[Westheim]

Raccoons (15-9) @ Canadiens (17-7) – April 29-May 1, 2019

Second in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed, the Elks certainly had gotten a great start to the 2019 season and owned the best record in baseball. Their run differential was only +19, so they had not exactly crushed the opposition. They were 8-2 in 1-run games, which was probably unsustainable, and their .372 team OBP was a bit wacko as well. They had a terrible defense, and their rotation was only pitching to a 4.30 ERA, so this was a vehicle that could fall apart any minute. The season series in 2018 had ended in an even split, and the Raccoons hadn’t actually beaten the Elks over a season since 2014, the last year of beating the **** out of Vancouver over six straight years.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (3-1, 2.83 ERA) vs. Zach Hughes (3-2, 5.67 ERA)
Tadasu Abe (4-0, 1.07 ERA) vs. Ron Funderburk (3-0, 2.31 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (1-3, 10.19 ERA) vs. R.J. Lloyd (2-1, 4.72 ERA)

Only righties for Vancouver. The Coons start the series with Jonny, who had an extra day off after throwing 138 pitches on Tuesday. I am sure everything will be fine.

The Coons will have Thursday and the following Monday off, but would play 16 straight games after that.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – CF Petracek – P Toner
VAN: SS Roundtree – LF K. Evans – RF Branch – CF Rocha – 1B Pace – 2B J. Gutierrez – C Desan – 3B Grooms – P Hughes

Cookie and Walter opened the game with singles and pulled off a double steal, to which the natural reaction of Ronnie McKnight and Dumbo Mendoza was to strike out feebly. Mike Denny was also in a 2-strike count before he hit a liner into the left-center gap for a 2-run double, and Hughes had to get the third K from DeWeese instead. Jonny Toner afterwards was totally not okay and the bottom of the first inning instantly descended into a giant mess. Steve Roundtree drew a leadoff walk, Kurt Evans singled. Ezra Branch struck out, but Mario Rocha’s grounder to Walter was not going to net the Coons a double play, and Roundtree scored. Another single by Tim Pace and another walk to Jose Gutierrez loaded the bags before Mike Desan thankfully hacked himself out and left Toner up 2-1 with three runners stranded. While the Elks would not get another hit off Toner through five innings, he hit a guy and walked another in the second inning to create another tight spot before retiring them in order in the third, fourth, and fifth, but it took him 88 pitches to get that far. The Raccoons got offense form an unexpected slot in the lineup, as Petracek hit a 2-run homer in the fourth inning against his former team to lengthen Jonny’s lead to 4-1. Jose Gutierrez gave a ball a ride in the bottom 6th, but Cookie caught up with that. Toner’s spot led off the top 7th and he was hit for with Duarte (to no effect), so we had to turn to the pen for the last nine outs. Jeff Boynton ****ed up immediately, allowing a double to Desan, a triple to Chris Grooms, and a walk to Dave Padilla, while retiring nobody in the seventh. Mathis replaced him and got a foul pop from Roundtree, then yielded for Kaiser (with Thrasher a bit on the shot side of ‘not quite rested’), who conceded a run on an Evans single before whiffing Branch and getting Rocha to ground out, ending the inning with a slim 4-3 lead for the Coons. After Wade Davis’ clean bottom of the eighth, the Raccoons had a chance to tack on a run after Nunley hit a 1-out double off Pat Slayton (ex-Coon still clinging on to a career!) in the ninth inning. Petracek’s grounder to short and Duarte’s fly to Rocha ended the inning with Nunley still at second. For once it would not bite the Critters in the arse; Alex Ramirez had a quick and painless bottom of the inning, getting two grounders to short and whiffing Roundtree to end the game. 4-3 Raccoons. Walter 3-4; Denny 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Toner 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (4-1) and 1-2;

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – P Abe
VAN: SS Roundtree – C Desan – RF Branch – CF Rocha – 1B Pace – 2B J. Gutierrez – LF A. Torres – 3B Grooms – P Funderburk

