[Westheim]

For the Coons, the week began with a reversal of the roster change from the end of the previous week, sending Lance Legleiter back to AAA for Greg Borg.

Raccoons (57-43) vs. Bayhawks (33-64) – July 29-31, 2025

The rightfully miserable Bayhawks were making a dash for 100+ losses, and we certainly wouldn't want to interrupt them. We had already swept them in our first encounter this season and I wouldn't mind another such occurrence. They sat second from the bottom in runs scored, at the very bottom in runs allowed, and overall there wasn't much hope for this team. Nevertheless, they had somehow managed to sweep the Crusaders on the weekend, so things could still go either way.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (11-5, 2.84 ERA) vs. Matt Huf (10-8, 4.57 ERA)
Jack Sander (8-6, 3.66 ERA) vs. Rodolfo Cervantes (3-9, 4.59 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (4-6, 3.53 ERA) vs. Jonathan Shook (6-6, 3.76 ERA)

Three right-handers, two of those sent their way from Portland a while back in the Gonzalez/Roberts trade.

Game 1
SFB: CF Hawthorne – 3B Booker – RF C. Martinez – 1B Lloyd – C J. Ramirez – LF R. Allen – SS Hawkins – 2B Pick – P Huf
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – P Roberts

Roberts whiffed five and retired the Bayhawks in order the first time through while the Raccoons played the same annoying game they had been engaging in for a while now and hit into double plays at every opportunity, doing so in the first inning (Mora after Spencer's leadoff walk) and second inning (Alfaro erasing Nunley) as well. The fourth inning saw the Baybirds with their first base knock, a 2-out single by Cesar Martinez to the right side, and the Coons with their first run, cobbled together from Tovias' leadoff double to left, a wild pitch, and Nunley's grounder to Pat Pick. The Coons had them on the corners then in the next inning thanks to a Cookie double and the Bayhawks infielders all falling over one another on Mark Roberts' shy grounder to concede an infield single to the pitcher. Jarod Spencer solidly singled to center to plate a 1-out run and extend the score to 2-0, then got doubled off when Abel Mora lined out to Bob Lloyd to end the inning… Well, at least there was variety to the misery!

Roberts maintained the 1-hit shutout through seven innings, but lost control in that inning, ran two full counts and issued a walk, jumping his pitch count to 105 in the process and with his spot coming up third in the bottom 7th he was getting a pat on the bum and we'd see how to proceed from here. The inning began with a walk to Stalker before Cookie singled to centerfield, putting two on with no outs for pinch-hitter Matt Otis, who never got any useful pitch from Huf and drew a bases-loading walk. Come on boys! Put this one away now! All the runners scored indeed – Spencer got a second RBI to his game with a fly to George Hawthorne that allowed Stalker to come home, 3-0, and with two outs and the runners in scoring position after Mora's groundout, Elias Tovias dumped a soft fly into shallow center to chase Cookie and Otis home, 5-0. Jimmy Lee was tossed into the eighth inning and promptly put runners on the corners with a leadoff walk to Roger Allen and a single by Tom Hawkins. Pick snipped a grounder at Tim Stalker, which gave them one but cost them two, which at this stage was fine by me. Austin Metzger's pinch-hit double to center made us begrudgingly remove Lee for Vince D just to keep the Bayhawks from stretching their wings. He also finished the game with a quick ninth, but not before Omar Alfaro hit into the Coons' fourth and his personal second double play of the game… 5-1 Raccoons. Spencer 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Tovias 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Carmona 2-3, BB, 2B; Roberts 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (12-5) and 1-1;

Sometimes a win is a win is a win…

Game 2
SFB: CF Hawthorne – SS Quantrille – RF C. Martinez – 1B Lloyd – LF R. Allen – C Ja. Jackson – 3B Hawkins – 2B Pick – P Cervantes
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – LF Borg – SS Bullock – P Sander

