[Westheim]

Raccoons (6-0) vs. Thunder (4-2) – April 10-12, 2045

The Thunder were fifth in runs scored and tied (with the Critters) for fourth in runs allowed after a week’s worth of games – but the Raccoons topped the CL in markers put on the board. The Thunder had swept the Bayhawks before a weekend of scuffling against the Titans. Last year, the season series had seen the Raccoons on top, 6-3, one of only two series against the CL South that we won – not including the CLCS, tee-hee.

Projected matchups:
Corey Mathers (1-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (0-0)
Jake Jackson (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Rick Haugh (1-0, 7.50 ERA)
Brent Clark (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (0-0, 1.69 ERA)

The second-year pitcher at the tail end of the series here was the next left-hander in line. Marquez, 25, went 9-11 with a 3.14 ERA as a swingman in 2044, pitching 189 innings in 37 games (26 starts).

Game 1
OCT: RF Zurita – CF Tortora – C Adames – 1B S. Henderson – 3B Simon – SS Rowell – LF Phinazee – 2B C. Vega – P M. Peterson
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – 3B Jimenez – 2B Carreno – C Zarate – P Mathers

The Raccoons scored first, and in the first, when Maldonado socked a homer over the centerfield fence with nobody on for a 1-0 edge. It was his third of the year, same as Bryce Toohey, and nobody else on the team had any so far. Zarate would drive in Carreno the following inning, doubling the lead, but while Mathers struck out five in three scoreless to begin his game, there were a few issues, besides the dark clouds overhead that had lingered over Coon City for most of Opening Week. He was getting ground down in numerous long counts and needed 57 pitches through just three innings. It got worse in the fourth, with a Rick Rowell single, an RBI double by Mal Phinazee, and him barely getting out of the inning when Peterson grounded out on a 3-0 pitch…

On the other side of the box score, Peterson played with fire with leadoff walks to Manny and Jimenez in the bottom 4th. Carreno struck out in a dull count, while Zarate hit a shy single to load the bases… for Mathers. Well, there was no pinch-hitting for him with a lead in the fourth…! Before he could hit into an inning-ending double play, Peterson uncorked a wild 0-1 pitch to plate Manny Fernandez, 3-1. Mathers struck out, as did Waters, ending the inning.

The score remained close, thanks to Angelo Zurita’s leadoff double in the fifth. Mathers threw a wild pitch, then gave up the run on Cullen Tortora’s drive to deep center that Herrera chased down close to the warning track. Sterling Henderson hit a 2-out double, but Mathers got Brad Simon to ground out; however, you couldn’t help but seeing him exit the game soonish. Bottom 5th, however, Herrera drew a leadoff walk from Peterson, then reached third with an early start on Maldo’s single to center. Nobody out, Toohey hit an RBI single through the left side, 4-2, Manny struck out, Jimenez walked, and the bags were full as the rain began to fall. Peterson was yanked, Chris Manley struck out Carreno, but with two outs Zarate got an 0-1 over the head of Rick Rowell for a 2-run single.

Mathers hit for himself and struck out, ending the inning, mostly because a righty hitter was up to begin the sixth and we were now a slam ahead at 6-2. He retired Rowell, then left for Zack Kelly, who would get four outs from the Thunder before being sidelined by an hourlong rain delay. In between, Bryce Toohey hit his fourth homer, a 2-piece in the bottom 6th that stretched the score to 8-2. That pretty much put the game away – but the Thunder would rise a bit in the ninth inning. They had *many* left-handed hitters; and up by six, the Raccoons were not inclined to use Chuck Jones in a 6-run game with two more games coming against those lefty hitters. The result was a 2-run beatdown on Preston Porter on a walk and two RBI hits in the ninth. We still won by a bunch, though. 8-4 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4, HR, RBI; Toohey 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Zarate 3-4, 3 RBI;

Game 2
OCT: RF Zurita – CF Tortora – C Adames – SS Ban – 3B Simon – LF E. Moore – 1B J. Aviles – 2B C. Vega – P Haugh
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – C Kilmer – 2B Martell – P Jackson

Herrera was hit, Toohey walked, and Manny raised his depressed average to .200 with a 2-out, 2-run double to give the Raccoons another early lead. Unfortunately, Jake Jackson didn’t take well to a lineup in which only Jesus Adames would face him as a right-handed batter, and allowed one run in a chewy second inning, then crawled through the innings slowly, sloooowly, until the score got flipped on a 2-out, 2-run homer in the fifth by… Adames, of all people. He was hit for after six mostly miserable innings, down 3-2, Baskins batting with runners on the corners and two outs, but flying out to Ethan Moore to continue a stretch of offensive futility in which the Raccoons would get a runner on base in almost every inning, and never moved him all the way around.

