Portland Raccoons (ABL) - Page 108

Westheim · 01-22-2017, 06:58 AM

There really wasn’t much to do in January in general. The Raccoons had no money, and the best I could do was having a keen eye on the trade market for left-handed relievers in an attempt to flip one of ours for a qualified utility infielder, and also to watch the waiver wire.

+++

January 3 – The Raccoons claim 27-yr old INF Reggie Umberger, who has no major league experience, off waivers by the Loggers.
January 4 – Ex-MIL OF Victor Enriquez (.243, 80 HR, 416 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $5.16M contract with the Miners. The 33-year old right-hander is a two-time Gold Glover.
January 8 – The Canadiens acquire 28-yr old right-handed SP Steve Kreider (52-70, 4.41 ERA) from the Falcons, parting with #41 prospect SP Alex Vallejo.
January 10 – After one season with the Warriors, 34-yr old left-hander SP Jose Flores (144-76, 3.63 ERA) returns to the Canadiens, for whom he had pitched the latter half of the 2015 season. Flores gets a 2-yr, $5.36M deal.
January 14 – 40-year old veteran RF/LF/1B Will Bailey (.318, 362 HR, 1,653 RBI) still feels a tickle and signs a 1-yr, $1.52M contract with the Rebels. Career RBI leader Bailey picked up 450 AB with the Crusaders in 2015 and hit a respectable .253 with 14 HR and 53 RBI.
January 14 – The Bayhawks splash big on ex-RIC CL Ray Kelley (54-61, 3.32 ERA, 67 SV), signing the right-hander for 3-yr, $8.52M.
January 16 – The Raccoons acquire 26-year old utility player Brian Petracek (.219, 2 HR, 12 RBI) from the Canadiens, leaving them with 31-yr old MR Manobu Sugano (15-10, 2.66 ERA, 12 SV) and 21-yr old A 1B/2B Tony Velasquez.
January 28 – 34-year old ex-CHA 1B Adrian Quebell (.288, 159 HR, 860 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $2.8M contract with the Canadiens.
January 28 – The Stars re-sign 31-yr old C Raúl Hernandez (.242, 27 HR, 288 RBI) after having him traded to the Scorpions halfway through 2016. Hernandez gets a 3-yr, $3.18M deal.
January 31 – The Thunder come to terms with 38-yr old ex-NYC 3B Alex Rivas (.245, 71 HR, 337 RBI), who signs a 1-yr, $840k deal.

+++

Petracek is more or less Sandy 2.0, with a lot of positions he can cover, but not much batting prowess despite being a switch-hitter. He is a great pinch-running option, however. He only has 21 major league hits and is dead-set to bat eighth whenever he gets into the lineup by accident, but he offers excellent cover for most of the infield (except shortstop), would fit quite well into rightfield with a strong arm and decent range, also into leftfield, and if everything else fails he can also help cleaning bits and pieces of Cookie out of the centerfield grass. He makes the minimum, of course.

Sugano is perhaps the best southpaw to part with from among the bullpen, with similar control issues to Thrasher, and limited value due to his extreme splits. Thrasher retains a setup role, and Beaver will be our working class left-hander, doing the dirty jobs in the sixth and seventh innings. Velasquez is a Calderón discovery that Gabriel Martinez is somehow high on, but he batted hardly anything as a 20- and 21-year old in Aumsville, and OSA values him so highly they have written his name wrong with ‘zq’ in the middle. This is not going to be one of those Dennis Fried trades, probably.

Umberger was a free safety net against not finding any other right-handed batting utility infielder on the trade market. He’s not going to help anybody and exposed to major league pitching would quite definitely hit .168 … But, he’s free as long as he is stashed away as reserve in AAA.

With those two transactions down, we have interacted with all other North teams this winter, either via trade (Crusaders, Indians, Elks), waiver claims (Loggers), or signing free agents from them (Titans).

The preseason started at the end of January, which allowed us to reset our scouting and player development budgets. We were free spenders in both categories in recent years, and it didn’t net us ****. I cut both budgets down by about half a million to just over league average, which – combined with the Sugano deal that cleared a bit of salary – allows me to go onto the hunt once more with about $1.5M in the pockets!

+++

Odd notes include the retirement of ex-Coon Greg Dodson on January 9. The 34-yr old had broken his elbow in August while pitching for the Buffaloes. In 126 major league appearances, he went 5-12 with a 6.13 ERA and one save. His only major league start was also his only major league appearance for the Raccoons, picking up a no-decision in an 8-7 loss to the Indians on July 11, 2010, a spot start for Nick Brown, who was All Star-bound that year and got to skip this Sunday afternoon affair. Dodson had only been acquired eight days earlier from the Capitals in exchange for Bradley Heatershaw, who had a winner’s name, but poked for a .120/.163/.173 slash as a Coon.

Ralph Ford, 39, managed to coax a 2-yr, $1.52M deal out of the Warriors – good for him! Poor sod has led the league in losses twice and had two winning seasons in his 20s, which – surprise – has something to do with the rotten team he pitched for back then. He can get every pain-relieving compensation he can get, given that he is one of only ten pitchers to amass 200 losses in the ABL. The real surprise might be that he is the only Raccoon among those ten, which include Bastyao Caixinha (223), John Douglas (219), Bill Smith (216), Eduardo Jimenez, Ricardo Torres (211 each), Leland Lewis (208), Alfredo Rios (206), Craig Hansen (204), and Arnold McCray (200), and thus also four Hall of Famers. The Hall of Famer with the fifth-most losses in ABL history? Kisho Saito, 197 times defeated.

Rob Howell signed a $260k deal with the Crusaders, so he will doubtlessly have a career year.

Also, Alonso Baca retired at 35, tired of the journeying around for no greater good.

+++

This offseason takes way longer than it should for two reasons. First, I have to fight hard for every meaningless trade, since the AI has another stubborn phase. Second, I bought a hellishly expensive PC for some auto racing action, which I haven’t had in years and which I have been longing for. Well, I shelled out about $3,000 on this beast and it just will not work; I’m going through an endless cavalcade of stupid issues and might soon part it with an axe, but before I go to that, it will continue to suck a lot of time and energy out of me.

Questdog · 01-22-2017, 12:24 PM

Adrian Quebell in Vancouver? That is not right....

Westheim · 01-23-2017, 02:45 PM

There were two type A free agents still on the market in ex-VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (insert grim thoughts here) and ex-TIJ SP Manuel “Doom” Rojas. Those were not the player the Raccoons hoped to land with the $1.5M we scratched together as the calendar tumbled over into February.

Although a point was to be made that while our bullpen was certainly nothing special with a closer that had no closing experience (2016 anyone?), there was still a bunch of red flags to be raised about the rotation. For once, Brownie would be 39 and Martinez’ scouting report on him was grim enough, then there was Jonny Toner, who had had some health issues, Hector Santos was a living tee from time to time, Abe had been horrible in the first half and merely quite good in the second in ’16, and then there was Munroe dangling off the deep end of the rotation, and while Munroe had been a pleasant surprise, he would be the first Coon to disappear in a hole as a sophomore.

What was worse was the situation behind those five. The five starters in AAA lined up as those folks: Chris Brown, Damani Knight, Jeff Magnotta, Ryan Nielson, and David Tucci. Hot prospects listed: zero. We well know that Brown and Magnotta are actively campaigning for the other team whenever they are out there, and Tucci came off the scrap heap before last season and was also 25 already. Nielson was our 2014 second-rounder, would turn 25 this year, had decent stuff, but pretty bad control. Knight was the 2012 fourth-rounder, and hadn’t exactly excelled in Ham Lake the last two-and-a-half years (4.21 ERA in 473 IP), but there was a spot to fill and here he was.

We could really need some better coverage, even if it was not to displace Munroe outright. Then there was the outfield situation, which was really unhappy-making. We probably would not get around playing William Waggoner in rightfield, although I was really no fan of it. I would have preferred to play Alex Duarte in some capacity, and that was not only because he was the only right-handed batter in the pack. I wasn’t going to let him rot on the bench, and he’d be on the short end of a platoon with whomever.

Quick detour: while we faced less than 30 southpaw starters last year, we should see significantly more. Right now it looks like only the Titans run a fully right-handed rotation this year. All other division opponents have two southpaws in their preliminary rotation in early February. In the South, no team had more than one southpaw, but we’d probably see more than 40 southpaws in 2017, but that was still not enough to waste Duarte’s service time.

In-house options for right-handed outfielders were a sad thing indeed, so we had to look at the free agent market once again; I had tried to flip Waggoner for a right-handed bat already, and nobody was biting. Turns out though that the free agent market was already picked quite thin. Looking for a good combo of …

• Affordable
• Don’t suck with bat
• Don’t suck with glove

… led us to former Buffalo Eddie Jackson. He was only a corner outfielder and wouldn’t play center, and was also not a defensive replacement in close games. He had been a regular starter just twice in his career, which would go into its tenth season, and was a career .728 OPS batter. Doing okay, and that was probably the right kinda guy to platoon with Waggoner. There was also a switch-hitter fitting into the mold, but I hated Clint Southcott with passion and wouldn’t pay him a dime.

Since Jackson was not going to be extremely expensive unless a sudden bidding war would break out, there was still room to chase after another starting pitcher. Munroe had options after all, and cruelty to small animals was not beneath me. I looked at 34-year old Bruce Morrison, who had enjoyed a very decent season for the Cyclones, being employed as a swing man, putting up a 3.48 ERA. If you were tempted to look at the last five years or so before that, the grim truth was revealed. He had been within a full run of that 3.48 mark just once in the last half-decade, his 2014 campaign with the Loggers, and then he still lost 19 games, with the only thing that kept him from winning the red lantern for that year being his dearest team mate Adam Euteneuer being hung with 22 losses. Departing for greener pastures had rewarded both Euteneuer and Morrison with pairs of winning season since.

+++

February 6 – The Crusaders nail down ex-VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (.315, 262 HR, 1,071 RBI) with a 3-yr, $7.92M contract.
February 9 – The last type A free agent comes off the board, with ex-TIJ SP Manuel Rojas (60-61, 3.64 ERA) signing with the division rival from San Francisco. The Bayhawks will pay him $8.52M over three years.
February 9 – The Raccoons sign ex-CIN SP Bruce Morrison (96-103, 4.43 ERA) to a 1-yr, $366k deal.
February 14 – Veteran right-hander SP Felipe Ramirez (45-56, 4.19 ERA) signs with the Indians for 2-yr, $1.6M. The 32-year old was last with the Knights.
February 16 – After a year with Pittsburgh, 39-yr old Jose Paraz (.273, 260 HR, 1,072 RBI) rejoins the Crusaders on a 2-yr, $1.96M deal.

+++

You hate Quebell on the Elks? How about Gilbert on the Crusaders! This season will be a nightmare. I hope that Paraz deal blows up in their face. He can’t play any position, and they will put him in center again. And will still win.

The Condors will have three first round picks in this coming amateur draft, while the Raccoons held on to their lone first round pick, which will be #15.

By the middle of the February, the second-hottest free agent according to BNN was Rusty Norton, whom I had never heard about, so the offseason was officially over right there.

It’s March 1. The Eddie Jackson bidding war has since escalated and the price has risen from the $300k range to the $500k range, but that was to be expected. Also, this morning I got a call that Jason Bergquist had not turned up for training camp. He had tried to fix his car the previous day, had slipped on an oil slick, knocked over the grill with his steak while falling, the hot coals had ignited the gas carelessly stored in a can right next to it, and his garage and his ’88 Dodge Dynasty had been ablaze in an instant.

No, Bergquist got away with a strained oblique and would be healed within two weeks, but he had to write off the car, and the garage. And his cat hasn’t been seen yet.

Are we paying you so little, Jason? An ’88 Dodge Dynasty? Should have traded this loser.

+++

Other ex-Coons that ended up somewhere. A.J. Bartels may roast in hell eternally, but for now signed a $690k deal with the Stars, G.G. Williams (who never played for the big league Coons, but was drafted by us and was included in a forgettable deal with the Baybirds for Raúl Fuentes in 2007) got 2-yr, $1.22M from the Loggers, Jon Merritt will be 41 in May, but isn’t tired yet and signed a $316k deal with the Thunder to provide some veteran guidance, Freddy Rosa was somehow still active and got $283k from the Thunder, the Elks were giving Michael Palmer $244k.

By the way, it’s been 13 years since Freddy Rosa was a Coon, and since then he’s switched cap colors almost as often.

Westheim · 01-24-2017, 02:17 PM

Opening Day was roughly a month away, and the last thing we were after was Eddie - … what was his name again? There was nothing else to do except for putting a sandwich on the table and brushing teeth, day in and day out. One could say if you stopped with the sandwiches, you could stop brushing the teeth. I need to think about that.

The Jackson negotiations took forever, and every eight days or so he came back to tell me that someone had put more butter on the bread, and we were talking about $15k increments here. After the fourth time, on March 26, a week before the season, I bluntly told him to either sign or **** off. The last offer was $610k with an extra $100k for reaching 200 PA (not impossible given Cookie’s injury track record). Oh well, so be it. So be it, we have only left-handed outfielders. **** it, so be it.

Some of the money I had earlier taken from the player development fund was put back in, while the scouting budget remained at the reduced rate. To be honest, I don’t think Gabriel Martinez is much of a scout and he’s purely here to watch my steps. And not as a bodyguard.

Curtis Tobitt suffered a setback in his recovery from Tommy John and the Crusaders announced late in the month that he wouldn’t be available until perhaps late June, early July. They had hoped to have him back by May.

Daniel Dickerson had added half a run to his already abysmal 2015 ERA (6.29 then) with the Condors over 24.2 innings in ’16, but still found some team dumb enough to pay him $316k for ’17. That’s sad. The Scorpions are the dumbos (although by the end of March he was on waivers). Roberto Pacheco signed for $236k with the Elks. He was never a major leaguer for the Coons, but he was the trade piece for Craig Bowen to come to Portland, the first time around. Pat Slayton got $234k from the Gold Sox.

Westheim · 01-24-2017, 03:31 PM

2017 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2016 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Jonathan Toner, 26, B:R, T:R (11-7, 2.67 ERA | 52-23, 2.49 ERA) – one year after missing the triple crown by a single win, Toner missed a complete season by seven starts, but at least he came back fresh and threw a CL record-breaking 18 K game on Closing Day. His K/9 (10.8) led the CL for the second season in a row and is a new personal best, even though he couldn’t repeat his insane .81 WHIP from ‘15. This kid throws raw filth, and is destined for greatness.
SP Nick Brown, 39, B:L, T:L (15-9, 2.36 ERA | 215-126, 2.81 ERA) – the flash is gone with Nick Brown, who in 2014 came back from injury with much less velocity, stuff, and most notably strikeouts. He has since redefined himself as a groundball pitcher and did a damn good job in that role in 2016, finishing second to Sam McMullen in ERA. However, the question is: will this be his farewell tour…?
SP Hector Santos, 28, B:S, T:R (15-7, 2.71 ERA | 67-54, 3.33 ERA) – sometimes a bit the forgotten man in the rotation, Santos silently led the league in WHIP in 2016, also thanks to a career-best BABIP, but his sub-1.5 BB/9 is also a great advantage to keep runners off base. While he failed to strike out 200 last season, he is surely among the best number threes in the game. His slider is the bane of batting, but unfortunately he tends to leave things hanging over the middle from time to time to get clonkered. He’s allowed 100 homers in 1,119 innings, with a career-high of 30 dingers in 2013, which then led the league.
SP Tadasu Abe, 25, B:R, T:R (13-9, 3.35 ERA | 13-9, 3.35 ERA) – had a decent rookie campaign despite some early-season struggles; needs to mix his huge arsenal better to keep batters guessing.
SP Bruce Morrison *, 35, B:R, T:R (12-9, 3.48 ERA | 96-103, 4.43 ERA) – the Coons hope to have more luck with their annual bargain bin free agent pitcher signing after A.J. Bartels only made it through four abysmal starts with them in 2016 before being canned. Morrison is cheap and has not been very good throughout his 30s, except for last year.

LR John Korb, 31, B:R, T:R (2-2, 3.36 ERA, 6 SV | 19-16, 5.60 ERA, 8 SV) – Korb went from afterthought to desperation-closer for the Coons in 2016, and performed well in all possible and impossible situations. He is the primary candidate for long relief and spot starts.
MR Jayden Reed *, 33, B:R, T:R (2-3, 5.10 ERA, 19 SV | 43-38, 3.70 ERA, 106 SV) – despite his elite stuff, there’s no denying that Reed’s 2016 campaign with the Titans was wholly unsuccessful. He walked more per nine than Ron Thrasher, for crying out loud! He was added very cheap for someone with his sparkle and will try to reclaim his career in a seventh inning role, at least to start the season.
MR Seung-mo Chun, 28, B:S, T:R (4-3, 3.74 ERA, 2 SV | 4-3, 3.74 ERA, 2 SV) – this Korean rookie from last year worked his slider very effectively and did a great job in most situations.
MR Kevin Beaver, 33, B:L, T:L (1-4, 4.73 ERA, 4 SV | 42-51, 3.93 ERA, 55 SV) – general purpose left-hander with an ERA that doesn’t quite indicate that he was very serviceable in 2016, and at least not worse than our other southpaws.
SU Chris Mathis, 30, B:R, T:R (5-5, 2.96 ERA, 10 SV | 15-9, 2.89 ERA, 13 SV) – a rare case of a player breaking out in his late 20s, Mathis’ second full season in the Bigs wasn’t quite what the first one had been. He had oscillated wildly between good and terrible appearances, sometimes in consecutive appearances. He gets a setup assignment simply for the lack of more convincing options.
SU Ron Thrasher, 29, B:L, T:L (5-6, 3.45 ERA, 18 SV | 25-21, 2.78 ERA, 32 SV) – blessed with an executioner’s stuff, but saddled with a drunkard’s control, Ron was finally given the chance to close with Angel Casas out of the way, and completely and utterly blew it, leading the Raccoons to employ a closing committee for a whopping four months of the season. His 6.4 BB/9 were a career high, and at some point even 11.5 K/9 don’t help anymore. He posted his worst single season WHIP and everybody suffered in the process.
CL Alex Ramirez *, 31, B:R, T:R (4-7, 2.48 ERA, 2 SV| 33-26, 3.38 ERA, 31 SV) – the Baseball Gods help the Coons if Ramirez collapses, because this free agent came pretty expensive for not having been a regular closer before in his career. He’s not a fireballer and works by fooling hitters, which is a dangerous gamble for a team that still has considerable money in some unfortunate contracts.

C Mike Denny *, 26, B:R, T:R (.249, 10 HR, 35 RBI | .245, 16 HR, 67 RBI) – came the same way Craig Bowen came a decade earlier, from the Indians bench, and the two have a surprisingly similar profile as a strikeout-prone raker and sucker for homers. Denny’s defense is decent, and he’s our clear primary catcher.
C Danny Margolis, 26, B:R, T:R (.230, 5 HR, 14 RBI | .238, 10 HR, 42 RBI) – failed to replicate his good first impression from 2014 again, and hit poorly for the second consecutive season. Good throwing arm, but no significant defensive upgrade over Denny.

1B Adam Young, 28, B:L, T:L (.280, 7 HR, 80 RBI | .304, 93 HR, 454 RBI) – this defensively solid left-hander came in as a pure slugger that inflicted hurt to the tune of 25 homers and 110+ RBI annually on opposing pitching. The Coons didn’t get to see any of that as he sucked his way to just seven home runs and a 202-point reduction in OPS in ‘16. Everybody north of Hornbrook hates him.
2B/3B/SS/1B Shane Walter, 27, B:L, T:R (.304, 5 HR, 42 RBI | .281, 12 HR, 155 RBI) – versatile infielder that was claimed off waivers by the Crusaders early in 2016 and soon took over at second base for the hapless Howard Jones, despite dropping 24 points of batting average in Portland. His OBP could be higher, and since he has no real power, he is a bottom-of-the-order candidate.
SS/2B/3B Ronnie McKnight, 26, B:L, T:R (.262, 15 HR, 67 RBI | .276, 35 HR, 165 RBI) – McKnight was one of many Coons to not be able to hit at his 2015 level again and one year after winning both the Gold Glove and the Platinum Stick in addition to ROTY honors, he didn’t win anything. He is still a unicorn, combining a power bat with a top notch glove at the premium defensive position on the field.
3B Matt Nunley, 26, B:L, T:R (.260, 12 HR, 60 RBI | .285, 32 HR, 183 RBI) – Matt dropped a shocking 64 points of batting average in 2016, which was one of many reasons why the Raccoons hit like zombies. Whenever he’s sucking less hard, he’s a real valuable third baseman (also the 2014 ROTY), and also one of the best defensive hot corner guards in the league.
RF/3B/2B/1B/LF/CF Brian Petracek *, 26, B:S, T:R (.235, 2 HR, 8 RBI | .219, 2 HR, 12 RBI) – the new super utility, acquired in trade from the Elks. Also usable as pinch-runner, so this is basically Sandy Sambrano at 16% the cost.
2B Jason Bergquist, 27, B:R, T:R (.204, 1 HR, 9 RBI | .229, 9 HR, 68 RBI) – despite not doing anything worth getting excited about, Bergquist somehow retained his spot on the team. Good defensive second baseman, but his stick instills sadness in our home crowd. This is the exact same text as last year. He is so irrelevant, I even forgot to trade him for a glass o’ wine.

LF/RF R.J. DeWeese, 30, B:L, T:L (.253, 31 HR, 97 RBI | .250, 224 HR, 718 RBI) – okay, DeWeese is an asshole and a real cancer to any clubhouse, but at least he was the one guy that didn’t take a dump whenever his turn to bat came up. He struck out a lot, which we saw coming, but he also hit at his Cincy levels of the last few years and is the undenied cleanup batter in this lineup.
LF/CF/RF Ricardo Carmona, 25, B:L, T:R (.316, 6 HR, 37 RBI | .326, 15 HR, 220 RBI) – Cookie’s injuries got even worse and he failed to appear in 100 games for the first time in a season that he started on the major league roster. A bolt of lightning able to compete for batting titles and playing one of the hardest positions on the field rather competently, Cookie’s value gets diminished by never-ending hospital assignments. Under contract through 2023, but moving him to the less taxing rightfield position won’t work until we clear it for him.
RF William Waggoner *, 29, B:L, T:L (.284, 1 HR, 17 RBI | .291, 43 HR, 227 RBI) – injuries and general redundancy reduced him to a cameo role with the Miners in ’16, from whom he was acquired for the abominable Howard Jones, but other teams refused to take him and convert him into something really valuable, thus the Coons are stuck with his $1M contract for a year. If he sucks real bad, he can always take a seat on the bench, I guess, since we don’t care the slightest about his feelings.
RF/LF/1B Danny Ochoa, 28, B:L, T:L (.341, 0 HR, 11 RBI | .284, 4 HR, 33 RBI) – just can’t stay on the roster it seems, and even now he won’t get regular starts due to Waggoner’s presence. Really not much of a defender, Ochoa had a splashy debut in 2015, but just hasn’t found room to stick, and even if someone among the starting three gets hurt, Alex Duarte would be the one to take over from AAA.
LF/RF Brandon Johnson, 27, B:L, T:L (.125, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .221, 0 HR, 6 RBI) – also an emergency centerfielder, Johnson doesn’t figure to be more than a pinch-hitter and perhaps defensive replacement to get one of the key personnel of their legs in routs.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
SP Chris Munroe, 24, B:R, T:R (6-11, 3.59 ERA | 6-11, 3.59 ERA) – we have probably just robbed Munroe of his will to live, but Morrison’s roster spot will come at his expense. He did a fantastic job for being a rule 5 guy thrown into a rotation at short notice and stuck there to the end, but there is something about this youngster that screams out ‘one hit wonder’...
C Tom McNeela, 28, B:L, T:R (.260, 1 HR, 9 RBI | .243, 2 HR, 22 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; every year same old, same old: McNeela is being DFA’ed on Opening Day for the FIFTH straight year. Not exactly a defensive stalwart, McNeela’s 96 AB in ’16 were a single season record for him.

Opening day lineup:
(Vs. RHP: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Toner)
Vs. LHP: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – P Toner

The lineup vs. left-handers continues to look like we’re not even trying. The switch-hitter Petracek might play somewhere on the diamond past Opening Day, but not on Opening Day itself, but this is just … ugh. There are only four non-left-handed hitting players on the roster, and two of them are catchers, so options are going to be limited. At some point you might wonder why you don’t just stop trying so hard and just run four left-handers in a row out there. The results can not be that much worse.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

The Raccoons’ offseason was mainly about containing damage and dealing bad contracts. In doing so they had a hard time being choosers and had to take what they could get (Waggoner…) or what was left over (Ramirez). Somehow, we found 1.8 WAR in a lot of low-key transactions, resulting in six new players on the Opening Day roster, and good enough for ninth in the league.

Top 5: Cyclones (+8.1), Gold Sox (+7.8), Thunder (+7.3), Scorpions (+6.2), Crusaders (+6.2)
Bottom 5: Blue Sox (-4.8), Condors (-7.1), Titans (-7.7), Knights (-7.8), Falcons (-8.9)

PREDICTION TIME:

Last year I picked the Coons to challenge for five runs scored per game and finish second to the Crusaders with a 90-72 record. None of that happened, and that’s because all the piles of money we fired into smoke in that preceding offseason was invested into mirages like Adam Young and Howard Jones. They ended up 86-76, though close enough to second place, but were out of the playoff race even in June. The much-desired ‘rebuild in sixth gear’ didn’t happen, and we barely made it out of a self-made mess with an offseason that was successful foremost in controlling the damage.

This year, we know that Brownie is a year older, the bullpen is still full of holes and reclamation projects (Reed, Thrasher, Mathis), and the lineup is not one bit better even on paper than last year. Five starters are identical, and of those that aren’t two out of three are virtually the same.

Nope, the Raccoons will not make a step forward. If Cookie and Toner stayed healthy, they might be on the fringes of the playoff race, but if injuries strike again (which for Cookie is more of a ‘when’ question), the tumble will begin. Also, they still will not score any runs.

Prediction: the Raccoons are irrelevant for six months and finish 82-80, about 16 games behind the Crusaders.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

For a team that has a lot of draft picks and doesn’t necessarily buy success with their prospects, the Raccoons continue to have an abysmal farm, ranking 18th in the newest prospect reports.

After getting ten ranked prospects last year (although only two were in the top 100), the Coons dropped to six again this year. Among the ten ranked prospects from last season, two were no longer eligible: #51 Tadasu Abe (service time), #148 Tony Velasquez (traded); furthermore, #163 Sam Armetta, #174 David Tucci, and #199 Ismael Pastor dropped out of the top 200.

24th (new) – A SP John Waker, 19 – 2016 first round pick by Raccoons
84th (+85) – A SP Danny Arguello, 20 – 2013 international free agent signed by Raccoons
92nd (-66) – AA OF Ricky Cruz, 21 – international discovery by the Raccoons (Juan Calderón)
131st (-28) – AA SP Ricky Martinez, 22 – 2011 international free agent signed by Raccoons
162nd (+38) – AAA CF Alex Duarte, 23 – 2011 eighth round pick by the Raccoons
175th (+22) – AAA OF Andy Bareford, 22 – 2013 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons

The franchise top 10 were completed by unranked AA 1B Michael Wilkerson, AAA C Edwin Prieto, INT SS/2B Ismael Pastor, and A CL Dave Dyer.

No, I still can’t draft. Stop asking.

The top 5 overall prospects this year are:

#1 TIJ SP Andrew Gudeman (was #4)
#2 NAS AAA INF John Muller (was #5)
#3 DEN AA SP Tommy Weintraub (was #2)
#4 LAP AA C Matt Dehne (was #8)
#5 SAL AAA OF/1B/2B Quinn Jewell (was #1)

Last year’s #3, DEN AA SP Warren Polito, remains at #6, so this was perhaps the least movement at the top of the hot prospect list ever.

Next: first pitch.

Westheim · 01-27-2017, 12:21 PM

Raccoons (0-0) @ Canadiens (0-0) – April 4-6, 2017

This series started on Tuesday, with both teams having the actual Opening Day off. For the Raccoons, these would be the first three of 16 straight games to start their season. They had lost the season series to the Elks, 10-8, in 2016, and for two years straight.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (0-0) vs. Samuel McMullen (0-0)
Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Rod Taylor (0-0)
Hector Santos (0-0) vs. Jose Flores (0-0)

While the season will open with a real cake between the Pitchers of the Year from 2015 and 2016, handedness for starters would be opposite for all games in the series, the Coons facing southpaws in the first and last game.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – P Toner
VAN: CF Cameron – LF E. Garcia – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – C Little – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – P S. McMullen

As was to be expected, offense was non-existent in this season opener. The only guy with a hit the first time through the order would be Jonny Toner with a third-inning single that didn’t lead to anything. The Coons dropped like flies against Sam McMullen, who whiffed seven in four innings, while the Elks got a good chance in the bottom 4th after a leadoff walk to Enrique Garcia. Kurt Evans singled, getting them into the H column and sending Garcia to third base, but Evans was then caught stealing by Mike Denny, and Adrian Quebell – surprise! – popped out behind home plate. Toner struck out repurposed catcher “Quasimodo” Suda to end the inning. Don Cameron flew out to center to end the fifth, stranding Jaylin Lawrence and ex-Coon Michael Palmer on the corners. Both had reached on soft bloopers for singles. While it looked like McMullen could choke the Raccoons all day and didn’t allow any left-handed batter to reach through seven innings, Toner glitched here and there and was over 100 pitches by the seventh inning. Palmer hit a 2-out single to center, and then McMullen was his last batter anyway, grounded a 3-1 pitch to the second base bag, but too slow for McKnight to make any play. Toner was removed after 111 pitches with two on and two out, Kevin Beaver facing the top of the order, where switch-hitter Mario Rocha came out to negate the Coons any advantage. Rocha ran a full count before lining out to Nunley, leaving Toner with a no-decision.

It wouldn’t be until with two outs in the ninth that a left-handed batting Critter reached base when Nunley singled off Pedro Alvarado. McKnight duly struck out, however, and the Elks loaded the bases with singles by the right-handed Morgan Little and Palmer as well as a walk drawn by Rocha off Chris Mathis. Joe Cowan – another disgraced ex-Coon – batted with two outs and grounded out to short, sending the game into overtime, where there would be scoring right away in the top 10th. Juan Jimenez retired DeWeese and Denny to start the inning, but lost Danny Ochoa, hitting for Young, to a walk. Bergquist singled hard to center, and Waggoner managed to get a liner past the outfielders for an RBI double. Whooo, offense!! Offense remained that one run when Margolis grounded out to second, so Alex Ramirez had to better not allow any extra-base - … oh look, Quebell doubled. After going 0-for-4 that far, Quebell’s 1-out double put the Raccoons in the squeezer, and it got worse when Denny lost Ramirez’ 2-1 to Suda and allowed Quebell to move to third. Suda struck out, though, leaving it to Morgan Little to save the Elks, but he also struck out. 1-0 Critters! Bergquist 2-4; Toner 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-2;

Geez, that’s gonna be a long year. Out-hit 9-5, they barely squeezed through. Maybe things get better against a right-handed starter. McMullen whiffed 10 in 8.1 innings.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Brown
VAN: LF Cameron – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – RF K. Evans – C Little – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – CF Cowan – P Ro. Taylor

The last time in this tiny town, Brown had thrown a no-no and made the clowns frown; but there wouldn’t be a repeat of that. While the Coons took a 1-0 lead in the first when Nunley doubled and scored on DeWeese’s single, and Brownie sat down the first eight Elks, he allowed a 2-out single to Taylor in the bottom 3rd and then two hard hits by Cameron, a single to right, and Quebell, a double to right center, which allowed the Elks to tie the contest. Suda actually hit another rocket to left, but DeWeese got paws on that one. Just when we thought Brownie might get torn up for a season-opening loss, the pendulum swung back the other way, and the top 5th saw a leadoff single by Waggoner. Brown also singled with one out, but was forced by Cookie, who had a real lackluster start to his 2017 campaign and so far slashed zero. Nunley singled up the leftfield line, plating Waggoner with the go-ahead run, and when McKnight hit one into the gap in right center, Cookie scored, but Nunley was thrown out at home, giving Brown a 3-1 lead.

The bottom 6th saw Quebell hit a leadoff double to right, but then get picked off second base when he couldn’t fathom how McKnight had caught Suda’s liner and beat him in the scramble back to the plate. While the Coons stranded Waggoner on third base in the seventh inning, they got another excellent chance to put some air in between the two sides of the score in the top of the eighth. Nunley led off with a single, and McKnight doubled again. This time, with no outs, Nunley was held to let the middle of the order work the magic against the right-handed Taylor, who was still in the game. The Critters burned him in the worst way (for Taylor at least…) when he ran a full count against DeWeese, who ended up popping to shallow left center – and three Elks shooed another off. The ball dropped, the mess out there was great, and two runs scored while DeWeese trotted into second base, 5-1. Taylor didn’t retire another batter and was charged with one more run, while Dustin Burke eventually relieved him. Burke’s first pitch was blasted to right by Waggoner, but Evans caught it right at the wall, and the Raccoons eventually left the bases loaded in the 6-1 game, with Brown being hit for with Danny Ochoa, who walked with two outs to fill the diamond before Cookie flew out. Thrasher and Chun nursed the game to completion with no more than one Elk on base at any one time. 6-1 Brownies! Nunley 3-5, BB, 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; DeWeese 2-5, 3 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

Brownie, wheee!!

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Young – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Petracek – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – P Santos
VAN: CF Cameron – SS Lawrence – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – C Little – LF Cowan – 2B Palmer – P J. Flores

In a bit of a messy game, the Coons would score first, a single run in the fourth inning, Nunley coming home on a DeWeese sac fly. An inning earlier, Joe Cowan had hit an infield single, but had also hurt himself in the process and had been replaced by Mario Rocha, who the next time up hit a homer off Santos to tie the game. Top 6th, Cookie ended an 0-for-11 string of not getting the ball to fall in to start the season with a single to center. He couldn’t get a jump as Nunley ran a full count, then popped behind home plate. Little dropped the ball for an error, giving Nunley another shot, which ended up being a shot to short that bounced once and was a perfect double play. So yeah, **** Lady Luck!

The Elks would have Don Cameron on second base in the bottom 6th after DeWeese dropped his soft line for a 2-base error, but when Lawrence singled to right, Waggoner threw out Cameron at home plate to make the error kindly go away. Little hit into another double play in the bottom 7th, giving him a DP in every game in the series. Top 8th, Santos would have been hit for if either of Bergquist or Waggoner would have made it on base, which didn’t happen. With two outs, Hector singled, bringing up Cookie, who made the next one stick, belching the Coons’ first homer of the season to left center, which wasn’t exactly shallow at about 390’. Santos didn’t look like he had to try too hard to get the Elks sat down and despite the rather slim 3-1 lead he went into the ninth against a shieldwall of left-handers. Cameron and Lawrence were easy pickings, but Evans singled and he lost Quebell to a walk to put the tying runs on base with two outs. Ramirez was called to face Suda, who was a lovely 0-for-12 so far, though it’d take only one swipe here. Ramirez didn’t give him one to swipe, though; Suda struck out, and the Coons opened the season with a sweep in hostile territory! 3-1 Furballs! Carmona 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4; Santos 8.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 1-3;

Not only did Suda (40 years old now) go 0-for-13, he also struck out five times and never walked or took one for the team.

Also, 3-0, the only team in the North to be so. Who’s in furst??

Raccoons (3-0) vs. Falcons (0-3) – April 7-9, 2017

The Falcons had been expunged by the Knights for eight runs per game to start the season, so maybe that was something for the Raccoons to get warm against. Both their rotation and their bullpen ranked last in the CL in the middle of the first week. We had wiped the floor with them last season, thrashering them 8-1.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (0-0) vs. Sean Balzer (0-0)
Bruce Morrison (0-0) vs. Alex Vallejo (0-0)
Jonathan Toner (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Bobby Guerrero (0-1, 12.79 ERA)

Also, regardless of how you twist them, they have only right-handed starters, which might give us an advantage. Despite sweeping the Elks, we only scored ten runs in that series, with DeWeese, Young, Denny, and Cookie all batting .167 or much worse, and the only regular batting more than .222 being Matt Nunley (6-for-12).

With 16 straight games before the next off day, this is a difficult start to the season for sure, and we will work to weave in two off days for all regulars along the way, with some likely to come during the weekend already.

Game 1
CHA: 2B Good – LF Huibregtse – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – RF Benson – SS P. Hall – 1B M. Salinas – 3B Pellot – P Balzer
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Margolis – P Abe

For two innings, the Raccoons failed to leave the infield against Balzer, who wore some fuzz on his chin in a vain attempt to look older than 16, and actually had barely made it to 22 so far. The Falcons had loads of these players… The Coons got a run off him in the third inning, which started with a walk to Waggoner, who stole the team’s first base of the season and eventually scored on Cookie’s single to left. That was the Coons’ only hit through four, but the Falcons wouldn’t get a hit until the fifth, though by then it was a solo homer by Ryan Feldmann that pulled them even with the Raccoons, 1-1. Cookie hit a double in the bottom 5th, but was left on third base, as the slow motion offense that we had learned to hate the last few years already made itself noticeable in ’17.

