[Westheim]

Before the All Star Game even broke, the Coons demoted Juan Magallanes, batting a beefy .122, back to St. Pete to bring Cookie Carmona back from the DL.

All Star Game

Tijuana's Shane Sanks wins MVP honors in the 2026 All Star Game on the strength of two base hits … including a walkoff grand slam off Topeka's Mike Baker. Sanks drive in five runs in total in the game which ends a 9-5 Continental League victory.

Four of those five FL runs were on Raccoons; Mark Roberts surrendered a pair in the first inning, and Jonathan Snyder surrendered two more in the fifth…

Raccoons (47-42) vs. Loggers (40-48) – July 16-19, 2026

With the season series even at four and neither team having much to look forward to anymore, this was the first series of the rest of the year. The ruffled Raccoons would host the third-worst offense in the Continental League, not helped out by thoroughly average pitching all too much.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (8-4, 3.92 ERA) vs. Ben Jacobson (9-8, 4.60 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (6-3, 2.52 ERA) vs. Danny Soto (6-3, 4.06 ERA)
Mark Roberts (8-6, 2.93 ERA) vs. Joe West (2-4, 4.26 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (5-5, 3.58 ERA) vs. Philip Rogers (2-6, 5.60 ERA)

Their only left-handed starter would lead off the series, after which it would only be righties.

And then there was the slight hiccup with land down under in torrential rain on the Thursday after the All Star Game. The game was wiped out and a double header scheduled for Friday, although ill weather was expected to last throughout the weekend.

Game 1
MIL: CF S. Green – 3B Mesa – SS Tadlock – LF W. Trevino – C J. Young – 2B Berntson – RF I. Flores – 1B Aquino – P Jacobson
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Mora – C O'Dell – 1B Kopp – RF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – 2B Stalker – P Gutierrez

Rico Gutierrez retired 14 straight a day late, then Jon Berntson singled to centerfield with two outs in the fifth. Ivan Flores' groundout ended the inning anyway before the Coons' fragile 1-0 lead, courtesy of Brett O'Dell going yard in the fourth, could become seriously endangered. Offense remained slow through six and limited to solo home runs; Matt Jamieson hit the only other one in the middle innings, that one coming in the bottom of the sixth; it was also his first one in Portland. While Rico kept the Loggers appreciably short, the Coons had something going, more or less, in the bottom 7th. Tim Stalker hit a leadoff single, then got forced on a poor bunt. However, Ramos and Spencer both singled to load the bags with one gone for Abel Mora, who was 0-3 with 2 K and hit for by Kyle Koel, because we were wicked like that! Koel coaxed a walk from Jacobson before O'Dell bounced into an all too likely double play, keeping the score at 3-0 for Rico. Jon Berntson was the only guy able to hit Rico apparently; he legged out an infield single in the top 8th, then was wrapped up on Flores' grounder to Stalker for a 4-6-3 inning-killer. While Rico was the hottest **** on the block at this very moment and wouldn't have come out of the game anyway, Terry Kopp took off the save opportunity with a homer off Lisuarte Paradela in the bottom 8th. Wilson Aquino, Ken Hanagriff, and Sam Green went down in order in the ninth. 4-0 Furballs! O'Dell 2-4, HR, RBI; Jamieson 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Stalker 2-2, 2 BB; Koel (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Gutierrez 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (9-4);

Rico blanked the Loggers on 85 pitches (!) for his sixth career shutout, first one this season.

Game 2
MIL: CF S. Green – RF R. Amador – SS Tadlock – LF W. Trevino – 3B Mesa – 2B I. Flores – C Salazar – 1B Aquino – P D. Soto
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Kopp – 3B Nunley – RF Carmona – LF Gerace – C Burrows – P Delgadillo

Delgadillo conceded a run in the second inning on the best plays of all, a 2-out RBI single by the opposing pitcher, that one plating Flores, who had hit a 1-out single earlier. John Salazar had also walked in the inning. The Coons would tie the game the following inning when Ramos got on with a walk, then scored on 2-out singles by Mora and Kopp, but the grief was soon back with Portland, who lost Delgadillo to injury by the fourth inning. The elbow was barking apparently. Yes, the surgically stitched one.

Under the gloom of doom, the bullpen got involved in this second leg of a Friday double header. Billy Brotman inherited two on with one out, got Wilson Aquino on a soft fly to Mora, then would have gotten Soto on a grounder to short if Ramos hadn't thrown it into Stalker's face to make the positionally shifted shortstop at the keystone panic and dart for the dugout. The Loggers loaded them up on the error, but Brotman prevailed when the right-handed Green struck out in a full count. After that jam situation we turned to one of our long men (we even had three…) in Lance Legleiter, the shortest of the three long men, if that made any sense at all, who took over in the 1-1 game after Ramos grounded out to strand Gerace and Bullock on the corners in the bottom 4th. Lance got around a Ron Tadlock double in the top 5th by whiffing the next two, then again had a man on second with one out in the sixth. Aquino struck out, but Soto singled AGAIN and plated Flores AGAIN. The lead didn't last for the Loggers; Cookie led off the bottom 6th with a soft single to right, leading the home crowd to make rather much noise for unassuming base hit #2,216, but they ramped that up tremendously when Justin Gerace followed up with a blast to right-center, a score-flipper, 3-2 Portland!

