[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-43) vs. Loggers (38-44) – July 2-5, 2040

The time of the annual four-and-four had arrived, this time featuring the Loggers. Neither team had anything to play for, just drearily looking at the 80-odd games’ worth of string they had to play out, including 14 against each other. The season series was even at two games apiece against the fourth-place team in the North, with the Loggers sitting sixth in runs scored, eighth in runs allowed, but tops in bullpen ERA and stolen bases.

Projected matchups:
Angelo Montano (1-3, 5.14 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (5-8, 4.59 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-5, 3.11 ERA) vs. Alfredo Vargas (7-7, 3.13 ERA)
Sal Lozano (0-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (2-8, 5.51 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (1-3, 4.20 ERA) vs. Joe Feltman (8-5, 3.95 ERA)

Only right-handers to be had from the Loggers at this point. The Raccoons lined up Sal Lozano for Wednesday to start instead of Bernie Chavez, who was stowed away on the DL until August, but Lozano was not on the roster as the week began (we still carried eight relievers and four starters at this stage). Lozano had just been demoted again after a *decent* debut against the damn Elks, but would be recalled for the Wednesday gig. Brent Clark had been in the running for the spot start, but he had never started above single-A and it would have ruled him out for the rest of the week… if we had been looking for somebody just ahead of the All Star Game, Clark would have been it.

While the Raccoons were without Jesus Maldonado as the week began, the Loggers had made a minor trade sending out infielder Bob Cruz (.269, 0 HR, 0 RBI) to the Knights for a catching prospect.

Game 1
MIL: CF Ronan – 1B Zitzner – 3B Paul – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – RF Valenzuela – SS Yoshioka – 2B V. Acosta – P S. Chavez
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Morales – CF Hooge – RF Greenway – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Montano

If the start of the series opener was any indication, it would be a long week. Joseph Ronan reached with a bloop single just behind a stretching Enrique Trevino. Travis Zitzner – that guy – legged out an infield single. Jared Paul hit a single to left – except that it hit Ronan in the leg as he travelled second to third, and the lead runner was out that way. Montano glitched Felipe Gomez on base with a walk after Justin Nelson’s groundout, then saw Danny Valenzuela fly out to strand the bases loaded, which was not a common occurrence. Instead Portland took a 1-0 lead with a Cosmo double and Tony Morales’ RBI single in the bottom 1st; not that Montano held it for long – Ronan tripled home Victor Acosta with two outs in the top 2nd to tie the game. Zitzner then flew out to center. Portland regrabbed the lead immediately; Hunter singled, Anderson doubled, Montano hit a sac fly, and Berto an RBI single with two outs, before Cosmo rolled out to Kenta Yoshioka at short. Bottom 3rd, Tony Hunter logged a 2-out RBI single as the Coons hit three soft knocks off Chavez, while in the fourth Montano opened with a gapper for a leadoff triple (!) before being scored by Berto’s groundout, 5-1.

Montano didn’t make it through six, though, being smattered around for 11 base hits, including three in the abortive sixth that scored a run on an Acosta single. PH Nick Duncan walked after that, loading the bases with the tying runs for the .317 hitter Ronan. Chuck Jones came in to face the left-hander, gave up a run-scoring infield single (…!), then was exchanged for Jermaine Campbell, who gave up a boom of a drive to Zitzner, that SOMEHOW failed to fly into the Willamette, but instead came down in Greenway’s glove on the warning track, ending the dismal inning with Portland still up 5-3. The Critters then loaded the bases in the bottom 6th against Tony Rivas; Berto walked, Morales singled with two outs, and Hoogey was nicked. Greenway plated two with a single through the left side, while Hunter struck out. This time, the 4-run lead stood up – Campbell had a sort of clean seventh, Mauricio Garavito did not get impaled in the eighth either, and while he put Ronan on with a leadoff single in the ninth, he was then helped out by Ryan van Campenhout, who got a double play from Zitzner (hah!) and finally a pop out to end the game. 7-3 Coons. Morales 3-5, 2B, RBI; Hooge 2-3; Hunter 3-4, RBI; Daiker (PH) 1-1;

One of those games where nobody could get a batter out – teams combined for *29* base hits (no homers among them), with Portland ahead 15-14. All Critters in the lineup had at least one base hit. For the Loggers only Chavez and Nelson (0-for-5) went without one.

