[Westheim]

The Raccoons started the week with a day off and with a roster move, Art Goetz being sent back to St. Pete after hitting 2-for-6 in a brief cameo. Cory Lambert was activated from the DL.

Raccoons (16-14) vs. Miners (16-14) – May 12-14, 2043

This was a weird team. They were eighth in runs scored with some power, no speed, and then most of the power was in eight homers hit by catcher Giampaolo Petroni, with only 13 homers for the rest of the team. Their rotation was close to the best in the Federal League – but their bullpen had an ERA over seven, which was frankly staggering in the middle of May. Overall, they conceded the sixth-fewest runs in the FL. The Raccoons had lost two of three to the Miners last season.

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (2-2, 5.17 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (2-3, 3.73 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-3, 3.03 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (3-0, 3.48 ERA)
Corey Mathers (4-2, 2.11 ERA) vs. Roberto Pruneda (2-3, 4.24 ERA)

Two right-handers sandwiching a southpaw for the Miners here. We’d not see either ex-Coon Rich Willett (3-1, 3.56 ERA) or former Critters harmhand Jonathan Dykstra (1-2, 2.39 ERA), who they had received in the Kurt Wall trade many, many years ago.

Game 1
PIT: LF F. Rojas – SS Ponto – 1B Santillano – C A. Mercado – CF Burch – RF Duncan – 2B Lira – 3B Iverson – P I. Mendoza
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Nettles – C Kilmer – SS Castro – P Clark

Devon Ponto doubled, Anton Mercado walked, and Kevin Burch got a welt from Clark – but Nick Duncan grounded out and stranded all three base runners as the week and the homestand got underway. The Coons had three singles from their 2-3-4 batters to stack the bases themselves in the bottom 1st, then added two more with a 2-run single by Shuta Yamamoto that touched Ponto’s reaching glove, but escaped, and another single from Stephon Nettles to load the bags, but I was more engaged with Maud being on the phone with somebody and making arrangement and I had a primal fear that she was talking to Nick Valdes, who’d potentially come over on the weekend. Kilmer hit a sac fly to get to 3-0, but Jose Castro grounded out, ending the first inning. Clark blew the lead at once, surrendering three runs on three hits and three walks in the top 2nd, and was over 70 pitches in a completely ****** outing – not quite as ****** as the prospect of a Nick Valdes visit on the weekend, though.

Clark lasted four dismal innings, then was hit for in the bottom of the fourth, coincidentally in a fat spot with Kilmer and Castro in scoring position on a single and a double, respectively, and one out. Jay de Wit’s fly to center was caught by Kevin Burch, but was good enough for the lead, and Arturo Carreno singled home Castro with two outs to extend that lead to 5-3. Jimenez struck out to end the fourth, then was the odd one out with Sauerkraut landing in the #2 hole to pitch long relief. The Miners were all over him with big swings in the fifth, with Burch doubling to center and Duncan singling hard to right. Nettles threw out Burch at home plate with a perfect rocket from rightfield, but the Miners tied the game on three more base hits and a de Wit error in the sixth instead. Jonathan Iverson singled to lead off, PH John Marz reached on de Wit’s clunker, and Ponto and Mercado landed RBI singles with one and two outs, respectively. De Wit at least partially made it up in the bottom of the inning, singling home Nettles with two outs to take the team’s third lead of the day, 6-5, and runs were tacked on in the seventh against Dan Minelli of the vaunted Miners pen. He walked Justin Waltz, hitting for Sauerkraut, leading off, then conceded singles to Maldonado, Nettles, and Kilmer before being taken behind the shed – in between there was also an intentional walk to Yamamoto, and Jay Coats would give up one more run on a Castro single to right before the inning fizzled out. Instead, Chuck Jones got ticked for three hits, including two doubles, and two runs in the eighth inning, all the damage done by lefty hitters, and that narrowed the score to 9-7 again. The baseball gods were having a good day, I was suspecting. Pittsburgh home run leader Giampaolo Petroni didn’t even get involved until the ninth inning, where Josh Rella nailed him with one out, bringing the tying run to the plate in Tony Lira, who grounded into a force at second base. Iverson grounded out, ending a messy game with a messy win. 9-7 Raccoons. Anderson (PH) 1-1; Maldonado 2-5; Nettles 2-4, RBI; Kilmer 2-3, 2 RBI; Castro 2-4, 2B, RBI; de Wit (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI;

Maud, anything new? – Anything I should know? – No?

