[Westheim]

Entrée: Trade

The Raccoons scooped up SAL 1B Kevin Harenberg (.305, 17 HR, 59 RBI) on Tuesday, sending three players to the Wolves: SP/MR Lance Legleiter (3-5, 4.15 ERA), AA C Elijah Bean – our 2023 first-rounder – and A OF Jesse Stedham, who had been taken in the sixth round last year. The Wolves also added $50,000 in cash to the deal, because the Raccoons were thumping against their budget with this trade.

Bean is the main loss in the panic-born deal, who could have been a potential major leaguer some way down the road. Stedham looks like nothing, and Lance Legleiter himself is not quite sure whether he has a role after all. Kyle Koel was demoted in the aftermath of the deal, while the Raccoons promoted Nick Derks to the major league roster, if only for a few days.

Harenberg can whack it. He is under a big contract through 2030, but that will be something to sort out in the offseason after we have wrapped up our third championship and first since '93.

(snickers madly)

Raccoons (53-46) @ Falcons (48-48) – July 28-30, 2026

The battered Raccoons crawled into Charlotte to face the Falcons, who they were 2-1 against in 2026, but what had being up by X helped them against the hopeless Knights? The Knights had been only hopeless until the Raccoons had crashed into Atlanta, lying motionless on the field for three straight days. The Falcons had the worst pitching in the league, which was not encouraging to me anymore, either, with the worst rotation, worst pen, and most runs allowed. They were third in runs scored, which wasn't helping them a great deal. Despite being .500, their run differential was a whopping -50.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (10-4, 3.39 ERA) vs. Doug Moffatt (5-12, 5.07 ERA)
Mark Roberts (9-7, 2.93 ERA) vs. Jesus Chavez (7-5, 3.78 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (6-6, 3.35 ERA) vs. Greg Gannon (11-6, 4.08 ERA)

Only right-handers, maybe, unless our common off day on Monday would give them thoughts about bringing left-hander J.J. Rodd (6-7, 5.67 ERA) into the series.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Gutierrez
CHA: 3B Czachor – C A. Gonzales – 1B Fowlkes – RF Kok – LF B. Adams – 2B Pelles – SS Burns – CF Cano – P Moffatt

Inspired by the signing of Kevin Harenberg, the Raccoons did absolutely nothing in the first three innings. Matt Nunley reached base, but then only on a throwing error by Ryan Czachor, and the Raccoons weren't going to exploit this; they were playing the game the decent way or whatever. Nunley would reach on an error again his next time up, in the fourth inning. Then, the scoreless game saw three Raccoons aboard, Spencer having singled and stolen second base, Harenberg having been put on intentionally before he could do any damage, and Cookie had reached on a soft 2-out single. Nunley lined a 2-2 pitch to left, right at Bill Adams, but Adams lost it for a split second and then was almost decapitated by the ball, which hit the glove that he had raised to cover his face, but then fell to the ground. Two runs scored, putting Rico Divine up 2-0. Rico flew out to Barend Kok after another intentional walk to Elias Tovias.

Rico's streak ended in the fifth inning, which saw a 1-out single by Ruben Pelles, the extremely useless ex-Coon, then TWO wild pitches to Kyle Burns, who eventually singled to put Pelles over home plate. Ricky Cano also singled. With runners on first and second and one out in the inning, the Falcons had Doug Moffatt swing away, but his sharp grounder was intercepted by Nunley at third base, who tapped said base, but couldn't complete the double play. Gutierrez allowed two more 2-out RBI singles to Czachor and Alfonso Gonzales, which put Charlotte up 3-2. Back to sucking again, Rico, huh? Barend Kok hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 6th, left the game injured and was replaced by Chris Mendoza, but the Falcons of course drove Mendoza in, too, when given the chance. Adams' single extended their lead to 4-2 against the Raccoons, who continued to be much better at blowing music out of their bum holes rather than their day job. They had only two hits through six innings. They would get a third in the seventh inning, a pinch-hit homer in the #9 hole by Justin Gerace. Of course there was nobody on base. Maybe the Falcons' defense could give them some assistance again. Burns fumbled Spencer's grounder to begin the eighth inning, putting the tying run aboard on the Falcons' third error of the contest. Jamieson struck out against Moffatt, who now sat on 7 K. Harenberg flew to right, but right at Mendoza, remaining hitless as a Coon. Terry Kopp whacked away at the first pitch – high to right, long, and OUTTA HERE!! Terry's eleventh flipped the score back in the Coons' favor after all hope had been abandoned, and the Coons' Surginer and Boles kept the Falcons away in the bottom 8th. The top 9th saw Jon Ozier issue leadoff walks to Nunley and Tovias, Abel Mora chop into a double play, an intentional walk to Ramos, and then Spencer flying out to Ricky Cano, which left Snyder to his own devices in the bottom 9th. He struck out left-handed pinch-hitters Danny Munn and Paul Mattaliano, then had Cano at 1-2 before he grounded to second. Spencer had it, dropped it, chased it into the infield, and the Falcons brought up the winning run, PH Geoff Simko, on the error. Another 1-2 was put in play, high to left, but not deep at all. Cookie had it easily, and the Coons ended their losing streak. 5-4 Critters. Gerace (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Kevin Surginer picked up the win in relief, his sixth of the season. That puts him even with Kyle Anderson for third on the team.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – P Roberts
CHA: 3B Czachor – C A Gonzales – 1B Fowlkes – RF Kok – LF B. Adams – SS Ra. Mendez – 2B Pelles – CF Cano – P Chavez

