[Westheim]

Raccoons (20-12) vs. Rebels (15-16) – May 11-13, 2027

After an off day on Monday the Raccoons would host the Rebels, to whom they had not lost a season series since 2018, although the teams had squared off only three times in between. Nevertheless, the Raccoons had gone 8-1 in those games, including a sweep most recently in 2023. Richmond sat third in the meager FL East and excelled solely on pitching. They had conceded the second-fewest runs in the Federal League, but they had also plated the second-fewest, and overall had a cringeworthy run differential of -23. But the Coons couldn't even score against bad pitching right now, so a string of 2-1 losses was entirely possible…

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (1-1, 3.89 ERA) vs. Jim Bryant (1-4, 4.66 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (1-3, 4.13 ERA) vs. Rich Guerrero (1-4, 5.40 ERA)
Rin Nomura (3-2, 2.68 ERA) vs. Joaquin Serrano (2-3, 5.30 ERA)

Yes, despite them allowing the second-fewest runs in the FL, they still somehow had three well-below-average starting pitchers lying around, and somehow we might see all three of them. Okay, now I was REALLY worried. All of their starters were right-handed, and they might also field an all-right-handed lineup with some regulars like Raimondo Odescalchi on the disabled list.

Game 1
RIC: LF N. Cobb – SS Zamora – 2B Hernandes – C Dehne – RF D. Brown – 3B Hibbard – CF Barcenas – 1B Pelles – P J. Bryant
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – 2B Rock – P Roberts

Leadoff walk to Nick Cobb, then some insecure back-and-forth, and finally a 2-run homer by Matt Dehne – Mark Roberts surrendered a first-inning 2-spot to a team struggling to scoring even 3.5 runs per game, so that was a daft beginning. The Raccoons took a run back in the bottom of the inning when Ramos walked, stole second, and scored on Spencer's single, before quickly finding a goon (Abel Mora) to hit into a double play. It became apparent very quickly, however, that Mark Roberts had NOTHING. He struck out only Bryant the first time through, and that only after throwing a wild pitch into the quickly evading pitcher's legs, and in the third had no clue at all what to do when the bases were loaded without the benefit of a base hit for the Rebels. Cobb had walked again, Jorge Zamora had reached on a Ramos error, the runners had pulled off a double steal, and while Marco Hernandes had popped out, Roberts lost Dehne to a walk. Dan Brown flew to right on a 2-2 pitch, Gomez made the catch easily, Cobb spurted for home, but was still thrown out at the plate to end the inning. While Roberts actually retired a leadoff man for once in the fourth when Devin Hibbard grounded out to Matt Nunley (two veteran third basemen there for sure…!), Hector Barcenas walloped an uninteresting fastball over the fence to extend the Rebels' lead to 3-1, and Roberts sure wasn't going to sparkle now, either. Ruben Pelles, briefly a Coon in '22, singled, but was eventually stranded after a bunt and Cobb's groundout to Harenberg.

The Raccoons engaged in more pointless pretending when it came to offense. The fourth and fifth both saw them hit a pair of 2-out singles, first with Harenberg and Gomez, then with Roberts and Ramos, and two singles hardly ever made a run with two outs. Gomez hit another 2-out single in the sixth, also pointless. Also on the pointless pile was Dan McLin, who replaced Roberts after a 1-out infield single by Jorge Zamora in the seventh inning, allowed a hard single to Hernandes, a walk to Dehne, got Brown to pop out, but then got thumped with Hibbard's 2-out, bases-clearing double that put the game in the books for good. 6-1 Rebels. Ramos 1-2, 2 BB; Spencer 2-4, RBI; Gomez 2-4;

That was a game in which the Coons had seven base hits. All singles. Only Spencer's pair of singles came with less than two outs, and both times Abel Mora chucked a ball into a double play immediately.

I think it is time to send somebody go and look for the oxygen mask because I sure feel drowsy.

