[Westheim]

Raccoons (6-6) @ Crusaders (7-5) – April 18-20, 2023

Following a much-needed off day on Monday, the Critters broke out of their den for the first time in 2023 to head to New York, where the Crusaders were in a virtual tie for second place with the Titans at this point. They had not scored any runs so far, ranking tenth in the CL with only 41 counters to their credit. On the other hand, their pitching had been mildly amazing, holding opposing teams to less than three runs per game, the best mark in the Continental League. Tough times ahead for the young Raccoons? The Critters had already been ripped pretty badly by the Crusaders last season, losing a dozen out of the 18 head-to-head contests, their worst performance against the purple-clad team in nine years.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (1-1, 4.35 ERA) vs. Tim Dunn (1-0, 1.59 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (0-1, 7.45 ERA) vs. Joe Jones (0-0, 4.26 ERA)
Matt Huf (0-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (1-2, 2.57 ERA)

The Crusaders had had two consecutive off days on Thursday and Monday and so had ample room to make some moves with their rotation. As things were, they would send up their two left-handers first, but a skip of Jones, who had walked six in 6.1 innings, was in the air as far as I could gather from the overall stats. If so, “Ant” Mendez and Mike Rutkowski (3-0, 2.57 ERA) would move up, both right-handers.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Newman – CF Stevenson – C Delgado – LF Santos – P Chavez
NYC: C Asay – 3B Schmit – 2B S. Valdez – RF Fullerton – 1B I. Flores – LF J. Williams – SS Vacarri – CF Douglas – P Dunn

Tim Stalker started the game with an instant blast, his first home run of the season, and that was not the last hard-hit ball off Dunn in the early innings. Frank Santos ripped an RBI double with two outs in the second inning, scoring Josh Stevenson from first base, and after Dunn lost Chavez to a walk (!), Stalker dropped a looper into shallow right, general confusion allowing Santos to score from second on that to run the score to 3-0 before Spencer grounded out to Andy Schmit. Jesus Chavez was not without his flaws, however, and the Crusaders soon enough also got some big chances. Two on and two outs in the bottom 2nd, Dunn hit a liner to left that found Santos and wouldn’t score anybody, but Chavez began the third by hitting Jason Asay with an 0-2 pitch, then walked Schmit right away to bring up the tying run. The Crusaders grounded into a fielder’s choice at second base twice after that, which allowed Asay to score their first run, but they didn’t break out all over Chavez, no matter how much he deserved it at that point. The first two batters reached again in the bottom 4th, Jake Williams legging out an infield single when Chavez was too slow to first base to receive Shane Walter’s feed, and Giacobbe Vaccari singled hard to center. Lance Douglas grounded into yet another force at second base, and the Crusaders had Dunn swing away and fly out to Santos in shallow left. Asay grounded out to short, stranding runners on the corners.

Starting in the fifth, the Raccoons did their so elating a-single-an-inning thing that would never get them anywhere. Nunley singled twice, in the fifth and seventh, but never found a friend to help him out in adding a run. The Crusaders let off of Chavez for a while, too, and the Coons’ starter reached the seventh inning, but would not get through it. Andy Schmit’s 2-out solo homer cut the lead to 3-2 and sent Chavez to the showers. Bocanegra replaced him, and Dunn was also gone from the game by the time the top of the eighth rolled around. Jon Ozier demolished the bottom of the order in the eighth, the ninth was not much better, but thanks to scoreless relief from Bocanegra (three outs), Surginer (one), and Lillis (three), the early damage against Tim Dunn was enough to squeeze out a W and avoid sub-.500 ball for the moment. 3-2 Critters. Stalker 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4; Stevenson 2-3, BB; Chavez 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, W (2-1);

The starting pitchers in this game combined for 13.2 innings, allowing 12 hits and walking five. They struck out *nobody*. Both bullpens would collect two strikeouts per side afterwards. Well, at least Chavez became the first starter on the team with two wins.

