Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (22-15) @ Indians (20-17) – May 14-17, 2046

First meeting with the Indians this year, with last year’s season series having been dominated by the Raccoons, 14-4. While we had gone 5-1 last week, the Indians had swept everything in front of them, and had a 6-game winning streak going, so something had to give in this 4-game set. They couldn’t score – second from the bottom in the league in total runs – but were also allowing the fewest runs with a +10 run differential. The Raccoons were 31 runs scored above even.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (1-4, 4.91 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (4-1, 2.17 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-3, 2.28 ERA) vs. Luis Anzaldo (3-0, 2.97 ERA)
Victor Merino (4-1, 3.19 ERA) vs. Bill Drury (5-3, 2.97 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-2, 3.25 ERA) vs. Jason Palladino (2-2, 4.09 ERA)

Only right-handed opposition coming up in this series…!

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – C Morales – RF Mercado – 2B Martell – P Okuda
IND: SS Russ – 1B S. Jennings – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – CF N. Galvan – 2B Tindle – C Ebner – 3B Walley – P Nichol

In a weird pitchers’ duel, the Raccoons fell behind in the second inning when Joe Tindle and Sean Ebner hit soft singles off Okuda, which thanks to a balk that moved Tindle to second base in between was enough to get them a run on the board. That run looked like it was gonna hold up; through five innings the Raccoons amounted to all of one base hit, and while Nichol twice walked a pair – Maldo and Toohey in the first, Mercado and Okuda in the fifth – the lack of hitting prowess provided only poor outs afterwards for the Critters, and yielded no runs. Nichol walked Toohey again with one out in the sixth, again with two poor groundouts following. Danny Rivera thus inevitably put the game away with a 2-run homer to right off Okuda in the sixth, after Bill Quinteros had been nicked to begin the inning. Okuda put another two runners on the corners, of which Aaron Hickey conceded one on a pinch-hit 2-out RBI single by Tony Lira. But hey, at least Nichol was out of the game now, huh? Mercado, Gurney, and Baskins promptly hit three singles to load the bases against Armando Colmenarez in the seventh inning, bringing up Armando Herrera as the tying run and with one out. Herrera remained as useless as he had been for a year and change, hitting into a 6-4-3 double play. 4-0 Indians. Gurney 1-1;

Game 2
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Jackson
IND: SS Russ – 1B S. Jennings – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – CF N. Galvan – 2B Tindle – C Ebner – 3B Walley – P Anzaldo

The Indians won their eighth in a row in like two innings, Bill Quinteros taking Jackson deep with Andrew Russ aboard in the first inning, and then a concoction of various ineptitudes in the bottom 2nd that led to another run, driven in by none other than Anzaldo with an RBI single. For four innings, the Raccoons had nothing again, except for a clueless stare whenever they walked back to the dugout. The door didn’t creak open at least a tiny bit until the fifth inning, which began with a walk in a full count to Matt Waters, and then Manny Fernandez found space between Rivera and Nelson Galvan for a double, putting two in scoring position with the tying run at the plate… even if it was the bottom of the order. Something, boys, anything? Basically nothing, except for Waters boldly dashing home on a soft groundout by Ruben Gonzalez, and Manny getting hung out to dry on second base on a pop and a whiff. The run was immediately given back by Jackson, who was singled off again by Anzaldo to begin the bottom 5th, Gonzalez conceded a base on a passed ball, and then Quinteros hit a 2-out RBI double off the fence in left anyway, 4-1.

Singles by Baskins and Herrera to begin the sixth put the tying run back at home plate, at least until Pat Gurney hit into a double play. Maldo chipped an RBI single, shortening the gap to 4-2, but Matt Waters amounted only to an inning-concluding strikeout. Again, the Indians pulled the run right back with an Ebner double and a Chris Walley single in the bottom of the same inning. By the seventh, we were up against righty Cesar Suarez, who crumbled a bit and allowed singles to Al Martell and Gene Pellicano with two outs in the inning, then a clean corner-kissing 2-run triple to Derek Baskins. Herrera flew out, leaving the tying run on third base… and as if that wasn’t bad enough, the Indians came back with a run AGAIN, this time with two hits by Russ, the ******* pest, and Rivera, off Bob Ibold and Zack Kelly, respectively. The tying run was back at the plate in the top 9th against Tommy Gardner when Bryce Toohey hit a 1-out single to center in place of Ruben Gonzalez – certainly a decoy so they wouldn’t get yelled at by their GM on the way to the bus back to the hotel. For sure: Martell struck out, Pellicano grounded out, and that was another loss. 6-4 Indians. Baskins 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Toohey (PH) 1-1; Pellicano (PH) 1-2;

Sigh.

Game 3
POR: 2B Gurney – LF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – C Morales – CF Mercado – SS Martell – P Merino
IND: SS Russ – 1B S. Jennings – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – CF N. Galvan – 2B Tindle – C Nunez – 3B Walley – P Drury

The Raccoons had the bases loaded and didn’t score as early as the second inning, truly doing no hitting as Drury walked Manny and Mercado and nailed Martell before Merino stranded them all with an easy fly to Rivera. The hit came in the third when Maldonado single with Baskins on first base after drawing a walk. Baskins went to third on the play, narrowly beating a throw by Quinteros, but Toohey struck out and Manny kept being suffocated by invisible shadows, grounding out to Steven Jennings to dip his average to .188 and his BABIP to .203 … The team remained ******* annoying in the bottom 3rd, with a soft single letting Andrew Russ on with one out, and then Maldonado immediately threw away Jennings’ grounder for two bases. A Quinteros grounder put the Indians ahead, and a Rivera single extended the lead to an insurmountable 2-0. By the fifth, it was 3-0, Quinteros singling home Russ, who stupidly had been walked by Merino and had already stolen another base, his 13th of the year.

And the Indians really weren’t hitting well. But their bloopers all fell in, and the Raccoons’ were all caught. By the seventh, Merino somehow singled, and Baskins drew a 2-out walk to bring Maldonado, 2-for-3 in the game and thus would have had the daily “pointless fight against windmill” medal clinched if not for the much regretted throwing error, back to the dish as the tying run. Drury was already on 100 pitches, fell to 3-1 against Maldonado… and then got an easy grounder to short from the $38.5M man to end that ******* inning, too.

Merino pitched seven pointless innings when he just as well could have stayed home, and the Raccoons tumbled towards another shutout loss, until Tony Morales followed a Manny single with a home run in the eighth inning. That, unfortunately, only narrowed the score to 3-2, and after a scoreless bottom 8th by Nelson Moreno, brought back Tommy Gardner and his 0.46 ERA. Herrera popped out in the #9 hole. Pat Gurney hit a poor grounder… but the Indians couldn’t play it and he reached on an infield single, putting the tying run on base. Baskins next, and he hit a liner into the gap that was gonna – be caught by Rivera, flying, perpendicularly to the ball, and I took a big bite out of my Raccoons hat, tormented by agony. Maldonado struck out. 3-2 Indians. Maldonado 2-5; Fernandez 2-3, BB; Merino 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, L (4-2);

Game 4
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – RF Pellicano – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley
IND: SS Russ – 1B S. Jennings – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – CF N. Galvan – 2B Tindle – C Ebner – 3B Walley – P Palladino

Wheats was all the hope that was left, but Wheats allowed Andrew Russ to score before he got anybody out, and the game was lost on a Russ single and stolen base, and a Jennings RBI single, all in the bottom 1st. Another run scored on a wild pitch in the bottom 2nd after Ebner and Walley and socked line drive hits off Wheatley. There was no point to it all, and we should just pack up and go back out west again…

Then the Portland ********** batted through the order in the third inning, taking their first real, actual lead of the entire ******* series. Herrera singled and Maldo homered to tie the game. Waters and Fernandez hit singles, then raced around to score on Pellicano’s 2-out double into the corner in leftfield, 4-2. Gonzalez was walked intentionally and Wheatley struck out, but all he had to do now was stop his incessant conceding of runs and maybe we could at least stave off the sweep.

That plan worked surprisingly well for a while, with Wheatley allowing one more hit through the completion of five innings, and no runs, while the Coons tried to set a new highscore for stranded runners without scoring in consecutive innings, five of them being piled up in the middle innings, f.e. a leadoff double by Gurney in the fourth that wasn’t touched, and including the inning-ending double play Toohey spanked into in the sixth. When Wheatley hit Rivera with an 0-2 pitch to begin the bottom 6th and Galvan singled, Tindle’s groundout moved the tying runs into scoring position. Ebner went down on strikes, bringing up .188 Chris Walley, a treacherous pit to fall into. The intentional walk was not an option with Palladino ripe for pinch-hitting. Wheatley pitched to Walley, gave up an RBI single on 2-1, and the Indians were back to 4-3. Tony Lira then hit for Palladino, with Moreno in for Wheatley, and conceding the tying run on a 2-2 pitch. Russ then popped out.

The Coons stranded a pair in the eighth when Maldonado flew out, then were up against righty Justin Johns in the ninth. Toohey and Waters struck out, and Manny grounded out to the right side. Bob Ibold pitched a second scoreless inning to send the game to extras, where Johns struck out three besides hitting PH Tony Morales. The game instead ended on straight singles off Zack Kelly by left-handed Quinteros and Rivera, plus right-handed Galvan… 5-4 Indians. Gurney 2-6, 2B; Herrera 4-5; Waters 2-5; Pellicano 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Ibold 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (22-19) @ Bayhawks (19-23) – May 18-20, 2046

A 3-game set at the Bay was the perfect way to bid for an 0-7 week. The Bayhawks were the exact opposite of the Indians being second in runs scored, and second from the bottom in runs allowed with a run differential of zilch, which I was certain we wouldn’t be able to handle either. We had beaten them 6-3 last season, so an 0-9 now would be appropriate.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Person (3-2, 2.16 ERA) vs. Noe Candeloro (1-0, 5.31 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (1-5, 5.12 ERA) vs. Rafael Pedraza (4-2, 3.04 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-4, 2.87 ERA) vs. Chih Ke (4-2, 3.15 ERA)

Caneloro was the only southpaw we’d meet. The Bayhawks had been involved in a double header on Tuesday, and thus would not have a rested pitcher available on Saturday, save for a spot starter. One between Pedraza and Ke would go on short rest.

Game 1
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – 1B Gurney – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Carreno – P Person
SFB: CF M. Avila – 1B D. Riley – LF C. Cortes – C Suggs – 2B Quiroz – 3B R. Sifuentes – RF N. Duncan – SS B. Nelson – P Candeloro

Gene Pellicano’s game-opening homer marked the first time the Raccoons scored first all week and would certainly spell disaster in some other wicked way, although for the time being Herrera hit a single, stole second, and came around on a grounder by Maldonado after getting a free base on a wild pitch. Person walked a pair in the bottom 1st, so that horror was still well alive, and Arturo Carreno’s speed was all that broke up a triple play with Waters and Gonzalez on base in the top 2nd, as he spanked a bouncer at Gold Glover Ramon Sifuentes for two force outs at third and second. The Baybirds loaded the bases in the third inning, Dan Riley and Sean Suggs singling to left and Sergio Quiroz getting a walk out of Person, but now Sifuentes grounded out to Waters to strand all of them. Person was up to 59 pitches in three innings, whiffing four.

Pat Gurney narrowly missed a homer in right in the fourth inning, having to settle for a wallbanger double that moved Toohey first-to-third with nobody out – still a decent chance to tack on some runs. Candeloro’s battle with Waters saw the count run full and eventually ball four, loading the bases with nobody out, so there went that decent chance to tack on. Gonzalez struck out, Carreno popped out, and Person struck out. Nobody scored there, but Toohey doubled home Maldonado with two outs in the fifth, 3-0, to knock out the ineffective (worse than Person!) Candeloro, but Gurney hit an RBI double off righty reliever Donovan Mason, who paradoxically appeared to have come in one batter too early. Waters grounded out, handing the 4-0 lead back to Person, who had a clean fifth, then allowed three singles to begin the sixth, and THEN walked Bob Nelson with the bases loaded. For ****’* sake. Preston Porter hurriedly replaced the annoying Person, surrendered a second run on Jose Platero’s pinch-hit sac fly, but then got a double play grounder out of Moises Avila, and the Coons eloped with a 4-2 lead after six.

Top 7th, Pellicano drew a leadoff walk from Jared Murphy, then stole second. Herrera whiffed, but Maldonado hit a ball over Nick Duncan for an RBI double, 5-2, but couldn’t quite score on Gurney’s 2-out single to left. Waters, like Toohey, was punched out. Not punched out? Anybody facing Todd Lush in the bottom 8th. The newest useless left-hander on staff walked Sifuentes, then was taken deep by Bob Nelson, narrowing the lead to a single run. Josh Rella had to come into the game in the eighth to clean up that mess, then saw Maldonado and Toohey stranded on the corners when Gurney flew out in the top 9th, nixing any insurance runs that had been on the plates. Instead, a Dan Riley homer tied the game in the bottom 9th…

While I was checking with an attendant how deep the Bay next to the ballpark was and where the nearest anchor shop was located, the Raccoons got a 1-out triple from Derek Baskins in the 10th inning. Facing Jeremy Mayhall, Baskins, who had entered the game in the eighth as a pinch-hitter, presented a prime chance to retake the lead. Manny Fernandez batted for the just-as-useless Rella to get the run home, hopefully. The move worked – Manny hit a sac fly on the first pitch Mayhall threw him. With pitching options whittled down at this point, Aaron Hickey won the ball and the 6-5 save opportunity in the bottom 10th. He allowed a leadoff single to Sifuentes, but then got Duncan, Justin Kristoff, and John Hill in order to end the game. 6-5 Critters. Maldnoado 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Toohey 3-5, 2B, RBI; Gurney 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Porter 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Game 2
POR: 1B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – SS Waters – RF Pellicano – LF Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Okuda
SFB: RF M. Avila – 3B R. Sifuentes – LF Platero – 1B C. Cortes – C J. Hill – SS Quiroz – 2B B. Nelson – CF A. Marquez – P Pedraza

Herrera’s single, Maldo’s thick bum getting nicked, a double steal and a Waters groundout – the Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the first again, but also left a runner on third when Pellicano struck out. Okuda from the start tried to fall over one coffee table after another again, except that neither team really let him. He conceded three hits and a walk, and threw away an Avila grounder for two bases to begin the bottom 3rd, and nobody scored, thanks to stingy defense – Manny threw out Avila at home plate on a Sifuentes single – and otherwise Bayhawks’ listlessness as soon as one of theirs popped up in scoring position. They also struck out four times. The many long counts were just as bad or worse as what Person had to offer start in, start out, and Okuda needed *79* pitches through four shutout innings. It finally all came crashing down in the fifth, again, with Nick Duncan, injury replacement for Moises Avila, hitting a 1-out double to right and advancing on a groundout by Sifuentes. Platero tied the game with a single over Waters’ glove, and Okuda committed another error on Carlos Cortes’ grounder before getting yanked. Ibold got an easy fly from Hill to end the damn inning.

Pedraza, on short rest, kept going merrily, but allowed singles to Gurney and Herrera to open the sixth. Maldonado’s grounder to left was only intercepted by Sifuentes deep on the dirt, and from there no Gold Glove on Earth could help him – infield single! …also bases loaded with nobody out and certain doom. Waters’ grounder to second was fired home for an out at the plate, and Pellicano’s sac fly was the only useful move and scored the only run. Manny grounded out, and a Bob Nelson homer off Ibold tied the game again in the bottom 6th. Three singles off Aaron Hickey in the seventh gave the Baybirds the lead, but this time a Maldonado homer tied the score again, 3-3 in the eighth. Two more hits and a bruise to Duncan then filled the bases, all on Hickey’s ledger in the bottom 8th, and Moreno inherited the 1-out mess, getting a sharp spanker right to Martell from Dan Hutson in the #2 hole, and it was turned for a 4-6-3 double play. Platero and Cortes opened the ninth with singles off Porter, but then Hill, Quiroz, and Nelson all made weak outs, and the Raccoons slithered into their third extra-inning game in a row…

The Coons didn’t get past a Maldonado single in the 10th, while Zack Kelly conceded a leadoff walk to lefty Alex Marquez, then an infield single to lefty Justin Kristoff. Duncan’s groundout advanced the runners, before righty Dan Hutson struck out. Platero, hitting .203 from the right side, was up there aiming for the winner, and singled past Waters to nail it home… 4-3 Bayhawks. Herrera 2-5; Maldonado 3-4, HR, RBI;

It would certainly help if somebody other than Jesus Maldonado could hit a ******* baseball.

Game 3
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – RF Mercado – C Morales – 2B Carreno – P Jackson
SFB: RF Kristoff – 1B D. Riley – C Suggs – CF A. Marquez – SS Quiroz – 3B R. Sifuentes – LF N. Duncan – 2B B. Nelson – P Ke

Straight singles from the 2-3-4 hitters gave the Raccoons another 1-0 lead in the first before Waters first grounded into a fielder’s choice, then was caught stealing to end the inning. Jacks by Tony Morales in the second, Matt Waters (his first of the year!?) in the fourth, and Baskins in the fifth each added a run, but the Baybirds had already tagged Jackson for a run in the bottom 2nd on a pair of singles. Ke opened the bottom 5th with a double to right and was brought around by Riley, narrowing the score to 4-2 again, and I couldn’t help but feel queasy and seeing another demolition coming up, especially with a torched pen after three straight overtime contests.

Jackson did tack on a run in the sixth though, finding Morales on third base after the catcher had socked a leadoff double and advanced on a wild pitch (but Carreno had been unproductive). Jackson got the run home with a single to left, but was also thrown out at second, hysterically trying to get a double out of it. On the mound, he held up fairly into the eighth inning, but then a Sean Suggs double and a walk to Quiroz put runners on the corners. Zack Kelly struck out Duncan to end the inning, keeping the Coons’ lead together. The Critters also reached the corners in the top 9th, getting back-to-back pinch-hit 1-out singles from Pellicano and Fernandez. Herrera hit a sac fly, 6-2, while Aaron Curl struck out Maldonado to end the inning. Ibold turned the Bayhawks away in the bottom of the inning, taking the rubber game. 6-2 Coons. Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Maldonado 2-5; Toohey 2-3, BB, RBI; Waters 2-4, HR, RBI; Morales 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Jackson 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (3-4) and 1-3, RBI;

In other news

May 16 – Falcons C Nate Evans (.207, 1 HR, 4 RBI) finds his 2,500th career hit in a 6-1 loss the Condors. The 39-year-old goes 2-for-4 in the game, with the milestone achieved in the fourth inning with a single off TIJ SP Generos de Leon (2-4, 5.82 ERA), who takes the win.
May 16 – LAP SP Joe Feltman (4-1, 2.93 ERA) will be out for a month with a strained hamstring.
May 16 – The Rebels beat the Buffaloes, 11-9 in 16 innings, on a walkoff homer by C Kyle Duncan (.234, 5 HR, 12 RBI).
May 17 – The Bayhawks lose SP Jesse Bulas (2-2, 3.65 ERA) for about six weeks with a torn groin muscle the culprit.
May 18 – The Knights acquire CF/RF Jim Price (.344, 0 HR, 19 RBI) from the Blue Sox in exchange for four prospects.
May 19 – Buffos INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.236, 2 HR, 10 RBI) would miss at least a month with a broken finger.
May 20 – Indians infielder Andrew Russ (.268, 0 HR, 12 RBI) would miss time until late June with a sprained ankle. The 25-year-old tied for the CL lead in stolen bases with 14.

FL Player of the Week: RIC LF/RF Pablo Gonzalez (.260, 10 HR, 26 RBI), hitting .500 (13-26) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN C Julio Diaz (.399, 3 HR, 27 RBI), mashing .591 (13-22) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Oh boy. Let’s just agree that whatever happens in Indianapolis, the **** stays in Indianapolis. When a series in San Francisco is the highlight of the week, it’s usually bad, and it was, plenty bad – 2-5 in terms of record, and it felt like 0-11.

Monday’s a day off for regrouping, which I fully intend to spend on the most rundown craps table in Vegas, and after that Aces series it’s gonna be back home for a single set against Atlanta, and then we’d have to fly back east yet *again* for a week with the Falcons and Loggers.

We have stuff to sort out. Baskins isn’t clicking, Mercado is productive only with his snout, demanding more playing time, and the second base situation is gruesome to say the least. Putting Gurney there more often hurts our groundballers, though. I don’t know what to do anymore… Options in AAA include John Castner, who had a wholly unsuccessful cup of coffee (.184, 0 HR, 1 RBI in 19 games) last year, and this year was hitting an impossible .493 in 19 games in St. Pete. The Carreno/Martell situation – and especially the Carreno situation – was bad enough to give him a run around the ballpark though… We had taken him #17 in the 2041 draft, and he had always been a decent average hitter in the minors, although with little in terms of OBP improvement, patience not being his forte. He was going on 26, but the Japanese guy we had signed this winter and who got most of the playing time wasn’t hitting at all.

Fun Fact: While Vancouver’s Jerry Outram led the league by miles in OPS (1.035), Jesus Maldonado led it in total bases.

99 TB for Maldo at the end of this week, while Outram was barely in the top 10 with 79. Outram was hitting .340/.475/.560 though, suffocating everybody with walks, while Maldo, who also led the league in extra-base hits with 25, four more than 2nd place Aaron Brayboy, had never been a fan of walks – never drawing more than 50 in a season. This year, he was however at 16 free passes just after the quarter post, against only 13 strikeouts. He had already walked more than he had struck out in 2042 and 2045. He just didn’t look like a candidate for the leadoff spot, that was all.

Nor was Outram, but us Raccoons knew that bloody well…

[Westheim]

This was supposed to be yesterday’s update, but the first few games already ran long (you’ll see…) and I ran out of time.

And voice, from all the screaming.

+++

Raccoons (24-20) @ Aces (20-24) – May 22-24, 2046

Vegas wasn’t what it used to be – the craps tables are shut down on Monday in favor of bible readings. I was greatly dismayed and instead tended to the team on our off day, which also greatly dismayed the team.

Then there were the Aces, who had lost four in a row, but which team doesn’t constantly lose four or five in a row (glares at Critters). Vegas was fourth in runs scored, but second from the bottom in runs allowed, with a -14 run differential, but I was beyond hoping for an offensive breakout, even against a mediocre rotation and a high-explosive bullpen. We had also lost the season series, two years in a row, and 5-4 each time.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (4-2, 2.92 ERA) vs. Josh Brown (6-0, 1.19 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-2, 3.55 ERA) vs. Steve Huffman (1-3, 4.78 ERA)
Ryan Person (3-2, 2.35 ERA) vs. Jayden Woods (1-3, 5.44 ERA)

Former Raccoon Josh Brown was the only southpaw, and the only pitcher on staff not ripe to be drowned in a barrel. Outfielders Angel Montes de Oca and Bob Montana were on the DL.

Game 1
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Baskins – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Carreno – P Merino
LVA: SS Quintana – 1B Speth – RF M. Roberts – CF Kinder – 2B Landstrom – C F. Gomez – LF Berryman – 3B B. Owen – P J. Brown

Gene Pellicano kept trying to scratch out more playing time, opening the week with a double to left before being stranded. Maldonado hit a single, but Toohey hit into a double play. The Raccoons made it a habit of stranding a runner in scoring position, doing so in each of the first three innings, with Baskins and Herrera additional victims, without getting anybody across. At least Merino faced the minimum, getting a double play from Felipe Gomez after a second-inning single up the middle hit by Matt Kinder. The outfielder Kinder also failed to reach Maldonado’s deep fly that drove in the game’s first run, a 2-out triple in the fifth inning that chased home Pellicano, who had singled to left. Toohey grounded to the left side, where Brandon Owen bobbled the ball for an error that gave Portland a second run. Owen would be the next Ace to reach, drawing a 1-out walk in the sixth and stealing second base, but he’d be stranded when both PH Bubba Shaffner and Angel Quintana grounded out. And while Merino looked fairly amazing through six, in the seventh he slipped big time. He walked Mike Roberts with one out, which was not the main issue – the main issue was the pair of booming deep drives he gave up to Kinder and Josh Landstrom. Now, Herrera and Baskins, respectively, caught both of them, but both did so running backwards and reaching over their shoulders while going full steam. Merino remained in the game for the eighth, but was removed after Nick Berryman hit a home run to right, cutting the lead down to the unearned part. Fittingly enough, the Aces made that part up in unearned fashion when Quintana hit a 2-out RBI double to drive home Owen against Preston Porter. Owen had reached on a Carreno error, which was enough for me to sign off on his deportation papers for good.

Ruben Gonzalez got the 2-2 game to extras, throwing out Kinder (single and Pellicano error) and Landstrom (single) trying to nip third and second base, respectively, while Nelson Moreno was shaky in the bottom 9th. He added pinch-runner Chris Whalen to the mix in the tenth inning, also axed at second. The game dragged on much longer, with the tie not broken until the 13th, when Bryce Toohey, who had killed the top 10th with another double play, finally got it up, up, up and away with a leadoff jack off righty Andy Pedraza. The next three batters made outs, and when Josh Rella entered the fray, he walked the leadoff man Owen, which sucked doubly given that the Aces were out of bench players and now had something to bunt into scoring position with Pedraza. Quintana popped out, but Tim Speth tied the game back even with a single to center. I was livid, but there were no deportation papers to sign for Rella, who was a US citizen.

The Coons still had Mercado on the bench to lead off the 14th, drawing a walk from Pedraza in the pitcher’s spot, which was #8. Martell singled behind him, building up the pressure. And then Pellicano and Herrera both struck out, and Maldo grounded out to first… The Coons, down on their Lush, ended up with their unloved waiver claim in the bottom 14th. Somehow he survived a leadoff single by Kinder and a wild pitch right after, Kinder being left on third base after easy flies by Juan Jimenez and Berryman. The Coons went on to strand Baskins (who forced out Toohey) in the 15th, then put Martell and Herrera on the corners in the 16th against Juan Vela, with two outs and Maldo coming up. He popped out, while somehow Lush kept holding on for three scoreless innings. Come the 17th, Baskins hit a 1-out single and Waters drew a walk. Vela left for injury concerns, bringing in right-hander Pablo Paez. Gonzalez was 0-for-5 in the game, ahead 3-1 in the count, then poked and SOMEHOW got the ball through the right side for a single. Baskins wanted to get to a fridge and wasn’t stopping for any coach or defender, scoring ahead of Mike Roberts’ throw from rightfield. Mercado hit an RBI single to right as well, and then Martell found another double play. The Critters went to their final reliever, which was Bob Ibold, who also had no deportation papers available to him, but gave up a leadoff triple to Landstrom, then two first-pitch singles to Jimenez and Berryman. Oh for ****’* sake. Owen grounded to first, for *an* out, while the tying an winning runs reached scoring position – but, no bench bats! Paez had to bat and struck out. Quintana came back, 2-for-7 in a long game, and he ended it … whiffing. 5-4 Blighters. Pellicano 3-7, 2B; Maldonado 3-8, 3B, RBI; Baskins 3-8; Mercado (PH) 1-1, 2 BB, RBI; Merino 7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; Hickey 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Lush 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (2-0);

This team.

Roster move then: Arturo Carreno was banished, hitting .173, and replaced with … a right-handed reliever, German import Kevin Hitchcock, who would probably make his major league debut on Wednesday unless Wheats would decide to go the distance. Hitchcock had cost $60k in the 2040 IFA period and was 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA in AAA this year. We needed a guy with long man capability, and Sean Marucci had gone long in AAA on Tuesday, so wasn’t available. Neither was Brad Barnes. Hitchcock it was, then.

Game 2
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Baskins – RF Fernandez – C Morales – P Wheatley
LVA: SS Quintana – 1B Speth – RF M. Roberts – CF Kinder – 2B Landstrom – C F. Gomez – LF Berryman – 3B Kolbe – P Huffman

The Coons hit four singles in the first and didn’t score, because Herrera hit into a double play before Baskins left the bags filled with the 3-4-5 hitters. With a leadoff single by Manny and a walk to Morales, Huffman was 2-for-8 in getting batters out by the top 2nd. Wheats bunted the runners over, Gurney snuck an RBI single past Jacob Kolbe, and Herrera hit another one of those to center before the inning fizzled out. The Aces tied the game again in the bottom 2nd; Kinder doubled (and hurt himself, getting replaced with Whalen), Landstrom reached on an error, and Gomez brought in a run with a double play, 6-4-3. Berryman then homered to right again. Wheats didn’t appear to be much help in resetting the bullpen…

Manny singled home Waters to go up 3-2 in the third, and in the fourth Herrera got on with a leadoff single before Maldonado went yard to left-center, 5-2. Toohey walked, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a double by Waters, which put the fork into Huffman for good. Not that Wheatley was any good – the Aces whacked him for another four hits and two runs in the bottom 4th; through four it was a 6-4 game with 14-8 hits, and Whalen’s homer in the bottom 5th narrowed the score to 6-5. Waters’ leadoff triple in the sixth did not lead to a run – three Coons struck out while Tony Morales got a pass… an intentional one.

Top 7th, three straight singles for the 1-2-3 hitters against Paez. Nobody had scored yet, so Toohey batted with three aboard and nobody out, which could only bring disaster. He struck out in a full count, because of course, but Waters held out to draw a bases-loaded walk against Paez, forcing home the 7-5 run, while Willie Gonzales replaced Paez hurling, getting soft outs from Baskins and Manny. Wheats departed after 99 pitches and 6.1 innings, getting a Quintana groundout before yielding for Zack Kelly. Tim Speth homered on the lefty’s first pitch, 7-6, before somehow two more outs were made. The lead was blown for good in the eighth, Landstrom tripling to center before Gomez’ sac fly scored him. The Coons gave up on Kelly, shrugged, and put in the debutee. He walked Berryman, gave up hits to Owen and Quintana, and the Raccoons lost. 8-7 Aces. Gurney 3-6, RBI; Herrera 4-6, RBI; Maldonado 3-6, HR, 2 RBI; Waters 5-5, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-5, RBI;

20 hits, and we couldn’t win THE ******* GAME. 16 left on base by the team, 39 individually.

DON’T YOU ******** EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN! (slams door to the visitors’ clubhouse and 25 sets of big black googly eyes)

Hitchcock was banished back to AAA, along with his L, and replaced with 2B John Castner.

Game 3
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Baskins – RF Fernandez – C Morales – P Person
LVA: 3B Montes de Oca – 1B Speth – RF M. Roberts – CF Kinder – 2B Landstrom – C F. Gomez – LF Garbutt – SS Quintana – P Henneberry

The Aces skipped their way to another right-hander in Josh Henneberry (4-4, 4.22 ERA), not that it mattered who we faced. We managed to look like morons against anybody.

Person imploded at once, allowing straight singles to the first three batters he faced before walking in two runs and conceding a third on Felipe Gomez’ 6-4-3 grounder, creating an instant 3-0 deficit. The bases would be loaded again with nobody out in the bottom 3rd, which Mike Roberts opened with a double to left before Person walked Kinder and nailed Landstrom. He walked in another run against Gomez, Cole Garbutt hit a sac fly, and then Angel Quintana hit into a double play, as if that still somehow mattered. Bryce Toohey hit a 2-run homer in the fourth, but that merely got the Coons back to the pleasant land of Three Runs Down.

While Person lasted five innings with six walks and five strikeouts on 100 pitches in another truly ****** start, the Critters went on to strand runners on the corners in the fifth inning, with Waters and Baskins following Toohey with hits in the fourth before the bottom of the order flailed it all away, while Herrera and Maldonado were stranded when Toohey flew out to Montes in the fifth. The tying run was back at the plate with nobody out in the seventh after soft singles by Pellicano (hitting ninth after a double switch) and Gurney. Herrera hit another single up the middle, which only filled the bases with zero retirements and thus spelled doom on the team again. Maldo hit a sac fly, while Toohey grounded out. Matt Waters drew a walk to fill the bases for Baskins with two out in the 5-3 nightmare. Baskins grounded out to Landstrom. After a solemn eighth, the tying run was back at the plate in Maldonado when Herrera slapped a 1-out single in the ninth against Andy Pedraza, who went on to walk Maldo on five pitches, but struck out Toohey. Waters grounded out to Landstrom. 5-3 Aces. Herrera 3-4; Waters 2-4, BB; Baskins 2-4; Hickey 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

11-6 hits… for the Trash Can Tumblers. And yet, they weren’t even close after Person gift-wrapped the game away in the first.

“Hard to watch” doesn’t begin to describe this.

Raccoons (25-22) vs. Knights (23-23) – May 25-27, 2046

Even at .500, the Knights nevertheless tied for the lead in a crummy CL South. They had a -13 run differential, making them look even less stellar, but I had no doubts they’d liven that up here in Portland. They ranked eighth in runs scored, sixth in runs allowed, were without Brad Santry and Chris Delagrange, but were already 2-1 against the Coons in ’46 and that was certainly expandable. I had good confidence in them holding the lead in the South by Sunday night.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (1-5, 4.78 ERA) vs. Bobby Freels (4-2, 3.26 ERA)
Jake Jackson (3-4, 2.80 ERA) vs. Brian Buttress (2-4, 4.41 ERA)
Victor Merino (4-2, 2.70 ERA) vs. Kurt Olson (4-4, 4.80 ERA)

Right, left, right. And probably loss, loss, loss.

