[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-35) vs. Canadiens (41-26) – June 22-24, 2054

The Elks were nibbling on the division-leading Loggers, so the Coons could use a peak performance. (snickers) Yeah, I was not believing it either. Elktown led the league in runs scored and was third in runs allowed. Best rotation, second-best OBP; there were some holes, though, as they had neither speed nor defense, the latter not shocking be a lot given they dragged around four infielders (Tony Aparicio, Felix Marquez, Ricky Jimenez, Dan Riley) that were 36 or older, and the first two of them were even past the big four-oh goalpost. The season series was even at three.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (4-7, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (6-3, 3.84 ERA)
He Shui (5-7, 2.77 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (7-3, 3.36 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (0-0) vs. Terry Herman (7-4, 2.88 ERA)

Overy was their only lefty. Tony Aparicio had a bum knee, but knowing the 40-year-old baseball nut from Mompos, Colombia, it would not keep him on the bench for long, if at all.

Game 1
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – RF A. Walker – LF Magnussen – 1B Wheeler – C Julio Diaz – 3B F. Marquez – P Bulas
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley

Wheats had won four straight decisions since starting the season at the bottom of an 0-7 dumpster and put up zeroes in the early innings, giving away just a single and a walk in three innings before the Coons gave him a lead. Waters and Pucks went to the corners with leadoff singles in the bottom 3rd, Wheats’ groundout advanced Pucks to scoring position, and both runners came home when Venegas shot a single through the middle and into centerfield. Wheats didn’t get a K until ringing up Aaron Walker in the fourth inning, then had the lead doubled the same inning. Bulas walked Ramsay, and Matt Cox lobbed a ball over the fence in right for a 4-0 lead. Bulas was in freefall then; Waters doubled to left, scored on Pucks’ single, and Walker’s throw to home allowed Pucks into scoring position. The end for Bulas came when *Wheats* whacked an RBI double to left, 6-0, and the Coons were into the Elks’ pen. While they loaded the bases against Nate Henderson on a Lonzo single and Gowin getting nicked, Ken Crum would pop out to Felix Marquez to strand all the runners.

Wheats walked two in the fifth and nearly gave up a homer to Marquez in between, but that ball was caught on the warning track by Cox, and Damian Moreno then struck out to strand the free runners, but then was beaten over the head barbarically in the sixth, which began with disgusting scratch singles by Dan Mullen and Tony Aparicio, and degraded further on Walker’s triple off the wall in centerfield. That run would also score, even though Wheats, though bloodied, worked his way out of the inning, and then added a scoreless seventh, though the line was ruined at that point. Bak walked Walker in the eighth, but got around that runner without conceding a run. Since Daley had pitched on both Saturday and Sunday, Kevin Hitchcock would get the 3-run lead in the ninth inning. Marquez, Dan Riley, and Moreno made outs in order to close out the game. 6-3 Critters. Crum 2-4, 3B; Waters 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge 3-4, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, W (5-7) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – LF Magnussen – 1B Wheeler – RF Burkhart – 3B F. Marquez – P Overy
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – 3B Brobeck – CF de Lemos – C Philipps – P Shui

The Elks got a Moreno double, Mullen single, and two walks off He Shui in the first inning on Tuesday – and no runs. Tony Aparicio hit a comebacker into a double play, Moreno froze, and when the bags had been walked full, Jeff Wheeler flew out to Matt Cox in right to end the inning. A leadoff walk to Venegas and a throwing error by Marquez put the Coons’ 1-2 batters in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 1st, but Ken Crum’s sac fly to right was as good as it god amidst three poor outs. The Raccoons cranked up the pain on Overy in the second inning. Brobeck singled, and while de Lemos made an out, Phillips’ double, Shui’s single, and Venegas single all drove home a run before Lonzo drew another walk. After a successful double steal, Ken Crum singled home Venegas, 5-0, before Cox tumbled into a double play to end the inning. The bottom 3rd and top 4th also both ended with double plays, each with a pair of runners on base.

