20 games into the 2059 season and had been struggling with chronic back pain since. Ontiveroz won a Gold Glove and two rings in his 5-year career.
November 2 – The Loggers trade MR Danny Zepeda (17-10, 3.62 ERA, 10 SV) to the Blue Sox for two prospects, including #111 Vincent Hernandez.
November 5 – The Loggers sent MR Curt Rosato (5-0, 3.34 ERA, 9 SV) and a prospect to the Scorpions for catcher Mark Reed (.308, 2 HR, 6 RBI).
November 11 – The Raccoons swing a huge trade with the Blue Sox by acquiring 29-year-old INF Nick Nye (.315, 132 HR, 586 RBI) for a whole basket of players, including 2B Paul Labonte (.266, 9 HR, 120 RBI), MR Eloy Sencion (32-24, 3.10 ERA, 15 SV), #60 prospect AA/AAA OF Isaiah Birth, and unranked prospect A SP Carlos Gomez.

+++

Boom! Splash! The Raccoons made headlines!

The Loggers woodchucked around their roster a bit to begin the offseason, but the Raccoons really made the first big move and secured the services of a certified star in Nick Nye. Now, let me fawn about Nye for a bit and then we can also talk about the cost and why he’s not a perfect fit.

Nye was a #45 pick in the 2049 draft, being selected out of high school (which also means the Raccoons passed on him to draft Josh Mayo – currently with Cincy and 11-19 with a 4.46 ERA for his career). He reached the majors halfway through the ’53 season, then batted league average for a couple of years before leading the FL in RBI in his age 24 season. In the last four years, he has been a persistent menace, hitting both in the .330s and in the 30s of home runs. He can steal a few bases, too, and his defense was surely above average (more in a second). He had two rings, a World Series MVP, the 2057 FL Player of the Year crown, four Platinum Sticks, and had been an All Star three times besides winning a batting title and a home run crown (this in ’59). So, he had already won all parts of the triple crown, just not in the same season. He was a charming guy, hard worker, and got along with basically everybody (but wait until they bring out the food bowls…). He was a certified terror in the lineup, and it was only natural he’d cost an arm and a leg. He was also signed for three more years at $4M each, which was almost a bargain for what he brought to the table.

Alright. I am done fawning. (wipes drool from his snout) There were a few … tiny… The first was that his natural position was at shortstop, but we already had a shortstop. Cristiano Carmona fainted when I insisted that Lonzo keep playing short, but Nye had experience at second base, he just hadn’t been there very often. Lonzo knew nothing but short; “Banjo”’s scouting comparison also showed that while they were very similar on defense, Nye was the more agile won and got an extra point in turning double plays and on his error rating compared to Lonzo, but Lonzo got an extra point in arm. Their range was identical, and I wanted the guy with the better arm at short. Now, the full time transition of Nye to second base would probably not lead to a Gold Glove there any time soon, but it was nothing that he didn’t have the skill set to master.

The second thing was what we gave up to get him. I had already gone into how Eloy Sencion was a bit of the odd man out in a bullpen that ended the year with six southpaws and didn’t know where to stuff them all, and despite his longevity on the roster he was actually the guy that hurt me the least to give up. Gomez had only this year debuted in single-A after being signed for a critical $900k as a July free agent a few years back, but Birth looked like the real deal as a centerfielder. We’d perhaps rue the day of this trade down the road, but hopefully not before taking home a ring or two. Birth was at least one year or even two away. Nye was now, and we didn’t know how much of a window we actually had.

Since Nye was batting right-handed, I also wanted to retain Paul Labonte (who would be only 25 on Opening Day), who would have nicely complemented the right-handed Nye and Lonzo and could have given them regular days off against right-handers, but the Blue Sox were pretty insisting on getting a serviceable infielder back and it wasn’t like we had much else to give. Lonzo had 10/5 rights (as if I had traded him anyway), and the rest of the infield crew was living on borrowed oxygen to begin with.

Birth was our top prospect out of the window then and with how everything else was going we could just as well embrace having the worst farm in the game again. We entered the year with six ranked prospects, and two of them (LaBat, Morris) exceeded rookie limits during this season, so we were now down to three: #75 A RF/LF Jose Corral (who missed half the season injured), #84 AA 2B/OF Miguel Ulloa (second full year in Ham Lake), and #164 AA SP John Bollinger.

Finally, in the last items before the free agency period of the offseason arrived, Arturo Bribiesca signed a $500k extension for 2060, and 35-year-old catcher Deshawn Beard was waived off the 40-man roster.

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2059 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: SAC RF/CF Will Buras (.370, 22 HR, 107 RBI) and BOS 3B Randy Wilken (.273, 35 HR, 106 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: SFW SP Ricardo Montoya (18-3, 2.34 ERA) and BOS SP Jayden Craddock (16-8, 2.01 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: NAS SP Juan Sanchez (9-6, 3.07 ERA) and NYC OF Tommy Branch (.231, 17 HR, 60 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: TOP CL Bill Hernandez (10-6, 1.47 ERA, 38 SV) and POR CL Matt Walters (1-1, 2.09 ERA, 42 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P RIC Steve Hawkins – C TOP Matt McLaren – 1B SAL Belchior Fresco – 2B PIT Alex Vasquez – 3B TOP Alex de los Santos – SS NAS Nick Nye – LF TOP Dan Martin – CF SAC Will Buras – RF SFW John Kaniewski
Platinum Sticks (CL): P MIL Julian Dunn – C LVA Casey Burgio – 1B POR Joel Starr – 2B SFB Armando Montoya – 3B BOS Randy Wilken – SS LVA Miguel Veguilla – LF SFB Grant Anker – CF POR Noah Caswell – RF MIL Perry Pigman
Golden Gloves (FL): P SAC Mike McCaffrey – C SAC Nate Danis – 1B SAL Belchior Fresco – 2B LAP Jesse Sweeney – 3B TOP Alex de los Santos – SS RIC Jason Turner – LF CIN Aaron Pile – CF DAL Tyler Wharton – RF SAC Israel Santiago
Golden Gloves (CL): P TIJ Marco Clemente – C BOS Jorge Arviso – 1B VAN Jose Campos – 2B NYC Omar Sanchez – 3B BOS Randy Wilken – SS NYC Nick Fowler – LF OCT Tim Weant – CF CHA Cory Oldfield – RF NYC Sean Zeiher

You can’t say the Titans didn’t get full value out of the 1-year deal with 36-year-old Randy Wilken, which cost them just over a million bucks and netted them the Player of the Year and a sweep of the third base awards. And all of third place in the league, but that wasn’t necessarily Wilken’s fault.

Matt Walters snatched his third award for being such a ninth inning nightmare. He was taking them home every odd year now (2055, 2057, 2059), but he was excused for missing out in 2058 when he was still on the DL for the first two months, and in 2056 he didn’t win but led the CL in saves. He was also signed through 2063 at a passable rate of $2.22M annually, which amounted to roughly $50k per save.

Sneaky Joel Starr nipped a Platinum Stick in his first full season in the majors, and we silently hope for more good things to come. He was not exactly fresh-faced, having turned 27 in September, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have room to grow anymore. For Caswell it was the third Platinum Stick of his career, and all came consecutively, one with the Wolves and now two with the Raccoons.

[Westheim]

Randy Wilken was also a free agent, but I wasn’t keen lining up for a 36-year-old that had just put up career bests in all slash categories, home runs, and technically stolen bases; tied, the last one, because he had never stolen more than one base in a season. Yes, he had led the league in bombs. But I didn’t feel the desire to turn his third spring into a 4-yr, $20M contract. Never mind the first round pick (#19) that was to be forfeited for the pleasure.

We were talking about the #8 spot in the lineup here, and the question was also whether one of the guys on the roster could play there competently and maybe hit a little. We had four infielders still rolling around on the roster that had spent all or most of the season frolicking around on the roster for no greater gains: Bernie Ortega, Jon Bean, Tony Benitez, and the Rule 5er David Gonzales, all of whom played in both Portland and St. Petersburg. Gonzales did so on a rehab assignment of course, due to the nature of his contract. Their hitting success, collectively, was, despite some hot starts in Portland for Ortega and Bean, decidedly limited (age given for what will be Opening Day in 2060):

David Gonzales (28) – Portland: .262/.305/.335, 0 HR, 12 RBI in 174 PA – St. Pete: .417/.476/.417, 0 HR, 4 RBI in 42 PA
Tony Benitez (27): Portland: .262/.359/.310, 0 HR, 13 RBI in 195 PA – St. Pete: .253/.379/.437, 6 HR, 36 RBI in 233 PA
Jon Bean (25): Portland: .254/.295/.296, 1 HR, 19 RBI in 275 PA – St. Pete: .308/.304/.385, 0 HR, 6 RBI in 70 PA
Bernie Ortega (23) – Portland: .265/.284/.335, 1 HR, 15 RBI in 190 PA – St. Pete: .246/.286/.404, 0 HR, 10 RBI in 63 PA – Ham Lake: .265/.314/.427, 5 HR, 25 RBI in 204 PA

There was a bench player for the new season in that group, and maybe two, but did we really want one of them starting at third base? None of them reached even a 90 OPS+. And then there were defensive limitations, with Ortega and Bean lacking the arm strength to play at third base. The most versatile among them was Gonzales, who could play all positions to the West of first base quite competently. Tony Benitez was really a third baseman and lacked the agility up the middle.

If you put those four together, you had a good defensive infielder (at *some* position) that was hitting .260/.308/.316 with two homers and a really toxic relationship with ball four. Five stolen bases, if you’re lucky. And this left out Arturo Bribiesca, who somehow managed to hit even less than this slash line and didn’t even make it back on the roster in September anymore…

So we did want a new third-sacker, and we definitely did want a new starting pitcher to stuff somewhere in that middle of the rotation.

+++

November 24 – The Crusaders acquire 1B John Rosenstiel (.251, 19 HR, 156 RBI) from the Canadiens for LF/RF Eiji Kinoshiita (.247, 13 HR, 81 RBI).
November 26 – New York also picks up 25-yr old C Curt Goodwin (.271, 12 HR, 58 RBI) from the Aces in exchange for #50 prospect SP Chris Monahan.
November 29 – In a week that was the Crusaders’ oyster, they sign former Miners middle infielder Ryan Spehar (.262, 35 HR, 300 RBI) to a 2-yr, 3.44M contract.
November 30 – The Crusaders (apparently the last team left in the league) sign career Aces 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin (.291, 206 HR, 892 RBI) to a 2-yr, $9.44M contract.

+++

Ahead of the Rule 5 draft, the Raccoons’ only moves to protect players was to add Todd Oley back to the 40-man roster and add Miguel Ulloa for the first time, although the 21-year-old outfielder had yet to make it out of Ham Lake. The only other 40-man roster players that had not finished the season on the extended September roster or on the major league DL were thus left-hander Mike Goldfield, first-sackers Joe Agee and Forbes Tomlin, and infielder Arturo Bribiesca.

+++

December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 15 players are taken across three rounds (thanks, Loggers). The Raccoons are not affected.
December 3 – More New York news: the Crusaders acquire the Canadiens’ right-hander Rafael Flores (9-16, 3.24 ERA, 24 SV) for two prospects, including #96 RF Chris Richardson.
December 6 – San Francisco signs former TOP SS/3B Jesus Nunez (.259, 45 HR, 374 RBI) to a 2-year deal that will pay $6.48M to the 32-year-old right-handed batter.

+++

Finding more starting pitching sounded easy at first, but then the free agency group looked rather thin in that regard. Every team immediately crowded around Alfredo Llamas, the former Thunder being perhaps the best option and going to command an absolute fortune despite being 35 years old and not able to strike out even five batters per nine innings. The Raccoons meanwhile sniffed around some detritus washed off the Loggers roster, where Tyler Riddle had missed all of 2059 with a blown-out elbow after producing four seasons between “good!” (not merely: “good”) and “stellar” from 2055 to 2058. But then, well, the elbow. He had not pitched since August 5, 2058, and there was no guarantee he’d hold it together, but he was a soon-to-be 28-year-old southpaw with a 2.99 ERA in 123 starts, and we should be getting involved somehow.

Since he had not pitched at all in 2059, there was also no compensation attached to him, not that I was going to be as picky as before about the #19 pick now. The Crusaders were seven games away and we had already heavily borrowed on that old farm upstate to ship in Nick Nye. There was no thinking about the children right now. (looks up) Slappy, I really do sound like I worked with Nick Valdes for a few decades, don’t I? – (Slappy nods wisely)

But this still wasn’t going to be enough. Even with Stewart coming back from a blown-out shoulder (hopefully!) and even if we signed Riddle onto the roster, we still had Chance Fox and Justin DeRose fooling around at the back end of the rotation. Fox had led the team in wins, walks, and runs allowed, but there was hardly a calm game with him, and DeRose had somehow felt even more awful despite superficially decent numbers. And all the guys with the long names only led to even longer faces. That still left Bobby – (everybody jumps as the 25-year-old right-hander forcefully sneezes into his food bowl and kibble goes flying all across the room) … yes. That. That’s what the spray charts look like.

(Maud calmly goes to work with the broom)

Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) had no chance to make the roster by April. He was outrighted back to the Alley Cats in early December, but that was the only guy from 30 on the roster that could easily be deleted at this stage. Although, in all honesty, some only remained on the roster because they would have to pass through waivers yet again. (cough) Colby Bowen (cough) … Maybe we can swing something at the winter meetings? There’s not much left to trade, though…

And pitching (starters, but also right-handed relievers) wasn’t the only thing still on the shopping list. Our best bet for a backup catcher so far was Cortez Chavez (career: .182, 0 HR, 13 RBI), and it wasn’t hard to identify an opening for a right-handed backup outfielder.

Former Raccoons signing new contracts: Kyle Brobeck went to the Gold Sox for $452k; the Capitals signed Ivan Ornelas for $1.32M; Nick Thomason got $840k over two years from the Knights;

[Westheim]

I never thought the Crusaders would wander in and solve some of our problems, but during the winter meetings, they did. Normally I wouldn’t trade with the team we were trying to beat, but on the fourth day of the meetings, their GM came up with a deal, perhaps intended as an insult, but it was too good to wipe off the table. The Raccoons parted with Kelly Konecny after one year, and got back a very experienced shortstop and a prospect on top of that…!

+++

December 7 – The Rebels land 36-year-old former LAP 3B Bobby Anderson (.267, 156 HR, 1,001 RBI) on a contract worth $7.28M over two years.
December 7 – Loggers CF Steve Valenzano (.259, 9 HR, 166 RBI) retires from baseball at age 24 after having suffered ghastly hand injuries in the final week of the past season when he had tried to make a catch against the wire mesh fencing at Loggers Ballpark.
December 11 – Longtime Falcons INF Ian Woodrome (.280, 69 HR, 587 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $15.9M contract with the Thunder at age 35.
December 11 – The Indians bring in former Stars SP/MR Hyun-soo Bak (41-37, 4.09 ERA, 9 SV) on a 3-year, $4.08M contract.
December 11 – The Titans acquire reliever Andy Younge (6-15, 5.47 ERA, 3 SV) from the Aces for two prospects.
December 12 – Change of Sox for southpaw SP Coby Strutz (27-26, 3.67 ERA); the 27-year-old is traded from the Blue Sox to the Gold Sox for #106 prospect SP Luis Renteria.
December 13 – The Blue Sox remain in selling mode, sending SP Mike Hall (16-16, 3.96 ERA) to the Thunder for a #21 prospect SP Victor Lopez.
December 13 – Oklahoma City also acquires RF/LF Jose Mendoza (.287, 6 HR, 67 RBI) from the Wolves, along with a prospect, for SP Jim Reynolds (110-82, 3.58 ERA).
December 13 – The Canadiens sign ex-OCT SP Tan Brink (114-120, 3.89 ERA, 2 SV), who is coming off a tumultuous year with a 7.17 ERA, to a $1.32M deal.
December 14 – The Raccoons acquire 29-year-old SS Nick Fowler (.282, 21 HR, 193 RBI) and 19-yr old A SS Mike Rybarczyk from the Crusaders for 26-year-old OF Kelly Konecny (.304, 3 HR, 96 RBI).
December 15 – New first baseman in Tijuana, as 1B Jason Sturgeon (.278, 24 HR, 132 RBI) comes over from Cincinnati, along with a prospect, for C Jerry Morales (.246, 17 HR, 100 RBI).

+++

No, of course Nick Fowler is not going to play over Lonzo. Please remain serious! Just look at him, almost no speed and no base stealing vigor!

But maybe Lonzo needs more days off in the future, and he could be inserted against right-handed pitching for sure. The prospect included was a former 12th-rounder, but at least it was a nice gesture. I’m not hot on having to go backup outfielder shopping now, but Konecny was pale all season long, and we’re ready to throw something else against the wall.

Apart from that, the winter meetings did little for us except jacking up the price on Tyler Riddle, which had almost doubled since we had first gotten to talking to him. It wasn’t a budget issue *yet*, but between Riddle and two veteran right-handed relievers that we really needed while simultaneously drowning in left-handers, there were only $3.2M of budget space left, and the backup outfielder group on the extended roster now consisted entirely of Ben Morris, who had turned all of 22 this month. Backup catcher, too.

One backup outfielder spot could be adequately filled with Todd Oley, but we also needed a right-hander out there, and the only righty-hitting outfielder in AAA was Felix Ayala, also 22, and hitting a mere .244 with the Alley Cats in ’59. Well… there was still Jack Kozak. He would be 25 on Opening Day, wasn’t master of any of his many positions that we tried to squeeze him into, and hadn’t exactly lit the world on fire with the stick. He wasn’t a *terrible* (and cheap!) option, though, considering that he could fill in both at first base for Joel Starr and in leftfield for an outfielder. Some boldly claimed that he could play centerfield, too, but I wasn’t buying it. Bernie Ortega and Jon Bean were more ham-fisted, hare-brain-schemed ideas for makeshift outfielders, but only the former batted righty.

Funny tidbit: this season was the first time since 2046 that the Raccoons failed to score 100 bases, stopping at 98. The reason is clear (Lonzo! *sob!*). It was also the fourth season in a row we failed to hit 100 home runs (also 98!), marking the third such instance in team history after 1978-81 and 1997-2000. So, yeah, the boys needed to up the tally by two to not set the lamest franchise record imaginable in 2060…

Ex-Critters? Poor Pucks signed a $600k deal with the Cyclones. Dave Blackshire got 2-yr, $884k from the Indians.

I also feel like we might have a sizeable Hall of Fame class in 2060.

