[Westheim]

Raccoons (65-46) vs. Titans (47-64) – August 6-8, 2046

Last set before an off day – the Raccoons hosted the Titans, who they led 9-3 in the season series. Boston had little to show off at this point, in last place in the North, 18 games out. They were second from the bottom in runs scored with a paltry .240 team batting average, and while their pitching was *decent*, sixth in runs allowed anyway despite a lousy defense, the overall package lent itself to little more than anguish. With Rich de Luna and Joe Ritchey they also had two of their more lively batters on the shelf, although Ritchey, who had a strained oblique, was not on the DL and might yet appear in the series.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (2-1, 3.23 ERA) vs. Tommy Kubik (5-8, 4.03 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (8-7, 3.78 ERA) vs. Ricky Contreras (4-12, 4.16 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-8, 3.45 ERA) vs. Victor Mondragon (5-10, 4.73 ERA)

Handedness matched for the starters in all games of the series, so we’d have to contend with two left-handers, then the right-hander Mondragon.

Game 1
BOS: SS Ju. Rodriguez – RF C. Jimenez – CF Crocker – C Whitley – 2B T. Batista – 1B Jon Rodriguez – 3B D. Richardson – LF Liceaga – P Kubik
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Floyd – P Wolinsky

“Kitten” Kubik held the Raccoons off the bases the first time through in the Monday opener, but Wolinsky, who made his first start as a 24-year-old, wasn’t far behind, allowing two hits in the first four innings, and getting into additional trouble for his own throwing error that put Jon Rodriguez aboard in the top 2nd, but didn’t concede a run. The bottom 4th then started with Gene Pellicano eeking out a full-count walk before Armando Herrera singled through the right side, extending his latest hitting streak to 14 games. The runners executed a double steal before Maldo grounded to Doug Richardson, who bobbled the ball. Pellicano would have scored anyway on the play, so Maldo got his 76th RBI, breaking the tie with Toohey for the team lead for about a minute, until Bryce Toohey hit a sac fly to right to get Herrera home, 2-0. The score got doubled the following inning when John Castner singled his way on and Josh Floyd then ran into a lazy doozy over the middle of the plate and wrecked it for his first career home run…!

At this point, Wolinsky was cruising. He was pitching efficiently – stamina was not his forte – and precisely, not running up big counts (how new on this team!), and the Titans made consistent week contact and were retired by the bushels. They didn’t reach in the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth innings at all, to the point where Wolinsky would hit for himself leading off the bottom 8th. He grounded out, so his first career hit was still something that was on the to-do list, but for now we were anxious for the ninth inning. He entered on just 83 pitches, facing Ryan Youngquist in the #9 hole to begin the frame. Youngquist singled to center, and so did Juan Rodriguez, and at once the party was over. Josh Rella, who had stood by with Mike Lynn, was brought into the game. He popped out Chris Jimenez, then struck out Nick Crocker. Then things got wicked with Dan Whitley’s RBI double, after which Rella issued two full-count walks to Tony Batista and Gerardo Galaz, the latter forcing in Wolinsky’s latter runner. Somehow Doug Richardson popped out without pulling the Raccoons’ underpants all the way over their fuzzy ears… 4-2 Raccoons. Herrera 2-4; Wolinsky 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (3-1);

Game 2
BOS: SS Ju. Rodriguez – RF C. Jimenez – CF Crocker – C Whitley – 3B T. Lopez – 1B Jon Rodriguez – 2B Galaz – LF Mangual – P R. Contreras
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – 2B Castner – SS Floyd – P Okuda

Scoring was again at a premium on Tuesday. Okuda walked Chris Jimenez in the first inning and struggled a bit there, but then struck out the side in the second and piled up seven strikeouts against no base hits through five innings. The Raccoons, unfortunately, were almost as bad, amassing three runners on a pair of singles and a Tony Lopez error, and none of them proceeded past first base.

