Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

2048 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2047 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Jason Wheatley, 27, B:R, T:R (13-8, 2.82 ERA | 68-42, 3.26 ERA) – 2045 Pitcher of the Year! Wheats roared from #5 starter in April of 2045 to the highest honor the CL had to dole out to pitchers (at least regularly), doing it with a perfectly balanced approach, keeping things on the ground and walks to a minimum (2.3 BB/9 last season). He has five pitches, some very good, and sort of broke the old Opening Day Curse in 2047; while his record regressed, and his K/9 went down a bit, his ERA improved and I felt no need to go after him verbally or with a bat.
SP Victor Merino, 26, B:L, T:L (14-10, 3.34 ERA | 44-26, 3.04 ERA) – lefty groundballer, and very much more of a control pitcher, lacking the big stuff for high strikeout totals, but at least that mixes well with the Raccoons’ plus infield defense. Actually stayed in one piece in 2047 after going down to late injuries the prior two seasons. In a perfect world, he’d squeeze the walks and/or homers down a bit, but it’s not like he’s not a perfectly good option for the top half of a rotation.
SP Jake Jackson, 35, B:R, T:R (12-4, 3.01 ERA | 107-101, 3.65 ERA) – groundballer with three good pitches, including a 95mph fastball, who keeps having injury issues big and small now, but is also in the final year of a contract signed before the current dynasty came together.
SP Sadaharu Okuda, 32, B:L, T:L (14-8, 2.91 ERA | 49-39, 3.65 ERA) – Japanese import signed on the cheap before 2044 and throwing three pitches, including a 92mph fastball and a neat curve. He can be really on and he can be really off, and sometimes be alternatingly one or the other from start to start. Very good control, but he is routinely near the top in home runs allowed, and not just because he likes to pitch deep into games.
SP Jeremy Baker, 26, B:L, T:L (4-4, 3.32 ERA | 4-4, 3.41 ERA) – the groundballer with a rather pedestrian pitch arsenal filled in respectably for Bubba Wolinsky in the second half of last year, and will be expected to do so again for the first half of this season at least.

MR Joy-shan Kuo *, 28, B:R, T:L (5-5, 2.14 ERA, 16 SV | 5-5, 2.14 ERA, 16 SV) – acquired from the Miners, Kuo will be on his third ABL team in 12 months after signing with the Scorpions out of Taiwan before the 2047 season. Devastating changeup and a fastball with natural sink generate lots of weak contact … if he finds the zone.
MR Jake Bonnie, 33, B:L, T:L (3-0, 3.95 ERA, 2 SV | 43-49, 3.70 ERA, 86 SV) – groundballer had a horrendous first half in his first year with the Critters, and even though he recovered a bit in the second half, he still ended up with 6.8 BB/9 for the full year. Is paid princely for that kind of output and will surely not return after this season…
MR Kevin Hitchcock, 25, B:R, T:R (1-1, 4.08 ERA | 1-2, 3.69 ERA) – the German right-hander saw a brief cup of coffee with the 2046 Raccoons, then became an injury replacement for Bob Ibold last year, holding the spot down well enough. Might be used as the long relief option where necessary.
MR Bob Ibold, 27, B:L, T:R (4-0, 3.86 ERA, 2 SV | 14-2, 3.78 ERA, 5 SV) – very competent young right-hander that was cooked for dinner in his 2043 cup of coffee, but was only 22 then. 93mph heater, curve, and some natural sink to that fastball that keeps the infielders busy; could also be a spot starter with a crummy changeup to at least keep it interesting for the hitters (and he made three starts in AAA as recently as ‘45).
MR Preston Porter, 26, B:R, T:R (5-3, 2.29 ERA, 3 SV | 13-6, 2.58 ERA, 3 SV) – keeps it on the ground and has a very nice curve; also exceptional control – he walked *three* batters in 28.2 innings in the majors in ’44, and while that number went up to a more reasonable 2.0/9 or so ever since, he doesn’t unnecessarily create a traffic jam on the basepaths, which we much appreciate.
SU Nelson Moreno, 29, B:R, T:R (5-3, 2.82 ERA, 6 SV | 47-43, 3.75 ERA, 17 SV) – that starting thing never worked out for Nelson Moreno, but in his fourth full season as a setup reliever he continued to be sturdy and to quell threat after threat. An alternative to Mike Lynn in the ninth inning for sure, depending on how the opposing batting order lines up for them.
CL Mike Lynn, 30, B:L, T:L (5-2, 1.54 ERA, 44 SV | 28-23, 2.62 ERA, 117 SV) – this time, he signed that longer deal with the Raccoons (and it ended up being expensive), but leading the league in saves always leaves the closer in the driver’s seat for those negotiations… Has four straight years of whiffing 10+ per nine innings, and while he has occasional wildness, it was not bad enough to make us regret the trade.

C/1B Ruben Gonzalez, 26, B:R, T:R (.282, 11 HR, 47 RBI | .257, 20 HR, 85 RBI) – pretty good defense and a fine throwing arm, and he hit for a .781 OPS and stole MVP honors in the World Series in his first full season in the majors. He improved more or less for an .802 OPS and CLCS MVP honors in ’47, and this year will be the no-doubt first-string catcher for the first time, the timeshare arrangement with Tony Morales being terminated by granting Morales free agency. Amazing what you can get for $18k in the July IFA slave boy market …!
C Kevin Prow *, 31, B:R, T:R (.277, 1 HR, 11 RBI | .283, 27 HR, 194 RBI) – acquired from the Rebels, Prow brings a lot of experience of being a backup catcher, and he is also without complaints when it comes to his work with the pitchers and his throwing arm. Good guy to have!

RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey, 32, B:R, T:R (.279, 24 HR, 91 RBI | .272, 155 HR, 567 RBI) – decent defense at multiple corner positions, and a massive power stroke that can conquer any fence in the league. After winning a home run title in ’46, he unfortunately went down to injury late in ’47 and missed the playoffs, but there is no reason to expect him to having suffered permanent paw damage and he should continue to slug like before; 141 OPS+ last year, and 133 for his career.
SS/2B Matt Waters, 27, B:S, T:R (.265, 19 HR, 80 RBI | .250, 68 HR, 277 RBI) – good defensive shortstop that that can both hit 20 homers and steal 20 (and probably 30 bases) in a season, but was moved to second base with the arrival of Alex Adame, and that is actually the position where he might end up winning a Gold Glove, too; kid can really do it all rather well, and his offensive numbers improve a bit every year. 92 career steals in 133 tries.
SS Alex Adame, 26, B:R, T:R (.320, 3 HR, 41 RBI | .282, 30 HR, 380 RBI) – twice a Gold Glover at short, Alex Adame was signed as free agent at the tender age of 25 last winter, having made his debut with the Crusaders at 18. He has a habit of alternating weak offensive seasons with pretty impressive runs at the .300 mark – for bookkeeping purposes: 2047 was the expected good year, and now we brace for a .187 campaign culminating in broken legs by mid-June…
1B/3B/RF/LF Jesus Maldonado, 34, B:R, T:R (.307, 24 HR, 90 RBI | .297, 167 HR, 873 RBI) – A World Series winner (three times!) and a World Series MVP (not in the same seasons, though), Maldo holds the biggest contract ever doled out by the team ($38.5M over 7 years, or roughly half the annual GDP of his home country of Venezuela). The contract has to turn sour yet, with him bagging the Platinum Stick at third base in both of his first two years as one of the league’s top earners, the first ones he actually won, because early in his career being able to play six positions kinda robbed him of the opportunity to win those awards. A Gold Glove is probably not in the cards anymore as his defense has entered the slow decline phase; for example, Pat Degenhardt no longer rates him at shortstop – only the corners left for Maldo.
1B/RF/2B/LF Pat Gurney, 30, B:L, T:R (.243, 7 HR, 38 RBI | .279, 90 HR, 426 RBI) – one of the best players in either league that does not have a starting spot in sight, Gurney is a surprisingly speedy corner guy that figures to get most of his playing time against right-handed pitching. Also has double-digit power when employed as a regular. Was tried some at third base during Maldonado absences at one point, but the reviews were stark. Might get more playing time at first, with Toohey moving to the corner outfield from time to time.
2B/3B/SS Al Martell, 32, B:L, T:R (.326, 4 HR, 27 RBI | .261, 59 HR, 422 RBI) – versatile infielder with solid defense and a lefty stick that was a Thunder regular at 21, then fell by the wayside by age 26. We picked him up for basically nothing prior to ’45 and have basically found a sometimes offensively potent, but always defensively reliable infielder. What more do you need?

LF/CF Derek Baskins, 32, B:L, T:R (.288, 1 HR, 28 RBI | .297, 56 HR, 547 RBI) – strong defender, quick enough to steal a few bases, and hit .300 quite a few times for the Buffos (in qualifying seasons) and Raccoons (not). Was the leadoff batter for a while, but ultimately doesn’t walk enough; and also isn’t around to play enough – injuries have reduced him to 104 games or less in three of his four seasons in Portland. How much he ultimately plays this year is complicated to gauge right now, but he’s in a weird non-platoon with Manny Fernandez (again) and Matt Watt for those corner outfield positions…
CF Armando Herrera, 34, B:R, T:R (.320, 3 HR, 47 RBI | .314, 29 HR, 685 RBI) – the Raccoons’ eye-wateringly expensive star acquisition from the 2044-45 offseason won eight Gold Gloves in nine seasons with the Wolves, and while he kept that string going in 2045, he didn’t win the award the last two seasons, and he’s also getting up there in age, which is a recurring topic on this team now... At least he keeps challenging for the batting title (he won one in the FL). Signed for three more years so we might want to look into giving him semi-regular off days to conserve his body.
LF/RF Manny Fernandez, 38, B:L, T:L (.237, 6 HR, 32 RBI | .280, 195 HR, 1,092 RBI) – former #5 pick and 2036 Player of the Year, and has won almost everything that there is to win in the ABL, Manny had a trying year in 2046, smitten with a terrible BABIP luck that never got better all year long. He did take the franchise RBI lead from Matt Nunley. The 2048 Manny, brought back on a cheap 1-year deal, is old, slow, and tired, regularly hurting, and likes to sleep a lot between eating these days. But he can still whack one if alert and drugged to the gills at the right time!
LF/CF/RF Matt Watt *, 29, B:S, T:R (.288, 3 HR, 52 RBI | .253, 5 HR, 133 RBI) – acquired from the Aces on the cheap, Watt *could* be a leadoff hitter with his career .384 OBP (.419 in ’47) if only the Raccoons could accept that he’s slow, not a base stealer, and that it will be fine anyway. Not sure whether we’re at that point, emotionally, however.
RF/LF/CF Gene Pellicano, 28, B:R, T:R (.287, 5 HR, 37 RBI | .283, 16 HR, 96 RBI) – good defensive outfielder that has mostly been used against left-handed pitching for his career, and is probably not a 115 OPS+ for his career after all. Interesting bit player, though.

On disabled list:
SP Bubba Wolinsky, 25, B:L, T:L (12-3, 3.47 ERA | 19-7, 3.29 ERA) – the Coons’ #12 pick from 2041 swooped in when Ryan Person went down midway through the 2046 season and pitched extremely respectably, although the walks were quite up there. In 2047, first the walks went down, and then the whole Wolinsky went down with a torn rotator cuff that will keep him off the mound until at least June.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
MR Adam Bates, 25, B:R, T:R (0-1, 6.00 ERA | 0-1, 6.00 ERA) – optioned to AAA; righty groundballer with two pitches that saw some late action last year and walked nine batters in 12 innings. Best classified as “depth”.
C Jimmy Dalton, 31, B:R, T:R (.214, 0 HR, 2 RBI | .225, 8 HR, 75 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; signed as third-string catcher on the cheap two years ago, Dalton got into eight games each in the last two regular seasons, and into one CLCS game against the Thunder. Doesn’t hit a lot, runs like a catcher…
3B Ben Coen, 27, B:R, T:R (.286, 1 HR, 10 RBI | .257, 4 HR, 24 RBI) – optioned to AAA; good defensive third baseman with a decent contact stick that would be a starter on a non-dynasty team, maybe, but with the Raccoons only gets injury replacement playing time.
LF/RF Roberto Medina, 26, B:S, T:R (.226, 2 HR, 14 RBI | .226, 2 HR, 14 RBI) – optioned to AAA; speedy corner outfielder that can't really hit a lot, but somehow spent half of a season rotting at the far end of the bench to the tune of 112 plate appearances because of the constant injuries.

Everybody not mentioned by now has already been waived, reassigned, or turned into a roast during the offseason.

OPENING DAY LINEUP:

We will try Adame as the leadoff man to begin the season; there is surprisingly little lefty action going on in the lineup against righty pitchers, but then again, that middle of the order has shown that they can hurt everybody, left-handers, right-handers, and even the amphibious pitchers that throw from both sides!

Vs. RHP: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P
(Vs. LHP: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Pellicano – LF Watt – P)

How much playing time Manny Fernandez ultimately gets will be probably determined by his body. Watt is certainly an option to be in the lineup against anybody, and will need to get semi-regular starts for sure in April to see whether he might be an option at the top of the order.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

Four years, four pennants, three rings, and for only the second time in franchise history, 100+ wins! The Raccoons have been fairly steady (in a good way) recently, and the offseason was clearly under that banner. We kept together what had worked well, and made punctual improvements were necessary.

Of course, the Roman Empire stagnated before its downfall, too. In fact, we are so much stuck in the ruts driven in the path now that this is basically the same text as last year…

Our sort of lame offseason netted us -1.5 WAR according to BNN, 14th in the rankings.

Top 5: Thunder (+9.4), Rebels (+8.4), Indians (+7.2), Stars (+6.4), Warriors (+3.4)
Bottom 5: Knights (-4.8), Scorpions (-6.9), Condors (-8.4), Canadiens (-8.6), Aces (-8.9)

The other CL North teams (who were so far away that one offseason can impossibly fix them), are ranked 7th (BOS, +2.2), 17th (MIL, -3.1), and 18th (NYC, -3.8).

PREDICTION TIME:

The team is great! … was great, for the last few years at least.

Age has been mentioned a few times above, and it is true that with the exception of Waters, all our key batters are (well) over 30. In fact, half the team (12) is 30+, and only five players are under 27, and only Hitchcock is still 25 (not including Wolinsky, who will be 25 until early August)

The pitching staff as a whole remains rather juicy with a good mix in ages, but the hitting corps for sure has some scuff marks all over. Of course, once the Maldos and Herreras no longer produce, they will drag the team down like a rock tied around the neck – those are immovable contracts, and the Raccoons can find the 2029-32 phase of the most recent demi-dynasty (only two rings! Suckers!) at any time now.

But I think there’s at least another division title in the boys, and the Thunder are apparently unable to withstand our fuzzy charm in the CLCS, so there’s that!

The Raccoons will continue to struggle with old-man injuries, but will win another 96 games and hold off the Indians once more. And everything can happen in October!

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Although we have made no efforts to bring in fresh talent in trades, with the exception of 3B Ed Crispin, who is not ranked, our standing in the farm rankings improved a bit from 16th to 9th this year, which is mainly down to a very expensive July IFA addition. So, that makes for only two years in the bottom half of the table after being ranked top 3 from 2039 through 2045.

We had a total of ten ranked prospects last year, that number going up to eleven this time. We had three top 100 prospects, but that number also goes up to four this year.

4th (new) – A SP Rafael de la Cruz, 17 – 2047 international free agent signed by Raccoons
51st (-10) – AAA SP Victor Salcido, 22 – 2042 international free agent signed by Raccoons
57th (0) – AA CL Polibio O’Higgins, 21 – 2043 international free agent signed by Raccoons
59th (+49) – AA SP Brett Lillis jr., 22 – 2044 first-round pick by Raccoons

118th (+12) – AA 1B/LF/RF Alan Puckeridge, 20 – 2044 international free agent signed by Raccoons
125th (new) – AA SS/3B Lorenzo Lavorano, 20 – 2043 scouting discovery by Raccoons
142nd (new) – AAA MR Adam Bates, 25 – 2041 supplemental-round pick by Raccoons
151st (new) – AA MR Mike Snyder, 21 – 2047 first-round pick by Raccoons
170th (new) – A 3B/2B Joe Boese, 19 – 2047 fourth-round pick by Raccoons
179th (new) – A RF/LF/1B Adam Samples, 19 – 2046 first-round pick by Raccoons
191st (-18) – A C Dario Medina, 21 – 2043 international free agent signed by Raccoons

Not all the ranked prospects from last year made it to the new list. SP Alejandro Gutierrez crashed from #37 to nothing after a horrendous year in Aumsville (5.61 ERA). #148 Carlton Harman and #186 Jeremy Baker exceeded rookie limits (and the former then was traded). #154 3B Seth Lyon remains stuck in AA and is no longer ranked. And #123 C Matt Hardy was granted free agency, signed with the Falcons as AAA depth, and is no longer ranked either.

Finally, the top 10 overall prospects this year are:

1st (new) – SAL A SP Blake Sparks, 20
2nd (-1) – TIJ AA LF/RF Tim Duncan, 21
3rd (+19) – PIT AAA INF Victor Corrales, 21
4th (new) – POR A SP Rafael de la Cruz, 17
5th (-3) – WAS ML SP Cory Ellis, 22

6th (new) – WAS AA SP Kennedy Adkins, 23
7th (+38) – DEN AA RF Oscar Rivera, 22
8th (+20) – SFW AAA SS Carmem Barrento, 22
9th (new) – LVA AA 1B/RF/LF Aubrey Austin, 22
10th (-7) – MIL AAA SP Angelo Munoz, 21

Only the top three from last years 10 highest-ranked prospects return to this year’s top 10, and all of them dropped; of the four new additions, three were signed in the 2047 draft, and one (de la Cruz) as international free agents, while the three risers from outside the top 10 are all scouting discoveries from 2043 or even earlier, with Barrento having been signed by the Gold Sox and traded to the Warriors.

Of the seven players shed from last year’s top 10, quite a few did so by establishing themselves in the majors, two of them taking the two ROTY crowns in 2047: #4 Bobby Anderson won Rookie of the Year honors in the CL with the Indians, hitting .262 with nine homers in 112 games, while the FL title went to #5 Brett Banks on the Buffaloes, hitting .300 with 27 homers.

Former #7 prospect Oscar Juarez made 24 appearances for the Scorpions last year, mostly out of the bullpen, to lose eligibility. Ex-#10 OF Danny Ramirez has yet to appear in a major league game, but made the Warriors 2048 Opening Day roster after sliding to #29 in the prospect rankings. The same is the case for the Condors’ 3B Reed Ottinger, who was the #8 prospect, and now has been pegged to skip AAA entirely. He is ranked #13 this year.

Downwards it also went for Denver’s SP James Powell, sliding from #9 to #30 after missing half the season with an injury and remaining in AA ball. Injury time also dropped L.A. pitching prospect Jim Reynolds, from #6 to #17; he had Tommy John surgery in mid-2046 and missed the first half of 2047 as a result, although he was very impressive in AA on his return.

Next: first pitch.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Indians (0-0) – April 7-8, 2048

Opening Day – and right into the thick of it! The Raccoons would open the season against the team that was their most serious challenge in the last two seasons, facing the Indians in a quick 2-game set to start the new campaign. Despite the rather comfortably won division titles of those seasons, this was a really not all that comfortable matchup for the Critters, who couldn’t seem to win against Indy, dropping both of those season series, 8-10 in 2046 and 7-11 last year.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Bill Drury (0-0)
Victor Merino (0-0) vs. Bill Nichol (0-0)

That will be two right-handers to start the season against!

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Wheatley
IND: RF A. Mendez – 2B Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – SS Quintana – C J. Rose – P Drury

…and things started well south, with the Raccoons getting Herrera on by a Bobby Anderson throwing error, Maldonado via a walk, and then hit into a double play with Bryce Toohey. Wheats then went out and got torn to shreds in absolutely no time, surrendering three runs on as many base hits in the bottom 1st. Angel Mendez and Andrew Russ hit singles, Bill Quinteros was nicked, and after a sac fly by Danny Rivera and a 2-run triple by Bobby Anderson, Aaron Brayboy’s groundout brought in the fourth and final run of the inning. And it got none the better. Drury and Mendez hit scratch singles to begin the bottom 2nd, Russ drew a walk, and then Bill Quinteros opened a whole different can of Whoop-*** when he hit a slam to right.

Well, as I keep telling myself – Wheats is a second half pitcher!

With the game properly in the bin, the Raccoons turned to busying their relievers starting in the third inning. Hitchcock turned in two innings, and Bob Ibold chipped in five outs. Jake Bonnie was next, giving up a homer to Danny Rivera in the seventh – just when Maldo had been about to start the rally with an RBI single in the top of the seventh, cutting the gaping deficit to 8-1…! Double switches were part of the game, and got Gene Pellicano into the #2 hole by the late innings. When Alex Adame singled of Jason Palladino in the ninth, Pellicano followed that knock with a blast of his own, mashing a 2-piece over the fence in left-center. Maldo and Toohey then made quick final outs. 9-3 Indians. Herrera 2-3; Pellicano 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4, BB, RBI; Fernandez 1-2, 2 BB; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Well. Somehow we stole three bases in this game, but surely I had other plans for how to start the season, and …

(sighs and wipes his wet eyes)

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Merino
IND: RF A. Mendez – 3B B. Anderson – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 2B Russ – 1B Massey – SS Quintana – C J. Rose – P Nichol

Bright sides – a Bobby Anderson single and stolen bases didn’t immediately drown Victor Merino, who threw the starting corps’ first zero of the year on the board in the first inning. On the not so bright side, Bryce Toohey hit a single to begin the top 2nd, but Waters grounded to short, with Toohey getting entangled, slash, clobbered by Andrew Russ at second base, and took most of the damage, having to leave the game for injury concerns. Pat Gurney took over. Manny Fernandez then hit a double, but the bottom of the order saw Ruben Gonzalez pop out and Derek Baskins ground out to strand a pair in scoring position.

Merino hit a double to open the third inning, which actually led to a run and the team’s first lead in ’48 when Maldonado singled him home with two outs. That area of the lineup scored a second run in the top 5th, again with two outs, when Adame doubled to left and came around on Herrera’s single. Merino kept the Arrowheads off the board through five, allowing three hits and whiffing just as many while never allowing a sense of imminent danger to overcome his poor old GM.

While Merino struck out two more in the sixth to maintain the 2-0 lead, the Raccoons also made it 2-0 in terms of injuries by the seventh when Nichol drilled Ruben Gonzalez in the forearm. He, too, was removed in a world of pain, and I saw things falling apart fast here… Al Martell ran for Gonzalez to add speed to the basepaths, but nobody could find a base hit and he was stranded. Instead, the Indians got to Merino for a run in the home half of the frame; despicable Andrew Russ hit a single, stole second, and scored on Angel Quintana’s 2-out double over the head of Manny Fernandez. Gurney, Manny and Prow loaded the bases in the eighth with two singles and a 4-pitch walk, bringing up Baskins with two outs, and Nichol would lose him, too, on balls, forcing home a run. Pellicano batted for Merino as we were eager for more runs, but struck out. The ball thus went to Nelson Moreno, who had a 1-2-3 eighth inning, after which the Critters loaded the bases again opposite righty Tommy Gardner in the ninth. Herrera singled and stole second, after which Maldo was walked with intent. A soft Gurney single loaded them up for Matt Waters with one out, and Waters punched a 2-1 pitch up the middle for a 2-run single! Manny continued the demolition of Gardner with a 2-run double to left-center, bringing on new pitcher Tan Brink (actual name!), a 22-year-old Dutch Antillean who made his ABL debut in that spot. He retired Prow and Baskins without conceding Manny’s run from second base. Joy-shan Kuo then put the Indians away in the bottom 9th. 7-1 Raccoons. Herrera 2-5, RBI; Toohey 1-1; Gurney 2-4; Fernandez 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, 2B;

Ruben Gonzalez suffered no structural damage, but sported a bit of a bruise on Thursday, which already was another off day for the Critters. Bryce Toohey complained about back pain all the way, but Dr. Padilla found no loose parts there, either, and ruled him day-to-day as well, although even with some pills it might take all through the weekend to get him to 100% again…

Raccoons (1-1) vs. Knights (2-1) – April 10-12, 2048

The Knights came in without any exciting numbers after the first series of the year, taking two of three from the Falcons. Billy Hester was batting .583 with 4 RBI. Everything else was pedestrian to average. The Knights had won both of the games they ended on the good side in walkoff fashion to begin the season; the good news about that was that they’d have a hard time doing that in Portland. We won the season series last year, 7-2.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (0-0) vs. Elijah Powell (0-0)
Sadaharu Okuda (0-0) vs. Sal Chavez (0-0)
Jeremy Baker (0-0) vs. Brian Buttress (0-0, 5.14 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday with Buttress – the first southpaw to come up against the Critters this season.

Ruben Gonzalez felt fine, he claimed, but Prow got the nod for the start in the opener. Toohey moved like an old man and was not considered for action to begin the series, except for pinch-hitting in the ninth inning or later with the winning run in scoring position.

Game 1
ATL: SS Venegas – CF Alade – RF Marz – LF Hester – C Cass – 1B van der Zanden – 3B Loyola – 2B S. Davison – P E. Powell
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – RF Fernandez – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Jackson

Jake Jackson allowed leadoff singles to the Knights in each of the first four innings – and Atlanta never scored in any of them. A double play here, a caught stealing there, all the threats died in a hurry. In the fifth, he retired the leadoff man – but allowed a 1-out single to Scott Davison. And wouldn’t you ******* know it, a 2-out walk to Anton Venegas and then a 3-2 single by Jon Alade scored THAT runner to put the Knights up 1-0, the Raccoons having been just as listless on offense in the early going… John Marz flew out to Herrera to strand a pair and reach halftime. In the sixth, Jon Loyola tripled home Billy Hester – fifth leadoff single – with two outs to make it 2-0. Jackson ended his day by getting Davison to ground out to short.

The Coons got engaged with the game in general in the bottom 6th. Matt Watt flew out batting for Jackson, but then Adame doubled to left and scored on a Herrera single to shorten the gap to 2-1. However, despite a wild pitch that moved Herrera to second, neither Maldo nor Waters managed to get him around to score. Powell went eight while maintaining the 2-1 lead, scattering seven hits, while for the Raccoons, Ibold, Bonnie, Porter, and Lynn held the fort in scoreless fashion (but allowing two hits and three walks in three innings…). Still down 2-1, at least we’d bring the 3-4-5 batters to the plate in the bottom 9th. Right-hander Matt Simmons started out 0-2 on Maldonado, then hung one and paid for it with a game-tying homer in right-center! Waters would draw a walk after that, but was forced out by Gurney’s grounder to second. Manny flew out to Marz. And then came Lynn – a double switch had removed Derek Baskins a while ago. Could Bryce Toohey swing a stick? He could, and he would – pinch-hitting with two outs. Simmons threw a ball, a strike, then a wild one that moved the winning run to second base. Just where Toohey liked him! He dished the next pitch into the gap between Hester and Alade, and Gurney strolled home to win the home opener in walkoff fashion…! 3-2 Critters! Adame 2-4, 2B; Gurney 2-4; Fernandez 2-4; Toohey (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
ATL: 1B van der Zanden – SS Venegas – LF Hester – RF Marz – CF Alade – C Cass – 3B Loyola – 2B Encinia – P S. Chavez
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – SS Adame – C Gonzalez – 3B Martell – P Okuda

The Knights were on second base with nobody out in the first two innings; the former Elk terrorist Arnout van der Zanden hit a leadoff double, but was stranded on comebackers to Okuda, while Jon Alade drew a leadoff walk in the top 2nd, stole second base, and then was thrown out by Manny when he tried to tag up and reach third base on Tyler Cass’ fly to right. The Coons had yet another slow start with no early runs in the first two innings, and it looked like they’d make it three when Al Martell reached base to begin the bottom 3rd, but was forced out by Okuda with a bad bunt. Matt Watt skipped a single to right, his first base hit as a Raccoon, and then Armando Herrera stuffed a ball into the rightfield corner for a 1-out, 2-run triple to take a 2-0 lead…! Sal Chavez went on to fill the bags with free passes to Maldo and Waters while Herrera looked kinda bored at third base the whole time. He got to dash home on the 1-1 pitch to Manny, which the grizzled veteran ™ chucked up the middle for a 2-run single! Adame contributed a soft RBI single to right, 5-0, then was caught stealing for the second out of the inning. Chavez then gave Ruben Gonzalez his second good smacking of the year, but on a 1-2 pitch, so it was likely not intentional… Martell walked, but Okuda whiffed, ending a rather endless 5-run inning.

Despite the long sit-down, Okuda didn’t miss a beat when he took the ball back and shed only one base runner in the middle innings, then unexpectedly ran into a seventh-inning whacking, conceding two runs on straight hits by Marz, Alade, and Cass to begin the inning. He handled Loyola for a groundout, then yielded for Hitchcock, who got Juan Encinia to ground out. PH Manichiro Toki in the #9 hole drew out the lefty Kuo, who rung him up to end the inning still up 5-2. Kuo went on in the eighth until issuing a 2-out walk to Hester, upon which Bob Ibold secured a K from Marz to complete the top 8th. But the Raccoons’ offense had officially retired to the reading room after the 5-run third, and that left the 3-run lead in the paws of Mike Lynn for the ninth, his first save chance of the year after getting the day before. He drowned, badly, walking FOUR batters, though none with the bases loaded – no, the fourth walk to David Gonzales came after a run-scoring wild pitch! At that point, at 5-3 with three on and one out – Cass had whiffed – the Raccoons hurried to get Nelson Moreno in as replacement, even with the left-handed van der Zanden coming up. Moreno’s 1-0 to the #1 hitter was put in play, grounder to Waters, zinged to Adame, to Maldo – ballgame. 5-3 Critters. Watt 2-4; Herrera 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Adame 2-4, 2B, RBI; Okuda 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0);

Game 3
ATL: 1B van der Zanden – SS Venegas – LF Hester – RF Marz – CF Alade – C Cass – 3B Loyola – 2B S. Davison – P Buttress
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – RF Pellicano – LF Baskins – P Baker

The Knights got their customary single to begin the game off Baker, but still no first-inning run on the board, and instead it was the Raccoons again to score first, although they also had nothing going the first time through. Then Watt and Adame hit back-to-back knocks in the bottom 3rd, the latter a double to left with Watt going on the pitcher’s first move to home plate, easily scoring thus to make it 1-0. Maldo singled to right, but Adame was held in deference to John Marz’ murder arm, setting up Ruben Gonzalez with runners on the corners. Gonzalez was 0-for-10 to begin the season, and had only reached base on getting drilled (twice) or an error (once). He chopped the first pitch back to Buttress, who had all the time in the world to start a 1-6-3 double play to kill the inning.

The home team’s offense continued to stall after that, and while Baker held up respectably through five innings, allowing two hits for no actual Atlanta gains, he fell victim to Hester and Marz, and a bloop and a blast in the sixth inning, which flipped the score in the Knights’ favor, 2-1. Gonzalez got his first hit of the year in the bottom of the inning, better late than never, but that didn’t amount to a comeback. A Waters throwing error and a 2-out pitcher’s single tacked on an Atlanta run in the seventh to send Baker packing, while the Coons got singles from Pellicano an Watt in the bottom 7th, but still couldn’t drive in a run. While Buttress retired the Critters’ 3-4-5 in order in the eighth, the Raccoons got Porter and Bonnie to at least keep the Knights close. Simmons then reappeared in the bottom 9th, this time leading by two an facing the 6-7-8 batters. A flyout, a groundout, and a strikeout put the Raccoons away. 3-1 Knights. Watt 2-4; Adame 2-4, 2B, RBI; Baker 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (0-1);

We out-hit them 8-5, but sometimes that only leaves you more frustrated…

In other news

April 10 – Dallas OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.273, 1 HR, 2 RBI) continues a hitting streak that originated in September of 2047, and has connected for 25 regular-season games in a row with a ninth-inning single in a 5-1 win over the Miners.
April 10 – Outfielder Nelson Galvan (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI), just acquired from the Indians by the Miners, could miss all of the 2048 season with a torn achilles tendon.
April 11 – SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.240, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and LF/RF Nate Culp (.250, 2 HR, 7 RBI) both sock home four runs from the 1-2 slots in the Scorpions lineup as they dump the Blue Sox, 15-0.
April 12 – Streak over at 26 games: DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.258, 1 HR, 3 RBI) goes hitless in an 8-2 win over the Miners, ending his hitting streak.

FL Player of the Week: SAL 3B Ricky Jimenez (.522, 1 HR, 6 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: ATL LF/RF Billy Hester (.458, 1 HR, 4 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Few things were great this week, although I like to watch Manny Fernandez hit 8-for-15 at any point in the season.

At the bottom end, Wheats had his bottoms exploded, Lynn almost blew a game by walking everything with legs, and the the catching corps, Waters, and Baskins are batting a grand total of 4-for-49. And don’t forget Bryce Toohey lasting a game and an inning before getting hurt again…! He might be back in the lineup on Monday, though.

Monday will bring the Thunder back to town, and then we’ll also have the damn Elks in town on the weekend. The Titans will complete the 4-team, 13-game homestand the week after. Boston started the year 5-1, but then again they played the Loggers and Aces, so there’s a bit of an asterisk on that mark.

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez (.533) is really chasing down patched-up Elk Jerry Outram (.563) for the CL batting title!

That’s two guys that had their better moments in the 2030s, and Outram isn’t even that old…!

Kidding aside, Outram, 33 years old, won the slugging crown in the CL as recently as ’46, but missed almost all of last year on the DL. His D is a hot mess now due to drastically reduced range, and he’s signed for Maldonado levels of dosh on a team with skinny resources through 2051, so they try to salvage him in rightfield now.

That being said, at five Player of the Year titles and nine Platinum Sticks (and a Gold Glove in better days) there’s not a lot he can do to fumble his Hall of Fame plaque, except maybe for having pictures surfaced showing him in the pillows with a stray tomcat.

(puts pictures back in a red envelope)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (3-2) vs. Thunder (5-2) – April 13-15, 2048

The Thunder were probably still nursing their recurring CLCS trauma, but they still had to face the Raccoons once again. They had taken the regular season series last year, 5-4, but we had again taken the games that counted in October. Out of the gate, Oklahoma was second in runs scored (but with the most games in the bank) and fifth in runs allowed. They had won five straight after starting out 0-2.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-1, 36.00 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
Victor Merino (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (1-0, 1.23 ERA)
Jake Jackson (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Felix Alvarez (1-0, 1.29 ERA)

Orozco and Marquez would make it three left-handed pitchers in a row here, before we’d get another righty in Alvarez.

Game 1
OCT: CF J. Price – 2B Ban – SS R. Cox – RF Benavides – 1B B. Jenkins – 3B Crim – C Urfer – LF Zurita – P Orozco
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Pellicano – LF Fernandez – C Prow – P Wheatley

Wheatley had been boiled alive in the season opener, so getting through two innings unharmed this time was already some sort of progress. Matt Waters singled home Alex Adame for a first-inning run on the board, but then came the top 3rd, and things went catastrophically wrong again in the most stupid fashion, beginning with a 1-out walk to the opposing pitcher, then Jim Price getting nicked by a breaking ball. The Thunder didn’t have to be invited twice. Jonathan Ban hit an RBI single to left-center, Ryan Cox hit an RBI double into the corner, and then Toohey fumbled Juan Benavides’ grounder or a third, unearned, run. He’s a second-half pitcher… he’s a second-half pitcher…..

