Portland Raccoons (ABL) - Page 161

DD Martin · 05-22-2020, 11:12 PM

(From a fan in email to Coons GM) - Things looked a lot bleaker last year as far as where the team was record wise. Chin up, you got this.

(Turns to his friend the Elks GM) - Think he will buy it?

Westheim · 05-23-2020, 01:41 PM

Monday dawned and it became clear that Raffaello Sabre needn’t be shot except for mediocrity; he had a mildly sore hamstring and would not even miss his next start.

Will the lucky breaks ever end!?

Now that I said that, someone will break a leg in the next five minutes…

Raccoons (42-38) @ Crusaders (30-49) – July 7-10, 2036

Final week before the All Star Game, and the Crusaders were up as our four-and-four dance partners for this season. Four now in New York, four after the All Star Game in Portland. So far, the Raccoons had won all of the three games with the shambling Crusaders this season. They were sixth in runs scored, decent enough and better than the Critters, but had no pitching or defense to speak of. They were conceding 5.3 runs per game, which was outlandish and the worst mark in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Colt Willes (5-3, 3.51 ERA) vs. Geoff Whitehouse (6-2, 3.06 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (4-6, 2.78 ERA) vs. Keith Black (3-8, 5.45 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (1-2, 3.98 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (4-9, 4.43 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (2-5, 5.02 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (4-8, 5.53 ERA)

All right-handers that New York would throw at us. They had Kenny Elder on the DL, who was somewhat of a regular on the infield for them. What a problem. Having “somewhat of a regular” on the DL.

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – 2B Hirai – SS Triolo – P Willes
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Whitehouse

The Coons went up 1-0 in the first on a Fernandez double over the head of Vinny Chavira, then a Fowler single up the middle. The second inning brought an hour-long rain delay with two Crusaders already on base, then a 1-out RBI single by Jose Balado and a 2-run double by Geoff Whitehouse off the entirely useless, decrepit Willes. The Coons unpacked singles by Downs, Hooge, Fowler, and Morales to tie the game in the following half-inning, but that wouldn’t make Willes’ pitching any better. Through three innings, he scattered six hits, and was near removal, but retired the Crusaders in order in the fourth (with a healthy dose o’ D, but those bystanders on the green parts of the playing surface had to be paid for *something* …)

Top 5th, Downs reached with another single. Hooge struck out, but Fernandez doubled and Fowler was walked intentionally to fill the bases with one down for Tony Morales, who continued his hot paw off the DL and hit a liner down the rightfield line that hit so hard off the fence out there that Fowler had to be stopped at third base – 2-run double, 5-3 lead, and now they walked Maruyama onto the open base to get to Yukitsura Hirai’s .125 clip. He already had a double play in the game and hitting with Vickers was tempting, but this was supposed to be Rich Vickers’ day off. Hirai remained in the game, hit a gapper past Graciano Salto, and another two runs scored, and then Triolo got the third intentional walk of the inning. Up by four, Willes batted for himself and hit a sac fly off Jamie O’Leary in a full count, 8-3, and one more run came home on an Adam Downs single before Hooge grounded to second for his second out of the inning.

The bottom 5th brought a Hirai throwing error to put Guillermo Obando on base, a walk to Hurtado, and after Chavira popped out, a 2-run double by Jeremiah Brooks. Willes was yanked after that, with Travis Sims ending the inning without conceding another run in the 9-5 game. Sims got through the sixth, but walked Hurtado to begin the seventh. The Coons sent David Fernandez, who allowed a single to Chavira, then a screaming 3-run homer to Brooks, cutting the lead down to a teeny, tiny run, 9-8. He also had his thumb looked at by Dr. Chung, who seemed to indicate a lack of understanding what Fernandez’ complaint was, but Fernandez left the mound on his own eventually and retreated to the clubhouse.

The Coons barely scratched out a scoreless eighth between Casey Moore and Yeom Soung, with Fowler hustling in to catch a soft fly hit by Chavira before it could dink in and do 2-out damage. Soung came on in a double switch, removing Ed Hooge and thus ending his hitting streak at 18 games. He had gone 0-for-5 in the game, and if you’re 0-for-5 you probably deserve it. Chris Wise was unavailable, and so Soung would have to defend himself against righty batters in the bottom 9th with no insurance. PH John Dupuis led off with a grounder to short. Kumanosuke Henderson grounded out to the other Japanese first baseman. And John Hansen disappeared with a grounder to Downs. 9-8 Critters. Downs 3-5, RBI; M. Fernandez 3-5, 2B; Fowler 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Morales 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Maruyama 2-4, BB;

So.

David Fernandez had a sore thumb. He might be good in two days or so. Maybe. Otherwise we’ll just cut it off and he should work without it.

There were still roster moves after this game. Hirai (.176, 0 HR, 2 RBI) was sent back to AAA with Tim Stalker coming off the DL. Travis Sims was also sent back to AAA despite winning his first game, with Antonio Prieto being activated from the DL as well.

All is well now! Got our 38-year-old middle infielder and our run-o’-the-mill righty reliever back! Also, Sabre will be fine, and maybe Maldonado, too? No. Who was the one that was hit in the paw with a baseball in Portland? Was that Maldonado? – Dr. Chung?? – Dr. Chung! – I need help with… – Which one was Maldonado though? The hit-by-pitch or the one that had his head wedged in the barrel of pickles?

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – SS Triolo – P Chavez
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Black

Keith Black was giving up about as many walks as strikeouts, and for once the Raccoons pounced on a miserable pitcher right away. Downs and Manny Fernandez hit singles in the first, Fowler and Vickers walked, pushing home the first run, and Maruyama and then Bernie Chavez (!) would both have 2-run base hits in the inning, Maruyama hitting a double to center, and Bernie with a single to left, for a 5-spot to open the game. Given Bernie’s recent ERA, this had to be about two wins’ worth of support, surely. Right? Let’s see. Obando single, stolen base, Hurtado RBI triple, and then a Chavira sac fly, and the Crusaders made up two runs immediately? And where are the good news?

Good news included a Vickers sac fly, getting Ed Hooge home after his leadoff double in the top 2nd, 6-2, and the Coons tore up Black for good in the third inning with a walk drawn by Triolo and 1-out singles by Bernie (!) and Downs. Bernie only got to swing at 3-2 and made it count right away. Hooge and Manny both grounded out against replacement Gabe McGill, ending the inning.

Now, Bernie wasn’t GREAT… and probably not even GOOD. The Crusaders hit deep flies regularly. Chavira hit one out in the fourth, a solo homer to cut the gap to four, and Salto hit a leadoff single in the sixth, stole second, and scored on Jeremiah Brooks’ sharp single, 7-4. Chavez finished the inning, but at 96 pitches was not going to be around forever… thankfully. But with the pen being as exhausted as it was, he hit for himself in the top 7th (stranding Maruyama on second base) with a grounder, then returned for a final inning, but only faced three batters. Jose Balado doubled to left with one out and Bernie threw a wild pitch before Dupuis struck out in the #9 spot. The Coons sent Prieto, fresh off the DL, he walked Salto, like run-o’-the-mill righties will do, Salto stole second, but Obando hacked out when he was up as the tying run with two gone.

The Coons added a run in the ninth against ex-Critter Rin Nomura (*that* was a long time ago!), who was 37 years old, and who conceded the run on a Vickers single, a groundout by Maruyama, a passed ball, and Kurt Wall legging out a 2-out infield single against the clown-shoed Crusaders defense. Tim Stalker batted for Triolo in his return from the DL, singled up the middle, and Preston Pinkerton hit for Garavito and walked. Downs flung a 2-run single to left, knocking out Nomura, who had indeed seen better days, with Hooge popping out against O’Leary. The 6-run lead then went to Dusty Kulp, who failed to end the game, surrendering a double, a triple, a single, and a walk for two runs, two on, two outs, and Vinny Chavira at the dish. Soung had to come in for the third straight day, netted a grounder to short, and that was the ballgame… 10-6 Raccoons. Downs 3-6, 3 RBI, Triolo 2-3, BB; Stalker (PH) 1-1;

At least they beat up on rotten pitching. As long as they outscore our own rotten pitching…

Game 3
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – 3B Marsingill – P Ottinger
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – 2B Sung – CF Balado – P del Rio

Ottinger allowed no hits the first time through the order and hit a double in the top of the third inning, at which point it was 1-0 Coons after Maruyama had gone yard to left to start the frame. Del Rio had sat down the first six, and of course I wanted the boys to beat him more than any other pitcher. Downs singled home Ottinger to make it 2-0 before Ed Hooge hit into a double play. Vickers found another double play ball in the fourth after walks to Fowler and Morales. Ottinger ran through four without allowing a base hit until the other Japanese first baseman took it away with a leadoff jack of his own, Henderson to center to cut the lead to 2-1.

Top 6th, del Rio and his big mouth got crowded. Hooge hit a 1-out single, then raced to third base on Fernandez’ single. Fowler hit an RBI single to center, and Morales drew ball four in a full count. Vickers came up with three aboard, hit a fly to deep center, but had it caught by Balado. Manny and Fowler advanced, one run came home, but two were stranded once Chiyosaku Maruyama grounded out. With a 4-1 lead, Ottinger lasted six and two thirds before becoming stuck in a barrel of pickles again and requiring manual disentangling with a lever. John Hansen on third, Jose Balado on first, and left-handed batter Hirofumi Saito hitting in the #9 slot, the Coons turned to Mauricio Garavito, who got a grounder to Vickers for the third out, just when we needed it most…!

Against J.D. Hamm in the eighth, Fernandez and Fowler reached base with one out. They pulled off a double steal against unsuspecting Crusaders (every team’s in the **** for a reason!), and a Morales single and a Vickers sac fly each brought in a tack-on run, 6-1. Maruyama then grounded out to Hansen to strand Morales. That was the last scary bit in the game – Garavito in the eighth and Wise in the ninth kept the Crusaders out of scoring position to begin with, and from showing off the tying run someplace with a fancy name (like on deck) altogether. 6-1 Critters! M. Fernandez 2-4; Fowler 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Morales 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Ottinger 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (2-2) and 1-3, 2B;

This series has gone better than expected, but now comes the weakest link in the rotation right now.

Well, except for Willes…

Game 4
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Rendon
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P E. Cannon

Rendon retired New York in order the first time through, but had only one strikeout, while the rest was defense including some outfield dashes. The Coons were up 1-0, with Rendon involved with a 1-out single in the third inning. Ed Hooge’s triple into the rightfield corner scored him, but Fernandez grounded out to strand him at third base. Portland did go up 2-0 in the fourth with Fowler’s leadoff home run to left, his 15th of the season. Then came the bottom of the fourth… Salto led off with an infield single, stole second, and scored on an Obando single. When Hurtado hit a comebacker, Rendon kicked and booted that for an error. Chavira hacked out, and then Brooks hit *another* comebacker. Rendon didn’t dare fudging that one, too, and got the 1-6-3 double play this time.

New York hit into another double play in the fifth and Rendon got through seven innings when Chavira was on base in the bottom 7th, but was caught stealing for the third out there. Seven fine frames would be all for Rendon, with Casey Moore taking over in the bottom of the eighth against the 6-7-8 batters. He walked Hansen, PH Hirofumi Saito popped out, and PH Greg Ortiz grounded to left – and just through between Marsingill and Downs for a single. Uh-oh. Salto was up, ran a 3-1 count, hit a bouncer in front of home plate, Tony Morales pounced like a cat and threw to first base in time to end the inning! With nothing more than a Stalker single in the ninth, the Critters didn’t get an insurance run they might have wanted, so Wise was sent out with no cushion against the 2-3-4 batters in the bottom 9th. Guillermo Obando struck out in a full count. Mario Hurtado struck out on three pitches. Chavira singled to left, Brooks singled to right, and the tying and winning runs were on the corners for Kumanosuke Henderson, and as Wise’s meltdown continued, he walked him. That brought up .268 hitter John Hansen with three aboard and two down. The Coons could have sent Prieto… but stuck to Wise. The right-handed got ahead, 1-2, before Hansen hit a pop behind home plate. Morales tossed the mask and circled around in front of the protective netting – and the ball came down into his glove, one foot away from going out of play! 2-1 Furballs! Hooge 2-4, 3B, RBI; Stalker 2-3; Rendon 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (3-5);

Raccoons (46-38) @ Indians (35-52) – July 11-13, 2036

From here, buoyed by the sweep, it was on to Indy for the last set before the All Star Game. The Arrowheads had resisted the Titans only in name, but had at least won one game of their four-game set, so the Raccoons were now five games out in the division. Indy was second from the bottom in runs scored, and fourth from the bottom in runs allowed. Their run differential was -57, but growing, and while their rotation was decent, their pen was the second-worst in the game. The Coons were up 7-2 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (4-5, 4.13 ERA) vs. Mike Hurley (2-0, 2.65 ERA)
Colt Willes (5-3, 3.72 ERA) vs. Josh Walsh (5-10, 5.04 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (5-6, 2.93 ERA) vs. Arnie Terwilliger (8-6, 3.32 ERA)

Southpaw on Sunday!

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – C Morales – 2B Vickers – CF Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Sabre
IND: C E. Thompson – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – CF Baron – SS Zeltser – 1B Acor – P Hurley

Every team was in the **** for a reason – like batting Elliott Thompson leadoff. Or so I thought until Sabre walked him. However, Sabre’s first NINE pitches were ball, so maybe it wasn’t Thompson and the problem was entirely confined to the mound. With two on, Jeremy Leftwich flew out to center, but Dan Hutson singled to right. Thompson was sent from second base and thrown out by Fernandez, because catchers aren’t runners. Josh Garbinski flew out to right to strand a pair.

The Coons got nothing against the 25-year-old Hurley, an undrafted free agent that had gone to the beer league before being signed by the Indians in ’35. This was his fourth major league start and it didn’t look like the Coons could make him lose his first. Through six, they scratched out three singles and didn’t reach third base even once. When, with Tony Morales on first and one out, Rich Vickers did drive a long fly to right, the ball bent foul. Vickers singled on the next pitch, however, moving the tying run as far as second base! And then Maldonado chomped a fastball into a double play… Tim Stalker singled in Sabre’s spot in the eighth inning, but that was again all. For good news – the Indians couldn’t believe it either and removed Hurley for the ninth inning. Tim Thweatt got the baseball in the ninth of a 1-0 game, facing the middle of the order. Many Fernandez hit a double right away. Now, the Coons still had Fowler on the bench on a needed day off. Hitting him for Maruyama would only provoke four wide ones ahead of a chronic double play threat (Morales), so we decided to wait. Maruyama popped out, which surprised no one, but Morales zinged a ball up the middle, past the defenders, and into shallow center. Fernandez around third, no throw – tied ballgame!! Fowler hit for Vickers, struck out, and so did Maldonado.

The game went to extras thanks to a quick ninth by David Fernandez. Thweatt and Dusty Kulp saw of the opposition in the 10th, but when lefty Ben Stodolka, a rookie in his eighth game with an ERA over nine, came into the game, Manny Fernandez hit a 1-out double in the 11th. But the Critters had no more tricks to pull – only Kurt Wall was left on the bench – and had to bat exactly as advertised on the scoreboard. Maruyama was walked, bringing up Morales, who flew out to center. Crucially, Manny Fernandez shuffled his hairy bum to third base on the play. When Stodolka uncorked a ball over the head of his catcher and the umpire that also sent #6 batter Justin Marsingill to the ground in terror, Fernandez raced home to break the tie, 2-1! Marsingill flew out to Dustin Acor to end the inning, after which the Coons had Wise not available once more. Their options were indeed precious few, with the pen routinely overcooked at this stage. Soung got the ball in the end. Dave Serrato flew out to Hooge. Elliott Thompson whiffed. Dan Schneller grounded to short, Triolo to first – ballgame! 2-1 Blighters! M. Fernandez 2-5, 2 2B; Stalker (PH) 1-1; Sabre 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K;

Six wins in a row!

Now give it back to Willes so he can ****ing end it.

The baseball gods threw a spanner in the works, though, and persistent rain wiped out the Saturday contest. A double-header was scheduled for Sunday. Of course, Sunday was also the last game before the All Star break. The Coons would make a conscious effort to not run out their two non-DL’ed position player going to the showcase in both games (except for pinch-hitting). Those were Manny Fernandez and Justin Fowler. Since they were both left-handed batters, they would face Walsh in the first game, and sit against Terwilliger. The Raccoons flipped their two starters – Bernie Chavez would go in the first game, and Willes in the second. Neither of them made the All Star team.

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Chavez
IND: C E. Thompson – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – CF Baron – SS Zeltser – 1B Rempfer – P J. Walsh

Two four-pitch walks and a Fernandez single loaded the bases with Justin Fowler with nobody out in the first inning, but he popped out in a full count. Morales popped out to shallow left, but Stalker hit a 2-run single to the left side with those two gone. Maldonado hit a liner to left, too, but Garbinski snared that one. Indy tied the game without making an out. Maldonado’s error put Thompson on base, and Dan Schneller took Bernie Chavez yard to knot the score at two. So that was why Chavez didn’t make the All Star team……

A Garbinski homer in the fourth put the Indians ahead, 3-2, but Walsh didn’t allow another base hit until Fowler singled in the sixth and was stranded right there… Bernie was lifted after six, Dan Hutson homered off Garavito in the eighth for an insurance run, and the Raccoons were still limited to three base hits by the time the ninth inning and Tim Thweatt rolled around. Fowler grounded out. Morales whiffed. Stalker grounded out. 4-2 Indians.

That game took two hours and small change.

Game 3
POR: SS Downs – RF Pinkerton – LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – CF Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Willes
IND: SS Zeltser – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – CF Baron – C J. Herrera – 1B Rempfer – P Terwilliger

The Indians were hitless the first time through, but … oh well. After Willes, the master of disaster, walked Brent Rempfer on four pitches to begin the bottom 3rd, he also fumbled away Terwilliger’s bunt to add a second runner. When Bob Zeltser lined to left, Ed Hooge came on a-sliding, didn’t get the ball, was hit in the snout instead, and the Indians scored the first run on what was charitably called a double. Oh well, at least he didn’t Hooge didn’t have his jaw broken….. After Schneller brought in his pitcher with a groundout, Willes balked Zeltser to third base, then surrendered that run on a plenty deep sac fly Jeremy Leftwich hit to Hooge, 3-0. Then Willes walked Hutson on four pitches. Somehow, Garbinski grounded out, but the horror was real as the Indians scored three runs on one “hit”. John Baron homered off Willes in the following inning, and that game was about over.

Terwilliger conceded one hit through four, which looked pretty dominant. Maldonado hit a gap double with one out in the fifth, then scored when Justin Marsingill ceased being an automatic out and singled past Zeltser. Willes was – although we could and should know better! – not immediately pinch-hit for. He bunted the runner over, Downs hit a soft single to get the tying run to the plate, but that was Preston Pinkerton, and he grounded out to Rempfer, ending the inning. Willes logged no more outs, with Zeltser’s leadoff single, a gruesome to watch Maldonado error in center on a Schneller fly, and a Leftwich single loading the bases for the Arrowheads. Antonio Prieto came in to stem the tide, but might well have tried to pull the sinking Titanic to land single-handedly. He balked in one run, conceded the others on separate singles, Wall chipped in a passed ball with Juan Herrera batting, and Herrera hit the next pitch for a 2-run single. At that point it was 9-1, and the Raccoons would definitely drop to six games out again. Prieto was yanked for Kulp, because garbage innings required a garbage pitcher, and Rempfer hit into an inning-ending double play against him. Bottom 6th, Maruyama ****ed up Terwilliger’s groundball for an error, and Kulp was so startled for that misplay that he got taken deep by Bob Zeltser, 11-1.

The Coons scored three unearned runs in the seventh that were to blame on a magnificent throwing error by Dan Hutson, with Rich Vickers hitting a 2-run single after the 2-out error had already scored Marsingill. Top 8th, Maldonado (nailed) and Marsingill (single) were on against Shane Jacobs with one out. Manny Fernandez pinch-hit and slapped an RBI single to right, and things threatened to become interesting again when Adam Downs walked and Preston Pinkerton suddenly singled home two. That cut the gap to 11-7, with the tying run appearing in the on-deck circle in form of Vickers. Cesar Castillo replaced Jacobs, conceded a run on a groundout, then yielded for Mitch Brothers, who got Vickers to ground out to Zeltser, stopping the rally at 11-8. David Fernandez held the Indians away in the bottom 8th, with Thweatt back at work, never tiring apparently. Stalker pinch-hit for Maruyama to begin the ninth inning, but grounded out. Morales batted for Wall, but flew out. Maldonado was not hit for – and grounded out. 11-8 Indians. Downs 2-4, BB, 2B; Marsingill 3-4, 2B, RBI; M. Fernandez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Justin Fowler would have batted as the tying run, but that situation never came to pass.

In other news

July 7 – The Titans send veteran outfielder Adrian Reichardt (.299, 2 HR, 7 RBI) to the Warriors for a minor leaguer and a prospect.
July 7 – DAL LF Abel Madsen (.311, 10 HR, 56 RBI) will miss a month with an intercostal strain.
July 8 – The Knights report in the morning that they expect OF/1B/2B Luis Inoa (.302, 9 HR, 43 RBI) to miss two weeks with a back strain, then go on to destroy the Condors at night, 19-1. Both Vincent Zesati (.259, 1 HR, 10 RBI) and Keith Thomson (.287, 1 HR, 18 RBI) have five hits each. They have two and one RBI, respectively, but score five and three runs, in that order. Even ATL SP Armando Zaragoza (9-4, 3.58 ERA) scores four times in the rout.
July 9 – SFB INF Jose Cruz (.326, 2 HR, 40 RBI) dumps two singles in a 5-3 loss to the Aces for a 20-game hitting streak.
July 10 – Dallas’ SP Jong-hoo Cho (8-6, 4.56 ERA) 2-hits the Wolves in a 4-0 shutout.
July 11 – The hitting streak of SFB Jose Cruz (.324, 3 HR, 41 RBI) ends at 21 games in a 11-2 rout suffered by the Bayhawks against the Condors.
July 11 – PIT OF Ozzie Burgos (.327, 7 HR, 33 RBI) would miss a month with a bruised kneecap.
July 12 – The Titans pick up RF/LF Oscar Mendoza (.267, 3 HR, 24 RBI) from the Pacifics, parting with three prospects.

Complaints and stuff

Well, at least that’s this month’s game where they play like little ******s banging their heads together for hours out of the way! Sunday was grim. Sunday was hard to watch. Games in Indy, huh!?

The Raccoons had four All Stars, three of which were not on the DL. Berto was the one that *was* on the DL, and had been there for over a month. He was voted in anyway. It was his sixth All Star nomination and the third in a row. The other Critters going to the game where Manny Fernandez, Justin Fowler, and technically-rookie Yeom Soung. Fernandez was an All Star for the first time, but Fowler had been there and seen it; he was included for the eighth time and the second time while on the Raccoons.

Maybe the curse also befalls players no longer on the Coons? Ed Blair, now a Condor, but three years a Critter, tore his UCL and would miss most of next season for Tommy John surgery.

Fun Fact: Almost seven years ago the Raccoons traded Rin Nomura to the Gold Sox in a 5-player deal, receiving, among others, Bernie Chavez.

Shedding some salary aside, that was a great deal. Rin Nomura never had an effective season with the Gold Sox, was decent for the Wolves for a year or two, but slipped into the bullpen eventually and hasn’t been worth a full point of WAR the last four years combined.

Who else was in the deal? Denver got infield prospect Miguel Lopez, who never played above AA ball and retired four years ago. He had been signed for $21k as an international free agent in July of ’25.

The Coons also got SP Kyle Anderson in the trade, who was decent for half a season, then went elsewhere and retired in ’34, also after slipping into the bullpen. The fifth player in the deal, left-hander Allen Reed, only made 55 more appearances as reliever before retiring with a 4.61 career ERA.

Ya – we won THAT trade!

Westheim · 05-23-2020, 06:07 PM

All Star Game

Dan Schneller wins MVP honors in the CL’s 4-1 win over the FL in the 2036 All Star Game. Schneller has two hits, a walk, a double, and drives in half the CL’s runs.

For the Coons, Justin Fowler starts the game and goes 0-for-4, while Manny Fernandez pinch-hits and remains hitless. Yeom Soung is not used.

Raccoons (47-40) vs. Crusaders (33-54) – July 17-20, 2036

Back home again, the Raccoons tried to stretch their 7-0 record this year against the Crusaders just a wee tad further. New York remained dismal and was by now 20 games out in the division. After the rough humping the Coons dealt them for most of the previous week’s series, they were even near 5.4 runs allowed per game.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (4-5, 3.93 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (4-9, 5.31 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (5-7, 2.93 ERA) vs. Geoff Whitehouse (6-3, 3.86 ERA)
Colt Willes (5-4, 3.92 ERA) vs. Keith Black (3-10, 6.02 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (2-2, 3.52 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (5-10, 4.28 ERA)

Still all righties here.

Game 1
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P E. Cannon
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Sabre

Portland scored first, with three runs coming on one swing by Tim Stalker in the bottom of the second inning after Cannon had walked Fowler and conceded a single to Tony Morales. Stalker’s shot to left-center gave Sabre, who had been wonky in the first inning, a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, Sabre remained wonky going forward, Jeremiah Brooks hit a 2-out double to center in the fourth, and Kumanosuke Henderson took Sabre deep to left, shortening the score to 3-2. However – Portland had something brewing in the bottom of the inning. Tim Stalker, quite steady since coming off the DL, hit a 2-out single, and Jesus Maldonado legged out a roller for an infield single! That brought up … Matt Triolo, who had already gotten 74 at-bats, for which even “we had injuries” was hardly an excuse anymore. For a stunner, Triolo doubled to left, plating both runners, and then scored when Sabre dinked a single into left-center. When Downs popped out, the Coons had a second 3-spot and a 6-2 lead!

Triolo was back at the plate in the bottom 5th, with Morales, Stalker, and Maldonado on base. Ed Hooge had already singled, stolen second base, and scored on Morales’ single to extend the lead to five, or as many RBI as Triolo had accumulated in 75 at-bats. Here, he grounded out to short, stranding a complete assortment of runners. Hooge walked and stole a base and scored again (on a Fernandez single) to make it 8-2 in the sixth and the game seemed quite securely in the bag. Sabre would go eight, dropping another run on a Hirofumi Saito single and a double by Graciano Salto in his final frame, but that was that for him, and not even Dusty Kulp had any unhappy accidents in the ninth inning. 8-3 Raccoons! Marsingill (PH) 1-1, 2B; Morales 3-4, RBI; Stalker 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Maldonado 2-4; Sabre 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (5-5) and 1-3, RBI;

And that was 8-0 against New York! Oh boy, Slappy, will we ever lose again!?

Game 2
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Whitehouse
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maruyama – 3B Marsingill – P Chavez

Vinny Chavira doubled home Mario Hurtado in the very first inning, so we were at least trailing for the time being, and that came after Guillermo Obando’s grounder to short erased Salto’s leadoff single. Hurtado and Chavira both walked in the fourth, but the Crusaders got only one run on a Henderson sac fly, however, the Critters had yet to get much of anything.

As the game dumpled along, neither pitcher was really convincing. Through five, Chavez struck out three, and Whitehouse only one, and that was Chavez, who in turn walked Whitehouse in the fifth inning… The Coons remained shut out on three hits into the bottom 6th when Justin Fowler unleashed fury with a solo homer, cutting the gap in two. Tim Stalker then doubled to left and tumbled into second base, then barely had enough strength to raise an arm to call for the trainer. Boy, had I seen that enough this year… (opens another bottle of Capt’n Coma). Since Dr. Chung couldn’t be bothered, two of the bench players had to go out there and walk Stalker off the field. Rich Vickers replaced him once more, then scored the tying run on Chiyosaku Maruyama’s single to center.

Bernie fought his way through seven in the tie and a slight drizzle, because that was what summer in Portland looked like, then was hit for to begin the bottom 7th. Preston Pinkerton flew out easily in his spot, and no win materialized for Bernie once again, with only Adam Downs reaching on a single, then was left stranded. In turn, the Crusaders got Obando on base against Casey Moore in the top 8th. Hurtado grounded out to move the runner into scoring position with two outs, with David Fernandez coming on and conceding that run against the lefty batter he was tasked with retiring… With New York up 3-2, they sent Whitehouse back out, with the 4-5-6 batters retired without issue in the bottom 8th. Prieto held the Crusaders away in the ninth, but the Coons had to rally against right-hander Mike Hugh with the bottom of the order. Maruyama, Marsingill, and Wall were retired in order… 3-2 Crusaders. Downs 2-4, 2B; Maruyama 2-3, BB, RBI; Chavez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K;

Well, they lost again …! (hugs bottleneck again with his bitemarked lips)

That aside, Tim Stalker was also lost again with a torn quad, which would likely keep him out of action until late August. Faced with a lack of good options, the Coons had to call up Yukitsura Hirai again, who had batted .176 his first go-around…

Game 3
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Black
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – C Wall – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Willes

Willes lasted 22 pitches and two scoreless innings before leaving with an injury, which left me motionless and frozen until well after Rich Vickers put the Coons up 1-0 through five with a solo homer. Dusty Kulp pitched three scoreless to get in line for the W, none of which I remembered watching afterwards. So that was it felt like to be dead inside.

Even then it was all foggy and murky. Vickers’ homer was the only Coons hit through six, but the Crusaders weren’t much better. When John Hansen hit a 2-out triple off Garavito in the seventh, that was only their third base knock of the game. Casey Moore replaced him and got a K to strand the tying run 90 feet away. As things remained bizarre, Keith Black hit a leadoff single in the eighth against Moore, but the Crusaders twice hit into a fielder’s choice before Hurtado coaxed a walk out of Moore. With two on and two outs, and lefty pinch-hitter Saito hitting for the left-handed Chavira (!), Yeom Soung came in, and also got the much-needed K. After another inning of nothing in the bottom 8th, it was up to Chris Wise against the Crusaders, beginning with PH Michael Duryea, who drew a walk. Henderson grounded out, advancing the runner, Hansen grounded out, not advancing him. Yeong-ha Sung was up with two outs, a .333 switch-hitter with few at-bats to his name. He hit a double to right, Wise walked the next guy, then gave up a 3-run homer to Salto. The Raccoons died a silent death against Mike Hugh in the bottom 9th. 4-1 Crusaders. Kulp 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Vickers’ homer was the Coons only run prior to Chris Wise ****ing the game all to hell. It was the last blown save for him. For the second time he had his closing privileges revoked. Yeom Soung was named closer on Sunday morning.

No news on Willes yet – Dr. Chung claims a backlog of paperwork with his status updates to the office in Pyongyang.

I didn’t know we had an office in Pyongyang…?

Game 4
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P del Rio
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – CF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Vickers – RF Pinkerton – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Ottinger

Henderson single, Hansen walk, Balado single – the Crusaders went up 1-0 in the second inning. And the Raccoons even got a base hit before the first fans went home, a Preston Pinkerton single in the bottom 2nd. While Pinkerton of course didn’t score, Ottinger soon became mired in runners, losing command over any and all of his pitches, quickly leading to an exploding pitch count, though not yet scoreboard. He walked four and whiffed seven through four innings, but in that fourth inning the Crusaders loaded the bases before Salto grounded out to short to strand all of them. Then PORTLAND loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth inning. Fernandez, Morales, and Vickers all hit 1-out singles, bringing up, well, Preston Pinkerton. He hit a soft looper over the raised glove of John Hansen for a very soft RBI single, keeping the bags full for Maldonado, who grounded out, but at least that still gave the Coons the lead, 2-1. Triolo was bypassed to get Ottinger to ground out, but the Coons were on the corners in the bottom 5th after Hooge walked and Fernandez singled with one out. Tony Morales hit a 2-2 pitch to right, Chavira raced in, then pulled up at the last second to play it on a hop – RBI single, 3-1, but Fernandez had to park at second base (and Hooge barely scored, almost freezing at third base). Vickers and Pinkerton made the final outs without much fuss.

Ottinger began the sixth on 97 pitches, so the pen would have to be bothered early in this game, again. He struck out two and got a pop from Jose Balado, but six frames would be all for him in this game. Bottom 6th, Maldonado chopped a leadoff single past Hansen, then stole second base before del Rio walked Triolo in a full count. Justin Fowler pinch-hit for Ottinger, but hit a sorry grounder to short – however, the ball was hit so poorly that Obando had to race in for it, wouldn’t get two, and didn’t even get one with a fumble that let Fowler reach first base on the error. There were now three on and no outs for Adam Downs and me and Honeypaws were bickering feverishly for tack-on runs, while Slappy drank on silently. And yet, all the Coons got from this fat chance was a Hooge sac fly. Downs popped out on the infield before him, and Fernandez went down on strikes.

Prieto struck out the side in the seventh inning, then walked Hurtado to begin the eighth. Garavito took over, but Hurtado stole a base, advanced on a grounder, and scored on a sac fly hit by Jeremiah Brooks, 4-2. Kumanosuke Henderson whiffed, ending the top 8th. Maldonado and Marsingill did nothing in the bottom 8th before Kurt Wall pinch-hit and doubled to center, but remained flat on his back after sliding into second base. He crawled off the field eventually, with Hirai pinch-running, and me laughing madly at the absurdity of it all. Downs grounded out, rendering all the pain and effort moot, and then it was Yeom Soung against the bottom of the order. He retired them in order. 4-2 The Walking Dead. M. Fernandez 2-4; Morales 2-4, RBI; Pinkerton 2-4, RBI; Triolo 0-1, 2 BB; Wall (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ottinger 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 9 K, W (3-2);

In other news

July 14 – LVA SP Chris Crowell (6-7, 2.99 ERA) is out for the season with a herniated disc, which will certainly hurt the Aces’ bid for the South.
July 14 – Salem acquires 2B Alex Meza (.272, 6 HR, 39 RBI) from the Buffaloes, parting with outfielder Rai Higashi (.243, 1 HR, 7 RBI).
July 15 – The Condors take on the Thunder’s ex-closer Steve Bailey (2-7, 6.47 ERA, 14 SV), leaving Oklahoma with two prospect, including #31 SP Dan Minelli.
July 18 – The Thunder tie their game with the Falcons in the ninth inning and win it in the 17th on a walkoff RBI double by 1B Danny Cruz (.255, 12 HR, 54 RBI). Both teams use nine pitchers each, and the Thunder’s first two – SP Paul Peters (4-10, 3.59 ERA) and MR Steve Gowan (1-0, 3.33 ERA) – both leave the game with injuries long before they can seal their pyrrhic victory.
July 19 – In the Knights’ 15-0 whitewash rout of the Knights, every position player in the Condors’ lineup has at least one hit, one run, and one RBI. Jason Bensinger (.300, 9 HR, 36 RBI) piles up the most countables, with three hits, four RBI, and two runs scored.
July 19 – The Stars drop to the Wolves, 2-1 in 16 innings. Despite ample time to get base hits, the Stars land only six knocks in 50 at-bats.
July 20 – DEN SP Kyle Dominy (6-7, 4.14 ERA) was out for the season with shoulder inflammation.

Complaints and stuff

Is that the new number, Steve? – That one? – Oh dear.

$7,108,111… Steve from Accounting, says. That’s the new total DL bill with the Wall injury and re-addition to the DL of Tim Stalker, who by the way batted .529 (9-for-17) in his brief time amongst the living. Good one, baseball gods. Good one. Note that Colt Willes is not included in the total because Dr. Chung has not yet processed him…

Kurt Wall was befallen by back stiffness, which was probably an old age problem.

Young Raccoons fans (all two of them, I hear) take to Jared Ottinger, who seems to post a lot of funny pictures on Gobble, or what young Raccoons fans (all two of them) find funny at least. Cristiano showed me some material. I was not impressed. But apparently ‘Ottie50’ has a following. – Maud, we need kids’ t-shirts with Ottinger’s face on it! – Ot-tin-ger! – Yes, Maud. *Ottie*.

The kids better not get attached to him. In three years since being drafted #25 in the 2033 draft, Ottinger has been reported injured or ill six times, including twice with elbow tendinitis and once with back spasms. A 23-year-old in a 37-year-old’s body, always nice.

Next week the dismal furred wrecking balls will be out of sight for a few days, travelling to Elk City for their likely elimination from contention. The road trip would in any case finish in San Francisco on the weekend, but we’d also have the Condors at home in Portland to finish the month, so there was always more to not look forward to.

Fun Fact: The most games the Raccoons ever won in a season against a CL North opponent is 16, achieved against the Loggers in 2014.

Losing two to New York this weekend means they can still match that mark, but no longer beat it.

Yeah, like that is our chief concern…

Westheim · 05-25-2020, 04:46 PM

More than any other year I could remember, sending the boys off to a series in Elktown was like waving your handkerchief at the train which carried the young men of the village off towards the frontline. You just knew that they’d be shot and dinged up, and hardly half of them would come back in one piece, the others being left for dead on the battlefield or grisly maimed.

Raccoons (49-42) @ Canadiens (43-50) – July 21-23, 2036

The Critters were up 6-3 in the season series, which never meant much of anything against the monsters with many tentacles and hooves of the North. They had swept the Loggers coming out of the All Star break and were lusting for more. Their pitching was about league average, but they were lacking in offense.

Projected matchups:
Gilberto Rendon (3-5, 4.63 ERA) vs. Nick Danieley (4-8, 4.61 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (5-5, 3.89 ERA) vs. Joe West (10-7, 3.56 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (5-7, 2.92 ERA) vs. Bryce Neal (8-9, 3.63 ERA)

Neal was the sole left-hander we were expecting.

The Raccoons put Kurt Wall on the DL to begin the week and recalled Chris Manning. There were no news on Colt Willes so far, and I would busy myself trying to work out a deal with some other team for some other player … it was admittedly all rather vague at the present time… As of Monday, the Raccoons didn’t even know whether they were buyers or sellers; and if they were sellers, was there even anything with four legs left to sell…??

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Rendon
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – LF LeJeune – RF Korecky – SS Schneider – 3B Stephenson – P Danieley

A Jesse LeJeune single, three walks, and a wild pitch booked Rendon for two runs in the first inning, and he could consider himself lucky that he was well out of the blunderbuss’ effective range of fire. That aside it was just a typical Elktown game: the Raccoons did absolutely nothing, collecting two hits in four innings, and the damn Elks opened the bottom 4th with not one, but two infield singles by Will Korecky and Brian Schneider and somehow turned that into a third run on a sac fly hit by their pitcher. Danieley was the only damn Elk to hit the ball out of the infield in that inning…

When Rich Vickers reached on an error by Schneider in the top 5th, Maruyama was quick to wrap him up in a double play before somehow the Coons reaccumulated on base again. Triolo hit a single, Rendon hit a single, and Adam Downs hit an RBI single to right. Ed Hooge, clearly off the hot streak (but not the hot sauce) now, struck out, stranding the tying runs. In response, the damn Elks flagellated Rendon for four singles (another Korecky infield single in there, too…) and two runs before he was yanked in the bottom 5th. Prieto replaced him, allowed an RBI single to Schneider, then got a pop to short that Matt Triolo, the useless ****, dropped to allow Josh Stephenson on base and Korecky to score, 7-1. The game was really over by then. Danieley went eight innings, scattering seven hits for one run, and no sudden fire was lit under the Coons’ furry bums in the ninth inning, either. 7-1 Canadiens. M. Fernandez 3-4, 2B; Triolo 2-4, 2B;

We’ll just put that in the Sell column then….

With a tear biceps, Colt Willes (5-4, 3.85 ERA) was sent to the DL on Tuesday. He was probably out for the season, although a comeback in September was not impossible. The question was whether anybody even wanted him back after he had won but one of his last FOURTEEN starts.

So that was another guy in the unmarked mass grave behind the ballpark. Stretched for spares, the Raccoons brought up Josh Livingston, last year’s surprise (first pleasant, then not so much), who had gone 2-6 with a 3.05 ERA in nine starts in AAA this year. He had also spent two months on the DL with an elbow strain, because that was just what this ****ing year was all about.

