[Westheim]

Originally Posted by alexsimon99

Should we take the second J to also be Jose, so his name is Jose Jose Menendez?

Well, I am not around that team, but from what I have heard he ate his passport than told the Thunder that they had hit the Jose Jackpot.

This might well be crazy talk.

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Raccoons (6-6) vs. Loggers (5-7) – April 16-18, 2024

The Loggers came into town in last place and had just buried former Critter Ron Thrasher (0-0, 0.00 ERA) who was headed for Tommy John surgery at age 36, as broke on Monday, which was an off day for both teams. The Loggers had started off ranking in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, and their pen had been ripped apart for a fantastic 5.76 ERA, which was not supposed to get better with Thrasher shunted off to the DL for the rest of the season. The Raccoons had not lost the season series to the Loggers in ten years, beating them 11-7 in 2023.

Projected matchups:
Travis Garrett (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (2-0, 1.10 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (0-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (0-2, 5.52 ERA)
Mark Roberts (1-1, 1.27 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (0-0, 0.77 ERA)

The Loggers had only right-handed starters; meanwhile Rico Gutierrez was conspicuously absent from the Raccoons' schedule for the series, which related to the off day as well as his 12.96 ERA. If there had ever been a guy that had looked like he could use an extra three days or 25 years between starts, it was Gutierrez.

Game 1
MIL: CF Tesch – C Wool – SS Tadlock – RF Gore – LF de Santiago – 3B A. Velez – 1B Gilmor – 2B March – P Villalobos
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 2B Walter – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – CF Mora – C Delgado – P Garrett

Abel Mora's error in the first inning helped the Loggers to two unearned runs, although "Tragic" Travis had a sure paw in this mess, too, allowing singles to Josh Wool and Ron Tadlock before Carlos de Santiago's fly glanced off the heel of Mora's glove to allow a man to score. The other runner came home on Garrett's wild pitch in the process of walking Alberto Velez, but Nick Gilmore flew out to end the early nightmare. Base hits by Tadlock and Velez added a run to the Loggers' total in the third inning, while the Raccoons amounted to only one base knock in the early innings, but loaded the bases in the bottom 4th with two outs. Walter singled over Dan March, and Nunley and Alfaro drew 2-out walks, but Abel Mora grounded out to the second baseman March and nobody scored.

Things got a bit worse for both teams in the bottom of the fifth, with Tony Delgado's drive to right being spoiled by Brad Gore, who also hurt himself and left the game with a pinched nerve in his neck and was headed to the DL by the game's eventual conclusion. Jon Berntson replaced him and had a good view of the double play that ended the game, your household 8-3 double play on which Brad Tesch caught Cookie's fly to center, then doubled off a confused Garrett, who had singled after the Delgado out and had run on contact. Garrett continued to grow my stomach ulcers in the sixth, allowing a double to March with two outs, and then a sharp RBI single to left center to the opposing pitcher. On to the seventh, where the Coons had runners in scoring position and no outs after a Nunley single and Alfaro double, both to the right side. The bottom of the order amounted to absolutely nothing, including pinch-hitter Cory Briscoe. The team would actually get on the board eventually, Cookie hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 8th and then scoring on Stalker's double to the leftfield wall. When Shane Walter walked, suddenly the tying run was up at the plate, and it was Jon Gonzalez, who … grounder to short. The Loggers only got Walter, Tim Dunkin replaced Villalobos and retired the side while allowing only one more run on Nunley's groundout. Brotman and Surginer prevented the Loggers from adding insurance in the ninth, and the Coons had the tying run at the plate immediately in the bottom 9th with Abel Mora singling to right off Brian Gilbert, a right-hander. Zach Graves batted for Tony Delgado, lined to center, Tesch missed it, and Graves had a double; the tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out and now Spencer batted for the pitcher; we wanted a contact bat here rather than Tovias' all-or-nothing. With no outs, keep the line moving! Spencer unhelpfully grounded out to third base, Cookie's soft fly to right was caught by Berntson, sliding, but Mora scored, and then Stalker lined past March, chasing Graves home from second to tie the game with the team down to the last out! Stalker was caught stealing, sending the game to extras.

