[Westheim]

The week began with a roster change. The Raccoons sent George James back to St. Petersburg after his delightful major league debut. There would be more of him about six weeks from now, but the Raccoons had off days both this Thursday and next Monday and could well scrape by on just four starters until the end of the month. The Raccoons added an additional left-handed reliever in Hector Morales, who got into a total of 22 games with Portland between 2023 and 2024, pitching to a 4.08 ERA, but with 5.6 walks per nine innings. Recent numbers in St. Pete and Ham Lake indicated that things had not improved for the 26-year-old.

Jon Gonzalez was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster, so there's a hint about late-season availability for the alleged slugger.

Raccoons (51-42) vs. Indians (37-53) – July 20-22, 2026

Who better to face than the miserly Indians with the Coons now on a 5-game winning streak once again? Indy was not going anywhere, mired second from the bottom in runs scored in the Continental League, which was not something average pitching was going to solve. And they were pitching just barely around the league average, too. The Raccoons had a 6-3 lead in the season series and eager to build on that, so all was well, right? Well… after three months of getting kicked and battered, the Indians were actually 10-7 in July…

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (5-5, 3.58 ERA) vs. Myles Mood (4-0, 2.67 ERA)
Rin Nomura (2-2, 2.92 ERA) vs. Tom Shumway (6-10, 3.65 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (9-4, 3.64 ERA) vs. John McInerney (6-8, 3.45 ERA)

A right-handed spot starter in Mood, who got the assignment with injuries to Mark Matthews and Brian Leser, then two southpaws. We actually hadn't seen Shumway in a long time…

Game 1
IND: CF Zanches – 3B C. Castro – RF Good – 1B Herlihy – C T. Perez – LF Kaczenski – 2B Folk – SS Pizano – P Mood
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Kopp – RF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – LF Carmona – P Anderson

The Raccoons posed no threat early on except for Alberto Ramos with a leadoff double in the first and a 2-out walk in the third, and general ignorance at his presence on base. The Indians didn't do much either in the early going, except for Tony Perez' leadoff single in the second, and a 4-pitch walk to Gary Kaczenski issued by Anderson. Soft and easy contact to the outfielders kept the Indians in check then, but trouble was brewing in the fifth inning with Mario Pizano's leadoff double into the left-center gap. He advanced on the bunt by Myles Mood, but then Alex Zanches popped a pitch to Matt Nunley for the second out. Maybe things would turn out okay! No, they didn't. Cesar Castro, a 24-year-old rookie with more of a defensive reputation so far, hit a shallow pop that Ramos and Mora would charge for. Neither got it, it fell for a single, and the Indians were up 1-0. Bottom of the inning, Cookie hit a single, stole second, but the days where we had personnel behind him to drive him in were long gone. Anderson grounded out to short, keeping Cookie at second base, and then Ramos failed with a grounder to Brody Folk, the despicable ex-Elk. Maybe Jarod Spencer's leadoff double up the leftfield line in the bottom 6th would bring us joy? Well, while Mood plated him with a wild pitch after Mora's groundout, the Raccoons even would have brought him in on their own after Terry Kopp's 1-out walk (generous call, but we'd take it) and Matt Jamieson doubling past Matt Good in rightfield. A walk to Nunley loaded them up, but Brett O'Dell was on pat to ground into a double play…

Bottom 7th, Cookie leading off with a double that didn't even get past Good, but the veteran was trying to force the issue now. Anderson was over 90 pitches – a job well done – and was going to be hit for. With the Coons' bench looking like the immediate aftermath of a tsunami, Kyle Koel grabbed a stick, grounded out (but advanced the runner), and the Indians were scared of the rookie shortstop and walked Ramos intentionally. There was a "no steal" on here; Cookie's run was to go ahead, and Tony Perez had some arm! Jarod Spencer got it done anyway, lining a ball into the gap between Zanches and Kaczenski and that would score both runners! While that one worked out well in the end, the Coons would have the bags full again in the bottom 8th and would bring up Koel again after the garbage pile pickup had stayed in the game at first base; now he hit into a double play, home-and-first, Ramos got another four-finger salute to bring up Spencer with three on and two out against Jose Fuentes, and Jarod came through AGAIN, lining over Castro at third base for a 2-run double! Mora struck out, ending the inning, and while the save was taken off for the moment, the Coons put it right back on. Brotman allowed a single to Kaczenski to begin the ninth, then Alvin Smith walked Folk. Third batter up, third pitcher in, this time Snyder. Three angry strikeouts for having to interrupt a hummer meal did away with the Indians. 5-1 Coons. Ramos 1-2, 3 BB, 2B; Spencer 4-5, 3 2B, 4 RBI; Carmona 3-4, 2B; Anderson 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-5);

Minus a Jamieson double, all our hits rested in Ramos, Spencer, and Cookie. Abel Mora had a particularly nasty day, going 0-for-5 with 3 K and stranding seven. How about a day or two off for you, Abel? Or twenty.

