[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-42) vs. Thunder (44-53) – July 25-27, 2017

The Thunder were 10th in offense and 7th in runs allowed, but they had been quite miserable all year, and that hadn’t changed yet. They also had lost their last five games, and they had six players on the DL, including a complete outfield and a few pitchers that might be able to help them. The Coons had won two of three in the first meeting of the teams in May.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (5-4, 2.99 ERA) vs. Brian Furst (8-10, 4.50 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (13-4, 1.77 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (5-12, 6.46 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (7-9, 3.77 ERA) vs. Fernando Estrada (1-2, 4.58 ERA)

We had faced all Brians/Bryans the first time we saw the Thunder this year, and technically they would be in order again, except that Bryan Robbins (5-7, 4.37 ERA), their lone southpaw, had left his last start with an injury and was undiagnosed as the series started. The Thursday starter was a bit open for them right now.

Speaking of Thursday, we had Monday off, but would now begin a string of 16 straight games.

Cookie was still slimy on Tuesday and was not in the starting lineup for the opener. That was one nasty cold! He was available for pinch-hitting, however.

Game 1
OCT: CF Gosnell – 2B Farias – LF Alston – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF Cisneros – 3B Ruggeri – SS Janes – P Furst
POR: RF Mendoza – CF Petracek – 2B Walter – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B Young – P Santos

After a leadoff single by the clawless Tiger, Petracek whiffed and Walter grounded to second base. Emilio Farias initially tried to turn two, couldn’t get the ball out of the glove, then tried to get Walter at first, but spiked it and fooled B.J. Manfull. The ball escaped for a 2-base throwing error, and when DeWeese lifted a ball to right, Mendoza went and was thrown out by Javy Cisneros, ending the inning. The next frame, Nunley and Denny both had singles to get going. McKnight grounded out to first, but Young and Santos both hit soft lines that dropped into no man’s land in the shallow outfield for a pair of RBI singles.

The Thunder didn’t score in the early innings, but hit a few balls hard off Santos. By the fourth, they were hitting softer balls and those actually fell in. Ron Alston would have a leadoff single, and B.J. Manfull reached on an infield single. After Jalen Parks popped out, Santos hit Cisneros and the bases were loaded. D.J. Ruggeri lifted a ball to center, Petracek had it comfortably, and Alston made for home – and now the Thunder had their guy thrown out at home plate, and this one ended the inning, too. Santos was certainly glad, but was in more trouble in the fifth, putting runners on the corners with one out. Farias actually managed a sac fly to cut the lead in half, but Alston struck out in a full count. Santos hit a leadoff double in the bottom 5th, never was moved off second base by the collective scum in the lineup, and that allowed the Thunder to take a 3-2 lead in the top 6th when Santos walked Parks and allowed a bomb to right center to Cisneros. Leaving runners in scoring position continued in the sixth when McKnight hit a 2-out triple into the rightfield corner, Young was put on intentionally, and Cookie hit for Santos, but grounded out to short. The Thunder loaded them up against Reed and Beaver in the top 7th, but Parks struck out to leave them on, and in the bottom 7th, the Raccoons had runners on the corners after Mendoza drew a leadoff walk and then went aggro to third on Walter’s 1-out single. The Coons barely managed the tying run with a sac fly by DeWeese, and left two more on base in the bottom 8th of a then 3-3 game. Alex Ramirez, who had been utter **** for many weeks now, managed to kill the game in the top 9th with a leadoff walk to PH Sergio Benito and a subsequent single by Chris Gosnell. Ron Alston would hit a 2-run double to give Oklahoma a win, although that didn’t happen without some late drama. After poor outs made by Brandon Johnson and Walter, DeWeese hit a bomb to get the Raccoons back to one run. Then Nunley singled, Denny singled, and McKnight flew out to left. 5-4 Thunder. Nunley 2-5; Denny 2-5; Young 2-3, BB, RBI; Margolis (PH) 1-1;

I could elaborate how much dead money we have in this non-closer of ours, but it’s not remotely as much dead money as is stuck in the pathetic lineup, so I won’t bother.

Actually, I will. Ramirez is due another $2,970,679. Well, done, champ, well done.