Game 2
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Sabre
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Phillips – 1B J. Lopez – LF LeJeune – SS Cabral – 3B Stephenson – P J. West

The Coons had four hits the first time through, but never one with somebody already on base. Rich Vickers was picked off first to make that even mathematically possible. The damn Elks weren’t much more successful, either, landing three hits off Sabre, also never disturbing the peace with somebody on the basepaths. Top 5th, Justin Marsingill – who, yes, indeed had spent all year on the 25-man roster without getting noticed – hit a leadoff single to left. Sabre bunted him over, and Ramon Cabral fumbled Downs’ grounder for an error, placing them on the corners for Ed Hooge with one down – by far the best shot the Critters had gotten all day long. Hooge hit a sac fly to center for the first run of the game, Fernandez singled, and Fowler stranded two with a strikeout… In the bottom of the inning there was a clinic for what effective 2-out hitting looked like. With Cabral (single) and Stephenson (walk) in scoring position and two gone, D.J. Robinson hit a gapper to right-center for a double, flipped the score, and doubtlessly sent the Critters careening towards their second straight loss and, by extension, their doom.

Stephenson’s leadoff triple off Sabre in but brief a time led to a third Elks run, with the score now an unrecoverable 3-1. When Ed Hooge drew a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, the Coons hit two grounders and a lazy fly to keep him on base. Garavito kept the damn Elks where they were for one out in the seventh and three in the eighth, before the Coons faced Rafael Urbano and his 2.63 ERA in the ninth. Vickers struck out. Maldonado hit a bloop single, which was better than nothing. With the tying run up, desperation bore the idea of batting Maruyama for Marsingill, but the Japanese roster filler grounded out. This moved Maldonado to third base after he had already advanced on an errant pickoff attempt by backup catcher Edgar Paiz. Preston Pinkerton batted for Garavito, struck out, and that was the ballgame. 3-1 Canadiens. Hooge 1-1, BB, RBI; Maldonado 2-4;

Definitely no point in buying…

…except booze. Booze is always right. – Hey!! (hits on the counter at the liquor store to get the juvenile-looking attendant’s attention) I said BOOZE! – I don’t CARE whether there’s 30% off on the Dud Light! I want BOOZE, not your piss-colored, piss-flavored, kiddie lemonade!! – I’m a connoisseur, for ****’s sake! Now, what’s with those plastic gallon jugs o’ Nebraska wine with the screw cap…? – Three for the price of two? – Make it six.

Game 3
POR: SS Downs – RF Pinkerton – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – 2B Hirai – C Manning – P Chavez
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – SS Cabral – CF Outram – RF Phillips – 1B J. Lopez – LF LeJeune – C Paiz – 3B Stephenson – P Neal

Both teams managed only one hit and no runs through four innings. Bernie started with three strikeouts in the first before Ryan Phillips singled in the bottom 2nd. Johnny Lopez doubled him off and it was smooth sailing from there for Chavez. And oh, if only the offense could do something against a damn Elks pitcher…! When Maldonado led off the fifth with a single to right-center, Marsingill immediately doubled him off. Yukitsura Hirai singled to center with two outs, Chris Manning walked, and now Bernie was up with two gone, zinged a 3-2 pitch to left, singled, and plated Hirai for the first run of the game. Adam Downs then rolled out to short on the very next pitch, and running the bases even a little bit had unfortunately irreparably ****ed up Bernie Chavez’ rhythm and the damn Elks hit three singles on seven pitches to begin the bottom 5th, loading the bags for Paiz. The catcher struck out, but Stephenson singled to left to score two, the runners advanced on Fernandez’ hopeless throw to home plate, Bryce Neal hit a 2-run single to right, and, Honeypaws, it really all is just pointless. (unscrews jug of Nebraska wine) Don’t hiss at me, I didn’t know it was yours! – Well, your name isn’t on it, mister! – There isn’t even the name of the place where they trampled it on the jug!!

The bottom 6th began with a Phillips homer, and Lopez and LeJeune hit singles, knocking out Chavez with nobody out and two aboard in a 5-1 game. Chris Wise replaced him, but the ****ing ***hole gave up a single to Paiz and, after Stephenson struck out by accident, a 2-run double up the rightfield line to Neal. That one ****ing starting pitcher on the ****ing Elks had now driven in more runs in this game than the stupid ****ty Coons in the entire ****ing series! That was how you recognized a quality team! Robinson hit a sac fly, Cabral hit an RBI double, Jerry Outram hit an RBI single, and Phillips walked. Wise was put on a pike after that unpleasant performance, which only ended when Lopez grounded out to Hirai against David Fernandez. Of course, after cocking up six in the sixth, the Raccoons were surely swept, entirely ending their pathetic playoff pretender status. Fowler hit an RBI single in the eighth. Nobody gave a damn ****. The Coons scored two unearned runs in the ninth when the damn Elks made two errors on them. And still, nobody gave a damn ****. 10-4 Canadiens. Fowler 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 3-4; Vickers (PH) 1-1; Triolo 1-1, BB; D. Fernandez 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (49-45) @ Bayhawks (49-45) – July 25-27, 2036

Nothing good had ever happened in San Francisco. And that 200-odd year streak wouldn’t change this weekend, either. The Baybirds were fourth in offense, sixth in pitching, and third in the South, just as far out as the Critters, who, fun fact, were terrible in every aspect of the game. Portland had won two of three so far this year, but being in the green at a .667 rate hadn’t ****ing helped them in Vancouver, either!

Projected matchups:
Josh Livingston (0-0) vs. Matt Peterson (3-12, 5.40 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (3-2, 3.25 ERA) vs. Ben Lipsky (6-3, 3.46 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (3-6, 5.10 ERA) vs. Josh Long (13-4, 3.15 ERA)

All right-handers on the weekend. The Bayhawks had nobody on the DL. No wonder – WE had drawn all the injury cards!

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Livingston
SFB: 2B J. Cruz – CF Pridgeon – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 3B Greer – C Dear – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – P M. Peterson

Tony Morales hit a solo jack in the second inning to give Portland a 1-0 lead, but when had that ever meant anything? (eyes the Bay for a good spot to drown himself) While Livingston retired the Baybirds in order the first time through, he was jumped for homers by Jose Cruz and Luis Sagredo in the bottom of the fourth, and that gave the other team the lead, 2-1. After a leadoff walk to Matt Dear in the bottom 5th, that runner advanced on two groundouts before Matt Peterson hit a single between Triolo and Downs, that comedy duo, to up his lead to 3-1. Cruz popped out; through five, the Bayhawks had three hits to the Critters’ four, and every single one of those three hits had given them a run…

In the sixth the Coons finally strung something together against the pushover Peterson with one out and the middle of the order up. Manny Fernandez hit a gapper for a triple, scored on a Fowler single to right, and then Morales hit a ball to the fence for an RBI double, tying the score at three. Vickers singled to put them on the corners, but Maldonado popped out and Triolo flew out to Jaden Pridgeon in center, stranding the go-ahead runs, and opening the door for the Bayhawks to instead get it back. Luis Sagredo hit ANOTHER jack off Livingston in the bottom 6th, and it was 4-3 for the home team… While the Coons were retired in order in the seventh and eighth innings, the Bayhawks got an insurance run (like they needed it…) with doubles by Cruz and PH Keith Damron off Mauricio Garavito in the bottom 8th. Right-hander Jeremy Bloedow faced the 6-7-8 batters in the ninth, also known as not much of a threat at all. Vickers flew out to Damron in right, with the defender hurting himself and requiring replacement by Dave Trahan. Pinkerton pinch-hit and grounded out. Marsingill pinch-hit and whiffed. 5-3 Bayhawks. Fowler 2-4, RBI; Morales 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Vickers 2-4;

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – 2B Hirai – P Ottinger
SFB: CF Dahlman – 3B Greer – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 2B J. Cruz – C Dear – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – P Lipsky

The Raccoons hit two singles in the first, but Morales popped out and they didn’t score. They also had two singles in the second, one single in the third, another single in the fourth… and never scored. Ottinger meanwhile was pitching rather well, allowing one hit and two walks through the first four innings, but like anybody else he too just couldn’t buy support here anymore. Nobody reached in the fifth inning at all before the top 6th began with Fernandez and Fowler going to the corners with a pair of singles. Morales struck out, but Maruyama hit a gapper in right-center – Fernandez scored, Fowler was waved around on the double – and thrown out by Luis Sagredo. A Matt Triolo single – a rare beat indeed – plated Maruyama to make it 2-0 with two outs, the Bayhawks didn’t pitch even to Hirai with two down and first open, but Ottinger also singled, loading the bases for Adam Downs. At this point Portland out-hit the Bayhawks ELEVEN to one. But Downs uselessly popped out, and another three runners were stranded, making nine for the day…

And then the tying runs were on the corners in the bottom of the inning. Alex Castillo hit a leadoff double through Maruyama, Justin Uliasz grounded out to short, even failing to advance the runner, but then Hirai botched Josh Dahlman’s grounder to let the tying run aboard. Marshall Greer doubled over Fowler’s head on the very next pitch to tie the game, and wasn’t it all horrible? (eyes the Bay again)

Maruyama hit a single in the top 8th, advanced on two wild pitches by Eric Fox, but at the same time Marsingill, hitting for Triolo, struck out, and Hirai popped out, and nobody scored AGAIN. Between David Fernandez, Jeremy Bloedow, and Casey Moore nobody was scored upon in the next three half-innings, sending a pathetic contest to extras with the Coons up 12-3 in terms of base knocks. The 10th yielded no base runners, either, but Maruyama rocked a leadoff double off Jorge Villegas jr. in the 11th. Unfortunately that brought up the third-rate travelling circus at the bottom of the order, where Marsingill fell to 1-2 before singling to left. Maruyama blew through the stop sign at third base and was thrown out at home by George Hawthorne, with Marsingill hesitating his way back to first base after turning that corner initially. Vickers batted for Hirai, straight into a double play, and the game dragged itself on without an invitation to do so. Top 12th, Downs singled with one out. The Coons had the pitcher in the #2 hole, so Chris Manning batted for Prieto and grounded to short. The Gold Glover Castillo had a double play ball there, but fumbled it, and the Coons now had two aboard with one out. And then? Fernandez struck out. Fowler struck out. Calmly I broke the fake moustache and the monocle from my pockets, donned both, and henceforth pretended not to be associated with the suckers anymore.

The 13th saw Morales on with a leadoff single, then also featured Morales doubled off by Maruyama’s hard bouncer to third base. Through 13 innings it was still 2-2, but 16-4 in terms of base knocks. The Bayhawks were out of bench players (the Coons still had Preston Pinkerton), but Portland was nearing the end of their pen. When Downs hit a 2-out single off Villegas (in his fourth frame) in the top 14th, Pinkerton batted for Dusty Kulp, but grounded out. The Coons went on to Garavito, who retired the 1-2-3 in 1-2-3 fashion to get everybody to the 15th, where Villegas walked Manny Fernandez to begin the inning, then was removed for left-hander Jesus Rodarte. Fowler struck out, Morales flew out, and Maruyama singled to left. There was nobody left to bat for Marsingill, but he pushed a grounder through the left side and Fernandez dashed around third base and scored, breaking a tie that had been preserved since before records were being kept by the Ancients. Vickers fanned, handing a 3-2 score to Yeom Soung, who had been idle all week and retired Cruz, Dear, and Hawthorne in order. 3-2 Blighters. M. Fernandez 2-6; Maruyama 5-7, 2 2B, RBI; Triolo 2-3, RBI; Marsingill 2-4, RBI; Ottinger 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K and 2-3; Prieto 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Kulp 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Good, boys, good. At least you killed the pen!

Oh, wait, I forgot. I don’t even know you anymore!

Game 3
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – C Manning – P Rendon
SFB: CF Dahlman – 3B Greer – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 2B J. Cruz – C Dear – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – P J. Long

Rendon folded fast on Sunday, falling 3-0 behind in the first inning, in which he allowed a homer to Greer, then nailed Luis Sagredo. The veteran scored on Doug Levis’ triple to right, and Jose Cruz’ sac fly brought that guy in to score as well… Starting with Hawthorne in the bottom 2nd then, Rendon struck out five in a row. Would the madness ever stop?

Overall Rendon struck out six through five innings, paling in comparison to Josh Long, who rung up nine Critters against six base hits. AGAIN, the Raccoons were ahead in hits (6-3) and this time weren’t on the scoreboard at all! Maruyama and Vickers both got rung up in the sixth, giving Long 11 K, while in the bottom of the inning the Bayhawks exploded for another set of three extra-base hits. Greer doubled to center, Levis hit an RBI double to right, and Matt Dear hit a monstrous homer to center and probably all the way to Japan. That ran the tally to 6-0, Rendon from the game, and left us with the cold comfort that the pen only had to get seven more outs… Wise got three and David Fernandez got one before Justin Fowler crushed a mammoth bomb in the eighth off long; with Ed Hooge on base it counted for two, but like everything else was too little, too late. The Raccoons never got another base runner in the game. 6-2 Bayhawks. Hooge 2-4; M. Fernandez 3-4;

In other news

July 23 – SAL SP Brandon Nickerson (11-6, 3.55 ERA) 3-hits the Pacifics in a 5-0 shutout.
July 23 – Sacramento’s Steve Corcoran (10-5, 2.62 ERA) pitches a shutout against the Gold Sox with much the same result: 5-0 win, three hits for the opposition.
July 23 – The Indians trade 3B Ryan Czachor (.287, 2 HR, 12 RBI) to the Stars for a prospect. Czachor, 40 years old, is only a part time player at this stage of his career.
July 24 – The Loggers get two prospects from the Blue Sox for trading MR Rafael Zacarias (4-0, 2.57 ERA, 1 SV) their way.
July 26 – The Titans’ OF/2B Moises Avila (.271, 2 HR, 25 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained hamstring.
July 26 – Richmond’s 2B/3B Ben “Nine Fingers” Freeman (.260, 5 HR, 37 RBI) already doesn’t have a complete body, and now has a broken kneecap that puts him out for the season.
July 27 – The Falcons trade SP Joe Feltman (6-10, 4.95 ERA) to the Scorpions for two prospects, including #28 SP Jerry Felix.
July 27 – Atlanta OF/1B/SS Luis Inoa (.307, 9 HR, 43 RBI) might be alright after spending just 15 days on the DL for a sprained ankle.

Complaints and stuff

(noisily closes huge 19th century tome of fairy tales) The End!

Cristiano showed me someone’s message on Gobble which went like this –
Q: What is the strongest part of the Portland Raccoons?
A: Their odor.

We will not trade the few remaining big pieces at the deadline. First, I don’t want Valdes to think that we’ve given up and that he can slash the budget. Second, it’s impossible to gauge how good the team would have been if they hadn’t been caught with their ass in the breeze by Jackson on the Orange Turnpike… I still was convinced that the roster as built was good for 90+ wins. But the roster built was not the roster on the field, barely half of it, and there was no point in turning Fowler into some 21-year-old jack*** now, then having to burn another draft pick to sign a replacement in November.

Because, let’s be honest, Jesus Maldonado (.242, 2 HR, 21 RBI in 248 AB for his career) was as far from being Fowler’s replacement as you, or me, or Maud. Or, **** it, Cristiano. At least Cristiano’s related to major league ballplayer – must be something in those genes!

The Raccoons gave up their pursuit of 1B Willie Hernandez, a 16-year-old Dominican in the IFA pool, and Hernandez ended up signing with the Pacifics for just over $500k. Making another offer to him would have blown us threw the soft cap and would have prevented us from making any major offer next season, and he wasn’t the obvious talent of the Alberto Ramos magnitude that was worth the sacrifice. The Raccoons thus paid just $82k for two players, the second baseman Carreno and the pitcher Cortes, this year.

Thinking about it, giving up is what we are best in…

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez has hit safely in his last 13 games, excluding the All Star Game.

Also in 16 of his last 17 games, and in 27 of his last 29.

DD Martin · 05-25-2020, 06:46 PM

Looking on the standings, what the heck has gotten into the Salem team? Leading the division, they never lead at any time this century

Westheim · 05-25-2020, 06:57 PM

It's having the best rotation in the league (though serial-Pitcher of the Year Phil Harrington is on the DL until early September) combined with a capable offense. Even without Harrington, everybody in the rotation has an ERA well under four (hard to do in the higher-offense FL), supported by an upper-tier defense, while their lineup lacks major stars, but is dense. Everybody seems to hit .275 with between seven and eleven dingers. The exception would be 28-year-old C Morgan Kuhlmann having a breakout season with a .271 mark and 19 homers.

Oh, yeah, and not having half the roster on the DL is also a key point.

That always helps.

Always.

Westheim · 05-26-2020, 05:48 PM

(drags his tired bum into the office on Monday morning)

Good morning, Slappy. I see you have already made coffee for me as well…

(picks up freshly opened bottle of booze and closes the door, revealing David Fernandez sticking upside down to the inside of the door, whiskers twitching agitatedly)

David, why … why are you sticking to the inside of my door? – Why did you expect me to know the answer to that? – No, I don’t know what happened to the barrel of whipping cream after you fell head-first into it. How does that even… (tugs away at paw that remains stuck to the door)

Maud. – Maud. – Maaaaauuud. – I need your help.

(Maud pokes her head around the door and notices David Fernandez stuck upside down)

Don’t chuckle. – Maud, I don’t want to look at that all day. Do something.

+++

(sits in the seats on the first base side with Raffaello Sabre’s first pitch coming up and Chad giving his all in the raccoon costume to entertain some screaming kids close by)

Well, I’m glad we could talk that through.

Raccoons (50-47) vs. Condors (56-43) – July 28-30, 2036

Both teams were in second place, but while the Condors were still entertaining real chances with only 5 1/2 games to make up, the Coons had dropped to 10 games out last week and there was no hope for them anymore. Another year where the Titans had the division won by July… The season series stood at 2-1 against the team with the third-most runs in the Continental League, which was of course not the Raccoons. They also had allowed the third-fewest runs.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (5-6, 3.90 ERA) vs. George Griffin (7-7, 3.82 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (5-8, 3.27 ERA) vs. Jaden Baldwin (2-3, 3.51 ERA)
Josh Livingston (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Omar Uribe (8-8, 3.46 ERA)

All three pitchers were right-handers. And IF there was a team ravaged as bad as the Raccoons it was those Condors. They had a number of good players on the DL, including Tomas Caraballo, Juan Palbes, Chris Murphy, Ethan Jordan, and ex-Coon Ed Blair, plus a few bit players like John Jacobs and Marquis Stubblefield.

Game 1
TIJ: 1B Zuazo – SS Bensinger – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – 2B R. West – C Tovias – CF McNaughton – P Griffin
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Sabre

Jason Bensinger’s double play grounder erased Alvin Zuazo’s leadoff single, but Sabre was insisting, he’d give a run in the bloody first! Willie Ojeda slapped a single off him, stole second base, then scored on a double by dismal skunk weasel Shane Sanks, who at least was nearly as old as Tim Stalker and whose career would soon enough find a natural stopping point, which was the only consolation left to me as I gnawed on a $16 hot dog. The Raccoons had no hits after three innings, but Tony Morales would jump on a fastball for a solo homer in the bottom 4th, tying the game at one, and the next inning Downs singled home Marsingill for a 2-1 lead.

Of course Sabre would not make it out of the next inning with that lead intact; Bensinger led off with a double, advanced on a balk (…!!), Ojeda walked, stole second again, and then finally the Condors got the tying run on Sanks’ groundout. Justin Williams then smacked a go-ahead RBI single, 3-2. Sabre got rid of the bottom of the order in the seventh, including a K to Elias Matias Tovias Diaz, longtime Critters backstop that was not at all sorely missed, but never got a lead again. Preston Pinkerton hit for him after Marsingill’s 2-out single off George Griffin, who then left for an injury, and struck out against Josh Heckman. Chris Wise and Yeom Soung did not allow another run to the Condors in the eighth and ninth innings, but the Critters then still stared down the loaded barrel of Ray Andrews (1.28 ERA) in the ninth inning. For a major miracle, Justin Fowler led off the inning with a liner up the rightfield line for a TRIPLE, putting the tying run 90 feet away! Morales struck out, but Rich Vickers hit a sac fly to tie the game. Maldonado walked, but was stranded, and the game went to extras. After Soung held the Condors off in the 10th, Chiyosaku Maruyama batted for him to begin the bottom 10th and got nailed by Jeff Little. Adam Downs couldn’t get a bunt down and popped out eventually, and Ed Hooge also flew out in unhelpful fashion. With two outs Manny Fernandez dropped a single into center, extending his hitting streak well past a decent time. Maruyama reached second base, then was run for by the other Japanese tossaway on the roster, Yukitsura Hirai. It was for naught – Fowler popped out to Rhett West at 1-2, extending the game to the 11th. Mauricio Garavito allowed a single to Ojeda in the top of the inning, but the skunk weasel hit into a double play, and when the bottom of the 11th came around, Tony Morales led off with a single to right. Vickers popped out and the Condors stuck to Little against the right-handed side dishes at the bottom of the order, too – a fatal mistake once Jesus Maldonado hit a liner up the leftfield line, Justin Williams couldn’t cut the ball off, and even Tony Morales had ample time to come all the way around to score on the walkoff double! 4-3 Coons! Morales 2-5, HR, RBI; Marsingill 2-4;

That came as a surprise.

No, Chad, I still don’t wanna dance with you. Why is there an encouragement on the scoreboard reading “Dance, Dance, Grumpy Grandpa”??

Game 2
TIJ: 1B Zuazo – SS Bensinger – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – 2B R. West – C Tovias – CF McNaughton – P Baldwin
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Chavez

After a top 1st in which Bernie struck out and stranded three each, Manny Fernandez extended his hitting streak to 15 games early this time, doubling to center in the bottom 1st. Fowler singled him across for the first run of the game, but the lead was in grave danger after Tovias singled to begin the top 2nd and Marsingill threw away Baldwin’s bunt for two bases. A strikeout to Zuazo and a pop by Bensinger sorted things out, but just barely…

Bernie would contribute on offense in the bottom 3rd with a leadoff single, being the first to score when Adam Downs went yard to right-center, but then gave back a run in the top 4th on Zuazo’s 2-out double that plated David McNaughton, 3-1. Bensinger flew out to Fernandez to end the inning. The bottom of the order remained a problem, as was his control in the game. With a great deal of pitches wasted, the 100-pitch mark neared in the sixth inning, which also saw Tovias and McNaughton take up the corners with base hits. Baldwin was rung up for the second out, bringing back Zuazo, a .299 hitter with eight homers. Chavez wore him down for a strikeout, but looked pretty gassed after 103 pitches in six all too busy innings. When his spot came up with Vickers (single) and Marsingill (intentional walk) on base and two outs in the bottom 6th, the Raccoons had to bat for him. Maruyama ****tily flew out to center on the first pitch.

To anybody’s surprise, neither Antonio Prieto facing the middle of the order in the seventh, nor Dusty Kulp facing simply anybody in the eighth were blown up by the Condors. Neither did the Critters tack on anything countable – the ninth pitted Yeom Soung against Tijuana again, with a 2-run lead and after logging five outs on Monday. Josh Turley popped out in the #9 hole. Zuazo grounded out to Matt Triolo, who had taken over at shortstop earlier. Bensinger hit a deep fly to right – but Fernandez caught that. 3-1 Furballs! M. Fernandez 3-4, 2B; Vickers 3-4; Maldonado 2-4; Chavez 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB; 7 K, W (6-8) and 1-3;

Game 3
TIJ: 1B Zuazo – SS Bensinger – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – C J. Flores – 2B R. West – CF McNaughton – P Uribe
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – 2B Hirai – SS Triolo – P Livingston

The Coons got Downs, Fernandez, and Fowler aboard on a walk and two singles in the bottom 1st, but only one run on Tony Morales’ sac fly. Maruyama grounded out to Rhett West to strand two. The score did reach 2-0 in the second on a surprise maiden homer for Hirai, which also bumped him over the .200 mark for the first time ever. Tijuana pulled a run back in the top of the third with McNaughton and Suazo in scoring position on a single and a double before Jason Bensinger came up with a run-scoring groundout. Livingston, who had not fared well in his first start of the season, walked Willie Ojeda to put the go-ahead run on base, but the skunk weasel grounded out poorly to end the inning and leave the Critters 2-1 ahead. Not that Livingston got any better – after a leadoff walk to Williams in the fourth, Jose Flores hit into a double play, but Livingston immediately gave up a single to Rhett West. And then he gave up a homer to David McNaughton, a colossal blast to center to a 30-year-old player with barely over one year of major league service time, who was in the Bigs for the first time since ’32 and had just gone yard for the first time since ’29.

Sometimes you just want Rico Gutierrez back…

Bottom 4th, the Japanese connection opened with a pair of singles against Uribe. Triolo jammed a grounder into a double play, Livingston struck out, and Maruyama was stranded on third base. It took until the bottom 6th for Justin Fowler to tie the game with a home run to left, and then Morales reached base with a single. Maruyama was now the evil goon to hit into the double play, after which Hirai was nicked by the pitch and Triolo somehow walked unintentionally. Pinkerton batted for Livingston, pathetically poked an 0-2 pitch to the left side, it got away from Shane Sanks, and the Coons took the lead on the shadiest RBI single in recent memory, 4-3! Downs then quickly grounded out on the next pitch lest they put up a crooked number… In terms of signs that perhaps neither team was deserving of a first place finish, Antonio Prieto walked Uribe as the tying run to begin the top 7th before Zuazo spanked a ball into a double play, 6-4-3. David Fernandez logged two outs in the eighth before allowing a single to Williams. A double switch brought on Casey Moore in the #4 hole for a 4-out save (or so we wished upon a star), while Maldonado took over for Fowler in centerfield. This wasn’t about getting Fowler off his legs for an inning – this was so that Moore wouldn’t bat in the bottom 8th unless he was the eighth man up in the inning and it didn’t matter anymore. That latter scenario didn’t occur and it was still Moore and the 4-3 lead against the bottom of the Tijuana order in the ninth inning. West lined out to Triolo. McNaughton whiffed. Donovan Bunyon, the lefty middle infielder, was in the #9 hole after a double switch. He batted .207 – and singled to center, bringing back Zuazo as the winning run. He singled to center, too, placing runners on the corners, with left-handed Josh Turley pinch-hitting for the pitcher in the #2 slot. The Coons sent Garavito – and Turley sent a pitch past Triolo for a 2-out RBI single, blowing the lead and tying the game. The next batter ended the inning, but now the Critters had to score against Heckman without the benefit of Fowler batting fourth. This didn’t turn out to be much of a problem after all – the #4 slot never came to bat in a 1-2-3 ninth, and the game went to extras. There, McNaughton hit a 2-out RBI single after Garavito had walked a pair, so now the Condors could unfurl Ray Andrews on the Critters. Rich Vickers pinch-hit to begin the bottom of the 10th, ran a 3-1 count, then grounded out to Bunyon. Morales singled with one out, Marsingill pinch-hit and singled with two out, but the Coons still needed a base hit from the .204 problem shaped like Matt Triolo. He flew out softly to Zuazo in leftfield, and that ended the game. 5-4 Condors. M. Fernandez 2-5; Fowler 3-4, HR, RBI; Morales 2-4, RBI; Hirai 2-3, HR, RBI; Marsingill (PH) 1-1; Pinkerton (PH) 1-1;

After this, the non-waiver trade deadline came and went. The Raccoons stayed put, counting on reassembling the contents of their roster for 2037, which was ample time to get everybody out of their casts and splints, and off their crutches and meds, and then make a run for it again.

Raccoons (52-48) vs. Aces (63-38) – August 1-3, 2036

The Aces led the season series, 4-2, as well as the CL South by six and a half after our series win over the Condors. They were first in runs scored, second in runs allowed, nobody had seen them build a winner anytime soon, and the pundits on the babble shows on TV were still making up **** as they went regarding their sudden appearance at the top of the CL South.

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (3-2, 2.98 ERA) vs. Matt Diduch (11-2, 3.46 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (3-7, 5.42 ERA) vs. John Jackson (6-3, 3.44 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (5-6, 3.90 ERA) vs. Drew Johnson (10-3, 2.23 ERA)

Again, these were all right-handers.

Game 1
LVA: 3B Morrow – 1B Stedham – CF M. Hall – 2B Briones – LF J. Nelson – RF Jorgensen – C Wiersma – SS O’Keefe – P Diduch
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 3B Pinkerton – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – P Ottinger

Lots of disgusting kids in the park on this Friday, screaming “Ottie! Ottie!”, but that soon enough swung into bitter tears when the Aces gave a Ottie an on-the-mound rectal exam for five runs in the first inning. Four hits and two walks led to those five runs, with perhaps Ken Wiersma’s 2-run double the most frustrating. He had already been the death of the Raccoons in the previous series, and he was still a pretty much useless player … except against the Raccoons. Three singles by Morales, Pinkerton, and Vickers scored one run for Portland in the bottom 2nd before Ottinger bunted into a force at third base, and then was dodgeballed for two more runs in the third inning. Mario Briones singled, Justin Nelson hit an RBI triple, and then scored on – what else – a Wiersma sac fly. Dusty Kulp then pitched for two outs and four runs on three hits and three walks between the fourth and fifth, with Eric Morrow hitting a 2-piece over the fence in the latter inning after a leadoff walk to Matt Diduch. David Fernandez replaced him, allowed a single to Jesse Stedham, then was taken well deep by Mike Hall.

At that point it was 13-1, I was blissfully knackered on booze and sleeping pills, and only tangentially was bothered anymore by a ballpark full of distraught pre-teens crying and screaming their lungs out. While Chris Wise allowed another two runs in the sixth and those in themselves hardly mattered, we really objected to Chris O’Keefe’s antics. The little ****stain stole third base with one out in the inning, in a game in which his team was already up by a ****ing THIRTEEN runs. Casey Moore made sure to give him a welt with a fastball when he was back up in the eighth inning… At some point Ed Hooge hit a homer, not that it sparked a rally worth exploring in detail, but at least the game had deteriorated sufficiently enough to give Preston Pinkerton his much-awaited first pitching appearance of the season in the ninth inning. He retired the Aces’ 1-2-3 batters… IN ORDER!! … 15-3 Aces. Pinkerton 2-4, RBI; Vickers 2-4, RBI;

Nothing like coming out of an off day and having the pen shot all to hell immediately. THANKS, OTTIE.

Game 2
LVA: 3B Morrow – 1B Stedham – CF M. Hall – 2B Briones – C Kuehn – LF J. Nelson – RF Jorgensen – SS O’Keefe – P J. Jackson
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – P Rendon

After both teams hit into a double play in the first and both teams stranded the bases loaded when their pitcher struck out in the second, and Rendon kept shoveling runners on base, somehow stranding Aces on the corners in the top 3rd through a nifty play by Triolo on Paul Kuehn’s sharp grounder, the Coons did take the lead when Manny Fernandez extended his hitting streak to 18 games (tying Ed Hooge for the team’s longest of the season) with a 1-out single in the bottom 3rd that also sent Adam Downs across home plate after a leadoff double and a base gained on Hooge’s groundout. And then Fowler hit into a double play…

Rendon took over 70 messy pitches to get through four innings, so he wouldn’t be around forever, but batted and singled still up 1-0 in the bottom 5th. That came with one out, an inning after Rich Vickers had hit into the Coons’ third double play of the day, but at least Downs resisted the urge and popped out instead. Hooge singled, Fernandez walked, and Justin Fowler came up with three aboard and two outs – and flew out easily to Steve Jorgensen before smashing his bat with a single stroke on the dugout railing, sending the bench players scattering. And I felt exactly the same and was cuddling Honeypaws rather angrily!

Rendon went back out for the sixth, retired nobody and left with runners on the corners, booted for Prieto, who got Nelson on a pop before walking Jorgensen on four pitches. O’Keefe, the ***hole, hit a grounder that the Coons couldn’t turn for two and the tying run scored before Jackson struck out to strand Kuehn and O’Keefe on the corners. A gap triple by Morrow opened the seventh and of course the Aces, a team not just filled by old farts, gunk, and injury replacements that sucked even in AAA, got that run home with no problems with a grounder to short, taking a 2-1 lead. When Maldonado hit a 1-out single in the bottom 7th, Adam Downs, another ***hole in another uniform, hit into the team’s fourth double play.

Bottom 8th, Ed Hooge hit a leadoff single while it began to rain. The Aces advanced him twice on a passed ball and a wild pitch, moving the tying run all the way to third base with Manny Fernandez still at home plate and nobody out. Tying run on third, no outs – anyone? Anyone at all? Not Fernandez, who hit a grounder to the left side, keeping the runner pinned. Fowler then unexpectedly singled to actually tie the game, a mistake so grave Tony Morales had to hit into ANOTHER ****ING DOUBLE PLAY on the first pitch by Jackson he could actually reach… Now, expecting the Raccoons to get through Seth Odum and his well-under-two ERA in the bottom 9th would have been a bit took much asked, so here was the third extra-inning game of this dismal week. Odum pitched the 9th and 10th, while Soung did the 10th and 11th for Portland. Right-hander George Barnett was up against the 5-6-7 batters in the bottom 11th, and retired those in order, too. The game dragged on in on-and-off rain showers, with Barnett still pitching in the bottom 13th and the score still tied at two. Ed Hooge opened the inning with a walk, then stole second while somebody missed a sign – it was Fernandez, falling asleep on the run-and-hit call. Hooge reached second base anyway, and there was still nobody out. A single moved Hooge to third base and brought on a new pitcher in John Landrum and his 6.75 ERA. He struck out Fowler to my great dismay, and that of Maud, too, when I fired a bottle against the wall between my and her room again. It ended like all the others, in a thousand shards. Morales then grounded to short, which was MAYBE a double play, but the Aces couldn’t risk it, they had to come home – except that O’Keefe, the ***hole, was being carried away from home plate, got nothing on the throw, and Ed Hooge slid home safe to walk off the dismal dumpster divers… 3-2 Blighters. Hooge 3-5, BB; M. Fernandez 3-5, BB, RBI; Maruyama 2-5; Maldonado (PH) 1-1; Garavito 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Soung 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

At least we now had a gassed bullpen, two days into a 20-day stretch with 21 games.

Good job, boys. Good job.

Game 3
LVA: 3B Morrow – 1B Stedham – CF M. Hall – 2B Briones – C Kuehn – LF J. Nelson – RF Jorgensen – SS O’Keefe – P D. Johnson
POR: SS Downs – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – CF Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – C Manning – P Sabre

The Coons needed a good start from Sabre, seven-plus being a good measuring stick. In another stunning coincidence, both starting pitchers would retire the first eight batters they faced before singling off each other with two outs in both halves of the third inning. Neither would come around to score in a game that remained scoreless early until Manny Fernandez again made it 1-0 with a streak-extending base hit, in this case a 2-out solo jack in the bottom 4th. The score went to 2-0 in the bottom 5th with a Marsingill single to lead off, then a Sabre bunt and a 2-out RBI single by Adam Downs. Vickers also singled, but Ed Hooge popped out to strand a pair.

Through five, Sabre allowed only the one run and actually threw fewer than nine pitches per inning while not allowing too much hard contact either; so knowing my way around this team and having watched him come unglued in the most stupid ways for a few years now there were only three ways out of this: he’d either pitch an 86-pitch shutout, or come undone for between three and five runs instantly, or would deliver a curveball and his arm would tear itself from the shoulder socket. When the ***hole O’Keefe opened the sixth with a triple to right, option B immediately became the most logical one. While Johnson popped out and Morrow whiffed, the Aces then smacked consecutive RBI doubles to tie the game before Mario Briones was retired by Maldonado in deep center on another ridiculous drive. Baseball – it’s never far from screwing you over.

Sabre got through eight innings, but panic was now our constant companion and the Aces made more sharp outs in the two innings after they tied the ballgame. The offense did absolutely nothing in their usually outrageous fashion, and Sabre returned for the ninth inning. Briones hit a leadoff single, but was doubled off by Kuehn. Nelson and Evan Martin singled and went to the corners with two outs, ultimately bringing on a reliever in Chris Wise. This was done in a double switch, inserting Justin Fowler in the #9 hole, where he would bat third in the bottom 9th. He would also do so trailing after Wise allowed an RBI single to Aiden Ackeret on the first pitch he tossed up there. PH Joe Bennett grounded out, but the damage was once more done, and there was Seth Odum for the bottom 9th, in other words – ballgame. Marsingill hit a bloop single on a 1-2 pitch to begin the inning, after which Pinkerton batted for Manning and hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Fowler singled to center, Downs singled to right, if not for Pinkerton’s ****ING double play we might have tied it BY NOW, but instead Rich Vickers was up with two outs and two on, singled through Morrow at third base, and here Fowler raced around third base and scored, tying the game at three. You know, Honeypaws, what would be funny? Extra innings! Hooge then grounded out to make it happen.

Wise pitched a scoreless 10th, then bunted Manny to second after a leadoff single, the fifth hit off Odum, who normally allowed fewer than .9 hits per inning. Maldonado was walked intentionally to set up the double play. The Coons instead sounded the “RUN!!” horn and pulled off a double steal on Kuehn and Odum. Again first base was open – and out went the arm, Kuehn showed four fingers, and here came Preston Pinkerton with three on, one out, and if he hit into another double play he’d be crucified atop the highest flag mast we had. He got off easy – dropping a blooper into right was all the Raccoons needed for another extra-inning walkoff. 4-3 Blighters. Downs 3-5, RBI; Vickers 2-5, RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, HR, RBI; Marsingill 3-4, BB; Fowler 1-1; Sabre 8.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-2;

In other news

July 29 – A torn back muscle puts LAP OF/1B/SS Noel Ferrero (.234, 2 HR, 27 RBI) out of order for the rest of the season.
July 29 – The Loggers trade 25-yr old OF Will Ojeda (.305, 4 HR, 42 RBI) to the Cyclones for 31-yr old C Matt Cooper (.237, 5 HR, 16 RBI). Nobody knows what the **** the Loggers are doing.
July 30 – The Blue Sox acquire 3B/SS Bob Zeltser (.255, 6 HR, 31 RBI) from the Indians for the price of MR Donovan mason (3-4, 2.63 ERA, 3 SV) and a prospect.
July 30 – The Wolves pick up Oklahoma’s left-handed MR Steve Gowan (1-0, 3.54 ERA) for a prospect.
July 31 – The Pacifics beat the Cyclones, 7-6 in 17 innings, walking off in true fashion, with a single and three walks drawn off CIN MR Daniel Miller (2-1, 9.00 ERA).

Complaints and stuff

Four extra-inning games, of which they won three by walkoff, in a week? Must be a record, but I’m literally too tired to look it up.

Despite only one homer and two runs batted in, Manny Fernandez was named CL Player of the Week, batting 12-for-28 (.429). Slow week in the office, huh?

No idea how to sort out the pitching for next week. Sabre’s slot would have been up to pitch the second game of the double header with the Loggers on Thursday, but I don’t see that happening after 98 pitches for a hard-crunched no-decision.

Quick trip to Atlanta, then back for eight home games in seven days against Milwaukee and New York. Then we’re off to the Warriors, back home to play the Blue Sox, then a road trip to Boston, Elktown, and Oklahoma. Whoever made this schedule was not a Raccoons fan…

Fun Fact: Raffaello Sabre, who turned 28 on Saturday and was signed out of Venezuela 11 years ago and made his debut six years ago, has never posted a 6 K/9 season.

This includes even partial seasons. He’s not a strikeout guy, wildly not. His career high for K in a single season is 130 in ’33. That season and this one tie for highest K/9 with 5.5… All of that may be part of the reason why he’s the “oh yeah, he too” guy when people try to name all five starting pitchers on the roster at any one time…

On the other hand he’s a groundballer with good stamina and doesn’t usually give up too many homers. With a fourth pitch he would probably be amazing, but he only has the 93mph sinker, the curve, and the changeup, and despite a 3.84 career ERA thus has a losing record for his career.

Sizeman21 · 05-26-2020, 07:35 PM

What is your teams pythag record for this season? I think you are one or two players short of really pushing the Titans down to second. What do they have that you don't? They don't have a Fowler or a Hooge! Boston Titans, more like Boston Bums!

Westheim · 05-26-2020, 07:43 PM

Our pythagorean record is 53-50, so we're actually +1, and the same for the Titans. Luck has not been a factor this season.

The Titans have all their AAA players in AAA, and all their major leaguers' legs on their major leaguers.

But hey, Jimmy Wallace's gonna be back in a few weeks! That'll spark a rally!

