[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-31) @ Thunder (63-32) – July 22-24, 2047

The two best teams in the entire league (by winning percentage) met in Oklahoma City starting on Monday. The Thunder had won seven straight and sat first in runs scored and second in runs allowed, while Portland ranked third and first, respectively. They had the better run differential at +152 (Coons: +115), although their rotation was remarkably average with a 3.98 ERA between the starters, which was not even top half in the CL. A lack of speed was however the only other major stat category in which they did not at least encroach on the top 3, and they led many offensive categories, including batting average (.289!), OBP, and homers. They had also wiped the floor with the Raccoons in a 3-game sweep in the first meeting of these teams during the year.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (9-4, 3.23 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (2-2, 3.06 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (8-4, 2.89 ERA) vs. Juan Ramos (8-8, 4.64 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (7-5, 2.84 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (6-7, 3.60 ERA)

Orozco was the only left-handed starter for the Thunder.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – LF Toohey – RF Pellicano – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – 3B Martell – P Jackson
OCT: LF Zurita – 2B Ban – RF Benavides – SS R. Cox – 1B Humphreys – C Adames – 3B Greer – CF J. Price – P Orozco

Waters hit a single in the first, Martell drew a leadoff walk in the third, but neither of them reached even third base, while in between a pair of full counts to begin the bottom 2nd led to an infield single for Ryan Cox, a walk to Steve Humphreys, and after Jesus Adames was doubled up, still a 1-2, 2-out RBI single through the left side by Marshall Greer. Portland got Maldo on base to begin the fourth inning, owing to an error by Gold Glover and current CL Player of the Week Jonathan Ban. Orozco lost Toohey on balls, then Gene Pellicano with a single, presenting Matt Waters with three on and two outs. A sac fly to right tied the game, but was all the Raccoons could scratch out, with a Gonzalez pop and Martell K ending the inning.

The middle of the order kept wearing out Jackson, who always ended up in long counts with the 3-through-6 batters, and usually lost the fights. Two got on base the second time through, while Juan Benavides singled in the sixth, but was stranded on first base. Jackson crossed over 100 pitches, however, and was hit for in the top 7th of the 1-1 tie. With Martell on first after another leadoff walk, Pat Gurney hit for Jackson and hit a slow roller at the third base line. Marshall Greer threw him out, but also hurt himself and left the game for Nick DeMarco to replace him. More groundouts by Adame and Herrera stranded the go-ahead run at second base. Portland had Maldo and Waters on base with singles, but still couldn’t score in the eighth, while Bob Ibold and Jake Bonnie kept the Thunder off home plate as well, and in the ninth nobody reached base at all against John Steuer for the Thunder and Nelson Moreno for the Critters. A Maldo single and Toohey double with one out in the 10th – still against Steuer – sure generated a chance, however, putting the go-ahead run at third base. Derek Baskins hit for Pellicano and amounted to a sac fly. Waters whiffed. Mike Lynn was sent out on a third straight day, then saw Jayden Lockwood leg out an infield single from the #7 spot. The lead runner was erased on Jim Price’s grounder to Waters, and Lynn struck out Jose Zarate and Angelo Zurita to end the game. 2-1 Critters. Maldonado 2-5; Waters 2-3, BB, RBI; Jackson 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-1;

Consecutive extra-inning wins – but if you scored some more and a bit earlier, boys, we could grab dinner in time!

That should get them going.

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – RF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – LF Fernandez – C Morales – P Wheatley
OCT: LF Zurita – 2B Ban – RF Benavides – SS R. Cox – 1B Humphreys – 3B DiMarco – C Zarate – CF J. Price – P J. Ramos

Wheats bled three singles in the first two innings, but didn’t allow a run yet, then batted with Manny (leadoff single) and Morales (walk) on second and first and nobody out in the top 3rd. He failed to bunt all the way to two strikes, then poked a 1-2 pitch to the shortstop, which Ryan Cox flummoxingly threw way past Humphreys for a run-scoring, 2-base error, and the first run of the game. But despite now having runners in scoring position and nobody out, the Raccoons could not tack on; Adame popped out to Juan Benavides in shallow right, way too shallow to send Tony Morales, and Mercado grounded out to first, which also kept Morales pinned. Maldonado grounded to Cox – and another throwing error, this one sailing clean into the dugout! Toohey struck out, but the Raccoons had gone up 3-0 on pretty much nothing in the inning. Now Wheats just had to hold up.

