[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-44) vs. Loggers (55-55) – August 6-9, 2018

The Loggers were holding on to a .500 record this season with pitching and an offense both roughly average, but with a +31 run differential that hinted at even better potential. Most promising was their second-best starters’ ERA (but we would get to that in a minute!). Despite that, they entered the 4-game set trailing 6-5 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (11-10, 3.63 ERA) vs. G.G. Williams (7-6, 3.33 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (9-7, 4.83 ERA) vs. Troy McCaskill (5-6, 4.24 ERA)
Hector Santos (10-6, 2.94 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (5-9, 3.07 ERA)
Damani Knight (4-7, 5.24 ERA) vs. Jason McDonald (7-9, 4.42 ERA)

In first page news, the Loggers announced that Continental League ERA leader Michael Foreman (10-6, 2.17 ERA) was heading for Tommy John surgery, immediately removing him from ERA title considerations, having pitched only 153 1/3 innings this season – he would not qualify by the end of the season. While a nasty blow for the Loggers, and sad in general (I just don’t like good pitchers getting hurt, even if they are NOT my own…), this was great news for Mr. Toner in his pursuit of that elusive pitching triple crown.

G.G. Williams was the Loggers’ lone left-hander, while McCaskill was moving back to the rotation due to the Foreman injury. They nominated the murky Julio San Pedro, a 23-year old Panamaian rookie with a 3.93 ERA and almost equal walks and strikeouts, as their new closer. This was their weak spot: their bullpen ranked in the bottom three in the Continental League…

Alex Duarte was the only player that had not gotten a day off so far, with half the 20-game stretch behind us. But with the series opening featuring the lefty Williams, he was in the lineup on Monday, and would get Tuesday off. Also remember that the Raccoons were without Shane Walter, and our middle infield would resemble a worn-down tunnel of horror this week.

Game 1
MIL: LF Hodgers – CF Coleman – RF Gore – 1B LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 2B Betancourt – SS Tadlock – P G.G. Williams
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Margolis – SS Dahlke – 2B Hudman – P Guerrero

A Hudman error put leadoff man Victor Hodgers on base to start the game. Hodgers stole a base and quickly scored on Brad Gore’s single. LeMoine also singled and Guerrero walked Alberto Velez to produce a bases-loaded situation before striking out Orlando Castillo and getting David Betancourt on a grounder to short. The Raccoons also had the bases loaded, that spot coming with nobody out in the bottom of the first after a Duarte walk sandwiched between two singles, yet Williams struck out both Jackson and Mendoza in full counts and got Margolis on a pathetic grounder. 21-year old Loggers shortstop Ron Tadlock made his major league debut and led off the second inning with a drag bunt single, but was ultimately stranded. While Cookie held further damage away from Guerrero with a great play in the third and another one in the fourth, taking extra-base hits away from the Loggers, the Raccoons came up with their second three on, no outs situation in the bottom of the fourth inning, which started with a Mendoza walk and then two singles. This was a bad spot to have the bases loaded, given that Hudman hadn’t hit a ball in ages and Guerrero was the pitcher anyway. Hudman hit an 0-1 pitch to left, fairly hard, but Hodgers had no problems to get there. Mendoza tagged and went, Hodgers fired the ball back in, but it was terrible and past everybody and their mother. Mendoza scored (and wouldn’t have with a precise laser beam) to tie the game, while everybody else moved up. Guerrero then helped himself with a drive up the rightfield line and past Gore for a tie-breaking 2-run double! While Cookie reached on an infield single, that was the last run in the inning, and when Guerrero came back up with three on and two outs in the bottom 5th he popped out to Tadlock to keep the score at 3-1.

Guerrero went six and a third, striking out Tadlock to end his outing still ahead 3-1. The Loggers sent left-hander Andrew Cooper to bat for Williams and together with the top four of the lineup this gave them five consecutive left-handed batters. Cooper singled off him, but was left on second base in the seventh, but in the eighth Gore hit a leadoff single. Thrasher struck out LeMoine and retired the switch-hitter Velez on a fly to center, with Gore tagging and moving to second base against Duarte’s not-that-bad arm. Alex Ramirez came in and struck out Castillo to end the inning, but then went on to blow the save in the ninth. Betancourt hit a leadoff single and the Loggers came up with doubles by PH Isiah Reed and then Victor Hodgers to get even with the Raccoons, before putting three runs on a miserable Wade Davis in the tenth inning. The Raccoons looked entirely disinterested in doing any more work, a pinch-hit single by Mike Denny in the bottom of the inning aside. Cookie batted with two outs and poked at a 3-0 pitch by San Pedro, grounding out to second base. 6-3 Loggers. Margolis 2-5; Dahlke 2-3, BB; Denny (PH) 1-1; Guerrero 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K and 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

The pain is real.

