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Westheim · 10-12-2018, 05:01 AM

Raccoons (62-49) vs. Loggers (47-64) – August 10-12, 2026

The Loggers were loggering along in another forgettable season, already 20+ games behind first place. They were in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, their rotation was the second-worst around, and they were wholly not going anywhere. The Coons were up on them on the season, 8-4, and barring major explosions would not lose the season series to the Loggers for the 13th consecutive season.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (8-6, 3.50 ERA) vs. Philip Rogers (2-10, 5.99 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (7-4, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (10-3, 2.50 ERA)
Rin Nomura (3-3, 2.84 ERA) vs. Danny Soto (7-6, 3.94 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up here; the Loggers had six players on the DL, including – to just name a few – Ian Prevost, Ron Tadlock, Ian Coleman, and Danny Mancia…

Game 1
MIL: 1B Aquino – CF S. Green – C J. Young – LF W. Trevino – SS Ferrer – 3B Berntson – RF Rueda – 2B Holder – P Rogers
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – CF Mora – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – P Anderson

Justin "Feast or Famine" Gerace struck once again in the bottom of the second inning with a long homer to rightfield that also collected Terry Kopp and his leadoff double for the first runs in the game. The Loggers had their hits, they just didn't have any runs in the early going. Kaleb Holder and Wilson Aquino hit singles in the third to go to the corners with one out, but Anderson wiggled out of there with a soft fly to center by Sam Green that Mora caught coming in at full steam, thus shying back the runners, and then Jim Young grounded out to Spencer. They had four hits through three innings, while the Critters had only three going into the fifth. There, O'Dell drew a 2-out walk before Anderson singled past a lunging Holder into centerfield. Ramos came up, cracked a single to rightfield, and O'Dell came around to score, 3-0, but Anderson erroneously turned second base and was caught in a rundown, where he gave himself up easily, which ended the inning. Milwaukee didn't get on the board until the seventh inning when Willie Trevino hit a leadoff jack off Anderson on the Critters hurler's 82nd pitch of the game. Manny Ferrer and Jon Berntson cracked line drive singles and Anderson was yanked without getting somebody out in the inning. Billy Brotman replaced him, with the Loggers sending right-hander Sam Owens to pinch-hit for Alexis Rueda. The right-handed Owens turned on a 1-2 pitch, wrapped it around the left foul pole, and just like that the Loggers had flipped the score… Kevin Surginer and Jonathan Snyder would keep the Loggers from doing any more damage, but the damage had already been done. The Coons failed to get to the much-clobbered Rogers, who lasted eight innings, then had to face ex-Coon Joe Moore in the ninth inning, with Kopp up first. Moore rung him up in a full count, and Mora and Gerace ended the game with groundouts to Holder. 4-3 Loggers. Ramos 2-3, BB, RBI;

Game 2
MIL: 3B V. Diaz – 1B Aquino – C J. Young – LF W. Trevino – RF R. Amador – SS Ferrer – CF Hanagriff – 2B Holder – P Villalobos
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – LF Jamieson – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Delgadillo

Vinny Diaz' long leadoff double to begin the game did not lead to a run for Milwaukee, with Wilson Aquino grounding out before Young and Trevino both popped out in foul ground. Alberto Ramos however did score in the first inning; he hit Villalobos' second pitch of the game for 360 feet just to the left of the 342' sign in rightfield for his third career dinger. By the end of the inning, not only Ramos had three bombs – the Coons also had three in the game. Harenberg hit a solo jack, and after that Jamieson singled and Abel Mora went yard. One to right, one to center, one to left, 4-0 lead for Yusneldan. Not for long, though: Manny Ferrer hit a solo home run in the top 2nd to get the Loggers within three again. The wind was not particularly ferocious, by the way… Bottom 2nd, Tovias and Ramos got to the corners with a walk and a single and one out, Ramos stole second for #30 on the year, but when Spencer flew out to Trevino and Tovias went for home, he did so rather sluggishly and was easily thrown out to end the inning.

Maybe the home run parade would continue. Harenberg hit a leadoff jack to center in the bottom 3rd, adding to the lead to get it to 5-1, and Matt Jamieson narrowly missed another home run, doubling off the top of the fence in rightfield with one out. Abel Mora rammed a 2-0 pitch by the overmatched Villalobos into the gap between Willie Trevino and Ken Hanagriff, nobody got to hit before it reached the fence, and Mora easily reached third base standing up with an RBI triple, 6-1. Mora also became the second Coon to be thrown out at home plate in three innings, this one also ending the game when Nunley flew out to Roberto Amador, and there was another accurate murder arm that kept the Coons from adding on. The Loggers scored two off Delgadillo in the top 4th; Trevino singled, Amador tripled, and Ferrer hit a sac fly that did not lead to an out at home… In the end, Delgadillo ended up with the same basic line as Anderson on Monday, six innings and three runs, but at least he was in the lead.

