Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (85-63) vs. Falcons (80-69) – September 16-18, 2019

The Falcons were somewhat surprisingly leading the CL South at this point after not having posted a winning month until *August*. But since July 30 they had gone 33-13 and were quite certainly hot as they came into Portland to face the Raccoons that had already taken the season series in the first two meetings, having won five of the six contests. Overall, the Falcons were only eighth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, with a negative run differential (-2), so they were certainly an odd quirk to have shown up at the top of their division.

Projected matchups:
Cole Pierson (9-13, 3.54 ERA) vs. Alex Vallejo (12-10, 3.43 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (11-8, 2.92 ERA) vs. Seth Powers (1-0, 1.23 ERA)
Hector Santos (13-10, 2.80 ERA) vs. Denzel Durr (14-6, 3.38 ERA)

Powers was a rookie left-hander, 23 years old, that had been called up at the start of the month. Their other starters were right-handed. The unassuming Denzel Durr with his 32-40 career record had more wins than any Raccoons starter this year…

With the minor league seasons being over, the Raccoons added Edwin Prieto as third catcher to the roster.

Game 1
CHA: SS Good – LF Benson – C Holliman – RF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 2B B. Reyes – 3B Czachor – CF Je. Stephenson – P Vallejo
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Pierson

Derp-for-seven in his last nine starts, Cole Pierson was set on fire right out of the gate. The two left-handers atop the order, Matt Good and Travis Benson, hit a double and a single, respectively, for a quick first run, and Ryan Feldmann’s double was followed by Pat Fowlkes’ 2-run single to center that made it 3-0. Pierson never got any better than **** level; he issued a leadoff walk to another left-hander, Jeremy Stephenson, in the second, and a leadoff jack to Ryan Holliman in the third. The Falcons rapped him for another three singles in the inning, going up 5-0, and Pierson was hit for in the bottom of the inning, which already hinted at the Raccoons’ non-existent offensive prowess. Things only got worse for the Raccoons, with Pierson’s replacement Wade Davis facing five batters in the fourth, starting with Vallejo, and surrendering five base hits. Adam Cowen replaced him in the inning and had to pitch long relief on his third straight day out and got out of the bases loaded and no outs with only a sac fly allowed to Bob Reyes, but that was enough to get the Falcons up 8-0. Cowen started the fifth inning with a mind-blowing throwing error to put Stephenson on second base, and that run also scored on another two singles. 9-0 on 15 hits (against two for the striped roadkills) in the middle of the fifth was about the right time to stop bothering and I managed to sneak past Slappy into one of his booze stashes. Kevin DeWald hit his first major league home run in this blowout in front of an audience that didn’t care anymore, updating their statuses on their dumbphones. Raccoons pitching barely ever stopped being a slowly bleeding sore, although the Falcons scored only one more run off Charters in the ninth inning. In that case, Matt Good singled and with a 9-2 lead found it necessary to take off and steal second base before coming home on a single by Holliman. We would take objection to that and pencil Good in for a good beaning. 10-2 Falcons.

Game 2
CHA: SS Czachor – RF Feldmann – LF Benson – 1B Fowlkes – 3B Pellot – 2B B. Reyes – C Magee – CF Pearcy – P Powers
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Mathews – 3B Walter – RF Jackson – C Denny – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – 1B Petracek – P Abe

The Coons scored a run in the first on a single by Mathews and Jackson’s RBI double to right, which made for a tender 1-0 lead with Abe having the first batter on base by default in the first three innings, issuing walks to Ryan Czachor in the first and Alfonso Pellot in the second, and conceding a single to Erik Pearcy in the third. None of those runners scored thanks to some D, and more D was delivered by Bareford in the fourth inning, in which Abe varied his scheme slightly so as not to be called predictable, retiring the leadoff man Benson, but then walking two in Fowlkes and Pellot. Reyes and Brandon Magee both hit drives to center, Bareford caught up with both, and the Falcons stayed off the board through four.

While Abe’s approach to pitching in general was already not sustainable, rain was also an issue as it started to drizzle in the second inning, and on-and-off rain would stick around for most of the evening. There was a 26-minute delay in the fifth inning, after which the next batter, Czachor, hit a double to the leftfield corner off Abe with two outs and until then nobody on (new record!). Feldmann struck out in a full count, but Abe was already over 80 pitches and had issued a completely off-the-rolls four walks, to which he added two more in the sixth. But, chronologically: Andy Bareford lit up the scoreboard with a 2-piece to grow the lead to 3-0 after five, and when Abe walked Benson to start the sixth, that runner was not the tying run. Abe would commit a throwing error on Fowlkes’ grounder, and surrendered a run on a sac fly before being knocked out by walking Magee. Chun came in and got Pearcy to fly out to center and the Falcons stranded the tying runs in a 3-1 game. Chun continued to be aggravating and walked the ****ing opposing pitcher to start the seventh inning, creating a mess that Lillis had to clean up. Lillis retired two in the eighth, clearing the left-handers in the middle of the order to allow the Coons to bring in Ramirez for a 4-out save, which was as usual borderline bonkers, but despite being in September and carrying 28 relievers, the Raccoons had somehow managed to run out of qualified pitching. Ramirez obviously had to invite the tying run to bat in the same inning, conceding a 2-2 pitch for a Bob Reyes single to center, but Magee hacked out and the inning ended in what was STILL, somehow, a 3-1 game.

Then the Critters loaded the bases against Mitch Onley in the bottom 8th – Walter was brushed by a pitch, Jackson singled, Nunley walked – with nobody out. And in a game in which Raccoons pitching had constantly and consistently been one gentle nudge away from toppling over the jagged cliff yet again, but never quite did, the Falcons’ relief corps did so in the bottom of the eighth. Onley walked two batters with the bases loaded, McKnight and Bareford, before DeWeese and Owen Walker were both retired on pop-ups. J.J. Rodd tried to get Cookie out and keep the game in slam range, but Cookie had none of it and crashed a bases-clearing double into the leftfield corner to blow out the Falcons with a 5-spot. With a 7-run lead, certified arsonist Will West managed to pitch a scoreless ninth to put the game away and level the series. 8-1 Coons. Jackson 2-4, 2B, RBI; McKnight 2-3, BB, RBI; Petracek 1-2, BB;

In the land of theoretical numbers, this W knocked the Elks and Crusaders out of mathematical playoff contention. The real deal persists, however, with the Loggers now four games behind and the Indians trailing by six. The Coons could theoretically close the sack this week (and in the case of the Indians could do so under their own power), but they might want to stop pitching like arse to do so.

Game 3
CHA: 2B Good – RF Feldmann – C Holliman – 1B Fowlkes – 3B Pellot – LF Huibregtse – SS J. Estrada – CF Je. Stephenson – P Durr
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Santos

Good hadn’t appeared in the Tuesday game, but still had one free; we were just waiting for the right moment. The start of the game was not that moment. Santos had a quick and perfect first inning and the Raccoons scored a run again in the bottom of the inning. Cookie led off with his 11th triple of the season and scored on Walter’s single before McKnight flew out and Dumbo Mendoza hit into a double play. Santos retired the first 11 batters he faced before Holliman singled to left in the fourth inning. Fowlkes popped out to Mendoza, no harm done. For the Coons, Walter’s single remained their most recent event to gain a baserunner until Matt Nunley singled to left to open the bottom 5th. Folks had settled in for a pitching duel, but Durr had a few gross lapses in the inning, throwing two wild pitches to plate Nunley, the latter coming with two out and Santos batting, in other words a guaranteed zero on the board. Instead, the Coons led 2-0, but Matt Good hit a 1-out single in the sixth inning. He took off to swipe second base, but Denny threw him out this time, spontaneously earning cheers from the ranks. Bottom 6th, Cookie with the leadoff walk and stolen base, the Falcons put Walter on intentionally, and McKnight’s swift double play and Mendoza’s ****ty fly to center ended the inning in no time.

Santos maintained a 3-hit shutout through seven innings, and the Coons also only had three hits in the game until DeWeese whacked his 20th long ball of the season with two outs in the bottom 7th. Durr stuck around to lose DeWald to a DeWalk, then yielded for left-hander Jimmy Van Meter. We wanted a bit more from Santos, so he batted and knocked a single to left, but with runners on the corners, Cookie’s liner to left was caught by Steve Huibregtse and the inning ended. Santos soldiered on for two more outs before losing Stephenson to an eighth-inning walk, and no risks now: Lillis replaced him as soon as the Falcons sent September call-up and ex-Coons farmhand Michael Wilkerson (batting .297 with no homers in 37 AB). The left-hander struck out, and the inning ended. Lillis lost the miserable Good to a full-count walk to start the ninth, yielding for Ramirez as planned, but not with the situation intended. Ramirez had only faced one batter the day before and had been removed after the 5-spot in the bottom 8th, and now had things already in progress, and he certainly had a hand to making it worse. He got Feldmann on a grounder, then walked Holliman, which put the tying run in the box. Fowlkes struck out, but now he faced left-handed bats, and because he was a fool in the n-th degree he threw a wild pitch to Alfonso Pellot, whom he ended up walking anyway. Huibregtse came up and dished the first pitch to deep center, high, very high, but so high it didn’t get out. DeWald made the catch near the warning track, and the Raccoons overcame their own morbidly inept pen once again. 3-0 Critters. Santos 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (14-10) and 1-3;

Sadly, the opportunity to knock Matt Good in the head never arrived.

Maybe next year.

Raccoons (87-64) vs. Indians (81-70) – September 20-22, 2019

The Indians still had a chance, sitting at six games out, although their status would hopefully be settled after this 4-game weekend set with a double header on Friday. The Raccoons certainly faced an uphill battle, trailing in the season series by a good margin, 5-9. There was something about this Indians team that ranked fourth in runs scored and fifth in runs against that the Critters couldn’t cope with. It wasn’t batting average or speed, two of the Indians’ worst stats, but while they ranked 11th in batting average, they were third in on-base percentage, drawing walks at will and they were also second in knocking dingers. This somehow didn’t fit, because the Raccoons were actually not issuing many walks at all, in fact their staff had surrendered the least walks in the league. The whole thing was a mystery, and a mess, and could only get worse with a 4-game sweep.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (11-3, 2.54 ERA) vs. Alejando Mendez (12-8, 3.42 ERA)
Damani Knight (3-2, 4.56 ERA) vs. Tom Shumway (5-3, 2.68 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (11-8, 3.55 ERA) vs. Luis Guerrero (13-9, 4.57 ERA)
Cole Pierson (9-14, 3.71 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (13-11, 3.46 ERA)

Knight would start the nightcap on Friday, while Toner got the day game, which was technically a make-up date of an Indians home game, and so the Indians would function as the home team on our home turf for the series opener. Shumway and Guerrero will be two of their three left-handers, and if they indeed pitch in this order, Saturday’s Guerrero-Guerrero tilt would mirror the pitching matchup of the rainout game that would be made up on Friday. We only stand to miss Tristan Broun (1-3, 2.74 ERA) out of their current rotation. Broun had missed most of the season recovering from a ruptured finger tendon.

The big picture entering the series had the Loggers three games behind, and the Indians six behind. The Indians had a few minor injuries, but significantly had lost Lowell Genge (.293, 13 HR, 79 RBI) for the season with a broken thumb.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Toner
IND: C Jolley – CF D. Morales – LF D. Carter – RF C. Martinez – 1B J. Ramirez – SS Matias – 2B Kym – 3B D. Jones – P A. Mendez

Cookie and McKnight hit two singles in the first, and Mendoza grounded to Jong-beom Kym for two outs to fudge it up. Toner struck out Jayden Jolley to start his second game off the DL, then allowed Danny Morales to reach on a single to left before walking the bases full. Alright, that’s already a lot of things I can’t cope with anymore! Jesus Ramirez was so kind to bounce a ball back to Toner for a force out at home on Morales, and Raul Matias popped out, but PLEASE can we get an easy win to knock them out?

Nah. Toner walked Kym to start the bottom 2nd, before Dan Jones bounced into a double play, but Toner just wasn’t right. At least the Indians didn’t get onto the board in the first three innings, and the Raccoons had a splendid opportunity in the fourth inning, or a very bad one, depending on how much you give on decades of history with three on and nobody out. Singles by Walter and Mendoza around a walk drawn by McKnight had filled the sacks with Critters for Nunley, who hit a pitch to fairly deep right center, but couldn’t beat Cesar Martinez, who caught the ball. Nevertheless, Walter scored with the first run of the game, and Denny’s single to left center brought home McKnight, 2-0. DeWeese got hit, Bareford scored a run with a groundout, Toner walked(!), but Cookie flew out to Danny Morales to leave three men on. Meanwhile, Toner continuously pitched in 3-ball counts, and loaded the bases again in the bottom 4th on a Matias single and walks to Kym and Jones, giving him five on the day. “Ant” Mendez also ran a full count before flying out to DeWeese, which ended the inning. Toner needed over 80 pitches for four innings in a completely terrible outing, and it was especially terrible with a nightcap started by Damani Knight looming.

Before we could go THERE, the fifth featured the identical situation as the fourth. Bases loaded, no outs, Nunley batting. This time, Nunley hit the ball on the ground and forcefully to Jesus Ramirez, who started a double play, second and first, while a run scored. Denny hit another RBI single, 5-0, but would Toner even the through five innings!? Yes, he would, although Cookie had some running to do in rightfield as the Indians for once saw no 3-ball count, but Morales and Dave Carter hit balls hard to right, but were denied by Carmona, and Toner even could come up with a clean sixth inning, striking out two, but the damage to his pitch count had long been done and he was gone after the inning. While Chun and Cowen did some good relief work in the seventh and eighth, the Raccoons had the bases loaded twice more. In the eighth, Mendoza batted with the sacks stacked and two outs and rolled out gingerly. In the ninth, Denny first hit a jack to get to 6-0 before the bases were loaded on singles by DeWeese, Jackson, and Cookie. Walter had three hits on the day, but now popped out on the first pitch offered by Joel Davis to end the inning. The Coons tried to squeeze Cowen through the ninth to get away with only two relievers used in this first leg of the doubleheader, but the Indians put two on with nobody out in the bottom 9th as Ramirez singled and Matias walked. Kym struck out, and Dan Jones hit into a fielder’s choice leaving runners on the corners. A .257 hitting Matt Pruitt pinch-hit in that spot and unfortunately for him buried the Indians with a casual grounder to short that was no challenge for Ronnie McKnight. 6-0 Coons. Carmona 3-6; Walter 3-6; McKnight 2-2, 3 BB; Mendoza 2-5; Denny 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-1; Toner 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 5 K, W (12-3) and 1-2, BB; Cowen 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

The Raccoons had 18 hits, including 17 singles. Only Denny’s dinger stood out.

The Loggers lost, which put the Coons four ahead, and allowed them to rest maybe one or two more guys in the nightcap than they would have otherwise…

Game 2
IND: 2B Kym – CF D. Morales – LF D. Carter – RF C. Martinez – 1B J. Ramirez – SS Matias – C Mancuso – 3B D. Jones – P Shumway
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Mathews – SS Walter – RF Jackson – CF Bareford – C Walker – 3B Petracek – 1B Greenwald – P Knight

The combo of light rain and Damani Knight pitching like glue made for a miserable experience especially after the Indians overcame early RISP woes with Jesus Ramirez’ 2-out RBI double in the third inning, the first counter in the game. The Indians usually had no trouble putting the leadoff man on base, and the fourth was especially aggravating, with Knight allowing a leadoff single to Nolan Mancuso before he walked Jones. Shumway bunted them over, and one run scored on a wild pitch before Kym could get the second run in with a groundout, 3-0. The Coons had only two hits and no clear concept how to hit the southpaw, and the fifth opened with Dave Carter’s single to left. Knight struck out Cesar Martinez and played Ramirez’ grounder well into a force at second base in escaping the inning, but he was still on a 3-0 hook. Tim Prince batted for him in the bottom 5th, tripled, but was then stranded when Cookie popped out to short to end the inning. Will West pitched for four outs until he was undone by an error by Petracek and two walks of his own. Jason Kaiser came in and got a double play to turn the Indians away when they had the bases loaded, and the Raccoons actually got the tying run to the plate in the bottom 7th thanks to singles by Greenwald and Denny. Cookie batted with one out against Shumway, but in a full count grounded into a fielder’s choice. With right-hander Helio Maggessi replacing Shumway, McKnight batted for Mathews and hit an RBI single, 3-1, but Walter flew out easily to center to end the inning. That was their last bid to make a comeback; the Indians pen shut them down in the last two innings and they had to be content with a split of the doubleheader. 3-1 Indians. McKnight (PH) 1-1, RBI; Prince (PH) 1-1, 3B; Denny (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
IND: C Jolley – 2B Kym – LF D. Carter – RF C. Martinez – 1B J. Ramirez – SS Matias – CF J. Gonzales – 3B D. Jones – P L. Guerrero
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Mathews – SS McKnight – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – P B. Guerrero

Bobby G struck out the side in the third inning, which was remarkable for someone still shy of 100 strikeouts for the season, and the feat also didn’t come until after he had surrendered a 2-run homer to Raul Matias in the second inning. The Indians had those two runs through four innings, while the Raccoons had two double plays and nothing nice to go along with that. Nunley hit into a two-for-one in the second inning, and Denny hit into an inning-ender with runners on the corners and one out in the fourth, then off left-hander Allen Reed, injury replacement for Luis Guerrero. While Bobby G struck out eight and thus finally conquered 100 K on the season in his seven innings of work, and only allowed four hits and two walks, he still remained in for the blow as the Raccoons as usual couldn’t do anything with their batting sticks.

The bottom 7th put Mendoza on base with nobody out after reaching on an error by Kym. Kyle Lamb was pitching and now had the tying run in the batter’s box, with Mike Denny having a mildly credible claim to being lukewarm right now, if only through infrequent thumpers. Here, he flew out to left on the first pitch. Nunley singled, moving Mendoza to second, but Bareford grounded to short and the only reason that the inning didn’t end right there was Nunley’s kamikaze slide that saw Matias squeal and evade the bag after tapping it. Shane Walter batted for Guerrero with runners on the corners and hit an RBI single to left, but Cookie’s fly to left center was caught by Dave Carter to strand a pair. The Indians also stranded a pair in the top 8th that had reached against Charters with two outs. Brett Lillis came in to face Ramirez, but instead got Bobby Eason as right-handed pinch-hitter, whom he flogged out anyway to end the frame. The Raccoons finally came up with a LOUD ball in the bottom 8th against Jarrod Morrison, when McKnight hit a 2-2 pitch into the gap in left center for a 1-out double. Jackson grounded out. The tying run in scoring position for Dumbo Mendoza, a thousand different things could happen now, all horrible. He popped out to short. The ****ing ***hole. 2-1 Indians. Carmona 2-4; McKnight 2-4, 2B; Mendoza 2-4; Walter (PH) 1-1, RBI; Guerrero 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, L (11-9); Lillis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

This team.

On the other hand, the Indians have already lost three pitchers to injury in this series after Helio Maggessi on Friday and Luis Guerrero and Joel Davis in this game. All injuries were minor and didn’t make headlines, but the relievers were out of the series.

In the mix were the Loggers, who schmoozed up to only a 2 1/2 game gap now. We might want to look into winning that Sunday game. MAYBE. IF YOU LOT CARE. Oh ****, it’s Pierson’s turn. Never mind.

Game 4
IND: C Jolley – CF D. Morales – LF D. Carter – RF C. Martinez – 2B Kym – SS Eason – 1B M. Pruitt – 3B D. Jones – P Lambert
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Walker – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Pierson

“Gravedigger” Pierson retired the first five in order before Eason singled past McKnight, Matt Pruitt legged out some miscommunication between Mendoza and Pierson for another single, and Dan Jones walked in a full count. Lambert grounded hard to the right side, but Walter was on top of that grounder and played it to end the second inning, and the Indians lost a run in the third inning when Danny Morales was caught stealing just before Dave Carter doubled up the leftfield line. No the Raccoons would actually score first thanks to DeWald’s leadoff single, Pierson not bunting into a triple play with one on and nobody out (HE CAN DO THAT!!), and Cookie doubling up the line to chase home the youngster. After Walter grounded out and moved Cookie to third, a wild pitch by Lambert made it 2-0 Coons before McKnight rolled out to Kym. Poor Lambert would plate another run with a wild pitch in the fourth inning, then bringing home Mendoza after his leadoff double to left and a grounder by Nunley.