Waters tied the game in the same inning, singling home Maldo and Toohey with two outs; Maldonado had been hit by a pitch and Toohey had singled, with a fielding gaffe by Price giving the runners an extra base and setting up Waters for the game-tying hit. Not that it helped Wheats with being any less abused – he walked Rick Urfer in the fourth, Angelo Zurita singled, the runners were bunted into scoring position, and Waters could not reach Price’s 2-out grounder to the right side that scored both of them, 5-3. Another two hits made for another run in the fifth, and Wheatley ended up showering early again…

For a brief moment in the bottom 6th it looked like the loss would not stick to Wheatley, with the Raccoons loading the bags against right-hander Jon Craig (not the ex-Coon), who then walked in a pair of runs facing Pat Gurney and Alex Adame before Herrera flew out to Angelo Zurita. That was as close as they got, though, with no offensive action in the seventh and eighth innings, and then Nelson Moreno getting taken deep by Price for a 2-run homer in the ninth inning. 8-5 Thunder. Toohey 2-3, BB; Waters 2-4, 3 RBI; Gurney (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

No, Maud, thanks. I do not wish to read today’s Agitator…

Game 2
OCT: 3B Montes de Oca – C Adames – 1B B. Jenkins – RF Benavides – LF Hertenstein – SS R. Cox – 2B Crim – CF DeMarco – P V. Marquez
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – RF Pellicano – 2B Martell – C Gonzalez – P Merino

Facing an almost exclusively right-handed lineup, Merino, too, swiftly drowned. Ryan Cox doubled and scored on Nick DeMarco’s single in the second. Angel Montes de Oca hit a leadoff single in the third, and was begged around to score by Merino, who threw two wild pitches in the inning, including one with Montes on third base. They scored a pair in the fourth, although that inning began with a horrendous throwing error by Matt Waters, putting Daniel Hertenstein on second base, and two singles led to the two runs from there. Merino somehow lumbered into the sixth before being knocked out by back-to-back 2-out singles by DeMarco an Marquez… Preston Porter got Montes to fly out to bail out of the inning, not that it mattered given the vast amount of nothing produced by the Raccoons’ offense against Marquez. The lowlight was likely Maldonado in the bottom 6th, poking a 2-out single, only the third base hit off Marquez, and then getting picked off more or less immediately. Matt Waters hit a stray solo homer in the seventh inning. Al Martell struck out on a borderline called strike in the same frame, then got tossed for a disagreeing paw gesture towards the umpire. Pat Gurney replaced him at second base.

To begin the bottom 8th, the Raccoons were down 4-1. Watt singled off Marquez to begin the inning, and Herrera got a ball over the leaping Joe Crim for another single. A fielding disagreement between Benavides and DeMarco allowed the runners into scoring position, bringing up the meat of the order with nobody out and the tying run now in the box. Maldonado hit a sac fly to Hertenstein before Toohey homered the game tied, all even at four, with his first bomb of the season. So that was all nice and flowery, but then the Raccoons went back to Mike Lynn, off his horror 4-walk outing against the Knights. It didn’t *really* get better in the top of the ninth, although he walked only one batter this time. He also was busted for five base hits, including a 3-run homer by Adames, four runs on the board and runners on the corners before being depressingly yanked with two outs. Joy-shan Kuo replaced him and fit in seamlessly with more ****** pitching, conceding an RBI single to Joe Crim, a single to Jonathan Ban, and then nailed Angelo Zurita with the bases loaded to push home a sixth run. Montes flew out to Herrera to end the horror **** show. 10-4 Thunder. Watt 2-4;

Jonathan Ban now had a 20-game hitting streak, having raised his clip to .361 against the hapless Coons.

Maybe we can get him to 21 on Wednesday, and maybe we can even make him choke on it…

Nope, I didn’t even get that much consolation – the baseball gods sent rain, rain, and yet more rain, and the Thunder had to leave town without romping us for a third time straight.

Raccoons (3-4) vs. Canadiens (3-6) – April 16-19, 2048

The wobbled Raccoons would host the damn Elks for a long weekend set with the potential for four games of sadness. Vancouver ranked fifth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed. Their bullpen had been quite resilient, with the lowest ERA in the CL. Their rotation had an ERA over five, although we were not so far away from that mark, either, thanks to the stellar fireworks display by a certain right-hander that had recently signed a huge extension with us… We had won the season series last year, 12-6, and had gone all even – .500 all time – against the damn Elks last September, so a series win was impossible; the best we could hope for was a split.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. David Farris (0-2, 6.00 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (1-0, 2.84 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (1-0, 4.85 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (0-1, 2.57 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (0-1, 5.14 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-2, 16.71 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (1-0, 2.45 ERA)

Right, left, twice. Southpaw Sunday. Yay. Maybe Wheats should start throwing left-handed, too.

Maldonado would have been given a day off on Wednesday for simple early-season rest cycle purposes, but was back in the lineup now, having been given a day off by the weather instead.

Game 1
VAN: LF F. Rojas – CF Escobido – 2B Mancini – RF E. Moreno – SS R. Price – 1B Delagrange – C T. Phillips – 3B Higareda – P Farris
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – LF Baskins – C Gonzalez – P Jackson

The damn Elks had only one base hit the first time through, but that was a solo homer by Angel Escobido to take a quick 1-0 lead. The Raccoons had two hits, a Maldo double that led nowhere once Toohey struck out to end the bottom 1st, then a Ruben Gonzalez single to lead off the bottom 3rd, but Jackson bunted the ball too hard and got Gonzalez thrown out at second, then was stranded himself. Gonzalez then found himself at the plate in the bottom 4th with Toohey on second and Waters on first and already two outs after a quick start to the inning. Farris fell 3-0 behind him before Gonzalez suddenly poked and flew out to Escobido…

Jackson, who did his very best to hold the Elks so close on the board that the Raccoons could still tie the game entirely by accident, correctly deduced that his own offensive heroics would be required to turn this game around and opened the bottom 5th with a single up the middle. Farris walked Adame, putting two aboard with nobody out for the second inning in a row. Herrera flew out to Eddie Moreno, but deep enough that Jackson dared to scurry over to third base, from where he scored to tie the game on a sad infield roller by Maldonado where the Elks couldn’t pick a base to throw to for so long that everybody ended up safe. Starved for runs and wins, the Coons called a double steal that was executed successfully, but a poor grounder by Toohey, a walk drawn by Waters, and Manny’s deep flyout to Felix Rojas kept the game tied with three Furballs stranded… And then? Then it started to rain, and David ******* Farris hit a home run off Jackson to reclaim a 2-1 lead in the sixth…

Maldo would dig the Coons out this time, conquering Farris with a homer to left in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game at two. Jackson however opened the eighth with disaster, walking Tim Phillips and allowing a single to PH Jerry Outram that saw Phillips dig for third base and beating Manny Fernandez’ throw, with Outram drifting up to second base behind Phillips. Runners on second and third, no outs, another lefty pinch-hitter up in Mike Allen, the Raccoons dumped Jackson for Kuo, who got a comebacker from Allen to keep the runners pinned, then had Rojas at 2-2 when the rain got so bad that the umpires helpfully called a rain delay that lasted an hour. Kuo was not brought back afterwards, the 2-2 count going to Nelson Moreno instead. Rojas was unimpressed, singled to center to drive in both runners, and this time we’d surely lose the game…

Nah. The Elks sent three relievers for the first three batters in the bottom 8th, and all it got them was another tied game when Gene Pellicano, batting for Derek Baskins who was a staggering 0-for-17 to begin the season, homered to left-center off Sam Heisler with Matt Waters aboard to even the score at four. Heisler then hung another one that Ruben Gonzalez belted for the go-ahead homer. Heisler hung around to retire PH Matt Watt, but allowed Adame on base with two outs. Adame stole second, then scored on an Herrera single for a tack-on run. Gone was Heisler, and Pedro de Leon was the fourth reliever of the inning, getting Maldo to ground out. And who to give the 6-4 lead to now…? Moreno had been used and pinch-hit for, and Lynn was still shivering from the 6-run bombing on Tuesday. Preston Porter got the nod; Eddie Moreno lined out to Waters, Rick Price popped out, and Chris Delagrange struck out to end the game. 6-4 Raccoons. Herrera 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Waters 0-1, 3 BB; Pellicano (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 2
VAN: CF Escobido – LF F. Rojas – RF E. Moreno – 2B Mancini – C Julio Diaz – 1B Delagrange – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – P McMichael
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Herrera – RF Pellicano – 2B Martell – C Prow – P Okuda

The rain hung around for Friday, giving us an hourlong rain delay in a scoreless game in the third inning, and because one annoyance was not enough, it was joined by Nick Valdes, who dropped in to personally inquisition about why I was burning many many millions for pitchers with ERA’s that could easily be mistaken for their age. Like I knew the answers to anything here…!

Okuda threw 39 pitches in three mostly harmless innings prior to the delay and was brought back afterwards but got shackled for three hits by Rojas, Bob Mancini, and Delagrange to surrender the game’s first run. By then, the Raccoons had stranded a guy in scoring position in every inning, sometimes after a leadoff double like Pellicano hit one in the bottom 2nd. Nobody was stranded in the bottom 4th, because Armando Herrera, after reaching on an error, was caught stealing second base to clean up. While Nick Valdes bickered on and on about Jason Wheatley and Mike Lynn, the Elks lost McMichael to injury in the fifth, and then lost their 1-0 lead with Heisler back in the fray when Matt Watt hit a double to right and scored on an Adame single with two outs in the inning, tying the game at one. Heisler fell behind Maldonado after that, then fell to a 2-run blast to left, Maldo’s third homer of the season. – See, Nick, at least that monstrous contract is still paying off!

Of course we could not get a smooth win with Nick Valdes in the house. Okuda went back out for the sixth, retired nobody, and left three runners to Bob Ibold after walking Moreno, allowing a single to Mancini, and drilling Julio Diaz. Ibold blew up the game in short order, conceding four runs on a Delagrange single and a Price double to turn a 3-1 lead into a 5-3 deficit. And the Elks pen now seemed to hold up – while they lost another pitcher to injury when Justin Salerno walked off the mound with a hanging moosehead, the Coons could not get a base hit in the sixth, seventh, or eighth… Bonnie, Hitchcock, and Kuo also kept the Elks from tacking on, but the main issue was the Coons still being down by two entering the ninth, and bringing up the sad-sack bottom of the order. Sam Gibson allowed a leadoff single to Al Martell, though. Matt Waters batted for an 0-11 Kevin Prow, and also singled to right. Martell strove for third base, Moreno’s throw was late, and Waters dashed into second base behind all that, putting the tying runs in scoring position for Pat Gurney, hitting for Kuo, and singling to left. Martell scored, Waters was sent – and thrown out by Rojas, killing the tying run at the plate. Gurney made it to second on that throw, but had to be held on Watt’s single to center. He *did* score when Adame poked at a 3-1 pitch, which made Valdes and me shriek in unison, but he dropped an RBI single behind Mike Gibson at second base, tying the game and moving the winning run (Watt) to second base. And then Maldo jacked the first pitch into a 5-4-3 double play, sending the game to extras…

The Coons had to use Lynn in the 10th, post-traumatic stress disorder be damned. His 31.50 ERA went up against the 5-6-7 batters, nailing Diaz before two grounders moved that runner to third base for Adrian Higareda. The righty batter bounced a ball up the middle, but Martell remained on top of that and his throw to first beat Higareda in bang-bang fashion, keeping the damn Elks off the board in the inning. Martell went on to hit the second of back-to-back 2-out singles with Pellicano in the bottom 10th, moving the winning run to third base. Matt Waters, who had remained in the game at short, was itching to walk off the Coons, but would be denied when Pellicano came home on a wild pitch by Gibson instead. 6-5 Furballs. Watt 2-5, 2B; Adame 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Pellicano 2-5, 2B; Martell 2-5; Waters (PH) 1-1; Gurney (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Hey, Nick, look, our $10.8M closer got the win! – Nick, we’ll talk about our $24.5M starter when it’s his turn…! – What do you mean, then you’ll stay through Sunday??

Game 3
VAN: CF Escobido – LF F. Rojas – RF E. Moreno – 2B Mancini – C Julio Diaz – 1B Delagrange – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – P Furuya
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – LF Baskins – C Gonzalez – P Baker

Silly Nick didn’t believe by conviction that we’d lose the last two games anyway because of divine intervention, swiftly dismissing by concept of the baseball gods never allowing us to get over .500 against the damn Elks permanently, as well as the concept of the baseball gods itself while Baker faced the minimum the first time through despite a leadoff walk to Escobido in the first and a leadoff single poked by Rick Price in the third. Escobido was doubled up, Price was caught stealing. The Raccoons didn’t score either, with Ruben Gonzalez reaching as far as third base after a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd before getting stranded by Adame. Nick Valdes then introduced me to the supreme being he dearly believed in, presenting me with a solid gold idol that he kept in his pocket that was maybe two inches high, but *heavy* … His name is Mammon, Nick, really? – You literally pray to Mammon? – I don’t *pray* to the baseball gods … I just fear them as one should… (glances skywards)

The game was still scoreless when Baker leaked walks to Diaz and Delagrange with one out in the fifth. Nick began to rub his idol, while I began to bicker at the ceiling what I had done wrong now to deserve another meltdown, but Rick Price bounced one to Maldonado for a force at third base, and Higareda also grounded out calmly to end the inning. Baskins then snapped his scary 0-for-18 to begin the season, doubling to left with one out in the bottom 5th, but was stranded when Gonzalez grounded out and Baker popped out. Baker would have another pair on base in the sixth after putting on Rojas with a throwing error of his own, then walking Moreno, all with two outs. The pen was stirring, but Mancini flew out to Manny to keep the Elks off the board. Six inning on 97 pitches, quite a few of them wayward, would be all for Baker, despite allowing only one hit; he walked four instead, and had to settle for a no-decision with an Adame double going unused in the bottom 6th to render him hopeless for a W.

Top 7th, Bonnie allowed a leadoff single to Diaz, before turning a double play on a comebacker by Delagrange. Adame then threw away Price’s grounder for a 2-base error. I shuddered, while Ibold came on for Higareda, but ran into Jerry Outram instead. Outram had to be suffering from some thing or other, not making the starting lineup in this series, but still drew a walk to increase the pressure. At the same time, the Elks didn’t bat for Furuya, who struck out to end the inning… Ibold added a 1-2-3 eighth, then was hit for by Gurney with one out in the bottom 8th. Gurney and Watt went to the corners with back-to-back singles, an it was imperative for Adame to deliver something here. Nick rubbed Mammon again and mumbled in a strange language I didn’t understand, while I was content with pressing Honeypaws onto my face so I would not have to see the inevitable double play. I missed an RBI double to left-center, while Nick exclaimed “Ei der Daus!”, whatever the heck that meant.* Maldo dumped Furuya with a single through the left side that scored both runners, and then we handed the 3-0 lead to Mike Lynn. Mancini, Diaz, and Delagrange went down in order, the last two on strikeouts, to put the game and the series away. 3-0 Critters. Adame 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-1;

Don’t you be dismissing the baseball gods yet, Nick! – Maybe the permanent part of the sub-.500 Elks curse only works over the course of a full season!

Game 4
VAN: LF F. Rojas – CF Escobido – 2B Mancini – RF E. Moreno – C Julio Diaz – SS R. Price – 1B Delagrange – 3B Higareda – P de Anda
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – RF Pellicano – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley

Wheats began with a leadoff walk to Rojas, who was caught stealing while Wheats struck out Escobido and Mancini, giving him twice as many K in this game as in his first two starts combined… Adame also drew a walk to open the Coons’ first, but was forced out by Herrera’s grounder to short. Herrera stayed on base, though, which gave us an extra run when Maldo walloped another ball over the fence in left for a 2-run homer. Wheats conceded leadoff hits in each of the next three innings, but it took the damn Elks until the fourth to score a run, and then that was assisted by a throwing error committed by Gonzalez; the run was earned though. While on it, Wheats also hit into a double play with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom 2nd… He did reach on an error by Delagrange with two gone in the bottom 4th, with Ruben Gonzalez reaching second base on the non-play. Adame grounded out to strand them, though.

Wheats put the Elks away 1-2-3 in the fifth, while de Anda allowed a leadoff double to Herrera, then walked Maldo, only for Toohey to hit into a double play. Pellicano grounded out, stranding Herrera at third. Wheats was done after six innings when his spot came up with Gonzalez at first and two outs again in the bottom 6th, but Baskins grounded out. Kuo took over, struck out Diaz, then blew the lead with a homer dished by Price. Neither me nor Nick Valdes were amused. Even Slappy showed an emotion when he sighed as the rocket caused havoc in the rightfield stands. Porter had to dig out of that inning…

The Elks arrived at Pedro de Leon in the bottom 7th, who gave up an infield single to Adame, who then scooped second on his own volition, all with nobody out. Herrera singled to left, but Adame had to be held at third base with Felix Rojas all over that ball. Adame had to hold again on an infield roller by Maldonado. De Leon shooed him back to third base at the expense of a potential double play; Herrera reached second, while Maldo was out at first. Toohey was walked intentionally, and with the bases loaded the Coons sent Manny to bat for Pellicano, which the fans appreciated. He struck out, though. Waters flew out to center, and another batch of runners was stranded… At least Manny caught a scorcher Eddie Moreno hit off Nelson Moreno (no relation!) without getting himself killed in the top of the ninth, and the Raccoons held the tie long enough that a single run would complete the sweep in walkoff fashion. Herrera hit a single off Eddie Sotelo to begin the bottom 9th, but was forced out by Maldo, and Toohey popped out. Only Manny sent the runner (Maldo) to third base with a 2-out single to right. Waters hit a fly to deep left – but Rojas was there and caught it, sending the game to extras.

Nelson Moreno had another 1-2-3 in the 10th, after which Sam Gibson took the ball for Elk City. Gonzalez hit a 1-out single, and Adame scratched a 2-out single in the bottom 10th, but even when Herrera dumped in a third single, we had Gonzalez as the run that actually meant something, and he was not going to score on a ball right in front of Eddie Moreno… Three on, two outs for Maldo! Toohey looked on with great interest in the on-deck circle as Schrodinger’s Batter, for he was not going to bat in the inning. Maldo would either send it to the 11th, or win it outright. He swung at the first pitch, hitting a zinger past a reaching Price for the game-ender…! 3-2 Raccoons!! Adame 3-5, BB; Herrera 4-6, 2B; Maldonado 2-5, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 2-3, 2 BB; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; Moreno 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-0);

(jumps around screaming like idiots with Nick Valdes, Honeypaws and Mammon getting poked into the air intermittently)

In other news

April 14 – Young Aces CF Brent Cramer (.303, 1 HR, 3 RBI) enters the cycle log at age 23, hitting for all the different base knocks in a 4-for-5 performance as the Aces down the Loggers, 10-3.
April 15 – TOP INF Art Bent (.250, 0 HR, 1 RBI) hits an RBI double in the 10th inning to break the ice in a scoreless game against the Scorpions. Bent is driven home as well, and the Buffaloes win 2-0 in the end.
April 18 – Thunder infielder Jonathan Ban (.311, 0 HR, 3 RBI) has his 21-game hitting streak ended by the Falcons, going 0-for-5 in the 4-2 win for Oklahoma City.
April 18 – DEN INF Ivan Villa (.333, 0 HR, 8 RBI) will be out for the next three weeks after suffering a back strain.
April 18 – Another Gold Sock has a good day, with DEN SP Josh Vercher (2-1, 2.25 ERA) pitching a 3-hit shutout against the Wolves. Denver wins 5-0.
April 18 – RIC 2B/SS T.J. Lujan (.310, 2 HR, 6 RBI) is a triple shy of the cycle as he goes 5-for-5 with an RBI in a 4-3 loss to the Miners.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 3B/SS Ed Soberanes (.383, 2 HR, 8 RBI), batting .522 (12-23) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.404, 4 HR, 13 RBI), socking .360 (9-25) with 4 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Wheats and Lynn aside, our long-term deal with Maldo still draws rave reviews from even Nick Valdes. He hit “only” .320 this week (so not far behind Suggs), but he surely hit when it counted, with *10* RBI in the last five games, and at least one in each of them. He has a .963 OPS with a .257 BABIP, so maybe he can break even more pitchers in half!

And then break a leg, because that’s how things go in Portland, usually. (looks skywards again)

Wednesday’s rainout will be made up on May 29 in a Friday double-header. No helpful off days anywhere near to that day, so that’ll be something to work around…

For now we’re in a virtual tie for first with the Titans, who will come in on Monday to resolve the question who shall lead the North. Road trip after that, starting in Charlotte. The Falcons are 6-6, good enough for last in the South. (shakes head)

Fun Fact: Dave Petersen landed six hits in the Scorpions’ 16-5 smothering of the Stars, 69 years ago today.

Nobody remembers Peterson much, who was already 32 years old when the ABL began play in 1977. He held on until ’84, playing for the Scorpions, Buffaloes, and Thunder. He hit .273 with 12 HR and 286 RBI. While not a power hitter, he dropped in an impressive 179 doubles.

*archaic German expression that means nothing more than “hey!” or “look at that!”

[Westheim]

Raccoons (7-4) vs. Titans (8-5) – April 20-22, 2048

Nick Valdes went his ways after the successful sweep of the damn Elks, leaving me to my own devices for the 3-game set with the Titans that dawned on Monday and would conclude the long homestand. The Bostonians had started the year 5-0 against the Loggers and Aces before meeting actual opposition and had sagged a bit since, leaving us in a virtual tie for first place on Monday morning. They ranked fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed so far, but the Raccoons had owned the Titans’ bottoms for a number of years now and I did not yet see how that was supposed to change any time soon. We had won the season series for six years in a row, with three straight years of pounding them for a final tally of 14-4 each time.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (1-0, 2.13 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (1-0, 1.06 ERA)
Jake Jackson (0-0, 4.15 ERA) vs. Jim Cushing (0-0, 6.30 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (1-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (1-2, 5.96 ERA)

Their Jackson would open the series by throwing with his left hand; the others were right-handers. The Titans had Ed Haertling on the DL already.

Game 1
BOS: SS Kohr – 1B Wheeler – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 2B Galaz – LF L. Estrada – C Brooks – 3B J. Rodriguez – P B. Jackson
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Pellicano – 2B Waters – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – P Merino

Merino yielded a single to Chris Jimenez in the first inning, but the Titans did not score. The Raccoons *did* score in the bottom 1st, and weren’t shy about it. Our first four batters all chipped singles off Jackson, giving Maldonado an RBI while Toohey loaded the bases for Pellicano, who uncorked a true blast to left-center – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAMMMM!!!

The game then soon fell victim to more iffy weather that had plagued Portland or much of the prior week, with the skies opening in the second inning and leading to an hourlong rain delay pretty quickly… The Raccoons emerged on the other side of it with a pair of errors and two Titans hits in the top of the second that conceded two runs (one earned) to the Titans. Maldonado fumbled a grounder, Merino made a throwing error, and it was all pretty ugly… But Toohey doubled home Maldonado in the bottom 3rd for an extra run, 6-2, and Merino at least recollected themselves so far as to make it through five innings without coming apart hard enough to forfeit a potential W after the 5-run first inning.

Portland tacked on more with the sort-of-hot Maldonado homering to right in the bottom 5th to put Brian Jackson to bed and extend his RBI streak to six games. Merino was done after six innings, also owing to the earlier rain delay, with Kevin Hitchcock putting in a quick seventh, but then being removed from the eighth after leadoff base hits from Tony Lopez and Gerardo Galaz. Jake Bonnie extricated the Raccoons from that spot for a Leo Estrada sac fly, but nothing else, keeping the team up by four. The Coons answered in the bottom of the inning against lefty David Barnes, who got two outs before allowing straight hits to Gonzalez, Kevin Prow (first Critters hit!), and Adame, loading the bases for Herrera, who singled to center to drive in two runs, and it was pretty much the same for Maldo, who raked a 2-run double to left on the first pitch he got from Barnes, which was also the last pitch offered by Barnes in this game. Bryan MacDuffie rung up Bryce Toohey to end the onslaught. Preston Porter put Boston away in a 1-2-3 ninth. 11-3 Critters! Adame 2-5; Herrera 2-5, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Toohey 2-5, 2B, RBI; Pellicano 1-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Prow (PH) 1-1; Merino 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-0);

Whoop, whoop!

I know, Honeypaws, I am getting way too cocky again…

Game 2
BOS: RF L. Estrada – 1B Wheeler – SS C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – C W. Gardner – 2B Kohr – LF C. Vega – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Cushing
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – LF Watt – RF Fernandez – C Prow – P J. Jackson

Cushing had walked ten batters in as many innings to begin his season, but the Raccoons showed a real lack of patience in the early going. While Jackson loaded the bases in the top 3rd with hits by Cushing and Jeff Wheeler, plus a 2-out walk to Tony Lopez, then escaped when Wade Gardner grounded out to Adame to strand absolutely everybody, the Raccoons had a Matt Watt double in the bottom 2nd, then a leadoff single from Prow in the third, but did not get close to a base on balls the first time through. Cushing did not hang around much longer than that, feeling a twinge or something shortly after conceding a 2-out RBI single to Armando Herrera for the first run of the game.

Jackson held on to that 1-0 lead through six innings, while actually putting more runners on base than the Titans hurlers combined during his time in the game. He allowed four hits and as many walks, but also struck out seven to help himself out of one tight spot or another. The Coons looked like a threat in the bottom 6th with a leadoff single by Maldo and with Toohey getting nicked, but Waters found a 6-4-3 double play, knocking a few teeth out of that setup. Matt Watt, though, singled through the left side, plating Maldonado for a 2-0 lead and his first RBI as a Critter. Manny added a single, but Prow grounded out.

However, both Jackson and Cushing failed to get a decision ultimately, thanks to Bob Ibold walking Estrada, then getting bombed by Jeff Wheeler to tie the game in the top 7th. The Raccoons made two outs against MacDuffie to begin the bottom 7th, then got Herrera and Maldo on with singles, while Toohey was drilled for the second time in the game and looked at MacDuffie with visible displeasure, but forewent caving the silly right-hander’s skull in with his club for the time being. Matt Waters came up with the bags stacked, but struck out, and the 2-2 tie prevailed.

Gerardo Galaz socked a leadoff double off Ibold in the eighth, which led to some tight at-bats with Kuo, Moreno, and the bottom of the Boston order, but the two relievers managed to strand the go-ahead run on second base, so that was neat enough. The bottom 8th led nowhere, while Mike Lynn shaved another couple of runs off that ghastly ERA of his, although he did go to three 3-ball counts in the top 9th and walked Jimenez for some additional wrinkles on my sorrow-scarred forehead. Boston didn’t score, however, so the Coons were still only one run away from a walkoff win. Pat Gurney, who had been living in the #9 hole for a bit after an earlier double switch, opened with a single off Emanuel Caceiro. The lefty got Adame, but brushed Herrera with a pitch. That brought up Maldo with the winning run on second and his RBI streak in danger; he was 2-for-4 on the day, but had yet to chase home a run! He ran a full count with Caceiro, then dropped in a single, but Gurney had to hold near second base, because rightfielder Tom Steffensen *almost* got to the ball. Bases loaded for Toohey, then, and a third hit-by-pitch wouldn’t be the worst thing right now. The count ran full instead and Caceiro looked like he didn’t know what to throw anymore. Toohey was licking his lips and wiggling his twig, then had to freeze on a pitch that was like three feet outside and very obviously walked off the Raccoons with a walkoff walk…! 3-2 Critters. Herrera 2-4, RBI; Maldonado 3-5; Watt 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Jackson 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K;

Not that Toohey wouldn’t have liked to hit a walkoff slam…! This was his fifth RBI of the year, which for the early-season Maldo grades out as a slow weekend.

Jim Cushing (0-0, 5.68 ERA) meanwhile learned that he’d likely miss most of the season, or maybe even all of it, with a tear in his triceps discovered by Wednesday.

Game 3
BOS: LF C. Vega – 1B Wheeler – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 2B Galaz – C W. Gardner – SS Kohr – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Turay
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – LF Baskins – P Okuda

In the team’s 14th game, Jesus Maldonado ticked his 18th RBI with a groundout in the first inning, bringing home Adame after the 1-2 batters had went to the corners with a pair of leadoff hits. The Titans got the occasional hit off Okuda, but always seemed to hit into a double play, then made 10 straight outs from the fourth until the seventh inning as Okuda defended the skinny 1-0 lead that the Raccoons, stuck on only one additional base knock after the pair of singles to begin the bottom 1st, failed to extend. The string of retirements ended when Okuda walked Wade Gardner in a full count in the seventh inning. Jason Kohr went on to single through the left side, putting Bostonians on the corners, but there they were stranded when Jose Rodriguez grounded out to Al Martell. Okuda went on to have a 1-2-3 eighth inning, but reached 100 total pitches at the conclusion of it, and with the score being what it was, was hit for with Matt Waters in the bottom 8th, but Waters made the second out with a grounder. Adame then hit a single, stole second (after being caught by Gardner earlier in the game), and Armando Herrera walked to bring Maldo up against Kyle Turay again. His fly to right was no serious challenge for Chris Jimenez, and the inning ended. Things had been adventurous for Mike Lynn so far, to use a more neutral term, and after 26 pitches the day before he was not brought out against the all-right-handed 3-4-5 area of the Boston lineup in the ninth; Nelson Moreno got the call instead. Jimenez looped a leadoff single over the head of Adame, but Moreno struck out the next two. Wade Gardner hit a first-pitch floater to Manny Fernandez, who completed the sweep with a sure grab. 1-0 Furballs. Adame 2-3, 2B; Okuda 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (2-0);

This sweep gave the Coons a 3-game lead ahead of the .500 Titans and Indians. The rest of the division was actually shambolic and deserved no spotlight to be shown on their failures.

Yes, the point where the Raccoons will turn into a 70-92 team again will be very hard or me.

Raccoons (10-4) @ Falcons (8-7) – April 24-26, 2048

On the road again, the Raccoons went cross-country to Charlotte, trying to extend their 7-game winning streak against the Falcons, who were tenth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed in the CL in the early going. Their rotation was in the top 3 by ERA, while the bullpen was in the bottom 3, and they had already shed a few pitchers to injury, most notably Jerry Felix and Kurt Olson. The Coons had lost the season series in both of the last two seasons, 4-5 each time.

Projected matchups:
Jeremy Baker (0-1, 1.38 ERA) vs. Alan Fleming (1-0, 1.56 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-2, 9.69 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (1-1, 5.00 ERA)
Victor Merino (2-0, 1.93 ERA) vs. Jose Villalba (0-0, 3.38 ERA)

Another Southpaw Sunday, what joy! Takagi meanwhile was a 26-year-old Japanese import that had come with a $5M bill for a 3-year deal.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – 1B Gurney – 2B Waters – RF Pellicano – C Gonzalez – P Baker
CHA: RF de Luna – 2B E. Sandoval – CF M. Martinez – 1B Marroquin – LF Caballero – 3B Thibault – C Burgess – SS Marroguin – P Fleming

Another busy first inning for Portland in the series opener, as Adame hit a double to left, Herrera was tickled by a pitch, and Maldo chopped a single that filled the bases with nobody out for Bryce Toohey, who had yet to get the RBI factory going, sitting on five for the season. He popped out, Gurney whiffed, and Waters flew out to center, with a grand total of zero runs going on the board… Instead, the Falcons went up 1-0 with hits by Rich de Luna and Esteban Sandoval, then an Omar Marroquin sac fly in the bottom 1st. The Coons tied it up in the second inning on hits by Pellicano and Adame, only for Jordan Marroguin (seriously, who can tell those two apart??) to belt a 2-run homer off Baker in the bottom of the same inning. That deficit was made up in the fifth with solo homers by Bryce Toohey and Matt Waters, evening the score at three.

While Baker wasn’t *great* but managed to hold on, the Raccoons seemed to have found a power reservoir. Come the seventh inning, Toohey strung a double to left, soon followed by the first homer of the year for Pat Gurney, a no-doubter to right that gave the Critters a 5-3 lead. Unfortunately, Baker crumbled for good in the bottom of the same inning. Bobby Thibault singled, Jordan Marroguin found the gap for an RBI triple, and then scored himself with the tying run on a groundout by Robby Gomez.

Gonzalez singled with one out in the eighth, but was doubled up by Manny Fernandez. Bob Ibold then kept the game tied in the bottom of the inning before the Falcons sent former Raccoon Antonio Prieto out for the top of the ninth. He retired Adame, but Herrera doubled over Archie Turley in center. Maldonado didn’t hit a baseball nearly as hard, but singled to shallow right-center, which was good enough to get home Herrera, who got a very fine read on the play, breaking the tie in favor of the Critters again. Maldo reached second on Turley’s throw to home plate, which took the bat away from Toohey with first base open. Gurney lined out to Esteban Sandoval, but Prieto fell over Matt Waters for a 2-out RBI double to left, then was yanked. Matt Watt hit for Pellicano and singled home another two runs off Kyle Conner for a 4-spot in the inning. Kuo retired the side in order in the bottom 9th. 9-5 Raccoons. Adame 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Maldonado 3-5, RBI; Toohey 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Gurney 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Waters 2-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5;

Game 2
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – RF Pellicano – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Wheatley
LVA: 2B M. Martinez – SS E. Sandoval – RF Allegood – 1B Sevilla – 3B Thibault – LF Marroguin – CF Caballero – C Hoffmann – P Takagi

To my great concern, Jason Wheatley continued to pitch like a bum. He gave up three hits in the first four innings, which sounded good at first glance, but one was a solo homer by Raul Sevilla, and while that was the only damage in terms of runs, there were multiple further hard hits that came down in mittens around the warning track. Wheats didn’t get a K until the fifth inning, and then only on the pitcher. In that inning, he also blew up, exploding a 3-1 lead into a 4-3 deficit, although a throwing error by Waters also made two of those runs unearned. The Raccoons had tied the game on a third-inning Adame triple and a Gurney single after the Sevilla homer, then had taken the lead in the top 5th with RBI’s for Maldo (20!) and Waters again.

The Falcons reached the corners with singles off Wheatley in the bottom 6th, but Omar Marroquin struck out batting for Takagi to strand the runners. The Raccoons also took to the corners in the top 7th, Adame and Maldonado getting singles of Kyle Conner. Waters’ bouncer up the middle eluded Sandoval for a game-tying RBI single, all even at four. Gurney popped out, Pellicano whiffed, ending the inning. And Wheats? Got taken deep by Mike Allegood for another Falcons lead in the bottom 7th, 5-4. Derek Baskins hit a single in the eighth, but was doubled up by Kevin Prow, and the Raccoons were still down by a run in the ninth, facing right-hander Josh Swindell and his 11.57 ERA. Watt hit another leadoff single… and Maldonado hit into a double play to end the game. 5-4 Falcons. Watt 2-5; Adame 2-5, 3B; Maldonado 3-4, BB, RBI; Waters 3-4, 3 RBI;

What the **** is wrong with Wheats…!?

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Pellicano – 2B Waters – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – P Merino
CHA: RF de Luna – 2B E. Sandoval – CF M. Martinez – 1B Marroquin – LF Caballero – 3B Thibault – C Hoffmann – SS Marroguin – P Villalba

…not that I was much happier with Merino, who committed the cardinal sin of giving up a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run double to the opposing pitcher in the second inning. Well, at least it was ******* poetic. Miguel Martinez and Oscar Caballero hit doubles for an extra run in the third inning, Caballero’s coming on two strikes and with two outs again.

