[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-64) @ Crusaders (58-65) – August 21-23, 2040

More games nobody would care about. The Raccoons trailed in the season series, 7-5, against the team second from the bottom in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. Their run differential was -45. While sucking in most offensive categories, they were second in stolen bases ahead of the third-place Coons.

Projected matchups:
Bernie Chavez (2-9, 5.46 ERA) vs. Todd Lush (10-7, 3.74 ERA)
Ian Wilson (2-1, 2.49 ERA) vs. Gabriel Lara (3-6, 7.85 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (5-5, 2.87 ERA) vs. Aaron Hickey (3-7, 4.36 ERA)

Injuries had ransacked their pitching staff and they were piecing it together somehow. Lush was a southpaw to start the series, but we might also see southpaw Bill Herrmann (1-0, 6.52 ERA) make a spot start. With Josh Brown, Dave Hils, and Jamal Barrow they had three starters on the DL. Outfielders Rich Salek and Chris Russell were also out.

Bernie Chavez would make his first appearances coming back from rehab.

Game 1
POR: 2B Brito – 3B Trevino – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – LF Fernandez – SS Hunter – 1B Salazar – RF Castro – P Chavez
NYC: SS Adame – LF J. Garcia – 2B Briones – CF Besaw – 3B Sifuentes – RF Platero – C D. Phillips – 1B Rudd – P Lush

Both teams had two hits in the first three innings, but only the New York hit a jack, Ramon Sifuentes hitting a solo home run to right for a 1-0 lead for the Crusaders. Portland had singles by Kilmer and Hunter in the fourth inning. They also brought up the minimum, with Manny hitting into a double play and Hunter being caught stealing. The game remained a low-key pitching duel. Both teams scattered three hits in the middle innings without going anywhere. Bernie Chavez struck out only two batters through six innings, while Lush rung up four, hence low-key; poor contact was the order of the day.

Top 7th, Hunter reached on an error by Alex Adame – the youngest player in the league right now and the only one 18 years old – with one out, after which Damian Salazar hit a double over Joe Besaw to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for the .190 hitter Alex Castro, who promptly struck out, but then Bernie Chavez zinged a 2-out single to center to flip the damn score in his own favor, 2-1! Brito singled, but Cosmo grounded out to end the inning, and the eighth began with a Maldonado double to right. Kilmer was walked intentionally, while Lush got poor outs from the next three batters without Maldonado making it as far as third base… Bernie Chavez allowed a leadoff single to Devin Phillips in the bottom of the inning, but remained in there. He was only on 70-odd pitches, and we could just as well have him blow his own lead to bits instead of turning it over to our hunchbacked bullpen. Phillips advanced on two groundouts before Adame singled him in with a zinger through the left side, tying the score at two. Ricardo Salmeron, an injury replacement for Juan Garcia, then grounded out. Facing ex-Coon John Hennessy in the ninth, Castro then ripped a leadoff double to left, which was surprising, and now Bernie was hit for. Kilgallen was the only right-hander on the bench and was then walked intentionally, but Brito slapped an RBI single to left off Hennessy anyway, taking the 3-2 lead. Cosmo struck out, but Maldonado hit an RBI single, Kilmer walked, and Manny singled home a pair before Hennessy was yanked for righty Luis Villagomez, who allowed another single to Hunter to load the bases again. Balaski batted for Salazar and hit an RBI single, but Castro struck out and Kilgallen grounded out to end the 5-run onslaught. David Lindstrom then actually made the lead stand up in the bottom of the ninth… 7-2 Critters. Brito 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Fernandez 2-5, 2 RBI; Hunter 2-4, BB; Balaski (PH) 1-1, RBI; Chavez 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, W (3-9) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Morales – RF Balaski – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Wilson
NYC: SS Adame – LF L. Herrera – 2B Briones – 3B Sifuentes – CF Besaw – RF Platero – C D. Phillips – 1B Rudd – P G. Lara