Up 3-0, Pierson adjudged the time to have come to load the bases in the fifth inning. Lambert had a base knock and Pierson walked Jolley and Carter to get into a real 2-out mess. The pitching coach went out to read Pierson the Riot Act, after which Martinez popped out to McKnight to strand all the precious runners. Pierson stalked through the sixth, then managed to concede a leadoff single to Lambert(!!) in the seventh. He got yanked pronto, and Seung-mo Chun took over the 3-0 game. Lambert moved around on a groundout by Jayden Jolley, a single by Danny Morales, and then Carter’s sac fly, but somehow the Coons avoided the big inning. The eighth saw Wade Davis strike out Eason and Jason Kaiser whiffing Pruitt and getting a grounder from Walter, setting up Ramirez for another high-panic save attempt unless the Raccoons could pull two runs out from under their bushy tails in the bottom 8th. They hadn’t showed intention to do so for a while, Lambert was still in the game, but faced the middle of the order, and – nope. Walter, McKnight, and Mendoza were retired on seven pitches. The Indians led off the ninth with a pinch-hitter, Juan Gonzales grounding to first, and Mendoza blatantly missed the ****ing ball. Error on Mendoza, and panic mode was flicked on to the highest intensity right away. And for good reason: two pitches later, Jayden Jolley got a lazy ball of nothing served by Ramirez and tattered it for 400 feet to left center, well outta here, and the game was tied.

Between innings I quickly weaseled down to Mena’s offices to try and find enough pills to make a fatal cocktail with two finger widths’ of booze, but couldn’t find anything outside of some gum, two band aids and a box full of nail clippings. So I had to go back up to my offices and look at the tragedy in progress. I found Nunley to be on second base with nobody out after a leadoff double into the gap, and if that didn’t cry for a walkoff …! The Coons went with a wicked plan. Against Tony Lino, a so-so righty, Walker bunted over Nunley to third, and then Jackson hit for DeWeese, surrendering the platoon advantage, but also reducing the K chance with the winning run on third and one out. Indy had none of it. Jackson was walked intentionally. DeWald came up, ran a 3-1 pitch and then poked (hh!!) and sent a fly to center. Danny Young out there had no problem with that ball. Nunley tagged and went, the throw came in, was a bit up the first base line and Jolley had to make the catch off home plate and then whip himself around – to no avail! Nunley was safe, and the Coons walked off winners, somehow! 4-3 Raccoons. Carmona 3-4, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2B; Pierson 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K;

**** Mendoza, ****ing ***hole.

In other news

September 16 – Five games are played in the Federal League on Monday, of which all but the Cyclones’ 4-1 win in Dallas go to extra innings, and of those four extra-inning games all end in walkoffs in an odd inning. The Gold Sox (5-4 vs. Blue Sox) and Pacifics (3-2 vs. Miners) win in 11 innings, while the Capitals (5-4 vs. Scorpions) and Warriors (10-9 vs. Buffaloes) take 13 innings. The Buffaloes have 21 hits in their loss to the Warriors’ 14, and TOP 1B/LF Willie Madrid (.311, 1 HR, 30 RBI) goes 5-for-7, but they also strand 15 runners in coming up short.
September 18 – NYC SP Tom Weise (11-10, 2.58 ERA) showed the Thunder into their place with a 3-hit shutout in a clear 8-0 decision.
September 20 – In odd coincidences, Friday sees four shutouts by the home team, including the Buffaloes double-shutting-out the Miners, 9-0 and 8-0.
September 22 – In a wicked game, the Knights score six on the Condors in the bottom of the eighth inning to make up a 5-0 deficit and take a lead, but then concede three runs in the ninth, before plating three runs of their own in the bottom of the ninth to walk off 9-8 winners.
September 22 – The Pacifics walk off 3-2 in ten innings against the Warriors when SFW Tyler Nodelman (9-9, 2.82 ERA, 23 SV) throws two wild pitches to plate Jimmy Roberts.

Complaints and stuff

Suddenly, Cookie has a 12-game hitting streak AND is in the midst of the batting title race. He was as many as 20 points out in the first half of the month, but Brad Gore dumped from the .330s to .322 and is now second to Atlanta’s Antonio Esquivel with .323. Cookie is third with .321, and there is another handful of players that with a Player of the Week type of week can still roar past all of them to take the title. Cookie also leads the league in hits with 197. He won the batting title in 2017, but he never led the league in hits so far, although he led the league in triples in 2017, and he also ties for the lead in triples now.

Of course the thing he stood most out with was his three stolen base titles and he’s really not close this year. He is second, but a distant second to Tyler Stewart (39 SB) in the CL, and the FL lead is even 46, Pablo Sanchez on the Scorpions.

Taking two of three from the Falcons this week put us at 194-193 all-time against them. This means that we will end the year with only one CL team against which we do not hold an all-time winning record, and that’s the Titans, currently at 381-391.

Damani Knight (3-3, 4.64 ERA) was already removed from the roster again and sent into the holidays. We don’t need him for anything anymore and he was only here for the doubleheader. We will stick to a 6-man rotation and field Garrett again on Monday. The idea is that we can waste a game and use him again on Sunday with the division wrapped up. If it doesn’t work, Tadasu Abe can still pitch the extra game on Sunday, but I would prefer him to be ready for Game 2 of the CLCS.

Playoff watch:

POR: NYC (4), BOS (3) – .471 – 95.5% (+7.7%)
MIL: BOS (3), VAN (3) – .463 – 4.3% (-7.5%)
IND: VAN (4), NYC (3) – .493 – 0.1% (-0.4%)

Yeah, I’ll believe that when it’s over.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (89-66) @ Crusaders (77-78) – September 23-26, 2019

The Coons held only an 8-6 advantage over the Crusaders in 2019. The team that would for sure rise again in 2020 ranked dead-last in runs scored in the Continental League and even the fourth-best pitching couldn’t prevent it from lingering around the .500 mark. The Coons would try to play sufficiently well to not blow a 3 1/2 game lead in the division…

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (1-1, 5.06 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (11-10, 2.58 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (12-8, 2.83 ERA) vs. Manuel Ortíz (12-9, 3.89 ERA)
Hector Santos (14-10, 2.69 ERA) vs. Hwa-pyung Choe (8-11, 4.83 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (12-3, 2.43 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (12-8, 2.32 ERA)

All righties here, which is fine by me.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – P Garrett
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – CF J. Wilson – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – RF Erickson – C Roland – LF Richards – SS D. Ortega – P Weise

Weise was struggling in all aspects of the game, putting runners on the corners in the first inning thanks to his own throwing error on Walter’s grounder and then hitting Mendoza before getting Denny to chase and whiff, and in the second inning, Bareford, Garrett (!), and Cookie hung consecutive singles with two outs on him to score the first run of the game. Weise hit Walter to load the bases, but McKnight rolled one over to Sergio Valdez. That made for a 1-0 lead and five men stranded, which was doubly bad with Travis Garrett dying to issue leadoff walks. Max Erickson drew one on four pitches to start the bottom 2nd and sure enough was brought around to score on Domingo Ortega’s 2-out single, instantly tying the game. Leadoff walks were also issued by Garrett in the next two innings, and in the fourth a 2-run homer by the light-hitting Ortega put the Crusaders ahead 3-1. Top of the fifth, the tying runs were on the corners right away with nobody out after Cookie walked and Walter singled to right. McKnight struck out feebly, but lo and behold, Dumbo Mendoza came through with a double to center. That cut the gap in half, 3-2, and gave two men in scoring position to Denny, who struck out yet again, and Nunley, who rolled over to Valdez to end the inning.

There was probably no helping Garrett anyway, who issued no leadoff walk in the bottom 5th because Jens Carroll chose to pop out foul in a full count. It was the last out collected by Garrett, who conceded a hard single to right to John Wilson and then walked(!!!) Valdez, the fifth free pass issued by him in the game. Kaiser replaced Garrett to clean up the mess he made, but there was no shortage of dorks to issue leadoff walks on this team. Adam Cowen issued one to Cory Roland in the sixth, and the situation was indeed maddening, despite Cowen cleaning up behind himself and keeping the Crusaders where they were, ahead 3-2. The Crusaders had no problems upping their game; after the Coons left another man on base in the seventh that had reached on an error, the only way for them to reach base it seemed, Cowen surrendered a leadoff jack to Carroll in the bottom 7th.

Down 4-2, the Coons got their first two men on in the eighth inning against Weise. Denny walked (so it DID work that way round, too…!) and Nunley singled, but soon enough there was more reason to be depressed as DeWeese grounded to Valdez, who only narrowly missed turning the double play and only got Nunley forced out at second. Jackson batted for Bareford with the tying runs on the corners, hit a ball to right for a sac fly, but that was not progress with a 2-run deficit. Mathews hit in the pitcher’s spot and walked against southpaw reliever Francisquo Bocanegra, pulling up Cookie with his 13-game hitting streak. The leadoff man hit a soft fly over third base that was quite definitely in for a single. Ron Richards hustled, DeWeese was scoring easily, and Mathews held at second. Tied ballgame, two on, two out, a wild pitch even advanced the runners, but Walter grounded out to the pitcher and the chance was wasted. Will West made it through the bottom 8th before McKnight hit a leadoff single to left in the ninth. Mendoza, stupidly and stubbornly, hit to Valdez for a double play, and was angrily replaced in a double switch that brought Petracek in at first base and Lillis onto the mound with a mostly left-handed lineup, including the top five batters with the bottom 9th starting with Luis Reya pinch-hitting in the #1 spot. The Crusaders would load the bases on singles by PH Jasper Holt and B.J. Manfull, and a walk drawn by PH Morgan Little, but Roland grounded out to Walter to prevent them from walking off. 1-out singles off Wade Davis placed runners on the corners in the bottom 10th. Ryan Dawson went from third base as Reya grounded to first, Petracek did not hesitate in firing home and Dawson was thrown out. Holt grounded out to deny the Crusaders again, but they wouldn’t be denied any longer. The Raccoons did NOTHING at all, and the Crusaders continued to see Davis in the bottom 11th. Sean Young singled with two outs, and Roland hit a drive to center that the park didn’t hold. 6-4 Crusaders. Carmona 2-5, BB, 2 RBI;

Good display of skills in all regards. I especially liked the eight walks, of which approximately ten came to start innings. You lot better be glad that Chris Klein shut out the Loggers! Gap remains at 3 1/2, and the magic number was now 3. Indians won 4-0 against the Elks and remained in the picture. Tristan Broun pitched 8.1 scoreless in that game.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – RF Jackson – C Denny – 3B Nunley – 1B Greenwald – CF DeWald – P Abe
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF Reya – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – C Roland – CF J. Wilson – RF Richards – SS D. Ortega – P Man. Ortíz

Cookie reached the 200 hits plateau with a single to left center to start the game, which also extended his hitting streak to 14 contests. Walter also singled before the middle of the order just disappeared into the night. Abe, our insurance for the season finale, started his outing by drilling Carroll, but at least converted Reya’s sorry bobbler into a double play to make up for the mistake. Manfull’s leadoff single to right in the bottom 2nd also went under in Roland’s double play grounder to Ronnie McKnight, but Abe allowed another single right away to John Wilson, then threw a wild pitch. Yep, THAT’S the insurance for Sunday.

No runs through two in the game, Cookie and Walter led off the third by being on base again. McKnight flew softly to right, Ron Richards couldn’t get there and the ball was in. Cookie had read it well and had been close to third base and had only about 120 feet left to dash home across, scoring the first run of the game. Denny hit another RBI single to get to 2-0, plating Walter. Abe, the insurance for Sunday if things would continue to go badly, walked two in the third, then allowed a leadoff homer to Manfull in the fourth, cutting the lead in half. Fortunately the Raccoons threw up a 3-spot in the fifth inning; Walter and McKnight reached base to get going, and Denny, Nunley, and DeWald all brought home a run in one way or another. Down by four, the Crusader were far from beaten, thanks to Abe having turned completely **** in September and continuing to crank up the misery. Bottom 6th, LEADOFF WALK to Valdez, and Roland romped a 2-piece to left center. After that, Richards and Ortega hit back-to-back 2-out doubles to bring the score to 5-4. Martin Ortíz, the future Hall of Famer still trying to impress somebody with his season total of ONE home run, hit in the #9 slot against Seung-mo Chun, who had replaced the disgraced Abe. At 2-2, Chun threw a wild one to move the tying run to third base, then to make sure that Denny could catch the next one threw the 3-2 right down the middle. Martin Ortíz might be old and might also be half blind by now, but he still had some base talent, which in his case meant he was still a better batter than any skunk on the visiting team’s roster – the rest of the body had just given out some time ago and he was cashing in his millions. That 3-2 by Chun, however, would have been hit 400 feet ten years ago, five years ago, and still was today. Bending around the right foul pole, it flipped the score, and threw the Raccoons into agony once more. Showing no fighting spirit whatsoever, the team got absolutely nobody on in the seventh or in the eighth, facing rookie pitcher Ben Jacobson in the latter. Alex Lindsey, a failed starter, was in to close this one out, maybe, facing the 3-4-5 of the order. McKnight struck out. Mendoza batted for Jackson against the right-hander and grounded out to Valdez. DeWeese batted for Denny… and grounded out to Valdez. 6-5 Crusaders. Carmona 2-4, BB; Walter 3-5; McKnight 2-5, RBI; Denny 2-4, 2 RBI;

Boston 4, Milwaukee 7. Now Portland Chokes. The Indians lost, dropping their magic number to 1.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 2B Mathews – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Santos
NYC: CF J. Wilson – LF Reya – 2B S. Valdez – 1B Manfull – RF Erickson – 3B Holt – C Lowe – SS D. Ortega – P Choe

Santos opened his last 2019 start in the regular season(??) with a walk to John Wilson, and could thank DeWald in center for denying Manfull a well-deserved double to the fence that kept the Crusaders off the board. The Coons put Mendoza and Mathews on with singles to start the second, but Denny hit into a double play and DeWeese kept grounding out to Sergio Valdez with impunity. DeWald opened the third with a double into the gap in right center, and while Santos and Cookie also hit rousing grounders to Valdez, that was at least enough to push the first run of the game across SOMEHOW. Any way counts, but some are uglier than others. The run that the Coons scored in the fourth on Mendoza’s 1-out double to left center and the subsequent RBI single by Mathews to right center was certainly prettier to look at, and then Mike Denny hit a 2-run blast to left center to grow the lead to 4-0. Santos unfortunately failed to deliver a shutdown inning, surrendering a walk to Valdez and singles to Manfull (who was injured on the base paths and replaced by Masaya Arakaki) and Holt, the latter scoring Valdez, 4-1. Santos also struggled to get strikeouts in (like Abe and Toner, wonderfully) and surrendered singles to Choe (…) and Wilson in the bottom 5th, both in 2-strike counts. Luis Reya hit into a double play before I could start chewing on somebody else’s fingernails because mine were ****ing finished.

The Crusaders went from 4-1 to 4-3 in the sixth. Valdez hit a leadoff single with two strikes, and Arakaki belted a homer to right, as simple as that. The Coons somehow converted a generous ball four call on DeWeese to lead off the seventh, his seventh stolen base of the year, and Jackson’s pinch-hit RBI single into a run in the seventh before Cookie, hitless, hit into a double play to Valdez, who ought to get tired any minute now and then these grounders would all be singles to right, promise! Troy Charters faced only one batter in the bottom 7th, putting Ortega on with an infield single, before Lillis came in with the tying run at the plate and lots of left-handers to be faced. As disaster unfolded vehemently, Ron Richards lined out to Mathews as he hit for Choe, but Lillis walked Chun and then threw a wild pitch. PH Ray Gilbert flew to shallow center, DeWald made a hustling grab with the tying runs in scoring position, the Crusaders sent Ortega to score and DeWald threw a BEAM to home plate for Denny to knock out the runner and end the inning on the double play. Drama was not over. The Coons had their first two batters on base in the eighth, left them of course on base, and then Arakaki homered again, this time a solo shot to left off Lillis. Somehow the lead was still there in the ninth for Ramirez to **** around with it. He struck out Drew Lowe to start the inning, before Martin Ortíz singled sharply to center, Sean Young singled to right, and Mathews only barely contained John Wilson’s sharp bouncer and could only get the out at second. Tying and winning runs on the corners, Cory Roland came out to pinch-hit and he had smashed roughly a dozen homers in this series already. Ramirez threw a 1-1 right down the middle, Roland knocked it, but down, not up. Mathews got the high bouncer and threw to first to end the game just in time. 5-4 Blighters. Mendoza 2-4, 2B; Mathews 2-4, RBI; Walker (PH) 1-1; DeWald 2-3, 2B; Jackson (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Ian Prevost’s 6-hitter kept the Loggers on pace, but the magic number is down to two. The Loggers were idle on Thursday, where the Raccoons had another game in New York. The Indians were eliminated by virtue of our wobbly win.

Cookie’s 0-for-5 dropped him far out in the batting title race, where his .320 mark is third to Brad Gore (.321) and league leader Antonio Esquivel (.325). We wouldn’t talk about any of them in the Federal League, where Pablo Sanchez of the Scorpions has been hitting .391 …

Game 4
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Mathews – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Toner
NYC: 1B Gilbert – 3B J. Carroll – 2B S. Valdez – RF Erickson – C Roland – LF Reya – CF J. Wilson – SS D. Ortega – P J. Martin

Toner allowed singles to ****ing Ray Gilbert and Sergio Valdez in the bottom of the first, but Gilbert tried to reach third base on Valdez’ single to right and was mercilessly thrown out by Cookie Carmona. Mendoza hit a leadoff single in the top 2nd and Denny knocked another ball outta here, giving Toner a 2-0 lead to defend. Toner struck out seven in the first three innings, which was actually closer than comfortable to what all of the Coons starters so far had combined for in the series, and reached 11 by the fifth, in which he struck out the side. He also allowed two walks and his pitch count was close to 80, but at least the Crusaders were shut up on his watch, and the Coons had tagged on runs on a solo homer by Nunley in the fourth, and then a Mathews double chasing home DeWald in the fifth, 4-0.

“Midnight” Martin couldn’t match Toner’s whiffing (K’ing three in five innings), nor could he survive Nunley. With Mendoza on with a leadoff walk in the sixth, Nunley hit his second homer of the game. That ran the score to 6-0, and knocked Martin from the game. Toner would live through seven before leaving the game after 103 pitches that had yielded three hits, three walks, 13 strikeouts, and no runs for New York. Nunley also had himself quite a day, contributing once more in the form of back-to-back eighth-inning doubles with Mendoza, giving him another RBI, and he also scored on DeWeese’s single to right. With Toner out of the game, the Raccoons sent Will West in for the eighth, and the AAA reliever was immediately victimized, walking Gilbert and Carroll and surrendering an RBI double to Valdez. Another run scored on Erickson’s sac fly, and the Coons put Cookie and McKnight on base with ninth-inning singles. Nunley got to bat once more with two outs, but missed not only another home run, but also grounded out weakly to – right – second base. Matt Schroeder pitched an accident-free ninth to knock the magic number down to one. 8-2 Coons. Mendoza 2-4, BB, 2B; Nunley 3-5, 2 HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 13 K, W (13-3);

Raccoons (91-68) vs. Titans (69-90) – September 27-29, 2019

11th in runs scored, 7th in runs allowed, the Titans hadn’t had much to be thankful for in 2019, just like the last few years prior. They were heading for their third straight red lantern finish and the fourth in five years. They did have a bright spot, though, holding the Coons to only an 8-7 edge in the season series, and they still could play spoilers on them if the Loggers would keep winning in their series against the Elks.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (11-9, 3.51 ERA) vs. Jose Diaz (5-13, 4.46 ERA)
Cole Pierson (9-14, 3.65 ERA) vs. Ozzie Pereira (12-13, 3.64 ERA)
Travis Garrett (1-1, 5.26 ERA) vs. Chris Klein (15-8, 2.84 ERA)

The series starts with a left-hander, then two more right-handers to finish the season. The home team’s lineup is with the Coons clinching by Saturday. If the Sunday game would actually matter, Tadasu Abe (12-8, 2.98 ERA) would get the start.

Game 1
BOS: RF Mata – 3B T. Thomas – 1B J. Duran – C T. Robinson – LF J. Avila – SS Gray – CF Reichardt – 2B Humphres – P J. Diaz
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – SS Lafon – P Guerrero

Guerrero walked a pair in the first, which ended on a strong play by Nunley, hustling in to hurl a slow roller by Jose Avila to first base in time. Through four innings, the Titans had drawn three walks, but had no hits and no runs, and the Coons hadn’t scored either on their three hits and a pair of double plays they had hit into. Robby Humphres drew his second walk of the game in the fifth, but was left on after Diaz’ bunt when Alex Mata popped out to Shane Walter, and the game still remained scoreless through five, while a couple hundred miles further north, the Loggers led the Elks 2-1.

The Titans had to wait until the seventh inning to get a hit off Bobby Guerrero, who had retired them in order in the sixth and had two outs and nobody on in the seventh when pinch-hitter Mike Cesta grounded up the middle and into centerfield for Boston’s first H of the game. Xavier Williams struck out behind him, so the Titans still remained off the critical portion of the board, but the Raccoons weren’t really engaged in the offensive part of the game, either. The issue had to be forced when Mike Denny drew a leadoff walk off Diaz in the seventh inning. Petracek ran for him, but was still forced out by Nunley – foiled again! Nunley remained at first base as Bareford batted and hit a liner to right and that was – finally – trouble. Alex Mata was not going to cut it off and Nunley flung the paws around second, around third, and dashed for home, Mata taking a long time to make the play, and no throw was going to come in as the Coons took the lead on Andy Bareford’s RBI triple!! Bareford scored on Lafon’s sac fly to left, and the Coons were up 2-0. Guerrero went back out for the eighth and retired Diaz, Mata, and Tom Thomas in order, but unless the Coons packed another punch in the eighth, he would not get the ninth inning. Nobody reached base in the bottom of the eighth, and so Alex Ramirez had to nail down the playoffs facing the middle of the Titans’ order and on the first pitch surrendered a jack to Jose Duran. Tim Robinson grounded out, and with two of the next three batters being left-handed, Ramirez was yanked and Brett Lillis got the ball. The Titans had none of that, with Jose Avila being hit for by Craig Dasher, who struck out anyway. Tyler Gray was called out looking in awe at a 2-2 cutter, and that put the Coons over the hump! 2-1 Critters!! Lafon 1-2, RBI; Guerrero 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K, W (12-9) and 1-3;

WE MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!!!