Alex Torres was a 21-year old former #1 prospect starting a game against Portland for the first time (that I remember). He was batting .238 with 1 RBI in limited action so far this season. He struck out to end the bottom 2nd of a scoreless game, leaving Pace on first after Gutierrez had just had a double picked off the fence by Eddie Jackson. The Raccoons had missed the bigger spot in the top 2nd, getting runners in scoring position with one out after a single by Duarte and a double by Nunley. Margolis and Abe both struck out after that. The Raccoons went on to have the bases loaded with one out in the third inning. Following Cookie’s pop to first opening the inning, Walter and McKnight hit singles to center and Mendoza walked in a full count. Jackson grounded to short, but Roundtree had no play on a hastily started Mendoza, and could only get Jackson at first, with one run scoring before Duarte could pop out to end the inning. Nunley hit a leadoff double in the fourth, his third double in the series (!), but was stranded for the third time, which didn’t help his general anger at the world. The Elks flipped the score in the bottom 4th, Desan hitting a leadoff single to center, followed by an Ezra Branch double and two run-scoring groundouts. An inning later, teams were even at five following Jackson’s 2-out, 2-run homer in the top of the fifth inning, and Chris Grooms scoring after a leadoff double, a bunt, and Roundtree’s sac fly in the bottom half.

The Coons got two unearned runs in the sixth of what was rapidly becoming a see-saw affair. Margolis reached on Grooms’ error with one out in the inning, was bunted over, and then Cookie’s single and Walter’s double both produced solo runs for a 5-3 lead, but the Elks immediately jumped back onto Abe. Gutierrez’ 2-run double to right tied the score in the bottom 6th, and Gutierrez eventually scored on an error by Mendoza, giving the Elks the 6-5 lead.

And this game wasn’t done being silly yet. After a comparably boring seventh inning, the Raccoons saw Nunley and Margolis go down in the eighth before DeWeese hit for Seung-mo Chun. Him murdering a pitch by Hunter Park for about 390 feet to right tied the score AGAIN, now at six, and the Coons continued to flog Park as Cookie and Walter hit back-to-back 2-out doubles to take a 7-6 lead in the game. McKnight hit a ball deep to left, but Rocha caught up with that one to end the inning. Rocha was also on with a leadoff single off Chris Mathis in the bottom 8th and was on second and racing when Dave Padilla grounded to the second base bag. McKnight cut off the ball on the run, threw on the run, and got Padilla by two steps to end the inning. A Duarte double in the top 9th went unused, and I didn’t feel well to put Ramirez into a 1-run game that had been wild for hours, but it was what it was. In the event, no Elk reached, and Roundtree struck out to end this game as well. 7-6 Critters. Carmona 2-5, 2B, RBI; Walter 4-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Duarte 2-5, 2B; Nunley 2-5, 2 2B; DeWeese (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Eight of our 14 hits went for extra bases, which is usually an indicator for a humming offense. It really isn’t, overall, but in time for the end of the month, the Raccoons have moved into a tie for the lead in the North, which is totally fine.

May will start with Bobby Guerrero trying not to get blasted yet again. He enters the Wednesday game with a 10.19 ERA, which is more than the ERA’s of the other four starters added together.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Denny – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – P Guerrero
VAN: SS Roundtree – LF K. Evans – RF Branch – CF Rocha – 1B Pace – 2B J. Gutierrez – C Padilla – 3B Grooms – P Lloyd

McKnight went yard in the first to give Guerrero an instant 1-0 lead, and Guerrero allowed only one hit and made an error in the first three innings to manage that 1-0 lead, which the Coons didn’t add to, quite well. All that was out of the window by the fourth, which Ezra Branch led off with a score-knotting homer, and then Rocha singled and went onto score on Gutierrez’ single to right. Guerrero loaded them up with a 4-pitch walk to Padilla and by drilling Chris Grooms. Lloyd struck out, but Guerrero fell to a bases-clearing double by Roundtree, so far the goat of the series, that ran the score to 5-1, THEN drilled Kurt Evans! The Raccoons staff didn’t feel like bringing a left-hander in a blossoming blowout just to face Ezra Branch, and Branch flew out to center rather comfortably, but Guerrero’s numbers in the rotation were SERIOUSLY numbered after that 5-spot. Guerrero was hit for in the top of the fifth, and Seung-mo Chun got the next two innings. He issued leadoff walks in both of them; the first was erased on a double play, but the latter scored on Roundtree’s 2-out single in the bottom 6th, 6-1. Ron Thrasher got the last out in the inning, but walked Rocha with one out in the seventh. After another pitching change to Wade Davis, Rocha was caught stealing by Margolis (who had earlier entered in a double switch when Guerrero was subbed out), and the Elks could not add to their lead, but that was sizeable, and Roundtree would come through with a 2-out, 2-run single against Davis in the eighth on top of that, and a merciless set of umpires was not willing to let the Coons get away with a 7-run loss like that, no, they had to endure two separate rain delays adding up to almost two hours in the last innings before being allowed to file away their drop out of the first place tie. 8-1 Canadiens. Carmona 2-4; McKnight 2-4, HR, RBI; Mendoza 2-3; Jackson (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (17-10) @ Scorpions (15-13) – May 3-5, 2019