That lead was in danger in the seventh with Kaleb Holder's leadoff double to the wall off Jeff Kearney, who got a grounder from PH Jon Berntson before departing with Ricky Ohl taking over. He starved the runner on third base with a strikeout to Diaz, then an easy fly to Mora off the bat of Aquino. Bottom 7th, Matthew Simonson was in the game, a right-hander with roughly equal walks and strikeouts. He whiffed Cookie in the #9 hole, got Ramos on a grounder, then surrendered a triple to Spencer. It got worse for him, though: Kevin Harenberg hit a 2-run homer to right, his third in the game! HAL-LE-LU-YAH!! Not that the game was over. Josh Boles walked a couple in the eighth and plated a run with a wild pitch, but the same was true for Portland. Gerace and Cookie hit singles in the bottom 8th. With one down, Ramos grounded to Diaz, who got Cookie at second base, but runners remained on the corners until Spencer cracked a Simonson pitch into shallow left for an RBI single. That made it a 9-4 game, and that also brought up Harenberg, who was already on three bombs. The crowd was on its hind paws, but new pitcher Travis Feider kept him on the ground, holding him to an RBI single to left past the diving Ferrer. O'Dell would ground out in Kopp's spot to end the inning. The crowd was delighted anyway. Jim Young hit a 2-piece off Alvin Smith in the ninth inning, but the crowd remained in party mood anyway. 10-6 Furballs!! Ramos 2-5, HR, RBI; Spencer 2-5, 3B, RBI; Harenberg 5-5, 3 HR, 5 RBI; Jamieson 2-3, BB, 2B; Mora 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Gerace (PH) 1-1;

HARENBERG!!

THE TRADES I DO!!

Game 3
MIL: 3B V. Diaz – 2B Berntson – LF W. Trevino – CF S. Green – SS Ferrer – RF Owens – C Salazar – 1B Aquino – P D. Soto
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Nomura

The rubber game began with a Ramos error on Diaz' grounder. The Coons twice replaced the runner on first base on fielders' choices, but could not turn a double play. Trevino stole second base eventually, but Ramos made up for his earlier mistakes when he snagged a nasty bouncer by Sam Green and turned it for the third out after all. The Coons then had a productive first inning themselves. Ramos and Spencer got on, pulled off a double steal, and Jamieson's groundout brought home Ramos with the first run. Harenberg walked on four cautious pitches, Gerace hit an RBI double into the gap, and Mora hit another run-scoring groundout. Nunley flew out to right, but Portland had another quick lead, 3-0 for Nomura. But just like in the previous game, the Loggers had a swift answer. One after the other reached base against Nomura in the second inning. Ferrer single, stolen base, and an RBI single by Owens. John Salazar walked in a full count, Aquino hit another RBI single. 3-2, two on, nobody out. Soto bunted the runners over, and Nomura kept imploding with a 2-run single to center by Vinny Diaz that put the Loggers in front, 4-3. After an RBI double by Berntson and Trevino's single, Nomura was yanked. Surginer replaced him, struck out Green, then got Ferrer to hit a soft liner to Nunley to end the inning in a 5-3 deficit.

Surginer pitched 2.2 innings without allowing a run while the Critters scrambled. Ramos hit an RBI double to plate Tovias in the bottom 2nd, and they loaded the bases against Soto in the fourth. Tovias walked, Spencer singled, and Jamieson also walked, bringing up Harenberg, who had not a single homer yet in this game. And he didn't get one, grounding out to Berntson to end the inning. Instead, the Loggers got a run off Jeff Kearney, who was abused for two innings to face mostly right-handed batters. The Coons didn't do much in the middle innings, and Soto was still around in the eighth, where he allowed a leadoff single to Mora. The tying run came up in the 6-4 game, but Matt Nunley grounded to the mound for a double play. Bottom 9th, still 6-4, Tim Stalker's pinch-hit double brought up the tying run again with Moore pitching and the top of the order coming up. Ramos and Spencer got him in – but only on groundouts. Jamieson grounded out to Berntson to end the game. 6-5 Loggers. Ramos 2-5, 2B, RBI; Spencer 2-4, RBI; Mora 2-3, 2B, RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Surginer 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (63-51) @ Wolves (49-66) – August 14-16, 2026

Like the Loggers, the Wolves were wrapped up and done for the year, 22 games out in the FL West and in last place. They were also in the bottom three in runs scored, but only allowed the sixth-most runs in the Federal League. Their -40 run differential was not THAT bad. They probably also had a few surprise stun wins in them. These teams faced each other the third year in a row; both had won a 2-1 series in those last two pairings, with the Furballs winning the 2025 set.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (11-4, 3.46 ERA) vs. John Waker (1-8, 5.34 ERA)
Mark Roberts (10-8, 3.11 ERA) vs. Alex Contreras (7-9, 4.10 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (8-6, 3.54 ERA) vs. Jorge Beltran (8-9, 2.73 ERA)

Their only southpaw John "Icon" Waker was a former #9 pick by the Raccoons who was on his second team of the year. He had once been part in the package for Hugo Mendoza to the Stars and although that had been eons ago, he was still only 28 somehow. He was not the only former Raccoon on their staff. But we would neither see Lance Legleiter, who was 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA since going over to Salem, as he had pitched on Thursday (our day off), nor Jonathan Toner, who had gone 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA in a swingman role before biceps tendinitis had caught up with him. That had been more than two months ago; he was still on the shelf…

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Gerace – C O'Dell – 2B Stalker – 3B Bullock – P Gutierrez
SAL: CF B. Adams – LF D. Morales – C Wittner – RF M. Owen – SS McGee – 1B R. Morales – 2B Ri. Mendez – 3B Keys – P Waker

Since the Wolves were so very bad, and Portland fans always travelled well down I-5, the sparse crowd was more or less split half-and-half on Friday night, where the Coons went up 1-0 in the first on Harenberg's RBI double that scored Matt Jamieson, who had drawn a walk in a full count against Waker. The Coons fans cheered, the Wolves fans clapped politely but with frustration in their hearts. The Wolves would pull up even with the Coons soon enough, though, with Rico Gutierrez not retiring anybody on his own in the bottom 1st. Danny Morales doubled, then scored on Matt Wittner's sharp single through between Bullock and Ramos, and we were all even at one. It got so much worse in the second; Rich Mendez hit a double into the corner in deep right, Dave Keys hit a no-doubt homer over the leftfield fence, and then even Waker reached base on a 4-pitch walk. He would be caught stealing to end the inning eventually, and then the Critters roared back in the top 3rd: Ramos single, Jamieson triple, Harenberg double, at the score was level again, 3-3.