The traffic never really stopped for Shui, who used 97 pitches through five shutout innings. He came back out for the sixth, got two quick outs from Tim Burkhart and Felix Marquez, but then gave up an 0-2 single to reliever Leo Iniguez and was replaced. Matt Walters struck out Moreno to end the top 6th. Terrell then did a palatable seventh, and in the same inning and in the 72nd game of the year, Lonzo reached 30 stolen bases, swiping second after hitting a single off Nate Henderson. Cox singled him home for the first score since the second inning, 6-0, then was caught stealing himself. The Coons had to use Lillis against a string of right-handers in the eighth inning, which didn’t go well with Wheeler walking and Marquez singling until the Elks hit left-handed Julio Diaz for the pitcher and Diaz found another inning-killing double play to hit into.

Bottom 8th, Brobeck and de Lemos went to the corners to begin the inning against Federico Purificao, who then struck out Philipps. Ed Crispin batted for Lillis and zinged a 2-run double to right, then scored when Pucks pinch-hit for Venegas and singled over Aparicio, who wasn’t leaping all that high at age 40 and with a bum knee. Jared Bramel retired Lonzo and Crum to end the inning, while the Raccoons sent Kyle Brobeck to the hill in the ninth inning, to pitch the last inning on three days’ rest. Two strikeouts and Aparicio’s pop to Ramsay ended the game. 9-0 Furballs! Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, RBI; Lavorano 2-4, BB, 2B; Brobeck 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K and 2-3, BB; de Lemos 2-4; Philipps 2-4, 2B, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

And now, precisely 13 months after he went down with a torn UCL – the glorious return of Raffy de la Cruz!

I sure hope so, at least.

Game 3
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – LF Magnussen – 1B Wheeler – 3B Ri. Jimenez – P Herman
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P de la Cruz

Raffy returned by walking Moreno, but struck out Mullen and got a 5-4-3 double play from Aparicio. That was about as good as his return got. He threw 92 pitches, but lasted only four innings, running endless long counts and while he gave up only two hits, he walked four to get bogged down in traffic. Two of the walks, in the top 4th, scored on one of the two hits, a 2-out double by Ricky Jimenez (grumble grumble). The Coons were hitless at that point, but Lonzo opened the bottom 4th with a single through the right side. Gowin was brushed by a pitch, putting the tying run on base, and moved on to second on Ken Crum’s full-count RBI single to right. Ramsay found the double play with a grounder to short, and Cox struck out to end the inning, though.

Hits by Waters and Venegas in the fifth inning would tie the game, but while Waters scored from second base on Venegas’ 2-out knock, he also took a knee by backstop Tristan Waker into the chest, his leg was pinned under the other knee, and he rolled straight into a ball, wincing in agony, and it took a while to scratch him off the field. Lonzo popped out to Mullen to end the inning, after which Venegas moved to second base, while Ed Crispin came into the game at third base.

Bak got two quick outs in the sixth inning before giving up a single to Wheeler and a homer to Jimenez, the miserable ******* of *********. Down by two again, Bak could just as well throw another inning, and Sencion did the eighth, without the Coons gaining much traction offensively. Lonzo was on base in the bottom 8th, but Gowin found a double play to knock one into. Daley would handle the ninth on the losing end, while Ruben Mendez got the bottom 9th for the Elks. The right-hander would not see a righty batter, but retired Crum, Rams, and Cox in order to let the Elks wiggle out of town with a win in their filthy pockets. 4-2 Canadiens. Lavorano 2-4; Crum 2-4, RBI; Waters 1-1, BB;

Not the ideal comeback for Raffy, but at least he didn’t get blown out entirely. We’ve worked around his occasional phases with ill command in the past…

It will be harder to work around three months without Matt Waters. Dr. Padilla found a tear in his achilles tendon, and he’s already getting casted and is gonna be out until September – if we even get him back this year. Rotten season for the guy.