There was not exactly a rich display of offense on offer in the middle game. Both teams got a run early on with a solo home run, Gonzalez going the long way for the Coons, while Cesar Martinez went yard to tie it in the fourth, but the Coons got the lead back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Daniel Bullock drew a 2-out walk then advanced to second base on a terrible pickoff attempt by Cervantes, who then served up an RBI single to Jack Sander, which was guaranteed to change the color of his manager's face. But that of Sander's manager followed soon as he silently and without much warning fell apart in the sixth inning. With two outs, Sander walked Jaiden Jackson, then served up a hanger to Tom Hawkins that was briefly seen before vanishing over the leftfield stands, presumably having surpassed the speed of light. That flipped the score, but Sander wasn't done, allowing a double into the corner to Pick and then a single up the middle to the opposing pitcher, with the notable divergence from the previous half-inning that Abel Mora threw the runner out at home to end the inning. Mora went on to hurt the Bayhawks with a leadoff jack in the bottom of the inning, tying the score at three. While Hess and Ohl kept the score level, and the offense did nothing at all in the seventh and eighth, Jonathan Snyder in the ninth allowed consecutive doubles to Austin Metzger and Zachary Ryder in the 9-1 slots to concede the go-ahead run to San Francisco. The Baybirds sent right-hander Manny Sosa and his 5.54 ERA into the bottom 9th to defend the 4-3 lead against the 3-4-5 batters in the Coons' order. Tovias flew out on a 3-1 pitch, which was the more aggravating when Jon Gonzalez doubled after him, but had nobody to drive in. Nunley flew out to advance the runner, but Jaden Booker contained Alfaro's drive in centerfield to end the game. 4-3 Bayhawks. Gonzalez 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI;

Game 3
SFB: CF Hawthorne – 3B Booker – RF C. Martinez – 1B Lloyd – C J. Ramirez – LF R. Allen – SS Hawkins – 2B Pick – P Huf
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – P Gutierrez

Rico got battered right out of the gate by an all-right-handed lineup, with Hawthorne's single, Booker's double, and Martinez' 2-run double putting the Bayhawks in front before they even made an out. Martinez got somehow stranded at third base, but the hole was there, and now we had to look for volunteers to get us out of it. Jon Gonzalez was the first double play mook of the day, hitting one sharply to short with Spencer and Tovias on the corners in the bottom 1st. The Raccoons amassed only three base hits off Shook in the first five innings, which was the more aggravating because Rico suddenly blossomed and struck out nine right-handers through five, made it an even ten on Martinez to begin the sixth and eventually settled down after six innings and 11 K, albeit still on the (very) short side of the score. We would just have to wait for Jonathan Shook to fall apart, which from my memory had to happen at SOME point. That point probably was the bottom of the seventh. Shook hadn't walked a Critter all game long, then lost Nunley and Alfaro back-to-back. Those were the tying runs aboard with one out for Tim Stalker, who ran a full count, then knocked one past Pat Pick for a single that loaded them up for Cookie, who also hit one in Pick's direction, except that Pick got that one and turned another double play.

New chance – better chance – in the eighth? The Bayhawks hung on to Shook at this point, who was only approaching 90 pitches so far, having whiffed two through seven innings. Bullock had entered in a double switch earlier and popped out in the #9 spot to begin the bottom 8th, but Spencer singled to right and was running when Abel Mora found the gap with a line drive. By the time Hawthorne brought in the ball from the depths of centerfield, Spencer had scored to break up the shutout, and Mora was at third base with a 1-out triple. There he remained, with Tovias grounding out to the undeserving pitcher and Gonzalez flying out to Roger Allen. On to the ninth, where Manny Sosa allowed a leadoff single to right to Nunley, then couldn't play Alfaro's grounder, putting the winning run on with an infield single – and with nobody out. Delgado batted for Devereaux in the #7 spot, whiffed, but Cookie singled to right for a change. That loaded them up for Daniel Bullock, which was not as thrilling as one might think. Okay, Cristiano Carmona was thrilled. His heart broke visibly when we sent Greg Borg to pinch-hit for him. Borg held perfectly still while Sosa showed no concept of the strike zone at all, drawing a walk to force home the tying run, and the Coons walked off on Spencer's grounder to the left side which Tom Hawkins intercepted, was not able to throw to home plate in time to nip Alfaro. 3-2 Blighters. Spencer 3-5, RBI; Alfaro 2-3, BB; Stalker 2-3; Borg (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Gutierrez 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 K; Devereaux 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (5-0);

There was a time when Cookie Carmona was un-double-play-turnable.

