[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-28) vs. Titans (30-25) – June 8-11, 2043

The Raccoons returned home after a good waffling in Elk City, finding the Titans in for four games. Boston had lost four in a row, and were now four games out in the division. They ranked fifth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed with a modest +14 run differential (Coons: -5). We led the season series, 2-1, and hoped to stay afloat against the Titans that came in without Moises Avila, who was out with a torn quad. They were also without starting pitchers “Tuba” Turner and Ignacio del Rio, tearing a good-sized hole into their rotation.

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (5-3, 3.78 ERA) vs. Michael Donovan (6-1, 4.84 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-7, 3.50 ERA) vs. Nick Myers (4-3, 3.72 ERA)
Corey Mathers (7-4, 2.80 ERA) vs. Emanuel Caceiro (4-4, 5.40 ERA)
Cory Lambert (1-5, 3.96 ERA) vs. Jamal Barrow (0-5, 6.40 ERA)

That would be two left-handers mixed in with two standard-fare right-handers. Donovan and Caceiro would be the lefties. The latter was an occasional reliever of three seasons being squished into a starter role here.

Game 1
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – C D. Phillips – LF C. Cortes – 3B I. Lugo – CF Tortora – 1B Greeley – 2B Bensinger – P Donovan
POR: 2B de Wit – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Yamamoto – SS Castro – RF Casas – P Clark

Oscar Aguirre and Joe Ritchey opened with a pair of singles, but Clark struck out Devin Phillips and got a double play grounder from Carlos Cortes, who I was happy to see had yet to hit his way out of a milk carton in Raccoons Ballpark. Instead the Critters scored first on Ricky Jimenez’ solo homer to left-center in the bottom of the first. That was Portland’s only hit the first time through against Donovan, who retired 11 in a row before Manny hit a 2-out single in the fourth. Kilmer grounded out to end that inning. Boston only got another hit and a leadoff walk in the fourth inning off Clark through the middle of the fifth, so the 1-0 lead was holding up… yet. The bushel of Joses at the bottom of the order stirred Donovan in the bottom 5th, though, with Jose Castro hitting a single through the right side, while Jose Casas hit a long fly to left – and that was outta here! First career homer for Jose Casas, and lifting his batting average all the way to a lofty… .171!

Clark issued two walks in the sixth inning, but the Titans continued to struggle with actual meaningful contact, though I didn’t approve of his teasing antics. Didn’t give up a run though, ending up with four hits in seven shutout innings, so I’d take that and shut up. Jon Craig faced the top of the order in the eighth inning and walked Phillips, but Cortes reliably grounded out again, keeping Boston shut out through eight. Donovan held out through eight innings on the losing side, only yielding six hits to the Critters in total, the last of which was a pinch-hit single by Nick Lando in the bottom 8th that dissolved in Jimenez’ grounder for a 6-4-3. Rella also walked a batter in the ninth, putting Cullen Tortora on base with one out, but otherwise got three manageable outs from the Titans. 3-0 Coons. Lando (PH) 1-1; Fernandez 1-2, BB; Clark 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, W (6-3);

Game 2
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – C D. Phillips – 1B C. Cortes – CF Tortora – 3B I. Lugo – LF Liceaga – 2B Bensinger – P N. Myers
POR: RF Nettles – 3B Jimenez – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – SS Castro – C Sieber – 2B Gutierrez – CF Anderson – P Wheatley

Wheatley had another first inning that was … “complicated”. Aguirre walked, Ritchey singled, and Phillips doubled in a run before he even got an out, and that out was a sac fly. Down 2-0, he somehow wiggled out against the bottom half of the order, but not without walking the bases full, and the first impression once again was rather rough. He retired the first two in the second inning on strikeouts, then walked Ritchey and allowed singles to Phillips and Cortes, the latter driving in another run, 3-0. Jason Bensinger would make it 4-0 with a homer in the third inning. The Coons didn’t even get a base hit until the fourth inning, when Maldo and Manny hit a pair of 1-out singles, and nothing came of it once Castro bounced into a double play.