The game was very much a lost cause by then. The Raccoons weren’t hitting to an extent that Merino was the king of offense, allowing plenty of hits (eight in six innings) to the Falcons, while landing two of the Coons’ three measly hits through six. Unsurprisingly, no Critter touched third base that far into the contest. Toohey drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, with Waters following up with a 1-out single to center, which technically brought the tying run to the dish. But Manny flew out to Miguel Martinez, and Gonzalez popped out to short, and the Raccoons got ready to book consecutive L’s again. Merino was back for the seventh, but should not have been, allowing singles to de Luna and Sandoval, then was yanked with no outs on the board. Somehow, Hitchcock and Kuo prevented the Falcons from tacking on, despite Marroquin reaching against the former. The latter rug up Thibault to strand the set of three in the 3-0 game. The tying run was at the plate again in the top 8th, with Adame hitting a double to left and Maldo getting hit in the calf by Villalba. Toohey was up with two outs, but struck out. At least we had the decency to go down 1-2-3 in the ninth… Villalba finished with a 5-hit shutout. 3-0 Falcons. Adame 2-4, 2B;

In other news

April 21 – SFB CL John Steuer (0-0, 1.35 ERA, 4 SV) is expected to miss three months with rotator cuff inflammation.
April 24 – The Aces enter the bottom 9th trailing the Indians, 5-0, but go unretired in the inning for a 6-5 walkoff win, the rally capped by a 3-run walkoff homer mashed by 3B Jeremy Hornig (.185, 1 HR, 5 RBI).
April 26 – The Indians swap OF/2B Danny Diaz (.265, 2 HR, 5 RBI) to the Capitals for C Alex Pedraza (.313, 0 HR, 1 RBI) and a prospect.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Manny Liberos (.349, 4 HR, 9 RBI), hitting .545 (12-22) with 4 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR 1B/RF/3B/LF Jesus Maldonado (.379, 5 HR, 20 RBI), poking .545 (12-22) with 1 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

We are first. Adame (12 doubles!) and Maldo (20 RBI!) are raking, and there is a sizable supporting cast, but it’s really not all golden around here. Wheats looks utterly broken. Manny is old. Baskins can’t catch a break. The catchers have one RBI between them. The only thing missing is a pile of injuries.

Also of concern is the run differential, which is only +9 so far. We’re actually only scoring about 4.4 runs per game, giving up 3.8 markers per time of putting on pants. The defense was quite sterling in recent years, but is barely average so far.

Old age coming to get us? I fear not. I seek solace in our 34-year-old third baseman slugging .636 and claim that it’s all just numbers and you’re only as old as you feel.

I feel very old.

Next week? Trip to Vegas to gamble away a few of Nick Valdes’ leftover millions, then back home for a 6-game stint in our old cave, hosting the Indians and Loggers.

Fun Fact: Alex Adame has 12 doubles before April is over, after not getting more than 27 in any of the last four seasons.

His career high would be 33 with the ’43 Crusaders, his age 21 season, which is also the year he won his first stolen base title (he got his second one last year).

Of course, it’s hard hitting doubles when you’re hurt a lot. Adame missed 40+ games each of the last two years.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (11-6) @ Aces (11-8) – April 27-29, 2048

On the way home, we stopped over in Vegas, playing the Aces for three starting on Monday. They led the league in runs scored with 97 markers in 19 games, but were giving up just as many, 96 runs allowed, third-worst in the league, for a +1 run differential (Coons: +9). Their rotation was crummy, their bullpen was outright explosive (7.04 ERA) and all their relievers were required by the league to have a warning label attached to their foreheads. The Coons had won the season series in the last two campaigns, with a 6-3 mark in ’47.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (0-0, 2.84 ERA) vs. Jayden Woods (2-1, 4.91 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 2.79 ERA) vs. B.J. Brantley (3-1, 2.18 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (0-1, 3.15 ERA) vs. Marty Madera (1-2, 8.22 ERA)

Right, left, right. For injuries, outfielder Mark Roberts had gone down two games into the season with a separated shoulder and had yet to return.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – P Jackson
LVA: LF Montana – CF Garbutt – RF Preble – 1B Witherspoon – C Weese – SS E. Luna – 2B B. Owen – 3B Hornig – P J. Woods

While the Raccoons did not amount to more than a Manny Fernandez single the first time through, Jackson gave up a second-inning run with a leadoff walk to Sam Witherspoon and Eddy Luna’s RBI single to center. The score got levelled again in the fourth, which Maldo opened with a single to center. Toohey struck out, continuing his April struggles, but back-to-back singles by Waters and Manny brought Maldo around to score, just before Ruben Gonzalez could roll into another double play to kill the inning. Manny then also contributed in the field, throwing out Witherspoon at third base, which he tried to reach on Kevin Weese’s single in the bottom 4th, thus making the first out of the inning at third base, which made his manager visibly none the happier. Not that I was any happy when the top 5th saw Al Martell whack a leadoff double to right, then get stranded; Herrera drew a 2-out walk, but ended the inning by being caught stealing with Maldo at the plate.

Eddy Luna was caught stealing in the seventh, removing the last base runner Jake Jackson conceded from the bases. Jackson went seven inning of 5-hit, 1-run ball, and was looking at yet another no-decision to begin the season unless the Raccoons could unpack an eighth-inning run with the top of the order. Matt Watt drew a leadoff walk from Woods, and then the Coons went pop, pop, roll-over-and-die… Joy-shan Kuo then held the fort in the bottom 8th, leading to Tim Baldwin breaking the tie by serving up a leadoff jack to Matt Waters in the ninth inning. The next three Critters went out in order, with Pellicano and Adame pinch-hitting for the left-handed batters at their respective positions against the southpaw Baldwin, but Mike Lynn had another recovery outing, retiring the 2-3-4 batters in order to put the game away. 2-1 Raccoons. Waters 2-4, HR, RBI; Fernandez 2-3, RBI; Martell 2-3, 2B; Jackson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

Jackson remains undecided after four starts and 26 innings for a 2.42 ERA…

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Pellicano – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – P Okuda
LVA: 1B Stern – CF Cramer – C Weese – RF Preble – LF Montana – 3B Hornig – 2B A. Rodriguez – SS E. Luna – P Brantley

Portland went up 1-0 in the first, but in unearned fashion. With Herrera (single) and Toohey (walk) on base, Matt Waters’ 2-out fly to left was dropped by Bob Montana to allow Herrera to score. Pellicano then flew out easily. An earned run followed in the second inning, Alex Adame doubling (!) home Matt Watt to go up 2-0. The Aces then begun the bottom 2nd with three straight singles by Montana, Jeremy Hornig, and Angel Rodriguez, all in 3-ball counts, to load the bases. Okuda somehow recovered, allowing a sac fly to Luna before getting Brantley on a groundout and Rusty Stern on a fly to Herrera. He was less lucky the inning after, nailing Brent Cramer to begin the inning. Cramer stole second, followed by a single hit by Weese. Mike Preble then romped a 3-run homer to put Vegas up 4-2. The Aces added another run with 2-out hits by Cramer and Weese in the bottom 4th, which was the last inning pitched by Okuda, who was batted for to begin the top 5th in a 5-2 deficit.

Not all was last yet, though. Maldo would go on to open the sixth inning with a triple to right, soon followed by B.J. Brantley being shown the leftfield bleachers on a massive Bryce Toohey homer, his third of the year. That shortened the gap to a single run, with 2-out runners Ruben Gonzalez and Matt Watt being stranded when Montana caught a Manny Fernandez floater with a headlong dive near the leftfield line. The Raccoons’ Bonnie and Bob Show then loaded the bases in nthe bottom 6th, but Ibold bailed out when Pellicano tracked down a Preble drive to strand the full set. Conversely, Alex Adame was at second base with nobody out as the tying run in the top 7th, owing to a throwing error by Luna that put him there. Herrera flew out to Montana, but Maldonado socked in the tying run with a double to center… and then grabbed a hamstring while being parked at second base. I fainted momentarily, opening my big black googly eyes again to the sight of pinch-runner Derek Baskins retreating to the dugout once a K to Gene Pellicano by ex-Coon Jon Craig ended the inning, stranding him and the go-ahead run at third base. Sam Witherspoon reclaimed the lead for Las Vegas instead, homering off Ibold in Montana’s spot to begin the bottom 7th. Ibold allowed two more singles, then had Kuo clean up after him to strand two runners.

The Coons tied the game again in the eighth, with a leadoff walk drawn by Gonzalez off Baldwin, before Adame and Herrera nicked 2-out singles off ex-Coon Jeremy Chaney to get even. Chaney entered with an ERA just over 13, and a 2-out RBI double by Al Martell from the #3 hole made sure it wasn’t going to go down too much; it also gave the Coons a 7-6 lead. Toohey grounded out to end the top 8th, and Kuo and Moreno held on to that in the bottom of the inning. With no tack-on offense in the ninth, Mike Lynn got another 1-run lead to save, but this time he blew it. He nailed Josh Landstrom to begin the bottom 9th, walked Luna, and then surrendered the game on back-to-back 1-out RBI singles by Brandon Owen and Cole Garbutt… 8-7 Aces. Adame 2-5, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; Martell 1-1, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4;

Lynn’s ERA? Almost 13.

Now, Dr. Padilla was a bit imprecise about Maldonado’s hamstring. He said it wasn’t a tear, nor a strain, but he had a bit more than discomfort. It was sorta sore. In essence, Maldo was day-to-day, an not in the lineup for the rubber game. Thursday was off, and we’d play it by ear on Friday…

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Toohey – RF Pellicano – 3B Martell – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Baker
LVA: 1B Stern – 2B Landstrom – C Weese – RF Preble – LF Montana – 3B Hornig – CF Cramer – SS A. Rodriguez – P Madera

The way things were going I fully expected Madera and his 8.22 ERA to throw a 3-hit shutout against the Raccoons. Baker, though, was taken apart early, giving up a solo home run to Weese in the first inning, then three runs in the second, which the Aces opened with three straight base runners to load them up with nobody retired. Angel Rodriguez singled home a pair, and Rusty Stern hit a sac fly after Madera whiffed hacking. Landstrom flew out to a hustling Pellicano to end the inning. The Coons had pair in scoring position in the top 3rd, Herrera getting nicked and Waters doubling with one out, but Toohey struck out and Pellicano popped out to keep them stranded.

Baker didn’t make it out of the fourth, allowing another run on a Rusty Stern single that drove in Cramer with two outs. Landstrom’s single marked the end of the day for Baker, down 5-0, with Hitchcock coming on and stranding the runners when he got Weese to float out to Pellicano. Top 5th, Portland had straight 1-out singles from the 2-3-4 batters, loading the sacks for Pellicano, who struck out. Madera blew his easy shutout with a wild pitch, then walked Al Martell to restock the plates for Derek Baskins, who was hitting a sturdy .097, which did not get better when he grounded out to Stern to leave three aboard. Instead, Hornig conquered Hitchcock for a 2-run homer in the bottom 5th. 7-1… one of those games…

The Coons could not even score a pity run when Bryce Toohey was moved all the way to third base in the seventh inning on nothing more than a throwing error and a passed ball. No helpful contributions from the lineup against Madera. On the bright side, nobody got hurt, except for me emotionally, and Hitchcock pitched 3.1 innings in garbage relief to at least allow the back end of the pen – Moreno and the shell hole where there once was Lynn – to freshen up for the looming Indians series… 7-1 Aces. Waters 3-5, 2B; Martell 1-2, 2 BB;

Raccoons (12-8) vs. Indians (11-10) – May 1-3, 2048

Sort of critical series here, with the Raccoons not knowing whether to pounce or pout, while the Arrowheads were trying to dig out of an early hole, and we hadn’t been able to win against them on a semi-consistent basis for a couple of years. The season series was even at one after a split in the opening set of the year. Indy ranked fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed. They had a +6 run differential, still better than the Critters’ +3 at this point…

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-3, 7.65 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (0-3, 5.67 ERA)
Victor Merino (2-1, 2.55 ERA) vs. Alex Flores (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Jake Jackson (0-0, 2.42 ERA) vs. Casey Pinter (2-1, 5.74 ERA)

Another Southpaw Sunday! …and also the only southpaw in this series, probably. The Indians had lost Bill Drury to injury this week, and Flores was a likely replacement in the rotation. The 33-year-old had been a regular in the Indians rotation early in the decade, but had spent most of the last few years in the AAA department of various teams. The other option was 21-year-old phenom Enrique Ortiz, who had made his debut the year before, and who was ready to be activated from the DL. Both were right-handers.

Maldo won the CL Hitter of the Month award in between games here, but was still not in the lineup for the opener, owing to that barking hamstring.

Game 1
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – P Nichol
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 1B Toohey – LF Watt – 3B Martell – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley

Wheats still had several bullet holes in his limbs from the strafing the Indians had dealt to him on Opening Day (2 IP, 8 ER), and this game started hardly any better. Angel Mendez and Andrew Russ (shows some teeth) hit soft singles, Bill Quinteros walked, and the Indians scored two early runs on a fielder’s choice hit by Rivera, and Bobby Anderson’s sac fly. Aaron Brayboy grounded out, ending the damn inning. By the bottom 2nd, however, Wheats had the lead for a second-inning rally over Nichol, with Toohey, Martell, Manny, and Gonzalez all socking base hits, with Gonzalez chipping in a 3-run homer to go up 4-2. Gonzalez now had two homers, four RBI, and had yet to drive in anybody this year outside of going yard, and he didn’t do THAT all that often either… Adame singled with two outs and stole second, but was left on by Herrera, who also struck out to strand Gonzalez (walk) and Wheats (Nichol error) in the bottom 4th.

And Wheats? He got the lead through five, which was a good basic achievement, but *how* he did it… There was no stuff. He struck out Nate Massey once, and that was it. He walked three and allowed as many base hits, and the Indians did a lot of popping out to the middle infielders. Something really didn’t feel right about Wheatley, irrespective of the unfortunately elevated ERA…

Bottom 5th, Waters opened the inning with a single to left. He stole second, after which Toohey was walked with intent. The Raccoons called the double steal out of spite, with Waters being thrown out at third base, rather than Toohey being aimed for at second. Then the Arrowheads walked *Watt* intentionally. Al Martell legged out an infield roller to fill the bases, but Manny popped out and Gonzalez flew out to center to strand another three runners… Wheatley surrendered a run in the sixth on a leadoff double by Danny Rivera and two productive outs, narrowing the score to 4-3, then was hit for with his spot leading off the bottom 6th. Pat Gurney homered in the spot, restoring the 2-run lead at 5-3. Ibold pitched around an Angel Quintana double in the seventh, and the same was true for Tan Brink (actual name!) and Matt Watt in the bottom of the inning. Martell walked, but Manny hit into the inning-ending double play. Jake Bonnie got a double play from Bobby Anderson after Rivera singled off him in the eighth. Mike Lynn got no double play in the ninth inning, but also didn’t allow a run in putting the game away. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Martell 2-3, RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

First W of the year for Wheatley. (keeps muttering “second half” to himself) It also secured first place through the weekend against the second-place Indians.

For Saturday, we’d get the 21-year-old up-and-comer rather than the 33-year-old hang-arounder. More importantly, maybe, we got Maldo back after he sat out the last three days and two games.

Game 2
IND: RF A. Mendez – C Pedraza – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – SS Russ – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Massey – 1B Quintana – P E. Ortiz
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – 2B Martell – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Merino

Merino allowed two hits and rung up three in the early innings, while the Raccoons had only one base hit, another Maldo double I squealed at in the bottom 1st. Toohey left him on and the game was still scoreless in the fourth inning, when Toohey drew a 1-out walk from Ortiz, who had walked plenty in his first few outings of the year before hitting the DL. He came into the game with 8 walks and 4 strikeouts in 8 innings. After walking Toohey, he walked the bags full without hesitation, giving him another four free passes in this game. It also gave Ruben Gonzalez three on with one out, which was crying out for another 6-4-3, but he popped out for a more decent approach. It brought up Derek Baskins, still drowning with a BABIP that was almost the same as his horrendous batting average, but he lifted the average all the way to .139 with a 2-out, 2-run double to left, which also put the first runs on the board…! Ortiz went on to walk Merino, which was a transgression no manager should take lightly, but Watt failed to dole out punishment, grounding out to Nate Massey instead.

Bottom 5th, Ortiz clipped Maldo, advanced him on a wild pitch, then had Toohey put on intentionally behind him. Gurney walked after a full-count battle, putting Ortiz at 15 walks in 12.1 innings, and now it was on Martell to capitalize. Martell had a 3-1 count, poked, and popped out. I had a level 3 rage attack above in the office, which only subsided after Cristiano Carmona hugged me and patted me on the head. The 2-out bomb that Ruben Gonzalez hit might have helped as well – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

So through five, the two teams had three hits apiece, and the Raccoons led 6-0. But don’t you worry about the Indians – after Merino had thrown five very fine innings, he got shackled in the sixth as well. Angel Mendez singled, Alex Pedraza struck out. Quinteros drew a walk, and then a pair of doubles to left by Rivera and Russ (growls) drove in three runs total. Anderson and Massey made outs after that, keeping it at 6-3. He offered a leadoff walk to Quintana in the seventh, but pitched around that while rain began to fall, but he also reached 100 pitches in the inning and would not be back for the eighth anyway even without the hourlong rain delay that eventually preceded it. Play resumed though, then with Kuo facing Quinteros and Rivera. Quinteros had his uniform brushed with a 1-2 pitch, while Rivera struck out. Moreno took over, filled the bags immediately on a walk to Russ (bites into fist) and an Anderson single, but Massey lobbed out to Martell. Left-hander Philip Locke then batted for Quintana, hitting all of .077 at this point. The Raccoons hung with Moreno, since Bonnie was not to be trusted with the tying runs aboard and Lynn had been “volatile” as well. Moreno got a groundout… after balking in a run at 2-2… Sometimes… Lynn got the 6-4 lead in the ninth, K’ing Brayboy to begin the inning, which delighted me, en route to striking out the side. 6-4 Critters. Gonzalez 1-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Merino 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (3-1)

We never expanded on those three measly hits, but thankfully the 21-year-old, maybe slightly underdone, Ortiz had offered enough walks to help us to another W…

Game 3
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS Russ – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – P Pinter
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Malonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Pellicano – LF Watt – C Prow – P Jackson

Jackson walked a pair in the first inning, but wiggled out of that jam and instead got handed a 1-0 lead on Maldo’s homer to right in the bottom of the inning. Russ (hisses) singled and stole second (hisses!) in the third, but got stranded with all that happening with two outs. That was “only” six steals for Russ on the year, trailing Adame (seven) and others in the CL. Adame stole his eighth bag out of spite in the bottom of the inning, and was joined on the bags by Herrera. They were in scoring position with Maldo grounding out to Brayboy, then both scored when Toohey slapped an 0-2 pitch over the leaping sophomore Anderson for a 1-out, 2-run single, going up 3-0 and finally reaching 10 RBI on the year. 2-out singles by Pellicano and Watt scored Toohey, too, hey, while another single by Kevin Prow saw Pellicano thrown out at home by Rivera upon being sent around from second base. Adame stole another base in the fourth, was joined on the bases by Herrera again, but that time Maldo hit into the inning-ending double play.

Jackson, though, with no decisions on his ledger so far this season, held the Indians away to the tune of two hits in five innings, which would qualify him for a W. He had a quick sixth, then a long and depressing, and also incomplete seventh, in which the Indians whacked him for four hits and three runs, with the tying run stranded at second base when Russ grounded out against Preston Porter, but we were now in another 4-3 squeezer. Portland scratched back against Mike Lechowicz in the bottom 7th, however. Waters reached on an error, then scored on Pellicano and Watts singles, with Pellicano having stolen second base in between, so he reached third on the Watt single, from where he scored on Prow’s groundout to Massey, giving Prow his first Coons RBI (eh, it’s only May…!). Manny grounded out for Porter to end the inning, up 6-3.

Four among the next five Indians batters (3-through-7) were left-handers, so we went to Bonnie. He saw all of them, walking a pair in a drawn-out eighth that nevertheless ended with a K to Massey and no runs for Indy. Moreno would get the ninth inning, with Lynn having been out four times already this week. Pedraza flew out to Pellicano to begin the inning, and that was the last ball put in play; Quintana and Mendez both struck out to complete a surprise sweep. 6-3 Raccoons. Adame 2-4, BB; Herrera 2-4, BB; Toohey 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Pellicano 2-4; Watt 2-4, 2 RBI;

In other news

April 27 – Cincinnati could be without 3B Jesus Burgos (.283, 3 HR, 9 RBI) until mid-June. The 28-year-old has suffered a torn meniscus.
April 29 – IND SP Bill Drury (2-2, 3.04 ERA) is expected to miss three months with shoulder inflammation.
April 29 – SFW CF Clay Krabbe (.136, 1 HR, 8 RBI) will be shut down for two months due to recurring back spams, generally not great news for a 25-year-old player.
May 2 – Thunder OF Juan Benavides (.250, 3 HR, 12 RBI) could miss three months with a torn meniscus.
May 3 – Bayhawks SP Chih Ke (2-0, 3.97 ERA) knocks off the Thunder in a 3-hit shutout, claiming the 7-0 win. The 30-year-old righty rings up six in the effort.

FL Player of the Week: WAS OF/2B Danny Diaz (.357, 4 HR, 10 RBI), batting .526 (10-19) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB OF/1B Ken Crum (.363, 2 HR, 12 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 4 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.393, 4 HR, 16 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: POR 1B/RF/3B/LF Jesus Maldonado (.378, 5 HR, 21 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: TOP CL Trent O’Sullivan (3-0, 2.63 ERA, 6 SV)
CL Pitcher of the Month: SFB SP Craig Czyszczon (5-0, 1.17 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP 1B Larry Rodriguez (.388, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ SS/2B Chris Navarro (.260, 0 HR, 16 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

The month of April ended with Jesus Maldonado being just shy of the triple crown in the Continental League, batting .378 with 5 HR and 21 RBI. The RBI lead the league, the homers tied for the lead with damn Elk Eddie Moreno, but Alex Adame, his own teammate, bested him by five points of batting average. Maldo’s still second as of Sunday night, but now behing Anton Venegas of the Knights.

I find it puzzling that we’re so much better against righty pitchers than lefty pitchers, given that our lineup has tilted very much to the right side even against right-handers. Small sample size?

The homestand will conclude with three games against the hopeless Loggers before we enter a phase with a burdensome travel schedule. Off to Washington, back home to play the Gold Sox, and the’re flying cross country yet again for sets in Boston and New York. Another 3-game homestand with the Condors after that, then a single-series trip to the Bay. And when we then get home again for a 2-team hosting schedule, we’ll have to deal with that double header against the Thunder. Not a “convenient” May, even with four scheduled off days…

Fun Fact: The Loggers are bottoms in defense, bottoms in runs allowed, and nearly bottoms in runs scored.

Also a -50 run differential after 24 games. The singular bright spot in the lineup might be Ricky Espinoza with a .278 stick and 14 RBI. Ruben Guzman had a 2.54 ERA. After that it got dark quickly…

Say what you want about any other team in the division, but it’s hard to hate the Loggers. They are the three-legged puppies that only get “awws” and “ooohs” and never elicit the bright burning hatred that I feel for certain other outfits in the division…

[Westheim]

Raccoons (15-8) vs. Loggers (4-20) – May 4-6, 2048

The Loggers! Aye… where to start with them. Second from the bottom in runs scored, bottoms altogether in runs allowed, and a -50 run differential. No defense, little power, but some speed and fourth in stolen bases in the CL. Overall, however, they were scoring all of 3.3 runs per game and were giving up 5.4 runs, so that was not a healthy ratio to begin with. The Raccoons had walloped them last year, 14-4, and had won the season series four years straight.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 4.24 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (0-3, 5.72 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (0-2, 4.56 ERA) vs. John Morrill (0-3, 8.61 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-3, 6.92 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (0-3, 7.16 ERA)

If I look at their ERA’s, I am concerned that we might not score a run for three days straight, because isn’t that how it always goes against these pushovers? In any case, Padilla was the only southpaw we saw coming up here.

Game 1
MIL: CF B. Allen – 3B Napoles – C Payne – SS R. Espinoza – RF Lovell – LF Reeves – 1B McIntyre – 2B R. Lopez – P V. Padilla
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Pellicano – LF Watt – C Gonzalez – P Okuda

The Loggers carted up three Rickies in the starting lineup (Payne, Espinoza, Lopez), and also three guys hitting better than .253, which did include the pitcher. Of course they batted through the order in the first inning then, with singles from Brent Allen and Payne, an RBI double by Espinoza, and a 3-run bomb smashed by Bill Reeves, to take a 4-0 lead on a rather hapless looking Okuda. The Coons would make up single runs in their first two innings of poking; Toohey singled home Adame in the first, and Matt Watt and Ruben Gonzalez drew leadoff walks in the second before being bunted over by Okuda, but an Adame sac fly to left was all the Critters would scratch out from there, and then Okuda rendered the effort moot by getting humped for another two runs in the third inning, giving up three screamers for yet more base hits. Portland answered with a Maldonado single, a Toohey RBI triple (!), and a Waters RBI single in the bottom 3rd, narrowing the score to 6-4, but Waters was then caught stealing to take the momentum out of the whole thing.

Okuda was hit for after four horrendous innings, with Manny Fernandez following up the leadoff walk that Gonzalez drew with a single to right. Adame singled to fill the bases, three on, no outs, which would surely not lead to more heartbreak. While I braced for the worst with Honeypaws in my clutch, Padilla walked in a run in a full count to Armando Herrera, then had Maldonado chip a ball to shallow center for a score-flipping 2-run single; we were now up 7-6…! Toohey walked against Padilla, who was then replaced with Bubba Poss. The righty reliever surrendered one run on Waters’ sac fly, then got a double play grounder from Pellicano to end the 4-run inning.

Bob Ibold pitched the fifth, followed by Hitchcock, who was pencilled in for two innings. Brent Allen doubled off him in the sixth, but tweaked his ankle, too, and was replaced with Erik Bush, who stole a prospective 2-out RBI double from Pellicano in the bottom 6th right away. Hitchcock pitched his two innings before the Raccoons stole an inning from the almost entirely right-handed Loggers lineup with Joy-shan Kuo against the bottom of the order in the eighth, the had another left-handed in or the ninth inning as Mike Lynn took the ball against the 2-3-4 batters. The Raccoons had not scored against the Loggers pen in the previous four innings, so it was still only a 2-run lead. Alfredo Napoles flew out easily to Watt in leftfield, while Payne made Watt run a bit for another “F7” on the scorecard. A strikeout to Espinoza ended the game. 8-6 Raccoons. Adame 3-4, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2 RBI; Toohey 2-3, 2 BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Waters 2-4, 2 RBI; Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Gurney (PH) 1-1; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
MIL: CF B. Allen – 3B Napoles – C Payne – SS R. Espinoza – RF Lovell – LF Reeves – 1B Lowe – 2B R. Lopez – P Morrill
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – P Baker

The Coons took a 1-0 lead on another triple by the first baseman, but this time it was Gurney finding the corner in rightfield, then had the ball bounce a bit away from Pat Lovell to make it all the way to third base, chasing home Waters in the process in that bottom of the second. Manny singled home Gurney after that with his 2,100th base hit (while being five homers shy of 200 and two RBI away from 1,100). Manny then got a bit too hot in the head and was caught stealing second base.

Baker pitched four scoreless for two hits, then gave up a solo homer to Reeves in the fifth inning that cut the Coons’ lead in half. Payne hit a 2-out double in the sixth, but got no help from the next Ricky in line, remaining stranded on a pop to Gurney. Portland had five hits total through as many innings against Morrill, so not a whole lot since that second inning. Morrill leaked a walk to Maldonado in the bottom 6th, but struck out Toohey … only to run into Waters, who deposited a 82mph hanger over the fence in centerfield for his fourth homer of the year and a 4-1 lead. The Raccoons tacked on the inning after, in which Derek Baskins doubled when hitting for Baker, who had turned in seven fine innings, then scored on a capital throwing error by Alfredo Napoles that put Adame on second base. Watt singled for Herrera, but was doubled up by Maldonado to end the inning. Brent Allen hit a double without getting hurt even more against Preston Porter in the eighth, but was also stranded on third base. Pat Gurney didn’t strand anybody, since he didn’t bat with a runner on base in the bottom 8th, but hit a 2-out solo homer to right anyway. Jake Bonnie put the Loggers away 1-2-3 in thee ninth, whiffing two. 6-1 Raccoons. Watt (PH) 1-1; Waters 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Gurney 4-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Prow (PH) 1-1; Baskins (PH) 1-1, 2B; Baker 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (1-2);

Pat Gurney was a double shy of the cycle…!

Game 3
MIL: CF B. Allen – 1B Bush – C Payne – SS R. Espinoza – LF Reeves – 3B Napoles – RF McIntyre – 2B R. Lopez – P Hollis
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – LF Fernandez – C Prow – P Wheatley

Wheatley entered with more walks than strikeouts after a wicked April, and gave up an infield single to Allen to begin the game, but then rung up Erik Bush and got a 3-U double play when Payne lined out to Gurney, with Allen caught off the bag and doubled off. Matt Waters would single home Alex Adame for a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st, but then was also caught stealing, with Herrera on third base, to end the inning. Wheatley continued to litter the bases with runners shedding three hits and two walks (but against five strikeouts!) in four innings, with his pitch count already over 60. Still far from a great start; but at least Ricky Lopez, who opened the fifth with another infield single, was stranded when the Loggers continued with persistent poor contact. The Coons then extended their lead in the inning with kind assistance from Wheats himself; he hit a 1-out single up the middle ahead of back-to-back, 2-out RBI doubles slapped by Herrera and Maldo up either line. Toohey grounded out to short to bring about the end of five innings.

Espinoza would put the Loggers on the board with a solo homer in the sixth, but Kevin Prow pulled the run back with a 2-out RBI double in the bottom of the inning, driving home Gurney, 4-1. Wheats would go on to complete seven innings of 1-run ball on 104 pitches, which was not his brightest achievement by any definition, but surely an improvement over his rotten start to the year. Unfortunately, while he shed over a run off his ERA, the Coons also shed Alex Adame, who tweaked something on a defensive play in the seventh and had to be replaced with Al Martell, who took over second base, with Waters sliding to short. So while Wheats was on the mend, and Adame was new to hurting, the aches and pains of merely watching Mike Lynn continued for everybody as he entered the ninth to walk Napoles with one out, then allowed a soft single to Will McIntyre. A misplay by Bryce Toohey allowed both runners to reach scoring position, while the tying run was at the plate, although the Loggers had to settle for a sac fly by pinch-hitter Tony Sanchez. Allen popped out to complete a sweep. 4-2 Raccoons. Gurney 2-4; Pellicano (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-3) and 1-3;

While Alex Adame would join the team on the trip to Washington, he did so with a stupid little brace thing on his paw after Dr. Padilla diagnosed him with a sprained thumb on his throwing paw, which was sort of inconvenient, as it relegated him to the DL for the next three weeks or so.

The Raccoons brought up Josh Floyd, who was not hitting a lick in AAA, but we needed a middle infielder…

Raccoons (18-8) @ Capitals (12-16) – May 8-10, 2048

The Caps were fifth in the FL East. They ranked below average in most important categories, except for batting average (3rd) and bullpen ERA (4th), but were dead last in power and sat ninth overall in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed with a -4 run differential (Critters: +19). The Coons had played them the last two years in a row, and had won the last four matchups, always two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (3-1, 2.84 ERA) vs. Sean Fowler (1-2, 6.75 ERA)
Jake Jackson (1-0, 2.76 ERA) vs. Bruce Mark jr. (2-3, 3.09 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 5.60 ERA) vs. Salvatore Calderon (2-1, 2.91 ERA)

All opposing pitchers in this set would be right-handers.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – 2B Gurney – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Merino
WAS: RF D. Diaz – SS Clevidence – 2B Strohm – LF Stipp – CF Besaw – C E. Thomas – 1B Lambright – 3B Bass – P S. Fowler

Danny Diaz was a switch-hitter, followed by eight right-handers, so I naturally feared for Merino’s ERA again. Indeed, the Caps took the lead in the first inning, with Doug Clevidence doubling to right and Pat Stipp slapping a single to left to go up 1-0. That remained the score into the fourth inning, which Armando Herrera began with a triple over the head of Joe Besaw in center, soon scoring on a Maldo single to tie the game at one. Toohey then found a double play to hit into.

The Raccoons then went up 2-1 on a Ruben Gonzalez homer in the fifth, but that joy was short-lived, since Merino finally faceplanted a brick wall in the bottom of that inning, which Ian Lambright began with a double to right. The Caps would get a walk, a balk, two more hits, and a wild pitch out of Merino that inning, scoring a messy three runs to take a 4-2 lead… Merino pitched another inning, but would be done after six, while the Raccoons tried to scramble back in the top 7th. Waters singled to begin the inning, then advanced on Gurney’s groundout. Gonzalez hit a single to left, with Waters waved around third base for home plate; he scored ahead of Pat Stipp’s throw, but also limped off with an injury, causing me visible anguish. While Manny hit a single off Fowler after that, Derek Baskins found an inning-ending double play when he batted for Merino… The Raccoons got spotless relief from Ibold and Moreno in the seventh and eighth, respectively, but didn’t score in their half of the eighth, then had Josh Floyd, who replaced Waters, lead off the ninth as the tying run against right-hander Leif Squires. He struck out. Gurney flew out to right, but Gonzalez singled to right. The game ended with Manny flying out to deep center, though… 4-3 Capitals. Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Waters 1-1, 2 BB; Gonzalez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Here come the injuries! A tender hamstring would cost Waters at least one week and maybe two, and he was shipped off to the DL on advice of Dr. Padilla. So that was the whole starting middle infield gone in consecutive games!

The Raccoons readied themselves to play more Pat Gurney at second base in the next two weeks, and instead of 2B John Castner brought back 3B Ben Coen from AAA, which gave the option of giving Maldo a few games at first base. Coen had batted .207 with the Alley Cats this year, and Castner had hardly played at all.

Game 2
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – LF Baskins – P Jackson
WAS: CF D. Diaz – SS Clevidence – 2B Strohm – RF Stipp – C E. Thomas – 3B Bass – LF McGuigan – 1B Zafra – P Mark jr.

The Coons jumped on Mark in the first inning, loading the bases right away with a Watt walk and two singles. Toohey was held to a sac fly in deep center, Gurney was nicked, and Gonzalez whiffed, but Al Martell shoved a 2-run single through the right side to go against the trend of always ******* choking with three aboard and nobody drowned (yet). Baskins’ groundout ended the inning. Jackson had a 1-2-3 first instead, but also ran a full count on every batter… Bruce Mark jr. was actually the first Capitals batter to reach base, doing so with a ground-rule double in the bottom 3rd. Jackson, stunned, walked Diaz, but then got a grounder to short from Clevidence to bail out.

The Coons tacked on in the fourth, when Chris Strohm mishandled Derek Baskins’ grounder for an error to begin the inning. Baskins then went base to base on a bunt and two singles by Watt and Herrera, extending the lead to 4-0. Maldo lined out, but Toohey walked to fill the bases, and then Mark also walked Gurney to force in another run. Gonzalez whiffed to end the inning. He would make it to 0-3 with 3 K before hitting a leadoff single to center in the seventh, still in a 5-0 game. He was picked off first base instead…

Jackson scattered five hits and two walks in seven innings, and also got a few double plays turned behind him. He struck out five in a very fine, if unspectacular start, while Mark rung up seven, but also walked six Critters. While the Raccoons’ offense did next to nothing against the Capitals pen, the same was also true the other way round. Hitchcock and Porter each allowed a hit in their respective innings after Jackson departed, and neither runner made it into scoring position alive – in Pat Stipp’s case literally, being thrown out by Gonzalez when he tried to steal his way there in a 5-run deficit. 5-0 Raccoons. Watt 2-2, 3 BB; Herrera 3-5, RBI; Toohey 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Jackson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (2-0);

Sunday saw the Raccoons up against a 30-year-old rookie in Salvatore Calderon, a 30-year-old Cuban … uh… “ex-pat”.

