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05-06-2020, 03:15 PM
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#3181 | |
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Major Leagues
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: The bleachers of Sportsman's Park
Posts: 435
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Quote:
 Only 1 game back from those damn Titans!
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05-06-2020, 03:43 PM
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#3182 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 588
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This is still the best dynasty report in OOTP history.
Western, you talking of Ramos WAR had me thinking, whats the top 5 list for WAR all time and who had the highest single season WAR for hitters and pitchers all time? Now im also curious on the all time hits leader.... |
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05-06-2020, 04:32 PM
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#3183 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Quote:
 Some data, as wished for! (*active players) Top 5 Hitters by WAR 1st – Martin Ortíz (1998-2021) – 117.10 – part of the dreadful Martin Brothers the Crusaders had, that weren’t actually brothers 2nd – Pablo Sanchez (2013-2036)* - 113.08 – just faced him, 41 years old, also the career stolen base leader 3rd – Victorino Sanchez (1996-2020) – 108.49 – 3-time Player of the Year that spent almost all of his career in the Federal League 4th – Jeffery Brown (1981-2000) – 102.53 – part of the Capitals during the 1991-1993 Caps-Coons summits in the World Series 5th – Antonio Esquivel (2004-2023) – 99.28 – serial Gold Glover with two Player of the Year awards, also spent most of his time in the FL Just beaten in the category, Sonny Reece, the only player to hit walkoffs in two Game 7s in the same postseason, who is 6th all time. Best Raccoon of any kind on the list? 10th place Jose “Dingus” Morales, the bait that snatched Cookie Carmona. Nobody in the top 20 played a full seaso for the Critters, but David Brewer (6-yr, $9M when that was tons of coin in the 90s) is 22nd. Top 5 Hitters by WAR (single season) 1st – DAL Joe Nelson – 1978 – 11.24 2nd – CIN Jeremiah Carrell – 1979 – 11.13 3rd – TOP Christian Hampton – 1977 – 10.55 4th – NYC Martin Ortíz – 2011 – 10.52 5th – IND Garry Evans – 1979 – 10.36 Ortíz has another season in the top 10 and another one in the top 20. The highest-ranking season by a Raccoon on the list is Neil Reece’s 1993 campaign, where he batted .323/.378/.470 with 18 HR and 94 RBI for 8.31 WAR, then hurt himself in the first game in the playoffs (after already missing the 1992 playoffs altogether). Reece’s 1992 season ranks 95th all time. The only other Raccoon with an entry in the top 100 is Ben Simon, 81st for his 8.12 WAR season in 1979. Top 5 Pitchers by WAR 1st – Tony Hamlyn (1997-2015) – 152.30 – 7-time Pitcher of the Year, and once even Player of the Year, six ERA titles, the list goes on, but only ever won one ring with the 2010 Cyclones (grumbles) 2nd – Martin Garcia (1992-2010) – 122.72 – the Gold Standard of pitching, and the main reason the Loggers were a threat to the Titans around 2000 3rd – Juan “Mauler” Correa (1977-1990) – 120.02 – dominant in the early years of the league, finished his career with the Coons, 8-time Pitcher of the Year 4th – Aaron Anderson (1989-2009) – 103.02 – Thunder mainstay that NEVER won Pitcher of the Year honors, never led the league in wins, never led the league in strikeouts, and only once led in ERA, but was routinely very very, good 5th – Craig Hansen (1981-1999) – 95.92 – pitched in the FL apart from his twilight years, also never won Pitcher of the Year; control pitcher with 5.3 K/9, but walked under 2/9 for almost all his career Nick Brown is, apart from Correa, the highest-ranking Raccoon on the list, 22nd with 67.55 WAR. Kisho Saito (64.15) is 28th, Daniel Dickerson (63.24) 30th, but surely not for his Raccoons years… Dennis Fried (62.67) is 33rd, but, well, ditto… One spot further down is Jonny Toner (62.55 WAR). More ex-Coons in the list include Manuel “Bam Bam” Movonda, Randy Farley, Mark Roberts*, Antonio Donis, Matt Huf*, Tadasu Abe, Kel Yates, Jack Pennington; Top 5 Pitchers by War (single season) Bit of a boring list. 1st – Juan “Mauler” Correa – 1977 – 15.53 2nd – Juan “Mauler” Correa – 1979 – 12.47 3rd – Juan “Mauler” Correa – 1978 – 11.71 4th – Tony Hamlyn – 2002 – 11.70 5th – Juan “Mauler” Correa – 1982 – 11.48 Correa, Hamlyn, and Garcia lock out the top 12. The best Coons season is Jonny Toner’s first triple crown from 2018 when he put up 9.20 WAR, good enough for 27th on the list. He has three more seasons in the top 100. The second-highest individual Critter is neither Brownie nor Master Kisho, but Hector Santos, 64th for 7.53 WAR in 2015. In fact he’s the last Critter on the list. Neither Brownie nor Saito break the top 100. Career hits leaders: 1st – Pablo Sanchez (2013-2036)* - 4,157 2nd – Victorino Sanchez (1996-2020) – 4,083 3rd – Dale Wales (1982-2005) – 3,673 4th – Cristo Ramirez (1989-2012) – 3,625 5th – Jeffery Brown (1981-2000) – 3,582 6th – Sonny Reece (1993-2014) – 3,294 7th – Antonio Esquivel (2004-2023) – 3,263 8th – Martin Ortíz (1998-2021) – 3,220 9th – Alberto Rodriguez (2006-2024) – 3,172 10th – Dennis Berman (1996-2018) – 3,098 Yoshi Nomura is the highest Raccoon on the list, 11th with 3,050 base hits. Ron Alston ties for 16th with 2,993, with Juan Barrón 19th with 2,937 knocks. Stan Murphy (24th) and David Brewer (42nd) are more players that just passed through here on the way to greatness. Matt Nunley, a career Critter, ranks 53rd with 2,457 hits. Kevin Harenberg* is 62nd with 2,433 (sigh!), Ben O’Morrissey makes 77th with 2,334 hits, Earl Clark is 80th with 2,315 hits, and Cookie Carmona one spot behind him with 2,304. Hugo Mendoza, the great Raccoons player that annoyed me the most, sits 88th.
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-06-2020, 04:55 PM
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#3184 | |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 588
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05-06-2020, 05:38 PM
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#3185 |
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Minors (Triple A)
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Ashford, UK
Posts: 204
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A 15.5 WAR season is just... hideous. I do find it interesting that most of the single-season records were set in the very early years, though. I'd like to think it's indicative of a widespread growth of quality in the league, but knowing how OOTP really do be sometimes, it's questionable.
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05-06-2020, 05:58 PM
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#3186 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Quote:
__________________
Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-08-2020, 06:43 PM
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#3187 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Raccoons (14-10) @ Crusaders (10-13) – May 5-7, 2036
The repeatedly bereft Raccoons staggered into New York to play a 3-game set with the Crusaders, starting on Monday. The Crusaders were on the low end of runs scoring, ninth in offense and third in pitching. Their bullpen was however wonky and had an ERA more than three quarters of a run worse than their rotation. Meanwhile, the Raccoons had placed their last middle-of-the-order holdout on the DL on Monday morning and were now hoping that ****ing Ed Hooge would keep getting the occasional base hit… Last year’s season series with the Crusaders ended up being split, 9-9. Projected matchups: Darren Brown (2-2, 4.30 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (1-2, 2.96 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (1-1, 5.88 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (2-1, 3.38 ERA) Colt Willes (4-0, 1.19 ERA) vs. Jamie O’Leary (1-1, 3.75 ERA) Two right, one left, and then a day off. The Raccoons penciled Tony Morales in for cleanup on Monday, which was *weird* given his single-digit homer total and him just having turned 22, but he had run out of conventional options by now… Game 1 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – CF Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – P Brown NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – C Brooks – RF Chavira – 3B G. Ortiz – CF Balado – 1B Dupuis – P del Rio The Raccoons would take a 2-0 lead in the second inning with three 2-out singles by Hooge, who doubled, then turned around third base on a Jesus Maldonado single. Recently promoted, Maldonado got the RBI in his first at-bat of the season, moved to second on the throw, then scored on a Maruyama single to left-center. Berto singled, stole second, and scored on a Fernandez single in the third, 3-0, then hit an RBI single with two outs and the bases stacked with Vickers, Hooge, and Maruyama in the fourth. Rich Vickers scored, but then Dave Myers grounded out to short. Darren Brown started reasonably well and scattered a few early singles, but then issued a 4-pitch walk to Mario Hurtado in the bottom 4th, leading off the inning. Jeremiah Brooks immediately singled and Brown threw a wild pitch, which tolled all the bells of doom I had in my head, but he didn’t collapse; Hurtado scored on a groundout, but Brooks was left stranded, and Brown looked fine the following inning, so maybe he would be alright altogether? Indeed, Brown would not be scored upon again in the game, lasting seven innings of 1-run ball. He walked Guillermo Obando to lead off the sixth, but Brooks doubled him up, and Greg Ortiz pushed a single up the middle in the seventh, but was doubled up by Jose Balado’s grounder to Vickers. In between, Tony Morales had doubled in Dave Myers in the seventh, creating a 4-run lead. The pen had to get six outs, and did so without accident despite employing Casey Moore AND Dusty Kulp, with a sprinkle of Mauricio Garavito in between. 5-1 Critters. Ramos 2-4, BB, RBI; Hooge 3-4, 2 2B; Brown 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (3-2); Game 2 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – CF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – 1B Maldonado – RF Keller – P Rendon NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – C Brooks – RF Chavira – 3B G. Ortiz – CF Balado – 1B Dupuis – P E. Cannon The Raccoons got off to an even faster start, with Berto and Myers occupying the corners and nobody out. Fernandez grounded to short, but a brief fumble by Obando took away the double play and only Fernandez was retired while Berto scored. Morales and Maldonado then had additional RBI base hits for a quick 3-0 edge, which now had to be handed over, begrudgingly, to third-year Raccoon Gilberto Rendon, who was never recognizable from one year to the next. And he continued to be ****ty from the start here – the Crusaders hit three screamers for base hits in the first inning, a Graciano Salto single, an Obando double, and a Brooks RBI single. In between Hurtado popped out and Vinny Chavira *jammed* a ball into Berto’s glove for a 6-4-3. Getting hit by a pitch by Cannon surely didn’t make Rendon any better, and to add insult to injury, Cannon hit a 2-out RBI single off him in the bottom 2nd, plating Jose Balado to cut the gap to 3-2. He loaded the bases in the bottom 3rd with two walks and a single, allowed a bases-loaded 1-out single to Balado to tie the game, a LONG sac fly to John Dupuis to fall behind, and then barely struck out Cannon this time ‘round… Somehow the Crusaders let go of him after that and the Raccoons silently removed him from the game after five innings, still 4-3 behind. After hour(s) of deafening silence, the Raccoons didn’t awake again until the seventh inning; in between Tim Stalker’s pinch-hit 1-out single in the #9 hole and the first inning they had landed only one meager base hit. Following on here, Berto drew a walk that pushed the tying run into scoring position and then Dave Myers dropped a ball in shallow left-center on which Stalker scooted around third base and scored to even the tallies at four. Fernandez flew out easily, but poor man’s cleanup hitter Tony Morales came through with a 2-out single to center on which Berto easily scored from second base, and the Critters were up 5-4. Vickers then struck out, ending the inning with two stranded. Between Yeom Soung and Casey Moore, a longtime Crusader, the Critters pieced two innings together, setting up Chris Wise for a save opportunity, but we still got dips at Mike Hugh (the rule 5 pick that was foolishly returned so long ago it’s not even funny anymore; Hugh was 28 by now), who faced the top of the order in the ninth. Berto led off with a single, but was caught stealing and nobody ever scored in the inning. Bottom 9th, Hurtado fanned, Brooks lined out to short, and John Hansen hit a belter to right that Jason Keller caught half-blindly while racing back with terror on his face. 5-4 Critters. Myers 3-5, RBI; Morales 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-2; Game 3 POR: 3B Myers – SS Marsingill – LF M. Fernandez – 2B Vickers – CF Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – P Willes NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – C Brooks – 3B G. Ortiz – CF Balado – RF M. Porter – 1B Dupuis – P O’Leary Rain wiped out the starters after five innings in which precious little had happened after a pair of singles had sent Obando and Hurtado to the corners in the first and Jeremiah Brooks had hit a sac fly to center. That was the only run before the rain delay of more than an hour, with the Raccoons scattering four singles in the most inefficient manner imaginable. Willes had allowed only one more base hit to the Crusaders than that offending pair of singles. The end of rain at least gave Portland a shot at the pen, even though the first guy out there, Joe Hicks, had an ERA under one. He retired the Coons in order in the sixth, but Maldonado reached on a Hurtado error to begin the seventh and then Chiyosaku Maruyama drew a walk. Immediately, this was our best chance since the day before…! Preston Pinkerton struck out, but Kurt Wall singled to center to load the bases for a pinch-hitter, who turned out to be Tony Morales as the Critters hoped for a big knock! They got a grounder up the middle that thankfully eluded Hurtado for an RBI single, tying the game. Dave Myers then took Hicks apart with a gapper for a 2-run double, and the Crusaders moved on to another righty, Gabe McGill and his 13.50 ERA. Ramos batted for an 0-for-3 Marsingill, but struck out, and Manny Fernandez disappointingly grounded out to short, keeping the score at 3-1. Kurt Wall added a run in the eighth with a 2-run single, scoring Rich Vickers, and Vickers in turn drove in Manny Fernandez for an unearned run in the ninth inning, giving the Critters five total. Garavito had pitched a solid eighth, but even with the save being off, the Raccoons still went to bother Wise in the bottom 9th because him and Soung were the only somewhat rested relievers left in the pen. Wise struck out two in a quick 1-2-3 inning, securing the sweep. 5-1 Critters! Vickers 3-5, RBI; Maruyama 2-3, BB; Wall 2-4, 2B, RBI; Morales (PH) 1-1, RBI; Willes 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K; Raccoons (17-10) @ Scorpions (10-18) – May 9-11, 2036 This was the third straight years of playing the Scorpions, who were currently not going anywhere nice. Their pitching was awful, with a 4.56 ERA in the rotation (9th in FL) and a league-worst bullpen ERA of *6.47*. Their offense was also mostly in the bottom half in most categories. They looked ripe for the taking. Portland had taken two of three games in ’35. Projected matchups: Bernie Chavez (2-1, 2.75 ERA) vs. Steve Corcoran (3-1, 2.04 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (2-2, 3.69 ERA) vs. Josh Vercher (3-3, 4.83 ERA) Darren Brown (3-2, 3.60 ERA) vs. Mario Bojorques (1-5, 6.96 ERA) This series would go the other way round: first a southpaw, then two right-handers. Game 1 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – CF Maldonado – LF M. Fernandez – 2B Stalker – RF Pinkerton – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – P Chavez SAC: CF Sandstrom – LF Cortes – RF Greenway – 1B Hollenbeck – 2B Laughren – C H. Alvarez – 3B Stackhouse – SS Peeler – P Corcoran Corcoran still had that dismal Elk smell on him, so I hoped the boys would knock him around a bit and then get rid of him in due time. To my great dismay none of it happened, and the first guy knocked out was – literally – Dave Myers, who got bowled over by former Coons scrub Craig Hollenbeck going first-to-third on a Hector Alvarez single in the bottom 2nd. Hollenbeck didn’t beat the throw by Pinkerton, but he sure beat up Myers, who had his arm wrapped around his body rather weirdly and had to come out of the game, to be replaced by Marsingill. Tim Stackhouse grounded out to end the inning, but Steve Peeler hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, stole second, moved up on a groundout, and then was balked home by Bernie Chavez for the first run of the game… Again, that was the only run through five innings and the Coons only had a sigh’s worth of hits, three to be precise. Bottom 6th, Carlos Cortes hit a double with one out. Bernie walked Troy Greenway, then conceded a sharp RBI single to Hollenbeck, the dismal bastard. The inning ended with a pair of strikeouts, but the Coons now had a 2-0 hole to dig out of. They showed no signs of being up to the task; nothing good happened in the seventh and eighth innings besides a lonely Pinkerton single. Corcoran, the vile-smelling former Elk, arrived in the ninth still up 2-0 and would continue to pitch to the 3-4-5 batters. Maldonado led off with a double to left, which was a good start! Unfortunately, after that Fernandez lined out to Greenway and Stalker grounded out poorly. Rich Vickers pinch-hit in the #6 spot, grounded over to short, and that completed the 5-hit shutout. 2-0 Scorpions. Myers 1-1; Chavez 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (2-2); The mere appearance of Dr. Chung and his face that was simultaneously concerned and disgusted was not something I needed to see any more of, but here he was… So, Dr. Chung, what is it with Myers? – How bad? – So he can play? – That is good news! – What, there is also bad news? – What do I do with a third baseman that can’t throw?? And so Dave Myers was whisked to the DL with a hyperextended elbow. The minimum 15 days might be enough, I hear, never mind that we now have our #2 through #5 batters on the DL and I don’t know how we can even continue. I guess as long as we’re only half a game behind the Titans we’ll just scratch some scrubs together and play every day…… Matt Triolo was called up from AAA, a left-handed bat to pair with Marsingill for a platoon. Game 2 POR: SS Ramos – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Vickers – CF Maldonado – 3B Triolo – 1B Maruyama – P Sabre SAC: CF Sandstrom – LF Cortes – RF Greenway – 1B Hollenbeck – 2B Laughren – C H. Alvarez – 3B Downs – SS Peeler – P Vercher While the ravaged Raccoons were hitless through three innings, the Scorpions ticked hits off Sabre left and right, and this was it, right? This was how it would end? With Buzz Simpleton hitting .179 in cleanup for the Raccoons by June, and them never scoring a run again, right?? The Scorpions, not decimated by injuries, got Greenway and Hollenbeck into scoring position in the bottom 3rd, and Paul Laughren shot a ball through Maruyama for a 2-run double for the first markers on the scoreboard. The first base knock for Portland would be a leadoff double by Ed Hooge in the fourth inning. A Manny single put the tying runs on the corners for Tony Morales, who hit a sac fly, which at least got us on the board. Vickers then doubled to left, but Fernandez had to hold at third base when he stumbled turning second; however, Maldonado had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. He was also batting .167 since his call-up… he took strike three, Triolo popped out, and the runners were stranded. Sabre then walked Steve Peeler in the bottom of the inning, the runner was bunted over by Vercher, and scored on Chris Sandstrom’s single, 3-1 Sacramento… When the Coons tied the game in the fifth, they did so with not one, but two Scorpions errors to aid them. Maruyama led off the inning with a double, but was still on base with two outs and only scored when Ed Hooge reached on Adam Down’s 2-base throwing error. Ed went on and scored on Manny’s single, and Morales reached on Peeler’s error. Peeler would however handle Rich Vickers’ grounder, ending the inning at three-all. Sabre pitched into the seventh without getting a decision; he was lifted for Garavito when the Scorpions pinch-hit the left-handed Christian Abel in Hollenbeck’s slot, and Garavito secured the K to end the inning. Top 8th; Morales drew a leadoff walk from Vercher, then as immediately doubled up by Vickers… Garavito got two outs in the bottom 8th before Prieto replaced him to face Downs. Again, a pinch-hitter sprung up, Mark Vermillion, normally a regular and All Star, but befallen by hard to explain struggles this year. He shook those off with a pinch-hit homer to give the Scorpions a 4-3 lead in the eighth and set up left-hander Jacob Poirier for a save opportunity. Maruyama struck out. Marsingill struck out. Berto singled! …but Hooge popped out. 4-3 Scorpions. Hooge 2-5, 2B, RBI; Morales 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; After this game the Scorpions traded for 3B/2B Adam Corder (.221, 0 HR, 1 RBI) of the Gold Sox, parting with a minor leaguer and a prospect. The Raccoons remained bereft and wandering the desert. Game 3 POR: SS Ramos – C Morales – CF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – RF Keller – 3B Triolo – P Brown SAC: CF Sandstrom – LF Cortes – RF Greenway – 1B Hollenbeck – SS Laughren – 3B Corder – C H. Alvarez – 3B Downs – 2B Stackhouse – P Bojorques Sandstrom walked, Cortes walked, Troy Greenway went yard, and Brown walked two more in the first inning on his way to AAA. Down 3-0 in the first, the Raccoons, who had nothing better than a .200 batter behind cleanup man ED HOOGE, were beaten before the game had really begun, and a Bojorques single and a Carlos Cortes homer put the game out of reach for good, 5-0 after two innings. Not that the Critters didn’t almost make up the deficit after Berto led off the third with a triple to right. Morales hit an RBI single, but then Fernandez stupidly popped out at 3-0. That one soon hurt, with Hooge and Stalker reaching base, the latter singling home a run, and Hooge scoring on Maldonado’s groundout, cutting the gap to 5-3. Keller’s single got Stalker across, 5-4, but of course the game would have been tied by now… After Triolo got drilled, Vickers batted for the ****ty, ****ty Darren Brown, but grounded out, stranding the tying and go-ahead runs. The Raccoons asked Dusty Kulp for long relief, but somehow he understood “suck his hard as you can”. He walked Adam Corder and Hector Alvarez to begin the bottom 3rd, then threw away Bojorques bunt for a Scorpions run, 6-4. Somehow Sandstrom and Cortes didn’t rip his stupid bum apart, whiffing and grounding out to short, respectively. By the sixth inning Berto was a homer shy of the cycle but the Raccoons were no closer to a single stinking W in Sacramento, refusing to reach base outside of from the #1 hole. The game receded into the distance in the bottom 6th with David Fernandez on the mound. Triolo made a stupid error to begin with, but Fernandez walked a guy, threw a wild pitch, and lacked basically any nice qualities before he got smacked for two unearned runs on a Greenway sac fly and a Hollenbeck single… Bojorques was also out of the game by then, and once again the Raccoons wouldn’t beat a completely overmatched starter on another team. They were no less awful in the last three innings than in the middle three innings, and ended up being swept by a last-place team. 8-4 Scorpions. Ramos 3-5, 3B, 2B; Morales 2-5, 2B, RBI; Stalker 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; In other news May 5 – Career Thunder Luis Sagredo (.224, 1 HR, 5 RBI) agrees to a trade to the Bayhawks, who send two prospects to Oklahoma. May 5 – The Falcons beat the Thunder, 10-7, on the strength of a 9-spot in the fifth inning. May 8 – The Indians give up on the season already, sending venerable veteran Pablo Sanchez (.268, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to the Capitals for C Elliott Thompson (.267, 0 HR, 2 RBI) and a prospect. May 9 – The Loggers rally past the Cyclones for a 14-8 win, scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning. MIL OF Will Ojeda (.287, 1 HR, 9 RBI) has four hits and 2 RBI from the #8 spot. May 10 – The Blue Sox pump out 17 base hits in a regulation game and still come up losers, 7-5 against the Titans. Nashville leaves 11 on base with 16 singles and one double to their names, while the Titans score their seven runs from 10 hits and seven walks. Complaints and stuff For the Crusaders series we used twice Morales and once Vickers as cleanup batter. Both have eight career homers. Somehow, we still got the sweep, but I struggle to explain why and how and what it all means. By Sunday, Ed Hooge (7 HR) was hitting cleanup… If you grade signs of trouble, this is an A+ that things are going to turn hard south soon… None of that got better this week either, with the Raccoons not hitting a single dinger. Well, who’d hit them…? (buries striped face in paws) The other options for Myers’ injury replacement (…) would have been Vince Lutch and Yukitsura Hirai, two 25-year-old versatile infielders, but both right-handed, and Hirai was rather clumsy. Edgar Barrios, technically, counted as lefty alternative, but he was 30 and struggled to hit a lick in St. Pete… Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez is in the top 5 of many offensive categories in the Continental League and ranks 3rd in WAR by batters in the CL. Now, WAR is a useless stat, but Fernandez seems to merit being the #5 selection in the 2031 draft by now. He never broke into the top 50 in the prospect rankings, but bee-lined to the majors in less than two years and after some above-average but not jaw-dropping results in his first almost-three-full-seasons, he seems poised for the big breakout at age 26 (which isn’t too late, I claim). His best season was last year when he was in 148 games (120 starts) with a .286/.333/.418 clip, 12 HR, 75 RBI, and stole 22 bases. He got 4.9 WAR that year. Right now he’s projected for a .333/.371/.516 campaign with 27 HR, 97 RBI and 22 sacks again, but with 8.8 WAR! But knowing our luck he’ll break a few vertebrae tumbling down the gangway on the return to Portland and then get wheelchair advice from Cristiano…….
