[Westheim]

Raccoons (20-4) @ Loggers (13-10) – May 1-3, 2045

The Raccoons rode into Milwaukee on the heels of a blazing April that saw them third in runs scored and second in runs allowed with a +38 run differential. Milwaukee – not quite as blazing, but at least above .500 with a +18 run differential and in the top 4 in both runs scored an runs allowed, and thus hardly comparable to the clusterbombs going off around them last year when they lost exactly 100 games to end a run of six straight winning seasons. We had gone 13-5 on them on the occasion.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-2, 3.52 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (1-1, 2.25 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (5-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (2-1, 3.62 ERA)
Corey Mathers (4-1, 2.76 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (2-1, 3.38 ERA)

The 24-year-old lefty Padilla would make only his fourth career start to open the month of May. The two right-handers after that were old news.

Game 1
POR: SS Waters – C Kilmer – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – CF Pellicano – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Wheatley
MIL: CF Reeves – 3B B. Johnson – 1B Brayboy – SS R. Espinoza – RF Hertenstein – C Payne – LF B. Fox – 2B S. Davison – P V. Padilla

Dismal Ted Del Vecchio had changed teams in the wintertime, but Aaron Brayboy remained with the Loggers, and hit a 1-out double off Wheats in the bottom 4th for the first extra-base knock and only the second Loggers hit in the game. It promoted the tying run to the plate, the Raccoons having taken a 2-0 lead on Gene Pellicano’s homer in the top of the same inning; neither team had done anything of value in the first three innings on Monday. Wheatley fell to a single by Ricky Espinoza, then a triple by Daniel Hertenstein, who became more Del Vecchio-esque every time we saw the Loggers. Wheatley wouldn’t get out of the inning; the go-ahead run scored on a Waters error, and somehow you could see Wheatley abandoning all hope and talent in his head and from there he just chucked fastballs until the Loggers bombed him out of the game. Brian Fox singled, Scott Davison walked, Padilla hit a sac fly, Bill Reeves doubled home two, Brad Johnston walked, and it took Zack Kelly to finally get out of the ******* inning. The Loggers scored six, three earned, but the Raccoons also got three back right away; Padilla opened the fifth with walks to Waters and Kilmer, then got bombed to left by Jesus Maldonado for his eighth homer on the year. That cut the gap to 6-5. He walked Toohey, he walked Manny, but Pellicano popped out at 3-1 and the inning ended with a Carreno grounder for two outs. I rolled up a magazine and hit it over the edge of the nearest counter until bits of paper started flying everywhere.

Kelly in the fifth and Norris in the sixth would both put pairs of Loggers on base before getting bailed out by long flies to Bryce Toohey with two outs. The Raccoons didn’t do much having the tying run at the plate for two innings until Manny Fernandez doubled to right off a tiring Padilla in the eighth inning. The Loggers’ starter hung around to walk Pellicano and surrender the tying run on a Jimenez sac fly, while reliever Jose Colon gave up a single to PH Jose Zarate that sent the go-ahead run in Pellicano to third base, then balked that run across home plate. Not that it mattered much – Matt Waters socked a home run to right then anyway. Moreno and Rella did their thing after that 4-run comeback rally to put the game away. 9-6 Raccoons. Waters 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2 2B; Zarate (PH) 1-1;

Shutout ball for 5.1 innings by six relievers to correct Wheatley having a stroke on the mound…

Game 2
POR: CF Baskins – SS Waters – RF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – C Zarate – 3B Jimenez – 2B Martell – P Okuda
MIL: CF Reeves – 2B S. Davison – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – 1B Brayboy – C Payne – LF B. Fox – 3B C. Rose – P Piedra

With only Jon Craig idle on Monday (but having pitched two sizable outings the two days before that), the Raccoons would very much welcome a long outing by Okuda. He had a chewy second inning, walking Ricky Espinoza and nailing Brian Fox, but didn’t allow a hit in the first three innings – unfortunately he was near 50 pitches already. Espinoza would get the Loggers into the H column with a fourth-inning single, but was then also caught stealing by Jose Zarate. Offensively, the Raccoons were lying low, but coming on late was their thing early in this season. Through four, they had two hits and no walks off Sergio Piedra. Zarate hit a single in the fifth, but was doubled up by Jimenez to end the inning, while the Loggers began with a walk drawn by Payne, a Fox single, and then saw Chris Rose hit into a fielder’s choice. Okuda slayed Piedra on strikes for the second out, while Bill Reeves flew out to Baskins in center. Through five, Okuda threw 70 pitches in a scoreless game.

