[Westheim]

The week begun with Billy Jennings hitting the DL with an elbow sprain. He was expected to miss at least a month and thus whisked to the DL. Outfielders, huh? We had only four of that sort in St. Pete at this point and had to pick one of them. Between the withered husks of Sean Catella and Ryan Allan, as well as the 2026 sixth-rounder / waste of time Bobby Houston there was little to be gained.

How about some Manny Fernandez? Our 2031 #5 pick was still not hitting a whole lot, but he also only got credit for a .258 BABIP that played a role in his .231/.292/.340 slash line.

Raccoons (25-20) @ Aces (18-26) – May 24-26, 2033

The Aces pitching staff was *alright*… they were not wowing you in any way, but they were holding their end of the scale. The offense wasn’t. Not by a long shot. They had the fewest runs scored in the Continental League, putting up less than 3.4 runs per game. The Raccoons had lost the season series in 2032, 4-5.

Projected matchups:
Ignacio del Rio (2-4, 3.95 ERA) vs. Chris Guyett (4-5, 3.90 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (3-3, 3.20 ERA) vs. Natanael Abrao (0-4, 5.20 ERA)
Andy Palomares (4-3, 5.28 ERA) vs. Howard Haws (3-4, 2.69 ERA)

Another set with only right-handed opponents!

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Hooge – CF M. Fernandez – C Garcia – 3B Perkins – P del Rio
LVA: CF Stedham – SS G. Reece – RF Montes – 3B Armfield – 1B LeClerc – C Scheffer – LF J. Nelson – 2B Briones – P Guyett

The first 11 batters in the game were all retired, including debutee Manny Fernandez grounding out to Mario Briones, before Philip Scheffer hit a double to right, and .194 slugger Justin Nelson fired a ball over the fence in left. The Aces would complete their extra-base hits card by the fourth, which Andy Montes led off with a triple to center before being converted into their third run via a Justin LeClerc sac fly. That was three more runs than the Critters, who had nothing to show except for Garcia and Berto going to the corners in the third, and being left there. There was some movement in the fifth inning, though. Manny Fernandez entered the ABL’s record book for hits with a leadoff single to center, snapped on a 1-2 pitch by Guyett. Fernando Garcia immediately homered to left, cutting the gap to 3-2. Del Rio flicked a single, and while Ramos popped out foul, Tim Stalker shot a liner up the leftfield line for a game-tying, 2-out RBI double. The Aces walked Jimmy Wallace with intent, Travis Zitzner without such, and then had Hooge at the plate. He grounded to right, with LeClerc making the play deep behind the base and lobbing the ball to the hustling Guyett, who dropped it for an error that put the Coons up 4-3. More of that was to come. Fernandez batted with the bags still full and hit a dying quail into shallow right for a single that Andy Montes overran for an error and another gift run, 6-3, and that put the nails into Guyett. J.J. Ringland would wiggle out of the inning after a walk to Garcia, getting Perkins to ground out.

Ignacio del Rio wasn’t done with offensive heroics yet; he hit another single in the sixth, then was driven in again on another Tim Stalker effort for extra bases, this time a homer to left, 8-3, and then came up with the bags full and one out – Fernandez single, Garcia intentional walk, Perkins reaching on pitcher Jorge Farinas’ error – and slapped an RBI single over the head of Briones, 9-3. Ramos’ single and Stalker’s sac fly plated another run each. But the Aces were not done combusting yet; in the eighth, Ed Hooge hit a triple, swiftly followed by righty Andres Rodriguez serving up a booming 2-run homer to Manny Fernandez, who was ticking off a whole lotta “firsts” in this game! That was it for Coons offense though; Jesse Stedham homered off del Rio in the eighth, and Gavin Reece tagged him with a single to knock him out after 7.1 innings. Unfortunately David Fernandez would be no help in keeping the runner on base, allowing a single to Chad Armfield and ultimately moving Reece across with a wild pitch, but the Aces never got even near the Coons anymore in this smothering. 13-5 Raccoons! Ramos 2-5, RBI; Stalker 2-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; M. Fernandez 4-5, HR, 4 RBI; Garcia 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Four hits, first homer, first stolen base, too – what a day for Manny Fernandez on his debut!