Abe got shredded in the sixth inning, though ****ed-up luck had something to do with it, too. Alfonso Pellot and Matt Good both reached on infield singles to put him in the worst spot. While Steve Huibregtse didn’t get the job done, Ryan Holliman did with a single to center, scoring Pellot for a 2-1 lead. Feldmann wasted Abe again with another homer, and this one counted for three. The pre-teen pitcher that the Falcons had put on a stool on the mound was suddenly up 5-1, but wouldn’t make it through the sixth unharmed, either. Already wild early, he loaded the bases with a Walter single in between two walks before Ochoa batted for Abe, but that came against reliever Victor Arevalo, a 23-year old Mexican righty who looked even younger than Balzer. Ochoa singled hard to right on the second pitch. One run scored, Walter went aggro around third base and drew a throw from Travis Benson … alas, Holliman completely missed it, was charged an error, and the inning was still going on with Cookie batting with the tying runs in scoring position. He grounded hard to first, but Manny Salinas managed to scoop it and end the inning. Unfortunately, this would be the Raccoons’ high water mark in the game. Mauro Ortega was next for the Falcons, and the southpaw collected five outs with ease from the top half of the order. Cookie would reach base with two outs in the ninth, but by then it was already too late. 5-3 Falcons. Carmona 3-5, 2B, RBI; Ochoa (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Beaver 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 2
CHA: 2B Good – LF Huibregtse – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – RF Benson – SS P. Hall – 1B M. Salinas – 3B Pellot – P Vallejo
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – C Denny – RF Ochoa – P Morrison

The Critters scored first again, this time on a first-inning homer by McKnight that put them 1-0 ahead. That shot aside, the team was horrendous again at swinging the stick, and they had to consider themselves lucky that Morrison made a strong first impression, whiffing four in the first two innings and shutting the Falcons out in the early going. The Raccoons wouldn’t threaten again until the fifth inning when they had Walter and Ochoa on the corners with one out. Morrison whiffed, which was excusable, and Cookie lined right into Alex Vallejo’s mitten, which directly led me to gnawing on the edge of my desk, an outburst of frustration that wasn’t soothed by what happened next. Vallejo led off the sixth with his stick, with his left hand still swollen from taking that bullet from Cookie. He grounded to first, and Adam Young, whose fur wouldn’t give a good pair of gloves if we skinned him, bungled it. Morrison unglued rapidly, allowed straight singles to the 2-3-4 batters and the Falcons scored a pair of runs to take the lead. While this looked a lot like doom (I know that glow), the Coons weren’t quite dead yet, for Mike Denny whacked a homer off Vallejo in the bottom 7th to at least get them even again.

Vallejo was still going in the bottom 8th, while the Coons had replaced Morrison in the seventh, with Beaver and Reed holding the Falcons right where they were. William Waggoner hit for Jayden Reed to start the bottom 8th and singled to right center, then stole second base. Cookie also singled in the same general direction, and Waggoner scored handily to give the brown team the lead. Cookie was killed off at second base when Nunley missed the ball on a hit-and-run, then singled anyway, with Vallejo issuing walks to McKnight and DeWeese. Bases loaded, one out for Young, who hit one sharply to second base, where Dave Carter started the double play the Falcons were looking for. Alex Ramirez sent the Coons home winners regardless, pitching a perfect ninth while whiffing two. 3-2 Raccoons. Denny 2-3, HR, RBI; Morrison 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

Re: Young – there’s an actual, ****ing hole chewed into my desk! That- … That’s oak! That’s supposed to be unchewable! Maud did research on that!

Raaaah!!

Oh well. Since we were resting people twice anyway in this early run of games, Young would get rest on Sunday. As would DeWeese. They were batting .170 … if you were so kind to add their batting averages together.

Game 3
CHA: 2B Good – 1B M. Salinas – C Holliman – RF Feldmann – RF Benson – SS P. Hall – LF Monreal – 3B R. Martinez – P B. Guerrero
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Denny – RF Waggoner – 1B Petracek – LF Johnson – P Toner

Yup, that was Ricardo Martinez, Nick Brown’s best friend of old, who got a starting assignment for the Falcons. He had already pinch-hit on Friday to no effect, and was 2-for-4 as a reserve so far. He didn’t even get a lukewarm reception from the crowd, who had long forgotten about this almost-decade-old flash in the pan. There was one guy in section 89 that clapped when he stepped in to start the top 3rd and grounded out.

The game was scoreless through three, after which Bobby Guerrero was never seen again. Johnny Watson replaced him after Guerrero had reported back stiffness to his trainer, and Watson was a southpaw, so the Coons wouldn’t necessarily have it easier now. While Toner was murdering the Falcons (but hit two batters in the middle innings), the Raccoons got a few guys on here and there and then consistently botched their chances. Brandon Johnson hit into a double play in the bottom 5th, and Cookie was left stranded on third base in the sixth. They were out-hitting the Falcons 7-1 after six, but the score was still zip, at least until Feldmann hit his third homer of the series, putting the Falcons up 1-0 in the top 7th. Benson singled, Troy Mugan doubled, 2-0 Falcons, and the Sunday afternoon home crowd was not amused, especially that morbidly obese guy up the first base line, who in 41° weather had taken off his sweater and shirt and while holding a cup of beer in each hand was chanting obscenities along with his seven still-clothed children.

The tying runs were on in the bottom 7th against Mauro Ortega, who had allowed a single to Johnson and a walk to Toner with one out. Cookie flew out to center, two outs. Bergquist hit for a successless Shane Walter, with Ortega throwing a wild pitch to move up the runners, but Bergquist would use the 3-1 pitch to fly out to Feldmann as well. An angry Jonny Toner fanned five of six batters he saw in the eighth and ninth innings, but was still on the short end of a wet stick, with the Coons sending the 6-7-8 batters against Lawrence Rivers in the bottom 9th. Waggoner popped out against the right-hander, after which Young hit for Petracek, grounded to second, but Matt Good’s throw to first was everything but good and Young reached on the error. Johnson had hit into a double play earlier, and this time flew out to Feldmann. DeWeese batted for Toner, a poor grounder back to the pitcher, and a way too easy last out. 2-0 Falcons. Carmona 2-4; Nunley 3-4; Waggoner 2-4; Johnson 2-4; Toner 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 13 K, L (0-1) and 0-2, BB;

That looks like a lot of offense, but of course it wasn’t. That’s also all the hits they had. Nobody had exactly one hit for the Raccoons in this game.

In other news

April 3 – Blue Sox and Capitals slug it out on Opening Day, combining for five homers, 25 hits, and a 5-run inning for each side in a 12-9 win for the Capitals, clinched with Justin Bellows’ pinch-hit, walkoff, 3-run homer off Logan Sloan.
April 3 – The Pacifics almost get no-hit on Opening Day, amounting only to a John Gartner single in a 5-0 defeat to the Scorpions, who have three pitchers combine for the shutout.
April 4 – The Condors lose top prospect SP Andrew Gudeman (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for at least April. The 23-year old has been diagnosed with a sore shoulder.
April 7 – In a real rout, the Bayhawks crumble the Canadiens, 13-2, out-hitting them 17-5. The game is basically over after the first inning, in which the Hawks put up seven runs.
April 8 – One day later, the Canadiens beat the Bayhawks, 1-0, on Kurt Evans’ (.333, 1 HR, 1 RBI) solo home run.
April 9 – TOP SP Alberto Molina (1-1, 1.59 ERA) 1-hits the Wolves in a 5-0 shutout. The Wolves don’t get into the H column until Javier Gonzalez’ pinch-hit single with one out in the ninth inning.
April 9 – Veteran NAS 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.375, 1 HR, 3 RBI) has manufactured a 20-game hitting streak spanning two seasons with two hits in the Sox’ 6-5 defeat to the Pacifics.

Complaints and stuff

You like that offense? No? Well, we’ll have 25 more weeks of that this year. While they’re not last in any once category, they’re sure close in many, and they’re in the bottom half in all but walks and stolen bases. And this was not even an offense-rich first week in the CL; the league ERA was 3.67 this week, which if remaining there for the rest of the season would be a 30-year low.

Offense was low overall in the CL in ’16 as well, with the average ERA being 3.86, the lowest since 2005. Offense was up in the FL however, a 4.19 ERA meaning a 6-year high.

Tom McNeela made it to St. Pete unmolested; neither by the other 23 teams, nor by that brown-skinned, blonde, badly shaven trucker with pink high heels he had to tramp with because we were too cheap for a plane ticket. He hasn’t been getting away for five years, there’s no reason for him to get abducted now, not by aliens, and not by ‘Denise’, who was hauling a load of plastic flamingoes to Miami.

Wednesday, the Elks hit into four double plays, all in favor of Nick Brown, who also failed to retire Rod Taylor even once, and was lucky enough to have first base occupied with the likes of Suda and Little batting. Either one reminds me of the time I grew up, and the kids in our neighborhood were playing on the street all the time, playing ball and running around, and we all could have casually out-run Little, even this one boy, who we called ‘Stumpy’.

… (awkward silence) …

What I really want to say: Brownie got lucky, and his stuff was nowhere to be seen. He’ll have two starts next week, which will give a bigger sample size.

Westheim · 01-27-2017, 08:10 PM

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Knights (4-2) – April 10-12, 2017

The Knights had come out of the gates swinging the bats, scoring the second-most runs, but had also allowed quite a few, ranking ninth in runs allowed. The main leak was the pen, which had run up a 5.40 ERA so far. The Coons had won the season series from the Knights for four straight years, including back-to-back 5-4 nail biters.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Stephen Quirion (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Hector Santos (1-0, 1.04 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (0-0, 1.29 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. Drew King (0-1, 7.11 ERA)

Those were all right-handers.

Game 1
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – C Luna – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – RF Mims – 1B Betancourt – P Quirion
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Brown

And the Knights came out swinging right away. A Devin Hibbard single, a walk drawn by Gil Rockwell, a double steal with a horrendous throw to third by Denny, and a sac fly by Ruben Luna and a Josh Downing brought in two runs in the first inning. However, neither pitcher would have a good game. McKnight got on with a single in the bottom 1st, allowing DeWeese to tie the game with his first homer of the year, a bomb to rightfield. Brownie didn’t get a hold of anybody and allowed another run in the top 2nd, Marty Reyes driving in David Betancourt, but the Raccoons roughed up Quirion for four runs in the bottom of the inning. Waggoner and Denny got on, were bunted over by Brownie, and scored on Cookie’s double. Two batters later, McKnight homered, and it was 6-3 for the home team, that had yet to score more than six in a game in 2017.

While they got to seven runs in the third inning when William Waggoner doubled home Shane Walter, and Quirion didn’t make it past the fourth inning, Brownie lined up zeroes through the end of five, though with no strikeouts whatsoever against three walks, and with the help of two foul pops and two double plays. So, while the defense held him in the game, the offense stranded runners on the corners in the bottom 5th when Denny struck out, before Robby Delikat loaded the bases with a Cookie single and two walks in the sixth, pulling up DeWeese with one out. He grounded to Josh Downing and just barely legged out Devin Hibbard’s return throw to stay out of the double play, pushing home Cookie, 8-3. Brown got stuck for good in the seventh, allowing a leadoff single to Wade White before walking Betancourt with one out. Chris Mathis found it absolutely necessary to hit PH Jeffrey Walrath and walk Reyes with the bases loaded to shove in a run before striking out Hibbard and getting a roller to short from Gil Rockwell. The Knights got another run off Thrasher in the eighth, who allowed a hit, a walk, and two wild pitches, and Lionnel Perri hit a leadoff double off Alex Ramirez in the ninth, but he axed down he next three Knights, including two strikeouts, to put this one away. 8-5 Brownies! Carmona 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; McKnight 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Walter 2-4; Waggoner 2-4, 2 2B, RBI;

Tuesday was designated Cookie’s off day, with Johnson manning centerfield.

Game 2
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – C Luna – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – 1B Betancourt – P Trevino
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – RF Waggoner – C Margolis – CF Johnson – P Santos

The Knights took a lead in the second inning without getting a single hit, with Santos hitting Ruben Luna, walking two more, and allowing a run on a sac fly by Wade White. There was also a double steal involved, with the Knights running like maniacs – they now had 12 steals for the season, easily leading the league. Santos was completely off the rolls, however, allowed two hard drives to start the third inning, resulting in a Reyes double and a Hibbard homer, and then managed to hit another Knight and allowed him to score with two quite hard singles. The Coons were now down 4-0, and didn’t look like they had a plan at all. Santos allowed another run in the fourth inning and, completely shackled, didn’t return for the fifth, but the Knights kept swatting away at John Korb just as well and plated single runs off him in the fifth and sixth innings, the latter one being finished by Beaver. A Betancourt homer off Jayden Reed in the seventh gave the Knights runs in six consecutive innings, while the Raccoons got 2-out RBI singles from Walter in the fifth and Ochoa in the seventh, which was not nearly enough to create even a bit of drama. Seung-mo Chun kept the Knights at bay in the eighth, but was ravaged for four hits and two runs in the ninth inning as the Knights completed a grim rout. 10-2 Knights. Walter 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ochoa (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – C Luna – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – 1B Betancourt – P D. King
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – C Denny – RF Ochoa – 2B Bergquist – P Abe

Luck was on the home team’s side in the early going; after a Cookie single and stolen base as well as Walter walking, McKnight bounced hard to short, but the ball hit the edge between the infield grass and the dirt and bounced over the unexpecting Hibbard’s glove into left for a single. Cookie scored as the Knights were confused and had their pants down. DeWeese then loaded the bases with a broken bat blooper to center, and even ****ing Adam Young couldn’t help but single and score a run, his first RBI of the season in game #9. Mike Denny doubled home a pair to make it 4-0 before King, who was close to crying for mommy at that point, managed to retire the bottom of the order to get out of the damn inning. The Knights scored a run in the top 2nd, but the Coons scored two in the bottom 2nd as Drew King’s troubles continued. Three of the first four Critters reached, and DeWeese’s single to right and Ochoa’s bases-loaded walk each pushed in a run, 6-1.

Wade White hit a double in the fourth inning; Abe was nowhere near good, and had no strikeouts at that point, while allowing four hits and two walks. The Knights had seen enough of King and hit Kyle Mims for him with two outs. Abe served a meatball, Mims had it and belched a 2-run homer to get the Knights back into striking distance, 6-3. Abe offered a leadoff walk to Hibbard in the fifth, which promptly led to yet another run on Ruben Luna’s 2-out single to center, with Downing called out on a quite high ball in a full count to end the inning. The Coons missed chances when they got Bergquist on with a leadoff error by Downing in the bottom 5th, and then stranded a pair in the sixth, but at least Abe found his **** again and put up two more scoreless innings. Actually, the seventh was his best inning, striking out Hibbard and Rockwell before getting Jimmy Raupp on a soft pop to Bergquist. The Coons didn’t find an add-on run until they encountered Daniel Dickerson in the bottom 7th. Waggoner had a 1-out, pinch-hit single, moved up on Cookie’s groundout, and scored on Walter’s single to center, 7-4. That run turned out to be unnecessary; Ron Thrasher and Alex Ramirez each turned perfect innings to clinch the series. 7-4 Critters. Carmona 2-5; Walter 3-4, BB, RBI; McKnight 2-4, RBI; DeWeese 2-5, RBI; Young 2-4, BB, RBI;

Despite starting the season 0-2 against the Indians, the Crusaders had taken over the first position in the North by now, winning six straight games.

Raccoons (6-3) @ Loggers (5-3) – April 13-16, 2017

The Loggers had started the season 4-0, but had since slowed down a bit. They were fourth in runs scored and t-3rd in runs allowed, the latter being tied with the Raccoons, who were however ninth in runs scored. This was the first 4-game series of the year. We had beaten the Loggers three straight years, and eight out of ten, with a 12-6 output in 2016.

Projected matchups:
Bruce Morrison (0-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (0-1, 1.15 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (0-1, 2.84 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (0-1, 1.54 ERA)
Hector Santos (1-1, 4.26 ERA) vs. Ricky Mendoza (1-1, 4.80 ERA)

Scott would be a left-handed pitcher, the third southpaw starter for us this season.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 2B Walter – 1B Young – C Denny – P Morrison
MIL: RF Hodgers – 2B Kinkade – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – 3B Best – CF Gore – P Cope

The Coons had a lead as soon as they stepped off the plane, with Cookie singling to center to start the game, and Matt Nunley sending a tremendous blast over the head of Brad Gore and well into the suburbs of Milwaukee for a 2-0 lead. While the team’s offensive enthusiasm soon vanished, the Loggers didn’t get a hit until the fourth inning – but then they got a triple by Mike Rucker and a homer by Chris LeMoine to pull even at two. While Cookie had been on again in the third, it took until the fifth for another successful combo with Nunley. Cookie reached by hitting into a fielder’s choice but then stole second base, and then scored on Nunley’s single, giving the Critters the lead back, 3-2. Morrison largely held the Loggers off the base paths in this game if they didn’t hit for seven bases in two plate appearances, but we could really use some insurance. Morrison had his second base hit leading off the seventh inning, and Cookie followed that up with a walk. While that ended Cope’s game, the Loggers now had lefty Luis Guerrero in the game, which was potentially very bad for the Coons’ efforts, but at least they got Morrison home on consecutive fielder’s choices at second base. Morrison made it through seven, allowing just three hits, before handing the 4-2 lead to Ron Thrasher, who allowed a 1-out double to Victor Hodgers in the bottom 8th, but the Loggers couldn’t get him in. J.R. Kinkade grounded out and Rucker whiffed. The bottom 9th was even more tense. LeMoine hit a double on Ramirez’ first pitch, and Cameron Konrath walked. Two on, no outs was bad with a 2-run lead, but at least Orlando Castillo struck out. This however sent up two left-handed batters. Steve Best grounded out, but advanced the runners into scoring position, and Brad Gore lined over Bergquist into shallow right. LeMoine scored – and Konrath was held, with Waggoner all over that ball. Randy Porter, a right-handed batter with some power, would hit for the pitcher in the #9 hole, but struck out. 4-3 Coons! Carmona 2-4, BB; Nunley 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Morrison 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 2-3;

With Thrasher and Ramirez being both in action three out of the last four days, they were kind of off limits for the Friday game, which bitted the so far entirely luckless Jonny Toner against lefty Vic Scott.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Young – LF DeWeese – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – SS Petracek – C Denny – P Toner
MIL: 2B Kinkade – 3B Knowling – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – RF Gore – CF Tesch – P V. Scott

While Rucker homered off Toner in the first inning to give the Loggers an early 1-0 lead, they would only have two hits through five innings. That was two hits more than the Coons had off Scott, and that wasn’t all, as Scott actually was perfect through five innings, right up until he walked Brian Petracek to start the sixth inning. Petracek was immediately caught stealing, Denny then walked, but was stranded after Toner’s bunt and Cookie’s strikeout. The Loggers got an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning after both corner infielders made stupid errors. Young missed a completely trivial bouncer, while Nunley dropped a pop, and Toner couldn’t help but concede a run. After a completely clueless top of the seventh, Toner loaded the bases in the bottom 7th with a hit batter, a walk, and a single before getting the pinch-hitter Hodgers to fly out more or less casually to DeWeese in left to end the inning. The Raccoons were six outs away from a dismal no-hitter when Bergquist’s fly to left just barely so made it out of the range of LeMoine, the Rookie of the Year for 2016 although he hadn’t deserved it, and fell in for a leadoff double. Next, Waggoner reached on Zach Knowling’s error and the tying runs were aboard. Vic Scott balked in a run and the Coons still couldn’t tie the game, Petracek, Denny, and McKnight making three completely inept outs on the infield. Right-hander Troy Charters faced the top of the order in the ninth, trying to defend a 2-1 lead in a game with five hits total, but three errors.

And right there Cookie hit the most terrible bloop the stadium had seen in its lifetime: Steve Best, Cameron Konrath, and Edgar Alires converged on the leftfield line – nobody got it! – and the ball bounced into the leftfield corner. Cookie dashed like a madman and slid into third base with a leadoff bloop triple! Nunley singled HARD to left – tied game! Charters was about to drown: Young singled, DeWeese walked, bases loaded with nobody out for Bergquist, except that Walter hit for him. He struck out, but Waggoner broke the tie with a 2-run single, giving the Coons the lead, and also sending us feeling the pulse on Ramirez. Nah, we had a 19 saves guy from last year in the pen: Jayden Reed got the ball, with one each of a left-hander, right-hander, and switch-hitter up in the bottom 9th, with a 4-2 lead that required defending. Konrath hit a leadoff single. Castillo grounded out and moved him up. Two left-landed Brads were up next, Gore and Tesch, but we had already used Beaver and Thrasher was also off limits. Gore struck out. Tesch struck out. The Loggers were sad. 4-2 Blighters! Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K;

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 2B Walter – C Denny – 1B Petracek – P Brown
MIL: RF Hodgers – 3B Knowling – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – 2B Aponte – CF Gore – P Foreman

This was a heavily left-handed lineup, with five lefties and only two true righties, one of which being Foreman. Brownie struck out two in the first inning, so perhaps he would be fine with this lineup – he hadn’t seen this many left-handers so far this year. While Brown struck out three and maintained a 2-hit shutout through three innings, the Loggers had their guy be perfect through three innings for the second time in the series. Foreman retired the first eleven before McKnight reached on an error by Rucker, but DeWeese grounded out.

Nick Brown reported discomfort after the fourth inning and did not return for the fifth inning, which caused me to miss a few heartbeats. Also, the Coons didn’t get a hit until the sixth this time around, Petracek’s leadoff single enabling Korb, who had replaced Brown, to bunt him to second base, but Cookie and Nunley both grounded out, and the game remained scoreless. Hodgers hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th off Korb, with plenty of left-handers to come. Hodgers stole second base, then was caught stealing third. Top 7th, Foreman walked the bases full before Petracek came through with a 2-out, 2-run single to left, the Coons’ second hit in the game. Young then batted for Korb and struck out. The Loggers quickly pulled a run back from Mathis with two hits in the bottom 7th good enough for a run on Brad Gore’s sac fly. With no offense coming forth, the last two innings fell to Thrasher and Ramirez again, although Thrasher got stuck in his inning after a Zach Knowling single. With two outs, Randy Porter hit for LeMoine to counter Thrasher, with Chun coming into the game in a hurry to get the right-hander out and end the inning. It was still 2-1 for Ramirez in the bottom of the ninth, facing the 5-6-7 hitters, which included switch hitters on either end. Konrath grounded out to Ramirez, and Castillo and Guillermo Aponte grounded out to Bergquist at second to end the game. 2-1 Coons. Petracek 2-3, 2 RBI; Brown 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Korb 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

McKnight’s double was the only other hit for the team outside of Petracek’s singles. The Loggers had seven hits, all singles. The three walks that Foreman issued before Petracek hit the game-winning single were the only walks issued by the Loggers in the entire game, and there were four walks total including Korb’s.

By the way, Senor Mena, I would appreciate it if you could put down Poor Richard’s Almanack and get about diagnosing Brownie. – What do you mean you need it for diagnosing him? Do we actually have to consider the stars for treatment??

Game 4
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 1B Young – 3B Petracek – C Margolis – P Santos
MIL: RF Hodgers – 2B Kinkade – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – 3B Best – C Porter – CF Tesch – P Mendoza

Santos plainly got romped, conceding 2-run homers to both Rucker and Konrath in the first inning, which gave the Loggers a casual 4-0 lead. The Coons would have Carmona (walk) and Walter (single) on with two outs in the third, but McKnight popped out to short to waste the chance, and two were on again in the fourth, but Margolis flew out to Tesch in center. And while the Raccoons miserably also stranded Cookie after a double in the fifth, for Santos things never got better, and eventually got much worse. Hodgers reached with an infield single to start the bottom 5th, and Santos definitely didn’t improve his lot when he hit Kinkade with a 2-2 pitch. Rucker victimized him again with a convincing 3-run homer, which not only put the game to bed at 7-0, but also Santos. The Coons somehow lucked into a run in the top of the sixth when DeWeese hit a leadoff triple and scampered home on Waggoner’s single, but that was wildly not enough to even worry the Loggers, who got two runs back in the bottom 7th against Beaver, who walked Hodgers, allowed an RBI triple to Kinkade, and – after striking out Rucker and LeMoine – fell to a 2-out RBI single by Konrath.

The Coons were that dead and adrift that even a mild pitching explosion in the top of the eighth couldn’t pull them back into the game. Mendoza allowed a walk to DeWeese and singles to Young and Petracek, the latter plating a run, 9-2, before being removed in favor of Luis Guerrero. Margolis, who so far was hitless and without a reason to exist, raked a 3-run homer, and it still didn’t matter. The Coons somehow managed to balk (Mathis) in an unearned (Nunley…) run that was on Beaver in the bottom 8th, conceding double digits for the second time this week.

Top 9th, Bartolo Ortíz faced three and retired nobody, allowing three singles before Charters took over a 10-5 game with the tying run on deck. Waggoner blooped to right for an RBI single, pulling up Adam Young as the tying run. Well, nothing bad for Milwaukee could happen here. Young ****tily flew out to left, but Petracek pushed in a run with a walk, 10-7, before Margolis K’ed. Nunley had been batting ninth for a while and singled to center, plating two, which got the Coons to 10-9 with a quick runner (Petracek) on second base, if Cookie could get through. And Charters balked!! The Raccoons’ runners moved into scoring position for Cookie now, except that with first base open, Cookie got the silent treatment. That brought up Bergquist, who had started the inning with a pinch-hit single, but now struck out. 10-9 Loggers. Carmona 2-4, 2 BB, 2B; Bergquist (PH) 1-2; Johnson (PH) 1-1; DeWeese 2-4, 3B, RBI; Waggoner 2-5, 2 RBI; Young 2-5; Petracek 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley (PH) 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Reed 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Blergh.

In other news

April 10 – The Crusaders knock over the Thunder with four runs in the first, and seven runs in the second inning for a worry-free 12-3 win.
April 12 – NAS 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.417, 1 HR, 5 RBI) has his hitting streak end at 22 games, going hitless in the Blue Sox’ 7-6 win over the Stars.
April 14 – The Miners rout the Capitals, 13-2, with Tim Prince (.250, 1 HR, 4 RBI) collecting four hits, including a homer, and 2 RBI.
April 15 – The Bayhawks will be without SP Gabriel Caro (0-2, 5.68 ERA) for most of the season. The 32-year old right-hander has suffered a torn labrum.
April 15 – NYC SP Bob King (2-1, 3.24 ERA) 3-hits the Canadiens in a 6-0 shutout.
April 15 – RIC Will Bailey (.237, 1 HR, 7 RBI) hits a home run for the only scoring in the Rebels’ 1-0 win over the Cyclones.

Complaints and stuff

Well, that was an … “interesting” week. To review, the Raccoons won five games, conceding – in that order – five, four, three, two, and one run, and lost two games in which they were packed with ten each. They also lost the game in which they scored the most runs so far this season.

And we lost Brownie to who-knows-what. – Mena! What’s wrong? – Put down that ****ing almanac, it’s ****ing Sunday, now get to ****ing work!!

Yeah, well, the offense sucks. Also, somehow, the team got blasted this week and has now allowed 13 home runs, the most in the league.

Also, Jonny leads the ABL in strikeouts by no small amount (30 K to Brad Smith’s 23) and yet is winless…

Questdog · 01-28-2017, 11:09 AM

I must say that the new curse you put upon hitters acquired by the Raccoons is the most effective I have yet seen. I would have never believed that it could turn Adam Young from a bankable 25 home runs and 100 RBIs every season into a singles hitter....and a crappy singles hitter at that! You have my respect, sir, if not my admiration.....

Poor Mr. Denny seems to have been given a double dose of the stuff.....

Maybe being an a-hole is an effective deterrent, as DeWeese seems to be less affected, though maybe it only delays the inevitable for a season or so as he is not off to such a good start this year.....

Westheim · 01-28-2017, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Questdog

I must say that the new curse you put upon hitters acquired by the Raccoons is the most effective I have yet seen. I would have never believed that it could turn Adam Young from a bankable 25 home runs and 100 RBIs every season into a singles hitter....and a crappy singles hitter at that! You have my respect, sir, if not my admiration.....

It's one of those things you don't want to have a hand at, but it's unfortunately my only talent. Well, at least the only one I can show off in public...

+++

Raccoons (9-4) @ Titans (3-9) – April 17-19, 2017

Not much had gone well for the Titans so far in 2017, as they had allowed a league-leading 79 runs, more than six per game, and had scored only 46, which ranked in the bottom three. They were also without slugging catcher Tim Robinson, who was suffering from a bad back and had just been placed on the DL. Robinson had hit 29 home runs in 2016 and was kind of unreplaceable. They had won the season series from the Raccoons in 2016, 10-8.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (1-1, 6.23 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (1-0, 1.65 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (1-0, 1.98 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (1-1, 4.76 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (0-1, 1.19 ERA) vs. Dave Priest (1-0, 12.60 ERA)

Their Wednesday starter was still a bit in the air. Priest had relieved Eric Rasmussen on Saturday in a harsh rout at the hands of the Indians, and it looked like the Titans were willing to make a permanent switch of roles. In any case, all candidates to start for them are right-handed.

Game 1
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – C Denny – 1B Young – CF Petracek – LF Ochoa – P Abe
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B S. Butler – RF Branch – CF Blake – C Galan – 3B J. Stephenson – LF X. Williams – P Klein

Shane Walter started the game with a bang, roughly 390’ to right center, giving Abe a quick 1-0 lead to mess with. With no shortage of runners, the Titans would leave pairs of runners on base twice and the Coons would do so once through the end of three. The Critters’ chance came in the third inning, with McKnight sending a drive to right center with two outs, which Ezra Branch made a headlong catch on. Branch in turn popped out to end the bottom 3rd with two on. Top 4th, the Raccoons were in business again. Waggoner was hit by a Klein pitch to get going, and Mike Denny doubled past the reach of Xavier Williams, who somehow, somewhere had once won a Gold Glove. Young singled determinedly to right, plating Waggoner, and a walk to Petracek filled the sacks with still nobody out, but the Coons would be held to an Ochoa sac fly and ‘only’ a 3-0 lead after the top of the fourth. However, with the way Abe was pitching (hint: not well), ‘only 3-0’ was justified, especially with the Titans getting two hard hits off him in the bottom of the inning and scored a run on a bobbled ball that put the fourth error for the season into Nunley’s ledger. With Abe pitching, there was also no need for any outfielder to hold a gym membership. The Titans hit three deep drives in the fifth, but all three were caught.

Top 6th, and maybe Klein would suffer total collapse before Abe could. The Critters opened the inning with three straight singles, loading them up for Ochoa with no outs. But we had been in this unhappy place before and it had not worked too well. This time, it did; Ochoa lined the first pitch way over Steve Butler and up the rightfield line, plating two runs with a double, 5-1. Abe’s run-scoring groundout ended Klein’s day, and a seventh run came onto the board when Walter singled to right. Butler made an error and Jeff Lyon threw a wild pitch in Klein’s relief, but the Coons left runners in scoring position when Waggoner grounded out to short. Abe allowed a run in the sixth, but eventually managed to line up 6 2/3 innings of so-so ball, handing a roomy lead to the pen. Beaver collected three outs before Chun took over, while the Titans had shunned starter Rasmussen pitching in relief of Klein by the late innings. Chun got four outs from four Boston batters to end the game. 7-2 Raccoons. Walter 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Denny 2-5, 2B; Young 3-4, RBI; DeWeese (PH) 1-1; Petracek 2-4, BB; Ochoa 1-2, BB, 2B, 3 RBI;

Also on Monday, Jimmy Oatmeal had five hits for the Condors in their loss to the Knights. Only batting .245 out of the gate, but we all know that we got worse problems than that.

Finally, on Tuesday morning the Druid announced that he had read the cards and that he had properly diagnosed now that Nick Brown merely had a forearm cramp and would be fine by the end of the week.

First, that’s wonderful! Second, it’s probably also old age. Third, I think I can persuade Martinez to just shoot the Druid, which would be better for all involved.

While Brownie would miss his next start, this was not an issue for the team as a whole, since his turn would have fallen onto our off day on Thursday. We will see whether we reinsert him early or whether he will have to wait until his true next turn which would only be next Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 2B Bergquist – 1B Young – C Margolis – P Morrison
BOS: SS M. Rivera – C Galan – 1B S. Butler – RF Branch – 3B T. Thomas – CF Blake – 2B J. Stephenson – LF Mascorro – P J. Fuentes

The Coons scored two runs without the benefit of a hit in the first inning as Cookie and Walter both walked, Cookie stole third base with Walter moving up to second only on the throw, and Nunley and DeWeese grounded both to Joe Stephenson to allow the runners to score piecemeal. The lead was short-lived, with Morrison getting stripped in quick fashion in the bottom of the inning. Armando Galan and Butler both singled, he walked Branch, and Tom Thomas drove in a pair with a single to center. Jonathan Blake sent a drive to left that DeWeese got to, or it could have ended even worse. But the lead would be restored just as quickly – and STILL without a base hit! Margolis reached when Stephenson dropped his pop in the top 2nd. Morrison bunted him to second base, and Cookie grounded to first, where Butler’s throw was catastrophically wild and escaped both Fuentes, with Galan having to recover the ball. Margolis scored, out-running Tom Thomas down the third base line. Shane Walter ended the team’s hitlessness with a double up the rightfield line, scoring Cookie handily from second base, 4-2. And then Morrison blew it again… He walked Robert Mascorro, Mike Rivera tripled, and scored on Galan’s groundout. Four a side after two in a real mess of a game.

The next two innings were scoreless, but still long, with the Raccoons stranding runners on the corners in the fourth when Walter fouled out and Nunley rolled over to Stephenson. Fuentes was exhausted by the fifth and had to be replaced by Brett Dill, but the Raccoons struggled to work the second-worst pen in the CL to their advantage. The Titans were much closer to taking a lead, especially with Blake hitting a leadoff double in the bottom 6th. Stephenson grounded out to Nunley, who managed to keep Stephenson at second base, and the inning ended with a K to Mascorro and a soft pop to Bergquist by PH Jasper Holt. Morrison made it to the seventh before issuing a 1-out walk to Galan. With the left-handed bats in the #3 and #4 slots, Ron Thrasher took over, and allowed a deep drive to center to Butler. Cookie had to swing all four paws pretty hard, but managed to get a claw on the ball, robbing Butler of extra bases and the Titans of a potential lead. Branch struck out, ending the seventh. Jayden Reed struck out the side in the eighth, and the Coons finally got into scoring position when Cookie hit a 2-out double in the top 9th, just before limping off the field. Oh noes, not again …! Petracek ran for him, but Walter flew out softly to end the inning. Kevin Beaver allowed a double to Alex Mata, hit Rivera, threw a wild pitch, yet the Titans still failed to walk off, somehow, and the game was sent to extras, where the Raccoons ended a 7-inning scoring drought for the contest when Nunley hit an infield single, Matt Branch walked Ochoa, and Young hit a blooper to shallow center that fell in and allowed Nunley to dash home from second base. Alex Ramirez retired the first two Titans (although Ezra Branch’ scorching liner to center was barely contained by Petracek), but then allowed singles to Miguel Sanchez and Jose Gutierrez. Sanchez hurt himself sliding into third base, but he had been the last guy off the bench for Boston. Starting pitcher Zach Boyer, well known ‘round these parts of the country, had to pinch-run. Ramirez was melting now, walking Mascorro on four pitches, and with the bases loaded faced Alex Mata, another left-hander. Ramirez got him to 1-2 before Mata sent a fly to shallow center. Petracek came hustling in, hustling, hustling – got it! 5-4 Raccoons! Carmona 2-4, BB, 2B;

We have made up our deficit with the Crusaders by now. New York has yet to play a game this week. They had Monday off, and Tuesday’s game with the Loggers was rained out. We are now virtually tied atop the North, with us having played four more games than them. They will play a double header on Wednesday, or at least try to do so.

So, we’re tied for first, but at what price? Tell me, Mena, at what price? PUT DOWN THAT ****ING ALMANAC!!

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 1B Young – C Denny – CF Johnson – P Toner
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B S. Butler – 3B T. Thomas – CF Blake – C Galan – RF Mata – LF Mascorro – P Priest

The Coons took the lead in the top of the first again, Nunley grounding out to plate McKnight, who tried to break out of an early-season funk with a triple. Breaking out of funks should be on a lot of players’ list, right at the top, and Mike Denny at least made a bid, knocking a solo shot to left in the second, 2-0. Too bad that Jonny slipped in the bottom 2nd. Thomas and Blake led off with singles and he walked Galan to load the bases. Mata plated a run with a groundout before Jonny regained control and struck out Mascorro and Priest. Scoring continued, with McKnight hitting a 2-run homer in the third, but Toner gave a run back on Mata’s RBI double in the bottom 4th. In between, the Coons had hit three singles in the top 4th, but Waggoner had been thrown out at home by Mata. Toner was at almost 80 pitches after five innings, and over 90 after the sixth, in which Butler led off with a double to center, but never got to touch third base. He didn’t make it through seven, walking Holt with two outs. Thrasher bailed him out, retiring Rivera on a grounder, and pitched a perfect eighth. The Coons would get an insurance run in the top of the ninth after singles by Young and Johnson when Margolis batted for Thrasher against the lefty Bill Dean. Margolis wasn’t considered a threat by the Titans, but singled to center to score Young for a 3-run lead for Ramirez, who soon created a mess. He walked Blake and Galan to start the inning. Mata hit to Nunley, who only got the out at second base, but Mascorro’s sac fly was at least the second out. Then Xavier Williams pinch-hit for a double. This put the tying runs in scoring position and brought up the weasly Rivera. Despite first base open and the next batter a right-hander, we didn’t walk him intentionally, since he was a speed demon and would be the winning run. Nope, the Titans had to earn this one the hard way – and Rivera popped out to McKnight to end the game. 5-3 Coons. McKnight 2-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Young 2-4; Denny 2-4, HR, RBI; Johnson 2-4; Margolis (PH) 1-1, RBI; Toner 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (1-1);

The Crusaders split their double header, moving the Raccoons into sole possession of first place in the North, at least for one night (and in fact they restored the virtual tie on Thursday, squeezing past the Loggers, 4-3).

On our idle day we found out that Cookie would miss six weeks with a strained posterior cruciate ligament, so the operation to play 140 games this year was already in the bin at this point. He was sent to the DL, and we were sent scrambling for a replacement on the field – he was not replaceable in our hearts. Well, Alex, show us what you got. Duarte had batted .313/.389/.500 in the first nine games for the Alley Cats.

Raccoons (12-4) @ Bayhawks (10-6) – April 21-23, 2017

The Bayhawks were a bit the opposite of the Titans. They led the league in scoring, had an insane team batting average of .298, and were also quite competent pitching-wise with the fifth-least runs allowed. Their bullpen was the best in the league. They had won the season series in 2016, 5-4, over the Critters.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (1-2, 7.02 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (0-1, 3.32 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (2-1, 5.03 ERA) vs. Milt Beauchamp (2-1, 2.18 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-0, 2.60 ERA) vs. Manuel Rojas (2-1, 3.20 ERA)

Nominally, this wasn’t even a great rotation the Baybirds had. “Doom” Rojas was definitely the best they had, with Chae-ku Lee and Jared D’Attilo the starters the Coons would not see on this weekend. Joo was their only left-handed starter.