Then he came apart; the Loggers exploded for four hits in the bottom 6th, singles to center by Davison and Espinoza, an RBI single with two outs by Payne, and a Fox gapper for a 2-run double in right-center. He pitched one more inning before going to bed after seven. Jon Craig added a scoreless eighth, but it was all of no use – the Raccoons were stuck on three base hits and couldn’t get on base against Piedra anymore. The ninth brought right-hander Tim Hale, briefly a Raccoon a few years back, into the game. Out of nowhere, Al Martell opened with a triple into the rightfield corner, then scored on a wild pitch. Carreno and Baskins, however, made poor outs. A 2-out walk to Waters prolonged the game to bring up the tying run, and Maldonado singled to left. Next was Manny, but his bouncer to right was intercepted and became the final out. 3-1 Loggers. Maldonado 2-4; Martell 2-3, 3B, 2B;

Game 3
POR: CF Baskins – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – P Mathers
MIL: CF Reeves – 3B B. Johnson – 1B Brayboy – SS R. Espinoza – RF Hertenstein – C Payne – LF B. Fox – 2B S. Davison – P R. Guzman

Reeves opened the Loggers’ first with a scalded triple over Derek Baskins and scored on a sac fly by Brad Johnson for a quick first run in the rubber game. Portland countered fast for once, with Manny hitting a leadoff single in the top 2nd and Pat Gurney whacking his first home run as a Critter to flip the score. Kilmer missed another homer by not all that much, but the inning would go 1-2-3 from there as Hertenstein shagged his drive on the warning track. The Raccoons saw Mathers work around two singles with three strikeouts in the bottom 2nd, then got a screamer double from Baskins to open the third. Waters walked, and both pulled off a double steal. Maldo and Toohey both hit RBI groundouts, and the team went up 4-1 before Reeves hit an infield single to begin the bottom 3rd, but then was caught trying to steal second.

Gurney, Kilmer, and Carreno all reached base to begin the fourth inning, putting three on with nobody out against Guzman, who rung up Mathers, the Coons’ starter being on six strikeouts through three innings himself. Baskins slashed an RBI single to left, 5-1, and that was the only run of the inning; Waters whiffed, and Maldonado grounded out to Davison. The 6-7-8 got on in order again in the top 5th, then with two outs; Guzman struck out Mathers again, only to have the favor returned after Davison’s 1-out double in the bottom of the inning. Reeves, though, came through for an RBI single to right, stole second, and scored on another RBI single by Johnson, narrowing the score to 5-3.

Mathers couldn’t find strike three anymore, and pretty soon no strike at all. Espinoza singled, Hertenstein walked, and Payne reached on a Toohey fumble to load the bases in the bottom 6th. He was yanked after walking in a run against Fox, although all that Preston Porter did was to serve up a bases-clearing double to Davison. Reeves singled home the extra run with two outs, putting the Raccoons in an 8-5 hole after a depressing 5-spot. Another run fell out of Chuck Jones in the seventh, and the same for Norris in the eighth. Nobody could get the Loggers out anymore…!

