[Westheim]

Raccoons (41-34) @ Bayhawks (31-44) – June 26-28, 2051

After getting swept by the Thunder on the weekend, the Raccoons got to visit the last-place Bayhawks. However, last place here, last place there, nothing good had ever happened at the Bay. This was with the CL’s worst offense meeting the worst pitching, as the Baybirds had already given up over 400 runs and didn’t seem keen to stop it any time soon. Seventh in runs scored, they had a -93 run differential. The Coons had swept San Fran in the first meeting of the year.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (2-4, 4.12 ERA) vs. Craig Czyszczon (3-6, 6.71 ERA)
Juan Mercado (2-4, 3.67 ERA) vs. Curt Muir (1-3, 10.07 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (9-5, 3.50 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (7-5, 2.96 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up here.

Game 1
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B J. Maldonado – RF Glodowski – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido
SFB: CF M. Roberts – SS Dau – C S. Suggs – 3B R. Sifuentes – 1B Witherspoon – 2B Quiroz – LF Meyer – RF P. Colon – P Czyszczon

The Coons burst out with a big first inning, as Waters and Puckeridge doubled, Maldo singled home Pucks, and Matt Glodowski hit a huge homer to center. It wouldn’t be the game of Craig Czyszczon, who lumbered into the fourth, where the first four Critters all reached base and he was charged with another 3-spot, the end of which was overseen by Armando Colmenarez. Ruben Gonzalez was nicked. Victor Salcido singled with two strikes, and Waters also singled to load them up. Lonzo doubled home a pair on an 0-2 pitch, and Pucks added a sac fly, 7-0. Sam Witherspoon put the Bayhawks on the board in the bottom of the inning, hitting a 2-run homer, his 16th of the year, but that was the only blemish on Salcido, who allowed just two hits through five innings.

But he also pitched the sixth, and in the sixth, **** hit a big industrial fan once again and splattered it all over the ballpark. A Mike Roberts single, a walk to Todd Dau, and a first-pitch, RBI double for Sean Suggs, which sugged. Ramon Sifuentes made a weak out, but Witherspoon dished out more harm with a 2-run single, narrowing the score to 7-5.

Then there was Colmenarez, the former starter, that was still going in the seventh inning, but not with any outs going onto his ledger. He walked the 5-6-7 batters to give the Coons three on and no outs again. The Coons failed as usual, with Ruben Gonzalez grounding into a force at home. Oscar Rivera pinch-hit, found an out at second base, but a run scored. Rivera was then picked off first to kill the inning with Waters at the plate. But Maldo singled home Puckeridge with a single off Victor Mena in the eighth inning, while Paul Miles gave the Coons two innings on just 20 pitches after relieving Salcido. The Coons made it to double digits in the ninth inning; Ed Crispin hit a leadoff triple up the rightfield line, and Gonzalez singled him in. The bases slowly filled up after Miles bunted Gonzalez to second base, bringing up Ken Crum with three on and two outs. He was behind 1-2 against Carson Jarvinen, then flicked one over Adam Peltier’s head at short for a 2-run single. Maldo grounded out. Miles retired another three in order, however, completing the game. 12-5 Furballs! Waters 3-6, 2B; Lavorano 2-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 4-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Crum 2-4, 2 BB, 2 RBI; J. Maldonado 2-5, BB, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-4, BB, 3B; Miles 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, SV (1);

Interlude: Trade

SFB C Sean Suggs (.306, 8 HR, 42 RBI) changed locker rooms before the game on Tuesday, being acquired by the Raccoons for a bundle of C Juan Jimenez (.263, 0 HR, 2 RBI) and four pitchers: MR Julian Ponce (2-0, 0.53 ERA), #37 prospect AA SP Duarte Damasceno, #125 prospect AA SP Miguel Batista, and A MR Alexis Bernal.

It was a steep price, but for a game-changer behind the dish. Suggs regularly put the hurt on the Raccoons (points at Monday game) and I was tired of that. He had been the CL Player of the Year at 25, and was still over a year removed from 30. His contract was quite luxurious, $3.44M annually through 2053, but nothing we couldn’t stem.

Besides, he was a switch-hitter, and Ruben Gonzalez wasn’t doing anything meriting excitement. The Coons had somehow stumbled into first place and I felt obligated to deal some prospects for offense. And it wasn’t like we didn’t have any young pitching left after that. There was still Phil Baker, there were still Brobeck and Hall, and also Carmen Argenziano, who hadn’t been talked about a lot since being taken in the second round in 2047.

The trade also resolved our four-lefty pinch in the bullpen. Mike Snyder was recalled to make up the numbers as fourth righty.