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-09-2020, 03:50 PM
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#3188 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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(stands in one of the storage rooms in the bowels of the ballpark in a sea of almost cubic cardboard boxes, 3 by 3 by 3 feet in size, and looks concerned into one of them) And they are all like that, Maud? – (Maud nods, wiping tears from her eyes)
Do you think we can salvage this somehow? – (Maud shakes her head, and wipes more tears from her eyes) So, the team poster promotion was scheduled for this Friday? – (Maud nods, still wiping tears from her eyes) And there was this mix-up with the printer, and they switched order numbers or something, Cristiano, you said, and now we have these calendars and our team posters are … where exactly? – (Cristiano shrugs while Maud keeps wiping tears away) But they made 30,000 of these? – (Maud nods, wiping tears like it can save the situation) Cristiano, see if you can arrange them to be shipped back. Or should be distribute them anyway? – (Cristiano shakes his head with a concerned expression) (picks up one of the calendars and reveals the cover with a picture of a rising black stallion – as is very apparent from its physical characteristics – and the print “Hot Horse ’36!”) Maud, you want to keep one? – (Maud cries in terror and runs out of the storage room) (drops calendar back on top of the stash) Ah what the ****. Cristiano, get rid of them somehow. Send them back. And tell Steve from Accounting not to wire them the money. I can’t … I can’t deal with this right now. (leaves the storage room, leaving Cristiano Carmona behind amid the many, many boxes) (Cristiano briefly looks at a few of the monthly pictures in the calendar) (Cristiano looks around, listens for any noises, then quietly takes the backpack dangling from the back of his wheelchair and tries to cram the calendar into it with as little disturbance as possible) Raccoons (17-13) vs. Rebels (10-20) – May 13-15, 2036 The Raccoons came home with a few scuff marks after being beaten up in Sacramento, then had a day off to lick their wounds. After that, another last-place team was on the schedule, this time the Richmond Rebels, who had won two of three from Portland the previous season. The Rebs ranked second from the bottom in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League with an unhealthy -52 run differential, which amounted to giving up more than 1.7 runs more than they scored… PER GAME. Projected matchups: Gilberto Rendon (1-1, 6.10 ERA) vs. Fernando Nora (2-2, 4.75 ERA) Colt Willes (4-0, 1.27 ERA) vs. Jamal Barrow (2-2, 4.79 ERA) Bernie Chavez (2-2, 2.74 ERA) vs. Derrick Forbes (3-3, 7.96 ERA) Forbes was the only southpaw they had to offer, and Nora with that ERA was actually the staff ace… Richmond was also already trading stuff away, sending MR Jeremy Bloedow (0-1, 1.29 ERA) to the Bayhawks for three minor leaguers and prospects on their way out west. The Raccoons also made a roster move, designating Darren Brown (3-3, 4.78 ERA) for assignment and exposing him to waivers after his most recent string of meltdowns. He was 11-10 with a 3.75 ERA for his career, but with 4.5 BB/9 and that would doubtlessly never get better. He had also lived off defense to get his ERA that low; his career BABIP was a staggering .268! Right-hander Travis Sims, 23, a 10th round pick from 2031 (#242 overall) was promoted from AAA, where he had put up an 0.66 ERA in 13 games (13.2 IP), whiffing almost 12 batters per nine innings. He would not stick around, since we had to get another starter up at some point, but this was as good an opportunity as any to give him some innings. Game 1 RIC: LF Foster – RF Montes – C M. Cook – 1B Sarro – 2B Freeman – 3B Sierra – CF Campisi – SS DeGroote – P Nora POR: SS Ramos – C Morales – RF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – CF Maldonado – 3B Triolo – 1B Maruyama – P Rendon Maybe the Rebels were exactly what Rendon needed right now – he struck out four in the first two innings, and hit a single in the bottom 2nd, which Nora had begun with a walk to Vickers before allowing straight 1-out singles to the 7-8-9 batters; Chiyosaku Maruyama drove in the first run of the game, and Rendon’s single loaded the bases for Alberto Ramos, who grounded up the middle, where Nick DeGroote flubbed the ball for an error. One run scored and the bags remained full for Tony Morales, who hit an RBI single to center, the final Critters hit of the inning. Fernandez hit a sac fly to Ian Foster, 4-0, and Ed Hooge grounded out to short. Hooge was up to the task in the bottom 5th though, doubling home Manny Fernandez, who had singled and stolen a base, with a gapper in right-center. This re-established a 4-run lead after Rendon had given up a solo homer to Mitch Cook in the fourth inning. Hooge would go on to score on a Jesus Maldonado sac fly to stretch the score to 6-1. Rendon was toast after six innings, but not for pitching badly – he allowed only three hits and roughed up ten Rebels on strikes, but simply ran out of juice in his arm. He finished with a K to Dan Sarro on his 105th pitch and it had certainly been one job well done…! Sims made his major league debut right away in the seventh inning, facing the mid-to-bottom part of the order starting with Ben “Nine Fingers” Freeman, who was hitting .292 with two homers and doubled to left on a 1-2 pitch. Steve Sierra however struck out, and Sims also retired Cyril Campisi and DeGroote to get out of the inning. Garavito and Kulp would further get involved in the game; the Rebels never got further than second base against the Coons’ bullpen in any of the last three innings as the team coasted to an easy win. 6-1 Coons! Hooge 2-4, 2B, RBI; Triolo 2-4; Rendon 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, W (2-1) and 1-2; Game 2 RIC: LF Foster – RF Montes – C M. Cook – 1B Sarro – 2B Freeman – 3B Sierra – CF Mntua – SS DeGroote – P Barrow POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – C Morales – RF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – LF Hooge – CF Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Willes Just when we felt reasonably okay with ourselves, the Rebels turned Colt Willes inside out in the first inning. Foster singled, Andy Montes doubled, Cook homered, and then it started at square one with a Dan Sarro single. DeGroote would drive in that runner with two outs in an inning from hell that almost doubled Willes’ ERA. They completed the deed in the third inning. Freeman homer, Sierra single, Telma Mntua homer, 7-2. In between the Critters had scratched out a few sad runs, but with Willes yanked after the second set of fireworks, the game and my mood were in the bin. As the Critters yanked the thoroughly murdered Colt Willes for Antonio Prieto, I plunked down on the couch, unscrewed a bottle of Capt’n Coma, and browsed through my magazine, Substance Abuse Monthly, while next to me Slappy kept watching the game on TV while making weird noises whenever more horrors befell the Raccoons. Maldonado singled home Ed Hooge after the leftfielder’s leadoff triple in the bottom 4th, getting the score to 7-3, but Marsingill popped out, Prieto was used to bunt since we needed more outs from him, and while Berto legged out a single, this was the second inning of the game that ended with Tim Stalker flying out poorly to center to leave runners on the corners. Prieto stellarly pitched the Raccoons through the sixth inning, but David Fernandez encountered more trouble in the seventh inning, issuing a walk and a double (Andy Montes) before conceding a run on a Cook sac fly. Not that it mattered greatly – the offense had gone to bed very obviously. Or hadn’t it? Matt Triolo was batting ninth after the pitcher had moved to the #8 spot earlier and drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 7th. He moved up on a groundout by Berto before Stalker walked, too. The runners pulled off a double steal, which appeared a bold strategy, before Tony Morales and Manny Fernandez both hit RBI singles. By this point the Confederates were scrambling for their relievers, with Maruyama representing the tying run at the plate. He grounded out, advancing the runners, and Ed Hooge got welted with a fastball, bringing up .194 hitter Jesus Maldonado with the bases loaded and two outs. The Rebs seemed content with this being Barrow’s final batter no matter what. And besides, the only lefty bat on the bench was Jason Keller… Maldonado batted, fell to 1-2, then crashed a double to center that scored two runs, reducing the score to 8-7! Right-hander Travis Green replaced Barrow, too late, and Rich Vickers batted for Casey Moore and ripped a double up the line! Two more runs scored! A score-flipper, the Coons had the lead!! Triolo was rung up, but the Raccoons had just unpacked a six-pack for a 9-8 lead! EXCITEMENT. The lead ALMOST got away in the eighth with Yeom Soung on the mound, but not for him or DeGroote’s 1-out single, but for Tim Stalker bungling Cyril Campisi’s double play grounder. Fortunately he got another chance rolled over by Ian Foster after that and this time turned the 4-6-3 to end the inning. Tony Morales homered for an insurance run in the bottom 8th, and maybe we’d need it. PH Danny Figueroa clonkered a leadoff double off the fence in right against Chris Wise in the ninth… Cook popped out, Sarro flew out easily, but Wise then lost “Nine Fingers” on four balls. Steve Sierra had the tying runs on base and hit a sharp fly to right… but Manny Fernandez displayed hustle qualities, caught up with the missile, and contained it to end the ballgame. 10-8 Furballs!!! Hooge 2-3, 3B; Maldonado 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Vickers (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Prieto 3.2 IP, 0 H; 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K; (sits there stunned, mouth agape, while Slappy grins and keeps drinking) Casey Moore got the rally win for eight pitches and one out logged; unfortunately Prieto pitched too early to have a shot of what he would have deserved. Game 3 RIC: LF Foster – RF Montes – C M. Cook – 1B Sarro – 2B Freeman – 3B Sierra – CF Campisi – SS DeGroote – P Forbes POR: SS Ramos – RF Pinkerton – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Chavez The bats seemed now empty, because the Coons did zero harm to the big-boned (in terms of ERA) Forbes in the early going of the Thursday game. The Rebs in fact scored first off a solid Bernie Chavez, who allowed two hits to Cook and Freeman in the top 4th, and that was already too much; “Nine Fingers”’ 2-out single drove in the catcher to make it 1-0 Rebs. The Raccoons didn’t cobble something meaningful together until there were two outs in the bottom 5th and Kurt Wall doubled. Marsingill was walked with intent, but Bernie dropped a single into rightfield to load up the bags for Ramos, who didn’t get much chance to empty them before a curveball bounced away from Mitch Cook for a passed ball. As one catcher vacated the vicinity of home plate, another came barreling down from third base to score and tie the game at one. Berto then went on to strike out. The next two innings again saw no offensive action except for Wall flying out to left where Andy Montes made a headlong catch before being carried off on a stretcher. Danny Figueroa replaced him. Bernie opened the eighth on 86 pitches and seven strikeouts, facing the pinch-hitting Mntua (I’m told to pronounce an A where there isn’t one, which is just weird…), walking him in a full count .Forbes was retained for a successful bunt, bringing up the switch-hitter Foster. Bernie claimed competence to get out of the situation at hand, but Mntua stole third base and chaos broke out when he made another dash while Foster dropped a bunt and raced to first base. Neither Chavez nor Wall made play anywhere, and the Rebels took the 2-1 lead on the suicide squeeze, with Foster even safe at first base. He went on to steal second after Figueroa popped out, but was stranded there. Forbes retired Stalker, Hooge, and Berto in order in the eighth and seemed nigh invincible by now. David Fernandez and Travis Sims combined for a 1-2-3 ninth, allowing the Coons another shot at closer Jimmy Lohrey, whose ERA was merely 6.75 coming into the game. Tony Morales hit for Pinkerton against the right-hander and singled to left, but we were hesitant with a pinch-runner, since Jason Keller was the last guy left on the bench. Vickers grounded to left for what looked like trouble, but ended up a Steve Sierra error, putting the tying run at second base and winning run on first. Lohrey then walked Manny Fernandez to fill the bags for Maldonado, batting .200 with 7 RBI in 35 attempts. His OBP was actually .194 – and right HERE a walk would be godly! Can you give us a walk, Jesus, pretty please? Nope – he fell all over the first pitch he saw, grounded to second base, Mntua fired home to kill off Morales, and the bags remained loaded with the Coons behind 2-1 and Maruyama batting… and striking out. It was left to Kurt Wall, who got a 2-1 pitch, flew to center, and Foster had no issues with that one. 2-1 Rebels. Morales (PH) 1-1; Chavez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (2-3) and 1-2; (looks like six weeks of rain) While I was all over the idea of sending Maldonado back to AAA for punishment (and Maruyama back to Japan), it wasn’t like the Coons had many reinforcement to pick from anymore, and the next team was already knocking on the door… and oh, no, it’s those guys… Raccoons (19-14) vs. Canadiens (16-19) – May 16-18, 2036 Average in runs scored, but with a leaky pitching staff and in fact the worst rotation in the CL (4.71 ERA), the stinkin’ Elks rumbled into the ballpark. We had swept them in three games in Elktown earlier this season and hoped to repeat the treat, but home series against Vancouver had a notable history in going completely off the rails… I think if somebody did the work and went back and compiled the home records for both teams in games against each other, he might well find out that both teams were under .500 at home against the other. (looks firmly at Cristiano) … (looks even firmer at Cristiano) … (begins to stare at Cristiano) … You’re not doing it, are you? – No. Projected matchups: Jared Ottinger (0-0) vs. Nick Danieley (3-3, 6.33 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (2-2, 3.76 ERA) vs. Josh Weeks (2-4, 3.40 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (2-1, 5.35 ERA) vs. Raymond Pearce (1-3, 6.07 ERA) Weeks and Bryce Neal (4-2, 3.86 ERA) were the two southpaws in their rotation, and we could reasonably see both of them since the Elks were coming off an off day on Thursday and had room to jumble their staff. The Raccoons DID make another roster move, though, sending Travis Sims back to AAA as planned and bringing up a starter for this very game (to keep him on his regular rhythm) with Sabre bumped to Saturday. 2033 first-rounder and right-handed pitcher Jared Ottinger was promoted with his 5.70 ERA in St. Pete for a spot start and would disappear just as quickly afterwards. His BABIP was .368, so maybe that had something to do with the ghastly ERA… Game 1 VAN: 3B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – RF Phillips – LF LeJeune – 2B Morrow – SS Cabral – P Danieley POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – C Morales – RF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – 1B Maruyama – CF Maldonado – 3B Triolo – P Ottinger Ottinger hit as many singles the first time through as he conceded to the Elks – one apiece. Neither team scored from their base knock, and in fact offense was rather slow indeed; after Ottinger singled, Berto spanked a grounder at Ramon Cabral for an inning-ending double play. The top 5th began with an infield single for Ryan Phillips, then a single past Ramos hti by Jesse LeJeune, that persistent pest of pests. The end seemed to be coming for Ottinger’s strong debut. Eric Morrow grounded out, advancing the runners, and Ramon Cabral flew to left, but after making two steps for home plate, Phillips shied back and retreated to his base. Danieley then went down on strikes, keeping the Elks off the board. In the bottom of the inning, a Hooge single, an intentional walk to Maldonado, and a 2-out walk drawn by Ottinger (!) loaded the bags, but Berto went down on strikes… The next inning, Morales and Hooge were left on the corners when Maruyama flew out easily to Phillips… Ottinger pitched a 4-hit shutout through seven innings, but that would be all for him since a) he threw 101 pitches, b) his spot was up in the bottom 7th, and c) the Coons still had to get a ****ing run (although Ottinger was unretired in the game). Maldonado opened the inning with a single, was caught stealing, and that was it for Ottinger’s chance for a W. Soung, Kulp, and Garavito would all get two outs to complete a nine-inning shutout of the damn Elks, but the Raccoons still had to score at least one measly run off Danieley, who entered the bottom 9th looking untouchable. Hooge flew out. Maruyama whiffed. Maldonado singled to center, kept running, and was thrown out at second base by Pat Pohl, bringing about extra innings and a serious ass-whooping for a certain rookie after the game. He was in fact double-switched out after Garavito got an out from LeJeune in the 10th. Chris Wise entered the #7 spot while Preston Pinkerton went to the outfield, batting ninth. It was however the Elks that scored, and off Wise in the 11th. Timóteo Clemente, Johnny Lopez, and Jesse LeJeune all hit sharp singles off Wise, with the dismal, stinkin’ LeJeune driving home the run that broke the ice after some three hours and change. Morrow struck out, too little, too late. Rafael Urbano faced the Coons in the bottom 11th, starting with the #2 spot where Vickers batted for a luckless Stalker and struck out. Fernandez singled with two outs, bringing the winning run to the plate after all in Ed Hooge, who grounded out to Josh Keen to end the game. 1-0 Canadiens. Hooge 2-5; Maldonado 2-3, BB; Ottinger 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K and 1-1, BB; Agony. Maldonado. If you don’t behave, I’ll fill your life with agony. And your bed with bees. Or whatever. The Raccoons returned Ottinger to AAA after the game and selected the contract of Tom Miller instead. The 26-year-old righty swingman had been taken in the ninth round of the 2031 draft (one round ahead of Travis Sims) and was posting a 5.47 ERA in AAA. In his case it wasn’t the defense, but 5.5 BB/9. He had however pitched to a 3.08 ERA while starting 28 times last seasons, then walking 2.9/9. I didn’t know what to believe, but in any case he was the third debutee of the week. Game 2 TIJ: 2B Morrow – C Clemente – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – RF Phillips – 3B B. Gonzales – LF Korecky – SS Cabral – P Pearce POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – C Morales – CF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – 1B Maruyama – RF Keller – 3B Triolo – P Sabre No, it wasn’t a coincidence that Jesus Maldonado sat on Saturday, even though giving at-bats to Jason Keller was about as smart as flushing them down the toilet. In any case, Ryan Phillips went yard off Sabre in the second inning for a 1-0 Elks lead, while the Raccoons got Hooge and Maruyama on to begin the bottom 2nd before the entirely dead bottom of the order flushed three at-bats for no greater good and the runners were stranded in scoring position. Lo and behold, though – when Maruyama hit a 1-out double in the bottom 4th, Jason Keller cracked a single past Johnny Lopez for the game-tying RBI! Maruyama drew a late throw, allowing Keller to second base, and he reached third base on a passed ball. Triolo then hit a single to center on the next pitch for a 2-1 lead – his first career RBI after ten years in professional ball, 40 at-bats, and at 27 years and 186 days of age. Then he was caught stealing. And THEN Sabre singled to left-center. Berto flew out to center. The following innings saw two teams poking ineptly. The Coons had eight hits through six innings to the damn Elks’ two, but couldn’t build on their 2-1 lead, and Sabre wasn’t quite as rock steady as the hits total against him suggested. He walked two, whiffed three, and nailed one batter (Jerry Outram) through six frames. He did retire the 5-6-7 batters in the seventh, though, and the Coons had a prime chance for a tack-on run when Berto found the depths of center for a leadoff double in the bottom 7th. He did score… somehow… Stalker grounded out, sending him to third base, after which Morales was brushed by a pitch and sent to first. Fernandez popped up on the infield dirt, Bobby Gonzales dropped the ball on his own face before swiping it away, and everybody advanced a base on the shambles play, making it 3-1 when Ramos scored. Some clown even gave Fernandez an RBI on that one… Hooge and Maruyama then came through with pathetic outs, keeping it 3-1 with two Critters stranded. Sabre got through the eighth with a Josh Keen single and Clemente rolling into a double play – and remember that Wise had pitched for five outs and the losing run on Friday. The Raccoons might want to use somebody else entirely in the ninth, and in fact Yeom Soung warmed up, which wasn’t a stupid move given that the Elks’ middle of the order, which was up in the ninth, went left-switch-left. Outram grounded out, Lopez singled, and Pat Pohl, a righty, pinch-hit for Phillips, but struck out. Edgar Paiz was another right-handed bat, hitting for the also right-handed Gonzales. The Coons’ pitching coach checked Soung’s pulse, declared the weather to be great, and got the W on strikes in that final at-bat. 3-1 Critters. Maruyama 2-4, 2B; Sabre 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (3-2) and 1-3; First career save for Yeom Soung! And if Wise continues like Friday, he might soon have competition for his job… AGAIN. Game 3 VAN: 3B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Phillips – LF LeJeune – 2B Morrow – 1B Keen – SS Cabral – P Weeks POR: SS Ramos – RF Pinkerton – CF M. Fernandez – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – C Wall – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Rendon After Tuesday’s stellar outing, Gilberto Rendon thought it was time for another beating and got it in the third, which Josh Weeks opened with a single to right. Clemente also singled, and Phillips hit a 3-piece with two outs, putting the Raccoons in a 3-0 hole that they were ill-equipped to climb out of. Maldonado hit a jack in the bottom 3rd to make up one run, but that was hardly enough to appease me after his multiple bone-headed moves earlier in the week. The score was still 3-1 after the top of the sixth, with Rendon pinch-hit for to begin the bottom half of the frame. The Elks had only landed four base hits, but had of course left only one of them unused. The Coons through five had only one additional base knock, a Vickers single. Tim Stalker made it three hits in total with a single to right in Rendon’s spot. Berto lined out, Pinkerton grounded out, Fernandez struck out, and that was that for another sad inning. Marsingill had a hit in the eighth, also leading nowhere. In between, Tom Miller had made his major league debut, retiring all four batters he faced, all in vain. David Fernandez had logged the last two outs in the eighth, then continued with not logging outs in the ninth. A single and two walks loaded the bases with one out, leading to him being replaced by Casey Moore, who walked without beating an eyelash and in order, PH Edgar Paiz, D.J. Robinson, and Timóteo Clemente, forcing in three runs before being yanked and stoned to death in a dark corner of the ballpark lot. Mauricio Garavito retired Outram and Phillips to end the inning, but at this point you could just as well go home, because after a 5-walk, 3-run inning nothing good would happen anymore. Bottom 9th, Morales hit for Pinkerton and drew a walk from J.J. Ringland. Fernandez grounded to short, where Bobby Gonzales botched the play for an error rather than a 6-4-3. Vickers flew out to right, after which Keller hit for Garavito, because this was the sort of player we had to turn to with everything on the line now. He grounded out before Kurt Wall actually ripped a 2-out, 2-run double to get Ringland out and Rafael Urbano in. Two pitches later, Maldonado flew out to right to end the game. 6-3 Canadiens. Stalker (PH) 1-1; In other news May 13 – SAC SP Tommy “Kitten” Kubik (2-1, 3.06 ERA) 2-hits the Falcons in a 4-0 Sacramento win, with the 23-year-old southpaw pitching a complete-game shutout in only his fifth major league start. May 15 – The Titans beat the Warriors, 1-0, on only two base hits, and none of them is used in their second-inning run, which comes about on two walks, a wild pitch, and a sac fly hit by 3B/SS Chris McGee (.222, 0 HR, 4 RBI). May 16 – Condors RF/LF/1B Willie Ojeda (.333, 8 HR, 28 RBI) pumps three homers and drives in five runs in the Condors’ 9-2 win over the Falcons. It’s the 61st 3-homer game in ABL history and the second time Ojeda does the deed, having previously hit three bombs against the Titans on July 31, 2033. May 17 – DAL INF Jon Ramos (.327, 0 HR, 16 RBI) goes 5-for-5 with a double and walks in a run, with 3 RBI total, in the Stars’ 13-3 romp of the Warriors. Complaints and stuff Second consecutive 3-3 week while the Titans won out and created a visible gap in the standings. After the rally on Wednesday, which, don’t get me wrong, was great fun, the offense completely died. Four games, 38 innings, seven runs, and multiple chances to win at least two of the three they lost. MALDONADO. The offense is meh, but that doesn’t surprise anybody with their eyes open. It’s too bad that even some of the regulars that are left are struggling. Ramos had a poor week. Stalker can’t hit a damn lick. Vickers slowed down. Maruyama is … why is he listed under regulars?? Doug Levis of the Baybirds leads the ABL with 11 homers. I’m not sure we have 11 homers combined on the roster anymore. – What is it, Cristiano? – 14? – Squee. Maldonado isn’t the answer to any problem either. I considered bringing up Cory Cronk to man a corner instead, but he fell into his own terminal slump in AAA and there’s no point in bothering. But isn’t it funny that we have a dying team on accounts of no offense whatsoever, and then the three debutees this week were all pitchers? And all because Darren Brown is full of ****. He arrived safely in AAA by the way, thank goodness (ironic eyeroll)… The ’35 Coons employed 43 players at one point or another. This year we’re already up to 33 and that is long, long before September shenanigans can kick in… Next week, more homestand against the Loggers and Thunder. After that we’ll have a grueling 2-week road trip against everything nasty in the CL South and the Indians. “Kitten” Kubik? No, Cristiano, I don’t want to know what his Gobble account tells you about how that nickname came about. – I imagine he’s drowning them in a barrel. – Close? Really? – *How* close?? Fun Fact: No player has ever hit three homers in a game twice for different teams. To be fair, only four players have two 3-homer games. In addition to this week’s serial banger Willie Ojeda, these were SAL Nate Ellis (2021, 2023), NYC Martin Ortíz (2015, 2018), and LAP Stan Murphy (2011, 2012), who had his second 3-homer game against the Coons before joining them later on. +++ Note: The Jared Ottinger start wasn’t planned. It was planned to promote Gene Tennis for his major league debut on Friday, and I imagined that I worked it out by “benching” him for an appropriate number of days. Turns out I can’t count to three correctly and the AI started him in AAA on Thursday. Well, maybe next week!