Ruben Mangual took off the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the sixth, and Jimenez jabbed a 2-out single through the left side, but Crocker struck out to strand both of them. Herrera hit a 1-out double in the bottom of the inning instead, the Critters’ furthest advance yet in this drab game. Contreras lost Maldo on balls, but Toohey grounded out, merely advancing the runners for Ruben Gonzalez, who grounded out to Juan Rodriguez. Bottom 7th, next try – Derek Baskins whacked a ball into the leftfield corner for a leadoff double. Castner made a poor out, but Baskins reached third base on a wild pitch to Josh Floyd, who would ground to Juan Rodriguez, who bobbled the ball for an error, and the Raccoons ached the game’s first run across with some kind Boston support. Okuda bunted into a double play (yay!) before turning in a quick eighth at least. Portland failed to tack on, then – after Rella’s long and nearly futile outing the day before – turned to Mike Lynn in the ninth. Chris Jimenez hit a floater to right for a soft leadoff single, but when Doug Richardson pinch-hit for the left-handed Crocker, he spanked a 1-1 pitch into a double play. Whitley grounded to Gurney, who had replaced Toohey for defense, for the final out. 1-0 Blighters. Maldonado 2-3, BB; Okuda 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (9-7);

Our offense has gone frighteningly soft.

I should start to yell at them more often again. They don’t take well to a merry, content GM…!

Game 3
BOS: SS Ju. Rodriguez – RF C. Jimenez – CF Ritchey – C Whitley – 3B T. Lopez – 2B T. Batista – 1B Jon Rodriguez – LF Mangual – P Mondragon
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Gurney – C Morales – LF Fernandez – SS Martell – 2B Castner – P Jackson

To my great concern, Victor Mondragon had dominated the Critters the last time he had faced them, and the Titans started the gam with a 2-run first, unearned on Jackson as they were. Ritchey doubled in his return to the game, Dan Whitley reached on Al Martell’s error, and Jackson walked Tony Lopez before Tony Batista singled in two in left-center. Jon Rodriguez grounded out to Castner to strand two more runners. Mondragon had a decent first, then walked both Gurney and Morales to begin the bottom 2nd. Manny hit a gapper in right-center on a 3-1 pitch, bringing home Pat Gurney, while Tony Morales was sensibly held at third base on the double. Martell tied the game with a single up the middle, trying to atone for his earlier mishap, and Castner’s sac fly to Jimenez brought in Manny for a 3-2 lead. The joy was short-lived, along with Jackson in this game. He walked the bases loaded with nobody out in the top 3rd, the Titans battered him for four runs amidst intensifying rain, and after a 45-minute rain delay Jackson wasn’t seen again, presumed to have drowned somewhere in the box score, now with the Titans up 6-3.

It only got worse from there. Aaron Hickey pitched two innings, getting taken deep by Jimenez in the fourth and then bleeding two more runs on a 2-out, 2-run double by Mangual in the fifth, 9-3. Herrera doubled home Derek Baskins in the bottom 5th to maintain his hitting streak at 16 games, which was as much success as we’d draw from this massacre. The rest of the bullpen corps – Porter, Moreno, Ibold – at least didn’t allow any more runs, but Mondragon lasted through eight without conceding any further damage, too. Casey Pinter allowed a single to Castner in the ninth, but that was it. 9-4 Titans. Maldonado 2-4; Baskins (PH) 1-3; Porter 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The Indians completed a sweep of the thoroughly dead Loggers on Wednesday, closing in to 5 1/2 games. They would also get to play the Wolves on the weekend, while we…

Maud, I just wanna stay home…

Raccoons (67-47) @ Gold Sox (77-37) – August 10-12, 2046

Bright sides? The Raccoons had not lost a series to the Gold Sox since 2029! Go get ‘em, boys! But, yeah, here was the #3 offense and #1 pitching in the Federal League. How good was their pitching? It was outright absurd. They had a +199 run differential, allowing a mere 3.3 runs per game. Such things were unheard of, and although their pen had a few weaknesses and could indeed be scored upon should you ever get rid of their starters, with our offense having a bit of a mood right now, I had little hope for this series.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (10-6, 2.66 ERA) vs. Edward Flinn (15-5, 3.18 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.47 ERA) vs. TBD
Bubba Wolinsky (3-1, 3.03 ERA) vs. Roberto Pruneda (13-6, 2.58 ERA)

The middle game would be John Kennedy’s (12-5, 2.26 ERA) turn, but the southpaw was laboring on a sprained ankle and was listed as day-to-day. If they were forced to move up everybody to pitch on short rest, we’d have Israel Mendoza (13-8, 3.77 ERA) slide into this series.

