[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-53) @ Crusaders (52-41) – July 18-20, 2023

The Crusaders were losing ground on the Titans in the division race so it was very convenient for them to have some punching bags coming in. With half the games between these two teams this season already played, they held a 7-2 edge over the Raccoons. While they had the worst batting average of any CL team, they were at least eighth in runs scored, exploiting extra base hits and walks both alike, and they also had the best pitching overall, conceding the fewest runs in the league.

Projected matchups:
Chris McKendrick (3-3, 2.62 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (11-4, 2.91 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (5-6, 4.21 ERA) vs. Tim Dunn (7-7, 3.53 ERA)
Travis Garrett (2-3, 3.65 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (10-6, 2.70 ERA)

Their starters would come right, left, right, in that order.

Game 1
POR: 2B Claros – LF Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – CF Stevenson – SS Stalker – C Tovias – P McKendrick
NYC: SS R. Soto – 3B Schmit – RF Fullerton – LF J. Williams – 1B I. Flores – 2B S. Valdez – C Asay – CF Douglas – P Rutkowski

In his closest bid for his maiden home run in a while, Jarod Spencer hit a ball off the fence in rightfield in the first inning, then scored on Nunley’s 2-out single to right for the first run of the game, with Nunley continuing his hot bat post-ASG that had won him a Player of the Week already. Unfortunately, Chris McKendrick and a mostly left-handed lineup would not gel well, at least not for the pitcher. Doubles by Andy Schmit and Jake Williams in the bottom 1st, both past either side of Alfaro, tied the game right away before Nunley handled Ivan Flores’ slow grounder splendidly for the third out. McKendrick got blasted before long; while the Crusaders’ go-ahead run in the bottom 2nd was technically unearned because Nunley spiked a throw that Walter couldn’t come up with that placed Jason Asay aboard to begin with, McKendrick might have wanted to retire Rutkowski with two outs, but allowed a single, then another one to Robby Soto to score the run. Not getting the ****ing pitcher out with two gone would bite him in the arse again the following time through. Rutkowski batted with runners on the corners and two outs, but was inexplicably walked by the Coons’ hurler, after which Robby Soto banged a slam to bury the Coons in a 6-1 hole.

With the starter gone by the fifth, David Kipple also struggled to retire left-handers, put two Crusaders on base and was then lifted for Adam Cowen with two outs and the runners in scoring position. Cowen allowed a 2-run double into the leftfield corner to the left-handed batting Asay, 8-1, and while it was extremely encouraging that Omar Alfaro went deep off Rutkowski in the sixth inning to extend a hitting streak to 13 games, in the smaller context of this game the solo homer would not mean much at all. Bottom 6th, the Crusaders pulled Alfaro’s run right back on two errors. Rutkowski got aboard on Tim Stalker’s throwing error, and then Alfaro overran Soto’s single to shallow right for an extra base. Both runs would score, but were unearned. The Raccoons had no answer whatsoever to this rout in progress and went down mostly silently. Rutkowski went eight innings for his 12th win of the season. 10-2 Crusaders. Spencer 2-4, 2B; Delgado (PH) 1-1; Cowen 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K and 1-1;

After this game, the Crusaders acquired 1B Xavier Garcia (.305, 3 HR, 23 RBI) from the Warriors in return for third-string catcher Alfonso Gonzales, which sounded like a good deal to me… for the Crusaders.

Game 2
POR: CF Stevenson – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – LF Newman – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – C Delgado – SS Stalker – P Gutierrez
NYC: 1B X. Garcia – CF Douglas – 3B Schmit – LF J. Williams – RF I. Flores – 2B S. Valdez – C McPherson – SS R. Soto – P Dunn

In a copy of Tuesday’s first inning, Jarod Spencer landed a 1-out base hit, this time a single, then scored on the cleanup man’s single, in this case Will Newman, to give the Coons’ starter an early lead. Rico Gutierrez would also face a mostly left-handed lineup, so there would hardly be an excuse for a bad outing. While he was soul-searching in the first inning and didn’t get ahead of any batter, walking Xavier Garcia, the Crusaders didn’t get through, then didn’t get much at all the next few innings, drawing only another walk against six strikeouts through four. The top 5th saw the Coons in business, although Tim Dunn started their attempt at a second run with an error that put on leadoff man Tony Delgado. Stalker walked, Gutierrez bunted over the runners, and Stevenson was walked intentionally to fill the bases for Spencer, who lined out to Williams in left, with Delgado coming home being the only run scoring in the inning once Shane Walter struck out.

