[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-45) @ Falcons (51-52) – July 31-August 2, 2017

Hugging .500 as hard as possible, the Falcons had the second-lowest batting average, although they employed power and speed to at least score the eighth-most runs. Their pitching was pretty good, with the fourth-least runs allowed on their ledgers, and their rotation and pen individually also ranked fourth in ERA. They had also handled the Raccoons pretty well this year, holding a 4-2 edge in the season series, a swift turnaround from the 8-1 thrashing the Raccoons handed them in 2016.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (14-4, 1.70 ERA) vs. Denzel Durr (6-6, 3.58 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (7-10, 3.81 ERA) vs. Pablo Sanchez (6-12, 4.31 ERA)
Jeff Magnotta (0-0) vs. Alex Vallejo (8-6, 3.68 ERA)

We would only face right-handed starters in this series. The Critters dispatched of Damani Knight (2-5, 5.55 ERA) before the series began. While his given name had a strange appeal on me, he was just getting stomped and technically we were still trying to cut into the Indians’ 7-game lead. Jeff Magnotta was a placeholder for either Nick Brown to return, or more likely for Chris Munroe to make a start first, but Munroe didn’t line up with the open slot vacated by Damani on Wednesday.

We would be heading for Indy for a 4-game weekend after this, so a good impression was paramount in order to solidify our ambitions at our medium-term goals.

That audiobook Maud gave me about motivational trash talk was a breeze to listen to.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – C Margolis – P Toner
CHA: SS Good – 2B D. Carter – C Holliman – RF Feldmann – LF Mugan – CF Huibregtse – 1B M. Salinas – 3B Pellot – P Durr

Toner allowed two hits in the first inning before Troy Mugan flew out to pretty deep right to end the Falcons’ attempts there, while the Raccoons didn’t have a hit until a McKnight single in the fifth. While Denzel Durr walked three in the first four innings, the Coons stranded them all, and McKnight was also left to die at second base – which he stole. The Falcons had Steve Huibregtse single past Mendoza to open the bottom 5th, and Toner walked Manny Salinas, but after a soft pop by Alfonso Pellot into Toner’s glove and Durr’s bunt, Matt Good struck out for the third time in three attempts. The following inning, Toner struck out Ryan Holliman, which gave him eight whiffs in the game, and 200 for the season – and it was still July!

Both starters ended up with seven scoreless innings before a summer storm broke and doused the park. Play was interrupted for over an hour in the top of the eighth, and we would also head into extra innings with no score on the board. The Falcons put two on with two outs in the bottom 9th, with Mugan and Ricardo Martinez (yeah, that one) hitting singles off Chris Mathis, but Ron Thrasher retired Ralph Myers (also a former Raccoon, though briefly) to send the game to overtime. When McKnight singled with one out in the top 10th off Jimmy Van Meter, he held all of the Raccoons measly three hits in the game. Young hit for Margolis and singled, but Denny struck out hitting for Thrasher, and Cookie flew out to center. In the bottom of the inning, Nick Lester walked Erik Pearcy with one out. Pearcy stole second base while Good struck out for a golden sombrero, and Lester soaked the loss when Dave Carter singled to rightfield. 1-0 Falcons. McKnight 3-3, BB; Young (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K;

The top 6 in the lineup went 0-for-23 with two walks and one hit-by-pitch, which went into Mendoza’s ribs. Which is totally fine! He struck out his other three at-bats, and if he had struck out once more, we couldn’t point at Matt Good and laugh at that sucker now.

****ing bunch of ****ing bastards.

Should have traded all of them for prospects. Or better: booze.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Petracek – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B Young – RF Johnson – P Morrison
CHA: SS Good – CF Huibregtse – C Holliman – RF Feldmann – 1B Myers – 2B B. Reyes – LF M. Salinas – 3B Pellot – P P. Sanchez

While Tuesday’s lineup had something of “get outta my ****ing eyes, you make them hurt!”, at least the Raccoons reached third base by the third inning. Granted, it took a leadoff single by Johnson and then Sanchez getting greedy on a sub-par bunt by Morrison, with Johnson legging out that throw to second base to leave all hands safe, and then a dubious ball four being called for Petracek in a full count, but bases loaded are bases loaded, damnit! Then Nunley snipped a ball back to Sanchez for an easy out at home, and DeWeese struck out. The Falcons had no hits the first time through against Morrison (who walked two), and when Matt Good hit a 1-out single to left in the bottom 3rd, his blackest of series continued when he ill-advisedly made for second base and was thrown out by DeWeese. Bottom 4th, Morrison allowed singles to Myers and Bob Reyes, who made his major league debut, who were on second and third with two outs and Pellot up. Denny’s arm extended automatically, but we hadn’t calculated for Morrison to fall to a 3-0 count on Sanchez. Fearing – for a reason – my wrath for walking the opposing pitcher to force in the go-ahead run, he threw one right down the middle, and even Sanchez couldn’t miss that. Liner to right, in, two runs scored. Morrison walked Good, and then Huibregtse brought in two more with a single to center.