After the four runs in three innings, Wheatley managed another three scoreless in the middle innings, but after that was done with the game, having tossed 95 pitches, none of them all that amazing… Also not amazing was the offense, shut out through five, but a Danny Liceaga error in leftfield got Stephon Nettles on base to begin the bottom 6th. Jimenez popped out, but Maldo walked and Manny ripped a ball to the base of the wall in leftfield for an RBI double, and we had actually made it on the board…! The tying run was also at home plate now, but Jose Castro had yet to do anything other than harm to his own team and – holy mother of cows, what a shot to right! And outta here! Game-tying 3-run homer!!

With Wheatley off the hook, the ball went to Alex Ramirez in a 4-4 tie, and he retired the Titans 1-2-3 in the seventh. Myers held out into the bottom 7th, but after Nettles and Jimenez reached on walks, was yanked with two outs for Joe West, who got a groundout from Maldonado to end the inning. Chuck Jones did a 1-2-3 in the eighth, then saw Manny and Castro go to the corners with leadoff singles in the bottom 8th. Sieber poked the 1-2 from West to shallow center, and it dropped just in front of the hustling Tortora for an RBI single …! The inning was then killed by Gutierrez (K) and Anderson (4-6-3), giving the ball to Josh Rella for the ninth again. This one he blew, giving up a pinch-hit homer to Adrian Wade with one out… I sighed, and sought solace in Capt’n Coma. Aguirre and Ritchey made outs to keep the game tied at five, while Jay de Wit, facing Jose Colon, opened the bottom 9th with a single to left-center; he had pinch-hit for the pitcher earlier and had remained in the game over Jimenez, so Rella was in the #2 hole after Nettles, who grounded to Aguirre for a force at second base. Yamamoto hit for Rella, but hit into another force play at second. Maldonado was next and hit a loud fly to right. Very loud! Very fly! Outta here!! It’s a walkoff!!! 7-5 Furballs!! Maldonado 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Fernandez 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Castro 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Sieber 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Maldonado!!

Sometimes I just love the guys. That might be the Capt’n Coma overdose speaking.

Game 3
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – C D. Phillips – 1B C. Cortes – CF Tortora – 3B I. Lugo – LF Liceaga – 2B Bensinger – P Caceiro
POR: LF de Wit – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – 1B Yamamoto – SS Castro – RF Casas – 2B Lando – P Mathers

Maldonado’s star sunk again in the first on Wednesday, striking out with de Wit (single) and Jimenez (double) in scoring position, the first of three acts on the way to stranding the no-out runners in scoring position. Kilmer also whiffed, and Yamamoto floated out to Ritchey. Both teams poked away at each other inefficiently after that, with Mathers remaining stunningly resilient to the opposition, before the Coons put something on the board in the fourth inning. Castro drew a 1-out walk, and Ivan Lugo’s error put Casas on base, too. Nick Lando came to the plate, not burdened by any expectations, but clipped a single over Jason Bensinger to drive in Castro, who got a great read, from second base …! Him and Casas then pulled off a double steal before we wasted an out with a bunt, and Mathers hit a sac fly on a 2-2 pitch instead. De Wit grounded out, keeping it a 2-0 game. Somehow that woke up the Titans though, and a Lugo double and a Bensinger single scored them a run in the fifth inning.

Caceiro began the bottom 5th by hitting Jimenez really hard, but the Cuban rookie import eventually stork-walked his way to first base eventually. He then had a lot of time to score when Maldonado hit a replica of his walkoff the night before, a 2-piece to right that extended the lead to 4-1 and made me pretty giddy. Kilmer hit a double to right-center after that, but would be stranded by the mixed bag that was the 5-6-7 positions. Aguirre’s leadoff double and two productive outs then gave the Titans another run in the sixth as Mathers started to show some more cracks. He was clearly running out of funk by the seventh (not out of pitches though, only reaching the 80s); Tortora led off with a sharp single, and Lugo grounded out, but we had a hunch and sent Zack Kelly with the left-handed Liceaga up as the tying run. Kelly got the K, then immediately left for Ramirez, who popped up Bensinger to end the inning. Kilmer hit another double that went nowhere in the bottom of the inning, but so did Ritchey’s 2-out double off Ramirez in the eighth, and the Coons remained up 4-2.

