[Westheim]

Raccoons (32-37) @ Indians (30-39) – June 23-25, 2042

The Raccoons moved on to Indy to finish their road trip with three games there, with the season series between the two teams standing at 4-2 in the Coons’ favor. The Indians were average when it came to pitching and defense with a rather sturdy rotation, but couldn’t score runs at all, sitting bottoms in the CL with not even quite 3.6 runs per game. They were even third in home runs (51) and stolen bags (51), but were hitting a pathetic .240 as a team.

Projected matchups:
Josh Brown (6-2, 2.41 ERA) vs. Manuel Herrera (5-2, 2.60 ERA)
Corey Mathers (1-5, 5.88 ERA) vs. Alex Flores (4-6, 4.93 ERA)
Nelson Moreno (4-6, 5.66 ERA) vs. Orlando Altreche (2-7, 4.68 ERA)

The Indians had only right-handers to throw at us.

Game 1
POR: 1B Ramos – RF Nettles – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – CF Romero – 3B Trevino – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – P Brown
IND: SS Russ – 3B Hutson – C Mordino – RF Sanderfer – 1B Sawyer – CF D. Gonzales – LF D. Rivera – 2B Huber – P M. Herrera

Never mind the scouting report – but after the Coons went down in order in the first, including the impossibly hot Stephon Nettles, they scored a run without making an out in the bottom 1st. Andrew Russ doubled to left, then scored on Dan Hutson’s single. Sal Mordino hit into a double play. Tony Romero tied the game with his seventh shot of the year in the top 2nd, in which the Critters also cleared the bottom of the order with a 2-out triple by Jeff Kilmer that saw Carreno walked intentionally and Brown getting whiffed. The Indians also brought the pitcher to the plate with two on and two out – Danny Rivera had singled and Adam Huber, batting .137, had been walked by Brown – only to have Herrera rush the gap for a 2-run double. Oh, baseball! Never change!

The tying runs were on the corners with no outs in the third inning; Berto walked, advanced on a wild pitch, and then a single by Nettles (!), with Rivera’s murder arm keeping him honest at third base. Hunter singled to right to get a run home and Nettles to third base and stole second afterwards, which was crucial to take the lead down the road after Manny lined out hard to Dan Hutson. Romero’s grounder to second tied the game, and another wild pitch by Herrera made it 4-3 Coons with two outs. Unfortunately the lead wasn’t made to last – Brown remained awful and conceded the lead to the bottom of the order again in the fourth inning. Rivera singled, stole second, and then was driven in by the .137 hitter behind him… Keith Thomson pinch-hit for Herrera and lined into a double play, so at least that ended the inning, the score even at four.

Huber’s error behind Bill Drury filled the bases with nobody out in the fifth; Nettles and Hunter had led off with singles, and Huber botched Manny Fernandez’ grounder. Romero vouched for the lead with a sac fly, 5-4, after which things got chewy, although Drury did leak a walk to Kilmer to fill the bags again with two outs. Carreno hit a roller between the mound and third base line, Hutson had been playing fairly deep for the situation, and nobody had a play – infield single, and a run home …! Drury was knocked out when Brown singled to center to tack on a third run, 7-4, Berto grounding out in a full count against Willie Gonzales instead. Brown lasted another five outs before conceding a run on a 2-out RBI triple by Rivera, then got yanked before the former .137 hitter Adam Huber could burn him again. Instead we got to see Brent Clark and Jeff Kilmer fall asleep as Romero stole home to make up another run. Huber struck out eventually… The Coons maintained the 7-6 lead through eight, with Clark getting one out to begin the seventh inning before Josh Rella sat down five Indians in a row. Top 9th, Hunter drew a leadoff walk from Vincenzo Battaglia. He stole second, leading to an intentional walk to Manny, then four erratic pitches to Romero that filled the bags for Cosmo. Come on, boys. At least one! Give the old GM at least ONE. Cosmo answered my pleas with a solid RBI single to Rivera’s feet, tacking on an insurance run. Reyna hit for Kilmer and plated another run with a sac fly. Carlos Cortes hit for Rella at #8 and hit into a fielder’s choice against new righty Allen Garner. Omar Gutierrez flew out to right. Wyatt Hamill then retired the 6-7-8 without getting undressed by the once-upon-a-time .137 hitter Adam Huber. 9-6 Critters. Nettles 2-5; Hunter 2-4, BB, RBI; Trevino 3-5, RBI;

Corey Mathers was again scheduled to pitch on short rest and to be piggybacked with Cory Lambert, much like last time when another rainout gave him another double-header with Nelson Moreno, and since Mathers pitched very well while Nels got whacked again, Lambert ended up in long relief for Moreno…