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – 2B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – RF Pellicano – P Okuda
WAS: RF D. Diaz – SS Clevidence – LF Stipp – C E. Thomas – 1B Lambright – 2B O’Keefe – CF de la Torre – 3B Bass – P S. Calderon

The visibly struggling Okuda got the ball in the rubber game, walked the leadoff man in the first, allowed a leadoff single in the second, but twice eloped with a 6-4-3 double play. He was also involved in a double play in the third inning, then on a Gurney grounder (grumbles…), before pitching an almost clean bottom 3rd until Manny Fernandez soiled it by dropping Calderon’s fly to left. Diaz struck out to end the inning instead. Portland weather in Washington forced a brief rain delay in the fourth, but it took hardly 20 minutes for the rain to move on.

Chris O’Keefe walked and Alex de la Torre singled in the bottom 5th to put two on base, but Okuda got a third double play from Brian Bass, ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless through five. Top 6th, the Raccoons moved first; Toohey walked, then scored on 2-out singles by Gonzalez and Martell for a 1-0 advantage. Pellicano grounded out to O’Keefe, stranding a pair, but Okuda turned away the Caps in 1-2-3 fashion in both the sixth and seventh innings. With additional offense for the road team nowhere to be found, Okuda was chased by O’Keefe’s leadoff single in the bottom 8th. We brought Moreno, and the Capitals brought Joe Besaw to hit for de la Torre, and raking a 2-run homer on the first pitch. And that was the ballgame. 2-1 Capitals. Maldonado 2-4; Okuda 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K and 1-2, BB;

In other news

May 5 – Offense is at a premium in a 1-0 Indians win over the Canadiens. The Indians have two hits to the sole Canadiens single hit by Eddie Moreno (.259, 5 HR, 12 RBI), but even the run that beats VAN SP Hisami Furuya (0-4, 4.11 ERA) is unearned thanks to an error by his teammate Rick Price. IND OF/1B Bill Quinteros (.318, 4 HR, 20 RBI) singles home the golden run in the fourth inning.
May 5 – PIT CF Jayden Ward (.191, 2 HR, 9 RBI) brings in the only run in the Miners’ 1-0 win over the Buffaloes with a home run.
May 6 – Rebels 2B/SS T.J. Lujan (.278, 3 HR, 20 RBI) is a triple shy of the cycle in a 4-for-5 day with 4 RBI as the Rebels drub the Blue Sox, 13-6.
May 10 – VAN SP Hisami Furuya (1-4, 3.27 ERA) wins his first game of the season in style, 1-hitting the Buffaloes in a 5-0 Canadiens victory. Furuya strikes out six and yields only a seventh-inning single to Topeka’s J.P. Angeletti (.238, 4 HR, 17 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF Nate Culp (.319, 9 HR, 21 RBI), smothering .565 (13-23) with 5 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.347, 6 HR, 20 RBI), hitting .440 (11-25) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Promoting Josh Floyd for some bench duty with the Critters opened a spot in AAA for Lorenzo Lavorano, the #125 prospect overall and the #6 in our system, to swing his bum around the AAA circuit for a few weeks to get a taste. Lavorano had just turned 21 and it was still early for him, but Pat Degenhardt says that he was really about to turn himself into a hitter any second now. Well, his arrival in the majors might well coincide with the collapse of our current dynasty, would be nice to have shortstop covered when we ship Adame elsewhere.

Matt Waters’ demise on Friday removed the last Critter from contention that had played in every game this season. It was unseasonably early for that, I think… But all of our four starting infielders have already had at least a tweak this season, and the outfield is operating more on a rotational basis to begin with, so there’s that.

What else is weird in AAA? Matt Glodowski was a second-rounder in 2043. He is now 28 years old and hitting for an .848 OPS with the Alley Cats. But since he is a corner outfielder, we really have no spot for him. On the other paw, the Alley Cats need him, since nobody else on that team is doing ANYTHING right, and they started the season 9-15 with a pythagorean record worse than even that…

We will play the Gold Sox at home beginning on Monday, then make back out East to face the Titans on the weekend.

Fun Fact: The Federal League’s two leaders in saves are both right-handers named Josh that used to be Raccoons.

Josh Livingston leads with 14 saves for the first-place Miners, with the Rebels’ Josh Rella two behind in the SV column, with the team trailing by one more in the standings. While Rella, now 31, was at one point a smash hit (and a surprising one) for us and led the CL in saves in ’43, his numbers slipped in recent years and we traded him with Arturo Carreno and Ken Mills for Kevin Prow and Ed Crispin this winter.

Well, maybe Crispin will turn into something! Maybe…

Livingston meanwhile was a Raccoon so long ago and so briefly, you’d be excused from having forgotten all about it. Acquired from the Thunder when there was no more stitching up the cloth on the dinner table between us and Ignacio del Rio in the summer of ’35, Livingston was actually used as a starter in 19 of his 21 outings in the brown shirt between that season and the next. While he posted a 2.86 ERA in ’35, he was up to a 6.35 mark in ’36 and then disposed of in a 6-player deal with the Falcons in the 2036-37 offseason (the trade notably also brought in Bryce Sparkes and sent away Jimmy Wallace). He became a closer with the Falcons thereafter and led both leagues in saves later on, with the ’44 Knights and the ’46 Cyclones.

Between Rella (187) and Livingston (269) there were 456 at the top of the FL leaderboard thus, of which 175 had come with the Raccoons.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (19-10) vs. Gold Sox (20-12) – May 11-13, 2048

The Gold Sox came in leading the FL West, and scoring the second-most runs in the FL, but were struggling a bit with pitching. While their rotation was strong and ranked second by ERA, their pen was rather not and pushing an ERA of almost five, easily in the bottom three teams in the Federal League. Overall they gave up the seventh-most runs in the FL, with a +30 run differential (Coons: +22). The Raccoons had seen their fair share of the Gold Sox the last few years, losing two of three in 2046, sweeping them in the regular season in 2047, and, oh, I think there was also a victorious World Series somewhere along …!

Projected matchups:
Jeremy Baker (1-2, 3.82 ERA) vs. John Kennedy (3-0, 1.91 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-3, 5.73 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (3-1, 2.20 ERA)
Victor Merino (3-2, 3.11 ERA) vs. Gary Perrone (5-0, 1.53 ERA)

Those were some ERA’s… we managed to miss the two starters of theirs that had actually struggled. For handedness, Kennedy was the only left-hander coming up here.

Game 1
DEN: CF S. Castillo – 1B Madrid – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – C Welch – 3B Bator – SS Jav. Ramos – RF A.L. Herrera – P Kennedy
POR: LF Watt – CF A. Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Pellicano – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – P Baker

Ruben Gonzalez sent home three runners in the first two innings as the Critters took a 4-0 lead. The first two runs came in the second inning, with Ruben sending a 2-run homer over the fence in left-center, collecting Toohey along the way, while the two runs in the bottom 3rd were unearned for not one, but two Gold Sox errors on the infield. Gonzalez hit a 2-out RBI single to score Matt Watt. Jeremy Baker had already scored on a Justin Bator error, misfielding a grounder by Bryce Toohey that oughta have ended the inning. Baker befuddled the Gold Sox – he allowed nothing but two soft singles in the first five innings, getting a number of easy pops on the infield and whiffing three.

Three errors through five behind him kept Kennedy busy, although Ivan Villa’s error in the bottom 5th did not lead to more runs. It put Gonzalez on base in addition to Armando Herrera with two outs, but Gene Pellicano struck out to strand both of those runners. Baker struck out the side, composed of Kennedy, Sandy Castillo, and Alfonso Madrid, in the sixth, then managed to get dinged in the seventh, conceding a leadoff single to Villa, then a 2-run homer to right to Tim Turner. Whoops. Jesus “Many Millions” Maldonado countered with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, stretching the lead to 5-2 again with his seventh shot of the year. Baker returned for the eighth, struck out PH Willie Ojeda, but then saw Castillo reach on an infield single. Preston Porter came on for the right-handed Madrid, who *also* reached on an infield single. I looked skywards and nodded in appreciation of the practical joke. Switch-hitter Ivan Villa hit into a fielder’s choice, after which the Coons sent Kuo to go up against the left-handed Turner, who worked out a walk to fill the bases with two outs. *Swing!* – there the bullpen door kicked open again, this time spewing forth Nelson Moreno, who had blown the game the day before, but this time rung up Oliver Welch to escape a mighty jam.

The tying run was back at the plate in the ninth with Lynn in command. Bator hit a blooper for a leadoff single in shallow left, while Javier Ramos reached base on a grounder to second base that Pat Gurney flunked for an error – Gurney had batted for hitless Josh Floyd in the bottom 8th in an attempt to make something of a prior pinch-hit single by Derek Baskins, a ploy that didn’t work and now tried to actively backfire. With the tying run at the dish, Lynn rung up Armando *Luis* Herrera, nailed Ryan Meyer, and had Castillo at 1-2 before allowing a grounder to third. Maldo’s only out was at first base, with a run scoring, and the tying runs moving into scoring position for .190 hitter Alfonso Madrid. Lynn got him swinging or strike three. 5-3 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Baker 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (2-2) and 1-3;

TIGHT.

The solo homer marked the 900th career RBI for Maldonado. He was rewarded with a day off on Tuesday.

Game 2
DEN: SS R. Thompson – C Alba – CF S. Castillo – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – RF A.L. Herrera – 1B Willie Ojeda – 3B Zuniga – P I. Mendoza
POR: CF Watt – SS Martell – 2B Gurney – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – RF Pellicano – 3B Coen – C Prow – P Wheatley

After Wheatley surrendered a run on three hits to Turner, Ojeda and Edwin Zuniga in the top 2nd, the Raccoons began the bottom 2nd by loading the bags with Toohey, Manny, Pellicano, and nobody out, courtesy of a leadoff walk, an infield single, and a proper single to right, respectively, and yes, to the Gold Sox defense – if you let Manny Fernandez’ 38-year-old bones reach on an infield single, you have to go back to Glove School…! Of course the Raccoons had to go back to Stick School themselves, not scoring from that fat chance. Ben Coen popped out, Kevin Prow whiffed, and Jason Wheatley rolled over to Villa in a full count.

The score was flipped in the bottom 3rd regardless; Al Martell hit a single to center, and Pat Gurney hit a ball over the fence in right to put Wheats up 2-1. The whole shebang didn’t hold up, though, and the writing was a bit on the wall. Wheats struggled with control, was all over the zone, and the Gold Sox hit a few balls into hard outs, a practice they stopped in the fifth inning when Sandy Castillo doubled home Fernando Alba to tie the game, and Ivan Villa homered to left to make it 4-2 Denver. Wheatley completed the inning, but on 102 pitches was done for the day, and on the hook yet again.

Scoreless relief from Bonnie and Ibold kept the Gold Sox in place through eight innings, although the Raccoons offense produced little of note until Derek Baskins doubled to left while batting for Bob Ibold to lead off the bottom 8th, which kindly made him reach the .200 mark for the first time this season… He scored on two groundouts to shorten the score to 4-3, but that didn’t really advance our cause all that well. Gurney hit a 2-out single, but Toohey grounded out to short to end the inning. Kevin Hitchcock worked around a Ronnie Thompson single in the top 9th to keep the Gold Sox at least close, while the Sox sent left-hander Alex Lewis and his 6.75 ERA to defend the 4-3 lead in the bottom 9th. Manny still remained in the game as the leadoff man, but grounded out to Villa, as did Pellicano. Maldonado batted for Coen, but also grounded out on the first pitch. 4-3 Gold Sox. Gurney 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1, 2B; Bonnie 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Game 3
DEN: CF S. Castillo – 3B Zuniga – SS R. Thompson – 2B I. Villa – LF T. Turner – C Welch – 1B Madrid – RF Bator – P Perrone
POR: CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – P Merino

Merino got run over in the second inning, conceding at first three hits to Tim Turner, Alfonso Madrid, and Justin Bator for a run, then a walk to Sandy Castillo to load the bases. Edwin Zuniga then singled home two more runners before the inning ended on a Thompson fly out. Those four singles were the only Denver hits in the first five innings, but the Raccoons didn’t even set paw on third base until Pat Gurney hit a solo homer with two outs in the bottom 5th to shorten the score to 3-1. Another scoreless inning was added by Merino, allowing a leadoff double to Ivan Villa, who got stranded by the next three batters, and Bob Ibold struck out the side in the seventh inning. Hitchcock and Bonnie provided even more scoreless relief after that, but the offense just couldn’t seem to find even second gear, or second base, or whatever. Perrone struck out eight in as many innings, and Alex Lewis retired Watt, Gonzalez, and Martell in order in the ninth to put the lid on. 3-1 Gold Sox. Martell 2-4;

Raccoons (20-12) @ Titans (16-19) – May 15-17, 2048

The Titans had lost six in a row, hinting at problems with their mix of a mediocre offense (9th in runs scored) and average pitching (5th in runs allowed). They lacked power and speed, as well as a bullpen. The Raccoons had posted a 3-game sweep over them in the first series of the season, but that had been in Portland. Nothing good ever happened in Boston.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (2-0, 2.27 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (2-2, 4.94 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 4.72 ERA) vs. David Barel (3-3, 2.03 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (2-2, 3.55 ERA) vs. Victor Mondragon (3-3, 2.88 ERA)

Right, left, right, and hopefully a few wins…

Game 1
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – LF Baskins – P J. Jackson
BOS: 1B Haertling – 2B Kohr – SS C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – C W. Gardner – RF L. Estrada – LF C. Vega – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Serio

At least we got a good start. Matt Watt was hit to begin the game, and a Maldo double, a Toohey sac fly, and Gurney’s RBI single to center produced two first-inning runs before it ended. Unfortunately Jackson gave one run back right away, conceding a double to Ed Haertling and a single to Chris Jimenez to make it 2-1, then also walked Wade Gardner before poor contact by Leo Estrada ended the inning. Carlos Vega opened the bottom 2nd with a single to center, then advanced on two groundouts before Haertling popped to shallow center with two outs. Martell dropped the ball for an error, the Titans tied the game, and Jackson came apart with another hit, a hit batter, and a 2-run double by Tony Lopez before Gardner mercifully grounded out to Martell. The Coons, come the top 3rd, then loaded the bases with one out as Serio hit Maldo and Toohey back-to-back, which neither one appreciated much, and a Gurney single made it three aboard. Ruben Gonzalez then enjoyed himself in hitting into a 4-6-3 double play.

Nothing good ever happens in Boston. Did I mention that?

Jackson went five, allowing a Vega homer in the third and another two hits for one more run in the fourth inning for six total, while Watt plated Martell with a groundout in the fourth, which was about the extent to which the Raccoons seemed willing to rally. We didn’t reach in the sixth, we didn’t reach in the eighth. When Maldo reached with a single in the seventh, Toohey doubled him up right away. And all that was before Nelson Moreno got spanked for another three runs in the eighth inning. Top 9th, down by six, the Raccoons’ Prow, Watt, and Herrera all reached base with one out against lefty Victor Scott, who allowed a single, a walk, and another single. The runners scored on a Maldo groundout and a 2-run double by Toohey, but then Emanuel Caceiro came on to replace Scott and restore order against Gurney. 9-6 Titans. Maldonado 3-4, 2B, RBI; Gurney 2-5, RBI; Prow (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Gurney – RF Pellicano – SS Floyd – P Okuda
BOS: 3B J. Rodriguez – SS Kohr – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 1B Haertling – C W. Gardner – 2B T. Thompson – LF C. Vega – P Barel

Another day, another moist start. Watt drew a leadoff walk, then was doubled off by Herrera, while the Titans got Jose Rodriguez on with a leadoff single. Jason Kohr forced him out with a grounder, but then stole second and scored on a Tony Lopez hit to put the Titans up 1-0. Toohey was nailed to begin the top 2nd, and came around on a wild pitch and a Pellicano single to tie it up again, with Pellicano then caught stealing to end the inning, but at least he picked a wannabe 2-run homer by Vega off the top of the fence in the bottom of the inning… The bottom fell out of it in the third inning again anyway. Okuda walked Rodriguez, allowed a single to Kohr, and they pulled off a double steal before back-to-back doubles by Haertling and Gardner plated three runs.

I gave up on the game, but Maldo insisted I keep watching, tripling home Watt and Herrera in a 2-out rally in the sixth inning to cut the gap to a single run, but then was stranded. While Toohey walked, Gonzalez whiffed, and that ended the inning. Okuda returned for the bottom 6th and just ****** up more. Leadoff walk to Gardner, then a pair of singles by the left-handed 8-9 hitters, including the pitcher. Barel drove home Gardner, 5-3, and Ibold gave up a sac fly to Rodriguez to restore the 3-run gap.

Barel went into the eighth with his 6-3 lead, then put Watt and Herrera aboard ahead of Maldonado *again*. This time though, Maldo grounded over to Gerardo Galaz for a fielder’s choice. Toohey hit a 2-out RBI single up the middle, and Gonzalez an RBI single to right to get us to a 1-run deficit again… and also Barel out of the game. Left-hander Jonathan Lewis replaced him, and the Coons sent Ben Coen to counter with a righty bat in place of Gurney, a mad ploy that actually worked when Coen dropped in the third straight RBI single in right-center, tying the game at six…! Pellicano then grounded out, stranding two. From there, the game went to extras with scoreless relief work by Porter and Kuo, but Scott kept the Coons off the bases, too. Kuo continued in the bottom 10th, retired Galaz and Vega, then had a Floyd error put Justin Brooks on base before yielding a double to Rodriguez that probably would have ended the game with any other runner carrying the winning run, but Brooks had to be stopped at third base and was stranded when Kohr grounded out to short. Kuo’s spot – the #6 in the lineup – led off the top 11th against Scott, with Kevin Prow batting instead and doubling into the gap in left-center. Despite Pellicano remaining useless with another K, the Coons loaded the bases on an intentional walk to Floyd (!?) and a Martell single, bringing up the top of the order again. Watt ran a full count, then popped out. Herrera ran a full count, then actually laid off the crap and took ball four to push across the go-ahead run in Prow. That brought up Maldo again, who fell to 1-2 when we could really use an insurance run or two. He provided four on the 1-2 pitch. GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!

Scott was yoinked after that and replaced with Tommy Griffith, who loaded the bags with a Toohey double, a walk to Gonzalez, and by nicking Prow in the ribs. Pellicano reliably flew out to left to strand the lot of them. Thankfully Mike Lynn got through the bottom of the inning without allowing more than four runs… 11-6 Raccoons. Watt 2-5, BB; Maldonado 2-6, HR, 3B, 6 RBI; Toohey 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Coen (PH) 1-1, RBI; Prow (PH) 1-1, 2B; Martell 2-2; Kuo 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-0);

MALDO IS THE ******* MAN!!!!

(Herrera looks miffed, having driven in the actual winning run)

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – 2B Martell – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – C Prow – LF Baskins – SS Floyd – P Baker
BOS: 3B J. Rodriguez – SS Kohr – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 1B Haertling – C W. Gardner – 2B Galaz – LF C. Vega – P Mondragon

Josh Floyd couldn’t hit a lick, but when Prow and Baskins went to the corners to begin the top 2nd after landing a pair of base knocks, Floyd at least grounded out in such a way that only he was out and Prow could score to tie the game after Baker gave up a 2-out run on a Haertling RBI single in the first. A wild pitch moved Baskins to third base, from where he scored to put the Coons up 2-1 when Baker grounded out to short. Kohr and Jimenez began the bottom 3rd with a walk and a single, setting up camp on the corners with nobody out. Lopez whiffed, and Haertling hit a comebacker for a fielder’s choice at second base, all the while keeping Kohr stuck at third, where he remained until Gardner grounded out to Maldo to end the inning… and then Galaz hit a leadoff jack to left-center to tie the game in the fourth anyway…

While the Raccoons did not reach base at all in the middle innings, there was never a shortage of runners against Baker, who fell to the Titans in the sixth. Gardner hit a single, and Vega and Mondragon (…) slapped a pair of 2-out RBI doubles to put Boston up 4-2…

The Critters were stuck on three base hits through seven before Armando Herrera opened the eighth with a pinch-hit triple for Kevin Hitchcock in the #9 hole. Mondragon was still in the game, surrendered the run on Watt’s groundout, but retired Martell and Maldo as well to stay ahead, 4-3. In the ninth it was lefty Jonathan Lewis against the 4-5-6 batters. Although he only needed the #4 batter to blow the game, serving up a homer to Bryce Toohey on a 1-2 pitch. The next three batters made outs – that bottom of the order was a wasteland – and Bob Ibold returned to the mound after having already cleaned up behind Bonnie in the bottom 8th. Estrada and Kohr hit 1-out singles of him, with Estrada to third on Kohr’s single and Kohr stealing second to take the double play away. When Chris Jimenez grounded to Martell, he fired home and actually managed to throw out Estrada! That restored the Titans to the corners with two outs, where they remained when Tony Lopez punched a K against Ibold, giving us back-to-back extra innings. The Coons went down 1-2-3 in the 10th against Lewis before Mike Lynn gave up a leadoff triple to Haertling in the bottom of that inning. There was no coming back from this one, although Martell tried to get another 4-2 out at home on Taylor Steffensen’s grounder to second base, but this time he was too late. 5-4 Titans. Herrera (PH) 1-1, 3B; Ibold 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

May 12 – WAS SP Cory Ellis (1-4, 4.87 ERA) no-hits the Thunder for seven innings, but already concedes a run when he walks the bases loaded and gives up a sac fly in the bottom 7th, which also ends his 1-0 lead. The Thunder scratch out two singles and a run for a 2-1 win in the bottom 8th.
May 12 – SFB SP Rafael Pedraza (1-1, 3.92 ERA) would miss six weeks with a torn meniscus.
May 12 – It takes 12 innings to find a run in in the Wolves-Crusaders game, with NYC 3B/SS Brad Critzer (.222, 2 HR, 6 RBI) ending the affair with a walkoff RBI double for a 1-0 Crusaders win.
May 14 – TOP SP Aaron Bryant (0-4, 4.54 ERA) is headed for Tommy John surgery with a torn UCL and is going to miss the next 12 months.
May 14 – Indy would be without INF Andrew Russ (.277, 0 HR, 4 RBI) for the next six weeks; the 27-year-old was out with a sprained thumb.
May 16 – Everybody in the Canadiens lineup gets at least one hit, one run and one RBI in a 15-4 romp of the Loggers… except for Adrian Higareda (.189, 1 HR, 5 RBI), who has two hits, two runs, but no RBI.
May 17 – CIN SP Lachlan Clarke (0-5, 6.75 ERA) is found out to have elbow ligament damage as the root of his struggles. He will miss 12 months for the necessary reconstruction surgery.
May 17 – Loggers INF/LF/RF Alfredo Napoles (.280, 2 HR, 17 RBI) has five hits and only misses the homer for a cycle in a game against the Canadiens. Napoles drives in two runs in the 10-4 Loggers victory.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 2B/SS Lance Harrison (.364, 6 HR, 21 RBI), hitting .500 (9-18) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA 1B Sam Witherspoon (.288, 8 HR, 19 RBI), socking .526 (10-19) with 5 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Losing Adame and Waters has thinned the lineup so badly that it’s a bit of a chore to score runs right now. We’re a broken Maldo leg away from a losing spiral to the depths of the Loggers…

Maldo was within 13 points of batting average away from a triple crown on Saturday, but an oh-fer on Sunday dropped him quite a bit away from Vegas’ Kevin Weese. He still ties for the lead in both homers and RBI in the CL, and 34 RBI in 35 games surely ain’t bad.

It’s the middle of May and everybody bugs me with new contracts. Manny, Martell, Jackson… which makes me think that the abyss is nearer than I previously thought and they all want to make a few more millions before the ship goes down for good. We’ll see whether it remains afloat next week against the Crusaders and Condors.

One thing that disturbs me? We went through the rotation seven times, and only Merino has more than two wins among the starters, and he only has three, either…! Bob Ibold and Mike Lynn have more wins than Wheats and the rest of the rotation…!

Fun Fact: Sadaharu Okuda has a wicked 5.45 ERA and yet has not lost a game yet.

(opens snout)

(closes snout)

Sometimes I just don’t know. Getting five and a half runs of support per game might be part of the trick...

[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-14) @ Crusaders (14-23) – May 19-21, 2048

The Crusaders belonged to the bunch of teams in the division that could hardly walk in a straight line. They were scoring the fewest runs in the CL – precisely three markers per game! – and their pitching was not exactly stellar, with the second-worst rotation and a fine bullpen, that nevertheless had hardly anything to save. Add crummy defense and a complete lack of speed (last in stolen bases), and all that made for a long, long season. The Coons had won the season series the last two years, 12-6 each time.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 5.92 ERA) vs. Tony Negrete (1-0, 1.93 ERA)
Victor Merino (3-3, 3.30 ERA) vs. Jim White (2-3, 2.57 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-1, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (3-5, 4.86 ERA)

Former Critter Tony Negrete was the only left-hander we saw coming up here. He had made 10 appearances so far this season, all in relief.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – RF Pellicano – SS Floyd – P Wheatley
NYC: SS Gates – 3B Critzer – LF Garris – C Lara – 2B Kaufman – CF Burch – 1B D. Hernandez – RF Cannizzard – P Negrete

The Coons found nothing against Negrete the first time through, besides Armando Herrera doubling to center and being stranded in the first. Wheatley continued to look not like Wheatley, spent a lot of time behind in the count, and gave up a run on a walk offered to Prince Gates, who stole second, and Brad Critzer’s RBI single in the bottom 3rd. At the same time he allowed only two base hits through five innings, but that was enough to have him on the trailing end yet again.

The Coons got Pellicano and Floyd on with a walk and single, respectively, in the top 5th, but Wheats and Watt made poor outs to keep them on. Herrera and Maldo began the sixth with soft singles, which was already the biggest stir the team had made all day. This led to tying up the game… somehow… despite Bryce Toohey hitting into a 6-4-3 double play. The Crusaders sent Ryan Fentress to relief Negrete, and a wild pitch by Fentress brought in Herrera to tie the game. Wheats ended up with a no-decision for pitching a scoreless sixth, after which a rain delay ended his time on the field. The Coons’ pen kept holding the Crusaders to two hits and one run, with a seventh by Ibold, and Bonnie and Moreno combining for the eighth. If only the offense … – no.

Moreno and Kuo held away New York in the ninth, sending a 1-1 snoozer to extra innings, the Critters’ third overtime game in a row (but with an off day in between). Julian Ponce rung up Pellicano, Floyd, and Coen in order in the 10th. The Raccoons then arrived at Kevin Hitchcock to pitch, and the Crusaders arrived at the conclusion that they should unpack all those hits they had been saving. Brian Kaufman, Kevin Burch, and Dave Hernandez clipped singles without making an out, walking off the New Yorkers… 2-1 Crusaders. Herrera 3-4, 2B; Maldonado 2-4; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

Sigh.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – SS Floyd – P Merino
NYC: 3B Critzer – C Bayless – SS Gates – CF D. Hernandez – RF Garris – 1B C. Cortes – LF Rico – 2B B. Nelson – P J. White

White lasted two batters before leaving with an injury, with replacement Ryan Dow allowing sharp singles to Maldo and Toohey before Manny Fernandez lined out hard to Gates to end the inning. Then Merino drowned immediately against a mostly right-handed lineup, giving up singles to Scott Bayless, Gates, Hernandez, and Carlos Cortes in the bottom 1st, along with two runs. He added another run for New York personally in the bottom 2nd, first putting Bob Nelson and Bayless on the corners with two more singles, then brought in Nelson with a wild pitch.

The Raccoons, down 3-0 quickly, had three hits in the first three innings, and already hit into another double play with Floyd en route to not scoring. Josh Floyd, placeholder at shortstop while Alex Adame’s thumb continued to throb, was hitting a glorious .095 when he came to the plate again in the fourth inning, with Manny, Gonzalez, and Martell just having loaded the bases with a string of singles. I had great desires to pinch-hit for the bum, but who’d then play short? Floyd hung around, held still long enough to draw a bases-loaded walk, and thus brought home the team’s first run. Merino popped out, Watt grabbed a 2-out walk for another run shoved across, 3-2, but Herrera grounded out to Nelson to end the inning. Merino responded with getting exploded for another three runs in the same inning. Danny Rico whacked a leadoff double to right, the reliever Dow strung an RBI double to left (…), and Critzer homered to make it 6-2.

…and the Coons looked all but defeated. Merino was not back for the fifth inning, with Preston Porter being wasted for two scoreless innings. Another former Critter, Aaron Curl, then mailed the Raccoons an invitation in the seventh inning, allowing a leadoff walk to Gene Pellicano, hitting for Porter, before tickling Watt with a breaking ball. Two on, no outs, the first rain drops began to fall, while Herrera whacked a 2-run double to right to bring up Maldo as the tying run. He lobbed a soft single, barely over Gates, for his 50th hit of the year, and to give Toohey another chance for a double play – he already had two in the series. Curl kept missing the zone and walked him, filling the bases… with no outs. Manny popped out, after which a rain delay broke again. That got rid of Curl, but not the Critters, with play resuming an hour later with righty Jeff Frank facing Ruben Gonzalez, who on the second pitch roped a single to shallow right-center, with both Herrera and Maldonado coming in to score, tying the game at six! Martell then found a double play to hit into.

Hitchcock and Bonnie kept the game tied for the next few innings, and while the Raccoons got Maldonado to second base in the ninth inning against Julian Ponce, neither Toohey nor Gurney managed to get him around to score. Nelson Moreno was in for the bottom 9th then. Danny Rico chopped a leadoff single, then advanced on groundouts twice, bringing Brad Critzer to the plate with the winning run on third base. Moreno threw the 1-0 pitch wildly past Gonzalez, and the Crusaders walked off on that one… 7-6 Crusaders. Watt 1-2, 2 BB; Maldonado 2-4, BB; Gonzalez 2-4, 2 RBI; Martell 2-4; Porter 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

I feel it in my back fur – there’s a crisis drawing up on this team…

Game 3
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – LF Baskins – SS Martell – C Prow – P Jackson
NYC: SS Gates – 3B Critzer – LF Garris – C Lara – 2B Kaufman – CF Burch – 1B D. Hernandez – RF Cannizzard – P J. Johnson

The Coons had two hits and no runs in the first three innings, with Herrera continuing the recent string of double plays with a 6-4-3 to erase Matt Watt in the first inning. Watt was then in the eye of the storm in the bottom 3rd, which had already seen a leadoff double that Johnson, the opposing pitcher, off Jackson… and on an 0-2 pitch…! Josh Garris batted with two outs and the runner still at second base, then singled to right. Johnson came around third base, Watt threw the ball into no man’s land, and that allowed Johnson to score and put the Coons into another hole. Angel Lara grounded out to end the inning before things could really escalate…

Nothing happened in the middle innings, except for Jackson throwing a whole lot of pitches with a few full-count walks sprinkled in. Still down 1-0, it came as a bit of a shock to everybody when the Critters twitched with one out in the seventh inning, with Gurney and Martell singling to actually, nominally, amount to a threat to the blossoming Crusaders sweep. But fear not – Kevin Prow found another double play to hit into to dispel the danger… The Crusaders instead tacked on a run with a walk to Tim Cannizzard and a Gates double in the bottom 7th… Johnson sat down the Critters in the eighth without issue, and remained in the game for the ninth with the 2-0 lead. Maldo led off the inning and doubled to right, bringing up Toohey as the tying run with nobody out. The New Yorkers stuck with Johnson for now, who was still only on 89 pitches against utterly harmless Coons. Toohey grounded out harmlessly to third. Gurney grounded out just as wimpy to second. Baskins flew to left… and Garris to complete the sweep. 2-0 Crusaders. Gurney 3-4, 2B;

The Indians and Titans both won games on this Thursday to tie the Raccoons in wins, although we remained 1 1/2 games ahead thanks to having played fewer games so far, but was that it? Was that the end of the dynasty already?

There was no improvement coming from Alex Adame’s corner for the time being. Dr. Padilla reported that the thumb was not getting better and that he’d not return before June. The utter lack of production from the middle infielders made a snap move to dump Floyd and promote Lorenzo Lavorano, 21 and well underdone with only 11 games in AAA under his belt so far, just to feel a different sort of pain, a thought that briefly flickered through my tormented head. But I settled down after drinking all the booze the flight attendants would concede to me on the way outta New York, having a little snooze over Montana.

Matt Waters being days away from re-activation also helped.

Raccoons (21-17) vs. Condors (19-21) – May 22-24, 2048

Here was another team with terrible offense (9th in CL) and half a pitching staff, and in the Condors’ case it was the pen that was actually good, sitting second in the league with a 2.23 ERA. We had won the season series three years running, with a 7-2 outcome in ’47.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 5.45 ERA) vs. Jason Jacobs (1-2, 2.91 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (2-2, 3.89 ERA) vs. Ben Lehman (1-6, 5.88 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 5.32 ERA) vs. Matt Weber (2-4, 4.50 ERA)

Only righties in the Condors’ rotation;

Game 1
TIJ: 2B Navarro – CF Tortora – SS Aparicio – 1B S. Henderson – C Mittleider – LF M. Gray – RF Kristoff – 3B C. Reyes – P Jacobs
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Gurney – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – SS Martell – P Okuda

The Raccoons had to hope that Okuda could stop a 1-7 spill for the team, which hadn’t won a game in regulation in 10 days. He put a zero on the board to begin the game before the Raccoons got this from Watt and Maldo, plus Toohey reaching on balls, to fill the bags for Pat Gurney in the bottom 1st. While he popped out to Mike Gray in shallow left to keep everybody pinned, Ruben Gonzalez and Manny Fernandez both found the hole up the middle for 2-run singles, driving in three runs in total for a nice start. Okuda struck out four against one hit the first time through the Condors order, but surrendered a run on singles by Cullen Tortora and Jon Mittleider in the fourth inning; Tortora had also stolen second base on the battery. Cortez Reyes landed a single to right in the fifth, but was hit by a ball batted by Chris Navarro later on in the inning and ruled out on those grounds. Just in case, Pat Gurney extended the lead to 4-1 in the bottom 5th with a homer to right; unfortunately that bomb came after Toohey had doubled off Maldo and a leadoff single…

Okuda kept holding on in the sixth, where he conceded an infield single, and seventh innings. The bottom 7th saw Jacobs load the bags again, having Herrera, Toohey, and Gonzalez on with two outs. Up came Manny on 1,099 career RBI, ran a 3-1 count against Jacobs, then swung and poked a ball to the right side. Navarro lunged, couldn’t reach it, and Manny jumped all the way to 1,101 RBI as both Herrera and Toohey scored on the single…! The inning ended with a Martell groundout, but I barely noticed, having wet eyes. Speaking of wet, everybody got wet soon after, with an early summer storm breaking over the park. The Condors got hits from Jesus Banuelas and Navarro for a second run off Okuda just before the field was evacuated for fear of drowning deaths amonst the participants. Play never resumed, leaving Okuda with a complete-game 8-hitter, somehow. 6-2 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4, 2B; Fernandez 2-4, 3 RBI; Okuda 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (3-0);

Matt Waters was activated on Saturday, with Josh Floyd banished back to AAA, where he belonged.