Game 1
POR: 3B Nunley – CF Duarte – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – 1B Petracek – P Santos
SFB: 1B B. Thomas – LF E. Jackson – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 2B Ingraham – SS R. Miller – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Joo

The first pitch of the game went right into Nunley’s ribs, after which Joo struck out two and got DeWeese to pop out. On the other side of the box score, Santos’ first pitch was grounded to short by Bill Thomas, with McKnight throwing wildly past Petracek to place Thomas at second base. He moved up on Eddie Jackson’s grounder (yes that Eddie Jackson…) and then made for home when Dave Garcia flew out to DeWeese – but had underestimated R.J.’s arm. Thomas was out by a good 15 feet at home, and the game was still scoreless. While that changed soon on Brian Petracek’s first homer for the Raccoons, a 2-run shot in the top 2nd that collected Waggoner, who had singled, the Bayhawks would not get another base runner through the end of five, by which time Santos had developed a considerable no-hit bid, which Ryan Miller (…) broke up with his leadoff single in the bottom 6th. Javy Rodriguez also singled, and after a bunt the tying runs were in scoring position. In their four previous innings the Raccoons had not amounted to more than a deep fly out by Denny, and now Santos glared into the abyss again. Thomas lined out to Nunley, who tried to double off Miller, but the former Critter was quick back to the bag and the inning continued with two outs and Jackson up, who looked like just the guy to soil Santos here after the contract drama in April. He sent a hard drive to center, which looked a lot like a message to me to stick it, but Duarte denied him with a determined dash and sure grab, and THAT ended the inning.

While the Critters remained pathetic, Dave Garcia livened up the crowd in the bottom 7th, hitting a liner past Waggoner, who fell down just as the ball was whizzing past him. Duarte had to hurry over, but by the time he collected the ball on the warning track, Garcia was already turning third base and slid in safely with an inside-the-park homer. Santos wobbled around a leadoff single by Miller in the bottom 8th, but managed to hold the flimsy 2-1 lead in once piece just long enough to feel good about himself, and the Critters cobbled together an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Ochoa hit a pinch-hit double in Denny’s spot against right-handed ex-Coon Ray Kelley and scored on Waggoner’s single to left center, just barely getting in under Dylan Alexander’s tag. Alex Ramirez just couldn’t have a calm ninth this week. After two dramatic outings in Boston, he got the first two batters in this bottom 9th before Chris Almanza sent a huge rocket to right. It lacked length, however, having traded it in for excessive height – Waggoner made the catch against the wall, and the game was in the books. 3-1 Raccoons! Ochoa (PH) 1-1, 2B; Waggoner 2-4, RBI; Santos 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (2-2) and 1-3;

Duarte went 0-for-4 with 3 K. He flew out to Jackson on a 1-2 pitch in his last at-bat, which is awfully close to a golden sombrero for someone tagged to start center for the next six weeks.

Game 2
POR: 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Duarte – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Abe
SFB: 1B B. Thomas – LF E. Jackson – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 2B Ingraham – SS Claros – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Beauchamp

It took until the fourth inning and R.J. DeWeese’s leadoff jack (which his frighteningly pale slash line bitterly needed) that the Raccoons scored the first run of the game, giving them the first blood stroke in all games of the week so far. Duarte doubled in the inning, but was stranded when the Bayhawks retired Waggoner on a pop, walked Denny intentionally, and Abe struck out. Bottom 4th, the useless Adam Young blew the lead with a forked play on Dave Garcia’s grounder, dropping the perfect feed he got from Nunley. Two 2-out singles by D-Alex and Zach Ingraham scored the runner and tied the score again. Nunley then made his own throwing error in the bottom of the fifth, misfiring Beauchamp’s bunt with Rodriguez already on first base and no outs. The ball escaped into the dugout, sending the Bayhawks in there scattering as it caromed off the bullpen telephone. Abe was no help in containing the mess, conceding one run on Thomas’ groundout and the other on a wild pitch. Abe would eventually go seven innings without allowing an earned run and still left the game with a 3-1 rope tied around his neck. The wholly disregardable Raccoons managed only two hits after the DeWeese homer. Nunley doubled in the eighth, but with two outs and after McKnight had double-play-balled Walter back to the dugout, and then Ochoa in the ninth, another double to right, and again with two outs against Kelley. Ochoa, however, didn’t stop and made for third base, finding himself thrown out there by Chris Almanza’s mighty sling to end the game. 3-1 Bayhawks. Abe 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (2-2);

Believe it or not, at this point this abysmal lineup actually produced a first-division amount of runs. Sixth place in the CL with 4.06 R/G. The drop into the bottom three, however, will be a quick one if they don’t get THEIR **** TOGETHER RIGHT NOW!!!

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Duarte – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Brown
SFB: SS Claros – LF E. Jackson – CF D. Garcia – RF Almanza – C D. Alexander – 2B Ingraham – 1B McIntyre – 3B J. Rodriguez – P M. Rojas

Brownie had felt merely old, but not hurt, throwing a semi-bullpen and some long tossing on Friday, so he was penciled in for the Sunday game rather than waiting for the order to circle around to his position again by Tuesday. This was probably a bad decision we would regret in no time, and Raul Claros hit a double on his second pitch of the game. The first inning was nothing less than a never-ending nightmare, and in fact didn’t end until everybody in the Bayhawks’ order had taken a turn. They hit three more singles through the seams on the infield, but Brown also walked two and conceded four hard-earned runs. Also, all runs scored with two outs. To add headaches to indignity, Brown was the only Raccoon to reach base the first time through against “Doom” Rojas, drawing a walk before Walter struck out to end the top 3rd. Brown had the trainer’s assistant rub his shoulder before the bottom 3rd, went back out there, allowed two singles, and then headed straight for the dugout. Oh come on, Nick! What’s tweaking now!?

John Korb got a long relief assignment here. He had been marked to pitch in this game anyway, not having seen action the entire week. He allowed both of Brown’s runs to score with a groundout by Ingraham, a Will McIntyre sac fly, and then a single by Rodriguez. Rojas hit an RBI double for good measure, with the 7-0 score enough to beat these embarrassing Critters thrice. They didn’t get a hit until the fourth, when DeWeese singled and was left on, and when Duarte had a leadoff single in the fifth, Waggoner was right there to hit into a double play, while Chun would get bludgeoned for two runs in the bottom 6th, and that was with Duarte throwing out a runner at home. The Raccoons didn’t reach second base until the eighth inning when Denny and Bergquist hit back-to-back 2-out singles, only for Walter to pop out to Ingraham. Rojas pitched a 4-hit shutout in a terrible rout in which the Raccoons sucked regardless of definition or scale. 9-0 Bayhawks. Bergquist 1-1;

In other news

April 17 – In a shocking move, the Capitals exchange 33-yr old 2B Ieyoshi Nomura (.291, 0 HR, 5 RBI) for the Cyclones’ SP Shunyo Yano (1-1, 3.86 ERA).
April 18 – RIC 1B Alberto Rodriguez (.310, 1 HR, 8 RBI) joins the 2,000 hits club with a 3-for-5 performance in a 6-2 Rebels win over the Blue Sox. Rodriguez hits a single off Diego Mendoza jr. for the milestone hit. The 34-year old right-hander, who was taken eighth overall by the Wolves in the 2003 draft, was the 2006 Rookie of the Year and has spent his entire career in the Federal League, batting .291/.372/.433 with 119 HR and 886 RBI. He also won a Gold Glove in 2014, and two Platinum Sticks in 2011 and 2013.
April 19 – NYC INF Carlos Martinez (.371, 5 HR, 13 BRI) has strained his posterior cruciate ligament and will be out for a month, while the team will also be without MR Salvadaro Soure (0-0, 1.69 ERA) for a week at least, who is laboring on a sore shoulder.
April 20 – TOP LF/RF Bill Adams (.351, 1 HR, 10 RBI) finds himself on the DL with shoulder tendinitis.
April 21 – A torn triceps might cost MIL SP Brian Cope (1-1, 4.70 ERA) most of the season. He should be out for about four months.
April 22 – Los Angeles’ 2B/SS Bobby Torres (.301, 1 HR, 7 RBI) has five hits, including a homer and a double, and 2 RBI in his team’s 13-2 rout of the Capitals.

Complaints and stuff

I think we were shown our place as sub-carpet team on Sunday, which brings us directly to Brownie, who was diagnosed as having a mild shoulder strain. This time he was going to the DL (although the minimum 15 days might be enough to restore operable condition, whatever that meant right now), opening a spot for someone from AAA. Of course, Chris Munroe will be the front runner here. He had a 3.47 ERA in St. Pete, whiffing three for every walk. The only other starter down there that wasn’t getting rolled was ironically Jeff Magnotta with a 3.38 ERA and 2 K/BB. Well, yeah, I’ll stick with Munroe, thanks.

Before anyone asks, there is no obvious offensive help buried down there. In fact, there is only one remaining player with the Alley Cats that has a meaningful number of at-bats and even a .600 OPS. That would be Andy Bareford, batting .325, mostly singles. He was a supplemental rounder four years ago and is only 22, so the jury is still out on him. The Alley Cats are 3-9, by the way, and the other minor league teams had similarly brilliant starts to their season.

What else? I hate posterior cruciate ligaments. Are they even good for anything? Mena! – No, the Druid doesn’t know either.

The Yoshi/Yano move makes no sense for the Capitals, at all. I can’t get my head around it. If I had known they wanted to get rid of him so badly……. Nah, he wouldn’t fit into the budget.

Westheim · 01-30-2017, 03:37 PM

The week started with a raging upset, as the Thunder had a new player: 1B B.J. Manfull, acquired on waivers from the Crusaders. Made redundant by the arrival of Ray Gilbert in New York, Manfull had gotten only five plate appearances in the first three weeks of the season. The Thunder had the budget room in addition to the desire and grabbed him. The 32-year old 4-time All Star, 3-time World Champion, and 2015 CLCS *and* World Series MVP is still under contract through 2018. He’s a career .297 batter with 190 HR and 845 RBI.

Raccoons (13-6) @ Condors (6-13) – April 25-27, 2017

The Condors, who had been World Series finalists after all in 2016, had not gotten a good start to the season at all. They were second from the bottom in runs scored, plating hardly three and a half runs per game, and only ninth in runs allowed, with a horrendous 5.12 ERA bullpen to set anything on fire that the rotation hadn’t burned down yet. They also had lost four games in a row. The Coons had not won the season series against Tijuana in three years, sinking 3-6 to them in 2016.

Projected matchups:
Bruce Morrison (1-0, 3.15 ERA) vs. Troy McCaskill (1-2, 2.70 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (1-1, 1.53 ERA) vs. Zach Hughes (1-2, 4.71 ERA)
Hector Santos (2-2, 5.11 ERA) vs. Kevin Woodworth (2-2, 2.93 ERA)

These are all right-handers. The Condors’ southpaw, Luis Flores (1-2, 3.44 ERA) would serve a suspension for the duration of the series for intentionally drilling Atlanta’s Gil Rockwell last week.

Game 1
POR: 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – CF Duarte – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Morrison
TIJ: CF Jamieson – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – 1B Jaeger – 3B Dasher – SS Lafon – 2B Dahlke – RF Abraham – P McCaskill

The Coons again came up with a run in the first inning, although in frustrating circumstances. A Walter single and a Nunley double put runners in scoring position for the assumed, meaty middle of the order. DeWeese managed a sorry roller to Tom Dahlke that at least plated Shane Walter, but Nunley was stranded at third base when Young fouled out. More offense was graciously donated by the Condors in the second inning. We had Denny on first base and two outs when Dahlke mishandled Bruce Morrison’s grounder for an error. Walter hit a single to center, and with the sacks full McKnight, batting a frightening .194, drew a walk from McCaskill to shove home a run. Nunley rolled out to the pitcher, though. Another run scored in the third, wild-pitch-aided as it was, but the resulting 3-0 lead almost went up in smoke when Morrison had runners on the corners in the bottom 3rd and Jose Vargas sent a deep drive to center. Alex Duarte came up with it, but for a long while it looked like a homer. A run an inning continued for the Coons. McKnight hit a solo shot in the fourth, and in the fifth Young – somehow – got on base and was tripled in by Alex Duarte, who was then on third base with no outs, and was of course stranded. In between, Roland Lafon in his first game of the season hit an RBI single for the Condors, but the Coons were in the driver’s seat, and McCaskill was gone after the fifth inning, down 5-1. Iemitsu Rin, 38 and looking like 83, opened the sixth walking Walter, allowing a single to McKnight, and then throwing a wild pitch. No outs, runners on second and third, the Raccoons failed to come up with a hit, but at least Nunley and DeWeese both hit run-scoring groundouts, running the score to 7-1. The Coons kept running up the score, with Denny plating Waggoner after a double and a passed ball with his own single in the seventh. Meanwhile, Morrison had a quite neat line for the game, but while he allowed only one run through seven innings, this glossed over a number of close calls. The Raccoons turned three double plays for him, and the Condors stranded runners on third base thrice more through seven, and again in the bottom 8th, although by then Morrison was out of the game. After a Jimmy Oatmeal single and a double by Kevin Jaeger up the leftfield line, Chris Mathis had replaced him. He walked Lafon with two outs, but then got a pop from Dahlke to end the inning with the bases loaded. The Coons got a run off Zack Entwistle in the ninth; Entwistle initially walked two before Denny hit into a double play. Ochoa batted for Mathis, grounded to short and Lafon was too slow to make a play after having to make a backhanded grab. Ochoa legged it out for an infield single, plating the Coons’ ninth run in the game. 9-1 Coons. Walter 2-5, BB; McKnight 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Duarte 2-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Denny 2-4, BB, RBI; Ochoa (PH) 1-1, RBI; Morrison 7.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (2-0);

All Raccoons positional starters had at least one hit, only Matt Nunley didn’t score a run, and only Walter and Young didn’t get an RBI. Everything was well spread out; so well in fact that even the six walks they drew were by six different players – all position players except DeWeese and Young. They also scored in every inning but the eighth, in which Frank Guggenheim stranded Matt Nunley on second base.

Game 2
POR: 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Ochoa – CF Duarte – 1B Young – C Denny – P Toner
TIJ: CF Jamieson – C J. Vargas – LF Eichelkraut – 1B Jaeger – 3B Dasher – SS Lafon – 2B Eroh – RF Abraham – P Hughes

One day later, the Coons’ hitting fortunes seemed completely reversed. They stranded seven in the first three innings, scored nobody, and every single decision I had made (limited to flicking rightfielders and the #5 and #7 hitters) was wrong, with Young out of the first inning, although Duarte flew out to strand three runners, while Young would lead off the second with a single. Sure as hell, however, when he batted with two on in the third, he was useless in the truest sense of the word. The scoreboard wasn’t touched until Mike Denny’s leadoff jack in the top of the fourth, with Jonny holding the Condors down to the tune of a single hit and five strikeouts in the first three innings.

Young’s defense then hurt even more than his non-existent bat. The bottom 6th started off with one of those can-do-nothing bloopers by a pitcher that happened to fall between infield and outfield, and it put Hughes on base as the tying run. Worse yet, when Matt Jamieson grounded up the first base line, Young held a nap and then made a very awkward play down to one knee to control the bouncer that didn’t have many teeth at all. Neither Walter nor Toner bothered to sprint to the base on an easy grounder, and Jamison – who was quick and nothing else – legged out an infield single. Toner’s concentration was broken, Vargas bombed him, and the Condors were up 3-1. While there was no noticeable reaction from the visitors’ lineup, Toner departed after issuing 2-out walks to Alfonso Gonzales and Jamieson in the bottom 7th. Thrasher faced the left-handed pinch-hitter Juan Ortíz and surrendered a drive to deep right that Ochoa by the barest margin managed to scrape off the top of the fence, denying the Condors their second 3-run homer. The Coons remained down by two in the ninth inning, in which for reasons unknown the Condors fielded Zack Entwistle, who already had made a joke of himself in the series opener. Nunley hit a 1-out single, bringing up DeWeese as the tying run, batting all of .162 and flying out to Jamieson. Ochoa grounded to Ron Eroh for the final out. 3-1 Condors. Walter 2-5; Denny 2-4, HR, RBI; Margolis (PH) 1-1;

Another solid team effort behind the perpetually screwed Jonny Toner, who whiffed a dozen and still came up the short end of the stick, or no stick at all. If Ortíz’ fly had been one foot deeper, five of Jonny’s eight base runners would have scored.

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – CF Duarte – 1B Young – C Denny – LF Johnson – P Santos
TIJ: CF Jamieson – 2B Eroh – LF Eichelkraut – 3B Dasher – SS Lafon – C A. Gonzales – 1B J. Ortíz – RF Abraham – P Woodworth

When your best clutch hitter was Hector Santos, you generally were in trouble. This was true for both teams, who combined to strand 11 runners in the first three innings while scoring zip runs, with the Critters leaving pairs on in all three of those innings. Brandon Johnson would then reach on a soft single with one out in the fourth. He stole second base, and when Santos singled to center – his second base hit on the day – Johnson dashed home to plate the first run. While even a Waggoner triple in the fifth wasn’t enough to generate anything, Santos was much better after the first two nightmarish innings and cranked up the K’s after that, while also continuing to supply offense, drawing a 2-out walk in the top 6th. Three straight singles by the top three in the order plated one run before Waggoner grounded out to Eroh to leave the bases loaded, 2-0.

While Santos remained in control, Johnson hit a leadoff triple off Woodworth in the eighth, the 12th hit off the Condors right-hander. He remained in the game for Santos, whom he had retired zero times on the day, and while he technically got him this time, it was only on a sac fly, giving the Coons their third run on the fly to Jimmy Oatmeal in left. Santos’ moundwork continually saw the Condors shut out, even if it took a hero’s play by Waggoner to contain Ron Eroh’s scorched howler to end the bottom 8th. Up 3-0, Santos returned for the bottom 9th on 93 pitches, with every runner meaning instant death for him, Alex Ramirez being ready in the pen. Jimmy Oatmeal’s 388-footer to left on pitch 95 counted as runner, so Ramirez inherited a 3-1 game with nobody out. He was 3-0 on Craig Dasher before third baseman grounded out to Young, and Lafon also went down quickly before Alfonso Gonzales singled to left. Ortíz grounded to short, McKnight missed the ball for an error, and this started to go south in a hurry. Or was it? Jose Vargas hit for Craig Abraham, and had already hit a game-winner, Wednesday’s 3-run homer, and there were two on again. Vargas struck out this time, though. 3-1 Blighters. Nunley 3-5, RBI; Waggoner 2-3, BB, 3B; Johnson 3-4, 3B; Santos 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (3-2) and 2-2, BB, 2 RBI;

Hector’s right. Do it yourself, then you know it’s gotten done.

This team is annoying. My personal scape goat of the day once more: Adam Young, batting squid-for-four, including two third outs to strand three total. DeWeese didn’t even play in this game.

Raccoons (15-7) vs. Canadiens (7-14) – April 28-30, 2017

The Elks were bottom of the Continental League in runs scored, with 67 for 21 games, which came out to a shocking 3.2 runs per game. Their pitching wasn’t that much better and had conceded 115 runs in the meantime, which gave them a whopping -48 run differential IN APRIL, with their rotation running up a 5.35 ERA. The pen was good, but could only provide some cosmetic cover-up to the huge damage done by the rest of the roster. We had swept them in three games in Vancouver at the start of the season.

Projected matchups:
Chris Munroe (0-0) vs. Rod Taylor (0-4, 6.91 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (2-2, 3.71 ERA) vs. Jose Flores (1-3, 5.20 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (2-0, 2.63 ERA) vs. Sean Lewis (1-2, 7.04 ERA)

Well, just look at them. First, Rod Taylor led the league in strikeouts EVERY YEAR since 2008 – minus 2015, when Jonny beat him. This year, he’s hardly whiffing six per nine, and it takes him a long time to reach nine innings. Their only starter not rotten to the core right now was reigning POTY Sam McMullen (2-2, 2.62 ERA) and we’d miss him, thank goodness. Flores would be their other southpaw, penned in for Saturday.

Despite their offensive patheticness, Adrian Quebell was batting .382 for them…

Game 1
VAN: CF Cameron – SS Lawrence – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – C Little – LF Rocha – 2B Palmer – P Ro. Taylor
POR: SS Walter – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 1B Young – 2B Petracek – C Margolis – P Munroe

Hardly an inning into the game, and I started to get why the Elks scored no runs, and Adrian Quebell, batting .382 or not, had a hand in it. Munroe faced four left-handers at the top of the lineup, and struggled, to say the least. He allowed a single to Don Cameron, walked Jaylin Lawrence, and Kurt Evans also singled. Quebell was at 3-0 and just had to hold still to give the Elks the lead, but hit a ball to centerfield instead. Duarte caught it, Cameron moved for home, and was thrown out. Hell, even ****ing Adam Young held still when he was at 3-0 in the bottom 1st with the bases loaded! That was the first run Taylor allowed on the 4-pitch walk, and he also walked ex-Elk Petracek for the second run … which unfortunately only tied the game, since Munroe had coughed up a 2-run single to “Quasimodo” Suda after the Quebell double-whammy in the top of the inning. Margolis struck out, leaving it at 2-2 after one exhausting inning.

Munroe more or less regained control after that, at least for a while. Taylor remained creaky, but the Coons didn’t exploit it. They had three hits for a run in the bottom 3rd before with Young and Margolis making pathetic outs, and that was largely it. They also lost Matt Nunley to injury in the fourth inning, tearing another hole into an already thinned-out lineup. McKnight replaced him, with Walter shifting to third. In the sixth, the Elks effortlessly made up their deficit when Quebell and Suda hit doubles into either corner to start the frame, Munroe threw a wild one and conceded the go-ahead run on Morgan Little’s fly to deep right that Waggoner caught, but there was no play for him at home. Although it was only 4-3 against the usually beleaguered Taylor, who would strike out nine in eight innings, the Coons looked beaten even before Seung-mo Chun allowed a triple to Mario Rocha and subsequent pinch-hit RBI single to Mike Gershkovich. In the bottom 9th, the Raccoons carted up the bottom of the order against the always deadly Pedro Alvarado, but to anybody’s surprise got the tying runs aboard with one out when Margolis and Bergquist both hit singles. Walter lined to right and Evans narrowly didn’t get it, with the third single stuffing the bags. Duarte flew out to center, where Cameron didn’t have a good arm and Margolis scored without hesitation, nor threat. When McKnight walked, it pulled up our glorious .165 money sink, R.J. DeWeese, with two outs. He rolled the ball back to Alvarado, who threw casually to first base. DeWeese was out by 65 feet. 5-4 Canadiens. Walter 3-5; Nunley 2-2;

Grim loss. **** game.

Game 2
VAN: CF Cameron – LF E. Garcia – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – C Little – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – P J. Flores
POR: CF Duarte – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 1B Petracek – RF Ochoa – 2B Bergquist – P Abe

Mike Denny batting cleanup looked a lot like capitulation, but he hit a double his first time up, which unfortunately did not lead to a run in any form. Denny hit ANOTHER double in the bottom 4th, but the story was the same, and there was really nothing interesting that happened in between. The Elks took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on Morgan Little’s first home run of the season, while the Raccoons at least managed to reach third base in the bottom of the same inning, even if it was just on a Suda error, before Walter stranded Ochoa right there with a fly out to left. The Elks lost Flores to injury after that inning, and while ex-Coon Manobu Sugano released some hard contact in the bottom 6th, none of it fell in or went out. Sugano was still at it in the bottom 7th, with Petracek becoming the tying run after legging out an infield single against the clumsy Suda. He stole second base while Ochoa and Bergquist made unhelpful outs. Two outs, Sugano remained in the game, even as Abe stepped into the batter’s box, and obviously the Elks hadn’t learned anything from facing Sugano for five years. Abe was a right-handed batter, and right-handed batters used to murder Sugano. Down 1-2, Abe sent a quick bouncer up the middle and into center, Petracek raced home, and we were tied at one! Abe faced only one more batter, retiring Gershkovich on a pop before yielding to Thrasher, who walked two and barely made it out of the eighth. Still better than the misery that came after him in the #9 hole. Mathis allowed a HUGE homer to Suda in the top of the ninth, putting the Critters behind the #8 ball yet again, and they faced Alvarado again in the bottom of the inning. DeWeese drew a leadoff walk and advanced on two groundouts before Alvarado also lost Waggoner, hitting for Bergquist, to a walk. We had the choice between Margolis and Young to hit for Mathis, and conventional wisdom had us send Young against the right-handed Alvarado. He struck out. 2-1 Canadiens. Denny 2-4, 2 2B; Abe 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K and 1-2, RBI;

I checked, and our starting pitching department does in fact NOT have a higher batting average than the rest of the team. But the fact that I *checked* is bad enough.

R.J. DeWeese is slugging .253. Grandma Westfield could slug .253 right now, and she’s been dead for 20 years.

Game 3
VAN: CF Cameron – LF E. Garcia – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – C Little – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – P Lewis
POR: 3B Walter – CF Duarte – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Denny – RF Waggoner – 2B Petracek – 1B Young – P Morrison

Against a guy that struck out basically nobody and had walked 13 in 23 innings, the Raccoons did nothing. DeWeese was on base both of his first two turns at innocent bystanding in the box, and that was because Lewis hit him twice. Neither incident led to any offense, with the first of its kind even followed by another hit batter in Brian Petracek, and with TWO free runners the Coons STILL couldn’t find a run that was hidden right under their fat, old bums.

Adam Young hit a double in the bottom 5th, his first extra-base hit of the season (insert sadness here), and still couldn’t find any allies in accidentally toppling Lewis, who then opened the top 6th with a double past Waggoner. Morrison had staved off the Elks for five innings, doing splendidly for a fifth starter picked off the trash heap, but now buckled. Don Cameron singled, and they got the run with Enrique Garcia’s sac fly to center. Evans even hit another double, but Quebell and Suda failed in their bids to do more damage. There was A LOT of misery on the field, and the home crowd was unruly. The bottom 6th opened with Duarte walking, in fact the first walk allowed by Lewis in the game. The 3-4-5 batters made three quick outs. Little’s leadoff single in the top 7th was only the beginning then, as Morrison walked the bases full before allowing Lewis to roll a grounder past a dramatically yet inefficiently diving Young for an RBI single. He was yanked with the bases loaded and nobody out in a 2-0 game, and two runs would score on a pinch-hit single by Mario Rocha. Four runs for the Elks were enough to beat the Raccoons four times – Sean Lewis threw a 2-hit shutout at them. 4-0 Canadiens.

I would start selling if anybody would buy this collection of imbeciles…

Finally, Matt Nunley was diagnosed with back tightness. No structural damage, but he’s supposed to take it easy for another few days, and we listed him as DTD.

In other news

April 26 – NO-HITTER! New York’s SP Jaylen “Midnight” Martin (4-1, 2.43 ERA) enters the record books with a no-hit performance in a 1-0 victory over the Bayhawks! Martin walks two and whiffs eight, while the Crusaders make two errors. Rodrigo Lopez (.462, 2 HR, 5 RBI) provides all the offense with a solo home run. This is the 35th no-hitter in ABL history, and the fourth for the Crusaders, tied for second-most with the Bayhawks, ironically behind the record-setting Raccoons (who have six). Eric Edmonstone (1984), Carlos Guillén (1985), and George Kirk (2004) spun the other no-hitters for the franchise. This is the third no-hitter in a row that comes in a 1-0 game on the road, the fourth in the last five, and all seven most recent no-hitters have been thrown by road teams. Three of those have come against the Bayhawks.
April 28 – IND RF Nick Gilmor (.337, 7 HR, 23 RBI) has five hits in the Indians’ 9-3 win over the Crusaders, including a homer and a double.
April 29 – MIL INF Steve Best (.354, 1 HR, 12 RBI) misses the cycle by the homer, knocking five hits against Boston in an 11-9 Loggers win.
April 29 – SFW RF/LF Mike Bednarski (.310, 1 HR, 7 RBI) will miss six weeks with a hamstring tear, while his teammate INF Raul Maldonado (.276, 0 HR, 5 RBI) should be out for a month with shoulder inflammation.

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders signed “Midnight” Martin to a 4-year extension this Monday, handing him some heavy coin in the process. Martin will get $11.84M for his age 34-37 seasons, and the reward for the Crusaders came IN-STANT-LY.

Which is good. It gets our no-hit percentage in their pie down to 50%. We were the victims of both Guillén and Kirk, the latter in that funny half-decade when we’d alternate having ****ty pitchers throw no-hitters against the other team. Bob Joly anyone?

In any case, that was the Crusaders’ ONLY win this week, and the Raccoons were still too ****ing dumb to make up a 2-game deficit. In fact, the Indians whizzed by all of us, and we’re now about to get company from the Loggers.

This team sucks so bad, they could really become the stuff of legends. Matt Nunley leads all non-disabled regulars with a .705 OPS (and by the time Cookie comes back he will be weeks away from qualifying for those slash line stats). It’s ridiculous. McKnight, Denny, and DeWeese lead the team in homers (in fact, they’re the only ones with more than one), and they are batting a combined .181 …

Saturday’s edition of the Agitator showed DeWeese, Young, Margolis, and Waggoner on the front page, with the big letters reading ‘WHY ARE THEY GETTING PAID??’. Well… they do have a point… Margolis seems like the odd one out, but if we’re honest, the entire position player flotilla belongs on that front page. Except for Cookie, who’s hurt, Nunley, who’s hurt, and Walter, who will without a doubt die tomorrow.

So glad we always have about four to five extra players per minor league level. We have suffered an epidemic of minor injuries in the minors this month, with about a dozen guys going down, and most of them for two weeks or so, but all at the same time. No hot prospects among them. The only serious injury is 2015 fifth-rounder 2B Francisco Diaz, who tore his labrum and is out for the season. He had batted .286/.332/.429 in Aumsville last year, which isn’t too shabby for a second-thought middle infielder. He’s still 19, he still will have a chance to show what he has next year.

We will face the Crusaders for the first time next week, four games at home before a renewal of our lukewarm rivalry with the Wolves over the weekend in the first interleague set of the year. The following Monday, the 8th, will be another off-day. In fact, of our first eight off days this season, only one was on a Thursday.

Westheim · 02-01-2017, 03:09 PM

Raccoons (15-10) vs. Crusaders (15-9) – May 1-4, 2017

The Crusaders ranked fifth in offense and pitching in the early going, which certainly wasn’t near their full potential. I had a really, really bad feeling about this 4-game set, and that it would drop the Critters, whose last five games had been outright miserable to tell the honest truth, reasonably close to .500 to mentally give up and book a nice vacation for October. Technically the Crusaders had won only a single game the previous week, but by my careful accounting, the Raccoons had scored four runs in the last 28 months and were due for a good ol’ whippin’.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (1-2, 2.00 ERA) vs. Bob King (3-1, 3.46 ERA)
Hector Santos (3-2, 4.13 ERA) vs. Fernando Cruz (4-1, 3.67 ERA)
Chris Munroe (0-1, 5.68 ERA) vs. Hwa-pyung Choe (2-1, 3.71 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (2-2, 3.18 ERA) vs. Colin Sabatino (0-3, 10.80 ERA)

They had some serious talent on the DL, including Curtis Tobitt and Stanton Martin, who had made it only four games before breaking a finger. Their middle infield had also taken a beating with Eric Paull and Carlos Martinez out with knee injuries. On top of that, everybody but Wednesday’s starter would be on short rest for them after a hard week with rainouts at the end of April. Although we’d miss no-no hero “Midnight” Martin (4-2, 2.72 ERA), who had pitched on short rest on Sunday and had lost, I still had the uneasy feeling that the Critters would find themselves raked in the series. Cruz would be the only southpaw to oppose us.

The Coons entered May without Cookies or Brownies at hand, and were also starved for Nunley, who was still listed as DTD, but would be available to pinch-hit.

We have won the season series the last two years, both times 11-7.

Game 1
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Paraz – 1B Gilbert – RF W. Jones – 3B M. Salinas – 2B Caraballo – C Lowe – SS A. Rodriguez – P B. King
POR: 2B Walter – RF Ochoa – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 2B Petracek – C Denny – 1B Young – P Toner

While Bob King served the Raccoons in seven pitches in the first inning, the chewy top of the first only ended with Francisco Caraballo’s fly to DeWeese, leaving the bases loaded after almost 30 pitches of Jonny Toner having visible internal debates as to where to throw the ball. Was it past the batter, or right at the batter? A Jose Paraz single, a Ray Gilbert walk, and Miguel Salinas getting hammered with a 2-2 were the ingredients of his predicament, although thankfully it got better after that. Paraz objected after getting smacked in the third inning, but the Crusaders wouldn’t get a runner after that until the sixth inning, then unfortunately with Ray Gilbert not even stopping on base, circling them instead after a daft leadoff home run to center, his fifth of the season. This only served to cut the Coons’ 2-0 lead in half, achieved in the bottom 2nd on a Petracek triple and a HUGE homer by Mike Denny, who was becoming something of the force in the lineup, batting all of .227 with four homers.

Toner made it through seven with only four hits allowed, but the Raccoons showed token offensive attempts at best before Brandon Johnson hit a double in Toner’s spot with two outs in the bottom 7th. Shane Walter and Danny Ochoa both snuck grounders past an unlucky infielder, which gave the Coons their 2-run lead back, but when McKnight actually hit one with mustard on to deep right, Winston Jones spoiled it before adding his face to the fence. Mathis would allow a 1-out single to the obnoxious Gilbert, but that was the Crusaders’ last runner in the top of the eighth. Him and Ramirez retired the next five in order to take the opener. 3-1 Critters. Petracek 2-4, 3B; Johnson (PH) 1-1, 2B; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (2-2);

Game 2
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Paraz – 1B Gilbert – RF W. Jones – 3B M. Salinas – 2B Caraballo – C Lowe – SS A. Rodriguez – P F. Cruz
POR: CF Duarte – 1B Petracek – SS McKnight – C Denny – 3B Walter – RF Johnson – LF DeWeese – 2B Bergquist – P Santos

McKnight, Denny, and Walter hit three singles in a row off Cruz with two outs in the first inning, enough to score the team’s daily run. The normally steady Santos, who had walked three batters in 32.2 innings in April, was on four walks by the fourth inning. The first three of those had come with nobody on in the first three innings, but the Crusaders hadn’t found hits to do something with them. With one out in the fourth, Winston Jones and Miguel Salinas both hit singles, and then Santos walked Caraballo to load them up. One pitch later, Drew Lowe grounded into a double play, but four innings had cost Santos 67 pitches, and in the fifth he ended up walking Cruz, the opposing pitcher. McKnight’s heroic grab on Paraz’ sizzling liner would end the inning before damage could be incurred by Santos, but he was really hard to look at in this game…

As was the offense. In fact, Santos’ leadoff single in the bottom 5th was only their second hit and third runner past the first inning, and Duarte’s dutiful double play duly de-based him. Petracek reached on an infield single, but McKnight hit a ball about 20 feet and was out at first by about 50. He was done after five and two thirds, and the flimsy 1-0 lead survived a 2-out cameo by Seung-mo Chun, but not an appearance by Kevin Beaver, who allowed a 1-out double to the lefty Drew Lowe in the seventh, and a pinch-hit single to Rodrigo Lopez. Ron Richards hit for Cruz, but hit into a double play, for which he was wonderfully mocked by the home crowd. The Crusaders came back with an invitation, complete with a card and flowers. Sending Dave Shannon to pitch the bottom 7th, he threw DeWeese’s pathetic grounder wildly past Gilbert for a 2-base error, then balked him to third base with nobody out. Bergquist failed abysmally with a grounder to third, but Waggoner, who had entered in the double switch that had brought us Chun, hit an RBI single to right before being caught stealing. Beaver came close to blowing that, too, allowing a leadoff single to Martin Ortíz in the eighth, but once Jayden Reed replaced him the Crusaders ran out of air and were sat down with K’s to Gilbert and Jones. The bottom 8th saw two singles off Shannon and a Walter double play, after which Thrasher got the save opportunity with Ramirez having been out two days in a row and with Drew Lowe lurking in the inning again, too. Thrasher issued a leadoff walk to Miguel Salinas and gave everybody the shivers with some grossly missing pitches (Denny got his workout), but somehow the Crusaders made three outs before Salinas could gain 270 feet on wild pitches. 2-1 Blighters. Denny 3-4; Waggoner 1-1, RBI;

This time is a gross mess. And yet they were now back in a tie for first place with the Indians having dropped their game with the Loggers.

Game 3
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – C Paraz – 1B Gilbert – RF W. Jones – 3B M. Salinas – 2B Caraballo – C Lowe – SS A. Rodriguez – P Choe
POR: CF Duarte – LF Ochoa – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – 2B Petracek – 1B Young – C Margolis – P Munroe

Fans’ minds were blown when William Waggoner hit a 2-out, 3-run homer in the first inning. THREE runs in ONE inning! When had man ever seen a feat like that!? To cool off the excitement, Munroe, who had already allowed two hits in the first inning, allowed three hits in quick succession in the second, then a sac fly to Armando Rodriguez, and finally a game-tying 2-out RBI double to Ortíz, while the certified dumbass Adam Young had a 3-0 count at the start of the bottom 2nd and used it to ground out to ****ing Ray Gilbert. While the morbidly inept Raccoons had no runners in the second and third innings, the Crusaders had leadoff singles in EVERY inning, and in the fourth had three singles to start the frame, with the first one dumped into left by Choe. Munroe had allowed ten hits so far in the game, and 17 in 9.1 innings if including his inglorious first start, and would not retire another batter. He plunked Gilbert (which I normally wouldn’t object to, although he should strike him in his ugly mouth rather than his butt), and allowed another single for another run to Jones. Down 5-3, no outs, three on, John Korb replaced him to see whether this could somehow be saved from spiraling completely out of control. Turned out, it couldn’t. He walked in a run against Salinas, and Caraballo and Rodriguez would plate pairs of runs for a healthy 10-3 lead, which should have been enough for the Crusaders to even win Thursday’s game.