Game 2
IND: 3B C. Castro – 2B Folk – RF Duarte – SS Pizano – 1B Good – C T. Perez – LF Zanches – CF Mack – P Shumway
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Jamieson – RF Kopp – 2B Stalker – 1B Koel – 3B Bullock – C Burrows – P Nomura

Again offense started out somewhere between "slow" and "none". The Raccoons had a Jamieson double in the first, but Kopp struck out, and that was it until the fourth when a Tony Perez homer put the Indians 1-0 in front. Again, that was all the other team would get off the Coons' starting pitcher, and like Anderson, Rin Nomura went seven innings in this game. He sprinkled three hits, but that was already one too many. The Coons through six also had three well-scattered and forgettable base hits, and Tom Shumway looked most excellent against them after a rough first half. Bottom 7th, leadoff walk drawn by Stalker, but Koel smacked into another double play. After that, Daniel Bullock hit a double to leftfield, but the completely irrelevant Jake Burrows flew out gingerly to Matt Tinsley in leftfield. Lance Legleiter handled two innings on just 22 pitches, with Burrows throwing out Castro trying to steal third base in the top 8th, and Tom Shumway tried to handle nine when he entered the bottom 9th against the meat of the order on his 4-hitter and a 1-0 lead. Jamieson singled, and the Indians acted at once, sending Nick Salinas in, who was walking quite a few for a closer and who's ERA was over four. He hit Terry Kopp, then got some D from Craig Mack, who spoiled a Tim Stalker drive in deep center. Jamieson advanced, putting them on the corners for Matt Nunley, who batted for Legleiter in the #6 hole and bounced straight into a double play. 1-0 Indians. Jamieson 2-4, 2B; Nomura 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, L (2-3) and 1-1; Legleiter 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

What a forgettable team…

The following day, Rin Nomura's interpreter inquired why the team's lousy batting display had them not punished by standing in the steaming sun with winter parkas on the entire day. This supposedly was how youth coaches handled gross incompetence in Japan. I was believing in an error in translation there, but then again, the idea sounded nice to me…

Game 3
IND: 3B C. Castro – 2B Folk – RF Duarte – SS Pizano – 1B Good – C T. Perez – LF Kaczenski – CF Mack – P McInerney
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Kopp – 2B Stalker – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – RF Carmona – P Gutierrez

For once, the Raccoons scored first; Matt Jamieson was the early hero in the rubber game, homering for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the opening frame, and then threw out Pizano at home plate on Perez' wannabe sac fly in the second inning. Pizano had reached on a Stalker error and had stolen his 20th bag off O'Dell before tagging up on the fly that was not quite deep enough and ended the top 2nd on an 8-2 double play. That was also IT for Jamieson's heroics; he was gone by the third inning, having left the contest with back spasms. Abel Mora entered the game after all.

The Indians kept looking bad; Kaczenski ended the third inning like Pizano had ended the second, with being thrown out at home plate, this one by Cookie Carmona. While Rico Gutierrez carefully moved through the middle innings while displaying little in terms of stuff – he whiffed only two through six innings, and that included one instance of the opposing pitcher – the Raccoons twice let doubles with less than two outs get away and didn't add to their early lead. Rico went on to unexpectedly strike out pairs in both the seventh and eighth innings, and needed only 83 pitches through eight. At this junction, and five days after his shutout against the Loggers, it dawned on me – Rico had transcended being scored upon like a mere pawn, he was surely untouchable now! All the Raccoons did in the bottom 8th was delaying the inevitable, another shutout, and he would pitch shutout after shutout for all eternity! The bottom 8th, peskily intermingling with fate itself, saw Spencer hit a single, steal second and nip third on Ricardo Vargas' throwing error, further an intentional walk to Kopp, an unintentional walk to Stalker, and Nunley batting with three on and two outs against righty Jose Fuentes. He got a ball past Castro for a 2-run single before O'Dell grounded out to end the eighth. Good, good! Bring on the progidy, the demigod! The demigod allowed a leadoff single to Vargas in the ninth, then whiffed Castro. Brody Folk popped out. Alex Duarte, the ex-Critter, singled to right – intermingling with the divine would sure see him struck down by lightning any second now. Vargas went to third and beat out Cookie's throw, as Pizano came up as the tying run. Rico got this – there was no doubt about it. Mario Pizano agreed. Devotely he snipped a ball back into Gutierrez' holy mitten, and was out by 55 feet to end the game. 3-0 Furballs! Spencer 2-4, 2B; Jamieson 1-1, HR, RBI; Gutierrez 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (10-4);

PRAISE RICO THE DIVINE! PRAY FOR HIS HOLINESS TO HAVE MERCY UPON US!