Brett Lillis pitched two scoreless innings in relief now, but wouldn't get picked up for a win with the offense choking against the Loggers' pen. The bottom 11th ended with Lillis being hit for by Bullock, who grounded out, officially emptying our bench. Cowen replaced Lillis on the mound and held the Loggers away in the 12th, with Cookie leading off the bottom of the inning with a single off Mike Kress. Stalker bunted Cookie to second, where he was starved when Walter popped out and Gonzalez struck out. Cowen pitched three scoreless before he hit a 1-out single in the bottom 14th. Cookie followed that up with a double play to short. There was no scoring until the 16th, when Kipple walked Tesch and Wool with two outs, two left-handers to make it worse, then allowed an RBI single to Ron Tadlock, knocked sharply into left. Danny Munn struck out to end the inning, but what could the Coons do against Kress in his SIXTH inning? Nunley grounded out, but Alfaro singled to right. Mora struck out. Tovias struck out. 5-4 Loggers. Carmona 2-6, RBI; Stalker 2-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-6, BB, RBI; Alfaro 2-6, BB, 2B; Graves (PH) 1-1, 2B; Brotman 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Cowen 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K and 1-1;

Listen, kids. If you wanna lose, lose in nine, goddamnit.

Gutierrez would bolster the pen in the Wednesday game. If Delgadillo would be knocked out early, we'd throw in Saturday's starter and figure out where to go from there later.

Game 2
MIL: CF Tesch – 1B Gershkovich – SS Tadlock – C Wool – 3B A. Velez – LF de Santiago – RF Harris – 2B March – P Shepherd
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 2B Walter – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – CF Briscoe – C Tovias – RF Graves – P Delgadillo

The Loggers again scored in the first with a Mike Gershkovich single, Tadlock doubling into the gap, and then a groundout by Josh Wool, but the Coons came right back when Cookie singled, stole, and scored on Stalker's base hit to left. That wasn't all; Walter reached base on Wool's throwing error, and Nunley's RBI single gave them the 2-1 lead with one down. Briscoe flew to left, de Santiago dropped that one, and Walter scored. Tovias struck out, but Graves' single plated Nunley for a fourth run (and the third unearned run) before Shepherd saved himself by undressing Delgadillo. Milwaukee got a run back from the Coons' struggling starter of the day right away in the second as Delgadillo knocked Terry Harris, who then scored on a March double. In the fourth, the Loggers got doubles from de Santiago and Harris, but wouldn't score thanks to de Santiago being thrown out by Briscoe at third base on his non-triple. Instead, the Coons added two in the bottom 4th, putting Cookie and Stalker on the corners with no outs and then getting an RBI single from Walter and a sac fly from Gonzalez to get to 6-2.

This also nipped the Loggers' starter, forcing them into their pen that had also tossed eight innings on Tuesday (compared to ten for the Coons). Ivan Morales bled a run in the bottom 5th, Briscoe scoring on a Graves groundout, but Delgadillo found his groove in the middle innings and generated lots of poor contact, clicking through the Loggers quickly with a 5-run lead. Young Dan would walk Harris to begin the seventh, with March following that with a fly to Briscoe. Danny Munn pinch-hit, grounded to second, and Walter started two to end the inning. Singles by Tesch and Tadlock would knock out Delgadillo for good in the eighth, especially with left-handers coming up. Wool flew out to center on Billy Brotman's first pitch, and Velez struck out to end that inning, and Brotman also retired them in order in the ninth. Stalker 2-4, RBI; Nunley 3-4, RBI; Delgadillo 7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-1); Brotman 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

First major league win for Dan Delgadillo!!

The Loggers moved to a different right-hander, Pedro Hernandez (0-2, 3.12 ERA) for the rubber game, while the Coons stuck with their ace.