And it probably would have been, except that Choe suffered a complete meltdown in the same inning. He retired none of the first four Coons in the bottom 4th before Margolis popped out with the bases loaded in a 10-4 deficit. Nunley batted for Korb and hit a 2-run single to center, which prompted the Crusaders to dump Choe and bring right-hander Robert Parsons, a former Thunder. He struck out Duarte before Ochoa reached on catcher’s interference, loading them up for Walter as the tying run, but our makeshift third baseman flew out to Ortíz. Parsons and Chun would pitch some decent long relief, at least until Chun allowed a 2-out homer to Paraz in the top 7th. The Raccoons never came close to mounting another charge, let alone get the tying run into a meaningful position. Walter and Duarte would hit doubles, yet in different innings, and in the ninth they went down quite fast against Helio Maggessi. 11-6 Crusaders. Duarte 3-5, 2 2B; Nunley (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

Aah, there’s that whippin’ I talked about.

At least Nunley was cleared to start for the Thursday game, which might give us a bit more – … nah.

Game 4
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – CF Paraz – 1B Gilbert – RF W. Jones – 3B M. Salinas – 2B Caraballo – C Lowe – SS A. Rodriguez – P Sabatino
POR: CF Duarte – 2B Petracek – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – P Abe

Sabatino’s cheeks were still red from the last beating he had gotten on Saturday, but would be perfect the first time through the order, while Abe was scuttled right in the first inning. Gilbert hit a hard 2-out single before Jones and Salinas came up with back-to-back bombs to bury him beneath a 3-0 deficit. The Crusaders left the bases loaded without scoring in a long and tedious second inning and by the fourth didn’t bother to have Sabatino bunt with one out. He swung away, luckily for the second out to Waggoner, before Abe drilled Ortíz. Paraz ended up called out generously on a low 3-2 pitch to end that inning. Petracek finally got on base for the malodorous home team, hitting a 1-out single in the bottom 4th. McKnight came up with another one and Nunley walked to fill them up for whatever the heck our lower middle of the order was supposed to resemble. Waggoner’s incredibly soft grounder nevertheless eluded Caraballo past the second base bag for an RBI single, before Denny came up and raked, sending a drive to left center, high, and deep, and – GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!

In a sudden and grim reversal of fortunes, Sabatino ended loaded with six runs in 3.2 innings, also conceding Young, who hit a 2-out double (whoooo!!!) and scored on Abe’s single to right center. Abe just BARELY made it through five innings, walking three in the fifth and allowing a sac fly to Lowe before Rodriguez ended up with the short end of the stick on yet another generous 3-2 call that ended the inning. Up 6-4 with 12 outs to get was a tough task for a pen who had seen action already this week. We hoped for two innings from Jayden Reed, who had only seen light service so far in the series, and who opened the sixth by walking reliever (!!) Richard Vincent, who ended up scoring on 2-out singles by Gilbert and Jones, 6-5. Nunley’s 2-out single in the bottom 7th plated Bergquist from second base (where he had arrived on a Paraz error) for a much-needed insurance run, but even then Ron Thrasher was no help in the top 8th and walked Martin Ortíz to allow Gilbert to come up as the tying run with two outs. Alex Ramirez got to see action early thusly, ****ing Ray Gilbert singled anyway, but Winston Jones bounced out to McKnight to end the inning. The Coons’ bottom 8th was mostly DeWeese reaching on an uncaught third strike against Salvadaro Soure, and with one out in the ninth the Crusaders had the tying runs on the corners thanks to singles by Caraballo and Lowe, but expired when pinch-hitters Rodrigo Lopez and Roy Fox both popped out. 7-5 Raccoons. Denny 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Bergquist 2-2;

Raccoons (18-11) @ Wolves (7-21) – May 5-7, 2017

The Wolves lay in shambles, to put in mildly. Ten games out already, they had lost their last eight, and ranked in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, with the league-worst batting average of .237, a mark that even the lowly Raccoons couldn’t limbo through beneath. The last two series with the Wolves had ended in defeat for us, in 2013 and 2016.

Projected matchups:
Bruce Morrison (2-1, 3.24 ERA) vs. Hunter Park (1-4, 4.25 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (2-2, 1.88 ERA) vs. Jaden Joseph (3-1, 4.61 ERA)
Hector Santos (3-2, 3.52 ERA) vs. Mike Lemmons (0-5, 5.32 ERA)

Joseph would be another southpaw to jumble a lineup together for. Their lineup looked A LOT like ours: two young guys (Justin Quinn, Tony Avalos) around .300 and a lot misery around them. No power, though.

Game 1
POR: 2B Walter – 1B Petracek – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Johnson – P Morrison
SAL: CF Cervantes – SS Pitner – RF Quinn – 1B Avalos – 3B Lindsey – C Desan – LF Farmer – 2B Montoya – P Park

An error by Ezequiel Montoya allowed Petracek on base in the first inning. The ex-Elk stole second base, then scored on McKnight’s double to center, but the Coons couldn’t sun themselves for long. Quinn and Avalos both had reached on a walk and double, respectively, in the bottom 1st, then scored on Matt Lindsey’s single. After wasting a chance with two on in the third inning, when Waggoner popped out to short, they got two on with two out again in the fifth, then on a Petracek single and another error by Montoya. This time it brought up Nunley, batting .304 which was far and away the leading mark on the team. A lengthy battle resulted in a bases-loading, full count walk for Nunley, which pulled up Waggoner, which wasn’t necessarily desirable, but at least he held still as Park was erring high and low and tied the game with a 4-pitch walk that shoved home Petracek. Denny struck out, and the Wolves swiftly took another lead in the bottom 5th. Roberto Cervantes was batting only .161 but led the team in stolen bases with nine (including one already taken in this game). Morrison walked him, Cervantes stole his tenth, and scored on Justin Pitner’s single to center. While nominally one run short, the Raccoons were far, far away from making another move for the win here, while the Wolves were denied another run in the bottom 6th only due to Johnson throwing out Lindsey at home. DeWeese’s 2-out single in the eighth was about as far as the Raccoons got before arriving at the Wolves’ closer, who had as many walks as strikeouts. Jair Mauceri had been with the Crusaders a few years ago, but not in a prominent role. The Wolves had no money, so he was a closer here, and not a splendid one. Ochoa led off, pinch-hitting for the pitcher in a 3-2 deficit and promptly walked, but then Shane Walter brain-farted and grounded a 3-1 pitch into a double play to bury the Coons for good. 3-2 Wolves.

On Monday, Steve from Accounting will harass me about a $520 item on our bank account, credited to a Salem liquor shop, and I will have to tell him that it’s alright.

Game 2
POR: CF Duarte – 1B Petracek – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF Johnson – C Margolis – RF Ochoa – 2B Bergquist – P Toner
SAL: CF Cervantes – SS Pitner – RF Quinn – 1B Avalos – 3B Lindsey – LF Ellis – C Desan – 2B Montoya – P Joseph

Alex Duarte did the best Cookie impression he had and opened this game with a jack, but given a chance to add to their lead in the third after Toner reached on Quinn’s error and Petracek came up with a bloop single, the team funked out again. McKnight was retired on a foul pop, and Nunley hit a super-soft line to Pitner to end the inning. Toner struck out to strand a pair in the fourth, which was acceptable as long as he kept the Wolves off ba- … and he hit Quinn to start the bottom 4th. But Quinn was caught stealing by Margolis, and the Wolves had yet to reach third base in the game.

Jonny had 8 K through five innings, and the only hit he had allowed had been an infield single for Montoya, though the misery among the road team’s lineup was just as bad. Then, as these things always go, the opposing pitcher would do something to harm the Raccoons, and Jaden Joseph hit a leadoff single to right, on a 1-2 pitch, in the bottom 6th. Bunted over by the otherwise hardly effective, one-dimensional Cervantes, Joseph scored with the tying run when Pitner’s sharp grounder glanced off the very end of Nunley’s glove and rolled into leftfield. Toner struck out Quinn and Avalos, but the game was tied, which was as good as a loss with these derelict Raccoons.

Nunley doubled off Joseph with one out in the eighth to create something vaguely resembling an opportunity. When Johnson fouled out, it was on Margolis to come through which was a bit like trusting the fat kit with the apple pie, yet lo and behold, Margolis hit a hard, determined single to right and Nunley scored because he went on contact. Ochoa walked and Bergquist singled, the latter scoring Margolis on a close call at home before Toner was allowed to bat with two outs and two on – he had walked twice in the game, whenever there hadn’t been runners on base, but he struck out here, yet paid us back with a 1-2-3 bottom 8th before being excused from the ninth inning, as Ramirez would get the 3-1 lead. Pitner, Quinn, and Avalos all flew to center, but only Avalos reached on a double. Ramirez insisted on putting us through the wringer with a walk to Matt Lindsey before striking out Nate Ellis to end the game. 3-1 Critters. Duarte 2-5, HR, RBI; Petracek 2-5; Toner 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, W (3-2);

Derelict Raccoons, derelict Raccoons, … derel- … Derelicoons!

I like that. Well, I don’t *like* that, but I like *that*. Or something like that. Like *that*.

You probababllllllealized… but … I boozed.

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – CF Duarte – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – P Santos
SAL: C Desan – SS Pitner – 1B Avalos – 3B Lindsey – LF Ellis – CF Reeve – RF Farmer – 2B Montoya – P Lemmons

Just like on Friday, the Raccoons were handed their first scoring opportunity on an error when Mike Lemmons threw away Nunley’s grounder in the top 2nd and allowed him to get to second base. The Wolves kept him from scoring, but paid for it with not one, but two injuries in the inning. Ron Reeve (formerly with the Falcons) hurt himself defusing Waggoner’s drive to center, and Young’s grounder caused Montoya to fall oddly, although he made the play, somehow. Quinn and Cervantes replaced them, respectively, with the latter striking out to strand Rick Farmer, who had tripled, on third base in the bottom 2nd. Farmer made an error in the third that didn’t lead anywhere nice, and the Coons didn’t get a hit until Denny’s 2-out single in the top 4th. DeWeese drew his second walk of the game before Young’s roller eluded Cervantes, loading the bases for … Santos. A .069 batter in ’16, Santos was 6-for-14 this year, but at some point he would probably stop hitting .429. Not here, though. A totally ****ty floater dinked into shallow left center, and two runs scored! Walter then singled, but Young was thrown out at home by Justin Quinn.

Avalos and Lindsey hit singles to put the tying runs aboard with no outs in the bottom 4th, but Walter nicely turned a double play on Nate Ellis before Waggoner caught an easy fly by Quinn, who then entered the record books with the Wolves’ third error of the game, overrunning a Duarte single to start the top 5th. Lemmons walked McKnight, and now Nunley hit into the double play before Waggoner flew to center, where Quinn was eager to make up his error, but still couldn’t get the ball, which fell in for an RBI single, 3-0. Meanwhile Santos was not all great, but had a good bounceback from his horrendous start on Tuesday, walking nobody in any circumstance despite running a few full counts, and while the Wolves made good contact occasionally, he was able to contain the danger fairly well, nursing a 3-0 shutout through six. While he struck out the side in the seventh, it killed his pitch count for good with lengthy battles against Ellis and Farmer, and he wasn’t seen again after that. Reed did a good job in the eighth before the Coons put pressure on Roberto Garcia, a right-hander, in the ninth inning. Ochoa opened with a pinch-hit single to left before Walter doubled past Farmer, putting runners in scoring position with no outs. Both runs were scored, somehow… While Johnson hit for Duarte and singled to left to score Ochoa, McKnight couldn’t do better than a run-scoring double play, which further sullied his already incredible batting average (especially for a #3 batter). Kevin Beaver finished the game in 13 pitches to clinch the series. 5-0 Raccoons. Walter 3-5, 2 2B; Johnson (PH) 1-1, RBI; DeWeese 1-2, 2 BB; Young 2-4; Ochoa (PH) 1-1; Santos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K, W (4-2) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

In other news

May 1 – Atlanta’s SP Shaun Yoder (5-0, 1.90 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in an 8-0 shutout.
May 1 – After 10 innings of 1-1 ball, the Indians and Loggers get at it in the 11th inning, with the Indians scoring four runs off Milwaukee’s Bartolo Ortíz, and while the Loggers in the bottom 11th load the bases on a hit batter and two singles in trying to bounce back, they score only two in a 5-3 defeat.
May 2 – Veteran DEN 3B Jens Carroll (.550, 0 HR, 11 RBI) has his outrageous start of the season (though in only 60 AB) curtailed by a sprained ankle and won’t return before June.
May 2 – The Stars crunch the Scorpions early with an 8-run second inning, and win handily, 11-2, despite out-hitting Sacramento only 10-8.
May 3 – SFB 3B/1B Javier Rodriguez (.293, 3 HR, 19 RBI) will have to miss about six weeks with torn ankle ligaments.
May 6 – 32 hits and 27 runs in a slugfest in Washington leave the Loggers winners over the Capitals, 15-12. The fifth inning was the only one in which neither team scored.
May 7 – In an 18-inning marathon between the Pacifics and Aces, LAP LF/CF Garrett Amundson (.336, 1 HR, 12 RBI) connects six times in nine trips to the plate, all hits being singles, and drives in one, the game-winning run in the 18th inning. The Pacifics walk off, 5-4. This is the 53rd 6-hit performance in league history, the first since 2015, and the third for the Pacifics (Juan Martinez, 2004; Jens Carroll, 2010)

Complaints and stuff

Brownie will come off the DL in time to start on Tuesday (Monday will be off), so there’s no need to suffer through another Munroe start. Cookie will not bake it back before June, however.

I had everybody around the office – Maud, the Druid, Slappy, Chad, Steve from Accounting, and the spy Martinez – write a suggestion on how to improve the team on a piece of paper, then slip it to me anonymously. The results were not really helpful, at all:

“There’s a new liquor store on NE Martin Luther King Blvd & Tillamook that carries the fine stuff. Should start to shop there. My liver hurts.”

“Looking at the current contract situation the best we can hope for is for R.J. DeWeese to get struck by lightning so we can collect insurance, then burn down the joint to collect even more insurance. I see there’s also insurance on our training camp…”

“Covering sore joints in honey is a household remedy in my family. We need honey. A LOT OF HONEY.”

“In the interest of regenerating interest into the franchise, which seems to have run its course a bit in the Pacific Northwest, I would suggest moving the team to Philadelphia to tap into a new, so far baseball-starved huge market.”

“Sugiero asesinar al inepto gerente general y trasladar el equipo a Chihuahua”

“cookiiezz!”

You lot draw your own conclusions.

Odd notes this week include a trade proposal by the Warriors to leave us with Stan Murphy for Jason Bergquist and Danny Arguello (that luxuriously expensive international free agent from a few years ago). I sent GM Benjamin Butler another insult back.

Westheim · 02-04-2017, 12:36 PM

Raccoons (20-12) vs. Rebels (22-10) – May 9-11, 2017

Here came the best team in the league by record, although they were not that great offensively, plating only the fifth-most runs in the Federal League (but if the Coons were even fifth in runs scored, they’d probably be about 29-3 now…). Thy were pitching beasts though, holding the damage to LESS than three runs per game, 94 counters in 32 games! That mark quite obviously led the ABL. The Raccoons led the CL with 106 runs allowed, but were 10th in offense in the slower-paced league.

The Rebels were still the team the Coons had the all-time worst record against with a .412 winning percentage (and not a whole lot at all in World Series games…). Dropping two of three to them last season had ended a string of five straight series wins for Portland, though, so better don’t ask how they fared against Richmond in the 80s…

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (2-1, 5.12 ERA) vs. Dave Butler (4-0, 2.25 ERA)
Tadaso Abe (3-2, 3.69 ERA) vs. Josh Knupp (4-1, 1.60 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (2-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Randy Jenkins (4-1, 2.80 ERA)

That’s some ERA’s! Butler was a southpaw at the start of the series, which opened on Tuesday after an off day on Monday. The other two were right-handers. It’s not like we were getting the hard part of the rotation. They were that good, as simply as that. F.e., we’d miss 4-1, 2.11 ERA pitcher Ian “Dr. Evil” Van Meter…

Game 1
RIC: CF D. Flores – 1B A. Rodriguez – RF Kimura – C J. White – SS Avila – 3B Cramer – LF Reya – 2B Otis – P D. Butler
POR: CF Duarte – 1B Petracek – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – 2B Bergquist – P Brown

As expected, Brownie had nothing against the Rebels, who did him in early with a pair of doubles by ex-Critter Luis Reya. The first one was to lead off the third inning after some earlier double play action had removed enough Rebels runners to have Brown face the minimum through two innings. Reya advanced on a wild pitch (not Brown’s last one in the game) and scored on Butler’s sac fly. In the fifth, Reya’s double plated Justin Cramer from first base, and he advanced again on a wild pitch before Butler singled him in with a hard knock to centerfield, then giving the Rebels a 3-0 lead. They kept hitting, though, and Alberto Rodriguez and Tamio Kimura both came up with run-scoring hits to shove Brown into a quite definitive 5-0 hole. Laden with five runs, Brown didn’t last through six innings, while the Raccoons had the ever-present no-hit threat dispelled early by a second-inning single by Danny Margolis, but overall just didn’t matter offensively until into the late innings. It would be Margolis again to finally put something on the board, hitting a looper to left that Reya tried to make a sliding grab on, but he grossly missed the ball, which bounced in front of, then over him and hobbled all the way into the corner. The lead-footed Margolis was dashing all along and took advantage of Danny Flores not instantly making a run to back up Reya, and circled the bases with an inside-the-park home run, which failed to provoke great excitement from the crowd. It was the only blip on Dave Butler’s ledger; despite a 20-minute rain delay in the ninth inning, Butler pulled through and finished what he started, spilling only four hits to the institutionally harmless Raccoons. 5-1 Rebels. Margolis 2-3, HR, RBI;

John Korb pitched 2.1 scoreless innings despite allowing five runners, which would be the second-best effort on the team for this miserable game.

Game 2
RIC: CF D. Flores – 1B A. Rodriguez – RF Kimura – C J. White – LF Bailey – 3B Cramer – SS Avila – 2B Otis – P D. Knupp
POR: 2B Walter – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Denny – LF DeWeese – SS Petracek – 1B Young – P Abe

Strikeouts by Waggoner and Denny wasted Walter and Nunley in scoring position in the first inning, and they left runners on the corners in the bottom 2nd when Abe whiffed and Walter popped out. The top 3rd saw a 1-out single by Matt Otis before Abe ill-advisedly tried to get him out on Knupp’s bunt, but threw poorly and Otis was called safe. Danny Flores walked, Alberto Rodriguez struck out, and the count on Kimura ran full before Abe threw one in the dirt to walk him and force in the first run of the game. Jamal White grounded out to Nunley, but the Coons were now down 1-0 while out-hitting the Rebels 4-1 – just one of the manifold ways to bork games.

Another one would be stranding Duarte after his leadoff double in the third, which they did expertly, and which also gave them runners left on third base in all innings so far, but in the top 4th Ricky Avila hit a 2-out single, stole second base against a sleeping Mike Denny, and scored on Otis’ single, 2-0. The Coons’ streak of futility continued with Walter grounding out to Otis in the fourth, leaving Petracek and Young in scoring position after both had walked, and Nunley was left on third base in the fifth after a double when Waggoner grounded out and Denny fouled out.

After that I decided that there were better ways to spend my days and went for one of the liquor stashes around the place. When I came back out of the bowels of the park with my friends Jack and Johnny, the park was suddenly rocking as Abe was making his warmup throws for the seventh. The hapless Critters had scored three runs in the bottom 6th and I had missed this great occasion, an event of extreme rarity, comparable to the conjunction of six planets in the solar system. DeWeese had hit a leadoff single, the scoreboard hinted at, and not only had Petracek hit an RBI double, no – LO AND BEHOLD – Adam Young had hit a score-flipping homer! ADAM YOUNG!! That one turned out to be enough. Abe got through the seventh despite hitting Flores, Thrasher axed down the Rebels in the eighth, and in the ninth Ramirez got around a leadoff walk to Cramer thanks to two strong plays by Matt Nunley. 3-2 Coons. Nunley 2-3, BB, 2 2B; DeWeese 2-4; Petracek 2-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Abe 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (4-2);

The Rebels made a change to their rotation, moving Van Meter into the Thursday game. Not that it matters much who pitches against these Deflaticoons.

Game 3
RIC: CF D. Flores – 1B A. Rodriguez – RF Kimura – C J. White – LF Bailey – 3B Cramer – SS Avila – 2B Otis – P I. Van Meter
POR: 2B Walter – CF Duarte – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – RF Ochoa – 1B Young – P Morrison

Kimura opened the scoring with a solo home run in the top 1st, his 11th shot of the year, which more or less totaled the home team’s output, although they tied the score right away with a 2-out single past Cramer by Denny in the bottom 1st. Walter scored after a leadoff double. This was not Morrison’s game however, as he got waffled pretty early. The cardinal sin to walk the opposing pitcher was committed by him at the start of the third inning, and Van Meter even stole second base. Rodriguez walked, and back-to-back 2-out doubles by Jamal White and veteran Will Bailey plated three runs total.

Rain ended Morrison’s suffering early, with a delay of over an hour knocking him out after four innings, still down 4-1. He had thrown 74 pitches, but Van Meter was only on 42 pitches when play resumed and remained in the game for a long time, even striking out the side from DeWeese through Young in the seventh inning. The Raccoons had crawled a run closer with William Waggoner’s pinch-hit homer in the bottom 5th, but were still not to be considered a threat since they didn’t bring up the tying run in a 2-run game until the bottom 8th when Shane Walter hit a 1-out double into the gap in right center. Duarte struck out, but McKnight hit a ball up the rightfield line and past Kimura for an RBI double, 4-3. Unfortunately, Nunley had been removed in the first of two double switches the Raccoons had conducted in the meantime in search of long relief, which they ultimately hadn’t gotten. While none of the Coons’ relievers had allowed a run so far, some had gotten pretty close, like Jayden Reed, who loaded the bases and threw over 30 pitches before somehow making it out of his own mess, and which precluded him from a second inning. Instead, Petracek was batting fourth now, and he even hit a single, but it was too hard into right for McKnight to score against Kimura, and Denny flew out to Flores in center, stranding the tying run at third base. Instead, the Rebels clobbered Seung-mo Chun for two runs in the top 9th, moving out to 6-3 lead. Ron Sakellaris faced the Coons in the bottom 9th and allowed a leadoff double to DeWeese before retiring Ochoa and Johnson, with DeWeese moving to third base. Bergquist was batting ninth and grounded to short, but Avila’s momentum carried him to the outfield and he couldn’t make a throw, allowing Bergquist to reach with an infield single, scoring DeWeese, and bringing up the tying run in Shane Walter, who hit a double to centerfield, putting the tying runs in scoring position, only for Duarte to fly out to Kimura. 6-4 Rebels. Walter 3-5, 3 2B; McKnight 2-4, 2B, RBI; Petracek 1-1; Denny 2-4, RBI; Waggoner (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Bergquist 1-2, RBI; Beaver 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

You know, Johnny. You’re my bessstessst friennnd … innnn sssssworld. (thumps off the chair)

Raccoons (21-14) vs. Titans (8-25) – May 12-14, 2017

Boston was on fire, I heard, with the Titans playing some abysmal kind of baseball. While the Raccoons were suffering from horrendous offense and were still winging a .600 winning percentage and second place, the Titans were the outright worst team in the league. Despite outscoring the Critters and ranking seventh in total counters, their pitching was virtually non-existent and was conceding over 5.5 runs per game, by far the worst in the ABL. The rotation was already bad with a 4.74 ERA, but the pen was even worse. We had swept them in the first 3-game set of the season.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (3-2, 1.76 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (1-3, 5.64 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-2, 2.98 ERA) vs. Eric Rasmussen (0-1, 3.33 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-2, 5.76 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (2-4, 2.61 ERA)

It should be mentioned that the Raccoons in their first set with the Titans (who would oppose us with three right-handers) performed at the league average, scoring 17 runs in three games of them, but it should also be mentioned that we didn’t see Zach Boyer and that the porous Nick Brown was not involved then.

Game 1
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – RF Branch – 3B T. Thomas – CF Blake – LF Mascorro – P J. Fuentes
POR: 2B Walter – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Denny – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 1B Young – P Toner

The home crowd was unruly early on in this game. Toner struck out seven in the first three innings, allowing only a single to Tom Thomas, then was hit by Fuentes at the start of the bottom 3rd. The fans would not take that one lightly – the Titans better watch their necks. Walter singled, moving Toner to second base, but that was as far as the Coons would move, with Duarte, Nunley, and Waggoner making three measly outs at record pace. Jose Gutierrez then opened the fourth with a double and scored on Robinson’s single, with frustration setting in once more.

The bottom 6th saw the Coons still trail 1-0, with Toner on 11 K. Nunley opened with a single to center before Waggoner rolled a pitch slowly up the first base line. Fuentes and Butler got into each other’s personal space and no play was made, leaving the Raccoons with the bases loaded and no outs once Denny worked a walk. The fans were ALL on their feet, chanting, and DEMANDING runs. This was a Friday night crowd, and it didn’t accept to be angered after a long work week. DeWeese hit a fly to Robert Mascorro in left that was just barely deep enough for Nunley to tag and score – tied game. McKnight singled, reloading the bases for Young, which was never a reason for excitement. He struck out, as did Toner, batting for himself. – Hey, have you seen our bench?

While Toner worked like a madman and sat at 110 pitches and 15 strikeouts through eight innings – which was also the curtain call in a not too important game in May – the Raccoons batters remained a distinctly unlikeable bunch. The seventh inning saw a Duarte single and nothing else of value, and in the eighth DeWeese hit a 1-out single, then was forced by McKnight, all against the left-hander Bill Dean, which added that extra bit of impossibility to the gold level quest of scoring one ****ing run. With two outs and McKnight on first base, Margolis batted for Young for the sake of his right-handed bat. The Titans disregarded him, and it cost them as Margolis fired a liner into the gap in right center and plated McKnight for the go-ahead run with the double. Petracek flew out to center in Toner’s spot, and the ball wandered to Alex Ramirez for the ninth, and with one out he would throw eight straight balls to Tim Robinson and Ezra Branch. The fans – at the brink of a riot – were shouting all kinds of stuff that not even I would dare to mutter. Xavier Williams grounded to Petracek, who took the out at second base, keeping the go-ahead run away from scoring position, but the tying run was at third for Jonathan Blake, who had the Titans’ only other extra base hit in the game, a double. He grounded to the right side, convenient for Walter, who forewent McKnight’s assistance and handily beat Williams to second base to end the game. 2-1 Blighters. Nunley 2-4; McKnight 2-4; Margolis (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Toner 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 15 K, W (4-2);

Game 2
BOS: SS M. Rivera – CF Blake – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – RF Branch – 3B T. Thomas – 2B J. Stephenson – LF Mascorro – P Rasmussen
POR: SS Walter – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 1B Ochoa – 2B Bergquist – P Santos

Offense! The Raccoons batted round the order in the first inning, although they started slow with Duarte reaching on an error and still on second base with two outs. He stole second base, then scored on Waggoner’s single. Denny singled, and reached second when Waggoner stole third base. DeWeese walked onto the open base in a full count before Ochoa and Bergquist both came up with singles, plating one and two runs, respectively. Santos then struck out, but held a 4-0 lead, which was a bit in danger against the bottom of the order in the third inning. Joe Stephenson was the Titans’s first runner after a 1-out single, and when Rasmussen bunted, Ochoa took too long to make a play, allowing him to reach on a single. After Mike Rivera popped out, Jonathan Blake was retired on a nifty grab by Walter, ending the inning. The bottom 3rd was Rasmussen’s last, although the Coons again got going on an error, this time Tom Thomas missing Denny’s poor roller. DeWeese singled, Ochoa doubled to plate them both, and Rasmussen was canned after Santos’ 2-out blooper that fell in for an RBI single and ran the score to 7-0, despite five runs being unearned.

But the Raccoons could never have an easy game, ever. Santos blew up in the fourth inning. The Titans had made hard contact before, but in the fourth they just slaughtered him. Ezra Branch hit a 2-run homer, but that wasn’t all. Santos walked two and allowed another hit to load the bases, then balked in the Titans’ third run before Rivera hit a soft line to center that not only fell in but also went through Duarte’s legs. Two runs scored, 7-5, runner on second with two outs. Blake hit another hard shot right at Walter, who was almost disemboweled, but made the play to end the inning from hell. In the bottom of the same inning, Brett Dill managed to put Coons in scoring position with no outs with a combo of walk, wild pitch, walk, passed ball, with Mike Denny not knowing whether to even look or not. He eventually did look and fouled out, followed by DeWeese grounding out to first and Ochoa flying out to left. Nobody scored. Fans were exasperated.

Santos found himself binned after a 1-out single in the fifth by Robinson. Chris Mathis replaced him, walked Branch, but then got a sharp grounder to short from Tom Thomas that was turned for two by Walter. Craziness would subside a bit after that, with neither team amounting to much in the sixth and seventh. Robinson hit a leadoff single off Thrasher in the top 8th, but was forced on Branch’s grounder and Jayden Reed retired the right-handers after that. The bottom of the inning saw Dean pitching and conceding singles to Nunley and Denny. Margolis hit for Reed, with DeWeese having departed in a double switch earlier, and legged out a soft grounder for a bases-loading infield single, pulling up Ochoa, who already had three ribbies in the game, sent a drive to right, but had it caught by Branch, ending the inning. Alex Ramirez inherited the 7-5 score, and as usual had to put someone on base to feel the thrill. Mascorro’s leadoff single to center wasn’t fatal right away, and Ramirez got two outs before Blake hit a screamer up the rightfield line and into the corner for an RBI triple, putting the tying run 90 feet away with Steve Butler coming up. Butler was batting 96 points below his 2016 average, so he was probably due one, tattering a 3-1 fastball well outta right center to flip the score. Robinson made it a double-whammy with a rocket that left via centerfield. 9-7 Titans. Nunley 2-4, BB; Denny 2-5; Ochoa 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Mathis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

This was Ramirez’ first blown save. It was also Butler’s third homer of the season. He’s batting .224 …

This ****ing team of assholes. They score seven runs, and they still find a ****ing way to lose. I hate them. I hate all of them.

Oh for furballs’ sake, Brownie’s next. Maud, I need tissues!!

Game 3
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B S. Butler – C T. Robinson – RF Branch – 3B T. Thomas – CF Blake – LF Mascorro – P Boyer
POR: 2B Walter – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 1B Young – P Brown

Margolis found the bases loaded after two singles and a walk cobbled together by his team mates in the first inning, and hit a hard single to center to plate the first two runs of the game. Other than Rasmussen the day before, however, Boyer held up and got out of the inning by retiring McKnight. While Nick Brown continued to feast on the tears of his defense, he also hit a single and scored in the bottom 2nd, aided by a Walter double and Duarte’s groundout, running the score to 3-0, although the Titans lobbed some edges off that lead fairly quickly. Blake opened the third with a homer to left center, and Mascorro would then reach on Walter’s error. Boyer bunted, Rivera singled, Mascorro scored, Brown looked helpless, 3-2 in the middle of the third.

The bottom 3rd and 5th would see very similar proceedings. Margolis would open the offensive attempts with a single. The first time he scored on McKnight’s triple, but the second time remained on base himself. Both times the Titans ended up walking Young intentionally with two outs to get to Brown, who made hard contact twice, and twice was denied, grounding out Gutierrez and flying out to Blake, respectively. 4-2 through five, tension rose with Gutierrez’ leadoff single in the sixth, but Butler would hit into a double play, which was a very efficient way to collect outs if you couldn’t strike out anybody. A double play was only two outs, however, and the Titans quickly reflooded the bases. Robinson was hit, Branch doubled, and Thomas walked. There was a left-hander up in Blake, but by now this hardly counted. Brownie still faced him, allowed a rocket to the left side on the first pitch, and Nunley instinctively swiped at something that looked like a cruise missile and came up with the ball for the third out. Mascorro opened the seventh with a double to right, but the Titans would manage to give Nick Brown an enormous free pass. Armando Galan hit for Boyer, struck out (which was newsworthy in itself), Mascorro was caught stealing third on 1-1 against Rivera, with the pitch even a strike, and Rivera went down swinging on the next pitch, ending the seventh inning a really, really hard day at the office for everybody involved. The Coons managed to have two on with nobody out in the bottom 7th, but Young hit into a double play when he finally got the chance, and Ochoa grounded out. With Ramirez (especially) and Thrasher unavailable for the game, we had to find other ways for the late innings. Reed pitched the eighth on seven pitches, giving each outfielder a fly ball of not too much challenge, but the ninth would be on Kevin Beaver, with three left-handers in the first four batters, starting with Branch. After he K’ed and Thomas flew out to Petracek in center, Beaver was a strike away before Blake hit a double to left on 1-2. Right-hander Jasper Holt appeared to bat eighth, but was only hitting .148 this season. Beaver remained in the game and chopped him up. 4-2 Brownies…! Walter 2-5, 2B; Margolis 4-4, 2 RBI; McKnight 2-4, 3B, RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (3-2) and 1-3;

In other news

May 9 – The Scorpions announce that a rib cage injury will keep 2B/SS Ricky Luna (.264, 4 HR, 16 RBI) on the DL for the rest of the month.
May 10 – OCT SP Jorge Gine (4-2, 3.35 ERA) 3-hits the Blue Sox and claims victory in a 5-0 shutout.
May 10 – The Scorpions score four or more runs in three separate innings in a 16-1 whipping of the Falcons.
May 11 – Gine’s mark is topped by PIT SP Pedro Hernandez (4-3, 2.63 ERA), who spins a 2-hitter against the Aces, who suffer an 11-0 rout.
May 11 – Season over for DEN SP/MR Ernesto Lozano (1-1, 1.88 ERA), who has been diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff.
May 12 – Another shutout for the Thunder, as SP Brian Furst (3-3, 6.62 ERA) 2-hits the Bayhawks in a 5-0 win to liven up his stats.
May 12 – The Rebels completely maul the Blue Sox in a 15-0 firestorm, plating 12 runs in the sixth inning alone.
May 13 – An oblique strain puts star PIT SS Tom McWhorter (.255, 8 HR, 23 RBI) out for the next two weeks minimum.
May 13 – Knights and Condors slap away at another with the Knights eventually securing a 12-11 walkoff win, reasonably close for out-hitting the Condors 17-7. More than half (13 of 23) of the runs is scored in the seventh inning, a 7-spot for the Condors, and half a dozen for the Knights.
May 13 – The Loggers crunch the Crusaders with an 11-run seventh inning, winning 11-3 eventually.

Complaints and stuff

… and then there was the year when Danny Margolis (1.250 SLG this week) was our best batter, and then the franchise was relocated to Rexburg, Idaho, where the appalling team would offend less people. Sunday games especially were a breeze – everybody was at the temple, and the renamed Pilgrims could lose 2-1 in 11 innings in privacy.

For ****’s sake, Margolis had nine at-bats this week and was Player of the Week in the CL. He hit .889 with 1 HR and 4 RBI, which probably loses the league all credibility.

We didn’t see much of it, but the headlines should indicate that this was a week of routs. Not that the Raccoons noticed any of it. Every game they ever play seems to be 2-1 at every time. Next week we’ll start with four games against the Arrowheads, a series that will probably end up split while the Crusaders rumble past us.

This is as good a point as any to point out our fake record. We only have a +9 run differential, and we’re three games above our expected record, which would be the biggest deviation since 2009, and it’s only May.

Lozano, 24, was a minor league Raccoon for less than a year. Originally signed by the Falcons, he came over to us in the set of prospects that we got for John Alexander in July of 2013. The following year we divested ourselves of the contract of Joe Cowan and included him in the deal with the Gold Sox, receiving Rob Howell for his second tour of duty along with a longshot demi-prospect that has since been dumped, Reynaldo Irizarry.

Nick Brown wants a new contract for 2018. I need to break this to him as diplomatically as possible, which is why I hired a new assistant. (presents a green sock with two halves of a ping pong ball sewn on) Meet Mr. Smiley, the always-upbeat sock puppet! (adds a friendly smile and irises with a permanent marker) – Thanks, Mr. Smiley, I also feel like my face is less pale than yesterday. So, how are you? – Oh, that’s good to hear! – Yes, the weather is very nice, and I also think it will be even better in June!

Questdog · 02-04-2017, 04:43 PM

How much is Brownie asking for? Sure would be nice for him to retire a Furball.... If he won't hang up his spikes like he obviously should, maybe he could hang around as a long reliever/lefty specialist? If he is not wanting a bag o' bills....

Westheim · 02-04-2017, 05:08 PM

I have a great desire to keep him as a career Furball, but I don't think he will find any suitor that will sign him to the desired 4-yr, $7.5M contract. Yes, actually.

I don't know. He's gained weight in the last three or four years. I didn't realize that the family-size bucket at Alabama Fried Pigeon was $99.90 now.

Westheim · 02-05-2017, 02:52 PM

Raccoons (23-15) vs. Indians (25-13) – May 15-18, 2017

This would be the first meeting between these two teams in 2017. The Coons hadn’t exactly looked brilliant against Indy in the last two years, losing a total of 24 games, including a 7-11 campaign in ’16. Oddly for an Indians team, they were pouring out runs, ranking third in runs scored as well as in runs allowed with a healthy +61 run differential (Coons: +9). Their rotation ranked second to the Bayhawks’, with the Critters third in starters’ ERA.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (4-2, 3.33 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (5-2, 3.19 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (2-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (4-3, 2.75 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (4-2, 1.68 ERA) vs. Felipe Ramirez (1-3, 4.81 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-2, 3.62 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (4-3, 5.14 ERA)

Broun’s appearance in the opener on Monday will give us a left-handed opponent, most likely the only one this week. We will also miss their best guy, Alejandro “Ant” Mendez (7-1, 1.45 ERA).

