[Westheim]

Raccoons (54-49) @ Aces (46-60) – July 29-31, 2013

The Aces were really close to the worst record in the Continental League, but had fabulously killed the Raccoons for five games out of six this season. They couldn’t do anything right, ranked 11th in both runs scored and runs allowed, didn’t field too well, either, and yet… 5-1. They had only scored 21 runs against us, with no loss by more than three runs, but… well.

Projected matchups:
Colin Baldwin (7-5, 3.77 ERA) vs. William Hinkley (8-11, 4.59 ERA)
Mauro Castro (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Nehemiah Jones (7-7, 3.88 ERA)
Rich Hood (5-7, 4.73 ERA) vs. Jaquan Wagoner (9-4, 3.44 ERA)

The Aces only had right-handed starters, so that was that. They also had NO injuries, and they were still in last place in the South. With the end of July fast approaching, nobody’s job on the Raccoons was safe right now… We’ll trade Slappy for prospects, if there’s a good deal for an apprentice plumber on the table.

The Raccoons – while having penciled Baldwin in to start the opener – scratched him at the last minute. Mauro Castro, who hadn’t pitched in a week, moved up to the Monday game…

I’m sure that means nothing.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – C D. Alexander – 1B Quebell – CF White – SS Sambrano – 3B Canning – P Castro
LVA: LF J. Garcia – 1B McDermott – RF Zackery – 2B H. Jones – SS Dahlke – C D. Rice – CF Alvarez – 3B F. Soto – P Hinkley

Mauro Castro’s first pitch as a Raccoon was right into Jaime Garcia. He then had Sean McDermott retired on an amazing catch by Bednarski before putting on Rusty Zackery with a single, then left the game with an injury, or maybe just had his snoot full. Thus, a bullpen day was declared, with George Youngblood replacing Castro and conceding four straight singles, three of those in 2-strike counts, for the Aces to take a 4-0 lead, which they upped to 5-0 in the second. Sergio Vega replaced Youngblood thereafter and soon found himself with three men on and nobody out in his second inning, the bottom of the fourth, only for Sambrano to muff a perfect double play grounder. The Aces scored two unearned runs in the inning, 7-0, and then an earned one in the fifth, 8-0. The Raccoons had a sudden offensive outburst after five innings of futility when they scored three in the sixth inning on a Bednarski RBI double and D-Alex’ subsequent 2-run homer, and then two more in the seventh on Ken Rodgers’ pinch-hit homer, but it was not really a rally because those were literally almost their only base runners against Hinkley past the second inning. Things got worse and worse for the Raccoons. Ron Thrasher walked everybody in the bottom 7th and was charged a run, and Hoshi Watanabe pitched for two walks and two homers in the bottom 8th before also giving up and getting a massage for some ailment or other. 12-7 Aces. Carmona 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Canning 2-4, 2B; Rodgers (PH) 1-2, HR, 2 RBI;

Wait, how many pitchers are we down now? Hoshi Watanabe had back issues, mild ones, and would be DTD for a few days. Castro was an uncertain case right now.

Interlude: Big Trade!

There was a reason why Colin Baldwin didn’t pitch in the series opener, and it had to do with communications with the Dallas Stars, who were looking for additional players for the stretch drive in a crowded FL West. The Raccoons parted with a total of four players in the trade, and we would not cry for some of them.

The Raccoons picked up #19 prospect SP Graham Wasserman, a right-hander that just turned 23 years old and just a few weeks ago debuted in AAA. The #9 pick in the 2011 draft, Wasserman throws a cutter clocking in at 93mph, a really good fork, and a lesser slider, but also a budding changeup that could become his best pitch. So far he has some walk issues, but that is getting better, too.

The price the Raccoons paid is not as bad as “four players” sound. In fact, one of the players was C Craig Bowen (.183, 4 HR, 17 RBI), who would suck for the last two and a half years of his contract in Dallas, or maybe Cumming, their AAA team. Also included: INF Michael Palmer (.242, 2 HR, 30 RBI), SP Colin Baldwin (7-5, 3.77 ERA), and AAA SP Andy Hackney.