The Thunder announced that Bryan Robbins was headed for the butcher with bone chips in his elbow on Wednesday, so that ended the left-hander’s season. They moved Estrada, who came out of the pen and was not yet on a rhythm, into the middle game with the announcement.

Game 2
OCT: CF Gosnell – 2B Farias – LF Alston – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF Cisneros – 3B Ruggeri – SS Janes – P F. Estrada
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – RF Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B Young – P Toner

Walter’s sac fly turned Cookie’s triple into a run in the first, but Toner soon found himself mired in quicksand. Parks hit a 1-out triple in the second, a liner into the rightfield corner that decided to build a nest and breed young out there, leading to Mendoza to take forever to get a throw in. Toner then hit Cisneros and walked Ruggeri, before bailing out with strikeouts to Erik Janes and Estrada – a long nightmare of an inning that romped his pitch count close to 40 already. Toner wouldn’t allow another runner until Estrada hit a 2-out single in the fifth, then walked Gosnell right away, and also walked Manfull in the sixth, but that was about all he gave to the Thunder while whiffing ten. Unfortunately, that also took him to 100 pitches through six, and the team was absolutely no help in making it a safer W for him. Toner’s spot was up to lead off the bottom 6th, and the Coons had three meager hits. Johnson hit for him, failed, but Cookie singled to left. DeWeese would eventually get him singled in with two outs after a Mendoza walk, and Nunley was hit, but Denny grounded out to Ruggeri to leave the bases loaded in a 2-0 game.

Mathis had a quick seventh against the bottom of the order before McKnight hit a leadoff double to right, and Young walked against Estrada. Waggoner grabbed a bat, flew out to left in a full count, Cookie hit into a fielder’s choice that got Young removed, and Walter fouled out. There was certainly an uneasy atmosphere with the way the Raccoons were not getting any big hit in, and their bullpen had been anything but stellar, and this was Jonny Toner bidding for a triple crown again and just couldn’t get any love. But Thrasher dealt with the top of the order in 11 pitches, which was good enough to maybe just leave him where he was for the ninth given that right-handed bats were scarce in the Thunder lineup. But for the moment, there was more movement on the bases in the bottom 8th, DeWeese and Nunley hitting 1-out singles to go to the corners against left-hander Nick Lombardo, who then balked in DeWeese during Denny’s plate appearance. Denny struck out, McKnight rolled out to Farias, and the balk run was all the Critters got. Thrasher indeed remained in the game for the ninth, starting with Manfull, whom he struck out, and he did that to every Thunder that dared stepping up. 3-0 Raccoons. Carmona 2-4, 3B; DeWeese 2-4, RBI; McKnight 2-4, 2B; Toner 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K, W (14-4); Thrasher 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, SV (4);

Thrasher actually struck out five in a row. Gosnell was the only Thunder that even made contact.

Game 3
OCT: CF Gosnell – 2B Farias – LF Alston – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF Cisneros – 3B Ruggeri – SS Read – P Benjamin
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – C Margolis – P Morrison

Morrison allowed a run in the first after Gosnell and Farias opened the game with singles and went to the corners, and while Alston hit into a double play, Gosnell came home, but the Coons had their first three on base. Cookie singled, stole his 15th base, and Benjamin filled them up with walks for DeWeese. Portland’s Most Expensive popped out, which was still better than Nunley, who hit into an inning-ending double play. While Morrison allowed more single runs in the second and third innings and generally did not seem to be much concerned about the piles of Thunder on base at any given point, the Raccoons had a Waggoner single in the bottom 2nd, but Waggoner was caught stealing, and then stayed clean off until the fifth, when McKnight hit a 1-out double. Margolis struck out, and nothing came about that. Morrison made it through six horrendous innings without getting completely blown out, but the mess continued with the bullpen. Beaver put two on with two outs in the seventh before Korb replaced him, walked Parks to load the bases, before bailing out when Cisneros was called out on a dubious strike three. Korb put another set of three on base in the eighth inning, with one run scoring, 4-0, while the Raccoons in the bottom of the inning had a leadoff single from Margolis, a double play from Petracek, and then got 2-out singles from Carmona and Walter, but Mendoza couldn’t even find his way out of the infield against Benjamin, who kept pitching a shutout right until the Raccoons were down to their last out. Waggoner was on first after a single, with Denny hitting for McKnight. He found the gap in right center for a double, and Waggoner just kept running since nothing mattered anyway. He scored, Margolis made the last out. 5-1 Thunder. Carmona 2-4; Waggoner 2-4; Denny (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Chun had also allowed a run in the ninth, but the real worries with the pitching then lay with Beaver again, who after the game was reported as unwell and headed for a night on a bed of nails on the order of Senor Mena.

