[Westheim]

Raccoons (37-31) vs. Loggers (41-28) – June 22-24, 2043

The Loggers had snuck their way into first place in the division, and had stormed to first place in runs scored in the Continental League as well. Pitching-wise they were seventh, with a +52 run differential (Critters: +12). The season series was even at three. They had no injuries to bemoan, but the Raccoons got to activate Arturo Carreno on Monday and optioned Nick Lando back to St. Petersburg, so Nelson Moreno was now the only Raccoon on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Cory Lambert (1-5, 4.26 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (6-3, 3.64 ERA)
Jake Jackson (6-6, 4.96 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (3-9, 5.61 ERA)
Brent Clark (7-4, 3.48 ERA) vs. Bobby Freels (5-3, 5.13 ERA)

We definitely got the soft end of their rotation, though; and also three right-handers. Thursday would be our last off day before the All Star Game.

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

The brief homestand began with a scoreless top 1st despite an Aaron Brayboy double to right, but the Raccoons scored a 2-out run in the bottom 1st, Maldo hitting a double to center and Many singling him home. The bottom 2nd then began with three singles by the 6-7-8 batters, stacking the bases for… Lambert. Cory Lambert had no hits and no RBI on the season, but slapped away at the first pitch and got it through between Jose Cruz and Ted Del Vecchio for a 2-run single…! Piedra faced only one more batter before being replaced for injury concerns; Adam Giovenco replaced him and gave up another run on Sal Ayala’s groundout. Lambert held the Loggers in check early on, although he also ran four full counts in three innings to explode his pitch counts northwards. The Raccoons meanwhile got Lambert, Carreno, and Maldonado on base to give Manny a thick chance with three on and two outs in the bottom 4th. Manny fired a ball into the gap in left-center that ran away from Jonathan Fleming for a bases-clearing double, and when Ricky Jimenez popped out to Daniel Hertenstein in shallow right, the Coons had a 7-0 lead through four innings.

The Loggers reached the board though by the fifth, with Jose Cruz hitting a 2-out RBI single to score dismal Ted Del Vecchio, who had reached on a full-count walk. In the sixth, Lambert allowed a leadoff walk to Bill Reeves, then a bomb to Valentino Sicco, 7-3. His pitch count also reached the 90s by this point. He would not retire another hitter, conceding a double to Brayboy and an RBI single to Hertenstein, then was yanked for Seth Green (in a double switch that put Omar Gutierrez at short), who secured three outs from the next three Loggers. The cookie continued to crumble, though. Green put two aboard in the seventh, and Chuck Jones came on to face Aaron Brayboy, but gave up a 2-run double to left. Hertenstein walked before Jared Paul struck out, but the score was now 7-6.

Jimenez and Nettles reached base in the bottom 7th, but de Wit lined out and Gutierrez flew out to deep left. In the eighth, the tying run reached when ******* Ted Del Vecchio legged out an infield single and got all the way to third base, but eventually Sauerkraut – in an unusually crucial situation – was called upon to face PH Brad Simon and secured a K that ended the inning. Bottom 8th, Carreno drew a walk from right-hander Ron Purcell, then stole second. The Loggers issued an intentional walk to Maldonado (despite Manny having 4 RBI in the game), but then saw Carreno take off for third base. Sicco threw the ball away, the insurance run scored, and Purcell lost Manny on balls after that. Jimenez struck out, but Kilmer slashed an RBI single to the right side, 9-6, and Nettles dinked one into left, 10-6. Van Anderson hit for Sauerkraut, but grounded out, and then Zack Kelly got the ball for the ninth (although we should have left Sauerkraut in there with a 4-run lead, really…). At least Kelly retired the Loggers on three batters with a walk and a double play included. 10-6 Raccoons. Fernandez 2-4, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; Kilmer 2-4, BB, RBI; Nettles 3-5, RBI;

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

There as not a lot of offense to go around in the Tuesday game, however. Through four innings, the Coons had one hit and the Loggers had two. Ricky Jimenez had once been robbed in the gap by Reeves, and that was about it. Del Vecchio (…) and Sicco then hit 1-out singles to reach the corners in the fifth inning, but Jackson, who seemed to have left his explosive phase behind him, struck out both Cruz and the opposing pitcher – the latter only in a full count – to end the inning. In turn then, Sieber hit a leadoff double to right in the bottom 5th, and was thrown out at third base by Hertenstein. Nobody else did anything much in the inning anyway…

Jackson struck out seven through six innings, then led off the bottom 6th with an out. Carreno, though, drew a walk, then stole his 14th base of the year. Ayala’s groundout advanced him, while Maldonado again got directions to first base right away. The Loggers continued to pick their poison with Manny Fernandez, who grounded out to Brayboy. I sighed and dug myself deeper into a box of Danish waffles somebody had dragged in. They tasted stale, much like this game.

