[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-32) @ Crusaders (30-37) – June 20-22, 2033

The Crusaders had lost five in a row and ranked ninth in both runs scored and runs allowed with a growing -44 run differential. Their pitching was particularly appalling; they had a bullpen with a 4.22 ERA, third-worst in the Continental League, and the rotation was outright the worst with a 4.60 ERA. The defense was also at the bottom end of the scale, and they had recently lost an admittedly aging and part-of-the-problem Mike Rutkowski to a partially torn labrum. Portland led the season series, 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Ignacio del Rio (5-5, 3.58 ERA) vs. Gilberto Rendon (8-4, 3.56 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (5-5, 3.22 ERA) vs. Jesse Wright (2-0, 4.68 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (3-6, 4.61 ERA) vs. Ramiro Benavides (1-6, 6.03 ERA)

Unless Benavides would be discarded by Wednesday, handedness would match for each pair of starters in this series. Both teams were also looking forward to an off day on Thursday on the way to the west coast; the Critters would go to Tijuana, the Crusaders would invade the Bay.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – CF Reichardt – C Thompson – 3B Perkins – P del Rio
NYC: CF Tessmann – 1B Cambra – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Reardon – SS Schuler – C Leonard – LF Jamieson – 3B J. Zamora – P G. Rendon

Ramos singled and stole a base to start the Coons off in the first, but was then left on base by the next three batters. Berto then endeavored to be part of the problem in the third inning, which Perkins opened with a double to left. Del Rio popped out, Ramos whiffed, and Manny Fernandez flew to Tessmann – who flubbed the ball, allowing Perkins to score after all with a 2-out error. That was the first run of the game, with the Crusaders having stranded pairs of runners in the first two innings. Firmino Cambra and Mario Hurtado had singled in the bottom 1st, while Keith Leonard had drawn a 4-pitch walk to begin the second before trusty old Matt Jamieson was nicked with an 0-2 pitch. Both times del Rio mixed in a crucial strikeout to escape looming carnage, but had to watch helplessly as doubles by Cambra and Chris Reardon in the bottom 3rd tied the game right back up. Both hit their doubles to left and past Jimmy Wallace, which was the sort of extra-base hit that should come with an asterisk…

Jimmy Wallace would try his best to make it up to us, knocking in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning with a 2-out single. He plated Manny Fernandez, who had been walked intentionally after Ramos had singled and stolen second base again. The runners were in motion with Stalker at the plate, but the Crusaders were alert this time and Leonard struck down Ramos at third base on ball one. Fernandez moved up on Stalker’s groundout, then came around to score on the Wallace singled. Zitzner grounded out to short, keeping it at 2-1, which became 2-2 without an out being recorded in the bottom 6th. Reardon singled, Randy Schuler walked, and Leonard singled into right to plate Reardon from second base. The Crusaders then stranded another pair on two pop flies and Rendon going down on strikes. They reached the corners in the bottom 7th with Cambra doubling off Garavito and Hurtado landing a single with one out against Ed Blair, but then stalled again. PH Hirofumi Saito popped out, and Schuler went down on strikes. The Critters could not get the offense going in the late innings. The Crusaders were retired by Anaya in order in the eighth, but got the first two batters on in the ninth. Ryan Hurley singled out of the #9 hole, and Zachary Ryder walked. David Fernandez came on in relief of Anaya, had Cambra at 1-2, but then gave up a single past Stalker and into center. Reichardt fired to home plate as Hurley was sent around – but late. 3-2 Crusaders. Ramos 2-4;

Firmino Cambra had four hits in this game, or one fewer than the Raccoons pooled together in a pathetic performance.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Marsingill – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – RF M. Fernandez – 1B Ferrero – C Thompson – CF Pinkerton – P Sabre
NYC: CF Tessmann – 1B Cambra – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Reardon – LF Saito – SS Schuler – C Leonard – 3B J. Zamora – P J. Wright

The sticks came out in the Tuesday game, soon eclipsing the paltry output from Monday. Jimmy Wallace hit a 2-piece to right in the first, Stalker added a solo bomb to left in the fourth, an inning that continued with Manny Fernandez reaching base, stealing second base, and coming around on Thompson’s 2-out single, and in the fifth Sabre himself, pitching a 1-hit shutout at that point, tried to instigate another riot with a leadoff single. Ramos also dropped one in, and Justin Marsingill hit a ball in the right-center gap for an RBI double to run the tally to 5-0. Stalker walked in a full count, giving Wallace three on and nobody out, who hit a sac fly to center. Fernandez hit a gapper for an RBI double, Ferrero hit a line-hugging ball for a 2-run double… but twisted his knee and had to come out of the game. Tom Hawkins replaced him in a 9-0 game that had just gone from a laugher to “yes, but”. Mark Holliday, who had replaced Wright’s beaten-in brains two doubles ago, struck out Thompson and got Pinkerton to ground out, ending a 5-run fifth.