The Crusaders had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom 5th then. Sergio Valdez had singled hard up the middle, their first base hit in the game, before Gutierrez had walked Eric McPherson and drilled Soto. Dunn struck out, Garcia struck out, but Lance Douglas singled to right to score one, and Gutierrez scored the tying run himself with a wild pitch before Schmit flew out to Alfaro in shallow right. Oh the humanity…! It only got worse from there, because of course it did. Gutierrez struck out ten batters in the game, but wouldn’t make it through six innings after a Valdez double with two outs in the bottom 6th. Cory Dew came on, walked McPherson, allowed an RBI double to Soto, a 2-run single to Dunn (…!!), and then Alfaro made a running catch in the gap on Garcia’s bid for extra bases. Down 5-2 the Coons were once more what they always were – buried. Actually, they did have another bid for a comeback, in the eighth inning. Dunn was still going, but put Newman and Nunley on base. Delgado batted with two outs, lined to the left side, but Schmit swiped the ball and ended the inning. 5-2 Crusaders. Newman 3-4, RBI; Stalker 1-2, BB, 2B;

We out-hit New York 9-5 here. It was still not remotely enough.

Alfaro had a single amongst three strikeouts, extending his hitting streak to 14 contests.

Game 3
POR: 2B Claros – LF Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – CF Stevenson – SS Stalker – C Tovias – P Garrett
NYC: 1B X. Garcia – 3B Schmit – LF J. Williams – CF I. Flores – 2B S. Valdez – C Asay – RF Douglas – SS R. Soto – P A. Mendez

With Stevenson coming home on Elias Tovias’ 2-out double in the second inning, the Coons again scored first, unable to grasp the bad luck they brought upon themselves with those early runs … (hey, you come up with a better explanation for what is going on!) – also, there was “Tragic” Travis pitching, so there was that. He struck out the side in the bottom 2nd around two singles, then walked the bases full in the third, only to whiff Asay to escape, and the Crusaders stranded Soto (single) and Garcia (walk) in the fourth when Schmit grounded out. The big inning was just waiting to happen, so maybe we could tack on some runs?

But the Raccoons were as usual extremely clumsy at the plate, and when they did open the third inning with singles by Claros and Spencer, they soon enough found some fool to hit into a double play, that fool being Walter. Only the in the fifth inning did they scratch out another run on three consecutive 2-out singles by Spencer, Walter, and Nunley, the latter tying Walter for the team RBI lead – Walter had driven in only two runs in the last five weeks, which was pathetic even with the All Star break and a 2-week DL stint factored in. Also pathetic: Garrett, who didn’t make it through five innings before being yanked. The bottom 5th began with a homer by Williams, cutting our 2-0 lead in half, and then Flores singled, Valdez doubled, and Asay’s liner to left was caught by a hustling Spencer or else the Crusaders would already have taken the lead. David Kipple threw an anchor upon replacing Garrett (4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 BB), striking out both Douglas and Soto to strand the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. At that point, Adam Cowen came up with two scoreless innings against a swing-eager New York team, maintaining the Coons’ 2-1 lead, which Billy Brotman further maintained in the eighth. The Coons appeared in business with Tim Stalker’s leadoff triple off Steve Casey to begin the ninth, and Tovias dropped a soft floater into shallow right for his second RBI of the game, 3-1. Claros would also get on, and with two down Shane Walter doubled to the fence in right, driving home another run and claiming sole ownership of the team RBI lead again with … 44 ribbies. Nunley flew out, stranding a pair, but a well-rested Brett Lillis needed no more runs to get this one across the finish line. 4-1 Furballs. Spencer 2-5; Walter 3-5, 2B, RBI; Stevenson 1-2, BB; Tovias 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Cowen 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Omar Alfaro had an ugly oh-fer with another pair of whiffs, thus ending his hitting streak.