Harenberg cashed his first Coons RBI with a 2-out double in the first inning that plated Jarod Spencer, who himself had singled and swiped second base. The 1-0 lead would not stand up because "Rockets" Roberts was getting smacked all over the place. Barend Kok, despite a sore ankle, hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd to rightfield, and Bill Adams would have smacked a back-to-backer to left if that hadn't been caught up in the wind and dropped into Gerace's mitten. To illustrate the state of Roberts in this game, he struck out nobody in his first run through the Falcons' order, and that lack of whiff would come back to bite him in the fifth inning, where Raul Mendez was on second base with two outs, Roberts for the **** of it couldn't get rid of Chavez even in a 1-2 count, and surrendered a bloop RBI single to give the Falcons the lead. It only got worse from there – and no, the Coons did not do anything great offensively. Roberts allowed a single to Gonzales to begin the sixth, another single to Pat Fowlkes, threw a wild pitch, and fell to 3-1 on Kok's single. After a pop out by Adams, Roberts walked Mendez, then was removed after 5.1 innings and only *65* pitches. Ricky Ohl spared him from major damage when he got a double play grounder to short from Pelles, ending the inning, but that 3-1 deficit still towered tall over the tiny Coons, that didn't amount to anything in the seventh and eighth innings. Top 9th, Jon Ozier to the mound and immediately a leadoff walk to Terry Kopp. Maybe NOW, please? Justin Gerace tried to use the power void in the outfield mess/mix and hit a double that put the tying runs in scoring position for the struggling bottom of the order. Matt Nunley was in a hole about 90 feet deep, ran a full count, hit a blooper to shallow center, and that damn thing actually fell in for an RBI single. Gerace couldn't score since Cano almost got to the ball after all. O'Dell struck out. Cookie batted for Billy Brotman, flicked a single to left center, and that tied up the game – COOKIE POWER!! Tied game, runners on first and second with one out for the top of the order, but Ramos struck out and Spencer grounded out to third…

Kevin Surginer put himself in line for yet another win by pitching a quick ninth against the bottom of the order. When extra innings rolled along, lefty Joe Perry got Jamieson to ground out, then surrendered base hits to the actual left-handed batters. Harenberg doubled to right, Kopp singled in the same vicinity, and Harenberg raced home to break the 3-3 tie. He also drew a throw that missed the cutoff man, allowing Kopp into second base. Gerace was walked intentionally (!), after which Tim Stalker batted for Nunley to get a platoon advantage against the southpaw Perry. He got good wood on a 2-1 pitch, but lined out to Danny Munn, and O'Dell struck out to strand the runners for good. Snyder did away with the Falcons in the bottom of the inning, whiffing a pair. 4-3 Blighters. Harenberg 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; O'Dell 2-5; Carmona (PH) 1-1, RBI;

…and now Kevin Surginer actually has MORE wins than Kyle Anderson. The good news for the team leader? He's up next. The bad news? Not in Charlotte. The third game was washed out by bad weather.

The game will be made up in Portland on September 18 as part of a mixed double header.

