[Westheim]

Ultimately everybody arrived at the park on Monday night, nobody had cut himself, and minor mental breakdown or not, Carmona was playing and batting leadoff. Opposing teams were clearly in his head, but it wouldn’t get better by sitting on the bench and eating ice cream. For what it was worth, opposing teams were also in my head, but nobody gave a dime in a gutter about that either.

Raccoons (11-13) @ Loggers (10-14) – May 5-7, 2014

The Loggers were in last place, had lost four straight … the same narrative since 2005, basically, their first losing season after the glory decade-plus that saw them win the North twice and finish runner-up eight times, including one game out three times. They had finished last, or in a tie for fifth, every year since 2006. But maybe the Raccoons would be for dinner now. Their batting was not spectacular, but that was a gentle description for what the brown-clad lineup was doing, and while the Loggers’ rotation was embarrassing with a 5+ ERA, they had the best bullpen in the CL. And like the Coons would do anything against their starters! We had already gone a dismal 7-11 against them in 2013.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (1-2, 1.82 ERA) vs. Brian Patrick (2-2, 5.29 ERA)
Nick Brown (3-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. Bruce Morrison (2-3, 5.12 ERA)
Pat Slayton (4-1, 6.94 ERA) vs. Gabriel Caro (2-3, 4.21 ERA)

That’s three more right-handers. Again, Slayton was getting the start to spare us the pain of sifting through the AAA bunch for a semi-palatable starter (there was none, everybody was getting clobbered and the Alley Cats were darn close to playing .300 ball). However, unless the Stars will make a pitching change until then, we’re guaranteed a left-handed pitcher to oppose us on the weekend. They have three of those in their rotation.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – RF Seeley – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – 3B Nunley – SS Canning – P Conway
MIL: 3B J.J. Rodriguez – 2B Roncero – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – CF Enriquez – SS O. Sandoval – LF Hodgers – C Leach – P Patrick

The Loggers went up 1-0 in the first when Juan Jose Rodriguez singled over Canning and scored on Justin Dally’s double. A few years after batting eighth and being made fun of, Dally had actually matured into a worthwhile player, hitting for almost a .900 OPS in 2013. The Raccoons had a chance in the top 2nd, admittedly generated by J.J. Rodriguez’ error, but had runners on the corners and two outs for Walt Canning, when D-Alex fell asleep and was picked off first base to end the inning. The first two innings were a bad struggle for Conway, who didn’t look like he’d see the middle innings and allowed another run, wild-pitch-aided as it was, in the bottom 2nd, but then actually started to put up zeroes. Quebell homered in the fourth to get the Coons back to 2-1, but no big inning was coming together.

Before Quebell homered, Carmona had reached base with a single in the first inning. Foster Leach had a good arm, but even so, our third base coach had been prepared and held up a huge three-by-two-feet cardboard sign with huge black lettering; “HOLD”. Carmona held, Sandy grounded into a force at second, then was caught stealing by Leach – perfect execution all around.

Conway went seven without allowing as much as a hit (other than a hit batsman) after the third inning, something that had not been in the cards initially. He was, however, still trailing when Merritt hit for him (and flew out) to start the top of the eighth. Then Carmona singled to Dally in right, representing the tying run. In addition to the third base coach’s “HOLD” sign, our hitting coach switched the real-size traffic light that had been erected in the dugout after the Sambrano CS to bright red. Sandy fouled out, Seeley struck out. Top 9th, Quebell led off with a double off Jose Ramos. Now THAT’S an interesting development! Cowan ran for him (which had the added benefit of not getting to abuse a helpless bat), but this turned out to have been an unnecessary move. D-Alex homered with one out, flipping the score and taking Conway off the hook. The Loggers crumbled further, as Ramos allowed a single to Nunley, then made an error. Lefty Orlando Valdez would concede an insurance run to Carmona with a 2-out single before Angel got his dirty paws on a 4-2 lead. Victor Hodgers hit his first pitch for a single to bring up the tying run, but Zach Knowling and Dave Jennings struck out and Rodriguez grounded the first pitch he got to Canning to end the game. 4-2 Raccoons. Carmona 3-5, RBI; Quebell 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Alexander 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Conway 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Josh Gibson got the win with two outs in the eighth, while the only guys on the roster with more than one W remain the two guys to start the next two games, and one of them damn sure ain’t a starter.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – SS Sambrano – LF Seeley – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – 3B Nunley – P Brown
MIL: 3B J.J. Rodriguez – SS O. Sandoval – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – CF Enriquez – LF Knowling – 2B Jennings – C Leach – P B. Morrison

