Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Trebro]

A perfect game broken up by a hit batter? This game is unrealistic!

Did Jose Tabata lean into a pitch to break up Max Scherzer?s perfect game? | For The Win

Or not.

Re: Brownie--you know he won't be worth what he asks for. This isn't about putting a number on him--it's about whether or not you can accept "losing" the deal to ensure he retires a Raccoon. And this is Brown, so I think you know that answer.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-15) vs. Indians (20-17) – May 19-22, 2014

Are the Indians fake, and if they are, how fake are they? Both teams hadn’t met another yet in 2014, and while they had started strong, they had lost their last four games. They were sixth in runs scored, and third in runs allowed, but in their last 13 games they had scored only 2.15 runs per game and had gone 3-10. The 2013 season series had ended up split.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (3-1, 2.13 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (1-2, 4.56 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (3-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. Chester Graham (3-2, 4.50 ERA)
Bill Conway (2-2, 2.62 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (2-1, 3.13 ERA)
Tom Constantino (0-1, 4.96 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (2-2, 4.63 ERA)

The middle two guys are left-handers. We’re also squarely in the middle of a stretch of 16 games here, so all left-handed batting starters can expect to get a day off in either of the two middle games.

Game 1
IND: 3B Dawson – C Padilla – RF J. Ortíz – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – CF Tanner – LF Phillip – SS Mathews – P Weise
POR: CF Carmona – LF Seeley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Canning – P Santos

The Coons took a 1-0 lead in the first when Seeley came home on Quebell’s 2-out single. Seeley had forced out Carmona with a grounder to short, but had stolen second base to make up for it. Santos struck out five against one single allowed to Juan Ortíz the first time through the order, dipping his ERA under the 2.00 mark., then led off the bottom 3rd with a single. Carmona singled as well, then got forced out for the second time by Seeley. Bednarski singled to center with runners on the corners, plating Santos, 2-0, after which Quebell fouled out. Nunley hobbled a ball to second base, but Jong-beom Kym didn’t quite grab it hustling in on the first attempt and all runners were safe and the bags full for Bergquist, who was 4-for-25 recently. A soft line up the middle eluded Kym and made it to center, scoring another run, before D-Alex flew out to center, dropping further off the .200 mark.

Santos dominated the Indians for four innings, but they got two singles in the fifth, left those runners stranded when Weise struck out, but Ryan Dawson and Dave Padilla opened the second inning with a pair of singles and the bottom fell out right there despite a double play grounder hit into by Ortíz. Kym singled to left, plating Dawson, and then Santiago Guerra lifted his average up to .100 with a fast-track home run to left that was absolutely a no-doubter and tied the score at three. Matt Pruitt, batting .209 with two homers, made a PH appearance in the top 7th, batting for Dawson with two outs and a man on first, but struck out. Seeley led off the bottom 7th with a double, a prime chance to regain the lead for Santos. While Bednarski failed with a pop to shallow right, and Quebell was intentionally walked, Nunley at least got the lead run moving with a groundout. Sandy batted for Bergquist with two outs and dumped a ball to center that took a nasty hop on Rowan Tanner, allowing both runners to score. Santos made a token appearance in the top 8th, conceded a single to Padilla, then left for Sugano, off whom Ortíz singled. On to Sakellaris, who wiggled out of a horrible mess despite walking Tanner with two outs. Clint Phillip thankfully fouled out to strand three red runners. The ninth was markedly more relaxed, with a 7-pitch save delivered by Angel Casas, who struck out leadoff man Joey Mathews. 5-3 Critters. Carmona 3-5; Bergquist 1-2, RBI; Sambrano (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, W (4-1) and 1-2;

The Elks were idle, allowing the Raccoons to move into a tie for first place.

Quebell was tagged for having the first game against the southpaw off, while Carmona was penciled in for Wednesday to take a seat and have a cookie or two. Hernandez would get both starts with D-Alex a complete mess, batting .191.

Game 2
IND: 3B Dawson – C Padilla – RF J. Ortíz – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – LF A. Chavez – CF Tanner – SS Mathews – P C. Graham
POR: LF Carmona – 1B Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – C Hernandez – CF Cowan – P Toner

A Kym error in the bottom of the first cost the Indians immediately when Bednarski homered off Graham to put the Coons ahead 2-0. Toner surrendered the Indians in order the first time through, but Ryan Dawson hit a single to start the fourth. The run never moved off first base, though. There was a clumsy error by Cookie Carmona in leftfield in the fifth inning, but that didn’t manage to get the Indians started either, and there wasn’t another scoring opportunity for either team until the bottom 7th when Raúl Hernandez drew the first walk of the game, appearing on base with one out. Joe Cowan, who had singled in his previous at-bat only to get picked off first, doubled to center, and then Toner came up and found a the gap in right center with a soft line, plating both runs, 4-0, to the amazement of the home crowd, even though Toner got a case of the chickens halfway between first and second and scampered back to first. The Indians got the leadoff man Tanner on with a single in the eighth, but he was stranded on third base, while the Raccoons got three singles for a run off Pat Kling in the bottom 8th. Toner was only on 93 pitches through eight and of course returned for the ninth. Padilla singled on pitch #94. Ortíz worked a full count walk and Kym hit an RBI single to right, and just like that Toner’s strong start went up in smoke. Fans were up and clapped and cheered as Toner was hauled in, with Gibson taking the spot and surrendering an RBI single to Guerra (approaching .150) right away. He struck out Armando Chavez, then left for Thrasher, who blew the game with a goose egg to Rowan Tanner that was taken for a 3-run homer, tying the score. Mathews walked, Pruitt hit into a double play. Carmona was left on second base after swiping it in the bottom 9th, extra innings, and rain was moving in, too. Gallegos threw two pitches in the top of the tenth before the skies opened up and drowned the city. The game was suspended until Wednesday.

The Raccoons moved to sole possession of first place when the Loggers beat the Elks, which was little consolation for a butchered 5-0 lead.

IND: PH Shank – C Padilla – RF J. Ortíz – 2B Kym – 1B Larsen – LF A. Chavez – CF Tanner – SS Mathews – P Bryan
POR: LF Carmona – 1B Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – C Hernandez – CF Cowan – P Gallegos

Play resumed with an 0-2 count on pinch-hitter Jimmy Shank, with Gallegos picking it up where he had left off on Tuesday. He managed to lose Shank to a walk, was bombed by Juan Ortíz, and Ed Bryan, another ex-Coon, dealt the Raccoons a 1-2-3 get-off-my-lawn as the Raccoons lost this one in bitter fashion. 7-5 Indians. Sambrano 2-5; Bednarski 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Cowan 2-4, 2B; Toner 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K and 2-3, 2 RBI;

****ing idiots.

Game 3
IND: 3B Dawson – CF Tanner – 2B Kym – RF J. Ortíz – LF A. Chavez – C Denny – 1B Shank – SS Mathews – P Broun
POR: LF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – CF Seeley – C Hernandez – P Conway

Similar to the previous game, Bednarski took care of the first score, hitting a solo shot in the fourth inning. Broun had surrendered the first nine Coons before Sambrano had singled, but Merritt had him mopped up with a double play to Mathews. The lead was short-lived thanks to back-to-back 2-out doubles by Shank and Mathews in the fifth inning. That was not the last deal-killer for the Raccoons in the game, with a Bednarski leadoff single in the seventh leading to nothing once Quebell got Bednarski forced with his grounder, then was collateral damage on Bergquist’s 6-4-3 service to short. Conway held on through eight before Slayton started the top 9th like Gallegos had started the top 10th in the completion of the last game, with a walk to the leadoff batter. It hadn’t ended up well for the Coons then, it didn’t end well here. Slayton walked Kym as well before Thrasher allowed an RBI double to Ortíz. The Raccoons faced left-handed closer Anthony Bryant in the bottom 9th, bringing up the top of the order, which sent a grounder to third, a grounder to short, and a grounder to second to lose their second game in four hours. 2-1 Indians. Sambrano 2-4; Bednarski 2-4, RBI; Conway 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K;

The Elks were victorious and the Raccoons dropped back to second place. Pat Slayton dropped as well, off the roster. He was waived and designated for assignment with his replacement being 27-year old Marco Gomez, who had enjoyed miserable cups of coffee in 2012 and 2013. The 2006 fourth-rounder was trying to just be better than Slayton, which was not a high hurdle to jump over.

Game 4
IND: 3B Dawson – CF Tanner – 2B Kym – RF J. Ortíz – C Padilla – LF A. Chavez – 1B Pruitt – SS Mathews – P Lambert
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Taylor – P Constantino

Lambert couldn’t get any of the first five Raccoons in the game out, but with a 2-0 score and the bases loaded, Bergquist struck out and Dylan Alexander continued his completely useless streak by hitting into an inning-ending double play. Matt Pruitt hit a double in the top 2nd and scored on Lambert’s 2-out single, and immediately the conversion rates for both teams with runners in scoring position began to diverge again. Top 3rd, Tanner singled, Kym doubled, Ortíz homered, and the Indians were up 4-2. Bottom of the inning, Sandy led off with a single, and Bednarski also singled on a liner to center that Tanner played cautiously rather than going for it. Quebell then ****ed up everything once more, grounding to Kym for a force at second base, then got picked off first base. WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MORON?? YOU THINK YOU’RE GONNA - … WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

Lambert walked Nunley and Bergquist, bringing up Alexander with the bases loaded and two outs, leading to predictable results. Constantino labored through five horrendous innings, and was still on the short end of a 4-2 score when Bergquist grounded to Lambert with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom 5th. Lambert threw wildly to second, all hands were safe, and up came … Dylan Alexander. Oh lord, thou are wise and all, but I’m begging thou, hath mercy! Dylan the Dork poked at a 3-1 pitch, flew out to center, and I was struggling with Maud who wouldn’t let me fire the blunderbuss from the bell tower. At least one run came home on the sac fly, sparing Alexander (due another $6.55M…) the shame of a negative batting average. Taylor grounded out.

Marco Gomez made his season debut and delivered two scoreless innings before Gibson and Sugano were almost blown out in the eighth. Sugano held on, and the Coons were still down by one in the bottom of the eighth. Bergquist led off with a double, prompting the eviction of Lambert and the appearance of lefty Pat Kling. This slightest provocation was enough to send Merritt to bat for D-Alex, but he flew out to left, and Canning and Seeley were no less unsuccessful. Bergquist remained at second base throughout the miserable inning. The ninth yet managed to be more miserable. Sakellaris was assigned the job, allowed singles to Ortíz and Padilla, then walked Shane Larsen. Pruitt came up with nobody out and slammed the Raccoons into oblivion. 8-3 Indians. Carmona 2-5; Sambrano 2-4; Bednarski 3-5, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-3, BB; Gomez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

The Indians aren’t scoring, they said. The Indians aren’t winning, they said. Well, they ****ing won three in a row. And can you possibly be rebalanced more than Sakellaris with a Matt Pruitt grand slam? That alone warrants a demotion to the high school level!

Ricardo Carmona stole two bases in this game, getting him to ten for the season, tying Tom Reese for third in the CL, three behind BOS Mike Rivera, his adversary from last year. The majors are led by Salem’s Roberto Cervantes, a quirky 22-year old outfielder with 16 bags taken. Our own quirky 22-year old outfielder is an infinitely better batter, as should be pointed out, than Cervantes.

Pat Slayton was claimed by the Pacifics, ending a loveless connection after four-and-half years.

Raccoons (22-18) vs. Thunder (24-17) – May 23-25, 2014

Business as usual in the South, with the Thunder leading the field. They were not overwhelming however, ranking only fourth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, and actually ran a -8 run differential at that. Their bullpen was especially wonky. The Raccoons had claimed the season series in 2013, beating them 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (6-0, 2.47 ERA) vs. Jorge Gine (1-3, 2.89 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-1, 2.37 ERA) vs. Ralph Ford (2-1, 3.33 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (3-3, 3.51 ERA) vs. Curtis Tobitt (6-1, 2.20 ERA)

Ford will be the third left-hander this week for the Raccoons after seeing only two of those in the first six weeks of the season. He has made only four starts this season due to oblique issues.

Game 1
OCT: 1B O. Torres – C J. Martinez – RF Bailey – 2B A. Martinez – CF Reese – LF P. Estrada – 3B J. Soto – SS Janes – P Gine
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Taylor – SS Canning – C Alexander – P Brown

Nick Brown continued to not have his pitches where he wanted them as indicated by a walk count that was elevated when compared to recent years. Here trouble found him in due time when he issued a leadoff walk to Erik Janes in the third inning, then drilled Oliver Torres pretty hard. Will Bailey didn’t like seeing his team mates banged up and cranked a 3-run homer that put the Raccoons into a mighty deep hole, especially with Brown being the first of the bunch to reach with a 2-out single in the third. Top 4th, more trouble. Another leadoff walk to Tom Reese, and then he drilled Jesus Soto. Janes struck out and Gine was an easy F8, but despite six strikeouts in the first four innings, Brownie was no good here.

The next few innings with opportunities were killed with double plays on either side. Quebell and Canning were guilty for the home team, with Canning’s at least scoring Nunley from third base in the bottom 5th. Soto drew a leadoff walk in the seventh but got doubled up on a terrible bunt attempt by Janes. Brown allowed a leadoff single to Torres in the eighth before getting yanked. Josh Gibson came in, walked Jesus Martinez and Will Bailey, then allowed a run on an Armando Martinez single. Nobody out, game blowing up, Sugano came in and struck out Tom Reese before getting a double play grounder from Pedro Estrada. Still, the Raccoons were down 4-1 and hadn’t showed any sign of ambition to maintain Brown’s undefeated run. Bottom 9th, Robert Parsons issued a leadoff walk to Carmona. Gine hadn’t walked anybody in his start. Not that it changed anything about the general futility in the lineup. Sandy struck out, and Bednarski rolled a 6-4-3 over to Janes. 4-1 Thunder.

Game 2
OCT: 1B O. Torres – LF Britton – RF Bailey – CF Reese – C Parks – 3B J. Soto – 2B A. Martinez – SS Janes – P Ford
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – LF Seeley – SS Canning – C Hernandez – P Santos

In a pitching duel that was scoreless in the fifth, the Thunder stunned the Coons when, with Janes on first base and nobody out, Ralph Ford faked a bunt on the first pitch, then suddenly swung and singled to left on the next pitch. Two on, nobody out, Torres was asked to bunt, but Quebell – while useless during his day job – still had the glove and fired a beam to third base on the not-so-great bunt to get Janes forced out. That sucked the momentum out of the Thunder and Santos escaped with a pop and a K. Santos didn’t allow a run, but only went six innings with seven hits and seven strikeouts on his ledger. Sandy batted for him leading off the bottom 6th and doubled off the base of the wall in rightfield, only the Coons’ second hit in the game. Cookie flew out to left, but Jon Merritt came through with a single to left center, easily plating the quick Sambrano. Bednarski then opened the score with a 2-run homer to left center. Ralph Ford was visibly losing it, issuing a walk to Quebell and then striking Bergquist. Seeley singled, loading the bases, but Canning popped out. Up came Hernandez, with Ford not being moved despite clearly not having much left. Hernandez clanked a 1-1 pitch hard to left, going, going, high and deep – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!

Thrasher faced a string of lefties when taking over after the 7-run assault came to an end, and still made a mess, giving the Thunder their only run in the game. Gomez pitched the last inning against left-handers without accident (though with two men on). 7-1 Coons. Bednarski 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Quebell 1-2, 2 BB; Hernandez 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Sambrano (PH) 1-2; Santos 6.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (5-1);

Do we really bring in D-Alex again against the right-hander? Do we need to pretend he’s a star? He’s paid like one, but he’s 0-for-28 by now. Twenty-eight!

Game 3
OCT: 1B O. Torres – LF Britton – RF Bailey – CF Reese – C Parks – 3B J. Soto – 2B A. Martinez – SS Janes – P Tobitt
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Taylor – SS Canning – C Alexander – P Toner

Toner came out, walked the first two batters, and immediately this one was off to a wild ride for him. He salvaged the inning with two strikeouts and a pop, and that walk-em-whiff-em would become a topic for this start. While the Raccoons were rather hopeless with the sticks, for Toner it was more or less feast or famine against the Thunder. He struck out TEN … while walking six. One of those walks was to bite especially hard. Tom Reese had hit a 1-out double in the fourth, and Toner then walked Parks. Reese was caught stealing (he was one of the few runners ahead of Cookie Carmona in stolen bases) by D-Alex, which was a fortunate coincidence since Jesus Soto hit a hammer shot off Toner on the very next pitch, cashing in only Parks for a 2-0 Thunder lead. Matt Nunley tried his best with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, but that was about as close as the Thunder got to Tobitt all game long, although there were back-to-back singles by Joe Cowan and Ricardo Carmona in the bottom 7th, but Sandy was victimized for a K and the third out. Angel Casas needed work in the ninth, almost made a mess and struck out Will Bailey after an 8-pitch battle with runners in scoring position that he balked there in the first place. The Coons faced Parsons in relief of Tobitt in the bottom 9th, but Bergquist, Alexander, and Merritt went down 1-2-3. 2-1 Thunder. Carmona 2-4; Cowan (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 19 – The Pacifics lead the Stars 13-1 in the middle of the eighth and come within 90 feet of blowing their 12-run lead when they suffer a complete bullpen meltdown. Juan Valdez’ 2-out, pinch-hit, 2-run triple off Jason Long pulls the Stars up to 13-12 in the bottom 9th before Armando Rodriguez flies out to left.
May 22 – The Titans reacquire 1B Tony Ramos (.179, 0 HR, 5 RBI) from the Capitals, sending them LF/1B/RF Tokimune Hayashi (.291, 6 HR, 26 RBI) in return. Also included in the deal, heading to Boston, is unranked but interesting AAA prospect OF Chaz Newman.
May 22 – The Wolves and Scorpions engage in a 17-inning marathon that sees both teams score a run in the 13th, two in the 15th, before the Scorpions walk off on Pablo Sanchez’ single off Román Escobedo, 7-6. Both teams had already played 12 innings (with the Wolves winning) the previous day.

Complaints and stuff

Nick Brown approached me as the homestand ended that he wanted to sign an extension and announce it leading up to the next homestand in June. He wasn’t averse to a retirement deal, I understood. The timing for an announcement leading up to the homestand was quite good. Counting 1-2-3-4-5 through the schedule, Brownie would start the opener of the next homestand against the filthy Elks.

Pat Slayton’s new team will be in town after that.

Accidentally simmed a game for the third time in league history. I’m dumb. Not as dumb as the AI though, that played Jon Merritt in leftfield while I was mentally absent.

[Questdog]

You are a jinx to catchers.....every one that you give money, turns to pudding......you should quit complaining and be thankful that Alexander took longer than most......

[MarkCuban]

Hm... maybe you should just take the catchers position as a "loss" and put in a good defensive backstop on the cheap.

[Westheim]

There hasn't been a catcher that didn't wither and die in Coon City since Sam Dadswell. That's before David Vinson, guys. Dadswell was a Critter for 5 1/2 years, putting up above-average OPS+ numbers in every season. Then he went to Denver and rolled up and died.

Werner Turner was only here for a year and was then traded in '98, but never annoyed us too greatly. But what's a single year?

Craig Bowen's first stint in Portland was almost great. If we just never had taken him back from the Blue Sox... He's in AAA now.

+++

Raccoons (23-20) @ Condors (21-22) – May 26-28, 2014

The Condors were markedly better than in recent years, hovering around the .500 mark with the fourth-best offense in the Continental League. Unfortunately, the pitching was still mediocre, and they allowed just a few more runs than they scored. The Raccoons had beaten them 7-2 in 2013, and had won the season series for the last eight years.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (2-2, 2.39 ERA) vs. Manuel Rojas (2-2, 3.74 ERA)
Tom Constantino (0-2, 5.48 ERA) vs. Ethan Knight (0-0)
Nick Brown (6-1, 2.77 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (5-2, 4.01 ERA)

Ethan Knight was a 26-year old rookie who had just been called up and had yet to make his major league debut. He’s also a left-hander, and there’s a gap in the rotation for Tuesday, although the Condors have yet to formally announce their starter for the middle game. Knight is their only southpaw in the rotation.

Jimmy Eichelkraut is on the Condors’ roster, and is actually playing! - … badly. He’s batting .196 with two homers in about 50 AB.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Taylor – P Conway
TIJ: 3B Dasher – 1B Jaeger – RF Branch – CF Feldmann – LF Newman – SS Eroh – C Bedinghaus – 2B Lafon – P Rojas

Quebell came up with runners on the corners and one out in the first inning and … fouled out on a 3-1 pitch. And here we go. Conway drilled Craig Dasher to start his day – the 10th time that Dasher was hit this season. Dasher stole two bases, Conway issued two walks, and the Condors left all runners stranded with a pair of pops. Top 2nd, D-Alex had already ended an 0-for-28 drought on Sunday, but now doubled with Bergquist on first base after a walk, and the Raccoons had runners on second and third, but only managed a groundout by Palmer Taylor to plate a single run. At least we got an RBI double by Nunley in the third, plating Sandy with two outs. The Condors weren’t completely idle, drawing walks and walks off Bill Conway, and got a home run from Bill Bedinghaus in the fourth that was fortunately a solo shot. Top 5th, Sandy got on base with one out and stole second base (his second bag on the day) before Bednarski struck out, but Bedinghaus couldn’t come up with the ball, Sandy made it to third and Bednarski was safe at first. Quebell then actually hit a meaningful single, plating Sandy for a 3-1 score, but that was it.

Bottom 5th, Conway continued to mess with the beauty of baseball. Dasher hit a leadoff double, and Conway then issued full count walks to both Kevin Jaeger and Ezra Branch. That loaded the bases with nobody out, and Ryan Feldmann’s RBI single knocked Conway from the game. Josh Gibson came in and dumb-lucked himself out of the inning. Quebell caught a flaming liner by Will Newman, Carmona hustled to contain a pop to short center by Ron Eroh, and Bill Bedinghaus hit one hard to left, but right to Taylor for the third out. Still up 3-2, though credit lay SOLELY with the defense. Not even defense could help in the bottom 6th, when Gallegos and Sugano ****ed up completely, issued three walks, including Sugano to Feldmann with the bases loaded and two outs, and THEN Newman hit a bases-clearing double off the fence. That put up the Condors, 6-3, and the Raccoons somehow scratched out a run to stay close in the top 7th. But they were still down by two in the ninth, facing a rather curious choice to close a game in Dave Shannon and his 6.43 ERA (and other than Angel, he has rarely ever been better). Yet, Bednarski and Quebell made poor outs to get started before Matt Nunley yanked a homer. But that still left them a run short, and when Jon Merritt batted for Mario Gomez, he grounded out to Dasher. 6-5 Condors. Quebell 2-5, RBI; Nunley 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Alexander 2-4, 2B; Gomez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Craig Dasher ain’t named Dasher for nothin’! And: Dylan Alexander’s first multi-hit game, ladies and gentleman, since … I don’t know. When were calendars invented?