And while it seemed that both pitchers would get levelled and leave early, that was all the scoring through five innings. Both teams stranded the go-ahead run in scoring position in the fifth, the Coons failing to get Ramos home after a 1-out single and a stolen base, his 32nd. The go-ahead run appeared at second base even earlier for Portland in the top 6th with Harenberg's double precisely laid against the foul line in rightfield to begin that inning. A wild pitch advanced Harenberg after a K to Gerace, but he would have scored anyway on Brett O'Dell's double into the leftfield corner that followed the wild pitch. The Wolves walked Tim Stalker intentionally to get to Daniel Bullock, who saw his batting average sink consistently, now at .179 with an 0-for-2, but here he came through. I squealed as he swung at a 3-1 pitch by the eroding Waker, but he chipped it over the head of Chris McGee for a single to stuff the bags. What now? Rico was not very good in this game, and the bases were loaded with one out. Oy. And there comes Abel Mora – Coons are gonna roll the dice! They would not get anything for their efforts, with Mora flying out to Danny Morales in so shallow leftfield that it was impossible for O'Dell to go, and Ramos grounded out to Keys to end the inning. The Raccoons then lucked into two scoreless innings by Alvin Smith to defend the 4-3, but didn't tack on, and then saw Billy Brotman implode spectacularly in the bottom of the eighth. Dan Cobb hit a leadoff single to right before Brotman made consecutive throwing errors on the grounders of Ben Adams and Danny Morales, which already tied the ballgame, with Wittner's sac fly putting Salem ahead. Kevin Surginer would strand Morales on base when he entered the game, but the damage had been done. Dusty Balzer retired Cookie, Ramos, and Spencer in order in the ninth, and the Raccoons suffered a soul-shattering loss. 5-4 Wolves. Harenberg 4-4, 3 2B, 2 RBI; Smith 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – LF Carmona – C Tovias – P Roberts
SAL: CF B. Adams – 2B D. Cobb – C Wittner – RF M. Owen – SS McGee – 1B R. Morales – LF D. Morales – 3B Keys – P Contreras

Come the first, Ramos singled, stole second, and scored on Kevin Harenberg's long homer over the fence in rightfield for a quick 2-0 edge for still-Pitcher-of-the-Year-but-not-for-much-longer Mark Roberts. The Wolves went down in order in the first inning, but loaded them up in the second on an Owen single, followed by the Moraleses reaching on a walk and another single, respectively. Dave Keys struck out in a high voltage at-bat, and Contreras tamely rolled out to short, but geez, how about some aceful dominance? There was a Wolf at third base in the bottom 3rd as well: Ben Adams hit a leadoff single, advanced on Cobb's groundout, then a wild pitch. Wittner struck out, fortunately, and Roberts wiggled out of the inning on another groundout to Ramos. The Raccoons were mostly relaxing after taking a 2-0 lead. From there through the end of five they collected only two more base hits, both Nunley's, and he had no support behind himself in the lineup… Worse yet, in the fourth Abel Mora promptly smacked into a double play after Nunley had singled. In the sixth, Kopp hit a single to center, but now Nunley lined out to Cobb, and Mora still got nothing done, grounding out to McGee at short. In turn, Matt Owen got the Wolves on the board with a solo shot in the bottom 6th, just when Roberts had been about to press his ERA under three again.

Roberts lasted seven for the moment, and Contreras started the eighth, but was replaced after a 2-out walk to Harenberg, the first Coon on in the inning. Kaleb Babcock replaced him, got a grounder from Kopp that McGee threw away, and the error put them in scoring position for Nunley, who grinded out a full count walk to bring up Mora again. Unfortunately we had no smarter idea, especially not against a right-handed pitcher. Mora uselessly grounded out to Cobb, and the Coons stranded three once more. Roberts began the bottom 8th on 95 pitches and with a flimsy 2-1 lead, but retired Rich Mendez, Adams, and Cobb without much fuss. Jamieson batted for him in the top 9th to no great effect, and then it was on Snyder to face the meat of the order, all right-handed batters. He allowed a mighty deep drive to right to Matt Wittner, which Kopp picked off the fence as my heart skipped a beat or three. Owen grounded out to Nunley for the second out, and Matt also speared McGee's sharp bouncer for the final out. 2-1 Coons. Harenberg 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-3, BB, 2B; Roberts 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (11-8);

We had five base knocks total in this game. Salem had only four. Not a great hitting display…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – CF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – LF Gerace – C Tovias – P Anderson
SAL: CF B. Adams – 2B N. Cobb – C Wittner – RF M. Owen – 1B R. Morales – SS McGee – LF D. Morales – 3B Eason – P Beltran

Wittner and Owen went yard back-to-back in the bottom 1st for their 10th and 21st shots of the year, respectively, after the Coons had gotten Spencer on in the top 1st, and Spencer had gotten himself caught stealing. Portland opened the second inning with straight singles then; Kopp to left, Jamieson to right, and Nunley up the middle, resulting in the bags being loaded with nobody out for "Feast or Famine" Gerace, who in 91 at-bats had 11 extra base hits, including five dingers, and 25 strikeouts. Famine it was, with his grand slam rip never finding a ball, but Elias Matias Tovias Diaz pulled through for the Critters with a high fly in the gap that neither Morales nor Adams got to and that bounced off the hard warning track over the fence for a 2-run ground-rule double to even the score. Anderson fouled out for the second retirement of the inning, but Ramos rammed a grounder past Cobb for the go-ahead RBI single, after which Spencer rolled a ball near the third base line. Wittner fired to first while still turning around and more or less blindly, missed the target, and the resulting throwing error plated Tovias, 4-2. Astonishingly, the Wolves did not walk Harenberg intentionally with first base open after the 2-base error, but depressingly, Harenberg fouled out to keep Ramos and Spencer on base.