Interestingly it was the usually dull Quebell (Quedull?) who appeared to get things moving here. He hit a leadoff triple in the second inning and Bergquist promptly serviced him with an RBI single, the first run in the game. Bednarski took one pitch to hit into a double play – glad we had that “first” ticked off as well. Morrison walked a pair ahead of Brownie, then HIT Brownie, and while there weren’t may Raccoons fans in the park, there was still an audible gasp released by the entire attendance. Brown was a bit worn by the knock, but picked himself out of the dirt and jogged to first, probably angry that he couldn’t show off his .545 batting skills. Carmona hit with the bases loaded, but grounded out to Jennings. Brown then hit Knowling in the bottom of the inning, but it looked accidental enough to not spawn boos or spark a riot. The Loggers left him on second when Leach grounded out.

But by the third, Brown appeared visibly out of shape. Morrison led off with a double, Sandoval singled, and Brown balked in the tying run. Dally and Rucker walked to load the bases with one out, Victor Enriquez popped out to Bergquist, but Knowling volleyed a tremendous shot to center that Carmona dashed after and made a lunging grab on the track before bouncing off the wall – and held on to the ball that appeared to spring loose just as he braced for impact. So everybody had their 3 LOB inning now, and Brownie, 2 K shy of reaching 16th on the all time leaderboard, had more hit batsmen than strikeouts to show off. He got a new lead, however, when Carmona hit a 2-out, 2-run double in the top of the fourth. He just had to nurse it for a few more innings, but that seemed exceedingly hard right now. However, Leach struck out flailing over ball four in the dirt in the bottom 4th, getting Brownie to 2,640 K and a tie for 16th, and Dally struck out raking in the fifth to break the tie. The Loggers got a walk and two hits off him in the sixth, Leach drove home a 2-out run, and Brown departed after six messy innings. Between Constantino and Thrasher the Coons came awfully close to blowing the 3-2 lead in the seventh (Tim Pace struck out with the bases loaded), but Sakellaris had a clean eighth and Sambrano drove home Palmer Taylor with a 2-out triple in the ninth to bring up Angel with the same score as the day before, but this time he was facing the top of the order (with reliever Ricardo Munoz lodged in the #2 hole) rather than the bottom. No danger developed, however, as J.J. Rodriguez struck out, Roncero rolled one to second, and Dally rolled one to third. 4-2 Brownies! Quebell 2-4, 3B, 2B; Bednarski 2-4;

It wasn’t pretty, but Brownie went to 4-0 on the season, trailing only 5-0 Zach Boyer on the Condors in the majors in that regard. His stuff has been MIA in the last two starts, however.

