[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-29) vs. Canadiens (25-28) – June 5-7, 2046

The damn Elks saw the second-most runs on either side of the box score in the CL, with a -13 run differential (Critters: +13). Their rotation was the worst by ERA, and their defense was worst overall, too, but then again they had a .358 team OBP. What they didn’t have – at least to begin the series – was certified murderer Jerry Outram, who was laboring on a mild hamstring strain and would not be in the lineup in the opener at least. The Coons had yet to win a game from Elk City this year, having been swept in the first 3-game set played.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Person (3-4, 3.42 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (5-2, 4.36 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-6, 4.24 ERA) vs. John Roeder (3-4, 3.49 ERA)
Jake Jackson (3-5, 3.15 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (3-6, 4.30 ERA)

We might get two southpaws to begin the set, and we’d miss the worst offenders in their rotation, which was such a nice start. Monday had been off for everybody, but I had my doubts about them skipping Roeder for Aaron Jones (3-4, 5.64 ERA) to get the baseball back any sooner.

Despite the off day on Monday, the Raccoons still had no news on Matt Waters’ injury, so they’d play a set of paws short on Tuesday.

Game 1
VAN: CF Escobido – 2B O. Aguirre – C Julio Diaz – LF C. Robinson – 3B Malkus – SS Price – 1B K. Saito – RF van der Zanden – P de Anda
POR: LF Pellicano – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Mercado – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Person

Person started the week with two walks to Angel Escobido and Oscar Aguirre, making me squeal in agony, before whiffing Julio Diaz and Chris Robinson and getting a groundout from Travis Malkus. No comfort zone was in sight. The Elks opened the second inning with Rick Price and Kenichi Saito singles up the middle, and an error by Castner allowed Price to score before de Anda bunted into a double play to help the Coons out of the mess they were in. No Raccoon reached base until Al Martell landed a 1-out triple in the bottom 3rd, with kind cooperation by Escobido’s confused misplay, overrunning the ball in shallow center and then having it get behind him and almost all the way to the warning track. Person popped out, Pellicano walked, and somehow Derek Baskins finally got the runner across with a single to center, tying the game at one. Maldo grounded out to Saito, but runners were on the corners in the bottom 4th as well, with Toohey drawing a leadoff walk and Mercado hitting for a soft single. One down, Castner singled through between Price and Malkus, giving Portland a 2-1 lead, but the inning then raced to a quick conclusion with weak outs from the 8-9 batters. The lead didn’t last long at all – remember, we can’t have any nice things; and Julio Diaz doubled home Aguirre, who had reached on a 2-out walk (…) to tie it back up in the fifth.

Portland got a Pellicano single to begin the bottom 5th, and while Baskins was caught on the warning track by Chris Robinson, Maldonado hit a double to center to put two in scoring position for Toohey. To my great surprise, the Elks pitched to Toohey, who had Ruben ******* Gonzalez for protection in the injury-diminished lineup, and de Anda gave up a 2-run double to center after reaching a full count. It was all the same though in the end – Gonzalez hit the third double in a row, driving in Toohey, and getting the Elks pen to start stretching. Nevertheless, the Critters would complete a run through the lineup, with Mercado and Castner singles getting Gonzalez around for a 6-2 lead before the 8-9 hitters again led to a quick exit.

And it almost all went well from there. Person pitched into the eighth, after which we twiddled us through that inning with Lush and Ibold. Preston Porter got the ninth, still up by four, which became up by two after Felix Rojas’ pinch-hit 2-out, 2-run homer to straightaway centerfield. Josh Rella had to come in late here, facing Escobido, who grounded out to Maldonado to end the game after all. 6-4 Raccoons. Baskins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mercado 3-4; Castner 2-4, 2 RBI; Fernandez (PH) 1-1, 2B; Person 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (4-4);

Neat win, except that we needed four relievers to get five outs. But with how the last few weeks had gone, I wasn’t gonna nag about that one too much…

Wednesday brought no enlightenment regarding Matt Waters *still* (and Dr. Padilla was treacherously silent and faked having to take a phone call every time I inquired about Waters), but the damn Elks did indeed NOT bring up John Roeder, but went to the right-handed Mario, Godinez.