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-10-2020, 12:29 PM
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#3189 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Raccoons (20-16) vs. Loggers (14-22) – May 19-22, 2036
First series with the Loggers in ’36, and they sat fourth in the North, but were already out by double digits after the Titans’ recent surge. They were ninth in offense, but were giving up the very most runs with a rotation that was pushing for a ERA of five. The Raccoons had won 12 of 18 games against Milwaukee in 2035. Projected matchups: Colt Willes (4-0, 2.60 ERA) vs. Tommy Iezzi (0-1, 4.88 ERA) Bernie Chavez (2-3, 2.66 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (1-2, 1.53 ERA) Gene Tennis (0-0) vs. Paul Metzler (1-5, 5.49 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (3-2, 3.30 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (1-4, 5.03 ERA) We’d get three right-handers, then a left-hander. Piedra was a swingman patching the hole left by Alfredo Casique (3-2, 3.22 ERA) hitting the DL with elbow soreness. Speaking of the DL, the Raccoons would not get Dave Myers back until the weekend, so we’d have to keep making ends meet with the current selections of masters of disaster at third base. Justin Marsingill and Matt Triolo were batting .152 between them… MIL: RF Valenzuela – 2B McWhirter – 3B Conner – C F. Chavez – 1B Garnier – SS Del Vecchio – LF D.J. Mendez – CF Will Ojeda – P Iezzi POR: SS Ramos – 2B Vickers – C Morales – RF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – 1B Maruyama – CF Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Willes Danny Valenzuela opened the long set with a triple to center, and immediately the pictures from Colt Willes’ last disastrous start flashed back before our eyes. The Loggers contented themselves with a Bill McWhirter sac fly for one early run. While not an instant explosion on the mound, Willes didn’t help his own cause in the bottom 3rd following Justin Marsingill’s leadoff single, bunting into a double play. The Raccoons didn’t get on the board to tie the game until the fourth when Tony Morales stretched his hitting streak to 12 games and was scored with two outs on Ed Hooge’s single to right-center. Valenzuela hit a leadoff single in the sixth. McWhirter failed to bunt, but he simply stole second before McWhirter’s grounder moved him to third base. Willes lost Josh Conner on balls and the bullpen got up with some light jumping jacks – David Fernandez immediately had to sit down with a bucket, which coincidentally had also been his third bucket of chicken legs on the night – but Francis Chavez helped out with a sharp grounder to short, Berto to Vickers to Maruyama to end the inning. Up to that point the world was turning, albeit slowly. The Raccoons couldn’t hit a damn lick against Tommy Iezzi, and soon enough they also couldn’t pitch anymore. Willes walked Ted Del Vecchio in the seventh, then served up a bomb to D.J. Mendez to fall 3-1 behind, and Mendez brought the house down entirely in the eighth inning. Dusty Kulp began proceedings by being as **** as ever, walking two and allowing a single in filling the bags while getting only one retirement out of the Loggers. Garavito replaced him, got Maxime Garnier to hit a comebacker for a force play at home, but then allowed an RBI single to Del Vecchio. The bags were still full for Mendez, who put the game away with a pretty convincing grand slam to right, 8-1, aaaand curtain. Iezzi pitched a complete-game 6-hitter to add to the humiliation. 8-1 Loggers. And that was the first career complete game for Iezzi, a fifth-year player, although to be fair he had been mostly employed in relief so far in his career… Dusty Kulp (12 BB in 12.2 IP) was thankfully signed through 2037 and had 10/5 rights. This meant that getting rid of him was nigh impossible and the Raccoons instead had to send Tom Miller, who pitched a scoreless ninth, back to AAA to promote Gene Tennis, the starter for Wednesday. Jimmy Wallace was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster. Something new here – Tennis was a left-hander! If he prevented choking on a chicken leg until Wednesday night, him taking the ball would already tie the Raccoons’ total of starts by left-handed pitchers in ’35. Game 2 MIL: RF Valenzuela – 2B McWhirter – LF S. Wilson – 3B Conner – C F. Chavez – 1B Garnier – SS Del Vecchio – CF Will Ojeda – P Piedra POR: SS Ramos – 2B Vickers – C Morales – RF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – 1B Maruyama – CF Maldonado – 3B Triolo – P B. Chavez Francis Chavez took Bernie Chavez plenty deep in the second inning, and like Willes the day before Bernie had taken good care of walking the guy immediately preceding his assailant. Come the third, Piedra hit a leadoff single off Bernie, and a McWhirter single and Conner’s sac fly got him around to score, 3-0. Now, the Raccoons made up the deficit in the bottom of the inning, but only just, and all runs were unearned. Ramos opened with a single, was caught stealing, but Morales walked and Fernandez reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. Ed Hooge drove in the runners in scoring position with a double, then scored on Maruyama’s single. Maldonado fanned, adding to our growing concerns about delicious fruit not yet ripe to pluck them, and the inning ended with the score level at three… Top 5th, Piedra hit another leadoff single, and Valenzuela doubled to give the Loggers two in scoring position with nobody out, and I started looking at the album of Portland’s Most Beautiful Bridges again, tying to decide which one to throw myself off to drown myself once and for all. McWhirter popped out, and then Steve Wilson flew to center. Maldonado made the catch coming in, the Loggers sent Piedra, and he was thrown out at the plate! 8-2 double play on a true laser beam, and how much more dumb luck could the Raccoons possibly abuse to still lose!? In the bottom of the fifth they at least got an earned run and the lead. Morales drew his second walk (but was yet hitless) and after Fernandez flew out easily, both Hooge and Maruyama hit 2-out singles to maneuver the catcher around to score, 4-3. Runners were on the corners for Maldonado and, gosh, an insurance run would be fabulous. But how about three? Piedra’s 0-1 was down the middle Maldonado saw it, then dished it over the fence in left – a 3-run homer!! Talking of scrubs hitting 3-run homers, that happened again in the sixth inning, but this time I was much less excited. After Bernie Chavez AGAIN got bombed by Francis Chavez, he put another pair of runners on base before being yanked in a 7-4 game when left-handed Salvador Ayala, a 24-year-old second-year rookie, pinch-hit for reliever Matt May in the #9 hole. David Fernandez came out, got him to 2-2, then served up the game-tying homer to dead center, a true monstrosity and crime against humanity, I want to add. Portland got the lead back in the bottom of the inning against Mike Bass, who walked Berto, drilled Manny, and then gave up a 2-out RBI single to Hooge. Maruyama walked to fill the bases, bringing back Maldonado and his murderous .623 OPS. Bass balked, then nailed Maldonado, which sadly counted for fewer runs in this order than the other way round. Preston Pinkerton batted for Triolo with three on and two outs, because there was no platoon advantage to be had against the right-hander Bass if the batter in question was blinder than the three mice. Pinkerton struck out anyway. Bottom 7th, Keller, Ramos, and Vickers loaded the bags against Mike Bass with walk, single, walk, and nobody out. We’d buy into a knockout blow here! Morales heaved an 0-2 pitch past Del Vecchio for a scratch RBI single, extending his steak to 13 games, after which Bobby Valencia replaced Bass and allowed only one more run on a Maruyama single amidst sorry pop outs. It was still 11-7 now. Maybe we’d even hold on! …and we did. Prieto and Soung saw out the game for four and two outs, respectively, levelling the series. Ramos 3-4, 2 BB; Hooge 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Maruyama 3-4, BB, 3 RBI; Triolo 1-2, BB; Keller (PH) 1-1; Game 3 MIL: RF Valenzuela – SS Garnier – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – CF Will Ojeda – 1B S. Ayala – 2B Del Vecchio – C Bean – P Metzler POR: SS Ramos – LF Hooge – C Morales – CF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – 2B Stalker – 3B Triolo – RF Keller – P Tennis Maxime Garnier walked, stole second, and scored on Steve Wilson’s single in combination with an Ed Hooge error in the first inning, and the Raccoons had to play yet another one from behind. The walks were a problem – Tennis walked a guy in every inning, and by the fourth we also issued an intentional walk with two outs to Elijah Bean, bringing up Metzler with Ayala, who had drawn a walk the normal way, already at second base. Metzler of course smacked another single, driving home Ayala, 2-0, and I angrily hit my head against the desk. Valenzuela legged out a grounder for an infield single, and with the bases loaded Garnier hit a clean single to drive in two more runs, 4-0. Conner whiffed, but here was another game in the bin, with the Raccoons doing zero. It took them until the bottom 5th to get on the board, when Ramos singled home Keller with two outs. Hooge also singled, but Morales grounded out to Del Vecchio to strand them. Tennis dragged himself into the sixth inning, but left with Bean on second base and two outs. Dusty Kulp came on and conceded an immediate RBI single to Valenzuela, 5-1, then gave up another sharp single to Garnier. Valenzuela was thrown out at third base by Jason Keller, ending the inning, but by now Kulp had thoroughly worn out his welcome. He allowed ANOTHER two hits and two walks for a run in the seventh before being yanked for Moore, who got a double play to bail out of another ****show. – Not that it mattered. The offense was completely absent and the Loggers completed the game with nothing but Metzler and Rafael Zacarias. 6-1 Loggers. M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Stalker 2-4; Keller 2-4; D. Fernandez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Not even concerned with the Titans zooming away. If the pitching is now like THIS with the offense being like THAT, we’ll find sixth place in a hurry, even though the Crusaders (13-24) look pretty fatal, too… Although the Raccoons bitterly needed a win on Thursday, their lineup raised the white flag well before first pitch. Against the southpaw Stockwell, Preston Pinkerton was scheduled to bat leadoff! Thankfully, even the baseball gods couldn’t take it anymore and sent torrential rains that wiped out the final game of the set, which was rescheduled for August 7 in the middle of a long string of games with no off days. But August’s agony was August’s agony, and May’s agony was here now. And so would the Thunder be in just 24 hours. Raccoons (21-18) vs. Thunder (15-26) – May 23-25, 2036 The Thunder were still reeling from their 6-15 April, but they were not quite as bad right now as their record indicated. For their last ten games they were a modest 4-6, treading just as much water as the Critters, who had won the last two season series, 5-4 each. The Thunder were in the bottom three in runs scored and runs allowed, but again, much of that damage had occurred in their truly troubled April. Projected matchups: Raffaello Sabre (3-2, 3.30 ERA) vs. Paul Peters (2-4, 2.72 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (2-2, 5.23 ERA) vs. Gary Martin (1-2, 5.60 ERA) Colt Willes (4-1, 2.77 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (4-3, 3.77 ERA) Again a series scheduled to close with a southpaw. Maybe this time! The Raccoons still had to wait one day before they could activate Dave Myers, but he would indeed return on Saturday, and then everything would turn out fine! Please, Slappy, promise that it will be fine. (is handed another bottle by Slappy) Game 1 OCT: 3B R. Martinez – CF Olszewski – RF Celaya – 1B D. Cruz – 2B A. Rojas – LF DeLoach – C Urfer – SS Santillan – P Peters POR: SS Ramos – LF Hooge – C Morales – CF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – 3B Maldonado – RF Keller – 2B Vickers – P Sabre The Thunder’s first two singles were both hit by Roberto Martinez, who was caught stealing in the first and simply stranded on Drew Olszewski’s groundout in the third inning. Dropped to #8 for a dire 3-for-30 slump, Rich Vickers then opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, taking Jason Keller’s leadoff walk and a Peters fastball and barging it over the fence for a 2-run homer. And I wasn’t sure what it was with Coons pitchers this week, but it seemed like the fourth already began with runners on the corners… Lorenzo Celaya and Alfredo Rojas were the tying runs, but were stranded on Elvis DeLoach (best name ever? worst name ever?) popping out and Rick Urfer going down on strikes against Sabre. The Raccoons caught another injury bug in the bottom of the inning, this time Jesus Maldonado locking knees with Roberto Martinez on a slide into third base. He went first-to-third on Vickers’ 2-out single, then had to be walked off the field by Dr. Chung, who rolled his eyes when he saw the rookie trying to convince him by limping pronouncedly. Chung had to be begged to take him out of the game – Justin Marsingill took over. Sabre grounded out to strand the runners. Danny Cruz’ homer cut the lead in half in the sixth, and maybe the Raccoons could find an insurance run or two in their bats and in their hearts yet. Manny popped out to begin the bottom 6th, but Maruyama walked and Marsingill singled. Keller struck out, and while Vickers hit a liner to the right side, Alfredo Rojas was right on top of it and shagged the missile to end the inning. Sabre held up seven, then was pinch-hit for to begin the bottom 7th. Kurt Wall fanned, and that was already the most excitement the Raccoons generated in the inning. The Raccoons then tried something new. Rather than having Yeom Soung or, god help, Dusty Kulp, face right-handers in the eighth, they would send Chris Wise for two batters, then would try to finish the game with Soung against the mostly left-handed middle of the order. Wise got his two guys, but Soung walked Olszewski before facing PH Fernando Garcia, but the ex-Coon grounded out to short. Bottom 8th, Morales opened with a deep drive to left, but was retired by DeLoach before both Fernandez and Maruyama reached base against Peters with ****ty bloop singles. Baseball, kids! Baseball… Stalker batted for Marsingill and stuck out the bum to get hit by the 1-2 pitch. The Thunder protested, but the umpire sent him to first base anyway, filling them up for .196 menace Jason Keller, who drew a 4-pitch walk to force in a run …! Vickers flew out, which was bitter, since the Raccoons now had to pick between a pinch-hitter for Soung, or having him actually do the ninth. Prieto was available, but this was a ****ty situation that offered only bad outcomes. Matt Triolo batted for Soung, struck out, and the quagmire started to deepen… Ěn the end, Garavito and his 5.65 ERA got the baseball as a result of the Raccoons having outsmarted themselves, twice over. He logged two casual flies to center and a K against DeLoach. 3-1 Coons. M. Fernandez 2-4; Marsingill 1-1; Vickers 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Sabre 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (4-2); What do you mean, Dr. Chung, he has *nothing*? – Like, no damage? – When did that ever happen?? After batting .174, Matt Triolo was sent back to AAA. Yes, Marsingill was no better, and yes, Myers batted right-handed like Marsingill, all true, but only one of them had options, and Marsingill wasn’t it. Game 2 OCT: 3B R. Martinez – CF Olszewski – RF Celaya – 1B D. Cruz – 2B A. Rojas – LF DeLoach – C Urfer – SS Santillan – P G. Martin POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – C Morales – RF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – CF Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – 2B Vickers – P Rendon Oklahoma scored in the first thanks to a clumsy leadoff walk to Martinez, a groundout, and a Celaya RBI single. Both Celaya here and DeLoach in the second were caught stealing by Tony Morales. Bottom 1st, Maldonado was back in there after having been found simulating injury, which merited playing time rather than benching, although me and Honeypaws were still debating the merits of simply drowning him in the Willamette instead. The rookie came to the plate after three 2-out singles had loaded them for him, then flew out softly to Celaya… One inning later, a Maruyama double and a walk drawn by Vickers put two Coons on with nobody out. Rendon got the bunt down, but Berto was grazed by a pitch and the double play opportunity was set up for Dave Myers. Gary Martin was sweating profusely at this point and despite counseling from the catcher and pitching coach couldn’t keep himself together. He walked Myers to tie the game, but the Coons then started poking stupidly again and grounded out twice with Morales and Fernandez; at least the former brought in the second run for a 2-1 lead. While Rendon held on for at least a little while, stalling Celaya an Cruz singles with K’s to Rojas and DeLoach in the fourth, Rick Urfer beat him with a leadoff jack in the fifth, tying the game at two. The Coons couldn’t do anything with Vickers’ leadoff single in the bottom 4th, but Morales hit another one in the fifth. Fernandez walked, and Hooge shot a grounder up the middle. Jose Santillan dove for the ball near the bag, deflected it deeper into right-center and away from a hustling Olszewski, and the Raccoons’ third base coach started windmilling Morales around third base and for home plate. Olszewski threw there late, Morales was safe, and the other runners took the extra base on the throw; runners on second and third with nobody out in a 3-2 game! …and of course nobody scored anymore…! Honeypaws, why? Why? … Maldonado popped out, Maruyama fanned, Vickers was bypassed, and Rendon grounded out, then immediately proceeded to get screwed with a Celaya double, a Rojas homer, and a DeLoach triple in the sixth inning. Prieto replaced him, somehow managed to strand the runner, but the Coons were now 4-3 behind again… They also seemed to be accepting their fate. Berto singled and stole second in the bottom 6th, but was stranded, and nothing good happened in the seventh or eighth. Casey Moore struck out the side in the ninth to keep the Thunder just the one run away before they sent right-hander Steve Bailey and his 7.15 ERA against the Coons’ left-handed 3-4-5 batters. They HAD to make this one up. They just HAD to. Morales flew out to center. Fernandez walked, but Hooge whiffed. Maldonado singled to center, getting the tying run on base, but the Raccoons were now also well into the doldrums part of their lineup, and specifically Maruyama. There was no convincing PH option on the bench. Maruyama batted… and struck out. 4-3 Thunder. Morales 2-4, BB, RBI; Hooge 2-5, RBI; Vickers 1-2, 2 BB; No Maud, I don’t want to go home. (buries face deeper into paws) I just … I will just sit here and wait for death. – Yes, goodnight, Maud. (Maud closes the door and kills the lights) (darkness) Game 3 OCT: 3B R. Martinez – CF Olszewski – 1B D. Cruz – 2B A. Rojas – LF DeLoach – RF Cutler – C F. Garcia – SS Santillan – P J. Robinson POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – 3B Myers – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – CF Maldonado – C Wall – RF Pinkerton – P Willes The first run of the game came on a solo shot by Preston Pinkerton in the bottom 3rd, after Willes had spent three innings trying to get another spanking and having his defense constantly deny him of his naughty pleasures, and after Robinson had retired the first seven Critters in order. The game continued like the entire week had gone – shoddy pitching, with Tim Stalker making two strong plays to hold Willes together in the fourth, and then the Coons got Myers and Manny on the corners in the bottom of the inning, and useless dimwit Chiyosaku Maruyama hit into a 6-4-3 double play to throw it all away again… Better yet, after Maldonado reached on a Santillan error in the bottom 5th, Kurt Wall was up to the challenge. 6… 4… 3… When Berto hit a 1-out triple in the bottom 6th, I was 100% sure that we wouldn’t be able to find a Coon to drive him home. And we indeed didn’t … after Walker stalked, a wild pitch plated Ramos, 2-0. The Thunder went on to walk Myers intentionally to get to Fernandez, who grounded out, bringing up Maruyama with runners on second and third and two outs. No double play possible! For a major miracle, he singled to center, plating both runners and doubling the lead, then moved to second on Maldonado’s single, and then scored on Wall’s single. Pinkerton flew out, but it was now a 5-0 game for Willes, who wouldn’t get too many more chances to blow it all to hell. But a 5-run lead allowed some liberties, like not yanking him after a Rojas single to begin the seventh, and he did retire the next three batters in order, so he wasn’t lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning either. The eighth inning saw a K against Santillan, a Jorge Zamora groundout, and Martinez rolling over to Ramos for three calm outs. Should it be possible? Starting this badly and then coming away with a shutout? We’d surely *try* our luck. Olszewski grounded out to Stalker on the first pitch of the ninth, but then Willes struck Danny Cruz in the arm with an 0-2 pitch. Cruz left injured, replaced by Jake Markley. Willes faced the right-handed Rojas, who grounded out – Markley to second – and now there was just one out to collect from DeLoach, a lefty .241 batter. Willes claimed he was fine, but gave up a single up the middle, Markley scored, and the shutout was gone, and no more than two seconds sooner than the bullpen gate flung open and Garavito was sent to deal with Steve Cutler. A strikeout ended the game. 5-1 Critters. Willes 8.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (5-1); In other news May 19 – IND SP Andy Bressner (6-2, 2.94 ERA) and MR Bernardo Martinez (1-2, 6.35 ERA, 1 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Canadiens for a 2-0 win. Only OF/2B Jesse LeJeune (.277, 2 HR, 11 RBI) manages to drop a single for Vancouver. May 22 – Shoulder inflammation could end the season of 37-year-old CIN SP Bobby Morris (1-4, 6.00 ERA). May 22 – The Scorpions have only three hits, but two of them are homers by SS/3B Adam Downs (.316, 3 HR, 8 RBI) and 1B/LF/RF Carlos Cortes (.281, 7 HR, 19 RBI) to beat the Pacifics, 3-2, despite L.A. having 12 base hits. May 23 – CHA 2B/SS Oscar Aguirre (.208, 7 HR, 25 RBI) drives in five runs from the leadoff spot with three hits and a walk as the Falcons beat the Titans, 14-8. May 23 – Denver’s OF/1B Rich DeLuna (.349, 2 HR, 16 RBI) might miss the rest of the season with not only torn, but shredded ankle ligaments. May 24 – NAS 3B Andy Schmit (.067, 0 HR, 0 RBI in 15 AB) lands his first hit of the season and the 2,000th of his career in the Blue Sox’ 8-4 win over the Scorpions. Doubtlessly in the dying light of his career, the 38-year-old was an All Star three times and won two rings with L.A. earlier in the 2030s. He’s a career .266 batter with 150 homers and 867 RBI. May 24 – SAL SP Phil Harrington (8-2, 1.21 ERA) 3-hits the Buffaloes in an 8-0 shutout. Harrington, the Federal League Pitcher of the Year five years running, strikes out eight batters in the game. May 24 – The Condors trade 2B Andy Hughes (.333, 1 HR, 6 RBI in 21 AB) to the Scorpions for AAA outfielder Marquis Stubblefield and a prospect. May 25 – DEN SP Mike Hodge (3-3, 4.19 ERA) 3-hits the Rebels with six strikeouts. The Gold Sox win 8-0. May 25 – MIL 3B/1B Josh Conner (.203, 3 HR, 11 RBI) is out for six weeks with torn ankle ligaments. Complaints and stuff Tony Morales is somehow second in batting in the CL (behind Celaya), so I have zero doubt that he’ll break his skull dumpster-diving before long. The division is a mess, but a mess the Titans are running away from with great pace. The Coons’ third straight 3-3 week saw them dropping further behind, and the Titans are now 18-and-****ing-5 in May. They haven’t lost as many as three consecutive games since being swept by the Knights four weeks ago. Justin Fowler is due to rejoin the team at some point next week. That should surely boost the offense. And then it will all be alright. Totally. All will be fine. (keeps muttering) Not making major news, but we’re keeping stock thoroughly here, the Indians and Loggers swapped reserves on Friday. Juan Benito headed to Milwaukee, with Jeremy Leftwich going to Indy. Neither of the two had appeared in the majors this year. Fun Fact: Nobody but Phil Harrington has led the FL in strikeouts or ERA since 2030. Since he’s on the Wolves, he only amounted to two triple crowns despite never posting an ERA higher than 2.14 – he is the best pitcher of his generation. Somehow he was only a #51 pick in the 2023 draft. Let’s see. Who did the Raccoons pick ahead of Harrington, stupidly? Elijah Bean at #4, who has 673 at-bats in the majors at age 32, none with the Critters, but who was in town with Milwaukee this week… And corner guy Brad Woods at #47. He is unemployed right now. Woods has never started a major league game. He got 70 at-bats with the Knights earlier in the decade, batting .242 with one homer. Oh boy. Oh. Boy.
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-13-2020, 07:23 AM
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#3190 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
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Raccoons (23-19) @ Condors (22-21) – May 26-28, 2036
The Condors had rallied from a terrible start to the season (2-11 on April 20!) to reach .500, so they sure had momentum. They had won 12 of their last 15, so the Raccoons were in for a treat for sure to start this long road trip… overall they were third in offense, ninth in pitching, and their pen was still reeling from the early-season earthquakes, but those numbers were lying – the Condors of May were not the Condors of April… The Coons had won six games against them in 2035, three of those in the CLCS… Projected matchups: Bernie Chavez (2-3, 3.36 ERA) vs. Omar Uribe (3-3, 3.51 ERA) Gene Tennis (0-1, 7.94 ERA) vs. Juan Zaragoza (4-2, 5.89 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (4-2, 3.04 ERA) vs. George Griffin (1-4, 3.91 ERA) Injuries had left some splinters in their beaks, though – they were without Tomas Caraballo and Chris Murphy for example, both of which were stowed away on the DL. The Raccoons were only going to face right-handers in this set. We were also hoping to activate Justin Fowler any day now… Game 1 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – C Morales – CF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – 1B Maldonado – RF Keller – 2B Stalker – P Chavez TIJ: 1B Zuazo – 2B Bensinger – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – C J. Flores – CF Palbes – SS R. West – P Uribe For the first three innings, the Condors would always get a hit off Bernie Chavez, but never got far on the actual bases. The Raccoons hit nothing at all, and when Manny Fernandez dropped a single in the fourth, finally, it led nowhere in particular, either. To mix it up, Chavez walked Justin Williams in the bottom of the inning, Williams stole second, but was still stranded in a scoreless game. On to the fifth, where Tim Stalker reached on an error with two outs, which cleared the pitcher’s spot if nothing else, then committed a terrible throwing error, firing Uribe’s bunt after a leadoff walk to old Titans foe Rhett West into the dugout. The Condors had them in scoring position with no outs, which looked a whole lot like ballgame. Chavez walked Alvin Zuazo in a full count, gave up a sac fly to Gold Glover and runner-up for Rookie of the Year Jason Bensinger, then saw Morales fumble away a breaking pitch for a passed ball. Somehow, Willie Ojeda popped out and skunk weasel Shane Sanks whiffed in a full count, leaving the Condors only 1-0 ahead. …which still seemed plenty, but the Coons got Berto on with a bloop single to begin the sixth, and then the 37-year-old Sanks couldn’t reach Dave Myers’ fast bouncer that went into leftfield for a double. Now the Coons had two in scoring position with nobody out! The Raccoons barely got the runners home on two groundouts to Bensinger, flipping the score, but how about ever getting a clutch hit…? No? None? Never? … (sigh!) … Bernie pitched seven on 97 pitches, whiffing one per inning, then was hit for when his spot was leading off the eighth against Uribe. Rich Vickers hit a single in his place, Myers singled with one out, but Uribe got rid of the three left-handed batters he faced in the inning, and the Raccoons stranded their insurance runs. Yeom Soung got around a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th, but the Raccoons still couldn’t score, and Chris Wise had no cushion against the bottom of the order in the ninth inning, but got three grounders to short in a row from PH Mike Cole, Rhett West, and PH Firmino Cambra. Berto handled all of them, and Maldonado even caught all of the balls thrown at him! 2-1 Coons. Myers 2-4, 2B; Vickers (PH) 1-1; Chavez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (3-3); Game 2 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – C Morales – CF M. Fernandez – LF Hooge – RF Maldonado – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – P Tennis TIJ: 1B Zuazo – CF Palbes – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – C J. Flores – 2B R. West – SS M. Cole – P J. Zaragoza The Raccoons again didn’t get a hit the first time through (though Ed Hooge got nailed good), but got on the corners with 2-out singles by Ramos and Myers in the top 3rd. Tony Morales flew to deep left, but the ball came down just shy of the fence and Justin Williams was waiting for it. Neither team scored through three, which was surprising (or maybe not?) in a game where the ERA of both starters added up to almost 14… Portland was on the corners again with 1-out singles by Hooge and Maldonado in the fourth inning. Maldonado was caught stealing before Rich Vickers popped out, while in the next inning Gene Tennis got the first base hit of his career, singling up the middle with one out. Ramos popped out, Myers singled, and Tony Morales… popped out. While the Critters had six hits for gains in the first five innings, Tennis held the Condors to two base hits and a walk, a marked improvement from his first career start. Top 6th, first extra-base knock of the game, a Manny Fernandez leadoff double. Tijuana walked Hooge with intent, bringing up the .221 hitting future star (claws crossed) Maldonado. Zaragoza nailed him, and the bases were loaded with nobody out for Vickers, who hit a sac fly to center, before Chiyosaku Maruyama excruciatingly hit into a double play to end the inning… Berto hit a 1-out single in the seventh, stole TWO bases, and was stranded at third. Tennis spun seven shutout innings without getting any more support. He threw 98 pitches and was replaced by Casey Moore to begin the eighth against Mike Cole; all of Cole, Cambra, and Zuazo would hit screamers off Moore – two were somehow caught by outfielders, but Zuazo hit a double. The Coons sent David Fernandez to face the left-handed Palbes, who was hit for by right-handed Jason Bensinger. Preston Pinkerton entered with the southpaw Fernandez in a double switch, then got to race towards the fence on Bensinger’s drive … and made the catch on the warning track, ending the inning. Top 9th, Ray Andrews allowed a leadoff single to Vickers, then after a useless fly out by Maruyama another two facing Pinkerton and Berto. The bags were full for Myers and his .415 OBP. Maddeningly, he grounded to West, who fired home to axe Vickers, and Morales grounded out on the first pitch after that… Bottom 9th, the Raccoons stuck with Fernandez, because in the very difficult 3-4-5 part of the Condors’ lineup, Ojeda and Williams batted from the left side; only Sanks was a right-handed batter. Ojeda flew out to center, but Fernandez walked Sanks, which was not ideal. Williams fell to 1-2 before hitting a bouncer to Ramos, but the ball was too slow and the Raccoons only got the lead runner at second base; Williams beat out Vickers’ relay. Up came Jose Flores, a right-handed .237 hitter. The Raccoons went to Wise, Flores struck out, and the Critters won another squeaker. 