Manny, who had this game off in a longer string of games with the lefty on he mound and all, pinch-hit in the bottom 8th after the runts of the litter, Casas and Lando, had slapped 1-out singles off Joe West, but grounded to short for an inning-curtailing double play. The Coons then needed a save, but Rella was not available after getting two opportunities in the last two games (and blowing one). After the right-hander Cortes, the Titans seemed to bring up three left-handed bats, so we rolled the dice and sent Chuck Jones. Cortes grounded out, but the left-handed Tortora singled through the left side. PH Paul Kuehn, switch-hitter, flew out to rather deep center. PH Tony Graham came up with two outs, still batting lefty (otherwise we might have gone to Craig). Kilmer was charged with a passed ball before Jones gave up an RBI single to Graham on 2-2, aaaand here was Jon Craig! Bensinger struck out to give Craig the save. 4-3 Coons. Jimenez 2-4; Kilmer 2-4, 2 2B; Lando 2-4, RBI; Mathers 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (8-4);

Could we actually pull off a 4-game sweep and hand the Titans an 8-game losing streak? That would require Cory Lambert to keep his stuff together.

Game 4
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – C D. Phillips – 1B C. Cortes – CF Tortora – 3B I. Lugo – LF Liceaga – 2B Bensinger – P Barrow
POR: 3B de Wit – RF Nettles – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 1B Yamamoto – 2B Gutierrez – SS Castro – P Lambert

Maldonado kept raking with utter disregard for pitchers’ feelings, hitting a solo shot to left in the first inning for an early 1-0 lead. Manny then walked and was caught stealing, which was too bad, considering Kilmer then hit his home run leadoff the bottom 2nd for only one more run. The Titans soon got to Lambert though, using the tried and tested strategy of walk, single, 3-run blast by Oscar Aguirre to take the lead in the third inning as Lambert was not really holding his end of the sweep calculation. The Coons couldn’t do much besides homering, and somehow the same was true for the Titans; the next run-scoring event besides a lot of poor outs was a Ritchey homer to left, 4-2 in the fifth, and then a Tortora homer in the sixth, leading off that inning. Doubles by Lugo (off Lambert) and Bensinger (off Seth Green) gave the Titans the first non-homer run in the game in the same inning, extending their lead to 6-2. The Raccoons got a non-homer hit in the bottom of the sixth, Nettles hitting an RBI single to plate de Wit, who had reached on a Bensinger error and advanced on a wild pitch. The middle of the order was no help until Kilmer hit an RBI single, 6-4, but Yamamoto popped out to end the inning.

Green pitched 2.2 innings without being charged with a run of his own, but also bunted into a double play to erase Castro in the bottom 7th. Nettles walked in the bottom 8th, then was thrown out at home by Mark Vermillion from centerfield on a Maldo double, and the inning ended with the Raccoons not scoring at all, which sucked. Sauerkraut pitched a scoreless ninth despite giving up a triple to Aguirre, which got Jose Colon back in the game for the bottom 9th. Their lead was still two runs, but the Raccoons would also cart up the bottom half of the order starting with Kilmer, who singled to left. Yamamoto hit a chopper on a 3-1 pitch, which made me groan, but it eluded Lugo for a single, which made me quiver and squeal immediately. And somehow they kept bobbling onwards, even when Omar Gutierrez fell to 0-2. The third pitch by Colon was taken into the gap for an RBI double …! So now the tying run was at third and the winning run at second base, and still nobody out…! Castro *also* fell to 0-2, then hit a long fly to right, but that was not gonna go out. Ritchey caught it, and Yamamoto scampered home to tie the game. Gutierrez crucially reached third base. Ricky Jimenez would hit for Sauerkraut here, but was walked intentionally. De Wit was up next, faced new pitcher Justin Johns, and hit a liner up the middle – AND BENSINGER CAUGHT IT!! NOOOO!!! Jimenez off the base! NOOOO!!! He was doubled off with ease, and the Titans sent the game to extras.

Zack Kelly walked Lugo, but got a double play grounder to get through the top 10th, and would tack on another inning, when the Coons’ 2-3-4 went 1-2-3 in the bottom 10th. The Coons still didn’t reach against Danny Tirado in the 11th, and when Kelly returned for the 12th he was taken deep by Paul Kuehn. Castro would lead off the bottom 12th against Tirado in the right-hander’s second inning of work. He drew a 4-pitch walk. Van Anderson and de Wit flew out, but Tirado allowed a soft single to Nettles, which brought up Maldonado with the chance to be a hero again. He fell to 1-2, then poked a roller up the middle that eluded the defenders and got Castro around to tie the game …! Manny then grounded out, extending the game to the 13th.