The good news came rather quickly. On Friday morning the Raccoons announced that Beaver had a tear in his rotator cuff and was not only done for this season, but could be out for up to nine months, which would stretch into next season. While Beaver went to the DL, Nick Lester was called up from AAA. The 25-year old had pitched to a 3.00 ERA in only three innings over four games for the Coons in 2016.

Raccoons (59-44) vs. Bayhawks (61-42) – July 28-30, 2017

The Coons were probably in no condition to face the Bayhawks right now, having already lost four of six to them in 2017, and their offense had turned to slime once again and a top three pitching staff was a bit too tough for them (although in fact, every pitching staff was too tough for them, even that of the Portland Institute for the Limbless and the Blind). The Bayhawks were also first in offense, so there was a REAL playoff team.

Projected matchups:
Damani Knight (2-4, 4.84 ERA) vs. Alex Maldonado (6-3, 2.81 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (11-9, 3.33 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (8-8, 3.92 ERA)
Hector Santos (5-4, 3.06 ERA) vs. Milt Beauchamp (8-6, 3.49 ERA)

Southpaw in the middle here.

Game 1
SFB: LF E. Jackson – SS Claros – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 1B McIntyre – 3B J. Rodriguez – 2B Ingraham – P Maldonado
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – C Denny – SS McKnight – 2B Bergquist – P Knight

Eddie Jackson singled right through McKnight to start the game, after which Knight hit Raul Claros. Dave Garcia flew out, and the Bayhawks took a 2-0 lead on Chris Almanza’s double, although the rightfielder pulled something along the way and had to be replaced by Felipe Bautista right away. The Bayhawks got consolation when Knight walked the next three and Zach Ingraham hit a 2-run single, giving them a 5-spot in the opening inning. While it was more or less game over from there, Knight somehow made it through four innings with only more run across when Dave Garcia hit his 28th shot of the year, outright murdering a fastball to leftfield. Waggoner drove in a pair in the bottom 3rd with a double, but nobody was on base until the sixth when Denny hit a home run, which still had the Critters down 6-3.

The Bayhawks got Raul Claros to third base in the seventh after he had doubled off Chun, but Lester replaced him with two outs and struck out Bautista. Bottom 7th, a leadoff single by Shane Walter brought up Mendoza, and in the midst of an outrageous slump the declawed Tiger hit *his* 28th dinger, a tremendous shot to dead center, and suddenly it became a 6-5 game. Mathis and Ramirez held the Birds short in the eighth and ninth before the Raccoons had the top of the order up against the miracle closer Ray Kelley in the bottom 9th. Cookie popped out, Walter struck out, Mendoza walked, and when DeWeese hit a real rocket up the first base line, Mike Robinson made a blind swipe and had it in his glove. 6-5 Bayhawks. Carmona 2-5; Walter 2-4, BB, 2B; Reed 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 2
SFB: LF E. Jackson – 3B J. Rodriguez – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 1B McIntyre – SS R. Miller – 2B Ingraham – P Joo
POR: CF Carmona – RF Petracek – SS Walter – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – 1B Young – P Abe

Abe allowed HARD contact in the first inning, which didn’t result in a run, but the Birds got a run in the second on a walk drawn by Will McIntyre, who stole second, and then a soft single by Ingraham. Shane Walter would pull the run back in the third with a single that plated Adam Young, who had opened the inning with a single to right. But Joo lacked stuff and had only one strikeout in the first four innings. Joao Joo hit a hard single to center with one out in the fifth, and Eddie Jackson followed right in his tracks. Joo went to third, only to be thrown out by Cookie, and Javy Rodriguez fouled out behind home plate to end the inning.

