[Westheim]

Raccoons (28-24) vs. Falcons (24-25) – June 1-3, 2048

Sixth in runs scored (tied with the Critters) and ninth in runs allowed, the Falcons were already out by double digits in the South, although the Critters looked certainly beatable right now and they were already up 2-1 in the season series. They were a speedy team, but dead last in home runs. They also for some reason carried no lefty reliever whatsoever. Oh, well, what the heck do *I* know about baseball…?

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (2-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (3-3, 4.44 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (3-0, 5.13 ERA) vs. Jose Villalba (2-3, 3.93 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (3-3, 3.79 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (5-1, 3.20 ERA)

Villalba was the only southpaw pitcher on the roster.

The Raccoons were still without Bryce Toohey as the week began, but they activated Alex Adame from the DL, sending Josh Floyd back to where the pepper grew in St. Petersburg…

Game 1
CHA: LF Caballero – C M. Castillo – RF Allegood – 1B Sevilla – 3B Thibault – SS E. Sandoval – CF Marroquin – 2B Vamos – P C. Jones
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Gurney – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – LF Baskins – P Jackson

Disaster instantly befell Jake Jackson, issuing a leadoff single to Oscar Caballero, a walk to Manny Castillo, and then was additionally stabbed in the back by Matt Waters, who added Mike Allegood with a botched pickup for an error. Three on, no out, and all the runners scored on a groundout by Raul Sevilla and a Bobby Thibault single; two were earned. All were deserved on one bum or another. Another walk to Castillo and an Allegood bomb to right-center escalated the score to 5-0 in the second inning, and I was more or less ready to go home at that point… That was before Chris Jones drove in another two runs with a 2-out single up the middle in the third inning. Jackson wasn’t seen much after that…

While the returning Adame tripled home Matt Watt for a 2-out run in the bottom 3rd and then scored on a Gurney single to cut the gap to 7-2, it just wasn’t going to be enough. It wasn’t necessarily the bullpen’s fault; Mike Lynn pitched two scoreless innings in garbage relief, while Kevin Hitchcock allowed a run in his two innings, with another runner thrown out at home plate by Manny Fernandez on an Esteban Sandoval double. But the offense continued to smell like fish left out in the sun for too long. Manny, though – he was not content with ONE outfield assist, but also struck down Oscar Caballero trying to go first-to-third on a Castillo single off Bob Ibold in the eighth inning, giving him TWO outfield assists…! Adding injury to insult, Caballero then took a spill and left the game after catching an Adame drive in the bottom 8th, to be replaced by Rich de Luna. And that was the highlight of this terrible ballgame… 8-2 Falcons. Gurney 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Lynn 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Because I had no other problems, Nick Valdes hit the town and the ballpark on the way through on Tuesday. He was on the way to visit his river diverging operation upstate, where an 1860s treaty specified that the tribal lands of these and those Native Americans were between two specific creeks. Nick had figured out that by diverting one into the other upstream of the tribal lands, he could then claim the land his own, having bought up every farm, forest, and other parcel around the site, which he’d then exploit by the odd strip mining operation or two.

My, what a clever owner we have! …and so charming!

Yes, Nick, I know, the team is… not really firing on all cylinders. But look – we got Toohey back! Surely everything will be alright now!

Game 2
CHA: RF de Luna – 2B E. Sandoval – CF M. Martinez – 1B Marroquin – LF Allegood – SS Vamos – 3B Thibault – C Hoffmann – P Villalba
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Pellicano – LF Baskins – P Okuda

By the time Toohey batted for the first time, the Falcons had slapped Okuda around for six hits, all singles. They stranded a pair in the first inning, then got four straight singles from their 7-8-9-1 batters in the second for one run before Esteban Sandoval found a double play to hit into to kill the effort. Toohey then opened the bottom 2nd by falling behind 1-2, then recovered with a game-tying homer to left. See, Nick!!?? (slaps Valdes on the back causing the owner to spit out the pawful of cheeseballs from his snout) – No, Nick, Slappy won’t clean that up, you’ll have to do it yourself.

