[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-65) vs. Loggers (59-66) – August 21-23, 2035

Both teams needed the wins to get into the thick of the division race, which was something weird to say about two teams each seven games under .500 in the latter half of August, but thanks to the Raccoons’ series win in Boston on the weekend, the Titans were only four over, so in theory, many things could still happen… Both teams had winning Augusts, and the Loggers were even with us in the season series, 6-6. The run differential was however a stark contrast. Ours was +29. The Loggers’ was a full one-hundred runs and small change worse at -72. How these teams were virtually tied in the table we’ll never know. Milwaukee was also in the bottom four in runs scored and runs allowed, and the Raccoons hoped to victimize them… after their third dinner. (gets out of the way of the schnitzel wagon)

Projected matchups:
Colt Willes (10-10, 3.81 ERA) vs. Alfredo Casique (13-8, 3.63 ERA)
Josh Livingston (6-1, 2.13 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (8-8, 4.98 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-10, 4.86 ERA) vs. Vinny Olguin (11-11, 4.39 ERA)

The Raccoons dropped Chavez behind Livingston, because, well, obvious reasons. Stockwell was the only left-hander we expected to pitch in the series.

Game 1
MIL: LF K. Farmer – 1B LeClerc – RF Valenzuela – 3B Conner – 2B McWhirter – CF Prestwood – SS Del Vecchio – C Paiz – P Casique
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – CF Fowler – LF Wallace – 2B Vickers – 1B Zitzner – 3B Zeltser – P Willes

Without getting into too much trouble, Colt Willes piled up pitches very past, reaching 70 in four innings of 2-hit ball and with a 1-0 lead to his name after Manny Fernandez had driven in Berto in the third inning. He couldn’t strike anybody out and the Loggers would linger at the plate for ages. At the plate he hit a 2-out single in the fourth inning that moved Bob Zeltser to second base, from where he scored when Berto singled to left. Fernandez then lined out to Kymani Farmer. The Loggers’ leftfielder would hit the ball hard off Willes three times, and never got it to fall in, let alone to go over the fence. Josh Conner achieved the feat indeed in the sixth inning, hitting a monstrous homer to center that tied the game thanks to Danny Valenzuela having been hit by a pitch just prior. Nevertheless, Willes got another lead in the bottom of the inning; Vickers hit a leadoff double and Zeltser singled him home to make it a 3-2 ballgame. That lead Willes held through seven innings of 108 pitches, adding a much more economical three innings on 38 tosses after the drag of the earlier frames. However, the scoreboard also showed the horrendous performance of Raccoons with somebody on base. They were *always* on base, out-hitting the Loggers 11-3 through seven innings, and yet were only up by a lousy run. This was begging for a bullpen collapse… Three different relievers cobbled together a blown save in the eighth; PH Jeremy Leftwich doubled off Garavito to begin the inning, Chris Wise oversaw nothing more than PH Maxime Garnier’s groundout, and David Fernandez got PH D.J. Mendez to pop out before Valenzuela singled the run home with two outs anyway.

Which was the point where Travis Zitzner homered off Rafael Zacarias on a 1-2 pitch to begin the bottom of the eighth. It was his first bomb in his eighth came since his return to Portland, which had provoked a rather lukewarm reaction from the fans, but they sure were excited about that one. So was I and gave Cristiano Carmona a big smooch on the lips! …and then I limped over to the couch and called for Dr. Chung, because bending down to Cristiano’s wheelchair height had pulled something in my lower back and I felt like the end was near. While Hugo Salgado hit a single in the #9 hole and got to second base, the Raccoons didn’t tack on another run, so we were left hoping that Ed Blair had no shortcomings after only getting five schnitzels for dinner. Bill McWhirter ripped a single to center on his very first pitch. Tyler Prestwood popped out to second. Kenta Yoshioka flew out to center. Edgar Paiz hit a pop shallow right, Zitzner went out – and he took it. 4-3 Coons. Ramos 2-5, 2B, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, RBI; Morales 2-4, 2B; Fowler 2-3, BB, 2B; Salgado (PH) 1-1; Willes 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K and 1-3;

13 hits, five for extra bases, and only four runs and barely a win…?

Oh well. A win is a win is a – YOOOWWW!! Dr. Chung! Not with the jackhammer! – What do you mean, I “asked for treatment”??

