[Westheim]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

I was a little worried with the start of the season that my Vegas ticket of under total wins was going to be bad. But it seems with the recent string of play that a sub 500 record is looking more likely and I will (unfortunately) be cashing in a winning ticket.

Its hard to break out of it when a team gets on a mediocrity cycle like it seems the team currently is in.

Yeah you just wait and see them go 83-79 out of spite...!

+++

No, Nick, there is no hope. – No, Nick, none. – Yes, if the Raccoons win the next eight games against the damn Elks, they will be ahead of them. – Have you actually *seen* them play recently??

Raccoons (40-41) vs. Canadiens (47-35) – July 1-4, 2041

First in runs scored, third in runs allowed, the damn Elks were in our place to make us suffer, without a doubt. There was no way for the limp Raccoons to do anything much here. They couldn’t beat the Loggers, they couldn’t beat the Titans, they for sure couldn’t beat the damn Elks. Yes, the season series was tied at two. No, there was still no hope.

Projected matchups:
Angelo Montano (2-5, 4.68 ERA) vs. Eric Weitz (7-6, 4.17 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (6-8, 4.47 ERA) vs. Mike Mihalik (7-5, 3.39 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (5-7, 4.63 ERA) vs. David Arias (6-3, 3.15 ERA)
Josh Brown (7-2, 3.29 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (2-5, 4.52 ERA)

We continued to dance our way around left-handers, missing their sole representative of that race, Alexander Lewis (6-4, 4.76 ERA).

Dan Schneller (.356, 9 HR, 39 RBI) was still on the DL, but Jerry Outram (.367, 16 HR, 49 RBI) was salivating to do horrible things to the Critters.

Game 1
VAN: 2B Sprague – C Clemente – CF Outram – LF J. Becker – RF V. Vazquez – 1B J. Lopez – SS Cabral – 3B R. Ashley – P Weitz
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – LF Reyna – SS Nickas – P Montano

Base hits by Victor Vazquez, Johnny Lopez, and Ray Ashley gave the damn Elks two early runs against Montano, who had never been expected to get a W in this game to begin with. We would, however, have hoped for something other than just rolling over and taking it. Justin Becker added a homer to begin the third inning, and then the damn Elks socked *another* four hits off him for two more runs. He even walked Weitz with two outs and two aboard, but Glenn Sprague popped out to strand the bases loaded. Timóteo Clemente added another solo homer to begin the fourth inning, and Montano was actually not removed by the manager or by the crowd showing thumbs down, but by Dr. Padilla when he kept rotating his arm weirdly between pitches in the fifth inning.

At that point, the Raccoons had two base hits to their name and no runs on the board, so the white flag went up and Travis Sims was inserted as reliever, surprisingly getting six outs without doubling the 6-0 score. The Raccoons even got a few markers after all in the seventh, with Trawick and Balaski reaching base ahead of a 2-run triple in the gap by Miguel Reyna. In response, Brent Clark issued a leadoff walk to Weitz in the eighth, then gave up another circuit blast to Clemente. 8-2 Canadiens. Balaski 2-3, 2B; Reyna 2-3, 3B, 2 RBI; Sims 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The verdict on Angelo Montano was shoulder tendinitis and a DL assignment that would stretch well into August. Oh no. How will we live.

With Montano to the DL, the Raccoons brought up a spare reliever in left-hander Zack Kelly, a fourth-rounder way back in 2035 that had never seen the majors so far. The 25-year-old had a 4.18 ERA in AAA, walking 4.7/9.

Game 2
VAN: 3B Obando – C Clemente – CF Outram – LF J. Becker – 1B J. Lopez – 2B Sprague – RF Pincus – SS R. Ashley – P Mihalik
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – 1B Levis – RF Reyna – SS Nickas – P Chavez

The Raccoons had no base hits through three innings, which was one of those things that filled you with sadness until there wasn’t any room for more sadness and you had to start to drink, all the while Nick Valdes sat one cushion over and was muttering on and on about how the Raccoons had no players that could win anything. Well, at least in that he was right. Bernie Chavez danced around leadoff doubles in the first two innings, put runners on the corners in the third, then decided to fall Glenn Sprague and Ray Ashley being on base in the fourth with two outs, and Mihalik lining a triple to score both of them past Maldonado for the first markers on the board.