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 1B Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – C Hernandez – SS Canning – CF Cowan – P Constantino
TIJ: 3B Dasher – 1B Jaeger – RF Branch – CF Feldmann – LF Newman – C J. Vargas – SS Eroh – 2B Lafon – P Knight

Daniel Dickerson was scheduled for a rehab start in St. Pete on the weekend, which meant that this was the second-to-last game (probably) to be forfeited by Constantino and the lineup to equal parts. The Coons drew two walks and left the bases loaded in the top of the first before Constantino went to work on that winning record of ours. Three pitches in the bottom 2nd were enough for Jose Vargas to knock a 3-run homer, and Dasher added a solo shot in the third. Raúl Hernandez made a case for more playing time with a solo homer of his own in the fourth, but that was all meager, and the Condors had three singles from their first three batters in the bottom of the inning. After a sac fly by Roland Lafon, 5-1, Matt Keeler hit for Knight, who had thrown lots of balls, but had otherwise been solid enough to only allow that one run. Keeler reached, Dasher singled home two, Branch got on, and Constantino was banished with the bases loaded and down by six. Feldmann drilled Gallegos’ first pitch to right, but Bednarski contained it before even more insidious damage could be done.

Actually, more damage was to be done to the Raccoons. Gallegos was bruised for two runs in the fifth inning, but remained in the game. It was a loss anyway, what more was there to break? Jon Merritt, actually, who suffered a shoulder strain on a defensive play and was replaced by Nunley in the seventh inning. Which was too bad for two reasons. Merritt was still a worthwhile player, and he also amounted alone by himself to the total amount of total bases the Raccoons would manage to hit for after the fourth inning massacre: one single to left. 9-1 Condors. Merritt 2-3, BB; Gallegos 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Jon Merritt has a rather mild shoulder strain. He’s out for the rest of the week, but he shouldn’t miss more than a week’s worth of games. While he was not a full time player, sharing third base with Matt Nunley, I still didn’t want to bury him on the DL for an additional week and he would thus stay on the roster. There’s also an off-day on Thursday.

We have arrived at a negative run differential (176-177), and we have also arrived at the point where I will start to shop or dump unwanted personnel.

Now we’re looking anxiously at Brownie to salvage at least one game in this set. Also, with 6 K he could jump not one, but TWO spots on the all-time strikeout leaderboards.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Taylor – P Brown
TIJ: 3B Dasher – 1B Jaeger – RF Branch – CF Feldmann – C J. Vargas – SS Eroh – LF Eichelkraut – 2B Lafon – P Boyer

Brown was just no good, and a sweep was likely right from the start. The Condors had two singles and a few more hard balls to fielders in the first inning, and while D-Alex doubled home Quebell in the top 2nd for a 1-0 lead, Brown blew it by the bottom 3rd, being rapped for three hits, including a 2-run double by Ryan Feldmann, and a walk and surrendered three runs before Jimmy Oatmeal, who had been the first K in the game, bounced a 3-0 pitch to Brown for the third out. Nunley tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, but Brownie wasn’t fooling anybody. At least he got a bunt down when the Coons had D-Alex (single) and Taylor (plunked) on base in the top of the fifth with nobody out. Cookie Carmona reclaimed the lead with a gapper in left center that Feldmann couldn’t contain until it was already a 2-run triple, flipping the score, and Sandy brought him home with a sac fly, 5-3. The bottom 5th saw Brownie throw 12 pitches, face three batters, but ten of the pitches were balls and the inning ended on a sad chopper by Vargas that Brownie turned for a double play after Feldmann had walked. He had a much more comfy sixth inning, getting a pop from Eroh before striking out Oatmeal and Lafon. That gave him 5 K, but all the K’s had come against the bottom three of the order. On an incredibly short leash, Brown had the Condors go down 1-2-3 in the seventh, with all three outs registered on grounders to a different infielder. He retired the left-handed Branch on a grounder to Sandy at second (Seeley had PH’ed for Bergqusit and they had flicked positions in the top 8th) to start the bottom 8th, and that was as far as we’d push luck. Sakellaris almost blew the game when he walked Feldmann and surrendered a deep drive to Vargas, but the wind got hold of that one and dropped it into Cookie’s glove on the warning track. Even closer to blowing the game came Angel Casas. He walked Oatmeal, which looking at our 2006 top pick’s stats was a hard thing to do, then allowed an infield single to Newman. Tying runs on with no outs, and the Condors bunted them over. Dasher battled, but struck out, and then it was on Kevin Jaeger to hit a hard drive to center. Now there: Joe Cowan. He made the play. 5-3 Brownies. Carmona 3-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-3, 3B, RBI; Alexander 2-3, BB, RBI;

I thought a bit about whether to display Brownie in the post-game honors, but … no. He was HORRIBLE. How he eloped with a win will remain a mystery forever.

Raccoons (24-22) @ Aces (20-26) – May 30-June 1, 2014

The Aces had lost four straight (but the Crusaders had played a role in that), but their record was considerably worse than what would be expected. They had a -1 run differential, so they should really be three games better. Bad things are dawning on me for this weekend set. The Aces were missing one of their starters on the DL (William Hinkley) and they had dropped two of three to the Critters in April.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (5-1, 2.11 ERA) vs. Jaquan Wagoner (4-3, 3.50 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (3-4, 3.40 ERA) vs. Juan Valdevez (4-4, 4.21 ERA)
Bill Conway (2-2, 2.54 ERA) vs. Jimmy Young (2-3, 3.62 ERA)

Three right-handers on this weekend. I’m playing with the thought of working Joe Cowan into the lineup for back-to-back days to give him a few more at-bats and to see whether he stinks really as badly as I think now. Problem is, someone has to sit. Bednarski has gotten warm and pushed Seeley back into his spot, Cookie is a joy again (and up to third place in steals in the CL with 12), so Sandy might get a day off at least.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – SS Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – CF Cowan – P Santos
LVA: 3B R. Avila – 2B H. Jones – SS Burke – RF Richards – 1B Bovane – CF Kelsey – LF Zackery – C D. Rice – P Wagoner

Maybe, just maybe, D-Alex was coming back. Giving him that little cart with the oxygen bottle, tubed straight into the little black nose, had been a good idea. Had been mine, rather than Ivan’s. What were we paying him for after all?

D-Alex had hits the first two times up in this game, hitting an RBI double for the first run of the game in the second and singling in the fourth. More offense was denied when Cowan and Santos ended up back-to-back K’s in both inning. Santos had the best stats among Raccoons starters by now, but struggled badly in the first two innings, allowing a few hard singles. A hero’s play by Quebell in the second saved two runs.

The Raccoons extended their lead in the fifth inning thanks to Ron Richards’ misplay of a Bednarski blooper. He tried to snag it out of the air, missed it, and it bounced into the corner for an RBI triple. Sandy was plated after drawing the 1-out walk. The Coons got Jaquan Wagoner out in the same inning when Quebell singled, 3-0, and Nunley doubled. Mike Daniels then got two outs from Bergquist and Alexander to end the inning with two in scoring position. The lead was extended in the seventh when Quebell took Agustin Gutierrez deep with a mammoth 2-run homer to center. Santos had had some easier middle innings, but got stuck in the seventh. He walked a pair and was replaced when he bumped into 100 pitches. Sugano came on and struck out Danny Rice to end the inning. Seeley then hit for Sugano in the top 8th, tripled, and came home on Cookie’s single. The Aces hit back-to-back doubles off Josh Gibson in the bottom 8th, but lost Ricky Avila in the process, and didn’t get back into the game anyway, give or take a 2-run homer by Rusty Zackery off Marco Gomez… 6-3 Furballs. Carmona 3-5, RBI; Bednarski 2-5, 3B, RBI; Quebell 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Nunley 3-4, BB, 2 2B; Alexander 3-5, 2B, RBI; Seeley (PH) 1-1, 3B; Santos 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (6-1);

Cowan went 0-5 with 3 K, which sounds like a faint cry to be released from this horrible job of his.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – CF Cowan – SS Canning – P Toner
LVA: 3B W. White – 2B H. Jones – SS Burke – RF Richards – 1B Bovane – CF Kelsey – LF Zackery – C D. Rice – P Valdevez

The Aces comprehensively battered Toner early on. He hit Howard Jones in the first inning, but Jones was caught stealing, yet in the second inning the Aces were hitting the ball hard all over. John Kelsey hit a hard single, Rusty Zackery hit a harder RBI double, and Danny Rice hit a real bomb, a 2-run homer, to bring the Aces to the fore, 3-0. Little did the Aces know that the lead wouldn’t last even an inning. Canning opened the top of the third with a single. Toner failed in bunting, missing twice, then turned the table on Valdevez and walked. Carmona fouled out, Nunley popped out, but then Bednarski drove a ball to deep right for a 2-run double, and Quebell upped that and hit his sixth, and team-leading, homer of the season, also to right, flipping the score to 4-3. Never mind that the Aces opened the bottom of the inning with four straight hits, then drew two bases-loaded walks off Toner to evict the youngster from the game with a true nightmare of a line. Gibson came on and got two outs at once when Valdevez flew out to center, Kelsey tagged and was thrown out by Cowan at home. Wade White popped out, holding the Aces at 6-4 … for now. Richards bombed Gibson for a 2-piece in the fourth, with one run unearned after an error by Nunley. The completely ineffective Gibson allowed another run in the bottom 5th, this one unearned because Carmona dropped a ball, with another runner thrown out at home by Bednarski. Then the Aces made two errors in the top 6th, and the Coons had the bases loaded with one out for Seeley, who hit for Gibson. He lined into a double play, and the Raccoons were assured of a comprehensive defeat.

Or weren’t they? Carmona reached to start the seventh. Valdevez was still in there and allowed an RBI double to Nunley. Quebell – doubtlessly having arrived at a hot streak – bombed a shot to left center, and all of a sudden 9-4 had become 9-7. The Aces went to Michael Sieben, who allowed a shot to D-Alex, 9-8. Gallegos then also hurt the Aces by striking Rusty Zackery with a pitch, and the outfielder had to be dragged off the field with a sling around his foot. The top 8th was a bit of a stillbirth, but Quebell reached with a leadoff single against Kevin Johnston in the ninth. Now, Johnston was a lefty, but D-Alex had added 38 points of average since the week had started. Ball one, then another low ball, and that one escaped Rice! Wild pitch, Quebell to second. Alexander walked, but Johnston had arrived at the squishy part of the lineup now. Bergquist struck out, Cowan struck out, and Canning flew out to right. 9-8 Aces. Carmona 3-5; Nunley 2-5, 2B, RBI; Quebell 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Alexander 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Bergquist 2-5;

Joe Cowan had to bat because the spare outfielders had already been used and discarded. He hit a single in this game, but struck out in his other four plate appearances, and he’s outta here. The question is whether we have to release the sucker and eat the salary.

Jon Merritt was good to go for the rubber game, but Matt Nunley got the start against the right-hander Jimmy Young. Merritt would probably sub in at some point.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Conway
LVA: 3B W. White – 2B H. Jones – SS Burke – RF Richards – 1B Bovane – LF Struck – CF Flack – C D. Rice – P Young

Little did the Coons desire more than a good, long outing by Conway, probably a win. He held the Aces short early on and got himself a lead with a sac fly that scored Bergquist in the third inning. Bergquist had doubled to start the frame. Quebell upped to 2-0 with a line drive homer in the fourth. There wasn’t much going on offensively in the middle innings outside of Nunley and Bednarski being robbed of home runs or doubles right on the top of the fence by Richards and Struck, respectively. Conway cruised into the bottom 7th until Rice hit a 2-out RBI double to get the Aces to 2-1, a run so unexpectedly appearing on the board it was a mild shock. Top 8th, Merritt hit for Conway, walked with one out, and Cookie fouled out. Sambrano singled, however, and so did Bednarski, but his soft fly to center was quickly picked up by Adam Flack and Merritt couldn’t score. Bases loaded for Quebell, which this week was a GOOD thing. Quebell singled hard to center, Flack had no chance on it, Merritt scored, Sambrano went for home, the throw came in with Bednarski heading for third, and the Aces went for the sure out on Bednarski, conceding Sambrano’s run as well when Bednarski evaded Wade White’s tag attempts for long enough. 4-1 Coons, six outs to collect, White reached with an infield single against Sakellaris and D-Alex in the bottom 8th, but got swept up in a double play right away, and the next four went down. 4-1 Raccoons. Sambrano 2-4; Quebell 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Merritt (PH) 0-0, BB; Conway 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-2);

In other news

May 27 – 36-year old DAL SS/2B Armando Rodriguez (.333, 3 HR, 16 RBI) makes headlines once more, furnishing a 20-game hitting streak with one hit on Tuesday. Rodriguez’ solo home run amounts to the Stars’ total production in a 15-1 rout at the bats of the Blue Sox.
May 27 – VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (.337, 9 HR, 32 RBI) might miss two weeks after knocking up his knee on a bad slide into a base. He’s put on the DL with a knee contusion.
May 28 – Veteran Warrior C Jose Paraz (.268, 4 HR, 24 RBI) is out for a month with a rib injury.
May 29 – The next blow for the FL West-leading Warriors: OF Jose Morales (.379, 10 HR, 32 RBI) is out until the All Star game with a hamstring strain.
May 31 – The hitting streak of Armando Rodriguez (.359, 3 HR, 16 RBI) reaches 25 games with two singles in a 6-3 win over the Rebels.
June 1 – While the Stars spill it all over the Rebels in a 10-6 win, Armando Rodriguez goes empty in four tries and ends his 25-game hitting streak.

Complaints and stuff

April’s CL Rookie title went to Jason Bergquist, who dropped off in May, but guess who got hotter? Matt Nunley! He batted .382 with two homers and a handful RBI to win the award! (Calderón also bumped up his ratings in the June 1 update)

Also with bumps: Toner, Wasserman (rather small), a number of relievers in AA, including Dan Moon, who seems to be less sucky out of the pen, and Nick Lester. But Toner would be the biggest news, getting his potential stuff bumped to 20 by Calderón. Santos doesn’t have 20 (17!), Brown had for a decade, but Toner … well, this week’s start was not a good showcase. The entire season isn’t a showcase.

We got to improve the lineup. We’re 10th in runs scored (and only left 11th behind on Saturday, now ahead a run of our next opponents, the Knights), comfortably ahead of only the Falcons, who are really hopeless, and score barely over three runs per game. They are every bit as bad as their record indicates, and they’re doing it without former Raccoons, which is odd.

Walt Canning is an obvious weak spot, and Palmer Taylor hasn’t been useful either. We still have Dave Roudabush and Pat Whitehouse – neither of whom has anywhere to go – in AAA, but they’re batting .220-ish. 24-year old Brock Hudman is batting .292 in AAA, but he’d be a defensive sore since he’s more of a second baseman. However, if Canning doesn’t get better soon…

Also not getting better, Daniel Dickerson. He made a rehab start on Saturday, and was slaughtered by the toddlers in AAA, allowing six runs in three innings. With that, we have to patch things. He will get another start, and – regrettably – Constantino will get another one in the Bigs. We will however flip him to go after Brownie, so back in Dickerson’s original spot, which is possible due to the off day we had on Thursday.

Nick Brown tied for 15th on the all-time strikeout board with his messy start on Wednesday, but didn’t leap past Manuel Movonda and Leland Lewis. Lewis, who’s ahead by one whiff, is a Hall of Famer of course who spent his career with the Miners and hardly ever was on the Coons’ radar, and while Movonda, with whom Brownie ties now, was only in Portland for one season, and not a good one (1998), he’s still warmly remembered as the second-least meaningless pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the brown shirt.

Odd fact: Manuel Movonda is still the only pitcher in ABL history to allow a run in his no-hitter.

Odder fact: Brendan Teasdale leads the majors in wins at home with six. He’s 8-2 with a 2.79 ERA overall. Brenda all of a sudden got good at 29.

I think I should get on the draft pool, so that’s going to be the next update, but it might take me two evenings. Please remain patient and stay off the drugs, thanks.

[MarkCuban]

Westhiem, are you so distraught that you can't even see Santos having a triple-crown season? Get it together man! Your team has exceeded expectations so far.

I can't wait for the draft. And now, with the first round pick, Westhiem selects...

[Westheim]

2014 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

There’s two things in the 2014 draft pool, only two things, but lots of those: starting pitchers and outfielders. You’re hoping for your future franchise catcher or third baseman? Better luck next year. Luckily the Coons might have Nunley, and will definitely have a better chance on a great catcher if they bake themselves one and cover him in chocolate.

There’s at least a dozen very promising young pitchers in the draft, and while the choice among outfielders will not be quite as rich, there’s still the odd potential future slugger in the mix there, although notably you might have to sacrifice on defense on a number of guys here.

Here is Juan Calderón’s hotlist:

SP Andrew Gudeman (15/12/14) – BNN #8
SP Roger Kincheloe (14/13/12) – BNN #5
SP Tommy Weintraub (13/18/11)
SP Sid Fletcher (13/13/11)
SP Seth Powers (13/12/13)
SP James Silmon (13/13/12)
SP Corey Samora (12/13/11)

CL Frank Blewett (15/12/12)
CL Harry Merwin (12/15/12)

INF John Muller (14/12/13) – BNN #9
1B Ryan Crissinger (9/13/11) – BNN #6
2B Todd Jankowski (11/10/10) – BNN #3 – is listed as second baseman, but Calderón does not like how he fields, moves, or even lies down

RF/LF/1B Matt Hamilton (12/12/12) – BNN #10
LF/CF Brad Tesch (10/11/12) – BNN #1
OF Jason Gerling (11/10/11)
OF Todd Sanborn (11/10/11) – BNN #7
OF/2B/3B Travis Givens (10/9/11)

The only BNN Top Ten missing on our hotlist are SP Jeremiah Goodman, whom we have somewhere in that top dozen SP’s in the draft, and OF Nick Holt, whom Calderón only wants to talk about in snorting sounds.

There are a few C/1B types that might want to try their luck at either position, but none of them are very good at catching or at slugging. The only exception for the former might be 1B/C Kody Giles, but he also has among the worst defense. Given that we currently have more catchers in the system that I really like, we probably will completely abstain from drafting any catcher unless f.e. Giles falls to a middle round (fifth/sixth) where you can shrug and fire off a pick and release two other poor sods.

The Raccoons will have the #16 pick as their first selection. However, due to some odd quirks (a handful of compensation-eligible free agents retiring, and another handful being 40 or over and not getting another deal) the supplemental is the smallest in memory (only 13 picks) and thus the Coons’ two second-round picks will be quite valuable as well. They also have a supplemental round pick (courtesy of losing … sob! … Yoshi Nomura), and will have three picks in the first 50, and another pick in the first 60.

The draft will take place Sunday in two weeks.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (26-23) @ Knights (18-31) – June 2-4, 2014

The Knights were dismal, yet not dismal enough to be last in the South. Truth be told, however, they were really, really dismal (Falcons be damned!). They were 11th in runs scored in the CL (one run less than the Critters had squeezed out), and were allowing the most runs overall. The rotation was awful, the bullpen ever more so. They had lost four in a row, 18 of their last 22, and two of three against the Critters.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (7-1, 2.87 ERA) vs. Manuel Hernandez (1-3, 4.67 ERA)
Tom Constantino (0-3, 7.20 ERA) vs. Shaun Yoder (2-5, 5.83 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-1, 1.89 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (0-6, 4.16 ERA)

Left-handers were bookmarking this series, with a right-hander in the middle game for the Knights. The Coons would have Thursday off before playing 13 straight, so this was Constantino’s last start and hopefully a bit less sucky than the others (3 GS, 0-3, 9.88 ERA).

Game 1
POR: LF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Canning – CF Seeley – P Brown
ATL: 2B Downing – RF McIntyre – LF Rockwell – SS Hibbard – C W. Jones – 3B Luján – CF Morán – 1B C. Gonzalez – P M. Hernandez

Bednarski hit a 2-piece in the first inning in support of Brownie, who lost Will McIntyre to a walk in the first inning but then struck out Gil Rockwell and Devin Hibbard to take sole possession of 14th place on the all time strikeouts leaderboard. While Hernandez got piled on for single runs in the next two innings each, Brownie didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, a 2-out single by William Jones. Hibbard was already on with a walk, and Brown also walked Antonio Luján, but César Morán grounded out to Quebell to strand a full set of runners. The Knights would have the bases loaded again in the bottom 5th with a single by long reliever Jim Turner getting things started. Josh Downing singled past Canning, who made a very poor impression there, and Brown lost Rockwell to his fourth walk on the day. While Hibbard bounced out to Merritt, who made a skillful grab and throw to get the out, Brown was almost at 100 pitches after only five innings, and opened the bottom 6th with a goofball that Jim Turner hit hard to left center. Turner was greedy though, turned second, and was cut down by Jason Seeley. Brown went on to put on Luján with a soft single (making it three consecutive batters to put the first pitch into play), then walked Morán, but got César Gonzalez (yes, the ex-Coon from like 2000), and Alejandro Rodriguez on quick groundouts. Six shutout innings, but boy, was the last part hard to watch.

Also hard to watch, Juan Gallegos. He put two on in the bottom 7th and Sakellaris had to come in an inning earlier than planned to clean up. When Jones grounded out to Canning, he stranded two more, giving the Knights ten runners stranded over four innings. All of a sudden then, there was lightning in the area, and the tarp came on to cover the infield. The malignant weather was waited out for over an hour before the game was called with a 1-1 count on Canning opening the eighth inning. 4-0 Brownies! Sambrano 2-4, RBI; Bergquist 2-3, BB, 3B; Canning 2-3, RBI; Brown 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 7 K, W (8-1) and 1-3;

Quebell, who had been on a tear last week with nine hits, including four homers, in his last five games, went 0-for-4 with two hard hit balls caught on the track and a strikeout, his first since before those five games. Hot phase over already or just hard luck? The K was against a reliever and not the shoddy Hernandez.

Cookie Carmona entered the game in a double switch when Gallegos got stuck, but didn’t get an at-bat. But he had an oh-fer on Sunday, so it’s not like we broke a hitting streak.