Okuda remained crap, however, and allowed two more runs i the third inning. Omar Marroquin singled, Mike Allegood tripled, then scored on Josh Vamos’ grounder to short. The Coons made that up, too; Adame went on base with a single in the bottom 3rd, Herrera tripled him in, and Maldo smacked a sac fly to center, levelling everything at three. If only Okuda would have stopped the profuse bleeding at this point… but no, by the fifth Bobby Thibault doubled home Allegood for another run, 4-3, and the Falcons had 11 total hits off Okuda through five innings. – Yes, Nick, we’re still tied for first place. – No, I can’t believe it either.

Waters hit a jack in the bottom 6th to even the score at four, which also set Toohey, Gonzalez, and Waters all at five homers and 20 RBI for the year while batting behind another in the order. Okuda meanwhile held on to the 4-4 tie despite surrendering a dozen hits in seven innings, then even got the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Adame landed a single, Toohey was drilled, and Waters walked to fill the bases for Ruben Gonzalez, who slapped a ball past Vamos in a full count to drive home both Adame and Toohey. Vamos, boys!! After Pellicano ended the inning with a groundout to third base, Okuda logged one more out against Thibault to begin the eighth before Bob Ibold took over against righty hitters. Nelson Moreno took the ball in the ninth, walked the leadoff man in Archie Turley, and I embraced Honeypaws tighter for more comfort. The Falcons didn’t get the runner off first base until there were two outs and Allegood singled, which put the tying runs to the corners. Vamos made the third out to Maldo, however, and the Coons evened the series. 6-4 Raccoons. Toohey 2-3, HR, RBI; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Baskins 2-4;

Yes, Nick, Okuda really is 4-0 with a 5.10 ERA. – Promise; if he tells me his dark sorcery secrets to achieve that, you’ll be the first to know!

Nick went his ways in paving a new Trail of Tears in the mountains, and we were left to our own devices for the rubber game.

Game 3
CHA: RF de Luna – 2B Turley – CF M. Martinez – 1B Marroquin – LF Allegood – SS Vamos – 3B Thibault – C Hoffmann – P Takagi
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – RF Fernandez – C Prow – P Baker

The whacking of Coons starters continued unabated on Wednesday. Baker gave up five hits the first time through, including a solo homer by Allegood in the second inning, and four singles, two in the first and second each, all of whom were stranded. Even Archie Turley, who smashed a leadoff triple to begin the top 3rd, was stranded, thanks to a Miguel Martinez pop, a K to Marroquin, and a liner somehow caught by Manny in the right-center gap. Through the first three innings, the Raccoons had two hits, and Takagi faced the minimum. Adame was caught stealing in the first, and Manny was doubled up by Kevin Prow in the third…

The bottom of the fourth brought forth improvement. Watt opened with a single, after which Takagi walked all of Adame, Toohey, and Waters to tie the game. Herrera dropped an RBI single into shallow center for a 2-1 lead, while Manny lined out to leftfield, with Allegood the throwing out Toohey going for home from third base to end the inning. Nobody reached in the fifth inning, while both teams then stranded a pair in the sixth inning. Maldo and Toohey reached for the Critters to get going, but were ignored by the 5-6-7 batters. Baker completed seven while protecting the lead, allowing hardly a runner after the early barrage, and maintaining a 2-1 lead. Porter continued to hold on in the eighth despite a leadoff single for Martinez, while the bottom 8th saw Maldo and Toohey on again, this time with one out and on a throwing error by right-hander Kyle Conner and a walk, respectively. Waters grounded out to first, advancing the runners, before Armando Herrera came through with a zinger through the left side, notching a 2-out, 2-run single for some insurance runs! Alan Fleming rung up Manny to end the inning, after which Moreno was back in action. He struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth to take this series, and level the season series. 4-1 Coons. Watt 2-4; Toohey 1-2, 2 BB; Herrera 2-3, BB, 3 RBI; Baker 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-3);