Game 2
PIT: CF F. Rojas – SS Ponto – 1B Santillano – RF Marz – C Petroni – 2B M. Colon – LF Dirks – 3B Iverson – P McMichael
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – SS Castro – RF Waltz – P Wheatley

Two walks in the first inning reinforced the sad truth that command remained a huuuge issue for Jason Wheatley at this stage, although at least Felix Rojas, who drew a walk in a full count to begin the game, was caught stealing before long. The Miners didn’t get a hit off Wheatley until Danny Santillano (.306, 1 HR, 18 RBI) raked a double to left-center in the fourth inning, then almost got a ninth homer from Petroni, but Manny Fernandez picked the missile off the top of the fence to end the inning instead. The Raccoons had just as much or little offense as the Miners in the early inning, but loaded the bags with two outs in the bottom 4th on walks drawn by Maldo and Kilmer around a Yamamoto single. Jose Castro flew out to Rusty Dirks to let the chance drift away.

Dirks drew a walk from Wheatley in the fifth, with Iverson following that up with a single. The runners were on the corners, but the Miners had McMichael bunt with one out, getting Iverson to second, but that helped them little when Carreno received an easy grounder from Rojas for the third out. Then Wheatley singled to center with one out in our half of the fifth – his first hit of the year – and Carreno and Jimenez followed with softer and softer singles. The only way for Maldonado to hit an even softer single would be by hitting the baseball in such manner that it transformed into a fluffy bunny which would then hop away adorably from the infielders, but instead he flew out to Dirks in shallow left, a move mirrored by Manny a mere minute later, and the Coons stranded yet another full set. Offense then arrived in unlikely form in the bottom 6th. After two poor outs, Castro hit a single and Justin Waltz, inches from a ticket to St. Pete, tripled in the game’s first run with a ball that stretched over a reaching Rojas in centerfield and then made it all the way to the fence. Wheatley whiffed to strand him at third, then gave up singles to put Mario Colon and Rusty Dirks on the corners with one out in the seventh. Zack Kelly replaced him, walked the bags full, then gave up the tying run on Tony Lira’s groundout, and three more runs on screamers for extra bases with two outs to Burch and Ponto, hanging the loss on Wheatley when the Raccoons found not a single base runner in the last three innings against the dramatically flammable Miners bullpen… 4-1 Miners. Yamamoto 2-4;

I like neither this game, nor Maud’s gauging whether I can stomach more bad news. – What is it, Maud? – Is somebody coming to visit? – You’re not saying yet?

Game 3
PIT: LF Duncan – SS Ponto – 1B Santillano – RF Marz – C Petroni – 2B M. Colon – CF Dirks – 3B Iverson – P Pruneda
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – RF Nettles – C Sieber – SS Castro – P Mathers

While Maud banked it all on a win in the rubber game, the Raccoons ran into another long inning in the top of the second inning. Mathers was whacked around for four runs, the first driven in with the old dagger Rusty Dirks used as a bat, singling in Petroni and his leadoff double. Pruneda (…) and Nick Duncan had 2-out knocks and they took a 2-0 lead at the end of it. Pruneda hit another 2-out single against Mathers in the fourth, putting runners on the corners, but Nick Duncan struck out. The Raccoons had two base hits from Yamamoto (forced out by Nettles) and Sean Sieber in the bottom 2nd, but then ran out of both spit and skill again. Even a leadoff walk by Manny and a prompt balk by Pruneda in the bottom 4th led nowhere; three poor outs stranded Manny at second base.