Matt Jamieson was not fatally hurt on that throw, but was day-to-day for the weekend series against the Knights.

The Raccoons made a different roster move though before the weekend, demoting Jake Burrows and bringing up Elias Tovias, who had just found his stick in AAA.

Raccoons (53-43) @ Knights (31-64) – July 24-26, 2026

The Knights had lost six in a row, only cementing their status as worst team in the Continental League even more. They were rock bottom in runs scored, third from the bottom in runs allowed, and were heading for a ghastly -200 run differential by the end of the season. The Raccoons would want to beat up on that, and so far had three wins in the bank against them in the only three games these teams had played so far this season.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (9-6, 2.89 ERA) vs. Leon Hernandez (2-7, 3.70 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (6-5, 3.43 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (7-11, 3.80 ERA)
Rin Nomura (2-3, 2.68 ERA) vs. Estevan Delgado (1-2, 4.70 ERA)

Like in the first set this week, right-left-left.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – 1B Koel – LF Gerace – P Roberts
ATL: CF N. Hall – 3B V. Ramirez – SS Showalter – C Luna – RF G. Ramirez – 2B T. Jimenez – LF Stuckey – 1B Siebuhr – P L. Hernandez

The second inning saw Portland go up 1-0 on Koel's 2-out walk and Justin Gerace's subsequent RBI double into the corner in left, then the Knights choke after Guadalupe Ramirez' 1-out triple in the bottom of the inning. Tony Jimenez struck out, and Johnny Stuckey popped one over to Ramos to keep the tying run at third base. No, tying the game would be the honor of Jon Siebuhr, who hit a real moonshot off Roberts to begin the bottom 3rd, tying the game at one there, and in the fourth Ramirez hit another triple, this time over Mora's head, and this time the Knights didn't strand him with one out. Jimenez singled, Ramirez scored, and it was 2-1 for the home team.

Kyle Koel's leadoff single in the fifth was only the Coons' third base hit in the game, and nothing good happened immediately. Roberts would bunt him to second for as many outs after Gerace was rung up, and a wild pitch advanced the runner further before Ramos walked in a full count. Spencer beat Vinny Ramirez with a fast bouncer and two outs, and the RBI single knotted the score again. Mora inherently not useful at this point, struck out. At least the opposing teams kept playing even dumber… Nate Hall drew a walk off Roberts in the bottom 5th, then went into motion on Andrew Showalter's 2-out double to left. He went around third base for home and was tagged out by Tovias right there, Gerace's throw and Ramos' relay arriving well in time to axe the go-ahead runner for the Knights. But the offense refused to shift out of neutral, and Mark Roberts refused to stop giving up extra bases. He got around Ruben Luna's leadoff double in the sixth, mostly because Luna was a tardy runner that could not easily be sent. He did not get out of Jeremy DeFabio's leadoff double in the seventh inning. Devin Hibbard's pinch-hit single plated him, and the Knights took a 3-2 lead into the eighth with Roberts done now and on the hook once again. The middle of the order stunk it up in the eighth, then faced closer Alfredo Morua in the ninth with the highly exciting trio of Tovias (0-for-3…), Koel, and Gerace. Cookie pinch-hit to begin the inning, but flew out to Cory Briscoe in leftfield. Koel was unretired in the game (!), but struck out. Stalker hit in Gerace's place and grounded out. 3-2 Knights. Koel 2-3, BB;

No, they just aren't a playoff team. They probably never were, not even when they fraudulently got to a 32-15 record.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Spencer – CF Kopp – C O'Dell – 3B Nunley – 1B Koel – RF Carmona – P Anderson
ATL: CF N. Hall – 3B V. Ramirez – C Luna – SS Showalter – LF Stuckey – 2B T. Jimenez – 1B Siebuhr – RF Briscoe – P Rosas

