[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-13) vs. Capitals (16-14) – May 7-9, 2019

Washington was fifth in runs scored in the FL, and tied for sixth in runs allowed, somehow, despite their rotation being merely eighth and their bullpen even only tenth in ERA. They were good in getting on base, but not necessarily in the power department, and they were lacking a number of positon players who were on the DL, including Will Newman, Andy McNeal, and former Raccoons last-rounder and now proud backup infielder Danny Zigay.

The two teams are even at .500 all time. The Raccoons have won he last series in 2017 and it has mostly been going back and forth with 2-1 series for a while. There has not been a sweep (by the Raccoons over the Capitals in that case) in any series between the teams since 2003.

Projected matchups:
Tadasu Abe (4-0, 2.04 ERA) vs. Jared D’Attilo (0-0, 3.18 ERA)
Hector Santos (2-2, 2.92 ERA) vs. Steve Kreider (2-2, 3.00 ERA)
Cole Pierson (1-2, 3.68 ERA) vs. Fred O’Quinn (2-1, 4.76 ERA)

The Raccoons send Bobby Guerrero and his sadness-inducing 10.38 ERA to the tail end of the line and he will not start again until Saturday. O’Quinn is the Capitals’ only southpaw in the rotation, but they have a lefty closer in Ben Marx, so forget about any late-game comebacks.

Game 1
WAS: CF Baker – 3B Albrecht – RF Stone – 2B Downing – LF Kopp – 1B J. Ortíz – C Giles – SS Menth – P D’Attilo
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Denny – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – P Abe

McKnight homered in the first inning to give Abe a 1-0 lead that could have been a 2-0 lead if Cookie hadn’t been caught stealing two pitches earlier. Cookie also hit into a double play after an Abe single in the third inning, all of which didn’t help the offense, and while Abe did not allow a hit in the first three innings, the Capitals got a couple, together with two walks, in the fourth inning and plated a run on Terry Kopp’s single. Juan Ortíz, with two on and one out, sent a deep drive to left that DeWeese caught, and when Kody Giles grounded out to Nunley the Raccoons at least managed to stay in a 1-1 tie. Dumbo Mendoza hit a double in the bottom of the inning but pulled up at second with a sore hamstring and was removed from the game. Petracek ran for him and managed to score on Nunley’s 2-out single to right, putting the Coons ahead 2-1. Abe held on to this one while pitching seven innings and whiffing eight. He was hit for in the bottom of the seventh with DeWeese on second base and one out. In his place, Eddie Jackson grounded out to Dave Menth, and Cookie would ground out to Josh Downing, keeping the Critters in a 1-run game. Much to our dismay the top of the eighth saw leadoff man Josh Baker reach against Thrasher when Petracek, having replaced Mendoza at first, bumbled his grounder. Adam Albrecht singled, moving the tying run to second, but Jason Stone’s double play at least put two outs on the board. Chris Mathis was sent to face the righty Downing, who was batting .347, and retired him on an easy fly to left, ending the inning. The Coons still couldn’t find an insurance run, and Alex Ramirez threw three balls to Terry Kopp to start the ninth. Kopp then swung and singled to left, Juan Ortíz tried to bunt long enough to have two strikes and whiffed, but then PH Chris Grubbs grounded to short to – oh **** me, McKnight blew the play. That would have been the ticket to end the losing streak. Menth flew out to Cookie in center, after which William Jones grounded to Ramirez, who was so slow to play it that I could feel the continents continue to drift apart. Jones reached, the bases were loaded for Josh Baker, a .256 lefty with a .388 on-base percentage. He sent the 0-1 pitch to left center, Cookie was racing over and made the catch to FINALLY END THE GAME. 2-1 Blighters. Nunley 2-3, BB; Abe 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (5-0) and 1-1;

The injury to Hugo Mendoza was not serious at all. He would be held out of the Wednesday lineup as a precaution. He was available to pinch-hit, however.

Game 2
WAS: CF Baker – 3B Albrecht – RF Stone – 2B Downing – 1B J. Ortíz – LF Melhorn – C W. Jones – SS Menth – P Kreider
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – C Denny – SS McKnight – 1B Jackson – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – P Santos

Santos allowed hard contact right from the start, and the Capitals scored a run in the first inning on Downing’s 2-out double into the rightfield corner. McKnight led off with a walk in the bottom 2nd. Jackson struck out, but Nunley got a ball past Josh Baker for a double, and DeWeese ripped a liner beyond the reach of a lunging Ortíz and up the rightfield line for a 2-run double to flip the score (and to casually reach .200 again…). Although Duarte walked and Santos bunted two runners into scoring position, with two outs Cookie could not get a grounder past Downing and the score remained 2-1, but they would get a run in the third: Walter and Denny opened with singles, and Walter eventually scored on a 2-out wild pitch by Kreider. Santos was in trouble briefly in the fifth inning, in which Jackson bobbled a throw from Nunley to put the opposing pitcher on base with one out, and Santos then walked Adam Albrecht with two outs, but Jason Stone made a casual out to DeWeese to end the inning. The Raccoons countered with two runs in the bottom 5th, reaching a 5-1 score on a huge homer by Mike Denny, who collected Shane Walter, who had singled again.