Game 2
MIL: LF K. Farmer – SS Garnier – RF Valenzuela – 3B Conner – 2B McWhirter – CF Prestwood – 1B Leftwich – C Paiz – P Stockwell
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – C Wall – CF Fowler – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Zitzner – RF Salgado – 3B Zeltser – P Livingston

Portland stranded two in the first, the Loggers stranded three in the third. A walk and two singles had loaded the bases for Josh Conner, who grounded out to Bob Zeltser to waste chance. Wall walked, then scored on Fowler and Zitzner singles in the bottom 4th for the first run of the game before Salgado hit into a double play, the second Coons’ batting inning in a row that ended with a double play grounder. Stalker had wrapped up Berto the inning prior. The lead didn’t last because the Raccoons couldn’t solve Stockwell’s erratic pitches, and Josh Livingston couldn’t solve soft leadoff singles by Garnier and Valenzuela in the sixth inning. Valenzuela also annoyingly stole second base, his 40th of the year, tying Berto, but the Loggers only got the lead run in on three consecutive 6-3 groundouts, leaving the game tied at one.

Livingston got through seven innings on 97 pitches and five base hits, and the Raccoons felt obliged to pinch-hit for him when his spot came up with Loggers righty Tommy Iezzi on the mound and Bob Zeltser on first base with one down in the bottom 7th. Iezzi issued a second walk to Tony Morales, got a fielder’s choice grounder from Ramos, but then walked Stalker in another full count. Kurt Wall, batting .334, came up with three on and two gone, but lined out to Yoshioka at shortstop. Nobody else got even near scoring through the middle of the ninth, Garavito and Prieto holding the fort for Portland. Right-hander Alex Banderas was tasked with getting the game to extras, and the Critters’ 8-9-1 batters were tasked with getting it over with *now*, but made three quick outs. Steve Gowan was supposed to get through what few lefty batters were up there in the 10th, but walked Yoshioka and Valenzuela for a pickle with two outs and 15 homers’ worth of Josh Conner at the plate. Dusty Kulp replaced him, got a comebacker on three pitches, and tossed to Zitzner to end the inning. Tim Stalker’s double in the left-center gap kicked the door for a walkoff win wide open in the bottom 10th. He advanced on Kurt Wall’s groundout, but after that Fowler was walked with intent and denied a shot at his 86th RBI. Manny Fernandez fell to 0-2 before hitting a squiggler near the first base line off Banderas, who hustled over, picked up the ball in a slide and tried to lunge at an evading Fernandez, lost the ball, was slid into by replacement first baseman Rodrigo Canas, who tossed well too late and from his bum while Tim Stalker slid across home plate. 2-1 Blighters! Stalker 3-4, BB, 2 2B; Fowler 2-4, BB; Zitzner 2-4, 2B, RBI; Livingston 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Banderas suffered a knocked shoulder and was ruled out for the rest of the week.

We made two roster moves after this game. First, Hugo Salgado was dispatched to St. Petersburg for sucking excessively and we recalled Ed Hooge (which also added a lefty bat), and we also did away with Steve Gowan, who walked everything with legs on it, including my desk. He had to go on waivers, since he was out of options, and we called up that kid Citriniti that we had claimed off waivers by the Warriors ten days earlier.

Game 3
MIL: LF K. Farmer – 1B LeClerc – RF Valenzuela – 3B Conner – 2B McWhirter – CF Prestwood – SS Garnier – C Paiz – P Olguin
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – CF Fowler – 1B Zitzner – LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – 3B Zeltser – P Chavez

Both of the top base swipers involved in the game swiped their 41st in the opening frame, but only one of them scored, while the other one made an error. The latter was Valenzuela, who overran Fernandez’ single after Berto had robbed second base, which allowed Ramos to score. Fernandez went to second, then scored after two more singles by Morales and Fowler. Zitzner whiffed, oh wonder, beginning a streak of three poor outs that ended the inning rather quickly after the first four Critters had all reached base. Ramos singled in the bottom 2nd, stole second, and scored again on another Fernandez single, though, running the score to 3-0, and the third began with a Fowler single and was followed by a Zitzner homer to right. Olguin had nothing, and it showed.