The Knights sure had a good chance to bury Anderson early under an unremovable of one, maybe two runs in the second inning after a single by Johnny Stuckey and a double by Tony Jimenez to begin the inning. The runners were in scoring position with no out, and they were still there with three out after Siebuhr's pop to short, Briscoe's lineout to Nunley, and then a K on a 3-2 to Rosas. Bottom 3rd, Nate Hall appeared on third base with nobody out after singling on an 0-2, stealing second, and gaining third on O'Dell's errant throw. Vinny Ramirez popped out again, but the Knights scored the run on Ruben Luna's groundout eventually, and would load the bases on two singles, an error, and then Siebuhr's K stranded three, which to recap meant that just that little bit of clutch could have seen them up by like six runs at this point.

At least the Raccoons were entirely and truly dead. They had a bloop single by Cookie in the third. They had a soft single by Ramos in the sixth. At this point, Anderson was even already gone, having expended 103 pitches in five near-nightmare innings, yet was only on a 1-0 hook. Josh Boles did the sixth, and then the Raccoons had the tying run on with nobody out after Jarod Spencer hit a leadoff single in the seventh inning, also a soft roller that fit just through the gap between Ramirez and Showalter on the left side. Kopp flew out ****tily to left. O'Dell walked on four pitches. Nunley came up, I thought about a double play, and he hit into a double play. ****ing ass, why didn't you think about a 3-run homer!!?? The bottom 7th began with a 4-pitch walk by Boles to Rosas, and the southpaw then smacked Hall, which indicated that this game was indeed really in the bin. Even then the Knights got only one run on a 2-out base hit by Andrew Showalter off Ricky Ohl, but what did another run matter when the Raccoons couldn't even out-pace zero runs against the worst team in the league? The Knights stranded another three in the bottom 8th when Stalker caught a scorched liner by Vinny Ramirez off Kevin Surginer, and the Coons carted up the top of whatever order that was supposed to be in the ninth inning, facing Morua again. Ramos flew out to center before Stalker got nailed, which – hear, hear – brought up the tying run in Jarod Spencer, ye old slugger. He flew out to Nate Hall, too, and Terry Kopp would strike out to end this ****ing game. 2-0 Knights.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Kopp – RF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – 2B Bullock – P Nomura
ATL: CF N. Hall – LF Stuckey – SS Showalter – C Luna – RF Briscoe – 2B T. Jimenez – 3B Hibbard – 1B DeFabio – P E. Delgado

Sunday's game was lost on Jeremy DeFabio's run-scoring groundout in the bottom of the fourth inning. It could have been worse. The bases had been loaded with nobody out after a leadoff single by Luna, a double by Briscoe, and a walk issued to Jimenez. Devin Hibbard had fouled out, but DeFabio wouldn't go down. Delgado struck out after that, so the damage was only one run, but one run was one run too many with this team that had ceased any and all hitting approximately on Tuesday. They had window-licked their way to five base hits in four innings, all singles, and had never seen third base. Poor Rin Nomura, although he had surely had other offers this winter and could have signed more or less anyway…

Nomura hit a leadoff single past Showalter to begin the fifth inning, which was for most teams the start of something beautiful, but for the Raccoons would surely once more end with the phrase "double play". Ramos grounded to Jimenez, who had no trouble turning two, and Spencer flew out gingerly to Johnny Stuckey. The Knights single-double-groundouted again in the bottom 5th, adding another RBI to Luna's ledger, and moving the game out of range for good at 2-0 since now they could even survive the unlikely, unlucky longball. You know, the one Terry Kopp hit in the sixth with absolutely nobody on base. Nomura went seven while getting absolutely no love whatsoever and was still on a 2-1 hook when he got a sad pat on the bum in the dugout. Delgado was grinning at how easy this whole pitching deal was when you were not facing a proper team as he started the top of the eighth, which put him up against the top of the lineup, which in the Coons' realm meant guys you were more disappointed about when they grounded out to the second baseman in lifeless fashion than when the guys at the bottom of the lineup did it. Ramos led off with a single to right. Ramos then stole second base, his first bag in a while, which was a byproduct of NOT HITTING A LICK. But Nomura came off the hook when Spencer singled to left, Stuckey had a slight fumble (but not errorworthy) and Ramos ignited the afterburners and screamed for home plate unimpeded, knotting the score. Delgado's grin vanished for good when Jamieson took him into the gap for a double; Spencer couldn't score because Stuckey came pretty close to that ball and Spencer had to wait at second base, and then Nate Hall was on the ball right away. Runners in scoring position, nobody out for Kopp, who grounded out to the first baseman, and then the Knights walked GERACE to get to a badly slumping Matt Nunley. On the other hand, the Knights sent a right-handed reliever in Alex Silva. Nunley didn't care; he could hit into a double play against anybody, spanked one at Hibbard, and that was it for the Coons with three on and one out.

