[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-2) @ Knights (1-5) – April 9-11, 2046

The Knights had scored a putrid 14 runs in the first week of the season, which was not exactly helping with winning games, and they were bottoms in the CL South at this point. In fact, as of Monday morning, the Raccoons stood to face two last-place teams this week. In addition to being bottoms (by a lot) in runs scored, they were also bottoms in runs allowed, with a starters’ ERA of almost six, and a bullpen ERA twice that much. The Coons had won all of two games from the Knights in ’45, but maybe we could overcome our own pitching and hitting issues and go on a bit of a romp here…

Projected matchups:
Ryan Person (0-0, 8.31 ERA) vs. David Farris (0-1, 6.14 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (0-1, 9.53 ERA) vs. Bobby Freels (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Jake Jackson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Al Scott (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

Right, right, left, and Al Scott, who had turned down a thick Raccoons offer some years back, which I was still miffed over, was the ace of staff once through the rotation for them.

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – 1B Gurney – C Morales – 2B Carreno – P Person
ATL: 3B Venegas – 1B Delagrange – RF Marz – LF Hester – 2B Crim – CF Melendez – C E. Thompson – SS J. Gonzalez – P Farris

Both teams had two hits apiece the first time through, with the Raccoons taking a 1-0 lead on a Pat Gurney homer, who would start the entire series at first base with Bryce Toohey suspended for all of it. Person especially didn’t walk a batter until the bottom 4th, when Billy Hester grinded out a walk with two outs, but was left on base. In fact, the main problem seemed again to be Jesus Maldonado’s aim from third base, as he fired away another grounder for a 2-base error, his third of the season, and this time it was on the opposing pitcher, with two outs in the fifth, and with Elliott Thompson on first base. Runners went to scoring position on the terrible, terrible throw, but Anton Venegas was kind enough to ground out to Carreno anyway to keep it a 1-0 Critters score. Venegas in turn botched a Baskins grounder in the top 6th, followed by a soft single to left from Herrera, and then a Maldonado drive over Bill Melendez for a 2-run double. Matt Waters would cash Maldo with a 2-out single, 4-0, stole second base, but was left there as Gurney grounded out.

Person was hurling well through six, so when Morales walked and Carreno singled to begin the top 7th, he was retained to bunt, which went quite badly and left Tony Morales out at third base. Carreno then sole third base, though, and Person snuck up to second in his wake. Farris got Baskins to two strikes, but gave up a sac fly to Hester at that point, with Hester retiring Herrera in a slide to end the inning and keep Person stranded. An inning later, the Raccoons dismembered Jon Salls to the tune of five singles, a walk, and four runs, with Nelson Mercado and Al Martell chipping in pinch-hit RBI singles. Facing lefty Russell Maratta in the ninth, Gene Pellicano got to bat for Manny Fernandez and mashed a solo homer to left. That put the Raccoons into double digits, and was their final squeak in the game. The same couldn’t be said for the Knights, who were shut out for 26 outs, but not 27 – Bill Melendez took Aaron Hickey deep with two outs in the ninth to give them a spoiler run. 10-1 Coons. Baskins 2-4, 3 RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Gurney 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1, RBI; Person 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Game 2
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – 1B Gurney – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Okuda
ATL: CF Venegas – 1B Delagrange – RF Marz – LF Hester – 3B Crim – SS J. Gonzalez – C Horner – 2B Sprague – P Freels

The scoring started like on Monday with a solo homer, but for the other team, Glenn Sprague taking Okuda deep to left in the third inning. The Raccoons had but one base hit through five innings, a Herrera single, and Herrera was caught stealing after it. The Knights in turn scratched out another run in the fifth, unearned, exploiting a 2-base throwing error by not Maldo, but Martell that put Jorge Gonzalez on base to begin the inning. Adam Horner promptly singled him home, 2-0, but was himself stranded by straight outs by the 8-9-1 bunch. Okuda was then chopped to bits for good in the sixth, allowing straight hits to Hester and Joe Crim (singles), a 2-run double to Gonzalez, and an RBI single to Horner before getting yanked off the mound. The Knights would add a Crim homer off Chuck Jones (…) in the eighth inning, while Portland added one more single by Nelson Mercado against Freels before drowning with the least possible bubbles on the surface as the Knights’ right-hander finished a 2-hit shutout. 6-0 Knights. Mercado (PH) 1-1;

I like to think that overall we might be somewhere between scoring ten runs a game and falling a double short of four bases …

