[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Knights (4-2) – April 10-12, 2017

The Knights had come out of the gates swinging the bats, scoring the second-most runs, but had also allowed quite a few, ranking ninth in runs allowed. The main leak was the pen, which had run up a 5.40 ERA so far. The Coons had won the season series from the Knights for four straight years, including back-to-back 5-4 nail biters.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Stephen Quirion (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Hector Santos (1-0, 1.04 ERA) vs. Pancho Trevino (0-0, 1.29 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. Drew King (0-1, 7.11 ERA)

Those were all right-handers.

Game 1
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – C Luna – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – RF Mims – 1B Betancourt – P Quirion
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – 2B Walter – RF Waggoner – C Denny – P Brown

And the Knights came out swinging right away. A Devin Hibbard single, a walk drawn by Gil Rockwell, a double steal with a horrendous throw to third by Denny, and a sac fly by Ruben Luna and a Josh Downing brought in two runs in the first inning. However, neither pitcher would have a good game. McKnight got on with a single in the bottom 1st, allowing DeWeese to tie the game with his first homer of the year, a bomb to rightfield. Brownie didn’t get a hold of anybody and allowed another run in the top 2nd, Marty Reyes driving in David Betancourt, but the Raccoons roughed up Quirion for four runs in the bottom of the inning. Waggoner and Denny got on, were bunted over by Brownie, and scored on Cookie’s double. Two batters later, McKnight homered, and it was 6-3 for the home team, that had yet to score more than six in a game in 2017.

While they got to seven runs in the third inning when William Waggoner doubled home Shane Walter, and Quirion didn’t make it past the fourth inning, Brownie lined up zeroes through the end of five, though with no strikeouts whatsoever against three walks, and with the help of two foul pops and two double plays. So, while the defense held him in the game, the offense stranded runners on the corners in the bottom 5th when Denny struck out, before Robby Delikat loaded the bases with a Cookie single and two walks in the sixth, pulling up DeWeese with one out. He grounded to Josh Downing and just barely legged out Devin Hibbard’s return throw to stay out of the double play, pushing home Cookie, 8-3. Brown got stuck for good in the seventh, allowing a leadoff single to Wade White before walking Betancourt with one out. Chris Mathis found it absolutely necessary to hit PH Jeffrey Walrath and walk Reyes with the bases loaded to shove in a run before striking out Hibbard and getting a roller to short from Gil Rockwell. The Knights got another run off Thrasher in the eighth, who allowed a hit, a walk, and two wild pitches, and Lionnel Perri hit a leadoff double off Alex Ramirez in the ninth, but he axed down he next three Knights, including two strikeouts, to put this one away. 8-5 Brownies! Carmona 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; McKnight 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Walter 2-4; Waggoner 2-4, 2 2B, RBI;

Tuesday was designated Cookie’s off day, with Johnson manning centerfield.

Game 2
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – C Luna – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – 1B Betancourt – P Trevino
POR: 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – RF Waggoner – C Margolis – CF Johnson – P Santos

The Knights took a lead in the second inning without getting a single hit, with Santos hitting Ruben Luna, walking two more, and allowing a run on a sac fly by Wade White. There was also a double steal involved, with the Knights running like maniacs – they now had 12 steals for the season, easily leading the league. Santos was completely off the rolls, however, allowed two hard drives to start the third inning, resulting in a Reyes double and a Hibbard homer, and then managed to hit another Knight and allowed him to score with two quite hard singles. The Coons were now down 4-0, and didn’t look like they had a plan at all. Santos allowed another run in the fourth inning and, completely shackled, didn’t return for the fifth, but the Knights kept swatting away at John Korb just as well and plated single runs off him in the fifth and sixth innings, the latter one being finished by Beaver. A Betancourt homer off Jayden Reed in the seventh gave the Knights runs in six consecutive innings, while the Raccoons got 2-out RBI singles from Walter in the fifth and Ochoa in the seventh, which was not nearly enough to create even a bit of drama. Seung-mo Chun kept the Knights at bay in the eighth, but was ravaged for four hits and two runs in the ninth inning as the Knights completed a grim rout. 10-2 Knights. Walter 2-4, 2B, RBI; Ochoa (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
ATL: CF M. Reyes – SS Hibbard – LF Rockwell – RF Raupp – C Luna – 2B Downing – 3B W. White – 1B Betancourt – P D. King
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – 1B Young – C Denny – RF Ochoa – 2B Bergquist – P Abe