Lara conceded a triple to Cosmo and plated him with a wild pitch for a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the grin was wiped off our striped faces quickly, with Maldonado hurting his wrist on a sprawling catch to strand a pair of Wilson-owned runners in the bottom of the first inning. He was replaced with Alex Castro. Meanwhile the bottom of the order stirred Lara for a bushel of singles (Morales, Hunter, Anderson) in the top 2nd, bringing up Wilson unfortunately with three on and one out. Ian Wilson struck out, Berto grounded out to second, and nobody scored. Cosmo opened the third with a single, was doubled up by Castro, Manny singled, stole second, and scored on Tony Morales’ single. The inning ended with Balaski, and New York got a run back with Adame and Lorenzo Herrera singles, plus a wild pitch, in the bottom 3rd, making it a 2-1 game before *another* wild pitch plated Jose Platero in the bottom of the fourth. Wilson and Morales were clearly not on the same page here; Platero had singled, while Tom Rudd had drawn a 1-out walk in the inning.

More erratic pitching including two walks to Sifuentes and Besaw in the fifth ended Wilson’s outing after that inning and 82 mostly confused pitches. He did get in line for a W with Tony Morales’ leadoff jack to right in the sixth, and was hit for with Hunter and Anderson on the corners. Brito hit a sac fly, Anderson stole a base (!), but while Berto reached, Cosmo grounded out to strand the pair of them in a 4-2 game. Garavito and Zabala nursed that for a while before ******** Campbell inevitably blew it in the eighth. He shuffled the bags full, then gave up a 2-run single to PH Greg Ortiz in Herrera’s spot. Ramirez replaced Campbell and got two groundouts to escape the inning, now with the score tied at four. Hennessy was back at it in the ninth, in which Castro reached with one out on a Sifuentes error before Manny legged out an infield single. Morales and Balaski both flew out to left to strand the runners. Ramirez got two outs in the bottom 9th before Phillips and Rudd went to the corners with singles. Salmeron walked, filling them up for Jim Adams, who hit a grounder up the middle that eluded Hunter, eluded Trevino, and ended the game. 5-4 Crusaders. Fernandez 3-5; Morales 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Hunter 2-3, BB; Anderson 2-4;

There were about 15 reasons why the 2040 Raccoons were sucking the cover off the baseballs in that one game alone. Maybe even 16.

Also sucking: Jesus Maldonado went on the DL with the sprained wrist, expected to miss at least three weeks, which was like most of the season left – we were only 35 games from the merciful release of death – I mean, Closing Day now.

Ed Hooge was not ready to be activated yet (probably on the weekend), so the Raccoons had to pick through the chafed remains in AAA once again. We produced 23-year-old Aruban switch-hitter Jay de Wit. The Oranjestader didn’t really have a good position, dabbling with second base, third base, and leftfield. He was hitting .294/.325/.448 with six homers in semi-regular duty in AAA. He had cost all of $16k in the 2033 July IFA period.

Game 3
POR: 2B Brito – 3B Trevino – CF Fernandez – C Kilmer – SS Hunter – 1B Salazar – LF de Wit – RF Castro – P Moreno
NYC: SS Adame – 1B Rudd – 2B Briones – CF Besaw – 3B Sifuentes – RF Platero – C J. Herrera – LF L. Herrera – P Herrmann

The Crusaders would hit an incessant amount of grounders through the creases on the infield, including by Adame and Rudd to begin the first. The runners pulled off a double steal and both scored on a single by Joe Besaw, although Tony Hunter would claw the Coons back into a 2-2 tie in the second inning, homering to left-center after a leadoff walk to Jeff Kilmer. That was all the scoring through five, with Nelson Moreno not having one of his best starts, conceding five hits and issuing three walks on top of that. The Raccoons had only one hit other than the Hunter bomb, a single by Alex Castro, against Herrmann until Cosmo opened the sixth with a single to left. Fernandez flew out, but Kilmer singled and Hunter walked, filling the bases for … well… whatever you wanted to call the array from the #6 slot on down. Salazar hit a sac fly at least for a 3-2 lead, but Jay de Wit grounded out to short.