Game 3
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Gurney – SS Waters – RF Pellicano – 2B Carreno – C R. Gonzalez – P Jackson
ATL: 3B Venegas – 1B Delagrange – RF Marz – LF Hester – 2B Crim – C Horner – C Melendez – SS J. Gonzalez – P Scott

The Knights lost Venegas to injury in the second inning while he turned a 5-U double play on the sloppy Coons; Pat Gurney had led off the inning with a double to left, then advanced on a deep fly to center by Waters. Gene Pellicano hit the ball hard after that, but Venegas made the snag, then dove back into the base just ahead of Gurney, colliding with the Critter and hurting his ankle, leading to his removal in favor of Sprague; but Gurney was ruled out to end the inning. The Knights meanwhile made *a lot* of noise against Jackson, hitting no fewer than four deep fly balls the first time through, but had all of them caught on or at the warning track. Trouble was brewing with Jackson for sure, and the Coons tried to get on the board first when Maldonado followed up a Herrera double with a single to right in the fourth. John Marz told them off by throwing out Herrera at the dish. Gurney singled, but Waters struck out, leaving the Coons with three hits and no runs from the inning. Jackson then allowed two soft singles to Marz and Hester, then walked Crim and Horner in a fourth-inning meltdown. One run in, Melendez added a second with a sac fly, and the Raccoons failed to make the board in the next few innings, either. Matt Waters then opened the seventh with a triple to center, which was a bit of a call to scoring, and since Jackson held himself down by two, promoted the tying run to the batter’s box. Al Scott did his best to extricate himself and had Pellicano at 1-2 before giving up a horrible chopper that nobody could reach before Waters scored and Pellicano legged it up to first base with an infield single. Then Carreno, Ruben Gonzalez, and Manny made weak outs in order.

Bob Ibold held the Knights close in the bottom 7th, but Scott made two quick outs of Baskins and Herrera in the eighth before Maldo hit a deep drive to right. It wasn’t long enough though, hit off the top two feet of the fence, and Maldo had to settle for a 2-out double and being 180 feet away as the tying run. Gurney grounded out to second to strand him. Moreno kept Atlanta away in the eighth, and the Raccoons came up against righty Mike Lechowicz in the ninth inning. Waters opened with a single to center to put the tying run on base again. Pellicano, who looked like his stick was hot, slapped a single to left, moving Waters to second. Mercado hit for Carreno, but struck out. Martell hit for Gonzalez, but flew out to Marz. Tony Morales was the last bat off the suspension-shortened bench, hitting for Nelson Moreno with two outs. And he grounded out. 2-1 Knights. Herrera 2-4, 2 2B; Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Gurney 2-4, 2B; Waters 2-4, 3B; Pellicano 2-4, RBI;

Six extra-base hits…! And… and this loss.

Ugh.

Raccoons (5-4) @ Canadiens (2-6) – April 12-15, 2046

I had to return home to Portland only to find that it had partially been rented out to the boy scouts doing camping exercises on the outfield grass. I wonder who had signed off on the campfires. The team travelled to Elk City meanwhile, playing the damn Elks in a long weekend set. They were still last in the North, but the Raccoons had a good chance to take that title by Sunday night. Elk City sat tenth in both runs scored and runs allowed with the worst rotation moniker having been shed by the Knights onto them. We beat them 11-7 for the last two seasons, each.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. David Arias (0-1, 14.54 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-1, 3.21 ERA) vs. John Roeder (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Ryan Person (1-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (1-0, 1.23 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (0-2, 7.94 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (1-1, 4.26 ERA)

Two right-handers were sandwiching two left-handers in this 4-game set for the damn Elks. Since we had an off day on Monday, we were in no rush to give out off days, although Maldonado, Waters, and Baskins so far hadn’t had one at all and might get sat down … or maybe not.

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Merino
VAN: RF van der Zanden – SS O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – LF J. Becker – 3B K. Saito – 1B Bejarano – P D. Arias

Another 2-base throwing error, another unearned run, this time with Waters being the culprit. Justin Becker singled home Travis Malkus, and the damn Elks went up 1-0 in the second inning while I covered my eyes with Honeypaws’ tail. The Coons meanwhile went in order and quickly on just 32 pitches the first time through, but Baskins opened the fourth with a single to right before the no-hit threat could ever become a thing. And then Herrera hit into a double play. Instead, Merino allowed three singles to load the bases in the bottom 4th, walking a run against former Raccoons farmhand Ricardo Bejarano, and then allowed an RBI single to the opposing pitcher, with only a base-running gaffe by Kenichi Saito bringing an end to the damn inning.