Game 2
POR: RF Nettles – 3B Trevino – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – CF Romero – 1B Cortes – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – P Mathers
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – 3B Hutson – LF D. Rivera – C Mordino – 2B Sanderfer – 1B J. Diaz – SS Russ – P A. Flores

Danny Rivera hit a 2-piece off Mathers in the first inning, plating Mario Ochoa, so there was that. The Coons had Romero and Kilmer on base in the second inning when Carreno’s grounder was thrown away for two bases and a run by the Gold Glover Hutson, which presented Mathers with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position and one gone. He struck out, and Nettles grounded out, falling to an outrageous 0-for-2. The score did get flipped the following inning, though – Manny singled, Romero homered again, and it was 3-2 Coons. Mathers celebrated by shedding a leadoff single to the opposing pitcher as soon as he could, but the 1-2-3 went down poorly.

Both teams only had four hits in five innings, despite what seemed like ample traffic and chances. Flores walked two and there was the Hutson error, while Mathers walked one batter. In the sixth, Cortes hit a double to left-center that led to nothing, while Rivera hit a 2-out single off Mathers and stole second, but that was it. Mathers was then pinch-hit for to begin the seventh inning after 75 pitches and six acceptable innings. Berto grounded out in his spot as the Coons went down 1-2-3. Lambert still came in despite the slim lead. Jeff Diaz hit a 1-out single in the bottom 7th, but was doubled up by PH David Gonzales. Alex Flores and Chuck Jones traded 1-2-3 innings in the eighth, and the Indians’ lefty Aaron Curl did another 1-2-3 on the Coons’ 6-7-8 in the ninth inning. The Raccoons went to Jon Craig in the bottom 9th, facing the meaty bit of the order, where 32 of the Indians’ homers resided – Hamill had been out three of four days and was also routinely shaky. Hutson and Rivera both hit long flies to center that Romero remained the master of before Sal Mordino hit a dying quail to shallow right to reach with a single. The next pitch saw Alex Sanderfer ground out, ending the inning. 3-2 Critters. Mathers 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (2-5);

Nettles hit 0-for-4, which was probably the beginning of the end.

Game 3
POR: RF Nettles – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – 1B Reyna – 3B de Wit – C Kilmer – 2B Gutierrez – P Moreno
IND: CF Crocker – RF M. Ochoa – 3B Hutson – LF D. Rivera – C Mordino – 2B Sanderfer – 1B J. Diaz – SS Russ – P Altreche

After two uneventful innings, the Raccoons loaded the bases with soft singles by Moreno, Nettles, and Hunter in the third inning, bringing up a struggling Manny Fernandez with one out. He grounded to second for maybe two, but at least one for sure, but actually none, Sanderfer misfiling the throw to Russ for an error and the first run of the game. Whatever works! Reyna fell to 1-2 against Altreche, but then clipped a single to center, 2-0, and even foundering Jay de Wit slapped a 2-run single to right, lifting all of Aruba out of weekslong agony. Kilmer drew a walk before the inning ended with a pop and a grounder, Nels batting twice in the 4-run frame. All that was needed now was some solid pitching from the once-sterling prospect. He allowed two hits and rung up three the first time through, although the double served up to Altreche in the bottom 3rd certainly annoyed me, even when it didn’t lead to a run. Ochoa hit a single off Moreno in the fourth, but was doubled up in the second line drive double play of the week, Rivera’s rocket snatched by Reyna to end the inning, 3-unassisted.

Except for K’s to Russ and Altreche in the bottom 6th, the middle innings saw Moreno pitch behind in the count a lot, but the Indians couldn’t get any other runners off him and he needed 80 pitches to complete six – certainly not the pace for a shutout, if that was even on our mind. In my head, I was begging the baseball gods merely for decency for him right now, so I did not have to read the Agitator clamor for his expulsion every five days. It was enough to read the Agitator clamor for MY expulsion EVERY day. Bottom 7th, 2-out singles by Rivera and Mordino made things uncomfortable. Moreno remained in to face the .216 hitter Sanderfer, who was a righty hitter. A lengthy mound conference left Moreno with just enough wisdom to coax an inning-ending grounder to short from Sanderfer, then got a pat on the bum in the dugout – we’d settle for seven shutout innings here! Between Sims and Jones we spilled another two runners in the bottom 8th, although Ochoa grounded out to short to sort out that mess, too. Lambert got the ninth; Mordino hit a 2-out single, but Sanderfer popped out to complete the sweep. 4-0 Raccoons. Moreno 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, W (5-6) and 1-3;

We had eight hits. Every guy in the lineup had one, except for Omar Gutierrez. That also means Nettles is 1-for-9 over his last two games.

