[Westheim]

Raccoons (25-20) @ Thunder (24-19) – May 23-25, 2034

The Thunder held third place in the South, but were already seven games out. They ranked fourth in runs scored, but were bleeding just as many runs as they were scoring with a +1 differential, lingering ninth in runs allowed. The main issue was their rotation, which was full of holes. Portland had dropped six of nine games to Oklahoma City last season.

Projected matchups:
Gilberto Rendon (5-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (5-2, 5.40 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (2-1, 2.05 ERA) vs. TBD
Raffaello Sabre (3-2, 3.42 ERA) vs. TBD

The holes became more pronounced with the purging of two placeholder pitchers at the start of the week. There had also been an off day on Monday, and a rainout in Vancouver on Sunday, so the Thunder had not played since Saturday, allowing them to reshuffle everything. Robinson, a southpaw, was announced for Tuesday. Everybody else was fair game for the rest of the series. This included southpaw Tony Gallardo (3-1, 3.70 ERA) and righties John Nelson (6-3, 2.96 ERA), Joel Trotter (1-4, 6.80 ERA), and the freshly recalled Chris Guyett, who had spent all season in AAA so far.

Then there was also injuries; with Alex Serrato and Andy Schmit two regulars were on the DL for them, plus another infielder in Ben Riffer. Lorenzo Celaya, who had led the CL in stolen bases early on, was day-to-day with back issues.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Salgado – 1B Zitzner – LF M. Fernandez – CF Reichardt – 3B Hawkins – C Scheffer – P Rendon
OCT: RF Celaya – CF Olszewski – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – LF Sagredo – SS Ferguson – 2B A. Rojas – 3B Becker – P J. Robinson

Rendon shuffled the bags full in the first with a Celaya single (and stolen base…), a nailer into Danny Cruz, and a walk to Mike Burgess. Luis Sagredo hit a sac fly to center and David Ferguson struck out, but right out of the gate things looked wonky. Things got better in the second thanks to a leadoff jack by Travis Zitzner. Adrian Reichardt doubled to left, and with two outs the Thunder pitched to Scheffer rather than just walk him. The surging backstop hit an RBI single to center, giving the Coons the lead, but Rendon singled just the same. Ramos, however, flew out to Celaya to end the inning. Both pitchers cranked up the volume after that, whiffing six a side through five innings and keeping runners to the bare minimum to prevent the crowd from dozing off. Rain began in the sixth inning; I didn’t know that the park had been built in the Little Portland section of Oklahoma City, but if you spent most of a month on the road it almost felt good to be reminded of home, sweet home. Top 7th, Portland did nothing at all, but Rendon kept batting for himself. He began the bottom 7th with an 0-2 count on David Ferguson before the umpires had enough of their water-soaked uniforms and opted for a round of cocoa – the tarp came onto the field, and remained there throughout the night, with the game called some 90 minutes after the initial delay. The Coons snuck out seven-inning winners. 2-1 Raccoons. Zitzner 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Rendon 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (6-2) and 1-3;

The middle game would see weather somewhat less hostile, and the season debut of 34-year-old Chris Guyett, an Aces rotation staple for the better part of a decade after his initial stint with the Blue Sox. Guyett had the weird distinction of leading the CL in losses in consecutive seasons (2030-31). He was supposed to get this sinking ship back on course.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Zeltser – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – CF M. Fernandez – 2B Stalker – C Thompson – RF Jennings – P Chavez
OCT: RF Celaya – CF Olszewski – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – LF Sagredo – SS Ferguson – 2B A. Rojas – 3B Felicame – P Guyett

Travis Zitzner’s bat made another loud noise his first time up, this time a 2-run homer to left that scored Bob Zeltser, too, making it a 2-0 contest in the opening frame. That was not the last loud knock off Guyett, as Tim Stalker hit a leadoff double to the fence in the second inning. Thompson and Jennings remained virtually useless, but Bernie Chavez flicked a single to right with two outs, and Celaya, still bothered by his very frame, tried to make the least amount of effort in picking it up, and let the ball roll under his tentatively lowered glove. The extra base allowed Stalker to score for sure, 3-0, before Ramos struck out. Wallace and Zitzner hit homers to the left side back-to-back in the third, extending the mark to 5-0. Portland didn’t score in the fourth – although Berto reached on an error by Guyett and stole his 18th base – but the Thunder did, collecting their first hits of the game with a Drew Olszewski single and a Danny Cruz double that scored the runner.