Westheim · 05-29-2020, 05:55 PM

Raccoons (54-49) @ Knights (55-51) – August 4-6, 2036

The Raccoons went on the road for just three games, travelling to Atlanta for the last series with the Knights in ’36. Both teams had won three games apiece so far. The Knights had won four in a row, they were second in runs scored, and eighth in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (6-8, 3.20 ERA) vs. Terry Garrigan (7-5, 2.20 ERA)
Josh Livingston (0-1, 5.25 ERA) vs. Brad Santry (10-7, 5.07 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (3-3, 4.12 ERA) vs. Chris Lulay (9-7, 4.11 ERA)

Lulay was the only southpaw we’d see in this series.

The Coons activated Kurt Wall from the DL to begin the series, sending Chris Manning (.174, 0 HR, 0 RBI) back to St. Petersburg.

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – SS Maldonado – P Chavez
ATL: 1B Tutt – 3B Maneke – RF Pincus – CF J. Simmons – C Horner – SS Thomson – 2B Ibarra – LF M. Porter – P Garrigan

Roy Pincus hit home runs number 15 and 16 off Bernie Chavez, both solo shots in the first and fourth innings, respectively. One of those days, I see! The Coons had tied the game in the fourth when Zach Tutt’s error allowed Manny Fernandez on base and Tony Morales’ gap double brought him around with two outs, but obviously the second shot made it 2-1 Knights. Leadoff singles by Maruyama and Maldonado in the fifth looked promising for sure, and Bernie Chavez bunted the guys into scoring position in proficient manner. They both scored on a horrendous bloop single by Adam Downs, flipping the score in the Critters’ favor, 3-2, before Hooge hit into a fielder’s choice and Fernandez grounded out.

Bernie got to run the bases in the seventh thanks to a bad bunt that forced out Chiyosaku Maruyama for the cost of the second out in the inning. Garrigan walked Downs, and Hooge got a ball through Chris Maneke to score Chavez from second base. Fernandez then grounded out again, stranding another two runners. He pitched another inning, but was done after seven innings of 2-run ball on 103 pitches. When the bullpen got involved with the 4-2 game, things started to go pear-shaped immediately. Garavito came out, allowed a leadoff single to PH Edwin Rendon, then a triple over the head of Fernandez, which narrowed the score to 4-3 with the tying run on third and no outs. After Maneke made the first out on strikes, the Coons went to Chris Wise against Pincus, who crucially also struck out. When Justin Simmons flew out to right, Tutt remained stranded on third base and the Coons took their lead to the ninth after all. Well, and there was no way past “The Warden”, right? Right! Yeom Soung got a fly to center from Adam Horner, struck out PH Matt Kilgallen, and got another easy fly to center from Sergio Ibarra. 4-3 Raccoons. Maruyama 2-4; Chavez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (7-8);

Then Antonio Prieto caught a virus at the very worst time. He was expected to be confined to his bed for the next few days, which crucially would also include the double header in Portland looming on Thursday, and wasn’t that ever a good time to not have all your arms available…

Rest assured though that the Raccoons were already strategically positioning AAA pitchers across the country to be called up at a whim.

And then things got even worse – the Tuesday game was postponed for rain. The Raccoons now had to play consecutive double-headers on Wednesday AND Thursday.

Contrary to normal custom where the team would play the worse pitcher in the second game to give the better guy first dips at the bullpen, the Raccoons kept Livingston in the first leg of Wednesday’s double-header – a sure sign that he wouldn’t be around for the second leg…

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – SS Maldonado – 1B Maruyama – 2B Hirai – P Livingston
ATL: 2B Kilgallen – 3B Maneke – RF Pincus – CF J. Simmons – C Horner – SS Thomson – 1B Ryu – LF Dahl – P Santry

A single by Kilgallen, a walk to Maneke, and two deep fly outs gave the Knights a 1-0 lead in the first, but Maldonado would get on base in the second inning, stole second base, and scored on a LOUD Maruyama double off the fence to tie the game. Unfortunately, Yukitsura Hirai struck out, and Livingston wasn’t gonna be useful either. Portland then went up 3-1 an inning later, Downs and Fernandez occupying corners with base hits before Justin Fowler hit an RBI double for his 50th RBI of the year, and Morales chipped in a sac fly.

Livingston wasn’t very good … he usually had somebody on base, but on the other hand the Raccoons were also very good at policing the infield for him. They turned double plays in the second, fourth, and fifth innings, keeping a 3-1 lead together. The Raccoons then got another chance on Justin Fowler’s leadoff double in the sixth inn- … oh, wait a moment. What is it down there? Oh, just another injury. The normal madness. Fernandez moved to center, Pinkerton entered in the #4 hole. There was a certain, sad routine about this. The Knights meanwhile proceeded to nail Tony Morales before the 6-7-8 batters made embarrassing outs, never even moving Preston Pinkerton to third base. Bottom 6th, the Knights had the bases loaded as soon as infield defense collapsed at once. Maneke reached on a Maruyama error, Simmons reached on a single, and Horner reached on a Downs error. Good job, boys! Livingston remained in there, partly to teach him a lesson about hardship and partly because we were running out of players at a frantic pace. Keith Thomson’s comebacker was turned into an out at home plate, and to anybody’s stunned surprise Livingston then struck out Hiroaki Ryu to strand a full set.

But Livingston was not around for much longer. Kilgallen and Maneke hit back-to-back 2-out doubles in the seventh, narrowing the tally to one run and bringing on Casey Moore, who retired Pincus. The top 8th then saw Pinkerton and Morales on base again – Morales being hit for a second time by Brad Santry! – until Maldonado ended the inning in 4-6-3 fashion. Horner hit a 1-out double in the bottom 8th off Moore, who got Thomson out, but then the Knights sent a lefty pinch-hitter, Matt Porter, for Ryu. Here, the Critters pounced as if on a bowl with whipped cream, sent David Fernandez, and he got a grounder to first to end that inning. Fernandez was also inserted in a double switch, so we were committed on him finishing the game, actually. He even got an insurance run from the deplorables at the bottom of the order when Hirai sunk a 1-out triple in the right-center gap off Roland Warner in the ninth, and then scored on Matt Triolo’s sac fly. Fernandez pitched around Mike Dahl’s leadoff single in the bottom 9th to end the inning. 4-2 Coons. M. Fernandez 2-4; Fowler 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Livingston 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, W (1-1);

With that, roster moves – Josh Livingston was sent back to AAA because we needed the roster spot. John Hennessy was added as an extra bullpen arm, but right now nobody knew for how long.

Game 3
POR: SS Downs – RF Pinkerton – LF M. Fernandez – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – CF Maldonado – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Ottinger
ATL: 2B Kilgallen – 3B Maneke – RF Pincus – CF J. Simmons – SS Thomson – 1B Tut – C A. Jaramillo – CF Dahl – P Lulay

The Coons burst out for a 5-spot in the opening frame, with Jesus Maldonado zinging a 2-out, bases-clearing double after singles by Downs, Fernandez, and Vickers. Kurt Wall doubled him in, and Marsingill plated Wall with a single. Even Ottie walked before Downs made the final out. Lulay in fact retired the Critters in order the second time through the lineup, ending a string of nine straight retirements only when Downs singled with two outs in the fourth, but nothing came of that.

Bottom 5th. The Knights finally brought the battle to Ottie, who had allowed only one hit and one walk in the first four innings. Thomson reached on Downs’ error. Tutt and Alex Jaramillo both singled. Bases loaded, no outs, Mike Dahl flew out to right, with Thomson being sent against Preston Pinkerton, who unleased a beam that saw the runner hammered out at home plate! Lulay grounded out to Maruyama to end the inning with two runners stranded on base and the score still 5-0.

On to the sixth, where Kurt Wall came up with a 1-out double to center, then waved for the trainer and eventually came out of the ballgame himself when nobody appeared to pick him up from second base. At this point I had a chuckle and shook my head in disbelief. How on earth…! Hirai ran for Wall, while we’d sort out the order later. The speedy Hirai scored on Ottie’s 2-out single to center, 6-0, and then Ottinger took off and was caught stealing. The Knights would strand runners on third base in both the sixth and seventh innings, with Pinkerton and Fernandez making nice plays, respectively, to keep the shutout in one piece. Top 8th, Dusty Behrens nailed Maldonado with Maruyama on base and one out, bringing up Tony Morales, who struck out, but Marsingill singled through the left side to bring in a run. Ottinger batted for himself and lined out to Tutt, ending the inning. He pitched into the eighth, but allowed a leadoff walk to Kilgallen before both Maneke and Simmons dropped base hits. That DID break up the shutout and the Coons had to go to the pen. Garavito conceded another run on a 2-out Tutt single, but otherwise ended the inning. In the ninth, Kilgallen and Maneke ripped him for 2-out base hits for another run, and with Pincus up and how the series had begun 17 weeks ago, the Coons sent a right-hander, but only a fuzzy one with scuffs on the edges! Dusty Kulp got the K, ending the series with a sweep. 7-3 Critters. Downs 2-3, BB; M. Fernandez 2-5; Wall 2-3, 2 2B, RBI; Marsingill 2-4, 2 RBI; Ottinger 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (4-3) and 1-3, BB, RBI;

Alright, now for some basic accounting.

Fortunately we had gotten some strong starting pitching the entire series (and probably had used one or two of the starters for an out or two more than we should have…). Despite the Prieto sniffle episode AND the double header, the Coons would head into Thursday *relatively okay*. But another roster move was necessary – so far we didn’t even have Bob Thomson, the starter for the second game against the Loggers, on the roster.

Now, as far as injuries were an issue, Kurt Wall was diagnosed with a “bum knee” and listed as day-to-day. He assured us he could catch, and he better would be able to, because he had to catch nine innings right away on Thursday …!

That left Fowler to sort through – Dr. Chung filed that report on Thursday morning. Fowler had a bruised heel and was day-to-day for about three days. There were good and bad parts to those news, but the good ones probably were more notable.

No roster move was made on Thursday morning; we continued to carry three day-to-day / ill players, and would try to make it through dinner that way…

Raccoons (57-49) vs. Loggers (47-59) – August 7-10, 2036

The Loggers were 17 games out in the division and were as usual looking forward to next season. They were sixth in runs scored, but were weighed down by porous defense (11th in CL) and pitching, allowing the third-most runs in the CL. The rotation was the second-worst in the league. This season series was also tied at three.

Projected matchups:
Gilberto Rendon (3-7, 5.20 ERA) vs. Vinny Olguin (6-15, 5.19 ERA)
Bob Thomson (0-0) vs. Tommy Iezzi (6-3, 4.36 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (5-6, 3.85 ERA) vs. Paul Metzler (7-10, 4.39 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (7-8, 3.17 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (4-6, 3.98 ERA)
TBD vs. Alfredo Casique (3-3, 4.23 ERA)

That’s right, no idea who starts on Sunday. We’ll make something up on the fly, I guess. No word on whether the Loggers would bring in a spot starter or whether they’d send four of their five right-handed starting pitchers on short rest. We had not only Bob Thomson, but another three players stashed away in the clubhouse to readily activate them: a catcher, an outfielder, and another bullpen arm…

Game 1
MIL: RF Valenzuela – 1B S. Ayala – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – 2B McWhirter – C M. Cooper – SS Del Vecchio – CF T. Romero – P Olguin
POR: 3B Downs – CF Maldonado – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Rendon

Rendon remained a burden, allowing a run in the first on a walk to Salvador Ayala, then singles by Josh Conner and Bill McWhirter. While the Coons turned that around on a Vickers single and a Maruyama bomb in the bottom 2nd, Rendon got the first out in the top 3rd on a deep fly to left by Ayala. He then ran 3-ball counts to anybody, walking Steve Wilson, McWhirter, and Matt Cooper to fill the bases with two outs, then tied the game losing Ted Del Vecchio in a full count, too. Needless to say that his pitch count had suffered somewhat in that inning… Tony Romero’s K at least stranded three… The Loggers still took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Olguin sullied Rendon’s record further with a leadoff double, then scored on two productive outs by Danny Valenzuela and Ayala. Funnily enough, Rendon came to the plate in the bottom 4th with Morales (leadoff single) and Triolo (2-out single) on the corners. The Coons hesitated to pinch-hit with all the problems they already had and let him swing away, and lo and behold, Rendon singled up the middle to tie the ballgame again…! Downs then lined out to short to end the inning.

The Coons dragged Rendon through six on almost 100 pitches, then batted for him with Maruyama and Triolo on base after a pair of 1-out singles. Justin Fowler took a bat, struck out, and Downs flew out to center. Again, no cigar! But in the bottom 7th, the Raccoons did score a run. Granted, it took them a walk, drawn my Maldonado, who was then caught stealing, and three 2-out singles by Fernandez, Morales, and Vickers to do it, but it put them up 4-3 regardless. And then Maruyama flew out to center and starved another two runners… On the mound, John Hennessy was in line for the win having gotten four outs after Rendon’s departure, but with one down in the eighth the Coons went to Chris Wise, possibly with the intent of a 5-out save. McWhirter reached on an infield single, but Cooper popped out and PH D.J. Mendez struck out to end the eighth. Could the Coons get some insurance? Triolo opened the bottom 8th with a single, then was forced out by Hirai’s grounder; the Japanese second baseman had entered in a double switch with Wise. Adam Downs found the gap for a double, putting two in scoring position with one out and Maldonado at the plate. The youngster’s ****ty grounder to first helped nobody but the Loggers and kept the runners pinned, but Ed Hooge came through, hitting another double between Wilson and Romero for a 6-3 lead! Manny Fernandez one-upped Milwaukee with an RBI triple before Tony Morales grounded out to end the inning. Wise remained in the game, ending the Loggers in just three more batters. 7-3 Coons! Downs 2-5, 2B; M. Fernandez 2-5, 3B, RBI; Morales 2-5; Vickers 2-4, RBI; Maruyama 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Triolo 2-4; Wise 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (19);

While the Loggers announced Piedra as the pitcher for the second leg of the double header – he had thrown 25 pitches in a relief outing on Tuesday – the Coons made a roster move and demoted Hirai, the .219 batter, to get Bob Thomson on the roster.

The 25-year-old Texan southpaw had been the only left-handed Coons starter in all of 2035, and had made a total of one start. In total he had been in eight games for an 0-2 record and 4.91 ERA. He had been a swingman in AAA this year, going 3-1 with a 4.75 ERA in 14 games (6 starts).

We would try to rest as many players as possible, but with a short bench there was only so much we could do; preventing people from playing four games in 36 hours was then the compromise, so Fernandez and Downs were absent from the lineup on Thursday, part deux.

Game 2
MIL: CF T. Romero – RF Valenzuela – 2B McWhirter – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Chavez – 1B S. Ayala – P Piedra
POR: RF Pinkerton – 3B Marsingill – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – SS Triolo – P Thomson

A Maruyama error that put Del Vecchio on base was immediately cashed in on when Francis Chavez doubled off Thomson to make it 1-0 Loggers in the second inning. In turn, Del Vecchio made an error on a Fowler grounder to give the Coons a leadoff runner in the bottom 2nd. Rich Vickers walked, Maruyama singled on 0-2, and the bags were full with nobody out. Kurt Wall struck out, but Triolo had the courage to stick out a hip to get hit by a inside fastball, forcing in the tying run. After a K to a helpless looking Bob Thomson, Preston Pinkerton grinded out a walk against Piedra, forcing in another run, but Marsingill grounded out. The Loggers then loaded the bases on Piedra (…) and Romero singles, plus a McWhirter walk in the top 3rd. Josh Conner walked in a full count to tie the game before Wilson popped out to shallow left and Del Vecchio whiffed.

While neither team was good with runners on base, the runners kept coming. Bottom 4th of a 2-2 game, the Coons got the tie-breaking run aboard when Josh Conner fired away a Maruyama grounder for a 2-base error with nobody out. Wall singled, putting them on the corners, but Triolo’s pop and Thomson’s K were not helpful. Pinkerton walked again, filling the bags for Justin Marsingill, who again poked at the very first pitch a shaky Piedra had to offer, but this time at least got something done, sending a fly up the rightfield line, where it dropped far away from Valenzuela and went all the way into the corner. All runners scored on the bases-clearing double, and the Coons were up, 5-2! Hooge flew out to center to end the inning.

Yet, Thomson was no less shaky then Piedra, and immediately after his offensive heroics Marsingill committed a grim throwing error that put McWhirter on second with two outs in the top 5th. Conner clipped Thomson for an RBI single before Wilson flew out to Ed Hooge. Marsingill made another error in the sixth, adding Chavez to Del Vecchio (leadoff single) on the base paths, but somehow Thomson clawed his way through the inning with a strikeout, a soft flyout, and a groundout. The Loggers still narrowed the score further in the seventh. Valenzuela hit a leadoff single, stole second, reached third on Wall’s throwing error, the fourth Raccoons error (!) in the game, and scored on a Conner single, 5-4. And, boys, I know, it’s been two long days, and even the NWSN announcers had slurred speech by now, despite being doubtlessly way less drunk than me… but can we please keep the stall closed for another couple o’ innings? Casey Moore replaced Thomson, got a double play grounder from Wilson, and the inning ended. It was still 5-4 when Yeom Soung got the ball in the ninth inning, for which Maldonado replaced the sore-heeled Fowler in centerfield. Tony Romero flew out to Pinkerton. Mendez was rung up. McWhirter grounded out to short! 5-4 Furballs!! Marsingill 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI;

That made for a 7-game winning streak …!

We still didn’t have a pitcher for Sunday, but, eh! There was another roster move, though, with Thomson, Thursday’s winner #2, sent back to AAA immediately in favor of another bat. The Raccoons brought up a surprise, 2034 eighth-rounder Steve Nickas, a versatile infielder with some speed that had made it to St. Pete only the prior month, but had hit .377 there. Power was not his game, but if he could make contact that would already be a boon… He was also a switch-hitter, which had never disqualified a ballplayer from a job opening before.

Antonio Prieto was also no longer projectile-vomiting and was back in the pen with his little friends on Friday.

Game 3
MIL: RF Valenzuela – 1B S. Ayala – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – 2B McWhirter – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Chavez – CF T. Romero – P Iezzi
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Nickas – 1B Maldonado – P Sabre

Sabre started his game with a stink bomb, allowing a double to Valezuela before walking the bags full. Wilson scored a run with a groundout before McWhirter and Del Vecchio went down on strikes, at least stranding a pair of runners. Steve Nickas would hit a single his first time up in the majors, moving Vickers to second base and allowing Jesus Maldonado to flip the score with a triple to center. Sabre left him on base, and did so again in the fourth after Maldonado had hit a 2-out double with nobody on board. In between, though, Fowler had driven in Ed Hooge in the previous inning, extending the lead to 3-1. Sabre got through the top of the fifth while rains were descending on the ballpark, and I will admit that I hoped for a rain-shortened win here…

No such luck, though. There *was* a 45-minute rain delay in the sixth inning, but the game emerged from it. Sabre didn’t, leaving with one out and Del Vecchio on first after 80 pitches prior to the wet interruption. Dusty Kulp got out of the inning against the bottom of the order, and the Coons got Maldonado (walk) and Maruyama (pinch-hit single) on base with no outs the bottom 7th, but Downs hit into a double play and the chance ran away. Prieto got the ball for the eighth and did away with the 3-4-5 batters, whiffing a pair. Only Wilson put the ball in play, flying out to center. The Coons DID tack on in the bottom 8th, with Steve Bass serving up a leadoff jack to Manny Fernandez. Bass retired the next three, including Marsingill batting for Prieto in the #4 slot – Fowler had been removed for defense again with the sore heel. Soung retired Milwaukee in order in the ninth, but there was also a sparkling play by Vickers behind second base, containing a Chavez grounder and turning the ball into an out with a perfect throw. 4-1 Raccoons. M. Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI; Maldonado 2-2, BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Maruyama (PH) 1-1;

Will winning ways ever wane?

And why is Nick Valdes never here when things go rather well??

Fowler reported back 100% on Saturday, so that was also another plus.

Game 4
MIL: RF Valenzuela – 1B S. Ayala – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – 2B McWhirter – C M. Cooper – SS Benito – CF T. Romero – P Metzler
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Nickas – 1B Maruyama – P B. Chavez

Downs doubled, Hooge singled, Fernandez walked, and there were three on and no outs in the bottom 1st, and the Coons got two runs out of it. Fowler hit a groundout, Morales hit a sac fly, but Vickers couldn’t get his grounder by Juan Benito. The Loggers got back at Bernie with back-to-back doubles by McWhirter and Cooper in the top 2nd, but at least Benito and Romero hit groundouts to strand the tying run at third base. We then ran ourselves out of the second and third innings. Nickas and Hooge, respectively, had leadoff on-base appearances. Both were caught trying to nip second base. Nickas came back with a 1-out double in the bottom 4th, sending Rich Vickers to third base. Nothing came of it – Maruyama was walked intentionally, Bernie popped out, and Downs flew out to center. More Raccoons reached base in the fifth, however, with Metzler issuing a leadoff walk to Ed Hooge, followed by Fernandez reaching on an Ayala error. I also felt that the time was ripe for a big knock, and we had the man at the dish for it! Unfortunately, Wilson picked Fowler’s drive off the top of the fence, and the inning ended on two strikeouts…

Bernie went into the seventh with the 2-1 lead before Benito and the pinch-hitting D.J. Mendez tagged him for 2-out singles. They were on the corners while Kenta Yoshioka pinch-hit for Metzler. The Raccoons wisely decided that they wanted a lefty pitcher, and David Fernandez gave them a K to strand the runners.

Bottom 7th, FINALLY a tack-on run. Manny Fernandez singled and stole TWO bases to get it, but then came in on Tony Morales’ sac fly to center…! When David Fernandez walked Ayala and Conner to create a threat in the eighth, the Raccoons got a K of PH Tyler Prestwood from Moore, and Fowler caught McWhirter’s lazy fly. Two more runners were stranded, and when Yeom Soung was discovered to be unavailable, Chris Wise took the ball in the ninth inning against the 6-7-8 portion of the lineup. Cooper struck out, Benito and Mendez grounded out, and the Coons had won seven on the week and nine in a row! 3-1 Furballs!! Hooge 2-3, BB; Nickas 3-4, 2B; Chavez 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (8-8);

Can the Critters win out the week!?

They would have to put up with Darren Brown in order to do so. Hennessy was sent back to AAA and exchanged for Brown to get a starter on the roster for Sunday. Nobody really wanted Brown (3-3, 4.78 ERA in Portland; 5-7, 6.95 ERA with St. Pete!!) back, but we had to kill time and if it was a throwaway game, it just … (shrugs) … you can’t win them all anyway…!

Game 5
MIL: RF Valenzuela – 1B S. Ayala – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – 2B McWhirter – C M. Cooper – SS Del Vecchio – CF T. Romero – P Casique
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – SS Nickas – P Brown

The Coons had the odd runner early, but it was the Loggers who did the scoring. They got a run in the third on Del Vecchio and Romero singles, then a Valenzuela sac fly, and another run in the fifth on a solo homer by Tony Romero, which was not only his first career homer, but in his 12th game also his first career RBI. Casique wouldn’t finish five, however, walking Brown and Downs to begin the bottom 5th and conceding a run on a groundout and a sac fly before coming out of the game with an apparent injury. Fowler flew out to right against Matt May to strand the tying run on first base.

It had been a long weekend for both teams, and the Loggers also showed that in the sixth. Vickers led off with a double, which was dandy, before Maruyama hit a foul pop on 1-0 that should have retired him, but Wilson dropped the ball in foul ground. Maruyama was sent back to the plate, struck out, but the ball got away from Cooper and the Coons got runner son the corners out of the uncaught third strike. Wall then struck out. Nickas struck out. And then May picked Maruyama off first base. That half-inning – not one that would delight baseball purists. I wasn’t a purist. I was about wins, so I was equally miffed. The pickoff also occurred after Preston Pinkerton was already announced as pinch-hitter, so the Raccoons lost a player on the whole ordeal, with Dusty Kulp entering the #9 slot and getting through the seventh despite two walks. He was then hit for by Maldonado, who singled past Conner into left to begin the bottom 7th against Mike Bass. Maldonado started on Bass’ initial motion for the 1-0 to Downs, who hit a double to left-center, and that early jump allowed Maldonado to score and tie the game at two. But the offense’s batteries were empty. Hooge, Fernandez, and Fowler all made poor outs and stranded Downs on third base eventually… Wise and Garavito would keep the Loggers in check through nine, with Alex Banderas, recently underemployed closer, out for the bottom 9th against the 9-1-2 batters. Tony Morales pinch-hit to get the inning underway. He struck out, and while Downs singled the Coons didn’t get more than a fielder’s choice and another groundout from the two left-handers, sending the game to extras. At this point, even Slappy had nodded off…

It was a Downs throwing error that put McWhirter on base to begin the 11th inning against Casey Moore that began the unwinding of the winning streak. Moore had anything but a good day, walked Del Vecchio and Mendez to fill the bags, and conceded a run on Francis Chavez’ grounder to second. The run was unearned, but counted all the same for a 3-2 Loggers lead. Loggers righty Bobby Valencia and his 3.08 ERA were up against the bottom of the order in the bottom of the 11th. Kurt Wall rammed a homer over the fence to tie the game at once, and now the Raccoons actively stared at the possibility of running out of pitchers after all. Nickas flew out easily. Triolo hit for Moore and popped out behind home plate. Downs hit the 1-0 to center, and that was gonna get over Wilson’s head for extra bases! Downs chugging around second, the ball was still waiting to be collected by Wilson, who had misstepped on a lunging jump, and had lost more time there. Downs approached third base with Wilson just firing the ball from the deepest part of centerfield, and here was the third base coach, windmilling Downs around and sending him to home plate. Del Vecchio with the relay, bad throw to the catcher, bouncing halfway, and Cooper had to vacate home plate to reach the ball at all, and Downs slid home safe – INSIDE-THE-PARK, WALKOFF HOMER!!! I’M GOING NUTS!!! … 4-3 Coons. Downs 3-4, 2 BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado (PH) 1-1; Brown 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

August 5 – DEN MR Peter “Graveyard” Gill (2-2, 2.38 ERA, 1 SV) shows he still has it, pitching a 3-hit shutout of the Capitals in a spot start. The 33-year-old right-hander hasn’t been a regular starter since 2034.
August 6 – VAN SP Josh Weeks (8-12, 4.10 ERA) blanks the Thunder on two base hits in a 5-0 shutout.
August 8 – DAL CL Josh Boles (1-1, 2.11 ERA, 29 SV) nails down his 300th career save in a 4-3 win over the Gold Sox. The 32-year-old southpaw had a 2.78 ERA for his career, seven All Star nods and two Reliever of the Year trophies.
August 9 – 42-year-old veteran WAS RF/LF Pablo Sanchez (.350, 3 HR, 39 RBI) could be out for the season with an elbow strain.
August 9 – A broken finger rules out DAL INF Jon Ramos (.335, 0 HR, 39 RBI) for the next six weeks.
August 10 – SFB 3B/SS/RF Marshall Greer (.268, 6 HR, 32 RBI) is out of the season with a ruptured achilles tendon.
August 10 – The Aces’ OF Justin Nelson (.255, 10 HR, 65 RBI) drives in six runs in a 14-2 rush of the Condors.

Complaints and stuff

And then there was that one time where the Coons played four games in 36 hours and won ****ing all o’ them!

Just when you think you’ve seen all the misery there is in the world thanks to them, they unfurl one of those…! And I haven’t even gotten into how they went EIGHT-ZIP for the week, and have a 10-game winning streak!

Boston didn’t play badly – they won two of three from the Condors and split a 4-game set with the Crusaders, but of course 4-3 couldn’t stink up to 8-0, so suddenly the Raccoons were back within a pawful. With the schedule relentless, we’ll have the Crusaders in for four games starting on Monday, then make another single-series dash across the hills for Sioux Falls on the weekend.

Jimmy Wallace will begin a rehab assignment early next week. Tim Stalker is at least another week off, and Colt Willes may or may not return to the mound this year at all. Everybody else was already lost for the season for sure.

Fun Fact: This week was fun enough!

Also exhausting. Sorry, more effort again next week. :-P

Westheim · 06-01-2020, 07:37 AM

Raccoons (62-49) vs. Crusaders (47-63) – August 11-14, 2036

The Raccoons had both a 10-game winning streak and a 9-2 edge in the season series against the Crusaders, without a doubt setting them up for a 4-game sweep to begin the middle week of August. The Crusaders sat fifth in runs scored, but were bleeding the most runs in the league and had a -73 run differential. Their rotation was in the bottom three, their pen was even worse, and their crummy defense had certainly a hand in their pitchers’ misfortunes.

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (4-3, 3.92 ERA) vs. Joe Hicks (7-5, 4.40 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (3-7, 5.16 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (7-10, 4.90 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-6, 3.76 ERA) vs. Geoff Whitehouse (10-3, 3.45 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (8-8, 3.09 ERA) vs. Keith Black (6-11, 5.04 ERA)

The Crusaders had only right-handed pitchers to offer.

Game 1
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – 1B K. Henderson – C Brooks – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Hicks
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Nickas – 1B Maruyama – P Ottinger

As the series began I was totally in cahoots with the thousands of screaming kids in the ballpark who all wanted to see as much baseball and winning out of “Ottie” was possible, since our pen was still somewhat reeling from the busy last week that culminated with an 11-inning win on Sunday. Ottinger got around Vinny Chavira’s and Kumanosuke Henderson’s leadoff singles in the second inning to strand them in scoring position, then got a 2-0 lead served in the bottom of the inning when Fowler legged out an infield single and Rich Vickers took Hicks deep to right for his fifth homer of the year. The Critters added a whole bunch in the following inning, beginning with Ed Hooge’s eighth homer, 3-0, then put Fernandez and Fowler on base again. Fernandez stole two bases and scored on a Morales single, while Steve Nickas got his first career RBI with a single up the middle, scoring Justin Fowler. A walk to Maruyama with two outs loaded the bases for Ottinger, and while the assembled youth of Portland screamed their little lungs out for him to hit a homer, Ottie flew out to Chavira in rightfield, keeping the score at 5-0.

Things then went pear-shaped immediately, with leadoff walks to Mario Hurtado and Chavira in the fourth, a Henderson RBI double and Jeremiah Brooks’ sac fly, then a wild pitch that moved Henderson to third base. John Hansen flew out to center, but Fowler unleashed the worst throw ever seen, allowing Henderson to score, 5-3, then proceeded immediately to the dugout, holding his backside. Jesus Maldonado replaced the brittle old man in the cleanup slot… Hicks was gone soon after, being replaced when Ed Hooge hit another solo homer off him in the bottom of the fourth.

Ottie became increasingly unglued, conceding a leadoff single to relief pitcher Gabriel Recio in the fifth. While Graciano Salto hit into a force at second base, then was caught stealing by Tony Morales, and then Ottinger still managed to stir panic with a pair of 2-out walks. The Coons dragged Ottie through six innings before Justin Marsingill batted for him and made the second out in the bottom 6th. After that, they suddenly filled the bags against Recio, and Maldonado squeezed a 2-out single through the left side to plate Adam Downs with a run, 7-3, before Morales grounded out to strand the bases loaded. It didn’t matter, though – the Raccoons’ pen took over and straight-up dominated the Crusaders lineup. Dusty Kulp, Mauricio Garavito, and Antonio Prieto saw four, two, and three New York batters, respectively, and retired all of them to finish the game. 7-3 Raccoons. Hooge 2-2, 3 BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5; Fowler 1-1, BB; Nickas 3-4, RBI;

Justin Fowler, the old man, had a sore back and would be hampered enough for a few days that he was better relegated to maintaining the snacks bar in the dugout – once more the Coons were down to three healthy guys on the bench.

Game 2
NYC: 3B Hansen – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – 1B K. Henderson – C Brooks – LF Malo – CF Balado – P E. Cannon
POR: 3B Downs – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – SS Nickas – CF Maldonado – P Rendon

Nick Valdes dropped in just in time to witness his 11-times-straight-winners team concede a first inning run without the benefit of a hit for the Crusaders. Rendon walked two, Maruyama chipped in an error, and Rendon uncorked a wild pitch to Brooks, who eventually struck out to strand Chavira and Henderson on base. Nothing came of a Hurtado error in the bottom 1st, but Maruyama and Nickas hit singles in the bottom 2nd to create an on-base presence. Maldonado hit into a fielder’s choice, bringing Rendon up with runners on the corners and two outs. Brooks then fumbled the first pitch for a passed ball, allowing Maruyama across and tying a so far dismal game at one. Valdes gave me a look and I pretended not to notice it. Rendon then grounded out.

New York was up 4-1 in the third then; John Hansen singled and advanced on two outs before scoring on a Chavira single. Henderson took Rendon *well* deep to left-center. But Ed Hooge continued his own power surge, finding Adam Downs on base with a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning and hitting another bomb off an unassuming Crusaders pitcher to narrow the gap to 4-3. Nick Valdes said something that he hoped the Raccoons wouldn’t lose with their dear leader in town, which made me give him a look he pretended not to notice. Slappy sat between us on the brown couch and was entirely amused. The Coons tied the game in the same inning; Fernandez reached with a 1-out single, advanced on Morales’ groundout, then scored on Maruyama’s single to center. Even better – Maruyama advanced on another passed ball, then was singled home by the newest toy in the box, Steve Nickas, giving the Critters a 5-4 lead. Cannon was battered for more 2-out singles by Maldonado, Rendon (!), and Downs, the latter two each scoring a run, before being yanked in a 7-4 game. Gabe McGill then lasted two pitches before serving up a 430-foot bomb to Rich Vickers, 10-4! Nick Valdes applauded enthusiastically two spots over on the couch, and even Honeypaws seemed to wag his striped tail.

The inning didn’t end until Hooge doubled and scored on a Fernandez single, and then Morales was the final out (after having been the second out, too) with a grounder to McGill. It was 11-4 and the Coons’ streak seemed safe for the day. In fact, both teams were thoroughly exhausted by it all now – NOBODY reached base for the entirety of the middle innings! However, that was also all that there was to get out of Rendon, with the early innings and strong nine strikeouts having sapped him for 99 pitches, a.k.a. pretty much all he had. It wasn’t a problem – Antonio Prieto and David Fernandez split the last nine outs between them, spilling only one base runner. The Coons got Maruyama on in the seventh by being nailed, Triolo in the eighth with a single, and both times hit into a double play, and it was still FINE. 11-4 Raccoons! Downs 2-5, 2B, RBI; Hooge 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-5, RBI; Maruyama 2-3, RBI; Nickas 2-4, RBI; Triolo 1-1;

Nick Valdes now declared himself the Raccoons’ good luck charm and that he would stay the rest of the homestand.

I don’t know, Nick, they won 11 without you… - Are you sure you don’t have to manage a project somewhere? – I don’t think that isolated tribe in Bolivia will evict themselves from their land to allow for your mining operations there…

Nope, he stayed. I had a sense of foreboding.

Game 3
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – 1B K. Henderson – C Brooks – 3B Hansen – RF H. Saito – CF Balado – P Whitehouse
POR: 3B Downs – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – CF Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Sabre

Things came apart at once for Sabre, who allowed singles to Salto and Obando, walked Hurtado and Henderson, conceded another run on a groundout by Brooks, then nailed John Hansen to restock the bases. Hirofumi Saito lined out to Maruyama in a scary at-bat, and Jose Balado grounded out to Downs, so the Coons emerged badly scuffed, but only 2-0 down. A throwing error by Triolo that put Whitehouse on second base to begin the next inning wasn’t exactly how we imagined to proceed from there, but Valdes was undeterred and was sure that he would bring the team good luck and a sure win. While Maldonado singled home Tony Morales in the bottom 2nd to narrow the gap to 2-1, Raffaello Sabre sure pitched like completely stale arse. He threw *63* pitches in two innings, all of them dismal, and continued to end up behind EVERY batter he faced. Somehow, the Critters still scratched out a tie by the fourth with sound defense and Fernandez and Maruyama base hits in that inning, and then kept hitting against Whitehouse. Maldonado hit another 1-out single, and Triolo got a ball past John Hansen and into leftfield for another single. Maruyama was waved around and scored, 3-2, with the other runners advancing into scoring position. With runners on second and third, one out, and Sabre being as **** as he was, there was some serious consideration to pinch-hitting for him – and the Coons did. 91 pitches in, Sabre was yanked. Justin Fowler grabbed a stick, popped out, Downs did the same, and that could have gone better.

Casey Moore then blew the lead immediately by walking Obando, allowing a double to Hurtado, a sac fly to tie, and a groundout to get the Crusaders ahead again, 4-3. Saito doubled, Salto singled off Moore for more in the fifth, 5-3. Meanwhile the Raccoons took the middle innings off, not reaching scoring position again until the bottom 7th when Downs singled and Vickers walked with one out to chase Whitehouse and bring in J.D. Hamm against Hooge as the go-ahead run at the plate. Hooge flew out easily to Salto, while Fernandez hit a fly to right – but that one wasn’t caught, that one was GONE!! 2-out, 3-run homer by Manny Fernandez, and the Critters were up again, 6-5! Nick Valdes told me that he’d told me, but I was anxiously peeking at my personal lineup card and how our options were diminishing fast, although there WAS the option of “simply” using Wise and Soung to get out of this game. Wise allowed a leadoff single to Hansen in the eighth, but then tip-toed around that, while the offense did nothing in the bottom of the inning. Yeom Soung was up against the top of the order in the ninth, so Valdes naturally proclaimed that nothing could go wrong anymore. At this point I resorted to squeezing Honeypaws and closing my eyes because I could see the world burn before my eyes – but “The Warden” kept the Crusaders locked in, ending the game on two grounders and a K to Hurtado. 6-5 Critters! M. Fernandez 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, RBI;

13 wins in a row!

If only our pen wasn’t constantly overworked……

Game 4
NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 3B Hansen – 1B Malo – CF Balado – P Black
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – SS Nickas – P Chavez

Bernie retired the first ten Crusaders before Obando singled, stole second, and was stranded, but the Raccoons were also stymied by Keith Black, who allowed only one base hit the first time through. Ed Hooge then opened the fourth with a single to right, and Manny Fernandez added another one, bringing up Fowler, who felt a little less old today and could be pencilled into the lineup once again. He also struck out, Morales flew out, and Vickers grounded out to not plate anybody. The Coons only got a lead on Jesus Maldonado’s leadoff jack in the bottom 5th, with Valdes jumping up and clapping his hands like a mad man.

The Coons then had Fernandez and Fowler in scoring position on a pair of singles in the bottom 6th. Chavira’s over-ambitious throw to third base on Fowler’s single allowed the trailing runner to scoot up, too, and Morales would bat with one out. His liner to deep left was caught by Salto, but that was deep enough for Fernandez to chug home, 2-0, before Vickers walked. Maldonado then fouled out, stranding two in a 2-0 game. And Bernie? He was doing *fine*. Two hits, six strikeouts, 90 pitches through seven innings, and he was not currently a concern – but then why do I feel doom approaching? Bernie retired Hansen and Caleb Malo on grounders, then Balado on a pop in the eighth, maintaining the 2-0 edge, but was now also at 102 pitches, and it was sure *dicey*. An insurance run or two would go a long way to make us more comfy about sending him back out in the ninth! Keith Black, however, said no, retired the 2-3-4 in order, and it was 2-0 in the ninth. With Hirofumi Saito, a lefty batter, pinch-hitting for Black to begin the inning, the Coons definitely made the switch to Soung. Portland also replaced Fowler with Maldonado for defense, Maruyama taking over first base. That didn’t factor as Soung struck out Saito, or as Salto flew out to left. Obando then singled, bringing up Hurtado as the tying run. Like the day before, Soung carved him up on strikes. 2-0 Furballs! M. Fernandez 2-4; Vickers 1-2, BB; Chavez 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (9-8);

14 wins in a row! Will wonders ever cease!?

At least the homestand ceased, Valdes shook my paw for six minutes on the way out and to Bolivia where he’d displace poor Indios for profit, and the Raccoons had to pack up to head out to Sioux Falls.

Raccoons (66-49) @ Warriors (58-55) – August 15-17, 2036

The Warriors were doing respectably, but were 14 games out in an FL West that had long gotten away from them. They were right around the middle of the pack in runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, with a +4 run differential. Their offense was weirdly reliant on the long ball – they led the FL in that category with 99 bombs, but were last in stolen bases, and only ninth in batting average. The Raccoons hadn’t faced them in three years and hadn’t won a series from them since *2020*! Not exactly ideal circumstances to extend the streak to 15 and beyond, especially with what we’re opening the series with…

Projected matchups:
Darren Brown (3-3, 4.50 ERA) vs. Jose Medina (9-8, 4.31 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (5-3, 3.97 ERA) vs. Tony Galligher (9-6, 2.21 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (4-7, 5.12 ERA) vs. Francisco Colmenarez (4-8, 5.60 ERA)

In a stark change to how the week began, these were all left-handed starters.