Raccoons (37-36) @ Falcons (39-32) – June 26-28, 2054

The Falcons were second in the South and within reach of the Thunder, who had run away with it last year. They ranked in the top 3 in both runs scored and runs allowed, too, with a +60 run differential. They surely weren’t a bad team! But Billy Hester and Ian Woodrome were notable DL dwellers for them. We had won two of three in the first series of the year.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (6-5, 3.86 ERA) vs. Felix Castano (5-4, 3.59 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-7, 4.27 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (7-6, 3.93 ERA)
He Shui (6-7, 2.61 ERA) vs. John Scott (5-0, 1.06 ERA)

The Falcons brought up three right-handers here. Arthur Pickett had lost five straight games and would spend his weekend not on the mound, but on a nice… uh… holiday trip to Pontefract Castle. But we’ll totally take splendid care of him. Taki was on the bump for the opener, with Wheats and Shui then going on regular rest.

The Coons brought up Matt Knight to replace Matt Waters, if there was such a thing as replacing Matt Waters. He was hitting .368 in AAA with 8 homers, but had batted .250 with 2 homers for the Coons in 62 games in ’53. We had also just recently started converting him to a second baseman and had clocked just over 300 innings in AAA at the position so far. Nothing like learning under live fire, kid!

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C C. Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P Taki
CHA: CF Whitehead – 1B Tinoco – LF D. Ceballos – RF Allegood – C L. Miranda – 2B E. Stevens – 3B A. Lopez – SS Sivertson – P Castano

The Coons made a quick run in the first as Lonzo doubled to left and scored easily on Gowin’s single to left-center. The double-single deal worked again three innings later with Crum and Ramsay putting together the game’s second run. Castano walked Cox, but Knight, who had found a double play his first time up, hit into a fielder’s choice this time, but legged out Erik Stevens’ throw to first base, allowing Pucks to come up with runners on the corners, and he shoved an RBI single up the middle to go up 3-0. Taki struck out, then took the hill again; only Mike Allegood had gotten a hit off him the first time through, while the bottom 4th began with a single for Adrian Tinoco, but he was stranded on second base.

Top 5th, Lonzo was up 3-0 when he swung at a fat pitch, but struck Luis Miranda’s glove instead, getting sent to first base that way. He took second in a hurry, and scored on Crum’s single with two outs, 4-0. Ramsay’s RBI double into the leftfield corner knocked out Castano, and Kyle Zanni retired Cox to end the inning, but gave up a homer to Matt Knight the following inning, 6-0. Knight threw away an Allegood grounder at the worst time in the bottom of the sixth inning, though, when Tinoco and Danny Ceballos were already on base on a single and a pitch to the thigh. Miranda singled home two through the left side, Stevens walked, but Alex Lopez struck out and ex-Critter Mitch Sivertson popped out just when Taki was close to getting yanked with the tying run at the dish. Two 1-out singles by Ethan Whitehead and Tinoco knocked him out in the seventh anyway, and Lillis conceded a run on another single by Allegood, but got out of the inning. Stevens doubled off Lillis in the eighth, and that run was surrendered by Terrell on productive outs as the Falcons crept in closer and closer, now just two runs back. The Coons had nothing cooking in these last few innings, and Daley then put the tying runs in scoring position immediately in the ninth, getting whacked for a Tinoco single and Ceballos double. Allegood drove them in on a single on the very next pitch, tying the ******* game.

The Falcons didn’t get the winning run across, and the game went to extras after the Coons had successfully obliterated a 6-0 lead. *******. Lonzo singled but was caught stealing in the 10th, while the Raccoons put Brobeck on the hill. The Falcons got the winning run to third base with two outs, but again not across against him, and did so again in the 12th inning when Brobeck walked Tinoco with two outs and Ceballos’ single sent him to third base. Allegood grounded out to short, though, and the game went on. Brobeck pitched one more inning, holding an aggravating tie after Crum and Cox had reached base in the top 13th, but Knight had grounded out to strand them on the corners.