[Westheim]

December 25 – 35-year-old former Thunder SP Alfredo Llamas (130-111, 3.62 ERA) gets paid, as he signed to a 3-yr, $21.4M contract by the Stars.
December 25 – The Raccoons sign reclamation project SP Tyler Riddle (53-38, 2.99 ERA) to a $2.8M deal for 2060. The 28-year-old former Logger has not pitched since August of 2058.
December 27 – Sacramento adds ex-TIJ LF Tim Duncan (.255, 152 HR, 671 RBI) on a 3-yr, $8.88M deal.
December 31 – 36-year-old C Jose Cantu (.276, 188 HR, 903 RBI) will be on his fifth FL team in 42 months on Opening Day after signing a 2-yr, $9.92M deal with the Gold Sox. He played for the Blue Sox, Caps, Miners, and Pacifics in the last three seasons.
January 1 – A 4-year-deal worth $27.6M puts ex-TOP C Matt McLaren (.282, 181 HR, 622 RBI) on the Crusaders.
January 4 – The Raccoons add two right-handed relievers in one go, signing former Pacifics MR Ryan Sullivan (50-50, 3.15 ERA, 141 SV) and former Wolves MR Ruben Mendez (47-50, 3.50 ERA, 174 SV). The 30-year-old Sullivan receives a 3-yr, $4.4M contract, while Mendez, age 33, joins for $2.8M over two years.
January 4 – The Bayhawks trade SS Eric Cirelli (.268, 6 HR, 53 RBI) to the Gold Sox for CL Bill Goda (24-28, 3.99 ERA, 18 SV).
January 7 – The Loggers send infielder Bill Sostre (.272, 31 HR, 142 RBI) to the Pacifics for OF James Wilks (.231, 5 HR, 29 RBI).
January 9 – 38-year-old 1B/LF/RF/3B Mike Harmon (.267, 195 HR, 895 RBI), most recently with the Thunder, signs a 2-yr, $5.5M contract with the Scorpions.

+++

Much improved pitching staff! Riddle fills out the rotation nicely, although there was still upgrade potential around Justin DeRose. The two veteran right-handers, both former closers, meanwhile would effortlessly extend tough-as-nails qualities into the seventh and eighth innings *and* got the Raccoons closer to have a bullpen entirely consisting of pitchers whose given names started with R, joining Ricky Herrera and Reynaldo Bravo. Good times!

Together with what was left of the old bullpen – Walters, Ricky “Wins” Herrera, and Bravo for sure, and maybe Rios? – that left one spot for either another left-hander or a long man, or maybe both. For left-handers, we still had three options on the roster in Adam “Peppers” Harris, Elijah LaBat, and Nick Brown Memorial Pick Brad Loveless. Not enough has been said to praise Loveless, which is perhaps up to par for his name, but he made 30 mostly clean appearances out of the pen after the unlikely call-up after three earlier appearances in June. Yes, the walks were up, but somehow he still managed to avoid damage for the most part, and struck out 24 batters against 17 walks. Not awful for a 24-year-old 11th-rounder, but would that be enough to make the Opening Day roster?

If we went for a long man on the roster, then there were plenty of options in Damasceno, Sensabaugh, and Colby Bowen (snickers).

Since there were only $3M left in budget space, we would not spend any more on bullpen upgrades, so the last spots in the pen would be filled from what we already had on paw, especially since we still needed a third baseman, a right-handed outfielder and a backup catcher that could beat Cortez Chavez, a bar so low you could step over it. If we did not want Ben Morris to waste his youth on the bench, then we needed even two outfielders, although one of them might be Kozak or even Todd Oley.

The addition of Nick Fowler took one spot away from the crop of mostly awful middle infielders we had accumulated in recent times.

Contracts for ex-Coons: Victor Salcido took $1.92M from the Blue Sox; Harry Ramsay joined the Caps for $840k;

+++

2060 HALL OF FAME VOTING

No fewer than five new players would join the Hall of Fame in 2060, including four that were on the ballot for the first time!

5-time Player of the Year Jerry Outram topped the table with the highest vote share (98.3%). Not only did he win MVP honors five times, he also won six batting titles, and eight times in his career led the league in OBP and OPS. The menace won Rookie of the Year honors in 2036 and spent the first 18 years of his career with the Canadiens before a couple of hangers-on gigs in the mid-2050s. Outram was sent to the All Star Game 11 times, won 10 Platinum Sticks, and a World Series championship with the Canadiens in 2038. A rare combination of high batting average, strong power, and for a long time at least solid defense in rightfield, Outram terrorized the CL North in particular with a career .323/.441/.502 slash line, collecting 2,368 hits, 302 home runs, and 1,207 RBI. He also stole 129 bases.

Dallas outfielder Tylor Cecil didn’t have the longevity, but he sure had the week, winning three Player of the Year awards in the Federal League. Debuting with the Stars at 21, he spent a decade with that team before joining the Gold Sox, but then had his career unraveled by persistent injuries, and didn’t manage to put a qualifying season together after age 31, and retired when he was 35. Three times he led the Federal League in RBI and slugging, and once won the home run crown with 38 home runs in 2047. He took home the 2040 Rookie of the Year award, two Gold Gloves, four Platinum Sticks, and four World Series rings, one with the Stars and three with the Gold Sox.

Jesus Adames was a career Thunder, appearing for them in 18 seasons, although that included two with just one or two appearances. When he was a roster mainstay, he would catch up to 144 games a year, and often challenged for the batting title, without ever winning it. He took home a home run title in 2043, though, and twice led the CL in slugging and once in OPS in the mid-2040s. A three-time Player of the Year, Adames was a regular at the All Star Game, with 11 appearances there, and won seven Platinum Sticks and two Gold Gloves along with a championship in 2053, his final season as a regular. He hit for a career slash of .301/.382/.467 with 2,229 hits, 278 home runs, 1,163 RBI.

Hugo Acosta played in the league for 20 seasons, starting with a decade in Dallas white before tingling through eight different cities in the second decade of his career. A stick-first second baseman, he won four batting titles in his first six full seasons, which also included leading the FL in triples four times (five times in his career), and in stolen bases twice. His 76 stolen bases in 2038 are still the single-season record in the ABL. Never a threat to win a Gold Glove, he took home four Platinum Sticks and five All Stars, while being consistently underappreciated for his lack of home run power – he never hit more than seven home runs in a season. He also never won a championship despite purchasing nine different tickets. His career left him with a slash of .333/.383/.437 with 3,055 hits, 30 homers, 1,141 RBI, and 476 stolen bases. Acosta is now the first player in the Hall of Fame, alphabetically, both him and Adames replacing Blue Sox third baseman Jim Allen at the top of the list.

Jesus Maldonado was a career Raccoon, debuting at 21, and lasting 18 seasons with the team in a Swiss Army knife role. Partaking in the Raccoons’ triplet of championships in the mid-2040s, Maldonado was an All Star seven times and won three Platinum Sticks, all at third base, although for the first half of his career he was mostly used as an outfielder. Maldonado never took home a Gold Glove, mostly because he never hung around at one position, especially early in his career when he put appear at as many as six positions in a single season. He played in 2,282 ABL games, but no more than 753 at any one position (third base). A solid centerfielder in his younger years, he was eventually relegated to first base and rightfield as his body developed all sorts of aches and pains. He batted .289/.350/.436 with 2,359 hits, 210 home runs, and 1,165 RBI for his career, and also stole 146 bases.

Full results:

VAN CF Jerry Outram – 1st – 98.3% – INDUCTED
DAL CF Tylor Cecil – 1st – 95.0% – INDUCTED
OCT C Jesus Adames – 1st – 92.9% – INDUCTED
DAL 2B Hugo Acosta – 1st – 92.5% – INDUCTED
POR 3B Jesus Maldonado – 3rd – 84.2% – INDUCTED
SAL C Morgan Kuhlmann – 9th – 12.0%
??? RF Juan Benavides – 1st – 11.2%
NYC C Fernando Alba – 1st – 10.8%
??? 2B Mario Briones – 1st – 10.0%
BOS SP Rich Willett – 8th – 10.0%
??? SP John Kennedy – 1st – 7.9%
ATL SP Brian Buttress – 1st – 7.5%
CHA CL Josh Livingston – 2nd – 7.5%
??? SP Juan Ramos – 1st – 7.5%
PIT SP Roberto Pruneda – 7th – 5.8%
DAL SP Eric Weitz – 9th – 4.6% – DROPPED
??? SP Brad Santry – 4th – 4.1% – DROPPED
PIT C Giampaolo Petroni – 2nd – 2.9% – DROPPED
SAC LF Mike Preble – 2nd – 1.2% – DROPPED
??? CF Alex Marquez – 1st – 0.8% – DROPPED
MIL SS Ted Del Vecchio – 2nd – 0.8% – DROPPED

[Westheim]

Rule of thumb, once you reached January, the interesting part of the offseason was over, but this year more than half of the type A free agents were still lingering, including Titans thunderer Randy Wilken f.e., and the Raccoons had loaded up on pitching already, but were still looking for bench pieces and the third base job was also still something that was up for discussion.

One discussion was whether we would look for another medium-sized free agent addition (there was no budget room left for plus-sized additions) at all, or whether a serviceable #8 spot platoon could be pieced together from the rubbish that had regularly filled three lineup spots day in, day out in 2059. The #8 spot bit was important, because as long as we assumed that Joey Christopher could put up a near-.400 OBP in a full season, and Lonzo would go back to hitting like .270 with 50 stolen bases, the top of the order was sorted, and then the #3 through #7 spots were very densely packed indeed. We didn’t need magic, but getting more than a .650 OPS from third base would be nice.

At this point we should also acknowledge that in the middle of January Juan Ojeda was still available on the market and given his rather middling output in 2059 (.619 OPS) also for quite cheap. But that was a low bar to jump over while saving a million bucks by not resigning him.

Since Nick Nye didn’t have the arm to play third base except in emergency situations, that was also not an option. Bernie Ortega had the worst arm on the infield and was out of the conversation entirely, while Nick Fowler, the backup to Lonzo acquired from the Crusaders, did have a good enough arm, but definitely lacked experience at third base. He had played all of 2.4% of his 3,597 major league innings at third base, with 38 innings in ’59 a single-season high.

Switch-hitting David Gonzales had put together 109 decent, but unspectacular innings at third base as the Rule 5 that survived. He was a much better right-handed batter than left-handed, lighting up southpaws to a .366 clip. Tony Benitez was also a switch-hitter who was a proper third-sacker by trade, and who hit precious little, but still better against right-handed batters (.274 vs. .227). 12th-rounder Jon Bean was a left-handed batter that had played more up the middle in the minors, but from looking at him was probably best suited for third base. Nevertheless, all 585 innings he had played for the Critters in 2059 had come up the middle, and the vast majority as lackluster Lonzo replacement at shortstop. He had the worst OPS amongst everybody, despite playing almost exclusively against right-handed pitching, getting all of 17 at-bats against lefties.

A platoon between Gonzales (vs. lefties) and Benitez (vs. righties) then? That would fill all the infield roster spots we could spare, together with Lonzo, Nye, and Fowler, and with two first baseman already on the roster, Starr and Kozak, the latter of whom was also moonlighting through the outfield. That was a total of seven infielders, leaving only one proper outfielder spot in addition to Brass, Cas, and Joe-Chris. That would not be Ben Morris, and probably also not either Todd Oley and Carlos Solorzano from AAA, as we would really prefer a righty bat in the mix there. The only right-handed bats among the OF/1B group so far were Brass and Kozak. Yes, sitting down Cas and Starr against left-handers was probably not required for performance reasons; Starr had still batted for an OPS just over .800 against southpaws in ’59, and Cas for his career had very balanced splits. This past season, his OPS against lefties had been even *higher* than against right-handers. But they all need the occasional day of rest, and do we want to replace them with any left-handed dork?

The backup catcher spot also remained to be filled; the damn Elks then called and offered 35-year-old catcher Luke Burnham for Todd Oley and a case of refreshments, but Burnham was clearly over the hill in our opinion and was a no-deal.

+++

January 18 – Los Angeles signs up ex-DEN SP Jim Cushing (73-65, 3.42 ERA) with a 2-year, $13.6M contract.
January 26 – The Pacifics trade 1B/OF/2B Jimmy Hartgrove (.300, 2 HR, 21 RBI) to the Rebels for 1B Pedro Parada (.310, 10 HR, 38 RBI). Both are 25 years old.
January 26 – Pittsburgh gets 27-year-old SP Cory Ritter (25-59, 5.58 ERA) and cash from the Stars for two prospects, including #177 SP Bobby Marceau.
January 30 – The Buffaloes sign former Bayhawks INF/LF/RF Adam Peltier (.280, 83 HR, 544 RBI) to a 5-year contract. The 31-year-old will make $31.1M as part of the deal.
February 1 – The Raccoons add last year’s Loggers primary catcher Chris Maresh (.236, 54 HR, 294 RBI) on an $800k contract.
February 5 – 34-year-old longtime Crusaders catcher Mike Seidman (.280, 48 HR, 463 RBI) signs a $1.2M contract with the Wolves.
February 12 – The Falcons get SP Phil Baker (51-33, 3.82 ERA) from the Warriors for outfielder Cory Oldfield (.251, 41 HR, 237 RBI).
February 13 – The Gold Sox sign last year’s CL destroyer 3B Randy Wilken (.251, 279 HR, 1,072 RBI) to a 2-year deal that will pay the 36-year-old ex-Titan $6.2M, significantly below expectations.

+++

Maresh ticks the “backup catcher” box nicely enough. Not spectacular in any way, and he’s on his fourth team in quick succession, and the Loggers sucked their way to the worst record in the CL with him, so that’s that.

Other new deals for old Coons: Gaudencio Callaia got $500k from the Indians; Steve Watson got $450k from the Scorpions;

[Westheim]

All off-seasons end eventually, even this one. Although the Raccoons were still on the phone in March, mostly because that righty backup outfield thing dragged along and along and along… The signing didn’t come together until halfway through training camp and with just two weeks to go before the new season.

+++

March 21 – The Raccoons bring back 36-year-old OF Oscar Caballero (.269, 79 HR, 675 RBI), who spent a season and a half with Portland previously, on a $1.9M contract.
April 1 – One feather hat for another: longtime Indians LF/RF/1B Bill Quinteros (.269, 320 HR, 1,232 RBI), age 38, signs a 2-yr, $11.53M contract with the Warriors, four days before Opening Day.

+++

Caballero still had defense and speed and added another switch-hitting bat to the roster. He only hit .246 with four homers for Sacramento last year, but was smitten with a BABIP almost 50 points under his usual range while doing so. Caballero would be a veteran presence on the roster, juuuust a little more glue from a 15th-year player.

#16 was returned to Caballero. Forbes Tomlin would get something else, should he be called up again. Last time around Caballero left the Raccoons by being traded to the Crusaders, along with Kennedy Adkins, for Justin DeRose and J.J. Sensabaugh (yaaay). Adkins’ career had since fallen apart, so at least we didn’t lose that trade… Todd Oley, just added back to the 40-man for the Rule 5 draft, ended up on waivers yet again to make room on the 40-man roster for Caballero.

That also ended speculations about whether we’d add a pricey third baseman at long last. There was only a small reserve of about $1.6M left in the budget, plus whatever amount of cookie dough we had in loose cash. Third base would be filled by that odd switch/switch platoon of Gonzales and Benitez. That, and the Caballero signing, filled up all the roster spots available on the position player side.

Also: Brett Lillis jr. joined the Condors on a 3-yr, $2.63M contract; Raffy de la Cruz got $468k from the Indians;

[Westheim]

2060 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2059 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions;

SP Bobby Herrera, 29, B:R, T:R (12-12, 3.08 ERA | 24-23, 3.15 ERA) – the strikeouts went up in his second season over from Cuba with that changeup and slider combo gaining some teeth up to almost 200 strikeouts in 227 innings. Tipsy Bobby continued to get no run support, though, and will keep looking for a 13th win to a season.
SP Zach Stewart, 32, B:L, T:L (1-3, 3.55 ERA | 48-57, 3.81 ERA, 3 SV) – missed most of his second season as a Raccoon after suffering a torn rotator cuff in May, when he looked like he might repeat his nice 2.89 ERA from ’58. Didn’t get back to pitching until deep into the winter, and the Raccoons will have to hope that all the stitches hold together.
SP Tyler Riddle *, 28, B:L, T:L (no stats (injured) | 53-38, 2.99 ERA, 2 SV) – signed as free agent from the Loggers after missing half of ’58 and all of ’59, and it looked bad enough for him at times that he could not get more than a 1-year contract, either. In the six (partially partial) seasons he did pitch for Milwaukee, he got some nice results with a top level changeup.
SP Chance Fox, 25, B:L, T:L (14-5, 3.86 ERA | 20-13, 4.13 ERA) – former #3 pick and groundballer with iffy control, Fox was promoted from St. Pete in the middle of the 2058 season and got roughed up regularly, but pitched a few nice games as well. Also throws 96 with a nice slider and changeup. Led the team in W’s in 2059, but we’d hope for better still than 4.1 BB/9 and 6.1 K/9.
SP Justin DeRose, 26, B:S, T:R (8-13, 3.78 ERA | 13-21, 4.18 ERA) – one of two Texan rookies acquired from the Crusaders for 2057 Opening Day man Kennedy Adkins and Oscar Caballero at the deadline in 2057, him and Sensabaugh were thrown right into the deep end and … it was much horror with both of them ever since. DeRose feigned enough occasional competence to hang on to a roster spot for all of ’59, though, and kept his into the new season mostly because we didn’t have the budget space to acquire a big free agent hurler.

MR Alex Rios, 26, B:R, T:R (3-0, 2.21 ERA | 4-0, 2.81 ERA) – after four years of up and down, Rios finally made the Opening Day roster after already making 46 appearances last season. Best described as solid, with a very good fastball/slider combo and the heat topping out at 95, but not so great control and low stamina, so he wasn’t a long relief option even though he was perhaps the least cherished reliever in the fold to start the season.
MR Elijah LaBat, 26, B:L, T:L (0-1, 2.16 ERA | 0-1, 2.16 ERA) – cutter/curve left-hander that was taken in the supplemental round in ’56 and reached the majors for the first time last season, where we expected more than 4.9 K/9, but have yet to get it.
MR Reynaldo Bravo, 28, B:R, T:R (6-7, 3.38 ERA, 2 SV | 10-13, 3.27 ERA, 2 SV) – good fastball/curveball, not such a great rotator cuff. But he’s been healthy for the last couple of seasons, and struck out 10.0/9 in 2059 to assume primary right-handed duties after Takenori Tanizaki was divested of. The veteran additions to the pen will not keep him in a setup role, although his skill set allows us a great deal of mix-and-match with the bullpen.
MR Ruben Mendez *, 33, B:R, T:R (1-2, 3.00 ERA, 1 SV | 47-50, 3.50 ERA, 174 SV) – signed as free agent after a mostly injured season with the Wolves, although he won the CL saves title with the Knights in ’58, so he can definitely pitch; 2-year deal for this free agent.
SU Ricky Herrera, 28, B:L, T:L (11-4, 2.62 ERA, 1 SV | 16-7, 2.65 ERA, 1 SV) – former second-rounder with a fastball/slider combo that pitched very nicely in limited action in 2056 but his first full season was more of a struggle, with his K/BB getting somewhat unhinged, although he had his strong moments, too. After two years of solid duty and five wins in relief he then broke out to set a new franchise record for a reliever, winning 11 games out of the pen, and almost tying Tipsy Bobby for winningest Herrera on the roster. The primary lefty option in the pen with Eloy Sencion no more (besides Matt Walters of course).
SU Ryan Sullivan *, 30, B:L, T:R (8-6, 3.26 ERA | 50-50, 3.26 ERA, 141 SV) – two stints as a Crusaders closer, two years in L.A., and now a 3-year deal with the Raccoons as free agent; also a devious curveball in addition to the 94mph fastball.
CL Matt Walters, 29, B:L, T:L (1-1, 2.09 ERA, 42 SV | 11-12, 1.76 ERA, 159 SV) – the two-time … (gets eraser and goes to work) … the three-time CL Reliever of the Year and two-time CL saves champion pitched for a very steady season with few complaints and got the K/9 back up to 12.1/9 after a dip in the prior season when he missed two months and started slow after his return from a knee injury. Good boy. Loves snacks.