That was it with runs for the time being, with the Coons letting off Guyett, who managed to get through seven innings despite the initial onslaught with three homers (Zitzner popped out his third time around), while Bernie kept going until a muddy bottom 7th seemed to derail him. Burgess walked, Ferguson reached on an error by Zeltser, Bernie threw a wild pitch, then walked Alfredo Rojas with two outs and a full count. Antonio Felicame batted .175 and fell to 0-2 as the tying run, but still managed to slap a ball into play… but he grounded out to Ramos. Guyett began the eighth and survived Zitzner’s groundout, but then conceded a sixth run on Manny Fernandez’ single and Elliott Thompson’s third hit of the game, an RBI single. Bernie, on 102 pitches, might have faced another batter or two, but with left-hander Steve Cutler pinch-hitting in the opening #9 hole in the bottom 8th (and no righty scheduled to bat until Burgess, hopefully in another inning) was lifted for Garavito, who was in a hurry and got three outs and around an Olszewski single on just nine pitches. Another run fell out of David Gerow in the ninth, courtesy of Hugo Salgado’s pinch-hit double and a Zeltser RBI single. Bottom 9th then, Victor Anaya was ready to stir – literally. He nailed Sagreo, put Ferguson on with a throwing error, and the Thunder were in scoring position with two outs after a Rojas groundout. Felicame was batting lefty, but we didn’t feel like using another reliever at all until Anaya REALLY made us, and then he could hitch a train to Florida right away. Felicame thus obviously hit a 2-run double. Carlos Rosa grounded out to end the game, but some right-hander was now really living on borrowed time… 7-3 Coons. Zeltser 2-5, RBI; Zitzner 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Thompson 3-4, 2B, RBI; Salgado (PH) 1-1, 2B; Chavez 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (3-1) and 1-3, RBI;

Hey-hey, Bernie won a game!

No roster moves were made right away, but I was tiring of Anaya’s act for sure. I was not even getting why he sucked so hard. He had the best BB/9 and K/9 numbers of his career!

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Zeltser – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF M. Fernandez – CF Reichardt – 2B Vickers – C Scheffer – P Sabre
OCT: RF Celaya – CF Olszewski – 1B D. Cruz – C Burgess – LF Sagredo – 2B A. Rojas – SS Felicame – 3B Becker – P J. Nelson

Ramos singled and Zeltser and Wallace hit doubles to start the game, Jimmy cashing two runs batted in to take the team lead with 26 (compared to Danny Cruz’ 42 not exactly an outrageous amount). Wallace was also stranded by the next three batters. Sabre retired the first ten batters he faced before walking Olszewski and allowing Cruz on by mishandling an infield single, but at least dug his way out of there by retiring Burgess on a pop and Sagredo on a grounder. Cruz’ legs procured the only Thunder hit through five; Thierry Becker got drilled with two outs in the fifth, but Nelson went down on strikes – the first K on Sabre’s ledger. It was 3-0 through five, thanks to Manny Fernandez’ leadoff triple and Reichardt’s sac fly in the fourth inning. Cruz hit another single, this time in honest fashion, in the bottom 6th, but was also left stranded then. The Thunder didn’t reach in the seventh at all, but the Critters cobbled a run together from hits by Wallace, Fernandez, and Reichardt to go up 4-0 by the top of the eighth. Sabre, who had held the Thunder clueless all the way, batted for himself in the ninth, chopping a 1-out single off Josh Livingston. Behind him, Berto walked, Zeltser hit an RBI double, and Wallace came up with a sac fly to extend the lead to six, not that Sabre would not have gotten the bottom of the ninth, entering on 91 pitches, without the additional tack-on runs. He faced the 2-3-4 batters. Olszewski’s fly to right, a K to Cruz, and Burgess’ grounder to Bob Zeltser ended the game in precisely 100 pitches. 6-0 Coons! Ramos 2-4, BB; Zeltser 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Wallace 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-4, 3B; Sabre 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (4-2) and 2-4;

Sweep, sweep!

Also, Sabre got rid of the red lantern amongst our starters in terms of ERA. He entered the game with a 3.42 ERA and left with a 2.90 mark. The joke was now on Pat Okrasinski and his 3.28 ERA.