Mathers was done after five innings and as many runs, serving up homers to Ponto (his first of the year) and Petroni (#9) in the fifth and final inning of this Thursday’s baseball ordeal. The latter counted for two. When Jose Castro hit a homer in the bottom 5th to get to 5-1, I instead eyed Maud and Cristiano whispering on the other side of the room. Something was up! Unfortunately, that thing wasn’t the Coons’ striped tails. They had only one base hit in the next few innings, while the Miners put two on in the sixth, three in the seventh, and eight in the fourth against a cavalcade of Raccoons relievers that could barely get anybody out. Sauerkraut was charged another run in the eighth, in which he left with the bases loaded, but Alex Ramirez somehow managed to clean up, then also pitched the ninth. The Raccoons still faced Pruneda in the ninth inning, when the right-hander stumbled over a procession of soft singles to get yanked with the bases loaded and one out, Gutierrez, Kilmer, and Carreno having all reached base. Right-hander Rich Kappel, who had gotten the save on Wednesday, but had a 5.87 ERA, came in to see Ricky Jimenez, who brought up the tying run when he hit an RBI single through the left side on the first pitch. Maldonado struck out, but Manny, with two down, hit a liner to left-center and it vanished in the gap! One run in! Two runs in! Three runs in! Bases-clearing double for Manny Fernandez! And now, Yamamoto up as the winning run…! …and he grounded out to short. 6-5 Miners. Yamamoto 2-5; Gutierrez (PH) 1-1; Kilmer (PH) 1-1; Ramirez 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Tell me, Maud. Who’s coming to visit? – By your concerned face it must be something I deeply resent. Is it a group of schoolchildren that won first prize somewhere? – Good. Is it the interior decorator that redesigned Cristiano’s boudoir all in mauve? – Oh, I was concerned. Is it the IRS to take our books apart and look at every single receipt from the last seven years? – No? – What a relief, because, Steve from Accounting and me have some dead bodies in … never mind.

Oh, it’s Nick Valdes.

I would have preferred the IRS.

Raccoons (17-16) vs. Loggers (19-16) – May 15-17, 2043

Dropping the last two games with the Miners also had the Raccoons sag below the surging Loggers into fifth place in the division. Nick Valdes was reasonably grumpy when he arrived, and demanded wins immediately. Cristiano Carmona showed me where it was at, as the Loggers had won seven in a row, were first in runs scored, and still ninth in runs allowed, but beginning to straighten that out, too. They were up 2-1 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Cory Lambert (0-2, 2.60 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (2-3, 4.63 ERA)
Jake Jackson (4-2, 3.89 ERA) vs. Bobby Freels (2-1, 6.34 ERA)
Brent Clark (2-2, 5.35 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (2-5, 5.19 ERA)

All right-handers here, although Bobby Freels had left his last game with a sore wrist and was as of yet questionable.

Game 1
MIL: SS Del Vecchio – 2B J. Cruz – 1B Brayboy – CF Reeves – 3B Paul – RF Hertenstein – LF Borchard – C Sicco – P Piedra
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 1B Yamamoto – C Kilmer – SS Gutierrez – RF Waltz – P Lambert

Homers by Jared Paul and Valentino Sicco gave the Loggers a 2-0 lead by the second inning, with Nick Valdes correctly but unhelpfully pointing out that this was not how you won baseball games. Lambert did not strike out anybody through four innings, but allowed only one more hit and kept the Loggers at least within reach, which became key when Manny Fernandez hit a home run to right in the fourth inning, which came with Maldonado on base and tied the game at two. Euphoria was uncalled for though, with Nick pointing out that there were not enough runners on base to take the lead. Which was true, but also not helpful. Also, the Loggers got Piedra on base with an infield single in the fifth, and then got him all the way around on a triple by ******* Ted Del Vecchio that caromed around in the right-center gap with Maldonado and Waltz chasing after it in vain. Jose Cruz’ sac fly extended Milwaukee’s lead to 4-2 again. The following inning, another pair of homers by Paul and Daniel Hertenstein knocked him out of a 6-2 game.

No rally was forthcoming any time soon, although Maldonado did hit a triple in the bottom of the sixth inning. It came with nobody on, two outs, and ended with another sad sigh from me and aggravated grumble from Nick Valdes when Manny grounded out to first base. Piedra held the Raccoons to five scattered base hit through eight innings, then was hit for in the ninth in which Josh Rella had to fill in for no good reason, didn’t feel like it, and walked two batters before he allowed a 2-out RBI single to dismal Aaron Brayboy. It was an insurance run the Loggers didn’t particularly need. 7-2 Loggers. Maldonado 3-4, 3B;

Nobody below Manny in the lineup found a base hit.