C Angel Perez, 24, B:R, T:R (.301, 3 HR, 29 RBI | .306, 3 HR, 31 RBI) – acquired with Jack Kozak from the Pacifics for mostly Jesus Martinez last July, Perez immediately made a bit of a splash, not necessarily in the power department, but with good work behind the plate and a steady supply of base hits and keeping the line moving. Runs like a catcher though, so we’ll probably have him hit behind all the other big guys that actually got legs.
C Chris Maresh *, 30, B:R, T:R (.217, 15 HR, 80 RBI | .236, 54 HR, 294 RBI) – Loggers’ primary catcher last year, so adjust your expectations, and now in as the backup catcher to Angel Perez. He is run of the mill for many categories, except that he has a bunch of pop.

1B Joel Starr, 27, B:L, T:L (.293, 19 HR, 86 RBI | .299, 26 HR, 113 RBI) – while he’s already a bit older than prime prospect porn, he still won a Platinum Stick in his first full season in the majors at age 26. Good steady bat with power, normal defense at first base, and then has not a lot of raw speed, but he somehow had timing the pitcher down and could steal a couple of bases here and there.
SS/2B/3B Nick Nye *, 29, B:R, T:R (.339, 35 HR, 96 RBI | .315, 132 HR, 586 RBI) – THE Addition of the offseason! Nick Nye was a former FL Player of the Year and had won a sack full of titles and awards with the Blue Sox in the last few years, including bagging the FL homer crown in 2059. While he would have to get used to playing second base, because even Players of the Year have to pay homage to King Lonzo, Nye is totally gonna be the first star position player in 50 years not to tank 50 points off his batting average and half his power within three minutes of arriving in Portland. Totally!
SS Lorenzo Lavorano, 32, B:R, T:R (.341, 1 HR, 8 RBI | .280, 35 HR, 506 RBI) – Everybody loves Lonzo! If you don’t love Lonzo, you can’t be my friend…! Has won seven stolen base titles in eight full (as in: not-injured) seasons, a Gold Glove at least once… and he keeps being a delight in the field and on the career steals list, where he crept into sixth place last year with 577 career thefts in 800 attempts – keep running, boy! Of course, running was not the issue last year – his shoulder came apart, and his season ended in April. That sucked.
3B/SS Tony Benitez, 27, B:S, T:R (.262, 0 HR, 13 RBI | .237, 0 HR, 17 RBI) – the Raccoons have a third base platoon between two switch-hitters, because why not fined new ways to be quirky? Benitez brings a stick better against right-handers, good defense at third base, and has been struggling to hit for a good while now and in several call-ups over multiple years.
2B/3B/SS David Gonzales, 27, B:S, T:R (.262, 0 HR, 12 RBI | .244, 2 HR, 22 RBI) – other half to the third base platoon; Gonzales was a Rule 5 pick lasty year; good defense at three positions, but can’t do anything but poke the odd single with the stick, and doesn’t really believe in the concept of ball four.
SS/2B Nick Fowler *, 29, B:L, T:R (.285, 5 HR, 47 RBI | .282, 21 HR, 193 RBI) – acquired from the Crusaders in a convenient deal that was their idea entirely, Fowler is an opposite-handed capable backup to Lonzo, who should get more days off to keep him in one piece now.
1B/CF/LF Jack Kozak, 25, B:R, T:R (.261, 0 HR, 4 RBI | .236, 0 HR, 6 RBI) – the other half of the July Pacifics trade last year, and he didn’t hit for a lot actually, but there is quite a bit of promise, if we can actually find a spot to play for him; right now he’s a right-handed batter without much of a position and will probably at one point be seen erring around a dark Raccoons Ballpark and misfiling a game-losing double in the outfield.

LF/RF/1B Trent Brassfield, 27, B:R, T:R (.289, 19 HR, 85 RBI | .280, 58 HR, 294 RBI) – sketchy defender that made a name with his stick as a 21-year-old before flaying a shoulder, and he’s chased that 151 OPS+ in 48 games ever since without getting remotely close. 2059 was a clear step in the right direction, though, his second 124+ OPS+ in three years, and solid, reliable, honest work.
CF/1B/LF/RF Noah Caswell, 30, B:L, T:L (.287, 21 HR, 107 RBI | .292, 74 HR, 463 RBI) – exceptional defender and well-above-average hitter that was signed on a huge $36M contract as a free agent from the Wolves. Four consecutive CF Gold Gloves in the Federal League leave no question about who will play that position on this roster! Okay he has yet to win one of those with the Raccoons, but we’re confident that he’ll catch some attention even on the wrong side of 30. Offensively, was a consistent force last year and piled up 56 extra-base hits mostly out of the #3 hole.
RF/LF/CF/1B Joey Christopher, 24, B:L, T:L (.219, 2 HR, 18 RBI | .237, 2 HR, 24 RBI) – yes, that’s our starting rightfielder, stop snickering. Joe-Chris has a .367 BABIP in the majors in three partial seasons, and most of that out of the leadoff spot. He’s not bringing the power, he’s giving the guys with the power something to drive home!
LF/RF/CF Oscar Caballero *, 36, B:S, T:R (.246, 4 HR, 35 RBI | .269, 79 HR, 675 RBI) – returns to Portland as free agent 2 1/2 years after leaving in the deal that brought in DeRose et al.; still a capable outfielder with wide range, and his bat, when not completely having his pants pulled down by BABIP, is still good enough for a close to .300 batting average with some extra-base power. Also a good presence on the roster.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
SP/MR Colby Bowen, 31, B:R, T:R (0-0, 5.23 ERA | 0-2, 5.42 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; nice young man that fell into the Coons’ lap eight years ago in a trade with the Warriors. Good character, just not a pitcher. 54 garbage time outings and two white flag spot starts in his career, for 79.2 innings over five seasons.
SP/MR Duarte Damasceno, 28, B:R, T:R (6-8, 3.90 ERA | 12-8, 3.70 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; acquired from the Bayhawks in a rather dead trade, Damasceno, who was a Coons farmpaw as a teenager, has always struggled with control and spent much of the prior season in the minors. Replaced Stewart after the lefty’s injury, but was mostly annoying in the rotation, barely putting together more strikeouts than walks, and being quite hittable on top of that.
SP/MR J.J. Sensabaugh, 27, B:R, T:R (3-1, 4.67 ERA | 8-9, 4.86 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; the other half next to DeRose that came back from New York for Kennedy Adkins three years ago, and he has yet to amount to more than garbage innings. Too many walks, too many homers.
MR Adam Harris, 25, B:R, T:L (0-0, 1.17 ERA | 0-0, 3.89 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; beset with control issues, he had a few nice outings in his annual pair of call-ups, but drew the short end of the stick against Elijah LaBat for the final roster spot.
MR Brad Loveless, 24, B:L, T:L (3-0, 1.88 ERA | 3-0, 1.88 ERA) – optioned to AAA; former Nick Brown Memorial Pick that was called up first in a dire spot and then permanently by the Raccoons last year, and made 33 appearances without drawing permanent ire. Walks were too high to persist against a former supplemental-rounder, but not too high for having been a #279 pick. Will probably be back at some point!
C Cortez Chavez, 26, B:R, T:R (.250, 0 HR, 0 RBI | .182, 0 HR, 13 RBI) – optioned to AAA; indifferent behind the dish, and couldn’t hit a lick during a long stint as backup in ’58, but only got into six games last year.
2B/LF Bernie Ortega, 23, B:R, T:R (.265, 1 HR, 15 RBI | .265, 1 HR, 15 RBI) – optioned to AAA; hit very well for two weeks after first getting promoted into our general middle infield mess last year, but eventually petered out to hitting at replacement level.
2B/SS/LF/3B Jon Bean, 25, B:L, T:R (.254, 1 HR, 19 RBI | .254, 1 HR, 19 RBI) – optioned to AAA; after getting a half-season’s worth of at-bats of being Lonzo’s injury replacement and living up to it by hitting at replacement level.
CF/LF Ben Morris, 22, B:L, T:L (.222, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .194, 0 HR, 2 RBI) – optioned to AAA; alternate version of Joey Christopher, except that he doesn’t have the arm to play rightfield and needs a lot more ripening.

Everybody not mentioned by now has already been waived, reassigned, or disappeared through a woodchipper during the offseason.

OPENING DAY LINEUP:

Vs. RHP: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano (Fowler) – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P
Vs. LHP: RF Christopher (Caballero) – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – CF Caswell (Caballero) – 1B Brassfield – C Perez – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P

That’s a very dense lineup! …if Lonzo can stay productive, and if you mentally ignore the #8 spot.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

The Raccoons won the offseason according to BNN, putting on 12.5 WAR, of which more than half came from the Nick Nye trade with Nashville. The other Nick (Fowler) added almost 3 WAR, and the free agents filled it out for another almost 3 WAR. Note that Tyler Riddle didn’t add anything in there because he didn’t pitch at all in 2059.

Top 5: Raccoons (+12.5), Gold Sox (+7.6), Capitals (+6.2), Wolves (+5.1), Crusaders, Canadiens (+4.4 / tie)
Bottom 5: Aces (-6.2), Knights (-6.3), Loggers (-7.2), Bayhawks (-7.6), Blue Sox (-13.0)

The Indians remained indifferent with a +0.8 WAR, 9th among all teams, while the Titans lost -4.9 WAR, 19th in the league.

PREDICTION TIME:

I wasn’t a big believer in winning ways before last season, picking the team to win just 76 games but they took home 87. That was on the back of an underwhelming offseason where we missed out on our main target(s), and then had to settle for rentals.

Not such a problem this year. While the rotation still has question marks, all other areas of the roster have been overhauled and improved in the last ten months or so, and the team should challenge the Crusaders for the division. Whether we can actually get there…? No idea. But it’s not gonna be 15 games back at the All Star Game. Hopefully.

I’d say 92-70.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

The Raccoons were 22nd in the farm rankings even entering the previous season, and then we lost half our ranked prospects: #115 Elijah LaBat and #137 Ben Morris exceeded rookie limits, and #60 Isaiah Birth, our top-ranked prospect, had to be sacrificed to the Blue Sox for Nick Nye in the winter. And that was before #164 John Bollinger dropped out of the ranks entirely in the new edition of the rankings, leaving us with just two outfielders.

The result? The Raccoons shot from 22nd to 7th in the new prospect rankings. What? Instead of six ranked prospects (three in the top 100), the Raccoons now had nine ranked prospects (but still three in the top 100), including a lofty #4 prospect that had been a $350k signing in the 2057 July IFA period.

4th (+71) – A RF/LF Jose Corral, 19 – 2057 international free agent signed by Raccoons
26th (new) – A 1B Jon Herbert, 18 – 2059 first-round pick by Raccoons
60th (new) – AAA SP Angel Alba, 23 – 2053 scouting discovery by Raccoons

120th (new) – A SP Victor Herrera, 19 – 2057 international free agent signed by Raccoons
127th (new) – A INF/RF/LF Victor Morales, 18 – 2059 international free agent signed by Raccoons
169th (new) – AAA 1B Joe Agee, 25 – 2056 first-round pick by Raccoons
182nd (new) – AA SP Daniel Benitez, 21 – 2057 international free agent signed by Raccoons
183rd (-99) – AA 2B/OF Jose Ulloa, 21 – 2055 international free agent signed by Raccoons
185th (new) – AA 1B Alex Vargas, 19 – 2058 second-round pick by Raccoons

The top 10 for the team are completed by AAA 1B Forbes Tomlin, our 2054 first-round pick.

Finally, the top 10 overall prospects this year are:

1st (0) – BOS ML OF Eddie Marcotte, 22
2nd (new) – IND A SP Matt Martin, 19
3rd (+2) – LVA AA OF Jake Evans, 22
4th (+71) – POR A RF/LF Jose Corral, 19
5th (+23) – NYC AAA RF/LF Javier Acuna, 24

6th (+11) – MIL AA RF Dave Wright, 20
7th (+55) – VAN AA SP Ken Nielsen, 21
8th (-6) – BOS AA SP Bryce Wallace, 20
9th (+4) – NAS ML C Nick Dingman, 24
10th (+1) – DAL AA SP Ian Peters, 20

Marcotte was the #1 prospect for the third straight year, and he was on the Opening Day roster after a September debut last year, hitting .279 in 20 games, with two homers and four stolen bases.

Matt Martin was the #2 pick in the most recent amateur draft in 2059. He was the only new draftee in the top 10, with the other six new entrants in the top 10 all having been taken in 2058 or earlier. That still left seven players that had been in the top 10 last year and now were not anymore.

Former #4 prospect C Nate Danis spent the entire season on the Scorpions roster and hit .225 with nine homers.

Ahead of him was Indians left-hander Mike DeWitt, but he appeared in only five games with the big league team for a 3.38 ERA, exceeded rookie limits along the way, and was now back in AAA Chandler anyway. Also exceeding rookie limits in 2059 was Chad Cardwell, Condors outfielder, batting .247 with two homers in 61 games for Tijuana, but the 23-year-old was now back to AAA Los Reyes.

Condors left-hander Ben Caldwell slid from #6 to #19 without getting out of AA Nogales. Indians right-hander Kelly Whitney had a strong season in single-A and was up to double-A at age 20, but was demoted from #7 to #12. The old #9 Ryan Davis, another Condors prospect pitcher (righty, though), dropped to #34 after not getting out of single-A ball. And former #10 prospect Tony Garcia, a Pacifics outfielder that spent all year in AAA, hitting a respectable .317 with five homers in 111 games, imploded all the way to #124, 114 positions in freefall.

Next: first pitch.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 6-8, 2060

The best the Raccoons had managed against the lowly Loggers in the last six years had been to fight them to a draw three times, and they lost the season series the other three times. Last year had been a draw, never mind that the Loggers had bottomed out. The Loggers started the season with veteran reliever Roberto Alvarado still on the DL from last year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (0-0) vs. Julian Dunn (0-0)
Zach Stewart (0-0) vs. Ernesto Culver (0-0)
Tyler Riddle (0-0) vs. Roger Pritchard (0-0)

First southpaw of the season from an opposing team? Look no further than the last game of this series!

While the season started with an off day for the Raccoons, they would then not have another one until Week 3. Unless the Portland weather got funny eventually.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera
MIL: CF Franks – 2B Garmon – SS Carrera – 1B D. Robles – LF Pigman – RF Milian – C M. Reed – 3B Lange – P Dunn

The Loggers lineup had grown more anonymous since even last year, which didn’t stop known threat Perry Pigman to hit a 1-out single in the second inning for the first hit overall in the game, then steal second base. He moved up further on David Milian’s groundout, and then scored on a 2-out, 2-strike wild pitch. Yay, the Raccoons! Don’t worry, folks – we’ll be here all year!

In three innings, the fluffy Coons managed three walks – two drawn by Joey Christopher – and no base knocks, but new Nick Nye niftily knobbed a single into shallow right to begin the top of the fourth inning. Starr singled to left and Brass drew a walk, which filled the bases with nobody out, and me with much foreboding. Angel Perez tied the game with a sac fly to right-center, but Benitez whiffed and Tipsy Bobby popped out to leave the game tied. Neither team then managed to get as much as a third hit through the end of six, but Dunn was up to five free passes by then, without getting due punishment from either the Raccoons lineup or his own manager.

Dunn then allowed a leadoff double to Herrera in the top 7th, before the Loggers chose to intentionally walk Joe-Chris for an interesting strategy. Lonzo flew out to right on a 2-0 pitch, while Cas dropped a single into left that loaded the bags again. Nick Nye, our hero and savior, then on point hit into a double play, proving that he was already a full member of the team. Instead, Herrera came apart for a leadoff single by Corey Garmon in the bottom 7th, Garmon being forced out by Fidel Carrera (who?), and then Pigman’s RBI double and Milian’s RBI single gave Milwaukee a 3-1 lead. When the Portland Browns had Brass and Perez on base with one out in the eighth, Nick Fowler batted for Benitez, straight into another inning-ending double play. The tying runs were on base again in the ninth inning against closer Alex Diaz, in unearned fashion because of Diaz’ unearned error, but the runs would count. It was Christopher at third, Caswell on first after a 2-out single to center, and Nye in the box, at least until a wild 0-1 that scored Christopher and narrowed the gap to a run. Then, Nye flew out to left. 3-2 Loggers. Caswell 2-3, BB;

Yikes.

It was then the Milwaukee weather that got funny and gave us a rainout on Wednesday, and a double header on Thursday.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Stewart
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – 3B Lange – 2B Carrera – SS D. Miller – P E. Culver

Scott Franks singled on the third pitch by Zach Stewart in 10 months, stole his way to third base, and scored on Garmon’s single, but Garmon was later caught stealing in the inning. Two more Loggers singles by Ralph Lange and Carrera and a wild pitch by Stewart extended the Loggers lead to 2-0 in the bottom 2nd. For Portland, Angel Perez hit a leadoff double in the top 3rd, then reached third base on a wild pitch by Culver. Benitez walked, then advanced on a meek grounder by Stewart. Christopher whiffed, while Lonzo, starting the season 0-for-6, grounded sharply up the middle. Danny Miller lunged and contained the ball, but couldn’t get it out of his glove for an inning-ending flip to Carrera, waiting for it at second base, and Lonzo got an RBI infield single out of it. Cas kept the line moving with an RBI double to right, tying the game, but Nye then popped out on a 3-1 pitch and the inning ended.

The fourth brought the first Portland lead of the year. Brass hit a 1-out single to left, then was moving early on another Perez drive that fell for a double in left-center, and scored on that to make it 3-2 Critters. Perez was left on base by Benitez and Stewart, who was almost taken deep by Fidel Carrera (who?) in the bottom 4th, and looked shaky overall. Franks hit another single for the Loggers in the bottom 5th, but was doubled up by Garmon to end the inning almost immediately and before he could steal another 16 bases off the Coons’ backs.

Stewart would go six innings while holding the lead, but on almost 100 pitches was pinch-hit for to begin the top of the seventh. Kozak struck out in his place, and the Raccoons went in order, as did the Loggers’ bottom of the order against Ruben Mendez, who made his Raccoons debut in the bottom 7th. LaBat got the bottom 8th and would have had another clean inning if not for an error by Nick Nye that put Pigman aboard with two outs. Reynaldo Bravo came in and got Dave Robles to fly out to center to end the inning. While the offense remained reluctant to even put up a threat, and held itself to a pinch-hit Caballero single in the ninth inning, Matt Walters arrived in the new season without any mercy and struck out Milian, Lange, and James Wilks in order in the bottom 9th to get the series even. 3-2 Raccoons! Perez 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Stewart 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

(licks on the box score and smacks repeatedly) Could use some more spice.