Cookie hit a leadoff single in the fifth and then was immediately caught stealing, which was where I stopped bothering and went for the concourse to test that new triple-cheese, triple-bacon monster sandwich they were advertising. I had three of those and then bought the maximum amount of beer allowed per purchase to flush that junk down. When I returned to my suite, inebriated only ever so slightly, Morrison (who walked six in 4 1/3 innings) was no more, but the Coons were still shut out through seven. Sanchez allowed three singles to start the eighth inning then, with Petracek, Nunley, and DeWeese loading them up for Denny, who was the tying run and popped out to short. McKnight hit a sac fly, Young rolled out, and the Raccoons lost bitterly once more. 4-1 Falcons. Petracek 2-3, BB; Johnson 2-4; Korb 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
POR: SS Walter – CF Petracek – 3B Nunley – C Denny – RF Mendoza – LF Johnson – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – P Magnotta
CHA: SS Good – CF Huibregtse – C Holliman – RF Feldmann – 1B Myers – 2B B. Reyes – LF Pearcy – 3B Pellot – P Vallejo

Could Jeff Magnotta hold on to a 5-run lead in a one-off appearance? What sounded like an odd question – where would the Masked Stinkers get five runs from after all – had its roots in Alex Vallejo having a first inning from hell. He walked four in addition to the leadoff single that Shane Walter hit and the 2-out, 2-run double by Bergquist, and plated the last run when he had Magnotta already at two strikes, throwing a wild pitch. Magnotta missed the strike zone almost as much in his first inning, which took him 25 pitches and he didn’t even allow a run between a Good single and a walk to Feldmann. But Magnotta got better and made it through five (shutout!) innings on 70 pitches eventually, while the Raccoons offense pretty much didn’t when it didn’t get luxurious donations. After their 2-hit, 5-run first, they had one more hit through five innings (a Young single, which just as well could have been an error on Bob Reyes), and they didn’t get Vallejo out of the game until Young hit a leadoff jack in the sixth inning, shoving the score to 6-0. Just when I actually started to warm up a tiny wee bit on Magnotta, he imploded in the bottom 6th, allowing three hits and a walk for two runs on a Reyes single, and didn’t even get out of his own mess. Thrasher came in, but allowed an RBI single to Pellot, and only with the lead cut in half struck out Jeremy Stephenson to end the inning. The miserable Critters left runners on the corners in the eighth and another man in scoring position in the ninth, but still held a 6-3 lead thanks to quality bullpen work, which left us to arrive at Alex Ramirez. Pellot flew out to left to open the bottom 9th, but Manny Salinas jacked a pinch-hit homer to get the Falcons a run closer. Ramirez allowed hard singles to Good and Huibregtse, which brought up the powerful right-handers in the middle of the order as the winning runs. Before Holliman could do much harm, Ramirez threw a wild pitch, moving the runners into scoring position, but when Holliman flew out to shallow center, Petracek’s strong arm kept the quick Good in place. Walking Feldmann intentionally to bring up a left-handed major-league-fringe ex-Coon was like asking for it, so Ramirez would pitch to Feldmann instead. Another fly to shallow center, Petracek dashing in again, and he got it – barely. 6-4 Blighters. Walter 2-5; Young 3-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Bergquist 1-2, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

By the way, Magnotta struck out nobody in his 5.2 innings and swiftly returned to AAA. In nine major league starts since 2015 he is now 3-5 with a 5.17 ERA and 32 BB and 11 K in 47 IP. Good boy!

There was a good news / bad news situation with the Indians here. They had gotten swept by the Condors, and had scored NO RUNS in the series! You CAN do worse than the Coons! This is uplifting!

Of course, with just a little bit of effort, the Blighters could have given Jonny a W on Monday and be only five back now, but that’s one that we will no cry over forever, I guess.

No, I am still not over Keith Ayers being out at home.