Those times are long gone.

Raccoons (59-44) vs. Falcons (39-64) – August 1-3, 2025

Here was the other half of the hopeless department in the South, second in runs conceded to their fellow cellar dwellers from the Bay, but at least a semi-decent eighth in runs scored, one position actually behind the forever-seventh-place Raccoons. The season series stood 4-2 in the Raccoons' favor.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (6-4, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jim Bryant (5-9, 3.48 ERA)
Graham Wasserman (3-9, 3.79 ERA) vs. J.J. Rodd (1-6, 4.40 ERA)
Mark Roberts (12-5, 2.69 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (8-9, 3.74 ERA)

Rodd was the only left-handed pitcher available to take a gander at this week.

Game 1
CHA: CF Cano – 3B Czachor – LF Kok – 1B Fowlkes – 2B Good – RF McClenon – C A. Gonzales – SS Read – P Bryant
POR: CF Mora – 2B Otis – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Borg – LF Carmona – SS Stalker – P Chavez

Ricky Cano's leadoff jack put the Falcons 1-0 ahead right out of the gate, while the Coons presented Tim Stalker with the bases stuffed with Nunley (single), Borg (single), and Cookie (walk), and one out. Stalker fell behind 0-2 before lining out to Ryan Czachor, and Chavez went down on fastballs to strand a full set. That was already all the offense in the first five innings. The Falcons had two more hits against Chavez, while the Coons had five against Bryant, but never got into a situation where they posed something resembling a threat at all. Chavez pitched seven innings on 107 pitches, whiffing six, but remained hanging on the tiniest hook, and the Coons didn't get their best shot until the bottom of the eighth inning, and then not even by their own batting prowess. Abel Mora drew a leadoff walk, after which Otis flew out to right. With one out, Tovias grounded to second, which led me to close my eyes, but Matt Good's feed to Howard Read was anything but, and the Coons had two on with one out on the error, with nominal slugger Jon Gonzalez stepping in. Fast grounder to third base, Czachor to Good, to Pat Fowlkes, and the inning was over. The Falcons thought so little of the Coons, they left Bryant in for the ninth inning with a 1-0 lead, and didn't even make a move when Nunley hit a leadoff single. And why would they? Greg Borg hit one to short, 6-4-3, another double play. I was going to murder them all, but there was another out to make, and Cookie didn't make it, singling to left. THAT got Bryant removed, somehow, with left-hander Danny Munos taking over. He faced Stalker. Stalker grounded to short. I took a hearty bite out of my Coons cap. 1-0 Falcons. Nunley 2-4; Borg 2-4; Carmona 2-3, BB; Chavez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (6-5);

Completely inept bunch. Seeing a left-hander on Saturday at least gave me an excuse to bench some of the worst offenders. Or really just anybody. BENCH ANYBODY!!

Greg Borg was caught stealing in the fourth inning, his first time being nipped this year after going 9-for-9 previously.

Game 2
CHA: CF Cano – 3B Czachor – LF Kok – 1B Fowlkes – 2B Good – RF McClenon – C A. Gonzales – SS Read – P Rodd
POR: LF Spencer – 2B Otis – CF Borg – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 3B Bullock – C Delgado – SS Jurek – P Wasserman

Not only did nothing bad happen in the first inning right away, which was already progress, but Wasserman pulled a Roberts and retired the Falcons in order the first time through, whiffing three. The Coons also didn't make it onto the scoreboard, two measly singles aside, and one of those was hit by Wasserman… The fourth inning promptly saw Wasserman fold, starting with a four-pitch walk to Ricky Cano. A wild pitch advanced the runner, and he scored on Barend Kok's single. Fowlkes also singled, and when Matt Good grounded to short, the Coons failed to turn two, getting only Fowlkes at second, but at least Joseph McClenon struck out to strand them on the corners. While the 1-0 deficit was not fatal this time around, it took Wasserman's single in the bottom of the fifth to plate Tony Delgado from second base to tie the score; that made it two base hits for Wasserman, the same as the rest of the lineup had tallied up so far.