How desperate can the Stars be for Craig Bowen? Their catchers are Mark Thomas and Richard Speed, basically two career backups. Thomas was a Coon once, and Speed was with the Indians behind Jose Paraz for a few years. Neither is hitting much of a lick.

The Raccoons shed $1.1M in 2013 salaries (nobody really cares) and almost $5M in future commitments to Baldwin and Bowen. Palmer would have been a free agent. Hackney was not on the 40-man roster.

Gaping holes had opened on the Raccoons’ 25-man roster. We called up Jonathan Toner, declaring his time to have arrived, and throwing him out of bed at three in the morning to get his furry butt to the airport to start in Las Vegas THAT NIGHT. Also added: C Tom McNeela (.260/.339/.347 in AAA) and 3B Matt Nunley.

Raccoons (54-49) @ Aces (46-60) – July 29-31, 2013

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – C D. Alexander – 3B Nunley – 1B Sambrano – CF Seeley – SS Whitehouse – P Toner
LVA: SS R. Avila – 1B McDermott – RF Zackery – C Durango – 2B H. Jones – CF Kelsey – LF J. Garcia – 3B Dahlke – P N. Jones

Adrian Quebell was conspicuously absent from the lineup here.

Jonathan Toner started his major league career with a grounder to short hit by Ricky Avila, and got his first K in the second inning against Howard Jones. Soon after that he got his first lead when the Coons threw up a 3-spot in the third, sparked by Seeley’s leadoff double, with Yoshi doubling in a pair and scoring on Bednarski’s single, both with two outs. While Toner got all kinds of “first”s knocked off, including first walk (to Rusty Zackery) and first wild pitch in the fourth inning, Yoshi doubled in Carmona once more in the fifth, 4-0. Zackery singled in the sixth, a liner into right, with the Aces sending Avila from second base, but Bednarski threw him out at home. Toner struck out Eduardo Durango then to stave off “first run allowed” for a bit longer. The Aces couldn’t get him, even though they loaded the bases in the seventh inning. Ahmed Williams struck out, and Avila grounded out gently to Pat Whitehouse to keep three runners stranded, but Toner then ran out of juice and opened the eighth inning with consecutive walks to Sean McDermott and Rusty Zackery. Ron Thrasher was probably not the right guy to take care of two on, no outs, but the bullpen had burned mightily in last night’s game and not too much personnel was available. Of course Thrasher continued to be no use dead or alive and conceded both runs by allowing sound contact. Thankfully, Yoshi had homered (after two doubles) in the seventh and the Coons were still up by four. Gibson got the bottom 9th, with Tom Dahlke homering right away, and he then walked PH Ron Richards. Before the total meltdown could be set in motion, the Aces hit into a double play and the game ended quickly. 6-3 Raccoons. Carmona 3-4, BB; Nomura 3-5, HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, W (1-0);

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – 3B Canning – C McNeela – CF Seeley – SS Whitehosue – P Hood
LVA: SS R. Avila – 2B H. Jones – RF Zackery – LF Alvarez – C Durango – 3B F. Soto – CF J. Garcia – 1B McDermott – P Wagoner

Rich Hood gave himself the lead with a leadoff home run in the third inning, the first tally in the game. The Coons had a man on in almost every inning, but … it was only one man. Hood on the mound didn’t explode at the mere sight of the batboy, which was progress, and nursed a one-hitter when he drilled Jaime Garcia in the bottom 5th. Garcia had also been knocked by Castro in his ill-fated Monday start, and when McDermott grounded to short Garcia got knocked again when he collided with Yoshi Nomura. That was one knock too much, and he left the game, being sore all over.