Raccoons (41-34) @ Bayhawks (31-44) – June 26-28, 2051

Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – C Suggs – RF Glodowski – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – P Mercado
SFB: SS Peltier – 1B Dau – CF M. Roberts – 3B R. Sifuentes – 2B Quiroz – LF R. Correa – C J. Jimenez – RF Meyer – P Muir

Matt Waters romped a leadoff double to right, then scored on two groundouts for a 1-0 lead in the first. The Bayhawks came right back, though, sending up everybody in the first inning. Peltier singled, Dau doubled, and after Roberts’ sac fly tied the game, Ramon Sifuentes crashed a monstrous homer, 3-1. The bases filled back up after that with two walks (one intentional) and a Juan Jimenez double (hey there), before Curt Muir struck out. Mercado wasn’t for long, fooled nobody, and was gone after four innings, giving up a 2-run double to Dau in the bottom 4th to make it 5-1, although Ed Crispin was just as much to blame, trying to get an out at second base on Muir’s bunt, and getting nobody with a poor throw. The Raccoons couldn’t get really untracked against Muir, who entered with a 10+ ERA. Lonzo hit a leadoff double and scored on two productive outs in the sixth, but in between the Coons had done absolutely nothing, and they resorted to that modus operandi right afterwards and for the rest of the game. 5-2 Bayhawks. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Snyder 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Suggs went 1-for-4 in his Coons debut.

Game 3
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – C Suggs – 1B J. Maldonado – 3B Kaufman – RF Rivera – P Wolinsky
SFB: SS Peltier – 1B Dau – CF M. Roberts – 3B R. Sifuentes – 2B Quiroz – LF R. Correa – C J. Jimenez – RF P Colon – P Cantrell

Again Portland scored in the first; Lonzo singled, Pucks doubled, and Crum plated a run with a groundout. Suggs also grounded out, which sugged. The Bayhawks flipped it on a homer again in the bottom 2nd, when Pedro Colon took Wolinsky well deep with Ricky Correa on base. The Coons made up the difference in the first when Waters got on, stole a base by accident on a hit-and-run where Lonzo missed the hitting part, and eventually scored on a Pucks single, after which we remained at 2-2 all through the middle innings. Neither team hit a lot, and neither pitcher was very efficient, both taking almost 80 pitches through six innings.

The tie was broken with a surprise leadoff jack by Oscar Rivera in the seventh, hitting a 3-2 pitch over the fence in left to make it just that score. Wolinsky held out for another inning, after which Hitchcock retired the 2-3-4 in order in the eighth inning. The Coons drew walks off Julian Ponce in his first Bayhawks outing in the ninth, but Kaufman and Glodowski were left on base. Willie Cruz got the ball in the bottom 9th, Sergio Quiroz hit a leadoff double, and I got my doubts. But a soft pop from Correa, a weak grounder by Hugo Acosta, and then Pedro Colon’s first-pitch grounder to Pucks at first base ended the game after all, the tying run being stranded at third base. 3-2 Raccoons. Puckeridge 3-4, 2B, RBI; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (10-5);

Raccoons (43-35) @ Crusaders (37-42) – June 29-July 2, 2051

Third and final trip of the month to New York, this time for a set of four games. We were 5-3 behind in the season series, and the Crusaders were very average in runs scored and runs allowed, with an even run differential (Coons: -7). They had the power, second in bombs in the CL, while the pen was brittle, and defense suspect.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (10-2, 3.10 ERA) vs. Jim White (8-6, 3.96 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (0-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (5-4, 3.30 ERA)
Victor Salcido (3-4, 4.35 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (4-6, 4.32 ERA)
Juan Mercado (2-5, 4.25 ERA) vs. Will Cormack (1-2, 5.79 ERA)

Two southpaws in the middle of a righty sandwich in this series. Cormack was an injury replacement for veteran Jeff Johnson, and wasn’t doing so well so far. The Crusaders had quite a few lefty batters, so we’d probably soon long for that fourth lefty again… because I always need something to whine about.

Game 1
POR: 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – C Suggs – 1B J. Maldonado – RF Glodowski – SS Kaufman – 3B Sivertson – P Wheatley
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – CF Leal – C O. Ramirez – RF Arens – 1B Haertling – P J. White

Omar Sanchez walked, Andrew Russ (growls) singled, and a wild pitch moved both into scoring position with Danny Rivera at the dish when Wheats got his crap together and struck out the middle of the order to keep the Crusaders off the board. The Crusaders would get more leadoff singles in the second and third innings, didn’t score there, either, while the Coons had their first 11 batters sat down in order by Jim White before Ken Crum finally hit a single in the top 4th, and Suggs popped out. Wheats allowed ANOTHER leadoff single in the bottom 4th, then four more singles to fall 3-0 behind. Ron Arens, Omar Sanchez, and Russ singled home the runs. All in all, Wheatley was hit around for ten knocks, all singles, in just five innings, after which the Crusaders were done with him, having seen 105 pitches.