Back-to-back doubles leading off the fifth by Clemente and Outram made it a 3-0 game, while the Raccoons were still hitless when Bernie was pinch-hit for to begin the bottom 6th, having offered 104 pitches for nine hits, most of them for extra bases. Nettles struck out in his spot, but a Sprague throwing error put Cosmo on second with two outs and Manny Fernandez came through in more ways than one, singling in the run with a looper to shallow center. Maldonado then flew out to Roy Pincus to quickly end the inning before the fans would get ideas or before Nick Valdes would stop muttering. Zack Kelly made his debut in the seventh, facing none other than Jerry Outram for his first batter – and struck him out. He completed the inning, even though Nick Valdes asked three times who that guy was, and was told twice that he was the newest rookie reliever fed into the meat grinder. Levis and Reyna then hit singles in the bottom 7th. Balaski hit for Nickas, but flew out easily, while Trawick batted for Kelly and grounded out – well, no, Mihalik lossed the ball in translation, then kicked it into no man’s land, and the Raccoons had the bases loaded. Given Reyna’s speed on second base, the Raccoons were a 2-out single from Berto away from tying the game. Berto instead walked, pushing in just one run, but Cosmo then singled and cashed two to flip the score. Manny lined out to end the inning. Alex Ramirez maintained the 4-3 edge in the eighth, and Maldonado added to it with a homer to begin the bottom 8th against Marcus Goode. Then came Hamill and allowed a leadoff double to Guillermo Obando in the ninth. Clemente made a cozy out, and Outram flew over to Manny, who dropped the ball and put the tying runs on the corners. ET TU, MANUEL?? Becker’s fly to center scored the lead runner, but importantly kept Outram on first for switch-hitter Johnny Lopez, who struck out. 5-4 Critters. Ramos 0-1, 3 BB, RBI;

Zack Kelly, the debutee, got the W!

Kel-ly! – Nick, are you being intentionally obtuse? He’s a ******* rookie! – How is it my fault if you don’t know the players in our system??

Game 3
VAN: 3B Obando – 2B Sprague – CF Outram – LF J. Becker – 1B J. Lopez – C Dear – RF DeVita – SS Cabral – P D. Arias
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Reyna – SS Nickas – P Moreno

For the second day in a row, Maldonado went deep to right, this time for a 2-run homer in the first inning, plating Manny. Could have been three if Berto hadn’t been caught stealing, but are we counting peas or what? Nels faced the minimum through three innings, despite leadoff singles by Obando and Becker in the first two. Both were doubled off. – No, Nick, I don’t know how many peas are in this can. – Yes, you can count them if you want to. Keeps you busy.

Portland loaded the sacks with no outs in the bottom 3rd, so there was definitely trouble ahead; Moreno was brushed by a pitch, Berto reached on a Sprague error, and Cosmo boringly singled. Everybody went station to station on a Manny Fernandez single, 3-0, and another run scored the hard way when Arias NAILED Maldonado. And I mean it – Maldonado winced and cried all the way to first base, then insisted on getting his blanky for running the bases. Only one more run scored on a Morales groundout. The remaining runners froze on Levis’ comebacker to Arias, and Reyna flew out to Outram, who then drove in Obando in the top 4th to get the damn Elks back into slam range, 5-1. Another run scored in the fifth, Victor Vazquez hitting for Arias with Marc DeVita and Cabral in scoring position and hitting a sac fly. Moreno walked Obando, but then got Sprague to fly out to Manny to end the inning before it could get *really* ugly. Not that Moreno was done crumbling the lead away – Johnny Lopez hit a solo homer in the sixth, 5-3. He tumbled through the seventh without allowing a run and without being undone by a Reyna error, either. DeVita and Obando were left on the corners when Sprague grounded out to Steve Nickas.

That was it for Moreno; Chuck Jones replaced him to begin the eighth and whiffed Outram and Becker. He walked Lopez, but Tim Zimmerman got Matt Dear to pop out to end the inning. The Raccoons were still content with their early work and neglected tacking on, so Wyatt Hamill was in another 5-3 game in the ninth, this time facing the bottom of the order, though. DeVita hit an infield single to begin the inning. Annoyed already, Hamill tugged around on his aggressive moustache, then struck out the next three batters to force an end to the game. 5-3 Raccoons. Ramos 2-4; Fernandez 2-4, RBI;

1,208 peas. – Good to know, Nick.