Toohey hit a solo homer in the fifth to do *something* in his return from the naughty list, but Waters and Morales singles with one out were met with indifference by Morales and Merino, and only one of them could ever expect to be excused for that. Herrera got on the inning after that with one out, but Maldo flew out to Jerry Outram. Not Toohey, though – he hit homers in back-to-back at-bats to level the score at three!

Merino stubbornly held on to the tie through seven innings, even though Jerry Outram hit a double off him in the bottom 7th. His spot was up to lead off the eighth, and he was over 100 pitches, so he was hit for with Mercado, but the Raccoons didn’t reach until Herrera got on with two outs, stole second, and then was stranded by Maldonado’s grounder. Porter and Kelly held the damn Elks in the tie in the bottom 8th, after which Sebastien Parham struck out the side in the ninth. Kelly wasn’t as flashy, leaking Angel Escobido and Arnout van der Zanden onto the corners with two outs in the bottom 9th, and with Jerry Outram coming up… AND with Chuck Jones currently not a real option for ANYTHING. Outram ran a full count, then rammed the Coons out of the game with a single to center. 4-3 Canadiens. Herrera 2-4; Toohey 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K;

Maud, I feel dizzy. – I know that Dr. Padilla is in the Arctic with the team. – Well, what happened to 911??

Game 2
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Carreno – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley
VAN: LF J. Becker – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Malkus – SS Price – RF C. Robinson – 1B K. Saito – P Roeder

Maldo was the first Coon to 10 RBI, doubling home Herrera for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. That lead didn’t last, because Wheatley didn’t get his stuff through customs apparently, and loaded the bags with nobody out in the bottom 2nd, allowing two singles to Rick Price and Chris Robinson, then nailing Kenichi Saito. Roeder struck out, but Justin Becker’s grounder was only good for one out an Price scored to tie the game. Oscar Aguirre then sent Pellicano back to make the catch for the third out on the warning track. After Outram and Diaz singles to begin the bottom 3rd, the Coons *did* turn the double play on Malkus’ grounder, 5-4-3, but Outram scored from third base anyway to give them the lead.

The Opening Day Starter Curse then took over fully in the fifth inning, where Wheatley simply retired nobody. Diaz infield single. Malkus single. Price double. Robinson single. Saito double. Four runs on the board, six in total, and nobody out. Roeder was only out on a grounder, and Saito scored on another groundout by Becker. Beaten and battered, Wheatley was lifted after five innings, down 7-1, and the Raccoons were once again being ****ing 1-hit on the way to their fourth straight loss. Toohey drove in Herrera for a run in the sixth, while the seventh was a dragged-out farce in which Carreno, Gonzalez, and Pellicano loaded the bases against lefty Jordan Antonio, only for Herrera to fly out easily to Becker to strand the whole bunch of them. Toohey would mash a 2-run homer in the eighth inning, but that merely made up for the arson damage committed by a just-as-bad Aaron Hickey in the bottom 7th.

Then the actual toying with heartstrings started again. Manny singled. Gonzalez was nicked. Gurney whacked a 2-run double. Suddenly the Coons were only three back, but Mercado also made a poor third out. Then, a Herrera triple to open the ninth, own 9-6 against righty Steven Wilson. Of course no actual rally took place. Maldonado hit a sac fly, which didn’t help, and neither Toohey nor Waters reached base. 9-7 Canadiens. Herrera 2-5, 3B, 2B; Maldonado 2-3, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Toohey 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Gurney 1-2, 2 RBI;

What’s up with the ******* defense? The damn Elks had 16 hits, and it was the third 11+ hits game this week for the opposition, not even counting all the ******* errors.

Game 3
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Pellicano – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – 2B Carreno – P Person
VAN: RF van der Zanden – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – 3B Malkus – SS Price – C T. Phillips – LF F. Rojas – 1B K. Saito – P de Anda

Person was behind … everybody. He walked van der Zanden and Outram in the first inning before Malkus and Price popped out, hten also walked Felix Rojas in the second, but Rojas was caught stealing. Saito singled, a rare case of somebody actually putting the ball in play against Person, who actually struck out nobody the first time through against the three walks. Carreno was also caught stealing in the top 3rd after hitting a single, and the Raccoons were just pathetic, exemplified by Armando Herrera, who twice came after Baskins, who hit a single, in his first two at-bats, and twice hit into a double play.