Rain persisted through Tuesday, cancelling the middle game in favor of a double header on Wednesday. The Knights were going to cart up the southpaw Butler first, while the Coons also made the switch to get Santos into the first game.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – LF Seeley – C Hernandez – P Santos
ATL: SS Hibbard – 3B Luján – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – 2B Downing – CF McIntyre – C Luna – 1B Hilderbrand – P D. Butler

The Raccoons got going real quick. Carmona was involved a lot in the scoring, opening the game with a double and coming home on Bergquist’s 2-out double, and then hit a 2-out double himself to bring in Hernandez in the second inning. Merritt singled to right, taken on a conservative bounce by Jimmy Raupp, allowing Carmona to score, 3-0, and then Bednarski belted a real moonshot to left to get Santos a 5-0 lead. Santos allowed a double to Raupp to start the bottom 2nd, but then struck out the next three, and cruised – until the next rain delay hit. That one came with two outs in the bottom 6th, still in a 5-0 game, and lasted just over 45 minutes. Santos came back out, but had lost the groove. Antonio Luján singled, and we went to the pen to get long relief – hopefully – from Marco Gomez. What we got was more of an accelerated heartbeat, since while Gomez made it out of the sixth (despite a Rockwell single, but better than his 15 homers to date), and the Raccoons added a balk-induced run in the top 7th, Gomez could even make a 6-0 lead look like defeat was imminent. The Knights double-played themselves out of the seventh, but put three on against Gomez in the eighth, scoring one run before Sugano restored order. The Knights had two on once more in the ninth after a T.J. Hilderbrand single off Sugano and a Canning error, but Gallegos struck out Luján to end the game. 6-1 Raccoons. Carmona 4-5, 2 2B, RBI; Merritt 2-4, BB, RBI; Bednarski 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Santos 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-1);

Quebell had an oh-fer, while Cookie was robbed of a third double by Rockwell with a sliding catch in extreme left.

I’m a bit grumpy that we went through three relievers after Santos was knocked out by ill weather. If not for the rain, he would have covered perhaps another five or six outs, given that he left with only 70 pitches thrown. Oh well, the really bad thing might be that we used Gomez and the next-best chance of getting long relief is Josh Gibson now. But there’ll be an off day tomorrow, so there’s no use in sparing the horses, I guess.

Abusing the personnel notwithstanding, enough players were brought into the lineup for the second leg of the double header to give everybody a start this Wednesday. With a win in the nightcap, the Raccoons could already knot up the season series against Atlanta.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – CF Cowan – SS Taylor – P Constantino
ATL: SS Hibbard – 3B Luján – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – 2B Crum – CF McIntyre – C W. Jones – 1B Hilderbrand – P Yoder

Constantino faced the minimum through three innings, which included only one single for the Knights, a double play to clear that up, and hardly an at-bat going longer than three pitches before the ball was put in play, except for that against Shaun Yoder, who battled in a full count before thankfully striking out. The Knights loaded them up in the bottom 4th, but McIntyre grounded out to leave three on – a common topic for all three games in this series. However, the Raccoons didn’t get the early start of the last two games, and didn’t get going in the middle innings, either. In the top 5th, Taylor was plunked and Constantino reached on Luján’s error, yet Carmona fouled out and Sandy whiffed to strand them. The Critters had two walks in the sixth, but Bednarski and Nunley were stranded, and had runners on the corners after Sandy’s 2-out single in the seventh before Sandy got picked off by reliever Lou Cannon. Constantino made it to the seventh inning before Johnny Crum socked one off him, putting the Knights up 1-0. Sakellaris had to dig Constantino out of a rapidly opening hole in the ground then, achieved just that, and the Coons were then donated a free tying run at second base with one out in the eighth on a Crum error. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away – while this could get applied either way here, it would be true for the Raccoons, who sent Merritt to bat for Nunley against the lefty Enrique Meneces, but the Knights went to Lawrence Rivers, who struck out the veteran right-hander. D-Alex singled, but no way Quebell was going to score against Jimmy Raupp’s arm, and while Seeley hit for the useless Cowan, he still popped out. Top 9th, leadoff double for Palmer Taylor off right-hander Tim Poe! Bergquist batted for Sakellaris, but flew out to left, yet deep enough to move the runner to third base. Cookie fell behind against Poe before snipping a 1-2 pitch to the left side, and it bounced past Luján, into left, the tying run was home! COOKIIIIIEEE!!!

While Carmona was left on, Thrasher helped the Coons into extra innings, where Quebell opened with a single off Jorge Cortez, a left-hander, before Merritt hit into a double play and D-Alex’ following 2-out double was in vain. Top 11th, another leadoff hit, this time a single by Taylor. Bergquist grounded out, but Carmona got on with a hard single that left Taylor no scoring opportunity. Hernandez hit for Thrasher in Sandy’s slot, struck out, but then Jim Turner (who had already pitched in the first game) threw a wild 0-2 pitch to Bednarski, with Taylor hustling home to break the tie. Bednarski grounded out, but the Knights had just lost the season series. Angel sat them down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, with the middle out made by Rockwell, who totally sold out on a 3-2 pitch and missed a breaking ball by a whole bunch. 2-1 Critters! Carmona 3-6, RBI; Quebell 2-5; Nunley 1-2, BB; Alexander 2-5, 2B; Taylor 2-4; Constantino 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; Sakellaris 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Thrasher 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-2);

The Coons outscored the Knights 12-2 in the sweep, and jumped into a tie for second place in the division, two games off the Crusaders.

Raccoons (29-23) @ Titans (27-27) – June 6-8, 2014

The Titans had managed to lose a 3-game set to the Falcons during the week, barely salvaging a win on Thursday. They were .500, but fifth in the division, and lacking in direction. Their pitching was not as bad as anticipated, but their offense was not driving them, either, as one might have guessed, but then again they lacked a number of people on the DL by now, including “Quasimodo” and Earl Clark in terms of sticks. It was all very average for them, but they led the CL in stolen bases, thanks to Mike Rivera’s 18 sacks taken, more than half of the team total and more than he had RBI. The season series stood 4-2 in the Titans’ favor.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (3-5, 4.21 ERA) vs. Ian Rutter (2-2, 2.61 ERA)
Bill Conway (3-2, 2.40 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (2-6, 5.17 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-1, 2.64 ERA) vs. Paul Kirkland (2-3, 4.13 ERA)

That’s a full set of right-handers.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C D. Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Toner
BOS: 3B M. Williams – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF J. Alexander – RF R. Lopez – 1B T. Ramos – C Porter – SS Ybarra – CF Thurman – P Rutter

Rutter was emerging this season and trying to step into the hole left by the departures of both Curtis Tobitt and Tony Hamlyn (which was a hole too huge for one 26-year old with no good full seasons in his log), but Calderón liked his stuff that he showed these days, despite struggles to harness that, expressed in a rather mundane 1.2 K/BB and only 5.9 K/9.

Rutter then promptly lost Matt Nunley to a 1-out walk in the top 2nd, the first runner for either team, and was immediately clocked by a huge 2-shot by Dylan Alexander that set the Raccoons ahead. While Tony Ramos came pretty close to a 2-run comeback in the bottom of the inning, the Titans stayed off the board thanks to a leaping grab by Sambrano. Ahead of Ramos, Rodrigo Lopez had reached with a single right through Canning’s porous body. Canning direly needed a smiley sticker in my notebook, and got one when he stepped to the plate with the bases full and one out in the top 4th. D-Alex had already plated a run with a bloop single, chasing home Quebell, and Rutter was in the ropes here. Canning hit a looper past the desperate reach of John Alexander, getting it in for a 2-run double, blowing the score to 5-0, and the day for Rutter ended in the gutter when he couldn’t remove Toner, who hit a sac fly on the first pitch, plating Bergquist to get to 6-0. Jeff Lyon got Carmona to fly out, putting Cookie down 0-3, which was odd to see these days.

The big lead helped Toner pitch more comfortably, one might even say dominant, although the Titans had opportunities in the next two innings, but couldn’t get anybody home. The Coons would get a few runs off long reliever Lyon in the eighth, in which Quebell hit an RBI triple. Apparently, such wicked things did actually exist, though Rodrigo Lopez missing the bloop in full flight was a big factor in that “triple”. Lyon was shackled as the inning escalated, and Canning hit his second 2-run double in the game, bringing the Raccoons to double digits against new reliever Dave Hughes, who was not beneath walking Toner with two outs, but Carmona extended his successless day to an 0-5 with a groundout to Jose Gutierrez. Toner arrived in the ninth under 100 pitches, and didn’t reach 100 pitches until Simon Stevens (F3) and Marc Williams (6-3) had already made outs. Gutierrez popped out, sealing a shut-blow-out. 10-0 Raccoons! Quebell 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Nunley 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Alexander 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Canning 2-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Toner 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (4-5)

But keep in mind that the dismembered Rutter (3.2 IP, 6 ER) still has a better season ERA (3.22) than Toner (3.64), who pitched his first career complete game and shutout (in 23 attempts).

Also, the Coons had only nine hits to score ten runs, drawing advantage of seven walks surrendered by the Titans. Toner didn’t surrender any, which is not a given for him.

The Elks beat the Crusaders, and if all teams can repeat their result on Saturday, we will have a 3-way virtual tie in the North.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C D. Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Conway
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 3B M. Williams – RF R. Lopez – 1B T. Ramos – C Porter – 2B Ybarra – LF X. Williams – CF Thurman – P R. Jimenez

The Coons again got going in the second inning, this time with a Matt Nunley solo shot, his fourth of the year, and a pretty deep one. The Titans had already stranded a pair in the bottom 1st when Randy Porter had struck out, but Conway continued to bleed runners, and the Titans had three more hits and a walk in the bottom 2nd. It was the pitcher Jimenez to bring home the tying run with a single, but at least Conway got another K in dire need, striking out Rodrigo Lopez with the bases full to escape this horrible mess. Conway remained wonky, Carmona reached on an error and was caught stealing in the third, but in the fourth inning things started to look up again for Coon City, with D-Alex singling home Quebell, who had walked with one out, and then Bergquist also got on base with a walk, bringing up the king of 2-run doubles from Friday, Walt Canning, who drove a ball to deep center for … a 2-out, 2-run double!

Unfortunately, not all was dandy in this 4-1 game. For one, Conway was awful, and then there was also a collision between Zachary Thurman and Walt Canning at second base in the bottom of the inning in which Canning landed on his arm and had to leave the game in quite some discomfort. Taylor came in. There were also runners on the corner with only one out for the top of the order, and cautiously the Raccoons ordered their pen to put the pizza away and stretch those paws. Mike Rivera grounded to short and legged out the return throw from Bergquist to spoil a double play, then stole his 19th bag of the season before Marc Williams struck out, 4-2 after four. Conway couldn’t buy a break, however, and was knocked out after three more hits against him in the sixth inning. Mike Rivera plated a run with his single, and Conway didn’t leave until another single to Marc Williams, putting the go-ahead run aboard. Josh Gibson came out and got Rodrigo Lopez with a grounder to short, maintaining a flimsy 4-3 lead. Meanwhile the Titans, who had hit for Jimenez in the fourth inning, got long relief from southpaw Aurelio Hernandez, greatly stifling the Brownshirts’ offensive output. Hernandez pitched 3.1 innings before Nunley doubled with one out in the eighth to get him out of the game. Right-hander Dusty Balzer took over (whom the Coons had inquired in briefly in the offseason), struck out D-Alex and got Bergquist on a grounder to end that inning.

Sugano had already pitched the seventh and started the eighth with left-hander Xavier Williams leading off, but walked him. That was the tying run; Sakellaris was 3-1 against Zachary Thurman before he hit one hard to Nunley, who started a well-appreciated double play before Jose Gutierrez grounded out to Taylor. While the game was technically close to conclusion through eight innings, a decision was delayed for an hour when suddenly a rain shower moved over the park in the top of the ninth. Cookie hit a 2-out single after the rain moved away and stole his 15th bag in a bid for an insurance run, but Sandy Sambrano flew out to right, and Angel had to do without a net. Rivera popped out to start the bottom of the inning, which was already half a save given his speed and leading the CL in stolen bases, and Angel got this one into the books with J-Alex grounding out to first and Lopez going down on a sinker. 4-3 Furballs! Nunley 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Alexander 2-4, RBI; Canning 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI;

The Titans out-hit the Raccoons 11-7 in this game, which gets chalked into the “lucky” column. All 11 hits were off Conway.

Walt Canning had not broken or sprained anything but his elbow was still sore and red and he was listed DTD for at least a few days, moving either Taylor or Sandy to short. Maybe we’ll split them there and give Seeley some at-bats, too.

With the mild damage in this game, the Raccoons have allowed merely six runs in their first seven games in June, which is a great recipe for a 7-game winning streak. The Crusaders lost a wild one, 10-9, to the Elks, indeed moving all three teams into a virtual tie. The Indians are 1.5 games off.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C D. Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Taylor – P Brown
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 3B M. Williams – RF R. Lopez – 1B S. Stevens – C Porter – 2B Ybarra – LF X. Williams – CF Thurman – P Kirkland

Both first basemen hit into an inning-ending double play in the first, but the Raccoons got Nunley on via being hit by a pitch and Bergquist with a single in the second, and scored the first run when Taylor found the gap with a long, soft line that quickly died out there and prevented Bergquist from scoring. Brown struck out, Carmona grounded out, leaving both runners stranded. They left two more on in the third. Sandy had been hit by Kirkland, while Bednarski had singled to center. Quebell K’ed, Nunley was robbed by Lopez, and so on. The Critters finally tacked on a run in the top 5th. Carmona doubled at the start of the inning, but also wasn’t driven in until Quebell’s single beat Stevens with two outs. Bottom 5th, the Titans were close to beating Brownie, who generated poor contact, but also had no stuff working on this day. Xavier Williams was on second base when Kirkland hit a 2-2 pitch to Nunley for what should have been the third out, but Nunley’s throw to first was off, pulled Quebell off the bag, and put runners on the corners. Mike Rivera hit a high fly to left on the first pitch he saw, but it wasn’t deep and it also was no hassle or hustle for Sandy to catch.

But little worked for Nick Brown, and the Titans finally broke through in the sixth. Marc Williams reached with a soft single before Simon Stevens conquered Brown with a towering 2-run shot to center. Another hit, another walk, and then Thurman drove in the go-ahead run with two outs with a hard hit to right. Kirkland was not hit for with two outs, struck out, but if the Titans had sent a batter, Brown would have been hauled in. The Coons removed him from the 3-2 hook in the top of the seventh when Sandy tripled and came home on Quebell’s groundout. Since Rivera was batting left-handed, Brown was left in for the start of the bottom of the inning, getting a groundout on the first pitch before leaving with a no-decision. Josh Gibson then had his little world rocked, coming in to face Marc Williams, and was instantly taken deep to left. Lopez singed, chasing Gibson. Top 8th, a Xavier Williams error gave the Coons a free 2-out runner in scoring position, but Jason Seeley grounded out hitting for Thrasher. The Titans left their insurance run on third base in the bottom of the inning, bringing in Tommy Wooldridge for the ninth, facing the top of the order in a 4-3 game. Cookie Carmona singled on the first pitch, and things got interesting. The Titans had their defensive catcher Melvin Dunn in the game, so it was probably not a good time to – oh, there he’s going anyway. And safe! Sambrano was hit with a 2-2 pitch (giving us about half a dozen knocked batters in this series), which prompted an interesting dilemma in terms of what to do with Bednarski. Having him bunt was probably nuts, but that would keep Quebell out of a double play. Or to heck with it – the Coons called a double steal! Not only Dunn was stunned by this cocky call, and Carmona was well safe at third, with Sandy trailing into second! COME ON BEDNARSKI – HIT ONE! Anywhere, almost anywhere will do. He struck out. Quebell didn’t, flying out to right, which was enough to get Cookie home to tie the score, but Nunley whiffed feebly, and the game remained tied. Tony Ramos hit into a double play to erase a runner left by Gallegos, getting us to extras.

There, the Coons were silenced by Wooldridge in the 10th, and the Titans left the winning run at third against Sakellaris. Bednarski killed the 11th with Sandy on with a double play, and Gutierrez’ leadoff double off Sakellaris cast doom onto the winning streak. Rivera grounded out, runner going to third. Marc Williams fouled out on the first pitch! Two outs now, Lopez batting, 2-1, hard grounder to left, Nunley lunging, scrambling in the dirt, a desperate rocket to first base – OUT!! But the Critters couldn’t get the sticks going… Marco Gomez was in his second inning of relief in the bottom 13th. Thurman hit a double leading off, and moved to third on Gutierrez’ single. Rivera could end it, but struck out, and the Titans sent Thurman on a bouncer to third by Marc Williams. Nunley fired home and killed off the winning run, and Lopez grounded out to end that inning, too. The next inning, the Titans put their first two batters on again against Gomez. Not willing to let go, Angel entered along with Joe Cowan in a double switch on Bednarski’s expense. Angel got two outs, but then the Titans finally struck lucky and walked off on a terrible bloop single by Thurman. 5-4 Titans. Carmona 2-6, BB, 2B; Sambrano 3-5, 3B; Bergquist 3-5, BB; Taylor 2-6, 2B, RBI; Sakellaris 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Hmpf. 12 strikeouts in this loss, mostly in situations where any hit ball would have been a boon.

In other news

June 3 – NYC CL Micah Steele (1-1, 2.45 ERA, 15 SV) might miss most of the month with an abdominal strain.
June 3 – The Titans will have to go without their longtime primary catcher, as C Hideaki “Quasimodo” Suda (.263, 3 HR, 18 RBI) had his hand broken with a pitch by Atlanta’s Jim Turner on May 31.
June 6 – The Buffaloes and Cyclones duel for 19 innings before the visiting Buffaloes break out for five runs in the 19th and win the game, 10-5. TOP SS Tyler Gray (.329, 5 HR, 27 RBI) has five hits, yet over ten at-bats.
June 6 – SAC 3B Jason LaCombe (.369, 0 HR, 23 RBI) is out for a month at least with plantar fascitis.

Complaints and stuff

We had planned to announce the contract extension to Nick Brown at the start of the next homestand, but word leaked out as soon as the ink was dry on his brand new 3-year deal, which pays him $6M. Of these, $4.2M are guaranteed for 2015 and 2016, with a $1.8M vesting option for 2019 that will trigger when he manages to pitch 190 innings at age 38. The fan base in Coon City was ecstatic. I hoped to get him for $1.5M for 2016/17, but he had none of that. He knows what he’s worth.

2017 is currently the last year for which anybody has money guaranteed out of our coffers. Sandy’s contract ends then, and D-Alex’ $1.8M in ’18 are a team option that right now would not be exercised… Thrasher’s contract also runs through 2017, but it’s a cheap deal that doesn’t figure into calculations much. The next goal might be a long-term deal with Hector Santos, who will be a free agent after the 2016 season, but that’s some bit off. We have a lot of free agents after this season, but nobody we need to resign desperately (… unless Angel gets it kicked into gear, finally).

Dickerson pitched so-so in AAA on Thursday, allowing two runs in five messy innings. He will return to the roster in time to pitch the second game in our 4-game home set with the Elks, slotting in behind Hector Santos. To this effect, Marco Gomez will be waived and designated for assignment on Monday. It’s not that he lost the Sunday game, the main blame for which lies with a tenth-place offense, but rather that he walks almost seven per nine innings, which just doesn’t sell ‘round here. Also, he was never more than a filler.

Walt Canning might be hampered for another two days and won’t be in the starting lineup, but might be available to pinch-hit or pinch-run.

Bench coach Jayden Cannon told me that the clubhouse works so-so, but they lack a leader for the youngsters to rally behind. Looks like Brownie DOES have to do everything ‘round here.

There’s currently only one Raccoon in the top 3 for any position in the All Star fan voting, and it’s … Dylan Alexander. – Yeah, I don’t get it either.

Player of the Week in the CL was the Aces’ 23-year old shortstop, Ricardo Marrero, batting 10-for-18 with three homers. Not only is he a rookie, but he was only called up to the Bigs on May 30!

ABL CAREER STRIKEOUTS

1st – Martin Garcia – 3,783
2nd – Tony Hamlyn – 3,748 (active)
3rd – Woody Roberts – 3,313 (HOF)
4th – Aaron Anderson – 3,225
5th – Carlos Castro – 3,198 (HOF)
6th – Javier Cruz – 3,164
7th – Chris York – 3,103 (active)
8th – Carlos Asquabal – 2,995 (HOF)
9th – Arnold McCray – 2,900 (HOF)
10th – Bastyao Caixinha – 2,844 (HOF)
11th – Kisho Saito – 2,800 (HOF)
12th – Kelvin Yates – 2,764 (active)
13th – Robbie Campbell – 2,763
14th – Nick Brown – 2,673 (active)
15th – Leland Lewis – 2,664 (HOF)
16th – Manuel Movonda – 2,663
17th – Kiyohira Sasaki – 2,640
18th – Pancho Trevino – 2,635 (active)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-24) vs. Canadiens (31-24) – June 9-12, 2014

You’ve been gone for a few weeks, and you come home, only to find out that some stray cat ate a bird, then threw it up onto your door mat. It’s like that when the Canadiens open a homestand here. Both teams were tied one game behind the Crusaders, and the Elks clearly had the edge in offense, plating the third-most runs in the league. They were fifth in runs allowed, but had a top three rotation that had to be cracked before getting to a middling bullpen. They had swept the Critters in the first 3-game set played this year.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (7-1, 1.73 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (6-1, 2.75 ERA)
Daniel Dickerson (0-1, 5.27 ERA) vs. Dustin Burke (3-5, 4.33 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (4-5, 3.64 ERA) vs. Hunter Park (1-0, 4.09 ERA)
Bill Conway (4-2, 2.60 ERA) vs. Kelvin Yates (4-2, 5.29 ERA)

We don’t bring Brownie into the set, but we’ll miss Rod Taylor (2-6, 3.75 ERA), so that’s that as far as #1 starters are concerned. The Elks are missing William Raven on the DL (out for the year) and Hunter Park is his replacement, a 25-year old with a history of control issues who will make his fourth career start on Wednesday. He’s a right-hander, but the series will be opened by lefty Sam McMullen.

