[Westheim]

Raccoons (10-8) vs. Thunder (11-8) – April 27-29, 2043

There was always something going on in the Thunder’s games, with them having the second-most runs scored and runs allowed, with a -10 run differential. Their rotation had a 4.68 ERA, and their pen was almost a full run worse. Unsurprisingly, they had a bottom three defense as well. And yet, they had a winning record. We had beaten them five out of nine last season.

Projected matchups:
Corey Mathers (2-1, 2.14 ERA) vs. Bill Dickinson (1-2, 6.88 ERA)
Jake White (0-0) vs. Alan Fleming (2-1, 3.99 ERA)
Jake Jackson (3-1, 2.96 ERA) vs. Juan Ramos (1-1, 5.96 ERA)

The series opened with a southpaw in Dickinson, the only one they had.

Game 1
OCT: RF Zurita – 3B Martell – C Adames – CF Kinder – LF E. Moore – SS Rowell – 1B A. Zacarias – 2B C. Vega – P Dickinson
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – SS Castro – RF Waltz – P Mathers

The first pitch by Mathers nailed Angelo Zurita, and the Thunder scored a run almost as quickly, moving Zurita to third base on Al Martell’s single, and across home plate on Jesus Adames’ groundout, but Mathers at least kept Martell on base. Three doubles in the bottom 1st though helped the Coons score three runs. Jimenez, Yamamoto, and Kilmer all landed two-basers, with Maldonado drawing a walk in between, and Jose Castro walking with two outs, but then being stranded alongside Kilmer when Justin Waltz flew out to Ethan Moore, keeping the score at 3-1. The Critters then started the bottom 2nd with three straight singles from Mathers, Carreno, and Jimenez, loading the bases with nobody out. I looked on with foreboding, and not for no good reason – Maldo grounded into a force at home plate, Manny managed a sac fly for the highlight, and Yamamoto made an out on a pop.

With a 4-1 lead, Mathers continued to hit batters, dealing a welt to Matt Kinder to begin the fourth inning, but Moore grounded into a double play. Alex Zacarias drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and got nowhere, while Yamamoto made another clumsy error in the sixth to put a runner on base, but Mathers worked around that, too. Even a Rick Rowell double to right, leading off the top of the seventh, couldn’t shake Mathers, who retired Zacarias, Carlos Vega, and PH Dan Whitley in order to strand the runner on third base and keep the score at 4-1, because obviously the Raccoons had gone to sleep after the four early runs. So we didn’t think much about keeping Mathers in there when Zurita hit a leadoff double in the eighth, and while he retired two more, the outs by Martell and Adames were productive and Zurita scored, 4-2. When Kinder singled with two outs, the Raccoons went to Chuck Jones, who walked Moore, but got through Rowell, a .174 hitter, to end the inning. Pitching for Oklahoma at this point was Jon Craig, a right-hander, which was confusing, since I had been pretty sure that Jon Craig, a right-hander, was a Raccoons pitcher. Turns out, there are two of them! We had the white one, they have the black edition, a 27-year-old rookie that had a cup of coffee last year, but never crossed our paths. The Raccoons, after three doubles in the first, three singles in the second, got three times nothing in every inning after that, giving the ball to Josh Rella in the ninth. Zacarias, Vega, and John Peck went down in order, the last two on strikes. 4-2 Raccoons. Jimenez 2-3, BB, 2B; Mathers 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-1) and 1-3;

Our Jon Craig was activated from the DL on Tuesday at the expense of Travis Sims (1.50 ERA).

Game 2
OCT: 2B C. Vega – RF Zurita – C Adames – CF Kinder – SS Rowell – 1B A. Zacarias – LF E. Moore – 3B Martell – P Fleming
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Nettles – SS Castro – C Sieber – P White

The second inning was a busy one for Yamamoto, who made another error to prolong White’s stint in the top half of the inning, then hit a solo homer in the bottom half to put the Raccoons up 1-0. The lead came apart fast, with a leadoff single by Carlos Vega, then a walk offered to Zurita to begin the top 3rd. Sieber threw away the ball on a double steal attempt with one gone, conceding the tying run and moving the go-ahead run to third base, from where Matt Kinder singled him in, giving the 2-1 lead to the Thunder. White would not get past the fifth inning, conceding another two runs in the fifth, in which the Thunder’s first four batters all reached – walk, single, double, walk – before three poor outs killed the inning for them. And even getting that far for this little return took White 104 pitches.