1-0 Blighters! Ramos 3-5; Myers 2-5; Hooge 1-2, BB; Pinkerton 1-1; Tennis 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-1) and 1-3; We had 11 hits and stranded as many runners on base. Phew! Maybe a power hitter would help. The Raccoons activated Justin Fowler from the DL on Wednesday. Jason Keller was designated for assignment to make room on the roster. Game 3 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – LF Hooge – 1B Maldonado – 2B Vickers – P Sabre TIJ: 1B Zuazo – 2B Bensinger – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – C J. Flores – CF Palbes – SS M. Cole – P Griffin The left-side guys went to the corners with two hits to begin the game, but Fernandez’ run-scoring fielder’s choice was followed by him getting caught stealing, and Fowler flew out to deep center as the Coons settled for one in the top 1st. The Condors made it up fast with a Bensinger single, him actually stealing second base, and then an Ojeda single. Sanks hit into a double play to keep the game tied at one. Problems arose before long though, with Sabre and Morales definitely not on the same page. Williams opened the second with a single, reached second base on a passed ball and scored on a Flores single. Sabre then threw a wild pitch, and Flores scored on two productive outs, giving the Condors a tall 3-1 lead. The ****ing skunk weasel then put the game away with a 2-out, 2-run blast in the bottom 3rd, collecting Bensinger to make it 5-1… Through five – after which Sabre was already gone – the Raccoons looked thoroughly dead. In the fifth, Maldonado had reached on a Williams error, but Vickers had spanked a ball into a 5-4-3 double play instantly, and nothing came together for them. The sixth though began with a Myers single. Fowler dropped in another single, and then Tony Morales beat Sanks’ diminished range at the hot corner for a 2-run double, bringing up the tying run with two outs in Ed Hooge, who slapped the first pitch he got through the hole on the right side for an RBI single, 5-4, before Maldonado popped out. Mauricio Garavito held the Condors away in the bottom 6th before the Critters came back to bat in the seventh against Griffin. Stalker hit a 1-out double in Garavito’s spot, and Berto reached on a walk. After Myers grounded out easily, the Condors eschewed bothering with a southpaw for Manny Fernandez, and Griffin got in some good strikes, before at 1-2, he didn’t. Manny drove the ball in the right-center gap, Ojeda came close, but didn’t reach it, and Fernandez had extra bases! Stalker scored to tie, Berto scored for the lead, and Manny Fernandez stopped at second for a 2-out, score-flipping, 2-run double! Unfortunately, the rush dissipated fast; Fowler fanned, and Prieto was bombed by Mike Cole in the bottom of the inning, tying the game at six. Josh Heckman and Jose Ornelas kept the Coons off the bags throughout the rest of regulation, and their only hope was to do the same to Tijuana. Unfortunately, they also ran out of qualified, rested pitching and had to send Dusty Kulp for the bottom 9th. Jose Flores almost homered, but ended up being caught by Hooge on the warning track. Palbes walked. Rhett West hit for Cole, but grounded out. Marquis Stubblefield hit for Ornelas, and grounded out to third base – extra innings after all! Ed Blair held the Coons away in the top 10th, and Kulp got two more outs before David Fernandez was brought out for the middle of the order again in the bottom 10th. Ojeda reached second base on Myers’ throwing error, which was … sub-optimal. The Coons walked Sanks intentionally to bring Williams to the plate, and he flew out to Maldonado, though plenty deep, too… Ed Hooge then opened the 11th with a ground-rule double hit onto the track in right-center, from where it bounced over the low fence just to the left of where it became a high fence. Maldonado grounded out, Vickers whiffed, and Maruyama, inserted in a double switch earlier, fouled out. Instead, the Condors walked off on Flores and Palbes singles off Fernandez, then a Rhett West sac fly. 7-6 Condors. Myers 3-5; Morales 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Hooge 2-5, 2B, RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Raccoons (25-20) @ Falcons (22-25) – May 30-June 1, 2036 The Falcons had started sort of okay, but were now sagging. They were third in runs scored, but their pitching was both porous and explosive, with them having allowed the second-most runs in the CL. They were hitting for power especially, and were up 2-1 in the season series. Projected matchups: Colt Willes (5-1, 2.52 ERA) vs. Chris Turner (2-3, 3.63 ERA) Bernie Chavez (3-3, 2.98 ERA) vs. Bryce Sparkes (2-6, 3.75 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (2-3, 5.40 ERA) vs. Matt Moon (5-2, 4.53 ERA) Rendon was dropped behind the other two guys, utilizing the off day on Thursday. For Charlotte, Chris “Tuba” Turner was the only left-handed pitcher on offer. Turner had been a hot Raccoons draft target in 2030, but unfortunately the Falcons snatched him at #2. He had been a top 5 prospect for two years, and had debtued in ’33. He had 80 major league games right now, but only half of them starts, having been employed as swingman early in his career. He was 16-17 with a 3.99 ERA and 2 SV. Control had been a HUGE issue for him in his first few years, so much so that his 4.8 BB/9 this season was considered a great improvement… his career BB/9 was a shocking 6.5 …! Game 1 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – 1B Maruyama – 2B Stalker – P Willes CHA: SS O. Aguirre – LF McCormack – C Huichapa – 1B Zitzner – 3B I. Pena – RF J. Aguilar – 2B J. Johnson – CF Hubbard – P C. Turner Willes’ struggles continued with an Oscar Aguirre single to lead off the first, then walks to Ernesto Huichapa and a soft-hitting Travis Zitzner. Ivan Pena smacked into a double play to strand the other two Falcons. The Falcons hit three singles off Willes in the bottom 2nd, but again didn’t score – Jerry Aguilar was caught stealing by Kurt Wall after reaching base to begin the frame. While Charlotte piled up seven hits against Willes without scoring once in the first four innings, the Coons were somewhat more low-key, but had their chances; Preston Pinkerton was also caught stealing second base to end the top 4th. In the fifth the Coons loaded the bags in wicked ways; Kurt Wall hit an infield single, and after two sorry outs were made, Willes singled to left. Berto reached on a Zitzner error, bringing up Dave Myers with three aboard and two removed. He struck out. Willes was yanked with one out in the bottom 6th after a John Johnson single. Johnson’s was the ninth hit off Willes (plus two walks) in still a scoreless game (while Turner had fanned eight Critters and had walked nobody at all…). Garavito struck out Brian Hubbard and got a groundout from “Tuba” Turner, keeping the game scoreless despite 14 total hits in six innings. Aguirre singled against Moore to lead off the bottom 7th, stole second, and was on third base for Travis Zitzner with two outs, but Zitzner flew out to Fowler to strand him. Top 8th, FINALLY a walk drawn against Turner! Berto got four balls to begin the inning, and the Falcons whisked the young lefty *at once*! Right-hander Sean Rhinehart replaced him, got a comebacker from ****ing Dave Myers for a double play, and then struck out Fowler after Fernandez reached on a bloop single. Top 9th, Rich Vickers batted for Moore with two outs, Wall (single) on second, and Stalker (Pena error) on first, with southpaw Juan Vela remaining on the mound against him. He singled up the middle, but Hubbard was on the ball *immediately* and the Critters had to hold Wall at third base. Berto flew out to Nick Harris in rightfield, stranding three……. Soung got the game to extras, Kulp managed to not lose it in the 10th, and then Prieto was in for the 11th. Pena singled. T.J. Bennett singled. Then a wild pitch. The winning run was at third base with nobody out. Prieto struck out Johnson, which was helpful. Hubbard was then walked intentionally to create forces at every base. Joe Depp was the last bat off the bench for Charlotte, a left-hander like Hubbard. He lined a single over Tim Stalker for a walkoff. 1-0 Falcons. M. Fernandez 2-5; Wall 2-5; Vickers (PH) 1-1; There were 22 base hits in this game – ALL singles. Of course the clutchless Coons lost it… Game 2 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – P Chavez CHA: SS O. Aguirre – LF McCormack – C Huichapa – 1B Zitzner – 3B I. Pena – RF J. Aguilar – 2B J. Johnson – CF Hubbard – P Sparkes Berto opened with a single, Myers hit into a 6-4-3, and the agony continued at full speed. At least Zitzner also rolled into a two-for-one with Aguirre and Huichapa on the corners in the bottom 1st… At plain stupidity to it, like Bernie Chavez thinking he’d have a leadoff triple in the top of the third and being thrown out at third base by 25 feet by Hubbard… Manny Fernandez hit a leadoff double in the fourth and actually stopped at the appropriate base. Fowler struck out, Morales flew out to left, and Hooge flew to deep left-center, where Gabe McCormack robbed him with an over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-plate catch. McCormack went on to hit a 2-out, 2-run homer off Chavez in the bottom 5th, collecting Hubbard, and that would certainly be enough to win this game… Top 6th, Fernandez with a 1-out single, then a Fowler grounder to third base. Pena botched that, and Sparkes walked Tony Morales on four pitches to fill the bags with one down for Ed Hooge, who hit another ball to deep left and was AGAIN denied by McCormack. Manny tagged and scored, but the Coons remained 2-1 behind once Vickers grounded out to Pena. Bernie was gone after six innings of 8-hit, 2-run ball, still trailing 2-1. David Fernandez logged four outs in the seventh and to begin the eighth, but Dusty Kulp, the ****head, logged none. He walked Huichapa, Zitzner singled to get the Falcons to the corners, and we continued with Garavito. Charlotte countered with Ben Suhay to pinch-hit, the right-hander ripped an RBI double to left, and the Falcons got another run off Garavito before the inning ended on a K to Hubbard. The Raccoons went out without as much as a whimper in the ninth… 4-1 Falcons. M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Maruyama (PH) 1-1; After an 0-for-3 in this game, Jesus Maldonado was sent back to AAA. His average had dropped to .192 and he had *one* walk in 82 plate appearances. His OPS was .514 and it was awful to watch him fail… With a stuffed 40-man roster, the Raccoons selected somebody that was at least already on it, promoting 2031 first-rounder (#15) Will Luna, who was a meager defender and best suited for leftfield or first base. He was batting left-handed, and hit .282/.343/.399 with the Alley Cats, but in almost 800 at-bats in AAA had only homered seven times… Game 3 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – LF Hooge – 1B Luna – 2B Vickers – P Rendon CHA: SS O. Aguirre – LF McCormack – C Huichapa – 3B I. Pena – 1B Zitzner – RF J. Aguilar – 2B Depp – CF Hubbard – P Moon Ernesto Huichapa homered in the bottom 1st for a 1-0 Falcons lead, which basically meant we were free to go home now. The Falcons weren’t done yet, though; Rendon walked Hubbard to begin the bottom 3rd, and after the runner was bunted over, Oscar Aguirre landed an RBI single through the right side. With two outs, Huichapa hit an RBI double to center, 3-0. The score hinted at it, but to make it crystal clear – Rendon sucked. He sucked hard. He fooled nobody, and the Falcons had an easy time hitting the ball for distance. Stingy defense by the outfielders prevented an early explosion beyond the three runs they got anyway, but at the same time the Raccoons’ piss-poor offense meant that there was no hope for a comeback, none. A Zitzner single, a grim throwing error by Rich Vickers, and the Falcons had two in scoring position with two outs in the bottom 6th. The Raccoons stuck with Rendon to face Hubbard, who promptly singled through new arrival Will Luna (0-for-3 already). Two more runs scored, 5-0, and everything was just over. The Falcons would get another run off Chris Wise in the bottom 8th (…) on two hits and some good luck the baseball gods were persistently refusing to grant to the Raccoons, who arrived in the ninth inning being shut out on six hits and trailing by as many runs. Luna and Vickers hit 2-out singles, which included the first career hit for Luna. Kurt Wall batted for Wise… and grounded out to short. 6-0 Falcons. Ramos 3-4; Morales 2-4; In other news May 27 – As the Rebels rout the Wolves, 15-4, Richmond’s Steve Sierra (.223, 2 HR, 28 RBI) lands five hits, misses the cycle by the triple, and plates seven runs overall. May 27 – OCT RF/LF Lorenzo Celaya (.361, 6 HR, 21 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak following a 2-hit day in a 3-0 loss to the Loggers. May 27 – The Aces beat the Titans, 2-1, with Boston held to a single hit, a Willie Vega (.284, 6 HR, 32 RBI) RBI single in the first inning. May 28 – SAL 3B/SS Chad Armfield (.393, 3 HR, 27 RBI) returns the favor to the Rebels, ripping four doubles and a single in an 11-6 Wolves triumph in Richmond. The game goes 12 innings before the Rebs collapse, and Armfield drives in three runs in the effort. May 28 – VAN MR Jonathan Snyder (1-0, 3.00 ERA) is headed for Tommy John surgery with a torn UCL. The 36-year-old will miss a full year. May 29 – Sacramento’s RF Troy Greenway (.250, 9 HR, 24 RBI) will miss two weeks with a mild oblique strain. May 31 – Loggers OF Danny Valenzuela (.317, 1 HR, 19 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after connecting twice in a 6-5 loss to the Knights. May 31 – DAL OF Ryan Murray, who batted .259 with 34 HR and 287 RBI in his career, has to retire from baseball after a failed surgery to repair a torn labrum. The 26-year-old had been the #2 pick in the 2031 draft. May 31 – While the Indians rally over the Aces with a 9-run eighth to win 11-7, IND CF/LF John Baron (.225, 9 HR, 27 RBI) is out until the All Star Break with a broken thumb. June 1 – The hitting streak of Milwaukee’s Danny Valenzuela (.311, 1 HR, 19 RBI) does not survive in June as he goes hitless in four attempts in the Loggers’ 3-2 win. Complaints and stuff Ten runs in six games, including six on Wednesday, and they even lost that game. Getting Fowler back helped nothing at all, and I don’t know what deus ex machina device could possibly get us back on the winners’ road. The Raccoons have not had a winning week in a month, and now have a 4-game losing streak, their longest of the season. There is no fixing it. It is what it is. Berto, Stalker, Fowler, Wall all can’t get a ball to fall in. Nobody draws a walk, even against walk machine “Tuba” Turner. With runners in scoring position, they bat like ****ing toddlers. There is no fixing it. It is what it is. Paying almost $3m to Kevin Harenberg and then losing him instantly was a dagger that is still stuck in the Critters’ neck and now they tumble from day to day, bloody all over, and can’t get anything done. We are plummeting in all offensive categories, as usual, which is a shame because the pitching is, despite some chronic man-sized disasters in the bullpen, pretty *fine* overall. There is no fixing it. It is what it is. Maybe we can sell that pitching for prospects. Prospects like Maldonado…….. Fun Fact: Chad Armfield’s 4-double game against the Rebels ties for second-most doubles by an ABL player in a game. In 1982, Max Reynolds, who batted for a .690 OPS for his career, had a 6-hit game with the Cyclones. All the six hits were doubles. Cincy won that game against the Wolves, 10-3. Reynolds, who was in 1980 and 1981 traded from the Cyclones to the Loggers and back to the Cyclones in consecutive summers, was out of baseball just two years later…
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-15-2020, 03:58 PM
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#3191 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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2036 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS
It was a pitchers’ draft, and a draft for players that fit into the all-glove, no-stick mold, and for the latter there was the problem that they were so numerous that some of them might go undrafted entirely. There is only so many slick-fielding second basemen with less power than a handful of ants that I can care about. Which doesn’t mean that there weren’t some interesting batters in the draft, too. The thing was that at #16 the Raccoons were entirely unlikely to get one of those three or four players, and since pitchers were more numerous, our first-rounder would probably be a pitcher. But we don’t want to go without mentioning at least two of them, two future All Stars it seemed. Both were also super utility players, capable of playing about a handful of positions, so you know that I was salivating about them, and yet they were unreachable. Phil Rogers and Felix Marquez were the best college batters up for the draft, no questions asked. The former was probably more of an outfielder type, maybe even a Gold Glove centerfielder, while the latter figured to be an above-average shortstop or a Gold Glove second baseman, whatever your heart desired. Needless to say, I’d give an arm for either of them, or two arms for both. Maud is relieved that our scout guy, Gomez, or Fernandez, or whatever his name is, has assured her that the Coons won’t get either of them boys, and she won’t have to feed me for the rest of my life. When it came to pitchers, the offerings were rich, and you could get whatever kid you wanted – at least if you had an early pick. There were high schoolers, college kids, lefties, righties, even an interesting closer or two. Overall we had 121 players on the shortlist, and the following dozen-or-so on the revered hotlist (*high school players): SP Gabe Blanco (14/12/14) * SP Kyle Conner (11/14/15) * - BNN #2 SP Mike Bezet (12/15/14) – BNN #1 SP Mike LeMasters (12/11/10) * - BNN #8 SP Melvin Lucero (11/13/14) * SP Mike Carnes (12/12/9) – BNN #5 CL Van Anderson (16/15/13) * CL Josh Shackelford (12/13/13) UT Felix Marquez (14/13/17) – BNN #3 SS/3B Justin Morgenstern (13/4/4) 1B Art Goetz (8/13/13) UT Phil Rogers (8/14/13) – BNN #4 RF/LF/1B Josh Wotring (13/10/12) Off note shall be that Van Anderson entered the draft as a meh outfielder, but is actually a bit of a pitching standout in high school ball. He doesn’t have the stamina to be a starter, but he looks like an interesting pick. Morgenstern (which is German for morning star) has been grimly rated by our scout guy, but seems to hit a whole lot better in college. I don’t currently have a favorite among those pitchers on offer. I would like a left-hander, which is not currently a common commodity in our system, so that would mean Bezet or LeMasters (though there are more A- options available), but I wouldn’t kick any of the righties off a bridge over the Willamette. Given the numbers we should get *somebody* off the list at #16.
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-15-2020, 05:10 PM
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#3192 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Raccoons (25-23) @ Aces (31-18) – June 2-4, 2036
Nope, dunno what lit fire under the Aces’ bums recently, and I am none too keen to find out, either. Their numbers were impressive, sitting in the top 3 in both runs scored and runs allowed in the CL, but they had also lost four in a row now and two of three to the Critters the first time around this year. They had however suffered a few injuries, losing SP Jamie Klages and SP Antonio Vega long-term, while outfielder Evan Martin was also currently on the shelf (but hadn’t hit much when he was in the lineup…). The Raccoons hadn’t posted a winning week since the start of May and they were unlikely to do so this week against this opposition. Projected matchups: Gene Tennis (1-1, 3.55 ERA) vs. Matt Diduch (4-2, 3.14 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (4-2, 3.57 ERA) vs. John Jackson (2-1, 3.26 ERA) Colt Willes (5-1, 2.32 ERA) vs. Chris Crowell (4-5, 2.72 ERA) All southpaws in their rotation right now. Even the Coons had more variety since the arrival of Gene Tennis and all of his two major league starts. Game 1 POR: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – LF Hooge – 1B Luna – 2B Vickers – P Tennis LVA: CF M. Hall – RF Jorgensen – 2B Briones – 1B Marz – C Kuehn – LF J. Nelson – SS Schneider – 3B Stedham – P Diduch Mike Hall’s single and a walk to Mario Briones already put two Aces on the bases before Tennis fell to 3-0 against John Marz in the bottom of the first. Marz poked, hit a quick turf bouncer to Dave Myers, and the Critters got some 5-4-3 relief they wouldn’t have gotten on grass. The Aces hit three more singles off Tennis in the bottom 2nd, but Justin Nelson also hit into another double play, 6-4-3, right after Paul Kuehn’s leadoff single to left, so they failed to score again once Diduch went down on strikes with runners on the corners. Diduch faced the minimum the first time through, but walked Berto to begin the fourth. The Coons’ shortstop stole second, then circled around when Dave Myers singled to right, and scored… while Kuehn fell onto him with the ball. While late, he surely knocked out Berto, who rolled into a ball behind home plate and had to be carted off in a litter. Tim Stalker took over in the leadoff spot… While the Raccoons were already grimly concerned about losing another key player, Justin Fowler hit his first homer and got his first RBI back from the DL in the same inning, a 2-spot to left, and his seventh of the season, which wasn’t THAT bad for a guy that had missed 20 games already. However, up 3-0, Tennis folded immediately. He walked Kuehn to begin the bottom 4th and then got dismembered first by the Aces, who scored on a Justin Nelson triple, got Brian Schneider on with an infield single, and got a sac fly from Jesse Stedham, and eventually his own defense when Dave Myers fudged a Mike Hall bouncer with two down. That should have ended the inning, but the ravaging continued, and Tennis gave up run-scoring hits to Steve Jorgensen and Mario Briones to find himself 4-3 behind. Marz struck out in a full count to end the inning, but the damage was definitely done… Tennis just barely got through five innings, ending the fifth like the second with a K to Diduch with runners on the corners, then was quietly replaced afterwards. Next, Antonio Prieto was exploded by the Aces; Mike Hall opened the sixth with a triple to left, then scored on a Jorgensen double. A wild pitch advanced that runner, there was a Briones sac fly, 6-3, Marz reached on a Morales error, and Nelson doubled home ANOTHER run. David Fernandez replaced Prieto, allowed singles to Schneider and Stedham for another run, 8-3, then somehow got Manny Fernandez to catch a Diduch blooper in shallow right to end that ****ter of an inning… Amazingly enough, the Coons got the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. Hooge, Vickers, and Maruyama hit singles to load the bases, and Tim Stalker legged out an infield roller on which Jeff McNatt at third base had no play whatsoever. It was an 8-4 game, and Myers batted with three on and one out, but his fly to deep left was caught by Nelson. Vickers scored for a sac fly, and Fernandez hit an RBI single up the middle, bringing up Fowler with two outs. Fowler squeezed out a walk, which loaded the bases, after which Tony Morales flew to left, and Nelson had that one easily, stranding three in an 8-6 game. For the umpteenth time, however, Dusty Kulp derailed a ballgame when he pitched in the bottom of the inning. Hall singled, Jorgensen walked, and John Marz hit a 3-piece. That was the final dagger. Or you’d think so. Top 9th, the Coons started down by five against Jerry Hodges. Stalker singled. Myers singled. Fernandez hit an RBI double to left, 11-7. Exit Hodges, bring on the left-hander Seth Odum and his 0.76 ERA. He was probably not on for Fowler, but rather for the three lefty bats after that for whatever Fowler left on base. He poked at the first pitch, grounding it to right, where Briones lunged and knocked the ball down, but had no play at first base – RBI infield single, and now the tying run was at the plate with no outs. Tony Morales sloshed a bouncer up the middle for an RBI single (in Portland, that’s an out, and maybe two), before Kurt Wall batted for Hooge. He flew out to deep center, while Pinkerton grounded out in Luna’s place; both moves combined scored Fowler, 11-10, and Morales was on second base for Vickers with two outs. The game ended with Vickers looking at a 2-2 strike. 11-10 Aces. Stalker 2-3, RBI; Myers 3-3, BB, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Morales 2-5, RBI; Maruyama (PH) 1-1; Five straight losses, not counting Berto. This was the 300th career save for Seth Odum, who was in his 15th season in the majors, but only the second in the Continental League. He was a 4-time All Star with a 3.15 ERA and had won a ring with the ’32 Pacifics. Berto wasn’t diagnosed by Tuesday, with Dr. Chung declaring he wouldn’t look at him if he didn’t at least bleed profusely out of the abdomen. Game 2 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Stalker – C Wall – 1B Luna – SS Marsingill – P Sabre LVA: RF Jorgensen – 1B Stedham – CF M. Hall – 2B Briones – LF J. Nelson – C Wiersma – 3B J. Bennett – SS Ackeret – P J. Jackson Another leadoff man went down to injury in this game at Flanders Fields that saw Steve Jorgensen jamming his leg or knee or foot or whatever when he slid into third base and Dave Myers on a 1-out triple in the bottom 3rd. He was replaced with Carlos Flores from the far end of the bench, while Stedham singled home the pinch-runner to tie the game at one – earlier in the same inning, Ed Hooge had tripled and scored on a Fernandez sac fly. Not much else happened until the score went from 1-1 to 2-2 in the sixth inning as Justins Fowler and Nelson exchanged solo homers for their eighth and sixth of the year, respectively. Will Luna narrowly missed his first major league dinger and RBI in his third game when he clobbered a ball off the top of the fence in rightfield for a 1-out double in the seventh. Marsingill hit a blooper near the leftfield line for an RBI single, giving the Coons their third lead of the game to blow. And while John Jackson misdirected Sabre’s bunt to add a second runner to the bases, Dave Myers sure-pawedly hit into a 6-4-3 double play to clean up… Jackson legged out an infield single to begin the bottom 7th, but Marz hit into a double play when he batted for Flores in the #1 spot. Sabre rang up Jorgensen to end the inning, which also saw him exceed 100 pitches. 25-year-old catcher and afterthought Ken Wiersma, batting all of .162, would break up the W for Sabre when he hit a 2-out triple in the gap in the bottom 8th after Briones had already singled off Casey Moore, the other half of the no-good right-handed bullpen additions that kept breaking each and every lead they got into. Yeom Soung would hold up in the ninth, sending a 3-3 game to extra innings, where the Raccoons did zero against Natanael Abrao in the top 10th before having to send Garavito against right-handers in the bottom of the inning. Briones hit a leadoff double, Nelson flew out to Fowler. That brought up Wiersma again – just walk him, I say. Garavito didn’t, and instead Wiersma singled up the middle to end the game. 4-3 Aces. Fowler 2-4, HR, RBI; Sabre 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; Six losses in a row. It’s getting old, boys! Game 3 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Stalker – 1B Maruyama – P Willes LVA: CF M. Hall – 1B Stedham – 2B Briones – C Kuehn – LF J. Nelson – 3B Schneider – RF Beckel – SS O’Keefe – P Crowell The Coons kept scoring first – here with Morales singling home Myers, who along with Fowler had walked in the first inning – which created excitement waiting for the inevitable screw-up. Willes didn’t implode right away, which was progress, and instead Manny Fernandez hit a 2-piece with Hooge aboard in the third inning to make it 3-0. Fowler doubled, still with nobody out, and scored on two groundouts, 4-0. That sounded almost like a challenge … Danny Beckel hit a 2-out, 2-run double in the fourth, cutting the lead in half. It was his first hit of ’36, as he had been recalled as replacement for Jorgensen. At least Chris O’Keefe struck out… Bottom 6th, a Vickers error put Briones on base to begin the inning, and that couldn’t be good. Kuehn singled, I screamed, but Fowler got up with a Nelson drive and while Briones advanced to third base on that, the tying runs were merely on the corners yet and not high-fiving in the ****ing home team’s dugout. Brian Schneider walked, filling the bags, but relief came from Beckel, who grounded to short, where Stalker ****ed the PERFECT 6-4-3 ball into an error. A run scored as he chased the ball across the infield, and the score narrowed to 4-3. An Aces attendant asked me whether I was alright when I hit my head with great force against a door frame repeatedly, to which I cried out in the negative and immediately grabbed him in a tight embrace, crying vigorously onto his shoulder. The Raccoons sent Prieto, who secured strikeouts from O’Keefe and Aiden Ackeret, ending the inning with three men stranded. An insurance run would probably help now, but John Landrum struck out the side in the seventh, and retired three more in the eighth. Switch-hitter Paul Kuehn homered off David Fernandez to tie the game at four, leading off the bottom 8th, and it was only numbness left at that point. Moore finished the inning, and Vickers opened the ninth with a double to left off Odum. Stalker’s groundout moved him to third, after which the Aces walked Maruyama intentionally – a nice break from a flurry of strikeouts he had posted in the game – and here was the conundrum. Will Luna had pinch-hit in the #9 hole earlier and had remained in the game – Hooge was gone, the pitcher sitting in the #2 spot – and the Coons had a short bench due to the Ramos injury and the resilience of their Pyongyang-educated cadre physician. Nobody wanted to see Luna bat against the southpaw Odum with one out and a double play on offer, but the Raccoons also didn’t want to run out of bench in regulation… No such worries – Luna batted, hit into a soul-stabbing 4-6-3 double play, and somehow Moore and Garavito got around Mike Hall on second base and a PH appearance by Wiersma without blowing up in the bottom of the ninth. Another extra inning affair began, with Odum continuing on the mound for Vegas. He retired the Critters in order in the 10th, with Chris Wise then coming into a tied game (with Soung the only reasonable alternative left). Briones singled on an 0-2 pitch to lead off, stole second, advanced on a Kuehn grounder, and Nelson completed the sweep with a sac fly to deep right… 5-4 Aces. Seven! Which, fittingly, brings us to #7. #7 was out for the season with a broken elbow. Dr. Chung told me as much on Thursday, our sad travel day to Indianapolis. I cried the most bitter tears when Ramos presented himself with a pristinely white, almost comically huge arm cast, insisting I’d be the first to sign it. I clamored to the heavens that this was all wrong, the heavens wouldn’t relent, and as I sobbingly signed my name onto the cast, Dr. Chung told Ramos that *this* was the reason they’d gone for the waterproof material. The Raccoons called up Matt Triolo as a sign that the white flag was raised. Raccoons (25-26) @ Indians (21-33) – June 6-8, 2036 The collapsing Raccoons faced the already-collapsed Indians in what would surely be a treat best enjoyed while blindfolded. We were up 4-2 against them this year, which wasn’t a guarantee that we’d sneak out with a win. They had the worst batting average and the second-fewest runs scored, while their pitching was rather average. Projected matchups: Bernie Chavez (3-4, 2.99 ERA) vs. Arnie Terwilliger (4-4, 3.49 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (2-4, 5.33 ERA) vs. Josh Walsh (3-5, 3.53 ERA) Gene Tennis (1-2, 3.57 ERA) vs. John Nelson (2-6, 4.98 ERA) Terwilliger was their only southpaw in the rotation, and they had only one in the pen, and I keep looking for straws that might hint at the team ever winning again, but … Game 1 POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Wall – RF Pinkerton – SS Stalker – 1B Maruyama – P Chavez IND: C E. Thompson – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – 1B McGrath – SS Zeltser – CF Acor – P Terwilliger Maruyama singled (!) in two (!) in the second inning when he came up with the bags loaded on a walk and two singles against Terwilliger. Wall and Pinkerton scored, but following a bunt and a Myers groundout Stalker and Maruyama were stranded. Indy hit three singles for a run off Bernie Chavez in the bottom 2nd – Dustin Acor bringing home Josh Garbinski – so the Raccoons once more immediately set out to blow the lead. It was 4-1 after solo jacks by Fowler in the third and Stalker in the fourth, but I was totally sure that losing would find a way… The Indians made up two at least in the bottom 4th, with Bob Zeltser making himself unpopular around his previous team with a homer to right, scoring Kevin McGrath, 4-3. Chavez lingered a while longer, but the bottom 6th began with singles by Dan Hutson (ran for by Roger Strand) and Garbinski. When the right-handed McGrath popped out, the Coons went to David Fernandez for Zeltser, who hit a shallow RBI single anyway, tying the game at four. Acor popped out and Terwilliger grounded out to Vickers, but … well … (agitatedly points at scoreboard and screams) Terwilliger returned for the seventh, but logged no more outs; Myers walked on four pitches, Vickers hit a bomb to left-center, and it was 6-4 Coons. Fernandez was good for a scoreless seventh, after which the Raccoons asked for a modest two outs from Dusty Kulp. Juan Camps doubled and McGrath was blatantly robbed in the gap by Preston Pinkerton while Camps moved to third base. What a pitcher! Such a winner! Yeom Soung couldn’t keep the runner on base, with Zeltser driving him home with a hit to right, 6-5, but at least Soung got out of the inning… Top 9th, however, almost a replica of the seventh! Right-hander Chris Henry walked Myers, and then Vickers hit a drive to left. This one died in front of the wall for a double, but presented the middle of the order with a pair in scoring position and nobody out. While Fowler struck out, around him Manny Fernandez and Kurt Wall hit RBI singles, 8-5! Shane Jacobs replaced Henry, struck out Luna, hitting for Pinkerton, and got Stalker to ground out to contain the fire. The Coons sent for Chris Wise again, who retired the 2-3-4 batters in order to finally end the losing streak… 8-5 Coons. Vickers 3-5, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Wall 2-5, RBI; Pinkerton 2-4, 2B; Stalker 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Maruyama 2-4, 2 RBI; D. Fernandez 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (3-1); Game 2 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Luna – SS Stalker – P Rendon IND: SS Zeltser – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – 1B McGrath – C J. Herrera – CF Acor – P J. Walsh The Coons scored first AGAIN, this time with a Myers double and Hooge RBI single right at the start of the ballgame. Fernandez struck out, but Fowler doubled and Morales walked to load the bases for Rich Vickers, who had slapped three extra-base knocks on Friday, and added another gapper for a 2-run double, now in right-center! Luna got his first career RBI with a single, Stalker hit an RBI single, and Myers legged out a 2-out infield single to score Luna. Hooge popped out to end the inning after the Raccoons had ravaged Walsh for a 6-spot, all runs earned. Now it was up to Rendon to – WHY IS DR. CHUNG GOING OUT TO HIM??? … Rendon lasted one inning before leaving with a forearm strain, which was the sort of thing that would send a GM into a tearful tremor if he had any tears left to cry. The Raccoons had no choice but to declare a bullpen game – and why not start with Prieto? All paws were on deck anyway. Luna would come up twice with the bags full and one out in the top 2nd and 4th, lining out against the decomposing Walsh, who was hit for after the inning, and then Jon Lane. He lined out and grounded out, respectively, the latter move at least extending the lead to 7-0… Prieto pitched three innings on 55 pitches, and it was all a drag. Garbinski took him deep in the bottom 4th for a solo shot, 7-1, but that was all the damage on Prieto. Kulp was next – a true challenge for any 6-run lead. Juan Herrera doubled *immediately*. The run scored on two groundouts, which was still FINE (scratches bar counter with claws), but then Zeltser and Dan Schneller hit singles to go to the corners with two outs. Jeremy Leftwich popped out, but what the actual **** was wrong with Kulp?? Maybe nothing at all? Sometimes pitchers were just **** for a season or six… He retired three in a row in the bottom 6th, then bunted Tim Stalker to second base in the seventh, from where he scored on Myers’ single off Lane, which ended Lane’s extended play. Norogumi Sakurai, a 35-year-old Japanese righty with a highly unremarkable and spotty Federal League career, replaced him, gave up a double to Ed Hooge, but got Fernandez to ground out to end the inning. Herrera hit a jack off Kulp in the bottom of the inning (…), and he was lifted for Garavito with two outs as Zeltser approached. Garavito got a groundout to Vickers on the first pitch, then had a so-so eighth. Schneller and Leftwich hit soft singles, he struck out the next two, but with McGrath at the plate the Raccoons went to a right-hander, Moore, who was the second reliever in a row to get an inning-ending groundout on the first pitch he threw. He retired the side in the ninth, too. 8-3 Critters. Myers 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Hooge 2-5, 2B, RBI; Morales 2-4, BB, 2B; Stalker 2-5, RBI; Marsingill 1-1; And off to the DL went Gilberto Rendon! We’d check in with him around the All Star Game… There was no off day next week, so we needed a starter before long. For the moment however, the Raccoons brought up a reliever to help the pen for the next game or two. Dennis Citriniti and his 1.82 ERA in St. Petersburg got the call. Game 3 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Tennis IND: CF Strand – 2B Schneller – 3B Hutson – 1B McGrath – C J. Herrera – LF Acor – RF Camps – SS Zeltser – P J. Nelson For a change, the Indians scored first because Gene Tennis initially failed to retire basically anybody. Roger Strand led off with a single, and would be thrown out at home after a walk drawn by Schneller and Dan Hutson’s single. McGrath hit an infield single before a run scored on Herrera’s groundout. Acor grounded out to Triolo to strand two in scoring position. Nothing much happened after that early run until Dustin Acor sprained his ankle in the fifth and had to leave the game in favor of Garbinski. The first actual scoring opportunity for the Critters didn’t roll around until the sixth inning, which started with Nelson walking Myers and Hooge legging out an infield roller. Manny grounded out to advance the runners, and Fowler knocked a liner past Zeltser for a game-tying single. Tony Morales popped out, but Vickers struck a ball to left for another RBI single. Dan Hutson got a grounder from Maruyama, bumbled it, and the error loaded the bases for … well, all .154 of Matt Triolo, a 27-year-old rookie for a reason. He flew out softly to Roger Strand, beaching three runners.