Hector Santos collected five more outs before crashing through 100 pitches. He struck out the side in the sixth, and had Jones retired on a pop and Menth on another K in the seventh before Chris Grubbs batted for Kreider and singled up the middle on a 2-2 pitch. Jason Kaiser would end the inning for him, while the Raccoons would add single runs in the seventh (on a home run by Shane Walter) and the eighth (Mathews pinch-hitting and singling home Jackson). Dave Menth would whack a homer in the ninth off Wade Davis with the Capitals down to their last out, but that was all the damage they managed to inflict against the pen. 7-2 Raccoons. Walter 3-4, HR, RBI; Denny 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Mathews (PH) 1-1, RBI; Santos 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (3-2);

Then, unexpectedly, the series ended here. Some nasty weather moved in during the night, and it rained the entire day on Thursday, washing out the series finale.

This would jumble things for the Raccoons. The league found an early common off day for these teams and the Capitals would come back two weeks from now as the makeup date was plugged into the off day the Raccoons would have had on the tail end of their 16 straight games without one. That was no more; starting with the opener against Indy on Friday, we would now play 20 straight games before the next of day, with the Capitals home game tucked unpleasantly between the first two legs of our 3-city road trip to Vegas, Charlotte, and Atlanta in the latter third of the month.

Raccoons (19-13) vs. Indians (19-16) – May 10-12, 2019

Both teams were tangled up in a really close CL North, and we were both within two games of the Elks, who still clung on to the lead. The Indians were 7th in runs scored, sixth in runs allowed, and had a zero run differential. They had little power and no speed, relying almost exclusively on chaining together singles and walks. The Raccoons were up 2-1 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Cole Pierson (1-2, 3.68 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (2-1, 7.79 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (4-2, 2.81 ERA) vs. Josh Riley (4-1, 3.00 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (1-4, 10.38 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (2-3, 4.12 ERA)

The lefty-lefty matchup we would have had to end the Capitals series remains true on Friday, with Pierson now facing southpaw Kyle Lamb. The Indians played a double-header on Sunday, with Lamb and Riley starting the ends of that event. I don’t see them skipping Riley or Lambert, and either way they wouldn’t get their second southpaw, Luis Guerrero (4-1, 4.47 ERA) into the series.

Indy had a number of significant injuries, with SP Tristan Broun (0-2, 2.10 ERA), C Jayden Jolley (.538, 1 HR, 5 RBI), and 1B Jesus Ramirez (.204, 1 HR, 4 RBI) all down and all having gone down quite early in April. The batters were expected to be back by next week, so the Coons were a bit lucky here.

Game 1
IND: CF Genge – 1B M. Pruitt – RF D. Carter – LF C. Martinez – SS Matias – 3B D. Jones – 2B Eason – C Mancuso – P Lamb
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Walter – C Denny – 1B Mendoza – RF Jackson – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – CF Duarte – P Pierson

The Indians broke out for two quick runs, with Lowell Genge hitting a soft line to center for a single, Matt Pruitt walking on four pitches, and then Cesar Martinez plated them both with a long liner into the leftfield corner for a 2-run double. Pierson struggled badly, pitched almost constantly behind in the count, and sprinkled in more 3-ball counts than were watchable. He did not allow another hit until the fourth inning, but then was rapidly torn down in the fifth, which Lowell Genge opened with a double to center. Pruitt legged out an infield single, but hurt himself and was replaced by Ron Alston. The Indians continued to drum Pierson regardless, with Dave Carter plating a run with a double to right, and Raul Matias plating two with a single. Pierson exited after drilling Dan Jones, down 5-0 and with the Raccoons utterly hopeless against a terrible left-hander; Lamb had entered with 16 walks in in 17.1 innings, few strikeouts, and an ERA close to eight, and the Raccoons sat on one hit and a lot of frustration. Chun replaced Pierson and struck out Bobby Eason to at least end the starter’s misery with only five runs allowed in 4.2 innings. Even the one baseball god that didn’t outright hate the Raccoons couldn’t help but to resort to crying, which brought us a 25-minute rain delay in the sixth inning, like that was what everybody wanted, staying at the park for the horror show for longer than necessary. The Raccoons’ first hit since a Mendoza single in the first inning would be a 2-out double into the left centerfield gap by Roland Lafon in the eighth. It was also their last hit, as they went down completely invisibly against Lamb, who completed the 2-hit shutout on 102 pitches and reduced his ERA by more than two runs. 5-0 Indians.