Game 1
ATL: CF Venegas – LF Hester – 1B Marz – 3B Crim – SS J. Gonzalez – C Horner – RF C. Walker – 2B Sprague – P Freels
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Baskins – RF Mercado – C Morales – P Okuda

Portland went up 1-0 on straight singles by Baskins, Mercado, and Morales in the bottom 2nd before Okuda swung away for a double play grounder. But at least he pitched a few innings without giving up a zillion runs, which was something new around here. Toohey added a run on a groundout, getting Pat Gurney home from third base in the bottom 3rd, 2-0, and Mercado singled home Baskins after the latter’s leadoff double into the rightfield corner in the fourth. The bags filled up with one out after a scratch single for Okuda and a nicker into Gurney, with Joe Crim then making a nice hustle play on Herrera’s slow infield roller to get the batter at first base, albeit while conceding a fourth run. Maldo the grounded out to Glenn Sprague in a full count…

Okuda gave up a run on back-to-back doubles by Jorge Gonzalez and Adam Horner in the top 5th, but Mercado would pull that one back with a homer to right in the sixth. Tony Morales singled after that and was doubled home by Gurney, with Herrera’s RBI single off John Snider extending the lead to six, while Okuda hung around long enough to have his ledger ruined with a 2-run homer smacked by Horner in the top 7th. Another Atlanta run came on a Billy Hester single and a Joe Crim double off Bob Ibold in the eighth. Oh god, 7-4, they were pissing it away again, weren’t they?? The bottom 8th yielded nothing, while Josh Rella yielded runners in the ninth, walking Horner and giving up a double to Chris Walker, then runs with a Glenn Sprague single, 7-6. All with nobody out, too. Bill Melendez struck out, Jim Price grounded out, and then he walked Hester. The Raccoons had seen enough – yoink! Here comes Nelson Moreno. Marz grounded out to end the damn game. 7-6 Coons. Gurney 2-3, 2B, RBI; Herrera 3-4, 2 RBI; Baskins 2-4, 2B; Mercado 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Morales 2-3, RBI;

No, Maud, no. – No, this paper bag is still too small. – Don’t they have something that maybe cars get delivered in?

What an unwatchable mess… John Castner made his season debut as a pinch-hitter in this game, grounding out in the eighth against lefty Russell Maratta, then was in the lineup on Saturday against the left-handed Buttress.

Game 2
ATL: 3B Venegas – LF Hester – 1B Marz – 2B Crim – CF J. Price – SS J. Gonzalez – RF Alade – C Horner – P Buttress
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – P Jackson

Hoping for common decency from Jackson or at least the gray skies to open in time to send everybody home after only six innings of misery or so, but at least we took the lead early with three singles by Pellicano, Herrera, and Toohey. Waters and Manny both grounded to short, one for a fielder’s choice and one for a 2-out error by Jorge Gonzalez, allowing Herrera to score from third base. Ruben Gonzalez then grounded out to Anton Venegas, ending the first inning at 2-0. That lead, like all the others, didn’t last – Jackson walked Jon Alade to begin the third inning, then gave up a blast to right to Horner, and we were level again. The following inning, the Knights got another pair. John Marz and Joe Crim knocked Jackson to reach the corners, Jim Price gave them the lead with a sac fly to plenty deep left, and Alade got a 2-out RBI single in.

Four runs in six and a third looked like enough to drown Jackson, with the Portland offense going silently from there on out (but were still out-hitting the Knights in the late innings, which was becoming a regular occurrence making my blood boil), and even Todd Lush pitching to five batters without the need for the local fire brigade to pay an emergency visit to the ballpark after Jackson retired to his room for the night didn’t look like it was gonna help to dig out the damn ballgame. Instead Nelson Moreno nicked Joe Crim to begin the top 9th and surrendered the run on a Price double. The Raccoons never regained consciousness at the plate and suffered another sad-sack, soggy loss. 5-2 Knights. Toohey 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, BB;

Game 3
ATL: C Horner – LF Hester – 1B Marz – 3B Crim – SS J. Gonzalez – CF Alade – RF J. Price – 2B Sprague – P K. Olson
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – C Morales – 2B Martell – P Merino

Manny hit a ball over the fence in the bottom 2nd… but narrowly foul, and on the re-do had to settle for a 2-out single, the first Critter to reach base in Sunday’s rubber game. Tony Morales grounded out, and I wasn’t used to anything else anymore. Merino also allowed only one runner aboard in the first run through the Knights lineup, Alade hitting a bloop double, but was surely do for a 6-hit, 5-run inning at some point. When John Marz – not exactly the most agile specimen – legged out an infield single in the fourth I thought the time had arrived, but Merino got around that base hit, too. Instead he walked Alade to begin the fifth, nailed Sprague (a former Elk, so, eh!), but the runners were bunted into scoring position in time for Horner to come up and do damage again with two outs, but he popped out in a full count. Sprague then threw away a Fernandez grounder for two free bases with one out in the bottom 5th, giving the Raccoons already their second base runner in a rush of offensive action. The Knights went on to walk Morales intentionally, preferring Martell’s bat in the box, and Martell duly flew out easily to Price for the second out. And then Merino jabbed an RBI single to right, giving himself a 1-0 lead.

And after Baskins grounded out, Merino got whacked in the sixth. Marz single, Gonzalez single, Alade walked, and Price singled home two with two outs and in a full count, flipping the score. At this point, it almost didn’t hurt anymore. Watching the Raccoons fail at baseball just gave me a constant throbbing feeling in the head, so at least there remained hope for a fatal aneurysm. Merino got booted after nailing Olson in the seventh, with Preston Porter somehow stranding that senseless runner on third base. The Coons had leadoff singles; Herrera in the sixth, before being caught stealing; and Matt Waters in the seventh, before Morales found Sprague for the double play. The eighth was just three bad outs against three different relievers, before Alex Banderas came on for the middle of the order in the bottom 9th, looking confident to make a 1-run lead stand up. Gurney grounded out. Maldonado struck out. Waters grounded out. 2-1 Knights.

In other news

May 22 – Bayhawks OF/2B Moises Avila (.241, 2 HR, 17 RBI) was revealed to miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum.
May 23 – A quad strain should keep ATL 1B Chris Delagrange (.243, 6 HR, 19 RBI) out for about three weeks.
May 23 – ATL SS Jorge Gonzalez (.323, 0 HR, 19 RBI) hits the last of three singles in the bottom 16th to give the Knights a 7-6 walkoff win over the Crusaders.
May 26 – Rebels outfielder Victor Gutierrez (.186, 3 HR, 7 RBI) draws attention with a walkoff grand slam that beats the Pacifics, 5-1 in regulation.

FL Player of the Week: PIT LF/RF Victor Vazquez (.318, 3 HR, 34 RBI), hitting .650 (13-20) with 1 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ OF/1B Marty Reidinger (.292, 3 HR, 18 RBI), batting .556 (10-18) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Plan E – a lineup comprised entirely of pitchers! What do you say, Cristiano? – No? – Well, you ain’t got no great ideas either!

The team is playing impossibly badly. They are unwatchable. It’s awful. The offense is awful. The defense is compromised with attempts to get the offense going. And the pitching is… – Cristiano, if you tell me one more time that we’re allowing the fewest runs in the league, you’re the home plate for our next homestand!

That will be after a road trip to Falcons and Loggers territory; after that we’ll have the damn Elks and the Blue Sox in the house here. Oh dear… SIX games with the damn Elks this month?? I can’t take that… We need to call that guy with the rain machine!

Fun Fact: As predicted, the Knights left Portland leading the CL South.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (26-24) @ Falcons (26-25) – May 28-30, 2046

Playing in Portland brought them no luck, so the Raccoons decided to try again on the road, venturing out to Charlotte by Monday. We were up 2-1 on the Falcons, but … eh… the Falcons were scoring the most runs in the league, they would surely find a way to run riot around our staff again. They gave up an average amount of runs, but would surely find a shutout or three in their arsenal.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (5-2, 3.62 ERA) vs. Adam Messer (4-3, 4.22 ERA)
Ryan Person (3-3, 3.12 ERA) vs. Natanael Abrao (1-1, 4.25 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-5, 4.65 ERA) vs. Jerry Felix (6-3, 3.57 ERA)

Only righty opposition for this series.

Game 1
POR: 2B Gurney – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – C Morales – LF Fernandez – RF Mercado – P Wheatley
CHA: 2B M. Martinez – 3B E. Sandoval – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – 1B Haertling – RF Turley – CF Marroguin – C N. Evans – P Messer

Another game, another reason to walk off the nearest drawbridge; the Raccoons had two hits off Messer in the first five innings and failed to get as far as third base, while the Falcons twice put runners on the corners in the third and fourth innings against a swaying Jason Wheatley, who then walked Messer with one out in the fifth inning, his fourth free pass in the game. Miguel Martinez grounded into a fielder’s choice, but then stole second base, moving the go-ahead run into scoring position anyway. But it turned out, any position was a scoring position as soon as Esteban Sandoval hit a homer to center, his first of the year, on a 3-2 pitch. No Raccoons response was forthcoming and instead Wheatley came apart for good in the bottom 6th. Tony Aparicio and Ed Haertling hit singles, none of which got beyond the infield dirt. While Archie Turley flew out to left, the runners then pulled off a double steal, and Aparicio scored when Jordan Marroguin’s 3-1 pop to short was dropped by Matt Waters for a screaming stupid error. Nate Evans’ RBI single buried Wheatley by a slam, and the Raccoons resorted to Aaron Hickey to get out of the ******* inning.

Hickey’s spot then came up in the seventh with Morales, Manny, and Mercado on base on two singles and a walk issued by Messer. One down, Derek Baskins was the pinch-hitter, but was held to a sac fly to center. Gurney grounded out. The tying run was at home plate again after 1-out singles hit by Maldo and Toohey in the eighth inning (at which point we were again gloriously out-hitting the opposition, but still trailed by millions of runs), then with Waters batting. He had some making up to do after dousing Wheatley earlier, and kindly took the Pitcher of the Year off the hook with a homer to left-center, leveling the score at four. A Morales double brought the removal of Messer, but Jose Santamaria oversaw the bases filling up with a walk to Manny and by nailing Mercado. Gene Pellicano hit for Bob Ibold, socked a deep fly to right, but Turley caught up with it at the track – sac fly, and a 5-4 lead, though. Gurney then flew out to Joe Besaw to strand another two runners, swiftly followed by another bullpen implosion, this one with Preston Porter in the eye of the storm. He walked Ed Haertling to begin the bottom 8th, got to see Turley reach on Gurney’s error, and while Marroguin got Turley forced out with a grounder, an infield single by Evans loaded the bases. PH Mike Allegood hit a fly to deep center; Herrera caught the ball, but Haertling scored to tie the game. Miguel Martinez’ grounder kept the game tied, but when the Coons’ #2 spot led off the ninth inning, it was Al Martell to swing a stick at ex-Coon Antonio Prieto, Armando Herrera having sought out the services of Dr. Padilla. The game tumbled into extras, where Turley would end it in the 10th, homering off Todd Lush. 6-5 Falcons. Maldonado 2-5; Waters 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Morales 3-5, 2 2B;

So that was two losses: first, this particular ****** contest, and then Armando Herrera, who was placed on the DL on advice of Dr. Padilla. Back spasms would keep him out until late June.

At least.

For a roster move, hey, anybody up for some Van Anderson?

Game 2
POR: 1B Gurney – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Martell – C Gonzalez – P Person
CHA: 2B M. Martinez – 3B E. Sandoval – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – 1B Haertling – RF Turley – CF Marroguin – C Kuehn – P Abrao

Abrao pitched three scoreless innings, stranding Baskins and Toohey on the corners with a K to Waters in the top 1st, then also departed with a physical malady (for sure; only with the Critters you never know whether it’s not just a hunger attack). The early departure disqualified him from claiming the Falcons’ 1-0 lead, attained on Marroguin’s sac fly in the bottom 2nd after Person had yielded a pair of singles.

The middle innings passed without a significant Raccoons challenge, while Person managed to load the bases in the bottom 6th with nobody out with a whole lot of stupidity involved. He picked up Joe Besaw’s grounder to begin the inning, but didn’t throw to first base for some reason. He then walked Aparicio, and Gurney’s error added Haertling to the mix. All three scored – two on Archie Turley’s double, and another one on another sac fly, this one by Paul Kuehn. He was loaded with another run in the seventh, walking Martinez, throwing a wild pitch, and getting no help from Ibold, either. Turley added a homer off Ibold in the eighth. The Raccoons never scored, nor did they look like they were trying. 6-0 Falcons.

Game 3
POR: 1B Gurney – CF Baskins – C Morales – RF Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 3B Martell – 2B Castner – P Okuda
CHA: 2B M. Martinez – 3B Watanabe – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – RF Turley – 1B Haertling – LF Allegood – C Kuehn – P Felix

Despite having Baskins and Morales on the corners and one out in the first inning, the Raccoons didn’t score; Toohey struck out, and Waters floated out to Turdley, who threw out Al Martell at home plate to end the top 2nd. Martell had started from second base on an Okuda single, but desperate Raccoons found themselves unrewarded for boldness by sending him. In between, the Falcons had lost Tony Aparicio to injury, and now had to make do with Adam Shay at short. Baskins was on base in the third inning, only to get picked off by Felix, and no other Raccoon reached for a full turn through the order, with Baskins then flying out to Joe Besaw on a 3-0 pitch to begin the sixth. There was really, truly, finally, indeed no hope for this baseball god-forsaken team…

Not that the Falcons were even leading yet (trailing 6-1 on base hits as they did). Besaw landed their second base knock in the bottom 6th, a 2-out double to left. He also pulled a hammy doing so and was replaced by Sean Watson, but Shay flew out to Manny to end the inning. In the end, the Falcons took the lead on a solo home run by Haertling the following inning, a lefty-on-lefty crime. Okuda was hit for to no avail in the eighth, with Nelson Moreno managing the 1-0 deficit in the bottom of that inning. The 4-5-6 came up against Prieto in the ninth. Waters reached on an 0-2 squibber next to the mound, infield single, extending the Coons’ hits lead to 9-4. He was then forced out on Manny’s grounder to Martinez. Martell flew out to Allegood. 1-0 Falcons. Okuda 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (2-6);

End good, Alle good.*

This was the first game of the year that Jesus Maldonado did not participate in, just having entered a slump. No Coon was left to feature in all games of the season – and none deserved to be made a posterboy anyway.

Thursday was spent flying to Milwaukee and getting checked out by Dr. Padilla, but apparently I was still no nearer to a fatal aneurysm than at the beginning of this bone shaker of a 4-12 slide.

Raccoons (26-27) @ Loggers (31-21) – June 1-3, 2046

The Loggers were steadily winning away and were already 5 1/2 games ahead of the lousy Critters as dawn broke on June. They were sixth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed, so certainly not stellar, and the +13 run differential hinted at a lucky streak. But at least for the weekend they oughta be fine, despite being 3-3 this year against the team showcasing the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” attitude like none other…

Projected matchups
Jake Jackson (3-5, 3.07 ERA) vs. Tony Ruiz (1-2, 5.40 ERA)
Victor Merino (4-3, 2.71 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (3-4, 4.43 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-2, 3.84 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (5-1, 1.88 ERA)

Ruiz was the only southpaw, having found a spot in the rotation amidst injuries to starters Jose de Lucio, Victor Padilla, and Marvin Verduzco. Another three relievers were also out, including Caleb Martin, listed as day-to-day with a herniated disc, but who would go to a closer ailing like that?

Game 1
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – P Jackson
MIL: CF B. Allen – 3B B. Johnson – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – 1B Brayboy – C Payne – LF Reeves – 2B Davison – P T. Ruiz

The Coons didn’t score in the first (and why would they?), but the Loggers pounded Jackson for three as soon as he got his hat and pants on. He walked Brent Allen, Brad Johnson hit an infield single, and it was off to the races from there, Daniel Hertenstein, Aaron Brayboy (argh!), and Ricky Payne each driving home a run in another game that got far away early. It all tied in well with the soggy weather that would give everybody present the occasional drizzle in the next few hours.

The Coons didn’t answer, as usual. In the fourth, Ruiz offered back-to-back walks to Toohey and Waters, with two outs, and all Manny Fernandez could put together was another ******* groundout to Scott Davison. The scoring drought stopped after 24 innings of utter futility when Ruben Gonzalez whacked a leadoff double in the fifth and then barely scored on groundouts by John Castner and his battery mate.

…and then Ruiz actually did find trouble in the sixth; while Jackson had held up after the early waffling, Ruiz allowed a leadoff single to Baskins in the sixth. Maldonado’s grounder forced him out, but Toohey was nicked to move Maldo to second. Waters singled through the left side, with Maldo sprinting around for home plate, scoring, and drawing a throw that invited the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position with one out…! In need of a choke job, the Coons found Manny and a comebacker to the mound for the second out, not getting a runner across. Gonzalez walked, leaving three runners on base to be John Castner’s .111 business. The Coons needed the runs – they sent Pat Gurney to pinch-hit *despite* the lefty on the mound. Gurney grounded out to Davison. Nobody scored.

When the Coons tied the game in the seventh after all, they did so mostly because the Loggers forced them to. Gene Pellicano hit a soft single, stole second on a botched hit-and-run when Ricky Payne didn’t get a throw off, and ultimately came home on a 2-out wild pitch by Ruiz. Both starters then called it a day for no-decisions after the seventh, with Kelly and Porter putting together a 1-2-3 eighth for the Raccoons. When Gurney hit a leadoff single off Ron Purcell in the ninth, Porter was retained to bunt, getting the go-ahead run into scoring position that way. But Mercado walked in Pellicano’s place, and Baskins and Maldonado both flew out to Bill Reeves to quell the threat. The Coons didn’t score again on that day – but they also didn’t lose. Soggy weather had turned to actual rain by the bottom 9th and Porter logged one more out before the game went to a rain delay from which it never emerged. Suspended at 3-3 in the ninth, it would be picked up again on Saturday.

Oh, to have scored a run in the top of the ninth…!!

Game 1 (cont.)
POR: RF Mercado – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Gurney – P Porter
MIL: CF B. Allen – P Purcell – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – 1B R. Rodriguez – C Payne – LF Reeves – 2B Davison – 3B Velasquez

Preston Porter had thrown 18 innings before the overnight delay of proceedings and picked up his own 0-2 count against Davison with one out in the bottom 9th. He completed the strikeout with a fastball, then walked Jorge Velasquez. Allen grounded out, sending the game to extras. Bottom 10th, Aaron Hickey pitching, leadoff double by Kyle Edsell in right-center, then a Daniel Hertenstein single. With runners on the corners, Ricky Espinoza flew out to Mercado in right. Edsell went for home, but was thrown out to prevent conclusion of the game. Rodriguez popped out, but Hickey walked Payne, and a walkoff slam by Reeves, the May Hitter of the Month, would serve the Loggers just fine… 7-3 Loggers. Porter 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: 1B Gurney – C Morales – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Martell – CF Anderson – P Merino
MIL: CF B. Allen – 2B Davison – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – LF Reeves – C R. Rodriguez – 1B Edsell – 3B R. Johnston – P Ru. Guzman

A Manny Fernandez home run gave the Raccoons a lead, but when did that ever hold up? Merino didn’t allow a hit the first time through the order, but walked a pair, one of which (Davison) got himself caught stealing, but also faced a lineup without lefty hitters, and thus was closely watched. Thus, I got a good look at the two Loggers homers that gave them a 4-1 lead in the bottom 4th. Bill Reeves went yard for three runs, and Edsell added a solo shot as the Raccoons crumbled apart in a really messy way again. It just continued like that – Merino saw Guzman reach to begin the bottom 5th, but Brent Allen doubled him off, only for Davison and Hertenstein to get on. Espinoza put the game away with a 3-run homer to left, and ending Merino’s time in the sandbox. Bryce Toohey hit a meaningless homer to begin the seventh inning, reducing the soul-wrenching deficit to 7-2, all runs coming on home runs. It was the last home run, as well as the last run, and the last Coons hit in the game. 7-2 Loggers. Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 3
POR: LF Baskins – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – CF Mercado – RF Fernandez – 2B Martell – P Wheatley
MIL: CF B. Allen – 3B B. Johnson – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – 1B Brayboy – C Payne – LF Reeves – 2B Davison – P Piedra

Waters walked, stole second, reached third on an error by Payne, and scored on a Maldonado groundout, giving the Raccoons a 1-0 lead in the first without as much as a base hit. Wheats walked Johnson in the bottom 1st, but when Johnson made a bid for second base, he was thrown out by Tony Morales. Maldonado drove in Waters again in the third inning, then with a double to center, and scored himself on a 2-out single by Tony Morales. Through three, Wheats also showed no signs of disintegration, but the same had been true for Merino on Saturday, so… eh! Manny and Baskins upped to 4-0 in the fourth with a pair of doubles off Piedra, whose only L of the season had come against Portland in April, and he had also hurt himself on the bases in that game, this being his second start off the DL.

Then we lost Waters to injury on a defensive play, which was totally not good. Castner entered the game playing second base, with Martell shifted over to short. Castner drove in Baskins with two outs in the sixth after Baskins had hit another double, upping the score to 5-0 and chasing Piedra. Wheats looked sturdy, allowing nothing but a Brayboy single and two walks through six innings, but I had learned better than to trust anybody willy-nilly on this team. You had to bring more than a Pitcher of the Year belt to get me confident these days…! Espinoza hit a 2-out single to center in the seventh, but Brayboy struck out. Bryce Toohey in turn put the game away with an unearned 3-run homer off Nicholas Pollock in the eighth, going yard to left with two outs and with Castner (reached on a Reeves error) and Maldonado on base. Wheats stranded Payne after a leadoff double to right-center in the bottom 8th, and was invited back for the ninth, albeit being on 98 pitches. Allen opened the bottom 9th with an infield single, which was so typical I wasn’t even getting worked up anymore. However – PH Ricky Rodriguez found Maldo for a 5-4-3 double play, putting Wheats an out away from a shutout. Hertenstein popped out foul to make it true. 8-0 Raccoons. Baskins 2-6, 3B, 2B, RBI; Castner 1-2, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Toohey 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Morales 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Mercado 2-5, 2B; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (6-2);

In other news

May 29 – The Stars romp the Capitals, 14-0, despite scoring in only two innings, the fifth (six runs) and the eighth (the rest). Omar Gonzalez (.320, 2 HR, 25 RBI) and Joreao Porfirio (.307, 10 HR, 45 RBI) each drive in five runs apiece.
May 29 – Oklahoma City SS/LF/1B Ryan Cox (.258, 2 HR, 19 RBI) will miss at least one week with an intercostal strain.
May 30 – Knights RF/1B/LF John Marz (.219, 4 HR, 20 RBI) livens up a pretty damp season so far with three solo home runs to down the Canadiens, 9-8. He is the first Knight to hit three home runs in a game since Jimmy Raupp in 2017, and the last 3-homer game against Vancouver had taken place even longer ago, New York’s Martin Ortíz doing the honors to them in 2015.
May 30 – The Crusaders acquire LF/RF Ethan Moore (.173, 0 HR, 7 RBI) from the Thunder for an unranked prospect.
June 2 – With a torn flexor tendon, SFW SP Andy Mejia (2-3, 5.29 ERA) is out for the season.
June 2 – The Bayhawks out-hit the Condors 20-6, and need 15 innings to turn that into a 5-3 win.
June 3 – Indianapolis is thrilled to re-unite with 3B Dan Hutson (.230, 2 HR, 6 RBI), who comes over in a trade from the Bayhawks. The 36-year-old’s services cost the Indians MR Orlando Altreche (1-2, 4.30 ERA) and a prospect.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 2B Hugo Acosta (.333, 0 HR, 32 RBI), poking .545 (12-22) with 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA OF Archie Turley (.324, 8 HR, 51 RBI), swatting .462 (12-26) with 5 HR, 12 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DEN OF Tim Turner (.371, 4 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .395 with 3 HR, 17 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL LF/CF Bill Reeves (.321, 6 HR, 24 RBI), batting .374 with 3 HR, 10 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN SP Roberto Pruneda (7-4, 2.41 ERA), pitching to a 5-1 record and 1.59 ERA with 29 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Bill Nichol (6-2, 2.09 ERA), hurling for a 4-1 record, 1.81 ERA, and 27 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW 3B/CF/1B Randy Wilken (.313, 5 HR, 16 RBI), poking .314 with 4 HR, 15 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ 3B/SS Alex Lopez (.257, 2 HR, 18 RBI), hitting .283 with 1 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Fifth career shutout for Wheats, and the second one this year, on Sunday to stop another 6-game bleed. Or, shall we say, “interrupt”?

After the rally at the start of May, the team completely faltered in the second half of the month. It worked out to a 14-14 May, which was boilerplate crummy and absolutely insufficient in any regard. Offense was the main culprit – we coincidentally finished the month with 20 scoreless innings and two shutouts against the Falcons…

We also lost Herrera for a month this week, and Matt Waters for an undetermined amount of time, but I think Dr. Padilla walked around with a bone saw earlier. Losing hitters is exactly not what we need right now…!

Dark times.

Don’t see it getting better next week, either. We’ll have Monday off, then three each against the damn Elks and Blue Sox at home.

Fun Fact: Three of Jason Wheatley’s five career shutouts have come against the Loggers.

If you invoke any Rico Gutierrez comparisons, your season tickets will be revoked.

*For our German readers exclusively; the German proverb “Ende gut, alles gut”, roughly equivalent to “all’s well that ends well” and that outfielder’s name were begging for it. Matched well with the sweep, too…

[Westheim]

2046 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

It was a … weird draft pool? First, the number of pitchers and batters was almost even, which was quite the rarity, and then the batters that were there failed to tickle any excitement out of me. Not that too much excitement was helpful when you’re armed with nothing more than the #21 pick in every round.

We soldiered ahead anyway, compiling the usual hotlist (with * denoting high school boys):

SP Steven Stevenson (13/12/12) * - BNN #4
SP Chad Schultz (11/15/9) *
SP Rich Morrall (12/14/9) – BNN #9
SP Chris Ferguson (11/12/13) – BNN #3
SP Josh Lones (10/10/9) *

C Mike Ater (8/13/13)

3B Bobby Anderson (13/11/12) – BNN #5
1B Nate Ward jr. (10/13/17) – BNN #1

OF/1B Adam Samples (9/8/11) *
LF/RF Matt Cox (9/12/11)

There is no love lost with Pat Degenhardt for either Samples or Lones, but Cristiano Carmona did some fancy stats stuff on them and thinks they are going to perform great as professionals. Also, Stevenson’s official picture on his school team page says, annoyed, “Look… I know.”

Bobby Anderson looks like the player that can leave you content with the hot corner for a decade. A 22-year-old righty hitter from Queens, he has great range and a thunderbolt arm, and his hitting profile says he can do a bit of everything, even running and stealing. He might be my preferred pick, but at #21… you better don’t have a preferred pick…

[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-29) vs. Canadiens (25-28) – June 5-7, 2046

The damn Elks saw the second-most runs on either side of the box score in the CL, with a -13 run differential (Critters: +13). Their rotation was the worst by ERA, and their defense was worst overall, too, but then again they had a .358 team OBP. What they didn’t have – at least to begin the series – was certified murderer Jerry Outram, who was laboring on a mild hamstring strain and would not be in the lineup in the opener at least. The Coons had yet to win a game from Elk City this year, having been swept in the first 3-game set played.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Person (3-4, 3.42 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (5-2, 4.36 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-6, 4.24 ERA) vs. John Roeder (3-4, 3.49 ERA)
Jake Jackson (3-5, 3.15 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (3-6, 4.30 ERA)

We might get two southpaws to begin the set, and we’d miss the worst offenders in their rotation, which was such a nice start. Monday had been off for everybody, but I had my doubts about them skipping Roeder for Aaron Jones (3-4, 5.64 ERA) to get the baseball back any sooner.

Despite the off day on Monday, the Raccoons still had no news on Matt Waters’ injury, so they’d play a set of paws short on Tuesday.

Game 1
VAN: CF Escobido – 2B O. Aguirre – C Julio Diaz – LF C. Robinson – 3B Malkus – SS Price – 1B K. Saito – RF van der Zanden – P de Anda
POR: LF Pellicano – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Mercado – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Person

Person started the week with two walks to Angel Escobido and Oscar Aguirre, making me squeal in agony, before whiffing Julio Diaz and Chris Robinson and getting a groundout from Travis Malkus. No comfort zone was in sight. The Elks opened the second inning with Rick Price and Kenichi Saito singles up the middle, and an error by Castner allowed Price to score before de Anda bunted into a double play to help the Coons out of the mess they were in. No Raccoon reached base until Al Martell landed a 1-out triple in the bottom 3rd, with kind cooperation by Escobido’s confused misplay, overrunning the ball in shallow center and then having it get behind him and almost all the way to the warning track. Person popped out, Pellicano walked, and somehow Derek Baskins finally got the runner across with a single to center, tying the game at one. Maldo grounded out to Saito, but runners were on the corners in the bottom 4th as well, with Toohey drawing a leadoff walk and Mercado hitting for a soft single. One down, Castner singled through between Price and Malkus, giving Portland a 2-1 lead, but the inning then raced to a quick conclusion with weak outs from the 8-9 batters. The lead didn’t last long at all – remember, we can’t have any nice things; and Julio Diaz doubled home Aguirre, who had reached on a 2-out walk (…) to tie it back up in the fifth.

Portland got a Pellicano single to begin the bottom 5th, and while Baskins was caught on the warning track by Chris Robinson, Maldonado hit a double to center to put two in scoring position for Toohey. To my great surprise, the Elks pitched to Toohey, who had Ruben ******* Gonzalez for protection in the injury-diminished lineup, and de Anda gave up a 2-run double to center after reaching a full count. It was all the same though in the end – Gonzalez hit the third double in a row, driving in Toohey, and getting the Elks pen to start stretching. Nevertheless, the Critters would complete a run through the lineup, with Mercado and Castner singles getting Gonzalez around for a 6-2 lead before the 8-9 hitters again led to a quick exit.

And it almost all went well from there. Person pitched into the eighth, after which we twiddled us through that inning with Lush and Ibold. Preston Porter got the ninth, still up by four, which became up by two after Felix Rojas’ pinch-hit 2-out, 2-run homer to straightaway centerfield. Josh Rella had to come in late here, facing Escobido, who grounded out to Maldonado to end the game after all. 6-4 Raccoons. Baskins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Mercado 3-4; Castner 2-4, 2 RBI; Fernandez (PH) 1-1, 2B; Person 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (4-4);

Neat win, except that we needed four relievers to get five outs. But with how the last few weeks had gone, I wasn’t gonna nag about that one too much…

Wednesday brought no enlightenment regarding Matt Waters *still* (and Dr. Padilla was treacherously silent and faked having to take a phone call every time I inquired about Waters), but the damn Elks did indeed NOT bring up John Roeder, but went to the right-handed Mario, Godinez.

Game 2
VAN: LF Escobido – SS O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – RF van der Zanden – 3B K. Saito – 1B Bejarano – P Godinez
POR: RF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – LF Fernandez – C Morales – SS Martell – P Okuda

Godinez gave himself the lead with a 2-out single in the top 2nd, the third of the inning and scoring Arnout van der Zanden, who had forced out Malkus earlier. Portland answered to a new 1-0 deficit with a Baskins single, Manny double, and Morales single in the bottom 2nd, which, since Julio Diaz was busy shooing Baskins back to third base and then had no time to throw out *Tony Morales* at first base, did not score us a run, instead bringing up the .221 menace Al Martell with one out. He flew out softly to Outram in shallow center, and Okuda grounded out, throwing away three perfectly good base hits once again…

The Elks also had the bases loaded, but with no outs, and without a base hit in the third inning. Okuda walked Aguirre and Outram, Maldo fumbled Diaz aboard via error, and things looked rather bleak. Indeed, Okuda was chopped to pieces; after getting Malkus to pop out to second, he surrendered two runs each on a van der Zanden double and a Saito single, and was yanked in the fourth after putting Aguirre and Outram on AGAIN. The Raccoons accepted the loss and sent Aaron Hickey, who gave up one of the runners on a van der Zanden single, running the score to 6-0 on the inept Critters. Perversely, the Coons’ first run in the game would be scored by Hickey, who hit a double in the bottom 5th, then came around on Pat Gurney’s 2-out single… Hickey pitched the Coons through to the seventh-inning stretch without being charged a run, easily winning Least Annoying Bum on Team for this particular shambles. Todd Lush meanwhile came into the eighth inning with two outs and nobody on base, faced two lefty hitters – Outram and Diaz, admittedly – and left with two additional runs on the board on a single and a homer. The Coons scratched out a few late runs with a Toohey homer in the eighth and a Castner RBI single to score Mercado in the ninth, none of which made a significant dent in the final score. 8-4 Canadiens. Castner (PH) 1-1, RBI; Baskins 2-3, BB; Hickey 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K and 1-2, 2B;

Todd Lush and his 5.50 ERA were placed on waivers on Thursday – the same way we had gotten his silly bum in the first place. His Raccoons ERA was an even ghastlier 6.14 … Steven Johnston, sporting an infinite ERA from one hopeless appearance this year, was brought back as a filler while I tried to work out a smart solution.

Dr. Padilla, what about …? – But do you at least know where you placed him? – Why do you ask ME whether we took him home from Milwaukee? I didn’t count heads, I was busy crying!

Game 3
VAN: 1B Bejarano – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Malkus – LF C. Robinson – RF F. Rojas – SS Price – P Roeder
POR: LF Pellicano – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Jackson

Roeder got the rubber game after all, then gave up singles to load the bases on nine pitches in the bottom 1st – but with nobody out, so Toohey at the plate be damned, the Raccoons probably wouldn’t score. Toohey promptly struck out, making me reach for Honeypaws for comfort, but Ruben Gonzalez’ groundout got at least one run home. That would have been it, had Aguirre not fumbled Manny’s grounder for an error, allowing Baskins to score, too. Castner then finally grounded out for good. This team…

Struggles for Jake Jackson against a mostly left-handed lineup became soon apparent, as he loaded the bases in the top 2nd with a single and two walks, then escaped, barely, by getting Roeder to fly out to Pellicano. Al Martell countered with a leadoff jack in the bottom 2nd, his first of the year, 3-0. Pellicano walked with one out, advanced on a grounder, then was singled in by Maldonado.