Top 9th. Despite having been nicked for nine in four innings, and being down 10-5, the Raccoons somehow turned the game into a rally and brought Hale in after beating up ex-Coon Damon DeOrio. With one out, Jonathan Dustal had a pinch-hit infield single, but also tweaked a hammy while doing so. Martell ran for him. Toohey walked. Manny hit an RBI double to center. This brought on Hale, with the tying run in the on-deck circle. Gurney struck out, but Kilmer walked, promoting the tying run to the plate… in .185 hitter Arturo Carreno. Now, the thing was … the Raccoons, if hitting for Carreno, needed two pinch-hitters, with the pitcher right behind him. There were precisely two bums left on the bench in Jimenez and Zarate. They’d line up in that order. Zarate didn’t get a turn – Jimenez popped out on 1-2 to end the game. 10-6 Loggers. Baskins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Dustal (PH) 1-1; Fernandez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Gurney 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1, 2B;

That was not a well-pitched series…!

Raccoons (21-6) @ Pacifics (17-11) – May 5-7, 2045

After a day spent in a spa halfway in Colorado to lick wounds, the Raccoons headed to L.A. for the first interleague set of the season. The Pacifics were second in the FL West behind the Gold Sox, sixth in runs scored, and fourth in runs allowed. Their rotation had an ERA of 4.51, but the bullpen was really stingy and close to the best in the Federal League. They had no speed and little power, being in the bottom four in the FL in both categories. With Joe Feltman and Bill Quintero they had two pitchers on the shelf that they were counting on. This was the third straight year of playing them; we had lost two of three in ’44.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (2-1, 4.15 ERA) vs. Al Scott (0-2, 5.40 ERA)
Brent Clark (4-0, 2.12 ERA) vs. Mike LeMasters (1-3, 6.03 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-2, 4.05 ERA) vs. Marcus Wilkins (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

More southpaws! Two to begin the series, and Wilkins might be placeholder. He was a 25-year-old rookie with two appearances under his belt. He threw 97 with little idea where it was going, so that filled me with foreboding.

The Raccoons were down a backout outfielder, with Jonathan Dustal day-to-day for the weekend with the tweaked hammy.

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – SS Waters – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – CF Pellicano – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Jackson
LAP: 2B Bowman – CF K. Leon – RF Benavides – 1B Cahill – 3B D. Reid – C Alvardo – LF T. Romero – SS A.L. Herrera – P A. Scott

Bryce Toohey was nailed by Scott – who you might remember snubbed the Raccoons in free agency talks a few years back – to begin the second inning of the Friday game. Kilmer doubled, but we couldn’t get more than a Carreno sac fly for the game’s first run after Pellicano whiffed. The Pacifics in turn got singles in the second from David Reid and ex-Coon Tony Romero, but Toohey hammered out Reid trying to go first-to-third, ending the bottom 2nd for them.

Top 4th, Kilmer hit another double, then with one out and nobody on and to left-center. Pellicano walked behind him this time, but Carreno’s spanker was intercepted by Reid for a 5-4-3 double play. Jackson struck out three (five total) in the inning, pitching around a single by .393 murderer Juan Benavides. Jackson bunted Ricky Jimenez to second base after the third-sacker opened the fifth with a walk, and Jimenez reached third base when Scott fumbled Baskins’ comebacker for an error. Waters eeked out a walk to present Maldonado with the bases loaded in addition to his 1.033 OPS and the team lead in homers (8) and RBI (28). He also popped out to Mark Cahill on the 1-1 pitch. I snarled, but Bryce Toohey grinded out a full count against Scott until the lefty walked him, pushing in the second run of the game. And then Kilmer hit into a sad groundout… Carreno singled in the sixth, then was doubled off by Jimenez. Boys, easy watching this is not!

