[Westheim]

The Raccoons were off on Monday and used that spare time to cry over Jesus Maldonado, who landed on the DL with a badly sprained ankle. Dr. Padilla guessed that he most likely would be out until the All Star Game, sticking a rusty knife right into my black little heart.

The Raccoons were extremely tempted to call up Arturo Carreno to play second base, with Cosmo to be shifted to third base. Carreno had been quite ho-hum last year in AAA, hitting .245/.329/.338, but this year he was up to hitting .310/.388/.428; of course there was competition, f.e. Nick Lando. (cough) We could always go back to the platoon at second base that had hit for about negative eleven runs in April.

There were other options, too. There was 2036 ninth-rounder Eric Cox, hitting .344 in 28 games (96 AB) in AAA, and he’d fill third base very competently. The other option was to pull de Wit in to play some third base, and bring up a capable defensive outfielder. Van Anderson, Jordan Gonzalez, and Stephon Nettles were all hitting precious little in AAA, however. Nettles was even the best of the bunch, batting .250.

In the end, we started with the last option. If de Wit crashed and burned after a week of regular play, we could still go the Carreno route. Nettles netted the promotion.

Raccoons (18-19) vs. Crusaders (21-15) – May 20-22, 2042

The first meeting of the year with the Crusaders was up. We had lost the season series two years in a row, both times 10-8, and were behind them in the division again. They were 3 1/2 games out, half of what the Raccoons were trailing first place by, and had the second-best offense and fourth-best counteroffense in the CL. Also, no injuries, which always helps, I hear.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (2-2, 4.11 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (2-4, 4.88 ERA)
Rich Willett (5-3, 2.28 ERA) vs. Juan Garcia (0-4, 3.50 ERA)
Josh Brown (4-1, 2.26 ERA) vs. Aaron Hickey (4-0, 2.64 ERA)

Monday was off for everybody, so who knew what would become of that right-left-right order…

Game 1
NYC: SS Adame – LF Besaw – C Alba – 2B Briones – CF Salek – RF Platero – 3B Sifuentes – P J. Johnson – 1B Rudd
POR: 1B Ramos – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – RF Reyna – 3B de Wit – 2B Trevino – C Kilmer – P Jackson

The Crusaders popped up over the infield three times in the second inning, throwing away Mario Briones’ leadoff double and a walk to Jose Platero that came with one out. But while the inning died with the pitcher in the #8 spot, Tom Rudd then drew a leadoff walk in the third inning. A grounder to short replaced him with Alex Adame, who stole second and reached third on a shoddy throw by Jeff Kilmer. Joe Besaw plated him with a sac fly for the first run in the game, but Portland countered in the bottom 3rd. Cosmo hit a leadoff double, and Jackson reached with a harmless 1-out grounder that Rudd nevertheless managed to fudge into an error and runners on the corners. Berto tied the game with a sac fly, and Romero gave the Coons the lead with a homer to left, 3-1…!

Jackson allowed only one hit through five innings, but he sure continued to walk people. Ramon Sifuentes got a leadoff walk in the fifth, but was stranded, and Briones walked with two gone in the sixth. Rich Salek dropped a single into shallow right, and Briones dashed for third base, which he reached safely because Reyna’s throw from shallow right beaned him in the helmet. He seemed confused afterwards and was replaced with Kenny Elder as pinch-runner. Platero grounded out to de Wit to strand the tying runs on the corners. Top 7th, Sifuentes whacked a leadoff double to left, then was out at third base when he got a poor read on Jeff Johnson’s even poorer bunt, and the Crusaders failed to score again. The Coons then chimed in, stranding Cosmo after his leadoff double in the bottom of the inning… Jackson then got stuck in the eighth, giving up a homer to Fernando Alba, narrowing the lead to a skinny run, but Chuck Jones got out of the inning for him. Bottom 8th, Tony Hunter reached base, stole his 9th bag, and then saw Manny Fernandez walked intentionally. Miguel Reyna took it upon himself to put that wrong right and mashed a 3-piece to right-center that would hopefully teach the Crusaders (not), ending the day of Jeff Johnson. But despite a 4-run lead, the Raccoons managed to get Wyatt Hamill involved in the ninth inning, when Jon Craig allowed a hit to Sifuentes and walked Devin Phillips. Hamill got a double play grounder from Rudd to end the game. 6-2 Raccoons. Hunter 2-4, 3B; Trevino 3-4, 2 2B; Nettles (PH) 1-1; Jackson 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, W (3-2);

Six in a row!