The Elks piled up the runners on Jackson, seven in total in the first four innings, none of which scored also thanks to double plays hit into in both the third (Aguirre) and fourth (Malkus) innings. Roeder’s leadoff single in the fifth spelled more trouble, and Jackson walked former Raccoons farmhand Ricardo Bejarano immediately after. Aguirre flew out, and Outram struck out – while everybody else in the lineup ran riot around Jackson, Outram was 0-for-3 in the game after going unretired on Wednesday. While Jackson needed 90 pitches through five messy, yet scoreless innings, Toohey upped the lead to 5-0 with his 15th jack of the year. Jackson was yanked after a leadoff walk to Malkus in the sixth. Johnston was picked for the bottom of the order, got a double play grounder from Robinson, and lowered his ERA from infinite to merely 27.00 in the process. What a winner! Bottom 7th, the Coons had the bases loaded with one out against righty Steven Wilson. Looking for the death knell, Mercado batted for an 0-for-3 Ruben Gonzalez and smacked a 2-run double. While Manny struck out, the inning dragged on with Castner getting nicked and Martell drawing a bases-loaded walk for another run before Jordan Antonio retired Tony Morales on a grounder. Zack Kelly got the eighth and retired … nobody, really? Outram hit an infield single. Diaz singled. Malkus singled, with Outram being sent from second base and thrown out at home by Pellicano, so that was something. Nevertheless, Malkus and Robinson added more hits, driving in three runs on Kelly, showing the Coons they had no lefty reliever to rely on whatsoever anymore. Bob Ibold shut the door on the Elks, getting the last four outs, somehow. 8-3 Raccoons. Baskins 2-5; Maldonado 2-4, BB, RBI; Toohey 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Mercado (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (29-30) vs. Blue Sox (24-37) – June 8-10, 2046

The Blue Sox had an 8-game losing streak, which sounded like a challenge to the Critters, and sat in the bottom four in runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League, with a -34 run differential. They had a semi-decent rotation, but a bullpen getting ranked for a 5.00 ERA, so that was what the Raccoons had to get into. These teams had met last year, with two of three games going to Nashville back then.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (4-4, 3.46 ERA) vs. Jeremy Ray (3-6, 5.16 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (6-2, 3.40 ERA) vs. Chris Crowell (0-2, 4.96 ERA)
Ryan Person (4-4, 3.14 ERA) vs. Kevin Stice (2-8, 4.22 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up here.

The Raccoons also found Matt Waters again, who had apparently been forgotten in Milwaukee indeed and took three days to get home on a bus. Once in Portland, Dr. Padilla diagnosed him with a sore shoulder and recommended he’d spend the rest of June on the DL, which was another blow to the Critters… We were now left with Al Martell at short, third-choice John Castner at the keystone, and whatever we could scratch together in AAA, which turned out to be 2042 seventh-rounder Josh Floyd, a decent defender, but poor hitter, batting right-handed and hitting precious little. It was preferrable to go with him instead of a trade though (more on that in the bottom section).

Game 1
NAS: LF J. Davis – 1B Ale. Ramos – SS Rowell – C Santa Cruz – 3B Critzer – CF Harmon – 2B Ragsdale – P Ray – RF Magnussen
POR: RF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – LF Fernandez – C Morales – SS Martell – P Merino

I wished for a win all the harder when I saw the Sox batting the pitcher eighth, which was a travesty and deserving of the worst punishments imaginable. The Raccoons would start the scoring at least, hitting four straight 2-out base knocks in the bottom 2nd, including an RBI single by Merino, to take a 2-0 lead. Merino had three scoreless innings, twice walking the leadoff man, though, before being taken deep by Mike Harmon in the fourth to cut the lead in half. Adam Magnussen drew a 1-out walk in the fifth, then was doubled up by John Davis’ grounder to short. A Pat Gurney homer in the bottom of the inning restored the 2-run gap, and Manny opened the bottom 6th with a triple to left-center, then collided with Brad Critzer at third base and left the game with an injury. I was a bit dizzy. Martell drove in pinch-runner Van Anderson with a single, 4-1, but we were running out of major league position players fast now…

Merino pitched seven innings, though not without giving up a run in the final frame, allowing a single to Critzer and an RBI double to Dylan Ragsdale. Moreno followed on Merino and gave up a homer to Alejandro Ramos, reducing the lead to 4-3. The Coons didn’t tack on and Rella didn’t look like he’d hold up – after Critzer flew out to left to begin the ninth inning, he threw away Harmon’s roller for a 2-base error, putting the tying run in scoring position, then struggled to throw strikes to Jose Rivera, who grounded out at 3-1. Another lefty pinch-hitter followed in David Doerle, but the rookie infielder struck out to let the Raccoons escape with the W. 4-3 Raccoons. Mercado 2-5; Fernandez 1-2, BB, 3B; Martell 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Merino 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (5-4) and 1-3, RBI;

So, Dr. Padilla? – Not sure yet? – But we haven’t misplaced this one, too, have we?

But he was hurt in our own ballpark!!

Again, one set of paws short by Saturday…

Game 2
NAS: SS Doerle – 1B Ale. Ramos – RF Harmon – LF Magnussen – CF Rowell – C O. Ramirez – 3B J. Davis – P Crowell – 2B Hampton
POR: LF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – RF Pellicano – C Morales – SS Martell – P Wheatley

Doerle got consecutive at-bats in the series, was down 1-2 again facing Wheats to open the Saturday contest, then doubled to left, but got left aboard on two weak groundouts and a K to Magnussen. The Raccoons opened with a single by Mercado, who stole second, Maldo walking, and then an RBI single by Toohey, matching Maldo with 40 RBI. Crowell lost Baskins in a full count, filling the bases for Pellicano, who hit a soft liner over Doerle for an RBI single. Magnussen then made two catches in shallow left to keep the bases filled with Critters. The Coons left another three on, without scoring, in the bottom 2nd when Baskins grounded out to Jeremy Hampton, just before Magnussen turned Wheats inside-out with a 2-out, 3-run homer in the top 3rd…….

But Maldo was up to the challenge – with Mercado and Gurney reaching base to begin the bottom 4th, he wasted no time and socked a 3-piece to left to give the Coons a 2-run lead back, 5-3. Wheats, though, coming off a shutout of the Loggers, remained utterly hittable, giving up seven hits (against six strikeouts) in five innings, and his pitch count was up there. He hit for himself in the bottom 5th, though, with Morales (walk) and Martell (single) on the corners and nobody out, hitting a sac fly to Rick Rowell that knocked out Crowell for good. Replacement Jeff Draper gave up a walk to Mercado, then a 2-out single to Maldo that got Martell around, 7-3.

Wheats, who had no clean inning whatsoever, left the game without getting an out in the seventh, with PH Sean Ashley hitting a single to left and him nicking Hampton after that. Zack Kelly took over, got a double play grounder from Doerle to Gurney, and then Ramos to fly out to Baskins, stranding Ashley on third base. Josh Floyd made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter then, batting for Gurney against left-handed Bill Herrmann in the bottom 7th. He singled to left-center at 1-2, then was doubled up when Maldo grounded to short.

The Coons then managed to turn the 7-3 lead into a save opportunity – twice. First Kelly walked a pair in the eighth, with Bob Ibold striking out John Davis to escape, getting the chance to pitch the ninth for a save, only to walk the first two batters that came up, Rivera and Hampton. So, here was Josh Rella in another sticky situation. He gave up an RBI double to Doerle, then walked Ramos to fill the bases with the tying runs. Still nobody out, by the way. Harmon singled to center at 1-1, plating a run while Doerle was thrown out at home by Baskins. The remaining runners reached scoring position though, and were still enough to tie the game. Magnussen hit a ******* deep sac fly, moving Harmon to third base. Rowell, a righty, was hitting .189, and if Rella couldn’t get HIM out without damage, we really needed a new closer… Three strikes did it, barely… 7-6 Raccoons. Mercado 2-3, 2 BB; Floyd (PH) 1-1; Maldonado 2-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Martell 2-4;

Back in the winning zone! No, I also don’t know how we did it.

Game 3
NAS: SS Doerle – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Santa Cruz – 3B Critzer – LF Magnussen – CF Rowell – RF J. Rivera – P Stice – 2B Hampton
POR: LF Mercado – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – C Morales – SS Floyd – RF Anderson – P Person

The Critters went up 2-0 early again, starting with a Mercado double in the bottom 1st, although it then took two outs to get going. Toohey hit an RBI single, as did Morales after Baskins reached on Hampton’s error. Floyd flew out to Magnussen, ruining his perfect batting average at the major league level. Person meanwhile tried to be as annoying as possible, issuing three walks the first time through, including a 2-out walk to Stice in the second inning. Hampton singled home Magnussen with two outs, with Rivera thrown out at home plate by Baskins.

Person issued four walks and four strikeouts through three innings, with his pitch count rapidly exploding. The Raccoons better find some more offense here, considering the wonky pen behind, and thankfully they pounced when Stice nicked Toohey to begin the bottom 3rd. Hampton put Baskins on with an error *again*, after which Tony Morales socked a 3-run homer to left-center, 5-1. Person needed 91 pitches through five innings, so that was that, but at least the runts of the litter scratched out another run with two outs in the bottom 5th. Morales, Floyd, and Anderson hit singles in turn, getting another run home, and Person remained in to bat for himself, and slapped his first base hit as a Critter, bringing in Floyd for his first RBI as a Critter, too. After Mercado drew a walk, Gurney drove in two with a single off Bill Quintero, followed by a booming 3-piece crashed by Maldonado to left, the final noise in a 7-run fifth that put us up 12-1.

Person logged three more outs on 12 pitches in the sixth before the rest of the game would be left to the relief corps, and Maldo and Toohey, who had played every inning this week, were also taken out at that point, with Martell and Castner taking over in the 3-4 slots and getting 2-out knocks in the bottom 7th; Martell added himself to Gurney with a single, while Castner hit a 2-run wallbanger double to get them both home. That was still not the end – Pellicano, last man off the short bench, doubled in two more runs as pinch-hitter for Aaron Hickey in the bottom 8th against Zack Stahl. Johnston, Hickey, and Porter pitched scoreless relief in the blowout. 16-1 Furballs! Martell (PH) 1-1; Castner (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Morales 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Floyd 3-5; Anderson 2-4, BB, RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

We scored 16 runs despite none of our top 5 in the lineup managing to go better than 1-for-3 (Toohey). They all had one hit, though, and some of them were quite big, with 6 RBI in total between them.

In other news

June 5 – With ruptured finger tendons, the season might be over for ATL SP David Farris (3-6, 4.92 ERA).
June 7 – Thunder OF Juan Benavides (.297, 12 HR, 48 RBI) hits for the cycle in an 8-5 win over the Bayhawks. The 31-year-old goes 4-for-4 with 3 RBI, and also gets hit by a pitch in the game. This is the first Thunder cycle since 1990, when Tyler Burch hit for all four base knocks in a loss to the Knights, and the third overall, including Jonah Frank’s 1979 cycle, also against the Bayhawks.
June 8 – SFW 2B Hugo Acosta (.332, 0 HR, 34 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak following an RBI single in the Warriors’ 9-8 loss to the Loggers.
June 8 – Chronic shoulder soreness will put RIC SP Omar Lara (2-6, 4.23 ERA) on the DL until at least August.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.319, 8 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .609 (14-23) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL SS Jorge Gonzalez (.355, 2 HR, 26 RBI), slapping .579 (11-19) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

With Herrera and Waters out until early July, the Raccoons were trying to get by with a diminished lineup that already hadn’t scored many runs before losing those two. Waters was not really replaceable for us. There *was* an option on the trade market in the Capitals’ Cody St. Peter, who was freely shopped around, but who came with a contract for 2047 and a certain attitude. He was a switch-hitter, so that would be a plus, and he was hitting for a 104 OPS+ as a regular. But he expected to be a starter, so after Waters’ return you’d have to put him at second base or dispose of him in a landfill if you didn’t want the clubhouse to catch fire.

Was that worth it for three weeks of Waters on the DL?

Side note, no news on Manny Fernandez’ status right now. (looks over to Dr. Padilla) But we do know where he is, right? … Right?

Nobody wanted a piece of Todd Lush, who ended up joining Chuck Jones on the broken toys pile in AAA.

Next week, a quick hop down I-5 to play the Wolves, then another home series against the Arrowheads. Annoyingly, I’ll have to fly out to New York for the draft during the weekend, when the entire team is scheduled to head to New York the Monday after…

Fun Fact: Archie Turley leads the CL in RBI with 54.

Half of them against the Coons, I’d guess. – Cristiano, why do you say it’s been five when I already stated matter-of-factly that he has 27 against the Coons?

Turley, 28, is either a late bloomer or has his once-in-a-lifetime season. He spent time in AAA for non-medical reasons as recently as last year, although then he was batting .362 with five homers in 14 games there. But he hit a not-quite-league-average of .265/.309/.411 with the Falcons last year, so he wasn’t much of a threat back then. This year? .314/.341/.481 with nine homers and also ten stolen bases. Also a good arm in right, and despite his mediocre track record as a hitter, he has already won three Gold Gloves in his Falcons tenure.

His BABIP for the year is .325, so to make totally sure that he’s gonna come down back to the mean, the Raccoons should probably trade for him.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (32-30) @ Wolves (21-41) – June 11-13, 2046

The Wolves were going through a lean period after a string of six division titles and two championships, cultivating a potential second-consecutive 100-loss season (which was one way to circumscribe their 47-115 campaign last year). They coupled a lean offense (ninth in runs in the FL) with no pitching whatsoever. By far the worst, and allowing almost SIX runs per game, they had 5+ ERAs in both their rotation and bullpen. Last year we had swept a 3-game set from them.

This was the last series before the draft on Friday, with Thursday being an off day for the Portlanders.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (2-7, 4.72 ERA) vs. Gabe Butler (2-5, 6.25 ERA)
Jake Jackson (4-5, 2.95 ERA) vs. Tim Scott (1-3, 5.26 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-4, 3.38 ERA) vs. Darren McRee (1-6, 6.51 ERA)

The Wolves would lead with their only lefty. We’d miss their “ace”, Justin Roberts (3-4, 3.48 ERA).

Knowing the Raccoons, we’d probably also score five runs total in the series.

Game 1
POR: LF Pellicano – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Mercado – 2B Castner – SS Floyd – P Okuda
SAL: 3B Del Vecchio – RF Casaus – 2B Mancini – 1B B. Jenkins – C J. Ortiz – CF Sanderfer – LF M. Colon – SS Jo. Jackson – P G. Butler

Butler faced seven and struck out five in the first two innings, which was such a surprise to nobody, because that was how the Raccoons always fared against pushovers. Josh Floyd legged out an infield single to begin the third inning, was bunted over, and then scored on Gene Pellicano’s double to left, which marked the first run of the game. Pellicano was left on, obviously, while Okuda retired the first eight batters he faced before giving up a single to left to Butler, upon which he walked dismal Ted Del Vecchio and former Coons farmhand Sandy Casaus to fill the bases. I looked skywards, grinning, but internally cursed the baseball gods .Nevertheless, Bob Mancini popped out, stranding a full set of runners.

Ruben Gonzalez’ leadoff jack to left in the fourth extended the lead to 2-0, and three singles by Castner, Floyd, and Pellicano added another run, but Okuda found ways and means to give back to the opposition. Again it was Butler to hit a 2-out single in the bottom 5th, then followed by three more 2-out singles, which scored two runs for Salem and got them back to 3-2, before Bill Jenkins grounded out to Floyd. The rest of the scaffolding came down the following inning, Butler, who had nine strikeouts of hapless Critters, getting his third and final single off Okuda, this one an RBI single to score Miguel Colon and take the 4-3 lead. Did I mention that it came with two outs? Del Vecchio singled off Okuda to knock out that bum, with Bob Ibold notching a K on Casaus to end the spook.

Top 7th, Butler still struggling along, the Raccoons loaded the bases with Pellicano and Baskins singles, Maldo getting brushed, and nobody out. Toohey tied the game with another single, but Gonzalez grounded into a force at home before the Critters did break through against left-hander Miguel Soler. Mercado walked in a run, and Castner singled home two, Floyd adding one more with a single to center. With two outs, Gene Pellicano raked a 2-out double to left before righty Miguel Montoya finally found out of the inning after the Wolves had been battered for seven runs. One more run was added to the smothering in the ninth inning, when Pellicano tripled to left and scored on Baskins’ groundout. 11-4 Raccoons. Pellicano 5-6, 3B, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Gonzalez 2-6, HR, RBI; Castner 2-5, 2 RBI; Floyd 2-4, BB, RBI; Hickey 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

By Tuesday, we finally placed Manny Fernandez on the DL to free up room on the roster. He was out with a torn meniscus, which was something that would take until after the All Star Game to mend. We called up the next replacement from AAA (though somehow playing with a 24-man roster was becoming a nice habit and we were also more successful with it…..) in 2042 supplemental round pick Ken Mills, a left-handed hitter with a keen eye, some speed, and decent defense on all outfield positions. H was hitting .255 with 5 homers in AAA this year, but with a .375 OBP.

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – LF Pellicano – 2B Gurney – 1B Toohey – CF Baskins – C Morales – 3B Martell – SS Floyd – P Ja. Jackson
SAL: LF S. Petersen – 3B Del Vecchio – 2B Mancini – 1B B. Jenkins – RF Casaus – CF Sanderfer – C K. Morris – SS Jo. Jackson – P T. Scott

Steve Petersen was hitting .270 with a home run in the leadoff spot; he was the Raccoon on paper that we had picked up in the offseason in a trade deal, only to lose him immediately in the rule 5 draft. He was out trying to bunt his way on in the bottom 1st, but the Wolves still got an early run out of a Mancini double and a Jenkins single. The Raccoons failed their way through the early innings, while Jenkins hit a leadoff double in the bottom 4th, but then left the game with an apparent injury. Jackson balked pinch-runner Jose Garcia to third base, then surrendered the run on Casaus’ sac fly. That was 2-0, but the tying runs were in scoring position the following half-inning after a Floyd single and Scott’s errant throw on Jake Jackson’s bunt. Mercado struck out, Pellicano flew out, and the runners were stranded… Toohey hit a homer in the sixth, but that was a solo job, and Jackson instead got battered for three hits, two doubles, and two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Top 7th, the tying runs were on with Floyd and Mercado drawing walks around Maldo’s pinch-hit single – and nobody out. Pellicano fouled out (…), but Gurney got a soft single through the right side, advancing everybody by one base and narrowing the score to 4-2. Now a Toohey homer would come in handy, but he was held to a sac fly to Casaus, and Baskins grounded out to Mancini to end the inning. The tying run was stranded in scoring position again in the eighth inning, when Mercado grounded out, and the score was still 4-3 in the ninth, which saw right-hander Brian Johnson and his 6.47 ERA get the baseball. Pellicano flew out, Gurney grounded out, Toohey walked, then was run for with Castner, who was caught stealing to end the game. 4-3 Wolves. Toohey 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Floyd 1-2, 2 BB; Maldonado (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
POR: LF Pellicano – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Morales – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – CF Mills – P Merino
SAL: 3B Del Vecchio – RF Casaus – 1B B. Jenkins – CF Sanderfer – 2B Alvarado – C K. Morris – LF Santry – SS Jo. Jackson – P McRee

McRee had not only a 6.51 ERA, but also 47 walks in 55.1 innings, so he was trouble all-around, and would probably pitch a shutout. Actually, the Coons scored in the first, opening with Pellicano and Gurney hits, then a Maldonado grounder to get a run home, and Toohey managed the same trick. Then we allowed him to settle in, because pounding the fellow would have been impolite or whatever, and nobody drew a walk off him, either, in four innings, while we waited for Merino to implode, which sorta happened in the bottom 4th with two walks and a Josh Jackson RBI single with two outs. Floyd was still new around here and played McRee’s grounder for the third out, not having gotten the team’s gist yet of always giving up a 2-out single to the opposing pitcher. What a bum.

Ken Mills’ first major league hit was a triple then, finding the gap in left-center with one out in the fifth. Merino grounded to short to score him, 3-1, and a Toohey homer (isn’t he on fire neatly!?) ran the score to 4-1. Merino reached the seventh, but was lifted after a 1-out single by Miguel Colon in the #9 hole, with nothing but righty hitters coming up. Ibold bailed him out. Toohey whacked an RBI double to score Maldo in the eighth, 5-1, and the bags filled up against Guillermo Lastra, but didn’t empty, with Floyd whiffing and Mills grounding out to short to strand three runners. Maldo got an RBI of his own in the ninth against Lastra, who gave up a single to Pellicano, who stole second, nicked Gurney, and yielded to Jody Boerger (7.58 ERA, Jesus H. Christ…), who gave up the Maldo single for 6-1, then nailed Toohey good with a 1-2 pitch, so it was hard to claim intent… Additional runs scored on a Morales single and a fielder’s choice by Martell, after which the inning fizzled out, with the 7-run lead then going to Steven Johnston in the bottom 9th, and Johnston retired the Wolves on eight pitches to get the Coons back on I-5 and home. 8-1 Critters. Pellicano 2-5; Toohey 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Morales 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Merino 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (6-4) and 1-3, RBI;

Raccoons (34-31) vs. Indians (36-30) – June 15-17, 2046

Now here was an interesting series. The Raccoons had immemorably been swept by the Indians in a 4-game set earlier this year, but now had a chance to at least get within half a game of second place with a series win (with the Loggers a further three games ahead after a rough trip to Cincy). The Indians were without regulars Nelson Galvan and Andrew Russ (exhales!), which should in theory additionally cripple their bottom three lineup. But they also had the best rotation, conceded the second-fewest runs, and a top 3 defense surely also helped here and there with everything.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (7-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. Luis Anzaldo (6-2, 3.62 ERA)
Ryan Person (5-4, 2.98 ERA) vs. Jason Palladino (3-4, 4.50 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-7, 4.86 ERA) vs. Bill Drury (8-6, 3.59 ERA)

Only right-handers on offer for this weekend set.

Game 1
IND: C Ebner – CF Elkin – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – 1B de Castro – SS A. Avila – P Anzaldo
POR: RF Pellicano – LF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Mercado – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – 2B Castner – P Wheatley

Wheatley just couldn’t line up a string of good starts anymore, proving once more that the Opening Day Starter Curse was alive and well. I watched annoyed and from afar in New York as he allowed a first-inning single to Steven Elkin, then immediately a homer to Bill Quinteros to fall into a 2-0 hole. Portland made up a run in the second, with Toohey, Gonzalez, and Martell loading the bases with two singles and a walk, but all the Critters got out of it was a Castner sac fly. Nobody then had a base hit the second time through the order – although Maldonado and Joe Tindle both got hit by pitches – until Castner cracked a leadoff double to left in the bottom 5th, putting the tying run in scoring position. Wheats, on six strikeouts against three hits, popped out, and Pellicano barely legged out a scratch single to put runners on the corners. Baskins kept it that way – by hitting a single to right-center that scored the tying run and sent Pellicano to third. But that was where they remained; Maldo popped out, Toohey whiffed, and the Raccoons failed to take the lead.

Wheats held on to what he got, which was a no-decision, going seven innings in the tied game. Nelson Moreno had more luck – holding the Indians off the bases in the top 8th, he got the 3-2 lead when Baskins reached base against Justin Johns, then got forced out by Maldonado, but Maldo was balked to second, and then scored on a Mercado single to right. That was all for offense – but at least the Indians got even less. Josh Rella retired Quinteros, Danny Rivera, and Dan Hutson in order to put the game away. 3-2 Critters. Castner 1-2, 2B, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K;

I called Maud in Portland after the draft and learned that Nick Valdes had unexpectedly dropped in and was now fuming that I wasn’t there to get **** on by him. I thanked her kindly for the information, hung up, then told Pat Degenhardt to cancel our tickets home and stick it out in New York and wait for the Critters to join us here on Monday.

Game 2
IND: 1B S. Jennings – CF Elkin – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – C Ebner – SS A. Avila – P Palladino
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – 1B Gurney – C Morales – SS Floyd – 2B Castner – P Person

Like Wheats, Person gave up two hits in the first and fell behind. Steven Jennings and Elkin hit singles, and Quinteros brought home Jennings from third base with a sac fly before Person got a strikeout in and slowly started to get order into his pitches. Or so you’d think. Andres Avila’s single in the second opened the door to the abyss again. Palladino bunted, and Person fired away the baseball for a 2-base error. Jennings hit a sac fly, Person walked the bases full, then gave up two more runs on a Danny Rivera single. Hutson struck out, which was cold comfort, since the Arrowheads were already up 4-0. All the runs in this innings were unearned – yay. In turn, Gurney and Morales both made pathetic outs in 3-ball counts in the bottom 2nd – double yay!

Person only sunk deeper into his usual quicksand – ******** control and endless walk. He filled the bases with free passes in the fourth inning before Hutson somehow popped out to strand everybody. At that point he was already down for 86 pitches, and wasn’t seen after the fifth in which Avila doubled home Tindle to move the Indians out to 5-0 before Pellicano offered minimal damage control with a 2-out RBI single to score Josh Floyd in the bottom 5th. Baskins also singled, but Maldonado grounded out, keeping Palladino ahead by a slam. Top 6th, Steven Johnston walked the left-handers Quinteros and Rivera, and after the former was caught stealing third base by Morales, the latter scored on a Hutson homer off Preston Porter. I was just glad to be a continent’s width away from a fuming Nick Valdes, not that I wasn’t fuming myself.

Tony Morales countered with a 2-run homer of his own in the bottom 6th, a valiant entry in the “well, he tried” column that would not merit lasting fame, especially since he killed a rally in the eighth with two runners with a 4-6-3 double play. The Raccoons were down on their long man, Hickey, who whiffed four in three innings and gave up another homer to Quinteros, because if everybody did, why not join in? 8-3 Indians. Pellicano 2-4, RBI; Baskins 2-4; Toohey 2-3, BB;

That wasn’t the worst part of the day. At night in the hotel room, the phone suddenly rang. It was an angry Nick Valdes, demanding to know why I was hiding from him. I whacked up some pretty thin lie about the airport being closed due to snowdrifts, then hung up and ran screaming down the hallway into Pat Degenhardt’s room, hiding under the bed there until morning.

Game 3
IND: 1B S. Jennings – 2B Tindle – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – CF D. Diaz – C Nunez – SS A. Avila – P Drury
POR: LF Mercado – RF Pellicano – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – CF Mills – P Okuda

By Sunday, we added the reliably unreliable Okuda to the mix, although he not only became the first Coons hurler not to fall behind in the first in the series, he also faced the minimum through three innings. Well, yes, Joe Tindle and Nicolas Nunez both hit singles, but they were either caught stealing or doubled up by Avila to get rid of their presence on the bases. The Coons didn’t even have a hit through the first three innings, and while Quinteros was caught stealing to keep the Indians foiled in the fourth, the Raccoons finally broke into the H column with a 2-out Toohey double to left. Tony Morales then also got them into the R column, homering to right for a 2-0 lead.

Hutson countered with a single in the top 5th, and while he became the first Indians runner of the game not to get eight-balled one way or another, he still didn’t score, being stranded by Danny Diaz and Nunez. Drury whacked a double for agony in the sixth, but neither Jennings nor Tindle could get him home, which was simply just given that Mercado had also stranded Okuda after a 2-out knock by the pitcher in the bottom 5th. Hutson hit another 2-out single in the seventh, but that was as far as the Arrowheads got in that inning, either. Okuda looked really, really sturdy, completing seven innings in 71 pitches. If only we had another run or two …! The offense did not oblige, but Okuda struck out the bottom of the order in order in the eighth, staking a claim to the baseball in the ninth inning. He took his turn at-bat as Drury pitched an equally offensively-unimpressive eighth inning for Indy.

So, there they were – Okuda on a 5-hitter and 84 pitches, and the Indians with their top of the order, and down by two tiny runs. Jennings fell to 0-2, then grounded out to Floyd. Tindle grounded out to Maldonado on the second pitch. And now came the actual lefty hitters…! Quinteros fell to 2-2 before hitting a bloop to shallow left… which dinked in. Oh well, pretty close, huh? Nelson Mercado was unhappy with himself, and I was also unhappy with him for allowing that one to drop. Rella was ready by now, but Okuda would face the lefty Rivera after some pulse feeling on the mound by the trainer and pitching coach. Exhaustion was not a problem – he was on 95 pitches, and had thrown 130 every day in Japan. Stop wasting the man’s time! When they finally let him be, he struck out Rivera to nail own the shutout! 2-0 Furballs! Morales 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Okuda 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (3-7) and 1-3;

In other news

June 13 – The hitting streak of 31-year-old Warriors 2B Hugo Acosta (.344, 0 HR, 36 RBI) reaches 25 games with two knocks in a 4-1 loss to the Falcons.
June 14 – The Thunder acquire right-handed MR Brad Blankenship (3-3, 2.66 ERA, 7 SV) from the Titans for two prospects.
June 15 – In another move that looks like giving up, the Titans trade SP Hisami Furuya (3-3, 3.57 ERA) to the Canadiens for another prospect.
June 15 – Vegas OF/1B Matt Kinder (.267, 4 HR, 16 RBI) hits a home run for a 1-0 win over the Bayhawks.
June 16 – The Rebels drown the Buffaloes in a barrel in a 17-0 blowout. Richmond’s Pablo Gonzalez (.285, 17 HR, 50 RBI) leads the way with three hits, two homers, and five RBI.
June 17 – OCT C Jesus Adames (.294, 8 HR, 37 RBI) could be out until August with a broken finger.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF Mike Preble (.349, 8 HR, 38 RBI), batting .565 (13-23) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.384, 11 HR, 38 RBI), being a terror at .593 (16-27) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Okuda’s second career shutout came just when he was really, really close to getting tried out in relief. Him and Morales share the W honors in that rubber game on Sunday.

Bryce Toohey meanwhile has a 14-game hitting streak, getting the only Coons hit not between those two guys. It sounds unnatural for a slugger to get that long a hitting streak, but it comes just as Maldonado is actively soul-searching in the #3 slot and is barely keeping the team alive, so I approve.

And none of Waters, Herrera, and Manny are gonna be back this month, so we’ll have to make do a while longer with those random faces in weird places. Floyd at least entered with some noise, hitting 8-for-22 and scoring six runs. Not too crappy for someone who didn’t even figure on the depth chart for middle infielders prior to the season. It was more or less Waters and Carreno, and then Martell, and Hiraoka and Castner, and then it fell apart really quick.

The team is off to a weeklong road trip, with three games in New York, where I’m changing hotels, and Tijuana. The latter series will already be part of the pre-All Star Game grind of 17 straight games without a day off. We’ll alternate two series at home and two series on the road until late July now.

Fun Fact: Getting Bryce the Destroyer from the Condors can be considered a Grand Theft Toohey.

While he is on pace for his best OPS in a full season (his second cup of coffee with the Condors in 2040 saw him hit for a .990 OPS in 27 games), we should also remember what we gave up for him: two top 100 pitching prospects and already-failed outfielder Justin Waltz, who has since arrived in Pittsburgh, and still doesn’t hit for anything worth bringing up in detail. The pitching prospects were #60 Generos de Leon and #90 Sean Belisle. De Leon made his major league debut last year and is doing decent, but below-average work in the Tijuana rotation with an ERA well over four. Belisle is still in AA, and has not been ranked since the trade.

I’d say that trade was a W!

[Westheim]

2046 AMATEUR DRAFT

While the Critters were to open their Indians series on Friday, I had gone off to New York with Pat Degenhardt to select some fresh meat for the minor leagues, and the younger the better, and the better the merrier. There were 110 players on our shortlist of personnel we could actually imagine to work with, and these ten that were on the hotlist (* denoting high school player):

SP Steven Stevenson (13/12/12) * - BNN #4
SP Chad Schultz (11/15/9) *
SP Rich Morrall (12/14/9) – BNN #9
SP Chris Ferguson (11/12/13) – BNN #3
SP Josh Lones (10/10/9) *

C Mike Ater (8/13/13)

3B Bobby Anderson (13/11/12) – BNN #5
1B Nate Ward jr. (10/13/17) – BNN #1

OF/1B Adam Samples (9/8/11) *
LF/RF Matt Cox (9/12/11)

I’d still take Bobby Anderson from the selection, but with nothing but the #21 pick in paw, it was wishing upon a star, and in the end Anderson went at #3 to the … well, Indians. Ah, the baseball gods! Always up to the task of rubbing it right under my pointy black nose and whiskers!!

Ahead of Anderson the Wolves took Chris Ferguson with the #1 pick, with SP Ryan Moore to the Buffos in between. The Capitals and Titans used their top 5 picks to select Chad Schultz and super utility Jason Lettner, respectively, with another third-sacker, Reed Ottinger, going to the Condors at #6. The Loggers took Steven Stevenson after that at #7, Morrall went to the Scorpions at #9, after which a long break in hotlist selections followed, only to end suddenly when the Stars selected Nate Ward jr. with the #17 pick, followed by the Miners taking Matt Cox immediately after.

That left C Mike Ater, lefty Josh Lones, and OF/1B Adam Samples on the hotlist, and the Raccoons went with the latter one. A first-round pick for a catcher with power in the stick seemed like a good offer, but Ater wasn’t exactly sterling behind the plate, and Lones was rather dismissively treated by other sources, including OSA, and even our own head scout. OSA f.e. gave Samples two thumbs up for power potential, and I was a sucker for power potential. Actual power would be even better – but he looked like a well-rounded deal, except for a lack of speed.

Nobody drafted a catcher in the first round proper, it turned out, and Ater also remained the last guy undrafted from our hotlist, with Lones falling to Sacramento with the #28 pick. Ater ended up going to the Stars with the #33 pick.