In the South, the Falcons and Aces were even at this point, so they would go the distance to Sunday to determine a winner at least. The Aces hosted the Thunder, while the Falcons had just knocked out the Knights with a 4-1 win behind rookie Seth Powers.

We will field reduced lineups the last few days of the season to try and keep the odd injury to a starter (perhaps) away.

Game 2
BOS: LF J. Roberts – 3B T. Thomas – SS Gray – C T. Robinson – 1B J. Duran – 2B Humphres – RF Blake – CF Reichardt – P Pereira
POR: CF DeWald – SS McKnight – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – LF Thomson – 3B Petracek – 2B Prince – C Prieto – P Pierson

The Titans scored a run on three singles in the first, but Dumbo Mendoza pulled the run back with a solo homer in the second inning. The bases would be loaded in the bottom of the third after two singles and a walk, but Chris Thomson came to bat with two outs and whiffed quite helplessly, and Pierson, constantly standing neck-deep in runners, surrendered the go-ahead run again in the fourth inning, conceding singles to Robby Humphres and Jonathan Blake before Adrian Reichardt came up with a sac fly. Tom Thomas hit a double with one out in the fifth, but tried to stretch it and was thrown out by Jackson at third base. While the reduced lineup certainly was no help, Pierson continued to pitch like a chronic loser and would soon book his 11th consecutive start without a W after he allowed a leadoff single to Tim Robinson in the sixth, and then consecutive doubles to Humphres and Blake. That put the Titans at 4-1 and Pierson at ten hits conceded in 5.1 innings. He was yanked right there. Matt Schroeder kept the runner Blake at second base by striking out Reichardt and getting Pereira to ground out, but then conceded another run anyway in the seventh on three singles before getting removed for Charters, who struck out Humphres to strand a pair. Down 5-1, it would be Ronnie McKnight to get the Coons close once more, knocking a 2-run homer off Pereira in the bottom of the seventh inning. DeWald had been on base, his third time in the game, but the Coons remained short 5-3, and would soon be down 6-3 when Charters loaded the bases in the eighth inning by all means available to him, including hitting Jimmy Roberts with one out and two already on. Thomas hit a sac fly to get a run in before Gray struck out. The run was pulled back in the bottom of the inning when Thomson tripled and Cookie hit an RBI single, but after that Prince rolled into a double play right away. Chun held the Titans at two runs’ distance in the ninth, and in the bottom of the inning, facing the left-hander Nestor Munoz, we were ready to throw in some more regulars. Joey Mathews walked to start the inning, and Nunley singled to right, sending Mathews to third and the tying runs were on the corners with nobody out. Then they starved as usual. DeWald hit a sac fly, which was not particularly helpful, since it was not the tying run to score, and McKnight and Jackson were retired on soft flies that threatened nobody. 6-5 Titans. DeWald 2-3, BB, RBI; McKnight 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Mendoza 2-4, HR, RBI; Carmona (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Cookie played in the rubber game and season finale. The batting title was a 4-hit game or so away… we can still haul him in if he starts it 0-for-2, I guess.

Game 3
BOS: CF Reichardt – 3B T. Thomas – 1B J. Duran – C T. Robinson – SS Gray – RF X. Williams – LF Cesta – 2B Humphres – P Klein
POR: LF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 2B Mathews – CF DeWald – C Walker – 1B Greenwald – P Garrett

Jose Duran’s 2-piece dismantled Garrett right away, while the Coons got Cookie on with a double, Nunley with a single, and then got two poor outs from Jackson and Mathews to end the bottom 1st. Cookie wasn’t sent on Nunley’s single mainly because the run itself didn’t matter and we were trying to keep everybody in one piece with no compound fractures from here until the curtain would fall on the game. Garrett alternated between throwing right down the middle and being all over the place, the rookie behind the dish was no help to him, either, and he walked four in the first three innings alone. The Coons got on the board in the bottom 4th on Jackson’s leadoff double, after which he moved around on Mathews’ groundout and DeWald’s sac fly, and that was literally the only thing the Raccoons did in those middle innings.

Garrett, unexpectedly, lasted six innings without another run, with stupid luck being involved at various times. Gray hit a double in the sixth and was on third base with two outs. Humphres was walked intentionally (after five inept walks before that) and Klein popped out to end the inning. Klein more or less had the Coons in the sack and was largely unchallenged. A 2-out single to Greenwald got away in the bottom of the seventh. Wade Davis was hit for by DeWeese, just to show the fans that yes, he was still alive, and yes, we were still on the hooks for another $9.9M. My jaw dropped, and it wasn’t the only jaw in the park when DeWeese belted Klein’s first pitch for a score-flipping long shot outta right center, putting the Coons on top 3-2. DeWeese stayed in the game afterwards with Cookie removed after making three outs following his first inning double. Petracek came on for defense in right, and Charters took over the 3-2 lead. He got two outs before surrendering a triple to .130 hitter Xavier Williams. With the left-handed Cesta, batting .320, coming up, we called on Jason Kaiser from the pen. The Titans countered with Craig Dasher, who struck out, and the lead made it out of the inning, barely. No offense was coming forth in the bottom 8th, and Ramirez had the #8 batter up to start the ninth inning, with Avila pinch-hitting in the spot and singling. Here we go! However, Mata struck out, Reichardt struck out, and only one out remained to be logged in the regular season. Tom Thomas popped up the 1-0 pitch, Russ Greenwald made the catch, and the Coons ended the 2019 regular campaign on a W! 3-2 Furballs! Jackson 2-3, 2B; DeWeese (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

September 23 – The Buffaloes trash the Blue Sox in a 12-0 blowout. TOP 2B Chris Owen (.325, 11 HR, 76 RBI) hits four singles and drives in three.
September 24 – The Scorpions become the first team to punch their playoff ticket with an 8-4 win over the Wolves. It will be the Scorpions’ eighth playoff appearance, the most recent one coming in 2017, then ending an 18-year drought.
September 25 – Within 24 hours, the FLCS is set. The Rebels’ 11-5 win over the Capitals puts them over the hump in the FL East, and gives them their fifth overall and third consecutive playoff appearance.
September 25 – Pacifics ace Brad Smith (13-7, 3.65 ERA) will go to vacation early after suffering a hamstring strain.
September 27 – Routinely-injured SFB OF Dave Garcia (.324, 5 HR, 22 RBI in 139 AB) will miss the last few games of the season with a knee contusion.
September 28 – In the middle of a pennant race, LVA SP Jason Clements (14-13, 3.45 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 3-0 game.
September 28 – SAC 1B Alberto Rodriguez (.296, 13 HR, 89 RBI) gets his 2,500th career hit in a 2-1 Scorpions win over the Pacifics, a fifth-inning single off Vincent Alfaro. More significant in the moment would be Rodriguez’ other hit in the game, a 13th-inning walkoff homer, but that was already hit #2,501. Spending his career between four teams, all in the Federal League, Rodriguez was never flashy, and always more of a reliable horse that one could ride forever. Since his debut in 2006, Rodriguez has *never* failed to appear in 155 games in a season, and he appeared in *166* regular season games in 2014, a season in which he was traded from the Capitals to the Rebels. He led the league in doubles six times while batting .291 with 155 HR and 1,166 RBI. He was the 2006 Rookie of the Year and the 2017 FLCS MVP, but so far was never an All Star. He won the 2017 World Series with the Rebels.
September 29 – Aces rookie Jose Navarro (.268, 1 HR, 17 RBI in 82 AB) cries furiously after punching the Aces’ playoff ticket with a 10th-inning walkoff single against the Thunder’s Mike Tharp. The Aces win 5-4 to make the playoffs for the third time, where they can defend their 2018 World Championship. The Falcons had earlier lost a 3-2 game to the Knights and had been forced to hope that the Thunder would prevail to give them a chance in a game #163.

Complaints and stuff

This is the Raccoons second ever three-peat in the North. They previously won the division three times in a row from 1991 through 1993, although then they never crashed out in the CLCS…

Dave Garcia – tremendous talent, brittle bones. He made it into *37* games this year. Injuries involved a concussion, a strained forearm and the bad knee. He basically only lacked the broken neck for a medical grand slam.

In a 3-0 game, Jonny Toner bunted DeWald to second base with nobody out in the fifth inning on Thursday. While in general not significant, this was only his third sacrifice bunt of the season. He is most often more valuable if he just swings away.

Cookie finished second in the batting title race, and would have needed a 3-for-4 Sunday to beat Antonio Esquivel by .0003 points. He still led the league in hits and triples, and was the only Raccoon to appear in the top 3 of any batting category, including a second place in stolen bases.

Hector Santos led the league in WHIP for the third time and finished second in Denzel Durr in K/9 and to Juan Valdevez in K/BB, although both of these are results of Jonny Toner not qualifying for average categories thanks to injuries holding him to 140.1 innings.

One stat not immediately discernible from the stat table below; the Raccoons led the CL with 563 runs allowed, right, and that number also led the ABL as a whole. What it doesn’t tell you about is the margin to the team with the second-fewest runs allowed, the Aces. The margin was a whopping 82 runs.

[Westheim]

Whoopsie! Looks like some tool forgot to let the makeup games to play out!

Sorted.

Next: playoffs.

[Westheim]

2019 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) vs. Las Vegas Aces (87-75)

In their third playoff appearance in franchise history, the Aces would face the same team yet again, following up on their sweep at the hands of the 1996 Raccoons and their 4-2 handling of the 2018 Raccoons. Those Raccoons made their 11th playoff appearance, and their third consecutive at that, but they hadn’t progressed to the World Series since 2010, when they ultimately lost to the Cyclones.

The Aces took a weak CL South by one game on the final day of the season. They were a quite good team, but that was all there was to say about a team that just so squeezed through in a division that finished a collective 26 games under .500; they had been fifth in runs scored and second in runs allowed. Their rotation had been third in the Continental League in ERA, and they had fielded the second-best defense. What sounded like strengths was easily matched by the Raccoons, with the best pitching staff in the league (and it had not been particularly close), the best defense (also not close), and even the best bullpen in the CL, while the Aces’ pen was at best average. The only thing you could say against the Raccoons was their tendency to ignore scoring on their own, too, finishing only seventh in runs scored in the CL.

Both teams were expected to field nothing but right-handed starting pitchers, and while the Aces could throw up Nehemiah Jones (19-6, 2.50 ERA) with some pretty numbers, overall the greater star power was on the Raccoons, with multiple-times Pitcher of the Year Jonathan Toner (13-3, 2.31 ERA) getting healthy just in time for October and supported by no sloughs in Hector Santos (15-10, 2.75 ERA) and Tadasu Abe (12-8, 2.98 ERA). With that, lineup handedness would probably be a factor, and the Raccoons had an almost exclusively left-handed starting lineup, while the Aces were in a slight majority right-handed, and only Matt Hamilton (.257, 25 HR, 82 RBI) was a major danger factor from the left side. Nobody on the Raccoons had hit 22 home runs, but they had ended up third in the league in dingers, spreading the wealth among four players that hit at least 16. Somewhat remarkable for playoff teams, both teams had only one batter with an OPS over .800 on their playoff roster, and the Aces’ Jimmy Hubbard (.333, 1 HR, 21 RBI) by far had not enough plate appearances to qualify with his .816 OPS. Hugo Mendoza (.299, 22 HR, 89 RBI) was the Raccoons’ .800+ OPS guy.

The Aces had no injuries to complain about, while the Raccoons had four players on the DL, including three relievers integral to success in Ron Thrasher, Chris Mathis, and Jeff Boynton, as well as backup catcher Danny Margolis. They had traded for relief help at the deadline, though, and were pretty close to as good as they were before injuries.

Overall, signs seem to hint at the Raccoons as the favorites in this matchup, but they also looked like the favorites last year, and were handled in six games. They do have an edge, though, or at least should have. The Raccoons won the season series, but only 5-4.

+++

We had 28 eligible players for the playoff roster and some hard choices had to be made. I settled on the entirely right-handed rotation and put Pierson into the pen because he hasn’t won a game July and ****ing around is over now, this is the real deal and I am sick of 6-game exits (our last three playoff bids ended in 6-game defeats). That he gets shunted to long relief is his own fault exclusively. The pen consists otherwise of the usual candidates: Ramirez, Lillis, Charters, Davis, Kaiser, Chun, and even Will West. Travis Garrett is the only pitcher eligible to not make the playoff roster.

While our lineup is more or less set, especially with no southpaws to fear, there were of course bench spots to designate. One was obviously taken by Owen Walker, and two more by the very qualified pinch-hitters Joey Mathews and Eddie Jackson. I took both DeWald and Bareford onto the roster because I originally wanted to platoon them, but Bareford will not get starts with this arrangement (even though Bareford had reverse splits, but the sample size against left-handers was barely 60 PA for him, so you can’t give that much on those numbers). But since DeWald will bat at the bottom of the order, we will not lose defense in centerfield if we can double-switch them in select situations. Combined, DeWald and Bareford batted .249 with 4 HR and 36 RBI and a .637 OPS, but with D the eggheads and their stat tables claim that they were (in 375 total PA) worth 1.5 WAR, which is a worthless stat, especially in the light of Cookie being claimed to be worth 3.4 WAR in almost 700 PA.

WAR. What is it good for?

The final spot goes to Petracek for versatility, beating out Russ Greenwald and Roland Lafon.

The series didn’t start until Thursday, providing ample time for everybody to be fully rested. Jonny Toner would front the Coons’ rotation as they embarked into their third consecutive CLCS.

The usual deal: games will be represented in a 2-3-1-1 format no matter the outcome. Well, except if the series goes less than seven games. It ends where it ends. Obviously.

[Westheim]

2019 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) vs. Las Vegas Aces (87-75)

The Raccoons had eschewed expense in bringing some franchise bling to the park as the CLCS got underway. Thanks to homefield advantage, the Raccoons could host the opening two games of the series, and Game 1 was attended by a flock of players from the 1993 team, the most recent Raccoons team to hoist the World Series trophy. Grant West, Scott Wade, Raimundo Beato, Juan Martinez, Daniel Hall, Neil Reece, Vern Kinnear, Bobby Quinn, Jorge Salazar, and David Vinson were all present for some pre-game bonanza. Hall, West, and Wade (all wearing varying shades of gray under their caps) threw out a trio of ceremonial first pitches to sprinkle the 2019 team’s bid of the pennant with good luck.

Game 1 – Jonathan Toner (13-3, 2.31 ERA) vs. Juan Valdevez (13-11, 3.82 ERA)

These were two very different 13-game winners, but Valdevez has definitely been better in the past. The Raccoons will still need to find some runs.

LVA: CF A. Martinez – LF D. Brown – 2B Hebberd – 1B M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – SS Burke – P Valdevez
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Toner

To the roaring of the crowd, Jonny Toner struck out Armando Martinez and Dan Brown to start the series. Bill Hebberd grounded out to Walter, but the Coons didn’t score either in the opening inning despite a leadoff single to center by Cookie Carmona.

The roaring stopped quickly when the Aces battered Toner in the second inning. Izzy Alvarez was the first Ace to reach, singling to right. Toner lost Saverio Piepoli to a walk, and then both runners scored on Danny Rice’s double into the right center gap. Brent Burke and Armando Martinez hit singles, the latter scoring a run, and in no time the Aces were up 3-0 before Brown struck out to finally end the inning. It only got worse in the third inning, in which Toner nicked Matt Hamilton before serving up meatballs to Piepoli, who dished a 2-1 ball to deep, dead center and outta here, 5-0.

When did a season ever look like it was in the bin this quickly? The Raccoons scored a run in the bottom 3rd on Cookie’s double (the team’s first hit since his single) and Walter’s single, but they were still down by four.

Faces frozen, the home crowd witnessed the Aces adding a sixth run in the fifth inning, which started with a throwing error by Nunley to put Dan Brown on base. Toner couldn’t keep him on, not even close, with Alvarez driving in the runner. With that, Toner was yanked. Cole Pierson was in the CLCS right away to pitch long relief, because there was no point in pretending a comeback was possible. Pierson did much to reinforce my intentions to trade him to Nicaragua after the playoffs, conceding a leadoff single to Rice in the sixth before being taken well deep by Brent Burke. Valdevez singled, too, and somehow Pierson could get out of the inning without allowing a grand slam on the way.

Bottom 6th, Hugo Mendoza hit a truly Mendozaesque home run, for it was completely worthless and only served to rub salt into galling wounds, a solo shot with two outs that cut the gap to six runs.

Pierson couldn’t get out of the seventh, surrendering a 1-out triple to Piepoli before drilling Rice. Will West replaced him and got a grounder to short from Burke, which McKnight converted into an inning-ending double play, not that it mattered much. The Coons were still down by six in the bottom of the ninth, facing Enrique Guzman. McKnight reached with a liner to right to lead off the inning, and Mendoza uncorked a shot to right center for his second homer of the game, and they were still worthless. Mathews, Denny, and DeWeese made three outs in quick succession against new pitcher Alex Silva.

Aces 8, Raccoons 4 (Aces lead 1-0) – Carmona 2-4, 2B; Mendoza 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Petracek 1-1; West 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

With the foundations of our World Series application shattered already, we turned to Hector Santos for the second game, and maybe our final playoff game at home this year.

Game 2 – Hector Santos (15-10, 2.75 ERA) vs. Nehemiah Jones (19-6, 2.50 ERA)

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by none other than career Coon Nick Brown, who everybody knew well never won a World Series ring and was probably still grumpy about his career having been wasted to this crummy franchise.

LVA: CF A. Martinez – LF D. Brown – 2B Hebberd – 1B M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – SS Burke – P N. Jones
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – P Santos

Santos walked Dan Brown in the first inning on four balls that all missed somewhat grossly, but Brown was caught stealing before anybody could use him to do damage. Bill Hebberd then singled, but was stranded when Matt Hamilton grounded out.

Agony was not far away, however. With the Coons making an incredible quick 1-2-3 in the first inning, Santos’ second came straight from the depths of hell. Piepoli and Rice hit 1-out singles before Brent Burke popped out. Nem Jones batted with two outs and grounded behind first base. Mendoza cut the grounder off well, fed it to Santos, and it glanced off Santos’ awkwardly tilted glove for an error, and the first run was across. Armando Martinez went on to strike out with two on base to end the inning, but the heavenly sign was not to be ignored. It certainly wasn’t in my office where I opened the buttons on my shirt and pulled up the sleeves to gain access to the forearm veins.

The first time through, Nunley was the only Critter to reach base, drawing a walk in the second. Matt Hamilton homered off Santos in the third to send the Aces soaring 2-0, and the Coons got the tying runs to the corners with 2-out singles by Cookie and Walter in the bottom 3rd, only for McKnight to strike out on three pitches.

By the fourth, the score was 3-0 thanks to Danny Rice’s homer to left center, and Brown homered in the fifth, another solo shot, 4-0. Remind me, why haven’t I traded Hector Santos to some team with the fence 500 feet from home yet? He might be a decent pitcher in such a park.

Nothing about the Raccoons was decent, nothing. Cookie and Walter were on base again in the fifth inning, again bringing up McKnight with two outs, and this time McKnight unleashed the team’s fury in a grounder to the second baseman, the team’s specialty.

Wade Davis pitched two innings in relief of Santos, who would better go into hiding in the clubhouse, and Eddie Jackson hit in his spot in the bottom 7th, with DeWald just having singled past Hamilton with one out. Jackson grounded to short, Burke threw the ball away, and the tying run was in the on-deck circle, which was at least somewhere visible. There was no hurting Nem Jones, though. Cookie grounded into a fielder’s choice to remove Jackson, and Walter drove a ball to deep right, but Piepoli was leisurely standing there, waiting for it. No problems, inning over.

The home crowd sat in silence as the bottom of the ninth began. Nem Jones was still pitching, his pitch count at 103, with the perfectly safe cushion of a 4-0 lead entirely on Santos and the near-bottom of the order approaching. Denny struck out. Bareford grounded out to Alvarez. When DeWald singled, plenty of people were already on their way up the stairs. Eddie Jackson struck out, and Slappy could lock up the park for the winter.