Game 1
POR: SS Downs – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – RF Pinkerton – 1B Maldonado – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Brown
SFW: RF Stross – SS Matos – 2B Colon – LF M. Hernandez – C McCullar – 3B Rozenboom – 1B Sheaffer – CF P. Cisneros – P J. Medina

Justin Fowler’s 19th homer cashed Manny Fernandez and allowed Darren Brown to take the mound with a 2-0 lead. He sure didn’t hold on to it for long, walking Doug Stross to begin the game, although Mario Colon would double off the runner to end the inning. Melvin Hernandez’ single and Nick Rozenboom’s homer in the bottom 2nd however tied the game, and the Warriors weren’t gonna stop there. A walk to Jesus Matos in the bottom 3rd was followed by 2-out doubles by both Hernandez and Ethan McCullar, putting them 4-2 ahead before Rozenboom struck out.

While Justin Marsingill cashed in Kurt Wall and his double with a 2-out single in the bottom 4th to half the distance to the Warriors, Brown remained reliably awful and the Raccoons looked at their pen, sorting through arms and how much more they could take. Fortunately only Yeom Soung was “only available in dire straits” after Bernie’s strong outing on Thursday. Unfortunately, in a 4-3 game, the move wasn’t made in time, Brown continued to ****tily dawdle along, with Rozenboom hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 6th before being forced on Travis Sheaffer’s grounder. Pedro Cisneros crushed a baseball to center for a 2-run homer, and that seemed to bury the Coons for good, 6-3. Kurt Wall getting nicked by Jeremy Truett was all the Coons’ offense in the seventh inning, but when Casey Moore returned to the mound the fireworks restarted. Jesus Matos singled, Mario Colon homered, and it was 8-3. David Fernandez and Antonio Prieto came apart for another run in the eighth, and the Raccoons never did anything to stave off the end of the winning streak. 9-3 Warriors. Triolo (PH) 1-1; Wall 1-2, 2B; Marsingill 2-3, RBI;

Emptiness.*

Darren Brown (3-4, 5.19 ERA) was beaten to death the same night, or at least I exercised for it my angrily stabbing my steak in the hotel restaurant, 47 times. He was however sent to St. Petersburg, never to return. The Raccoons recalled Josh Livingston.

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – RF Pinkerton – C Morales – 1B Maldonado – SS Nickas – P Ottinger
SFW: RF Stross – SS Matos – 2B Colon – LF M. Hernandez – C McCullar – 3B Rozenboom – 1B Sheaffer – CF P. Cisneros – P Galligher

Doug Stross had a noisy collision at second base in the bottom of the first that left the Warriors’ veteran in considerable discomfort and eventually replaced by Josh Hatfield – at least he had broken up the double play on Matos’ grounder. The Warriors would fill them up on a Colon single and Ottinger nailing Hernandez, but only got a sac fly from McCullar before Rozenboom grounded out to end the inning. The game got entirely out of hand in the bottom of the second inning, despite a good start. Galligher’s bad bunt forced out Cisneros and left the pitcher to run on first base with two outs. Ottinger collapsed after a double hit by Hatfield when Vickers threw away Matos’ grounder for a run-scoring error. Ottinger threw eight straight balls, walking in one run, then conceded another two on McCullar and Rozenboom singles before Sheaffer flew out to Pinkerton. All four runs were unearned, but it was still a 5-0 game and nobody was happy … except probably the Warriors’ fans.

The Raccoons were largely silent until the fifth inning, when Maldonado singled and stole second base. McCullar’s throwing error allowed him to reach third base, from where he scored on Nickas’ groundout. Ottinger then hit a 2-out single, his second single in the game – if only he had been as good on the mound… – which was followed by a Downs single and a Vickers double off the fence in leftfield. Hooge grounded out to Matos, ending the inning with a 5-3 score. Two runs had been unearned in this case, so it was an earned 1-1 tie. How consoling!

Even though the Warriors had them in scoring position with one out in the bottom 7th after another Vickers error amidst some incendiary pitching by Dusty Kulp, Mauricio Garavito would strand those runners, getting a pop from pinch-hitting ex-Coon Toby Ross, as well as a fly out to Hooge from Cisneros. Rich Vickers, desperate to redeem himself after witnessing the example made out of Darren Brown the night before, opened the eighth with a jack off Galligher, narrowing the score to 5-4. Fowler and Morales hit singles before Manny Fernandez batted for Garavito in the #7 hole … and struck out to end the inning. The Coons would see right-hander Chris Henry in the top of the ninth, with a 2.74 ERA and just over nine strikeouts per nine innings – and he retired Nickas, Maruyama, and Marsingill in order. 5-4 Warriors. Vickers 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Morales 2-4;

Game 3
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – RF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – SS Nickas – 2B Marsingill – P Rendon
SFW: RF R. Miller jr. – SS Matos – 2B Colon – LF M. Hernandez – C McCullar – 3B Rozenboom – 1B Sheaffer – CF P. Cisneros – P Colmenarez

For the second time in the series, Justin Fowler hit a 2-run bomb in the first inning, this time cashing in Ed Hooge, who had however forced out Downs after his leadoff single. Manny Fernandez tripled and Maruyama walked thereafter, but Wall lined out on a 3-1 pitch and the third run scored only on a wild pitch by Colmenarez before Nickas struck out. While the Critters didn’t score any more off Colmenarez in the next innings, they sure ran up his pitch count as he walked four and struck out six through four innings. Rendon meanwhile looked solid until he didn’t; Mario Colon homered with one out in the bottom 4th, and then McCullar doubled and Rozenboom singled with two outs. A passed ball allowed another run across, 3-2, before Sheaffer struck out.

Colmenarez reached 100 pitches by walking Maruyama for the third time in the top of the fifth. That was with two outs and Fowler already on base after a 1-out single, but Kurt Wall grounded out to short to end the inning. The Warriors’ left-handed did bat for himself (and struck out for the 100th K for Rendon this year) in the bottom 5th, only to give up leadoff singles to Nickas and Marsingill in the sixth. He received Rendon’s bunt, then was ordered to walk Downs before being lifted for Truett against Ed Hooge, who hit into a disastrous 3-6-1 double play. The Critters wrung out Rendon for six and two thirds as well as 108 pitches with two final, drawn-out fly outs by the 7-8 batters in the order, then replaced him with Prieto for PH Seth Salmonsen. Derek Barker held the Coons short for the last two innings of regulation, while Chris Wise had gone 1-2-3 against that same part of the Warriors’ lineup in the bottom of the eighth. It was Yeom Soung after that, and he got a pop from Hernandez, a grounder from McCullar, and strike three called against Rozenboom. 3-2 Raccoons. Fowler 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Maruyama 0-1, 3 BB; Rendon 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (5-7);

In other news

August 11 – IND SP Andy Bressner (11-8, 2.68 ERA) pitches a 3-hit shutout with six strikeouts against the Titans, claiming the 4-0 victory.
August 12 – PIT 1B Danny Santillano (.290, 14 HR, 69 RBI) knocks his 2,000th career hit in a 5-2 loss to the Cyclones. The Miners’ serial Player of the Year (six batting titles and five MVPs), who has a career .339 average with 272 homers and 989 RBI and a .975 OPS, hits an eighth-inning single off CIN MR Tim Zimmerman (1-2, 3.30 ERA) for the milestone.
August 12 – A separated shoulder puts Denver outfielder Kyle Beard (.324, 8 HR, 59 RBI) on the DL for six weeks.
August 17 – Boston will be without OF Willie Vega (.235, 10 HR, 58 RBI) for up to a month. The 29-year-old was out with a broken foot.

Complaints and stuff

We are now an entirely bonkers 13-2 against the Crusaders this season. Despite this and a 14-game winning streak that ended prematurely at the blood-stained paws of Darren Brown, the Raccoons barely matched the Titans’ pace this week. Boston had an off day (lucky bastards) and won four games, so we inched to within three games of them. The damn Elks are 10 out and pretend they are valid, but they’re not, while the other half of the division had entirely descended into the abyss. They’re all the Loggers now.

Tim Stalker comes back from the torn quad on Monday, but will be sent for rehab first to get him warmed up. He might rejoin the team on the weekend in Boston for what will surely be a fun series… In between, we skip home to face the Blue Sox (and finally get a day off!!) in the last regular season interleague set of the year.

Wasn’t that carefully worded? A thing of linguistic beauty!

No, Ed, I didn’t say linguine. – No, I don’t have linguine. – No, also no other noodles of any sort, on my body, or in my pockets. – WILL YOU STOP CLIMBING UP MY LEG??

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are first in defense in the Continental League!

Which isn’t something you’d expect from having a 34-year-old centerfielder or 38-year-old middle infielder. Granted, it helps that they’re injured so often…

Then there’s also Saturday’s game, which wasn’t exactly an advertisement for that #1 defense…

But Cristiano says our .716 defensive efficiency is the best by a good margin (seven points over Vegas) in the CL, and were’ having among the best zone rating in the league. While our CS% remains pitiful (24.1%), we really (normally) cut down on the errors, with only 59 fielding mishaps charged to defenders. Only the Bayhawks are significantly better in the CL (49), but they’re having other problems entirely…

+++

*Winning this one would have meant a missing Steam achievement for 15 straight wins, which wouldn’t be bad to have after TWENTY MILLION HOURS in the game. **** you Darren Brown. **** you.

Also, I was tangled up with Civ 6 quite a bit the last week or so; I blame the new bits of DLC that keep that bloody time sink interesting. The Coons are not forgotten though :-P

And no, I didn’t get any achievements in Civ either…

StLee · 06-02-2020, 11:06 AM

The comeback is on!

Bub13 · 06-02-2020, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StLee

The comeback is on!

The First Rule of Comeback is no talking about Comeback.

Westheim · 06-02-2020, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StLee

The comeback is on!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bub13

The First Rule of Comeback is no talking about Comeback.

Well, well.

+++

Raccoons (67-51) vs. Blue Sox (62-56) – August 18-20, 2036

We played Nashville for the first time since ’34, when we had lost two of three games to them. Despite their mediocre record they were only one game behind in the FL East, so every game was crucial to them. The FL East of ’36 was really the CL North of ’35, with five teams under a blanket right now; only the Rebels were their usual 50-legged disaster. They ranked seventh in runs scored in the Federal League, but had allowed the very fewest runs. They were the FL’s best defensive team, while the starters ranked fourth in ERA, and the bullpen sat in third place. They also had no injuries to complain about.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (6-6, 3.79 ERA) vs. Kevin Stice (13-9, 3.48 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (9-8, 2.94 ERA) vs. Doug Clifford (9-11, 4.18 ERA)
Josh Livingston (1-1, 4.34 ERA) vs. Matt Hose (10-6, 2.98 ERA)

Right, left, right for the Blue Sox. And then there was Jim “Mastodon” Allen, who entered the series with 112 RBI in *August*.

Game 1
NAS: 3B Bossert – SS Bouldin – LF Ashley – 2B J. Allen – RF R. Sanchez – CF Talabera – 1B Vadillo – C Canody – P Stice
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – C Morales – CF Maldonado – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – SS Nickas – P Sabre

The series got underway really well with Chance Bossert reaching on a Nickas error, stealing second uncontested, reaching third on Billy Bouldin’s infield single, and then Sean Ashley walked to fill the bases. Allen got his 113th RBI on a sac fly before Raul Sanchez popped out and Cesar Talabera whiffed. Sabre settled in with his tail a bit less on fire after that, but then there was also the Raccoons having one of those games where their first two base hits were by the same player, in this case Manny Fernandez having singles in the first and fourth innings. The latter one at least came with nobody out, and Tony Morales chipped one into center to follow up his deed. Kevin Stice threw a wild pitch to advanced the runners, then gave up a rocket to Jesus Maldonado into the leftfield corner for a score-flipping 2-run double. Vickers singled to put them on the corners, but Maldonado went home when Chiyosaku Maruyama flew out to Sanchez, and was cut down at the plate, preventing the Critters from scoring any more in the inning.

The Blue Sox were also very silent. Sabre never allowed another base hit other than the infield single Bouldin had hit right in the first inning, but then he also walked four and then still them Sox liked to poke at 2-0 and 3-1 pitches and then usually made a poor out. Somehow Sabre made it through seven with that sort of day that would look good in the box score at first until you examined how many strikes he threw – just 55 in 102 pitches. While the Coons got PH Preston Pinkerton on base with a single in the bottom 7th and Ed Hooge was only narrowly denied a 2-out extra-base hit off the wall by Sanchez, Casey Moore got Bossert and Bouldin out in the eighth before David Fernandez retired nobody. Sean Ashley singled, the “Mastodon” walked, and Mike Burgess pinch-hit for the left-handed Sanchez. Antonio Prieto was called upon – and got a grounder for the third out of the inning.

The house of cards then collapsed in the ninth inning with Yeom Soung on the mound against lefty pinch-hitter and ex-Coon Bob Zeltser, who was in his 10th game with the Sox after starting the year in Indy. Vickers couldn’t reach his grounder, which escaped for a single, and then Justin Ollis’ bunt was catastrophically thrown away by Tony Morales, placing the tying run at third, the go-ahead run at second, and even Soung looked rather unhappy now. Taylor Canody’s groundout and a pinch-hit single by Fabien Ugolino turned the game around, and the Coons were staring at Adam Rosenwald in the bottom of the ninth, bumped right up against their dinner reservations. Maruyama struck out. Triolo grounded out to short. Fowler flew out to left. 3-2 Blue Sox. M. Fernandez 2-4; Maldonado 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Pinkerton (PH) 1-1; Sabre 7.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K;

That was not a result we needed right now…

Game 2
NAS: 3B Bossert – SS Bouldin – LF Ashley – 2B J. Allen – RF R. Sanchez – CF Talabera – 1B Vadillo – C Canody – P Clifford
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – RF M. Fernandez – C Wall – 1B Maruyama – SS Nickas – 2B Marsingill – P Chavez

Justin Fowler gave the team another first-inning, 2-run homer, this time bringing around Adam Downs’ leadoff walk, for a 2-0 lead. He also hit a 2-out single in the third inning with a runner on second, but that was Bernie Chavez, who had faced the minimum the first time through and had opened this inning with a single over Bossert’s glove. Bernie was parked at third base, bringing up Manny Fernandez with runners on the corners – and Clifford served up a 68mph hanger that was hit into the next county over where it seriously disrupted a post-hippie peace conference, jumping the score to 5-0. Maruyama hit a solo shot right after that, Kurt Wall singled, Nickas was nicked, and somehow Justin Marsingill grounded out to short to let the battered Clifford get out of the inning.

A Bouldin single and an Ashley double the gave Nashville a run in the fourth, because the first law of baseball is that under no circumstances can it ever be any fun for us. Bottom 5th, though, Fernandez and Maruyama reached against right-hander Victor Alvarez, who threw a wild pitch to advance them. One run scored on Wall’s single, another one on Nickas’ groundout, and the tally was up to 8-1 before Marsingill ended the inning with a fly to center. The following inning the team scored a run on a walk and three infield singles (!!) before Alvarez was yanked. Bobby LeMoine got Maruyama to pop out before conceding a bases-clearing double to Kurt Wall, exploding the tally to 12-1. Bernie Chavez was ticked for a run in the seventh, which didn’t really disturb the scoreboard anymore, then got two outs in the eighth before Ashley singled on his 108th pitch. Dusty Kulp was sent in to get the final four outs, which he did without another bullpen deployment being required to stop a 7-run rally in the ninth… 12-2 Raccoons! Hooge 2-5; Fowler 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; M. Fernandez 2-2, 2 BB, HR, 4 RBI; Pinkerton 1-1; Maruyama 2-5, HR, RBI; Wall 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI; Chavez 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (10-8) and 1-4;

Usual question, boys – where was half of that, yesterday?

Adam Downs was sore after not getting all that much rest in this endless string of games; he was left out of the lineup on Wednesday.

Game 3
NAS: 3B Bossert – SS Bouldin – LF Ashley – 2B J. Allen – RF R. Sanchez – CF Talabera – 1B Vadillo – C Canody – P Hose
POR: RF M. Fernandez – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – SS Triolo – P Livingston

Right from the start it seemed like the Sox would be able to hit the ball a quarter mile off Livingston with just the right angle. Ed Hooge made not one, but two sprawling catches in the first inning alone, and because being only bad at pitching wasn’t enough, Josh Livingston also had to fumble a double play grounder for an error in the second. Somehow the defense still kept him in one piece. Ricardo Vadillo would double home Raul Sanchez in the fourth eventually, because there were just some nooks and crannies in the ballpark that Hooge couldn’t get to, and the Raccoons were getting hosed, landing no base hits off the Blue Sox’ righty through three innings in this rubber game. Fowler hit a single in the bottom 4th, which led absolutely nowhere, but the Critters were on the corners in the following inning after a leadoff double by Marsingill (what!?) and following Bouldin’s gaffe on fielding Matt Triolo’s roller. That was already the third error the Blue Sox made in the game and the Raccoons had yet to pounce on any of them. Livingston then promptly floated a single to shallow center to tie the game, his first hit and RBI on the season (but he had only pitched 23 innings and change). Manny singled to stack the sacks, but Vickers’ drive to right was caught and he was held to a sac fly, which at least gave the Portlanders the lead, 2-1. Hooge grounded out, bringing up Fowler with runners in scoring position and two outs. Now, other teams had walked Fowler in this spot for the last two seasons, but the Blue Sox didn’t not wanting to see a left-hander come to bat with three on. Hose pitched to Fowler, Fowler shot a ball over the fence in rightfield, and the 3-run homer opened the tally to 5-1. Morales then somberly grounded out to Allen, because baseball. Four of the five runs were unearned.

Vadillo tripled home Sanchez (who had forced out Allen and his leadoff single) to narrow the score to 5-2 in the sixth, but Livingston kept batting for himself even in the seventh (on 88 pitches) and singling. He was on second base when Hooge flew to shallow left. Ashley had initially frozen and hustled late, then had to slide, and overslid the ball, which disappeared between his arm pit and glove as he contorted himself, then rolled out behind him. Hooge settled for a single, but Livingston had gone on contact and scored, 6-2. That brought up Fowler once more – and he put the game away, hitting a 416-foot blast off Hose to left-center, running the tally to 8-2. Livingston go through eight before breaking through 100 pitches, and the ninth went to Garavito, who plunked Canody and walked Mike Burgess, but somehow found a way through the traffic to end the game. 8-2 Raccoons! Fowler 3-3, BB, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 3B; Livingston 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (2-1) and 2-3, RBI;

Raccoons (69-52) @ Titans (70-51) – August 22-24, 2036

The Miners had swept the Titans during the week, setting up this tantalizingly close duel on the weekend, with the top two in the North separated by only one game anymore when the Titans had led by double digits mere weeks before. They had lost four in a row in total and were 8-11 in August after a 17-9 July. Their offense, which had already been last in batting average and homers and had seen them near the bottom of the league in runs scored, now had also shed Mark Walker and Willie Vega for injury reasons, and they had not found adequate replacements yet. Among non-disabled players at this point, Keith Spataro, the constant Coons scare, led the team with SIX homers. Antonio Gil was the only qualifying player with a batting average better than .235! While up 6-5 in the season series, they were crying out to get routed right here and now. They had scored only six runs against the Miners, and had managed more than three runs only FOUR times in August! There was never a better opportunity for the Raccoons to sweep their way to the top!

Projected matchups:
Jared Ottinger (5-4, 3.82 ERA) vs. Matt Brost (11-4, 3.29 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-6, 3.61 ERA) vs. Tony Chavez (12-9, 2.70 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (10-8, 2.91 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (12-10, 3.62 ERA)

Another set of right-left-right opposition.

Keen eyes might notice Gilberto Rendon (5-7, 4.87 ERA) having gone missing from the rotation. It was not due to performance issues (although he was reliably crummy) or because we were deliberately mean to him, but because he had come down with a case of the Sniffles, Dr. Chung thought it would last all weekend, and we didn’t want that around on the mound in such a crucial series. He was skipped to the end of the line here.

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maldonado – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Nickas – P Ottinger
BOS: LF O. Mendoza – SS Gil – 2B Spataro – RF M. Avila – 1B J. Elder – C J. Young – 3B Schmit – CF Barnes – P Brost

Downs walked, Hooge doubled, and Fernandez hit a sac fly for a quick 1-0 lead, but then Fowler didn’t homer for a change and the inning dried out instead, and then Oscar Mendoza led off with a triple into the rightfield corner and Antonio Gil’s grounder was fudged by Steve Nickas for a score-tying error. Ottie at least kept that runner on base, and we’d try anew later…

The Coons took the lead again in the third inning on Manny’s groundout to Andy Schmit after Downs and Hooge had set up camp on the corners with one out. Fowler grounded out to short to limit them to a 2-1 edge, and unfortunately we also had a pitcher that was popular on ****ing Gobble but kept putting an excess of runners on base. The Titans had two or more base runners in each of the early innings, including Keith Spataro and Moises Avila on singles in the bottom 3rd. Jay Elder then hit a grounder to short and was out by half a stadium given his negative pace, 6-4-3, ending the inning. The fourth was calm, but Mendoza drew a 2-out walk in the fifth before Gil hit a deep drive to center on 3-2 that Fowler barely got glove on, and didn’t even break a leg doing so …! He even survived getting drilled by Brost to begin the sixth inning, but looked extremely unhappy and like he’d go out and tear his head off if he wasn’t hurting so much already. Maldonado walked to make it two aboard, Morales hit a grounder to short that meant it was two back to the dugout, and then Vickers flew out to Avila, and that was that… Ottinger then lost all command in the bottom of the inning. He nailed Jay Elder and walked Schmit and Chris Barnes to fill the bases. When left-handed Joe Payne and his .104 average pinch-hit for Brost, Ottie was gone as well. David Fernandez got a grounder to first base to end the inning with three Titans stranded in a 2-1 game.

Instead, Oscar Mendoza homered the game tied in the bottom 7th off Casey Moore, who was no longer sharp and reliable, I guess… Top 8th, the Coons were on the corners again facing Wyatt Hamill, who allowed 1-out singles to Fernandez and Fowler. The count on Maldonado ran full with Hamill missing one more time to walk the bases full. That brought up Morales’ spot, and with the way he was slumping, this was the spot to pinch-hit in, regardless of consequences. Preston Pinkerton batted, the Titans stuck to Hamill, the count ran full, and - … Pinkerton struck out. Vickers ran another full count… and popped out to Spataro. All Coons were sent back to the dugout. The Titans wasted a Schmit double off Garavito in the bottom 8th, and neither team reached base against Jermaine Campbell and Garavito, respectively, in the ninth, sending the game to extras. Campbell retired the 2-3-4 again in the 10th, with the Coons resorting to Chris Wise in the bottom of the inning. Spataro singled. Avila singled. Elder walked. Nobody out yet – until PH Juan Tanori struck out. Who were these people and why were they beating the Critters!!?? Beating them they did in fact – Wise walked Andy Schmit in a full count, pushing the winning run across home plate. 3-2 Titans. Downs 2-4, 2B; Hooge 2-5, 2B;

That wasn’t exactly where I wanted it, boys…

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – 2B Vickers – CF Fowler – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – SS Nickas – P Sabre
BOS: LF O. Mendoza – SS Gil – 2B Spataro – RF M. Avila – 1B J. Elder – C J. Young – 3B Schmit – CF Barnes – P T. Chavez

Adam Downs made the final out in the top of the first after the Critters had sent everybody else to the plate once. Downs opened the game with a jack to left, Vickers singled, and Fowler hit another jack to left, 3-0 in three batters. The next six made it another 3-0 with walks to Maruyama and Pinkerton, an RBI double by Kurt Wall, an RBI single for Steve Nickas, and finally a run-scoring wild pitch. Joe Payne again batted for the starting pitcher really early, this time in the bottom 2nd with Sabre drowning in three runners with two outs. This time Payne popped out behind home plate, but the result was much the same for Boston.

The Titans did get a run in the bottom 3rd, which Mendoza opened with a triple before scoring on Spataro’s sac fly, but I also didn’t like that Sabre kept putting them on base. In between he walked Antonio Gil, who was caught stealing, and Moises Avila hit a 2-out double right after the sac fly, but was stranded on some sort of nice defensive plays, of which there were many in this game, and too many to bother mentioning them all. Sabre also struck out absolutely nobody, not even reliever Alan Mays, in the first five innings, and didn’t look like he’d get much deeper than that. The offense had also gone to bed after the early onslaught, which wasn’t inherently fatal, because six were six, but Sabre was still ****. Sabre still struck out nobody through seven, only issued another walk, and that one was polished off on a 6-4-3 double play.

Top 8th, Pinkerton singled, Wall doubled, and with two outs and the knockout runs in scoring position, Ed Hooge would bat for Nickas against the right-hander Chris D’Angelo. After he hit an RBI single to right, giving Portland their first run in two hours and seven innings, the Coons sent Sabre to bat for himself – always greedy for more outs from the starting pitchers!! Sabre struck out Mendoza to begin the eighth (!), then walked Gil, and that was that. The Critters sent Prieto, who got out of the inning with K-pop, then ended the game on just four pitches in the ninth. In between, Rich Vickers took D’Angelo deep in the top 9th for a tack-on run. 8-1 Coons! Vickers 3-5, HR, RBI; Wall 2-3, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Hooge (PH) 1-1, RBI; Prieto 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Now, I know my boys! They’re gonna lose the rubber game, aren’t they?

2-1, aren’t they?

In 16, aren’t they??

Game 3
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – SS Nickas – P B. Chavez
BOS: 3B Schmit – SS Gil – 2B Spataro – RF M. Avila – 1B J. Elder – C J. Young – LF I. Vega – CF Barnes – P Willett

Avila and Young singles put runners on the corners and Ivan Vega’s sac fly plated the first run of the game in the bottom 2nd, while the visitors had yet to set foot on base. While Maruyama hit a leadoff single in the top 3rd, nothing good happened afterwards, while the Titans got a leadoff single from their pitcher (…), and then two more to load the bases with nobody out in the inning. Spataro for once didn’t put the dagger in, but hit into a 6-4-3 double play, which scored a run, but it was the only one Boston got in the bottom 3rd after Nickas also shagged Avila’s soft liner.

Before long Avila got another shot, then with three on and one out in the fifth. Willett had hit ANOTHER leadoff single, and while Schmit had grounded out, a walk to Gil and a Spataro single had loaded the bases anyway. Rags to riches for Boston, while the Raccoons never got beyond one runner at a time and never seemed to know what to do precisely with that guy, either. Bernie Chavez got Avila to 0-2 before throwing a cucumber that was hit for 410 feet, blew open the game, and ended all hopes of tying the Titans at week’s end.

Rich Vickers drove in Fernandez with a 2-out single in the sixth, but it was way too little, and also way too late. Willett lasted eight innings without missing much of a beat, and the Raccoons arrived in the ninth still down by a pawful. Vickers hit a leadoff single off Austin Holt before Morales popped out. Maruyama then fed a grounder into a double play. 6-1 Titans. M. Fernandez 2-3, BB, 2B; Vickers 2-4, RBI;

Or like that!

In other news

August 18 – LAP 3B Manny Delgado (.201, 3 HR, 21 RBI) hits a fifth-inning homer to beat the Bayhawks, 1-0.
August 19 – SFW RF/LF Doug Stross (.284, 3 HR, 33 RBI) is out for a month with a torn thumb ligament.
August 19 – The Bayhawks pitch a combined 1-hitter with Ben Lipsky (8-5, 3.20 ERA) and Eric Fox (4-1, 2.27 ERA) against the Pacifics, who only get their hit in the eighth inning via an Elliott Kennett (.199, 2 HR, 18 RBI) double. San Francisco wins, 8-0.
August 19 – The Aces beat the Gold Sox, 5-2, on the walkoff grand slam 2B/OF Eric Morrow (.228, 7 HR, 48 RBI) hits off Denver’s Robby Ciampa (3-8, 4.99 ERA, 19 SV).
August 20 – LAP 3B Manny Delgado (.206, 4 HR, 22 RBI) hits a ninth-inning homer to beat the Bayhawks, 1-0, the second such occurrence in a series of weird-ass games. The Bayhawks out-hit L.A. 10-4 in this game.
August 21 – After just four games following his trade from the Blue Sox, IND MR Donovan mason (4-5, 3.08 ERA, 3 SV) is out with a torn UCL and might miss all of next season to recover from Tommy John surgery.

Complaints and stuff

The weekend’s bitter poison will last me a while. (screws cap back onto bulging bottle with a 19th century label featuring a skull and bones) That was however the textbook definition of how you lose 54 anyway, win 54 anyway, and the other 54 decide where you end up. Both Chavezes got blown out, so that’s 1-1 right there. The crucial game was actually the one on Friday, where they held out behind a terrible Ottie for longer than imagined, but then fumbled the lead and lost on a walkoff walk issued by Chris Wise…

So much bitter poison… (unscrews cap again and pours another few drops of a thick, greenish-black, oily concoction onto a spoon before shoving it into his snout) Mmmmmm.

Jimmy Wallace should return sooner rather than later; he’s hitting .250 in 11 games of rehab, and his stint runs out on the following Sunday. We may want to start figuring out a way to get him onto the roster. Realistically speaking, one between Maruyama and Maldonado must go.

…which doesn’t address the obvious problem with playing time. It’s not like we can do without any between Hooge, Fernandez, and Fowler, and they’re the only outfielders we have with no infield qualities… Wallace also only platoons with Fowler, who seems quite warm at the moment. He has six homers in nine games (eight starts) amongst 13 total hits.

Next week: Elks and Thunder on the road. The team won’t be home until September 5. We actually only have 15 home games left, but 23 on the road.

Fun Fact: 42 years ago today, Jim Thompson hits three home runs to help his Bayhawks beat the Falcons, 8-6.

Pedro Perez did the same deed three years later, and the Bayhawks haven’t had a 3-homer game since. Perez was a left-handed first baseman that narrowly missed out on a pension, playing just under ten years in the majors for San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Sacramento. He was the 1991 CL Rookie of the Year, hitting .335 with 13 homers in just 68 games, and would put up impressive numbers quite a few years after that, twice leading the CL in homers, but by age 30 his production declined sharply and he was out of the majors by age 34. For his career, Perez hit .276/.399/.451 with 158 HR and 703 RBI, not too bad for someone who only made it into 1,269 games.

Thompson came over from a trade with the Capitals really early in that 1994 season and would spend three years with the Baybirds. ’94 was also his only All Star season. A left-handed corner outfielder, he wasn’t known for his glove, but was a steady hitter, usually ending up around ten homers with a .270 average before a late-career decline. He never led the league in anything, but hung on for 13 seasons with five different teams (and being teammates again briefly with Perez on the Miners). He finished his career in 2001 at age 36, having compiled a .255/.356/.401 slash with 74 HR and 485 RBI. He played 1,273 games, four more than Perez.

DD Martin · 06-03-2020, 12:08 AM

This is beginning to seem oddly familiar. The team wasn’t in the depths of won-loss despair like last season but the rallying from another double digit deficit is becoming the norm with these guys

Westheim · 06-05-2020, 06:19 PM

The Yugoslavian couple next door had another new baby, as I found out on Monday morning when Svetoslav, the husband, served me with a cease and desist order – I was not to make any noise for the rest of the week or they’d sue my ****ing behind out of the building.

Since a) packing boxes with my meager belongings sounded not like much fun, and b) the Critters were in Elktown and agony was going to be involved by default, I had no choice but to shelter in the ballpark for the series, which began on Tuesday night.

Not going to Elktown was Steve Nickas, who was sent back to St. Petersburg to make room for Jimmy Wallace. Tim Stalker would follow soon-ish.

Raccoons (70-54) @ Canadiens (63-61) – August 26-28, 2036

The Coons needed wins, wins, wins, but, alas, it was Elktown. The season series was even at six, and the Elks were eighth in runs scored and were allowing the third-fewest runs in the league. Tough nut right here!

Projected matchups:
Josh Livingston (2-1, 3.71 ERA) vs. David Arias (0-1, 63.00 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (5-7, 4.87 ERA) vs. Corey Booth (9-6, 3.09 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (5-4, 3.55 ERA) vs. Bryce Neal (12-10, 3.43 ERA)

Arias was a 25-year-old right-hander who had made his first career start against the Buffaloes last week, but it hadn’t quite gone right for him (1 IP, 7 ER). He had made 22 relief outings in ’35 for a 6.83 ERA. After that it would be one more right-hander, then a southpaw.

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – P Livingston
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Phillips – 1B J. Lopez – SS Cabral – LF LeJeune – 3B Schneider – P Arias

Back-to-back doubles by Hooge and Fernandez put the Critters up 1-0 in the first, but then along came Livingston and had his rectum semi-surgically opened by the damn Elks. D.J. Robinson and Timóteo Clemente opened the game with singles, and Ryan Phillips tied the game with another single. Livingston walked Johnny Lopez to fill the bases, they took the lead on a wild pitch (reaches for chest region), Ramon Cabral hit an RBI double, and the inning continued with an RBI groundout by Jesse LeJeune and Brian Schneider’s RBI single, creating a 5-1 hole the Critters weren’t gonna climb out of, and making me confident, as I howled with Honeypaws in my arms on the trusty brown couch in the office, that I had made the right decision to not stay at home… The inning ended with Arias, but the Elks continued where they had left off in the second inning, whacking Livingston around for another three hits, two walks, and three runs, two on LeJeune’s 2-out, 2-run double, before the Critters yanked their starter and sent Dusty Kulp. Brian Schneider hit an RBI single, 9-1, and then the inning ended again with Arias… That was about all that mattered in the game. Manny Fernandez’ solo homer in the fifth failed to spark a 9-run rally, and almost spotless relief went entirely to waste as the Raccoons were out of the game about 30 minutes into it. 9-2 Canadiens. M. Fernandez 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Kulp 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K;

The Raccoons responded with another roster move, dumping Josh Livingston’s despicable bum and adding John Hennessy as tack-on reliever. We’d have to come up with another starter by Sunday, though…

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – C Morales – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – P Rendon
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Phillips – 1B J. Lopez – SS Cabral – LF LeJeune – 3B Stephenson – P Booth

Downs, Fernandez, Wallace, and Morales all hit singles in the first inning, with the latter two each dropping a 2-out RBI single for a 2-0 lead for Rendon, who – maybe! – would find it in his heart to not blow the ****ing thing immediately! Jerry Outram walked in the bottom 1st, but then was caught stealing. The peace didn’t last, though, because why would it? This was Elktown! This was where misery lived. And thrived. Misery gave the damn Elks singles from the 7-8-9 batters to lead off the bottom 3rd, one run on the spot and another one on Clemente’s sac fly thereafter, tying the game at two.

Tony Morales (walk) and Rich Vickers (single) were on base to begin the top 4th, but then Matt Triolo hit into a double play and Rendon struck out; no bottom-of-the-order magic for Portland! Instead the Elks took the lead when Cabral reached on a Wallace error and LeJeune socked an RBI double in the bottom of the inning… The Coons left them on the corners the following inning, with Hooge and Fowler setting up camp there with two down, but Jimmy Wallace grounded out.

The seventh inning broke with Jesus Maldonado hitting for Rendon and reaching base as the tying run, singling to center. Outram overran the ball, Maldonado scooted to second base, and the Coons HAD to pounce on this chance! A dog’s dinner of an inning saw Adam Downs and Ed Hooge ground out to third base, not even advancing the runner, before Booth lost the zone against Fernandez and Fowler, walking the bags full. That brought back Wallace, who *did* have half the Coons’ RBIs in the game. Nothing changed with that – he grounded out to Robinson. Top 8th, Tony Morales led off with a single off J.J. Ringland, who was immediately supplanted by right-hander Erik David, who got a K on Vickers and grounders from Triolo and Maldonado to end the inning. John Hennessy kept the Elks away in the bottom 8th, so the Coons brought the top of the order to the plate against Rafael Urbano, still only down by one in the ninth inning. Downs grounded out, but Hooge singled to left. Fernandez hit into a force to Robinson, and Fowler grounded out to short to end it all. 3-2 Canadiens. Morales 2-3, BB, RBI; Maldonado (PH) 1-2;

Oh boy!

Game 3
POR: SS Downs – 2B Vickers – CF Fowler – LF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Ottinger
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – SS Cabral – LF LeJeune – RF Korecky – 3B Stephenson – P Neal

Ottie gave himself the lead, singling home Preston Pinkerton with two outs in the top 2nd for the first marker on the scoreboard. Marsingill was also on base, having drawn a walk, but Adam Downs’ gapper came down inside LeJeune’s glove to end the inning. Bryce Neal struck out four in a row and six in total by the fourth inning, but then the bottom of the order started to coagulate on the base paths again. Kurt Wall walked with two outs, Marsingill singled and sent him to third base, and here came Ottie once again. He fell to 2-2, then hit a looper over Johnny Lopez that made it a considerable way up the line before Will Korecky interfered with it. Wall scored, 2-0, Marsingill reached third base, and Ottinger had his second RBI single of the game. Then Downs grounded out poorly to Josh Stephenson… Then, with one down in the bottom 4th, the Elks had the bases loaded without the benefit of even a base hit in the inning. Cabral and Korecky walked, and LeJeune had been nailed in between. One out, Stephenson lined out to Pinkerton, shooing the runners back, and then Neal popped out, stranding all three …!

Top 5th, more offense – Rich Vickers hit a leadoff single to right, and Justin Fowler did him quite a bit better, hitting his 25th homer to rightfield, doubling the tally to 4-0. And the Elks? Had the bases loaded AGAIN with one out in the same inning. Clemente and Outram reached on bloop singles, Lopez walked, and it was all horrible… Ottinger walked in a run against Cabral, LeJeune hit a sac fly, and Downs just barely reached Korecky’s grounder and made a play on it to end the damn inning, the Coons still up 4-2. At least on offense, Ottie remained a force – he hit ANOTHER 2-out single in the sixth inning, this time with nobody on base, and then jogged home on Adam Downs’ long shot to left, which upped the score to 6-2. On the mound, Ottie got only one more out before he walked Stephenson, and that was well enough sabotage to the team’s success for a day. Hennessy worked out of the inning. David Galmore gave up a run prinicipally on Manny Fernandez’ quick legs in the seventh. Manny hit a soft single, stole second, and scooted around on a Pinkerton single, 7-2. That was the last gasp for the Coons’ offense in the game, while the Elks continued to be flummoxed if not cordially invited with free passes. Hennessy, Moore, and David Fernandez completed the required nine innings for Portland without giving up another run. 7-2 Coons! Marsingill 3-4; Hooge (PH) 1-1; D. Fernandez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Now the good news – the Titans had been swept by the Loggers. (The Loggers!) Despite the shambles performance in Vancouver, the Raccoons had narrowed the gap to one game, and now had a weekend’s worth of games against the worst team in the league. The Titans would be in Charlotte.

John Hennessy, who had pitched fine, but who was not what we needed right here and now, was returned to AAA after the series. Right-hander Tom Miller, #62, he of two scoreless relief outings this season, would join the team and take the Sunday start in Oklahoma.

Raccoons (71-56) @ Thunder (46-81) – August 29-31, 2036

There were no redeeming comments to be made about the Thunder, who were in the bottom three (and firmly!) in both runs scored and runs allowed. They were quick on the bases, but they never got on the bases, so maybe we’d be fine after all. There was only the slightest discomfort over how we were only 3-3 against them on the year.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (7-6, 3.50 ERA) vs. Joe Robinson (12-7, 4.05 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (10-9, 3.15 ERA) vs. Gary Martin (1-15, 6.08 ERA)
Tom Miller (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Tony Gallardo (5-11, 4.43 ERA)

Lorenzo Celaya was a key miss on the DL for Oklahoma, but, eh, who didn’t have a pile of broken players? For the starters, it would go lefty, righty, lefty. Martin’s only win this year? Against a team playing in a city starting with P!

Pittsburgh.