Game 2
TIJ: 2B Navarro – CF Tortora – SS Aparicio – 1B S. Henderson – C Mittleider – LF M. Gray – RF Kristoff – 3B C. Reyes – P Lehman
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – 3B Maldonado – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – SS Martell – P Baker

Baker offered leadoff walks in both of the first two innings, with the latter coming around to score on a Reyes single to give the Condors a lead, briefly. Gurney opened the bottom 2nd with a double to center, then scored right away on a Gonzalez single, 1-1. Further singles by Manny and Martell loaded the bases with nobody out for Baker, who struck out. Then Matt Watt hit a grounder to right that hit the running Al Martell for the second out, although Gonzalez scored from third base anyway for a 2-1 lead. – What’s with all the hit base runners??

The inning ended with Herrera grounding out to short, and while the Condors had two singles in the third, they stranded their runners on the corners. Waters drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd, stole second, then scored on Maldo’s double to left. Maldo was stranded in scoring position, however, much like Martell was the inning after. Then came the fifth, which saw the arrival of more rain and the departure of Lehman for injury concerns. There was a brief rain delay at the end of five innings, but Baker resumed pitching afterwards, descending into a quagmire of two walks and a single in the sixth inning. He gave up a run on a Reyes sac fly, but emerged still ahead 3-2, and would not return after that, having thrown 92 pitches, and few good ones at the end there…

The Raccoons had a thick scoring opportunity in the bottom 6th against lefty David Fox, who plunked Gonzalez to begin the inning, then gave up a double to Manny. The Condors took the nasty option and walked Martell with intent, but Ben Coen batted for Baker. Fox got him to strike out, but then walked in runs against both Watt and Herrera to give Portland a 5-2 lead. Waters whiffed and Maldo lined out to strand three, and then the pen took over. Ibold was out first and was slapped around a bit for three singles and a run before Mike Gray grounded out to Martell to end the top of the seventh. We then used Kuo and Hitchcock for a 1-2-3 eighth, before the Condors made a mockery out of the bottom of that inning. Watt reached on a walk offered by Brian Shan with two outs, after which Tony Aparicio and Chris Navarro filled the bags with back-to-back errors on grounders by Baskins and Waters, respectively. Toohey pinch-hit in that doubly-unearned spot, with Maldo having been given a few innings off and the pitcher dwelling in the #4 slot. Toohey ran a full count, then struck out swinging. Lynn put away the Condors in the ninth for back-to-back wins. 5-3 Raccoons. Fernandez 2-4, 2B; Martell 2-3, BB;

For Sunday, the Condors skipped Weber and brought Kevin Daley (4-2, 3.75 ERA) instead, but that was also another right-hander.

Game 3
TIJ: 2B Navarro – 3B A. Lopez – SS Aparicio – 1B S. Henderson – CF Tortora – C Mittleider – RF E. Moore – LF M. Gray – P Daley
POR: 1B Gurney – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Toohey – C Gonzalez – SS Martell – LF Baskins – 3B Coen – P Wheatley

Wheats faced the minimum through the first three innings despite walking Sterling Henderson in the second; Tortora hit into a double play to make the numbers add up. The Coons were up 1-0 by then thanks to a Gurney single to open the bottom 1st, a wild pitch, and another single by Herrera. Top 4th, Alex Lopez singled for Tijuana, then was doubled up by Aparicio. The Raccoons didn’t have much more success; by the completion of five, Toohey had another double play on his ledger, and Martell and Baskins went to the corners with leadoff singles in the bottom 5th, but were then stranded by a string of poor outs from Coen, Wheatley, and Gurney. Ethan Moore’s leadoff triple into the rightfield corner then allowed the Condors to make up the deficit on Gray’s groundout, tying the game at one.

Wheats allowed only three hits through seven innings, then had a sniff at a potential lead again when Al Martell opened the bottom 7th with a gap double in right-center. Of course, behind Martell came the offensive struggle bus. Baskins struck out. Coen struck out. Maldonado batted for Wheatley… and grounded out. Shambles. Preston Porter pitched the eighth to extend his scoreless streak to begin the season to 18 games, then also faced Navarro to begin the ninth… and gave up a triple to left. Bonnie came out against Lopez, only to walk PH Jesus Banuelas. Ibold then inherited the resulting mess, walked Aparicio to make it three on with no outs, then popped out Henderson to second base. Tortora then hit a comebacker at 0-1; Ibold pounced, fired home to kill off Navarro, and Ruben Gonzalez fired a zinger to first base that ended the inning with a 1-2-3 double play….!! Whoah! Now, come on, boys! Walk it off!!

Javy Santana, Condors right-hander, had something to say about that thought, though. He began the bottom 9th with two retirements, then allowed a double to left to Derek Baskins. The Coons had no interest in seeing Ben Coen send the game to extra innings, and instead sent Manny Fernandez to bat for him. Santana threw a fastball down the middle at 1-0, and while old and slow and brittle, Manny was still a ******* hitter at heart! His whiskers twitched at the mistake – last time the mistake was seen, it exited the ballpark well above the 383’ sign in right-center! MANNYYYYY!!! IT’S A WALKOFF!!! … 3-1 Furballs!! Waters 2-4; Martell 3-4, 2B; Baskins 2-4, 2B; Fernandez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

In other news

May 18 – A broken finger rules out Aces LF/RF Mike Preble (.324, 6 HR, 26 RBI) for the next month.
May 18 – NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.250, 2 HR, 9 RBI) will miss at least one week with a sore hamstring.
May 18 – The Thunder beat the Knights in Atlanta, 2-0, with the deciding runs not scoring until the 11th inning.
May 19 – The first career RBI by SAL OF Ryan Qualtrough (.286, 0 HR, 1 RBI) brings home the only run in the Wolves’ 1-0 win over the Scorpions. It’s the second straight day the Wolves beat Sacramento by that score.
May 20 – The Pacifics rally out of a 5-3 hole in the eighth inning to beat the Warriors, scoring a mere 11 runs off five different pitchers for a surprise 14-5 rout. LAP C Angelo Ortiz (.279, 1 HR, 10 RBI) leads the team with three hits and three RBI from the #8 hole.
May 21 – The Bayhawks acquire INF Sebastian Copeland (.289, 3 HR, 17 RBI) from the Scorpions, along with a prospect, while sending SP Ryan Person (2-3, 2.22 ERA) across the bay.
May 22 – Denver OF Tim Turner (.337, 5 HR, 35 RBI) reaches a 20-game hitting streak with a pair of singles in a 5-1 win over the Buffaloes.
May 22 – SAC INF Mario Coto (.279, 5 HR, 14 RBI) drives in five runs from the #8 spot as the Scorpions rough up the Miners, 16-0.
May 22 – The Capitals beat the Wolves, 8-4, in a double-sized 18-inning game. Washington’s C Eric Thomas (.276, 2 HR, 14 RBI) and RF/LF/1B Gerardo Zafra (.273, 0 HR, 3 RBI) both land four base hits, while Wolves leadoff man OF/1B Steve Petersen (.298, 0 HR, 13 RBI) goes a strong 0-for-9.
May 23 – LAP SP Mike LeMasters (5-4, 2.22 ERA) shines with a 2-hit shutout over the Cyclones, whiffing seven in the 4-0 game.
May 23 – The Thunder lose INF/RF Joe Crim (.241, 0 HR, 4 RBI) for the year, owing to a tear in the 34-year-old’s labrum.
May 23 – The hitting streak of DEN OF Tim Turner (.333, 5 HR, 36 RBI) ends at 20 games with a hitless appearance in a 5-3 win over the Buffos.

FL Player of the Week: DEN OF Tim Turner (.333, 6 HR, 38 RBI), batting .583 (14-24) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB RF/1B Alex Marquez (.348, 5 HR, 28 RBI), hitting .455 (10-22) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Manny Fernandez looks like a 38-year-old, moves like a 38-year-old, and for the most part hits like a 38-year-old, but when he hit that homer to complete the sweep over the Condors, I couldn’t help but shed some water while holding on to Slappy’s upper arm for comfort. Manny hit 6-for-13 this week with 5 RBI, raising his OPS 98 points to .615, which is at least territory where the Agitator can’t print every day that resigning him was a mistake.

They now print it every second day.

Bob Ibold grabbed the win on Sunday, becoming the first and only Coons hurler with four wins. I really don’t like that stat, and it’s not because of anything Bob Ibold has or hasn’t done……

So, Alex Adame remains some way out, but Bubba Wolinsky lives and was assigned to rehab in the minors on the weekend. So within the next 30 days he’ll either work his way back to the team, or have his arm come off completely. In his first start he showed some control issues, but that’s why he will get at least four or five starts before returning.

Next: a day off on Monday, then three with the Baybirds at that Bay, then four facing Thunder back here. This includes the double header on Friday that we’ll have to somehow work around.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons drafted Manny Fernandez at #5 in the 2031 amateur draft, and did so by default.

Going into the draft, we laid out a trio of outfielders that looked like yummy all over. While there were other names on the hotlist that ended up making themselves a very nice career (like Al Scott, Chris Crowell, John Marz, and Chris Delagrange), we really went primarily for the outfielders. Manny was one of them – and the only one left over by the time our pick came around.

The Rebels took Joe Ritchey at #1 overall, and the second-overall pick was Ryan Murray for the Stars. Ritchey we all know about – he had the biggest contract in the league the last few years, although he had only batted .226 with 13 homers for the Titans last year, and this year had yet to play a major league game due to a particularly bad hamstring strain. For his career, Ritchey stood at .257/.346/.437 with 1,466 hits, 220 homers, and 760 RBI, plus 109 stolen bases.

And who the heck is Ryan Murray? If you blinked you might have missed him. He retired at age 26 with a labrum torn beyond repair for baseball purposes, having batted .259/.348/.387 with 34 HR and 287 RBI in a stunted career that never saw him do better than a .777 OPS for the Stars.

Manny surely had his injuries, but he also won a Player of the Year award, three Platinum Sticks, a Gold Glove, an CLCS MVP, and ultimately three rings, all while batting .280/.335/.421 with 2,109 hits, 196 homers, 1,103 RBI, and 189 stole bases for his 16-year career.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (24-17) @ Bayhawks (30-14) – May 26-28, 2048

The Bayhawks led the CL South while sitting second in both runs scored and runs allowed, with the best rotation in the league, and since even in the best of times nothing good would ever happen at the Bay, I was a wee bit afraid of this series. They had some injuries to their pitching staff, with Chih Ke, Rafael Pedaza, and John Steuer all tucked away on the DL, but so far it had yet to put a crimp or two into their season. Last year’s season series had ended up with the Coons, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (3-3, 4.15 ERA) vs. Kevin Nolte (5-2, 3.28 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Craig Czyszczon (7-1, 1.84 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (3-0, 5.01 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (3-2, 3.59 ERA)

Only right-handed pitchers coming up here.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – SS Martell – P Merino
SFB: RF A. Marquez – SS Del Vecchio – C Suggs – CF Crum – 3B Copeland – 2B Quiroz – 1B P. Colon – LF Fink – P Nolte

The Raccoons didn’t have a hit the first time through in the Tuesday opener, while a Sean Suggs single, Ken Crum’s triple, and a Sebastian Copeland single scored two runs for the home team in the bottom 1st. Merino continued to hardly fool anybody, giving up another run on a double by blighted Ted Del Vecchio and a Suggs RBI single in the bottom 3rd. The Raccoons didn’t amount to an actual threat until the fifth inning, in which Manny hit a single and Martell added a double with one out, but Merino and Watt both struck out. Herrera opened the sixth with a double – then was stranded by the 3-4-5 batters… It was one of those games, lost as soon as it began. Nolte allowed next to nothing to the Portlanders, while Merino gave up a fourth run in the sixth inning, after which the Bayhawks piled three more runs on Joy-shan Kuo in the seventh. When Nolte did give up a run in the eighth, it was unearned; Sergio Quiroz had put Matt Watt on base with an error to begin the inning, after which Herrera doubled, and even then the Coons barely got one run home. Maldonado grounded out to third base, keeping the runners pinned, while Toohey brought in a run with a grounder to short. Hooray, hooray. 7-1 Bayhawks. Herrera 2-4, 2 2B; Martell 2-4, 2 2B;

Game 2
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – 2B Gurney – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Jackson
SFB: LF Fink – 2B Quiroz – C Suggs – CF Crum – 1B A. Marquez – 3B Copeland – RF P. Colon – SS S. Diaz – P Czyszczon

Before there was a base hit in the middle game, three players had been hit *with* baseballs; Toohey and Alex Marquez by pitches in the second inning, as well as the Bayhawks’ right-hander with a comebacker by Pat Gurney that was nevertheless turned into an out. The first actual base knock was a Kevin Prow single to open the top 3rd, with Jackson reaching base as well when Czysczczon misfielded his bunt attempt. But then Watt popped out and Herrera found a double play… Jackson allowed no hits through three, then gave up a run to begin the fourth on a Quiroz double and Suggs’ RBI single. Which sugged…

Top 5th, Baskins walked, Prow singled again, and Jackson with one out … whiffed. Matt Watt got hold of one, though, blasting a 3-run homer to right-center to claim a 3-1 lead for the Critters. Pedro Colon countered with a solo home run in the bottom 5th to narrow the gap to a single run again before Jackson put Steve Diaz on base with a 1-out walk, Czyszczon with a single, and then somehow wiggled out when John Fink hit into a 5-4-3 double play.

While Jackson did his best to hang on, the offense did his best to keep me tense. They didn’t amount to anything in the sixth or seventh, but Herrera singled and stole second in the top of the eighth against the Baybirds battery. Maldo grounded out, Toohey popped out, and he didn’t score… Jackson was gone after a leadoff walk to Tony Romero in the bottom 8th, with Kuo cleaning up the inning after getting roughed up the day before. Who continued to get roughed up? Mike Lynn. He served up a homer to Ken Crum to tie the game in the bottom 9th, then a homer to Pedro Colon to end it. 4-3 Bayhawks.

That was enough! (slaps closer’s hat off Lynn’s numb skull)

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – RF Fernandez – P Okuda
SFB: 1B S. Diaz – SS Del Vecchio – C Suggs – CF Crum – 3B Copeland – 2B Quiroz – RF A. Marquez – LF Fink – P Bulas

Singles by Herrera and Maldo – who had hit a dire stretch here – plus a walk drawn by Bryce Toohey – who had yet to end his winter slumber at all – gave the Coons the bags full with one out in the opening frame on getaway Thursday. Matt Waters hit a fly to deep center, but it was caught by Crum for a sac fly. Bulas walked Ruben Gonzalez to restock the bags, but rung up Martell in a full count. The Bayhawks then casually raided Okuda for four runs in the bottom 1st, starting with three 1-out hits, and a double by accursed Ted Del Vecchio especially. Okuda walked Copeland to fill the bases in a 1-1 game, then gave up a bases-clearing double to Marquez to slide into a real mess.

While Okuda was a mild mess, Bulas was a hot one, offering two walks in the third inning before getting burned by Martell with a 2-out, 2-run double, narrowing the score to 4-3, and he was out after just four innings of endless long counts, although he was still ahead by a run. Okuda barely hung on, but the Raccoons loaded the bases with nobody out against righty Ron Purcell in the fifth inning, the 31-year-old walking Toohey before Waters and Gonzalez both singled. Martell was up in the thick spot again with three on and none gone, lined out to John Fink in left, and Toohey, the tying run, made for home plate, where he collided violently with Sean Suggs, limbs flying in all direction. Toohey remained on his back with a leg injury and was eventually carted off the field with the medical hovercraft, and, oh, he was also called out for a 7-2 double play. While Coen replaced Toohey in the #4 hole, Maldo moving to first base, the Bayhawks walked Manny intentionally, then got a K from Okuda – with the double header on Friday drawing up, the Raccoons forewent pinch-hitting to save the bullpen, which certainly would see them paid back nicely against the Thunder…

Okuda ended up festering in his own stew for 111 pitches, which barely checked out for six innings, and got hits pats on the furry tush while still behind 4-3. Waters opened the top 7th with a double to right, then seemed destined to be stranded, too, with poor outs by Gonzalez and Martell following. Manny bopped a homer to dead center though, flipping the score! Old man still has it, huh!? … Unfortunately, nobody else had any. Bob Ibold especially not, giving up four hits in the bottom 7th, three of them doubles after a Del Vecchio (growls!) single, and conceded as many runs to flip the score right back to the Baybirds, with cushion. Maldo hit a double with two outs in the eighth that led nowhere. Waters hit a leadoff single in the ninth before being doubled off by Gonzalez. 7-5 Bayhawks. Herrera 2-5; Maldonado 2-4, BB, 2B; Toohey 0-1, 2 BB; Waters 3-4, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, BB; Fernandez 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Swept.

Also, dropped behind the Indians.

This is 2029 all over again, isn’t it?

Bryce Toohey was diagnosed with a hyperextended knee and ruled out of the weekend series by Dr. Padilla, but it should not take too long for him to return to action after that. The Raccoons thus kept him on the roster – thus tumbling into a double header with a short bench, a roughed up pen, struggling starters, and a losing streak around their necks…

Raccoons (24-20) vs. Thunder (29-17) – May 29-31, 2048

As if that was not enough ballast, the Thunder were fourth in runs scored and the best team in the league in not allowing runs, giving up only 3.0 runs per game to the opposition. In other words, ballgame. Give them the wins, Maud, and send them home. I’ll have a nap instead… The Thunder were up 2-0 in the season series, too.

Projected matchups:
Jeremy Baker (3-2, 3.78 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (7-1, 3.18 ERA)
Victor Salcido (0-0) vs. Juan Ramos (5-4, 2.89 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.76 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (1-5, 4.31 ERA)
Victor Merino (3-4, 4.36 ERA) vs. Jon Craig (4-2, 2.41 ERA)

Only one lefty in Marquez, and the right-handed Craig (not the ex-Coon Craig) would probably make a spot start. Injuries had taken some beef out of the Thunder order, with Juan Benavides and Joe Crim being on the 60-day DL, and Jim Price was also nowhere to be seen. They had neither speed nor extraordinary power, but had a .340 team OBP that led the CL to strangulate teams.

The Raccoons would give 22-year-old Victor Salcido his major league debut in the second game on Friday. The 22-year-old Dominican righty was the #51 prospect (after ranking as high as #6 in the past) after having signed for $485k in July of 2042. He had first caught a glimpse of AAA at age 19 in ’45, before returning to AA full time in ’46. This year he was 3-3 with a 2.74 ERA for the Alley Cats, but command was still an issue. He would take the roster spot of Ben Coen, who got a start in the opener on the way out, and would return to St. Pete right afterwards.

Game 1
OCT: 3B Montes de Oca – 2B Ban – 1B B. Jenkins – LF Humphreys – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Cox – C Adames – CF DeMarco – P V. Marquez
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B J. Maldonado – C Gonzalez – SS Waters – 2B Gurney – RF Pellicano – 3B Coen – P Baker

Jesus Adames’ solo homer in the second gave the Coons their daily deficit in the opener, and it was a one way street from there. Adames grabbed another RBI in the fourth, plating Ryan Cox with a groundout, while Angel Montes de Oca and Jonathan Ban went to the corners with leadoff base hits in the fifth inning before Bill Jenkins made it 3-0 with a sac fly. Steve Humphreys hit one to Waters for an inning-ending double play. At that point, the Thunder had eight hits, the Raccoons had zero hits, and I was hitting on the neck of a bottle of Capt’n Coma to soothe the throbbing headaches.

Gonzalez opened the bottom 5th with a single to right, while Waters legged out an infield single. Gurney flew out to right, but Pellicano interrupted his unbrakable plunge to .000 momentarily with a 1-out single to left, loading the bases for … ah, ****, Ben Coen, batting .071, **** my ***** ***. Coen, the miserable dimwit, popped out to Jenkins on a 3-1 pitch, and Baker grounded out to strand the full set for good. The miserable Critters reached the scoreboard after all in the sixth, Maldo singling home Watt for a run that would probably end up being meaningless. Both teams scored a run in the eighth; Hitchcock gave up a home run to Humphreys, while Maldo hit a triple and came around after Waters chopped a 2-out RBI single off Willie Maldonado, Thunder right-hander. The Thunder answered with a leadoff double to left by Montes off Jake Bonnie, who gave up the run right way on a Jonathan Ban single. The Raccoons had no intelligible answer to any of this and saw Pellicano, Baskins, and Prow go down in order against Rico Sanchez in the bottom 9th. 5-2 Thunder. Maldonado 2-4, 3B, RBI; Waters 2-4, RBI;

Jonathan Ban had five hits in this game, all singles. The Coons barely bested the five hits between them with seven.

Debut time in the nightcap then, and hey, maybe we can catch lightning in a bottle and actually win a ******* game, entirely by accident?

Game 2
OCT: 3B Montes de Oca – 2B Ban – LF Humphreys – SS R. Cox – 1B B. Jenkins – RF Zurita – C Urfer – CF DeMarco – P Ju. Ramos
POR: CF Watt – 2B Martell – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Salcido

Nah. Salcido gave up a run before he logged an out with a single by Montes, a full-count walk to Ban, and an RBI single by Humphreys before Ryan Cox hacked himself out and Jenkins found a 6-4-3 double play. Watt and Martell reached base to begin the bottom 1st, but Gurney tried to hit into a double play, had to settle for a fielder’s choice, but Maldo completed the team effort, 6-4-3. Cox and Maldonado exchanged solo home runs in the fourth inning, which got us no closer to not losing for once, while the skies darkened progressively as the game went on.

Salcido crawled into the sixth, fooling nobody and convincing even fewer, before a rain shower ended his debut after 82 innings, and with two on and one out after walks to Humphreys and Cox. The Raccoons sent Kuo when play resumed; Jenkins advanced the runners with a groundout, and Angelo Zurita snapped a 2-out, 2-run single to set the Thunder ahead 4-1 and in all likelihood end the game. Not that the Thunder didn’t keep trying – they even chewed up Preston Porter in the seventh inning. Luppe Timmerman drew the first walk offered by Porter on the season after 18.2 innings, and Montes ripped an RBI double past Manny Fernandez to drive home the runner, 5-1. The Raccoons never responded, taking it silently for their fifth straight loss. 5-1 Thunder. Martell 3-4;

After the game, Salcido (0-1, 6.75 ERA) was back to AAA, joining Ben Coen (.067, 0 HR, 1 RBI) on the way out. While we wished ourselves Alex Adame back, he wouldn’t come off the DL until next week. Josh Floyd (.087, 0 HR, 2 RBI) was recalled to partake in some more losing.

Game 3
OCT: 3B Montes de Oca – 2B Ban – LF Humphreys – SS R. Cox – 1B B. Jenkins – C Adames – RF Zurita – CF DeMarco – P Hendrix
POR: 2B Martell – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – SS Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Wheatley

I clung on to hopes that Wheats could right this sinking ship somehow, and also Honeypaws for fluffy comfort that even Capt’n Coma could not offer. He struck out three against two hits and no runs in the first three innings, which was certainly encouraging, then bunted Gonzalez and Baskins into scoring position, the pair having reached to begin the bottom 3rd in a scoreless game. Martell struck out, Herrera lined out to Jenkins, and nobody scored…

Both teams had three hits apiece after five innings, still with no runs on the board. Wheats had struck out six against no walks, taking 65 pitches through five innings, which was certainly the best he had looked so far in ’48. Which of course meant that it would all come crashing down with that much greater noise in the sixth inning. After Hendrix began the inning with a groundout, Wheatley plunked Montes, with the Thunder third baseman then stealing second and scoring on a 2-out Humphreys single. Cox added a single, and Jenkins hit a gapper in right-center for a 2-run double to bury the Raccoons 3-0. Wheats went on to really *nail* Adames before Zurita somehow grounded out to end the inning… Wheatley would turn in another, with Pat Gurney having doubled home Martell (single) and Herrera (double) in the bottom 6th in between. After that Maldo and Waters had struck out in tandem to strand the tying run in scoring position. Tying the game and taking Wheatley off the hook was left to Manny Fernandez, who hit a leadoff jack off Hendrix in the bottom 7th. Manny…! Tied at three…! Just as I was about to add a few drops of molted lead to my booze…!

A win was not in the cards for Wheatley, with nobody reaching after the Manny homer before the inning ended. Bob Ibold kept the Thunder away in the top 8th, after which Martell and Gurney scratched out singles against Hendrix to go to the corners in the bottom 8th. Maldo batted with one out, but hit a comebacker that got Gurney forced out at second, and Waters grounded out to short… Boys, you’re REALLY HARD TO WATCH!! Preston Porter held the Thunder in check in the ninth despite issuing another walk, and when the Raccoons continued to do NOTHING, he also got the 10th inning, walking PH Rick Urfer in the #9 hole to begin overtime. Montes forced out the runner with a comebacker, was balked to second base by Porter (…!!), but still stranded by Ban and Humphreys. Bottom 10th, Prow batted for Porter to begin the inning, but struck out against left-hander Tom Spencer, also in his second inning of work. Martell singled to right-center, but was doubled up by Herrera to extend the game. Bonnie did a 1-2-3 on the Thunder in the 11th inning, in the bottom of which Rico Sanchez nipped Maldonado with a ball to the bum, then walked Manny with two outs. Sanchez got to 0-2 on Ruben Gonzalez before giving up a looper to left. It fell into no man’s land, and with two outs, Maldo had gone from second base as soon as the ball met the stick. He dashed through the stop sign at third base and made for home, arriving just ahead of Humphreys’ throw to end the ballgame and the losing streak. 4-3 Critters. Martell 3-5, 2B; Gurney 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K; Porter 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

Game 4
OCT: 3B Montes de Oca – 2B Ban – 1B B. Jenkins – LF Humphreys – RF Hertenstein – SS R. Cox – C Adames – CF DeMarco – P Craig
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 2B Martell – C Prow – RF Pellicano – SS Floyd – P Merino

Home run Prow-ess gave the Raccoons a 1-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, but that was short-lived, with Merino getting picked apart for three hits, a walk, and two runs in the top 3rd, with Ban and Jenkins getting RBI singles to turn the score around. Gurney opened the bottom 4th with a double in right-center, moved up on a Maldonado groundout, and scored on Martell’s single to tie the game at two, after which Craig filled the bases with Prow and Floyd on a single and a walk, respectively, but all that did was bringing up Merino with three on and two outs. He flew out to Nick DeMarco.

The Coons could not do anything with a leadoff walk to Watt in the bottom 5th, while Merino walked Cox with one out in the sixth, and when Adames grounded out to advance the runner, an intentional walk went out to DeMarco. Craig grounded out to end the top 6th, and when the Raccoons had Martell on second with two outs in the bottom 6th, the Thunder wanted to return the favor, extended an intentional walk to Josh Floyd, and then expected Merino to roll over, but the Raccoons sent Manny Fernandez to bat instead, and old Manny took a 2-0 pitch to shallow right-center to chase home Martell from second base for a go-ahead RBI single…! Watt then dished home two more runs with a triple over the head of DeMarco! Herrera lined out to Montes, ending the inning, but it was now 5-2 for the brown team…!

From there, Hitchcock notched four outs and Mike Lynn grabbed two more in an attempt to piece his career back together, neither of them allowing a run or even a runner while defending the 5-2 lead. Kevin Prow opened the bottom 8th with a double to left then, but Pellicano struck out, Floyd struck out, and Waters pinch-hit and grounded out to Ban… Nelson Moreno was then well on the way to have a 1-2-3 ninth inning with a groundout by DeMarco, a K on Timmerman, and a grounder to second by Montes… but Martell threw away that last ball. The game continued, with Ban singling home Montes from second base to inch the Thunder a little bit closer – but Moreno rung up Jenkins to secure a late split in the series. 5-3 Raccoons. Martell 2-4, RBI; Prow 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Fernandez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In other news

May 25 – Blue Sox OF/1B Mike Harmon (.256, 2 HR, 11 RBI) could be on the DL until July with a strained hamstring.
May 25 – VAN LF/1B/RF Eddie Moreno (.259, 9 HR, 28 RBI) will be out for at least a week with a bruised thigh.
May 29 – The Scorpions’ LF/RF Nate Culp (.301, 13 HR, 31 RBI) will miss six weeks with torn thumb ligaments.
May 29 – Persistent wrist soreness will cost DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.354, 6 HR, 27 RBI) two weeks of playing time.
May 30 – TOP C Brett Banks (.256, 5 HR, 20 RBI) will be out at least one week with a sprained ankle.
May 31 – Denver SP Josh Vercher (4-5, 3.74 ERA) 2-hits the Capitals in a 1-0 squeezer while striking out six in the shutout effort.

FL Player of the Week: DAL INF Jose Rivas (.382, 0 HR, 23 RBI), slapping .583 (14-24) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL RF/LF/1B John Marz (.298, 9 HR, 37 RBI), batting .500 (10-20) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL INF Jose Rivas (.382, 0 HR, 23 RBI), poking .491 with 19 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: SFB RF Alex Marquez (.351, 5 HR, 33 RBI), batting .351 with 5 HR, 30 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT SP Marcos Nabo (8-0, 1.96 ERA), going out for a 5-0 record with 2.05 ERA and 30 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: SFB SP Kevin Nolte (7-2, 2.84 ERA), pitching to a 5-1 record with 1.69 RA, 35 K
FL Rookie of the Month: NAS C Jose Cantu (.313, 4 HR, 16 RBI), hitting .323 with 3 HR, 13 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: CHA SP Hiroyuki Takagi (5-1, 3.20 ERA), hurling to a 4-0 mark with 2.20 ERA, 29 K

Complaints and stuff

Rotten week. Pitching mediocre, almost no Toohey, and Maldo is in a 5-for-29 rut right now and was only occasionally a net plus this week. He dropped under 1.000 in OPS on Sunday with an 0-for-4 effort, first time since April 19 that he ended a day under 1.000; he also needs a day off, I think.

No, there were no heroes this week, and the team entirely listlessly tumbled through a 2-5 week. Not that the rest of the division is doing much better. The Indians, who played the same two teams we did this week, went 3-3, which was barely enough to get into a virtual tie with us. We’re both our games over .500 now, and the rest of the division is bad to blighted. Combined, the six CL North teams are 30 games under .500 and we just barely reached the end of May…

Old age, nagging injuries, inefficient pitching, disappointing offense… all the great checkboxes for a fatal decline are ticked here…

Next week we’ll decline against the Falcons and… Indians, uh-oh.

Fun Fact: 33 years ago today, Yoshi Nomura landed six hits in a 17-1 rout of the Capitals over the Scorpions.

That was in between Yoshi’s two Portland stints which lasted from 2004 through 2013, and then 2020 to 2021. A debutee at age 20, he lasted until 42 in the majors, and was elected to the Hall of Fame as a Raccoon in 2032, hitting 3,050 base knocks, 83 homers, and driving in 1,051 RBI. Seven All Star Games, three Platinum Sticks, and a Gold Glove for Yoshi, who was a #7 pick for the Critters in 2002.

Despite a 23-year career, Yoshi was traded only twice; once from the Capitals to the Cyclones in 2017 for Shunyo Yano – who was the failed Japanese import the Raccoons exchanged for hot prospect Jonny Toner a few years earlier! – and then again when the Raccoons collapsed after he signed on for four years from 2020. He was sent out after the 2021 season to the Gold Sox, with others and cash, for Frank Kelly and Ricardo Romero. Kelly made 17 starts for the ’22 Coons before being flung to the Blue Sox for Matt Huf, who found his way into the package for Mark Roberts the year after – the third Raccoons Hall of Famer to crop up in this chain of trades around Yoshi Nomura.

Could we get another one in there? Who knows – the potential was there! Because Mark Roberts was eventually traded for Travis Zitzner, and you could follow that string to Adam Avakian, then Gene Tennis, to Ryan Bedrosian … and Bedrosian was the pitcher we sent to the Knights in The Great Rip-off of ’40 when we grabbed prospects Wheats and Waters from them.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (28-24) vs. Falcons (24-25) – June 1-3, 2048

Sixth in runs scored (tied with the Critters) and ninth in runs allowed, the Falcons were already out by double digits in the South, although the Critters looked certainly beatable right now and they were already up 2-1 in the season series. They were a speedy team, but dead last in home runs. They also for some reason carried no lefty reliever whatsoever. Oh, well, what the heck do *I* know about baseball…?

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (2-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (3-3, 4.44 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (3-0, 5.13 ERA) vs. Jose Villalba (2-3, 3.93 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (3-3, 3.79 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (5-1, 3.20 ERA)

Villalba was the only southpaw pitcher on the roster.

The Raccoons were still without Bryce Toohey as the week began, but they activated Alex Adame from the DL, sending Josh Floyd back to where the pepper grew in St. Petersburg…

Game 1
CHA: LF Caballero – C M. Castillo – RF Allegood – 1B Sevilla – 3B Thibault – SS E. Sandoval – CF Marroquin – 2B Vamos – P C. Jones
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – LF Baskins – P Jackson

Disaster instantly befell Jake Jackson, issuing a leadoff single to Oscar Caballero, a walk to Manny Castillo, and then was additionally stabbed in the back by Matt Waters, who added Mike Allegood with a botched pickup for an error. Three on, no out, and all the runners scored on a groundout by Raul Sevilla and a Bobby Thibault single; two were earned. All were deserved on one bum or another. Another walk to Castillo and an Allegood bomb to right-center escalated the score to 5-0 in the second inning, and I was more or less ready to go home at that point… That was before Chris Jones drove in another two runs with a 2-out single up the middle in the third inning. Jackson wasn’t seen much after that…

While the returning Adame tripled home Matt Watt for a 2-out run in the bottom 3rd and then scored on a Gurney single to cut the gap to 7-2, it just wasn’t going to be enough. It wasn’t necessarily the bullpen’s fault; Mike Lynn pitched two scoreless innings in garbage relief, while Kevin Hitchcock allowed a run in his two innings, with another runner thrown out at home plate by Manny Fernandez on an Esteban Sandoval double. But the offense continued to smell like fish left out in the sun for too long. Manny, though – he was not content with ONE outfield assist, but also struck down Oscar Caballero trying to go first-to-third on a Castillo single off Bob Ibold in the eighth inning, giving him TWO outfield assists…! Adding injury to insult, Caballero then took a spill and left the game after catching an Adame drive in the bottom 8th, to be replaced by Rich de Luna. And that was the highlight of this terrible ballgame… 8-2 Falcons. Gurney 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Lynn 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Because I had no other problems, Nick Valdes hit the town and the ballpark on the way through on Tuesday. He was on the way to visit his river diverging operation upstate, where an 1860s treaty specified that the tribal lands of these and those Native Americans were between two specific creeks. Nick had figured out that by diverting one into the other upstream of the tribal lands, he could then claim the land his own, having bought up every farm, forest, and other parcel around the site, which he’d then exploit by the odd strip mining operation or two.

My, what a clever owner we have! …and so charming!

Yes, Nick, I know, the team is… not really firing on all cylinders. But look – we got Toohey back! Surely everything will be alright now!