Raccoons (30-25) @ Indians (29-24) – June 5-7, 2048

These teams had been in a virtual tie for first place since Sunday night, but that would cease on Friday if not for a postponement or suspended game. The Indians were fourth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. We both had a +21 run differential. They led the league in stolen bases, while were second in homers, so different approaches there; meanwhile, while we had struggled terribly against them for the last several seasons, so far this year we had put up a 4-1 record against the Arrowheads.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (2-4, 4.66 ERA) vs. Casey Pinter (5-3, 4.08 ERA)
Victor Merino (4-4, 4.22 ERA) vs. Mark Elzinga (5-4, 2.26 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-3, 3.36 ERA) vs. Bill Nichol (3-5, 4.14 ERA)

Left, left, right. Also, Wheats’ return to where he had been stomped into the mound itself on Opening Day…

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Pellicano – LF Fernandez – P Wheatley
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 1B Brayboy – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – P Pinter

Back to the old stomping grounds then, huh? Alex de Castro hit a 1-out single in the bottom 1st, Pellicano overran that ball, and the Indians kept hitting away with a Bill Quinteros single, a 2-run double by Danny Rivera, the despicable Aaron Brayboy walked, and Nate Massey hit an RBI single for a quick and easy 3-0 lead. While I got a headache right away, the Raccoons didn’t lie down by default at least. Toohey opened the second with a single, then scored on a Manny single with two outs. Adame opened the third with a single, stole second base, and came around on a Herrera double into the leftfield corner to get to 3-2. The game got even on a Maldo groundout and Toohey’s sac fly, 3-3.

Wheats’ second time through the order was much more effective than the first time, with no massive Indians gains beyond a 2-out single by Alex Pedraza in the fourth, which was still annoying for allowing the Indians to clear the pitcher’s spot in the inning. Wheats walked Quinteros after nailing de Castro in the bottom 5th, but by the time Quinteros looked at ball four, de Castro had already been caught stealing. But while Wheatley held on for seven innings, including six scoreless after the horrendous bottom 1st, the Raccoons just couldn’t find any more offense after the quick rally-and-tie until they got Maldo and Waters to the corners with one out on a pair of eighth-inning singles. Maldo dashed for home on a 3-2 roller that Ruben Gonzalez hit in the general direction of Bobby Anderson, who looked home at first, but then reconsidered and instead took the second out a first base, allowing Maldo to score and Wheats to get a 4-3 lead. The Indians sent a new right-hander in Sang-hoon Kim against Pellicano, who was batting .144 and was yoinked for Matt Watt, who grounded out to second – except that Nate Massey threw the ball past Aaron Brayboy and into the dugout for a 2-base error, conceding another run to the Critters. Manny then popped out to conclude the top 8th, up 5-3. Bonnie came on, retired the Indians’ 3-4-5 in order in the bottom 8th.

The ninth saw Al Martell open with a single, hitting for Bonnie, then stole second. Herrera singled him home for a 6-3 lead, which Nelson Moreno – out for a third straight game, but not day – then set out to blow. Anderson, Pedraza, and Philip Locke got him for base hits and a run, and after a K to Angel Mendez, he walked de Castro with two outs. That filled the bases with two outs in a 6-4 game, and brought up Quinteros. The Raccoons blinked, and threw Lynn, the just recently dethroned closer, into the game as a desperate measure. He hung a K on Quinteros to bugger out of the damn inning. 6-4 Raccoons. Adame 2-5; Herrera 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-4);

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – SS Adame – RF Pellicano – C Prow – P Merino
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – 1B Quintana – P Elzinga

Elzinga zinged three walks in the first inning, including one to Matt Waters with the bases loaded, forcing home Matt Watt with a run. Adame then flew out to Rivera, who threw out Herrera going for home plate for the second 7-2 double play the Coons ran into this week… Mendez then singled to begin the Indians’ half of the first, was forced out by de Castro’s grounder to short, and Merino then picked de Castro off first base. But after Merino got out of that inning against Quinteros, the Indians began the bottom 2nd with a single, double, single, and double, romping Merino for three runs without much hope that it would ever stop, although the 8-9-1 were then sat down in order after all. The third inning was already Merino’s last, as he was mercilessly gangbanged for a 4-spot. De Castro reached on Merino’s own error to get things going, with a Rivera single and a walk drawn by Anderson loading the bags with one out. Massey hit an RBI single, Pedraza drew a bases-loaded walk, Angel Quintana was nailed to force in a run (and at 1-2…), and Elzinga hit a sac fly. Somehow, Mendez made an out to end Merino’s miserable appearance.