Jackson then got stuck in the seventh; Paul singled, Sicco and Cruz walked, and that filled the bags. He remained in against Chavez, who struck out, but with the switch-hitting Reeves back up with two outs was hauled in for Zack Kelly, who walked in the game’s first run before getting a groundout from PH Adam Borchard. (stuffs another three waffles into his snout) Mmm. Stale!

At least Jackson didn’t get stuck with a stupid loss; Nettles and Castro tied the game with back-to-back 2-out doubles in the bottom of the same inning. Jose Casas pinch-hit for Kelly, dinked a ball near the leftfield line, and the Coons took a 2-1 lead on the single. The Loggers hung in there with Chavez, who continued to give up a gapper for an RBI double to Carreno. Ayala then flew out to deep center. Up 3-1, the Raccoons then ****** up the lead without having the Loggers hit a baseball. Chuck Jones came for the eighth, walked two, and departed. In came Seth Green, who walked Paul, Simon, and Sicco, tying the game, and departed, with three on and nobody out. In one of the more stunning collapses in recent times, Jon Craig waved in all the runs with a Jose Cruz single and a Felipe Gomez double, then retired the 1-2-3 batters while keeping those two stranded in scoring position. I could have been happier, though. Maldonado then led off the bottom 8th with a jack against Caleb Martin, narrowing the gap to 6-4. Martin walked Jimenez, but Sieber grounded into a double play. Nettles, Castro, and de Wit went down in order in the ninth. 6-4 Loggers. Maldonado 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Casas (PH) 1-1, RBI;

As far as stinking losses go, this one was pretty special.

Game 3
MIL: CF Reeves – 2B J. Cruz – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – 3B Paul – SS Del Vecchio – LF Borchard – C F. Gomez – P Freels
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 3B Jimenez – C Kilmer – SS Gutierrez – RF Casas – P Clark

The Loggers went up 1-0 in the rubber game when Bill Reeves hit a leadoff double off Brent Clark and Kilmer threw the ball away on his stolen base attempt for third base. It didn’t get any better after that; Freels hit a leadoff single in the third inning, which was bad enough, but Clark then walked three in a row to push him all the way around, and gave up additional runs on a single, a groundout, and a wild pitch. That buried the Raccoons five deep, and the game was more or less over. Clark walked Gomez and Cruz in the fourth inning, trying to dig an even deeper hole, but he defense kept **** together as far as **** was actually still holding together. The offense had yet to do *anything*. They had a hit here, a hit there, but it took CLARK batting with two outs in the bottom 5th and hitting a single to score Kilmer that they actually reached the board. Carreno flew out after that, and Clark was out of the game after retiring the 7-8-9 batters in order in the sixth.

Maldonado tripled with one out in the bottom 6th, but Manny lined out to Del Vecchio for more frustration. Ricky Jimenez’ homer to left-center helped, but only narrowed the score to 5-3. That brief reprieve aside, the Racoons continued to deliver a team effort in sucking the joy out of baseball. In the eighth, Sauerkraut was pitching. He struck out Paul, but then conceded a single to ******* Del Vecchio, then walked Borchard. For the second time in the game, a Logger took off for third base and Kilmer threw the ball away, conceding another run on an error. Gomez popped out and Simon struck out to strand another Loggers run at third base, but being down 6-3 on pitchers that couldn’t throw a strike and catchers that couldn’t throw the baseball vaguely near the third baseman was bad enough, and Maud had to fight me for the blunderbuss all the way through the bottom of the eighth, which saw Jimenez doubled home Maldonado, but being left on base by Kilmer and Nettles. Josh Rella had to pitch the top 9th in a losing cause. He fumbled Reeves aboard on the team’s third error of the game, but Kilmer got a caught stealing for a change and not just a parade of E’s when Reeves took off for second base. The Loggers didn’t score, giving righty Cesar Perez a 2-run lead for the bottom 9th. De Wit hit for Casas, but lined out, while Jose Castro singled up the middle. Carreno grounded out. Down to their last out, the Critters got Ayala on base with a blooper to right. The ball fell for a single, Castro scored, and Maldo was the winning run in the box. Van Anderson ran for Ayala, but Maldonado grounded out to short in a ful count, ending the game. 6-5 Loggers. Maldonado 2-5, 3B; Jimenez 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Castro 2-2;

(looks into the giant hole in the drywall with Maud) Well, at least the blunderbuss still works!

