[Westheim]

Colin Baldwin will miss a start with a back spasm, but it’s not worse than that. The problem is the lack of an off day this week, so the Raccoons need a fill-in for his turn on Thursday. There was the possibility of just using Sergio Vega, to get a spot start from AAA starter Ian Cumins (who was on the 40-man roster), or to add rapidly improving Jonathan Toner to the 40-man and have him make the spot start. Toner had pitched on Friday, so timing was not an issue. Cumins was 5-1 with a 2.93 ERA, but an almost even K/BB ratio in St. Pete, while Toner was 6-1 with a 2.55 ERA and 65 K in 77.2 IP. The only slight issue were the 36 walks.

Raccoons (29-26) vs. Crusaders (32-23) – June 3-6, 2013

While third in runs scored, and fourth in runs allowed, the Crusaders had suffered a slow-motion sweep at the hands of the Indians over the preceding weekend and had dropped four games out in the CL North. But starter Kel Yates aside, they were perfectly healthy and were looking forward to starting a turnaround on the season series, which early on stood at 2-1 in the Raccoons’ favor.

Projected matchups:
Rich Hood (3-2, 4.33 ERA) vs. Paul Miller (6-4, 2.77 ERA)
Bill Conway (2-4, 3.41 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (9-2, 3.29 ERA)
Hector Santos (1-4, 3.80 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (3-3, 5.78 ERA)
TBD vs. Rodrigo Moreno (7-3, 3.39 ERA)

The Raccoons will see a full complement of right-handed starters.

Game 1
NYC: 2B J. Ortega – 3B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C G. Ortíz – SS J. Hernandez – CF K. Wood – P P. Miller
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – LF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 3B Canning – P Hood

While Francisco Caraballo’s double play erased the 4-pitch walk Rich Hood had handed to Jorge Ortega at the start of this game, the incredibly dull Hood still found a way to cough up a 3-run homer to B.J. Manfull in the same inning, allowing singles to both Martin Brothers. While Paul Miller showed some intense cruelty to small woodlands animals in this game and basically put the Raccoons in a sack and hung that into the Willamette, Hood never got even remotely decent and just kept getting whacked. He was saved once, when Stanton Martin (15 HR) hit into a double play in the third inning. Other than that… The two runs the Crusaders added in the fifth inning were unearned after a Canning error, but they got three hard hits in the sixth to knock him out in a 6-0 game with two runners left on base. Mathis replaced Hood and surrendered a rocket to Ken Wood – though a rocket that went right into Adrian Quebell’s glove, and Quebell tapped first base ahead of the scrambling Julio Hernandez to end the inning on a double play. The Raccoons somehow scratched out a run in the bottom of the inning, Carmona driving home Canning before being caught stealing for the fourth attempt in a row. Miller had only allowed one hit in the first five innings, but got lit up in the bottom 8th eventually, with the first four Raccoons up all getting base hits (doubling their output up to that point), the last of which was a 2-run triple by Carmona to get them to 7-4. The Furballs ran out of air right there – their next six batters would make six outs, but at least Miller’s line had been urinated on. 7-5 Crusaders. Carmona 2-4, 3B, 3 RBI; D. Alexander 2-4; Canning 2-3; Pruitt 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Sergio Vega had to pitch in long relief here with Mathis not getting it done, ruling him out for a start on Thursday. So it’s between Cumins and Toner.

Game 2
NYC: SS J. Ortega – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C Case – 3B Petersen – CF K. Wood – P P. Trevino
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – C D. Alexander – RF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 2B Bergquist – 3B Rodgers – P Conway