…and barely back to .500

Game 2
NYC: SS Adame – LF Besaw – C Alba – 2B Briones – CF Salek – RF Platero – 3B Sifuentes – P Hickey – 1B Rudd
POR: 1B Ramos – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – 2B Trevino – 3B de Wit – RF Cortes – C Wilson – P Willett

Another game against a righty on Wednesday, but first Willett got unwanted attention for drilling Adame out of the game right at the start of the game. Randolph Nash replaced him. Willett walked Besaw, then gave up a double steal by falling asleep and a 2-run single to Alba. Briones also walked, but then the Crusaders started to make outs, finally… But Willett remained wonky and seemed to have one of those off starts again…

The Raccoons took him off the hook, though, despite a slow start Jeff Wilson hit a solo jack in the third inning, cutting the gap in half, and Manny, Cosmo, and de Wit all snapped singles with one out in the fourth, tying the game. Platero’s throw to the plate was late, allowing the trailing runners to both reach scoring position. Hickey’s first pitch to Carlos Cortes then was wild, bringing in Cosmo with the go-ahead run, 3-2. Cortes popped out, Wilson walked walked intentionally, and Willett made the third out to Briones after that. But while Willett had held up for a couple of innings, he exploded in the sixth inning. Briones with the leadoff double, Salek with the score-flipping homer, and then another double right away by Platero. Bitterly, it was Hickey to land an RBI single to extend the Crusaders’ lead to 5-3, and when Rudd singled, Willett was yanked and thrown into the Willamette in disgust. Josh Rella retired Nash and Besaw without conceding another run, though, so the Raccoons still had a chance to extend the streak, but they didn’t get on base in the bottom 6th, and Brent Clark had nothing better to do than to stuff the bases with Alba, Briones, and Phillips and nobody out in the seventh. Lambert replaced Clark, got a pop from Platero, and allowed one run on a Sifuentes sac fly before the Crusaders croaked with the pitcher batting eighth again. Alas – the Raccoons were now down by three, and still weren’t getting on base. Manny Fernandez tripled, but that was with two outs and nobody on in the eighth, and Cosmo grounded out to strand him. Andy Hyden was up for the Crusaders in the bottom 9th, with 25 K in 19.1 innings. The Coons didn’t get further than a 1-out single by Cortes. Wilson popped out. Omar Gutierrez grounded out to second. 6-3 Crusaders. Fernandez 3-3, BB, 3B; Sims 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

None in a row…

Game 3
NYC: SS Nash – CF Besaw – 3B Sifuentes – RF Platero – 2B Briones – C D. Phillips – 1B Monge – P J. Garcia – LF Graf
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – 3B de Wit – RF Reyna – C Kilmer – 1B Cortes – P Brown

The Coons stranded two in the first, one in the second, and got Cosmo on to begin the third, but Romero forced him out with a grounder. Hunter hit a single after that, and they pulled off a double steal just before Manny Fernandez dumped a single into right-center. Both runners scored, and Platero’s throw home allowed Manny to reach second base, from where Jay de Wit singled him in, for his 10th RBI of the year and his likeness being ordered to be printed on stamps back home in Aruba! The inning fizzled out after that, but Brown had a 3-0 lead, and was allowing only 2.14 earned runs per nine, with six to go, so maybe we could chill the rest of the way, huh?

Nothing ill occurred towards the linescore in the fourth and fifth as far as New York was concerned. In the bottom 5th, Romero walked and Hunter whipped a double, putting both of them into scoring position with nobody out for Manny, just like last time through. This time Manny struck out in a full count, and de Wit was walked intentionally to load the bases for Reyna, then raked a 2-0 pitch to right for a 2-run single. Kilmer flew out to center, advancing de Wit to third base, from where Cortes plated him with a single, 6-0. Garcia was yanked, and Brown struck out against Mike Gutierrez to complete five innings.

No shutdown inning was in the books though, with Nash hitting a triple off Brown in the sixth. Brown then scored him with a wild pitch, 6-1. That was the only run New York would get out of Brown, who lasted eight innings on 100 pitches – just ignore the Crusaders being on the corners and stranded when Besaw lined out to complete the eighth inning. The Coons weren’t done offensively, though – Cosmo reached base with two outs in the bottom 8th, drawing a walk from Todd Lush, then scored when Romero hit a home run to left. Lambert sat down New York in order in the ninth. 8-1 Raccoons. Romero 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Hunter 2-4, 2B; Fernandez 2-4, 2 RBI; Cortes 2-4, RBI; Brown 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (5-1);

One in a row!