Moreno scattered another three hits for four outs before being lifted after Lorenzo Herrera’s sharp single with one out in the seventh. Brent Clark came on to face PH Jesse Stedham, gave up a homer to dead center, and I wished myself into the offseason even harder than before. Top 8th, Manny Vasquez walked Kilmer and Hunter with one out. The Raccoons brought out Anderson to hit for Salazar to counter the right-hander, and the Crusaders went to the pen and brought Orlando Altreche… a different right-hander. A grounder by Anderson and a soft fly by de Wit ended the inning surely enough, though. Casey McQueen retired Castro, Kilgallen, and Brito in order then in the ninth. 4-3 Crusaders. Kilmer 1-1, 3 BB; Hunter 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Raccoons (62-66) vs. Falcons (65-62) – August 24-26, 2040

The Falcons were still telling themselves that at 8 1/2 games out they had a chance to make the playoffs in the South. Well, they had to get winning *now* for that. The season series was even at three, and they looked rather nondescript with their fifth place in runs scored and seventh place in runs allowed and +11 run differential (Coons: -8).

Projected matchups:
Raffaello Sabre (10-7, 3.19 ERA) vs. Jose de Lucio (8-4, 4.40 ERA)
Sal Lozano (2-2, 4.95 ERA) vs. Rafael Pedraza (9-13, 4.06 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (3-9, 5.21 ERA) vs. Jose Lerma (2-0, 2.67 ERA)

Lerma was the only left-hander on offer. The 41-year-old was just coming back from shoulder inflammation, which had cost him almost four months on the shelf. Being the feature on Southpaw Sunday would be his second start back from rehab.

Game 1
CHA: 3B Farfan – 1B Lorensen – SS Aparicio – C M. Cook – RF C. Robinson – CF J. Reyna – LF Salto – 2B A. Rojas – P de Lucio
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – C Morales – RF Balaski – CF Kilgallen – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Sabre

Portland got going fast; Berto opened the first inning with a single, stole second, moved to third on Cosmo’s single, Cosmo also stole second, and then Manny Fernandez barged a 3-run homer anyway! Next thing we saw was Cosmo getting hurt on an abortive double play attempt in the second inning and requiring replacement by Brito. Word came fast from Dr. Padilla that he had strained a rib cage muscle and was headed for the DL. Great! More agony! – No, Maud, your fennel tea won’t make it better. – Just tell me where the detergents are.

Sabre made it through four innings without giving up a run despite giving the Falcons a runner in every inning and – as usual – not overpowering anybody with his stuff. In the fifth it was a Jose Farfan single and Tony Aparicio’s double that got them a run with two outs, with Mitch Cook flying out after that to strand Aparicio in scoring position. Chris Robinson and Jonathan Reyna opened the sixth with a pair of singles and set up camp on the corners only to be cleaned up by Graciano Salto’s double play grounder. Robinson scored, while Reyna was out at second. Alfredo Rojas popped out to end the inning, now in a 3-2 game, although a Tony Morales home run in the bottom of the inning extended the lead to 4-2 again.

Sabre was hit for by Castro in the bottom 7th to no great effect, but then the Raccoons reeled off singles against de Lucio and Mike Simcoe. Berto and Brito went to the corners, and Manny’s RBI single made it 5-2. Morales grounded out, ending the string and the inning. Ramirez and Garavito pieced together the eighth inning to begin the worst part of every game – the one where our pen got involved. It was still 5-2 to begin the ninth, with Jermaine Campbell being the designated glonk of the day to get three outs before blowing a 3-run lead. Reyna opened with a single to center. Salto doubled to left. He walked Rojas. When switch-hitter Ruben Esperanza came out with three on and nobody out, the Raccoons moved on to Chuck Jones instead. Jones rung up Esperanza in a full count, then gave up a run on Farfan’s groundout. Ryan Lorensen looked at strike three in another full count to stave off another complete collapse. 5-3 Raccoons. Ramos 2-3, BB; Trevino 1-1; Fernandez 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Morales 2-4, HR, RBI; Balaski 2-4; Sabre 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (11-7);

First Portland save for Chuck Jones, and the third of his career in 173 games. He saved two games with the Scorpions in ’38.