Lonzo singled for Wheats to begin the top 6th, and Waters then immediately rushed a jack to right to cut the gap to 3-2, but the next three were all retired. It took until Waters’ next at-bat to get another runner into scoring position. It was the tying run thanks to scoreless innings by Waldo and Sencion, and it reached there on Waters’ 1-out double off White to right. Pucks singled him home on a 2-2, evening the score at 3-3, and thus taking Wheatley off the hook. That was as far as the Coons got, though, offensively and defensively. No further score could be put together, while Hitchcock allowed the leadoff man Russ to reach on an infield single in the bottom 9th. Lillis was brought in for Rivera, which worked splendidly well for New York as Rivera ended the game with a no-doubt blast to right. 5-3 Crusaders. Waters 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1;

Suggs so far: 2-for-12, no RBI.

I’m calm.

Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B J. Maldonado – CF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – C Gonzalez – 3B Kaufman – P de la Cruz
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – C A. Lara – CF Leal – RF Garris – 1B Haertling – P J. Baker

Facing seven left-handed batters wasn’t something that helped foundering rookie Rafael de la Cruz, who all the heaps and amounts of advance praise didn’t help any when he loaded the bags in the bottom 2nd with the 6-7-8 batters on a single by Pedro Leal and walks to Josh Garris and Ed Haertling. Jeremy Baker singled home a run up the middle then, another run scored on a double play grounder by Sanchez, and the third on a wild pitch by de la Cruz, who saw his ERA rising and my head sinking. It didn’t get much better, either. New York had a pair on in the bottom 3rd, but only scored again on a Rivera homer in the fifth, 4-0 on a Raccoons team that continued to refuse to hit. De la Cruz was dragged through six by the defense, and Snyder and Lillis offered two innings of scoreless relief, but Baker pitched a shutout into the eighth before being replaced by Taylor Stabile. Waters drew a leadoff walk in the ninth, but was still on first with two outs. Maldo singled to center, sending Waters to third and Stabile off the mound. Melvin Lucero came in to tie the Coons down, getting Pucks with a fly to left on three pitches. 4-0 Crusaders. Puckeridge 2-4;

We were still in first place, but by only half a game and that had required a 6-run rally in the ninth by the Loggers to beat the Indians 7-4 on Friday, and the Crusaders and Titans were now also closing in on the dismal pair at the top of the North.

Offense, boys! Offense…! (pleads on his knees)

Game 3
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – C Suggs – 1B J. Maldonado – RF Rivera – 3B Kaufman – CF Suzuki – P Salcido
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – C A. Lara – CF Leal – RF Garris – 1B Haertling – P Malla

Game three ended in the first inning on a 3-run homer by Prince Gates, the fourth of four batters that Salcido got behind against in the count. Sanchez walked, Russ singled, and Gates sent one flying for 420 feet. The two leadoff batters reached again in the bottom 2nd, with Sanchez’ groundout bringing in a fourth run, while the Coons’ first dozen batters was retired in this particular display of sadness. Sean Suggs then singled to open the fifth, and out of the blue Maldo hit a jack to cut the gap in half. Kaufman and even Salcido then reached base in the same inning with a walk and 2-out single, but Waters flew out to center to keep the tying runs stranded.

…and as awful as the first few innings for Salcido were, he finally caught himself in the middle innings and pitched until there were two outs in the seventh. Sencion came on with Rivera batting, Dave Hernandez on third base, and two outs, stranded the runner and also pitched the eighth, all to keep it at 4-2 for a team that could hardly score two runs in a full game, let alone in an inning… But the middle of the order was up against lefty Neal Hamann in the ninth, so maybe… Crum struck out. Suggs grounded out. Maldo flew out. 4-2 Crusaders. J. Maldonado 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Still up by half a game.

Still despaired, though.

Game 4
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – C Suggs – 1B J. Maldonado – RF Glodowski – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – P Mercado
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – C Leal – 1B D. Hernandez – C O. Ramirez – CF Mills – P Cormack

Lonzo’s first homer of the year opened the scoring in the second half of the season after Waters had already singled, so it even counted for two! Sanchez then singled right away for New York, but was doubled up by Russ, which was a rare-enough event to evoke a semi-lewd dance from me in the corporate suite. Sanchez hit another single with two outs in the third, but Russ again found a middle infield to calmly ground out to. The Coons tacked on in the fourth when Maldo singled and Glodowski hit a long RBI double into the gap, 3-0. Crispin whiffed, Suzuki was turned down, and Mercado popped out to end the inning after that. Maldo scored another run in the sixth, being singled home with two outs by Ed Crispin this time.

