Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Archelirion]

I could feel the 'uuuuggghhhh' coming from the way you wrote that final game against the Knights. Distinct lack of snarky comments, so it must've been bad.

Hopefully Wheats will remember what those paws do soon. Please?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Archelirion

I could feel the 'uuuuggghhhh' coming from the way you wrote that final game against the Knights. Distinct lack of snarky comments, so it must've been bad.

Yes and no. You may have noticed that this year we're doing a British vocabulary course whenever Pickett's pitching, and I have a few ressources for that, but with Brobeck in the lineup I got confused.

Yes, though - they're a pain in the fuzzy bum.

Originally Posted by Archelirion

Hopefully Wheats will remember what those paws do soon. Please?

That would be lovely. Remember, Wheats - contract year! Get your act together or else ...! - ...you'll use those paws next year to hold up a sign next to I-205 reading "will dance for food!" ...!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (7-12) @ Aces (8-10) – April 28-30, 2054

The Aces had a +5 run differential, scoring the fourth-fewest runs, but allowing the second-fewest. Their rotation was a bit crummy, but their pen had a 1.75 ERA which led the league. Get them early or never get them, in essence. Their defense was also ranked tops in the CL, with a .743 defensive efficiency. The Coons had won five out of nine from the Aces in 2053.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (1-0, 3.31 ERA) vs. Josh Wilson (3-1, 2.83 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (1-3, 7.97 ERA) vs. Zack Stahl (2-0, 3.00 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-4, 5.40 ERA) vs. Chris Cornelius (0-4, 6.55 ERA)

That would be three right-handers from the Aces. Their two southpaws were at the tail end of the line, but with the common off day on Monday, they had a chance to skip Medardo Regueir (2-2, 4.68 ERA) into the series. The Raccoons had no intention to skip anybody, because they’d really have to skip all their starters and return to square one. Really, Brobeck should pitch every day, field half the positions, and, heck, let him manage and broadcast the damn debacle, too…

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – P Brobeck
LVA: CF Hummel – RF Austin – SS Welter – C DeFrank – 2B J. White – 1B Blair – LF Ransford – 3B Tauzin – P Jo. Wilson

Brobeck was a pretty good choice to oversee another one of those damn debacles; he walked three Aces the first time through, and after doing so to Jim White to begin the bottom 2nd, gave up a homer to Dave Blair right away to dig himself a nice, cozy, 2-0 hole. A leadoff double by Aubrey Austin in the bottom 3rd immediately created more pressure. Jeremy Welter legging out an infield single with a grounder to Ramsay didn’t help, either, and Ray DeFrank’s sac fly to right scored the lead runner for a 3-0 lead after three innings. The Raccoons were doing a nice job batting neatly in order, and that was about that until the fifth inning, when Matt Cox singled, gained an extra base when Aubrey Austin botched picking up the ball, and then was singled home by Brobeck, 3-1. Venegas singled, putting the tying run aboard with one out, and Lonzo then turned a 1-2 pitch around and slapped it into the leftfield corner for an RBI double. Waters’ sac fly and Pucks’ fly to center tied the game, but also ended the inning.

We saw no reason to pinch-hit for Brobeck (.313, 0 HR, 6 RBI) when Wilson loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, and the pitcher came to bat with Gowin, Ramsay, and Cox on base. There was so little speed assembled there, a Formula 9000 car could hit into a double play. Brobeck ran a full count, then grounded to the right side, which got the go-ahead run home as the Aces picked the easy out at first base. Wilson whiffed Venegas, while Dustin Ransford’s leadoff double in the bottom 6th immediately put the 4-3 lead in danger. Brobeck grounded out Mark Tauzin, advancing the runner, then walked John Kaniewski, and then was yanked. Hyun-soo Bak gave up the lead on Ken Hummel’s sac fly before ending the inning.

Top 7th. Leadoff single to left for Lonzo, who was then forced out by Waters. Pucks found a shy single, and the Coons found a 5-4 lead on … uh… a wild pitch and a passed ball charged to Julio Nunez and DeFrank, respectively. Apart from that, Crum fanned and Gowin grounded out, leaving Puckeridge at third base. Venegas then singled home Ramsay for a tack-on run in the eighth inning before it started to rain.

Rain. In Vegas. Since they hadn’t had a need for it in 35 years or so, the grounds crew was unable to figure out how to roll out the tarp that was uselessly catching spider webs and dust next to the third base line, and resorted to spread out and lie down on the infield dirt to try and keep it dry, which didn’t really work. The rain passed eventually and play resumed after some 30 minutes of visual agony. Terrell and Lillis pieced the bottom 8th together, and the 2-run lead then went to Daley, even if we should be knowing better. Hummel singled. Welter singled. With two out, DeFrank walked the bags full. Jim White worked a full count, then a walk, pushing home a run and moving the tying run to third base. Enough! Kevin Hitchcock replaced Daley, the dimwit, and got a groundout from Dave Blair to Matt Waters to end the ballgame. 6-5 Raccoons. Venegas 3-5, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crum 2-5; Ramsay 2-4, 2B;

Problems, problems, problems, problems… (looks at bottle) … Tequila…!

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – P Taki
LVA: CF Hummel – RF Austin – SS Welter – LF Kaniewski – 2B J. White – 1B Blair – C B. Ortega – 3B Tauzin – P Cornelius

Four batters in, the Aces had a 3-0 lead on Wednesday, tagging Taki with an Austin single, a Welter walk, and then a 3-run homer to left hit by John Kaniewski. Chris Gowin hit a leadoff jack in the top 2nd in return, and singles by Cox and Venegas got another run home, but before the Raccoons could rally much further after Waters’ leadoff single in the third inning, we got another rain delay. Vegas was getting its annual share of rain in the space of a couple of days apparently – all 1.5 inches at once.

This time the delay took an hour. Cornelius returned after the bit, walking Crum and then giving up a 2-run double to Gowin to flip the score to 4-3 Coons. The bottom of the order continued to hit straight singles to knock him from the game, with another two runs across in total before Jeremy Fetta restored order. And Taki? He had thrown 29 pitches to give up three early runs, but we had to at least *try*… Bottom 3rd, Austin hit, Welter walk, and another rocket by Kaniewski … but this one on the ground, at Waters, and good for an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. The Coons went to a 7-3 lead in the fourth, getting an unearned run on Fetta when Ken Crum hit into a run-scoring double play with Waters and Pucks on the corners, but the favor was returned when Gowin threw away Jim White’s grounder leading off the bottom of the inning. Tauzin’s 2-out single drove him home, 7-4 in a real mess of a game. It didn’t get much better any time soon. Welter’s error put Cox on base to begin the fifth, but the Coons neglected scoring him.

At least we managed to drag Taki through five and to get a groundout from White in the sixth. Blair singled, leading to Taki’s exit, with Sencion working his way out of the inning. The Coons had Gowin and Cox singles in the top 7th. Gowin went for home on the latter, Aubrey Austin’s throw was terrible, and the Coons extended their lead to 8-4 on the Aces’ third error of the game. Cox was left on, but the eighth began with the bags full on a Lonzo double (giving him a 12-game hitting streak as well as still a .400 average) and two walks to Waters and Pucks by lefty Jorge Quinones. Wild pitch, 9-4, then another walk to Crum. Just go up there without a bat, boys, it’ll be fine! Gowin, unretired in the game, hit an RBI single to center, 10-4, and Quinones was recalled. Joe Bunch took over, got a run-scoring double play from Ramsay, but then gave up straight hits to Cox (double), Crispin, and Suzuki. Blackshire flew out to left in Lonzo’s spot, ending the inning with a 9-run lead. The Aces were melting down so badly, they got Gowin back to the plate with a chance for a 6-hit day in the ninth, but Adam Eutsler walked him to fill the bases with one out. Ramsay then found another double play to end the inning. 13-4 Furballs. Suzuki (PH) 1-1, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2 BB; Gowin 5-5, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Cox 4-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Terrell 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

The Aces went with a left-hander after all in the game on Thursday.

Game 3
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF de Lemos – P Wheatley
LVA: CF Hummel – RF Austin – SS Welter – LF Kaniewski – C DeFrank – 2B J. White – 1B Blair – 3B Tauzin – P Regueir

Wheats allowed two singles in the first, but Aubrey Austin was thrown out on the base paths and the Aces didn’t score. He then came to bat with one out in the top 2nd and Gowin, Brobeck, and de Lemos all on base, but struck out. Venegas flew out to Hummel, and the Raccoons let that chance slip away. Jim White instead hit a leadoff jack to left in the bottom 2nd, and that 1-0 score would hang around for a while. The Coons had little going against the lefty in the next three innings, mounting just one more hit, while Wheats pitched like a guy sitting at 0-4, but at least kept the Aces from tacking on, with some help from de Lemos, who made a running catch to rob Hummel of extra bases and to end the fifth inning.

Top 6th, Waters walked and Crum singled, putting runners on the corners to begin the inning. The actual return was minimal; Gowin whiffed, but Pucks hit into a fielder’s choice at second base – the Aces tried to turn two rather hopelessly – that got Waters home from third base to tie the game. Brobeck grounded out to third. The Aces shrugged; Aubrey Austin whacked a gapper for a leadoff double in the bottom 6th, and Jeremy Welter singled him home, putting Wheats into yet another hole. They added a run in the seventh when Wheatley walked Dave Blair to begin the inning, and Hummel’s 2-out single got the runner home. The Raccoons didn’t get another base runner, but Wheats got to 0-5 at least. 3-1 Aces. Venegas 2-4; Crum 2-4, 2B;

Raccoons (9-13) vs. Loggers (12-9) – May 1-3, 2054

The Coons returned home to play three more with the Loggers, because that had worked so well the first time around when we had gotten swept by them. The Loggers were second from the bottom in runs scored, with a league-worst .230 batting average, and were allowing the fourth-fewest runs, still good enough only for a -13 run differential. And yet, they were in second place, so what the **** do I know?

Projected matchups:
He Shui (1-2, 5.82 ERA) vs. Jamie Kempf (2-1, 2.96 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (1-0, 3.70 ERA) vs. Noel Groh (0-1, 5.60 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (1-0, 4.15 ERA) vs. Jeff Fox (2-0, 3.32 ERA)

The sole highlight here was a Southpaw Sunday. And only because I like saying Southpaw Sunday.

Game 1
MIL: LF Gragg – CF Archer – RF Pigman – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – 3B Law – P Kempf
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – C Philipps – P Shui

The Loggers got two singles the first time through, and none the second time through against Shui, who struck out five in as many innings, which got him no lead at all, since the Raccoons in the same amount of innings scattered four hits and three walks and somehow managed to get no runs from that whatsoever. Hitting into two double plays didn’t help. The sixth was uneventful, nobody reaching base for either team, while Gaudencio Callaia hit a 2-out single in the seventh, which gave the Loggers their first base knock since the second inning, but was stranded by Ricky Lopez. Cox reached with a single for the Coons, but was also left on by the battery.

Shui went down in the most stupid way imaginable, retiring Chris Thomas and Bryant Law to begin the eighth inning, then gave up a single to Kempf. That was not the main problem – but Joe Gragg’s RBI double into the rightfield corner was. Kelton Archer struck out, but Kempf retired the Coons’ 1-2-3 in order in the home half of the inning. Lillis did the same to the 3-4-5 batters in the Loggers lineup, while Kempf was returned for the bottom 9th, which started with Pucks, who grounded out, but then the Loggers went to Dave Lister after all. Crum grounded out all the same. Ramsay singled to center to extend the game, but Cox flew out to Archer to very much end it. 1-0 Loggers. Venegas 3-4, 2B; Ramsay 2-4; Shui 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, L (1-3);

Oh boy.

Also, Lonzo’s hitting streak ended 14 games. Much like my will to live. Also with Jeff Fox being moved up to Saturday, taking away Southpaw Sunday from me.

Game 2
MIL: LF Gragg – CF Archer – RF Pigman – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – 3B Law – P J. Fox
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – C Gowin – 3B Blackshire – RF Cox – CF de Lemos – P Pickett

Gragg walked, Archer singled, the runners advanced on groundouts twice, and Callaia hit another single, which gave the Loggers a 2-0 lead on Pickett in the first inning, which was bang out of order. But the Raccoons did at least come back and take the lead before long. Not in the first, which began with walks to Venegas and Lonzo, and which derailed when Waters hit into a double play, but in the second, with Blackshire doubling, Cox tripling, de Lemos singling, and after a bunt, Venegas singling home de Lemos with the go-ahead run, 3-2. Two more runs were added in the bottom 3rd when Cox doubled home Crum and Gowin from the corners with two outs, but also ran himself into the third out by bidding for third base.

Pickett gave up only three hits in the first six innings, but the third hit was a Chris Thomas homer in the fifth that narrowed the lead to 5-3. The Coons had a chance to tack back on in the bottom 6th, when Chris Gowin hit a leadoff double, but was left stranded by the bottom of the order. Thomas knocked out Pickett with a single in the seventh, but that catcher was also left alongshore by the rest of his team, with Eloy Sencion getting out of the inning when Pickett was lifted.

Bottom 7th, Venegas got on against Chris Kaye and stole second base, and with two outs Ken Crum got his first RBI on something other than a homer all year with a double to center – ace! The Loggers still couldn’t touch Sencion in the eighth, while the Coons tacked on a run when Matt Cox homered to left off Chris Kaye in the bottom 8th. De Lemos singled, stole second, and that got the pinch-hitting Pucks to get walked intentionally. Venegas flew out, but Lonzo hit an RBI single to left. Waters and Crum made two outs and stranded as many, but the Coons had a 5-run lead. That went to Antonio Alfaro, then Kevin Daley once Alfaro loaded the bases with two outs, and Kelton Archer in the box. Daley plated a run when his first pitch was wild immediately – smegheads, all of them – before Archer was kind enough to strike himself out. 8-4 Raccoons. Gowin 2-3, BB; Blackshire 1-2, BB, 2B; Cox 3-4, HR, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI; de Lemos 2-3, BB, RBI;

Matt Cox missed the cycle by the single, which is certainly *an* achievement. Or not, depending on your viewpoint.

But hey, we finally beat the Loggers! We’re somebody again! Tee-hee!

Game 3
MIL: LF Gragg – CF Archer – RF Pigman – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – 3B Law – P Munoz
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Blackshire – P Brobeck

It was righty Angelo Munoz (1-2, 4.09 ERA) for the rubber game. It looked like Munoz had been told of the honors three minutes before the game, because he gave up a walk to Lonzo, who stole second, an RBI double to Gowin, and then threw two wild pitches to get the catcher home for a 2-0 Coons lead. The Loggers came back right away, though, with Brobeck getting whacked for four hits and three runs in the second inning, including – always pleasant – a 2-out RBI single by Munoz.

The 3-2 score stood through five, as the Raccoons failed to get another base hit, although that changed finally in the bottom 6th with 1-out singles for Venegas and Lonzo, who pulled off a double steal. Gowin popped out, which didn’t help to erase the deficit at all. Pucks walked, which also really didn’t get the game even. Ken Crum was next, fell to two strikes, and then still managed to lob a wheezer over Ricky Lopez’ head and glove for a score-flipping 2-run single. Ramsay grounded out, and Brobeck very helpfully blew the lead with a pair of walks to Gragg and Dale Haracz, then an RBI single to Perry Pigman, who was batting way under .200, but got everybody even at four anyway. Brobeck was yanked, Hitchcock cleaned up with a double play grounder from Zach Suggs, then got in line for the W in the bottom of the inning with a Matt Cox double, a wild pitch, and an uncaught strike three to Mikio Suzuki on which Chris Thomas got to chase down yet another ball in foul territory, while Cox scored from third base. Whatever ******* works! Suzuki would get around, too, with Venegas’ grounder advancing him and Lonzo’s 2-out single to center allowing him to score for an insurance run, 6-4.

That lead very much got away in the eighth from Lillis and Bak, who combined for two doubles, a single, two stolen bases, and three runs surrendered – aided by Dave Blackshire making a clumsy error, too – to plunge the Raccoons into another deficit, and it was really hard to watch it all. Pucks, Crum, and Ramsay then all hit the ball hard off three different relievers in the bottom 8th – all for outs, including Pucks lining it right into a mortified John Norris’ glove. Daley in the top 9th somehow got around another Blackshire error and a wild pitch of his own unholy making to not concede Gaudencio Callaia’s free run, so the Raccoons still had to make up one run to tie and two to win in the bottom 9th. Cox grounded out. Crispin flew out. Waters struck out. 7-6 Loggers. Lavorano 2-3, BB, RBI;

(presses pillow on his own face)

In other news

April 27 – Falcons LF/RF/1B Billy Hester (.306, 1 HR, 13 RBI) reaches 2,000 career hits with a single off VAN SP Jesse Bulas (2-1, 4.10 ERA). In his 16th season, Hester has batted .263/.355/.415 with 192 HR and 982 RBI as well as 175 SB for four different teams, most prominently the Knights. The Canadiens win the game, 10-5.
April 27 – CIN INF/RF/LF Eric Miller (.333, 5 HR, 20 RBI) has two triples, a homer, and drives in six runs in a 15-7 shootout win over the Scorpions.
April 27 – IND 1B/LF/RF Bill Quinteros (.397, 6 HR, 14 RBI) has hit in all 20 games this season, but the Indians drop a 5-2 decision to the Bayhawks.
April 27 – OCT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.226, 2 HR, 10 RBI) should miss a month with a strained oblique.
April 28 – PIT OF Josh Abercrombie (.293, 0 HR, 11 RBI) hits a walkoff single to beat the Gold Sox, 1-0, with the Denver team amounting to only one base hit against PIT SP Luke Moses (0-1, 4.94 ERA) and CL Ross Mitchell (2-0, 1.74 ERA, 6 SV), a shy single by OF/1B Jake Frederick (.240, 0 HR, 3 RBI).
April 29 – Warriors LF Mario Villa (.528, 0 HR, 14 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after getting two RBI singles in a 3-0 win over the Buffaloes.
April 29 – NYC INF Prince Gates (.468, 0 HR, 10 RBI) will miss a month with a strained rib cage muscle.
April 29 – Both ATL SS/2B Willie Acosta (.295, 0 HR, 10 RBI) and ATL SS/3B Leo Villacorta (.386, 2 HR, 14 RBI) rake the Titans for six RBI in a 17-3 Knights rout.
April 30 – The Gold Sox trade OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.172, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to the Scorpions for AAA 1B Bill Joyner and #99 prospect SP Justin Reif.
May 1 – The hitting streak of SFW LF Mario Villa (.519, 0 HR, 14 RBI) ends with a successless pinch-hitting appearance in a 5-0 loss to the Scorpions.
May 3 – The 24-game hitting streak of IND 1B/LF/RF Bill Quinteros (.409, 6 HR, 17 RBI) ends in a 7-6 win over the Titans, with Quinteros going 0-for-4. Paradoxically, Quinteros provides the 11th-inning, walkoff “hit” anyway when he gets beaned by David Williams (2-2, 3.38 ERA, 8 SV) with the game tied and the bases loaded, going through a concussion protocol afterwards rather than the customary walkoff hero interview.

FL Player of the Week: CIN INF/RF/LF Eric Miller (.344, 6 HR, 21 RBI), batting .455 (10-22) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL C Pedro Almaguer (.341, 2 HR, 12 RBI), hitting .538 (14-26) with 1 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.412, 8 HR, 25 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: IND 1B/LF/RF Bill Quinteros (.412, 6 HR, 14 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT CL Ross Mitchell (3-0, 1.46 ERA, 6 SV)
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Enrique Ortiz (3-1, 1.79 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.278, 1 HR, 7 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN C Tristan Waker (.344, 2 HR, 13 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Someone explain to me how the Indians have both the Hitter and Pitcher of the Month, and still managed to finish the month tied for last with the Critters. And what do we have? Mostly agony, and a resolve to get better.

Or more drunk (pours another one) …

Wheats down to 0-5, but it will be the story of the year when he wins his last 20 starts and the ERA title from here and proves all the doubters wrong!

(pours another one)

Lonzo keeps leading the team in RBI with 19, which feels wrong for a #2 hitter, and he has more than any two of Ramsay, Crum, Pucks, and Gowin, except the last two of those together, combined and those are the guys hitting in the middle of the ******* order! Somehow, we’re second in runs scored.

Did I already mention that Raffy could not start a rehab assignment on schedule and that is totally not dramatic and all will be fine, and we’re not gonna – … Yes, Maud? – No, I still like that one better. – Yes, the circular black patch with 47 in white. – No, the initials make it clumsy with four letters.

Sorry, just designing memorial patches here. Uh, where was I? Besides…

(pours another one)

Ah, to **** with it. We were bottom feeders all through the end of May last year, too, and see how far we made it in the end!

(pours another one)

Nexxx week, thhh Titanzzz annnnn annnnnnn Dallllss (falls over)

Fun Fact: Even while the Raccoons are second in runs scored in the CL, half the batting corps has an OPS at least 90 points worse than last season.

That would be Ramsay, Waters, Blackshire, Cox, de Lemos, and Pucks. Philipps basically escapes the list by having been unfathomably awful in 2053 already.

These three have an OPS at least 90 points better than in 2053: Lonzo, Gowin, and Suzuki!

Have another cookie, boys. But only one. I need the rest of them to soak all those drinks.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (10-15) vs. Titans (13-11) – May 4-7, 2054

The struggling Raccoons next had the Titans in for a 4-game visit. We had beaten them 13 out of 18 last year, but right now I wasn’t confident, even with the Titans being in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a -20 run differential (Critters: +9). Despite being 10th in runs scored, the Titans led the CL in homers with 22, so that was something to totally look forward to.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (2-3, 7.36 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (1-2, 8.18 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-5, 5.06 ERA) vs. Jose Arias (1-1, 4.50 ERA)
He Shui (1-3, 4.55 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (0-2, 3.13 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (2-0, 3.77 ERA) vs. Jamie Guidry (4-1, 4.25 ERA)

So this was where all the left-handed pitchers were hiding – the Raccoons would get three of those in this series, all the games after the righty Hollis in the series opener. With that, the Raccoons, who were seven games away from their next off day, and counted down on their claws that they’d probably see another southpaw on Saturday in Dallas, would put out a reserve lineup on Monday, resting every right-handed regular they could. The only right-handed bats in the starting lineup were Gowin and Blackshire, the latter giving Lonzo a day off.

Game 1
BOS: CF Whitlow – 2B Roura – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Cobb – C Salas – SS Marroguin – 3B Tamargo – P Hollis
POR: 2B Waters – RF Cox – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – CF Suzuki – SS Blackshire – P Taki

The Raccoons put up a 3-spot in the first inning, which began with Matt Waters reaching on an uncaught third strike. Gowin singled, Pucks doubled, and Crispin singled as the inning went on, with one RBI for Pucks and two for Crispin. Taki had two nice innings, allowing a shy single and whiffing three, then gave up soft singles to Oscar Tamargo and the damn pitcher, followed by an RBI double by Eric Whitlow that eluded Mikio Suzuki in deep center. Hollis was waved around third base from first on that play, but was thrown out at the plate, which was a major factor in Taki getting out of the inning with any sort of lead intact, 3-1. Raul Salas nevertheless singled home Dave Gonzalez and his leadoff double in the fourth, 3-2, but the Coons got that run back with hits by Crispin, who stole second base, and Blackshire in the bottom of the same inning, which ended on a fly out to left by Taki. But Crispin also chipped in mightily to get the game tied in the top 5th, putting Whitlow on with a big throwing error, after which Taki folded and gave up sharp 2-out knocks to Daves Roura, an RBI double, and Gonzalez, an RBI single. And just like that, four-all at the midway point. Two runs on either side were unearned.

Bottom 6th, the Coons loaded the bases with one out. Ramsay doubled, Crispin walked, and Suzuki singled to bring up Blackshire with a fat chance. He hit into a double play on a 3-2 pitch, and nobody scored, as per usual. Instead, the Titans took the lead in the seventh. Blackshire fumbled a Whitlow grounder, who reached on an error yet again, stole a base, and scored on productive outs against Antonio Alfaro. Terrell and Sencion would complete nine innings without allowing a run, although Terrell put on two Titans while retiring four. The Raccoons saw Crispin on base after getting ticked in the bottom 8th, and he stole second base again, but was stranded by Suzuki. Right-hander Alex Diaz was in for the bottom 9th. Venegas and Crum pinch-hit for the 8-9 batters, and both singled to put the tying and winning runs on base. Waters flew out to Hector Weir in left, but Cox slashed a 1-2 pitch up the middle and through into centerfield for a single. Venegas dashed home from second base, and defeat was staved off for the moment. Crum held at second base, Gowin struck out, and Pucks hit a single to right, but Crum now had to stop at third base, because Dave Gonzalez was right on that pitch and had one of the most frightening arms in the league. Bags full for Harry Ramsay, who got ahead 3-1, then poked, and flew out to Gonzalez. (blinks in disbelief)

Extras. The Coons had Waters at short and Crispin at second, where he had never played as a pro, for the 10th inning, since Lonzo had pinch-hit even earlier and was no longer available. Philipps and de Lemos were the only bench pieces still left, none of them a middle infielder. Dear, the Coons needed a middle infielder on the roster… Waters handled two grounders to short in the top 10th, though, with Hitchcock ending the inning with a K on ex-Coon Jordan Marroguin. Crispin struck out against Diaz to begin the bottom 10th, but Suzuki singled. Venegas popped out, but Ken Crum, who had taken over leftfield from Pucks, ended the game, socking a walkoff homer to right. 7-5 Raccoons! Cox 2-5, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; Venegas (PH) 1-2; Crum (PH) 2-2, HR, 2 RBI;

The Raccoons were going to spend the next three days in Leftyland, so we’d continue to see Venegas in the outfield to tilt the lineup to the right, and that also brought Brobeck back on the hot corner for at least one game.

Game 2
BOS: CF Whitlow – 2B Roura – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Cobb – C Salas – SS Marroguin – 3B A. Miranda – P J. Arias
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Crum – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF de Lemos – C Philipps – P Wheatley

Winless Wheatley walked Whitlow with wicked wildness, and it didn’t get much closer to a W for him from there. Roura got on, and while Gonzalez popped out and Larry Rodriguez whiffed, Eric Cobb punched a 3-run homer to right for an early hole and 0-6 was beckoning. Monday’s hero, Ken Crum, hit into a double play to erase Venegas and Waters singles in the bottom 1st, while Wheatley walked Marroguin to begin the top 2nd, the runner stole second, and scored on Arias’ single. Ugh. The Coons made up half of a 4-0 deficit in the bottom of the inning as Pucks singled and Brobeck and de Lemos hit a pair of doubles, the latter driving in both runners.

As ***** as the first two innings had been, Wheats made some sort of recovery after that, pitching another four innings without allowing a run and while notching 8 K in total, not that this was gonna scratch him off the L column without more offense. But the Coons went down just as silently in the middle innings, and beyond – after five hits in the first two innings, they had no more hits all the way until Lonzo legged out an infield single to begin the bottom 9th against Walt Wright… Scoreless relief by Bak, Alfaro, Lillis, and Daley had at least kept the deficit at two runs, which brought Waters up as the tying run. Waters hit into a fielder’s choice. Crum whiffed. Pucks grounded out to short. 4-2 Titans.

Game 3
BOS: CF Whitlow – 2B Roura – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Cobb – SS Marroguin – C Burkart – 3B Tamargo – P de Anda
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – 1B Ramsay – CF de Lemos – P Shui

The first time through the Titans order on Wednesday, He Shui allowed two singles and struck out six, and the only play the defense made was Lonzo fielding a grounder by Oscar Tamargo with success. Shui was also the first Raccoon to reach base with a single to left in the bottom 3rd. That suddenly led to two runs when Venegas tripled and Lonzo doubled.

Shui reached 10 K with a strikeout of Whitlow for the second out in the fifth inning, by then with five scattered Titans singles against him and still no runs. A shutout wasn’t in the books – his pitch count was already approaching 80. In fact, a strikeout of Dave Gonzalez to begin the sixth was his last. From there he erred the bases full with two walks to Rodriguez and Bruce Burkart, while Marroguin snuck in another single. Alex Miranda grounded out to strand the full set of runners, but that was already on Shui’s 101st pitch. He might have gotten another batter or two, but his spot came up in the bottom 6th and Pucks hit for him and hit a 2-out single before the inning ended with Venegas; before that, however, the Coons had gotten Gowin on base and a 2-run homer from Harry Ramsay, his first (!) of the year. De Lemos then doubled to left, but was no longer in the game by the top 7th, having tweaked something in his pack. Suzuki replaced him, while Lillis pitched a scoreless seventh despite giving up a double to Dave Roura. Bak and Terrell added two more scoreless innings after that to get the W home. 4-0 Coons. Lavorano 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Ramsay 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Shui 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K, W (2-3) and 1-2;

Dave de Lemos would be day-to-day for at least a week, and given that he was batting .188 the Raccoons saw little reason to keep that dead piece of meat on the far end of the bench. He went to the DL after all, and was replaced by Prospero Tenazes, which was such a thrill…

Game 4
BOS: CF Whitlow – 2B Roura – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF Cobb – C Salas – SS Marroguin – 3B A. Miranda – P Guidry
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – RF Cox – CF Tenazes – P Pickett

Whitlow and Roura reached base to begin the game, advanced on a balk, and Larry Rodriguez got a run home with a groundout, but Pickett got a K on Cobb to strand the runner on third base. The Titans lost Alex Miranda to injury in the second inning, and Rocky Jimenez replaced him, while they didn’t lose the lead until the fourth inning and a soft single by Gowin, then two 2-out doubles for Crum and Cox to flip the score to 2-1 Critters. Tenazes was walked with intent, and Pickett grounded out to end the inning.

2-1 became 3-1 in the fifth with Venegas and Lonzo getting on base with singles, and Pucks’ sac fly tacking on the extra run, but Lonzo and Gowin, who walked, were stranded. Pickett continued on the hill and after the shaky first allowed precious little to the Titans. He was still nursing a 3-hitter in the seventh inning, when with two outs he got a comebacker by Guidry, which he then threw well past Ken Crum for a capital clanger, putting Guidry on second base. Whitlow hit a fly to deep left-center that looked like trouble, but Pucks dashed into the gap and caught it going at full speed – tally-ho! What a deliverance! Pickett continued until the tying run was back at the plate with a 2-out double by Rodriguez in the eighth. Daley came in, gave up the run on a screaming triple by Cobb, but struck out Raul Salas to get out of the inning… The Coons had no tack-ons in the bottom 8th, which made Marroguin’s near-tonker to right to begin the top 9th the more unnerving. Tenazes made the catch at the fence, having moved to the position the previous inning. Burkart and Weir went down easily, though, and the Coons took three out of four. 3-2 Raccoons. Philipps (PH) 1-1; Tenazes 1-2, BB; Pickett 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (3-0);

Raccoons (13-16) @ Stars (13-15) – May 8-10, 2054

A weekend in Dallas then, with the Stars sixth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed in the Federal League. They had the worst rotation, but the best bullpen by ERA. They, too, led their league in home runs, although the Coons had done mostly fine against the Titans. Tyler Cass and Lance Harrison were major pieces missing from their lineup, both on the DL. These teams had played each other the last two seasons, the Coons winning both sets, 5-1 in total, 2-1 last year.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Josh Swindell (2-3, 3.57 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (2-3, 6.54 ERA) vs. Thomas Turpeau (1-1, 1.88 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-6, 5.21 ERA) vs. Adam Middleton (3-0, 1.88 ERA)

As speculated, another southpaw on Saturday, for four of them this week.

…and Winless Wheatley on Sunday.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – CF Suzuki – P Brobeck
DAL: CF Pritchett – LF F. Rojas – RF D. Martinez – 3B Wilken – 1B V. Cruz – 2B Quiroz – SS S. Diaz – C Fiore – P Swindell

The Raccoons went up 3-0 in a real hurry as Lonzo homered, Gowin singled and was doubled home by Pucks, and Pucks then scored on an error in the first inning. Pucks was on again in the third and stole a base, but was stranded, however, the fourth inning brought another outburst and the early demise of Swindell. Ramsay and Suzuki reached base to begin the inning, but the Coons made two outs before actually getting something tangible on the board. Lonzo singled home the runners, and then Matt Waters homered to right to get the tally to 7-0. Chris Gowin hit another homer right away off Bobby Shenk, and that should be ample cushion for Brobeck, who didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning, when the Stars put together a bushel of singles. Dario Martinez singled home Chad Pritchett, Victor Cruz also singled, and Brobeck nicked Sergio Quiroz, but got a K on Steve Diaz to end the inning. Brobeck walked a pair in the seventh, got through the inning, but would not return after that, with the pitch count up to 104. The last two innings were pitched by Alfaro, who gave up a 2-out run on a Martinez single in the bottom 9th, while the Raccoons never added to their eight early innings, being shut down by the best bullpen in the CL after Gowin’s homer, scattering only three singles across the last five innings. 8-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Gowin 4-5, HR, RBI; Brobeck 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (2-0);

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – CF Tenazes – P Taki
DAL: CF Pritchett – SS S. Diaz – RF D. Martinez – 3B Wilken – 1B V. Cruz – 2B Quiroz – LF J. Monroe – C Fiore – P Turpeau

Chad Pritchett welcomed Taki to Texas with a tremendous homer to right as he led off the bottom 1st, which wasn’t helping me to regain any confidence in the 2052 Rookie of the Year. The Raccoons had nothing on in the first two innings, but Ramsay rammed a double to center to begin the third. Taki singled, Venegas walked, and Lonzo was up with the bases loaded, and tied the game, albeit only by grounding out to Randy Wilken. Waters struck out, stranding two in scoring position in a 1-1 game. It wasn’t a 1-1 game for long; Turpeau opened the bottom 3rd with a single to right, Pritchett singled to center, Taki walked Diaz, and Martinez singled home a pair, all with nobody out, before the 4-5-6 batters croaked and let Taki off the hook with that, but no more.