Game 2
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – LF Stevenson – CF Borg – C Tovias – P Nielson
NYC: SS R. Soto – 3B Schmit – RF Fullerton – LF J. Williams – 1B I. Flores – 2B S. Valdez – C Rangel – CF Abraham – P J. Jones

Jones pitched, and not as badly as Nielson, who walked Robby Soto and Andy Schmit to start his day, with Soto scoring after Tovias’ throwing error as he took off for third base. Schmit advanced to third, then scored on D.J. Fullerton’s sac fly to Greg Borg in center. Just like that it was a 2-0 game with no hits being even landed by the Crusaders. Jake Williams would single, but Nielson struck out Ivan Flores, and Sergio Valdez grounded out on a 3-0 pitch to end the miserable first inning. The Raccoons would load the bases in the second inning, and with nobody out, as Nunley singled, Alfaro doubled up the leftfield line, and Stevenson walked. With Greg Borg’s pop to Williams in shallow left, a K on Tovias, and Nielson serving an easy out to Valdez, nobody scored.

While Shane Walter hit an RBI double at some point, the Raccoons remained in arrears, with Alfaro twice coming up with two men on, and twice failing as usual. Nielson remained completely out of sync with his surroundings and walked four batters in the first three innings. The Crusaders were hitting enough balls right at people to ruin most of their chances, though, at least until Fullerton cranked a 2-piece in the bottom 5th that collected Schmit, who had hit a leadoff single. That gave New York a 4-1 lead, and it also gave me a headache, because this was a strongly left-leaning lineup that Nielson was grossly failing against here. Somehow we managed to drag him through seven innings without him being completely dismembered, but that wouldn’t have happened if Elias Tovias had any kind of visual receptors that could have told him that D.J. Fullerton was well on his 2-out double in the top of the sixth. Nope, blind as a bat, Tovias kept running, despite the third base coach’s best efforts to wave him off, and was a dead duck at third base. If Tovias had remained at second base, Nielson would have been hit for at that point in the vain hope to generate a token amount of threat. But despite a wobble by Billy Brotman in the bottom 8th, who put runners on the corners that Vince Devereaux had to clean up, the Raccoons still managed to pose a threat against Steve Casey in the ninth inning. Casey struck out Tovias and Newman as the inning began. He then hit enough batters to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs, Stalker and Spencer rubbing their welts in plain sight as Shane Walter stepped in. His single loaded the bases and brought up a 3-for-4 Matt Nunley, who was batting .436 at this point. A run scored on a wild pitch, and then Nunley grounded out to short to end the game anyway. 4-2 Crusaders. Spencer 2-4; Walter 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nunley 3-5; Alfaro 2-4, 2B;

As it stands, we’re at .500 again, with a -15 run differential indicating that we really shouldn’t be at .500, and with the team only three runs scored removed from the absolute bottom in the league.

If anybody has a sound battleplan, I’ll listen.

Game 3
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF Newman – RF Alfaro – CF Borg – C Tovias – P Huf
NYC: SS R. Soto – 3B Schmit – 2B S. Valdez – RF Fullerton – 1B I. Flores – LF J. Williams – C Asay – CF Douglas – P A. Mendez

While Huf also began his start with two walks to the Crusaders, which made him that much more likeable, the Coons would score first as they had in the series opener, with a Tim Stalker homer. This time the dinger occurred in the third inning, a 2-out, 2-run shot around the left foul pole that also scored Tovias. Huf struck out the side in the bottom of the order, Stalker hit another mighty drive that was only caught at the fence in the top of the fifth, and just when I thought we might be alright, a terrible throwing error by Spencer in the bottom 5th put Jason Asay in scoring position and pulled up the tying run in Lance Douglas, who immediately ripped an RBI double to deep right, which was somehow the Crusaders’ first base knock in the game. Mendez struck out and Spencer handled Soto’s grounder for the last out, but suddenly this was a 1-run game again, and Huf walked Schmit to begin the bottom 6th. Valdez’ blooper to shallow left fell in for a single, and the trouble was on now for sure. Fullerton grounded to Spencer, who could only get the out at first base, so the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position with one down for the switch-hitting Flores, who bounced a ball back to the mound that hit off Huf’s shin. Schmit scrambled back to third base, but Huf couldn’t recover in time to make a play on Flores, and the bases were loaded, and Huf’s day was over. Devereaux came in, but couldn’ get out of the mess on the bases. He allowed a sac fly to Williams, then the go-ahead RBI single to Asay. The K to Douglas came too late. The Raccoons’ offense was entirely absent at this point, but the Crusaders got a run off Bocanegra in the seventh on Valdez’ sac fly. A 2-out single by Stalker was the last sign of life by the Coons in the eighth, and they disappeared silently into the sub-.500 night thereafter. 4-2 Crusaders. Stalker 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (7-8) @ Falcons (5-11) – April 21-23, 2023