But it wouldn't be Wasserman if he wouldn't find a way to immediately get back onto that beloved hook of him. He walked Czachor to begin the sixth inning, but got a double play from Kok. Instead, Pat Fowlkes took him deep to left to give Charlotte a 2-1 lead. Wasserman at least lasted seven, and as was good custom for the rotation here, was still behind when he left the game, being hit for by Tim Stalker in the bottom 7th. Stalker had Delgado on first base and one out, and rammed a grounder through Pat Fowlkes and up the line for a double. Tony Delgado was old and had always been slow, and now was old and slow and there was hardly a double in the world that would score him from first base. However, the Coons had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position now for Spencer, who dropped an absolutely miserable blooper out of the reach of McClenon for an RBI single, 2-2, and the go-ahead run crossed home plate on a kind wild pitch by Rodd with Tovias already batting for Otis. Elias walked, but Borg and Gonzalez made the last two outs in the inning to keep the score at a tight 3-2. In a perfect world, the pen would have held onto that lead; they didn't. Ohl and Brotman got through the eighth, but Snyder blew the lead in the ninth allowing base hits to Matt Good with one out, and Alfonso Gonzales with two outs. Which was where it was Dustin Jurek's turn to shine; the Falcons had probably considered Rodd able to get through the ruckus at the bottom of the Coons' order to extend the game into a tenth inning, but he didn't quite – Jurek hit a 400-footer to left-center to sink the ball behind the outfield fence to walk off the Raccoons. 4-3 Coons. Gonzalez 2-4, 2 2B; Stalker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Wasserman 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 2-2, RBI;

Game 3
CHA: CF Cano – 3B Czachor – LF Kok – 1B Fowlkes – 2B Good – C A. Gonzales – RF McClenon – SS Read – P Moffatt
POR: 2B Spencer – CF Mora – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – LF Carmona – SS Stalker – P Roberts

The Falcons right out of the gate hit the ball hard off Roberts, but early on got it neither in, nor out, with Mora and Alfaro making a few fine plays deep in the outfield in the opening innings. It was the Critters to score first, although the Falcons were the driving motor behind their offense. I should explain. The Coons placed runners in scoring position in the second inning after a Gonzalez singled and an Alfaro double. Gonzales allowed the first run to score with a passed ball to Cookie, who eventually walked. Stalker grounded to short, where Howard Read threw the feed past Matt Good for an error that plated Alfaro and kept the inning going with Roberts, who swung away and singled on the infield as Moffatt and Czachor got their wings entangled and couldn't make a play. That – somehow! – loaded the bases for Spencer, who grounded the first pitch he got hard to the left side and past the reach of Read for an RBI single, 3-0. Mora struck out, and Tovias flew out to left to end the inning. All runs were also somehow earned on poor Doug Moffatt, the unlucky bastard. He WAS however to blame for the pair of runs the Coons put up in the third inning, walking Nunley and getting bombed by Omar Alfaro right afterwards, extending the gap to 5-0. No, the first unearned run in the game was charged to Roberts in the fifth inning, and when the Falcons scored it was not on a homer, but rather singles by Good and McClenon, with a throwing error by Abel Mora on the latter, allowing Good to score. Portland pulled the run back right away on right-handed reliever Zach Engels, who issued leadoff walks to Nunley and Alfaro in the bottom 5th, threw a wild pitch, and somehow was only tagged for a sac fly by Cookie.