The Titans opened that inning with a Wade double off Josh Rella, and went on to fill the bags with a walk drawn by Aguirre and an infield single by Ritchey with two outs, but Kuehn grounded out to Gutierrez on a 2-0 pitch to strand all the precious runners. Rella allowed a leadoff single in the 14th, then was lifted for Jones, who got through the inning despite a Wade single, stranding runners on the corners when Bensinger grounded out. The Coons got Jose Casas in has pinch-hitter with one out in the bottom 14th. He drew a walk, knocking out a remarkably persistent Tirado, who was then lifted for Guillermo Vinales. De Wit singled off the new righty, moving Casas to second base. Nettles and Maldonado both flew out to end the inning, and the game dragged on, with the Raccoons seriously out of pitchers. Craig came in for the 15th, with only Ramirez left in the pen, and he was technically not available unless things got really dire. Thankfully, Craig was a long guy. He walked Aguirre in the 15th, the runner stole second and reached third on Kilmer’s bad throw, but Craig also struck out three and the Titans didn’t score. Portland didn’t reach in the bottom 15th, and neither did the Titans in the top 16th. The Coons got Omar Gutierrez on base to begin the bottom 16th with an infield single, and also got Gutierrez off base because he tweaked a hamstring on the run. Nick Lando replaced him. Lando stole second base, but Castro struck out and Casas was walked intentionally. Jay de Wit singled to right-center (with the pitcher in the #2 hole behind him!), and it was late on Aruba, but a party broke out when Nick Lando rushed around third base and made for home plate in time ahead of Ritchey’s throw …! 8-7 Raccoons! Nettles 2-6, BB, RBI; Maldonado 3-6, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Kilmer 3-7, HR, 2 RBI; Casas (PH) 0-0, 2 BB; Green 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Craig 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2-0);

Kinda pyrrhic, this win, but I’ll take a 4-game sweep of the Boston Boogers!

We can always figure the rest out in the short night following this W.

Raccoons (31-28) vs. Pacifics (34-26) – June 12-14, 2043

The Pacifics were third in the FL West, 3 1/2 games out of first. The name fo their game was pitching and defense, with the fewest runs allowed in the FL, while they were only eighth in runs scored. It was all enough for a +40 run differential (Coons: +2). They were down at least one good starting pitcher in Al Scott, though, and their offense mostly relied on Juan Benavides (.367, 11 HR, 28 RBI). The Critters had won the last five series against them, the last two in sweeps; we hadn’t played them since 2040, we hadn’t lost a game to them since 2037, and we hadn’t lost a series to them since 2034.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (4-6, 5.71 ERA) vs. Joe Feltman (3-6, 3.92 ERA)
Brent Clark (6-3, 3.42 ERA) vs. Kevin Clendenen (7-4, 2.67 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-7, 3.71 ERA) vs. Mike LeMasters (7-2, 3.19 ERA)

Looked like a Southpaw Sunday coming up here! They had been off on Thursday, though, and had the option to skip a guy. LeMasters, a 26-year-old that had broken out last year, was their only southpaw.

Which got us to the state of the Raccoons’ bullpen. Even generously calculated, we had only four relievers available. Chuck Jones had pitched three days in a row. Zack Kelly and Jon Craig had pitched back-to-back, with long stints on Thursday. None of the three were available. If Jackson blew up early again, it was probably his soup alone to spoon out…

Apart from that, Omar Gutierrez was day-to-day with the hammy thing, which would probably bother him all weekend. The Coons had to play six more games before they’d get an off day, with regulars Maldonado and Castro yet to get a day off. The former would spot the latter (who would have been replaced by Gutierrez sans hamstring) to open the series, then probably get the other game against a righty off.

Game 1
LAP: LF Foss – 1B Wotring – 3B Bowman – RF Benavides – C Alvardo – 2B S. Pena – CF T. Romero – SS J. Rodriguez – P Feltman
POR: 2B de Wit – 3B Jimenez – SS Maldonado – LF Fernandez – CF Nettles – C Sieber – RF Casas – 1B Yamamoto – P Jackson

Jackson’s early innings filled me with much foreboding and soon enough Capt’n Coma, and that was without him actually allowing runs amidst three sharp singles and a nicked batter (Brian Bowman) in the first two innings. Tony Romero, briefly a Critter, had one of the singles, but was doubled off by Jon Rodriguez. The Raccoons had Maldo on with a single in the first, then got Sieber and Casas into scoring position with a single and a double in the bottom 2nd, all with one out. Shuta Yamamoto briefly stopped being useless and ripped a 3-2 pitch over Bowman for a 2-run double, then was stranded on second base.