Game 1
POR: SS Downs – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Sabre
OCT: LF Muich – SS Santillan – 2B C. Miller – 1B D. Cruz – CF DeLoach – C Kilmer – 3B J. Rivera – RF Heskett – P J. Robinson

Five Sabre pitches into the game, the Thunder had the bags full and I was ready to throw myself into the nearest hole in the countryside. Bobby Muich singled, Jose Santillan reached on a Marsingill error, and Chris Miller again singled. Nice defensive plays by Fowler and Fernandez held Danny Cruz to a sac fly and Elvis DeLoach to nothing, respectively, and that was the only run Oklahoma got in the inning. The tying run scored the following half-inning on a Jimmy Wallace triple and a balk – whatever works, boys! Whatever works! – and the third inning began with Downs and Vickers on the corners and no outs. Manny Fernandez hit a gapper near DeLoach, who was not a very qualified centerfielder to begin with, and the Coons took a 2-1 lead on the double. With first base open, the Thunder pitched to Fowler, who flew out to center, but deep enough to score a run at least, and Wallace also hit a sac fly, 4-1.

While Sabre was not exactly sturdy, but didn’t explode immediately with a lead, the Coons tacked on in the fourth, but in unearned fashion. Marsingill was drilled with one but, bunted over, and then Downs reached on a Chris Miller error. Vickers hit a dinker behind the second baseman for an RBI single, but Manny grounded out to first.

Sabre whiffed six through five innings, but then allowed singles to Miller and Danny Cruz to begin the bottom 6th. DeLoach fell to 1-2, then hit a sharp grounder – but Downs made a great play, reached, spun, and tossed to Vickers, who eluded Cruz’s spikes to complete a 6-4-3 double play. Jeff Kilmer popped out foul, and Sabre had made it through another inning…! He got however only one more out before a tweaking calf ended his inning in the bottom 7th. Kulp finished the inning even without blowing a 5-1 lead. The following inning Miller singled off Kulp, Cruz singled off Garavito, and the Coons sent Chris Wise to deal with Kilmer with two outs. He entered with Maldonado in a double switch, Wallace being booted from first base. Kilmer grounded out to Marsingill, ending the inning. The double switch would allow Wise to pitch a 4-out save, since the #9 spot was up in the ninth inning. He didn’t disappoint, retiring the Thunder in order in the bottom of the inning. 5-1 Raccoons. Vickers 2-4, RBI; Pinkerton 1-2, 2 BB; Sabre 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (8-6);

Sabre had a mild calf strain and was expected to make his next start, but talk about injury scares…

The Titans kept dropping games even in Charlotte – their loss on Friday tied the division up, with both them and us at 72-56. The Elks were six games behind.

Game 2
POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 3B Marsingill – P Chavez
OCT: LF Muich – SS Santillan – 2B C. Miller – 1B D. Cruz – C Kilmer – CF Olszewski – 3B A. Rojas – RF Heskett – P G. Martin

Downs doubled, Fernandez went deep, and the Coons had a 2-0 lead rather quick against the 1-15 pitcher. Fowler also doubled, but was stranded, and unfortunately this was going to be a so-so day for Bernie Chavez, with the ball jumping off bats against him. Drew Olszewski hit a long double in the second, but was left on base, and Chris Miller hit a solo jack to cut the lead in half in the third. The Coons had quite a few hits, but couldn’t get anybody across, with Ed Hooge thrown out at home to end the third inning, trying to score from second base on a Wallace single. A Danny Cruz homer tied the game in the bottom 6th, and base hits by Kilmer and Alfredo Rojas even gave the Thunder the lead in the same inning, 3-2, with that 1-15 pitcher now in line for the win. He would also not get the loss, with DeLoach hitting for him, but striking out, to end the sixth.

Maldonado hit for Bernie Chavez to begin the top 7th, grounded to first, but the Gold Glover Cruz fudged the ball and Maldonado was safe. Chris Guyett walked Adam Downs to move the tying run to second base. Hooge hit into a double play, Fernandez grounded out, and everything remained absolutely horrendous. The Thunder got an insurance run when Miller singled off Prieto in the bottom 7th, who with two outs walked the bags full. David Fernandez came in to face Olszewski, but the Thunder sent Jonathan Rivera to pinch-hit, and the righty batter drew a bases-loaded walk. Rojas flew out to center, stranding three, but this one was slowly sailing out of reach. Tony Morales would kill the eighth with a double play, and the ninth only saw straight outs from Vickers, Wall, and Maruyama… 4-2 Thunder. M. Fernandez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Wallace 2-3, BB;

Yeah, they… they did that.

Gary Martin? 2-15 now!

(yells at random players) ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR ****ING MINDS???

Game 3
POR: SS Downs – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maldonado – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P T. Miller
OCT: LF Muich – SS Santillan – 2B C. Miller – 1B D. Cruz – CF DeLoach – C Kilmer – 3B J. Rivera – RF Heskett – P Gallardo

Once more the Coons scored first, Maldonado singling home Downs with two gone in the opening half-inning. Downs had drawn a walk to open the contest, with Fernandez hitting an infield single in between. Miller started the game rather well, retiring the first eight in order (and only Cruz made a loud noise) before Gallardo hit a single to left. Bobby Muich grounded out to leave him stranded. The Coons got a run in the fourth, 2-0 on Kurt Wall’s RBI double that chased home Preston Pinkerton. The Thunder would then accumulate on base in the bottom of the inning. Santillan singled, DeLoach walked… with two outs Kilmer hit a foul pop behind home plate Kurt Wall dropped, which was surely going to come back to bite. Kilmer indeed would end up singling to load the bags for Jonathan Rivera, who however popped out to Vickers, and Rich even contained the damn ball to strand three… The following inning began with a Brian Heskett single to right. The runner was bunted over, and then Muich singled, putting the runners on the corners. Santillan struck out, meaning that all could still theoretically end well, but Chris Miller poked Tom Miller’s 0-2 up the middle for an RBI single. Only Cruz grounded out to Vickers, keeping the score at 2-1.

Fowler and Maldonado opened the sixth with singles, but some schmuck would always hit into a double play, wouldn’t they? Pinkerton was the sixth inning’s schmuck, and Wall made a poor third out, too. Marsingill opened the seventh with a double, Miller batted for himself and grounded to the mound, but Gallardo fumbled the ball for an error, and the runners were back on the corners with nobody out. Maybe THIS TIME?? Hum, boys?? HOW ABOUT IT?? Downs’ sac fly was all the Coons got. Vickers flew out to right, Fernandez singled, but Fowler also leisurely flew out to DeLoach, and that was the inning. Miller proceeded in the bottom 7th with a leadoff walk to Antonio Felicame, who stole second and came around on Santillan’s 1-out single, but … at least Garavito shut the Thunder down before Miller or Cruz could do REAL damage.

On to the eighth, and Maldonado opened with a walk against right-hander Marcos Ochoa. Pinkerton walked in a full count, and how often had we seen that on the weekend, two on, less than two outs, and then – agony. Kurt Wall was up, also ran a full count, then actually kept the ****ing ball away from the shortstop and hit a gapper in left-center for an RBI double, 4-2! Jimmy Wallace batted for Marsingill and hit a sac fly, and Tony Morales hit for Garavito and was walked intentionally because the Thunder KNEW there was another double play somewhere in that Critters lineup! Instead, Downs whiffed and Vickers grounded out, which also ended the inning. Maldonado then hit into the missing double play in the ninth after Fernandez and Fowler had reached base, and nobody scored. At least Casey Moore and Yeom Soung kept the Thunder decent in the last few innings… 5-2 Critters. M. Fernandez 3-5; Maldonado 2-4, BB, RBI; Wall 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Marsingill 1-2, BB, 2B;

In other news

August 25 – From the leadoff spot, PIT OF Ozzie Burgos (.328, 9 HR, 45 RBI) drives in five runs in a 14-5 Miners win over the Capitals.
August 26 – The Wolves rout the Pacifics, 12-4, with half their runs driven in by INF Mike Cole (.297, 4 HR, 31 RBI), who has four hits, including a double.
August 28 – CHA RF/CF Jerry Aguilar (.258, 4 HR, 43 RBI) is probably out for the season with a strained hammy.
August 29 – The Canadiens’ OF Ryan Phillips (.296, 17 HR, 69 RBI) drives in six runs on a homer and two singles in the Canadiens’ 15-3 rush of the Knights.
August 30 – This year’s #1 draft pick, who went straight to the majors, TOP swiss army knife Felix Marquez (.261, 4 HR, 22 RBI) is out for the season with a torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

The Titans lost every single ****ing game this week, allowing the Raccoons to glitch past them even with a completely morose 3-3 performance. Boston has lost 11 of their last 13; with their only two wins coming against … well, yes, the Coons of course. The Titans finished the month 10-18 with 77 runs from 28 games (2.75 R/G).

The Critters went 21-9 in August, scoring 77 runs by the 15th and 140 runs in total (4.66 R/G)!

Rosters will expand on Monday, which will also be the return of Tim Stalker. The Coons finish their road trip at the Bay, then will come home to play the Loggers and Indians. The crucial games against the Elks and Titans that we have left on the schedule won’t come up until late; the damn Elks are in from the 26th through 28th, and then we’re straight off to Boston for the final four games in that season series.

Manny Fernandez was the CL Hitter of the Month! Manny went .386 with 6 HR and 20 RBI. He scored 27 runs. Manny is third in batter WAR and second in the batting race in the Federal League. Now, Lorenzo Celaya has 471 PA for the season and remains on the DL for at least another few weeks. He may or may not reach 502 PA, but even then the gap is still 24 points, and Manny will have to pick it up considerably if he wants to catch up. And even if he doesn’t win the batting title – he’s surely not the worst #5 pick we ever made.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons played against Gary Martin (2-15, 5.94 ERA) three times this year, and never beat him. He’s 1-0 with a 3.94 ERA against them.

Yeah, they… they did that.

Westheim · 06-07-2020, 09:22 AM

The week began with rosters expanding on September 1. The Raccoons brought up a few add-on pieces, starting with the default third catcher, Chris Mann- … What is it Maud? – Why not? – Why is he injured?? – How DARE he??

Alright, we didn’t call up Chris Manning, we instead brought up Matt Hartley, a 25-year-old solid defensive catcher that had been the fourth-rounder in 2031. He had also never played at the AAA level, but there were only less appealing options left besides him… Berto was moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Hartley on the 40-man roster. The Coons also added Steve Nickas as well as Tim Stalker from his rehab assignment.

In terms of pitchers, Dennis Citriniti and John Hennessy supplemented the bullpen.

Raccoons (73-57) @ Bayhawks (64-65) – September 1-3, 2036

With the season series even at three, and a 1-game lead in the division, the Raccoons went to the Bay again, where nothing good had ever happened. In that regard it was like Elktown, or Portland with the damn Elks invading it. San Fran had slipped out of reach in the CL South, just over 10 games behind, with the fourth-best offense and the sixth-best pitching in the Continental League. They had a +30 run differential (Coons: +54), but weren’t posting a record indicative of it.

Projected matchups:
Gilberto Rendon (5-8, 4.76 ERA) vs. Josh Long (15-8, 3.81 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (6-4, 3.54 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (5-16, 5.32 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (8-6, 3.36 ERA) vs. Ben Lipsky (9-5, 3.02 ERA)

Those looked like three right-handers, but we’d wait and see whether the Baybirds would find any surprises down the road.

Game 1
POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – C Morales – SS Stalker – 2B Vickers – P Rendon
SFB: CF Dahlman – C Dear – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 2B J. Cruz – LF Hawthorne – 3B Levinson – SS O. Camacho – P J. Long

Josh Dahlman and Luis Sagredo hit doubles and Jimmy Wallace flubbed Jose Cruz’ grounder in a rather dismal first inning that put the Baybirds up 2-0. Rendon kept putting runners on base after that, too, while the Raccoons struggled to get anything going. Manny Fernandez and Justin Fowler reached base to begin the fourth inning, but Wallace hit into a double play and Tony Morales popped out. So far, the return of Jimmy Wallace was hardly productive, and not exactly generating any wins.

Tim Stalker hit a leadoff single in the fifth and was stranded. Manny Fernandez reached base again in the sixth, swiped his 24th bag of the season, and was stranded. Rendon meanwhile lasted only five and a third before being grinded for 100 pitches by the Bayhawks and replaced by Citriniti. George Hawthorne reached with an infield single, stole second, Citriniti walked Omar Camacho with two outs, but Long struck out for the third time in the game, stranding a total of six runners by now, and somehow it was *still* a 2-0 game. The Raccoons finally got on the board in the seventh with back-to-back 2-out doubles to rightfield hit by Vickers and PH Jesus Maldonado, but Adam Downs fed a sorry grounder to Camacho for the third out, stranding the tying run in scoring position. The tying run was back on base to begin the top 8th when Long walked Ed Hooge. Fernandez singled to center, Fowler singled to left, and the bags were stacked with nobody out for … Wallace. Oh, he’d sure find a way to improve his .161 batting average (from only 31 at-bats) against a melting Josh Long! Before long, Wallace had two strikes on him, but grinded out a 2-2 count before hitting a ball to deep left-center. Hawthorne was hurrying after it, but wouldn’t get there in time – the ball was in the gap, and the merry-go-round started to jingle! Hooge in to tie, Fernandez in for the lead, there comes Fowler – bases-clearing double, Coons have the lead!!! The Bayhawks went to Jorge Villegas jr., who walked Tony Morales, who took out Jose Cruz to break up the double play on Stalker’s grounder to short. Runners remained on the corners with one down for Vickers, who rammed a single through the left side for his 50th RBI of the season, and a fifth run would score on a Camacho error with two outs. Hooge struck out to end the inning with Vickers and Downs on the corners, but the Coons were up 6-2, and now just had to pick six outs from the pen.

Casey Moore thus started the bottom 8th by nailing Doug Levis, and Jose Cruz singled sharply to left-center. Somehow Fowler snatched a Hawthorne drive to deep center and Tristan Levinson hit into a double play, keeping Moore in one piece. Prieto was out for the ninth, but gave up a jack to Camacho. Danny Monge was out, but Jaden Pridgeon singled, and the Coons sent Yeom Soung with the tying run appearing in the on-deck circle. John Cooper, a fourth-string catcher, singled in the #2 hole, but Keith Damron pinch-hit and struck out. Levis hit an RBI single up the middle, 6-4, and now the winning run was in the box in Jose Cruz, switch-hitter, .327 with seven homers. He poked a 1-2 grounder to the left side, Downs had to pick it on the run and throw mid-spin to second – OUT! 6-4 Critters! M. Fernandez 3-4, BB; Fowler 2-5; Wallace 1-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Vickers 2-4, 2B, RBI; Madonado (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Oh look, boys – another 16-game loser! Whatever you do, don’t be yourselves …!

Game 2
POR: 3B Downs – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – LF Wallace – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Ottinger
SFB: CF Dahlman – C Dear – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 2B J. Cruz – LF Hawthorne – 3B Levinson – SS O. Camacho – P Peterson

Ottie walked the bags full in the bottom 1st, but the Baybirds got “only” one run on a Jose Cruz grounder that Stalker and Triolo couldn’t turn for two. Levinson drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, which started to become annoying with Ottinger, who now had 50 walks to 44 strikeouts in 85 innings, but Camacho hit into a double play. Peterson legged out an infield single (…!), the first San Fran hit in the game, but Josh Dahlman grounded out to end the inning. While the Coons were retired completely in order the first time through (clenches fists!), Ottinger issued another leadoff walk to Matt Dear in the bottom 3rd, but the Bayhawks made three outs after that. Manny Fernandez hit a double in the fourth after 11 straight retirements to begin the game, but Fowler fanned, and that was that…

Tony Morales had a fifth-inning single in what was quickly becoming a rather unforgettable game even with outlandish amounts of numbing booze, while Ottinger kept fudging his way through the middle innings. Cruz (single) and Hawthorne (walk) were on base with two outs in the sixth and Camacho in the box when Ottinger ran a full count and broke through 100 pitches, assuring he’d be lifted after the batter, no matter the outcome. Camacho struck out on ball four, the only K of the game for Ottinger, who had walked SIX.

The second he was out of the game, the Coons were on the corners against Peterson in the seventh. Manny walked, Fowler singled, Manny to third, nobody out. Wallace hit a sac fly to tie the score, while the Bayhawks’ mental battery fumbled Fowler to third base by means of a balk and a passed ball, from where Chiyosaku Maruyama would plate him with a 2-out, go-ahead fart of a single to shallow right-center. Triolo struck out, sending the game to the bottom 7th, where David Fernandez got two outs before allowing a single to Dear. Keith Damron hit for Luis Sagredo, sending Chris Wise as replacement for the left-hander. Wise walked Damron on four pitches before Levis reached on a Triolo error, loading the bags in the 2-1 game. Jose Cruz did come through this time, spanking a 2-run single up the middle, and Hawthorne hit another RBI single off a bewildered Wise, who finally ended the inning with a K, but now the Critters were 4-2 behind. Portland was retired in order in the eighth, but Fowler hit a 1-out single off Jeremy Bloedow and his 2.22 ERA in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate. And Jimmy Wallace hit into a double play to get the charade over with. 4-2 Bayhawks. Fowler 2-4;

On a scale of, in terms of uniform numbers, Hooge to Hennessy, how surprised am I?

Osanai.

Game 3
POR: LF Hooge – 3B Downs – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – C Wall – SS Nickas – P Sabre
SFB: CF Dahlman – C Dear – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 2B J. Cruz – LF Hawthorne – 3B Levinson – SS O. Camacho – P Lipsky

Fernandez and Fowler reached base in the first and were stranded when Vickers popped out haplessly. In the third, Sabre had the first actual base hit of the game with a leadoff single to center. Downs singled with one out, and Fernandez jammed a ball into Cruz’ claws for a 4-6-3 double play. The Bayhawks reached in the second on a Nickas error, then in the fourth when Dear drew a leadoff walk. Sagredo hit into a fielder’s choice, was balked to second base by Sabre, but the Bayhawks kept making poor outs, with Levis and Cruz both grounding out easily, and the game remained scoreless.

Sabre nursed a no-hitter through six innings before Sagredo opened the bottom 7th with a single to left in yet still a scoreless game. It remained scoreless through seven with Levis flying out to Manny in right and Cruz lining out to Maldonado, who doubled off a confused Sagredo, 3-unassisted. The tie wasn’t broken until the eighth inning, which Sabre opened with striking out, after which Ed Hooge hit a homer to dead center. YAY. OFFENSE.

Of course, Sabre cruising to a shutout would be too easy. He got Hawthorne to begin the bottom 8th, then saw Vickers **** a Levinson grounder for an error. Danny Monge singled, Damron squeezed out a walk, and the bags were full with one gone for Dahlman. Portland sent Mauricio Garavito. San Francisco sent Justin Uliasz. Garavito got to two strikes, but no further, before the right-handed batter chomped a ball over second base for an RBI single, tying the game. Matt Dear hit a sorry roller that was only enough for one out, allowing Monge to score, 2-1, and only then did the inning end on a Sagredo groundout.

While I was scanning the Bay from the upper deck, looking for a nook or cranny where the Coast Guard wouldn’t immediately spot me drowning myself, the Coons went to bat in the ninth. Bloedow got Fowler on a groundout, before Wallace batted for Vickers, the dismal *****. Jimmy chopped a ball to right for a single, and Tony Morales batted for Maldonado, keeping the lefty pressure up. The ploy worked, with Bloedow’s eighth pitch of the inning, a 95mph circle change, hovering in the middle of the plate for Morales to pump it the **** over the rightfield fence, over the low stands, and into the ****ing Bay. Score – flipped! While Bloedow would walk two more pinch-hitters, Pinkerton and Stalker, the Coons couldn’t get another base hit and failed to get an insurance run, with Hooge flying out to Hawthorne to end the inning. Soung would descend from his throne somewhere and ended the game without cocking up the lead … despite a walk to Jose Cruz. 3-2 Critters. Wallace (PH) 1-1; Morales (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Sabre 7.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-3;

The Raccoons had 18 base hits in the entire series, only barely more knocks than Mauricio Garavito had wins – Garavito won both the Monday and Wednesday contests in relief.

The Titans apparently were done with sucking – they swept the Knights forcefully, 19-2 in total – to tie us atop the CL North. Both teams were off on Thursday. The Titans were then off to Boston to play their bitterest rivals from New York, while the Coons would play the Loggers at home.

Raccoons (75-58) vs. Loggers (57-75) – September 5-7, 2036

The Loggers were of course long done with the year and existence in general. They were sixth in runs scored, but 11th in runs allowed, and maybe that was exactly what the Critters needed right now – a set of punching bags. Milwaukee brought on the worst rotation in the league. We were up 8-3 on the season.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (10-10, 3.19 ERA) vs. Paul Metzler (8-13, 4.39 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (5-8, 4.62 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (4-10, 4.54 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (6-4, 3.40 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (6-9, 3.63 ERA)

Stockwell figured to be the week’s only southpaw. Also, Piedra, who had started the year in the pen, but was by some margin the most effective Loggers starter…

Game 1
MIL: CF T. Romero – 1B S. Ayala – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – 2B McWhirter – SS Del Vecchio – C M. Cooper – RF K. Farmer – P Metzler
POR: LF Hooge – 3B Downs – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 2B Vickers – SS Nickas – P Chavez

Portland scored first, and in the first, which began with Ed Hooge doubling off the fence. He scored on two groundouts. The Loggers’ 7-8-9 batters then all hit 2-out singles off Bernie in the top 2nd, which was annoying, but didn’t cost the lead, with Tony Romero eventually out on a grounder to short. Not that I kept my calm during that at-bat, and Maud had me talk down from the very top of the bobblehead cabinet afterwards.

Milwaukee had a hit in both the third and fourth innings, but either had Steve Wilson hit into a double play or Ted Del Vecchio being caught stealing. The Coons seemed to hit the ball harder all the while, but had next to no luck, getting balls caught by the outfielders regularly. Fowler reached with a soft leadoff single to begin the bottom 4th, which wasn’t the worst strategy. Morales popped out, but Jimmy Wallace got hold of a breaking pitch and fired it over the fence in rightfield for a 2-run homer and a 3-0 lead – it was his first longball of the season after missing a crisp 120 games to injury.

Bernie kept bleeding singles; the Loggers had two more in the fifth, eight in total, but at least he kept it in the park. Bill McWhirter hit a double in the sixth, the first extra-base knock for the Loggers, but was stranded just the same. Kymani Farmer hit a leadoff single in the seventh, and this time the pen got stirring. Bernie handled Metzler’s bunt, then struck out Romero. And that was all; after 6.2 innings and 10 hits on 94 pitches, the Coons sent David Fernandez against Salvador Ayala, entering in a double switch with Maruyama, Wallace exiting stage right. Ayala lined out softly to Nickas, ending the inning. The Loggers never reached base again, with Fernandez logging two more outs in the eighth before Chris Wise got the final four. 3-0 Raccoons. Nickas 1-2, BB; Chavez 6.2 IP, 10 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (11-10);

Offense remained sparse…! And it wasn’t like we could expect any help from the DL anymore. These guys on the roster now had to figure out a way to not starve two feet from the playoff food bowl.

Game 2
MIL: CF T. Romero – 1B S. Ayala – 3B Conner – 2B McWhirter – C M. Cooper – LF D.J. Mendez – SS Benito – RF Prestwood – P Stockwell
POR: SS Downs – 2B Stalker – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maldonado – RF Pinkerton – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Rendon

Rendon was ready to meltdown in the second inning, which began with a walk to Matt Cooper and quickly saw D.J. Mendez single and Juan Benito double, making it a 1-0 game with runners in scoring position and nobody out. Tyler Prestwood popped out, William Stockwell walked on four pitches (…!?), I grabbed Slappy’s arm for comfort, and then somehow Romero struck out and Ayala rolled it over to Stalker to strand a full set. The Critters would reach the corners with no outs in the bottom 2nd, courtesy of Maldonado’s leadoff walk and a Preston Pinkerton single. Stockwell then stuffed the bases with a walk to Kurt Wall. Marsingill scratched out his 15th RBI of the season with a grounder to short, then beating out the return throw by Bill McWhirter. It got worse – Rendon hit a roller back to the mound, with Stockwell having virtually forever time to retire him alone, or maybe even two if he was quick. He threw the ball over Ayala’s head, bedlam broke out, and the Coons got the go-ahead run and two Brownshirts in scoring position out of the catastrophic error. So of course the Raccoons made it up to them – Downs popped out, Stalker walked, and Fernandez grounded out to McWhirter, stranding three runners in the 2-1 game.

Portland would tack on a run in the fourth on Downs and Stalker doubles with two outs, with Manny whiffing to continue a black day at the plate. Rendon held the Loggers to three hits through the fifth inning, the bottom of which saw Maldonado and Pinkerton back on the corners with one out, and then Wall slapped a grounder into a double play. Rendon was hit for in the bottom 6th after having already thrown 95 pitches, which was rather close to his natural limit of usefulness anyway. Maruyama grounded out, and nobody reached in the inning before the 3-1 lead went to the bullpen. Prieto did the seventh well enough, only nailing PH Kenta Yoshioka in the #9 hole, and the Critters loaded the bags in the bottom 7th against right-hander Matt May. Stalker singled, Fowler was walked intentionally after a groundout moved Stalker to second base, and Maldonado walked to fill ‘em up. Pinkerton was 2-for-3 in the game, but the Coons sought a lefty bat here, sending Ed Hooge, who bounced into an inning-murdering double play. – I know, Maud, I know. Deep breaths. – Deep breaths. – Yes. No, I’m good. – Yes, I will give you the meat cleaver back.

Hennessy walked Ayala to begin the eighth, the only batter he faced before being replaced by Casey Moore, who struck out Josh Conner and got a double play from McWhirter. Yeom Soung would be back for the ninth inning, facing 5-6-7, ow with Triolo at short and Downs over at third base after some more pinch-hitting in the bottom 8th that had led precisely nowhere. Triolo handled a sharp grounder by Matt Cooper on the first pitch by “The Warden” for a neat first out, and then the game ended via a Mendez strikeout and a Benito pop to Stalker. 3-1 Coons. Maldonado 1-2, BB; Pinkerton 2-3; Morales (PH) 1-1; Rendon 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (6-8);

Eight hits today! What a rout!

Seriously, boys, a wee bit more? Please? Not for me, I know you lot can’t stand me, but for the stupid screaming kids in the stands? Hm?

Boston had matched our win on Friday, but spilled a game this Saturday, getting shut out by Keith Black (8-12, 4.39 ERA) and Mike Hugh (6-6, 3.88 ERA, 28 SV). This restored the 1-game lead we had fumbled on Tuesday.

Game 3
MIL: CF T. Romero – 1B S. Ayala – 3B Conner – LF S. Wilson – 2B McWhirter – SS Del Vecchio – C M. Cooper – RF Prestwood – P Piedra
POR: LF Hooge – 3B Downs – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – P Ottinger

While Ottinger put Ayala (walk…) and Wilson (single) on the corners in the first, but got McWhirter to ground out, the Coons scratched out a quick run when Fernandez walked and was doubled in by Justin Fowler. Morales grounded out to strand Fowler in scoring position. Jimmy Wallace opened the second inning with a double and scored on a 2-out single by Triolo for something new, 2-0. The army of screaming kids was much less impressed with the Raccoons’ offensive results, which included a 2-run homer by Manny Fernandez in the bottom 3rd, than whenever Ottie got an out in some way. Kids! Stupid!

And to be fair, Ottinger was much better than on Tuesday (but then again, how much worse could he have been?), and wasn’t giving out any freebies. Through three innings, he allowed three hits, but only the one walk to Ayala, and besides, maybe the Raccoons would finally break out on offense? Fowler and Morales reached the corners after the Fernandez bomb (#16), with Piedra missing grossly and four times to Wallace to load the bags. Vickers’ roller to short was too slow to turn two, allowing Fowler to come home with the team’s fifth run. Triolo flew out to Romero to strand the other two runners. Ottie walked Cooper with two outs in the fourth, but rung up Prestwood afterwards, yet the real drama started when he singled opening the bottom 4th against the overwhelmed Piedra. The kids already upped their volume to 9.5, but when Ed Hooge doubled into the corner two pitches later and Ottie chugged around the bases at max speed, sliding across home plate well ahead of Prestwood’s throw, 6-0 by the way, I thought the little rats would bring the ol’ ballpark down for good. All the shrieking, all the jumping, all the blaring! … Ah, **** it, it’s 6-0! (jumps around blaring, with Slappy chuckling between sips on his bottle)

The inning and Piedra’s outing ended after a Manny Fernandez single cashed Hooge to make it 7-0. Ottie now had considerable leeway and could file an application for a playoff rotation spot by going at least seven innings, something he had done only twice in his major league career, and never at home. Walking reliever Luis Villoch in the top 5th was not exactly the right path to choose, and he got mired in a long and futile inning. While he struck out three and stranded Villoch and Ayala (who singled), the big seven receded into the distance. He needed 30 pitches in the inning, putting him at 86 total, and wouldn’t get past six, conceding a run in the top 6th, which McWhirter opened with a triple. Del Vecchio popped out, but Matt Cooper got the run home.

The score remained 7-1 through seven innings, after which there were some changes. Pinkerton had pinch-hit in the bottom 7th and remained in the game, giving Manny a few innings off. Matt Hartley would take over catching and batting third – he had wasted away on the bench the entire week and we didn’t want him go entirely useless before the week was out; putting him #3 ensured he’d have a plate appearance in the bottom 8th. Maldonado also replaced Fowler. Dennis Citriniti had a scoreless eighth, and then Hartley came to bat against right-hander Steve Bass after Downs had drawn a leadoff walk from Matt May. Hartley struck out, but the Critters loaded the bases when Maldonado walked and Stalker singled. Bass issued a bases-loaded walk to Jimmy Wallace, but whiffed Vickers and got Triolo to ground out. Hennessy ended the game, allowing only a D.J. Mendez single in the ninth. 8-1 Raccoons! Downs 2-4, BB; M. Fernandez 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Fowler 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-1; Wallace 1-2, 3 BB, 2B, RBI; Ottinger 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (7-4) and 1-3;

In other news

September 1 – TOP SP Justin Osterloh (9-8, 3.86 ERA) is one strike from a no-hitter in a 4-0 game over the Gold Sox when DEN INF Orlando Nieblas (.304, 9 HR, 64 RBI) flicks a soft single to break up the bid. Osterloh retires the next batter, but has to settle for a complete-game shutout.
September 2 – Salem has a 3-hit shutout by SP Eric Peck (13-9, 3.35 ERA) in a 5-0 win over the Miners, but loses SS/2B/RF Jose Castro (.263, 13 HR, 46 RBI) for the season with an oblique strain.
September 6 – Tied for first, the Buffaloes flip 1B Jake Evans (.298, 8 HR, 72 RBI) to the Pacifics for SP Tony Fuentes (4-12, 5.41 ERA), a move puzzling analysts.

Complaints and stuff

Boston matched our 5-1 output, indicating perhaps that their slow rot was over and September was not going to be a cakewalk. For starters, the Raccoons couldn’t beat the Loggers like a drum forever – there were also some actual teams left to play against. In fact, here was the playoff picture (with strength of schedule and playoff chances) with four weeks left on the schedule. We’ll graciously list the damn Elks, too, because they still had nine games left with the top two, but had just posted a losing week (3-4) and were unlikely to rally to a significant degree:

POR (78-58) – IND (6), BOS (4), MIL (4), CHA (3), NYC (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .476 – 60.2%
BOS (77-59) – VAN (6), NYC (4), POR (4), IND (3), LVA (3), MIL (3), SFB (3) – .489 – 39.8%
VAN (69-68) – BOS (6), NYC (4), CHA (3), IND (3), MIL (3), POR (3), TIJ (3) – .497 – 0.1%

We won’t face either the Titans or Elks until September 26.

Chris Manning is out with a thoroughly smashed ankle, not that he was penciled in for the playoff roster… yet. Mark up $50k or so for the injured players fund.

Speaking of injuries, with the way in which Maldonado, Nickas, Triolo, and Maruyama have piled up almost 1,000 plate appearances this year, I really wonder whether we’d have the division locked up already if we could have kept Berto, Dave Myers, and Harenberg on their hindpaws this year…

Those three and Gene Tennis are all on the 60-day DL by now, ensuring some after-season drama when we have to feed them back onto the 40-man roster… - Why are you looking at me like that, Ed? – Why are you holding up an empty bowl? – Yes, I said “feed”. – And? – (sigh) Maaaauuud! I need heeeelp!!

Fun Fact: Matt Triolo, who was the #77 pick in the 2026 draft, has been released four times in his major league career.

This includes the Miners, who drafted him in the third round in ’26, but were fed up with him rather quickly. It does not include the Raccoons, who signed him off the trash heap the following April, but then quickly wrapped him up in a deal for Jon Correa in July of ’28 that may or may not have won them the World Series that year. Triolo was traded to the Blue Sox seven days after the Correa trade, then again to the Buffaloes in December, and then was released, signed, released, signed, released, and finally washed up on another minor league deal with the Coons last March.

He made his debut in a forgettable cup of coffee (.208, 0 HR, 0 RBI in 24 at-bats) in ’35, and this year got 137 at-bats as one of a number of square pegs the Raccoons tried to jam into the round hole left by Berto’s departure to the DL via the broken elbow.

Is that healing, Dr. Chung, to your satisfaction? – What do you mean, you “don’t know”? – Why do you not know where you put Berto??

Westheim · 06-08-2020, 03:22 PM

Raccoons (78-58) vs. Indians (59-79) – September 8-10, 2036

The Critters had an 8-4 edge on the Indians in ’36, and needed more against the league’s third-worst offense. Their pitching was decent enough, which made me worry about yet more 2-1 squeezers that could easily go the wrong way.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (8-6, 3.22 ERA) vs. Mike Hurley (5-2, 1.99 ERA)
Tom Miller (1-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. Manuel Herrera (0-0)
Bernie Chavez (11-10, 3.08 ERA) vs. John Nelson (5-14, 4.51 ERA)

This looked like a bunch of right-handers; Herrera would be a 23-year-old debutee, signed for all of $7,800 in the 2030 July IFA period. Hurley would start on short rest on top of all their other problems.

Game 1
IND: 1B J. Diaz – 2B Schneller – CF Baron – RF Leftwich – LF Garbinski – C E. Thompson – 3B Cobb – SS D. Serrato – P Hurley
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 3B Marsingill – SS Nickas – P Sabre

Jeff Diaz walked, Dan Schneller singled, and immediately the game started out not quite as ideal as me and Honeypaws would have wanted. A fielder’s choice and a pop were followed by Josh Garbinski’s run-scoring infield single, and Sabre walked the bases full against Elliott Thompson, who was batting all of .204, before Dan Cobb grounded out to Vickers, stranding three. The Critters tied the score on singles by Ed Hooge and Justin Fowler in the bottom of the inning before Sabre struck out three, then took part in a 2-out set of three singles in the bottom 2nd. Manny Fernandez grounded out to Schneller, stranding all the runners. Yup, the typical 2-1 squeezer that could easily go the wrong way – AGAIN.

The 2 wound up being on the Coons’ side, but it took until the bottom 5th for them to poke it in. Ed Hooge hit another leadoff single, advanced on Vickers’ groundout, then scored on Manny’s single to center, drawing John Baron’s throw and allowing Fernandez to reach second base. The Indians, now 2-1 behind, walked Fowler intentionally, but the runners pulled off a double steal, with fowler probably dead at second base if Elliott Thompson doesn’t drop the ball, twice. Ex-Coon – sometimes we just KNOW who we can do it against! In the end, the move yielded no runs, because Morales hit a comebacker to the mound, Wallace walked, and Marsingill went down on strikes… Indianapolis didn’t amount to a threat until the seventh inning when Dave Serrato hit a gapper for a 2-out double in left-center. Brent Rempfer and his 15 homers pinch-hit for Hurley, but Sabre rung him up to complete seven innings, and they were very decent ever since the second…

When Sabre was replaced with Chris Wise for the top 8th, things immediately went straight into the sewer system. Schneller doubled to left, Baron doubled to center, tying the game, and David Fernandez came on against Jeremy Leftwich, who was hit for by Juan Herrera, who flew out to center on a 3-0 pitch. Baron advanced, and when Sean Ebner, another right-hander, hit for Garbinski with two outs, the Critters sent Dusty Kulp, who plated the go-ahead run with a wild pitch before getting Ebner – batting all of .156 – to strike out. I immediately stomped to my rotary phone and called up Nick Valdes, inquiring whether he had any quality subcontractors who could make Kulp just ****ing disappear… Kurt Wall hit a 2-out double in the #9 hole in the bottom 8th, Mitch Brothers nailed Hooge, and yet Vickers grounded out pathetically. At least the meat of the order would be up in the bottom 9th against Tim Thweatt and the 3-2 deficit! They flew out, struck out, and grounded out. 3-2 Indians. Hooge 3-3, BB; Wall (PH) 1-1, 2B; Sabre 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-3;

At least there’s the comfort of having seen it coming…

Game 2
IND: 1B J. Diaz – 2B Schneller – 3B Hutson – RF Leftwich – LF Garbinski – C E. Thompson – CF Acor – SS D. Serrato – P J. Nelson
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 3B Downs – SS Triolo – P Miller

Tuesday brought Nelson rather than the greenhorn, not that I really cared about who’d routinely no-hit the dismal Critters’ lineup. Nelson retired the first six in a row, and while Tom Miller walked a pair early on, at least the defense bailed him out. They turned a double play in the first, and Garbinski was nipped stealing in the second. Adam Downs, recently demoted former leadoff batter, hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, then was forced out by Triolo. Miller bunted the runner to second base, from where Ed Hooge plated him with a 2-out single. More of those piled up in quick succession. Stalker singled, Fernandez singled, Fowler singled – it was 3-0 when Tony Morales walked to fill the bags. Jimmy Wallace squeezed out ball four in a full count, pushing home a run, after which Downs popped out, leaving three, and Portland left another three the following inning without scoring, when Fowler’s grounder to second left Triolo (single and over .200!), Hooge (intentional walk) and Fernandez (unintentional walk) stranded on base.

While Miller stumbled his way through six innings on two hits and four walks – it was less pretty than it sounded – the Raccoons got right-hander Jon Lane in the bottom 6th after Hooge reached on a Nelson error to begin the inning. He walked Stalker, then gave up a 3-run homer to Fernandez, extending the lead to 7-0. Right-hander Jesus Escandon then made his season debut (after four relief outings in ’35 for an 0.79 ERA), with Fowler and Morales singling and Wallace walking against him to give Downs three on and still nobody out. He popped out foul behind home plate, but Triolo drew the bases-loaded walk to push in another run before both Miller and Hooge fanned. Miller went back out for the eighth, but gave up a 1-out single to PH Brent Rempfer on his 102nd pitch, which was deemed enough. In came Dennis Citriniti, giving up singles to Schneller and Hutson, conceding Miller’s run, then a 3-run homer to Jeremy Leftwich, making me ****ing nervous. And yes, the tying run WOULD come into the on-deck circle – not in the eighth, which ended when Hooge risked limb and life to throw himself into a scorched liner to end the inning but in the ninth with Dustin Acor and Juan Herrera knocking hits off Prieto for a run. With Jeff Diaz back at the plate and in an 8-5 game, the tying run appeared in the on-deck circle. Casey Moore replaced Prieto, got to 0-2 on Diaz, then gave up a high fly to right. Fernandez got there to finally ****ing end the game. 8-5 Raccoons. M. Fernandez 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Fowler 2-5, RBI; Morales 2-4, BB; Triolo 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

I’m not nervous, Cristiano. Why are you asking? – (keeps shaking and vibrating all the booze out of his Capt’n Coma bottle)

The Titans had been idle on Monday and opened their series with the damn Elks today, and immediately got knocked off, 8-1. This gave the Critters a 1 1/2 game lead.

