[Westheim]

Raccoons (55-39) @ Titans (35-56) – July 18-20, 2017

25 1/2 games out, the Titans were miserable. The worst product in the league when it came to keeping the opposing team off the scoreboard, they had conceded 503 runs, more than 5.5 per game. Their offense was eighth, and their run differential had plunged into negative triple digits at -106. Right now, they also had a few outfielders including Jonathan Blake on the DL to make their lineup even worse than it was. The Coons so far had taken a 6-3 lead in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (10-8, 3.16 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (5-11, 6.04 ERA)
Hector Santos (5-4, 3.04 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (3-8, 5.07 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (12-4, 1.86 ERA) vs. Alfredo Collazo (0-2, 8.59 ERA)

We skipped Damani Knight, because the week started with an off day, and I can’t bear him. They are sending three right-handers, and let’s see how this affair of Johnny facing another pitcher with four times his ERA will go…

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – RF Johnson – P Abe
BOS: CF Mata – 2B M. Rivera – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – RF Branch – 3B T. Thomas – LF X. Williams – SS Vasquez – P Klein

A small and disillusioned crowd got kicked in the groin early as Klein, who had significantly more walks than strikeouts, got Cookie to fly out to Xavier Williams to start the game, but was then burned for a 4-spot. After Walter and Tiger singled, DeWeese hit an RBI double and Nunley hit a 3-piece to right center to give Abe an early cushion. Klein’s nightmarish control was also on display early. He issued five walks by the third inning, which included three walks to load the bases in that third inning, which brought up Brandon Johnson with one out. Johnson popped out and Abe lined out softly to Mike Rivera to end the effort. While Abe retired the first 11 Titans before Steve Butler doubled (but was left on), Klein walked six in his start and despite the early shelling reached the sixth inning, where he was finally knocked out after a 2-out single by Tiger and a subsequent double by DeWeese, which added a run for a 5-0 score. Former Critter Kenichi Watanabe replaced Klein, and he did not have a better ERA… He would pitch into and out of trouble in the seventh and eighth, the Coons stranding pairs in both innings, but at least Abe was still running a 2-hitter … until he didn’t. Tom Thomas opened the bottom 8th with a double and suddenly Xavier Williams unloaded a homer to right center that brought the Titans back to 5-2. Abe got one more out before being replaced by Thrasher, who ended the inning. Given the flock of left-handed bats that the Titans had in their lineup and Alex Ramirez’ infinite struggles, Thrasher was left in for the ninth, but allowed two hits before he got two outs, then threw a wild pitch. Ezra Branch grounded out to short, which allowed Rivera to score, but Tom Thomas struck out to end the game without Ramirez having to come into a hot mess. 5-3 Coons. Walter 3-5, 2B; Mendoza 2-5; DeWeese 2-3, 2 BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Abe 7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (11-8);

For the middle game, the Titans decided to give Eric Rasmussen another shot at starting, having last pitched before the All Star break. He was 1-6 with a 4.84 ERA, so no significant improvement over the other guys.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – P Santos
BOS: CF Mata – 2B M. Rivera – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – RF Branch – 3B T. Thomas – LF X. Williams – SS Vasquez – P Rasmussen

The Raccoons left Mike Denny on third base after a second-inning triple(!), then had Walter and Nunley kill the next two innings with double plays while the Titans took an early 1-0 lead on a Thomas double and Williams single. Santos inexplicably added two walks to a 1-out Alex Mata single in the bottom 3rd, but got out when he played Ezra Branch’s grounder himself for the third out. He also walked Williams in the fourth, but Denny picked him off. A decently sized rain delay got Santos out of the game after five innings, but maybe the Coons could at least spare him the loss; Cookie at least led off the top 6th with a double to right and moved to third on Walter’s groundout. Tiger hit a ball JUST past Rivera for a game-tying single, then was caught stealing (like Waggoner had been caught the previous inning). Chun put runners on the corners in the bottom 6th before Beaver had to come out with Williams being the first of the long string of left-handed batters that ran from the bottom to the top of the order. Williams hit a drive to deep center anyway, but Cookie threw himself in harm’s way to get that defused and keep the game tied.