Game 3
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – RF Caballero – LF Kozak – C Maresh – 3B Gonzales – P Riddle
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – 3B Lange – 2B Carrera – C M. Reed – SS D. Miller – P Pritchard

Who had Jack Kozak for the team’s first stolen base in the new season? Probably nobody, but he still did it, singling to begin the top 2nd after the Coons left Nye and Cas on the corners in the first inning, and then taking off for second base. A bad throw by Mark Reed allowed him to third base, and that again allowed Chris Maresh to bring him home with a sac fly in his first Coons plate appearance, and that was a 1-0 lead. Noteworthy, while both ends of the Raccoons battery had made their last appearance in the majors as a Logger, Maresh had never caught Riddle, who had gone down in ’58 while Maresh had still been a Reb. Brass and Nye had more nothingburger singles in the third inning, but all we needed was Maresh coming back around to bat, offering another first in the fourth inning, the Raccoons’ first homer of the new season, a solo piece to left for a 2-0 lead. The other end of the reworked ex-Logger battery appeared profoundly solid in his first appearance in about 20 months. He allowed just one hit against three strikeouts the first time through, and didn’t get into many bad counts at all.

While Riddle was still 1-hitting the Loggers through five, Maresh remained a 1.000 hitter with a sixth-inning single that knocked out Pritchard after 5.1 innings, but was left on base by Gonzales and Riddle. When it then went south for Riddle, it did so in a hurry and without much chance to react. Inside six pitches, he gave up a 2-out string of hits to blow the lead with two outs in the bottom 6th: Pigman singled, Robles hit an RBI double over Cas’ head, and Lange added a game-tying single. Pinch-runner Matt Lock then reached all the way to third base with a stolen bag and a balk, but Carrera struck out and kept the game tied.

The Coons could not hit a lick to make something out of walks drawn by Brass and Nye in the seventh inning, with Cas and Caballero going down meekly on a K and a pop, respectively. Riddle held the 2-2 tie for another inning, but had to settle for a no-decision after that. Kozak got on base to begin the eighth, but then was stranded while Nick Fowler batted for Riddle with two outs and flew out to center. Bottom 8th, and the Loggers got a leadoff walk from PH David Milian drawn against Ryan Sullivan, then a Pigman single to center. Robles flew out to center, moving Milian and the go-ahead run to third base, which was what Ricky Herrera inherited: runners on the corners, one out, and soon two out with a guy on third when Pigman was caught stealing by Maresh. Matt Lock drew a 2-out walk, but Carrera grounded out lazily to short to kill the inning.

The tie was then forcefully broken by Trent Brassfield with a leadoff jack in the ninth inning, which meant that Ricky Herrera was sniffing on yet another win, the old victory hog! Alex Diaz further allowed a walk to Nye, but he was doubled up by Cas to end the inning. The Raccoons only had Alex Rios left in unused relievers on this day, and since the bottom 9th began with the left-handed hitting Mark Reed, stuck to Ricky Herrera for the time being. Reed singled to left, but Danny Miller popped out. Shane Larsen singled to center, but James Wilks whiffed. Milian was up with two outs. The switch-hitter was weaker against southpaws, fell to 0-2 against Ricky Herrera… and then singled the game tied with a ball through the left side. Kozak’s bad throw home allowed the trailing runners into scoring position, but Pigman’s sharp grounder to first base ended the inning and sent the game to extras.

Top 10th, Maresh singled and Diaz walked Gonzales and Joel Starr with two outs to load the bases for Brassfield, who laid off four straight errant pitches to push home the go-ahead run for the second inning in a row. Diaz was out, replaced with Jeremy Fetta, who got Lonzo to fly out to Matt Lock. It was then Alex Rios and nothing else anymore (except for starters) in the bottom of the inning. Rios didn’t muck around much longer. Six pitches dumped the Loggers, ending with a K to Fetta, who had to bat with the bench empty by then. 4-3 Blighters. Brassfield 2-4, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Nye 2-3, 2 BB; Kozak 2-5; Maresh 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K;

So that was Rios’ first career save, and the first of 17 wins this year for Ricky Herrera…!

Raccoons (2-1) vs. Falcons (1-2) – April 10-12, 2060

The Falcons had dropped two of three games to the Condors to begin the year, and had lost the season series against the Raccoons last year, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (0-0) vs. Phil Baker (0-0)
Justin DeRose (0-0) vs. Neil Mongillo (0-0)
Bobby Herrera (0-1, 3.52 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (0-1, 3.86 ERA)

Mongillo was the scheduled southpaw for this series.

Game 1
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 1B Valcarel – SS Hullander – CF T. Stone – 3B Carbajal – P P. Baker
POR: RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Fowler – 3B Benitez – P Fox

The Raccoons came to Portland for their home opener, rain in the forecast (wasn’t there ever?), and a Kyle Fisher homer in the first inning that gave the Falcons an early 1-0 lead. Danny Ceballos, who led the Falcons with 6 RBI, the only batter with more than one, drew a walk and Luis Miranda singled to put on two more, but then the inning fizzled out for them with groundouts by Jesus Valcarel and Joe Hullander.

The rain came in the fourth inning, lasted an hour, and ended Chance Fox’ day early once he offered two clumsy walks in the fifth inning, but at least he finished that one, on the day after a double-header… The Raccoons offered little in terms of offense in the innings before the rain came, but when the bottom 5th came around found a way to get to Phil Baker, a Raccoon five years removed. Lonzo grounded out in place of Fox to lead off the inning, but then the 1-2-3 hitters all found singles and Cas driving home Chris tied the game. Baker threw a wild pitch, then allowed the go-ahead run to come home on Nye’s groundout, while Valcarel’s bobble of Starr’s grounder at first base conceded another run to the Raccoons before Perez flew out to Jose Rodriguez in center. The last man out on Thursday was the first man out on Friday as Alex Rios got the sixth inning, and also taken deep by Hullander to narrow the score to 3-2. The Coons answered against righty Josh Doyle in the bottom of the same inning: Fowler singled to begin the inning, and after two outs and a walk to Joe-Chris finally scored on Trent Brassfield’s 2-out RBI single. Cas walked to fill the bases, and Nye slashed a single up the middle to bring in two more runs, and also ended Doyle’s time on the mound. Franklin Mendoza replaced him, walked Starr to fill the bags once more, and gave up another 2-run single to Angel Perez. The inning ended with the guy it started with, Fowler flying out to Kyle Fisher in left, but the Raccoons had scored five to take an 8-2 lead.

The Falcons were down, but not counted out yet. Bravo’s seventh inning was clean, but the eighth, overseen by Elijah LaBat, was not. First Starr had a fumble at first for an error, and then Ceballos powered a 2-run homer to right, getting the Falcons back within slam range. LaBat ended the inning though against the next three batters. The Raccoons then needed three pitchers for the ninth inning, while no Falcon reached base. LaBat retired the left-handed Tim Stone. We then brought in Ruben Mendez for the last two outs, but he got only one, striking out Ricky Carbajal before shaking out his arm and drawing unwanted attention from the trainer Luis Silva. He came out of the game, and we had to go all the way to Ryan Sullivan to get the game over with, as he struck out Ernesto Quijada. 8-4 Raccoons. Christopher 2-4, BB; Brassfield 2-4, BB, RBI; Perez 2-4, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4;

And thus came the first roster move of the new season. Ruben Mendez had a mild shoulder strain and would have to sit out at least a week, and we couldn’t be without a reliever for that long. He was off to the DL, and J.J. Sensabaugh was brought back up right away, since a long guy sounded exactly like what the doctor ordered with four of our relievers having pitched two days in a row now…

…except we wouldn’t have needed to worry: the weather took care of Saturday and bullpen rest, and after a wonderfully friendly morning it poured all afternoon and evening, and no ballgame was feasible.

Yay, ‘nother double header…!

The scheduled starters for the second game, Mongillo and DeRose, were both bypassed in favor of the scheduled starters for the third game, Schaeffer and Bobby Herrera.

Game 2
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 2B Yoshikawa – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 1B Valcarel – LF K. Fisher – SS Hullander – 3B Carbajal – P Schaeffer
POR: RF Christopher – 1B Starr – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – LF Caballero – SS Fowler – C Maresh – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera

For an ace, Bobby Herrera was pretty useless in the first game of the second double-header in a week, walking Jose Rodriguez, allowing a single to Takuro Yoshikawa, and then a 3-run homer to Luis Miranda, and that was only the first inning… A Rodriguez double and Yoshikawa single would add another run for the Falcons in the third inning while the Raccoons had pretty little to show for. They had three hits on the board in five innings, and then Tony Benitez hit into a double play – twice. The Raccoons pressed Herrera into the seventh inning, where he departed after Hullander and Rodriguez hit singles to go to the corners. Two outs, Yoshikawa then hit an RBI single off Sullivan to extend the Falcons’ lead to 5-0. Ceballos flew out to center to leave two on.

Tony Benitez also made a throwing error for a total gain of zero popularity points, and was hit for after the two Nicks reached base against Schaeffer in the bottom 7th and his spot came up with two outs. Lonzo hadn’t hit for a damn thing either so far, but ran a full count before getting an RBI single through the left side, which at least got the Coons on the board. Kozak then struck out to end the inning. Starr went deep to center for his first home run in the bottom 8th, knocking out Schaeffer, and the Raccoons got Cas and Nye on base against the pen, but Caballero popped out and Fowler struck out against Mario de Anda to prevent the Raccoons to do something with the tying run in the box. Alex Rios was abused for two innings to hold the Falcons to their pawful of runs, while the Raccoons brought the tying run back to the box against Adam Middleton in the bottom 9th. Brass singled, Joe-Chris doubled, but there were two outs already for Joel Starr, and his fly to center ended up with Rodriguez to end the game. 5-2 Falcons. Nye 3-4; Lavorano (PH) 1-2, RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

To anybody’s surprise then, the Falcons didn’t send Mongillo at all, and the nightcap was started by Esteban Duran (0-1, 5.68 ERA), right-hander by trade, which retrospectively made some lineup decisions in the first game a bit eh.

Game 3
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – 2B Yoshikawa – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Valcarel – LF K. Fisher – SS Hullander – C McCarver – 3B Carbajal – P E. Duran
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Gonzales – P DeRose

Caswell’s first-inning home run collected Christopher’s leadoff single and stolen base for a 2-0 lead on Sunday evening, and Joe-Chris scored again the inning after by hitting a 2-out home run himself for his first RBI of the year, 3-0. The Raccoons would continue to play the power game, only scoring again in the sixth inning, but then on a 2-run home run by Brassfield, then with Joel Starr on base, and extending the lead to 5-0. In between things had been a bit calm, and especially in the tops of innings. Through six the Falcons had just two hits (one of the infield variety) and one walk against DeRose, who had whiffed seven batters so far, although his pitch count was kinda up there. The Raccoons were by now trying to not use Sensabaugh in relief here and instead use him as a spot starter on Monday to mitigate the damage to law and order in the rotation caused by the first double header already.

Unfortunately a double hit by Joe Hullander on an 0-2 pitch and a walk drawn by Braden McCarver right after that extended the seventh inning long enough for DeRose to go over 100 pitches and the Raccoons would have to get the last six outs somewhere else. Walters would get the ninth regardless of score. At least that was the plan before Ricky Herrera was blown up for three loud, long hits, a walk, and three runs in the eighth inning, and didn’t even get out of it. Walters had to hang a K on Hullander to escape with Ceballos stranded on second base in a 5-3 game. He also struck out McCarver to begin the ninth before Ricky Carbajal popped out, which made him the first batter all year that didn’t fan against Matt Walters. Ernesto Quijada even drew a walk, but then Luis Miranda grounded out easily. 5-3 Raccoons. Christopher 2-4, HR, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Nye 3-4, 3B; DeRose 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Condors (2-4) – April 13-15, 2060

Without a breather, play continued on Monday against the Condors, who had an average amount of runs scored and allowed after a week of play, and a -4 run differential. Their rotation had been tough so far, but the bullpen had been very willing to give. We had a 6-year winning streak against the Condors, with a 6-3 series last year.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (0-0) vs. Marco Clemente (0-0, 1.59 ERA)
Zach Stewart (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Edgar Mauricio (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (0-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jay Everett (0-0, 1.80 ERA)

Yay-yay Sensabaugh…! Truth be told, if the selection between who to send on short rest hadn’t been between the two guys that had just missed most or more of a season on the DL, he probably would have been sent back for a more useful reliever type without making a start here… The Condors had only right-handed starters on offer for this series.

Game 1
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – 1B Sturgeon – C Waker – 3B Frasher – CF Alade – 2B L. Chapa – P M. Clemente
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Sensabaugh

Putting in Sensabaugh didn’t lead to a calm game; both teams chucked out six hits apiece through four innings, but only the Raccoons scored runs. The Condors twice left them on the corners, hit into a double play, and did all kinds of shenanigans to prevent themselves from scoring, while the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead on Angel Perez’ RBI double, scoring Nye in the second inning, then got another run in the third with a 1-out Christopher double and Cas’ 2-out RBI single. Nye singled again there, but the two runners were stranded when Starr grounded out to second base. In the fourth, Brass socked a leadoff double and scored after Perez’ grounder on Benitez’ sac fly, which was about the most useful thing Tony Benitez had so far done this season.

After a calm fifth, Angel Perez singled home another run after Starr and Brass both reached base ahead of him in the bottom 6th, extending the lead to 4-0 before Benitez and Sensabaugh brought the inning to an unsatisfying conclusion. Sensabaugh then managed to blow most of the 4-0 lead when not properly supervised for just five minutes in the seventh inning, offering leadoff walks to Jon Alade and Luis Chapa, and long doubles to PH Bobby Fish and Scott Moore. Reynaldo Bravo had to get the last two outs of the inning, getting a grounder to short from Casey Ramsey and a standard fly to center from Jason Sturgeon to avoid a total blow-up, but it was 4-3 anyway now at the stretch.

Bottom 7th, and Christopher opened with a double to right-center against Blake Lewis, who also allowed a soft single to Lonzo on the very next pitch. Runners on the corners, Lonzo took off for his first stolen base attempt of the year … and depressingly was thrown out. Lewis then nicked Cas, Nye whiffed, but Starr punished him with a 2-out, 2-run double, also finally getting Christopher home. The Condors tried to come back against Bravo in the top 8th, getting a leadoff single from Tristan Waker, and then Eric Frasher reached on Nick Nye’s error. The Raccoons went to LaBat against the left-handed bottom of the order. Alade hit into a fielder’s choice, and Chapa and Nick Samuel both struck out to leave a pair on the corners! After Perez singled to begin the bottom 8th and was doubled up by Benitez, Matt Walters retired the Condors in order to put the game away. 6-3 Critters. Christopher 2-4, 2 2B; Nye 2-4; Starr 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Perez 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Thanks, J.J. (1-0, 4.26 ERA), here’s a “Happy Apendectomy!” card, which is all I could find in the top drawer, and inside you’ll find a ticket back to St. Pete. The Raccoons brought up Bryan Erickson, a 25-year-old right-hander and former eighth-round pick that had done solidly in St. Pete last year. He had very low stamina, so really wasn’t a long man.

Game 2
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – C Samuel – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Frasher – 2B Palmieri – CF B. Fish – P Mauricio
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Stewart

Hard to say what the crowd celebrated more in the bottom 3rd on Tuesday – that Lonzo hit a 2-out single to plate Tony Benitez and tie the score at one after Casey Ramsey had given the Condors the lead with a sac fly in the top of the inning, or that he then stole his first base in almost a full year before being stranded by Caswell. The Condors answered with a 2-out, 2-run home run by Bobby Fish, collecting Eric Frasher, in the fourth inning, but the Coons saw Nye reach for the second time in the game, getting Nicked for the second time, and Starr singled on a 3-1 pitch. Brass whiffed in a full count, but Angel Perez found an RBI single, 3-2. Benitez and Stewart were easy outs to end the inning, though.

The Coons arrived at the same unhappy spot – Brass and Perez on base and the #8 spot up with one out – in the bottom 6th and had to go to the bench. Nick Fowler drew a bases-filling walk, but Stewart whiffed, and Christopher’s fly to left was caught by Alfredo Mendez on the warning track… The tying run was left on third base again the inning after when Caswell doubled and found no help whatsoever, and instead Scott Moore took Stewart deep to knocking him from a now 4-2 game in the top of the eighth inning. Erickson made his ABL debut with two outs from Samuel and Sturgeon. Brass hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th and was doubled up, and Caballero pinch-hit for a leadoff single against Brett Lillis jr. in the bottom 9th, bringing the tying run to the dish again. Christopher flew out to left, and Lonzo hit into a force at second base, none of which helped greatly. Cas’ single to right-center at least brought up Nick Nye was potential walkoff man with two outs, but he found Ramsey’s glove for the final out instead… 4-2 Condors. Caswell 2-4, 2B; Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB; Benitez 1-2; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

There were 15 batters left on base in this game. 13 of them were Raccoons.

Game 3
TIJ: LF A. Mendez – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – C Samuel – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Frasher – 2B Palmieri – CF B. Fish – P Everett
POR: RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Kozak – SS Fowler – C Maresh – 3B Benitez – P Riddle

The Condors’ Scott Moore hit into a double play after a leadoff walk to Mendez on Wednesday, but the Raccoons made it up to the visitors by hitting into double plays in the second and third innings, and only one of those involved Tony Benitez… In turn, though, Nick Nye hit his first Portland homer in the bottom 4th for the first run in a so far offensively shy game. Riddle looked beatable if shaken at the right frequency, though, and the Condors tied the game indeed in the fifth when they began to lay off the garbage around the zone. Bob Palmieri hit a double to right, then scored on a 2-out single by the opposing pitcher Everett, which was depressing. Mendez walked, but Moore grounded out to Jack Kozak in another full count. Through five, Riddle’s pitch count was well over 80 then…

The Condors then picked him limb from limb in quick succession in the sixth. Ramsey socked a leadoff triple and scored the go-ahead run on Nick Samuel’s groundout. The 6-7-8 batters then clipped three 2-out singles for another run inside five pitches. Everett grounded out to strand two, which the Raccoons somehow made up right away in the bottom of the same inning. Cas doubled with one out to try and get something going, and Nye singled him home obligingly before stealing second as the tying run. Kozak flew out easily, though Fowler walked. Maresh singled shyly to left, but Nye had to hold. Tony Benitez was yoinked for Lonzo, who took one for the team in that spot; an 0-2 pitch to the hip specifically, which with the bases loaded and two outs pushed home Nye with the tying run. Joel Starr grounded out batting for Riddle, though, so more runners were uselessly frittered away.