Walters was pitching for the Coons after Brobeck, while the Falcons got clean work from Nicholas Pollock from the 12th through 14th innings before he nicked both Lonzo and Gowin to begin the 15th inning. Come on, boys – but now! Crum struck out, Ramsay hit a grounder to short for two. Outs, in case you wondered. Cox drew a leadoff walk in the 16th but was ignored as Alfonso Jewel wiggled through the inning. The Raccoons went to Hitchcock at this point, while Pickett was sent to the pen to warm up. He’d get the 17th if the game was still going then, and was still tied. Hitchcock would pitch the 17th with a lead. There was no 17th inning. On just six pitches, Mitch Sivertson, Alex de Castro, and Ethan Whitehead hit three singles to walk off the Falcons in the 16th inning. 7-6 Falcons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Crum 2-6, BB, 2B, RBI; Brobeck 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K; Walters 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K;

**********.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – P Wheatley
CHA: 3B A. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – LF D. Ceballos – RF Allegood – 2B E. Stevens – CF F. Perez – C Sanches – SS de Castro – P Schaeffer

Wheats batted with Knight, Pucks, and Philipps on base in the second inning, and two outs. One strike, two strikes, *knock*! A ball into right-center, where it fell for a 2-run double, the first runs in the game! Venegas plated Philipps with an infield single, then was caught stealing to end the top 2nd. That was it for Portland offense, and it wasn’t gonna be enough, because of Esteban Sanches, which made as much sense as to say it was not enough because of windmills, or the War of 1812. Sanches reached against Wheats his first time up and was singled home by Alex Lopez to narrow the score to 3-1 in the bottom 3rd, but more depressingly came up with two out and two aboard in the bottom 4th and cranked a 3-run homer out of the park to flip the score to Charlotte, 4-3.

Wheats limped on from there, getting through six innings before Philipps reached base to begin the seventh and he was hit for with Crispin, who grounded out. Venegas reached with a soft single, moving the tying run to third base. Come on, boys, at least the tying run…! Lonzo obliged my pathetic begging and crashed a gapper into left-center for a score-flipping triple, 5-4! The Falcons yanked Schaeffer, with Joe Thomlinson getting a pop from Crum before giving up Lonzo’s run on a Ramsay single and leaving with an injury. Dave de Lemos batted for Matt Cox against the left-handed Jewel, but struck out anyway.

The Falcons put the tying runs on the corners against Eloy Sencion in the bottom 7th, but when Ethan Whitehead pinch-hit for Allegood with two outs, he popped out to Venegas to end the inning. Bak had a quick eighth, while Joe Gowin, Chris’ brother, held off the Coons in the late innings. The Coons were stuck with Daley again for the bottom of the ninth, but this time it worked nicely. Alex de Castro grounded out to first, Nelson Marquez whiffed, and Alex Lopez found Lonzo with a grounder to end the game. 6-4 Coons. Venegas 2-5, RBI; Ramsay 2-5, 2B, RBI; Philipps 2-2, BB, 2B;

A bit of a jumbled lineup for Sunday. Venegas’ OBP was down to .333 and he’d get a day off, along with Pucks (sigh). Gowin was also in a slump and would drop to the #5 spot.

Game 3
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – C C. Gowin – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – CF Suzuki – P Shui
CHA: CF Whitehead – 1B Tinoco – CF D. Ceballos – RF Allegood – C L. Miranda – 2B E. Stevens – 3B A. Lopez – SS de Castro – P J. Scott

Back-to-back doubles by Crum and Lonzo gave the Coons a run before they made an out, and then they made three dumb outs before getting Lonzo across home plate. The score remained 1-0 for a while. Starting with Crispin’s leadoff single in the second, the Raccoons would engorge themselves on getting on base, and stranding each and every runner. Getting Shui up with two outs also didn’t help; that happened twice and he whiffed both times, stranding four runners in total, and Lonzo was caught stealing… *twice* on top of everything else. Shui had the Falcons under control for a while, scattering four hits and a walk through six innings while holding the 1-0 lead all the way to the stretch. Stevens, Lopez, and de Castro made three poor outs in the bottom 7th, while Ramsay and Cox hit singles in the eighth but were stranded when Gowin and Crispin popped out in succession, which just continued the agony of the previous innings. Shui then began the bottom 8th by giving up leadoff singles to Sivertson, hitting in the #9 hole, and Sanches, but Sivertson was thrown out at third base by Suzuki, and Sanches failed to advance to second base on the play. With what was ahead, the Coons went to Eloy Sencion at that point. He popped out Fernando Perez, the former Raccoon, but then could not get out of the way of a Ceballos line drive that smacked him in the elbow, with the ball caroming to the outfield for a single. Dr. Padilla collected a wincing Sencion, with the Raccoons going on to Lillis, who got a K from Allegood to end the inning.

