[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-2) vs. Falcons (3-3) – April 13-15, 2043

The season series between these two teams had ended up 5-4 in each of the last five seasons, with fortunes going back and forth a bit. Last year, Portland had maintained the upper paw. The Falcons had won three, then lost three so far this year, and were third in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed, while the Raccoons’ games had been of the “blink and you miss the only run” variety for the most part.

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Chris Watson (0-0)
Jason Wheatley (0-1, 12.00 ERA) vs. Jose de Lucio (0-0, 5.14 ERA)
Corey Mathers (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jerry Felix (0-1, 9.39 ERA)

Watson was the first southpaw to come up against Portland this year, and the only one in this series. He had also been skipped in the first week of the year and would thus make his season debut. Jesus Maldonado would thus get his early-days off day against de Lucio on Tuesday.

Game 1
CHA: 2B M. Martinez – LF Haertling – CF Besaw – SS Aparicio – 1B Cahill – RF Mujica – C Alicea – 3B Farfan – P C. Watson
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Castro – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – RF Waltz – LF de Wit – P Clark

19-year-old phenom Miguel Martinez began the game with a double to center, but also ended the first inning when he ran through the stop sign at third base and was thrown out by Jay de Wit on Tony Aparicio’s single, causing more spontaneous celebrations on Aruba. Maldonado joined him with an outfield assist to end an inning in the second, when the Falcons had the bases loaded against a mildly unconvincing Brent Clark, and Martinez flew out to center with one out. Maldonado fired home to strike down Ramon Alicea, but the Falcons had already taken a 1-0 lead on two hits and two walks issued by Clark, who looked nothing like the stunning, pleasant surprise of last September. Maldo hit a jack to tie the game in the bottom 2nd, but Joe Besaw and Tony Aparicio went deep back-to-back in the top 3rd to give the Falcons a 3-1 lead. Clark didn’t make it out of the fourth inning, being yanked after nine hits and two walks, and leaving runners on the corners and two outs to Seth Green, who fell to 3-1 on Besaw, but then got a fly to left that de Wit handled for the last out.

After Green was batted for in the fifth inning, which the Raccoons concluded on three sad hits to the Falcons’ nine, the Coons went to Sauerkraut, who had a clean sixth, then a not so clean seventh, shedding two hits, two walks, and a Yamamoto error didn’t help, either. The Falcons scored another four runs in the inning, putting the game away. Things got worse still, with Zack Kelly torn up for two more runs in the eighth. Ed Haertling and Aparicio hit singles, and Mark Cahill whacked a double over Maldonado to get to a double-slam lead against Raccoons that were barely present. Van Anderson batted for Kelly in the bottom 8th, reached on an infield single, then scored on Castro’s double, which didn’t exactly make it all feel less bitter. More bitterness was delivered by Jon Craig in the ninth, who pitched to one batter, then removed himself with paw soreness.

…and then the bottom 9th dawned. Maldonado led off with an infield single against Nick Wright. Yamamoto walked in a full count, while Nettles batted for Kilmer, but flew out. Justin Waltz doubled into the gap in left-center, plating a run, 9-3. Wright walked de Wit, but whiffed Anderson. Carreno singled on a 2-2 pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Yamamoto from third base, 9-4, and now the tying run was as close as the on-deck circle… even though that was Chuck Jones in the vacated #3 hole, who had finished up the top 9th after the Craig injury. The game ended before we could hit for Jones, though, with Jose Castro grounding out to Martinez to end the game. 9-4 Falcons. Maldonado 2-4, HR, RBI; Anderson (PH) 1-2;

The Raccoons were now up to three injured players on the 25-man roster, with Manny still day-to-day with the back problem, and two relievers on top of that, with Nelson Moreno a holdover from Sunday and undiagnosed still.

Dr. Padilla still had no news by Tuesday on Moreno, but estimated that Craig would miss at least one week with the sore paw. I coolly rounded up to two weeks and sent him to the DL, unwilling to venture onwards with five relievers. Alex Ramirez was recalled from AAA, where the season was just starting and he had not appeared in a game yet.