Thursday was off, the only off day in a sea of 37 games in 38 days…

Raccoons (35-37) vs. Condors (34-38) – June 27-29, 2042

Down 2-1 in the season series, the Raccoons would host the Condors, who were fourth in the South, but with some big issues highlighted by stats. While only four games under .500, they had a stark -49 run differential, being in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed. Their rotation was 10th by ERA, and they had the worst pen in the league. Now, if only we could muster some offense…!

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (4-5, 3.56 ERA) vs. Edward Flinn (5-7, 5.71 ERA)
Rich Willett (7-7, 3.41 ERA) vs. Jeremy Truett (3-6, 4.40 ERA)
Josh Brown (7-2, 2.82 ERA) vs. Derrick Forbes (6-5, 3.97 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday! Forbes would be the only lefty presented to the Critters this week.

Game 1
TIJ: LF S. Martin – 1B Willie Ojeda – CF Phinazee – RF R. Phillips – 2B Matos – 3B Lorensen – C T. Morales – SS Rose – P Flinn
POR: RF Nettles – CF Romero – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – 1B Cortes – 3B Trevino – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – P Jackson

The Condors started with a triple to center by Scott Martin on an 0-2 pitch before stranding the runner on a pop, a K, and a grounder to Carreno. Portland got a leadoff walk drawn by Nettles, then two outs before Manny singled to center and Cortes rushed a double down the leftfield line for two runs. Cosmo grounded out, ending the bottom 1st with a 2-0 score, and for the time I’d only nibble the crackers, not the rusty nails in the separate bowl, too. Maud insisted on the separate bowl, given that we all wanted some crackers. *Fine*.

Straight singles by the 6-7-8 hitters, Ryan Lorensen, Tony Morales, and Chris Rose, gave the Condors a run off Jackson in the second inning though, so there was no reason to be confident. Instead, Jackson singled and got to run the bases in the same inning, then gave up a homer to Mal Phinazee in the third to tie the game, and two more hits to Ryan Phillips and Ryan Lorensen to fall 3-2 behind. He bled two more singles in the fourth to Rose and Willie Ojeda. Tony Romero threw out Chris Rose at home plate to end the inning. All in all, Jackson gave up two pawfuls of hits in five innings before being sent for the showers in a dismal outing, but nevertheless departed with a shot for the W thanks to Portland rallying in the bottom of the fifth. Nettles reached, but was force out by Romero. Tony Hunter hit a triple to tie the game, then scored on Manny’s sac fly to get the home team up 4-3. Travis Sims then got three outs on three pitches in the sixth, which was either very good or very lucky. Probably futile, though, given that Brent Clark walked Martin and allowed a single to Ojeda to have the Condors set up on the corners to begin the seventh inning. With more lefty hitters up, Clark remained in the game to sort out his own mess – which he did! Phinazee struck out, Phillips popped out to Manny in shallow left, and Matos grounded out to Carreno! Phinazee left the game in the same inning with a probable oblique strain, replaced by Dylan Ragsdale. Rella went 1-2-3 on the Condors in the eighth, and the Critters scratched out an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Cosmo reached base to begin the inning, stole second, then advanced on Kilmer’s grounder. Carreno was hit for by Berto against the righty Jose Colon, but the full-count walk Berto drew was only medium-helpful. Reyna batted for Rella, grounded behind first base, and the Condors only got Berto at second, while Cosmo scored for the extra run. Nettles singled, but Romero grounded out, handing the ball to Wyatt Hamill. He got three outs on FOUR pitches, one more than Sims, which was also either really good or really lucky, but in any case was the Coons’ fourth win in a row again. 5-3 Raccoons. Nettles 2-2, 3 BB; Cortes 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

With this win and the Loggers and Elks not exactly winning every game right now, the Raccoons got out of double digits in terms of games back again. Was there hope for the season? I mean, beyond the false hope the baseball gods love to sprinkle around?