The Raccoons were annoyingly silent. Castro reached base in the bottom 5th, stole second base, and was left on third. Omar Gutierrez pinch-hit for White with Castro on third and one out, but whiffed, and Carreno grounded out. Adames’ error put Yamamoto on second base with nobody out in the bottom 7th, and a Nettles single put runners on the corners and brought the tying run to the plate. Castro hit into a fielder’s choice, while Sieber barley hit a sac fly to right, but that was all the Critters got. Gutierrez, who had remained in the game over Carreno, flew out to center to end the inning, then also wove and error into a spotty appearance in the ninth inning, but Zack Kelly got around that. The Raccoons arrived in the ninth trailing by two and facing the 0.87 ERA of Brad Blankenship. Manny grounded out, Yamamoto flew out, and Nettles got nailed. Jay de Wit took a bat to hit for Zack Kelly in the #7 hole, but popped out on the first pitch. 4-2 Thunder. Nettles 2-3, 3B;

Game 3
OCT: RF Zurita – 3B Martell – C Adames – CF Kinder – SS Rowell – 1B A. Zacarias – LF J. Sanchez – 2B C. Vega – P J. Ramos
POR: 2B Carreno – RF Nettles – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – SS Castro – CF Anderson – P Jackson

Kinder reached base to begin the second inning by getting his foot smushed with an errant fastball. He limped off the field and was replaced with Moore, who scored on a Zacarias homer that gave the Thunder an early 2-0 lead. Even without the homer, Jake Jackson didn’t have a good start – many long counts, often behind in the count, and he was already over 70 pitches after just four innings despite yielding only two runs. The Raccoons meanwhile hit into double plays in three consecutive innings, Kilmer killing Yamamoto reaching on an error in the second, Jackson forcing out Van Anderson with a bad bunt, then getting doubled up by Carreno in the third, and then Manny Fernandez chomping into a double play after Nettles reached base to begin the fourth. – No, Slappy, they’re not gonna score. Time to spruce up the Capt’n Coma with some wheel rim cleaner. (pours thick green liquid into booze)

Jackson got two quick outs in the fifth, then loaded the bases with Martell, Adames, and Moore. The Raccoons just wanted him to finish the inning by now, but wouldn’t even get that. He walked in a run against Rick Rowell (hitting a strong .138), then plated another one with a wild pitch. That took the grand slam away from Zacarias when he hit a belter out of leftfield. Buried 7-0, Jackson was yanked. With the game in the paws of Sauerkraut afterwards and thoroughly in the bin, Carreno and Nettles scrabbled together a sad run in the sixth. Sauerkraut loaded the bases in the seventh with Adames, Moore, and Zacarias, then got a 2-out grounder from Jorge Sanchez to Carreno. He tossed to first, Yamamoto dropped ANOTHER ******* ball, and another run scored. Vega struck out to end the inning and strand three. Sauerkraut covered another inning, 3.1 innings in total, on 50 pitches, only shedding the unearned run.

We still got *something* out of the game – the bottom 8th began with a Van Anderson double, and Jay de Wit was nicked hitting for Sauerkraut. Carreno hit a hard fly to deep left-center and it kept stretching all the way until it was outta here – first career home run for Arturo Carreno…! It still meant the Coons were down by a slam… One inning remained for the Thunder, and that was just enough time for Seth Green to ineptly load the bases, nailing Adames and walking Rowell and Zacarias. Somehow they also struck out twice and Jimmy Kuhn popped out to end the inning without a run coming across. Rowell hurt himself on a defensive play in the bottom of the ninth, but the Raccoons still went down in order. 8-4 Thunder. Carreno 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Becker 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

Somehow we were only out-hit 6-5, but turns out issuing seven walks, three hit batsmen, and an error and a wild pitch didn’t ******* help.

And it is not going to get better this weekend…

Raccoons (11-10) @ Canadiens (15-7) – May 1-3, 2043

First in runs scored, the damn Elks were salivating over beating up the la-la Coons on the weekend. I bid the boys farewell at the airport, knowing I’d only get a few dog tags back. The Elks were also third in runs allowed, with a +40 run differential that was steadily growing. The only thing they had to straighten out was their bullpen, which had an ERA of 4.62. The Coons had beaten the Elks on Opening Day, then had lost the next two games in the first meeting between these teams in ’43.