Stanton Martin’s missile-like line drive homer to dead center in the first inning was measured at 434 feet, and gave the Crusaders another early lead, 2-0. For Conway, this was only the beginning of a painful night that quickly escalated into back-to-back homers by the Crusaders’ light-hitting centerfielder Ken Wood (no homers on the season so far) and Pancho Trevino – the opposing pitcher. Sambrano threw out Martin Ortíz at home plate to end the third and spare Conway another run added to his ledger, while the Raccoons, down four runs and three homers, were donated a run in the bottom 4th on Francisco Caraballo’s throwing error on a play that looked a lot like a double play would be turned on Dylan Alexander. The lead runner, Sandy Sambrano, had singled to open the frame, the Raccoons’ first hit in the game. Conway made a messy error himself in the following inning to hand the unearned run right back, however. Jorge Ortega made a throwing error on D-Alex in the bottom of the fifth, putting him and Sambrano in scoring position with two outs, but J-Alex’ long fly to right was caught, and the Raccoons remained down by four until the following inning, where Pruitt hit for Conway and drove in a run with a 2-out single. Alas, that run was powered by Trevino drilling Michael Palmer beforehand, and the Raccoons continued to exist on charitable donations only.

Caraballo homered off Juan Gallegos in the seventh, 6-2, the first earned run the rookie Gallegos was charged with in his major league career, 12 innings in. 6-2 was still the score in the bottom 9th, which strangely was opened for the Crusaders by one ex-Coon, Micah Steele, who walked Bednarski and allowed a single to Carmona with nobody out before yielding for another ex-Coon, Joe O’Brian, who was supposed to close the affair despite his 5.79 ERA. That one had a taste of garlic to it from the start. D-Alex singled, loading them up with one out. Craig Bowen hit for Gibson, with J-Alex having left earlier in a double switch, and worked a full count walk to force home a run and bring up Quebell as the winning run. Of course he popped out – but still better than a double play. Michael Palmer came up, struggling the entire season, and not exactly hitting for any power. When he jabbed at the 3-1 pitch, the home crowd gasped, before bursting into cheers as that ball was not only hit high to right, but also deep, deeper, and outta there. GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!! 7-6 Raccoons!! Palmer 2-3, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Pruitt (PH) 1-1, RBI; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Side note: Joe O’Brian has already cleared waivers this season.

Side note #2: This was Michael Palmer’s second walkoff homer against the Crusaders. He ended a 17-inning affair in July of 2011 with a solo shot off Ray Conner, who is currently unemployed.

Game 3
NYC: SS J. Ortega – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C Case – 3B Petersen – CF K. Wood – P Bartels
POR: CF Sambrano – 2B Bergquist – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – LF J. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Palmer – 3B Rodgers – P Santos

Third game in the set, third massive multi-run homer for the Crusaders in the top 1st, and it was Martin again, tattooing an unassuming Santos offering in a 2-piece. While the Raccoons scored a run in the bottom 1st, D-Alex doubling home Sambrano, Santos got a right waffling with Tommie Petersen hitting a leadoff jack in the top 2nd, and Bartels (single) and Ortega (double) reaching scoring position with one out. Caraballo struck out before Ortíz launched a 3-2 pitch to deep, deep left, but somehow it decided to not go out and landed in J-Alex’ mitt. Santos’ waffling would end in the fifth inning after back-to-back homers by B.J. Manfull and Aaron Case that put the Crusaders 5-2 ahead, and to add injury to insult, Santos was also drilled by Bartels in his first plate appearance. As if Santos’ drubbing for eleven hits wasn’t bad enough, Mathis allowed a 2-piece to Tommie Petersen (1 HR in 85 AB before this game) in the top 7th. Sandy Sambrano’s 401st plate appearance as a Raccoon would yield his first homer as a Raccoon, but that was down by a lot and with one out and nobody on in the ninth inning. 7-3 Crusaders. Sambrano 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Quebell 2-4;

The Crusaders have now hit ten home runs in this series.

For the Thursday game, Chris Mathis was demoted to AAA with his ERA close to six, where he would meet with Pat Slayton. The two relievers jointly held the Raccoons lead for wins in the majors, with four W’s, which in itself was telling. Ian Cumins was called upon to make the start in the fourth game.

While that was going on for the Raccoons, the Crusaders acquired CF/RF Amari Brissett (.257, 5 HR, 17 RBI) from the Loggers in exchange for MR Jose Ramos (1-1, 3.48 ERA) and #75 prospect CL Troy Charters.