* Tennis held on to the 2-1 lead through seven, having found a groove after the earlier episode with incontinence, failing to keep the bases dry. The question was whether he should continue in the eighth, on 87 pitches, with Alex Torres, the former Elks menace, pinch-hitting in the #9 hole to begin the inning. Torres, 38, had long turned sour, but there was a string of righty pitchers up against Tennis, and the Raccoons ultimately pulled the plug on the rookie in favor of Wise. This was one of those games where we’d try to reverse-engineer the last two innings with our two best relievers. Wise against the right-handers, and Soung for the coup de grace. Unfortunately, the plan threatened to not survive contact with Wise to begin with. Torres singled on 1-2, Strand bunted, Schneller walked, and Hutson shot a grounder to the left side, but – oh! – Triolo! Sprawling catch, lobber to Stalker at second base, the throw to first, and the lumbering Hutson was doubled up! What a play! The Raccoons reached scoring position with a Tim Stalker infield single in the #9 hole (having entered in a double switch with Wise) and a 2-out Hooge double in the top of the ninth against Tim Thweatt, a right-hander. The Indians could either walk Fernandez and face a righty slugger with three on, or try their luck with Manny. They chose the latter, Fernandez crammed a ball through between Hutson and the third base bag, and both runners scored on the single! Chris Henry would strike out Fowler after that, but now we were up 4-1! When Wise retired the first two batters in the bottom 9th, both right-handers, he wasn’t removed for the left-handed Garbinski, either. Two pitches later a groundout completed the sweep. 4-1 Coons. Hooge 2-5, 2B; Fowler 3-5, 2B, RBI; Stalker 1-1; Tennis 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (2-2) and 1-3; Wise 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (12); In other news June 2 – The hitting streak of OCT RF/LF Lorenzo Celaya (.365, 6 HR, 24 RBI) reaches 25 games with a ninth-inning single in a 7-1 loss to the Titans. June 2 – As the Condors beat the Crusaders, 11-4, TIJ 1B Alvin Zuazo (.295, 5 HR, 24 RBI) lands four hits and drives in five runs from the leadoff spot. June 3 – TIJ LF/RF/1B Willie Ojeda (.333, 9 HR, 42 RBI) has four hits and four RBI in an 11-9 Condors win over the Crusaders. June 3 – BOS SS/2B Keith Spataro (.244, 5 HR, 27 RBI) was headed to the DL with a broken thumb. He would be out until after the All Star Game. June 4 – BOS 1B Greg Regan (.266, 3 HR, 17 RBI) hits a homer for the only tally in the Titans’ 1-0 win over the Thunder. June 4 – DEN MR Robby Ciampa (2-3, 5.56 ERA, 4 SV) enters the Gold Sox’ game against the Blue Sox in the bottom 10th and loses it without throwing a pitch, committing a balk that plates Cesar Talabera (.365, 0 HR, 16 RBI) from third base for a 4-3 Blue Sox win. June 6 – The hitting streak of Oklahoma’s Lorenzo Celaya (.358, 6 HR, 24 RBI) ends at 27 games. Celaya goes hitless in four attempts in a 3-2 loss to the Knights. June 6 – RIC INF Nick DeGroote (.294, 1 HR, 10 RBI) caps a 5-run rally with a walkoff slam off WAS CL Chris Cooper (2-4, 4.64 ERA, 13 SV) for an 8-6 Rebels win. June 6 – A torn meniscus renders DAL 2B/SS Hugo Acosta (.393, 0 HR, 26 RBI) out for the rest of the month. June 6 – NAS LF/RF Sean Ashley (.264, 8 HR, 31 RBI) is out for three weeks with an intercostal strain. June 8 – Vegas’ SP Matt Diduch (6-2, 3.18 ERA) yields only two hits in a 10-0 shutout and rout of the Falcons. Complaints and stuff Season over. Down in AAA, Jesus Maldonado was now out with a foot contusion, something about an ice cream truck rolling over his paw, I don’t know, I refuse to read the bulletins at this point. The big knockout was of course Ramos having his elbow broken by ****ing Paul Kuehn in Vegas. He ended up posting his worst career season in terms of OPS (.649) and pretty much everything else, and the 49 games played are also just half of his previous worst season in terms of injuries. Of course, there’s no replacing him in the leadoff spot, just as he was finally warming up to the idea of reaching base again… That’s why the season is over. And, well, the Titans keep cruising, and the Raccoons have won about one of their last 6,000 games. Two Raccoons are currently leading the All Star voting at their position – Fowler and Ramos. Oh what could have been… Fun Fact: The Raccoons are an unlucky bunch. Six of their last eight losses were by one run, but only two of their last eight wins were by one run. Or maybe the pen’s just utter dog ****, who knows… +++ *It’s funny for me, because Strand means beach in German, but … oh well, I tried.
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-15-2020, 09:35 PM
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#3193 | |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Maine
Posts: 748
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05-17-2020, 01:35 PM
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#3194 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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(drags himself into the office on Monday morning and finds a pile of players in his room, on and around the good old brown couch, bickering over the contents of a few bread baskets and a barrel of jam on the table; Slappy sits in the midst of Gilberto Rendon with his forearm brace, Berto with his huge-ass arm cast, Kevin Harenberg and Jimmy Wallace each with an arm in a sling; Cristiano Carmona is waving hello with his fluffy cheeks well filled and all four limbs still intact, but, well, in the wheelchair as always; on the far end of the couch, next to Wallace, sits another guy with Honeypaws in his lap and a completely bandaged head with bright red spots where his eyes would be)
Oh, neat. All my sorrows are already here. (Cristiano waves less enthusiastically) And the Titans are in! Can it get any worse? (just as he goes towards his desk, a previously hidden Nick Valdes swivels around in the boss-sized leather chair) So there’s that. – Maud! – Maud! – Any good reason for me to just go home again? – Maybe a rainout? – Can we make it rain? – You sure? (sighs and sits down next to the guy with the completely bandaged head, who turns said head around and seems to stare right at him out of the red stains) Who the **** are YOU?? Raccoons (28-26) vs. Titans (36-19) – June 9-12, 2036 The Titans were here to end the season in May, about which I had no doubts. They were fourth in runs scored, but had their pitching back in order and were allowing only some 3.3 runs per game, the lowest mark in the league. They were blessed with an exceptional rotation (that had seen a bit of an off year in ’35) and a really stingy bullpen. They were also up 2-1 in the season series. Projected matchups: Raffaello Sabre (4-2, 3.46 ERA) vs. Adam Potter (4-1, 3.60 ERA) Colt Willes (5-1, 2.40 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (6-4, 3.09 ERA) Bernie Chavez (3-4, 3.25 ERA) vs. Matt Brost (6-1, 3.12 ERA) Jared Ottinger (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Tony Chavez (7-3, 3.46 ERA) Tony Chavez was the only southpaw we expected to meet in the series. The Titans had three batters on the DL; Matt Hayden and Keith Spataro were out for yet a while, but Jay Elder was expected to be activated during this series. They had also picked up 38-year-old Andy Schmit (2-for-22) from the Blue Sox, parting with 35-yr old C Mike Burgess (.250, 2 HR, 11 RBI). The trade made little sense, given that Schmit played like he was 83, and the Titans didn’t need any infielders, really…. Game 1 BOS: CF M. Avila – SS Gil – 1B Regan – LF W. Vega – C J. Young – RF M. Walker – 3B Schmit – 2B Sears – P Potter POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Luna – C Wall – SS Triolo – P Sabre The bus came and hit Sabre squat in the face – with Antonio Gil and Greg Regan hitting singles and Jim Young on base via balls, Mark Walker rammed a 2-out, 3-run double in the first, and the second saw singles by Micah Sears, Potter (!), a run-scoring groundout by Gil, and then an RBI single for Regan. 5-0 in two innings, at least they weren’t wasting anybody’s time. No, Nick, I don’t know how you got both your paws sticking together with jam… The Raccoons did absolutely nothing, besides dragging Sabre into the fifth inning when he should have been shot in the second. In the fifth, the Titans put two more runs on him. Regan singled, stole second, then scored on a Willie Vega single, 6-0. Vega was caught stealing (…!), but Jim Young doubled anyway. That was the tenth and final hit off Sabre, who was finally kicked to the curb and replaced with Garavito, who balked Young to third base with two outs, then oversaw an infield roller that Dave Myers tardied into an infield single, scoring Young, 7-0. The frustration was boiling over quickly here, and when Avila stole another base off Dennis Citriniti on garbage duty in the sixth inning, I had enough and signalled for a lesson. We had a subtle sign for it, as I went over to Maud’s room, where there was a window that could be opened; I did just that, yelled “HO!!” and fired the blunderbuss out of the window. A couple of squeamish fans scattered in the ranks below, but Citriniti got the message and drilled Greg Regan in the shoulder with the next pitch. The entirely shambolic Raccoons didn’t score through seven innings, then scratched out two unearned runs in the eighth after a gross 2-out throwing error by Schmit. Yeom Soung gave those runs back in the top ninth, after which Titans scrub Austin Holt created a mess on the bases in the bottom 9th. The tying run got as far as the Gaytirade barrel in the dugout, with Tim Stalker and Manny Fernandez each walking in a run before Jermaine Campbell restored order, getting a final fly out from Justin Fowler. 9-4 Titans. Hooge 2-5, RBI; Marsingill (PH) 2-2, 2B; Maruyama (PH) 1-1; Citriniti 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Don’t let the score fool you – the game was nowhere as close as it implies… For his strong long man service, Dennis Citriniti was sent back to St. Petersburg, exchanged for Thursday’s starter Jared Ottinger. No, Nick, I don’t know why they are not in first place. Maybe the field hospital around us gives you a hint? Game 2 BOS: 2B M. Avila – SS Gil – LF W. Vega – RF I. Vega – C J. Young – 1B J. Elder – CF Reichardt – 3B McGee – P Willett POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Luna – SS Triolo – P Willes Dave Myers hit a single to begin the bottom 1st. Hooge flew out poorly, but Fernandez put the ball in play, grounding to second base. Myers and Antonio Gil fell over each other when the latter reached for Avila’s poor feed: Myers somersaulted over the shortstop and landed with his back on the second base bag, which looked agonizing to begin with and ended with Myers being walked off the field by a visibly annoyed Dr. Chung. Marsingill replaced him – but at least he had broken up the double play, perhaps in addition to two or three vertebrae… Fowler singled, but Morales flew out, and the game remained scoreless until Willett batted with Adrian Reichardt and Chris McGee on base after leadoff singles in the third inning and looped an RBI single into shallow center with nobody out. What about bunting, Titans? What about COMMON ****ING COURTESY?? Gil and Willie Vega would both draw walks to force a second run across home plate before Ivan Vega hit into a double play. Portland had seven hits through five innings. After stranding two in the first, they stranded two more in the second when Justin Marsingill grounded out, and another two in the fourth when Willes fanned. Willes lasted seven (while Willett was hit for in the sixth, but remained ahead 2-0 the entire time), throwing 111 pitches while hanging from the hook. Wyatt Hamill retired the 1-2-3 in order in the bottom 7th and wasn’t knocked out until Tony Morales hit a 1-out double to left in the bottom 8th. The tying run was up and Alan Mays replaced Hamill. The right-hander faced only Vickers, threw a wild pitch, then gave up a sac fly to right. Southpaw Tim Wells replaced him, with Maruyama batting for Will Luna in response. The much maligned Maruyama singled, and when Stalker hit for Triolo the Titans went to right-hander Blake Sciulli, who got a grounder to end the inning. Casey Moore held the Titans in check in the top 9th, bringing on nondescript right-hander Chris D’Angelo for the bottom 9th. He faced Preston Pinkerton, pinch-hitting in the #9 hole, and got a groundout from him, but Marsingill singled to center, bringing the winning run to the plate. Nick Valdes whispered in my ear that we needed a homer now. When Ed Hooge lined out to Ivan Vega, the guy with the wholly bandaged head appeared on my other side. Somehow the red spots seemed bigger than the day before. He also tried to whisper into my ear, but I could hear only distant screams at the bottom of a well in a dark stormy night. Then Manny Fernandez singled on 1-0, moving Marsingill to second base. Fowler was up with two on and two down, walked, and now it was on Tony Morales. He hit a fly to deep left. Willie Vega caught it. 2-1 Titans. Myers 1-1; M. Fernandez 2-4, BB; Luna 1-2, BB; Maruyama (PH) 1-1; Triolo 2-3; Willes 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, L (5-2); I know, Nick. We had 12 hits to their six. They had two hits to our one. (turns to the guy with the bandaged head) Seriously. Who ARE you!? Game 3 BOS: 2B M. Avila – SS Gil – 1B Regan – LF W. Vega – RF I. Vega – C J. Young – CF Joseph – 3B McGee – P Brost POR: LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 3B Marsingill – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P B. Chavez With Dr. Chung needing another day to piece Myers’ spinal column back together, Marsingill got the start at third base. He batted in the bottom 1st and made the final out, but at that point Hooge had singled and Fernandez had homered for a 2-0 Coons lead. Tim Stalker added a solo homer in the bottom 3rd, 3-0, but then Bernie Chavez also had the inning from hell in the fourth in which he threw no fewer than 34 pitches. Regan singled with one out and advanced on a wild pitch, but Willie Vega walked anyway. Ivan Vega hit an RBI single, Young walked, the bags were full, and then Titans puzzlingly let him go. Chris Joseph struck out, Chris McGee popped out to second base, and three Titans were stranded. Maybe unclutchiness is contagious. – Yes, Nick, maybe that guy with the bandaged head’s eyes are also contagious. – No, YOU get rid of him, I didn’t drag him in! Manny Fernandez pounced again in the bottom 5th, cranking a 2-1 offering by Matt Brost with two outs and two (Chavez, Stalker) on base over the fence in right-center. This extended the lead to 6-1, and gave hope that maybe the Raccoons would not lose all games forevermore. That one miserable inning exploded an otherwise solid Bernie Chavez’ pitch count sufficiently enough that he was out of the game after seven innings – the Titans had only one hit and one walk against Bernie outside of the fourth inning and were still down by five when he was lifted for Dusty Kulp, who faced two righty bats, got two grounders to short for outs, and was whisked away before he could deal actual damage to our chances. Garavito logged the final four outs while Justin Fowler took Tim Wells deep in the bottom 8th for a tack-on run. 7-1 Critters. Stalker 2-4, HR, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Morales 2-4; Chavez 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (4-4) and 1-2; And you are totally sure, Maud? – You counted them three times? – And that guy is definitely not one of our players? (points at the guy with the bandaged head and the steadily growing red stains for eyes) – Alright. (turns to the bandaged guy that still sits next to Slappy as if to watch the postgame show on NWSN) Sir! … Sir! … The gentleman with the bandaged head! You must go now! – Would you please move? – It’s something … with the health code. (guy with the bandaged head turns his head slightly, upon which the scream of a young girl is heard and an instant later the lights and TV go out and Cristiano is heard screaming; when the lights go back on, Slappy and the guy with the bandaged head are still sitting on the couch, but Cristiano is suddenly wearing his white boxershorts with red hearts over his head and is swiping blindly at an unseen assailant) Alright, Maud, any other good ideas? Game 4 BOS: 2B M. Avila – SS Gil – 1B Regan – LF W. Vega – RF I. Vega – C J. Young – CF Joseph – 3B McGee – P T. Chavez POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – SS Stalker – 1B Maruyama – P Ottinger Ottinger had tossed seven scoreless in his debut a few weeks earlier, but wouldn’t be nearly as successful this time around. Avila and Regan hit singles off him right away, and a Willie Vega groundout scored Avila from third base for a quick 1-0 lead for Boston. Fowler’s 2-run homer to left flipped the score in the bottom of the inning thanks to collecting Fernandez (who had forced out Myers), and that lead lasted Ottinger for a while. The Titans got only one base runner in the following three innings, then quickly had three in the fifth inning, still in a 2-1 game. McGee singled while Avila and Gil both walked with two outs, bringing up Greg Regan, who shot a fly to deep left on the first pitch. Fernandez raced back and made the catch to end the inning. Around this time, the guy with the bandaged head, whose bandages were by now about completely red with blood, began to moan terribly. We had about enough of him and since he wasn’t listening to polite requests to leave or to being verbally abused into leaving, Nick Valdes and me tried to drag him out, but just when we touched his arms, we both got a powerful electric shock and the guy moaned even louder. Cristiano giggled at both our hair which was now in complete disarray, so for the time being Valdes snatched Cristiano’s arms while I pushed his wheelchair and we maneuvered him into Maud’s room over his loud protests. Slappy casually opened himself another bottle, sitting right next to the guy with the bandaged head. But he also told me this – the guy hadn’t eaten a single bite in four days. He DEFINITELY COULDN’T be a Raccoon then!! Boston finally tied the game in the sixth on straight singles by Ivan Vega, Young, and Joseph. McGee struck out, Chavez flew out to Pinkerton to strand two on base, but then Dave Myers doubled off the fence in left to begin the bottom 6th against Chavez. Vickers was walked intentionally, but both runners advanced on Fernandez’ grounder to Moises Avila. The Titans tried again, walking Fowler to fill the bags with intent for Pinkerton. The Raccoons’ dismal bench made Pinkerton and his .625 OPS look like a solid choice, but he flew out to Vega in shallow rightfield anyway. Kurt Wall batted with two outs, ran a full count, then hit a grounder to right that Avila missed and two runs scored. As the Raccoons went up 4-2, the guy with the bandaged head started to tear on his gray shirt while making noises like an absolute animal. Even Slappy was sliding away a few inches now. Stalker flew out to right, keeping it 4-2 through six. Ottinger was lifted for David Fernandez after Avila hit a leadoff single in the top 7th. He retired the 2-3-4 in order in the seventh to strand the runner. Prieto retired Ivan Vega to begin the 8th, then yielded for Soung, who got a grounder from Young that Maruyama missed for a single before misfielding a Joseph grounder himself for a fielder’s choice that retired nobody when he threw to second base too late. McGee hit a grounder to short on which the Coons got only the out at second (but at least they got it this time…), and Jay Elder struck out to strand the tying runs on the corners. Top 9th, leadoff single off Wise for Avila. HERE WE GO. The tying run was at the plate, but Gil hit into another fielder’s choice at second base. Wise walked Regan, which was so comforting, before Willie Vega flew out to left. That still left another Vega. The guy with the bandaged head upped his volume to ten and the lights in the room began to flicker as Wise wound up for the first pitch, which Ivan Vega immediately sent into centerfield for an RBI single. Young was up with the tying run on second base and the go-ahead run on first. He got ahead on Wise, 2-1, but his sharp grounder was right at Maruyama, who just had to let it hit his useless body, then picked the ball up and skirted to first base to end the game. 4-3 Coons. Fowler 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; This time the Raccoons were out-hit, 11-5. (the lights keep flickering) Sir, please stop. – Sir. – Sir. (lights keep flickering) +++ (arch bridge over the Willamette at night; the moon pokes through the clouds to give a vague idea of one’s surroundings; two men carry a big bag to the highest point on the bridge, laboriously lift it onto the guard rail, and finally give it a final push for a 50 foot drop into the river; they keep watching for a minute as the bag is being carried downstream) First time I hit something with the blunderbuss. Raccoons (30-28) vs. Pacifics (21-39) – June 9-12, 2036 This was the third straight year of playing the Pacifics, with each team taking a 2-1 series win in the stretch. It had been the Coons’ turn in ’35. The Pacifics had no offense in the conventional sense, scoring fewer than 3.8 runs per game, the lowest mark in the FL. On the other hand they were allowing the very most runs. Their run differential was already -141 and it was only the middle of June. They were even three games over their Pythagorean record… The Coons had to pounce here! Projected matchups: Gene Tennis (2-2, 2.92 ERA) vs. Dave Christiansen (4-6, 4.48 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (4-3, 4.15 ERA) vs. Andy Jimenes (8-4, 3.78 ERA) Colt Willes (5-2, 2.41 ERA) vs. Chris Sulkey (1-5, 6.02 ERA) …and those were three best starters! Left, right, left, it seemed like. Game 1 LAP: CF Gouveia – SS R. Johnston – C S. Garcia – RF Plunkett – 1B Ferrero – LF Dunlap – 2B Rockwell – 3B J. Becker – P Christiansen POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – SS Stalker – 1B Maruyama – P Tennis The Pacifics were also weak against right-handed pitchers especially, but it was what it was – Tennis’ turn was up to begin the series on Friday! The Coons scored first, barely, with Fowler and Pinkerton occupying the corners to begin the bottom 2nd before Wall and Stalker made poor fly outs in the shallow outfield and there was no sending Justin Fowler with any good conscience on those balls. Maruyama narrowly beat Ryan Johnston’s range for a 2-out RBI single before Tennis went down on strikes. Tennis retired L.A. in order in the first three innings, but doubles by Nelson Gouveia and Steve Garcia tied the game in the fourth inning. Fowler countered with his 12th homer, a solo shot, in the bottom of the inning and that was the score that Tennis just barely held on to through six innings. His command and control eluded him in the fifth and sixth, there were a couple of walks, and with two on and two outs and ex-Critter Noel Ferrero at the plate in the sixth a deep drive to right that Preston Pinkerton completely sold out for as he raced for the ball, made the catch, and bounced off the fence with his head still on his shoulders – phew! One more injury and Dr. Chung is charging overtime! Preston Pinkerton shone further in the bottom of the sixth, coming up with runners on the corners after Ed Hooge – spelling Manny Fernandez for a day – had tripled and Fowler had been walked intentionally. Pinkerton buried a ball in the gap between Gouveia and Tom Dunlap, raced around the bases, and reached third base standing up for the Coons’ second triple of the inning, and also two runs, 4-1. Wall drew a walk, then was forced out on Tim Stalker’s run-scoring grounder. That was the end for Christiansen; the two-time Pitcher of the Year was lifted for Mark Morrison, who walked Maruyama, then allowed another gapper to PH Will Luna, on which another run scored. Myers was walked intentionally, Vickers hit a 2-run double, and the inning just wouldn’t end. Left-hander Jose Rivas replaced Morrison, gave up a 2-run single to Hooge, and then finally rung up Fowler – the Raccoons had scored eight in the inning and were up by nine! That was, unsurprisingly, the ballgame, even though we tempted fate by bringing on Kulp after Garavito logged just one out for two walks in the top 7th. Kulp got a double play grounder and finished the game, though not without conceding a run on a Chris Rockwell single with two outs in the ninth… 10-2 Raccoons! Vickers 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Hooge 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Pinkerton 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Luna (PH) 1-2, 2B, RBI; Tennis 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (3-2); Saturday would be the last game of the homestand I’d attend in person since I had to get to New York for the draft bonanza afterwards, which would take place on Sunday. I’d like a 4-game winning streak before I leave, and thanks. Game 2 LAP: RF O. Mendoza – 3B R. Johnston – 1B M. Taylor – LF Dunlap – CF Gouveia – C Kennett – SS Carpio – 2B Rockwell – P Jimenes POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Luna – SS Triolo – P Sabre Sabre coughed up a 2-run homer to Mike Taylor in the first, with Johnston being scored after hitting a single, but to be fair also made up the deficit with two outs and three aboard in the second inning. Stalker, Luna, and Triolo had all reached base with two down, and Sabre singled to left-center to get two of them home before Dave Myers struck out. Neither team then did a lot for a good while, but I had the certain feeling that this was gonna go pear-shaped when the sixth began with a Jimenes single and Hooge overran that ball. It put the go-ahead run on second base with nobody out. Mendoza popped out, but Johnston singled, and Taylor brought about the new Pacifics lead with a sac fly. The Raccoons would get Tim Stalker to second base with two outs in the bottom 7th, then hit for Sabre. Rich Vickers hit a gapper, but was robbed by Gouveia to strand the tying run in scoring position. Yeom Soung overcame Mendoza’s leadoff single and a misfielded bunt in the eighth to hold the Pacifics to where they were, but after Dave Myers opened the bottom 8th with a single, the team couldn’t find anything else in their bats. Top 9th, Gouveia opened with an infield single, Elliott Kennett reached on a ****ty bloop single, and while Prieto then retired two, he also walked Ferrero in the #9 hole. David Fernandez came on to face Mendoza and got the K, stranding three Pacifics and giving the Coons another chance to turn this thing around against southpaw Chun-yeong Chah, about whom Yeom Soung remarked darkly that his soul was impure and that he was eating the wrong sort of meat on the holidays. Yeah, well, **** it, if he can get three outs before giving up a run I’d let him smear the fences with obscenities… Tony Morales drew a leadoff walk, then was run for by Justin Marsingill. Tim Stalker hit into a double play anyway, and Luna grounded out to short. 3-2 Pacifics. Stalker 2-4; Good, boys. Good. Good. Game 3 LAP: RF O. Mendoza – 3B R. Johnston – 1B M. Taylor – C S. Garcia – LF Dunlap – CF Gouveia – SS Ferrero – 2B Rockwell – P Sulkey POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – SS Stalker – 1B Maruyama – P Willes I struggled to hear much of the first two innings on by headphones on the subway in New York, the radio broadcast on the internet device thing Cristiano had given me being soundly overvolumed by the black gentleman’s massive boombox on the seat next to me, but I gathered that the top 2nd took a very long time and the Pacifics’ 9-1-2 hitters all cracked 2-out RBI singles off a reeling Willes, who continued to suck like no tomorrow and also issued three walks in the inning. It was 3-2 in the third inning when I finally alighted from the subterraneous discotheque, with a Pinkerton RBI triple in the bottom 2nd and a wild pitch apparently the run-scoring events. Before long, Willes was yanked; Tom Dunlap homered, he walked Gouveia, his fifth walk in the game, and that was it, axed with nobody out and down 4-2 in the third inning. The tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 3rd as Myers and Vickers hit singles, then were balked over by Sulkey. The Coons were held to a run-scoring groundout by Fowler after Fernandez whiffed and before Pinkerton grounded out, and I was grumbling when I headed towards the league offices, but it was Chiyosaku Maruyama who tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, hitting a 2-out solo homer off a sulking Sulkey. It was all even at four as I met our scout guy, Fernandez, or Menendez, or something, who had taken an earlier train from the hotel. The Coons’ pen – Kulp, Garavito, and Moore through seven – had to do extra laps to keep the Pacifics from scoring and get another lead, which worked to an extend, but the Raccoons never broke through Sulkey, due to a decidedly poor record in the clutch. Much the opposite, Stalker in the fourth and Wall in the sixth killed efforts with double play grounders. Portland failed to do anything against Matt Beckstrom in the bottom 7th while I was at least amused by the Scorpions’ GM sullying his white shirt with prune juice while the big league brass began to arrive in the room. Soung struggled in the eighth, nailing Carpio and allowing a single to PH Daron Willis, but the Pacifics again failed to break through. Right-hander Jesus Blanco faced Portland’s 2-3-4 in the bottom 8th, whiffed Vickers, walked Fernandez, and got out of the inning on fly outs by Fowler and the pinch-hitting Hooge. Soung got three more outs in the ninth, but I had to turn the volume down to the minimum at that point because the big league brass on the podium began to lay out the same rules that were valid for the draft since 1867 … I had heard them a few times. I just didn’t want to make noise and grab unnecessary attention. Blanco was still in for the bottom 9th, with Matt Triolo pinch-hitting for Soung in the #6 spot (Tony Morales was in the #9 hole after a double switch). While better leadoff men could be dreamed up, the only alternative left on the bench was Justin Marsingill and at least Triolo batted left-handed. He struck out, too. Maruyama hit a 2-out single, but Morales grounded out to first, and the game, annoyingly, went to extra innings. Chris Wise retired L.A. on five pitches in the 10th, they still stood by Blanco, and we had the top of the order up in the bottom of the 10th. Myers reached base to begin the frame, but only advanced on a grounder before Fowler was walked intentionally with two outs, and Hooge grounded out to short. Matt Triolo led off ANOTHER inning (but had at least jumped higher than most to catch a Wise-released line drive to end the top 11th) after having stayed in the game earlier, and now was back for the bottom 11th, which began just as the big-ass video screens in the front of the room flashed up with the lists of eligible players. He reached on a dying quail single. The Coons did NOT send Marsingill to pinch-hit for Wise. They asked for the bunt! Wise dropped one down, Chah pounced, tossed to second – LATE! At this point the first team, the Buffaloes was about to be called up for their pick. While those proceedings continued, Maruyama hacked out in record time, but Tony Morales reached base to fill them up for Myers, who had a .401 OBP and there was only one out on the board. He popped out. Just when the Buffaloes GM went to the front to grandly announce their pick, Rich Vickers struck out to strand the bases loaded, and I angrily slammed my fist on our table, shouting grand obscenities in front of live cameras. Prieto allowed a Rockwell single in the 12th, but nothing else, and I kept holding out hope for the bottom 12th after initially sinking a bit deeper into my chair. Chah retired Portland in order, but Prieto struck out the side in the 13th. Triolo led off ANOTHER inning against longtime Critter Jonathan Fleischer in the bottom 13th, while our scout guy was tugging on my sleeve since our turn was about coming up. Marsingill singled in the pitcher’s spot, but that was all there was to get off Fleischer, and after that I was nagged into switching off the broadcast because we had to make our first pick. 7-4 Raccoons. Myers 2-6, RBI; Pinkerton 2-3, 3B, RBI; Hooge 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Marsingill (PH) 1-1; Maruyama 3-6, HR, RBI; Kulp 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Garavito 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Soung 1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Wise 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K; Prieto 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K; In other news June 10 – SAC INF Tim Stackhouse (.223, 6 HR, 25 RBI) has 5 RBI in the #8 hole in a 14-7 slugfest against the Stars. June 12 – DEN C Danny Zarate (.234, 5 HR, 16 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 10-8 loss the Wolves, connecting for a triple in the first, an RBI double in the third, a single in the fourth, and a solo home run in the seventh inning. This is the fifth cycle in Gold Sox history, and the second in Zarate’s career. The catcher previously hit for the cycle with the Crusaders in 2031. June 14 – MIL OF Will Ojeda (.344, 4 HR, 31 RBI) drives in six runs on three hits and misses the cycle by the double in a 12-4 rush of the Stars. Complaints and stuff Winning week, but I can’t talk now, busy sifting through left-handed tossers, lest our scout guy gets mad at me! Fun Fact: Six players hit for the cycle between the cycles by Danny Zarate, including our own Tim Stalker. Twice in league history the same player authored consecutive cycles. The Wolves’ Carlos León did so in 1982, and Ricardo Garcia of the Aces had nothing but an offseason in between his 2009 and 2010 cycles.