Game 2
MIL: CF Ronan – LF J. Nelson – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Paul – RF Duncan – 1B Cannizzard – C H. Alvarez – 2B Yoshioka – P A. Vargas
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Hooge – RF Greenway – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Sabre

The Raccoons had three singles (Cosmo, Manny, Hooge) in the first inning, as well as two stolen bases (Cosmo, Manny) and two runs on the board. However, to say that Sabre wasn’t sharp would have been a bit of an understatement. He basically continued where Montano had left off, not getting anybody out. The Loggers had a single and a walk in both of the first two innings, then just singled him to death in the third, in which they scored three runs. Of course dismal Ted Del Vecchio was the first Logger to single in a run, plating Nelson in the top 3rd. Kenta Yoshioka then added two more with two out. Ronan and Del Vecchio singles and a Greenway throwing error made it 4-2 Milwaukee by the fourth…

Bottom 5th, Portland stacked the bags with Berto, Manny, and Kilmer with one out against Vargas. Ed Hooge hit a sorry roller that nobody could play (boy, were there two losing teams on display here…!) for an RBI single, while Greenway, down 4-3, hit the first pitch he caught a glimpse of into a ******* double play. Sabre struck out Vargas to begin the sixth, except that Kilmer bumbled the ball and Vargas reached first base on the uncaught third strike, at which point my blood pressure reached new heights. Ronan’s single and a walk drawn by Jared Paul filled the bases, with Sabre yanked for Brent Clark in a double switch at that point (which also had the nice side effect of getting Scott Daiker into the game instead of miserable Troy Greenway). Duncan popped out easily to Manny in shallow left, ending the inning. Clark would log six outs, then leave in another double switch that took out Trevino for Lindstom and Nickas, with Justin Nelson popping out against the righty to end the top 8th. The score was still 4-3 at that point, but the Coons loaded the bags with nobody out and nothing more than Hooge, Nickas, and Hunter to work with in the bottom 8th. Anderson bounced into a force out at home plate before salvation came from Daiker, who hit a sac fly to score Nickas and wipe the L off Sabre’s line. Berto hit another shy single to stock the bases to capacity for … well, necessarily a pinch-hitter. Tony Morales grabbed a stick, grounded to Tim Cannizzard (who?), who fumbled the ball in awful fashion, and that allowed Tony Hunter to score with the tie-breaking run. Nobody on the trusty brown couch reacted in any way – the scene was too surreal. New pitcher Oscar Perez then came in against Manny Fernandez to stop the bleeding, but gave up a real blast – GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

That wasn’t even it; Kilmer singled after the slam, Hoogey hit another 2-run blast, and the inning only ended with Nickas whiffing. Campy Ryan (is that a good nickname? Cristiano chuckled) shut down the Loggers after that 8-run riot. 11-4 Raccoons. Ramos 2-5; Trevino 3-4; Fernandez 2-5, BB, HR, 5 RBI; Kilmer 2-5; Hooge 4-5, HR, 4 RBI; Clark 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

(looks around the trusty brown couch) I think none of us is reacting yet.

Van Campenhout was sent back to AAA after two games of faithful contest-finishing service to make room for Sal Lozano.

Dr. Padilla also came back to report wrist tendinitis as Maldonado’s ailment, which ruled him out for the rest of the week, but made a DL assignment unfeasible given that he’d miss another 4-game set against the Loggers after the All Star Game. The Raccoons would continue to soldier on one guy short for the last five games before the break here. Since Lozano could be dispatched again after this second spot start in a row on Wednesday, and the Critters didn’t need a fifth starter again until July 21, an extra outfielder could be called up at our pleasure.

Game 3
MIL: RF Cannizzard – CF Ronan – 3B Paul – SS Del Vecchio – LF J. Nelson – C F. Gomez – 1B Duncan – 2B V. Acosta – P Piedra
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – C Morales – CF Hooge – RF Greenway – 1B Anderson – 2B Kilgallen – P Lozano

Four straight singles off Lozano by the Ronan-through-Nelson section of the Loggers’ order gave them a 2-0 lead right away, and while things did get better for Lozano after that, they certainly didn’t for the offense. Piedra scattered but three singles through five innings and the Raccoons never even touched third base in that time. Lozano found an actual groove at one point and kept clicking away Loggers effortlessly. In fact, after the first inning he allowed only two more singles, and – bizarrely – none of them to a position player. (blinks slowly)

Lozano was done after seven in the textbook definition of what would count as a well-pitched loss (six hits, two runs, no walks), with the Raccoons apparently unwilling or unable (but likely both) to do anything much. Berto happened on base to begin the eighth, with Piedra lifted for lefty Trevor Corrigan at that point. Hunter popped out, but out of the blue Manny Fernandez ripped an RBI double that suddenly put the tying run in scoring position, an event for which nobody in the ballpark was prepared. Then Morales singled him in, tying the game in which the Raccoons so far had only visually taken part.