Game 3
MIL: 2B Stewart – 1B Gershkovich – SS Tadlock – C Wool – RF Berntson – 3B A. Velez – LF de Santiago – CF Tesch – P P. Hernandez
POR: LF Carmona – 2B Spencer – 1B Walter – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – CF Mora – C Tovias – SS Bullock – P Roberts

There were no base hits from either team in the first two innings, after which rain dropped down and the game went to delay for an hour. Roberts came back a mess, walking de Santiago, nailing Tyler Stewart, and allowing two runs on the first hit of the game, a Gershkovich double into the rightfield corner. The Coons amounted to absolutely nothing, and Alberto Velez added a 2-run homer for the Loggers in the fourth against a washed-away Mark Roberts, who seemingly didn't like the rain, which was bad news for all game dates in Portland outside of the middle of July. The Critters only picked it up in the sixth, and rather scrappy fashion. Bullock singled with one out, with Graves popping out in a PH appearance. Cookie reached on Stewart's error, Spencer reached on an infield single, and then Walter drew a walk from Hernandez to push in a run with two down. Alfaro singled to center, plating two, but Nunley struck out, keeping the team a run short to take the since-removed Roberts off the hook. The bullpen gave everything; Kipple, Lee, and Vince D tossed scoreless innings each, with Lee even striking out the 9-1-2 batters, but the Coons did nothing in the bottom of the seventh, and while Briscoe hit a leadoff single in the eighth, he was also caught stealing. Bottom 9th, Gilbert on the mound, Walter and Alfaro both singled to right to begin the inning, putting the winning run aboard already! In a shrewd move, Gonzalez batted for Nunley, taking away the platoon advantage and sending in a batter that was 0-for-8 in the series, but now we desired the big stroke, and wasn't Gonzalez the king of doubles? Jon hit away at the first pitch, smashing it deep to right, and Terry Harris didn't bother – that one was GONE!!! 6-4 Furballs!! Alfaro 2-4, 2 RBI; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Briscoe (PH) 1-1;

With that big ripper, Jon Gonzalez ties for the lead in homers in the CL, and Vince D for the lead in wins in the CL. Neither CL mark is the ABL mark, but who gives a **** about the Federal League?

Raccoons (8-7) vs. Condors (9-7) – April 19-21, 2024

Half a game back of the lead in the CL South and on a 4-game streak, the Condors were winning despite being in the bottom three in runs scored. Their pitching was quite good, with the fourth-fewest runs conceded, but even then their run differential was -5. The Condors had beaten the Coons for three straight years, with us coming up short 3-6 in '23.

Projected matchups:
Jesus Chavez (1-1, 3.15 ERA) vs. Luis Flores (1-2, 1.99 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (0-2, 12.96 ERA) vs. George Griffin (1-1, 2.65 ERA)
Travis Garrett (1-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Andrew Gudeman (1-0, 2.21 ERA)

That's some pitching they have … in April. Flores will be the only southpaw for us this week, lest they skipped somebody and would move Jeff Little (2-0, 0.66 ERA) into the series.

Game 1
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – 3B J. Gutierrez – LF O. Larios – C Sanford – CF Hatley – RF Hollar – 1B McNeal – 2B Casillas – P L. Flores
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – C Tovias – 2B Spencer – P Chavez