Raccoons (20-20) vs. Bayhawks (20-21) – May 23-25, 2042

Here was another fourth-place team to conclude the short homestand. The Baybirds were sixth in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed, with a creaky rotation and a pen that was even worse. Here was a chance for the offense to continue raking! We had won the season series for seven straight years, including a 6-3 performance last year.

Projected matchups:
Angelo Montano (1-2, 3.26 ERA) vs. Rick Haugh (4-1, 2.81 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (2-4, 6.31 ERA) vs. Garrett Sutherland (3-5, 3.73 ERA)
Jake Jackson (3-2, 3.69 ERA) vs. Jose Moreno (1-4, 4.18 ERA)

All right-handers; their only southpaw, Noe Candeloro (2-2, 3.38 ERA) was in action on Thursday.

Game 1
SFB: SS J. Gonzalez – CF M. Hall – LF M. Castillo – RF D. Martinez – C J. Hill – 1B Haertling – 2B Bennett – 3B Deming – P Haugh
POR: 1B Ramos – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – 2B Trevino – 3B de Wit – RF Cortes – C Wilson – P Montano

The Coons scored first, getting Cosmo on with a leadoff walk in the second, after which he stole a base and scored on two productive groundouts. Montano scattered three runners the first time through and mostly pitched behind in the count, so I was bracing for impact, grabbing Honeypaws with one paw and Slappy’s arm with the other, and for good reason. Jorge Gonzalez and Mike Hall were retired in the top 3rd, but then Mel Castillo singled on the infield and Dave Martinez reached on a Berto error. And then it made a lot of noise after that. John Hill hit an RBI single to center. Ed Haertling doubled in two (and tweaked a hammy, getting replaced with Chris Russell), and T.J. Bennett hit another RBI single in loud and hard fashion. Sonny Deming singled, and the inning only ended with Haugh, with the Bayhawks up 4-1. All runs were unearned, but GOOD LORD…!! Montano put Gonzalez and Hall on the corners to begin the fourth, then gave up a sac fly to Castillo, 5-1. Martinez hit into a double play.

Montano was yanked after the fifth; his spot came up just after Jeff Wilson had doubled home Cortes and nobody out. Nettles singled up the middle in the spot, which brought up the top of the order and also the tying run. Berto singled in Wilson and sent Nettles to third base with a ball to center, and then got picked off… Romero whiffed, but Hunter found a 2-out RBI single to get to 5-4, but Manny grounded out to end the inning. The Baybirds stuck with Haugh, who would eventually tie the game for the Coons. He walked Cosmo to begin the bottom 6th, with the runner advancing on the outs made by de Wit and Cortes before a wild pitch cashed him in to tie the game at five before Jeff Wilson could strike out. Jon Craig had already pitched the sixth, but was yanked after 1-out walks to Castillo and Martinez in the seventh. Rella replaced him and struck out Hill and Russell to get out of the inning. The pen kept trying to keep its claws on it – Brent Clark walked Bobby Hennessy in the #9 hole in the eighth, but then retired Gonzalez to keep the game tied, but the Raccoons couldn’t cobble anything together offensively at this point. The ball went to Hamill in the top 9th of a 5-5 tie, and proceeded to untie the game swiftly. Hall and Castillo singled up the middle, and Hill and Russell whacked a double and a homer to put four on the board for San Francisco. My grip on Slappy’s black and blue arm loosened as I slumped into the cushions. But the Raccoons would get the tying run to the plate in the bottom 9th – Cortes, Nettles, and Ramos all hit singles, getting a run in and a pinch-hitter up in the #2 hole, infected by Hamill, Jeff Kilmer with two outs. He raked a double off Jeremy Mayhall, getting one run in, 9-7, and the tying runs into scoring position for Hunter. And Tony Hunter hit a comebacker to kill the game. 9-7 Bayhawks. Ramos 3-5, 2 RBI; Kilmer (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Cortes 2-4, RBI; Nettles (PH) 2-3;

(mumbles into pillow) No thanks Maud, I need nothing. Just kill the lights when you go home.

(Maud kills the lights, leaving the GM in utter darkness)

Game 2
SFB: C J. Hill – CF M. Hall – RF Oshiita – 1B Haertling – 2B S. Pena – SS Bennett – LF C. Russell – 3B Deming – P Sutherland
POR: 2B Trevino – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – RF Reyna – 1B Cortes – C Kilmer – 3B Nickas – P N. Moreno

Moreno was the first Critter to reach base with a single in the bottom 3rd, and by that point was 1-0 behind after a leadoff jack by Ed Haertling in the second inning. He also had spent quite some time behind in the count, so no improvements were immediately visible, although at the conclusion of four innings the ERA at least dropped down into the fives. We’re such winners. (pops a bottle of Capt’n Coma)

The second time through was a bit better for Moreno, allowing a double to Deming with two outs in the fifth, but little else, and he got the out from Sutherland. The Raccoons had only their second hit of the game when Cortes snapped a leadoff single in the bottom 5th. He advanced on a balk and a grounder before Steve Nickas shoved a ball past Sergio Pena for a game-tying single and his first RBI of the year. Nickas was bunted over by Moreno, but then was stranded when Trevino grounded out.

