[Westheim]

Raccoons (24-18) @ Condors (25-18) – May 22-24, 2028

Here we were, in a strange land where the CL South leader had a (marginally) better record than the CL North leader. No such thing had been seen last year especially when the CL South was won by the 81-81 Aces. Tijuana paced the Continental League in offense, having scored the most runs – 5.2 per game – while their pitching was generally competent, sitting fourth in runs allowed. The Raccoons had four straight season series wins against the Condors, including a 7-2 record last year, but it would probably not be that easy to beat them right now…

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (0-0) vs. George Griffin (1-3, 6.05 ERA)
Mark Roberts (4-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Joe Perry (4-2, 3.74 ERA)
Rin Nomura (4-3, 3.03 ERA) vs. Jeff Little (5-2, 3.52 ERA)

We would get two southpaws in the final two games of the series, while the right-handed Griffin would oppose Kyle Anderson in his first major league outing of the season after recovering from that UCL thing that had kept him out since the previous summer…

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – 3B Hereford – C Tovias – LF Millan – 2B Cass – P Anderson
TIJ: CF Murphy – LF Denzler – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – SS Showalter – C Zarate – RF M. Matias – 2B Bross – P Griffin

Three innings were not enough for the Raccoons to get in a base hit, but the Condors put a 3-spot on Anderson in the bottom 3rd to take a sizable lead. Dave Bross hit a leadoff single, was bunted over by his pitcher, then scored on a clean single by Joel Denzler in to no man's land in shallow right-center. Things could have gone upwards from here, but only kept spiraling out of control with a walk issued to Shane Sanks and then Kevin McGrath's 2-out, 2-run double to deep, deep center before, finally, Andrew Showalter grounded out to Harenberg at first. The Raccoons continued to stink, not getting a base hit until Tovias' leadoff single in the fifth (and nothing became of that), while Anderson was… well… a Raccoon. He was knocked out in the bottom of the fifth, following a 2-run homer by McGrath with two outs, 5-0, after which he still managed to pack another pair of runners on base. More inefficient pitchers cycled in; Dan McLin struck out Mike Matias, but walked Bross on four pitches to begin the sixth. That run also scored, thanks to Billy Brotman lining up seamlessly with the crew and also an error by Sam Cass. That 6-0 lead was well enough for the heretofore battered Griffin to deliver eight scoreless innings on three base hits, after which the Condors sent right-hander Adam Potter into the ninth. Mora singled, Gomez singled. Ah, the usual faux rally, but just in time for Harenberg to hit into a double play. Or… a 2-run triple into the rightfield corner. The fun threatened to stop when Hereford walked, which moved the game into save range and the Condors went on to Pat Selby without Potter logging a single out. Tovias' fielder's choice grounder got the Coons within three, but Selby then got Jaden Booker on a pop to right and Ryan Allan on a grounder to short. 6-3 Condors. Gomez 2-4, 3B; Fleischer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
POR: 2B Stalker – LF Booker – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – 3B Hereford – C Leal – CF Mora – SS Gerster – P Roberts
TIJ: CF Murphy – 1B McGrath – 3B Sanks – RF M. Matias – SS Showalter – C Zarate – 2B Fitzsimmons – LF Denzler – P Perry

If you ever wanted to see a 27-year-old shortstop cackle with glee for his first major league home run after all his life his coaches, his managers, his GM, and foremost his parents had told him he would never do it, this was the game to watch. Butch Gerster conquered Joe Perry, with Mora on second base, in the fourth inning of this Tuesday event to extend a Coons lead to 4-1, and could hardly contain himself. All the runs in this game up to that point had been scored on the long ball; Shane Sanks had hit a solo piece in the bottom 1st, but Rafael Gomez had flipped the score with a 2-run shot of some 430 feet in the third inning. The Coons jumped further to 5-1 in the fifth inning, courtesy of a Mora triple that only scored Armando Leal from first base because he got an early start with two outs and two strikes on the batter. All the while, Mark Roberts was not actually that awesome. His command was way off, and the Condors could really hardly hit him, but not because he was that great, but because the balls went wherever. Sometimes they went into Tom Fitzsimmons, as happened in the fifth inning. Fitzsimmons stole second, but was stranded with strikeouts to both Joel Denzler and Mike Chaplin, who batted for Perry.