The Coons left Petracek on second base in the fifth, but did break the tie in the sixth when DeWeese hit a huge leadoff jack off Joo, bringing the score to 2-1 in favor of Abe, who was already over 100 pitches due to lots of long counts and little success with two strikes. Nunley and Young hit singles after that, and Mendoza hit for Abe with two outs. Joo’s 2-2 was wild and advanced the runners to scoring position. Mendoza drew the walk on the next pitch, which brought up Cookie Carmona with the bases loaded. He didn’t disappoint, ramming a ball up the middle and into center for an RBI single, 3-1, before Petracek flew out to Jackson on the first pitch he got from Joo. Then, having John Korb pitch to the 6-7-8 batters resulted in a Ryan Miller single and a walk to Ingraham, but they eschewed hitting for Joo, who bunted them into scoring position instead for Eddie Jackson, who struck out and left them there, and then drew more ire from Bayhawks fans in the bottom of the inning. The Coons had Walter on second base with one out when the Birds elected to walk Denny intentionally despite him not having done anything of note so far against Joo. Nunley dumped a single into leftfield, and Jackson was hit in the groin by a high bounce, which understandably threw him into personal disarray, but he still got charged an error as the Critters took an extra base, which in this case meant that they went up 4-1, with runners on second and third for a pinch-hitter for Korb, who had replaced Bergquist in the lineup earlier. Waggoner appeared, hit a sac fly, and it was 5-1. Thrasher and Chun took the game to conclusion from there. 5-1 Critters. Walter 2-4, RBI; Nunley 3-4, RBI; Young 2-4; Abe 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (12-9);

The Bayhawks made a trade during the following night, acquiring RF Victor Sarabia (.315, 2 HR, 33 RBI) from the Capitals for four prospects. Included was #39 SP Eric Williams.

Game 3
SFB: LF E. Jackson – SS Claros – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – 1B McIntyre – C Eaton – 3B M. Robinson – 2B Ingraham – P Beauchamp
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – P Santos

Although it took only two innings for every Critters outfielder to make one of those hectic and unhealthy backwards dashes due to Santos allowing rocket upon rocket to the Bayhawks, none of those fell in, and in fact there was only minimal hitting in a not-quite-expected Sunday afternoon pitcher’s duel. Both teams had one hit apiece the first time through the order, and another hit the second time through. Neither team even reached third base until the bottom of the sixth, when Cookie arrived there after hitting a leadoff single, stealing second base (he had already singled his last time up, but then had been caught stealing), and moving up on Walter’s groundout. The Bayhawks elected to give four wide ones to a guy who hadn’t hit a ball in three weeks, pulling up DeWeese, who promptly punished them with a gapper in right center that eluded Almanza, who was still sore yet playing, and the Coons scored the first run with the RBI double. Nunley then walked to load them up – Beauchamp’s third walk against no strikeouts, but the Coons had so far reliably rolled balls to infielders – and Mike Denny lifted one to center. Garcia had that, Mendoza went for home, Garcia threw, poorly, and at the same time fell down in center and remained down. Mendoza scored, and Garcia, who paced the Bayhawks offense with Ron Alston getting old and Chris Almanza not replicating previous success, had to be helped off the field, favoring a leg. Victor Sarabia, who hadn’t made it for game time coming from Washington, replaced him in center. McKnight grounded out to end the inning, leaving the score at 2-0, which Santos nursed through the seventh, but reached 99 pitches in the process and was hit for in the bottom 7th, with Young making the second out in his stead. Only after that did the Raccoons chug a few base hits, three in a row, starting with Cookie’s double to right. He would score on consecutive singles by Walter (to center) and Mendoza (to left). Pretty much the same thing happened with Jeff Boynton pitching in the bottom 8th. Nobody on base with two outs (though after Denny had hit into a double play…), McKnight doubled past new-Bird Sarabia into center, while Waggoner walked. Johnson hit for Reed and singled to center, plating McKnight, and Cookie stranded two when his hard liner went right at Sarabia to end the inning. Nick Lester retired Claros, Sarabia, and Almanza in seven pitches and without panic to end the game and salvage the series. 4-0 Coons. Carmona 3-5, 2B; Mendoza 2-3, BB, RBI; Johnson (PH) 1-1, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (6-4);