By contrast, the Condors were driving in whatever was on base. Moore and Ramsey reached against Bravo in the seventh, and Jason Sturgeon beat a double over the head of Caswell with two outs to get both of them home and break the 3-3 tie. Frasher ended the inning with a groundout, and LaBat and Sullivan had scoreless innings after that, but the Raccoons could not get back on the horse and lost their first series of the year. 5-3 Condors. Caswell 2-4, 2B; Nye 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Fowler 1-2, 2 BB; Maresh 2-4;

In other news

April 5 – The Warriors lose 3B Steve Dilly (1-for-1, 0 HR, 2 RBI) to a quad strain on Opening Day. The 36-year-old is expected to miss six weeks.
April 7 – Season over for Pittsburgh closer Cruz Madrid (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0 SV), who was diagnosed with a torn UCL and is headed for Tommy John surgery.
April 10 – Richmond SP Steve “Beefsteak” Hawkins (1-0, 0.00 ERA) not only fires a 4-hit shutout against the Scorpions, he also goes deep against SAC A.C. Stebbins (0-2, 5.56 ERA) for the only run of the 1-0 ballgame.
April 11 – No runs in regulation as the Blue Sox beat the Stars, 2-0 in 10 innings.

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF/1B Jesus Espinoza (.407, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: IND 1B Jason Schaack (.409, 4 HR, 13 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Some guys are hot, some guys are not. This is true for the lineup especially, where we got hot starts from Brass, Cas, Nye, and Perez, but the rest of the lineup has been somewhere between soggy and absent. The third base platoon is already looking like it’s dead on arrival, with Benitez and Gonzales batting .067 between another in these first nine games. Lonzo was just marginally better and is – hh!! – not even leading the team in stolen bases.

Bobby Herrera is 0-2 to start the season, but what else is new…

The bullpen was quite decent so far, except for Bravo blowing up that last game with the Condors and that one time Ricky Herrera got scorched for a 3-spot. Boy’s already got a win though, so it will all be fiiiine.

All players we placed on waivers at the start of the season arrived in St. Petersburg safely.

And right away it’s off four a 4-city road trip, which is quite early in the season for such severe punishment. At least the travel itinerary made sense: New York, Boston, Atlanta, and the Bay on the way home. That would almost get us clean through the month.

Fun Fact: The quest for the top of the stolen base career leaderboard continues. Hopefully.

Just one stolen base in his return from malady, but I’ll waffle about his .172 BABIP and small sample sizes for a bit, then seemingly seamlessly bring your attention to the current top 12. Strange number, but the #11 and #12 guys were active.

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) – 614
6th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 578
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Gonzalez (active) – 495
t-9th – Oscar Mendoza – 494
t-9th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 494
11th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 489
12th – Chris Navarro (active) – 488

That was a lot of active players of a career leaderboard, but on the other paw there was nothing behind *these* six for miles and miles. Lonzo was the third-youngest (behind Sanchez and Ceballos), but had gotten the second-fewest stolen bases last year, seven before getting hurt. Omar Gonzalez had stolen just three bases, and now was an unsigned free agent.

Sanchez (34) had taken the most bags last season, ahead of Vasquez (20), Ceballos (18), and Navarro (15). Truth be told, at this stage only Vasquez looked like a threat for the top four on the leaderboard…!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (5-4) @ Crusaders (7-1) – April 15-18, 2060

The Crusaders had a 6-game winning streak going already while scoring the most and allowing the fewest runs in the Continental League, but what else was new? The Raccoons had still beaten them over the season series in ’59, going home winners ten out of 18 attempts.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (0-2, 5.02 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (2-0, 3.46 ERA)
Justin DeRose (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
Zach Stewart (1-1, 4.05 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (0-1, 3.75 ERA)

The Crusaders had only right-handed pitchers. *Pitchers*. That included their bullpen. What, left-handers are suddenly overvalued…!?

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Fox
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – LF Austin – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B R. Wright – P Taki

Chance Fox had fire set to his furry tush immediately with Omar Sanchez legging out an infield single and Ryan Spehar dishing a double to center in the bottom 1st. The runs scored on Aubrey Austin’s groundout and a Tommy Branch single, respectively, although Branch also ended the inning by being caught stealing, and the Raccoons then flipped that score around in the top 2nd. Ryan Wright’s error put Joel Starr on base, and Trent Brassfield added a double. Nick Fowler, the third third baseman the Raccoons tried in the 10th game of the season, brought in the tying runs with a solid double to right, then scored on Foxie Brown’s own hit to center for a 3-2 lead. The top of the order then left Fox on base, but Caswell’s leadoff walk led to a fourth run on Brass’ 2-out double to left in the third inning. In between, Fox had put another pair on base with generally befuddled hurling, but had also started a double play on Taki’s bunt to resolve that unhappy situation. It just wasn’t helping, because it wasn’t good enough. The Crusaders beat another four hits, including three from their 1-2-3 hitters leading off the inning, in the bottom 3rd, and tied the game while leaving Aubrey Austin and Sean Zeiher in scoring position on John Rosenstiel’s sharp groundout to Joel Starr.

Taki was knocked out first on Cas’ 2-out RBI single in the top 4th. That brought home Fowler and his leadoff single for a 5-4 lead, while in between Fox with a good bunt and Lonzo with a 2-out walk had proven somewhat useful. Ken McDonald, right-handed (duh!) replacement, then walked Nick Nye on four pitches, but Joel Starr, the one struggler in the middle of that order right now, popped out to short and three runners were wasted. Fox offered a walk to Omar Sanchez in the fourth, but Sanchez was caught stealing – Lonzo’s old stolen base foe had zero thefts on the season compared to Lonzo’s one.

Make that two; in the sixth, Joe-Chris and Lonzo went to the corners with 1-out hits, and Lonzo then stole second off an inattentive McDonald. Poor outs by the 3-4 hitters meant that the Coons did not CASh in and were deNYEd further runs, though. Instead, Fox fooled around long enough to blow the lead on a leadoff walk to Zeiher and a 2-run homer by Curt Goodwin in the bottom 6th. That gave the lead back to New York, 6-5, and the Raccoons failed to make any offensive impression in the next two innings while at least holding the Crusaders in place with solid relief by Rios and Ricky Herrera. In the top 9th, Noah Hollis retired Lonzo to begin the inning, but then allowed singles to Cas and Nye to create some commotion. Starr was 0-for-4 on the day, but laid off four balls to fill the bases nice enough to bring up Brass, who with the bases loaded flew out to Tommy Branch in shallow center, and then Perez flew out to Tommy Branch in deep center… 6-5 Crusaders. Caswell 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Brassfield 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Fowler 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

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

Bobby Herrera allowed one hit, one walk, and no runs the first time through the Crusaders lineup on Friday, which somehow took him 46 pitches with one long at-bat after another. This would not correct itself in any way during this start, and he was used up in just five innings. The decision to send him home for the day was made easier by the fact that he eventually also came unglued, allowing a run in the fourth inning with a leadoff single by Austin, a walk drawn by Rosenstiel, and a 2-out RBI single by Ryan Spehar, but he at least got rid of Wright to end the inning. The bottom 5th then saw Seiter nicked don one pitch, and Sanchez legging out the next one for an infield single, then a 3-run homer to right by Matt McLaren. That was before the Crusaders scored five runs in the sixth inning… on ONE base hit. Elijah LaBat walked the bags full to begin the miserable inning, then handled a Seiter comebacker for an out at home before Nye fudged a Sanchez grounder for a run-scoring error and McLaren singled in a second run. Bravo then oversaw the rest of the meltdown with a bases-loaded walk to Austin, Zeiher’s sac fly, another walk to Branch, and then Rosenstiel struck out… but Perez couldn’t come up with the BLOODY BASEBALL and everybody zoomed up a base and McLaren scored the fifth and final ru of the inning before Spehar flew out to left. Sean Zeiher would run up the score with a 2-run homer off ex-Crusader Ryan Sullivan in the eighth inning. 11-0 Crusaders. Christopher 2-4, 2B; Starr (PH) 1-1; Nye 2-4; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

The funny bit about the box score here was that both teams ended up with eight base hits. Ha-hah. Ha-hah.

(looks like he could murder someone)

The Crusaders nevertheless took an L, with Ryan Spehar (.387, 1 HR, 6 RBI) spraining an ankle from too much rounding the bases in merriment, and ended up on the DL for the next month.

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – RF Caballero – 3B Benitez – P DeRose
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – C McLaren – LF Austin – RF Zeiher – CF Branch – 1B Rosenstiel – SS Zucal – 3B R. Wright – P J. Ortega

Portland took the early lead on three hits by Lonzo, Cas, and Starr, all singles, in the first inning, going up 1-0 when Joel Starr finally found his stick at the back of the team bus. Three more hits came together in the second inning, beginning with singles by Caballero and Benitez. DeRose bunted the runners into scoring position, but Brass popped out behind home plate, foul. Lonzo came through, however, singling through the left side to drive in both runners before getting left on base by Cas. Tommy Branch’s leadoff triple in the bottom 2nd saw him score on Roger Zucal’s groundout after Rosenstiel initially struck out, and the Raccoons loaded the bases in the third inning with their 5-6-7 batters before Benitez popped out and DeRose struck out and nobody scored. Brass and Cas were on base in the fourth, but were also stranded…

Somehow, though, DeRose held on to the 3-1 lead for a while at least, and the Raccoons would tack on in the sixth inning. DeRose was no help, striking out against Ortega to begin the inning, but then Brass lobbed another single. And Lonzo effortlessly slapped a ball over the fence in left for a 2-run home run…! Lonzooooo!!!!

That was the end of Ortega in this game, but DeRose didn’t last much longer, giving up another Tommy Branch triple and another run from that in the bottom 6th, an inning that kept dragging on with full counts, Roger Zucal also reaching base, and eventually DeRose prevailed to hold a 5-2 lead, but was over 100 pitches. Kozak batted for him in the top 7th after Benitez hit a 2-out triple (with nobody on of course), but whiffed.

Kelly Konecny hadn’t hit a homer for all of last year as a Coon, but then clubbed one off Ricky Herrera to begin the bottom 7th, narrowing the tally to 5-3. The Coons got back at former Critter Alex Mancilla, a late signing by the Crusaders, in the top 8th though. Lonzo legged out an infield single, stole second, and came around to score on Cas’ double to center as he tried to dismantle the Crusaders pretty much single-pawedly. Nye singled to put runners on the corners, while Cas then scored on Mancilla’s wild pitch, 7-3. This still became a save chance for Matt Walters when Rios put Rosenstiel and Zucal on base with two outs in the bottom 8th. Wright grounded out to Benitez to end the inning and dispel the most immediate threat. Walters entered in a double switch in Starr’s spot, while Joey Christopher got into the #9 hole, playing rightfield (with Caballero to left and Brass to first). Joe-Chris promptly doubled against the battered Mancilla in the ninth inning, and Brass also got on base before Lonzo dumped his fifth base hit of the day, an RBI single to center! Cas piled on with a 2-run double to right, and the inning went on long enough to have Walters come to the plate … and hit a 2-out RBI double to center off Noah Hollis. On the flip side, the excitement of running the bases knocked him out of alignment for the bottom 9th and the Crusaders in turn knocked him for two meaningless runs. 11-5 Raccoons! Brassfield 2-5, BB; Lavorano 5-6, HR, 5 RBI; Caswell 4-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Nye 2-6; Starr 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Benitez 2-5, 3B; Christopher 1-1, 2B;

BNN named Lonzo the Man of the Day for his performance, which still wasn’t enough to get him to a league-average OPS after the rotten start to the season that he had.

Still; if you don’t love Lonzo, we can’t be friends.

Sunday would have been a scheduled day off for Lonzo, but after that riot of a Saturday we weren’t quite sure whether there weren’t any more hits left in that bat and he was back in the lineup, getting Monday in Boston off instead.

Game 4
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Caballero – C Maresh – 3B Gonzales – P Stewart
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Rosenstiel – LF Austin – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – C Goodwin – SS Zucal – 3B Murillo – P Luera

Lonzo sure found a first-inning single after Joe-Chris’ leadoff walk to begin the Sunday game, and the pair did the double steal before Cas walked the bags full anyway against Joel Luera. Nobody out, though, until Nick Nye hit into a 1-2-3 double play and Starr flew out to center, leaving no runs to be scored. That was one thing, and the other was Zach Stewart being completely off the rolls. He walked the first two batters he faced in the bottom 1st, but somehow wiggled out of there, but the Crusaders destroyed him altogether in the second inning. Roger Zucal singled and Alex Murillo doubled to take a 1-0 lead right away, but Luera’s bunt was the last out he registered. Sanchez walked and stole second, Rosenstiel hit a 2-run single, Austin doubled, Branch walked, Zeiher doubled home two, and a wild pitch scored another runner before Curt Goodwin drew yet another ******* walk. Six hits, five walks, six runs (so far) and four outs collected was the end for Stewart. Luera didn’t get the W either, as he left in the fourth inning with an injury while the Raccoons used up Bryan Erickson for eight outs on 35 pitches (and no runs!) before filing papers to return him to AAA. We then put up a brave face and tried to cover the remaining four innings with just LaBat and Rios, also inspired by a lack of rally in between the early ******* and the later innings. The Raccoons only scored one run in the sixth inning on back-to-back doubles by Starr and Caballero, and apart from that were largely unimpressive. Also unimpressive: Alex Rios, who in his second inning of work allowed a leadoff walk to Aubrey Austin, then a wallbanger RBI double to Sean Zeiher and another walk to Goodwin before getting yanked. Ricky Herrera wasn’t much better, walking the bags full before surrendering a sac fly to Murillo. 8-1 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4; Starr 2-4, 2B; Caballero 2-4, 2B, RBI; Perez (PH) 1-1; Brassfield (PH) 1-1, 2B; Erickson 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K; LaBat 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Ow.

Raccoons (6-7) @ Titans (9-3) – April 19-21, 2060

The Titans were tied for fewest runs allowed in the league, and fourth in runs scored so far with a +18 run differential. Their rotation had an ERA under three so far, while their bullpen was trying to get to the vaunted six mark of all entertaining relief corps up and down the land. Matt Gilmore was already on the DL with a sprained ankle, and Jon Elkins was also on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (0-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (0-0, 3.21 ERA)
Chance Fox (1-1, 5.73 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (2-0, 1.59 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (0-3, 5.59 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (1-0, 4.76 ERA)

The Titans had swept a double header from the damn Elks on Sunday, but still had enough starters to have everybody go on regular rest for this series. All their starters were right-handed.

The Raccoons had optioned Bryan Erickson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the minors again and brought back a fresh arm in Nick Brown Memorial Pick Brad Loveless.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – SS Fowler – 3B Benitez – 2B Gonzales – P Riddle
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – 3B D. Mendoza – C Burkart – 2B W. de Leon – P Glaude

The early innings were scoreless despite the best efforts of the Raccoons’ struggle bus platoon, as Benitez and Gonzales led off the third inning with a pair of singles, only to then be stranded in scoring position by the top of the order. The Titans also had only two hits the first time through, one by Bruce Burkart, who was doubled off on Willie de Leon’s grounder to Gonzales, and then another one by pitcher Will Glaude, but Riddle struck out Eddie Marcotte, the Titans’ golden boy and three-time #1 prospect in all of baseball, batting .250 with one homer in the early going.

Benitez and Gonzales were on base *again* to begin the fifth inning, then with a leadoff walk from Tony Benitez and David Gonzales chipping in another single that sent Benitez to third base. Riddle popped out, but Joe-Chris finally came through with something, plating the game’s first run with a single to left, but that was where that inning, too, ended as Brass and Cas made meek outs. Boston answered with a leadoff single up the middle by Yoslan Valdez and a double off the wall in left hit by Diego Mendoza to begin the bottom 5th, but the pair was stranded in scoring position on Burkart and de Leon both popping out in shallow left, and Glaude fighting off an 0-2 to line out to Gonzales. Boston got even the inning after, though, with Marcotte leading off with a single to right-center and scoring after two productive outs on Ted Lloyd’s soft single.

The Raccoons’ turn to have a pair in scoring position and nobody out came in the eighth inning of the 1-1 game, when Perez and Starr led off with a pair of hits to center. Ex-Coon Mike Lane struck out Nick Fowler, but gave up the go-ahead sac fly to Tony Benitez before erasing Gonzales. Tyler Riddle retried Ethan Torrence, Marcotte, and Jonathan Watson in order in the eighth inning to finish out his day, then was hit for as the ninth inning commenced with right-hander Mike Bell on the hill. The Raccoons put Christopher and Caswell on base, but Angel Perez struck out to leave them on, then went to Walters. Ted Lloyd gave us a bit of a scare with a fly to deep right, but Christopher had the ball on the warning track. Jorge Arviso then struck out to end the game. 2-1 Critters. Christopher 3-4, BB, RBI; Benitez 1-2, BB, RBI; Gonzales 2-4; Riddle 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caballero – 3B Benitez – C Maresh – P Fox
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – 1B M. Rubin – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – 3B D. Mendoza – C Burkart – 2B W. de Leon – P Musgrave

Chance Fox had another rough one, starting the bottom 1st by filling the bases on two walks sandwiching a Jonathan Watson single and nobody out. The Titans scored one run on Lloyd’s fielder’s choice grounder to Lonzo, and another on Yoslan Valdez’ sac fly, but Diego Mendoza hit another single off what looked like a pretty clueless left-hander on the hill. Burkart flew out to Brassfield to end the inning. Marcotte doubled home a third run after de Leon’s leadoff single in the second inning to give Boston an early 3-0 lead. The Raccoons also did nothing against that. Their total sum of base runners through five innings was two: Trent Brassfield was on base twice, once after getting nicked and once after hitting a single. Both times he was doubled off by Caballero.

Fox was hit for after five horrible, tedious, no-good innings, even though the Titans didn’t tack on any runs. His spot came up after Benitez and Maresh had dinked in soft singles to begin the sixth inning, so what better spot to have Noah Caswell put down the casserole on his day off and swing the twig? He walked in a full count, loading the bags with nobody out, at which time we should usually go home. Joe-Chris popped out, Lonzo lined out to Mendoza, but on a 3-1 pitch, and then Musgrave nicked Nick Nye, nodding home the Coons’ first run of the game. Joel Starr hit a fly to deep center, but it was tracked down by Marcotte to end the inning. With that, the last serious attempt to get anywhere by the Raccoons in this game died. Musgrave and Josh Carlisle retired another nine straight for Boston to see out the game. 3-1 Titans.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Marcotte – SS J. Watson – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – 3B W. de Leon – 2B D. Mendoza – P MacKinnon

Bobby Herrera remained ******* atrocious; after starting the game on Wednesday with two strikeouts to Marcotte and Watson, he gave up a single to Arviso, but got out of the inning. Not so in the second, which Lloyd opened with a single, and Valdez and Mendoza would sock a pair of RBI doubles to get Boston on top, 2-0. The third inning was even worse despite also starting with two outs. After that, Manny Rubin singled, Valdez walked in a full count, Lloyd singled home a run, de Leon singled home another run in a full count, Mendoza walked in *another* full count, and MacKinnon finally struck out to leave the bases loaded in a 4-0 game. It took Tipsy Bobby EIGHTY pitches to get even THAT far! He only pitched one more inning, ****** up another run on Marcotte’s leadoff double and Arviso’s RBI single before getting a double play grounder, 5-4-3, from Rubin. Even then he had found another two full counts and the double play came on his 100th pitch of the game.