However, this game extended Adam Cowen’s stay on the roster. Somehow, he earned his first hold of the season in this game, and then did it against the Crusaders, for two innings, and with a 1-run lead. He had originally been scheduled for deletion to get another starter onto the roster, but now lightning hit Joe Moore, who had been nothing but a mess recently. Plus, Moore had options, whilst Cowen was out of them.

We called up Matt Huf, who had pitched to a *0.78* ERA in seven starts for the Alley Cats since removal from the 25-man roster.

Raccoons (40-55) @ Bayhawks (48-48) – July 21-23, 2023

Ah, the Bay. The smell of slightly polluted salt water right next to the ballpark – who wouldn’t want to play there 81 times a year? The Baybirds were sixth in runs scored, fourth in runs allowed, with a +24 run differential that claimed they were better than a .500 team, but they had also lost two of three to the Coons in 2023, so how good could they be?

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (6-9, 4.42 ERA) vs. Brian Simmons (6-9, 2.98 ERA)
Matt Huf (1-6, 5.16 ERA) vs. Denzel Durr (6-7, 4.22 ERA)
Chris McKendrick (3-4, 3.33 ERA) vs. Ruben Cervantes (7-6, 3.89 ERA)

For this series, we will face the southpaw up front, then two right-handers. For those who can’t place Simmons anywhere – he is a 9-year veteran, but he previously pitched for the Scorpions and this is his first stint with a CL team. He’s already 32 with an 84-59 record that would be worse if he hadn’t been on one of the best teams in baseball for the last half-decade or so. His career ERA was a mediocre 3.97 – although that was less mediocre in the offense-heavy Federal League. He had won 15 games three times in his career, and 13+ for five straight years, and he was also gifted with pinpoint control, walking just 2.6 per nine innings in his career, and 1.6 per nine this season!

Game 1
POR: CF Stevenson – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – LF Newman – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – C Delgado – P Chavez
SFB: LF R. Gomez – C O’Dell – CF D. Garcia – 1B Jon Gonzalez – SS Sanks – 2B St. George – RF Booker – 3B Light – P Simmons

By contrast, here was an entirely right-handed lineup – sans the pitcher – that was up against Chavez, who coughed up a leadoff triple to Rafael Gomez in the first inning and surrendered a quick initial run on Brett O’Dell’s groundout. Worse yet, Gomez tripled on an 0-2 pitch that did nothing. The Bayhawks would have the leadoff man aboard in the next two innings as well, but failed to score them, and while Simmons retired the Critters in order the first time through the lineup, Stevenson led off the fourth with a double into the rightfield corner. Walter hit a single, Stevenson was held at third, and Newman knocked a bouncer to Stephen St. George for an inning-ending double play… It was no consolation that St. George also hit into an inning-ending double play a bit later in the bottom of the sixth; the main problem remained the Raccoons’ horrendous attitude at the plate. Walter in the sixth and Stalker in the seventh would hit doubles for the Coons, but both did so with two outs, and neither got any support from the guy behind them. Chavez ended up going seven on the hook, not allowing another run, although the Baybirds had pairs aboard (and left them aboard) twice, including in the bottom of the seventh, in which Simmons legged out an infield single that sent Jaden Booker to third base, too. That happened with one out, but Rafael Gomez struck out, and Nunley handled O’Dell’s bouncer for the final out. After the Coons went down haplessly in the top of the eighth, Cory Dew got torn to shreds. Hitting Jon Gonzalez was not the smartest move to begin with, but then he also allowed RBI hits to Stephen St. George and Jaden Booker, threw two wild pitches to Sean Light, and then allowed another RBI single to Light. He was so badly off the rolls that Kipple relieved him with two outs to face the opposing pitcher, Simmons, who allowed a leadoff single to Walter in the top of the ninth, walked Newman, and then Nunley stupidly hit into a double play. Alfaro struck out, letting Simmons get away with a 6-hit shutout. 4-0 Bayhawks. Walter 3-4, 2B; Stalker 2-3, 2 2B; Chavez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (6-10);

It’s amazing how steadfastly a team can score exactly 3.4 runs per game.

And sometimes not at all.