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-17-2020, 03:23 PM
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#3195 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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2036 AMATEUR DRAFT
The Raccoons entered the draft armed with the #16 pick and a size 13 hotlist of boys they’d like to add to the basement of their minor league system. It was still mostly a pitcher’s draft at the top, which didn’t mean we’d not take a batter with our top pick… but it was unlikely. And here’s that hotlist again, which was supplemented by another 108 players on the shortlist (*high school players): SP Gabe Blanco (14/12/14) * SP Kyle Conner (11/14/15) * - BNN #2 SP Mike Bezet (12/15/14) – BNN #1 SP Mike LeMasters (12/11/10) * - BNN #8 SP Melvin Lucero (11/13/14) * SP Mike Carnes (12/12/9) – BNN #5 CL Van Anderson (16/15/13) * CL Josh Shackelford (12/13/13) UT Felix Marquez (14/13/17) – BNN #3 SS/3B Justin Morgenstern (13/4/4) 1B Art Goetz (8/13/13) UT Phil Rogers (8/14/13) – BNN #4 RF/LF/1B Josh Wotring (13/10/12) The first few picks were being made while I was still listening in on the extra innings of the Raccoons’ game with the Pacifics in Portland, which just wouldn’t want to end and which would completely devastate our bullpen. While a roster move was definitely in order on Monday, now was not the time for it. Thankfully our scout guy kept up with the decimation of the hotlist, which began right away with the selection of Felix Marquez at #1 by the Buffaloes. No surprise there. The real surprise was that whatever the guys at BNN were smoking was *this* detrimental to their mental state… Phil Rogers went to the Scorpions at #2, and the Pacifics selected Josh Wotring at #3. After that it was into the CL teams and the pitchers, too, with Mike Bezet being taken #4 by the Falcons. Kyle Conner went #5 to Indy, while the Loggers drafted a shortlist player at #6, outfielder Chris Sealock. Gabe Blanco went #7 to the Rebels, but then a string of shortlist picks were made before Mike Carnes fell to Oklahoma at #13. The damn Elks took an outfielder, Aaron Foss, at #14, but the Bayhawks selected Mike LeMasters, meaning only one starting pitcher (Lucero), the two closers, Morgenstern, and Goetz remained for us. And to be honest, we couldn’t find anything wrong with Lucero at all. Good stuff, very intelligent, decent kid, volunteering in the local soup kitchen, alert, friendly – he was our #16 pick. The rest of the first round passed with our hotlist remaining unmolested, and without a guy being taken that wasn’t even on the shortlist. The first such un-shortlisted player to be taken was outfielder Mike Bosse at #31, selected by the damn Elks. Poor kid. At #34 it was Justin Morgenstern’s turn to be picked by the Cyclones, who also had the audacity to grab Shackelford at #42! I was about to start a protest, but out scout guy grabbed my hand and patted it to make it alright again. Van Anderson and Art Goetz remained around until our second-round pick was due, and we took the centerfielder-to-be-turned-into-closer Anderson. Goetz turned out to still be there waiting for us in the third round… +++ 2036 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS Round 1 (#16) – SP Melvin Lucero, 19, from Abilene, TX – cutter, slider, changeup for this right-hander, with deceptive movement and good control over all pitches; not the greatest stamina, but he didn’t look like the guy that would run full counts to eight batters every game, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem – a *really* strong pick this late in the first round, we thought! Round 2 (#60) – CL Van Anderson, 18, from Cedar City, UT – in the draft as an outfielder, we see quite some pitching potential in his left-handed sinker/slider combo; stamina isn’t there, a third pitch isn’t either, but even then the package definitely has promise. Round 3 (#84) – 1B Art Goetz, 21, from Round Rock, TX – drafted out of Pepperdine, the lefty batter shows tremendous power potential and – a rarity for a first baseman – agility on the basepaths. Round 4 (#108) – INF/LF/RF Phil Adcock, 18, from Midvale, UT – utility player with solid qualities at many positions and a middle infielder’s bat with a focus on contact and little power; some speed, but won’t rack up double digits on a regular basis. Round 5 (#132) – SP Brent Clark, 21, from Rockledge, FL – left-hander with a strong cutter/curve combo, and if he could get that changeup developed he might actually be a pretty good pitcher going forwards; otherwise, middle relief duty beckons… Round 6 (#156) – INF/CF Steve Lapinski, 21, from Colfax, IA – strong defender with a mixed bat, but a keen eye. If he hits anything at all, he could win a Gold Glove on the left side of the infield. Round 7 (#180) – SP Ryan Van Campenhout, 19, from Charlotte, NC – another right-hander where the changeup needs a lot more work to be a usable third pitch; otherwise has a 91mph heater and a swooping curve. Round 8 (#204) – RF/3B Steve Keiser, 19, from New York, NY – also listed as shortstop, but doesn’t have the range for the job; has a bit of all in terms of contact, power, and eye, also a bit of speed; lots of so-so here, but it’s the eighth round… Round 9 (#228) – SS/3B Eric Cox, 20, from Waltham, MA – a sure-handed shortstop with some power potential left over in the ninth round? Something’s fishy here, but we’ll find out after the draft, I guess… Round 10 (#252) – C Sean Sieber, 18, from Shepherdsville, KY – clumsy catcher with a mixed batting profile and no throwing arm, which means we can soon go home. Round 11 (#276) – SP Judson Nelson, 20, from Somers, CT – he’s a good kid and also this year’s Nick Brown Memorial Pick; southpaw with a 90mph heater, curve, slider, and an endless supply of rocket boosters because those baseballs travel FAR once hit… Round 12 (#300) – LF/1B Jared Roe, 18, from Perry, FL – scout guy thinks he’ll hit for average, OSA doesn’t, and I think he just gave me the stink eye; one thing everybody agrees on is that is defense is Wallaceian. Round 13 (#324) – C/1B Danny Brinson, 20, from Brockton, MA – picked solely for being a switch-hitter, because he doesn’t seem to have any other nice qualities. Clumsy behind the dish, blind at the plate, but, oh, he *does* smoke. +++ Of course we also had to start trimming the system at the same time. Among pitchers that were at least semi-prominent at one moment in time, we shed Brazilian lefty Alvaro Robadais in Ham Lake, where he was walking everything with legs for the third straight year, as well as 2032 sixth-rounder Sean Shortall, also for ill control. In single-A we canned last year’s sixth-rounder Matt Hopson, who was an unmitigated disaster, walking everybody and everything while knitting little puppets in the image of his teammates in his spare time and refusing to say what he needed them for. Catcher Vinny Figueroa was released from the Beagles, too; he had cost us $12k in the 2033 July IFA period, and while our scout guy’s opinion of him was fairly standard, OSA’s was derisive and his slash line fit their interpretation much better. Also released from Aumsville was 3B Andrew Milstead (2033, 10th Rd.) and SS/2B Don Hughes (2035, 13th Rd.). But the most prominent culling was that of 31-year-old Sean Catella, still trying to hang on in AAA although his time was clearly up and had been for a while. He was hitting .172 when used by accident, and otherwise was just taking up space. Catella had been the Coons’ fourth-rounder *13* years ago, but hadn’t amounted to more than token exposure for 367 at-bats in six seasons in the majors, batting .229 with 1 HR and 25 RBI whenever he was called upon in utmost despair.
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-19-2020, 02:45 AM
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#3196 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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The week began with a roster move. The Raccoons needed another arm after the 14-inning bonanza on Sunday in which Willes had lasted only two frames. Five of our relievers had been used for five outs or more; the exceptions were David Fernandez, who had pitched on the second straight day, and Casey Moore, who hadn’t and was the only guy still somewhat rested. Everybody else had thrown at least 30 pitches in the prior two days or on Sunday alone, which was really equally bad.
Will Luna was sent back to AAA after batting .182 in 12 games in the majors. The Raccoons brought up John Hennessy, who had not pitched on the weekend, and who had shown his best behavior with the Alley Cats, posting a 3.10 ERA in 27 games, while not getting a lot of strikeouts. But it didn’t matter – any outs would be fine. With the removal of Luna, only four lefty bats were left on the roster… Raccoons (32-29) @ Miners (34-28) – June 16-18, 2036 And here were two teams with their set of issues that were only a handful of games out in their division. Pittsburgh was struggling for runs with a decent batting average but an appalling lack of extra base power and speed. Their pitching allowed the second-fewest runs in the Federal League. The teams had met last year, with the Raccoons drawing the short end of the stick, losing two of three games. Projected matchups: Bernie Chavez (4-4, 3.09 ERA) vs. Joe Martin (6-4, 2.93 ERA) Jared Ottinger (1-0, 1.38 ERA) vs. Jonathan Dykstra (5-2, 3.57 ERA) Gene Tennis (3-2, 2.64 ERA) vs. Carlos Padilla (1-5, 4.02 ERA) All right-handers, including the former Critters #27 pick Dykstra, who had been the tradeoff for Kurt Wall at the deadline two years ago. Game 1 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Chavez PIT: LF Burgos – SS Barcia – 3B Lastrade – 1B Santillano – CF C. Russell – 2B McKenzie – C T. Salinas – RF M. Mendoza – P J. Martin Of course, a solid start by Bernie (six-plus) was imperative. And no extras. For ****’s sake, if you have to, lose the game – but NINE innings will be enough today. It wasn’t like we had the pen for another 14-rounder… He retired the first six, then walked Tony Salinas and allowed a single to Mario Mendoza to begin the bottom 3rd. Things looked like the Miners would score first, but didn’t – after Martin’s bunt that shuffled Mendoza into scoring position, Ozzie Burgos hit a comebacker for an easy out, and Sergio Barcia struck out. The Raccoons did precious little with the sticks – they scattered three singles in the first four, then got 2-out doubles from Myers in the fifth and Morales in the sixth, but that lead nowhere, either… Bernie did six just fine, throwing 78 pitches for three hits, two walks, and two strikeouts – fine in terms of efficiency! Chris Russell and Jim McKenzie opened the bottom 7th with groundouts to Triolo, but Salinas singled to right. Bernie had Mendoza at 1-2 before allowing a fly to center that fell behind Fowler, but he knocked it down before it could reach the warning track. Salinas was lumbering around the bases and sent for home plate – but was thrown out, and the game remained scoreless…! This was also true for the eighth, in which Manny Fernandez drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and was stranded… Fowler was walked intentionally, Morales whiffed, and Stalker hit into the double play… Top 9th, with Maruyama on first and one out, Vickers batted for Bernie and his eight shutout innings, and hit into another double play. Yes, let’s play 16 innings of NOTHING!! Hennessy came out for the bottom of the ninth, facing the 3-4-5 batters. Strikeout, groundout, flyout, extra innings! Right. At least Hennessy was good for another inning. Sort of. He walked Nando Maiello. He walked Edgar Gonzalez. With two outs, Burgos hit a gapper in right-center, walking off the Miners after all. 1-0 Miners. Myers 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Maruyama 2-4; Chavez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K; (salty expression) Hennessy was unceremoniously returned to the Alley Cats on Tuesday. Jesus Maldonado was brought back; after missing a week with a minor injury, Maldonado had hit in eight of his last nine games. Maybe this time…? Game 2 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – C Wall – SS Triolo – P Ottinger PIT: LF Burgos – SS Barcia – 3B Lastrade – 1B Santillano – CF C. Russell – 2B McKenzie – C T. Salinas – RF M. Mendoza – P Dykstra Fowler scores Myers with a sac fly in the first, so maybe this game wouldn’t all be for the bum. Of course, with runners on the corners and a 3-1 count he could have … (waves it off and shakes head) … Ottinger overcame a Burgos double to lead off the first, and a Triolo error on a pop-up on the infield in the second, holding the Miners scoreless in the early innings, and then – take that – the Raccoons actually ADDED to their lead. Top 4th, Maldonado walked (!!), stole second, then scored when Kurt Wall rushed a single through the right side of the infield, 2-0! Then Ottinger ran into a wall in the bottom 4th. He walked the so far harmless Danny Santillano, serial slugger, with one out, then unravelled with two outs. Jim McKenzie was struck by a pitch and grumblingly went to first base. Salinas hit an RBI single to right, Mendoza singled to left, and the bags were full for Dykstra, who ran a full count, then poked at a cut fastball and missed miserably, stranding three Miners in a 2-1 game. The fifth inning then was the end of it all – Myers was brushed by a pitch, probably not intentionally, and doubled up by Hooge. Fernandez singled, then was caught stealing. By contrast, the Miners got Barcia on base, and then Santillano (five Player of the Year awards, anyone?) hit a huge homer to right to flip the score. Chris Russell also homered, 4-2, and the Raccoons were about beaten once again. Come the sixth, Fowler and Vickers singled, there was a brief rain delay for an on-and-off drizzle, and Kurt Wall reached on Omar Lastrade’s error. Three aboard, one out, Tony Morales would bat for Matt Triolo, but popped out miserably. Tim Stalker batted for Ottinger and flew out to center, no panic there. Three Raccoons were left stranded, and they’d get another chance for that in the eighth against Rojo. Vickers, Pinkerton, and Stalker all reached base, bringing up Myers with two outs in what was still a 4-2 game. Myers hit the 2-1 pitch to center, a hanging floater that had no trouble getting caught, and the Coons had indeed stranded another three… Casey Moore held the Miners at bay in the bottom of the inning, so here came the ninth, the 2-3-4 batters, and a right-hander with a 3.57 ERA in Gualter Cymbron from Venezuela. Hooge grounded out. Fernandez grounded out. Fowler struck out. 4-2 Miners. Hooge 2-5, 2B; Vickers 2-4; Wall 2-4, RBI; Game 3 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – SS Marsingill – P Tennis PIT: LF Burgos – SS Barcia – 3B Lastrade – 1B Santillano – RF C. Russell – 2B McKenzie – C Liu – CF Burch – P C. Padilla Yes, that was Jing-quo Liu in the catcher’s gear, and no, he still didn’t know a word of English. He also hit a game-tying RBI single off Tennis, who preceded the unhappy event with a walk to Russell and by nailing McKenzie. It erased another first-inning, 1-0 lead that had resulted from Hooge scoring on Manny Fernandez’ gap double. Tennis was gone after one out in the bottom 3rd for injury reasons, and the Raccoons immediately went below the waterline again, just one reaching paw sticking out of the swirl that was about to drown them once and for all. Prieto was selected for long relief, not having featured yet in the series. Top 4th, another three on, less than two out situation for Portland to sparkle in. Fowler reached on the error, Stalker reached with a single, and Maldonado reached on balls (!!), presenting Justin Marsingill with three on and one out. He managed a sac fly – what rousing success! – but after that the Raccoons saw themselves forced to send Prieto with two outs and two runners still on base. They had another six innings to pitch… if they wanted to win, that was. Prieto flew out to Kevin Burch to end the inning, ahead 2-1, and it was all of 4-1 an inning later after a Hooge double and a Fowler homer. It also started to rain again… Unfortunately, the game went to an hour-long rain delay before the bottom 5th was completed, so the Raccoons couldn’t win in rain-shortened fashion even though the skies were bleak. When play resumed, Dusty Kulp whiffed Lastrade to end the bottom of the fifth inning, Bottom 8th, still up 4-1, but that wasn’t something a good old meltdown couldn’t solve. Garavito had done the seventh, but now walked Burgos before being replaced with Wise – Yeom Soung was pencilled in for the ninth. Wise retired a pair, then gave up a screaming RBI double to Santillano in a full count, and walked Russell. Those were the tying runs. With the left-handed McKenzie up, the Coons brought Soung, McKenzie missed the 1-2, and disaster was narrowly averted… Maldonado would open the ninth with a triple into the rightfield corner, then score on a Marsingill sac fly, but Soung needed no silly insurance run – he retired Liu, Burch, and Maiello in order in the bottom 9th …! 5-2 Raccoons. Marsingill 1-2, 2 RBI; Prieto 2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (4-2); Thursday was off, but the bad news were not. Gene Tennis was reported to have serious shoulder inflammation by Dr. Chung, and he was likely out for the season. Because why wouldn’t he be… Raccoons (33-31) @ Loggers (28-36) – June 20-22, 2036 The sad-sack Coons dragged their ol’ bums up to Milwaukee, playing three on the weekend with the Loggers, who held a 2-1 lead in the season series. They were 12 games out, fourth in runs scored, but bled the second-most runs; their pitching and defense surrendered precisely five markers per game. Well, here came the comic relief troupe …! Projected matchups: Raffaello Sabre (4-4, 4.13 ERA) vs. Vinny Olguin (2-10, 7.14 ERA) Colt Willes (5-2, 2.80 ERA) vs. Paul Metzler (2-8, 5.30 ERA) Bernie Chavez (4-4, 2.81 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (3-6, 4.61 ERA) Stockwell would be the southpaw of the week here, assuming they would not send their swingman Sergio Piedra (3-3, 3.50 ERA). With Alfredo Casique, Tyler Prestwood, Bill McWhirter, and Josh Conner on the DL the Loggers had injury woes that were about comparable with the Critters’, who sent Gene Tennis to the DL on Thursday, and added a pitcher on Friday. The hole in the rotation would be filled by the 28-year-old righty Carlos de la Cruz, who had last featured in the majors in ’34 and had 19 relief apperances to his name with a 1-0 record and 2.61 ERA, and a .250 BABIP. This year in AAA he had a 2.76 ERA through 12 starts, and although his FIP very strongly suggested NO, what else did the Raccoons have to sort through? ****ing Darren Brown, for the 17th ****ing time?? De la Cruz had just pitched a couple of days ago, so wouldn’t take the ball on the weekend. So he was NOT called up on Friday; instead the Raccoons added a reliever in Travis Sims, who had an 0.37 ERA in AAA. His FIP also said NO. Game 1 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Sabre MIL: RF Valenzuela – 2B Yoshioka – LF S. Wilson – C F. Chavez – 1B S. Ayala – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Garnier – CF Will Ojeda – P Olguin For the third straight game the Critters took a 1-0 lead in he first inning; this time Fowler singled home Hooge with two outs. Singles then put Vickers and Maldonado on the corners in the top 2nd. Triolo flew out to center, with Vickers racing home and narrowly beating the throw of Will Ojeda to score, 2-0. Maldonado stole second when Sabre couldn’t get a bunt down and struck out, then scored on Myers’ double up the leftfield line. Should the Raccoons actually destroy a terrible pitcher early for once!? Ed Hooge struck out to let Olguin get back to the dugout at 3-0. Almost at the same time it started to rain, and the rain got really hard within a could of minutes. Another hour-long delay ensued with Salvador Ayala and Will Ojeda on base and Olgun at the plate with two outs. When play resumed, Sabre fell to 3-0, then gave up a scorched RBI single to the opposing pitcher. Somehow Danny Valenzuela grounded out after that… and that was only TWO innings… The Raccoons then let go of Olguin, having eaten every piece of candy in the dugout and visitor’s clubhouse during the rain delay, which made them tardy going forwards. Sabre dragged himself through five while looking like arse, which came back to bite the Critters when Valenzuela and Kenta Yoshioka opened the bottom 5th with hits to right. One run scored on Steve Wilson’s groundout to short, and another on Ayala’s hard 2-out RBI single, tying the game at three… Twice did the Raccoons have a runner on third base and one out. The top 5th had seen Ed Hooge triple with one out, but he was stranded on a grounder to first and a fly to center. In the seventh, STILL against Olguin, it was Hooge who failed to plate Myers with one out after a double and a passed ball had plated the third baseman on third base, popping out to Ayala. This brought up Manny, who hit a fly to right-center, stretching away, away, away from Valenzuela, and it was IN for extra-bases, all the way to the fence, Myers in to score, Fernandez to third base with a 2-out RBI triple! Fowler singled, 5-3, Morales struck out, and the Coons had to find nine outs without blowing that lead, too. David Fernandez did a good-enough seventh, but walked Ayala to begin the eighth. The Raccoons would tackle the Wise-Soung pair in reverse order again, with right-handers at the bottom of the order for Milwaukee, but left-handers at the top. Wise threw a wild pitch, allowed a single to Del Vecchio to put the tying runs on the corners, and somehow the Loggers remembered that they were supposed to be terrible, too. D.J. Mendez popped out, Kymani Farmer hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice, beating the return throw to first base by maybe a tenth of a second, and Jamie Meehan grounded out to Vickers to strand the tying run in the 5-4 game. Top 9th, Coons come back with their lefty bats against Alex Banderas: Hooge doubled, then scored when Fernandez singled! …and then Fernandez was caught stealing, which was one way to kill the inning a bit quicker than anticipated. At least the Loggers didn’t get through Soung… 6-4 Coons. Myers 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Hooge 3-5, 3B, 2B; M. Fernandez 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-5, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-4; Game 2 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – P Willes MIL: RF Valenzuela – 2B Yoshioka – LF S. Wilson – C F. Chavez – 1B S. Ayala – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Meehan – CF Will Ojeda – P Piedra Saturday brought Piedra, and a special offer of a German bratwurst in a bun with a beer for five bucks, which sounded right up my ally, once you spiced the beer with half a pocket variant of Capt’n Coma. The Raccoons didn’t score in the first or any other reasonably early inning, while the Loggers followed suit and were even more pathetic. Through five innings, Piedra allowed three hits and whiffed two. Willes struck out four against only one base hit, a Kenta Yoshioka single right in the first inning. I was on my fourth bratwurst and beer and started to feel somewhat dizzy when Manny Fernandez hit a sixth inning single with one down. Fowler popped out at 1-2 on a rescue-me swing before Tony Morales got struck in the knee with a fastball and went down in a heap. Calmly I tugged the uniform sleeve of a passing Loggers attendant and informed him that I would need all the beer he could get me. An annoyed Dr. Chung had to listen to Tony Morales’ whining before having Vickers and Pinkerton remove him from the game. Kurt Wall replaced the fallen catcher for obvious reasons, and was also stranded on base when Rich Vickers struck out. Willes kept holding on, and Maldonado hit a leadoff single in the seventh, then was doubled up by Maruyama’s ball poked at Jamie Meehan. The same inning, it started to drizzle… Bobby Valencia was on the mound for Milwaukee in the eighth while I was dropping all pretense of decency and emptied one beer bucket after another. Dave Myers hit a leadoff double in left-center, Hooge lined out to Del Vecchio, but Manny Fernandez hit a liner *over* Del Vecchio and into the left-center gap for another extra-base hit. Myers scored for the first marker on the scoreboard. After an intentional walk to Fowler and a K to Wall, Vickers dropped in a 2-out RBI knock to make it 2-0. Maldonado then grounded out. In a perfect world, Willes would now have valiantly defended this 2-0 lead that the Critters had only scratched out through utmost sacrifice, but Meehan singled, Will Ojeda doubled, and the tying runs were in scoring position with one down in the bottom 8th. David Fernandez came on once D.J. Mendez was announced as pinch-hitter, conceded one run on a grounder to right, and another on Valenzuela’s 2-out single. The inning ended with Valenzuela caught stealing, and I was also informed that the ballpark was out of beer, or bratwurst, at this point. The game went to the 10th inning, where the Coons had Fernandez and Fowler on, and also had Wall chop a ball into an inning-ending double play. The bottom 10th saw Casey Moore pitch to keep the Loggers away, and then we had an hour-ong rain delay that I mostly passed by crying into my shirt sleeve while simultaneously trying not to vomit. The 11th saw a Maruyama double with two outs and a Marsingill pop to piss that one away, too, and in the 12th the Critters put Hooge on with a 1-out single off Rafael Zacarias before Manny drew a walk, too. Justin Fowler was up – please, Fowler, I’m ****ing begging you …!! Grounder to short, to second, to first – inning over. Not even screaming and smashing a table with both fists was helping anymore… The tie was FINALLY broken in the 13th inning, where Steve Bass oversaw a Vickers double up the leftfield line, then a soft Maldonado single to leftfield. Steve Wilson rushed in to play the ball, the Coons were beyond caring about any more injuries and sent Rich Vickers around third base and signalled him to slide with a foot aiming for Francis Chavez’ face if necessary. Wilson’s throw didn’t arrive quite in time, and Vickers slid in safe, and without mutilating Chavez, either. Maruyama popped out, and Stalker batted for Garavito and grounded to short, where Juan Benito fumbled the ball for an error, bringing up Myers, who reached base on a full-count walk. Ed Hooge had the sacks full, drew another walk off a decomposing Bass, and an insurance run was forced in. Fernandez hit a single, 5-2, before Fowler struck out to end the inning. To anybody’s surprise, the Critters’ Chris Wise didn’t allow four in the bottom of the inning; he didn’t even allow a fourth Logger to approach the plate in anger. 5-2 Blighters. Myers 2-6, BB, 2B; Hooge 3-6, BB, RBI; M. Fernandez 3-5, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Vickers 2-5, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Maldonado 2-6, RBI; Willes 7.