Game 2
CHA: RF de Luna – 2B E. Sandoval – CF M. Martinez – 1B Marroquin – LF Allegood – SS Vamos – 3B Thibault – C Hoffmann – P Villalba
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Pellicano – LF Baskins – P Okuda

By the time Toohey batted for the first time, the Falcons had slapped Okuda around for six hits, all singles. They stranded a pair in the first inning, then got four straight singles from their 7-8-9-1 batters in the second for one run before Esteban Sandoval found a double play to hit into to kill the effort. Toohey then opened the bottom 2nd by falling behind 1-2, then recovered with a game-tying homer to left. See, Nick!!?? (slaps Valdes on the back causing the owner to spit out the pawful of cheeseballs from his snout) – No, Nick, Slappy won’t clean that up, you’ll have to do it yourself.

Okuda remained crap, however, and allowed two more runs i the third inning. Omar Marroquin singled, Mike Allegood tripled, then scored on Josh Vamos’ grounder to short. The Coons made that up, too; Adame went on base with a single in the bottom 3rd, Herrera tripled him in, and Maldo smacked a sac fly to center, levelling everything at three. If only Okuda would have stopped the profuse bleeding at this point… but no, by the fifth Bobby Thibault doubled home Allegood for another run, 4-3, and the Falcons had 11 total hits off Okuda through five innings. – Yes, Nick, we’re still tied for first place. – No, I can’t believe it either.

Waters hit a jack in the bottom 6th to even the score at four, which also set Toohey, Gonzalez, and Waters all at five homers and 20 RBI for the year while batting behind another in the order. Okuda meanwhile held on to the 4-4 tie despite surrendering a dozen hits in seven innings, then even got the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Adame landed a single, Toohey was drilled, and Waters walked to fill the bases for Ruben Gonzalez, who slapped a ball past Vamos in a full count to drive home both Adame and Toohey. Vamos, boys!! After Pellicano ended the inning with a groundout to third base, Okuda logged one more out against Thibault to begin the eighth before Bob Ibold took over against righty hitters. Nelson Moreno took the ball in the ninth, walked the leadoff man in Archie Turley, and I embraced Honeypaws tighter for more comfort. The Falcons didn’t get the runner off first base until there were two outs and Allegood singled, which put the tying runs to the corners. Vamos made the third out to Maldo, however, and the Coons evened the series. 6-4 Raccoons. Toohey 2-3, HR, RBI; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Baskins 2-4;

Yes, Nick, Okuda really is 4-0 with a 5.10 ERA. – Promise; if he tells me his dark sorcery secrets to achieve that, you’ll be the first to know!

Nick went his ways in paving a new Trail of Tears in the mountains, and we were left to our own devices for the rubber game.

Game 3
CHA: RF de Luna – 2B Turley – CF M. Martinez – 1B Marroquin – LF Allegood – SS Vamos – 3B Thibault – C Hoffmann – P Takagi
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – RF Fernandez – C Prow – P Baker

The whacking of Coons starters continued unabated on Wednesday. Baker gave up five hits the first time through, including a solo homer by Allegood in the second inning, and four singles, two in the first and second each, all of whom were stranded. Even Archie Turley, who smashed a leadoff triple to begin the top 3rd, was stranded, thanks to a Miguel Martinez pop, a K to Marroquin, and a liner somehow caught by Manny in the right-center gap. Through the first three innings, the Raccoons had two hits, and Takagi faced the minimum. Adame was caught stealing in the first, and Manny was doubled up by Kevin Prow in the third…

The bottom of the fourth brought forth improvement. Watt opened with a single, after which Takagi walked all of Adame, Toohey, and Waters to tie the game. Herrera dropped an RBI single into shallow center for a 2-1 lead, while Manny lined out to leftfield, with Allegood the throwing out Toohey going for home from third base to end the inning. Nobody reached in the fifth inning, while both teams then stranded a pair in the sixth inning. Maldo and Toohey reached for the Critters to get going, but were ignored by the 5-6-7 batters. Baker completed seven while protecting the lead, allowing hardly a runner after the early barrage, and maintaining a 2-1 lead. Porter continued to hold on in the eighth despite a leadoff single for Martinez, while the bottom 8th saw Maldo and Toohey on again, this time with one out and on a throwing error by right-hander Kyle Conner and a walk, respectively. Waters grounded out to first, advancing the runners, before Armando Herrera came through with a zinger through the left side, notching a 2-out, 2-run single for some insurance runs! Alan Fleming rung up Manny to end the inning, after which Moreno was back in action. He struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth to take this series, and level the season series. 4-1 Coons. Watt 2-4; Toohey 1-2, 2 BB; Herrera 2-3, BB, 3 RBI; Baker 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-3);

Raccoons (30-25) @ Indians (29-24) – June 5-7, 2048

These teams had been in a virtual tie for first place since Sunday night, but that would cease on Friday if not for a postponement or suspended game. The Indians were fourth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. We both had a +21 run differential. They led the league in stolen bases, while were second in homers, so different approaches there; meanwhile, while we had struggled terribly against them for the last several seasons, so far this year we had put up a 4-1 record against the Arrowheads.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.66 ERA) vs. Casey Pinter (5-3, 4.08 ERA)
Victor Merino (4-4, 4.22 ERA) vs. Mark Elzinga (5-4, 2.26 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-3, 3.36 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (3-5, 4.14 ERA)

Left, left, right. Also, Wheats’ return to where he had been stomped into the mound itself on Opening Day…

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Pellicano – LF Fernandez – P Wheatley
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 1B Brayboy – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – P Pinter

Back to the old stomping grounds then, huh? Alex de Castro hit a 1-out single in the bottom 1st, Pellicano overran that ball, and the Indians kept hitting away with a Bill Quinteros single, a 2-run double by Danny Rivera, the despicable Aaron Brayboy walked, and Nate Massey hit an RBI single for a quick and easy 3-0 lead. While I got a headache right away, the Raccoons didn’t lie down by default at least. Toohey opened the second with a single, then scored on a Manny single with two outs. Adame opened the third with a single, stole second base, and came around on a Herrera double into the leftfield corner to get to 3-2. The game got even on a Maldo groundout and Toohey’s sac fly, 3-3.

Wheats’ second time through the order was much more effective than the first time, with no massive Indians gains beyond a 2-out single by Alex Pedraza in the fourth, which was still annoying for allowing the Indians to clear the pitcher’s spot in the inning. Wheats walked Quinteros after nailing de Castro in the bottom 5th, but by the time Quinteros looked at ball four, de Castro had already been caught stealing. But while Wheatley held on for seven innings, including six scoreless after the horrendous bottom 1st, the Raccoons just couldn’t find any more offense after the quick rally-and-tie until they got Maldo and Waters to the corners with one out on a pair of eighth-inning singles. Maldo dashed for home on a 3-2 roller that Ruben Gonzalez hit in the general direction of Bobby Anderson, who looked home at first, but then reconsidered and instead took the second out a first base, allowing Maldo to score and Wheats to get a 4-3 lead. The Indians sent a new right-hander in Sang-hoon Kim against Pellicano, who was batting .144 and was yoinked for Matt Watt, who grounded out to second – except that Nate Massey threw the ball past Aaron Brayboy and into the dugout for a 2-base error, conceding another run to the Critters. Manny then popped out to conclude the top 8th, up 5-3. Bonnie came on, retired the Indians’ 3-4-5 in order in the bottom 8th.

The ninth saw Al Martell open with a single, hitting for Bonnie, then stole second. Herrera singled him home for a 6-3 lead, which Nelson Moreno – out for a third straight game, but not day – then set out to blow. Anderson, Pedraza, and Philip Locke got him for base hits and a run, and after a K to Angel Mendez, he walked de Castro with two outs. That filled the bases with two outs in a 6-4 game, and brought up Quinteros. The Raccoons blinked, and threw Lynn, the just recently dethroned closer, into the game as a desperate measure. He hung a K on Quinteros to bugger out of the damn inning. 6-4 Raccoons. Adame 2-5; Herrera 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-4);

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – SS Adame – RF Pellicano – C Prow – P Merino
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – 1B Quintana – P Elzinga

Elzinga zinged three walks in the first inning, including one to Matt Waters with the bases loaded, forcing home Matt Watt with a run. Adame then flew out to Rivera, who threw out Herrera going for home plate for the second 7-2 double play the Coons ran into this week… Mendez then singled to begin the Indians’ half of the first, was forced out by de Castro’s grounder to short, and Merino then picked de Castro off first base. But after Merino got out of that inning against Quinteros, the Indians began the bottom 2nd with a single, double, single, and double, romping Merino for three runs without much hope that it would ever stop, although the 8-9-1 were then sat down in order after all. The third inning was already Merino’s last, as he was mercilessly gangbanged for a 4-spot. De Castro reached on Merino’s own error to get things going, with a Rivera single and a walk drawn by Anderson loading the bags with one out. Massey hit an RBI single, Pedraza drew a bases-loaded walk, Angel Quintana was nailed to force in a run (and at 1-2…), and Elzinga hit a sac fly. Somehow, Mendez made an out to end Merino’s miserable appearance.

Not that the general riot over the Raccoons’ pitching staff stopped any time soon. Kuo came into the game for the fourth and hopefully more, but allowed three screamers for hits, including two doubles, and two runs to extend the score to 9-1. Next, a 5-spot on Hitchcock, crowned by a 2-run homer by Rivera. Not that the Raccoons wouldn’t manage to further disappoint even when already down by a dozen runs. Adame singled home Herrera in the sixth inning, but the bases were loaded by a foundering Elzinga in the seventh, with Gurney, Watt, and Herrera aboard and one out. Elzinga plated a run with a wild pitch, but both Maldonado and Toohey popped out to strand a pair in scoring position… Waters and Adame went on to hit back-to-back homers in the eighth to ruin Elzinga’s line for good, but he of course still got the win in a soul-killing rout of the Raccoons. 14-5 Indians. Watt 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Adame 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Roster adjustments were probably in order by now. The first head rolling was Gene Pellicano’s. He was hitting .141/.190/.242 in 99 attempts, and 4-for-46 in the last 20 games. After two full seasons of faithful extended bench service, he was invited to get his **** together in St. Pete from Sunday on. We went from a 29-year-old right-handed outfielder with meager results to a 28-year-old right-handed outfielder with meager results, promoting OF Matt Glodowski, our 2043 second-rounder, who had been languishing in AAA since late 2044…

Now we just need a new rotation…

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – CF Herrera – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – 3B Martell – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Jackson
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 1B Brayboy – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – P Nichol

Herrera homered in the first for a quick 1-0 lead that did not survive Jackson going out there and doing whatever he thought was asked of him. He allowed two hits and three walks in the bottom 1st, and escaped with the game merely tied thanks to Herrera throwing out Mendez at home plate while he kept ******* up. Massey grounded out to Waters to strand a full set of runners. It got no better after that. Pedraza opened the second with a single to center, and Jackson threw away Nichol’s bunt to add a second runner with nobody out. Mendez doubled home Pedraza before a walk to de Castro, and before the Indians crammed another wrench into the gears again, with Quinteros hacking out and Rivera finding Adame for a double play to kill another thick scoring opportunity. Jackson was outright ghastly in any case, throwing 46 pitches in the first two innings, more or less all of them pathetic.

So was the rest of the team. They scattered six hits through seven innings, including the Herrera homer, and with two double play grounders mixed in didn’t even come close to scoring anything. Jackson somehow had clean frames in the third and fourth before Mendez doubled to begin the fifth and scored on two productive outs to extend the Indians’ lead to 3-1. Bottom 7th, Jackson mishandled a Nichol grounder for a leadoff infield single. Mendez forced out the runner, but stole second base and reached third on Gonzalez’ bad throw that bounced away from Adame, then came home on de Castro’s groundout.

Bonnie would relieve Jackson and finish the seventh before doing all of the eighth. The score remained 4-1 into the ninth when Tommy Gardner allowed leadoff singles to Herrera and Toohey. Waters flew out to Rivera. Martell was next, but countered the right-handed Gardner. Maldonado was not sent to pinch-hit yet, instead being an option for the constant double play threat Gonzalez. So of course Al Martell hit into a double play to end the game… 4-1 Indians. Herrera 2-4, HR, RBI; Toohey 2-4;

In other news

June 1 – The Crusaders deal INF/LF Brian Kaufman (.264, 2 HR, 10 RBI) to the Blue Sox or two prospects. Kaufman goes on to break his hand in the game that night, which might cost him most of the remainder of the season.
June 1 – The Canadiens outlast the Knights in a 15-inning game, 4-3, despite finding only eight base hits in 49 at-bats.
June 2 – 26-year-old 1B/RF/LF Erik Bush (.279, 0 HR, 8 RBI) is dealt from the Loggers to the Buffaloes, along with a prospect, for AAA C Josh Davis.
June 3 – IND SP Enrique Ortiz (3-3, 3.75 ERA) strikes out 15 Aces in a 5-0 win, allowing only four hits while pitching into, but not through the ninth inning.
June 3 – The Buffos would be without veteran INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.263, 7 HR, 24 RBI) for the next six weeks, as the 35-year-old had suffered an oblique strain.
June 4 – Crusaders INF Bob Nelson (.174, 1 HR, 3 RBI) is out for the season after splintering his kneecap.
June 4 – Pittsburgh’s Mario Briones (.219, 3 HR, 33 RBI) scores on a wild pitch by DEN MR Jose Rodriguez (2-0, 2.61 ERA) in the bottom 9th to walk off the Miners with a 4-3 win. Up until that moment, both teams had been even on three runs, three hits, and three errors apiece.
June 7 – DEN SP John Kennedy (4-3, 2.38 ERA) will miss the rest of the season to fix a torn rotator cuff.

FL Player of the Week: DEN OF Tim Turner (.340, 8 HR, 48 RBI), hitting .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/SS Sergio Quiroz (.327, 6 HR, 33 RBI), batting .480 (12-25) with neither a homer, nor an RBI!

Complaints and stuff

“Rotten week” is not nearly cutting it for a description of what was going on this week. Yeah, we went 3-3, but we were outscored by about a million runs, and there was not really a starting pitcher that didn’t get flogged. Maldo falling into a slump killed the offense … not that I blame *Maldo* … it’s hard to hit for a thousand points of OPS for a full year. There are only 56 player-seasons of that on record, and half of those are connected to Jerry Outram, I think.

Pat Degenhardt handed me a player development update this week which – … actually, that’s not entirely true, he didn’t hand it to me, he had it delivered by courier after taking a plane for a “scouting assignment” to Mexico. The contents were as rough as you’d could possibly draw up. All those three-ring Critters? Declining. (Like I hadn’t noticed…) Some of those prospects in the pipeline? Not progressing. The midterm future? Bleak.

So, besides a new rotation and a few working outfielders, what else do we need to right this ship …?

The team will detour through Elk City on the way home, where we’ll host the Blue Sox next weekend. Starting the Monday after that the Coons will drop down I-5 to Salem for a series with the Wolves, with the draft also taking place that Monday.

Fun Fact: The only Raccoon ever to have a qualifying season with an OPS of at least 1.000 was Tetsu Osanai in 1989.

And he got there but barely, with a 1.004 mark born out of a .355/.404/.600 slash line. It was his best offensive season of course, although he did NOT win the Player of the Year award despite netting the batting title and leading the CL in hits and RBI. He lost the triple crown by six homers to Atlanta’s Michael Root, who also took home the MVP with a .327/.470/.611 slash line. This was Root’s only home run crown (and Tetsuuuu would never win one again).

Nobody was particularly close to the 1.000 mark for Portland afterwards; in fact the .936 OPS put up by Maldo in his 2043 season are the seventh-highest OPS by a qualifying Raccoon on record. The top 10 …:

Tetsu Osanai (1989) – 1.004
Royce Green (1996) – .970
Tetsu Osanai (1988) – .963
Hugo Mendoza (2020) – .950
Tetsu Osanai (1986) – .940
David Brewer (1995) – .937
Jesus Maldonado (2043) – .936
Troy Greenway (2038) – .926
Vern Kinnear (1992) – .920
Daniel Hall (1992) – .920

Shoutout to David Brewer, clearly the odd one out here in his first year of signing that giant 6-year, $9M contract (cough!), because he was the only singles slapper in that whole group. He never hit double-digit homers in his career, but hit seven that season along with 48 other extra-base knocks for a .359/.433/.504 slash line, taking home the batting title *and* the Player of the Year award – that latter being the only one he took in his career.

[Westheim]

2048 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

The annual amateur draft was almost right on top of us, and of course the Raccoons had done their homework and had compiled an 111-player shortlist from which to pick the player that would hopefully piece another decent team together on the other side of the abyss that the current dynasty was busy tumbling into right now…

There was a hotlist, too, of course! (*denotes high school player)

SP Zane Fenlon (12/15/12)* - BNN #4
SP Tom Lindgren (15/13/9)
SP Art Schaeffer (13/12/13)

SP* Dave Lister (10/15/15)*
CL Ruben Mendez (19/14/12)

SS/3B Stephen Medlock (12/7/13)*
3B/2B Dave Blackshire (10/12/15)

OF Dave De Lemos (13/4/13)
OF/1B Noah Caswell (10/15/9)*
OF Alex Cruz (9/9/17) – BNN #1

There were a few interesting cases in there, like Lister, an 18-year-old Canadian from Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures … (stretches his jaw after that one) … The right-hander had a nasty sinker/slider combo… but nothing else. He was entered as a starting pitcher, but the world hasn’t seen a Scott Wade in a while, and true 2-pitch pitchers never seem to cut it anymore. Is that worth investing a first-round pick in?

Blackshire was also interesting, the only two-way player entered into the draft that made the shortlist twice, as both a hitter and a pitcher. He was also only getting by on two pitches, though, and the 20-year-old’s stick had enough potential to not turn him into a 65-inning reliever when Pat Degenhardt thought he could rap out that many extra base hits in a year. Strong throwing arm with clumsy paws there, but he’d make a damn fine third baseman!

One more player to watch out for, although he did not make the hotlist, was former Raccoon Ronnie McKnight’s youngest son from his fourth marriage to 2027 Miss Angola, DaShawn. He was a light-hitting middle infielder with not much power or speed, but a glove sure enough to throw a seventh-round pick or so his way for sure.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (29-25) @ Canadiens (26-31) – June 9-11, 2048

Up 4-0 on the nasty smelling Elks on the year, the Raccoons had to travel north to play three games in their frozen, cavernous disgrace of a ballpark. They continued to have no pitching, giving up the second-most runs in the CL, with average offense not countering that, which sounded a lot like their routine plight for the last few seasons.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (4-0, 5.10 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (1-7, 6.02 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (4-3, 3.52 ERA) vs. David Farris (2-5, 4.66 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-4, 4.57 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (2-7, 3.53 ERA)

Those would be three right-handers.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Okuda
VAN: 2B I. Jaramillo – CF Escobido – LF E. Moreno – 1B Mancini – C T. Phillips – SS R. Price – RF F. Rojas – 3B Higareda – P Godinez

The Raccoons scored first, in the third inning, with singles by Manny, Watt, and Adame’s sac fly cobbling a run together. Maldo also singled with two outs, but Bryce Toohey grounded out to short. Okuda pitched three scoreless to begin the game, but it was not a challenge to notice that the Elks were hitting the ball well and at some point might stop hitting the balls well to a defender. Rick Price’s homer to right in the bottom 5th was about that point in time, tying the game, and a walk to Felix Rojas plus two singles by Adrian Higareda and Angel Escobido would also give the Elks the go-ahead run and a 2-1 lead. Eddie Moreno then grounded out to Waters to strand a pair at least. Bob Mancini, Tim Phillips, an Rojas slapped singles off Okuda all throughout the sixth to stretch that lead to 3-1, while the Raccoons looked like they were on vacation, waiting for room service to tend to them.

While Okuda was gone after six and looked like he’d cash his first L of the year, having asked for some of those for a full two months, Godinez went into the eighth in an attempt to yet deny him. He gave up leadoff singles to Watt and Adame, which put the tying runs aboard for the sluggers with nobody out. Maldo flew out to Rojas in right, but Toohey singled up the middle and drove home Matt Watt, 3-2. Matt Waters sent a sharp bouncer to third base, but right within reach of Higareda – who blatantly missed it. With that “single” to left, Adame came around, the game got tied at three, and Okuda yet again avoided taking an L despite an ERA over five after 11 starts. Herrera popped out, Gonzalez lined out, both to Bob Mancini, to end the inning then. Ibold and Bonnie kept the Elks off the board in the bottom 8th, although Bonnie walked the pinch-hitting Jerry Outram, whose body apparently had deteriorated beyond playing the field on a regular basis. He had just 21 starts on the season, and 30 pinch-hitting appearances. Outramming was left to other players now, f.e. Pat Gurney, who came up against righty Sam Gibson in the ninth, hitting for Bonnie, and smashed a ball over the wall. With Manny on base, it was worth two, and the Coons took a 5-3 lead. That was the game decider; Nelson Moreno retired the Elks in order in the bottom of the ninth. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, BB; Adame 2-4, RBI; Fernandez 2-4; Gurney (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI;

While the team was doing its alleged best in Elk City, I was again relegated to tending to the fire in Portland. Bored to death on Wednesday morning and without anything better to do, I remembered that we had a few millions left in the budget and ordered a crate of collectible baseball cards off Steveslist. With express delivery it arrived the same afternoon and I got to tearing into the packs of cards.

Immediately I was upset when I found Jesus Maldonado to only be rated an 89 gold card. How dare they?? He surely makes diamond level money!!

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Baker
VAN: 2B I. Jaramillo – CF Escobido – LF E. Moreno – 1B Mancini – RF Outram – C T. Phillips – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – P Farris

As if he wanted to give me a hint, Maldonado killed the first inning with a double play grounder, 4-6-3, but the Coons went up 1-0 in the second inning. Waters and Herrera reached base with one out, then pulled off a double steal. Gonzalez brought in the run with a groundout, while the Elks, with two out and Herrera on second, pitched to Manny Fernandez, just at the time where I looked at his card in my paw. Rated a sullen 57 by the dastardly card company – iron tier! – he grounded out to Mancini. Did they really know more than me? Maud then recommended to me to open a few of the historical packs to see whether I could maybe get Manny’s Player of the Year card from long-long ago. Maud, the good girl, always trying to keep me busy and/or sane.

Baker didn’t, getting dismembered in the bottom 2nd. Mancini homered to open the inning, tying the game, and the damn Elks batted around, slapping another five hits off Baker for two more runs, which were jaw-droppingly doubled home by the opposing pitcher… He could not get ahead of hitters anymore after that, and didn’t whiff anybody in five innings at all. But at least he got through five on Outram’s expense; the ancient slugger came up with Moreno and Mancini on base and one out in the bottom 5th, but hit a lame comebacker to Baker for a 1-6-3 double play out of the inning. – No, Slappy, I don’t care for the 2042 Jerry Outram Player of the Year card with pink glitter you just found, you can keep that one…

The Coons had all of two hits through six innings, which led me to look for cards of players on other teams to compose a diamond level lineup with them, but while I was on that, Matt Waters hit a leadoff jack in the seventh to cut the gap to 3-2. For what it was worth, the game had the same trajectory as the previous one, so we might stupidly win it yet, somehow… Come the eighth, the Raccoons took to the corners when Farris issued a 1-out walk to Watt, then gave up a single to right to Adame, and I was not trying to beat a dead horse, but Outram used to catch balls hit within 50 feet of him… Maldo tied the score with a groundout – better than nothing – but Toohey also grounded out, leaving Adame in scoring position.

From there, the game went to extras with solid relief from Lynn and Porter, although both allowed a base hit, which put the hits tally in the game at 11-4 in the damn Elks’ favor, and yet we were still hanging in there at 3-3. Extras opened with Manny doubling to left off right-hander Matt Fries, but he was stranded on a Gurney groundout, a K to Watt, and Adame flying out right to Outram. The game ended with Kuo in the bottom 10th, walking Rojas and Tim Phillips before giving up a walkoff double to Mike Gibson. 4-3 Canadiens.

We’re just no bueno right now, aren’t we?

(looks at Bryce Toohey’s 87-rated gold card and sighs)

Game 3
POR: RF Watt – SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Wheatley
VAN: CF I. Jaramillo – LF Escobido – 1B Mancini – RF E. Moreno – C Julio Diaz – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – 2B M. Gibson – P Furuya

Again, the Raccoons scored first in the early innings, this time an unearned run with nobody out in the top 2nd. Waters opened with a single to center, Gurney grounded to Gibson, who flubbed a potential double play, and Baskins hit an RBI single to left to score Waters from second base. After that it got dark real quick (as is custom in the North), with Prow flying out easily and Wheats finding a double play after all. At least Wheats didn’t give the lead away immediately, but issued two singles and a walk against three strikeouts the first time through, a.k.a. two innings. Top 3rd, Adame and Herrera went to the corners with singles at one out, and Maldo walked in a full count to fill the bases for Waters, who became the next Coons hitter to file away into a double play. Wheats batted with Gurney and Baskins aboard in the fourth – and hit into another double play. – Maaauudd! They are trying to make me cry again…!!

Top 6th, still up 1-0, Maldo and Waters opened the inning with singles. Gurney sent a drive to deep right, where it narrowly eluded Eddie Moreno and became an RBI double, 2-0. Baskins whiffed, Prow was walked onto the open base, and thusly Wheatley was invited to hit into his third double play of the game, stepping into the box with three on and one out. Reflexively, I reached for Honeypaws, but Wheats struck out instead, giving a chance to Watt, who grounded out to short. Oh bother me! The damn Elks then made up a run on next to nothing in the bottom 6th, a scratch single by Ismael Jaramillo, who was forced out by Escobido, but the new runner stole second and scored on Mancini’s double to left. Two poor outs kept Mancini stranded at third with the tying run. Herrera hit a double in the seventh, which led nowhere, while Wheatley went on to pitch through the seventh and into the eighth, but there was kicked from the game by singles hit by Chris Walley and Jaramillo. Lynn replaced him when Outram pinch-hit for Escobido, but gave up a game-tying single to the veteran nightmare before whiffing two and getting Julio Diaz to ground out…

Ninth inning, next fat chance for the Coons against Pedro de Leon; after a leadoff single by Al Martell and a Watt double, the right-hander had a pair in scoring position with nobody out. At that point the Raccoons had two runs on 13 hits and I tried to engineer a deal for some impact bats with Honeypaws posing as the opposing GM of a hybrid Gold Sox / Rebels / historical nightmares team, but I could not get his whiskers to twitch. The Coons didn’t score; Adame popped out, Herrera hit a comebacker, and Maldo grounded out to first, and the runners were stranded. This game, too, went to extras, engineered by Bob Ibold. This game, too, the Coons lost in the 10th, this time on Jake Bonnie, the feckless dimwit, and hits by Rojas and Mancini for a walkoff… 3-2 Canadiens. Adame 2-5; Herrera 2-5, 2B; Waters 2-5; Gurney 2-5, 2B, RBI; Baskins 2-5, RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

A mere 14 runners left on base, after accounting for three double plays blundered into…

Raccoons (30-27) vs. Blue Sox (25-34) – June 12-14, 2048

Last time we had met the Blue Sox, we had swept them, in 2046. Right now, that felt like a long time ago. They came in eighth in runs scored in the FL, and bottoms in runs allowed with the worst rotation *and* worst bullpen by ERA. They were giving up merely 5.3 runs per game, but I had a hunch that we’d not score more them seven on them in a 3-game series…

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (4-5, 4.74 ERA) vs. Paul Paris (3-4, 4.39 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-4, 3.56 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (3-5, 5.43 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (4-0, 5.05 ERA) vs. Ayden Cobb (1-4, 3.80 ERA)

Their assortment of former CL pitchers was all right-handed. They also had a pile of injuries, mostly position players, that left their lineup somewhat rugged and unimpressive. Then again, the Coons had lost four of their last five series…

Matt Glodowksi became an official major leaguer on Friday, being penciled into the starting lineup after bandwagoning along for five days without getting into a game in any way, shape, or form. At age 28! His mom must be so proud!

Game 1
NAS: CF Garza – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Santa Cruz – SS O’Keefe – LF Jager – 2B R. Johnston – RF Berryman – 3B J. Cortes – P Paris
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – LF Fernandez – RF Glodowski – P Merino

Not that it done them much good so far, but for the fourth time in four games this week the Raccoons made the first entry on the scoreboard, this time in the opening frame. Watt tripled to left and scored on Adame’s groundout, while Maldo doubled to right and scored on a Ruben Gonzalez single, sending Merino up 2-0. Merino meanwhile was right outta whack, issuing a single and walk in each of the first two innings, then mixed it up with two walks to Jorge Santa Cruz and Chris O’Keefe with two outs in the third. John Jager grounded out to Martell, but Merino didn’t make for easy watching. Meanwhile in Portland, Alex Adame reached on a Jorge Cortes error in the bottom 3rd, stole not one, but two bases, and was stranded anyway…

Nashville made the board in the fourth with a Nick Berryman triple to center and a Cortes grounder up the middle that allowed him to stroll home. Merino did his very best to cock up the game for good in the sixth, allowing singles to Jager and Berryman, then walked Cortes, too, with one out, giving him six walks on the day. Paul Paris was his last batter, grounded hard to short, and Adame dug it out for a 6-4-3 lead-preserver…

Bottom 6th, Manny doubled home two massively unearned runs with two gone; Toohey had reached on a throwing error, Gonzalez had been walked intentionally with first base open, and Paris had also uncorked a wild pitch to move them into scoring position. The runs oughta have come with an asterisk or three attached, and while Merino was well over 100 pitches now, the Sox also walked Glodowski with intent to force up his spot. The Coons went to Gurney, and Gurney struck out. Adame singled and stole his third base of the game in the seventh, but was predictably stranded again. Kuo pitched a scoreless eighth, but allowed a single to Ryan Johnston, who then sprained his ankle running the bases, adding to the Blue Sox’ long list of players on the DL. Jason Willet replaced him. At least Kuo didn’t allow a run, but Moreno did in the ninth. After getting two outs to begin his outing, he lost Alejandro Ramos to an infield single, then gave up an RBI double over Manny’s head to Jorge Santa Cruz. Chris O’Keefe struck out before things could get truly ugly. 4-2 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-3, BB, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

The debut of The Great Glodowski? Zilch-for-three with two strikeouts and a double play grounder. He did get that intentional walk.

A star is born.

Game 2
NAS: CF Garza – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – RF Magnussen – 3B Jager – LF Berryman – SS O’Keefe – 2B Sprague – P Sealock
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – 2B Martell – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Jackson

Jose Cantu hit a 2-run homer in the first inning to mark the first occasion this week where the Coons didn’t get first dips on the scoreboard. They did lead after the first inning, however, thanks to a 3-run homer smashed by Matt Waters in the bottom 1st with Watt and Toohey on the corners. Watt doubled home Gonzalez in the second for a 4-2 lead, but while the 3-4-5 batters all hit the ball hard and deep in the bottom 3rd, only Toohey got it to fall in, and he was stranded after his 1-out double… A Glenn Sprague single, a Sealock double (….!! …then again, they were former Elks, so what was I expecting?), and a groundout by Jose Garza scored a run for the Sox in the fifth, just when Jackson looked like he had things under control.

He didn’t – and the Blue Sox tore him up in the sixth inning. Singles by Jager and Berryman, a walk to O’Keefe, a game-tying single by Sprague, an then a bases-loaded walk to Jorge Meza batting for Sealock, which gave the Sox a 5-4 lead. The Raccoons went to Kuo, who gave up a grand slam to straightaway center on his first pitch, and when Jose Garza and everybody else was done circling the bases, kept getting whacked for a walk and two more hits, as well as two runs, as the entire ******* house of cards came down again. 2029! 2029…!! … The 8-spot buried the Raccoons for the day, even though the team had a bit of a rally over the Sox’ pen in the bottom 7th. Watt opened the inning with a double, but also pulled a calf and was replaced with Glodowski, who scored on Herrera’s double. Maldo singled, Toohey hit a sac fly, and then right-hander Danny Tankersley restored order. 11-6 Blue Sox. Watt 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Herrera 3-5, 2B, RBI; Toohey 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4;

Matt Watt would be day-to-day for a bit. Dr. Padilla estimated him to be back to normal about the middle of next week. He was not going to be in the lineup for the rubber game.

…but there was no rubber game! Instead there was rain, storm, and a bit of hail on Sunday, and no game was to be played.

In other news

June 9 – The Capitals strike a pair of deals; they exchange outfielders with the Miners, bringing in Victor Vazquez (.192, 1 HR, 11 RBI) for Pat Stipp (.258, 4 HR, 23 RBI), then flip SS Chris O’Keefe (.244, 2 HR, 7 RBI) to the Blue Sox for 1B/C Devin Phillips (.192, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and a prospect.
June 10 – ATL CF/LF Chris Kirkwood (.342, 1 HR, 6 RBI) smashes a home run for the only scoring in a 1-0 win over the Aces.
June 13 – PIT 1B/2B Mario Briones (.235, 3 HR, 37 RBI) can style himself a member of the 2,000 hits club after landing two knocks in a 9-1 loss to the Bayhawks. A sixth-inning single off Chih Ke (5-1, 3.31 ERA) is the milestone. The 37-year-old Briones was an All Star seven times in his career, which was spent mostly with two long stints for the Aces and Crusaders. He led the CL in doubles and triples once each, and has batted .280/.364/.430 with 155 HR and 991 RBI for his career. He has also nipped 141 bases in his younger years.
June 13 – As Dallas destroys the Crusaders, 18-7, eight runs are driven in by DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.311, 8 HR, 53 RBI).
June 14 – LAP LF/RF/1B Justin Bradley (.202, 1 HR, 14 RBI) drives home seven runs on three hits from the leadoff spot in the Pacifics’ 17-2 rout of the Indians.
June 14 – Boston 1B/LF/RF Ed Haertling (.267, 6 HR, 17 RBI) goes yard for the only run in the Titans’ 1-0 win over the Scorpions.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 1B/RF/LF Erik Bush (.319, 1 HR, 15 RBI), batting .481 (13-27) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.326, 11 HR, 39 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Really, really, really crummy week. Nobody’s hot, nobody’s even warm. The exception might be Adame right now, on a 7-game hitting streak during which he batted .366 with a homer, four RBI, and six stolen bases, five of those in the last two games he participated in, which was Thursday and Friday after a full day off on Saturday and the no-show on Sunday.

I should *really* concern myself with trading in some reinforcements, but the problem is that I have neither pieces to offer (everybody not contributing is also automatically overpaid...), nor prospects. Well, yes, everybody wants a piece of Rafael de la Cruz, but over my dead body!! Look! Here! (shows purple baseball card) They gave him a 92-rated Future Legends card! Even Maldo couldn’t get a ******* diamond card!!

Sunday’s rainout gives the Raccoons something wicked in July/August: a 5-team homestand! We were always going to host the Titans, Aces, Baybirds, and Falcons at that point, but now the two weeks will begin with the makeup game against the Blue Sox on what used to be a Monday off.

In the short term, the Raccoons will hop down I-5 to play the Wolves for three before skipping right back for a 4-game set with the Crusaders on a long weekend. But more importantly, the draft will be on Monday, and we need to score a few future Hall of Famers to fill up the farm!

Fun Fact: Cristiano found a 14-year-old kid over in Troutdale, who pulled a black-and-gold 2009 Pitcher of the Year Nick Brown card, and who is listening for offers.

His father thinks that $5,000 for his college fund would be a fair deal, but I wouldn’t be a GM if I wouldn’t haggle with them, even WHILE sitting on about $6M of budget space.

Things got strange though when I offered up some jerseys and baseballs, signed by whoever-the-kid-wants, but then the kid called back, asking specifically for game-worn, dirty socks by Matt Waters.

Am I getting older or is everybody else getting weirder?