The Raccoons, down 5-0, started with Perez and Fowler hits in the top 5th before David Gonzales pinch-hit into a 7-2 double play with the catcher Perez thrown out at home by Yoslan Valdez, and Fowler was left on base by Christopher, at which point the game was basically over. Brad Loveless pitched a tedious garbage inning in the bottom 5th, leaving two on base after another bunch of full counts and little clue, and then Lonzo popped out on the first pitch to begin the sixth. Cas then walked in another full count as the game was determined to take forever, and Nick Nye hit his second Coons homer, a 2-piece to left that narrowed the score to 5-2. Starr struck out in a full count, Brass walked in another full count. Perez singled, and Nick Fowler doubled into the right-center gap with two outs, plating both runners and making for third base on a late throw to the plate. That was suddenly the tying run on third base – Loveless had been supposed to pitch multiple innings, but was now hit for with Kozak, who of course struck out. The bullpens then were rather effective to get the game through eight innings without any more runs, although LaBat put on a pair in the seventh, and the Coons had Bras on in the eighth, but Perez hit into a double play. Nick Fowler opened the ninth with a single to left against Josh Carlisle. Caballero batted for the pitcher, but hit a comebacker into a double play, and the Raccoons were back to square one. Carlisle walked Joe-Chris, and Lonzo singled to right, moving the tying run to second base. Caswell went down on strike three looking in a 2-2 count, though. 5-4 Titans. Caswell 2-4, BB, 3B; Brassfield 2-3, BB; Perez 2-4; Fowler 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

Oh boy, the rotation – 4.77 ERA at this point, and it was getting worse every day.

It wasn’t like we had any options either. Damasceno and Sensabaugh had both gotten on the snout in AAA in their last start, Cameron Argenziano (…) had left his last outing with an injury, and there just wasn’t anybody else that was making audible promotion noises.

Raccoons (7-9) @ Knights (7-9) – April 23-25, 2060

The Knights had similar issues, struggling with the rotation while having the second-best bullpen in the league, although they were only managing the chaos by the point those guys got involved. They ranked eighth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed for a -8 run differential. The Raccoons were even worse, eleventh, eighth, and -12, respectively… The Knights had won the last two season series, both times five games to four. The only player on the DL for the Knights was David Hardaway. The closer had flayed his labrum last July and still wasn’t back to action.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (2-0, 1.38 ERA) vs. Morgan Aben (0-3, 12.86 ERA)
Zach Stewart (1-2, 7.36 ERA) vs. Cory Ellis (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (1-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jose Villegas (1-1, 3.00 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday!

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P DeRose
ATL: LF Abercrombie – CF del Toro – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – 1B C. Rice – RF Ellwood – SS Moya – 3B N. Fox – P Aben

Marco Nieto doubled home ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead in the first inning, so after taking a break from losing on Thursday with no game scheduled to lose, were right back to it. Both teams then frittered away a pair of singles in the second inning, and DeRose kept putting them on base with a walk to Nieto and a Willie Acosta single in the bottom 3rd, but those were left on base with Chris Rice’s groundout and Bobby Ellwood’s fly to Cas. The line kept moving. Joaquin Moya and Nick Fox hit singles to begin the bottom 4th, and after a bunt Abercrombie drew a four-pitch walk from DeRose, who proceeded to walk in a run against Juan del Toro, and then Nieto singled home a pair. Acosta hit into a fielder’s choice, but Rice drew another walk, and DeRose was stuffed down the nearest drain without even completing four innings. LaBat came in, walked in a run against rookie Bobby Ellwood, walked in another run against Moya, and didn’t walk Fox, but gave up a 2-out, 2-run single. That made it 8-0, and I went to the hotel to scream into a pillow. I didn’t miss too much. Aben, previously romped remorselessly three times, had seven shutout innings and only conceded something when he ran out of steam in the last innings. Brass singled home Nye in the eighth, and Lonzo singled home two to knock Aben out for good in the ninth. The tying run still didn’t get remotely near the bat rack. 8-3 Knights. Lavorano 3-5, 2 RBI; Starr 1-2, BB; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

Elijah LaBat (0-0, 4.22 ERA) was demoted to AAA after this game. Ruben Mendez came off the DL and LaBat had just not been any good so far.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – 3B Fowler – P Stewart
ATL: LF Abercrombie – RF Ellwood – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – CF del Toro – 1B C. Rice – SS Moya – 3B N. Fox – P C. Ellis

Speaking of not being any good, after the Raccoons briefly explored the concept of leading a baseball game when Nye and Maresh hit singles for a run in the top of the second inning on Sunday, Zach Stewart struck Joaquin Moya’s hand with a fastball, knocking the shortstop out of the ballgame and giving 21-year-old J.P. Gallo his major league debut as pinch-runner and eventual replacement at shortstop. Also his first run scored, because while there were two outs and nobody else on, Stewart then gave up enough singles to Nick Fox and Cory Ellis to allow Gallo to score the tying run. Abercrombie then struck out looking, ******* finally.

Ellwood and Nieto singles and del Toro’s sac fly put Atlanta up 2-1 in the third inning, and Gallo drew a leadoff walk off a befuddled Stewart, but didn’t manage to go anywhere in the fourth. In the fifth, and while the brown team was not doing anything that could vaguely constitute a really, sitting on two base hits through five innings, the Knights opened with Ellwood and Nieto singles again, then had the bags filled when Fowler bungled del Toro’s 1-out grounder at third base. Atlanta scored a run when Chris Rice *also* grounded to third base, and Fowler flung that one wildly to pull Nye off the base at second, again getting nobody out for all of Stewart’s bothers. Gallo struck out, but Fox slapped home two runs with a 2-out single to center, and Ellis gigglingly chimed in with an RBI single to left before the inning ended with Abercrombie again. Consolation for Stewart, and only him: the four runs in the inning were all ******* unearned. The run that Acosta scored in the bottom 6th after walking, a sharp del Toro hit, and a wild pitch, wasn’t though.

With the score degenerated to 7-1, the Raccoons began the top 7th with Cas grounding out. Nye singled, then was forced out by Starr. Brass walked in a full count, and the third 3-ball count in a row by Ellis. Chris Maresh didn’t let it go that far, he hit a 3-run homer right away, cutting the gap in half. The Raccoons then loaded the bases again as Fowler was drilled with a fastball (good!), Jack Kozak singled, and Christopher walked. The Knights still didn’t think of maybe using their bullpen, and Lonzo hit a fly to deep left-center… that was caught to end the bloody inning.

Atlanta then tried to use all their relievers at once in the eighth inning. Nye reached on a throwing error by Fox, and Starr walked with one out, bringing Brass back as the tying run, with righty Hironobu Hanzawa coming in, the third reliever of the inning. Brass singled to fill the bases, but Maresh struck out. The Knights then brought Tim Webb, southpaw, against Fowler, and the Raccoons answered with Angel Perez, the only true righty stick on the bench. That plot worked out for 418 feet over the wall – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

Brad Loveless, leftover from the previous inning, then hit a 2-out single, because we wanted more outs from him from the left-handed top of the order in the bottom 8th, but Joey Christopher punched a golden sombrero with a K. Loveless then got through the bottom 8th without blowing the lead, despite allowing a single to Ellwood and a walk to Nieto. Joel Starr drove home an insurance run against former Crusaders closer Zachariah Alldred in the ninth inning, plating Cas to go up 9-7. Walters sneered and retired the Knights in order anyway. 9-7 Furballs! Nye 2-5; Brassfield 2-4, BB; Maresh 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Perez (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1; Loveless 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W (1-0) and 1-1;

Can we just play with two catchers? 3-for-5 with two booms and eight eggs in the basket sounds good to me!

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

Riddle was the one starting pitcher we had that still had to get on the snout real good before the month was out, and the Knights were sure off to a good start in the bottom 1st when they socked him for four hits and erased a 2-0 lead the Raccoons had taken in the top 1st when Brass and Lonzo had opened with singles and had both scored on a Caswell single. Cas also tracked down a Nieto drive to deep center in the bottom 1st that could have even further incinerated Riddle’s ERA, but he was getting bopped good enough with Abercrombie’s leadoff double and three 2-out singles.

Back in the game was Moya, at least for two innings before the thumb that Stewart had smacked the day before started to rue again and he was replaced with Gallo once more. Apart from that the inning after the initial onslaught were rather calm until David Gonzales opened the fifth with a single to left. Riddle bunted him to second base, and the bags filled up as Brass walked and Lonzo was plonked in the arm. The Raccoons were denyed runs, though, thanks to a 6-4-3 double play by a middle infielder supposed to solve all our offensive woes… The Knights took until the sixth inning to get another base hit, an Ellwood single, but left him on base. Nick Fox reached with a 2-out infield single in the seventh, but the Knights just had Villegas make the final out. Lonzo meanwhile hit a leadoff single in the eighth, then was doubled up by Nye for the second time in the game.

100 pitches brought Riddle exactly through eight innings, still holding the 2-2 tie from the first, and having allowed just three hits beyond that initial battering. Angel Perez opened the ninth with a single to center, was run for by Joey Christopher, and… nothing happened. Ricky Herrera then pitched a scoreless ninth to give everybody free baseball after nine innings were completed. The Coons were up against Alldred in the ninth and tenth, where Joel Starr started with a single to left in Ricky Herrera’s place, then reached third on Brass’ following single. But now, boys! Lonzo was unretired in the game… at least until he grounded out to Acosta, who scared Starr back to third base and then still had time to throw out Lonzo at first base. Nick Nye was walked with intent with no obvious double play to **** into available anymore, and then Cas drew an unintentional walk with the parking lot occupied with runners we just couldn’t seem to club home. That scored a run by definition, and ended Alldred’s day in favor of righty Joe Napier. We could not bat for Maresh in the #5 hole, though, since we were out of catchers, but his fly to Danny Munn in right was good enough for a sac fly at least, and then Caballero singled home one more run. Kozak grounded out to second to end the inning, and the Knights went in order against Matt Walters. 5-2 Critters. Lavorano 2-3, BB; Gonzales 2-4; Starr (PH) 1-1; Riddle 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

In other news

April 15 – In a game with five separate innings of four or more runs by either team, the Cyclones out-slug the Miners for a 16-11 win. CIN INF Rich Monck (.348, 3 HR, 12 RBI) goes yard twice for four RBI, with as many RBI on the other side for 2B/SS Adam DeRosia (.353, 1 HR, 6 RBI), who is a triple shy of the cycle.
April 16 – SFB CL Ryan Dow (0-1, 5.06 ERA, 3 SV) locks down an 8-6 game against the Aces for his 300th career save. The Bayhawks are the fifth different team Dow has closed games for regularly, with most of his saves coming with the Capitals in the early 2050s. He is 61-66 with a 3.21 ERA for his 13-year career.
April 16 – Indians INF Matt Kilday (.396, 0 HR, 5 RBI) has an RBI single in a 6-2 win against the Loggers, extending a hitting streak begun in the previous decade to 20 games.
April 23 – A week later, IND INF Matt Kilday (.386, 0 HR, 7 RBI) has the hitting streak up to 25 games with a late single in a 12-1 rout loss against the Bayhawks.
April 23 – DEN SP Raul Ontiveros (2-2, 3.00 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Blue Sox, striking out five in the 5-0 win.
April 23 – RIC LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.328, 3 HR, 12 RBI) drives in six runs on three hits, including a homer, in a 17-8 beating of the Stars.
April 23 – SFW LF/RF John Kaniewski (.265, 2 HR, 9 RBI) hits a walkoff single for a 13-inning, 1-0 win of the Warriors against the Cyclones, and on the first pitch offered by fresh reliever Mike Dean (1-0, 7.20 ERA).
April 24 – The Pacifics get 2-hit in a shutout pitched by TOP SP Austin Wilcox (2-0, 1.45 ERA). Topeka wins, 6-0.
April 24 – The Titans’ only hit in a 4-1 loss to the Aces is a solo homer by INF Diego Mendoza (.310, 2 HR, 6 RBI) off LVA SP Steve Hunter (1-0, 1.13 ERA), a 27-year-old making his first start in the ABL.
April 25 – The Aces lose established starter Ray Benner (0-1, 6.75 ERA) for the season due to a tear in his labrum.
April 26 – MIL SP Julian Dunn (3-0, 2.37 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Condors in a 3-0 win.
April 26 – The hitting streak of Indy’s Matt Kilday (.377, 0 HR, 8 RBI) ends at 26 games with a hitless 0-for-3 against the Bayhawks, who again rout the Indians, 11-1.

FL Player of the Week (2): PIT 1B Kevin Price (.326, 2 HR, 7 RBI), batting .429 (12-28) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week (2): NYC OF Sean Zeiher (.362, 3 HR, 19 RBI), hitting .379 (11-29) with 3 HR, 18 RBI

FL Player of the Week (3): DAL 3B/1B Dan Sandoval (.324, 2 HR, 14 RBI), hitting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week (3): MIL LF/RF Perry Pigman (.349, 0 HR, 6 RBI), batting .478 (11-23) with 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

18 RBI for Sean Zeiher in that second week, 25 of those against the silly Coons.

The wins leaders for those silly Coons, by the way, were DeRose and Herrera. RICKY Herrera of course, the left-handed reliever of god’s kingdom, not something BASIC like BOBBY Herrera, some leftover starter…!

Oh boy. Somehow we manage to both have a pile of .300+ hitters and yet no runs on the board, the team sitting tenth in markers after three weeks, with a flat four runs per game. Wouldn’t be that terrible if the rotation didn’t have a 4.98 ERA, also in the bottom three in the league…

At least Lonzo still seems to function properly after a rough first week, but he’s now hitting .278 with five stolen bases in six attempts, which sounds like old Lonzo again. I think Cristiano heard that in Portland and will now push his wheelchair all the way from Portland to San Francisco to talk to me about Nick Fowler’s 50-points-better OPS+ *in person* before it’s too late.

After that San Francisco series to start the new week the Raccoons will return home to play the Loggers and Indians in a 7-game homestand.

Fun Fact: Trent “Leadoff” Brassfield has a .500 OBP after three weeks.

15 walks in 78 plate appearances, which is better than Christopher (11 walks in 75 PA). Even Cas has more walks than Joe-Chris, who would still be a pretty good leadoff man if he could hit just a *little* bit. He doesn’t have to hit .300 to be useful leading off. But .250 would be very nice, thank you.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (9-10) @ Bayhawks (8-10) – April 27-29, 2060

The fourth and final stop on the road trip was at the Bay, where nothing good ever happened, and where the resident Baybirds had beaten the Raccoons six games outta nine last season. They were also sitting second in runs scored and also in runs allowed, with a +21 run differential, and yet two games under .500, none of which made any sense.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-2, 5.63 ERA) vs. Jeff Crowley (0-1, 3.80 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (0-4, 6.56 ERA) vs. Eric Braley (2-1, 2.73 ERA)
Justin DeRose (2-1, 4.86 ERA) vs. Garrett Giustino (0-2, 3.00 ERA)

„Look at those three right-handers”, the most carefully crafted starters’ selection of the Portland Terrifics snickered, “How puny their ERA’s are, ours are nearly *twice* as high! Losers!”

This was the first series in a four-week residency on the western side of the mountains, and a seven-week string in which the Raccoons would not go east of the Mississippi.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Fox
SFB: 3B X. Reyes – 1B Van Barcum – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF A. Walker – C Redfern – RF Escalera – SS J. Nunez – P Crowley

Christopher walked, but was caught stealing, and Lonzo singled, but was left on by Cas and Nye to begin the Tuesday series opener, while Fox smartly gave up three singles and a run in the first inning to establish the pecking order right away. The first hit came from Allan Van Barcum, a 25-year-old that had been through several cups of coffee and was on the roster early in the season for the first time, but had already exceeded service time limits for rookies last year. Grant Anker forced him out, but then scored on Armando Montoya’s and Aaron Walker’s singles before Keith Redfern grounded out to Nick Nye. Starr and Brass began the top 2nd with singles and two groundouts by Perez and Benitez at least got the tying run home before Fox struck out, only to get plonked even harder for two runs in the bottom 2nd. Jesus Nunez doubled, Jeff Crowley dinked in a bloop single, and runs scored on Xavier Reyes’ groundout and, after a depressing walk to Van Barcum, another single hit sharply by Grant Anker. Montoya then flew out to Christopher in deep right. The Raccoons made two outs to begin the top 3rd then before lining up all those little rubber duckies in a neat row: Cas and Nye hit singles, Starr drew an 8-pitch walk, and then Trent Brassfield launched a 2-1 pitch well over the fence in left. GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

That wasn’t even the end of the inning. Crowley put Perez and Benitez on base, and Chance Fox singled up the middle with them in scoring position and two outs, allowing both to score and extend the lead to 7-3. That was the end for Crowley, whose replacement Jorge Solis retired Joe-Chris on one pitch to get out of the inning. That wasn’t even the last RBI knock for Foxie Brown, who had another 2-out RBI single in the fifth inning, when Crowley put Starr and Brass on base, one run was conceded on a passed ball charged to Redfern, and the other was knocked home by Fox, who by then had not allowed any further runs and now had three RBI to match the runs he had given up early. The Raccoons reached double digits in the sixth with Lonzo’s leadoff triple and an RBI groundout for Cas, 10-3. The Bayhawks got three more singles and a run off Fox in the bottom of that inning, but he finished the frame before being pinch-hit for in the top 7th.

And then we were waiting for the pendulum to swing the other way, which happened in the bottom 8th. Rios was left over from the seventh and allowed a leadoff single to Redfern before being replaced with Loveless, who turned out to be listless. Jose Escalera singled, Jesus Nunez walked, and Chris Morris launched a grand slam to dead center for some 440 feet, axing the Coons lead to two runs all at once. Sullivan came in, allowed a double to Van Barcum, but then regained control and got out of the damn inning. Matt Walters had less trouble in the ninth, allowing only a single before finishing out the game. 10-8 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 3B; Caswell 2-5, RBI; Nye 2-5; Starr 3-4, BB; Brassfield 3-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

Yes, boys! Pitching may suck, but maybe we can out-hit all our bothers!

Game 2
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Perez – LF Kozak – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera
SFB: 3B X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – 2B A. Montoya – LF Anker – CF A. Walker – C Redfern – SS J. Nunez – RF C. Morris – P Braley

Bobby Herrera had a quick first inning, then was taken very deep to right by Grant Anker right out of the gate in the second inning to give San Fran a 1-0 lead. They frittered that away in the top 3rd, with Nunez’ throwing error putting Brass on second base with one out, and Lonzo cashing in with an RBI single to right. Lonzo stole second, his sixth bag of the year, had to hold on Cas’ grounder for the second out, but then scored on Nick Nye knobbing a ball to shallow center for an RBI single, and Portland was up 2-1. Starr popped out to end the inning.