The game ended up in extras, where Alex Ramirez allowed two hits and a walk to fill the bases and the Raccoons couldn’t turn two on a simple Felipe Gomez grounder, allowing the tie to be broken. Duncan struck out to strand a pair, while Manny Fernandez led off the bottom 10th with a single off right-hander Gualter Cymbron. Morales struck out. Hooge grounded out. Greenway struck out. 3-2 Loggers. Ramos 2-5; Hunter 2-5; Fernandez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Kilgallen 2-4; Lozano 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

A warm handshake later, Sal Lozano (0-1, 3.75 ERA) was back off to St. Petersburg. Brad Ledford, hitting .294 with three homers with the Alley Cats, came up as additional outfielder.

Game 4
MIL: LF J. Nelson – 1B Zitzner – SS Del Vecchio – 3B Paul – RF Duncan – C F. Gomez – CF Cannizzard – 2B V. Acosta – P Feltman
POR: SS Hunter – 2B Trevino – CF Hooge – C Morales – RF Ledford – LF Daiker – 1B Anderson – 3B Kilgallen – P Moreno

Nelson singled off Nelson to begin the game, which was just a neat tidbit to throw in since Zitzner remained just as crisply clutch as he had been with the Critters and jammed a grounder into a double play immediately. Nelson however also walked Nelson in the third inning, leading off on top of that, and conceded that run on a Jared Paul single. That was the first marker on the board. The Raccoons had given days off to Manny Fernandez and … well, who else did anything of value here…? …making this a bit of a throwaway game. Sorry, Nels – baseball is cruel and knows no sons nor daughters.

The Paul RBI single was the only run-scoring event through five with the Raccoons again pristinely helpless. Moreno was taken apart in the sixth on Del Vecchio and Duncan doubles, as well as Cannizzard and Acosta singles that scored a total of three runs, burying him so deep only the tips of his fuzzy ears were poking out of the mound anymore. It wasn’t *all* bad, but it certainly wasn’t great as he went 6.2 innings for four runs, whiffing six. Far worse was the offense, which even when Morales and Ledford opened the seventh with singles, immediately proceeded to a double play spanker by Daiker. (turns to the scout guy) Who are these people, scout man, and why do they keep ruining games?

When the Coons did get on the board, it was the eighth again and it was as sudden and unexpected as the last time out. Manny drew a pinch-walk in the bottom 8th, hitting for Garavito in the #9 hole. Feltman then hung one to Tony Hunter, and Hunter hit it over the fence, cutting the gap in half, 4-2. Cosmo and Hooge, however, immediately busied themselves with grounding out to Acosta, twice. Chuck Jones struck out the side in the ninth, but there was no rally to speak off in the bottom of the inning. The Coons only reached base when Gualter Cymbron nicked Greenway, hitting for Daiker against the right-hander, with Anderson then grounding out to short. 4-2 Loggers. Ledford 2-4, 2B;

Raccoons (42-45) vs. Titans (47-38) – July 6-8, 2040

Even the Titans were already 10+ games out, so the division might just as well be called now, which would save everybody a lot of bother. Wickedly, the Raccoons were 5-4 against Boston so far, so if you factored in their 1-11 record against THAT OTHER TEAM, they were pretty much aiding and abetting evil in the division… Boston was fifth in runs scored and third in runs allowed. They also had both their catchers on the DL, and had just lost outfielder Moises Avila (.239, 8 HR, 34 RBI) for the year with a torn labrum. “Graveyard” Gill was also out for the season.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Bedrosian (5-0, 2.16 ERA) vs. Leonhart Becker (6-3, 3.50 ERA)
Angelo Montano (2-3, 5.08 ERA) vs. Javy Santana (8-7, 3.39 ERA)
Raffaello Sabre (6-5, 3.28 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (6-8, 3.65 ERA)

SAUERKRAUT!! – So we meet again! … (drives claws into the desk) … He’d be the only left-hander to face this week.