Game 4
VAN: SS Obando – C Clemente – CF Outram – LF J. Becker – RF V. Vazquez – 1B J. Lopez – 2B Cabral – 3B R. Ashley – P Medvec
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – RF Balaski – 1B Reyna – SS Trawick – P Brown

Before we could even dream about a series win, Josh Brown was obliterated in the first inning. Obando and Clemente walked, and while Outram missed another chance to become truly reviled around here, Becker doubled in a run, Vazquez doubled in two, and Lopez landed a single to make it 4-0. Cabral and Ashley finally made outs to end the barrage. Bill Balaski would hit a solo homer in the second, but Brown met his grisly end in the following inning. The bags were shuffled full, and then Ray Ashley emptied them with a bases-clearing triple to put the game’s score at 7-1, and thus the game out of reach, as Slappy and me agreed. “Not like this!”, declared Nick Valdes, stood up, and stormed out.

The Raccoons did not immediately react in a major way to trailing badly, although exploding for another half-dozen or so was never out of the question with them. The next marker on the board though was a Balaski sac fly, plating Manny Fernandez in the fourth. Yay, only five runs down! Then Ramon Cabral whacked a 2-run homer off Lindstrom in the fifth to make it seven… Not that it stopped there – Travis Sims cameoed for another two innings, throwing 51 pitches and giving up two more runs he had walked on base before giving up a screaming double to Roy Pincus… Zack Kelly was taken deep by Outram in the eighth to make the dozen full, and no, the Raccoons were still not even faking an attempt at making it at least interesting. Kelly pitched the final two innings before his upcoming return to St. Pete (we needed a fifth starter after all). 12-2 Canadiens. Balaski 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Lando (PH) 2-2;

Raccoons (42-43) vs. Indians (34-50) – July 5-7, 2041

The Indians were pretty much the only team not routinely trampling the Critters in this division now. We led the season series, 7-1, not that we could buy anything from that. Being in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed was never great, but then again their run differential (-57) and ours (-51) were frighteningly similar…

Projected matchups:
Drew Johnson (4-7, 3.34 ERA) vs. Ayden Cobb (4-5, 3.94 ERA)
Corey Mathers (0-0) vs. Alex Flores (6-9, 4.82 ERA)
Bernie Chavez (6-8, 4.47 ERA) vs. Luke Moses (1-3, 4.61 ERA)

Still, only more right-handers.

The Raccoons found another underdone rookie to press into service in 22-year-old Corey Mathers, our 2039 first-rounder (and also a right-hander). He had a 2.47 ERA with the Alley Cats (with a generous .246 BABIP), was consensus not ready, but I *tried* shaking the big willow between the ballpark and the Willamette and no starting pitcher fell out of it. I just hurt my back.

Game 1
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – 3B Hutson – LF D. Rivera – 1B Dodson – 2B Sanderfer – C Alfonso – SS Huber – P Cobb
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Levis – RF Balaski – SS Nickas – P Johnson

The Coons had Manny on base in the first, but he was caught stealing. Cobb faced the minimum until Drew Johnson singled. The bases then filled up quickly with a walk to Berto and a Cosmo single, bringing back Manny, who flew out to Nick Crocker in deep center, keeping the game scoreless through three innings. Johnson was on six strikeouts through three, and reached seven in the fourth. Pat Dodson singled, but was caught stealing, too. The Raccoons then took the lead after all when Tony Morales ripped a jack to right in the bottom of the inning, 1-0.

Johnson held on through six, pitching a 3-hitter he wouldn’t finish because of stamina, and the rest of the Raccoons kept slowly crawling along on the linescore, too. Maldonado hit a double, Morales walked, and while Levis was no help, Bill Balaski knocked a 2-out RBI double to also double the score, 2-0. The Indians then walked Steve Nickas – hitting a strong .077 – intentionally to load the bases for Johnson. The Raccoons reached for a pinch-hitter against right-handed reliever Orlando Altreche; Jeff Kilmer struck out.