Jackson put another two runners on base in the third without conceding a run, but I didn’t see this ending well at all. Even when Jimenez erred on base in the bottom 3rd and Maldonado homered to center, continuing a run in which he was simply en fuego, and extended the lead to 4-0… even then I was somehow sure that Jackson would yet blow up and blow it… and YET, he pitched five scoreless innings. Maldonado slapped a double to center in the fifth, getting to within a triple of the cycle by then. Manny walked after that, but Nettles popped out. Two down, Sean Sieber hit a liner into the gap in left-center. Maldo scored on the double, but Manny got a bad read and stopped at third base. Feltman walked Jose Casas to fill the bases, and Yamamoto had been helpful enough and popped out, keeping things at 5-0.

Then Jackson loaded the bases in the sixth. David Alvardo and Sergio Pena hit singles, and Romero walked, all with one out. The Coons would have been tempted to go to a reliever, but couldn’t afford it. Rodriguez grounded to second for an out there, but one run scored. Jon Sullivan then pinch-hit for Feltman and grounded out to Maldo. Jackson hit for himself to lead off the bottom of the inning, grounding out, then allowed another two 1-out singles to Wotring and Bowman in the seventh. Benavides struck out, and Alvardo grounded out to Yamamoto to end the inning – the last one for Jackson, who had been shoved around quite a bit, but still had only allowed one run. Maldo came to bat in the bottom 7th, but grounded out. The Raccoons had to be bold after that and went to Sauerkraut for the eighth and maybe even ninth…? He sure enough entered in a double switch that replaced Nettles with Van Anderson in center to make sure he’d not have to be pinch-hit for. He issued a walk to Romero in the eighth, but retired the Pacifics otherwise, and began the ninth with a K to ex-Elk Aaron Foss in the #1 spot. A walk to Wotring didn’t help, but Bowman’s grounder at least removed the lead runner. Benavides was up with two outs, but was a lefty hitter, and the Coons had no other lefty relievers available. Josh Rella was ready to come in to face Alvardo if Sauerkraut couldn’t remove Benavides – but Benavides struck out. 5-1 Raccoons. Jimenez 2-4; Maldonado 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-3, BB; Sieber 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Jackson 7.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (5-6); Becker 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

In turn, Sauerkraut was now unavailable for the Saturday game, but some luck with a total of 14 Pacifics on base meant that we managed to regain most of our bullpen for the middle game of the series.

Game 2
LAP: SS Hunter – 1B Wotring – 3B Bowman – RF Benavides – C Alvardo – CF T. Romero – LF J. Sullivan – 2B Visser – P Clendenen
POR: 2B de Wit – SS Castro – 3B Jimenez – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Nettles – RF Casas – 1B Yamamoto – P Clark

There were three base runners against Brent Clark the first time through, none on a base hit. Clark walked two, and de Wit made an error at second base for another runner, but the Pacifics didn’t score again. The Coons scored, in the bottom 2nd: Manny led off with a single, stole a base, Kilmer reached on a Bowman error, and Stephon Nettles found an RBI single in his bat for the first run of the game. Clenenden then struck out the two hopeless talents at the bottom of the order and got a groundout from Clark to escape the inning. The lead didn’t last, being erased on the Pacifics’ first hit of the game, an Alvardo homer in the fourth.

That was the only hit off Clark, who lasted only six innings, rubbing himself to little bits in a myriad of long at-bats in the middle innings. He would strike out nine and issue four walks. His bid for something countable in the W-L columns depended on offense in the bottom 6th, with the tied game seeing Castro singling and Jimenez doubling with one out. Both were in scoring position for Manny Fernandez, who hit a sac fly to get the go-ahead run across. Kilmer grounded out. Seth Green retired the 7-8-9 in order in the seventh inning to keep the 2-1 in order, but Ramirez had more trouble in the eighth. Tony Hunter, also a former Raccoon, hit a leadoff single to left-center, but was forced out by Wotring. With one out, Bowman drew a walk in a full count *and* Benavides was up! Not willing to go to a still tuckered-out Chuck Jones in that spot, the Coons let Ramirez do as he wished, which included getting to 1-2 on Benavides, who then smoked a liner – RIGHT INTO YAMAMOTO’S MITTEN!! And Bowman was caught off base and doubled off, 3-unassisted, to end the inning…! PHEW.