From here, there was only one way … downwards.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – RF Hooge – CF M. Fernandez – C Garcia – 3B Perkins – P Sabre
LVA: CF Stedham – SS G. Reece – RF Montes – LF E. Martin – 3B Armfield – 1B LeClerc – C Scheffer – 2B Briones – P Haws

Sabre didn’t allow a hit the first time through, but walked Philip Scheffer to begin the bottom 3rd, leading to a run on Stedham’s 2-out triple to center. That was the first run of the game, the Critters again preferring to sleep in. An Ed Hooge single was all they had to show for after three innings. Tim Stalker’s leadoff jack in the fourth was certainly a step in the right direction, but was an isolated incident in a dire-looking box score through five. Sabre lacked stuff, and allowed a leadoff single to LeClerc in the bottom 5th. The runner found third base after Scheffer and Briones were retired, but at least the pitcher was at the plate with two down. Sabre nailed him – in the sense that he threw a pitch into Haws’ body, bringing up the so far dangerous Stedham with Aces on the corners. Some words of choice later, Sabre blew him away with the high heat that Stedham couldn’t catch, and it was one-all through five.

Tim Stalker’s fur-on-fire outburst continued with another home run in the sixth, again the solo variety, which put Portland up 2-1 with one out in the inning. That remained also the score through seven, with Sabre shedding a walk in between… and depressingly he’d walk one more. That would be the leadoff man in the eighth, also known as … the opposing pitcher. Unsurprisingly, that spelled the end for Sabre, with Garavito inheriting the left-handed top of the order, as would not have been the plan anyway, just not with the tying run having stupidly been put on base. The pesky Stedham reached with a drag bunt that caught the Coons completely off guard and added the go-ahead run. Gavin Reece ran a full count before whiffing, Montes struck out on five pitches, and Evan Martin did so on three. Top 9th, righty Steve Bailey issued a very careful leadoff walk to Tim Stalker, who was forced out by Wallace, but Jimmy then stole second base, his first of the year. Zitzner kept failing away and made the second out on a poor grounder, but Ed Hooge plated the insurance run with a clean single to right, 3-1. Fernandez buried a ball in the gap for an RBI double, and the bags filled up with walks to Garcia and the PH’ing Thompson, but Marsingill struck out to strand three runners. Chris Wise didn’t care – he turned the Aces away in the bottom 9th at the cost of a LeClerc double that led nowhere nice for the Las Vegans. 4-1 Coons! Stalker 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Hooge 2-3, BB, RBI; Sabre 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (4-3);

Stalker, Hooge, and the Fernandez double – that was all our pawful of hits in this game, though…

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Marsingill – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – RF Hooge – CF M. Fernandez – C Thompson – 1B Ferrero – P Palomares
LVA: CF Stedham – SS G. Reece – RF Montes – LF E. Martin – 3B Armfield – C Scheffer – 1B Carman – 2B Briones – P Abrao

The barrage continued – when Jimmy Wallace went yard to cash Berto for a 2-0 lead in the first, it was already the sixth dinger off Aces pitching in this series. Not that it helped Palomares not getting clocked – in the sense of getting hit with a grandfather clock, in the head, over and over – by the Aces, who hit four sharp liners in the bottom 2nd alone, three of which fell for hits for Evan Martin, Chad Armfield, and Vince Carman, and netted two runs to tie the score.