Between games here, the Rebels traded for the Thunder's OF/1B Brian Rummelhart (.139, 2 HR, 5 RBI), sending infielder Joe Cameron (.244, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to Oklahoma.

Game 2
RIC: 1B Rummelhart – 3B Hibbard – LF N. Cobb – 2B Hernandes – CF Barcenas – SS Pelles – RF Damron – C Marrero – P R. Guerrero
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – 2B Rock – CF St. Germaine – P Delgadillo

Delgadillo still faced a lineup consisting only of right-handed batters, which did not lead to greatness for Yusneldan at all. While the Rebels didn't score early on, they sure knew how to maintain an on-base presence, collecting four hits and a walk in the first three innings, but didn't push a man across. Neither did the Raccoons, who got Gomez (walk) and Harenberg (single off Hibbard's glove) on with two outs in the first before Tovias rolled out, then put Trey Rock on with a 1-out single (…) in the bottom 2nd, but he was immediately caught stealing. Spencer hit a 2-out single in the third that led nowhere, and then Delgadillo hit the hay in the fourth with a stiff back, handing this scoreless mess over to the bullpen. McLin was put into the game and managed to not get murdered outright in completing the inning.

Bottom 4th, the Raccoons got on base with *nobody* out. Harenberg singled cleanly to left, Tovias walked, and Nunley singled softly to center. Three on, nobody out – may the baseball gods have mercy with us …! Actually, Trey Rock dealt the Rebels a blow, driving a liner into the left-center gap that would have plated three if Matt Nunley hadn't stumbled around second base and had to stop at third on Rock's 2-run double, the first markers on the board in this game. Adam St. Germaine still had no RBI this season, which didn't change when he drew a bases-loaded walk. Now came the pitcher's spot. With no runs and one or two outs, the Critters would have batted for McLin for sure, but since we were already up 2-0 and still had to find 15 outs against an all-righty lineup, McLin was sent to bat, hoping for good things from Ramos after that. There is a credo for relief pitchers batting with three on and no outs: if in doubt, just strike out! McLin poked instead, flying out to Cobb, and this time Nunley was determined to make it home. He looked dead for sure on a mighty throw home, but that throw was also off line, Carlos Marrero had to surrender the plate and cut off the ball 20 feet up the first base line instead of knocking out Nunley, and the Coons were up 3-0, with the other runners advancing on the error, too. Portland ended up with a 6-spot as Ramos drove in two and Spencer drove in Ramos before they gradually made outs. Oh, suddenly you can!?

That only left the problem with the 15 outs left to collect. McLin got three more before being hit for in the bottom 5th. Billy Brotman gave the Coons a quick sixth, the bottom of which inning saw them add a run on Kevin DuCharme, who put Ramos and Spencer on the corners with no-out singles before Gomez hit into a run-scoring double play. Brotman conceded 1-out singles to Brown and Rummelhart in the seventh before being replaced by Ricky Ohl, who got Hibbard to ground into an inning-ending double play, 6-4-3. Ohl walked Cobb to begin the eighth, then struck out three, and Synder would get some work in the ninth inning as the Coons maintained a well-earned shutout to the end. A Tovias home run off Jalen Baldwin, and a 2-out RBI single by Rafael Gomez in the eighth inning even added two more runs to their tally. 9-0 Coons. Ramos 3-5, 2 RBI; Spencer 3-5, RBI; Gomez 2-4, BB, RBI; Harenberg 2-4; Nunley 2-4; Rock 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Mora 1-1; Delgadillo 3.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; McLin 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-1) and 0-0, RBI; Ohl 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Looks like Dan Delgadillo might not miss a start with the balking back. I am trusting the Druid on this one.

The Rebels made a skip to their rotation for the Thursday game, sending Todd Wood (2-1, 1.99 ERA) into the fray. Oh well, still a righty. The Raccoons also made a last minute change and put Kyle Anderson into the game rather than Nomura. This was of course for the platoon factor with the almost exclusively right-handed Rebels. Anderson would start on regular rest due to the off day on Monday.