Tipsy Bobby was allowing a single per inning more or less, but the Baybirds did some fine job in limiting their spread on the bases. Old Elks foe Aaron Walker hit a second-inning single right after the homer dropped by Anker, but was doubled up by Redfern. Montoya singled in the fourth, but was caught stealing. Whatever works! The 2-1 lead stood into the sixth when Nye led off with a single to left-center, then was running on a pitch that Joel Starr whacked into the gap for an RBI double, but was left on second for three straight poor outs by the bottom of the order. Herrera kept holding up despite another single in the sixth and a walk offered in the seventh, but neither runner made it into scoring position. The Coons then stole three bases in the eighth inning; Nye led off with a single, swiped second on the very next pitch by Braley, who was then made to walk Starr intentionally before being replaced with righty Zach Johnson, who conceded a double steal on the very next pitch. Perez’ shy single to right brought in a run, but Johnson then disappeared the bottom of the order with two strikeouts around Benitez’ lining out to his opposite number Reyes. Herrera batted there for himself, then returned to the hill as we hoped for two more outs from righty batters Henry Howie and Xavier Reyes. He struck out the former, but Reyes singled, after which Herrera replaced Herrera, picked Reyes off first base without throwing an actual pitch, then gave up a single to the lefty hitting Escalera before ringing up Montoya to end the inning. Yes, whatever works!

The Coons didn’t tack on in the ninth, leaving it a 3-run game. Matt Walters had been out three of the last four days (e.g. every day the Coons actually played since Saturday) and we’d try to get one nailed down without him. There were certainly enough closer XP on the roster! Ricky Herrera was still left over for the lefty batting Grant Anker to begin the inning, but lost him in a full count to a leadoff walk. Ruben Mendez then got the ball and on two pitches got a weird 2-6-3 double play on a ball Aaron Walker deposited right in front of the plate. He still couldn’t get the job done, allowing a homer to pinch-hitter Pat Fowler, then a single to Nunez. The Raccoons finally bothered Walters with Morris – the slammer from Tuesday – as the tying run, but he was hit for with a righty, Van Barcum. Walters got the K anyway. 4-2 Raccoons. Caswell 2-4, BB; Nye 3-5, RBI; B. Herrera 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-4);

Game 3
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – C Maresh – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P DeRose
SFB: 3B X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – 2B A. Montoya – LF Anker – CF A. Walker – C Redfern – SS J. Nunez – RF Tomko – P Giustino

After a nice recovery appearance by Herrera on Wednesday, DeRose wasted no time getting his snout beating bloody in the first inning on Thursday. Reyes singled, stole second, and scored on the first of two doubles by Montoya and Anker, with San Fran plating two runs total in the inning. The Raccoons made no major moves to recover from that for a while, indicated by how Joel Starr had their first two base hits, a single in the second on which Maresh swiftly doubled him up, and then a solo jack in the fifth to half the deficit, but up until then Giustino had faced the minimum. Lonzo singled, stole second, and was stranded in the sixth, which was all the more shame since DeRose actually put his stuff together after the horrid, terrible, no-good first inning and strung up six zeroes on the scoreboard, scattering only three more base hits and never being in a real threat thereafter, but he was still on the hook.

The eighth inning was agony. David Gonzales popped out, after which Christopher batted for DeRose and singled. He stole second base, then reached third on an uncaught third strike to Brassfield that got away. And then Lonzo hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 with runners on the corners… and *then* committed an error that put Reyes on base to begin the bottom 8th behind Ryan Sullivan, although Reyes then was caught stealing. None of this erased the 2-1 lead the Baybirds held since the start of the game, but the Raccoons brought the meat of the order up against Ryan Dow in the ninth. They were retired in order, sorta. Noah Caswell hit a leadoff double, but thought he’d get three out of it. Chris Morris disagreed and he was thrown out at third base. Nye and Starr didn’t reach base to begin with. 2-1 Bayhawks. Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Christopher (PH) 1-1; DeRose 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L (2-2);

Raccoons (11-11) vs. Loggers (8-12) – April 30-May 2, 2060

We came home from the roadtrip to find out that Maud had called in ill with the sniffles on Wednesday, and by Friday there were stains everywhere and both Slappy and Chad were sitting around on the couch, giggling, each with a set of underpants on their head rather than a baseball cap. I couldn’t find Cristiano Carmona at all until I walked down the hallway and heard knocking from the cleaning closet, where somebody had apparently wheeled him into along with the cleaning cart, because, as Cristiano said, he had tried to make them stop, but … And then he just started to rock back and forth, shivering.

In other words, all was well in Coon City!

Not that well were the Loggers, who were fifth in the division, and ninth in runs scored, but at least they weren’t bleeding runs quite as profusely as before, sitting sixth in runs allowed, for a -12 run differential (Coons: -9). We had won two of three games from them at the start of the year.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (1-2, 6.53 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (0-1, 4.22 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (1-0, 2.48 ERA) vs. Julian Dunn (3-0, 2.37 ERA)
Chance Fox (2-2, 5.73 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (1-0, 2.31 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday, unless the Loggers got funny with their off day they had had on Thursday.

Game 1
MIL: CF Franks – 3B Lange – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – LF Wilks – SS D. Miller – 2B Serna – P L. Wilson
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Benitez – P Stewart

Zach Stewart was not fixed. He loaded the bases in both the first and third innings as the Loggers’ top half of the lineup tried to slowly press him to death, but they couldn’t get a run across either time, either by means of poor pops in crucial situations, like James Wilks’ to shallow right that ended the top of the first, or because Marcos Chavez hit into an inning-ending double play as in the third. Danny Miller singled and was caught stealing in the fourth and the Raccoons finally scratched out a run to actually take a lead in that inning after being mostly mute for the first three. Nye and Perez put a pair of singles together for a 2-out run. Wilson walked Benitez, then rung up Stewart to end the bottom 4th before the pair switched positions and Stewart fell to 3-1 on Wilson before the Loggers chucker flew out to Cas in center.

Stewart was hit for after six surely shaky shutout innings when the Raccoons somehow erred the bases full with two outs and his spot up in the bottom 6th. Nye singled and stole a base, after which Starr walked and Brass grounded out. Perez whiffed, Benitez was walked intentionally for *reasons*, and then Nick Fowler fowled out behind the plate to strand everybody. One o’ those games…

Cas and Nye were on base with two outs in the seventh and stranded on Starr’s pop to short, while the Raccoons put two shutout innings together with Mendez, Loveless, and Bravo in the seventh and eighth innings, then hoped one day off was enough for Matt Walters to regain sharpness after pitching four outta five. No insurance run came together, though, because Oscar Caballero was nicked by James Murdock in the bottom 8th, but no actual base hits were dropped. Perry Pigman fell to 0-2 to begin the ninth inning before legging out a single on an infield chopper, but then was doubled up on Dave Robles’ grounder to Lonzo. Marcos Chavez was rung up to end the game. 1-0 Blighters. Nye 3-4; Perez 2-4, RBI; Benitez 0-1, 3 BB;

Not only was offense conspicuously absent from this series opener, but the Raccoons mascot was as well, as Chad was too outta whack to even stand, let alone frolic around with everybody’s annoying brats in the stands. This continued into Saturday, which was a day game, and I couldn’t shake Chad awake no matter how hard I tried. But we needed the mascot out there, since the Agitator had already reported on the lack of a mascot and that all the little kiddos had been very sad. (big black googly eyes wander over to Cristiano)

Don’t be like that, Cristiano! – Our mascot is now in a wheelchair and that much more inclusive!! (presses the costume’s head onto Cristiano’s as he keeps resisting)

Game 2
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – SS Carrera – 3B Lange – 2B Serna – P Dunn
POR: RF Christopher – 1B Starr – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – LF Caballero – C Perez – SS Fowler – 3B Benitez – P Riddle

Also still paralyzed on Saturday: the offense. The Raccoons had nothing for two innings, then barely ached out a run in the third inning as Fowler singled, Benitez drew another walk, and after a bunt, Christopher’s grounder to short barely got Fowler home. The Loggers had put Pigman and Robles on the corners with singles in the first, but then Chavez flew out to Caswell, and they got only one more hit, no run, and struck out seven times from there through the sixth inning.

Some of the patrons were finally woken up when Joey Christopher opened the bottom 6th with a double into the left-center gap, just after the NWSN broadcast had returned from the personalized ad break with a picture of the Raccoons’ wheelchair-bound mascot being climbed on by four rowdy children of various ages, and his arms flailing as if calling for help. The Loggers walked Starr intentionally onto the open base, but Dunn then followed up with a wild pitch, making the point a bit moot. No further intentional walk was issued to Cas, but his grounder to first was butchered by Robles for an error that allowed Christopher to score from third base, 2-0. Nye’s RBI single added a run, but Caballero put a knife in the inning with a double play grounder, and Perez popped out. Riddle had another scoreless inning, though, and Ricky Herrera also retired three in a row in the eighth inning as it started to rain.

Before long it rained quite good and the game went to a rain delay with two outs, Nye at first base, and Caballero up in the bottom 8th. Alex Diaz replaced Dunn after the rain was waited out for 90 minutes, threw ONE pitch, and then the rain immediately picked up again and it really pissed it down, and the groundscrew scrambled to put the tarp on yet again. We then were made to sit that one out for *another* 70 minutes! Caballero then popped out after an at-bat that took nearly three hours. Matt Walters had tossed in the pen twice before either rain delay and was not brought back at that stage, and instead Ryan Sullivan got the save opportunity in the ninth inning. He got Corey Garmon and Perry Pigman quickly, but then walked Robles. Chavez struck out to end the game, though. 3-0 Wet Critters. Nye 2-4, RBI; Fowler 1-2, BB; Riddle 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, W (2-0);

Cristiano showed a waiver from Luis Silva on Sunday that he had a back injury and could not do any more mascot duties. Since Slappy and Chad were still slapped silly from whatever they had ingested, and Maud was also still ill, that only left one option. No, of course not me, I hate kids. I made Cristiano call Gustaf, is ever-shirtless and always-oily roommate to come in and do the mascot gig for the afternoon game.

Gustaf was dumb as a rock, but what was the worst that could *really* happen?

Game 3
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C M. Chavez – SS Carrera – 3B Lange – 2B Serna – P Pritchard
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – RF Caballero – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P Fox

Same lineup as on the last Southpaw Sunday in Atlanta, although Chance Fox never batted, being bludgeoned to ******* death inside of two innings. Dave Robles got him for a 2-run homer in the first inning, which was one thing, but the second inning just never ended. Fidel Carrera led off with a single, Ralph Lange doubled, and Kozak klutzed a fly to left by Marty Serna for a run-scoring error. Pritchard struck out bunting in vain, but that was the only out that Fox got before being buried under the collapsing ballpark for good. Scott Franks singled, Gorey Garmon singled, and Perry Pigman singled. It was 6-0, runners on the corners and still only one out, and the Raccoons pulled the plug. Bravo got a pop on the infield from Robles and struck out Chavez to end the inning, but the damage had been done. Speaking of doing damage – Cristiano, why is Gustaf picking up pre-teens in the stands, throwing them against the netting behind home plate, and then catching them again as they ricochet back to him? – Can you … Can he stop doing that?

Bravo pitched one more inning, but the Raccoons needed to burn somebody, and the most obvious option was Loveless, who had the most stamina of all the relievers. He put up a scoreless fourth before Lonzo drew a leadoff walk (!) in the bottom 4th and Nick Nye homered over the fence in left, cutting the gap to 6-2. That was as good as it got for rallying, though, as Loveless got completely picked apart in the fifth inning. Two walks, three singles for four runs, including a 2-run single by Pritchard that hurt especially, and then another 2-out walk to Pigman, and he was yanked and sent to St. Pete right away. Mendez got out of the inning with a fly to center from Robles, but gave up a 2-run homer to Ralph Lange in the sixth inning. In between the Coons pointlessly filled the bases and left them full. Nick Fowler hit a home run batting for Mendez in the bottom 6th as the Raccoons tried to stave off losing by double digits. They didn’t look like they’d make it after the top 9th, Alex Rios’ second inning of work, in which he nailed Lange with the first pitch of the inning, and then threw Serna’s grounder well past Brassfield on first base for a 2-base error. The Loggers added an unearned run there in the inning, establishing a 10-run lead again. Joey Christopher drew another walk in the bottom 9th, but was then doubled up by Maresh to end the game. 13-3 Loggers. Nye 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak 1-1, BB; Fowler (PH) 1-2, HR, RBI; Christopher 1-2, BB; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

April 27 – Thunder INF/RF/LF Omar Lira (.297, 2 HR, 16 RBI) is expected to miss a month with back spasms.
April 28 – The Cyclones score ten runs on the Stars in the sixth inning on their way to a 15-3 rout win. Cincy hits five homers in the game, two of them by 1B Marquise Saulsberry (.227, 2 HR, 10 RBI), who drives in a team-leading five runs.
May 2 – The Aces lose their closer Alex Flores (1-1, 3.60 ERA, 4 SV) to shoulder inflammation. He is not expected back before September, if that.

FL Player of the Week: DAL C Isaiah Dickerson (.552, 5 HR, 9 RBI), batting .600 (6-10) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Ken Hummel (.307, 4 HR, 11 RBI), hitting .440 (11-25) with 4 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL C Isaiah Dickerson (.571, 5 HR, 9 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: NYC OF Sean Zeiher (.344, 4 HR, 28 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP Justin Martin (5-0, 0.74 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Ben Seiter (4-0, 2.08 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: CIN INF Rich Monck (.303, 3 HR, 19 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: OCT C Travis Anderson (.342, 3 HR, 13 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

The team went 4-2 this week, but conceded 25 runs while scoring 22 of their own, thanks to the Sunday rout against the Loggers. The pitching remains … (moves paws around) … *a lot*! That -15 run differential doesn’t look good at all.

The only guy with a good ERA is the worst of the reclamation projects, Tyler Riddle, who is somehow unbeaten and has a 2.00 ERA. If only we didn’t drag around three whack jobs with ERA’s well over five…

There will be roster moves to begin the next week, although it’s not like I can just wish a new starting pitcher into existence. The weirdest starter in AAA is somehow the most productive one, with 23-year-old Angel Alba being a 4-0 pitcher with a 1.65 ERA for the Alley Cats. Alba was 4-4 with a 5.01 ERA last year in 12 games for St. Pete, after going 5-3 with a 2.70 ERA and also three saves in some relief outings for Ham Lake. Alba, a righty, was a scouting discovery in 2053 that so far has never performed in a way to get actually noticed, but who suddenly got upgraded to the #60 prospect by BNN. “Banjo” Pigg isn’t convinced that he’s the real deal, though. The actual #9 pick from a few years back who I have tooted my horn about quite a few times, Brett Cotton, in turn was 2-1 with a 5.48 ERA for St. Pete…

But we need a replacement for Loveless and then probably also delete Kozak, who doesn’t hit for anything worth writing about.

(oily shirtless muscular guy with a Raccoons mascot head on walks by in the background)

Four games with Indy coming up, then a weekend trip to Salem.

Fun Fact: The Blue Sox are not missing Nick Nye thanks to the emergence of Robby Cox hitting .367 in his spot.

Cox was already a regular last year, but hit only .251 with 14 homers. Now at short, Cox, age 29, is putting on a hitting clinic with a .367/.438/.532 slash and two home runs and 17 RBI in the first month of the season. Cox was a #7 pick in the draft, and thus much higher than Nye, who went at #45.

I’m just happy Nick Nye is hitting .364 and not the usual .217 for high-average imports here…

[Westheim]

First of all, the good news: Maud was beyond being ill and was back in the office on Monday. She brought muffins, and more importantly (!), restored order.

Raccoons (13-12) vs. Indians (15-8) – May 3-6, 2060

Four games with Indy now, whom the Raccoons had beaten 10-8 over the course of the previous season, but the Indians had gotten a good start and were second in the division, 2 1/2 games behind the Crusaders, who had the best record in baseball. Indy had a revived offense that sat third in runs scored, and eighth in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (1-4, 5.28 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (3-0, 3.45 ERA)
Justin DeRose (2-2, 4.18 ERA) vs. Jarod Morris (2-1, 5.68 ERA)
Zach Stewart (2-2, 5.06 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (2-2, 8.14 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (2-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. Ben Akman (2-1, 3.42 ERA)

The Coons would pick their way around the Indians’ only left-hander, Shane Fitzgibbon (2-2, 3.34 ERA) and only meet their right-handers.

And they didn’t meet anybody on Monday because persistent rain washed out the opener of the series and gave us a double header for Tuesday, and headaches for further down the road.

Game 1
IND: SS Kilday – CF S. Thompson – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – 3B R. Vargas – 1B Schaack – 2B Weber – P Oyola
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera

It would take some time to get used to an Indians lineup without Bill Quinteros, but Jason Schaack tried to make us feel less heartbroken with a single the first time through to make up for the departed contsant on-base presence of Quinteros. He was however the only batter to reach against Bobby Herrera the first time through and was stranded on base. The first six Coons went down similarly before Chris Maresh hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd. Benitez drew another walk, and both were bunted into scoring position by Herrera, but Joe-Chris popped out and Lonzo flew out to Steve Thompson to center. The first two were on again in the bottom 4th, with Cas and Nye singles, then two poor outs. Maresh hit a scratch single with two outs to load the bases for all .140 of Tony Benitez, who easily sailed one over to Orlando Ramos to end that inning.

Bobby Herrera pitched seven shutout innings of 2-hit ball, which if there was anything to complain about it was the seven full counts he ran that led to his (relatively) early departure. He struck out seven, and he also got his pat on the bum in a scoreless game, because after the burst of on-base presence in the third and fourth innings, and a whole lotta not scoring, the Raccoons had remained silent in the fifth and sixth… and the seventh. The Coons then needed three relievers to get through the top 8th, because both Mendez and Ricky Herrera allowed a single and the Indians kept lobbing pinch-hitters at us. Ryan Sullivan got out of the inning, finally. The Raccoons then caught a break when the Indians put Raffy de la Cruz on the hill, who immediately walked Christopher to begin the bottom 8th, then served up an RBI triple into the leftfield corner to Lonzo. That was also the only run in the inning because the Raccoons completely cucked it up again with a runner on third and less than two outs. Cas whiffed, Nye popped out, Starr walked, and Brass struck out again.

Worse, Matt Walters blew the lead in the ninth inning when the first four Indians all reached base on him. Orlando Ramos legged out an infield single, Chris Lovins walked, and then Alex Gomez and Ricardo Vargas hit a pair of RBI singles to flip the score before Schaack struck out and Jeff Kelly hit into a double play. In turn, Maresh’s homer in the bottom 9th tied the game and sent it to extras, where the Raccoons got to throw in a fifth reliever. That turned out to be Brad Loveless, who was on the way outta town, but hadn’t been sent down on Monday or Tuesday so far yet. He did nothing that would have saved his bacon, offering a leadoff walk in the tenth inning to Ricky Lopez, misfielding Matt Kilday’s comebacker for an error, allowed Lovins to single home the go-ahead run, and then walked Gomez to fill the bases before Vargas grounded out to strand the bases loaded. This time the Raccoons went in order in the bottom of the inning. 3-2 Indians. Maresh 3-4, HR, RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K;

Ack.

Brad Loveless (1-1, 9.95 ERA) was made rosterless between games and the Raccoons activated Adam Harris, who had been held over as reserve for the double header just for occasions like this.