These Falcons had won their division just last season, so I was ready to take their record with a grain of salt, or two. The second fact that made you reconsider your faint hopes for a good weekend set was their run differential, which was a puzzling +8, so they were on the opposite end of the luck scale at the moment. They had the highest team batting average in the Continental League, and the third-most runs. They had allowed the fifth-most runs, so pitching had been an issue, foremost their rotation, which ranked at the bottom by ERA with a crummy 4.94 starters’ mark.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (1-0, 1.89 ERA) vs. Greg Gannon (0-1, 3.60 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (1-1, 6.89 ERA) vs. TBD
Jesus Chavez (2-1, 3.71 ERA) vs. Kyle Anderson (1-2, 4.50 ERA)

The open spot was Justin Fleming’s (1-2, 3.24 ERA), but he was battling flu-like symptoms. Regardless, their five regular starters were all right-handed, but they had at least one potential left-handed spot starter in J.J. Rodd in the bullpen. Illness and injuries were not something that had only befallen the Raccoons early on, the Falcons were also without an ailing Matt Good (.309, 3 HR, 8 RBI) at the moment, with no diagnosis released so far.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – LF Newman – RF Alfaro – CF Stevenson – C Tovias – P Toner
CHA: 2B Gray – 3B Czachor – 1B Fowlkes – RF M. Owen – C T. Robinson – CF LeMoine – LF McClenon – SS Read – P Gannon

When Matt Nunley singled to lead off the top 2nd and Matt Owen overran the ball, the Coons had the go-ahead run on second base with nobody out, which was a good scoring opportunity for normal teams, but for this team was only an invitation to suck harder. Newman struck out. Alfaro struck out. Stevenson tried to strike out, accidentally hit the ball, but was relieved that his 2-2 grounder arrived at Tyler Gray for the third out anyway. Back-to-back doubles past either side of Omar Alfaro, hit by Chris LeMoine and Joseph McClenon in the bottom 2nd, plated the first run of the game for Charlotte then, but at least *some* Critters were not dead from the waist up yet. Jarod Spencer for example hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning, and while Walter made an out, he at least moved the runner to third base with a grounder to Gray. Nunley grounded out to first, with Spencer not moving, and Ryan Czachor caught Newman’s liner to end the inning. Stevenson singled, stole second, and was on third base with two outs for Toner in the fifth inning, but Jonny struck out…

Despite the double-double early on, Toner had mostly a Toner start, striking out five and not allowing a whole lot of damage early on, but he sure as hell couldn’t get the least amount of support. McClenon hit a leadoff single in the bottom 5th, but for some reason the Falcons considered it a good choice to have their pitcher swing away. Swinging away Gannon did, right to Spencer for a double play. In turn, Tim Stalker was the tying run on second base after a leadoff double into the leftfield corner in the top of the sixth. Spencer struck out. Walter struck out. Nunley lined out to Gray. There was nothing on the ceiling of the room I was in that would hold a rope to hang myself with. What a terrible day!

The Raccoons would hit three singles in the seventh inning, but before anybody gets excited, the first was by Newman, Alfaro hit into a two-for-one, and then Stevenson and Tovias reached base with two outs. That brought up Toner. Now, you really want a hitter to bat here, but the Coons had only batters who couldn’t hit… maybe Toner could rekindle his offensive prowess from years ago – and you know you’re desperate when you count on your starting pitcher to get the winning hit. He hit a grounder hard, but right at Howard Read, and the inning ended. Frustration soon boiled over, and with that I didn’t mean me plundering the minibar, which I certainly did, because nothing stuffs the gaping hole in your guts better than some $20 candy bars. Nope, the Raccoons were batting in the eighth, miserably, with Stalker flying out to left, Armetta whiffing in Spencer’s spot, and then Walter was called out on a borderline 2-2 pitch and flung his bat and helmet while cussing at the umpire. The helmet bounced oddly and hit the umpire in the shin, which got Walter the quick heave-ho. Greenwald replaced him, but nothing mattered. Toner got romped for two walks, two hits, and two runs in the bottom 8th and had to be dug out by Billy Brotman… actually, Stevenson, who caught LeMoine’s deep drive to center to end the inning with two Falcons waiting to score. 3-0 Falcons. Stevenson 1-2, 2 BB;

Contrary to my first assumption, Shane Walter was not suspended for his outburst – replay showed the “third strike” to be egregiously outside, which might have been a factor in this one.