Game 2
VAN: LF Escobido – SS O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – RF van der Zanden – 3B K. Saito – 1B Bejarano – P Godinez
POR: RF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – LF Fernandez – C Morales – SS Martell – P Okuda

Godinez gave himself the lead with a 2-out single in the top 2nd, the third of the inning and scoring Arnout van der Zanden, who had forced out Malkus earlier. Portland answered to a new 1-0 deficit with a Baskins single, Manny double, and Morales single in the bottom 2nd, which, since Julio Diaz was busy shooing Baskins back to third base and then had no time to throw out *Tony Morales* at first base, did not score us a run, instead bringing up the .221 menace Al Martell with one out. He flew out softly to Outram in shallow center, and Okuda grounded out, throwing away three perfectly good base hits once again…

The Elks also had the bases loaded, but with no outs, and without a base hit in the third inning. Okuda walked Aguirre and Outram, Maldo fumbled Diaz aboard via error, and things looked rather bleak. Indeed, Okuda was chopped to pieces; after getting Malkus to pop out to second, he surrendered two runs each on a van der Zanden double and a Saito single, and was yanked in the fourth after putting Aguirre and Outram on AGAIN. The Raccoons accepted the loss and sent Aaron Hickey, who gave up one of the runners on a van der Zanden single, running the score to 6-0 on the inept Critters. Perversely, the Coons’ first run in the game would be scored by Hickey, who hit a double in the bottom 5th, then came around on Pat Gurney’s 2-out single… Hickey pitched the Coons through to the seventh-inning stretch without being charged a run, easily winning Least Annoying Bum on Team for this particular shambles. Todd Lush meanwhile came into the eighth inning with two outs and nobody on base, faced two lefty hitters – Outram and Diaz, admittedly – and left with two additional runs on the board on a single and a homer. The Coons scratched out a few late runs with a Toohey homer in the eighth and a Castner RBI single to score Mercado in the ninth, none of which made a significant dent in the final score. 8-4 Canadiens. Castner (PH) 1-1, RBI; Baskins 2-3, BB; Hickey 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K and 1-2, 2B;

Todd Lush and his 5.50 ERA were placed on waivers on Thursday – the same way we had gotten his silly bum in the first place. His Raccoons ERA was an even ghastlier 6.14 … Steven Johnston, sporting an infinite ERA from one hopeless appearance this year, was brought back as a filler while I tried to work out a smart solution.

Dr. Padilla, what about …? – But do you at least know where you placed him? – Why do you ask ME whether we took him home from Milwaukee? I didn’t count heads, I was busy crying!

Game 3
VAN: 1B Bejarano – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Malkus – LF C. Robinson – RF F. Rojas – SS Price – P Roeder
POR: LF Pellicano – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Jackson

Roeder got the rubber game after all, then gave up singles to load the bases on nine pitches in the bottom 1st – but with nobody out, so Toohey at the plate be damned, the Raccoons probably wouldn’t score. Toohey promptly struck out, making me reach for Honeypaws for comfort, but Ruben Gonzalez’ groundout got at least one run home. That would have been it, had Aguirre not fumbled Manny’s grounder for an error, allowing Baskins to score, too. Castner then finally grounded out for good. This team…

Struggles for Jake Jackson against a mostly left-handed lineup became soon apparent, as he loaded the bases in the top 2nd with a single and two walks, then escaped, barely, by getting Roeder to fly out to Pellicano. Al Martell countered with a leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd, his first of the year, 3-0. Pellicano walked with one out, advanced on a grounder, then was singled in by Maldonado.