Meanwhile, in telling signs that I have no hope left regarding him, Hugo Mendoza was double-switched out in a tied game after going 0-for-4.

Game 2
MIL: LF Hodgers – CF Coleman – RF Gore – 1B LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 2B Betancourt – SS Tadlock – P McCaskill
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – SS Dahlke – 2B Mathews – P R. Mendoza

While our battery was not on the same page with another right from the start, leading to wildness and pitched that weren’t where Denny wanted them with base stealers on base, which led to two stolen bases early and a run directly resulting from one of the stolen bases that LeMoine drove in, the Raccoons continued to not to anything good in relation to baseball. McCaskill no-hit them through the first three innings, despite issuing a leadoff walk to Mathews in the third and misfielding Mendoza’s bunt to put two on. Cookie hit into a fielder’s choice, then was caught stealing, and Tadlock didn’t have to move to catch Nunley’s soft liner to end the inning. The fourth started with an Orlando Castillo single, and the catcher, not a base-stealing threat, advanced on a wild pitch and eventually scored on McCaskill’s 2-out single, hard to left.

Down 2-0, the Coons didn’t get a hit until the fifth, and then it was an infield single by Dahlke. Mathews reached on McCaskill’s second error of the game, bringing up Ricky Mendoza with one out. Since Cookie could not be relied on for good things anymore, either, Mendoza batted and promptly struck out. Cookie then dumped a single to center, plating Dahlke, and Mathews scored on Nunley’s single to right, tying the score at two before Jackson grounded out to Betancourt. The following inning, the Coons loaded the bases with no outs again, getting three singles of increasing softness from Hugo Mendoza, Denny, and DeWeese, but – you know the deal – three on and no outs carries a run expectancy of zero runs for Portland. Dahlke hit the first pitch to the short side of second base, Tadlock came over and missed it by mere inches, with the ball escaping to centerfield for an RBI single, giving the Coons a 3-2 lead. Mathews’ fly to deep left was caught by Hodgers, but was good enough for a sac fly, after which Duarte hit for the pitcher, flew out to left on 3-1, and when Cookie reloaded the bases with a single, Nunley grounded out to first to end the inning. After this, the Coons pen made it through eight in much the same pattern as on Monday: Schroeder was used for one out only before a left-hander hit in the #9 hole and Kaiser came out for the long string of monotony. He allowed but one single and collected five outs (so even better than Thrasher), and the Coons had a great chance for some insurance in the bottom 8th with DeWeese reaching with a leadoff single. Tadlock was charged an error when he misplayed Dahlke’s grounder, but Mathews grounded into a fielder’s choice, leaving runners on the corners with one out; Margolis batted for Kaiser, ran a full count and walked to load them up for Cookie, who grounded to first, but that got at least DeWeese home with LeMoine only getting the out on the batter. Nunley’s RBI single moved the score out of save range, and so Chun got the ball rather than Mathis in the ninth inning and retired Castillo, Betancourt, and Tadlock in order. 6-2 Critters. Carmona 2-5, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-3, BB; Dahlke 2-4, RBI; R. Mendoza 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (10-7); Kaiser 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 3
MIL: LF Hodgers – CF Coleman – RF Gore – 1B LeMoine – C O. Castillo – 2B Betancourt – 3B I. Reed – SS Burns – P Prevost
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Dahlke – 2B Petracek – P Santos

Denny and Santos were no less of a mess than Denny and Mendoza the day before. Denny couldn’t keep the dazzling Loggers on their currently assigned base, and Santos threw two wild pitches in the first two innings, one of which was plating Hodgers with the first run of the game with two outs in the top 1st. Santos also bunted into a double play and the Raccoons could only score one run in five innings under the greatest pains, at least as far as Castillo was concerned, who was bowled over by Eddie Jackson whom Brad Gore had beat at home after DeWeese’s 1-out fly to right. Castillo lost the ball and some dignity, tearing his pants in the groin area in the process, while the tying run was across the plate.