Holliday allowed another RBI double in the seventh, that one being hit by Tom Hawkins with two outs, but mostly owed to a horrendous bad judgment by Chris Reardon, who jogged back before charging in, and then it was already too late. In between, Sabre had served up a dingerball to Randy Schuler, so the shutout was off the table, and Schuler brought in another run in the seventh, but then in double play fashion after Reardon and Saito had occupied the corners with leadoff hits. Stalker singled home Pinkerton in the top 8th to re-establish a 9-run lead, and Sabre completed eight innings on 99 pitches, most of them very good! Kyle Green meandered through a 23-pitch ninth with hardly anybody left watching to finish off the rout. 11-2 Coons! Ramos 2-5; Stalker 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Hawkins 1-2, 2B, RBI; Sabre 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-5) and 1-4;

Noel Ferrero hit the DL with a knee sprain. He was expected to remain on the sidelines until about a week after the All Star Game, and the Raccoons needed to shop for a replacement. Billy Jennings’ return was on the horizon, but he was still about another week away, so the Coons went and left Ed Hooge alone to get regular at-bats in AAA and instead promoted Ryan Allan, the 31-year-old outfielder slash first baseman of dubious talent. He had not been in the majors since ’31, when he had batted .200 in 85 at-bats. For his career, he was swatting it for a .652 OPS in the majors.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Marsingill – CF Reichardt – 1B Zitzner – LF Wallace – 3B Perkins – C Garcia – RF Pinkerton – P Gutierrez
NYC: CF Tessmann – 1B Cambra – 2B M. Hurtado – LF D. Brown – SS Schuler – 3B J. Zamora – RF Ryder – C Hurley – P Benavides

Berto nearly got tossed from the game after striking out to end the top of the second inning, stranding Garcia (walk) and Pinkerton (RBI double cashing Perkins) in scoring position, bickering at the umpire until Garcia strolled by on the way to the dugout and threw him over his shoulder in one swooping motion to carry Ramos with him. The Pinkerton double brought in the first run of the game, but two more followed in the top 3rd on straight hits by the 3-4-5 batters, ending with a Wallace RBI double, and a Perkins sac fly. Now, caution was advised whenever you had a 3-0 lead in support of a flayed corpse pitching, but Rico Gutierrez was admirably tough on the Crusaders, pitching a 1-hitter through five and facing only one over the minimum despite two leadoff walks. He started 1-6-3 double plays on Mario Hurtado in the fourth and Jorge Zamora in the fifth to get out of potential trouble, so that was all dandy, too…!

Ramos ended the sixth with another two in scoring position, striking out again facing Benavides, but this time simply laughed on the way back. Starting in the bottom 6th, the Crusaders began to hit the ball harder, and Gutierrez walked Danny Tessmann, the former Elk, with two outs, but Firmino Cambra grounded out to second base. The bottom 7th began with a strikeout to Hurtado, but Dan Brown eeked out a walk. Schuler popped out, Zamora hit a bloop single, but even as the tying run at the plate we thought Zachary Ryder to be a good match for Gutierrez, even as a switch-hitter batting from his better side, because Ryder’s profile mostly read “impatient, no power threat”. He promptly grounded out to short on the 1-0 pitch, stranding two. Benavides pitched into the eighth without surrendering another thing of substance, and the inning ended with Mike Hugh K’ing Pinkerton, which brought up the tough question of whether to allow Gutierrez to face another guy or two. But with Reardon having entered in a double switch, the due-up 8-9 batters were a tough right-handed chew now, and we decided against it. Instead, Bates came out, walked one and whiffed the other, then yielded for Garavito, who got a double play grounder to Ramos on his second pitch to Tessmann. Instead, Chris Wise made it … “interesting”. Leadoff walk to Cambra, then a Hurtado single – that brought the tying run to the plate. Wise threw a wild pitch, then gave up a drive to center that Reichardt raced back to shag, although Cambra scored. After a full-count walk to Schuler, the pitching coach went out to inquire about Wise’s physical and mental well-being, and whether he was ****ing nuts. Zamora singled, loading the bags and putting the winning run on base with one out for PH Matt Jamieson. The ex-Coon failed to sink the Critters, hitting a bouncer back at Wise, who contained the ball on the second bounce to kill off Hurtado. When left-hander Keith Leonard pinch-hit for Hurley, the Critters opted for David Fernandez; something was off with Wise, and maybe he was just overeaten, but we liked nothing we were seeing. Nothing. This included the first pitch Fernandez threw and Leonard cracked for a game-tying 2-run single. Reardon grounded out on the second pitch, another sharp cracker at Perkins this time.