Raccoons (62-47) @ Indians (67-40) – August 3-6, 2017

Despite getting completely annulled by the Condors midweek, the Indians were still fourth in runs scored in the league, and second in runs allowed. They had the best rotation and defense, and despite the probably season-ending injury to Jong-beom Kym earlier were still in pretty good shape overall, despite having lost their last four games and eight of their last eleven. They had to be aware of their struggles against Coon City, however, as the Raccoons – how ever they had done it! – held a 5-2 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (12-9, 3.26 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (11-9, 3.45 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-4, 2.91 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (10-8, 3.47 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (14-4, 1.62 ERA) vs. Felipe Ramirez (6-7, 3.49 ERA)
Chris Munroe (0-3, 11.20 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (13-5, 3.28 ERA)

“Ant” Mendez, who led the league in wins with 15 and had their best ERA at 2.41 had taken a hefty loss on Wednesday and was unlikely to appear in this set. Things being what they are, Tristan Broun was the odd one out as a left-hander in a pool of pitchers with decent mid-3 ERA’s.

Jonny has not allowed a run in five of his last seven starts (including two shutouts) and enters the series with a 22-inning scoreless streak.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B A. Young – RF Mendoza – P Abe
IND: C Padilla – SS Matias – LF Genge – 1B R. Flores – RF Gilmor – 2B Mathews – CF Baker – 3B S. Madison – P Lambert

The Coons stranded two in scoring position in the first inning when DeWeese and Denny could not hit the ball out of the infield, but at least Abe held the Arrowheads hitless the first time through. Dave Padilla’s 2-out single in the third ended that achievement, and in quick succession another single by Raul Matias and a walk drawn by Lowell Genge loaded the bases for Roberto Flores, who had just recently been washed ashore in a minor deal the Indians had made. He was batting .194 with two homers, but was batting cleanup. He flew out to Cookie to strand a full set.

Although not everything Abe threw was gold in this game, he still threw seven scoreless, despite putting the leadoff batter on base in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. The Raccoons were still just as blank as the Indians, and weren’t hitting the ball out of the infield at all. Abe was done due after 111 pitches after seven, but Lambert had thrown only SEVENTY-FIVE at that point! Pitch #78 for him was a bad one though and Adam Young hit a leadoff double on it in the eighth. COME THE **** ON NOW!!! I had hoped to incite a reaction in the Clawless (Clueless?) Kitten by subjecting him to the shame of batting eighth, so perhaps this was – nah, he flew out to left. Waggoner batted for Abe and stroked a single to right, and that one got Young home for the first run of the game, and quite early in the eighth inning! Of course the top of the order did nothing of value, and Ron Thrasher couldn’t handle the 1-0 lead, allowing a 1-out single to Flores and walking Joey Mathews with two down. When right-hander Santiago Guerra pinch-hit for Josh Baker, the Raccoons accepted their fate and sent Alex Ramirez for an impossible 4-out save. Guerra sent a quick bounce to left, but fortunately we had Nunley there, who made a quick grab and retired him to end the inning. Despite a 2-out double in the ninth off Padilla’s bat, Ramirez held on (!!) and the Indians had their fourth scoreless game in a row! 1-0 Blighters! Nunley 2-4; Waggoner (PH) 1-1, RBI; Abe 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (13-9); Ramirez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (26);

Now watch Abe overtake Toner in wins…

By the way the Crusaders have started a winning streak and are now only 10 1/2 back, zooming closer fast.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – RF Petracek – 3B Walter – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B A. Young – 2B Bergquist – P Santos
IND: C Padilla – SS Matias – LF Genge – CF J. Wilson – 1B R. Flores – RF Gilmor – 2B Mathews – 3B S. Madison – P Broun