Luck was on the home team’s side in the early going; after a Cookie single and stolen base as well as Walter walking, McKnight bounced hard to short, but the ball hit the edge between the infield grass and the dirt and bounced over the unexpecting Hibbard’s glove into left for a single. Cookie scored as the Knights were confused and had their pants down. DeWeese then loaded the bases with a broken bat blooper to center, and even ****ing Adam Young couldn’t help but single and score a run, his first RBI of the season in game #9. Mike Denny doubled home a pair to make it 4-0 before King, who was close to crying for mommy at that point, managed to retire the bottom of the order to get out of the damn inning. The Knights scored a run in the top 2nd, but the Coons scored two in the bottom 2nd as Drew King’s troubles continued. Three of the first four Critters reached, and DeWeese’s single to right and Ochoa’s bases-loaded walk each pushed in a run, 6-1.

Wade White hit a double in the fourth inning; Abe was nowhere near good, and had no strikeouts at that point, while allowing four hits and two walks. The Knights had seen enough of King and hit Kyle Mims for him with two outs. Abe served a meatball, Mims had it and belched a 2-run homer to get the Knights back into striking distance, 6-3. Abe offered a leadoff walk to Hibbard in the fifth, which promptly led to yet another run on Ruben Luna’s 2-out single to center, with Downing called out on a quite high ball in a full count to end the inning. The Coons missed chances when they got Bergquist on with a leadoff error by Downing in the bottom 5th, and then stranded a pair in the sixth, but at least Abe found his **** again and put up two more scoreless innings. Actually, the seventh was his best inning, striking out Hibbard and Rockwell before getting Jimmy Raupp on a soft pop to Bergquist. The Coons didn’t find an add-on run until they encountered Daniel Dickerson in the bottom 7th. Waggoner had a 1-out, pinch-hit single, moved up on Cookie’s groundout, and scored on Walter’s single to center, 7-4. That run turned out to be unnecessary; Ron Thrasher and Alex Ramirez each turned perfect innings to clinch the series. 7-4 Critters. Carmona 2-5; Walter 3-4, BB, RBI; McKnight 2-4, RBI; DeWeese 2-5, RBI; Young 2-4, BB, RBI;

Despite starting the season 0-2 against the Indians, the Crusaders had taken over the first position in the North by now, winning six straight games.

Raccoons (6-3) @ Loggers (5-3) – April 13-16, 2017

The Loggers had started the season 4-0, but had since slowed down a bit. They were fourth in runs scored and t-3rd in runs allowed, the latter being tied with the Raccoons, who were however ninth in runs scored. This was the first 4-game series of the year. We had beaten the Loggers three straight years, and eight out of ten, with a 12-6 output in 2016.

Projected matchups:
Bruce Morrison (0-0, 1.35 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (1-0, 4.50 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (0-1, 1.15 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (0-1, 2.84 ERA)
Nick Brown (2-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (0-1, 1.54 ERA)
Hector Santos (1-1, 4.26 ERA) vs. Ricky Mendoza (1-1, 4.80 ERA)

Scott would be a left-handed pitcher, the third southpaw starter for us this season.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 2B Walter – 1B Young – C Denny – P Morrison
MIL: RF Hodgers – 2B Kinkade – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – 3B Best – CF Gore – P Cope