The Coons got Chris Gowin to hit a leadoff double in the fourth, but stranded him, and Taki didn’t get a strikeout in the first four innings at all, but struck out three batters (against a Diaz hit) in the fifth inning, and didn’t allow any more runs while getting through seven. Steve Diaz homered off Hitchcock in the eighth, though, and the Raccoons had nothing cooking against Turpeau, then seamlessly continued with that against the tough-as-nails bullpen. When Lonzo hit a leadoff single against Willie Cruz (snort!) in the ninth inning, it was only the fourth base hit for the Raccoons all day. Waters struck out, cashing a golden sombrero, as did Gowin. Pucks grounded out. 4-1 Stars.

Just your plain old ****** loss.

And now, for the rubber game, Wheats will try to reach 0-7.

I’m not looking forward to this game.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – C Philipps – 2B Blackshire – P Wheatley
DAL: CF Pritchett – LF F. Rojas – RF D. Martinez – 3B Wilken – 1B V. Cruz – 2B Quiroz – SS Arguello– C Fiore – P Middleton

Randy Wilken’s sac fly brought in Pritchett and a leadoff double in the bottom 1st, and the quest for 0-7 had begun. Sergio Quiroz also hit a leadoff double in the second inning, like Pritchett, depressingly, on a 1-2 pitch, but he was stranded by the bottom of the order. Dario Martinez homered in the third, 2-0, but Ed Crispin’s leadoff jack in the fourth pulled at least one run back. It was also the Coons’ first hit in the game…

Then came the real meltdown. The Stars loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom 4th, getting hits from Victor Cruz and Quiroz, and a full-count walk for Leo Arguello – all with two strikes. A passed ball scored a run, Matt Fiore walked to fill the bags again, Middleton singled home two, and Pritchett drew yet another ******* walk. Then Wheats took a walk, slow, depressed, head hanging, straight through the dugout, down the tunnel, and into the clubhouse, lifted for Lillis, who worked some magic, got pops on the infield from Felix Rojas and Dario Martinez, then struck out Wilken to strand all remaining runner droppings left behind by the wheated Defeatley.

Lonzo homered to left in the sixth to narrow the score to 5-2, as if I still had any hope. Pucks and Crum would hit 2-out singles in the same inning, but as the tying run, Matt Cox flew out to left. Randy Wilken answered with another solo homer off Hitchcock anyway, restoring slam range in the seventh inning. Middleton nicked Lonzo with one out in the eighth and was yanked. Crispin singled off Sam Gibson, who yielded to Justin Johns before the inning was over, and gave up a 2-out, 2-run single to Ken Crum, which put the tying run in the box once more. Cox singled, Ramsay grounded out, and it all just plainly sucked. Sencion didn’t allow a run in the eighth, but neither did Willie Cruz in the ninth. 6-4 Stars. Crispin 2-4, HR, RBI; Crum 2-4, 2 RBI; Lillis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

May 5 – ATL SS/2B Willie Acosta (.314, 0 HR, 11 RBI) will miss two weeks with back soreness.
May 6 – Miners OF Josh Abercrombie (.365, 0 HR, 18 RBI) singles five times and drives in three runs as the Miners rout the Rebels, 16-1.
May 7 – CIN OF Chad Williams (.278, 3 HR, 15 RBI) hits a single for the only Cyclones hit in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Caps’ Charlie Hudson (1-0, 5.79 ERA) and Ryan Dow (2-0, 1.80 ERA, 10 SV).
May 10 – PIT OF Josh Abercrombie (.379, 2 HR, 23 RBI) remains on fire with his second 5-hit game of the week, this time with a double and a homer and four RBI in a 9-8 win over the Canadiens.

FL Player of the Week: PIT OF Josh Abercrombie (.379, 2 HR, 23 RBI), batting .625 (15-24) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN CF Damian Moreno (.333, 4 HR, 16 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Lonzo is second in RBI in the CL. Let that sink in, and when you reveled in it, whether it makes sense or nah, and then we’ll talk about everything about this roster that sucks. Like Wheatley having lost every single ******* one of his seven starts so far this year. Not all were plain bad, but Sunday’s surely was rotten to the core, and he got major rescue service done by Lillis, who came in with three on and no outs and let no one pass.

When’s Raffy coming back again, Dr. Padilla? – Dr. Padilla, why are you not saying anything and staring past me? – Dr. Padilla, I can see you hiding behind that plant. – You can resume breathing, Dr. Padilla.

[thud]

Actually, thinking about it… There are some signs of faint hope. F.e. it’s just over a month until the draft. We can draft us an all new team then! Hooray!

Next week: start of a 2-week homestand with 13 games against the Buffos, Elks, Indians, and Thunder. Sounds like trouble. But for a last-place team, everything is trouble…

Fun Fact: The only player with more RBI than Lonzo in the Continental League is Danny Rivera, who has 35 RBI.

…or ten more than any other CL player, or just simply more than anybody else in baseball. The 34-year-old corner outfielder has been a staple in the realm of coonskinners, spending his entire career with the Indians and Crusaders. Two homer crowns, two RBI titles, and some .300 seasons. .280 with 298 HR and 1,290 RBI for his career. Probably half those homers off Coons hurlers.

Rivera also has one Gold Glove, and seven All Star nominations, along with five Platinum Sticks.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (14-18) vs. Buffaloes (11-21) – May 12-14, 2054

The Raccoons began a 13-game homestand on Tuesday, hosting the Buffos in the first meeting between those teams since 2049, when the Coons had lost two of three. Our last series win against Topeka came in 2044. They were struggling, though, sitting ninth in runs scored and bottoms in runs allowed in the FL, giving up just over 5.1 runs per game. Their rotation was especially rancid, but it’s not like I didn’t know a thing or two about that. They ranked fourth in homers in the FL, but that was about as far as goodness reached for them.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (2-3, 3.79 ERA) vs. Chris Ferguson (1-5, 10.38 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (3-0, 3.49 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (0-3, 6.32 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Kennedy Adkins (4-3, 1.89 ERA)

Kennedy Adkins was the sole southpaw to expect here, as well as the sole bright spot on this team right now.

Game 1
TOP: 1B G. Cabrera – SS Haney – LF E. Moreno – RF Culp – C McLaren – 3B de los Santos – CF Gough – 2B Roseto – P C. Ferguson
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – P Shui

Of course the Buffos would score first when Shui walked Nate Culp to begin the second and gave up a triple to Alex de los Santos to fall 1-0 behind. John Gough popped out and Nick Roseto struck out to keep the runner on third base, at least. While Shui held the Buffos to that one run on two hits through five innings, it also took the Coons that long to make up the measly run against a guy that came in with a double-digit ERA. Waters drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th after the team had scattered four singles perfectly uselessly through four. Shui’s bunt was bad and got Waters forced out at second base, but a wild pitch put Shui in scoring position anyway, from where Venegas scored him with a single near the leftfield line. Venegas stole second, but was stranded when Lonzo popped out. Gowin walked and Crum singled in the bottom 6th, but were stranded, and Ramsay then reached base on a Roseto error to begin the bottom 7th. Shui bunted badly AGAIN, and again Venegas singled, but this time Shui only went first-to-second. The Coons wanted that run, badly, so Mikio Suzuki was sent to pinch-run from here. It was a pointless move; Lonzo whiffed, and Gowin grounded out to de los Santos to end the inning. With Shui gone, the Coons were in their pen, and Antonio Alfaro walked Dave Lee and gave up a single to Gil Cabrera in the eighth before Mark Haney, the former Crusaders, clanked a ball off the fence in right for a 2-out, 2-run double. Two singles and two wild pitches by Alfaro plated another run in the ninth, but it wasn’t like that made the Coons’ mighty ninth-inning rally, which didn’t take place, fall short. 4-1 Buffaloes. Venegas 3-4, RBI; Gowin 2-3, BB; Crum 2-4, 2B; Shui 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

A roster move was made after this game. Dave Blackshire (.209, 0 HR, 3 RBI) was sent to St. Pete. Matt Waters was in a black hole slump, and the Raccoons wanted somebody to competently make a few starts at second base. We were currently training Matt Knight to play there in AAA, but didn’t want him to do that under live fire yet. Thus, the call went to (sigh) Joe “Naughty” Boese, who hit all of .200 with two homers for the Raccoons last year, but hit .269/.372/.358 with one homer in AAA right now.

Also, He Shui got two hours of ******* bunting practice before the game on Wednesday because if you bungle two in a row, you’re in the doghouse.

Game 2
TOP: 1B G. Cabrera – SS Haney – LF E. Moreno – RF Culp – C McLaren – 3B de los Santos – CF McIntyre – 2B Roseto – P Ratliff
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – P Pickett

The Buffos’ 2-3-4-5 batters hit four straight singles for a first-inning run off Pickett, but Venegas picked a de los Santos liner, and Will McIntyre grounded out to Lonzo to keep the damage to a minimum. Better than Troy Ratliff’s start – he faced one batter, then left with an injury. He was replaced with left-hander Mike LeMasters, who hit an infield single – not bad for a 37-year-old pitcher… – in the second inning. Haney hit another single, which made six off Pickett so far, but they were left on base.

Waters tied the game with a solo jack in the bottom 3rd, sniffing danger with a second baseman promoted behind his back, but Pickett responded just continued to get done over harder in the fourth. Roseto singled, was bunted over, and scored on a Cabrera double. Cabrera then took off to steal third base, Gowin’s throw skipped past Venegas, and Cabrera scored, 3-1. Eddie Moreno hit a 2-out double in the inning, which marked ten hits for the Buffos in 3.2 innings, and 11 hits total in the game. Nate Culp grounded out to end the top 4th, and Pickett returned for the fifth, but only gave up three more singles to load the bases, at which point I was so enraged I called down to the dugout mid-inning so they’d take ******* Benny Rothman off my ******* hill…

It got so much better after that. Hyun-soo Bak entered, threw one pitch that Nick Roseto walloped over the fence for a grand slam, and it was a 7-1 game with that. 7-2 after a Waters sac fly in the bottom 5th, after Crum and Ramsay had reached the corners with leadoff hits. Crummy, all of them. Jason Terrell got the ball for the sixth, issued a walk, a double, and drilled Roseto out of the game with a fastball, which somehow amounted to only one more run surrendered. Lefty Marcos Rivera in turn nailed Chris Gowin in the bottom 6th, though the Coons were too polite to score. Everybody get in line and get some! Moreno homered off Terrell in the seventh, and the Coons were down 9-2 when they loaded the bases with nobody out against Rivera and ex-Coon Josh Rella in the bottom 8th. The 1-2-3 batters all reached, and Pucks’ groundout and Crum’s single each plated a run, but Ramsay then rambled into a double play.

Terrell was still tossing in the ninth, giving up a leadoff single to Cabrera – the 20th Buffos hit in the game – then fired away a Haney grounder. Eddie Moreno hit into a double play to Lonzo, and Culp struck out as Terrell completed four innings in garbage relief. 9-4 Buffaloes. Crum 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ramsay 2-4; Waters 2-3, HR, 2 RBI;

As if I wasn’t depressed enough, the entire pitching staff after this game marched from the clubhouse to my office, and wouldn’t be stopped by Maud, demanding access to all areas of the ballpark, as well as respect.

We can talk about granting of access, but respect is earned, you mugs!

Game 3
TOP: 1B G. Cabrera – SS Haney – LF E. Moreno – RF Culp – C McLaren – 3B de los Santos – CF Gough – 2B M. Coto – P Adkins
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 2B Boese – CF Tenazes – P Brobeck

Six straight Buffos reached base after Gil Cabrera struck out to begin Thursday’s game, with a Haney double and Moreno homer making it 2-0 rather fast, but Brobeck walked two and gave up two more hits for another run and having the bags full before being yelled at by the pitching coach, while I was calmly petting Honeypaws with one paw and sniffing on a bottle of varnish I had in the other, wondering whether that could end all my pains. Brobeck after getting **** on struck out Mario Coto and the pitcher Adkins to at least end the damn inning.

Bottom 2nd, Cox walked and Tenazes and Brobeck hit 2-out singles to load the bases for Portland, but Venegas’ liner to center was snatched on the run by John Gough to end the inning. Culp hit a leadoff double and was brought around to score in the third, but the Coons got Lonzo on with a single and then a 2-run homer to left from Chris Gowin, who was still hugging the .400 mark. Pucks singled afterwards, but that run never moved off first base, twice removed on fielders’ choices and eventually stranded when Naughty Joe whiffed. Adkins singled off Brobeck to begin the fourth inning, and the bags filled quickly with a walk to Cabrera and a Haney single. Eddie Moreno’s RBI single to center ended Brobeck’s day, nine outs into the game, and down 5-2 with three on. Hitchcock replaced him and got out of the ******* inning with only one more run across, which was a bold application of “only”.

The tying run somehow went back to the plate even when Alfaro allowed another run in sixth; before that, in the fourth, Adkins had plated a run with a wild pitch, and it was 7-3 in the bottom 6th with Waters, Venegas, and Ramsay on base and one out. Waters and Ramsay (Lonzo had been removed in a double switch) walked, and Venegas had a 1-out single. Adkins lost Gowin to a run-scoring walk in a full count, and was lifted for righty Roberto Ramirez at that point. Pucks hit a sac fly, 7-5, Crum’s single reloaded the bases, but Cox grounded out to Jon Elkins at short to end the inning and leave another three runners on base.

The game had more highlights to offer, depending on your point of view. The Coons put in Eloy Sencion for the seventh, despite few left-handed bats in that lineup, but we had burned all our right-handers by now. Sencion gave up four hits and two runs on his first five batters faced, then came up against Eddie Moreno, who was A) lead-footed, and B) a triple shy of the cycle. The baseball gods worked their magic, Moreno hit a wallbanger off the fence in left, Pucks almost reached it, then bounced off the wall and fell down, and the ball kicked away into the leftfield corner. Two runs scored, and Moreno chugged all the way to third base, huffing and puffing, by the time Pucks recollected himself to collect the ball and throw it back in. Eddie Moreno had a cycle, and the Buffos had an 11-5 lead. Lillis replaced Sencion, gave up an RBI double to Culp and a 2-run homer to Matt McLaren, 14-5. Lillis struck out the next two and got through the eighth, before the Raccoons got to employ their closer down by nine runs in the ninth inning. No accidents happened to him; he was then hit for with Philipps and Crum’s deserted spot (so many double switches…) to begin the bottom 9th, and Philipps singled to begin a fantastic rally, which next saw, uh, Matt Cox pop out, and Naughty Joe hit into a double play… 14-5 Buffaloes. Venegas 2-5; Gowin 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Crum 1-2, BB; Philipps (PH) 1-1; Tenazes 2-4;

The good news: after getting shellacked for 20 hits on Wednesday, the Coons gave up only 19 hits on Thursday!

Progress!

Raccoons (14-21) vs. Canadiens (20-12) – May 15-17, 2054

Oh ****, the Elks. There was no real way to pipe up any hope for wins or decency. The team was in freefall, and the Elks were… not. Stinkville led the season series, 2-1, and would be 5-1 on Sunday night. They ranked second in runs scored, sixth in runs allowed, and were without Felix Marquez, but there was enough suck in the Raccoons to guarantee an 0-6 week.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (2-4, 6.05 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (4-1, 3.66 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-7, 5.93 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (4-0, 3.68 ERA)
He Shui (2-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (2-1, 2.89 ERA)

Right, left, right. L, L, L.

The Coons needed arms, bitterly, and came in with a roster move, demoting Antonio Alfaro (5.29 ERA) to AAA to get a fresh arm on. Nothing to write home about, just Ryan Harmer. If things went pear-shaped, he’d be abused for multiple innings and then discarded just the same to get up the next guy in line, perhaps something as exciting as … Raul Medrano?

Game 1
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – LF K. Hawkins – 1B Wheeler – RF Magnussen – 3B Ri. Jimenez – P Bulas
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – C Philipps – P Taki

Taki pushed his ERA under six in the first inning… for one batter. Dan Mullen and Tristan Waker both had hits off him, Mullen scored on the latter’s 2-out single, and Taki was above six again, which remained true with an Adam Magnussen single and Ricky Jimenez’ double to left, then a groundout by Bulas that allowed Magnussen to score from third base in the second inning. Holding out without any more hiccups from there through four innings got him under six again, and then the Raccoons actually tied the game on their first base hit of the game. Bulas had retired 11 in a row to begin the contest, but gave up a homer to Ken Crum after Damian Moreno dropped Pucks’ fly to center for an error. Don’t you worry for the Elks, though. Bulas (…) and Moreno went to the corners with leadoff singles in the fifth, and they scored the former with Dan Mullen’s groundout, 3-2. Oh well, let Taki’s ERA yo-yo around six, fine. Matt Cox tied the game again with another homer off Bulas in the bottom 5th.

Taki lasted to the stretch, still holding that 3-3 tie. A lead in any game had so far proven elusive for the Raccoons this week, but when Cox drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 7th, there was at least the go-ahead run on base. Waters popped out, and Philipps flailed on a hit-and-run, but Waker bobbled the ball briefly, then threw wildly to second base, and Cox reached third on the error, the Elks’ third of the game. Tyler Philipps singled two pitches later, through the left side, and the Raccoons were ahead in a ******* ballgame, 4-3!

It didn’t last. Lillis got Waker and Kyle Hawkins out in the eighth, but Bak then walked Jeff Wheeler and gave up a game-tying double to Magnussen in right-center. Dan Riley flew out to Pucks, but the score was even at four. Ken Crum to the rescue – he would mash another homer off Bulas in the bottom 8th, putting the Raccoons in front for the SECOND time all week. What a rush of emotion. (drinks quicker) Bulas then took objection with the way Crum high-fived the third base coach, then took it out on Ramsay, whom he nailed in the shoulder. Ramsay wasn’t happy with that and went out there to take Bulas’ head off. He landed one good punch before third baseman Jorge Uranga pulled him off his pitcher, and a general fracas ensued, at the end of which both Ramsay and Bulas were ejected. Suzuki pinch-ran and would take centerfield, with Pucks to left and Crum to first base, but before that the Coons still had to make an out against lefty Bernardino Risso, who gave up a single to Cox, and then walked four straight Critters in a row, including Gowin and Venegas with the bases loaded, before he got yanked. Jared Bramel got Lonzo to ground out, and Ryan Harmer got three outs in the ninth without giving me reason to call for Maud to bring me the blunderbuss. 8-4 Raccoons. Crum 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Cox 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Gowin (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI;

Tying for the team lead in wins with three apiece: Arthur Pickett and… Hyun-soo Bak.

Harry Ramsay and Jesse Bulas, the ******** **********, were both suspended for five games, so in addition to all the other problems, the Raccoons now also had a short bench again.

Game 2
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – LF K. Hawkins – 1B Wheeler – RF Magnussen – 3B Ri. Jimenez – P Overy
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – 3B Brobeck – RF Cox – CF Tenazes – P Wheatley

The game was scoreless through three innings, with Winless Wheats whiffing four damn Elks against two singles and a walk, which looked treacherously decent. I grabbed Slappy’s arm for comfort before the fourth inning began, because I feared the fall to be that much more furious from here. But while he didn’t get another K until he arrived at Overy again to end the fifth inning, and Magnussen hit a deep fly out to begin that inning, the Elks only got another Hawkins single the second time through. Not that the Coons did any better – through five, both teams sent 18 men to the plate and had no runs off three easy hits each.

Just when I was about to unclench my furry bum cheeks, Wheats then walked Damian Moreno to begin the sixth. Mullen’s grounder advanced him, Tony Aparicio singled him across home plate, and there it was – 0-8 as good as achieved! Wheats got around a leadoff walk to Hawkins, whom he never retired, in the seventh, but the Coons had Gowin jam into a double play after Lonzo singled with one out in the bottom 6th, and didn’t reach base at all in the next inning. Wheats would get through the eighth inning as well, and the Coons got a leadoff walk squeezed out of Overy by Cox in the bottom 8th before Tenazes singled to center. Pucks pinch-hit and whiffed, and Venegas grounded into a double play, at which point Slappy’s shoulder got slightly wet.

No win for Winless Wheats, who was whiling woefully waywards whilst the top of the ninth inning got underway. Overy was still in there, facing Lonzo to lead off. Lonzo underlined his ambitions to be a power hitter now, socking a game-tying homer to left-center to take Wheats off the hook (for the first time all year…) and send Overy home decision-less as well. Righty Ruben Mendez took over, walked Gowin, and the Coons sent Ed Crispin to pinch-run carrying the W. I shrieked when Ken Crum poked at a 3-0 pitch, but he slashed it through the right side for a single, and Crispin took the W to third base with nobody out. He had to hold there when Waters grounded out, Crum advancing. The Elks then walked Brobeck with intent to fill the bases and get a double play in order with Cox at the dish. Mendez stared back and forth between Cox and Waker for almost a minute, then threw a 52-footer that bounced off a startled Waker’s forearm, hit the umpire’s mask, and merrily giggled its way to the backstop, with Crispin dashing down the line to dive home safely for a confused walkoff…! 2-1 Blighters. Lavorano 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K;

Not saying that was Peak Wheats, but it was sure a heck of a damn lot better as Gutters Wheats that we saw for most of the first seven starts he made this year.

Game 3
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – LF K. Hawkins – 1B Wheeler – RF Magnussen – 3B Ri. Jimenez – P A. Jesus
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – P Shui

The offense was slow to get going on Sunday; between the bottom 3rd and top 4th, both teams had a runner thrown out at home plate to end an inning, that being Waters on a Venegas single, trying to get home from second base, for the Coons, and Ricky Jimenez being axed at the plate by Matt Cox on a Moreno single in the fourth. The only problem was that the Elks still scored three runs in that fourth inning, whacking Shui incessantly for six base hits until they ran themselves out of the inning… Gowin walked and Crum was nicked in the bottom 4th, but the Coons couldn’t push a run across. That took until the fifth inning, which Waters opened with a triple to left, then scored on a Crispin single. Shui bunted the runner to second accident-free – yay! – but Venegas popped out. Lonzo was up to the task, though, doubled to left, and shortened the gap to 3-2. Gowin grounded out. Shui reached the stretch, but still behind when Crum and Cox reached base in the bottom 6th, but Waters hit into a double play to kill the inning.

The Coons went in order in the seventh, while Eloy Sencion got more in the snout in the eighth. Wheeler worked a 10-pitch walk with one out, Magnussen singled much faster, and when Hitchcock came in, he gave up a 2-run double to Jose Uranga right away. The Coons kept frittering away runners; Gowin and Crum reached base in the bottom 8th, but Cox flew out to Hawkins to strand them. Ruben Mendez retired them in order in the ninth altogether. 5-2 Canadiens. Gowin 2-4; Waters 2-4, 3B;

In other news

May 11 – DEN SP Nick Robinson (1-3, 3.57 ERA) walks four in his first win of the season, but allows no base hits in a no-hit effort against the Indians. The Gold Sox win 6-0 in what is Robinson’s second no-hitter as well as the second Gold Sox no-hitter of the season.
May 13 – The Indians lose SP Tan Brink (2-5, 5.03 ERA) for the season; the 28-year-old has torn his rotator cuff.
May 14 – LVA RF/LF Ken Hummel (.250, 2 HR, 11 RBI) hits a walkoff single for the Aces to beat the Miners, 5-4 in 16 innings.
May 15 – It’s 300 career home runs for DEN 2B/3B Ivan Villa (.338, 7 HR, 37 RBI), who goes yard twice and drives home six runs in the Gold Sox’ 15-11 shootout win over the Pacifics. Villa, a 3-time Player of the Year, has reached the mark in his age 32 season, and his 12th year with the Gold Sox. The five-time-defending FL home run king for his career was batting .296/.322/.504 with 1,719 hits, 300 homers, and 1,076 RBI, plus 295 stolen bases.
May 16 – WAS OF Neville van de Wouw (.259, 3 HR, 12 RBI) would miss at least two weeks with an oblique strain.
May 17 – TIJ INF/LF/RF Luis Chapa (.232, 3 HR, 18 RBI) whacks a 13th-inning, come-from-behind, walkoff grand slam off Atlanta’s Bill Quinn (1-1, 6.30 ERA) to give the Condors a 6-3 win.
May 17 – The Bayhawks unload 39-yr old 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.261, 6 HR, 25 RBI) and almost $1M in cash to the Capitals, who trade them outfielder Scott King (.242, 1 HR, 6 RBI).
May 17 – MIL LF/RF Perry Pigman (.153, 0 HR, 9 RBI) could be out for the season with a torn back muscle.

FL Player of the Week: DEN INF Brent Andrews (.500, 1 HR, 7 RBI), hitting .640 (16-25) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL C Pedro Almaguer (.363, 5 HR, 17 RBI), batting .455 (10-22) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I think I need new glasses. I swear I read these standings as having the Loggers in first place.

The Loggers…!

Over here, the scuffle continues. We’re even in terms of run differential now, the rotation is terrible, and the pen gets poked holes into it by having to deliver four, five innings all the time. They’re not fun to watch, in short.

The Coons lost one depth option on Wednesday, when Josh Mayo had surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow; he was out until September, if he’d come back at all this year.

Seven more home games against the Indians and Thunder, with Harry Ramsay to be suspended for the first three against Indy.

Fun Fact: No team ever managed to pitch three straight ABL no-hitters before, but the Thunder managed to be on the receiving end of three straight no-hitters.

The Raccoons were involved, with Jason Turner starting the string on August 27, 1989. The other two no-hitter against the Thunder came in 1990: Boston’s Luis de Jesus on July 24, and Atlanta’s Glenn Ryan on September 8.

To this day, no other team has managed to no-hit the Thunder, who were on the receiving end of three more since 1990: our own Jonny Toner in 2019 and two for Boston: briefly-a-Coon David Barel in 2045, and Kyle Turay in 2050.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (16-22) vs. Indians (15-22) – May 18-21, 2054

The two bottom-feeding teams in the CL North would get to haphazardly slap away at each other for four games to continue the homestand here, with the Indians somehow having a run differential as far under evens as their record was at -7. Slow to score runs, but with decent, above-average pitching. We had won ten games from them in 2053. They had a few notable injuries, including Tan Brink, Mario Ceballos, and Nick Fernandez all sitting around on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (3-1, 4.43 ERA) vs. James Powell (3-1, 4.47 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (2-1, 4.97 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (2-2, 4.32 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (2-4, 5.72 ERA) vs. Pete Becker (0-0, 1.88 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-7, 5.14 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (4-2, 2.41 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up against the Coons in this set. The Raccoons still started the week with Harry Ramsay suspended for another three games and thus a short bench in addition to the lean lineup.

Game 1
IND: CF R. White – 2B D. Diaz – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – LF Escobido – SS Clover – P J. Powell
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – P Pickett

The Raccoons took the early lead with singles by Crum and Waters in the second inning, but Pickett was upended before long, giving up three hits in the fourth inning, singles to Bill Quinteros and Manny Poindexter, and then with two outs, an especially painful 2-run double to Shuta Yamamoto. Gowin’s homer in the bottom of the inning leveled the score again before Cox, Pucks, and Waters all scrambled onto base with one out. Suzuki slashed an RBI single by the reaching Danny Diaz to give the Raccoons a new 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, Pickett briefly thought he was a Grenadier Guard when strike three whizzed by him, not moving an inch, and Venegas popped out to leave a full set.

The Coons also let a Lonzo leadoff double get away in the fifth, and Pickett blew the lead in his sixth and final inning, when Diaz, Quinteros and Bobby Anderson all reached to begin the inning, including Anderson doubling home Diaz and putting two in scoring position with nobody out in a 3-3 game. The thin red line held, though, as Manny Poindexter struck out, Yamamoto was out on a comebacker to Pickett, and Angel Escobido popped out in foul ground to Ken Crum. Ryan Harmer pitched a scoreless seventh, which was newsworthy, but Lillis then had a bit of a Light Brigade moment, charging straight into doom when Quinteros singled off him, Anderson reached when Suzuki blundered his fly for an error in centerfield, and Poindexter walked. This time, though, Captain Nolan wasn’t hit in the chest by a shell and disaster was staved off when Kevin Hitchcock turned things around with strikeouts to Yamamoto and PH Jose Garza. Chris Gowin then hit his second homer of the game off Powell, this one to take a 4-3 lead in the bottom 8th. Bill Quinteros was hurt tracking down Cox’ fly later in the inning, but the Raccoons emerged victorious with just a few scratches from the tussle, dodging a 2-out triple by Rusty White in the ninth inning when Daley got a grounder to short from Diaz that Lonzo handled for the final out. 4-3 Coons. Gowin 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Waters 2-3, RBI;

The Indians reported Quinteros as day-to-day with a chest complaint, which could mean anything. He was however back in the lineup on Tuesday, so maybe much ado about nothing.

Game 2
IND: CF R. White – LF J. Garza – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – 2B D. Diaz – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Godinez
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – CF Tenazes – P Brobeck

Brobeck’s pitching remained depressing, and he nicked Garza and walked two while giving up a run the first time through the order. For what it was worth, his leadoff double in the bottom 3rd also got the Coons going; Venegas singled him home to tie the game, the bags filled up after that, and Ryan Cox drew a 1-out bases-full walk for a 2-1 lead before both Pucks and Waters, the struggling stragglers, struck out.

Nobody struck out against Brobeck, but he gave up a leadoff double to Edwin Ortiz in the fifth, which smelled like trouble. Godinez bunted the ball back to Brobeck hard, though, and Ortiz was thrown out at third base. But then Brobeck walked White, Garza grounded out to first, and the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position with two outs and Bill Quinteros (.388, 7 HR, 23 RBI) in the box. The Raccoons walked him intentionally to get the righty and totally harmless bat of Bobby Anderson (.320, 5 HR, 21 RBI) up instead. Anderson popped out to Crum, and the inning ended. Whoa!

Less whoa was the Raccoons’ offense in the bottom 5th after Gowin and Crum went to the corners on the strength of two leadoff singles. The 5-6-7 batters made three excessively pathetic outs and the runners were left right at those corners. Brobeck’s messy pitching meant that he was done after six innings, giving up two singles himself in the top 6th. Sencion got the 2-1 lead, which seemed bold, but it hadn’t felt like he had pitched like a guy with an 8.76 ERA would pitch – yet. White, Garza, and Quinteros, all left-handed bats, went down in order, with two strikeouts. Chris Edwards in the bottom 7th gave up a leadoff double to Gowin, who was then promptly stranded by the next three muppets in line. Bak’s scoreless eighth handed the ball back to Daley, who had the 8-9-1 batters to contend with. Ortiz grounded out, Jerry Cordova struck out, and White flew out to Pucks. 2-1 Critters. Venegas 2-5, 2B, RBI; Gowin 2-3, BB, 2B; Crum 2-4; Suzuki (PH) 1-1;

The Indians moved Enrique Ortiz into the Wednesday slot; he would still start on regular rest.

Game 3
IND: CF R. White – LF J. Garza – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – 2B Ed. Ortiz – SS Clover – P En. Ortiz
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Cox – 1B Crum – LF Puckeridge – C Philipps – CF Suzuki – 2B Boese – P Taki

Edwin Ortiz cost Enrique Ortiz at least one unearned run in the bottom 1st, although the latter Ortiz had dug a hole for himself with walks to Venegas and Cox to begin with. Ken Crum’s grounder to second was then thrown away by the former Ortiz for two bases and the run, but the latter Ortiz then escaped runners in scoring position with strikeouts on Pucks (…) and Philipps. Bottom 2nd, another leadoff walk to Suzuki, and then Naughty Joe singled to left for his first knock of the year. Taki then categorically failed to get a bunt down, fooling his way to 0-2 before stopping the tomfoolery and waiting on Ortiz to walk him, too, which filled the bases with nobody out. Venegas’ grounder forced Taki out at second base, but scored a run, yet Lonzo struck out (but still led the team RBI race comfortably and depressingly). Cox came through with a 2-out RBI single, 3-0, but Ken Crum opened the real can of whoop-ass with a 3-run bomb to right-center, 6-0!