Game 4
NYC: CF Brissett – 2B Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C Case – SS J. Ortega – 3B Petersen – P R. Moreno
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – SS Palmer – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – 1B Pruitt – C Bowen – 3B Rodgers – P Cumins

Cumins had lasted 5.2 innings in a spot start last season, allowing four earned runs and taking the loss. He came close to matching the damage from last year in the first inning alone after Pruitt started the game with an error putting newly-minted Crusader Amari Brissett on base. Cumins walked Caraballo and eventually a run scored on Manfull’s double to deep right. Aaron Case missed the Daily Early Blast by less than 20 feet, with Carmona catching his drive to center on the edge of the warning track. Cumins issued leadoff walks in the second and third, which were resolved in a double play and Brissett being caught stealing, respectively, although Martin Ortíz did hit a homer in the third to make it 2-0. The fourth started with another 3-ball count in which B.J. Manfull doubled, and of course scored, 3-0. By then, Carmona had lengthened his streak of being caught stealing to five times, being caught by Case in the fourth, and he was AGAIN caught in the sixth.

Despite walking five, Cumins somehow ate up seven innings, and had a chance for the W when he was hit for in the bottom 7th, as D-Alex grabbed a stick in a 3-1 deficit, two outs, and the bases loaded after a so far impregnable Moreno had faltered in the inning. Lefty Aurelio Hernandez came out of the Crusaders’ pen and got Alexander to pop out right above home plate. The Crusaders responded to that mild and disregardable rebellion without a sign of mercy. Sugano faced the 3-through-6 batters in the top 8th, three of whom were left-handers, but conceded two walks and a single before being chased for Josh Gibson to face Tommie Petersen, with the Crusaders sending left-handed Jesus Flores to pinch-hit. Gibson had Flores at 0-2, then served up a meatball for Flores to slam away at, blowing the game wide open. 7-1 Crusaders. Palmer 2-3, RBI;

Cumins was sent back to St. Pete after the game, with Pat Slayton being recalled. Slayton had developed a serious case of The Walks in AAA…

Raccoons (30-29) vs. Scorpions (27-33) – June 7-9, 2013

The Raccoons had swept the last series from the Scorpions (in 2011), but were pretty far away from being able to sweep much right now. The Scorpions ranked eighth in both runs scored and runs allowed over in the Federal League, comfortably out of the division battle, and between their bullpen and the Raccoons’ a lot of misery was pooled together. The Coons already had a 4+ ERA from their pen, but the Scorpions topped that with a grisly 5.03 relievers’ ERA.

Projected matchups:
Jack Berry (5-3, 3.81 ERA) vs. William Kay (3-4, 3.42 ERA)
Rich Hood (3-3, 4.52 ERA) vs. Jorge Gine (5-5, 3.52 ERA)
Bill Conway (2-4, 3.64 ERA) vs. Fred O’Quinn (5-2, 4.38 ERA)

Left-handed starter on Sunday, while the Raccoons miss their former starter Kenichi Watanabe (3-6, 3.65 ERA) by a day.

Game 1
SAC: CF P. Sanchez – C Leach – LF R. Lopez – 3B Whitley – RF X. Alvarez – 1B Bovane – 2B Luna – SS Sauceda – P Kay
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – 3B Rodgers – SS Whitehouse – P Berry

Nobody among the home crowd could do much with it, but it was the RACCOONS to score a run in the first, WITHOUT falling behind first in the series opener. Carmona led off with a double and scored on Bednarski’s single to left to do the trick. Alas, with this team, no lead was forever, and while Berry only allowed one hit in the first three innings, the Scorpions’ second hit was a pretty big one as Rodrigo Lopez tied the score with a mammoth shot to left in the fourth inning, and the Stingers took the lead in the fifth on back-to-back 1-out doubles by Ricky Luna and Gabriel Sauceda. Sambrano was on for the Raccoons in the third, walking with one out and stealing second base, and drawing a leadoff walk in the sixth, but was generally ignored by the rest of the lineup. Bottom 7th, Quebell drew a leadoff walk and Bergquist hit an infield single to put the go-ahead run on base. Rodgers grounded to short where J.D. Shipley missed the pickup and instead of a double play got nothing but a grim look from William Kay, with the bases now loaded and nobody out. Kay walked in the tying run against Whitehouse before the lineup rolled over and died. John Alexander hit for Berry and struck out, and Carmona popped out to first. Just before the dismayed fans could start chanting for the Scorpions, Sambrano singled hard up the middle to plate a pair with two outs. Gibson and Watanabe didn’t allow a baserunner between them in the last two innings to put this comebacker away. 4-2 Coons. Sambrano 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Quebell 2-3, BB; Canning (PH) 1-1; Berry 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (6-3);