Bottom 8th, Billy Brotman faced only Ruben Luna and surrendered a leadoff single. Great stuff. When Vinny Ramirez pinch-hit for the left-handed Briscoe, the Coons sent Ricky Ohl, who got a double play grounder, then got Jimenez to ground out. Maybe we could at least make a 19-inning brain-melter out of this one… Or maybe the Knights would beat Alvin Smith to death in the ninth. D.J. Fullerton's pinch-hit, leadoff double put them in the driver's seat in a 2-2 tie. Jose Gomez struck out. Jon Siebuhr drove a ball to deep left, but Cookie Carmona inserted himself in the path out there after pinch-hitting in Bullock's spot for no good result at all in the previous half-inning. He also caught Nate Hall's high but short fly to left after that, sending the game to extras. Freddy Heredia, another nondescript right-hander, sat down the top of the order without fuss in the top 10th, then had to bat leading off the bottom 10th because the Knights were out of bench players. Smith ran a 3-1 count on him. Then Heredia singled. Then Showalter singled, with Heredia racing for third base. Justin Gerace's throw was utterly wild, up the line, Nunley couldn't chase it down, and Heredia turned for home and scored to walk off the Knights. 3-2 Knights. Ramos 2-5; Jamieson 2-5, 2B; Kopp 2-4, HR, RBI; Tovias 2-4; Nomura 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-3;

That was 31-year-old Freddy Heredia's second career base hit.

In other news

July 22 – The Rebels' SP Rich Guerrero (11-6, 3.15 ERA) not only loses a seven-inning no-hitter, but also the game against the Miners, 1-0, on Pittsburgh's three singles in the eighth inning.
July 23 – Falcons and Bayhawks play nine scoreless innings before a pinch-hit home run by INF Raul Mendez (.247, 6 HR, 22 RBI) gives the Falcons the 1-0 win in the 10th inning.
July 23 – The Loggers deal MR Lisuarte Paradela (1-1, 3.51 ERA, 2 SV) to the Condors for two prospects.
July 25 – Oklahoma 3B/SS Lorenzo Rivera (.288, 2 HR, 40 RBI) sees his hitting streak end at 24 games in a 3-0 Thunder win over the Indians. Rivera comes to the plate four times, but does not connect even once.
July 25 – TIJ SP Alex Hichez (7-5, 3.16 ERA) and CL Tony Harrell (3-5, 2.12 ERA, 28 SV) combine for a 1-hit shutout, 3-0, of the Titans, who get their only hit with one out in the eighth inning on a single by 1B Jay Elder (.251, 3 HR, 39 RBI).
July 25 – PIT C/1B J.J. Henley (.298, 14 HR, 60 RBI) will miss the rest of the season with a broken hand.
July 26 – Three weeks on the DL is the likely outcome from a strained calf for VAN OF Brian Wojnarowski (.247, 6 HR, 27 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

50 years on, the Baseball Gods have lost the element of surprise. I always knew that any guy coming over and batting north of .400 was absolutely bound to get hurt. See Jamieson.

I don't want to talk about the offense at all. If it was legal to test the ill effects of new cosmetics on raccoons in Oregon, I'd donate all o' them to the nearest lab. 'nuff said. Just this much: the Raccoons this week scored two runs per game, OUTSCORED their opponents … and STILL had a losing week. It was THAT ****ing bad.

But, ah, pitching! Back-to-back shutouts by Rico Gutierrez! That makes it seven for his career, and still all against the North. That will change though; the Church of Rico will welcome its followers again on Tuesday, then in a road temple in Charlotte, which is an inconvenience, I will admit, but if we start the march to North Carolina right now, we can get there by first pitch. Maud says it's some 2,800 miles, so come on, come on, come on – let's go! (grabs knotted wooden stick) I shall lead the way of the procession, in person and in song! A-maaa-zin' Graaace … (marches out of the office, stick raised, with Chad and Slappy following obediently)

Fun Fact: Eight years ago today, Brian Furst no-hit the Indians in a 13-0 rout.

Furst became only the second pitcher to toss multiple no-hitters in the ABL, joining Henry Selph, and is the only player to break out both of his no-hitters with the same team, the Thunder in his case.