We are now tied for 10th in terms of runs in the Continental League with the Titans, who are in last place, with 133 runs from 33 games. In last place, with 132 runs from 36 games are the Thunder, who are also in last place in their division.

SCORE SOME ****ING RUNS!!!

Game 2
IND: 3B D. Jones – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF D. Carter – SS Matias – 2B Kym – 1B Alston – C Mancuso – P Riley
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – P Toner

Bring a right-hander and see a completely different team. Well, okay, the Coons didn’t score in the first, but they loaded the bases on singles by Cookie and Walter, a walk drawn by Margolis, and then Nunley struck out, because the devil holds his soul and squeezes it whenever he comes to the plate, but they loaded the bases, which was almost as many runners as they got against the crappy Lamb all game long on Friday. The Indians also had the bases loaded in the top of the second, starting with Dave Carter drawing a leadoff walk. Jong-beom Kym doubled with one out, and the ghost of Ron Alston held still for a walk. Nolan Mancuso fouled out next to first base before Toner threw Josh Riley all the mean stuff and erased him from existence with a strikeout.

The Indians were wearing Toner out, who needed close to 70 pitches through three innings in all the long counts you didn’t want to see. Also in the category of “don’t wanna see” was the long homer that Lowell Genge hit off him in the third, and that he walked Carter and allowed a single to Matias with two outs after that before having to wrestle down Kym in a full count. Kym still put the ball in play, but grounded out to short. The Coons briefly spotted Toner a lead in the bottom 3rd when McKnight singled and Mendoza went yard to left, but Dan Jones re-tied the game at two with a 2-out double in the fourth. Walter had a 2-out RBI double to plate Duarte in the bottom of the inning, but the Indians broke up Toner for good in the fifth. Genge led off with a single before Carter and Matias hit back-to-back doubles. Matias drove in the other two to claim a 4-3 lead. When Toner lost Kym to a walk, his fourth in four-plus innings, that was all anybody could bear to watch. He was yanked with four runs charged and two more looming on the bases, although Mathis cleaned that one up. Toner would also not be responsible for a loss, which was as good a statement as one could make over this abysmal outing of his, with ****ing Dumbo Mendoza pulling him out with a leadoff triple in the bottom of the same inning. Margolis singled to left to plate him and knot the score again, now at four, although even that joy was not going to last any amount of time. Mathis walked Genge with two outs in the sixth, and McKnight bobbled another inning-ending ball to allow Dave Carter on base. Matias then whacked a 3-run homer on Mathis’ 26th pitch, and the Indians were up 7-4. All runs unearned, Mathis was replaced by Bobby Guerrero, as I was doubting that I could find another 3.1 innings from a continuously battered bullpen, and placing Guerrero in a lost effort and nixing his Sunday start seemed like the best solution.

Guerrero got out of the sixth without allowing another seven runs, which was that little victory I needed to step off the wobbly stool once more. The Coons put the tying runs on base with nobody out in the bottom 6th as Jackson, Cookie, and Walter hit three singles in succession off Riley. Of course they ****ed up, because they had to. McKnight hit into a run-scoring double play, and Mendoza flew out handily to Genge. Guerrero held the Indians at 7-5 despite loading the bases in the eighth. He fired home when Kym bounced to him with one out instead of trying for a risky double play, then struck out Alston to prevent the Indians from scoring. In the bottom 8th, Cookie got on with a 1-out single, which was a theoretical comeback chance turned into an actual comeback when Walter romped a homer off Joel Davis, well outta rightfield, to tie the score for the thirteenth time at 7-7. Of course, Guerrero wouldn’t get through nine now… Mancuso led off the ninth with a single before Danny Morales hit a liner to right that kept bouncing away from Jackson wherever he went out there, and Morales had a go-ahead RBI triple. Thrasher struck out Genge, and the Raccoons got a leadoff double from Margolis in the bottom 9th against right-hander Jarrod Morrison, who had 29 K in 20.2 innings, but also a 3.92 ERA, and now had to face two lefties and a wild card. Nunley struck out and DeWeese grounded out before Mathews hit for Thrasher, and also struck out, leaving the tying run at third base. 8-7 Indians. Carmona 3-5; Walter 4-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Mendoza 2-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Margolis 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-5, 2B;

Maud, gimme that ****ing stool back. – Maud, I am serious.