[Westheim]

2048 AMATEUR DRAFT

Monday was Draft Day in the ABL, and the Raccoons had condensed down the 360-strong draft pool to 111 players on the shortlist and a crisp ten on the hotlist (*marking high school players):

SP Zane Fenlon (12/15/12)* - BNN #4
SP Tom Lindgren (15/13/9)
SP Art Schaeffer (13/12/13)

SP* Dave Lister (10/15/15)*
CL Ruben Mendez (19/14/12)

SS/3B Stephen Medlock (12/7/13)*
3B/2B Dave Blackshire (10/12/15)

OF Dave De Lemos (13/4/13)
OF/1B Noah Caswell (10/15/9)*
OF Alex Cruz (9/9/17) – BNN #1

Not like we could be much choosers as pickers, given that we were relegated to picking in the #23 spot this season, which is what you get for winning a hundred and some in the previous season. But hey, I will always gladly take a pawful of rings over a top 5 pick every 12 months… The Loggers are cute, but who wants to be the Loggers?

The Loggers held the #1 pick once more and used it on Dave de Lemos before the Titans went right off the hotlist with their #2 pick, selecting outfielder Eric Whitlow. Caswell went to the Pacifics at #3, as outfielders seemed to be the hot commodity of the season. The Falcons went for Art Schaeffer with the #4 pick, which opened the season for pitchers. The Wolves grabbed Fenlon, and Lindgren went to the Crusaders with the next two picks. Another hotlist player went to the Warriors, who selected Stephen Medlock seventh overall before a few more picks were made outside the hotlist. It took to the Aces and the #13 pick for another selection to be made from it, Alex Cruz in that case.

Then there were three, and when the damn Elks grabbed Ruben Mendez at #19, there were only two, but those two remained available at #23 for the Raccoons: infielder Dave Blackshire and pitcher Dave Lister. So it was gonna be a Dave at the top of the team’s draft class this year!

Blackshire was the only two-way player worth writing home about in this draft class, but it was a bit suspect to see him fall to the end of the first round. There was not much speed involved here and the paws were a bit clumsy, but he had a strong throwing arm and good range and should make for a tremendous third baseman with a sort of Nunley-esque stick; the type of guy that bats .280 with a dozen homers and will bat sixth on a great team and third on a ****** one. As a pitcher he threw 97 with the fastball, but only had a curveball for mixing it up, and that wasn’t gonna cut it in a worthwhile-first-round-pick sense… which was what made Lister quite the gamble. Great sinker/slider guy able to spot the corners, but he threw an absolutely worthless changeup beyond that and looked a bit resilient to expand on his arsenal. Faced with two two-pitch pitchers of which only one could hit, the Raccoons selected that guy.

Lister fell all the way to #39 and the Loggers to empty the hotlist long before the Raccoons were due another stab.

+++

2048 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#23) – 3B/2B Dave Blackshire, 20, from Pine Ridge, FL – two-way player with a much more promising future as a hitter, with a solid contact/OBP bat with notable power potential, very fine defense at the hot corner, but only negligible speed. If all else fails, he can still try his luck as a sixth-inning right-handed reliever with his 97mph heater and curve.
Round 2 (#61) – OF Ethan Torrence, 17, from Tacoma, WA – decently-able outfielder on defense with a good amount of speed for running and a bat that should work well at the top of the order with a knack to slap singles or draw a walk by laying off the garbage. Not much power, but he could always steal second later.
Round 3 (#85) – SP Pat Schwartz, 19, from Ramona, CA – smart right-hander throwing 92 with the fastball, and adding a curve, changeup, and slider to the mix. High stamina, mediocre control.
Round 4 (#109) – SP Luke Ostler, 19, from Fayetteville, NC – right-hander throwing 90, with a pretty vicious slider as a complement, but control and a third pitch are the main problems here.
Round 5 (#133) – OF/3B/SS Byron Horan, 20, from Los Angeles, CA – adept outfielder with speed and more of a low-key singles bat with little power an not much patience at the plate.
Round 6 (#157) – 3B/SS Blake McNeil, 17, from Baytown, TX – strong-armed infielder with some good potential in his bat, enough speed to steal bases, and a pretty thick notebook with a list of his enemies which he meticulously maintains in his locker…
Round 7 (#181) – INF/LF DaShawn McKnight, 18, from Lebanon, OR – singles bat without power, and not a lot of speed, but could still be a versatile defender and super utility; also the kid of former Coon Ronnie McKnight.
Round 8 (#205) – C Malik Morris, 22, from Wewahitchka, FL – goes about baseball and catching as if anything’s well, as long as it gets him out of Wewahitchka, but when he actually gives a bother, works really nicely with pitchers and can sock one from time to time.
Round 9 (#229) – SP John Brenton, 18, from Buffalo, NY – righty throwing 87 and with great potential to throw long relief in AA for his entire professional career.
Round 10 (#253) – RF/LF Jake Courtney, 17, from Philadelphia, PA – bit of a lazy dimwit, but we’re suckers for half-decent power potential left over in the double-digit rounds…
Round 11 (#277) – CL Bruce Bowhay, 21, from Greatwood, TX – left-hander (duh!) with a 90mph fastball and a curveball, and quick reflexes when it comes to catching one last glimpse of a baseball hit into the next county over.
Round 12 (#301) – 1B Edward Skinner, 18, from Halifax, Canada – slow, poor glove, hacks wildly, but has some power potential at least.
Round 13 (#325) – C Zach Morrison, 18, from Jolivue, VA – the King of the Passed Balls of the Virginia High School circuit, can hit for a bit of average, but really doesn’t have a fielding position where he wouldn’t jerk tears out of the observer with every play…

+++

Of course, Draft Day was also about cleaning house. The Raccoons put some old paws out the door with more or less ceremony as well. Some of the ones that were at least mentioned at some point or other in the past would include this bunch:

For pitchers, the Raccoons parted with AAA MR Joe Fishkin (2041, 9th Round), who had already attained minor league free agency once and had a 7+ ERA in AAA again; and A MR Andy Morgan (2046, 13th Round), who was simply at the end of his tether with his lack of talent.

For batters, papers were handed out to AA C Matt Gross (2047, 8th Round), and a pair of single-A catchers in Dario Medina and Ivan Ramos, both of whom had cost $26k each as July IFA players; also gone from Aumsville were infielders Manny Paez (2044, 4th Rd.) and Loren Decker (2046, 5th Rd.), plus outfielders Lorenzo Sandoval (2044 IFA, $22k) and Bobby Aragundi (2047, 12th Rd.).

[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-28) @ Wolves (30-32) – June 15-17, 2048

Clash of Pacific Northwest teams, both middling. The Wolves were seventh in both runs scored and runs allowed in the FL with a modest +1 run differential, but you know what? The Raccoons were down to a -1 run differential at this point… The Wolves struggled more with their starters than their relievers, and while their lineup was average in most aspects, they were bottoms in homers in the Federal League with just 25 dingers from 62 games. Tying or the team lead with five was ex-Coon Ricky Jimenez.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (4-0, 5.05 ERA) vs. Justin Roberts (6-1, 3.01 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (4-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. Darren McRee (6-5, 3.92 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-4, 4.38 ERA) vs. Gabe Butler (4-8, 5.40 ERA)

Right, right, left; this series potentially brought the last start for Jeremy Baker for the time being, with Bubba Wolinsky about ready to be called back from his rehab assignment.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Okuda
SAL: LF S. Petersen – 2B Arnold – C J. Ortiz – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – RF Ito – CF D. Vasquez – SS Jo. Jackson – P J. Roberts

Home runs by current Raccoon Bryce Toohey and former Raccoon Rikuto Ito put a run on the board for either team in the second inning before the Critters took a new lead in the top 3rd with base hits from Adame, who singled and stole second, Herrera (RBI double), and Maldo (single), then a Toohey sac fly to cap it at 3-1. Derek Baskins chipped in a solo home run in the fourth, and an unearned run was added the inning after, in which Herrera hit his second double of the day, Maldo reached on an error by Jimenez (you don’t say), and Waters hit a sac fly to left-center, 5-1. This was with Okuda fooling nobody – the Wolves made contact readily, but always found the fielders with their efforts, being turned away in just 49 pitches through five innings with two hits to their credit. He got three more grounders in the sixth, but Victor Chavez hit a single with one out in the seventh. Nothing major happened then, either; Ito flew out to left, and David Vasquez popped out to Waters.

While Ruben Gonzalez hit another solo home run in the eighth to extend the lead to 6-1, Okuda reached an impasse in the bottom of the inning after allowing singles to Josh Jackson and Logan Arnold. With two outs, he’d face Jose Ortiz, who had yet to find his usually decent power, but gave up a first-pitch RBI single and then was lifted. The Critters went to Nelson Moreno, who secured a K to end the inning, and eventually a 4-out save, even though Rikuto Ito remained pesky with a ninth-inning single. 6-2 Raccoons. Herrera 4-5, 3 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, RBI; Okuda 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (5-0);

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Baker
SAL: LF S. Petersen – 2B Arnold – C J. Ortiz – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – RF Ito – CF Krall – SS Jo. Jackson – P McRee

Ito continued to haunt the Critters, who had given up on him after only one season back in the day and had literally dumped him in the desert; he hit a double in the bottom 2nd to follow Chavez’ single, and a sac fly by Joey Krall gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead from there. The Coons responded by loading the bases on Baker and Adame singles, plus Armando Herrera getting drilled, in the top of the third. Maldo came up with one out; after having grounded out in the first inning, he had dropped his batting average under .300 for the season as his May slump extended well into June. Here, he grounded out again, but at least that tied the game. Toohey fell to 0-2 before also getting plunked, but Waters grounded poorly to first base on the first offering by McRee, stranding three.

Maldo reclaimed a batting average starting in 3 with a leadoff single in the sixth, with the game still tied at one. Toohey drew a walk, but Waters flew out to Ito in shallow right and Gurney found Logan Arnold for a 4-6-3 inning-ender. Instead, the Wolves went up 2-1 in the bottom of the inning. Jimenez, clearly also holding a personal grudge, doubled to left leading off, and Baker himself threw away Chavez’ grounder to allow the unearned run to score before retiring the next three batters without conceding Chavez’ run. At least Baker helped out with the stick in the top 7th, following on a 1-out double to right by Derek Baskins with a single of his own. Adame singled to left with runners on the corners, tying the game at two, but Herrera’s quick grounder to left was handled by Jimenez for the second out at first base. Maldo stranded a pair in scoring position with a groundout to Arnold. Baker came back for the bottom 7th, but was lifted after an infield single by Steve Petersen with one out. Porter came on, struck out PH Mitch Scheidt, then gave up a double to Ortiz. Baskins made a nice play in left though, while Petersen was sent around third base to go for home plate – where he’d be met by Ruben Gonzalez and the baseball and slapped out, ending the inning.

After an uneventful eighth, Ruben Gonzalez opened the ninth with a single to center off right-hander Ben Arner. The Raccoons opted to have Al Martell run in his stead, with Martell reaching third base on Baskins’ following single. Matt Watt was still nursing the iffy calf, but pinch-hit for Mike Lynn in this thick spot, bashing a fly to right that Ito caught, but Baskins also scored on to break the tie. Baskins stole second after that, but ended up stranded when Arner retired both Adame and Herrera. Moreno was back on for the bottom 9th, beginning with strikeouts to Krall and Jackson, and also had Nick Duncan at two strikes before giving up a double to right. Petersen, though, was also rung up to end the game. 3-2 Raccoons. Adame 2-5, RBI; Baskins 2-4, 2B; Baker 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 2-3;

So much for Baker (4-3, 3.42 ERA); there was however no practical plan in place to get Bubba Wolinsky back into the rotation now beside the thought that he should be reintegrated to make his first start back from rehab on his regular 5-day turn, which would be Friday against the Crusaders.

Not that Wolinsky had been *great* on rehab (5.08 ERA), but he also hadn’t gotten any help (.359 BABIP) with the Alley Cats…

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Martell – C Prow – LF Baskins – RF Glodowski – P Wheatley
SAL: LF S. Petersen – CF Krall – C J. Ortiz – 3B R. Jimenez – RF N. Duncan – 2B Arnold – 1B Ito – SS Jo. Jackson – P Butler

Wheatley popped out to strand a full set of runners in the second inning after the 6-7-8 batters had all reached base ahead of him with two outs, then almost immediately had to sit out a 40-minute rain delay on getaway day (not that we had to get away all that far). He held the Wolves to precious little in the early innings, though, but the same was true for Gabe Butler. The Coons did get Adame and Herrera on with one out in the fifth, but when Maldo singled to right, Adame dashed through the stop sign and was thrown out by Nick Duncan at home plate; the Raccoons would not score in that inning, either, and the game remained scoreless a few minutes longer until Butler, of all people, doubled home Josh Jackson for the game’s first run in the bottom 5th. And with two outs…!!

Leadoff singles by Martell and Prow in the sixth were met with a collective blackout by the bottom of the order, so the Coons tried again right away, with two more leadoff singles jabbed by Adame and Herrera in the seventh. Maldo popped out, Toohey whiffed, Martell whiffed even worse, and I was getting headaches. For what it was worth, Matt Glodowski placed his first major league hit into shallow center with two outs in the eighth, but that single didn’t lead anywhere, either, Matt Waters making the third out in Wheatley’s place. A scoreless bottom 8th by Jake Bonnie brought Ben Arner back for the ninth inning, with the Raccoons having piled up nine hits and no runs so far. Adame grounded to Jimenez, who threw the ball away (shock!) for a 2-base error, but I had seen runners in scoring position with nobody out approximately six-hundred-umpty-seven times in this game and I wasn’t gonna get worked up anymore. Herrera grounded out, advancing the runner, and Maldo grounded out, infuriatingly not advancing the runner. Down to Toohey with two outs, the Raccoons still needed a single, a wild pitch, or a different sort of miracle – they got the first one, a clean-as-a-whistle single to left that tied the score with the Coons down to their last wheeze. The game still ended after nine; Toohey was left on, and Bob Ibold gave up a leadoff double to Ryan Johnson in the bottom 9th, from which he didn’t recover. Jackson ended the game with a sac fly. 2-1 Wolves. Adame 2-5; Prow 2-4, 2B; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (33-29) vs. Crusaders (28-37) – June 18-21, 2048

Oh well, maybe we could stop losing against the Crusaders, who had swept the Raccoons in the first 3-game meeting of the season? They came in bottoms in runs scored in the CL, plating barely 3.2 markers per game played. Their pitching ranked eighth by ERA, with the rotation much weaker than the bullpen. The defense was also towards the bottom of the league.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-5, 4.46 ERA) vs. Luke Moses (2-8, 5.47 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (0-0) vs. Mike Zeigler (5-2, 4.35 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-5, 4.28 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (3-6, 4.52 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (5-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Jim White (4-6, 3.51 ERA)

Right, left, left, right. They had two position players on the DL, with Bob Nelson and Kevin Burch on the mend, but the pitching was the best they had available.

The Coons made a roster move, optioning Glodowski (.125, 0 HR, 0 RBI) back to AAA and activating Bubba Wolinsky from his rehab stint. Baker remained on the roster, however, until we could figure out a smarter solution. Both him and Kevin Hitchcock had options, we just weren’t willing to send either of the two away…

Game 1
NYC: 3B Critzer – LF Garris – SS Gates – 1B C. Cortes – RF Rogers – C Bayless – 2B R. Martinez – CF E. Baker – P Moses
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Merino

The Coons had Adame, Herrera, and Toohey on with a single and two walks in the first inning, but failed to score. Merino kept the Crusaders to a Brad Critzer double and nothing else in the first three innings, then was spotted a 3-0 lead in the bottom 3rd. Maldo hit a 1-out single, soon followed by a Toohey double. Ricardo Martinez’ fumble of Waters’ grounder allowed the first run to score, and while Pat Gurney popped out, Ruben Gonzalez singled home a pair after Waters stole second base. Baskins also singled, but the inning ended with Merino, who didn’t strike out any batters until Phil Rogers hacked out in a full count in the seventh inning. That was with the score still at 3-0; the Raccoons had gone right back to bed after putting up that three-run third. Merino had a 2-hitter on just 67 pitches through seven innings, so eight relievers in the pen be damned, they’re not coming in yet! Eddie Baker hit a 2-out single in the eighth, but Merino hung his second K on pinch-hitter David MacLeod to extricate himself from that situation. He batted for himself in the bottom 8th, a 1-2-3 turnaway by Jeff Frank, then came back to face the top of the order. Critzer flew out Baskins on the first pitch, but Josh Garris grounded to first, Gurney knocked down the ball and flipped it to Merino, and Merino… dropped it. And now what? He got a pep talk in a mound conference, put his mean face back on, then went after Prince Gates, who grounded up the middle at 0-2, which did him no good. Adame snatched the ball, flicked it to Waters, to Gurney – ballgame! 3-0 Raccoons! Adame 2-4; Baskins 1-2, 2 BB; Merino 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (6-5);

And that was a 3-hit shutout! Also, the third career shutout for Merino, and a shutout for three straight seasons, the last two of which came against the Crusaders after a 1-hitter last July.

And now we hold our breath for Bubba Wolinsky’s return.

Game 2
NYC: 3B Critzer – LF Garris – SS Gates – 1B C. Cortes – C Bayless – 2B Rico – RF Cannizzard – CF E. Baker – P Zeigler
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Wolinsky

It went … not so good. In the sense of “Wolinsky limped off the field in the first inning”. He walked Critzer to begin the game, then lunged after a Prince Gates grounder with one out, landing awkwardly on his right foot, then immediately made for the sideline. The comeback had lasted 15 pitches and two outs (Toohey made the play on Gates, somehow). Hitchcock replaced Wolinsky, balked in the Crusaders’ runner, then struck out the next three batters. He maintained a weird sort of no-hitter through three messy innings, but Danny Rico singled against Bob Ibold in the fourth to quickly dismiss that notion. The Raccoons went on to strand the tying run on third base in the first and fourth innings, and were content with doing nothing in the others through the completion of six.

Ibold handed in two innings, followed by single frames from Lynn and Bonnie to reach stretch time, at which point the Crusaders were out-hit 4-1, but still up 1-0. Zeigler then found a tight spot of his own in the bottom 7th. Toohey hit a leadoff single to left, after which a Rico error added Waters to the basepaths and Herrera was nicked. But that of course made it three on with nobody out, a situation in which the long-term Raccoons slash line was negative .095/.138/.189 … Cristiano, I will ask for the ACTUAL line if and when I want to know!! – … Ruben Gonzalez was next, waited out a struggling Zeigler, and pushed home the tying run with a 5-pitch walk. Whatever works! Manny then hit a comebacker for a force at home, and Al Martell had pinch-hit and remained in the game over Adame earlier, *and* we had the short bench and the only righty pinch-hitter would be the double-play-prone Prow… Swing away, Al! Swinging away he did, hitting a sac fly to Tim Cannizzard before Watt grounded out to end the inning with a 2-1 lead.

Critzer’s 1-out single chased Bonnie in the eighth, bringing on Preston Porter when Martinez pinch-hit for the left-handed Garris. Porter entered in the Coons’ second double switch of the game, with Porter in the #1 slot and Baskins replacing Watt in leftfield. He struck out Martinez, and Gates popped out to end the inning. No insurance came forth in the bottom 8th, and Moreno inherited a 2-1 lead for the ninth, which lefty pinch-hitter Angel Lara opened, striking out. Scott Bayless worked a walk, but Rico flew out easily to Baskins. Cannizzard flew out to Herrera, and that put this game away. 2-1 Blighters. Adame 2-3; Toohey 2-3, BB; Hitchcock 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K; Ibold 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

This W saw the Raccoons take back first place in the North from the Indians, who were struggling against the Loggers.

The Loggers!

Meanwhile, word on Wolinsky was that amputation was not necessary and Dr. Padilla opined that we might have another go in five days. No structural damage on the ankle, maybe a bit on his psyche…

Game 3
NYC: 3B Critzer – LF Garris – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – RF C. Cortes – C A. Lara – CF Rogers – 2B Rico – P Malla
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – C Prow – P Jackson

Jackson had nothing on Saturday, getting easily singled to death by the New Yorkers, who got started with Malla in the third inning, who knocked the first of three straight singles, which combined with Gates’ sac fly to center gave the Crusaders two runs. The inning after, Carlos Cortes whacked a leadoff triple and scored on a Lara sac fly for a 3-0 gap while the Raccoons had no runs, no hits, and no clue through four.

Nevertheless, we somehow got the tying run to the plate in the bottom 6th after a walk to Watt and a double by Adame, pulling up a badly struggling Maldonado, who by now had sagged to the .290 mark, but for a second stopped the ageing process and socked a 2-run double to center to make it sort-of-a-ballgame again, Portland down 3-2, but was also stranded by Toohey and Waters. Then somebody gave the ball back to Jackson, and Brad Critzer whacked a double and that of course became a run, and I was feeling dying-dynasty sadness to the n-th degree. Martell hit a leadoff single in the eighth for no gains, and instead Joy-shan Kuo was slapped for two doubles by Cortes and Rico in the ninth for another New York run. …and yet, we STILL brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom 9th, somehow, despite a K hung on Toohey by Julian Ponce to begin the frame. Waters singled to right, Herrera singled to left, and Gurney could tie it up with one swipe – AND HE ******* DID!! 2-0 pitch by Ponce, la-di-dah down the middle, and POUNDED over the ******* fence in right into a crowd ready to escalate in case of a near-future walkoff…!

Well, not in regulation! New right-hander Dan Minelli retired Prow and Manny, and the game went to extras, where Mike Lynn hit Gates with two outs, but Gates was caught stealing by Prow to deny the Crusaders. However, the Coons also could not get past a 2-out single by Maldonado in the bottom 10th, then squeezed another inning out of Lynn. Minelli was still in the game in the bottom 11th, walked Waters to get going, and Waters didn’t wait for long before stealing second base. Herrera was walked with intent, more for the double play opportunity than another chance to face Gurney. The first-sacker hit a grounder to Dave Hernandez that would be one out at best, but became no outs when Hernandez fumbled the ball for an error. Three on, no outs. – Yes, Honeypaws, we’ll sit here all night until they lose in the 19th…! … Prow was next, and behind him was the pitcher’s spot; Baskins and Gonzalez were left on the bench, but neither would bat for Prow, who grounded to Critzer, who had to fire home and got Waters to keep the game going. Baskins struck out then, and Watt grounded to Rico. – I glared at Maud, who kept knitting, not saying a word.

After that shameful development, memory got a bit hazy, for which I blamed Capt’n Coma. Ibold survived two singles in the top 12th without allowing a run, with New York going to righty Ryan Fentress, a 26-year-old sophomore of 27 appearances. The Coons, too, hit two singles before choking, when Herrera grounded out to short to strand Maldo and Waters. Ibold came back for more in the 13th, which meant mostly more runners on two singles and a walk. Porter had to dig him out, but allowed a run on a sac fly. The Raccoons had nothing in the bottom of the inning, and took a bitter loss. 6-5 Crusaders. Maldonado 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Waters 2-4, 2 BB; Gurney 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Lynn 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Bitter.

Bitter. Bitter. Bitter.

Game 4
NYC: 3B Critzer – 2B Rico – SS Gates – 1B C. Cortes – RF Rogers – C Bayless – LF MacLeod – CF E. Baker – P J. White
POR: CF Watt – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – LF Fernandez – P Okuda

Okuda reached a new level of sucking on Sunday, walking four batters in the first inning, in which the Crusaders scored as many runs, also with the aid of two hits by Rico and Cortes; Bayless and MacLeod drew bases-loaded walks, though. From there, we were in for a bitter game; Okuda somehow lingered through five innings, allowing one more walk and run each, while the Raccoons did absolutely ******* nothing. Waters hit a leadoff double in the fourth, in which Toohey was plunked with one out, and Gurney flew out to Eddie Baker in non-too-deep center. Waters, from third base, went for it – and was thrown out. Thee inning after, with two outs, Manny Fernandez doubled to center, but also had an arm, a leg, and his tail fall off halfway between first and second, requiring replacement and reassembly by Dr. Padilla. Baskins ran for him and took over leftfield, while Herrera batted for the stinking Okuda and grounded out, ending the miserable inning.

At which point we arrived at Jeremy Baker in long relief – so that roster spot wasn’t going entirely to ******* waste! – and also the third straight inning with a Coons leadoff double, this one whacked by Matt Watt in the bottom 6th. He advanced on a Waters grounder, then scored on Maldo’s grounder to short to get the Coons on the board, down 5-1. Three scoreless by Baker were followed by a Baskins leadoff double in the eighth, then Prow singling for the pitcher. Watt struck out. Waters struck out. Maldo struck out. White stalked off still up 5-1, and I threw myself face-first into the cushions to cry like a bitch. The ninth brought no relief, either. 5-1 Crusaders. Baskins 1-1, 2B; Prow (PH) 1-1; Baker 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

In other news

June 15 – The Canadiens fleece the Condors for two prospects for nothing more than MR Tim Abraham (4-0, 0.64 ERA, 1 SV) and cash.
June 16 – TIJ SS Tony Aparicio (.310, 7 HR, 31 RBI) was out with shoulder tendinitis, and probably not back until after the All Star Game.
June 17 – Sacramento acquires SP Paul Paris (3-5, 4.17 ERA) from the Blue Sox in exchange for a rather unremarkable prospect.
June 18 – Rookie 3B Reed Ottinger (.254, 4 HR, 16 RBI) is a triple away from the cycle in a 4-hit, 4-RBI performance as his Condors down the Falcons, 13-4.
June 21 – A torn back muscle puts CIN SP John Gano (1-2, 4.82 ERA) on the DL for the rest of the year.

FL Player of the Week: SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.308, 10 HR, 39 RBI), hitting .481 (13-27) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL 3B/SS/LF/CF Anton Venegas (.345, 3 HR, 30 RBI), batting .500 (13-26) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Oh boy.

Nominally a winning week (4-3 after all…), it surely didn’t feel like one, especially with the choker on Saturday in there and more inefficient pitching. Then Wolinsky tweaked his paw again, and then Manny tore who-knows-what… Dr. Padilla so far surely doesn’t know. We will have to make SOME roster move on Monday, because we can’t go with a 3-man bench and it’s off to Boston right away without a day off.

Okuda finally lost a game, just when I thought he was immune to sucking his tail off.

What else? Maldo can’t hit the baseball no more, Toohey never really hit them all season. Maybe Martell should bat cleanup for a change, what do I know…?

Well, I at least know the schedule. It’s grim. 4-city road trip, tingling through three countries. Only US stops next week, though, with the Titans and Knights up for grabs.

Fun Fact: Nothing of interest on the waiver wire.

Yes, that’s how far we’re into the 2029 phase of this dynasty.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-31) @ Titans (33-36) – June 22-24, 2048

The Titans were surprisingly close to the playoffs at this point, being four games out in fourth place. Thy ranked eighth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, though, with a -11 run differential, which were not exactly indicators of playoffs coming to Boston in the near future. We held a 4-2 edge on them this season.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (3-4, 4.10 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (4-6, 3.61 ERA)
Victor Merino (6-5, 3.94 ERA) vs. David Barel (6-5, 2.91 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (0-0, 13.50 ERA) vs. Emanuel Caceiro (3-3, 3.07 ERA)

Something wicked: we’d see only left-handed starters in this 3-game set.

With 13 pitchers on the roster and Manny Fernandez ailing, the Raccoons tumbled into this 3-game set with a 3-Coon bench, which had the potential for backfiring rather soon.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley
BOS: 1B Haertling – RF L. Estrada – SS C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – C W. Gardner – 2B Galaz – LF C. Vega – 3B J. Rodriguez – P B. Jackson

The wicked thing of the day was Wheatley hitting Ed Haertling in the first AND second innings, each time giving up run(s), too. Hits by Leo Estrada and Wade Gardner led to two runs in the first inning, while the run he conceded in the second was unearned after a Maldonado error, but at least the second half of the season was going to begin soon, and then it would be alright, right, Wheats? It would be alright then? … The Coons made up a run in the top 2nd when Herrera drove in Toohey, who had smacked a leadoff double, but when Wheats hit a leadoff double in the third (!), the Coons couldn’t get beyond stranding him at second base. Matt Watt walked, Alex Adame popped out, and Maldo found a double play to give me an aneurysm over. Bottom 4th, Haertling hit, but wasn’t hit, singling home Carlos Vega with two outs, and the Titans were up 4-1. Did I mention that nothing good ever happens in Boston?

Maldo hit a jack in Boston in the sixth inning, finally reaching ten for the year and hopefully breaking out of his dreadful slump that had gone on for weeks now. It was only a solo shot, narrowing the score to 4-2, and then Wheatley just gave it back again in the bottom of the inning, allowing singles to Carlos Vega and Jose Rodriguez, with Vega having stolen second and scoring on the latter’s base knock and a throw home by Watt that was wild enough to merit him an error. Wheats was yanked after handling a bunt from Brian Jackson, who was four-hitting the Critters through seven innings, but gave up leadoff knocks to Watt and Adame when the eighth inning broke. Maldo appeared in the box as the tying run, and hit a zinger to center for a 2-run single, 5-4. The Coons slowly filled the bases against right-hander Tommy Griffith then, getting Waters on with a walk and Gurney with a Gerardo Galaz error. Whatever works. Ruben Gonzalez batted with three aboard and two down – and held out long enough to draw a walk and tie the score at five…! Al Martell batted for Kevin Hitchcock, but grounded out to short to end the inning, though.

The game went to extras from there, with Ibold and Kuo holding the frontline for the Critters. Toohey flew out to deep center to begin the 10th against righty Dave Serio, who then allowed a single to Matt Waters. The go-ahead run reached second base by theft, after which Herrera was walked intentionally to set up a double play, but Gurney grounded out instead. The Titans could pick which catcher to face now, with Gonzalez up here, or Prow up as last guy off the miniscule bench after hitting for Kuo; they went for Gonzalez as their poison, and it killed them, to the tune of a 3-run homer to left-center…!! Kevin Prow batted then anyway, singling and getting stranded by Watt. Nelson Moreno allowed a leadoff hit to Chris Jimenez in the 10th, then sawed off the next three while stranding the runner. 8-5 Raccoons. Watt 2-5, BB; Maldonado 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Gonzalez 1-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Prow (PH) 1-1;

No news on Manny by Tuesday, which was annoying and continuing the roster squeeze, while the Titans picked up Nate Massey (.238, 1 HR, 16 RBI) from the Indians between games, along with a prospect, while sending Monday’s starter Brian Jackson (4-6, 3.69 ERA) to Indy.

The prospect in question was #55 SP Jim Peterson.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – 3B Martell – C Prow – P Merino
BOS: 3B Massey – C W. Gardner – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 1B Haertling – 2B Galaz – LF C. Vega – SS T. Thompson – P Barel

Merino, like Wheats on Monday, nailed the first batter he faced in this game, but Massey was caught stealing to remove the runner from the basepaths. Both teams produced a load of nothing in the first few innings, although the pitchers were not exactly dominant; two strikeouts for Barel through four innings, half that for Merino. Boston eventually scored an unearned run in the bottom 4th, getting Tony Lopez on second base with nobody out thanks to a throwing error by Al Martell, then scoring him with two productive outs. Martell tried to make up for his mistake, hit a single in the fifth, then was swiftly doubled off by Prow… Singles by Jimenez, Lopez, and Vega pieced together a sixth-inning run for the Titans, which turned out to be more than enough. The Raccoons never stopped being entirely woeful against Barel, who eventually completed a 7-hit shutout, all hits being singles. 2-0 Titans. Toohey 2-4; Waters 2-4; Merino 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (6-6);

Wednesday broke, still without more knowledge about what bothered Manny Fernandez besides old age and probably a guilty conscience for stealing his salary with a .660 OPS…

At least Dr. Padilla had found all the puzzle pieces to Bubba Wolinsky and we’d give that starting thing a new shot on Wednesday in the old rubber game…!

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 3B Martell – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Wolinsky
BOS: 3B Massey – C W. Gardner – RF C. Jimenez – CF T. Lopez – 1B Haertling – 2B Galaz – LF J. Rodriguez – SS T. Thompson – P Caceiro

Wolinsky struck out the first three batters he faced, and the Raccoons put their first three batters in the top 2nd on base as Waters and Martell chipped singles, and Caceiro chipped Ruben Gonzalez. Offense almost broke out, with Derek Baskins singling home two, but Wolinsky then bunted into a force at third base and things died quickly from there. Wolinsky went on to strike out the first five, but of course would not get the win. He didn’t even get through five innings, or through three – Jose Rodriguez and Tom Thompson were on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 3rd when the skies, which had darkened in the prior 20 minutes, were torn to bits by crass lightning, and pandemonium ensued within minutes in one of the nastier storms I had witnessed from a ballpark – and we DO go to Oklahoma regularly…!

The weather took two hours to calm the **** down again, the game was actually almost suspended, and of course Wolinsky was not going to be coming back after that long a sitdown… The Raccoons were going to employ that 8-man bullpen they were carrying for no really good reason and continued with Baker. He conceded both of Wolinsky’s runs, first on a Tom Steffensen groundout, then by a walk to Massey and a Wade Gardner single, before whiffing Jimenez and Lopez to exit the inning in a 2-2 tie.

Baker pitched the Coons through five, then got the lead in the top 6th, in which Martell singled, then scored on a Gonzalez double to break the tie. Baskins singled to put them on the corners, and Baker even singled to drive in his catcher, 4-2…! Matt Watt hit a sac fly to chase lefty reliever David Barnes, with Bryan McDuffie, right-hander, replacing him and giving up singles to Adame and Maldonado, the latter plating Baker. The two runners then succeeded with a double steal before scoring in tandem on a Toohey single to left, the last marker that got splotched on the board in the inning, a 6-run sixth to produce a bit of a cushion. Chris Jimenez answered with a solo homer in the bottom 6th, and Baker also put Tony Lopez on base, whom Galaz doubled home against Kevin Hitchcock when Baker reached the obvious end of his tether. Relief got more steady after that, with the last 2.2 innings pitched in scoreless fashion by Kuo and Porter to put the game and series away. The Raccoons had them on the corners in the eighth once more, but Toohey hit into a double play for the umpty-ninth time… 8-4 Raccoons. Maldonado 3-5, RBI; Martell 2-4; Baskins 2-4, 2 RBI;

Series win…!

By the time we arrived in Atlanta, we also resigned all hope and turned Manny Fernandez into dog food. Dr. Padilla finally found a chipped-off bit of elbow on the scans, and that would require major surgical intervention. He was going to be out for the season…

So off to the DL with oldest Raccoon on duty, and Matt Glodowski was recalled for a lack of better ideas.

Raccoons (37-32) @ Knights (32-38) – June 26-28, 2048

The Knights were pretty much out of it in June, 20 games behind the soaring Baybirds and in last place in the CL South. They were eighth in runs scored an fourth in runs allowed, though, which actually made for a +6 run differential, so random luck had not been kind to them. They were 1-2 against the Critters this year, and had slugger John Marz and an assortment of pitchers on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (2-5, 4.30 ERA) vs. Jay Carroll (5-3, 3.86 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (5-1, 5.03 ERA) vs. Brian Buttress (7-6, 2.88 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-4, 4.27 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (4-7, 3.89 ERA)

Two more southpaws to begin this set – only the Sunday start was assigned to a right-hander. The frivolity…!