The score was still 1-0 in the bottom 7th when Hood’s spot came up with the bases finally loaded on a walk and two soft singles and one out in the inning. On one hand, a real batter could help here, on the other hand the bullpen was badly depleted and Hood had at least one more inning in him and was STILL nursing that one-hitter. Hood hit a terrible bloop to shallow center, it fell in, and the second run came home, and then Ricardo Carmona hit a 2-run single to rather deep left, 4-0. Of course, Hood then felt the need to correct things, walked Francisco Soto with one out in the bottom 7th and conceded a homer to John Kelsey to cut the advantage in half and also punch his exit ticket. Not that the Raccoons’ bullpen brought any relief. Constantino and Sugano conspired for two hits and two walks in the bottom 8th, with Sugano offering a bases-loaded walk to Soto with two down before striking out Kelsey. Watanabe turned out to be unavailable to try his best with a 4-3 lead in the ninth, and so Sugano kept fudging along. McDermott hit a leadoff single before Yoshi made the niftiest play on Danny Rice’s grounder and turned it into a double play you would have had to see to believe. Avila grounded out to Canning. 4-3 Coons. Carmona 3-4, 2 RBI; Hood 6.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (6-7) and 2-3, HR, 2 RBI;

So, looks like Quebell only had a day off on Tuesday, huh?

Rich Hood had the first homer by a Raccoons pitcher since Gil McDonald in ’11.

Oh, by the way, Mauro Castro was diagnosed with radial nerve compression, and he’s out for this season and then some. Hooray! More DL fodder! Castro was filed away on the 60-day DL right away to be swiftly forgotten along with his 54.00 ERA.

With another gaping hole in the rotation having been opened, Sergio Vega was reappropriated to make another spot start on Saturday while I try to work something out with the crumbs I have left. Juan Gallegos was recalled.

Raccoons (56-50) vs. Loggers (47-61) – August 1-4, 2013

The Loggers were eighth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, not nearly as futile as in recent years, but still not very good at all. They were a slow team, didn’t field too well, and also had not exactly a lot of power. Yet, somehow they had managed to stay afloat, 4-3, against the Raccoons in 2013.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (4-7, 3.38 ERA) vs. Matt Crisler (0-4, 5.36 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-8, 3.88 ERA) vs. Jim Pennington (6-7, 3.70 ERA)
Sergio Vega (2-2, 1.76 ERA) vs. Bruce Morrison (7-10, 4.27 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (1-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. Gabriel Caro (7-11, 4.21 ERA)

Another full set of right-handers. 1B Mike Rucker had been the CL Hitter AND Rookie of the Month in July, batting .289 with 16 homers for the season.

Game 1
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Howell – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – C R. Hernandez – 3B Jennings – CF MacNamara – 2B O. Sandoval – P Crisler
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – C D. Alexander – 1B Quebell – LF Sambrano – SS Canning – 3B Nunley – P Conway

Rucker was at the plate in the first with runners on the corners (with Rob Howell getting nicked by Conway), struck out in a full count, and D-Alex threw out Howell racing to second. Crisler walked the bases full in the bottom 1st, but the Coons only managed a sac fly by Quebell, and Conway conceded that lead and more in the fourth inning. Despite Oscar Sandoval being walked intentionally to bring up Crisler with the bases loaded and two outs, Crisler singled to center and the Loggers plated two to zip 2-1 ahead. The Loggers added two more in the fifth on Raúl Hernandez’ homer and an RBI triple by Brian MacNamara, and the Raccoons in five innings had only one hit – and that was Conway’s. Wicked game!

Wicked didn’t mean the Coons had any fun, though. Conway continued to get lit up and was knocked out with one out in the sixth inning when Rob Howell doubled to center to score Zach Knowling. Youngblood replaced Conway, Justin Dally reached on an infield single and Mike Rucker – freshly minted CL Hitter of the Month – crushed a 3-run homer to blow the doors off the opener. Youngblood stayed in, walked Hernandez, walked Dave Jennings, then conceded an RBI double to MacNamara. Constantino surrendered the remaining runners on a 2-out single by Corey Martin, who had opened the inning by hitting for Crisler and had made the first out. The Loggers’ 7-spot hurt quite bad and Bednarski was removed from the game after the sixth to get him off his feet in this long stretch. Carmona came out after singling in the top 7th, in which the Raccoons scored two on Walt Canning’s homer, but c’mon, who gave a ****? 12-3 Loggers. White 1-1; McNeela (PH) 1-1; Seeley (PH) 1-2;

Five batters faced, five runners on, five runs in – George Youngblood fired up his ERA to 5.51, and was sent to AAA the next morning. The heavily unloved Pat Slayton was recalled.