The Scorpions were in a tie for the FL West lead after having won five in a row. Our first interleague opposition of the 2019 season, they ranked fourth in runs scored with 137 in the Federal League, and third in runs allowed with 108. Their bullpen was stellar, posting an FL-best 2.34 ERA. The Raccoons were only seventh in runs scored in the Continental League with 116 runs, but had conceded the least runs overall, only 83 so far. We had not played the Scorpions the last two seasons, but in the last four series between the teams the Scorpions had won only a single game, and had been swept three times, going back to 2011.

The Scorpions came in hot, having minced the Gold Sox in a 16-3 blowout on Thursday. OF Pablo Sanchez (.358, 3 HR, 19 RBI) contributed five hits, including a 3-run homer off A.J. Bartels, and drives in seven total.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (2-1, 1.97 ERA) vs. Brian Simmons (2-2, 3.75 ERA)
Cole Pierson (1-1, 2.59 ERA) vs. Pablo Sanchez (3-2, 5.21 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (4-1, 2.63 ERA) vs. Ian Rutter (4-1, 2.21 ERA)

Yes, the Scorpions have two players named Pablo Sanchez. The outfielder, nicknamed “Vulture”, is the better player and a bit like the Bayhawks’ Dave Garcia in being a 24-year old first-rate outfielder that debuted as a teenager and was tearing up the league, but we were more familiar with the pitcher Pablo Sanchez, who was a swingman for the Falcons in the first half of the decade and was too irrelevant for a nickname.

That aside, Brian Simmons will be a southpaw at the start of the set. With the way in which DeWeese is (not) hitting, he gets another day on the bench. Nunley also sits because Walter was already out during the Elks series to get Joey Mathews some at-bats. Nunley’s average is trending upwards, however, which is a terrible thing to say of a .155 batter.

Game 1
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Walter – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – SS McKnight – CF Duarte – 2B Lafon – P Santos
SAC: 2B Luna – 3B LaCombe – CF Meade – RF P. Sanchez – 1B A. Rodriguez – C C. Ramirez – LF Stross – SS Sauceda – P Simmons

Neither team managed any danger and only one hit the first time through the order, but when Ricky Luna hit a 2-out single in the bottom 3rd, the floodgates suddenly opened. Santos walked Jason LaCombe, then got bombed by Ray Meade, a 3-piece to left center. Pablo Sanchez then doubled, Alberto Rodriguez plated him with a single, and finally Chris Ramirez struck out to end the 4-run onslaught. Santos only lasted five innings, allowing another home run to Gabriel Sauceda in the fourth, this one being a solo hammer. The Raccoons had enjoyed two men on base in the top of the fourth, but that included Jackson getting drilled, and nothing had come of it. The Raccoons would not reach scoring position again until the eighth inning thanks to a single by Roland Lafon and Joey Mathews drawing a walk, but the top of the order could not find even one run against Simmons, a decent, but not great left-handed who effortlessly suffocated the Raccoons’ lineup and swallowed them whole. The Scorpions added three runs against the Coons’ pen, one on Kaiser, who allowed a leadoff single in the seventh and received no relief from Jeff Boynton, and two on Mathis, who had only his own stupidity to blame in wild pitching the Scorpions into scoring position after they got the first two men on. The Coons again had two on against Simmons in the ninth inning after singles by Jackson and Mendoza, but Denny’s pop and Margolis’ double play grounder ended the game and left Simmons with a 5-hitter. 8-0 Scorpions. Jackson 2-3; Mendoza 2-4;

It can not get much worse right now…

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – P Pierson
SAC: 2B Luna – 3B LaCombe – CF Meade – RF P. Sanchez – 1B A. Rodriguez – C C. Ramirez – SS Sauceda – LF Stross – P Rutter