+++

2046 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#21) – OF/1B Adam Samples, 18, from Santa Ana, CA – lefty hitter with a keen eye and some say tremendous power potential that can play a solid corner outfield with a strong throwing arm. The only thing really absent would be speed, but he wasn’t an obvious double play menace either.
Round 2 (#62) – INF Chris Sowards, 18, from Charlotte, NC – high contact potential but no power in this kid, who instead comes with some speed and good range and a thunderous throwing arm on the infield, and could make for a really good defensive third baseman
Round 3 (#86) – SP Matt Dixon, 21, from Woonsocket, RI – right-hander throwing a 92mph fastball with a curve and a change, but needs to work on both keeping the ball in the park and out of the batter’s uniform…
Round 4 (#110) – LF Trevor Gillespie, 17, from Toronto, Canada – this one was on the scout, who really rates his contact and plate discipline highly, in addition to good speed and decent defense, even though his high school stats don’t show anything special.
Round 5 (#134) – 2B/SS Loren Decker, 18, from Langley, Canada – imagine a totally stereotypical second baseman. That’s the best case scenario for Loren Decker.
Round 6 (#158) – MR Reynaldo Soto, 20, from San Juan, Puerto Rico – there wasn’t anything special to the 90mph fastball on this left-hander … but the curveball was a sight to behold! Big control problems, though.
Round 7 (#182) – SP Jim Larson, 19, from Bellaire, TX – right-hander, throws 89, but is soul-searching for a third pitch, and a guide to the fringes of the strike zone.
Round 8 (#206) – C Matt Gross, 22, from Syracuse, NY – slow-running catcher, decent work behind the dish, and even a hint of power potential… and of a foul mouth.
Round 9 (#230) – 1B Kent Walrath, 21, from Shelby, MI – not much of a defender, and certainly not a runner, this guy seems to have bigger potential as a walker than as a batter.
Round 10 (#254) – SP Vinny Ellis, 18, from Tallmadge, OH – left-hander with a flyball tendency on both his 87mph fastball and his curve, which is all that he throws besides tantrums when the batter has hit another one out.
Round 11 (#278) – SP Xavier Brown, 18, from Federal Way, WA – just over 50 years ago, the Raccoons had decent results with drafting a guy named Brown in the 11th round – and that is most of what this specimen, an 86mph groundballer, has going for him.
Round 12 (#302) – 3B/SS Danny Rodriguez, 18, from Vieques, Puerto Rico – speedy, far-ranging infielder with no apparent qualification as a hitter, now or in the future.
Round 13 (#326) – SP Andy Morgan, 18, from Fresno, CA – righty, throws 86 with a slider and changeup as a complement, and is also lazy as heck.

+++

So that was the crop. Normally there’d be a big release orgy now as well, but the Raccoons were sort of thin in the upper minors with a rash of injuries, and only 27 players left on both the AAA and AA teams.

In single-A though we culled a number of players, most of them having been resident there for a number of years without producing anything worthwhile, except maybe the paper trail. These included pitchers Israel Chavez (2042 July IFA signing), Dustin Ramsey (2045, 13th Round), Hiroshi Arai (2043, 13th Round), and also position players INF Daniel Castro (2040 July IFA signing), 2B/RF Oscar Jennings (2044, 12th Round), LF/1B/RF Jaime Sanchez (2042 July IFA signing), and RF/LF Daniel Wright (2043, 3rd Round, oy!).

The IFA players had cost under $60k combined, but axing a third-rounder without him getting out of single-A sort of stung.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (36-32) @ Crusaders (24-43) – June 18-20, 2046

What had happened in New York? They were still pitching – fourth in runs allowed in the CL anyway – but they were not scoring … at all. They barely amounted to 3.2 runs per game, which was not a way to go through a season without getting clobbered. They were last in offense in virtually all mainstream categories, or bottom three at least. The highlight was a ninth rank in stolen bases. Anyway, the Raccoons were up 4-2 on the Crusaders this year, and could really use a few more W’s in their chase of the Loggers.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (4-6, 3.16 ERA) vs. Jim White (7-6, 3.30 ERA)
Victor Merino (6-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (3-7, 5.52 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (7-2, 3.41 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (3-4, 2.99 ERA)

Right, left, right, and hopefully three wins…

Game 1
POR: LF Mercado – RF Pellicano – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – CF Mills – P Jackson
NYC: SS Adame – 1B Schneller – 2B Briones – CF Rogers – 3B Mujica – LF Rico – RF Foss – C Alba – P J. White

The bottom of the order offered some production for Portland in the second inning, with straight 2-out singles by Martell, Floyd, and finally Ken Mills bringing in one run, before Jackson added two more by stuffing a ball into the leftfield corner for a double. The 3-0 lead was soon begun to be frittered away when Jackson allowed straight singles to begin the bottom 2nd, and groundouts by Aaron Foss an Fernando Alba each brought home a run. White grounded out to Maldonado to keep at least Danny Rico on base with the tying run…

After White left with a dead arm in the fourth inning, relief man Garrett Sutherland and the Raccoons soon found out that 38-year-old Dan Schneller not only hit like a pensioner, but also fielded like one. The Raccoons, starting with a Mills single in the top 5th, wore out the hole on the first base side in that inning, getting additional base hits from Mercado and Maldonado and two runs, while Bryce Toohey was walked with two outs. Tony Morales grounded out to Mario Briones, keeping the score at 5-2, but at least this time it seemed like Jackson would hold up. And he did – for a while… before stumbling over a pinch-hit bloop single by Randolph Nash and a homer by light-hitting Alex Adame in the bottom 8th, getting yanked five outs from completion of the game, with the score now 5-4. Thankfully, Nelson Moreno and Josh Rella would be up to the task to stop the Crusaders right there… 5-4 Raccoons. Mills 2-3, RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Pellicano – LF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – CF Baskins – SS Floyd – 2B Castner – P Merino
NYC: SS Adame – 1B Schneller – 2B Briones – RF Rogers – LF Willie Ojeda – CF Rico – 3B Nash – C Bergomi – P Malla

The Critters scored early again, this time getting Mercado on with a first-inning double, after which Maldo walked. Toohey’s double to right brought in the first run and gave him a 16-game hitting streak as well, while Ruben Gonzalez plated Maldonado with a groundout. The lead didn’t last, partly because the Raccoons stopped hitting at once, and mostly because Victor Merino immediately set out to get singled to death. He allowed eight hits in four innings, which was how long and how much it took for New York to get the game even at two; they scored one run on three singles in the bottom 1st, and then got level on a Jordan Bergomi homer in the fourth. Portland got John Castner on via error in the fifth, and only got another runner under their own power in the sixth with a 1-out single by Maldonado. When a wild pitch advanced the runner, Toohey was walked intentionally, only for Ruben Gonzalez to also grind out a walk, loading the bases. Derek Baskins, suffering through a dry spell with three regulars on the DL, at least amounted to a sac fly to Foss, allowing the Coons to take back the lead, 3-2. Josh Floyd hit a soft single to refill the bases with two outs, and when Malla hit Castner in that situation to force in another run, he was lifted by the Crusaders, even with the pitcher Merino batting. He flew out against righty Jeff Frank, then saw a Bergomi double and a Floyd error put runners on the corners before getting yoinked himself. Bob Ibold replaced him, allowed a run on an Adame single, but then struck out the next three batters to end the inning, with the team still up 4-3. Blowing the lead would be left to Kelly and Porter in the bottom 7th. Kelly faced only Willie Ojeda, and gave up a leadoff double on 3-1. Porter struck out nobody, surrendering the run on productive outs by PH Sean Calais and Nash before giving up a 2-out double to Bergomi anyway. Foss flew out to Mercado to keep the game tied through seven…

Attempt #3 at putting a lead that would hold onto the board began in the top 8th right away. Gonzalez led off with a single against lefty Julian Ponce, then scored on a Floyd double over the head of Foss, 5-4. Castner got hit again and Pat Gurney singled to left to load the bases once more, but the Raccoons had to settle for a Pellicano sac fly to left and a 6-4 lead, since neither Pellicano nor Mercado got the ball to fall in. The big noise didn’t break out until the ninth when with nobody on board Bryce Toohey and Ruben Gonzalez hit back-to-back home runs to tack on another pair. Steven Johnston then put the game away, somehow, without getting exploded. 8-4 Raccoons. Mercado 2-5, 2B; Toohey 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Floyd 2-5, 2B, RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
POR: RF Pellicano – LF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – SS Floyd – CF Anderson – P Wheatley
NYC: SS Adame – 1B Schneller – 2B Briones – CF Rogers – 3B Mujica – LF Foss – RF Rico – C Alba – P J. Johnson

Third game, third early Critters lead, this time with Maldonado singling home Pellicano, who had walked to open the game, then stolen second base. And then Wheats simply drowned. He walked Schneller and Briones, then went under with two soft singles and a fielding mishap by Gurney that somehow amounted to three total runs. Rogers and Frank Mujica got RBI’s. While Pat Gurney shortened the score with a solo homer in the second, Wheatley was completely off the rolls and gave up another four runs before leaving the game in the fourth inning with a thorough waffling received. Opening Day Starter Curse anyone? Dan Schneller hit two homers off him for three of the four latter runs, and Van Anderson left the game with an injury in the same frame, being replaced by Mills.

Down by five, Gurney singled home Toohey in the sixth for a non-rally, especially with the Porter/Kelly combo giving up two runs in the seventh instead. The Coons then dropped in a bushel of runs against the Crusaders pen in the eighth inning, with Toohey and Morales getting RBI knocks, but that still left us behind by a slam, and the Coons didn’t get beyond a walk drawn by Mills in the ninth inning against right-hander Matt May. 9-5 Crusaders. Maldonado 3-4, RBI; Toohey 2-4, RBI; Morales 2-4, 2 RBI; Hickey 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K and 1-1, 2B;

Can’t hit, can’t pitch, can’t stay healthy…

Raccoons (38-33) @ Condors (35-37) – June 22-24, 2046

Wickedly, the Condors were a game and a half out in the CL South, and also in last place. In a division of meh, they had the chance to gain five spots while the Coons were in town… in late June. Please no. Boys. No. Don’t. Just … just don’t. Tijuana was eighth in runs scored, sixth in runs allowed. They had a -5 run differential (POR: +45). We had swept them in the first 3-game meeting this year.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Person (5-5, 3.03 ERA) vs. Kellen Lanning (7-3, 3.10 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (3-7, 4.28 ERA) vs. Generos de Leon (4-7, 4.32 ERA)
Jake Jackson (5-6, 3.30 ERA) vs. Marc Hubbard (7-4, 3.21 ERA)

We’d find only right-handers in this set.

We also had to find ourselves a new player, with Van Anderson out with an unknown ailment. Playing with a 24-man roster was getting old, and, well, this was *Van Anderson*… Little harm could be done by putting him on the DL right away. Ben Coen, third-sacker, was hitting .296/.384/.433 in St. Pete and might be worth another look. He hit .250/.324/.413 for last year’s Critters, playing in 38 games.

Game 1
POR: RF Mercado – LF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – SS Floyd – CF Mills – P Person
TIJ: SS Lujan – 3B A. Lopez – 1B Gibbs – CF Reidinger – RF Ito – 2B Barcia – LF B. Mendoza – C A. Ortiz – P Lanning

A Baskins single, a Maldo homer, and the Raccoons had their fourth quick lead in a row, and the third in the first inning. And as usual, they stopped playing baseball right thereafter, trying to hang on to a 2-0 lead, like that had ever worked out for them… Person at first appeared to make a mess on the rug in the first inning, allowing a single to Alex Lopez and walking Marty Reidinger, but got out with a K and then stayed out of trouble until the fifth inning, when all he found was trouble. Benito Mendoza singled, but was forced out by Angelo Ortiz. But Person tried to get two on Kellen Lanning’s bunt, instead got nobody, and then walked T.J. Lujan to fill the bags with one gone. In a tense situation, Lopez popped out to Maldonado, and then Ron Gibbs poked a 1-2 pitch into play, a comebacker to Person that easily became the third out, stranding a full set of runners.

Person threw a mighty 112 pitches in seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits, but of course wouldn’t go for the shutout in that situation. The Raccoons were still trying to remember why they had come to Mexico in the first place. At least Maldo seemed to remember, whacking a 1-out triple to left-center in the eighth against Kevin Daley, thus putting down all the hard parts of the cycle while having none of the easy ones. Toohey, who had singled once earlier, was walked with intent, Morales whiffed, and Gurney grounded out – nobody scored.

The 2-0 lead survived a Zack Kelly cameo in the eighth, which he shared with Hickey to surrender the 1-2-3 hitters in order, with some kind assistance by Ken Mills in center. With two outs in the ninth, the Coons suddenly tacked on a run: Ben Coen singled for Kelly, and then scored on a Mercado double to right. With that, they were done, and handed the ball to Josh Rella, who walked Rikuto Ito, threw a wild pitch, and allowed the former lousy Critter to score on a Mendoza single, but at least avoided a game-tying homer by Angelo Ortiz; the catcher grounded out to Floyd to conclude the game after all… 3-1 Raccoons. Mercado 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Coen (PH) 1-1; Person 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, W (6-5);

Game 2
POR: LF Mercado – CF Baskins – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Morales – 3B Coen – SS Martell – 2B Castner – P Okuda
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – SS Lujan – RF Ito – 2B Barcia – 1B Gibbs – CF B. Oliver – C T. Black – P de Leon

The Coons scored first again, but it took them until the third inning until Mercado singled home John Castner, who had opened the inning with a double to left. Baskins’ single put runners on the corners, and Maldonado gave a baseball a ride to left, but couldn’t get it over the fence and had to settle for a sac fly. Toohey grounded out, falling to 0-2 on the day. The Condors had no hits the first time through, walking twice and whiffing thrice against Okuda. While Al Martell hit a jack to left-center to extend the lead to 3-0 in the fourth, all Condors batters put the ball in play the second time through their order, although Terry Black was the only one to reach under his own power (Lopez had reached on a Martell error), hitting a single in the bottom 5th. Jesus Banuelas’ single put runners on the corners, and a Lopez double to right put them both across home plate to narrow the score to 3-2… T.J. Lujan then struck out to conclude five.

By the sixth, the Condors took the lead. Ito singled, scored on a Sergio Barcia double, and Mercado’s throw home allowed Barcia to scoot into third base, from where Ron Gibbs got him home with a sac fly, also to Mercado. But if Okuda was doing one thing – it was fighting until the very end. He hit a 1-out double in the seventh inning, then scored on Baskins’ single with two outs, crossing home plate before Baskins was slapped out trying to stretch his hit into a double, thus also ending the inning. Okuda then added a scoreless bottom 7th for his final bit of work in the game, then got into the lead again when de Leon hit Maldo, walked Toohey, and gave up an RBI single to Morales. From there, three poor outs prevented more runs from scoring, the guilty parties being Coen, Martell, and Gurney.

The Critters paired Moreno with Johnston to navigate the bottom 8th, which was the bullpen equivalent of diluting a fine Bordeaux with downriver beaver piss, but somehow worked out with the exception of an Ito single, and Ito was in the category of “if the baseball gods wanna get you, they’ll get you with HIM”… The main problem was that Rella then loaded the bases with one out in the bottom 9th, walking Mendoza and Banuelas, with a soft Paul Laughren single in between. Angelo Ortiz hit for the pitcher in the #2 hole and struck out. Rella ran a full count against Lujan, then walked in the tying run, and … did you remember what I told you about the baseball gods? Ito hit a walkoff single. 6-5 Condors. Baskins 3-5, RBI; Maldonado 1-2, RBI; Morales 2-4, HR, RBI;

Toohey’s run also ended with an 0-for-3 with a walk. He’d get Sunday off after having been ridden pretty hard all month.

The really annoying thing was that the Raccoons suffered a last-swing loss, while the Loggers got a last-swing W on a come-from-behind walkoff homer by Brent Allen against the Knights…

Game 3
POR: SS Floyd – LF Mercado – 1B Maldonado – C Morales – RF Pellicano – 3B Coen – 2B Martell – CF Mills – P Jackson
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – 1B Gibbs – CF Reidinger – RF Ito – SS Lujan – 2B Laughren – C A. Ortiz – P Hubbard

The string of scoring-first continued with a Jackson sac fly in the second inning after Pellicano (single, stolen base), Martell (walk), and Mills (walk) had filled the bases ahead of him. Floyd’s groundout sent the two walkers walking back to the dugout, while the Condors lost another guy to injury in the top 3rd when Paul Laughren fell down reaching for a Mercado groundball and couldn’t get back up again (he’d be replaced with Barcia), then saw Maldonado lodge one in the right-center gap for a triple. With one out, we needed a good effort from Tony Morales, but got a roller to Alex Lopez. Maldo stalked him as he came in, then dashed by him when Lopez flubbed the ball into foul ground clumsily, scoring on the error, 2-0.

Meanwhile Jackson had a 2-hitter going through four innings before all his paws were blown off in a fifth-inning explosion. Barcia drew a leadoff walk, and Ortiz singled to left. Hubbard bunted the runners over, but Banuelas walked to fill the bags anyway. From there, back-to-back doubles by Lopez and Gibbs drove in four runs, and the inning dragged on long enough that Jackson threw almost 40 pitches in it. He was pinch-hit for in the sixth, then with Martell and Mills on as the tying runs and one out. Toohey struck out, Floyd grounded out, and I got ready to mark another L in the pocket schedule…

The Coons did manage to fit in another injury, Tony Morales hurting his calf on a bases-empty, 2-out double in the seventh inning. Gonzalez ran for him, but not that far, being stranded on Pellicano’s groundout. Instead the Condors tacked on an unearned run in the bottom 7th, where Johnston loaded the bases without getting an out, but also with some error support from Floyd. Ito plated the run with a double play off Porter, who then struck out Lujan. The eighth was uneventful and the Coons kept losing, but Floyd opened the ninth with a single off Tim Abraham. Mercado flew out, but Maldo hit a single to bring the tying run to the plate in … well, Gonzalez. But another single up the middle filled the bases for Pellicano! He ran a full count before drawing a walk, which pushed home a run alright, but also brought up Ben Coen and the other slackers at the bottom of the lineup. But Abraham ran another full count to Coen, walked him as well, and now the tying run was at thir base…! John Castner batted for Al Martell against the left-hander, and poked away at the first pitch after two bases-loaded walks. Slapped through the right side for a single! Tied game! Pellicano to third, but Ito’s throw was wayward and got away from Lopez, Pellicano going for home, and he scored, 6-5 Coons …! Ben Arner replaced the run-over Abraham, a righty against Mills, who snapped an RBI single to center. Gurney hit for Ibold, the last bat off the bench, and hit a sac fly to center. The inning ended with a K to Floyd, but not until after the Coons had scored SIX runs to take an 8-5 lead…! Moreno got the ball for the ninth after Rella had been smothered the day before and had pitched multiple days in a row. He put the Condors away in three. 8-5 Critters! Maldonado 2-4, 3B; Morales 2-4, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 1-1; Pellicano 2-4, BB, RBI; Castner (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Mills 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

In other news

June 18 – The #89 prospect and 18-year-old Warriors phenom, INF Julio Moriel (.556, 0 HR, 2 RBI) slaps five singles off the Wolves in his sixth major league game. The Warriors win 15-5.
June 18 – WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (3-6, 3.45 ERA) should be out for at least a month with a strained hamstring.
June 19 – The more veteran SFW 2B Hugo Acosta (.343, 0 HR, 38 RBI) remains consistent, and reaches a 30-game hitting streak with a first-inning single in a 7-5 loss to the Wolves.
June 19 – DEN 1B Jason Robinson (.280, 2 HR, 37 RBI) comes a double short of the cycle while battering the Scorpions for five hits and six RBI in an 11-1 rout.
June 20 – The Warriors beat the Wolves, 5-3 in 16 innings, although SFW 2B Hugo Acosta (.342, 0 HR, 38 RBI) was done extending his hitting streak to 31 games by the third inning, and overall went 2-for-6 with a hit-by-pitch in the game.
June 21 – A first-inning single by 1B Shuta Yamamoto (.299, 5 HR, 34 RBI) is the only Buffaloes hit in a 4-0 loss to the Capitals’ Nick Young (4-3, 2.84 ERA) and Matsuichi Yazawa (2-5, 4.46 ERA, 3 SV).
June 22 – The Aces lose CL David Williams (3-6, 4.38 ERA, 15 SV) for the season. The 25-year-old needs to have bone chips removed from his elbow.
June 24 – The Warriors lose both ends of a double header to the Capitals, 10-6 and 5-3, but 2B Hugo Acosta (.341, 0 HR, 39 RBI) keeps on sailing, getting this in both games to run his hitting streak to 34 games.

FL Player of the Week: DEN INF Ivan Villa (.337, 13 HR, 39 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC C Jordan Bergomi (.440, 1 HR, 4 RBI), poking .700 (7-10) with 1 HR, 3 RBI after making his debut this month

Complaints and stuff

Van Anderson was eventually diagnosed with shoulder inflammation, but by then he had already been parked on the DL for 48 hours. He’d remain there for another two weeks or so.

Tony Morales would not go on the DL with his calf strain, but he’d be day-to-day for much of next week and we’d probably have to bring up a third catcher somehow.

Are there any batters left??

At least we inched a bit closer this week. It’s back home now, with the Baybirds and damn Elks to play to finish the month.

Fun Fact: The CL South is no further spread out than it was in April.

Maud, can we move to the South? Just for competition purposes. – I see, your knitting circle and the Green Foods market around the corner are all up here, m-hm, m-hm. – *Fine*, we’ll stay up north…!

[Westheim]

Dear Coons faithful,

you might have noticed a certain slowdown here. I've been incapacitated-level ill the last few days (like, only waggling/crawling between bed and bathroom), and have been unable to do ... anything, really. Looks like rock-bottom was about yesterday and I might survive after all, which should excite you to no end ...!

Could be a few more days for the Coonies, though...

(groans)

[Westheim]

The news of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Checked into the hospital last Monday to get some tests done before the new year, ended up having an appendix removed. Whoops. Oh well, that dumb thing isn’t gonna bother nobody no more!

Which brings us the Coons here, who had a forced hiatus while I was lying down and moaning a lot. This week was actually started two days ago, and it took me that long to get through seven games with the bothersome Critters… The update pace should soon pick up now.

Thx for all the messages that tried to feel my pulse

+++

Raccoons (40-34) vs. Bayhawks (38-38) – June 25-27, 2046

The Raccoons returned home to see the Baybirds, who they had won two of three against earlier in the year. San Francisco was third in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, with a much tougher rotation than bullpen. Moises Avila was out for the season for them and Carlos Cortes was day-to-day, and they were also short a few pitchers.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (6-4, 3.35 ERA) vs. Chris Turner (7-6, 4.03 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (7-3, 3.94 ERA) vs. Rafael Pedraza (7-4, 2.74 ERA)
Ryan Person (6-5, 2.75 ERA) vs. Noe Candeloro (4-1, 4.48 ERA)

The Raccoons would come up against left-handers at either end of the series, with a righty in between.

With Tony Morales day-to-day as well, the Raccoons added a third catcher, doing away with Ben Coen again. 29-year-old righty hitter Jimmy Dalton was called up, who had been through various cups of coffee with the Buffaloes from 2039 through 2044, hitting .224 with eight homers in 195 games.

Game 1
SFB: 2B Quiroz – 3B R. Sifuentes – RF Platero – 1B C. Cortes – C J. Hill – CF A. Marquez – SS B. Nelson – 1B Crum – P C. Turner
POR: RF Pellicano – LF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – SS Floyd – 2B Castner – CF Mills – P Merino

Jose Platero singled, but Merino struck out four others in the early innings to not let anybody near the Raccoons’ fruit baskets. Merino also singled to begin the bottom 3rd, but was easily doubled up by Gene Pellicano. In turn, Platero drew a walk in the fourth, but was doubled up by Carlos Cortes’ grounder to short. The scoreboard got active the same inning, though, when Jesus Maldonado fired a leadoff jack to left in the bottom 4th. “Tuba” Turner left minutes later with an apparent injury, but was spared the loss when Merino leaked a walk to Alex Marquez in the top 5th, and Ken Crum slapped a 2-out single to tie the game after Marquez had stolen second base. Things fell apart entirely in the sixth, with a leadoff single on 0-2 by relief pitcher Donovan Mason, another soft single by Sergio Quiroz, and then a Ramon Sifuentes grounder to Toohey that he fired past a hustling John Castner for two bases and a run. Platero hit a fly to left on the next pitch, which Baskins caught. Quiroz went for home, was thrown out at the plate, and Cortes popped out to end the inning with much less damage than possible, but the Coons now 2-1 behind. They remained behind on Merino’s seven-inning watch, despite a leadoff double by Baskins in the sixth and a leadoff single from Josh Floyd in the seventh. Zack Kelly entered in the eighth, gave up singles to Crum and Nick Duncan, then a 1-2 homer to Quiroz to fire the game into the bin with some real vigor… Bob Ibold chimed in, giving up another two runs on three hits and a nailed Bryce Toohey. A Sean Suggs homer off Preston Porter in the ninth concluded the drowning. 8-1 Bayhawks. Baskins 2-4, 2 2B; Castner 2-4; Merino 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (6-5) and 1-2;

Ay, ay, ay.

Game 2
SFB: RF Kristoff – C Suggs – 1B D. Riley – CF A. Marquez – 2B Quiroz – 3B R. Sifuentes – LF Crum – SS B. Nelson – P Pedraza
POR: LF Baskins – CF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – P Wheatley

Ruben Gonzalez delivered an inside-the-park home run for something special on Tuesday, collecting Gurney in the second inning for a 2-1 lead, erasing the deficit that Wheats had given up in the top of the inning. Gonzalez’ ball split the outfielders, who also almost took each other out, and went all the way to the fence in slow fashion, enough time for Gonzalez to bumble ‘round the bases too. Wheats answered with getting socked for five hits, all singles, and three runs in the top 3rd, looking like the Opening Day Starter Curse would not be broken in 2046 either. Baskins tripled and scored on a Mercado grounder in the bottom 3rd, shortening the gap to 4-3, which would also be the score Wheats would depart with after 111 pitches and 11 hits in six innings. After a forgettable outing by Johnston, who walked two of the three batters he faced, the Raccoons went to Aaron Hickey, trying their best to blow out his arm with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief ball, whiffing four, without a doubt the team’s peak performance in the game. That also meant the score remained a close 4-3, but the Raccoons had trouble even reaching base much at all. Jeremy Mayhall turned out to face the Coons in the bottom 9th. Toohey and Morales (hitting for Hickey) both grounded out before Gonzalez singled to nominally keep the game alive. Martell was out on strikes though. 4-3 Bayhawks. Baskins 2-3, 3B; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Pellicano 1-1; Hickey 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Reinforcements arrived from the DL on Wednesday, with Armando Herrera taking over centerfield again from Ken Mills.

Game 3
SFB: RF Kristoff – C Suggs – 1B D. Riley – CF A. Marquez – 2B Quiroz – 3B R. Sifuentes – LF Crum – SS B. Nelson – P Candeloro
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Baskins – SS Floyd – 2B Castner – C Dalton – P Person

Dan Riley tripled to right, Marquez singled him home, and the Coons managed to trail in the first inning. Herrera, just back in the lineup, was nicked by Candeloro, as was Maldonado, who was struck in the wrist and left the game. So much for reinforcements! Martell would inherit the #3 spot, and the Raccoons inherited no runs from two on and one out, because Toohey managed to hit the running Herrera with a batted ball for additional abuse. I grabbed Honeypaws a little tighter and looked a little grumpier. The Bayhawks instead added a second-inning run with doubles from their 7-8 hitters, 2-0, and things kept merrily going downhill for Person, with walks to Suggs and Marquez around a Riley single in the top 3rd for three on and nobody out. He allowed one run on a Quiroz single, walked Sifuentes with the bags full, and Toohey fumbled a grounder by Crum for another run on an error. One o’ those games! The Bayhawks scored another three on a bases-loaded walk to Bob Nelson (…!) and Justin Kristoff’s 2-run single. Down 8-0, the game was over. Person was left to his own devices for a lack of bullpen depth, before another walk, single, and Floyd error chased him in the fifth. Spotless relief followed from there, even including Steven ******* Johnston, although matter it did not. The Raccoons scored a run in the sixth – on a wild pitch. 9-1 Bayhawks. Pellicano 2-4; Toohey 2-4;

What’s worse? Swept by the Baybirds at home? Maldonado day-to-day with a bum wrist? Or is it just a perfect picture of a team that just can’t add two and two together and hadn’t been able to do so all year long?

Oh by the way, here are the damn Elks.

Raccoons (40-37) vs. Canadiens (33-42) – June 28-July 1, 2046

We were 2-4 behind in the season series against the northern stinkers, and I did not have a great feeling going into the long weekend set, even though the damn Elks also came off getting swept. They were still first in runs scored and last in runs allowed, with a -11 run differential. Not a winning mix for sure, but neither did we have one…

They had no injuries, while the Coons had Maldo and Morales day-to-day, a depleted pen, but at least also got Matt Waters off the DL. John Castner was returned to St. Pete to make room on the roster.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (3-7, 4.35 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (5-8, 4.42 ERA)
Jake Jackson (5-6, 3.50 ERA) vs. Aaron Jones (4-6, 4.95 ERA)
Victor Merino (6-5, 3.19 ERA) vs. Raul Velasquez (0-0, 2.16 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (7-4, 4.06 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (4-4, 3.84 ERA)

Only right-handed opposition for the weekend; their only lefty, Mario de Anda (5-4, 4.24 ERA) had gone on Wednesday.

Game 1
VAN: LF Escobido – 3B K. Saito – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – RF van der Zanden – SS Price – 1B Bejarano – P Godinez
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Gurney – 1B Toohey – LF Baskins – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Okuda

Nothing much happened in the first few innings, especially from a Critters perspective. Gonzalez singled the first time through, and that was pretty much that. Okuda struck out five in the first three innings for a nice change from the last few days, but then ran into trouble in the fourth inning, and trouble in connection with the Elks was usually spelled Outram, who drew a 1-out walk. Jerry Outram came around to score after Julio Diaz singled, Travis Malkus got nicked, and Arnout van der Zanden hit a sac fly to center, but a K to Rick Price ended the inning. The walls didn’t come down until the sixth, which Outram opened with a homer, and which then devolved into a hits parade with RBI knocks with two outs from Price and ex-Coons farmhand Ricardo Bejarano, leaving Portland 4-0 down on two hits. In despair, I clutched for Honeypaws, but Bryce Toohey almost made it a new ballgame in the bottom of the sixth, CRUSHING a 3-piece with two outs off Godinez after Mercado had doubled and Herrera had drawn a walk.

We were in the silly pen of ours by the seventh, but Hickey and Kelly held up for the time being, allowing Ruben Gonzalez to secure a no-decision for Okuda when he went yard to left off Godinez in the bottom 7th. Kelly promptly retired next to nobody when he resumed pitching in the eighth. Leadoff walk to Diaz, and the meltdown went from there, with two singles and two walks in five batters. Nelson Moreno inherited a 5-4 deficit (Price with the RBI), three on and one out after PH Justin Becker. All runners scored as Moreno allowed a single through the right side to Becker, another single to Angel Escobido, then walked in a run against Kenichi Saito. I felt utter doom, but the damn Elks kept crumbling, too; their pen put Mercado and Gurney on base in the bottom 8th, with Sebastian Parham pitching only to one batter before retiring with injury. Tony Morales pinch-hit for Moreno in the #5 hole and cracked the Coons’ second 2-out, 3-run homer in the game, narrowing the gap to 8-7 against Matt Fries, who struck out Waters to close out the eighth. Right-hander Sam Gibson then put the tying run on base in the ninth with a 1-out walk to Al Martell, and walked Mercado with two outs for the winning run to get on, but Armando Herrera flew out to Felix Rojas in center to nail another loss into the coffin. 8-7 Canadiens. Morales (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 2
VAN: LF Escobido – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Malkus – SS Price – RF van der Zanden – 1B K. Saito – P A. Jones
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Gurney – 1B Toohey – LF Baskins – SS Waters – 2B Martell – C Dalton – P Jackson

Outram rammed one out in the first for a 1-0 Elks lead, which was neutralized in the third inning on doubles by Jimmy Dalton (!), who had his suitcases packed back to St. Pete already, and Nelson Mercado. Derek Baskins’ homer to right in the fourth even gave the Critters a 2-1 lead, and that was already the extent of the Critters’ hitting through six innings – three knocks, but at least all for extra bases.

And Jackson did his very best, striking out eight batters in 6.2 innings and working out of a jam in the fifth, but he didn’t get out of the next jam in the seventh, leaving after 113 pitches and with the tying run on second base in the opposing pitcher, who had doubled to right-center. Chris Robinson drew a walk in Escobido’s spot, while Jackson rung up Oscar Aguirre before departing. There was Outram – and the Raccoons could pick between a dismembered Zack Kelly and a wholly inept Steven Johnston. We picked Kelly, and Outram singled home the tying run on the first pitch. Diaz grounded out, 2-2 at the stretch…

Bob Ibold held the game tied in the eighth, Al Martell hit a leadoff single in the bottom half of the inning, but Dalton popped out. The Coons sent Maldonado against Jones, but his fly was caught by van der Zanden. Mercado singled, moving Martell to second base, but Herrera grounded out and nobody scored… Rella worked around a leadoff single by Felix Rojas from the ninth spot in the ninth inning, still giving the Raccoons a chance to walk it off in regulation with a single run off lefty John Roeder. Pat Gurney didn’t wait around long and hit a walkoff homer to stop the losing at least for one night. 3-2 Raccoons. Mercado 2-4, 2B, RBI; Jackson 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K;

Tony Morales reported back 100% on Saturday, so Dalton was sent back to AAA. We recalled Ben Coen again, briefly at least, until Maldonado would get over the sore paw.

Game 3
VAN: LF Escobido – SS O. Aguirre – CF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – 3B K. Saito – RF J. Becker – 1B Bejarano – P R. Velasquez
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – C Morales – LF Baskins – SS Floyd – 2B Martell – 3B Coen – P Merino

Speaking of Maldo; for Saturday Bryce Toohey needed a day off. No Maldo, no Toohey, no clue or whatever – go get ‘em, boys!

Of course we were promptly retired in order the first time through, with Velasquez, who made his fourth start with the Elks this year after nine in AAA, retiring ten in a row before walking Herrera. Pat Gurney then stuffed a double into the leftfield corner, Herrera scoring with the game’s first run. He’d score on a Baskins single with two outs, 2-0, giving a lead to Merino, who had only one strikeout in four innings, but also had not allowed more damage than Outram and Saito singles so far. As if on command, he walked the bags full in the fifth inning, conceding a run on a groundout… but at least got Aguirre to foul out with the bases loaded before Outram could get a taste of the bags full.