Raccoons (28-20) vs. Bayhawks (25-21) – May 23-25, 2034

Third place in the South had been taken over by the Bayhawks, who were now looking to avoid the Thunder’s fate. They came to Portland in rather nondescript fashion, middling in most meaningful categories, although they were higher in homers (4th) and stolen bases (3rd) than their otherwise seventh-ranked offense with the eighth-best OBP would suggest. The Coons had an axe to grind here – they had been swept at the Bay of Doom in the second week of the season.

Projected matchups:
Ignacio del Rio (5-0, 2.75 ERA) vs. Jesus Rodarte (2-4, 5.44 ERA)
Pat Okrasinski (5-3, 3.28 ERA) vs. Mark Peterson (1-2, 4.38 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (6-2, 3.17 ERA) vs. Josh Walsh (4-4, 3.13 ERA)

Another series that started with a lefty, then proceeded with two right-handers. Rodarte we had already seen on his previous gig before having been traded just over a week ago. He had gotten a no-decision for four innings of 4-run ball when with the Scorpions. This would be his second start as a Baybird.

Game 1
SFB: CF Cassell – 3B D. Myers – 1B Uliasz – C Umanzor – 2B J. Cruz – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – RF Pridgeon – P Rodarte
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Salgado – 1B Zitzner – LF M. Fernandez – CF Reichardt – 3B Hawkins – C Scheffer – P del Rio

Dave Myers was nailed in the first inning when a wayward 1-2 fastball hit his bum, then committed a throwing error to put Zitzner on base in the second, but neither of the two actions led to a run. While the Raccoons didn’t get a position player to lodge a base hit anywhere the first time through (though del Rio singled…), the Bayhawks stranded runners at third base in the third (Rodarte after having also been hit by a pitch) and fourth innings (then George Hawthorne, having walked and stolen a base). Instead, Portland would score first. Hugo Salgado’s leadoff single marked the first position player to reach under his own power for the home team, and he scored on Reichardt’s 2-out double over the head of Ryan Cassell.

That wouldn’t be enough; the Bayhawks would hit three singles to begin the top 6th, starting with Myers and progressing through Justin Uliasz and Eduardo Umanzor. Jose Cruz fell to 1-2, but lined to left, narrowly missing Ramos’ glove for an RBI single to tie the score at one. Hawthorne’s RBI single gave them the lead, and Alex Castillo’s sac fly made it 3-1. Jaden Pridgeon and Rodarte made the last two outs, but let’s just say I was slightly dismayed by five straight singles after they had amassed only one base hit in the first five innings. Tim Stalker’s leadoff triple helped the Raccoons get one run back in the same inning when he scored on Salgado’s sac fly. Del Rio pitched seven *adequate* innings, then was hit for in the bottom 7th after Reichardt and Hawkins had slapped singles to reach the corners. Scheffer had grounded out poorly, but at least the go-ahead run was now also in scoring position for somebody more qualified with the stick than del Rio. Jimmy Wallace flew out to Pridgeon in shallow right, keeping Reichardt on, and Ramos’ fly to center was easily caught by Cassell as well, throwing the chance away. Prieto in the eighth retired San Fran in order, and Hennessy retired Castillo and Pridgeon in the ninth. Ben Suhay, batting .140 with six homers, pinch-hit in the #9 hole, which promoted an appearance by Anaya. It could not have gone more pear-shaped. He walked Suhay, also Cassell, then gave up an RBI double to Myers. When Ed Blair replaced him, he threw a run-scoring wild pitch. Those two runs didn’t end up mattering, but they stunk nonetheless, just like Anaya. 5-2 Bayhawks. Salgado 2-3, RBI; Reichardt 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Well, that loss… that one hurt. I mean, they all hurt. But this one was … ugh.

Game 2
SFB: CF Cassell – 3B D. Myers – 1B Uliasz – C Umanzor – 2B J. Cruz – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – RF Pridgeon – P M. Peterson
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Zeltser – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – CF M. Fernandez – 2B Stalker – RF Jennings – C Thompson – P Okrasinski

Pat Okrasinski didn’t seem to have “it”… the Bayhawks rocked him for three hard hits right away, including doubles by Uliasz and Cruz. The former scored the game’s first run, and the second run scored on a passed ball charged to Thompson. Yup, that defense! They added two more in the second inning with an Alex Castillo homer and Pridgeon’s single, stolen base, and eventual arrival at home plate via two groundouts. In between none other than Ramos had gone yard to right to get the Coons at least on the board, but this looked like a bullpen day, and not of the blister variety. But things could still crack either way here; the bottom 2nd began with straight hits by Stalker, Jennings (triple), and Thompson, getting the Coons to a 4-3 deficit with the tying run on first base. Okrasinski was not yet removed and instead popped up – and out – on a bunt attempt. Thompson only advanced with two outs on Bob Zeltser’s infield single, then scored on Wallace’s single near the rightfield line. Zitzner grounded out, leaving things at four-all after two innings of little pitching, teams totaling 12 hits.