Extra innings still saw the Coons’ offense dead as it had been for many innings. Fernandez put runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom 10th before Anaya replaced him and rung up Schuler to allow us another chance at failing in the 11th. That was the only batter Anaya faced, but it wasn’t his fault. The Crusaders’ David Gerow nailed Garcia with one out in the 11th. Garcia winced, but soldiered on to stay in the game – and he had to; Elliott Thompson had pinch-hit for Marsingill in the #2 hole in the ninth and was no longer available, and the pitcher was now in that slot. Pinkerton lined out to Hurtado, but Manny Fernandez, who had also pinch-hit in the ninth and had stayed in the game as defensive replacement for Wallace, turned a 1-2 pitch into center for a single. That brought up Ramos, who was oh-fer with about 60 runners left on base on this day. Not one more, Berto declared, cracked a 2-out RBI single to right, and the Critters were ahead again! Ryan Allan batted for Anaya, struck out, and now the Coons picked Ed Blair for a second run at a save. Kyle Green was the only other reliever still available, which would possibly come into play given Blair serving up a leadoff jack to Zamora that tied the score at four, then retired the next three batters… Green’s time came after an uneventful 12th and another sad-sack 1-2-3 by the Coons in the top 13th while Erik David axed them in half. David hit a 2-out single off Green in the bottom 13th with the New York bench deserted, but Keith Leonard flew out to Reichardt.

Top 14th, Manny Fernandez reached on a Saito error in left, making it all the way to second base. He advanced on Ramos’ groundout, which was NOT good, since it brought the pitcher to the plate. The Coons still sighed and played their last remaining bench piece, Tom Hawkins, while Andy Palomares had been sent to the pen two innings ago to get loose. He was the only Coons hurler left now; unless they got Fernandez in, they’d win or lose with Palomares. Hawkins shoved David’s 0-1 pitch through the right side for an RBI single, breaking the tie again! Reichardt hit into a fielder’s choice, then was caught stealing, so Palomares had no cushion to a 5-4 lead as he’d make a bid for his second career save, the first having come with Oklahoma City ten years earlier. Chris Reardon hit a leadoff single to begin the bottom 14th, then advanced on grounders to Zitzner and Stalker, respectively, bringing up Hurtado with the tying run at third and two gone. Sharp bouncer to left, Perkins on it, throw to first – ballgame! 5-4 Coons. Hawkins (PH) 1-1, RBI; Wallace 2-4, 2B, RBI; Pinkerton 2-6, RBI; Gutierrez 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K;

Look at Gutierrez, that bum! Again lasts only half a game!!

Although he only threw 15 pitches in getting the save, Palomares was voided from his scheduled start on Friday on the other side of the travel day. He would be given two additional days off and was reinstated for the Sunday finale in Tijuana.

Raccoons (39-33) @ Condors (44-28) – June 24-26, 2033

The Condors were chasing somebody for the first time in a few years. They were 2 1/2 behind the Bayhawks, the same distance that separated the Raccoons from the Titans. The Condors were also on a 6-game winning streak, so that was something to contend with. They were second in the CL in both runs scored and runs allowed, but the Critters had actually won the first series of the season, two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (7-3, 3.45 ERA) vs. Jeff Little (6-1, 3.26 ERA)
Ignacio del Rio (5-5, 3.54 ERA) vs. Jimmy Driver (6-2, 2.21 ERA)
Andy Palomares (6-6, 4.59 ERA) vs. Josh Irwin (7-5, 3.11 ERA)

Little figured to be the sole southpaw up for offer here. Driver was a swingman I’d use more often in the Condors’ place.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Marsingill – CF Reichardt – 1B Zitzner – LF Wallace – 2B Stalker – C Garcia – RF Pinkerton – P Chavez
TIJ: RF C. Murphy – SS C. Miller – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – CF B. Fernandez – LF Sung – C J. Flores – 2B Hughes – P Little