Game 1
IND: SS Sambrano – CF J. Wilson – 2B Ventura – C Padilla – RF Gilmor – 1B S. Guerra – LF Baker – 3B Mathews – P Broun
POR: CF Duarte – 1B Petracek – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – C Denny – LF Johnson – 2B Bergquist – P Abe

The Raccoons scored the first run of the game in wasteful fashion, Denny hitting into a double play with runners on the corners and nobody out in the bottom 2nd. The resulting 1-0 lead was short-lived, with John Wilson hitting a solo homer off Abe in the third, and Wilson continued to stir the pot, hitting a 2-out single in the fifth inning that also move Sandy Sambrano, who came in batting .275, to second base. Jeremie Ventura lined a ball past Petracek into the rightfield corner, where Waggoner got a favorable bounce. While Sandy scored with the go-ahead run, Waggoner threw out Wilson to end the inning. While Abe lasted seven innings, which was always a good number, his performance overall was murky, with the Indians slapping singles off him left and right, nine hits in total against only five strikeouts. What was even worse was the total refusal of the Coons to hit something themselves. From Denny’s double play, which had seen Nunley and Waggoner on with singles, through Abe getting the hardly excited high-fives, the Raccoons had only one more hit, also by Waggoner. Broun went eight innings, whiffing as many against the three paltry singles he allowed, leaving the 2-1 lead to Jarrod Morrison in the ninth. Morrison, a right-hander, had only seven strikeouts in 13.1 innings, but had saved ten games anyway with a 0.67 ERA, so he was doing *something* right. The Raccoons, quite simply, didn’t; they went down in order. 2-1 Indians. Waggoner 2-3;

Bloody hell.

Game 2
IND: SS Sambrano – CF J. Wilson – 2B Ventura – LF Genge – C Padilla – RF Gilmor – 1B S. Guerra – 3B Mathews – P Lambert
POR: CF Petracek – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – SS McKnight – 1B Young – P Morrison

While Lowell Genge hit a 2-run double right in the first inning for the ostensibly game-winning RBI’s, the Raccoons found the oddest ways to not score. Petracek and Walter had singles in the first inning, but Nunley hit into a double play to Ventura, who also sucked up Waggoner’s grounder. In the bottom 3rd, Young hit a leadoff single to right, after which Morrison failed to bunt thrice. Petracek singled, and Walter was plunked, pulling up Nunley with the bases loaded, but he popped out to Sandy at short on the first pitch. Goddamnit, can anybody here gimme some runs?? Waggoner could, snipping a 3-2 pitch up the middle and past Ventura for a 2-run single to center, tying the game and also casually becoming the first Raccoon to 20 RBI this season (…). DeWeese singled to right center to allow Walter to score for a 3-2 lead before Margolis, last week’s surprise hero, struck out to end the inning.

Morrison’s pitching initially didn’t instill much confidence, so extra runs would be welcome. The Indians ran themselves out of the fifth inning when Sambrano was caught stealing, but then DeWeese found himself up with runners on the corners again, with one out in the bottom 5th. How much longer can he actually bat sub-.200? It’s completely out of what you could expect given his career. Maybe he’s gone blind over the winter. Mena should look into that. For the moment, however, DeWeese grounded the first pitch to Ventura, who was a bit slow with his throw to second base, which cost the Indians the double play and therefore a run. Margolis then struck out. While Morrison – after much difficulty early on – had two quick innings after that, DeWeese came up with runners on the corners for the third time in the game in the bottom 7th, this time with two outs again and facing left-hander Kevin Johnston, who had just replaced Lambert after Nunley’s single. Maybe this here, this triple to center that eluded Gold Glover John Wilson and ramped the score to 6-2 against a pitcher that shouldn’t have given him much chance, maybe this 2-out, 2-run triple would finally spark the Raccoons’ offense for good, or at least for a little bit. In the event, Johnston retired nobody. Margolis hit a single, McKnight tripled, and Young singled, all plating the guy ahead of them for a 9-2 lead and five runs in the inning before the Indians had seen enough of their southpaw. Morrison completed eight innings after all after popping out to end the bottom 7th against Jason Clements, before yielding to the struggling Chun in the ninth. Genge hit another 2-run homer off him, and Chun also put Josh Baker on with a 2-out single before the game finally ended when McKnight made a sparkling play on a rocket by Santiago Guerra, knocking it down in mid-lunge before scrambling and firing to first base in time. 9-4 Raccoons. Petracek 2-5; Walter 3-4, 2B; Waggoner 2-4, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-4, 3B, 4 RBI; Young 2-4, RBI; Morrison 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (3-3);

Please let this be a spark, please let this be a spark, please let this be a spark, please let this…

Game 3
IND: SS Sambrano – CF J. Wilson – 2B Ventura – LF Genge – C Padilla – RF Gilmor – 1B S. Guerra – 3B Mathews – P F. Ramirez
POR: 2B Petracek – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 1B Young – C Denny – P Toner

Genge continued to be trouble, plating Wilson with a 2-out single after the centerfielder had singled and stolen second base in the first inning. Toner would tie the game himself; finding DeWeese and Young on the corners with two outs in the bottom 2nd, he hit a sharp liner to right for an RBI single. Petracek also hit an RBI single, Walter walked, and Nunley hauled in two with another single, flipping the score to 4-1 in favor of the home team. Ramirez would hit DeWeese to start the bottom 3rd, which didn’t end well for him. Duarte singled, and both pulled off a double steal against the confused Indians. Young’s sac fly made it 5-1 and Denny singled before Toner hit another RBI single sharply to right, 6-1. While he was a considerable offensive force, Toner struggled on the mound initially and had only one strikeout through four innings before whiffing the side, Mathews, Kyle Lamb, and Sambrano, in the fifth. Lamb was trying to log innings in long relief for the Indians, but loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom 5th, which pulled up Toner once more. This time he floated one out to Wilson, who had it pop out of his glove again for a run-scoring error, giving Toner RBI’s in all three of his at-bats in the game after having none entering the contest. The Coons got more runs on Petracek drawing a bases-loaded walk and Walter hitting into a double play before Nunley struck out, giving Toner an 8-run lead. Toner would have a long and tedious sixth inning, and given the size of the lead and that he was often pitching into the late innings, he was removed early in this contest. John Korb got ready for a potential 3-inning save, but before it came to that, Brandon Smith walked the bases full against the Coons’ 5-6-7 batters in the bottom 6th. Denny struck out, and looking at our bench Toner got to bat. He completed the humiliation for the Indians by hitting the first pitch he saw to shallow center, where it dinked in for a 2-run single! That was the final swing for the Critters. The Indians got a run in the eighth when Genge hit a sac fly off Korb, but that was it. With one out in the ninth and Nick Gilmor having reached first base with a single, Josh Baker bounced the ball back to Korb, who started the game-ending double play. 11-2 Furballs! DeWeese 2-3, BB, 2B; Young 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Toner 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (5-2) and 3-4, 5 RBI; Korb 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

Not sure whether I’ve seen a 5 RBI game from a pitcher before. Although there was a reliever that once hit a slam for the Coons, so things are happening all the time. Can’t remember who that reliever was… Maud! Maud! – You got some time to kill?

And yes, this is the first time the Critters reached double digits this season. Merely took them 41 games, right at the first quarter post. Also, DeWeese reached the .200 mark! Whoooo!!! Now everything will be sugar…

Game 4
IND: SS Sambrano – CF J. Wilson – 2B Ventura – LF Genge – C Padilla – RF Gilmor – 1B B. Román – 3B Mathews – P Riley
POR: CF Petracek – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – C Margolis – 1B Young – P Santos

When Gilmor hit a 2-pack off Santos in the second inning, those were the first RBI’s for an Indian not named Lowell Genge since Monday. After a DeWeese double and a McKnight single gave the Coons a run in the bottom 2nd to only trail 2-1, Genge hit a 2-out triple in the top 3rd, but found nobody on base and was himself left on when Dave Padilla K’ed against Santos. Riley would hit a leadoff single in the fifth inning, which was not a good thing at all given that Santos lacked stuff and had allowed a few deep drives already in the game, as evident by the Indian listed under the “HR” category on the scoreboard, but the Indians waffled themselves out of the inning. Told to bunt, Sandy failed, getting Riley killed off at second base by Nunley before Wilson hit into a double play. Themselves the Critters showed little offensive prowess, not getting another base hit until McKnight doubled in the bottom 5th, but found himself stranded.

Genge singled but was caught stealing in the sixth inning, Gilmor came awfully close to another dinger in the seventh and the Coons were still fast asleep. McKnight tried to get it started again in the seventh inning with a 1-out single, and then Margolis hit a fly to left that escaped Genge for a double. McKnight had to hold when Genge got a favorable bounce, but then scored on Adam Young’s soft liner over Ventura into shallow right – tied game! Margolis was on third, and Ochoa hit for Santos, but flew out to shallow left, where Genge made it impossible for Margolis to try for home, and Petracek popped out to end the inning. Waggoner gave an Ed Bryan pitch a ride in the eighth, but that one dropped in to Genge’s glove on the warning track. With two outs in the bottom 9th Margolis found his way on with a single that escaped between Sandy and Joey Mathews. Young grounded to first, where Jaime Mateo took it off his chin and was assessed an error, bringing up Duarte in the #9 hole, still against the southpaw and ex-Coon Bryan, after arriving there in a double switch. He floated a 1-1 pitch to shallow center, and that was uncatchable, but was it enough to score Margolis from second base? He was certainly sent! Wilson did his best to kill him at home – but didn’t get enough on the throw, and Margolis slid home safely with two seconds to spare. It’s a walkoff!! 3-2 Coons!! McKnight 3-4, 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-4, 2B; Duarte 1-1, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

I have also been told that Danny Margolis now has an 11-game hitting streak, although nobody seems to know quite how that beast came to be bred.

Raccoons (26-16) vs. Aces (18-21) – May 19-21, 2017

The Aces had lost their last three games, which was opposite to the Coons’ most recent successes. Overal they were eighth in both runs scored and runs allowed, which certainly never made for a contending team, and they were already 8 1/2 games out in the South. While their bullpen was solid, they had the second-worst rotation in the league, which consisted only of right-handed hurlers. The Raccoons had won the season series in 2016, taking six of the nine games with them.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (3-2, 4.78 ERA) vs. Juan Valdevez (2-4, 4.31 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (4-3, 3.23 ERA) vs. Nehemiah Jones (3-1, 4.59 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (3-3, 3.61 ERA) vs. Manuel Ortíz (2-3, 4.23 ERA)

Those are actually their best three guys, with William Hinkley and Adam Euteneuer both soundly over five in their ERA column.

And before every Brownie start now, there’s this anxiety and this callous feeling of impending doom……

Game 1
LVA: CF Flack – C D. Rice – 1B T. Ramos – 3B Burke – RF Struck – SS R. Walsh – LF Hubbard – 2B Toledo – P Valdevez
POR: 2B Petracek – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 1B Young – CF Duarte – P Brown

Nick Brown faced a lineup of seven left-handers, excluding only Brent Burke and the pitcher Valdevez, but it really didn’t help him to get a few strikeouts to erase that ghastly K/BB ratio being under one. He struck out only one (Rich Walsh) in the first five innings, and also allowed one run after a double by Francisco Toledo, who scored on Adam Flack’s single to left, while giving persistent work to the infielders and Duarte in center. Luckily, the Raccoons had romped Valdevez early; Walter and McKnight had reached base in the first, and back-to-back doubles by DeWeese and Margolis plated three runs. Another run scored in the second inning when Brown doubled and scored on Walter’s 2-out single.

Flack opened the sixth with a single to right center, but the Aces sent Danny Rice to bunt, which led to a relieving double play. Ex-Titan Tony Ramos singled, but Burke bounced out to Brown, who remained 4-1 ahead. McKnight homered in the bottom 7th, and Brown started the top 8th, which was probably a bad idea. He hit Max Erickson with a pitch before Flack singled, and also felt a pinch somewhere. The Druid hauled him in, there’s was something tweaking in that old body once more. Ron Thrasher had to deal with two runners and no outs in the 5-1 game, and almost blew it completely. Rice hit an RBI double, he walked Ramos and allowed a pinch-hit RBI single to Bobby Diersing before Jimmy Hubbard batted with the bases loaded and two outs, was down 0-2 and then still managed to hit a rocket to left center that was intercepted in flying manner by nobody else than DeWeese, ending the inning with a 5-3 advantage. The Coons pulled the two runs back in the bottom of the inning with a Denny RBI single and Petracek sac fly, and Kevin Beaver finished the game without coughing any harder than Thrasher had. 7-3 Brownies. Walter 2-4, RBI; Margolis 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Denny (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Brownie? Are you alright? – You look pale.

Game 2
LVA: CF Hubbard – LF M. Pruitt – 1B T. Ramos – 3B Burke – C D. Rice – SS R. Walsh – RF M. Hamilton – 2B I. Cardenas – P N. Jones
POR: 2B Petracek – RF Ochoa – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF Johnson – SS McKnight – 1B Young – P Abe

Adam Flack had landed four base hits in the series opener, and while he was rested in this game with the addition of Matt Hamilton to the lineup, the rest took less than two innings until Abe struck Hamilton in the thumb with a pitch and forced the rookie out of the game. By then the Aces were up 1-0 following Jimmy Hubbard’s leadoff double and two productive outs in the first inning. Hubbard scored again in the third inning after hitting a triple this time. Matt Pruitt brought him home with a sac fly. Abe struggled quite badly to get the upper hand with an almost entirely left-handed lineup, while the Critters were wholly absent against Nehemiah Jones, amounting to a single measly base hit in the first five innings. When Danny Rice romped a 2-run homer run off Abe in the sixth, it put the Coons down 4-0 and looked like they were done for the day. The impression was true. Jones clicked off batter after batter, retiring 16 straight after Petracek’s 2-out single in the third inning, only to be replaced by closer Steve Rob in a non-save situation, which puzzled even the home crowd. For a moment, it looked like the Aces might be punished for their blasphemous dealings when Shane Walter hit a pinch-hit single to lead off the bottom 9th, but Rob quickly choked Petracek, Ochoa, and Waggoner to end the game. 4-0 Aces. Walter (PH) 1-1;

I sure hope this is just an aberration and not a return to the olden ways.

Danny Margolis’ mystery 12-game hitting streak also ended in this shallow defeat.

Game 3
LVA: CF Hubbard – LF M. Pruitt – SS Burke – 1B Toledo – C D. Rice – 2B R. Walsh – RF Erickson – 3B A. Perez – P M. Ortíz
POR: 2B Walter – CF Johnson – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Denny – P Morrison

Hubbard continued to cause trouble, hitting Morrison’s second pitch for a long homer to right. A Rich Walsh double, a wild pitch, Arturo Perez’ RBI single and stolen base, and Ortíz’ own single ran the score to 3-0 in the second inning, and for the 25-year old Perez this was the first plate appearance of 2017. While Morrison failed to cope at all with the lineup he faced, DeWeese at least got the Coons on the board with a solo shot in the second inning, but they stranded the tying runs in scoring position in the third. Walter had been hit and Johnson had doubled with two outs, but Nunley rolled out to short. Morrison at least denied the Aces a potential run in the fourth inning by getting Walsh out at third base on Ortíz’ bunt, but other than that he looked like fodder and was hit for in the bottom 5th with Ochoa, yet to no great effect.

Chun allowed singles to Erickson and Perez to start the sixth. Ortíz bunted them over, after which the Aces were denied runs when Young swiped a howling liner by Hubbard and Pruitt popped out to short. Technically the game was still close at 3-1, but the Raccoons just weren’t putting up any pressure at all, being out-hit by the Aces, 11-3. Waggoner hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, but two quick outs later was still on first base. Then Young singled. And then Denny singled. Bases loaded. **** it, bring Margolis. He’s quaffed some odd dark magic potion, maybe he can hit one where they ain’t. He struck out. Nope, it would be Hubbard to come through with two outs, ramming a 2-run double to right off Mathis in the eighth inning to put the game away for good at 5-1. Danny Munos put two men on to start the bottom 9th just to toy with the home crowd as he walked Denny and allowed a single to Petracek. Steve Rob appeared for the top of the order, with the tying run in the on-deck circle. He retired two before feeling something and leaving the game, but Steve Chilcott retired Alex Duarte, hitting for Nunley, to end the game. 5-1 Aces. Waggoner 2-4; Petracek (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 16 – The Wolves get mauled by the Gold Sox, going down 17-4. DEN Piet Oosterom (.268, 0 HR, 18 RBI) has four hits, scores four times, and drives in six.
May 17 – TIJ SP Andrew Gudeman (0-2, 2.74 ERA) might be out until the All Star Game, spraining an ankle after a most awkward tumble off the mound in a game against the Thunder which the Condors end up losing 9-2. The 23-year old Gudeman had no part in that, leaving in a scoreless game in the second inning.
May 17 – SFB RF/LF Chris Almanza (.255, 7 HR, 30 RBI) might miss over a month with a knee sprain.
May 18 – Sacramento’s SP Noah “Bloody” Bricker (4-2, 3.22 ERA) shines with a 2-hit shutout against the Warriors, holding them scoreless in a 4-0 game.

Complaints and stuff

We were in sole possession of first place for one night, then everything stopped again and they scored one run from the last few games on the weekend. They are really disgusting.

We also don’t know what’s wrong with Brownie once again. Might be old age. Could have to be put down. The Druid won’t say anything definitive right now, he always says “could” and “might”.

In lesser notes around the league, Ryan Miller hit a 3-run walkoff jack for the Bayhawks on Monday, beating the Falcons 7-4 in the 11th inning. Why couldn’t he do that when he was with us? Okay, he’s batting .244, so it’s not like it’s an everyday occurrence…

Jonny Toner leads the league in two triple crown categories. He could lead it in three if we had ANY batter with a qualifying number of plate appearances who batted for more than a .750 OPS (Walter), and after that the next-best is actually Denny at .712 … bloody ****.

But hey, bright sides – nobody’s under .200 anymore! Yeeah, whoooo! SLAPPY, WHERE’D MY BOOZE GO???

Westheim · 02-06-2017, 06:13 PM

The week started with an off day and some bad news, as the Druid finished studying Nick Brown’s soles on Monday and deduced that he had rotator cuff tendinitis and would require a month-long stint on the DL. Oh, who on earth to call up!?

Raccoons (27-18) @ Thunder (16-29) – May 23-25, 2017

The Thunder continued to be a whole lotta not very good. They were in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Continental League, gracing last place in the latter category with a whopping 227 runs allowed, or just over five per game. Their rotation was abysmal, weighed down by a 5.22 ERA. Even their defense was the worst in the league. Although they had been quite bad in 2016 already, the Raccoons had still lost that season series, 4-5.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (5-2, 1.66 ERA) vs. Brian Furst (3-4, 6.21 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-2, 3.49 ERA) vs. Bryan Robbins (1-5, 4.86 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (4-4, 3.43 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (0-7, 7.58 ERA)

Bryan Robbins was always a rebel. He’s also the left-hander in their rotation.

With Brownie to the DL, and the off day on Monday, Abe moves up to behind Santos, while we recalled Chris Munroe to take the spot in the rotation vacated by a certain crumbling pitcher. He wouldn’t get to show off his 11.57 ERA until the weekend, however.

Game 1
POR: 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – C Denny – 1B A. Young – CF Duarte – P Toner
OCT: CF S. Young – 2B Farias – LF Alston – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF A. Chavez – SS Read – 3B Ruggeri – P Furst

Cohesive offensive attempts by the Critters were largely absent in this Tuesday opener, but at least they scored a few runs on solo actions. An accidental homer by Adam Young put them 1-0 ahead in the second inning, and the following inning Walter tripled and scored on a passed ball. Waggoner homered in the fifth, also a solo shot, staunchly defending his team RBI lead, now with 21… Toner had played a bunt by Furst into an out at second in the third, but Sean Young singled to send Furst to third anyway, from where he scored on Emilio Farias’ groundout, thus giving the Thunder their first run, but Jonny struck out the next five batters starting with Ron Alston and maintained a 3-1 lead through five. The Thunder loaded the bases in the bottom 6th on singles by Alston and Jalen Parks as well as a 2-out walk drawn by Armando Chavez, but Toner victimized rookie Howard Read in his first major league start for a golden strikeout.

It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Critters managed to get several runners on base. Back-to-back 1-out singles by Duarte and Toner put them on the corners, and while Walter’s grounder to Farias certainly looked playable at first, it escaped the infielder for an RBI single before Waggoner whiffed and Nunley flew out. Jonny whiffed 11 in seven innings but shot his pitch count well over 100 in the process, which led to a Thrasher appearance in the bottom of the eighth. Farias reached on an infield single to begin things and he walked Manfull. After Parks flew out to center, Jayden Reed replaced him, getting a grounder to short from the right-handed batter Chavez. Alex Ramirez however had something special ready for us: a 1-2-3 ninth in a save situation. 4-1 Coons. Walter 3-4, 3B, RBI; Young 2-3, HR, RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, W (6-2) and 1-3;

This was indeed Alex Ramirez’ first 1-2-3 ninth in a save situation since May 1…

Game 2
POR: RF Petracek – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 2B Bergquist – 1B A. Young – CF Duarte – P Santos
OCT: CF S. Young – 2B Farias – LF Alston – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF A. Chavez – SS Janes – 3B Ruggeri – P Robbins

Santos hitting an unexpected double with two outs and two on in the second inning plated Bergquist with the first run of the game, and Petracek’s single brought home Duarte to make it 2-0. The Thunder would hit leadoff singles in the second and third innings without doing anything with them, but in the fourth Alston hit a 1-out single before Santos lost B.J. Manfull on a walk – Manfull was batting .281 with three homers and was looking to refreshen his stat line, but Santos didn’t give him much to dish. Parks however got a fat pitch and hit it for a double off the leftfield fence, plating Alston for a 2-1 score. They choked soon, however, with Chavez bouncing back to Santos and Erik Janes fouling out; the pressure remained up, though. Bryan Robbins rebelliously hit a 1-out double to left in the fifth inning and ended up scoring on Alston’s single, which tied the game. In the sixth it was Chavez with the 1-out double. After a poor out by Janes, the Raccoons forced Robbins from the game by intentionally walking D.J. Ruggeri, but pinch-hitter Jose Rivera struck out, leaving the score tied at two. Santos also vanished into the night after the inning. Danny Ochoa hit a double in his spot, leading off the top 7th, but after a Walter single the inning was killed brutally by Nunley rolling into a double play to reliever Ed Michaels.

While it looked like it would get better for the Coons in the eighth, it kind of didn’t. Denny led off with a walk against Michaels, who then surrendered a trickler to DeWeese that escaped between Janes and Farias into center. Denny turned second and went to third and made hard contact with Ruggeri at third base. Denny was safe, and yet out at the same time: safe on third, but out of the game after having taken a hard hit into the hip, which stiffened up immediately. Margolis replaced him and scored on Bergquist’s fly to right that ended up with Chavez but was deep enough to come home casually, ye the resulting 3-2 lead was callously butchered by Chris Mathis in the bottom of the inning. Allowing singles to Parks and Chavez and walking Janes loaded the bases. While Ruggeri popped out to shallow left and kept Parks pinned, Javy Cisneros pinch-hit for a sac fly to center, 3-3. Mathis’ spot opened the top 9th, with Jose Medina facing Ronnie McKnight. Two pitches into the at-bat, McKnight uncorked a mighty shot that went out of right center to give the Coons ANOTHER lead, but Ramirez would face the tough-as-nails 2-3-4 part of the order in the bottom 9th. Strikeout, groundout, popout, the Thunder were done with. 4-3 Critters. DeWeese 2-4; McKnight (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Santos 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Mike Denny was not seriously injured, but the hip hurt enough to render him questionable for the rest of the week. Can’t go with one catcher, so we purged Alex Duarte (.202, 1 HR, 5 RBI in 99 AB) and brought up Tom McNeela, who needs no introduction, and was batting merely .214 in AAA so far.

With his homer, McKnight now took sole possession of the team dinger list. Which I didn’t know how to react to, really…

Game 3
POR: 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – C Margolis – 1B A. Young – CF Johnson – P Abe
OCT: CF S. Young – 2B Farias – LF Alston – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF A. Chavez – SS Janes – 3B Ruggeri – P Benjamin

With the living embodiment of skilllessness pitching for the Thunder, they would of course take an early lead. Sean Young’s single off Abe in the first was accompanied by Farias and Manfull doubles, plating two runs quickly. That wasn’t all: Sean Young’s 2-run homer in the bottom 2nd put them ahead 4-0, while Benjamin, who had a Brown-esque K/9 ratio whiffed three the first time through the order and allowed only Abe on base with a single. The middle innings were rank horror for the Raccoons’ handful of fans in attendance. Waggoner opened the fourth with a double, but was stranded; Margolis hit a leadoff single in the fifth and was doubled up by Adam Young, whom we’d silently try to exchange for Sean Young on the way to the bus; and Abe singled again in the sixth and was again all alone with his offensive ambitions. Somewhere in the seventh, the disgusting Young hit a sac fly for a token run against Benjamin, but John Korb, who had replaced a stuck Abe in the bottom 6th, gave it right back on an RBI single by Alston. Benjamin came within two outs of a complete game, but when McKnight’s 1-out double sent DeWeese to third base and brought the tying run to the on-deck circle the Thunder had second thoughts about special honors by the runt of the litter. Jose Medina replaced him, allowed a run on Ochoa’s groundout, but then put the final nail into the Raccoons when Young popped out. 5-2 Thunder. McKnight 2-4, 2B; Margolis 2-3;

Raccoons (29-19) @ Knights (27-19) – May 26-28, 2017

The Knights were trying to catch the Bayhawks, sitting only two games out in the South. Their offense was the best in the league with 243 runs scored (POR: 182), but their pitching couldn’t quite hold up. They were merely average with their rotation, and their pen was the second-worst with a grim 4.42 ERA. The Critters had so far won two of three games from them in 2017.

Projected matchups:
Chris Munroe (0-2, 11.57 ERA) vs. Stephen Quirion (4-3, 3.21 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (3-4, 3.77 ERA) vs. Shaun Yoder (6-3, 3.59 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (6-2, 1.63 ERA) vs. Drew King (3-4, 4.47 ERA)

Only righties in the Atlanta rotation;

Game 1
POR: 2B Walter – CF Petracek – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – C McNeela – P Munroe
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – C Luna – RF Raupp – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – 1B Sauter – P Quirion

I was hoping for some kind of positive effect from having McNeela catch Munroe like they had done a number of times in AAA this week, but my best guess was that they were directly responsible for everything bad happening to the atrocious Alley Cats. By the third inning, Munroe had not only half the Raccoons hits, but had also allowed six runs, including five on a pair of homers by Jimmy Raupp. While the 3-piece Raupp hit with two outs in the first inning was unearned thanks to a McKnight error, Munroe shouldered all the blame for the three runs he conceded in the third. The Raccoons scored two runs in the top 4th with the help of a Josh Downing error and a DeWeese double, but it didn’t matter. Raupp came up again in the bottom 5th, with Luna just having reached on a single. Raupp crushed his third shot of the night, sending the Atlanta crowd into delirium. Nothing that the Raccoons would do mattered much after that. Munroe was purged and put right on the next bus due south. Chun pitched for eight outs in shutout relief, which was automatically the best performance by anybody in this soulless Atlanta night. They scored the odd run on the way to a crushing defeat. Nobody cared. 8-4 Knights. Chun 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Following the disinheritance of Chris Munroe (0-3, 11.20 ERA), the Raccoons did not bring up a new starting pitcher. Due to an off day coming up on Monday, they wouldn’t need one until the following Saturday. Instead, Jimmy Fucito came back. What better way to forfeit the season than to bring up a 29-year old constant loser that was batting .236 in AAA?

This was the fourth time that a Knight had whacked three home runs in a game after Michael Root, Gonzalo Munoz, and Gil Rockwell. What hurt a lot more was the fact that Raupp (.218, 5 HR, 25 RBI) had come into the game with two home runs and a .196 batting average…

Game 2
POR: 2B Walter – CF Petracek – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 1B Ochoa – P Morrison
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – C Luna – RF Raupp – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – 1B Betancourt – P Yoder

Straight 2-out singles by Gil Rockwell, Ruben Luna, and Jimmy Raupp – the monster – plated one run in the bottom 1st off Morrison, but that was only the beginning. Wade White and David Betancourt singled in the bottom 2nd before Margolis threw Yoder’s bunt wildly past Ochoa and up the rightfield line for a 2-base error that instantly gave the Knights a 2-0 lead and runners in scoring position with nobody out. Marty Reyes’ grounder to left escaped McKnight like everything else had so far in this series and made it to leftfield for a 3-0 lead. Devin Hibbard popped out, and Rockwell flew to center, where Petracek dropped the ball. The ****ing Elkhead. A pop and a grounder would strand those two runners in scoring position after the Petracek error and the Knights stranded White and Betancourt in scoring position in the bottom 3rd as well. The Raccoons, who didn’t get a hit until the fourth, a 2-out single by Waggoner, at least showed a pulse in the fifth. Starting with DeWeese’s leadoff double they got a run on Ochoa’s sac fly to center. Morrison doubled, Walter was hit by a pitch, and Petracek plated a run with a double, but with the tying runs in scoring position Nunley failed to connect and the Knights remained 4-2 ahead. No other Raccoon would reach against either Yoder or reliever J.J. Wirth until Nunley was up again, legging out an infield single with two outs in the eighth. Nominally that brought up somebody who was playing a power position as the tying run, though Waggoner surely had only gotten lost in rightfield. Betancourt missed his grounder for a single, but so what, McKnight grounded out instead, stranding the precious tying runs. Another of these nominal power position players came up in another spot as the tying run; Adam Young batted for Jayden Reed with two outs in the ninth inning, facing the marginal Jim Cushing, a right-hander that was an odd choice for a closer. Young hit a fly to right that eluded Raupp for an RBI double, but the Raccoons were beaten anyway on Shane Walter’s casual fly to Rockwell in left. 4-3 Knights. Waggoner 2-4; Young (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Reed 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 3
POR: 3B Walter – CF Petracek – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – 1B Young – P Toner
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – C Luna – RF Raupp – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – 1B Betancourt – P D. King

The miserable Coons grabbed their first lead since Wednesday when DeWeese hit a 2-run homer in the first inning, though Jonny Toner found it necessary to knead my troubled mind by walking Hibbard in the bottom 1st after Reyes had already reached on a blooper into shallow right. Rockwell’s sharp shot to third was turned into a double play by Walter and the Knights didn’t score, but this was an uneasy one for Toner as the Knights made hard contact regularly and he did strike out only one (Betancourt) the first time through the order, AND made a throwing error to put Reyes in scoring position in the bottom 3rd. Rockwell hit a leadoff single in the fourth and Toner remained wonky, but kept the run from scoring, and there was finally a cushion provided by the team in the fifth inning. Walter and DeWeese had hit singles and scored on McKnight’s 2-out double into the right center gap. Margolis grounded out to short, leaving things be at 4-0 for the moment. Toner ran two full counts in the bottom 5th and logged three groundouts (two of those sharp), and walked Hibbard in the sixth without incurring damage, but also without striking out anybody.

Betancourt’s error when he missed a slow roller by Shane Walter gave the Raccoons a leadoff base runner in the top of the seventh. Petracek hit a looper into the rightfield corner for a double, placing Critters in scoring position for the so-called middle of the order. Drew King almost got lucky on a bouncer by Waggoner to Downing when Walter went hard down the line without looking, but Downing forewent the dicey play for a sure out at first base. That pulled up DeWeese, who was on a slight uptrend recently – and killed Drew King for good with a booming 2-run homer to rightfield, running the tally to 7-0. Bottom 7th, Lune and Downing hit singles off Toner to go to the corners. Wade White came up after a 4-hit day on Saturday, but bounced a quick one right into Toner’s glove for a nicely wrapped double play present to end the inning. The problems wouldn’t cease, however, and Toner bumped against 100 pitches – most of them under duress and many of them not to his usual standard – with two outs in the eighth. Reyes was on first after having forced Betancourt, who had opened the inning with a single, and for Toner this was bedtime. John Korb got a groundout from Hibbard to McKnight to end the inning and keep Toner’s sheet clean. The Coons then saw Daniel Dickerson trying to make a living in the ninth inning of a mild rout. Could it become an intense rout? Walter and Petracek were retired before Ochoa reached with a pinch-hit single. DeWeese walked in a full count after fighting the itch to rake for that third homer. McKnight singled, loading the bases after which Denny hit for Margolis to see how he was doing in the box. Quite well. He hit one 386 feet up the leftfield line. GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!!

Korb walked Ruben Luna in the bottom 9th with one out, but came back with strikeouts to Raupp and Downing to salvage this Sunday afternoon rout that had spilled the odd tear with the tiniest Knights fans. 11-0 Raccoons. Petracek 2-5, 2B; Ochoa (PH) 1-1; DeWeese 3-4, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; McKnight 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Denny (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Toner 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (7-2); Korb 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

May 22 – LAP CL Arturo Lopez (1-2, 2.21 ERA, 16 SV) shuts down the Cyclones in a 3-1 Pacifics win to notch his 400th career save. Only 34, Lopez is on his fourth team after being taken 42nd overall by the Scorpions in the 2001 draft. He was Reliever of the Year in the FL the last two years, Pitcher of the Year in 2015, and an All Star seven times.
May 23 – The Bayhawks would be without 22-year old OF Dave Garcia (.320, 10 HR, 27 RBI) for a week, losing the youngster to a strained hip muscle. Despite his age, Garcia has already 411 hits and 51 homers in the ABL.
May 23 – No boredom in the Scorpions-Miners game in Pittsburgh. At least one team scored in every inning as the Scorpions wrestle out a 12-10 win.
May 24 – CIN 2B Ieyoshi Nomura (.381, 2 HR, 16 RBI) is going to miss a month with chronic back soreness.
May 24 – Vancouver’s SP Sam McMullen (6-3, 1.91 ERA) sparkles with a 3-hit shutout of the Aces.
May 25 – Another 3-hit shutout is pitched by IND SP Josh Riley (5-3, 4.03 ERA) in a 7-0 win over the Falcons.
May 26 – Not only do both the Condors and Titans score a run in the ninth inning, no they also both pour out multiple runs in the tenth inning. The Condors this time prevail thanks to three runs in the top 10th over the Titans’ pair in the bottom 10th, beating them 9-8.
May 26 – A 10-run second inning is key in the Gold Sox’ 13-3 pulverizing of the Capitals.
May 26 – The Falcons rout the Canadiens, 10-0, scoring nine runs in the first four innings.

Complaints and stuff

Thursday’s soul-bleaching 5-2 loss to Oklahoma was the 3,200th regular season loss for the Raccoons. And boy, was it a buzzer. Not quite Juan Diaz’ three wild pitches in an at-bat, but one to behold regardless.

The Indians didn’t lose a game all week right up until Sunday, when they were routed 10-3 by the Aces. Are they real or are they fake? They certainly had a strong run differential making a case for them earlier this month.

Adam Young losing a leg in a scooter accident wouldn’t particularly bother me, but Yoshi being hurt hurts me, too. Sniff.

Steve from Accounting tells me we have insurance on Adam Young for losing limbs, so I’ll buy him a scooter, I guess.

Down on the farm, 2013 luxury international free agent signing Danny Arguello was promoted to Ham Lake this week after pitching for a 2.39 ERA and 2.6 K/BB in Aumsville to start this season. He's going on 21, it's time. He was promptly mauled for seven runs in 4.2 innings by the Topeka-aligned Waterloo Bulldozers. In the event, the Old Guard surrendered rather than dying, but other than in 1815 this war is not over...

I no longer harbor illusions that this team will ever turn the corner with the offense. They suck, and it won’t ever change. Meanwhile, Adrian Quebell batted .450 and was named Player of the Week. ....... This was a VERY trying week, and I find no consolation in that it is almost June. The only bright spot could be the return of Cookie Carmona. He should be able to start a rehab assignment next weekend and could return early in the second week to come.

For 12 days, until he tears out an eye or a few feet of large intestine, or both.

Westheim · 02-08-2017, 04:54 PM

Raccoons (30-21) vs. Bayhawks (32-19) – May 30-June 1, 2017

After another Monday off, the Critters had to deal with the South-leading Baybirds, who were second in runs scored and third in runs allowed, always a combo that sounded like a well-rounded, playoff-bound team, not like the Raccoons with their pale eighth-place offense. However, while the Critters had their own casualty fro the lineup in Cookie Carmona, the Bayhawks lacked *three* of the guys in their dream lineup, as Dave Garcia, Javy Rodriguez, and Chris Almanza were all out with various ailments. The Bayhawks had won two of three from Portland so far in 2017.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (4-2, 3.45 ERA) vs. Alex Maldonado (2-1, 2.20 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (4-5, 3.68 ERA) vs. Manuel Rojas (7-1, 2.20 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (3-5, 3.53 ERA) vs. Milt Beauchamp (4-3, 2.73 ERA)

We would most likely miss their southpaw, Joao Joo (4-5, 4.26 ERA), although they had also had an off day and could shuffle things (though, why would they?), as well as the runt of the litter, Jared D’Attilo (3-1, 5.53 ERA).

For the Raccoons, Mike Denny was feeling well again and resumed his duties in the starting lineup, which meant that the presence of Tom McNeela was no longer required. We called up 25-year old right-hander, and 2012 fourth-rounder, Damani Knight as the next attempt to fill the hole left by Brownie after Chris Munroe had failed three times in three attempts. Knight had control issues, a dead-straight fastball, and had only made nine starts in AAA after years in AA – all perfect ingredients for a full-blown disaster.

Game 1
SFB: LF E. Jackson – RF McIntyre – C D. Alexander – 1B B. Thomas – 3B Claros – 2B Ingraham – CF Bautista – SS R. Miller – P Maldonado
POR: 2B Walter – CF Petracek – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – C Denny – 1B Young – P Santos

The Bayhawks would get five hits off Santos in the first two innings, all with two outs, and did some damage along the way, although Santos also had to blame himself, balking in D-Alex after he and Bill Thomas had hit singles and had made it to scoring position thanks to Petracek’s error that he was assessed when Thomas’ single went under his glove in centerfield. The bottom 2nd saw simply three straight singles for an early 2-0 lead for the Bayhawks, although Adam Young scored on Shane Walter’s double to right in the next inning to make up half the gap. Both starting pitchers spilled only a walk each through the middle innings, which went by like a breeze. Nunley would hit a 1-out double in the bottom 7th, the first hit in the game since Walter’s RBI double, and advanced to third base on a passed ball, but Denny struck out and Young lined out to Zach Ingraham, the third scorched liner that Ingraham picked out of the air in the game (Nunley and Denny the other victims). Santos reached 100 pitches in striking out the side in the eighth inning, which ended his day regardless of his spot leading off the bottom 8th. The tying run was also left on third base in this inning. Ochoa reached on an infield single in Santos’ spot, was bunted over by Walter (desperation taking over here…), and then ended somewhere out there with two weak grounders to Ingraham. After Mathis retired the Bayhawks in order in the top 9th, the rest of the Critters had to deal with right-hander Ray Kelley in the bottom of the inning, who had somehow made it from 70 unspectacular middle relief outings with the 2010 Raccoons to a respectable closer at age 35. DeWeese, McKnight, and Nunley – three left-handers who we kind of banked on for the season – went down in order, and in extremely feeble fashion. 2-1 Bayhawks. Ochoa (PH) 1-1; Santos 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (4-3);

Nope, the Birds had no hits past the second inning. But it wasn’t like they felt the pressure.