Game 2
CHA: LF Haertling – 3B Farfan – SS Aparicio – 1B Cahill – CF Besaw – RF Mujica – 2B Shay – C Alicea – P de Lucio
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Castro – 3B Jimenez – 1B Yamamoto – C Sieber – RF Nettles – LF de Wit – CF Anderson – P Wheatley

Raccoons offense remained wholeheartedly absent on Tuesday, despite de Lucio’s best attempts to walk all of them, consecutively. Hits were what was missing – and that was the case for both teams. Through five innings, Falcons and Raccoons pooled together for five hits, and scored a lone run each in which the subject of scoring was plated when the #3 hitter grounded out in the third inning. But things got interesting in the bottom 6th, with the bases filling up when Nettles reached base by … hitting into a fielder’s choice that removed Sean Sieber from the bases, and then de Wit was hit by the pitch. The Coons pulled off a double steal, promoting an intentional 1-walk to Van Anderson, the sixth walk in total on de Lucio. And now what? Wheatley was up, pitching fundamentally alright, but that was over. Manny Fernandez grabbed a stick, fell to 0-2, then slapped a pitch up the middle for a 2-run single to center, somehow. Besaw’s throw home allowed Anderson and Manny into scoring position, leading to Carreno getting an intentional walk. Castro hit a sac fly, Jimenez hit into the third out with Aparicio, but the Coons were up 4-1. Alex Ramirez defended the lead while getting four outs, and Chuck Jones got two more from the 1-2 batters to complete eight and set up Josh Rella, who walked Aparicio to begin the ninth, but got a double play grounder from Cahill to clean up… at least until Besaw singled. Frank Mujica struck out, though, and the Raccoons evened the series. 4-1 Raccoons. Fernandez (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-1);

A win is a win is a win.

By Wednesday, still no Manny in the lineup, but we were hoping for the weekend.

There was however no hope for Nelson Moreno, who was diagnosed with shoulder inflammation and sent to the 60-day DL right away, since he wasn’t expected back before August, and our 40-man was packed. All the stars I could have gotten for him when his bum shoulder was still in the minors…!

…and thus, the return of Travis Sims, and my will to live rapidly diminishing….

Game 3
CHA: RF Haertling – CF M. Martinez – SS Aparicio – 1B Cahill – LF Besaw – 3B Farfan – C Alicea – 2B Mujica – P Felix
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Castro – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – RF Nettles – LF de Wit – P Mathers

The Falcons went triple, single, homer, single with their first four batters, pretty much putting the W in the books with a 3-0 lead against Mathers before the latter registered an out, especially with Portland again doing absolutely nothing in the early innings. The Falcons then got their next two hits both with Aparicio doubles in the left-center gap, one in the third inning, and one in the sixth. The latter was followed by a Cahill single and a run-scoring double play by Besaw, extending their lead to 4-0. The Raccoons amounted to five hits through six innings and zero runs, with the most notable occurrence being Maldonado being charged with two double plays. Travis Sims was handed the ball after Mathers held out for seven innings, and immediately hung one to Mark Cahill for a 400-footer in the eighth inning. It was a 2-piece, but one run was unearned thanks to a Castro error that put Aparicio on base. The Coons made up one run in the bottom 8th on a Castro double and Maldonado single, then had Maldonado end the inning being caught stealing. In the ninth got a leadoff single from Yamamoto and an RBI triple by Nettles gave the Coons a *second* run (gasp!), but Nettles was left on base with strikeouts from Waltz and Fernandez to end the game. 6-2 Falcons. Carreno 3-4, 2B; Maldonado 2-4, RBI; Yamamoto 2-4;

Raccoons (5-4) @ Titans (6-3) – April 17-19, 2043

No good thing had happened to the Raccoons in Boston in 300 years and I wasn’t convinced this time would be better. They were second in the division, half a game off the damn Elks, and were fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed, which was a bit surprising given how much they had stunk last year, but it was early days yet and their rotation had an ERA over five…

Projected matchups:
Cory Lambert (0-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (1-0, 2.08 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Michael Donovan (1-0, 7.94 ERA)
Brent Clark (0-2, 6.52 ERA) vs. Ryan Kinner (2-0, 4.80 ERA)

Another southpaw here in Donovan. He was the only lefty the Titans had.