All was well through five innings in Portland, which Bernie pitching a 3-hitter and the Coons comfortably ahead 3-0. Then came the sixth, Bernie turned ****, and the Loggers put three on him, all with two outs. Paiz and Farmer walked, and then they went Valenzuela single, 2-run single by Conner, and RBI single by McWhirter before Prestwood fanned himself out. Manny Fernandez provided some instant relief for the old mood with a leadoff jack off Sergio Piedra in the bottom of the inning, restoring a 3-run cushion at 6-3. Chavez went back out for the seventh, gave up a single to Garnier on 1-2, and that was that. Dusty Kulp replaced him, got a double play grounder from Edgar Paiz, allowed a single to Canas, but got Farmer to roll over to Zitzner for the third out. Kulp was asked to bunt with Hooge and Vickers on base in the bottom 7th, but did so, badly, until he finally struck out, then put Leftwich on base in the eighth before having his bacon saved by Manny Fernandez who made two racing catches in the gap against Conner and McWhirter. Ed Blair did the deed in the ninth to seal a sweep. 6-3 Raccoons. M. Fernandez 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fowler 2-4, BB, RBI; Vickers 2-3, BB; Kulp 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Alright boys! That was right where we needed it! And the good news? Another battered team is coming in already!

Raccoons (61-65) vs. Aces (55-71) – August 24-26, 2035

The Aces were their usual crummy, but had won four of six games from the Raccoons on the season. They were sixth in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed, and had the absolute worst bullpen that was apparently easy to expose.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (7-6, 3.95 ERA) vs. Chris Crowell (14-7, 3.31 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (10-7, 2.87 ERA) vs. Ernesto Lujan (6-11, 4.01 ERA)
Colt Willes (10-10, 3.76 ERA) vs. Jamie Klages (5-13, 5.10 ERA)

All right-handers in this series.

Game 1
LVA: CF M. Hall – 1B Stedham – 2B Briones – RF Salto – LF J. Nelson – C Salinas – 3B B. Cruz – SS McNatt – P Crowell
POR: SS Ramos – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – CF Fowler – 1B Zitzner – LF Wallace – 2B Stalker – 3B Zeltser – P Sabre

After neither side had managed more than one hit the first time through, the Aces went to work on Sabre in the fourth inning. Jesse Stedham and Mario Briones hit line drive singles, Graciano Salto lined a double to left to plate a run, Justin Nelson hit a sac fly, and with outs Bob Cruz hit another line drive single for a third marker on the board. Somehow our ****ty brand of baseball just didn’t gel with Vegas’ …

The score was the same when the Raccoons finally reached scoring position on a Berto leadoff double in the *sixth*… Manny Fernandez hit a gapper for an RBI double, and suddenly the Coons appeared in business. Unfortunately, Morales fanned, Fowler flew out, and it was only Zitzner to cash the next run with another double, this one up the rightfield line, and then Jimmy Wallace grounded out pathetically to Briones, continuing a monthlong slump. Sabre got stuck in the seventh, giving up two singles for two outs. David Fernandez came on against lefty batter Jesse Stedham, for whom Brian Schneider hit but flew out to right, stranding the extra runners. The Critters got Zeltser and Hooge on base in the bottom 7th, then got a double play grounder from Ramos to throw it in the bin. The game dragged on with the same 3-2 score until the bottom of the ninth was reached. Dennis Citriniti made his Coons debut in the top 9th, retiring the 6-7-8 in order, while left-hander Casey McQueen and his 4.94 ERA were tasked with holding a 1-run lead against the 5-6-7 batters. Zitzner hit a leadoff single. Vickers, batting for the ghastly Wallace, flew out to right. Stalker flew out to left. Zeltser grounded out to Graciano Salto… 3-2 Aces. Zitzner 2-4, 2B, RBI; Hooge (PH) 1-1;

Well, wasn’t that a stinker… A metric showing a pitcher who fooled absolutely nobody for an entire day: Sabre pitched 6.2 innings, gave up seven hits, one strikeout, and only got to 80 pitches with it all.