When Juan Ramos opened the bottom 3rd with a hit, I knew we were ******. Zurita hit another single, Benavides an RBI single, and with two outs, Steve Humphrey smoked a 3-run homer. That 4-3 lead was all earned for them… Top 4th, the Coons opened with Waters and Herrera singles before finding Morales and an inning-concluding double play, while in the fifth they put their first two batters even into scoring position on a single by Wheats and an Adame double to left. Mercado fell to 0-2 before flipping the score with a slapper that bounced on second base as it made its way to centerfield, 5-4, while Cox’ black day continued in the bottom 5th, where he hit into a force play to remove Jonathan Ban from the bases, then was picked off first by Wheats to complete five.

Wheats went seven after the tremendous third-inning whacking, maintaining the 5-4 lead for the duration of his stay in the game. The third aside, he had pitched a 3-hitter with six strikeouts. Right-hander Danny Landeta was in the game for Oklahoma in the eighth when Waters and Herrera went to the corners with a pair of singles and one out. Manny poked the first pitch past Jonathan Ban for an RBI single. Herrera went to third, drew a wide throw from Benavides, and that allowed Manny to bugger into second, but he stopped anyway on Tony Morales’ RBI single to left that made it 7-4. Baskins and Wheats the made the last two outs without getting Manny home, and with Lynn unavailable, the Raccoons had to be careful with the pen. Aaron Curl came out first, retired nobody between a Benavides single and Cox reaching on Adame’s error, then was replaced with Josh Rella, who got a double play grounder from Humphreys to kick the tying run off the plate. Lockwood grounded out pinch-hitting, ending the eighth. Preston Porter retired the bottom of the lineup in order in the ninth to put the game away. 7-4 Raccoons. Mercado 2-5, 2 RBI; Waters 3-4; Herrera 2-4; Fernandez 2-4, RBI;

69 wins in our first 100 games!

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – RF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Baskins – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – P Okuda
OCT: CF J. Price – 2B Ban – RF Benavides – 1B R. Cox – LF Humphreys – C Adames – 3B DeMarco – SS Lujan – P Hendrix

No score through five innings – Okuda scattered four hits against six strikeouts, with Humphreys getting left on third base with one out by Adames and DeMarco, while the Raccoons’ best chance was Manny whiffing with Waters and Baskins aboard in the fourth. Top 6th, Maldo singled and Toohey walked with one out, putting a pair on again. Waters grounded out, advancing the runners, but Derek Baskins came through with a 2-out, 2-run single to center, soon followed by another single hit by Manny. A wild pitch advanced the runners, but removed the bat from Ruben Gonzalez, who was sent to first intentionally. Okuda then struck out, stranding a threesome of runners. Maldo doubled home Mercado in the top 7th, 3-0, just before a rain shower hit, brought about a 30-minute rain delay, and ended Okuda’s day after six innings and 92 pitches.

Bob Ibold retired nobody, walking DeMarco and nailing T.J. Lujan before being replaced with Curl. The lefty was more successful, whiffing Lockwood and getting a double play grounder, 4-6-3, from Waters. Curl sat down two more in the eighth before Cox doubled to left against him. With righty bats drawing up, the Raccoons entered Nelson Moreno in a double switch; he struck out Humphreys, while Herrera led off the ninth from that same spot, having replaced Manny (Baskins sliding to left). When both Herrera and Adame got nicked and Ban fumbled a Mercado grounder, the Raccoons had three on and nobody out through no achievement of their own in the top of the ninth. Maldo hit a sac fly, but Toohey and Waters were rung up by Steuer, forcing us to settle for one run. Moreno remained in the game to earn the save – but didn’t. He walked DeMarco, nailed Zurita, and when Price came back around, the Raccoons went to the standard option for the ninth, the left-handed Lynn, who got a fly to Mercado to complete the sweep. 4-0 Furballs! Mercado 2-5; Maldonado 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Baskins 2-4, 2 RBI; Okuda 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (8-5); Curl 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (70-31) @ Knights (55-47) – July 26-28, 2047

While the Raccoons had only just tied the season series with the Thunder, they had already bagged the one against the Knights, being up 5-1. Ten games out in the South and with a +9 run differential, they were running out of spit in the race for the division, with some glaring issues at the bottom of the lineup and a catastrophic bullpen that was pushing an ERA of almost five.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (8-7, 3.08 ERA) vs. Danny Guzman (1-0, 3.90 ERA)
Jake Jackson (9-4, 3.14 ERA) vs. Brian Buttress (11-3, 2.66 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (9-4, 3.02 ERA) vs. Elijah Powell (9-8, 4.19 ERA)

Buttress was the only southpaw on offer, while Guzman had moved to the rotation after an injury to Brad Santry. He would be making his second major league start. Even as a reliever, he was piling up more walks than strikeouts.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – RF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – CF Herrera – LF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – P Merino
ATL: SS A. Venegas – LF Hester – 1B Marz – 2B Crim – CF Alade – C Cass – RF van der Zanden – 3B A. Ramires – P D. Guzman