Game 2
POR: 2B Claros – LF Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – RF Graves – C Tovias – CF Santos – P Huf
SFB: LF R. Gomez – RF Booker – CF D. Garcia – 1B Jon Gonzalez – SS Sanks – 2B St. George – C R. Anderson – 3B Light – P Durr

The early innings saw hardly any offense. Both teams had two singles apiece and neither reached third base. Jarod Spencer came closest, actually touching third base, but not until after Light had slapped the tag on him on his second stolen base attempt of the first inning, and the first one that went awry. Huf, who had been around seven walks per nine innings before his demotion in June, didn’t walk anybody until Dave Garcia worked a free pass in the bottom 4th, but then immediately served up a gapper to Jon Gonzalez for an RBI double, the first tally in the Saturday game. He also walked Light in the fifth; the third baseman stole second base, then scored on Gomez’ 2-out single to left center, 2-0.

Through five it could have been much worse for Huf, but could hardly have been much worse for the Coons’ offense, which once again presented itself entirely and comfortably numb. When they did get the tying runs aboard, this was the result of a sixth-inning bloop single for Walter and Tim Stalker getting drilled. Graves struck out to end the inning. Huf went as far as the rest of the team would allow him to, spinning eight innings of 4-hit ball against the Baybirds. The Raccoons faced Tony Harrell in the ninth, starting with Stalker, who stalked right back to the dugout after swinging over a 1-2 pitch in the dirt. Graves flew out, but then the tying runs did get aboard. Alfaro walked in Tovias’ place, and Delgado singled up the middle for Santos. Stevenson batted for Huf, who suddenly had hope again, only to have it crushed when Stevenson grounded out to Sean Light to end the game. 2-0 Bayhawks. Delgado (PH) 1-1; Huf 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, L (1-7) and 1-3;

In five games with San Fran this year, we have scored eight runs. Nifty average there.

Game 3
POR: 2B Claros – LF Spencer – 1B Walter – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – CF Stevenson – 3B Bullock – C Tovias – P McKendrick
SFB: LF R. Gomez – C O’Dell – CF D. Garcia – 1B Jon Gonzalez – SS Sanks – 2B St. George – RF Booker – 3B Light – P Cervantes

Claros and Alfaro on the corners after singles of their own, Tim Stalker grounded to the left side. Shane Sanks knocked the ball down, but could not get a throw off in time to catch Stalker at first, nor Claros at home, and the Coons took a first-inning 1-0 lead on the infield base hit. Stevenson grounded out, but – whee! – we had a run!! McKendrick hit a double in the second inning that turned out not to matter, then loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the inning. Gonzalez singled, Sanks walked, St. George was hit in the upper arm. Jaden Booker’s grounder tied the game with the Critters getting only an out at second base, and then McKendrick restocked the bags with a walk to Light. Cervantes hit a sac fly to give himself a 2-1 lead before Gomez ripped himself out to strand two. The Coons’ pitcher continued to be way off, issuing a leadoff walk in the third that was drowned in a double play grounder, but also threw a wild pitch with two outs to Cervantes in the fourth…

Stalker tied the game in the fifth with his second 2-out RBI single of the contest, this one into centerfield and plating Spencer, who had singled and stolen second base. Bullock hit a leadoff single in the sixth, but was caught stealing, then committed a terrible throwing error in the bottom of the inning. McKendrick had issued a leadoff walk to Sanks, and was THIS close to getting yanked, when Bullock fired St. George’s bunt over Shane Walter’s head for a 2-base error. Runners on second and third and nobody out, McKendrick was as dead as disco. Vince D came on to see after Booker, ran a full count, then didn’t get the call on a pitch on the corner. The walk loaded the bags with Bayhawks, but Light’s fly to shallow left wouldn’t get anybody home, as Spencer made the catch on the run. Victor Sarabia batted for Cervantes in this spot, struck out, and in a perfect world Gomez would have made the last out, but he singled over Claros’ (a former Bayhawk) head and scored two to break a two-two tie. A passed ball was charged to Tovias afterwards before O’Dell grounded out. Both runs in the inning were on McKendrick, but unearned.