Game 2
IND: SS Kilday – CF S. Thompson – LF O. Ramos – RF Lovins – 3B R. Vargas – 1B Schaack – C J. Kelly – 2B Weber – P Jar. Morris
POR: RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 2B Nye – CF Caballero – 1B Kozak – SS Fowler – 3B Gonzales – P DeRose

Portland went up 1-0 in the first in the nightcap as Christopher drew a leadoff walk from Jarod Morris, got a base on a wild pitch, another one on Brass’ single, and then scored on Angel Perez’ sac fly. The Indians then loaded the bags against DeRose in the second inning, but DeRose arrived at Jarod Morris just in time to get the third out on a lazy fly from the pitcher, and then Nick Fowler’s solo homer in the bottom 2nd extended the lead to 2-0. Third inning, third run, on a 2-out stir by Perez (single), Nye (walk), and Caballero, who singled to right, where the ball went under Lovins’ glove to allow Perez to score from second base, 3-0. The remaining runners gained an extra base, which didn’t matter once Jack Kozak barreled a 3-run homer over the fence in right, which was the first home run of his career, and one last desperate bid to save his roster spot. It also ended Morris’ day in the third inning of a 6-0 game, which the Raccoons were not unhappy to see, being down to three relievers in their own pen.

Kozak hit a 2-out RBI single his next time up, driving in Nick Nye to extend the score to 7-0 in the fifth inning. At that point, our chief complaint with DeRose was the same as with Herrera earlier in the day: a lack of efficiency. He needed 86 pitches through five shutout innings, although in all fairness, two errors by Perez and Nye behind him didn’t exactly speed up proceedings. We squeezed him for another five outs, then went to Adam Harris, secretly hoping for as many as seven outs and then another swift reliever exchange with St. Petersburg. The signs were favorable, since Portland had gained an unearned run on a throwing error by Ricardo Vargas in the bottom 6th and it was now an 8-0 game. Nick Nye hit a leadoff triple to right in the seventh inning, but was stranded by another combination of hacking – both Caballero and Kozak struck out – and lucklessness. After Fowler walked, Caswell batted for Gonzales, but flew out to deep center. Harris gave up a run in a long and tedious eighth in which Thompson singled and scored on a Ramos double to begin the inning, and then there were many long counts after that without any more runs being pushed across by Indy. Worse yet was Willie Sanchez’ pinch-hit 2-run homer off Reynaldo Bravo in the ninth inning, but at least we got the inning over *somehow*… 8-3 Raccoons. Perez 2-4, RBI; Nye 2-4, BB, 3B, 2B; Kozak 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Gonzales 1-2, BB, 2B; Starr 1-1; DeRose 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-2);

“Peppers” Harris was not immediately sent back to AAA after the game. Mostly because we had by now cycled through all the spare left-handers from down there and weren’t happy with any of them…

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

Both teams got the #1 hitter on base in the #1 inning on Wednesday, and both were caught stealing to give the other team’s starter a 1-2-3 inning after all, sorta. In Stewart’s case he offered a four-pitch walk to Kilday, but then maintained minimum pace into the middle innings, striking out five Indians the first time through overall. He would nurse a no-hitter for five and two thirds before it was broken up by – (big sigh) – the opposing pitcher when Melvin Guerra hit a single to right with two outs in the sixth. Kilday then grounded out to short to end the inning, and the Raccoons were on three hits and no runs themselves through six innings.

And then of course Stewart was completely destroyed in the seventh inning. Out of the blue entirely, Kevin Abel opened with a double, Ramos walked, Gomez doubled to left for the game’s first run, and Schaack singled home a pair, eventually scoring on Mike Weber’s sac fly to make it four runs in the inning. Tony Benitez drew another walk in the bottom 8th and was singled home by Lonzo with two outs, but that was the extent to which the Raccoons rallied after the seventh-inning implosion and before Alex Rios had a ninth-inning implosion. Gomez singled, Schaack reached on an error by Fowler, and Lovins walked. Ricardo Vargas whacked a grand slam, and there was still nobody out. Weber hit a floater to center that Caswell dropped for another error, but a Guerra bunt and two pops then ended the silly inning. 8-1 Indians. Caballero (PH) 1-1;

Awful.

Ben Akman was a late scratch on Thursday and the Indians sent Shane Fitzgibbon (2-2, 3.34 ERA) on short rest for one reason or another.

Game 4
IND: SS Kilday – CF Abel – LF O. Ramos – C A. Gomez – 1B Schaack – RF Lovins – 3B R. Vargas – 2B Weber – P Fitzgibbon
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – C Perez – 2B Nye – CF Caballero – 1B Brassfield – LF Kozak – 3B Gonzales – P Riddle

While Tyler Riddle continued to riddle batters up and down the country, the Raccoons reached new levels in brain farts in the early innings on Thursday. Caballero hit into a double play after Nick Nye fortunately reached base on an uncaught third strike to begin the bottom 2nd, and in the third inning both Gonzales and Christopher were caught stealing to sabotage the attempts at offense. Kevin Abel singled off Riddle in the fourth to get the Indians into the H column, but otherwise they struck out *eight* times in four innings, then also rung up Lovins and Weber in the fifth to get to double digits for the game.

The game was still scoreless in the middle of the fifth, after which Brass socked a leadoff double to right. Kozak was walked intentionally to get to Gonzales, who popped out, and Riddle whiffed swinging. Two down, Joey Christopher finally put the batter’s shoes on and slapped an RBI single to left-center, and Lonzo followed that up with an RBI single to left. They then pulled off a double steal with Perez batting, and both scored when Perez singled to right-center, doubling the score to 4-0. Nye flew out to center to end the inning.

Lovins and Weber struck out again in the seventh to fill the dozen for Riddle, but in between the Indians put up a run on three singles, two of the bloop variety, in that top of the seventh inning. Ramos and Gomez went to the corners to begin the inning, and while Schaack popped out and Lovins fanned, Vargas dropped in a 2-out duck snort to get Indy on the board, 4-1. Weber stranded two when he K’ed as the tying run. Riddle then gave up two more singles to Kilday (forced out by Abel) and Ramos in the eighth without getting another strikeout. The Indians were on the corners with two outs and the tying run in the box in the .196 batter Alex Gomez, who fell to 1-2 against reliever Ryan Sullivan, who then gave up a game-tying homer to left, because he was just as much of a useless **** as the other ones.

Joel Starr batted for Kozak in the bottom 8th after Raffy de la Cruz walked the bags full by the time there were two outs, got a 2-0 pitch in the zone, and sloshed it into centerfield for a 2-run single to reclaim a lead for Portland (not that it helped Riddle all that much). Matt Walters then went on to blow his second save of the series, again without getting an out. Lovins doubled to center, Vargas singled to put the tying runs on the corners, and then Jeff Kelly pinch-hit and bopped a 3-run homer to left just like that. I was not amused, I think, because I wasn’t actually moving or emoting anymore. Just a dead-eyed stare. It persisted until the Indians had made three outs in order after that, and then the Raccoons made three outs in order after that. 7-6 Indians. Christopher 2-5, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Starr (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Riddle 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 12 K;

When’s the right time to accept that everybody on this team is bloody useless?

Raccoons (14-15) @ Wolves (10-16) – May 7-9, 2060

For the fifth straight year the Raccoons and Wolves faced off in the regular season, with Salem having taken the last two meetings. This year the Wolves were in trouble, ranking in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, with the second-worst rotation, second-worst defense, second-worst OBP, and second-worst batting average. Then again, it was their lucky day because the Raccoons tumbleweeded into town.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (2-3, 7.33 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (0-2, 9.13 ERA)
TBD vs. Josh Elling (0-3, 5.56 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-4, 4.30 ERA) vs. Dave Robinson (3-3, 3.96 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday, again. The other two were right-handers, and the only right-handers in the Wolves’ rotation.

We had no concept of who our Saturday starter would be. If I could have a wish, I’d ask for another rainout and double-header on Sunday.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Maresh – 3B Benitez – Fox
SAL: LF C. Jimenez – 3B Espinosa – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Fuller – RF J. Mendoza – CF R. Garcia – 2B Bonilla – P Sparks

The Raccoons scored only one run from Joe-Chris’ single and Lonzo’s double that put a pair in scoring position to begin the Friday opener, on Caswell’s grounder to second base. Nye grounded out to third, and Starr flew out easily to keep Lonzo stranded on third base. That lead didn’t stand, thanks to Fox allowing singles to Tim Fuller and Alberto Bonilla, and a walk to Ruben Garcia in between, in the bottom 2nd, which tied the game for the Wolves. A new lead was pieced together from no fewer than four singles in the fourth inning; Cas singled and was doubled up by Nye, and then Starr, Brass, and Maresh hit three straight singles to scratch out a run before Tony Benitez made another absolutely useless out. The Wolves answered with leadoff singles from Belchior Fresco and Fuller in the bottom 4th, but Jose Mendoza jammed into a 4-6-3 double play and Garcia struck out to let Fox escape with the 2-1 lead.

The Coons turned a double play behind Fox in the fifth, and Maresh threw out Jeff Buss trying to steal after getting nicked to begin the bottom 6th, but Fox then fudged the bags full with the 5-6-7 batters anyway. Bonilla, a switch-hitting 22-year-old rookie who was much weaker against left-handers, was up next and a mound conference tried to goad Fox into getting the third out of the inning here without blowing up. The count ran full before Bonilla flailed over ball four in the dirt, which counted as a tiny W with the way things were going otherwise, I guess…

The Portland battery was in scoring position in the seventh inning after Jonathon Scales offered a leadoff walk to Chris Maresh, while Fox had his bunt thrown away by Gold Glover Danny Espinosa. The Wolves elected to walk Joe-Chris intentionally, bringing up Lonzo with one out, after Lonzo had already hit into a double play two passes through the lineup earlier. Infuriatingly, he did so again, bowling the Raccoons out of the inning, 6-4-3 style. Fox got purged after a second leadoff hit-by-pitch against outfielder Danny Diaz in the bottom 7th, with Ruben Mendez stalking around that tying run on base to maintain the skinny lead. Ryan Sullivan allowed singles to PH Mike Seidman and Ruben Garcia in the bottom 8th, both with two outs, with the former Crusaders scourge Seidman being caught in a rundown on the Garcia single and tagged out to end the inning. Whatever ******* works… The top 9th had Nick Fowler single in place of Tony Benitez and then get doubled up by Kozak, before Matt Walters, beaten and battered, entered the bottom 9th. Angel Escobido drew a leadoff walk from the #8 spot before Diaz flew out to Cas in center. Another mound conference was called to re-twiddle Walters’ whiskers for better reception, because what I was seeing here was simply awful. He proceeded to strike out Chris Jimenez, but Espinosa singled to left on a 1-2 pitch, moving Escobido and the tying run to second base. Buss grounded out to Nye, though. 2-1 Blighters. Christopher 2-4, BB; Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Starr 2-3, BB; Brassfield 2-4; Fowler (PH) 1-1;

Jack Kozak (.217, 1 HR, 4 RBI) was then optioned to St. Petersburg to make room on the roster for a spot starter. Damasceno, Sensabaugh, Alba were all unavailable, Argenziano was on the DL, and I wasn’t gonna touch Craig Kniep, who was still on the AAA roster, with a 20-foot pole unless we were 20 games under .500.

Thusly, 24-year-old right-hander Jose Rosa won his ABL debut thanks to a 1.80 ERA in 15 innings of swingman duty in AAA this year. Rosa had been signed as international free agent outta the Dominican Republic for $81k eight years ago and since then had done his bloody best to be as invisible as possible. He had first reached St. Pete in late ’58 and was being used as stuffings there since, amounting to just 59 innings in 18 appearances (5 starts last year). He had control issues along with a slider/curve mix and a 95mph heater that had at least some movement to it so he wasn’t getting hit like a tee…

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Rosa
SAL: 3B Espinosa – RF J. Mendoza – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Fuller – LF C. Jimenez – CF R. Garcia – 2B Bonilla – P Elling

Rosa walked three batters in the first two innings, but the Wolves couldn’t get the hits required to topple him early, while the Raccoons let a Lonzo single in the first and a 2-out Perez triple in the second get away for no runs scored early, then began the fourth inning with Cas getting nicked before Nye and Starr filled up the bases with nobody out. Two strikeouts and a grounder to short kept the Critters at bay, and from scoring runs especially…

The rest of the middle innings was shockingly uneventful with Rosa keeping the walks in his pockets and the Wolves making poor contact consistently. Through six, the teams were matching each other with three hits aside, and no runs for either group, before Brass’ leadoff double in the top 7th posed a vague threat. Perez singled, moving him to third base, and Nick Fowler finally broke through with a double to center, driving home Brassfield for the game’s first run. The remaining runners were stranded where they were as Rosa whiffed, Christopher was walked intentionally, Lonzo whiffed again, and Cas flew out casually to Jose Mendoza… The word “infuriating” was starting to become a bit stale.

Bottom 7th, and Ruben Garcia and Danny Diaz drew walks to knock out Rosa with two outs. Bravo came in, threw a wild pitch to advance the runners, then walked Espinosa altogether, and then somehow struck out Mendoza as both offenses made compelling arguments for forced contraction from the league… Bottom 8th, Bravo allowed a leadoff single to Buss, then another single to Fresco. Another wild pitch advanced those, too, but with nobody out, and then Fowler fumbled Fuller’s funny grounder for an error as the tying run scored. Bravo was dumped, but Rios allowed the tying run to score on Garcia’s 1-out single. Bonilla hit into a double play to end the inning. But the Wolves now had the 2-1 lead, and the Raccoons began the ninth against Jason Posey with poor outs by Fowler and Caballero. Christopher singled with two down, but Lonzo fanned and that was the end of the game. 2-1 Wolves. Brassfield 2-4, 2B; Perez 2-4; Rosa 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 3 K;

Jose Rosa was returned to AAA after a fun day out at the tri-county fair, and took Tony Benitez (.115, 0 HR, 3 RBI) with him. Additionally, Arturo Bribiesca was waived and DFA’ed to make a spot on the 40-man roster available for 2055 fifth-rounder 3B/RF Armando Suriel, who had a thunderous arm and a singles bat, hitting .303 in St. Petersburg where he had been promoted to last summer. Suriel was already 25 and not exactly a hot commodity, and was a switch-hitter with nearly balanced splits. 1B Joe Agee was hitting really well in AAA and was also called up, although I wasn’t exactly sure where he was supposed to get any playing time from given that Joel Starr existed, was well and steady, and batted from the same side as him. Agee’s promotion was about a 40-man roster crunch as much as anything, because I would have preferred something like Todd Oley’s lukewarm body, actually, but he wasn’t on the 40-man and I saw no easy way to get him on it either.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 2B Nye – C Perez – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caballero – 3B Suriel – P B. Herrera
SAL: 3B Espinosa – CF R. Garcia – 1B Fresco – C Fuller – LF C. Jimenez – RF Bednarz – SS Crist – 2B D. Diaz – P D. Robinson

Doubles by Christopher and Perez gave Portland a 1-0 lead in the first inning, while Belchior Fresco nearly homered to left in the bottom 1st, but had the ball picked off the top of the wall by Brassfield. Herrera then had two calm innings before **** hit the fan in the bottom 4th and the Wolves knocked straight base hits with Fresco (double), Fuller, and Jimenez (singles) to tie the game on the latter single. Joey Christopher also tweaked something in his back on the throw in there and left the game with Luis Silva. Since Noah Caswell had a slow week and looked like two days off (Monday was off for the Coons) would be useful to clear his head, the Raccoons shifted Suriel to rightfield and brought in David Gonzales to play third base. Herrera struck out Mike Bednarz, but then surrendered the go-ahead run on a 2-out single by Tom Crist. Danny Diaz grounded out to first base to end the damn inning.

The 2-1 score remained on the board for as long as Bobby Herrera was in the game, which was through seven innings. The Critters looked highly hapless, putting together only two base hits in the six innings after the double-double in the first. Agee batted for Herrera leading off the top 8th, but whiffed. Gonzales singled to left, which knocked out Robinson, but was then forced out on Lonzo’s grounder to short against Dave Lister. Lonzo stole second, Nick was nyed, and Angel Perez popped out to Crist to strand the two runners for good. Reynaldo Bravo served up the insurance in the bottom 8th, allowing a single to Ruben Garcia and a 2-piece to right to Belchior Fresco. 4-1 Wolves. Christopher 1-2, 2B; Perez 2-4, 2B, RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (1-5);

In other news

May 3 – Cincy INF Matt Wartella (.393, 2 HR, 9 RBI) caps a 5-run bottom of the ninth with a walkoff grand slam to beat the Blue Sox, 6-3.
May 4 – The Scorpions’ INF Rick Price (.212, 1 HR, 7 RBI) gets his 2,000th base hit in a 4-1 loss to the Wolves, doubling off SAL SP Dave Robinson (3-3, 3.96 ERA) in the seventh inning. The 36-year-old Price was on his fifth ABL team and had won three championships, two Gold Gloves, and two Platinum Sticks in his time. He was a career .286 batter with 133 HR, 914 RBI, and 88 SB.
May 4 – SAC OF/1B Israel Santiago (.327, 2 HR, 10 RBI) could miss a month with a shoulder strain.
May 6 – Thunder 3B/RF Ed Soberanes (.270, 0 HR, 8 RBI) picks up his 2,500th career hit in a 4-3 win against the Condors. The 36-year-old collects two singles, including the milestone in the first inning against TIJ SP Edgar Mauricio (2-2, 2.92 ERA). Soberanes was the 2051 CL Player of the Year and has a collection of seven Platinum Sticks and a Gold Glove. He won the 2053 championship with the Thunder. For his 17-year career he has been hitting .305 with 296 HR and 1,301 RBI, and has stolen 395 bases.
May 6 – The Crusaders acquire INF/LF John Webler (.271, 4 HR, 10 RBI) from the Capitals for LF/RF Tony Rodriquez (.211, 0 HR, 1 RBI).
May 7 – ATL SP Enrique Ortiz (3-2, 2.06 ERA) will miss four months to have bone spurs removed from his elbow.
May 9 – Bayhawks southpaw Mark Jacobs (3-1, 2.14 ERA) faces the minimum 27 batters as he throws a 1-hit shutout against the Warriors, claiming the 4-0 victory. SFW INF/RF Nate Green (.263, 0 HR, 2 RBI) hits a fifth-inning single for the Warriors, but is immediately doubled up to keep Sioux Falls to the minimum.
May 9 – The Buffaloes beat the Titans, 4-3 in 14 innings.

FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Robby Cox (.339, 7 HR, 31 RBI), socking .267 (8-30) with 5 HR, 14 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL OF Josh Abercrombie (.271, 3 HR, 10 RBI), batting .379 (11-29) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

If was had stayed home on the weekend, we would have scored about as many runs.

Joey Christopher should be fine by Tuesday after leaving Sunday’s game with a tweak in his back.

Monday is off, and I will have Cristiano explain to me in fine detail how a team that is fourth in batting average, fourth in OBP, and has half a dozen guys hitting around .300 can score well under four runs a game. Sure, they could have more power, as usual, but it’s not like we’re not on base. We’re on base all the ******* time!!

Two-week homestand coming up now. After the Monday off day we’ll have 13 straight games with the Cyclones, Titans, damn Elks, and Aces.

Fun Fact: Tyler Riddle leads all CL pitchers in WAR with 2.1;

Yes yes, Cristiano, but how does that give us *actual* wins…?