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – P Jackson
ATL: SS Venegas – CF Alade – 1B Hester – C Cass – RF van der Zanden – 3B Loyola – 2B Encinia – LF Kinder – P Carroll

Maldo tripled home Watt for a 1-0 lead in the first, then was stranded with a Toohey K and Waters’ pop to short. Jackson got around two walks to Jon Alade and Billy Hester in the bottom 1st, after which the Coons loaded the bases with Gonzalez, Glodowski, and Watt, bringing up Adame with two outs, but he lined out to Anton Venegas. Alex Adame came up in another thick spot in the fourth, then with Jackson and Watt on second and first, respectively, and two outs. This time he zinged a single to right, which Arnout van der Zanden neatly cut off, but then threw horribly to third base for an error, allowing Jackson to score. Maldo then slapped a single past Jon Loyola with a 1-0 pitch, extending the lead to 4-0 and reaching 50 RBI in the team’s 70th game of the season. Toohey singled, but Waters grounded out, giving the ball back to Jackson, who had yet to allow a hit, but had walked three in as many busy innings, having already thrown 48 pitches.

Tyler Cass hit a single in the fourth, but Jackson turned the Knights away in the inning, and reached the sixth before finding substantial trouble. Billy Hester hit a 1-out single, then advanced on a wild pitch. He tried to score from second on Cass’ next single, but was thrown out at the plate by Glodowski, with van der Zanden then out to Herrera in center. The three middle innings had taken Jackson only 25 pitches.

Portland got to 5-0 in the seventh with hits from Maldo and Herrera, who cashed in the fifth run. Then Jackson returned for the 6-7-8 batters with a shutout suddenly an option again. He waked Loyola in a full count, then gave up back-to-back RBI doubles to Juan Encinia and Matt Kinder down either line, ending his outing without logging another out instead… Ibold surrendered Kinder’s run on a Venegas single, and suddenly it was a 5-3 game… We got a scoreless eighth from Lynn then, but could not get the offense restarted; the 5-3 lead went to Moreno in the ninth. He struck out Kinder and Antonio Ramires before giving up a triple to Venegas in a full count. Then he walked Jon Alade. And then he fell behind against Hester… and then Hester hacked out in a full count to somehow give the W to the Raccoons after all… 5-3 Raccoons. Maldonado 3-5, 3B, 3 RBI;

The Indians, who had also won two of three during the week, lost in Tijuana (our next destination) on Friday, which gave the division lead to the Raccoons again.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – CF Herrera – 2B Martell – RF Glodowski – P Okuda
ATL: RF van der Zanden – SS Venegas – CF Alade – 3B Loyola – 1B Hester – C Cass – 2B Encinia – LF Melendez – P Buttress

Okuda’s intimate fight with the 5.00 ERA mark continued; after retiring the first four batters, he issued two walks and a single to the 5-6-7 batters before somehow bailing out on Bill Melendez’ 6-4-3 grounder. The game remained scoreless through the early innings, the Raccoons only getting on with a Martell single the first time through. Maldo singled with one out in the fourth and Toohey reached on an error to set up a chance, or at least a runner in scoring position. Gonzalez found Loyola for a 5-4-3 double play, though.

Scoring only came in the fifth inning with the first career homer of Matt Glodowski, who whacked a 2-piece to left with Herrera on base to give Okuda a 2-0 lead. It’s never too late for your first career homer, they say, although in Glodowski’s case… 28 years and 174 days old today!

Okuda labored through five shutout innings, then imploded all at once. He walked Venegas, Alade, and Loyola in order, then gave up a grand slam to Billy Hester for a 4-2 deficit. Hester’s slam was only Atlanta’s second base hit in the game… Hitchcock and Kuo went on to be bothered for relief duties before the Raccoons rallied in the eighth. Adame hit a leadoff jack to left, cutting the deficit in half, and then Toohey, Gonzalez, and Herrera all reached with one out, loading the bases for Martell. He grounded up the middle, Venegas intercepted the ball, lobbed it to Encinia… and Encinia had a slight bobble that cost them the double play, with Toohey now scoring and tying the score at four. Glodowski flew out to Alade to strand runners on the corners. Hester singled off Kuo in the bottom 8th before Porter and Baskins entered in a double switch, Glodowski being removed. Porter got shredded by Cass, Encinia (singles) and Chris Kirkwood (double), giving up three runs in total to lose the game… 7-4 Knights. Adame 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Herrera 2-4; Glodowski 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 3
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Gurney – 2B Waters – SS Adame – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Wheatley
ATL: SS Venegas – CF Alade – 1B Hester – C Cass – RF van der Zanden – 3B Loyola – 2B S. Davison – LF Kirkwood – P Koga

The Coons hit a smattering of singles off Koga in the early innings, but by the time they had seven hits on the board, it was only 1-0, from Baskins driving in Adame in the second inning. Waters had been caught stealing in the same inning, and right now there were the 2-3-4 batters on base with one out, and Waters was back at the plate, and grounded to Scott Davison. Fortunately, Davison was taken away from second base by momentum and the only play was on first, with Herrera scoring to go up 2-0. Adame then flew out. The Knights then tied it all up again with a Koga single, Venegas triple, and Cass double off Wheatley, all in the bottom 3rd……

Baskins singled and was doubled off by Prow in the fourth, and Herrera and Maldo went to the corners with 1-out singles in the fifth, at which point we were already into double-digit hits in a 2-2 game. Gurney barely legged out a return throw to break up a double play on another grounder to Davison to take a 3-2 lead before Waters grounded out. Then Koga hit another leadoff single off Wheatley, at which point I gave up on the season altogether. Wheatley tried to get the lead runner on a comebacker by Venegas, instead got nobody, and then the Knights somehow choked for a pop, a grounder, and a K to stay behind.

The bases remained busy; Adame whacked a double to left to begin the sixth, and Koga walked Baskins. Prow then hit into another ******* double play. Wheats hit for himself with two outs, flew out to van der Zanden – who dropped the ball for a run-scoring error. WHATEVER ******* WORKS.

Wheats worked for 6.2 innings of 2-run ball on 95 pitches, then was removed with nobody on base when the lefty-laced part of the Knights’ order came up again – with four lefty relievers sitting in the pen, there was no reason to be scroogey. Lynn and Martell entered in a double switch (Waters taking the rest of the day off), and Lynn ended the seventh with a K to Alade, while Martell killed the top 8th with a double play grounder, 3-6-3… It was destined to remain 4-2 from the Coons’ point of view, but at least Lynn retired three more before pawing it off to Moreno. Loyola struck out. Davison popped out. Kirkwood grounded out to Maldo. 4-2 Coons. Herrera 3-5, 2B; Maldonado 3-5; Adame 2-4, 2B; Baskins 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-4);

Thanks to six double plays in total, the teams squeezed this game into 2:28 hours despite 20 base hits and five walks.

In other news

June 23 – The Buffaloes send utility player Eric Miller (.232, 4 HR, 31 RBI) to the Warriors for 2B Erik Stevens (.218, 2 HR, 8 RBI) and a prospect.
June 24 – MIL CL Caleb Martin (0-1, 2.28 ERA, 12 SV) is out for the season with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
June 25 – TOP INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.263, 7 HR, 24 RBI) would be out until after the All Star Game owing to an oblique strain.
June 27 – CHA SP Chris Jones (5-5, 3.56 ERA) 1-hits the Crusaders in a 4-0 shutout, with the only New York base hit being contributed by starting pitcher Jeff Johnson (5-11, 4.35 ERA).
June 27 – Milwaukee southpaw Tony Ruiz (4-6, 2.90 ERA) finishes a 3-hit shutout of the Bayhawks, the Loggers winning 4-0. Ruiz walks five, but somehow keeps the San Francisco team off the board.
June 28 – WAS OF/2B Danny Diaz (.278, 4 HR, 19 RBI) has five hits, including two triples, and a handful of RBI in a 13-inning, 8-4 win over the Pacifics.
June 28 – SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.312, 10 HR, 40 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games, thanks to two hits in a 4-1 loss to the Blue Sox.
June 28 - Stars outfielder Juan del Toro (.347, 12 HR, 48 RBI) will be out for a month after suffering an intercostal strain.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 2B/3B Alex Vasquez (.279, 3 HR, 18 RBI), hitting .524 (11-21) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR 1B/RF/3B/LF Jesus Maldonado (.309, 10 HR, 50 RBI), batting .448 (13-29) with 1 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

With Manny lost for the year, and Pellicano lost even against AAA pitching now, the Raccoons have an actual need for an outfielder. The Scorpions want to part with Chris Robinson, who would be a near perfect copy of Manny, being old and slow and brittle, yet also cheap, but they actually think they can get Rafael de la Cruz for him. Dimwits.

If we can’t work something out next week, we’ll have to demote Hitchcock or Baker after all. Neither of the two deserves it, but I just hate a 4-man bench…

It will be the three-country scoop next week, with a series in Tijuana, then one in Elk City to break into July. Thursday was also the final day off before the All Star break.

Fun Fact: Manny Fernandez might now finish his career with 198 homers, 189 stolen bases, and 981 RBI.

That is neat for randomly matching digits, but it makes me sad for Manny, a Raccoon of 2,120 games in the regular season an 52 more in the playoffs.

Sigh.

[catcherjul]

Any chance you could uploard your league as a quickstart? I follow your dynasty thread and would love to play in this league!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by catcherjul

I follow your dynasty thread and would love to play in this league!

Ah, I see, you found your way down to the bottom of the abyss. Always nice to have company in the deep bottoms. Make yourself comfortable. It's nice here.

We have cookies!

Originally Posted by catcherjul

Any chance you could uploard your league as a quickstart?

Unfortunately no, and I will have a few words on why in a moment, but this league is the only one that I ever came to enjoy playing and spreading it far and wide might actually torpedo it, f.e. learning who drafted a goodie in the ninth round in '47 and will totally trade it for a few glass beads and trinkets, or precisely how many base hits are left in Maldo.

But you are more than welcome to keep clinging on to this sinking ship here and go all down with me!

+++

Today, the Raccoons turn TEN years old. They came about on May 20, 2012 as the result of a bored-as-heck weekend that just wouldn't end. Going on for ten years officially qualifies as my life's work, which is kinda sad by normal people's standards, but if you followed for any length of time the last ten years, you very much know that I ...

A) am not normal, and
B) don't care.

May 20, 2012 I was bored to death, kinda depressed, and lonely. As of May 20, 2022 I keep being bored to death, kinda depressed, and lonely. There has been shockingly little character development in that regard with me!

In ten years, the Raccoons went through three laptops and only two OOTP versions, being started in OOTP 12 and only once moved to OOTP 16, where they remain, since I am absolutely crazy paranoid about moving them again and something subtle breaking in the background and then it all comes crashing down. You see, the Raccoons are more or less all I have going for myself.

In the last ten years I made it through an unhealthy, abusive addiction to World of Tanks, years of agony at my old (and first ever) job until finally telling them to get it, got an accounting degree that I never put to use since I was handed that degree literally five minutes before that pandemic thing kicked into third gear, and most recently was ill for months for no good reason. All the time, the Raccoons have kept going (never mind the occasional fallout like the 19-walks game in '82 or the Juan Diaz game that made me accept Steam as annoying middleware just so I could play Civ 5 for a bit), and they have kept me going. Maybe they have even kept some of you lot going.

I don't know whether any of us - me, you, the Coons save file - makes it through another ten years, but there's only one way to find out.

Keep playing!

And having some cake.

(Yeah, it sounds like I need therapy above, but I have made it this far without therapy, I must be totally fine. (left eye twitches wildly))

To the cuddly, fluffy, seven-ringed Coons!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-33) @ Condors (36-39) – June 29-July 1, 2048

June would end in Mexico, with a series against the Condors, whom the Raccoons had swept when these teams first met this year. Tijuana ranked seventh in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed, with a modest +3 run differential (Critters: +8). They had the best bullpen in the Continental League with a 2.49 ERA, and ranked in the top three in stolen bases, but the bottom three in home runs. Tony Aparicio was a notable absence for them, on the DL with shoulder woes.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (6-6, 3.72 ERA) vs. Jason Jacobs (4-5, 4.64 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. Josh Henneberry (1-1, 6.75 ERA)
Jake Jackson (3-5, 4.31 ERA) vs. Kellen Lanning (8-3, 2.58 ERA)

The Condors only had right-handed starters on the team right now.

Game 1
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Merino
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Tortora – C Mittleider – 1B S. Henderson – CF Burkhart – 2B Watanabe – 3B Ottinger – LF E. Moore – P Jacobs

A Maldo double and Toohey single put the Raccoons on top in the first inning, 1-0, although Merino seemed ill inclined to work with that little run support. He gave up two singles to Chris Navarro and Jon Mittleider in the first inning, walked Sterling Henderson, and was helped out of the jam by Navarro getting thrown out at third base on the Mittleider single, the assist just like the earlier RBI going to Toohey.

Merino held a shutout through five, which was not necessarily indicative of his actual pitching performance. While the Condors only got another base hit in the fifth inning when Cullen Tortora hit a single, on the way Merino issued another walk, spent much time behind in the count, and also drilled both Reed Ottinger and Jon Mittleider in different innings. The Raccoons scratched out the odd run meanwhile, getting Matt Watt to score in both the third and sixth innings for a 3-0 lead. Watt tripled and came home on Alex Adame’s groundout the first time, then singled and scored on another 2-out Toohey single after that. Matt Waters hit a double in the sixth then, but Toohey was thrown out at home plate by Ethan Moore as he tried to score from first base, ending the inning. Merino responded with three on, no outs in the bottom 6th, walking Tim Burkhart, after which Shintaro Watanabe singled, and Ottinger was nailed *again*. He struck out Moore, a lefty batter, and got a sac fly from Jacobs, 3-1, then was replaced with Porter, who secured a groundout from Navarro to bugger out of the inning. When the Raccoons’ 6-7-8 did not reach base in the seventh, Porter also pitched the bottom of that inning. Top 8th, Watt drew a 1-out walk, stole second, and was singled home by Maldonado with two outs after Adame popped out. With the lead back to three runs, the eighth was put together by Hitchcock and Bonnie before Nelson Moreno retired the Condors 1-2-3 in the ninth. 4-1 Raccoons. Watt 2-3, BB, 3B; Maldonado 2-4, 2B, RBI; Toohey 2-4, 2 RBI;

A roster move was made at that point; since an arm-for-stick trade was not on the horizon, the Raccoons finally dispatched of their 13th pitcher and sent Jeremy Baker back to AAA where he didn’t necessarily belong. Roberto Medina was brought up from AAA, where he did averagely, giving us a switch-hitting outfield bench bat.

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – LF Baskins – C Prow – RF Glodowski – P Wolinsky
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Tortora – C Mittleider – 1B S. Henderson – CF Burkhart – 2B Watanabe – 3B Ottinger – LF Kristoff– P Henneberry

Could we catch more than a glimpse of Wolinsky now? Two abortive starts into his resurrection season, he had spun but 2.2 innings due to tweaked ankles and end-times storms. Well, when he pitched three shutout innings on three hits and three strikeouts, that was already his longest outing at this level in a year, and he continued to add zeroes to the board… much like the Critters hit. Second inning aside, when Glodowski’s groundout brought home Waters, who had hit a leadoff single before stealing a base, the Raccoons did not exactly score huge amounts of runs, either.

Maybe the sixth would change that. Toohey opened by whacking a double down the rightfield line, after which the Condors walked Waters with intent. It was not the greatest move, with Derek Baskins dropping an RBI double between Justin Kristoff and Tim Burkhart to extend the lead to 2-0, although after that Prow struck out, Glodowski was bypassed, and Wolinsky hit into a double play to strand a full set of runners. Mittleider and Henderson hit singles in the bottom 6th then, but were stranded when Herrera tracked down Burkhart’s 2-out fly. Wolinsky would throw 108 pitches for 6.2 innings of … ultimately 1-run ball; the 108th pitch was a 2-out offering to the opposing pitcher. Henneberry socked an RBI double on it, driving home Ottinger, and put himself into scoring position as the tying run. Bob Ibold replaced Wolinsky to face Navarro, had to contend with the left-handed Moore instead, but still notched the K to end the inning. Baskins and Prow were on base in the top 8th, but were stranded when Glodowski popped out and Martell lined out to Tortora. Fortunately, steady relief by Mike Lynn and Nelson Moreno (out for the third day in a row) would put this game away, too. 2-1 Coons. Adame 2-4; Herrera 2-5; Maldonado 2-5; Baskins 2-2, BB, 2 2B; Wolinsky 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (1-0);

Chris Navarro was named Rookie of the Month by Wednesday morning, which didn’t affect the Raccoons all that much, but probably made the Condors happier after dropping the season series against Portland in just five games.

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 2B Waters – RF Toohey – C Gonzalez – 1B Gurney – 3B Martell – LF Medina – P Jackson
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Tortora – C Mittleider – 1B S. Henderson – CF Burkhart – LF Kristoff – 2B Watanabe – 3B A. Lopez – P Lanning

Singles by Adame, Toohey, and Gonzalez created a run in the first, and a Waters homer in the third put a second run on the board. Waters went on to throw away Alex Lopez’ grounder to begin the bottom 3rd, which had the potential to put Jackson in a pickle with a free runner at second base and nobody out, but Jackson responded by pouncing on Kellen Lanning’s bunt and flicking it to third base where Al Martell, giving Maldo a day off, slapped out Lopez. Navarro then hit into a double play to get Jackson out of the inning.

The Condors had only one hit through five innings, while the Raccoons threatened to tack on by the sixth. Waters whacked a leadoff double, and the Condors walked Toohey with intent. Ruben Gonzalez got a ball behind Cullen Tortora for an RBI double, though, and there still was no out on the board for Lanning, and here came the next intentional walk to Pat Gurney, which was a genius move, setting up three on with nobody out for lefty reliever David Fox against the bottom of the order. Martell decided that he didn’t care and hit an RBI single on Fox’ first pitch, and additional runs scored on Jackson’s sac fly and a 2-out single by Adame. Herrera flew out to Tortora to strand two, but the Coons now led 6-0.

So, would Jake Jackson pitch a shutout now? Nope. Reed Ottinger got him for a pinch-hit, 2-out, 2-run triple in the bottom 7th, but Jackson finished the inning, and the eighth, too, before being replaced for the ninth. Bonnie retired Tortora and Mittleider in the bottom 9th before setting up a save opportunity with a Sterling Henderson double and Burkhart’s RBI single. Jesus Banuelas, a right-handed batter, pinch-hit for the pitcher in the #6 spot, but flew out against Bob Ibold, who snuck himself a save there. 6-3 Raccoons. Adame 2-5, RBI; Waters 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Jackson 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (4-5);

First save for Ibold this year, sixth overall in 196 career outings.

Raccoons (42-33) @ Canadiens (38-40) – July 2-5, 2048

Brrr. Another trip to Elk City. Well, for the boys, not for me. I got to stay home in Portland, where it was scorching summer for Oregon, almost 80 degrees, but watching the boys play in the tundra on TV, I couldn’t help but shiver, and had to huddle up under a blanket with Honeypaws. The stupid Elks, whom we were leading 5-2 this year, had lost five in a row and sat fifth in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed. Their -36 run differential hinted at them not being playoff material after all, still.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (5-1, 5.16 ERA) vs. David Farris (3-7, 4.63 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (4-4, 4.15 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (7-5, 3.59 ERA)
Victor Merino (7-6, 3.59 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (3-8, 4.25 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (1-0, 2.89 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (5-2, 2.99 ERA)

Right, left, then again, right, left. Southpaw Sunday, hey!

So, ample opportunity to have a day off for everybody – well, except Maldo, who was already off on Wednesday, and Matt Watt didn’t over-exert himself either in Mexico.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – P Okuda
VAN: 2B I. Jaramillo – CF Escobido – RF E. Moreno – 1B Mancini – C Julio Diaz – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – LF M. Allen – P Farris

While Alex Adame put the Raccoons ahead in the opening frame with a solo homer to right, Okuda endeavored to remain hard to watch, running 3-ball counts on almost everybody the first time through, walking a pair without getting punished for it. The Elks didn’t get a base hit at all until the fourth inning, but then they got a double by Bob Mancini and a homer from Julio Diaz back-to-back and took a 2-1 lead. The Coons didn’t have much going either; through five innings, they had only one more hit after the Adame homer, a double by Armando Herrera that led nowhere nice. Farris began the top 6th in errant ways, though, walking Watt and nicking Adame to set up Maldo with a nice chance to do damage. Maldo ran a full count, then failed the team by looking at ball four, bringing up Toohey with (sigh!) three on and no outs. Toohey tied the game by waiting out another full count and ball four in the dirt, which was at least something. Gonzalez lined out to Rick Price at short, but Al Martell kept going against the team trend with the bags stacked and hit an RBI single to right, giving Okuda another lead to toy with in addition to my heartstrings. The Coons then kept piling on to knock out Farris, who allowed two singles in front of Eddie Moreno before getting yanked. Herrera drove in one, Gurney drove in two, and it was 6-2 with a pair in scoring position as lefty Jordan Calderon took over. He whiffed Okuda, Watt grounded out, and now it was about not blowing a 4-run lead.

Promptly, Okuda allowed a leadoff single to Moreno on an 0-2 pitch that Toohey overran for an error, and Maldo fudged Mancini’s grounder for another error. I pulled the blanket over my head and whimpered. Okuda rung up Diaz and popped out Price, then was removed for a righty in Preston Porter, who gave up RBI singles to Adrian Higareda and Mike Allen after all… Felix Rojas popped out foul to end the inning, 6-4, but Porter blew the rest of the lead in the seventh with a hit by Escobido and a Moreno homer to tie it up at six.

While I felt sadness wash over me, the Raccoons got Gurney on in the eighth, at least until he was picked off. Toohey singled off Sam Gibson with one out in the ninth, but Gonzalez popped out. Baskins hit for the pitcher in the #6 hole and legged out an infield single, and then Toohey dashed for home when Herrera pressed a single through the left side. Gurney flew out to left, sending a 7-6 lead to Moreno, who suffered infield singles by Chris Walley and Israel Jaramillo to begin his fourth outing in five days. Angel Escobido ended the misery quickly with a 3-run homer to left. 9-7 Canadiens. Herrera 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Gurney 2-5, 2 RBI; Glodowski 1-1;

(stays motionless under the blanket until the next game on Friday)

Game 2
POR: RF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – CF Herrera – 2B Martell – LF Medina – P Wheatley
VAN: CF I. Jaramillo – LF Escobido – 1B Mancini – RF E. Moreno – C Julio Diaz – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – 2B M. Gibson – P McMichael

Toohey took McMichael pretty deep in the first, cashing Adame for a quick 2-0 lead, but the Elks didn’t lie low for long. When Wheats drilled Julio Diaz with an 0-2 pitch in the bottom 2nd, 2-out singles by Higareda and Mike Gibson drove him home, and a passed ball moved the runners into scoring position before McMichael grounded out to strand them. Wheatley and Gonzalez remained fundamentally on the wrong pages in different books; Bob Mancini was drilled in the bottom 3rd, Wheats threw a wild pitch to move him into scoring position, and a Moreno double tied the game. Diaz then singled to score Moreno, sending the Elks up 3-2. The Elks then went on to get a single with nobody or one out in each of the next three innings, but each time fumbled the chance with pop outs in the fourth, a double play in the fifth, and by the runner being caught stealing in the sixth, but it wasn’t like the Critters were any better than that, being stuck on four hits through six innings.

They then had two to begin the seventh, a soft Gonzalez single to right, and an even softer Herrera bloop just behind Mancini, that turned foul after landing and rolled to a stop near the tarp, which allowed Gonzalez and Herrera into scoring position on a freak double, and with nobody out…! Yet, the mushy bottom of the order was coming up now. Where to hit Matt Waters? Not for Martell, who was needed for defense, and who also singled up the middle to plate both runners, remaining the clutchiest Coon of the week…! With the score flipped, Waters retreated from the on-deck circle and Medina batted for himself, popping out in shallow right… except that Gibson dropped the ball and everybody was safe. Wheats bunted the runners over, and Matt Watt clipped a clean single through between Price and Higareda for two more runs. Adame flew out, Maldo doubled, but Toohey stranded two in scoring position with a groundout. Up 6-3, Wheats resumed pitching, allowed a leadoff single to Gibson, and then was taken deep by the pinch-hitting destroyer of worlds, Jerry Outram, for his fifth homer of the year, 6-5. That was the end for Wheats, with the remaining lead blown, and then some, by Ibold, who put two aboard in the same inning, and Kuo, who was taken deep by Diaz with the count full and two outs…

Down 8-6, the Raccoons did nothing of lasting value in the eighth, then arrived in the ninth facing righty Matt Fries, who had walked 12 in 22 innings this year. Waters opened by pinch-hitting in the #9 hole, and singled to right on 1-2. Watt and Adame both flew out to Mike Allen, but Maldo singled to right, putting himself aboard as the tying run. Toohey lined out, ending the game. 8-6 Canadiens. Maldonado 3-5, 2B; Gonzalez 2-4; Waters (PH) 1-1;

(mumbles under the blanket) I hate the ******* Canadiens.

Game 3
POR: RF Watt – SS Martell – 2B Waters – 3B Maldonado – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Merino
VAN: 2B I. Jaramillo – CF Escobido – RF E. Moreno – 1B Mancini – C Julio Diaz – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – LF F. Rojas – P Furuya

Again, an early lead, as the Critters tried to coax me out from under the blanket. Honeypaws sat on my head, and on top of the blanket, and relayed to me that Martell, Waters, and Maldo hit singles in order to go up 1-0. Herrera’s groundout added a second run, but Gurney’s groundout stranded Maldonado. Escobido answered with a triple in the bottom 1st, but was stranded when Moreno lined out to Martell and Mancini grounded out to Waters. After dodging that bullet, Merino hit a 2-out single in the second, then scored all the way from first base when Matt Watt lodged a double in the rightfield corner.

Maldo went almost back-to-back downtown with Waters in the third after Waters hit a leadoff jack, but Maldo’s drive to right clanked off the top of the fence and he had to settle for a double. Herrera walked and was forced out on Gurney’s grounder to Israel Jaramillo, and Baskins’ K and Prow’s pop stranded runners on the corners. Merino drowned at once, with Jaramillo hitting a single and Merino walking the next two to begin the bottom 3rd. Mancini struck out, but Diaz singled home two. Merino would walk the bags full again with Rick Price, a run scored on a Higareda groundout, and then he also walked Felix Rojas. Furuya struck out, but Kevin Hitchcock was stretching by the time the Coons were batting in the fourth, with Merino on almost 80 pitches through three miserable innings. He did still bat for himself in the fourth, though, in a 1-2-3 affair for Furuya. Merino walked Jaramillo to begin the bottom 4th – six walks in this game…! – then got a double play grounder, 5-4-3, from Escobido. Moreno popped out. The Coons tried to tack on in the fifth with Maldo drawing a walk and Herrera singling him to third base with one out. Gurney flew out to Rojas, Maldo went for home despite the play not being all that deep, but Rojas capitally threw the ball away for an error to concede the run. Herrera went up to second on the play, but was left there by Baskins. I still didn’t dare look.

Merino didn’t get the W, or another out. Leadoff walk to Mancini, then a Diaz double, then the hook. Bonnie came in for this part of the lineup, and managed to get out of the jam with a 5-4 lead, surrendering a run on a Higareda groundout, but keeping Diaz at second base throughout. Medina singled and stole second base in Bonnie’s spot in the sixth, but was stranded. Outram batted for Furuya to begin the bottom 6th against Hitchcock, but flew out to Baskins, and the Elks went 1-2-3. Herrera drew a walk from Matt Fries in the seventh, stole second base, and was doubled home by Gurney for a new cushion run, 6-4…! Baskins drew another 2-out walk, but Prow flew out to right to end the inning. Moreno hit a leadoff single against Hitchcock in the bottom of the inning, but Mancini popped out. Lynn then came on in a double switch, Baskins being replaced with Glodowski, who went in the #9 hole. At 3-1, Diaz grounded to short for an inning-ending double play. Honeypaws tried to get me to look, to his credit, but I was still convinced of doom striking the Coons before the game would end. Not in the eventless eighth, in which Lynn went 1-2-3, but maybe in the ninth, and keep in mind that Moreno was burned out right now and we’d have to use… somebody else. Whoever that would be. Another run would have been nice, but Tim Abraham turned the Coons away 1-2-3 in the ninth. Preston Porter then got the ball for the bottom 9th, which began with Mike Allen pinch-hitting in the #9 spot. He struck out, but Jaramillo singled to center. Escobido hit an infield single. Oh there it goes, Honeypaws. There it goes. Or not – Moreno grounded the first pitch to short, Martell to Waters, to Toohey, ballgame. 6-4 Raccoons. Waters 2-5, HR, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Medina (PH) 1-1;

Merino walked SEVEN in four innings.

SEVEN.

Bum!

Game 4
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – P Wolinsky
VAN: 2B I. Jaramillo – CF Escobido – RF E. Moreno – 1B Mancini – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – C T. Phillips – LF F. Rojas – P de Anda

Portland batted around in the first, starting with a Watt homer to left. Adame doubled, then scored on two groundouts, before Waters hit another homer to left, taking the team lead from Maldonado in the process. Straight singles with two outs gave an RBI to Matt Glodowski, which made it three Matts with an RBI each in that inning. Wolinsky whiffed to end the inning, then put the first three damn Elks on base in the bottom 1st. I disappeared under the blanket again, seconds after poking out a few whiskers. Mancini made it 4-1 with a 6-4-3 double play grounder, which was something, and Price lined out to Adame to end the inning. Wolinsky kept scattering runners after that, then reached base on an error by Higareda in the fourth when he had tried to bunt Glodowski over with one out. Watt then found Price for a double play to kill that inning.

By the fifth Maldo decided he had none of Waters leading the team for homers, so jacked a 2-piece with Adame on second to right; Adame had just before stolen his 21st bag of the year. Herrera and Gonzalez doubled back-to-back to make it 7-1 against Jordan Calderon, who walked Glodowski with intent and two outs, but then mishandled another WOlinsky bunt for another error. Escobido snared a Watt fly to center to strand three, however. Wolinsky reached base again with a seventh-inning single, but again didn’t score before the inning fizzled out. He had been nigh unhittable in the middle innings, but Higareda led off the bottom 7th with a single to right, then was doubled off by Tim Phillips’ grounder to short. Rojas doubled with two outs, but Outram grounded out to Waters at 0-2. Bubba completed eight, but no more than that, on account of him throwing 102 pitches to get that far. Kevin Prow batted for him with runners in scoring position and two outs in the top 9th, but flew out to Eddie Moreno. Joy-shan Kuo turned the Elks away in the bottom of the inning. 7-1 Raccoons! Adame 2-5, 2B; Herrera 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Glodowski 2-3, BB, RBI; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Wolinsky 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (2-0) and 1-3;

In other news

June 29 – RIC SP Marc Hubbard (6-5, 3.74 ERA) 3-hits the Warriors for a 3-0 shutout.
June 30 – Thunder 2B/SS Jonathan Ban (.347, 1 HR, 39 RBI) ends the month of June with a 20-game hitting streak when he puts three hits and two RBI on the Loggers in an 8-3 Thunder win.
June 30 – NYC 1B/RF/LF Carlos Cortes (.243, 9 HR, 30 RBI) goes yard for the only runs in the Crusaders’ 2-0 win over the Aces.
July 1 – A new month is born, but the hitting streak of SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.310, 10 HR, 41 RBI) dies at 22 games with four hitless at-bats in an 8-0 loss to the Miners.
July 2 – Season over for SAL SP Miguel Soler (4-8, 5.48 ERA); the 24-year-old southpaw is suffering from shoulder inflammation.
July 2 – Season over just as well for another left-handed starter, New York’s Carlos Malla (3-6, 4.48 ERA), who has to undergo Tommy John surgery for a torn UCL and will miss a full 12 months.
July 2 – SFB OF/1B Ken Crum (.308, 7 HR, 38 RBI) ends a scoreless game against the Condors with a ninth-inning walkoff homer, 1-0 Bayhawks.
July 3 – The Warriors acquire INF/CF Jose Rivas (.374, 0 HR, 34 RBI) from the Stars for RF/LF/1B Dario Martinez (.279, 2 HR, 10 RBI) and a prospect.
July 3 – The Indians score 11 runs in the fifth inning and plenty in total for an 18-8 win over the Titans. Catcher Pacio Torreo (.367, 1 HR, 9 RBI) drives in five runs on three base hits, but on the losing team INF/LF/RF Jose Rodriguez (.183, 3 HR, 36 RBI) has four hits and four RBI from the #8 spot, too.
July 4 – BOS SP Dave Serio (5-5, 5.33 ERA, 7 SV) guns down the Indians in a 3-hit shutout, striking out five in the 6-0 Titans win.
July 5 – CL Hitter of the Month for June, ATL 3B/SS/LF/RF Anton Venegas (.33, 3 HR, 36 RBI), shows no signs of slowing down, putting five hits with two doubles and three RBI on the Aces in a 6-3 Knights win.
July 5 – Indians INF Andrew Russ (.348, 0 HR, 10 RBI) will miss a month with a sprained ankle.

FL Player of the Week: DEN OF Tim Turner (.347, 9 HR, 70 RBI), hitting .550 (11-20) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC SP Mike Zeigler (8-3, 3.32 ERA), pitching 17 shutout innings for a 2-0 record and 10 K

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.318, 11 HR, 67 RBI), raking .343 with 5 HR, 33 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: ATL 3B/SS/LF/RF Anton Venegas (.347, 3 HR, 33 RBI), slapping .411 with 1 HR, 13 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: WAS SP Sean Fowler (6-3, 2.90 ERA), hurling for a 4-0 mark with 0.93 ERA, 29 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: SFB SP Kevin Nolte (11-3, 2.61 ERA), throwing for a 4-1 record with 2.14 ERA, 30 K
FL Rookie of the Month: NAS C Jose Cantu (.303, 10 HR, 34 RBI), batting .284 with 6 HR, 18 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TJ SS/2B Chris Navarro (.275, 0 HR, 31 BRI), hitting .281 with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Still up by half a game … or, again up by half a game. We only reclaimed the lead on Sunday after losing it on Thursday with the first meltdown L in Elk City. The Coons had 4-run leads in three of the games, a 3-run lead in the fourth one, blew two, threatened to blow three, and only Wolinsky pitched decently enough to not give me remote anxiety…

With that, the division is still up for grabs, but probably not for the Elks, who have some issues, like pitching, hitting, and fielding. Nothing major, you see.

With the advent of July, the international free agent teen boys bidding has begun again, but the Raccoons are not really engaged this time. Blowing more than twice the soft cap on players last year to win Ricky de la Cruz’ future services had put us into the highest penalty bracket for this year, and despite millions of unallocated budget space, the Raccoons were banned from signing any player for more than $52,500 this year, which naturally relegated us to the longshots.

Oh, somebody like Nelson Moreno, you mean ($20k in 2035)? Or Ruben Gonzalez ($18k in 2038)?

There is four of those longshots that we will go after this time, two pitchers and two position players, but this time we can actually be out-bid for even those…

There’s one more week before the All Star Game. We will host the Loggers as the first leg of the traditional four-and-four, then face the Arrowheads once more on the weekend.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are 16-14 against the CL South this year.

Solely for us owning the Condors, 6-0, though. It’s 4-2 against the Knights, 3-3 against the Falcons, and then it goes into the gutter real fast.

[pgjocki]

I've been following for years and I remember a few greats and not so greats along the way.

Diaz... wasn't he a lefty reliever?

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by pgjocki

I've been following for years and I remember a few greats and not so greats along the way.

Diaz... wasn't he a lefty reliever?

Yes!

And one of the not-so-greats.

As far as levels of infamy for lefty relievers are concerned, on a level with Nick Lester