A sweep would be nice. But… Slayton.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Merritt – LF Seeley – 1B Quebell – 2B Bergquist – RF Bednarski – C Alexander – SS Canning – P Slayton
MIL: 3B J.J. Rodriguez – 2B Roncero – RF Dally – 1B M. Rucker – LF Knowling – SS O. Sandoval – CF Hodgers – C Pace – P Caro

Foster Leach had a murder arm, Tim Pace very much didn’t. Carmona opened this day game with a single, and was visibly itching. Just then, a plane flew over the park, a small two-decker with a banner affixed to the tail that read “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT”. Carmona held, went to third on a Seeley single, and scored on a sac fly, 1-0. Then came Slayton. The Loggers had two hits in the first, but Mike Rucker hit into a double play. They didn’t threaten again until the fourth, then had runners on the corners with nobody out, but Justin Dally pulled something while he legged out his infield single and had to be replaced by Nick Gilmor. Rucker hit a sac fly to deep left to tie the game, but then Knowling hit into another double play. Another double play would end the bottom 5th, but not until after Gabriel Caro had grabbed the lead with a 1-out RBI single.

Slayton was done after five, and would not pick up a major-league-leading fifth win. Thrasher got three lefties in the sixth, and the top 7th saw Canning get smacked and an error by Silvestro Roncero that put Sandy Sambrano on base as means to create a chance for Coon City. Carmona singled to load the sacks with one out, and Merritt came through when he cracked a 1-2 pitch past the lunging Rodriguez into leftfield for two runs to score, 3-2 Coons. Seeley then hit into a double play, and the ****ty Raccoons pen blew the lead in a hurry. Thrasher faced three more, but put two on, and Sakellaris failed to be of any help, instead allowing Caro to hit a 2-out, 2-run single to flip the score right back in the Loggers’ favor. Top 9th, Taylor pinch-hit for Canning, but grounded out against Ramos. Sandy grounded out as well, but Carmona drew a 2-out walk and was the tying run. A group of cheerleaders erupted from the Raccoons’ dugout and hopped up and down the third base line before forming, with their arms and legs, the letters “IF YOU MUST…” – he took off on the first pitch, the Loggers knew that he would, but Pace didn’t get him – safe! Merritt lined out to end the game, though. 4-3 Loggers. Carmona 2-4, BB; Seeley 2-4; Cowan 1-1; Sugano 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

That successful if meaningless swipe brings the Raccoons’ SB% to a crisp 33.3% (9-for-27) this year. Opposing runners are successful 65.2% (15-for-23) of the time.

Raccoons (13-14) @ Stars (11-16) – May 9-11, 2014

The Stars’ problem was not readily identified. They were above average in runs scored (5th in the FL), and sixth in runs allowed. The rotation was solid, the pen not quite. Maybe their FL-worst defense was the culprit. No, they had actually only allowed seven unearned runs, less than the Critters, who were credited with a much better defense. Things were mysterious here for sure.

The Raccoons played the Stars rarely in the last nine years, but took all three series when they did square up against them. Their last series loss came in 2004. Overall we’re .519 against Dallas, excluding the postseason…

In the last week, the Stars had lost 3B/2B Hector Garcia (.307, 3 HR, 8 RBI) to a fractured knee cap, and also SP Jose Flores (2-2, 3.23 ERA) to a torn UCL and Tommy John surgery. Both were out for the season, and Flores even for longer. Flores had won 21 games in 2012.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (1-1, 2.01 ERA) vs. Fred O’Quinn (2-2, 3.63 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (1-3, 4.00 ERA) vs. Ron Bartlatt (0-0, 8.31 ERA)
Bill Conway (1-2, 1.99 ERA) vs. Colin Baldwin (1-2, 5.25 ERA)

As promised, southpaws! Two will be book-ending this series, and we no Baldwin very well. Bartlatt on Saturday is not confirmed yet. This would have been Flores’ spot. We could actually also get another lefty in swingman Victor Scott (0-1, 20.25 ERA) if they’re willing to roll the dice. The Coons are still 0-0 against southpaws this year, but it will change now. When O’Quinn got ready to pitch to Carmona to get the first game underway, two Coons bench players mused in the dugout, half-jokingly, “What’s he doin’ out there?” – “Yeah. He’s doin’ it all wrong.” – “Should someone tell him?” – “Nah. That’s how they do it in *Texas*” …