The game then entered a dead phase; Ortiz held out for a few more innings, but Taki dominated the Indians, allowing only two base hits before the seventh-inning stretch. No more runs were scored until the Coons took to the corners in the bottom 7th with Lonzo and Pucks, and with two outs right-hander Matt Green threw a wild pitch to allow Lonzo across. Taki returned for the eighth, but got no more outs. Venegas bungled a Chase Clover grounder for an error, and Cordova drew a pinch-walk, both in full counts, rushing Taki’s pitch count to 108. Sencion came on, drilled Rusty White to fill the bases, but then got a pop from Garza and a double-play grounder from Jason Perry, pinch-hitting in place of the ailing Quinteros. The Coons added a run in the bottom 8th, filling the bases with Boese, Tenazes, and Venegas, then got a sac fly from Lonzo and no more against left-hander Bubba Poss. 8-0 Raccoons. Tenazes (PH) 1-1; Taki 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, W (3-4);

We scored the eight runs from just five hits for a change, all singles except for that Crum homer.

Prospero Tenazes had batted 6-for-18 (no RBI’s) in ten games and was handed back to AAA as Dave de Lemos returned from the DL on Thursday.

The Raccoons would be up against right-hander Jimmy Charles (1-4, 3.06 ERA) in the final game of the set.

Game 4
IND: LF J. Garza – 2B A. Rios – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 1B Yamamoto – CF Cordova – SS Clover – P Charles
POR: 3B Venegas – RF Cox – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – 2B Boese – P Wheatley

Winless Wheatley made excellent progress towards 0-8 right in the first inning, allowing a single to Antonio Rios and then back-to-back bleeping blasts by Bill ‘n Bobby in the middle of that Arrowheads order. 3-0 remained the score through the middle of the fifth inning when an earlier drizzle turned into actual rain and the game went to a rain delay that took just over an hour, or enough time to hit your head against the doorframe over Wheats’ demise precisely 1,000 times. The Raccoons had gotten four hits in the four innings they had batted in, getting precisely zero runs from those four hits. Lonzo pinch-hit for Wheatley in the bottom 5th, singled, and was doubled up by Venegas to get the Indians back in the box. Charles finished that inning, qualifying for the inevitable W to drop Wheats to 0-8.

Lefty Michael McLaughlin got whacked around a bit in the bottom 7th, but after Suzuki doubled, Pucks tripled, and Venegas doubled all over the park, Matt Cox struck out to waste the tying run in the 3-2 game in scoring position. Quinteros answered by taking Hitchcock deep to right in the top 8th, giving Indy an insurance run. Gowin drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th, but was doubled up by Crum. Ramsay legged out an infield single, advanced on a wild pitch by Chris Edwards, and was still surviving at second when a 2-2 foul pop by Waters was flubbed by Yamamoto to keep the inning going – but in a full count Waters struck out.

When Lillis and Harmer pieced the ninth together, Suzuki’s leadoff single to left off Caleb Martin in the bottom 9th put the tying run in the batter’s box. Ed Crispin pinch-hit for a 1-for-13 Naughty Joe, but flew out to Jason Perry, who had again replaced the knocked-up Quinteros, whose dirty deeds were done. Dave de Lemos batted for Harmer and hit a screamer to left for a double – now the tying runs were in scoring position! Venegas responded with a pathetic pop to shallow right which Perry had easily, and the runners had to freeze. Two outs. Cox ran a full count, and I couldn’t imagine the Indians wanting anything from Chris Gowin, who was in the on-deck circle and batting a staggering *.415* at this point after a month-long hot streak. Nah, Martin would have to go after Matt Cox. For inexplicable reasons he threw him a 70mph curveball. Cox hung out his tongue, took aim, and huzzah’ed a deep drive to right. Perry chasing, but this one was high, deep, and gone!! It’s a walkoff!! 5-4 Furballs! Cox 1-5, HR, 3 RBI; Gowin 2-3, BB; Suzuki 3-4, 2B; Lavorano (PH) 1-1; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI; de Lemos (PH) 1-1, 2B; Terrell 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

(throws Honeypaws in the air) Sweep!! (catches Honeypaws and gives him a thick smooch on the nose) Honeypaws! I LOVE COX!!

Cristiano, what’s there to snicker?

Raccoons (20-22) vs. Thunder (30-10) – May 22-24, 2054

The Thunder? Third in runs scored, first in runs allowed. Rotation ERA under three, bullpen ERA under two. Best defense, second in homers. Ha-hah, nope. Was nice having a winning streak though. They were last in stolen bases with just ten, but given that they had a 9 1/2 game lead in May, they probably didn’t need any stolen bases to begin with. The Coons had dropped the season series against the Thunder for seven straight years, 6-3 in ’53, but since I have nothing else to drone on about I have to mention that we had at least won the two CLCS’es in the same timeframe.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (2-4, 3.44 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (2-4, 5.09 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (3-1, 4.44 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (3-2, 3.99 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (3-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (5-1, 2.29 ERA)

Not that there weren’t some pieces missing, most notably David Barel, Ryan Cox, and Ed Soberanes, the latter being days away from returning to action. Zeigler and Marquez were the southpaws on duty in that rotation, but the Thunder had also gotten some pretty good results from spot starter Jay Gunderson (4-0, 1.44 ERA) in Barel’s absence, and were probably not shy about using him again.

Game 1
OCT: 2B Ban – SS Spehar – 1B Worthington – LF Harmon – C Weese – RF S. King – CF Ward – 3B Lamotta – P Boyer
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF M. Cox – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – P Shui

Kevin Weese’s single and Scott King’s homer in the second inning gave the Thunder a 2-0 lead that stood all the way to the seventh-inning stretch, while the Raccoons’ offense was too little, too late, or just mistimed. Chris Gowin went as high as .420 with a single in the first inning, but then didn’t get a connection the next two times up. Matt Waters doubled in his second at-bat, but had popped out with two runners on base in his first appearance. The Thunder did this mostly with their pen, having lost Zach Boyer to injury in the third inning. Vic Flores, a Coon in 2053, put Waters on base to begin the bottom 8th, but then yet more relievers turned away Venegas, Suzuki, and Crum in order to keep the Raccoons from scoring. Hyun-soo Bak followed Shui, who went eight pointless innings, and walked a pair before giving up an insurance run on a 2-out single by Ricky Lamotta, who had been a Coon a while ago. Alex Mancilla closed out the game against Lonzo, Gowin, and Cox anyway. 3-0 Thunder. Waters 1-2, BB, 2B; Shui 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (2-5);

Game 2
OCT: 2B Ban – SS Spehar – 1B Worthington – LF Harmon – C Weese – RF S. King – CF Ward – 3B Lamotta – P Zeigler
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – RF M. Cox – 2B Waters – 1B Ramsay – CF de Lemos – P Pickett

Pickett gave up a run in the first inning against the 3-4-5 batters; Dave Worthington doubled, Mike Harmon walked, and Kevin Weese singled home Worthington from second base. King struck out, and then Pickett came to bat in the bottom 2nd with the bases loaded with Cox, Ramsay, and de Lemos. Batting with one out, he fell to 1-2 before poking a grounder to short. Two, easily – except that Ryan Spehar botched the play, brutally, and the tying run came across, and the bases remained loaded for Venegas. Agreeing in principle that to exploit such regrettable blunder would be unbecoming of a Victorian gentleman, Venegas grounded into Pickett’s double play instead to end the inning. Venegas! Thou dankish, folly-fallen maggot-pie!!

Worthington lobbed a homer to left, only his second of the year, to give the Thunder a new 2-1 lead in the third inning, but the Coons would accrue on base in full numbers without suffering a dismissal in the bottom 3rd. Lonzo, Gowin, and Crum then all stared intently at the new batsman, M.H. Cox of San Franciscoshire, who flipped some dilly-dally of a ball to legside to tie the game once more, two-all. Each of the next batters also brought home one run: Waters walked, Ramsay singled, and de Lemos hit a sac fly, before Pickett was dismissed, leg-before-wicket. Wicked. Venegas’ single, however, ran the tally to 6-2, before Sir Lorenzo Lovingbottom flew out to rightfielder Scott King, ending a 5-run partnership.

No, Maud, you don’t have to call Dr. Padilla. Why would you think you’d have to?

The next two overs were uneventful, but the Thunder began to crowd Pickett in the sixth inning. Two hits and a walk for the 4-5-6 hitters loaded the bases with Jayden Ward and his .212 lumber at the crease. His liner to right could not be reached by Waters, a run scored, but Lamotta then hit into a double play to end the inning. The Coons had no answer in the bottom 6th, but the Thunder lost Ryan Spehar to injury as he took a tumble to snare a Lonzo liner. Spehar left the game holding his elbow, and was replaced by Felix Vazquez while Eloy Sencion took the ball from Pickett to begin the seventh, retiring three in order. Bottom 7th, the Coons now had the bags full with one out after Crum singled off Ralph Needham, who added Cox and Waters by ways of walks. Ramsay drove in two with a shot into the rightfield corner, and de Lemos added another run with a groundout to get ahead by six … five once Mike Harmon took Harmer for the verges with a boundary shot in the eighth, and seven once the Raccoons brutalized Raul Cornejo – there was another ex-Coon! – in the bottom of the same inning. But Harmer was sent back out for the ninth and it didn’t exactly go great. Two walks, two hits, one run in, and three runners on base – the rally was a batter shy of a save opportunity, but Daley was brought in hurriedly anyway. He struck out Worthington for the second out, then gave up a bases-clearing double to Harmon… Daley! Thou weedy, toad-spotted flap-dragon!! (angrily clonks bottle down on the table) Lonzo then fudged a Weese grounder that was supposed to end the inning, and instead brought up King as the tying run. He popped out to Waters to end the circus. 11-8 Raccoons. Venegas 2-4, 2B, RBI; Gowin 2-5, 2B; Crum 3-4, BB, RBI; Cox 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Ramsay 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; de Lemos 2-3, BB, 3 RBI;

That, shambolic pitching or not, was already more than I dared to expect from this series.

Better take cover for the rubber game. (builds a pillow fort for himself and Honeypaws)

Game 3
OCT: 2B Ban – C Weese – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – LF Harmon – CF Ward – RF M. Allen – 3B Lamotta – P Gunderson
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF M. Cox – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – P Brobeck

The game started with a celebration, which was unusual, but Jonathan Ban singled off Brobeck for his 2,000th career hit, half of them against the Coons in just 11 years in the majors. In fact, the first three Thunder that batted against Brobeck all reached base with hits; two into the outfield and one into the just-returned Ed Soberanes’ hip. None of them scored, courtesy of two pops and a K to Jayden Ward. The Coons went 1-0 instead on a Gowin homer to left, just after Venegas got himself caught stealing in the bottom 1st. A second run scored on Waters’ groundout with Crum and Pucks on the corners in the second inning, but all that was wiped off the board when Harmon homered with Worthington on base in the third. The Thunder kept chewing up Brobeck and crowding the bases, putting two on in the fourth without scoring, and loading them up with Soberanes, Ward, and Mike Allen in the fifth, where Brobeck then walked Lamotta with two outs to push the go-ahead run across. Gunderson struck out, stranding three, but Brobeck was done after that inning, having thrown 109 pitches for seven hits, five walks, and three runs only, somehow.

Worthington took Bak deep for a 2-run homer in the sixth to extend the Thunder’s lead to 5-2, while Gunderson walked Crum and Ramsay reached on a Ban error in the bottom of the inning, bringing up Pucks with two on and one out. The Coons had already failed in the third inning, when Venegas and Lonzo had reached to begin the inning, and now Pucks and Waters continued their death spiral into hard terrain with a soft pop to Worthington and a foul pop to Lamotta, respectively, killing the inning. Ed Crispin’s leadoff single in the bottom 7th led to the inning ending on Lonzo’s double play grounder to short. While the Thunder remained wasteful – they had three hits, two walks, and just one run off Terrell in the last two innings – the Raccoons nevertheless couldn’t get ******* anything together. 6-2 Thunder. Ramsay 2-3, BB; Crispin (PH) 1-2;

In other news

May 19 – At age 38, WAS 1B Manny Liberos (.254, 3 HR, 19 RBI) lifts his 300th career home run in an 8-6 win over the Blue Sox. The second-inning shot off Rafael Mendoza (1-5, 5.59 ERA) is Liberos’ only hit in the game, but counts for three runs. Liberos, a 17-year veteran and 3-time Gold Glover spent most of his career in the Federal League, only visiting the CL last year with a short stint with the Canadiens. He led the FL in doubles twice and in RBI once, and for his career has been hitting .245/.348/.437 with 1,762 hits, 300 homers, and 1,191 RBI.
May 19 – PIT INF Alex Vasquez (.401, 0 HR, 19 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games thanks to a fifth-inning single in a 5-2 win over the Cyclones.
May 20 – With a strained MCL, SAC OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.243, 1 HR, 10 RBI) was going to miss at least four weeks.
May 20 – ATL SS/3B Leo Villacorta (.336, 3 HR, 26 RBI) hits a lone single while CHA SP Felix Castano (3-3, 3.65 ERA) and four relievers shut out the Knights in a 3-0 Falcons win.
May 21 – A knee contusion would keep NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.234, 2 HR, 14 RBI) out of games for at least a week.
May 23 – The hitting streak of Pittsburgh’s Alex Vasquez (.394, 0 HR, 19 RBI) ends at 22 games with a hitless appearance in a 5-4 win over the Scorpions.

FL Player of the Week: LAP 1B Chris Rice (.327, 5 HR, 18 RBI), hitting .500 (13-26) with 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND 1B/LF/RF Bill Quinteros (.392, 9 HR, 27 RBI), batting .500 (12-24) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

That week could have been worse. The Coons swept Indy and stole one game from the Thunder to rally to fourth place in the North, six games behind the damn Elks. Was there a winning record in this team after all? We’d have to find out on the following road trip down south on I-5, with six games in Tijuana and San Francisco next week. There’d then be another 2-week homestand to being the month of June.

I can also report that Raffy de la Cruz has FINALLY started his rehab assignment. He threw 50 pitches in his first outing against the Baton Rouge Servals, and how did that surgically reknitted elbow do? Cristiano, do you have the numbers?

What do you mean, “one inning plus”? How can he have pitched only an inning plus?? – Five hits, four walks, seven runs, all earned?

(grabs Honeypaws and clutches him to his chest, then rocks back and forth, bawling)

Fun Fact: Jonathan Ban is a two-time CL batting champion.

He hit .367 in 2047 and .337 in 2052 for the two trophies, and despite not being much of a power hitter at all – his single-season record for bombs was 11, twice – he led the CL in WAR both times and three times in total (plus ’49). He was never voted Player of the Year, however.

Nope, but as a singles slapper with speed and Gold Glove defense (six awards there), the 4-time All Star was menace enough as he was. For his career he was batting .322/.379/.415 with 67 homers and 726 RBI. He didn’t even have speed – 25 SB for his career – he was just very, very good at slapping singles.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-24) @ Condors (17-28) – May 26-28, 2054

The last-place Condors would host the Raccoons for three games beginning on Tuesday. They were scoring the third-fewest runs in the Continental League, while their pitching was average, sixth in runs allowed. They didn’t rank in the top three in any major statistical category, so there was a lot of crummy on that roster. In terms of injuries they were only missing a couple of relievers. Tijuana had won last year’s season series, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (3-4, 4.96 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (3-3, 4.92 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-7, 5.17 ERA) vs. Nick Young (1-4, 6.20 ERA)
He Shui (2-5, 3.28 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (2-4, 2.83 ERA)

Young was the only southpaw we saw drawing up in this set of games.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Cox – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – P Taki
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – RF I. Jaramillo – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Chapa – SS Medlock – CF Hildebrand – P Colwell

Anton Venegas opened the week with a double, and also concluded it with a double, arriving at second base limping and being replaced with… Kyle Brobeck. The pitcher/third baseman would score on a Gowin double, Cox singled, and Crum hit a sac fly for a quick 2-0 lead. That wasn’t the last blow to the Coons’ roster, but for the time being, Taki delighted in retiring the first two batters of an inning before giving up a 2-out single. This happened in each of the first three innings, but the Condors never got further than that, and Israel Jaramillo even got himself caught stealing after singling in the bottom 3rd. Jon Mittleider drew a leadoff walk, but the home team got no further with that, the inning ending on Luis Chapa’s grounder to Waters.

When the Coons began to bat in the fifth, the #8 spot was leading off, but it wasn’t Waters batting, but Dave de Lemos.* The Raccoons got nowhere in that inning, being retired in order, while Stephen Medlock’s leadoff single got the Condors on base again in the bottom 5th. Danny Hildebrand forced him with a grounder to Lonzo, got bunted to second, and remained stuck there when Domingo Mercado grounded out to Naughty Joe, now holding down second base. Offensively, the Raccoons barely existed for most of the game and were largely absent from the bases until the seventh, when Joe Boese drew a 2-out walk and was then scored when Taki sunk a double in the right-center gap, 3-0. Taki so far had put a Condor on base in every inning, including Tim Duncan with a 2-out triple in the sixth, but had yet to surrender a run. Walking Chapa to begin the bottom 7th and giving up a bomb to Medlock ticked that box nicely enough, and additional singles by Colwell and Mercado sent Taki packing. Lillis came on once Mike Crenshaw batted for Israel Jaramillo, and retired him and Mittleider to get a 3-2 lead out of the seventh inning. Lillis in turn gave up 1-out singles to left-handed batters Elias Rodriguez and Luis Chapa in the eighth, then needed rescue from Hitchcock, who got Medlock to ground into a double play. Hitchcock finished the game, but not without giving up two more singles and getting another double play grounder from Eric Thomas in the bottom of the ninth. Somehow, the Coons won. 3-2 Critters. Venegas 1-1, 2B; Taki 6.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-4) and 1-3, 2B, RBI; Hitchcock 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (2);

The Condors landed 12 hits to the Coons’ seven, so we’d chalk that one up as lucky.

Meanwhile, the casualty report: Venegas had a sore calf that would bother him all week and left him day-to-day. Matt Waters had tweaked a hammy, but it wasn’t all too serious. He was not in the lineup either on Wednesday, but might be back as soon as the series finale. Both were available for pinch-hitting.

No lefty on Wednesday, either – the Condors moved up the Mexican Juarez to pitch on regular rest.

Game 3
POR: RF Cox – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 2B Boese – P Wheatley
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – RF I. Jaramillo – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Chapa – SS Medlock – CF Hildebrand – P J. Juarez

The Coons went up 1-0 in the first with a leadoff walk to Cox, and singles by Lonzo, Crum, and Ramsay – only blemish was the double play in between that Chris Gowin tumbled into and which dropped him under .400 for the year. Winless Wheatley had a hard time getting ahead of anybody. In the first two innings he allowed a 2-out single and nothing more, but in the bottom 3rd Mercado, Jaramillo, and Mittleider all tagged him for straight singles and tied the game before Tim Duncan hit into a double play. He didn’t get a K until Chapa struck out in a full count in the fourth, and when he hit a leadoff single for himself in the fifth inning, Cox grounded sharply to Mercado for a double play.

A new lead was procured in the sixth through a leadoff double by Gowin and a Crum single, both in left-center, and Ramsay’s sac fly to Hildebrand. Mercado dropped Pucks’ pop for an error to add a Critter to the basepaths. Crispin singled to fill the bags, but that only brought up .071 hitter and irreplaceable injury replacement Joe Boese. We didn’t dare to pinch-hit for him when the only real replacement was Waters, and Waters had a hammy. In the event, Naughty Joe didn’t get much of a chance to **** up. Juarez threw a wild pitch right away, Ramsay scampered home, 3-1, and then the second-sacker got straight directions to first base, bringing up Wheats instead, and now Wheats found the double play that needed hitting-into.

The Condors made up a run right away on hits by Mittleider and Rodriguez, narrowing the whole shebang to 3-2, but the Coons countered the following half-inning. Lonzo singled to center, stole second, and when Jayden Durant replaced Juarez, he gave up a 2-out RBI single to Crum. Wheats struck out Medlock to begin the bottom 7th, but then Hildebrand singled. Sencion replaced him there, got Micah Groom and Mercado out, and the Coons needed just six more outs to give Wheats a 4-2 win.

Bak fell over his own hindpaws in the bottom 8th, however, and gave up singles to Mittleider and Duncan as well as a run and had to be dug out by Lillis. It was still a 4-3 lead, though! Wouldn’t mind a little insurance run, though. Boys. Anything? Anybody? Hm? No. Suzuki, Cox, and Lonzo made outs in order, leaving the 4-3 lead with the shaky Kevin Daley and the bottom of the order. Medlock grounded out to Lonzo. Hildebrand grounded out to Ramsay. Groom … tripled to center, and was tempted to go all the way when Suzuki had to chase down the ball most of the way to Chihuahua. As it was, Mercado would bat with the tying run on third base. He struck out…! 4-3 Coons. Lavorano 2-5; Crum 4-4, 2 RBI; Wheatley 6.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (1-7) and 1-2;

143rd career win for Jason Wheatley, and none had been longed for harder, ever…

Game 3
POR: CF de Lemos – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – P Shui
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – RF I. Jaramillo – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – 3B Chapa – SS Medlock – CF Hildebrand – P N. Young

A pitcher singled home another pitcher for a 1-0 lead in the second inning, with Shui’s 2-out knock bringing home Brobeck from second base. Ramsay had also reached in between. That was the only run in the game through six innings, as both teams displayed both a lack of extra-base prowess, and a real knack to hit into a double play whenever the chance presented itself. The Coons turned three double plays behind Shui, who was rather liberal with the free passes, but allowed only three singles on top of three walks. Domingo Mercado was also caught stealing once. The Raccoons themselves had Waters and Cox hit into double plays, and Shui had another terrible bunt in the seventh inning with Ramsay and Waters on base and one out, getting Ramsay forced out at third base. De Lemos’ single to left-center still allowed Waters to score from second then before Lonzo struck out. Elias Rodriguez drew another walk off Shui in the bottom 7th, stole second base, and was singled home by Chapa to keep the score narrow at 2-1. Shui was done, as was Young after a leadoff walk to Gowin in the top 8th, but never worry, here was Ken Crum to hit into a double play. Mercado and Mittleider singled off Bak in the bottom 8th, but Tim Duncan’s pop to Lonzo stranded them. Top 9th, leadoff double for Brobeck off Dale Mrazek! Ramsay walked, and Waters … hit into yet another ******* double play. Pucks grounded out to strand the insurance run at third base, but at least Daley struck out the side in the bottom 9th to complete the sweep… 2-1 Blighters. Brobeck 2-4, 2B; Shui 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (3-5) and 1-3, RBI;

Our two best hitters in this game were pitchers.

Maybe Pucks and Waters should toss a few innings from time to time?

Raccoons (24-24) @ Bayhawks (21-25) – May 29-31, 2054

The Baybirds were fourth in the South, but the numbers looked rougher than their .457 winning percentage would indicate. They were second-worst in scoring runs in the CL, and gave up the fifth-most. The rotation was average, the pen was a disaster with an ERA near five. However, this was a series at the Bay, where nothing good ever happened, and they were up 2-1 on the Coons for the year.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (4-1, 4.45 ERA) vs. Milt Cantrell (5-5, 3.15 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (3-2, 4.59 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (4-3, 3.15 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (4-4, 4.73 ERA) vs. Bob Ruggiero (1-5, 5.92 ERA)

Three right-handers, including their two best starters. Koga was rallying from an atrocious 2053 season, where he had lost 19 games alongside a 5.31 ERA.

Quite a few injuries though: Duarte Damasceno, Adam Peltier, Tony Martinez, and Jorge Felix were all either on the DL or day-to-day with nagging injuries. In the case of Peltier, I hoped the injuries (back stiffness) would continue to nag him until Sunday night. Not that Peltier was a nasty person (me, however…), but I was very much annoyed by being constantly upended by a former Coons farmhand, even though I very much enjoyed having Ken Crum.

Game 1
POR: RF Cox – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Philipps – P Pickett
SFB: RF Felix – 3B Wiener – 2B A. Montoya – LF Munn – SS M. Miller – C J. Ortiz – CF M. Brown – 1B Caban – P Cantrell

Jorge Felix could steal second, but not third base after drawing a leadoff walk in the bottom 1st, and got himself caught stealing just before Armando Montoya hit a single to right that would surely gotten him home. The Bayhawks still went up in the second inning, first on a homer by Jorge Ortiz, and then when Armando Caban drew a 2-out walk and was doubled home by Milt Cantrell… While I wondered whether Pickett needed a reading of the Riot Act, he hit a double himself to begin the third inning for Portland, Cox singled, and then Ken Crum whacked a 3-run homer to right to flip the score to 3-2 Portland. Did I mention I very much enjoyed having Ken Crum?

The lead didn’t last. Pickett diddled around, gave up six hits and three walks in total, plus a plunked batter, and barely made it through five innings. In that bottom 5th, he walked Felix to get going, then nicked Bobby Wiener with a hard one. Danny Munn singled home the tying run, and Matt Miller’s sac fly gave the Bayhawks a new lead. Ortiz flew out, but after that, Pickett was deported to Tasmania. Venegas hit a double in his spot, his first appearance since Tuesday, with two outs in the sixth, but was left on by Cox.

The game was then decided by the appearance of Ryan Harmer in the bottom 7th. Terrell had pitched a scoreless inning, but Harmer came, saw, gave up a single to Wiener, a walk to Montoya, and a 3-run homer to Danny Munn. At that point, his ERA was just shy of 20, and he was not gonna survive on the roster in any way, shape, or form, and perhaps not even in actual living terms, should I get my paws around his ugly neck. At that point, he could also suffer more abuse while getting the last six outs. He did – but not without giving up a homer to pinch-hitter Willie Gutierrez in the eighth. 8-3 Bayhawks. Crum 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Venegas (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Harmer (1-0, 14.29 ERA) was waived and designated for assignment. I pretty much had enough of him.

The Coons brought up 22-yeear-old (nearly 23) right-hander Reynaldo Bravo, an $80k July IFA signing seven years ago. He seemed to have curtailed his control issues from last year (5.5 BB/9 in AAA) and seemed ready for his major league debut. He didn’t arrive rested, however, so we would try to not use him on Saturday yet.

Game 2
POR: RF Cox – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – CF Puckeridge – 2B Boese – P Brobeck
SFB: RF Felix – 3B Wiener – 2B A. Montoya – SS M. Miller – C J. Ortiz – CF M. Brown – LF W. Gutierrez – 1B Witherspoon – P Koga

Here were two pitchers that entered the game with more walks than strikeouts, and the first time through the order tallied up five walks and two strikeouts. Now, the game remained scoreless, because we were also all dealing with two dim-witted dolt lineups, and it was all really hard to watch. Brobeck didn’t even allow a hit through five innings, and yet I had to urge to dump him into the Bay with vigor, since he walked five batters through five innings, and ran up 69 pitches by then.

The Coons scattered four hits in the first five innings, then got Gowin on with a leadoff single in the sixth, Crum doubled, and Ramsay was walked with intent. Oh boy, three on with nobody out! Ed Crispin’s sac fly to left was the highlight of the day, as Pucks and Naughty Joe just struck out. The Baybirds’ first hit of the game was a leadoff jack for Felix in the bottom 6th, so at least we wouldn’t get **** from the Agitator from taking Brobeck out of the game. He briefly got another lead when Matt Cox homered in the seventh, but put Danny Munn on base, and that run was conceded by Eloy Sencion on a pinch-hit double by Matt Vanover (who?) in the bottom 7th. Vanover was nipped stealing third base, and the teams were tied at two through seven.

Somehow Koga was still hanging on in the eighth even as he put Ramsay, Pucks, and Boese on base with two singles and a walk, and two outs for PH Matt Waters, who ran a full count, then drew another walk to push home the go-ahead run. Cox grounded out and Hitchcock blew the lead in the bottom 8th, the third straight inning the Coons cocked up a 1-run lead. This time Wiener singled and Montoya doubled with two outs. Yay. Matt Miller struck out, keeping it 3-3. Then nobody scored in the ninth, the Coons getting a scoreless inning from Terrell despite a Danny Munn double. Terrell also did the tenth, then yielded for Venegas to lead off the top 11th against Cody Lovett. The only base runner in the inning was Lonzo, however, he got nicked, and then caught stealing. Vanover’s walkoff double ended the game in the bottom 11th; Lillis had already walked Ortiz and given up a single to Miller, all with two outs. 4-3 Bayhawks. Gowin 2-5; Crum 2-5, 2B; Puckeridge 2-5; Terrell 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
POR: 3B Crispin – RF Cox – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – CF Suzuki – SS Waters – 2B Boese – P Taki
SFB: RF Felix – 3B Wiener – 2B A. Montoya – LF Munn – SS Peltier – C J. Ortiz – CF M. Brown – 1B Caban – P Ruggiero

It would not be an exaggeration to call the Raccoons’ Sunday lineup to be soul-searching. Lonzo, in a deep slump, was left on the bench. Ed Crispin batted leadoff. Just give the W to the Baybirds and let’s get outta here…

Crispin singled home the game’s first run with two outs in the third inning, chasing home Waters, who had also hit a single to begin the inning. Waters would be on base again in the fifth, then on a throwing error by Armando Montoya that put him at second base. Naughty Joe singled, which lifted him all the way to .091, and got his first RBI when Waters chugged around from second base to make it a 2-0 game. It wasn’t 2-0 for much longer, however. Taki had allowed one hit through four innings, then wondered how it would be to change that around, and gave up four hits in one inning instead. They were all singles, but Peltier (…!), Ortiz, and Matt Brown hit three in a row for a run, and after Caban grounded out to the right side, the ******* pitcher came up with a 2-out, 2-run, score-flipping, soul-stabbing single. Felix struck out, as if that still mattered.

Montoya’s triple and Munn’s sac fly made it 4-2 in the sixth, but Taki got through seven innings. Didn’t even walk anybody, just couldn’t retire the ******* pitcher… The Raccoons then had the bags full against Ruggiero with two walks and a Wiener error in the top 8th, which meant it had to get good now. Ramsay was in the box, and hit a sac fly to center; Gowin had to stick to second base, however. Suzuki hit a liner to left-center, and I don’t know quite how, but Munn sprinted down there and made a running catch. Gowin had to hustle back to second base after having made a run for the plate when the ball sailed high over his head. Waters singled to tie up the game, and Lonzo hit for Naughty Joe and hit a go-ahead single, 5-4! I wasn’t expecting that for sure…! Bak held the lead in the bottom 8th even when Felix doubled to left, and Daley walked the tying run on base with two outs in the ninth with a free pass to Willie Gutierrez, but then struck out Brown to salvage a game. 5-4 Raccoons. Waters 2-4, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, RBI;

In other news

May 25 – LVA SP Josh Wilson (7-1, 2.29 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Crusaders, claiming a 2-0 win.
May 29 – A badly bruised wrist would cost CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.333, 7 HR, 33 RBI) up to three weeks.
May 30 – Crusaders RF/LF Danny Rivera 8.325, 8 HR, 43 RBI) hits his 300th career home run in a 6-4 loss to the Knights. Rivera takes Matt Weber (4-3, 3.91 ERA) deep in the second inning for the milestone. A 14-year veteran of the CL North, Rivera, who played with the Indians to begin his career, has two home run titles and twice led the league in RBI. He is a .280/.346/.454 hitter with 2,271 hits and 1,298 RBI as well as 252 stolen bases.
May 30 – DAL RF/1B/LF Dario Martinez (.335, 14 HR, 42 RBI) could be out for the season after having his hand gruesomely broken in an on-base collision in the ninth inning of a 5-2 win over the Caps on Thursday. Leaping for a wayward throw, Washington’s Ramon Sifuentes (.281, 9 HR, 31 RBI) comes down with his foot and all his weight on Martinez’ hand, frightfully crushing it.

FL Player of the Week: SAC 3B Jesus Burgos (.344, 1 HR, 22 RBI), batting .556 (15-27) with 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL 1B Jay Rogers (.310, 8 HR, 37 RBI), swatting .458 (11-24) with 3 HR, 9 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: TOP 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.308, 9 HR, 39 RBI), batting .354 with 6 HR, 26 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: VAN CF Damian Moreno (.317, 7 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .359 with 5 HR, 20 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT SP Victor Salcido (8-0, 2.43 ERA), going a perfect 6-0 with a 1.58 ERA, 46 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: TIJ SP Victor Scott (6-2, 2.46 ERA), pitching to a 6-0 record with a 1.94 ERA, 27 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.328, 4 HR, 18 RBI), hitting .325 with 3 HR, 16 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN C Tristan Waker (.323, 4 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .309 with 2 HR, 14 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Salcido, huh? (whiskers hang)

Scott, too. (sigh)

Bit heavy wear on the clutch this week, sweeping the Condors (though not with vigor) and then getting almost swept by the Bay. It’s not all that easy to try and make sense of this team right now. Lonzo, Waters, Pucks are all slumping, the rotation is… what it is… and the pen remains in a state of mild disarray.