Game 3
RIC: 1B Rummelhart – SS Zamora – LF N. Cobb – 2B Hernandes – RF D. Brown – 3B Hibbard – CF Olmos – C Marrero – P Wood
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – C Liu – P Anderson

Five base hits for 15 total bases got the Coons out to 4-0 lead in the first inning as Ramos tripled, Gomez and Mora both hit dingers, and then *Matt Nunley* tripled into the gap and was singled home by Cookie Carmona. Matt Nunley! Four singles tacked on a run in the bottom 2nd, while Anderson was allowing a bit much in terms of contact, but the Rebels had yet to overwhelm him, although Carlos Marrero did hit a solo home run in the third inning. But more about Matt Nunley; he had the last of the Coons' four singles in the bottom 2nd, loading the bases before Cookie flew out to end the inning, then came up in the fourth with Harenberg (double) and Mora (single) aboard and nobody out and ended Todd Wood with a 3-run blast to rightfield, extending the lead to 8-1. That was the Coons' 13th hit in the ballgame, Matt's third, and now only the double remained for a cycle. He came back to the plate with Mora on first base in an 8-2 game in the bottom 5th, but struck out against Ismael Gutierrez; however thanks to the pronounced pounding the Coons were dealing to the Rebels, he was guaranteed another plate appearance. While much attention was now focused on Matt, it also distracted people from Anderson pitching a mild gem after the bullpen had suffered some abuse in the previous game; he went eight innings of 5-hit, 2-run ball, pitching to contact in a mostly controlled manner until he lost cohesion in the eighth and issued his only two walks of the game at that point, but he still finished the frame. The bottom 8th had Jaden Baldwin pitching and started with Mora at the plate and a fly out to Franklin Olmos in centerfield. That brought up Nunley and got the fans to cheer loudly, but to no avail, sadly. Nunley grounded out. Kevin Surginer allowed a 2-out run in the ninth after hitting Olmos and conceding an off-the-fence double to Marrero (who drove in all the Rebels' runs in this game), but the Coons still easily took the series. 8-3 Furballs. Ramos 2-4, BB, 3B; Harenberg 2-5; Mora 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 3-5, HR, 3B, 3 RBI; Carmona 2-5, RBI; Liu 1-2, 2 BB; Anderson 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (4-1);

This was Matt Nunley's first triple in three years. It would have been the Coons' first cycle in 18 years.

Raccoons (22-13) vs. Titans (24-9) – May 14-16, 2027

The Critters would instead send three southpaws against the Titans in their newest bid to somehow get a paw up on their rivals from the opposite coast. Boston was still three games ahead, fourth in runs scored, but first in runs allowed in the Continental League. And they were first not just by a little. They had allowed all of 94 runs so far, which was rounded down to 2.8 runs per game. Two point eight! Oh well, we somehow clipped two games from the Rebels, it would sure be nice not to get shut out for the weekend… The season series was currently, as usual, in favor of the Titans, who were up 2-1.

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (3-2, 2.68 ERA) vs. Guillermo Regalado (2-1, 2.98 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (2-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (3-2, 2.32 ERA)
Mark Roberts (1-2, 4.17 ERA) vs. Greg Gannon (5-1, 3.31 ERA)

The Titans had been involved in a double header on Sunday that had seen Regalado and Wingo pitch. They announced the Nicaraguan Regalado to start on Friday, but were not yet committed to send Wingo, their only left-handed starter. It was possible for them to move Jeremy Waite (3-1, 3.19 ERA) into the series.