Santos threw seven innings with four scattered hits, but when Duarte hit for him in the bottom 7th, the game was still tied. Duarte singled to center, which also chased Dahlke to second base, and then it was Prevost’s time to throw a wild one, moving the runners into scoring position with one out and Cookie batting. Cookie – I’m serious. If you don’t get that run in, there will be no good-night-pie for you! He grounded out to second base, and Dahlke twitched and retreated to the base, which was just mind-blowing… Nunley flew out to Ian Coleman to end the inning. Thrasher had a clean eighth, but Ramirez put them on the corners with one out in the ninth and was only saved his bacon by Nunley, who started a wonderful double play on pinch-hitter Brian Almond. In the bottom 9th, Duarte drew a 2-out walk against Luis Calderon, who threw a wild pitch, walked Mathews (batting for Ramirez in the #1 hole), and then Castillo was booked for a passed ball with Nunley at the plate. Nunley grounded out to first, and the game continued into extras, regrettably.

Calderon then hit a leadoff single (!!) off Mathis in the tenth, but ended up in a double play, then allowed a leadoff single to Jackson in the bottom 10th. Mendoza kept fudging up, and DeWeese reached only on a throwing error by Calderon, moving Jackson to second for Denny, who had a completely black day behind the plate, but loaded the bases with a single. DAHLKE!! I’M SERIOUS AS ****!! Dahlke grounded the first pitch to Tadlock at short, who threw home to kill Jackson and somehow the Loggers still found time to get Dahlke out at first base to end the inning. Top 11th, LeMoine led off with a single against Mathis, stole second base – the 29th stolen base for the Loggers in this game, and the 172nd in the series – then was erased in a pretty normal 8-5 double play when Castillo flew out to Duarte in center, who told LeMoine ‘oh no, you WON’T’ and killed him at third base. The Loggers lost Gore to injury in the bottom 11th, forcing them to play reliever Toby Wood in rightfield. Not even that was gonna help the Coons any time soon. Bottom 13th, Dahlke led off with a single, but Petracek’s bunt was taken by San Pedro to get the lead runner. At that point the scream of a crazy person was clearly audible across the murmur of a thinned-out and annoyed crowd. Petracek stole second base, kind of mitigating his **** bunt, but Duarte struck out. Batting first in the order by now was Danny Margolis, and he couldn’t be removed (and Hudman was the last man on the bench, so yeah, keep me Dannyboy battin’ away!). San Pedro ran a 3-1 count before Margolis chipped a ball into play that went through San Pedro’s legs, bounced funnily on the backside of the mound and then took up speed as it eluded the middle infielders and hushed into center, with Petracek dashing around the bases to score the winning run… 2-1 Blighters. Carmona 2-4; Margolis 1-2, RBI; Jackson 3-6, 2B; Denny 2-4, BB; Dahlke 3-6; Duarte (PH) 2-3, BB; Santos 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K; Mathis 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Davis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-2);

Sooo… Cookie didn’t get the run home, but only because Dahlke is an idiot. How does that relate to pie?

Ah, the boys shall figure that out for themselves. This will either get them talking or murdering each other, and by now I am fine with both as long as they leave Jonny Toner alone. Everybody else can go to heck.

Margolis got the nod for catching Damani Knight (not a pleasure anyway) in the last game of the set, not because he got the walkoff knock in a soul-draining 13-inning game, but because the Loggers went 8-for-8 in stealing bases off Denny in the last two games, and I’d try my luck with Margolis (who didn’t throw out any of the two base stealers on Monday, either) again.