Raccoons (55-46) vs. Thunder (57-41) – July 31-August 2, 2026

The Thunder were fourth in both runs scored and runs allowed, which did not sound that impressive, but they had a +61 run differential. Fourth place was actually their rank in so many statistics, except for a few key stats. F.e. the Raccoons were still first in batting average (unbelievably), but the Thunder also managed to walk a ton and were second in batting average AND on-base percentage. And since they were also second in home runs, they were a real pain for any pitching staff… The Raccoons couldn't handle them this year, having lost four of the six previous games with them in '26.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (6-6, 3.35 ERA) vs. Mike Homa (11-5, 2.98 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (6-3, 2.53 ERA) vs. Jose Diaz (10-5, 3.31 ERA)
Rin Nomura (2-3, 2.67 ERA) vs. Andy Palomares (8-7, 3.40 ERA)

Two southpaws up front, then the right-handed Palomares. Dan Delgadillo would not be activated until Saturday morning. Right now, Nick Derks was still on the roster, but had not actually gotten into a game since being called up after the Harenberg trade.

The Thunder had a crippling injury to contend with though, with CF Dave Garcia (.295, 8 HR, 29 RBI) after two relatively healthy years having another one to forget. He went to the DL with a broken elbow this week and would have to work towards making Opening Day in 2027.

Game 1
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – 1B M. Rucker – CF Pizzo – RF Sagredo – C Burgess – LF Millan – 2B Ts'ai – P Homa
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Anderson

In a stunner, the Coons roughed up Mike Homa for five runs in the opening inning; Ramos and Spencer hit singles, scored on Jamieson's gapper, with the centerfielder coming home on two groundouts before Gerace's double and Nunley's 2-piece over the fence in right put the Thunder in a significant hole against Kyle Anderson. Mike Pizzo's leadoff jack made it 5-1 immediately in the second, but that wouldn't help Homa, who left the game with an apparent injury in the second inning just after receiving a groundout from Anderson, which sure was an odd spot to remove him for anything else than an injury. Although, maybe Pizzo could single-handedly tear down Anderson and the Critters… the fourth inning saw a Mike Rucker single, then a 2-run homer crashed outta leftfield by Pizzo, and by now this was a 5-3 game.

Time for more offense for the home team! Nunley hit a soft leadoff single in the bottom 4th, followed by a hard double over Pizzo's head in centerfield smacked by Tovias. No outs and runners in scoring position, but with the pitcher up, yet long man Mike Tandy couldn't strike him out. Anderson's fly to center was caught, but Nunley scurried home with the team's sixth run. That was all; Tovias was thrown out at home plate when he tried to tag up on Ramos' fly to right. That run was pulled back by the Thunder in the fifth: leadoff single by Zhang-ze Ts'ai, then a balk by Anderson (…!), and Tandy's bunt moved the runner to third base, from where Lorenzo Rivera singled him in. Anderson was not seen again in the sixth with Josh Boles trying to contend a bit better with the lineup, but allowed a leadoff single to Pizzo. Hey, at least not another dinger… Jamieson and Kopp would make strong catches on rockets hit by Luis Sagredo and Mike Burgess, followed by another left-hander singling to centerfield, Omar Millan. Pizzo chased for third base with two outs, was not a great runner, really, and was thrown out by Matt Jamieson to end the inning.

Bottom 6th, with rain setting in now. Gerace coaxed a leadoff walk out of Tandy, then was in motion when Nunley flew a ball to centerfield, past Pizzo and to the track for a double on which the speedy Gerace then easily scored, 7-4. That was the final at-bat in the game that would see completion; Tovias saw two pitches from Tandy before the game went to a rain delay from which it never emerged. 7-4 Coons. Spencer 2-3; Nunley 3-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

The rainy demise of this game gave Josh Boles his second career save, and we even nursed Anderson's seventh W over the finish line, too! Nick Derks indeed never got into a game in his most recent stint in the majors.

Game 2
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – 1B M. Rucker – CF Pizzo – RF Sagredo – C Burgess – LF Millan – 2B Ts'ai – P Jo. Diaz
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – P Delgadillo

"Butch" Diaz was the newly minted Pitcher of the Month in the Continental League and was looking forward to continue domination against the Raccoons, who sent out Dan Delgadillo straight off the DL, and he barely showed any rust in the first inning, walking Alex Serrato on four pitches (Serrato would eventually be caught stealing third base) and nailing Mike Rucker. By the way, last night's rain was still hanging around. It drizzled in the second, it rained in the third inning, and there was also a delay of about a quarter of an hour when Delgadillo had a 3-inning, 1-hit shutout. Rucker hit a leadoff single in the fourth inning, but was doubled up when Pizzo bounced a ball back to the pitcher. At least it happens to other teams too from time to time… And at least other teams at least got on base… the Raccoons had three hits through four innings, all singles, and none to lead off an inning.