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; Moore 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Tony Morales was off to the DL with a knee contusion. Dr. Chung shrugged and guessed he’d be back in two weeks or so, or whenever he would stop being such a whiny girl. The Raccoons didn’t even have another catcher on the 40-man roster. The call-up went to Chris Manning, our 2030 fourth-rounder, who was hitting .207 in AAA, but that was still better than anything else we had to offer… Game 3 POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – CF M. Fernandez – SS Maldonado – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – 1B Maruyama – P B. Chavez MIL: RF Valenzuela – 2B Yoshioka – C F. Chavez – 1B S. Ayala – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Garnier – LF K. Farmer – CF Will Ojeda – P Metzler Valenzuela singled, stole second largely unopposed, and came home on Chavez’ single off Chavez. It only got ugly after that and with two outs, with Del Vecchio reaching on a Myers error before Bernie walked both Maxime Garnier and Kymani Farmer, the latter move forcing home a second run that was unearned in the box score, but was gnawing on my soul just the same. Ojeda struck out, leaving three aboard, then popped out with the same three batters (single, walk, walk…) on base and one out in the third inning! Metzler grounded out on a 3-1 pitch to end the latter inning, letting a Bernie Chavez in major disarray get off the hook for the moment there. At least the Coons’ offense was reliably catastrophic. They had a Maruyama single in the third inning… and… not much else, really. Hooge would hit a double in the sixth, but was of course left stranded. Yanked after five gallingly incompetent innings was Bernie Chavez, with Kymani Farmer singling home Del Vecchio in the bottom 5th to make it three runs on seven hits and four walks off the former third-place finisher in the ERA race. Portland got on board in the top 7th on a pair of leadoff singles by Pinkerton and Wall, then crucially a wild pitch to move both into scoring position, and a Maruyama grounder to short to score Pinkerton, 3-1. Fowler hit for Garavito and lined out to Yoshioka, and Wall was left on third base for good when Myers flew out to rightfield. A Vickers single to begin the eighth led absolutely nowhere, and the game was still 3-1 in the ninth with Alex Banderas pitching against the 6-7-8 batters. Pinkerton flew out to right. Stalker hit for Wall and doubled – then pulled up lame and had to be replaced by a pinch-runner, which turned out to be Matt Triolo. Maruyama whiffed, and Marsingill batted for Yeom Soung in the #9 hole, aaand … whiffed. 3-1 Loggers. Stalker (PH) 1-1, 2B; Soung 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; In other news June 17 – NAS OF/1B Fabien Ugolino (.309, 0 HR, 6 RBI) ends the Blue Sox’ game against the Thunder with a walkoff single for a 14-inning, 7-6 win. Both teams had scored a run each in both the 12th and 13th innings before the Sox break through on their own in the 14th. June 17 – A throwing error by BOS LF/CF Adrian Reichardt (.323, 2 HR, 7 RBI) allows Richmond’s Telma Mntua (.324, 1 HR, 11 RBI) to score in walkoff fashion for the only run of the game, 1-0 Rebels in regulation. June 19 – The Capitals beat the Indians, 9-2, in a rain-shortened game of five and a half innings. June 20 – SAL CL Rico Sanchez (2-0, 2.59 ERA, 14 SV) will be out until the All Star Game with a rotator cuff strain. June 21 – The Crusaders get 1B Kumanosuke Henderson (.267, 6 HR, 41 RBI) from the Knights in exchange for RF/LF Matt Porter (.250, 1 HR, 5 RBI). June 21 – The Indians trade for the Warriors’ 1B Brent Rempfer (.258, 9 HR, 28 RBI), parting with reliever Chris Henry (1-3, 3.86 ERA, 8 SV) and a prospect. Complaints and stuff If you still harbored hope it’s probably time to open your eyes. The Coons are going nowhere this year, and the real question is whether they will even have anything left to trade away at the deadline at the rate at which they’re breaking their little necks. I mean, who had Ed Hooge for almost 250 PA in late June in the raffle?? Not that Ed Hooge can’t still break a leg to fall short… He is actually doing pretty well, which means there’s a cross-country train lurking behind *some* dark corner, waiting to smash his unsuspecting black-and-white face in… Yeah, yeah, the injuries keep coming, which is fine, really, it’s all fine. Morales to the DL, Tim Stalker probably to the DL (who knows!) for his pointless heroics in the ninth on Sunday, Harenberg out for the season, Berto out for the season, Tennis out for the season – which is all fine, given that fun’s also out for the season. I mean, I’m not surprised that the offense IS this ****. Just look at them. (presents Maruyama and spreads the first-sacker’s lips with two fingers to show off his sub-standard teeth) No horse trader would buy this bum!! In next week: the Elks. Like I needed that one! Fun Fact: By early next week the Raccoons will have used at least 39 players this season. …and it’s still June. Included in the calculation are de la Cruz and Manning, neither of whom was penciled in for service. One of them wasn’t even on the radar for anything. Our Opening Day lineup was: SS Ramos – 3B Myers – 1B Harenberg – CF Fowler – LF Wallace – C Morales – RF M. Fernandez – 2B Stalker – P Rendon At this point that’s: DL for the year – was on DL – DL for the year – was on DL – still on DL – now on DL – miraculously not yet on DL – probably heading to DL – yes, on DL! Toot, toot! The train departs now! Toot! Next stop - insane asylum! Toooot! 
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-19-2020, 03:40 PM
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#3197 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Somehow, going to the office became more and more joyless as the season progressed. I wonder what the reason for that was. At least we’d only be in town for a brief 3-game set with the vile Elks, before –
(freezes in the door frame of his office, staring at Cristiano Carmona’s roommate Gustaf, who is wearing nothing but some shorts and is flexing is well oiled muscles in the middle of the room) Maud? – Maud? – Why is … why is he here? – What do you mean, he’s “replacing Cristiano”? What is with Cristiano? – How did he hurt himself? – Why did he fall off Gustaf’s back and… no forget it, I don’t want to know. – Yes, Maud, Cristiano is now on the DL, I will LAUGH ABOUT IT LATER. Gustaf, you are very oily. – No, I don’t know whether we have any loop bands. – Maybe in the gym. – If you see Dr. Chung, tell him I need something for my headache. He’s the grumpy Asian guy that’s always… grumpy. (lets forehead fall onto the desk) Ow. Raccoons (35-32) vs. Canadiens (31-38) – June 23-25, 2036 The Elks had the worst batting average in the league, but were scoring almost as many runs as the Raccoons did with the sixth-best batting average, so there was that. Their rotation was crummy, but they had a solid pen, so we shouldn’t get our hopes up for late-inning heroics. They also didn’t have 25 players and $600M in salaries on the DL, so they were probably going to be just FINE. We were up 4-2 in the season series, a state that was certainly going to be temporary. Projected matchups: Jared Ottinger (1-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Nick Danieley (4-7, 5.10 ERA) Carlos de la Cruz (0-0) vs. Josh Weeks (4-8, 3.87 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (4-4, 4.09 ERA) vs. Joe West (7-6, 4.17 ERA) Southpaw in the middle of the series. How can the damn Elks only have Jonathan Snyder on the DL and our roster looks like any old North Carolina regiment after Pickett’s Charge?? Game 1 VAN: 2B Morrow – C Clemente – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – RF Phillips – LF LeJeune – SS Cabral – 3B Stephenson – P Danieley POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – C Wall – P Ottinger Somehow we only had three left-handed batters left, which already included the fantastically useless Matt Triolo, and Chiyosaku Maruyama was batting fifth with his .666 OPS. It thus wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if after Jared Ottinger threw 39 pitches in a dismal first inning, which still allowed the Elks to score “only” two runs after a walk drawn by Timóteo Clemente, a Johnny Lopez RBI double, and Ryan Phillips’ RBI single, the Raccoons wouldn’t make up the deficit either sooner or later. They surely didn’t make it up sooner – Danieley faced the minimum the first time through, which did included some double play assistance from Vickers in he second and Wall in the third innings. Yet, in the bottom 4th the bases were loaded with Hooge (Eric Morrow error), Fernandez (single) and Fowler (single), one out, and .. .well, Maruyama batting fifth…! Phillips caught up with his fly to right and snatched it, but Hooge scored after tagging up. Rich Vickers legged out 2-out infield single to get Manny across and tie the game. Triolo popped out, keeping his average far away from even the .190 mark and the Raccoons just as far away from taking a lead. Ottinger clawed his way through six innings after a ****ty start, but threw almost 100 pitches and probably wouldn’t come out for the seventh unless a major rally broke out in the bottom of the sixth. Hooge opened the inning with a single, and Fernandez hit another one. Fowler fanned, which was always comforting, but Maruyama hit a liner over Josh Stephenson and up the leftfield line for an RBI double, putting Portland up 3-2! The damn Elks walked Vickers intentionally, which brought up Triolo with three on and one out. Figuring he could outrun a double play return throw to first base, he was allowed to bat, flew easily to Jesse LeJeune, but the ball was deep enough to allow Fernandez to tag up and dash home, 4-2. When Wall walked, Ottinger was gone from the game – Jesus Maldonado hit for him with three on and two outs, and hit a comebacker to Danieley for a dismal third out. Vancouver got a run back off Dusty Kulp, no surprise there, when Morrow doubled home Ramon Cabral with two outs in the top 7th, and the Critters stranded another three in the bottom 7th, without scoring, after a decomposing Danieley walked the bags full, but Vickers grounded out easily to Stephenson… A Johnny Lopez homer off David Fernandez then tied the game in the eighth… Top 9th, Antonio Prieto took the ball and got groundouts from Stephenson and Edgar Paiz before stalking around the mound in aggravated fashion, grimacing, and grabbing his thigh repeatedly. Say, Gustaf, can you do some stretching and aerobics stuff with them, or are they too fat for that? – Good, you’re hired. … Chris Wise replaced Prieto, got a grounder from Morrow, and then the Coons had a chance to walk off against right-hander J.J. Ringland rather than play 13 or 16 innings again. And to anybody’s surprise, they did – Hooge singled, Fernandez singled, and after Fowler flew out, Maruyama singled, with Hooge scooting home from second base to end another depressing game. 5-4 Coons. M. Fernandez 3-5; Maruyama 3-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Hamstring! Antonio Prieto is off to the DL, might come back in two weeks, or he might not, who gives a **** anymore? The gruesomely decimated Raccoons would just keep replenishing from AAA. Dennis Citriniti was called up from AAA on this occasion. Wait, didn’t we have another corpse lying around in some corner? I feel like we had. But I have lost my grasp on our roster two labrums and a stubbed toe ago…… Game 2 VAN: 2B Morrow – C Clemente – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – RF Phillips – SS Cabral– LF Korecky – 3B Stephenson – P Weeks POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – SS Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – RF Pinkerton – C Manning – P de la Cruz I found Gustaf’s training regimen a bit distracting. He was doing squats right next to the TV as the game began. For a change, Maud sat in with us on the brown couch. The Coons scored two in the bottom 1st, with Vickers walking before Manny (single), Fowler (RBI single), and Maruyama (RBI double) all chipped in base hits. Pinkerton ended the inning with a fly to Will Korecky. A 2-out rally took place the following inning, with Myers hitting a double followed by a bloop RBI single off Vickers’ bat and a screaming RBI double by Fernandez, rushing the score to 4-0. I sure liked that! – Maud agreed in a low growl, but for some reason was looking at Gustaf’s bum. Before Ryan Phillips went yard for a solo shot in the fourth, de la Cruz had held up remarkably well, allowing only two hits and a walk prior to the home run to right. Cabral singled after that, but Korecky grounded out easily to Vickers, so there was no reason to panic in a 4-1 game. Chris Manning landed his first major league hit in his second attempt, dropping a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, and when Dave Myers homered to left the score was 6-1, which normally should be the worry-free zone. Weeks remained in the game despite the bomb, the other umpteen runs before that, the Vickers double after that, and was only yanked for David Galmore when Justin Fowler went deep to center – an 8-1 game in the fourth! Of course de la Cruz immediately came apart at the seams, had an endless fifth inning, and was yanked at the completion of it, having thrown 95 pitches. In the fifth he issued a single and two walks, then plated a run with a wild pitch before Johnny Lopez struck out. Wicked game it was, indeed. The Elks scored another run off Kulp in the seventh (sigh), but the real horror came in the eighth. Yeom Soung got outs from Phillips and Cabral, then was replaced by Citriniti, who loaded the bases with Korecky, Stephenson, and Josh Keen, THEN had the audacity to nail Morrow, getting the damn Elks into slam range. Exit Citriniti, enter Casey Moore, and a strikeout to Clemente ended the inning. Moore would finish the game, earning his first save of the season. 8-4 Raccoons. Myers 3-3, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Vickers 2-5, 2B, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Fowler 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Game 3 VAN: 2B Morrow – SS Cabral – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – RF Phillips – LF LeJeune – C Paiz – 3B Ashley – P J. West POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – C Wall – P Sabre Sabre hit Jerry Outram in the first, Edgar Paiz in the second, and put plenty more Elks on base around them to explode his pitch count early on, too. In the fourth of a scoreless game, LeJeune and Paiz opened with singled before Sabre drilled Ray Ashley, too, and the bags were full with nobody out. Joe West aggravatingly hit an RBI single on a 1-2 pitch, and more runs scored on a Cabral single and Outram’s groundout, giving the damn Elks a 3-0 lead before Lopez flew out to Fernandez on the warning track… Sabre would toss 109 pitches in a pathetic outing that nevertheless lasted only five innings. The Raccoons had stranded pairs of runners in the first and third innings, then did absolutely nothing anymore. David Fernandez pitched two scoreless in vain for them in the sixth and seventh, and Moore and Soung would pile together for the eight and ninth, but the offense arrived in the ninth inning with a very clueless expression. After eight innings of 5-hit ball by Joe West, Rafael Urbano, a longtime Indian, got the baseball against the 5-6-7 batters. Maruyama grounded out, but Vickers walked. Pinkerton batted for Triolo, but grounded out. Kurt Wall singled to right, setting up runners on the corners with two outs for pinch-hitter… Justin Marsingill, who was the tying run. …and who struck out. 3-0 Canadiens. D. Fernandez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Well. At least nobody got hurt! …except for Gustaf, who slipped on his own oily feet on the bathroom tiles and crashed through a porcelain sink. Dr. Chung had to stitch his lip, stabilize his neck with a brace, and put his broken wrist in a cast. Ah **** it, add him to the DL, neither Steve from Accounting nor our insurance will even notice anymore… Also added to the DL was, finally, Tim Stalker. The old man had a sore back and was maybe going to come back at the end of the 15 days on the DL, or maybe we’d drop him in front of some retirement home and speed off with screeching tires. In ANOTHER roster move, the Raccoons added Yukitsura Hirai, a 25-year-old Japanese middle infielder with sketchy defense that was hitting .323 with five homers in St. Petersburg. He was also a righty bat, but the only lefty batting middle infielder down there was Edgar Barrios and he couldn’t hit a barn from the inside… Raccoons (37-33) @ Knights (40-33) – June 27-29, 2036 Fourth in offense, eighth in runs allowed, the Knights were in fourth place, but only 4 1/2 games out in the South. They needed wins, wins, wins, and had gotten two in three games against Portland so far. Projected matchups: Colt Willes (5-2, 2.77 ERA) vs. Mike Burris (3-6, 4.54 ERA) Bernie Chavez (4-5, 2.85 ERA) vs. Armando Zaragoza (7-4, 4.07 ERA) Jared Ottinger (1-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Brad Santry (7-5, 5.19 ERA) Those were three right-handers. The Knights had a few players on the DL, most notably Keith Thomson, but that still looked remotely like a major league lineup …! Game 1 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – SS Hirai – 1B Maldonado – C Wall – P Willes ATL: SS Kilgallen – LF Inoa – RF Pincus – 3B Maneke – CF J. Simmons – C J. Wood – 1B Eppler – 2B Zesati – P Burris Myers and Hooge reached base on a walk and a single, respectively, to start the series, Myers drew a throw from Justin Simmons when he went for third base on Hooge’s single, beat the throw, and Hooge doodled over to second base when nobody was looking. Grounder to second base by both Fernandez and Fowler each scored a run for an early 2-0 lead. Pretty soon we got a reminder why Colt Willes had not won a game since May, though. He allowed two singles in the bottom 1st, then exploded with all the colors of the ****ing rainbow in the bottom 2nd. Jimmy Wood singled on the first pitch of the frame. Brian Eppler singled, and Vincent Zesati, former Coons farmhand, popped out. Burris hit an RBI single (…!), as did Matt Kilgallen, who then stole second. Burris scored on a wild pitch before Luis Inoa walked, Roy Pincus walked as well, and somehow nobody hit a slam after that. Chris Maneke struck out and Justin Simmons grounded out to Vickers to hold the Knights to their 3-2 lead. ****head Willes allowed two more singles in the bottom of the third, Pincus singled in the fourth, and somehow the Coons then even gave Willes another lead. Kurt Wall homered in the fifth to tie the game, and with two outs Myers doubled and scored on an Ed Hooge triple. Burris balked Ed home, 5-3, then allowed another triple to Manny Fernandez. Fowler flew out to Simmons, though, stranding the runner. Doubles by Wood and Zesati scored a run for Atlanta in the bottom 5th and knocked out Willes after 4.1 innings and ELEVEN base hits. Citriniti struck out the opposing pitcher (huzzah!) and somehow wiggled out of the inning with a 5-4 lead still intact… Top 6th, Vickers knocked out Burris with a leadoff single before Hirai reached on a Zesati error. Southpaw Casey McQueen nailed Maldonado to fill the bases with nobody out (and with an 0-2 pitch…), upon which Wall flew out to Simmons in deep center for a sac fly. Pinkerton hit an RBI single in the #9 hole, 7-4, but Myers grounded out. Somehow even Dismal Dusty got the Critters five outs without allowing a bushel of runs, so maybe the game could still turn out a winner even though through seven innings the Raccoons were out-hit 12-7. The eighth saw Garavito face three Knights and retire them all, but Chris Wise walked Maneke to begin the bottom 9th. Simmons shot a ball into a 6-4-3 double play though, and Jimmy Wood went down on strikes to end the game. 7-4 Critters. Hooge 3-5, 3B, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Pinkerton (PH) 1-1, RBI; Kulp 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; What would I give for a crisply pitched and calm 7-1 win for once… Game 2 POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – 2B Hirai – SS Maldonado – C Manning – P Chavez ATL: SS Kilgallen – LF Inoa – RF Pincus – 3B Maneke – CF J. Simmons – C J. Wood – 1B Eppler – 2B Zesati – P A. Zaragoza Ed Hooge homered with one out in the first and singled with nobody out in the fourth, indicating volumes of traffic on the base paths… well, actually only Maldonado, who was promptly caught stealing. Bernie held the Knights hitless into the fourth when Luis Inoa singled and Roy Pincus homered to give them the lead, 2-1. The Raccoons would hit triples in the fifth (Maldonado) and sixth (Fernandez) and never scored thanks to the triples coming with two outs and nobody else doing anything useful. The Raccoons only reached the board again in the eighth with another Ed Hooge homer, also a 1-out solo job like the previous bomb. It tied the game at two, and Bernie Chavez was almost unhorsed by a Hirai error to begin the bottom 8th, but PH Edwin Rendon hit forcefully into a double play and the inning sorted itself out. Chavez had a 3-hitter through eight, but still received a no-decision for the Raccoons’ inability to score without a Hooge homer. Hooge wasn’t up in the ninth, and so they didn’t score. Casey Moore’s scoreless ninth sent the game to extras, where Hooge reached with a 1-out walk drawn off Marcus Goode. Manny flew to deep center, but into an out, but Fowler landed a single in shallow center with two outs. Hooge jockeyed to third base, then came home on Maruyama’s howling double up the leftfield line, 3-2! Marsingill batted for Hirai, grounded out to strand runners in scoring position, then missed a Manny Delgado grounder for a 1-out single in the bottom 10th. Wise had already put Simmons on base with a leadoff single, and the tying run reached third base when Simmons came crashing in there on the play. He twisted his knee and required replacement by catcher Alex Jaramillo – and that was a BIG blow for the Knights. When Zesati struck out, it left them with no pinch-hitter for Goode with two outs. Wise got to two strikes, then nevertheless gave up a grounder up the middle. NO!! Marsingill over, pick, throw to first – ballgame! 3-2 Blighters. Hooge 3-4, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-4, 3B; Chavez 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K; Game 3 POR: CF Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – LF Hooge – CF M. Fernandez – 3B Marsingill – 2B Hirai – SS Triolo – C Wall – P Ottinger ATL: SS Kilgallen – LF Inoa – RF Pincus – 3B Maneke – CF J. Simmons – C J. Wood – 1B Ryu – 2B Zesati – P Santry The bottom 3rd began with a Marsingill error and ended with six runs, two earned. Inoa singled, Maneke hit a 2-run single, Simmons singled, Wood landed an RBI single, Ryu walked, and ****ing Brad Santry hit a 2-out, bases-clearing double. In other words, ballgame. The Raccoons had two hits and a double play the first time through the order, and didn’t get any better after that, either. Ottinger lasted just four innings, while Citriniti pitched two scoreless frames. In between, Jesus Maldonado hit a sac fly, but it didn’t *really* matter, to be honest. Jimmy Wood homered off David Fernandez in the bottom of the seventh inning, so there it actually was, the crisply pitched, calm 7-1 game. Just for the other team… 7-1 Knights. Hooge 3-4, 2B; Vickers (PH) 1-2; Citriniti 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K; In other news June 23 – New York infielder Ted Schlegelmilch (.333, 0 HR, 5 RBI) goes out for four hits and as many RBI in the Crusaders’ 11-10, 11-inning win over the Indians. Three of his RBI come on a bases-clearing double in the 11th inning that provides the margin of victory even after an Indians rally falls short. June 24 – Salem’s SP Eric Peck (7-5, 3.85 ERA) sparkles with a no-hitter against the Pacifics, who amount to three walks, seven strikeouts, but no base knocks in a 4-0 Wolves win. This is only the second no-hitter in Wolves lore after the one Carlos Barron tossed against the Warriors in 2020. June 25 – CHA LF/RF Gabe McCormack (.265, 1 HR, 14 RBI) is lost for the season with a torn labrum. June 26 – TIJ SP Juan Zaragoza (7-5, 5.00 ERA) will miss 12 months with a torn labrum. June 27 – The Wolves pick up INF Mike Cole (.281, 4 HR, 22 RBI) from the Condors in exchange for LF/1B Giacomino Vitalini (.277, 2 HR, 28 RBI). June 28 – SFB INF Jose Cruz (.317, 2 HR, 39 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 15-8 slugfest win for the Bayhawks over the Crusaders. Cruz goes 4-for-5 with 4 RBI in the effort and becomes the fifth Bayhawk to hit for the cycle after Antonio Rodriguez (1997), Dave Garcia (2018), Rafael Gomez (2022), and Omar Camacho (2027). Complaints and stuff He was not on the 40-man roster anymore and of no use to either man or beast, but he was still being carried around in some capacity; 31-year-old left-hander Jason Gurney tore his labrum in AAA this week and also ended up on the growing pile of broken bodies. And if I hear torn labrum one more time, I’m gonna scream. So this week we placed Stalker and Prieto on the DL. Next week we might actually get somebody back, but maybe I shouldn’t be so optimistic, lest the baseball gods smite Gilberto Rendon with a setback….. Ed Hooge has a 12-game hitting streak, so I now have him as the leading candidate for a compound fracture in both femurs. Ed was off on Tuesday against the southpaw, but when in the lineup went 11-for-20 with 2 HR and 3 RBI. It wasn’t enough to beat Jose Cruz and his cycle, however… Hooge played 62 games with the ’32 Coons at age 22 and was horrendous. He played in only 56 games the next three years combined, including none in ’34. This year he’s suddenly hitting. It will be tempting to see where this goes when Wallace returns… We need a shortstop. Closing in to five games out (and four before losing on Sunday) makes it imperative to at least *try*. I have started poking other teams for shortstops. Since we don’t have much in terms of budget space, I’ll have to aim for more of a defensive shortstop with an average bat, but it doesn’t take much to beat Matt Triolo’s slash line… in fact, I have an offer out there right now for a shortstop, and I guess we’ll hear from the other team on Monday. Fun Fact: The Raccoons will pay at least $5,888,000 out of a $31,398,000 payroll to players on the DL this season. There is some actual math and some estimation in this (like guessing when Jimmy Wallace, including rehab, will return), but the big points are pretty clearly marked out. Some things were also left out, like 40-man roster players on the minor league DL (including Maldonado when he was on there between stints). The biggest single amounts (and two thirds of the total amount) are due to Kevin Harenberg ($2.37M) and Alberto Ramos ($1.75M), who will miss 160 and 113 games, respectively, AND have huge contracts. $400k and change each will be paid to Rendon, Fowler, and Wallace for being hurt, after which the amounts quickly get smaller yet. But that’s almost 20% of our budget paid for bruises, and we have to play another three months and small change…..