The Coons had yet to put on a runner under their own power – Mora had reached on an error by Tony Casillas – when the Condors took the lead in the third inning, and then it was on a leadoff jack by that same Casillas that had soiled Flores' perfect game bid. The Condors upped their game to 3-0 in the fourth against Chavez, who once more fooled nobody, with a single by Omar Larios, a Pat Sanford RBI triple, Chavez losing Nick Hatley to a walk, and then a run-scoring double play grounder by Chris Hollar. Flores struck out six in the first four innings and also hit a single off the negligible Chavez in the fifth, although the rest of the team didn't pile on at that point. A Cookie single in the fourth and a pitch into Nunley's ribs in the fifth aside, Flores was very dominant and maintained a 1-hitter with 7 K through 6.2 innings until Omar Alfaro found the gap with a fly to left center and slid into third base with a 2-out triple. Tovias grounded out to Jose Gutierrez, and we were probably not going to get back into this one… Through seven, this was really a one-man show, and that despite the fact that Chavez also held on and lasted two outs in the eighth before Kipple had to take care of a man on third base. The Coons had a leadoff single by Spencer in the bottom 8th before twice hitting into a fielder's choice. Stalker, however singled, moving Cookie to third, and the tying run appeared in Abel Mora. Actually, no. The Coons sent their only right-handed bat on the bench, Tony Delgado, who grounded out. The Condors saw the need to add some runs, effortlessly put three (two earned) on Kipple and Lee in the ninth, and the Coons retreated to the clubhouse with their striped tails firmly tucked in between their hind legs. Rafael Cuenca faced four and retired nobody in the bottom 9th, with Tovias landing an RBI single to stave off the shutout, but with the bases loaded and no outs, replacement Mike Peterson retired Spencer, Graves, and Cookie in order to close this one out. 6-1 Condors. Chavez 7.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, L (1-2);

Game 2
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – 3B J. Gutierrez – LF O. Larios – C Sanford – CF Hatley – 1B McNeal – RF Hollar – 2B Casillas – P Griffin
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 2B Walter – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – CF Mora – C Delgado – P R. Gutierrez

This was really a lineup to recover your stats for Rico, who would face only three right-handed batters in the #2, #4, and #8 slots. Indeed, only Larios reached base the first time through, hitting a clean single to centerfield, but Gutierrez struck out three in pushing his ERA out of the double digits and towards a more crisp and defensible … 9. Sanford singled in the fourth, but the Condors didn't amount to much early on, with Rico on five whiffs after four innings. Unfortunately, the Raccoons were just as ineffective against George Griffin; after a Shane Walter single in the first inning, they didn't get back on base until Jon Gonzalez singled in the fourth. Nunley also hit a single to left, and then Griffin lost Alfaro on straight balls, pulling up Mora with the sacks full and two down, and indeed Abel became the fourth straight Coon to reach base, whacking a 2-run single to left center. Delgado grounded out to end the inning. Too bad that Gutierrez imploded all the same with leadoff singles by Andy McNeal and Chris Hollar in the fifth inning, and hard ones at that. Casillas hit into a double play, and then the remaining runner scored on Delgado's passed ball with the pitcher at the plate. Wasn't this a marvelous job?

Portland had Nunley and Alfaro aboard again with two outs in the bottom 6th, but this time Mora grounded out, leaving Gutierrez to his own devices, which meant a leadoff single by Sanford in the seventh, and then Gutierrez threw away Hatley's grounder for an error. PH Adrian Rojas struck out, and Chris Hollar's one-bounce rocket went right to Stalker who started a masterful double play; for many players, not getting killed by that ball would have been success enough, but Stalker shortstopped the Condors' rally excellently here! Gutierrez was retained in the bottom 7th to bunt over Delgado after the latter's leadoff single, but the Coons would not amount to a run in the inning. Vince D retired the side in order in the eighth before Lillis took over and issued a leadoff walk to Jose Gutierrez in the ninth inning – just what we wanted to see, the tying run aboard with nobody out. Speed demon Danny Zarate pinch-ran for Gutierrez, but Lillis had the keenest eye on him and would throw over six times in total in the inning to keep him honest over there while he struck out Larios, got Sanford to pop out, and finally Hatley to roll out to Stalker to end the game. 2-1 Coons! Nunley 2-3, BB; Gutierrez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (1-2);

With this W, the Coons vaulted into second place, the only winning team in the division other than the Crusaders at 11-6.

There would be a change of pitcher for this opponent as well in the last game of the set, with the Condors replacing Gudeman with Jose Menendez (2-2, 3.86 ERA).