When Jon Craig was whacked around for two runs by the top of the order in the seventh inning, the game was more or less in the bin. The Raccoons were down 5-2 and still couldn’t chain two hits together – but they had eight hits through eight innings. Bob Ibold allowed two hits in the ninth, Zurita and Adames hitting singles, which was enough to get another run home on Jonathan Ban’s groundout. The Coons didn’t get more together in the ninth than a Herrera walk, and as a consequence cashed their first loss of the season. 6-2 Thunder. Fernandez 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Kilmer 2-4;

Oh well. Shucks. You can’t win all of them.

But at least we have Brent Clark in the rubber game, which should put that lineup under a bit more pressure from a splits standpoint.

Game 3
OCT: RF Zurita – LF E. Moore – C Adames – 1B S. Henderson – SS Ban – 3B Simon – CF Phinazee – 2B C. Vega – P V. Marquez
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – SS Waters – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Clark

The 3-4-5 hitters would face Clark right-handed, but only Moore reached on a single in the top 1st. The Coons put two on the board in the bottom 1st, with Herrera reaching on an error before scoring on Maldo’s triple. Toohey walked, Waters hit an RBI single, and Kilmer killed the effort with a double play grounder. Maldo went on to hit a jack in the third inning, a solo deed to extend the lead to 3-0, and ticking off the harder half of the cycle. Brent Clark on the mound looked rather resilient, at least when not sunk by his own defense – Matt Waters committed a 2-base throwing error to put Jonathan Ban on base to begin the fifth, and that run scored in unearned fashion on a 2-out single by Carlos Vega…

No other Thunder reached base until Simon coaxed a walk in the seventh, with Phinazee whiffing and Vega lining out softly to Carreno. The Raccoons though had also stopped hitting, including Maldo grounding out in his at-bat in the fifth. Clark hit for himself in the bottom 7th, grounding out before whiffing two in a 1-2-3 eighth, which, with the very much not left-handed 3-4-5 batters up *next* would bring his day to an end (and he was on 100 pitches, too). Portland didn't add on, then sent Josh Rella into the ninth inning to see after that meat of the order. It didn’t go so well for him, with Adames reaching on a leadoff single, Henderson walking, and Ban only out on a fly to sizably deep center. There was the urge to twitch and send Chuck Jones – but there was Rick Rowell on the bench, in addition to backup catcher Ed Stedham, both righty batters. Instead, Rella got a good talking-to, then gave up a sac fly to Simon – but the tying run remained on first base. Two outs for Mal Phinazee, who hopefully held no grudges for being traded off a championship team. If he did, he didn’t show it, striking out in a full count. 3-2 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Kilmer 2-4; Clark 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (1-0);

Raccoons (8-1) @ Canadiens (6-3) – April 14-16, 2045

The first road series of the season was already into hostile, and this time of the year likely still frozen, territory. Oh well, we were 8-1 – what could possibly go wrong? I went home to my couch, taking no emotional support except for Honeypaws with me. We were going to be *fine*! The Elks were second in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed with a +14 run differential, same as the Critters, who were third in runs scored and allowed. Like I said, we were going to be *fine*. Just *fine*! … We won the season series last year, 11-7.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (1-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. David Arias (1-0, 2.19 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 3.21 ERA) vs. John Roeder (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Corey Mathers (2-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Michael Donovan (0-1, 5.06 ERA)

Right, left, left. Where did all these southpaws suddenly come from?

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – 1B Gurney – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – P Wheatley
VAN: 2B O. Aguirre – SS K. Saito – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Hutson – 1B Zuazo – RF J. Becker – LF van der Zanden – P D. Arias

For a slight mood dampener, Kenichi Saito and Jerry Outram went deep to right back-to-back against Wheatley in the first inning, and that *after* Oscar Aguirre reached base on a single. So that was an instant 3-0 deficit that … it would be *fine*. Honeypaws. Please. Make it *fine*. I’m begging you.