Game 1
BOS: LF W. Vega – 1B Gasso – RF Braun – CF Reichardt – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – SS Spataro – C A. Arias – P Regalado
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – 2B Rock – P Nomura

The Titans sat on Nomura immediately – Willie Vega doubled, Gus Gasso homered, and it was 2-0 Titans before I had settled down with my booze and a box of donuts for the good old blood sugar. Adam Corder doubled to begin the top 2nd, scored on two productive outs, and then even Regalado doubled off an obviously detuned Nomura. That runner was stranded, but the Coons were down 3-0, HOWEVER they also hit three singles to begin the bottom 2nd, pulling up Tovias with the tying runs on and nobody out. Elias cracked a grounder to right, Rhett West lunged but missed it, and the single got the Coons on the board with their first run of the game. There was confusion in the infield on Trey Rock's grounder then, Regalado and Corder got in each other's limbs, and the Coons plated another run on the resulting infield single before Nomura tied the game with a clean single to centerfield. Six up, six singles! The string ended there with Ramos' sac fly, which nevertheless put Portland ahead, 4-3, Spencer's fly to right, and then Rock got picked off second base, which was indeed inexcusable.

The Titans batted for Regalado as early as the fourth inning after Nomura had issued a 1-out walk to Keith Spataro, then had nicked Alex Arias. Two on, one out, Justin Perkins hit straight into a double play of the 6-4-3 variety, ending the inning. Bottom 4th, ex-Coon Joel Davis was pitching, but not very successfully. Rock led off with a single, stole second base, then advanced on Nomura's groundout. Ramos walked to put runners on the corners, which Davis turned into a runner on second and a 5-3 lead with a balk. Rafael Gomez would up the score to 6-3 with a single to right that scored Ramos. Too bad that Nomura immediately gave back the runs on a Gasso single, a Braun walk, a wild pitch, and then Adrian Reichardt's 2-run single to center in the top 5th as the Titans closed back to 6-5. It really seemed like this was not a meeting between two well-pitching teams, but rather a race to 21; the Coons got an RBI double from Trey Rock, still off Joel Davis, in the bottom 5th, extending their edge to 7-5 again, and Tim Stalker batted for Nomura, so the likely biggest threat to a Coons win was gone from the game, too (grumbles). While Josh Boles held up in the sixth, the Coons got Ramos on with a leadoff single against Mike Stank in the bottom 6th. Ramos scooped second, advanced on a soft single by Spencer, then scored on Gomez' sac fly, 8-5. Surginer allowed a double to Adam Braun in the seventh, but otherwise held the Titans short, and Ricky Ohl conceded an infield single to Corder in the eighth, but otherwise whiffed three. Brent Beene held the Coons short in the seventh and eighth, too, and so it was still an 8-5 lead in the ninth inning, with the Raccoons sending out… Jeff Kearney? With D.J. Fullerton pinch-hitting in the #9 hole to begin the inning, that put two left-handed bats into the inning, so the Coons were trying to steal the save with Kearney, who had not pitched at all in the Rebels series, while Snyder had, but was on standby anyway. Fullerton flew high, but not deep to right, Gomez logging the out. Willie Vega whiffed, and with the tying run still far away, Kearney remained in to face the right-hander Gasso, who hit a deep fly to center on a 3-1 pitch… but Mora kept up with it and ended the game with a grab in fairly deep center. 8-5 Coons! Mora 3-4; Nunley 2-4; Tovias 2-4, RBI; Rock 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Game 2
BOS: LF W. Vega – 1B Gasso – RF Braun – CF Reichardt – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – SS Spataro – C A. Arias – P Wingo
POR: LF Spencer – SS Stalker – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – 2B Rock – CF St. Germaine – P Gutierrez

Tim Stalker lasted only into the third inning before tweaking something on fielding Keith Spataro's grounder and had to replaced by Daniel Bullock, which turned out to be a splendid move. In keeping Alberto Ramos on the bench on what was supposed to be maybe a PH appearance but mostly a day off, the Raccoons got themselves the go-ahead homer in the bottom 3rd, yes actually, when Bullock hit one out of left-center for the first run in the game. Rico Gutierrez was unscored upon at that point and in fact perfect. But before long, the Titans were on him. He sat down 11 in a row to begin the game, but then surrendered a double into the gap to Adam Braun, and Adrian Reichardt – a pest as usual – singled sharply to right to bring in the tying run right away. Bottom 4th, Harenberg and Nunley hit singles and Trey Rock walked, loading them up with one out for Adam St. Germaine, the former Titan who was in freefall, batting .161 at this precise moment. He struck out, and so did Rico, and nobody scored.