The Coons had a lead as soon as they stepped off the plane, with Cookie singling to center to start the game, and Matt Nunley sending a tremendous blast over the head of Brad Gore and well into the suburbs of Milwaukee for a 2-0 lead. While the team’s offensive enthusiasm soon vanished, the Loggers didn’t get a hit until the fourth inning – but then they got a triple by Mike Rucker and a homer by Chris LeMoine to pull even at two. While Cookie had been on again in the third, it took until the fifth for another successful combo with Nunley. Cookie reached by hitting into a fielder’s choice but then stole second base, and then scored on Nunley’s single, giving the Critters the lead back, 3-2. Morrison largely held the Loggers off the base paths in this game if they didn’t hit for seven bases in two plate appearances, but we could really use some insurance. Morrison had his second base hit leading off the seventh inning, and Cookie followed that up with a walk. While that ended Cope’s game, the Loggers now had lefty Luis Guerrero in the game, which was potentially very bad for the Coons’ efforts, but at least they got Morrison home on consecutive fielder’s choices at second base. Morrison made it through seven, allowing just three hits, before handing the 4-2 lead to Ron Thrasher, who allowed a 1-out double to Victor Hodgers in the bottom 8th, but the Loggers couldn’t get him in. J.R. Kinkade grounded out and Rucker whiffed. The bottom 9th was even more tense. LeMoine hit a double on Ramirez’ first pitch, and Cameron Konrath walked. Two on, no outs was bad with a 2-run lead, but at least Orlando Castillo struck out. This however sent up two left-handed batters. Steve Best grounded out, but advanced the runners into scoring position, and Brad Gore lined over Bergquist into shallow right. LeMoine scored – and Konrath was held, with Waggoner all over that ball. Randy Porter, a right-handed batter with some power, would hit for the pitcher in the #9 hole, but struck out. 4-3 Coons! Carmona 2-4, BB; Nunley 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Morrison 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-0) and 2-3;

With Thrasher and Ramirez being both in action three out of the last four days, they were kind of off limits for the Friday game, which bitted the so far entirely luckless Jonny Toner against lefty Vic Scott.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – 1B Young – LF DeWeese – 2B Bergquist – RF Waggoner – SS Petracek – C Denny – P Toner
MIL: 2B Kinkade – 3B Knowling – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – RF Gore – CF Tesch – P V. Scott

While Rucker homered off Toner in the first inning to give the Loggers an early 1-0 lead, they would only have two hits through five innings. That was two hits more than the Coons had off Scott, and that wasn’t all, as Scott actually was perfect through five innings, right up until he walked Brian Petracek to start the sixth inning. Petracek was immediately caught stealing, Denny then walked, but was stranded after Toner’s bunt and Cookie’s strikeout. The Loggers got an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning after both corner infielders made stupid errors. Young missed a completely trivial bouncer, while Nunley dropped a pop, and Toner couldn’t help but concede a run. After a completely clueless top of the seventh, Toner loaded the bases in the bottom 7th with a hit batter, a walk, and a single before getting the pinch-hitter Hodgers to fly out more or less casually to DeWeese in left to end the inning. The Raccoons were six outs away from a dismal no-hitter when Bergquist’s fly to left just barely so made it out of the range of LeMoine, the Rookie of the Year for 2016 although he hadn’t deserved it, and fell in for a leadoff double. Next, Waggoner reached on Zach Knowling’s error and the tying runs were aboard. Vic Scott balked in a run and the Coons still couldn’t tie the game, Petracek, Denny, and McKnight making three completely inept outs on the infield. Right-hander Troy Charters faced the top of the order in the ninth, trying to defend a 2-1 lead in a game with five hits total, but three errors.