Game 1
BOS: SS Gil – RF J. Davis – CF Vermillion – LF W. Vega – 1B A. Zacarias – C Duryea – 2B Bunyon – 3B Woodall – P Becker
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Kilgallen – RF Greenway – CF Daiker – SS Nickas – P Bedrosian

While scoring against Sauerkraut was pretty much hopeless every time he came around, Bedrosian tried his very best to nip a 1-0 win, knowing he’d have to hit a homer to get that done. The Titans would go to the corners against him in the third and fourth innings, but both times only got that far with two outs. John Davis and Donovan Bunyon popped out poorly, respectively. Sauerkraut also tried to stir up some trouble, singling to center in the fifth inning, but got no support from those around him. The sixth was where it came apart for Bedrosian, with stuff and control going away at the same time. He walked a pair, but got out when the Titans popped out some more, giving him a 4-hit shutout through six, but also over 100 pitches, and he was thus hit for in the bottom 6th, especially with his spot leading off the inning against Sauerkraut. Hunter grounded out, so did Berto, but Cosmo singled with two outs. Manny flew out to center, and a sauer-looking Ryan Bedrosian had his 69th no-decision of the season…

Bedrosian soon enough bit a hole into the dugout railing when the Raccoons DID score after a scoreless top 7th by Alex Ramirez. Kilmer somehow tumbled on base, and Matt Kilgallen hit a jack to left-center, out of the blue. Even Sauerkraut couldn’t believe it, while Bedrosian kept hanging from the railing firmly clenched between his jaws, and his whiskers and striped tail nervously twitching. Clark and Lindstrom got through the Titans in the eighth with only a walk issued by Clark, after which Lindstrom got two pops to Cosmo from Alex Zacarias and Michael Duryea. In the ninth, Sanchez retired the first two before Ivan Pena singled past Kilgallen. Antonio Gil, however, struck out, and the Raccoons slayed the Sauerkraut demon …! 2-0 Raccoons. Trevino 2-4, 2B; Kilgallen 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Bedrosian 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K;

Game 2
BOS: RF J. Davis – SS Gil – CF Vermillion – 1B A. Zacarias – LF W. Vega – C Duryea – 2B Bunyon – 3B Woodall – P Santana
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Fernandez – C Morales – LF Ledford – 1B Anderson – RF Greenway – SS Hunter – P Montano

The Titans took an instant lead before they made an out against Montano, who walked John Davis before Fernandez missed a Gil double to center. Davis circled around, drew a throw that was late and ill-advised, moved Gil to third, and cost another run on a Mark Vermillion single, 2-0. That inning somehow ended without Montano being skinned, dried, and turned into a handbag, while even more impressive, the Coons tied the game in the bottom 2nd. Greenway hit a homer to right, Hunter also reached base, stole second, and Montano came up and ripped a double into the corner in leftfield, tying the game at two. Berto then grounded out. Then Montano walked the bags full in the third, and gave up a homer to Zacarias for a ******* grand slam.

That was this game about over with; another run fell out of Ramirez in the fourth inning and then the Titans cruised while the Raccoons got somebody on base to lead off an inning, and then immediately hit into a double play, twice, in the middle innings. Bottom 7th then, Anderson and Greenway landed hits to begin that inning, but Hunter automatically grounded to short. At least he legged out the return throw to break up the double play… Jeff Kilmer hit for Garavito in the #9 hole, but was held to a sac fly by John Davis in right. Then Hunter was caught stealing… The Critters never got another guy on base after that… 7-3 Titans. Fernandez 2-4; Greenway 2-3, HR, RBI; Jones 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Game 3
BOS: SS Gil – RF J. Davis – CF Vermillion – LF W. Vega – 1B A. Zacarias – C Duryea – 2B Toney – 3B Bunyon – P Willett
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Hooge – RF Greenway – SS Hunter – 1B Kilgallen – P Sabre

Mike Toney hit a home run in the second inning with Duryea having walked ahead of him, Willie Vega hit a home run in the third with nobody on base, and while Matt Kilgallen hit another solo homer in the same inning, the Raccoons trailed 3-1 after three, then shortened that to 3-2 in the fourth when Greenway hit *another* home run. While Sabre laid off completely imploding for just a little while longer, he also drew a 1-out walk off Willett in the bottom of the fifth. He got forced out by Cosmo, who was then caught stealing, but Kilmer hit a third home-team solo jack and the fifth homer in the game off Willett in the sixth, tying the game at three. That was Jeff Kilmer’s 10th homer on the season.