…and then the Bayhawks chewed him up anyway. John Hill and Dick Oshiita, Sergio Pena, and T.J. Bennett all whipped singled off Moreno in the sixth inning. Two runs were in and two runners on the corners with two outs when he was yanked. Rella struck out Russell to keep the score at 3-1. Portland would not reach in the bottom 6th, but Reyna drew a leadoff walk in the seventh. Cortes was the tying run, but hit a quick bouncer to Deming that would have been two if Deming hadn’t filed it past the reach of Pena at second base, turning two out and nobody on into two on and nobody out. Kilmer singled, loading the bags and spelling doom at the same time, but Berto took one for the team when he hit for Nickas in the fat spot, narrowing the gap to 3-2 as the hit-by-pitch forced home Reyna. Jay de Wit hit for Rella and grinded out a bases-loaded walk to tie the game. Cosmo dropped a shy single in front of Mike Hall, plating another run to take a 4-3 lead. Romero squeaked out *another* bases-loaded walk, and only now the Bayhawks went for a lefty reliever, Josh Heckman. It didn’t help – Tony Hunter opened them like a bag of candies with a gapper in right-center, emptying the bags with a 3-run double! Seven runs without making an out – although they then made three outs without scoring another run. Manny flew out, Reyna walked, and Cortes insisted on hitting into a double play and finally ******* did.

So it was 8-3 Coons with six outs to collect. Chuck Jones got three, but surrendered a run on singles by Oshiita (infield variety) and Pena (with two outs). Travis Sims got the ninth, but made it a save opportunity by putting two runners aboard with two outs. Brent Clark got the ball against Hall after Hamill’s pointless waste of oxygen and perfectly good baseballs the day before. He walked Hall and also Hennessy, forcing in a run and loading the bags with the tying runs. Castillo then flew out to Nettles in left-center… 8-5 Coons. Nickas 1-2, RBI; Ramos 0-0, RBI; de Wit 0-1, BB, RBI;

We had only six hits and five walks in this game and had really no business winning it… Still, back to .500 for the third time this week.

Game 3
SFB: SS J. Gonzalez – C J. Hill – RF Oshiita – 1B Haertling – LF M. Castillo – 2B S. Pena – CF C. Russell – 3B Deming – P J. Moreno
POR: 1B Ramos – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – RF Cortes – 3B de Wit – 2B Trevino – C Kilmer – P Jackson

The Raccoons found their way into anothermiserable inning, this time the third frame of the rubber game. Errors by Ramos and Jackson and an assortment of hits by the Baybirds plated three runs for San Francisco. Deming drew a leadoff walk before Berto fudged Moreno’s bunt. Hill hit an RBI double, with Moreno thrown out at the plate, Oshiita an RBI single, and Haertling another single that saw Oshiita reach third base. That’s when Mel Castillo tried to end the inning with a grounder to first, but Jackson dropped Berto’s throw to concede the third run. All were unearned, but they all made me unhappy. Sergio Pena eventually grounded out. The Raccoons were casually interested bystanders as the Bayhawks cruised on, then got the bags full with one out in the top of the fifth, on the excruciating sequence of ball four, nicked batter, infield single. Castillo was next, grounded out, but got a run home. Pena popped out, but down 4-0 the Raccoons had to show something, anything now.

Moreno left the game with an injury in the fifth, and maybe that would help with breaking through, although in the bottom 5th the Coons stranded a pair when Berto popped out with two aboard. Romero hit an infield single to begin the sixth, though, and while Hunter hacked out, Manny hacked a baseball out of the park for his sixth homer of the year. That shoveled half of the earth from the hole they had dug back into it, but the inning ended quickly after that. Lambert retired the 1-2-3 batters in order in the seventh, and right-hander Carlos Garcia walked Kilmer and Berto to present Romero with the tying runs in the bottom of the inning, but with two already out. Romero lined to left at 3-1, but Castillo caught the damn thing. Chuck Jones tried hard to give up a 2-run homer after a leadoff walk to Haertling in the eighth, but Manny Fernandez and Carlos Cortes foiled all his attempts, while the Coons went down in order against lefty Miguel Alvarado – so much for the middle of the order. Sims retired three in a row in the ninth, bringing in righty Josh Wilkes against the 6-7-8 batters with two to tie, three to win. Not one of them reached base. 4-2 Bayhawks. Kilmer 1-2, 2 BB;