Game 2
SAC: CF P. Sanchez – LF R. Lopez – C R. Gibson – 3B Whitley – 1B Bovane – 2B Luna – RF Allen – SS Sauceda – P Gine
POR: 1B Sambrano – CF Carmona – C D. Alexander – RF Bednarski – LF J. Alexander – 2B Palmer – SS Canning – 3B Rodgers – P Hood

Ricardo Carmona’s futility in terms of stolen bases ended in the first inning, albeit as the trailing part of a double steal, and only after getting smacked by Jorge Gine in the first place. Both runners would score; Bednarski plated Sandy with a groundout, while John Alexander hit a home run to right center to tie with Bednarski and Dylan Alexander for the team lead with seven (…). Other struggles also ended for Carmona, who got his first major league home run in his next appearance at the dish. It was also a big one. Rodgers, Hood, and Sambrano had all hit 2-out singles and Carmona hit a drive high and deep to right center, the first pitch of the at-bat – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

That ran a) Gine from the game, and b) the score to 8-1. Hood, however, despite being spotted the early lead, was a hot mess of bad command sprinkled with the occasional pitch right down the middle, and was getting hit quite hard – the Scorpions just had not found the boundary yet. Rodrigo Lopez came darn close to a homer in the fifth, being caught against the wall by J-Alex, and Bednarski made a headlong catch on Stan Whitley’s drive to right to end the inning with a man in scoring position. That was Hood’s last batter regardless; he had needed 104 pitches to get through five innings, walking four. After Carmona’s slam, almost all the scoring was in for this game. The Raccoons failed to make any impression on the Scorpions’ flammable bullpen, while the old wisdom that no box score’s pitching segment would get better by the insertion of Pat Slayton wasn’t entirely true. Slayton logged four outs without drama, but the Scorpions hit three singles for a run off Sergio Vega in the ninth inning. 8-2 Critters. Sambrano 2-4; Carmona 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; D. Alexander 2-4, RBI; Rodgers 2-4;

Interlude: waiver claim

Sunday, the Raccoons were awarded the contract of swingman Tom Constantino (0-0, 3.00 ERA), after claiming the 27-year old right-hander off waivers by the Loggers. Constantino has a 91mph heater, a good fork, and tries to not get burned with his change and curve. He is 3-13 with a 5.48 ERA in his major league career. He replaced Slayton on the roster.

Yes, the Raccoons claimed a player the Loggers didn’t want anymore. Please contain your outrage.

Raccoons (30-29) vs. Scorpions (27-33) – June 7-9, 2013

Game 3
SAC: CF P. Sanchez – C Leach – 3B Whitley – RF X. Alvarez – 1B Bovane – 2B Luna – LF Allen – SS Sauceda – P O’Quinn
POR: 2B Sambrano – CF Carmona – LF J. Alexander – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Bowen – SS Palmer – 3B Canning – P Conway

This was not only the only game of the week for the Raccoons in which nobody scored in the first inning, it was also the only one with a rain delay, over an hour in the second inning. When play resumed, Palmer drove in Bednarski with a single to take a 1-0 edge, and the Coons added a run in the third, Carmona plating Sambrano with a sac fly after Sandy had tripled.