The Coons got off to a quick start against Little, with Ramos ramming a triple into the gap. Marsingill singled, scored on a Zitzner double, and the Raccoons led 2-0 before Marsingill was stranded at third base. Preston Pinkerton hit a leadoff triple of his own in the second inning. Bernie plated him with a sac fly to make it 3-0. Bernie didn’t allow a Condor on base in the first two innings, but they reached the corners on a leadoff walk drawn by Jose Flores and an Andy Hughes single in the bottom 3rd. Little bunted, Chris Murphy was rung up, Chris Miller bounced one back to Chavez, and the Condors remained off the board. The following frame, Bobby Fernandez and Yeong-ha Sung reached the corners with a pair of 2-out singles, but Flores popped out foul to Marsingill to strand two more. They did get a run across in the fifth though, on the third triple of the day, a 2-out liner into the corner smashed by Chris Miller, plating Murphy, who had walked. Sanks made the third out, but Kevin McGrath hit a huge leadoff jack in the bottom 6th. They were certainly zeroing in on Chavez, but at least Little – always short on stamina – was out of the game by now. Maybe the pen could allow the Coons, who had been held at bay in the middle innings, to tack on some insurance.

Not bloody quite. Ramos hit a leadoff single in the seventh, but could not get a jump on Robby Ciampa and was then doubled up by Reichardt to end the inning. Bernie completed, retiring PH Matt Hamilton and the Chris Brigade in order in the bottom 7th, but that also put him at 100 pitches, so that was the end of him. The pen took over in the bottom 8th and the 3-2 lead promptly went to hell. Sanks doubled off Anaya, who also walked McGrath, then was removed for Garavito. The Condors countered with a right-handed batter, John Hansen, in place of Fernandez. The move did not pay off – Travis Zitzner made a fabulous play on a sharp high bouncer and turned it for a 3-6-3 double play! That left only the persistent pest Sanks at third base with two outs and another righty pinch-hitter in Juan Camps at the plate. The count ran full, Camps tied the game with a sharp single to right, and then Garavito hung a 1-2 pitch that Flores hit for the go-ahead RBI double. Hughes grounded out, but everything had gone to hell. Not that the Condors would hold on to their lead – lefty Josh Heckman served up a leadoff jack to Fernando Garcia to start the ninth, and the score was even at four. Pinkerton singled to left, but was forced out on Manny Fernandez’ grounder, but at least Fernandez was fast enough to reach third base on Berto’s single to right. That was the go-ahead run, 90 feet away. Marsingill poked at a low 1-2 pitch, somehow shoveled it out of the dirt and hit a terrible blooper into shallow right out of everybody’s reach. Fernandez scored, Berto read it perfectly and reached third base on the RBI single…! That led to an insurance run on Reichardt’s sac fly to Camps in leftfield. Zitzner walked, btu Wallace was robbed by Camps to end the inning. Back was Wise – trying to paint over the lousy outing on Wednesday. Jimmy Wood flicked a leadoff single on a 1-2 pitch, bringing up the top of the order as the tying runs. Murphy struck out. Ken Hess ran a full count – and struck out. Shane Sanks, the disgusting skunk weasel, ran another full count … and struck out!! 6-4 Furballs! Ramos 3-5, 3B; Marsingill 2-5, 2 RBI; Garcia 2-4, HR, RBI; Pinkerton 3-4, 3B; Chavez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 0-2, RBI;

I will have to admit, this team sure has grit.

Can we get another series win over a strong team?

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Marsingill – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF M. Fernandez – CF Reichardt – 2B Stalker – C Thompson – P del Rio
TIJ: RF C. Murphy – SS C. Miller – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – CF B. Fernandez – C J. Wood – LF Sung – 2B Hughes – P Driver

Driver faced the minimum the first time through, with Stalker singling and being caught stealing, while Tijuana took an early 1-0 lead in the first. Miller doubled, Sanks singled, and a McGrath grounder could not be turn for two in time, allowing Miller to score from third base. Ramos walked to begin the fourth, but was doubled up by Marsingill’s 6-4-3 grounder before Wallace and Zitzner hit singles and were stranded when Murphy robbed Manny Fernandez at the fence, which caused me to grind my teeth so hard something in my jaw cracked.

Maybe a Ramos triple would help – Berto got one past Murphy with one out in the sixth, marking the first time in the contest any Critter had reached third base. There he remained when Marsingill whiffed and Wallace grounded out to Miller. The pitching duel still raged in the eighth inning. Driver retired Stalker and Thompson, but then allowed a slap single to del Rio himself. Berto came up and hit a drive to left-center, Sung couldn’t get it, and it was in the gap! Del Rio ran as hard as he could when the bench yelled that a banana split would be waiting for him at home plate, and Berto slid into third base with his third triple of the series, the game being tied! Pinkerton hit for the luckless Marsingill, grounded to Sanks, the throw to first – PAST the first baseman for an error, and the Coons have the lead!! Wallace legged out an infield single, moving Pinkerton to third base, and when Driver plated him with a wild pitch and the Coons led 3-1, my jaw slowly unclenched. Zitzner fouled out, ending the inning. del Rio failed to go eight, allowing a pinch-hit single to Ken Hess with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but David Fernandez came on and rung up Murphy instead! Wise retired the side in order in the ninth! 3-1 Furballs!! Ramos 2-3, BB, 2 3B, RBI; Wallace 2-4; del Rio 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (6-5) and 1-3;

I am starting to like this team!