Aces 4, Raccoons 0 (Aces lead 2-0) – Carmona 2-4; Walter 2-4; DeWald 2-4; Davis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

[Westheim]

2019 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) @ Las Vegas Aces (87-75)

Game 3 – Tadasu Abe (12-8, 2.98 ERA) vs. Jason Clements (14-13, 3.45 ERA)

With the team coming home with a 2-0 lead, Las Vegas was nothing short of Partytown, and that was ON TOP of the usual blaring lights and distasteful neon colors. The Raccoons would try to juice things up with a subtle lineup change replacing a .000 hitter with another .000 hitter, but the outlook was bleak.

POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Denny – CF DeWald – P Abe
LVA: CF A. Martinez – LF D. Brown – 2B Hebberd – 1B M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – SS Burke – P Clements

The Coons went down in order and feebly in the first inning, but the same couldn’t be said for the Aces. Bill Hebberd hit a triple with two outs and then Hamilton came up with a ****ty pop to shallow left. As McKnight strayed out there looking up and searching for the ball, arms flailing, I already led out a sigh of resignation. That ****er was gonna fall in and we were done with everything. McKnight never saw the ball, Cookie never got to the spot, and then the white sphere dropped inauspiciously into McKnight’s helplessly stretched-out glove. Inning over.

The Coons took their first lead of the series on Mendoza’s leadoff jack in the second inning, then loaded the bases on straight singles by Jackson, Nunley, and Denny. Two more runs would come across despite DeWald’s rotten luck of lining sharply to Piepoli in shallow right. Abe singled to left for one run, and Cookie hit a sac fly to get to 3-0. Walter grounded out to end the inning, but the Coons had runners on the corners and nobody out in the third as McKnight doubled and Mendoza singled. Jackson popped out and Nunley hit into a double play to Hebberd to get rid of that chance.

The Coons also had their first two batters on base in the fourth inning, but starting with Abe failing to bunt and eventually striking out, they never reached third base in that frame. Stranding runners en masse was not something that attracted goodwill from the baseball gods, and trouble started to brew in the fourth inning for Abe. Alvarez singled, Piepoli walked. When Rice grounded out to first, there were two outs and Burke was walked intentionally to bring up Clements who hit a 1-2 pitch to shallow center where DeWald had to put in a good effort to keep the floater from falling in and doing major damage.

For the fourth inning in a row, the Raccoons had their two leadoff batters on base in the fifth, McKnight and Mendoza reaching on singles. Jackson grounded poorly in an 0-2 count, but Clements couldn’t play the ball properly and Jackson came up with an infield single. Bases loaded, no outs, time for the knockout blow. Nunley’s RBI single and Denny’s sac fly grew the lead to 5-0, but Piepoli prevented worse things from happening, snagging Cookie’s liner to right with the bases loaded after a Hebberd error and two outs.

Abe survived a gross throwing error by Walter in the fifth inning that put runners in scoring position with two outs, but Izzy Alvarez rolled one over to Nunley to end that inning. Mendoza hit another homer to get the lead to 6-0, but Abe got stuck in the bottom of the seventh inning, allowing singles to Jose Navarro and Armando Martinez and departing with one out gained from Brown. Jason Kaiser replaced him, struck out Hebberd, but got booked by Hamilton with an RBI single to left center. That was all for the Aces. The following inning, the Coons loaded the bags with one out against left-hander Ken Chilcott, with Walter singling before Chilcott walked McKnight and Mendoza, and then also walked Jackson for good measure. Nunley was a left-hander, so Chilcott got another chance, walked him on four pitches, and two runs were shoved across in total in the inning before Denny poked and grounded into a double play.

But even up 8-1 the Coons could not rest easily. Troy Charters, who had collected the last out in the seventh, was whammied for four hits and three runs by the Aces in the bottom 8th, and the situation was serious enough for Brett Lillis to be sent into a game that was a near-rout like five seconds ago to kill off the Aces before they could get into save range. He struck out Hebberd to end the inning, and the ninth somehow passed, too.

Raccoons 8, Aces 4 (Aces lead 2-1) – McKnight 2-4, BB, 2B; Mendoza 4-4, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Jackson 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Nunley 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Denny 2-4, 2B, RBI; Abe 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, W (1-0) and 1-4, RBI;

We took two in San Francisco in the 2017 CLCS and then lost four in a row. Maybe this can be a reverse set to that?

Game 4 – Bobby Guerrero (12-9, 3.33 ERA) vs. Clark Johnson (3-2, 2.98 ERA)

No changes to be made to the lineup. If we ignore Cookie’s 0-for-5, that lineup clicked very well in Game 3.

POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Denny – CF DeWald – P Guerrero
LVA: CF A. Martinez – LF D. Brown – 2B Hebberd – 1B M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – SS Burke – P C. Johnson

Cookie opened with a single, but was left on base, even if Mendoza (2.252 OPS) legged out an infield single. This only got Cookie to third, and Jackson grounded out to strand them both. Guerrero started his game with a K to Martinez, but then put Brown on with a single. Hamilton singled with two outs, putting runners on the corners, and when Izzy Alvarez grounded to first, Mendoza unleashed a mind-boggling throw through the perplexed Guerrero’s legs for a run-scoring 2-base error. Jackson almost shed a limb in right to coral Piepoli’s drive that would have plated two if it hadn’t been caught, and the Coons only trailed 1-0 on an unearned and stupid run.

The unearned run soon was joined by earned runs. While the Raccoons were awfully silent in the second and third, the bottom 3rd started with back-to-back bombs to left by Martinez and Brown, instantly whipping the Aces into a 3-0 lead. More hard drives followed; Hamilton singled, Guerrero walked Piepoli and the Aces only ended the inning on the base paths when Rice singled to right, Hamilton tried to get home from second base and was thrown out by Jackson to end the inning.

The fourth saw Mendoza on with a leadoff walk, Nunley also on with a single, and then Johnson struck out Denny and DeWald back-to-back to end that inning. While Guerrero struck out to start the fifth, Cookie singled and Walter doubled, bringing up the tying run with one out. McKnight fell 1-2 behind before managing the usual ****ty grounder to second base. That one at least scored a run. Mendoza batted with a runner on third and it really counted, and he hit another piss-poor grounder to end the inning.

Guerrero somehow held on to dear life, but the Coons needed runs, and they needed them now. The tying runs were on base again in the sixth inning in Jackson on second, Denny on first, and with one out. DeWeese batted for DeWald, full count, strikeout, and Bareford batted for Guerrero, because he had to. He flew out to center, and the team remained behind, 3-1.

The hole only got deeper with Piepoli’s leadoff triple off Wade Davis in the bottom of the sixth. With Rice’s sac fly to right, the Coons were already buried well, but somehow Davis managed to surrender a 2-out double to Clark Johnson, too. Martinez grounded out to third, where Nunley made a strong play, but the gap was now three runs and time was running out fast.

Shane Walter’s drive to deep center in the seventh was intercepted by Martinez, keeping the Coons off the board there with ease, while the Critters needed three pitchers to sort out at bases-loaded jam in the bottom 7th. The Aces didn’t score once Rice flew out to Bareford in center.

The eighth saw the Coons go down 1-2-3, and in the ninth they were still down by three and brought the bottom of their order up against Alex Silva. Denny struck out, Mathews singled. Bareford struck out, Cookie singled. Walter was the tying run with two outs, and it was do-or-die, and a double play was technically impossible! A grounder to first, however, wasn’t.

Aces 4, Raccoons 1 (Aces lead 3-1) – Carmona 3-5; Walter 2-5, 2B; Mathews (PH) 1-1;

… and I really thought that they would make it this time.

Unfortunately, they are full of crap, and always have been.

Game 5 – Jonathan Toner (13-3, 2.31 ERA) vs. Juan Valdevez (13-11, 3.82 ERA)

Oh well, one more grueling loss, and it will all be over for close to six months.

POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Denny – CF DeWald – P Toner
LVA: CF A. Martinez – LF D. Brown – 2B Hebberd – 1B M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – SS Burke – P Valdevez

The Aces’ assault started with Martinez grounding to the third base side of the mound, Nunley making a hustling play and bad throw that skipped past the not actively engaged Mendoza, and the Aces had the leadoff man at second base. The run scored on consecutive groundouts, and the Coons’ elimination clock was officially ticking.

Clockwork Doom temporarily stopped on Denny’s leadoff jack in the third inning, a no-doubter that still left Denny south of .200 in the series, but he had company there in McKnight and DeWeese for some consolation. Toner allowed no actual hits in the first three innings and maintained a 1-1 tie.

But ties don’t count; wins do. The Coons were on a good way in the fourth inning with leadoff singles by Walter and McKnight. Two on, no outs, this would have been Dumbo Mendoza’s spot to shine, but as always when he was needed for some thing or other that did not involve popping out over the infield, he popped out over the infield. Jackson hit into a 4-6-3 and the chance was just gone.

DeWald hit into a double play in the fifth to wreck each and every nerve of the flock of diehard Raccoons fans that had made the trip to Vegas. There were easily about 3,000 brown caps sprinkled in the park. Most faces beneath them looked despaired.

Bottom 5th, Piepoli hit a leadoff single between Walter and Mendoza to start the inning, the Aces’ first base knock in the game. He moved up on Rice’s groundout, then took off to take third base – but Denny threw him out.

Things got yet more tense in the sixth inning, which started with Valdevez’ groundout to third base. Toner proceeded to drill consecutive batters, and he really DRILLED them, and with the Aces antsy to bury the Critters, Hebberd and Hamilton both struck out.

The game was still deadlocked at one in the bottom of the eighth. Adam Flack pinch-hit for Brent Burke, a left-hander against Toner, and lined hard to center. DeWald made a great catch to deny him a leadoff hit! Jose Navarro, the rookie who’s closing-day, 10th-inning walkoff single had sent the Aces to the playoffs in the first place, hit for Valdevez, whiffed, and Martinez grounded out. Still tied at one.

The top of the order was up, facing Alex Silva, in the ninth inning. COME ON, ****ERS!! GET THE **** BACK TO PORTLAND!! I did consider my motivation skills to be some of my finest assets, and maybe they could make these Furballs shake more out of a nine inning game than the five hits and single run they had. Cookie was up first, went up 2-1, then singled on a line to center! Yes, leadoff man on base! To stay out of the double play – Rice had a murder arm and we wouldn’t risk it here – Walter was told to bunt. He dropped down a nice one on the first pitch by Silva, Rice jumped out and fired to first – BUT IT WAS WILD!! The ball was past Hamilton, and Cookie and Walter made it to scoring position with nobody out! McKnight came up and had since gotten his average over .200, but he still could add something to his postseason stats. He hit a Silva pitch high to right. Oh, that’s high. Oh, that’s deep! Oh, that’s – GONE!!!!!

Bottom 9th, Coons up by three. The only change was Petracek replacing Jackson for defense. My trust for Alex Ramirez was ZERO and Toner was only on 94 pitches with only Piepoli’s single in the Aces’ H column, and if Toner played his cards right, he wouldn’t come up in the inning. And Toner could throw a few extra pitches. If Ramirez enters this game right now, chances are that Toner doesn’t pitch again until April.

This was Toner’s. Dan Brown flew to center, rather deep, but DeWald made it there without breaking the speed limit. This was Toner’s all the way. Hebberd struck out, victimized, Toner’s tenth in the game. This was alllll Jonny Toner! Hamilton struck out on a pitch in the dirt, and Jonny Toner and Ronnie McKnight sent the series back to Portland!

Raccoons 4, Aces 1 (Aces lead 3-2) – McKnight 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Toner 9.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K , W (1-1);

[Westheim]

2019 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) vs. Las Vegas Aces (87-75)

Game 6 – Hector Santos (15-10, 2.75 ERA) vs. Nehemiah Jones (19-6, 2.50 ERA)

Old #2 Christopher Powell looked every bit like an old man as he threw out the first pitch prior to Game 6 in Raccoons Ballpark, but it was a perfect strike that nibbled at the corner. There are things you can’t unlearn!

The Raccoons stuck to the lineup from the Vegas games. DeWeese was grumpy, but so was I.

LVA: CF A. Martinez – LF D. Brown – 2B Hebberd – 1B M. Hamilton – 3B I. Alvarez – RF Piepoli – C D. Rice – SS Burke – P N. Jones
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Denny – CF DeWald – P Santos

The Aces went up 2-0 almost immediately. Martinez hit a leadoff single, and then Hamilton hit the fourth homer off Santos in the series, a true blast to right. That was not what elimination game pitching was all about. The Coons stranded two in the first inning when Jackson flew out to right, DeWeese in the dugout quipping that he could do that a thousand times better. Contact off Santos remained hard, with Burke in the second and Brown in the third hitting drives to deep center that DeWald somehow managed to catch up with.

With the Coons held to one hit in three innings, which was not what elimination game hitting was all about, Santos was torn to shreds for good in the fourth inning. Hamilton hit another solo blast off him, 3-0, and the Aces got Piepoli on with a 2-out single. The rightfielder stole second base, scored on Rice’s single, and when Santos struck out Burke, Denny had the ball escape threw his legs, and when he recovered it fired badly to first base, pulling Mendoza off the bag to allow Burke to reach somewhat safely. The uncaught third strike knocked out Santos, Chun entered the game, and allowed a single to the ****ing pitcher that loaded the bases. Martinez rolled out to Walter, but the Coons were in the ropes.

Nunley hit a single in the fourth that went nowhere, but DeWald hit a leadoff double in the fifth inning. Having to make up four runs now, the Raccoons would better start scoring. DeWeese batted for Chun in the hopes that this would shut him the **** up. He struck out, OF COURSE, and when Nem Jones balked DeWald to third base, the Critters still couldn’t score him. Cookie Carmona flew out to shallow center, and Walter grounded out weakly to end the fifth. The Clock of Doom was ticking mercilessly.

While Charters and Kaiser held the Aces in place in the following innings, the Raccoons couldn’t even come close to touching Jones, who was perfect in the sixth and seventh. Piepoli was on base against Wade Davis in the top of the eighth, but was caught stealing by Denny. That didn’t bring the Coons one tick closer to a comeback, and Petracek and Cookie made outs to start the bottom 8th. When Walter singled to center, it was their first baserunner since they had left DeWald dying at third base in the fifth inning. McKnight grounded out to Hebberd to end the inning anyway.

Like in Game 2, Jones was allowed to bat in the top of the ninth and struck out against Lillis. He was back for the bottom of the inning on 97 pitches, and with only four hits scattered somewhere in the box score. Mendoza led off the bottom of the ninth, and collecting four runs was impossible anyway after collecting zero runs off Nem Jones in his first 17 innings in the series. The home crowd was silent. Lots of sad, hanging whiskers.

Mendoza walked.

Maybe this can get things moving, and they will now – Mathews grounded out. Nunley grounded out. Mendoza was at third base, but for what? Denny popped up a 2-2 pitch that Bill Hebberd caught as Jones collected his second shutout in the series.

Aces 4, Raccoons 0 (Aces win 4-2) – Charters 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

[UltimateAverageGuy]

What a THUD that was.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

[Westheim]

2019 ABL PLAYOFFS

While the CLCS headed for the exact same result as the year before, there was also an FLCS to contest, with the Scorpions and the Rebels going at each other.

The 95-67 Rebels were winners of consecutive Federal League pennants, including the 2017 pennant over those 97-65 Scorpions, and no Federal League team had won three pennants in a row since the 2006-08 Dallas Stars, but the Rebels hoped to make it. They had ended up with the best starting pitcher’s ERA in the Federal League, although this included no real aces; rather, the Rebels had lots of low-3 ERA starters. The bullpen had been a mixed bag, but good enough to help the team to the playoffs by a sound margin, while the offense scored the fourth-most runs. They had been second in home runs, led by Jamal White (.283, 30 HR, 91 RBI) and Tamio Kimura (.282, 28 HR, 95 RBI), and then there was the miraculous recovery case of Adam Young to marvel at. Young batted .316 with 24 HR and 88 RBI in his second season with Richmond after escaping the poisonous hell-for-batters that was Portland. He was also the only qualifying Rebel to bat .300; their defense was not very good, especially compared to the Scorpions’.

While the Rebels’ strength had been pitching, the Scorpions’ had been batting, leading the league comfortably in runs scored with 848. They led the Federal League in all major offensive statistics, except for coming second in stolen bases. They were an offensive force that had to be contended with, led by Ray Meade (.283, 31 HR, 118 RBI) and spectacular leadoff man Ruben Luna (.300, 33 HR, 92 RBI), while the #3 slot in the order was occupied by the endless hit machine Pablo Sanchez (.390, 9 HR, 109 RBI). The ugly part comes now: their pitching wasn’t even close to keeping pace. While Ian Rutter (20-3, 2.29 ERA) had enjoyed a season to remember, the rest of their rotation was rather pedestrian or downright mediocre, and the same was true for the bullpen. Closer William Kay (0-1, 2.11 ERA, 21 SV) had been lost to injury before the playoffs, and they would have to make do with former starter and only recently-healed-up Noah Bricker (1-2, 1.86 ERA, 3 SV) in the ninth inning, and things got even more makeshift from there.

This was a tough series to call, with the teams’ strengths and weaknesses being directly opposed to another. Good pitching beats good hitting, they always say, but that damn sure isn’t always true. The series is almost a coin toss and could likely go seven games.

+++

Rebels @ Scorpions … 2-0 … (Rebels lead 1-0) … RIC Ian Van Meter 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-0); SAC Ian Rutter 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (0-1);

Rebels @ Scorpions … 1-2 … (series tied 1-1) … SAC Jaiden Jackson 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; SAC Brian Simmons 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

Scorpions @ Rebels … 1-5 … (Rebels lead 2-1) … RIC Jamal White 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; RIC Jon Correa 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; RIC Mike Brugh 8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

Scorpions @ Rebels … 8-3 … (series tied 2-2) … SAC Ray Meade 3-5;

Scorpions @ Rebels … 4-5 (12) … (Rebels lead 3-2) … RIC Tamio Kimura 4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI; RIC Ricky Avila 2-3, 2 BB;

The Rebels have the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning when Tony Viera grounds to short. Erik Janes has to fire home and does so perfectly, nailing Jamal White at home plate. Justin Cramer steps up, grounds to the left side as well, but Jason LaCombe misfields the ball as it hits the edge of his glove and bounces under and behind him. Kimura scores on the error to give the Rebels the crucial walkoff win.

Rebels @ Scorpions … 4-9 … (series tied 3-3) … RIC Tamio Kimura 3-4, RBI; SAC Jason LaCombe 3-5, RBI; SAC Ray Meade 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; SAC Jaiden Jackson 2-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Rebels @ Scorpions … 9-4 … (Rebels win 4-3) … RIC Danny Flores 4-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; RIC Tamio Kimura 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; RIC Justin Cramer 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; SAC Pablo Sanchez 5-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

In a tight 4-3 game, the Rebels overcome the Scorpions’ bullpen for four runs in the eighth inning, nibbling away with five straight singles and six hits total in the inning to take an 8-3 lead the Scorpions’ vaunted offense (3.7 R/G in the series) can not overcome.

+++

2019 WORLD SERIES

In a rematch of the 2018 World Series, the 95-67 Rebels would have homefield advantage over the 87-75 Aces, but those Aces hadn’t been deterred by not having that homefield advantage in 2018, either, then taking their first ever World Championship.

This was only the fourth instance of two teams facing another in back-to-back World Series, which counts twice the Capitals and Raccoons playing against another three straight years from 1991 through 1993. The other previous instance was the 2007-2008 World Series between the Stars and Crusaders. Looking at 1992, 1993, and 2008, in every case in which the same two teams matched up for in the World Series as the year before, the Continental League team prevailed.

Nominal underdog, the Aces had been fifth in runs scored and second in runs allowed in the Continental League, and their superficially average offense had already comfortably unseated the best pitching in the entire league in the CLCS. They were counting on their top 3 rotation to continue keeping the opposition shut out, as Nehemiah Jones (19-6, 2.50 ERA) had done twice in the CLCS. Their bullpen had holes, but their battle plan was to not let the Rebels get into that in the first place. Their offense was decent but dense, with their entire lineup between .253 and .285 in terms of batting average, and with Matt Hamilton (.257, 25 HR, 82 RBI) the only reliable source of power. They had come third in stolen bases in the Continental League.

The Rebels also had squeezed through the FLCS on their pitching, although in their case they had killed a better offensive team. The victory had not been without its prize, as centerfielder Danny Flores had not only knocked out four hits in Game 7 of the FLCS, but had also suffered a hamstring strain and was done for the year. Apart from that, the Rebels could field their best outfit (as did the Aces!), and would count on their good rotation to keep the Aces’ barely-good offense in check while a blazing white hot Tamio Kimura (.481, 3 HR, 6 RBI in CLCS) and his supporting cast would do the grisly work.

The Rebels look like the favorites, but how often have the *defending champions* Aces now been discounted for being barely a ballclub?

+++

Aces @ Rebels … 1-4 … (Rebels lead 1-0) … LVA Armando Martinez 2-3, BB; LVA Bill Hebberd 3-4, RBI; RIC Ricky Avila 3-5, 3 RBI; RIC Ian Van Meter 8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

Aces @ Rebels … 10-3 … (series tied 1-1) … LVA Dan Brown 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Rebels starter Cody Zimmerman is crushed for nine runs in 2.2 innings as this game was out of hand right from the beginning.