Game 2
MIL: LF Knowling – SS Howell – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – C R. Hernandez – CF Gilmor – 3B Jennings – 2B O. Sandoval – P Pennington
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – C D. Alexander – 1B Quebell – LF Sambrano – SS Canning – 3B Nunley – P Santos

Jim Pennington pitched four no-hit innings before leaving with an injury – it was the year of the broken pitcher after all – while Santos spilled three singles but was still nursing a shutout through four. Long man Melvin Alvarado walked more than he struck out and put on Quebell with an infield single to start the fifth inning. The Coons loaded them up with Sandy walking and a bloop single by Nunley before Santos flew out to Nick Gilmor (more on him below), Quebell tagged and was thrown out. Justin Dally’s double in the top of the sixth would break the ice, scoring Zach Knowling, who had reached on a soft single past Quebell to start the inning. The Coons would have Carmona on to start the bottom 8th, but he was caught stealing for the 300th time. Santos pitched a complete game on 98 pitches, about the most he could throw, but support was still sorely lacking in the bottom of the ninth inning, with Jose Ramos facing the 4-5-6 batters. When D-Alex hit a leadoff single, Seeley ran for him. Quebell grounded out, moving Seeley to second, but Ramos buckled down and retired Sambrano and White in short order to save the game. 1-0 Loggers. D. Alexander 2-3, BB; Santos 9.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, L (6-9);

That Hector Santos is 6-9 is truly heartbreaking…

Matt Pruitt came back from hitting .500 on rehab to replace Seeley, who was returned to AAA with a .178 batting average.

Game 3
MIL: 3B Jennings – SS Howell – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – C R. Hernandez – CF Gilmor – LF MacNamara – 2B Ito – P B. Morrison
POR: LF Sambrano – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – 1B Quebell – CF White – SS Canning – C McNeela – 3B Rodgers – P Vega

The Saturday game brought yet more horrors, as Vega lasted only three-plus innings, with a third inning that seemingly never ended, in which the Loggers plated three, and in which Quebell stood out with clumsy defense for two generous singles that could just as well have been errors. Vega couldn’t get anybody out in the fourth inning either, with Thrasher inheriting runners on the corners. He casually struck out the side. If he just once could do that in a winning effort…

Matt Pruitt’s first AB back in the Bigs came batting for Thrasher in the bottom of the fourth. Morrison was on seven strikeouts already (not his usual nature, though), but had allowed a single to Pat White, who had moved to third base on a passed ball and a wild pitch. Rodgers had walked to bring up the pitcher’s spot, and Pruitt hit a 25-foot grounder that was easily taken for the third out at first base by Raúl Hernandez. Despite the Raccoons flailing left and right against Morrison they would hold a 4-3 lead after six innings. Yoshi hit a solo homer, Sambrano scored a run with some quick dashing in the fifth, and in the bottom 6th, D-Alex hit for Gallegos with two on and one out and hit a liner into right that scored both runners with a 2-run double, flipping the score. It didn’t stay flipped for too long, however. Manobu Sugano couldn’t be trusted with anything, much less a 4-3 lead. He walked two in the seventh, then served up a booming 3-run homer to pinch-hitter Tim Pace. The Raccoons tied the game once more in the bottom of the inning when Quebell singled against Kevin Cummings, who then went on to surrender doubles to Pat White and Walt Canning, the latter scoring both runners and knotting the score at six. The Raccoons’ drained bullpen dragged itself just barely into extra innings, but not for long. Justin Dally ravaged Josh Gibson for a 3-run homer with two outs in the 10th, and the Raccoons were staring at the prospect of getting swept in a 4-game set by the horrendous Loggers. 9-6 Loggers. Nomura 2-6, HR, RBI; Quebell 2-5, RBI; White 3-5, 2B; Canning 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Rodgers 2-2, 2 BB; D. Alexander (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Gallegos 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Slappy? Is that liquor stash still there were I left it before … - Why isn’t it there anymore? – Of course you did.