Not that the general riot over the Raccoons’ pitching staff stopped any time soon. Kuo came into the game for the fourth and hopefully more, but allowed three screamers for hits, including two doubles, and two runs to extend the score to 9-1. Next, a 5-spot on Hitchcock, crowned by a 2-run homer by Rivera. Not that the Raccoons wouldn’t manage to further disappoint even when already down by a dozen runs. Adame singled home Herrera in the sixth inning, but the bases were loaded by a foundering Elzinga in the seventh, with Gurney, Watt, and Herrera aboard and one out. Elzinga plated a run with a wild pitch, but both Maldonado and Toohey popped out to strand a pair in scoring position… Waters and Adame went on to hit back-to-back homers in the eighth to ruin Elzinga’s line for good, but he of course still got the win in a soul-killing rout of the Raccoons. 14-5 Indians. Watt 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Adame 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Roster adjustments were probably in order by now. The first head rolling was Gene Pellicano’s. He was hitting .141/.190/.242 in 99 attempts, and 4-for-46 in the last 20 games. After two full seasons of faithful extended bench service, he was invited to get his **** together in St. Pete from Sunday on. We went from a 29-year-old right-handed outfielder with meager results to a 28-year-old right-handed outfielder with meager results, promoting OF Matt Glodowski, our 2043 second-rounder, who had been languishing in AAA since late 2044…

Now we just need a new rotation…

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – CF Herrera – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – 3B Martell – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Jackson
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – CF B. Quinteros – LF D. Rivera – 1B Brayboy – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Massey – C Pedraza – P Nichol

Herrera homered in the first for a quick 1-0 lead that did not survive Jackson going out there and doing whatever he thought was asked of him. He allowed two hits and three walks in the bottom 1st, and escaped with the game merely tied thanks to Herrera throwing out Mendez at home plate while he kept ******* up. Massey grounded out to Waters to strand a full set of runners. It got no better after that. Pedraza opened the second with a single to center, and Jackson threw away Nichol’s bunt to add a second runner with nobody out. Mendez doubled home Pedraza before a walk to de Castro, and before the Indians crammed another wrench into the gears again, with Quinteros hacking out and Rivera finding Adame for a double play to kill another thick scoring opportunity. Jackson was outright ghastly in any case, throwing 46 pitches in the first two innings, more or less all of them pathetic.

So was the rest of the team. They scattered six hits through seven innings, including the Herrera homer, and with two double play grounders mixed in didn’t even come close to scoring anything. Jackson somehow had clean frames in the third and fourth before Mendez doubled to begin the fifth and scored on two productive outs to extend the Indians’ lead to 3-1. Bottom 7th, Jackson mishandled a Nichol grounder for a leadoff infield single. Mendez forced out the runner, but stole second base and reached third on Gonzalez’ bad throw that bounced away from Adame, then came home on de Castro’s groundout.

Bonnie would relieve Jackson and finish the seventh before doing all of the eighth. The score remained 4-1 into the ninth when Tommy Gardner allowed leadoff singles to Herrera and Toohey. Waters flew out to Rivera. Martell was next, but countered the right-handed Gardner. Maldonado was not sent to pinch-hit yet, instead being an option for the constant double play threat Gonzalez. So of course Al Martell hit into a double play to end the game… 4-1 Indians. Herrera 2-4, HR, RBI; Toohey 2-4;