Two-week homestand starts Tuesday, hosting the Knights, Loggers, Crusaders, and Gold Sox.

Fun Fact: By collapsing with two outs in the 11th on Saturday, Brett Lillis jr. clinched the franchise’s 6,000th regular season loss.

We’re the second-to-last team to reach that mark. Only the Thunder are still shy of it with 5,966 losses.

Worst, the Loggers with 6,664.

First in the division, though? The Loggers!

+++

*Kindly, automatically, and dumbly selected by the game. Naughty Joe would have made too much sense.

[Westheim]

2054 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

There were some amazing players in the pool for the upcoming amateur draft… if only the Raccoons had something other than the #22 pick…!

More fortunate teams – those that hadn’t tied for the division lead only to croak up a tie-breaker game last season – would have a selection between a few tremendous sluggers or some really steady starting pitchers with multiple very fine pitches. The weird thing was that all of these players – Grant Anker and Forbes Tomlin firstly and Ray Walker and Jason Brenize latterly – were high schoolers that were quite a few years away from the majors.

We had just over 100 players on the annual shortlist, as well as the following nine on the hotlist, as well as no hope of grabbing one, and if one of these would fall to #22, all the not-so-good alarms would go off. (*high school player):

SP Ray Walker (13/13/14)* – BNN #3
SP Jason Brenize (14/13/13)* – BNN #1
SP Josh Barcellona (13/11/11)
SP Travis Odon (10/17/12) – BNN #5

3B/RF/1B Alex Alfaro (11/13/12) – BNN #4
1B Forbes Tomlin (9/17/14)*

LF/RF Grant Anker (14/20/17)* – BNN #8
OF/1B Tommy Pritchard (18/6/10)*
OF Steve Valenzano (15/8/10)*

[Westheim]

Raccoons (25-26) vs. Knights (23-28) – June 2-4, 2054

The Raccoons started a new 2-week homestand on Tuesday by facing the Knights, who sat in fifth place in the South and were giving up the most runs in the Continental League, almost five per game. Seventh in runs scored, they had a -38 run differential. The bullpen and defense were especially rotten, but they led the CL in home runs. Preston Visser and Josh Jackson were notable absences for them, while the Raccoons were still without Anton Venegas for at least the opener. The Knights had won two of three from the Coons in the first series between these teams in April.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (1-7, 4.92 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (4-3, 4.72 ERA)
He Shui (3-5, 3.06 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (4-2, 4.37 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-2, 4.68 ERA) vs. Joe Byrd (3-5, 3.33 ERA)

We expected two left-handers to begin the series, after which Atlanta would have nothing but right-handers left.

Game 1
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – RF Worden – 3B Villacorta – LF D. Wright – 2B H. Acosta – P Malla
POR: CF de Lemos – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – P Wheatley

Malla was gravely maltreated by the Coons in the first inning, being scorched for five runs, starting with a Lonzo triple to center. Gowin singled home the run, and the bags filled with another single by Ken Crum and a walk to Matt Cox. Brobeck worked another walk to push home a run, Pucks hit a sac fly, and Waters doubled in two more before the inning ended with Wheatley grounding out. In better times, giving Wheats a 5-spot in the first inning would have been an automatic W, but nothing was ever that easy in 2054. While he did strike out five Knights the first time through the order, he also did so quite a bit in full counts and needed 42 pitches the first time through. Jon Alade then hit a 2-out double, but Pedro Almaguer flew out to Dave de Lemos to end the inning. Wheatley had a 1-2-3 fourth, then a leadoff single in the bottom of that inning, which ended up with him standing around the base paths for another five batters, with the Coons filling the bases, but stranding Wheats on third base along with everybody else that had bothered to reach base.

Wheats hit another single in the bottom 5th off righty Jeff Frank, that one with two outs and Pucks on second base. The struggling breakout star of the far away land of ’53 scored easily to extend the lead to 6-0, which was also Wheats’ first RBI of the year. Frank and Wheats met again in the top 6th, with a K on the Knights reliever, and the bottom 7th, when Wheatley hit *another* single, also sending Matt Waters from first to second with one out. Suzuki and Lonzo made outs from there and nobody scored, and while Wheats returned to the mound for the eighth, he was already on 97 pitches. Leo Villacorta kindly popped out on the first pitch, but then Dylan Wright singled and Hugo Acosta walked in a full count, and that was it for Wheatley in this game. Against Pat Stipp and Jon Alade, Hyun-soo Bak would strand Wheats’ runners to keep his ledger clean. Reynaldo Bravo made his major league debut in the ninth inning with a 7-0 lead after Chris Gowin had taken Sam Geren deep in the bottom 8th. Things derailed fast; Almaguer grounded out, but then four straight Knights reached base against him, with one run in and three runners on base. Lillis replaced him and got a K from Wright, but with two outs continued to **** up. Hugo Acosta singled home a run, as did Chris Kirkwood. Jon Alade walked. Kevin Hitchcock then got the ball against Almaguer, now with the tying runs on base. Almaguer grounded out to Waters on the first pitch. 7-4 Coons. Lavorano 2-5, 3B; Gowin 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Crum 2-5; Waters 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (2-7) and 3-4, RBI;

There’s no comfortable game with this bunch. Ever. They almost ruined a vintage Wheats performance…!

Nice 108.00 ERA on the debutee. Bravo, Reynaldo Bravo, bravo.

Game 2
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B Villacorta – 2B H. Acosta – P J. Baker
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – 2B Waters – CF de Lemos – P Shui

Shui offered a hit and a walk in the first and second innings. Actually he went one worse in the second; with Matt Worden on second and Leo Villacorta on first, he allowed a 2-out single to center to ex-Coon Jeremy Baker. Worden went for home plate, but was thrown out by de Lemos to end the inning. While again deficient in pitchcraft, Shui would score the game’s first run, hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd. Venegas hit a double after that, and there was a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Lonzo popped out to the catcher, which was not very helpful, but Gowin whacked a sac fly to center for a 1-0 lead, which was the score by inning’s end, with Ken Crum grounding out.

Both teams made an out on the base paths in the fourth. Matt Worden was caught stealing second with runners on the corners to derail the inning for Atlanta, while the Coons had Cox and Brobeck on the corners when Waters flew out to right. Cox went for home, and was thrown out by Worden in turn.

The Coons did tack on in the fifth; Lonzo only reached on an error by Villacorta, but then stole second base and came around easily on a Gowin single to left-center, 2-0. And people continued to get on base: Crum hit a double, Cox was walked intentionally, and Brobeck drew his second bases-loaded walk of the week, 3-0, before Waters killed the inning with a 6-4-3 double play grounder.

Like Wheatley on Tuesday, Shui pitched 6.2 shutout innings and was lifted after a walk was issued, that one to Almaguer, although there had been A LOT more traffic on the bases for Shui, who allowed eight hits and four walks and somehow didn’t get pummeled for it. Sencion replaced him and got Willie Acosta out, then was hit for in the bottom 7th when the inning ran long against righty Leonardo Ramos. Crum, Brobeck, and Waters reached base and Sencion’s spot came up with two outs and a full buffet of runners. Harry Ramsay grabbed a stick, crushed a 440-footer, and that was that. GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMM!!!!

The game was over as a contest with that. Terrell pitched the eighth, Crum tacked on a run with a sac fly in the bottom of the inning, and then the Raccoons sent Bravo right back out. He had managed to give up the four runs on just 14 pitches the day before, so there was no reason to not get more abuse in this ninth inning. He struck out Villacorta, Hugo Acosta grounded out, and then… Dylan Wright singled, Alade and Almaguer hit back-to-back bombs, and Willie Acosta hit another single. The Raccoons actually had to bother Bak to get the final out of the game. 8-3 Raccoons. Venegas 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, 2B; Gowin 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Crum 3-4, 2B; Brobeck 2-3, BB, RBI; Philipps (PH) 1-1; Ramsay (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Shui 6.2 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K, W (4-5);

Bravo was found barfing prolifically after the game. Fair – if I did a job like that, I’d try to turn my body inside out as well. We waited for him to stop emptying all his dinners into his toilet of choice, then kicked him on the bus to the airport along with his 63.00 ERA.

How about a dose of last year’s breathtaking disappointment, Valentino Prada? Then he had a 13.50 ERA, and now he had a 5.49 ERA in AAA, but we just needed somebody to eat some dead innings.

Game 3
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B Villacorta – 2B H. Acosta – P Weber
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – C Philipps – P Pickett

The Raccoons got Matt Weber (4-3, 3.91 ERA) to square off against on Thursday. He scattered three hits but no runs the first time through the Coons’ order, with leadoff singles and no actual gains by Rams and Pucks in the bottom 2nd particularly annoying. Pickett held out for three shutout innings, but then had Willie Acosta and Jay Rogers on the corners with a leadoff double to right and a single to left in the fourth inning. Chris Kirkwood’s sac fly broke the tie, Worden worked another double, but pops by Villacorta and Hugo Acosta stranded the two runners in scoring position. Matt Cox then walloped a ball over the rightfield fence to tie the game at one as soon as the bottom 4th broke, but Weber retired the next two before Waters singled to center. Waters tried to steal second, but couldn’t get a jump, then advanced on a balk after all. The Knights walked Philipps with intent to get to Pickett. A kingdom for a horse! – or at least an RBI single, but Pickett grounded out to Villacorta and that ended the fourth.

Weber would not complete a dragging bottom 5th. Venegas hit a leadoff single, and Cox and Ramsay both drew walks in full counts to fill the bases behind him with two gone. Righty Bill Quinn and his 6.33 ERA would come on to face Pucks. To get a hit or not to get a hit, that was the question – but, alas, Pucks’ slump was too deep and while he had picked up a stick against the sea of troubles, he grounded out to short and all the runners were stranded. Willie Acosta’s single and Jay Rogers’ home run in the top 6th then gave Atlanta a 3-1 lead, and Pickett got stuck for good in the seventh, allowing a pinch-hit single to Pat Stipp before Alade reached on a throwing error by Tyler Philipps. Even then, Pickett oversaw Almaguer grounding out to third base, which kept the runners pinned, before Sencion got a pop from Willie Acosta and struck out Rogers to keep them runners stranded.

The Raccoons also had a pair in scoring position and nobody out in the bottom 8th. Cox drew a walk from Leonardo Ramos, while Ramsay doubled off Jeff Frank. With the tying runs aboard, left-hander Amari Walker, who had a 9.00 ERA, came in to face Pucks. The Coons moved to Chris Gowin, who hit a ball to deep center, but had it caught – good for a sac fly, but Ramsay didn’t dare going for third base, so the tying run remained at second. Dave Hils then replaced Walker as the Knights rapidly emptied their pen, but he struck out both Waters and Philipps, so what the **** did I know? Prada got the ninth, walked two, and somehow got around his own ineptitude without allowing a run, so the Raccoons arrived in the bottom 9th against David Hardaway with one run needed to tie, and two to win. Mikio Suzuki led off in the #9 spot, but grounded out. So did Venegas. And Lonzo… too. 3-2 Knights. Cox 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ramsay 2-3, BB, 2B;

Sigh. All that glitters is not gold, it seems.

Now, bring in the first-place Loggers. Something’s rotten in the state of the CL North…!

Raccoons (27-27) vs. Loggers (33-18) – June 5-7, 2054

The Loggers – the Loggers! – had won nine straight games and had a 2-game lead over the Elks. What was more, they were already 5-1 against the Coons this year. Things were really out of order here…! All this while being only at a +16 run differential. They were giving up the third-fewest runs, but were mediocre in runs scored. While they ranked fourth in homers and had the most stolen bases in the league, they were well in the bottom half in batting average and on-base percentage. Perry Pigman and Bryant Law were on the DL, further weakening the lineup.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (3-2, 4.39 ERA) vs. Angelo Munoz (6-2, 3.24 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (5-4, 4.77 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (3-0, 3.68 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-7, 4.39 ERA) vs. John Morrill (6-4, 4.60 ERA)

There had been a double-header on Tuesday, and Sunday would either be Morrill or Jeff Fox (6-2, 5.52 ERA), who was the only left-hander for the Loggers.

Game 1
MIL: LF Gragg – RF Archer – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – 3B T. Edwards – P A. Munoz
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Brobeck

Brobeck allowed four hits and a walk in the first three innings without allowing a run, which was more down to defensive heroics as any good pitches made by him. He was at the plate in the bottom 3rd with Waters on first and one out. The Coons went for the bunt, which went up the third base line, and which was then thrown away for a 2-base error by Travis Edwards. The inning went on with Venegas drawing a walk in a full count, and Lonzo hitting into a very depressing double play that killed the entire thing. Nobody else reached base until Waters and Pucks went to the corners with a pair of 1-out singles in the bottom 5th. This time Brobeck swung away, but hit a squibbler back to the mound. Munoz took it to first, with Pucks moving up, but Waters had to stay at third base. There he remained when Gaudencio Callaia snatched a foul pop by Venegas…

Brobeck had a perfect set of middle innings, but then had Chris Thomas lob a leadoff single over Waters’ head to begin the seventh. Dale Haracz walked, but Dennis Starnes grounded into a force play at third base, nicely handled by Venegas, and Edwards found Waters for an inning-ending double play. Brobeck went into the eighth, gave up a single to Joe Gragg, and left with the runner on second and two outs when Callaia was back at the dish. Lillis struck out the lefty hitter and the game remained scoreless. The ice was not broken until the ninth inning, when Kevin Daley had the baseball and was taken deep to left by pinch-hitter Jose Cadena for a solo shot. Munoz was still on the hill in the bottom 9th, facing the 3-4-5 batters. Weirdly, when Gowin grounded out to Edwards, the Loggers went and got Dave Lister from the bullpen after all. Crum lined out to short, while Cox grounded out to Edwards as well. 1-0 Loggers. Lavorano 2-4; Waters 2-3; Brobeck 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

(looks on glumly)

Game 2
MIL: LF Gragg – RF Archer – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – 3B T. Edwards – P Costello
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Taki

Saturday’s game began with a Ramsay error, dropping Joe Gragg’s grounder on the transfer to get the Loggers’ leadoff man on base. Gaudencio Callaia then took him off base with a 2-run homer to left. Swell. The Coons would not get a hit the first time through, but at least Taki kept the score close with a few zeroes on the board. The tying run was at the dish to begin the bottom 4th after Lonzo singled to left-center… at least until he was caught stealing. Ramsay, Waters, and Puckeridge hit straight 1-out singles in the bottom 5th to load the bases, but Taki struck out and Venegas grounded out to the pitcher. Maybe it was time to put Honeypaw in the lineup. Or Maud. She … (watches as Maud solemnly picks up four empty bottles on and around the table and puts the fifth bottle on a coaster, all while saying nothing) … She’d bat cleanup.

Lonzo batted for another single in the sixth, then was doubled up by Gowin, which also didn’t help to make up any sort of deficit. Taki lined up zeroes before getting stuck in the seventh. Ricky Lopez doubled, Edwards singled, and when Costello bunted, Taki took the ball to second base – late. The Loggers had the bags full, one out, and Dale Haracz batted for Gragg. The Coons went to Sencion for a K, then Hitchcock against Kelton Archer, and got another K.

After all that, the Raccoons actually took Taki off the hook after all, which wasn’t a bad look in my book. Costello walked Cox at the start of the bottom 7th, and then Ramsay whacked a homer to get the score even at two. Waters singled and advanced on Pucks’ groundout. The Coons actually had Hitchcock bat for himself to get him back in the top 8th in a tied game (at least tied at least) – and in fact he’d pitch with a lead once Anton Venegas hit a zinger up the leftfield line to replace Waters at second base with an RBI double, 3-2. Lonzo would work out a walk, but Gowin grounded out to short to end the inning. Hitchcock retired the meat of the order in the top of the eighth without much noise, while Matt Cox hit a home run in the bottom 8th to send Costello to bed and give the Coons a 2-run lead for the ninth. Daley sat down Lopez, Starnes, and Edwards in order, not needing the extra run after all. 4-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-3, BB; Cox 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ramsay 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Waters 2-4; Taki 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Hitchcock 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-0);

Game 3
MIL: LF Gragg – RF Archer – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – 3B T. Edwards – P Morrill
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – P Wheatley

The Loggers waffled Wheatley for four hits and two runs in the second inning. Zach Suggs’ leadoff jack was followed by three singles, depressingly the last one being a 2-out RBI knock by the opposing pitcher Morrill, at which point I deeply regretted not having gotten the lefty Fox for this rubber game. The Raccoons had a guy on base in both the first inning, but Crum was caught stealing, and the second, but Ramsay doubled up Cox, then started with Pucks drawing a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd. Ed Crispin forced him out, but stole second base. Wheats grounded out to short, while Crum drew another walk. Lonzo then lifted a single over a reaching Zach Suggs, allowing Crispin to score and narrow the score to 2-1. Suggs had no issues with handling Gowin’s grounder after that, though, and the inning ended. More men on for Morrill in the bottom 4th: Cox singled up the middle, Ramsay walked, and then Waters flew out to left and Pucks found another ******* double play.

Wheats held the 2-1 line through six, but had a few long innings here and there and took over 100 pitches to get through those six innings; he wasn’t going to be back, but could the Raccoons at least spare him another loss? Turns out yes – but a W was not in the books; the team didn’t reach base in the sixth, but Pucks’ single in the seventh put the tying run on base with one out. Crispin came through with a gapper in right-center, which he ran out for an RBI triple, then scored when Suzuki – who had entered in a double switch – grounded to Ricky Lopez, who butchered the play to allow Suzuki on base on the error, but Opie, the official scorer and a hopeless homer, ruled that Crispin would have scored anyway and gave Suzuki an RBI for the 4-3 lead. Crum’s single put runners on the corners, and Lonzo brought home Suzuki with a sac fly. The Loggers kept hitting against Morrill. Gowin doubled, and Cox singled home two runs to knock the righty from the game. Next was Lillis, who had entered earlier in the top 7th with Suzuki and batted for himself as well, jabbing a single to right. Waters finally flew out to end the inning, up 6-2. Lillis got two more outs in the eighth, then yielded for Prada. Ricky Lopez singled. Dennis Starnes homered. Valentino Prada better have reflexes out there. (wrestles with Maud for the blunderbuss) Edwards popped out eventually, while the Raccoons could not find any more runs in the bottom 8th against the Loggers pen. Hitchcock got the ball for the ninth. Nick Carr singled from the #9 hole, but then was doubled up by Dale Haracz. The game ended with K-elton Archer. 6-4 Coons. Crum 3-4, BB; Cox 2-4, 2 RBI;

In other news

June 1 – The Stars win a 6-5 game against the Cyclones that is shortened to just over seven innings by rain; that was still enough time for Dallas’ OF Chad Pritchett (.285, 3 HR, 14 RBI) to hit for the cycle, going 4-for-4 with 3 RBI. The 22-year-old sophomore completes the feat by the sixth inning.
June 2 – The Rebels beat the Gold Sox, 5-4 in 14 innings.
June 3 – The Crusaders get CL Ryan Dow (5-0, 1.55 ERA, 16 SV) and a prospect from the Capitals for nothing other than infielder Jesus Nunez (.097, 0 HR, 1 RBI).
June 6 – A torn UCL ends the season of DEN SP Gary Perrone (4-4, 2.70 ERA).

FL Player of the Week: LAP LF/RF/1B Salvatore Rodrigues (.365, 6 HR, 36 RBI), batting .609 (14-23) with 1 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.306, 5 HR, 19 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Third straight winning week for the Critterfolk, although the whole wagon moves with a wheel wobbling and the odd hole in the covering. As usual I claim that all will be well once we get back Rafael de la Cruz. (looks at Raffy’s stats in AAA) Or maybe not!

We face the Crusaders and Gold Sox next week, and there’s only an off day on the following Monday, so there’ll be some more rotating to be done with the lineup.

One drawback of finally winning a series against the Loggers? The damn Elks now tie for first place in the division.

Fun Fact: 62 years ago today, Indy’s Larry Davis threw a no-hitter against the Crusaders.

It was the second no-hitter for the Indians after the one Salah Brunet threw against the Condors in 1977. The Texan right-hander David was a #27 draft pick and made the Indians rotation in 1991 after two cups of coffee in the years before. He would stay there for five seasons without ever posting a winning record, coming as close as 11-12 with a 3.71 ERA in 1992, the year of his no-no. A control pitcher that occasionally would lose control, he would sometimes walk more batters than he struck out.

Davis made only one start in 1996, then hung on another five years with odd pitching jobs for the Falcons, Thunder, and Rebels. He went 7-5 with a 4.02 ERA in 26 games (16 starts) between the Falcons and Thunder in 1998, the only winning record of his career. Overall he finished 66-98 with a 4.50 ERA and one save, and 644 strikeouts in 1,373.1 innings.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (29-28) vs. Crusaders (26-30) – June 8-11, 2054

Four games with the New Yorkers in Portland to continue the homestand; the Crusaders made the scoreboard busy, having the highest batting average in the league and scoring the third-most runs, but also having the worst rotation and giving up the third-most runs. It worked out to +5 run differential (Coons: +15), and so far four games split evenly down the middle between these two teams.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (4-5, 2.78 ERA) vs. Alex Murillo (4-2, 4.98 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-3, 4.64 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (6-4, 3.42 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (3-2, 3.86 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (3-4, 3.93 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (5-4, 4.48 ERA) vs. Jim White (1-7, 5.17 ERA)

Nothing but right-handers lined up for this set. In fact, neither team had a left-handed starter on the roster.

Game 1
NYC: 2B R. Thompson – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Foss – P Murillo
POR: 3B Venegas – LF Crum – C Gowin – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – SS Waters – CF Puckeridge – 2B Boese – P Shui

The game was scoreless until the third inning when both Anton Venegas got his 10th steal of the year after singling, and Chris Gowin whacked his 10th homer of the season to have the Raccoons take a 2-0 lead. Shui held on to that very well, pitching very sublimely; through five innings he allowed only one base hit, a single to Prince Gates, and struck out nobody, but generated an endless amount of soft contact. The Coons mostly scattered their six hits through four innings, though Ken Crum opened the bottom 5th with a double to right, and by sliding awkwardly into second base, jamming a paw. He came out of the game, to be replaced by Mikio Suzuki (in center, with Pucks to left), who was then left on base with an orgy of poor contact from the brown-clad team.

Enter the sixth, and happy time with Shui was over at one. He walked Aaron Foss, the cursed former Elk, on four pitches to begin the inning, and collapsed from there, allowing singles to Ronnie Thompson and Gates, scoring a run, then walked Omar Sanchez, filling the bags with one out. Danny Rivera struck out in a full count, and Raul Sevilla flew out to Suzuki to strand the triplet of runners, but that had been unnerving. I had to open an entirely new bottle of booze…! Shui wasn’t back for the seventh after that meltdown, and the Coons tried to sneak the seventh inning from the bottom of the order with largely forgettable (or not, depending on how active your nightmares were) Jason Terrell. He walked Mike Seidman to begin the inning, but then got three soft outs from Oscar Caballero, Aaron Kissler, and Chris Navarro to keep the tying run on base. Hyun-soo Bak offered another leadoff walk in the eighth to Thompson, but Gates grounded out against him, and Brett Lillis jr. did the rest of the inning, again leaving the tying run in scoring position. Can we PLEASE get an insurance run going here…!? We actually could, in rather stupid ways. Pucks hit a 1-out double off Tim Abraham in the bottom 8th, and when Naughty Joe hit a pop behind the middle infielders, Sanchez and Thompson called each other off, nobody made a catch, and the ball dance into left-center. Pucks, who had gone quite daringly far towards third base, took his cue and made for home, scoring just ahead of a throw by Oscar Caballero. That was it for insurance – now it was time for Kevin Daley, or whatever the opposite of both in- and as-surance was. He struck out the first two in the ninth and Suzuki caught Caballero’s fly to end the game, but somehow even with the Crusaders packing their **** and heading for the clubhouse I still felt like another meltdown was coming. 3-1 Raccoons. Venegas 2-5; Suzuki 1-1; Gowin 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, 2B; Boese 2-4, RBI;

Ken Crum would probably have to sit out for a few days and couldn’t properly grab a bat either, so the Coons were a man short. In addition to that, Ramsay, Waters, and Gowin all got the day off on Tuesday after Lonzo had sat on Monday, leading Arthur Pickett to cry out about “treachery”, and that he was surrounded by Lancastrians.

One day, if I’m a good boy, maybe I’ll be able to manage a normal team.

Game 2
NYC: 2B R. Thompson – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Mills – P Seiter
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Cox – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Philipps – CF Suzuki – 2B Boese – P Pickett

The Coons’ Tuesday lineup indeed resembled a “we’re closed” sign, with only two base hits in five innings. The Crusaders had five of the sort against seven strikeouts for Pickett, with the game’s only run scoring in the fourth inning on a sac fly hit by Oscar Caballero. Well, “only” only as it pertained to five innings. But Pickett gave up three more hits in the sixth inning – singles to Sevilla and Seidman and a double to briefly-Coon Ken Mills – as well as a run. He went six and two thirds before being relieved by Eloy Sencion, but actual support just wasn’t forthcoming, and the Raccoons didn’t reach base in the sixth or seventh innings at all. Turns out, Pickett had ventured out into the open rather carelessly only to find himself surrounded by Crusaders – a bit like Richard, Duke of York.

The 2-0 score survived pitching by Sencion and Prada, but not Terrell. The Rule 5er was obliterated in the ninth inning after filling the bases with walks and a hit batter, then threw two wild pitches, and gave up more runs on base hits, four runs in total. Ben Seiter finished a 4-hit shutout. 6-0 Crusaders. Ramsay (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
NYC: CF Caballero – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – 2B Russ – C Kissler – LF Foss – P Sopena
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – P Brobeck

There was a 40-minute rain delay as soon as the third inning on Wednesday, which was just awesome… The score was 1-1 at that point, with the Crusaders having taken a lead on Aaron Foss’ sac fly after Andrew Russ (snarl!) and Aaron Kissler had hit a pair of singles to go to the corners in the top 2nd, while the Raccoons overcame double plays hit into by Lonzo in the first and Waters in the second to have Suzuki single home Ramsay with two outs in the bottom 2nd after all for the tying run.

When play resumed, the Coons took a lead in the bottom 3rd when Gowin singled home Lonzo from second base, even though Lonzo continued to slump and only forced out Venegas before stealing his 21st base of the season. The Coons found another double play in the fourth, then by Suzuki, but Lonzo hit another single and stole another bag in the fifth, and even scored again, even though it took the bags to fill up with Ramsay getting nicked and Pucks walking, and then with two outs Matt Waters tipping an 0-2 pitch into play with a defensive swing, the high bouncer fooling Sopena, who missed it when he lunged for it, and somehow all paws managed to be safe as a run scored, 3-1. Suzuki then ran a full count, struck out… but Kissler also fumbled the ball and had to chase it down to the backstop, allowing the Coons to shove forwards again for another messy, messy run. Poor cursed Edwin Sopena’s day ended with a clean and proper 2-run single for Ed Crispin, but Brobeck hit another RBI single off Dave Washington, as did Venegas, AND Lonzo, AND Gowin, AND – no Ramsay didn’t hit 2-out RBI single. He hit a 2-out RBI double. The Crusaders moved on to lefty Matt Otte, who got Pucks to pop out after ten straight Raccoons had reached base one wicked way or another for a 9-run inning and an 11-1 lead.

The inning had gone on so long that Brobeck had gone cold and filled the bases with walks in the top of the sixth. He was yanked with one out and Kissler batting, Sencion taking the baseball. Kissler popped out to short, and Foss grounded out to Ramsay to end the inning. The Coons then tried their luck with the miserable Prada again in the seventh inning. The defense pulled him through two innings, ironically while also allowing an unearned run on a throwing error by Venegas in the eighth. Hitchcock pitched a low-leverage ninth inning, but all the low-level pitching had already been used up. 11-2 Furballs! Venegas 3-5, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Gowin 2-5, 2 RBI; Ramsay 3-4, 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2 RBI;

Four of the eight runs on Sopena were unearned.

And now, another four games of scoring only a run and a half per 17 innings.

Game 4
NYC: CF Caballero – 3B Gates – SS O. Sanchez – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – C Seidman – 2B C. Navarro – LF Foss – P J. White
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF de Lemos – P Taki

Gates’ single and Sanchez’ triple, plus Danny Rivera’s sac fly to deep center gave us flashbacks to the last few years, when Seisaku Taki had actually been good, but had still constantly found trouble in the first inning. Maybe this was such a start after all – the Raccoons were surely offensively inept, not doing much at all the first time through before stranding pairs of runners in both the fourth and fifth innings without scoring. The Crusaders after the 2-run first didn’t reach scoring position again against Taki until … well, maybe next month? They had another two singles, but no walks and no guy in scoring position all the way through the end of the eighth inning.

The Coons had the bags full then in the bottom 6th as Gowin walked and Ramsay and Cox hit singles off Jim White to present Matt Waters with a full set and one out. Waters popped out on the first pitch, de Lemos grounded out to third base, and that was … (opens a bottle of One Eyed Jack’s) … Taki hit a leadoff single in the seventh, which led precisely nowhere, and it was still a 2-0 game with Taki on 101 pitches when he returned for the top of the order in the ninth. He walked Omar Sanchez with two outs in the inning. Rivera lined out softly to Waters, so Taki had at best a chance for a 3-run-comeback, complete-game W, and at worst a good chance to get a comforting pat on the bum and an “oh well maybe next time”. It was the latter – Ryan Sullivan retired Waters, Crispin, and Pucks in order to end the game. 2-0 Crusaders. Gowin 2-3, BB; Ramsay 2-4; Taki 9.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (5-5) and 1-3;

(big, doozy sigh)

Raccoons (31-30) vs. Gold Sox (27-34) – June 12-14, 2054

Glory days were over for both teams, it seemed. The Coons (five straight penannts, three rings) and Sox (five straight pennants, four straight rings) had dominated the last decade in the league, but right now were more at the soup-and-a-piece-of-bread level in terms of baseball quality and excitement. The Sox brought up the rear in the FL West, scoring the second-fewest runs in the FL, but also allowing the third-fewest runs. They actually had a +10 run differential, but that was a far cry from earlier years when they’d easily sit at +100 at this point. These teams had also met last year, then with Denver taking two games out of the three contested.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-7, 4.28 ERA) vs. Jon Craig (4-4, 4.17 ERA)
He Shui (5-5, 2.68 ERA) vs. Nick Robinson (3-4, 3.30 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-4, 4.46 ERA) vs. Andrew Clarke (1-2, 12.33 ERA)

Robinson would be the only southpaw coming up this week. The Gold Sox were without Gary Perrone, Chris Jones, and Angel Montes de Oca, at least as far faces were concerned that I could actually pin a name to.

Game 1
DEN: LF Ayres – SS B. Andrews – CF Ramires – 3B I. Villa – 1B Joyner – C Mickle – RF Angulo – 2B Larsen – P Craig
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley

Chris Gowin hit a solo home run in the first inning, and Ramsay singled, Cox doubled, and Waters singled – all to left! – in the second inning for another run and runners on the corners with nobody out. Waters stole second, but Pucks grounded out to first baseman Bill Joyner, the runners holding, and then both Wheats and Venegas lined out sharply to Brent Andrews… The Sox had a runner in every inning against Wheatley, until they had three in the fourth and scored a run. He walked Blake Mickle, and singles by Angel Angulo and Shane Larsen cost him a run. Craig – not the former Coon, the former Thunder – popped out, and he hung a K on Vic Ayres to end the inning.

The Coons made two outs in the bottom 4th before Pucks unloaded a long homer to right-center, only his second in this trying season, 3-1. Wheats then landed a double to left, Venegas singled, and Lonzo hit another RBI double to get his pitcher home. Gowin’s groundout to Larsen stranded a pair in scoring position. Leadoff singles by Crum and Ramsay then led to Coons occupying the corners again in the fifth inning. Cox lobbed a ball past Larsen for an RBI single, but the bottom three made three straight outs without plating another run.