Raccoons (38-33) @ Bayhawks (39-34) – June 26-28, 2043

Nothing good had ever happened at the Bay; the series opened the 17-game string without another off day before the All Star Game. The Baybirds were second in the South, half a game out, and ranked fourth in runs scored and third in runs allowed. They had a +50 run differential. We had swept them the first time around, squeezing them out 7-3 in total runs in a 3-game set in April. The Bayhawks had some important injuries with SP Jose Moreno and INF Victor Acosta.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (4-7, 3.33 ERA) vs. Mike Mihalik (8-3, 2.94 ERA)
Corey Mathers (9-5, 3.03 ERA) vs. Miguel Alvarado (10-3, 2.17 ERA)
Cory Lambert (2-5, 4.48 ERA) vs. Noe Candeloro (5-6, 4.50 ERA)

Not only a Southpaw Sunday, but another left-hander on Saturday, with Alvarado sitting second by ERA in the ABL.

Game 1
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 3B de Wit – SS Castro – RF Nettles – P Wheatley
SFB: SS J. Gonzalez – 1B D. Cruz – 3B Sifuentes – LF Ju. Brito – CF Caldwell – C J. Hill – RF M. Hall – 2B B. Nelson – P Mihalik

Wheatley got whacked around in the first inning, issuing a walk to Danny Cruz and three singles after that, conceding as many runs in the process. To say that he didn’t fool anybody would have been a bit kind to him, but the Raccoons at least loaded the bases with nobody out (oh-oh) in the second inning. Manny and Kilmer hit singles, and de Wit reached when Mike Hall dropped his fly to right. Everybody advanced a station when Castro hit a clean single through the right side, Nettles hit a sac fly, and Wheatley bounced into a double play… he then also cluelessly shuffled the bags full in the bottom of the inning, issuing another two walks and a single to Hall, Bob Nelson, and Jorge Gonzalez, giving up a sac fly to Danny Cruz before Ramon Sifuentes hacked out. Carreno and Ayala opened the top 3rd with singles, but the meat of the order collectively crapped out, and nobody scored.

The score remained 4-2 through the completion of five innings, with Wheatley allowing another walk and one more single, but getting double plays both times from the Baybirds’ next hitter. The Raccoons had a Wheatley single to lead off the fifth… then nothing else. Manny began the sixth with a single, then advanced on Kilmer’s grounder to short, having been in motion on contact, which was probably all that avoided the double play. That turned into a run on de Wit’s single to center, and also to the local circus marching its elephants through the streets of Oranjestad. Castro’ pop and Nettles’ whiff ended the inning, though. Wheatley led off the seventh with another single, representing the tying run. Carreno struck out, but Ayala hit a double off the wall in right to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position…! Mihalik, reeling, walked Maldonado on five pitches to fill the bags for Manny, who looked ready to turn the game around, but popped out to shallow left, and Kilmer whiffed……

…which we took as sign by the baseball gods that the game was lost anyway. Wheatley pitched one more inning, finishing with five scoreless after the early brainfart innings. Nobody reached for Portland in the eighth, while Ramirez and Kelly held the Bayhawks to their 1-run lead in the bottom of the inning. The #9 slot led off the ninth against righty Bryan Carmichael, who had four walks in 28.1 innings and a 3.49 ERA, somehow. Gutierrez pinch-hit and popped out. Carreno whiffed. Ayala grounded out to short. 4-3 Bayhawks. Ayala 2-5, 2B; Fernandez 2-4;

Like I said, nothing good has ever happened at the Bay.

It would help, though, if we could stop walking everything with and without legs!

Game 2
POR: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – 1B Maldonado – RF Fernandez – C Kilmer – LF de Wit – SS Castro – CF Anderson – P Mathers
SFB: SS J. Gonzalez – 1B D. Cruz – 3B Sifuentes – LF Ju. Brito – RF S. Martin – CF Caldwell – C J. Hill – 2B B. Nelson – P M. Alvarado

Playing unusually in rightfield didn’t become Manny Fernandez, who went to his left hard on a Danny Cruz fly in the first inning, made the catch, then remained used to his usual braking space in leftfield and instead ran into the sidewall. While I braced for the worst and that his detached head would roll out from behind the sidewall in a nook that has ward to see from the visiting GM’s suite, he soon appeared mostly in one piece, but bound for Dr. Padilla. He came out of the game, replaced by Jose Casas, who was now batting cleanup. I marked an L in the pocket schedule.