Now add the outlandish to this game's mix. The bottom 6th began with two sharp singles smacked by Chris Murphy and Kevin McGrath before Shane Sanks also hit the ball hard, but on the ground and right into the waiting paws of Butch Gerster, who started a 6-4-3 double play. Murphy was on third with two down, then caught the Coons with the guard down and ****ing stole home plate against the befuddled battery. It only got worse; Zarate and Fitzsimmons reached base in the seventh, pulled off a double steal, and Roberts departed after Denzler's RBI groundout closed the score to 5-3. Ricky Ohl replaced him (in a double switch that removed Rich Hereford) and rung up Pat Sanford and Murphy to end that inning, but only went on to completely **** up the eighth. Well, the disaster started with a throwing error by Jaden Booker, since having moved to third base, that put McGrath on. Ohl then threw a wild pitch, walked two, and after Showalter struck out surrendered an RBI single to Danny Zarate. When left-handed Bobby Marshall pinch-hit for Fitzsimmons, the Coons turned to Billy Brotman again with three on and one out in a 1-run game. It could have gone better. Brotman walked in the tying run before the Condors drank the fat chance away with a pop to Stalker off Denzler's bat, then a flyout to Allan by Dave Bross. Jaden Booker's leadoff single against Selby in the top 9th got the Coons nowhere, as did Murphy's leadoff triple off Kevin Surginer in the bottom 9th. McGrath struck out, but Sanks ended the game with a sac fly to center. 6-5 Condors. Stalker 2-5, 2B; Mora 2-4, 3B, RBI; Gerster 3-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Sometimes I really, actually think that this entire team is too ****ing dumb to stand over a hole in the ground and take something as simple as a dump…

Game 3
POR: 2B Stalker – 3B Hereford – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – LF Morales – CF Mora – SS Gerster – P Nomura
TIJ: CF Murphy – 1B McGrath – 3B Sanks – RF M. Matias – SS Showalter – C Zarate – 2B Fitzsimmons – LF Denzler – P Little

Kevin Harenberg came closer and closer to getting beaten to death by his GM, stranding Stalker in scoring position in the first, AND Stalker and Hereford in scoring position in the third inning, both times striking out dismally, dumping his batting average to .240 with one homer and 27 K. The Condors loaded them up in the bottom 3rd when Nomura drilled Denzler with a 1-2 pitch to begin the inning, then a Murphy single and a walk issued to Sanks with two outs, after which Mike Matias singled up the middle to give them the lead. Mora threw out Murphy at home plate to end the inning, but my mood was rampantly unhappy by this point. Elias Tovias' leadoff double in the top of the fourth, a long fly that ran away from Murphy in center, didn't really change that because the next two Coons made two dumb outs that still left Tovias 180 feet away. Gerster, the hit machine, was walked intentionally, and then it was on Nomura with two down to do anything. When Little fell to 3-1 I hoped for the walk and a shot for Stalker, but Nomura poked that one into play, a bouncer that got through McGrath and up the line for a 2-run double. Yeah, well, whatever the **** works…

Stalker grounded out to end the fourth, but the Condors' corner infielders began the fifth with consecutive errors to put Hereford and Gomez on base. That brought up Harenberg, and had we been in Portland, I would have run for my blunderbuss by now… Harenberg went to 0-2 before the third flail accidentally met the ball and the bases filled up on a sorry blooper into shallow left for a single. Three on, no outs, in other words – doom. Indeed, Tovias, the master of disaster, shot a grounder at Fitzsimmons that the Condors turned somehow into an out at home plate, keeping the bags full, but then unexpectedly Danny Morales worked his black devil magic and shot a 1-2 pitch into the leftfield corner where the ball lodged under the padding to allow the bases to clear and Morales to coast into third base for a triple. The Condors cried foul and pointed out that the ball had become stuck (Denzler never played it, in fact) but when the third base ump jogged out there (which merely took forever), he was able to just pick up the ball and their motion to reduce the 3-run triple to a 2-run double was bluntly denied. Mora's groundout then scored Morales, extending the lead to 6-1, which sure was nothing they couldn't blow, and remember that Rin Nomura has some Game 7 level of history in handling big leads with less than advisable care. Nothing ill happened right away to Portland, as the Coons had Nomura get well through seven while adding another run on a Morales groundout in the top of the seventh inning. Bottom 8th, Denzler led off with a single to center, before Nomura threw a wild pitch and drilled Sanford. Murphy was a left-handed batter and grounded to short, but the Coons couldn't turn two; runners remained on the corners. The pitching coach felt Nomura's pulse, with the southpaw claiming to have things under control on 97 pitches, then proved his word with a K to McGrath, but no amount of words could bail him out after he also drilled Sanks to load the bases. Surginer secured a fly to left from Matias to end the inning and would also finish the game with a quick ninth. In between, Tovias hit a solo homer off Alex Hichez for the final score. 8-1 Raccoons. Harenberg 2-5, 2B; Tovias 2-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Morales 1-5, 3B, 4 RBI; Nomura 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (5-3) and 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