Donovan Bunyon ripped a double off the wall to begin the seventh inning. Sabre, looking dismayed with himself for good reasons, handled Willett’s walk, then was replaced with Clark for the top of the order. Clark surrendered the go-ahead run with no fuss on a Gil single, the first run in the game to score on something other than a jack. The Critters survived a Lindstrom appearance in the eighth that saw a leadoff walk to Zacarias and three screaming liners that were somehow all caught, then put Manny and Kilmer aboard with a pair of singles to begin the bottom 8th. Then they went pop, K, pop, ending the inning in no time. Rico Sanchez kept the Titans from scoring any tack-on runs in the ninth, with right-hander Gilberto Castillo out for Boston in the bottom of the ninth. Anderson struck out. Tony Morales hit a single to center in the #9 hole. And Berto got the Raccoons into the break with a 6-4-3 double play grounder. 4-3 Titans. Fernandez 2-4; Kilmer 2-4, HR, RBI; Ledford (PH) 1-1; Morales (PH) 1-1;

In other news

July 2 – Warriors 1B Brent Rempfer (.207, 5 HR, 14 RBI) hits a home run off SAL SP Joe Dishon (6-6, 3.78 ERA) for the only base hit in the Warriors’ 5-1 loss to the Wolves.
July 2 – The Crusaders win both ends of a double-header with the Titans with come-from-behind walkoffs; New York’s 1B Doug Levis (.250, 6 HR, 26 RBI) hits two home runs, including the 11th-inning walkoff, in a 7-6 win, while OF Rich Salek (.208, 1 HR, 5 RBI) ends the second game with a sac fly in regulation for a 3-2 win. Boston blew ninth-inning leads in both games.
July 3 – ATL SP David Farris (3-4, 3.97 ERA) and CL Raul de la Rosa (2-2, 3.65 ERA, 18 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Aces, with only catcher Danny Gomez (.246, 3 HR, 21 RBI) landing a single in the Aces’ 3-0 loss.
July 3 – The Falcons beat the Bayhawks, 3-2, in the 15th inning on doubles by MR Adam Jaggers (1-for-2, 0 HR, 0 RBI) and RF/CF Tony Coca (.254, 6 HR, 29 RBI).
July 4 – The Knights’ Brad Santry (12-4, 3.04 ERA) strikes out ten Aces in a 3-0 shutout over Las Vegas.
July 6 – SAC INF Paul Laughren (.220, 4 HR, 24 RBI) will be out three weeks with a broken rib.
July 7 – The Indians trade CL Alex Banderas (3-1, 1.51 ERA, 17 SV) to the Blue Sox for three prospects.
July 8 – The Crusaders send 1B Doug Levis (.239, 6 HR, 26 RBI) to the Aces for OF Jose Platero (.221, 3 HR, 7 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: PIT CF/LF Kevin Burch (.269, 6 HR, 20 RBI), hitting .379 (11-29) with 5 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL SS/2B Ted Del Vecchio (.291, 12 HR, 46 RBI), batting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Another meh week down, only 12 more to go. And then give or take a couple of years to piece something together that will be worth watching.

Although we actually scored more runs than we conceded, thanks to that mostly unearned Loggers meltdown on Tuesday. And without Maldonado participating in a single game…!

Two All Stars this year; Ryan Bedrosian is an obvious choice, even though the sucker never wins a game. He will be a first-time All Star just like Chuck Jones, who silently put up a 1.04 ERA.

The Raccoons shopped three international free agent pitchers this week, spending $166k on the trio. I would point out one guy in particular, 17-year-old right-hander Kevin Hitchcock from … Maud, how do you pronounce that…? – “Schrecksbach”, in Germany, which is apparently a place, and which means Scare Creek.

That’s right! You heard that correctly! I got ourselves our own Sauerkraut!! The Titans will never know what hit them!!

Fun Fact: Right-hander Alex Miranda led the Continental League in walks in both of the first two seasons, including as a Raccoon in the inaugural 1977 season.

Miranda went 9-17 with a 3.38 ERA – hinting at some problems with offense on the early Coons – and walked 136 batters against 120 strikeouts in 261 innings of work. He was traded to the Condors after the season, and also pitched for the Wolves and Indians in a 13-year career. Control would never come to him; even for his career he walked more than he struck out: he was a 145-166 pitchers with a 3.72 ERA and 1,301 walks against 1,270 strikeouts, but somehow still made two All Star Games.

The Raccoons’ haul in the trade to the Condors included Jorge Romero, Cam Green, and a guy that never saw daylight, so didn’t immediately serve to lift the Critters from the early-days darkness.