Game 2
POR: SS Stalker – LF Spencer – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B Greenwald – RF Alfaro – CF Stevenson – C Tovias – P Gutierrez
CHA: 2B Good – 3B Czachor – 1B Fowlkes – RF M. Owen – C T. Robinson – LF J. Avila – CF McClenon – SS Read – P K. Anderson

Kyle Anderson started on short rest for the incapacitated Fleming, but the Falcons also had Matt Good back rocking in the leadoff spot, sore calf here or there. The Falcons took an early lead again one way or another, with Howard Read’s RBI double in the bottom 2nd getting them to poke their beaks in front. That lead would only grow and was 3-0 by the third inning. Gutierrez walked Czachor with one out, then allowed a single to left center to Pat Fowlkes. Stevenson saw Czachor making for third base, unleashed a throw, but Nunley had no chance for a play. Instead he had to scamper after the wayward throw that would come to rest against the rolled-up tarp way in foul ground, allowing Czachor to score and Fowlkes to move to second, from where he scored on Matt Owen’s single. While Kyle Anderson walked a pair early on, the Raccoons would not land a base hit until the FIFTH, and then Stevenson never made it past first base following his 1-out single…

As far as shame went, Rico Gutierrez didn’t strike out anybody in the first four innings, but had Anderson at 0-2 to begin the bottom 5th. Too bad Anderson crushed a 98mph heater for a no-doubt home run to left, running the score to 4-0, sending the home crowd into dance mode and some weird wing-flapping imitation that they did with their arms, and Gutierrez was visibly contemplating his career choice on the mound while the veterans around, Nunley and Walter, read him the Riot Act. He wasn’t even listening at them, numbly carving a deeper trench for himself next to the rubber. Gutierrez somehow got through the inning despite Matt Good’s nobody-out single that followed the disgracing home run, with Good being caught stealing by Tovias later on.

Matt Nunley hit a leadoff single in the seventh inning, squeezing a roller past Howard Read. Greenwald pirouetted around the batter’s box for a number of pitches, never hit anything, and was sat down. Omar Alfaro approached, batting .215 and falling, and hit squarely into a double play. The Raccoons would not find another base runner in their bats for the rest of the game, with Kyle Anderson – on short rest – throwing a 2-hit shutout against them, whiffing six. 4-0 Falcons. Nunley 1-2, BB; Stevenson 1-2, BB;

And not only Rico Gutierrez is wondering whether he should go back to school and learn a decent profession!

…

Game 3
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – C Delgado – LF Newman – RF Alfaro – CF Borg – P Chavez
CHA: 2B Good – 3B Czachor – 1B Fowlkes – LF J. Avila – C T. Robinson – CF LeMoine – RF McClenon – SS Read – P J. Bryant

Jim Bryant was 1-1 with a 5.55 ERA, which to a normal team would signal easy pickings. The Raccoons indeed burst out all over him, scoring ONE WHOLE run in the first inning on Tim Stalker’s leadoff triple and Spencer’s sac fly. Never mind that Nunley and Delgado singled and Newman feebly popped out to strand them on the corners. The Coons even staved off Good’s leadoff single and stolen base in the bottom 1st, and instead took a TWO-to-nothing lead in the second inning on Omar Alfaro’s leadoff jack to right. The Age of Omar! CAN YOU FEEL IT??