Rebels @ Aces … 6-9 … (Aces lead 2-1) … RIC Jamal White 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; RIC Shunyo Yano 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; LVA Saverio Piepoli 3-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI; LVA Brent Burke 3-4, 2B, RBI;

The Rebels blow a 6-1 lead in the last two innings, as Josh Knupp is strafed for four of the runs in a 5-run eighth that equalizes what looked like a done deal, before Piepoli walks off the Vegas team with a 3-run homer off Matt Collins in the ninth inning.

Rebels @ Aces … 5-4 … (series tied 2-2) … LVA Izzy Alvarez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Roles reverse, as Aces closer Alex Silva blows a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning. Justin Cramer slugs a come-from-behind 2-run homer off Silva to even the series.

Rebels @ Aces … 5-7 … (Aces lead 3-2) … RIC Jesus Soto 3-4, 3B, 2 RBI; LVA Dan Brown 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; LVA Clark Johnson 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (2-0) and 2-3, 2B;

This time, the late rally is indeed too late. Stephen Quirion surrenders three runs in the ninth inning, but the Rebels had been down by five and come up short when PH Arthur Smith grounds out to short with the bases empty.

Aces @ Rebels … 6-4 … (Aces win 4-2) … RIC Ricky Avila 3-5, HR, RBI;

Endless drama! The Rebels score three runs in the second inning with Cody Zimmerman, the victim of the Aces’ Game 2 onslaught, cruising through six innings. Ron Sakellaris pitches two clean frames in his support and everything looks set for Game 7 before Matt Collins gets blown off the mound in the ninth. Collins, who pitched to a mind-boggling 63 saves in 2018, but already experienced a downward trend this year at age 36, allows four singles and a walk and is pulled way too late, as the Rebels had no backup available, considering the deal being done with Collins alone. Josh Knupp inherits a tied game with two outs and runners on the corners, and falls apart further. Lightly used backup catcher Bobby Diersing makes the history books with a World Series-winning RBI single off Knupp, and the Aces pile on six runs in total. Ricky Avila’s bottom-of-the-ninth solo home run is only for the stat books.

2019 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Las Vegas Aces
(2nd title)

[Westheim]

Oh, here is one more thing for your 'enjoyment' - the Raccoons' stats for the CLCS.

[Westheim]

After Nem Jones’ second shutout in the CLCS, the one that ended Game 6 in Portland and deferred the Raccoons’ latest championship bid to somewhere between 2020 and Infinity, I remained motionless in my chair, staring down onto the field in petrified terror. Maud tried to talk me into going home for an hour after the lights had gone off, never got a single response, then had to shrug and went home herself. Since the Raccoons had been eliminated from contention and there were no more sponsors to suck up to, she moved up her visit to her parents in Minnesota and flew the following day.

When she returned three weeks later, she found me in the same pose, staring blankly down onto the field, still the same stare, still the same stupor. She feared the worst (although in all fairness what could actually have been worse than the Raccoons’ 2019 CLCS?), but when she held a small mirror under my nose it actually clouded. Turns out I wasn’t entirely dead; just dead inside.

Slappy, who I was convinced was living in the park just like Chad did, without paying rent or doing any work whatsoever, had actually come by every few days and had left me with a fresh bottle of booze and a box of cookies. The cookies tasted old and stale. The booze was neither brand nor of the blinding sort.

Nothing was satisfying anymore.

Neither was it for the Mexican Prick. His usual hate mail that arrived at the start of the offseason expressed great displeasure with my dis-achievements, but somehow Gabriel Martinez seemed to always have drawn his ire, since he had disappeared without a trace, nor hint at why he was gone and whether he would ever return. You sometimes just have to assume that any unforeseen blessing is actually a curse in disguise and it will always get worse around here, but Carlos Valdes Jr.’s messages also did not hint at a replacement coming soon, and I guessed that I would be left to my own devices to find a scout who was capable in finding talent rather than tapping my phone.

There were good news on the budget front, as our most recent collapse would not negatively impact our ability to pay the bills in 2020. The Prick declared a slight budget adjustment from $32M to $32.5M, which was more or less covering for inflation.

However, that half a million actually moved the Coons into the top 3 of big-buck teams in the ABL. A few of the money-heavy teams had suffered through pretty bad 2019 campaigns and their owners were intent on cutting losses. The Coons had been sixth in budget in 2019, but would be third in 2020, behind only the Crusaders ($41.5M and armed and ready) and Cyclones ($34M). The top 5 were completed by the Pacifics ($32M) and Rebels ($31.5M).

The bottom 5 were the Thunder ($23.8M), Buffaloes ($23M), Loggers ($22.2M), Falcons ($22M), and Wolves ($17.4M). The remaining CL North teams came in at 7th (IND, $30M), 10th (VAN, $27.6M), and 18th (BOS, $24.4M). The average budget was $27.3M. The median budget was $26.1M.

+++

There were also some notifications in from our two left-handed relievers with player options for 2020. Ron Thrasher had been given one in his 3-year deal signed prior to the 2018 season, and executed it. He was in a tough spot, 32 years old and utterly dominant, but now having to come back from a significant shoulder injury. A $750k payday was not *bad* for a reliever of the first rank, and whether he would be able to command more on the market was uncertain.

Brett Lillis had come in with a player option previously given to him by the Cyclones. Lillis, a year younger than Thrasher and not injured in 2019, and actually Thrasher’s replacement, would have been able to make another $950k in 2020, but would test the market instead, which was unfortunate, since he would have been on tap as closer in 2020 to replace the thankfully-departing Alex Ramirez. The thing with Lillis was this. He had that ERA of 1.15 this season; but the best he had achieved the four previous seasons had been a 3.39 ERA, and players hardly ever get better at 31. Giving him a major contract now was like playing with fire … in a dynamite factory. For $950k, yup, you are welcome to stick around, but due to that 1.15 ERA season he would probably be able to command some serious coin on the market, and we would not stick our black pointy noses into that for a reliever with a career 3.18 ERA.

All of this brings us straight to salary arbitration and free agency. (Find the full table of eligible players at the bottom of the post) Six players were headed for arbitration, which included must-keep Ronnie McKnight, who was due for a 7-figure paycheck in his last year of arbitration. Signing him to a long-term deal would be sweet, especially with the loss of the other starting middle infielder, Shane Walter, who was a free agent and pretty much impossible to pay for now.

The other five arbitration-eligible players were almost all in the so-and-so category. Cole Pierson hadn’t won a game since forever, but he would remain cheap for 2020, his last year of team control, and could continue to fail at the bottom of the rotation at my discretion. Jason Kaiser was a good guy and had pitched splendidly in 174 games in the regular season alone the last two years with very good results. He was a keeper. Then we were into the Margolises of the roster. Danny Margolis was doing his thing kind of in the shadows. He was not a very good backup catcher offensively, though I liked his superior defense. He was very cheap and there was no harm in keeping him in his final year of team control – yes, he has stuck around this long, and you probably can’t name him on the team photo anyway. The danger with Margolis was that Mike Denny was a free agent and that we really badly had to sign a new primary catcher lest we want to see Margolis bat .225 with six homers for an entire season.

The other two were Petracek and Lafon. Petracek was a super utility, dirt cheap, and would therefore be tendered, but Lafon had actually already been designated for assignment since we had to get four players from the 60-day DL on a completely full 40-man roster. Lafon would not be tendered anymore.

Denny, Lillis, and Shane Walter were compensation-eligible. We already established that we can’t shove over $20M for Walter, that we don’t want to pay major coin to Lillis, and Denny was hitting 15 homers on average in Raccoons Ballpark, but was a living strikeout as well. He was going to be 30 years old next year, but his overall performance might be muddled enough so that he won’t get a $20M payday.

Compensation picks are nice and all, but we will probably use our mailman as head scout in 2020, so they ultimately are not of value to us, or have you seen a prospect make an impact (other than with his face in an outfield fence) lately? If we can get Denny roughly close to his 2019 salary of $620k, and for not too many years, I might be tempted. Say, 3 years for $3M? I could be swayed!

I would also be interested to get either Troy Charters or Wade Davis back. Both are not compensation-eligible, and both are fairly decent relievers in the seventh or eighth inning. Charters has the K, and Davis was actually more expensive in ’19, but Charters is also only 27, so he might hope for a bigger deal than he deserves.

Then there are our two sterling bench pieces from the last two years. Eddie Jackson and Joey Mathews will be a combined 72 years old in 2020, and I wonder whether making them an offer makes much sense. Truth be told, Mathews would make a decent fit for the opening hole at the keystone, but he is actually the older bum of the two and hit less in 2019. If 37-year old middle infielders don’t make you cry, nothing will.

And with Jackson the issue is that you pay a lot of money to see him never start a game. And he would not start a game in 2020, either. DeWeese is untradeable, and Cookie is unplayable in center because his body doesn’t hold up there. And immediately the corners are occupied, and that is before you have put Dumbo Mendoza into the lineup. The exception to Jackson never playing is of course against left-handed pitching, and our most frequent move was him pinch-hitting for DeWeese with a lefty reliever appearing in the game. Keeping him would be a bit of a luxury move, but there are things a team with the third-biggest budget in the league must do, right?

Also, Alex Ramirez (3.01 ERA, 100 SV, 20 BS from 2017-19) can get struck by lightning for all I care, and I wish he would have been struck three years ago.

+++

In the earliest days of the offseason there was one major deal being done, with the Warriors shipping 31-year old 3B/SS Jamie Wilson (.287, 110 HR, 553 RBI) to the Knights for a package containing four prospects, including #102 CL Rafael Urbano. The Knights were actually the second team contacted by the Warriors, which I know for sure because the Raccoons were the first they tried to send Wilson to. Jamie Wilson was a very good hitter, no question, and a very good fielder on the left side of the diamond. There were just two problems, and none had to do with his $1.62M annual salary. If you are sporting a .831+ OPS year in, year out, you are almost worth it. No, the problem is that we have no opening on the left side of the infield, and Wilson’s track record at second base was pretty poor. Also, his injury history threw up so many red flags, that we had to turn the offer down.

They also would have wanted four prospects from us, including first-rounders SP Roger Kincheloe and 1B Ruben Santiago, and third-rounder OF Dwayne Metts. They were all in AAA, all having their own struggles. Kincheloe was probably not a bad pitcher to part with in a trade because while his stuff was good, his control was a real mess. Think Logan Evans from the 80s – not a pleasure to watch. Overall the price was too high for a player that might hit the DL on April 21 and be done with the season while not fitting perfectly in the first place.

[Westheim]

The first bigger news of the offseason was a contract extension the Raccoons signed with Eddie Jackson, who would make $1.5M over the next two years to continue to play fourth fiddle in the outfield. He will more or less continue in his previous role, platooning with DeWhiff for the corner spot that is not occupied by Cookie Carmona, and being the primary pinch-hitter in all situations where a run might be on the line. While $750k a year sounds a lot for a guy that will not start much more than 40 games under normal circumstances, please mind that he had over 300 plate appearances in both of the last two years, batting for a total of .275 with 11 HR and 70 RBI, and that ‘normal circumstances’ includes the expectation that Cookie Carmona continues to appear in more than 106 games per year (his average from 2016-17, before the permanent move to right). All it takes is one paw broken in seven spots on Cookie, and Jackson gets 375 at-bats next year.

I didn’t pursue Joey Mathews, because I saw not one, but two interesting players in the list of free agents-to-be, and I would try my luck there, although they were all in the same well-beyond-30 age category. Mathews however was the most senior among them. We will find another backup infielder somewhere, I guess.

We would however have to reconstruct the bullpen from the ground up. Neither Lillis, nor Wade Davis, nor Troy Charters were open to sensible contracts. Even Davis wanted a million bucks per year through 2023, and that was a bit much for a seventh-inning reliever. That’s only 80% off from what Alex Ramirez made for blowing 20 saves over three years, the sucker.

Back to our arbitration cases, Ronnie McKnight was at this point not interested in a long-term deal, while I would have been. From McKnight’s point of view, this was a mighty wager. He had been the starting shortstop for the Critters for five straight years now. His best OPS (.762) had been in his rookie season, with this year in second place at .735; McKnight seemed to be banking on having a career-best season in 2020 to break the bank next winter. In any case, he was not interested in anything other than a 1-year deal. He would sign such deal for $1.04M in early November.

Other extensions included Cole Pierson for $450k, Danny Margolis for $700k over two years, and Jason Kaiser for $1.2M over three years. Brian Petracek went to arbitration and received the team’s offer of $275k. Petracek had asked for $420k, which was one reason why he went to arbitration in the first place.

Mike Denny was not made an official offer since I couldn’t get him to ask for less than $1.5M per year on a deal of at least four years. Yes, he hit 19 dingers in ’19 (and 17 in ’17, so he was probably hitting 23 by ’23), but he was a mild 20% increase in strikeouts away from becoming completely untenable behind the dish. We need to find a new catcher elsewhere. Let’s see, what do the Indians have to offer? They’re our catcher farm after all.

Denny, along with Shane Walter and Brett Lillis filed for free agency rather than taking the team to arbitration (like Joey Mathews had done last year), and so we now had official holes at catcher, second, and closer, and only around $3M to spend.

+++

For some reason, the Blue Sox were really into trying to trade Jason Seeley to us. On the list of former Raccoons that I would be dying to get back, Seeley probably wasn’t even in the top 20, and this does not include retired players.

Well, there were a couple of free agents that were former Raccoons and that I was trying to lure back. But more on that later.

Elsewhere around the league, a few well-known names retired after the 2019 season, including Manuel Reyes, Jaquan Wagoner, “Quasimodo” Suda, and Toki Hayashi. The most famous player to hang up the cleats after 2019 was however Lionnel Perri. The 42-year old outfielder called it quits after a 22-year career, during which he batted .260 with 257 HR and 1,395 RBI. Perhaps absurdly for such a long-tenured player, Perri never led the league in ANY offensive category. He won a Gold Glove in 2009, a Platinum Stick in 2010, and was an All Star five times in a career spent with the Buffaloes (2 stints, beginning and ending his career with them), Gold Sox (2 stints), Capitals, Stars, and Knights.

+++

2019 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: SAC LF/RF Pablo Sanchez (.390, 9 HR, 109 RBI) and ATL 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.323, 18 HR, 82 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: SAC SP Ian Rutter (20-3, 2.29 ERA) and MIL SP Ian Prevost (17-8, 2.40 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: WAS OF/1B Terry Kopp (.275, 13 HR, 80 RBI) and BOS LF/CF Adrian Reichardt (.280, 8 HR, 28 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: DEN MR Pat Selby (8-2, 2.83 ERA, 2 SV) and TIJ CL Mike Peterson (8-5, 2.63 ERA, 14 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P TOP Jerry Moran, C RIC Jamal White, 1B RIC Adam Young, 2B SAC Ricky Luna, 3B SAC Jason LaCombe, SS SFW Jamie Wilson, LF SAC Pablo Sanchez, CF SAC Ray Meade, RF SAL Justin Quinn
Platinum Sticks (CL): P NYC Brian Benjamin, C ATL Ruben Luna, 1B POR Hugo Mendoza, 2B NYC Sergio Valdez, 3B ATL Antonio Esquivel, SS IND Raul Matias, LF ATL Gil Rockwell, CF VAN Mario Rocha, RF MIL Brad Gore
Gold Gloves (FL): P TOP Doug Thompson, C SAC Chris Ramirez, 1B SAL Tony Avalos, 2B NAS Bobby Torres, 3B LAP Ross Irvin, SS NAS John Muller, LF PIT Joe Carter, CF CIN Nando Maiello, RF DEN Julio Candela
Gold Gloves (CL): P OCT Jim Bryant, C BOS Tim Robinson, 1B LVA Matt Hamilton, 2B NYC Sergio Valdez, 3B ATL Antonio Esquivel, SS POR Ronnie McKnight, LF MIL Chris LeMoine, CF MIL Ian Coleman, RF LVA Saverio Piepoli

I do honestly not know what is worse – the Platinum Stick awarded to Dumbo Mendoza against a mountain of evidence, or the Platinum Stick awarded to Adam Young, probably out of spite to kill me with a pulmonary embolism.

Also awarded to me personally out of spite: the Manager of the Year trophy. What now? Do I have to sit on it? Is that what you pen-and-paper heroes want!? (throws award at random reporter, but not for a strike)

Needless to say that the Agitator had a field day with the latter one, emphatically asking what a manager that actually achieves something should be awarded – the U.S. presidency perhaps? Ah, the constant mocking…

[Westheim]

We did not really have a lot of money available to find a cure for all our ills (again: catcher, second baseman, closer), but the cure for that was obvious. Trade R.J. DeWeese, should be easy as pie.

Or maybe not. First of all, nobody had much interest in a luxuriously-paid 33-year old .224 batter gobbling up mostly strikeouts, and then it was the beginning of the offseason, and teams were more interested in waving bundles of dollar notes at juicy free agents, of which there were quite a few of.

The three million bucks the Raccoons had available initially were quickly put up in bids for a second baseman and a strong right-handed reliever that might give us even more density in a situation of lots of eighth-inning relievers that might have us run with a closer-by-committee situation in 2020. Why no Thrasher as the closer? He already had two chances over the years, and it never worked out. Anybody remember the 12 BB/9 April he had that one season when he was just anointed closer? Exactly.

More than two strong players couldn’t be bought from three million these days. I remember the olden days, when three million bought you half a team, and paid rent for an entire team, also meals and health care.

That was also the time the Coons lost 90 games every year, so let’s stick to the here and now for the moment.

Finding a catcher was even harder than finding money. Catchers that were both good defenders and good hitters were few and far between, and when there was one somewhere on a team, he was a 21-year old once-in-a-decade talent like the Scorpions’ Jaiden Jackson and thoroughly unavailable to any offers.

Danny Margolis as the starting catcher on Opening Day is looming…

Side note: we do have a switch-hitting catching prospect in the international complex, 19-year old Elias Tovias, that might start the season in Aumsville, but who is obviously miles and miles away of the majors. He is a good contact batter with gap power and also highly intelligent, handles pitchers well, and throws out anything that moves on the base paths. I can’t wait for the winter day where we get the news from the Dominican Republic that he had both of his arms torn off in a terrific accident with a harvester gone haywire.

While we were waiting for that, and the catcher situation remained officially unresolved throughout the start of December and the Rule 5 Draft, the other two holes got filled, and I might have shed a tear along the way.

+++

November 15 – The Titans acquire 32-yr old INF D.J. Ruggeri (.264, 45 HR, 321 RBI) from the Stars, sending them LF/RF Justin Nickel (.227, 15 HR, 89 RBI).
November 22 – Ex-TIJ SP Jorge Gine (168-125, 3.39 ERA) signs with the Rebels for 3-yr, $7.92M. The 35-year old is 35 K away from the 2,000 strikeouts club.
November 22 – Money starts to flow in New York, with the Crusaders inking two big free agents on the same day; first they pick up ex-CIN LF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.330, 333 HR, 1,307 RBI) for one year and $2.72M. The 36-year old is expected to take over for Martin Ortíz in leftfield, but missed most of 2019 to injury.
November 22 – The Crusaders also sign ex-CIN/POR CL Brett Lillis (24-41, 3.18 ERA, 153 SV) to a 2-yr, $3.14M contract. The Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick.
November 22 – Another Raccoons reliever is picked up, as the Capitals ink ex-DAL/POR MR Troy Charters (27-29, 4.18 ERA, 91 SV) to a 2-yr, $1.12M contract.
November 22 – The Indians trade for Pittsburgh’s 26-yr old INF Josh Correia (.255, 11 HR, 66 RBI), parting with two prospects.
November 23 – Ex-SAC CL William Kay (80-83, 3.56 ERA, 58 SV), who was a starter for eight years of his 10-year career, is swooped up by the division rivals, the Dallas Stars, on a 2-yr, $3.16M contract.
November 23 – The Raccoons grab former Indians MR Joel Davis (21-25, 3.08 ERA, 19 SV) to a 4-yr, $3.6M contract.
November 25 – The Gold Sox pick up 35-year old ex-NYC SP Tom Weise (164-148, 3.50 ERA) on a 3-yr, $9.72M contract.
November 26 – Former Knights closer Jayden Reed (53-48, 3.42 ERA, 153 SV) signs a 3-year deal with the Condors worth $4.76M.
November 27 – Reunited: the Raccoons sign ex-CIN 2B Ieyoshi Nomura (.303, 63 HR, 820 RBI) to a 4-yr, $8.8M contract. By signing the 35-year old infielder, the Raccoons forfeit their first-round pick in the 2020 draft.
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 22 players are taken over three rounds. The Raccoons draft 28-yr old C/1B Ezequiel Olivares from the Miners.

+++

Yoshiiiiii!! Yoshiiiii!!

Yes, I know what I always say about 35-year old middle infielders. But this is Yoshiiii!! He batted .337 last season! Everything is going to be fine!

It is going to be FINE.

(gulp)

Yoshi collected 5.2 WAR in 2019, which I uphold is a useless stat, and I sure hope I am right, because even after signing Yoshi and Joel Davis, the Raccoons are still 6.8 WAR in arrears compared to 2019 and have no more money to throw at free agents.