Game 3
IND: 3B D. Jones – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF D. Carter – SS Matias – 2B Kym – C Mancuso – 1B Faulk – P Lambert
POR: RF Carmona – 2B Walter – SS McKnight – 1B Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – P Abe

The Raccoons advanced the line to undefeated Tadasu Abe (5-0, 1.93 ERA) in the Sunday game. For Abe, this would be regular rest, having last pitched on Tuesday against the Capitals.

Lowell Genge continued to fork up the Coons, hitting a solo homer in the first inning to instantly put them back into trailing mode. Matias homered in the second; those two now had six homers between them, and four in this series. The Raccoons didn’t reach under their own power in the first two innings, but Duarte hit a leadoff double in the third and came in to score on Cookie Carmona’s groundout, and in the fourth Mendoza tied the game with a homer to left center. In the fifth the Coons had them on the corners after a pair of 2-out singles by Carmona and Walter, but McKnight struck out. In turn the Indians’ Jones and Morales opened the sixth inning with consecutive soft singles to center, with Duarte misfield the latter to put the runners in scoring position with nobody out. Abe, who didn’t have his best stuff, or even his second-best, and had only three strikeouts so far, rallied to whiff both Genge, the demon, and Carter, but then fell to a bloop single in a full count by the ****ingly annoying Matias, who plated two and was now 7-11 in this series.

Abe went seven shoddy innings, and DeWeese hit a leadoff triple against Lambert in the bottom 7th, after which the best the Raccoons could manage was Eddie Jackson’s pinch-hit, run-scoring groundout to Kym, while Duarte and Cookie both struck out. Lambert continued in the eighth despite having crossed 100 pitches during the Cookie strikeout. Walter grounded out, but McKnight singled past Matias into center. Mendoza came up, still no relief in sight, and Mendoza absolutely blasted a shot to right that was SO – MUCH – OUTTA HERE!!! It flipped the score, kept Abe undefeated, and put the Raccoons ahead 5-4 in an attempt to salvage even one game from this miserable set. Of course Alex Ramirez would try mighty hard to blow that one. Cesar Martinez pinch-hit for Matias (for reasons only known to the Indians manager, but my personal experience says that Matias went into the manager’s lunch box, which is a no-no) to start the ninth and hit a mighty rocket to right, where Petracek had replaced Cookie for defense mainly due to his stronger arm, but he also had no problems catching up with that potentially devastating drive. Kym flew out to center, and Mancuso bounced out to first to end the game. 5-4 Blighters. Mendoza 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI;

In other news

May 7 – An 8-run second inning gets the Loggers on the right track in a 12-1 blasting of the Stars. No Logger has more than two base hits in the game, and 2B Tyler Stewart (.252, 2 HR, 18 RBI) is the only player to drive in three runs.
May 10 – The Loggers manage only three hits in 14 innings against the Crusaders, who win 1-0 thanks to an RBI single by INF Sergio Valdez (.307, 5 HR, 25 RBI) in the top of the 14th inning.
May 11 – TIJ SP Andrew Gudeman (2-2, 4.95 ERA) will be out three months with elbow inflammation.
May 12 – The Rebels’ SP Josh Knupp (2-3, 3.64 ERA) might be out for up to two months with chronic shoulder soreness.
May 12 – Two FL games end 1-0 with a home run the only tally: NAS RF/LF Myles Beckwith’s (.326, 3 HR, 23 RBI) home run is the only scoring in the Blue Sox’ 1-0 win over the Rebels, and the Buffaloes even walk off, 1-0, against the Miners on a solo home run by LF/RF Bill Adams (.310, 9 HR, 32 RBI).

Complaints and stuff

Dumbo Mendoza reached double-digit dingers about six months earlier than last year. I still hate him.

The offense as a whole continues to be gut-wrenching. 4.15 runs per game hardly is sufficient, even with strong pitching, and the rotation has not been strong at all recently.

Guerrero was rescheduled to start on Tuesday, although he has thrown 53 pitches on Saturday and we might have to find a spot starter elsewhere or send at least Pierson on short rest. Meanwhile, Jeff Boynton picked up the W on Sunday, which is his fourth of the season, tying him with Toner for second on the team. Opposed to Ramirez last year, Boynton does not primarily leech wins by blowing other people’s leads. He has not been charged with a run in any of the games in which he got credited with the victory.