Top 7th, Legleiter put Tadlock aboard again, this time with a 1-out walk. Willie Trevino popped out in foul ground, which brought up the left-handed Alex Mesa. The Coons went to Josh Boles here, and the Loggers sent Berntson, a.k.a. the reason why Rico Gutierrez was not in the ABL No-Hitter Club. Before Berntson got to do damage, Tadlock took off for second – and Burrows nailed him out to end the inning. In turn, Justin Gerace joined the still important club of hitters to bang home runs in back-to-back innings; he hit another 2-spot off David Warn in the bottom 7th, plating Terry Kopp alongside himself. Berntson didn't get to see Boles again, with Ricky Ohl taking over in the eighth. Berntson shrugged and homered off Ricky instead, cutting the gap to 5-3. Ohl managed to get the next three batters out to hand a lead over to Snyder in the ninth. Alexis Rueda to begin the ninth and Roberto Amador to end it both hit deep fly balls, but both hit them into outs to Mora and Cookie, respectively, and somehow Snyder retired the side in order. 5-3 Coons. O'Dell (PH) 1-1; Kopp 3-4, 2B, RBI; Gerace 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Bullock (PH) 1-1; Legleiter 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (3-5);

Jarod Spencer pinch-hit for a groundout in the bottom 8th to maintain his perfect attendance record in 2026. He is the only Raccoon who has showed up in all games this year, and he has been the only one for a good long while.

The Druid diagnosed Dan Delgadillo with elbow soreness, which could mean anything and everything. He was off to the DL but was supposed to be back in early August. The Raccoons cooked up something here, and promoted top pitching prospect George James from St. Pete, where he had an ERA just under four, but Carrasco claimed he was ready for the show at 22. The right-hander (and our #7 pick two years ago) would bump Anderson from the Sunday start. He would then return to St. Pete pronto as we would get through the month on off days and/or spot starters again, probably to be called back in September.

Game 3
MIL: CF S. Green – 3B Mesa – SS Tadlock – LF W. Trevino – C J. Young – 2B Berntson – RF Rueda – 1B I. Flores – P J. West
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Jamieson – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – C O'Dell – 1B Koel – P Roberts

Had the Coons found their power stroke now, with the season easily in its fourth month? Terry Kopp opened the scoring with a 2-piece in the first inning, and they would pile another three base hits and two runs (the latter on Kyle Koel's 2-out single) on the board before Koel also ended the inning when he was picked off first base by Joe West. An inning later, Jamieson missed a homer only narrowly and was robbed at the fence by Trevino, but that was still good enough for a sac fly. With Roberts, who's last win had come during approximately the Fourth Crusade, staked to a 5-0 lead, we were sure stoked to see what would happen. Only good things, surely! For example Alexis Rueda's leadoff jack in the third… that was actually the only hit off Roberts through five, but the Loggers loaded them up on two singles and a walk in the sixth inning. Tadlock batted with one out, which was high danger, but grounded out to Nunley, who conceded a run and instead took the safe out at first base, after which Trevino grounded out to short, keeping the Critters 5-2 ahead. Roberts was not threatened again in his last two innings, leaving after eight with 105 pitches under his belt. The Raccoons suddenly awoke from a snooze of almost two hours in the bottom 8th, got Nunley on against Paradela, then Koel to double him in with two outs. Gerace grounded out in Roberts's spot, which was then taken over by Alvin Smith with a 4-run lead. Singles by Alex Mesa and Jim Young put the tying run in the on-deck circle with two outs, but Smith would still face Berntson, and then we'd have Brotman for the left-handed Rueda. Billy never got involved – to his mother's delight – with Berntson ending the game when he flew out to Cookie in leftfield. 6-2 Raccoons! Ramos 2-4; Nunley 1-2, 2 BB; Koel 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Roberts 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (9-6) and 1-3;

Game 4
MIL: CF S. Green – C J. Young – SS Tadlock – LF W. Trevino – 3B Mesa – 2B I. Flores – RF R. Amador – 1B Aquino – P Rogers
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Kopp – RF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – LF Gerace – P James