Okrasinski was axed in the third inning, allowing a single to Cruz, an RBI triple to Castillo, and following an intentional walk to Pridgeon, a 2-out RBI single to the opposing pitcher. Hennessy struck out Cassell to end the ****ing inning. He would face nine hitters and would strike out six of them against one single, and in between bunted Thompson over to help the Coons to a 2-out run on a Zeltser single in the bottom 4th. After whiffing Tsuneyoshi Tachibana to begin the sixth inning, he left the game with a pinch in the shoulder, which would certainly only been good things. The bullpens wobbled but didn’t fall over for a bit. This included Joe Dishon, who had almost as many walks as innings pitched, finding lots of impatient hitters in the bottom 7th. Wallace and Fernandez hit singles, but ultimately were stranded on the corners when Stalker, who was older than dirt and expected to have more ****ing patience, grounded out to strand them in what was still a 6-5 game. David Fernandez also put two on with a Micah Sears single and a Myers walk in the eighth, but the Bayhawks weren’t any better at scoring past the fourth inning, either. Bottom 8th, Jordan Caldwell offered a leadoff walk to Billy Jennings, then was yanked for the southpaw Eric Fox. The Coons countered with Reichardt hitting for Thompson, but didn’t get more than a grounder for a fielder’s choice. Rich Vickers hit for the pitcher and delivered a fly to right, where Suhay had replaced Pridgoen, moved to third base in a double switch. Suhay didn’t get to Vickers’ fly, which fell for a double; and now the top of the order was up with the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second base! New pitcher Jay Schimek got Ramos to 0-2 before allowing a slapper to the left side that eluded Pridgeon for the score-knotting single. Zeltser delivered a sac fly to left to put Portland in the lead! And that wasn’t all – Schimek oversaw a Wallace single, and then a BOOMING 3-run homer blasted by Travis Zitzner – WHAT A RALLY!! Up by four, the Coons still went to Chris Wise, who had yet to **** up and/or pitch in a game this week. He retired the Baybirds in order. 10-6 Furballs!! Ramos 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Zeltser 2-4, 2 RBI; Wallace 3-5, RBI; Zitzner 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Jennings 1-2, 2 BB, 3B, RBI; Thompson 1-2, RBI; Vickers (PH) 1-1, 2B; Hennessy 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K;

A lefty, David Fernandez, got the win, while another lefty, John Hennessy, got a DL assignment with shoulder subluxation. He was entirely expected to be back to normal after his 15-day stint expired.

The Raccoons called up Carlos de la Cruz from the Alley Cats. He had a 2.02 ERA in a swingman role.

Game 3
SFB: CF Cassell – 3B D. Myers – 1B Uliasz – C Umanzor – 2B J. Cruz – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – RF Pridgeon – P J. Walsh
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Zeltser – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – CF M. Fernandez – 2B Stalker – RF Jennings – C Thompson – P Rendon

Dave Myers left the game in the first inning after being struck in the shoulder by a 1-2 pitch; it was his third nailed-by-toss of the series. Micah Sears replaced him. He was not the last player to leave the game with an injury though; Josh Walsh pulled some thing or other on a leadoff double in the third inning, which was bad no matter how you looked at it, especially with the Baybirds already up 1-0 on Jose Cruz’ leadoff jack in the second. Right-hander Jesus Blanco was actually picked as pinch-runner with San Fran unwilling to use another bench player so early, but still handily scored on a Cassell single to make it 2-0. Uliasz walked before Umanzor ended the frame with a double play grounder. Cassell also had a hand in the game coming completely apart in the fifth inning. He singled, stole second, and scored on a Sears single. Sears also stole second – what the actual **** where we even paying Elliott Thompson for??? – and then came home on Uliasz’ homer to right-center that put the Coons in a 5-0 hole. Thompson further eroded his standing in the next inning when with Jose Cruz at third base he completely ****ed up a Rendon offering for another passed ball, his second of the week, and that run scored too, making it 6-0 already.

