[Westheim]

Raccoons (29-25) @ Canadiens (26-31) – June 9-11, 2048

Up 4-0 on the nasty smelling Elks on the year, the Raccoons had to travel north to play three games in their frozen, cavernous disgrace of a ballpark. They continued to have no pitching, giving up the second-most runs in the CL, with average offense not countering that, which sounded a lot like their routine plight for the last few seasons.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (4-0, 5.10 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (1-7, 6.02 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (4-3, 3.52 ERA) vs. David Farris (2-5, 4.66 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-4, 4.57 ERA) vs. Hisami Furuya (2-7, 3.53 ERA)

Those would be three right-handers.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Okuda
VAN: 2B I. Jaramillo – CF Escobido – LF E. Moreno – 1B Mancini – C T. Phillips – SS R. Price – RF F. Rojas – 3B Higareda – P Godinez

The Raccoons scored first, in the third inning, with singles by Manny, Watt, and Adame’s sac fly cobbling a run together. Maldo also singled with two outs, but Bryce Toohey grounded out to short. Okuda pitched three scoreless to begin the game, but it was not a challenge to notice that the Elks were hitting the ball well and at some point might stop hitting the balls well to a defender. Rick Price’s homer to right in the bottom 5th was about that point in time, tying the game, and a walk to Felix Rojas plus two singles by Adrian Higareda and Angel Escobido would also give the Elks the go-ahead run and a 2-1 lead. Eddie Moreno then grounded out to Waters to strand a pair at least. Bob Mancini, Tim Phillips, an Rojas slapped singles off Okuda all throughout the sixth to stretch that lead to 3-1, while the Raccoons looked like they were on vacation, waiting for room service to tend to them.

While Okuda was gone after six and looked like he’d cash his first L of the year, having asked for some of those for a full two months, Godinez went into the eighth in an attempt to yet deny him. He gave up leadoff singles to Watt and Adame, which put the tying runs aboard for the sluggers with nobody out. Maldo flew out to Rojas in right, but Toohey singled up the middle and drove home Matt Watt, 3-2. Matt Waters sent a sharp bouncer to third base, but right within reach of Higareda – who blatantly missed it. With that “single” to left, Adame came around, the game got tied at three, and Okuda yet again avoided taking an L despite an ERA over five after 11 starts. Herrera popped out, Gonzalez lined out, both to Bob Mancini, to end the inning then. Ibold and Bonnie kept the Elks off the board in the bottom 8th, although Bonnie walked the pinch-hitting Jerry Outram, whose body apparently had deteriorated beyond playing the field on a regular basis. He had just 21 starts on the season, and 30 pinch-hitting appearances. Outramming was left to other players now, f.e. Pat Gurney, who came up against righty Sam Gibson in the ninth, hitting for Bonnie, and smashed a ball over the wall. With Manny on base, it was worth two, and the Coons took a 5-3 lead. That was the game decider; Nelson Moreno retired the Elks in order in the bottom of the ninth. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, BB; Adame 2-4, RBI; Fernandez 2-4; Gurney (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI;

While the team was doing its alleged best in Elk City, I was again relegated to tending to the fire in Portland. Bored to death on Wednesday morning and without anything better to do, I remembered that we had a few millions left in the budget and ordered a crate of collectible baseball cards off Steveslist. With express delivery it arrived the same afternoon and I got to tearing into the packs of cards.

Immediately I was upset when I found Jesus Maldonado to only be rated an 89 gold card. How dare they?? He surely makes diamond level money!!

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Baker
VAN: 2B I. Jaramillo – CF Escobido – LF E. Moreno – 1B Mancini – RF Outram – C T. Phillips – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – P Farris

As if he wanted to give me a hint, Maldonado killed the first inning with a double play grounder, 4-6-3, but the Coons went up 1-0 in the second inning. Waters and Herrera reached base with one out, then pulled off a double steal. Gonzalez brought in the run with a groundout, while the Elks, with two out and Herrera on second, pitched to Manny Fernandez, just at the time where I looked at his card in my paw. Rated a sullen 57 by the dastardly card company – iron tier! – he grounded out to Mancini. Did they really know more than me? Maud then recommended to me to open a few of the historical packs to see whether I could maybe get Manny’s Player of the Year card from long-long ago. Maud, the good girl, always trying to keep me busy and/or sane.