James struck out Sam Green on four pitches, his first batter in the major leagues going down for a K, and the Loggers would not reach base in the first inning. Soon after that he had his first lead, Ramos singling, advancing on Spencer's groundout and then coming home on Mora's single to center. Alex Mesa was the first guy to beat James, hitting a 1-out single in the top 2nd, and Roberto Amador added himself to the firsts with a walk drawn with two down. Wilson Aquino, however, struck out, ending that inning, too. After three, he had four strikeouts on his ledger, the Loggers looked bad, but then again James had been called up roughly 24 hours earlier and the Loggers probably had not expected him up at such short notice and likely hadn’t been prepared with video material… but that swift start would not be the most amazing thing happening on that Sunday. In the bottom of the third, it was James' first time at bat, leading off against Philip Rogers, who threw right down the middle and soon learned that you're not doing that to a 22-year-old debutee pitcher. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause – George James took a 93mph heater and barraged it over the leftfield fence for a leadoff jack, much to the ecstasy of the assembled crowd … and myself no less! YES, WE GOT A SLUGGER!!

Meanwhile the rest of the batting was not very excitable as far as the Critters were concerned. They got Ramos and Spencer to the corners with two outs in the fifth, but Mora flew out to center, and the Loggers were taking better aim at James in the middle innings, too. Roberto Amador had a very deep out in the fourth, stranding a runner, and they also left Trevino on second base in the sixth. How much deeper to push the debutee? Might also depend on offense, but he was only over 80 pitches through six and would be good for more. Bottom 6th, Kopp smacked a single to center and then Jamieson hit one up the rightfield line for a double. Nobody out, runners in scoring position for Nunley, who had popped out with Jamieson on third and one out his last time up, now whiffed. O'Dell flew out to left, Kopp was sent and thrown out, and the Coons didn't score. George James got through the 6-7-8 batters without ill events in the seventh, K'ing Aquino to get to the stretch, and we decided that this would constitute a wonderful story and a job well done – not even the Agitator would be able to poke holes into this! Ricky Ohl did the honors in the eighth, which set up Snyder to face the meat of the order in the ninth. Tadlock swung and missed a 3-2 to start the inning, Trevino grounded out to the mound, and then Snyder nicked Mesa with an 0-1 pitch. Flores came up as the tying run, batting .218 and sinking, especially after being struck out by Snyder to complete the 4-game sweep. 2-0 Furballs! Ramos 2-4; Jamieson 2-3, 3B, 2B; James 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-0) and 1-2, HR, RBI;

George! James! George! James! George! James!

In other news

July 13 – The Crusaders trade MR Jon Ozier (1-0, 3.96 ERA) to the Falcons for two prospects.
July 14 – Pacifics and Knights exchange veterans as SP Brian Cope (4-7, 3.59 ERA) goes to L.A. in exchange for RF D.J. Fullerton (.391, 3 HR, 29 in 69 AB) and a prospect.
July 16 – Four hits, three walks, and two errors help the Condors to a 6-run, comeback eighth inning against the Falcons, and are enough for a 6-5 win. The Condors only have one more base hit in the ballgame.
July 18 – The Cyclones relax after a 7-run opening inning and still beat the Rebels comfortably, 12-1. Cincy's LF Ray Meade (.266, 10 HR, 44 RBI) drives in five runs on two homers.
July 19 – OCT 3B/SS Lorenzo Rivera (.292, 2 HR, 39 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after connecting once in a 3-2 win over the Knights.
July 19 – WAS OF Jeremy Houghtaling (.246, 8 HR, 37 RBI) collects four hits and as many RBI in the Capitals' 13-0 rout of the Blue Sox.
July 19 – Season over for SFB MR Alex Cordova (1-1, 3.91 ERA, 1 SV), who has been diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff.

Complaints and stuff

Some more detail on everybody's new favorite toy, George James. Funny story. His middle name is Edward. His father's name is Henry. And his mother's maiden name is Richard, no S attached. That is most of 1,000 years of English kings since the Norman Invasion assembled here. No-not that I am a fan of monarchy! Liberty, ya-ay!

And he can let 'er rip!

Mark Roberts is a winner again! It had been merely 50 days since he had last down a team, in that case the Bayhawks. In between he had gone 0-4 in seven starts, with a few real clunkers among them, but also a 1-0 loss mixed in. His ERA had still been not worthy of a Pitcher of the Year: 5.49! Yikes!

That prospect in the Cope/Fullerton deal? Angel Salazar. He was also the prospect in the Jamieson/Mudge deal, a trade that looks really good right now with Jamieson batting .440 since coming over (with Mudge, who shaved once he arrived in Cali, unscored upon in 6.2 innings for L.A.). Usually this works the other way round with the Raccoons, so I can only guess that Jamieson is mere minutes away from having both legs and an arm torn off in a household accident involving a toaster, a fork, and a third, mystery utensil.

Fun Fact: The Loggers really hate Rico Gutierrez, who has thrown four shutouts against them in his career.

That is 67% of all his shutouts, as indicated above, and the 2-hitter on Friday was also the closest he came to a no-nothing. He has never shut out a team outside the North, with the Indians and Elks also on his ledger.