In other news

May 19 – The Cyclones beat the Capitals, 2-0, on two home runs by INF Cody St. Peter (.350, 6 HR, 14 RBI).
May 19 – IND SP Manuel Herrera (3-1, 2.20 ERA) 2-hits the Titans for a 2-0 shutout win.
May 19 – Aces rookie SP/MR Mike Nett (0-0, 1.17 ERA) might be out for the season with radial nerve compression.
May 21 – Season over for NAS 2B/SS Billy Bouldin (.290, 0 HR, 13 RBI), who is out with a broken knee.
May 22 – SAC C Manichiro Toki (.210, 6 HR, 11 RBI) hits three home runs, all solo deeds, in the Scorpions’ 10-5 win in Dallas.
May 22 – A single home run comes up big in the Gold Sox’ 1-0 win over the Warriors. INF Ronnie Thompson (.252, 1 HR, 8 RBI) hits it in the first inning to decide the game for good.
May 23 – PIT OF/1B Rusty Dirks (.324, 2 HR, 13 RBI) makes two record lists at once in the Miners’ 17-2 smashing of the Stars in Dallas. The 23-year-old rakes the Stars for six base hits, including three singles and every extra-base hit once, and drives in four runs. This is the third cycle in Miners history, after Jesus Ramirez (2020) and Omar Lastrade (2030).
May 23 – The Falcons beat the Indians, 3-1, despite landing only five base hits in the 15 innings for which the game drags on.
May 23 – Sacramento and Richmond play nine scoreless before the former walk off for a 1-0 win in the 10th inning, courtesy of a single by Jesus Banuelas (.253, 3 HR, 20 RBI).
May 24 – VAN OF/2B Justin Simmons (.422, 4 HR, 18 RBI) has five hits in the Canadiens’ 13-4 rush of the Thunder. He misses the cycle by the home run and the 6-hitter when he walks in the ninth inning.
May 24 – New York’s Mario Briones (.283, 4 HR, 26 RBI) will miss three weeks with a back strain.
May 25 – The Capitals cruised to a 13-1 win after a 10-run second inning over the Gold Sox turns their Sunday game into a laugher quickly.

FL Player of the Week: PIT OF/1B Rusty Dirks (.349, 2 HR, 13 RBI), hitting .577 (15-26) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF/2B Justin Simmons (.430, 4 HR, 19 RBI), batting .667 (16-24) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Lousy week. We tied up our season record with a win three times, and will get a fourth chance in Vegas on Tuesday. I don’t want to go into actually getting *over* .500…… The Aces have also somewhat recovered from being absolutely unwatchable, so the games there are no freebies. Although, with this team here, nothing’s a freebie. It will be the Falcons on the weekend.

We already went a bit into our prospects on the hitting side, at least in AAA. Further down in Ham Lake, Matt Waters is struggling, and so are Matt Sowden and Ben Southall. That Japanese pickup Shuta Yamamoto, who is 22, is hitting .271 with seven homers, so that is something.

As far as starting pitchers are concerned, 2041 first-rounder Bubby Wolinsky and 2038 last-rounder Jim Stone were promoted from Aumsville to Ham Lake. Wolinsky had an ERA under two, and Stone struck out 10.7 per nine innings in his fifth year with the Beagles. Merino, Negrete, Arias are all doing *alright*. The closest eye is still on Jason Wheatley in AAA, who is 5-2 with a 3.69 ERA and 27 walks to 40 strikeouts in 68 innings with the Alley Cats. BABIP is slightly up, if anything, at .309; but I don’t think he’s ready yet.

Although we could use some competent pitching…

Fun Fact: Much has been made about the Dallas shoebox, but Toki’s 3-homer game on Thursday was the first time a player has hit three bombs outta there since 2006.

Back then it was L.A.’s Yohan Bonneau, and that was also the only prior instance where the Stars pitchers gave up three homers to one guy in one night.

Fun Fact (Bonus Round): Pittsburgh’s Rusty Dirks is the first ever ABL player to have six base hits and hit for the cycle in the same game!

There are several players who achieved both feats (f.e. Armando Herrera of the Wolves), nobody has ever done it in the same game before. It took only something like two million position players starting an ABL game in the lineup (65+ seasons times 24 teams times 162 games times 8 guys with two arms and legs) for those two feats to be achieved at once by one of them.