The Elks piled up the runners on Jackson, seven in total in the first four innings, none of which scored also thanks to double plays hit into in both the third (Aguirre) and fourth (Malkus) innings. Roeder’s leadoff single in the fifth spelled more trouble, and Jackson walked former Raccoons farmhand Ricardo Bejarano immediately after. Aguirre flew out, and Outram struck out – while everybody else in the lineup ran riot around Jackson, Outram was 0-for-3 in the game after going unretired on Wednesday. While Jackson needed 90 pitches through five messy, yet scoreless innings, Toohey upped the lead to 5-0 with his 15th jack of the year. Jackson was yanked after a leadoff walk to Malkus in the sixth. Johnston was picked for the bottom of the order, got a double play grounder from Robinson, and lowered his ERA from infinite to merely 27.00 in the process. What a winner! Bottom 7th, the Coons had the bases loaded with one out against righty Steven Wilson. Looking for the death knell, Mercado batted for an 0-for-3 Ruben Gonzalez and smacked a 2-run double. While Manny struck out, the inning dragged on with Castner getting nicked and Martell drawing a bases-loaded walk for another run before Jordan Antonio retired Tony Morales on a grounder. Zack Kelly got the eighth and retired … nobody, really? Outram hit an infield single. Diaz singled. Malkus singled, with Outram being sent from second base and thrown out at home by Pellicano, so that was something. Nevertheless, Malkus and Robinson added more hits, driving in three runs on Kelly, showing the Coons they had no lefty reliever to rely on whatsoever anymore. Bob Ibold shut the door on the Elks, getting the last four outs, somehow. 8-3 Raccoons. Baskins 2-5; Maldonado 2-4, BB, RBI; Toohey 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Mercado (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (29-30) vs. Blue Sox (24-37) – June 8-10, 2046

The Blue Sox had an 8-game losing streak, which sounded like a challenge to the Critters, and sat in the bottom four in runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, with a -34 run differential. They had a semi-decent rotation, but a bullpen getting ranked for a 5.00 ERA, so that was what the Raccoons had to get into. These teams had met last year, with two of three games going to Nashville back then.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (4-4, 3.46 ERA) vs. Jeremy Ray (3-6, 5.16 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (6-2, 3.40 ERA) vs. Chris Crowell (0-2, 4.96 ERA)
Ryan Person (4-4, 3.14 ERA) vs. Kevin Stice (2-8, 4.22 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up here.

The Raccoons also found Matt Waters again, who had apparently been forgotten in Milwaukee indeed and took three days to get home on a bus. Once in Portland, Dr. Padilla diagnosed him with a sore shoulder and recommended he’d spend the rest of June on the DL, which was another blow to the Critters… We were now left with Al Martell at short, third-choice John Castner at the keystone, and whatever we could scratch together in AAA, which turned out to be 2042 seventh-rounder Josh Floyd, a decent defender, but poor hitter, batting right-handed and hitting precious little. It was preferrable to go with him instead of a trade though (more on that in the bottom section).

Game 1
NAS: LF J. Davis – 1B Ale. Ramos – SS Rowell – C Santa Cruz – 3B Critzer – CF Harmon – 2B Ragsdale – P Ray – RF Magnussen
POR: RF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – LF Fernandez – C Morales – SS Martell – P Merino

I wished for a win all the harder when I saw the Sox batting the pitcher eighth, which was a travesty and deserving of the worst punishments imaginable. The Raccoons would start the scoring at least, hitting four straight 2-out base knocks in the bottom 2nd, including an RBI single by Merino, to take a 2-0 lead. Merino had three scoreless innings, twice walking the leadoff man, though, before being taken deep by Mike Harmon in the fourth to cut the lead in half. Adam Magnussen drew a 1-out walk in the fifth, then was doubled up by John Davis’ grounder to short. A Pat Gurney homer in the bottom of the inning restored the 2-run gap, and Manny opened the bottom 6th with a triple to left-center, then collided with Brad Critzer at third base and left the game with an injury. I was a bit dizzy. Martell drove in pinch-runner Van Anderson with a single, 4-1, but we were running out of major league position players fast now…

Merino pitched seven innings, though not without giving up a run in the final frame, allowing a single to Critzer and an RBI double to Dylan Ragsdale. Moreno followed on Merino and gave up a homer to Alejandro Ramos, reducing the lead to 4-3. The Coons didn’t tack on and Rella didn’t look like he’d hold up – after Critzer flew out to left to begin the ninth inning, he threw away Harmon’s roller for a 2-base error, putting the tying run in scoring position, then struggled to throw strikes to Jose Rivera, who grounded out at 3-1. Another lefty pinch-hitter followed in David Doerle, but the rookie infielder struck out to let the Raccoons escape with the W. 4-3 Raccoons. Mercado 2-5; Fernandez 1-2, BB, 3B; Martell 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Merino 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (5-4) and 1-3, RBI;

So, Dr. Padilla? – Not sure yet? – But we haven’t misplaced this one, too, have we?

But he was hurt in our own ballpark!!