So all seemed nice and dandy with a 5-1 lead through six innings, even though the middle innings had all been kinda long for Wheats and he’d probably not pitch past the seventh. He didn’t get through the seventh either, thanks to a soul-bleaching sequence of an infield single for Larsen, his own error that put Arturo Carreno on base, and then a 3-piece to left-center for Ayres that axed the lead to size, 5-4. He got two more outs before the Coons brought on Lillis for Ivan Villa, who struck out on three pitches. On the other side of the stretch, Crum and Ramsay went to the corners again to lead off an inning, this time with two singles off Jim Cushing. Cox grounded to Larsen, who flubbed the throw to first base, and Joyner couldn’t come up with the spiked bouncer, allowing Cox to reach and Crum to score on the error before Waters and Pucks killed another inning with a K and a double play grounder. Lonzo hit into another ******* double play in the eighth, that one erasing Suzuki’s leadoff single. Daley allowed a leadoff single in the ninth (sigh), but struck out two of the next three batters, none of whom reached. 6-4 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Crum 2-2, BB; Ramsay 3-4; Cox 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-7) and 1-3, 2B;

Game 2
DEN: LF Ayres – SS B. Andrews – 3B I. Villa – 1B Joyner – C Mickle – RF Angulo – CF Frederick – 2B Larsen – P N. Robinson
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 1B Philipps – CF de Lemos – P Shui

Andrews’ single and Joyner’s homer gave the Sox a 2-0 lead in the third inning after Denver had already stranded three runners in the first two innings. Ayres doubled home Larsen the inning after that, while the Coons had yet to get on base, but Ken Crum’s leadoff jack to left reduced the gap to 3-1 to begin the bottom 4th. Matt Waters found a spot three rows higher up, and on a 1-2 pitch, to creep closer yet, and in fact the Coons got even still in the same inning on singles by renowned sluggers Tyler Philipps and He Shui, the latter driving Philipps home from second with two outs. Jake Frederick’s throw from center allowed Shui to second base, but Venegas whiffed to end the inning.

Shui wasn’t the only pitcher to drive in a run in this game, though. With two outs and nobody on in the sixth, Nick Robinson got him for a home run to right, breaking the 3-3 tie, and an Ayres double and Andrews RBI single even made it 5-3. The Raccoons had to climb the same old stupid hill all over again; Pucks got on base in the sixth, but was doubled off by Philipps, but in the seventh Cox reached on an error and Venegas singled him to third base, then stole second base himself, all with one out. Lonzo faced Cushing and had the tying runs in scoring position, but grounded out to Ivan Villa, and Gowin popped out to Larsen. Nobody scored…

The pitcher was in the #6 spot for the Coons by the late innings, and Crispin drew a 2-out walk there off Kellen Lanning in the bottom 8th. Ramsay then batted for Philipps, but grounded out to Larsen. Instead, a leadoff triple by Joyner off Terrell led to an extra Denver run in the ninth inning. Dave de Lemos had another leadoff single off Mike Lynn in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Cox whiffed and Venegas grounded into a double play to end the game. 6-3 Gold Sox. Venegas 2-5, 2B; Crum 2-4, HR, RBI;

So that was another series loss. Because have you seen the punching bag they’re sending up for the rubber game? The Coons never hit punching bags. They gift them bouquets of roses…

(looks at Lonzo, who has just bitten the blossom off a rose, and looks back, munching)

Game 3
DEN: LF Ayres – RF Angulo – 3B I. Villa – 1B Joyner – C Mickle – SS Serna – CF Frederick – 2B Larsen – P Clarke
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – P Pickett

So of course Clarke was perfect the first time through the Coons’ order, while Larsen singled home a pair in the second inning to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Ramsay hit a single in the fourth to stave off the looming perfect game, and while Pucks and Philipps reached the corners on a walk and a single in the fifth inning, that only left Pickett to poke and he poked into an easy third out at Villa’s corner. Clarke, that piece of ****, had a 2-hitter going through six, then singled home a run off Pickett in the seventh when Jake Frederick found his way to second base for a 3-0 score.

The tying run was at the dish in the bottom 7th, which was surely going to be one of those pro forma situations; Cox walked, Waters singled and Pucks had the chance with one out. He sure tried to hit into a double play to Larsen, but the ball hit off the edge from infield grass to dirt and bounced under Larsen’s glove for a single, loading the bases with runners that were just as confused as Larsen. Ed Crispin batted for Philipps, signalling that it was go time now. He hit a sac fly, which didn’t help much at all, while Chris Gowin then grounded out to third base. The Coons got the last two innings from the shallow end of the gene pool – Prada and Terrell – with Clarke getting hit for in the top 9th against the latter. It was still 3-1 in the bottom 9th against Lynn, who just seemed to be one and it was all for nothing. Cox walked, Waters hit into a double play, and the Coons lost to a guy with an ERA higher than Mount Hood. 3-1 Gold Sox. Puckeridge 1-2, BB; Pickett 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (4-5);

In other news

June 9 – The Falcons’ SP Art Schaeffer (5-6, 4.34 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout with seven strikeouts against the Condors, claiming a 9-0 win.
June 9 – A torn labrum ends the season of WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (6-2, 1.79 ERA), the 2053 FL Pitcher of the Year.
June 9 – ATL SP Carlos Malla (4-4, 5.23 ERA) could also be out for the rest of the year after suffering a torn rotator cuff.
June 10 – SAL RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.274, 7 HR, 36 RBI), has four hits, three of them home runs, and four RBI in an 8-7 win over the Stars.
June 10 – Vancouver SP Hyuma Hitomi (2-4, 4.06 ERA) squeezes out the Indians in a 1-0 shutout, allowing three hits against three strikeouts.
June 11 – The Gold Sox rally for six runs in the ninth inning to stave off defeat against the Warriors, claiming an 8-6 win instead. DEN INF Brent Andrews (.349, 4 HR, 18 RBI) hits a grand slam as part of the huge rally.
June 13 – The Aces acquire 33-yr old INF/RF/LF Eric Miller (.256, 9 HR, 37 RBI) from the Cyclones in exchange for catcher Bobby Ortega (.183, 0 HR, 3 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: SAL RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.278, 9 HR, 42 RBI), batting .355 (11-31) with 5 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL OF Jon Alade (.264, 10 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .414 (12-29) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

… lost to a guy with an ERA higher than Mount Hood AGAIN.

It’s now mid-June – the draft is on Monday – and Lonzo still leads the team in RBI. Narrowly! But still. He also leads the league in stolen bases, while Chris Gowin leads the batting title race, is third in homers, and nowhere near the lead in RBI.

I don’t know whether there is a savvy trade that can swing this misery around at all or whether we just have to sit that one out.

At least Raffy’s rehab starts in St. Pete are becoming progressively less ****:
1.0 IP, 7 ER
5.2 IP, 4 ER
6.2 IP, 4 ER
6.0 IP, 2 ER
7.0 IP, 0 ER
He will make one more rehab start next week and then his 30 days are up and he has to come onto the roster.

The Raccoons will be on the road next week. After an off day on Monday, we’ll visit Nashville and Indianapolis for six games.

Fun Fact: Jay Gunderson has a 1.73 ERA to lead the CL by more than a full run.

He’s also undefeated, and by the way, he’s 29 and the nine starts (13 appearances) he has made this season are the first nine starts he’s made in four years with the Thunder. He previously started 17 games with the 2050 Wolves. For his career he’s – for a righty reliever – a decidedly mediocre 19-13 with 3.81 ERA and 3 SV in 152 games (26 starts) and 349.1 innings.

He is also wearing #80 and he was a waiver claim in January of 2051, so there are a lot of “that’s unlikely” remarks to his player history.

[rudel.dietrich]

I just want to say that it is damn impressive that you are coming up on year 11 of this dynasty.

I have been a silent reader since around 2018 or so.

Congrats on the upcoming anniversary and as always.
Go Racoons!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I just want to say that it is damn impressive that you are coming up on year 11 of this dynasty.

I have been a silent reader since around 2018 or so.

Congrats on the upcoming anniversary and as always.
Go Racoons!

As long as the game lets me, I'll continue. The absolute horror of having to start a new league with no history? No thx.

The Raccoons appreciate your interest and like to reward you with a cook-

I swear, there was another cookie here like ten seconds ago.

(looks at Lonzo, who looks back as innocently as possible with his big black googly eyes and thick cheeks)

[Westheim]

2054 AMATEUR DRAFT

On Monday, an off day for the actual ballplaying Raccoons, I got to travel to Nashville via New York along with Eric Hartwig, who maintained that it wasn’t worth the trip for the hopeless bunch on offer, and that we should skip all our picks right away.

I wasn’t quite that unenthusiastic about it all.

However, we only had the #22 pick in every round, plus a supplemental round pick, compensation for the Condors signing Victor Scott, who had by now shaved the two runs and 80 pounds he gained with the Coons in just 12 starts down to what he had with the Falcons again. Wasn’t baseball nice…!?

There was the usual hotlist, although we were none too confident that any of those boys would fall to us, and if they did, it was probably a bit of a red flag (*high school player):

SP Ray Walker (13/13/14)* – BNN #3
SP Jason Brenize (14/13/13)* – BNN #1
SP Josh Barcellona (13/11/11)
SP Travis Odon (10/17/12) – BNN #5

3B/RF/1B Alex Alfaro (11/13/12) – BNN #4
1B Forbes Tomlin (9/17/14)*

LF/RF Grant Anker (14/20/17)* – BNN #8
OF/1B Tommy Pritchard (18/6/10)*
OF Steve Valenzano (15/8/10)*

Yes, we’d like a Grant Anker and that 20 power potential, but we’d probably need at least 20 teams to actually skip their picks first, which wasn’t gonna happen.

In fact, Anker went #1 to the Bayhawks, followed by Jason Brenize to Boston at #2, and Steve Valenzano to the Loggers at #3. The Rebels followed, selecting outfielder Nick Vaughn before the Aces picked Alex Alfaro with the #5 selection. The Stars felled compelled to select Ray Walker at #6. From there, Josh Barcellona was the #9 pick made by the Buffaloes, immediately followed by Travis Odon, who went to the Condors. And then – siléncio! The next ten teams danced all around our remaining two hotlist selections, 1B Forbes Tomlin and OF/1B Tommy Pritchard and I was already looking forward to making difficult choices, wrongly of course, and then the Capitals selected Pritchard at #21 – one pick ahead of the Raccoons, who didn’t have to fudge around long before selecting Tomlin with their #22 pick, and with that the hotlist was finished off.

Taking Tomlin in the first round made us later pass on another first baseman with high power potential twice conscientiously, because there was no point in putting two highly-picked first-sackers onto each other’s hindpaws in Aumsville. That guy was Adrian Rees from Houston, TX, and there wasn’t any hope of successfully hiding either one of them in leftfield in the long run.

We passed Rees even more often unconscientiously, until in the seventh round I realized he was still there. This was deep into “uh-oh, I think we mixed up the numbers here” territory, and still not worth putting two newly-drafted first basemen on top of each other – a 12’6’’ first baseman has way too big a strike zone…

We never took Rees, who ended up sagging to the 10th round and the #244 pick made by the Pacifics.

+++

2054 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#22) – 1B Forbes Tomlin, 18, from Calgary, Canada – huge right-handed power potential and a patient eye make him a candidate for a future middle-of-the-order slugger, even though the rest of the package is very much like a first baseman, with mediocre defense and no speed whatsoever
Supp. Round (#38) – SP Paul Best, 18, from Parkway-South Sacramento, CA – left-hander with the best potential changeup in the draft class, combined with a 92mph fastball and slider and splitter; definitely something to watch out for
Round 2 (#63) – OF Justin Monnin, 19, from Oakton, VA – top-of-the-order package of a singles hitter with great patience at the plate, very good speed, and good range in the outfield, but a weak throwing arm, so he was probably not going to be a rightfielder.
Round 3 (#87) – 2B Mike Fernandez, 18, from Port Salerno, FL – steady-handed second baseman with a balanced bat and some speed, could be a force with a bit more power.
Round 4 (#111) – SP Justin Gee, 21, from Schaumburg, IL – right-hander with four pitches, although only the fastball and curve appear to be particularly good so far; stamina is also on the lower side.
Round 5 (#135) – C Alan Olsen, 23, from Gilbert, AZ – run-of-the-mill catcher with no speed and not a particularly good throwing arm, can hit for both average and power though
Round 6 (#159) – MR Ken Cowan, 20, from Gary, IN – right-hander with a fastball and curve, but doesn’t throw the heater very hard
Round 7 (#183) – INF Logan Sexton, 19, from Randolph, MA – adept defensive infielder with a singles bat that can neither hit for power nor steal many bases.
Round 8 (#207) – OF Jon Longfellow, 19, from Bloomfield, NM – another singles hitter, this time in the outfield and with speed and range, but also with bad grades and probably a lazy attitude
Round 9 (#231) – CL John Aylward, 20, from Cary, NC – superficially good fastball/curveball combo on this right-hander, but the 91mph heater had rather ill command behind it…
Round 10 (#255) – MR Bobby Spisak, 22, from Greater Upper Marlboro, MD – right-hander with a 91mph fastball and a good slider, and who was also throwing it all over the place
Round 11 (#279) – SP Brad Loveless, 19, from Solana Beach, CA – the obligatory left-hander with little to write home about, not even much in terms of an actual breaking ball. Good stamina, though, and he was giving his best.
Round 12 (#303) – C Eddie Horton, 19, from Pleasonton, CA – bit of a bum; besides being the usual speed for a catcher (none) and weak with the stick, he also didn’t have much of a throwing arm, was no help to pitchers, and if I was not mistaken had a habit of smoking during the game
Round 13 (#327) – SP Matt Gardner, 18, from Nashua, NH – fastball, slider, changeup, launchpad, attitude. Lefty, though, who knows where that’ll get him.

+++

Normally I’d also purge the existing minors at this point, but it’s already past midnight and my black eyes are neither big nor googly anymore. If I remember I’ll tack this on to the next week’s post.

[Westheim]

The Raccoons got rid of some minor leaguers that weren’t panning out after the draft on Monday, which included some former draft picks, too. Gone were left-handed reliever Craig Neal (2051, 8th Round), and various position players, including 2B/LF Tyler Colley (2049, 8th Round), 3B/SS Amari Williams (2049, 6th Round), SS Josh Hamilton (2052, 13th Round), OF/1B David Chasse (2052, 8th Round), and also 2051 second-rounder (!) Josh Vasilakos. The outfielder had never made it out of single-A in three years of trying, and had never hit for more than a .239 average or .641 OPS there.

…but especially gone were a pair of 28-year-old outfielders from AAA, neither of them hitting even .200 with the Alley Cats this year, and neither of them having had much success in various stints with the big league team. It had only been four games for Eddy Veloz (.111, 0 HR, 0 RBI), but Oscar Rivera had collected 279 PA across three seasons, batting .225 with 9 HR, 35 RBI. The homers were nice, but they weren’t enough to make him relevant.

Raccoons (32-32) @ Blue Sox (25-38) – June 16-18, 2054

Over in Nashville, the Blue Sox were having troubles scoring… well… they were scoring 4.2 runs per game, but that was the second-worst mark in the Federal League. By comparison, the Coons were 7th in the CL with just over 4.3 runs per game. The Blue Sox were ninth in runs allowed, and the Coons had taken two of three games when these teams had met last season.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (5-5, 4.20 ERA) vs. Travis Baker (3-6, 4.55 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-7, 4.26 ERA) vs. Felix Alvarez (4-6, 4.07 ERA)
He Shui (5-6, 3.04 ERA) vs. Rafael Mendoza (2-6, 5.26 ERA)

The Raccoons skipped Brobeck on the off day on Monday, and on Tuesday would face the Sox’ only left-hander, Travis Baker. Brobeck was in the lineup for that occasion, however.

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – 2B Waters – 3B Brobeck – RF Cox – CF de Lemos – P Taki
NAS: CF E. Flores – RF Sayre – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – SS Nye – LF Pfeifer – 3B Lundberg – 2B Malkus – P T. Baker

Both teams went through the order once in just two innings, but frantically stranded three runners each before Venegas hit a single to begin the third inning and stole second base. He was singled home by Lonzo for the game’s first run, but Lonzo was then left on second base. Craig Sayre hit his way to second base with a double in the bottom 3rd, stole third base, but was stranded there with a pop to Waters from Alejandro Ramos, and a fly to de Lemos by Jose Cantu. Dave de Lemos also robbed Mike Pfeifer of a drive to deep center in the fourth inning, but the Blue Sox finally clawed their way back into a tie in the fifth inning. Sayre reached base, stole second base this time, and was singled home by Ramos to get even on Taki.

A home run to left by Ken Crum, a Brobeck triple (!) and Ryan Cox legging out a 2-out infield roller for an RBI single gave the Coons a 3-1 lead, but there had been just way too much traffic on Taki, who had needed 95 pitches through five frames, and then saw Nick Nye reach on an infield single to begin the bottom 6th, then walked Pfeifer in a full count. The Coons went to Hitchcock with the tying runs on base, and Hitchcock eviscerated the bottom of the order to suffocate those tying runs.

Four outs from Eloy Sencion followed before the ball went to Valentino Prada, which was bold to begin with. Prada surrendered three singles on seven pitches, retired nobody, and when he went to the clubhouse found all his worldly belongings stuffed into the nearest trash bin and a note by me on the locker advising him to get the **** out. The Raccoons went to Bak with the bases teeming in a 3-1 game, and he got the Coons out with a lead, surrendering one run but striking out Edwin Flores to get the Coons out of the damn inning. The Raccoons would not tack on a run in the ninth despite singles by Cox and de Lemos, then handed the ball to Daley against the 2-3-4 batters. Sayre grounded out to Waters. Ramos struck out. Cantu hit a fly to deep right and … nah, Cox had that one under control. 3-2 Raccoons. Brobeck 2-4, 3B; Cox 2-4, RBI;

Valentino Prada (0-0, 5.40 ERA) ended up on waivers, as if anybody would take him. The Coons would have a look at the #8 pick from 2051, left-hander Matt Walters, who sadly hadn’t panned out as a starter, and had made 21 relief appearances in AAA so far. He had a 4.50 ERA, but also a .404 BABIP. He was striking out 12.3 per nine innings. That gave us three left-handers in the pen, but I was willing to have him see some big-league righties with those numbers. That curveball was a real bender!

As a sign that Prada wasn’t gonna be back, his number #24 went to Walters straightaway. He did however not arrive rested and would not make his debut until Thursday at the earliest.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley
NAS: CF E. Flores – RF Sayre – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – SS Nye – LF Pfeifer – 3B Lundberg – 2B Malkus – P F. Alvarez

Sayre singled, stole another base, and scored on Nick Nye’s single with two outs in the first, putting Wheats in a 1-0 hole, but the Coons would counter their game in the third inning, getting two guys on, two steals, and two runs. Pucks and Lonzo did the stealing; the latter singled home the former, and then was himself singled in by Chris Gowin. Ramsay then hit a double in the gap, but Gowin had to be stopped at third base, and Ken Crum grounded out rather harmlessly to end the inning. Not that Nashville didn’t answer: Edwin Flores hit a leadoff single off Wheats in the bottom 3rd, stole second, and was singled in by Sayre, who then was finally caught stealing.

Matt Cox’ leadoff jack in the fourth put the Raccoons on top again, 3-2, but Pfeifer answered with a leadoff single in the home half of the inning and then took off for second. Gowin threw him out, too, just ahead of a Tyler Lundberg homer that tied the game, but didn’t give the Sox the lead now. Cox struck out after the 3-4-5 batters all hit 2-out singles to load the bases in the top 5th, and that was probably bad news for Wheats, who looked like it was April all over again and didn’t fool anybody, really. Through five innings, he held a 3-3 tie, barely, but struck out only two batters, and that included Alvarez once (the other being Cantu).

Alvarez struck Matt Waters with a 2-2 pitch to begin the sixth inning. Pucks flew out, but when Wheats bunted his way to two strikes himself, Waters took off on the next pitch, which Wheats ticked through the left side for a single, sending Waters to third base with the go-ahead run. Alvarez and Venegas went the distance in their encounter, ending with ball four and the bases loaded. Lonzo stopped slumping for a second, slung a 1-2 pitch over Nye’s glove for an RBI single, and the Coons were in front, 4-3. Gowin added a run with a sac fly, but Ramsay flew out easily to Pfeifer to leave two on. Wheats went back to the hill, but Nye singled and Lundberg walked with one out, which ended his day. Hyun-soo Bak took over, ran a full count with ex-Coon Travis Malkus, who swung under a 3-2 pitch with the runners going for it. Gowin zinged the ball to second base and threw out Lundberg, the third CS on the BS this game, also ending the inning and closing Wheats’ ledger before it could get even nastier. Bak also offered the seventh inning, and Lillis handled the eighth, still holding on to that 5-3 lead. Ken Crum hit a double that led nowhere to begin the seventh inning, then drew a leadoff walk in the ninth against Dusty Gaddy. Since the Sox were running with reckless abandon, Crum also went and stole second base, his first theft of the season. Three straight outs from the 6-7-8 batters wasted him in scoring position for the second straight time. At least Daley put the Sox away on three groundouts… 5-3 Critters. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Gowin 2-4, 2 RBI; Ramsay 3-5, 2B; Crum 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Bak 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

The Blue Sox tapped Marcus Wilkins (4-4, 6.28 ERA) for the series finale, which still put us up against a right-hander.

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Shui
NAS: CF E. Flores – RF Sayre – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – SS Nye – LF Pfeifer – 3B Lundberg – 2B Malkus – P Wilkins

There was a lot of loud contact against Wilkins the first time through the Coons’ order, but only two hits and only one run; Ramsay got a leadoff triple to fall into deep left-center in the second inning, then scored on Crum’s deep out to Edwin Flores that followed right afterwards. Ramsay then whacked a leadoff double in the fourth inning, putting him officially on cycle watch, but was also depressingly stranded by the next three batters… Meanwhile, He Shui was doing well until Waters threw away Sayre’s grounder to begin the bottom 4th. Alejandro Ramos doubled right away, and while Cantu whiffed, Nick Nye’s single and Mike Pfeifer’s groundout flipped the score around to 2-1 Nashville before the inning ended with Lundberg popping out to Lonzo.

Cycle watch got a bit more pointless in the sixth, when Ramsay popped out to Malkus, and with the Coons not on a pace to get him back to the plate twice in regulation and/or make up a 2-1 deficit in the first place. It was the eighth inning when the Coons reached scoring position again, and then it took a throwing error by Cantu as Venegas tried to steal second base after a 1-out single to right-center had put him on base with the tying run. Lonzo grounded out poorly in front of home plate, and Gowin popped out to Lundberg, and the ******* tying run was left stranded the **** again. Shui pitched through eight innings without allowing an earned run, but Tommy Gardner got grounders to second baseman John Webler from Ramsay and Crum before Cox flew out to center to hang an L on him. 2-1 Blue Sox. Venegas 2-4; Ramsay 2-4, 3B, 2B; Shui 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (5-7);

Raccoons (34-33) @ Indians (26-39) – June 19-21, 2054

The Indians were another team that couldn’t score, sitting second from the bottom in markers on the board in our league, and eighth in runs allowed. -45 run differential, and the Coons had swept them in the only 4-game set played so far this year. Tan Brink and Mario Ceballos were two notable injuries for them. And while you could never ignore Bill Quinteros (.336, 10 HR, 37 RBI) and Bobby Anderson (.320, 9 HR, 33 RBI) in the middle of that lineup, the rest of their hitters was extremely shambolic. Jose Garza was third among qualifiers on their roster with a batting average of *.220*!

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (4-2, 3.69 ERA) vs. James Powell (4-5, 4.72 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-5, 4.41 ERA) vs. Jimmy Charles (2-5, 3.62 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (6-5, 4.07 ERA) vs. Pete Becker (0-2, 4.54 ERA)

Only right-handed starters for Indy right now.

The Coons slotted Brobeck in ahead of Pickett for this series, which put him in sync with Raffy, who would make his final rehab outing in St. Pete on Friday, and then would have to find a roster spot somewhere. Now, Brobeck wasn’t even pitching badly, but the question was where he’d fit on the roster if he wasn’t in the rotation. I wasn’t hot on our cavalcade of third basemen becoming even more pompous, but also didn’t want to get rid of Crispin.

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Suzuki – C Philipps – P Brobeck
IND: CF French – LF J. Garza – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – 1B Ed. Ortiz – SS Clover – P Powell

Venegas single, Lonzo single, double steal, two in scoring position with no outs, and then ****** groundout, ****** groundout, ****** groundout. No runs scored. In the second, Waters walked and Suzuki singled, and those runners would also be stranded in scoring position after a K on Philipps, and groundouts for Brobeck and Venegas. The bags filled up with two outs in the fourth, as Philipps walked, and Brobeck and Venegas hit soft singles. Lonzo’s grounder ended up with Bobby Anderson. With one runner stranded in the third, the Coons had left EIGHT on base in just four innings, scoring ******** nothing, which at least matched the Indians’ experience in the bottom halves of innings, although they were a lot less obnoxious about it, getting four singles off Brobeck, and hitting into a double play while Chase Clover got himself caught stealing.

The Raccoons stopped getting on base at all in the fifth and sixth, while Brobeck didn’t allow another runner until Bobby French hit a 1-out single in the bottom 6th. He stole second, and then scored on Jose Garza’s single to center. Quinteros grounded out, but Bobby Anderson whacked a 2-run homer, and that was the ******* ballgame. Although – Matt Waters doubled with two outs in the eighth, and Powell remained in to face Mikio Suzuki, because nothing bad had ever happened by somebody pitching to Mikio Suzuki. So of course Mikio Suzuki hit a homer to right, narrowing the score to 3-2. Philipps flew out, and then Matt Walters made his debut against the left-handed top of the order in the bottom 8th. They went in order on a fly to Crum and two groundouts. Top 9th, Caleb Martin retired Crispin and Pucks, then left with an injury. The ball went to righty Rich Knowles to face Lonzo, Lonzo flew out to French, and I was fuming. 3-2 Indians. Venegas 2-4; Suzuki 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Raffy’s last rehab start was cruddy, 5.1 innings and four runs, but there’s nowhere to go for him now, and he has to go back on the roster by tonight…

No clue how to make that work yet.

Game 2
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – 2B Boese – P Pickett
IND: CF French – 1B N. Fernandez – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – LF D. Diaz – SS Ed. Ortiz – P Charles

Stealing bases remained a failsafe way for the Raccoons to not score; Lonzo stole his 26th in the first inning and was left stranded. Ed Crispin scooped his fourth of the year the frame after and was also left on base. The Racconos scratched out one run in the third inning when Crum walked, Lonzo doubled, and Gowin’s groundout barely got the lead runner home, but then Ramsay grounded out to leave Lonzo stranded at third base again. Pickett had the Indians shut out on two hits through five innings, but the whole thing felt a bit like Queen Anne’s attempts to produce an heir to the throne. Numerous attempts, little if any success – except for Prince William, Duke of Gloucester! Pickett hit a single for himself in the fifth inning, but, oh bother, Prince Williams had hydrocephalus, and that runner didn’t make it either, as Ken Crum slapped one into an inning-ending double play.

The sixth finally brought another run, and even after Lonzo hit a leadoff single past Antonio Rios, stole second base, and came around on Gowin’s grounder and Ramsay’s sac fly to Bobby French, 2-0. The Indians didn’t take kindly to this, and in the bottom 6th Pickett soon felt like Harold Godwinson, getting beaten hard by one contender after another. The Indians scored one run on Ortiz and French doubles for a taste of Stamford Bridge, then went all Hastings on Pickett, flipping the score on Nick Fernandez’ home run to left and then even got a triple from Bobby Anderson before the inning was over, although he was stranded when Manny Poindexter flew out to Crum, keeping the score at 3-2. Pickett, taking an arrow to the eye, wasn’t seen again after that inning.

Lonzo went to 4-for-4 with a leadoff single in the eighth. That put the tying run on base, but was it gonna be more successful than the last couple Jacobite risings? Gowin flew out, Ramsay flew out, and Lonzo didn’t get a jump this time, so when Pucks finally singled with two outs, he only reached third base. The Indians brought righty Chris Edwards for Charles at this point, and the Raccoons’ rally met their end at Culloden; the French showed up this time… but only in form of Bobby French catching Suzuki’s fly to center rather easily, stranding pretenders on the corners.

Bottom 8th, Sencion retired two, but Nick Fernandez singled, stole a base, and reached third by the time there were two outs. The Coons went to Daley in a double switch, hoping him to get out of the inning and be available in case of a comeback, with de Lemos taking over centerfield. Daley walked both Anderson and Poindexter to fill the bases, then had Lonzo snatch Rios’ liner to short to end the inning. It was Rich Knowles in the ninth inning against the bottom of the order, or what would be left of it. Crispin flew out. Waters batted for Naughty Joe, ran a full count, and walked. De Lemos flew out to French. Crum grounded out to Rios. 3-2 Indians. Lavorano 4-4, 2B; Puckeridge 4-4, 2B;

Jeeves, would you be so kind to press this pillow onto my face until I stop struggling?

Raffy was back on the roster then by Sunday, with the Raccoons optioning Joe Boese (.143, 0 HR, 2 RBI), which was not the best solution available for sure…

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – CF de Lemos – P Taki
IND: CF French – 1B N. Fernandez – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – 2B A. Rios – LF J. Garza – SS Clover – P Becker

Taki threw 28 pitches in the first inning, walking French to get going, although he was forced out by Fernandez. The runner then stole second as Quinteros struck out in a full count, and scored on Anderson’s single. Manny Poindexter hit another single, but Rios popped out to strand two. The Coons also did what they did best, stranding a pair in the top 2nd after Pucks (walk) and Waters (double) made it into scoring position with one out, and then de Lemos grounded out to third base to pin them, and Quinteros easily took a weak fly by Taki to shallow right to end the inning. A Clover error put Venegas on base to begin the third inning, and the Coons expertly stranded him at third base with three groundouts.

The game then fell silent for a few innings, with neither team reaching, and only five base hits combined for both teams through five innings. Still that 1-0 Indians lead, though. The Coons, not short on 1-run losses this week, then actually squibbled three singles together for a run between Gowin, Cox, and Waters in the sixth inning, before de Lemos flew out to French to expertly strand another pair. Taki held the tie through seven innings, giving up only three hits in total. When Chris Edwards gave up a 1-out single to Ramsay and a double to Cox in the eighth inning, the Raccoons had a pair in scoring position again. Pucks was up, poked the first pitch to center, and French made the catch, but Ramsay dazzled home to take a 2-1 lead. What a rousing success! Hitchcock struck out the side in the bottom 8th, but an insurance run was not in the cards for the Critters, who didn’t get past a pinch-hit 1-out single by Suzuki in the ninth inning. The 2-1 lead then became Daley’s problem in the bottom of the ninth, with Jerry Cordova hitting for Fernandez to begin the inning. He grounded out to first, but Quinteros very much didn’t ground out – he walloped a game-tying homer to dead ******* center. Outs made by Anderson and Poindexter then sent the game to extras.

The Coons were useless in the top 10th against Michael McLaughlin, a lefty, then sent their own southpaw, Walters. The rookie gave up a leadoff single to Mike Gilmore, but Garza hit into a fielder’s choice, then was doubled up by Clover, where both left-handers continued to pitch. The Indians were out of bench-players, which made McLaughlin’s 1-out single from the #1 spot – both teams in fact were now batting their pitcher first – in the bottom 11th so frustrating, and then Cordova drew a walk. Quinteros struck out, after which the Coons sent Bak after Bobby Anderson, who grounded out to short. The Coons didn’t reach – with Brobeck batting for Bak in the #1 spot, but popping out, in the top 12th. Eloy Sencion got the ball after that, falling to 3-0 on Poindexter before the leadoff man grounded out. He plunked Jason Perry, and Chase Clover singled with two outs, but Danny Diaz flew out to Suzuki in center. Yay, more sad-sack baseball!

The most marvelous thing was the relief; Sencion pitched three shutout innings through the 14th, and McLaughlin was still in the game as the 15th dawned, having already tossed five innings for one base hit, and on 51 pitches. Way to go, Coons. Sencion’s spot led off the 15th inning, and for him Tyler Philipps struck out… but reached first base when Poindexter lost the ball towards the backstop. Lonzo jabbed a comebacker at 1-0, but McLaughlin fired the ball past Clover for an error, and the Coons had first and second. I swear to all the baseball gods in heaven and elsewhere, if you don’t score now, you will never get another cookie for the entire season!! Gowin coaxed a walk from McLaughlin, who was then lifted for another left-hander, Bubba Poss with three on and nobody out, which felt like things would go south HARD now, especially with three lefty hitters showing up now – except that the Raccoons had ONE weapon left: Ken Crum. We’d hit him for Pucks, though, who was three spots away. Poss’ first pitch was hit through a diving Danny Diaz into rightfield, though, and two runs scored as the tie was finally broken! Cox singled to re-load the bases for Crum, who grounded to Anderson, who went home to get out Gowin. Waters whiffed, but Crispin struck the first pitch he got into left-center for a 2-out, 2-run single. Suzuki ended the inning with a K. Terrell got the 4-run lead in the bottom 15th (the only other option would have been Lillis), and gave up a 1-out double to Diaz. Poss grounded out as the Indians still had to bat their relievers, and Cordova popped out to Crispin in foul ground to end a real drag of a game. 6-2 Raccoons. Cox 4-7, 2B; Waters 2-6, BB, 2B, RBI; Taki 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Sencion 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (2-0);

All the runs in the 15th inning were unearned, so McLaughlin didn’t save his skin, but at least his ERA.