Well, these *are* the people you are paying all those millions to, Nick. – No, really, they are. We haven’t hidden them anywhere. There is no slugger tugged away in the cupboard in Maud’s room. – Maud, get Steve from Accounting. – Yes, Nick, he has to bring the receipts. – You are worse than the IRS!!

Game 2
MIL: LF Serad – 2B J. Cruz – 1B Brayboy – CF Reeves – 3B Paul – RF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C Sicco – P Freels
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Nettles – C Kilmer – CF Anderson – SS Castro – P Jackson

Three innings into a scoreless game, with Nick Valdes complaining that every batter that came to the plate for the Raccoons was earning too much of his precious money, an hour-long rain delay had the potential to create all kinds of chaos, but Maud came to the rescue, made tea and coffee to everyone’s desire, and I managed to slip a few sleeping pills into Valdes’ cocoa, which knocked him out clean through the middle innings once the game actually resumed.

When we heard Valdes’ moans again, the fat lady was just done singing the anthem in the seventh inning stretch. The game was tied at one, courtesy of a Manny Fernandez homer for Portland, and Jackson and Chuck Jones pooling together for four walks in the sixth inning for Milwaukee… We were out-hitting them 6-2, but we had yet to get rid of ******* Bobby Freels. Jose Castro doubling home Van Anderson (leadoff walk) in the bottom 7th quickly put Valdes back on his feet and had him applauding and congratulating himself for having the right players on the team after all! Waltz grounded out, Carreno hit a sac fly to go up 3-1, and Ricky Jimenez found a single up the middle, but Maldonado grounded out.

…and then the Loggers loaded the bases like nothing with nobody out in the eighth. Cruz and Brayboy singled off Alex Ramirez, leftover from the seventh, and when Zack Kelly came in against PH Jonathan Fleming, he nailed him. Jared Paul grounded out to first, advancing everybody and plating a run, but crucially Hertenstein popped out foul behind home plate on a 3-2 pitch. The Loggers weren’t gonna hit for Ted Del Vecchio, so the Raccoons sent Josh Rella in their second double switch of the game, voiding Jimenez from the #2 hole and putting Yamamoto in at #5 (second in the bottom 8th). Most importantly, Rella got a grounder from dismal Del Vecchio to Carreno, ending the inning on a 4-3 play. Nick Valdes applauded enthusiastically, though not so much when Yamamoto axed Fernandez’ leadoff single in the bottom 8th with a 4-6-3 double play grounder. At least Rella got three more outs in due time… 3-2 Critters. Maldonado 2-4; Fernandez 4-4, HR, RBI;

Slightly overjoyed in victory and perhaps as a reaction on the sleeping pills, Nick Valdes heartily embraced me after the game and snarled that I would have to meet his good business friends one day, like Igor, the Nagorno-Karabkhian, and especially “One-Eyed Joe”.

But only if we won the rubber game! Only then I’d be worthy.

That made it hard to root for Brent Clark…

Game 3
MIL: 2B J. Cruz – LF Serad – 3B Paul – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – CF Borchard – C F. Gomez – P S. Chavez
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Nettles – 1B Yamamoto – SS Gutierrez – C Sieber – P Clark

With me meeting some “businessman” from Nagorno-Karabakh on the line, the Raccoons found offense in an unlikely spot, as Sean Sieber drew a walk in the bottom of the third inning, then scored on Arturo Carreno’s homer to left for the first two runs in the rubber game. Brent Clark meanwhile was far from great, but didn’t allow a hit through four innings, but also allowed a run in the fourth inning. He nailed Jared Paul, walked Brayboy, they pulled off a double steal, and got the run on – of course – a Del Vecchio sac fly, but that left the Critters up 2-1 still. Of course then Sal Chavez had the first Loggers hit, a single up the middle – although the Coons were not off that badly, given that Chavez had given himself a win with a home run on Monday. Cruz and Serad then made outs, one to Manny, and one by flailing. Instead, Sean Sieber homered to right in the bottom of the inning, 3-1! Following inning, Nettles tripled home Maldonado with two outs, reaching a 4-1 score, but was stranded. The Loggers walked Yamamoto intentionally, then got Omar Gutierrez on a flyout to right.