The Coons cobbled together Hooge, Thompson, and Ferrero singles to score a 2-out run in the fourth and take a new 3-2 lead, but that lasted all of one pitch to Chad Armfield. Palomares, who had ended the top 4th with a K, then served up a 1-0 that was hit out of sight to tie the game again. And it was pretty clear that Palomares was not going to get this start straightened out anymore. He retired the next three, but gave up a leadoff single to Abrao in the fifth and conceded that run on a 2-out Andy Montes double, which gave Vegas their first lead in this Thursday game. He lasted six and was hit for to begin the top of the seventh. Tom Hawkins hit a double in his spot, but was stranded by two grounders to Armfield and Stalker’s fly to center. On the other side, the Aces loaded the bags in the bottom 7th against Anaya (Stedham single) and Hennessy (Montes single, walk to Martin), but with two outs Armfield rolled an easy one to Marsingill to end the inning.

It was still a 4-3 game, and the tying run reached base right away in the eighth with Wallace’s single off Nick Wright, who was right-handed but had a 1.77 ERA as claim to fame. That removed him and brought on Farinas, a southpaw that had been central in Tuesday’s runaway meltdown. Pinkerton batted for Hooge to counter Farinas but grounded out, advancing the runner. Zitzner batted for an 0-for-3 Fernandez, bringing on righty J.J. Ringland, resulting in Wallace’s advance to third base and another ground-… actually, hold on, Reece threw the ball in the dirt, Carman wouldn’t come up with it cleanly, and runners were on the corners with one out. Unfortunately, Thompson fanned before another righty, Shinsaburo Matsubara, was brought on to face Ferrero. We had no lefty bats on the bench and had to consign ourselves to our fate, a grounder to short that was not thrown away this time, ending the inning. Nick Bates did away with Vegas on eight pitches in the bottom 8th, then vacated for Justin Perkins to lead off the ninth against Steve Bailey, another righty. He whacked a 3-2 pitch to center for a single, the umpteenth consecutive inning with the leadoff man on for Portland. Ramos grounded out, and Marsingill and Stalker both whiffed as this very winnable game got away unnecessarily. 4-3 Aces. Wallace 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Thompson 2-4; Hawkins (PH) 1-1, 2B; Perkins (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (27-21) vs. Knights (18-28) – May 27-29, 2033

The Knights were in last place in the South. They were in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed in the league, and didn’t look like they had much rally in them. The rotation was ghastly, the defense was crummy, and they were slow and tardy on the bases. The Coons had swept them in April in Atlanta, but the Knights had the advantage of having had Thursday off.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (3-3, 4.40 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (5-3, 2.81 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (6-2, 2.53 ERA) vs. Justin Osterloh (1-6, 4.81 ERA)
Ignacio del Rio (3-4, 4.20 ERA) vs. Julio San Pedro (1-2, 3.45 ERA)

Rosas would toss from the left, and after that it would be two more righties.

Game 1
ATL: C S. Garcia – SS Thomson – RF Pincus – 1B Avakian – 2B J. Johnson – LF Eppler – 3B S. Williams – CF Seago – P Rosas
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Marsingill – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – C F. Garcia – CF Hooge – RF Ferrero – P Gutierrez

Stephen Williams left with a back injury after one inning, which he sustainted on a fabulous (grinds teeth) play to retire Fernando Garcia and end the bottom 1st with three Critters (the 2-3-4 batters had singled) left on base. Chris Maneke replaced Williams in the field and batting seventh. Bottom 2nd, Hooge and Ferrero went to the corners with leadoff singles… and were stranded, too. Well, Hooge was. Ferrero was doubled up on Ramos’ 6-4-3 ****ball. Five hits in two innings – and no runs! Mario Rosas on the other hand led off the third with a double off Rico Gutierrez, so good things were probably in store for the Knights. But no, ineptitude raged on both sides of the box score: while Gutierrez walked Steve Garcia, Keith Thomson and Roy Pincus both flew out to center. Rosas moved to third on the first out, then went for home on the second, but was thrown out to end the inning. Top 4th, Gutierrez issued a leadoff walk to Adam Avakian, then surrendered one deep fly after another. Hooge caught those of John Johnson and Brian Eppler, but couldn’t catch up with Maneke’s that fell for an RBI double. Nate Seago and Mario Rosas both singled to score him, Gutierrez walked Garcia, and just when he was about ready to fed to the lions, Keith Thomson popped out on an 0-2 pitch, stranding runners all over in a 2-0 game.