Game 3
TIJ: SS B. Rojas – 3B J. Gutierrez – LF O. Larios – C Sanford – CF Hatley – RF Hollar – 1B McNeal – 2B Casillas – P Jo. Menendez
POR: LF Carmona – SS Stalker – 2B Walter – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – CF Mora – C Tovias – P Garrett

"Tragic" Travis Garrett ran 3-ball counts to the first three batters of the game, all three reached on a single (Gutierrez) or walks, and while there was no fixing whatever Garrett lacked in ability, composure, or even just looks, hustling out to yell at him on "national" "television" in the Sunday night Twatbook-exclusive livestream after only 15 pitches sure eased the heartaches our pitching coach felt whenever Garrett honed his trade in the spotlight. You couldn't watch this guy throw a bullpen, and you sure as heck couldn't stand to see him flick beans when it counted. Cookie held Sanford to a sac fly on a drive to left, and consecutive groundouts to Walter ended the inning, but – boy! – did I hate Garrett's sorry face. Cookie's .250 batting corpse singled and went to third on Stalker's single on a hit-and-run call, and Walter's walk in a full count loaded the bags for the Coons with nobody down in the bottom 1st then. Jon Gonzalez had creamed a first pitch for a 3-piece in walkoff fashion earlier this week, but this time was denied by Omar Larios at the fence, the return sac fly tying the game as Cookie scampered home for Gonzalez' team-leading 12th RBI. Menendez ran a few full counts, whiffing Nunley, but walking Alfaro, and Abel Mora gave Portland the lead with a single to right, scoring one run before Tovias grounded out to end a first inning that lasted almost half an hour.

The 2-1 lead was shattered instantly in the second, Casillas tripling and coming home on a 2-out single by Bob Rojas, but the Coons would come back in the bottom of the same inning with Cookie's 1-out single and Walter's 2-out RBI double. Top 3rd, leadoff walk to Gutierrez, Larios singled, and the Coons couldn't turn a potential inning-ending double play on Hatley's grounder, while Twatbook users (or Twats for short) merrily commented away and called the asinine junk boil Garrett worse names than I ever could, while "lol"ling mightily. While Maud was busy explaining to me what Twatbook was and how it worked and what it was good for (absolutely nothing?), Chris Hollar, a rookie, hacked himself out, stranding a pair. Garrett somehow lived through four to lead off the bottom of that fourth inning with a single to right and Cookie hit one almost to the same spot right afterwards. Here came Stalker, OPS'ing .959 and trying to pretend that that would hold up for the year, stunning the Condors with a mighty blow to centerfield, a 430-footer that was not held by the fence and exploded the score to 6-2 in the home team's favor!

That got rid of Menendez, who compared to Garrett was a perfectly decent pitcher, just a little bit unlucky here. Omar Alfaro, homerless on the year, narrowly missed a leadoff jack off Markus Bates in the bottom 5th, but hit the first of inning-opening doubles, scoring on Mora's to extend the lead to 7-2 through five, which was also almost as far as Garrett would go. Sanford opened the sixth with a double, there was a walk to McNeal, and then Surginer replaced him with two outs in the top 6th, but allowed a first-pitch RBI single to Casillas that allowed Sanford to score, 7-3. Only PH Juan Estrada yielded the third out of the inning, but before the Condors could get closer than slam range, the Coons tacked on a run, with Zach Graves plating Alfaro in the bottom 7th via a pinch-hit triple off Sam Lowery, who also got bombed by Jon Gonzalez for a solo shot, Jon's fifth, an inning later. Brotman and Cowen finished the game for the Coons without allowing any more runs. 9-3 Furballs. Carmona 3-4, BB; Stalker 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Walter 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Alfaro 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Mora 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Graves (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI;