After the early rush, the game slowed down a bit. The next run did not occur until the fifth inning, and then the Coons were aided by Beltran, who struck Spencer with a pitch. Harenberg's grounder advanced him, and Kopp's 2-out single up the middle plated him, 5-2. In turn the Wolves loaded them up with one out in devious fashion, starting with an infield single by Beltran(!) in the bottom 5th. Adams walked, Cobb singled to center, and there were three on for Wittner, who struck out with the Gerace swing. Owen was the bigger danger anyway. He hit a terribly soft grounder where Spencer had rolled one earlier that had led to the Wittner throwing error. Even Nunley couldn't dig this one out; a run scored on the infield single, 5-3, and now a lefty was up with Morales, who singled up the middle to tie the game, and then McGee cracked another RBI single to left to put the Wolves up, 6-5. That also led to Anderson's removal, with Ricky Ohl allowing a bases-loading single to Danny Morales before Bobby Eason struck out to end the miserable inning with a crippling 4-spot.

The Wolves added on, plating a run in the sixth that was very much unearned after Ramos' throwing error placed Beltran on second base with nobody out. Alvin Smith could not get a strikeout against anybody, and the run scored on two groundouts. Ramos tried to make up in the top 7th, hitting a leadoff single off the tough-as-nails Beltran, then took second base by force. Spencer popped out, but Harenberg slugged a double to the fence in leftfield to bring in the runner and put himself up at second base as the tying run with one out in the inning. And Beltran ALMOST had this under control. Kopp grounded out, advancing Harenberg to third base. Jamieson grounded poorly as well, but it was yet another ball in that Bermuda Triangle that had already hurt both starting pitchers in this game. Beltran had to take this one himself, but couldn't get a good enough throw off to first. Jamieson was safe, Harenberg scored, and we were even at seven. Right-hander Cruz Sierra then replaced Beltran and retired Nunley on a pop. Tovias (walk) and Ramos (single) reached in the eighth, but Eason handled Spencer's grounder for the third out, then hit a 1-out double off Kearney in the bottom 8th, only to be left stranded by Mendez and Adams and their poor groundouts. Dusty Balzer retired the meat of the order in the top 9th, but Kevin Surginer didn't quite, going down in defeat on singles by Wittner, Owen, and McGee. 8-7 Wolves. Ramos 3-5, RBI; Kopp 2-5, RBI; Jamieson 2-5, RBI; Tovias 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Kevin Surginer also appeared to be going down with an injury which became apparent after the game, but we do not have a report on that one yet.

In other news

August 10 – The Gold Sox beat the Warriors, 5-1, on a pinch-hit walkoff grand slam by C Jose Vargas (.279, 3 HR, 16 RBI) off SFW SP Vinny Olguin (11-7, 4.84 ERA).
August 11 – SFB C Jaiden Jackson (.273, 10 HR, 39 RBI) cracks five hits, including three doubles, in an 18-2 crushing of the Aces.
August 11 – WAS INF Dave Menth (.288, 8 HR, 27 RBI) drives in five with a home run and two singles in the Capitals' 19-8 mauling of the Blue Sox.
August 11 – The Indians beat the Canadiens, 5-1, despite landing only three base hits, a double and two singles. They get more runners in other ways, with three walks, three Vancouver errors, an uncaught third strike, and a hit batsman.
August 13 – TIJ SP Jeff Little (9-8, 2.61 ERA) will be out for three weeks with elbow tendinitis.
August 16 – TIJ LF/RF Omar Larios (.249, 10 HR, 37 RBI) has a home run, two doubles, and a single with 4 RBI in the Condors' 16-5 thrashing of the Capitals.

Complaints and stuff

Kevin Harenberg was an obvious choice for Player of the Week in the CL, whacking it at a .478 pace (11-23) with 4 HR and 10 RBI! So much for the good news.

Another week facing two absolutely hopeless teams, another 2-4 result. What a farcical team we have here.

As usual, the mantra remains "better luck next year". What is there to look forward to in the last seven weeks? Alberto Ramos' ROTY campaign remains hot, and he has now also taken over the CL lead in stolen bases with 34, with the competition seeing a few guys with 32. The ABL lead is 38, held by WAS Guillermo Obando. Mark Roberts might win the strikeout crown, but nothing else. Maybe we can finish with a winning record, although things are getting very speculative right now.

Well, technically one chance remains. Sweep the damn Elks on the upcoming weekend. Never mind that 3-8 record we have against them this year…

Fun Fact: In 50 years of ABL baseball, players have hit three or more home runs 49 times. This includes two more Raccoons; Ben Simon in 1977 and Craig Bowen in 2007. All of them did the dirty job against the Loggers.

Craig Bowen remains the only ABL player to go yard four times in a game.