And right there Cookie hit the most terrible bloop the stadium had seen in its lifetime: Steve Best, Cameron Konrath, and Edgar Alires converged on the leftfield line – nobody got it! – and the ball bounced into the leftfield corner. Cookie dashed like a madman and slid into third base with a leadoff bloop triple! Nunley singled HARD to left – tied game! Charters was about to drown: Young singled, DeWeese walked, bases loaded with nobody out for Bergquist, except that Walter hit for him. He struck out, but Waggoner broke the tie with a 2-run single, giving the Coons the lead, and also sending us feeling the pulse on Ramirez. Nah, we had a 19 saves guy from last year in the pen: Jayden Reed got the ball, with one each of a left-hander, right-hander, and switch-hitter up in the bottom 9th, with a 4-2 lead that required defending. Konrath hit a leadoff single. Castillo grounded out and moved him up. Two left-landed Brads were up next, Gore and Tesch, but we had already used Beaver and Thrasher was also off limits. Gore struck out. Tesch struck out. The Loggers were sad. 4-2 Blighters! Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K;

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 2B Walter – C Denny – 1B Petracek – P Brown
MIL: RF Hodgers – 3B Knowling – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – C O. Castillo – 2B Aponte – CF Gore – P Foreman

This was a heavily left-handed lineup, with five lefties and only two true righties, one of which being Foreman. Brownie struck out two in the first inning, so perhaps he would be fine with this lineup – he hadn’t seen this many left-handers so far this year. While Brown struck out three and maintained a 2-hit shutout through three innings, the Loggers had their guy be perfect through three innings for the second time in the series. Foreman retired the first eleven before McKnight reached on an error by Rucker, but DeWeese grounded out.

Nick Brown reported discomfort after the fourth inning and did not return for the fifth inning, which caused me to miss a few heartbeats. Also, the Coons didn’t get a hit until the sixth this time around, Petracek’s leadoff single enabling Korb, who had replaced Brown, to bunt him to second base, but Cookie and Nunley both grounded out, and the game remained scoreless. Hodgers hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th off Korb, with plenty of left-handers to come. Hodgers stole second base, then was caught stealing third. Top 7th, Foreman walked the bases full before Petracek came through with a 2-out, 2-run single to left, the Coons’ second hit in the game. Young then batted for Korb and struck out. The Loggers quickly pulled a run back from Mathis with two hits in the bottom 7th good enough for a run on Brad Gore’s sac fly. With no offense coming forth, the last two innings fell to Thrasher and Ramirez again, although Thrasher got stuck in his inning after a Zach Knowling single. With two outs, Randy Porter hit for LeMoine to counter Thrasher, with Chun coming into the game in a hurry to get the right-hander out and end the inning. It was still 2-1 for Ramirez in the bottom of the ninth, facing the 5-6-7 hitters, which included switch hitters on either end. Konrath grounded out to Ramirez, and Castillo and Guillermo Aponte grounded out to Bergquist at second to end the game. 2-1 Coons. Petracek 2-3, 2 RBI; Brown 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Korb 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

McKnight’s double was the only other hit for the team outside of Petracek’s singles. The Loggers had seven hits, all singles. The three walks that Foreman issued before Petracek hit the game-winning single were the only walks issued by the Loggers in the entire game, and there were four walks total including Korb’s.

By the way, Senor Mena, I would appreciate it if you could put down Poor Richard’s Almanack and get about diagnosing Brownie. – What do you mean you need it for diagnosing him? Do we actually have to consider the stars for treatment??

Game 4
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – LF DeWeese – RF Waggoner – 1B Young – 3B Petracek – C Margolis – P Santos
MIL: RF Hodgers – 2B Kinkade – 1B M. Rucker – LF LeMoine – SS Konrath – 3B Best – C Porter – CF Tesch – P Mendoza