Game 3
IND: 1B J. Diaz – 2B Schneller – 3B Hutson – CF Baron – RF Leftwich – LF Garbinski – C E. Thompson – SS D. Serrato – P M. Herrera
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – 3B Pinkerton – SS Downs – C Hartley – P Chavez

Herrera’s career started with an Ed Hooge single before the Coons tumbled into a strike-em-out-throw-em-out right away with Stalker at the dish. Herrera would also give up the first career hit to Matt Hartley, a fifth inning single that led exactly as far as the four singles the Critters had hit earlier in the game, which was still scoreless. Fowler had come closest to success, having a ball caught right at the fence by Leftwich. Bernie dipped his ERA under three when he reached the sixth inning in scoreless fashion, but that wasn’t going to get him a W. Much the contrary he was soon after on the losing end (and no longer had an ERA under three) when Garbinski hit a 1-out triple to center in the seventh and scored on an Elliott Thompson single. The Raccoons saw another Hartley single in the bottom 7th, did zip with it again, then got Tim Stalker to hit a single over Serrato’s head to begin the bottom 8th. Manny singled to center, and the rookie walked Fowler to load the bags with nobody out. And maybe it was cruel indifference, or maybe the Indians were so convinced of their newest shiny toy that they didn’t give a damn about his emotional well-being, but he was not lifted even after three straight Raccoons had gotten on, with Jimmy Wallace kicking dirt around in the batter’s box, looking to jack up that .208 average. He didn’t get his wish granted, but tied the game with a sac fly to deep left. Herrera walked Pinkerton, then gave up another sac fly to Downs, and only THEN did the Indians lift him, when he was already 2-1 behind. Josh Walsh replaced him, the Coons sent Tony Morales to bat for a 2-for-3 Hartley, because **** had gotten real now, and Tony slapped a single through the right side, with Fowler coming around to score from second base. Vickers batted for Chris Wise and grounded out, and the Yeom Soung got the 3-1 lead. Entirely uncharacteristically, he didn’t axe the opposition at first sight. Leftwich hit a 1-out single. Ebner walked with two outs. Rempfer walked with two outs! The Warden had just opened all the cells in the ****ing jail, it seemed! With bags full, Dustin Acor pinch-hit for the Indians in the #9 hole while the Raccoons still scratched their necks with their hindpaws and wondered what to ****ing do. The problem solved itself with a 2-1 pop to center. Fowler parked under it, caught it, and the Coons had somehow squeezed out a series win. 3-1 Blighters. M. Fernandez 2-4; Hartley 2-3; Morales (PH) 1-1, RBI; Chavez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K;

Raccoons (80-59) @ Crusaders (57-82) – September 12-14, 2036

The weekend brought a series with the last-place Crusaders, in fact the final set of the year against them. While they were not mathematically eliminated, a single Raccoons W on the weekend would do the job for them. They were eighth in runs scored, last in runs allowed, and there was always the hope that our offense would just score five in the first of every game and roll with that. We led the season series, 13-2. With a sweep we’d tie our best ever performance against a CL North team.

Projected matchups:
Gilberto Rendon (6-8, 4.46 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (7-18, 3.96 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (7-4, 3.28 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (8-14, 5.51 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (8-6, 3.14 ERA) vs. Geoff Whitehouse (11-4, 3.38 ERA)

An 18-game loser and a 14-game loser? We’re as dead as disco!

All their starters were right-handers. Meanwhile our lead in the division was down to a single game again after the Titans won the last two games from the damn Elks, who were no help neither dead nor alive… Right now, though, at 10 1/2 behind, were most likely dead, which was just as well. – Oh yeah, boys, no pressure, but the Loggers stuffed Keith Black and the Crusaders pen for 13 runs yesterday! THE LOGGERS.

Game 1
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 3B Marsingill – SS Nickas – P Rendon
NYC: CF Malo – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – 1B K. Henderson – LF Salto – 3B Hansen – RF Elrod – C Duryea – P del Rio

The bottom 1st was two walks, a hit batter, and somehow Rendon wasn’t charged with a run at all. Guillermo Obando and Kumanosuke Henderson had timely strikeouts, and John Hansen flew out to center to strand three. Nobody in the game would find a base hit until Jason Elrod singled to left with one out in the bottom 4th, at which point Rendon was on four walks, seven strikeouts, and over 70 pitches, and thank goodness the no-hitter was off… A fly out to Manny in right got rid of Michael Duryea, and del Rio, the ex-Coon nobody missed, grounded out to Nickas on a 3-0 pitch to end the inning.

Well, there WAS still a no-hitter going on, but it was del Rio’s. The Raccoons amounted to a walk (Stalker) and one unit of getting nailed (Morales) in five innings, and the game remained scoreless. Ed Hooge chopped a 1-out single to center in the sixth, and del Rio was mad enough to drill Stalker in revenge for it. The old man dragged himself to first base, then had to move up quickly on a passed ball charged to Duryea. Fernandez struck out, but Justin Fowler dumped a 2-out, 2-run single for the first action on the scoreboard. It also gave Fowler a 12-game hitting streak. Rendon was gassed after six innings, with John Hennessy striking out the bottom of the order in the bottom of the seventh. The top of the eighth saw del Rio threatening to become unglued – he was unhinged already – with singles by Hooge and Stalker, then Fernandez squeezing out a walk. Three on, nobody out, Fowler looking forward to putting it all away, but hacked himself out instead. Morales groundout scored a run, and Kurt Wall’s pinch-hit single plated two more, knocking out del Rio well on the way to his 19th loss of the year. Against Gabe McGill, the bags filled up once more, but Maldonado popped out to strand all the runners. That pop had no further consequences – Dusty Kulp and Dennis Citriniti each pitched a rarely-seen trouble-free inning to put the game away. 5-0 Critters. Hooge 3-5; Wall (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Marsingill 2-4; Rendon 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 8 K, W (7-8);

Andy Bressner outdueled Matt Brost in Indy, scratching out a 1-0 win. The Titans had only four hits, the Arrowheads had only two, but they won a crucial game on a Bressner double and a Jeff Diaz single, and the Coons were now up by two!

Game 2
POR: LF Hooge – SS Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 3B Downs – 1B Maldonado – P Ottinger
NYC: CF Malo – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – 1B K. Henderson – RF Chavira – LF Salto – 3B Hansen – C Duryea – P E. Cannon

Obando tripled and scored on a groundout in the bottom 1st, which also saw Ottinger walk Henderson to continue his recently wild ways, then give up a double to Vinny Chavira. Graciano Salto was retired on a hard grounder to Downs, keeping those two stranded in scoring position, but the Raccoons would now have to play this one from behind. Not that the 1-0 deficit lasted long; Cannon walked Fowler to begin the top 2nd, the runner advanced on a grounder, then scored on Vickers’ single to center … and then Downs hit into a double play. Ottinger had another walk and a wild pitch in the bottom 2nd, setting off all sorts of alarms in my head. It didn’t get any better – Obando singled in the bottom 3rd, Kumanosuke Henderson homered to left, and the Crusaders were up 3-1.

New York was done with Ottinger in the fourth. Walk, double, single, 5-1, boom, gone. Prieto inherited Obando on first and one out, allowed a single to Mario Hurtado, then a screaming liner to Henderson that was caught, and a screaming liner to Chavira that wasn’t and merrily bounced into the gap to explode the score to 7-1, in other words, ballgame. The Raccoons hit into three double plays in six innings and didn’t get back to scoring until Tim Stalker hit a leadoff double over Caleb Malo’s head in the seventh, quickly followed by Manny’s RBI single to right. When Cannon walked both Morales and Vickers with one out, the game suddenly seemed to provide a possibility again for the Critters, who had the tying run appearing in the on-deck circle. Adam Downs singled cleanly to left in a full count, narrowing the score to 7-3, and then Maldonado was the crucial run. There was an urge to have Jimmy Wallace pinch-hit, but we’d rather do it in the #9 hole in place of Garavito. Besides, Maldonado had a chance to do damage, too! Nope, he popped out. Wallace did bat with two outs, grounded out to Hurtado, and that was the game for good. Or maybe not. Cannon allowed a single to Hooge in the eighth, then was yanked. Little happened until Fowler hit a 2-out RBI single off Julian Ponce. Rin Nomura appeared to face Morales with two outs, but Portland countered with Kurt Wall, who walked, and the tying run was back at the plate, now with Gabe McGill matching Vickers. Since Matt Triolo was not a serious pinch-hitting option, Vickers was left in there and flew out to center. New York scratched out an insurance run off David Fernandez in the bottom 8th, Chavira hitting a sac fly, but besides Steve Nickas’ surprise first career homer, hitting for Fernandez in the top 9th, the Raccoons had no more rally in them… 8-5 Crusaders. Nickas (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

All the Coons’ starters had one hit (except for Maldonado) and they sprinkled them in the worst way…

Boston won, 7-5, so the gap was back down to one. The Coons needed a W from Sabre on Sunday.

Game 3
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – C Wall – 3B Downs – SS Nickas – P Sabre
NYC: CF Malo – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – 1B K. Henderson – LF Salto – 3B Hansen – RF H. Saito – C Duryea – P Whitehouse

Four singles scored two runs for the Raccoons in the first inning, with Wallace driving in both Vickers and Fowler, who had both reached scoring position on some aggressive base-running. Wall also singled, but Downs grounded out. The Crusaders countered with two singles and a walk from their first three hitters, but Malo was caught stealing before the other two could pile up, and two strikeouts to Henderson and Salto ended the inning before it could get really ugly. Vickers would single in Nickas, who had also singled, with two outs in the top 2nd to make it 3-0, but Sabre remained wobbly. Hirofumi Saito got on in the bottom 2nd and reached third base before he was stranded by Whitehouse, and Malo was on base to begin the third, but never got a chance to do damage to his own team in that inning. The leadoff man was on AGAIN in the fourth when Salto singled, and this time the bags filled up with a Saito single and a walk to Duryea. Whitehouse batted with three aboard and one gone under, hit a comebacker, and Sabre chose the rather secure out at home rather than a wonky whiff at two. He then struck out Malo to escape yet another mess of his own making.

It finally came crashing down in the bottom 5th, despite the leadoff batter not reaching for once… Hurtado hit a 1-out single. Sabre walked Henderso, Salto singled, John Hansen hit an RBI single, and Saito doubled the game tied. They took the lead on a Duryea sac fly before Whitehouse fanned to end the miserable experience, and probably the Raccoons’ lead in the CL North with it. Nothing happened the next few innings. The Coons got Nickas on base with a leadoff single in the sixth, then immediately had Pinkerton double him off, and then found themselves arriving in the ninth inning still 4-3 behind. Tony Morales led off as pinch-hitter in the #9 hole against righty Mike Hugh. He grounded out to first. Hooge grounded out to second. Vickers grounded over to short, but Obando bungled the ball for an error, giving the Coons another shot with Fernandez – who flew out to left. 4-3 Crusaders. Vickers 2-5, RBI; Fowler 2-4; Wall 2-3, BB, 2B; Nickas 2-4;

In other news

September 9 – TOP SP Josh D’Agostino (10-8, 4.01 ERA) pitches a 2-hit shutout with 6 K in a 5-0 win over the Miners.
September 10 – WAS SP Alfredo Vargas (8-10, 6.33 ERA) could miss the rest of the season with a herniated disc.
September 13 – The Warriors shackle the Scorpions, 14-0. SFW SS Jesus Matos (.263, 15 HR, 57 RBI) draws five walks. 2B/SS Mario Colon (.310, 24 HR, 107 RBI) has 5 RBI on three base hits.

Complaints and stuff

At the very worst time, the team has simply run out of drive. And possibly skill. Oh to have Alberto Ramos around to ****ing get on base and not be doubled off by the next idiot in line…!

As delightful their run in August was, as painful are they to watch in September. They are barely scoring more than four runs per game, and their luck seems to have run out entirely. The Titans appropriately evened the division on Sunday, actually rallying in the ninth for an 8-7 win over the Indians, with six runs driven in by Keith Spataro, and who else can you count on to ruin the Raccoons’ efforts? Both teams are at 81-61 now, and things look not impressive for Portland…

POR (81-61) – BOS (4), MIL (4), CHA (3), IND (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .494 – 44.1% (-16.1%)
BOS (81-61) – NYC (4), POR (4), LVA (3), MIL (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .497 – 55.9% (+16.1%)

Now we have to hope the Crusaders make it as hard onto the Titans as they did onto us. Or maybe we just sucked. Sabre and Ottinger sucked for sure…

Fun Fact: Barring a major dual collapse, one of the three FL West teams with endless playoff droughts will see it snapped.

The Wolves, who won a critical series from Dallas this weekend, have not made October baseball since 2004, the Stars since 2008. The Stars’ most recent championship came in 2006, while the Wolves’ only championship came in 1989 when Glenn Johnston dropped Ed Parrell’s fly and –

(is shot by Maud with a tranquilizer dart, just to be sure)

Westheim · 06-11-2020, 01:51 PM

Raccoons (81-61) @ Loggers (62-80) – September 15-18, 2036

After a good night’s sleep it was off to Milwaukee for the final four games in that season series, which the Raccoons were dominating at an 11-3 rate. The Raccoons also needed more wins, wins, wins, so it pained me to say it because the Loggers were nice people that never did harm to anybody, but we had to semi-surgically remove their ****ing guts. Their offense had them fourth in the Continental League, but their dismal pitching was responsible for the second-most runs, with the rotation the worst in the CL.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (11-10, 3.02 ERA) vs. Paul Metzler (9-14, 4.24 ERA)
Tom Miller (2-0, 1.65 ERA) vs. William Stockwell (5-11, 4.27 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (7-8, 4.25 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (7-10, 4.18 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (7-5, 3.71 ERA) vs. Tommy Iezzi (8-7, 4.41 ERA)

Stockwell was the only southpaw in that array of starters. The Loggers had also one of their best players on the DL, with Danny Valenzuela, .305 hitter and preferred leadoff man, out for the season most likely.

Game 1
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – C Morales – 3B Downs – SS Nickas – P Chavez
MIL: CF T. Romero – SS Del Vecchio – LF S. Wilson – 3B Conner – 1B S. Ayala – 2B McWhirter – C Canas – RF K. Farmer – P Metzler

The Loggers made plenty of hard contact off Bernie Chavez in the first few innings, piling up four hits for no greater good and stranding guys on third base twice, including Steve Wilson and Josh Conner on the corners after two hard 2-out singles in the first inning. Instead, Portland scored first with a 2-run homer hit by Adam Downs in the #7 hole, following up on Tony Morales legging out an infield single (!). That was all the scoring through five innings, with the Critters spreading out their other five base hits as weirdly as possible, and it also didn’t help that Rich Vickers was picked off first base just ahead of Manny Fernandez’ eighth triple of the season in the third inning…

Jimmy Wallace hit a double in the sixth that led nowhere except that it gave him temporarily the upper paw in his mortal struggle with the .200 mark. Josh Conner’s groundout in the bottom 6th ended that inning in 1-2-3 fashion and also saw Bernie complete his 200th inning of the year, a mark he reached for the third time, but had missed grossly in his beleaguered 2035 season. He then promptly got nicked with a pitch, then doubled up by Ed Hooge in the top 7th. Countable offense only returned in the eighth inning with back-to-back doubles for Fernandez and Fowler, which also extended Fowler’s hitting streak to 15 games. Wallace was walked intentionally despite batting only .203, but Morales hit a soft line to right-center for an RBI single, 4-0. Metzler then rung up Downs and Nickas to end the inning. Up 4-0, Bernie returned for more in the bottom 8th, coming up at 81 pitches. He sorted through Kymani Farmer, D.J. Mendez, and Tony Romero in 13 more offerings, then was allowed to bat for himself in the ninth as the Critters would go for the shutout. Ted Del Vecchio popped out to begin the bottom 9th, and so did Wilson. Josh Conner ran a full count before grounding to short, where Matt Triolo had ended up. He made the play and beat Conner by a step at first. 4-0 Critters! Triolo (PH) 1-1; M. Fernandez 4-5, 3B, 2B; Morales 3-4, 2B, RBI; Chavez 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (12-10);

Bernie Chavez’ second career shutout broke the tie atop the CL North when the Titans lost a 4-3 game to the Crusaders.

Game 2
POR: SS Downs – 2B Stalker – LF Hooge – CF Fowler – RF Pinkerton – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – 3B Marsingill – P Miller
MIL: CF T. Romero – SS Del Vecchio – LF S. Wilson – 3B Conner – 1B S. Ayala – 2B McWhirter – C M. Cooper – RF Prestwood – P Stockwell

No Coons shutout on Tuesday – in fact, the Loggers scored three unearned runs on nondescript Tom Miller in the very first inning. He allowed a 2-out single to Wilson, walked Conner, Hooge dropped a Salvador Ayala fly to allow Wilson across and two runners into scoring position, and Bill McWhirter really drove the dagger in with a 2-run single up the middle. Matt Cooper lined out to short to end the inning. Portland would scratch out a run in the third inning, with Kurt Wall reaching base before being forced out by Justin Marsingill. Miller bunted the runner over and Downs drove him in with a 2-out single, before Tim Stalker flew out in deep centerfield.

Offense remained slow for Portland, but they scratched out another run in the fifth inning on a leadoff triple by Chiyosaku Maruyama, who then came home on Wall’s groundout, 3-2. Downs hit a leadoff single in the sixth, but was doubled up by Stalker’s grounder to short, and when Preston Pinkerton singled in the seventh, he was stranded on a grounder and a pop. Tom Miller was still on the hook when he left during the seventh inning stretch, but at least Casey Moore didn’t make it worse against the bottom of the order. Manny Fernandez batted for Moore to begin the eighth and singled off Stockwell, who was replaced with right-hander Matt May immediately. Downs popped out, but Tim Stalker got a baseball over the head of Steve Wilson for extra bases! Manny sprinted around the bases and scored, tying the game, FINALLY, after the Critters’ first-inning crash. Hooge flew out to left, Fowler popped out to short, though, stranding the go-ahead run at second base. Not doing that were the Loggers in the bottom 8th… Garavito walked Kenta Yoshioka to begin the inning, he moved to second base on a grounder, then scored when Dusty Kulp faced two batters (PH Juan Benito, Josh Conner) and allowed singles to all of them. David Fernandez got out of the inning, barely, but the Critters arrived in the ninth trailing and with the mushy bottom half of the order coming up… Alex Banderas’ 4.81 ERA on paper at least gave them a 50% chance to get the tying run… Pinkerton grounded out to second. Wallace whiffed. Morales flew out to left. 4-3 Loggers. Downs 2-4, RBI; Maruyama 2-3, 3B;

At least the Titans’ pen leaked them a loss, too… New York won 6-4 on Tuesday, keeping the Coons afloat by a game.

Game 3
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Wallace – C Morales – 3B Downs – SS Nickas – P Rendon
MIL: C M. Cooper – SS Del Vecchio – LF S. Wilson – 3B Conner – 1B S. Ayala – 2B McWhirter – CF K. Farmer – RF Prestwood – P Piedra

Justin Fowler’s 26th homer came in the first inning, plated Vickers (who had forced out Ed Hooge and his leadoff walk), and extended his hitting streak to 17 games. With Rendon holding up early on, the Raccoons got a fat scoring chance in the third inning when Vickers, Fernandez, and Fowler all reached base with one out to crowd Piedra. Jimmy Wallace, holding the short stick again compared to the .200 line, was up and grounded up the middle. Del Vecchio flipped to McWhirter, who fired to first – in time, double play, Coons go home.

For Milwaukee, only Kymani Farmer reached with a leadoff single the first time through, but was stranded even after stealing a base. Wilson ripped a triple with one out in the fourth, but Conner hit a hard grounder at Downs to keep him there while making the second out, and Ayala flew out to Hooge to keep him there for good. Top 5th, Wallace was back up with Vickers and Fowler on base – and flew out to Tyler Prestwood, ending that inning, too. While Rendon was pitching rather competently, he began to wear down in the bottom of the sixth inning. Cooper nearly hit one out, having his drive caught at the fence by Fernandez. Del Vecchio walked, was forced out by Wilson, but a well-placed Josh Conner single placed Loggers on the corners with two outs. Rendon was also at 93 pitches, there was a lefty bat up in Ayala, and the Coons hadn’t scored since Fowler’s early bomb, so here came David Fernandez. Ayala was not hit for, grounded out to first, and the score remained 2-0.

Prieto held the Loggers were they were in the seventh before Fowler and Wallace occupied the corners with 1-out singles against Mike Bass in the eighth. Wall batted for Downs and struck out. Pinkerton batted for Nickas… and struck out. Still up 2-0, Chris Wise sorted through the Loggers and especially Del Vecchio’s 1-out single in the bottom 8th, keeping them off the board. The Critters never found a tack-on run, then went to Yeom Soung in the bottom 9th. He retired two on so-so flies before Kymani Farmer singled, bringing up Prestwood as the tying run. A screwball struck him out. 2-0 Coons. Fowler 2-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Rendon 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (8-8);

The Titans kept melting in New York! Even ****ing Ignacio del Rio was aiding the Critters now, him and five relievers squeezing out the Titans on Wednesday, 3-2. The Raccoons were thus up by two games.

Game 4
POR: 3B Downs – 2B Vickers – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Ottinger
MIL: CF T. Romero – C M. Cooper – LF S. Wilson – 1B S. Ayala – SS Benito – 3B Garnier – 2B Yoshioka – RF Prestwood – P Iezzi

Portland scored early again, with Downs drawing a leadoff walk from Iezzi to begin the game. Vickers whiffed, but Ed Hooge singled to left and then Fernandez and Maldonado both had big extra-base knocks, an RBI double and a 2-run triple, respectively! Tony Morales chipped in a sac fly to make it 4-0 before Maruyama flew out to end the inning. Then came Ottinger, who was on a meh string of games, and this wasn’t an exception. He was held together entirely by the defense, with the Loggers ripping four hits in the first three inning and still not getting a run across. Ayala grounded out to strand Cooper and Wilson on the corners just when they seemed to get a grasp on Ottie in the bottom 3rd. Prestwood would finally get Milwaukee on the board with an RBI triple with two outs in the fourth, cashing Benito’s leadoff walk. Iezzi then lined out hard to Fernandez… Maldonado countered with another 2-out RBI in the top 5th, singling with Downs (double) and Hooge (single) on the corners. Iezzi got a K in against Morales, keeping the score at 5-1.

Bottom 5th, Ottinger came apart for good. Tony Romero drew the leadoff walk, stole second, and they were on the corners when Cooper singled. Wilson hit a grounder between Vickers and Maruyama that was knocked down by Vickers, but not turned into an out, and suddenly it was a 5-2 game with no outs and the tying run at the plate. Ottinger walked that tying run, then was unceremoniously yanked. Casey Moore allowed a sac fly to Benito, walked Maxime Garnier, then conceded another run on Yoshioka’s groundout. He walked Prestwood, too, before Iezzi lined out to Downs to strand three. Where were the Loggers’ pinch-hitters? Nobody knows. It kept the Raccoons afloat, barely, 5-4.

By the seventh, Steve Bass was on the mound for Milwaukee, surrendering 1-out base hits that put Hooge and Fernandez in scoring position. Maldonado grounded out to third base and Morales flew out to right, stranding the runners. The Loggers also stranded two in the seventh; Hennessy began the inning by walking Ayala, after which the Raccoons sent Dusty Kulp in an attempt to lose quickly if they had to lose at all… D.J. Mendez singled right away, hitting for Benito, but was forced out by Kymani Farmer, Yoshioka popped out, and Prestwood swung and missed a 3-2 pitch well out of the zone to strand the runners. Blowing the game for good would be left to Chris Wise, who allowed increasingly loud base hits to Romero, Wilson, and Ayala in an eighth-inning meltdown that saw the Loggers score two and take a 6-5 lead. So, there was Banderas again, this time against the top of the order. And this time HE blew it – Downs opened with a single to center, and Tim Stalker batted for a hitless, luckless Vickers. He hit a deep fly to right-center, and the ball made it all the way to the fence in the gap. By the time Prestwood threw the ball back in, the game was tied and Stalker stood at third base, huffing and puffing to get his 38-year-old lungs refilled. Hooge walked in a full count, and Manny Fernandez put the Coons back in front with a sac fly to center, 7-6. Then Maldonado ended the inning with a depressing double play ball to Yoshioka at second base… Worse yet, the bottom 9th began with Ted Del Vecchio poking an 0-2 pitch over the infield for a terrible bloop single. When Rodrigo Canas grounded to short, Triolo ****ed up the double play when the ball slipped from his cheesy, greasy paw. Single, error, tying run on second, wining run on first, no outs. Soung then played along, walking Prestwood to fill the bags. In this spot, the Loggers thought that Sean Watson should pinch-hit … making his major league debut. Soung carved him up for his bacon, getting back to a point where a double play would squeeze out the win. Romero fanned on vicious breaking pitches, before Matt Cooper hit a soft looper on the very first pitch he saw. The ball tried to drop into shallow right, with Manny Fernandez storming in with grim determination, making a headlong dive on turf, which was certainly gonna hurt – but he caught the baseball!!! 7-6 Raccoons!! Downs 2-4, BB, 2B; Stalker (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; Hooge 3-4, BB; M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-5, 3B, 3 RBI; Triolo 0-1, 3 BB;

Chris Wise got the win he didn’t deserve, but his teammates kept me from giving him the beating he did deserve…

TRAITORS! ALL O’ YA!!

Boston salvaged one game in New York, keeping the gap at two games.

Raccoons (84-62) @ Condors (77-69) – September 19-21, 2036

Five and a half games out, the Condors couldn’t afford any more losing – they had to have every single win on the weekend. We were ahead 4-2 in the season series against the league’s eighth-best offense. Their pitching had also dropped off steeply from previous years and was merely average in ’36, but then again some of the worst offenders had also disappeared onto the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (8-7, 3.25 ERA) vs. Juan Garcia (15-6, 2.62 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (12-10, 2.88 ERA) vs. George Griffin (11-8, 3.51 ERA)
Tom Miller (2-0, 1.21 ERA) vs. Omar Uribe (11-13, 3.50 ERA)

Garcia would toss from the left side, the others from the right. Griffin had also left his last start with a sore ankle, but was expected to be good to go on Saturday.

Game 1
POR: SS Downs – 2B Stalker – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – RF Pinkerton – 3B Marsingill – P Sabre
TIJ: CF C. Murphy – 1B Zuazo – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – C J. Flores – 2B R. West – SS Bunyon – P J. Garcia

Chris Murphy hit a single to begin the bottom 1st, but was caught stealing – not that it slowed the Condors’ enthusiasm. Willie Ojeda hit a 2-out single, stole his 29th base, then scored on a double to center by the disgusting skunk weasel, Shane Sanks. While the Raccoons did precious little against Garcia, the skunk weasel hit another double the next time he came up, leading off the bottom 4th. Justin Williams then flew into left-center, with Sanks going for it, but the ball actually came down into Fernandez’ glove with Sanks already at third base. He tried to retreat, but had no chance – he was doubled off, 7-4 style.

Donovan Bunyon hit a 1-out double in the fifth, but was stranded, after the Critters had gotten Downs and Stalker on base, only for Fernandez to whiff to end the inning. Sabre lasted seven innings, remaining on the short end of a 1-0 score throughout, with Juan Garcia entering the top of the eighth on 96 pitches, with the 2-3-4 batters coming up, which did include a hitless Fowler, who had sat out all of Thursday and thus still had a 17-game hitting streak to defend. And he did, singling to center … but only after two poor outs were already on the board. Maruyama grounded out, which didn’t shock anybody that had watched the Raccoons all year long. Tijuana got a single each off Hennessy and Prieto in the bottom 8th before Alvin Zuazo hit into a double play to make them shut up. Right-hander Ray Andrews then took the ball for the ninth. He had a 1.42 ERA, so I just made three red X-es into my scorecard and emptied my jug o’ booze at the noble bar overlooking the field at the ballpark. The Coons threw every left-handed pinch-hitter they could find at Andrews. Hooge whiffed. Wallace walked. Morales hit into a double play. 1-0 Condors. Wall 1-2, BB; Sabre 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (8-8);

At least the Titans remained crummy. They led the Aces 4-2 through seven, then exploded for seven runs in the eighth inning and lost, 9-5. Tony Chavez, Alan Mays, and Tim Wells shared in the explosion.

Game 2
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 3B Downs – 1B Wallace – SS Nickas – P Chavez
TIJ: CF C. Murphy – 1B Zuazo – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – C J. Flores – 2B R. West – SS Bunyon – P Griffin

Five days after a splendid shutout, Bernie Chavez got anal-probed in the first inning. Walk, single, single loaded the bases against Chris Murphy, Zuazo, and Ojeda. The skunk weasel hit a sac fly, and Justin Williams hit a 3-piece that was probably enough to beat the sad-sack Coons’ offense, which had already seen Ed Hooge draw a leadoff walk and being caught stealing. Bernie Chavez didn’t finish the second inning, either. He walked Griffin with one out, which was already a huge-ass red flag. Murphy then ripped an RBI triple, the 107th triple of his career, good for the career top 20 at age 31, scored on Zuazo’s groundout, and then Ojeda took Chavez deep to center. Seven runs in 1.2 innings were deemed enough, and as clear white flag the Coons raised Dennis Citriniti, who had so far only faced two batters the entire week. He saw a few more in this game, but got only three outs before he cocked up six runs in the bottom of the third. Miraculously, the runs were all unearned – to blame for that was Tony Morales ****ing awful 2-base throwing error on Griffin’s ****ing bunt with one out and Jose Flores and Rhett West on base. Both had walked against Citriniti to begin the inning. Murphy popped out, at which point there were two in scoring position with two outs in an 8-0 game. Zuazo singled home West, Ojeda launched a 3-piece, and the ****ING SKUNK WEASEL added a solo shot to center, 13-0.

The Raccoons scored three runs in the fourth that nobody gave a **** about, Downs and Wallace landing run-scoring basehits and Nickas finding a sac fly in his otherwise useless bat. The funny part however was how George Griffin was spotted THIRTEEN RUNS and couldn’t get the W. He was yanked after a Hooge single and walks issued to Fernandez and Fowler in the fifth inning. Tony Morales hit an RBI single off right-hander John Banks, 13-4, rally goin’ on! Downs struck out, Wallace struck a 2-run single to center, and Nickas flew out, keeping it civil at 13-6. In turn, Dusty Kulp, who had already logged four outs, loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom 5th. Williams hit into a run-scoring double play, but that was all.

Banks loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, putting Fowler, Downs, and Wallace aboard with two outs. He walked Nickas, then nailed pinch-hitter Jesus Maldonado. At that point, stunningly, the Raccoons had the tying run in the dugout with a batting helmet on, which was more than you could expect a team to achieve after going down thirteen-zip. But Ed Hooge popped out, three were stranded in the 14-8 madhouse game, and that was the last time the Raccoons were even vaguely near making the Condors sweat. A contributing factor was how Casey Moore began the bottom 7th with two singles on 0-2 pitches slapped by Murphy and Zuazo, then walked Ojeda on four pitches. Three on, no outs, revisited. Sanks struck out and the Condors were held to a Williams sac fly, but that was enough. 15-8 Condors. Hooge 2-4, BB, 2B; M. Fernandez 2-4, BB, 2B; Morales 2-4, BB, RBI; Wallace 2-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI;

The game not only cut the Coons’ lead in the CL North in half (Boston beat Vegas, 6-1), but also ended Fowler’s hitting streak at 18 games. He walked twice, but never landed a base knock. Despite this, I tended not to blame the offense for the spectacular loss…

Portland added an additional reliever before the Sunday game, since the pen had suffered quite a bit recently… Travis Sims was called up again to add another arm to the fray.

Game 3
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 3B Marsingill – SS Nickas – P Miller
TIJ: CF C. Murphy – 1B Zuazo – RF Willie Ojeda – 3B Sanks – LF J. Williams – C J. Flores – 2B R. West – SS Bunyon – P Uribe

Fowler hammered home Stalker with an RBI single in the top 1st, which could have been #20, but sadly wasn’t. When Morales singled to right it gave Portland four base hits in a row and the bases loaded for Jimmy Wallace, who drew ball four from Uribe. Marsingill struck out, Nickas popped out, and then the Coons put bland Tom Miller up there to see whether he’d do any better than Chavez had done… He ended up logging six outs without allowing a run, so the answer was a resounding “HELL YES” … Never mind that both the first and third inning for Tijuana ended with a flying catch by a Raccoons outfielder (Hooge, Fernandez, respectively) with a Condor stranded in scoring position…

Manny Fernandez also added to the offense again in the fifth, hitting a solo jack off Uribe to extend the lead to 3-0. It was his 18th homer and 87th RBI, with 100 still possible. Meanwhile Tijuana failed to score after a leadoff double by Rhett West in the bottom 5th. Funnily enough Uribe had also hit a double two innings prior, but now popped out. Miller got around a 2-out walk to the skunk weasel in the sixth, while the Coons got Uribe out with nobody gone in the seventh. Stalker and Fernandez were aboard with a single and a walk, and left-hander Josh Heckman seemed like an odd choice against Fowler, who hit a single to center in a full count. Stalker was sent from second, drew a weak throw from Murphy and was safe, and the runners advanced behind him to occupy scoring position, then hoped for a sound performance from either lefty batter coming up. Morales hit a sac fly to Williams, 5-0, and Wallace singled, but Fowler had to hold at third base against Ojeda’s murder arm. Marsingill walked in a full count, but Nickas struck out, which brought up Miller with three on and two outs. The Raccoons saw potential to get him through seven at least, and they were already up by a pawful. Miller hit, struck out, then gave up a leadoff single to Jose Flores. Hmz!! West thankfully chopped a ball at Stalker for two, and Bunyon grounded out to short. Josh Turley hit a leadoff single in the #9 hole in the bottom 8th and Murphy walked, bringing about the end of Miller’s day. The Coons sent Wise, who had already overseen his share of cock-ups this week, but got two outs before the skunk weasel unavoidably singled to load them up. Portland sent Yeom Soung in what was now a save situation with the tying run in the on-deck circle, and he got Williams to pop out to Nickas. He retired the side in the ninth with even less fuss. 5-0 Critters. Stalker 2-4, BB, 2B; M. Fernandez 3-4, BB, HR, RBI; Fowler 2-5, 2 RBI; Morales 2-3, RBI; Hartley (PH) 1-1; Miller 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (3-0); Soung 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (23);

The Titans won their series with a 6-2 win in Vegas.

In other news

September 17 – SAC OF/1B Chris Sandstrom (.276, 12 HR, 84 RBI) has 6 RBI in a 16-8 shakedown of the Pacifics. He has three hits, including a double.
September 18 – The Blue Sox grind out a 17-inning win in 3-2 walkoff fashion against the Capitals. There are 22 total hits in the game, five of which go onto the ledger of NAS 2B/SS Billy Bouldin (.348, 2 HR, 51 RBI), who drives in C Manichiro Toki (.220, 4 HR, 18 RBI) to end the game.
September 19 – Indians corner outfielder Josh Garbinski (.255, 16 HR, 54 RBI) has five hits, a homer, and four RBI in an 11-6 Indians win over the Bayhawks.

Complaints and stuff

Losing 1-0, then 15-8 is ****ing depressing. Somehow Tom Miller is the most dependable starting pitcher now, which is wicked given that he wasn’t even an afterthought before the season. I mean, we had Bernie, Willes, Sabre, Rendon, and Darren “Dimwit” Brown in whatever order you liked, and then there was Livingston as a known quantity, and Miller surely wasn’t ranked ahead of other obscure figures like Bob Thomson, Carlos de la Cruz, and, heck, Seth Green.

In any case, don’t get too excited about him – he’s a 27-year-old rookie with an 0.92 ERA in 29.1 innings. That happens at least once a year, and they never pitch professionally five years later… He might well be this year’s Darren Brown, though, tossed into a Game 7 overly enthusiastically with overly predictable results.

Colt Willes figures to return at some point next week or on the weekend. The plan is to have him get his tune-up with two relief outings, then give him a start on the final weekend against the Indians. I’m not comfortable throwing him right in against the damn Elks or Titans.

All division races remain open although the Miners have zoomed out a bit now ahead of a quadriga of 75-74 teams, and the Raccoons are slim favorites again in the North. Timing is not in our favor, though – we play the damn Elks this coming weekend, then the Titans in the final mid-week slot of the season. They don’t have their Elks series until the final weekend, when they will certainly be already eliminated. So the damn Elks will give it all against Portland, then have nothing left to play for against Boston.

POR (85-64) – BOS (4), CHA (3), IND (3), VAN (3) – .504 – 56.3% (+12.2%)
BOS (84-65) – POR (4), MIL (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – .506 – 43.7% (-12.2%)

What did our minor league teams do this year? The Alley Cats went 73-71, but then were mostly there to replenish the big league roster… The Panthers went 76-64 in AA, missing the playoffs by five games. The Beagles were routinely awful, 56-84.

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez, who was the CL Player of the Week with a .481 (13-27) average, 1 HR, and 3 RBI, is the most valuable player in terms of WAR in the CL this year.

He has a 7.2 mark over Dan Schneller’s 7.1 and Antonio Gil’s 6.8; those two are middle infielders. No pitcher has more than six WAR.

Manny’s breakout year can also be described with layman’s terms. He’s added 46 points in batting average so far, 43 points in OBP, and 81 points in slugging. He’s gone from “rather good” to “I can’t go to the toilet now, he’s in the on-deck circle!”. He’s only three clips away from reaching 200 base hits for the year, and sits at 55 extra-base hits. Making $665k this season, he’s also criminally underpaid.

Steve from Accounting just gave me a look. I take the last bit back. That he makes only $665k is probably the best part of the whole thing!

Westheim · 06-12-2020, 06:47 PM

Confession time! I completely missed that last week’s 7-6 ruckus win over the Loggers on Thursday was the franchise’s 5,000th regular season victory! Chris Wise got the W … after blowing the lead to begin with. Otherwise it indeed would have been Ottie’s victory.

+++

Raccoons (85-64) vs. Falcons (76-73) – September 22-24, 2036

The Raccoons returned home for the penultimate set of home games, and found the Falcons, who were 7 1/2 out in the South and were not gonna make it. They also had a -13 run differential, sat ninth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed. Their rotation was even in the top 3 in terms of ERA, which had to do with their crummy defense, too. The pen was however pretty pedestrian.

Projected matchups:
Gilberto Rendon (8-8, 4.06 ERA) vs. Chris Turner (11-9, 3.39 ERA)
Jared Ottinger (7-5, 3.92 ERA) vs. Matt Moon (12-7, 3.14 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (8-8, 3.18 ERA) vs. Mike Barnett (12-9, 2.90 ERA)

Left, right, right for their starters. “Tuba” Turner was their sole southpaw in the rotation.

Game 1
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – LF L. Herrera – C Huichapa – 1B Zitzner – CF J. Reyna – SS Aparicio – RF Harris – 3B Farfan – P C. Turner
POR: SS Downs – 2B Stalker – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maldonado – C Wall – RF Pinkerton – 3B Marsingill – P Rendon

Rendon got shackled early, walking Oscar Aguirre and giving up a double to right to Lorenzo Herrera, a single to Ernesto Huichapa, and eventually a sac fly to Jonathan Reyna to fall 2-0 behind. The Raccoons got their first three batters on base in their half of the first inning. Adam Downs singled to center, Stalker reached on an Aguirre error, and Manny singled to right. The bags were full for Fowler, who took strike three, and then Maldonado grounded to short – where Tony Aparicio bungled the second grounder of the inning. Downs scored on the error, but Wall struck out and Pinkerton floated a ball out to Reyna to waste three runners.

And then nothing happened anymore until Rendon was out of the game after six muddled innings. The score was still 2-1, and the Raccoons had only found one more base hit in their bats in five innings. That had been a Maldonado single, and then he was caught stealing… Marsingill found a single in the seventh, Maruyama batted for Prieto, and hit into a 6-4-3. The eighth was entirely sad, and while the Raccoons’ Moore and Garavito held the Falcons at base in the late innings, the Raccoons were still trailing by a ****ty run. They would bring 4-5-6 to the plate against right-hander Sean Rhinehart, ERA of 2.77, in the ninth inning. Fowler poked at a 1-2, legged out the infield roller, and the tying run was somehow on base. Ed Hooge batted for a largely forgettable Maldonado, took a ball, took a strike, then hit a ball high to center. And deep. Oh, plenty deep! OUTTA HERE!! WALKOFF HOMEEEEEER!!! … 3-2 Blighters. Hooge (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Marsingill 1-2, BB;

The Titans beat the Baybirds, 6-4, so the gap remained one game.

Oh, well, it could be worse. We couldn’t have sent Ed Hooge to pinch-hit and … what is it, Maud? – Oh, Nick Valdes is here. – Joy.