Game 4
MIL: C O. Castillo – SS Burns – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – 3B Velez – 1B J. Ortíz – RF Coleman – 2B I. Reed – P McDonald
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 2B Mathews – SS Dahlke – P Knight

Damani Knight put the first two batters on base with a walk and a single before the Loggers somehow failed to strike him where it hurt the most, his huge ERA. The Coons saw Cookie retired to start the bottom 1st, but then loaded the bases on an error and two singles, the latter – Mendoza’s – of the infield variety. He hit a 2-1 pitch to right, close to the line, and it fell in, and Ian Coleman grossly misplayed it, having a bouncer glance off his glove to give the runners an extra base, and two runs came onto the board. Portland ended up scoring three runs in the inning, the last run coming home on Margolis’ groundout, and all runs were really hard unearned. Damani Knight allowed only two more singles through five innings after the shaky start, both by left-handed batters in the bottom third of the order, Isiah Reed in the second and Ian Coleman in the fourth, and drove in another run himself in the bottom of the fourth inning, lining a 2-out single to left to score Joey Mathews, who had reached base on his own with a double, but had gained an extra base with a wild pitch, so while that run on McDonald was earned, it was probably still not deserved for the Critters…

While those undeserving Critters tacked on a fifth run in the fifth inning on a 1-out RBI double by DeWeese, they then had Margolis fly out to center. Mendoza was on third base, tagged, and was thrown out at home. Knight returned to the mound after that, allowed a leadoff single to LeMoine, and in quick succession the Loggers also got Velez and Juan Ortíz on base. With one run already in and runners in scoring position, Ian Coleman sent a drive to center that bounced off the base of the wall. Duarte fell down when the carom almost struck him in the face, and the ball bounced back to the grass. It took forever for anybody to get over their and make a play, and by then it was well too late, Coleman had a 3-run inside-the-park home run. The score was closed to 5-4, and the home crowd was hissing.

For the seventh, the Raccoons tried to do something that had worked great twice in the series. A right-hander (Kyle Burns) was leading off, with a score of left-handed bats behind that. Chun was selected to get the out from Burns, who doubled, and then we went to Thrasher in vain hope of getting out of this hole that was filled to the brim with pig poo. Jimmy Raupp hit for LeMoine, but the questionable strategy worked out when Raupp walked. He got forced on Cooper’s grounder to short, leaving runners on the corners, with Thrasher plating the tying run with a wild pitch. Now, where had I seen that before? He walked Velez in a full count before striking out Ortíz, and getting an exit grounder from Coleman, but the 5-0 lead was blown in just two completely ****ed up innings. After Cookie hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th and was stranded on third base by the dip**** Mendoza, Matt Schroeder got the ball in the eighth. Since his 20-some scoreless innings, Schroeder had gotten whacked to an ERA over seven in his last ten innings and allowed hard contact for an entire inning; however, an entire inning was a finite length of game, and despite getting shaken, Schroeder kept the Coons in the tie, or let’s say Cookie’s and Nunley’s defense did, which would be more accurate, but grief in baseball always works both ways. Both teams hit into inning-ending double plays to the third baseman in the eighth inning, with the Coons having had two men on before Dahlke crapped out. Schroeder kept pitching in the ninth but only allowed two singles, and Jason Kaiser couldn’t clean up his mess, conceding the go-ahead run on a 1-out single by Albert Velez. Bottom 9th, San Pedro put leadoff man Eddie Jackson on first on four straight balls before Cookie singled in a full count, putting the winning run where you could see it. Not that it helped the team any. Duarte popped out, and Nunley grounded to short for a casual 6-4-3 double play. 6-5 Loggers. Carmona 2-5; Nunley 2-5; H. Mendoza 3-5;

There was a nasty encounter with Matt Nunley at the airport after the game when he encountered me as I lifelessly dragged a trolley with my suitcase (which really only contained a good piece of rope and a ceramic knife that wouldn’t light up on the scanner) behind me to the check-in and tried to offer me some peanuts. According to the police protocol, I didn’t even let him finish his sentence that started with ‘Hey boss, you want some peanu-‘ before howling, yelling ‘GET THE **** OUT OF MY SORE EYES!!’ and hurling the suitcase along with the trolley after him. I ended up missing Nunley, but destroyed a quite huge and expensive LED display at the check-in, and it took four hours to extract Nunley, scared to death and rightfully so, from the conveyor belt system in the baggage claim area. Somebody had also yelled ‘terrorists!’ and in the end a hundred people had to be screened from top to bottom. No terrorists were found, neither was my knife, instilling more confidence into our future well-being in me. Nevertheless, our flight was delayed by eight hours and we didn’t land in Denver until three in the morning…