Game 1
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – SS Castro – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – RF Waltz – P Lambert
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – CF Vermillion – 1B C. Cortes – C D. Phillips – 3B I. Lugo – 2B M. Avila – LF Liceaga – P del Rio

The Titans grabbed a first-inning lead with a leadoff triple by Oscar Aguirre and a sac fly from Joe Ritchey, their new import, who was hitting .333 with 3 homers. Manny Fernandez was not 100%, but the offense needed him. Unfortunately, he grounded out to strand a pair in the third inning, and Lambert would do the same in the fourth. While Lambert did not allow another base hit after the Aguirre triple until Danny Liceaga doubled in the bottom 6th, the Raccoons could not do anything worth the breath to relate it or the ink to write it down, continuing steadfastly to trail 1-0. That only changed in the eighth, which saw the bottom of the order begin with a 2-base throwing error by Carreno that put Moises Avila on base, swiftly followed by three singles up the middle hit by Liceaga, Aguirre, and Ritchey. Avila scored, while Liceaga was thrown out at home plate by Maldonado, but with the left-handed Mark Vermillion up, the Raccoons went to Zack Kelly. Vermillion hit a deep fly to center, but Maldonado caught the damn thing. The Raccoons in the ninth inning got Yamamoto on base with an Ivan Lugo error, Kilmer with a single… and then a double play from Waltz killed it all. 2-0 Titans. Kilmer 2-3, BB; Lambert 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, L (0-1);

Game 2
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Castro – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – RF Waltz – LF de Wit – P Jackson
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – CF Vermillion – 1B C. Cortes – 3B I. Lugo – 2B M. Avila – C Kuehn – LF Liceaga – P Donovan

Jackson gave up his first run of the year on a walk to Ritchey and an RBI double by recent Raccoon Carlos Cortes, but the Raccoons flipped the score (!) in the second inning when Maldonado singled and Yamamoto barely reached the .200 mark again with a homer to left. It was his first of the year, and Jeff Kilmer joined him in that regard with a solo homer in the fourth inning, extending the lead to 3-1. Jackson grinded away at the Titans lineup, and when Carlos Cortes tripled to lead off the bottom 4th, he prevented the runners from scoring, striking out Lugo, getting a pop from Avila, and whiffing Paul Kuehn…!

While Jackson continued to scatter extra-base hits and somehow pitching around them, allowing a double to Liceaga to lead off the fifth, the Raccoons reached the corners with one out and singles from Maldonado and Kilmer in the top of the sixth. The Titans sent a right-handed reliever in Danny Tirado, and the Raccoons responded with Nettles batting for Waltz, who was 0-for-2. Nettles ran a full count, then ticked a single to left-center that scored a run. De Wit struck out, but Jackson, with two outs, fired a liner past Ivan Lugo for an RBI double…! 5-1, the first time we scored more than four runs in a game this season…! Will wonders ever cease?? Tirado walked Carreno to fill the bases, but Castro struck out to end the inning. Jackson filled the bases to begin the bottom 6th – so no, wonders would definitely never cease – and then somehow pitched his way out of it with an Avila sac fly, then a K and a grounder to short, staying ahead 5-2.

But there were another two Titans on base in the seventh inning, and this time Jackson was yanked with one out. Aguirre on second, Ritchey on first, Chuck Jones faced Vermillion, but lost him in a full count to load the bases. Cortes came up and the Raccoons brought a right-hander in, sending Alex Ramirez, who had Cortes 0-2 before Cortes barreled a ball to left – but into the maws of Jimenez, and a 5-4-3 double play bailed out the Critters…!

Manny, still sore, batted with Nettles and de Wit on the corners and one out against Jose Colon in the eighth inning, struck out, and Carreno grounded out to second to again not get a run home. Then came Seth Green for the bottom 8th and completely croaked, conceding two walks, two hits, and two runs before being yanked with runners on the corners – the tying and go-ahead runs, mind – and two outs. Josh Rella got a groundout from Ritchey to get out of the eighth with a 5-4 lead. Castro then opened the ninth with a single to right off Justin Johns, stole second, and… was stranded on three sad outs. A Vermillion double on the first pitch Rella threw in the ninth put the tying run in scoring position again, but at least Jimenez contained a Cortes shot with his body and got the first out at first base while Vermillion held. Lugo flew out easily to Nettles. Avila flew to Nettles less easily, and it required a bit of a run, but Nettles retired him, too. 5-4 Raccoons. Castro 2-5, 2B; Kilmer 3-4, HR, RBI; Nettles (PH) 2-2, RBI; de Wit 2-4;