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-21-2020, 06:12 PM
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#3198 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Trade
The week began with the Coons adding a new player, trading for the Scorpions’ 29-year-old SS/3B Adam Downs, who was hitting .346 with 5 HR and 18 RBI in limited playing time – he had barely over 100 at-bats for the season. His usual production would be much closer to league average or below it. He was a well-fielding shortstop with any sort of stick, however, and that is what the Raccoons needed, an upgrade over Matt Triolo and whoever else they might adventure shuffling through Berto’s spot for the next 109 games. The Coons parted with 23-yr old right-hander Brad Forsch, once a supplemental round pick by the Buffaloes, then later a trash heap pickup a few winters back. He had absolutely outrageous control problems, and if that was all that it would take to get a major-league-serviceable shortstop that made an absolute pittance aboard, we were in …! Gene Tennis was transferred to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster, while Matt Triolo was banished to create space on the 25-man roster. Raccoons (39-34) vs. Thunder (23-52) – June 30-July 2, 2036 The moribund Thunder dropped by, hoping to not get murdered outright, but then again, the Coons’ offense was mediocre at best… They were last in runs scored, second from the bottom in runs allowed, and their run differential was -100. There was nothing to like about that team. Nothing. Nothing. We were up 2-1 in the season series. Projected matchups: Carlos de la Cruz (1-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. Chris Guyett (5-7, 4.36 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (4-5, 4.17 ERA) vs. Gary Martin (1-7, 6.75 ERA) Colt Willes (5-2, 3.03 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (6-5, 3.53 ERA) Two right, one left; speaking of left, the Raccoons only had two left-handed batters left (Fernandez, Hooge). Everybody else had croaked. Game 1 OCT: CF Olszewski – SS Santillan – RF Celaya – 1B D. Cruz – 2B C. Miller – LF DeLoach – C Kilmer – 3B A. Rojas – P Guyett POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – SS Downs – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – P de la Cruz Regardless of previous successlessness, the Thunder began the game with lightning. Drew Olszewski doubled, Jose Santillan walked, Lorenzo Celaya singled, and with the bases loaded and nobody out, de la Cruz nailed Danny Cruz to force in a run. Trusted Raccoons personnel tried to talk and/or beat sense into him just 20 pitches into the game, and the inning ended with a run-scoring Chris Miller groundout, then two strikeouts. Why not like that from the start then…?? The shackling continued in the second, with extra-base hits by Alfredo Rojas, Santillan, and Celaya for two more runs, and de la Cruz was yanked after four innings and 89 pitches, all terrible, with the Coons still scoreless and with only one base hit. The bottom 4th DID see them get on the scoreboard with a Manny Fernandez homer that also collected Hooge for two runs, but then stupidity took over. Vickers hit a 2-out double in the same inning, but was thrown out trying to make it three, and in the fifth Kurt Wall hit a 1-out double, then got doubled off on Maldonado’s lineout. Garavito’s leadoff walk to Rojas in the sixth turned into a run on two grounders and Santillan’s RBI single, 5-2, but Manny Fernandez singled home Myers, who hit a leadoff double up the leftfield line in the bottom of the inning, 5-3. Fowler was the tying run, struck out, Guyett walked Vickers, and Downs went down with a grounder, stranding two. Another chance was stitched together in the bottom 7th. Wall reached on a Chris Miller error with one down, and Yukitsura Hirai got his first major league hit with a double to left. This put the tying runs in scoring position for Dave Myers, who grounded out to short, which at least did score a run, and with two down Hooge hit a fly to deep center. Drew Olszewski was not back quick enough, the ball dropped in for a double, and Ed Hooge had tied the ballgame at five *and* had a 13-game hitting streak, but was also left stranded when Manny walked and Fowler fanned once more. The tie didn’t live long; Casey Moore put Rojas on base with a 1-out single, and when David Fernandez came out for Olszewski with two outs, the Thunder countered with a right-handed bat – Fernando Garcia went yard to left, and the Raccoons were trailing yet again. Worst offense, huh?? Bottom 9th, Wall opened with a double. Pinkerton popped out, Myers struck out, but Hooge came through with a gapper for an RBI double with two gone. Fernandez was the tying run, ran a full count, then was retired on a grounder to short… 7-6 Thunder. Hooge 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Wall 2-4, 2 2B; Hirai (PH) 1-1, 2B; The Raccoons had ten hits; one homer, EIGHT DOUBLES, and one single. Somehow, they managed to lose. Game 2 OCT: CF Olszewski – SS Santillan – RF Celaya – 1B D. Cruz – 2B C. Miller – C Kilmer – LF S. Cutler – 3B A. Rojas – P G. Martin POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – SS Downs – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – P Sabre Three on, no outs, Maruyama to the plate in the bottom of the second inning. The wet sponge that he was he poked away at the first pitch by Martin, who had just walked Downs in clueless fashion, and flew out to left-center. Fowler tagged, went, and scored, but good grief… Wall flew out to Celaya – oh, no, he dropped it! Error, the ball got behind him, too, and the Critters got two bases and a run out of the mistake, and a 2-0 lead. A Sabre sac fly made it 3-0 before Myers struck out. On the mound, Sabre had retired the first six, but walked Steve Cutler to put the first Thunder in the top 3rd on base. Rojas hit a shot at Myers, who didn’t take it in the throat or the cojones, but instead masterfully zinged the ball to the left for a 5-4-3 double play. The following inning Sabre nailed Santillan, walked Cruz, and gave up a screaming 2-run double with two outs to Chris Miller. Jeff Kilmer struck out, but it was 3-2 now… Myers walked to begin the bottom 5th and Hooge singled to left, giving the Critters’ middle of the order a fat chance. It didn’t get off well from there, with Fernandez grounding to short, but the Thunder got only one out on Hooge before Fowler chopped an 0-2 pitch through a hole for an RBI single. Vickers and Downs made poor outs, stranding two. Next half-inning, Celaya singled, stole second, and Sabre gave up a pair of 2-out RBI doubles to Cruz and Miller – and the game was tied again. It was at this point that I looked up in confusion as the Raccoons’ mascot came into the office while I was sitting on the couch and talked to Slappy about my sorrows. What the – Chad, what are you doing in here? You’re supposed to entertain the stupid kids in the stands! …. The mascot waved me off, plunked down on the couch, and took the head off. It was – Nick Valdes!? Why are you wearing Chad’s costume? – It’s not Chad’s costume!? – What do you mean, this is your own costume?? While I was trying to sort things out and why Valdes had to “occasionally sneak in unnoticed”, the Coons did nothing in the bottom 6th, but Citriniti was also not harmed in the top 7th. In fact, the tie remained unbroken through eight. Say, Nick, how *often* do you sneak in wearing the costume …? … Chris Wise allowed a leadoff single to Miller in the ninth, but Kilmer hit into a double play. Cutler struck out, so one run would be enough for the Critters in the bottom 9th, but they only managed a 2-out single by Myers, after which Hooge whiffed, and to extras it was… Wise did a second round of pitching, still wasn’t scored upon, and the middle of the order got Steve Bailey, a right-hander with a 7.96 ERA in the bottom 10th. Fernandez flew out, and Bailey struck out a pair to end that inning……. Bailey struck out two more in the 11th, while the Coons got two innings from Casey Moore before Maldonado in the #9 hole reached on an error by Santillan to begin the bottom 12th. Myers and Hooge both grounded out against David Gerow, bringing up Fernandez, who fell to 1-2 with the winning run on third base, then hit a soft fly to shallow right. Maldonado raced for home, but would it fall in?? Celaya coming on in a real rush, but the ball was sinking, sinking, and – it was in! Walkoff single! 5-4 Critters! Fowler 2-5, RBI; Vickers 2-5; Wise 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Moore 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-3); This game? Seven hits, all singles, and somehow a win. BASEBALL. Game 3 OCT: CF Olszewski – SS Santillan – RF Celaya – 1B D. Cruz – 2B C. Miller – LF DeLoach – C Kilmer – 3B A. Rojas – P J. Robinson POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – RF Pinkerton – SS Maldonado – C Wall – P Willes Olszewski opened the game with a jack, which was just swell, wasn’t it… On the other paw, Ed Hooge got his hitting streak to 15 games early, finding Myers on base in the bottom 1st and homering to center to flip the score. ED HOOGE!! With one out, Fowler singled, Maruyama singled and sent him to third, and Preston Pinkerton singled and plated Fowler, 3-1. Jesus Maldonado hit another single to load the bases, but Wall hit the first pitch he got into a double play to end the inning… Willes remained ****ing awful, though, and the Thunder got a run back in the second on hits by Miller, Kilmer, and Rojas before Robinson hit into a double play… In the third, the Thunder tied it against the sucking Willes. Celaya singled with two outs, stole second, then scored on a sharp Cruz single, making it a three-all game… Say, Nick, have you ever thought of just dropping everything and walking into the forest, and never coming back…? – (Valdes nods eagerly) Bottom 4th, Pinkerton hit a leadoff single, then stole second base. Maldonado hit a gapper in right-center to surely get him in, and he raced all the way to third base with an RBI triple! Kurt Wall’s sac fly got him in, and then Willes crashed a home run off Robinson to make it 6-3 …! Can he play first base …?? … All we knew was that he surely couldn’t ****ing pitch. Winless in June, he set out to blow the 3-run lead immediately. He walked Olszewski, allowed a single, threw a wild pitch, and somehow was booked for only one run in that particular ****ty inning. Another one followed, with Kilmer (walk), Rojas (single), and PH Jorge Zamora (walk) all aboard with one out. Willes was yanked, probably too late, and Garavito got the ball. This was the first time the Raccoons sent a southpaw for Olszewski and the Thunder did not counter with a righty bat in this series, and Olszewski hit a sac fly. Now with two outs, Garavito gave up the lead on a Santillan single, then blew the door out of the hinges altogether with a hanger to Celaya that was hit some 400 feet to center and gave the Thunder a 9-6 lead. Yeah, yeah, worst offense. Worst offense my ***! As things were, the Raccoons wouldn’t score, but conceded another run in the ninth on not one, but two Dave Myers errors, because why wouldn’t he chip in? Gerow and his 6.59 ERA were back out for the bottom 9th with the Coons down by four. Manny Fernandez hit a pinch-hit single… and that was all. 10-6 Thunder. Maruyama 2-4; Pinkerton 2-4, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 3B, RBI; M. Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Maybe it’s just that we have the ****ing worst pitching – Colt Willes, the ****ing ****stain, has to ****ing go… Hah, at least he can’t **** up a game against the Titans now……. The Raccoons used Citriniti for another seven outs in this game and with the bullpen abuse the Raccoons had suffered against the worst offense in the league, made a roster move, or actually two, since Gilberto Rendon came off the DL for the Titans set. Citriniti and de la Cruz were sent to St. Petersburg, and the Critters called up the next right-hander on the list, who turned out to be Travis Sims, who had pitched 3.1 scoreless innings for Portland earlier in the year. Raccoons (40-36) vs. Titans (47-31) – July 3-6, 2036 The mess that was the Raccoons got to host the Titans, who could kick the door to the playoffs wide open even now if they won even only three games in the series. And why wouldn’t they? They were only seventh in runs scored, but we had already seen this week what even the worst offense would do to the Raccoons, and they were also allowing the very fewest runs in the CL. That combined with the fact that we’d only get one southpaw starter (right away on Thursday), combined with their lineup being mostly left-handed against our righty starters made me rather less confident in our ability to keep them close or even close up to them… The season series was at 4-3 in the Titans’ favor. Projected matchups: Bernie Chavez (4-5, 2.81 ERA) vs. Mario Gonzalez (8-6, 2.24 ERA) Jared Ottinger (1-2, 3.21 ERA) vs. Matt Brost (8-2, 3.29 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (2-4, 5.24 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (8-7, 3.50 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (4-5, 4.29 ERA) vs. Adam Potter (7-3, 3.76 ERA) Everybody in the Titan’s rotation had at least seven wins. We barely could stitch two chaps together to find seven wins in one pile. How the **** is all we have left in the rotation having a losing record…? As indicated, Mario Gonzalez was the only southpaw we’d see, with the other one (Tony Chavez and his 8-6, 3.00 ERA mark) having pitched on Wednesday. Boston *did* have a bunch of injured position players (Ivan Vega, Andy Schmit, Keith Spataro on the DL, Moises Avila ready to get back into action any moment), but who didn’t …? Game 1 BOS: SS Gil – C J. Young – 1B Regan – LF W. Vega – RF Joseph – 2B Sears – 3B Beam – CF Hayden – P M. Gonzalez POR: 3B Myers – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – SS Downs – RF Pinkerton – 1B Maruyama – C Manning – P B. Chavez Bernie allowed one hit through five on 50 pitches – did he get a lead? Of course not. They had three hits, and did nothing with them. While Valdes and me were musing whether we had enough pitchers for a 21-inning game, Bernie took care of business. He walked Matt Hayden to begin the inning. The runner was bunted over by Gonzalez, stole third base, and Bernie loaded the bases with walks behind him. The Coons couldn’t turn two on Greg Regan’s grounder to second base, one run scored, and Willie Vega struck out hacking to strand two. Chris Joseph hit a homer the following inning, 2-0, which was all the Titans got off Bernie Chavez, but it was well enough. The Raccoons did nothing while Bernie was pitching, and they did even less when he wasn’t pitching anymore, lifted in the top of the eighth. Gonzalez went eight shutout innings, allowing four base hits. Manny Fernandez hit a single in the bottom 9th, bringing up Fowler as the tying run with one out, and Fowler hit a perfect service to Antonio Gil for a 6-4-3 to end the game. 2-0 Titans. Chavez 7.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, L (4-6); Not surprised. Only annoyed. Game 2 BOS: SS Gil – C J. Young – 1B Regan – LF W. Vega – RF Joseph – 3B McGee – 2B Sears – CF Hayden – P Brost POR: 3B Myers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – SS Downs – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – P Ottinger It was 2-0 Titans after just 20 Ottinger pitches in the Friday game. He walked Gil to start the game, and on four pitches, then gave up a screaming double to Jim Young. Greg Regan’s sac fly and Joseph’s 2-out RBI single got home the runners. But maybe Matt Brost could be even more awful? He walked Myers and Fernandez, threw a wild pitch, and then walked Fowler, too, in the bottom of the first inning. Three on, one out, Rich Vickers hit a grounder to short. To second. To first. At that point, Nick Valdes didn’t say a word, put on the mascot head, and walked out, slamming the door behind him. And I so wished I had a spare mascot costume to do the same. Top 2nd, Brost singled home Hayden, who had walked and stolen a base against the wildly incompetent battery. The Raccoons matched the run in the bottom of the inning, certainly by accident, when Adam Downs led off with a double and scored on Maruyama and Wall both grounding out to the right side of the infield, 3-1. Thankfully Jared Ottinger remained reliably crap and would soon give up more runs to help the Titans to just run away with it all. He walked Willie Vega to begin the third, and while Joseph got that runner doubled up, the fourth began with a sharp single by Micah Sears. Matt Hayden reached on a Downs error, could have been two, but of course wasn’t, because only the Raccoons hit into stupid double play, but they did it at least all the time… Brost bunted the runners over, and Antonio Gil sure-handedly plated them with a crisp single near the leftfield line, 5-1. Ottinger gave up a double, then was yanked. David Fernandez found a way out of the inning, but the game was lost anyway… Bottom 7th, still 5-1, thanks to Vickers hitting into a double play the inning prior. The Titans were on right-hander Alan Mays, who gave up singles to Maruyama and Wall, then left with an injury. Austin Holt replaced him, with Preston Pinkerton batting for Travis Sims. He hit a deep fly to right, but Joseph made a running catch racing back to the fence. Maruyama skedaddled to third base before Myers flew to left. That ball ran away from Willie Vega for extra-bases, though. Maruyama scored, and even Kurt Wall scored, and Dave Myers had stopped at second base … and was bending over and grimacing. Dr. Chung strolled out there with a gun cocked and loaded just in case there was no helping this particular horse anymore… Marsingill replaced Myers, who was removed from the game on grounds of injury. Hooge’s RBI single got his hitting streak to 16, and left the Coons a run short of making up the deficit, so Manny Fernandez orderly grounded out to second base, ending the inning. Dusty Kulp got the ball in the eighth, nailed not one, but TWO batters, and then had Yeom Soung take out his trash with a Young fly to Hooge in left, stranding his victims. I was confused when Blake Sciulli then served up a game-tying homer to Adam Downs, knotting the tally at five in the bottom 8th. Would the Coons actually pull a win out here!? Well, Soung retired the Titans without giving up a run (just a Joseph single) in the top 9th, then was hit for to begin the bottom of the inning against Sciulli, with one run needed to win. Between Manning and Maldonado on the bench the Critters picked the latter to pinch-hit, but he grounded out. Marsingill flew out to right before Sciulli walked Hooge, walked Fernandez, and then faced Fowler with the winning run in scoring position. Fowler swung at the first pitch, hit a TERRIBLE grounder next to the third base line – and it was too far away from either Chris McGee or Jim Young to make a play on it. Infield single – bases loaded, two outs, Vickers up. And he ALSO rips at the first pitch – can ANYBODY HEAR DRAW A ****ING WA- IT’S THROUGH THE LEFT SIDE!! COONS WALK OFF!!! WHAT A KEEN EYE FOR A STRIKE!! … 6-5 Coons. Fowler 2-4, BB; Downs 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Sims 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Just to be clear, boys, this doesn’t excuse all your other manifold flaws!! After some scan results came back, Dr. Chung informed me that Dave Myers had torn his medial collateral ligament. Out for the season, huh? What a surprise. There was no fixing this anymore. We just didn’t have another leadoff hitter. For the moment we could stick Downs in there and his short-sample-size-inflated .393 OPS, but he’d be exposed as a fraud in weeks’ time. Or break a ****ing leg. This year, they mostly break a ****ing leg. The Raccoons expected Tony Morales back on Sunday, but that didn’t help in any way, shape, or form for Saturday. Matt Triolo was called up for at least a day, and we’d play it by fuzzy ear from there… Game 3 BOS: CF M. Avila – SS Gil – 1B Regan – LF W. Vega – C J. Young – 3B McGee – CF Hayden – 2B Sears – P Willett POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – 2B Hirai – C Wall – SS Triolo – P Rendon The Coons got Triolo back, the Titans got Moises Avila back. It just wasn’t any fair. Avila singled four pitches into the game, Gil doubled, and Rendon threw a wild pitch to get one of them across while getting a K and two pops from the middle of the order. Come the third, Avila reached on a Hirai error to begin the frame. Gil singled, sending him to third, but Rendon walked Greg Regan to fill the bags with nobody out, then walked Vega, 2-0. Young struck out, McGee struck out, Hayden popped out. There was something futile about this game. Every aspect of it was futile. Just like my attempts to dissolve this urinal deodorizer block in my bowl with Capt’n Coma, sleeping pills, and a slice o’ lemon… While McGee singled home Young with two outs in the fifth inning and ran the score to 3-0 against a highly inefficient Rendon, who was on 79 pitches through five, the Raccoons were just boilerplate bad and didn’t to anything. They had two base hits through five innings, and looked like they were ready for relegation to AAA ball. While Rendon sucked his way through six and the pen with Fernandez, Kulp, and Wise (who needed work) held up, the offense remained 2-hit by Willett through eight innings, but the Bostonians would go to Jermaine Campbell in the bottom of the ninth inning. Hooge grounded out. Fernandez whiffed. Fowler fanned. 3-0 Titans. One of the two hits was a Hooge single (Hirai had the other one), and so his streak reached 17 games, but honestly, it’s the least of my concerns. DISSOLVE, YOU ****ING PISSOIR BLOCK!! Tony Morales was indeed activated on Sunday, and the Coons sent Chris Manning (4-for-11) back to AAA. Game 4 BOS: CF M. Avila – SS Gil – 1B Regan – LF W. Vega – RF Joseph – 3B McGee – C L. Riley – 2B Sears – P Potter POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Sabre Sabre struck out seven in shutout fashion before Liam Riley singled up the middle with two outs in the fourth inning. It was the fourth and final base hit off Sabre, who waved for the trainer. Dr. Chung waved back, then continued to chew his selfmade sandwich. Sabre eventually left the mound on his own and walked into the dugout and down the tunnel, expecting Dr. Chung to follow eventually. He never did. Sims would get the third out in the inning after warming up on the mound, and while I, sat on the brown couch with Slappy, and with Honeypaws between us, asked nobody in particular what joy even meant, because I sure couldn’t tell. Sims and Garavito got the Coons through five in what was still a scoreless game, but you’d know as much from knowing the Titans had yet to put something on the board – and then the Raccoons DID score first. Granted it was already the sixth inning and a solo homer by Morales on a pretty bad hanger by Adam Potter, but it counted all the same; 1-0 Critters. Casey Moore was in line for the W, pitching three outs both before and after the Coons took the lead, while the bottom 7th began with Jesus Maldonado being mauled by a fastball, Potter striking him square in the paw. So HE had to come out of the game, and Maruyama had pinch-hit earlier, so was now unavailable. Preston Pinkerton would be nominated to fill in, coming also on as pinch-runner. Marsingill dropped a bunt to get the insurance run to second base before Kurt Wall batted for Moore and walked. Downs hit a downer, 6-4-3, and the Raccoons didn’t score for all the ****ing pains. Soung struck out two in the top of the eighth, retiring the top of the Titans’ order without problems. When the Critters didn’t score in the bottom of the eighth, we were inclined to leave him in with two more lefty bats coming up to begin the ninth, but the Titans pinch-hit Jay Elder for Vega, and that prompted the move to Wise. Elder struck out. Joseph grounded out. .197 batter Chris McGee singled on an 0-2 pitch, bringing on the left-hander and .111 slugger Liam Riley. He hit a fly to right, shallow, sinking – but Fernandez race in and made the catch in time for a last-gasp series split. 1-0 Blighters. Hooge 2-4; M. Fernandez 2-4; Morales 1-4, HR, RBI; Maldonado 1-2; Sabre 3.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K; Moore 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (5-3); In other news July 2 – No Knights position player manages a hit off VAN SP Bryce Neal (6-8, 3.72 ERA) in an 8-0 Canadiens win – but ATL SP Mike Burris (3-8, 5.24 ERA) does, hitting a third-inning double, the only base hit off Neal, who whiffs five in a complete-game shutout. July 2 – WAS INF Enrique Trevino (.358, 2 HR, 37 RBI) will miss a month with a broken rib. July 3 – Las Vegas acquires 2B/3B/OF Eric Morrow (.215, 5 HR, 35 RBI) from Vancouver, parting with SS Brian Schneider (.286, 1 HR, 10 RBI) in the process. July 3 – The Knights trade for 1B Zach Tutt (.287, 10 HR, 38 RBI), trading 3B Manny Delgado (.232, 0 HR, 7 RBI) to Los Angeles. July 3 – The Thunder deal C Fernando Garcia (.333, 5 HR, 14 RBI) to the Stars for two prospects. July 4 – SAL LF/RF Kyle Weinstein (.252, 11 HR, 49 RBI) slaps in six runs on four hits in the Wolves’ 16-3 rush of the Gold Sox. July 5 – In shocking news, SAL SP Phil Harrington (12-3, 1.79 ERA) has strained his oblique and will miss two months. It is the first DL stint for the right-handed ace after 10 years of service time. July 5 – The Miners pick up CL Juan Vela (2-4, 3.04 ERA, 17 SV) from the Falcons in exchange for two prospects. July 6 – The Scorpions trade for Denver’s SP Chris Inderrieden (4-6, 4.99 ERA), sending a prospect to the Gold Sox. Complaints and stuff How’s it going? Bernie Chavez is 1-2 with a 1.78 ERA for his last five starts, we have no players left, and because we keep putting miles on our frequent traveler card with Budget Aeroflot, we are also running out of numbers, attractive ones at least. Who but the most shady relievers like numbers greater than 50? Well, only #17, #44, and #49 was left before the big five-oh. Fascinating how we still lose players left and right that somehow matter. You’d think we’d be outta them by now. With our entire starting infield on the DL by now (and three quarters of them for the year), what else is there to do? You can only be content and be assured that there’ll also be baseball next year. Not ready next year but maybe at some point is 2B Arturo Carreno, a Dominican righty batter we signed for $60k to open this year’s July IFA signing race. There’s actually only two other players we’re going after this time in what is a bit of a muddled pool. With Myers lost for the season, the DL bill is now up to at least roughly $6,811,000 – 21.5% of our current payroll. So, Sabre is … whatever, probably terminal, though. Dr. Chung rolled his eyes and cursed in Korean. Apparently, Maldonado’s X-rays came back negative but his paw is still swollen from Potter’s pitch. Well. I don’t know. I’m out of ideas when it comes to which player to even call up anymore in case of another DL stint. Stay in shape, maintain cohesion, and preserve dignity. The band on the Titanic also kept playing as the damn ship was sinking. Fun Fact: Popular Portland rodeo clown and children’s TV personality Bucky “Big Shoes” Simpson died on Sunday morning, aged 78. He fell off a ladder and to his death trying to change a bulb in his hallway’s light fixture. Fun is dead.
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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05-22-2020, 01:09 PM
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#3199 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Maine
Posts: 748
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Hey, who's that guy leading the FL in HR, RBI, and OPS? You should try to get him.
And seeing all the "win or get shut out" games you're playing reminds me of an old Don Drysdale story. The Dodgers in the '60s had some good teams, but also had some teams that couldn't hit their weight. But they were always in the hunt because of Koufax and Drysdale on the mound. Drysdale was away from the team for some reason one night, and got a call from a clubhouse guy saying "Did you hear? Sandy pitched a no-hitter!" Drysdale's response was "Did we win?" Does that help? No?
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05-22-2020, 02:00 PM
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#3200 | |||
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 13,738
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
(opens mouth and digs into the bowl with both paws)
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Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA | RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here. |
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