Game 2
SFB: LF E. Jackson – RF McIntyre – C D. Alexander – 1B B. Thomas – 3B Claros – 2B Ingraham – CF Bautista – SS R. Miller – P M. Rojas
POR: 2B Walter – CF Petracek – RF Waggoner – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – C Denny – 1B Young – P Abe

Nunley made a clumsy error on the first play of the game, a slow Eddie Jackson grounder up the third base line, but made up for it when he turned Will McIntyre’s sharper grounder for a double play in the top of the first inning. The bottom of the first dealt a sharp blow to the Bayhawks, as “Doom” Rojas retired exactly nobody, putting Shane Walter on with a single before leaving the game with an injury. Left-hander Mike Stank replaced him and nixed all the Raccoons’ honest efforts through five innings. Not that Tadasu Abe was shabby: he nursed a no-hitter through four and two thirds before Zach Ingraham doubled, but Felipe Bautista flew out to Petracek to end the inning, and the game was scoreless through five. Abe expended 82 pitches in seven innings, whiffing ten along the way, but the Raccoons would not support him with anything, then against right-hander Micah Steele, another ex-Coon who was a lot better away from Coon City. Abe remained in the game when his spot to bat was up leading off the bottom 8th because it wasn’t like he was weighing the team down offensively. Steele struck him out. Two pitches later, Shane Walter homered to center and now this was a ballgame. Petracek singled, Waggoner walked, but Jeff Boynton – upon replacing Steele – restored order and whiffed DeWeese before McKnight flew out to McIntyre to end the inning. With a flimsy 1-0 lead, Abe resumed pitching in the ninth inning. He had a 1-hitter going, Ramirez was not exactly known for panic-free saves, and this was totally gonna work. Angelo Velazquez struck out, Eddie Jackson struck out, and McKnight had no issues with McIntyre’s grounder. 1-0 Raccoons!! Walter 3-4, HR, RBI; Nunley 2-3; Abe 9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 14 K, W (5-5);

Hey, hey/ my, my/ this offense is/ completely dry.

Shane Walter didn’t exactly like the fat smooch I gave him on the cheek, but what the heck does Shane Walter know about my pains while watching these turds chip a grounder to the second baseman and then falling down in the batter’s box?

This was the second career shutout for Abe; he had thrown one in his rookie season last year, a 4-hitter vs. Indy with half the strikeouts and twice the walks.

Game 3
SFB: LF E. Jackson – RF McIntyre – C D. Alexander – 1B B. Thomas – 3B Claros – 2B Ingraham – CF Bautista – SS M. Robinson – P Beauchamp
POR: 2B Walter – CF Petracek – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – C Margolis – 1B Ochoa – RF Fucito – P Morrison

Nunley and Ingraham exchanged solo home runs in their first at-bats, for both the second dinger of the year, and after a 32-minute rain delay both teams would score an error-induced run in the third inning. Nunley was the goat again on the Coons’ side, but at least the score remained tied at two. The bottom 4th saw Margolis get hit and Ochoa snip a single, bringing up the historically useless Fucito, who promptly hit into a double play. Morrison stranded Margolis at third base, after which goddamn Eddie Jackson opened the top 5th with a single to left that dinked off DeWeese’s glove for an extra base, and Morrison gave him ANOTHER base with a wild pitch. McIntyre brought home the go-ahead run with a groundout to short, after which D-Alex homered to left. Morrison opened the sixth with consecutive walks to Ingraham and Bautista before Mike Robinson singled to plate Ingraham, 5-2. Morrison received Beauchamp’s bunt before departing in shame, with Jayden Reed inheriting runners in scoring position, but was no great help and walked Jackson. McIntyre popped out to Nunley, after which Thrasher took over and got a grounder up the middle that Shane Walter SOMEHOW turned into the third out, stranding three. Thrasher would put the first two men on in the seventh then and surrendered the runs on Robinson’s 2-out double, which only served to add a few laps on the already hopelessly beaten Critters. John Korb struggled in getting the last seven outs, putting a few Birds on but getting strong support from Walter, who turned a pair of double plays for him. Despite being down five runs, the Raccoons - … well, no. The BAYHAWKS managed to get their own closer Kelley into the game. Jackson missed a catchable fly by McKnight in the eighth, which allowed Petracek to score a run to make it 7-3, and in the bottom 9th Clark Johnson allowed a leadoff single to Adam Young before misfielding Brandon Johnson’s grounder for an error. Two on, one out in a 7-3 game brought in Kelley, who loaded the bases when he surrendered a single to Walter. Petracek hit into a run-scoring groundout, getting Walter removed at second base, before Nunley hit the first pitch he saw to deep right. McIntyre got there in time. 7-4 Bayhawks. Walter 3-5; Ochoa 2-3; Young (PH) 1-1;

No words. There are no words.

Also, what’s that stench in here …?

Raccoons (31-23) vs. Canadiens (21-31) – June 2-4, 2017

Something didn’t go well for the Elks, who were last in runs scored, which was always a great way of stinking for six months. Their pitching also had considerable holes, with a bottom three rotation and a mediocre bullpen conspiring to allow the fourth-most runs in the CL. Despite all that, they had so far played .500 ball against the Coons, with both teams claiming a 3-game sweep on the road so far.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (7-2, 1.47 ERA) vs. Kevin Clayton (1-6, 5.60 ERA)
Damani Knight (0-0) vs. Samuel McMullen (6-4, 2.06 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-3, 3.18 ERA) vs. Sean Lewis (2-6, 7.07 ERA)

First – sorry, Damani, but it is what it is. Hey, quit the snoot! Not everybody gets to make their major league debut against the reigning Pitcher of the Year!

Second – the Elks lost Jose Flores to injury this week (see below) and thus had to repiece their rotation. Lewis might start on Sunday or he might not. It looks like they will move Steve Kreider (2-3, 4.58 ERA) into the rotation, and he could start just as well. In any case, Sam McMullen is their only remaining southpaw starter.

Game 1
VAN: CF Cameron – LF E. Garcia – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – C Little – 3B Cowan – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – P Clayton
POR: 2B Walter – CF Petracek – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – C Denny – 1B Young – P Toner

Facing six left-handed batters, Jonny Toner suffered an instant setback with two runs in the first inning, walking Don Cameron and allowing a triple to left center to Enrique Garcia, who would score on Kurt Evans’ sac fly. The Raccoons flipped the score in the same inning much to anybody’s amazements, as Walter and Petracek found ways on base before DeWeese, who had spent the entire Bayhawks series in utter darkness (1-for-11, 7 K) romped a massive 3-run homer to right. That wasn’t the only 3-run homer for the Critters in this game! They hit another one of those right in the next inning, as Clayton was badly struggling. That second bushel of runs would be unearned since an error by Jaylin Lawrence but Denny on base initially, with Toner drawing a 1-out walk and Petracek wrapping a fly around the right foul pole with two outs.

One might think that Toner could relax a bit with a 4-run lead, but his game did not improve at all. Every at-bat was a mighty battle and he ran LOTS of full counts. The Elks had one man on in the third, two man on in the fourth, but double-played themselves out of a real chance there when Lawrence grounded over to Walter. While he struck out the side in the fifth, he still ran another full count to reliever(!) Dustin Burke while doing so. It was his NINTH full count of the game, and also his last one. He retired Garcia to start the sixth, then drilled Evans with a fastball, and not only Evans had seen enough of Toner after that. Kevin Beaver replaced him to face Adrian Quebell (.349, 8 HR, 43 RBI for some reason), who hit into fielder’s choice, before almost allowing a homer to Morgan Little, whose drive was snatched against the rightfield wall by Waggoner. Little was one of the few right-handers sprinkled into their lineup.

With the hay not quite made, the Coons continued to see Burke in his third inning in the bottom 6th. Bergquist and Walter hit singles to start the inning and reached scoring position on Petracek’s groundout. Nunley singled into centerfield to score Bergquist, 7-2, and DeWeese brought home Walter with a groundout, 8-2 after six. And then there were mighty stuttering sounds from the Coons’ pen. Chun was the first to have issues in the seventh. Reed dug him out with a K to Don Cameron, but ran into trouble himself in the eighth inning and allowed a run on a Quebell single. The Elks had not yet made it back into save range, but with two outs and two on, and an impossible pitching matchup tomorrow, Alex Ramirez came into the game to restore order. While he retired Lawrence on a grounder to end the eighth inning, he didn’t have an easy ninth inning. Mike Gershkovich hit a double off the leftfield wall and made it to third base before Enrique Garcia made the final out. 8-3 Coons. Walter 2-4, BB; Petracek 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Nunley 2-4, RBI; DeWeese 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Denny 2-4;

Game 2
VAN: CF Cameron – LF E. Garcia – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – C Little – 3B Cowan – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – P S. McMullen
POR: CF Petracek – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – 2B Bergquist – 1B Young – RF Fucito – P Knight

I understand that Damani Knight almost puked right before the game with a slight case of The Nerves, but he definitely had a good start to his major league debut. The Elks had two singles the first time through the order, but didn’t threaten hard; in the third, Michael Palmer dropped down a bunt for a leadoff single, but was caught stealing after McMullen popped up his sac bunt and was easily retired. Knight then struck out Don Cameron for his first major league whiff victim. Of course the Raccoons were completely invisible against McMullen, and in the top of the fourth the Elks’ offense finally showed up. Garcia led off with a single before Kurt Evans homered. Quebell then reached on an error by Young, who had killed the bottom 3rd with a double play. Little singled, and Lawrence walked to fill the bags. McMullen’s 2-out single ran the score to 3-0 before Cameron grounded out to Bergquist.

Knight soldiered on and struck out two in a perfect sixth, still keeping the Elks in nominal range. The bottom of the sixth started with Petracek reaching on an error by short-term ex-Coon Joe Cowan. He stole second base and scored on subsequent singles by Walter and Nunley, which brought up the go-ahead run with nobody out. Danny Margolis was always a box of wonders and seemed to strike out before grounding an 0-2 pitch to right – and Palmer missed it! The single loaded the bases for DeWeese, who hit right into a run-scoring double play to kill the effort. Bergquist flew out to Evans, keeping the score at 3-2. Knight departed after a 1-out walk to Cameron in the top 7th. Thrasher and Margolis allowed the run to score, the former allowing a passed ball and the latter a 2-out single to Evans, 4-2.

Bottom 8th, Petracek drew a walk to bring up the tying run again, and Walter singled to put those tying runs on the corners for the ragdoll middle of the order. Nunley’s sac fly didn’t help in the big picture, but Margolis weaseled out a full count walk to move along the tying runs. Groundouts by DeWeese and Bergquist however managed to deny the Raccoons once again… Pedro Alvarado replaced McMullen for the ninth and axed down Young, McKnight, and Ochoa in order. 4-3 Canadiens. Walter 2-4; Nunley 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Mathis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Game 3
VAN: CF Rocha – 3B Cowan – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – C Little – LF Cameron – 2B Lawrence – SS McDermott – P Kreider
POR: 2B Walter – CF Petracek – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Denny – RF Ochoa – P Santos

The misery continued unabated. Denny’s leadoff double in the third was the only hit for either side in the first three innings, and Denny was stranded at third base. Santos had his own issues aside from popping out with one out and Denny 90 feet away, struggling with control (which as atypical) in addition to allowing deep drives that somehow ended up with Petracek. He also hit Steve Kreider in the third inning… But maybe, maybe, just maybe… maybe R.J. DeWeese was finally finding his heartbeat. Petracek hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, stole second base, and then was brought home by DeWeese with a long homer to right, giving Santos a 2-0 lead in addition to the oddest blossoming no-hit bid. Long fly outs aside, this wasn’t the only thing that didn’t work out. Santos struck out Kreider to start the sixth inning, but the ball went through Denny’s legs, and then came to a rest at the backstop, allowing Kreider to reach on the uncaught third strike. Joe Cowan hit a 1-out double to move the tying runs to scoring position. Evans lined out quite hard to Young, and a rejuvenated Quebell wasn’t going to be pitched to with first base open in that situation if we could pull up Little, who was batting almost 100 points less and from the right side – and struck out.

While Petracek continued to haunt his old team with a solo shot in the bottom 6th that ran the score to 3-0, Santos’ game derailed fast from there. Cameron, Lawrence, and Sean McDermott all hit singles to start the seventh inning; the tying runs were on base, and there was nobody out. Curiously, the Elks didn’t hit for Kreider, who struck out, after which Thrasher came in, but the right-hander Gershkovich would hit for Rocha in the top slot. Thrasher ****ed up COMPLETELY. Plating one run with a wild pitch, he allowed an RBI single to Gershkovich, and surrendered the third run on Steve Roundtree’s sac fly to deep, deep left. It didn’t get better after that. Russell Lewis landed a pinch-hit single against Seung-mo Chun in the eight, and Kevin Beaver upon replacing him would allow two more hard hits for two runs and a 5-3 lead for the ****ed Elks. Somehow, Kreider pitched eight innings despite getting bruised early, and the Raccoons then stared into the breach of Pedro Alvarado’s cannon again, which was an unofficial kind of Game Over. McKnight’s double with one out was well not enough for a comeback. 5-3 Canadiens. Petracek 2-4, HR, RBI; Waggoner 1-1;

In other news

May 31 – Indy’s RF Nick Gilmor (.343, 10 HR, 41 RBI) runs a hitting streak to 20 games with two base knocks in a 9-4 loss to the Thunder.
May 31 – It looks like Season Over for VAN SP Jose Flores (4-3, 3.52 ERA). The 34-year old lefty has been diagnosed with a torn labrum.
May 31 – The Warriors beat the Rebels with rocks, routing them for a 15-2 win.
June 2 – SFW CL Angel Casas (1-2, 3.47 ERA, 13 SV), who spent most of his career with the Raccoons, nails down his 500th save in a 6-4 Warriors win over the Wolves. The 34-year old Casas has led the league in saves four times, was Reliever of the Year in 2007, and an All Star six times. For his career, he is 26-28 with a 1.93 ERA and 914 K in 704.2 innings.
June 2 – Scorpions and Pacifics enter extra innings tied at three, then score three apiece in the 10th inning. The Scorpions finally prevail in the 12th inning to win 7-6 thanks to an RBI triple by Jason LaCombe (.391, 1 HR, 31 RBI), who reaches base five times in the game, but never scores.
June 4 – The hitting streak of IND RF Nick Gilmor (.335, 10 HR, 45 RBI) ends at 22 games after a hitless endeavor in the Indians’ 6-2 win over the Crusaders.

Complaints and stuff

Jonny Toner was Pitcher of the Month for the Continental League, murdering batters in six games for a 6-0 record and 1.03 ERA, whiffing 55 in 43 2/3 innings. Kinda dominant. Kinda like it.

What I didn’t like this week was the bullpen. If they continue at that rate, we’ll be under .500 in no time…

Did you know that Freddy Rosa is still playing, approximately 16 years after he was the next big (or first big?) catcher for us, until he wasn’t, about six months later? He’s 39 and with the Thunder, which could explain why they suck so hard. He was also on waivers this week. There was no interest from other teams.

Sad fact: Raccoons offense is on pace for the worst run output since 2006, the last act of the 10-year losing streak. But the last year we scored 700 runs was in 2012, five years ago already, and 700 runs aren't particularly overwhelming by any standard...

Sad fact #2: the Coons' team OPS is currently .668, also the lowest since 2006. The franchise has NEVER turned a winning season with an OPS that low, with the lowest OPS for a winning Raccoons team being .679, achieved in 1987.

This is in fact the ninth-lowest team OPS in franchise history. The Dark Times occupy four of the spots ahead, and the other four were turned in the league's first five seasons, when the Critters were also outright miserable and every .240 hitter was a pillar of production.

1987 is also the only year that the Raccoons turned a winning record while scoring less than four runs per game. They are scoring less than four runs per game now as well.

Westheim · 02-10-2017, 11:20 AM

2017 AMATEUR DRAFT POOL

And once again it’s June and it’s high time to have a look at the draft pool. The Raccoons would have the #15 pick in the upcoming draft, high enough to make an impact, but low enough to be a total crapshoot. The Coons wouldn’t have any additional first round picks (proper or supplemental) and wouldn’t pick again until the 60s.

Power-hitting catchers seem to be the thing of the year, although many of them can’t catch that well and are no help to their pitchers. Quite a few would be better served at first base. There is also a wide selection of outfielders and corner infielders available, but there really aren’t any middle infielders that might be able to bat anything at any point in their lives. We took note of a few glove magicians at shortstop and it can’t hurt to draft one in the sixth round, but overall the middle infield batting department lay barren in this draft.

Following is our annual hotlist of the dozen-or-so best players in the pool with our ratings for the primary stats. I sure hope that Gabriel Martinez isn’t actively sabotaging me here. Players with an asterisk are high school players. Also listed is their position in the BNN pre-draft hotlist, if they are ranked in the top 10.

SP Jim Bryant (13/16/12) - #5 BNN
SP Kyle Anderson (11/15/12) - #1 BNN *
SP Jack Sander (12/14/12)
SP Dave Madonna (13/11/12)

RP Steve Schwartz (12/16/14)
RP Kevin Gautney (13/13/12)
RP Mike Rehbock (13/12/11)

C Bobby Farnell (9/15/15)

1B Trent Herlihy (10/13/12) - #9 BNN
INF/CF Trey Rock (17/3/5) - #2 BNN *
1B Ruben Santiago (11/14/8) *

CF/RF Ian Coleman (14/8/11)
OF/1B Terry Kopp (11/13/12) - #7 BNN
OF Adam Braun (10/12/7) *

There is another high school pitcher in the pool that is ranked #3 overall, right-hander Matt Duskin. Martinez has thrown several red flags for him. Duskin is throwing a changeup that BNN has declared to be the next big thing, but Martinez calls it being a square one pitch right now and whether he will get it past that will have to be seen. Much of his overall stuff rating hinges on the fantasy changeup, and then there’s also the terrible command he currently shows. While only 18 years old, you should do better to become a first-round pick. Also, he’s dumber than five rocks and getting straight D’s in high school.

We’re obviously picking too far down to rank these further into our five most favorite picks. It is not unlikely that nothing will remain outside of the relievers and maybe Santiago. Not that Santiago would be a bad pick. Maybe we can get paws on Madonna, which would open up endless possibilities for puns once sh- he gets to the majors.

Westheim · 02-12-2017, 03:03 PM

This will be a rare 3-series post, due to the draft falling between the series in the week of June 15. Cherish it!

Raccoons (32-25) vs. Loggers (27-29) – June 5-8, 2017

The Loggers were quite decent actually, and could actually have a much better record than they had. They had a +21 run differential, and were fourth in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. Their run differential was actually almost the same as that of the Critters (+25), suggesting that one team here was fake and the other one had the most terrible luck. They had also lost the first series between the teams, dropping three of four games to the Striped Suckers.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (5-5, 3.24 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (5-3, 3.26 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (3-6, 3.78 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (1-7, 4.07 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (8-2, 1.59 ERA) vs Jason McDonald (5-5, 5.06 ERA)
Damani Knight (0-1, 4.26 ERA) vs. Ricky Mendoza (6-1, 4.10 ERA)

Scott was one of their southpaws, but we’d miss the other one, Luis Guerrero (2-4, 4.04 ERA). While the Raccoons expected Cookie Carmona back during this series, the Loggers not only had pitchers Brian Cope and G.G. Williams on the DL, no, they also lacked their speed demon Victor Hodgers, who was out with a high ankle sprain, and slugger Mike Rucker, had suffered a thumb contusion on the weekend and was out for at least the Monday contest.

Game 1
MIL: SS Konrath – RF Gore – 1B E. Scott – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – C O. Castillo – 3B Landeros – 2B Best – P V. Scott
POR: SS Walter – CF Petracek – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – 1B Young – RF Fucito – P Abe

The Critters stranded runners in scoring position in the first inning, but to be fair they only got those because of a throwing error by Steve Best, who then reached on a throwing error by Abe in the third inning. The Loggers didn’t quite feel the absence of Rucker here, as Brad Gore hit a 2-out, 2-run homer, the first hit they had off Abe, and the only one off Abe in the first five innings. The Coons had two hits, and stunk abysmally once more. The Loggers gained a 4-0 lead with another 2-shot in the sixth inning, Chris LeMoine mashing his ninth dinger of the season. The Raccoons had two men on in the bottom 6th after singles by Nunley and DeWeese, but Margolis fouled out in a full count, and Bergquist only managed a miserable roller, ending that scoring opportunity, the last one they stumbled into in a most crisp 2:24 loss. 4-0 Loggers.

Degenerated bunch.

Cookie was back for Tuesday after four games with the Alley Cats, in which he had batted .357, while Jimmy Fucito was waived and designated for assignment after going 1-for-9 in his brief stint.

All will be well know, I promise.

Game 2
MIL: SS Konrath – RF Gore – 1B E. Scott – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – C O. Castillo – 3B Landeros – 2B Best – P Foreman
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Denny – P Morrison

Cookie’s return was a smash as the Raccoons undressed Foreman to the tune of six runs in the first inning, all sparked by a wonderfully worked leadoff walk. Cookie ended up scoring on Nunley’s single, who was still alone on base then with two outs, but starting with Waggoner every Critter reached base. Waggoner walked, McKnight singled, Young singled in a pair, and Denny romped a 3-run homer to left center. Unfortunately that was about where Morrison started to give up a run per inning. LeMoine hit a leadoff jack in the second, and then the battery started to have a complete breakdown of communication. In the third and fourth innings combined, Morrison threw two wild pitches and Denny allowed three stolen bases as the Loggers plated a run each time to get back to 6-3. However, the Loggers would make TWO errors in the bottom of the fourth inning, one to put Cookie on as leadoff man on a poor throw by Ruben Landeros, and another when Elijah Scott dropped a feed from reliever Ron Carter, who also threw a wild pitch in the inning. Despite the heavy support, the Raccoons only plated two runs... but were up by five again.

Morrison only made it to the sixth, but not out of it. The Loggers loaded the bases with an infield single and two walks, and Guillermo Aponte was to pinch-hit in the #9 hole with two outs. Kevin Beaver replaced Morrison to face the switch-hitter, who struck out in a full count. With a lop-sided score, even Adam Young managed to be useful for once, hitting a solo home run off Tony Harrell in the bottom 7th, and McKnight hit a 2-out RBI single in the eighth. Up 10-3, the Raccoons needed to tease disaster in the ninth inning. Jayden Reed retired none of the first four batters. Steve Best, Randy Porter, and Cameron Konrath all hit soft singles, then he walked Brad Gore to force in a run. Elijah Scott killed the rally with a run-scoring double play before LeMoine popped out. 10-5 Raccoons. Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Waggoner 2-3, 2 BB; McKnight 2-5, 2 RBI; Young 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Beaver 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
MIL: SS Konrath – RF Gore – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – C O. Castillo – 3B Landeros – 2B Best – P Foreman
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Denny – P Toner

Toner had won seven straight starts, but had off control early on. He walked the returning Rucker in the first, but whiffed LeMoine, and then issued a leadoff walk to Andrew Cooper in the second before getting a room service double play bouncer from Orlando Castillo. Walter made a throwing error in the third, but the Loggers didn’t do anything with that free runner, either. The Coons would score the first run of the game after Cookie’s 1-out triple in the bottom 3rd, coming home on Walter’s fly to deep-enough left. Young came to bat in a key spot in the bottom 4th, two on, one out, and DAMN SURE ENOUGH found his way into a double play.

Toner struck out nine in the first five innings and allowed no hits, but his pitch count was at almost 80 thanks to a number of full counts. Then it was – of all people – McDonald, the opposing pitcher to get the Loggers into the H column, hitting a leadoff single in the sixth, and also in a full count. Konrath bounced out and Jonny whiffed Gore and Rucker to end the inning and preserve the 1-0 lead, but was zooming in on 100 pitches. Pitch #100 would hit Andrew Cooper in the hip to give the Loggers a 1-out runner in the top 7th, which still was the tying run. Castillo struck out before Elijah Scott hit for Landeros and sent a fly to right center that looked like doom, except that Waggoner raced over to spoil it before it could spoil Jonny, who didn’t return for the eighth. Ron Thrasher took over and walked Best right away. The Loggers got greedy and possibly stupid, had McDonald swing away, and right into a double play to McKnight, who also made short work of Konrath’s first-pitch grounder. Alex Ramirez took over the 1-0 lead in the ninth. Randy Porter grounded out, Rucker (.330, 16 HR, 56 RBI) whiffed, but LeMoine, who had struck out three times against Toner, hit a double into the rightfield corner, actively endangering Jonny’s win streak. Andrew Cooper was batting only .213, but was a left-hander anyway. Everybody had an uneasy feeling, and Cooper promptly homered to blow the streak apart and give the Loggers the lead. Castillo struck out, putting Troy Charters against a long row of opposite-handed batters starting with Walter, but the entire crew had only managed four hits on the day. Walter struck out on three pitches, while Nunley sent an 0-2 to deep center, where Cooper caught it. DeWeese dumped a ball into right center, becoming the tying run in scoring position with the resulting double. Waggoner came up and hit Charters’ second pitch, a drive to right that Edgar Alires hustled after – in vain. It was outta here! 3-2 Raccoons. Waggoner 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 13 K;

Grmbl.

Jonny deserves a much, much better team. He has 122 strikeouts now. NOBODY in the majors has even reached 100 yet!

Game 4
MIL: SS Konrath – RF Gore – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – C O. Castillo – 3B Landeros – 2B Best – P R. Mendoza
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Waggoner – 1B Petracek – SS McKnight – LF Ochoa – C Denny – P Knight

The Loggers got the first stab at the scoreboard in this one. Damani Knight retired the first six, somehow, before hitting Ruben Landeros in the fat butt at the start of the third inning. Best singled up the middle, Mendoza bunted them over, and Konrath’s grounder to Shane Walter was enough to score Landeros. The lead didn’t hold long; Mike Denny whacked a leadoff jack in the bottom 3rd to tie the game and become the Critters’ sole home run leader with eight shots. Knight somehow got on base, but Walter hit into a double play, already the team’s second on the day, and Knight was then completely torn open in the fourth inning. Rucker singled and LeMoine homered once again, and they kept going on base. Cooper doubled, Castillo and Best made it on, and Mendoza plated two with a single to center. Down 6-1 in the middle of the fourth, Knight already had his second major-league loss secured, because we knew what this ****ing offense could do, and making up 5-run deficits was not included in that.

The Coons tried to give Knight a chance to pitch another inning or two, since the game was lost anyway, but Mike Rucker’s leadoff homer in the fifth ended his day in total disgrace, having allowed seven earned runs in four-plus innings. There was no sign of life for the Critters throughout the middle innings. Mendoza was still pitching in the eighth inning, while John Korb pitched good long relief for the Critters (at least that, if NOTHING else…). Cookie hit a 1-out single in the bottom 8th, but DeWeese struck out batting for Korb. Nunley singled, sending them to the corners for Waggoner, Wednesday’s hero. He romped a pitch hard to deep right, and it went out yet again for a 3-run homer! Sadly, this was still not enough. They were still down 7-5, but at least Reed prevented further damage in the top 9th. Charters was back out for the Loggers to save this one, perhaps, but McKnight hit a leadoff single to bring up the tying run with nobody out, with Margolis hitting for Reed, but he struck out, as did Denny. Young had been batting ninth for a while and only reached first base because Rucker and Charters got into each other’s underwear on his pathetic roller, but maybe Cookie could work some magic, and if he reached base, DeWeese would come up. Cookie ran a full count, flew to center, and into the final out. 7-5 Loggers. Petracek 2-4; McKnight 3-4; Korb 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (34-27) vs. Pacifics (37-24) – June 9-11, 2017

The Pacifics were only second in the FL West despite a strong record, but their run differential was actually identical to the fake Coons’ at +25. They were only eighth in runs scored in the Federal League, and fourth in runs allowed. Their bullpen was the best in the league, with a quite good, fourth-place rotation.

We had not seen the Pacifics since 2014, when we took two of three from them, following a Pacifics sweep in 2012. That sweep was the only meeting between the teams in the 2000s that the Pacifics had won, with the Raccoons now holding an all-time winning percentage of .619 over L.A., second only to their .690 ownership of the Miners, who would be our very next opponent.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (4-3, 3.27 ERA) vs. Bruce Mark (2-3, 4.61 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (5-6, 3.18 ERA) vs. Ernest Green (7-3, 4.08 ERA)
Bruce Morrison (4-6, 3.86 ERA) vs. Fred O’Quinn (9-2, 2.81 ERA)

The latter two would be southpaws, but Green had some issues with his calf and there might be a change in the assumed order.

They were missing two batters from the starting lineup in John Gartner and Tom Reese, although the latter had been suffering from horrendous performances whenever he had been healthy, much of a contrast to earlier years with the Thunder.

Game 1
LAP: LF Amundson – SS R. Irvin – CF J. Roberts – 2B B. Torres – C Spears – RF M. Thompson – 1B O. Torres – 3B Duke – P Mark
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – C Denny – 1B Young – P Santos

The Pacifics chained together three hits, starting with an Errol Spears double, in the top of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead, but with two outs in the bottom of the inning, Adam Young would hit a 2-run homer to flip the score. This odd behavior startled Santos, who began to allow even harder contact than initially, and it got worse after the bottom 3rd started with a Cookie triple to right (and he didn’t even get hurt …!), a Walter RBI double, and a Nunley single. DeWeese’s run-scoring double play helped greatly to curtail an offensive outburst, leaving the score at 4-1, but even that was a confusing sight for Santos. Spears hit another double in the fourth, which led to nothing, but in the fifth Jimmy Roberts hit a monster homer to dead center for two runs – Garrett Amundson had singled before that – and cut the gap back to 4-3. The Pacifics were far from done. Tony Duke opened the seventh with a single against Santos, who then struck out pinch-hitter Allen Elliott, and got a grounder from Amundson for a force at second base. Ah, he was fine, he’d do away with Ross Irvin, a weak-hitting sho- And there was the score-flipping 2-run homer to left that everybody had waited for.

Despite deserving it, Santos wouldn’t be hung with the loss. Young hit another extra-base hit in the bottom 7th, a 1-out double to right, and Petracek singled in Santos’ place. While Cookie grounded out to Irvin, Young scored with the tying run, and Walter then dipped in another base hit to score Petracek, giving the Raccoons the lead right back at 6-5. Unfortunately the damned bullpen failed to hold onto that. Jayden Reed allowed a leadoff single to Bobby Torres in the top of the eighth, and when Beaver replaced him with two outs, he conceded a single to Oliver Torres, sending the other Torres to third, then threw a wild pitch. Duke walked before Clint Southcott, the ex-Elk in his first plate appearance of the year, struck out. Ramirez struck out the side in the ninth and helped the team into extra innings, where more pen members came variously close to calamity. Mathis barely stranded runners in scoring position in the 10th, and Chun allowed three deep drives for three outs in the 11th. Technically with the chance to win via walkoff, the Raccoons put Waggoner on base to start the bottom 11th when he walked against Mike Kress, a right-hander, but McKnight bunted into a force at second base, and Denny rolled straight into a double play. And then there was Young, still playing like an actual baseball player, and hitting a leadoff double off Kress in the bottom 12th. Surely all would be well now! Well, no. Petracek popped out to third, Carmona grounded out to first, and Bergquist rolled a ball for 25 feet for a casual third out, stranding Young on third base. Bottom 13th. Nunley reached to lead off when a ****ty roller eloped between the Torreses on the right side, but DeWeese’s drive to deep left was caught (there is no fairness in baseball, by the way). Waggoner and McKnight both singled to load the bases. Kress was still at it in his fourth inning, and got the golden second out when Denny popped out (running his line in the game to 0-for-6). Young came up, grounded to right, Bobby Torres didn’t get it, and the Coons won after all. 7-6 Coons. Walter 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, BB; Waggoner 3-5, BB; Young 4-5, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI;

Game 2
LAP: LF Amundson – SS R. Irvin – CF J. Roberts – 2B B. Torres – C Spears – RF M. Thompson – 1B O. Torres – 3B Duke – P E. Green
POR: CF Carmona – RF Petracek – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 1B Young – SS McKnight – 2B Bergquist – P Abe

The Raccoons struck first this time, and again started scoring in the bottom 2nd. DeWeese opened the inning with a double over Jimmy Roberts’ head and scored after a wild pitch and on Margolis’ single to left. Young singled, but was forced on McKnight hitting into a fielder’s choice, leaving them on the corners for Bergquist, who doubled to right center, 2-0. Abe came up, hit a terrible bloop to shallow right, and both runs scored before Marc Thompson could do something; the 4-0 lead almost painted over Abe’s control struggles. He had run four 3-ball counts to the first six batters, but the Pacifics had drawn only one walk and hadn’t scored so far. Abe ran another two full counts in the third inning, and while nobody reached, his pitch count went up like a rocket – always great a day after 13 innings!

Everything somewhat returned to normalcy in the middle innings. Abe threw a bit less crap, but still arrived at 100 pitches through six innings, and Adam Young came up with two outs and a runner in scoring position twice and failed miserably both times, including fouling out on a 2-0 pitch. Abe went back out for the top 7th, still up 4-0 and with a 3-hitter he wouldn’t finish, to at least get Spears, a switch-hitter, and the right-handed Thompson before we tried to get some budget bullpen work and finish the game with Beaver and Reed, who had failed so hard in the eighth the previous day. That was a sound plan! That was also a terrible plan, and it worked only as long as Abe was still in the game. He got his two outs, but Beaver allowed a single to Oliver Torres right away before Duke rolled out of the inning. Beaver then struck Clint Southcott quite hard to start the top 8th, and when Reed inherited a runner, he made it worse. Irvin singled hard, and Roberts hit a 3-run homer to almost erase the Raccoons’ 4-0 lead. John Korb was recruited to continue and got out of the inning, with Ramirez being sent to close the game. He struck out Marc Thompson, then allowed a single to right to Oliver Torres. Tony Duke ran a full count before hitting a hard bouncer to the left side. Nunley threw himself in the way and blitzed a throw to second base to get Torres, and Bergquist ended the game by beating Duke at first on a bang-bang play. 4-3 Critters. DeWeese 2-4, 2B; Margolis 2-4, RBI; Abe 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (6-6) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

Before the Sunday game, a misfit pair of news came out that Jimmy Roberts, 33, had signed a new 2-yr, $6.8M deal with the Pacifics on Thursday, and that their owner Patrick O’Gavagan had died the previous night. They probably didn’t know of the second item when they released the first one in the morning…

Game 3
LAP: 1B O. Torres – SS R. Irvin – CF J. Roberts – 2B B. Torres – RF M. Thompson – LF Elliott – C Leach – 3B Duke – P O’Quinn
POR: CF Carmona – 1B Petracek – SS Walter – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 3B Nunley – 2B Bergquist – RF Johnson – P Morrison

Again the Critters drew first blood, but this time nothing happened until the second time through the order. Cookie drew a leadoff walk on four pitches against O’Quinn to start the bottom 3rd, after which Petracek was hit. Foster Leach, a good, strong-armed catcher, had to pick up a pitch in the dirt when the runners embarked on a double steal and failed to get Cookie at third base. This looked like a golden move, since Walter’s grounder to short looked like a double play with someone on first, however Ross Irvin managed to throw a bouncer to first base that almost hit Torres in the neck. The ball got away for an error, Cookie scored, and runners were on the corners with nobody out. The Critters cranked up the hurt on the Pacifics with DeWeese’s howling 2-run triple into the rightfield corner. He scored on a single by Denny, 4-0, and still nobody out. The Pacifics’ cavalcade of involuntary comic relief continued. After Nunley’s single there was a wild pitch by O’Quinn, and when Bergquist flew to Thompson in right – which actually resulted in an out – Denny made for home from third base. Thompson’s throw was wild, allowing him to score comfortably, but Nunley had held on third base already, but scored from there on Johnson’s groundout. The Coons had a 6-spot, and Morrison now just had to hold onto it, somehow.

The Pacifics were close to taking major chunks out of the lead in the fifth inning. A leadoff walk to Allen Elliott got them moving. Leach singled, sending them to the corners, and Duke hit a sac fly. Southcott singled, but Torres grounded out shyly to Petracek, and Irvin, with runners in scoring position, struck out to end the inning still down 6-1. But while Cookie would reach on an error twice in the game, though never on his own merits, the Raccoons didn’t get another base hit until the bottom 6th, and then Walter’s 2-out single didn’t lead to greatness in any interpretation of the word anymore. Morrison trudged on even through adversity, like when Duke was awarded first base on catcher’s interference in the seventh inning. He finished seven on exactly 100 pitches. Waggoner hit for him in the bottom 7th, then with the score already grown to 8-1 after a 2-run home run by Nunley hit off Alex Silva, who allowed another 2-run homer in the bottom 8th of the pinch-hit sort to Ronnie McKnight. A Torres error had put Petracek on base – the Pacifics’ fourth error in the game! The Pacifics never rose again. 10-1 Furballs! Walter 2-4, RBI; McKnight (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; DeWeese 1-3, 2 BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Denny 2-5, RBI; Nunley 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Waggoner (PH) 1-1, 2B; Morrison 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (5-6) and 1-3;

Raccoons (37-27) @ Miners (35-28) – June 13-15, 2017

Running up against Draft Day, the Raccoons would see the Miners in a battle of second-place teams. Pittsburgh ranked third in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the FL East, with a comparable run differential to the Raccoons. They were the dinger kings in the FL with 54, but were slow almost throughout the roster, ranking 11th in stolen bases.