The Coons are still sitting Walt Canning, whose elbow is still tender, but with the return of Dickerson (for better or worse) he’s the only casualty right now. Dickerson will have to cover some distance now. He’s cashed in almost $4.3M from the Raccoons, delivering 36 major league innings in return. I prefer a rate closer to $10k per inning rather than $100k…

Game 1
VAN: 2B Lawrence – RF E. Garcia – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – CF K. Evans – 1B Paull – SS Irvin – P McMullen
POR: LF Carmona – SS Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – 1B Merritt – C Hernandez – CF Cowan – P Santos

Cookie and Sandy opened the first inning with a pair of singles before Nunley was retired on an easy fly and Bednarski pulled a Quebell. Santos sat down the first eleven batters, but struck out only two, and starting with Don Cameron the Elks hit three straight 2-out singles in the top of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. Two outs in the sixth, Mitsuhide Suzuki doubled with Enrique Garcia on first base and two outs. Garcia had reached on an ill throw by Sambrano, and Suzuki beat Nunley with a real hard shot that bounced once and escaped into leftfield. Garcia was sent, Carmona fired the ball home, and after Sambrano’s relay Garcia was narrowly tagged out at home. The Coons tied the game with their first serious effort in five innings when Bergquist doubled and swiftly scored on a Merritt single to left, 1-1 through six. Santos batted here with two out and two on, but he had juice left and the Coons had played 14 on Sunday, and I liked how he was pitching in general. I didn’t like how Raúl Hernandez was catching however, clumsily putting on Miguel Torres with an uncaught third strike to start the seventh inning. While the K’s in general didn’t roll for Santos, he managed to strand Torres at second after Kurt Evans’ bunt and two pops.

It was a long inning, though, and Santos had another long at-bat with ex-Critter Freddy Rosa, who struck out to open the eighth. With left-handers galore at the top of the Elks’ order, Thrasher came out and got three outs before the Elks almost toppled Constantino in the ninth, but Steve Madison struck out with runners on the corners to end the inning. The Raccoons had forfeited a Bednarski double leading off the bottom 8th, then had the otherwise splendidly useless Joe Cowan draw a walk off Chris Spindler to start the bottom of the (hopefully) last. Constantino was employed to bunt, failed miserably, and Cowan was out at second on a slick play by Mitsuhide Suzuki. Carmona singled, moving the winning run to second base anyway, and now Canning ran for Constantino. But Sandy grounded out and Nunley popped out, and the Raccoons had to enter extras again. Gallegos was almost run over in the top 10th before Nunley started a saving double play, and the bottom 10th saw Bednarski squeeze a single past Suzuki to lead off. Bergquist doubled, putting the winning run 90 feet away with nobody out. With Pat Treglown, a right-hander, in the game, Quebell hit for Merritt, and scandalously fouled out on the first pitch, right behind the dish. D-Alex had hit for Hernandez the last time through and was walked intentionally, bringing up … PH Jason Seeley, because Cowan sucked and didn’t matter as a batter, or a human being, and Seeley … struck out. That was in a full count, and the bench was emptied with Palmer Taylor batting for Gallegos. Treglown ran another 3-ball count, and this time lost the batter on the fifth pitch, walking off the Raccoons in decidedly unenergetic fashion. 2-1 Blighters. Carmona 2-5; Bednarski 2-5, 2B; Bergquist 3-5, 2 2B; Merrit 2-4, RBI; Taylor (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Santos 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K;

Joe Cowan, batting under a buck-fifty now, was shopped on Tuesday and didn’t attract offers other than other non-performing 30-year olds. The Warriors dangled Ken Harris, who had started for them as recently as last year, but had been moved to the pen. He was a good pitcher, but he was making real starter’s money, and I didn’t intend to add expensive pitching now. The pitching worked, more or less, but we needed offense, real quick.

Cowan, not of any use to man nor beast, was thus waived and designated for assignment on Tuesday. Jimmy Fucito, 26, had been close to being released out of Ham Lake at the end of last year, had been assigned back to AAA as a filler this season, and after injuries to other guys had batted a sound .266 with little power in this year’s AAA campaign. He was added back to the roster. At least he was a right-handed bat.

… and I had a lot of time on my hands on Tuesday, because our game with the Elks was killed off by horrendous weather. A double-header was scheduled for Wednesday.

Game 2
VAN: CF Holland – 2B Lawrence – 1B Madison – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – RF K. Evans – SS Mateo – P Burke
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Taylor – P Dickerson

Dickerson was a mess on a wildly unimaginable scale. After a wobbly first inning, Dickerson walked Miguel Torres, Kurt Evans, and Jaime Mateo to start the top 2nd, then issued an RBI single to Burke. The Elks jumped on him and plated four runs rather leisurely in the inning. Little did the grinning Elks know that their lead was not going to last even one inning. Quebell and Nunley opened the bottom 2nd with hits and D-Alex then added his own, a huge 3-run bomb to slightly-to-right center. Taylor singled, Dickerson failed to bunt, then hit a double at 1-2, and Carmona brought home Taylor with a sac fly – tied ball game. Momentum carried the Coons into the lead in the bottom 3rd. Bednarski walked, Quebell singled, and Nunley also singled to drive home Bednarski with the go-ahead run. Two on, nobody out, D-Alex fed into a double play and Bergquist struck out, leaving Burke hanging on the ropes rather than cutting him off and plunging him into the abyss. The Elks still hit for him in the fourth inning, going into their pen early. The Coons didn’t lag behind them for long, however, with Dickerson barely making it five frames, but at least he managed to hold on to the 5-4 lead, somehow. Torres K’ed to strand runners on the corners in the fifth.

Getting two innings from Josh Gibson in a 5-4 game was probably ambitious and the Elks had two men on in the sixth again when Jaylin Lawrence struck out to leave them on. Gibson came to bat in the bottom 6th with Taylor at second – after having just driven in Bergquist, 6-4 – and one out. No, I need the arm. Gibson was to bat, found himself down 1-2, then was brushed on the chest by Johnny Smith. That put another man on for Cookie Carmona, who singled to load them up, and then Sandy singled home a pair. Bednarski hit into a double play. Gibson of course didn’t get through the top 7th, with the Elks striking three hard hits, the last of which being a 1-out RBI double by Torres that also left Suzuki on third, and prompted an exit from Gibson and Sugano’s entry. Sugano struck out Evans and had Carmona dash after a Mateo drive successfully, ending that inning with another two left on base, and an 8-5 lead. Sugano had a calm eighth, but this game would get tense in the ninth as the Elks whacked around Angel Casas, who started off by walking Madison. Don Cameron grounded into a force, but Suzuki doubled, bringing up the tying run. Miguel Torres came WAY too close to a 3-run homer for any comfort, but Carmona picked that one right at the wall in center. One run in, Kurt Evans doubled, plating Suzuki, 8-7. Jaime Mateo grounded hard to right, Bergquist had it, lunging, and threw to first JUST IN TIME. 8-7 Critters. Nunley 3-4, RBI; Taylor 3-4, 2B, RBI; Sugano 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The Crusaders were shut out by the Loggers, both games finishing roughly at the same time, despite us getting the first leg of the double header underway early. Brian Patrick (6-4, 3.87 ERA) threw a 5-hitter for Milwaukee. This result put the Coons and Crusaders into a virtual tie for first place, but it would be resolved by the night cap, one way or the other.

Game 3
VAN: CF Holland – RF E. Garcia – 1B Madison – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – 2B Lawrence – C Rosa – SS Mateo – P Park
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – SS Canning – LF Seeley – C Hernandez – P Toner

Quebell continued to not be helpful, hitting into an inning-ending double play in the first inning. Would it matter? The ill weather was back and we had a rain delay after only two innings, lasting about an hour. When play resumed, Hunter Park tripled off Toner, but was stranded at third base. Bottom 3rd, Hernandez reached with a leadoff walk. Toner’s bunt was thrown away by Rosa (ex-Coon, mind you), and the Coons had a splendid chance. They would score two on Carmona’s groundout and then Jaime Mateo being completely undressed by a harmless 2-out hopper by Bednarski that escaped for an RBI single to the home crowd’s biting joy. Defense continued to be spotty. Hernandez was guilty of a passed ball in the fourth, but Toner managed to load the bases even without his catcher’s shenanigans. Rosa struck out to end that inning. Bottom 4th, Merritt was already on when Canning singled to left and Don Cameron bungled the pickup to give the runners an extra base. Despite runners on second and third and nobody out AGAIN, the Raccoons scored NOBODY this time when Seeley popped out, Hernandez got four wide ones, Toner whiffed, and Carmona’s liner to left ended up with Cameron on a nice move.

Bottom 5th. For the THIRD inning in a row the Raccoons had runners on second and third with one out when Sandy walked and Bednarski doubled. The Elks replaced their starter with reliever Bill King who promptly threw a wild pitch to Quebell, plating Sandy, 3-0. Quebell struck out, leading me to gnaw on the edge of my desk, but Merritt brought home the other run with a floating single to shallow center. Jaylin Lawrence flying by under it and swiping in vain with the glove was a sight to behold. Toner, despite the early rain delay, made it to the seventh inning before being chased by a real hard Rosa single. Constantino got out of that inning, but also had to pitch the eighth with Sakellaris tagged for the remaining outs. But before we could get there, Bednarski and Quebell went into scoring position with no outs in the bottom 7th, the FOURTH such occurrence on the day. Jon Merritt scared the Elks, who walked him intentionally. Nunley hit for Canning and hit a real deep fly to left, that was caught nevertheless and left him with a sac fly. That was also the only run in the inning as Seeley and Hernandez popped out. That created a 5-0 lead that was in mortal danger in the eighth, where we had to bother Thrasher to get a K from Cameron, stranding two more Elks. 5-0 Raccoons. Bednarski 3-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Merritt 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Toner 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, W (5-5);

(sniff sniff) … (sniff sniff) … anybody else here … (whiskers twitching) … smelling a sweep?

Carmona swiped his 18th base in this game, but he’s still four behind Mike Rivera of the Titans. The FL lead is 20 (SAL Roberto Cervantes).

Game 4
VAN: CF Holland – RF E. Garcia – 1B Madison – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – 2B Paull – SS Mateo – P K. Yates
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Conway

Kel was struggling badly this year and had almost as many walks as strikeouts. The first few innings were initially about baserunning, with each team swiping one (Holland / Sambrano) and having one thrown out (Holland again / Carmona). When Carmona was caught, nobody remained on base with two outs in the bottom 3rd, but then Yates walked both Bednarski and Quebell. Nunley singled, and D-Alex was uncharacteristically patient and drew an easy walk for the first run of the game. Bergquist grounded hard to third, but Suzuki made the play there to keep the Coons at 1-0. The next attempt at running was in the top 6th, when Suzuki was on second base with one out and took off. D-Alex told him with a laser throw to third that left Suzuki dead in the dirt, and the Elks stranded runners on the corners when D-Alex made another strong play on a sorry grounder by Enrique Garcia, now to first base. That was the end for Conway, who delivered seven shutout innings in 104 pitches, and was now hoping for the odd insurance run in the 1-0 game. Cookie opened the bottom 7th with a soft single to center, then took off and claimed his 19th base. Sandy walked, but then Treglown struck out the 3-4 batters whose names shall be eradicated from the game long, and Nunley popped out. No support would come forth, while Sakellaris pitched a laborious but scoreless eighth. Angel Casas then had no cushion to blow, facing the bottom of the order in the ninth. He struck out Eric Paull and Jeremiah Irvin before Freddy Rosa grounded out. 1-0 Furballs!! Carmona 3-4; Conway 7.0 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (5-2);

Kel Yates had only 4 K in six innings, three of which he hung on Conway. Sandy was the odd position player to strike out against Yates.

The Raccoons rotation had a 1.73 ERA in this series, and that includes the near-disaster with Dickerson. The other three guys allowed one run in 21 innings.

Raccoons (35-24) vs. Pacifics (24-35) – June 13-15, 2014

The Pacifics had gone from hey to clay over the winter, mainly because their starting pitching was mysteriously struggling. J.J. Wirth, Bruce Mark, Ernest Green, all great in recent years, were all nursing ERA’s north of the league average, with Mark getting ravaged to a 6.33 tune. Their pen was the worst in the Federal League, and their offense was in the bottom third as well and didn’t compensate for the pitchers’ shortcomings. The Raccoons had nobody with 10 homers, but the team lead for the Pacifics were Stanley Murphy’s five, and they weren’t hitting for average either. The Coons had been swept in the last meeting of these two teams in 2012, with the last series win dating back to 2009.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (8-1, 2.77 ERA) vs. Ozzie Pereira (3-3, 4.27 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-1, 1.68 ERA) vs. Brad Smith (6-3, 2.63 ERA)
TBD vs. Bruce Mark (3-6, 6.33 ERA)

The Pacifics had an off day and might skip Mark in favor of Ernest Green, who would be the only lefty in their rotation.

We weren’t clear on our Sunday starter yet. Dickerson had thrown over 100 pitches on Wednesday and was a no-go, especially with his injury history. Toner had thrown less pitches, but that had been with the rain interfering and I was not keen on breaking him. The most likely scenario is thus a spot start, likely from Gary Dupes in AAA, who was one of four prospects in the Morales/Carmona trade, but has not panned out at all. He’d be a warm body to soak up innings and damage in equal amounts, most likely.

Game 1
LAP: 3B Carroll – SS V. Flores – CF J. Roberts – 1B S. Murphy – C E. Spears – 2B Berman – RF Reya – LF Ibarra – P Pereira
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Brown

The Critters hit into double plays in the first two innings, then created another one of those situations with a pair in scoring position and nobody out in the third inning. Thankfully, no big-money non-slugging bozo was up, but Nick Brown. Only good things could happen now! First pitch, cracked hard to right, a liner caught by Dennis Berman, BERGQUIST OFF THIRD, scrambling, swipe tag – SAFE! Holy mother of trash cans! Can’t you watch the play!!??

Sadly, a trend was already set. Carmona grounded out to the pitcher and Sandy popped out, stranding two perfectly good runners. It was really outrageous. A terrible hitting display looked the worse considering that Brownie had next to no stuff, striking out the 7-8-9 batters in the third inning and little besides that, yet managed to feed balls to the middle infielders with great precision, but after seven shutout innings and 101 pitches had nothing to show for it. Brown was sent out once more for the eighth when left-hander Rich Ibarra was pinch-hit for with left-hander Carlos Diaz, an odd move if there was one. Ozzie Pereira batted for himself, striking out, but that was it – with the top of the order approaching and Brown on 110 pitches and generally not in mint condition anymore at 36, no gamble was made with the top of the order, other than bringing Constantino and Merritt in a double switch. Jens Carroll promptly almost hit one out, but Bednarski made the catch in front of the fence. Constantino got three quick grounders in the ninth, and when Carmona singled off Pereira on the Pacific’s 92nd pitch of the game, things got interesting in the bottom of the inning. Errol Spears had a good arm! Cookie was signed to stay the **** where he was; Sandy was asked to bunt instead, which worked well, and now we needed a single (or more) by any of the two dorks that were paid to hit balls hard and far. Bednarski delivered his money’s worth, firing a 2-0 pitch into the leftfield corner, far beyond the reach of Diaz, and Carmona scored leisurely! 1-0 Raccoons!! Carmona 2-4; Brown 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K; Constantino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (1-3);

… and when do you ever see consecutive 1-0 wins?

I’d like a few early runs, still. Also, we’d play five more until the next off day, so this was a good chance to play a few backups and give guys that often play every inning a day off. Santos is pitching, what’s the worst that can happen?

Game 2
LAP: CF Amundson – 3B Carroll – LF J. Roberts – 1B S. Murphy – 2B Berman – RF Reya – C E. Spears – SS V. Flores – P B. Smith
POR: 3B Merritt – LF Sambrano – C Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Taylor – 2B Bergquist – RF Fucito – CF Seeley – P Santos

Of course Santos was raked hard in the first inning. The first four batters all hit the ball quite well, with Garrett Amundson landing a single to center and scoring on Stanley Murphy’s 2-out double, ending the Raccoons’ 27-inning scoreless run. Soon enough the Pacifics started a streak of scoring in consecutive innings. Luis Reya drew a leadoff walk in the second, advanced on a wild pitch, and then scored casually, while the Pacifics not only got Jens Carroll on to start the third inning, but also whacked consecutive bombs when Jimmy Roberts and Stanley Murphy got hold of pitches that came bumbling by. Another Murphy homer ended Santos’ day in the fifth inning, trailing 6-1. Yeah, what’s the worst that can happen?

Gallegos took over, already tagged for demotion afterwards with Gary Dupes getting the spot start on Sunday, and while he was almost run over in the same inning, the Pacifics getting a single from Dennis Berman and a double from Reya, Spears then struck out and the inning dissipated. Gallegos even had the second hit for the home team in the bottom 5th, adding to a paltry total consisting solely of Sandy Sambrano’s earlier RBI single. What Gallegos did on the mound was hard to be called long relief, being neither long, nor relief. The Pacifics had five hits off him in 2.1 innings, pushing across a single run with Gibson stalling another runner when he got Amundson to pop out to end the seventh with the Coons down by six, and that would never change. 7-1 Pacifics. Sambrano 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

Yeah, we were out-drummed 17-4 in this one. Reason for concern? Nah. Three games in a row with only one run on the board is totally normal. The following trade should not be mistaken for a desperate attempt to turn the offense around, because the bat involved won’t do that.

Interlude: trade

Joe Cowan refused to be assigned to AAA after clearing waivers, so a trade had to be worked out. The Gold Sox were casually interested to mix up their outfield where Roberto Pena was in the middle of a lot of mediocrity. The contract was a bit of a pill to swallow for them, but we worked something out, and brought back a player that I NEVER would have thought would set another foot into Portland unless on a visiting team.

The Raccoons deal 32-year old OF Joe Cowan (.147, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and 21-year old AA SP Ernesto Lozano to the Gold Sox for 29-year old SS/1B Rob Howell (.309, 1 HR, 23 RBI) and 25-year old A MR Ricardo Irizarry.

Yeah, think about that one. Howell had been sent out on the sadness-inducing Logan Taylor trade with the Cyclones in 2011, having hit wildly below the league average in Portland from ’09 ‘til then. He had since bounced on twice before landing with the Gold Sox on a really cheap deal. His defense is average, and he’s just hitting enough singles to reach a league-average OPS+. Not really a steal threat. Blind to breaking stuff that will go into the dirt. But maybe better than Canning, who was designated for assignment.

Lozano had been acquired in the John Alexander deal with Boston last year, but I didn’t like the scouting report anymore, and the stats in AA were … hm. Not bad, but certainly not exciting.

Irizarry has blistering stuff and no control over it. We’ll see whether a decent pitching coach can tickle something out of him, and if not we won’t have lost anything.

Raccoons (35-24) vs. Pacifics (24-35) – June 13-15, 2014

Game 3
LAP: CF Amundson – 3B Carroll – LF J. Roberts – 1B S. Murphy – 2B Berman – RF Reya – C E. Spears – SS V. Flores – P Mark
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – SS Howell – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – P Dupes

For a while, Gary Dupes was the toast of the town on Sunday. His pitching was utterly forgettable with wild control issues and a run scoring in the top 2nd on two walks and a wild pitch. But he came to bat against Bruce Mark with two outs and three Coons abase in the bottom of the same inning and chipped a soft floater to extreme right that bounced ON the chalk halfway up the rightfield line, and plated two runs. That gave the Coons the lead, which D-Alex extended with a solo homer in the fourth. Dupes actually didn’t allow a hit twice through the order, but when he allowed his first one, it rung: Garrett Amundson smothered a tardy first pitch and killed it all the way to the other side of the Willamette, knotting the score at three thanks to Vic Flores (high, Vic!) having walked (…) before.

Dupes got through the inning however, and soon was in the lead again despite opening the bottom 5th with a K. Cookie walked then, and Sandy found the wide open gap in right center for an RBI triple, scoring himself on Bednarski’s fly to left, 5-3. Dupes faced only one more batter, Jimmy Roberts flying out to deep right, and when Dupes shook his arm and rotated it in a big circle a few times, the trainer dashed out. Dupes told him of having felt an oblique tweak and Ivan the Druid called for amputation (of whatever) right away. So we had to get Josh Gibson separated from his second pizza of the afternoon to pitch in relief here. He got out of the sixth, then had Spears on after a 1-out single in the seventh. Flores whiffed, bringing up PH César Aguilar, who singled to right. Bednarski got to it, Spears – not fast at all – turned second and was lasered out at third base, ending the inning. The 5-3 game got closer with Roberts’ homer off Sakellaris in the eighth, 5-4, and no insurance run came forth in the bottom of the inning. Angel faced the 6-7-8 batters, starting with the left-hander Reya, who fought for seven pitches before striking out. The Pacifics didn’t get the tying run on base until they were on their last out when Flores walked. Diaz batted in the #9 hole and drilled a pitch to deep center, deep center, deep, deep, deep – Cookie! 5-4 Raccoons! Sambrano 2-4, 3B, RBI; Nunley 2-3, 2B; Gibson 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Dupes would not miss a start, but he will be handed back to AAA on Monday and we’ll add a reliever.

In other news

June 9 – ATL 2B Josh Downing (.250, 3 HR, 19 RBI) is fighting a chronic back injury and will have to be shut down until after the All Star game.
June 15 – History is made in San Francisco, where RIC OF Danny Flores (.291, 3 HR, 22 RBI) hits for natural cycle in his team’s 7-5 win over the Bayhawks. Flores, 24, singles in the first, doubles in the third, triples in the fifth, and hits a 3-run bomb off Mike Tharp in the seventh before drawing a walk in his last plate appearance in the eighth. The 54th ABL cycle is the second for the Rebels (Gary Lang, 1989) and the sixth natural cycle, just two years after the last occurrence of this special achievement, then by ATL Gil Rockwell.
June 15 – The Scorpions fall to IND SP Tom Weise (4-5, 4.13 ERA) who spins a complete game 2-hit shutout in a 1-0 win.

Complaints and stuff

Are these 2014 Furballs for real?

What a week, 6-1, and a sweep of the ****ing Elks! That loss was a bit sour – it took until late in the night to pick all the little pieces of Hector Santos out of the wheelhouse of that hideous bus. Like I said before, I like Toner more, and he might become the better pitcher. Mind the 3-year age gap between them. If Toner can harness his stuff a bit more and gets the walks down… but the numbers are not dissimilar to the 24-year old Nick Brown, who had 4.2 BB/9 and 9.1 K/9. Toner is at 3.8 BB/9 and 8.6 K/9 right now and is on pace for less than 15 home runs conceded. Brown conceded 13 in his rookie season. The difference is more than half a run of ERA (Brown went 9-11 with a 2.65 ERA in ’02), but Toner does not get much help from the defense, but he’s not actively harmed. Brown had a soundly below-average BABIP of .292 working for him.

Lots of similarities, lots of reasons to be excited for more!

Now that Rob Howell’s back, I will inquire into the services of Craig Bowen again. Get the 2010 Coons back together! They made it to the World Series after all...

[Questdog]

A sweep of the Moose-bottoms! And without Brownie even pitching! Awesome!

I am still playing my Beatle record; in fact, I am turning up the sound so I can sing along!