Joel Davis gives us three options in the eighth inning (four, if you want to include Jeff Boynton, who missed half the year on the DL, but is still on the team), which is a healthy mix to forego a closer completely and just put the guy in there that is going well enough right now. I am seriously tempted to do this, especially since money is not available and we would have to drain serious talent for a closer.

Of course, if we could trade DeWeese for a closer…

Meanwhile, I am not quite sure why we took Ezequiel Olivares in the Rule 5 Draft. Insurance for Margolis? What is going on?

Of note is that the Crusaders can sign anybody they want and will still have a first-round pick in 2020, as they finished just mediocre enough to secure the #12 pick in the draft. They might even have more first-round picks than that, depending on timing, since they have two type A free agents of their own in Tom Weise and Ray Gilbert, although the latter didn’t play much in 2019 and you will have to wonder whether he gets signed at all. Weise DID sign already, so now it’s waiting on seeing what else is happening in the Big Apple.

And yes, we are COMPLETELY out of money. Steve from Accounting says that the Christmas party is in danger because we can’t put up a $10,000 deposit to the catering service. We are THAT broke. It is still only early December, but right now the Raccoons have the biggest payroll in the league at almost $27M out of a $32.5M budget.

However, all bases are covered now. Well, eh, except for home plate, where we still have Margolis penciled in as Opening Day catcher. This is just the right spot to introduce you to our new head scout, Mr. Ridler. I honestly do not know whether that is even his real name. Why? That will become apparent in a moment. I will read you a few scouting reports I got from him for our own personnel. NONE OF THESE CONTAIN ANY NAMES, and I am slightly despaired.

• He bends the laws of Newton, and eschews gravity at all; his firm and gentle offerings, are sure a forceful call.
• A giant that is cross-eyed, and wields a mace containing holes; his service is a pitfall, a mercenary that brings woes.
• In the deepest dark of midnight, a booming burst erupts; another land is conquered, by dazzling paws’ tap-taps.

Maud, who let the door open again …!?

+++

Ex-Raccoons finding a new home for meal money elsewhere: Sandy Sambrano got a 2-yr, $534k deal with the Capitals. Manobu Sugano signed for $236k with the Falcons.

Odd final note: I picked up OOTP 18 during the Steam Sales Bonanza, but put off migrating the league for another season after some deliberation. There’s still some complaints and stuff going on in the bugs forum and after some 5,000 hours I want the new version to be as steady as can be before I move the Critters, but we might get to 18 by 2021.

[Westheim]

It was the start of December. It was becoming frisky cold in Portland. Most of the players had left for warmer climates, with Cookie down in Panama with his family, Matt Nunley off to Tibet to find inner strength, and a couple of the relievers had gone ice fishing in Nunavut. It’s okay, I guess, yes, it might be polar, but they have their winter fur on now. Jonny Toner was still in Portland, having enrolled in a course to learn painting with his soul, which was probably code from some kind of indecency because I just couldn’t figure out –

Thankfully, the Winter Meetings were zooming up, and the Raccoons had to find a catcher with $7,080 of budget space, keenly calculated by Steve from Accounting.

This was a tall task. Not only because of the money, which didn’t exactly help things and completely ruled out free agents, forcing the Raccoons into finding a suitable trade, but also because we didn’t exactly have spare parts lying around. If we really want an impact catcher, it might well cost us one of our good starting pitchers.

Ruben Luna on the Knights had thump and was also good defensively, but the Knights had none of a trade. Then there were the Titans, who had a quite decent enough backstop in Tim Robinson, who was batting in the .260s or .270s about every year and hit double-digit dingers, too. Defensively he was not exactly an asset, but Mike Denny hadn’t been either. Robinson was going to be in his last year of team control, so we weren’t exactly out for a long-term solution here, and then he was also already 30 years old, so it took him a while to even get this close to free agency. He made a juicy $1.2M in 2020, however, so we had to find at least this much in our own contracts to even get a deal done.

I tried to be cheeky and sneak R.J. DeWeese onto the Titans’ roster by picking up Mike Rivera’s contract in return. The Titans’ GM had none of that. Picking up DeWeese was completely out of the question. “Alright”, I told Wayne Ruby, as we sat across from a table holding the FLOPS cards of all our players in our hands. “Which of these do you like?” And laid down the cards of all our starting pitchers, except for one. “Where’s Toner?”, Ruby inquired. “In my goddamn hand. And he’s not coming out.” Ruby gleaned at me with utmost distrust. “Then there is only one other guy I would be interested in” he said and bent forward to slowly point with one of his crooked fingers on one of the player cards. “That one.” I gulped.

+++

December 2 – SP Jim Bryant (17-25, 4.53 ERA) is shipped from Oklahoma to Tijuana in exchange for unranked prospect CL Manny Gomez.
December 3 – In an odd co-incident, two FL East teams sign away each other’s free agents. Former Miners SS Tom McWhorter (.281, 227 HR, 876 RBI) signs a 2-year deal with the Capitals. The 31-year old will make $3.4M over the length of the contract. Meanwhile the Miners sign ex-WAS LF/RF Will Newman (.291, 84 HR, 471 RBI) to a 6-yr, $9.82M contract.
December 4 – As the Winter Meetings start, the Crusaders snatch up ex-IND SP Alejandro “Ant” Mendez (.86-71, 3.19 ERA) for a whopping $17.92M over six years.
December 4 – Also on the first day of the meetings, the Cyclones ink ex-LAP LF Jimmy Roberts (.304, 278 HR, 1,119 RBI). The 35-year old receives a 3-yr, $10.92M contract.

+++

Worrying developments abundant thus, and not the least of which is Jonny Toner, who came into my office one day after his painting course, wearing a pink headband with brown leaves woven into the fabric and declared that he would from now on wear this every time he pitched. It was, he decreed, blessed by the good fairly Sylvana, and would enhance his acute sense of his surroundings, including the strike zone. “Absolutely not” I replied after looking at him for ten seconds. “It is against the league’s uniform code. You fools have all to look alike.” Jonny nodded and opened his hand-knitted dark green wool bag he hand slung around his right shoulder. “I thought ahead already. I have enough of these for all the guys and the coaches.”

Is it really another four months before I can be mad at them for actual baseball stuff?

[Westheim]

Wayne Ruby was rather sad the following morning when I had sobered up and demanded by Hector Santos trading card back. It was a stupid idea, sending Santos and Charlie Cogger (who was a useless reserve in AAA and 30 years old, with no value) to the Titans for Tim Robinson and Rick Ling. You might remember Ling, who is a bit like Cole Pierson in many regards, but does win a game occasionally.

Yes, Robinson was a really good catcher. But he would be a one-year stop-gap before also heading for free agency, while we had Santos under a rather team-friendly contract for two more years. Ling was a massive downgrade from Santos, and the deal would – thanks to Santos not making the biggest bucks at $1.75M – not even free up much salary to try and make other improvements.

So, nah on that.

There was another compelling option on the Falcons, Ryan Holliman. He had the stick and the glove, but he also was only a one-year rental and his $2M salary made things hard. The Falcons also wanted no piece of R.J. DeWeese (wonder!), and neither team had much money available during the winter meetings and the trade was impossible to balance out without the Falcons or the Raccoons getting fleeced.

+++

December 6 – Ex-POR MR Wade Davis (34-41, 4.26 ERA, 5 SV) signs a 2-yr, $1.5M contract with the Stars.
December 9 – The Stars break their piggy bank for ex-WAS 2B Josh Downing (.275, 99 HR, 618 RBI). The 32-year old will get a 3-yr, $5.22M contract.
December 15 – The Elks add a closer in former Thunder Mike Tharp (40-35, 3.21 ERA, 140 SV), who will make $1.78M over two years, and the Knights also have a new closer in ex-CIN CL Arturo Lopez (69-67, 2.19 ERA, 461 SV), agreeing to pay the 36-year old righty $590k for his services in 2020.
December 18 – The Rebels agree to a $2.96M deal for 2020 with 40-year old ex-DEN 1B Stanley Murphy (.290, 331 HR, 1,381 RBI). Murphy batted .295 and went deep 22 times for the Gold Sox in 2019.
December 18 – In turn, former Rebel SP Shunyo Yano (95-82, 3.76 ERA) gets a 2-yr, $6M contract from the Miners.
December 20 – Long idle, the Crusaders start to grab more players. They sign ex-RIC 1B Adam Young (.304, 147 HR, 661 RBI) to a 6-yr, $14.02M contract. The 30-year old left-hander batted for 20+ homers each of the last two years.
December 22 – The Loggers pick up ex-POR C Mike Denny (.251, 59 HR, 263 RBI), handing the 29-year old a 3-yr, $4.1M contract. The Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick.
December 27 – The Crusaders unveil their newest addition, ex-DAL SP Dave Butler (154-138, 3.85 ERA). The 35-year old southpaw signs a 3-yr, $10.2M contract with New York.
December 27 – More money shelled out in the CL North: the Titans sign ex-MIL OF Victor Hodgers (.272, 52 HR, 346 RBI), paying the 28-year old the princely sum of $13.84M over five seasons.
December 30 – Former Gold Sock RF/LF Winston Jones (.291, 161 HR, 996 RBI) is a Blue Sock now. Jones, 36, signs a $1.66M contract for 2020.

+++

In eight full time major league seasons, Adam ****ing Young hit 20+ homers six times. The only two times he didn’t? As a Raccoon. He hit 15 as a Raccoon. That is for both seasons combined. That ***hole.

I hope there is no doubt about the fact that he will MURDER us this year? Good.

And how are the Rebels compensated for the loss of Young, who seems like a semi-decent player from the distance? Probably with about the #90 pick, since the Crusaders couldn’t offer them more than their 12th pick in the third round. And that beats the Stars getting a pick in the hundreds with the Crusaders’ fourth-rounder. (Neither team lost a long-term player though, with Young and Butler serving for a total of three years with their old teams, so it could be harder on them)

How did Davis get $750k per year from the Stars? Sounds like they were drunk. What two decent years in Portland can do to a middle reliever’s career…

It was not possible to find a catcher better than Danny Margolis the entire month, and precisely it was impossible to do any deal for anybody the entire month.

R.J. DeWeese remains untradeable, and the promising catchers on other teams remained unattainable. There was one exception: the Rebels would have agreed to a straight-up deal of Dumbo Mendoza for Jamal White, their starting catcher. But there was the slight kink that White’s best season in 2019 was beating Mendoza’s worst-ever seasons (2013/2018) by the slightest of slivers. While freeing up money along the way and the commitment to White being for three years instead of four, it was still a terrible deal. At least Mendoza is the one outfielder capable of posing as first baseman without killing us in the field – on most days.

DeWeese is the rotten egg, and he will remain rotten for another three years and $9.9M. Thank goodness I bought value with Yoshi Nomura, three years older, and on the books for four years and $8.8M.

+++

Below, the Hall of Fame ballot.

[Westheim]

I am terribly sorry, but I have nothing to report. It was a sad month in the office, and the Raccoons did not get one inch closer to rounding out the roster, which would have to work via addition by subtraction.

+++

January 10 – The Condors get ex-WAS SP Aaron Walsh (77-89, 4.34 ERA) at the price of $4.38M over three years.
January 15 – The Capitals sign former Raccoons INF Shane Walter () to a 7-yr, $17.5M contract. The Raccoons receive a supplemental round pick.
January 17 – Ravaged by injuries, ex-MIL SP Michael Foreman (55-83, 3.97 ERA) tries to rebuild value by signing a 1-yr, $1.76M contract with the Crusaders. Foreman has started only 59 games in the last four years combined. The 29-year old led the league in ERA in 2018 before once again dropping to injury, and made only one big-league start in 2019.
January 20 – 40-year old ex-NYC LF Martin Ortíz (.294, 377 HR, 1,666 RBI) refuses to back down and signs an $800k contract with the Cyclones for 2020 after playing in New York for 19 seasons following his arrival there as a waiver claim off the Loggers. Ortíz’ bountiful accolades are too numerous to list, and so his six Player of the Year awards must suffice.
January 22 – The Pacifics acquire SP Casey Hally (26-23, 3.81 ERA) from the Condors, parting with two so-so prospects.
January 24 – The Indians sign ex-WAS/ATL SP Jared D’Attilo (58-68, 4.12 ERA) for three years. The 33-year old right-hander will earn $7.32M for his services.
January 30 – The Stars think they have found a new closer in ex-POR Alex Ramirez (48-32, 3.28 ERA, 131 SV), who signs for $3.06M over three years.
January 31 – Former Titans 1B Steve Butler (.305, 263 HR, 1,125 RBI) can not get more than a $740k deal for one year from the Blue Sox. Butler, 35, saw his power diminished in 2019 and hit only 11 home runs in 122 games.

+++

Ramirez makes markedly less than with the Raccoons, netting $3.75M for annoying me for three years. Good he ended up in the Federal League. I might be lucky and never see his miserable grin again. You know. That grin that told he knew he blew it and it was ALL HIS FAULT whenever the Coons converted a 3-2 lead in the ninth into a 17-inning game.

I burned our first round pick, but we could still wind up with three picks in the top 50 at the end for the 2020 draft. There is a lot of veteran player material still unsigned though and quite a few have draft pick compensation attached.

Minor deals signed by former Raccoons: Luis Reya took $640k of blood money from the Crusaders. William Waggoner got $244k from the Miners from where we actually got him prior to 2017. And that is already it.

+++

2020 HALL OF FAME VOTING RESULTS

The Hall of Fame received two more members in the 2020 voting process, both being infielders on the ballot for the first time.

Still most famous for the deeds he did as a sophomore in the 1994 postseason, 3B Sonny Reece was one of the best players of his generation. Hitting walkoff home runs in two Game 7’s of the season postseason remains unique in ABL history. Reece hit them to eliminate the Loggers in the CLCS in regulation, and the Warriors in the 12th inning, and in come-from-behind fashion in the World Series after already scoring the tying run after a leadoff double in the 11th inning. That was the first of Reece’s five World Series titles, two of those coming with the Thunder, whose insignia he will wear in the Hall for eternity despite only playing eight years of his 22-year career with the team. But Reece was a wanderer, playing for eight different teams, and remaining relevant until he was 39 years old. The five Rings aside, Reece also won four Gold Gloves, two Player of the Year awards, and was an All Star eight times. He won the batting title in 1999, and overall batted .314 with 227 HR and 1,509 RBI, amassing 3,294 base hits and a whopping 98.4 WAR.

Strikingly, he is already the second player with the uncommon surname Reece in the Hall, a distinction him and Neil Reece share with Gabriel and Javier Cruz and Cristo and Andres Ramirez.

If Neil Reece was a wanderer, 1B/2B Georg Spinu was anything but, playing the first 19 of his 21 major league seasons in the FL East, and of those 14 with the Buffaloes, whose insignia he will have on his Hall of Fame plaque. A hardy and incredibly consistent second baseman, Spinu was an on-base specialist with a career .410 OBP that led the league in walks five times, while only swinging for only one led-the-league achievement in any other category, leading the FL in doubles in 2004. Spinu was an All Star four times, and won two World Championships late in his career with the 2010 Cyclones and 2013 Crusaders. For his career, he batted .294 with 120 HR and 1,067 RBI. The latter number pales in comparison to the 1,694 runs he scored personally, and this was without him being a tremendous base stealer, never taking more than 17 in a season and just 160 for his career.

Spinu is the second Buffalo in the Hall, joining Arnold McCray, while the Thunder now have four Hall of Famers, including besides Sonny Reece also Aaron Anderson, Alfonso Aranda, Dave Browne, and Vonne Calzado.

Full voting results (year on ballot – percentage):

OCT 3B Sonny Reece – 1st – 95.5% - INDUCTED
TOP 2B Georg Spinu – 1st – 79.5% - INDUCTED
??? SP Chris York – 2nd – 66.7%
MIL LF Bakile Hiwalani – 3rd – 66.0%
TIJ SP Kelvin Yates – 1st – 58.0%
SFB CL William Henderson – 9th – 35.1%
SFB C Gabriel Ortíz – 1st – 16.3%
BOS SS Daniel Silva – 1st – 16.0%
TOP C Carlos Ramos – 1st – 16.0%
MIL CF Jerry Fletcher – 3rd – 13.5%
??? SS Bob Hall – 1st – 9.0%
??? RF Josh Thomas – 1st – 8.3%
NYC SP Anibal Sandoval – 6th – 6.6%
BOS 3B Mark Austin – 2nd – 5.9%
BOS CF Rudy Garrison – 1st – 4.9% - DROPPED
BOS CL John Bennett – 2nd – 4.2% - DROPPED
SFW 2B Dave Heffer – 2nd – 3.8% - DROPPED
SFW SS Ramón Garza – 2nd – 3.5% - DROPPED

The late-90s / early-2000s Boston Titans dynasty gets absolutely no love.

And Vonne Calzado still sounds like something to eat.

Take a keen guess at which surname might be the next to have multiple Hall of Famers, if you like.

[Westheim]

February and the official preseason had arrived. The offseason for the Raccoons had been anything but great, and there was little indication that the preseason would bring much improvement.

Yes, we had signed Yoshi Nomura – to another high-risk, high-coin contract, mind – but that was almost where the offseason had already ended for us. Nothing much had happened since, throw in a Joel Davis for the pen or not. The catcher situation was unresolved.

And how much of a problem was it, really? So we have somebody to bat eighth. That means that DeWeese will continue to bat seventh for all the riches he abducts to his mansion high above the beach. That means that the #6 batter, probably Matt Nunley, will never get a pitch to hit. Oh well.

The Agitator ran regular news items throughout January and February pointing out that nothing new was happening with the Raccoons regularly. Of course, it was the front office’s fault, invariably, as always.

I continued to probe the odd trade, but DeWeese was simply not movable (and in case you wonder, that 2022 option is a player option, because I did negotiate THAT well). Any other trade of somebody making seven figures made no sense for a team that tried to make a franchise-record fourth consecutive playoffs.

There was one possibility still – plundering the player development and scouting budgets to find a catcher on the free agent market after all. While Nick Ridler was not happy with my actions, and left a note on my desk that read “Stricken with blindness, stricken with vain/ the tyrant plundered the scouting allotment,/ acted in error, acted a fool/ to the future’s grisly detriment”. We gotta have a talk, I fear.

Of course, by now the catching pool among free agents had been picked thin, and the best opportunity remaining was Jalen Parks, and ‘best’ was already applied liberally here. Parks had been the starting catcher for the Thunder for the last six seasons, and never batted for more than a .754 OPS, so there was not that much to expect from him from the start. He had hit double-digit dingers in five of the six seasons (and the missing season, 2015, he missed time to injury), but routinely had a low batting average, as low as .234 in 2017. His defense was not special. He was a switch-hitter, but that was literally all he had going for him.

So, how bad can Danny Margolis be over a full season, starting 120 games and doing his thing at the plate? He is a career .240/.296/.333 batter, so the answer might well be ‘pretty bad’. He has just over 1,000 career at-bats, with 16 home runs. His strikeout rate is not outlandish (17%), but his contact is consistently poor. He never had a BABIP better than .292, and in some years his BABIP was way lower (as low as .249 in ’16), but there is a point where you can not use it as an excuse anymore, and 1,000 at-bats might be that point. Margolis, while a really good defensive catcher, is a tremendously terrible batter, and is it really worth shelling out up to $1M the Raccoons don’t even have available just to sign Jalen Parks, a slightly above-average catcher?

On paper – oh, boy – the Raccoons even with Margolis should have a top 3 offense, but that one has been true for years, and the paper never actually turned into actual, hard stats. I think we have a reservation on seventh place in runs scored, but I am too afraid of the truth to check in on that, and on next to no runs in the CLCS. That last one I know without checking.

I went after the Titans once more for Tim Robinson, but they were not really thrilled by our prospect selection (neither was I), and I wasn’t willing to give up one of our key relievers, which was their other desire. They did have a rookie catcher in Ryan Anderson, who had an interesting scouting report according to the Riddler (‘On Christmas Eve a boy was born/ in the rural vastness of Ohio./ With his strong right arm and certain eye/ he’s sure to be a riot.), and while I appreciated his persistence in tackling the difficulty of finding any rhyme on ‘Ohio’, I still would have preferred to learn something about … ah, why even - … how long is that contract? Maud? – No, not Anderson’s. The Riddlers!

Long, I’m told.

I was not really willing to give up anything meaningful for Anderson, who was a 25-year old rookie who had one career base hit in 19 attempts. That hit had been a home run, though. The Titans were for some reason interested in Charlie Cogger, the permanent backup in AAA, but we could not agree on the second player in the deal. And things got REALLY ugly in the middle of February. I was willing to leave them f.e. with Kevin DeWald, splitting our platoon of defensive centerfielders, but they had none of that and wanted Bareford, but that was a no-no with me. I was going to leave them with Russ Greenwald, but if they were to take a first baseman, it had to be AA/AAA 1B Ruben Santiago, and I was not thrilled by that. They were also keen on Daniel Bullock, a former international free agent signing from 2016. Bullock had signed for all of $6,000 back then, so he had been a fourth-rate prospect at best back then, and in some way, he still was. He had batted .235/.280/.263 in Ham Lake in 2019, playing in 128 games. He was an excellent defensive infielder at most positions, but couldn’t hit a lick. But whenever someone is after any of our no-good prospects that hard, I get all pointy ears and try to find out why.