In other news

June 16 – The Titans rally for six runs in the ninth inning to eek out a 7-6 win over the Cyclones in Cincinnati.
June 17 – MIL OF Joe Gragg (.230, 2 HR, 17 RBI) might miss the rest of the season with a torn back muscle.
June 17 – Loggers and Miners go to the 10th inning tied at four, but end the 10th inning decidedly not tied at four anymore as the Loggers break out for six runs in the top of the inning and the Miners, who have only three hits all game, including two homers, go down silently in their 10-4 defeat.
June 18 – The Stars beat the Warriors, 3-1 in 14 innings. DAL MR Bobby Shenk (1-0, 1.83 ERA, 1 SV) earns the win with four near-perfect innings of relief.
June 19 – At age 41, Vancouver utility Felix Marquez (.243, 2 HR, 24 RBI) drives in five runs on three hits in a 15-2 drubbing of the Titans.
June 19 – TOP LF/RF/1B Nate Culp (.257, 9 HR, 27 RBI) will miss at least two months with a torn meniscus.
June 20 – A fifth-inning single by catcher Ray DeFrank (.338, 4 HR, 41 RBI) is all the Aces can muster offensively against TIJ SP Nick Young (3-6, 4.71 ERA) and CL Dale Mrazek (0-2, 1.84 ERA, 15 SV), who combine for a 2-0 shutout win.
June 20 – The Miners fall behind by a run in the top of the 12th inning of their game against the Cyclones, but tie the score in the bottom 12th, load the bases, and then get a walkoff grand slam off CIN CL Adam Bates (2-5, 6.33 ERA, 16 SV) smashed by PIT C Angel Lara (.342, 2 HR, 10 RBI) for a 12-8 win.

FL Player of the Week: WAS OF Neville van de Wouw (.280, 7 HR, 24 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN 2B Tony Aparicio (.280, 7 HR, 31 RBI), hitting .417 (10-24) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Still .500, still leaving things to be desired. The offense was the main problem this week. That and Daley giving up a stupid homer to Bill Quinteros in the ninth inning on Sunday, making us churn through that pen for another six innings.

Going unclaimed on waivers, Valentino Prada was released on Friday. In nine innings for the Coons between two seasons, he walked nine batters and gave up nine runs, which was as remarkable as it was unforgettable.

What will happen with Brobeck from here is up for debate. On one paw, he doesn’t really fit in, and on the other paw he looks like a bit of a gift if only you can make use of him. If he batted *left-handed*, the Raccoons could turn Ed Crispin into something useful and that would be a net gain, probably. But he doesn’t bat left-handed and I’m still thinking this is more like a jigsaw puzzle with 800 pieces, some of which are missing. – (looks at Wheats and Taki in the corner, holding weird shapes in their paws and munching eagerly)

The Coons go home for a series against the damn Elks now, then will go straight back East for six games with the Falcons and Thunder. Off day on Thursday. Wednesday should be the return of Raffy to the major league mound.

Fun Fact: He Shui (5-7, 2.77 ERA) is getting less than 3.1 runs of support per game.

That included an 8-spot, two 6-run games, one 5-run game, and the Raccoons even managed to lose of of those. They’re 5-9 in his starts.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-35) vs. Canadiens (41-26) – June 22-24, 2054

The Elks were nibbling on the division-leading Loggers, so the Coons could use a peak performance. (snickers) Yeah, I was not believing it either. Elktown led the league in runs scored and was third in runs allowed. Best rotation, second-best OBP; there were some holes, though, as they had neither speed nor defense, the latter not shocking be a lot given they dragged around four infielders (Tony Aparicio, Felix Marquez, Ricky Jimenez, Dan Riley) that were 36 or older, and the first two of them were even past the big four-oh goalpost. The season series was even at three.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (4-7, 4.31 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (6-3, 3.84 ERA)
He Shui (5-7, 2.77 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (7-3, 3.36 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (0-0) vs. Terry Herman (7-4, 2.88 ERA)

Overy was their only lefty. Tony Aparicio had a bum knee, but knowing the 40-year-old baseball nut from Mompos, Colombia, it would not keep him on the bench for long, if at all.

Game 1
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – RF A. Walker – LF Magnussen – 1B Wheeler – C Julio Diaz – 3B F. Marquez – P Bulas
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley

Wheats had won four straight decisions since starting the season at the bottom of an 0-7 dumpster and put up zeroes in the early innings, giving away just a single and a walk in three innings before the Coons gave him a lead. Waters and Pucks went to the corners with leadoff singles in the bottom 3rd, Wheats’ groundout advanced Pucks to scoring position, and both runners came home when Venegas shot a single through the middle and into centerfield. Wheats didn’t get a K until ringing up Aaron Walker in the fourth inning, then had the lead doubled the same inning. Bulas walked Ramsay, and Matt Cox lobbed a ball over the fence in right for a 4-0 lead. Bulas was in freefall then; Waters doubled to left, scored on Pucks’ single, and Walker’s throw to home allowed Pucks into scoring position. The end for Bulas came when *Wheats* whacked an RBI double to left, 6-0, and the Coons were into the Elks’ pen. While they loaded the bases against Nate Henderson on a Lonzo single and Gowin getting nicked, Ken Crum would pop out to Felix Marquez to strand all the runners.

Wheats walked two in the fifth and nearly gave up a homer to Marquez in between, but that ball was caught on the warning track by Cox, and Damian Moreno then struck out to strand the free runners, but then was beaten over the head barbarically in the sixth, which began with disgusting scratch singles by Dan Mullen and Tony Aparicio, and degraded further on Walker’s triple off the wall in centerfield. That run would also score, even though Wheats, though bloodied, worked his way out of the inning, and then added a scoreless seventh, though the line was ruined at that point. Bak walked Walker in the eighth, but got around that runner without conceding a run. Since Daley had pitched on both Saturday and Sunday, Kevin Hitchcock would get the 3-run lead in the ninth inning. Marquez, Dan Riley, and Moreno made outs in order to close out the game. 6-3 Critters. Crum 2-4, 3B; Waters 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge 3-4, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, W (5-7) and 1-3, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – LF Magnussen – 1B Wheeler – RF Burkhart – 3B F. Marquez – P Overy
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 2B Waters – 3B Brobeck – CF de Lemos – C Philipps – P Shui

The Elks got a Moreno double, Mullen single, and two walks off He Shui in the first inning on Tuesday – and no runs. Tony Aparicio hit a comebacker into a double play, Moreno froze, and when the bags had been walked full, Jeff Wheeler flew out to Matt Cox in right to end the inning. A leadoff walk to Venegas and a throwing error by Marquez put the Coons’ 1-2 batters in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 1st, but Ken Crum’s sac fly to right was as good as it god amidst three poor outs. The Raccoons cranked up the pain on Overy in the second inning. Brobeck singled, and while de Lemos made an out, Phillips’ double, Shui’s single, and Venegas single all drove home a run before Lonzo drew another walk. After a successful double steal, Ken Crum singled home Venegas, 5-0, before Cox tumbled into a double play to end the inning. The bottom 3rd and top 4th also both ended with double plays, each with a pair of runners on base.

The traffic never really stopped for Shui, who used 97 pitches through five shutout innings. He came back out for the sixth, got two quick outs from Tim Burkhart and Felix Marquez, but then gave up an 0-2 single to reliever Leo Iniguez and was replaced. Matt Walters struck out Moreno to end the top 6th. Terrell then did a palatable seventh, and in the same inning and in the 72nd game of the year, Lonzo reached 30 stolen bases, swiping second after hitting a single off Nate Henderson. Cox singled him home for the first score since the second inning, 6-0, then was caught stealing himself. The Coons had to use Lillis against a string of right-handers in the eighth inning, which didn’t go well with Wheeler walking and Marquez singling until the Elks hit left-handed Julio Diaz for the pitcher and Diaz found another inning-killing double play to hit into.

Bottom 8th, Brobeck and de Lemos went to the corners to begin the inning against Federico Purificao, who then struck out Philipps. Ed Crispin batted for Lillis and zinged a 2-run double to right, then scored when Pucks pinch-hit for Venegas and singled over Aparicio, who wasn’t leaping all that high at age 40 and with a bum knee. Jared Bramel retired Lonzo and Crum to end the inning, while the Raccoons sent Kyle Brobeck to the hill in the ninth inning, to pitch the last inning on three days’ rest. Two strikeouts and Aparicio’s pop to Ramsay ended the game. 9-0 Furballs! Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, RBI; Lavorano 2-4, BB, 2B; Brobeck 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K and 2-3, BB; de Lemos 2-4; Philipps 2-4, 2B, RBI; Crispin (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

And now, precisely 13 months after he went down with a torn UCL – the glorious return of Raffy de la Cruz!

I sure hope so, at least.

Game 3
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – LF Magnussen – 1B Wheeler – 3B Ri. Jimenez – P Herman
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P de la Cruz

Raffy returned by walking Moreno, but struck out Mullen and got a 5-4-3 double play from Aparicio. That was about as good as his return got. He threw 92 pitches, but lasted only four innings, running endless long counts and while he gave up only two hits, he walked four to get bogged down in traffic. Two of the walks, in the top 4th, scored on one of the two hits, a 2-out double by Ricky Jimenez (grumble grumble). The Coons were hitless at that point, but Lonzo opened the bottom 4th with a single through the right side. Gowin was brushed by a pitch, putting the tying run on base, and moved on to second on Ken Crum’s full-count RBI single to right. Ramsay found the double play with a grounder to short, and Cox struck out to end the inning, though.

Hits by Waters and Venegas in the fifth inning would tie the game, but while Waters scored from second base on Venegas’ 2-out knock, he also took a knee by backstop Tristan Waker into the chest, his leg was pinned under the other knee, and he rolled straight into a ball, wincing in agony, and it took a while to scratch him off the field. Lonzo popped out to Mullen to end the inning, after which Venegas moved to second base, while Ed Crispin came into the game at third base.

Bak got two quick outs in the sixth inning before giving up a single to Wheeler and a homer to Jimenez, the miserable ******* of *********. Down by two again, Bak could just as well throw another inning, and Sencion did the eighth, without the Coons gaining much traction offensively. Lonzo was on base in the bottom 8th, but Gowin found a double play to knock one into. Daley would handle the ninth on the losing end, while Ruben Mendez got the bottom 9th for the Elks. The right-hander would not see a righty batter, but retired Crum, Rams, and Cox in order to let the Elks wiggle out of town with a win in their filthy pockets. 4-2 Canadiens. Lavorano 2-4; Crum 2-4, RBI; Waters 1-1, BB;

Not the ideal comeback for Raffy, but at least he didn’t get blown out entirely. We’ve worked around his occasional phases with ill command in the past…

It will be harder to work around three months without Matt Waters. Dr. Padilla found a tear in his achilles tendon, and he’s already getting casted and is gonna be out until September – if we even get him back this year. Rotten season for the guy.

Raccoons (37-36) @ Falcons (39-32) – June 26-28, 2054

The Falcons were second in the South and within reach of the Thunder, who had run away with it last year. They ranked in the top 3 in both runs scored and runs allowed, too, with a +60 run differential. They surely weren’t a bad team! But Billy Hester and Ian Woodrome were notable DL dwellers for them. We had won two of three in the first series of the year.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (6-5, 3.86 ERA) vs. Felix Castano (5-4, 3.59 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-7, 4.27 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (7-6, 3.93 ERA)
He Shui (6-7, 2.61 ERA) vs. John Scott (5-0, 1.06 ERA)

The Falcons brought up three right-handers here. Arthur Pickett had lost five straight games and would spend his weekend not on the mound, but on a nice… uh… holiday trip to Pontefract Castle. But we’ll totally take splendid care of him. Taki was on the bump for the opener, with Wheats and Shui then going on regular rest.

The Coons brought up Matt Knight to replace Matt Waters, if there was such a thing as replacing Matt Waters. He was hitting .368 in AAA with 8 homers, but had batted .250 with 2 homers for the Coons in 62 games in ’53. We had also just recently started converting him to a second baseman and had clocked just over 300 innings in AAA at the position so far. Nothing like learning under live fire, kid!

Game 1
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C C. Gowin – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P Taki
CHA: CF Whitehead – 1B Tinoco – LF D. Ceballos – RF Allegood – C L. Miranda – 2B E. Stevens – 3B A. Lopez – SS Sivertson – P Castano

The Coons made a quick run in the first as Lonzo doubled to left and scored easily on Gowin’s single to left-center. The double-single deal worked again three innings later with Crum and Ramsay putting together the game’s second run. Castano walked Cox, but Knight, who had found a double play his first time up, hit into a fielder’s choice this time, but legged out Erik Stevens’ throw to first base, allowing Pucks to come up with runners on the corners, and he shoved an RBI single up the middle to go up 3-0. Taki struck out, then took the hill again; only Mike Allegood had gotten a hit off him the first time through, while the bottom 4th began with a single for Adrian Tinoco, but he was stranded on second base.

Top 5th, Lonzo was up 3-0 when he swung at a fat pitch, but struck Luis Miranda’s glove instead, getting sent to first base that way. He took second in a hurry, and scored on Crum’s single with two outs, 4-0. Ramsay’s RBI double into the leftfield corner knocked out Castano, and Kyle Zanni retired Cox to end the inning, but gave up a homer to Matt Knight the following inning, 6-0. Knight threw away an Allegood grounder at the worst time in the bottom of the sixth inning, though, when Tinoco and Danny Ceballos were already on base on a single and a pitch to the thigh. Miranda singled home two through the left side, Stevens walked, but Alex Lopez struck out and ex-Critter Mitch Sivertson popped out just when Taki was close to getting yanked with the tying run at the dish. Two 1-out singles by Ethan Whitehead and Tinoco knocked him out in the seventh anyway, and Lillis conceded a run on another single by Allegood, but got out of the inning. Stevens doubled off Lillis in the eighth, and that run was surrendered by Terrell on productive outs as the Falcons crept in closer and closer, now just two runs back. The Coons had nothing cooking in these last few innings, and Daley then put the tying runs in scoring position immediately in the ninth, getting whacked for a Tinoco single and Ceballos double. Allegood drove them in on a single on the very next pitch, tying the ******* game.

The Falcons didn’t get the winning run across, and the game went to extras after the Coons had successfully obliterated a 6-0 lead. *******. Lonzo singled but was caught stealing in the 10th, while the Raccoons put Brobeck on the hill. The Falcons got the winning run to third base with two outs, but again not across against him, and did so again in the 12th inning when Brobeck walked Tinoco with two outs and Ceballos’ single sent him to third base. Allegood grounded out to short, though, and the game went on. Brobeck pitched one more inning, holding an aggravating tie after Crum and Cox had reached base in the top 13th, but Knight had grounded out to strand them on the corners.

Walters was pitching for the Coons after Brobeck, while the Falcons got clean work from Nicholas Pollock from the 12th through 14th innings before he nicked both Lonzo and Gowin to begin the 15th inning. Come on, boys – but now! Crum struck out, Ramsay hit a grounder to short for two. Outs, in case you wondered. Cox drew a leadoff walk in the 16th but was ignored as Alfonso Jewel wiggled through the inning. The Raccoons went to Hitchcock at this point, while Pickett was sent to the pen to warm up. He’d get the 17th if the game was still going then, and was still tied. Hitchcock would pitch the 17th with a lead. There was no 17th inning. On just six pitches, Mitch Sivertson, Alex de Castro, and Ethan Whitehead hit three singles to walk off the Falcons in the 16th inning. 7-6 Falcons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Crum 2-6, BB, 2B, RBI; Brobeck 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K; Walters 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K;

**********.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – P Wheatley
CHA: 3B A. Lopez – 1B Tinoco – LF D. Ceballos – RF Allegood – 2B E. Stevens – CF F. Perez – C Sanches – SS de Castro – P Schaeffer

Wheats batted with Knight, Pucks, and Philipps on base in the second inning, and two outs. One strike, two strikes, *knock*! A ball into right-center, where it fell for a 2-run double, the first runs in the game! Venegas plated Philipps with an infield single, then was caught stealing to end the top 2nd. That was it for Portland offense, and it wasn’t gonna be enough, because of Esteban Sanches, which made as much sense as to say it was not enough because of windmills, or the War of 1812. Sanches reached against Wheats his first time up and was singled home by Alex Lopez to narrow the score to 3-1 in the bottom 3rd, but more depressingly came up with two out and two aboard in the bottom 4th and cranked a 3-run homer out of the park to flip the score to Charlotte, 4-3.

Wheats limped on from there, getting through six innings before Philipps reached base to begin the seventh and he was hit for with Crispin, who grounded out. Venegas reached with a soft single, moving the tying run to third base. Come on, boys, at least the tying run…! Lonzo obliged my pathetic begging and crashed a gapper into left-center for a score-flipping triple, 5-4! The Falcons yanked Schaeffer, with Joe Thomlinson getting a pop from Crum before giving up Lonzo’s run on a Ramsay single and leaving with an injury. Dave de Lemos batted for Matt Cox against the left-handed Jewel, but struck out anyway.

The Falcons put the tying runs on the corners against Eloy Sencion in the bottom 7th, but when Ethan Whitehead pinch-hit for Allegood with two outs, he popped out to Venegas to end the inning. Bak had a quick eighth, while Joe Gowin, Chris’ brother, held off the Coons in the late innings. The Coons were stuck with Daley again for the bottom of the ninth, but this time it worked nicely. Alex de Castro grounded out to first, Nelson Marquez whiffed, and Alex Lopez found Lonzo with a grounder to end the game. 6-4 Coons. Venegas 2-5, RBI; Ramsay 2-5, 2B, RBI; Philipps 2-2, BB, 2B;

A bit of a jumbled lineup for Sunday. Venegas’ OBP was down to .333 and he’d get a day off, along with Pucks (sigh). Gowin was also in a slump and would drop to the #5 spot.

Game 3
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – C C. Gowin – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – CF Suzuki – P Shui
CHA: CF Whitehead – 1B Tinoco – CF D. Ceballos – RF Allegood – C L. Miranda – 2B E. Stevens – 3B A. Lopez – SS de Castro – P J. Scott

Back-to-back doubles by Crum and Lonzo gave the Coons a run before they made an out, and then they made three dumb outs before getting Lonzo across home plate. The score remained 1-0 for a while. Starting with Crispin’s leadoff single in the second, the Raccoons would engorge themselves on getting on base, and stranding each and every runner. Getting Shui up with two outs also didn’t help; that happened twice and he whiffed both times, stranding four runners in total, and Lonzo was caught stealing… *twice* on top of everything else. Shui had the Falcons under control for a while, scattering four hits and a walk through six innings while holding the 1-0 lead all the way to the stretch. Stevens, Lopez, and de Castro made three poor outs in the bottom 7th, while Ramsay and Cox hit singles in the eighth but were stranded when Gowin and Crispin popped out in succession, which just continued the agony of the previous innings. Shui then began the bottom 8th by giving up leadoff singles to Sivertson, hitting in the #9 hole, and Sanches, but Sivertson was thrown out at third base by Suzuki, and Sanches failed to advance to second base on the play. With what was ahead, the Coons went to Eloy Sencion at that point. He popped out Fernando Perez, the former Raccoon, but then could not get out of the way of a Ceballos line drive that smacked him in the elbow, with the ball caroming to the outfield for a single. Dr. Padilla collected a wincing Sencion, with the Raccoons going on to Lillis, who got a K from Allegood to end the inning.

At least the offense woke up in the ninth inning. Another former Critter, Steve Watson, gave up doubles to Knight and Suzuki for an insurance run, and there was still nobody out. Pucks popped out, but Crum walked and Lonzo hit a shy single that loaded the bases for Rams, but we could not get more than a sac fly from him and Cox struck out to strand a pair. Hitchcock got the ball in the bottom 9th. Luis Miranda’ leadoff walk was annoying, but the runner never got off first base and the Coons took the series. 3-0 Critters. Lavorano 3-5, 2B, RBI; Cox 2-4, BB; Crispin 2-4; Knight 2-4, 2B; Shui 7.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-7);

In other news

June 22 – The Pacifics beat the Gold Sox, 12-0, with half the runs driven home by C Dan Whitley (.263, 4 HR, 12 RBI) on two home runs and a double.
June 22 – New York super utility Omar Sanchez (.317, 0 HR, 27 RBI) will miss a month at least with a strained hamstring.
June 25 – SFB SP Kodai Koga (7-4, 3.25 ERA) pitches a 4-hit shutout and SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.276, 10 HR, 40 RBI) hits a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Aces, 4-0.
June 25 – ATL 1B Jay Rogers (.294, 13 HR, 59 RBI) will be out until the All Star Game with a bruised wrist.
June 25 – The Wolves acquire OF John Fink (.312, 4 HR, 23 RBI) from the Stars for a prospect.
June 26 – OCT SP Alfredo Llamas (8-5, 3.17 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Titans, claiming a 4-0 win without striking out a single batter.
June 26 – NAS INF Nick Nye (.285, 6 HR, 35 RBI) wins the Blue Sox a 5-1 game against the Warriors with a walkoff grand slam in the ninth inning.
June 27 – CIN LF/CF Juan del Toro (.331, 5 HR, 49 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after hitting two singles in a 6-5 loss to the Pacifics.
June 27 – The Blue Sox bomb the Warriors in an 18-7 game, but notably score in only three innings: five runs in the third, nine in the fourth, and four in the eighth; Nashville’s Chris Morris (.239, 4 HR, 30 RBI) leads the team with five RBI on two doubles.
June 28 – The hitting streak of CIN LF/CF Juan del Toro (.327, 5 HR, 49 RBI) already ends at 20 games as he goes hitless in a 6-2 loss to the Pacifics.

FL Player of the Week: LAP RF Matt Diskin (.333, 13 HR, 46 RBI), whacking .591 (13-22) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 1B David Worthington (.237, 10 HR, 56 RBI), batting .348 (8-23) with 4 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Wheats has now come back to 6-7, even though neither of his two starts this week were extremely brilliant. The first one was nice enough, with most of the damage crammed into one inning, while the second one was just mediocre and the Coons rallied just in time with that crucial triple by Lonzo.

Shui meanwhile has gone back to even at 7-7. What a mediocre pitcher. With his 2.42 ERA…

With Venegas being mediocre for a few weeks now, we might try Ken Crum leading off a bit, which I somehow dislike. But he has a .361 OBP and some speed (he stole 16 bags a year once) and it’s the best deal we can get right now, although I don’t like having our best guy by OPS in the leadoff spot – not including Chris Gowin, but Gowin is in a deep slump now (5-40) and shouldn’t bat leadoff regardless of speed restrictions on him.

Eloy Sencion will have to go to the DL with a badly bruised elbow, but should be able to come back after the All Star Game. I was going to send Matt Walters back down, since we have one pitcher too many currently, but this of course keeps him around. We should bring up a position player here, but I have yet to make up my mind.

Next week, three games in Oklahoma, and then we’ll be at home until the All Star break, hosting the Crusaders, Titans, and Loggers for 11 games. The Loggers are in first place. The Loggers!

Fun Fact: Lonzo has 55% more stolen bases than any other player in the league.

I love the kid! (gives Lonzo a fat smooch on the cheek when he can’t run away quickly enough)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (39-37) @ Thunder (47-28) – June 29-July 1, 2054

Here was some task: the Thunder were first in runs scored, first in runs allowed, first in defense, first in the South, first in the CL, and 2-1 against the Raccoons this year. If there was something to gripe about with their roster it was a rather pedestrian pen with an ERA over four (behind the best rotation in the league), an absolute dearth of speed (17 SB for the entire season, or half a Lonzo), and injury issues that had felled David Barel, Zach Boyer, Ryan Cox, and a few odd pieces.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Ryan Moore (4-4, 3.02 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-6, 4.41 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (6-6, 4.52 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (6-5, 3.88 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (8-5, 3.17 ERA)

Righty, lefty, righty, and no Jay Gunderson (8-1, 1.98 ERA), the ERA leader, in this series.

The Coons called up Jim Larson with Eloy Sencion going on the DL. Larson had posted an 8.10 ERA in 14 games for Portland last year. In reality, the Raccoons needed a left-handed hitting second baseman to pair with Knight. The bench remained short, not counting Kyle Brobeck’s multiple talents.

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – C Gowin – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P de la Cruz
OCT: RF Harmon – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – CF Ward – LF M. Allen – 3B Lamotta – P R. Moore

Also possessing multiple talents: Lonzo, who came up after a Ken Crum single to open the game and peppered a home run over the fence in left for an instant 2-0 lead. Ramsay rammed a homer to right to go back-to-back with him, and while Ryan Cox also reached base, Gowin found a double play to ease the team out of the inning.

Raffy pitched two nice innings to begin the game, but before he could retake the mound for the bottom 3rd, lightning and thunder hit the Thunder’s place and the game went into an hour-long rain delay. Knight and Pucks drove in 2-out RBI’s after play resumed against Moore, who was then hit for to begin the bottom 3rd. Mike Roberts grounded out in his spot, and while Mike Harmon singled, the Thunder left Raffy’s 5-0 lead alone. He even got around nicking David Worthington to begin the fourth inning, then was drawn to the plate in the top 5th when Jeremy Mayhall had Ed Crispin on third base two outs, and the Thunder were not in the mood to have Pucks bat again. Instead, Raffy hit a 2-out RBI single to center, 6-0. Crum was to end the inning with a groundout, but Mayhall failed entirely to catch David Worthington’s throw back to first base and Pucks scored on the error. Lonzo grounded out to leave two on in the 7-0 game.

Bottom 5th, the last inning for Raffy so he could get the W. It didn’t start well, as Ricky Lamotta and Scott King reached with leadoff singles, the latter of the infield variety, and then Raffy walked Harmon. Jonathan Ban hit a sac fly to right, Ed Soberanes popped out, and Worthington – knelled a 2-run triple into the gap. Now on 87 pitches and looking gassed, Raffy was yanked from a 7-3 game. Bak bailed him out by getting a groundout from Kevin Weese. The next half-inning began with Ralph Needham loading the bags with the 3-4-5 batters and no outs. He walked in a run against Ed Crispin, Knight hit a sac fly, and the Coons re-established a 9-3 lead. We did not hit for Bak when his spot came up and he stranded two runners in scoring position by making the final out, but right now we were more concerned about getting outs. Bak only got two more outs and left with the bases loaded in the bottom 6th, Jayden Ward reaching on a Ramsay error, while Mike Allen singled and Mike Harmon walked. Hitchcock got a baited a pop from Ban to banish the blow-up beast.

Bottom 7th of an endless game, Terrell got the ball, Crispin made an error to put Soberanes on, but then Terrell walked the bags full before he was yanked. Lillis inherited three on and no outs in a 6-run game, got a pop from Jayden Ward for the first out, and then gave up four runs on two singles by Allen and Lamotta. (buries face in paws) Luke Burnham and Harmon were retired to end the inning, but what should have been in the ******* books by now was instead a 9-7 game threatening to escalate into a nightmare. Worse yet, Hitchcock had been burned for a single out, and how would a sane person give the ball to the scrubs at the far end of the pen now. Lillis retired Ban to begin the bottom 8th, and then Daley was tasked with a 5-out save. He retired three in a row before Ward singled with two outs left to collect. Allen struck out. And Lamotta struck out as well! 9-7 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Ramsay 3-5, HR, RBI; Cox 2-5, 2B; Crispin 2-4, BB, RBI; Daley 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (17);

Jason Terrell’s ERA was an average 3.86 ERA but he was very close to getting punted back to the Pacifics. 35 innings, 24 walks, 17 strikeouts. Those were the numbers that irked me more than a 5.35 ERA f.e. ever could.

Dave Blackshire disappeared from the backup infielder thematic by straining a rib cage muscle in AAA, not that he was a left-handed second baseman.

Game 2
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Crum – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – C Philipps – P Pickett
OCT: RF Harmon – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – LF S. King – CF M. Allen – 3B Sowards – P Zeigler

Pickett mumbled something about the thin red line when he saw the lineup, which he took as him being positive that they’d actually hold up and give him some runs – a remarkable sign of delusion, and Dr. Padilla should check him out right after the game. David Worthington’s 3-run homer in the bottom 1st surely put a dent into whatever expectations you had about this Tuesday game, but the Raccoons actually came roaring back from that, and it didn’t even take long. Dave de Lemos opened the top 3rd with a single and stole second base before reaching third on a wild pitch. Philipps walked in a full count, and Pickett hit a sac fly, by far his best action in the game so far. Anton Venegas made the second out, but Lonzo doubled home Philipps and then Ken Crum cranked a homer to center to flip the score to 4-3 Coons!

The Thunder opened the bottom 3rd with two singles, but Pickett struck out four of the next six batters, retiring all of them. There was the thin red line! The Thunder made three groundouts in the fifth, and Pickett eventually sat down 11 straight before Mike Allen reached on a Ramsay error in the bottom 6th. He walked Chris Sowards on straight balls, but the Thunder didn’t bat for Zeigler, who struck out to end the inning. That was the final inning for Pickett, however, who had already worked himself up on the Thunder in the first three innings to a degree that made me worry that he would be the second straight starter that wouldn’t get through five with a lead. Pickett wanted to go back to the dish to swing the twig in the seventh inning with de Lemos and Philipps on the corners and one out, but the Raccoons preferred Matt Cox. De Lemos scored without Cox’ doing on a wild pitch, while Cox grounded out, moving Philipps from second to third, from where he scored on Venegas’ single to right off newly arrived righty Jesus Cardenas. He stole second, but Lonzo flew out to Harmon to end the inning.

Up by three with just as many innings to go, the Coons patched the seventh together from Walters and Bak, then for the eighth had Brobeck transition from the hot corner to the hill again. Crispin took over at third base. Brobeck retired three in a row in the bottom 8th, but Sowards singled to begin the ninth, still in a 3-run game. The Raccoons would not use Daley, and Hitchcock only if the Thunder made them by getting the tying run to the plate. They didn’t – the next three batters all went down as Brobeck earned the 6-out save…! 6-3 Critters! De Lemos 2-2, BB, 2B; Brobeck 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (1);

Game 3
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P Taki
OCT: RF Harmon – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Weese – LF S. King – CF Ward – 3B Sowards – P Llamas

Pucks’ struggles continued; he came up with the bags stacked after Gowin, Cox, and Knight singles in the second inning, and jabbed into a double play to Jonathan Ban to kill the inning. The Coons had three hits again in the third inning, but since that pile of hits had a Lonzo double for a foundation, scratch 2-out singles by Rams and Gowin were good enough to score the game’s first run. Cox struck out to strand another two, with the Critters piling up stranded runners already. The Raccoons left another pair on base in the fifth, and it was still 1-0 with Taki being constantly in trouble, but the Thunder had negated their three hits and two walks in four innings with two double plays as well. The bottom 5th, though, saw Sowards and Llamas (…) hit singles off him, and then Harmon reached when Knight bobbled what might have been another double play that would have ended the inning. Instead it was three on and one out for Jonathan Ban, the old pest, who brought in the tying run by grounding out to first base. Soberanes’ 2-out single through the left side brought in a pair though, and the Thunder took a 3-1 lead. Worthington grounded out, but Taki was now trailing, all on unearned runs.

While Crum singled home Knight to make up one run in the sixth inning, Llamas and the Thunder pen then shut down further scoring attempts in that inning and the next before the Thunder knocked three singles off Taki for a fourth run, and first earned, of their own in the bottom 7th. Raul Cornejo for Oklahoma and Jim Larson for Portland each retired the side in order in the eighth inning before Alex Mancilla saw the Raccoons’ 9-1-2 batters in the ninth inning. Suzuki, Crum, and Lonzo went down in order yet again. 4-2 Thunder. Gowin 2-4, RBI; Knight 2-4;

Lonzo left Oklahoma with a 12-game hitting streak.

Raccoons (41-38) vs. Crusaders (38-40) – July 2-5, 2054

The season series between those two teams was even at four, and they’d play four more in Portland for the weekend. There was a lot of average to that Crusaders team, as they sat seventh in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, with a -12 run differential. Second-worst rotation, probably not helped by a creaky defense. Having Jim White, Landon Guillory, Andrew Russ (hiss!!), and Omar Sanchez on the DL surely also didn’t help, especially with infield defense with the latter three.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (6-7, 4.38 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (3-7, 4.54 ERA)
He Shui (7-7, 2.42 ERA) vs. Dave Washington (3-3, 5.05 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (0-0, 5.19 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (4-5, 3.72 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (5-6, 4.42 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (9-5, 3.23 ERA)

Washington was the only left-handed starter we would face this weekend.