How old is Rob Howell these days?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The Raccoons deal 32-year old OF Joe Cowan (.147, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and 21-year old AA SP Ernesto Lozano to the Gold Sox for 29-year old SS/1B Rob Howell (.309, 1 HR, 23 RBI) and 25-year old A MR Ricardo Irizarry.

That one?

Also, the honor roll was missing from the first leg of the double header and has been added. I suck. You know it.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by Westheim

That one?

Also, the honor roll was missing from the first leg of the double header and has been added. I suck. You know it.

So he's 29?..........how the time flies by....

[Westheim]

2014 AMATEUR DRAFT

Oh, the bubbling, fizzling excitement! It’s Draft Day! Some 300 young baseball players will voluntarily subjugate themselves to the slaveries of minor league baseball for as long as they can scrape by on meal money before breaking either physically or mentally. Or both.

The Raccoons had a good assortment of picks, having maintained all of their own, and had received a supplemental round pick and a second round pick for the loss of Yoshi Nomura (sniff!) to the Capitals.

As detailed earlier, pitchers and outfielders were available in much plentiness in the draft, but at #16 you can not really look at any one guy and claim him yours. That’s not how the #16 pick works. Instead you can look at organizational weaknesses and try to patch those, but we had in fact no clear-cut future major league position player at any level on the farm, and everybody always needs pitching, so that didn’t help.

Well, I am not exactly telling the truth. I had my favorite among the available starting pitchers on Juan Calderón’s hotlist:

SP Andrew Gudeman (15/12/14) – BNN #8
SP Roger Kincheloe (14/13/12) – BNN #5
SP Tommy Weintraub (13/18/11)
SP Sid Fletcher (13/13/11)
SP Seth Powers (13/12/13)
SP James Silmon (13/13/12)
SP Corey Samora (12/13/11)

CL Frank Blewett (15/12/12)
CL Harry Merwin (12/15/12)

INF John Muller (14/12/13) – BNN #9
1B Ryan Crissinger (9/13/11) – BNN #6
2B Todd Jankowski (11/10/10) – BNN #3

RF/LF/1B Matt Hamilton (12/12/12) – BNN #10
LF/CF Brad Tesch (10/11/12) – BNN #1
OF Jason Gerling (11/10/11)
OF Todd Sanborn (11/10/11) – BNN #7
OF/2B/3B Travis Givens (10/9/11)

I liked Tommy Weintraub the most. Right-hander, three pitches, great movement on the fastball, with control issues, but every 19-year old has those. I liked Weintraub and I was going to pick him if I was to get my paws on him to –

The first overall pick in the draft – by the Gold Sox – was SP Tommy Weintraub. While I was biting into my clenched fist, fingers white, the top five slowly but steadily were filled with John Muller to the Blue Sox, John Gudeman to the Condors, Brad Tesch to the Loggers, and James Silmon to the Indians. In an unprecedented situation, ALL of the first ten picks were from the hotlist, and the next two picks were position players that we didn’t even have on the longer shortlist with almost 100 players, with pitcher Marcus Garner to the Falcons and outfielder Nick Holt to the Knights.

By the time our pick rolled around, there were then still seven players left on the hotlist, all but one pitchers: Kincheloe, Fletcher, Powers, Samora, Blewett, Merwin, and Givens. Blewett and Merwin had no Grant West-type profile so they were not going to be our top pick, and Givens wasn’t a world beater in Calderón’s book, either. So it was down to a starting pitcher. Among those four, Kincheloe, Fletcher, and Powers were out of high school, and all 3-pitch guys with a good solid mix. Powers’ fastball was lagging behind the other two, who were quite similar to another, although Kincheloe was perhaps a notch up on Fletcher overall, although Calderón was not able to make a clear argument for one over the other. Powers and Samora were southpaws. Samora was a college guy with five pitches, but it was all a bit muddled. No one great blastaway pitch, and a rather tame 91mph fastball, comparable to Kincheloe and Fletcher, who were three to four years younger than him. We went back and forth quite a bit in the draft room and exceeded all of our five minutes’ time allotment to make our pick, before coming back with … Kincheloe. [If he ever makes it, I will cuss endlessly because I can’t type his ****ing name without screwing up!]

Fletcher and Powers went with the next two picks, Merwin also went in the first round proper, and the Stars picked Samora two picks ahead of our next chance. I still didn’t feel like drafting a relief pitcher without the overwhelming force behind him, and Calderón nudged me towards a third baseman that was not on the hotlist, but was quite interesting.

2014 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#16) – SP Roger Kincheloe, 17, from Pittsburgh, PA – right-hander with a hellacious slider and a very good changeup for a third pitch, solid control, and some nice movement on the fastball. Not overwhelming in any one point on his profile card, but a very good mix overall, and no easily spotted weaknesses.
Supp. Round (#33) – 3B Chris Schmitt, 18, from Pasadena, TX – able to hit for average and power and lay off the junk; very eager at the plate and not exactly looking for walks, if you know what I mean. Very solid defense with a murder arm. Not much speed, however.
Round 2 (#46) – OF/INF Tim Bean, 22, from West Valley City, UT – he is tremendously agile, can play all over the field, and is also a fast runner; the bat promises some pop and perhaps getting on base at a good rate. If he can get hitting at all, he might make it just by his versatility, but he might also be a defensive centerfielder.
Round 2 (#53) – SP Ryan Nielson, 21, from Rio del Mar, CA – left-hander with some ill control, but a big swooping curve that freezes hitters; changeup a work in progress.
Round 3 (#77) – INF Sam Armetta, 17, from New York, NY – you’d never guess it, but he has Italian and Norwegian heritage, the former granting him the name, and the latter a dangerously pale skin for playing in the south; very adept defender with a good contact bat that is so far easily fooled by breaking stuff; potential to be a great base stealer.
Round 4 (#101) – 1B Scott Thompson, 22, from Redding, CA – prototypical first baseman: mash a ball hard and far, then sit on a lawn chair next to first base, hoping nothing comes your way.
Round 5 (#125) – INF/LF Adam Walker, 18, from Fallbrook, CA – hits like a shortstop, but is a bit clumsy, yet that is nothing that changes by moving to second base… Has good speed and baserunning intelligence, however.
Round 6 (#149) – MR Adan Nelson, 23, from Pearl River, MS – entered as starting pitcher, but he really isn’t one, at least professionally. Only two pitches for this right-hander, who has a slider with potential, but will have to work on it quite a bit more.
Round 7 (#173) – RF/LF/1B Julius Jordan, 18, from Abilene, KS – not great at moving, not great at fielding, not great at laying off the junk; he can whack a ball deep, but needs to learn plate discipline foremost.
Round 8 (#197) – MR John King, 20, from Queens, NY – cutter, changeup, slider, but bad control is limiting the current performance and perhaps the potential of this left-hander that flies wide open during his delivery.
Round 9 (#221) – MR Jim Fickbohm, 20, from Chicago, IL – another left-hander with a decent slider to his 90mph fastball, but even more control issues.
Round 10 (#245) – SP J.J. Rodd, 18, from Staten Island, NY – yet another left-hander, this one mixing his curve and change well with his fastball, which is all but fast at 87mph.
Round 11 (#269) – OF Mitch Vanoy, 18, from Homestead Meadows South, TX – more of a defensive outfielder, with great range and moving quickly, but not much of an arm, to be honest; bat shows no power at all, but he might hit a lot of doubles thanks to hitting the ball to all fields, including the gaps and up the lines.
Round 12 (#293) – CL Ray Weiss, 21, from Freeport, IL – right-hander with a cutter, slider, and not a lot in terms of velocity or control.

All our picks will start their career in Aumsville. We will also cut some personnel over the next week or two to make room for all this fresh blood.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-25) @ Buffaloes (32-28) – June 16-18, 2014

The Buffaloes had not posted a winning season since 2006, including five straight last-place finishes in the East from 2008 through 2012, losing 96 games on average in those years. They had led the division for a while, but had been in free fall recently, dropping nine straight games. When they weren’t trying to put up record consecutive losses, they were seventh in runs scored and third in runs allowed. Both rotation and pen were above average. We haven’t played them in five years, but won consecutive series from them in 2008 and 2009.

Projected matchups:
Daniel Dickerson (1-1, 5.57 ERA) vs. Juan Ortega (4-7, 4.47 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (5-5, 3.31 ERA) vs. Ian Norman (5-4, 3.23 ERA)
Bill Conway (5-2, 2.36 ERA) vs. Cody Zimmermann (5-3, 3.99 ERA)

Zimmermann is a southpaw. They have only one other left-hander on the team at all, setup man Felix Colon.

The Raccoons demoted Gary Dupes after his spot start and called up 27-year old righty Chris Mathis, who had closed a bit in AAA, although there was not much to close there after all. He had a 1.90 ERA in 23 appearances, but had struck out only 12 in 23.2 innings.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – SS Howell – 2B Taylor – C Hernandez – P Dickerson
TOP: 3B Piepoli – 2B Sykes – LF B. Adams – 1B J. Roberts – C Salas – RF E. Jackson – SS D. Mendez – CF S. Young – P J. Ortega

The Coons exploited an error by Pedro Salas in the first inning to put Sandy Sambrano on base, and Bednarski homered right after that for an early 2-0 lead. Ortega would walk the next two, Howell doubled, and another run scored, 3-0. The Coons left the bases loaded in this inning and the next, first on a fly out by Dickerson, then on a Taylor grounder, but did get a run home when Quebell singled in Carmona, who had walked and taken second base, his 20th bag of the year. Ortega was a mess, walking five in the first two innings, while Dickerson was the one allowing hard balls every which way. Bednarski was the one hitting hard shots off Ortega every time. He had homered to center in the first, he narrowly missed a shot to left in the second, but he got one out in the fourth, a solo homer to right, upping the score to 5-0. He wasn’t the only one getting them out – Cookie Carmona hit his first home run of the year in the fifth, then bringing the score to 6-1, and that knocked out Ortega. Bednarski hit another drive to center off replacement Jorge Vargas, but not nearly deep enough and into an out, but the Critters still managed three hits and a run off Vargas in the same inning, which was a good thing, since Dickerson was anything but good. Jimmy Roberts homered off him in the bottom of the inning, cutting the gap to 7-2 again, but the Raccoons continued to pile on against the Buffaloes bullpen in the seventh. Hernandez and Dickerson had 1-out hits, followed by an RBI single by Carmona and a 2-run triple by Sandy, and the inning went on long enough for Hernandez to make the last out with a pop to first, the 11th Critter to bat in a 6-run inning. Jason Seeley poured oil into the fire in the eighth, hitting for Dickerson to lead off and homering off Jimmy Miller, who then loaded the bases with three singles and conceded another run on a Quebell sac fly. Bednarski, Quebell, and Carmona were all replaced after that inning, with the team leading by more than a dozen – which didn’t mean they’d stop. Sandy hit a 2-out, 2-run double off Risto Mäkelä in the ninth, putting the cap on a fantastic mauling. 17-2 Raccoons! Carmona 3-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Sambrano 4-7, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI; Bednarski 4-6, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Quebell 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Hernandez 2-5, BB, 2B; Seeley (PH) 2-2, HR, RBI; Dickerson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (2-1) and 1-4; Mathis 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Oh noes! He spilled all our runs until Friday in one game! We’re doomed.

Also, of our 22 hits, half went for extra bases, with six doubles, a triple, and four homers. That’s a crisp 42 total bases.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Taylor – P Toner
TOP: 3B Piepoli – SS Gray – LF B. Adams – 1B J. Roberts – RF E. Jackson – 2B Sykes – C R. Speed – CF Dempsey – P Norman

Cookie singled to get the game underway, then was caught stealing, and D-Alex killed the second with a double play. Toner allowed three consecutive singles to Eddie Jackson, Harrison Sykes, and Richard Speed in the bottom 2nd, then escaped when Jarrod Dempsey popped out and Ian Norman rolled one over to Bergquist. The Raccoons went ahead in the third inning then. Palmer Taylor led off with a double, and Toner walked in a full count. Carmona was at 3-1 when he lined out hard to Dempsey in center, but Sandy hit a liner over Saverio Piepoli and into deep left for an RBI double. Bednarski added a run with a sac fly, but Quebell was unproductive, grounding out to Sykes, which left the score at 2-0. After three quick grounders to Nunley in the bottom 3rd, the Coons had Bergquist walk, D-Alex double, and then the Buffaloes issued a 1-out intentional walk to Taylor in the top 4th. Unfortunately, it worked. Toner popped out, and Carmona grounded out to ex-Raccoon Michael Palmer (at second base after replacing an injured Sykes). Toner would make up for it two innings later, hitting a looper into the left-center gap for a 2-out RBI single. D-Alex remained on base with him and scored on Carmona’s single, 4-0. Some cocky coach gave the double steal signal, and while Toner was a fast runner, Speed nailed him at third base.

It was an odd start on the mound for Jonathan Toner, too. Through five, he had only one strikeout, but at least only one walk, too. He whiffed Bill Adams to start the sixth, but this remained a game where he generated lots of poor contact rather than hammering it past hitters. But his pitch count remained in fairly good shape, 85 through seven innings, and maybe this could become a shutout? Justin Foster grounded hard up the middle to start the bottom 8th, but Bergquist made a wonderful play to not only intercept the ball but to lob it to first in time, too, retiring the pinch-hitter! While Toner then struck out Piepoli and Tyler Gray, that used a lot of pitches, and he reached 100 when he started the bottom 9th. Gives kids a chance! Adams K’ed on three pitches, before Roberts ran the first 3-ball count in forever, grounding out to Toner. Eddie Jackson with the pitch count at 107, still manageable for a young pitcher said to have endurance. He struck out, and Toner had a 4-hit shutout! 4-0 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, RBI; Sambrano 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Alexander 2-4, 2B; Taylor 2-3, BB, 2B; Toner 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (6-5) and 1-3, BB, RBI;

That’s Toner’s second career shutout. Mind that he spun his first one just two starts ago against the Titans, and in between pitched 6.2 scoreless against the Elks, whiffing nine. Before that? Six runs in two innings vs. the Aces, but … uh … let’s not go there, okay?

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – SS Howell – C Hernandez – P Conway
TOP: 3B Piepoli – SS Gray – LF B. Adams – 1B J. Roberts – C Salas – RF E. Jackson – 2B D. Mendez – CF S. Young – P Zimmerman

Nobody in our lineup had ever faced Zimmerman, while the reverse wasn’t exactly true. Zimmerman walked Carmona in the first, who was forced by Sandy quickly. But Bednarski and Quebell filled the bases with two outs, and then Bergquist took an 0-2 pitch and slapped it into center for a 2-run single. Rob Howell achieved the same outcome in a 2-1 count, and when Hernandez doubled, the Coons batted through the order in an inning for the third straight day in Topeka. Must be something in the water. Conway struck out, but now had a 4-0 lead to play with and retired the first six Buffaloes in the game.

Zimmerman gave out walks like candy, six in the first three innings, and that was also the amount of runs he was booked for when Sandy hit an RBI single with the bags loaded in the top 3rd and two down, and Merritt drew one of those walks. Bednarski flew to the warning track, but was caught by Adams, ending the inning. Bottom 3rd, David Mendez, the veteran, hit a leadoff double. He would score, but it took errors by Quebell and Hernandez to achieve that. The Buffaloes didn’t get another hit until Bill Adams doubled with one out in the sixth and set a disturbing rally in motion. Conway walked Roberts, then threw a wild pitch, but struck out Salas – if only Hernandez would have come up with the ball. He was charged with a passed ball as Salas reached first base and Adams scored, 6-2. But as soon as the fire was lit, someone put it out. Merritt brought the extinguisher, nipping Eddie Jackson’s hard bouncer and turning it into a quick 5-4-3 double play. Conway got only one more batter in the seventh before walking Sean Young. Another mess grew as Sugano walked PH Jarrod Dempsey, and then the Buffaloes pulled off a double steal against an unnerved Josh Gibson, who plated Young with a wild pitch, 6-3. Saverio Piepoli’s pop to short and Gray’s grounder to first ended the inning with the Coons still up 6-3, but maybe the offense could awake from a long slumber to get an insurance run home? Jackson picked a potential homer for Bednarski off the top of the fence in the ninth, which was as close as the Critters got to a run. Angel Casas started the bottom 9th by walking Jackson on four pitches, and also walked Young after Mendez popped out. A pinch-hit double by Fernando Ibarra brought home a run and put the tying runs in scoring position with one out. Piepoli flew out to Bednarski in right and the Buffaloes didn’t dare, instead hoping for .309 batter Tyler Gray to do the magic. He had eight homers, too. He lashed the first pitch to center, no chance for any play, and the game was tied with two outs in the ninth.

Casas was yanked immediately. Ron Thrasher took over, ran one full count after another, but somewhere found seven outs while the Coons’ run machine just would not restart. Every inning the same ugly sputtering noise. When Bednarski led off the 12th with a single, Thrasher was asked to bunt, but bunted foul long enough to strike out. The Coons didn’t come close to scoring, again. By now, Constantino was in, and the only other reliever left would be Mathis, so this game could be over any second.

Top 13th, D-Alex, batting ninth, led off with a single that escaped between Piepoli and Gray. Nunley, batting first, lined a ball into deep left where it found the wall for a double. Runners in scoring position, no outs! Felix Colon struck out Sambrano, and I was already biting my fist again when Jon Merritt’s hapless bouncer eluded Gray for an RBI single, breaking the tie. When Bednarski was hit by a pitch, that loaded the bases and Jimmy Fucito hit for Constantino, hitting to Piepoli for a force at home. Bergquist flew out to center, no insurance run was to be had (again), and then it was on Clint Mathis to save the game. Pedro Salas singled hard on the first pitch, but was forced by Jackson (nice play by Nunley!). Mendez walked before Young flew out to Sambrano in left. That brought up … the reliever Colon! There was nobody left on the Buffaloes bench! One harmless groundout later, the sweep was in the books. 7-6 Raccoons. Sambrano 3-6, BB, RBI; Hernandez 2-3, 2B; Conway 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Thrasher 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Angel is in the trash so hard, it’s not even funny. Thrasher for closer? Yes? No?

Luckily we had an off day on Thursday before having to appear in Indy.

Raccoons (40-25) @ Indians (37-29) – June 20-22, 2014

The Indians were a bit of the surprise team in the North this year, even more so than the Raccoons. The Crusaders were probably wondering what was going on, sitting between these two in late June. They were – as usual whenever they’re good – doing it on pitching, with a top 3 rotation and the best pen in the CL, while the offense was average at best. They were also 3-1 against the Raccoons in 2014.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (8-1, 2.53 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (4-5, 4.13 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-2, 2.27 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (5-3, 3.28 ERA)
Daniel Dickerson (2-1, 5.03 ERA) vs. Chester Graham (6-3, 3.62 ERA)

We’ll get the full blast of left-handed pitching this week, with Broun and Graham both falling into that category, but in turn will play two teams without lefty starters next week.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Howell – P Brown
IND: CF J. Wilson – SS Mathews – RF J. Ortíz – 2B Kym – C Padilla – LF Tanner – 1B Shank – 3B Dawson – P Weise

Nick Brown had nothing to begin with, and not one, but TWO rain delays in the bottom of the third inning surely didn’t help him. He was still facing the minimum thanks to some D behind him when the first interruption came with Jimmy Shank down 0-2. When play resumed 38 minutes later, Shank doubled on the next pitch, and the cart was beginning to roll downhill for Brown. He walked Ryan Dawson, Weise bunted them over, and the Indians would score both of them on another two hits, sandwiching the second brief rain delay. They left the bases loaded after Brown had drilled Jong-beom Kym. Tom Weise had the Raccoons in a death grip all the time, squeezing them intermittently to make their little black eyes pop out and back in, while an error by Sandy in the bottom 5th put an unearned run on the board. Brown was replaced after drilling Jimmy Shank in the bottom 6th, while Weise at that point had allowed two singles, both resolved in double plays, and was facing the minimum on less than 60 pitches through six. The Coons didn’t get over the minimum until the eighth inning when Palmer Taylor hit a 2-out, pinch-hit single. D-Alex also singled, bringing up the tying run in Rob Howe- … in Jon Merritt. He flew to deep center, but into an out after a nice dash by John Wilson. Nope, Brownie wasn’t gonna get out of this one. Weise spun a 5-hitter on 95 pitches. No Raccoon ever touched third base, and only one Raccoon touched second base the entire game. 3-0 Indians. Alexander 2-3;

Well, that’s what a 10th-ranked offense gets you. One run in 18 innings.

Then, surprise: the Indians flicked over their rotation and brought Dan Lambert (5-4, 5.25 ERA) into the middle game after initially skipping him. His turn would have been on Thursday, when they had off along with us.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Howell – P Santos
IND: CF J. Wilson – 1B Pruitt – 2B Kym – RF J. Ortíz – C Padilla – LF A. Chavez – SS Mathews – 3B Dawson – P Lambert

Both teams got singles from their #1 batter in the first inning, before failing embarrassingly in making anything with that no-out runner, and before you knew it a pitching duel had broken out. It was the fifth inning when the Raccoons got Rob Howell on with a leadoff single. He was supposed to run, but missed the sign twice while Santos didn’t bunt on purpose, and all that did was put Santos down 0-2. Lambert threw a low one when Santos was supposed to bunt then, but let it pass, and at 1-2 we shrugged and asked him to swing since apparently Howell had fallen asleep completely. Santos whacked the 1-2 pitch to deep left and all the way to the base of the wall, but the daydreaming Howell had to stop at third base. Still, runners in scoring position with no outs, any other team would take the lead. Okay, this one did, too, and it only took one pitch. Cookie rammed that past a diving Matt Pruitt (batting precious little, .242 with three homers) and it made it to the warning track before Juan Ortíz reeled that shot in: 2-run double! As good as Dan Lambert had been for four innings, now he was broken. Sandy and Bednarski singled, and four runs scored in the inning. The Coons didn’t raise another stick and Hector ran out of jazz after eight innings, with Ortíz coming close to a 2-run homer in that last frame, and at almost 100 pitches was not brought out again for the ninth inning (he just didn’t have Toner’s endurance and stamina). Sakellaris got the ninth, starting with Dave Padilla. Both him and Armando Chavez made outs on the first pitch before Joey Mathews popped out to short on an 0-2 pitch. 4-0 Raccoons. Carmona 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Santos 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (8-2);

Carmona had two infield singles in his first two at-bats, which was about as far as the Raccoons got the ball in eight out of nine innings.