These teams also hadn’t played since 2014 when the Raccoons had swept Pittsburgh, their first series win in almost a decade. Despite that fact, they were still running a .690 all-time win percentage against Pittsburgh, courtesy of nine straight series wins from the 80s until 2005.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (8-2, 1.47 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (3-7, 4.84 ERA)
Damani Knight (0-2, 8.71 ERA) vs. Tim Dunn (5-4, 5.42 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. Pedro Hernandez (7-5, 2.83 ERA)

Dunn is their only southpaw. He’s constantly red-faced, but maybe he’s just ashamed of his pitching. Weise of course we know well from his time with the Indians, whom the Raccoons trailed by six games as this series was to start.

We arrive here after an off day on Monday. I considered whether to skip Knight and move everybody up a day, but decided against it. Nick Brown would likely come off the DL during the week, but I wanted him to make a rehab start in AAA first, so Knight would have to make another start in the Bigs anyway. And if Brownie would break down right away again, he could do so without harming our bullpen…..

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Denny – P Toner
PIT: CF Holland – LF V. Sanchez – SS McWhorter – RF D. Carter – 1B D. McCormick – C Pino – 3B Bahner – 2B H. Jones – P Weise

Offensive attempts were feeble the first time through the lineup, and even when Cookie reached with a 2-out single in the third inning, it was a powerless blooper into shallow center. When Shane Walter unpacked a 2-run homer to rightfield, it certainly came unexpected, but plated the first runs in the game. The Miners got 2-out singles in the bottom 3rd from Ross Holland, the former stinkin’ Elk, and Victorino Sanchez, the proud owner of 3,805 previous major league base hits, before Tom McWhorter unleashed a tremendous drive to deep center. Cookie swung all the paws he had and made a magnificent catch just in front of the warning track, and even managed to not crack his skull on any hard surface out there.

Jonny Toner couldn’t make the Miners fall for his stuff. He had but two strikeouts in four innings, but then opened the top 5th with a single. Cookie, still struggling like hell, got him forced, but scored on singles by Walter and Nunley, 3-0, before DeWeese and Waggoner both struck out to end the inning. Toner plated another run in the next inning, bringing home McKnight from third base on a groundout. While Cookie raced for an infield single after that, Walter grounded out. McWhorter and Dave Carter opened the bottom 6th with singles between seams on the infield and moved to scoring position on Dave McCormick’s groundout. A stuffless Toner was closing in on 100 pitches, but at least there were more right-handers coming, though the next one, Bartholomeu Pino, also had ten homers on the odometer, one of three Miners with double digit dingers (McWhorter and Carter were the others). In the event, both Pino and Travis Bahner hit hard liners to the outfield, and neither could make his fall in. Pino got a sac fly when McWhorter scored, but Bahner’s line ended up with Waggoner and ended the inning at 4-1 Coons. Toner retired the fiendish Howard Jones on a grounder to start the bottom 7th, but yielded when left-hander John Webb appeared to pinch-hit. Thrasher replaced him and would strike out all three batters he faced, but in a break during that performance, the Raccoons rapped John Key for three additional runs in the top 8th. Danny Ochoa hit a 2-piece, his first homer of the season. John Korb would follow on Thrasher and retired the last five Miners in a row to end the game. 7-1 Coons. Carmona 3-5; Walter 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Johnson 1-1; Ochoa 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Toner 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (9-2) and 1-3, RBI; Korb 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

That Bahner kid is of course the one I wanted to draft a few years back but didn’t get my filthy paws on. He’s batting .230 with three homers in his sophomore season. Probably not the impact player I imagined.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 1B Petracek – 3B Walter – LF DeWeese – C Denny – RF Waggoner – 2B Bergquist – SS McKnight – P Knight
PIT: CF Holland – LF V. Sanchez – SS McWhorter – RF D. Carter – 1B D. McCormick – C Pino – 3B Bahner – 2B H. Jones – P Dunn

Right from the start it became obvious that Knight would wear out the defense. The Miners sent up five men in the bottom 1st, four hit the ball really hard, two for singles, and two liners that required Cookie sacrificing more of his precious body on the altar of defensive heroics. While Denny gave the Coons the lead with a solo shot, his ninth, in the second inning, they probably had to pour out half a dozen only to mitigate the damage that Damani Knight would suffer in this game. Waggoner had to steal a homer from Howard Jones (!!) in the bottom 2nd to keep the Miners off the board, but the Critters enlarged their lead to 3-0 in the third on run-scoring extra-base hits by Cookie (double) and Walter (triple). Both pitchers ended up batting with the bases loaded in the fourth inning; Knight hit a sac fly, 4-0, but Dunn came up with two outs and struck out.

Mike Denny put the nail into Dunn’s coffin with a 2-run homer in the fifth inning, making him the first Coon to ten home runs in 2017. The Miners, down 6-0, FINALLY got something off Knight in the bottom 5th, when Ross Holland hit a leadoff single, stole second base, and came home on McWhorter’s single to left. It was the last inning Damani got through. Bahner and Webb hit singles in the bottom 6th and with two more left-handers at the top of the order it was time to call it a day. Thrasher struck out Holland to stave off the most immediate danger, ending the sixth inning. He walked Sanchez to start the seventh, but Mathis and Reed would take over and complete the game without any funny accidents along the way. 7-1 Furballs. Carmona 2-5, 2B, RBI; Petracek 2-5; Nunley (PH) 1-1; Denny 2-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; McKnight 2-3, BB, 2B; Reed 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

What a massively lucky win! I could see Cookie’s #31 six or seven times just after a loud THUD in this game. He spoiled everything. By my count, we’re two or three games away from him breaking a leg and spending the rest of the season in cast.

Despite the defensive prowess making this one way more lop-sided than it was, the Coons have now scored seven or more runs in five of their last eight games.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – SS McKnight – 1B Young – C Denny – P Santos
PIT: CF Holland – LF V. Sanchez – SS McWhorter – RF D. Carter – 1B D. McCormick – C Pino – 3B Bahner – 2B H. Jones – P P. Hernandez

For the fifth straight game the Raccoons scored first. Cookie led off with a single, made it to third when Pino’s throw on his steal attempt went to centerfield, and came home on Nunley’s groundout. Then DeWeese jacked one, 2-0. Santos held the Miners dry for the first three innings, then came to bat in the fourth with the bases loaded and two outs. DeWeese and Denny had walked, with a McKnight single in between, but Pedro Hernandez blasted Santos with three heaters right on the edges to stave off the threat of a bloop single plating two. Santos K’ed, then fell apart – almost – in the bottom 4th. Sanchez led off with a single, but McWhorter hit into a fielder’s choice. Santos then walked McCormick, and allowed singles to Pino and Bahner, plating one run and leaving the bases loaded for Jones, which was begging for pain, but Waggoner caught his easy fly to end the inning with Portland still ahead by one.

Top 5th, bases loaded for the Coons again, and this time with no outs and DeWeese to bat. He grounded to Jones, who chose the potential double play over a flimsy chance to get Cookie at home – and didn’t get the double play either, as McWhorter’s relay bounced and DeWeese legged it out for an RBI groundout, 3-1. Waggoner struck out, McKnight was hit, and Young flew out too easily to Sanchez on the first pitch he saw to end the inning. The sixth saw Denny draw a leadoff walk, but Santos bunted into a double play. Cookie reached base on a single that narrowly eluded Bahner, but the Coons would then shackle Hernandez with consecutive 2-out RBI doubles hit by Walter and Nunley, running the score to 5-1. But they weren’t out of the woods, and they weren’t by a wide margin. Santos continued to suffer lapses into uselessness, and to start the bottom 6th loaded the bases on a single, double, and walk, then faced Bahner, who at 2-2 knocked a sharp bouncer up the third base line. Nunley flashed his glove, tapped third base to erase McCormick, but didn’t get Bahner at first, and a run scored. Jones struck out, but Santos was gone in favor of Beaver when Webb pinch-hit for Hernandez. Beaver continued his recent string of being no help at all and allowed a double that scored another run, 5-3, before Holland grounded out sharply to Walter at second base. Runs kept comin’, McKnight homering off John Key in the top 7th, 6-3, but Beaver walked Sanchez to start the bottom 7th and then disappeared for Reed to have a go. He walked Carter, then conceded the game-tying 3-run homer to McCormick – and on an 0-2 pitch.

Instantly removed to be tied in front of a TV that ran “Roseanne” reruns in an infinite loop, Reed’s place was taken by Chun, who allowed a single to Pino and a double to Bahner before somehow the Miners let him off the hook. Dave Coble popped out, and Victor Enriquez flailed himself back to the bench, stranding the go-ahead runs in scoring position. While Jayden Reed’s brain was melting away, the game spared no oddity, like Brandon Johnson’s leadoff jack against Ron Funderburk in the top 8th that instantly gave the Raccoons the lead back (and another 7-run game). The Miners stranded another two runs that would have been on Chun in the bottom 8th. Mathis didn’t *help* per se, but Young threw himself into McCormick’s sharp bouncer to somehow spoil it and clamber back to first base in time to end the inning. That was not all the game had to offer. Matt Collins retired Petracek and McKnight to start the ninth before Young reached on a poor grounder that eluded the middle infielders – and rolled past the onrushing Holland for an extra base. Collins balked, then allowed a soft pop to shallow center to Denny. Coble and McWhorter closed in, both yelled, and then both shied back just before one could elbow the other in the face. The ball fell in, Young scored, the Raccoons had the most wicked insurance run. And that was before another run scored on consecutive singles by Johnson and Cookie. We attempted to save the game with Mathis, which was the equivalent of tickling a sleeping bull, and Bahner indeed hit a 1-out double, that put the tying run in the on-deck circle. Ramirez came in after all and quelled the threat with a Coble pop and a grounder to short by Jesus Carbajal. 9-6 Critters. Carmona 3-5, BB, RBI; Walter 2-6, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; McKnight 2-4, HR, RBI; Johnson 2-2, HR, RBI;

In other news

June 6 – Sioux Falls fans get to see an inspiring 21-2 bleaching their team hands to the unlucky Dallas Stars. Batting eighth, SFW 3B Wes Ladd (.258, 1 HR, 14 RBI) leads the team with 5 RBI, plating pairs with a homer and a triple each.
June 9 – Atlanta’s SP Joey Hopkins (7-3, 4.15 ERA) spins a 2-hit shutout against the Miners. The Knights win 4-0.
June 10 – Despite five base hits, including a homer and a double, by Bill Adams (.331, 7 HR, 26 RBI), the Buffaloes go down silently to the Falcons, losing the game in Charlotte, 8-3.
June 10 – One day after seeing a shutout, Knights fans are horrified to witness a 17-6 rout the Miners hang on their team.
June 11 – In an engaging 23-7 mauling of the Crusaders, SAC OF Josh Rawlings (.250, 2 HR, 11 RBI) raps out five base hits, including a 3-run homer off New York’s Jaylen Martin. Rawling drives in six in the annihilation, which includes a 12-run sixth inning. SAC OF Ray Meade (.258, 9 HR, 49 RBI) also drives in six on four hits, and horrible defense was also a factor, as eight Sacramento runs were unearned.
June 11 – Elsewhere, offense is scarce, with TIJ SP Troy McCaskill (6-5, 3.45 ERA) throwing a 3-hit shutout against the Stars. Tijuana wins 5-0.
June 11 – And again elsewhere, it takes forever to reach a conclusion. The Falcons walk off on Matt Good’s sac fly for an 8-7 victory over the Buffaloes, but only in the 15th inning.
June 13 – Wolves and Bayhawks have 17 hits apiece before the Wolves walk off, 6-5, on Tony Avalos’ (.322, 10 HR, 51 RBI) double in the 14-inning game.

Complaints and stuff

Offense! Wat? Offense! Dunno, never heard of her. But the Raccoons did score 6.2 runs per game in the last three series combined, and that includes opening with a dud against the Loggers.

There won’t probably be a new dramedy on TV this fall entitled “Knight & McKnight”. It would be a full-blown drama, and nobody would want to watch it.

Mike Denny reached double digits in home runs first, hitting two on Tuesday off Tim Dunn, and thus became the official successor to Craig Bowen as low-average, high-voltage catcher. Peace with Craig, wherever he might be.

McCormick’s game-tying home run off Jayden Reed on Wednesday was his 2,000th major league hit. I have been happier for people to get that. A veteran mostly of the Federal League, McCormick also played three seasons with the Thunder, winning 2012 CLCS MVP honors with them. He’s a career .312 hitter with 183 HR and 869 RBI.

Whom did we draft after missing out on Travis Bahner, who was taken 19th by the Miners in ’11? David Tingley, taken at #22. Pitcher. Hasn’t amounted to much. Now with the Loganville Bombardiers, the Pacifics’ AAA team. He had a 5.31 ERA last year, but he’s improved to a 5.21 ERA this year. He was included in the misery trade for Stan Murphy. That was three years ago. If it’s any consolation – none of the three prospects packaged with Adrian Quebell then has yet appeared in the majors.

Next, more future broken hearts: the 2017 Amateur Draft will be upon us. Once that’s through the Indians will be waiting for us over at their place. Titans, Falcons in the week after that.

Westheim · 02-13-2017, 04:17 PM

2017 AMATEUR DRAFT

Time to get a new set of kits in here! The Raccoons held the #15 pick in the Amateur Draft following the Thursday night games, but would then not pick again until the second round proper thanks to no compensation picks awarded to them in the last offseason.

Here is our pre-draft list of the hottest young ball handlers again – that sounded way wrong, somehow. Once more, I surely hope that Gabriel Martinez a) knows what he’s doing besides plotting my demise, and b) isn’t actively listing duds for me to pick (although, thinking about it, I can pick duds on my own, thank you very much). Players with an asterisk are high school players. Also listed is their position in the BNN pre-draft hotlist, if they are ranked in the top 10.

SP Jim Bryant (13/16/12) - #5 BNN
SP Kyle Anderson (11/15/12) - #1 BNN *
SP Jack Sander (12/14/12)
SP Dave Madonna (13/11/12)

RP Steve Schwartz (12/16/14)
RP Kevin Gautney (13/13/12)
RP Mike Rehbock (13/12/11)

C Bobby Farnell (9/15/15)

1B Trent Herlihy (10/13/12) - #9 BNN
INF/CF Trey Rock (17/3/5) - #2 BNN *
1B Ruben Santiago (11/14/8) *

CF/RF Ian Coleman (14/8/11)
OF/1B Terry Kopp (11/13/12) - #7 BNN
OF Adam Braun (10/12/7) *

For the first time in longer than I could remember, a catcher was taken #1 overall in the amateur draft, as the Wolves took Bobby Farnell, the slugging backstop. Next were outfielders. The Loggers selected Ian Coleman, and Terry Kopp went to the Capitals, and then it was into the pitchers. Jim Bryant was #4 to the Thunder, and the Blue Sox picked Jack Sander at #5. The Buffaloes picked that extremely-high-reward / extremely-high-risk pitcher, Matt Duskin, who had been on our watch but not the hotlist, with the sixth pick. Dave Madonna, whom I had had my keenest eye on as a realistic pick at #15 was swept up five picks earlier by the Cyclones.

My earlier prediction that the Raccoons would be left to pick between 1B Ruben Santiago and the relievers almost became true. The Titans took Steve Schwartz at #13, and Adam Braun remained left over among the outfielders, but that aside it was Santiago, Gautney, and Rehbock. I might have been tempted to select Schwartz with the first-round pick because he really looks that good, but neither Gautney nor Rehbock were elite closer material. If you pick a reliever in the first round, it better be a Grant West (although Richard Cunningham wasn’t shabby either, and can you believe those two were selected in first rounds more than 35 years ago? Time’s been flying!).

The Raccoons ended up selecting what looked like a fine bet to get a fine, if one-dimensional, major league caliber player eventually. Ruben Santiago, who had fled Cuba at age 14 on an XXL inflatable rubber duck that had been washed ashore, became the #15 pick in the draft and the Raccoons’ new hope for a worthwhile first baseman, although right now he was only 18 years old.

After that we had about two hours of time to kill. I went for dinner. Martinez went for a gun shop two blocks over. With no pick in the next 47, we easily had enough time to scratch some itches…

When I returned nicely filled, the second round proper had just begun. We were at #55, and the Buffaloes had just selected Ken Gautney, which left only Mike Rehbock from amongst the hotlist players. Martinez was already back in the draft room, and slid over a paper bag to me, saying he had brought me a little something from the bakery he had stopped at on the way back. Poison! That’s what was rushing through my head. And I wasn’t even lying when I told him that I was really not hungry right now. He mumbled something like ‘El día que usted muera vendrá’, and I tried to sit a little bit further away from the paper bag.

Rehbock was still available when we finally had our second pick, and with no other genius ideas to go by, he was selected #63 overall.

2017 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#15) – 1B Ruben Santiago, 18, from Rodas, Cuba – prototypical first baseman more or less with a knack for power, decent contact abilities, and not much to write home about in terms of speed and defense, but power is something that can carry you a good bit of the way…
Round 2 (#63) – CL Mike Rehbock, 20, from Pratt, KS – a fairly small (5’8’’) southpaw that has good movement on his 91mph fastball and makes batters dizzy with an unpredictably migrating changeup
Round 3 (#87) – SP Josh Taylor, 18, from Jupiter, FL – fairly ordinary fastball and curveball for this right-hander, but what could make him special is a knuckle curve that he has in the making
Round 4 (#111) – OF Kyle Muller, 18, from Houston, TX – all the pieces for a good-to-great defensive outfielder, including in centerfield, and reasonable speed to be a threat on the base paths; good contact rating, and he doesn’t bite at junk, but power is probably not in the books for him
Round 5 (#135) – SP Jeff Presley, 18, from Fair Oaks, CA – slim right-hander that doesn’t look like he can throw hard, and actually doesn’t throw hard, either; slider and splitter look good enough that he has a chance to make the majors as a control pitcher
Round 6 (#159) – CL Eric Broady, 20, from Manhattan, NY – big swooping curve for this right-hander, but the fastball hardly ever tops 90mph
Round 7 (#183) – INF Jason Lamphier, 21, from Burton, MI – very versatile infielder that plays all positions well and has some good speed to strike fear into opposing batteries … if he could just hit a little…
Round 8 (#207) – CL Kyle Kirsch, 22, from Salisbury, NC – this right-hander throws up to 93, but has questionable control and occasionally hangs his curveball
Round 9 (#231) – SP Julian Hill, 18, from Ocala, FL – there is potential on this right-handers’ curveball, but overall there isn’t that much to be enthusiastic about
Round 10 (#255) – 3B Brian Voyles, 23, from Wells, ME – despite being big and heavy, he can certainly hold his ground with the glove at the hot corner, there’s no doubt about that; but some modest singles-hitting aside he’s not a factor with the bat
Round 11 (#279) – SP Ken Shelton, 18, from Hollister, CA – Shelton is the annual 11th-round southpaw to be selected as the Nick Brown Memorial pick. Fastball, curveball, neither impressive.
Round 12 (#303) – OF John McGrew, 20, from Chino Hills, CA – hits just enough to not be kicked off the Cal State team, fields just well enough to not get fatally struck in the eye by a line drive, and runs just fast enough to not be eaten by wolves…
Round 13 (#327) – SP Dave Motter, 17, from Three Rivers, MI – looks quite pale; the Druid has to look at him immediately!

All picks were assigned to Aumsville to start their professional careers.

We also cleaned house. In a first slate, a number of players were released, including a former Nick Brown Memorial pick, 2011 11th-rounder Rick Conley, who had gotten stuck in Ham Lake four years ago. Also gone: 2014 fourth-rounder 1B Scott Thompson, 2013 ninth-rounder C Owen Long, and a few lower picks and scouting discoveries. More to come.

01-22-2017, 06:58 AM	#2141
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	There really wasn’t much to do in January in general. The Raccoons had no money, and the best I could do was having a keen eye on the trade market for left-handed relievers in an attempt to flip one of ours for a qualified utility infielder, and also to watch the waiver wire. +++ January 3 – The Raccoons claim 27-yr old INF Reggie Umberger, who has no major league experience, off waivers by the Loggers. January 4 – Ex-MIL OF Victor Enriquez (.243, 80 HR, 416 RBI) signs a 3-yr, $5.16M contract with the Miners. The 33-year old right-hander is a two-time Gold Glover. January 8 – The Canadiens acquire 28-yr old right-handed SP Steve Kreider (52-70, 4.41 ERA) from the Falcons, parting with #41 prospect SP Alex Vallejo. January 10 – After one season with the Warriors, 34-yr old left-hander SP Jose Flores (144-76, 3.63 ERA) returns to the Canadiens, for whom he had pitched the latter half of the 2015 season. Flores gets a 2-yr, $5.36M deal. January 14 – 40-year old veteran RF/LF/1B Will Bailey (.318, 362 HR, 1,653 RBI) still feels a tickle and signs a 1-yr, $1.52M contract with the Rebels. Career RBI leader Bailey picked up 450 AB with the Crusaders in 2015 and hit a respectable .253 with 14 HR and 53 RBI. January 14 – The Bayhawks splash big on ex-RIC CL Ray Kelley (54-61, 3.32 ERA, 67 SV), signing the right-hander for 3-yr, $8.52M. January 16 – The Raccoons acquire 26-year old utility player Brian Petracek (.219, 2 HR, 12 RBI) from the Canadiens, leaving them with 31-yr old MR Manobu Sugano (15-10, 2.66 ERA, 12 SV) and 21-yr old A 1B/2B Tony Velasquez. January 28 – 34-year old ex-CHA 1B Adrian Quebell (.288, 159 HR, 860 RBI) signs a 2-yr, $2.8M contract with the Canadiens. January 28 – The Stars re-sign 31-yr old C Raúl Hernandez (.242, 27 HR, 288 RBI) after having him traded to the Scorpions halfway through 2016. Hernandez gets a 3-yr, $3.18M deal. January 31 – The Thunder come to terms with 38-yr old ex-NYC 3B Alex Rivas (.245, 71 HR, 337 RBI), who signs a 1-yr, $840k deal. +++ Petracek is more or less Sandy 2.0, with a lot of positions he can cover, but not much batting prowess despite being a switch-hitter. He is a great pinch-running option, however. He only has 21 major league hits and is dead-set to bat eighth whenever he gets into the lineup by accident, but he offers excellent cover for most of the infield (except shortstop), would fit quite well into rightfield with a strong arm and decent range, also into leftfield, and if everything else fails he can also help cleaning bits and pieces of Cookie out of the centerfield grass. He makes the minimum, of course. Sugano is perhaps the best southpaw to part with from among the bullpen, with similar control issues to Thrasher, and limited value due to his extreme splits. Thrasher retains a setup role, and Beaver will be our working class left-hander, doing the dirty jobs in the sixth and seventh innings. Velasquez is a Calderón discovery that Gabriel Martinez is somehow high on, but he batted hardly anything as a 20- and 21-year old in Aumsville, and OSA values him so highly they have written his name wrong with ‘zq’ in the middle. This is not going to be one of those Dennis Fried trades, probably. Umberger was a free safety net against not finding any other right-handed batting utility infielder on the trade market. He’s not going to help anybody and exposed to major league pitching would quite definitely hit .168 … But, he’s free as long as he is stashed away as reserve in AAA. With those two transactions down, we have interacted with all other North teams this winter, either via trade (Crusaders, Indians, Elks), waiver claims (Loggers), or signing free agents from them (Titans). The preseason started at the end of January, which allowed us to reset our scouting and player development budgets. We were free spenders in both categories in recent years, and it didn’t net us ***. I cut both budgets down by about half a million to just over league average, which – combined with the Sugano deal that cleared a bit of salary – allows me to go onto the hunt once more with about $1.5M in the pockets! +++ Odd notes include the retirement of ex-Coon Greg Dodson on January 9. The 34-yr old had broken his elbow in August while pitching for the Buffaloes. In 126 major league appearances, he went 5-12 with a 6.13 ERA and one save. His only major league start was also his only major league appearance for the Raccoons, picking up a no-decision in an 8-7 loss to the Indians on July 11, 2010, a spot start for Nick Brown, who was All Star-bound that year and got to skip this Sunday afternoon affair. Dodson had only been acquired eight days earlier from the Capitals in exchange for Bradley Heatershaw, who had a winner’s name, but poked for a .120/.163/.173 slash as a Coon. Ralph Ford, 39, managed to coax a 2-yr, $1.52M deal out of the Warriors – good for him! Poor sod has led the league in losses twice and had two winning seasons in his 20s, which – surprise – has something to do with the rotten team he pitched for back then. He can get every pain-relieving compensation he can get, given that he is one of only ten pitchers to amass 200 losses in the ABL. The real surprise might be that he is the only Raccoon among those ten, which include Bastyao Caixinha (223), John Douglas (219), Bill Smith (216), Eduardo Jimenez, Ricardo Torres (211 each), Leland Lewis (208), Alfredo Rios (206), Craig Hansen (204), and Arnold McCray (200), and thus also four Hall of Famers. The Hall of Famer with the fifth-most losses in ABL history? Kisho Saito, 197 times defeated. Rob Howell signed a $260k deal with the Crusaders, so he will doubtlessly have a career year. Also, Alonso Baca retired at 35, tired of the journeying around for no greater good. +++ This offseason takes way longer than it should for two reasons. First, I have to fight hard for every meaningless trade, since the AI has another stubborn phase. Second, I bought a hellishly expensive PC for some auto racing action, which I haven’t had in years and which I have been longing for. Well, I shelled out about $3,000 on this beast and it just will not work; I’m going through an endless cavalcade of stupid issues and might soon part it with an axe, but before I go to that, it will continue to suck a lot of time and energy out of me. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

01-23-2017, 02:45 PM	#2143
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	There were two type A free agents still on the market in ex-VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (insert grim thoughts here) and ex-TIJ SP Manuel “Doom” Rojas. Those were not the player the Raccoons hoped to land with the $1.5M we scratched together as the calendar tumbled over into February. Although a point was to be made that while our bullpen was certainly nothing special with a closer that had no closing experience (2016 anyone?), there was still a bunch of red flags to be raised about the rotation. For once, Brownie would be 39 and Martinez’ scouting report on him was grim enough, then there was Jonny Toner, who had had some health issues, Hector Santos was a living tee from time to time, Abe had been horrible in the first half and merely quite good in the second in ’16, and then there was Munroe dangling off the deep end of the rotation, and while Munroe had been a pleasant surprise, he would be the first Coon to disappear in a hole as a sophomore. What was worse was the situation behind those five. The five starters in AAA lined up as those folks: Chris Brown, Damani Knight, Jeff Magnotta, Ryan Nielson, and David Tucci. Hot prospects listed: zero. We well know that Brown and Magnotta are actively campaigning for the other team whenever they are out there, and Tucci came off the scrap heap before last season and was also 25 already. Nielson was our 2014 second-rounder, would turn 25 this year, had decent stuff, but pretty bad control. Knight was the 2012 fourth-rounder, and hadn’t exactly excelled in Ham Lake the last two-and-a-half years (4.21 ERA in 473 IP), but there was a spot to fill and here he was. We could really need some better coverage, even if it was not to displace Munroe outright. Then there was the outfield situation, which was really unhappy-making. We probably would not get around playing William Waggoner in rightfield, although I was really no fan of it. I would have preferred to play Alex Duarte in some capacity, and that was not only because he was the only right-handed batter in the pack. I wasn’t going to let him rot on the bench, and he’d be on the short end of a platoon with whomever. Quick detour: while we faced less than 30 southpaw starters last year, we should see significantly more. Right now it looks like only the Titans run a fully right-handed rotation this year. All other division opponents have two southpaws in their preliminary rotation in early February. In the South, no team had more than one southpaw, but we’d probably see more than 40 southpaws in 2017, but that was still not enough to waste Duarte’s service time. In-house options for right-handed outfielders were a sad thing indeed, so we had to look at the free agent market once again; I had tried to flip Waggoner for a right-handed bat already, and nobody was biting. Turns out though that the free agent market was already picked quite thin. Looking for a good combo of … • Affordable • Don’t suck with bat • Don’t suck with glove … led us to former Buffalo Eddie Jackson. He was only a corner outfielder and wouldn’t play center, and was also not a defensive replacement in close games. He had been a regular starter just twice in his career, which would go into its tenth season, and was a career .728 OPS batter. Doing okay, and that was probably the right kinda guy to platoon with Waggoner. There was also a switch-hitter fitting into the mold, but I hated Clint Southcott with passion and wouldn’t pay him a dime. Since Jackson was not going to be extremely expensive unless a sudden bidding war would break out, there was still room to chase after another starting pitcher. Munroe had options after all, and cruelty to small animals was not beneath me. I looked at 34-year old Bruce Morrison, who had enjoyed a very decent season for the Cyclones, being employed as a swing man, putting up a 3.48 ERA. If you were tempted to look at the last five years or so before that, the grim truth was revealed. He had been within a full run of that 3.48 mark just once in the last half-decade, his 2014 campaign with the Loggers, and then he still lost 19 games, with the only thing that kept him from winning the red lantern for that year being his dearest team mate Adam Euteneuer being hung with 22 losses. Departing for greener pastures had rewarded both Euteneuer and Morrison with pairs of winning season since. +++ February 6 – The Crusaders nail down ex-VAN 1B Ray Gilbert (.315, 262 HR, 1,071 RBI) with a 3-yr, $7.92M contract. February 9 – The last type A free agent comes off the board, with ex-TIJ SP Manuel Rojas (60-61, 3.64 ERA) signing with the division rival from San Francisco. The Bayhawks will pay him $8.52M over three years. February 9 – The Raccoons sign ex-CIN SP Bruce Morrison (96-103, 4.43 ERA) to a 1-yr, $366k deal. February 14 – Veteran right-hander SP Felipe Ramirez (45-56, 4.19 ERA) signs with the Indians for 2-yr, $1.6M. The 32-year old was last with the Knights. February 16 – After a year with Pittsburgh, 39-yr old Jose Paraz (.273, 260 HR, 1,072 RBI) rejoins the Crusaders on a 2-yr, $1.96M deal. +++ You hate Quebell on the Elks? How about Gilbert on the Crusaders! This season will be a nightmare. I hope that Paraz deal blows up in their face. He can’t play any position, and they will put him in center again. And will still win. The Condors will have three first round picks in this coming amateur draft, while the Raccoons held on to their lone first round pick, which will be #15. By the middle of the February, the second-hottest free agent according to BNN was Rusty Norton, whom I had never heard about, so the offseason was officially over right there. It’s March 1. The Eddie Jackson bidding war has since escalated and the price has risen from the $300k range to the $500k range, but that was to be expected. Also, this morning I got a call that Jason Bergquist had not turned up for training camp. He had tried to fix his car the previous day, had slipped on an oil slick, knocked over the grill with his steak while falling, the hot coals had ignited the gas carelessly stored in a can right next to it, and his garage and his ’88 Dodge Dynasty had been ablaze in an instant. No, Bergquist got away with a strained oblique and would be healed within two weeks, but he had to write off the car, and the garage. And his cat hasn’t been seen yet. Are we paying you so little, Jason? An ’88 Dodge Dynasty? Should have traded this loser. +++ Other ex-Coons that ended up somewhere. A.J. Bartels may roast in hell eternally, but for now signed a $690k deal with the Stars, G.G. Williams (who never played for the big league Coons, but was drafted by us and was included in a forgettable deal with the Baybirds for Raúl Fuentes in 2007) got 2-yr, $1.22M from the Loggers, Jon Merritt will be 41 in May, but isn’t tired yet and signed a $316k deal with the Thunder to provide some veteran guidance, Freddy Rosa was somehow still active and got $283k from the Thunder, the Elks were giving Michael Palmer $244k. By the way, it’s been 13 years since Freddy Rosa was a Coon, and since then he’s switched cap colors almost as often. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

01-24-2017, 02:17 PM	#2144
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	Opening Day was roughly a month away, and the last thing we were after was Eddie - … what was his name again? There was nothing else to do except for putting a sandwich on the table and brushing teeth, day in and day out. One could say if you stopped with the sandwiches, you could stop brushing the teeth. I need to think about that. The Jackson negotiations took forever, and every eight days or so he came back to tell me that someone had put more butter on the bread, and we were talking about $15k increments here. After the fourth time, on March 26, a week before the season, I bluntly told him to either sign or ** off. The last offer was $610k with an extra $100k for reaching 200 PA (not impossible given Cookie’s injury track record). Oh well, so be it. So be it, we have only left-handed outfielders. ** it, so be it. Some of the money I had earlier taken from the player development fund was put back in, while the scouting budget remained at the reduced rate. To be honest, I don’t think Gabriel Martinez is much of a scout and he’s purely here to watch my steps. And not as a bodyguard. Curtis Tobitt suffered a setback in his recovery from Tommy John and the Crusaders announced late in the month that he wouldn’t be available until perhaps late June, early July. They had hoped to have him back by May. Daniel Dickerson had added half a run to his already abysmal 2015 ERA (6.29 then) with the Condors over 24.2 innings in ’16, but still found some team dumb enough to pay him $316k for ’17. That’s sad. The Scorpions are the dumbos (although by the end of March he was on waivers). Roberto Pacheco signed for $236k with the Elks. He was never a major leaguer for the Coons, but he was the trade piece for Craig Bowen to come to Portland, the first time around. Pat Slayton got $234k from the Gold Sox. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