Merino walked two more in the sixth, and thus blasted through the 100 pitch mark for no good reason after the strong start (he had thrown 51 pitches in four innings, then needed 56 more to get through two more…). Porter then blew the lead in the seventh, giving up a leadoff double to Bejarano on 0-2, misfielding the pitcher’s bunt, and then giving up a dizzyingly long sac fly to PH Chris Robinson. When it rains, it pours, eh? He somehow made it through Outram and Diaz *after* an Aguirre single, so the game at least remained tied. It remained to Bob Ibold to apply for soaking the loss, giving up a 2-run homer to Becker on an 0-2 pitch in the eighth. Lefty Alex Lewis walked Herrera and Gurney with one out in the bottom 8th then, putting the tying runs aboard. The Coons sent Maldonado to bat for Morales, but still found their way into a 4-6-3 double play… Bottom 9th, Sam Gibson gave up a single to Baskins to begin the inning. Floyd grounded out, advancing the runner to second, but Martell singled to center. Baskins went for it, and Outram perhaps made an error with a throw to home plate that was late, and only allowed Martell to scamper to second with the tying run. In an obvious move, Bryce Toohey hit for Ben Coen, singled up the middle on 2-1, and Martell scored easily to tie the game. Gonzalez whiffed, Mercado walked, a wild pitch moved Toohey and the winning run to third base – and then Herrera struck out anyway.

Extras. Malkus and Becker hit singles off Josh Rella to give the damn Elks the lead again in the 10th inning, 5-4, before Bejarano found a double play. The Coons had Gurney, Waters (hitting for Rella), and Baskins up in the bottom 10th against Gibson, who was still in the game after his ninth-inning whooping. Only Baskins reached on a single, and Floyd popped out after that. 5-4 Canadiens. Baskins 3-5, RBI; Toohey (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Maud and Cristiano tried their best, but they couldn’t unclench my jaws from the table after the game and just left me there, trying to bite through the table altogether, overnight.

Game 4
VAN: RF van der Zanden – 2B O. Aguirre – CF Outram – 3B Malkus – SS Price – C T. Phillips – LF J. Becker – 1B Bejarano – P Furuya
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Baskins – SS Waters – 2B Martell – P Wheatley

Maldo bickered himself into the lineup on Sunday despite not being 100%, and scored the tying run in the bottom 1st, walking and getting doubled in by Toohey, whom Morales then scored with a single for a 2-1 lead for Wheatley, who continued to look cursed and had given up a run on a walk to Aguirre and Outram and Malkus singles in the top 1st, but at least drove in Matt Waters for an extra run with a second-inning single, 3-1, but the upper-middle of the order got him again for a run in the top 3rd, Malkus getting the RBI again, same in the fifth, when he hit a score-flipping 2-run homer off Wheatley with Aguirre already on board. Curses. Curses. Curses.

You could not say, the Coons’ middle of the order didn’t try, though. Maldo and Toohey had hit leadoff singles in the third, only to get stranded, and in the fifth Maldo hit another single before Toohey caught up with a 3-2 pitch and blasted it to Asia, his 20th bomb of the year in the game that marked the completion of the first half. Baskins homered solo to begin the sixth, extending the new lead to 6-4, while the Raccoons tried to find the sweet spot to yank Wheatley. He came back out for the seventh, whiffed Aguirre, and then was hauled in after 108 pitches before Jerry Outram could do the dirty business to him. Outram almost homered on the first pitch he got from Steven Johnston, but Baskins picked the ball off the top of the fence (playing as far back as the fence helped). Hoping for two outs from Johnston was too much – he put Malkus and Price on base, then was dug out when Moreno rung up Tim Phillips, then added a 1-2-3 eighth for a completely new experience. The real problem arrived in the ninth – Josh Rella had pitched two days in a row, and the top of the order was up. There was also no trust in Kelly, or really anybody. Moreno was technically still eligible … and had thrown only 14 pitches. The Coons boldly tossed him back out there for the 7-out save attempt. He didn’t get it – while whiffing two, Aguirre and Outram reached with one out. Rick Price was a .300 lefty hitter, and with the tying runs aboard, the Raccoons went to Kelly. Elk City countered with right-handed .276 batter Angel Escobido, but his slasher ended up with Maldo, and the game ended. 6-4 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-3, BB; Toohey 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Moreno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

In other news

June 25 – Warriors 2B Hugo Acosta (.341, 0 HR, 39 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 35 games with a fifth-inning triple for his only hit in a W over the Buffaloes, 6-4.
June 25 – OCT C Jose Zarate (.295, 1 HR, 9 RBI) ends almost a full free game of baseball with a walkoff single in the 17th inning to beat the Canadiens, 5-4.
June 25 – RIC RF/LF Chris Morris (.236, 5 HR, 24 RBI) hits a double for the only Rebels hit in a 4-1 loss to the Stars. He also scores the only run against DAL SP Jay Carroll (4-5, 5.99 ERA) and Dale Mrazek (3-2, 3.48 ERA, 15 SV).
June 26 – Snap! The Buffaloes go down 8-2 to the Warriors, but they keep SFW 2B Hugo Acosta (.338, 0 HR, 39 RBI) off the bases, ending his hitting streak at 35 games.
June 29 – IND SP Bill Nichol (10-3, 2.06 ERA) 3-hits the Titans in a 3-0 shutout, striking out six.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF Mike Preble (.354, 10 HR, 51 RBI), batting .400 (10-25) with 1 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ RF/LF/1B Rikuto Ito (.245, 7 HR, 54 RBI), swatting .467 (14-30) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: LAP 3B/SS David Reid (.312, 15 HR, 56 RBI), hitting .376 with 8 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.365, 14 HR, 44 RBI), batting .404 with 8 HR, 18 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN SP Edward Flinn (11-3, 2.95 ERA), hurling for a 6-0 record with 1.74 ERA, 20 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Bill Nichol (10-3, 2.06 ERA), firing for a 4-1 mark with 1.99 ERA, 38 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL C Jose Ortiz (.259, 8 HR, 28 RBI), batting .281 with 4 HR, 17 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ 3B/SS Alex Lopez (.300, 3 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .380 with 1 HR, 17 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Rotten 2-5 week. Thing is, the Loggers drowned just as badly, 1-5 with a rainout, so we technically gained half a game and the wicked Arrowheads suddenly look like playoff material. The Loggers had their next 11 games against the Indians (four and four) and the Coons (three before the All Star Game), so they could make or break their season at this point. Our four-and-four opponent were the Titans, starting with the road set on Monday.

It didn’t bloody feel like it, but we actually had a winning June after all, 15-12.

Just like the Raccoons are having a poor, fur-raising season, this year’s international teen boy auction, which started on Sunday, has a rather poor talent pool. We went in for a few offers, but I don’t see us spending more than $200k, nowhere near the cap in any case.

Fun Fact: We have the second-best starters’ ERA in the league.

No, I can’t believe it either.

[Bub13]

"Welcome back, glad you're feeling better!"

[reads 2-5 week]

"On second thought..."

[alexsimon99]

Welcome back and ... god, the Raccoons played like they had an appendix removed, so I guess they're showing their solidarity?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Bub13

"Welcome back, glad you're feeling better!"

[reads 2-5 week]

"On second thought..."

Let's just say they don't know how to accelerate a healing process.

Originally Posted by alexsimon99

Welcome back and ... god, the Raccoons played like they had an appendix removed, so I guess they're showing their solidarity?

Appendix? I would have bet on their eyes and all paws.

As an aside, I am currently playing it series by series rather than the full week, because I still need a lot of lie-down time. Who knew gaming could be this hard...?

+++

Raccoons (42-39) @ Titans (35-46) – July 2-5, 2046

Four and four with the Titans were upon us, with the first 4-game set of the season having been swept by the Raccoons. We could use something like that again, facing the third-worst offense in the league, supplemented by mediocre pitching. Their rotation had a 4.53 ERA, while the bullpen was rather tight, so you wanted to get to them early, which was not exactly our specialty right now…

Projected matchups:
Ryan Person (6-6, 3.39 ERA) vs. Tommy Kubik (4-6, 4.54 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (3-7, 4.26 ERA) vs. David Barel (8-7, 3.64 ERA)
Jake Jackson (5-6, 3.45 ERA) vs. Victor Mondragon (3-8, 5.15 ERA)
Victor Merino (6-5, 3.09 ERA) vs. Ricky Contreras (4-9, 4.66 ERA)

Three southpaws to contend with here, the only exception being Mondragon. The Titans had no injuries to speak of, while the Raccoons were without Manny Fernandez still until the All Star Game, and Maldonado was still listed as day-to-day on Monday, but scratched his way into the lineup in an attempt to turn the team around on his own.

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Pellicano – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Person
BOS: LF de Luna – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF T. Lopez – 3B D. Richardson – C Whitley – SS Batista – 2B J. Rodriguez – P Kubik

Rich de Luna’s homer put Boston 1-0 on top as soon as they broke out their toothpicks, which, you know, bright sides, was at least a new way for Ryan Person to fudge up. Portland did tie the game the following half-inning, though, with Ruben Gonzalez scoring from first base on Al Martell’s gap double with two outs, although Martell also got himself thrown out at third base to end the inning. A chance to take the lead didn’t really beckon until the fifth, when Matt Waters opened the inning with a single to left, stole second, and reached third base on Dan Whitley’s throwing error. Ruben Gonzalez scored him with a groundout, 2-1 Portland, and Person responded by walking “Kitten” Kubik on four pitches to begin the bottom 5th. Now, that came as a bit of a shock, because up til then, Person had issued only one walk against five strikeouts, a marked upswing. De Luna’s comebacker forced out Kubik, while Chris Jimenez struck out and, after de Luna stole second, Victor Chavez flew out to Baskins. Person struck out the side in the sixth, then found a way to walk Kubik on four pitches again in the seventh. His baffling insistence to screw up was … baffling. In the event, de Luna grounded out to Maldo to end the inning, and that concluded Person’s day, too, his spot coming up in the eighth. The Coons didn’t reach base, and instead Preston Porter blew the lead in the bottom 8th with a homer served up to Chavez.

The game reached extras, with Aaron Hickey dealing scoreless ninth and tenth innings for Portland, while the Raccoons had a single in both innings, and never got very far with it. The 11th was uneventful, but Toohey opened the 12th with a double to left that he ripped of righty Ricardo Sanchez. Pellicano hit a soft single to put them on the corners, after which the Raccoons struck out, struck out, and popped out. Fittingly, we lost the game in the bottom of the inning. Zack Kelly conceded infield singles to both Tony Batista and Rich de Luna, which is how you know you’re gonna lose to begin with, then walked Jimenez with Chavez to push the winning run across. 3-2 Titans. Pellicano 3-5; Person 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K; Hickey 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Goddamn ******* awful.

Same for the weather on Tuesday – it poured all day long, and no baseball was going to be played. We instead got a double header on Wednesday, which on one paw offered the beleaguered pen some respite, but on the other paw… double header.

Game 2
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Pellicano – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – SS Floyd – P Okuda
BOS: LF de Luna – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF T. Lopez – 3B D. Richardson – C Whitley – SS Batista – 2B J. Rodriguez – P Barel

After three innings of not-a-whole-lot, the Raccoons got Armando Herrera to second base in the fourth on his leadoff single and a Maldo groundout. Toohey singled to center, Herrera was sent around, aaaand thrown out at the plate. Pellicano’s bitter single afterwards almost made me weep. Three singles – no score in the inning for Portland, with Matt Waters flying out to Jimenez.

Okuda was holding up with true grit, allowing three hits and a walk in five scoreless innings, then saw another offensive bid develop by his own team (twice in one game, wowzers!). Baskins and Herrera reached base to begin the top 6th against Barel, but now Maldonado hit into a double play, 6-4-3. Toohey came through with two outs, doubling to left-center for the game’s first run, scoring Derek Baskins. Toohey, maybe the sharpest tool in a shed full of dull scissors right now, would come to the plate again with two outs in the eighth, finding Herrera and Maldonado aboard, both having drawn walks, but this time flew out to Jimenez in right. Okuda meanwhile just kept pitching… he allowed a single each in the sixth and seventh innings, but nothing in the eighth. The Coons failed to tack on anything at all in the late innings, leaving us with the conundrum of having a lefty on 5-hitter with 97 pitches on the odometer, facing only righty batters in the bottom 9th starting with Tony Lopez. The Coons twitched, sent Josh Rella, and Rella sat down the Titans in order. 1-0 Blighters. Herrera 1-2, 2 BB; Toohey 2-4, 2B, RBI; Okuda 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (4-7);

Game 3
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Baskins – SS Waters – 2B Martell – P Jackson
BOS: LF de Luna – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF T. Lopez – 3B D. Richardson – SS Batista – C Youngquist – 2B Galaz – P Mondragon

A walk to Mercado, a Herrera single, and while Maldonado was denied by Jimenez in right, Toohey hit a 3-piece to left that went into the back rows there, his 21st bomb of the season and FOR ******* ONCE a quick start by the Critters. They tacked on another three in the second inning, which Martell began with a single, with more hits dropped in by Mercado, Herrera, and Maldonado. One run scored on a throwing error by Ryan Youngquist when Herrera attempted to steal second base. Gerardo Galaz shortened the score to 6-1 with the last of three singles off Jake Jackson in the bottom 2nd, but the Coons tried to get something going again in the fourth, with kind support by Mondragon. Martell hit another leadoff single, and the Boston pitcher mishandled Jackson’s bunt for an extra runner. Mercado legged out an infield single, but also seemed to cramp up as he crossed first base, and had to leave the game for Pellicano. Herrera’s grounder brought in the only run of the inning, actually, with Maldo flying out to short right and Toohey whiffing to strand a pair. Tony Morales’ leadoff double and two productive outs added another run in the fifth, 8-1, but Jackson was taken apart for four hits and three runs in the bottom of that inning, starting with a Galaz double and continuing mercilessly through the top of the order. Tony Batista and Ryan Youngquist then reached the corners with leadoff singles in the bottom 6th, and I started to see an 8-run game turn into an L before my sore imaginary eyes. Ibold came on, conceded a run on Galaz’ double play grounder, but got out of the inning still up 8-5.

The Coons had three on and nobody out again in the seventh when lefty Brian Jackson, in for long relief, put Toohey, Morales, and Baskins all aboard. Matt Waters hit an RBI single up the middle, and Josh Floyd, batting for Martell, brought in a run with a groundout, 10-5. Batting for Ibold, Pat Gurney added another RBI groundout against new pitcher Tommy Griffith in his first appearance of the year. Pellicano grounded out, keeping the score at 11-5 at the stretch. The eighth saw Bryce Toohey unfurl another 2-run hammer to well-beyond-left, 13-5. It was the final tally in a surprise offensive breakout. 13-5 Raccoons. Mercado 2-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-4, BB, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, RBI; Toohey 3-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Morales 3-5, 2B; Baskins 2-5; Martell 2-3; Floyd (PH) 1-2, RBI;

So, where’s that been all the time??

Nelson Mercado was day-to-day with a sore quad, probably for the rest of the week. He should heal up during the All Star break.

Game 4
POR: LF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – SS Floyd – 3B Coen – P Merino
BOS: LF de Luna – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF T. Lopez – 3B D. Richardson – C Whitley – SS Batista – 2B J. Rodriguez – P R. Contreras

Merino walked Jimenez and Chavez, nicked Lopez, and somehow didn’t get scored on in the first inning, also for pouncing on a Doug Richardson comebacker to allow Gonzalez to slap out Chris Jimenez at home plate. Dan Whitley then grounded out to Floyd. The Coons’ 5-6-7 batters then seamlessly took over the bases to begin the second inning on a walk, a single, and a brushed shirt. Ben Coen’s sac fly made it 1-0, but Merino struck out and Pellicano popped out to Richardson to fritter the thick chance away. Maldo’s solo homer in the third made it a 2-0 game, but with Herrera on second and Maldo on first and two outs, Ruben Gonzalez’ single to center in the fifth only served to get another run thrown out at home plate to end the inning.

And Merino? Throwing lots and lots of pitches, he actually didn’t allow a base hit through five innings, but was also 18 pitches away from 100 in a rather inefficient display of pitchcraft. He had a quick sixth, but walked Richardson in the seventh and concluded that inning on 102 pitches. With six outs to go, we saw *some* wiggle room, even in a 2-0 game. Merino would not make another start until the weekend after, so he could go longer than usual this time. He hit for himself with runners on the corners in the eighth, grounding out to strand Gonzalez and Floyd. Juan Rodriguez grounded out to short to begin the bottom 8th. Youngquist flew out to center. De Luna popped out to Waters. Was it really happening? A tack-on run in the ninth was for sure, Toohey doubling home Maldo to get up to 3-0.

Bottom 9th. Chris Jimenez led off, got ahead 2-0, then grounded up the middle. Josh Floyd was there, no problem, two outs to go. Victor Chavez grounded an 0-1 pitch to Ben Coen, who converted without fuss, one out to go. Tony Lopez, batting .200, was the hopefully final out in the box. Ball. Strike. Ball. Strike. 2-2. Merino broke out the slider for his 118th pitch of the game, missed, but he also fooled Lopez, who swung, and missed just the same. It’s a no-hitter!!! 3-0 Furballs!! Maldonado 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Gonzalez 1-2, BB; Waters 2-2, 2 BB, 2B; Merino 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (7-5);

SQUEE!!!

Raccoons (45-40) @ Loggers (46-39) – July 6-8, 2046

The rush of the no-hitter aside, the Raccoons also closed to within a game of the Loggers by taking three of four in Boston. The Loggers had lost eight of nine, including three of four to the Indians during the week, so the Indians were wedged halfway between these two teams now in second place. Milwaukee had only scored six runs in the entire Indians series, and had slipped to eighth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed. They had a -18 run differential (Coons: +45), which indicated some sort of writing on the wall. The Critters could tie them (but not necessarily for first place) by winning two of three from them. The Loggers, missing three starting pitchers on the DL, led the season series, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (8-4, 4.15 ERA) vs. Mackenzie O’Toole (9-7, 5.17 ERA)
Ryan Person (6-6, 3.22 ERA) vs. Caleb Martin (5-3, 3.79 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (4-7, 3.91 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (6-7, 4.46 ERA)

Only right-handed opponents in this set, which would be followed by the All Star break. The stingy pitching of the last few days had allowed the Coons to more or less completely reset their bullpen, which might come in handy on Sunday, with Okuda on short rest after the double-header.

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – C Morales – SS Waters – 2B Martell – P Wheatley
MIL: CF B. Allen – LF Reeves – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – 1B Brayboy – C Payne – 2B Davison – 3B R. Johnston – P O’Toole

The Loggers’ troubles seemed to continue when O’Toole put the first three Critters on base with walks to Baskins and Maldo amidst a Herrera single, but Toohey got in a run in the worst way with a 6-4-3 double play and Pat Gurney grounded out, too. For our troubles we were compensated with a solo home run by Al Martell in the second, 2-0, while Wheats scattered four hits in the first three innings, but also whiffed four and didn’t allow a run in his bid to get his ERA back into the threes. He made it there with five scoreless, while behind him Tony Morales and Matt Waters went deep back-to-back in the fourth to extend the lead to 4-0. All went well for Wheats until the seventh, when doubles by Scott Davison and Brent Allen paired up with a 2-base throwing error committed by Maldonado and the Loggers scored two runs. Porter replaced him, conceded another run on Bill Reeves’ single, 4-3, and finally retired Daniel Hertenstein to get out of the inning. In the eighth, Kelly walked Aaron Brayboy, the only batter he faced, before Nelson Moreno got a double play grounder from Ricky Payne to escape. The Coons failed to hit any more solo homers or score in any other way, but at least Josh Rella had a 1-2-3 ninth to shake the game into the books. 4-3 Coons. Herrera 2-5; Morales 2-3, HR, RBI; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (9-4);

3.99 ERA for Wheats at the break, with one of the three runs being earned. The Coons meanwhile reached a tie for first, with the Indians’ loss to the Crusaders dropping them behind into third place.

Game 2
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – C Morales – SS Waters – 2B Martell – P Person
MIL: CF B. Allen – LF Reeves – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Espinoza – 1B Brayboy – 2B Davison – C R. Rodriguez – 3B B. Johnson – P C. Martin

Person had another start from hell. He walked three in the first inning, plating Brent Allen with a wild pitch to fall behind, and after Tony Morales tied the game with a solo homer in the second, issued another walk and a wild pitch in the bottom 2nd. Bill Reeves stole two bases after a leadoff walk issued to him in the bottom 3rd, and scored on Ricky Espinoza’s single, actually the first Loggers hit in the game. He’d leave after five innings of more than 100 pitches, having walked six, or in other words, plenty.

The Coons were still only down 2-1 at that point, then occupied the corners to begin the sixth, with Baskins and Herrera setting up camp with two singles. Maldo tied the game with a lobber over Espinoza on a 3-2 pitch that fell for a single, but the Coons ran out of steam after that with Toohey whiffing and Gurney and Morales grounding out.

Two scoreless innings by Bob Ibold moved the 2-2 tie to the eighth, where Armando Herrera drew a leadoff walk from righty Ron Purcell. Herrera swiped second, prompting an intentional walk to Maldonado, always a ballsy move with Toohey behind, although Bryce was the easier strikeout for sure. And indeed he struck out, 0-4 with 3 K in the game. Ruben Gonzalez pinch-hit for Ibold, who had replaced Gurney in a double switch, and jabbed a single up the middle to plate Herrera with the go-ahead run after all. Morales nicked a ball up the line into the rightfield corner for an RBI double, but Waters was intentionally walked and both Martell and Pellicano popped out to strand the bags full. We made another double switch in the bottom 8th after Zack Kelly allowed a 2-out single to Brayboy (but at least after retiring a pair…), bringing Rella into the #8 hole for a 4-out save, while Floyd took over shortstop, batting fifth. Rella struck out PH Kyle Edsell, the tying run, ending the eighth. Floyd grounded out to Brad Johnson to conclude the ninth after lefty Walt Wright had walked Herrera and Toohey, but also made the final play on Brent Allen to end the game and secure first place for Portland (or a share of it) over the break, after Rella had walked leadoff man Ricky Rodriguez. 4-2 Critters. Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, RBI; Morales 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Ibold 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (6-0);

Fun fact: Bob Ibold has as many wins as Ryan Person has.

He probably also got an out in the sixth more often than Person………

Game 3
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Morales – SS Waters – 3B Coen – P Okuda
MIL: CF B. Allen – 2B Davison – SS R. Espinoza – RF Hertenstein – C Payne – LF Reeves – 1B Edsell – 3B R. Johnston – P Ru. Guzman

The situation was not ideal, but with Okuda on short rest, the Raccoons hoped for five or six innings from him, then use Aaron Hickey for multiple innings to get the game to Moreno, if necessary, with Rella unavailable. At least the offense made good headway after Baskins was caught stealing third base in the opening inning, and Pat Gurney’s solo homer in the second and the 2-out, 2-run single jabbed by Morales in the third got a 3-0 lead onto the board. Ben Coen went 2-for-2 with a leadoff single in the fourth. Okuda bunted him over, Baskins walked, and Herrera hit a single to left. Coen went around to score, drawing a late throw from Reeves that allowed the trailing runners to both reach scoring position, but the inning ended with a Maldonado comebacker, a Toohey walk onto the open base, and a K to Gurney. To make up for that, Matt Waters whacked a 2-run homer in the fifth, 6-0.

Okuda was almost flawless, throwing only 52 pitches through five innings for a single and a walk, but no runs, so was surely good to go for at least one more. Morales upped to 7-0 with another RBI single, plating Herrera in the top 6th, while Okuda pitched two more innings for not much more than a Payne single in the bottom 7th, maintaining a white vest in the R column. Hickey entered afterwards, and Toohey also left the game for All Star Game considerations at that point. Hickey pitched two shutout innings to complete the series sweep. 7-0 Raccoons. Baskins 2-5, BB, 2B; Herrera 4-4, BB, RBI; Gurney 3-5, HR, RBI; Morales 2-4, BB, 3 RBI; Coen 2-5; Okuda 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (5-7); Hickey 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

July 2 – LAP SP Marcus Wilkins (7-5, 3.12 ERA) and CL David Fox (7-6, 5.29 ERA, 12 SV) combine for a 1-hit shutout, 1-0, of the Gold Sox. DEN 1B Jason Robinson (.281, 3 HR, 42 RBI) hits a single for the only Denver entry into the H column.
July 2 – The Capitals trade SS Tony Hunter (.213, 0 HR, 8 RBI) to the Bayhawks for 2B/SS Mike Gibson (.280, 2 HR, 9 RBI).
July 2 – Scorpions outfielder Nate Culp (.317, 13 HR, 49 RBI) will miss three weeks with a strained hamstring.
July 4 – Rebels swingman J.J. Hendrix (6-1, 3.51 ERA) 1-hits the Capitals in a 9-0 shutout. His no-hit bid is only broken up with two outs in the ninth inning by a single hit by WAS 3B Ricky Jimenez (.262, 13 HR, 51 RBI).
July 5 – The Indians trade SP Ayden Cobb (5-6, 3.19 ERA) and cash to the Falcons for two prospects, including #93 SP Enrique Ortiz.
July 6 – TIJ SP Pedro Quinonez (8-6, 4.67 ERA) 3-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 win for the Condors.
July 7 – Atlanta INF/RF Joe Crim (.269, 11 HR, 61 RBI) makes the history books with a 3-homer game in a 13-4 rampage over the Falcons, and in total drives in 10 runs on the three homers and a single. He is the second Knight to go yard three times in a game this season, joining teammate John Marz (.247, 10 HR, 46 RBI).
July 7 – The Pacifics trade SP Marcus Wilkins (7-5, 3.12 ERA) to the Blue Sox for two prospects, including #20 SP Mike Kipp. The 19-year-old left-hander was halfway through an 80-game suspension for a failed drug test at this point.
July 8 – The Knights pick up C Manichiro Toki (.255, 0 HR, 7 RBI) from the Rebels, along with cash, for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: SAL OF David Vasquez (.304, 5 HR, 30 RBI), hitting .536 (15-28) with 1 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL INF/RF Joe Crim (.266, 11 HR, 61 RBI), swatting .409 (9-22) with 3 HR, 14 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Six wins in a row and first place! Somehow! The complete and utter nosedive the Loggers are in is of course helping. Also, we snatched up first place just before the All Star Game, which I enjoy.

Speaking of the All Star Game, we have a few representatives. Toohey, Maldo, and Morales (!) all go there, as is a pitcher …. Bob Ibold! None of our starters were picked, not even Merino, that no-no boy! (But Atlanta’s Brian Buttress goes on his 4.26 ERA, which is a bit of a head scratcher).

This is the second All Star Game for ABL home run leader Bryce Toohey, his first having come in 2044, his first year in Portland. Maldo goes for the fourth time, all consecutively. Bob Ibold and Tony Morales are nominated for the first time.

I kinda like my move to get Morales back after he was tingled around the league for four years without ever catching on anywhere. He is currently hitting for a .927 OPS, which would by far be the best of his career, but in any case he and his career seems definitely rejuvenated.

Games will continue on Thursday, with the home set against the Titans, with a Crusaders set following after that. We’d be on the road in Oklahoma and Vegas following that.

The Coons will actively explore trades too for the rest of the month. We have no lefty relief at all anymore, and we can certainly do a thing or two to liven up the bench, which all too often is Pat Gurney, a catcher, and swaths of misery now. Gurney might be the best player not getting his share of playing time in the entire league, but once you use him, your down on your luck with your current roster – although Manny Fernandez should be back after the break, and Mercado should be back at 100% too.

In terms of international free agents we have so far signed two outfielders for $74k total, and I am after one pitcher that is currently trading at $172k, but I am not married to the idea of pursuing him over a current roster improvement – we don’t have that much budget space remaining: barely $700k and $1.7M of cash.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have the most no-hitters of all ABL teams, but Victor Merino was the first Critter to no-hit the Titans.

Juan Berrios – 1977 – Loggers
Jason Turner – 1989 – Thunder
Manuel Movonda – 1998 – Condors
Bob Joly (!) – 2000 – Crusaders
Jose Dominguez – 2007 – Crusaders
Nick Brown – 2016 – damn Elks
Jonny Toner – 2019 – Thunder
Tom Shumway – 2030 – Loggers
Victor Merino – 2046 – Titans

Tah!

[reds1]

Just read up about your recent health issues, Westheim. Glad to hear that you're on the mend and back in the swing of things. Although from the way the Raccoons 'reward' your management at times, I'm surprised it wasn't ulcers.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by reds1

Just read up about your recent health issues, Westheim. Glad to hear that you're on the mend and back in the swing of things. Although from the way the Raccoons 'reward' your management at times, I'm surprised it wasn't ulcers.

I'm surprised there was something other than bile and grief inside this body after all

+++

All Star Game

The Federal League pounds the Continental League early and often, opening a 7-0 lead by the third inning in an eventual 8-4 win in this year’s All Star Game. Denver’s Tim Turner goes 1-3 with a bases-clearing double and a walk for MVP honors.

The Portland crew puts together five base hits and two RBI in the loss. Jesus Maldonado and Tony Morales both have two hits and an RBI, Bryce Toohey has a single. Morales has the only CL extra-base hit with a double.

Bob Ibold pitches a scoreless inning with a strikeout.

So it wasn’t our guys!

Raccoons (48-40) vs. Titans (38-50) – July 12-15, 2046

The Raccoons were up 7-1 on the Titans this year after taking three of four in Boston the week before the All Star Game. The Titans were still in the bottom three in runs scored, and just below average in runs allowed. Their rotation was third-worst by ERA, but their pen was the second-best in the league.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (6-6, 3.70 ERA) vs. Victor Mondragon (3-9, 5.54 ERA)
Victor Merino (7-5, 2.83 ERA) vs. David Barel (9-8, 3.53 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (9-4, 3.99 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (5-7, 5.09 ERA)
Ryan Person (6-6, 3.24 ERA) vs. Ricky Contreras (4-10, 4.53 ERA)

The Coons did not skip around their rotation over the break, mainly because it was hard to find favorites right now, and maybe the smartest move was to give everybody the extra three days.

Mondragon and Turay were the only right-handers the Titans had to offer.

Game 1
BOS: SS Batista – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF Ritchey – 3B D. Richardson – C Whitley – LF T. Lopez – 2B J. Rodriguez – P Mondragon
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – P Jackson

Good ol’ Manny Fernandez returned with an RBI single in the bottom 2nd, bringing in the game’s first run with two outs. The run was doubly-unearned, Toohey reaching on an error by Tony Batista and advancing once on a passed ball charged to Dan Whitley. While Jackson allowed no base hits early on, the Raccoons also stranded five runners between the second and third innings, Jackson grounding out to Juan Rodriguez with Manny and Waters on the corners in the second, and Gurney flying out easily with the 3-4-5 hitters aboard (although Maldo forced out Herrera) in the third. Between a walk to Victor Chavez in the first and another one to Batista in the sixth, the Titans got nothing out of Jake Jackson, but Mondragon also tightened up in the middle innings until betrayed again by defense in the bottom 6th. Manny reached on a 2-out infield single, and Waters added himself to the bases when Rodriguez threw away his grounder for two bases, bringing up Jackson with runners on second and third – he struck out. Jackson went on to hit Chavez with the first pitch in the seventh inning, but got a 6-4-3 from Joe Ritchey and Doug Richardson also grounded out.

The eighth began with Whitley hitting a 3-1 pitch through the left side, no chance for either defender over there, so we would not get no-hitters against the Titans on consecutive Thursdays, whether that had been your lifelong dream or not. Before long, the bases were loaded with a Nick Crocker infield single and a walk to another pinch-hitter, Danny Liceaga, and Nelson Moreno inherited the steaming mess. He struck out Tony Batista for the second out of the inning, but then gave up a 2-run single to center to Chris Jimenez, and that was enough to flip the score in Boston’s favor. And that was the ballgame – the Raccoons were sat down by Brian Jackson in the eighth and Casey Pinter in the ninth. 2-1 Titans. Fernandez 2-4, RBI; Jackson 7.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (6-7);

Game 2
BOS: LF de Luna – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF Ritchey – C Whitley – SS Batista – 2B D. Richardson – 3B T. Lopez – P Barel
POR: LF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – RF Mercado – SS Floyd – P Merino

Merino was perfect the first time through, which didn’t shoo the Titans into submission at all. Rich de Luna opened the fourth with a triple over Herrera’s head, and Jimenez and Chavez added singles to go up 1-0 and look like more trouble, at least until Ritchey grounded out and Merino struck out Whitley and Batista. The Coons were scattering a single an inning through four – Ruben Gonzalez did the honors twice – which predictably got them nowhere in particular. They then got nobody on in the fifth, before the sixth saw a Herrera single, and then bleakness once again. All the while, Merino fought valiantly, allowing only four hits through seven innings while trailing. I rubbed Honeypaws’ tail stripes in a bid for good luck, but we didn’t get another base hit until Herrera’s turn was up again, a 2-out single in the bottom 8th. And then Maldo grounded out meekly… Josh Rella held the Titans away in the top 9th after Bob Ibold helped Merino out of the eighth, but the Raccoons were still not on the board, with Barel nursing a 6-hitter in the bottom 9th. When Toohey hit a 3-2 single to left, things started to move – first, Barel was yanked for left-hander Casey Pinter, and the Raccoons sent Al Martell to run for Toohey, who was the tying run. Gonzalez flew out to center, but Matt Waters hit a single, moving Martell to second. Mercado grounded out to Gerardo Galaz at second base, advancing the runners, but we were down to Josh Floyd and our final out – and on the bench, only lefty hitters. We *actually* went for it – Tony Morales would hit for Floyd. It didn’t look like it would be working all too well – in no time Morales had two strikes on him. But he dug in, then hit a 1-2 to the right side. Chavez didn’t get it! It was a single! Martell in to score! Waters coming around – and he scored as well! It’s a walkoff! 2-1 Blighters! Herrera 2-4; Gonzalez 2-4; Morales (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Merino 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K and 1-2;

Let’s just say Tony Morales got the biggest smooch on the snout any player had gotten from me in a long time.