At least the offense woke up in the ninth inning. Another former Critter, Steve Watson, gave up doubles to Knight and Suzuki for an insurance run, and there was still nobody out. Pucks popped out, but Crum walked and Lonzo hit a shy single that loaded the bases for Rams, but we could not get more than a sac fly from him and Cox struck out to strand a pair. Hitchcock got the ball in the bottom 9th. Luis Miranda’ leadoff walk was annoying, but the runner never got off first base and the Coons took the series. 3-0 Critters. Lavorano 3-5, 2B, RBI; Cox 2-4, BB; Crispin 2-4; Knight 2-4, 2B; Shui 7.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-7);

In other news

June 22 – The Pacifics beat the Gold Sox, 12-0, with half the runs driven home by C Dan Whitley (.263, 4 HR, 12 RBI) on two home runs and a double.
June 22 – New York super utility Omar Sanchez (.317, 0 HR, 27 RBI) will miss a month at least with a strained hamstring.
June 25 – SFB SP Kodai Koga (7-4, 3.25 ERA) pitches a 4-hit shutout and SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.276, 10 HR, 40 RBI) hits a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Aces, 4-0.
June 25 – ATL 1B Jay Rogers (.294, 13 HR, 59 RBI) will be out until the All Star Game with a bruised wrist.
June 25 – The Wolves acquire OF John Fink (.312, 4 HR, 23 RBI) from the Stars for a prospect.
June 26 – OCT SP Alfredo Llamas (8-5, 3.17 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Titans, claiming a 4-0 win without striking out a single batter.
June 26 – NAS INF Nick Nye (.285, 6 HR, 35 RBI) wins the Blue Sox a 5-1 game against the Warriors with a walkoff grand slam in the ninth inning.
June 27 – CIN LF/CF Juan del Toro (.331, 5 HR, 49 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after hitting two singles in a 6-5 loss to the Pacifics.
June 27 – The Blue Sox bomb the Warriors in an 18-7 game, but notably score in only three innings: five runs in the third, nine in the fourth, and four in the eighth; Nashville’s Chris Morris (.239, 4 HR, 30 RBI) leads the team with five RBI on two doubles.
June 28 – The hitting streak of CIN LF/CF Juan del Toro (.327, 5 HR, 49 RBI) already ends at 20 games as he goes hitless in a 6-2 loss to the Pacifics.

FL Player of the Week: LAP RF Matt Diskin (.333, 13 HR, 46 RBI), whacking .591 (13-22) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 1B David Worthington (.237, 10 HR, 56 RBI), batting .348 (8-23) with 4 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Wheats has now come back to 6-7, even though neither of his two starts this week were extremely brilliant. The first one was nice enough, with most of the damage crammed into one inning, while the second one was just mediocre and the Coons rallied just in time with that crucial triple by Lonzo.

Shui meanwhile has gone back to even at 7-7. What a mediocre pitcher. With his 2.42 ERA…

With Venegas being mediocre for a few weeks now, we might try Ken Crum leading off a bit, which I somehow dislike. But he has a .361 OBP and some speed (he stole 16 bags a year once) and it’s the best deal we can get right now, although I don’t like having our best guy by OPS in the leadoff spot – not including Chris Gowin, but Gowin is in a deep slump now (5-40) and shouldn’t bat leadoff regardless of speed restrictions on him.

Eloy Sencion will have to go to the DL with a badly bruised elbow, but should be able to come back after the All Star Game. I was going to send Matt Walters back down, since we have one pitcher too many currently, but this of course keeps him around. We should bring up a position player here, but I have yet to make up my mind.

Next week, three games in Oklahoma, and then we’ll be at home until the All Star break, hosting the Crusaders, Titans, and Loggers for 11 games. The Loggers are in first place. The Loggers!

Fun Fact: Lonzo has 55% more stolen bases than any other player in the league.

I love the kid! (gives Lonzo a fat smooch on the cheek when he can’t run away quickly enough)