[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-14) vs. Pacifics (19-13) – May 7-9, 2046

In their only brief skip home amidst six out of seven series played on the road, the Raccoons hosted the third-place Pacifics, who were about as far out of first place as the Critters were, 2 1/2 games behind the Gold Sox. This was the fourth straight year of us playing L.A., with a Coons sweep in 2043 followed by two 1-2 series losses. They came in fifth in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +17 run differential (Coons: +21).

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (1-3, 5.13 ERA) vs. Joe Feltman (2-1, 3.56 ERA)
Jake Jackson (1-3, 2.66 ERA) vs. Marcus Wilkins (3-2, 4.46 ERA)
Victor Merino (3-1, 3.38 ERA) vs. Kevin Clendenen (2-2, 3.10 ERA)

Although the Pacifics had two southpaws in the rotation, they’d send neither of them against us; we only got right-handers for this set. There was also an off day waiting after this set, but the urgent need to get Pat Gurney into the lineup right now would probably spell the odd off day for righty batters going forwards.

Game 1
LAP: RF M. Hall – 3B I. Lugo – 1B W. Hernandez – 2B Bowman – CF T. Romero – SS Ramires – C Templeton – LF J. Richards – P Feltman
POR: RF Gurney – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Carreno – P Okuda

Okuda was shackled for five hits the first time through, indicating that either Cristiano’s rotten luck concept still held true or that he was ripe for the dumpster after all. Four hits were singles, but Kyle Templeton hit a 2-run homer in the second to give the Pacifics the lead. Feltman filled the bags in the bottom 2nd in response with Matt Waters’ infield single and two walks to Manny and Carreno, but by then there were two outs and Okuda was batting and struck out. Instead, Jaden Richards’ 2-out RBI double put the Pacifics up 3-0 by the fourth; Richards was the only lefty hitter in the lineup, but we had seen Okuda torn up by absolutely everybody already, and the fact that it was “only” 3-0 was also down to Matt Waters starting two 6-4-3s behind him already, while himself getting wrapped up in Manny’s 4-6-3 after hitting another single in the bottom 4th.

Okuda’s struggles lasted six and two thirds before he was replaced by Bob Ibold, who allowed his first earned run of the season in the eighth, conceding a double to Ivan Lugo and an RBI single to Brian Bowman. The struggles of the team as a whole against Joe Feltman never ended – he held them to five hits and no runs in a complete-game effort. 4-0 Pacifics. Waters 2-3, BB;

Game 2
LAP: C Alvardo – 3B I. Lugo – 1B W. Hernandez – RF J. Richards – SS Reid – LF Jay. Lockwood – 2B Ramires – CF T. Romero – P Wilkins
POR: RF Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Jackson

Bryce Toohey’s ninth homer of the year was all the scoring through five innings in Tuesday’s middle game, putting the Coons up 1-0 in the second inning. Ivan Lugo had a single off Jackson in the first, and Antonio Ramires hit another single in the fifth, and that was about it – if Toohey wasn’t going yard, the Raccoons amounted to just as much, two singles in five innings. Not that stuff was dominant – the two starters combined for four strikeouts after five. Jackson in fact didn’t have *it* especially, falling to 3-1 behind Wilkins to begin the sixth inning before the Pacifics pitcher kindly popped out to first.

Pat Gurney began the bottom 6th with a double to left, beginning another rounds of aches and pains to score a base runner that was entirely unsuccessful for the next four batters, of which Maldo was intentionally walked and Waters legged out a 2-out scratch single. That promoted Manny Fernandez to the plate, hitting .188 on the year, although we looked at the bench and struggled to find a more promising matchup. Cristiano Carmona kept blaming it all on BABIP, Manny’s being .186, even lower than his batting average. It had to grow itself out at some point, right!? He struck out, which, fun fact, didn’t budge the miserable BABIP, only the miserable batting average.