Both teams had four hits each through seven, with Jackson striking out as many. Both were also still going in the eighth; Scott allowed a pair of 1-out singles to Toohey and Kilmer to get another Critter into scoring position. Benavides snatched a Pellicano looper on the go, keeping the runners pinned, after which the Pacifics made the move to right-handed ex-Critter Dennis Citriniti and his 2.38 ERA (but 6 BB in 11.1 IP). The Raccoons sent Pat Gurney against the right-hander, sitting down Carreno. He hit a 1-2 pitch through the right side for a single. Toohey was sent for home plate against the Gold Glover Benavides’ arm, but the throw pulled David Alvardo off the bag. Toohey was safe, and Kilmer endeavored to take third, but now Alvardo’s throw pulled Reid off the bag, and everybody was safe on Gurney’s pinch-hit RBI single…! Manny hit for Jimenez and shot an RBI double to center, 4-0. That brought up Jackson, and the Raccoons considered a 4-0 lead good enough with how he was going. He flew out easily to Tony Romero to end the inning. With Gurney on first, Maldo on third, and Martell taking over second in the #8 hole, Jackson went back out on 86 pitches, allowed a single to Romero in the bottom 8th, but got through the inning. He got over 100 pitches, though, and the Raccoons turned to Zack Kelly in the ninth. He allowed a single to PH Mark Vermillion, then a bomb to Benavides – both lefty hitters. Cahill made an out, after which Josh Rella would face righty sticks. Reid and Alvardo both grounded out to give the game to Portland. 4-2 Raccoons. Toohey 1-2, BB, RBI; Kilmer 3-4, 2 2B; Carreno 1-2, RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-1, RBI; Jimenez 0-1, 2 BB; Fernandez (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Jackson 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, W (3-1);

Game 2
POR: SS Waters – C Kilmer – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – CF Pellicano – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Clark
LAP: 2B Bowman – CF K. Leon – RF Benavides – 1B Cahill – 3B D. Reid – C Alvardo – LF T. Romero – SS Jon Rodriguez – P LeMasters

Toohey came up with pairs on base in the first and third innings, driving in all the Coons’ runs in the early frames – zero. He hit into a 4-6-3 double play once, and flew out to Kenny Leon the other time. Meanwhile, the only Pacific with a hit off Clark the first time through was LeMasters, so that was that. The pinata was broken open only in the fourth with a leadoff jack to right by Manny Fernandez – somehow his first homer on the year, also owing to relatively little playing time against scores of southpaws with Derek Baskins scalding hot for most of April. The lead didn’t last – while Clark retired three right-handers in the bottom 4th, he allowed singles to the left-handers in the 3-4 spots. They went to the corners, and Reid hit a run-scoring groundout to tie the game at one. The following inning, L.A. went up 2-1 on singles by Romero and Brian Bowman.

Romero drew a leadoff walk in the seventh. Clark hung around to get a groundout from Jon Rodriguez, but then allowed an RBI single up the middle to Armando Luis Herrera, not to be confused with our Armando Herrera, who was on the DL and thus no great help right now. Moreno replaced him at that point, gave up a Bowman single and got Pellicano to catch a Leon fly to center. Chuck Jones then sorted out Benavides to get out of the inning. The Raccoons were down two runs on only three hits, and had not been on base in a while. Furthermore, the Pacifics brought in the bullpen now. Terry Weaver gave up a leadoff single to Waters in the eighth, then was replaced with Danny Tankersley. Waters was caught stealing, Kilmer struck out, and THEN Maldonado doubled. Toohey whiffed, ending the inning. Instead, Jon Craig was mopped up for two runs in the bottom 8th.

Top 9th, the Pacifics kept cycling through pitchers as the Raccoons unpacked three singles with one out, Pellicano and Carreno getting on before Baskins hit an RBI single in Jimenez’ spot off Eddie Sotelo. Gurney hit for the pitcher Craig against the right-hander and zinged another RBI single to center. Waters was less lucky, grounding to Bowman for a fielder’s choice. Kilmer fell to 1-2 before lobbing a ball near the leftfield line. Romero cut it off before Waters from first could get kinky, but it was another RBI single and the tying run (Waters) was at second for Maldonado. And Maldonado struck out. 5-4 Pacifics. Kilmer 2-4, BB, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Baskins (PH) 1-1, RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-1, RBI;

It could be going weller…

Game 3
POR: CF Baskins – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – 2B Carreno – C Zarate – P Wheatley
LAP: 2B Bowman – LF T. Romero – RF Benavides – 1B Cahill – 3B D. Reid – C Alvardo – CF Foss – SS Jon Rodriguez – P Wilkins

Baskins opened the game with a single, stole second, advanced on a Maldonado single, and was thrown out at the plate when Manny flew out to Tony Romero. Still better an inning than what Wheatley put into a bag and lit on fire, walking Benavides and Cahill before getting bombed to Baja California by David Reid for a 3-0 deficit. Pretty much the same thing occurred again in the bottom 3rd. Two walks to the 3-4 hitters, then an RBI single by Reid, and this time Cahill got disoriented on the bases and was caught in a rundown. But still – another ****** start from Wheatley.