10-12-2018, 05:01 AM	#2626
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,778	Raccoons (62-49) vs. Loggers (47-64) – August 10-12, 2026 The Loggers were loggering along in another forgettable season, already 20+ games behind first place. They were in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, their rotation was the second-worst around, and they were wholly not going anywhere. The Coons were up on them on the season, 8-4, and barring major explosions would not lose the season series to the Loggers for the 13th consecutive season. Projected matchups: Kyle Anderson (8-6, 3.50 ERA) vs. Philip Rogers (2-10, 5.99 ERA) Dan Delgadillo (7-4, 2.57 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (10-3, 2.50 ERA) Rin Nomura (3-3, 2.84 ERA) vs. Danny Soto (7-6, 3.94 ERA) Only right-handers coming up here; the Loggers had six players on the DL, including – to just name a few – Ian Prevost, Ron Tadlock, Ian Coleman, and Danny Mancia… Game 1 MIL: 1B Aquino – CF S. Green – C J. Young – LF W. Trevino – SS Ferrer – 3B Berntson – RF Rueda – 2B Holder – P Rogers POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – CF Mora – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – P Anderson Justin "Feast or Famine" Gerace struck once again in the bottom of the second inning with a long homer to rightfield that also collected Terry Kopp and his leadoff double for the first runs in the game. The Loggers had their hits, they just didn't have any runs in the early going. Kaleb Holder and Wilson Aquino hit singles in the third to go to the corners with one out, but Anderson wiggled out of there with a soft fly to center by Sam Green that Mora caught coming in at full steam, thus shying back the runners, and then Jim Young grounded out to Spencer. They had four hits through three innings, while the Critters had only three going into the fifth. There, O'Dell drew a 2-out walk before Anderson singled past a lunging Holder into centerfield. Ramos came up, cracked a single to rightfield, and O'Dell came around to score, 3-0, but Anderson erroneously turned second base and was caught in a rundown, where he gave himself up easily, which ended the inning. Milwaukee didn't get on the board until the seventh inning when Willie Trevino hit a leadoff jack off Anderson on the Critters hurler's 82nd pitch of the game. Manny Ferrer and Jon Berntson cracked line drive singles and Anderson was yanked without getting somebody out in the inning. Billy Brotman replaced him, with the Loggers sending right-hander Sam Owens to pinch-hit for Alexis Rueda. The right-handed Owens turned on a 1-2 pitch, wrapped it around the left foul pole, and just like that the Loggers had flipped the score… Kevin Surginer and Jonathan Snyder would keep the Loggers from doing any more damage, but the damage had already been done. The Coons failed to get to the much-clobbered Rogers, who lasted eight innings, then had to face ex-Coon Joe Moore in the ninth inning, with Kopp up first. Moore rung him up in a full count, and Mora and Gerace ended the game with groundouts to Holder. 4-3 Loggers. Ramos 2-3, BB, RBI; Game 2 MIL: 3B V. Diaz – 1B Aquino – C J. Young – LF W. Trevino – RF R. Amador – SS Ferrer – CF Hanagriff – 2B Holder – P Villalobos POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – LF Jamieson – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Delgadillo Vinny Diaz' long leadoff double to begin the game did not lead to a run for Milwaukee, with Wilson Aquino grounding out before Young and Trevino both popped out in foul ground. Alberto Ramos however did score in the first inning; he hit Villalobos' second pitch of the game for 360 feet just to the left of the 342' sign in rightfield for his third career dinger. By the end of the inning, not only Ramos had three bombs – the Coons also had three in the game. Harenberg hit a solo jack, and after that Jamieson singled and Abel Mora went yard. One to right, one to center, one to left, 4-0 lead for Yusneldan. Not for long, though: Manny Ferrer hit a solo home run in the top 2nd to get the Loggers within three again. The wind was not particularly ferocious, by the way… Bottom 2nd, Tovias and Ramos got to the corners with a walk and a single and one out, Ramos stole second for #30 on the year, but when Spencer flew out to Trevino and Tovias went for home, he did so rather sluggishly and was easily thrown out to end the inning. Maybe the home run parade would continue. Harenberg hit a leadoff jack to center in the bottom 3rd, adding to the lead to get it to 5-1, and Matt Jamieson narrowly missed another home run, doubling off the top of the fence in rightfield with one out. Abel Mora rammed a 2-0 pitch by the overmatched Villalobos into the gap between Willie Trevino and Ken Hanagriff, nobody got to hit before it reached the fence, and Mora easily reached third base standing up with an RBI triple, 6-1. Mora also became the second Coon to be thrown out at home plate in three innings, this one also ending the game when Nunley flew out to Roberto Amador, and there was another accurate murder arm that kept the Coons from adding on. The Loggers scored two off Delgadillo in the top 4th; Trevino singled, Amador tripled, and Ferrer hit a sac fly that did not lead to an out at home… In the end, Delgadillo ended up with the same basic line as Anderson on Monday, six innings and three runs, but at least he was in the lead. That lead was in danger in the seventh with Kaleb Holder's leadoff double to the wall off Jeff Kearney, who got a grounder from PH Jon Berntson before departing with Ricky Ohl taking over. He starved the runner on third base with a strikeout to Diaz, then an easy fly to Mora off the bat of Aquino. Bottom 7th, Matthew Simonson was in the game, a right-hander with roughly equal walks and strikeouts. He whiffed Cookie in the #9 hole, got Ramos on a grounder, then surrendered a triple to Spencer. It got worse for him, though: Kevin Harenberg hit a 2-run homer to right, his third in the game! HAL-LE-LU-YAH!! Not that the game was over. Josh Boles walked a couple in the eighth and plated a run with a wild pitch, but the same was true for Portland. Gerace and Cookie hit singles in the bottom 8th. With one down, Ramos grounded to Diaz, who got Cookie at second base, but runners remained on the corners until Spencer cracked a Simonson pitch into shallow left for an RBI single. That made it a 9-4 game, and that also brought up Harenberg, who was already on three bombs. The crowd was on its hind paws, but new pitcher Travis Feider kept him on the ground, holding him to an RBI single to left past the diving Ferrer. O'Dell would ground out in Kopp's spot to end the inning. The crowd was delighted anyway. Jim Young hit a 2-piece off Alvin Smith in the ninth inning, but the crowd remained in party mood anyway. 