When was the last time I liked a Raccoons team??

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF M. Fernandez – CF Reichardt – C Thompson – 3B Perkins – P Palomares
TIJ: RF C. Murphy – SS C. Miller – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – CF B. Fernandez – LF Sung – C J. Flores – 2B Hughes – P Irwin

Both teams stranded a pair without scoring in the first inning before Adrian Reichardt went deep to left, putting Portland up 1-0 to begin the second inning. Unfortunately, Yeong-ha Sung would accomplish the same feat for Tijuana, only hitting it to the other side of the park. Flores then hit a homer to left, putting them ahead, 2-1. The Raccoons would only have three hits through five innings, but Palomares would continue to put Condors on base. Through five, he struck out nobody, allowed eight hits, and one of those was a 2-run homer to McGrath in the bottom 5th, extending the gap further to 4-1. He would end up laden with five runs in 5.1 innings, allowing a double to Flores in the sixth before being lifted for David Fernandez, who threw a wild pitch and allowed a sac fly to ancient Matt Hamilton, hitting for Irwin after six innings of 4-hit ball. Murphy and Miller singled, but Bates struck out the skunk weasel Sanks to get out of the inning with the Critters down by four rather than a million. Unfortunately Ethan Jordan was not willing to take prisoners, retiring the Coons in order in the top of the seventh, and the bottom of the same inning saw Victor Anaya completely dismantled. He faced five batters – all five landed a base hit. McGrath singled, Bobby Fernandez hit an RBI triple, and Sung, Flores, and Hughes loaded the bags with a string of singles. By now the game was indeed out of all paws. Kyle Green replaced Anaya, as the Coons openly conceded defeat. He allowed one more run on a sac fly by PH John Hansen, which I considered mild damage at this point, with the score 8-1 after seven. The Critters scratched out a run on a Ramos Special in the eighth, but that was it. 8-2 Condors. Stalker 2-4, 3B;

In other news

June 26 – As the Pacifics pummel the Rebels, 18-4, LAP LF/RF/1B Danny Serrano (.800, 0 HR, 5 RBI) makes his season debut and promptly goes 4-for-5 with 5 RBI out of the #8 hole.
June 26 – LAP OF Tom Dunlap (.271, 2 HR, 23 RBI) is out for the season with a broken kneecap.
June 26 – Aces SP Natanael Abrao (2-6, 5.24 ERA) will also miss the rest of the 2033 season with a ruptured UCL.

Complaints and stuff

Just when I admitted I started to like the team, they deliver a clonker like Sunday’s… That’s what the game gives you when you admit your feelings… baseball is so cruel…

But we reached 40+ wins in June – who had that on his bingo card?? We will close out the first half against the Baybirds and Indians at home.

But I am fascinated by the pitching. Led by the three young starters and a tough-as-nails pen, the Critters are conceding the fewest runs in the league! We’re first in all major categories except ERA (2nd), starters’ ERA (5th), dingers surrendered (5th), and strikeouts (7th).

Raffaello Sabre reached 100 innings for the season with a very fine outing on Tuesday. He has been the most consistent of the three young ones. They have all three had their moments, good and bad, and they all have sorta low-ish 3.XX ERA’s, which compared to last year is just like heaven.

Billy Jennings started a rehab assignment on Sunday and should return to the team in a few days. That will get rid of Ryan Allan again, who could not be more useless if he had funnels for hands, doorstops for feet, and screws wedged in his knobbly black eyes. Hennessy might also return soon, reclaiming his rightful place from dismal Kyle Green.

Also, what are the odds of Nick Bates becoming an All Star?

Fun Fact: Nick Bates was the #130 pick in the 2026 draft, where he was described as a “California surfer boy that is right-handed and can't really locate the 94mph heater. Nasty slider, though.”

Maybe would have deserved some more credit. He’s a hard worker and he made that stuff work. It sure took a while (he’s going hard on 28 and unlikely to reach arbitration before next year), but he’s actually turned himself into a sharp reliever! I’m just worried the contrast between last year (5.8 BB/9) and this year (2.8 BB/9) is too stark for it to be true.

Then again, our head scout, who has a name, I’m sure, describes Bates’ personality as “tenacious” on his report card, so maybe he can actually will himself to a sub-1 ERA this year.