Alex Ramirez held Indy away in the seventh, after which the Coons’ 1-2-3 all hit singles in the bottom 7th. Manny singled home Berto, 3-0, then was forced out on Maldonado’s fielder’s choice. Maldo stole second instead, then scored behind Cosmo on a Morales single to left, which was also the end for Altreche. The Raccoons were 5-0 ahead, then tried to make the game as close as possible in the ninth inning. Mario Ochoa led off with a homer off Brent Clark, who retired the next two before yielding for Zimmerman for an array of right-handers that almost chewed up Zimmerman once more. Dodson doubled. Alex Sanderfer singled him in, reaching second base on a throw to home plate. Edwin Alfonso singled to left … and Manny Fernandez ended the game, throwing out a meandering Sanderfer at home plate. 5-2 Coons. Trevino 2-5; Morales 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Balaski 2-4, 2B, RBI; Johnson 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (5-7) and 1-2;

Game 2
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – 3B Hutson – LF D. Rivera – 1B Dodson – C Mordino – 2B Sanderfer – SS E. Vargas – P A. Flores
POR: RF Balaski – 3B Trevino – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Morales – 1B Levis – 2B Lando – SS Nickas – P Mathers

Mathers retired the Indians in order in the first, but Danny Rivera and Pat Dodson reached the corners to begin the second inning on a walk and a single, respectively. Sal Mordino hit into a double play, 6-4-3, with Rivera scoring to give the Arrowheads a 1-0 lead. Portland loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, but only with two outs, and Levis, Lando (who had forced out Morales at third base), and Nickas had to be drive in by the debutee pitcher at the plate. He popped out to second. Rivera instead tripled home Crocker and Ochoa in the third inning, extending the gap to 3-0.

Then it got silent around the Critters, who didn’t do much until the bottom 6th, when Cosmo and Manny opened with a pair of singles to bring the tying run to the plate. The worst fears became true – Flores leaked a walk to Maldonado, and we had three on with nobody out. Woe is us! Tony Morales singled up the middle, narrowly missing Enrique Vargas’ glove, scoring the team’s first run in this game. Levis popped out, while Lando coaxed a bases-loaded walk from Flores, narrowing the gap to 3-2. Nickas had to be hit for if we were still serious about playing to win, but Berto croaked with a grounder to short that killed the inning. Mathers lasted seven innings on 100 pitches, then was hit for to begin the bottom 7th. Jake Trawick ripped a single in his spot, becoming the tying run on base. Balaski singled to move that run to second base, and both advanced on Cosmo’s groundout to Adam Huber at second base. Manny hit a fly to deep center, but couldn’t beat Crocker – it was good enough to take the debutee off the hook, though, bringing in Trawick on a sac fly, 3-3. Maldo walked, Morales struck out, leaving Mathers with a no-decision.

The game remained tied through eight, while in the ninth Lindstrom shuffled the bags full with Mordino, Huber, and Vargas. Left-hander Carlos de Santiago pinch-hit in the #9 spot, prompting an appearance from Wyatt Hamill in a double switch, with de Santiago flying out to left to strand everybody and their mother. The game went to extras after Cosmo singled in the bottom 9th and was caught stealing to end it. Hamill held up in the 10th, with Manny Fernandez tripling to right to lead off the bottom 10th against Fernando Nora. But now, boys! Now! Yes, indeed. Maldo flew out to center, but well deep and bringing in Manny Fernandez to win the game. 4-3 Raccoons. Trevino 2-5; Fernandez 2-4, 3B, RBI; Maldonado 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Trawick (PH) 1-1;

Back to a winning record …!

Manny Fernandez got a second off day this week after being sent to the All Star Game.

Game 3
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – 3B Hutson – LF D. Rivera – 1B Dodson – C Mordino – 2B Sanderfer – SS E. Vargas – P Moses
POR: 3B Ramos – 2B Trevino – LF Maldonado – C Kilmer – RF Balaski – 1B Levis – CF Nettles – SS Trawick – P Chavez