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – SS Canning – P Santos
DAL: CF J. Harris – SS A. Rodriguez – 1B Mendoza – C Case – LF Perri – RF Bonneau – 3B J. Amador – 2B K. Sato – P O’Quinn

The Raccoons had an outburst in the second inning, plating three runs on four hits, including an RBI double by D-Alex and also a wild pitch. That was a nice start to a game, but there were bleak spots as well, like Quebell using a 3-0 pitch to hit into a double play in the fifth, or Hector Santos not getting a bunt down in either of his first two plate appearances. While he kept the Stars mostly off the bases, a 2-out brain fart of his cost a run in the bottom of the fifth. Yohan Bonneau had singled with two outs and Santos threw a pitch so wild, it should have counted for two WP’s and a spanking. The extra base allowed Bonneau to score on Jesus Amador’s dink single into the shallow outfield regions and the Coons lead was reduced from four runs to three unnecessarily. Top 6th, Canning with the leadoff walk, next bunt opportunity for Santos, who this time got it down, and it was a beauty. Aaron Case hurried a terrible throw that skipped up the rightfield line and the Coons had runners on second and third with nobody out. Carmona and Santos both hit RBI singles, 6-1, then pulled off a double steal off O’Quinn’s replacement Dan Parker (a Raccoon for 12 blessedly forgotten games in 2008) to get back to runners on second and third and nobody out! Both runs would score on a Merritt sac fly and a Bednarski single, running the lead to 8-1. Santos reappeared for the bottom 6th on 64 pitches and now could show off pitch count economics for extra points, but made a mess in the seventh inning. Hugo Mendoza singled to get going, and then he drilled Case. Lionnel Perri grounded to Bergquist, who threw to Canning, who dropped the ball, and the Stars had three on and nobody out. Santos walked home a run against Bonneau before departing, with Constantino getting out of the jam with minimal damage, one run scoring on Kuni Sato’s groundout after he K’ed Amador. PH Juan Diaz fouled out to Merritt, leaving the score at 8-3. Neither team seriously threatened in the last two innings. 8-3 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5, 2 RBI; Bednarski 4-5, RBI; Bergquist 2-4; Seeley (PH) 1-1; Alexander 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Canning 2-3, BB, RBI; Constantino 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 1B Sambrano – LF Seeley – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – C Alexander – 3B Nunley – SS Canning – P Toner
DAL: CF J. Harris – SS A. Rodriguez – 1B Mendoza – C Case – LF Perri – RF Bonneau – 3B J. Amador – 2B K. Sato – P Bartlatt

Ricardo Carmona brought a box of cookies to the dugout for this one after telling team mates he was a bit tired of sunflower seeds and the manager wouldn’t let them have burgers, and that the sugar was also calming the voices. While it might be necessary to investigate the nature of those voices and what they were telling him, he had to bat and the cookies were gone (and the box had chew marks on it, too) by the time he tripled to open the game and scored on Sandy’s double, a new nickname was born. Atop the order, “Cookie” Carmona and Sandy Sambrano, both with extra base hits and runs scored in the first inning, handing Toner a 2-0 lead. More extra-base hits were coming. Canning doubled home Nunley in the second, 3-0, and Sandy opened the third with another double past Bonneau and scored swiftly on Seeley’s single to left, 4-0. “Cookie” swiped a base in the fifth, but was left on, and Toner found trouble in the bottom of the inning.