It didn’t remain tied for long. Jasper Holt pinch-hit for Robbie Vasquez to start the bottom 7th. He was a right-hander, we weren’t falling for that, and Holt doubled. It could hardly get worse, except that Mathis appeared with one out and allowed three singles and a wild pitch before the inning ended on a grounder that happened to find Walter, but by then two runs were across. The Coons would load the bases in the top of the eighth against southpaw Matt Branch, who walked two and brushed the Tiger, which unfortunately meant that DeWeese batted with two outs. He hit a ball, but he hit it softly and right to Steve Butler to end the inning. Nobody reached against Harry Merwin (even their closer had almost as many walks as strikeouts!) in the ninth. 3-1 Titans.

But to be fair, Raccoons pitching in this game also walked more (5) than they struck out (4)…

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – RF Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Margolis – P Toner
BOS: CF Mata – 2B M. Rivera – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – RF Branch – 3B T. Thomas – LF X. Williams – SS Vasquez – P J. Fuentes

Fuentes was the third Titans starter in the series to have more walks than strikeouts, but he struck out Mendoza and DeWeese to end the first after a Cookie leadoff walk, no problem. Neither team had a hit the first time through, but the Coons managed a double play by the third inning, Walter ruining a two-on, one-out situation. McKnight hit a 2-out single in the fourth after DeWeese had been plunked (which happened A LOT), but Young unleashed a patented ****ty grounder to short to end that inning. Toner also allowed a hit in the bottom 4th, but neither team put up any kind of threat through six innings.

While Fuentes struck out six against three walks and held the Raccoons shorter than was appreciated by me, he only lasted six innings. Right-hander Dave Priest was in the game by the seventh, and a walk to Young and a Margolis single put two on with no outs and Toner batting. A bunt was the usual call here, but Toner was unretired in the game and not your typical no-good-at-hitting pitcher. And we might play 21 innings only to lose 1-0 on an erroneous wild balk if we didn’t roll the dice here. Toner wrestled a walk from Priest in a full count, loading them up, which brought up Cookie, who didn’t have the tainted stench of failure everybody else dispensed from their orifices. Surely Cookie would do us good here! He fell behind 1-2 before lifting a ball to left. Williams took care, but a lousy throw allowed a slow Young to score. That … counted. A wild pitch later, Shane Walter drummed a 3-run bomb. Up 4-0, Toner made it to the eighth, but leadoff batter Armando Galan went nine pitches with him before grounding out, sending Jonny to 109 on the day, and with a non-trivial lead and left-handers up, Ron Thrasher was called on again. He ended the inning, and Mathis and Beaver managed to get through the ninth without a national emergency. 4-0 Raccoons. Toner 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (13-4) and 1-1, 2 BB;

I love Jonny. Period.

Raccoons (57-40) @ Condors (35-61) – July 21-23, 2017

The Condors were the worst team in the league, with a completely anemic offense that scored only 3.6 runs per game (last by a good margin), and mediocre pitching. Their team OBP was under .300, and they were last in six of 11 relevant offensive stats, and in the bottom three in all but homers and stolen bases, in both of which they were around the league average. The Coons had two two of three games in the first meeting of the teams this season.

Projected matchups:
Bruce Morrison (7-8, 3.77 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (2-8, 3.63 ERA)
Damani Knight (2-4, 4.97 ERA) vs. Kevin Woodworth (5-14, 4.21 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (11-8, 3.12 ERA) vs. Zach Hughes (6-7, 3.70 ERA)

Flores would be a southpaw at the start of the series. Their about-best pitcher Troy McCaskill was most likely out for the season, and they had a few batters on the DL as well, including Craig Dasher, which opened a gate for all kinds of sub-.200 batters.

In an odd move, the Condors had just acquired 1B Adrian Quebell (.328, 13 HR, 64 RBI) from the Elks, leaving them with a mediocre pitching prospect. Neither team had much use for Quebell, but it was a puzzling move for sure.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – CF Petracek – SS Walter – RF Mendoza – C Denny – 3B Nunley – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – P Morrison
TIJ: RF Abraham – 3B Dahlke – LF Eichelkraut – CF M. Herrera – 1B Quebell – 2B Eroh – C A. Gonzales – SS J. Irvin – P L. Flores

Despite facing a lineup mostly of right-handers, Quebell and the switch-hitter Mike Herrera aside, Morrison continued to be awful. He was tardy on Craig Abraham’s grounder that started the bottom 1st and allowed him to reach on an infield single, then walked Dahlke. Quebell would unpack a 2-run double with two outs to crank up the hurt … and the anger. Quebell also had the middle single in three straight with two outs in the bottom 3rd, which scored another run for the Condors, while the Raccoons through five innings managed a leadoff double by Bergquist that turned into a run thanks to a passed ball, and that aside hit into three double plays; Petracek once, and the ****ing dumbass Young twice. The best thing that could be said about the next few innings was that they didn’t hit into more double plays (though it’s kinda hard with no runners on base…), and that Morrison somehow was carried through seven innings by the continental drift alone.