The Baybirds took the lead in the inning despite nobody being on; Sifuentes walked with two outs, stole second, and scored on Juan Brito’s single. Scott Martin reached on an error, but Corey Caldwell flew out to Anderson. The game then was tied in the top 2nd on a 1-out walk drawn by Jose Castro, Van Anderson getting nicked with a 1-2 pitch, and Sifuentes firing away Mathers’ grounder on another 1-2 pitch for a 2-base throwing error. Tied game, runners in scoring position, Carreno popped out to short and Jimenez rolled over to Sifuentes to throw the chance away… A Maldonado error then put John Hill on base in the bottom 2nd, with the runner on second base with two outs and Jorge Gonzalez hitting. He singled to right, and maybe the third base coach forgot that we had upgraded from Fernandez’ strong arm to Casas’ fatal arm there – Hill was waved around and thrown out at the plate. Sloppy game, all around.

Mathers threw many balls and had his pitch count rise quickly, but also singled home Jay de Wit after de Wit’s leadoff double to right in the fourth inning and after Castro and Anderson both were less of a help than a mustard stain on the wall. Maldonado hit a double in the fifth that indeed went unconverted, and de Wit had another leadoff knock in the sixth, this time a single through between Gonzalez and Sifuentes. He was caught stealing on a run-and-hit gone awry before Anderson and Mathers hit 2-out singles, which should have amounted to a run. Carreno grounded out though, and the score remained 2-1. Mathers would not bat again, having to labor hard for 108 pitches on a 3-hit, 1-run game (but with three walks) through six innings. But he held the lead – and Mathers had taken the decision in ALL his 14 starts so far this year, so how could the Raccoons lose now…? It was all in the stats! Jimenez led off the seventh with a single to right, and Maldo’s grounder to second base was flubbed by Nelson for the third Bayhawks error and fifth in the game. Having Manny hit here would have been great, but we got Casas, and he struck out. Kilmer got doubled up. Bob Nelson made ANOTHER error in the eighth, putting de Wit on base leading off once more. Castro grounded out, Anderson walked, and Sean Sieber hit for Jon Craig against Alvarado. He grounded out, two down, and Carreno fell to two strikes before hitting a ball to left, through Sifuentes, and up the line! A double, two runs score, and the Raccoons were up 4-1! The difference were all unearned runs, but I wasn’t complaining… Jimenez popped out. Chuck Jones held the Baybirds away in the bottom 8th, then faced Corey Caldwell to begin the ninth before he’d yield for Rella. He had Rella inherited a runner, nailing the lefty hitter with a 1-2 pitch. Rella ran a full count against Hill, who popped out above home plate on the sixth pitch, then another full count on Bob Nelson. Nelson flailed through the high fastball for the second out, and Caldwell was running and thrown out by Kilmer! Ballgame!! 4-1 Raccoons! De Wit 2-4, 2B; Mathers 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (10-5) and 2-3, RBI;

Mathers got the W even when Bob Nelson had a good claim to it!

It was quite the pyrrhic victory, too, with Manny Fernandez headed to the DL after the game. The good news was that he had “only” sprained a claw, and that 15 days would be sufficient to get him back healthy.

Jose Casas had been close to a demotion here, but got a reprieve when Manny went down. The Raccoons went back to Justin Waltz, hitting .304/.396/.513 in AAA in 29 games, same amount of games (but twice as many AB) as he had gotten with the Coons while hitting .180/.242/.262.

Game 3
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – C Sieber – LF de Wit – RF Waltz – SS Castro – P Lambert
SFB: SS J. Gonzalez – 1B D. Cruz – 3B Sifuentes – LF Ju. Brito – RF S. Martin – CF Caldwell – C J. Hill – 2B B. Nelson – P Candeloro

Corey Caldwell was nailed in back-to-back plate appearance when Lambert shackled him in the first inning on Sunday, but this time it was worth a run, with Caldwell batting with three on and two outs. Lambert had already walked a pair in filling the sacks, so we could claim inept pitching rather than ill intent. John Hill popped out to Jimenez after that. The game then dragged on in 1-0 fashion until Ricky Jimenez hit a bomb to left leading off the fourth inning, getting us even at one in the rubber game. It was also the start to a reverse-cycle for the team in the inning: Maldo tripled to right, Sieber doubled to right, and two outs later, Castro singled to left. Unfortunately Sieber was still at third base with Lambert batting with two outs, but Lambert came through for his third hit of the week, a single to left, extending the lead to 3-1 …! Up came Carreno, and he rammed another single to left, this one scoring Castro…! Ayala grounded out to the right side, ending the 4-run inning.