Again, one set of paws short by Saturday…

Game 2
NAS: SS Doerle – 1B Ale. Ramos – RF Harmon – LF Magnussen – CF Rowell – C O. Ramirez – 3B J. Davis – P Crowell – 2B Hampton
POR: LF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – RF Pellicano – C Morales – SS Martell – P Wheatley

Doerle got consecutive at-bats in the series, was down 1-2 again facing Wheats to open the Saturday contest, then doubled to left, but got left aboard on two weak groundouts and a K to Magnussen. The Raccoons opened with a single by Mercado, who stole second, Maldo walking, and then an RBI single by Toohey, matching Maldo with 40 RBI. Crowell lost Baskins in a full count, filling the bases for Pellicano, who hit a soft liner over Doerle for an RBI single. Magnussen then made two catches in shallow left to keep the bases filled with Critters. The Coons left another three on, without scoring, in the bottom 2nd when Baskins grounded out to Jeremy Hampton, just before Magnussen turned Wheats inside-out with a 2-out, 3-run homer in the top 3rd…….

But Maldo was up to the challenge – with Mercado and Gurney reaching base to begin the bottom 4th, he wasted no time and socked a 3-piece to left to give the Coons a 2-run lead back, 5-3. Wheats, though, coming off a shutout of the Loggers, remained utterly hittable, giving up seven hits (against six strikeouts) in five innings, and his pitch count was up there. He hit for himself in the bottom 5th, though, with Morales (walk) and Martell (single) on the corners and nobody out, hitting a sac fly to Rick Rowell that knocked out Crowell for good. Replacement Jeff Draper gave up a walk to Mercado, then a 2-out single to Maldo that got Martell around, 7-3.

Wheats, who had no clean inning whatsoever, left the game without getting an out in the seventh, with PH Sean Ashley hitting a single to left and him nicking Hampton after that. Zack Kelly took over, got a double play grounder from Doerle to Gurney, and then Ramos to fly out to Baskins, stranding Ashley on third base. Josh Floyd made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter then, batting for Gurney against left-handed Bill Herrmann in the bottom 7th. He singled to left-center at 1-2, then was doubled up when Maldo grounded to short.

The Coons then managed to turn the 7-3 lead into a save opportunity – twice. First Kelly walked a pair in the eighth, with Bob Ibold striking out John Davis to escape, getting the chance to pitch the ninth for a save, only to walk the first two batters that came up, Rivera and Hampton. So, here was Josh Rella in another sticky situation. He gave up an RBI double to Doerle, then walked Ramos to fill the bases with the tying runs. Still nobody out, by the way. Harmon singled to center at 1-1, plating a run while Doerle was thrown out at home by Baskins. The remaining runners reached scoring position though, and were still enough to tie the game. Magnussen hit a ******* deep sac fly, moving Harmon to third base. Rowell, a righty, was hitting .189, and if Rella couldn’t get HIM out without damage, we really needed a new closer… Three strikes did it, barely… 7-6 Raccoons. Mercado 2-3, 2 BB; Floyd (PH) 1-1; Maldonado 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Martell 2-4;

Back in the winning zone! No, I also don’t know how we did it.

Game 3
NAS: SS Doerle – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Santa Cruz – 3B Critzer – LF Magnussen – CF Rowell – RF J. Rivera – P Stice – 2B Hampton
POR: LF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – C Morales – SS Floyd – RF Anderson – P Person

The Critters went up 2-0 early again, starting with a Mercado double in the bottom 1st, although it then took two outs to get going. Toohey hit an RBI single, as did Morales after Baskins reached on Hampton’s error. Floyd flew out to Magnussen, ruining his perfect batting average at the major league level. Person meanwhile tried to be as annoying as possible, issuing three walks the first time through, including a 2-out walk to Stice in the second inning. Hampton singled home Magnussen with two outs, with Rivera thrown out at home plate by Baskins.