A single to Mercado, a passed ball, and another single by Maldonado put the Raccoons on top rather fast in the top of the first inning, and Bryce Toohey’s belter to left-center added two more, home run #17 for him this year. Merino, however, got under the wheels even worse than Guzman. The Knights grabbed him by the ankles, and smashed him face first into every single bit of the outfield wall, all the way around – seven hits in the first inning, five runs, as almost everybody got a go. Not even a homer – just hit after hit after hit after hit… seven times. He added a bad bunt that got Ruben Gonzalez forced out to his ledger in the top 2nd, while the Coons put a string of batters aboard again in the top 3rd. Herrera singled, Maldo walked; Toohey hit an RBI single, and Herrera walked. Three on and no outs with a 1-run deficit, Manny came up, ran a full count, then slapped a single through the right side to tie the score. Gonzalez struck out, but Al Martell found no man’s land in shallow right-center for a 2-run single, which made for a 7-5 lead in that top 3rd. Merino hit a sac fly to knock out Guzman and give the Raccoons their own 5-spot. Top 4th, Henry Copping pitching for the Knights. Three batters in, the bases were loaded with nobody out and Herrera up. His single and Manny’s fielder’s choice grounder to first both added a run and put us into double digits.

Then it all fell apart. The Knights opened the bottom 4th with three straight hits, John Marz’ 2-run single knocking out Merino from the 10-7 game. Armando Herrera also hurt himself on the play and was replaced with Baskins, who hit a 2-run single with the bases loaded off Copping in the fifth. New lefty Tony Rosas followed up with an RBI double served up to Manny. Gonzalez whiffed, but Martell added an RBI single.

And then the score somehow remained stuck at 14-7. Raccoons relief was smooth, and even the Knights found a few more cooperative arms after five innings of unmitigated disaster. For our part, Porter, Bonnie, Rella, and Ibold got the Critters cleanly through eight innings – before it almost came apart. Yup, almost blew a 7-run lead. Ibold was suppose to finish the game, but was finished himself after giving up a leadoff jack to David Hardaway, then hits to Billy Hester, Joe Crim, and Arnout van der Zanden, with a Jon Alade sac fly and hitting Tyler Cass with a pitch mixed in. Mike Lynn inherited two on, two outs with a 4-run lead, walked Antonio Ramires to bring the tying run to the plate, thee nailed Chris Kirkwood to put the tying run on base. Hardaway went down on three strikes to end the near-meltdown. 14-11 Critters. Adame 2-5; Mercado 2-4, BB; Maldonado 4-6, 2B, RBI; Toohey 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; Herrera 1-2, BB, RBI; Fernandez 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Martell 2-5, 3 RBI; Carreno (PH) 2-2; Porter 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (5-1);

Are we getting another rash of injuries? Armando Herrera was going to miss a month with a strained hamstring, and accordingly hit the DL.

Ken Mills was called up as replacement.

Game 2
POR: CF Mercado – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – RF Pellicano – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – 2B Carreno – P Jackson
ATL: RF van der Zanden – LF Hester – 1B Marz – 2B Crim – CF Alade – C Cass – SS A. Ramires – 3B Lorensen – P Buttress

Jackson faced the minimum the first time through, with only Maldonado bothering him when he committed an error to put Antonio Ramires on base to begin the third inning. Ryan Lorensen hit into a double play to clean up. At that point, the Raccoons were up 1-0 on a first-inning jack by Waters, who also added the team’s and game’s second run in the fourth, singling home Mercado. The Knights began to zero in on Jackson though; Billy Hester hit a double in the fourth, but was stranded, yet Jon Alade homered to right-center to begin the bottom 5th, cutting the lead back to 2-1. But Jackson stubbornly held on and gave management no reason to remove him in the sixth and seventh, retiring the Knights in order again.

The Coons squandered a scoring opportunity with Waters and Maldo on the corners in the sixth, then had them in scoring position with one out in the eighth after a single and a double, respectively, off right-hander Jeff Turi. The Knights elected to bypass Toohey and filled the bases instead. Manny batted for Pellicano, hitting a 3-2 pitch to right for a sac fly, 3-1. Gurney grounded out.