Toner had allowed only one hit in four innings, but hit Perri at the start of the fifth and then allowed a single to Bonneau. Amador walked, and the tying run came to the plate with nobody out, but Toner wiggled out with minimal damage, conceding only one run on Sato’s grounder to first. PH Juan Diaz struck out, and John Harris rolled one to Canning for the third out, the score remaining 4-1. But the Stars had found his number. While Mendoza ran themselves out of the sixth when he was gunned down by D-Alex, they got another run off Toner in the seventh, which he didn’t finish. Sugano came out to face pinch-hitter Roberto Pacheco as the tying run with two outs and struck him out. The Critters left runners on second and third in the top 8th when Alexander struck out, but the Stars didn’t fare better, Perri leaving the tying runs aboard when he glared at strike three from Ron Sakellaris. In a depressing game of back-and-forth, Sandy struck out to strand two in the top 9th, and now it was on Angel Casas, and the Stars rose up. Bonneau singled and moved up to second on Amador’s groundout. Kuni Sato, also an ex-Coon, hit a hard double into the left corner, easily plating Bonneau, 4-3. Fernando Chavez popped out to shallow center, leaving John Harris, an unheralded youngster in his third season of not getting many at-bats unless it was for injuries. He hit at Angel’s first pitch, popped up and Quebell hustled in and caught the ball. 4-3 Critters. Carmona 2-4, BB, 3B; Sambrano 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Quebell (PH) 1-1; Nunley 2-4; Toner 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (2-3);

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – LF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – 1B Quebell – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – C Hernandez – P Conway
DAL: CF J. Harris – SS A. Rodriguez – 1B Mendoza – C Case – LF Perri – RF Bonneau – 3B J. Amador – 2B K. Sato – P Baldwin

Conway was a mess in this Sunday affair, with the Stars storming out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on the strength of a leadoff walk to Aaron Case and two doubles by Bonneau and Sato, the latter resulting out of a grievous misplay by Sandy Sambrano in leftfield. The Coons would make up the deficit in the fourth (despite Sambrano being caught stealing) fueled by a “Cookie” triple, with Quebell and Bergquist driving in the two runs with singles. Conway was erratic, though, walked the leadoff guy Perri in the bottom 4th and then conceded a cannon shot to Bonneau that put the Stars up by two right away again. Then he walked Amador…

Conway somehow went six, abusing the defense on the way, and Hernandez threw out another base stealer to keep the Stars somewhat within reach. Armando Rodriguez then butchered Bergquist’s grounder to open the top 7th and the tying run came up for the Coons. Canning walked, putting the tying run on, and when Baldwin threw a pitch well over the head of his catcher Case, the tying runs even were in scoring position with nobody gone. Too much defensive befuddlement cost the Stars dearly, as Hernandez hit an RBI single, Carmona an RBI groundout, and Sambrano an RBI single to take a 5-4 lead in the inning. Then Sambrano was thrown out again. Lock the showers!! We’ll fly home smelly, but we’ll fly the **** home!!

Gibson had a scoreless bottom 7th, and the Coons had two on with one out in the eighth when D-Alex hit for Bergquist against right-hander Jarrod Morrison – straight into a double play. Thrasher did a quick eighth before Canning hit a leadoff triple off Morrison in the ninth. Hernandez was put on intentionally and Taylor struck out, but that still brought up the top of the order and Cookie and Sandy, but they only produced one insurance run (better than nothing, though) when Carmona flew out to center and Canning made for home. Angel got grounders to Canning and Taylor before punching out Amador, and the Coons had a sweep in Dallas! 6-4 Raccoons! Quebell 2-4, RBI; Hernandez 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 8 – Without precedence, TWO players hit three home runs in one game on Thursday! SFW INF Jamie Wilson (.297, 5 HR, 12 RBI) humbles the Scorpions with three home runs, all solo shots, and four hits total in an 11-2 thrashing in Sioux Falls, while in California the Knights’ 1B/LF Gil Rockwell (.311, 12 HR, 19 RBI) crushes three bombs against the Bayhawks – also all solo shots. The Knights still lose, 6-5, only the third time the feat has been achieved for a losing team. These are the 26th and 27th occurrence of 3+ HR in one game, more than half of which have come in the last ten years. For the Warriors it is the second 3 HR game (Raúl Bovane, 2009), for the Knights the third (Michael Root, 1989; Gonzalo Munoz, 2010). Munoz also hit his three home runs in San Francisco, but the Knights won the game then.
May 8 – NYC SP Paul Miller (2-2, 4.07 ERA) 3-hits the Indians in a 6-0 shutout.
May 10 – VAN SP William Raven (2-1, 2.48 ERA) has a partially torn UCL and will try to rehab the injury and avoid Tommy John surgery. He might still be out for the season.
May 10 – BOS LF Earl Clark (.292, 1 HR, 10 RBI) is out until late June with torn ankle ligaments.
May 10 – The Condors pick up #94 prospect RF/CF/3B Craig Abraham from the Knights, along with MR Dave Shannon (2-1, 6.75 ERA) for RF Jimmy Raupp, who only appeared in AAA so far this season. He batted .217 with five homers in limited action with the Condors in 2013.
May 10 – The Miners have two hits to the Canadiens’ eight, but the hits are homers by Steve Butler and Dave McCormick and the Miners prevail 2-1.
May 11 – Old warhorse SFW SP Tony Hamlyn (3-1, 4.60 ERA) was clobbered in an on-base collision and will miss at least one start with a sprain to his non-pitching elbow.
May 11 – The Knights out-hit the Cyclones 13-10, but somehow lose 11-2. ATL SP Shaun Yoder’s line of one inning pitched and seven runs allowed give a hint as to why.