In other news

July 25 – The Warriors pick up SP Fernando Cruz (9-6, 5.23 ERA) from the selling Crusaders, leaving them with C Cory Roland (.283, 2 HR, 9 RBI) and a third-rate prospect outfielder.
July 26 – The Loggers send 28-yr old INF Steve Best (.305, 1 HR, 31 RBI) to the Condors for 39-year old 1B Juan Ortíz (.224, 7 HR, 15 RBI).
July 28 – In a performance to remember, TIJ LF Jimmy Eichelkraut (.255, 20 HR, 56 RBI) slams three home runs and drives in eight in the Condors’ 17-6 rout of the Crusaders. Included in the barrage are 2-run home runs off Francisquo Bocanegra and Curtis Tobitt, and a grand slam off Robert Parsons. He is the third Condor to hit three home runs in a game after Raúl Vázquez in 2002 and Juan Diaz in 2009, and it is the 35th performance of three or more home runs in ABL history. In the game at hand, the Crusaders lead as late as the sixth inning before imploding in a 7-run sixth and a 5-run seventh.
July 28 – The Pacifics pick up 26-yr old SP Cody Zimmerman (8-7, 3.86 ERA) from the Buffaloes, parting with two valuable prospects in #34 SP Nick Marks and #59 2B Jesus Moroyoqui.
July 28 – 2B/SS Rusty Beard (.231, 0 HR, 13 RBI) is sent from the Aces to the Indians in exchange for a prospect.
July 28 – The Cyclones erase an early deficit with an 8-run seventh inning against the Wolves and outlast them, 10-8.
July 29 – Struck by a pitch, OCT 1B B.J. Manfull (.275, 16 HR, 53 RBI) will miss the entire month of August with a broken thumb.
July 30 – TOP SS Tyler Gray (.290, 11 HR, 50 RBI) is out for the year with a severe concussion.
July 30 – The Rebels pick up 2B/SS Bobby Torres (.252, 5 HR, 35 RBI) from the Pacifics for MR Barry McDonald (3-4, 5.96 ERA, 1 SV) and #55 prospect CL Jason Jones.

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders are selling, and the Loggers are making the deals perpetually hopeless teams make. They actually offered Best to us earlier, but he’s basically like Shane Walter, and also a left-handed batter, so he’s of no use to us.

The Coons have lost Beaver, but how is the other left-handed pitcher on the DL doing? We might try and give Nick Brown a bright red rattle by next week, and if he doesn’t instantly hurt himself handling that, MAYBE we’ll migrate to a baseball for the second week of August.

I tried to trade for a right-handed bat. The Aces wanted Danny Arguello for Brent Burke, who is not an impact bat, but would offer a top alternative at short for McKnight against left-handers, which was about all that Burke would give us, and that’s not something you trade your top remaining prospect for. There would have been Bill Adams on the Buffaloes, another raking corner outfielder, but right-handed, yet they weren’t even interested in Arguello.

And why trade? Why even bother. I look at Jimmy Oatmeal (who was Player of the Week, batting .400 (10-for-25) with 5 HR and 11 RBI), and … and why? My latest ******ed trade addition batted far below what would be acceptable for the third straight week, and unfortunately his .235/.458/.411 (including seven walks) has to be considered rather rousing progress. In the last 3 1/2 weeks, he has batted .164 with ONE extra base hit, that homer on Friday in the Great Sinking of the U.S.S. Damani. Total slash with Coons: .264/.369/.445 (which still includes a great first ten days, when he slashed .418/.479/.813); slash with Dallas: .355/.440/.659 …

And I thought he’d come here and break his leg. Nah, the baseball gods played that one well. This hurts more! Well, it hurts me more. The broken leg would probably hurt him more.

We did not sign the last international amateur we were after. Juan Gonzalez ended up with the Blue Sox because I didn’t consider him worth $150k.