Baker didn’t, getting dismembered in the bottom 2nd. Mancini homered to open the inning, tying the game, and the damn Elks batted around, slapping another five hits off Baker for two more runs, which were jaw-droppingly doubled home by the opposing pitcher… He could not get ahead of hitters anymore after that, and didn’t whiff anybody in five innings at all. But at least he got through five on Outram’s expense; the ancient slugger came up with Moreno and Mancini on base and one out in the bottom 5th, but hit a lame comebacker to Baker for a 1-6-3 double play out of the inning. – No, Slappy, I don’t care for the 2042 Jerry Outram Player of the Year card with pink glitter you just found, you can keep that one…

The Coons had all of two hits through six innings, which led me to look for cards of players on other teams to compose a diamond level lineup with them, but while I was on that, Matt Waters hit a leadoff jack in the seventh to cut the gap to 3-2. For what it was worth, the game had the same trajectory as the previous one, so we might stupidly win it yet, somehow… Come the eighth, the Raccoons took to the corners when Farris issued a 1-out walk to Watt, then gave up a single to right to Adame, and I was not trying to beat a dead horse, but Outram used to catch balls hit within 50 feet of him… Maldo tied the score with a groundout – better than nothing – but Toohey also grounded out, leaving Adame in scoring position.

From there, the game went to extras with solid relief from Lynn and Porter, although both allowed a base hit, which put the hits tally in the game at 11-4 in the damn Elks’ favor, and yet we were still hanging in there at 3-3. Extras opened with Manny doubling to left off right-hander Matt Fries, but he was stranded on a Gurney groundout, a K to Watt, and Adame flying out right to Outram. The game ended with Kuo in the bottom 10th, walking Rojas and Tim Phillips before giving up a walkoff double to Mike Gibson. 4-3 Canadiens.

We’re just no bueno right now, aren’t we?

(looks at Bryce Toohey’s 87-rated gold card and sighs)

Game 3
POR: RF Watt – SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – LF Baskins – C Prow – P Wheatley
VAN: CF I. Jaramillo – LF Escobido – 1B Mancini – RF E. Moreno – C Julio Diaz – SS R. Price – 3B Higareda – 2B M. Gibson – P Furuya

Again, the Raccoons scored first in the early innings, this time an unearned run with nobody out in the top 2nd. Waters opened with a single to center, Gurney grounded to Gibson, who flubbed a potential double play, and Baskins hit an RBI single to left to score Waters from second base. After that it got dark real quick (as is custom in the North), with Prow flying out easily and Wheats finding a double play after all. At least Wheats didn’t give the lead away immediately, but issued two singles and a walk against three strikeouts the first time through, a.k.a. two innings. Top 3rd, Adame and Herrera went to the corners with singles at one out, and Maldo walked in a full count to fill the bases for Waters, who became the next Coons hitter to file away into a double play. Wheats batted with Gurney and Baskins aboard in the fourth – and hit into another double play. – Maaauudd! They are trying to make me cry again…!!

Top 6th, still up 1-0, Maldo and Waters opened the inning with singles. Gurney sent a drive to deep right, where it narrowly eluded Eddie Moreno and became an RBI double, 2-0. Baskins whiffed, Prow was walked onto the open base, and thusly Wheatley was invited to hit into his third double play of the game, stepping into the box with three on and one out. Reflexively, I reached for Honeypaws, but Wheats struck out instead, giving a chance to Watt, who grounded out to short. Oh bother me! The damn Elks then made up a run on next to nothing in the bottom 6th, a scratch single by Ismael Jaramillo, who was forced out by Escobido, but the new runner stole second and scored on Mancini’s double to left. Two poor outs kept Mancini stranded at third with the tying run. Herrera hit a double in the seventh, which led nowhere, while Wheatley went on to pitch through the seventh and into the eighth, but there was kicked from the game by singles hit by Chris Walley and Jaramillo. Lynn replaced him when Outram pinch-hit for Escobido, but gave up a game-tying single to the veteran nightmare before whiffing two and getting Julio Diaz to ground out…

Ninth inning, next fat chance for the Coons against Pedro de Leon; after a leadoff single by Al Martell and a Watt double, the right-hander had a pair in scoring position with nobody out. At that point the Raccoons had two runs on 13 hits and I tried to engineer a deal for some impact bats with Honeypaws posing as the opposing GM of a hybrid Gold Sox / Rebels / historical nightmares team, but I could not get his whiskers to twitch. The Coons didn’t score; Adame popped out, Herrera hit a comebacker, and Maldo grounded out to first, and the runners were stranded. This game, too, went to extras, engineered by Bob Ibold. This game, too, the Coons lost in the 10th, this time on Jake Bonnie, the feckless dimwit, and hits by Rojas and Mancini for a walkoff… 3-2 Canadiens. Adame 2-5; Herrera 2-5, 2B; Waters 2-5; Gurney 2-5, 2B, RBI; Baskins 2-5, RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

A mere 14 runners left on base, after accounting for three double plays blundered into…