Game 1
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Morales – LF Fernandez – SS Martell – P Merino
DEN: 2B I. Villa – RF E. Miller – CF S. Castillo – SS R. Thompson – LF T. Turner – C D. Phillips – 1B J. Robinson – 3B Hornig – P Flinn

Merino arrived ready to drown, issuing two walks and multiple deep fly balls in the first inning, two of which fell for doubles. Somehow the Gold Sox scored only one run off him, leaving the bases loaded with Ronnie Thompson, Tim Turner, and Devin Phillips when Herrera ran down Jason Robinson’s drive in deep center. That lone run stood up for a while, with the Gold Sox not doing much against Merino after a leadoff walk was issued to Jeremy Hornig in the bottom 2nd, while the Raccoons continued to do basically nothing. Herrera had his daily hit in the fourth, then was doubled up by Maldonado. Gurney opened the fifth with a single, followed by two fielders’ choices and a Martell liner to Ivan Villa.

Merino had another near-meltdown in the bottom 5th – out of the blue – after a few sturdy innings. With Eric Miller on after a base hit, with two outs he walked the bases loaded, then proceeded to forcefully drill Phillips with a fastball to push a run across. Robinson then again flew out to center to strand a full set in the 2-0 game. The Raccoons continued to draw blanks against Flinn, another Gurney single here or there be damned, while Hornig homered off Aaron Curl in the eighth to tack on a run for Denver. Flinn entered the ninth up by three, walked leadoff man Herrera, but the Gold Sox seemed unconcerned. The bullpen only showed real urgency once a 2-2 pitch nicked Maldonado, who was consisting mostly of bruises at this point. That promoted a slumping Toohey to the dish as the tying run, but of course there was no pinch-hitting for that guy. He flew out to Miller, after which the Sox went to righty Matt Simmons for our lefty barrage. Except that Gurney whiffed and Morales popped out. 3-0 Gold Sox. Gurney 2-4; Baskins (PH) 1-1;

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Morales – LF Baskins – SS Martell – P Wheatley
DEN: SS R. Thompson – LF T. Turner – CF S. Castillo – 2B I. Villa – RF Greenway – C D. Phillips – 1B E. Miller – 3B Hornig – P Pruneda

Kennedy was still said to start the middle game on Saturday morning, but was eventually scratched after lunch, with Pruneda being sent in to work the magic on short rest. Maybe that was the opening the Raccoons needed – they made solid contact in the first inning, and actually took a lead in the second, Derek Baskins hitting a 1-out single up the middle before getting doubled home by Martell, who drove a ball all the way to the centerfield fence to allow the submerged Critters a gasp of air. Best case scenario now would be Wheats running away with it, but Wheats had two walks and a nicked former Raccoon, Troy Greenway, in just two innings and was so far surviving on the mercy of his infielders, who turned a double play for him with two on in the bottom 2nd. Bryce Toohey then took a big swing for a solo homer in the third inning, extending the lead to 2-0, while … it started to rain. Before long, we went to a rain delay that lasted about an hour and was sure to cut Wheatley’s outing short, although he had only thrown 29 pitches so far, and it was probably worse on Pruneda.

When play resumed, Gurney reached on an error, stole second, and Tony Morales hit a belter outta leftfield for a 4-0 lead. Wheats held up better than feared after he resumed pitching, but got taken deep to right by Greenway for a solo homer in the bottom 5th. He completed five innings on 64 pitches, in theory lining up for a rain-soaked 4-1 win, but got absolutely stuck in the sixth. He walked a pair, with a Tim Turner RBI double in between, and departed with the tying runs aboard, two outs, and Curl to see after Greenway. He secured a strikeout.

The renaissance of Bryce Toohey continued with a second 2-run homer, mashed with two outs in the seventh inning, restoring a 4-run lead. Preston Porter tried to set fire to the lead in the bottom of the inning, putting Phillips and Miller on the corners with leadoff singles. Hornig hit into a run-scoring double play. When left-handed John Fink pinch-hit in the #9 hole, the Raccoons double-switched in Lynn, removing Gurney for defense in favor of John Castner. Lynn struck out Fink to complete seven, and retired the Sox in order in the eighth. The Raccoons did not find any more offense against the bullpen, then put in Rella for the 4-5-6 hitters. Villa grounded out, as did Greenway. Phillips cracked a liner, but right at Castner to end the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Toohey 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI;

How much of the W was rotten luck for the Gold Sox? Better not to think about that too much…

Ironically, Herrera went hitless in the win, his hitting streak dying at 17 games this time.