Instead, the Titans knocked over Rico in the seventh, an inning in which he retired nobody. Reichardt led off with a sharp single up the middle, Rhett West cracked an even harder double to right that chased Reichardt around to score the go-ahead run. Losing Corder to a walk was the end for Rico, who was subbed for by Ricky Ohl, who did away with the Titans eventually, but surrendered a run on a sac fly anyway. Meanwhile the Raccoons kept choking against Dustin Wingo, who only incurred some resistance again in the bottom 8th with his pitch count crossing over 100 while he surrendered singles to Harenberg and Tovias, who were on the corners with two outs. This brought up Matt Nunley, who would have been hit for if we had found any sort of right-handed batter on the bench, but there was just nothing on there except the switch-hitter Liu, and … eh, no. And Nunley struck out. Nope, the Coons wouldn't get through Wingo, then would face Julio San Pedro in the ninth inning. That was a right-hander, and Ramos batted for Rock right away. He struck out, as did the completely forsaken St. Germaine. Abel Mora batted for Billy Brotman with two outs, actually put a ball in play, but flew out easily to Willie Vega. 3-1 Titans. Spencer 2-4; Harenberg 2-4;

Well, that was a stinker of a game…

Tim Stalker had a barking back just like Dan Delgadillo had incurred this week, but also would not be hampered for very long by it. The Druid listed him as la-la for about three more sunrises. That was actually the text on the report.

Game 3
BOS: LF W. Vega – 1B Gasso – RF Braun – CF Reichardt – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – SS Spataro – C A. Arias – P Gannon
POR: SS Ramos – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – 2B Rock – P Roberts

Like Gutierrez, Mark Roberts no-hit the Titans for three innings, and like Gutierrez he couldn't get the bid through four. Gus Gasso hit a leadoff single in the top 4th, but would not get around to score on account of two groundouts and Rhett West being fiendishly robbed by Rafael Gomez in the gap. The Coons also hid under a rock until a leadoff blast by Rafael Gomez off Gannon in the bottom 4th, so again a solo dinger put the Coons ahead. Just like Saturday. (instinctively braces for the worst) But other than Saturday, the Coons actually tacked on a run before the heavens could cave in and crush them all, with Rock and Ramos drawing walks in the bottom of the fifth, and Rock managing to get around to score on a sac fly hit by Jarod Spencer, extending the lead to 2-0. There were some chinks in the armor in the sixth though as Roberts appeared to be through the inning until Ramos dropped Reichardt's 2-out pop for an error, and Roberts took several pitches to get back into the groove, which was likely a mental thing. Reichardt swiped second base, West walked, but Adam Corder popped out right above home plate to end the inning, as Roberts was still nursing a 2-hit shutout, but his pitch count had just taken a beating, and he reached a flat 100 pitches in retiring the bottom of the Titans' lineup in order in the seventh inning.