Raccoons (69-46) @ Gold Sox (54-59) – August 10-12, 2018

The Gold Sox were 11 games out in the West, and overall didn’t look all that bad, ranking fifth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the Federal League, with a +6 run differential. They worked the other way round compared to the Loggers, however, with a decent bullpen outdone by a morbidly inept rotation. Somehow this was the seventh straight year for these teams to play another. The previous six years had not seen any team sweep the other, and the total record came out to 9-9, but the Gold Sox had won the last two series.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (17-3, 2.24 ERA) vs. Mo Robinson (7-6, 4.10 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (11-10, 3.49 ERA) vs. Bryant Roberts (8-9, 4.17 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (10-7, 4.74 ERA) vs. Frank Kelly (2-7, 5.38 ERA)

We’d get three right-handers here, and while we were still without Shane Walter, Ronnie McKnight and a bunch of pitching, the Gold Sox also had two regulars on the DL in C Pat Walston and SS Piet Oosterom.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – SS Dahlke – P Toner
DEN: SS Bean – 1B Murphy – LF Bellows – RF Candela – CF Reese – 3B Z. Brown – 2B Saunders – C Ayala – P M. Robinson

The Critters burst out for three runs in the first inning, which opened with a Cookie single – his 150th base hit this season – and eventually saw an RBI single from Mendoza – his first RBI this month… – before DeWeese reached on Matt Saunders’ error and Joey Mathews drove them in with a 2-run triple. Jonny struck out the first three batters he faced, which didn’t end the first inning because ex-Coon Stan Murphy reached on the third strike bouncing away from Denny, then hit a 1-out single in the top 2nd. Cookie doubled, and the Coons got another run on Duarte’s sac fly, 4-0, and by the fourth inning the Gold Sox had seen enough of Senor Carmona and put him on with Dahlke on second and two outs, with Mo Robinson getting a K from Duarte to exit that inning. Jonny had a 2-hit shutout with seven strikeouts through five innings, but the Gold Sox had, if nothing else, at least worked the counts and had pushed him up to 85 pitches, so this would again not be a shutout unless we could find rain somewhere. No rain came forth with Jonny needing 16 pitches for a scoreless sixth and being removed with his spot due to lead off in the seventh. Brock Hudman’s pinch-hit single was the first of three consecutive to load the bases with nobody out, Robinson remained in the game to see Nunley, but it wasn’t gonna end well. Nunley found the gap in left center and scored two, but stumbled over first base and had to stay there with a single. Reliever Tommy Weintraub struck out Mendoza before DeWeese creamed him with a line drive over the fence in right, a 3-run homer that ran the score to 9-0. The Critters added another two runs in the eighth, while the Gold Sox reached third base in both the seventh and eighth innings before they got to see Matt Schroeder in the ninth. He allowed a single to Julio Candela and then a bomb to Tom Reese, and that before he loaded the bases with another three runners, and we actually had to bother Chris Mathis to bail him out of there. Mathis struck out Tim Bean, who flailed for a golden sombrero, and Murphy flew out to left to end the game. 11-2 Raccoons. Carmona 4-4, BB, 2B; Nunley 2-5, 3 RBI; H. Mendoza 3-5, 2 RBI; Hudman (PH) 2-3, 3B; Toner 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (18-3) and 1-1;

Jonny Toner claimed the lead in all triple crown categories with this W, leading BOS Chris Klein by three wins, NYC “Midnight” Martin by 47 K, and IND Tristan Broun by .05 in ERA. Technically, Milwaukee’s Foreman is still between him and Broun, but his case is dead, as we have established.

Schroeder was demoted after the game. He had been very good for a filler for a very long time, but he had allowed nine runs in 7.2 innings since July 27 and was just getting whacked and slammed and raked, all at the same time.