Van Anderson had entered in a double switch with Ramirez, then led off the bottom 8th with a homer off Clendenen, his first this year and second for his career. That was a welcome insurance run before the game was turned over to Josh Rella in the ninth, facing the 5-6-7 batters. He had Alvardo at 1-2 before nailing him, inviting the tying run to the plate. Foss batted for Romero, but grounded out, and Jon Sullivan whiffed. Jon St. Pierre pinch-hit for Preston Visser, ran a 3-1 count… and then undramatically grounded out to Yamamoto to end the game. 3-1 Critters. Anderson 1-1, HR, RBI; Clark 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 9 K, W (7-3);

This was the first game Maldonado did not appear in this season.

Game 3
LAP: LF Foss – CF T. Romero – 3B Bowman – RF Benavides – C Alvardo – 2B S. Pena – 1B J. Sullivan – SS Visser – P LeMasters
POR: C Sieber – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – SS Castro – 1B Yamamoto – RF Casas – 2B Lando – P Wheatley

Portland took a lead in the second inning again, with Yamamoto doubling into the corner in rightfield, then scoring on productive outs, Nick Lando’s sac fly in particular. Wheatley scattered three singles in the first four innings and struck out two, which was not outlandish, but surely pointed more in the right direction for him. That was until Lando threw away Sergio Pena’s grounder to begin the fifth inning, putting a free tying run on second base. Wheatley almost immediately faltered, nicked Preston Visser after Sullivan grounded out, and walked the opposing pitcher to fill the bags with one down and the top of the order approaching. Wheatley was attempted to be calmed down in a big mound conference, then saw Aaron Foss pop out in foul ground on an 0-1 pitch. Romero grounded one to Yamamoto… and Yamamoto botched it …! Nooo..!! Error, and the tying run scored. Bowman grounded out, but it was now a 1-1 game, the L.A. run being doubly-unearned.

Tattered Raccoons… although maybe they just looked tattered after I had exed an entire bottle of Capt’n Coma, cockroach included… continued to play, although they didn’t score any time soon. Wheatley remained on the millstone for 107 pitches and seven innings of 4-hit ball, and if not for that completely botched fifth inning would still be in line for a W. The Coons could still get him back in line, but had the bottom of the order up in the seventh, still facing LeMasters, also on a 4-hitter in the 1-1 game… but they actually did it! Jose Casas drew a leadoff walk, moved up on Lando’s grounder, and then came around on a pinch-hit single to left-center by Jay de Wit, leading to a carnival in Oranjestad. That 2-1 was all they got, though, and then it was off to the pen with Jon Craig and Chuck Jones, who combined for the eighth inning, then saw Jose Castro hit another late solo homer off a persisting starting pitcher to make it 3-1 again in the bottom 8th. Jones remained in the game for the ninth initially, facing off against left-hander Sergio Pena, who grounded out to Castro. Only then game Josh Rella against righty hitters. He walked Sullivan in a full count, causing me to groan, but Sullivan was forced out with Rodriguez’ grounder to short. St. Pierre batted with two outs in the ninth again, this time for LeMasters, and I hoped he’d end another game. He did – flying out to Jose Casas on the warning track while I squealed. 3-1 Raccoons! Yamamoto 1-2, BB, 2B; de Wit (PH) 1-1, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-7) and 1-2;

In other news

June 8 – 35-year-old CIN 2B/3B Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (.388, 0 HR, 17 RBI) sprinkles four hits in a 5-4 win over the Capitals, the last of which is the 3,000th of his career, which started with those Capitals in 2027, and the milestone is a seventh-inning single off WAS SP Kyle Dominy (1-2, 5.48 ERA). Owner of eight stolen base titles and leading the Federal League in base hits (but not batting) three times, Trevino has batted .320/.364/.408 with 44 HR and 923 RBI for his career. His 707 stolen bases rank him second all-time behind Pablo Sanchez, with only 14 to go to tie the retired future Hall of Famer.
June 9 – DAL 2B Hugo Acosta (.392, 1 HR, 33 RBI) gets his hitting streak to 25 games with a sixth-inning triple in a 5-4 win over the Pacifics.