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (0-2, 8.35 ERA) vs. David Arias (4-0, 1.63 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-1, 2.49 ERA) vs. John Roeder (2-1, 3.60 ERA)
Corey Mathers (3-1, 2.20 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (4-1, 3.93 ERA)

Roeder was the only left-hander in their rotation right now, while their only DL dweller was perhaps the best player in baseball, Jerry Outram, who was out with an oblique strain, putting his ridiculous .481/.580/.648 bat in the freezer.

Game 1
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Nettles – C Kilmer – SS Castro – P Clark
VAN: CF van der Zanden – C Clemente – 2B Schneller – RF V. Vazquez – LF J. Becker – SS R. Johnston – 1B M. Hernandez – 3B R. Ashley – P D. Arias

There were no hits in the game – and no runners other than freshly-anointed Rookie of the Month Arturo Carreno on a leadoff walk in the first – when the Raccoons got two runners aboard on errors to begin the third inning. Dan Schneller fumbled a Castro grounder, and Arias threw away Clark’s bunt. Carreno struck out, but Ricky Jimenez came through with a single up the middle for a 1-0 lead, and Slappy and me approvingly clanged our bottles of booze together back in Portland on the trusty brown couch. It got better after that, with Jesus Maldonado ramming a 3-run homer to right, tying for the team lead in homers (3) and taking the team lead in RBI (a paltry 15). All four runs were unearned. The Elks’ first run was earned; it came in the fourth inning, a Timóteo Clemente homer to center after Clark had retired ten straight to begin his day, and whiffed four. Dan Schneller hit a single afterwards, but Clark then settled back in and retired Victor Vazquez and Justin Becker to get out of the inning, still up 4-1.

But Clark’s counts got long and the fifth and sixth took forever (although the damn Elks didn’t exactly threaten), and the Raccoons batted for him with one out in the seventh. He was at 100 pitches. Van Anderson singled in the spot, while Carreno added another single and Jimenez walked to load the bases against right-hander Mario Godinez. Maldonado hit another deep fly to right, but this time Vazquez caught it on the warning track - it was good enough for a sac fly, though, 5-1! Manny then slapped a 3-1 pitch through Ray Ashley for an RBI single, and Yamamoto’s 2-2 poker up the middle eluded the infielders for another RBI single. New pitcher Matt Fries gave up another RBI single to Nettles, before Kilmer flew out. After their second 4-spot of the game, the Raccoons divined to keep Anderson in the game over Nettles, and try to get two innings out of the chronically inefficient Seth Green. Asking for trouble, the Raccoons got trouble. Green got five outs, while hitting two batters, one each in the seventh and eighth, and gave up a single to Johnny Lopez in the bottom 8th, an inning in which Ricky Jimenez also chipped in an unhelpful error. Alex Ramirez bailed out Green by getting a pop out of Victor Vazquez, ending the eighth. Zack Kelly put the Elks away on four pitches in the ninth. 8-1 Raccoons! Maldonado 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Anderson (PH) 1-1, BB;

(sings jubilantly and tipsily with Slappy on the couch)

We cost the Elks first place, with Boston (!) scooting past, now on a 15-7 record.

Game 2
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – SS Castro – RF Waltz – P Wheatley
VAN: RF van der Zanden – C Clemente – 2B Schneller – LF M. Hernandez – 3B J. Becker – 1B J. Lopez – CF Mann – SS R. Johnston – P Roeder

The Raccoons started the game with three straight hits, but didn’t get further than Ricky Jimenez’ RBI single that brought home Carreno and his leadoff triple as far as the R column was concerned. Maldonado singled, but Manny hit into a double play and Yamamoto flew out to left. The damn Elks got two leadoff singles in the bottom 1st off Wheatley, who came off a couple of good starts, but also met their end with a double play by Hernandez. A pair was on again to begin the bottom 2nd, Justin Becker walking and Johnny Lopez whacking a double to right. Jeremy Mann struck out, but both Ryan Johnston and John Roeder (…) brought in a run each with a grounder and single up the middle, respectively. Wheatley continued to drown in runners, offering a walk that was erased on a double play in each of the third and fourth innings, while Mann then reached on another single in the bottom 4th, but was caught stealing. After a clean fifth, Schneller singled with one out in the sixth. Hernandez and Becker made poor outs, though, and the game remained tight at 2-1, but with the Raccoons not getting on the horse against Roeder, scattering four hits after their early onslaught through the end of six, but not reaching third base even once.