The Indians stranded runners on the corners in the bottom 2nd, further extending their record of futility, while the Raccoons had McKnight on with a single in the top 2nd, but he was caught stealing – the third Critter in the series to be caught by Padilla, none of them being Cookie. In the top 3rd, Bergquist was drilled by Broun, who before the McKnight single had struck out four in a row, and moved to second on Santos’ bunt. Cookie singled to center, Bergquist scored, 1-0 Coons. Then Cookie took off and claimed his 17th base of the season before scoring on Petracek’s single. Broun started eroding, loaded the bases on a single and a walk, then allowed a 2-out, 2-run single to center to Denny, on an 0-2 pitch even. McKnight flew out, leaving the Coons with a 4-spot. An already ruffled Broun wouldn’t make it out of the fourth inning, which started with a Young homer, and after a Bergquist single progressed a bit like the third. Santos bunted, Cookie singled, but Bergquist had to hold at third, as this one was to left and Genge had a strong arm. In fact, the Indians had an entire outfield of rocket-throwing Gold Glovers assembled. Petracek’s fly to left was deep enough, however, to get Bergquist home for a sac fly, 6-0, and ending Broun’s gig. Walter singled, and he and Cookie pulled off a double steal before DeWeese singled off Jason Clements, 7-0. Denny fouled out to end the inning. Clements would pitch three scoreless innings after that as a largely futile endeavor, since the Indians couldn’t lift a piece of paper against Santos, who pitched a 2-hitter for seven and a third before bumping against 100 pitches. Chun replaced him, allowed a double to Josh Baker right away, but after a groundout by Padilla, Raul Matias struck out, stranding the desired run at third base, but the Indians would get plenty in the bottom 9th. Starting down by seven still, they faced Nick Lester, who retired exactly nobody. Genge singled, Wilson walked, Flores singled, and Nick Gilmor’s 2-run single FINALLY got them on the board after almost 50 innings of futility. It also broke Jayden Reed from the Coons’ pen, because we had discovered a leak below the waterline and needed a better pump. Reed allowed a run to score on a 2-out single by Danny Young, but that was it. Padilla struck out with two in scoring position to end the game and extend the Indians’ losing streak to six games. 7-3 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, RBI; Walter 2-5; Denny 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Bergquist 2-3; Santos 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (7-4);

New York won and is now in single digits. Just sayin’.

Mendoza pinch-hit in the ninth and grounded out, dropping his OPS under 1 …

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 1B A. Young – RF Mendoza – C Margolis – P Toner
IND: 2B Mathews – SS Matias – LF Genge – CF J. Wilson – 1B R. Flores – RF Gilmor – C Malone – 3B S. Madison – P F. Ramirez

Cookie’s single, walks to Nunley and DeWeese, and then a well placed single to right off McKnight’s bat helped the Coons to get two instant runs in the first inning. Just like on Monday, Toner allowed two singles in the first, but then recovered and whiffed John Wilson and Roberto Flores, so we were maybe going to be fine, or maybe not, because Toner wasn’t all in control in this game. The Indians had hard base hits in each of the next two innings, but fortunately only one apiece, and Toner’s scoreless streak required an unusually nifty grab by Young to intercept a Wilson bouncer to end the bottom 3rd to even reach 25 innings.

The Coons did precious little against Ramirez until the fifth when Cookie hit a 1-out single and got an extra base when Gilmor botched the pickup in rightfield. That base became an unearned run on Nunley’s 2-out double to left center, 3-0, and DeWeese walked, but Genge spoiled McKnight’s soft fly to left before it could dip in, ending that inning. Toner was already at 67 pitches through four, and allowed a leadoff single on a 2-0 pitch to Ramirez in the bottom 5th, but Matias would hit into a double play that Nunley started to end the frame. The Coons left the bases loaded in the top of the sixth when Walter popped out against Clements, who seemed to be able to pitch every day, and Toner walked Wilson in the bottom 6th. The thing with those sluggers in the middle of the order for the Indians was that they weren’t only extra-base powers (not primarily homers, with Wilson leading them with 11, but also doubles upon doubles), but they were stealing bases like crazy, with Wilson having 21 bags to Genge’s 24. Wilson stole second base here, moved to third on Flores’ groundout, but Gilmor struck out to extend Toner’s scoreless streak to 28 innings, and it reached 29 eventually, despite Toner allowing two hits in the bottom 7th and requiring some D from Cookie to catch a Matias drive to the deeper regions of centerfield to end the seventh. Waggoner batted for Toner in the eighth, had Margolis on first with two outs and socked a homer off Joel Davis to extend the lead to 5-0. If the Critters could get six outs before they allowed five runs, Jonny would move into a virtual tie for the triple crown again, matching “Ant” Mendez’ 15 W. Since we had overused Thrasher a bit this week, Nick Lester got the ball for the same area of the lineup he hadn’t coped with at all the previous night. This time, he retired Genge through Flores in order, never mind that Cookie almost faceplanted the fence on Genge’s drive. Lester got one more in the ninth, Chun got the other two, and the Indians didn’t know what was happening. 5-0 Furballs! Carmona 2-4, BB; Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-4; Waggoner (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K, W (15-4);

Game 4
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Waggoner – P Munroe
IND: C Padilla – SS Matias – CF J. Wilson – 1B R. Flores – 2B Mathews – LF Baker – RF D. Young – 3B S. Madison – P Riley