Cosmo meanwhile was off to the DL. The Raccoons dug some deeper into the AAA roster, which already had that team tanking like no tomorrow. Up came 24-year-old 2035 third-rounder 2B Nick Lando, who was barely hitting anything in AAA as it was. He was meager on defense, meager at the plate, but a good runner.

At the same time, Ed Hooge was activated from the DL and Alex Castro (.188, 0 HR, 1 RBI) was returned to the Alley Cats.

Game 2
CHA: 2B Farfan – 1B LeClerc – SS Aparicio – C M. Cook – LF Esperanza – RF Salto – 3B A. Rojas – CF J. Reyna – P Pedraza
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Brito – LF Fernandez – C Morales – RF Balaski – CF Hooge – SS Hunter – 1B Anderson – P Lozano

Sal Lozano had himself taken apart in quick fashion on Saturday. The first inning saw two Falcons runs on a Farfan double and singles by Aparicio and Cook, while in the third inning he nailed two batters and conceded another two base hits for another pair of runs. Esperanza and Salto got RBI’s in that inning. Lozano then drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 3rd, with the bags filling via Berto and Fernandez singles. Pedraza nailed Morales to push in a 2-out run, 4-1, but Balaski grounded out to to Farfan to strand a full set. Lozano got a sac fly in the fourth, hitting a fly to center after Hooge and Hunter had landed base hits and getting Hoogey home from third base. Berto then popped out to end the inning, still down 4-2.

Lozano didn’t make it past the fifth thanks to plentiful chaos early on, which had the additional benefit of getting the regularly unhinged bullpen into the game that much sooner. Reyna doubled off Lindstrom in the sixth, and Jose Farfan hit a 2-run home run, 6-2. Justin LeClerc and Aparicio also reached base after that, leading to Lindstrom getting yanked for Campbell, who gave up an RBI double before Balaski got paws on an Esperanza drive to finally end the inning. Farfan singled home a 2-out run off Campbell in the seventh, one of three batters to reach in *that* miserable inning. Nick Lando made his debut in the bottom 7th, pinch-hitting for Campbell and flying out to center before the 1-2-3 batters unleashed three singles for a pity run. He got to bat again in the ninth against Josh Livingston, hitting a 1-out single to left for his first big-league souvenir. He reached third base on Ramos’ single, after which Kilmer hit for Garavito and walked. Since this was an 8-3 game, the tying run now appeared in the on-deck circle in Morales, with Manny Fernandez batting. Lando scored on a single to center. Then it was over quite suddenly, with Tony Morales poking a 2-1 pitch at Farfan, to Aparicio, to LeClerc, fín. 8-4 Falcons. Ramos 3-5; Brito 2-4; Fernandez 3-5, 2 RBI;

I really like it when they almost look like they’re gonna rally.

And then – ka-whoom!

I really like that.

But at least Lando’s a .500 batter now.

Game 3
CHA: 3B Farfan – CF J. Reyna – SS Aparicio – C M. Cook – RF C. Robinson – LF Esperanza – 1B Salto – 2B A. Rojas – P Lerma
POR: 3B Ramos – SS Hunter – CF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Kilgallen – 1B Salazar – 2B Lando – LF de Wit – P Chavez

The Falcons slapped single upon single off Bernie Chavez, driving in runs with Chris Robinson and Ruben Esperanza with two outs for a 2-0 lead before Salto grounded out to Hunter. Portland would make up one of the runs in the second inning, with Kilmer reaching base, then advancing on a wild pitch and two groundouts to score. While Bernie did not allow another base hit until a Reyna single in the fifth, the Raccoons also weren’t exactly hitting it out of the park. They didn’t get another base knock after the Kilmer single until Nick Lando singled with two outs in the bottom 5th. He then stole his first bag, which led to an intentional walk to the more hapless Jay de Wit, and then to Bernie flicking a 2-out single to center that was enough for Lando to race around and score with the tying run. Berto flew out to left to end the insurrection.