Game 3
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Castro – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Nettles – 1B Yamamoto – CF Anderson – C Sieber – P Clark
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – CF M. Avila – LF C. Cortes – C D. Phillips – 3B I. Lugo – 1B Greeley – 2B Bensinger – P Kinner

The Raccoons broke out for a bushel in the second inning in the rubber game. Manny opened it with a jack, with Nettles, Yamamoto, Anderson, and Sieber also all getting on base. Single, walk, RBI single, 2-run double, and a 4-0 lead for Brent Clark! Allowing only one hit the first time through against an all-right-handed lineup, Clark then was eaten alive with fur and glove by the same all-right-handed lineup in the second run through the order. The Titans opened the bottom 4th with three straight singles, Phillips walked on nine pitches, and Lugo hit a 2-run double. Thomas Greeley tied the game with a sac fly. Clark walked Jason Bensinger, too, with Kinner bunting the runners over. That was it for Clark, who yielded for Alex Ramirez, who struck out Aguirre to end the ******* inning.

Kinner was still around in the fifth inning, with Maldonado drawing a walk off him with one out. Manny grounded out, advancing Maldo, who scored on Nettles single through the right side. Nettles stole second, then also scored when Yamamoto hit a blast to left. He was the first Raccoon with multiple homers in ’43, and also ended Kinner’s stint in a 7-4 ruckus. Ramirez pitched the fifth for a walk, after which we suffered through two nervous innings with Seth Green, who allowed three hits to Boston batters and nailed another, but somehow didn’t give up a run. We also survived an inning from Travis Sims, and Josh Rella put the Titans away without putting any of them on base. The Raccoons’ offense had gone home after the Yamamoto bomb. 7-4 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-3, BB; Nettles 3-4, RBI; Anderson 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Green 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

April 17 – LAP INF Brian Bowman (.306, 1 HR, 8 RBI) will miss at least one month with a broken wrist.

FL Player of the Week: CIN INF Chris Strohm (.404, 1 HR, 12 RBI), batting .469 (15-32) with 1 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA SS Tony Aparicio (.491, 5 HR, 18 RBI), raking .500 (14-28) with 4 HR, 14 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Before you make up excuses that not everything is terrible – not only Nelson Moreno is out for the majority of the season. #55 prospect Victor Merino has torn a hammy in AAA, and will also miss three months.

Even after the outburst on Sunday – well, seven runs anyway – the Raccoons are still last in runs scored in the league. We’re hitting .253/.316/.355 as a team, or 10th/11th/11th as far as the CL was concerned. The pitching is even relatively good. But there are certain holes in the lineup, like a $15M hole on the left side. Ricky Jimenez had one hit this week in 18 attempts. His BABIP is .129, which I had Cristiano explain to Nick Valdes when he called and screamed into the telephone.

Apart from that we have to wait and see a bit. We’re waiting for an offensive breakout, and we’re gonna see the Loggers in Milwaukee starting on Tuesday, then the Knights at home next week. The Thunder will also be in on that homestand to complete the month. These three series will also bring up more left-handed batters than f.e. the Titans have, so we might actually use Sauerkraut once in a while…

The Knights have made a stupendous trade offer, Jamie King for Art Goetz (eh!) and Matt Waters (oh). Also, King is having … SOME issue. He was the 2040 FL Player of the Year with the Cyclones, hitting .347 with 33 homers and 95 RBI. Last year? .249 with 14 homers, 58 RBI. He shed almost 300 points of OPS. And he’s only 28! This year, he’s .265/.315/.347 out of the gate and remarkably pedestrian. His contract is up after this year, so the risk is limited, but we’re not gonna give up Matt Waters, who is probably hitting negative 75 points in AA as we speak, but I am too afraid to actually check.

Fun Fact: Nelson Moreno posted the third-worst season for a Raccoons pitcher by ERA last season.

Qualifying season, that is. His 5.01 mark trailed Jerry Morris (5.04 in 1979) and Bill Conway (5.15 in 2015) only. That does not include Jason Gurney’s tremendous 6.29 mark in 2032, where he fell one out short of reaching 162 innings to qualify.