Position players on either side seemed like they were emotionally already in the All Star break. There was a splattering of singles on both sides, but nobody scored through five innings. Bernie had allowed three hits, whiffing four, then added two more strikeouts of Ochoa and Hutson in the sixth. Dodson singled and Mordino walked in the seventh; Sanderfer popped out in foul ground for the second out, and Vargas was rung up to complete seven. Crocker would be the final K for Bernie Chavez, who lasted eight innings on 108 pitches, allowing no runs on five hits… and the Raccoons couldn’t be further from giving him a W yet. Fernando Nora replaced Moses for the bottom 8th, allowed a single to Kilmer with one out, but Balaski forced out the runner and Levis also grounded out. Lindstrom got around a 2-out double by Mordino in the ninth to keep the Arrowheads shut out, still enabling a Raccoons walkoff in regulation. Facing left-hander Joe Robinson, the Raccoons sent Lando to bat for Nettles, and the hardly useful second-sacker legged out a slow roller for a leadoff single. Trawick hit a solid single to center, with Lando having to stop at second base. Manny hit for Lindstrom and singled to right, but again the defender was right on the play and Lando had to stop. The bags were now full for Berto … with nobody out, which might yet doom the effort. The count ran full, and Berto added to that OBP by laying off a low ball four, ending the game. 1-0 Blighters. Ramos 2-2, 3 BB, RBI; Balaski 2-4, 2B; Lando (PH) 1-1; Trawick 2-3, BB; Fernandez (PH) 1-1; Chavez 8.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K;

In other news

July 1 – The Bayhawks score in each of their eight batting innings while pummelling the Knights, 14-6.
July 2 – DAL SP Alfredo Vargas (5-6, 4.89 ERA) is out for the year with a torn back muscle.
July 6 – Charlotte INF/RF/LF Jose Farfan (.302, 9 HR, 51 RBI) is out for the season after tearing his medial collateral ligament.
July 6 – The Crusaders pound the Canadiens for 24 base hits and still lose the game, 11-10 in 17 innings. New York’s Jose Platero (.277, 5 HR, 23 RBI) goes 5-for-9 without driving in a run and scoring just once, while Vancouver’s Timóteo Clemente (.264, 14 HR, 58 RBI) drives in a game-high six runs on four hits despite being double-switched out while the game is still in regulation.

FL Player of the Week: TOP INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.335, 5 HR, 25 RBI), batting .519 (14-27) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC RF/LF Jose Platero (.290, 6 HR, 25 RBI), hitting .536 (15-28) with 2 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Manny Fernandez is one of three All Stars this year – he’ll be making his fourth trip. Also going were – get this – Chuck Jones (2nd All Star Game) and Alex Ramirez (freshman). How THIS team got two relievers to the All Star Game is entirely beyond me.

Corey Mathers’ debut was *decent*. Five hits, three walks, three runs, five strikeouts in seven innings. Yes, it was only the Indians, but it was better than nothing. Not that we ever *planned* to have him up now, but Angelo Montano threw all four paws up and we need a warm body.

Who would have thought the Raccoons would win ANY season series this year, let alone before the All Star Game? We have taken 10 of 11 against the Indians now. We’re also two over .500 again and only 4 1/2 games out, the -46 run differential be damned!

Tony Hunter suffered a setback and will take another week longer than anticipated to rejoin the team. But, you know, Steve Nickas is everything you can want in a baseball player… Solid .107 batter, strong 0-for-2 in stealing bases, and almost league average defense at short! These are the players that will let you know that a franchise is forsaken and will never get anywhere, when they keep giving those players at-bats year after year. This is Nickas’ sixth year on the roster, and he’s a sturdy .194/.321/.232 hitter with 1 HR and 16 RBI. Also 2-for-7 in stealing.

Since we’re on marginal hitting…

Fun Fact: Only eight batters in Raccoons history have had a least as many career at-bats as Nick Lando while hitting for a worse OPS.

The list was longer last time! And he had a few clutch hits recently, like a walkoff single last week and scoring the walkoff run himself after a leadoff single on Sunday, but … well, we’re waiting for Arturo Carreno to turn his bat into something we dare to show off in public.

The list? Cal Lyon tops the list, followed by Yoshi Yamada, Bob Wood, Ryan Miller, Victor Castillo, Johan Dolder, and Kevin DeWald.

Whenever you’re on a list with Johan Dolder, you’re in trouble, unless the list is merely about famous Luxembourgians. Lyon might be gone (on account of at-bats) later this month, which will further accentuate the singularly not-giving-a-****-anymore attitude that gave us the Double Yoshi infield in 2005.