The move was entirely against the book, but Josh Floyd was down to 0-for-3 in the game, and the sparkle about him had dimmed down anyway in recent weeks…

Game 3
BOS: LF de Luna – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF Ritchey – 2B Galaz – C Whitley – SS Batista – 3B D. Richardson – P Turay
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – P Wheatley

The Coons opened with straight hits in the first inning, singles from Baskins and Herrera, followed by Maldo’s RBI double. Toohey was cautiously walked onto the open base, making it three on with nobody out. I braced for the worst, and Tony Morales, Friday’s hero, promptly struck out. Pat Gurney also fell to 1-2, but then actually met a baseball, sending a high and deep fly to right – GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

Manny, Waters, Baskins, and Herrera each hit a single after that, adding on two more runs for a 7-0 total after the first inning on poor Kyle Turay. I was squinting at Wheatley down on the field – he wasn’t gonna turn this one inside out, was he? Well, he sure scattered runners; two in the second, three in the third, but the Titans didn’t score either time, once thanks to Chris Jimenez’ timely double play grounder. Wheats didn’t allow a run through five after all – but was also extremely inefficient; in a Personesque performance, he needed 93 pitches through five innings, running a bunch of full counts in the fourth and fifth, including a 14-pitch battle with Jimenez that ended in a walk. He’d put in another 10-pitch sixth, then departed for the day. Hickey pitched two innings, giving up a run on two walks and a base hit, while the Raccoons seemed to collectively have departed for dinner after the first-inning onslaught and didn’t get particularly close to scoring ever again. It was enough, though, even though Steven Johnston gave up another run in the ninth inning. 7-2 Critters. Baskins 2-4, RBI; Herrera 2-4, RBI; Gurney 2-4, HR, 4 RBI;

Interlude: Trade

The Raccoons brought in much-needed lefty relief on Sunday, acquiring 29-year-old CL Mike Lynn (3-6, 2.51 ERA, 25 SV) from the Crusaders for two minor league pitchers, AAA SP Tony Negrete and AA SP Danny Bethea. Negrete had made five starts for Portland in the last two seasons, but had a miserable year in St. Pete, while Bethea was a recent second-round pick, but didn’t show up on the depth chart (we still had Wolinsky and a few other arms ahead of him).

Lynn was a first-time All Star this year. He’d be eligible for arbitration once more in the fall. He was a bit of a me-first kinda guy, but right now I needed somebody to get outs from the left side, and he had 11.1 K/9 in 43 innings. He didn’t arrive rested, so probably wouldn’t appear in the Sunday game yet.

The Raccoons sent Steven Johnston to AAA, where he could do less damage to our efforts.

Raccoons (48-40) vs. Titans (38-50) – July 12-15, 2046

Game 4
BOS: LF de Luna – RF C. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – CF Ritchey – 2B Galaz – C Whitley – SS J. Rodriguez – 3B T. Lopez – P R. Contreras
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – LF Fernandez – SS Floyd – P Person

Ryan Person started to retire the first eight batters he faced, then walked Ricky Contreras with two outs in the third, which was the kind of thing that could drive you up the wall time and again. Rich de Luna singled afterwards, but Chris Jimenez struck out after that, stranding two Titans. The Coons were not that much more successful in the first innings, then somehow stumbled into loading the bases in the bottom 4th, getting the 4-5-6 hitters on with soft singles and a walk – but all with two outs. Manny grounded out to Chavez on the first pitch, and the game remained scoreless. Frustratingly, Josh Floyd then opened the bottom 5th with a single to left… and Person bunted into a double play. Pellicano walked and was caught stealing, and that was how this game continued to go on my nerves…

Out of nothing, Maldo then snapped a homer in the sixth, which was the first run on the board, Person holding the Titans to a 1-hitter still, but he had also run two 3-ball counts in the sixth and I expected him to lay an egg and get rolled into the tarp any second now. He struck out Ritchey and Galaz in the seventh before hitting Whitley. PH Nick Crocker flew out to Herrera, somehow. The eighth brought a leadoff walk to Tony Lopez, who was forced out by Danny Liceaga. Person filed a wild pitch over the umpire’s head for some general annoyance, and Liceaga advanced to third base on de Luna’s groundout, but Herrera also caught another F8 to complete the inning. We didn’t trust the looks of this, and with the #9 hole leading off the bottom 8th, Gurney grabbed a bat against righty Jeff Turi. Herrera reached base with a 2-out single, and that was that, Maldo grounding out to short. Rella came out for the ninth, trying to defend the Coons’ skinny run. He struck out Chavez, then walked Ritchey and nailed Galaz, which was not the optimal procedure for this. Whitley popped out to Pellicano, but Crocker ripped a gapper in a full count and flipped the ******* score with a 2-run double. Tony Lopez then struck out. The Titans brought on Casey Pinter to try and hold their end of a 1-run lead in the bottom 9th then. Toohey, Gonzalez, and Waters went down in order. 2-1 Titans. Herrera 2-4, 2B; Person 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K and 1-2;

They had two hits. We had seven.

I also had stinging pain in my jaws, from pressing them together so hard.

In other news

July 10 – Falcons OF Jordan Marroguin (.244, 3 HR, 39 RBI) gets into a fight with his neighbor, and has his kneecap broken in the process. He is out for the season.
July 11 – The Condors trade SP Ryan Porter (7-9, 4.16 ERA) to the Stars for two prospects, including #42 prospect 1B Dave Baumgardner.
July 12 – Both teams have a player bang out five base hits in the Blue Sox’ 11-7 win over the Miners on Thursday. Nashville’s Brad Critzer (.285, 5 HR, 47 RBI) has four singles and a double with one RBI, while Pittsburgh’s Victor Vazquez (.310, 6 HR, 58 RBI) hits only singles, and also drives in one run.
July 13 – The Thunder pick up MR Tom Spencer (2-0, 1.71 ERA, 1 SV) from the Pacifics, parting with a prospect.
July 15 – SAC LF/RF Mike Preble (.347, 12 HR, 59 RBI) hits a 3-run walkoff homer to beat the Warriors, 7-6, despite the Warriors out-hitting the Scorpions, 16-8.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF Mike Preble (.347, 12 HR, 59 RBI), batting .500 (8-16) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/SS Sergio Quiroz (.307, 10 HR, 50 RBI), batting .471 (8-17) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Even with the Lynn trade, I don’t claim the roster to be fixed. We just got mostly squeezed out of scoring over a long weekend by the Titans…

The Crusaders will be in on Monday, giving us another shot at a last-place team before the power curve will tighten again. The rest of the month will be against the middle four teams in the South, with a 4-game set with the weirdly resilient Indians waiting at the beginning of August. We won’t see the Loggers again until September, though. Starting August 30, we have 13 of our last 30 games against the Indians and Loggers.

Fun Fact: 17 years ago today, Ben Lipsky pitched the first of his two no-hitters.

He did so as a Bayhawk against the Aces, with the second no-hitter no coming until more than 10 years later, in August of ’39 with the Cyclones against the damn Elks.

The Aces no-hitter came in his first full season after he had missed the entire 2028 campaign for a torn rotator cuff. He would be quite resilient for the rest of his career, failing to turn in 32+ starts only once in the next nine years. He was an All Star once (2029), and never led the league in any single category. He was with the Bayhawks for 11 seasons (including the injury-lost 2028), and then five more with the Cyclones, dabbling in some relief work at times.

For his career he was a 163-143 pitcher with a 3.67 ERA. He also saved five games. He struck out 1,830 batters in 2,664 innings.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (50-42) vs. Crusaders (39-52) – July 16-18, 2046

The Crusaders were in last place with a no-thanks offense that scored about 3.7 runs per game, bottoms in the CL, and the fifth-best pitching, which failed to compensate, piling up a -59 run differential. We held a 6-3 edge in the season series, and they were without DL dwellers Fernando Alba and Dan Schneller.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (5-7, 3.65 ERA) vs. Yataro Tanabe (4-1, 2.74 ERA)
Jake Jackson (6-7, 3.63 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (7-4, 2.86 ERA)
Victor Merino (7-5, 2.72 ERA) vs. Paul Paris (3-11, 4.32 ERA)

Ahead of the two experienced right-handers, we’d get the 25-year-old southpaw groundballer Tanabe in his 19th big league appearance, including 11 starts two years ago. He was running on a .255 BABIP despite the Crusaders’ “mediocre” defense.

Game 1
NYC: SS Adame – 2B Nash – 1B Briones – RF Rogers – LF Willie Ojeda – CF Rico – 3B Riario – C Bergomi – P Tanabe
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – LF Mercado – SS Floyd – P Okuda

Maldo doubled up Pellicano in the first, but the Coons loaded the bases with nobody out in the second. Toohey and Gonzalez both drew walks before Matt Waters flicked a single into shallow right. Tanabe scored a run for Portland with a wild pitch, and Floyd’s groundout brought in another run, but Mercado had grounded out to first base for no noticeable effect, and Okuda flew out to Phil Rogers in right. While Okuda was stingy with giving up runners, the Raccoons found another thick scoring opportunity in the bottom 4th, which began with a Ruben Gonzalez single and a Waters double, putting two in scoring position with nobody out and the 7-8-9 batters up again. Nobody found a hit, but both Mercado and Floyd rolled over to Randolph Nash, both bringing in a runner to extend the lead to 4-0. Pellicano’s leadoff double and Maldo’s sac fly stretched this to 5-0 an inning later, and Tanabe was pinch-hit for the following half-inning, at which point we also noticed that besides a first-inning walk to Mario Briones, Okuda had yet to give up a base runner. But the baseball gods giveth, and the Briones taketh away – when the old foe was up again in the seventh, he hit a double over Mercado to take Okuda’s bid away.

The Coons kept scoring though, Pellicano hitting a leadoff single in the seventh and scoring on Armando Herrera’s double past Willie Ojeda before Vittorio Riario took Okuda deep to left in the eighth, taking the shutout away. Okuda would finish the game, but not without allowing another run on hits by Alex Adame and Nash in the ninth. While Briones grounded out harmlessly, Phil Rogers’ infield roller had Maldonado abandon Adame, who cruised home while Rogers was put out at first base. Willie Ojeda flew out to Derek Baskins to end the game. 6-2 Coons. Pellicano 3-4, 2B; Gonzalez 1-2, 2 BB; Waters 3-4, 2B; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Okuda 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-7);

Okuda had now won his last three starts, going with a 0.75 ERA, but only *seven* strikeouts in 24 innings.

Game 2
NYC: SS Adame – 3B Mujica – 1B Briones – LF Willie Ojeda – RF Rogers – 2B Nash – CF Foss – C A. Lara – P J. Johnson
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – RF Fernandez – SS Waters – 2B Martell – P Jackson

In one of the weirder openings to a game, Jake Jackson threw seven pitches to the first six batters he faced. The first five made outs before Nash doubled to center. He then lost Aaron Foss in a full count before Angel Lara flew out to Herrera at 2-2. Nobody scored – except for Tony Morales, who hit a leadoff double to right-center in the bottom 2nd, and was brought in with a Waters single and a Martell sac fly. Jackson hit a 2-out single after that, but Foss snagged Baskins’ floater to shallow center to strand them on the corners. Jackson got into trouble in the fourth that was mostly Matt Waters’ making; after an Ojeda single, Jackson had the Crusaders dead for the inning with Rogers’ grounder to short, but Waters botched the flip to Martell and instead of all-out the Crusaders had two on with one out. Nash went on to strike out, an Foss grounded out to Martell to keep them on base anyway.

The bottom 5th then almost gave us a brawl – and I sure cheered for Derek Baskins to tear off Jeff Johnson’s thick head – when Johnson hit not only Baskins, but also Jackson to begin the inning! Would the Raccoons provide a valid answer? Armando Herrera singled up the middle to fill the bases and extending a budding hitting streak to 13 games, and Johnson kept melting. Maldo got nothing but garbage and drew an easy walk to push home a run, 2-0. Toohey hit a deep fly to right, but while the park gasped and I squeed, it was too high and not long enough. Rogers made the catch on the edge of the warning track, but Baskins scored on the sac fly at least. Morales flew out to center, Manny walked, and Waters had his liner snagged by Alex Adame to strand a full set in the 3-0 game.

The Crusaders scored a run off Jackson in his seventh and final inning, Foss doubling home Rogers, who had opened the inning with a single. Nelson Moreno retired the 1-2-3 in exactly that fashion in the eighth inning, while the Raccoons still had to remove the plastic foil from their new reliever (and to be honest, Mike Lynn’s lips looked kinda blue after three days in wrap in the pen… Dr. Padilla should investigate!), but the alternating handedness at the top of the order had started with a righty, so Moreno had gotten the ball. Lynn got the ninth instead, which began with the left-handed Ojeda – it was still a 2-run game, owing to Foss being the most annoying vacuum cleaner in center and scooping everything the Critters endeavored to hit out there. Perplexingly, Ojeda (well, a .335 hitter), singled off Lynn. The Raccoons stuck to their new toy, though, who got consecutive grounders to short for a pair of 6-4 fielder’s choices that exchanged the bum on first base twice before Riario pinch-hit for Foss. The Raccoons threw the red hanky again – Josh Rella would come in for the final out here. …or to give up a single to center. Okay, now we were out of ideas. Ethan Moore pinch-hit for Angel Lara (both were lefty hitters), and grounded up the middle as well. Martell got to that one, though, flipping it to Waters in time to end the game. 3-1 Critters. Maldonado 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Jackson 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (7-7) and 1-2;

Game 3
NYC: SS Adame – 2B Nash – 1B Briones – RF Rogers – LF Willie Ojeda – 3B Mujica – CF Rico – C Bergomi – P Paris
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – LF Fernandez – SS Waters – P Merino

Paris had lost eight straight decisions and had last won a game against the Titans on May 14, but had actually beaten the Critters with a fairly dominant performance in April, so we were warned, but took the lead in the first. Mercado drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and scored on Herrera’s single that also meant he got to 14 games of straight hitting. Herrera also stole second, but was stranded on base, and the Crusaders re-tied the game right away, though in unearned fashion. Merino offered a leadoff walk to Ojeda in the top 2nd, Danny Rico doubled to left with one out, and Merino got in the K on Jordan Bergomi, but Paris’ squibber glanced off Maldo’s glove for a run-scoring error. Adame was out to Mercado to strand runners on the corners.

Little offense followed until Morales’ leadoff single and Gurney drawing a walk came together in the bottom 4th. Manny’s grounder to right was intercepted by the Gold Glover Nash, but the runners advanced for Matt Waters with one down, except that the Crusaders had none of it and waved him on base. Merino, interestingly, had whacked a double his first time up, but had been stranded by Mercado. Batting with the bases full, he burned Paris again, slapping a single over Nash’s head for a 2-RBI knock, taking a 3-1 lead for himself…! I giggled with glee, even before Armando Herrera tacked on two more with a 2-out double over Ojeda (who was not much of a fielder anymore at 34). Paris balked, Maldo walked, but Toohey’s deep drive was caught by Rico on the run to end the 4-run outburst. Paris was not seen again, pinch-hit for with Justin Simmons to begin the top 5th, Simmons hitting a leadoff single that led the New Yorkers nowhere in particular.

Merino reached the seventh, where Bergomi hit a leadoff single to left off him. He retried PH Aaron Foss, then left after 98 pitches and without an unearned run on him. Preston Porter took care of that, walking Adame and allowing a 2-out RBI single to Briones… Rogers whiffed to strand two. Lynn had a perfect eighth after that, and the Critters scratched out an unearned extra run in the bottom 8th when Baskins batted for Lynn and legged out an infield roller for a 2-out single that allowed Gurney to score, Gurney having reached on Adame’s throwing error to begin the inning. The ninth thus went to Ibold with a 4-run lead, at least until he put the first two batters on, Bergomi with a single and Moore with a walk. Moreno replaced him, got a grounder from Adame that went through between Martell and Gurney on the right side, and plated a run upon becoming a single. I sunk into the cushions, but we got a finely turned 5-4-3 from Nash that removed the tying run from the plate again. Briones grounded out to Waters, completing the sweep. 6-3 Furballs. Herrera 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1, RBI; Merino 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (8-5) and 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (53-42) @ Thunder (48-46) – July 20-22, 2046

The Raccoons were going pretty well right now (10-2 for our last 12), but the Thunder had also lit on fire recently, having won six games in a row after entering the All Star break on the downswing. They were back in second place in the South, 4 1/2 games behind the leading Bayhawks. Offensively they ranked sixth in the league, but had some really stingy pitching with the third-best rotation and the best bullpen work in the league, and conceding the second-fewest runs overall (behind us!). They had a +55 run differential, indicating that they probably had used up all their bad luck this year, but then again, the Critters had also had a strong run differential (+68 now) while barely over .500 in June. They had taken the first set of the year, two games to one. They had two notable injuries: slugging catcher Jesus Adames was out with a broken finger, and ex-Coon Doug Levis was also on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (10-4, 3.79 ERA) vs. Brad Blankenship (4-6, 3.79 ERA)
Ryan Person (6-6, 2.98 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (5-6, 4.91 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (6-7, 3.51 ERA) vs. Michael Donovan (6-5, 3.26 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! …and Saturday, too!

Game 1
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – P Wheatley
OCT: LF Zurita – 2B Ban – RF Benavides – SS R. Cox – 1B S. Henderson – CF Tortora – 3B Greer – C Weese – P Blankenship

Tony Morales’ 11th home run of the year put the Coons up 2-0 in the second inning, bringing in Bryce Toohey and his leadoff single, too. Unfortunately, Ryan Cox and Sterling Henderson repeated the feat, picture-perfect, in the bottom of the same inning, tying the game again, and in the bottom 3rd switch-hitters Jonathan Ban and Cox gave the Thunder a 3-2 lead with a single and an RBI double. Oh whatever, just bring back Tony Morales – he cluttered another homer to right to tie the game again in the fourth.

But while Toohey singled home Baskins in the fifth for a 4-3 lead and Manny extended that one to 5-3 with a solo homer in the sixth, it remained a start of nothing but soul-searching for Wheats, who lacked stuff and command at the same time, which was never a great combo. He somehow dragged himself through six innings, but needed just over 100 pitches for that; at least he went out on a high, whiffing Henderson and Cullen Tortora as his final two batters. He struck out five in total in the game.

The Coons left the bases loaded in the seventh after Herrera doubled and Toohey and Morales drew 2-out walks, but Gurney’s fly to left was snatched by Angelo Zurita. Bob Ibold had a 1-2-3 seventh before Zack Kelly made another mess, walking PH Nick DeMarco and hitting Juan Benavides in the bottom 8th before getting yanked with one out on the board. Preston Porter got a fielder’s choice from Cox and popped out Henderson to bail out of the jam. And then Josh Rella had another meltdown in the ninth, after the Coons had stranded another three total runners in the eighth and ninth without scoring. Tortora opened with a double to left. Marshall Greer and Brad Simon would hit singles, creating a 5-4 game with runners on second and first and one out. Just in the nick of time, Zurita served Gurney with a perfect grounder for a 4-6-3 double play to somehow elope with the W. 5-4 Raccoons. Toohey 2-4, BB, RBI; Morales 2-4, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI; Pellicano (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – SS Floyd – P Person
OCT: LF Zurita – 2B Ban – RF Benavides – SS R. Cox – 1B S. Henderson – CF Tortora – 3B Greer – C Weese – P V. Marquez

Gene Pellicano opened the game with a homer to left, but Ryan Person retired nobody, issuing a single to Zurita and walks to Jonathan Ban and Benavides before leaving with Dr. Padilla. Aaron Hickey took over, conceded the lead on Cox’ sac fly, but otherwise got out of the jam respectably. Hickey lasted only four innings, suffering through long counts, and left on the short end of a 3-2 score, with Manny homering again for Portland, while the bottom 4th saw Kevin Weese double home Greer, then score on a Zurita single to take the lead for Oklahoma.

We had already accepted the loss, as shown by a fifth-inning appearance by hapless Zack Kelly, who somehow struck out two in a perfect inning. Moreover, Bob Ibold got in line for a W when Matt Waters socked a 2-run homer in the seventh, taking a 4-3 lead. Ibold had boldly been penciled in for two innings, though, so batted for himself when Josh Floyd hit a 1-out double off Marquez. He popped out harmlessly, and Pellicano grounded out to short to strand the runner. Then Ibold found his way to the L, getting whacked for doubles by Ban and Cox, then the go-ahead single by Sterling Henderson. Lynn was abused for five outs after that, stranding Henderson as well, which still preserved Nelson Moreno, should the Raccoons tie the game in the ninth after all against righty John Steuer. Mercado batted for Ruben Gonzalez and grounded up the middle. Cox made a sliding grab, sprung up and fired half-turning to first – and past Henderson. Mercado scooted to second with the tying run on the error. Matt Waters found the opportunity to his liking and peppered another score-flipper to right, his second 2-piece in the game…! Steuer retired the next two before walking Tony Morales in the #9 spot. Morales ran on movement because to-heck-with-it, and Pellicano obliged by smacking a double between DeMarco and ex-Critter Mal Phinazee, which was enough to allow Morales to score from first base! As indicated, we went to the fresh Moreno for the bottom 9th now, and he sat down the 3-4-5 in order. 7-5 Furballs! Pellicano 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Waters 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Lynn 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, W (4-6);

Pyrrhic victory? For sure!

But I like my team to have some spit and vinegar ready, so that was a nice clawback!

There was one casualty in the game besides Person – Armando Herrera went 0-for-5, ending his hitting streak at 15 games.

Game 3
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – LF Mercado – SS Floyd – P Okuda
OCT: LF Zurita – 2B Ban – RF Benavides – SS R. Cox – 1B S. Henderson – 3B Greer – CF Tortora – C J. Zarate – P Donovan

Singles by Pellicano and Maldonado and a 3-run homer to right by en fuego Morales put the Raccoons up by a bunch in the first inning, and in the third Maldo was nicked slightly, Toohey singled, and Morales hit ANOTHER ONE over the fence – that made for a 6-0 lead, all RBI courtesy of the guy no other team would start.

Okuda ran with it … for four innings. Then he exploded quite dramatically in the fifth, which was bad news for a team with little relief on paw. The Thunder batted through the order, starting with a leadoff single by Tortora. Nothing actually happened until there were two outs when Zurita singled home Tortora, 6-1. Ban singled. Benavides singled, 6-2. Cox walked in a full count. Henderson singled in two. Greer finally flew out to end the damn inning.

Okuda came back for a 1-2-3 sixth, but then departed with 111 pitches. Lynn replaced him to face the first three spots in the lineup, containing two lefties… and the pitcher in the #2 hole. He retired them in order. We got some breathing space in the top 8th, Ryan McConnell yielding a single to Pellicano, a wild pitch, and an RBI single to Herrera. The Coons filled the bases with Maldo (single) and Morales (walk), but wouldn’t score, Waters popping out to second to leave three aboard.

With that, up 7-4, we resorted to Porter and Rella, in that order, and hoped that would be plenty. Porter decided to play with my heartstrings when he walked both Henderson and Tortora in the bottom 8th before Jose Zarate popped out to end the inning. Then the Coons even tacked on three runs in a complete mess of a ninth inning for Oklahoma, with two of the three runs scored on the battery being cross with each other. Only Maldo got a genuine RBI in the inning. Rella got the ball anyway – the 6-run lead proved safe with him (but not save). 10-4 Raccoons. Pellicano 4-5, BB, 3B; Maldonado 4-5, RBI; Toohey 2-6; Morales 2-4, 2 BB, 2 HR, 6 RBI; Mercado 2-5; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 16 – Rebels closer Jesse Beggs (3-3, 4.54 ERA, 22 SV) is done for the season with a torn labrum.
July 18 – The Blue Sox pick up Aces OF Nick Berryman (.296, 11 HR, 46 RBI) for a prospect.
July 19 – NAS C Jorge Santa Cruz (.237, 8 HR, 39 RBI) has himself a day with a homer, two doubles, and two singles, as well as 3 RBI, in a 7-6 loss to the Cyclones.
July 19 – The Wolves acquire OF/1B Joey Krall (.288, 0 HR, 7 RBI) from the Buffaloes for CL Brian Johnson (3-5, 5.30 ERA, 18 SV) and a low-key prospect.
July 20 – Warriors SP/MR Matt Fogel (5-6, 3.70 ERA, 1 SV) blanks the Blue Sox, 5-0, with a 3-hit shutout. It is only the 11th ABL start for the 33-year-old right-hander Fogel, a career AAA staple with only 56 total major league appearances.
July 20 – The Buffaloes get catcher Rick Urfer (.261, 5 HR, 28 RBI) from the Warriors for right-hander Terry Garrigan (4-1, 4.34 ERA) and a prospect.
July 21 – Canadiens right-hander John Roeder (4-8, 3.64 ERA) ends a 16-inning marathon with a walkoff single off Vegas’ MR Mike Nett (0-1, 4.35 ERA), Vancouver claiming the 2-1 win.
July 21 – Buffaloes INF Adriano Chavez (.273, 0 HR, 32 RBI) hits a 1-out triple in the bottom 14th of their game with the Stars. After an intentional walk, the Stars have to go home on J.P. Angeletti’s (.276, 9 HR, 54 RBI) grounder, but fail to catch Chavez, resulting in a 3-2 walkoff.
July 22 – Nashville OF/2B Jeremy Hampton (.294, 2 HR, 24 RBI) goes 4-for-4 with 4 RBI after starting their 13-3 rush of the Warriors batting in the #9 hole. The Blue Sox also score their 13 runs unanswered after the Warriors go up 3-0 early.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 1B Jesus Matos (.258, 7 HR, 55 RBI), hitting .440 (11-25) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN C Julio Diaz (.345, 11 HR, 62 RBI), batting .571 (12-21) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

6-0 week, somehow!

Thankfully, Monday will be off, helping to reset the pen. Of course we have to wait for news on Ryan Person, but I casually found a table with our AAA pitchers’ stats in my bag on the flight out of Oklahoma, so there’s that…

I know a few teams that are currently kicking and biting themselves for letting Tony Morales slide through their hands like that. He has risen to the highest OPS on the team – but he’s not a qualifier, lacking plate appearances, and not just a few – he’s a whopping 57 short. How did he not win Player of the Week? He had “only” six hits (6-16), but with 4 HR and 9 RBI. You can probably make arguments either way here…

The competition has faded away rather quickly at this stage. The Loggers hit sub-.500 on Saturday when their July misery stretched to 3-13, and eeked out a Sunday win over the Bayhawks to at least end the week at .500, and the Indians, when not feasting on the Loggers, are a scary 1-9 team this month.

It will be Aces and Falcons next week.

Fun Fact: The only game the Indians won this month that was not against the Loggers was a 4-3 win over the Condors on Friday.

The winning run came in the ninth and was unearned.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (56-42) @ Aces (46-51) – July 24-26, 2046

The Aces had an average offense, but had overtaken the damn Elks for the leakiest outfit in the CL, sitting at the bottom of the table in runs allowed, with a -46 run differential. Their rotation and bullpen both had 4.40-ish ERA’s, both in the bottom three. They were also without closer David Williams (and the Coons were without news on infinite walk machine Ryan Person even after an off day on Monday). Vegas did have the most stolen bases in the league, a whopping 128 in 97 games. We were trying to make up a 1-2 deficit in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (7-7, 3.49 ERA) vs. Oscar Valdes (5-10, 5.66 ERA)
Victor Merino (8-5, 2.66 ERA) vs. Josh Henneberry (8-8, 3.96 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (11-4, 3.83 ERA) vs. Steve Huffman (4-5, 5.59 ERA)

Only right-handed opposition scheduled for this series.

Game 1
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Martell – P Jackson
LVA: SS Montes de Oca – C F. Gomez – RF M. Roberts – 2B Landstrom – LF Montana – 3B Luna – 1B Quintana – CF Cramer – P O. Valdes

Jackson conceded the Aces’ 129th stolen base of the year to Mike Roberts in the first inning, but also drove in Tony Morales with two outs in the top 2nd for his own 1-0 lead, so there was that. Al Martell jiggered first-to-third on the play, then scored when Nelson Mercado dropped a single into shallow center. Armando Herrera rammed a ball down the leftfield line for a 2-run double, then scored when Eddy Luna threw away Maldonado’s grounder, that would have ended the inning, for two bases. Toohey singled him home, a discombobulated Valdes nicked Tony Morales, and Waters hit an RBI single to center, which became an extra base for the trailing runners after a late throw home by Brent Cramer. The 7-run outburst ended with Manny’s groundout to Josh Landstrom, four of them being earned. Now it was about watching Jackson, who had an unhappy history of faltering with big leads.

But Jackson was solid the first few innings, which was not something that could be said about the Aces’ pitchers. Valdes departed after three, giving up a solo homer to Mercado before leaving, and then three Aces relievers were taken apart for six more runs in the in the fourth inning – although Mike Nett left with an injury after facing only one batter. Manny, Martell drove in a run each, Jackson and Maldo drove in two apiece, the inning ending with Herrera caught in a rundown. At this point, in the middle of the fourth, every Raccoons starter already had a hit, and had scored a run, and only hot paw Tony Morales did not have at least one RBI (Jackson, sillily, led the team with three).

The Raccoons’ scoring rush stopped after that, but Jackson held up well enough. The Aces got an unearned run in the fifth after a Morales throwing error, and Landstrom drove in Angel Montes de Oca for an earned run in the sixth. Maldo and Toohey left at the seventh-inning stretch, while Jackson pitched seven and two thirds on 98 fine pitches before being replaced with Zack Kelly, to see whether he could blow a 12-run lead against lefty hitters. He actually held up, retiring everybody he faced except righty hitter Bob Montana, who hit a ninth-inning single that led nowhere. 14-2 Raccoons! Mercado 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Herrera 3-5, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Toohey 3-5, RBI; Morales 2-4, 2B; Martell 3-5, RBI; Jackson 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-7) and 2-4, 3 RBI;

That was fun!

Of course, no amount of fun can go unpunished by the baseball gods. By Wednesday we learned that Ryan Person was out for the season with ulnar nerve irritation. He was a “possible” for the playoffs, but not exactly likely, and considering how he pitched before wouldn’t have been the smartest toss of a shoe for a starter in the playoffs anyway.

Welcome back, Bubba Wolinsky, then!

While Wednesday would have been his turn in AAA, we’d slide him into Person’s spot behind Wheats; everybody was a day late with the off day, just roll with it.

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Martell – P Merino
LVA: SS Montes de Oca – C F. Gomez – RF M. Roberts – LF Montana – 2B Landstrom – 1B Quintana – 3B Luna – CF Garbutt – P Henneberry

The Aces went up 1-0 on Wednesday when Merino yielded two hits to Bob Montana and Eddy Luna, plus a walk to Angel Quintana, in the second inning and looked as a whole to be struggling with command. He did open the third inning with a single to right, and Mercado and Herrera slapped two more to bring up the big boys with three on and nobody out. Maldo lined out unluckily on a screamer right back to Henneberry, but Toohey tied the game with a single that eluded Landstrom on the right side. Tony Morales, the monster, then drove in two with a double to right. Matt Waters hit an RBI single, 4-1, then stole second, and the Aces bench got the big-inning-long-face again. Manny logged two RBI with a wallbanger in right that saw him leg out a double, but Martell and Merino grounded out to the right side to end this particular 6-run onslaught.

The problem was then Merino … too many 3-ball counts. He didn’t get a K until the fourth (Quintana), although he had also only walked two batters. The Aces were pretty good at stepping on their own feet against him so far. He began the fifth by hitting Cole Garbutt, though, then threw a wild pitch that almost took off the head of relief pitcher B.J. Brantley, the poor sod. The Aces protested a bit, but even the blind guy in the third row behind home plate had seen that Merino was completely off today. Garbutt came around to score on productive outs, 6-2. The Raccoons dragged him through six and a bit before going to the bullpen. Bob Ibold got a fly to center from PH Brandon Owen to strand Quintana on second base in the bottom 7th, which kept the distance at a slam – again, the Raccoons had not tagged on after scoring a pile in an inning; they did get to Mark Zdrojewski (pronounced Stro-ciao-ski, I am told, but he had a 7+ ERA, so who gave a thing?) in the eighth. The right-hander had already taken a beating on Tuesday, and now allowed leadoff singles to Martell and Floyd, with Mercado rolling to first for an RBI groundout. Baskins hit for Herrera at that point, but flew out, and Maldo grounded out to strand Floyd. It didn’t matter – Ibold and Hickey added scoreless innings at the end to put the game away easily. 7-2 Raccoons. Mercado 2-4, BB, RBI; Herrera 2-4; Morales 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Waters 2-3, BB, RBI; Floyd 1-1;

Game 3
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Wheatley
LVA: SS Montes de Oca – C F. Gomez – RF M. Roberts – LF Montana – 3B Luna – 2B B. Owen – 1B Speth – CF Cramer – P Huffman

Singles by Baskins and Mercado, a well-placed Herrera groundout to take the lead, and then Maldo whacked a 2-out RBI triple for a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Toohey was caught in deep left, but here was some support for Wheats, the Critters’ leader in wins. He did not allow a base hit the first time through, although he walked Eddy Luna in the second, and then Felipe Gomez to lead off the fourth. Neither runner got very far, although he then also bunted badly to get Baskins bowled out at second base after he had drawn a leadoff walk in the top 5th, then got to partake in baserunning for no great reason. He scored, though, coming around on singles by Mercado and Maldonado, before Toohey narrowly missed a homer in right and had to settle for an RBI double. Gurney added an RBI single, 5-0, before Waters grounded out to Brandon Owen to end the inning.

Wheats walked Cramer in the fifth, but it took until the sixth that a Gomez single broke up his no-hit bid (albeit on the 84th pitch). Gomez was also stranded, while Maldonado doubled home Herrera, who had stolen his 20th base of the year, to go up 6-0 in the seventh. Gurney and Gonzalez singles against right-hander Miguel Mauricio added another run. Wheats pitched seven shutout innings before being hauled in after throwing 108 pitches with some bouts of wildness in there; his spot also led off the eighth inning. Manny Fernandez drew a walk in his place, then scored after Mercado and Herrera hit singles. The Aces were content with letting Mauricio take this particular beating, the remaining runners scoring on groundouts by Maldo and Toohey. A run fell out of Preston Porter at the end there, but it’s not like we really noticed… 10-1 Critters! Mercado 4-5; Herrera 2-5, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-4, BB, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI; Gurney 3-5, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (12-4);

Well, wasn’t that a riot of a series!?