Game 4
MIL: 3B Jennings – SS Howell – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – C R. Hernandez – CF Gilmor – LF MacNamara – 2B Ito – P Caro
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Nomura – RF Bednarski – C D. Alexander – 1B Quebell – SS Canning – CF White – 3B Nunley – P Toner

In his second go-round Toner was not only much less successful than in his first, no, I could also barely resist the urge of sending him straight back to St. Petersburg and have Yoshi Nomura start and finish every game on the mound from here until the season would mercifully end. Toner allowed hits to the first three batters in the game, with Dave Jennings and Rob Howell hitting singles before Justin Dally doubled, 1-0, then walked three batters and made a mind-boggling error on Gabriel Caro’s grounder. The Loggers scored four in giveaway fashion, and the Raccoons were so getting swept…

Carmona reached on an error and was caught stealing in the first, as usual, and from there it was just rolling up and waiting for dinner for the Raccoons. Gabriel Caro spilled two singles in four innings, throwing barely 50 pitches, but Toner was done with almost 100 pitches and five runs allowed. When Pat Slayton started an effort of long relief in the fifth, Raúl Hernandez led off with reaching first base on an uncaught third strike. Gilmor reached with an infield single and soon enough the Loggers had added a run and led 6-0. Gilmor would hit another infield single his next time up, that one with the bases loaded and two outs, and Slayton then walked MacNamara to force in another run. The Raccoons would lose Dylan Alexander to a hyperextended elbow sustained in an on-base collision on a ****ty double play grounder by all-****ty Matt Pruitt in the sixth inning, shortly before Raccoons Ballpark decided it had seen enough and with the sound of rolling thunder monumentally collapsed and buried everybody in attendance (not too many…) underneath the ruins. 8-1 Loggers. White 2-4, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-4; Gallegos 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

(has found a bottle, will certainly also find mental peace before long)

In other news

July 29 – The grand tour around the CL North continues for 1B/3B Daniel Sharp (.258, 5 HR, 42 RBI). The 36-year old is dealt from the Canadiens to the Crusaders for MR Johnny Smith (0-4, 4.78 ERA) and a prospect. The only CL North team Daniel Sharp has never played for now are the Titans.
July 29 – The Thunder trade LF/RF Johnny Crum (.318, 4 HR, 24 RBI) to the Knights for MR Andrew Wills (1-4, 4.10 ERA) and a middling catching prospect.
July 30 – Milwaukee’s 24-year old RF/CF Nick GIlmor (.280, 4 HR, 21 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 15-1 roadkill of the Knights. Gilmor has four hits and drives in two while becoming the fourth Logger and the first in the 21st century to hit for the cycle, the 52nd in ABL history. It’s the second time that consecutive cycles are hit for in the same ballpark, as the Knights’ Gil Rockwell hit a natural cycle against the Canadiens just five weeks ago. The other instance was just a few years ago, LVA Ricardo Garcia cycling at Denver in ’10 before Denver’s Eugene Carter cycled against the Bayhawks in the same building a year later.
July 30 – The Thunder pick up SP Wes Yates (5-9, 4.48 ERA) from the Condors for two prospects.
July 31 – The Thunder beat the Canadiens 6-3 on the strength of only three hits, living off nine walks, an error, and a hit batter.
August 2 – The Buffaloes strand 16 in a nine-inning game in Washington, losing 7-6 despite out-hitting the Capitals 17-9.

Complaints and stuff

And thusly, Raúl Castillo’s record for coming here and breaking was … broken. Congrats, Mauro Castro. Must be the surname.

On one hand, I would like the Loggers to not finish last for a while. No team should finish last for so many years in a row (except the Canadiens), but come on, does it really have to be like that!?

When is the right time to mention that all those hitters we drafted in the first few rounds in June are batting well under .200 in Aumsville?

Meanwhile the price tag on Danny Arguello is up to $440k and in his latest player report, Calderón slashed the ratings of both Daniel Dickerson and Nick Brown, the latter being hacked from 20 stuff to a mere 17. Fun times ahead.