10-6 Furballs!! Ramos 2-5, HR, RBI; Spencer 2-5, 3B, RBI; Harenberg 5-5, 3 HR, 5 RBI; Jamieson 2-3, BB, 2B; Mora 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Gerace (PH) 1-1; HARENBERG!! THE TRADES I DO!! Game 3 MIL: 3B V. Diaz – 2B Berntson – LF W. Trevino – CF S. Green – SS Ferrer – RF Owens – C Salazar – 1B Aquino – P D. Soto POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Nomura The rubber game began with a Ramos error on Diaz' grounder. The Coons twice replaced the runner on first base on fielders' choices, but could not turn a double play. Trevino stole second base eventually, but Ramos made up for his earlier mistakes when he snagged a nasty bouncer by Sam Green and turned it for the third out after all. The Coons then had a productive first inning themselves. Ramos and Spencer got on, pulled off a double steal, and Jamieson's groundout brought home Ramos with the first run. Harenberg walked on four cautious pitches, Gerace hit an RBI double into the gap, and Mora hit another run-scoring groundout. Nunley flew out to right, but Portland had another quick lead, 3-0 for Nomura. But just like in the previous game, the Loggers had a swift answer. One after the other reached base against Nomura in the second inning. Ferrer single, stolen base, and an RBI single by Owens. John Salazar walked in a full count, Aquino hit another RBI single. 3-2, two on, nobody out. Soto bunted the runners over, and Nomura kept imploding with a 2-run single to center by Vinny Diaz that put the Loggers in front, 4-3. After an RBI double by Berntson and Trevino's single, Nomura was yanked. Surginer replaced him, struck out Green, then got Ferrer to hit a soft liner to Nunley to end the inning in a 5-3 deficit. Surginer pitched 2.2 innings without allowing a run while the Critters scrambled. Ramos hit an RBI double to plate Tovias in the bottom 2nd, and they loaded the bases against Soto in the fourth. Tovias walked, Spencer singled, and Jamieson also walked, bringing up Harenberg, who had not a single homer yet in this game. And he didn't get one, grounding out to Berntson to end the inning. Instead, the Loggers got a run off Jeff Kearney, who was abused for two innings to face mostly right-handed batters. The Coons didn't do much in the middle innings, and Soto was still around in the eighth, where he allowed a leadoff single to Mora. The tying run came up in the 6-4 game, but Matt Nunley grounded to the mound for a double play. Bottom 9th, still 6-4, Tim Stalker's pinch-hit double brought up the tying run again with Moore pitching and the top of the order coming up. Ramos and Spencer got him in – but only on groundouts. Jamieson grounded out to Berntson to end the game. 6-5 Loggers. Ramos 2-5, 2B, RBI; Spencer 2-4, RBI; Mora 2-3, 2B, RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Surginer 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Raccoons (63-51) @ Wolves (49-66) – August 14-16, 2026 Like the Loggers, the Wolves were wrapped up and done for the year, 22 games out in the FL West and in last place. They were also in the bottom three in runs scored, but only allowed the sixth-most runs in the Federal League. Their -40 run differential was not THAT bad. They probably also had a few surprise stun wins in them. These teams faced each other the third year in a row; both had won a 2-1 series in those last two pairings, with the Furballs winning the 2025 set. Projected matchups: Rico Gutierrez (11-4, 3.46 ERA) vs. John Waker (1-8, 5.34 ERA) Mark Roberts (10-8, 3.11 ERA) vs. Alex Contreras (7-9, 4.10 ERA) Kyle Anderson (8-6, 3.54 ERA) vs. Jorge Beltran (8-9, 2.73 ERA) Their only southpaw John "Icon" Waker was a former #9 pick by the Raccoons who was on his second team of the year. He had once been part in the package for Hugo Mendoza to the Stars and although that had been eons ago, he was still only 28 somehow. He was not the only former Raccoon on their staff. But we would neither see Lance Legleiter, who was 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA since going over to Salem, as he had pitched on Thursday (our day off), nor Jonathan Toner, who had gone 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA in a swingman role before biceps tendinitis had caught up with him. That had been more than two months ago; he was still on the shelf… Game 1 POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Jamieson – 1B Harenberg – RF Gerace – C O'Dell – 2B Stalker – 3B Bullock – P Gutierrez SAL: CF B. Adams – LF D. Morales – C Wittner – RF M. Owen – SS McGee – 1B R. Morales – 2B Ri. Mendez – 3B Keys – P Waker Since the Wolves were so very bad, and Portland fans always travelled well down I-5, the sparse crowd was more or less split half-and-half on Friday night, where the Coons went up 1-0 in the first on Harenberg's RBI double that scored Matt Jamieson, who had drawn a walk in a full count against Waker. The Coons fans cheered, the Wolves fans clapped politely but with frustration in their hearts. The Wolves would pull up even with the Coons soon enough, though, with Rico Gutierrez not retiring