In turn, Jackson walked Willie Hernandez and allowed a single to PH Mark Cahill in the seventh, but David Reid then lined into a double play, 3-unassisted. With left-handed Jayden Lockwood up, the Raccoons went to Zack Kelly, only for L.A. to counter with Mike Hall. Kelly struck him out on three pitches anyway. Nelson Moreno had a 1-2-3 eighth, trying to recover from the shambolic 11th inning on Sunday, and maybe we could tack on a run in the eighth? Gurney singled against Jose Villalba, who walked Maldo with one out, then fell 3-0 behind Toohey, who inexplicably poked at a low pitch and grounded to second base for a fielder’s choice, barely legging out the return throw to first while I was biting into my fist hard enough for Maud to get the first aid kit to stop the bleeding. Waters would fly out to left, leaving Josh Rella to his own devices in the ninth inning. He struck out David Alvardo and Ivan Lugo before losing Hernandez on balls. Right-hander Jon St. Pierre had found his way into the #4 hole by now, so a decent exit was still possible for the Raccoons. Indeed – a third strikeout for Rella solved the problem. 1-0 Blighters. Gurney 2-4, 2B; Waters 2-4; Jackson 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, W (2-3);

Game 3
LAP: RF M. Hall – 3B I. Lugo – 1B W. Hernandez – SS Reid – 2B Bowman – C Alvardo – CF T. Romero – LF J. Richards – P Clendenen
POR: RF Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Mercado – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Merino

Lugo’s double and Reid’s RBI single put L.A. up 1-0 in the top 1st, but the Raccoons turned the game in the same inning. Pat Gurney homered to open their batting for the day, and the next few Coons also all reached base with a walk to Herrera, a Brian Bowman error granting Maldo access, and then an RBI single for Toohey. The trailing runners advanced when Richards threw home, allowing Waters to bring home Maldonado with a groundout for the third and final run of the inning.

Three innings in, typical Oregonian spring weather led to an hourlong rain delay in the rubber game, Portland still up 3-1. Merino returned after the extended break, had a decent fourth, but allowed two singles amidst five sharply spanked baseballs in the fifth, and while he completed that inning to qualify for the potential W, he was not seen again after that after 81 pitches, split roughly half and half on either side of the rain delay. Hickey and Lush went on to botch together a scoreless sixth that saw Bowman and ex-Coon-briefly Tony Romero on the corners when Richards flew out to Pat Gurney to end the inning. The same frame, the Coons got Ruben Gonzalez and Gurney to the corners, also with two outs, with Herrera now facing Clendenen, who appeared still unfazed by rain. He gave up an RBI single over the shortstop, though, extending the Coons’ lead to 4-1. Maldo’s single tacked on another run. Clendenen walked Toohey, then was yanked, with Waters flying out to strand a full set. Lefty Tom Spencer conceded another Coons run in the seventh, giving up a 2-out triple to Arturo Carreno in the #8 hole, then waving him across home plate with a wild pitch. Scoreless relief by Porter and Kelly meanwhile kept the Pacifics away, regardless of the number of late-game tack-on runs. 6-1 Raccoons. Gurney 3-5, HR, RBI; Herrera 3-4, BB, RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Carreno (PH) 1-1; Porter 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Raccoons (19-15) @ Crusaders (13-19) – May 11-13, 2046

On to New York then, where the Crusaders were still struggling in the nether regions of the division, where the Coons had started the month. They couldn’t score for their lives, being bottoms in runs on the board in the CL (but had scored enough to beat the Coons two out of three this year), while being third-best in pitchcraft. Their run differential was an unsightly -22 though.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (1-0, 3.29 ERA) vs. Garrett Sutherland (0-2, 10.06 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-2, 3.40 ERA) vs. Jim White (4-3, 2.59 ERA)
Ryan Person (2-2, 2.84 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (1-0, 2.17 ERA)

Indeed, Ryan Person was ready to come off the DL by Friday. The Raccoons wanted another start for Wolinsky though, so he would go in the opener ahead of Wheatley, then get bumped back to AAA to make room for Person.

We would go without a lefty opponent this week; the Crusaders brought up three more righties, including Johnson on Sunday, who had six no-decisions in seven starts.