No, Nick, I don’t know whether the Titans just don’t stop playing.

Game 2
CHA: 2B O. Aguirre – LF L. Herrera – C Huichapa – CF J. Reyna – 3B Da – 1B I. Pena – SS Aparicio – RF Tessmann – P Moon
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Stalker – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 3B Downs – SS Nickas – P Ottinger

Now the Raccoons had to survive Ottinger, who had been wonky at best and outright arsonous at worst in recent weeks. He allowed pairs of hits in the first two innings, with the defense holding him together so he didn’t allow a run. Both Fowler and Fernandez made a jaw-dropping catch each, but then the Raccoons got their chance to begin the bottom 2nd. Fowler walked, Morales doubled, and they were in scoring position with nobody out. Wallace promptly popped out foul, with a run scoring on Downs’ groundout. Moon walked Steve Nickas unintentionally, leading to Ottie popping into the box and slapping an RBI single to right. The kids in the ballpark went crazy, and so did me and Valdes as the Coons went up 2-0. It stayed that way when Hooge lined out to left, and unfortunately Ottinger remained completely awful on the mound. Lorenzo Herrera singled, stole his 20th base, and scored on a Zhao-jun Da double in the top 3rd, cutting the lead in half. Ivan Pena then grounded out to Stalker to end that inning, with six hits already on Ottinger’s ledger. The Falcons tied the game later in the fifth in similar fashion – Oscar Aguirre walked, stole his 41st base, and scored on a 2-out knock by Jonathan Reyna. Since the Raccoons remained reliably narcoleptic, this meant a 2-2 tie in the middle of the fifth, once Da struck out.

The game remained locked as such while Ottinger was around, but he was removed in the seventh, in which Moon opened with a single (…!), then was forced out by Aguirre’s grounder. There was the potential for another stolen base attempt, and also the left-handed pinch-hitter Nick Harris, batting for Herrera. David Fernandez replaced Ottinger, got a pop to short, and then Kulp came on to face Huichapa. Before the catcher could do damage to the Critters, Aguirre took off – and was thrown out by Tony Morales, ending the top of the seventh. Bottom 7th, Vickers batted for Downs to begin the inning and hit a double to left. Kurt Wall then was sent to bat for Nickas, singled to left, and this inning started to look mighty good! Maldonado hit for Dusty Kulp, poked at Moon’s first pitch, and got it to drop into left. Vickers scored, 3-2! That was all, though, with the inning fizzling out on a lineout to short and a double play ball by Tim Stalker. Chris Wise got the eighth and did his royal best to cock it up, but Huichapa grounded out on a 3-1 pitch, Reyna grounded out sharply to Triolo at short, and Da whiffed. The bottom 8th began with more runners, Fernandez singling, stealing second, and giving an intentional walk to Fowler. Morales then jacked into a double play, causing both me and Valdes to howl in unison; only Slappy and Honeypaws kept their calm. Jimmy Wallace then hit a single off reliever Sean Bastone, finding the hole between Pena and Aguirre to get an insurance run on the board. Vickers lined out, bringing out The Warden for the ninth. He allowed a single to Pena, then struck out two pinch-hitters, including ex-Coon Travis Zitzner, and got a pop from Kevin Morris to end the game! 4-2 Critters. Wallace 2-4, RBI; Vickers (PH) 1-2, 2B; Wall (PH) 1-1; Maldonado (PH) 1-1, RBI;

This game exhausted the damn Elks’ magic number for good, while the Titans also won again and remained close by with a 9-1 rush of the Bayhawks.

I don’t know, Nick. – Maybe they think they’re better than us.

Game 3
CHA: SS Aparicio – 2B Farfan – 1B Zitzner – 3B Da – LF Amundson – C Sawyer – CF Hubbard – RF Tessmann – P Barnett
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 3B Downs – SS Nickas – P Sabre

Sabre then got a ****ing rectal exam to begin the Wednesday game. Aparicio, Farfan, and Zitzner all opened with singles for a quick 1-0 lead and two aboard, and while Da popped out, Erik Amundson homered to right, his first dinger of the year and 13th career homer at age 31. Amazingly, the Raccoons showed some life immediately, even if with two outs in the first. Ed Hooge doubled, then scored on two groundouts. Fowler doubled, scored on Morales’ single to left, and then Wallace walked, putting the tying run aboard for Adam Downs, who dragged out a full count before also walking, bringing up, oh joy, Steve Nickas, who swiped the first pitch to center, it dropped in for a single, and two runs scored! Sabre grounded out, and the score was a modest 4-4 after one inning. Manny Fernandez landed his 200th base hit of the year in the second, a 2-out single that led nowhere.

But Sabre couldn’t keep his goddamn hole closed and was yanked in the third inning, with Amundson and Mike Sawyer on the corners and one out. The Coons sent Hennessy in relief – and if there was a game to empty the pen for it was this one, given an off day on Thursday. Hennessy struck out Brian Hubbard and got a pop to third base from Danny Tessmann, ending the inning and keeping the score tied… at least until it was untied in the bottom 3rd with nobody out. Tony Morales ripped a leadoff double to right, Wallace walked, and then Adam Downs singled through Da into leftfield. Both the ball and Amundson were slow enough to allow Morales to score from second base, 5-4. Nickas struck out, Pinkerton batted for Hennessy and poked a 3-1 pitch into a fielder’s choice at second base, and Hooge popped out to Farfan, stranding runners on the corners.

We continued with Dennis Citriniti on the mound, who got four outs before putting Da on base in the fifth. At this point, Garavito and Wall entered in a double switch, which was probably a bit early for shenanigans with your starting catcher, and maybe we were trying to outsmart ourselves. Garavito blew the lead and even the tie on an Amundson double, a Sawyer sac fly, and a Hubbard single – that hadn’t been worth the double switch, and now the Raccoons trailed, 6-5. They then saw 26-year-old rookie southpaw Oliver Delcid, who had a lively arsenal, which was to say he ran three balls on everybody. Wallace stupidly lined out on a 3-0 pitch to begin the bottom 5th, but then he walked the bags full for Hooge with one out. They only got the tying run on a groundout; Vickers’ grounder to short ended the inning, tied at six…

Two innings by Moore and one by Fernandez kept the game even, with the Falcons out-hitting the Raccoons 13-8. Their 14th hit was a Farfan infield single to begin the ninth inning, after which Fernandez was lifted for Wise. Zitzner flew out to right, Farfan was caught stealing, and Da grounded out to Nickas, giving the Raccoons a walkoff chance in the bottom 9th against Bastone. They didn’t progress past a 2-out infield single by Jimmy Wallace, and the game slithered into extra innings to the annoyance of everybody involved… Prieto allowed a hit to Kevin Harris in the top of the 10th, but the Falcon didn’t get past first base. Hopefully now! If only to get Valdes out of my fur…! Nope – the Raccoons only reached base with two outs, and then only with a Hooge single, and Vickers made the third out right away. No Raccoon reached scoring position until the bottom of the 12th and then it was a Wallace single to lead off and an Aparicio error with two outs that also allowed Kurt Wall on base. Hooge flew out to center, sending the game to the 13th. – No, Nick, I haven’t read any good books lately.

The Raccoons then saw Dusty Kulp come apart with a Sawyer single, a walk to ex-Critter Billy Jennings, and a 1-out RBI single by Jon Gregory (who??) in the top of the 13th. The bottom 13th saw right-hander Alex Aguilar and his 6.20 ERA against the 2-3-4 batters. Vickers grounded out, and Manny sure tried, but legged out an infield single on Zitzner. Fowler walked, and in this critical spot only Matt Hartley and Justin Marsingill remained on the bench. The latter grabbed a stick, hit a grounder to Farfan on the first pitch, and Farfan airmailed the double play pall past Aparicio for a bases-filling error. – No, Nick, we don’t deserve to win, but we might just do it anyway. Jimmy Wallace ALSO poked at the first pitch, singled past Farfan, and the game was tied – Fowler had to be stopped at third base on Jennings’ arm. Downs then grounded into a force at home, which was such a relief, because there was no hitting for Matt Triolo. Maybe he could stick his hairy bum out? No, he fell to 1-2, then swiped blindly at Aguilar’s next pitch, slapping a ball past a diving Aparicio to walk off the damn Critters for a sweep of the Falcons. 8-7 Critters! M. Fernandez 3-7, RBI; Morales 2-3, 2B, RBI; Wallace 2-4, 3 BB, RBI; Triolo 1-2, RBI; Moore 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Prieto 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Valdes and me froze and stared for about five minutes while the Coons celebrated their walkoff, both of us having our lower jaw hang almost to the floor. Triolo, of all people!!

49 players were used in this clunker of a game. At least the win counts the same as all the others.

We used nine pitchers. Nobody logged more outs than Sabre…

The Titans swept the Baybirds with a 1-0 victory on Wednesday, with the winning run scoring on a wild pitch by Eric Fox (4-2, 2.52 ERA) in the 12th inning. Always stay classy, Baybirds. Always stay classy…

Raccoons (88-64) vs. Canadiens (74-78) – September 26-28, 2036

Dread. I felt nothing but dread. The dreadful Elks were in town. They had been swept during the week, so they were now extra motivated. Not something the Raccoons needed; most of our players struggled in the box right now, and that had also led to some issues with constipation for a few, which made everything else even worse! The damn dreadful Elks led the season series, 8-7…

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (12-11, 3.17 ERA) vs. Joe West (17-9, 3.33 ERA)
Tom Miller (3-0, 0.92 ERA) vs. Josh Weeks (13-13, 3.77 ERA)
Gilberto Rendon (8-8, 4.02 ERA) vs. Corey Booth (11-9, 3.32 ERA)

Weeks was the only southpaw we expected.

Colt Willes was activated from the DL for this series. The plan remained to give him two or three relief outings, then a start against Indy next weekend.

Game 1
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Philips – 1B J. Lopez – SS Cabral – LF LeJeune – 3B Ashley – P J. West
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Wallace – 3B Downs – SS Triolo – P Chavez

The teams stranded five runners between them without scoring in the bottom 1st, with the Raccoons leaving Vickers, Fowler, and Morales when Jimmy Wallace grounded out to second. One o’ THOSE games! It continued with Downs being stranded on third in the second, and Manny stranded on second in the third, and when Valdes asked me whether we’d ever score, I could only sigh and reply, sad, “no…”

But Bernie did his very best and the game remained scoreless, so we all put our brave face on and soldiered on. The bottom 5th began with Hooge drawing a walk in a full count, then a Vickers single on one pitch by West, who was vying for his 18th win and would get it only over my dead body. And then the inning ended with a groundout, strikeout, and groundout… And so it all came crashing down at some point. Bernie whiffed nine in six shutout innings, but the seventh began with a Johnny Lopez double over Fowler’s head, a Ramon Cabral double through Wallace, a walk to Jesse LeJeune, and eventually a Ray Ashley single with one out. The Raccoons sent Prieto when Josh Keen batted for West, who was now in line for his 18th. Keen struck out, but D.J. Robinson hit a single to left-center. Cabral scored, the revolting LeJeune was thrown out at home, and the score was 2-0 at the stretch. I also felt light-headed and dizzy, probably because my heart had crashed into my stomach.

Bottom 7th, Rafael Urbano nicked Hooge to lead off, then allowed a 1-out single to Fernandez after Vickers whiffed. Fowler hit a grounder to left, Cabral missed it, and Hooge scored on the single, 2-1. Urbano went on to NAIL Morales, filling the bags for Wallace, which was not as comfortable a situation as last year. Wallace promptly popped out, after which Cristiano rolled up to me and asked whether I needed a tea or something. I would be looking pale. “I need a base hit”, I gasped, just before Adam Downs shoved a grounder through between Lopez and Robinson. Manny scored, Fowler scored, and the Coons had the lead, 3-2! Color returned to my lips at once, Cristiano found! Stalker batted for Triolo after the damn Elks sent lefty Jordan Calderon, but grounded out.

Top 8th, more drama. Prieto logged another out, then left for Hennessy, who put Jerry Outram aboard with a single and Johnny Lopez via balls with two down. Pat Pohl batted for Cabral, a .275 right-hander, so Wise replaced Hennessy. Wise struck out the pinch-hitter, the only batter he’d face in the game, for the #9 slot led off the bottom 8th. Maldonado, Pinkerton, and Vickers achieved absolutely nothing, while the damn Elks rallied against The Warden! Miguel Santana pinch-ran after Brian Schneider’s leadoff single. Ashley bunted him to second, and Soung walked Edgar Paiz. Josh Stephenson pinch-hit and grounded out, but the tying and go-ahead runs were now both in scoring position. There was another right-hander at the plate in Timóteo Clemente (.226, 10 HR, 49 RBI), with an intentional walk probably ill advised to get up a lefty in Jerry Outram (.277, 22 HR, 83 RBI). Soung was to face Clemente – and got him to swing over a 2-2 breaking pitch. 3-2 Raccoons!! Vickers 2-5; M. Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Downs 3-3, BB, 2 RBI; Chavez 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K;

(exhales mightily and falls onto the good old brown couch, gasping for air)

Boston won, 5-3, against the Loggers. The gap remained one game, and one game only. However – the Titans lost Jermaine Campbell (5-5, 1.73 ERA, 45 SV) with shoulder tendinitis. He might be available for the playoffs, but not for the rest of the regular season.

(Valdes falls on top of him, also gasping for air)

Game 2
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Philips – 1B J. Lopez – SS Cabral – LF LeJeune – 3B Stephenson – P Booth
POR: LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maldonado – 3B Downs – SS Triolo – P Miller

Another game like a glacier – only one base hit in the first three innings, a Vickers single that led nowhere, and when Outram legged out an infield single to begin the fourth for the damn Elks, things went south real fast. Ryan Philips coaxed a walk, Ramon Cabral hit a 2-run triple through Maldonado, and at least LeJeune popped out before Josh Stephenson flew out to running Ed Hooge, keeping it at 2-0. But the Raccoons didn’t even score when both Vickers and Fowler reached on errors in the bottom 4th, with Manny Fernandez’ double play grounder in between not particularly helpful.

And so the game continued, with the Raccoons being consistently hopeless, and the damn Elks just not good enough to topple a very pedestrian Miller. They knocked him out with two outs in the seventh, having two in scoring position after LeJeune and Stephenson singles, whom Booth had bunted into scoring position. Garavito came on to see Robinson, got PH Dusty Mezzanotte instead, but last year’s scourge had lost his touch and grounded out harmlessly, stranding the runners. None of which helped the offense, which had only its third base hit when Tony Morales zinged a 1-out single past Bobby Gonzales at second base in the bottom 7th. Maldonado hit into a double play immediately…

Colt Willes got his warmup appearance, part one, in the top 8th, getting three Elks in a row with a little help from his friends on the infield, while Booth kept holding on to his 2-0 lead through two outs in the bottom 8th before the tying runs reached base on a pair of singles in Maruyama and Hooge. Oh, if only we could get another base hit with two down here… Rich Vickers was in the box, laid off junk twice, then got a fastball. Since he could count to three, he kinda saw it coming. The people in the leftfield stands also saw it coming – a baseball with a scorch mark that was hit for 370 feet to blow the damn Elks’ lead at once! 3-run homer Rich Vickers!!! Incredibly, the goddamn Raccoons ripped another FOUR 2-out base hits off Booth, who was callously left in the game. Fernandez and Fowler singled, Morales hit an RBI single, and Tim Stalker pinch-hit for an RBI double before Adam Downs was retired by Stephenson, keeping the score at 5-2. Soung axed the damn Elks real fast in the ninth, and the Critters had won their sixth in a row…! 5-2 Blighters! Vickers 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Morales 2-4, RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Maruyama 1-1;

Colt Willes got the win, but pitched only one inning since his spot came up unexpectedly in the bottom 8th. Oh well, there’d be more chances.

Not missing a beat: the Titans. They won a 5-4 squeezer against the Loggers, who were sadly no help whatsoever.

Boys! You are exhausting!

Game 3
VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Philips – 1B J. Lopez – SS Cabral – LF LeJeune – 3B Stephenson – P Weeks
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Vickers – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – RF Maldonado – C Wall – 1B Maruyama – 3B Marsingill – P Rendon

Wishing for a 5-spot in the first inning and then a cruise control win was probably too much asked from the boys, with only Manny hitting a single and stealing a base, and then trudging back to the dugout with an 11-game hitting streak, while Fowler grounded out to short. Maldonado hit a leadoff single in the second, stole second base, advanced on a grounder by Kurt Wall, but Maruyama fanned. The Elks pitched to Marsingill with two outs, which instantly backfired when he slapped a ball into centerfield for a 2-out RBI single and the first marker on the scoreboard. Rendon flew out to right, and allowed no hits through three innings, but then had singles slapped off him by both Clemente and Outram to begin the fourth inning. Philips grounded out, Johnny Lopez was drilled with a fastball, and the game was about to get out of hand when the damn Elks limited themselves to a Cabral sac fly to left – with Clemente ALMOST out at home! – before LeJeune popped out. We were tied at one now, though.

Not for long – Weeks walked Maldonado to begin the Coons’ fourth, and when Wall hit a comebacker, Weeks turned to second base before reconsidering, then didn’t even get Wall at first base! Maruyama hit a bender onto the rightfield line for an RBI double, putting Portland in the lead again, 2-1. The Elks this time walked Marsingill intentionally, bringing up Rendon with three on and no outs. He struck out, Stalker hit into a grounder to third base that saw Wall axed at home plate, but then Weeks clumsily walked Vickers with the bags full and two outs, 3-1. Lopez lunged to contain Fernandez’ grounder, ending the inning.

This lead also didn’t last. Rendon was in the sixth when Outram hit a sharp single off him, and probably we should have seen it coming that he was nearing the end of his useful life here at over 90 pitches. Philips still got to see him and bashed a game-tying homer, his 18th of the season. Rendon was settling for a no-decision. Casey Moore would be the next guy to get a shot at a decision for a scoreless top of the seventh (although Mezzanotte singled, which I did not approve of!). Urbano was in for the bottom 7th and issued a leadoff walk to Fernandez. Justin Fowler then hit a fly to deep right, narrowly missed a homer, and instead hit a banger off the fence. Fernandez had misread the play and had thought homer all the way, so had not waited for a play in right, which in turn meant he could score since he was already past second base when the ball hit the wall out there. This broke the tie again, 4-3 Critters in the seventh. Deep flies by Maldonado and Wall were caught, but advanced Fowler twice, allowing him to score.

Moore got another out from Clemente in the eighth before Hennessy was sent against the dangerous left-handers. Outram singled on his first pitch, and Philips grounded to Vickers on his second pitch. The Critters only got the lead runner, but Lopez struck out, ending the inning. Valdes and me exhaled deeply and in unison as another inning ended just barely not with the extinction of our playoff ambitions. The bottom 8th brought nothing useful around, so the ninth saw another save chance, lefty batters, and David Fernandez on the mound. We needed Yeom Soung for the upcoming Titans set – the 1B solution had to do against the damn Elks. If the need would arise, we’d have replacements ready in the pen. Cabral grounded out, but LeJeune singled, bringing up the tying run in Josh Stephenson. He was a right-hander, but the Raccoons wanted the damn Elks to go first with the pitcher’s slot up next, rather than sending f.e. Wise and seeing a lefty pinch-hitter. Stephenson promptly ripped an RBI double, 5-4, and now Pat Pohl pinch-poked against Wise with our pants on fire. He grounded out hard to Stalker, sending the tying run to third base. D.J. Robinson batted with two outs, whiffed, and for the 222nd time in the series, Valdes and me made synchonized groaning noises to celebrate. 5-4 Raccoons. Mauryama 2-4, 2B, RBI; Marsingill 2-2, BB, RBI;

In other news

September 23 – Shoulder tendinitis renders CIN SP Emilio DeClerk (8-9, 4.04 ERA) out for the season.
September 24 – Los Angeles’ SP Dave Christiansen (11-15, 3.77 ERA) throws a no-hitter against the playoff-bound Miners, whiffing nine and allowing two hits in the 4-0 Pacifics win! The no-hitter comes exactly three months after the previous no-hitter, which Salem’s Eric Peck completed, also in the Pacifics’ ballpark, and also in a 4-0 win, but then for the Wolves.
September 25 – OCT 1B Danny Cruz (.236, 22 HR, 82 RBI) is out for the season with a broken knee, but should be ready for Opening Day next season.
September 27 – LVA C Paul Kuehn (.278, 17 HR, 73 RBI) has three hits, two homers, and five RBI in a 14-1 thrashing of the Bayhawks.
September 28 – The Miners become the first team to clinch their division with a 5-3 win over the Capitals. It’s their 11th playoff appearance and the fourth in the last seven years, during which they remarkably have also posted two last place finishes.

Complaints and stuff

The Critters went unbeaten in these crucial times, but the Titans completed their Loggers sweep on Sunday, meaning that BOTH teams had posted 6-0 weeks. Looks like they both meant it!

POR (91-64) – BOS (4), IND (3) – .521 – 54.8% (-1.5%)
BOS (90-65) – POR (4), VAN (3) – .540 – 45.2% (+1.5%)

Which means our 4-game set in Boston will be absolutely mad. I was fearing the absolute worst, when a split wouldn’t be so bad. We had a 7-game winning streak, they had an 8-game winning streak.

I must pack extra underwear…

Fun Fact: The Pacifics had waited over 40 years for another no-hitter.

Angel Romero had spun their last one, in 1994, and before that Bob “Butcher” Haines had no-hit the Capitals in a 4-0 win in 1984. Haines had a 16-year career mostly as swingman, making starts in 11 season, and relieving in all but three of his seasons. He was an All Star five times, and led the Federal League in K/9 during his no-hitter season. He also had double-digit wins and saves in the same season twice, including – again – 1984.

For his career he was 108-73 with a 2.70 ERA and 90 SV. He struck out 1,474 batters in 1,685 innings, leading to him getting only lukewarm interest when he was on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2004, the first year after the abolition of the Secret Ninja Committee for Hall of Fame selections; Haines’ career actually ended in 1992 after 5 1/2 years with the Condors.

05-22-2020, 11:12 PM	#3201
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 956	(From a fan in email to Coons GM) - Things looked a lot bleaker last year as far as where the team was record wise. Chin up, you got this. (Turns to his friend the Elks GM) - Think he will buy it? Last edited by DD Martin; 05-23-2020 at 08:25 PM.

05-23-2020, 01:41 PM	#3202
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Monday dawned and it became clear that Raffaello Sabre needn’t be shot except for mediocrity; he had a mildly sore hamstring and would not even miss his next start. Will the lucky breaks ever end!? Now that I said that, someone will break a leg in the next five minutes… Raccoons (42-38) @ Crusaders (30-49) – July 7-10, 2036 Final week before the All Star Game, and the Crusaders were up as our four-and-four dance partners for this season. Four now in New York, four after the All Star Game in Portland. So far, the Raccoons had won all of the three games with the shambling Crusaders this season. They were sixth in runs scored, decent enough and better than the Critters, but had no pitching or defense to speak of. They were conceding 5.3 runs per game, which was outlandish and the worst mark in the Continental League. Projected matchups: Colt Willes (5-3, 3.51 ERA) vs. Geoff Whitehouse (6-2, 3.06 ERA) Bernie Chavez (4-6, 2.78 ERA) vs. Keith Black (3-8, 5.45 ERA) Jared Ottinger (1-2, 3.98 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (4-9, 4.43 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (2-5, 5.02 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (4-8, 5.53 ERA) All right-handers that New York would throw at us. They had Kenny Elder on the DL, who was somewhat of a regular on the infield for them. What a problem. Having “somewhat of a regular” on the DL. Game 1 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – 2B Hirai – SS Triolo – P Willes NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Whitehouse The Coons went up 1-0 in the first on a Fernandez double over the head of Vinny Chavira, then a Fowler single up the middle. The second inning brought an hour-long rain delay with two Crusaders already on base, then a 1-out RBI single by Jose Balado and a 2-run double by Geoff Whitehouse off the entirely useless, decrepit Willes. The Coons unpacked singles by Downs, Hooge, Fowler, and Morales to tie the game in the following half-inning, but that wouldn’t make Willes’ pitching any better. Through three innings, he scattered six hits, and was near removal, but retired the Crusaders in order in the fourth (with a healthy dose o’ D, but those bystanders on the green parts of the playing surface had to be paid for something …) Top 5th, Downs reached with another single. Hooge struck out, but Fernandez doubled and Fowler was walked intentionally to fill the bases with one down for Tony Morales, who continued his hot paw off the DL and hit a liner down the rightfield line that hit so hard off the fence out there that Fowler had to be stopped at third base – 2-run double, 5-3 lead, and now they walked Maruyama onto the open base to get to Yukitsura Hirai’s .125 clip. He already had a double play in the game and hitting with Vickers was tempting, but this was supposed to be Rich Vickers’ day off. Hirai remained in the game, hit a gapper past Graciano Salto, and another two runs scored, and then Triolo got the third intentional walk of the inning. Up by four, Willes batted for himself and hit a sac fly off Jamie O’Leary in a full count, 8-3, and one more run came home on an Adam Downs single before Hooge grounded to second for his second out of the inning. The bottom 5th brought a Hirai throwing error to put Guillermo Obando on base, a walk to Hurtado, and after Chavira popped out, a 2-run double by Jeremiah Brooks. Willes was yanked after that, with Travis Sims ending the inning without conceding another run in the 9-5 game. Sims got through the sixth, but walked Hurtado to begin the seventh. The Coons sent David Fernandez, who allowed a single to Chavira, then a screaming 3-run homer to Brooks, cutting the lead down to a teeny, tiny run, 9-8. He also had his thumb looked at by Dr. Chung, who seemed to indicate a lack of understanding what Fernandez’ complaint was, but Fernandez left the mound on his own eventually and retreated to the clubhouse. The Coons barely scratched out a scoreless eighth between Casey Moore and Yeom Soung, with Fowler hustling in to catch a soft fly hit by Chavira before it could dink in and do 2-out damage. Soung came on in a double switch, removing Ed Hooge and thus ending his hitting streak at 18 games. He had gone 0-for-5 in the game, and if you’re 0-for-5 you probably deserve it. Chris Wise was unavailable, and so Soung would have to defend himself against righty batters in the bottom 9th with no insurance. PH John Dupuis led off with a grounder to short. Kumanosuke Henderson grounded out to the other Japanese first baseman. And John Hansen disappeared with a grounder to Downs. 9-8 Critters. Downs 3-5, RBI; M. Fernandez 3-5, 2B; Fowler 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Morales 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Maruyama 2-4, BB; So. David Fernandez had a sore thumb. He might be good in two days or so. Maybe. Otherwise we’ll just cut it off and he should work without it. There were still roster moves after this game. Hirai (.176, 0 HR, 2 RBI) was sent back to AAA with Tim Stalker coming off the DL. Travis Sims was also sent back to AAA despite winning his first game, with Antonio Prieto being activated from the DL as well. All is well now! Got our 38-year-old middle infielder and our run-o’-the-mill righty reliever back! Also, Sabre will be fine, and maybe Maldonado, too? No. Who was the one that was hit in the paw with a baseball in Portland? Was that Maldonado? – Dr. Chung?? – Dr. Chung! – I need help with… – Which one was Maldonado though? The hit-by-pitch or the one that had his head wedged in the barrel of pickles? Game 2 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – SS Triolo – P Chavez NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Black Keith Black was giving up about as many walks as strikeouts, and for once the Raccoons pounced on a miserable pitcher right away. Downs and Manny Fernandez hit singles in the first, Fowler and Vickers walked, pushing home the first run, and Maruyama and then Bernie Chavez (!) would both have 2-run base hits in the inning, Maruyama hitting a double to center, and Bernie with a single to left, for a 5-spot to open the game. Given Bernie’s recent ERA, this had to be about two wins’ worth of support, surely. Right? Let’s see. Obando single, stolen base, Hurtado RBI triple, and then a Chavira sac fly, and the Crusaders made up two runs immediately? And where are the good news? Good news included a Vickers sac fly, getting Ed Hooge home after his leadoff double in the top 2nd, 6-2, and the Coons tore up Black for good in the third inning with a walk drawn by Triolo and 1-out singles by Bernie (!) and Downs. Bernie only got to swing at 3-2 and made it count right away. Hooge and Manny both grounded out against replacement Gabe McGill, ending the inning. Now, Bernie wasn’t GREAT… and probably not even GOOD. The Crusaders hit deep flies regularly. Chavira hit one out in the fourth, a solo homer to cut the gap to four, and Salto hit a leadoff single in the sixth, stole second, and scored on Jeremiah Brooks’ sharp single, 7-4. Chavez finished the inning, but at 96 pitches was not going to be around forever… thankfully. But with the pen being as exhausted as it was, he hit for himself in the top 7th (stranding Maruyama on second base) with a grounder, then returned for a final inning, but only faced three batters. Jose Balado doubled to left with one out and Bernie threw a wild pitch before Dupuis struck out in the #9 spot. The Coons sent Prieto, fresh off the DL, he walked Salto, like run-o’-the-mill righties will do, Salto stole second, but Obando hacked out when he was up as the tying run with two gone. The Coons added a run in the ninth against ex-Critter Rin Nomura (that was a long time ago!), who was 37 years old, and who conceded the run on a Vickers single, a groundout by Maruyama, a passed ball, and Kurt Wall legging out a 2-out infield single against the clown-shoed Crusaders defense. Tim Stalker batted for Triolo in his return from the DL, singled up the middle, and Preston Pinkerton hit for Garavito and walked. Downs flung a 2-run single to left, knocking out Nomura, who had indeed seen better days, with Hooge popping out against O’Leary. The 6-run lead then went to Dusty Kulp, who failed to end the game, surrendering a double, a triple, a single, and a walk for two runs, two on, two outs, and Vinny Chavira at the dish. Soung had to come in for the third straight day, netted a grounder to short, and that was the ballgame… 10-6 Raccoons. Downs 3-6, 3 RBI, Triolo 2-3, BB; Stalker (PH) 1-1; At least they beat up on rotten pitching. As long as they outscore our own rotten pitching… Game 3 POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – 3B Marsingill – P Ottinger NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – 2B Sung – CF Balado – P del Rio Ottinger allowed no hits the first time through the order and hit a double in the top of the third inning, at which point it was 1-0 Coons after Maruyama had gone yard to left to start the frame. Del Rio had sat down the first six, and of course I wanted the boys to beat him more than any other pitcher. Downs singled home Ottinger to make it 2-0 before Ed Hooge hit into a double play. Vickers found another double play ball in the fourth after walks to Fowler and Morales. Ottinger ran through four without allowing a base hit until the other Japanese first baseman took it away with a leadoff jack of his own, Henderson to center to cut the lead to 2-1. Top 6th, del Rio and his big mouth got crowded. Hooge hit a 1-out single, then raced to third base on Fernandez’ single. Fowler hit an RBI single to center, and Morales drew ball four in a full count. Vickers came up with three aboard, hit a fly to deep center, but had it caught by Balado. Manny and Fowler advanced, one run came home, but two were stranded once Chiyosaku Maruyama grounded out. With a 4-1 lead, Ottinger lasted six and two thirds before becoming stuck in a barrel of pickles again and requiring manual disentangling with a lever. John Hansen on third, Jose Balado on first, and left-handed batter Hirofumi Saito hitting in the #9 slot, the Coons turned to Mauricio Garavito, who got a grounder to Vickers for the third out, just when we needed it most…! Against J.D. Hamm in the eighth, Fernandez and Fowler reached base with one out. They pulled off a double steal against unsuspecting Crusaders (every team’s in the **** for a reason!), and a Morales single and a Vickers sac fly each brought in a tack-on run, 6-1. Maruyama then grounded out to Hansen to strand Morales. That was the last scary bit in the game – Garavito in the eighth and Wise in the ninth kept the Crusaders out of scoring position to begin with, and from showing off the tying run someplace with a fancy name (like on deck) altogether. 6-1 Critters! M. Fernandez 2-4; Fowler 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Morales 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Ottinger 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (2-2) and 1-3, 2B; This series has gone better than expected, but now comes the weakest link in the rotation right now. Well, except for Willes… Game 4 POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Rendon NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P E. Cannon Rendon retired New York in order the first time through, but had only one strikeout, while the rest was defense including some outfield dashes. The Coons were up 1-0, with Rendon involved with a 1-out single in the third inning. Ed Hooge’s triple into the rightfield corner scored him, but Fernandez grounded out to strand him at third base. Portland did go up 2-0 in the fourth with Fowler’s leadoff home run to left, his 15th of the season. Then came the bottom of the fourth… Salto led off with an infield single, stole second, and scored on an Obando single. When Hurtado hit a comebacker, Rendon kicked and booted that for an error. Chavira hacked out, and then Brooks hit another comebacker. Rendon didn’t dare fudging that one, too, and got the 1-6-3 double play this time. New York hit into another double play in the fifth and Rendon got through seven innings when Chavira was on base in the bottom 7th, but was caught stealing for the third out there. Seven fine frames would be all for Rendon, with Casey Moore taking over in the bottom of the eighth against the 6-7-8 batters. He walked Hansen, PH Hirofumi Saito popped out, and PH Greg Ortiz grounded to left – and just through between Marsingill and Downs for a single. Uh-oh. Salto was up, ran a 3-1 count, hit a bouncer in front of home plate, Tony Morales pounced like a cat and threw to first base in time to end the inning! With nothing more than a Stalker single in the ninth, the Critters didn’t get an insurance run they might have wanted, so Wise was sent out with no cushion against the 2-3-4 batters in the bottom 9th. Guillermo Obando struck out in a full count. Mario Hurtado struck out on three pitches. Chavira singled to left, Brooks singled to right, and the tying and winning runs were on the corners for Kumanosuke Henderson, and as Wise’s meltdown continued, he walked him. That brought up .268 hitter John Hansen with three aboard and two down. The Coons could have sent Prieto… but stuck to Wise. The right-handed got ahead, 1-2, before Hansen hit a pop behind home plate. Morales tossed the mask and circled around in front of the protective netting – and the ball came down into his glove, one foot away from going out of play! 2-1 Furballs! Hooge 2-4, 3B, RBI; Stalker 2-3; Rendon 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (3-5); Raccoons (46-38) @ Indians (35-52) – July 11-13, 2036 From here, buoyed by the sweep, it was on to Indy for the last set before the All Star Game. The Arrowheads had resisted the Titans only in name, but had at least won one game of their four-game set, so the Raccoons were now five games out in the division. Indy was second from the bottom in runs scored, and fourth from the bottom in runs allowed. Their run differential was -57, but growing, and while their rotation was decent, their pen was the second-worst in the game. The Coons were up 7-2 in the season series. Projected matchups: Raffaello Sabre (4-5, 4.13 ERA) vs. Mike Hurley (2-0, 2.65 ERA) Colt Willes (5-3, 3.72 ERA) vs. Josh Walsh (5-10, 5.04 ERA) Bernie Chavez (5-6, 2.93 ERA) vs. Arnie Terwilliger (8-6, 3.32 ERA) Southpaw on Sunday! Game 1 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – 1B Maruyama – C Morales – 2B Vickers – CF Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Sabre IND: C E. Thompson – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – CF Baron – SS Zeltser – 1B Acor – P Hurley Every team was in the ** for a reason – like batting Elliott Thompson leadoff. Or so I thought until Sabre walked him. However, Sabre’s first NINE pitches were ball, so maybe it wasn’t Thompson and the problem was entirely confined to the mound. With two on, Jeremy Leftwich flew out to center, but Dan Hutson singled to right. Thompson was sent from second base and thrown out by Fernandez, because catchers aren’t runners. Josh Garbinski flew out to right to strand a pair. The Coons got nothing against the 25-year-old Hurley, an undrafted free agent that had gone to the beer league before being signed by the Indians in ’35. This was his fourth major league start and it didn’t look like the Coons could make him lose his first. Through six, they scratched out three singles and didn’t reach third base even once. When, with Tony Morales on first and one out, Rich Vickers did drive a long fly to right, the ball bent foul. Vickers singled on the next pitch, however, moving the tying run as far as second base! And then Maldonado chomped a fastball into a double play… Tim Stalker singled in Sabre’s spot in the eighth inning, but that was again all. For good news – the Indians couldn’t believe it either and removed Hurley for the ninth inning. Tim Thweatt got the baseball in the ninth of a 1-0 game, facing the middle of the order. Many Fernandez hit a double right away. Now, the Coons still had Fowler on the bench on a needed day off. Hitting him for Maruyama would only provoke four wide ones ahead of a chronic double play threat (Morales), so we decided to wait. Maruyama popped out, which surprised no one, but Morales zinged a ball up the middle, past the defenders, and into shallow center. Fernandez around third, no throw – tied ballgame!! Fowler hit for Vickers, struck out, and so did Maldonado. The game went to extras thanks to a quick ninth by David Fernandez. Thweatt and Dusty Kulp saw of the opposition in the 10th, but when lefty Ben Stodolka, a rookie in his eighth game with an ERA over nine, came into the game, Manny Fernandez hit a 1-out double in the 11th. But the Critters had no more tricks to pull – only Kurt Wall was left on the bench – and had to bat exactly as advertised on the scoreboard. Maruyama was walked, bringing up Morales, who flew out to center. Crucially, Manny Fernandez shuffled his hairy bum to third base on the play. When Stodolka uncorked a ball over the head of his catcher and the umpire that also sent #6 batter Justin Marsingill to the ground in terror, Fernandez raced home to break the tie, 2-1! Marsingill flew out to Dustin Acor to end the inning, after which the Coons had Wise not available once more. Their options were indeed precious few, with the pen routinely overcooked at this stage. Soung got the ball in the end. Dave Serrato flew out to Hooge. Elliott Thompson whiffed. Dan Schneller grounded to short, Triolo to first – ballgame! 2-1 Blighters! M. Fernandez 2-5, 2 2B; Stalker (PH) 1-1; Sabre 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K; Six wins in a row! Now give it back to Willes so he can ing end it. The baseball gods threw a spanner in the works, though, and persistent rain wiped out the Saturday contest. A double-header was scheduled for Sunday. Of course, Sunday was also the last game before the All Star break. The Coons would make a conscious effort to not run out their two non-DL’ed position player going to the showcase in both games (except for pinch-hitting). Those were Manny Fernandez and Justin Fowler. Since they were both left-handed batters, they would face Walsh in the first game, and sit against Terwilliger. The Raccoons flipped their two starters – Bernie Chavez would go in the first game, and Willes in the second. Neither of them made the All Star team. Game 2 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Chavez IND: C E. Thompson – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – CF Baron – SS Zeltser – 1B Rempfer – P J. Walsh Two four-pitch walks and a Fernandez single loaded the bases with Justin Fowler with nobody out in the first inning, but he popped out in a full count. Morales popped out to shallow left, but Stalker hit a 2-run single to the left side with those two gone. Maldonado hit a liner to left, too, but Garbinski snared that one. Indy tied the game without making an out. Maldonado’s error put Thompson on base, and Dan Schneller took Bernie Chavez yard to knot the score at two. So that was why Chavez didn’t make the All Star team…… A Garbinski homer in the fourth put the Indians ahead, 3-2, but Walsh didn’t allow another base hit until Fowler singled in the sixth and was stranded right there… Bernie was lifted after six, Dan Hutson homered off Garavito in the eighth for an insurance run, and the Raccoons were still limited to three base hits by the time the ninth inning and Tim Thweatt rolled around. Fowler grounded out. Morales whiffed. Stalker grounded out. 4-2 Indians. That game took two hours and small change. Game 3 POR: SS Downs – RF Pinkerton – LF Hooge – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – C Wall – CF Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Willes IND: SS Zeltser – 2B Schneller – RF Leftwich – 3B Hutson – LF Garbinski – CF Baron – C J. Herrera – 1B Rempfer – P Terwilliger The Indians were hitless the first time through, but … oh well. After Willes, the master of disaster, walked Brent Rempfer on four pitches to begin the bottom 3rd, he also fumbled away Terwilliger’s bunt to add a second runner. When Bob Zeltser lined to left, Ed Hooge came on a-sliding, didn’t get the ball, was hit in the snout instead, and the Indians scored the first run on what was charitably called a double. Oh well, at least he didn’t Hooge didn’t have his jaw broken….. After Schneller brought in his pitcher with a groundout, Willes balked Zeltser to third base, then surrendered that run on a plenty deep sac fly Jeremy Leftwich hit to Hooge, 3-0. Then Willes walked Hutson on four pitches. Somehow, Garbinski grounded out, but the horror was real as the Indians scored three runs on one “hit”. John Baron homered off Willes in the following inning, and that game was about over. Terwilliger conceded one hit through four, which looked pretty dominant. Maldonado hit a gap double with one out in the fifth, then scored when Justin Marsingill ceased being an automatic out and singled past Zeltser. Willes was – although we could and should know better! – not immediately pinch-hit for. He bunted the runner over, Downs hit a soft single to get the tying run to the plate, but that was Preston Pinkerton, and he grounded out to Rempfer, ending the inning. Willes logged no more outs, with Zeltser’s leadoff single, a gruesome to watch Maldonado error in center on a Schneller fly, and a Leftwich single loading the bases for the Arrowheads. Antonio Prieto came in to stem the tide, but might well have tried to pull the sinking Titanic to land single-handedly. He balked in one run, conceded the others on separate singles, Wall chipped in a passed ball with Juan Herrera batting, and Herrera hit the next pitch for a 2-run single. At that point it was 9-1, and the Raccoons would definitely drop to six games out again. Prieto was yanked for Kulp, because garbage innings required a garbage pitcher, and Rempfer hit into an inning-ending double play against him. Bottom 6th, Maruyama ed up Terwilliger’s groundball for an error, and Kulp was so startled for that misplay that he got taken deep by Bob Zeltser, 11-1. The Coons scored three unearned runs in the seventh that were to blame on a magnificent throwing error by Dan Hutson, with Rich Vickers hitting a 2-run single after the 2-out error had already scored Marsingill. Top 8th, Maldonado (nailed) and Marsingill (single) were on against Shane Jacobs with one out. Manny Fernandez pinch-hit and slapped an RBI single to right, and things threatened to become interesting again when Adam Downs walked and Preston Pinkerton suddenly singled home two. That cut the gap to 11-7, with the tying run appearing in the on-deck circle in form of Vickers. Cesar Castillo replaced Jacobs, conceded a run on a groundout, then yielded for Mitch Brothers, who got Vickers to ground out to Zeltser, stopping the rally at 11-8. David Fernandez held the Indians away in the bottom 8th, with Thweatt back at work, never tiring apparently. Stalker pinch-hit for Maruyama to begin the ninth inning, but grounded out. Morales batted for Wall, but flew out. Maldonado was not hit for – and grounded out. 11-8 Indians. Downs 2-4, BB, 2B; Marsingill 3-4, 2B, RBI; M. Fernandez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Justin Fowler would have batted as the tying run, but that situation never came to pass. In other news July 7 – The Titans send veteran outfielder Adrian Reichardt (.299, 2 HR, 7 RBI) to the Warriors for a minor leaguer and a prospect. July 7 – DAL LF Abel Madsen (.311, 10 HR, 56 RBI) will miss a month with an intercostal strain. July 8 – The Knights report in the morning that they expect OF/1B/2B Luis Inoa (.302, 9 HR, 43 RBI) to miss two weeks with a back strain, then go on to destroy the Condors at night, 19-1. Both Vincent Zesati (.259, 1 HR, 10 RBI) and Keith Thomson (.287, 1 HR, 18 RBI) have five hits each. They have two and one RBI, respectively, but score five and three runs, in that order. Even ATL SP Armando Zaragoza (9-4, 3.58 ERA) scores four times in the rout. July 9 – SFB INF Jose Cruz (.326, 2 HR, 40 RBI) dumps two singles in a 5-3 loss to the Aces for a 20-game hitting streak. July 10 – Dallas’ SP Jong-hoo Cho (8-6, 4.56 ERA) 2-hits the Wolves in a 4-0 shutout. July 11 – The hitting streak of SFB Jose Cruz (.324, 3 HR, 41 RBI) ends at 21 games in a 11-2 rout suffered by the Bayhawks against the Condors. July 11 – PIT OF Ozzie Burgos (.327, 7 HR, 33 RBI) would miss a month with a bruised kneecap. July 12 – The Titans pick up RF/LF Oscar Mendoza (.267, 3 HR, 24 RBI) from the Pacifics, parting with three prospects. Complaints and stuff Well, at least that’s this month’s game where they play like little ***s banging their heads together for hours out of the way! Sunday was grim. Sunday was hard to watch. Games in Indy, huh!? The Raccoons had four All Stars, three of which were not on the DL. Berto was the one that was* on the DL, and had been there for over a month. He was voted in anyway. It was his sixth All Star nomination and the third in a row. The other Critters going to the game where Manny Fernandez, Justin Fowler, and technically-rookie Yeom Soung. Fernandez was an All Star for the first time, but Fowler had been there and seen it; he was included for the eighth time and the second time while on the Raccoons. Maybe the curse also befalls players no longer on the Coons? Ed Blair, now a Condor, but three years a Critter, tore his UCL and would miss most of next season for Tommy John surgery. *Fun Fact:* Almost seven years ago the Raccoons traded Rin Nomura to the Gold Sox in a 5-player deal, receiving, among others, Bernie Chavez. Shedding some salary aside, that was a great deal. Rin Nomura never had an effective season with the Gold Sox, was decent for the Wolves for a year or two, but slipped into the bullpen eventually and hasn’t been worth a full point of WAR the last four years combined. Who else was in the deal? Denver got infield prospect Miguel Lopez, who never played above AA ball and retired four years ago. He had been signed for $21k as an international free agent in July of ’25. The Coons also got SP Kyle Anderson in the trade, who was decent for half a season, then went elsewhere and retired in ’34, also after slipping into the bullpen. The fifth player in the deal, left-hander Allen Reed, only made 55 more appearances as reliever before retiring with a 4.61 career ERA. Ya – we won THAT trade! Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