In other news

April 16 – A single in the sixth by Justin Simmons (.291, 1 HR, 6 RBI) is all that separates the Scorpions and SP Ian Rutter (2-1, 3.86 ERA) from a potential no-hitter. Rutter in the event does not finish the game, being relieved by Ben Marx in the eighth inning.
April 17 – In a royal shellacking, the Capitals pile up *15* runs in the fourth inning of their 16-4 rout of the Cyclones. CIN MR Mark Thibodeau (0-0, 14.54 ERA) is charged with six runs in relief and retires nobody, while Washington's Guillermo Obando (.246, 0 HR, 7 RBI) has four base hits and drives in as many; Jason Stone (.152, 1 HR, 10 RBI) leads the team with 5 RBI, including a 3-run homer off Thibodeau.
April 17 – DAL SS Manny Ferrer (.342, 0 HR, 7 RBI) will miss four months with a broken elbow.
April 18 – NYC SP Ozzie Pereira (2-0, 1.52 ERA) hurls a 3-hit shutout against the Indians in a 4-0 win.
April 19 – The Indians acquire utility player Brody Folk (.176, 1 HR, 3 RBI) from the Knights for AAA players with major league experience, Jaylen Rolland and Drew Greene.
April 20 – SAC SP Hwa-pyung Choe (1-0, 3.26 ERA) is headed for Tommy John surgery with a torn UCL and is out until next year.

Complaints and stuff

Condolences to the Blue Sox, who are last in many categories, and near last in most of the others. Shane Baker has their lone win, and I prefer Garrett to him.

Other Twatbook comments from Sunday I did not approve of:

• Who wants to see such a garbage team like the Raccoons?
• Forcibly rename the Raccoons and ban them from television – their logo will scare children!
• My dad took me coon hunting last year and we killed six of those rats!
• Good thing Raccoons play in Portland because you can only watch them stoned…
• I wish they showed a cool team like the Loggers.

That last one really hurt. And I don't know what's so bad about a baseball-hugging raccoon, and … I hate people. And foremost Travis Garrett, the result of a particularly grim baseball gods cruel joke of giving a kid with a right arm (period!) a dream and then actually letting him pursue it.

PORTLAND RACCOONS WORST PITCHERS BY ERA (min. 50 GS)
1st – Damani Knight – 5.20
2nd – Travis Garrett – 4.58
3rd – Felipe Garcia – 4.55
4th – Jerry Ackerman – 4.38
5th – Steven Berry – 4.34
6th – Juan Berrios – 4.23
7th – Edgar Amador – 4.21
8th – Ned Ray – 4.13
9th – Gary Simmons – 4.08
10th – Carlos Gonzalez – 4.01

We put this table up about two years ago and nothing has changed, especially not for Garrett. Okay, he moved a wee bit away from Damani Knight, who is 31 and unemployed as of now. Note that Ryan Nielson, who is still with the organization would be on the list if he had made four more starts before biting the dust last year.

Fun Fact: The worst ERA for any Raccoons pitcher is 54.00 put up by Mauro Castro, who pitched one third of an inning and allowed two runs, never returning to the mound for the Raccoons after that.

The date was July 29, 2013; three days earlier the Raccoons had claimed Castro off waivers by the Titans, where he had been somewhat serviceable at the tail end of the rotation, but had also been a factor in why Boston hadn't gone anywhere at that time. Anyway, Castro was claimed on July 26, with Pat Slayton, 2010s Will West, being sent back to AAA to make room on the roster. The Coons at that point where eight games out and claimed they had a shot.

Castro's time came on the following Monday, the 29th, taking Colin Baldwin's start as Baldwin was a late scratch (and soon traded to the Stars with Craig Bowen, Michael Palmer, and Andy Hackney for #19 prospect Graham Wasserman). Castro’s first pitch as a Raccoon was right into the Aces' Jaime Garcia. He then had Sean McDermott retired on an amazing catch by Mike Bednarski before putting on Rusty Zackery with a single, then left the game with an injury, or maybe just had his snoot full. George Youngblood replaced him, allowed four straight singles, and lined up Castro for a 12-7 loss.

Castro was out with radial nerve compression and became a free agent after the season. The Capitals took on the 34-year-old reclamation project, but he tore his labrum in service of their AAA team in May and never came back from that. That third of an inning and those two runs were the last of his career, 131 games (115 starts) of 45-50, 4.58 ERA, 1 SV. He won a Gold Glove in 2011, one of two years he qualified for an award.