Game 1
POR: RF Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Wolinsky
NYC: 2B Nash – C Alba – 1B Schneller – RF Rogers – LF Willie Ojeda – 3B Mujica – CF Foss – SS Gates – P Sutherland

To nobody’s surprise at all, the Raccoons did little against the much-battered Sutherland, scoring but one run in five innings while landing five hits. Pat Gurney doubled to lead off the third and was driven in by means of a groundout. Whee. At least Bubba Wolinsky left another calling card, holding the Crusaders to two hits and no runs in the first five innings, albeit walking three with patches of spotty control. Sutherland struck out three in the sixth, while Wolinsky opened with a walk to Phil Rogers, but then whiffed Willie Ojeda and got a double play grounder from Frank Mujica, who the Crusaders had acquired just this week. Martell opened the seventh with a double to center before being held back by two strikeouts. Herrera then singled, but Martell stumbled and had to park his bum at third base with two outs. Maldo then flew out to Rogers, ending another sad inning.

Wolinsky made it three times through the order, then was lifted with Prince Gates on first base after a single, two outs, and the top of the order coming back. Ibold came in, threw one pitch, Waters snagged Randolph Nash’s liner, and the seventh inning ended still with the Coons up 1-0. Portland then got Matt Waters to third base with one out in the top 8th thanks to a single off John Steuer, a stolen base, and a throwing error on the same by Fernando Alba. Manny and Morales both failed with poor groundouts … except that Dan Schneller dropped Steuer’s poor feed on the Morales play, conceding Waters’ run on the error. Whatever ******* works! Martell hit a single, but Derek Baskins, batting for Ibold, flew out easily to end the inning. Moreno put down the 2-3-4 batters in order in the bottom 8th, whiffing a pair, before *Kelly* got the ball for the ninth inning in a 2-0 game. The reason was Rella’s shakiness and Ojeda, Mujica, and Aaron Foss all being lefty batters. Rella was standing by, however, and would take over as soon as pinch-hitting shenanigans would start or Prince Gates would get to the plate. Ojeda promptly reached on a bloop single, but Mujica found another 6-4-3 to hit into, cleaning up the bags again. Foss, the former Elk, struck out, giving Kelly the save. 2-0 Blighters. Gurney 3-5, 2 2B; Herrera 2-4, BB; Martell 3-3, BB, 2B; Wolinsky 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

Bubba was 2-0 with a 2.21 ERA in three games as injury replacement for Person, so he definitely moved up on the depth chart.

Also, first save for Kelly since ’44, and the seventh of his career.

Game 2
POR: RF Gurney – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Mercado – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Wheatley
NYC: 3B Nash – 2B Schneller – 1B Willie Ojeda – RF Mujica – CF Rogers – C Alba – LF Foss – SS Gates – P J. White

Things got worse on Saturday. The Raccoons were being no-hit by Jim White by the time another rain shower hit and led to a 45-minute delay in the bottom 5th, with Wheats trying to find some stuff in his right shoulder attachment, but being wholly unsuccessful with that. He had allowed pairs of singles and had stranded those runners on the corners in both of the first two innings, then hadn’t allowed a hit again except for nailing Gates to begin the bottom 5th. Gates stole second, advanced on a bunt, and was back at third base with one Crusader down when play resumed. Nash hit a sac fly to Baskins, and New York went up 1-0. At least White had lost some brightness during the rain delay and Al Martell slapped a leadoff single in the sixth to banish the no-hitter beast. Then Wheats couldn’t get the bunt down, with Portland resorting to an 0-2 hit-and-run that at least saw him poke a grounder and Martell reach second base that way. Gurney grounded out, but Baskins singled to tie the score with two outs! Another single by Maldo chased White, with replacement Matt May striking out Toohey to end the inning.