Complaints and stuff

Carmona’s triple on Sunday has him with a 12-game hitting streak.

The Raupp deal between the Knights and Condors is also a bit of a salary dump on the Knights’ part. Shannon is actually due about half a million bucks, and he’s atrocious. The money freed up might help the Knights make a move that actually helps their chances in an open CL South.

About starters. Dickerson might be back at the start of June. We don’t need a guy in his next turn, but on the 13th the Coons start a 16-day string without an off day, and will need three starts from somebody. AAA is horrible. It’s like they’re all pitching with explosive diarrhea, all the time, down there. We could move Constantino to the rotation for the rest of the month. He actually has four different pitches, none too great, but… He actually has 15 bit league starts with the Loggers between 2009 and 2011, but it damn sure wasn’t a nice experience for anybody involved. Yeah, that might be the way to go, though.

The best ERA’s in AAA belong to Enrique Guzman, a Whitebread find that has never really been talked about, Sergio Vega, the endless rhubarb gum, and only then Graham Wasserman, but that one is already well north of four. And with 17 walks in 33 innings.

Deeper in the system, 2013 top pick Andy Bareford had suffered through a debilitatingly disastrous first professional season, batting .167/.213/.219 for Aumsville. He’s been .330/.379/.491 this year! However, he’s torn his labrum and will be out until the summer.

And now …!

ABL CAREER STRIKEOUTS

1st – Martin Garcia – 3,783
2nd – Tony Hamlyn – 3,725 (active)
3rd – Woody Roberts – 3,313 (HOF)
4th – Aaron Anderson – 3,225
5th – Carlos Castro – 3,198 (HOF)
6th – Javier Cruz – 3,164
7th – Chris York – 3,103 (active)
8th – Carlos Asquabal – 2,995 (HOF)
9th – Arnold McCray – 2,900 (HOF)
10th – Bastyao Caixinha – 2,844 (HOF)
11th – Kisho Saito – 2,800 (HOF)
12th – Robbie Campbell – 2,763
13th – Kelvin Yates – 2,736 (active)
14th – Leland Lewis – 2,664 (HOF)
15th – Manuel Movonda – 2,663
16th – Nick Brown – 2,641 (active)
17th – Kiyohira Sasaki – 2,640
18th – Pancho Trevino – 2,603 (active)
19th – Craig Hansen – 2,578 (HOF)
t-20th – Dan George – 2,516
t-20th – Bill Smith – 2,516

The next-closest active pitcher is Rod Taylor, sitting in 28th with 2,307 K. Can’t wait for him to move up and kick Bill Smith in the teeth and out of the top 20.