But the Bayhawks came right back, because, remember, nothing good ever happens at the Bay. Lambert remained off the rolls, a Castro error to begin the bottom 4th didn’t help any, and Caldwell and Hill singles put a run on the board. Nelson walked to fill the bases with nobody out, and PH Dave Martinez hit a sac fly, 4-3. Jorge Gonzalez grounded out, but Lambert just walked Danny Cruz to keep the bases occupied. He pitched to Sifuentes, gave up a grand slam to left, and that was that. The Coons were down 7-4 on runs, but up 7-4 on hits, and five runs in the inning were unearned. None of the three runs on Scott Martin’s homer to left off Seth Green in the sixth were unearned, and that one put the game away for good. The three runs on Bob Nelson’s 3-run homer off Sauerkraut in the bottom of the eighth, however, *were* unearned thanks to a Jimenez error that led off the inning. All in all, Sauerkraut gave up four runs in the eighth, his second inning of work, all unearned. 14-4 Bayhawks. Gutierrez 1-1;

In other news

June 23 – The Falcons score a run against the Aces in the 12th, 13th, and 14th innings. The last one is finally enough for a 7-6 walkoff win.
June 25 – TOP SP Jon Pereira (5-5, 3.86 ERA) is out for a full year with Tommy John surgery scheduled for a torn UCL.
June 25 – The Pacifics get 1B Mark Cahill (.228, 6 HR, 33 RBI) from the Falcons in a trade for two prospects.
June 26 – Dallas is dealt a blow, losing 2B Hugo Acosta (.382, 3 HR, 44 RBI) for a month with a strained hamstring.
June 27 – OF/1B Rich de Luna (.327, 2 HR, 33 RBI) is traded from the Cyclones to the Capitals for SS Doug Clevidence (.311, 0 HR, 13 RBI) and a prospect.
June 28 – Career Blue Sock 2B/SS Billy Bouldin (.310, 1 HR, 35 RBI) reaches 2,500 base hits on Sunday, an RBI single off SAC SP Raul Cornejo (3-2, 6.44 ERA) in an 8-2 loss to the Scorpions. The 2037 FL hitting champ and 3-time Gold Glover is a career .327/.362/.406 hitter with 20 home runs and 807 RBI. He has stolen 349 bases in his career.

FL Player of the Week: DEN SS/LF/1B Ryan Cox (.279, 6 HR, 38 RBI), batting .455 (10-22) with 1 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.371, 10 HR, 40 RBI), socking .345 (10-29) with 4 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Messy week. We easily made more errors than longballs. The same can’t be said for the opposition. There were nine unearned runs on Sunday alone and a dozen for the week. We made eight errors, the opposition made seven for the entire week.

Well, Arturo Carreno had a decent week – he extended a pre-DL hitting streak to 12 games and remains a nice presence atop the order (but didn’t have a multi-hit game all week either). It’s not quite half a season’s worth of plate appearances, but he has a .364 OBP, which isn’t horrible. We might slide him to #2 behind Ayala against right-handers… or we might not. I hate the thought of throttling his speed with the concrete-shoed Ayala. Speaking of the DL, Manny will be sorely missed until the All Star Game…

Justin Waltz went 0-for-3 to begin his injury-induced recall. I know he’s a bust. But right now, we don’t have nothing else. And Ayala had a 149 OPS+ for the Aces, and a 60 OPS+ for the Critters. Making more trades like that will not get us any farther either.

It’s back home now for a week with the Condors and Titans, then a road week with the Crusaders and damn Elks. The Crusaders are our four-and-four rival this year and will visit Portland after the All Star Game. The 3-game trip to Elk City will be the last visit there this season.

Fun Fact: Despite having only now tied his strikeout total with his walks, and getting some rough reviews, Josh Rella ties for the CL lead in saves.

Also add in that he is not exactly on a team that wins them in bunches. He had 8.1 K/9 last year, while walking a pile, and this year went down to 5.4/9. His BABIP is .171 at the same time and we’re bracing for the big knell, but as long as he’s 21-for-22 in saves, I’m not gonna twitch.

The only save he blew was the June 9 game against the Titans that Maldo then won with a walkoff homer in regulation.