Santos plainly got romped, conceding 2-run homers to both Rucker and Konrath in the first inning, which gave the Loggers a casual 4-0 lead. The Coons would have Carmona (walk) and Walter (single) on with two outs in the third, but McKnight popped out to short to waste the chance, and two were on again in the fourth, but Margolis flew out to Tesch in center. And while the Raccoons miserably also stranded Cookie after a double in the fifth, for Santos things never got better, and eventually got much worse. Hodgers reached with an infield single to start the bottom 5th, and Santos definitely didn’t improve his lot when he hit Kinkade with a 2-2 pitch. Rucker victimized him again with a convincing 3-run homer, which not only put the game to bed at 7-0, but also Santos. The Coons somehow lucked into a run in the top of the sixth when DeWeese hit a leadoff triple and scampered home on Waggoner’s single, but that was wildly not enough to even worry the Loggers, who got two runs back in the bottom 7th against Beaver, who walked Hodgers, allowed an RBI triple to Kinkade, and – after striking out Rucker and LeMoine – fell to a 2-out RBI single by Konrath.

The Coons were that dead and adrift that even a mild pitching explosion in the top of the eighth couldn’t pull them back into the game. Mendoza allowed a walk to DeWeese and singles to Young and Petracek, the latter plating a run, 9-2, before being removed in favor of Luis Guerrero. Margolis, who so far was hitless and without a reason to exist, raked a 3-run homer, and it still didn’t matter. The Coons somehow managed to balk (Mathis) in an unearned (Nunley…) run that was on Beaver in the bottom 8th, conceding double digits for the second time this week.

Top 9th, Bartolo Ortíz faced three and retired nobody, allowing three singles before Charters took over a 10-5 game with the tying run on deck. Waggoner blooped to right for an RBI single, pulling up Adam Young as the tying run. Well, nothing bad for Milwaukee could happen here. Young ****tily flew out to left, but Petracek pushed in a run with a walk, 10-7, before Margolis K’ed. Nunley had been batting ninth for a while and singled to center, plating two, which got the Coons to 10-9 with a quick runner (Petracek) on second base, if Cookie could get through. And Charters balked!! The Raccoons’ runners moved into scoring position for Cookie now, except that with first base open, Cookie got the silent treatment. That brought up Bergquist, who had started the inning with a pinch-hit single, but now struck out. 10-9 Loggers. Carmona 2-4, 2 BB, 2B; Bergquist (PH) 1-2; Johnson (PH) 1-1; DeWeese 2-4, 3B, RBI; Waggoner 2-5, 2 RBI; Young 2-5; Petracek 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley (PH) 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Reed 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

Blergh.

In other news

April 10 – The Crusaders knock over the Thunder with four runs in the first, and seven runs in the second inning for a worry-free 12-3 win.
April 12 – NAS 3B/1B Antonio Esquivel (.417, 1 HR, 5 RBI) has his hitting streak end at 22 games, going hitless in the Blue Sox’ 7-6 win over the Stars.
April 14 – The Miners rout the Capitals, 13-2, with Tim Prince (.250, 1 HR, 4 RBI) collecting four hits, including a homer, and 2 RBI.
April 15 – The Bayhawks will be without SP Gabriel Caro (0-2, 5.68 ERA) for most of the season. The 32-year old right-hander has suffered a torn labrum.
April 15 – NYC SP Bob King (2-1, 3.24 ERA) 3-hits the Canadiens in a 6-0 shutout.
April 15 – RIC Will Bailey (.237, 1 HR, 7 RBI) hits a home run for the only scoring in the Rebels’ 1-0 win over the Cyclones.

Complaints and stuff

Well, that was an … “interesting” week. To review, the Raccoons won five games, conceding – in that order – five, four, three, two, and one run, and lost two games in which they were packed with ten each. They also lost the game in which they scored the most runs so far this season.

And we lost Brownie to who-knows-what. – Mena! What’s wrong? – Put down that ****ing almanac, it’s ****ing Sunday, now get to ****ing work!!

Yeah, well, the offense sucks. Also, somehow, the team got blasted this week and has now allowed 13 home runs, the most in the league.

Also, Jonny leads the ABL in strikeouts by no small amount (30 K to Brad Smith’s 23) and yet is winless…