01-24-2017, 03:31 PM	#2145
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	2017 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2016 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions): SP Jonathan Toner, 26, B:R, T:R (11-7, 2.67 ERA \| 52-23, 2.49 ERA) – one year after missing the triple crown by a single win, Toner missed a complete season by seven starts, but at least he came back fresh and threw a CL record-breaking 18 K game on Closing Day. His K/9 (10.8) led the CL for the second season in a row and is a new personal best, even though he couldn’t repeat his insane .81 WHIP from ‘15. This kid throws raw filth, and is destined for greatness. SP Nick Brown, 39, B:L, T:L (15-9, 2.36 ERA \| 215-126, 2.81 ERA) – the flash is gone with Nick Brown, who in 2014 came back from injury with much less velocity, stuff, and most notably strikeouts. He has since redefined himself as a groundball pitcher and did a damn good job in that role in 2016, finishing second to Sam McMullen in ERA. However, the question is: will this be his farewell tour…? SP Hector Santos, 28, B:S, T:R (15-7, 2.71 ERA \| 67-54, 3.33 ERA) – sometimes a bit the forgotten man in the rotation, Santos silently led the league in WHIP in 2016, also thanks to a career-best BABIP, but his sub-1.5 BB/9 is also a great advantage to keep runners off base. While he failed to strike out 200 last season, he is surely among the best number threes in the game. His slider is the bane of batting, but unfortunately he tends to leave things hanging over the middle from time to time to get clonkered. He’s allowed 100 homers in 1,119 innings, with a career-high of 30 dingers in 2013, which then led the league. SP Tadasu Abe, 25, B:R, T:R (13-9, 3.35 ERA \| 13-9, 3.35 ERA) – had a decent rookie campaign despite some early-season struggles; needs to mix his huge arsenal better to keep batters guessing. SP Bruce Morrison , 35, B:R, T:R (12-9, 3.48 ERA \| 96-103, 4.43 ERA) – the Coons hope to have more luck with their annual bargain bin free agent pitcher signing after A.J. Bartels only made it through four abysmal starts with them in 2016 before being canned. Morrison is cheap and has not been very good throughout his 30s, except for last year. LR John Korb, 31, B:R, T:R (2-2, 3.36 ERA, 6 SV \| 19-16, 5.60 ERA, 8 SV) – Korb went from afterthought to desperation-closer for the Coons in 2016, and performed well in all possible and impossible situations. He is the primary candidate for long relief and spot starts. MR Jayden Reed , 33, B:R, T:R (2-3, 5.10 ERA, 19 SV \| 43-38, 3.70 ERA, 106 SV) – despite his elite stuff, there’s no denying that Reed’s 2016 campaign with the Titans was wholly unsuccessful. He walked more per nine than Ron Thrasher, for crying out loud! He was added very cheap for someone with his sparkle and will try to reclaim his career in a seventh inning role, at least to start the season. MR Seung-mo Chun, 28, B:S, T:R (4-3, 3.74 ERA, 2 SV \| 4-3, 3.74 ERA, 2 SV) – this Korean rookie from last year worked his slider very effectively and did a great job in most situations. MR Kevin Beaver, 33, B:L, T:L (1-4, 4.73 ERA, 4 SV \| 42-51, 3.93 ERA, 55 SV) – general purpose left-hander with an ERA that doesn’t quite indicate that he was very serviceable in 2016, and at least not worse than our other southpaws. SU Chris Mathis, 30, B:R, T:R (5-5, 2.96 ERA, 10 SV \| 15-9, 2.89 ERA, 13 SV) – a rare case of a player breaking out in his late 20s, Mathis’ second full season in the Bigs wasn’t quite what the first one had been. He had oscillated wildly between good and terrible appearances, sometimes in consecutive appearances. He gets a setup assignment simply for the lack of more convincing options. SU Ron Thrasher, 29, B:L, T:L (5-6, 3.45 ERA, 18 SV \| 25-21, 2.78 ERA, 32 SV) – blessed with an executioner’s stuff, but saddled with a drunkard’s control, Ron was finally given the chance to close with Angel Casas out of the way, and completely and utterly blew it, leading the Raccoons to employ a closing committee for a whopping four months of the season. His 6.4 BB/9 were a career high, and at some point even 11.5 K/9 don’t help anymore. He posted his worst single season WHIP and everybody suffered in the process. CL Alex Ramirez , 31, B:R, T:R (4-7, 2.48 ERA, 2 SV\| 33-26, 3.38 ERA, 31 SV) – the Baseball Gods help the Coons if Ramirez collapses, because this free agent came pretty expensive for not having been a regular closer before in his career. He’s not a fireballer and works by fooling hitters, which is a dangerous gamble for a team that still has considerable money in some unfortunate contracts. C Mike Denny , 26, B:R, T:R (.249, 10 HR, 35 RBI \| .245, 16 HR, 67 RBI) – came the same way Craig Bowen came a decade earlier, from the Indians bench, and the two have a surprisingly similar profile as a strikeout-prone raker and sucker for homers. Denny’s defense is decent, and he’s our clear primary catcher. C Danny Margolis, 26, B:R, T:R (.230, 5 HR, 14 RBI \| .238, 10 HR, 42 RBI) – failed to replicate his good first impression from 2014 again, and hit poorly for the second consecutive season. Good throwing arm, but no significant defensive upgrade over Denny. 1B Adam Young, 28, B:L, T:L (.280, 7 HR, 80 RBI \| .304, 93 HR, 454 RBI) – this defensively solid left-hander came in as a pure slugger that inflicted hurt to the tune of 25 homers and 110+ RBI annually on opposing pitching. The Coons didn’t get to see any of that as he sucked his way to just seven home runs and a 202-point reduction in OPS in ‘16. Everybody north of Hornbrook hates him. 2B/3B/SS/1B Shane Walter, 27, B:L, T:R (.304, 5 HR, 42 RBI \| .281, 12 HR, 155 RBI) – versatile infielder that was claimed off waivers by the Crusaders early in 2016 and soon took over at second base for the hapless Howard Jones, despite dropping 24 points of batting average in Portland. His OBP could be higher, and since he has no real power, he is a bottom-of-the-order candidate. SS/2B/3B Ronnie McKnight, 26, B:L, T:R (.262, 15 HR, 67 RBI \| .276, 35 HR, 165 RBI) – McKnight was one of many Coons to not be able to hit at his 2015 level again and one year after winning both the Gold Glove and the Platinum Stick in addition to ROTY honors, he didn’t win anything. He is still a unicorn, combining a power bat with a top notch glove at the premium defensive position on the field. 3B Matt Nunley, 26, B:L, T:R (.260, 12 HR, 60 RBI \| .285, 32 HR, 183 RBI) – Matt dropped a shocking 64 points of batting average in 2016, which was one of many reasons why the Raccoons hit like zombies. Whenever he’s sucking less hard, he’s a real valuable third baseman (also the 2014 ROTY), and also one of the best defensive hot corner guards in the league. RF/3B/2B/1B/LF/CF Brian Petracek , 26, B:S, T:R (.235, 2 HR, 8 RBI \| .219, 2 HR, 12 RBI) – the new super utility, acquired in trade from the Elks. Also usable as pinch-runner, so this is basically Sandy Sambrano at 16% the cost. 2B Jason Bergquist, 27, B:R, T:R (.204, 1 HR, 9 RBI \| .229, 9 HR, 68 RBI) – despite not doing anything worth getting excited about, Bergquist somehow retained his spot on the team. Good defensive second baseman, but his stick instills sadness in our home crowd. This is the exact same text as last year. He is so irrelevant, I even forgot to trade him for a glass o’ wine. LF/RF R.J. DeWeese, 30, B:L, T:L (.253, 31 HR, 97 RBI \| .250, 224 HR, 718 RBI) – okay, DeWeese is an asshole and a real cancer to any clubhouse, but at least he was the one guy that didn’t take a dump whenever his turn to bat came up. He struck out a lot, which we saw coming, but he also hit at his Cincy levels of the last few years and is the undenied cleanup batter in this lineup. LF/CF/RF Ricardo Carmona, 25, B:L, T:R (.316, 6 HR, 37 RBI \| .326, 15 HR, 220 RBI) – Cookie’s injuries got even worse and he failed to appear in 100 games for the first time in a season that he started on the major league roster. A bolt of lightning able to compete for batting titles and playing one of the hardest positions on the field rather competently, Cookie’s value gets diminished by never-ending hospital assignments. Under contract through 2023, but moving him to the less taxing rightfield position won’t work until we clear it for him. RF William Waggoner , 29, B:L, T:L (.284, 1 HR, 17 RBI \| .291, 43 HR, 227 RBI) – injuries and general redundancy reduced him to a cameo role with the Miners in ’16, from whom he was acquired for the abominable Howard Jones, but other teams refused to take him and convert him into something really valuable, thus the Coons are stuck with his $1M contract for a year. If he sucks real bad, he can always take a seat on the bench, I guess, since we don’t care the slightest about his feelings. RF/LF/1B Danny Ochoa, 28, B:L, T:L (.341, 0 HR, 11 RBI \| .284, 4 HR, 33 RBI) – just can’t stay on the roster it seems, and even now he won’t get regular starts due to Waggoner’s presence. Really not much of a defender, Ochoa had a splashy debut in 2015, but just hasn’t found room to stick, and even if someone among the starting three gets hurt, Alex Duarte would be the one to take over from AAA. LF/RF Brandon Johnson, 27, B:L, T:L (.125, 0 HR, 2 RBI \| .221, 0 HR, 6 RBI) – also an emergency centerfielder, Johnson doesn’t figure to be more than a pinch-hitter and perhaps defensive replacement to get one of the key personnel of their legs in routs. On disabled list: Nobody. Otherwise unavailable: Nobody. Other roster movement: SP Chris Munroe, 24, B:R, T:R (6-11, 3.59 ERA \| 6-11, 3.59 ERA) – we have probably just robbed Munroe of his will to live, but Morrison’s roster spot will come at his expense. He did a fantastic job for being a rule 5 guy thrown into a rotation at short notice and stuck there to the end, but there is something about this youngster that screams out ‘one hit wonder’... C Tom McNeela, 28, B:L, T:R (.260, 1 HR, 9 RBI \| .243, 2 HR, 22 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; every year same old, same old: McNeela is being DFA’ed on Opening Day for the FIFTH straight year. Not exactly a defensive stalwart, McNeela’s 96 AB in ’16 were a single season record for him. Opening day lineup: (Vs. RHP: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Toner) Vs. LHP: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – P Toner The lineup vs. left-handers continues to look like we’re not even trying. The switch-hitter Petracek might play somewhere on the diamond past Opening Day, but not on Opening Day itself, but this is just … ugh. There are only four non-left-handed hitting players on the roster, and two of them are catchers, so options are going to be limited. At some point you might wonder why you don’t just stop trying so hard and just run four left-handers in a row out there. The results can not be that much worse. OFF SEASON CHANGES: The Raccoons’ offseason was mainly about containing damage and dealing bad contracts. In doing so they had a hard time being choosers and had to take what they could get (Waggoner…) or what was left over (Ramirez). Somehow, we found 1.8 WAR in a lot of low-key transactions, resulting in six new players on the Opening Day roster, and good enough for ninth in the league. Top 5: Cyclones (+8.1), Gold Sox (+7.8), Thunder (+7.3), Scorpions (+6.2), Crusaders (+6.2) Bottom 5: Blue Sox (-4.8), Condors (-7.1), Titans (-7.7), Knights (-7.8), Falcons (-8.9) PREDICTION TIME: Last year I picked the Coons to challenge for five runs scored per game and finish second to the Crusaders with a 90-72 record. None of that happened, and that’s because all the piles of money we fired into smoke in that preceding offseason was invested into mirages like Adam Young and Howard Jones. They ended up 86-76, though close enough to second place, but were out of the playoff race even in June. The much-desired ‘rebuild in sixth gear’ didn’t happen, and we barely made it out of a self-made mess with an offseason that was successful foremost in controlling the damage. This year, we know that Brownie is a year older, the bullpen is still full of holes and reclamation projects (Reed, Thrasher, Mathis), and the lineup is not one bit better even on paper than last year. Five starters are identical, and of those that aren’t two out of three are virtually the same. Nope, the Raccoons will not make a step forward. If Cookie and Toner stayed healthy, they might be on the fringes of the playoff race, but if injuries strike again (which for Cookie is more of a ‘when’ question), the tumble will begin. Also, they still will not score any runs. Prediction: the Raccoons are irrelevant for six months and finish 82-80, about 16 games behind the Crusaders. PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: For a team that has a lot of draft picks and doesn’t necessarily buy success with their prospects, the Raccoons continue to have an abysmal farm, ranking 18th in the newest prospect reports. After getting ten ranked prospects last year (although only two were in the top 100), the Coons dropped to six again this year. Among the ten ranked prospects from last season, two were no longer eligible: #51 Tadasu Abe (service time), #148 Tony Velasquez (traded); furthermore, #163 Sam Armetta, #174 David Tucci, and #199 Ismael Pastor dropped out of the top 200. 24th (new) – A SP John Waker, 19 – 2016 first round pick by Raccoons 84th (+85) – A SP Danny Arguello, 20 – 2013 international free agent signed by Raccoons 92nd (-66) – AA OF Ricky Cruz, 21 – international discovery by the Raccoons (Juan Calderón) 131st (-28) – AA SP Ricky Martinez, 22 – 2011 international free agent signed by Raccoons 162nd (+38) – AAA CF Alex Duarte, 23 – 2011 eighth round pick by the Raccoons 175th (+22) – AAA OF Andy Bareford, 22 – 2013 supplemental round pick by the Raccoons The franchise top 10 were completed by unranked AA 1B Michael Wilkerson, AAA C Edwin Prieto, INT SS/2B Ismael Pastor, and A CL Dave Dyer. No, I still can’t draft. Stop asking. The top 5 overall prospects this year are: #1 TIJ SP Andrew Gudeman (was #4) #2 NAS AAA INF John Muller (was #5) #3 DEN AA SP Tommy Weintraub (was #2) #4 LAP AA C Matt Dehne (was #8) #5 SAL AAA OF/1B/2B Quinn Jewell (was #1) Last year’s #3, DEN AA SP Warren Polito, remains at #6, so this was perhaps the least movement at the top of the hot prospect list ever. Next: first pitch. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

01-27-2017, 12:21 PM	#2146
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	Raccoons (0-0) @ Canadiens (0-0) – April 4-6, 2017 This series started on Tuesday, with both teams having the actual Opening Day off. For the Raccoons, these would be the first three of 16 straight games to start their season. They had lost the season series to the Elks, 10-8, in 2016, and for two years straight. Projected matchups: Jonathan Toner (0-0) vs. Samuel McMullen (0-0) Nick Brown (0-0) vs. Rod Taylor (0-0) Hector Santos (0-0) vs. Jose Flores (0-0) While the season will open with a real cake between the Pitchers of the Year from 2015 and 2016, handedness for starters would be opposite for all games in the series, the Coons facing southpaws in the first and last game. Game 1 POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 1B Young – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – P Toner VAN: CF Cameron – LF E. Garcia – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – C Little – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – P S. McMullen As was to be expected, offense was non-existent in this season opener. The only guy with a hit the first time through the order would be Jonny Toner with a third-inning single that didn’t lead to anything. The Coons dropped like flies against Sam McMullen, who whiffed seven in four innings, while the Elks got a good chance in the bottom 4th after a leadoff walk to Enrique Garcia. Kurt Evans singled, getting them into the H column and sending Garcia to third base, but Evans was then caught stealing by Mike Denny, and Adrian Quebell – surprise! – popped out behind home plate. Toner struck out repurposed catcher “Quasimodo” Suda to end the inning. Don Cameron flew out to center to end the fifth, stranding Jaylin Lawrence and ex-Coon Michael Palmer on the corners. Both had reached on soft bloopers for singles. While it looked like McMullen could choke the Raccoons all day and didn’t allow any left-handed batter to reach through seven innings, Toner glitched here and there and was over 100 pitches by the seventh inning. Palmer hit a 2-out single to center, and then McMullen was his last batter anyway, grounded a 3-1 pitch to the second base bag, but too slow for McKnight to make any play. Toner was removed after 111 pitches with two on and two out, Kevin Beaver facing the top of the order, where switch-hitter Mario Rocha came out to negate the Coons any advantage. Rocha ran a full count before lining out to Nunley, leaving Toner with a no-decision. It wouldn’t be until with two outs in the ninth that a left-handed batting Critter reached base when Nunley singled off Pedro Alvarado. McKnight duly struck out, however, and the Elks loaded the bases with singles by the right-handed Morgan Little and Palmer as well as a walk drawn by Rocha off Chris Mathis. Joe Cowan – another disgraced ex-Coon – batted with two outs and grounded out to short, sending the game into overtime, where there would be scoring right away in the top 10th. Juan Jimenez retired DeWeese and Denny to start the inning, but lost Danny Ochoa, hitting for Young, to a walk. Bergquist singled hard to center, and Waggoner managed to get a liner past the outfielders for an RBI double. Whooo, offense!! Offense remained that one run when Margolis grounded out to second, so Alex Ramirez had to better not allow any extra-base - … oh look, Quebell doubled. After going 0-for-4 that far, Quebell’s 1-out double put the Raccoons in the squeezer, and it got worse when Denny lost Ramirez’ 2-1 to Suda and allowed Quebell to move to third. Suda struck out, though, leaving it to Morgan Little to save the Elks, but he also struck out. 1-0 Critters! Bergquist 2-4; Toner 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-2; Geez, that’s gonna be a long year. Out-hit 9-5, they barely squeezed through. Maybe things get better against a right-handed starter. McMullen whiffed 10 in 8.1 innings. Game 2 POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Brown VAN: LF Cameron – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – RF K. Evans – C Little – SS Lawrence – 2B Palmer – CF Cowan – P Ro. Taylor The last time in this tiny town, Brown had thrown a no-no and made the clowns frown; but there wouldn’t be a repeat of that. While the Coons took a 1-0 lead in the first when Nunley doubled and scored on DeWeese’s single, and Brownie sat down the first eight Elks, he allowed a 2-out single to Taylor in the bottom 3rd and then two hard hits by Cameron, a single to right, and Quebell, a double to right center, which allowed the Elks to tie the contest. Suda actually hit another rocket to left, but DeWeese got paws on that one. Just when we thought Brownie might get torn up for a season-opening loss, the pendulum swung back the other way, and the top 5th saw a leadoff single by Waggoner. Brown also singled with one out, but was forced by Cookie, who had a real lackluster start to his 2017 campaign and so far slashed zero. Nunley singled up the leftfield line, plating Waggoner with the go-ahead run, and when McKnight hit one into the gap in right center, Cookie scored, but Nunley was thrown out at home, giving Brown a 3-1 lead. The bottom 6th saw Quebell hit a leadoff double to right, but then get picked off second base when he couldn’t fathom how McKnight had caught Suda’s liner and beat him in the scramble back to the plate. While the Coons stranded Waggoner on third base in the seventh inning, they got another excellent chance to put some air in between the two sides of the score in the top of the eighth. Nunley led off with a single, and McKnight doubled again. This time, with no outs, Nunley was held to let the middle of the order work the magic against the right-handed Taylor, who was still in the game. The Critters burned him in the worst way (for Taylor at least…) when he ran a full count against DeWeese, who ended up popping to shallow left center – and three Elks shooed another off. The ball dropped, the mess out there was great, and two runs scored while DeWeese trotted into second base, 5-1. Taylor didn’t retire another batter and was charged with one more run, while Dustin Burke eventually relieved him. Burke’s first pitch was blasted to right by Waggoner, but Evans caught it right at the wall, and the Raccoons eventually left the bases loaded in the 6-1 game, with Brown being hit for with Danny Ochoa, who walked with two outs to fill the diamond before Cookie flew out. Thrasher and Chun nursed the game to completion with no more than one Elk on base at any one time. 6-1 Brownies! Nunley 3-5, BB, 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; DeWeese 2-5, 3 RBI; Brown 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-0) and 1-3; Brownie, wheee!! Game 3 POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Young – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Petracek – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – P Santos VAN: CF Cameron – SS Lawrence – RF K. Evans – 1B Quebell – 3B Suda – C Little – LF Cowan – 2B Palmer – P J. Flores In a bit of a messy game, the Coons would score first, a single run in the fourth inning, Nunley coming home on a DeWeese sac fly. An inning earlier, Joe Cowan had hit an infield single, but had also hurt himself in the process and had been replaced by Mario Rocha, who the next time up hit a homer off Santos to tie the game. Top 6th, Cookie ended an 0-for-11 string of not getting the ball to fall in to start the season with a single to center. He couldn’t get a jump as Nunley ran a full count, then popped behind home plate. Little dropped the ball for an error, giving Nunley another shot, which ended up being a shot to short that bounced once and was a perfect double play. So yeah, ** Lady Luck! The Elks would have Don Cameron on second base in the bottom 6th after DeWeese dropped his soft line for a 2-base error, but when Lawrence singled to right, Waggoner threw out Cameron at home plate to make the error kindly go away. Little hit into another double play in the bottom 7th, giving him a DP in every game in the series. Top 8th, Santos would have been hit for if either of Bergquist or Waggoner would have made it on base, which didn’t happen. With two outs, Hector singled, bringing up Cookie, who made the next one stick, belching the Coons’ first homer of the season to left center, which wasn’t exactly shallow at about 390’. Santos didn’t look like he had to try too hard to get the Elks sat down and despite the rather slim 3-1 lead he went into the ninth against a shieldwall of left-handers. Cameron and Lawrence were easy pickings, but Evans singled and he lost Quebell to a walk to put the tying runs on base with two outs. Ramirez was called to face Suda, who was a lovely 0-for-12 so far, though it’d take only one swipe here. Ramirez didn’t give him one to swipe, though; Suda struck out, and the Coons opened the season with a sweep in hostile territory! 3-1 Furballs! Carmona 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4; Santos 8.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 1-3; Not only did Suda (40 years old now) go 0-for-13, he also struck out five times and never walked or took one for the team. Also, 3-0, the only team in the North to be so. Who’s in furst?? Raccoons (3-0) vs. Falcons (0-3) – April 7-9, 2017 The Falcons had been expunged by the Knights for eight runs per game to start the season, so maybe that was something for the Raccoons to get warm against. Both their rotation and their bullpen ranked last in the CL in the middle of the first week. We had wiped the floor with them last season, thrashering them 8-1. Projected matchups: Tadasu Abe (0-0) vs. Sean Balzer (0-0) Bruce Morrison (0-0) vs. Alex Vallejo (0-0) Jonathan Toner (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Bobby Guerrero (0-1, 12.79 ERA) Also, regardless of how you twist them, they have only right-handed starters, which might give us an advantage. Despite sweeping the Elks, we only scored ten runs in that series, with DeWeese, Young, Denny, and Cookie all batting .167 or much worse, and the only regular batting more than .222 being Matt Nunley (6-for-12). With 16 straight games before the next off day, this is a difficult start to the season for sure, and we will work to weave in two off days for all regulars along the way, with some likely to come during the weekend already. Game 1 CHA: 2B Good – LF Huibregtse – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – RF Benson – SS P. Hall – 1B M. Salinas – 3B Pellot – P Balzer POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Margolis – P Abe For two innings, the Raccoons failed to leave the infield against Balzer, who wore some fuzz on his chin in a vain attempt to look older than 16, and actually had barely made it to 22 so far. The Falcons had loads of these players… The Coons got a run off him in the third inning, which started with a walk to Waggoner, who stole the team’s first base of the season and eventually scored on Cookie’s single to left. That was the Coons’ only hit through four, but the Falcons wouldn’t get a hit until the fifth, though by then it was a solo homer by Ryan Feldmann that pulled them even with the Raccoons, 1-1. Cookie hit a double in the bottom 5th, but was left on third base, as the slow motion offense that we had learned to hate the last few years already made itself noticeable in ’17. Abe got shredded in the sixth inning, though ed-up luck had something to do with it, too. Alfonso Pellot and Matt Good both reached on infield singles to put him in the worst spot. While Steve Huibregtse didn’t get the job done, Ryan Holliman did with a single to center, scoring Pellot for a 2-1 lead. Feldmann wasted Abe again with another homer, and this one counted for three. The pre-teen pitcher that the Falcons had put on a stool on the mound was suddenly up 5-1, but wouldn’t make it through the sixth unharmed, either. Already wild early, he loaded the bases with a Walter single in between two walks before Ochoa batted for Abe, but that came against reliever Victor Arevalo, a 23-year old Mexican righty who looked even younger than Balzer. Ochoa singled hard to right on the second pitch. One run scored, Walter went aggro around third base and drew a throw from Travis Benson … alas, Holliman completely missed it, was charged an error, and the inning was still going on with Cookie batting with the tying runs in scoring position. He grounded hard to first, but Manny Salinas managed to scoop it and end the inning. Unfortunately, this would be the Raccoons’ high water mark in the game. Mauro Ortega was next for the Falcons, and the southpaw collected five outs with ease from the top half of the order. Cookie would reach base with two outs in the ninth, but by then it was already too late. 5-3 Falcons. Carmona 3-5, 2B, RBI; Ochoa (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Beaver 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Game 2 CHA: 2B Good – LF Huibregtse – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – RF Benson – SS P. Hall – 1B M. Salinas – 3B Pellot – P Vallejo POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – C Denny – RF Ochoa – P Morrison The Critters scored first again, this time on a first-inning homer by McKnight that put them 1-0 ahead. That shot aside, the team was horrendous again at swinging the stick, and they had to consider themselves lucky that Morrison made a strong first impression, whiffing four in the first two innings and shutting the Falcons out in the early going. The Raccoons wouldn’t threaten again until the fifth inning when they had Walter and Ochoa on the corners with one out. Morrison whiffed, which was excusable, and Cookie lined right into Alex Vallejo’s mitten, which directly led me to gnawing on the edge of my desk, an outburst of frustration that wasn’t soothed by what happened next. Vallejo led off the sixth with his stick, with his left hand still swollen from taking that bullet from Cookie. He grounded to first, and Adam Young, whose fur wouldn’t give a good pair of gloves if we skinned him, bungled it. Morrison unglued rapidly, allowed straight singles to the 2-3-4 batters and the Falcons scored a pair of runs to take the lead. While this looked a lot like doom (I know that glow), the Coons weren’t quite dead yet, for Mike Denny whacked a homer off Vallejo in the bottom 7th to at least get them even again. Vallejo was still going in the bottom 8th, while the Coons had replaced Morrison in the seventh, with Beaver and Reed holding the Falcons right where they were. William Waggoner hit for Jayden Reed to start the bottom 8th and singled to right center, then stole second base. Cookie also singled in the same general direction, and Waggoner scored handily to give the brown team the lead. Cookie was killed off at second base when Nunley missed the ball on a hit-and-run, then singled anyway, with Vallejo issuing walks to McKnight and DeWeese. Bases loaded, one out for Young, who hit one sharply to second base, where Dave Carter started the double play the Falcons were looking for. Alex Ramirez sent the Coons home winners regardless, pitching a perfect ninth while whiffing two. 3-2 Raccoons. Denny 2-3, HR, RBI; Morrison 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K; Re: Young – there’s an actual, ing hole chewed into my desk! That- … That’s oak! That’s supposed to be unchewable! Maud did research on that! Raaaah!! Oh well. Since we were resting people twice anyway in this early run of games, Young would get rest on Sunday. As would DeWeese. They were batting .170 … if you were so kind to add their batting averages together. Game 3 CHA: 2B Good – 1B M. Salinas – C Holliman – RF Feldmann – RF Benson – SS P. Hall – LF Monreal – 3B R. Martinez – P B. Guerrero POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – C Denny – RF Waggoner – 1B Petracek – LF Johnson – P Toner Yup, that was Ricardo Martinez, Nick Brown’s best friend of old, who got a starting assignment for the Falcons. He had already pinch-hit on Friday to no effect, and was 2-for-4 as a reserve so far. He didn’t even get a lukewarm reception from the crowd, who had long forgotten about this almost-decade-old flash in the pan. There was one guy in section 89 that clapped when he stepped in to start the top 3rd and grounded out. The game was scoreless through three, after which Bobby Guerrero was never seen again. Johnny Watson replaced him after Guerrero had reported back stiffness to his trainer, and Watson was a southpaw, so the Coons wouldn’t necessarily have it easier now. While Toner was murdering the Falcons (but hit two batters in the middle innings), the Raccoons got a few guys on here and there and then consistently botched their chances. Brandon Johnson hit into a double play in the bottom 5th, and Cookie was left stranded on third base in the sixth. They were out-hitting the Falcons 7-1 after six, but the score was still zip, at least until Feldmann hit his third homer of the series, putting the Falcons up 1-0 in the top 7th. Benson singled, Troy Mugan doubled, 2-0 Falcons, and the Sunday afternoon home crowd was not amused, especially that morbidly obese guy up the first base line, who in 41° weather had taken off his sweater and shirt and while holding a cup of beer in each hand was chanting obscenities along with his seven still-clothed children. The tying runs were on in the bottom 7th against Mauro Ortega, who had allowed a single to Johnson and a walk to Toner with one out. Cookie flew out to center, two outs. Bergquist hit for a successless Shane Walter, with Ortega throwing a wild pitch to move up the runners, but Bergquist would use the 3-1 pitch to fly out to Feldmann as well. An angry Jonny Toner fanned five of six batters he saw in the eighth and ninth innings, but was still on the short end of a wet stick, with the Coons sending the 6-7-8 batters against Lawrence Rivers in the bottom 9th. Waggoner popped out against the right-hander, after which Young hit for Petracek, grounded to second, but Matt Good’s throw to first was everything but good and Young reached on the error. Johnson had hit into a double play earlier, and this time flew out to Feldmann. DeWeese batted for Toner, a poor grounder back to the pitcher, and a way too easy last out. 2-0 Falcons. Carmona 2-4; Nunley 3-4; Waggoner 2-4; Johnson 2-4; Toner 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 13 K, L (0-1) and 0-2, BB; That looks like a lot of offense, but of course it wasn’t. That’s also all the hits they had. Nobody had exactly one hit for the Raccoons in this game. In other news April 3 – Blue Sox and Capitals slug it out on Opening Day, combining for five homers, 25 hits, and a 5-run inning for each side in a 12-9 win for the Capitals, clinched with Justin Bellows’ pinch-hit, walkoff, 3-run homer off Logan Sloan. April 3 – The Pacifics almost get no-hit on Opening Day, amounting only to a John Gartner single in a 5-0 defeat to the Scorpions, who have three pitchers combine for the shutout. April 4 – The Condors lose top prospect SP Andrew Gudeman (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for at least April. The 23-year old has been diagnosed with a sore shoulder. April 7 – In a real rout, the Bayhawks crumble the Canadiens, 13-2, out-hitting them 17-5. The game is basically over after the first inning, in which the Hawks put up seven runs. April 8 – One day later, the Canadiens beat the Bayhawks, 1-0, on Kurt Evans’ (.333, 1 HR, 1 RBI) solo home run. April 9 – TOP SP Alberto Molina (1-1, 1.59 ERA) 1-hits the Wolves in a 5-0 shutout. The Wolves don’t get into the H column until Javier Gonzalez’ pinch-hit single with one out in the ninth inning. April 9 – Veteran NAS 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.375, 1 HR, 3 RBI) has manufactured a 20-game hitting streak spanning two seasons with two hits in the Sox’ 6-5 defeat to the Pacifics. Complaints and stuff** You like that offense? No? Well, we’ll have 25 more weeks of that this year. While they’re not last in any once category, they’re sure close in many, and they’re in the bottom half in all but walks and stolen bases. And this was not even an offense-rich first week in the CL; the league ERA was 3.67 this week, which if remaining there for the rest of the season would be a 30-year low. Offense was low overall in the CL in ’16 as well, with the average ERA being 3.86, the lowest since 2005. Offense was up in the FL however, a 4.19 ERA meaning a 6-year high. Tom McNeela made it to St. Pete unmolested; neither by the other 23 teams, nor by that brown-skinned, blonde, badly shaven trucker with pink high heels he had to tramp with because we were too cheap for a plane ticket. He hasn’t been getting away for five years, there’s no reason for him to get abducted now, not by aliens, and not by ‘Denise’, who was hauling a load of plastic flamingoes to Miami. Wednesday, the Elks hit into four double plays, all in favor of Nick Brown, who also failed to retire Rod Taylor even once, and was lucky enough to have first base occupied with the likes of Suda and Little batting. Either one reminds me of the time I grew up, and the kids in our neighborhood were playing on the street all the time, playing ball and running around, and we all could have casually out-run Little, even this one boy, who we called ‘Stumpy’. … (awkward silence) … What I really want to say: Brownie got lucky, and his stuff was nowhere to be seen. He’ll have two starts next week, which will give a bigger sample size. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

01-22-2017, 12:24 PM	#2142
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	Adrian Quebell in Vancouver? That is not right....

01-28-2017, 11:09 AM	#2148
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	I must say that the new curse you put upon hitters acquired by the Raccoons is the most effective I have yet seen. I would have never believed that it could turn Adam Young from a bankable 25 home runs and 100 RBIs every season into a singles hitter....and a crappy singles hitter at that! You have my respect, sir, if not my admiration..... Poor Mr. Denny seems to have been given a double dose of the stuff..... Maybe being an a-hole is an effective deterrent, as DeWeese seems to be less affected, though maybe it only delays the inevitable for a season or so as he is not off to such a good start this year..... Last edited by Questdog; 01-28-2017 at 11:11 AM.

02-04-2017, 04:43 PM	#2153
Questdog Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: In a dark, damp cave where I'm training slugs to run the bases...... Posts: 16,142	How much is Brownie asking for? Sure would be nice for him to retire a Furball.... If he won't hang up his spikes like he obviously should, maybe he could hang around as a long reliever/lefty specialist? If he is not wanting a bag o' bills....

02-04-2017, 05:08 PM	#2154
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	I have a great desire to keep him as a career Furball, but I don't think he will find any suitor that will sign him to the desired 4-yr, $7.5M contract. Yes, actually. I don't know. He's gained weight in the last three or four years. I didn't realize that the family-size bucket at Alabama Fried Pigeon was $99.90 now. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

02-10-2017, 11:20 AM	#2158
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	2017 AMATEUR DRAFT POOL And once again it’s June and it’s high time to have a look at the draft pool. The Raccoons would have the #15 pick in the upcoming draft, high enough to make an impact, but low enough to be a total crapshoot. The Coons wouldn’t have any additional first round picks (proper or supplemental) and wouldn’t pick again until the 60s. Power-hitting catchers seem to be the thing of the year, although many of them can’t catch that well and are no help to their pitchers. Quite a few would be better served at first base. There is also a wide selection of outfielders and corner infielders available, but there really aren’t any middle infielders that might be able to bat anything at any point in their lives. We took note of a few glove magicians at shortstop and it can’t hurt to draft one in the sixth round, but overall the middle infield batting department lay barren in this draft. Following is our annual hotlist of the dozen-or-so best players in the pool with our ratings for the primary stats. I sure hope that Gabriel Martinez isn’t actively sabotaging me here. Players with an asterisk are high school players. Also listed is their position in the BNN pre-draft hotlist, if they are ranked in the top 10. SP Jim Bryant (13/16/12) - #5 BNN SP Kyle Anderson (11/15/12) - #1 BNN * SP Jack Sander (12/14/12) SP Dave Madonna (13/11/12) RP Steve Schwartz (12/16/14) RP Kevin Gautney (13/13/12) RP Mike Rehbock (13/12/11) C Bobby Farnell (9/15/15) 1B Trent Herlihy (10/13/12) - #9 BNN INF/CF Trey Rock (17/3/5) - #2 BNN * 1B Ruben Santiago (11/14/8) * CF/RF Ian Coleman (14/8/11) OF/1B Terry Kopp (11/13/12) - #7 BNN OF Adam Braun (10/12/7) * There is another high school pitcher in the pool that is ranked #3 overall, right-hander Matt Duskin. Martinez has thrown several red flags for him. Duskin is throwing a changeup that BNN has declared to be the next big thing, but Martinez calls it being a square one pitch right now and whether he will get it past that will have to be seen. Much of his overall stuff rating hinges on the fantasy changeup, and then there’s also the terrible command he currently shows. While only 18 years old, you should do better to become a first-round pick. Also, he’s dumber than five rocks and getting straight D’s in high school. We’re obviously picking too far down to rank these further into our five most favorite picks. It is not unlikely that nothing will remain outside of the relievers and maybe Santiago. Not that Santiago would be a bad pick. Maybe we can get paws on Madonna, which would open up endless possibilities for puns once sh- he gets to the majors. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

02-13-2017, 04:17 PM	#2160
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,739	2017 AMATEUR DRAFT Time to get a new set of kits in here! The Raccoons held the #15 pick in the Amateur Draft following the Thursday night games, but would then not pick again until the second round proper thanks to no compensation picks awarded to them in the last offseason. Here is our pre-draft list of the hottest young ball handlers again – that sounded way wrong, somehow. Once more, I surely hope that Gabriel Martinez a) knows what he’s doing besides plotting my demise, and b) isn’t actively listing duds for me to pick (although, thinking about it, I can pick duds on my own, thank you very much). Players with an asterisk are high school players. Also listed is their position in the BNN pre-draft hotlist, if they are ranked in the top 10. SP Jim Bryant (13/16/12) - #5 BNN SP Kyle Anderson (11/15/12) - #1 BNN * SP Jack Sander (12/14/12) SP Dave Madonna (13/11/12) RP Steve Schwartz (12/16/14) RP Kevin Gautney (13/13/12) RP Mike Rehbock (13/12/11) C Bobby Farnell (9/15/15) 1B Trent Herlihy (10/13/12) - #9 BNN INF/CF Trey Rock (17/3/5) - #2 BNN * 1B Ruben Santiago (11/14/8) * CF/RF Ian Coleman (14/8/11) OF/1B Terry Kopp (11/13/12) - #7 BNN OF Adam Braun (10/12/7) * For the first time in longer than I could remember, a catcher was taken #1 overall in the amateur draft, as the Wolves took Bobby Farnell, the slugging backstop. Next were outfielders. The Loggers selected Ian Coleman, and Terry Kopp went to the Capitals, and then it was into the pitchers. Jim Bryant was #4 to the Thunder, and the Blue Sox picked Jack Sander at #5. The Buffaloes picked that extremely-high-reward / extremely-high-risk pitcher, Matt Duskin, who had been on our watch but not the hotlist, with the sixth pick. Dave Madonna, whom I had had my keenest eye on as a realistic pick at #15 was swept up five picks earlier by the Cyclones. My earlier prediction that the Raccoons would be left to pick between 1B Ruben Santiago and the relievers almost became true. The Titans took Steve Schwartz at #13, and Adam Braun remained left over among the outfielders, but that aside it was Santiago, Gautney, and Rehbock. I might have been tempted to select Schwartz with the first-round pick because he really looks that good, but neither Gautney nor Rehbock were elite closer material. If you pick a reliever in the first round, it better be a Grant West (although Richard Cunningham wasn’t shabby either, and can you believe those two were selected in first rounds more than 35 years ago? Time’s been flying!). The Raccoons ended up selecting what looked like a fine bet to get a fine, if one-dimensional, major league caliber player eventually. Ruben Santiago, who had fled Cuba at age 14 on an XXL inflatable rubber duck that had been washed ashore, became the #15 pick in the draft and the Raccoons’ new hope for a worthwhile first baseman, although right now he was only 18 years old. After that we had about two hours of time to kill. I went for dinner. Martinez went for a gun shop two blocks over. With no pick in the next 47, we easily had enough time to scratch some itches… When I returned nicely filled, the second round proper had just begun. We were at #55, and the Buffaloes had just selected Ken Gautney, which left only Mike Rehbock from amongst the hotlist players. Martinez was already back in the draft room, and slid over a paper bag to me, saying he had brought me a little something from the bakery he had stopped at on the way back. Poison! That’s what was rushing through my head. And I wasn’t even lying when I told him that I was really not hungry right now. He mumbled something like ‘El día que usted muera vendrá’, and I tried to sit a little bit further away from the paper bag. Rehbock was still available when we finally had our second pick, and with no other genius ideas to go by, he was selected #63 overall. 2017 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS Round 1 (#15) – 1B Ruben Santiago, 18, from Rodas, Cuba – prototypical first baseman more or less with a knack for power, decent contact abilities, and not much to write home about in terms of speed and defense, but power is something that can carry you a good bit of the way… Round 2 (#63) – CL Mike Rehbock, 20, from Pratt, KS – a fairly small (5’8’’) southpaw that has good movement on his 91mph fastball and makes batters dizzy with an unpredictably migrating changeup Round 3 (#87) – SP Josh Taylor, 18, from Jupiter, FL – fairly ordinary fastball and curveball for this right-hander, but what could make him special is a knuckle curve that he has in the making Round 4 (#111) – OF Kyle Muller, 18, from Houston, TX – all the pieces for a good-to-great defensive outfielder, including in centerfield, and reasonable speed to be a threat on the base paths; good contact rating, and he doesn’t bite at junk, but power is probably not in the books for him Round 5 (#135) – SP Jeff Presley, 18, from Fair Oaks, CA – slim right-hander that doesn’t look like he can throw hard, and actually doesn’t throw hard, either; slider and splitter look good enough that he has a chance to make the majors as a control pitcher Round 6 (#159) – CL Eric Broady, 20, from Manhattan, NY – big swooping curve for this right-hander, but the fastball hardly ever tops 90mph Round 7 (#183) – INF Jason Lamphier, 21, from Burton, MI – very versatile infielder that plays all positions well and has some good speed to strike fear into opposing batteries … if he could just hit a little… Round 8 (#207) – CL Kyle Kirsch, 22, from Salisbury, NC – this right-hander throws up to 93, but has questionable control and occasionally hangs his curveball Round 9 (#231) – SP Julian Hill, 18, from Ocala, FL – there is potential on this right-handers’ curveball, but overall there isn’t that much to be enthusiastic about Round 10 (#255) – 3B Brian Voyles, 23, from Wells, ME – despite being big and heavy, he can certainly hold his ground with the glove at the hot corner, there’s no doubt about that; but some modest singles-hitting aside he’s not a factor with the bat Round 11 (#279) – SP Ken Shelton, 18, from Hollister, CA – Shelton is the annual 11th-round southpaw to be selected as the Nick Brown Memorial pick. Fastball, curveball, neither impressive. Round 12 (#303) – OF John McGrew, 20, from Chino Hills, CA – hits just enough to not be kicked off the Cal State team, fields just well enough to not get fatally struck in the eye by a line drive, and runs just fast enough to not be eaten by wolves… Round 13 (#327) – SP Dave Motter, 17, from Three Rivers, MI – looks quite pale; the Druid has to look at him immediately! All picks were assigned to Aumsville to start their professional careers. We also cleaned house. In a first slate, a number of players were released, including a former Nick Brown Memorial pick, 2011 11th-rounder Rick Conley, who had gotten stuck in Ham Lake four years ago. Also gone: 2014 fourth-rounder 1B Scott Thompson, 2013 ninth-rounder C Owen Long, and a few lower picks and scouting discoveries. More to come. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.