Dumbo Mendoza got his first RBI’s of the week with a 2-shot in the first inning, almost straight to center. Cookie had singled initially, but by the time Mendoza stepped into the box it had been McKnight on first base… Ray Meade shrugged and fired his own 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning, and the Raccoons were again treading water at best. In the third, the Raccoons had Walter (infield single) and McKnight (walk) on base for Mendoza, who grounded to short, but legged out the return throw to stay out of the double play. The Raccoons remained in the inning, with two outs, but had the bases loaded when Rutter lost Denny to a 4-pitch walk. Unfortunately this brought up the .152 beast Nunley, who poked at the first pitch and grounded out to Ricky Luna to end the inning. Once again more efficient: the opposition; Sauceda hit a solo shot for the second time in the series in the bottom 4th, this one setting the Scorpions 3-2 ahead.

While McKnight was stranded after his 2-out double in the fifth when Mendoza struck out, the Coons had another chance in the sixth inning after Nunley’s double and DeWeese accidentally hitting a single to right. Runners were on the corners for Alex Duarte, who was batting a paltry .218, hit a soft line just barely over the jumping Luna’s glove and had it fall into shallow right for an RBI single. We rolled the dice for Cookie, letting Pierson bunt, but Cookie flew out to center to strand the go-ahead runs in scoring position. Contrast that with the Scorpions, who got a leadoff double by Ray Meade, got Sanchez on base with a single, and then Chris Ramirez hit a 3-piece to bury the Raccoons, who had eight hits to the Scorpions’ five, but trailed 6-3. Pierson was knocked out in the inning, and the continuously beleaguered Raccoons pen was close to breaking despite all the off days. Wade Davis walked the bases full despite having only two outs to collect in the following inning, the seventh, and was left out there to decide his own fate. Sauceda flew out to center to end the inning with nobody scoring, but Sacramento got a run off the hideously overworked Boynton in the eighth. Down 7-3 the Raccoons looked like they were beaten, but Carmona opened the ninth inning with a triple off Alfredo Mendoza, who allowed a run-scoring groundout to Walter, which brought William Kay into the game, the team’s closer. Hugo Mendoza singled, Mike Denny hit an RBI double, and suddenly with two outs the tying run came up in … Matt Nunley. The only valid option left on the bench was Jackson, but I wanted him to hit for DeWeese instead if Nunley could keep it going, which was too much to ask from a guy that had so much rotten luck he could cut himself with a spoon. He grounded out. 7-5 Scorpions. Carmona 2-5, 3B; McKnight 2-4, BB, 2B; Mendoza 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Denny 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI;

Maybe, just an idea, we should get someone in that won’t get blown out of the park. Might be worth a try.

Jonny to the rescue!

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – P Toner
SAC: LF Stross – 3B LaCombe – CF Meade – RF P. Sanchez – 1B A. Rodriguez – C C. Ramirez – 2B Green – SS Sauceda – P P. Sanchez

With McKnight on first, Mendoza hit another deep drive to center in another first inning, but this time had it caught by Meade. Mendoza came up again with two outs in the third, now with Walter on second and McKnight on first. Mike Green speared his bouncer to the right side and threw to first in time to end the inning. Instead, the Scorpions would take the lead. They didn’t have a hit the first time through the order, but got Doug Stross on with two outs in the bottom 3rd on a throwing error by Nunley. Jason LaCombe tripled to center to get them onto the board, and a sweep was looming. The Coons had two in the top 4th after DeWeese and Margolis hit singles, but Toner rolled out to LaCombe, which was more forgivable than his bottom 4th, in which he allowed singles to Meade and Sanchez to get going, and eventually scored Meade with a wild pitch to fall 2-0 behind. Dumbo Mendoza homered to lead off the sixth, which was a very Dumbo Mendoza thing to do, and left the Coons 2-1 behind with Toner having only three strikeouts through five innings, which was either him struggling (though four hits for Sacramento were not out of the ordinary), or the Scorpions lineup deserving more credit than it was getting so far.

Then there was the bottom 6th, in which Meade hit a leadoff double, and was on third base after Sanchez’ groundout and Rodriguez whiffing. Toner threw another wild pitch, plating Meade with one of those for the second time in the game. Yeah, well, it was probably Toner, given that we even had one of the best defensive catchers in the league behind the plate, and it still wasn’t helping him in this game.