05-23-2020, 06:07 PM	#3203
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	All Star Game Dan Schneller wins MVP honors in the CL’s 4-1 win over the FL in the 2036 All Star Game. Schneller has two hits, a walk, a double, and drives in half the CL’s runs. For the Coons, Justin Fowler starts the game and goes 0-for-4, while Manny Fernandez pinch-hits and remains hitless. Yeom Soung is not used. Raccoons (47-40) vs. Crusaders (33-54) – July 17-20, 2036 Back home again, the Raccoons tried to stretch their 7-0 record this year against the Crusaders just a wee tad further. New York remained dismal and was by now 20 games out in the division. After the rough humping the Coons dealt them for most of the previous week’s series, they were even near 5.4 runs allowed per game. Projected matchups: Raffaello Sabre (4-5, 3.93 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (4-9, 5.31 ERA) Bernie Chavez (5-7, 2.93 ERA) vs. Geoff Whitehouse (6-3, 3.86 ERA) Colt Willes (5-4, 3.92 ERA) vs. Keith Black (3-10, 6.02 ERA) Jared Ottinger (2-2, 3.52 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (5-10, 4.28 ERA) Still all righties here. Game 1 NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P E. Cannon POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Sabre Portland scored first, with three runs coming on one swing by Tim Stalker in the bottom of the second inning after Cannon had walked Fowler and conceded a single to Tony Morales. Stalker’s shot to left-center gave Sabre, who had been wonky in the first inning, a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, Sabre remained wonky going forward, Jeremiah Brooks hit a 2-out double to center in the fourth, and Kumanosuke Henderson took Sabre deep to left, shortening the score to 3-2. However – Portland had something brewing in the bottom of the inning. Tim Stalker, quite steady since coming off the DL, hit a 2-out single, and Jesus Maldonado legged out a roller for an infield single! That brought up … Matt Triolo, who had already gotten 74 at-bats, for which even “we had injuries” was hardly an excuse anymore. For a stunner, Triolo doubled to left, plating both runners, and then scored when Sabre dinked a single into left-center. When Downs popped out, the Coons had a second 3-spot and a 6-2 lead! Triolo was back at the plate in the bottom 5th, with Morales, Stalker, and Maldonado on base. Ed Hooge had already singled, stolen second base, and scored on Morales’ single to extend the lead to five, or as many RBI as Triolo had accumulated in 75 at-bats. Here, he grounded out to short, stranding a complete assortment of runners. Hooge walked and stole a base and scored again (on a Fernandez single) to make it 8-2 in the sixth and the game seemed quite securely in the bag. Sabre would go eight, dropping another run on a Hirofumi Saito single and a double by Graciano Salto in his final frame, but that was that for him, and not even Dusty Kulp had any unhappy accidents in the ninth inning. 8-3 Raccoons! Marsingill (PH) 1-1, 2B; Morales 3-4, RBI; Stalker 3-4, HR, 3 RBI; Maldonado 2-4; Sabre 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (5-5) and 1-3, RBI; And that was 8-0 against New York! Oh boy, Slappy, will we ever lose again!? Game 2 NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Whitehouse POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Stalker – 1B Maruyama – 3B Marsingill – P Chavez Vinny Chavira doubled home Mario Hurtado in the very first inning, so we were at least trailing for the time being, and that came after Guillermo Obando’s grounder to short erased Salto’s leadoff single. Hurtado and Chavira both walked in the fourth, but the Crusaders got only one run on a Henderson sac fly, however, the Critters had yet to get much of anything. As the game dumpled along, neither pitcher was really convincing. Through five, Chavez struck out three, and Whitehouse only one, and that was Chavez, who in turn walked Whitehouse in the fifth inning… The Coons remained shut out on three hits into the bottom 6th when Justin Fowler unleashed fury with a solo homer, cutting the gap in two. Tim Stalker then doubled to left and tumbled into second base, then barely had enough strength to raise an arm to call for the trainer. Boy, had I seen that enough this year… (opens another bottle of Capt’n Coma). Since Dr. Chung couldn’t be bothered, two of the bench players had to go out there and walk Stalker off the field. Rich Vickers replaced him once more, then scored the tying run on Chiyosaku Maruyama’s single to center. Bernie fought his way through seven in the tie and a slight drizzle, because that was what summer in Portland looked like, then was hit for to begin the bottom 7th. Preston Pinkerton flew out easily in his spot, and no win materialized for Bernie once again, with only Adam Downs reaching on a single, then was left stranded. In turn, the Crusaders got Obando on base against Casey Moore in the top 8th. Hurtado grounded out to move the runner into scoring position with two outs, with David Fernandez coming on and conceding that run against the lefty batter he was tasked with retiring… With New York up 3-2, they sent Whitehouse back out, with the 4-5-6 batters retired without issue in the bottom 8th. Prieto held the Crusaders away in the ninth, but the Coons had to rally against right-hander Mike Hugh with the bottom of the order. Maruyama, Marsingill, and Wall were retired in order… 3-2 Crusaders. Downs 2-4, 2B; Maruyama 2-3, BB, RBI; Chavez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Well, they lost again …! (hugs bottleneck again with his bitemarked lips) That aside, Tim Stalker was also lost again with a torn quad, which would likely keep him out of action until late August. Faced with a lack of good options, the Coons had to call up Yukitsura Hirai again, who had batted .176 his first go-around… Game 3 NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P Black POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 2B Vickers – C Wall – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Willes Willes lasted 22 pitches and two scoreless innings before leaving with an injury, which left me motionless and frozen until well after Rich Vickers put the Coons up 1-0 through five with a solo homer. Dusty Kulp pitched three scoreless to get in line for the W, none of which I remembered watching afterwards. So that was it felt like to be dead inside. Even then it was all foggy and murky. Vickers’ homer was the only Coons hit through six, but the Crusaders weren’t much better. When John Hansen hit a 2-out triple off Garavito in the seventh, that was only their third base knock of the game. Casey Moore replaced him and got a K to strand the tying run 90 feet away. As things remained bizarre, Keith Black hit a leadoff single in the eighth against Moore, but the Crusaders twice hit into a fielder’s choice before Hurtado coaxed a walk out of Moore. With two on and two outs, and lefty pinch-hitter Saito hitting for the left-handed Chavira (!), Yeom Soung came in, and also got the much-needed K. After another inning of nothing in the bottom 8th, it was up to Chris Wise against the Crusaders, beginning with PH Michael Duryea, who drew a walk. Henderson grounded out, advancing the runner, Hansen grounded out, not advancing him. Yeong-ha Sung was up with two outs, a .333 switch-hitter with few at-bats to his name. He hit a double to right, Wise walked the next guy, then gave up a 3-run homer to Salto. The Raccoons died a silent death against Mike Hugh in the bottom 9th. 4-1 Crusaders. Kulp 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; Vickers’ homer was the Coons only run prior to Chris Wise **ing the game all to hell. It was the last blown save for him. For the second time he had his closing privileges revoked. Yeom Soung was named closer on Sunday morning. No news on Willes yet – Dr. Chung claims a backlog of paperwork with his status updates to the office in Pyongyang. I didn’t know we had an office in Pyongyang…? Game 4 NYC: LF Salto – SS Obando – 2B M. Hurtado – RF Chavira – C Brooks – 1B K. Henderson – 3B Hansen – CF Balado – P del Rio POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – CF M. Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Vickers – RF Pinkerton – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Ottinger Henderson single, Hansen walk, Balado single – the Crusaders went up 1-0 in the second inning. And the Raccoons even got a base hit before the first fans went home, a Preston Pinkerton single in the bottom 2nd. While Pinkerton of course didn’t score, Ottinger soon became mired in runners, losing command over any and all of his pitches, quickly leading to an exploding pitch count, though not yet scoreboard. He walked four and whiffed seven through four innings, but in that fourth inning the Crusaders loaded the bases before Salto grounded out to short to strand all of them. Then PORTLAND loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth inning. Fernandez, Morales, and Vickers all hit 1-out singles, bringing up, well, Preston Pinkerton. He hit a soft looper over the raised glove of John Hansen for a very soft RBI single, keeping the bags full for Maldonado, who grounded out, but at least that still gave the Coons the lead, 2-1. Triolo was bypassed to get Ottinger to ground out, but the Coons were on the corners in the bottom 5th after Hooge walked and Fernandez singled with one out. Tony Morales hit a 2-2 pitch to right, Chavira raced in, then pulled up at the last second to play it on a hop – RBI single, 3-1, but Fernandez had to park at second base (and Hooge barely scored, almost freezing at third base). Vickers and Pinkerton made the final outs without much fuss. Ottinger began the sixth on 97 pitches, so the pen would have to be bothered early in this game, again. He struck out two and got a pop from Jose Balado, but six frames would be all for him in this game. Bottom 6th, Maldonado chopped a leadoff single past Hansen, then stole second base before del Rio walked Triolo in a full count. Justin Fowler pinch-hit for Ottinger, but hit a sorry grounder to short – however, the ball was hit so poorly that Obando had to race in for it, wouldn’t get two, and didn’t even get one with a fumble that let Fowler reach first base on the error. There were now three on and no outs for Adam Downs and me and Honeypaws were bickering feverishly for tack-on runs, while Slappy drank on silently. And yet, all the Coons got from this fat chance was a Hooge sac fly. Downs popped out on the infield before him, and Fernandez went down on strikes. Prieto struck out the side in the seventh inning, then walked Hurtado to begin the eighth. Garavito took over, but Hurtado stole a base, advanced on a grounder, and scored on a sac fly hit by Jeremiah Brooks, 4-2. Kumanosuke Henderson whiffed, ending the top 8th. Maldonado and Marsingill did nothing in the bottom 8th before Kurt Wall pinch-hit and doubled to center, but remained flat on his back after sliding into second base. He crawled off the field eventually, with Hirai pinch-running, and me laughing madly at the absurdity of it all. Downs grounded out, rendering all the pain and effort moot, and then it was Yeom Soung against the bottom of the order. He retired them in order. 4-2 The Walking Dead. M. Fernandez 2-4; Morales 2-4, RBI; Pinkerton 2-4, RBI; Triolo 0-1, 2 BB; Wall (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ottinger 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 9 K, W (3-2); In other news July 14 – LVA SP Chris Crowell (6-7, 2.99 ERA) is out for the season with a herniated disc, which will certainly hurt the Aces’ bid for the South. July 14 – Salem acquires 2B Alex Meza (.272, 6 HR, 39 RBI) from the Buffaloes, parting with outfielder Rai Higashi (.243, 1 HR, 7 RBI). July 15 – The Condors take on the Thunder’s ex-closer Steve Bailey (2-7, 6.47 ERA, 14 SV), leaving Oklahoma with two prospect, including #31 SP Dan Minelli. July 18 – The Thunder tie their game with the Falcons in the ninth inning and win it in the 17th on a walkoff RBI double by 1B Danny Cruz (.255, 12 HR, 54 RBI). Both teams use nine pitchers each, and the Thunder’s first two – SP Paul Peters (4-10, 3.59 ERA) and MR Steve Gowan (1-0, 3.33 ERA) – both leave the game with injuries long before they can seal their pyrrhic victory. July 19 – In the Knights’ 15-0 whitewash rout of the Knights, every position player in the Condors’ lineup has at least one hit, one run, and one RBI. Jason Bensinger (.300, 9 HR, 36 RBI) piles up the most countables, with three hits, four RBI, and two runs scored. July 19 – The Stars drop to the Wolves, 2-1 in 16 innings. Despite ample time to get base hits, the Stars land only six knocks in 50 at-bats. July 20 – DEN SP Kyle Dominy (6-7, 4.14 ERA) was out for the season with shoulder inflammation. Complaints and stuff** Is that the new number, Steve? – That one? – Oh dear. $7,108,111… Steve from Accounting, says. That’s the new total DL bill with the Wall injury and re-addition to the DL of Tim Stalker, who by the way batted .529 (9-for-17) in his brief time amongst the living. Good one, baseball gods. Good one. Note that Colt Willes is not included in the total because Dr. Chung has not yet processed him… Kurt Wall was befallen by back stiffness, which was probably an old age problem. Young Raccoons fans (all two of them, I hear) take to Jared Ottinger, who seems to post a lot of funny pictures on Gobble, or what young Raccoons fans (all two of them) find funny at least. Cristiano showed me some material. I was not impressed. But apparently ‘Ottie50’ has a following. – Maud, we need kids’ t-shirts with Ottinger’s face on it! – Ot-tin-ger! – Yes, Maud. Ottie. The kids better not get attached to him. In three years since being drafted #25 in the 2033 draft, Ottinger has been reported injured or ill six times, including twice with elbow tendinitis and once with back spasms. A 23-year-old in a 37-year-old’s body, always nice. Next week the dismal furred wrecking balls will be out of sight for a few days, travelling to Elk City for their likely elimination from contention. The road trip would in any case finish in San Francisco on the weekend, but we’d also have the Condors at home in Portland to finish the month, so there was always more to not look forward to. *Fun Fact:* The most games the Raccoons ever won in a season against a CL North opponent is 16, achieved against the Loggers in 2014. Losing two to New York this weekend means they can still match that mark, but no longer beat it. Yeah, like that is our chief concern… Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

05-25-2020, 04:46 PM	#3204
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	More than any other year I could remember, sending the boys off to a series in Elktown was like waving your handkerchief at the train which carried the young men of the village off towards the frontline. You just knew that they’d be shot and dinged up, and hardly half of them would come back in one piece, the others being left for dead on the battlefield or grisly maimed. Raccoons (49-42) @ Canadiens (43-50) – July 21-23, 2036 The Critters were up 6-3 in the season series, which never meant much of anything against the monsters with many tentacles and hooves of the North. They had swept the Loggers coming out of the All Star break and were lusting for more. Their pitching was about league average, but they were lacking in offense. Projected matchups: Gilberto Rendon (3-5, 4.63 ERA) vs. Nick Danieley (4-8, 4.61 ERA) Raffaello Sabre (5-5, 3.89 ERA) vs. Joe West (10-7, 3.56 ERA) Bernie Chavez (5-7, 2.92 ERA) vs. Bryce Neal (8-9, 3.63 ERA) Neal was the sole left-hander we were expecting. The Raccoons put Kurt Wall on the DL to begin the week and recalled Chris Manning. There were no news on Colt Willes so far, and I would busy myself trying to work out a deal with some other team for some other player … it was admittedly all rather vague at the present time… As of Monday, the Raccoons didn’t even know whether they were buyers or sellers; and if they were sellers, was there even anything with four legs left to sell…?? Game 1 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – P Rendon VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – 1B J. Lopez – LF LeJeune – RF Korecky – SS Schneider – 3B Stephenson – P Danieley A Jesse LeJeune single, three walks, and a wild pitch booked Rendon for two runs in the first inning, and he could consider himself lucky that he was well out of the blunderbuss’ effective range of fire. That aside it was just a typical Elktown game: the Raccoons did absolutely nothing, collecting two hits in four innings, and the damn Elks opened the bottom 4th with not one, but two infield singles by Will Korecky and Brian Schneider and somehow turned that into a third run on a sac fly hit by their pitcher. Danieley was the only damn Elk to hit the ball out of the infield in that inning… When Rich Vickers reached on an error by Schneider in the top 5th, Maruyama was quick to wrap him up in a double play before somehow the Coons reaccumulated on base again. Triolo hit a single, Rendon hit a single, and Adam Downs hit an RBI single to right. Ed Hooge, clearly off the hot streak (but not the hot sauce) now, struck out, stranding the tying runs. In response, the damn Elks flagellated Rendon for four singles (another Korecky infield single in there, too…) and two runs before he was yanked in the bottom 5th. Prieto replaced him, allowed an RBI single to Schneider, then got a pop to short that Matt Triolo, the useless **, dropped to allow Josh Stephenson on base and Korecky to score, 7-1. The game was really over by then. Danieley went eight innings, scattering seven hits for one run, and no sudden fire was lit under the Coons’ furry bums in the ninth inning, either. 7-1 Canadiens. M. Fernandez 3-4, 2B; Triolo 2-4, 2B; We’ll just put that in the Sell column then…. With a tear biceps, Colt Willes (5-4, 3.85 ERA) was sent to the DL on Tuesday. He was probably out for the season, although a comeback in September was not impossible. The question was whether anybody even wanted him back after he had won but one of his last FOURTEEN starts. So that was another guy in the unmarked mass grave behind the ballpark. Stretched for spares, the Raccoons brought up Josh Livingston, last year’s surprise (first pleasant, then not so much), who had gone 2-6 with a 3.05 ERA in nine starts in AAA this year. He had also spent two months on the DL with an elbow strain, because that was just what this ing year was all about. Game 2 POR: SS Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – P Sabre VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – C Clemente – CF Outram – RF Phillips – 1B J. Lopez – LF LeJeune – SS Cabral – 3B Stephenson – P J. West The Coons had four hits the first time through, but never one with somebody already on base. Rich Vickers was picked off first to make that even mathematically possible. The damn Elks weren’t much more successful, either, landing three hits off Sabre, also never disturbing the peace with somebody on the basepaths. Top 5th, Justin Marsingill – who, yes, indeed had spent all year on the 25-man roster without getting noticed – hit a leadoff single to left. Sabre bunted him over, and Ramon Cabral fumbled Downs’ grounder for an error, placing them on the corners for Ed Hooge with one down – by far the best shot the Critters had gotten all day long. Hooge hit a sac fly to center for the first run of the game, Fernandez singled, and Fowler stranded two with a strikeout… In the bottom of the inning there was a clinic for what effective 2-out hitting looked like. With Cabral (single) and Stephenson (walk) in scoring position and two gone, D.J. Robinson hit a gapper to right-center for a double, flipped the score, and doubtlessly sent the Critters careening towards their second straight loss and, by extension, their doom. Stephenson’s leadoff triple off Sabre in but brief a time led to a third Elks run, with the score now an unrecoverable 3-1. When Ed Hooge drew a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, the Coons hit two grounders and a lazy fly to keep him on base. Garavito kept the damn Elks where they were for one out in the seventh and three in the eighth, before the Coons faced Rafael Urbano and his 2.63 ERA in the ninth. Vickers struck out. Maldonado hit a bloop single, which was better than nothing. With the tying run up, desperation bore the idea of batting Maruyama for Marsingill, but the Japanese roster filler grounded out. This moved Maldonado to third base after he had already advanced on an errant pickoff attempt by backup catcher Edgar Paiz. Preston Pinkerton batted for Garavito, struck out, and that was the ballgame. 3-1 Canadiens. Hooge 1-1, BB, RBI; Maldonado 2-4; Definitely no point in buying… …except booze. Booze is always right. – Hey!! (hits on the counter at the liquor store to get the juvenile-looking attendant’s attention) I said BOOZE! – I don’t CARE whether there’s 30% off on the Dud Light! I want BOOZE, not your piss-colored, piss-flavored, kiddie lemonade!! – I’m a connoisseur, for ’s sake! Now, what’s with those plastic gallon jugs o’ Nebraska wine with the screw cap…? – Three for the price of two? – Make it six. Game 3 POR: SS Downs – RF Pinkerton – LF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maldonado – 3B Marsingill – 2B Hirai – C Manning – P Chavez VAN: 2B D.J. Robinson – SS Cabral – CF Outram – RF Phillips – 1B J. Lopez – LF LeJeune – C Paiz – 3B Stephenson – P Neal Both teams managed only one hit and no runs through four innings. Bernie started with three strikeouts in the first before Ryan Phillips singled in the bottom 2nd. Johnny Lopez doubled him off and it was smooth sailing from there for Chavez. And oh, if only the offense could do something against a damn Elks pitcher…! When Maldonado led off the fifth with a single to right-center, Marsingill immediately doubled him off. Yukitsura Hirai singled to center with two outs, Chris Manning walked, and now Bernie was up with two gone, zinged a 3-2 pitch to left, singled, and plated Hirai for the first run of the game. Adam Downs then rolled out to short on the very next pitch, and running the bases even a little bit had unfortunately irreparably ed up Bernie Chavez’ rhythm and the damn Elks hit three singles on seven pitches to begin the bottom 5th, loading the bags for Paiz. The catcher struck out, but Stephenson singled to left to score two, the runners advanced on Fernandez’ hopeless throw to home plate, Bryce Neal hit a 2-run single to right, and, Honeypaws, it really all is just pointless. (unscrews jug of Nebraska wine) Don’t hiss at me, I didn’t know it was yours! – Well, your name isn’t on it, mister! – There isn’t even the name of the place where they trampled it on the jug!! The bottom 6th began with a Phillips homer, and Lopez and LeJeune hit singles, knocking out Chavez with nobody out and two aboard in a 5-1 game. Chris Wise replaced him, but the ing hole gave up a single to Paiz and, after Stephenson struck out by accident, a 2-run double up the rightfield line to Neal. That one *ing starting pitcher on the ing Elks had now driven in more runs in this game than the stupid ty Coons in the entire ing series! That was how you recognized a quality team! Robinson hit a sac fly, Cabral hit an RBI double, Jerry Outram hit an RBI single, and Phillips walked. Wise was put on a pike after that unpleasant performance, which only ended when Lopez grounded out to Hirai against David Fernandez. Of course, after cocking up six in the sixth, the Raccoons were surely swept, entirely ending their pathetic playoff pretender status. Fowler hit an RBI single in the eighth. Nobody gave a damn . The Coons scored two unearned runs in the ninth when the damn Elks made two errors on them. And still, nobody gave a damn . 10-4 Canadiens. Fowler 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 3-4; Vickers (PH) 1-1; Triolo 1-1, BB; D. Fernandez 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Raccoons (49-45) @ Bayhawks (49-45) – July 25-27, 2036 Nothing good had ever happened in San Francisco. And that 200-odd year streak wouldn’t change this weekend, either. The Baybirds were fourth in offense, sixth in pitching, and third in the South, just as far out as the Critters, who, fun fact, were terrible in every aspect of the game. Portland had won two of three so far this year, but being in the green at a .667 rate hadn’t ing helped them in Vancouver, either! Projected matchups: Josh Livingston (0-0) vs. Matt Peterson (3-12, 5.40 ERA) Jared Ottinger (3-2, 3.25 ERA) vs. Ben Lipsky (6-3, 3.46 ERA) Gilberto Rendon (3-6, 5.10 ERA) vs. Josh Long (13-4, 3.15 ERA) All right-handers on the weekend. The Bayhawks had nobody on the DL. No wonder – WE had drawn all the injury cards! Game 1 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 2B Vickers – 1B Maldonado – SS Triolo – P Livingston SFB: 2B J. Cruz – CF Pridgeon – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 3B Greer – C Dear – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – P M. Peterson Tony Morales hit a solo jack in the second inning to give Portland a 1-0 lead, but when had that ever meant anything? (eyes the Bay for a good spot to drown himself) While Livingston retired the Baybirds in order the first time through, he was jumped for homers by Jose Cruz and Luis Sagredo in the bottom of the fourth, and that gave the other team the lead, 2-1. After a leadoff walk to Matt Dear in the bottom 5th, that runner advanced on two groundouts before Matt Peterson hit a single between Triolo and Downs, that comedy duo, to up his lead to 3-1. Cruz popped out; through five, the Bayhawks had three hits to the Critters’ four, and every single one of those three hits had given them a run… In the sixth the Coons finally strung something together against the pushover Peterson with one out and the middle of the order up. Manny Fernandez hit a gapper for a triple, scored on a Fowler single to right, and then Morales hit a ball to the fence for an RBI double, tying the score at three. Vickers singled to put them on the corners, but Maldonado popped out and Triolo flew out to Jaden Pridgeon in center, stranding the go-ahead runs, and opening the door for the Bayhawks to instead get it back. Luis Sagredo hit ANOTHER jack off Livingston in the bottom 6th, and it was 4-3 for the home team… While the Coons were retired in order in the seventh and eighth innings, the Bayhawks got an insurance run (like they needed it…) with doubles by Cruz and PH Keith Damron off Mauricio Garavito in the bottom 8th. Right-hander Jeremy Bloedow faced the 6-7-8 batters in the ninth, also known as not much of a threat at all. Vickers flew out to Damron in right, with the defender hurting himself and requiring replacement by Dave Trahan. Pinkerton pinch-hit and grounded out. Marsingill pinch-hit and whiffed. 5-3 Bayhawks. Fowler 2-4, RBI; Morales 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Vickers 2-4; Game 2 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – C Morales – 1B Maruyama – SS Triolo – 2B Hirai – P Ottinger SFB: CF Dahlman – 3B Greer – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 2B J. Cruz – C Dear – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – P Lipsky The Raccoons hit two singles in the first, but Morales popped out and they didn’t score. They also had two singles in the second, one single in the third, another single in the fourth… and never scored. Ottinger meanwhile was pitching rather well, allowing one hit and two walks through the first four innings, but like anybody else he too just couldn’t buy support here anymore. Nobody reached in the fifth inning at all before the top 6th began with Fernandez and Fowler going to the corners with a pair of singles. Morales struck out, but Maruyama hit a gapper in right-center – Fernandez scored, Fowler was waved around on the double – and thrown out by Luis Sagredo. A Matt Triolo single – a rare beat indeed – plated Maruyama to make it 2-0 with two outs, the Bayhawks didn’t pitch even to Hirai with two down and first open, but Ottinger also singled, loading the bases for Adam Downs. At this point Portland out-hit the Bayhawks ELEVEN to one. But Downs uselessly popped out, and another three runners were stranded, making nine for the day… And then the tying runs were on the corners in the bottom of the inning. Alex Castillo hit a leadoff double through Maruyama, Justin Uliasz grounded out to short, even failing to advance the runner, but then Hirai botched Josh Dahlman’s grounder to let the tying run aboard. Marshall Greer doubled over Fowler’s head on the very next pitch to tie the game, and wasn’t it all horrible? (eyes the Bay again) Maruyama hit a single in the top 8th, advanced on two wild pitches by Eric Fox, but at the same time Marsingill, hitting for Triolo, struck out, and Hirai popped out, and nobody scored AGAIN. Between David Fernandez, Jeremy Bloedow, and Casey Moore nobody was scored upon in the next three half-innings, sending a pathetic contest to extras with the Coons up 12-3 in terms of base knocks. The 10th yielded no base runners, either, but Maruyama rocked a leadoff double off Jorge Villegas jr. in the 11th. Unfortunately that brought up the third-rate travelling circus at the bottom of the order, where Marsingill fell to 1-2 before singling to left. Maruyama blew through the stop sign at third base and was thrown out at home by George Hawthorne, with Marsingill hesitating his way back to first base after turning that corner initially. Vickers batted for Hirai, straight into a double play, and the game dragged itself on without an invitation to do so. Top 12th, Downs singled with one out. The Coons had the pitcher in the #2 hole, so Chris Manning batted for Prieto and grounded to short. The Gold Glover Castillo had a double play ball there, but fumbled it, and the Coons now had two aboard with one out. And then? Fernandez struck out. Fowler struck out. Calmly I broke the fake moustache and the monocle from my pockets, donned both, and henceforth pretended not to be associated with the suckers anymore. The 13th saw Morales on with a leadoff single, then also featured Morales doubled off by Maruyama’s hard bouncer to third base. Through 13 innings it was still 2-2, but 16-4 in terms of base knocks. The Bayhawks were out of bench players (the Coons still had Preston Pinkerton), but Portland was nearing the end of their pen. When Downs hit a 2-out single off Villegas (in his fourth frame) in the top 14th, Pinkerton batted for Dusty Kulp, but grounded out. The Coons went on to Garavito, who retired the 1-2-3 in 1-2-3 fashion to get everybody to the 15th, where Villegas walked Manny Fernandez to begin the inning, then was removed for left-hander Jesus Rodarte. Fowler struck out, Morales flew out, and Maruyama singled to left. There was nobody left to bat for Marsingill, but he pushed a grounder through the left side and Fernandez dashed around third base and scored, breaking a tie that had been preserved since before records were being kept by the Ancients. Vickers fanned, handing a 3-2 score to Yeom Soung, who had been idle all week and retired Cruz, Dear, and Hawthorne in order. 3-2 Blighters. M. Fernandez 2-6; Maruyama 5-7, 2 2B, RBI; Triolo 2-3, RBI; Marsingill 2-4, RBI; Ottinger 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K and 2-3; Prieto 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; Kulp 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Good, boys, good. At least you killed the pen! Oh, wait, I forgot. I don’t even know you anymore! Game 3 POR: 3B Downs – LF Hooge – RF M. Fernandez – CF Fowler – 1B Maruyama – 2B Vickers – SS Triolo – C Manning – P Rendon SFB: CF Dahlman – 3B Greer – RF Sagredo – 1B Levis – 2B J. Cruz – C Dear – LF Hawthorne – SS A. Castillo – P J. Long Rendon folded fast on Sunday, falling 3-0 behind in the first inning, in which he allowed a homer to Greer, then nailed Luis Sagredo. The veteran scored on Doug Levis’ triple to right, and Jose Cruz’ sac fly brought that guy in to score as well… Starting with Hawthorne in the bottom 2nd then, Rendon struck out five in a row. Would the madness ever stop? Overall Rendon struck out six through five innings, paling in comparison to Josh Long, who rung up nine Critters against six base hits. AGAIN, the Raccoons were ahead in hits (6-3) and this time weren’t on the scoreboard at all! Maruyama and Vickers both got rung up in the sixth, giving Long 11 K, while in the bottom of the inning the Bayhawks exploded for another set of three extra-base hits. Greer doubled to center, Levis hit an RBI double to right, and Matt Dear hit a monstrous homer to center and probably all the way to Japan. That ran the tally to 6-0, Rendon from the game, and left us with the cold comfort that the pen only had to get seven more outs… Wise got three and David Fernandez got one before Justin Fowler crushed a mammoth bomb in the eighth off long; with Ed Hooge on base it counted for two, but like everything else was too little, too late. The Raccoons never got another base runner in the game. 6-2 Bayhawks. Hooge 2-4; M. Fernandez 3-4; In other news July 23 – SAL SP Brandon Nickerson (11-6, 3.55 ERA) 3-hits the Pacifics in a 5-0 shutout. July 23 – Sacramento’s Steve Corcoran (10-5, 2.62 ERA) pitches a shutout against the Gold Sox with much the same result: 5-0 win, three hits for the opposition. July 23 – The Indians trade 3B Ryan Czachor (.287, 2 HR, 12 RBI) to the Stars for a prospect. Czachor, 40 years old, is only a part time player at this stage of his career. July 24 – The Loggers get two prospects from the Blue Sox for trading MR Rafael Zacarias (4-0, 2.57 ERA, 1 SV) their way. July 26 – The Titans’ OF/2B Moises Avila (.271, 2 HR, 25 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained hamstring. July 26 – Richmond’s 2B/3B Ben “Nine Fingers” Freeman (.260, 5 HR, 37 RBI) already doesn’t have a complete body, and now has a broken kneecap that puts him out for the season. July 27 – The Falcons trade SP Joe Feltman (6-10, 4.95 ERA) to the Scorpions for two prospects, including #28 SP Jerry Felix. July 27 – Atlanta OF/1B/SS Luis Inoa (.307, 9 HR, 43 RBI) might be alright after spending just 15 days on the DL for a sprained ankle. Complaints and stuff (noisily closes huge 19th century tome of fairy tales) The End! Cristiano showed me someone’s message on Gobble which went like this – Q: What is the strongest part of the Portland Raccoons? A: Their odor. We will not trade the few remaining big pieces at the deadline. First, I don’t want Valdes to think that we’ve given up and that he can slash the budget. Second, it’s impossible to gauge how good the team would have been if they hadn’t been caught with their ass in the breeze by Jackson on the Orange Turnpike… I still was convinced that the roster as built was good for 90+ wins. But the roster built was not the roster on the field, barely half of it, and there was no point in turning Fowler into some 21-year-old jack* now, then having to burn another draft pick to sign a replacement in November. Because, let’s be honest, Jesus Maldonado (.242, 2 HR, 21 RBI in 248 AB for his career) was as far from being Fowler’s replacement as you, or me, or Maud. Or, ** it, Cristiano. At least Cristiano’s related to major league ballplayer – must be something in those genes! The Raccoons gave up their pursuit of 1B Willie Hernandez, a 16-year-old Dominican in the IFA pool, and Hernandez ended up signing with the Pacifics for just over $500k. Making another offer to him would have blown us threw the soft cap and would have prevented us from making any major offer next season, and he wasn’t the obvious talent of the Alberto Ramos magnitude that was worth the sacrifice. The Raccoons thus paid just $82k for two players, the second baseman Carreno and the pitcher Cortes, this year. Thinking about it, giving up is what we are best in… Fun Fact:** Manny Fernandez has hit safely in his last 13 games, excluding the All Star Game. Also in 16 of his last 17 games, and in 27 of his last 29. Attached Images __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

05-25-2020, 06:57 PM	#3206
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	It's having the best rotation in the league (though serial-Pitcher of the Year Phil Harrington is on the DL until early September) combined with a capable offense. Even without Harrington, everybody in the rotation has an ERA well under four (hard to do in the higher-offense FL), supported by an upper-tier defense, while their lineup lacks major stars, but is dense. Everybody seems to hit .275 with between seven and eleven dingers. The exception would be 28-year-old C Morgan Kuhlmann having a breakout season with a .271 mark and 19 homers. Oh, yeah, and not having half the roster on the DL is also a key point. That always helps. Always. __________________ 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.

05-25-2020, 06:46 PM	#3205
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 956	Looking on the standings, what the heck has gotten into the Salem team? Leading the division, they never lead at any time this century

05-26-2020, 07:35 PM	#3208
Sizeman21 Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: The bleachers of Sportsman's Park Posts: 435	What is your teams pythag record for this season? I think you are one or two players short of really pushing the Titans down to second. What do they have that you don't? They don't have a Fowler or a Hooge! Boston Titans, more like Boston Bums! __________________

05-26-2020, 07:43 PM	#3209
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,744	Our pythagorean record is 53-50, so we're actually +1, and the same for the Titans. Luck has not been a factor this season. The Titans have all their AAA players in AAA, and all their major leaguers' legs on their major leaguers. But hey, Jimmy Wallace's gonna be back in a few weeks! That'll spark a rally! __________________ 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.

06-02-2020, 11:06 AM	#3212
StLee Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: NC Posts: 4,971	The comeback is on! __________________ Fan of LSU sports (especially baseball and football), New Orleans Saints, New Orleans Pelicans, and Atlanta Braves (Dale Murphy for the HOF!). Current dynasties: Fallout 4's Commonwealth Baseball Organization Completed dynasty: Fallout: New Vegas' Mojave Baseball League Uniforms: My custom uniforms

06-03-2020, 12:08 AM	#3215
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 956	This is beginning to seem oddly familiar. The team wasn’t in the depths of won-loss despair like last season but the rallying from another double digit deficit is becoming the norm with these guys