The Critters’ next base runner would be Stalker, reaching on a Sanks error to begin the eighth inning. Manny Sosa was the new reliever, a right-hander with soundly more walks than strikeouts and a 5.04 ERA that appeared generous, a creative selection in a 4-2 game with the tying run at the plate. Stevenson singled, but when we sent Nunley to bat for Bullock, the Bayhawks twitched and sent Miguel Cortes, a different right-hander with no walk issues. Nunley promptly grounded into a double play, while Cortes hurt himself, bringing on Marco De La Rosa, the fourth right-hander of the inning, and he had a 5.63 ERA and allowed an RBI single to Tovias, 4-3. Zach Graves’ foul pop was handled by O’Dell to end the inning. Bottom 8th, Kevin Surginer pitching. Jaden Booker sent a fly to deep center that went into Stevenson’s glove, but Josh stumbled and the ball went back out of his glove. In a wild flight, Booker was already approaching second base and as Stevenson scampered after the ball in the depths of this Grand Canyon-sized park, nothing was ever going to stop him. Booker circled around for an inside-the-park homer, restoring the Bayhawks’ 2-run lead. Tony Harrell would face the tying run in the ninth after Walter’s 2-out double. Tony Delgado batted for Surginer, grounded out to Light, and the Coons were rightfully swept. 5-3 Bayhawks. Walter 2-5, 2B; Alfaro 2-4, 2B; Stalker 2-4, 2 RBI;

In other news

July 18 – The Buffaloes pile it on the Blue Sox in a 15-2 rout. TOP LF/RF Alfredo Quintana (.290, 14 HR, 52 RBI) drives in six runs despite landing only a walk and a hit. That hit though is a grand slam off NAS MR Jim Cushing (0-0, 6.98 ERA).
July 19 – The Thunder pick up SP Zach Weaver (4-7, 4.33 ERA) from the Miners in exchange for INF/CF Jeff Becker (.263, 1 HR, 39 RBI).
July 21 – The Canadiens send SP Kevin Woodworth (3-11, 5.99 ERA) to the Condors for some oddball prospect.
July 23 – The Indians’ 5-run first inning would not carry them to victory, being trumped by the Knights’ 8-run third frame before long. The Knights hold on to win, 12-10, although IND C Justin Calhoun (.200, 3 HR, 23 RB) would lead the day with two hits, two walks, and 5 RBI, all of the runs scoring on a pair of homers against ATL SP Chris Chatfield (1-5, 3.25 ERA).

Complaints and stuff

12 shutouts. We have already played 12 games in which we didn’t score at all. That is a substantial amount, and I am extremely hesitant to collect data to compare this to other horrendous seasons.

It occurs to me that we have a very young pitching staff. There’s Lillis, who is 35, and then the next-oldest guy is... Travis Garrett! Well, after we dumped Adam Cowen for space constraints. Garrett is 27, Cowen is 28.

By the way, no trades are coming. Besides a reliever, we have no real talent on the roster, and nobody wants our relievers. Just so there are no outcries of protectionism or favoritism, I also offered Matt Nunley to a few teams for (mostly random) prospects at the bottom of the top 100, and I didn’t even get in smelling distance of a deal – but I was called names by the Warriors f.e. …

With the series loss in New York this week, we are no longer beating them all-time. It’s an even 420-420 now.

Fun Fact: In 2000, the then-last place Coons went 2-4 in the week ending July 23, remaining in last place. The week included a 14-inning, 4-1 loss to the Titans on Christian Greenman’s walkoff 3-piece, and that guy would turn into another sad chapter in the Brownshirt Chronicles before long, but the main effect of that rotten week was the Sport Illuminated issue with two young raccoons sitting in a tree on the cover, with the text below: "What? We must bat against Martin Garcia?" "Nope, not going to happen. We're not comin' down!" - Is the Raccoons' young talent (pictured: Daniel Sharp, Albert Martin) really ready for the major leagues?

You could run that cover again right now and insert the names of Spencer, Stalker, Alfaro, or whomever.

Besides, Martin Garcia went to the Hall of Fame, Daniel Sharp came and went three times, ultimately going nowhere, and I would murder Al Martin’s career in due time in a stupid trade. What a job well done!

By the way, the lawsuit we brought against the magazine back then was thrown out of court, something First Amendment blah-blah.