He would labor through the middle innings without allowing another run, but that was merely damage control, and for no greater good at first glance. The Raccoons couldn’t put ANYTHING together for six innings, again finding only three base hits (so only one more than they had in the first inning). They only made it to the board in the seventh against Wilkins, on singles by Manny, Carreno, and Zarate, and with two outs. Gene Pellicano hit for Wheatley as the tying run, but flew out to center. Norris and Jones would pitch scoreless ball in relief, but at the same time the Raccoons had nothing to follow on Derek Baskins’ leadoff single in the eighth inning and stranded the runner. So it was Sotelo in the ninth again, with a 4-1 lead. Toohey led off and whiffed to continue his week of futility. Gurney doubled to left. Carreno struck out. Zarate grounded out. 4-1 Pacifics. Baskins 2-4;

In other news

May 3 – DEN INF Ronnie Thompson (.326, 0 HR, 12 RBI) would miss three weeks to heal out some shoulder soreness.
May 3 – DAL OF/1B/3B Ricky Correa (.356, 0 HR, 10 RBI) is out with a broken rib and would probably only return in early June.

FL Player of the Week: SFW RF Matt Diskin (.343, 4 HR, 17 RBI), raking .417 (10-24) with 4 HR, 14 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF/1B Matt Kinder (.228, 9 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .344 (11-32) with 5 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

First losing week, but even if we had scratched out that one rally on Saturday, even at 3-3 it would have been a terrible week. The pitching wasn’t there. The offense was spotty. Maldo and Baskins had hit everything out of sight for four weeks; they took a step back now. Toohey didn’t hit anything. Carreno barely only reached .200 by the end of the week.

But the pitching would be worse. Jason Wheatley corked both his games, Okuda and Clark booked their first losses of the year. They all deserved it (although Wheatley was dug out on Monday, which he didn’t).

I don’t know. I close my eyes and think of Wheatley, and I see Nelson Moreno. Then I cry.

The Crusaders had their bums on fire all week. They won seven in a row from Sunday to Saturday, including a 4-game sweep of the Arrowheads, to erase the gap. Only a combined 6-hit shutout by three Caps pitchers on Sunday stopped them from taking first place. These are the best two teams by record (New York tied with Denver) in the league. They have more offense and less pitching than us. The teams’ first clash is not that far away – we’ll play four starting the Monday after next week. That will be the third set on our upcoming homestand; also in are the Cyclones, Indians, and Falcons, but none of them before we have a day off on Monday.

Armando Herrera should rejoin the team on Wednesday, so that should help a bit with offense.

Fun Fact: When Nelson Moreno was yanked from the rotation, he was 30-30 with a 4.40 ERA and it was getting worse.

Jason Wheatley is 25-25 with a 3.97 ERA. And it is getting worse. He’s constantly getting on the snout. None of his individual stats are huge red flags, but he still constantly gets on the snout. That one good season he had he also had the best BABIP in the league. He got averagey BABIPs last year and this year, and he’s a huge sand drag to try to waltz through.

UNFORTUNATELY, Victor Merino left his last start with an injury and we’re just about to sort that one out, and even then had only a mediocre start to his AAA campaign, 3-2 with a 3.95 ERA and 5.5 K/9. Adam Capone, a #13 pick that somehow got forgotten about, is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 5 starts, with a 6.1 K/9. He also has a .196 BABIP going for him…

Somehow Bubba Wolinsky has the worst scouting report and the best stats, 2-0 with a 2.62 ERA and 6.8 K/9 (with a good, but not great BABIP).