It was zilch-all until the fifth inning, where the damn Elks put Rojas on with a single, Saito with a walk, and after de Anda bunted them onwards, van der Zanden had a poor groundout to Toohey, keeping the runners in scoring position for Aguirre. Of course, then it still had to go all wrong. Aguirre singled cleanly to right to score both runners, and when Outram grounded to first, Toohey then fired the ball away for a 2-base error to put runners back in scoring position. Person had Malkus at 1-2, but he just get ANY ******* STRIKEOUT. Instead Malkus singled up the middle, two unearned runs scored, and the Raccoons were down 4-0 and done once more. Chuck Jones replaced the regrettable person on the mound, but allowed another run on a sharp Price single, and failed his way to another run on his bloated ledger in the sixth. At this point, neither Honeypaws nor booze was any relief, and I was stuffing myself with fudge instead. The Raccoons didn’t score until down to their last out, having the bases loaded after already leaving them loaded in the eighth. Matt Waters plated a run, perhaps unwittingly, on his groundout to first base, and Derek Baskins hit a 2-run double after that. Of course, they still didn’t amount to something crazy like a win. 6-3 Canadiens. Baskins 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Mercado (PH) 1-1; Morales (PH) 1-1;

Maud, I will need the good rope after the Sunday game. – For, uh, decorating. – Yeah, and my next try will be even nicer!

There was no Sunday game. The Raccoons and the ******* *********** Elks waited out endless rain for five hours before the game was cancelled and postponed til later on in the year.

In other news

April 10 – Indians SP Bill Nichol (2-0, 1.13 ERA) 1-hits the Thunder with six strikeouts in a 4-0 shutout. Thunder OF Angelo Zurita (.276, 0 HR, 2 RBI) hits a double to begin the game after which the Oklahoma bats fall entirely silent.
April 12 – SFB OF/1B Alex Marquez (.375, 1 HR, 8 RBI) would miss a month at least with a broken rib.
April 13 – BOS 2B/3B Tony Batista (.129, 1 HR, 7 RBI) has six RBI in a 13-2 rout of the Indians, four of them coming on a fourth-inning grand slam, his only base hit in the game.
April 13 – The Warriors would be without RF Matt Diskin (.385, 1 HR, 6 RBI) for six weeks or more; the 24-year-old was out with a sprained thumb.
April 15 – OCT SP Ignacio del Rio (2-0, 0.36 ERA) flips a 3-hit shutout against the Bayhawks.

FL Player of the Week: LAP 3B/SS David Reid (.423, 5 HR, 16 RBI), swatting .423 (11-26) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA RF/CF Mike Roberts (.347, 3 HR, 8 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Sunday’s postponement was all that kept the Raccoons from dropping into sole possession of last place after playing a 1-5 round against two last-place teams. Nothing is working. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They are gross to watch. An abhorrence. Hardly palatable. I barely ate six pounds of fudge, and I am sick to my stomach because of them!

Monday is another day off for licking wounds and trying to collect insurance on the main culprits … (tugs on flimsy string that holds up an anvil over the door to Maud’s room) … and then we’ll start a 2-week homestand against the Crusaders and Falcons, then later on the Thunder and Loggers.

Pitching is ****, defense is ****, hitting is ****.

Everything is ****.

Fun Fact: 36-year-old Ignacio del Rio leads the league with an 0.36 ERA.

Cristiano, why don’t you just … I’ll tie a knot into your snout!

Del Rio, in his 16th season, was a Raccoon so far back it’s barely even true anymore. He was supposed to bring greatness to the team in tandem with Bernie Chavez and Raffaello Sabre, primarily. While Sabre was the best pitcher of the three early on, he is also the first to retire, hanging up the cleats this winter after not getting a major league gig the prior two seasons. Most of his 119-120 career with a 3.86 ERA was spent with Portland and certainly all the good parts.

Of the three, that all debuted fairly young around the 2031 season, del Rio was also the most difficult character and was disposed of before the team even reached the first of their two playoff appearances that decade in 2035. He was turned into Josh Livingston, setting off a chain of trades that brought the Raccoons, in order (not mentioning all players in the deals), Bryce Sparkes, Quadir Randle, Josh Brown, and finally the three-pack of Preston Porter (in the pen right now) and Justin Waltz and Generos de Leon, the latter two being eventually repackaged with another minor leaguer for Bryce Toohey.

From the Sparkes trade, another line branches off via Francisco Pena, Damon DeOrio, and Wyatt Hamill, who was finally traded for Gene Pellicano and Bob Ibold in ’42.

So not everything about del Rio was a waste of time and effort! We got, around three corners, quite a few current Raccoons for him, and not even the current worst offenders!