Then it was a Lorensen single and another Maldonado error, this time of the throwing variety on a grounder by Justin Kristoff, that put the tying run in scoring position with one down in the bottom 8th. Curl replaced Jackson against van der Zanden, who grounded out, but that brought in Lorensen, 3-2. Manichiro Toki pinch-hit (lefty on lefty?) and grounded out to Gurney to let the Raccoons wiggle out of the tight spot. No further problems arose with Mike Lynn in the ninth; two grounders and a strikeout put down the middle of the order. 3-2 Raccoons. Waters 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-4, 2B; Jackson 7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (10-4);

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – RF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – LF Fernandez – C Morales – CF Mills – P Wheatley
ATL: RF van der Zanden – LF Hester – 1B Marz – 2B Crim – CF Alade – C Cass – SS S. Davison – 3B Lorensen – P E. Powell

The Raccoons had not much going for them besides a Manny double in the second and then Morales and Mills reaching with one out in the fifth, but being stranded by Wheats and Adame, all after a huge homer by Billy Hester had put Atlanta up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Nobody reached for Portland in the sixth, nobody reached for Portland in the seventh, and Wheatley crumbled away in the bottom of the seventh for good. A walk to Jon Alade, a Tyler Cass single, and Toki’s pinch-hit sac fly made it 2-0, Lorensen’s single and Powell’s double with two outs (gnashes teeth) added another run. Powell still retired the Raccoons in order in the eighth. It took until one out in the ninth to get Bryce Toohey on with a double to right. Waters struck out, Manny grounded out, and the Raccoons posted an extremely listless loss. 3-0 Knights.

In other news

July 23 – Back spasms will keep TOP INF/RF/LF Felix Marquez (.282, 7 HR, 36 RBI) off the field for the next month.
July 24 – MIL CL Damon DeOrio (6-5, 3.49 ERA, 19 SV) is out for the year with bone chips crunching in his elbow.
July 25 – The Gold Sox win a storm-shortened game against the Rebels, 12-7. The eighth inning is just concluded when hail and lightning break loose.
July 26 – The Wolves beat the Rebels, 1-0, but can’t stop the hitting streak of Richmond outfielder Cullen Tortora (.272, 3 HR, 36 RBI), which reaches 20 games.
July 27 – The Gold Sox send OF Dylan Wright (.231, 7 HR, 38 RBI) to the Pacifics, acquiring right-handed MR Jon Craig (4-3, 4.50 ERA, 1 SV) and a prospect in the deal.
July 27 – LF/RF/1B Pedro Colon (.292, 1 HR, 42 RBI) is traded from the Canadiens to the Bayhawks or MR Matt Simmons (7-4, 2.59 ERA, 24 SV) and a prospect.
July 28 – At “only” 33 years of age, SFW 2B Hugo Acosta (.317, 0 HR, 29 RBI) reaches 2,500 career hits in a 7-1 win over the Buffaloes. The milestone hit is an RBI single off TOP MR Ryan McConnell (2-0, 4.98 ERA, 1 SV). The switch-hitting Acosta, discovered by the Stars in Mexico, is in his 13th major league season, reaching the 200 hits plateau seven times so far (and missing by no more than five hits another three times). He won four batting titles with Dallas and twice led the league in stolen bases. A 5-time All Star, he has hit .343/.391/.454 for his career with 29 HR, 920 RBI, and 436 SB.
July 28 – The Crusaders swap INF Randolph Nash (.250, 4 HR, 13 RBI) to the Rebels, along with a prospect, for SP Paul Medvec (7-3, 3.88 ERA).
July 28 – Nashville acquires 2B/3B Travis Malkus (.245, 3 HR, 31 RBI) from the Canadiens for two prospects. The deal includes #51 INF Gustavo Miguel.

FL Player of the Week: SFW RF Matt Diskin (.319, 19 HR, 81 RBI), hitting .429 (9-21) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.274, 18 HR, 49 RBI), batting .444 (12-27) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Does the team need reinforcement at the deadline or nah? Well, probably not to win the division. Even if we played .400 from here on out, we’d land at 95 wins. The Indians would have to go 40-17 to get into a tie then. Doesn’t sound like the most realistic thing in the world.

Do we need reinforcements for the playoffs? Starting pitching is “interesting” to say the least. We still have four good starters, but if another one falls over, we could soon arrive at what we had last year. One good pitcher, another good pitcher, and then Laurel, Hardy, and Hardy’s big fat sister.

But did anybody notice Okuda sneaking into third place in ERA? He sure made it silently. Now that we noticed, he will lay a few eggs again, without a doubt. Which is a shame, because he’s currently 3-0 with an 0.79 ERA and has a legit shot at the CL Pitcher of the Month award.

We signed him. $1.1M for Rafael de la Cruz, age 16, in addition to $170k for four other players, and another $650k in penalty tax into the league president’s personal slush fund. It was our final offer and he took it. Now he just has to blossom into a Pitcher of the Year.

Maybe more than once.

Stopover in Vegas on the way home now, where we’ll play the Loggers for four and the Titans for three.

Fun Fact: Bubba Wolinsky still leads all of the ABL in wins with 12.

There’s a horde of guys with 11 wins, but he’s still supreme!

Also out until next July or so. (sigh!)