Raccoons (59-42) vs. Falcons (46-54) – July 27-29, 2046

Although they had a worse record than the Aces had had before running into the Raccoons and their buzzing chainsaws, the Falcons were much closer to respectable, except for a bleeding bullpen with an ERA over five. They ranked fifth in runs scored, eighth in runs allowed, but their rotation was in the top four in the CL. Their run differential was -7, and they were up on us for the season series, 4-2.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (2-0, 2.21 ERA) vs. Oscar Flores (9-8, 3.49 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (7-7, 3.64 ERA) vs. Adam Messer (5-7, 4.63 ERA)
Jake Jackson (8-7, 3.36 ERA) vs. Jerry Felix (10-9, 3.48 ERA)

The Falcons had no lefty starter on staff right now (and only one reliever in Justin Kaiser). Natanael Abrao, Chris Kokoszka, and Jordan Marroguin were all on the DL, and probably all lost for the season.

Game 1
CHA: 2B M. Martinez – 3B Watanabe – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – RF Turley – 1B Haertling – CF Allegood – C Kuehn – P O. Flores
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Fernandez – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – P Wolinsky

Solid, but inefficient pitching remained a topic – Wolinsky had a wicked first, allowing a single to Shintaro Watanabe, a wild pitch, a walk to Tony Aparicio, then still bailed out with a K to Archie Turley, who had torn up the Critters last time these teams had met, and while he didn’t allow more than another single each in the next two innings, was already over 50 pitches at that point. The Raccoons took their time to get the sticks going, but spotted Wolinsky the lead in the fourth, Maldo opening with a double to left before scoring on Manny’s 2-out single. Martell hit a first-pitch double to left to put two in scoring position with two outs. Here, the Falcons, who had pitched to Floyd (and whiffed him) with Morales in scoring position in the bottom 2nd, balked and put him on base intentionally, pulling up Wolinsky, who was 0-for-7 for his career, and found 0-for-8 with a groundout to Watanabe. A leadoff double by Paul Kuehn and Miguel Martinez single then tied the game again in the top 5th, with Martinez additionally hurting himself clobbering into Floyd at second base. Adam Shay replaced the 23-year-old that had a certain Dave Garcia glass ballerina vibe about him; word came out in the late innings that Martinez was off to the DL with a lat strain.

Wolinsky nailed Watanabe next, while Shay stole third base. The Falcons broke the tie with Joe Besaw’s sac fly, 2-1 to them, but when Tony Aparicio flew out to Manny, Watanabe also made for home, but was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Wolinsky was then chased by left-handed batters’ hits against him to begin the sixth, an Ed Haertling single and a Mike Allegood double. Both scored on groundouts against Bob Ibold, and the 4-1 gap seemed terminal, because in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, the Critters could get nothing against Oscar Flores. Herrera hit a leadoff single to left in the bottom 8th, which was at least something – and then Maldo fired a homer to left to narrow the gap to one run! Toohey and Morales grounded out, but Nelson Moreno held the Falcons where they were in the top 9th, bringing out ex-Coon Antonio Prieto in the bottom 9th. A sign of a bad pen, he had a 4.83 ERA. The Critters grounded out three times to Shay, though, ending their 9-game winning streak. 4-3 Falcons. Maldonado 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Martell 2-4, 2B;

Second day in a row that Maldonado missed the cycle by one bit; it was a homer on the last day in Vegas, here it was the triple.

Game 2
CHA: CF Allegood – 3B Watanabe – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – RF Turley – 2B Shay – 1B Marroquin – C Kuehn – P Messer
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Gurney – SS Waters – LF Baskins – 2B Martell – P Okuda

While Joe Besaw hit a solo homer in the fourth for a modicum of Falcons offense, the Raccoons were hitless against Adam Messer for a prolonged amount of time. Herrera had drawn a walk in the first, but had been caught stealing, and they didn’t reach base again until Messer nicked Morales to begin the bottom 5th. Gurney and Waters flew out to Turley, and Waters grounded out to Shay to pass over the chance quietly. Okuda, who fought like a lion with seven strikeouts in six innings, drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 6th, only to get forced out on Pellicano’s grounder. Herrera put away the no-hitter at least, singling to left-center with two outs, but Maldo grounded out to let the chance slip away. The Falcons for all intents and purposes put the game away in the seventh. Out of the blue, Okuda collapsed, with Mike Allegood, Shintaro Watanabe, and Joe Besaw all reaching base with two outs. Tony Aparicio then buried us with a grand slam to left-center. Portland only got put on the board in the bottom 8th when Al Martell hit a homer to right-center to begin the inning, which wasn’t a great help with a 5-0 deficit. Then Mercado hit for Hickey in the #9 hole and socked another homer, 5-2. Pellicano singled to right on 0-2, and Herrera hit a jack to left, his first of the year! In four batters, three home runs and a 5-0 lead scrubbed down to 5-4 …! Maldo grounded out. Morales grounded out. We were constantly anticipating Kaiser and were holding back Toohey for that opportunity, so Gurney also batted for himself – and a homer to center! FOUR IN THE INNING!! Tied game!!

Nobody scored in the ninth, sending the game to extras, where Nelson Moreno, shockingly, issued a leadoff walk to Shay. It was only Moreno’s fourth walk on the year in 36 innings. At least he kept the runner from scoring, getting soft outs from there. The Critters had the top of the order up against Prieto in the 10th, but were retired in order, much like the Falcons’ 1-2-3 struck out collectively against Mike Lynn in the 11th. Prieto was still at it in the bottom of that inning, walking Tony Morales to begin things, then yielded a double to Gurney. Toohey would then bat for Waters with the winning run on third base and nobody out, because a better spot was unlikely to come up anymore (looks skywards to wait for baseball gods’ shenanigans) …aaaand he struck out. Baskins was walked intentionally to bring up Martell, who flew to Turley at 1-1. It was not deep. Morales was not fast. He was sent anyway. He would have been dead on arrival, if Turley’s throw hadn’t been off by a good 15 feet, conceding the game to the Raccoons on a throwing error. 6-5 Critters. Herrera 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Gurney 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Mercado (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

How the actual **** did we scratch out this one?? Holy cow!

Game 3
CHA: CF Allegood – 3B Thibault – SS Aparicio – LF Besaw – 1B Haertling – RF Turley – 2B Watanabe – C N. Evans – P Felix
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 2B Gurney – 1B Toohey – LF Baskins – C Gonzalez – SS Waters – 3B Martell – P Jackson

Solo home runs by Pat Gurney in the first and Matt Waters in the second gave the Raccoons a 2-0 lead while the game was early on also about runners being caught stealing. The Coons had Mercado struck down in the third, while Turley was thrown out by Gonzalez in the second, and Allegood in the fourth. The Critters also turned two double plays for Jackson, who was not exactly flawless, but seemed in control in the first five. When Watanabe opened the sixth with a single to left, Nate Evans struck out, and then Felix jammed a bouncer back to Jackson for another 1-6-3 double play.

Jackson went eight, whiffing as many, but would also be toast after just over 100 pitches, regardless of whether the Raccoons would tack on in the bottom 8th or not – and they hadn’t scored since that Waters homer in the second inning, hitting into three double plays themselves while frittering away nine base hits. They were pretty much out in order in the bottom 8th, except that Watanabe dropped Toohey’s 2-out pop for an error to prolong the inning. Felix then walked Baskins in a full count, after which Morales batted for an unlucky Gonzalez, fell to 1-2, but then found the hole between Watanabe and Haertling for an RBI single. Waters was out to Bobby Thibault, stranding two. With Allegood and Thibault batting left-handed to start the ninth inning, the Raccoons gave the 3-0 lead to Mike Lynn and shored up their infield defense by shifting Waters and Gurney one to the right, with Floyd entering for Toohey. Lynn retired the lefties without effort, then lost Tony Aparicio in a full count. Besaw, however, struck out, giving the series to the Raccoons (though not the season series). 3-0 Raccoons. Toohey 2-4; Morales (PH) 1-1, RBI; Jackson 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, W (9-7);

In other news

July 25 – The Canadiens pick up righty MR Juan Ramos (0-5, 3.71 ERA, 1 SV) from the Rebels for two prospects.
July 26 – The Loggers give up and trade LF/RF Daniel Hertenstein (.219, 9 HR, 39 RBI) to the Indians for MR Cesar Suarez (3-3, 8.65 ERA) and an unranked 2045 first-rounder in SS John Wieczorek.
July 28 – The Thunder acquire SP Josh Brown (9-3, 2.43 ERA) from the Aces for two prospects.
July 28 – IND SP Jason Palladino (6-7, 3.84 ERA) 1-hits the Bayhawks in a 4-0 shutout for the Indians. SFB OF/1B Alex Marquez (.305, 7 HR, 30 RBI) has a second-inning single for the only Bayhawks entry into the H column.
July 29 – Pacifics OF Tony Romero (.255, 3 HR, 36 RBI) is lost for the season with a torn labrum, and might be questionable for Opening Day in 2047, too.

FL Player of the Week: DAL SS Leo Villacorta (.293, 4 HR, 43 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ 3B/2B Sergio Barcia (.320, 8 HR, 33 RBI), swatting .579 (11-19) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

A sweep of the Aces to the tune of 31-5 runs, then a bit more of a fumble series with the Falcons, where we could have easily lost two in a row but didn’t. 5-1 week, same as for the Indians, who thus maintained their 6 1/2 game gap.

Four homers in the eighth to rally out of a 5-0 hole on Saturday was quite the thrill, I must say!

But we lost Person for the year, and whether Wolinsky is a great replacement remains to be found out. He killed our winning streak for a starter… We are still scratching on a team to get another lefty reliever, because there is no trust left in Zack Kelly. He was *alright* this week, but when has *alright* ever won a championship?

Only two days left to the deadline, and I am absolutely against trading any offensive piece here – the machine is now humming too well to throw cranks into it. We rushed up to a +106 run differential this week…! And we’re on 99 homers in 104 games.

We will spend deadline day with the Condors in Tijuana, then return home for a 4-game set with the Indians. The Titans will be in after that.

Fun Fact: Wolinsky’s loss to the Falcons on Friday was the first L for the Raccoons against a team other than the Titans in the month of July.

It is true. We were 18-3 up to that point, of which the four-and-four with Boston made up a 5-3 portion. There was a win in the final game with the Elks to begin the month, then a loss to open the set in Boston. We won the rest of the Boston games and swept the Loggers before the break, then had a pair of wins against the Titans at home, sandwiched by sad 2-1 losses. After that we swept three straight sets until we ran into Oscar Flores.

20-4 now – not that bad a month! For comparison, the Loggers are drowning to the tune of 4-19 this month.

[Westheim]

Trade

The Bayhawks did three not always logical deals on Monday, including one with the Raccoons that gave the Critters rights to left-hander Aaron Curl (5-1, 1.17 ERA, 1 SV) at the expense of 25-year-old AAA CL Brad Barnes and 19-year-old A INF Mike Berger. Barnes, a righty, was major league ready, but there was just no room on our roster for him (ask Sean Marucci about it). Berger was a fourth-rounder from last year that was a necessary sacrifice at this early stage of his career.

Curl took over the roster spot of Zack Kelly, who found himself on waivers to begin the week.

Raccoons (61-43) @ Condors (55-50) – July 30-August 1, 2046

The Critters were 5-1 against the Condors this season, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad team. The pitching was quite solid especially, in the top four in ERA for both the rotation and bullpen, with the fourth-fewest runs allowed in the CL. The offense wasn’t quite keeping up, seventh in the table, but they had a +31 run differential, and in a wholly ho-hum CL South that was enough to be within sneezing distance of first place, or a game and a half out anyway.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (9-5, 2.66 ERA) vs. Pedro Quinonez (10-7, 4.65 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Generos de Leon (4-8, 4.84 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (2-1, 3.20 ERA) vs. Kevin Daley (4-1, 2.40 ERA)

Quinonez was their only left-handed starter. No significant injuries for them, either; 1B Sam Witherspoon was day-to-day with a hamstring thing to begin the week, and that was it.

Game 1
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – SS Floyd – P Merino
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – RF Ito – 1B Witherspoon – SS Lujan – 2B Barcia – CF Reidinger – C T. Black – P Quinonez

Rikuto Ito, briefly a disappointing Critter (see: Generos de Leon), drew a walk off Merino in the first, but was thrown out trying to reach third base on Witherspoon’s 2-out single to right, Gene Pellicano getting the assist. The Raccoons then whacked not one, but two triples in the top 2nd, starting with Bryce Toohey (!), who scored on a Gonzalez groundout. Waters also tripled, both into the rightfield corner of Ito, and came home on Manny’s RBI single, 2-0. Manny was left on that time, but hit a 1-out double to left in the fourth inning and then scored on Merino’s 2-out single through the hole on the left side to get to 3-0. On the mound, Merino continued to engage in lopsided counts, but even though the Condors did clip a single each inning off him, they also hit into two double plays in the third and fourth innings to keep removing their own runners.

Portland had the bags full with Herrera, Maldo, and Gonzalez and one out in the fifth, getting a tack-on run when Terry Black lost Quinonez’ 2-1 pitch to Matt Waters, Armando Herrera scoring on the passed ball. Waters eventually walked, Manny hit a sac fly, 5-0, and Floyd popped out. Merino cruised through six meanwhile, but found trouble in the seventh when the Condors rapped him for three straight hits to begin the inning. Witherspoon singled to left, T.J. Lujan doubled to right, and Sergio Barcia cashed both of them with a single to left-center, 5-2. After Marty Reidinger popped out, Terry Black hit another single. Lefty PH Benito Mendoza grounded out, at which point Merino was removed after 83 pitches. Bob Ibold would see after Jesus Banuelas, getting to 0-2 before retiring him on a grounder to short.

Facing righty Cesar Perez in the eighth, the Raccoons brought out some of their bench. Nelson Mercado hit for Floyd and legged out an infield single. Al Martell hit for Ibold and doubled to left. Pellicano hit a sac fly, Maldo hit a 2-out RBI single, and the 5-run lead was restored. Aaron Curl made his Coons debut in the bottom 8th, retiring the 2-3-4 in order. The other Aaron in the pen – Hickey – was similarly effective in the ninth inning. 7-2 Critters! Herrera 2-5, 2B; Toohey 2-4, 3B; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Mercado (PH) 1-1; Martell (PH) 1-1, 2B; Merino 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (10-5) and 1-3, RBI;

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – SS Waters – LF Baskins – P Wheatley
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – 1B Witherspoon – CF Reidinger – RF Ito – 2B Barcia – SS Lujan – C A. Ortiz – P de Leon

Wheats struck out the side in the first (give or take a Witherspoon single), and five batters the first time through the order, which helped getting his pitch count up there right away. While the Coons frittered away four singles in the first three innings to not much effect (Toohey hit into a double play with runners on the corners to kill the first inning f.e.), the Condors found another third out at third base in the third inning of this game, this time with Alex Lopez being thrown out by Nelson Mercado. When the Condors had them on the corners with one out in the bottom 4th, Lujan hit into a 6-4-3 trouble-ender.

Scoreless through five, the game saw Wheats – who wasn’t hitting anything this year – open the sixth with a single to center. Mercado singled, and so did Herrera in a full count. Three on and nobody out for the big guns, thusly, although they produced mostly disappointment. Maldo hit a sac fly, which was as good as it got, with Toohey fanning and Morales popping out to Lujan. Lopez then opened with a double to left in the bottom 6th. Witherspoon grounded out, Reidinger crucially struck out, and then Wheats stumbled over ******* Rikuto Ito, who hit a 2-out single to right. Worse, Barcia took him deep to left-center, and the Condors held a 3-1 lead. The tying runs would be on the corners with no outs in the seventh, though, as Gurney and Waters reached base right away. Waters swiped second base, followed by Baskins heaving a 1-2 pitch over Barcia’s glove for an RBI single, 3-2. Wheats was at 100 pitches and was hit for with Manny, although de Leon scored the tying run himself with a wild pitch. Manny was then walked intentionally, and the 1-2-3 batters made poor outs in quick succession, leaving Wheats with a no-decision in the 3-3 game.

The Raccoons didn’t find any offense in the eighth or ninth innings, and relied on Porter, Curl, and Moreno to get the game to extras. Moreno pitched two innings, allowing a leadoff single to Lujan in the ninth before nicking Angelo Ortiz. Brian Oliver hit into a double play, and Banuelas grounded out to short, stranding the game-winner on third base. Toohey and Morales got on with two outs in the 10th, but Gene Pellicano’s fly to right was caught by Benito Mendoza. Bob Ibold had the ball in extra innings, pitching a good 10th, and then drowned in the 11th. Ito doubled to left, Barcia singled to center, and Lujan’s fly to center was caught by Herrera, but was too deep to throw out Ito going home to end the game. 4-3 Condors. Mercado 2-6; Herrera 3-5; Gurney 2-3, BB; Moreno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That was the first loss for Bob Ibold this season.

Game 3
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Martell – P Wolinsky
TIJ: LF Banuelas – 3B A. Lopez – RF Ito – 1B Witherspoon – SS Lujan – 2B Barcia – CF Reidinger – C T. Black – P Daley

The game seemed to go pear-shaped quite early on. Wolinsky struggled with … everything, and the Raccoons lost Matt Waters to injury in the second inning on a double play attempt where he appeared to get stepped on and took an elbow into the ribs. Floyd replaced him, while Wolinsky conceded a run in the same inning on Terry Black’s groundout. Portland flipped the score in the top 3rd, getting Mercado and Herrera into scoring position with 1-out hits; Maldo hit an RBI single, and Toohey hit a sac fly to take a 2-1 lead.

Banuelas reached on a Maldonado error with one down in the bottom 5th, which wasn’t great, and Wolinsky walked Lopez right away. Ito fanned, bringing up the lefty Witherspoon, who was hitting .226 with two homers, so should be a good matchup for the left-handed Wolinsky. A mound conference was held anyway, after which Wolinsky got to 0-2, but then allowed a zipper up the middle. Al Martell’s quick paws contained the ball and procured the third out. That was the last inning Wolinsky finished – after getting to bat with three on and two outs in the sixth and making a calm out, he walked Lujan on four pitches to begin the bottom 6th. Barcia doubled to left, and Reidinger tied the game with a sac fly. The Raccoons brought Preston Porter against Black with the go-ahead run on third base, and Porter got a K in a full count. Daley also hit for himself, grounding out and keeping the game tied at two.

With Porter and Lynn keeping the Condors tight, the Raccoons got another scoring opportunity in the eighth inning. Toohey opened with a bloop single before Tony Morales ripped a double to left, putting two slow runners in scoring position with nobody out… and Floyd at the plate. He grounded out meekly for no gains, and Manny didn’t get pitched to at all, the Condors pursuing Martell instead, but he at least got Toohey home with a sac fly to Ito. Pat Gurney hit for Lynn, singling to right-center and getting Morales home, 4-2, before Mercado flew out to Reidinger, stranding two. The Coons stole the bottom 8th with Hickey, with Manny running down a Reidinger fly in the gap to end the inning, before Josh Rella inherited the 4-2 lead in the ninth. He loaded the bases with nobody out, allowing singles to Black and Banuelas and a walk to Ron Gibbs. Well. It was his mess to work out. Ibold and Moreno had gone very long the day before (Ibold even two days in a row), and relief was scant otherwise. Lopez grounded out to Toohey, narrowing the score to 4-3, but Ito had another pitiful strikeout. That put Witherspoon in the box with the tying and winning runs in scoring position and two outs. He, too, struck out. 4-3 Raccoons. Mercado 2-4, BB; Herrera 3-5; Morales 2-5, 2B; Gurney (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Raccoons (63-44) vs. Indians (57-51) – August 2-5, 2046

The Indians entered Raccoons Ballpark for a 4-game set on Thursday. They were in the bottom three in runs scored, but also allowed the third-fewest runs. Whether their +1 run differential (Critters: +111) was playoff-worthy was a topic of contention, but somehow they had the Raccoons’ number, winning five of the previous seven games between the teams this year. Losing this series was not something that was on my agenda…!

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (7-7, 3.81 ERA) vs. Jason Palladino (6-7, 3.84 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-7, 3.17 ERA) vs. Justin Roberts (0-1, 3.12 ERA)
Victor Merino (10-5, 2.66 ERA) vs. Luis Anzaldo (8-6, 3.84 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.66 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (13-5, 2.41 ERA)

All righties; Roberts seemed to make a spot start here, having appeared only in relief so far this season. The 30-year-old had never started in the ABL, but had 236 starts in the minor leagues, including 95 in our system from 2036 through 2039.

Matt Waters was not processed yet, so the Raccoons would have to be content with more of Josh Floyd at short… or possibly Martell, with Gurney at second base.

Game 1
IND: SS Russ – 1B S. Jennings – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – RF N. Galvan – C Ebner – P Palladino
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – 2B Gurney – LF Fernandez – SS Martell – P Okuda

The Coons had three on and nobody out quite quickly in the bottom 1st, but in a wicked way. Mercado reached on catcher’s interference, stole second, Herrera hit a single, and Maldonado was nicked (for the 15th time already this year). Bryce Toohey picked exactly this point to end his home run drought – a deep fly to left, outta here! GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!

It got worse for Palladino, who also put Morales on base before getting taken deep to right by Pat Gurney, burying him 6-0 down after six batters. The 7-8-9 then went down in order, and I hoped for decency from Okuda, especially with some laborious bullpen games behind us. Okuda exploded his pitch count immediately, needing 54 tosses through three innings. Al Martell hit a 2-run homer with Gurney aboard to extend the score to 8-0 in the bottom 3rd, and he didn’t make it through six innings at all. He threw four scoreless, giving up a run in the fifth before getting stuck in the sixth for good. Danny Rivera hit a 1-out double, scored on Dan Hutson’s single, and while Joe Tindle struck out, Nelson Galvan walked in a full count, and that put Okuda at 109 and we deemed that enough. Hickey replaced him to take more abuse, fanning Sean Ebner to get out of the inning before an 8-2 score could get “interesting” again. Hickey picked Steven Jennings off first base in the seventh, did a quick eighth, and then even batted for himself a second time with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom 8th against right-hander Bill Quinn, finding an inning-ending double play. On the mound, though, he was flawless and put away an endurance save in the opener…! 8-2 Raccoons. Toohey 1-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Gurney 4-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Martell 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Hickey 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, SV (2);

On Friday, Nick Valdes appeared out of the blue – wearing gray-and-white, striped prisoner’s garb. He was serving a 7-day sentence in the county jail for littering, which was very much frowned upon in Portland. The sentencing had been on Monday, and the county regulations required inmates to be granted unescorted furlough in the second half of their sentence to re-integrate them into society.

I couldn’t help but smirk.

Game 2
IND: SS Russ – CF N. Galvan – RF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – C Ebner – 1B S. Jennings – P J. Roberts
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – LF Baskins – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – P Jackson

At least Valdes appeared docile after the Raccoons’ riotous July, and with the crucial win on Thursday. Of course, the Raccoons conspired immediately to make him angry again, with Jake Jackson allowing an infield single to permanent pain in the butt Andrew Russ, who stole second, then back-to-back homers to Danny Rivera and Dan Hutson in the first inning for a quick 3-0 deficit.

The bottom 1st saw Armando Herrera double to center (nothing would come of that), which marked his 2,000th career base hit. Meanwhile, Jackson kept drowning, conceding another 3-spot in the third inning on persistent base hits by Russ, Bill Quinteros, Rivera, and Hutson.

Gurney and Gonzalez hit solo homers to shorten the gap to 6-2 in the fourth inning, but that didn’t help Jackson much, who got stuck for good in the top 5th after a leadoff single by Galvan and a Quinteros walk. Bob Ibold somehow wiggled out of that jam for him (it helped that Quinteros was caught stealing). Nick Valdes complained that we needed another four homers just to tie the game, but the Raccoons produced nothing in the fifth. The sixth saw Gonzalez and Martell reach scoring position on a full-count walk and a first-pitch double to left, respectively, all with one out. Manny Fernandez batted for Ibold, drew another walk, but that only led to three runners being stranded when Mercado and Herrera both hit soft pops to the shallow outfield. The tying run was at the dish with two outs again in the seventh after a 2-out rally with Gurney and Baskins singles and an RBI double by Gonzalez that chased Roberts. Al Martell clipped a 1-2 pitch from Jonathan Osmond to left for an RBI single, 6-4, but pinch-hitting Tony Morales grounded out to end the comeback attempt. Joe Tindle’s homer off Nelson Moreno annoyed Valdes and me equal amounts, extending the Indians’ lead to 7-4 in the eighth. A Mercado single and an error on Toohey’s grounder put up Gurney as the tying run with two outs in the eighth, but the Indians threw in a left-hander in Mike Wilt who secured a groundout. Tommy Gardner then put the Coons down in order in the ninth. 7-4 Indians. Herrera 2-5, 2 2B; Gurney 2-5, HR, RBI; Baskins 2-5; Gonzalez 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Martell 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Ibold 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

When the game ended, Nick Valdes expressed his sincere wish to have a shouting duel with me, but then checked his watch and declared he had to return to the county jail, lest he’d be punished with scrubbing every toilet in the jail. I then tried to delay his departure unnecessarily by showing him the newest collectible cards of the Raccoons until Maud intervened and had him depart.

Speaking of departing, Matt Waters departed to the DL on Saturday after being diagnosed with a mild shoulder strain. It would take at least another week to heal up, and we preferred to have a full bench available in the meantime. John Castner had quite the hot paw in AAA right now and was brought back.

Game 3
IND: 2B Tindle – 1B S. Jennings – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – RF Hertenstein – 3B Hutson – SS de Castro – C Ebner – P Anzaldo
POR: RF Mercado – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Merino

Another game, another early deficit, this time on a Quinteros homer in the first. 1-0 became 2-0 in the third, as Merino walked the first two batters, Tindle and Jennings, and then had some fortuitous defense dig him out before he allowed more damage than Rivera’s sac fly. The Coons had three walks in the first three innings, but didn’t get a hit until Manny singled in the fourth. In any case, they scored no runs. Merino and Mercado hit back-to-back singles in the fifth, but Baskins and Maldo grounded out, again scoring nobody. Anzaldo was surprisingly yanked in the bottom 6th after walking Manny with two outs, then giving up a single to Castner. Righty Tony Correa replaced him against Martell, who flew out to Daniel Hertenstein…

Merino pitched six and two thirds, getting replaced with Moreno, who got the third out from PH Nelson Galvan after Jennings and Quinteros had gotten on in the top 7th. Correa issued 2-out walks to Baskins and Maldonado in the bottom of the seventh, but in a game that continued to get more and more annoying, Bryce Toohey grounded out to short. Sean Ebner drove home an insurance run against Moreno in the eighth, burying the Raccoons 3-0 down, and another run fell out of Mike Lynn in the ninth on Galvan’s 2-out RBI triple to right. Baskins hit an RBI triple with one out in the ninth off Justin Johns, driving in Mercado, to get the Critters on the board at all. Tommy Gardner replaced Johns, rung up Maldonado, and Toohey flew out to center, and that was that. 4-1 Indians. Mercado 2-5; Fernandez 2-2, 2 BB;

Manny Fernandez joined Armando Herrera with 2,000 base hits in back-to-back losses to the Indians, the milestone being a fourth-inning single that led absolutely nowhere.

Cristiano, any smart reason we can’t beat this friggin team? – Well, then find one! I need a scapegoat!

Game 4
IND: C Ebner – CF N. Galvan – LF D. Rivera – 3B Hutson – 2B Tindle – SS A. Avila – RF Hertenstein – 1B S. Jennings – P Nichol
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Gurney – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Wheatley

Wheats walked Galvan in the first, but Rivera hit into a fielder’s choice, then was picked off first by Wheats to end the inning. Castner’s double was the only Coons hit the first time through (or the only hit for any player once through the lineups), but it came with two outs and the Indians bypassed Martell to get a groundout from Wheatley. For a while we did that a-hit-per-inning thing that usually got you nowhere nice, while Wheatley dug himself a trench and annihilated the Indians to the rune of six no-hit innings with nine strikeouts, which was funnily enough still not enough for a W against the pesky Arrowheads.

Galvan singled to center to begin the seventh, taking off the no-hitter, but at least was stranded on base to keep the game scoreless against clueless Critters, who were on five hits and two very untimely double play grounders for Pat Gurney, who was giving Maldo a day off after Maldo had slid into a slump this week. Wheats went eight, struck out 11 batters, and allowed only two hits, but had reached over 100 pitches and was thus hit for to begin the bottom 8th. Baskins singled to right in his place, but the 1-2-3 made poor outs in order to throw that one away as well. Josh Rella held the game scoreless in the top 9th, still allowing for a stray homer to end the game in the bottom of the ninth, with Nichol stubbornly hanging on to the baseball, but Toohey hit a leadoff single, and then Morales lobbed a double to left. A pinch-runner of certain quickness might have scored, but the Raccoons hadn’t made the move – now Toohey was run for while at third base, Pellicano taking over the winning run. The Indians chose to be annoying and walked Manny with intent, creating a force at home plate for Castner. The Raccoons sent Maldonado to pinch-hit. He didn’t wait around longer than necessary, hitting a fly to center at 1-1. It was caught by Galvan, but plenty deep for Pellicano to scamper home and scratch out a series split. 1-0 Blighters. Toohey 2-4; Maldonado (PH) 0-0, RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 11 K;

In other news

July 30 – The Bayhawks acquire OF Armando Luis Herrera (.263, 2 HR, 28 RBI) from the Blue Sox for CL Jeremy Mayhall (2-6, 4.67 ERA, 28 SV), the CL saves leader, and a prospect. The prospect, CL Nate Henderson, is immediately turned over after being acquired from the Loggers in a separate deal, along with MR Ron Purcell (4-3, 4.71 ERA) for LF/RF Jose Platero (.252, 5 HR, 26 RBI). On the same day, San Francisco had also traded MR Aaron Curl to the Raccoons for AAA MR Brad Barnes and a prospect.
July 30 – The Falcons deal SP Adam Messer (5-7, 4.68 ERA) to the Scorpions for two prospects.
July 30 – The Blue Sox will be without 3B/SS Brad Critzer (.276, 5 HR, 50 RBI) until mid-September. The 31-year-old is down with a strained hamstring.
July 30 – There are two 1-0 victories in the league on Monday, with the Wolves beating the Rebs by that score, just as the Knights top the Loggers. In both cases, the sole run of the game only scores in the ninth inning.
July 31 – LAP SP Mike LeMasters (9-9, 3.72 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Buffaloes, claiming the 2-0 win.
August 1 – NAS C Jorge Santa Cruz (.232, 9 HR, 46 RBI) hits a walkoff grand slam off Sacramento’s Kurt Crater (3-4, 5.44 ERA, 3 SV) to beat the Scorpions, 8-4 in regulation.
August 1 – The Wolves beat the Rebels, 3-2 in 16 innings despite entering the ninth down 2-0. SAL 2B/1B/RF/LF Bob Mancini (.275, 6 HR, 55 RBI) doubles home the winning run in the 16th in a game with only 15 total hits.
August 4 – PIT OF/1B John Green (.269, 3 HR, 33 RBI) hits a home run for the only score in the Miners’ 1-0 win over the Cyclones.
August 5 – SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.331, 0 HR, 18 RBI) ends a 16-inning marathon against the Pacifics with a walkoff single, giving the Scorpions a 3-2 win.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.298, 16 HR, 72 RBI), swatting .429 (12-28) with 4 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR 1B/RF/2B/LF Pat Gurney (.303, 12 HR, 34 RBI), poking .563 (9-16) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: PIT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.297, 14 HR, 66 RBI), batting .382 with 6 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: TIJ 3B/2B Sergio Barcia (.330, 9 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .438 with 7 HR, 18 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: CIN CL Josh Livingston (6-3, 2.60 ERA, 27 SV), stopping the opposition for a 5-1 record, 2.70 ERA, 4 SV, and 12 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: POR SP Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.66 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 record with 2.61 ERA and 36 K
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP RF/LF Jaden Richards (.304, 2 HR, 40 RBI), batting .373 with 1 HR, 11 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ 3B/SS Alex Lopez (.306, 4 HR, 47 RBI), hitting .330 with 1 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Is our offense dying again? It was quite the struggle against these Indians, who just refuse to lose their fair share against us.

Armando Herrera and Manny Fernandez got their 2,000th career hits in back-to-back losses, which dampened the mood slightly, and Herrera also has a new 13-game hitting streak going. He has also pushed up his batting average to .346, trailing the CL leader, the inevitable Jerry Outram, by only nine points at this time.

We didn’t make any more moves at the deadline. On one end the budget started to run out and we couldn’t really afford expensive free-agents-to-be down the stretch, and then I also didn’t think Matt Waters would fall over the day after the deadline. At least he’ll be back after 15 days…

The Titans will be in next, and then we’ll have an interesting weekend in Denver coming up. The Gold Sox have the best record in baseball, although they have been sliding a bit recently. They are 11-19 since the start of July!

Fun Fact: Armando Herrera still has time to reach 3,000 career hits.

If he stops getting hurt, that is.

The #11 pick by the Wolves in the 2035 draft, he made his debut the year after, following anointment as #96 prospect. He won a Rookie of the Month and the Rookie of the Year title in 2036, and has been a steady and persistent singles slapper atop the lineup for his entire career, now in its 11th season. A serial Gold Glover, he has won a batting title in 2042, and led the league in doubles the year before that. He has been an All Star five times.

As of Sunday night, Herrera has 2,002 hits with a .314/.366/.402 slash. He has hit 26 homers and driven in 619 runs, and add to that 170 stolen bases. He’ll be 33 in March, and is under contract for another four seasons.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (65-46) vs. Titans (47-64) – August 6-8, 2046

Last set before an off day – the Raccoons hosted the Titans, who they led 9-3 in the season series. Boston had little to show off at this point, in last place in the North, 18 games out. They were second from the bottom in runs scored with a paltry .240 team batting average, and while their pitching was *decent*, sixth in runs allowed anyway despite a lousy defense, the overall package lent itself to little more than anguish. With Rich de Luna and Joe Ritchey they also had two of their more lively batters on the shelf, although Ritchey, who had a strained oblique, was not on the DL and might yet appear in the series.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (2-1, 3.23 ERA) vs. Tommy Kubik (5-8, 4.03 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (8-7, 3.78 ERA) vs. Ricky Contreras (4-12, 4.16 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-8, 3.45 ERA) vs. Victor Mondragon (5-10, 4.73 ERA)

Handedness matched for the starters in all games of the series, so we’d have to contend with two left-handers, then the right-hander Mondragon.