No. Wheatley was awful, and Arias seemed very much on. The Raccoons had one hit through three innings, and the damn Elks had six, including an infield single by Outram and an RBI double by Julio Diaz in the bottom 3rd, which ran the score to 4-0. The Raccoons continued to mostly get swept under the rug in the fourth and fifth, adding a second hit, but not getting close to a run, and Diaz hit a solo home run to right to extend the damn Elks’ lead in the fifth, which also sent Wheatley to bed after the inning; his spot led off the batting parade in the sixth. Dustal flew out in his spot. Baskins singled, and that was it, again. A tremendous amount of hurt was then waiting for Bob Ibold, although it was all for not being able to retire the ******* pitcher with two outs. David Arias found Alvin Zuazo on third base, and singled him in. Aguirre walked, wild pitch, 2-run single for Saito. The Raccoons’ staff was the gift that kept on giving.

Down by eight in the eighth, the Raccoons loaded the bases with nobody out. Al Martell singled from the #9 hole after coming on in a double switch just prior. Baskins landed a hit, and Herrera was nicked. Nothing more than a pair of RBI groundouts by Maldo and Manny was in it for the Critters, while the damn Elks went to town on Jon Craig, Nelson Moreno, and Preston Porter in the bottom of the inning. Chris Robinson hit a 2-run homer off Craig, who then put two more on. Moreno walked Outram, then gave up a slam to Julio Diaz. Free agent addition Dustin Fruman then singled off Porter and stole second base with a 12-run lead, which marked up Outram for a beaning on Saturday unless the Raccoons rallied. They didn’t. 14-2 Canadiens. Baskins 2-4, 2B; Gurney 3-4;

(is rolled up under the couch, whimpering)

Game 2
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – SS Waters – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – C Zarate – P Okuda
VAN: 2B O. Aguirre – SS K. Saito – CF Outram – 3B Hutson – C Julio Diaz – 1B Zuazo – RF V. Vazquez – LF J. Becker – P Roeder

Saturday began with Raccoons on every base and nobody out after two singles and a walk off Roeder, who plated the first run on a wild pitch, while Toohey got another with a sac fly. That was also it, despite a Waters single, which moved Maldo from second to third; but Carreno whiffed and Jimenez grounded out. Up 2-0, Okuda allowed a 1-out single in the first, but then was part of the bases being loaded in the top 2nd. Jose Zarate opened with a single before both Okuda and Herrera reached on errors, putting three on with one gone. Maldo and Toohey both popped out on the infield to throw that chance away. The Elks made up a run in the bottom 2nd, but Carreno homered in the third to restore a 2-run lead at 3-1.

Okuda was scuffling and somebody seemed constantly on base against him, but for the moment he held up, mostly. He also drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, in a full count. He advanced on Baskins’s groundout, then on Herrera’s single to right. A walk to Maldo filled the bases for the third time in four inning, and it was time to get a HIT in such a situation. Toohey struck out. Waters walked with a full count on him, and the damn Elks bitterly disputed the call, but Okuda was shoved across home plate, 4-1. Roeder was on 98 pitches in the fourth inning, ran another full count on Carreno, but the second-sacker flew out to Justin Becker to strand a full complement.

The bottom 5th began with a single by PH Arnout van der Zanden, then walk drawn by Aguirre, which gave Okuda four walks against one strikeout in a shoddy start. Saito popped out, though, and he struck out Outram. Dan Hutson was hitting .196 but had skinned many a Critter in his Indians days, all batting right-handed – but taking out Okuda in the fifth after the bullpen massacre on Friday? That sounded very, very bold. Okuda was left to himself, lost Hutson on balls, and then gave up a long drive to left to Julio Diaz. Baskins racing back, on the warning track, jumping up – and picking the ball before it could hit eight feet high off a 10-foot wall …! Inning over. Said Honeypaws. My eyes were closed in horror still.

Top 6th, leadoff single for Baskins, then a triple into the rightfield corner from Herrera to ran the score to 5-1. Maldo added the Herrera run with a groundout. Baskins singled home Zarate in turn with two outs in the seventh. That created some addition cushion, while Okuda went into full-on Japanese knife juggler mode in the following innings and grinded out eight innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball despite a shoddy start to the game. He got better as he got along; he was removed after eight only because he had reached 120 pitches. Ricky Jimenez added a solo homer in the ninth, and Preston Porter added a scoreless inning to finish off the game. 8-1 Coons. Baskins 3-5, RBI; Herrera 3-5, 3B, RBI; Zarate 2-5; Okuda 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, W (3-0) and 0-1, 2 BB;

Okay, maybe don’t make a complete mockery out of the rubber game and then we can forget Friday ever happened…

Game 3
POR: SS Waters – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – 2B Carreno – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – P Mathers
VAN: 2B O. Aguirre – SS K. Saito – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Hutson – RF C. Robinson – 1B van der Zanden – LF V. Vazquez – P Donovan