Justin Waltz hit a blooper for a leadoff single in the seventh, then was bunted to second base by Wheatley. Carreno whiffed, Jimenez walked, and that was the end of Roeder, with lefty Ryan McConnell replacing him against Maldonado. He got a pop to end the inning, while the Coons got a 1-2-3 from Wheatley in his seventh and final inning. He was replaced by Jon Craig, who gave the damn Elks an unearned insurance run in a collaboration with Jose Castro that made me cringe – Castro threw away Angel Escobido’s grounder to begin the bottom 8th, putting a free runner on second base. Castro also didn’t have a hit all week (0-for-15) and was hit for to begin the ninth inning against lefty Alexander Lewis. De Wit slapped a single up the middle, then was forced out on Waltz’ grounder to short. Stephon Nettles batted for Craig, singled, and the tying runs were on base! Carreno struck out. Jimenez, unretired in this game, struck out… 3-1 Canadiens. Jimenez 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Maldonado 2-4; Kilmer 2-4; de Wit (PH) 1-1; Nettles (PH) 1-1;

Yamamoto got a day off on Sunday, Jose Castro very much got a day off on Sunday, Omar Gutierrez got that assignment, and Cristiano Carmona got sent to the gas station and the liquor store down the street to get more snacks and booze for the rubber game. I felt like I’d need the booze especially.

Game 3
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Nettles – C Kilmer – CF Anderson – SS Gutierrez – P Mathers
VAN: CF Escobido – C Clemente – 2B Schneller – LF M. Hernandez – 3B J. Becker – 1B J. Lopez – RF van der Zanden – SS R. Johnston – P Sealock

Three hits and a run in the first again, with Carreno opening with extra bases again, this time a double to left. Jimenez legged out an infield single, and Maldonado plated the run… with a double play. Manny’s single after that was only statistical noise, and the inning ended with Nettles, and Melvin Hernandez doubled home Clemente to tie the game in the bottom of the inning right away. And just like the last few games, the Raccoons “burst” (sorta) out of the gate, then reduced themselves to snoozing immediately after. While Mathers did his very best (and much more than his scouting report would give him potential for), the Raccoons had inning like the fifth, where Omar Gutierrez drew a leadoff walk, was caught stealing, and then nothing else happened ever again.

The 1-1 game came untied in the sixth, but not for the Raccoons doing anything… or even reaching base. Mathers loaded the bases by hitting Clemente, a Schneller single, and a walk to Hernandez; oh, and nobody out. Kilmer then had a lapse and lost the 1-1 pitch for a passed ball, giving the damn Elks the lead, 2-1. Then Becker grounded to the left side, Jimenez had to hustle from playing rather deep, and had no play – infield single, another run across. Mathers angrily struck out Lopez and van der Zanden, but the game was in the bin even with Johnston popping out to strand runners on the corners. I was upgrading my Capt’n Coma supplements to a splash of hydrochloric acid.

Or was it? Sealock was still at it in the seventh, and with one out yielded a soft single to left-center to Kilmer. Anderson dropped another soft single into left and the tying runs were aboard. Gutierrez fanned, but Jay de Wit slapped a single through the right side in Mathers’ spot. This loaded the bags for Carreno… who popped out to Escobido in shallow center… (groan!) … In the eighth, singles by Maldonado and Nettles off McConnell and Sebastian Parham, respectively, put the tying runs on the corners with two outs, but Kilmer grounded out to Becker. Ramirez and Jones held the Raccoons in the game at least on paper with spotless relief against the damn Elks, with Lewis then back up in the ninth inning, facing the bottom of the order, which was in issue given that Lewis was a lefty. Anderson, over .300 in limited action, struck out, but Yamamoto and Waltz were out as pinch-hitters for the next two guys. Both reached – Yamamoto doubled to center, and Waltz walked in a full count, which marked the third straight inning that the Raccoons put at least the tying runs on base, but they had yet to score. Carreno grounded the first pitch to second base. Schneller went to second, but no double play was available – the tying runs were on the corners for Jimenez… who struck out. 3-1 Canadiens. Yamamoto (PH) 1-1, 2B; de Wit (PH) 1-1;

10 Raccoons had one hit each. The damn Elks had five in total.

We lost.