Walter’s solo homer in the first inning put the Raccoons ahead again, but a few runs here and there would not be enough if Chris Munroe wouldn’t do something to at least slightly depress his 11+ ERA. Padilla’s deep fly to right was caught by Waggoner, which was not a good very first impression, but Munroe rallied and made it through the first three innings facing the minimum. John Wilson singled, but was caught stealing, in the first, and nobody did much in the first four innings, Walter’s jack aside. Both teams through four had two hits, and the Coons were up 1-0. To start the fifth inning, Mendoza hit a double, which was newsworthy in itself. Waggoner grounded out, moving Mendoza to third, from which he scored when Munroe fit a grounder between Matias and Steve Madison for a 1-out RBI single, making it a 2-0 game. Cookie walked, but Walter hit into a double play, and when Nunley got on in the sixth, DeWeese hit into a double play. Munroe meanwhile was plugging away silently through the middle innings. The Indians didn’t make noise until the seventh inning. Flores and Mathews would hit deep drives off Munroe then, but both were caught by Waggoner and Cookie, respectively. Munroe was close to running out of luck here, and Johnson hit for him to start the top 8th. He singled, but Cookie and Walter couldn’t get the ball to fall in. Nunley couldn’t either, at least not on our side of the fence. He rammed a 2-run homer to center, boosting the score to 4-0.

Total humiliation of the Arrowheads would take six more outs. Thrasher got two from the left-handers Baker and Young, and Madison grounded out against Jayden Reed in the eighth. Josh Riley completed nine innings with seven hits and four runs allowed in what looked like a loss if Reed could get three more outs. He got Josh Malone on a grounder, but then walked Padilla and an infield single put Matias on. With the tying run appearing in the on-deck circle, Ramirez came out, despite Wilson, a left-handed bat, up first. But Thrasher had already been used, and Lester had been out two days in a row with mixed success, so why not go to the guy getting paid closer’s money? Wilson grounded to short at 1-0, but McKnight had been hit for in the top 9th (which we normally never did) and Walter couldn’t turn the double play. The Coons only got Matias on second and Flores batted with runners on the corners, .182 with two homers. He struck out. 4-0 Critters!! Mendoza 2-4, 2B; Johnson (PH) 1-1; Munroe 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (1-3) and 1-2, RBI;

Wheee? Wheee!!

In other news

July 31 – The Buffaloes’ 4-0 shutout over the Wolves sees TOP SP Allen Harris (2-4, 4.83 ERA) toss a 2-hitter.
August 3 – The Miners lose SP Miguel Rodriguez (8-12, 4.24 ERA) for the season due to shoulder inflammation.
August 3 – The Aces score six in the sixth and seven in the seventh in a 13-2 thrashing of the Knights.
August 3 – In a wild one in Pittsburgh, the Blue Sox put up two 6-spots to thump the Miners, 16-9. NAS 2B Jose Gutierrez (.340, 2 HR, 42 RBI) has five singles and plates three, while his teammates Andrew Showalter (.286, 14 HR, 66 RBI) and Winston Jones (.216, 5 HR, 20 RBI) each drive in five.
August 4 – As the Rebels beat the Capitals, 8-7, recently acquired RIC 2B/SS Bobby Torres (.256, 7 HR, 39 RBI) has five hits including a home run and two doubles. He drives in two.
August 6 – The Blue Sox hold a 1-0 lead over the Miners in the seventh-inning stretch, only to implode for six runs in the seventh and five in the eighth, taking a crushing 11-1 loss.

Complaints and stuff

Jonny Toner won Pitcher of the Month honors in July, going 4-1 with a 1.31 ERA and 51 K in 41 1/3 innings. Which is only so much consolation when you pitched your ass off and your team still lost, 1-0.

I’m tired of listing what Mendoza did or didn’t do. I will just say he was once again ****.

If not for Nick Lester’s meltdown on Friday, the Indians would not have scored a single run the entire week. This is the way to blow huge leads, I guess, but I am not one to complain given that we are now only two games back, and could be one game back if … ugh. Also, mind the Crusaders, who are all of a sudden 7 1/2 out, after being EIGHTEEN games out on July 17!

There are your 2017 champions, I guess, but first they have to climb over the Coons with their 5-game winning streak. We will be in New York to start next week for three, then hit up the Gold Sox on the way back home. The series after that, at home against the good ol’ Capitals, will be the only home series for the Coons before the last week of the month.