The Coons also put Wheats in mothballs and brought in Todd Lush with four lefty bats in the middle five of the Crusaders’ lineup. After allowing a single to Ojeda initially, he got another double play grounder from Mujica (whom I would have shot already if the Coons had traded for him) and ended up pitching two scoreless in the 1-1 game. Herrera batted for him in the eighth, clocking a 1-out double to left, but again Gurney was not helpful… but Baskins was, singling to center to bring home the go-ahead run, again with two outs!

Alas, the lead didn’t last – Preston Porter blew it, giving up a solo homer to Nash in the bottom 8th. The Coons had nothing in the ninth, but reached extras when Zack Kelly pitched his second ninth inning in a row and struck out the side. Up against lefty Mike Lynn in the 10th, the Raccoons sent two pinch-hitters: Pellicano singled, and Carreno hit into a double play to piss it all away again. Aaron Hickey struck out the side in the bottom 10th to maintain the tie, which also persevered through a Maldo single and a Waters double in the 11th. Julian Ponce struck out Nelson Mercado, who was now 0-5 in the game after complaining about playing time earlier this week. I was complaining about production. Hickey held out for another inning, then was hit for with Manny in the 12th, the last bat off the bench for Portland. He batted after Ruben Gonzalez had put up the pressure on Ponce, hitting a gapper for a leadoff double in right-center. Manny struck out. Herrera grounded out. Carreno struck out. I sighed. Vittorio Riario *almost* ended the game in the bottom 12th – with Mujica on first he took a Bob Ibold pitch all the way to the fence – but not over it, and Mercado at least caught that one.

Top 13th, Maldo singled, Toohey walked, all against a tiring Ponce with one out. He still got Waters to pop out, but Mercado finally came through with SOMETHING, hitting an RBI single to right. New York went on to Lazaro Ochoa against Gonzalez, who singled, but even with the pitcher coming up, no pinch-hitter left, and two outs, sending Toohey from second base would have amounted to manslaughter. So the bags were full – and the Coons still found a pinch-hitter: Okuda! The Japanese lefty was an above-.200 hitter with 11 career RBI in 70 games, so definitely preferable to Ibold. And the ploy ******* worked! Okuda got to 2-1, then struck a single up the middle! Two runs scored! Coons!!! Herrera grounded out, while Rella took over a 3-run lead, struck out three in the bottom of the inning, and we wouldn’t make a fuss about how the batter that actually reached was reliever Lazaro Ochoa with a 1-out single… 5-2 Critters. Baskins 2-6, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-5; Gonzalez (PH) 2-3, 2B; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Okuda (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI (tah!!); Wheatley 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K; Lush 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Hickey 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Okuda’s also the guy that was bumped from the series pitching-wise when we gave the extra start to Wolinsky.

We’re also 11-2 for our last 13 games. This was our first extra-inning W of the year.

Game 3
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Person
NYC: 3B Nash – 2B Schneller – 1B Willie Ojeda – RF Mujica – CF Rogers – C Alba – LF Rico – SS Gates – P J. Johnson

Manny hauled in a long Nash fly at the start of Person’s return to the mound, but also grounded out to third base with one out and Toohey waiting exactly there, costing, in combo with Gonzalez’ weak out, the Coons a second-inning run. Person walked nobody and whiffed three the first time through the order, being perfect in the process, which … (squints skywards) … sounded almost too good to be true. Meanwhile, Toohey was on third base again with one out in the fourth, reaching on a throwing error by Johnson and advancing on Waters’ groundout. Manny singled to right this time, livening up his batting average all the way to .183 (gnashes teeth) and giving the Critters a 1-0 lead. He then stole second, advanced on Gonzalez’ shy single, and scored on a Martell double to center, Gonzalez holding at third base on the latter play. Person struck out, Baskins grounded out, and the two runners were stranded. Nash then hit a leadoff single to center in the bottom 4th to take the perfecto away, but the next three Crusaders went down in order. Person walked Rogers in a full count to begin the fifth, making me feel dizzy, but again retired the next three without conceding the runner, completing five innings on 59 pitches – a perfectly fine effort so far!