Sounds fair.

In other news

April 27 – The Capitals’ SP Corey Booth (1-2, 4.82 ERA) is going to miss at least four months with shoulder soreness.
April 29 – LVA 1B/RF/LF Pat Gurney (.346, 2 HR, 17 RBI) has his hitting streak of 22 games stopped by the Indians, going empty in a 5-4 win for Vegas.
April 29 – But a new hitting streak reaches 20 games, as CIN 3B Jesus Burgos (.402, 0 HR, 13 RBI) connects for two hits in a 9-3 loss to the Scorpions.
April 29 – The Titans roll out a stunning 26 hits in a 17-2 smashing of the Bayhawks, although only 1B/LF/RF Carlos Cortes (.365, 3 HR, 13 RBI) lands four base hits individually, but except for CF Mark Vermillion (.324, 2 HR, 11 RBI) who leaves early with an oblique strain, every Titans positional starter has at least two base hits.
April 30 – Aces SP Josh Henneberry (1-2, 4.50 ERA) 3-hits the Indians with nine strikeouts for a 3-0 shutout.
April 30 – Knights SP Kurt Olson (0-1, 6.75 ERA) is out for the year with a torn rotator cuff.
April 30 – The Pacifics acquire SS Tony Hunter (.143, 0 HR, 2 RBI) from the Buffaloes for MR Domingo Murillo (1-0, 6.75 ERA) and #61 prospect INF Adriano Chavez.
May 1 – SAC SP Danny Orozco (4-1, 2.85 ERA) 3-hits the Warriors, who also get routed for 14 runs in a shutout. SAC LF/RF Mike Preble (.358, 3 HR, 18 RBI) drives in six runs on three hits, including a grand slam.
May 1 – BOS RF/CF Joe Ritchey (.311, 4 HR, 9 RBI) will miss a month and then some more with a separated shoulder.
May 3 – CIN SP Melvin Lucero (2-1, 3.48 ERA) and CL Steve Bailey (1-3, 5.56 ERA, 5 SV) pitch a combined 1-hitter over the Buffaloes, 1-0, with only TOP 3B/SS Marshall Greer (.241, 1 HR, 9 RBI) hitting a single off Lucero.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF Mike Preble (.386, 3 HR, 20 RBI), hitting .583 (14-24) with 2 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS 1B/RF/LF Carlos Cortes (.388, 3 HR, 16 RBI), batting .483 (14-29) with 4 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.341, 6 HR, 27 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: CHA SS Tony Aparicio (.459, 5 HR, 23 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: NAS CL Chris Henry (2-0, 0.77 ERA, 7 SV)
CL Pitcher of the Month: CHA CL Marcus Goode (2-0, 1.59 ERA, 8 SV)
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW RF Matt Diskin (.317, 2 HR, 9 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: POR 2B Arturo Carreno (.329, 1 HR, 6 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Carreno! I needed that bit of confirmation, that not everything I do is entirely meaningless and for the bottoms.

What else is new? Bitter losses against the damn Elks are not (2-4 this year), but somehow we outscored them this time. Not that it helped us any in the standings. No longer over .500! I feel like we won’t get back over, either.

Castro (0-for-15) and Manny (2-for-23) had absolute nightmare weeks, and somebody always seems to have one of those, leading to no scoring whatsoever, and sometimes not even baserunning for five, six innings in a row, which is consistent with an offense that can only get over four runs in a game about once in a fortnight.

There are no reinforcements in AAA that would help us get anywhere. No starting pitchers (all having control issues and Merino of course vanished onto the DL), and also no bats. Well. Steve Nickas and Nick Lando are both hitting over .300 in limited action. The question is whether we need either of those back.

…and whether they can have a love child that would then be named Nick Nickas.

We continue this road trip to New York and Sacramento, then will return home for a 2-week gig at the old ballpark.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons are only third in stolen bases with 21 SB, and with a middling 65.6% success rate.

The Crusaders and Loggers are having 31 and 28 SB, respectively, both with success rates over 75%. The most attempts on the Raccoons have been made by Carreno, who is 4-for-10 so far after 4-for-7 last year.

Arturo, not trying to curtail your creativity and your … “flair” … but maybe stop yelling before and while you go: “Here I come, here I come, dum-dudum-dudum-du-dum!” You’re out before the second dudum, and I find that dumb.