Engels was in for the long run or until it hurt too bad, as became apparent in the seventh inning, in which Jon Gonzalez took him deep with a solo piece inside the left foul pole, and a Nunley double and Cookie singled plated another run, giving Roberts a 7-run lead. Travis Garrett, with an ERA near seven, was sent in and restored order. At some point, also, Roberts had to surrender a bomb in this game. He did so in the eighth, a leadoff jack by Russ Greenwald, the unloved ex-Coon, and then another one, a 2-piece by Fowlkes. That was enough from Roberts then, who had hung around just long enough to soil his line. The Falcons continued to rally with a leadoff jack by Gonzales off Justin Hess in the ninth inning, but Hess stuck around to strike out the left-handed McClenon and Read, then also retired switch-hitter Chris Erskine on an easy fly to centerfield for the Coons to clinch his series after all. 8-5 Coons. Gonzalez 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Nunley 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Alfaro 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

In other news

July 29 – At 40 years old, ATL 1B/2B Jose Gutierrez (.350, 0 HR, 6 RBI) collects his 2,000th career base hit. Used sparingly and mostly as a pinch-hitter, the right-handed Mexican collects the marquee hit in the fifth inning off Vancouver's Fernando Estrada. Gutierrez, who debuted with the Raccoons in 2007 and never spent more than five seasons with any team, is a career .293/.353/.366 batter with 36 HR and 695 RBI.
July 29 – SAC C David Drews (.337, 13 HR, 66 RBI) has hit in 25 consecutive games with his 2-hit day in the Scorpions' extra-inning, 6-5 win over the Miners. Drews singles in the 12th, but had already hit a 3-run homer off Mel Lira in regulation.
July 29 – Nashville's SP Shane Baker (8-3, 3.28 ERA) delivers a 3-hit shutout of the Dallas Stars, claiming a 5-0 victory.
July 29 – The Indians send CL Ryan Corkum (2-4, 3.70 ERA, 19 SV) to the Thunder in exchange for two prospects.
July 29 – TIJ 3B/RF/LF Mike Matias (.247, 15 HR, 57 RBI) will miss up to six weeks with a torn meniscus.
July 31 – The Titans rout the Aces, 15-2, with #7 batter OF/1B Adam St. Germaine (.262, 3 HR, 53 RBI) contributing three hits and 5 RBI to the effort.
August 1 – BOS SP Morgan Shepherd (15-1, 2.34 ERA) not only keeps steaming, but whiffs ten Bayhawks in a 6-0, 3-hit shutout.
August 2 – The hitting streak of SAC C David Drews (.333, 13 HR, 68 RBI) ends at 27 games as the Rebels hold the 31-year-old rookie dry while going down to defeat against the Scorpions, 3-1.
August 2 – The Condors score ten runs in the fifth inning and still have to worry about a late Loggers rally in their 12-8 win in Milwaukee. TIJ SP George Griffin (12-5, 3.78 ERA) staggeringly leads the team in offense with three hits and three RBI, picking up the W for six innings of 5-run ball.
August 2 – Buffaloes and Stars play scoreless ball for 12 innings until TOP 1B/2B Chris Owen (.308, 5 HR, 43 RBI) claims the 1-0 victory for Topeka with his walkoff solo home run.

Complaints and stuff

Well, both the Coons and the Titans had their second-worst month of the season in July. Those Titans! They merely went 18-8 in July. Ptah! The suckers!

(moans)

There isn't much to say, except that their dynasty is likely to break up over the next two years as almost all of their current key pieces will become free agents either this year or next year. Then again, they are richer than most of the baseball gods, so …

Meanwhile the Coons faced the two most rancid teams in the Continental League this week, with the two worst pitching staffs, too, and couldn't even score four runs per game, and that we even went 4-2 over the Baybirds and Falcons was down to some late turnarounds and two walkoffs. Nothing to write home about, really.

We will not get another off day until the 14th, and will now embark on a 2-week road trip through Vegas, Boston, Vancouver, and Salem.

Alberto Ramos bit the dirt in AAA this week, spraining his ankle well enough to probably miss the rest of the minor league season. So much for that astral talent here… He batted .259/.356/.418 in St. Petersburg compared to .267/.313/.389 in the majors.

Fun Fact: Last year on August 2, the Raccoons dropped a home game to the Canadiens, 6-5. Alex Torres became the first Elk in 32 years to hit three homers in a game.

Of course, the following month John Calfee also homered three times against the Raccoons, then in Vancouver, making them the first team mates to hit three home runs in a game against the same team in the same season.

Oh we will chew on that one for a long time. Did I mention that Juichi Fujita's no-hitter will have its anniversary next week? Maud! Mena! More meds!