Game 2
TIJ: RF S. Martin – 1B Willie Ojeda – C McCullar – 2B Matos – 3B Lorensen – SS Ragsdale – CF Coca – LF C. Boles – P Truett
POR: 1B Ramos – CF Nettles – SS Hunter – LF Fernandez – RF Reyna – 3B Trevino – 2B Gutierrez – C Wilson – P Willett

Through three innings, both teams had one hit and one error. Berto and Ragsdale were involved in both errors, dropping Hunter’s feed to put Ragsdale on base in the second inning, but then having his own grounder thrown away for two bases by Ragsdale in the third inning, scoring Omar Gutierrez, who had landed a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd. Martin had the Condors’ single, a 2-out hit in the top of the third inning before being caught stealing to end it. Bottom 4th, Hunter opened with a single to center, stole his 18th base, and the Condors added Manny Fernandez to the basepaths for free. Two outs later, Truett nailed Gutierrez, then gave up a 2-run single to center to Jeff Wilson, stretching our lead to 3-0. Willett lifted his .121 average with a sharp RBI single to right-center even, Berto walked to fill the bags, and Stephon Nettles drove the stake right into Truett’s chest with a bases-clearing double to right…! Hunter singled off Matt Schwartz before the inning ended with Manny flying out to left, but the Critters had plated six in the inning and were up by seven, and boy, was I feeling comfortable now.

…until about Willett walked Lorensen to begin the fifth, but Tony Coca, the ancient curse – 42 years old! – hit into a double play to help him out of the inning. Schwartz was charged with two runs of his own in the bottom 5th, having two on and two out before walking Willett and Berto, AND throwing a wild pitch. Nettles struck out to keep it 9-0. The Condors took those two runs back with three hits whacked off Willett in the sixth, however, so the shutout was off the table. But Willett completed seven, Sims completed two, and the Raccoons would enter Southpaw Sunday undefeated on the week and back at .500…! 9-2 Furballs! Hunter 3-4, BB; Willett 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (8-7) and 1-1, BB, RBI; Sims 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The Condors had signed Tony Morales for six years and over $13M just this winter, but traded him before the end of June, off to the other league. The Buffos received the original member of the Tony Brigade and $1.35M in cash for #51 prospect CL Brian Shan and a rundown 32-year-old outfielder in Greg Dowden. Certainly not overpaid for them.

Game 3
TIJ: 2B Matos – LF S. Martin – C McCullar – 1B Willie Ojeda – SS Ragsdale – 3B Lorensen – CF Coca – RF R. Phillips – P Forbes
POR: RF Nettles – 3B Trevino – SS Hunter – CF Romero – LF Cortes – 1B Wilson – 2B Carreno – C Kilmer – P Brown

Brown got raided for four singles and two runs in a depressing first inning, and I was already kissing a winning record goodbye... and fought Maud over the good piece of rope. The Raccoons made up a run in teh bottom 1st when Cosmo tripled, Hunter walked, and Romero hit a sac fly, but Brown kept putting men on base and would not be in this game for long. The Raccoons stranded pairs in scoring position in the second and third innings, wasting a Brown double in the former, with Nettles grounding out to end the second and Wilson lining out to Lorensen to close the third. Carreno opened the fourth with a double to right, while Kilmer’s groundout both moved him to third base and got Jesus Matos out of the game when he tweaked his hammy on the play. Elijah Williams, ex-Coon (2038-39), replaced him, while Forbes struck out both Brown and Nettles to strand the tying run on third base for the third straight inning. Oh yes – this game was definitely going to be a big fat red L …!

But not before the Condors would be reduced to a band of cripples – Willie Ojeda doubled with two down and nobody on in the fifth, but also stood around on the infield then, holding a leg with a painful expression. Chris Rose replaced him after a trainer visit. Ragsdale grounded out to end the inning, but Forbes hit a 2-out RBI single to score Lorensen in the sixth and tack on a run for the Condors. That was the 11th and final hit off Brown, who had gotten a good waffling in this game. Jon Craig got a grounder from Williams to end the sixth… Jeff Wilson and Scott Martin then exchanged solo home runs to move the score to 4-2.

Natanael Abrao then filed a comeback invitation to the Coons in the bottom 8th, walking the first two batters he saw in the inning, thus presenting Carlos Cortes with the tying runs aboard and no outs. The poorly judged offseason acquisition hit straight into a double play, 6-4-3. Despaired, the Raccoons batted Manny Fernandez for Jeff Wilson, drawing the attention of lefty reliever Bob Thomson, who secured a groundout to kill another inning. Chris Rose instead drove in an unearned run in the ninth inning against Josh Rella. Cosmo’s throwing error had given the Condors a chance in the first place, putting Scott Martin fatly on base. Down three and facing Phil Harrington, the Raccoons brought up the bottom of the order in the ninth. Gutierrez hit for Carreno and grounded out. Kilmer walked. Reyna hit for Rella, but grounded out, moving Kilmer to second. Nettles grounded out, stranding another guy in scoring position. 5-2 Condors. Trevino 2-4, 3B; Wilson 2-3, HR, RBI; Rella 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