The Raccoons remained inept all the time, hitting into a double play as soon as possible, f.e. after Ramos’ 1-out single in the bottom 5th. Marsingill was right up to the task, ending the inning. In turn, Gutierrez was shoved into the nearest waste bin by the Knights in the top 6th, in which he walked Eppler, allowed a single to Seago, and then a 2-run double to an unretired Mario Rosas, on an 0-2 pitch. While the pen was getting involved now after 5.1 ****ty innings with seven hits, five walks, and four runs and counting, I calmly got the box with the soap blocks from the bottom shelf and a $3 pack with 12 pairs of socks and marched over into the clubhouse to organize a highly due whacking for the idiot starting pitcher du jour. Rosas would be doubled off when Keith Thomson, following Anaya’s walk to Steve Garcia, lined out to Ramos, who found the opposing starter far astray and ended the inning by beating him to the sack, keeping it a 4-0 game. The pen would hold that score in fact as well as the offense, which did absolutely nothing. From the third through the eighth innings, they amounted to precisely one base hit, and Rosas entered the bottom 9th chasing a shutout against the alleged meat of the order. Stalker grounded out. Wallace grounded out. Zitzner got rung up. 4-0 Knights.

Game 2
ATL: C S. Garcia – SS Thomson – RF Pincus – 1B Avakian – 2B J. Johnson – 3B Maneke – LF R. Parker – CF McAllester – P Osterloh
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Marsingill – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – CF M. Fernandez – RF Hooge – C Thompson – P Chavez

Berto got on base and stole another in the bottom 1st, but was left on by the middle of the order. Zitzner and Fernandez, however, occupied the corners with leadoff base knocks in the second inning. Ed Hooge hit the most stupid bloop for an RBI single in shallow left, which brought in the first run of the game. Sure. Whatever works, boys! Thompson then hit into a double play, which was unhelpful, and Bernie was rung up. On the mound, it was a slog for him. He allowed two singles and struck out three the first time through, but that also took him 43 pitches as he again got stuck in plenty of long counts. So, no, this was not one of the great Bernie Chavez games we would revel in remembering years from now. Much the contrary. In the fourth he got two easy outs before then allowing a single to John Johnson. Maneke singled. Rich Parker hit an RBI single. Justin McAllester hit an RBI single. ****ing Justin Osterloh hit an RBI single. Steve Garcia hit an RBI single. Only Keith Thomson grounded out, after SIX soul-murdering 2-out singles in a row that plated four runs and when the ****ing inning was finally finished, the Coons were down 4-1 again.

The Critters would get Zitzner on base in the bottom 4th, but he was doubled off by Fernandez. No Furball reached base again until Manny Fernandez was back at the plate and hit a homer in the bottom 7th, but that was not going to avoid the third straight loss, either. Osterloh was done after seven innings of 2-run ball, handing it off to southpaw Chris Cooper for the eighth, and Cooper served up singles to Ramos and Marsingill to place the tying runs on the corners before being yanked for righty Arturo Arellano. Stalker hit a 2-2 pitch sharply at Johnson for a run-scoring double play and I unleashed a primal cry for justice that made the windows rattle and was, according to Maud, audible on the NWSN broadcast. The Knights were near an insurance run in the ninth, or multiple runs actually, with Garavito placing Seago on with a single, Thomson with a walk, and Ed Blair, sent to the rescue, surrendered a 2-out dive to the fence to Roy Pincus, which was barely caught up with by Hooge. Thus the bottom 9th commenced with the Coons needing one to tie, two to win, facing southpaw Roland Warner and his 1.27 ERA. Travis Zitzner whipped the second pitch to left and over the head of Seago for a leadoff double, which was a neat start for sure. Fernandez struck out. Hawkins batted for Hooge for handedness reasons, grounded out anyway, but moved the runner over at least. Garcia hit for Thompson, but flew out to Seago, who this time managed to occupy the right place in leftfield. 4-3 Knights. Zitzner 2-4, 2 2B; Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI; Ferrero (PH) 1-1;

No, Maud, your tea never works. It only makes me more angry!