Manny smacked a 1-out double to right in the sixth, which the Crusaders used to walk Ruben Gonzalez intentionally (!), whicih promoted Martell to the plate. Mind that only Martell was a lefty hitter between the two and that Johnson was very much still right-handed. Martell smacked an RBI single, Manny scooted home to score, and defensive confusion allowed the trailing runners into scoring position for Person, who struck out, and Baskins popped out to Prince Gates. Person kept dealing at least, but ran into a long bottom 7th after a leadoff walk to Dan Schneller and that shot up his pitch count. He bunted over Martell, who had walked facing Luis Villagomez, over in the eighth inning, with Baskins plating the runner with a 1-out double, which ran the score to 5-0 as the inning had begun with a Ruben Gonzalez homer to right-center. Herrera singled, but was caught stealing, and Maldo’s groundout left Baskins on third base. Person returned with the 5-0 lead, but on 91 pitches. Danny Rico and Justin Simmons hit singles off him in the eighth, and while he staved them off, he wouldn’t return for the ninth, fresh off the DL. The Coons loaded the bases in the ninth against Ochoa, Martell batting with Pellicano (running for Toohey), Manny, and Gonzalez aboard. He found his way into a double play, ending the inning. Todd Lush got the bottom 9th, got two outs from Schneller and Ojeda, then walked Mujica, and was knocked out on Rogers and Alba singles. One run across, Josh Rella was called away from his schnitzel dinner, gave up a run on a Rico single through the left side, but then popped out Gates to close out the sweep. 5-2 Raccoons. Baskins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-5; Toohey 3-5, 2B; Fernandez 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Martell 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Person 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (3-2);

In other news

May 8 – The Scorpions’ Sebastian Copeland (.267, 3 HR, 16 RBI) and Pedro Leal (.368, 2 HR, 10 RBI) both drive in five runs apiece in a 15-7 scorefest against the Loggers.
May 8 – Wolves C Morgan Kuhlmann (.191, 0 HR, 5 RBI) announces his retirement at the end of the season. The 38-year-old was twice the FL Player of the Year (2037, 2041), winning the home run crown in both seasons.
May 9 – Perhaps unrelated, the Wolves acquire C Jose Ortiz (.143, 2 HR, 4 RBI) from the Crusaders for INF Frank Mujica (.244, 2 HR, 13 RBI).
May 9 – DEN SP John Kennedy (5-1, 0.85 ERA) 2-hits the Thunder in a dominant display, claiming the 9-0 shutout win.
May 9 – SFW LF/RF Mario Villa (.364, 1 HR, 17 RBI) could miss a month or more on the DL, diving and missing a liner that then bounces into his jaw, fracturing it.
May 9 – The Capitals trade middle infielder T.J. Lujan (.266, 1 HR, 5 RBI) to the Condors for 35-year-old AAA 1B Alex Zacarias, who hit .266 with five homers last year.
May 12 – MIL LF/CF Bill Reeves (.328, 4 HR, 19 RBI) drives in two runs in the Loggers’ 12-5 win over the Titans, landing five hits, including a triple and two doubles.

FL Player of the Week: SAC 1B/3B Sebastian Copeland (.289, 5 HR, 22 RBI), batting .524 (11-21) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL LF/CF Bill Reeves (.336, 4 HR, 19 RBI), poking .571 (12-21) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Another 5-game winning streak, and a 12-2 run to rally into first-chasers position behind the Loggers, who swept the Titans on the weekend to maintain a 1-game lead. We will play the surprisingly third-place Indians and the Baybirds next week, so that will be a challenge.

Less and less I feel like the answer to “what the **** happened to Chuck Jones?” is gonna be Todd Lush. He looks more like a piece of evidence. Jones spent some time in the freezer in AAA, and has since at least struck out *somebody*, but he looks like he’s toast and should go home to Texas, which is a shame for a 34-year-old lefty that was still lights out at 33. His velocity is down to 87 – he was still throwing 92 last year!

Fun Fact: Today is not the anniversary of anything special in the ABL.

May 13 is a dull day. No cycles. No 3-homer games. No no-nos. No nothing!