And then there was the whole gypsy curse feeling I kept getting. Not only Nunley, the entire team was under a wicked spell. Prime example was the seventh inning, in which Margolis managed to reach base to lead off against Sanchez, albeit only on LaCombe’s bad throw in the dirt. Toner’s bunt was terrible and Margolis was forced out at second base, and then Cookie hit into a double play. In turn a pair of doubles by the bedeviled Sauceda and Stross plated another run against Toner and staked the Scorpions bullpen to a 4-1 lead. Noah Bricker was the first reliever in the game, but the right-hander put Mendoza and Jackson on with a pair of 2-out singles. The Scorpions felt threatened enough by all 160 points of batting average that Matt Nunley had to send a left-hander after him. Danny Munos had a 5.79 ERA, but Matt’s soul was forsaken. Mathews batted for him, walked in a full count, and then Denny was sent to bat for DeWeese. The Stingers’ pen flushed forth a third reliever, as Logan Sloan (5.40 ERA) had to look after Denny, who flipped a blooper to shallow center for a 2-run single, but Margolis struck out to end the inning and leave the Coons 4-3 behind.

And it could all have ended well – but Chris Mathis got forked in the bottom 8th, which started with a 4-pitch walk to Sanchez leading off, and Rodriguez promptly singled. Runners on the corners with no outs was a terrible situation, and Mathis went about it in terrible fashion, conceding one run on a groundout and another on a Sauceda single, then had to be dug out by Thrasher, and the Raccoons were three runs behind again, and still no wiser for it. 6-3 Scorpions. Walter 2-5; Mendoza 2-4, HR, RBI; Denny (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

In other news

April 30 – WAS SP Aaron Walsh (4-1, 3.18 ERA) 3-hits the Blue Sox in a 5-0 shutout and moves the Capitals into a 3-way tie for first place in the FL East.
April 30 – The Gold Sox hit four home runs against the Scorpions and still get murdered in a 19-5 thrashing. The Scorpions had two 6-spots in the fifth and seventh. SAC OF Ray Meade (.241, 5 HR, 18 RBI) has four hits, including two doubles and a home run, and drives in five runs.
May 1 – Stars right-hander Jason McDonald (1-4, 3.89 ERA) 2-hits the Warriors in a 6-0 shutout, finishing off a 3-game sweep that leaves the Stars in sole possession of first place in the FL West.
May 1 – The Aces walk off against the Bayhawks, 4-3, in the 16th inning thanks to an RBI single by 2B/SS Bill Hebberd (.268, 1 HR, 7 RBI).
May 2 – The Cyclones lose SS Andrew Showalter (.300, 0 HR, 15 RBI) for a month with a strained oblique.
May 5 – The Cyclones come back from an 8-5 deficit in the eighth inning by crushing the Loggers bullpen for ten runs in the bottom 8th and claim a 15-8 victory.
May 5 – In the second long game of the series, Crusaders and Blue Sox play 15 innings in Nashville, at the end of which the Crusaders prevail by scoring three time in the top of the 15th to claim a 6-3 win. The Crusaders had already claimed a 10-7 win in 14 innings on Friday.

Complaints and stuff

Starting May 0-4 is really not something that I had in my mind after taking the first two games in Vancouver. These last four games, absolutely nothing worked. These four games were one huge, blazing train wreck. It can not get that much worse. This time I mean it.

Regarding Guerrero, the best starter by ERA in St. Petersburg is Damani Knight. So that’s that, and be careful what you’re wishing for. Guerrero gets one more, I think, and if it’s another disaster, then we have to make a move. The good news is that he has options.

Regarding Nunley and the Lineup of Darkness, there are A LOT of players on this team that have a completely ****ty BABIP, and Nunley is their king – almost. Ignoring the bench pieces for a moment, we have three starters with outlandishly low BABIP numbers, and the bench is really grisly. There is a lot of potential in the offense, but for ****’s sake, they can’t find a hole.

Matt Nunley’s BABIP is .174 at the end of the week, with DeWeese (.220) and Duarte (.228) also not getting any break whatsoever. The only lucky golden boy on the team is Denny, who is dang close to the team lead in strikeouts, but is batting .306 thanks to a .371 BABIP.

This horror cabinet will have a 16-game stint before their next off day (following the one on Monday), with the first 13 games taking place at home. We get in the Capitals, Indians, Loggers, and Condors. There is potential for recovery in that list.

For tomorrow’s birthday party for the Raccoons’ fifth birthday, please pile up your presents on the table over there. Yes, the one Chad has passed out under.