The Falcons picked up their first run of the game in the bottom 3rd, with Chavez walking the leadoff man Read and allowing 2-out singles to Czachor and Fowlkes, but Jose Avila’s sharp grounder was intercepted by Spencer for the third out, finally, but Joseph McClenon’s 2-out jack in the bottom of the fourth tied the game anyway. Alfaro made a flying catch in the gap on Ryan Czachor an inning later, but the real burner was how to squeeze another run from our lineup to be technically able to win at least one game in the series? With Jarod Spencer leading off the sixth, you should better not count on him going yard! He popped out. The game breezed by with neither team doing much with the bats, until Chavez ran a 3-0 count to Chris LeMoine to begin the bottom 7th. That could easily become the winning run, but patience had never been the former Logger’s thing and he grounded out on the 3-0 pitch. Oh maybe we’ll be fine after all! Or maybe nah. Chavez got through McClenon, but then walked Read, with left-hander Danny Munn batting for Bryant. Billy Brotman was summoned from the pen immediately, but allowed a single to center that sent Read and the go-ahead run to third base. Matt Owen batted for Matt Good to counter Brotman, who was replaced with Moore, who struck out the pinch-hitter to end the seventh. The Coons struck out in order in the eighth, while Devereaux boogied around a leadoff walk to Czachor in the bottom of that inning. Closer Gregg Bell was in for the top of the ninth, facing the 2-3-4 batters. After Spencer popped out on the first pitch (CAN YOU EVER TAKE ONE?? GODDAMNIT!!), Shane Walter lined to right for a 1-out double, so technically the Critters had the go-ahead run in scoring position. After Nunley flew out to center, Delgado worked a walk, which brought up Will Newman and his .171/.275/.229 line of amazement. Well, the bench was a deserted wasteland. Who is gonna hit for him? Frank Santos?? Newman was sent, Newman knocked a 1-1 to right center for a single, and Walter scored. Hooray, a lead!! Alfaro struck out, but eh, what are you gonna – … there was more important stuff to do, like scraping the rust off Brett Lillis, who hadn’t pitched since the last time the Coons had one a game, and everybody wondering when the **** that had been (Tuesday) told a thing or two about the team… Lillis retired LeMoine, Travis Benson, and Read in order to end the game. Let’s not get into Benson’s near-homer on a 3-2 pitch… 3-2 Furballs! Walter 2-4, 2B; Chavez 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

In other news

April 17 – A torn achilles tendon ends the season of NAS OF Tom Schorsch (.186, 1 HR, 5 RBI) after just two weeks. The 27-year-old is not expected to be back before Closing Day.
April 18 – The Loggers win, 2-1 over the Indians, but MIL CF/RF Ian Coleman (.431, 1 HR, 12 RBI) has his 26-game hitting streak snapped by Indy, going hitless in four at-bats.
April 21 – In a wild 12-9 win over the Titans, LVA 3B/SS Jose Navarro (.295, 1 HR, 10 RBI) misses the cycle by the home run and goes 5-for-5 with 3 RBI.
April 21 – The Gold Sox get trampled by the Miners, who win 11-2 on 21 hits, with 3B Travis Bahner (.328, 2 HR, 7 RBI) collecting four base knocks with a double and an RBI.
April 22 – NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.266, 0 HR, 6 RBI) is out for a month with a hamstring strain.
April 23 – CIN RF/LF/1B Hugo Mendoza (.323, 1 HR, 12 RBI) lands his 2,000th base hit in a 5-2 loss to the Warriors. The milestone is a ninth-inning, 2-out single off Ken Gautney that nevertheless fails to get the Cyclones back in the game. Mendoza, who previously played for the Stars and Raccoons, is the 2016 FL Player of the Year and a 7-time All Star. He has batted .314 with 311 HR and 1,201 RBI for his career. He is 20th in career home runs and 40th in career RBI at only 32 years of age.

Complaints and stuff

By now it should be quite obvious that I traded for nothing but duds, which has always been my special move.

Not that Vince D has been bad, but who else was a candidate when I shopped Ricky Martinez around? Gregg Bell!

Funny thing, Jonny Toner has more major-league innings than the rest of the pitching staff combined… and yet it’s not the pitching staff that is the problem! I made fun of Matt Nunley batting cleanup, which … well, I like the guy, but he’s not a cleanup batter to put it mildly. He’s been in the majors for almost ten full years, and he is still not at 100 home runs.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have not won a game on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday so far this season, and they have scored more than two runs in any Thursday, Friday, or Saturday game only once.

… and that was the 13-6 drubbing by the Knights during Opening Week!

I would now ask for someone on my staff for support on how to clean up this mess, but only Slappy is still hanging around, and he knows nothing about cleaning up to begin with.

Yup, we’re doomed.