Chet Cummings rejoined the Raccoons, having pitched to a 4.50 ERA in 16 games with them early in the season, and to a 1.96 ERA in AAA since then. To get him onto the 40-man roster, 28-year old Keith Chisholm was DFA’ed. Chisholm had batted .381 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in limited cups of coffee in 2014 and 2015 (42 total AB), but by now was moonlighting in Ham Lake.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Dahlke – 2B Hudman – P Guerrero
DEN: SS Bean – 1B Murphy – LF Bellows – RF Candela – CF Reese – 3B Z. Brown – 2B Saunders – C Ayala – P M. B. Roberts

Cookie led off with a single, stole second, but was caught trying to nab third. The Raccoons still plated a run with Duarte walking, Nunley reaching on an infield single, and a run-scoring groundout by Mendoza, but it could have been better. The Gold Sox stranded a man on third in the second inning, then got a leadoff single from Victor Ayala in the bottom 3rd, and Guerrero lost Tim Bean to a walk. One out and two on, Stan Murphy appeared in the box, and wouldn’t you know it, hit right into a double play. The Raccoons got a run in the fourth on a 2-out RBI single to center by Tom Dahlke. Hudman also singled into that space, loading the bases, but Guerrero struck out to leave three men stranded in what was now a 2-0 game. Top 5th, Cookie grounded out before Duarte doubled. Nunley walked to remain unretired in the game, and Mendoza also found shallow center for an RBI single, 3-0. DeWeese ran a full count and looked at a ball at the knees – he knew he had just struck out for the 400th time this season, but the umpire didn’t say anything. While DeWeese hurriedly flung the bat away and weaseled to first base, which filled them up, half the Gold Sox team were in the umpire’s face right there for the first time, and again when Mike Denny hit a bases-clearing double into the leftfield corner – on an 0-2 pitch! – to blow up the lead to 6-0. Nobody was ejected, but it sure came close to it…

With the embiggened lead and a much more economical approach to pitching than Jonny Toner had, Guerrero was ready to shoot for the stars and pitch a shutout. The Gold Sox were still left off the board after six innings of 3-hit ball, but while Jonny had needed 101 pitches to get there, Guerrero reached this point after a paltry 57! The Gold Sox reached first base in the sixth and seventh, but hit into double plays both times, while in between DeWeese belted a solo homer in the top 7th. Ex-Crusader Winston Jones threatened with a 2-out double as a pinch-hitter in the bottom 8th, but Bean struck out once more to mitigate this hit, only the Sox’ fourth in the game. Murphy was to lead off the bottom 9th, with Guerrero on only 79 pitches. Pitch #80 was hit quite hard past the lunging Hudman into right for a single, but Murphy was soon forced on Justin Bellows’ grounder. Candela lined out to first before Reese, Friday’s spoiler, singled to right, sending Bellows to third base. With two outs, Ramon Luna pinch-hit for Zach Brown, ran a full count, and – struck out. 7-0 Raccoons! Carmona 2-5; Nunley 3-4, BB; Guerrero 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (12-10);

There it is! The first (for a starting pitcher’s personal resume) nine-inning shutout of the season! And by a guy that wasn’t even in the organization less than four weeks ago. Will wonders ever cease?

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS Mathews – C Margolis – 2B Hudman – P R. Mendoza
DEN: SS Bean – 1B Murphy – LF Bellows – RF Candela – CF Reese – 3B Z. Brown – 2B Saunders – C Glasgow – P Kelly

The continuous strikeout that was Tim Bean actually put a bat squarely to a ball in the Sunday game. In a scoreless affair in the third inning, the Sox had Chris Glasgow on second base and two outs when Bean drilled a 2-2 pitch to the deepest part of centerfield. Unfortunately for him, he still didn’t get any credit for it since Alex Duarte warped back to the track and made an unbelievable catch to retire Bean for the third out of the inning. Duarte came to bat in the Coons’ first meaningful scoring opportunity, one that sadly was started by Ricky Mendoza’s 2-out double in the top of the fifth inning, when the Gold Sox continued to want no part of Cookie Carmona at the plate and walked him intentionally for the second time in the series. Duarte grounded out to Saunders, and the board remained empty until the other Mendoza, Henry or whatever his name was, and what was the nickname again, some impressive animal, ‘Penguin’ Mendoza? … until the other Mendoza came up with a bombastic solo homer to rightfield in the sixth inning. After DeWeese singled and stole second base, the Sox walked Mathews intentionally, which was even odder than walking Carmona, since Mathews had batted a mere .227 in August, and although Margolis had struck out in his first two at-bats in the game, he would not strike out in every at-bat for the rest of his life. He well didn’t and hit an 0-1 pitch to rightfield for a single, and the sufficiently quick DeWeese scored from second base, 2-0. Hudman and Ricky Mendoza then both lined out to end the inning.