anybody on his own in the bottom 1st. Danny Morales doubled, then scored on Matt Wittner's sharp single through between Bullock and Ramos, and we were all even at one. It got so much worse in the second; Rich Mendez hit a double into the corner in deep right, Dave Keys hit a no-doubt homer over the leftfield fence, and then even Waker reached base on a 4-pitch walk. He would be caught stealing to end the inning eventually, and then the Critters roared back in the top 3rd: Ramos single, Jamieson triple, Harenberg double, at the score was level again, 3-3. And while it seemed that both pitchers would get levelled and leave early, that was all the scoring through five innings. Both teams stranded the go-ahead run in scoring position in the fifth, the Coons failing to get Ramos home after a 1-out single and a stolen base, his 32nd. The go-ahead run appeared at second base even earlier for Portland in the top 6th with Harenberg's double precisely laid against the foul line in rightfield to begin that inning. A wild pitch advanced Harenberg after a K to Gerace, but he would have scored anyway on Brett O'Dell's double into the leftfield corner that followed the wild pitch. The Wolves walked Tim Stalker intentionally to get to Daniel Bullock, who saw his batting average sink consistently, now at .179 with an 0-for-2, but here he came through. I squealed as he swung at a 3-1 pitch by the eroding Waker, but he chipped it over the head of Chris McGee for a single to stuff the bags. What now? Rico was not very good in this game, and the bases were loaded with one out. Oy. And there comes Abel Mora – Coons are gonna roll the dice! They would not get anything for their efforts, with Mora flying out to Danny Morales in so shallow leftfield that it was impossible for O'Dell to go, and Ramos grounded out to Keys to end the inning. The Raccoons then lucked into two scoreless innings by Alvin Smith to defend the 4-3, but didn't tack on, and then saw Billy Brotman implode spectacularly in the bottom of the eighth. Dan Cobb hit a leadoff single to right before Brotman made consecutive throwing errors on the grounders of Ben Adams and Danny Morales, which already tied the ballgame, with Wittner's sac fly putting Salem ahead. Kevin Surginer would strand Morales on base when he entered the game, but the damage had been done. Dusty Balzer retired Cookie, Ramos, and Spencer in order in the ninth, and the Raccoons suffered a soul-shattering loss. 5-4 Wolves. Harenberg 4-4, 3 2B, 2 RBI; Smith 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Game 2 POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – LF Carmona – C Tovias – P Roberts SAL: CF B. Adams – 2B D. Cobb – C Wittner – RF M. Owen – SS McGee – 1B R. Morales – LF D. Morales – 3B Keys – P Contreras Come the first, Ramos singled, stole second, and scored on Kevin Harenberg's long homer over the fence in rightfield for a quick 2-0 edge for still-Pitcher-of-the-Year-but-not-for-much-longer Mark Roberts. The Wolves went down in order in the first inning, but loaded them up in the second on an Owen single, followed by the Moraleses reaching on a walk and another single, respectively. Dave Keys struck out in a high voltage at-bat, and Contreras tamely rolled out to short, but geez, how about some aceful dominance? There was a Wolf at third base in the bottom 3rd as well: Ben Adams hit a leadoff single, advanced on Cobb's groundout, then a wild pitch. Wittner struck out, fortunately, and Roberts wiggled out of the inning on another groundout to Ramos. The Raccoons were mostly relaxing after taking a 2-0 lead. From there through the end of five they collected only two more base hits, both Nunley's, and he had no support behind himself in the lineup… Worse yet, in the fourth Abel Mora promptly smacked into a double play after Nunley had singled. In the sixth, Kopp hit a single to center, but now Nunley lined out to Cobb, and Mora still got nothing done, grounding out to McGee at short. In turn, Matt Owen got the Wolves on the board with a solo shot in the bottom 6th, just when Roberts had been about to press his ERA under three again. Roberts lasted seven for the moment, and Contreras started the eighth, but was replaced after a 2-out walk to Harenberg, the first Coon on in the inning. Kaleb Babcock replaced him, got a grounder from Kopp that McGee threw away, and the error put them in scoring position for Nunley, who grinded out a full count walk to bring up Mora again. Unfortunately we had no smarter idea, especially not against a right-handed pitcher. Mora uselessly grounded out to Cobb, and the Coons stranded three once more. Roberts began the bottom 8th on 95 pitches and with a flimsy 2-1 lead, but retired Rich Mendez, Adams, and Cobb without much fuss. Jamieson batted for him in the top 9th to no great effect, and then it was on Snyder to face the meat of the order, all right-handed batters. He allowed a mighty deep drive to right to Matt Wittner, which Kopp picked off the fence as my heart skipped a beat or three. Owen grounded out to Nunley for the second out, and Matt also speared McGee's sharp bouncer for the final out. 2-1 Coons. Harenberg 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-3, BB, 2B; Roberts 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (11-8); We had five base knocks total in this game. Salem had only four. Not a great hitting display… Game 3 POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – CF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – LF Gerace – C Tovias – P Anderson SAL: CF B. Adams – 2B N. Cobb – C Wittner – RF M. Owen – 1B R. Morales – SS McGee – LF D. Morales – 3B Eason – P Beltran Wittner and Owen went yard back-to-back in the bottom 1st for their 10th and 21st shots of the year, respectively, after the Coons had gotten Spencer on in the top 1st, and Spencer had gotten himself caught stealing. Portland opened the second inning with straight singles then; Kopp to left, Jamieson