In other news

June 1 – The Crusaders deal INF/LF Brian Kaufman (.264, 2 HR, 10 RBI) to the Blue Sox or two prospects. Kaufman goes on to break his hand in the game that night, which might cost him most of the remainder of the season.
June 1 – The Canadiens outlast the Knights in a 15-inning game, 4-3, despite finding only eight base hits in 49 at-bats.
June 2 – 26-year-old 1B/RF/LF Erik Bush (.279, 0 HR, 8 RBI) is dealt from the Loggers to the Buffaloes, along with a prospect, for AAA C Josh Davis.
June 3 – IND SP Enrique Ortiz (3-3, 3.75 ERA) strikes out 15 Aces in a 5-0 win, allowing only four hits while pitching into, but not through the ninth inning.
June 3 – The Buffos would be without veteran INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.263, 7 HR, 24 RBI) for the next six weeks, as the 35-year-old had suffered an oblique strain.
June 4 – Crusaders INF Bob Nelson (.174, 1 HR, 3 RBI) is out for the season after splintering his kneecap.
June 4 – Pittsburgh’s Mario Briones (.219, 3 HR, 33 RBI) scores on a wild pitch by DEN MR Jose Rodriguez (2-0, 2.61 ERA) in the bottom 9th to walk off the Miners with a 4-3 win. Up until that moment, both teams had been even on three runs, three hits, and three errors apiece.
June 7 – DEN SP John Kennedy (4-3, 2.38 ERA) will miss the rest of the season to fix a torn rotator cuff.

FL Player of the Week: DEN OF Tim Turner (.340, 8 HR, 48 RBI), hitting .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/SS Sergio Quiroz (.327, 6 HR, 33 RBI), batting .480 (12-25) with neither a homer, nor an RBI!

Complaints and stuff

“Rotten week” is not nearly cutting it for a description of what was going on this week. Yeah, we went 3-3, but we were outscored by about a million runs, and there was not really a starting pitcher that didn’t get flogged. Maldo falling into a slump killed the offense … not that I blame *Maldo* … it’s hard to hit for a thousand points of OPS for a full year. There are only 56 player-seasons of that on record, and half of those are connected to Jerry Outram, I think.

Pat Degenhardt handed me a player development update this week which – … actually, that’s not entirely true, he didn’t hand it to me, he had it delivered by courier after taking a plane for a “scouting assignment” to Mexico. The contents were as rough as you’d could possibly draw up. All those three-ring Critters? Declining. (Like I hadn’t noticed…) Some of those prospects in the pipeline? Not progressing. The midterm future? Bleak.

So, besides a new rotation and a few working outfielders, what else do we need to right this ship …?

The team will detour through Elk City on the way home, where we’ll host the Blue Sox next weekend. Starting the Monday after that the Coons will drop down I-5 to Salem for a series with the Wolves, with the draft also taking place that Monday.

Fun Fact: The only Raccoon ever to have a qualifying season with an OPS of at least 1.000 was Tetsu Osanai in 1989.

And he got there but barely, with a 1.004 mark born out of a .355/.404/.600 slash line. It was his best offensive season of course, although he did NOT win the Player of the Year award despite netting the batting title and leading the CL in hits and RBI. He lost the triple crown by six homers to Atlanta’s Michael Root, who also took home the MVP with a .327/.470/.611 slash line. This was Root’s only home run crown (and Tetsuuuu would never win one again).

Nobody was particularly close to the 1.000 mark for Portland afterwards; in fact the .936 OPS put up by Maldo in his 2043 season are the seventh-highest OPS by a qualifying Raccoon on record. The top 10 …:

Tetsu Osanai (1989) – 1.004
Royce Green (1996) – .970
Tetsu Osanai (1988) – .963
Hugo Mendoza (2020) – .950
Tetsu Osanai (1986) – .940
David Brewer (1995) – .937
Jesus Maldonado (2043) – .936
Troy Greenway (2038) – .926
Vern Kinnear (1992) – .920
Daniel Hall (1992) – .920

Shoutout to David Brewer, clearly the odd one out here in his first year of signing that giant 6-year, $9M contract (cough!), because he was the only singles slapper in that whole group. He never hit double-digit homers in his career, but hit seven that season along with 48 other extra-base knocks for a .359/.433/.504 slash line, taking home the batting title *and* the Player of the Year award – that latter being the only one he took in his career.