Also a first in the sixth inning: Mendoza struck out Glasgow, the only Goldilock to reach base on his own merit in the game, to start the bottom of the inning, his first K in the game. He found joy in the experience and went on to strike out the side, including the hapless and probably suicidal Bean. Julio Candela’s 2-out single in the seventh was not going to hurt the Raccoons, nor did Ricky Mendoza get unraveled by Margolis’ throwing error that put Zach Brown on second base to start the bottom of the eighth. Saunders popped out, Glasgow flew out to center (more on that later), and PH Winston Jones flew out to Cookie in right. However, shutout here, shutout there, this time around the lead was only 2-0 for the Critters, and Ricky Mendoza was not the kind of guy you wanted the face the top of the order in a tight game in the ninth inning. Honestly, Guerrero wasn’t either, but with a well-rested back end of the pen – neither Thrasher nor Ramirez had seen service in the series – we would probably try our luck with them. Jackson batted for Mendoza in the top of the ninth and struck out in the middle of Fernando Hernandez jr. sitting down the Coons 1-2-3. Ramirez appeared in the bottom of the inning and told the Gold Sox where to stick their 1-2-3 inning. 2-0 Furballs! R. Mendoza 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (11-7) and 1-3;

Now to the bad news: when Alex Duarte caught Glasgow’s fly in the eighth, he – and we sure as heck don’t know how he did it! – suffered a broken finger on the hand that was actually in the glove! This freak injury is surely not something that will advance the Raccoons’ bid for the playoffs, especially with the Crusaders not hanging back.

In other news

August 6 – Veteran LAP 1B Dave McCormick (.296, 10 HR, 61 RBI) is done for the season after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament.
August 7 – The hitting streak of LAP C Errol Spears (.280, 8 HR, 52 RBI) ends after 21 games as he goes hitless in the Pacifics’ 6-1 loss to the Salem Wolves.
August 9 – ATL SP Bruce Morrison (7-6, 4.55 ERA) is out for the 2018 season with a torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

The bickering in the clubhouse is back. Looks like it is not only DeWeese, but everybody is on everybody’s throats. Cookie came complaining to me while we were still in Portland, and Seung-mo Chun met me at the hotel bar in Denver after the Friday game and warned me that the volcano was about to spew some molten rocks. Those Japanese and their flowery language.

I don’t think this is a chicken-and-egg problem. Everything was silent while the team was winning clearly more than they lost and the offense was still humming. That’s been a thing of the past, with the last few weeks, and really, ever since the start of July, being a real slog, and now the demons come out again. The slog was first, and then came the volcano.

Bobby Guerrero is 2-0 with a 1.91 ERA in four starts since coming over from the Falcons. Early dividends are there, we’ll talk again when Michael Wilkerson has his first MVP title.

In the same game in which Guerrero shut out the Gold Sox, the Coons also jumped to a positive three-digit run differential. Also, we swept the Gold Sox for the first time since 1992. Everybody knows what happened in 1992.

Shane Walter never reached the point where he could safely be put into the starting lineup this week, but we think that Monday might be the day. He already took batting practice Saturday and Sunday while in Denver. Meanwhile Duarte is now out for the entire month and maybe a wee bit longer, and we will have to come up with a centerfield solution that will not wear out Cookie’s body.

Actually, I think we have a solution, though not a brilliant one. We have the 35th pick from the 2013 draft, OF Andy Bareford with the AAA Alley Cats. He is an excellent defensive centerfielder, but not all that much of a batter. He is hitting .286/.345/.362 with 2 HR and 36 RBI in AAA this year, which is a bit worse than what he did in 2017. He is speedy on the bases however, so should he ever get lucky and reach base… Bareford will turn 24 in September, but will likely make his major league debut and play most days in center until Duarte can return, starting on Monday.

This should have been yesterday’s update, but I started late, and the Loggers series took forever, so rather than playing until 1am I wisely went to bed to lay wide awake while the fair carousel in my head was turning. It stands in complete darkness, but is beautifully lit, and once I close my eyes, someone switches the light on. Then it starts turning and the music starts playing. Ree-de-dedele-dele-de-dee-de, ree-de-dedele-dele-de-dee-de… uhm, well, yeah. That’s about it for today, I think.