The Raccoons entered their off day with a 2-game lead in the standings. We spent the day off in Vegas where Sam Cass gambled away all his lunch money while Rin Nomura was kicked out of a casino for successfully counting cards at Blackjack.

Raccoons (25-20) @ Aces (27-20) – May 26-28, 2028

The Raccoons were up 2-1 in the season series with the Aces (Nomura counted 25 of them), who were just half a game behind the Condors for the lead in the South right now. Their strengths were harder to assess than the Condors' though, as they sat only fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed. Their bullpen was a particular issue with an ERA over four.

Projected matchups:
George James (2-4, 4.94 ERA) vs. Chris Guyett (0-3, 3.53 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (4-0, 1.74 ERA) vs. Joel Trotter (2-1, 4.24 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (0-1, 9.64 ERA) vs. Ed Hague (7-1, 2.28 ERA)

All opponents were right-handed for this weekend set, no southpaw anywhere near; Tom Shumway (5-2, 2.97 ERA) had pitched and won on Thursday, Luis Flores (4-4, 5.16 ERA) was in injury limbo, and their third southpaw, Abramo Archibugi (0-3, 3.52 ERA) was on the DL already with a forearm strain. They had quite a few more injuries, having lost three players from their starting lineup (tell me about it…) in Andres Medina, Matt Hamilton, and Danny Serrano, the latter just this week with a fracture in his knee joint that was probably going to end his season altogether.

As far as injuries were concerned, the Raccoons were however confident to get Alberto Ramos back into the lineup in the coming days, maybe even on the weekend.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – CF Mora – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Tovias – LF Allan – 2B Cass – P James
LVA: 3B J. Navarro – LF Dunlap – 1B D. Fisher – RF Cornejo – CF Allard – 2B Chambers – C J. Gilbert – SS Roundtree – P Guyett

The Aces had a mostly left-handed lineup here so it would be interesting to see how James would fare. In any case he was spotted a lead before he went out, 1-0, thanks to Abel Mora's solo jack in the top of the first. Turns out, not so well – the Aces went down in the first, but ripped out three hard singles in the second inning, tying the game on Steve Roundtree's zinger to center, and even then Guyett hit a 1-out liner right at Cass for the second out, and Mora also had to hustle to contain a Jose Navarro drive to center to end the bottom 2nd with runners left on the corners. The Aces left Gil Cornejo (single) and David Allard (double) in scoring position the following inning when Robert Chambers grounded out to Hereford, and once again the bullpen was put on an early yellow alert. Doubles by Roundtree and Navarro gave Vegas a 2-1 lead in the bottom 4th. James tied the game himself wth a sac fly in the fifth that brought in Tovias (although an earlier Guyett balk had aided the Critters in even getting Tovias as far), but continued to be run over by the same bus over and over again. Two sharp singles, then a well-placed groundout by Chambers in the bottom 5th gave the Aces the lead right back, 3-2.

Guyett went eight without another serious challenge by the Raccoons, who took it lying down before their bullpen unwound even further in the bottom 8th. Kearney, who had pitched the seventh scorelessly, put Chambers on with a leadoff single, after which Dan McLin caused nothing but chaos, two extra-base hits and two runs. Nevertheless, the damn Coons brought up the tying run in the ninth against Franklin Alvarado (5.09 ERA). Mora led off with a single before Hereford and Harenberg both flew out to Tom Dunlap. Gomez singled to right, pulling up Tovias with a chance to get back even again, but a diving Navarro snagged his low 2-0 liner and the game ended in dismay once more. 5-2 Aces. Mora 2-4, HR, RBI;

At this point the Raccoons were 25-21 and far from having a convincing playoff case. However, with the Titans in a downward spiral of 1-7 in their last eight games and 9-15 for the month of May, the Raccoons were actually the only winning team in the North right now.