Mr. Ridler, the scouting report please! – What,… what even is that!? … “Travelling business man’s love child/ with a plantation laborer in chains,/ he runs, he fields, but does he bat?/ That question still remains.”

To be fair, that is the most baseball-relevant scouting report I have seen from the Riddler so far.

Meanwhile, the Anderson deal fell through, and while I was busy counting peas with the Titans, Jalen Parks signed with the Crusaders for $2.17M over two years, which would have been outside of our possibilities even after selling the future on a wing and a prayer.

+++

February 7 – The Cyclones unveil the addition of two international free agents, having added 24-yr old Japanese LF/RF Yasuhiro Kuramoto and 26-yr old Cuban 1B Luis Moreira on 4-year deals. Moreira receives $4.87M, Kuramoto $4.4M.
February 11 – Another lottery ticket for the Cyclones, who sign 29-yr old Japanese southpaw Koto Hayashi to a 6-yr, $4.5M contract.

+++

Former Raccoons signing deals elsewhere included Dave Fletcher getting $276k from the Cyclones, Joey Mathews signing for $254k with the Falcons, and the Loggers spent $304k on Adrian Quebell. Long-forgotten Felipe Ramirez got $262k from the Falcons.

[Westheim]

Always keen to lighten up the mood, the Condors sent us a trade proposal on March 4, offering Jimmy Oatmeal for – and here it gets good – Tadasu Abe, Ron Thrasher, and decent prospect Hugo Ochoa. I mean, well, Oatmeal hit 109 homers in the last four years, but how exactly does this help the Raccoons ANY?

In fact, nothing helped the Raccoons. There was no way to add a catcher to the roster. Ruben Luna from the Knights would have been a nice fit, but the asking price was tear-jerking, and we weren’t gonna do it. And so another sad offseason trundled towards its merciless conclusion.

+++

March 30 – The Canadiens deal RF/LF Kurt Evans (.281, 60 HR, 384 RBI) and cash to the Cyclones, receiving MR Matt Rosenthal (15-12, 4.65 ERA, 3 SV) and a prospect in return.

+++

The Raccoons signed about half a dozen no-names to minor league deals, so it’s not like we’ve been entirely idle. The most interesting of the bunch is probably left-hander David Kipple, a 21-year old former third-rounder that had been released by two organizations already. He had an electric cutter/splitter combo, unfortunately he also had terrible control over that cutter. Almost four years after being drafted, he had yet to throw a pitch in AA, and would start in Aumsville.

I also attempted to settle a bullpen dilemma via trade. We had Adam Cowen, Will West, and Matt Schroeder competing for the final spot in the pen, and none of them had options. Schroeder pretty much had no value, and between Cowen and West I trended towards keeping Cowen, but Will West – dangled several times to the teams in March – drew absolutely zero interest.

Two months after plundering them, I put most of the money I had drawn from scouting and development back into these two fields, retaining only a $400k reserve to maybe pick up a cheap player at some point.

But maybe R.J. DeWeese hits .327 on April 16 and we can flip him then?

The Loggers picked up Ron Richards for $312k, and Salvadaro Soure for $328k. The Crusaders grabbed Ray Kelley for $336k. Pat Slayton is a Blue Sock now for $268k.

[Westheim]

2020 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set shows 2019 numbers, second set overall; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Jonathan Toner, 29, B:R, T:R (13-3, 2.31 ERA | 106-41, 2.32 ERA) – For the second time in his career, Toner missed a good chunk of the season, yet somehow still managed to wind up with the second-most wins in the rotation. He still is the best pitcher the ABL currently can throw onto the videoboard, and despite the injury woes in 2019 struck out more than 11 per nine innings for the third straight year, and after just having turned 29 is already almost halfway to 1,500 K for his career. About his repertoire it is sufficient to state that he throws raw filth that nobody can cope with. In addition to 98mph heater he also has a nasty curve and an off-the-charts circle change. If he feels like it, he throws a changeup, just for giggles. AGAIN: Best pitcher in baseball right now!
SP Tadasu Abe, 28, B:R, T:R (12-8, 2.98 ERA | 49-30, 3.09 ERA) – huge arsenal that allows him to dazzle batters and keep them guessing; consistently strikes out almost eight per nine innings and has the ability to often get out of a mess that he gets into.
SP Hector Santos, 31, B:S, T:R (15-10, 2.75 ERA | 108-80, 3.08 ERA) – sometimes a bit the forgotten man in the rotation, Santos led the league in WHIP for the third time in 2019. 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 162 homers in 1,744 innings, and allowed five dingers in a pair of matchups with Nehemiah Jones in the 2019 CLCS that killed the Raccoons along with their offensive ineptness.
SP Cole Pierson, 30, B:L, T:L (9-15, 3.73 ERA | 43-52, 3.70 ERA) – Pierson was picked up in a trade with the Capitals, who hardly ever scored for him, but nobody has ever gone to Portland and suddenly found run support. Pierson posted back-to-back 9-15 campaigns for the 2018 Capitals and the 2019 Coons, but the latter season started out so much better. Pierson however hasn’t won a game since July of 2019, and was pretty much an automatic loss, not even coming close to keeping his team in the game.
SP Bobby Guerrero, 30, B:R, T:R (12-9, 3.33 ERA | 60-59, 4.19 ERA, 2 SV) – mixes his four pitches very well, but could use a control upgrade; Guerrero couldn’t break glass in April of 2019 and spent some time in AAA to get recalibrated – and it worked. Was reliable again in the second half of the season.

MR Adam Cowen, 25, B:R, T:R (0-0, 1.53 ERA | 0-1, 2.81 ERA) – groundballer with a fastball splitter combo that was picked off the trash heap in the winter of 2016-17 after originally being drafted in the 10th round in 2012 by the Elks, Cowen had cups of coffee in both of the last two seasons for 17 games total. 2018 didn’t go great (5.63 ERA), but he whiffed 14 in 17.2 innings in 2019, and we are hoping for genuine and permanent improvement here.
MR Jeff Boynton, 30, B:S, T:R (5-2, 2.27 ERA | 33-26, 3.38 ERA, 92 SV) – solid-to-good middle reliever, Boynton was doing some good work in the Raccoons pen in 2019, his first season with the team, before popping out his elbow in the middle of June. He hasn’t been seen since, but he has some neat feats to replicate as the new season gets underway; Boynton, in a contract year, allowed no home runs in 31.2 innings in 2019.
MR Seung-mo Chun, 31, B:S, T:R (2-2, 3.23 ERA, 1 SV | 12-10, 3.15 ERA, 5 SV) – routinely handles the seventh inning with great consistency, but he lacks the stuff to put hitters away reliably in close situations, which in our view limits his value in later innings.
MR Jason Kaiser, 33, B:L, T:L (4-5, 2.36 ERA, 1 SV | 13-14, 2.89 ERA, 5 SV) – the Raccoons abused the career nobody Kaiser, who entered his age 31 season with 87 big league appearances, by throwing him into 80 games during the regular season, and five more in the abortive playoffs in 2018, then used him for another 74 regular season appearances in 2019. While he didn’t exceed 60 regular season innings in either campaign, he sure has shown that he can be used regularly and for several days in a row. Or so we hope.
SU Chris Mathis, 33, B:R, T:R (2-1, 3.45 ERA, 2 SV | 25-11, 2.42 ERA, 26 SV) – oddly unreliable in a closing assignment despite strong overall numbers, Mathis continues to be an enigma to his own front office. He has developed a reputation for streaking, with lights-out stretches alternating with several outings in a row in which he creates a mess or incinerates somebody else’s mess. Mathis was also one of the bushel of the Raccoons who missed significant time on the DL in 2019 and only appeared in 38 games and for 28.2 innings.
SU Joel Davis *, 28, B:R, T:R (5-7, 2.61 ERA, 9 SV| 21-25, 3.08 ERA, 19 SV) – one of only two free agency additions on the roster, Davis has a devastating curveball that he showed off numerous times against the Raccoons as a member of the Indians squad in the last few seasons. Will be part of our closer carrousel.
SU Ron Thrasher, 32, B:L, T:L (0-1, 1.80 ERA, 7 SV | 29-26, 2.42 ERA, 53 SV) – blessed with an executioner’s stuff, but saddled with a drunkard’s control, Ron continues to strike out more than a dozen per nine innings (a career value) while sometimes walking close to as many. Missed most of the second half of the 2019 season like so many other good guys, and is part of the closing committee with Mathis and Davis.

C Danny Margolis, 29, B:R, T:R (.239, 1 HR, 15 RBI | .240, 16 HR, 100 RBI) – Margolis’ name being announced as the starting catcher on Opening Day will be the first hint that the team stands right at the edge of the abyss. Five years as a backup have shown that Margolis is defense first as a catcher, and can’t hit no matter the circumstances.
C/1B Ezequiel Olivares *, 29, B:R, T:R (did not play | .500, 0 HR, 0 RBI) – Worse, Margolis’ backup is a rule 5 pick whose presence on the roster puzzles even the most veteran analysts of the game. Olivares has no credits and many say, no skills. What exactly he is doing on the Opening Roster is a mystery.

RF/LF/CF/1B Hugo Mendoza, 29, B:L, T:L (.299, 22 HR, 89 RBI | .319, 211 HR, 842 RBI) – bright sides: Dumbo Mendoza’s 2019 season (.875 OPS) was much less of a train wreck than his 2018 campaign (.816 OPS). Bad news: he still keeps ruining his Hall of Fame case year after year in Portland and continues to be highly aggravating to watch.
2B Ieyoshi Nomura *, 36, B:L, T:R (.337, 4 HR, 60 RBI | .303, 63 HR, 820 RBI) – after six years of wandering the desert, the long-lost son returns home! Yoshi signed a 4-year deal to try and pick it up where he left it off in 2013, when he batted .324 and had an .838 OPS as nominally low-power middle infielder. Sometimes ignored are the 30+ doubles Yoshi reliably hits every season, 471 for his career, and despite his age his defensive metrics are still very good.
SS/2B/3B Ronnie McKnight, 29, B:L, T:R (.281, 16 HR, 77 RBI | .272, 72 HR, 352 RBI) – a unicorn, combining a power bat with a top notch glove at the premium defensive position on the field. What is not to like about that? McKnight bounced back nicely from missing more than half of the 2018 season to a back injury, although his rookie season still remains his most productive with the bat.
3B Matt Nunley, 29, B:L, T:R (.260, 7 HR, 41 RBI | .289, 63 HR, 387 RBI) – excellent defensive third baseman that has yet to win a Gold Glove, and spent more or less the entire 2019 season in hell, sucking first, and then finding the DL just when things appeared to get a wee bit better. After a lost season, Nunley knows he has to bounce back despite being under contract through 2022.
RF/3B/2B/1B/LF/CF Brian Petracek, 29, B:S, T:R (.221, 4 HR, 16 RBI | .232, 13 HR, 74 RBI) – super utility player that is able to fill in everywhere in the field, although he spent almost the entire season under the Mendoza line and to be fair we wonder what HE is doing here as well.
2B/SS Tim Prince, 29, B:R, T:R (.200, 0 HR, 1 RBI | .260, 11 HR, 116 RBI) – another player whose presence on the roster is a medium-sized mind boggler. Prince is a decent enough defensive middle infielder, but has not hit anybody or anything in his time shuffling back and forth between Portland and St. Petersburg since coming over prior to 2019. Has no options, and nobody cares much.

LF/RF R.J. DeWeese, 33, B:L, T:L (.224, 21 HR, 62 RBI | .243, 289 HR, 956 RBI) – paws up anybody who wants to hear the story of the vastly, insanely overpaid crumbling veteran, who couldn’t hit a barn from the inside with a ball or a bat, one more time – thought so.
CF/LF Andy Bareford, 25, B:R, T:R (.247, 3 HR, 26 RBI | .246, 5 HR, 44 RBI) – one part of our platoon in centerfield, which will not be a straight platoon since Bareford, the right-handed batter, is actually the better batter overall, we think, and his range seems to be a bit better than DeWald’s.
CF/RF/LF Kevin DeWald, 23, B:L, T:L (.253, 1 HR, 10 RBI | .253, 1 HR, 10 RBI) – debuted in the latter half of the 2019 season due to injuries mounting up and made some kind of impression, enough to be considered for playing the other half of the centerfield platoon.
LF/CF/RF Ricardo Carmona, 28, B:L, T:R (.320, 1 HR, 51 RBI | .326, 18 HR, 358 RBI) – Cookie played a career-high 158 games in 2019, enjoying much better health after getting moved out of centerfield two years ago. He led the CL in base hits with 205, but struggled with his timing in stealing bases and only managed to steal 33 at a 60% success rate. Only three years ago he stole 28 bases while missing almost 70 games... regardless, he is a great leadoff hitter, although he could sometimes be a tiny tad more patient.
LF/RF Eddie Jackson, 35, B:R, T:R (.281, 7 HR, 36 RBI | .268, 69 HR, 458 RBI) – very qualified pinch-hitter and still decent as a corner outfielder, but with the level of talent on the team Jackson can’t get more than a support role right now – unless injuries strike again. Jackson didn’t figure as a starter in either of his two previous Raccoons campaigns, and still both times got more than 300 plate appearances.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
MR Will West, 26, B:R, T:R (3-0, 4.95 ERA | 4-2, 4.82 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; shaky and unreliable and by walking five per nine innings not even suitable for mop-up duties.
MR Matt Schroeder, 27, B:L, T:R (0-0, 5.63 ERA | 1-2, 3.75 ERA, 1 SV) – waived and DFA’ed; the sparkle that surrounded him after his 2018 debut is completely off, could hardly get anybody out in 2019.
1B Russ Greenwald, 26, B:L, T:L (.241, 2 HR, 15 RBI | .226, 2 HR, 15 RBI) – spent an awful lot of time on the roster in 2019 without doing anything particularly useful; since he has no place to start anyway with Mendoza on first base, he loses the roster spot to someone at least able to play somewhere other than first.

Opening day lineup:
Vs. RHP: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – C Margolis – P Toner
(Vs. LHP: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – SS McKnight – CF Bareford – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – P Toner)

When DeWald starts against a right-hander we will actually not have a left-handed bat on the bench between Jackson, Bareford, Prince, Petracek, and the second catcher. But truth be told, outside of Jackson and MAYBE Bareford, there isn’t a real *batter* in there anyway.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

Walter, Denny, Mathews, Charters, Lillis – the Raccoons bled profusely in the preceding offseason. Only Walter’s loss was compensated. Everything else went right into the BNN offseason WAR table. And the offseason was not kind as the Raccoons ended up in the bottom five in the league with only three additions on the major league roster, and one of those was … well, the 29-year old rule 5 pick / backup catcher.

Top 5: Crusaders (+13.1), Cyclones (+9.6), Blue Sox (+4.4), Falcons (+4.2), Titans (+3.1)
Bottom 5: Canadiens (-4.0), Raccoons (-7.3), Stars (-8.1), Warriors (-8.5), Bayhawks (-12.4)

PREDICTION TIME:

Last time around I said the Raccoons would win 96 games and win the division comfortably while the Crusaders were still being weighed down by horrendous contracts. Well, the last part was true, and they did win the division, but the Loggers(!) gave them a good scare right until the final few weeks of the season. Sad news for Milwaukee, they will not be close this year. The Crusaders – as anticipated in this spot 12 months ago – hands-down won the offseason with a pack of strong additions (though some high-risk additions included in that) and are the prime pick to run away with the division in 2020 and the rest of all the seasons from here to eternity.

The Raccoons are now the team with the worst deals in the division, foremost DeWeese, but we’re also not getting anything close to his paycheck from Dumbo Mendoza. Then I somehow fooled myself into signing a 36-year old second baseman for a lot of dosh. Like I said above, the fact that Danny Margolis, who hit the odd 3-run homer for surprising comebacks in five years as a perpetual backstop, but overall is an outright terrible batter, is the starting catcher for the Coons is ringing all the alarm bells. Despite a top 3 budget in the league, the Coons have bought themselves thin and aren’t getting any return for their big imports, and Yoshi IS 36 years old and his contract can end up on that pile of poo in a hurry.

If that happens and the Raccoons crash, they won’t even be able to trade these contracts. If they crash, they have to ride it out. DeWeese through ’22, Nomura through ’23, Mendoza through ’23. Prospects? Only from Toner, Cookie, and the rest of the good guys.

But this will not happen in 2020. But the Raccoons will also not be even remotely close. They will end up seventh in runs scored AGAIN, and finish 90-72, ten games behind the Crusaders and in second place in the North.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Boy, it’s empty here. The Raccoons’ system is in the bottom two in the league for the third straight season, rising from 24th to a rousing 23rd this year!

We had only four ranked prospects last year, all of them are still in the organization, but #87 Markus Bates and #118 Mike Rehbock (our two highest-ranked prospects in 2019) are not in the top 200 anymore.

70th (new) – A SP Reese Kenny, 20 – 2019 first round pick by the Raccoons
115th (+10) – AA SP Pete Molina, 20 – 2018 first round pick by the Raccoons
126th (+26) – AAA SP Ricky Martinez, 25 – 2011 international free agent signed by Raccoons
156th (new) – A SP Rico Gutierrez, 20 – 2015 international free agent signed by Raccoons
163rd (new) – A INF Ismael Pastor, 20 – 2015 international free agent signed by Raccoons

The franchise top 10 were completed by unranked AA SP Juan Mendez (2016 IFA), AA INF Daniel Bullock (2016 IFA), AA 1B Ruben Santiago (2017 1st Rd.), AA CL Mike Rehbock (2017 2nd Rd.), and AAA OF/1B Dwayne Metts (2016 3rd Rd.);

The top 5 overall prospects this year are:

#1 SFB AA 3B/LF Shane Sanks (was #1)
#2 SAL ML MR Jorge Beltran (was #3)
#3 DEN A SS/3B Omar Camacho (was #14)
#4 BOS AA SP Dustin Cory (newly drafted in 2019)
#5 NAS A SP Matt Huf (was #5)

Last year’s #2, the Crusaders’ Mike Rutkowski, spent almost two months in their major league bullpen and no longer qualifies, while #4 CL Gregg Bell was traded midseason from the Buffaloes to the Wolves and made his major league debut with them, appearing in 31 games and easily exceeding rookie limitations.

Next: first pitch.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 7-8, 2020

The new season was on, finally, starting Tuesday in Milwaukee with two games with the Loggers, whom we beat 12-6 in 2019 and to whom we hadn’t lost a season series since 2013. They had of course finished second to us in the North in 2019, and they were still in the running to finish third to us and the Crusaders (not in that order) in 2020. Granted, right now, everybody was in the running.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (0-0) vs. Ian Prevost (0-0)
Tadasu Abe (0-0) vs. Luis Guerrero (0-0)

Guerrero will be the first southpaw to come up against right in the second game of the season. And boy, the Opening Day matchup is quite juicy. The last three Continental League Pitcher of the Year awards will be pitching in that game; Toner won in 2017 and 2018, Prevost in 2019.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – C Margolis – P Toner
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – 1B Gore – RF LeMoine – CF Coleman – 3B A. Velez – C Denny – LF Tesch – P Prevost

The first inning of the season was … interesting. Cookie grounded out to first base to get going, after which Yoshi Nomura singled to left to reach base in his first attempt back with his first team. Ronnie McKnight came up, saw a ball, saw a strike, then saw another ball that darted in and struck him in the knee. McKnight went down and had to be helped off the field with a rapidly swelling major leg joint, while I was dizzy and had to be held up by one of the Loggers service personnel in the new noble lounge they had built for the very important personnel of the visiting teams. Tim Prince replaced McKnight on the bases and at shortstop. When that drama was over, Mendoza grounded out to first, moving the runners into scoring position, but no further, however Matt Nunley came through with a first-pitch single to right, scoring both runners for an early 2-0 lead. DeWeese rolled out to Tyler Stewart to end the inning and after Toner had a scoreless first inning he was also batting with two outs and nobody on in the top of the second. He reached on an error by Alberto Velez, and then the inning got going, with Cookie singling to right and Yoshi walking to load the bases. And there was Tim Prince, grounding out to strand a full set of runners.