After Rock's leadoff single (his third on-base stint leading off an inning in the game) brought up Cookie as pinch-hitter, but he lined out to a lunging West for a hard-luck out. Ramos singled to left, but Spencer's grounder and Gomez' pop were not going to get a run in. Top 8th, Josh Boles retired two before the terrible Braun/Reichardt combo scorched the Critters again. Double by the former, single by the latter, and they were on the board in a 2-1 game. Snyder replaced Boles, with the Titans immediately sending Keith Leonard to counter him in place of Rhett West, but he leisurely flew out to centerfield. BUT – the Coons struck back! Yeah, I know! Harenberg worked a walk to begin the bottom 8th against Gannon, who then threw his 110th and final pitch into Abel Mora's wheelhouse for the outfielder's fifth homer of the season, a near-liner that just barely made it over the fence in extreme leftfield, but it still counted for two. Brent Beene replaced him, but the Coons tacked on a run on Tovias' double and then … well, Jonathan Snyder came up with two outs and a 4-1 score, so he was sent to bat … and singled up the middle, perfectly placed to get Tovias home from second base! Fortunately the thrill of baserunning in a brown jacket (a sight not witnessed often anymore!) didn't throw his pitching off-camber, and he retired the Titans without much drama in the ninth as the Coons took this series, levelled the season series, and had looked fairly competent in the series. 5-1 Critters! Ramos 2-4, RBI; Harenberg 1-2, 2 BB; Rock 2-3, BB; Roberts 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (2-2); Snyder 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (11) and 1-1, RBI;

In other news

May 11 – VAN SP Rodolfo Cervantes (4-2, 2.08 ERA) 2-hits the Cyclones in a 3-0 shutout, whiffing nine.
May 11 – In the crazy game of the week, the Loggers and Gold Sox exchange blows until time runs out and Milwaukee takes a 19-12 win over Denver. Teams combine for 37 base hits and five home runs, five player with 4+ RBI, and MIL INF Mike Green (.247, 5 HR, 15 RBI) having the best day overall with four base hits and 5 RBI, and only the triple missing for a cycle.
May 13 – Blue Sox rookie SP Dan Jerge (1-3, 3.98 ERA) is done for the season with shoulder inflammation.
May 15 – The Gold Sox have another wild one, putting together two 5-run innings in the same games against the Scorpions and still finding themselves on the losing end, 12-11. SAC 1B Luis Moreira (.261, 10 HR, 28 RBI) has four each in terms of base hits and RBI in this game.
May 16 – The Wolves trade LF/RF Matt Owen (.283, 2 HR, 18 RBI) to the Rebels for two prospects.

Complaints and stuff

Baseball is so much more fun with offense! Well, if your team puts up the offense. I mean, I like a well-pitched game, too, but … okay, to be honest, I like my guy to hurl a shutout and our offense to score six early so I can get drunk calmly. There is nothing worse than drinking angrily.

Would you mind looking at that stingy bullpen of ours? That's a 1.82 bullpen ERA, just so you know!

Abel Mora is tied for third in the league with 27 RBI, just one behind Nate Hall on the Knights and Condor Shane Sanks. Weirdly, Shane Sanks leads the ABL in dingers with a dozen, which is not something that sounds right to me. Yeah, he hit 29 last year, but … (shrugs)… however, the really weird part is the RBI thing. The CL lead is 28, the FL lead would be 30 if it wasn't for Tsuneyoshi Tachibana. The Capital tied Sanks for the homer lead with 12, and had already driven home *48* runs. He was merely on pace for 205 for the season.

I am looking at the numbers and they don't make much sense. The Raccoons are barely scoring 4.15 runs per game. That is good enough to put them fourth-best in runs scored in the Continental League. In the CL offense currently is the lowest it has been in decades. Last season already saw the lowest league ERA (3.80) since 1998, but currently players are trying to reach a 3.70 mark last touched in 1988. Granted, offense always is a little slow in April in all the frigid places we play in, but this is astonishing…

Down on the farm, the Beagles (who lost over a hundred last year…) are 21-8 with some strong pitching that got partially moved up to AA this week, while we canned some never-will-be pitching, including 2023 third-rounder Travis Taylor and his 6.75 ERA and almost a full walk per inning pitched.

Fun Fact: CL North teams have won the last six World Series titles, which is the longest any ABL division has ever had the trophy circulate among its members without interruption.

Well it hasn't circled much. The Loggers won in '21, then four times the Titans. Last year, us.

The record for all other divisions is just two titles. No team other than the Crusaders (twice) and the Titans (once) have ever won three or more in a row, and no division rivals ever glued together for three in a row, even during the Federal League's 1980s string of dominance.