The Coons didn’t get on the board until the bottom 6th, which was also the fourth inning for Blanco. Ramos singled and stole second, Zeltser reached, too, and the Coons got runs on Zitzner’s groundout and Manny’s 2-out single, but it didn’t seem like nearly enough, still down by a slam after Stalker flew out to center. The final nail in the coffin was an appearance by Mauricio Garavito in the top 7th in which he faced Tachibana, Cassell, and Sears and retired none of them. One runner across, two aboard, the Critters turned to Anaya, who walked the bags full without utilizing a strike against Uliasz. Umanzor popped out before Anaya scored a run with a wild pitch (…!!). Cruz ended the inning despite no forces in play, flying out to Jennings in shallow right with Sears being sent at thrown out at home, keeping it at 8-2 at the seventh-inning stretch. That turned out to be the final score, too, despite Carlos de la Cruz making every attempt imaginable to manufacture another crooked number for the Baybirds in the last two innings… Portland had nothing going at all in the final three innings. 8-2 Bayhawks. Zeltser 2-4; de la Cruz 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

In other news

May 22 – The Scorpions knock off the Buffaloes in a 15-1 rout, scoring nine runs in the fifth inning alone. SAC C Giovanni James (.455, 2 HR, 7 RBI) has two hits and four RBI, the latter all coming on a fifth-inning grand slam off TOP SP Joe Jones (2-5, 4.37 ERA).
May 24 – It takes ten innings to score any run in the Wolves’ eventual 1-0 road win against the Rebels. SS/3B Chris McGee (.282, 1 HR, 4 RBI) drives in Yachi Tabata with a single in the top of the 10th inning.
May 27 – Falcons utility Craig Mack (.264, 1 HR, 14 RBI) ends the game against the Loggers with a walkoff double in the 10th inning, the only run in the 1-0 Falcons win.

Complaints and stuff

That was a … mixed week. Sabre’s third career shutout matched his personal best, a 2-hitter against the Aces last July. Bernie Chavez got his ERA back under two and leads all of the ABL with his 1.96 mark, ahead of NYC Rodolfo Cervantes (2.07) and DAL Joe Perry (2.16). A Stars pitcher leading the FL in ERA? How progressive! – But all of that was in Oklahoma, when the world was still fundamentally alright.

What is it about the Bayhawks that we always look our worst against them? I don’t fancy losing season series in MAY. And we might actually have gone 0-6 if their pen hadn’t collapsed in the eighth inning on Saturday.

The eight-ball is real for Anaya and Thompson, that much is certain. Anaya can still point to a .348 BABIP behind him which is absurd given that we have a top-notch defense. Thompson has no defense at all. For five years I got raving reviews by our scout guy that Thompson was going to be The Catcher. Such great defense, and a hitter, too! Well, he’s hitting a ****ing buck and small change, and his defense this week was absolutely outrageous! And he’s not catching ANY base stealer, either! Opposing teams are running freely on him, and are 28-for-32 this year …! Midnight might come sooner than expected for Thompson, who is 24, but right now has the standing of a 35-year-old with two bad knees and the begging question “HOW many more years on his contract…?”!!

Fun Fact: 10 years ago today, Pat Sanford hit three home runs against the Raccoons… but his Condors still lost the game, 9-8.

Funnily enough that is not even the most recent instance of a guy socking a triplet off Coons tossers and somehow coming up on the short end with his team. Same thing happened to Pittsburgh’s Carlos de la Riva in ’27.

Sanford is of course still active. The Oregonian (hailing from Myrtle Point) was taken #28 in the 2017 draft by Sacramento and traded to the Condors in a deal for Steve Schwartz in 2019 that didn’t even generate attention at the time. He made his debut in ’21 and was the starting backstop for the Condors for four years before sliding backwards in his late 20s, although he did win two Gold Gloves with Tijuana in ’26 and with the Cyclones in ’30. After further stints in Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Nashville, he has arrived in Boston now.

He has never been close to a batting award or leading the league in anything offensively, and has never been an All Star, but he was at least hitting for power with clips in the low-to-mid .200s for all of his career. Overall he’s a .253 batter with 169 dingers and 736 RBI.