June 23 – Dallas’ SP Alfredo Vargas (3-6, 5.05 ERA) blanks the Wolves in a 4-0 Stars win, with the Salem team getting no-hit until the eighth, when INF Donovan Bunyon (.244, 0 HR, 5 RBI) chips a lone single to leave Vargas with a 1-hit shutout.
June 23 – SFB SP Jose Moreno (3-5, 4.12 ERA) is likely to miss a full calendar year with otherwise unspecified elbow ligament damage. On the same day the Bayhawks also announce that the season of rookie MR Jeremy Mayhall (2-0, 5.11 ERA, 2 SV) was over due to bone chips in his elbow.
June 23 – Capitals RF/LF Eduardo Avila (.324, 3 HR, 34 RBI) has suffered a dislocated shoulder on his throwing arm and might be out for two months.
June 25 – VAN OF Jeremy Mann (.250, 1 HR, 18 RBI) drives in five runs from the #8 spot in an 11-2 creaming of the Titans.
June 26 – Gold Sox INF Ronnie Thompson (.277, 1 HR, 15 RBI) would miss a month at least with a broken finger.
June 27 – The Canadiens beat the Knights, 5-3 in 15 innings. Despite the protracted game, VAN OF Jerry Outram (.402, 8 HR, 38 RBI) goes unretired, hitting 4-for-4 and drawing three walks, including a triple and an RBI.
June 29 – SFB 1B Danny Cruz (.188, 2 HR, 14 RBI) finds his 2000th base hit in a 6-4 win over the Loggers, a first-inning RBI double off SP Chris Lulay (5-7, 4.81 ERA). Cruz spent all of his career as a .274/.369/.464 hitter with the Thunder before arriving in San Francisco at age 36 and finding himself struggling. He was the Player of the Year in 2039 and has five home run crowns to his name, having hit 332 homers in his career, driving in 1,129 runs.
June 29 – Thunder corner utility Jesse Stedham (.234, 8 HR, 28 RBI) smashes three home runs and drives in half their run total in a 10-6 win over the Titans. He is the third player this year to hit three homers in a game (BOS Alex Zacarias, SAC Manichiro Toki), and all have achieved the feat on the road.
June 29 – PIT SP Jonathan Dykstra (7-5, 3.98 ERA) 2-hits the Warriors in a 6-0 shutout.

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF Juan Benavides (.329, 10 HR, 47 RBI), hitting .409 (9-22) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ RF/1B/LF Willie Ojeda (.341, 11 HR, 38 RBI), batting .522 (12-23) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Word is that Player of the Week Willie Ojeda is out for two weeks with a groin strain now, but the Condors made no formal announcement on Sunday. The news are expected for Monday.

So where are we now? We’re a game under .500, fourth in runs scored (although they sure come in fits and bursts and droughts), and sixth in runs allowed. Right now they look really solid again and like they could actually squeeze themselves into a serious deadline conversation, especially if we can make up at least a few games in July with its 11 games against the top two teams in the division. The beauty of it all is that if we go under in those 11 games (all consecutively), we can start dealing away stuff on July 21.

Cooled off: Stephon Nettles, who hit 7-for-26 this week with that one big bases-clearing double that put the game on Saturday away. He walked three times (all on Friday). For the week he was .269/.345/.308, which is a lot more in line with his career numbers, so we can probably stop hitting him leadoff or second soon. Was nice while it lasted though.

And Nelson Moreno? He’s not walking anybody. He isn’t even allowing a ton of hits (.289 BABIP and 1.06 H/9). 11 homers in 83 innings isn’t great, but nowhere near outlandish. A 1.26 WHIP is *fine*. I don’t know why his ERA is way up there…

In AAA, Victor Merino strained a hammy and would be out until mid-July. Wheatley got bobbled for four runs in his last start and his ERA is up to 3.06 again.

Next week: home set with the Baybirds, then off to the first half of an 8-game road trip in Boston and Milwaukee.

Fun Fact: The last player to hit three home runs at home was Portland’s Troy Greenway in 2038.

That was in an 11-0 rush of the Titans in August of that season, and actually the second 3-homer game in a row taking place in Raccoons Ballpark. The other was New York’s Greg Ortiz’ though… (although the Coons won both those games)

Greenway smashed 42 that year for the CL power throne, then sagged to 23 the next season and EIGHT by July of the year after, eventually leading to his dismissal to Salem, and now Topeka. It’s almost July again and he sits on eight homers once more, although batting .304 rather than .200 this time. Looks like his power stroke is gone at age 31.

For his 4-city career (he came to us from Sacramento in a deal that peculiarly included current Critter Jeff Wilson) he is a .277/.367/.481 hitter with 193 HR and 639 RBI.