Raccoons (30-27) vs. Blue Sox (25-34) – June 12-14, 2048

Last time we had met the Blue Sox, we had swept them, in 2046. Right now, that felt like a long time ago. They came in eighth in runs scored in the FL, and bottoms in runs allowed with the worst rotation *and* worst bullpen by ERA. They were giving up merely 5.3 runs per game, but I had a hunch that we’d not score more them seven on them in a 3-game series…

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (4-5, 4.74 ERA) vs. Paul Paris (3-4, 4.39 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-4, 3.56 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (3-5, 5.43 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (4-0, 5.05 ERA) vs. Ayden Cobb (1-4, 3.80 ERA)

Their assortment of former CL pitchers was all right-handed. They also had a pile of injuries, mostly position players, that left their lineup somewhat rugged and unimpressive. Then again, the Coons had lost four of their last five series…

Matt Glodowksi became an official major leaguer on Friday, being penciled into the starting lineup after bandwagoning along for five days without getting into a game in any way, shape, or form. At age 28! His mom must be so proud!

Game 1
NAS: CF Garza – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Santa Cruz – SS O’Keefe – LF Jager – 2B R. Johnston – RF Berryman – 3B J. Cortes – P Paris
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – LF Fernandez – RF Glodowski – P Merino

Not that it done them much good so far, but for the fourth time in four games this week the Raccoons made the first entry on the scoreboard, this time in the opening frame. Watt tripled to left and scored on Adame’s groundout, while Maldo doubled to right and scored on a Ruben Gonzalez single, sending Merino up 2-0. Merino meanwhile was right outta whack, issuing a single and walk in each of the first two innings, then mixed it up with two walks to Jorge Santa Cruz and Chris O’Keefe with two outs in the third. John Jager grounded out to Martell, but Merino didn’t make for easy watching. Meanwhile in Portland, Alex Adame reached on a Jorge Cortes error in the bottom 3rd, stole not one, but two bases, and was stranded anyway…

Nashville made the board in the fourth with a Nick Berryman triple to center and a Cortes grounder up the middle that allowed him to stroll home. Merino did his very best to cock up the game for good in the sixth, allowing singles to Jager and Berryman, then walked Cortes, too, with one out, giving him six walks on the day. Paul Paris was his last batter, grounded hard to short, and Adame dug it out for a 6-4-3 lead-preserver…

Bottom 6th, Manny doubled home two massively unearned runs with two gone; Toohey had reached on a throwing error, Gonzalez had been walked intentionally with first base open, and Paris had also uncorked a wild pitch to move them into scoring position. The runs oughta have come with an asterisk or three attached, and while Merino was well over 100 pitches now, the Sox also walked Glodowski with intent to force up his spot. The Coons went to Gurney, and Gurney struck out. Adame singled and stole his third base of the game in the seventh, but was predictably stranded again. Kuo pitched a scoreless eighth, but allowed a single to Ryan Johnston, who then sprained his ankle running the bases, adding to the Blue Sox’ long list of players on the DL. Jason Willet replaced him. At least Kuo didn’t allow a run, but Moreno did in the ninth. After getting two outs to begin his outing, he lost Alejandro Ramos to an infield single, then gave up an RBI double over Manny’s head to Jorge Santa Cruz. Chris O’Keefe struck out before things could get truly ugly. 4-2 Raccoons. Gonzalez 2-3, BB, RBI; Fernandez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

The debut of The Great Glodowski? Zilch-for-three with two strikeouts and a double play grounder. He did get that intentional walk.

A star is born.

Game 2
NAS: CF Garza – 1B Ale. Ramos – C Cantu – RF Magnussen – 3B Jager – LF Berryman – SS O’Keefe – 2B Sprague – P Sealock
POR: RF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – SS Waters – 2B Martell – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Jackson

Jose Cantu hit a 2-run homer in the first inning to mark the first occasion this week where the Coons didn’t get first dips on the scoreboard. They did lead after the first inning, however, thanks to a 3-run homer smashed by Matt Waters in the bottom 1st with Watt and Toohey on the corners. Watt doubled home Gonzalez in the second for a 4-2 lead, but while the 3-4-5 batters all hit the ball hard and deep in the bottom 3rd, only Toohey got it to fall in, and he was stranded after his 1-out double… A Glenn Sprague single, a Sealock double (….!! …then again, they were former Elks, so what was I expecting?), and a groundout by Jose Garza scored a run for the Sox in the fifth, just when Jackson looked like he had things under control.