After Petracek struck out to strand Waggoner and Cookie on base in the eighth, all done by Flores, and Jayden Reed allowed another run on a pair of doubles in the bottom of the inning, the game was pretty much over. Zack Entwistle struck out Walter to start the ninth, and Mendoza was retired on one more of those pathetic flies that tore shreds out of my guts. DeWeese hit for Denny for left-handed-bat-vs-right-handed-arm’s sake and singled to center. Nunley singled. McKnight hit for Reed, the loser, and walked. Bases loaded for … Bergquist. Oh shi– 4-1 Condors. DeWeese (PH) 1-1; Waggoner (PH) 1-1;

(deep sigh)

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – P Knight
TIJ: RF Abraham – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – CF M. Herrera – 1B Quebell – 2B Eroh – 3B Dahlke – SS J. Irvin – P Woodworth

Cookie opened with a double and scored on a Mendoza sac fly that looked like a double at least before Jimmy Oatmeal made a flying grab. The Condors would open with an infield single again, this time on an actual drag bunt by Abraham, before Damani Knight started to wear out his own defense, and performed general heroics like walking Woodworth on four pitches to start the bottom 3rd. The Condors generally seemed to have their leadoff man on, but someone Knight survived even a leadoff single by Herrera and hitting Quebell in the bottom 4th. Ron Eroh helpfully hit into a double play and Nunley had to do a simple miracle to contain Dahlke’s quick bounder from becoming a game-tying double. The Condors would hit into more double plays in the fifth and sixth innings while displaying a general indecisiveness when it came to the right means to kill off Knight. The Raccoons hardly featured on base at all, although Waggoner managed to hit into an inning-ending double play for a change in the seventh. Knight got Quebell on a 3-0 grounder to start the bottom 7th, then walked Eroh, who held still at 3-0. Dahlke popped out, before Jeremiah Irvin hit one into the corner for a double. Runners on second and third, the Condors didn’t hit for Kevin Woodworth. This was odd. Well, I guess then it will be fine to have Knight, who hadn’t retired Woodworth yet in the game, pitch to their pitcher. Woodworth’s first career homer in 159 AB was a 3-piece to left and quite definitely ended the Raccoons’ pretender status when it came to playoff participation unless a major miracle happened.

For the moment, John Korb ended the bottom 7th, then was hit for by Johnson to start the eighth, and Johnson singled to left center. Cookie hit a liner up the rightfield line that made it past Abraham and into the corner. Johnson had gotten an early start and scored handily, but Cookie also made big strides around the bases and slid in safe at third, representing the tying run. Walter flew to deep right, Abraham missed that, too, and the Coons were back even with the double. Mendoza was walked intentionally, while DeWeese flew out to left. Nunley was 1-2 behind Woodworth before floating a blooper to shallow left. Jimmy Oatmeal was nowhere near and it fell in, with Walter send around third base despite his snail pace. Oatmeal’s throw was poor, Walter scored, and the Coons had erased Woodworth’s 3-run homer, now up 4-3. The runners were in scoring position for Denny, who drew the next intentional walk before Lou Cannon (who shunned the Coons last year and gave John Korb, who was in line for the W, a job) appeared in place of Woodworth, struck out McKnight, then threw a wild pitch to score Mendoza. Waggoner then got the third intentional walk in the inning, but Johnson popped out to let them get away with it. Reed and Thrasher weaseled through the eighth inning before Alex Ramirez faced the bottom of the order in the ninth. Dahlke struck out before Irvin singled, but the Condors ended their efforts with two groundouts to middle infielders. 5-3 Blighters. Carmona 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; DeWeese 2-3, BB; Johnson (PH) 1-2;

Bad news for the Sunday game. Cookie didn’t feel well at all during the night, and woke up with a humming head and a sore throat. He also sneezed into Hector Santos’ cereal bowl. Santos ate it anyway (Coons will be Coons), but Cookie was held out of the Sunday game with his cold. We will have Monday off, and that might be just enough for him to get the worst behind him. He sat segregated to one side in the dugout in a parka (never mind the 95°F) and a pretty pink scarf during the game.