to right, and Nunley up the middle, resulting in the bags being loaded with nobody out for "Feast or Famine" Gerace, who in 91 at-bats had 11 extra base hits, including five dingers, and 25 strikeouts. Famine it was, with his grand slam rip never finding a ball, but Elias Matias Tovias Diaz pulled through for the Critters with a high fly in the gap that neither Morales nor Adams got to and that bounced off the hard warning track over the fence for a 2-run ground-rule double to even the score. Anderson fouled out for the second retirement of the inning, but Ramos rammed a grounder past Cobb for the go-ahead RBI single, after which Spencer rolled a ball near the third base line. Wittner fired to first while still turning around and more or less blindly, missed the target, and the resulting throwing error plated Tovias, 4-2. Astonishingly, the Wolves did not walk Harenberg intentionally with first base open after the 2-base error, but depressingly, Harenberg fouled out to keep Ramos and Spencer on base. After the early rush, the game slowed down a bit. The next run did not occur until the fifth inning, and then the Coons were aided by Beltran, who struck Spencer with a pitch. Harenberg's grounder advanced him, and Kopp's 2-out single up the middle plated him, 5-2. In turn the Wolves loaded them up with one out in devious fashion, starting with an infield single by Beltran(!) in the bottom 5th. Adams walked, Cobb singled to center, and there were three on for Wittner, who struck out with the Gerace swing. Owen was the bigger danger anyway. He hit a terribly soft grounder where Spencer had rolled one earlier that had led to the Wittner throwing error. Even Nunley couldn't dig this one out; a run scored on the infield single, 5-3, and now a lefty was up with Morales, who singled up the middle to tie the game, and then McGee cracked another RBI single to left to put the Wolves up, 6-5. That also led to Anderson's removal, with Ricky Ohl allowing a bases-loading single to Danny Morales before Bobby Eason struck out to end the miserable inning with a crippling 4-spot. The Wolves added on, plating a run in the sixth that was very much unearned after Ramos' throwing error placed Beltran on second base with nobody out. Alvin Smith could not get a strikeout against anybody, and the run scored on two groundouts. Ramos tried to make up in the top 7th, hitting a leadoff single off the tough-as-nails Beltran, then took second base by force. Spencer popped out, but Harenberg slugged a double to the fence in leftfield to bring in the runner and put himself up at second base as the tying run with one out in the inning. And Beltran ALMOST had this under control. Kopp grounded out, advancing Harenberg to third base. Jamieson grounded poorly as well, but it was yet another ball in that Bermuda Triangle that had already hurt both starting pitchers in this game. Beltran had to take this one himself, but couldn't get a good enough throw off to first. Jamieson was safe, Harenberg scored, and we were even at seven. Right-hander Cruz Sierra then replaced Beltran and retired Nunley on a pop. Tovias (walk) and Ramos (single) reached in the eighth, but Eason handled Spencer's grounder for the third out, then hit a 1-out double off Kearney in the bottom 8th, only to be left stranded by Mendez and Adams and their poor groundouts. Dusty Balzer retired the meat of the order in the top 9th, but Kevin Surginer didn't quite, going down in defeat on singles by Wittner, Owen, and McGee. 8-7 Wolves. Ramos 3-5, RBI; Kopp 2-5, RBI; Jamieson 2-5, RBI; Tovias 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kevin Surginer also appeared to be going down with an injury which became apparent after the game, but we do not have a report on that one yet. In other news August 10 – The Gold Sox beat the Warriors, 5-1, on a pinch-hit walkoff grand slam by C Jose Vargas (.279, 3 HR, 16 RBI) off SFW SP Vinny Olguin (11-7, 4.84 ERA). August 11 – SFB C Jaiden Jackson (.273, 10 HR, 39 RBI) cracks five hits, including three doubles, in an 18-2 crushing of the Aces. August 11 – WAS INF Dave Menth (.288, 8 HR, 27 RBI) drives in five with a home run and two singles in the Capitals' 19-8 mauling of the Blue Sox. August 11 – The Indians beat the Canadiens, 5-1, despite landing only three base hits, a double and two singles. They get more runners in other ways, with three walks, three Vancouver errors, an uncaught third strike, and a hit batsman. August 13 – TIJ SP Jeff Little (9-8, 2.61 ERA) will be out for three weeks with elbow tendinitis. August 16 – TIJ LF/RF Omar Larios (.249, 10 HR, 37 RBI) has a home run, two doubles, and a single with 4 RBI in the Condors' 16-5 thrashing of the Capitals. Complaints and stuff Kevin Harenberg was an obvious choice for Player of the Week in the CL, whacking it at a .478 pace (11-23) with 4 HR and 10 RBI! So much for the good news. Another week facing two absolutely hopeless teams, another 2-4 result. What a farcical team we have here. As usual, the mantra remains "better luck next year". What is there to look forward to in the last seven weeks? Alberto Ramos' ROTY campaign remains hot, and he has now also taken over the CL lead in stolen bases with 34, with the competition seeing a few guys with 32. The ABL lead is 38, held by WAS Guillermo Obando. Mark Roberts might win the strikeout crown, but nothing else. Maybe we can finish with a winning record, although things are getting very speculative right now. Well, technically one chance remains. Sweep the damn Elks on the upcoming weekend. Never mind that 3-8 record we have against them this year… *Fun Fact:* In 50 years of ABL baseball, players have hit three or more home runs 49 times. This includes two more Raccoons; Ben Simon in 1977 and Craig Bowen in 2007. All of them did the dirty job against the Loggers. Craig Bowen remains the only ABL player to go yard four times in a game. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.