June 10 – The Canadiens will be without 2B Dan Schneller (.328, 9 HR, 35 RBI) for a month; the 35-year-old is out with a torn quad.
June 10 – NAS LF/RF/1B Sean Ashley (.308, 8 HR, 21 RBI) goes down with a torn meniscus and might miss up to three months.
June 11 – RIC OF/1B Alex Marquez (.270, 5 HR, 27 RBI) is going to miss a month with a strained hammy.
June 11 – Warriors 1B/2B Dustin Fruman (.234, 3 HR, 23 RBI) is out for the season with a torn posterior cruciate ligament.
June 11 – The Indians scalp the Canadiens in a 22-7 rout. IND 3B Dan Hutson (.252, 15 HR, 37 RBI) and C Jason Rose (.238, 4 HR, 20 RBI) drive in five runs each, and RF/2B/3B Alex Sanderfer (.162, 2 HR, 10 RBI) finds four hits and four RBI in his bat.

June 12 – SAC RF/LF Joreao Porfirio (.230, 6 HR, 18 RBI) has torn a meniscus and will miss a month.
June 12 – DAL OF/1B/3B Ricky Correa (.340, 5 HR, 45 RBI) has four hits and five RBI to lead his team in a 16-5 rush of the Condors.
June 13 – The hitting streak of Dallas’ 2B Hugo Acosta (.390, 1 HR, 37 RBI) ends at 27 games with an 0-for-3 in a 6-2 loss to the Condors.
June 13 – SFB SP Rafael Pedraza (4-8, 4.01 ERA) 3-hits the Blue Sox while claiming a 4-0 shutout win.
June 14 – Salem SP Ryan Bedrosian (5-4, 3.06 ERA) pitches a 3-hit shutout against the Indians. The Wolves win 4-0.
June 14 – The Buffaloes trade C Tony Morales (.339, 3 HR, 16 RBI) to the Falcons for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: RIC LF/RF Pablo Gonzalez (.384, 15 HR, 43 RBI), batting .467 (14-30) with 4 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR UT Jesus Maldonado (.343, 11 HR, 42 RBI), slugging .417 (10-24) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Maldo! Second week in a row he notches the CL Player of the Week flower bouquet!

What the heck is this team? So terrible against losing teams, and now a 7-0 week against genuine teams that are at least on the fringe of serious competition?? 7-0! That doesn’t happen all the time!

And yet I don’t know how they’re doing it. Maldonado is OPS’ing a solid 1 by now, and apart from that? Sieber has a .833 OPS in limited action. Only Carreno (on DL though), Jimenez, and Manny Fernandez are even over .700. So we’re still in the bottom three in runs scored, plating only 33 runs even in a 7-0 week. The rest was all pitching, best defense, best pen, and a rotation that was at least competent and fifth in ERA.

The Raccoons could use a rightfielder that can hit at least a little bit. A right-hander for sure, maybe for an off-kilter platoon with Nettles. Never mind the constant disappointments by big name additions. An Eddie Jackson type of bat would already be a tremendous addition. Although, to be honest, I wasn’t exactly married to Stephon Nettles; a left-handed batter wouldn’t be the worst addition. On the trading block was 36-year-old Federal League stalwart Kyle Weinstein, hitting .240/.353/.459 (in 39 starts) on the last-place Caps. He was old and slow, but he could still hit. The problem was that he made $3.8M a year not only this year, but also next year (no option). Next year, my math says, and Cristiano confirms, he’ll be 37. Older, and slower. On the plus side, the Caps would give him away almost for free. Something like Seth Green or a stuck AAA outfielder like Ben Southall would be entirely enough for him.

So what’s next? We’ll go on the road to Richmond and Indy next week, then return home for a Loggers set before skipping down to The Bay for a weekend series before returning home immediately, hosting the Condors and (again) Titans in the next homestand long enough to get every starter a turn.

Curiosity: Jay de Wit’s pinch-hit single on Sunday secured the franchise’s 5,555th regular season win.

Fun Fact: Cosmo Trevino and Kyle Dominy were teammates on the 2040 Raccoons, which didn’t exactly get them into the history books.

So they teamed up for Cosmo’s 3,000th career hit. Fair game, boys! Fair game.

Cosmooo…! (sigh)