Game 1
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B C. Navarro – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – CF Caballero – C Kissler – LF Foss – P Sopena
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – 2B Knight – CF Puckeridge – P Wheatley

The Crusaders had runners on the corners against Wheats in the first inning, but Danny Rivera uncharacteristically hit into a double play to dispel the threat. On the other paw, Pucks came through for once, batting with Cox and Venegas on base and two outs in the bottom 2nd and socking a liner into the right-center gap for a 2-run triple! That was the only run-scoring event through five innings; Wheats struck out to leave Pucks at third base, while himself allowing two hits and a walk through six, and having every single one of those runners erased in a double play. Bottom 6th, Sopena walked Crum to begin the inning, then gave up a double to left to Lonzo to put a pair in scoring position with nobody out. The Crusaders laid a trap for the Raccoons and walked Ramsay intentionally, setting up three on with no outs, which would certainly lead to tears for me. Gowin grounded out poorly, with Crum thrown out at home. Cox popped out. Oh for ***** sake! Venegas hit a looper behind the infielders on the left side… and Ronnie Thompson couldn’t reach it! The ball dinked in, barely, and two runs scored! Knight struck out to strand a pair, but Pucks began the seventh with a single, stole second, and after Crum reached eventually scored on Lonzo’s sac fly to Danny Rivera. And Wheats? Retired the purple poopers in order in both the seventh and eighth innings…! The Coons tacked on a run in the bottom 8th when Venegas plated Gowin with a groundout, but the thing everybody wanted to see was Wheats finishing that shutout. He entered the ninth on 88 pitches, facing Aaron Foss in the #8 spot. Foss walked, which was not great, but Mike Bednarz struck out. Ronnie Thompson hit a spanker to Venegas then. That one looked good! Throw to second – out! – throw to first – out! It’s a shutout! 6-0 Raccoons!! Crum 0-1, 3 BB; Cox 2-4, 2B; Venegas 2-4, 3 RBI; Puckeridge 2-2, 3B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (7-7);

Wheeeeeeeeats!

Should have given him a new 9-year deal before he rallied out of that 0-7 latrine…

Game 2
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B C. Navarro – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Foss – P Washington
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Crum – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Shui

The sky looked moody, so the battlecry for the Friday game was have the lead after five. The team seemed to oblige. Shui got around a single in the first, while Lonzo got nicked, stole a base, Crum singled, and so did Gowin, getting Lonzo home. Crum went to third base, from where Rams got him home with a sac fly to left-center. The skies start to leak in the third inning and there was a rain delay at the conclusion of it. When play resumed after 20 minutes, the Crusaders quickly rapped off singles with Rivera and Mike Seidman, plus a double by Oscar Caballero, and leveled the score at two.

The skies remained moody and the game remained tied all the way into the seventh inning, with neither team getting the other paw until Shui walked Aaron Foss in the top 7th and gave up a 2-out RBI double to Ronnie Thompson that put the New Yorkers on top, 3-2. Aaron Kissler struck out, ending the inning and Shui’s start. After him, Walters and Terrell held the Crusaders off the board, but what the Raccoons needed was a run to tie or two to win, but they remained hapless through eight innings against Washington. Ryan Sullivan got the ball against the meat of the order in the ninth inning. Ken Crum led off, fell to 1-2, then cranked a homer to right, and that tied the ballgame…! (high fives with Slappy) Nobody else reached until Brobeck drew a 2-out walk, and he was stranded when Matt Knight whiffed.

Hitchcock got the ball for extras, but gave up a run in the 10th by walking leadoff batter Jeff Buss, followed by a Brobeck error on Darrell Wagner’s grounder. Prince Gates hit a sac fly to give the Crusaders a new lead; the run was unearned. Sullivan was still in the game for the bottom 10th. He struck out Suzuki, but Cox doubled in the #9 spot. Pucks pinch-hit for Hitchcock in the #1 spot, but grounded out, and Lonzo looked at strike three to end the game. 4-3 Crusaders. Crum 2-4, HR, RBI; Gowin 2-4, RBI;

Blargh. (opens a new bottle along with Slappy and clanks the bottles together)

Game 3
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – 2B C. Navarro – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – C Seidman – CF Caballero – LF Foss – P J. Johnson
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – C Philipps – P de la Cruz

Lonzo reached a 15-game hitting streak in the first inning when he hit a gapper in right-center for a double and at the same time chased home Ken Crum and his leadoff single from first base for a 1-0 lead. He then scored when Chris Navarro capitally threw away a Ramsay grounder for two bases, which wasn’t the last New York error in this game. Johnson walked Pucks, but Crispin’s groundout advanced the runners. Knight singled past Prince Gates with two outs, Foss overran the ball for an extra base, and two more runs scored. Philipps chopped another RBI single through the left side with two outs, 5-0, and the inning only ended with Raffy, who now had to get his act together, and for a starter (tah!) get at least through five innings. And with the lead, please.

…and he did! Without allowing a run! …it just wasn’t pretty. He walked four, struck out as many, gave up three hits and whacked Raul Sevilla pretty good with a fastball, but didn’t give up anything, although he fooled the bases full in the fifth inning before Rivera calmly grounded out to strand everybody and their mother. The Crusaders began the sixth with singles for Gates and Seidman, but for a departing gift, Raffy struck out the 7-8-9 batters in order, which was some highlight after all. Six shutout innings, could have gone worse.

Ken Crum had extended the lead to 7-0 with a home run in the fourth inning, collecting Philipps from second base. That was the last scoring event in the game, actually. The Raccoons faced a lot of lefty relief once they had beaten Johnson to death, and didn’t do much against them. Meanwhile, Larson and Lillis and Terrell offered three innings of scoreless relief, with the lion share, five outs, provided by Larson. 7-0 Critters! Crum 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Philipps 2-3, BB, RBI; de la Cruz 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K, W (1-0); Larson 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

One more to go, and the ball would go to Pickett. Before that, though, we made a roster move. Jim Larson, after 2.2 scoreless innings, ended up on waivers, and the Raccoons brought Naughty Joe. Lonzo needed a day off, and the way the roster was right now that required a whole new infielder to do without headaches.

Game 4
NYC: 3B R. Thompson – CF Caballero – 1B Sevilla – RF D. Rivera – SS Gates – C Seidman – 2B Buss – LF Foss – P Seiter
POR: 3B Venegas – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – SS Knight – 2B Boese – P Pickett

The Crusaders had four runners in the first two innings, but didn’t score. Oscar Caballero grounded into a double play, and they stranded three in total, while the Coons went up 1-0 on a Pucks sac fly without getting a base hit. Gowin drew a walk, advanced on a wild pitch and Cox’ groundout, and then came home when Pucks flew out to Caballero. The lead was not for long; Thompson was on base again in the top 3rd, and this time was doubled home by Sevilla, who then scored on a Rivera single to flip the score to 2-1 New York.

The first Coons hit in the game was then a score-knotting homer to right-center by Harry Ramsay, his fifth of the year, in the bottom 4th. Gowin followed that with a double to center, moved up on a groundout, and then scored on another sac fly for Pucks to Rivera, 3-2, but this lead, too, didn’t last. In the sixth, Gates singled, Foss doubled him home with two outs, and we were even again. Pickett pitched on, but ended up shafted in the seventh inning when Thompson reached base yet again and Raul Sevilla took him deep for a 5-3 Crusaders lead. Those pesky Crusaders! Damn clegs! Danny Rivera immediately hit another homer off Hyun-soo Bak, 6-3.

Bottom 8th, down 6-3, Naughty Joe opened with a single off Seiter, which was just the fourth Coons hit in the game. Lonzo asked to pinch-hit, despite a 15-game hitting streak, and legged out an infield roller for a single. Phew!! And for what? Venegas hit into a double play and Crum flew out to left. (holds Honeypaws tighter and looks glumlier) Brobeck held the Crusaders in place in the top 9th, while Chris Gowin hit a single to center with one out in the bottom 9th off Sullivan. Cox whiffed, Pucks rolled over, and the series ended in a split. 6-3 Crusaders. Gowin 2-3, BB, 2B; Lavorano (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 1 – TOP 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.310, 13 HR, 59 RBI) collects a third-inning single in a 9-6 loss to the Gold Sox to extend a hitting streak to 20 games.
July 3 – The Capitals trade OF Jason Monson (.292, 7 HR, 17 RBI) to the Scorpions for two prospects.
July 4 – IND SP James Powell (6-7, 4.31 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Canadiens, claiming the 6-0 win.
July 4 – It takes 11 innings for a single run to be scored in the Warriors’ 1-0 win over the Gold Sox. SFW C Nick Samuel (.233, 9 HR, 48 RBI) hits a walkoff single to score OF Elmer Maldonado (.200, 0 HR, 0 RBI).
July 5 – SFW RF/LF Tony Rodriquez (.303, 6 HR, 38 RBI) will miss three weeks with a case of shoulder soreness.

FL Player of the Week: TOP OF John Gough (.254, 2 HR, 21 RBI), batting .419 (13-31) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA C Luis Miranda (.274, 5 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .500 (12-24) with 1 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAL RF/LF/1B Salvador Montecino (.285, 14 HR, 56 RBI), hitting .333 with 11 HR, 31 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT 1B David Worthington (.241, 11 HR, 61 RBI), whacking .320 with 8 HR, 39 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN CL Mike Lynn (5-4, 2.27 ERA, 17 SV), saving 8 games with a 0.00 ERA and 21 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: VAN SP Terry Herman (9-4, 2.75 ERA), going 5-1 with 1.59 ERA, 24 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.286, 12 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .277 with 6 HR, 17 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN C Tristan Waker (.318, 6 HR, 42 RBI), batting .307 with 2 HR, 15 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Five games back and slowly creeping closer – we should trade up this month, but I have yet to have any striking idea besides the left-handed second baseman. Thankfully those grow on trees! Given some very modest requirements, Cristiano actually found more switch-hitting second basemen than left-handed second basemen…

It doesn’t have to be a star, just somebody to cover the second half with Waters on the shelf.

On the same day Wheats shut out the New Yorkers, ex-Coon Corey Mathers threw a 6-hit shutout over the Miners for the Caps. Mathers was a piece that was used to lure in Ryan Person from the Miners, who pitched well for half a season in 2046, but missed the second half and postseason due to injury. He left as free agent for the Bayhawks, with the compensation pick used to draft Curtis Scholl, who is now a 27-year-old AAA outfielder with the Falcons, who took him as a Rule 5 pick in 2050, had him bat .196 in 83 games in ’51, and have since done their best to not make him put on their uniform again.

The Titans and Loggers will be in town next week. Then it’s gonna be the All Star Game and a 3-city road trip to Boston, Elktown, and Vegas.

Fun Fact: Wheats threw his 11th career shutout (including the playoffs) on Thursday, and the first since 2051.

It was his first shutout of the Crusaders. He made it a habit to shut out the Loggers early in his career, but … well, it‘s the Loggers. The only CL North team he has never thrown a shutout against would be the damn Elks.

Wheats is now 149-103 with a 3.39 ERA for his career. 1,711 strikeouts in 2,316 innings. I also claim he has momentum, because this is his season:

LOSS LOSS LOSS
LOSS LOSS
LOSS LOSS
ND
ND
WIN WIN
ND
WIN WIN WIN
WIN WIN

It should be noted though, in his losses this year, the Coons are scoring 2.4 runs. In his wins, they are scoring 5.7 runs – without ever scoring more than seven runs for him! So he basically gets six every time he goes out since the middle of May, and manages to tuck in just under that for his own damage.

Still not sure whether that merits a new contract.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (43-40) vs. Titans (38-44) – July 6-9, 2054

The Titans were second from the bottom in both runs scored and runs allowed in the CL, and their run differential was -72. Could the Raccoons finally get a nice sweep in? They’d have two chances to do so, having four games with the Titans this week and another four next week in Boston after the break.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (6-6, 3.71 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (3-1, 3.79 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (7-7, 4.01 ERA) vs. Mario de Anda (3-7, 3.45 ERA)
He Shui (7-7, 2.51 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (2-9, 5.53 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (1-0, 3.07 ERA) vs. Jamie Guidry (7-7, 4.13 ERA)

Southpaws in the second and fourth games, most likely; Hollis had most recently made a relief appearance, but with Kenneth Spencer and Jordan Ramos on the DL, had found his way back into the rotation.

Game 1
BOS: CF Whitlow – LF M. Gilmore – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – 2B Roura – C Salas – SS J. Lopez – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P Shultz
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – P Taki

Taki struck out six in the first three innings, but that was after he gave up two runs on three singles by Eric Whitlow, Matt Gilmore, and Larry Rodriguez in the top of the first. He allowed only two more hits and reached 10 K by the middle of the fifth inning, but the Raccoons so far had one measly single against Shultz. When Matt Knight led off the bottom 5th with a triple, Taki struck out and Crum popped out, threatening to strand the runner at third base until precious Lonzo came through with an RBI single to left, extending his hitting streak to 17 games, stole second, and then scored the tying run on Ramsay’s single to left. (looks at Honeypaws) I don’t know, Honeypaws, I might actually love Lonzo more than you.

Through seven innings, Taki struck out a staggering 13 Titans, taking 102 pitches, and then was to lead off the bottom 7th in a 2-2 tie. The Raccoons needed help offensively, and Venegas batted for him. Venegas grounded out, the Raccoons went down in order, and Taki had to settle for a no-decision. When the Coons did take the lead by a Chris Gowin jack to left in the bottom 8th, 3-2, the Coons already had Daley on the mound, which probably needed explanation. Hitchcock retired a pair to begin the top 8th, then was replaced with Lillis against Gilmore, who was however pinch-hit for with a right-hander, Bruce Burkart, who hit an infield single. When Eric Cobb batted for Dave Gonzalez – same problem with handedness there – the Raccoons called on Daley, who handled the comebacker for the third out. Daley then retired the 4-5-6 batters in order in the ninth inning. 3-2 Raccoons. Taki 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 13 K;

(puffs Taki in the arm) First innings, huh?

Game 2
BOS: CF Whitlow – LF M. Gilmore – 1B L. Rodriguez – 2B Roura – C Salas – SS J. Lopez – RF E. Cobb – 3B Ro. Jimenez – P de Anda
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Crum – C Gowin – 3B Brobeck – 1B Philipps – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P Wheatley

While Wheats dropped his ERA under four in the first inning, de Anda offered two scoreless against the Critters before disappearing for injury concerns. Jim Peterson, left-hander, took his place. Wheats struck out six and walked two in three *busy* innings, so a shutout was probably not in the books this time. At the rate he was going, six innings looked like tops – too many long counts. He did not allow a hit through four innings, but Jon Lopez and Eric Cobb got on base with shy singles in the fifth, but didn’t score. Good! – now there wouldn’t be any hard feelings when he’d be yanked in the seventh on like 125 pitches. He reached *87* in five scoreless frames. The Coons through four frames had one hit and two double plays, which was one of those games again… Knight hit a single in the bottom 5th, and then was doubled up by de Lemos, so the ratio wasn’t getting much better.

Wheats hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th against righty Mike Alden, and Venegas drew a walk to push the go-ahead run in the scoreless game to second base, tying the Coons’ furthest advance all day. Lonzo was hitless yet, but lined out to Lopez, while Crum hit a ball hard to right, but Cobb caught it on the warning track. Wheats had misread it and had to hustle back to second base to not get doubled off, and then Alden threw a wild pitch that moved the runners into scoring position instead of scoring Wheatley from third base. Gowin walked to fill them up, prompting a move to a new right-hander, Tommy Griffith. The Coons opted for Matt Cox rather than Kyle Brobeck, but he grounded out to Dave Roura, and no one scored.

We got Wheats squeezed through seven innings on 107 pitches, but that would be all. The Coons were toothless still against Griffith, and like Taki Wheats had to settle for a no-decision. Also, batting for Brobeck before he pitched, shortened our pen, so it was not a strategy to win games in the long run… Bak pitched a scoreless eighth, however, before being hit for by Pucks to begin the home half of the eighth. Pucks legged out an infield single to Roura, only for Venegas to ground sharply to short. Lopez threw the double play away, making it two on rather than two out. Lonzo came through in more ways than one, hitting an RBI single to right-center – hitting streak to 18 – but that was the only run the Raccoons managed to scratch out, with nothing but sad faces from the 3-4-5 batters. Back to Daley for the ninth, and one, two, three went the Titans. 1-0 Blighters. Lavorano 1-4, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K and 1-2;

A win is a win is a win.

(takes another sip)

Day off for Crum on Wednesday, as well as Gowin, the last before the All Star Game.

Game 3
BOS: SS Marroguin – LF M. Gilmore – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – C Salas – CF Weir – 2B Perriello – 3B J. Lopez – P Hollis
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Philipps – 2B Boese – P Shui

He Shui had paid attention the last few days and realized that he had to drive in his own lead; opening with three shutout innings wasn’t gonna do anything here. Tyler Philipps opened the bottom 3rd with a clean single and advanced on a groundout by Naughty Joe. Shui slapped a liner into the left-center gap for an RBI double, the first run of the game, and two pitches later scored on another double to left by Anton Venegas. Lonzo settled for an RBI single, then was caught stealing, which derailed the inning.

Once he was up 3-0, Shui loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth, giving up singles to Gonzalez and Rodriguez before also walking Raul Salas. Hector Weir struck out, while Bill Perriello managed a sac fly, the first career RBI for the 24-year-old right-handed hitter from Arkansas. Jon Lopez grounded out to Ramsay, ending the inning. Gonzalez and Salas would reach again in the sixth inning, and all of those middle innings were long for Shui – in fact so long that he was not going to pitch much longer, and when his spot came up with Critters aboard and two outs in the bottom 6th, he was pinch-hit for right away; in the inning, a Lopez error, a Cox double, and a walk drawn by Pucks against Hollis loaded the bases to begin the bottom 6th. Crispin dropped a dead cat of a ball on the infield for an all-paws-safe, 30-foot RBI single, extending the lead to 4-1, and while Philipps popped out, Naughty Joe hit a sac fly to left. Ken Crum pinch-hit for Shui, but grounded out.

Walters and Brobeck then stumbled in the eighth inning. The lefty had already gotten four outs when Gonzalez hit a single to right. Brobeck gave up another single to Larry Rodriguez, and then both runs on Weir’s 2-out single to right-center. Perriello grounded out to Lonzo, ending the inning with the Coons up by a pair. With Daley having been out two days in a row, and left-handers up for the ninth inning, we went to Lillis. He gave up a single to Jon Lopez right away, Burkart flew out to deep left, but then Josh Garris and Gilmore made meek outs to finish the game. 5-3 Raccoons. Venegas 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Shui 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (8-7) and 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Three in a row! Barely!

I’ll order you a truck of donuts if you complete the sweep, boys!

Game 4
BOS: CF Whitlow – SS Marroguin – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – C Salas – LF Weir – 2B Perriello – 3B J. Lopez – P Guidry
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – RF Crum – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Brobeck – 2B Knight – CF de Lemos – P de la Cruz

The promise of a truckload of donuts led to none of the boys being able to sleep that night, and they looked like corpses in the box for the first few innings. Raul Salas took Raffy deep in the second inning for a 1-0 Titans lead, and they had two more singles for a run in the fourth inning before the Raccoons got some sort of threat going in the bottom 4th. Venegas doubled and Lonzo hit a scratch single to get to a 20-game hitting streak, putting the tying runs on the corners. Ken Crum got a run home… by hitting into a double play, 6-4-3, and that was the inning. Top 5th, Whitlow walked, Jordan Marroguin singled, and a sac fly by Gonzalez pulled the run right back for Boston, which was answered by de Lemos singling home Ramsay with two outs in the bottom of the inning.

Raffy couldn’t hold it together, sadly. He went into the sixth, struck out the first two batters for 9 K total in the game, and then walked Perriello, who stole second, and gave up RBI knocks to Lopez and … and the opposing pitcher. That was the end for him, with Terrell into the game. He retired Whitlow to end the sixth, but gave up a run the inning after with hits for Marroguin and Gonzalez, plus a Rodriguez sac fly, and then in the eighth Perriello and Lopez had hits, and Whitlow whacked a 3-run homer. Except for Venegas, who had three hits and was doubled up twice, the Raccoons could never get untracked, and Guidry almost pitched a complete game, only getting squeezed out with two outs in the ninth by offering a single to Philipps and a walk to Brobeck. Knight grounded out haplessly to end the game. 9-2 Titans. Venegas 3-3, BB, 2B; Philipps (PH) 1-1; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1;

(half a dozen of the Critters cry and clamor bitter tears at the GM’s hindpaws while he watches the truck from the donut factory toot as it backs off the ballpark lot)

Raccoons (46-41) vs. Loggers (49-36) – July 10-12, 2054

The Loggers had split four with the Elks during the week, which still had them lead the division by half a game, with the Raccoons now four behind. This was not a good matchup for the Coons this year, the Loggers holding a 6-3 edge in the season series. The Loggers were however not that intimidating on paper. They were just to the good side in both runs scored and runs conceded, with a +24 run differential, smaller than the Coons’ +42. With Tyler Riddle, Joe Gragg, and Perry Pigman, they had some important personnel on the disabled list, too, but they also had Chris Thomas, who had mashed 17 homers while not even qualifying for the batting title.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (5-7, 4.59 ERA) vs. Jeff Fox (8-2, 4.53 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (6-6, 3.64 ERA) vs. Angelo Munoz (10-5, 3.43 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (7-7, 3.77 ERA) vs. John Morrill (9-6, 4.88 ERA)

Fox would be the third and final left-handed opponent this week.

Game 1
MIL: RF Bishton – 3B T. Edwards – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 1B Callaia – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – LF Law – P J. Fox
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Crum – C Gowin – RF Cox – CF de Lemos – LF Puckeridge – 2B Boese – P Pickett

Fox nicked Lonzo in the first and Ken Crum disapproved with his 13th homer of the season, giving the Raccoons a 2-0 lead. Cox and de Lemos also reached base, but Pucks’ deep fly to center was tracked down by Dennis Starnes to end the inning. Starnes walked and Gaudencio Callaia singled in the second inning, but Pickett faced the minimum thanks to a Ricky Lopez 6-4-3 double play grounder and Starnes getting himself caught stealing. Pickett mostly managed the lead nicely, remaining unscored upon through four innings, while he was back at the crease in the bottom 4th when Naughty Joe got on with a 2-out single. Pickett struck a lazy spinner with the paddle and – cheerio! – boundary shot! A 2-out, 2-run home run for the pitcher! 4-0!

Fox tried to counter with a single to lead off the sixth inning, but Pickett sounded the bugle and the hounds chased him and Ryan Bishton into a double play. Zach Suggs was more successful with a leadoff jack to right in the seventh, which sugged and got Milwaukee on the board, but after Callaia hit another single, Ricky Lopez found yet another double play. Toodles! A biscuit on that one, and a sip of – … no, Maud, I’m not having a cuppa tea, that’s one shire too far. – No, Maud, look. I had this shipped from Scotland! (shows off both a bottle of Scotch and a white plush unicorn, earning a sneer from Honeypaws)

Crum matched the Suggs homer with another one of his own in the bottom 7th, but Lonzo had yet to find a hit in this game, and and while Gowin reached base, he was doubled off by de Lemos, which meant that Lonzo would only come back to the plate in the bottom 8th if two other Coons reached ahead of him. First though Pickett got stuck in the moor in the eighth inning, allowing singles to Dale Haracz and Bishton with two outs, and was lifted for Hitchcock. On two pitches, the normally sturdy Hitchcock gave up a bases-filling single to Travis Edwards, then a bases-clearing double to Suggs, which suuuuugged. Chris Thomas grounded out, but the Coons lead was whittled down to 5-4. The Raccoons did not reach base at all in the bottom 8th, so no Lonzo at the dish, and then he had to end his own hitting streak in the ninth by handling Starnes’ grounder for the final out. 5-4 Raccoons. Crum 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Boese 2-4; Pickett 7.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (6-7) and 1-3, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2
MIL: CF Starnes – 3B T. Edwards – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – RF Catton – 1B Haracz – LF K. Archer – P A. Munoz
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P Taki

With Starnes and Suggs on the corners, Chris Thomas struck out and Suggs was caught stealing in a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play in the top 1st, which sure sugged for the Loggers, but so did the one Ramsay hit into in the bottom of the inning. Lonzo and Rams hit singles to begin the bottom 4th, but Gowin then hit into a double play and Cox left Lonzo on third base. It was another one of those games that stayed scoreless for quite a while. For the second time this week, a Raccoons starter had to make his own lead: Taki singled with two outs and Knight in scoring position after a double in the bottom 5th, and the replacement middle infielder made it around to score. Crum then grounded out to Lopez, completing five with a 1-0 lead.

Back-to-back doubles by Suggs and Thomas tied the game again in the sixth inning, but at least Lopez and Mike Catton made weak outs to keep the go-ahead run stranded. The home team remained obnoxiously meek. Lonzo singled in the sixth and was caught stealing. The seventh began with Cox and Venegas singles before Pucks hit into a fielder’s choice, then was caught stealing, and Knight stranded Cox on third base. Finally, Zach Suggs hit a homer to right-center to break the tie over Taki’s head in the top of the eighth…

Ed Crispin batted for Taki to begin the bottom 8th and singled to right. The ball ticked off Catton’s glove for an error, allowing the tying run into scoring position with nobody out. Crum’s and Lonzo’s grounders and a K to Ramsay stranded the ******* runner at third base. Matt Walters held the 2-1 score in the ninth, before Dave Lister appeared for the Loggers in the bottom of the inning. Cox singled with one out, but Gowin, Venegas, and Pucks all fanned to lose the game. 2-1 Loggers. Lavorano 2-4; Cox 2-4; Knight 1-2, BB, 2B; Crispin (PH) 1-1; Taki 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (6-7);

In light of All Star nominations we might have jiggered the lineup a little bit on Sunday, but it turned out that NOBODY got to play due to thunderstorms sweeping the area all afternoon and evening long and the Loggers even had trouble flying out on Sunday night.

Oh well, four-day All Star break – except for our four All Stars.

In other news

July 6 – Topeka’s Eddie Moreno (.312, 14 HR, 60 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 25 games with a single in a 4-3 win over the Blue Sox.
July 7 – The Canadiens acquire right-hander Adam Middleton (4-4, 4.25 ERA) from the Stars, parting with four prospects. The package includes #86 SP Dario Luna.
July 7 – Dallas MR Sam Gibson (1-1, 3.00 ERA, 1 SV) undergoes surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, ending his season.
July 7 – The Bayhawks beat the Condors, 4-3, in 14 innings. SFB OF/1B Armando Caban (.299, 1 HR, 26 RBI) has four hits and two RBI from the #8 spot for San Francisco.
July 8 – The Loggers beat the Canadiens, 6-4 over 16 long innings. MIL C Chris Thomas (.329, 17 HR, 56 RBI) rakes Vancouver for five hits, two homers, a double, and three RBI.
July 10 – The hitting streak of Lorenzo Lavorano ends on the same day as the one of Topeka’s Eddie Moreno (.311, 14 HR, 64 RBI), which made it to 28 games before he went 0-for-4 in a 7-6 win over the Miners.
July 10 – Canadiens 2B Tony Aparicio (.286, 9 HR, 35 RBI) will miss six weeks with a torn thumb ligament.
July 10 – The Crusaders acquire OF/1B/3B Gil Cabrera (.302, 0 HR, 30 RBI) from the Buffaloes for three prospects.
July 10 – The Wolves get CL Zack Stahl (4-6, 5.13 ERA, 11 SV) from the Aces for two prospects. The package includes #69 prospect SP Justin Rocco.
July 11 – Rebels 3B Danny Espinosa (.252, 12 HR, 46 RBI) has four hits and five RBI in a 13-0 rout of the Capitals. Espinosa homers twice and misses the cycle by the *single*.
July 11 – Starting with a 9-run fourth inning, the Blue Sox romp the Cyclones, 16-1.
July 12 – A torn hammy will cost Bayhawks infielder Adam Peltier (.253, 4 HR, 36 RBI) at least one month.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 3B Danny Espinosa (.255, 12 HR, 46 RBI), hitting .571 (16-28) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC RF/LF Danny Rivera (.306, 14 HR, 63 RBI), batting .458 (11-24) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons stashed away four All Stars, which felt like more than we deserved. He Shui made the All Star team in his first year in the league, and of all our relievers it was *Brett Lillis jr.* to get nominated for the showcase. On the batting side, Ken Crum and Chris Gowin were nominated. It was the first All Star Game for all of them except Crum, who made it for the third time, but for the first time since ’49.

The Loggers would not come back to Portland this season – we’d have to make up our rained-out Sunday game in Milwaukee in September as part of a false-flag home game in a double-header.

Still looking for a left-handed batting infielder to balance the roster.

Angelo Flores won’t be it. Angelo Flores is right-handed. He is also a 16-year-old from Venezuela that we’re chasing after in the international free agent pool this month. When even Eric Hartwig gives a boy a 16/14/15 potential, we gotta pounce. The thing is, the bidding war has almost escalated to $1M right now. The Raccoons have already signed two lesser players for a total of $83k, so with $920k currently offered to Flores, we’d already be hit with a $303k tax bill. Last time we went that level of ham on a Latino teen boy it was Raffy, who’s totally gonna piece his career back together, right, Raffy?

Right?

Fun Fact: Raffy missed a full year to Tommy John surgery and still has 67 career starts before turning 24, with a 24-23 record and 3.54 ERA.

Given that his birthday is on the 24th of this month, he might still get to 69!

[Westheim]

During the break, Eloy Sencion came off the DL and rejoined the team; Matt Walters (0-0, 0.79 ERA) was returned to AAA for the time being, but had raised a bushy eyebrow or two for sure.

I tried to find a left-handed second baseman still, but the problem was that the personnel just wasn’t there. There were stars that didn’t suit as injury fillers (think, Jonathan Ban, Ivan Villa), and then there were scrubs that made Matt Knight look like a sensible solution. The exception was perhaps Sergio Quiroz, but he had such a princely deal with the Stars that I wasn’t gonna touch that: $3.5M per year through ’56.

All Star Game

He Shui started the All Star Game for the Continental League, but got clubbed for three hits and a 2-run homer by the Warriors’ Julio Moriel. Since the game would go back and forth quite a bit in an eventual 6-5 Federal League win, he didn’t take the loss. That one would hang on the Elks’ Dan Lawrence, who was bailed out by Brett Lillis jr. in the eighth inning.

The Coons’ batters had mixed days. Chris Gowin started behind the dish in an all-Portland starting battery, but went 0-for-3. Ken Crum entered the game as a pinch-hitter and socked an RBI double.

Raccoons (47-42) @ Titans (40-49) – July 16-19, 2054

Four in Boston then, with the Raccoons bringing a 6-2 lead in the season series to town. The Titans were still second from the bottom in runs scored, but the Raccoons’ lackluster offense had helped them inch up to ninth place in runs allowed by now. Still fifth in the division, though. Mario de Anda and Adriano Chavez were injured and not available for them.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (7-7, 3.77 ERA) vs. Jose Arias (5-6, 4.47 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (1-1, 4.43 ERA) vs. Jamie Guidry (8-7, 3.99 ERA)
He Shui (8-7, 2.46 ERA) vs. Kenneth Spencer (3-2, 3.02 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (6-7, 4.51 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (3-2, 3.33 ERA)

One, two, THREE left-handers out of the All Star Game, and then the righty Shultz. Hey, Titans – at least gimme a Southpaw Sunday!

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Crum – C Gowin – 3B Brobeck – 2B Knight – RF Puckeridge – CF de Lemos – P Wheatley
BOS: CF Whitlow – C Salas – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF E. Cobb – SS Marroguin – 3B J. Lopez – 2B Perriello – P J. Arias

Wheats got the first start after the All Star Game after being rained out of the last start before the All Star Game, and gave up the first run after the All Star Game with a Raul Salas single and an RBI double for Dave Gonzalez in the bottom 1st. The single-double pattern repeated in the bottom 2nd with Jordan Marroguin and Jon Lopez, 2-0, while the Raccoons didn’t manage to land an outfield single until the fourth inning, although Lonzo hit a pair of infield singles in the first and fourth innings. He was stranded the first time, but Brobeck singled him home with a ball to center and two outs the second time ‘round, getting the Critters on the board.

Top 5th, Arias smacked Dave de Lemos’ paw with a fastball, and from the way he jumped up and down screaming we early on had a hunch that it was bad. Dr. Padilla quickly removed him from the game, with Mikio Suzuki taking over centerfield duties. Suzuki stole second base, Arias walked Anton Venegas, and Lonzo had his third single of the game, this one over Marroguin for a game-tying RBI single. Crum flew out to left to end the inning after that. The Coons took the lead in the sixth with a leadoff double by Chris Gowin, a wild pitch, and a run-cashing groundout for Brobeck, the ol’ slugger.