Game 2
LVA: CF M. Hall – 1B Stedham – 2B Briones – RF Salto – LF J. Nelson – C Salinas – 3B B. Cruz – SS Schneider – P Lujan
POR: SS Ramos – LF M. Fernandez – C Morales – CF Fowler – 1B Zitzner – 2B Stalker – 3B Zeltser – RF Pinkerton – P Rendon

Briones doubled, Salto singled, and the Aces were up 1-0 in the first. Portland countered in the bottom of the inning, in which Lujan loaded the bags with two walks and a single then gave up two runs with two outs on a Tim Stalker single in right-center. Zeltser grounded out to strand a pair, and the lead went bust when Rendon was shackled by the middle of the order again in the third inning. Briones singled, got forced out by Salto, but Justin Nelson’s 2-out double behind Fowler was enough to bring the tying run in. Looking at the standings, more losses to the awful Aces were not advised, so the Raccoons had to pick up the pace here. The fourth would offer a fat chance; Zitzner led it off with a soft single, Stalker lined a double to left, and they were in scoring position with nobody out. Zeltser and Pinkerton both had run-producing groundouts, and a 4-2 lead was restored …!

After an uneventful fifth, and with Rendon running up the K tally to nine by the top of the sixth, the Raccoons got *another* scoring chance in the bottom of the sixth inning. Fowler led off with a double to left. Zitzner was walked intentionally, and Stalker was nicked, now bringing Zeltser up with three aboard and nobody out. Bob Zeltser drew ball four with Lujan having lost cohesion, pushing home an insurance run. Pinkerton hit a sac fly, Rendon bunted the remaining runners over, Berto walked, but Fernandez popped out and the big knockout blow didn’t materialize although the Raccoons were now up 6-2. Rendon struck out Bob Cruz to begin the seventh, reaching double-digit K’s, but didn’t finish the inning after a 2-out pinch-hit single by Vince Carman and Mike Hall’s looping RBI double to right. Garavito got a groundout from Stedham, ending the inning, 6-3. This became 6-5 on Briones’ single and Salto’s homer off Antonio Prieto in the eighth, all of which was too close for comfort and I paced impatiently up and down the room, bringing complaints from Slappy whenever I passed in front of the TV. The Aces lost Salto to injury in the bottom 8th. With Stalker on first and Felipe Jacquez pitching, Salto spared a hard drive by Zeltser in deep right, hurting his ankle in the process. Danny Beckel replaced him. Ultimately the bases filled up; Hooge hit into a fielder’s choice, Wallace walked, Berto singled, and Manny Fernandez batted with three on and two down – and lined out to Briones. I had a glum feeling about all of this. Here came Blair, facing the top of the order. Hall grounded out. So did Stedham. Briones singled to center, what a pest! Beckel was hitting .323 with three homers in just 31 at-bats, but, oh well, gotta retire *someone*…! That one wouldn’t be Beckel, who singled to left, bringing up Nelson’s .226 bat. And Nelson whiffed. 6-5 Critters. Zitzner 1-2, 2 BB; Stalker 2-2, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

“Pretty” sure was not the right word for it. “Wickedly weird” maybe. We had not one, but two batters that never got a base hit, but drove in two runs each, Zeltser and Pinkerton.

I’d say whacking Klages for six runs in three innings and then coasting would be a nice finish to the week!

Game 3
LVA: CF M. Hall – 1B Stedham – 2B Briones – RF E. Martin – LF J. Nelson – C Salinas – 3B Carman – SS McNatt – P Klages
POR: SS Ramos – C Wall – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Zitzner – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 3B Marsingill – P Willes

Back-to-back baseballs brazenly bashed beyond the centerfield wall by Fernandez and Fowler gave Willes an early 2-0 lead, but he also had his troubles and the Aces stranded runners on third in both of the first two innings. That was even before Mike Hall buried a gapper for a leadoff triple in the top 3rd. Stedham grounded out to first, Briones popped out, but Evan Martin singled to center to get the run home after all. Nelson grounded out to end that inning. The Coons countered – Wall, Fowler, and Zitzner all hit singles and Stalker hit an RBI double to score two runs in the bottom of the inning before Wallace popped out. Four on Klages in the first three? I’ll take that.