And they still couldn't get the offense going.

Game 2
POR: 2B Stalker – CF Mora – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Leal – LF Booker – SS Gerster – P Gutierrez
LVA: 3B J. Navarro – LF Dunlap – 1B D. Fisher – SS A. Velez – C Motley – RF Beckwith – CF Allard – 2B Chambers – P Trotter

With the Aces having lost one of their right-handed bats (Roundtree) to an undisclosed injury late in Friday's game, Alberto Velez, the former Logger, who had been a sieve at third base for most of his career, was pressed into service at the most important position on the infield, and the few times he had helped out at short before had not inspired much hope for defensive fortitude NOW at age 34. At least Rico would still see a mostly left-handed lineup, and maybe this could – oops, no, David Fisher with a 2-run homer right in the opening inning. And that was *after* a hard Navarro single and a balk…

While Rico's control and fortitude were badly off in this game that would have been nice to win to be honest, the Aces lost Joel Trotter to an apparent injury as early as the third inning, making Trotter the third disabled player on their 25-man roster besides Flores and Roundtree. Andy Wright took over in relief, while the Coons saw some sort of diseased performance from their pitcher as well. Dunlap hit a 1-out single in the bottom 3rd, Fisher walked, and before long Velez floated in an RBI single. Josh Motley fouled out, Myles Beckwith loaded them up with a 2-out infield single, and somehow David Allard didn't put the game away right here and now, grounding out to first in what was still a 3-0 game. By the fifth it was 4-0 on singles by Dunlap, Velez, and Motley, all hard-hit, and Gutierrez wasn't seen again after that, having bled eight hits and two walks in five ****ty innings.

And the offense? The usual misery, with a modicum of raw sewage washing forth from the visitors' dugout. Wright held the Coons to one hit over his first 4.1 innings of long relief before Butch Gerster got in a 2-out double in the seventh inning. Danny Morales batted for Brotman and singled up the middle to get the Coons on the board. Wright departed after walking Tim Stalker, but Mora grounded pathetically against the new pitcher, righty Pat Collins, stranding two in a 4-1 game. The Raccoons would manage to get Josh Boles involved in the game after all, though not until after three walks issued by Jonathan Fleischer with nobody out in the bottom 8th. Boles immediately allowed an RBI single to Lowell Genge in the #9 hole. All of Fleischer's runners scored eventually, with Boles walking in a run and conceding a sac fly in the inning. 7-1 Aces. Gerster 2-4, 2B;

The Raccoons kept losing games, while the Aces kept losing players, putting SP Luis Flores (4-4, 5.16 ERA) on the DL by Sunday with shoulder tendinitis. He would be out for two months.

Well, we have also lost plenty of players.

And I have lost any sort of confidence into this deplorable bunch.

Game 3
POR: 2B Stalker – CF Mora – 3B Hereford – 1B Gomez – C Tovias – RF Booker – LF Allan – SS Gerster – P Anderson
LVA: 2B Chambers – LF Dunlap – 1B D. Fisher – C Motley – CF Allard – 3B E. Moreno – RF Genge – SS A. Velez – P Hague

Ed Hague challenged for the ERA lead in the Continental League, but didn't even get out of the first inning. It was not for injury though – no, it was (and who could have guessed they would harm a GOOD pitcher after not being able to hit against the mediocre ones?) the simple fact that the Raccoons first took his lunch, and then took out his intestines, too. Rich Hereford had two run-scoring base hits in the opening inning that began with a Stalker single, a Mora double to left-center, and then Hereford's RBI single in front of Allard, 1-0. Gomez struck out, but Tovias went yard to right, jumping the tally to 4-0. The inning looked ready to end when Anderson came up with two on and two outs, but he hit a double over the head of Eddie Moreno to score both Booker and Allan, 6-0, after which Stalker and Mora flocked aboard again and Hereford delivered the death knell with a morningstar, a no-doubt homer to centerfield to run the tally to 10-0. GRAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