Wheatley hit a single in the seventh, which led nowhere, then got stuck in the bottom of the inning. Josh Garris and Raul Salas went to the corners and two outs. Dave Gonzalez would be met by Eloy Sencion, except that Eloy Sencion was now bet by right-hander Angel Gonzales, batting 9-for-25… or 26, after he grounded out to Brobeck to strand the runners. The Raccoons also found the corners in the eighth, but with nobody out; Alex Diaz walked Crum, who dashed to third base on Gowin’s single to left-center. From there, Brobeck drew a walk to fill them up, which was certainly lead to no runs. Harry Ramsay batted for Knight, but grounded into a 1-2-3 double play, while Pucks grounded out on a 3-0 pitch to strand the other two runners. ******* *******. Larry Rodriguez drew a walk off Sencion to begin the bottom 8th, putting the tying run on base right away, but Kevin Hitchcock suffocated the rally attempt with two strikeouts and a pop once he entered the game. The Raccoons didn’t find an insurance run, but Daley retired the first two batters, Bill Perriello and Matt Gilmore, without issue in the ninth. Eric Whitlow made himself a bit of an issue, falling to 1-2 before hitting a liner into the gap – but there came Pucks, and Pucks came just in time to snatch the ball, ending the ballgame…! 3-2 Raccoons. Cox (PH) 1-1; Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Gowin 2-4, 2B; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (8-7);

Roster move, as de Lemos went to the DL with a broken thumb that would cost him at least a month. Trent Brassfield was hitting .275/.381/.419 in AAA as a 21-year-old, but he was not a centerfielder and was more likely a September addition. The Raccoons instead brought up Prospero Tenazes, who was Prospero Tenazes…

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – C Gowin – RF Cox – 2B Knight – CF Tenazes – 1B Philipps – P de la Cruz
BOS: CF Whitlow – C Salas – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – SS Marroguin – 3B J. Lopez – LF Weir – 2B Perriello – P Guidry

Eight pitches in, the Coons had two runs on the board as Venegas doubled, scored on Lonzo’s single, and Lonzo stole a base, reached third on a bad throw by Salas, and scored on a groundout by Ken Crum. The Raccoons got Crum and Gowin on base in the third inning before Matt Cox found a double play, while the Titans tried to counter in the bottom 3rd after getting nobody on base in the first two innings. Hector Weir hit a gapper for a leadoff triple and de la Cruz walked Perriello to put the tying runs on the corners. Guidry popped out, Whitlow struck out, and Salas… hit an RBI single past Lonzo. Dave Gonzalez struck out to strand the tying run at least.

Portland countered with singles by Tenazes, Philipps, and Venegas to cobble together a run in the fourth inning, but Lonzo then grounded out to leave two aboard. Crum and Gowin reached base to begin the fifth but Cox fly to deep right was tracked down by Gonzalez, who then stumbled into the fence, and looked shaken; the Titans removed him from the game for Garris. Knight and Tenazes then made meek outs to strand a pair.

Meanwhile, Raffy struck out eight through five innings, running almost 80 pitches and giving up another run in the bottom 5th on a double by Guidry (…) and Salas’ 2-out RBI single. Garris whiffed to keep the tying run stranded. Raffy bunted into a double play in the top 6th, then loaded the bases on two shy singles and a walk in the bottom of the inning. Perriello was hitting all of .200, but socked a bases-clearing triple past a diving Tyler Philipps, and everything came crashing down now. Guidry hit a sac fly, 6-3, and Raffy was yanked. I groaned. It didn’t get any better after de la Cruz left, with both Terrell and Brobeck clobbered for another pair of runs each. 10-3 Titans. Venegas 2-5, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Gowin 3-4, BB; Tenazes 3-4;

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Ramsay – C Philipps – RF Cox – CF Tenazes – 2B Boese – P Shui
BOS: CF Whitlow – C Salas – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF E. Cobb – SS Marroguin – 3B J. Lopez – 2B Perriello – P Spencer

Both teams stacked a few runners early in the game, but then hit into a double play with Dave Gonzalez and Naughty Joe, respectively, so the Raccoons took a lead on Anton Venegas’ solo homer in the third inning instead; it was Venegas’ first homer of the year. The Titans answered soon enough with drives to center in the bottom 3rd. Tenazes reached neither Eric Whitlow’s double, nor Gonzalez’ 2-run homer, and the Titans turned the score around. Offense died down for two innings before Crum and Rams knocked singles in the sixth inning, but Philipps’ inning-ending double play grounder sure made the offense die down once more. Shui tried his best and pitched his guts out, going into the eighth in a losing cause. Hector Weir hit a single there, batting for Kenneth Spencer, advanced on a grounder and stole third base, but Salas popped out for the second out of the inning. That was it for Shui, though, as Lillis would face Gonzalez. Again, the Titans answered with a righty pinch-hitter, and again it was Angel Gonzales. And again, he grounded out. Right-hander David Williams then came in for the ninth inning, facing the meat of the Coons’ order. He walked Crum, and Rams singled the tying run to second base. Pucks batted for Philipps and walked, filling the bags with nobody out and oh for ***** sake. Cox hit a 1-0 pitch up the middle, Marroguin lunged and knocked it down – but had no play! All paws were safe, and the game was tied! Ed Crispin pinch-hit and socked a clean single to center, plating Ramsay. While Naughty Joe whiffed, Chris Gowin batted for Lillis and drew a bases-loaded walk. That was the end of Williams, replaced with Alex Diaz, who gave up an RBI single to Venegas, a sac fly to Lonzo, and another single to Crum that restocked the bags. Ramsay grounded out to end the 5-run inning, and Bak made it stand up with a scoreless bottom 9th. 6-2 Raccoons. Venegas 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Crum 3-4, BB; Ramsay 2-5; Philipps 2-3; Crispin (PH) 1-1, RBI; Gowin (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Shui 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K;

That 5-run ninth might actually just lift our annual average runs from three on, no outs situations all the way to 0.5, but I am too afraid to make the actual calculation.

Game 4
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – 3B Venegas – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 2B Knight – P Pickett
BOS: CF Whitlow – 3B J. Lopez – RF D. Gonzalez – 1B L. Rodriguez – LF E. Cobb – SS Marroguin – C Burkart – 2B Perriello – P Shultz

The Raccoons went up 1-0 in the first on a Lonzo triple and a sac fly to right by Ramsay. Knight hit another one of those in the second inning after Pucks and Suzuki had gone to the corners, 2-0, but Larry Rodriguez knocked a leadoff double into the rightfield corner in the home half of the inning and was brought around with two productive outs to make up one of the runs. Lonzo led off the third with a single, stole his 36th base of the year, and was again driven in by Rams, this time with a single to center. The fourth was uneventful, but in the fifth Rams was involved in scoring another run. He singled, Gowin doubled, and Venegas now hit a sac fly, 4-1. Pucks grounded out, leaving Gowin at third base.

So far, Pickett had been strong, but in the bottom 5th the Patriots seemed to finally sneak onto H.M.S. Pickett; he walked Bruce Burkart and Bill Perriello to begin the inning, and PH Josh Garris’ soft single loaded the bases with nobody out. Whitlow was next, but – one by land, two by sea – hit into a double play to Lonzo, 6-4-3, while a run scored. But Pickett couldn’t get out of the inning; the next three batters landed a walk and two singles, dumping all the precious tea off H.M.S. Pickett into the harbor. Pickett was lifted in a 4-3 game with three on and two outs, and Eric Cobb batting. Hitchcock and Cox entered in a double switch at Pucks’ expense, but the three Patriots on base ended up strung from the gallows with three strikes to old David Cobb.

Top 6th, Knight hit a 1-out single, but was forced out by Cox. Crum’s 2-out single sent Cox to third base, and Lonzo came through yet again with an RBI single past Marroguin, his 50th RBI of the season. The run was off lefty Jim Peterson, who had Gowin and Venegas on the corners with two more hits off him in the seventh, which brought up Hitchcock. The Royalist Raccoons’ powder had taken on water though, and Naughty Joe struck out before Suzuki found a double play to hit into. Ken Crum hit a solo home run in the eighth, however, his 15th of the year. Like Hitchcock, Eloy Sencion collected four outs for the Raccoons before the ball went to Terrell. He walked Cobb in the bottom 8th, but Marroguin popped out to end the inning, and Daley retired Burkart, Perriello, and Gilmore in order in the ninth to take another series from the filthy Continentals! 6-3 Raccoons. Crum 2-5, HR, RBI; Lavorano 3-5, 3B, RBI; Ramsay 2-4, 2 RBI; Gowin 4-5, 3 2B;

In other news

July 17 – The Loggers clinch a key 1-0 win over the Canadiens with a walkoff home run by 2B/SS Ricky Lopez (.256, 8 HR, 38 RBI).
July 17 – The Indians trade SP James Powell (6-8, 4.76 ERA) to the Blue Sox for #128 prospect INF/RF Tony Villarreal.
July 17 – Indy also expects to be without 1B/LF/RF Bill Quinteros (.332, 16 HR, 56 RBI) for two weeks; the 33-year-old was diagnosed with back soreness.
July 17 – The Cyclones take a 5-0 lead into the ninth inning against the Capitals, only to collapse for six runs and a 6-5 loss.
July 19 – 2B/1B Erik Stevens (.266, 4 HR, 33 RBI) is traded from the Falcons to the Pacifics for outfielder William Kulak (.280, 1 HR, 11 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: CIN RF/LF Jamie Harmon (.278, 17 HR, 54 RBI), hitting .400 (6-15) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA C Luis Miranda (.287, 7 HR, 45 RBI), batting .643 (9-14) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Three sets with the Titans, and three times we took three out of four. I’ll take that.

The Loggers and Elks took wins away from another during the weekend, so the Coons were now three games behind in the division. The Crusaders were also still sneaking around, six games back at this point.

And I still don’t know where to find another middle infielder to juice up what we have going on there.

More road games next week at Elktown and Vegas.

Fun Fact: With three out of four taken from the Titans this week, the Raccoons are now over .500 all time against them.

700-699! The only CL North team we’re sub-.500 against now are the ******* Elks at 693-702. The other teams:

Crusaders 719-680,
Indians 733-660, and –
Loggers 768-630

The Loggers…!

[Westheim]

The Raccoons turn 11 years old today, having been inaugurated on May 20, 2012. To celebrate the occasion, the Chinese government has named them one of the Five Books and Six Classics now. To further support the franchise, a hotline has been set up where you can donate your car, house, kidneys, as well as all your other worldly belongings to the improvement of the fortunes of the team; visit www.kars4koons.con or dial 555-KOON for details.

In case you are still not convinced, maybe Pucks trying to fit a whole pizza in his snout can give you that last little nudge…:

[Westheim]

Raccoons (50-43) @ Canadiens (52-39) – July 21-23, 2054

The Elks had dropped out of a tie for first place when the Loggers won over the Indians on Monday, these teams’ common off day. So they probably had to take it out on the Critters… who themselves were less than a pawful of games back and really wondering how the team could be turned into an actual winner. For now, they had to withstand the #1 offense in the league, with the fifth-fewest runs allowed for Elk City, and a +76 run differential (Critters: +43). We were up in the season series, though, a whopping 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (6-7, 3.55 ERA) vs. Jesse Bulas (7-4, 4.42 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (8-7, 3.71 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (5-5, 3.83 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (1-2, 5.54 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (9-4, 2.89 ERA)

Three right-handers were lined up for either team. The Elks were without their middle infield of Tony Aparicio and Dan Mullen, but at least the latter was said to be close to returning.

I chose to grace the office with my presence during this series, which I couldn’t attend in person as per usual. Somehow nobody had expected me, because despite the team being on the road, the offense was littered with people. Cristiano Carmona’s roommate Gustaf was there, shirtless and oily as ever, and apparently it was the first annual Bring Your Niece to Work Day in Oregon, because Maud had her sister’s youngest, Crystal, in tow. At first she was filing her nails, but when Gustaf showed up, she was very much fascinated with his physique, with the amount of attention given not necessarily equal.

And because I couldn’t have anything nice, then Nick Valdes hit up in the office as well. What are you lot all doing here? You got something to celebrate?? Turned out, Nick was looking for me. My fault for asking for more dosh to make moves at the deadline. – Say, Nick, how did you know I was here? I could have been at home! – Why do you look at that thing in your paw and then say with such conviction that I’m not?

Game 1
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P Taki
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 1B Wheeler – LF Magnussen – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 2B F. Marquez – SS Uranga – 3B A. Soto – P Bulas

The week began with Crum reaching on an error by Jeff Wheeler, but Lonzo doubled him up right away. Wheeler whacked a double in the bottom of the inning, however, and scored on Adam Magnussen’s single to put the Critters in an early hole. Tristan Waker hit another single before Aaron Walker popped out and Felix Marquez struck out to end the inning. The Raccoons failed to do anything with a Cox double in the second, and were generally not very impressive on offense, while Taki also held the Elks reasonably short as the 1-0 score persisted through four innings. In the fifth, a Jorge Uranga error put Matt Knight on second base to begin the frame. For normal teams, that was a scoring opportunity! Taki grounded out to short, though, leading to no advance for Knight, but Ken Crum crammed a hard bouncer through between Alex Soto and the third base bag for an RBI single, tying the game. Lonzo singled, but eager to get something going, the Coons went for the double steal, but had Crum thrown out at third base and didn’t score any more runs in the inning. – See, Nick, that’s why I need more millions so we can make more hay. – What do you mean, a bale of hay is just 50 bucks?? – But will it run first-to-third on a single!?

Taki, who drew a walk in the seventh and was otherwise ignored, did not allow another base hit after the three in the first inning until – ever. He got stuck in the bottom 7th, but not on base knocks; instead, with two outs, he walked both Tim Turner and Dan Riley, pinch-hitting in the 8-9 holes. With another lefty stick up in Damian Moreno, the Raccoons brought on Eloy Sencion, who ended the inning with a strikeout.

While Crystal told an unimpressed and flexing Gustaf all about her dream to open a nail salon, and to run away with her ex-boyfriend Jeffery-Tyrone, with whom she was on a break, but not really, and her mother was a total ***** about him, leading to Maud to caution her for language, the Raccoons put Rams and Gowin on base to begin the eighth inning against Bernardino Risso. Cox’ groundout put them into scoring position, with an intentional walk offered to Venegas at that point. The Raccoons responded by hitting for a perpetually slumping Pucks with Tyler Philipps, an insane move only three months earlier, but one that worked in this instance as Philipps snuck a shy single past Uranga to give the Coons a 2-1 lead. – Where all the home runs are, Nick? In your wallet! ….. Risso remained in against Knight, who was retired, but in RBI groundout fashion, before the Elks sent a new lefty reliever, Leo Iniguez, against … well, whomever the Raccoons wished to see hitting for Sencion, which turned out to be the Kyle Brobeck, who hit a fly to shallow right, but was retired by Walker on the slide. Brobeck then took to pitching a scoreless eighth, getting around a walk to Magnussen. It was Daley in the ninth with a 2-run lead. Uranga hit a 1-out single to center, but then was doubled up by Ricky Jimenez, and that was the ballgame. 3-1 Critters. Lavorano 2-5; Ramsay 2-5; Cox 2-4, 2B; Venegas 1-2, BB; Philipps (PH) 1-1, RBI; Taki 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K;

I talked more dosh with Valdes after the game, which eventually led to wads of cash being pulled out of his pocket by Nick, which led to Crystal to instantly let go of Gustaf and instead sit on Valdes’ lap, while Maud calmly kept knitting. In the end I couldn’t coax another $2M out of Nick Valdes to find more offense for the team, partly because at some point Nick and Crystal just took off for a spontaneous holiday in the Bahamas.

Why are you still calm, Maud? Your niece just went off with a … MUCH older man! – What do you mean “well, it’s Tuesday”??

No, Gustaf, I don’t wish to try to close my paws around your enormous biceps. – Fine. – Oh boy, I can’t get around.

My, Gustaf, are you oily! (Cristiano snickers)

Game 2
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Cox – 3B Crispin – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P Wheatley
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 1B Wheeler – LF Magnussen – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 2B F. Marquez – SS Uranga – 3B Ri. Jimenez – P A. Jesus

Anton Jesus nicked Crum to begin the game, and Crum went on to score on a Lonzo single, aided admittedly by an Aaron Walker throwing error. Rams and Cox hit singles to bring Lonzo around, but Crispin then hit into a double play to end the inning, up 2-0. Damian Moreno’s double and Tristan Waker’s single cut it in half right away in the bottom of the inning, but the Coons pulled the run back in the top 2nd. Pucks drew a walk to begin the inning, and was still on first by the time Wheats had bunted himself into a 2-strike count. Pucks went on motion at 0-2, but Jesus missed and Pucks stole second base, then scored when Wheats knocked one into centerfield with the 1-2 pitch. It didn’t take too long for the damn Elks to answer, though. Jose Uranga dropped a ball on the leftfield line for a 1-out double, then scored on a Jimenez single, 3-2. Jesus hit into a double play to end the inning.

Gowin doubled to begin the top 3rd, and Jesus left with an injury, with Hyuma Hitomi taking over. Cox and Crispin made meek outs, but Pucks found a single in right-center and got Gowin in to re-establish a 2-run lead. The inning ended with Knight lining out to Wheeler, but Wheeler fell back after making a leaping snatch and landed awkwardly, leaving the game with neck soreness, to be replaced by Riley. The inning got worse for the Elks, with Moreno hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd before Riley hit into a weird double play, flying out to Cox on the warning track before Moreno tagged and went for second base, but was thrown out, your old 9-4 double play.

Wheats got scratched for another run on three singles in the bottom 4th, with ex-Coon Ricky Jimenez driving in Tristan Waker. PH Tim Burkhart struck out to end the inning, Coons still up 4-3, but another leadoff single for Moreno in the fifth and a 2-out double by Waker got the score even in the fifth. Walker made the third out to Ramsay, and Wheats, whittled down for ten hits in five innings, would not return for the sixth inning. Bak got the bottom 6th, which didn’t go to plan at all. A Crispin error put Jimenez on base, and with Soto’s pinch-hit, 2-out single, the Elks were on the corners. Moreno grounded to Knight – and another throwing error, and the go-ahead run scored…! Lillis replaced him and got a flyout to Crum from Riley to end the ******* inning.

The game was not lost yet, because the Raccoons would get offense from a proven source of lightning – Matt Knight. He whacked a homer off Bernardino Risso to knot the score at five in the eighth inning. The Coons sent Hitchcock into the bottom 8th, but a single here, a hit batter there, and a walk to Moreno, and the bags were full with stinkin’ Elks. Sencion came on in need like the day before, and struck out his guy, Riley, to bail out another guy, like the day before. Nobody reached in the ninth, and the game went to extra innings, where the Raccoons did not make an out before they took the lead on a Cox single and a Crispin homer to right off Ruben Mendez. Daley was in again for the bottom 10th with a 7-5 lead, and this time allowed a walk to Marquez and a single to Jimenez. Those tying runs were in scoring position after a groundout by Leo Iniguez – a reliever, since the Elks’ bench was empty. Damian Moreno was batting though with two outs, 4-for-5 on the day, and no lefty left to save the day. Daley lost him in a full count, then ran another full count against the .185 hitter Riley, who hit a fly to left-center, but too high and too short, and hanging too long to not get Ken Crum to amble under it and make the snag to end the game. 7-5 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5; Ramsay 2-4, BB, 2B; Cox 2-4, BB, RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB, RBI; Sencion 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (4-0);

Eloy Sencion not only killed rallies for back-to-back days, but by pitching for four outs in this game also managed to claim back-to-back wins.

Game 3
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – C Philipps – 2B Boese – P de la Cruz
VAN: CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – LF Magnussen – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – 3B F. Marquez – 2B Uranga – P Herman

Raffy had another one of *those* starts; in the bottom 2nd the damn Elks bashed base hits on three consecutive pitches, singles for Wheeler and Marquez, then a 2-run double for Uranga, to take the lead. He needed 58 pitches through three innings, and he just wasn’t clicking… I went for maximum comfort, Honeypaws in my lap, a bottle of Capt’n Coma in my right paw, and my left holding Slappy’s patient hand while slightly shaking.

Rams homered to left for a run in the fourth, which saw the Elks’ 7-8-9 go down on five pitches, but they got another run off Raffy in the fifth with a leadoff double to right for Moreno and then a Magnussen RBI single to center. Raffy then bunted into a double play to erase Naughty Joe’s leadoff single in the sixth, which was probably the point where I finally abandoned hopes for a sweep in hostile territory. Raffy got through seven, but not without giving up another STUPID run in the bottom 7th. Uranga hit a single, advanced on a groundout, and scored on a passed ball and wild pitch, and I made a note to myself that if I ever managed to get them all stuck into bags and thrown into the Willamette, Raffy and Philipps would have to share a bag. The Elks then added three runs on a hapless Jason Terrell in the bottom 8th. Terrell walked two and allowed as many hits, although Bak also gave up another 2-run single to Tim Turner when he was subbed into a real mess of one in, three on, and one out. 7-1 Canadiens. Crum 2-4;

When I left Raccoons Ballpark to head to the airport for Vegas after this game, I noticed that the previously vacant store across the street was getting a new sign mounted above the door, and it read “Crystal’s Nail Salon”.

Only good things could come of this. For sure.

Raccoons (52-44) @ Aces (46-50) – July 24-26, 2054

The Raccoons were up 2-1 against the Aces this year. Vegas was sixth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed with a +6 run differential. Their starting was meek, but they were third in homers and fourth in defense, while the rest of their starts was mostly around average. Dustin Ransford was the most notable DL occupant for them.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (8-7, 2.45 ERA) vs. Juan Mercado (9-4, 3.72 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (6-7, 4.57 ERA) vs. Medardo Regueir (8-5, 3.80 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (6-7, 3.44 ERA) vs. Chris Cornelius (4-12, 5.02 ERA)

Two southpaws to begin this set, after which they’d only have right-handers left.

The Raccoons also made a DESPERATE roster move. Naughty Joe (.167, 0 HR, 3 RBI) was returned to AAA. A move for a left-handed hitting second baseman didn’t look like it was going to happen – although the Gold Sox were even dangling Ivan Villa three months ahead of him becoming a free agent – but the Raccoons had a left-handed hitting second baseman in the minors. Ryan Allred was batting .343/.429/.433 in St. Pete.

(silence)

I feel like you want more details. He was also doing this in just 26 games at that level, after hitting .243 in Ham Lake to start the year. He was also a #290 pick from the 2050 draft. This was truly the stage of flinging **** at the wall.

Game 1
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Crum – C Gowin – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Shui
LVA: CF Hummel – RF Austin – SS Welter – LF Kaniewski – C DeFrank – 2B J. White – 1B Blair – 3B Tauzin – P J. Mercado

Venegas walked, Lonzo singled, double steal, and then productive outs from the 3-4 batters resulted in a 2-0 lead for the Critters by the time He Shui took to the mound. The inning after, Pucks and Tenazes took the corners with a pair of hits and nobody out… and were stranded with a whole lotta nothing from the 8-9-1 batters, only one of whom was excused. From there until Kyle Brobeck hit a 2-out triple in the sixth inning, the Raccoons were having a bit of a lie-down, hardly challenging Mercado. The former Furball was nevertheless replaced after the Brobeck triple, only for righty Joe Bunch to walk Pucks and give up an RBI single to Prospero Tenazes, the first RBI of the year for him and only the third in 87 career plate appearances. With runners on the corners, Ryan Allred made his major league debut as pinch-hitter for Knight, but his fly to center was caught by Ken Hummel.

Hummel had the Aces’ lone RBI so far in the 3-1 game, singling home Mark Tauzin in the third inning against Shui, who was throwing decently, but unspectacularly, with only three hits and two strikeouts on his ledger through five. Jeremy Welter and John Kaniewski found back-to-back 1-out singles off him in the bottom 6th. Ray DeFrank flew to Tenazes for the second out in a full count, but when Welter went for third base, Tenazes threw the ball away and Welter scored, with the tying run to third base in a hard to explain snafu. Jim White lined out to Lonzo to strand Kaniewski, though. Shui held the lead for another inning, before the Raccoons lost Ken Crum on a leadoff double in the top 8th. He tweaked his knee turning first base and after a few more strides winced and had to resort to hopping the rest of the way, telling me that this could have been a leadoff triple rather easily. Cox ran for him, while righty Bill Lawrence walked Gowin and gave up a single to Brobeck. Three on, no outs, doom. For the Aces. Pucks singled in a run, and another run scored on a wild pitch before Lawrence walked Tenazes. Left-hander Jorge Quinones came on and whiffed Allred, but Rams batted for Shui and slapped home two runs with a single to right-center. Venegas singled to fill them up, and Lonzo singled to score Tenazes, 8-2 by now. Cox singled in two, batting in the same inning he had come on as pinch-runner. Gowin killed the inning with a double play grounder, but the Raccoons had scored seven and were good.

The Raccoons then asked for a few outs from Terrell, maybe an inning. He faced three, retired none, and that was the last time he appeared for the team. Hitchcock had to come in, gave up three hits and four runs, and I was ready to gamble the entire ******* team on black. Top 9th, Adam Eutsler offered leadoff walks to Brobeck and Pucks. Tenazes grounded out, but Allred notched himself a trophy, shoving an RBI single through the right side for his first big league hit. Brobeck then handled the ninth. 11-6 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Cox 1-1, 2 RBI; Brobeck 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K and 2-4, BB, 3B; Puckeridge 3-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Tenazes 2-4, BB, RBI; Ramsay (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI; Shui 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (9-7);

So, more roster moves. A knee sprain relegated Ken Crum to the DL for the next month or so, and then the Raccoons also axed this year’s Rule 5 pick, handing Jason Terrell (0-1, 5.93 ERA) back to the Pacifics after he had walked 30 batters in 41 innings.

The Raccoons proceeded to call up last year’s Rule 5 pick, Antonio Alfaro, who had a 2.45 ERA in St. Petersburg after his early-season demotion, plus another debutee, #37 prospect LF/RF/1B Trent Brassfield, who was not going to turn 22 until September, and was hitting .274/.384/.430 with seven homers and ten steals with the Alley Cats in his first season in AAA. He looked a bit like a copy of Ken Crum, doing everything reasonably well without excelling at anything in particular; he was not a switch-hitter though, he was right-handed. The Coons had picked him up from the Cyclones after the disastrous Juan del Toro experiment ended two years ago this Sunday.

Meanwhile the Aces acquired CL Trent O’Sullivan (2-6, 3.86 ERA, 18 SV) from the Buffaloes, swapping a host of prospects to Topeka.

Game 2
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Pickett
LVA: CF Hummel – RF Austin – SS Welter – LF Kaniewski – C DeFrank – 2B J. White – 1B Blair – 3B Tauzin – P Regueir

Ken Hummel drew a leadoff walk, stole a base, and came around with Welter’s single and Kaniewski’s sac fly in the bottom 1st, putting the Aces 1-0 ahead. The recruit Brassfield opened the top 2nd with a single to center, but was left on base. His next time up he followed Gowin, who had just homered the game to a 1-1 tie, and Ramsay, who knocked one off the fence in right for a double, but struck out, and Cox and Tenazes went down equally weakly to keep the go-ahead run in scoring position. Knight began the fifth with a walk, while Pickett tried to get himself a Victoria Cross, but failed to keep the bunt fair. At 0-2, Knight dashed to second base, arrived there just as the throw by DeFrank hit off his fuzzy bum, and then legged it to third base on the carom. When Pickett flew out to Aubrey Austin on the next pitch, Knight scored for a sac fly and a 2-1 lead. The Raccoons got one more run on a ground-rule double by Venegas, Lonzo’s groundout, and a wild pitch.

Top 6th, Brassfield hit a 1-out single that also moved Rams to second base. Regueir ticked Cox with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases for Tenazes, who popped out, and Knight wobbled out to Jim White to keep all three runners stranded, each on their own island. While Pickett kept pitching neatly but also – like Shui in the opener – rather nondescriptly, Brassfield was on base for the third time in the eighth, drawing a walk off Efrain Estrada and again moving a runner to second base, this time Gowin. Cox killed that one with a double play. Pickett pitched into the eighth, but walked Hummel and was bailed out by Lillis, who kept the 3-1 lead intact. The ninth was Daley’s, and he retired the Aces in order. 3-1 Critters. Gowin 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Brassfield 2-3, BB; Pickett 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (7-7);

Game 3
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – CF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – C Philipps – P Taki
LVA: CF Hummel – RF Austin – SS Welter – LF Kaniewski – C DeFrank – 2B J. White – 1B Blair – 3B Tauzin – P Cornelius

Cornelius walked Venegas, gave up a single to Lonzo, and after Ramsay popped out, put Cox on base by hitting him in the thigh with an 0-2 pitch. Pucks was up next, barreled a drive to right-center and it was well outta here – GRAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAMMM!!!

After giving up a slam inside of 13 pitches, Cornelius settled in at first before getting yanked after fourth-inning walk to Tyler Philipps, getting on ex-Coon Willie Maldonado, while Taki held the Aces to an Austin single the first time through. The Aces came on in the fourth, getting a Welter double, and RBI single from DeFrank, and then a wallbanger in the gap for a 2-out RBI triple by Dave Blair, cutting the score in half, 4-2. Austin and Welter hit 2-out singles in the fifth as Taki kept fading, but he handled Kaniewski’s comebacker for the third out of the inning. Taki needed 103 pitches to complete six innings, and would not return for the seventh, in which Bak gave up a run on three singles, 4-3, before striking out Kaniewski and getting Pucks to chase down DeFrank’s drive to get out of the inning. Where did our offense go after all??

Top 8th, Pucks led off unretired and singled off Bill Lawrence. Brassfield had yet to get on base, but singled over Welter’s head for another single. Allred was 0-3, and flew out to Kaniewski, although Pucks dazzled down to third base on the play. Philipps was also unretired in three attempts, and while he grounded out to short, it got the insurance run home, 5-3. Crispin grounded out to end the inning. Sencion held the line in the eighth, while the top of the order was due in the bottom 9th, with Hitchcock getting the assignment. Everything was to left, as Hummel grounded out to Lonzo, Austin singled in front of Brassfield, and Venegas got a grounder rolled by Welter for the second out. Kaniewski struck out to complete the sweep. 5-3 Coons. Puckeridge 4-4, HR, 4 RBI; Philipps 2-3, BB, RBI;

In other news

July 22 – All CL North games go extra innings; while the Raccoons beat the Canadiens in 10 innings, 7-5, the Loggers beat the Indians in 11 innings, 2-1. The Titans also win in 11 over the Crusaders, but do so rather dramatically with a walkoff grand slam by BOS 1B Larry Rodriguez (.221, 13 HR, 43 RBI) for a 13-9 win.
July 23 – The Crusaders acquire CL Willie Cruz (5-4, 2.83 ERA, 20 SV) from the Stars for a pair of prospects.
July 23 – The Crusaders crush the Titans, 14-4, on 21-2 hits. The only home run of the game is hit by BOS 1B Larry Rodriguez (.222, 14 HR, 46 RBI).
July 24 – The Titans trade RF/LF Josh Garris (.348, 2 HR, 12 RBI) and #100 prospect OF Eli Hopkins to the Buffaloes for OF/1B Will McIntyre (.255, 9 HR, 50 RBI).
July 25 – DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.306, 11 HR, 41 RBI) has four hits with two home runs and five RBI to lead the charge in a 14-4 rout of the Miners.
July 26 – After much speculation about the icon’s future, the Gold Sox and INF Ivan Villa (.281, 13 HR, 62 RBI) sign a 5-yr, $25.5M extension.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.298, 17 HR, 59 RBI), hitting .444 (8-18) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF/1B Mike Harmon (.309, 19 HR, 50 RBI), raking .478 (11-23) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

A 5-1 week and the first sweep of a full set since the Coons scratched out three 1-run wins over the Condors in Tijuana in late May. Is the team finally starting to roll? It would be important to know, because prospects are scarce for us, and it’s only five days to the trade deadline. We’re also only two games behind the Loggers for the division lead.

The bidding war on Angelo Flores escalated to over $1.3M before the Raccoons bailed out. That left us with only two players signed from this year’s July IFA period, and they had cost only $83k in total. Just over half of that went to Venezuelan right-hander Raul Gonzalez and his 4-pitch mix, and the rest to Venezuelan outfielder Felix Ayala, who had some vague power potential.

Speaking of the Condors, we’ll have them in to begin next week’s homestand, along with the Knights. Monday is off, though, and then August the Coons will mostly be a travelling team; only nine home games, and only three in a stretch from August 3 to 27, with six road series in every corner of the country, and beyond.

Fun Fact: 36 years ago today, Oklahoma’s Brian Furst threw his second no-hitter in a 13-0 rout of the Indians.

Perhaps the worst of all the pitchers with multiple no-hitters to their name, Furst had a 12-year career with the Condors, Rebels, and Thunder, with both no-hitters coming for the Thunder. Despite being a #4 pick and making his debut two years later, Furst would pitch to a winning record with a sub-4 ERA just once in his career, a 16-11 season with a 3.59 ERA for the Rebels in 2015. His only All Star Game came in 2013, also with the Rebs. He was prone to home runs and didn’t strike out all that many, with 15+ dingers being standard and 7.0 K/9 never attained.

He retired at age 35 with a 115-151 record, 4.36 ERA, 1 SV, and 1,371 strikeouts in exactly 2,222 innings over 374 appearances (318 starts).