Unfortunately, Willes couldn’t have been less sharp. Carman and McNatt hit singles in the fourth, which resolved largely due to the double play Klages bunted into. Willes had only one strikeout through four, adding another one (Hall) in the fifth, and another one in the sixth (Carman). Most of the time he relied on the defense though, which wasn’t always a guarantee for success with these Critters. Mike Hall ended his day with a 2-out double in the seventh, and Mauricio Garavito made mine agony when he served up a 2-run homer to Stedham. That one cut the lead to 4-3. Now it was back to clawing into the desk and hoping nothing would happen… Garavito popped out Briones to end the seventh and Martin to begin the eighth, and Wise got two more outs. An insurance run would be welcome, but wasn’t on offer. It was Ed Blair against the bottom of the order with no cushion in the ninth; Vince Carman ripped a leadoff single, but Jeff McNatt shot a grounder at Berto for two. PH Danny Ambrose was batting .162 in the #9 hole, then upped that to .184 with a soul-stabbing homer to dead center, setting McQueen up for the bottom of the ninth. Bob Zeltser led off in the #9 hole, having taken the field the previous half-inning, and flew to deep left, but into an out – Nelson was there. Berto singled to right, Wall singled up the middle, and Berto made for third base with success – the winning run was 90 feet way for a 3-for-4 Manny Fernandez with 11 hits on the week and a 9-game hitting streak. He didn’t get another hit here … but his fly to center sure looked deep. Hall made the catch, Berto tagged up and went, and that throw didn’t arrive at home plate until Berto had reached home, high-fived everybody, showered, and was ready in front of his food bowl for dinner. 5-4 Critters. Wall 2-5; M. Fernandez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Wallace 2-3, BB;

In other news

August 20 – SAC SS/OF Jesus Banuelas (.258, 2 HR, 28 RBI) drives in seven runs from the leadoff spot in the Scorpions’ 20-2 dismantling of the Gold Sox. Banuelas, 21 years old, has three hits and draws two walks. Two of his hits are triples, and the other is a homer.
August 20 – SFW C Ethan McCullar (.307, 24 HR, 86 RBI) is going to miss about three weeks with a sprained ankle.
August 20 – RIC 3B/2B Steve Sierra (.260, 7 HR, 42 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum and might miss the start of the next one, too.
August 21 – NAS SP Mark Roberts (8-7, 3.88 ERA) earns his 200th major league win with a 6-hit performance for eight scoreless innings, beating the Miners 4-0. The 2025 Pitcher of the Year and Triple Crown winner (then with the Raccoons) was 40 years old and on his fourth team in four years, but was still going strong in the rotation. For his career he is 200-135 with a 3.24 ERA and 2,769 strikeouts.
August 22 – DEN SP Chris Inderrieden (9-9, 3.87 ERA) wins his first game with the Gold Sox in his eighth attempt after being traded from Atlanta, shutting out the Scorpions on three hits in an 8-0 win.
August 26 – The Miners will be without OF Ozzie Burgos (.279, 9 HR, 45 RBI) for about a month. The 25-year-old has shoulder soreness.

Complaints and stuff

Jimmy Wallace ended an 0-for-33 rot on Sunday. It was also the first time he reached base safely three times since … uh … (browses further back in his binder with box score printouts) … July 26, a full month. That was hard to watch…

If the Coons are really serious about the playoffs, they need Jimmy Wallace well fed and on his paws, devilish defense be damned. There is nobody else we could play out there.

Not sure we won’t switch back the roster moves we made this week. Steve Gowan refuses his assignment to AAA, which is a bit of a problem. We could just release him, but I still hoped to have him as backup should stupid stuff happen down the road. Having only right-handed starters is also one of the reasons I like having three southpaw relievers around, since every time you start a righty, you are much more likely to have your first relief man be a left-hander than if you start a lefty – my aversion to switch lefty-for-lefty left out of the discussion for a moment.

Ed Hooge adds nothing to the team, but so was Salgado. If you lumped those two together you’d get a switch-hitter that never reaches base but could in theory steal a bag or two, and plays all outfield positions. That hypothetical switch-hitter would still be of hardly any use.

But the core truth of this week is the Coons went 5-1 (and 6-0 was doable…), and the Titans did NOT. Boston won a single game on Tuesday and they’re now on a 5-game losing streak. In fact, they lost first place to the damn Elks, who now lead the division at 66-64. Hah, the glory of the CL North. Indy is bottoms, six games out. And they are not out of it.

Fun Fact: Mark Roberts has four World Series rings, two with us and two with the Warriors.

He has a mild Hall of Fame case to be made, too, given that he was pretty dominant for a period in the 2020s. He led the CL in wins and ERA just that one time he won the triple crown, but he led it in strikeouts four times. He also led it in homers allowed three times, but that sounds like nitpicking right now.

2.3 BB/9 and 8.1 K/9 for his career, and he posted only two losing records in his career despite playing on some truly botched teams like the early-20s Bayhawks or those ca. 2030 Raccoons…