Top 5th, Mike Burgess opened with a single past Spencer before Delgadillo lost Millan on balls. Two on, nobody out, clutch situation for Ts'ai, who popped out to Terry Kopp, followed by Diaz whiffing as he tried to bunt. Lorenzo Rivera, who led the league in stolen bases with 27, grounded out to the pitcher, and the Thunder had been turned away again. Millan would hit a 1-out single in the seventh and be caught stealing as slowly but surely lots of zeroes lined up on the scoreboard. Maybe the bottom 7th would end that. Justin Gerace led off with a single to left, stole second, then reached third on Nunley's single to Luis Sagredo's feet, and you don't run on Sagredo unless you really want a pinpoint throw to cave in your left temple as you are still ten feet shy of the plate. O'Dell ran a full count before grounding out to Serrato, who looked back Gerace before getting O'Dell at first; Nunley moved up, and everybody wondered if they could have gotten two. In any case, they got Delgadillo, because in this situation we needed a hitter. Tim Stalker came off the bench by virtue of being right-handed and that pick was golden; Stalker lined into left-center, it split Millan and Pizzo, the ball went all the way to the fence, and Stalker put the Coons in front with a 2-run triple! Ramos hit an RBI single, was caught stealing, but the Coons were now up 3-0 and had lots of choices in their pen. Ricky Ohl retired the Thunder on seven pitches in the eighth inning, but the save opportunity then went to Billy Brotman. The meat of the order was up for the Thunder, and they were all left-handed. Snyder was tossing casually though and could be called upon if things went pear-shaped. They didn't. Soft grounders by Rucker and Pizzo made for two easy outs, and Sagredo went down on strikes. 3-0 Furballs! Stalker (PH) 1-1, 3B, 2 RBI; Delgadillo 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (7-3);

And here's another winning streak. You never know with this team…

Game 3
OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Sertato – CF Rummelhart – C Burgess – 1B J. Elliott – RF Sagredo – 2B Ts'ai – LF Dobbs – P Palomares
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – CF Mora – LF Gerace – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – P Nomura

Except for walking Abel Mora in the second inning, Andy Palomares carried a no-hitter against the nauseous Raccoons into the fifth inning where he met Justin Gerace, who hit a 1-out single, and Elias Tovias, who whammied one out of right center to flip the score, 2-1, in Portland's favor. Tovias' homer erased a solo shot by Mike Burgess in the second inning against an otherwise flawless but not overpowering in any sense of the word Rin Nomura, who scattered three base hits in the first five innings, but whiffed only two batters, reaching three only at the end of the sixth inning with a swinging strike three on Brian Rummelhart. Bottom 6th, leadoff double to left for Spencer, and how much would we love an insurance run! Harenberg walked, setting up a perfect double play opportunity for Kopp, who didn't have to be asked twice. 4-6-3, Spencer to third, where Mora stranded him with a fly to Brett Dobbs. At least the pitching was awesome; Nomura ended up with eight very controlled innings, four hits and four strikeouts at the end, and would have had room left for the ninth inning, but that would require the Raccoons to move their bums in the bottom 8th, and they couldn't have made less of an impression on Palomares, who also went eight, and who also would have room left for a ninth inning on only 84 pitches, if only his team could do something about Jonathan Snyder. The top of the order was up, but there were also plenty of left-handed bats on the bench; Mike Pizzo hit for Rivera right away, which was a ballsy choice. Snyder rung him up, just like he did with Serrato, but Rummelhart was hit for again with Carlos de Santiago. 1-2 pitch, contact and deep drive to center, Mora on his ****ing horse out there, and he made the catch in deep, deep centerfield, putting this game away for a series sweep and season series triumph for Portland. 2-1 Blighters. Tovias 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-3; Nomura 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (3-3);