The Crusaders were yet undefeated this week, and Dickerson had to pick up the slack a bit lest we risked losing the lead in the North.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Bergquist – 1B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 3B Nunley – SS Howell – C Hernandez – LF Fucito – P Dickerson
IND: CF J. Wilson – 1B Pruitt – 2B Kym – RF J. Ortíz – C Padilla – LF A. Chavez – SS Mathews – 3B Dawson – P Broun

Pruitt and Kym were left in scoring position when Padilla flew out to end the bottom of the first and Dickerson was immediately walking that fine line between being just plain bad and expensive and getting shot in sight of hundreds of summer camp children again… The Indians would take the lead in the bottom 3rd after starting the inning with three straight singles and the only thing that kept them from sinking Dickerson early was a niftily turned double play, third-and-first, by Matt Nunley, who was rapidly rising on the likability ladder. Dickerson very much wasn’t, and the Indians had three singles to start the bottom 4th AGAIN. They got one run, then brought up the pitcher, who struck out, John Wilson, who popped out, and Matt Pruitt, who grounded out to first base.

The Coons had left runners on first and second in the second and fourth innings, and not even an error by Mathews to start the sixth inning could turn them into a threat. Merritt reached base on the error, but Bednarski hit into a double play immediately. Top 7th, Hernandez and Fucito hit back-to-back 1-out singles. What a great excuse to hit for Dickerson! Sandy grabbed a stick … and hit into a double play. After eight dominant innings by Tristan Broun, Ed Bryan got the ball for the save in the ninth. Bednarski and Nunley were sawed off quickly before Rob Howell singled to keep the Coons alive, bringing up the tying run in … Raúl Hernandez. Only left-handers on the bench, however. Nope, not for Hernandez, who was running almost an .800 OPS in limited exposure, and struck out. 2-0 Indians. Howell 2-4;

In other news

June 18 – As the Crusaders finish off a sweep of the Wolves, SP Pancho Trevino (7-2, 2.42 ERA) notches his 200th career win. The 34-year old has a career 3.45 ERA with a 200-128 record and 2,650 strikeouts, good enough for 17th place all time.
June 18 – Oklahoma’s RF/CF/1B Tom Reese (.207, 4 HR, 28 RBI) hasn’t been well all year – normally he’s someone hitting .300 with pop – and will be shut down for a month with some recurring shoulder soreness.
June 21 – More pitching news in New York, where NYC SP Paul Miller (7-4, 3.41 ERA) 1-hits the Titans in a 4-0 shutout. Mike Rivera breaks up the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the ninth inning.
June 22 – LVA INF Brent Burke (.314, 5 HR, 44 RBI) is out for a month with a strained hammy.

Complaints and stuff

Walt Canning cleared waivers and was assigned to the Alley Cats in AAA. Maybe he can find some stick there.

The team has scored five runs in their last 36 innings, which is bad enough, but they scored in only two of those innings, and that’s how you blow leads. I KNEW they had used up their weekly run allotment on Monday!

Rob Howell is batting 70 points less since the trade. Of course he does.

This week, we released Jack Berry, who had posted a 6.12 ERA in St. Petersburg. It was not the defense’s fault. There might actually be a worthwhile player or two needing a roster spot in AAA, so we ate the remaining $500k or so on his contract. It’s not like we could splurge on international free agents, either, after shelling out on Danny Arguello last year.

A first batch of minor leaguers was released this week, including 2011 third-rounder OF Scott Hornung (awful, batting under .200 in AA with a passion), 2010 third-rounder 1B Isaac Berry (toiling away in Aumsville STILL), and a few more players in Aumsville, mostly dragged home as international discoveries by Whitebread back then.

Update on minor league starting pitchers. Jeff Magnotta and David Tingley have been in AA since early this season and are doing okay, but also promoted now is Damani Knight, who was drafted in '12 in the fourth round and suffered through horrendous control that year and last year. He walked 110 batters in 2013! This year, much better in Aumsville, and after a 3.27 ERA and 30 walks in over 80 innings he got promoted to Ham Lake, too. Our AAA and AA teams have horrendous losing records, by the way, so nothing big is coming up for a while...

[Westheim]

Raccoons (41-27) vs. Crusaders (42-27) – June 23-25, 2014

Look, look, it’s a fight for the top, the cream of the crop! The Crusaders came in for three games, and whoever took this series – the Crusaders came in having won seven straight, while the Raccoons came in with five runs in their last 36 innings – would go to sleep division leaders on Wednesday night. As usual they were in the top 3 in runs scored, second to be precise, and also in the top 3 in runs allowed. The two best rotations in the Continental League were squaring off here. The season series was locked up evenly, 3-3.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (6-5, 2.95 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (7-2, 2.42 ERA)
Bill Conway (5-2, 2.29 ERA) vs. Colin Sabatino (5-6, 5.54 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-2, 2.58 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (7-4, 3.00 ERA)

Like I said, only right-handers this week. They had their closer, Micah Steele (meh…) on the DL, as well as centerfielder Amari Brissett. Stanton Martin was healthy and looking forward to deal pain. The Crusaders score two additional runs every three games compared to the Coons. I don’t feel well.

Game 1
NYC: 2B J. Ramirez – SS Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C Durango – 3B Salinas – CF J. Ortega – P Trevino
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Howell – P Toner

“Clockwork” Martin got damage in early, hurting Toner, who had enjoyed two shutouts in his last three games, with a 2-out, 2-run single to center in the top of the third, ending a 26-inning scoreless streak for Toner. By then the Raccoons still led the game, 3-2, after a 3-run outburst with a 2-run homer by D-Alex in the bottom 2nd, but the top 4th saw Jorge Ortega hit a 2-out double and score on Pancho Trevino’s second single of the day, tying the game at three. Toner went on to ruin the bottom of the inning with a terrible bunt that got Alexander thrown out at third base after him and Rob Howell had started the inning by getting on base. Sambrano would reach on an error with two outs, but Bednarski grounded out and the Coons left three stranded. The Crusaders weren’t slowing down, putting two more on Toner in the fifth, with Stanton Martin’s RBI triple key in getting them the lead. The Coons had a leadoff double from Quebell and a single by Nunley in the bottom 5th, then left them there when Bergquist popped out to short on a 3-1 pitch from Trevino, who was chasing Brownie in the all time strikeouts leaderboard, but had only 2 K so far in this game, and Alexander grounded into a picture-perfect 6-4-3.

Toner was replaced with two outs in the top 6th, having thrown 100 pitches. Sugano replaced him and retired Jesus Ramirez to end the inning. Bottom 6th, Howell singled, and then Palmer Taylor – entering with Sugano in a double switch – also singled. Howell made for third, Stanton Martin fired the ball there, but markedly late, and Taylor moved up to second. Those were the tying runs in scoring position, with nobody out, and the top of the order coming up. Drama was created when Carmona singled up the middle, just inches past Francisco Caraballo’s glove, which scored one run. The other run scored on Trevino’s wild pitch, and we were tied. Sandy walked before the middle of the order ****ed up as usual. Both Bednarski and Quebell popped out, and Nunley whiffed. The Crusaders stranded a pair that Thrasher put on (a walk and a hit batter) in the top 8th when Sakellaris struck out PH Aaron Tolwith, and the bottom 8th was opened with Carmona singling off Ken McKenzie, a left-hander. Sandy bunted with us fearing the arm of Eduardo Durango quite badly, getting Carmona to second with one out. Bednarski wasn’t pitched to, being walked onto the open base, before Quebell hit a 3-2 bloop to left that just barely escaped Martin Ortíz! It was in for a double, Carmona scored, and next Jon Merritt hit for Nunley, but the Crusaders wanted NO part of a right-handed batter. Okay. Jimmy Fucito would now hit with the bases loaded for Jason Seeley, but he grounded back to the pitcher for a force at home, and D-Alex, who had hit into another double play in the seventh, flew out to center to strand three. Angel Casas retired the top of the order in the ninth in 1-2-3 fashion, striking out Ramirez and Ortíz. 6-5 Raccoons! Carmona 3-5, 2 RBI; Quebell 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-4; Seeley (PH) 1-1; Howell 2-2, 2 BB; Sugano 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 2
NYC: 2B J. Ramirez – SS Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – C Durango – 3B Salinas – CF J. Ortega – P Sabatino
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – SS Howell – 2B Taylor – P Conway

Like Nick Brown the previous week, Conway had a great start to the game, allowing only one runner in the first seven batters, before an early rain delay completely broke him in the third inning. Martin Ortíz hit a 2-out, 3-run homer after Ortega and Ramirez reached, and then Stanton Martin, B.J. Manfull, and Eduardo Durango reached on two singles and a walk before Miguel Salinas left them on with a deep fly out to left. Conway didn’t even last five innings, choking on the Martin Brothers reaching with one out in the fifth before Sugano replaced him and retired Manfull and Durango to keep the damage low and manageable. All the while, the Raccoons did little to less than even little against Sabatino, who was not nominally part of the second-best rotation in the league. They had three shy hits in the first four innings, then had runners on the corners after D-Alex doubled and Howell singled to start the bottom 5th. Palmer Taylor hit into a double play, the run scored, but uck.

Bottom 6th, runners on the corners again with nobody out! Sandy and Bednarski both singled to set up Quebell – oh we’re doomed. OF COURSE the annoying first baseman hit into a double play, the run scored, but UCK!! Martin Ortíz would rather effortlessly shake off the Raccoons’ most puny comeback attempt with a huge 2-run homer off Josh Gibson in the seventh, restoring the old 3-run gap. Bottom 8th: Sabatino was still going and retired Carmona on a grounder to start the inning. Sandy singled to center and gained an extra base when Jorge Ortega missed the pickup trying to play it extra quick to keep Sandy FROM taking the extra base. This one promptly came back to bite the Crusaders, with Bednarski singling to right center to easily scored Sandy, 5-3. Up came the tying run … Quebell. Ugh, the ****, we’re so toast. 2-1 pitch, grounded to short … YOU GOTTA BE KIDD- … and Caraballo bumbled it! Totally a double play, but the Crusaders got nobody when the shortstop committed the error. When both Nunley and D-Alex grounded out harmlessly, nothing came of this wonderful donation, and the Coons lost. 5-3 Crusaders. Sambrano 2-5; Bednarski 2-4, RBI; Howell 2-3, BB; Fucito (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Brownie will encounter Midnight at noon, if that makes sense.

Game 3
NYC: 2B J. Ramirez – SS Caraballo – LF M. Ortíz – RF S. Martin – 1B Manfull – 3B Salinas – C Durango – CF J. Ortega – P J. Martin
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – SS Howell – CF Seeley – P Brown

Jesus Ramirez opened the game with a bloop triple that fooled about half the Coons’ defenders, and quickly scored on a groundout by Caraballo to put Brown into an early hole. And that was way not all. Brown showed his age, had no stuff, and as the first-inning incident already hinted at, would have absolutely no luck on his side, either. The Crusaders ripped him right open for three runs in the second inning, 4-0 total, with the bases loaded after a 2-out walk to Ramirez, after which Caraballo lined a ball just a coon tail’s width over the leaping Quebell and into the corner to plate two, and Martin Ortíz scored a run with an infield single.

Bottom 3rd, Brown hit a leadoff single to right center. Carmona beat Manfull with a hard shot and had a double to right, putting two in scoring position with nobody out. Sandy singled hard to center, and Carmona had to hold back because Ortega was close to making a catch and thus couldn’t score. Brown scored, however, 4-1. Runners on the corners, Bednarski was the ass to hit into a double play, the third run-scoring double play in the series for the Critters, and now, with nobody on base, the tool Quebell managed to hit a single. Nunley singled, go-ahead run at the plate, but D-Alex whiffed most feebly and the chance was wasted thoroughly. Besides, Brown’s pitching hardly got better. If anything got better, it was the outfielders selling their dear bodies when they threw them at howling line drives. Somehow Brown existed into the seventh, got Ramirez and Caraballo out on somewhat less hazardous plays than earlier, but then put on Ortíz with a single. With the right-handed bomber coming up, Brown’s day was over. Clint Mathis came in, threw one pitch that bored in on Martin, then left for Thrasher. “Midnight” Martin struck out eight over seven innings, and McKenzie held the fort in the eighth. Alex Ramirez got the save opportunity, got Alexander and Howell, but then lost Jon Merritt to a pinch-walk. Taylor hit for Fucito to counter the right-hander, but struck out like a real victim. 4-2 Crusaders. Constantino 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Yuck. What a crap game. The offense is truly horrendous.

Raccoons (42-29) @ Falcons (31-42) – June 27-29, 2014

The Falcons had recovered somewhat from their zombie start to the season, and had even made it past the Knights into fifth place in the South. However, they were still scoring the least runs in the CL (though the gap to the Raccoons and Knights was closing steadily), and were sixth in runs allowed. We had swept them in the first series this season.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (8-2, 2.06 ERA) vs. Ron Carter (6-6, 3.65 ERA)
Daniel Dickerson (2-2, 4.76 ERA) vs. John Key (3-4, 3.78 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-5, 3.27 ERA) vs. Pablo Sanchez (3-8, 4.64 ERA)

Three right-handers again. This series starts the long 17-game string of games without an off day before the All Star Game.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – CF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Nunley – C Alexander – SS Howell – 2B Bergquist – P Santos
CHA: RF Puckett – CF J. Jimenez – LF Nieves – 1B J. Garcia – 3B C. Martinez – 2B Best – SS Dahlke – C M. Roberts – P Carter

Cookie Carmona came up with his 100th hit of the season to plate the first run of the game, a 2-out RBI single that chased home Jason Bergquist in the third. Santos had started the game iffy, running three full counts in the first two innings, and had walked Chris Puckett, the first batter he faced. He also walked a guy in the second, and threw a wild pitch. When Santos wasn’t messing around, the Falcons had a hard time getting into scoring position, however, the Raccoons’ offense mainly consisted of Cookie Carmona, who had all of the Coons’ hits through six innings. Sooner or later, the iffy Santos had to run into trouble, and he did so in form of a leadoff jack by Puckett in the bottom 6th. The Falcons put another two men on and shoved one home to take a 2-1 lead. Whether the Raccoons tried to mount a comeback can not be decided for sure; but they definitely didn’t put anybody on base in the last three innings. 2-1 Falcons. Carmona 2-4, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (8-3);

Carmona also stole two bases. The only other Raccoon to be on base AT ALL was Bergquist, who walked.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – 3B Merritt – SS Taylor – 2B Bergquist – P Dickerson
CHA: RF Puckett – CF J. Jimenez – 1B J. Garcia – 3B C. Martinez – 2B Best – SS R. Miller – LF DeBoer – C M. Roberts – P Kreider

There was a pitching change in that the Falcons moved Steve Kreider (3-7, 4.35 ERA) into the game on Saturday. He allowed a run in the first when Sandy walked and scored on singles by Bednarski and Quebell. Alexander and Merritt lined out to the shortstop, a certain Ryan Miller, to end the inning. The Falcons didn’t get a hit until Steve Best tripled in the fourth, but that was with two down and Miller grounded out to Bergquist to keep him on. The score was still 1-0 in the fifth, with the Raccoons hesitant to produce more. Sandy hit a 1-out double, then was at third after a wild pitch. Kreider missed wildly and walked Bednarski on four straight, setting Quebell up for … a foul pop. D-Alex flew out to shallow right, and nobody scored. In what was totally not a pitching duel, because while neither lineup was doing amazing things, neither pitcher sparkled either, Bergquist’s throwing error that put Jose Jimenez on second base to start the bottom 6th opened the door for the Falcons. Consecutive singles by Jorge Garcia and Carlos Martinez tied the game, Best walked to fill the bases, and while Miller hit into a double play, the go-ahead run scored. It took until the ninth until the experience of trailing set in with the lineup that had only four hits on the day. Jon Merritt opened the inning against Cris Pena, and hit a 3-1 pitch high to deep right center, a bounce on the warning track, and over the wall it went for a ground-rule double – not that the 38-year old Merritt would have gotten any further than that. Taylor struck out. Seeley hit for Bergquist, the blighter, and hit a 1-1 pitch up the middle and past Miller. Into center it went, Merritt had started running early and scored with the tying run. Hernandez would single for Gibson, but the 1-2 guys failed to land another single and the game remained tied. Extra innings saw three pathetic groundouts in the top 10th before Sakellaris put on Puckett in the bottom of the inning and despite an intentional walk to Jorge Garcia fell to Carlos Martinez’ walkoff single. 3-2 Falcons. Merritt 2-4, 2 2B;

Ah, a 4-game losing streak. Here it is – freefall. Turns out, 2.25 R/G ain’t enough to sustain playoff ambitions. That’s what the Raccoons have scored over their last eight games.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 1B Merritt – SS Howell – 2B Taylor – P Toner
CHA: RF Puckett – CF J. Jimenez – LF Nieves – 1B J. Garcia – 3B C. Martinez – 2B Best – SS R. Miller – C M. Roberts – P Key

It dawned on me that the team had conspired to throw games intentionally so they could to fishing and hunting in October rather that play stupid ball when Carmona opened the game with a soft lineout to Steve Best … on a 3-0 pitch.

Neither team had a hit the first time through. Key walked Sambrano in the first, while Toner was perfect. Carmona made another out in a 3-ball count to end the top 3rd, flying out to Domingo Nieves. Toner first drilled Jose Jimenez in the bottom 4th, then allowed a single to Nieves, and the Falcons would strand runners in scoring position after Garcia’s groundout and a soft fly to shallow center that Martinez and that Carmona had to make a dash for. The Coons didn’t get a hit until Palmer Taylor singled to lead off the sixth, but Toner couldn’t get a bunt down, and when Carmona grounded to short, Taylor clobbered into Steve Best. The Falcon got the worst of it and had to be replaced by Tom Dahlke. But at least the path was clear for Carmona, who swiped second base, then scored when Sandy singled to right. Meanwhile Toner was clicking off batters, coming close enough to a shutout for us to casually look into the record books whether three shutouts in a month were a thing in the ABL.

It wasn’t, and it wouldn’t. Toner had Mathew Roberts hit a leadoff double in the bottom 8th, on which Bednarski looked bad, and Puckett singled him in quickly. Puckett would steal second base when Dylan Alexander in all his uselessness dropped the ball on his throw attempt, and scored on a 2-out single by Nieves. The Falcons sent Jerry Scott and his 7.52 ERA to save the 2-1 score, which probably qualified as showing up the opposition. He faced the middle of the order, and Nunley doubled on his first pitch, representing the tying run. A balk advanced him to third base during Bednarski’s plate appearance, which ended with him fouling out. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!! Alexander hit a sorry bloop to shallow left, but it was sorry enough to elude the converging fielders and fell in for a single, Nunley scored, tied ballgame. Quebell hit for Merritt, fouled out (bloody ****!), and Howell rolled out to Martinez. The lineup was pathetic enough, but the least thing this team needed was pathetic defense. Sugano had already put Roberts on with a leadoff single in the bottom 10th when Nunley misfiled Cristian Gonzales’ grounder into an error. Puckett bunted over the runners, and Sugano was overwhelmed as the Falcons had themselves another walkoff. 3-2 Falcons. Toner 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K;

(buries face in the hands and slowly rocks back and forth)

(weeping sounds)

In other news

June 24 – SAL SP Zach Hughes (5-2, 2.85 ERA) will be shut down for a month with some woes of elbow soreness.
June 24 – The Knights and Thunder combine for 24 hits, but only two runs in a 9-inning game on Tuesday, and one of those runs is a César Gonzalez home run, helping the Knights to a 2-0 win.
June 26 – ATL 1B Gil Rockwell (.314, 22 HR, 46 RBI) is not only hitting the ball with authority, but also with consistency, and now he has authored a 20-game hitting streak after a hit in the Knights’ 7-6 defeat to the Thunder. The hit is of course a 3-run homer off Ralph Ford.
June 27 – The Capitals are out-hit 10-6 by the Gold Sox, but get a grand slam from Jose Gonzalez and a pinch-hit 3-run homer from Casimiro Schoeppen – hitting FOR Gonzalez – to beat the Gold Sox, 9-5.
June 29 – For the second time this week a player reaches a 20-game hitting streak in a loss to the Thunder, as NYC LF Martin Ortíz (.358, 10 HR, 46 RBI) has three singles in the Crusaders’ 9-2 defeat.
June 29 – SFW SP Fernando Cruz (9-6, 3.53 ERA) pitches a 1-hitter in a 1-0 loss to the Miners, the only hit being Alex Rivas’ RBI single in the second inning.

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons dropped ten spots in the power rankings this week, 3rd to 13th, which is no wonder.

They suck. No matter what you do, when you lose five in a row, you suck. And it’s all the offense. The pitching is mildly amazing, but the offense, except for the #1 slot, is a ridiculous dumpster fire. I can hardly put my colossal hate for Quebell and Bednarski and Alexander into words. That is one ****ed up middle of the order. None of them can come up with a clutch hit. D-Alex is batting .174 with runners in scoring position, and Quebell and Bednarski are less bad, but also completely useless. Look at the RBIs. How many more Cookies do they need ahead of them??

The Knights have already passed us in runs scored. The Falcons are still in last place, but only six runs back. And this rotten team couldn’t swing a stick if their striped tails were on fire.

I have looked at offensive upgrades, but it’s hard to find a slugging second baseman, for example. We would need to shift Sandy to second base permanently and find a leftfielder, I guess. No shortstops that are affordable AND good, either.

Carmona stole three bases this week, reaching 24 to tie BOS Mike Rivera and also for the ABL lead, with RIC Danny Flores also stuck at 24. We also have the top 3 pitchers in the CL in ERA, Santos ahead of Conway and Brown, and we STILL can’t get **** moving!

Yes, Cookie and Sandy played the wrong way round on Friday, because I goofed…

[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-32) vs. Thunder (42-33) – June 30-July 2, 2014

The Raccoons were in a wild offensive slump and now came across the South-leading Thunder, who were third in runs scored, yet eighth in runs allowed with considerable pitching issues. There were a couple of 6+ ERA starters on that roster, and one of them was old friend Ralph Ford. On the other hand, they had scored seven or more runs in a game seven times in their last 14 games. We had lost two of three to them earlier in the season.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (5-3, 2.48 ERA) vs. Jorge Gine (4-6, 3.11 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-3, 2.76 ERA) vs. Ralph Ford (2-4, 6.82 ERA)
Hector Santos (8-3, 2.10 ERA) vs. Ed Michaels (5-4, 6.26 ERA)

The latter two are southpaws, horrible southpaws. There’s also an asterisk to the Wednesday game, with Michaels and Curtis Tobitt (8-5, 2.90 ERA) both starting in a double header on Saturday after their Friday game had been rained out. Michaels had thrown less pitches, however, so he was still the likelier choice over Tobitt, who had thrown 122 pitches against the Crusaders.

Somewhere in this week, all regular starters would get at least one day off as we’re in a stretch of 17 straight game days.