Game 1
BOS: SS Ju. Rodriguez – RF C. Jimenez – CF Crocker – C Whitley – 2B T. Batista – 1B Jon Rodriguez – 3B D. Richardson – LF Liceaga – P Kubik
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Floyd – P Wolinsky

“Kitten” Kubik held the Raccoons off the bases the first time through in the Monday opener, but Wolinsky, who made his first start as a 24-year-old, wasn’t far behind, allowing two hits in the first four innings, and getting into additional trouble for his own throwing error that put Jon Rodriguez aboard in the top 2nd, but didn’t concede a run. The bottom 4th then started with Gene Pellicano eeking out a full-count walk before Armando Herrera singled through the right side, extending his latest hitting streak to 14 games. The runners executed a double steal before Maldo grounded to Doug Richardson, who bobbled the ball. Pellicano would have scored anyway on the play, so Maldo got his 76th RBI, breaking the tie with Toohey for the team lead for about a minute, until Bryce Toohey hit a sac fly to right to get Herrera home, 2-0. The score got doubled the following inning when John Castner singled his way on and Josh Floyd then ran into a lazy doozy over the middle of the plate and wrecked it for his first career home run…!

At this point, Wolinsky was cruising. He was pitching efficiently – stamina was not his forte – and precisely, not running up big counts (how new on this team!), and the Titans made consistent week contact and were retired by the bushels. They didn’t reach in the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth innings at all, to the point where Wolinsky would hit for himself leading off the bottom 8th. He grounded out, so his first career hit was still something that was on the to-do list, but for now we were anxious for the ninth inning. He entered on just 83 pitches, facing Ryan Youngquist in the #9 hole to begin the frame. Youngquist singled to center, and so did Juan Rodriguez, and at once the party was over. Josh Rella, who had stood by with Mike Lynn, was brought into the game. He popped out Chris Jimenez, then struck out Nick Crocker. Then things got wicked with Dan Whitley’s RBI double, after which Rella issued two full-count walks to Tony Batista and Gerardo Galaz, the latter forcing in Wolinsky’s latter runner. Somehow Doug Richardson popped out without pulling the Raccoons’ underpants all the way over their fuzzy ears… 4-2 Raccoons. Herrera 2-4; Wolinsky 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (3-1);

Game 2
BOS: SS Ju. Rodriguez – RF C. Jimenez – CF Crocker – C Whitley – 3B T. Lopez – 1B Jon Rodriguez – 2B Galaz – LF Mangual – P R. Contreras
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – 2B Castner – SS Floyd – P Okuda

Scoring was again at a premium on Tuesday. Okuda walked Chris Jimenez in the first inning and struggled a bit there, but then struck out the side in the second and piled up seven strikeouts against no base hits through five innings. The Raccoons, unfortunately, were almost as bad, amassing three runners on a pair of singles and a Tony Lopez error, and none of them proceeded past first base.

Ruben Mangual took off the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the sixth, and Jimenez jabbed a 2-out single through the left side, but Crocker struck out to strand both of them. Herrera hit a 1-out double in the bottom of the inning instead, the Critters’ furthest advance yet in this drab game. Contreras lost Maldo on balls, but Toohey grounded out, merely advancing the runners for Ruben Gonzalez, who grounded out to Juan Rodriguez. Bottom 7th, next try – Derek Baskins whacked a ball into the leftfield corner for a leadoff double. Castner made a poor out, but Baskins reached third base on a wild pitch to Josh Floyd, who would ground to Juan Rodriguez, who bobbled the ball for an error, and the Raccoons ached the game’s first run across with some kind Boston support. Okuda bunted into a double play (yay!) before turning in a quick eighth at least. Portland failed to tack on, then – after Rella’s long and nearly futile outing the day before – turned to Mike Lynn in the ninth. Chris Jimenez hit a floater to right for a soft leadoff single, but when Doug Richardson pinch-hit for the left-handed Crocker, he spanked a 1-1 pitch into a double play. Whitley grounded to Gurney, who had replaced Toohey for defense, for the final out. 1-0 Blighters. Maldonado 2-3, BB; Okuda 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (9-7);

Our offense has gone frighteningly soft.

I should start to yell at them more often again. They don’t take well to a merry, content GM…!

Game 3
BOS: SS Ju. Rodriguez – RF C. Jimenez – CF Ritchey – C Whitley – 3B T. Lopez – 2B T. Batista – 1B Jon Rodriguez – LF Mangual – P Mondragon
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Gurney – C Morales – LF Fernandez – SS Martell – 2B Castner – P Jackson

To my great concern, Victor Mondragon had dominated the Critters the last time he had faced them, and the Titans started the gam with a 2-run first, unearned on Jackson as they were. Ritchey doubled in his return to the game, Dan Whitley reached on Al Martell’s error, and Jackson walked Tony Lopez before Tony Batista singled in two in left-center. Jon Rodriguez grounded out to Castner to strand two more runners. Mondragon had a decent first, then walked both Gurney and Morales to begin the bottom 2nd. Manny hit a gapper in right-center on a 3-1 pitch, bringing home Pat Gurney, while Tony Morales was sensibly held at third base on the double. Martell tied the game with a single up the middle, trying to atone for his earlier mishap, and Castner’s sac fly to Jimenez brought in Manny for a 3-2 lead. The joy was short-lived, along with Jackson in this game. He walked the bases loaded with nobody out in the top 3rd, the Titans battered him for four runs amidst intensifying rain, and after a 45-minute rain delay Jackson wasn’t seen again, presumed to have drowned somewhere in the box score, now with the Titans up 6-3.

It only got worse from there. Aaron Hickey pitched two innings, getting taken deep by Jimenez in the fourth and then bleeding two more runs on a 2-out, 2-run double by Mangual in the fifth, 9-3. Herrera doubled home Derek Baskins in the bottom 5th to maintain his hitting streak at 16 games, which was as much success as we’d draw from this massacre. The rest of the bullpen corps – Porter, Moreno, Ibold – at least didn’t allow any more runs, but Mondragon lasted through eight without conceding any further damage, too. Casey Pinter allowed a single to Castner in the ninth, but that was it. 9-4 Titans. Maldonado 2-4; Baskins (PH) 1-3; Porter 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

The Indians completed a sweep of the thoroughly dead Loggers on Wednesday, closing in to 5 1/2 games. They would also get to play the Wolves on the weekend, while we…

Maud, I just wanna stay home…

Raccoons (67-47) @ Gold Sox (77-37) – August 10-12, 2046

Bright sides? The Raccoons had not lost a series to the Gold Sox since 2029! Go get ‘em, boys! But, yeah, here was the #3 offense and #1 pitching in the Federal League. How good was their pitching? It was outright absurd. They had a +199 run differential, allowing a mere 3.3 runs per game. Such things were unheard of, and although their pen had a few weaknesses and could indeed be scored upon should you ever get rid of their starters, with our offense having a bit of a mood right now, I had little hope for this series.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (10-6, 2.66 ERA) vs. Edward Flinn (15-5, 3.18 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-4, 3.47 ERA) vs. TBD
Bubba Wolinsky (3-1, 3.03 ERA) vs. Roberto Pruneda (13-6, 2.58 ERA)

The middle game would be John Kennedy’s (12-5, 2.26 ERA) turn, but the southpaw was laboring on a sprained ankle and was listed as day-to-day. If they were forced to move up everybody to pitch on short rest, we’d have Israel Mendoza (13-8, 3.77 ERA) slide into this series.

Game 1
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Morales – LF Fernandez – SS Martell – P Merino
DEN: 2B I. Villa – RF E. Miller – CF S. Castillo – SS R. Thompson – LF T. Turner – C D. Phillips – 1B J. Robinson – 3B Hornig – P Flinn

Merino arrived ready to drown, issuing two walks and multiple deep fly balls in the first inning, two of which fell for doubles. Somehow the Gold Sox scored only one run off him, leaving the bases loaded with Ronnie Thompson, Tim Turner, and Devin Phillips when Herrera ran down Jason Robinson’s drive in deep center. That lone run stood up for a while, with the Gold Sox not doing much against Merino after a leadoff walk was issued to Jeremy Hornig in the bottom 2nd, while the Raccoons continued to do basically nothing. Herrera had his daily hit in the fourth, then was doubled up by Maldonado. Gurney opened the fifth with a single, followed by two fielders’ choices and a Martell liner to Ivan Villa.

Merino had another near-meltdown in the bottom 5th – out of the blue – after a few sturdy innings. With Eric Miller on after a base hit, with two outs he walked the bases loaded, then proceeded to forcefully drill Phillips with a fastball to push a run across. Robinson then again flew out to center to strand a full set in the 2-0 game. The Raccoons continued to draw blanks against Flinn, another Gurney single here or there be damned, while Hornig homered off Aaron Curl in the eighth to tack on a run for Denver. Flinn entered the ninth up by three, walked leadoff man Herrera, but the Gold Sox seemed unconcerned. The bullpen only showed real urgency once a 2-2 pitch nicked Maldonado, who was consisting mostly of bruises at this point. That promoted a slumping Toohey to the dish as the tying run, but of course there was no pinch-hitting for that guy. He flew out to Miller, after which the Sox went to righty Matt Simmons for our lefty barrage. Except that Gurney whiffed and Morales popped out. 3-0 Gold Sox. Gurney 2-4; Baskins (PH) 1-1;

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

Game 2
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Morales – LF Baskins – SS Martell – P Wheatley
DEN: SS R. Thompson – LF T. Turner – CF S. Castillo – 2B I. Villa – RF Greenway – C D. Phillips – 1B E. Miller – 3B Hornig – P Pruneda

Kennedy was still said to start the middle game on Saturday morning, but was eventually scratched after lunch, with Pruneda being sent in to work the magic on short rest. Maybe that was the opening the Raccoons needed – they made solid contact in the first inning, and actually took a lead in the second, Derek Baskins hitting a 1-out single up the middle before getting doubled home by Martell, who drove a ball all the way to the centerfield fence to allow the submerged Critters a gasp of air. Best case scenario now would be Wheats running away with it, but Wheats had two walks and a nicked former Raccoon, Troy Greenway, in just two innings and was so far surviving on the mercy of his infielders, who turned a double play for him with two on in the bottom 2nd. Bryce Toohey then took a big swing for a solo homer in the third inning, extending the lead to 2-0, while … it started to rain. Before long, we went to a rain delay that lasted about an hour and was sure to cut Wheatley’s outing short, although he had only thrown 29 pitches so far, and it was probably worse on Pruneda.

When play resumed, Gurney reached on an error, stole second, and Tony Morales hit a belter outta leftfield for a 4-0 lead. Wheats held up better than feared after he resumed pitching, but got taken deep to right by Greenway for a solo homer in the bottom 5th. He completed five innings on 64 pitches, in theory lining up for a rain-soaked 4-1 win, but got absolutely stuck in the sixth. He walked a pair, with a Tim Turner RBI double in between, and departed with the tying runs aboard, two outs, and Curl to see after Greenway. He secured a strikeout.

The renaissance of Bryce Toohey continued with a second 2-run homer, mashed with two outs in the seventh inning, restoring a 4-run lead. Preston Porter tried to set fire to the lead in the bottom of the inning, putting Phillips and Miller on the corners with leadoff singles. Hornig hit into a run-scoring double play. When left-handed John Fink pinch-hit in the #9 hole, the Raccoons double-switched in Lynn, removing Gurney for defense in favor of John Castner. Lynn struck out Fink to complete seven, and retired the Sox in order in the eighth. The Raccoons did not find any more offense against the bullpen, then put in Rella for the 4-5-6 hitters. Villa grounded out, as did Greenway. Phillips cracked a liner, but right at Castner to end the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Toohey 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI;

How much of the W was rotten luck for the Gold Sox? Better not to think about that too much…

Ironically, Herrera went hitless in the win, his hitting streak dying at 17 games this time.

Kennedy really, actually started on Sunday in the rubber game, so we got a Southpaw Sunday after all…!

Game 3
POR: RF Pellicano – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – 2B Castner – SS Floyd – P Wolinsky
DEN: 2B I. Villa – RF E. Miller – CF S. Castillo – SS R. Thompson – LF T. Turner – C D. Phillips – 1B J. Robinson – 3B Hornig – P Kennedy

Unfortunately, Wolinsky got under the wheels early, and at the hands of Kennedy, who came up to bat with Ronnie Thompson, Tim Turner (singles), and Jeremy Hornig (walk) on base and two outs in the bottom 2nd and whacked a gapper for a bases-clearing triple and a 3-0 Gold Sox lead. Wolinsky struck him out the next time ‘round, poetically, with the score still 3-0. The Raccoons at that point had two walks and a Castner single off Kennedy, who was dealing and looked all the way like he’d win this one all by himself, whiffing eight through six innings, mowed down the 3-4-5 in he seventh, whiffing Gonzalez, and then added Castner and Floyd in the eighth for 11 K. No further Raccoons hits, mind you. Wolinsky held out valiantly for seven innings before Ibold, Curl, and Hickey melted away for two tack-on runs in the eighth of a game that was already well lost. Kennedy ran out of juice and did not finish the game, but Yeom Soung – another former Critter – did not exactly let the horses get away in the ninth inning. 5-0 Gold Sox.

In other news

August 8 – PIT OF Josh Wimer (.250, 0 HR, 2 RBI) breaks a tie with the Blue Sox with a 16th-inning sac fly to score catcher Ken Wiersma (.272, 4 HR, 21 RBI), eventually giving the Miners the 5-4 victory.
August 9 – DEN SP Gary Perrone (15-6, 2.51 ERA) 3-hits the Pacifics in a 3-0 shutout.
August 9 – Vancouver 2B/3B Travis Malkus (.256, 9 HR, 53 RBI) rakes a home run, three doubles, and a single, with two RBI, in a 7-5 win over the Crusaders.
August 10 – New York’s Paul Paris (7-12, 3.88 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout against the Scorpions, with the Crusaders winning 9-0. Paris strikes out eight batters in the effort.
August 11 – Knights SP Brian Buttress (10-7, 3.70 ERA) has a 3-hit shutout in a 4-0 win over the Capitals, striking out five batters.
August 11 – The Thunder score 13 runs in the third inning alone in a 19-2 drubbing of the Blue Sox. OCT 2B/SS Jonathan Ban (.312, 4 HR, 42 RBI) has four hits and four RBI, best on the team – and more hits than the Blue Sox manage in the game (3).
August 12 – SFW RF Matt Diskin (.341, 9 HR, 57 RBI) hits an RBI single in the first inning of a 6-3 loss to the Canadiens, extending his hitting streak to 20 games.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF/RF Mario Villa (.393, 4 HR, 57 RBI), hitting .385 (10-26) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ LF/RF/1B Rikuto Ito (.251, 13 HR, 77 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 5 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Wonky week. The offense isn’t clicking right now, despite, ironically, Toohey starting to hit homers again at semi-regular intervals. We went 3-3, losing a game to the Indians, who remain remarkably resilient, while the Loggers have by now fallen into a tie with the Crusaders, and I somehow feel that they’ll find last place before the year is out. That would be such a Loggers thing to do.

We will now start a 2-game homestand on Tuesday, beginning with the Capitals and damn Elks. The Crusaders and Baybirds will be in the week after. The next meeting with the Indians will start on August 30, a long weekend in Indy. We have seven in total left with them.

Is there any offensive help in AAA? Ben Coen has an .805 OPS down there, but he was already here and hit nothing. Ken Mills is hitting .286/.389/.458, but where would we play him? The outfield is full. At least we’ll get Matt Waters back by the middle of the week…

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez hit the franchise’s 18,000th double in the Wednesday loss to the Titans.

That is kinda random, Cristiano, isn’t it?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (68-49) vs. Capitals (44-74) – August 14-16, 2046

We would kick off our new 2-week homestand with a 3-game set against the Capitals, who were rolled up on the ground and protecting their head from all the kicks coming in. They were 31 games out in the FL East, had lost four in a row and 12 of their last 16, had the worst offense in the Federal League, and were allowing the fourth-most runs over there. The rotation was crummy, the pen was well worse, the defense nothing to write home about. With young starter Bruce Mark jr. and outfielder Jamie McGuigan they also had two of their more palatable players on the DL. The Coons had won the last two meetings with the Caps, both two games to one, in 2042 and 2044.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (9-7, 3.56 ERA) vs. Tony Granado (7-11, 3.90 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-9, 3.63 ERA) vs. Corey Booth (5-12, 5.51 ERA)
Victor Merino (10-7, 2.68 ERA) vs. Vince Burke (6-7, 5.05 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up in this series.

Game 1
WAS: LF Stipp – 2B Loyola – SS O’Keefe – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B A. Zacarias – RF E. Avila – C Pedraza – CF J. Sullivan – P Granado
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Morales – LF Fernandez – SS Floyd – P Okuda

The Capitals offered an entirely right-handed lineup, but Okuda seemed to get into the game well, whiffing three in two scoreless innings before a Toohey single and a Gurney homer to right-center gave him a 2-0 lead in the bottom 2nd. Granado allowed the next three on base, walking Tony Morales in a full count ahead of Manny Fernandez and Josh Floyd singles, bringing up Okuda with nobody out. Granado rung him up, then got a comebacker from Mercado for a force at home plate, but fell to Armando Herrera’s 2-out, 2-run single to left. Maldo grounded out, ending the inning. Okuda then promptly stumbled, walked Pat Stipp and Jon Loyola with two outs in the top 3rd, and followed that up with RBI singles handed to Chris O’Keefe and Ricky Jimenez. Alex Zacarias finally grounded out at 4-2… The relief was temporary. Eduardo Avila and Alex Pedraza opened the fourth with doubles, Pedraza scored to tie the game on a wild pitch, and then Stipp hit a single with two outs, and Okuda was taken deep by Loyola for a 6-4 deficit. Time to reach for the booze, I’d say.

There were more reasons to cry, though – Manny led off the bottom 4th with a jack to right, 6-5, which set the scoreboard in motion. It was his 1,053rd career RBI, all for Portland, and that tied him for the franchise record held by Matt Nunley. Standing ovations ensued, while I held Slappy’s firm hand as I sobbed. Finally a #5 pick that made it …! (wipes pokey black nose)

Okuda continued to pitch in the fifth, but was yanked after two outs and two singles. Ibold replaced him, got a 1-2 bouncer from Jon Sullivan that Maldonado bobbled, and then gave up a 2-run double to PH Brian Nigro, burying the Raccoons yet deeper, 8-5. The Raccoons would have Ibold for another inning, then kept abusing Aaron Hickey for the rest of regulation, which killed the Capitals’ rampant scoring, but at the same time the Raccoons found no inroads into the flammable bullpen of theirs. This included Leif Squires in the ninth inning, who walked Derek Baskins with one out, but struck out Al Martell and got a weak groundout from Nelson Mercado to end the game. 8-5 Capitals. Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI; Hickey 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
WAS: C Julian Diaz – LF E. Avila – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B A. Zacarias – 2B M. Gibson – SS St. Peter – RF Stipp – CF J. Sullivan – P Booth
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – SS Martell – P Jackson

Two scoreless innings with three strikeouts from the Raccoons’ starter, then the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom 2nd – where had I seen that before? Toohey and Morales singled, Manny walked on four pitches, and that brought up … well, Castner, Martell, and the pitcher, so no guarantees. Castner got a run home the barbaric way, with a 6-4-3 double play, but Martell cashed Morales with a clean single to left, and then Jackson singled through the hole on the right, as did Mercado on a 2-2 pitch, bringing in Martell. Herrera grounded out, and Jackson was up 3-0. He promptly allowed a leadoff triple to Pat Stipp in the top 3rd, conceding the run on Jon Sullivan’s sac fly. (grabs Honeypaws tighter)

Jackson allowed three hits and struck out seven through five innings, which was certainly a notch or two up from Okuda the day before. Walks to Avila and Zacarias in the sixth created some tension, but Gibson made the third out before I could break into actual panic. On the other paw, the Raccoons did little to nothing against Booth until they played Mercado and Herrera on the corners with two outs in the seventh. Maldonado flew out to Sullivan to end that attempt at run(s). Jackson began the eighth inning, facing the opposing pitcher unrelieved and getting an easy groundout. He then struck out Julian Diaz for his 10th K on the day. Avila popped out first-pitch, and that would be it for Jackson lest a major offensive explosion occurred against Corey Booth in the bottom of the inning. No such thing occurred after Toohey’s leadoff walk, thanks to Morales’ double play grounder. Manny singled, then was picked off first base. Josh Rella was brought out for the 3-4-5 hitters in the ninth then, still up by two runs. Ex-Coon Ricky Jimenez grounded out to Floyd at short. Zacarias walked. O’Keefe walked. Oh for crying out loud! Honeypaws, do something! Cody St. Peter popped out to Floyd. Pat Stipp, who was weirdly annoying despite hitting .171 for the year, hit an RBI single at 0-2. But there was no lefty hitter drawing up and thus no motivation to go to Mike Lynn in the sticky situation. That was when the count on Sullivan ran full. He thankfully hacked himself out… 3-2 Critters. Toohey 1-2, 2 BB; Fernandez 2-3, BB; Jackson 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, W (10-9) and 2-3;

At this point Matt Waters rejoined us from the DL and Josh Floyd was reassigned to the Alley Cats.

But my main concern was the division standings. The Indians had swept the Blue Sox and were drawing ever closer…!

Game 3
WAS: LF Stipp – 2B Loyola – SS O’Keefe – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B A. Zacarias – RF E. Avila – C Julian Diaz – CF J. Sullivan – P Burke
POR: LF Baskins – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Merino

There was another ghastly all-righty lineup for another Raccoons southpaw. There was also another three-on, nobody-out in the bottom 2nd, this time with a Toohey single and back-to-back walks to Waters and Manny. Ruben Gonzalez lobbed an RBI single over shortstop O’Keefe, but Martell whiffed and Merino popped out. Derek Baskins broke through with a 2-run double up the rightfield line, and Herrera clubbed a ball up the middle for a 2-run single. That made for a 5-0 lead, and in total we had outscored the Capitals 12-0 in second innings in this series. Unfortunately, the games consisted of more than just second innings…

The fourth, for example, in which O’Keefe took Merino deep for a solo home run, although Merino allowed only three hits in five innings (but also struck out only one). Matt Waters’ solo homer in the fifth restored a 5-run lead, while Manny followed that up with a triple, scoring on Ruben Gonzalez’ subsequent groundout, 7-1. The Caps countered with a leadoff double by Stipp (!), who came around to score in the sixth, to which Maldo responded with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning, 9-2. Merino went seven innings of 6-hit ball, and was followed by Preston Porter, who walked two and gave up a run for it in the eighth inning. And then the 9-3 game started to get away in the ninth inning. Bob Ibold had the ball. Julian Diaz had a 1-out single, but Sullivan grounded out. Then the Caps broke into a riot. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Josh Wotring and Stipp, the damn devil, and an RBI single by Loyola. Suddenly, this was a save situation. Mike Lynn got O’Keefe to ground out to enforce silence on the Caps’ part. 9-6 Coons. Baskins 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Herrera 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, W (11-7);

Raccoons (70-50) vs. Canadiens (58-61) – August 17-19, 2046

Ugh, the smell. I will never get used to the stench of the damn Elks!

Theirs was the most potent offense in the CL, but they remained near the bottom in pitching, allowing the second-most runs. Their run differential was only +12, compared to ours of +106, but at the same time, the Indians were only 4 1/2 games back and playing the limping Titans on the weekend (four games in three days). Elk City had OBP qualities and power, no injuries to speak about, and the devils were also up 6-4 in the season series. Oh boy.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (13-4, 3.46 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (8-11, 4.47 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-2, 3.15 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (7-6, 3.61 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (9-8, 3.82 ERA) vs. Aaron Jones (9-8, 5.05 ERA)

Again, no southpaw in sight.

Game 1
VAN: 2B O. Aguirre – CF F. Rojas – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 3B Malkus – SS Price – LF P. Colon – 1B Bejarano – P Godinez
POR: LF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – RF Pellicano – 2B Martell – P Wheatley

New opponent, new vibe. Wheats walked the first two batters, Martell made an error, and Travis Malkus brought in an unearned run with a groundout to Maldonado to put the Raccoons behind 1-0. But the first two batters also reached against Godinez – a 4-pitch walk to Mercado, a first-pitch single to left by Herrera – before coming around on a huge 3-run blast by Maldonado! That was not the last 3-spot for the Critters in the game, as they added another one right after that in the second inning. Weirdly, that run started with Wheats singling with two outs. Mercado walked, Herrera hit an RBI single, the RBI coming when Wheats ran through the stop sign and still scored ahead of Felix Rojas’ throw, and Maldo then drove in the trailing runners with another single. Toohey also singled, but Morales flew out to Pedro Colon to end the inning, Portland up 6-1. Waters and Pellicano then got on to begin the bottom 3rd and scored on Martell’s groundout and Wheats’ sac fly, 8-1, which spelled the end for Godinez for this Friday.

Now it was basically about Wheats holding up, which he basically did, but not very efficiently. Through six, the Elks didn’t get another hit of him, but he had a few long counts and needed 98 pitches to complete six innings, naturally limiting him to only scraps in the late innings. The Raccoons also laid down their weapons against the pen in the middle innings, mostly going down tamely. Wheats went home after a quick 1-2-3 seventh, but Porter and Curl took care of the lead competently enough (other than on Thursday…), and the Raccoons tacked on a late run on three singles off John Roeder in the bottom 8th. Herrera got the game’s final RBI. 9-1 Raccoons. Mercado 2-3, 2 BB; Herrera 3-5, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Baskins 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (14-4) and 1-2, RBI;

Game 2
VAN: CF Escobido – SS O. Aguirre – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – LF van der Zanden – 1B Bejarano – 3B Price – P Furuya
POR: RF Mercado – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Morales – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – 2B Castner – P Wolinsky

Naturally wonky Bubba Wolinsky was all over the place, which led to an unpleasant sequence in the second inning in which he had two outs, nobody on, drilled Arnout van der Zanden with two strikes, and then melted from there. He walked Ricardo Bejarano in a full count, then gave up a lousy 2-run double to Rick Price. Those early markers stood out – the Raccoons worked no second-inning wonders themselves on Saturday, and had only two hits against an efficient Furuya in four innings. Wolinsky needed 81 pitches to even get that far. We dragged him through six innings, somehow, on 108 pitches, with the score still 2-0 Stinkers.

Ibold and Lynn put runners on the corners in the seventh before a K to Julio Diaz resolved the dilemma on base, but Raccoons offense was still absent, Furuya retiring Manny, Castner, and Gonzalez (who had entered in a double switch with Lynn) in order in the bottom 7th. He didn’t get Mercado to begin the eighth, though – Nels’ hit a homer to center to get the Coons on the board and shave the deficit down to 2-1. Too bad that the 2-3-4 then made excessively easy outs to let Furuya off the hook… Moreno kept the Elks where they were in the ninth before Pat Gurney hit in his spot to open the bottom 9th against Sam Gibson, right-hander with a 3.38 ERA, singling to left to put the tying run on the map. Waters flew out to left. Manny flew out to left. Baskins batted for Castner, singled to center, and that sent Gurney to third base… BUT … of course we couldn’t bat for Ruben Gonzalez anymore, because we were out of catchers, and Ruben Gonzalez had at best had “a pulse” the last few weeks. He popped out to Malkus. 2-1 Canadiens. Gurney (PH) 1-1; Baskins (PH) 1-1;

(groans!)

No, Maud, I don’t think apple pie is gonna fix my … (sniffs) … (sniffs) … Well, why don’t you leave a slice on a table there and I will have a look at it when I’m done weeping?

Game 3
VAN: CF Escobido – SS O. Aguirre – RF Outram – C Julio Diaz – 2B Malkus – LF van der Zanden – 1B Bejarano – 3B K. Saito – P A. Jones
POR: RF Mercado – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Okuda

The Elks scored six runs in the first to take the series, as Okuda exploded for the second time this week. Escobido opened with a single, stole second, and Jerry Outram, who had been SUSPICIOUSLY SILENT for two days, rammed one out. What followed was a cavalcade of walks, defensive mishaps (Martell), infield singles, and a 2-run double with two outs by the opposing pitcher that ran up a 6-0 tally. Baskins doubled and Toohey singled for a run in the bottom 1st, but that fell out of a completely hopeless Okuda in the top 2nd again, with Hickey replacing him before the inning was over. Portland answered with two on hits by Gonzalez, Martell, and Mercado in the bottom 2nd, 7-3. But before any wrong hope could come up that the Raccoons might pull one out here, Hickey ran into a 4-run fourth himself, including a 2-run homer by Diaz, and the Raccoons were truly and fully buried.

At 11-3 the game was over, but this wouldn’t be a Coons-Elks game if we couldn’t bake in some late controversy. Preston Porter was pitching in the seventh when Angel Escobido doubled. He then, with an 8-run lead, stole third base off Gonzalez. The Raccoons were not amused, and somehow Jerry Outram took a baseball to the ribs from Porter. Diaz’ 2-out single drove in Escobido, 12-3, and besides some bickering here and some hoof-stomping there, no major fight broke out. The bottom of the inning began with Manny doubling to left, followed by a Ruben Gonzalez homer that was nice for his stats but useless for today, same for the 2-out solo homer Mercado hit later in the inning, which was the game’s last hurrah. 12-6 Canadiens. Mercado 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Toohey 2-4, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Herrera (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 13 – Topeka’s RF/CF J.P. Angeletti (.287, 11 HR, 70 RBI), hits for the cycle in an 11-6 win over the Crusaders. Angeletti goes 4-for-5 and drives in three runs. It is the second cycle of the season and the third in Buffaloes history after Jerry Henry (2004) and Jimmy Roberts (2015).
August 13 – Indians and Blue Sox both score three runs in the tenth inning, then nothing until the Blue Sox offer two in the top of the 18th. The Indians come roaring back and walk it off with a grand slam by Danny Rivera (.281, 15 HR, 90 RBI), nailing down a double-length, 11-8 win.
August 13 – Dampening the euphoria in Indianapolis, IND CL Tommy Gardner (5-5, 2.15 ERA, 31 SV) will be out until early September with a sore shoulder.
August 14 – Thunder OF Juan Benavides (.296, 21 HR, 86 RBI) connects for a single and a homer in an 8-3 win over the Wolves, extending a hitting streak of his to 20 games.
August 14 – DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.364, 16 HR, 89 RBI) drives in eight runs on three hits (including two home runs) in a 17-5 deletion of the Falcons.
August 16 – The hitting streak of OCT OF Juan Benavides (.294, 21 HR, 86 RBI) ends at 21 games with a hitless performance in a 4-2 loss to the Wolves.
August 17 – SAC LF/RF Nate Culp (.308, 15 HR, 58 RBI) would miss two weeks with a knee contusion.
August 17 – The Indians are swept and shut out, 9-0 and 4-0, in a double header by the Titans, including a combined 1-hitter by BOS SP Kyle Turay (6-11, 5.10 ERA) and MR Jeff Turi (4-3, 1.80 ERA) in the early game.
August 18 – The hitting streak of the Warriors’ Matt Diskin (.340, 10 HR, 64 RBI) soars to 25 games with a double in a 9-3 loss to the Gold Sox.
August 18 – NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.275, 14 HR, 47 RBI) hits a home run to beat the Rebels, 1-0.
August 19 – The Gold Sox end the 25-game hitting streak of SFW RF Matt Diskin (.336, 10 HR, 64 RBI), who goes hitless in four attempts in Denver’s 7-1 win.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.368, 18 HR, 93 RBI), batting .500 (15-30) with 4 HR, 14 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA SS Tony Aparicio (.280, 10 HR, 57 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Damn Elks! (spits)

The Indians are now within four games, and maybe we should come up with a plan against them soon. It’s a bit of a problem that we suck against them especially. Weird that we can neither handle the damn Elks’ all-out attack, nor the Indians’ stingy pitching and general low scoring. I think this is as good a time as any to despair!

Okuda this week, 6.1 innings and 15 runs (11 earned). That is … that is not great.

Wheats keeps hammering away on his resurgence, though. His second half has been mildly amazing. His most recent defeat came in June, and he’s gone 7-0 in nine starts since then. He was already Pitcher of the Month in July, and he looks like a candidate in August, too, so far going 2-0 with an 0.87 ERA. Only six hits allowed in 20.2 innings!

Armando Herrera is within one point of Jerry Outram for the batting title, .348 against .349. Julio Diaz has fallen to .329, a distant third place.

Next week, Crusaders and Baybirds. I’m sure we’ll find ways to wobble those games away, too.

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez was taken with the #5 pick in the 2031 draft and has been part of this ramshackle organization ever since.

He had only one RBI this week, amidst seven hits, bringing his total to 2,010 for his career, and barring a major explosion in the last six weeks he’ll post a sub-100 OPS+ for the first time in his career. He is 36 years old, mind. That one RBI, on a home run on Tuesday, tied him with Matt Nunley for the franchise record, though. They are the only two players to have reached quadruple-digits in the category.

And he’s won some of all: the Raccoons took on rings in 2044, he won a Gold Glove in 2042, the odd All Star nomination (4) and Platinum Stick (3) here and there, the 2037 CLCS MVP award, and – surely not least – the 2036 Player of the Year award. Back then he hit .326/.370/.491 with 19 HR and 90 RBI. It was the only time in his career he hit more than .290 for a season, and his 211 hits that year were by far a career high, although he’d hit more homers and drive in more runs (including a best of 105 in ’40) in other seasons.

For most of his career he’s been a steadily-defending corner outfielder with a strong arm, reliably putting up a 110+ OPS. This year he keeps being cursed with a .255 BABIP and the power seems to have gone away now, too, with only seven homers so far. Granted, being hurt and fighting for playing time isn’t helping him here.

The perpetual Critter (we’d hope) is signed for $1.5M for two more seasons, although that last year is a vesting option that requires 550 PA, which is not a mark he’d reach *this* year.

For his career, Manny has hit .282/.337/.426 with 188 HR and 1,053 RBI. He has 187 stolen bases.

And his cheeks seem to be getting chubbier.