Conway – who had little on a good, sunny day – had clearly little left after the lengthy rain delay and was removed after issuing a wickedly wild walk in the fourth inning, bringing in Tom “Virus” Constantino for his Raccoons debut. Constantino walked his first batter, Geoff Allen, but eventually got out of the inning. Yet, his debut did not leave a nice, sugary taste after all. He conceded a run in the fifth and overall allowed plenty of hard contact as well as a leadoff walk in the sixth inning to Raúl Bovane. When Al Graves, a left-hander, batted for the Scorpions’ reliever with two outs and two on in the top 6th, Manobu Sugano was called on, and got the K to maintain the 2-1 lead. The Coons’ defense then did the heavy lifting in the next two innings, turning nifty double plays in support of Sugano in the seventh and Gibson in the eighth. The home team’s lineup had gone absent throughout the middle innings: they were still leading the Scorpions on the “strength” of two hits. In the bottom 8th, pinch-hitters Ken Rodgers and Matt Pruitt hit balls hard, but both flies ended up with Xavier Alvarez and Geoff Allen, respectively. So it was Hoshi with no cushy in the top 9th, facing the bottom of the order. After Geoff Allen popped out to left on the first pitch, Watanabe struck out PH Rodney Gibson, and the Scorpions sent another pinch-hitter, Portland’s old Tomas Castro, who was batting .308 in very limited use. Always strikeout-prone, Castro had one hung onto him to seal the sweep. 2-1 Critters.

In other news

June 3 – PIT C Bartholomeu Pino (.288, 9 HR, 36 RBI) hits the DL with a strained medial collateral ligament, and is expected to miss six weeks.
June 4 – DEN SP Brendan Teasdale (4-2, 4.56 ERA) is lost for the season with shoulder inflammation.
June 4 – Atlanta’s SP Harry Wentz (1-5, 4.03 ERA) is also unlikely to pitch again this year after suffering a tear in his triceps.
June 5 – LAP 3B Jens Carroll (.274, 2 HR, 14 RBI) will miss two weeks with an intercostal strain.
June 6 – The Bayhawks score in only three innings against the Condors, but still romp them 15-1. Every scoring inning is at least a 4-spot for the Bayhawks.
June 7 – Starting pitchers keep dropping, with TIJ SP Manuel Rojas (7-4, 2.96 ERA) now out for at least a month with shoulder inflammation.
June 8 – Cincinnati’s CL Ian Johnson (2-1, 1.40 ERA, 15 SV) logs his 400th career save by preserving the Cyclones’ 2-1 win over the Thunder. The 34-year old left-hander was the FL Reliever of the Year in 2008 and won a ring with the Cyclones in 2010, closing for them since 2005 after starting his career with the Aces. He is 66-60 with a 2.28 ERA for his career, having struck out 1,307 batters. He’s also legendarily unshaven, meticulously maintaining his three days’ of beard for the last 15 years.

Complaints and stuff

(Ivan Mena draws the blinds, hiding the hole that Chad shot into the glass panel that has a page from the Agitator with the partial headline “ONIZING DEFE” pasted over it in most crude fashion; the drawn blinds almost completely darken the room; which is a good thing given his small, bright green eyes that are penetrating everybody and can look right into one’s soul)

Welcome, senor, welcome! Please take seat. Ivan have prepared tea, if you want. (the tea’s foul stench is unbearable and you throw up a little in your mouth) – No? Oh, is no issue, is it very strong, Ivan know.

Ivan here to give you medical report. Senor Westfield is feeling mucho mejor, and can already eat solid food again. He may be back with you next week again.

Tuvimos suerte – no fatalities this week for the team! Colinho will make next turn on Tuesday also. Como usted saben – Marronito e Angel e Dickersonito; que no regresan este ano. Pero; Ivan take good care for them. Marronito no ha intervención quirúrgica, no-nonono-nono! Ivan has approach alternativo. Ivan make Marronito daily vendaje de compresión, with secret recipe inside. Is paste with many healing ingredients from jungle, but is not true that is squeezed brown slimy frog in there. Is green slimy frog in there!

Now you must excuse Ivan. Must look after Yoshino. Ivan put Yoshino in ice bath to sooth abdominal strain. Must be healed by now – que no podia mover las piernas … about three hours ago. Adios, adios! (hurries out)