He didn’t – and the Blue Sox tore him up in the sixth inning. Singles by Jager and Berryman, a walk to O’Keefe, a game-tying single by Sprague, an then a bases-loaded walk to Jorge Meza batting for Sealock, which gave the Sox a 5-4 lead. The Raccoons went to Kuo, who gave up a grand slam to straightaway center on his first pitch, and when Jose Garza and everybody else was done circling the bases, kept getting whacked for a walk and two more hits, as well as two runs, as the entire ******* house of cards came down again. 2029! 2029…!! … The 8-spot buried the Raccoons for the day, even though the team had a bit of a rally over the Sox’ pen in the bottom 7th. Watt opened the inning with a double, but also pulled a calf and was replaced with Glodowski, who scored on Herrera’s double. Maldo singled, Toohey hit a sac fly, and then right-hander Danny Tankersley restored order. 11-6 Blue Sox. Watt 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Herrera 3-5, 2B, RBI; Toohey 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4;

Matt Watt would be day-to-day for a bit. Dr. Padilla estimated him to be back to normal about the middle of next week. He was not going to be in the lineup for the rubber game.

…but there was no rubber game! Instead there was rain, storm, and a bit of hail on Sunday, and no game was to be played.

In other news

June 9 – The Capitals strike a pair of deals; they exchange outfielders with the Miners, bringing in Victor Vazquez (.192, 1 HR, 11 RBI) for Pat Stipp (.258, 4 HR, 23 RBI), then flip SS Chris O’Keefe (.244, 2 HR, 7 RBI) to the Blue Sox for 1B/C Devin Phillips (.192, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and a prospect.
June 10 – ATL CF/LF Chris Kirkwood (.342, 1 HR, 6 RBI) smashes a home run for the only scoring in a 1-0 win over the Aces.
June 13 – PIT 1B/2B Mario Briones (.235, 3 HR, 37 RBI) can style himself a member of the 2,000 hits club after landing two knocks in a 9-1 loss to the Bayhawks. A sixth-inning single off Chih Ke (5-1, 3.31 ERA) is the milestone. The 37-year-old Briones was an All Star seven times in his career, which was spent mostly with two long stints for the Aces and Crusaders. He led the CL in doubles and triples once each, and has batted .280/.364/.430 with 155 HR and 991 RBI for his career. He has also nipped 141 bases in his younger years.
June 13 – As Dallas destroys the Crusaders, 18-7, eight runs are driven in by DAL OF Tylor Cecil (.311, 8 HR, 53 RBI).
June 14 – LAP LF/RF/1B Justin Bradley (.202, 1 HR, 14 RBI) drives home seven runs on three hits from the leadoff spot in the Pacifics’ 17-2 rout of the Indians.
June 14 – Boston 1B/LF/RF Ed Haertling (.267, 6 HR, 17 RBI) goes yard for the only run in the Titans’ 1-0 win over the Scorpions.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 1B/RF/LF Erik Bush (.319, 1 HR, 15 RBI), batting .481 (13-27) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.326, 11 HR, 39 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Really, really, really crummy week. Nobody’s hot, nobody’s even warm. The exception might be Adame right now, on a 7-game hitting streak during which he batted .366 with a homer, four RBI, and six stolen bases, five of those in the last two games he participated in, which was Thursday and Friday after a full day off on Saturday and the no-show on Sunday.

I should *really* concern myself with trading in some reinforcements, but the problem is that I have neither pieces to offer (everybody not contributing is also automatically overpaid...), nor prospects. Well, yes, everybody wants a piece of Rafael de la Cruz, but over my dead body!! Look! Here! (shows purple baseball card) They gave him a 92-rated Future Legends card! Even Maldo couldn’t get a ******* diamond card!!

Sunday’s rainout gives the Raccoons something wicked in July/August: a 5-team homestand! We were always going to host the Titans, Aces, Baybirds, and Falcons at that point, but now the two weeks will begin with the makeup game against the Blue Sox on what used to be a Monday off.

In the short term, the Raccoons will hop down I-5 to play the Wolves for three before skipping right back for a 4-game set with the Crusaders on a long weekend. But more importantly, the draft will be on Monday, and we need to score a few future Hall of Famers to fill up the farm!

Fun Fact: Cristiano found a 14-year-old kid over in Troutdale, who pulled a black-and-gold 2009 Pitcher of the Year Nick Brown card, and who is listening for offers.

His father thinks that $5,000 for his college fund would be a fair deal, but I wouldn’t be a GM if I wouldn’t haggle with them, even WHILE sitting on about $6M of budget space.

Things got strange though when I offered up some jerseys and baseballs, signed by whoever-the-kid-wants, but then the kid called back, asking specifically for game-worn, dirty socks by Matt Waters.

Am I getting older or is everybody else getting weirder?