And then, plot twist, Kyle Anderson was almost as bad. The Aces hit him every which way for three hits and a walk and two runs in the bottom 1st, their quick rally short-circuited by David Allard cracking the ball into a double play. This could be a long, long, sad game…! While Rich Hereford was a triple short of the cycle by the third inning, Anderson's best friend was soon the double play because somebody was on base for Vegas almost as soon as he took the mound for another inning. Fisher hit into a double play in the third. Velez spanked into another one in the fourth, but not until after Lowell Genge had chipped off another run with an RBI single. With their consistently bent bullpen and the huge lead, the Raccoons had to commit to Anderson, though, at least until he ran out of steam completely or the Aces got near slam range. He was over 80 pitches after five innings, but managed to scratch out another four outs after that before being replaced with Kearney with one out in the seventh and Lowell Genge on first following a leadoff walk in what was still a 10-3 game after the Raccoons' lineup had essentially quit right after the opening frame. Hereford had a fly to center in the fifth, then hit a 1-out double in the eighth, but there was no chance he'd get the triple on that play, with Genge's throw to second almost right on him as he slid into the base. The Coons stranded him, much like they had stranded Mora after a double in the fifth inning. Meanwhile, the Aces kept chipping away at the lead. Kearney got through the seventh, but then was undone in a lengthy eighth inning that saw him yield two hits and a walk. Granted, Butch Gerster's throwing error on a grounder by Fisher helped nothing at all, but then I would still blame Kearney, who bled three runners in 2-strike counts. It was 10-5 with two on and two out when the plug was pulled on Kearney, and Ricky Ohl took over against Velez, who hit a first-pitch RBI single, 10-6, before Beckwith pinch-hit and grounded out to the mound. When Robert Chambers opened the bottom 9th with a double off Ohl, I closed my weary eyes and braced for an impact that never came. Dunlap's grounder, then two pop outs ended the game. 10-6 Coons. Mora 3-5, 2 2B; Hereford 4-5, HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI; Tovias 2-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Oh boy, they DIDN'T fudge away a 10-0 lead. Man, such good players! Daddy's so proud…!

In other news

May 22 – Last year's CL Player of the Year, VAN OF Brian Wojnarowski (.296, 8 HR, 22 RBI) will be out for a month with an oblique strain.
May 22 – OCT SS/2B Alex Serrato (.267, 3 HR, 27 RBI) would miss six weeks with a strained hamstring.
May 22 – IND SP Andy Bressner (4-5, 3.59 ERA) might be done for the season with a ruptured finger tendon.
May 24 – The Bayhawks score two 6-spots in a 13-7 win over the Titans, with SFB C Jaiden Jackson (.262, 3 HR, 19 RBI) pacing the team with four hits and 3 RBI.
May 25 – LAP OF Justin Fowler (.412, 6 HR, 26 RBI) will miss two or three weeks with a strained hammy.
May 26 – Titans and Knights are tied at two after eight innings before both teams unfurl 4-spots in the ninth inning. Boston scores two in the top 11th, but an array of singles allows the Knights to plate three and walk off, 9-8, in the bottom of the inning.
May 27 – The league awakes to the news that NYC 3B Andy Schmit (.211, 3 HR, 18 RBI) crashed his car in heavy rain on his way home from the ballpark the previous night, but luckily suffered only a mild shoulder injury. The Crusaders would place him on the DL for that, but expect him to be back in action by the middle of June.
May 27 – DEN MR Desi Bowles (1-1, 4.26 ERA, 2 SV) gets two outs in the bottom 11th of the Gold Sox' game against the Miners before conceding a hit batter and three walks in a row to have Denver fall to Pittsburgh, 4-3.
May 28 – SFB RF/LF Cesar Martinez (.231, 5 HR, 26 RBI) leads his team with 5 RBI on three base hits in a 15-1 shellacking of the Canadiens.

Complaints and stuff

The entire team sucks from top to bottom. Nobody is even remotely able to perform. Train wreck after train wreck. Sweep for the Titans looming large next weekend.

Rich Hereford had 23 RBI in April, and 26 by May 2. Between then and Sunday's Ed Hague pinata? Five. I just want to scream. He then had another five off Hague in a single inning, but those fall into the fluke category. Who knows? Maybe Hague ran over a black cat on his way to the ballpark, and black cat ghosts can be quite vengeful…

No, it was not a good week, top to bottom. Few weeks where you cough up 31 runs are good. Yeah, they scored 29, but they only scored 29 because they ran up the score on the unluckiest sod in Nevada…

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are 2-6 in Saturday games this season. Their average number of runs allowed in Saturday games this season is 6.1 markers.

And that is including neat gems by Roberts (against the dumb Elks) and Rico (vs. Boston) in April. They have allowed seven or more runs in every single Saturday loss this year.