Bernie Chavez then held the fort for another two innings before Kilgallen and Salazar began the bottom 7th with a pair of singles off Lerma that put them on the corners. Before Lando could do more heroics, a wild pitch by Lerma plated the go-ahead run. The Coons then went down strikeout, groundout, popout. Bernie was back for the eighth, gave up singles to Reyna and Cook and left having gotten only one out. Chuck Jones came out for Robinson, but Esperanza pinch-hit quickly and grounded out just as quickly. When Ryan Lorensen batted for Esperanza, another righty bat, the Raccoons sent Alex Ramirez, who secured a strikeout and starved runners in scoring position! The Coons then got an insurance run when Hunter tripled and Manny singled in the bottom 8th, 4-2, after which Kilgallen hit a 2-out single and Salazar was nailed. Lando flew out to right to strand a full set, but Alex Ramirez remained steady in the ninth to save the game. 4-2 Coons. Kilgallen 2-4; Chavez 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (4-9) and 1-3, RBI; Ramirez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (4);


In other news

August 22 – TOP INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.308, 9 HR, 50 RBI) will miss two to three weeks with back soreness.
August 24 – NAS 3B/2B Jim “Mastodon” Allen (.374, 8 HR, 51 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak after landing a single in the Sox’ 4-3 loss to the other Sox of the Gold variety.
August 24 – Canadiens OF Aaron Foss (.299, 5 HR, 56 RBI) drops two hits in a 12-3 rout of the Condors to also reach a 20-game hitting streak.
August 26 – Everything falls apart in Salem, as Wolves SP Phil Harrington (15-4, 2.24 ERA) is announced to have a torn UCL and will miss the rest of this and maybe all of next season.
August 26 – SFW CL Andy Hyden (4-3, 3.19 ERA, 29 SV) saves his 400th game in a 3-1 win over the Rebels. Hyden, a #13 pick, spent all his career in the Federal League and mostly with the Cyclones. The 34-year-old has a 56-58 record with a 2.96 ERA. He was an All Star four times and the Reliever of the Year in 2036.
August 26 – The hitting streak of VAN OF Aaron Foss (.296, 5 HR, 56 RBI) ends at 20 games after an 0-for-4 in a 9-1 loss to the Condors.
August 26 – MIL SP Sal Chavez (12-10, 3.73 ERA) 3-hits the Knights in a 3-0 shutout.
August 26 – IND 3B Dan Hutson (.242, 24 HR, 68 RBI) drops five hits and ends a triple shy of the cycle while driving in thre runs in a 10-2 rush of the Bayhawks.
August 26 – PIT 3B/2B Ben Freeman (.255, 7 HR, 49 RBI) hits two home runs and two singles and drives in seven runs from the #7 spot in a 14-5 bombing of the Pacifics.

FL Player of the Week: PIT 3B/2B Ben Freeman (.255, 7 HR, 49 RBI), hitting .480 (12-25) with 2 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 1B Salvador Ayala (.311, 10 HR, 54 RBI), batting .435 (10-23) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The season keeps dragging on, now with even more injuries and even more weird AAA players that we never thought we’d talk about again. Jay de Wit is a switch-hitter, meaning he is equally harmless from both sides of the plate. Nick Lando did some stirring in two games, but his scouting report says he’s a worse version of Jose Brito, who is currently grossly overperforming.

Both Maldonado and Trevino will be back this year, which is at least something. It’s entirely possible that they will be traded this winter. Maldonado is not *likely* to be traded, but he’s not nailed down either, and I can’t tell you of a position player that is.

This homestand will last through all of next week, with three games against the Aces and four against the Indians. The horror though has yet to end, with two more trips to Boston and one more journey to Elk City being on the September program.

31 games left. (sigh)

And then however many seasons until the team is watchable again.

What is it, Maud? – Not good enough for the sales pitch? – *Fine*. – (artificially joyful) And don’t forget to reserve your 2041 ticket plans now! There will be baseball – in some form or other – and maybe even a win here or there! (keeps the stupid grin even after finishing)

Fun Fact: Nelson Moreno is 3-0 with a 1.94 ERA in his last six starts!

Future star!

Was definitely worth the trouble of not including him in any of the trades for the last 34 players we didn’t get that would have pushed the team over the hump to a title…