Kennedy really, actually started on Sunday in the rubber game, so we got a Southpaw Sunday after all…!

Game 3
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – 2B Castner – SS Floyd – P Wolinsky
DEN: 2B I. Villa – RF E. Miller – CF S. Castillo – SS R. Thompson – LF T. Turner – C D. Phillips – 1B J. Robinson – 3B Hornig – P Kennedy

Unfortunately, Wolinsky got under the wheels early, and at the hands of Kennedy, who came up to bat with Ronnie Thompson, Tim Turner (singles), and Jeremy Hornig (walk) on base and two outs in the bottom 2nd and whacked a gapper for a bases-clearing triple and a 3-0 Gold Sox lead. Wolinsky struck him out the next time ‘round, poetically, with the score still 3-0. The Raccoons at that point had two walks and a Castner single off Kennedy, who was dealing and looked all the way like he’d win this one all by himself, whiffing eight through six innings, mowed down the 3-4-5 in he seventh, whiffing Gonzalez, and then added Castner and Floyd in the eighth for 11 K. No further Raccoons hits, mind you. Wolinsky held out valiantly for seven innings before Ibold, Curl, and Hickey melted away for two tack-on runs in the eighth of a game that was already well lost. Kennedy ran out of juice and did not finish the game, but Yeom Soung – another former Critter – did not exactly let the horses get away in the ninth inning. 5-0 Gold Sox.

In other news

August 8 – PIT OF Josh Wimer (.250, 0 HR, 2 RBI) breaks a tie with the Blue Sox with a 16th-inning sac fly to score catcher Ken Wiersma (.272, 4 HR, 21 RBI), eventually giving the Miners the 5-4 victory.
August 9 – DEN SP Gary Perrone (15-6, 2.51 ERA) 3-hits the Pacifics in a 3-0 shutout.
August 9 – Vancouver 2B/3B Travis Malkus (.256, 9 HR, 53 RBI) rakes a home run, three doubles, and a single, with two RBI, in a 7-5 win over the Crusaders.
August 10 – New York’s Paul Paris (7-12, 3.88 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout against the Scorpions, with the Crusaders winning 9-0. Paris strikes out eight batters in the effort.
August 11 – Knights SP Brian Buttress (10-7, 3.70 ERA) has a 3-hit shutout in a 4-0 win over the Capitals, striking out five batters.
August 11 – The Thunder score 13 runs in the third inning alone in a 19-2 drubbing of the Blue Sox. OCT 2B/SS Jonathan Ban (.312, 4 HR, 42 RBI) has four hits and four RBI, best on the team – and more hits than the Blue Sox manage in the game (3).
August 12 – SFW RF Matt Diskin (.341, 9 HR, 57 RBI) hits an RBI single in the first inning of a 6-3 loss to the Canadiens, extending his hitting streak to 20 games.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF/RF Mario Villa (.393, 4 HR, 57 RBI), hitting .385 (10-26) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ LF/RF/1B Rikuto Ito (.251, 13 HR, 77 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 5 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Wonky week. The offense isn’t clicking right now, despite, ironically, Toohey starting to hit homers again at semi-regular intervals. We went 3-3, losing a game to the Indians, who remain remarkably resilient, while the Loggers have by now fallen into a tie with the Crusaders, and I somehow feel that they’ll find last place before the year is out. That would be such a Loggers thing to do.

We will now start a 2-game homestand on Tuesday, beginning with the Capitals and damn Elks. The Crusaders and Baybirds will be in the week after. The next meeting with the Indians will start on August 30, a long weekend in Indy. We have seven in total left with them.

Is there any offensive help in AAA? Ben Coen has an .805 OPS down there, but he was already here and hit nothing. Ken Mills is hitting .286/.389/.458, but where would we play him? The outfield is full. At least we’ll get Matt Waters back by the middle of the week…

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez hit the franchise’s 18,000th double in the Wednesday loss to the Titans.

That is kinda random, Cristiano, isn’t it?