Game 1
OCT: 1B O. Torres – LF Britton – SS Farias – RF Bailey – C Parks – 3B J. Soto – 2B A. Martinez – CF Kim – P Gine
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – SS Howell – 2B Bergquist – P Conway

The Thunder from the start weren’t shy to hit a few singles here and there, but stranded all of the five runners they had in the first three innings. The Coons, looking to extend their 5-game losing streak, had little to nothing until Carmona tripled with two outs in the bottom of the third inning, but Sambrano flew out softly to Ape Britton. Bednarski was on base in the fourth when Quebell fired a bouncer up the rightfield line. Will Bailey looked very bad on the play as the ball kept bouncing away from him as Bailey went in a rather circuitous route, and Quebell had a stand-up RBI triple(!), later scoring on Rob Howell’s groundout. The 2-0 lead was swiftly blown by Conway when he walked Oliver Torres and Britton at the start of the fifth inning, and conceded the runs on singles to Emilio Farias and Jalen Parks, immediately restoring the tie. Cookie Carmona walked and stole a base in the bottom 5th, but was left on third base. Conway was less effective the longer the game went and was finally removed after Torres’ 2-out double in the top 6th. Ron Thrasher came in, conceded two singles and the go-ahead run, and the Raccoons would most likely have been sent spinning in a 3-2 deficit if it hadn’t been for a pretty bad and fat pitch by Jorge Gine that Bednarski mauled into a leadoff jack in the bottom of the inning. Thrasher, Constantino, and Mathis managed to hold the Thunder at bay the next two innings, but the Coons’ offense was not really helping the cause. Palmer Taylor doubled in the seventh, but was left on, and in the eighth it was Alexander with a 2-out single to pose the least little threat. Seeley hit for Mathis and jocked a ball to deep center, where it got past Vinny Diaz and made it to the wall. D-Alex was screamed home by 23,829 attending people on the double, and the Coons took a late lead! Angel Casas continued to be plain bad and issued a 4-pitch walk to Emilio Farias to start the ninth inning, but was then dumb and lucky enough to get a perfect double play bouncer served by Bailey. Parks flew out to Carmona, ending the losing streak. 4-3 Raccoons. Carmona 2-3, BB, 3B; Bednarski 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Seeley (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Taylor 1-1, 2B;

Bednarski is the first Coon to 10 homers this year, and Cookie is the first dasher to reach 25 SB in the CL. Danny Flores also stole his 25th on Monday, but he’s in the FL and not our main concern.

Game 2
OCT: 1B O. Torres – C J. Martinez – SS Farias – RF Bailey – 2B A. Martinez – 3B J. Soto – LF V. Diaz – CF Kim – P Ford
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Bergquist – 1B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 3B Nunley – SS Howell – C Hernandez – LF Fucito – P Brown

Brownie threw three pitches in the first inning, netting three outs on two grounders to Nunley and a pop to Bergquist, which was a good result, but perhaps indicated that he was hurling in plain view of everybody and had nowhere to hide. In any case, he made it through the order once in perfect fashion and on 25 pitches, whiffing three, while Bergquist put the Coons 1-0 ahead with a solo homer in the bottom of the third inning. While not much happened in the bottom halves of innings otherwise, the top halves were pretty dull as well. The Thunder didn’t reach base until Myeong-keun Kim wrestled a full-count walk from Brown in the sixth inning, then was quickly swept up in Ralph Ford’s horrible bunt that Brownie took for a double play. Fans were a bit antsy as Brown took the mound for the seventh inning, but that was laid to rest soon enough: Emilio Farias hit a 2-out double, and gone was the no-hitter. Bailey then singled before Armando Martinez flew out to Bednarski, keeping runners on the corners. Those three Thunder batters hit three consecutive pitches, but somehow Brown had whiffed seven as well. Things got worse, though. Jesus Soto hit a leadoff single in the top 8th, and Nunley butchered Diaz’ bunt into a 1-base error, but Bergquist’s lunging grab in foul territory was all that kept the Thunder from another extra base. Then Brown drilled Kim. The Thunder didn’t bat for Ford, who was a left-handed batter, so Brown stayed in to extinguish him, but conceded the tying run on a double play grounder, 4-6-3. That left Diaz on third with two outs and another left-handed batter, Oliver Torres, stepping in. Brown assured the pitching coach he knew how to get him out, but I’m not exactly sure whether his “plan” actually included a headlong diving play by Jimmy Fucito in the gap in left center…

Ralph Ford also made it through eight innings, despite walking two. Nunley batted with two outs and had a chance to redeem himself, but ****tily popped out to centerfielder Kim. Brown was on 87 pitches and wasn’t going to let go of the ball, implying to the bench coach he’d go 1-2-3 on the Thunder in the top 9th, then hit a walkoff homer, but maybe seeing your former elite stuff eroding away after an injury and not getting a K on the pitcher in a dire spot is what drives people nuts. Well, he did get the ball, and he went 1-2-3, with another hair-raising play by Fucito in left that retired Will Bailey to end the inning. Bottom 9th in the 1-1 game, the Coons faced closer Robert Parsons, a right-hander, who faced three pinch-hitters in Sandy, Quebell, and D-Alex, and erased them all – no decision for Brownie, and extras for everybody else. Sakellaris was completely useless in the 10th, conceded the go-ahead run on two singles and a walk before walking even Parsons, and requiring help from Sugano. The Raccoons went down entirely feebly. 2-1 Thunder. Merritt 0-1, 3 BB; Brown 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

Brownie was grumpy, I was grumpy, the fans were grumpy, and the Crusaders won, and Mike Rivera stole two bases to leapfrog 0-5 Ricardo Carmona.

Game 3
OCT: 1B O. Torres – 2B A. Martinez – SS Farias – RF Bailey – C Parks – 3B J. Soto – LF L. Taylor – CF Kim – P Michaels
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Merritt – SS Howell – C Hernandez – LF Fucito – P Santos

Carmona drew a leadoff walk and when he was itching and twitching on first base got Michaels to balk him to second base. Michaels also threw a wild pitch, but the Raccoons still managed to leave Carmona stranded. Both teams stranded runners on second and third in the second inning, and both did so when their pitchers struck out their opposite number. Santos was merrily allowing hits, with another two against him in the fourth inning that had runners in scoring position for the Thunder, but Santos also struck out three to prevent damage. He also became the first Raccoon to 100 K this season in that inning.

Offense then came from the unlikeliest source in the brown-clad lineup. Merritt and Howell both reached base to start the bottom 4th, but Hernandez’ sorry pop to the shortstop seemed to indicate another frustrating end to this particular effort. Then came Jimmy Fucito, not hitting a like since being promoted after Joe Cowan’s demise, and raked a harmless Michaels pitch to deep left – and over the fence, 3-run homer! Santos would squeeze his ERA under the 2.00 mark when he retired Farias to start the sixth inning, but Jalen Parks negated the effort with a 2-out homer, bringing the Thunder back to a 3-1 deficit. Jesus Soto struck out after that, giving Santos 10 K on the day. He’d add one more in the seventh, but reached almost 100 pitches in the inning which became a drag after Ed Michaels’ 2-out single and another single by Torres. The Coons regained a run in the bottom 7th with a pair of 2-out doubles by Merritt (off Michaels) and Howell (off Tommy Costello). Santos didn’t make it back out for the eighth, being replaced by Thrasher with no right-handers in the next five batters in the order, but two of the first three coming up (Farias and Parks) were actually switch-hitter. Thrasher had been pretty unhelpful on Monday, and here opened proceedings with a leadoff single hit by Farias. Parks also singled, but that one was of the infield variety and partly owed to Merritt’s 38-year old legs at third base, a sorry chopper that a younger guy (cough, Nunley, cough) might have played. Anyway, no damage resulted since Thrasher struck out Soto, and Logan Taylor would ground out. Angel Casas issued a 2-out walk to Torres, but otherwise struck out the side in the ninth. 4-1 Raccoons. Carmona 2-4, BB; Merritt 2-3, BB, 2B; Howell 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Fucito 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, W (9-3);

Raccoons (44-33) vs. Canadiens (41-37) – July 3-6, 2014

The Stinkers were back in town for another 4-game set. We had swept the last one of those from them after suffering a sweep in Vancouver before that, and the season series stood at 4-3 in the Coons’ favor. The Elks were fifth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. The rotation had a better ERA than the bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Daniel Dickerson (2-2, 4.21 ERA) vs. Bill King (1-3, 5.45 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-5, 3.20 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (8-3, 2.93 ERA)
Bill Conway (5-3, 2.62 ERA) vs. Dustin Burke (3-8, 5.09 ERA)
Nick Brown (8-3, 2.54 ERA) vs. Hunter Park (3-3, 3.14 ERA)

We will miss Rod Taylor (6-6, 3.57 ERA), although we won’t miss him emotionally. He was second in the CL in strikeouts with 129, behind Curtis Tobitt’s 142. Santos (105 K) was third, so the air was rather thin at the top of the leaderboard. McMullen is their only left-handed starter.

Game 1
VAN: CF Holland – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – 2B Madison – SS Irvin – P B. King
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – SS Taylor – P Dickerson

Ray Gilbert whacked a 2-run homer in the first inning, which was only insufficiently countered by Bednarski’s leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd. But we were even again after three. Carmona singled, stole two bases, and scored on Nunley’s groundout. It was a 2-2 tie that could topple in the Elks’ favor at any moment given that Dickerson was no impediment to them for reaching base, but they weren’t very smart on the basepaths as indicate by two outfield assists for the home team by the fourth inning. In the fifth, a Nunley throwing error put Jeremiah Irvin on second base, and that was even the leadoff man. King bunted him to third, but Ross Holland and Enrique Garcia had poor groundouts and the runner was stranded. Bottom 5h, Palmer Taylor reached with an odd single and was bunted to second base by Dickerson. Cookie singled to right, unretired on the day and extremely unnerving to King, Taylor was sent and scored ahead of Garcia’s throw. Carmona went to second on that throw and scored on Nunley’s 2-out double, 4-2.

Miguel Torres, playing a few days straight thanks to Freddy Rosa suffering from the flu, almost hit a game-tying homer in the sixth, but Sambrano picked it off the wall. Steve Madison also fell less than ten feet short of a dinger leading off the seventh, and Dickerson’s game ended with a 2-out walk to PH Robbie Luxton in the same frame. Sugano entered and struck out Holland to keep the Elks at bay. Bottom 7th, Fucito hit a pinch-hit double, after which the Elks walked Cookie intentionally and got a double play from Sandy to end the inning. Sakellaris and Casas ended the game without allowing a runner, extending the Coons’ spell over the Elks to five straight games. 4-2 Critters. Carmona 3-3, BB, RBI; Fucito (PH) 1-1, 2B; Dickerson 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (3-2);

Cookie was supposed to get his day off against McMullen on Friday with Seeley playing centerfield, but then the Elks toppled their rotation and called up 32-year old righty Sean Lewis to start the game, his first big league appearance since 2011, and his first start since 2010. He had a career 5.76 ERA and no wins in the Bigs.

Game 2
VAN: 2B Lawrence – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – CF K. Evans – C Dunn – SS Irvin – P S. Lewis
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – SS Howell – 2B Bergquist – P Toner

The Coons had the bases loaded on a Nunley single and two walks in the bottom 1st, but D-Alex grounded out pathetically to waste the opportunity. Enrique Garcia robbed Carmona of an RBI double with a tremendous play in the second, but the Raccoons were nibbling away at Sean Lewis from the start and got onto the board in the third. Sandy with a hard leadoff double, Nunley with a single, and then an RBI double by Bednarski got the scoring underway. And then Quebell flew out to right, Alexander K’ed, and Howell rolled one to short. The offense was and remained completely outrageous.

Toner didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, a 1-out single by Don Cameron, but no threat resulted from that runner. The Coons had Carmona thrown out at second base when Sambrano flailed on a hit-and-run, ending that inning, but at least Sandy made up for it with a leadoff walk in the fifth, scoring on Nunley’s much-awed long bomb to centerfield that made this a 3-0 game. It didn’t look like Toner would need much more, but he was also in a strikeout frenzy and also crossed 100 K for the season with a 10 K game, but with four outs to go he was at 109 pitches, and with lefty Robbie Luxton hitting for Lewis there were three left-handed bats coming up. No need to ruin the kid, so we called on Thrasher (with Angel not going to pitch three days in a row with the way things were for him). He got Luxton on an easy fly to center, and then even received an insurance run when Pat Treglown drilled Quebell in the bottom 8th and the hurting first baseman came around to score on singles by Alexander and Taylor. Thrasher finished the game, but not without allowing a leadoff single to Jaylin Lawrence, walking Gilbert, and he only bailed out on a 4-6-3 double play. 4-0 Critters. Sambrano 1-1, 3 BB, 2B; Nunley 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Quebell 1-2, BB; Taylor (PH) 1-1, RBI; Toner 7.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K, W (7-5) and 1-3; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (3);

Things seemed a bit improved with three straight wins, six straight against the Elks, which was always sweet, and a 2 1/2 game gap re-established against the Crusaders. Behind the scenes, the trade wheels were turning, however…

Game 3
VAN: 2B Lawrence – CF Luxton – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – RF K. Evans – SS Paull – P McMullen
POR: 1B Sambrano – SS Howell – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – C Hernandez – LF Fucito – CF Seeley – P Conway

Torres doubled and scored on Evans’ single which escaped Howell in inexplicable fashion to plate the first run in the second inning. The Coons struck back a frame later, when Merritt batted with two outs and Conway and Sambrano on second and first, respectively. He doubled up the leftfield line (after being denied a double to right by Kurt Evans in the first inning) and scored Conway, but Sandy had to hold and was stranded along with Merritt when Bednarski’s hard grounder to left was amazingly intercepted by Eric Paull AND lasered to first in time for the third out. Middle infield D was lacking however for the Raccoons. Bergquist had a single roll right past him, and in the sixth it was Howell again who couldn’t come up with what looked like a sure third out right off Mitsuhide Suzuki’s bat. Instead, the Elks had runners on the corners after the single, and it took a bare-hand play by Merritt on Torres’ grounder to end the inning without incurring a deficit. Merritt also hit another double in the bottom of the inning, but nothing came of that. Bednarski was walked intentionally, and Bergquist and Hernandez failed miserably.

Conway went seven without winning much love from his team and the game remained tied at one into the ninth inning. Sugano, who had cleared up Josh Gibson’s mess in the eighth, issued a walk and got only one out, but when Sakellaris came in, he was quick to walk PH Jeremiah Irvin. Luxton flew out to deep left, leaving runners on the corners with two outs for Gilbert, who bounced a ball to Merritt, ending the inning, and Merritt, poor old Merritt, also ended the top 10th with a lunging grab, with the go-ahead run, some shadowy figure with a pink cap, lying in ambush at second base, and that shot was a real rocket off the bat of pinch-hitter Ross Holland. The heroics didn’t end there, as Merritt reached to start the bottom 11th, lining a blazing shot to second base that Steve Madison could stop, but not hold on to, and it rolled far enough away to allow a 38-year old to reach first base. The Coons were facing Pedro Alvarado, the closer, who had already struck out the side in the tenth, and, worse, Cookie was already in the game after hitting for Fucito in the ninth. Nobody could run for Jon Merritt, and Bednarski soon enough rolled into a double play. Bottom 12th, Hernandez with a leadoff single to center against Treglown. That brought up Cookie in the box, not on the basepaths. He flew out to right, Seeley failed, and Quebell, hitting for Mathis, failed even harder. The third time was the charm, however. Rob Howell livened up an 0-5 day with a 1-out single in the 13th, moved up on a hit-and-run in which Merritt grounded out to second, Bednarski walked in a cautious approach by the Elks, and then Bergquist found a hole on the left and rammed a 2-0 pitch right through. With two outs, Howell was in full flight, and scored handily ahead of Don Cameron’s throw. 2-1 Blighters! Merritt 3-6, 2 2B, RBI; Bergquist 2-6, RBI; Conway 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K; Mathis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Constantino picked up the win, getting him to 3-3. So by now, his relief work has made up the three ugly losses he took starting for Dickerson earlier in the year.

The following night was a bit sleepless for me. There were A LOT of phone calls with another GM on the west coast, and early in the morning, the Raccoons shoved their chips into the middle of the table and parted with a big-time prospect in an attempt to get the ****ing offense going.

Interlude: Trade

The team we had conversations with were the Aces, who were quite close to the lead in the South, but were struggling with their pitching, and in fact were only two games over .500 in a division where nobody really had an edge over anything.

The Raccoons were after Ron Richards, a corner outfielder, who had 14 homers on the season when talks started on Thursday, and reached 15 by Saturday, already a career high. But the Raccoons, in the hunt themselves, could appreciate every bit of thump they could get, and the biggest bats in the sport were unavailable, because those teams were in the thick of things themselves.

Getting Ron Richards, 29, was not too hard. The Aces knew exactly which prospect they wanted for him (and no, it was not Carmona this time around). But I felt horrendously bad with a one-for-one trade and went after a player that I had inquired in already a few years ago, a right-handed reliever. A basic package was soon agreed on, with the Raccoons adding two more prospects that are perhaps dubious for the future. The Aces wanted another player, however, and we ultimately agreed on a useful bat that the Coons didn’t put too much value in, because they could find a replacement in AAA, and so it was done:

The Raccoons acquire 29-year old RF/LF Ron Richards (.271, 15 HR, 46 RBI) and 28-year old MR Zack Entwistle (2-1, 3.02 ERA, 2 SV) from the Aces, parting in turn with 19-yr old A SP Vic Mercado, 22-yr old AA MR Dan Moon, 21-yr old AA 3B Bobby Burke, and 29-yr old C Raúl Hernandez (.244, 2 HR, 10 RBI).

Mercado was our big international free agent addition two years ago, but the stuff might not be as blistering as it looked back then. He is certainly a good control pitcher, who, if he learns to mix his three pitches well, will certainly become a valuable starting pitcher in a few years, but the lack of velocity and the WIP changeup indicate that maybe he’s not the gold standard.

Moon was drafted as a starter, but the third pitch remains junk and he’s been moved to the pen a while ago. Burke looks like a good defensive player, but nothing else. And Hernandez has hit well in select appearances, certainly well enough for his $300k contract, but he was the one piece the Aces wanted to get the deal done, and I will send a backup catcher down the river for much less than Richards.

The best thing about the deal: since the Coons and Elks would continue their hateful relationship with another in the Sunday Night Primetime Baseball showcase, Richards and Entwistle easily made the trip from Las Vegas in time to be assigned lockers.

The trade required three roster moves. Jimmy Fucito (.300, 1 HR, 3 RBI) was sent back to AAA. He had an option left, Seeley did not. To get Entwistle onto the roster, Josh Gibson was designated for assignment, struggling through a horrible year. Finally, we called up Danny Margolis as the new backup catcher. Margolis, 23, had been acquired along with Joe Cowan from the Buffaloes last December. He was from Visalia, CA, half-Japanese, and had batted .267/.321/.427 in AAA before being promoted. He also has a very strong throwing arm.

Raccoons (44-33) vs. Canadiens (41-37) – July 3-6, 2014

Game 4
VAN: CF Holland – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – C M. Torres – 2B Lawrence – SS Irvin – P Burke
POR: CF Carmona – SS Howell – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – P Brown

The Elks pounced on Brown for two early runs in the first inning when Don Cameron beat Quebell for an RBI triple with two outs, and then scored on Suzuki’s single that went past Howell. For the oddest reason, left-handed batters would completely devour Brown in this game. Two of the three left-handers near the top of the order (Holland, Garcia, Cameron) hurt him in the first inning, and all three had base hits in the third inning, costing another run and giving the Elks a 3-1 lead, but in the fourth it would be the right-handers to hurt him, with Irvin singling home Torres after a double to start the inning, 4-1. The Raccoons got leadoff singles from Howell and Nunley in the bottom 4th, bringing up the revamped thump division. Bednarski had already doubled and scored in the second inning, but now ruined the inning with a double play. Ron Richards had his first team RBI with a 2-out single, plating Howell, but the Coons remained down 4-2.

Brown, who had come in with an 0-2 record and a 1.88 ERA in his last four starts, continued to struggle, but at least beat Ray Gilbert for a strikeout in the fifth inning, his fifth in the game, and #2,700 overall. The Raccoons continued to sabotage him every way they could, however, and hit into more double plays in the fifth and sixth innings. The Elks were up 5-2 in the bottom 9th after an insurance run off Constantino, when Carmona opened the inning with a homer off Alvarado, and that was certainly a surprise. But the rest of the team couldn’t have felt less inspired, and Alvarado nixed the next three, with Taylor grounding out and Nunley and Bednarski being handed K’s. 5-3 Canadiens. Carmona 2-4, HR, RBI;

That’s not within the definition of “spark”. Richards went 1-for-3 with the RBI, but that was it. The other two additions did not appear in the game.

In other news

June 30 – CIN CL Luis Hernandez (4-4, 3.48 ERA, 10 SV) notches his 400th career save in the Cyclones’ 4-3 win over the Warriors. Owning a career 1.92 ERA, the 34-year old Hernandez has been a closer since 2003, winning a ring with the 2005 Falcons, and was Reliever of the Year in 2010.
June 30 – The Aces pick up MR Robby Delikat (1-2, 5.06 ERA, 1 SV) from the Blue Sox, dealing them two prospects including #186 3B Pat Rosebrough.
July 1 – The hitting streak of NYC LF Martin Ortíz (.349, 10 HR, 46 RBI) ends after a hitless performance in a 6-4 Crusaders win over the Falcons.
July 2 – Another “400” event in the ABL: SFB LF/RF Ron Alston (.337, 15 HR, 58 RBI) swats his 400th home run in a 9-8 Bayhawks win over the Indians. It’s not any home run, either, but a game-winning grand slam off Anthony Bryant in the eighth inning. Alston, 34, an 11-time All Star, 3-time Hitter of the Year, and 5-time Platinum Stick winner, is a career .303/.392/.492 batter with 1,324 RBI to his credit. He’s only the third player to reach 400 HR, and is only 16 off the all time mark of Raúl Vázquez (HOF).
July 2 – The hitting streak for ATL 1B Gil Rockwell (.317, 25 HR, 53 RBI) continues, as the 30-year old slaps two extra base hits, including a home run, in the Knights’ 8-7 win over the Loggers. Rockwell has now hit in 25 straight games.
July 2 – The Titans pick up INF Jaime Mateo (.315, 1 HR, 24 RBI) and an outfield prospect from the Canadiens for C Melvin Dunn (.240, 0 HR, 1 RBI).
July 3 – The Rebels acquire 1B Alberto Rodriguez (.309, 4 HR, 46 RBI) from the Capitals for MR Juan Jimenez (2-1, 1.77 ERA, 1 SV) and #75 prospect SP Pat Collins.
July 5 – Hitting streak over! After 27 games of continuous production, ATL 1B Gil Rockwell (.314, 26 HR, 55 RBI) is held dry by the Falcons in a 7-2 defeat.
July 5 – SFW SP Billy Bengston (7-7, 4.58 ERA) 3-hits the Wolves in a 5-0 shutout.
July 6 – As the trading season heats up, the Thunder pick up the Blue Sox’ closer Steve Rob (1-3, 3.21 ERA, 25 SV) to shore up that bullpen, parting with two prospects.
July 6 – The Titans deal MR Dusty Balzer (2-2, 2.41 ERA, 1 SV) to the Pacifics for two prospects.