The bottom 2nd began with four straight damn Elks reaching, sending me back under the couch while Honeypaws bravely weathered the storm on the furniture piece. Diaz singled, Hutson doubled, wild pitch (…), Robinson single, a walk to van der Zanden, and then somehow a 4-6-3 double play and a K on the pitcher, limiting the actual damage to two runs. It didn’t get much better after that – Mathers allowed a leadoff single to Aguirre in the third, then walked the 3-4-5 batters in order to force in the run. Somehow, Robinson and van der Zanden then both whiffed to leave three runners stranded. The Raccoons? Retired in order the first time through, and drowning in a 3-0 deficit. The Critters had isolated singles in the fourth and fifth, which couldn’t stink up to Vazquez’ solo homer in the bottom 4th, and Mathers was yanked from a 4-0 game in the fifth inning before he could do even more damage. Manny hit a triple in the seventh that came with two outs, nobody on, and nobody being much help behind him, either. Carreno walked, Kilmer flew out.

The Raccoons didn’t score until the eighth when Baskins opened with a single for Ibold in the #8 hole, then scored on a 2-out single by Herrera. Maldo singled, but Toohey, then the tying run, struck out, ending the inning. Moreno and Kelly held it together in the bottom 8th, and Manny drew a leadoff walk from Sebastien Parham to begin the ninth, which moved the tying run to the on-deck circle for whatever that would turn out to be worth. Nothing much. Carreno popped out on a 3-1 pitch. Kilmer put the 1-0 in play, and went 4-6-3 on it. 4-1 Canadiens. Herrera 2-4, RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1;

In other news

April 11 – The Canadiens sign a major extension with their last remaining star batter, OF Jerry Outram (.367, 2 HR, 8 RBI), who agrees to a 6-yr, $31.8M deal that will start in 2046.
April 11 – TOP SP Josh Long (1-0, 0.00 ERA) 3-hits the Scorpions in his first start of the year, going all the way for his 3rd career shutout and 30th complete game in 449 starts.
April 11 – DEN OF Sandy Castillo (.382, 1 HR, 6 RBI) provides the only offense in the Gold Sox’ 1-0 win over the Capitals, while DEN SP John Kennedy (2-0, 0.59 ERA) and CL Yeom Soung (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 2 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter. Only WAS RF/LF Eduardo Avila (.344, 0 HR, 3 RBI) enters the H column with a single off Kennedy.
April 11 – LAP OF Juan Benavides (.400, 0 HR, 4 RBI) will miss the rest of the month with a calf strain.
April 11 – Two days after a 6-hit game, DAL INF/CF Jose Rivas (.472, 0 HR, 4 RBI) lands five hits, all singles, and one RBI in a 10-5 win over the Miners.
April 13 – DAL SP Orlando Leos (0-1, 9.00 ERA), who went 22-9 with a 3.17 ERA in 2044, is out for the season with a torn posterior cruciate ligament.
April 15 – The Wolves score a dozen runs in the seventh inning while shaking down the Warriors, 18-7. SAL RF/LF Jorge Quintanilla (.226, 3 HR, 8 RBI) drives in five runs on a pair of hits and a walk.
April 16 – SFB SP Eric Weitz (1-1, 4.91 ERA) takes his 200th career win in a 7-5 victory over the Condors. The 37-year-old is 200-138 in total, with 2,300 strikeouts in 3,155 innings and an ERA of 3.39. He won the World Series twice, with the 2038 Canadiens and 2042 Wolves.

FL Player of the Week: PIT C Giampaolo Petroni (.426, 5 HR, 16 RBI), hitting .435 (10-23) with 4 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN C Julio Diaz (.479, 4 HR, 16 RBI), batting .520 (13-25) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Damn Elks. (spits on the ground to Maud’s annoyance)

This week was a bit rougher compared to 6-0 cruise in … well, we didn’t cruise even then. Not all the moving parts are seamlessly linking right now, some batters aren’t hitting, and some pitchers are more tossing. The pen fell into a collective meatmincer, which is always such a thrill.

Well, no reason to panic… yet. The Coons will travel via Indy before returning home, with the next homestand featuring the Baybirds and Aces.

Fun Fact: The Loggers are second in both runs scored and runs allowed.

Which is not bad for a team that was second from the bottom in runs allowed and third from the bottom in runs scored last season and on paper shed personnel. We’ll see how they do in a longer string of games, but we won’t get to see them until early May.