The Loggers got runners to third base with two outs in both the bottom 2nd and bottom 3rd. The first instance came with 2-out singles by Velez and Mike Denny, but Toner whiffed Brad Tesch to escape, and the second instance saw Stewart hit a 1-out double, but two groundouts by Kyle Burns and Brad Gore stranded him. While Toner was in a spot of bother here or there, things got markedly better for him. Well, the first thing was him racking up six strikeouts by the bottom 4th, with the sixth being hung on Ian Coleman for 1,500 career strikeouts for Jonny. The Loggers remained shut out so far, and in the fifth inning the score got stretched for the Coons. Yoshi hit a leadoff double in that inning, and Tim Prince chipped in a single to put men on the corners. Dumbo Mendoza hit Prevost where it hurt, over the rightfield fence for a 3-run homer and a 5-0 score. That wasn’t all. Nunley got on, but was forced out by DeWald’s grounder. DeWald remained on first base with two outs and Margolis singled to left on a 3-1 pitch. Jonny Toner game up, and Prevost had yet to retire him in the game – and didn’t. Toner snipped an RBI single to right, 6-0, and that broke Prevost for good and the Loggers replaced him with Ivan Morales, who would bring anything but relief to the team. Cookie hit an RBI single, and then Yoshi completed the blowout with a 3-run homer that escaped over the fence in the little corner between the leftfield wall and the left foul pole, gave the Coons an 8-run fifth and a 10-0 lead.

That lead didn’t survive in that form because Toner got his feathers ruffled in the sixth inning, his last in the game. The Loggers, who had gotten only three hits in the first five innings, romped off four hits in the inning, starting with an infield single by Kyle Burns. Gore singled, Coleman singled, and Velez hit an infield single to score the first run with one out. Toner lost Mike Denny to a bases-loaded walk, and allowed another run on a sac fly by Tesch to get charged with three hard earned runs. Nothing happened the next two innings outside of an error committed by Jason Kaiser in the bottom 8th that the Loggers failed to exploit, with Seung-mo Chun ultimately striking out Denny to end the inning. Top 9th, Ezequiel Olivares and Eddie Jackson reached base with a walk and a single, respectively, and Chun – in the #1 slot; no, no injury to Cookie, no panic – was told to bunt with one out. Loggers lefty Quinn MacCarthy misplayed the bunt, tried to get Olivares at third, got nobody, and the bases were loaded for Yoshi, who was a triple short of the cycle. Just sayin’. Yoshi struck out, Prince rolled out, nobody scored, but the Loggers could not manage to reach base in the bottom 9th against Chun, handing this one, soundly, to the Coons. 10-3 Critters! Carmona 3-5, RBI; Nomura 3-5, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

Toner struck out nine in his start that suddenly went pear-shaped in the sixth. Oh well, it could have been worse. Ask Prevost.

The McKnight injury seems like it will only put him out of action for a week, so with the depth at short not deep at all, I am against a disablement. Tim Prince will have to hold the forth, and maybe we can mix in some Petracek, too. But that is why Prince is here rather than Greenwald, because then Petracek would be our only backup for McKnight and short is his weakest position on the infield.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – CF Bareford – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – SS Prince – P Abe
MIL: 2B Stewart – SS Burns – 1B Gore – RF LeMoine – CF Coleman – 3B A. Velez – C Denny – LF Tesch – P L. Guerrero

Something was in the water with the Raccoons, who pumped a pair of 2-run homers in the first inning, both with two outs, as Mendoza and Margolis did the honors against Luis Guerrero and spotted Abe with a 4-0 lead. For Mendoza, that was two dingers in two days. Was he trying to schmooze up to somebody? I didn’t have much time to think about it, because Tadasu Abe was soon in a heap of trouble. The ball seemed to be awfully jumpy, because the Loggers hit their own 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning, Brad Gore taking Abe deep after Burns had reached on an infield single that Yoshi could only cut off near the outfield grass and got nothing on the throw. After the lead was down to 4-2 in a hurry, the second inning opened with a colossal throwing error by Tim Prince that placed Velez on second base. Tesch would come up with a single, but Abe got Guerrero on the bunt and Stewart on strikes to starve the tying runs in scoring position.

The third through fifth was mostly guys swinging hard and missing clearly, with Abe whiffing seven in five innings to Guerrero’s five, and no team scored, although the Loggers got two 2-out singles by Gore and LeMoine in the bottom 5th before Ian Coleman grounded out to Nunley, who then found himself batting with two outs and two on in the top 6th, with Jackson having reached on a single and Margolis on after walking. Nunley grounded poorly to the mound, but Guerrero’s misplay loaded the bases and gave the pitcher an error. Yet, Tim Prince stepped in, his third bases-loaded, two-out assignment in TWO DAYS. So far he had zero RBI, but maybe Guerrero would throw him a bone. Indeed, he did: the 2-0 pitch was right down the middle and drivable even by a terrible batter like Prince, who dished the ball high and deep to left and OUTTA HERE. GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!

The Loggers’ response wasn’t far away. Though down 8-2 and having discarded their starting pitcher, the Loggers got Denny and Tesch on with one out in the bottom 6th. Ex-Coon Ron Richards batted in the #9 hole and whacked a 3-run homer of his own to bring the score to 8-5, and Abe was also not seen in the seventh inning, which got interesting nevertheless because the Loggers drummed Ron Thrasher relentlessly. Thrasher came in to face the left-handed bats in the 3-4-5 slots and maybe the switch-hitter Velez, and well, he faced them all, and in order allowed a double, triple, single, and a wild pitch. The tying run was on second base with one out as Joel Davis replaced him to pitch to Denny. Very awkward situation with the Coons’ two catchers from the last two years meeting right at the plate frequently in this set, and remember how we have advertised Margolis’ arm strength all the ****ing time? Well, because it’s true! Ian Coleman took off to steal third base, Margolis unleashed a rocket and told him to get the **** outta here, and in the replay you could clearly see Denny gazing in horror as Coleman took off. The Charge of the Light Brigade had been less of a disaster. Denny struck out to end the inning, with the Coons hanging to a sliver of the 8-2 lead they had held just nine outs earlier, at 8-7.

Now, another thing. While the eighth was uneventful, the Coons had DeWald batting in the #9 hole after entering with Thrasher in a double switch. He drew a leadoff walk from Julio San Pedro to start the ninth inning, then stole second, because while Mike Denny knew Danny Margolis very well, we the **** also knew Mike Denny’s arm. You can steal off him. DeWald easily reached second base, but when Cookie singled to right, LeMoine threw him out at home. Cookie moved to second on the throw, opening first base for Yoshi to be intentionally walked on. And now Cookie took off for third, and Denny never got a throw off. Yoshi moved up, opening first base. Normally, we’d bat DeWeese for Jackson against the right-hander now, but Jackson had three hits in the game and wasn’t going to come out now. San Pedro never gave him anything to hit and walked him as the Loggers counted on Mendoza’s infamous unclutchiness with the brown cap on his head. Mendoza ran a 3-1 count like Jackson, then instead of waiting for another poor offering lifted the leg for a home run swing. San Pedro threw one in, but belt high, and Mendoza was powerful enough to knock that one as far as he desired. Drive to right, high, deep, GONE!! GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!!!

The Loggers were dead right there and then. No serious challenge broke out against Chris Mathis in the bottom of the ninth. 12-7 Raccoons. Jackson 3-4, BB; Mendoza 3-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI; DeWeese (PH) 1-1; Prince 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Davis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Someone check the Gaytirade barrel. I don’t want to find any dead cat in there. Or let’s say… if we should find a dead cat, make sure we have a stack of dead cats for the season. Or do we have to use the same dead cat all season long?

Raccoons (2-0) vs. Thunder (0-3) – April 10-12, 2020

The Raccoons led the league in runs scored despite having played only two games so far, while the Thunder had played three, but had only gotten nine markers across home plate. Their bullpen had been trashed in their opening series with the twice-defending champions, the Aces, but ours hadn’t exactly delivered a splendid display of pitching artistry. The Coons had won the season series the last three years, with identical 7-2 outcomes in 2018 and 2019.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (0-0) vs. Nick Lombardo (0-0)
Cole Pierson (0-0) vs. Jose Vigil (0-0)
Bobby Guerrero (0-0) vs. Evan Greenfield (0-0, 4.50 ERA)

Lombardo will be another left-hander. He was fairly decent by ERA (4.16) last year but issued 112 walks, which I would see as an issue. Vigil is a 26-year old right-hander due to make his major league debut. Think of that whatever you want.

Game 1
OCT: SS R. Avila – CF Stevenson – C Schoeppen – RF Fullerton – 1B Gershkovich – 3B Paull – 2B Becker – LF Gosnell – P Lombardo
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Jackson – 1B Mendoza – CF Bareford – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – SS Prince – P Santos

Bad news, as Lombardo didn’t walk people, and the Raccoons couldn’t get the balls they hit off him to fall in anywhere useful. They didn’t reach scoring position until the fourth inning, and then on a 2-out error by Josh Stevenson that put Nomura and Bareford in scoring position, but Margolis grounded out to Mike Gershkovich, who then hit a leadoff jack off Santos in the fifth inning. This was the second base hit off Santos, but once again it was a loud one and put the Thunder ahead 1-0. The Critters had only two hits through five innings, but Yoshi Nomura came up with a leadoff double in the bottom 6th, splitting Stevenson and Chris Gosnell in the gap in left center. Although Jackson and Mendoza were both entirely unhelpful with groundouts to Eric Paull on the hot corner, Andy Bareford snuck a roller past Gershkovich into shallow right to allow Nomura to score from second with two outs to at least tie the game for the moment. Margolis grounded out, keeping teams level with a run from four hits each after six innings.

At least, that was, until Matt Nunley romped a leadoff jack off Lombardo in the bottom 7th. That one gave Santos a 2-1 lead, and Santos was on 89 pitches and probably wasn’t going to go much deeper, so this was just in time for him. He batted (and struck out) in the inning, which yielded no more runners for the Coons, and got through two more batters in PH Bobby Marshall and Ricky Avila in the eighth, but ran full counts on both of them, thus shooting his pitch count over 100 and him from the game. Chris Mathis came in, hung a K on Stevenson to end the inning, and we’d play the ninth by ear unless the Coons found some more runs in the bottom 8th. DeWeese batted with one out and nobody on for Jackson, reached on an error by Gershkovich and was caught stealing, so runs were not a thing. Mathis remained in the game to start the ninth and got two easy outs to Nomura from Casimiro Schoeppen (pop) and D.J. Fullerton (grounder) before Gershkovich singled and he hit Paull. With the switch-hitter Jeff Becker next, Ron Thrasher was brought out to save the slim lead and blitzed the lean 5’11’’, 175lbs rookie from Acworth, Georgia with no mercy. The strikeout ended the game. 2-1 Coons. Nomura 3-4, 2B; Santos 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

By this Friday, each division had one team yet undefeated. The Coons (3-0) were joined by the Aces (4-0), Scorpions (5-0), and Capitals (3-0).

In between games, the 0-4 Thunder got more bad news, with SP Ricky Mendoza (0-1, 4.50 ERA) lost for the season with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.

Game 2
OCT: 2B Paull – 3B Marshall – C Schoeppen – RF Fullerton – 1B Gershkovich – CF Stevenson – SS Becker – LF Gosnell – P Vigil
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – CF DeWald – SS Petracek – C Olivares – P Pierson

The Coons got an early start against the debutee with Nomura drawing a walk and Mendoza finding a hole for an RBI triple to center. DeWeese was hit by the pitch and DeWald hit an RBI single to right before Petracek grounded out, sending Pierson, who hadn’t won since July, up 2-0, but a Petracek error cost the run in unearned fashion right in the second inning. Gershkovich reached second base to start the inning thanks to the error, and with two outs and the left-hander Gosnell up in the box we elected to pitch to him rather than the right-handed pitcher. Pierson blew it and allowed the RBI single, then bunted poorly in the bottom 2nd to get Olivares, who had walked, forced out at second base.

Bottom 3rd, Nunley opened with a single. Mendoza struck out, but DeWeese and DeWald both DeSingled, with the latter chasing home Nunley, 3-1. Nunley drew a hopeless throw, allowing the runners to reach scoring position with one out. Petracek hit a sac fly to right, 4-1, before the Thunder were smarter than the Coons, walked Olivares intentionally, and got the third out from Pierson without shedding another run, but Vigil just kept getting hammered in the fourth. Cookie hit a leadoff single and stole second base on a pitchout where the Thunder would have had him nailed if Casimiro Schoeppen’s throw hadn’t been wayward, ten feet to the left of second base. Yoshi singled to put runners on the corners, Nunley singled to chase Cookie home. DeWeese would come up with another RBI single after Mendoza hit into a fielder’s choice and before DeWald hit into another one. Petracek flew out to left, leaving the score at 6-1, which should be enough for any lefty to end a winless drought. The Thunder opened the fifth with an infield single by Jeff Becker, but Gosnell hit into a 4-6-3 double play right away and PH Bill Hiscock grounded out to Petracek, so Pierson was at least through five. Pierson got a bit cocky and started to pitch to contact, generating quick groundballs in succession. He almost would have gotten through the seventh inning on four pitches if he had actually made a quick enough play on Josh Stevenson’s 2-out grounder, but Stevenson legged out an infield single. Becker grounded out, however, and Pierson remained in command. While the Coons had the odd chance to tack on another run or two, they never used it, with DeWald stranding runners in scoring position in the eighth by grounding out to Paull, but the bigger news item was Pierson entering the ninth inning on just 81 pitches, and the 82nd was enough to get Bobby Marshall to ground out softly to first base. But Schoeppen hit a 1-out single, and Pierson threw a wild pitch, so he was not out of the woods yet. Fullerton popped out, bringing up Gershkovich, who singled up the middle. With runners on the corners, Stevenson was Pierson’s last batter in any case, and Pierson drilled him to load the bases. Ron Thrasher came out again in high danger to face Jeff Becker, again, and this time Thrasher blew it and allowed a bases-clearing double to seriously cut into Pierson’s line before Eric Kizziar pinch-hit and struck out. 6-4 Coons. Nunley 2-4, BB, RBI; Mendoza 3-5, 3B, RBI; DeWeese 3-4, 2B, RBI; DeWald 2-5, 2 RBI; Pierson 8.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 1-4;

And just one day after all divisions had an undefeated team, the Raccoons are the last team standing undefeated. Aces, Capitals, Scorpions – all lost their Saturday games. The Thunder are not the last winless team, however, as the Miners and Wolves still look for reasons to smile as well.

In bad news, the Druid informed me that the swelling on McKnight’s knee wasn’t really going down and he had trouble putting weight on it and was still using crutches outside his home. A return early next week was thus ruled out and we should eye the next weekend at best, and this made the DL assignment now very attractive because he was already very close to missing 15 days anyway. McKnight went to the DL on Sunday, and Dan Riley was called up as replacement. He had batted .125 in 24 AB for the Coons last year.

Game 3
OCT: SS R. Avila – 2B Becker – C Schoeppen – RF Fullerton – CF Stevenson – 1B Gershkovich – 3B Paull – LF Hiscock – P Greenfield
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Nomura – 3B Nunley – 1B Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF DeWald – SS Prince – P Guerrero

Yoshi hit into a double play to erase Cookie’s first-inning single, and the Thunder would also hit into a double play in the second inning, although one much more painful. They had the bases loaded against Guerrero after a single by Fullerton, double by Gershkovich, and a listless 4-pitch walk to Paull. Bill Hiscock batted with one out and grounded sharply to Nunley, who went back a step to third base, tapping it for the force before still managing to fire a rocket to Mendoza to get Hiscock out for a 5-3 double play that retired the side. Hiscock got some revenge with two sparkling defensive plays himself in the bottom of the inning, robbing Margolis of a double in the gap before retiring DeWald with a headlong diving slide in shallow left, but when the Thunder again had two on and one out against Guerrero in the third, Schoeppen grounded over to Nunley for another double play, this one of the more conventional 5-4-3 sort.

The game was scoreless as it started to rain in the fourth and a hefty shower forced a half-hour delay with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. Guerrero completed five after the thing, but to get in line for a W (which would see all Coons starters winning their season debuts), the Coons probably had to score a run in the bottom 5th, because it had been five taxing shutout innings for Guerrero even without the delay. Guerrero was used to bunt Tim Prince, who had walked with one out, to second base in the bottom 5th, but Cookie grounded out to leave him stranded. Guerrero was back out for the sixth inning, but allowed a leadoff double to Jeff Becker in the inning and soon was stuck. Jeff Boynton inherited runners on the corners and two outs, but before he could resolve his duel with Gershkovich, Josh Stevenson took off from first base on the 1-2, which was low, but Margolis still managed to grab it, jump up and nail the runner at second base, remaining unstolen upon in 2020. It also kept Guerrero’s ledger clean.

Greenfield maintained a 2-hitter through six innings, though a flawed one. He walked Mendoza and DeWeese with two outs (Margolis flew out to right), which gave him five walks in the game. Still, the Raccoons couldn’t get the ball to drop in. The Thunder remained closer to the first run, with Paull drilling a Boynton pitch to deep right in the seventh, with Cookie picking a woulda-been-homer off the top of the fence to the crowds’ enjoyment. Greenfield issued his sixth walk to Prince with one out in the bottom 7th, but Eddie Jackson pinch-hit for a double play. Top 8th, Jason Kaiser sat the Thunder down in order, and we were now in their so far horrendous pen, facing former starter Brian Furst and his 17.18 ERA, while he would face the top of the order. Cookie opened with a single, but that was already it. Yoshi flew out to center, Nunley rolled to first, and Mendoza again flew out to center. Their ineptness had to be punished at some point, and the Thunder hit Joel Davis like a truck in the ninth. He walked Schoeppen, Fullerton singled, and Gershkovich hit a 3-piece over the fence in left center. Technically, the tying run came up in the bottom 9th after John Watson, so far unscored upon in four innings of work, walked DeWald and hit Petracek, both with two outs, but we now had to pinch-hit with our 29-year old rookie, Ezequiel Olivares. Or Dan Riley. Nah, Olivares. Backup catchers with bang are not unheard of. Olivares popped out to Becker to end the game. 3-0 Thunder. Carmona 2-4; Guerrero 5.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K;

Well, three hits are hardly ever enough to beat anybody, even the Thunder…

In other news

April 6 – LAP SP Brad Smith (0-1, 9.00 ERA) leaves his Opening Day assignment against the Scorpions with a tweak to his shoulder. Apparently, he only has shoulder soreness and no structural damage and will only miss one start.
April 6 – In a major Opening Day brawl in New York sees both the Crusaders’ SP Jaylen Martin (0-1, 4.91 ERA) and IND RF César Martinez (.667, 0 HR, 0 RBI) suspended for 13 games for hitting opposing players with actual bats. The Indians win the game, 7-2.
April 7 – The Canadiens blow their 3-2 lead on a home run by Boston’s 1B Jose Duran (.500, 1 HR, 1 RBI) in the top of the ninth, but then walk off when pinch-hitter Brody Folk (1.000, 1 HR, 1 RBI) nails a Nestor Munoz for a walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth. 4-3 Canadiens this one.
April 7 – A 4-4 tie through 11 innings is dissolved in the Aces’ favor in the 12th inning when they score five runs on the Thunder bullpen on the way to a 9-4 victory.
April 9 – The Scorpions beat the Pacifics, 1-0, with the only run scoring on a wild pitch by LAP SP Vincent Alfaro (0-1, 1.13 ERA) in the eighth inning.
April 11 – IND SP Jared D’Attilo (0-0, 10.80 ERA) is out for four months with a torn back muscle.
April 11 – The Wolves lose RF/LF Nate Ellis (.833, 0 HR, 0 RBI) and thus their best batter to a broken kneecap. Ellis will need at least four months to recuperate.
April 11 – Also out for four months: TIJ OF Matt Jamieson (.167, 0 HR, 0 RBI), who broke his elbow on his 24th birthday.
April 11 – The Warriors knock four home runs in a 12-0 rout of the Capitals, although INF/LF Dan Case (.273, 0 HR, 6 RBI) doesn’t get one, but still drives in a team-high four runners on three hits.
April 12 – Tijuana’s 1B Tony Ramos (.348, 0 HR, 2 RBI) joins the 2,000 hits club with a 2-hit performance in an 8-4 loss of the Condors to the Indians. Ramos, 38, hits a pair of singles off Dan Lambert to get to 2,000. A career .294 batter with 128 HR and 979 RBI, Ramos was an All Star once in 2015 and holds the weird distinction of being traded in midseason four times in his career, including from the Titans to the Capitals in 2011 and from the Capitals back to the Titans in 2014.

Complaints and stuff

I can not remember any game in which the Raccoons hit two grand slams. April 8, 2020 it is then.

Dumbo Mendoza ties for the lead in RBI with the Crusaders’ Max Erickson (who was Player of the Week), while Bobby Guerrero ties for the lead in ERA, his being zip. Only one other qualifying Continental League pitcher has a flat-zero ERA, and that is San Francisco’s Mark Roberts, who looks a bit like he might challenge Jonny Toner for the strikeout crown this year. The 25-year old is certainly electric after being mostly used out of the pen in 2019, where he struck out 60 batters in 49.2 innings in 21 games, four of those starts. He struck out ten in 7.1 innings in his season debut. The Riddler’s scouting report is nothing short of prophetic. “You ready for the certain blow/ firmly coming straight at you./ But, oh no, calamity!/ That bender you swung right through!”

Matt Schroeder and Will West went unclaimed and arrived safely in St. Petersburg.

We will stay at home for another ten games, those coming straight against the Condors, Indians, and Titans with no off day until the 23rd, so the next week will see everybody getting at least one day of rest.