Person issued four walks and four strikeouts through three innings, with his pitch count rapidly exploding. The Raccoons better find some more offense here, considering the wonky pen behind, and thankfully they pounced when Stice nicked Toohey to begin the bottom 3rd. Hampton put Baskins on with an error *again*, after which Tony Morales socked a 3-run homer to left-center, 5-1. Person needed 91 pitches through five innings, so that was that, but at least the runts of the litter scratched out another run with two outs in the bottom 5th. Morales, Floyd, and Anderson hit singles in turn, getting another run home, and Person remained in to bat for himself, and slapped his first base hit as a Critter, bringing in Floyd for his first RBI as a Critter, too. After Mercado drew a walk, Gurney drove in two with a single off Bill Quintero, followed by a booming 3-piece crashed by Maldonado to left, the final noise in a 7-run fifth that put us up 12-1.

Person logged three more outs on 12 pitches in the sixth before the rest of the game would be left to the relief corps, and Maldo and Toohey, who had played every inning this week, were also taken out at that point, with Martell and Castner taking over in the 3-4 slots and getting 2-out knocks in the bottom 7th; Martell added himself to Gurney with a single, while Castner hit a 2-run wallbanger double to get them both home. That was still not the end – Pellicano, last man off the short bench, doubled in two more runs as pinch-hitter for Aaron Hickey in the bottom 8th against Zack Stahl. Johnston, Hickey, and Porter pitched scoreless relief in the blowout. 16-1 Furballs! Martell (PH) 1-1; Castner (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Morales 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Floyd 3-5; Anderson 2-4, BB, RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

We scored 16 runs despite none of our top 5 in the lineup managing to go better than 1-for-3 (Toohey). They all had one hit, though, and some of them were quite big, with 6 RBI in total between them.

In other news

June 5 – With ruptured finger tendons, the season might be over for ATL SP David Farris (3-6, 4.92 ERA).
June 7 – Thunder OF Juan Benavides (.297, 12 HR, 48 RBI) hits for the cycle in an 8-5 win over the Bayhawks. The 31-year-old goes 4-for-4 with 3 RBI, and also gets hit by a pitch in the game. This is the first Thunder cycle since 1990, when Tyler Burch hit for all four base knocks in a loss to the Knights, and the third overall, including Jonah Frank’s 1979 cycle, also against the Bayhawks.
June 8 – SFW 2B Hugo Acosta (.332, 0 HR, 34 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak following an RBI single in the Warriors’ 9-8 loss to the Loggers.
June 8 – Chronic shoulder soreness will put RIC SP Omar Lara (2-6, 4.23 ERA) on the DL until at least August.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.319, 8 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .609 (14-23) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL SS Jorge Gonzalez (.355, 2 HR, 26 RBI), slapping .579 (11-19) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

With Herrera and Waters out until early July, the Raccoons were trying to get by with a diminished lineup that already hadn’t scored many runs before losing those two. Waters was not really replaceable for us. There *was* an option on the trade market in the Capitals’ Cody St. Peter, who was freely shopped around, but who came with a contract for 2047 and a certain attitude. He was a switch-hitter, so that would be a plus, and he was hitting for a 104 OPS+ as a regular. But he expected to be a starter, so after Waters’ return you’d have to put him at second base or dispose of him in a landfill if you didn’t want the clubhouse to catch fire.

Was that worth it for three weeks of Waters on the DL?

Side note, no news on Manny Fernandez’ status right now. (looks over to Dr. Padilla) But we do know where he is, right? … Right?

Nobody wanted a piece of Todd Lush, who ended up joining Chuck Jones on the broken toys pile in AAA.

Next week, a quick hop down I-5 to play the Wolves, then another home series against the Arrowheads. Annoyingly, I’ll have to fly out to New York for the draft during the weekend, when the entire team is scheduled to head to New York the Monday after…

Fun Fact: Archie Turley leads the CL in RBI with 54.

Half of them against the Coons, I’d guess. – Cristiano, why do you say it’s been five when I already stated matter-of-factly that he has 27 against the Coons?

Turley, 28, is either a late bloomer or has his once-in-a-lifetime season. He spent time in AAA for non-medical reasons as recently as last year, although then he was batting .362 with five homers in 14 games there. But he hit a not-quite-league-average of .265/.309/.411 with the Falcons last year, so he wasn’t much of a threat back then. This year? .314/.341/.481 with nine homers and also ten stolen bases. Also a good arm in right, and despite his mediocre track record as a hitter, he has already won three Gold Gloves in his Falcons tenure.

His BABIP for the year is .325, so to make totally sure that he’s gonna come down back to the mean, the Raccoons should probably trade for him.