Game 3
POR: 1B Mendoza – CF Petracek – 2B Walter – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – P Abe
TIJ: RF Abraham – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – CF M. Herrera – 1B Quebell – 2B Eroh – 3B Dahlke – SS J. Irvin – P Hughes

Abraham opened with a single yet again, though this one actually left the infield. While he did steal third base eventually, he was left there after a K to Herrera, but opening with a Quebell double, the Condors put a 3-spot on Abe in the second inning. Dahlke hit a 2-run homer, his 10th of the year, but his average remained at a sad .199, and Hughes hit a 2-out double and scored on another Abraham single. The Coons, who had hit into a double play in the second inning, would load them up with Waggoner (walk), Mendoza, and Petracek (singles) for Walter to bat with two outs in the third, but his drive to right was caught by the obnoxious and unlovable Craig Abraham.

****head Abraham homered in the fifth to get the Condors to 4-0, while the Raccoons were engaged in a game of who could suck the most, which could know no winners. Abe didn’t make it out of the inning, allowing with two outs a single to Herrera, a walk to Quebell, and an RBI single to Eroh. Korb replaced him and got four outs, but it didn’t matter. The Inepticoons had nothing and produced nothing. That wasn’t entirely true, because they stumbled over one run at some point in the late innings, but I could not remember who was responsible if someone tried to beat it out of me. I could vividly remember Seung-mo Chun getting blastered for three runs in the bottom of the eighth, though. 8-1 Condors.

****ing suckers. I should have sold. In May.

In other news

July 17 – Indy’s SP Dan Lambert (11-8, 2.63 ERA) holds the Canadiens to two hits in a 6-0 shutout.
July 18 – CHA OF Ryan Feldmann (.274, 16 HR, 61 RBI) enters the history books as the 33rd player to slam three home runs in one game, as well as the first Falcon to do so, in a 6-3 win over the Aces.
July 18 – Three Federal League games end with 1-0 scores. The Wolves and Rebels take road wins by the smallest of scores possible, with the Wolves scoring in the first inning against the Stars, and the Rebels scoring in the ninth against the Blue Sox. The Warriors take a different approach, walking off for a 1-0 win only in the 10th inning against the Pacifics, on Stanley Murphy’s walkoff single.
July 20 – Buffaloes right-hander Alberto Molina (10-8, 3.49 ERA) might miss eight weeks with a rotator cuff strain.
July 21 – DEN OF Julio Candela (.277, 10 HR, 62 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 12-inning game the Gold Sox win 10-6 over the Rebels. Candela doubles, singles, and triples in his first three at-bats, but doesn’t homer until the 12th, a solo shot off Barry MacDonald. This is the 60th cycle in ABL history, the first in almost two years, and the fourth for the Gold Sox after Chih-tui Jin (1996), Pat Parker (1997), and Eugene Carter (2011).
July 22 – Four innings of 4+ runs have the Knights completely destroy the Indians in a 21-2 bleaching. Gil Rockwell (.289, 21 HR, 62 RBI) and Jimmy Raupp (.232, 11 HR, 55 RBI) both have five hits for Atlanta, while Jimmy Walrath (.257, 4 HR, 28 RBI) hits two home runs, including a grand slam, and drives in eight.
July 23 – CIN C Jayden Jolley (.254, 11 HR, 57 RBI) has a 5-hit game in a 14-8 drubbing of the Cyclones over the Stars. Jolley has two doubles and a home run in his five hits and drives in four.
July 23 – The real hurt is hung onto the Capitals by the Scorpions, though, who completely dismantle their Washington hosts in a 15-1 massacre.

Complaints and stuff

The Gold Sox have four cycles, but they are one of nine teams without a no-hitter.

Mendoza hit .181/.240/.181 this week with 2 BB and 4 K. I think this would be a good time to hate the ****ing bastard.

Omar Alfaro will not become a Raccoon. The price went over $360k this week, and this would put the Raccoons in a penalty band that would preclude them from signing even one top-notch prospect next year. Since I am not completely sold on Alfaro, who has high power potential, but not much in terms of contact and an eye rating by Gabriel Martinez, I didn’t bite.

Now watch him go to the Hall of Fame, because Martinez sabotaged me. I can see that coming. I really do.

Instead I made another $125k offer to Juan Gonzalez, who was still available. No danger in going over the palatable penalty bracket right there now.