And Mercado looked quite solid through five; he allowed five hits, but nothing too hard, walked none and struck out three, while throwing only 56 pitches. He gave up standard-sized singles to Rivera with one out in the sixth and Omar Ramirez in the seventh, none of which led to New York runs. Bottom 8th, though, Omar Sanchez drew a leadoff walk. Russ floated out to left, but that brought up the near-unretireable Rivera, hitting .281 with 17 homers. He was a left-handed hitter though, so that should be something Mercado should figure out eventually. After a pep talk on the mound he gave up a fly to deep center, but nothing that would give Suzuki headaches. Prince Gates grounded out to end the eighth, and Mercado was not hit for in the ninth inning, but Matt Waters hit a solo homer with two gone to stretch the score to 5-0. Ken Crum replaced Maldo for defense in the bottom 9th, with the 5-6-7 due, and Mercado entering on 93 pitches. Pedro Leal ran a full count, then flew out easily to Pucks on pitch #99. Singles by Dave Hernandez and Omar Ramirez were not exactly up to plan. Next up and not hit for was the .219 hitter Ken Mills (who was a Coon for a bit during the ring years). Mercado faced him, got a strikeout on four pitches, but when Art Bent came out to bat for the pitcher, the Raccoons pulled the plug on the rookie and brought in Cruz. He got an easy fly out to Glodowski to at least get ONE win in New York. 5-0 Raccoons. Waters 2-5, HR, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; J. Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Mercado 8.2 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-5);

In other news

June 27 – DEN SP Dave Hils (5-8, 4.19 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout against the Rebels, whiffing seven in a 10-0 rout. All runs are scored in the third inning.
June 28 – The Stars beat the Buffaloes, 5-4 in 15 innings. Both teams scored a run in the 14th inning, but only Dallas can put a run together in the 15th.
June 29 – RIC 2B/SS Lance Harrison (.323, 11 HR, 44 RBI) hits a homer for a 1-0 win over the Buffaloes.
July 1 – SFB SP Israel Mendoza (5-6, 4.19 ERA) claims a 2-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over the Condors.
July 1 – Aces CF Brent Cramer (.280, 6 HR, 29 RBI) might miss three weeks once again with wrist tendinitis.
July 2 – IND SP Tan Brink (11-5, 3.28 ERA) is expected to miss two months with a tear in his triceps.
July 2 – The Cyclones acquire OF Felix Rojas (.306, 1 HR, 14 RBI) from the Aces for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 2B/SS Tony Aparicio (.329, 8 HR, 45 RBI), hitting .444 (12-27) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL RF/LF/1B Chris Lowe (.339, 3 HR, 34 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL RF/LF/1B Dario Martinez (.320, 20 HR, 62 RBI), socking .378 with 12 HR, 32 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.331, 17 HR, 66 RBI), slapping .440 with 7 HR, 25 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT SP Kevin Nolte (11-5, 3.35 ERA), hurling to a 5-0 record with 1.86 ERA, 30 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC SP Jeremy Baker (6-4, 3.03 ERA), throwing for a 4-0 mark with 1.70 ERA, 29 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAC RF/LF Jamie Harmon (.287, 7 HR, 18 RBI), all of that in the month of June
CL Rookie of the Month: SFB INF/LF/RF Adam Peltier (.285, 2 HR, 29 RBI), hitting .333 with 1 HR, 16 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Sean Suggs as a Raccoon? 3-for-20, no RBI, no nothing.

I’m calm.

We are still last in runs scored, 314 in 82 games, which is barely over 3.8 per game. The Condors are 11th, just two runs ahead, which is hardly consoling. Apart from that, the North has four of the five teams with the lowest runs totals in the CL (the bottom three in the division joining in), so maybe that makes it easier to wiggle through with semi-decent pitching? I don’t know. Should we actually rumble through into the CLCS, the Thunder could play with their pants down and still sweep us.

Cristiano, why are you sweating?

The international free agent pool opened on Saturday, and it’s a bit of a disappointment this year. Nothing to get worked up about this year. We might spend six figures in total on a few longshots, but it’s nothing that will keep you up at night for years only to then start its career at 0-3 with a 5.09 ERA…

The next 11 games will see eight against the Arrowheads, with us only half a game apart for first place. With the way things are going, I don’t predict us leading the division by the middle of July. Maybe New York!

Fun Fact: The Falcons have allowed the fewest runs in the league in the first half.

They have given away just 268 runs in 82 games, which is under 3.3 runs per game. The remarkable thing is that we are 4-2 against them, and have scored 25 runs in the six games played.

Sometimes, baseball just doesn’t make any sense.