Complaints and stuff

June was the first month in this season, where a non-Raccoon was Rookie of the Month in the CL. The Aces’ Ricardo Marrero (showcased before) took home the laurels with a .382, 3 HR, 12 RBI month.

The Knights play Rockwell in left a fair bit, but I would really only play his immobile body at first base. He would be a trade target, and the Knights might even be listening given the fact that they were going nowhere, but there’s something about Rockwell that repulses me greatly. He’s 30 years old and makes the minimum, not even having reached three years of service time so far. That’s so odd, I can’t even make an offer for that despite the possibility to unload the annoying first baseman we have right now. Quebell has one more year guaranteed on his 6-yr, $8.88M contract ahead of a 2016 team option that is worth the $380k buyout and not one cent more than that.

And how about finding a less atrocious catcher? That’s been on the to-do-list for some 30 years!

The international free agent window opened on Tuesday. The Raccoons incurred penalty last year by splurging on Danny Arguello and can only sign cheap players for $31,500 or less (per nose) this season. I have found two catchers that aren’t all bad (one Australian) and we might try to get one of those, or heck, even both.

If the Coons can win 14 of their next 23, they will make it to 3,100 wins before they incur 3,000 losses (regular season). Our next 11 games will be against the bottom two in the CL North, and after that is a week with competitive teams on the road, including the Crusaders. In between, nine days from now, the All Star Game. We might stack the CL field with our pitching, and the country is full of morons, because the latest numbers show that Dylan Alexander leads the catchers’ field.

[Questdog]

5--2 and we fall a game back.....but I am still playing the Beatles' Let It Be album......

Why no pictures of the newest Furballs? Have you got something to hide?....I need to decide whether I like them or not.....

[Westheim]

Indeed I need to hide things, and all of those are in the drawer with the lock, the one at the bottom.

Luckily, the scouting reports are in the top drawer.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-34) @ Loggers (32-48) – July 7-10, 2014

The Loggers had successfully made it back into last place in the North, their usual place of dwelling, and were on another cold streak as the Raccoons were coming in for the road leg of their annual four-and-four at the Break. The Loggers still scored plenty more runs than the Critters, ranking eighth in the league, but their pitching was in the bottom three, with the rotation running a 5.16 ERA that was dead last in the CL. The Raccoons had so far gone 2-1 against the Loggers.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (9-3, 2.04 ERA) vs. Brian Patrick (6-7, 5.54 ERA)
Daniel Dickerson (3-2, 4.03 ERA) vs. Gabriel Caro (10-4, 4.09 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (7-5, 2.96 ERA) vs. Adam Euteneuer (2-11, 5.96 ERA)
Bill Conway (5-3, 2.53 ERA) vs. Bruce Morrison (5-10, 5.17 ERA)

That’s a full set of right-handed starting pitchers.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – SS Taylor – P Santos
MIL: 2B J.J. Rodriguez – LF Knowling – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – CF Enriquez – 3B D. Jones – SS O. Sandoval – C Leach – P Patrick

Mike Rucker was in a prominent spot on the CL home run leaderboard with 16 shots, but in the first inning it was Zach Knowling to get ALL of a Hector Santos pitch and mash it for an early 1-0 lead. The lead didn’t last, mainly because Patrick was out of control. He walked three before the Coons got a hit, but when they got that hit, a Nunley single in the third inning that sent Sandy Sambrano to third base with two outs, things started to roll. Patrick lost Bednarski on four pitches, then conceded a 2-run single to Ron Richards, but Bednarski was thrown out by Dally at third base on the play, ending the inning.

Something about Hector Santos was not right, though. He had no strikeouts the first time through, and the velocity was down a bit. The Loggers got 2-out singles by Victor Enriquez and Dan Jones in the fourth, but Oscar Sandoval left them stranded when he whiffed, and while Foster Leach grounded out to start the bottom 5th, there was something noticeably off about his landing. Ivan the Druid inquired, along with the pitching coach, and ultimately Santos admitted to his right heel being on fire – so bad was the pain. Not keen on breaking one of our young stars, Santos was removed from the 2-1 game, nixing a chance at his 10th win of the season. Chris Mathis was sent in to hopefully cover some distance (and appeared along with Merritt in a double switch), and he had yet to allow a run in nine innings this year. Knowling made him, knocking a leadoff jack in the bottom 6th, his second of the day.

And not only was Patrick still pitching in the seventh inning with impunity despite having already walked six, no, the day got worse. Jon Merritt hit a 1-out double in the top of the seventh, but slid hard into second base and got a knock on the chest. He was also removed from the game, with Sandy now sliding over to third base and Bergquist entering at second. Sandy would hit a 2-out triple to plate Bergquist, the go-ahead run was in, 3-2. Zack Entwistle then made his first appearance for the Critters after Seeley had hit for Mathis, resulting in a K and Sandy stranded at third base. Entwistle’s inning was perfect, with 2 K hung on Sandoval and Leach. The ninth saw Sandoval drop a double play grounder by Bergquist, and while Carmona rolled to Rucker for the first out of the inning (and his fifth on the day), Sandy came through again, this time with a 2-out single to center. Although Bednarski drove in another run, and the game was out of save range, Angel Casas still pitched the bottom 9th. He hadn’t been out in a few days, and there was not really anybody else available. The Loggers went down in order. 6-2 Raccoons. Sambrano 2-3, 2 BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Howell (PH) 1-1; Richards 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Merritt 1-1, 2B;

Now, everybody exhale. Ivan the Druid did his best, and despite that, no one died. Jon Merritt had a strained rib cage muscle, and Hector Santos had a sore heel, but neither injury was serious. They were listed as DTD. Hector Santos may or may not miss his last start before the All Star Game, we’ll have to see about that.

Bednarski had not gotten a day off last week, which was rectified in the next game. Also, Danny Margolis would make his major league debut, paired with the veteran Dickerson, who was old enough to call his own game and not be confused by the greenhorn that was almost 15 years his junior. We also determined that Jon Merritt was available for pinch-hitting if push came to shove, but would not go into the field.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Richards – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – SS Taylor – C Margolis – P Dickerson
MIL: 2B J.J. Rodriguez – LF Knowling – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – CF Enriquez – 3B D. Jones – SS O. Sandoval – C Leach – P Caro

The Raccoons had four singles in the first inning, but scored only when Carmona came home on Nunley’s sac fly. Foster Leach’s RBI double in the bottom 2nd got the Loggers back even, but Nunley shrugged and just drilled a homer in the third to get the Critters back into the lead. While the Raccoons would otherwise hit plenty of singles, they also left plenty of men on. Through five, they had nine hits to their two runs. The Loggers hit into double plays twice and stranded a run at third base to help Dickerson maintain balance before Carmona added a run with his third homer of the season in the top 7th, and his second in three days. Dickerson made it through eight on the power of another double play, nicely started by Nunley. His spot was up leading off the ninth, so he was hit for right there (and the lead was only 3-1, AND there were three lefties up in the bottom 9th). Cookie and Sandy got on in the ninth, but were stranded, and given what was looming in the bottom of the inning, Thrasher got the save opportunity. He struck out Knowling and Dally before he lost Rucker in a full count. Victor Enriquez catapulted an 0-1 pitch to deep right, but Richards made the play on the track. 3-1 Raccoons! Carmona 3-5, HR, RBI; Sambrano 2-5; Nunley 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Richards 2-5; Quebell 2-4; Dickerson 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-2) and 1-3;

Danny Margolis’ debut was rough, to put it mildly. He grounded out his first time up, and then struck out, struck out, and … struck out. Caro rung up eight, so he was not alone, but … yuck. Only Dickerson was handed multiple K’s outside of Margolis.

The Furballs had 13 hits in total, including two homers, and they still only scored three runs. Oy.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – SS Howell – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – P Toner
MIL: SS O. Sandoval – LF Knowling – 1B M. Rucker – 3B D. Jones – 2B Roncero – RF Hodgers – CF Gilmor – C Leach – P Euteneuer

Cookie singled, was caught stealing, but the Coons still scored in the first inning on a Nunley double and Bednarski single. Richards actually doubled, too, but Quebell struck out to leave two in scoring position. Four hits, one run, again. But Euteneuer was bleeding already, and there would come more runs onto the board quickly. Rob Howell had a 2-out, 2-run double in the second inning, then was thrown out at home on Nunley’s single, but Bednarski opened the third with a homer, 4-0. Cookie led off the fourth with a ringing double to left, his third hit on the day, but then waved for the trainer after standing up at second base. Ivan the Druid trudged out, listened, nodded, then shrugged, and returned to the dugout with Cookie in tow, never taking his hands out of his pockets. Seeley replaced Cookie...

The run would score, since Matt Nunley also made it to 3-for-3, and he socked a colossal homer to center. That made it 6-0 in favor of Toner, who had been perfect the first time through the order, whiffing five. Nunley’s run ended in his fourth appearance, coming against long man Troy Charters, who had order restored after Euteneuer’s four horrible innings, but Toner kept motoring, putting away the entire Loggers order the second time through again, K’ing four this time. Bottom 7th, Oscar Sandoval and Zach Knowling both hit choppers back to Toner for easy outs, while Mike Rucker went down with a huge swing nowhere near the pitch.

All things must end, however. For Charters, he buckled in his fourth inning, with Nunley driving home a run with a single, 7-0. For Toner, he smacked Dan Jones with an 0-2 pitch. The runner would be erased when Silvestro Roncero grounded to Bergquist for a double play, and Victor Hodgers also went there for the 24th out. But since the Jones at-bat, the rhythm was gone. Toner came out for the ninth, didn’t find the plate, and walked Nick Gilmor on four pitches. The pitching coach went out to try to work some magic with a verbally induced mental adjustment. It didn’t help. Foster Leach hit the ****tiest blooper into left, and Ron Richards wasn’t going to get that. Leach had a double, but Richards at least killed off Gilmor, who tried to score. Enriquez grounded out to short, and Sandoval popped out as Toner completed the most bitter one-hitter. 7-0 Raccoons. Carmona 3-3, 2B; Nunley 4-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Bednarski 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Quebell 2-5; Toner 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K, W (8-5);

Well, that was the third shutout for Toner, not only in his career, but also in 34 days.

I still have crying to do, though. And it doesn’t relate to Cookie Carmona, who had a tweak in his back, but it was reportedly minor (though, never trust a guy that makes a more sane impression when stoned). He was the third guy on the roster listed as day-to-day. We might not start him (and not play him) for the last four games before the All Star break. He should be good afterwards, and there was no need to do additional damage.

Game 4
POR: 2B Sambrano – SS Howell – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – 1B Quebell – C Alexander – CF Seeley – P Conway
MIL: 2B J.J. Rodriguez – LF Knowling – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – 3B D. Jones – SS O. Sandoval – CF Hodgers – C O. Castillo – P B. Morrison

Nunley came close to a homer in the first inning, but was denied even a modest double by Dally against the wall. Conway was tasked with securing a sweep here, struck out the side in the first, and to the horror of the home crowd developed his own no-hit bid. Orlando Castillo, in his second major league game, walked in the third, Mike Rucker walked in the fifth, but the Loggers couldn’t buy a hit. But the Coons weren’t that much better, landing two hits in the first five innings, but that was not enough to push something across against Bruce Morrison. Hitting into double plays in the fifth and sixth didn’t help, either. In the event, the no-hit bid was not to be foiled by any batter – but by the weather. It started to rain in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the rain quickly got heavy. The game went into delay, never to emerge from that again.

The league frustrated everybody by postponing the game into SEPTEMBER, scheduling completion for the 12th, the beginning of our last road trip to Milwaukee. The two 4-game sets in between will take place in Portland.

Raccoons (50-34) @ Titans (39-48) – July 11-13, 2014

The Titans were ninth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed, and they also had the best bullpen in the Continental League, but somehow it just wasn’t working out for them, wasn’t it? Well, except when they played the Raccoons, whom they were 5-4 against this year.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (8-4, 2.69 ERA) vs. Melvin Andrade (3-8, 5.56 ERA)
Hector Santos (9-3, 2.04 ERA) vs. Paul Kirkland (4-4, 3.17 ERA)
Daniel Dickerson (4-2, 3.68 ERA) vs. Toshiro Uenohara (4-5, 3.97 ERA)

Kirkland would have opened the series, but he had a sore elbow and was flipped with Andrade, who had to go on short rest. If Kirkland would be unable to go on Saturday, the Titans would have to send all three starters on short rest, or get someone from AAA. Anyway, so far all their starters remain right-handers.

Game 1
POR: 1B Sambrano – SS Howell – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – CF Seeley – P Brown
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF E. Clark – 1B T. Ramos – RF R. Lopez – C T. Robinson – 3B Rentz – CF Thurman – P Andrade

Brownie had not won any of his last six games, and while run support was an issue, there was also the bigger context of age showing, and we weren’t talking about slight wrinkles. But he had beaten the Titans on Opening Day, and maybe he could channel that experience and get back onto the winning track.

Sandy drew a leadoff walk to start the game, but Rob Howell was right there with the double play. A run came on the board in the second, however, with Ron Richards doubling and scoring on Bergquist’s single to left that barely escaped Mike Rivera. Brown sat down the first six, including three strikeouts, which put him at 100 K for the season – and he was only the third Raccoon to get there in 2014! (gasp!)

The strong early impression for Nick Brown wildly didn’t last, and the Titans blew him up in the fourth inning, rapping four consecutive doubles (Earl Clark, Tony Ramos, Rodrigo Lopez, Tim Robinson), and Brown also issued a walk before Andrade grounded into an inning-ending double play. For the longest time, the Raccoons offense did NOTHING, before Nunley hit a leadoff double into the rightfield corner in the sixth inning. Bednarski singled, putting the tying runs on the corners with nobody out and giving Ron Richards a chance to make an impression as to whether that trade might end up being worth it. While I was hoping for a 3-run homer, Richards’ actual single to center was still scoring a run, 3-2, and the go-ahead run was on, but of course Dylan Alexander struck out. Bergquist singled, loading them up, and then Seeley, after two ugly hackouts, lined a soft single to center, too, tying the game. While the pen was rested, the bench was short, and what was on there and healthy was not exciting – Quebell would be a DEFINITE double play. So Brown batted for himself, grounded into a force at home, and Sandy lined out to right, keeping the game tied and three men stranded. THE OFFENSE.

Brown pitched another inning, which was messy, then was done after 99 pitches, receiving another no-decision. He had walked four in six innings. Sugano replaced him, but allowed a single to Jose Gutierrez and walked Earl Clark in the bottom 7th. Tony Ramos struck out before Zack Entwistle came out with two on and two out, facing Lopez, who would ground a 2-1 pitch hard to left, Nunley with a sliding grab, jumping up and firing to first in one motion, but the throw was bad, bouncing 15 feet from Sandy Sambrano, who swiped desperately – and contained it! Inning over! And it still didn’t help. The offense remained agonizing, and the Titans chained together doubles once more, by Zachary Thurman (off Entwistle) and Xavier Williams (off Thrasher) to score a 2-out run in the bottom 8th. Tommy Wooldridge sawed off the Raccoons in a hurry in the ninth. 4-3 Titans. Richards 3-4, 2B, RBI; Bergquist 3-4, RBI;

Well, that was awful.

Game 2
POR: CF Sambrano – SS Taylor – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – C Margolis – P Santos
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF E. Clark – 1B T. Ramos – RF R. Lopez – C Porter – 3B Rentz – CF Thurman – P Kirkland

The Raccoons stole three bases in the first inning and scored zero runs. Sandy and Taylor both walked, with Sandy stealing one right away, and then they stole a pair in tandem, and it just wasn’t enough, was it? Nunley popped out, Bednarski struck out, Richards flew out. Quebell doubled to start the second, and Margolis hit his first career base hit, a single, putting runners on the corners. Sandy came up with two outs and singled to right for a 1-0 lead. Ron Richards’ first Coons homer followed in the third inning, but then came with nobody on base. A bad bunt by Santos cost a run in the fourth as he got Margolis forced out. Sambrano doubled with two outs, but Santos had to hold at third, and Taylor flew out easily to Lopez.

All that ****ing up of course had to come back to bite the team with a whipping sound. Santos was still up 2-0, running a 1-hitter through three, but walked Jose Gutierrez to start the fourth. That didn’t seem bad, but soon a balk and a single by Earl Clark created a sticky spot, and once Tony Ramos hit an RBI double, Portland was in trouble. Santos had gone to junk from one inning to the next, and the Titans continued to swing away. Tommy Rentz would hit a go-ahead RBI single, Zachary Thurman doubled and hurt himself, being replaced by Xavier Williams, but then Santos couldn’t even remove Kirkland, who hit a 2-out, 2-run single. Santos threw a wild pitch to Rivera, who then hit an RBI single. That made it 6-2 for the Titans, and that was it all for Hector Santos, the former ERA leader in the Continental League – that was over. The Raccoons were completely shell shocked and stopped stranding runners because they stopped to get on base, at least until Bednarski wonked a homer in the eighth. That only got the Coons to 6-3, however. Then Margolis started the top 9th with a single off Ricardo Rocha, which was enough of a straw to send Carmona to bat for Chris Mathis, but he popped out. Sandy singled, bringing up the tying run … Taylor. At least he countered the righty Rocha, grounded between the mound and first base, Rocha and Ramos got into another’s way and Rocha threw the ball past the hustling Gutierrez for a 2-base error. One run was in, and the tying runs in scoring position with one out for the ****ing middle of the order, three-through-six batting a combined 3-for-15 on the day. Nunley walked, which was not necessarily a good outcome, and Bednarski hit into a double play on a 3-1 pitch. 6-4 Titans. Sambrano 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Margolis 3-4; Constantino 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Bill Conway, our glorious #5 starter, now leads the CL in ERA, by the way.

So much crying to do, so much crying.

Game 3
POR: 2B Sambrano – SS Taylor – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – LF Richards – 1B Merritt – C Alexander – CF Seeley – P Dickerson
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF E. Clark – 1B T. Ramos – C T. Robinson – RF R. Lopez – CF X. Williams – 3B Rentz – P Uenohara

There had been a big inning on Saturday, there was a big inning on Sunday, and again it was not the Coons’. Of course it wasn’t. Dickerson was hittable right out of the gate, and it wasn’t just your a single here, a single there. No, the hits were hard, and he sprinkled in a few walks as well. The Titans scored a run in the first inning, then blew him wide open right in the second. When Earl Clark hit a 2-out, 2-run homer, that ran the score to 6-0, and the Raccoons and their ****ing inept approach at the plate were already swept. Dickerson lingered into the fourth until Gutierrez loaded him with a seventh run on a 2-out single (after a wild pitch, his second on the day). By the sixth, the clueless Critters had hit into three double plays, while not getting even close to scoring. The Titans didn’t really stop scoring… they put two on Mathis in the sixth, ravaging him for four hits, most of them hard. Thrasher allowed a run in the seventh, but the road team never gave as much as a squeal. 10-0 Titans. Bergquist 1-1;

Okay, that Richards trade was stupid. Should have stated selling instead.

Also, that ***hole Rivera took off in a 9-0 game here. Thrasher walked the batter on the fifth pitch, but still. That ***hole dare come to Portland…!

In other news

July 7 – TOP SP Juan Ortega (6-8, 4.21 ERA) comes through, blanking the Capitals on two hits in a 1-0 shutout.
July 9 – A fractured thumb will put NAS 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.322, 11 HR, 54 RBI) on the shelf for the rest of the month at least.
July 9 – The Buffaloes have only one hit in regulation against the Capitals, but walk off on Jimmy Roberts’ homer in the bottom of the 10th, beating Washington 1-0.
July 10 – The Capitals acquire SP Brian Benjamin (6-8, 4.50 ERA) from the Wolves, sending over two prospects.
July 12 – SFW SP Tony Hamlyn (11-3, 2.91 ERA) had a chance to break the career strikeout record held by MIL Martin Garcia in his start against the Stars, but suffered a tweaked oblique early in the game and remains seven strikeouts short.
July 12 – The Blue Sox pick up SP J.J. Wirth (8-5, 4.51 ERA) from the Pacifics for 3B Felipe Flores (1-for-5, 0 HR, 3 RBI) and #28 prospect OF/1B Jon Correa.
July 13 – A new 20-game hitting streak is born in time for the All Star Game, as OCT INF Emilio Farias (.379, 1 HR, 31 RBI) has connected in as many games with a single in the Thunder’s win over the Falcons.
July 13 – The Bayhawks shell out three prospects to get CL Salvadaro Soure (2-3, 3.00 ERA, 19 SV) from the Stars. Soure already was with the Bayhawks from 2002 through 2008.

Complaints and stuff

First and foremost, **** Foster Leach. Just **** him. I hate him. **** him.

Phew. I needed that out of my system.

After Toner’s shutout and Brown at least surviving for a nominal quality start, the Raccoons didn’t have the top three pitchers in ERA in the Continental League anymore – they had the TOP FOUR. Santos (2.04), Conway (2.38), Toner (2.72), Brown (2.78), all ahead of VAN Sam McMullen (2.81). (Of course this was before the Saturday massacre) Nobody else in the CL was under three. And all the while the Crusaders are moving further away.

Are the Pacifics selling? They have some juicy players on that roster.

D-Alex actually did win the fan voting for catchers for the All Star game. There is no justice. Cookie finished second among centerfielders, and Brownie, Santos, and Casas all made the top 5 in their pitching categories. No love for Toner. No justice. At least Toner made the All Star game (along with Brownie and Santos, as well as Dork-lex), but Carmona was left out. No justice at all. YOU WANT JUSTICE?? SEEK IT ELSEWHERE!!

Josh Gibson went unclaimed and arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. He’s been fairly useful the last few years, but this year… hnnggh. Maybe he can recollect himself. Still not bad for a position player drafted in the eighth round.

[MarkCuban]

Westheim, what is your expected W-L? I think the team should be doing a bit better given the pitching staff. What about your rivals, The Crusaders? I'm guessing they probably have at least +5 expected wins.