There was however no immediate solution to the current issues. The league refused to disallow the double play, so the Coons would probably continue to hit into them…

Game 3
ATL: C S. Garcia – SS Thomson – RF Pincus – 1B Avakian – 2B J. Johnson – 3B Maneke – LF R. Parker – CF McAllester – P San Pedro
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – LF Wallace – 1B Zitzner – CF M. Fernandez – RF Hooge – 3B Perkins – C Thompson – P del Rio

Thanks to the retained double play rule, the Coons got out of the first after del Rio walked Garcia, allowed singles to Thomson and Avakian, and then somehow got Johnson to file the three runners away in 4-6-3 fashion. The Critters amounted to only one hit through four innings and remained wholly disregardable, while del Rio did his best, but his best wasn’t enough. He allowed four hits through four innings, then two more in the fifth. Garcia hit a single; Pincus hit a 2-run bomb, the first scoring in the game. That was all the Knights got off del Rio in six innings, but it was at the same time plenty. Berto hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, then was caught stealing. It was all so terrible, I complained, while holding a bottle in one hand and on to Slappy’s shoulder with the other as I wept on the couch.

Even the Knights hitting into a 5-4-3 triple play in the eighth inning wasn’t going to save the Critters. John Johnson did the deed after Nick Bates had allowed both Pincus and Avakian on base with singles. It was still 2-0 Knights, and the offense seemed like all their paws had fallen asleep on Thursday and were not going to wake up again. San Pedro lasted seven and a third on a 3-hit shutout before running out of his pitch allotment. In a tight game, Chris Cooper was back to face the #9 hole and PH Tom Hawkins, who lined back into the pitcher’s mitten. Ramos flew out, ending the inning. Roland Warner was back out for the ninth in a game where Roy Pincus’ shot was still the only scoring. Tim Stalker, who had been scalding hot in Vegas and a total turd in this series, hit a leadoff double near the leftfield line, bringing up the tying run with no outs. Wallace flew out to McAllester. Zitzner hit a comebacker on a 3-1 pitch. As Manny Fernandez’ first week in the majors drew to a close, he was not pinch-hit for. He was hitting .421 after a week, he had to be doing SOMETHING right. And the kit hit a single through Avakian, scoring Stalker with two outs and bringing the winning run to the plate! That would be Ferrero batting for Hooge. He popped out. 2-1 Knights. M. Fernandez 2-4, RBI;

(looks like six weeks’ worth of rain)

In other news

May 25 – BOS SP Adam Potter (6-2, 3.62 ERA) 2-hits the Falcons in a 3-0 shutout, striking out four batters.
May 29 – LAP SP Dave Christiansen (5-4, 2.87 ERA) allows three hits and strikes out seven in a 7-0 Pacifics shutout over the Buffaloes.
May 29 – Veteran leftfielder Jeff Wadley (.287, 3 HR, 18 RBI) of the Warriors drives in five in a 14-4 romp of the Capitals. Wadley has three hits, including two doubles.

Complaints and stuff

I claim a moral victory for hanging a golden sombrero on Rich Parker on Sunday, which is about all the victory we can claim for the last four days. Those were four bitter losses against two terrible teams, and expose the once-27-20 Coons as the frauds they are above .500!

Manny Fernandez’ injury-borne debut week saw him hit .450/.450/.800 – if he keeps hitting this way, he can stay!

Zitzner, Perkins, and the catchers are all in pronounced slumps. Ferrero and Ramos have yet to hit anything at all this year. Berto used to challenge the .330 mark. Seeing him struggle with .230 at the end of May is … unnerving.

Fun Fact: The Sunday spectacle was our fourth loss in a row and our 4,444th regular season loss overall.

They didn’t even manage to leave four runners on base…..