Brent Clark made it through eight innings and never gave up a base hit to a position player and held his end in the box score, although it was less pretty with your own eyeballs, with numerous deep fly balls against him – they were all caught, including one off Adam Borchard’s bat where he bounced off the fence in rightfield. Clark was on 106 pitches through eight innings, and Josh Rella was not available, *and* Brayboy led off the ninth inning from the left side. The Raccoons scratched themselves behind their ears with their hindpaws, then sent Clark back out there just to see after Brayboy. He got a K on seven pitches. Then Seth Green, most rested righty, got the ball to get two outs before he’d give up three runs. He struck out Hertenstein, but walked Del Vecchio. Borchard, though, grounded out to Carreno. 4-1 Coons. Nettles 2-3, 3B, RBI; Sieber 1-2, BB, HR, RBI; Clark 8.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (3-2) and 1-3;

In other news

May 12 – Tijuana’s INF Sergio Barcia (.209, 1 HR, 11 RBI) becomes the fourth CL player to hit three triples in a game, as part of a 5-hit, 5-RBI effort in a 10-8 loss to the Rebels, as if that wasn’t enough.
May 12 – Boston INF Thomas Greeley (.233, 1 HR, 7 RBI) lands his first major league home run for the only run in the Titans’ 1-0 win over the Stars.
May 13 – The Wolves expect 1B Bill Jenkins (.256, 8 HR, 20 RBI) to miss three weeks with a strained hip muscle.
May 13 – The Loggers land 15 hits and draw 11 walks in a 20-5 rout of the Warriors. Valentino Sicco (.295, 2 HR, 14 RBI) and Aaron Brayboy (.310, 6 HR, 29 RBI) both have three hits and four RBI.
May 16 – The Condors trade SP Josh Long (3-0, 3.48 ERA) to the first-place Gold Sox for five prospects, none of them appreciably ranked.
May 17 – The Cyclones split a double-header with the Miners on Sunday, and CIN 3B Jesus Burgos (.404, 1 HR, 23 RBI) splits his hitting too, getting a hit in the first game, but not the second, and ending his hitting streak at 35 games. The streak ties him for the seventh-longest all time, and the longest since Danny Serrano’s 39-game hitting streak in 2023.

FL Player of the Week: RIC RF Chris Robinson (.310, 3 HR, 13 RBI), batting .533 (8-15) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT C Jesus Adames (.317, 8 HR, 23 RBI), hitting .364 (8-22) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Yaay…! (claps paws with fake glee) I get to meet Igor, the Nagorno-Karabakhian. Thanks, Nick! Thanks, Brent! Thanks, Sean! – They’re gonna get rid of me, Maud, aren’t they?

Very mixed week, 3-3 in the W-L columns, and more runs allowed than scored. It was especially not a great week for the pitchers, with almost everybody delivering a clunker (including Clark on Tuesday). Wheatley was perhaps merely unlucky. He still soaked a loss. Well, he’ll get a shot at the last-place Indians on Monday.

We still have the best defense in the league, and our starters and relievers are both in the top 3 by ERA. That’s something! … and we’re only ninth in runs scored, which is perhaps a greater issue when your team is only three games out of first place. Theoretically, while the damn Elks are bumbling as they are, the Raccoons are competing at this stage. But to compete, we actually need offense. First, short, backstop are weak spots. Manny with his .255 BABIP is slowly coming out of a hole, but Waltz is probably getting axed before long. Same for Gutierrez, although he at least has a lefty bat.

We did have three rightfield candidates in AAA, all hitting *something*. Jose Casas was the youngest and the only switch-hitter, batting .289/.373/.482. But there was no sneezing at the two right-handers, Gene Pellicano (.310/.358/.397) and Juan Rosario (.258/.395/.419) either. Perhaps an on-base guy wasn’t what we needed. But nobody had more homers than Casas (only 3) either… Only Rosario was on the 40-man roster, having been claimed off waivers by the Gold Sox in March. The other two had been traded for in July last year.

Fun Fact: The list of CL players to hit three triples in a game includes a Hall of Famer, Martin Ortíz.

Ortíz did the honors on July 30, 2007, the year he won his second Player of the Year award and his first World Series ring at age 27. He would end up with six each of either sort in a career that saw him hit .294/.398/.465 with 377 homers and 1,670 RBI, princely for the Crusaders, who claimed him off waivers from the Loggers on April 14, 2001.