In other news

July 27 – The Titans will be without All Star outfielder Adrian Reichardt (.306, 5 HR, 39 RBI) for a month. The 28-year-old has strained a groin muscle.
July 28 – A bruised wrist puts VAN OF Tony Coca (.305, 19 HR, 63 RBI) out of action for three weeks.
July 29 – Swiss Army knife Brody Folk (.268, 2 HR, 28 RBI) is traded from the Indians to the Condors for four minor leaguers and prospects, none of them ranked in any way.
July 29 – The Bayhawks trade SP Jonathan Shook (9-9, 3.89 ERA) to the Cyclones for #94 prospect SP Eric Fox.
July 29 – SAL C Matt Wittner (.302, 8 HR, 45 RBI) ends a 16-inning game with the Blue Sox in a 4-2 Wolves victory with his walkoff homer off MR Tim Colangelo (2-5, 3.27 ERA, 2 SV).
July 30 – The Indians deal CL Nick Salinas (2-4, 4.26 ERA, 22 SV) to the Capitals for two prospects.
July 30 – Once a Sock, always a Sock, sort of: the Blue Sox trade CL Mike Greene (1-4, 1.09 ERA, 19 SV) to the Gold Sox for four prospects.
July 31 – CIN SP Diego Mendoza jr. (12-7, 3.92 ERA) is expected to miss ten months with a partial tear in his UCL.
July 31 – The Pacifics rally from a 4-0 deficit and claim victory, 7-4, plating all their runs in the eighth inning.
August 1 – A sprained ankle will cost DEN RF/1B Brad Gore (.255, 8 HR, 34 RBI) the next six weeks.
August 1 – Another sprained ankle will put out CHA 3B Ryan Czachor (.280, 8 HR, 44 RBI) for much of August.
August 2 – SAC 3B Jason LaCombe (.319, 2 HR, 52 RBI) joins the 2,000 hits club at age 37 with one hit against the Buffaloes in a 4-2 Scorpions defeat. TOP SP Nick Danieley (7-6, 3.81 ERA) gives up the single in the first inning. LaCombe, a 13-year veteran, has been a career Scorpion with a .325/.443/.407 clip, 28 HR and 721 RBI, as well as eight All Star nods, four Gold Gloves, four Platinum Sticks, a World Series ring, and the 2014 Rookie of the Year award.

Complaints and stuff

While the CL Player of the Week title went to the Elks' 24-year-outfielder Alarico Medina (6-for-11, 2 HR, 9 RBI) in his first week in the major leagues, back in 2014 Jason LaCombe was the other end of Matt Nunley in the ROTY results, so two third basemen collected bling that year. Yet Matt Nunley is still 136 base knocks short of 2,000…

Also, the name Alarico reminds me of Alarico Violante, one of those nondescript, no-good catchers that we trotted out routinely for decades and still do.

Lose three, win six, lose three, win four … from zero to 65 and hard on the brakes… this team is wearing on everybody's clutch right now… which is not to be confused with clutch hitting.

Kevin Harenberg was named Batter of the Month with a .327 clip, 5 HR, and 20 RBI. Technically the award was given to the Raccoons, although he of course did virtually all the damage as a Wolf. His Portland resume at the end of July was going 3-for-11 with 1 RBI. No homers. Nobody's got homers on this team. Matt Nunley's got five now, which is the third-place threshold on this team. A guy of Harenberg's profile could make it into the top 3 with a solid month…

Jeff Kearney started a rehab assignment on the weekend and might be back in ten days or so. Right now we have three left-handed relievers on the roster, and none of them are tearing out any tree trunks. Maybe Kearney will be of help.

What will August bring? Mostly home games! In fact, we only have seven road games this month and we will not cross the mountains until right at the very end of August. There are three games in Tijuana (coming right up), then three more in Salem after a 7-game homestand against the Titans and Miners. The Elks will come in for a 3-game weekend from the 21st through the 23rd. There will be Nick Brown bobbleheads on the 22nd, remembering his September 9, 2016 no-hitter against the ****ing Elks because they will not come in again this year, and also because I'm an ***hole. (wears bright grin)

Fun Fact: With the sweep over the Thunder on the weekend, the Coons' worst all-time record against a CL South team is now their .510 mark against the Condors.

Yup, we have all-time winning records against all the teams in the South, and not just by a game and a half. The full list goes:

Aces (.535)
Bayhawks (.528)
Knights (.517)
Falcons (.516)
Thunder (.513)
Condors (.510)

But we currently have only two winning records, all-time again, in our own division, against the Loggers (.534) and Indians (.515). The Raccoons are a .513 team after almost 50 years of ABL.