[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-28) @ Wolves (30-32) – June 15-17, 2048

Clash of Pacific Northwest teams, both middling. The Wolves were seventh in both runs scored and runs allowed in the FL with a modest +1 run differential, but you know what? The Raccoons were down to a -1 run differential at this point… The Wolves struggled more with their starters than their relievers, and while their lineup was average in most aspects, they were bottoms in homers in the Federal League with just 25 dingers from 62 games. Tying or the team lead with five was ex-Coon Ricky Jimenez.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (4-0, 5.05 ERA) vs. Justin Roberts (6-1, 3.01 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (4-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. Darren McRee (6-5, 3.92 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-4, 4.38 ERA) vs. Gabe Butler (4-8, 5.40 ERA)

Right, right, left; this series potentially brought the last start for Jeremy Baker for the time being, with Bubba Wolinsky about ready to be called back from his rehab assignment.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Okuda
SAL: LF S. Petersen – 2B Arnold – C J. Ortiz – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – RF Ito – CF D. Vasquez – SS Jo. Jackson – P J. Roberts

Home runs by current Raccoon Bryce Toohey and former Raccoon Rikuto Ito put a run on the board for either team in the second inning before the Critters took a new lead in the top 3rd with base hits from Adame, who singled and stole second, Herrera (RBI double), and Maldo (single), then a Toohey sac fly to cap it at 3-1. Derek Baskins chipped in a solo home run in the fourth, and an unearned run was added the inning after, in which Herrera hit his second double of the day, Maldo reached on an error by Jimenez (you don’t say), and Waters hit a sac fly to left-center, 5-1. This was with Okuda fooling nobody – the Wolves made contact readily, but always found the fielders with their efforts, being turned away in just 49 pitches through five innings with two hits to their credit. He got three more grounders in the sixth, but Victor Chavez hit a single with one out in the seventh. Nothing major happened then, either; Ito flew out to left, and David Vasquez popped out to Waters.

While Ruben Gonzalez hit another solo home run in the eighth to extend the lead to 6-1, Okuda reached an impasse in the bottom of the inning after allowing singles to Josh Jackson and Logan Arnold. With two outs, he’d face Jose Ortiz, who had yet to find his usually decent power, but gave up a first-pitch RBI single and then was lifted. The Critters went to Nelson Moreno, who secured a K to end the inning, and eventually a 4-out save, even though Rikuto Ito remained pesky with a ninth-inning single. 6-2 Raccoons. Herrera 4-5, 3 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, HR, RBI; Okuda 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (5-0);

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Baker
SAL: LF S. Petersen – 2B Arnold – C J. Ortiz – 3B R. Jimenez – 1B V. Chavez – RF Ito – CF Krall – SS Jo. Jackson – P McRee

Ito continued to haunt the Critters, who had given up on him after only one season back in the day and had literally dumped him in the desert; he hit a double in the bottom 2nd to follow Chavez’ single, and a sac fly by Joey Krall gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead from there. The Coons responded by loading the bases on Baker and Adame singles, plus Armando Herrera getting drilled, in the top of the third. Maldo came up with one out; after having grounded out in the first inning, he had dropped his batting average under .300 for the season as his May slump extended well into June. Here, he grounded out again, but at least that tied the game. Toohey fell to 0-2 before also getting plunked, but Waters grounded poorly to first base on the first offering by McRee, stranding three.

Maldo reclaimed a batting average starting in 3 with a leadoff single in the sixth, with the game still tied at one. Toohey drew a walk, but Waters flew out to Ito in shallow right and Gurney found Logan Arnold for a 4-6-3 inning-ender. Instead, the Wolves went up 2-1 in the bottom of the inning. Jimenez, clearly also holding a personal grudge, doubled to left leading off, and Baker himself threw away Chavez’ grounder to allow the unearned run to score before retiring the next three batters without conceding Chavez’ run. At least Baker helped out with the stick in the top 7th, following on a 1-out double to right by Derek Baskins with a single of his own. Adame singled to left with runners on the corners, tying the game at two, but Herrera’s quick grounder to left was handled by Jimenez for the second out at first base. Maldo stranded a pair in scoring position with a groundout to Arnold. Baker came back for the bottom 7th, but was lifted after an infield single by Steve Petersen with one out. Porter came on, struck out PH Mitch Scheidt, then gave up a double to Ortiz. Baskins made a nice play in left though, while Petersen was sent around third base to go for home plate – where he’d be met by Ruben Gonzalez and the baseball and slapped out, ending the inning.

After an uneventful eighth, Ruben Gonzalez opened the ninth with a single to center off right-hander Ben Arner. The Raccoons opted to have Al Martell run in his stead, with Martell reaching third base on Baskins’ following single. Matt Watt was still nursing the iffy calf, but pinch-hit for Mike Lynn in this thick spot, bashing a fly to right that Ito caught, but Baskins also scored on to break the tie. Baskins stole second after that, but ended up stranded when Arner retired both Adame and Herrera. Moreno was back on for the bottom 9th, beginning with strikeouts to Krall and Jackson, and also had Nick Duncan at two strikes before giving up a double to right. Petersen, though, was also rung up to end the game. 3-2 Raccoons. Adame 2-5, RBI; Baskins 2-4, 2B; Baker 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K and 2-3;

So much for Baker (4-3, 3.42 ERA); there was however no practical plan in place to get Bubba Wolinsky back into the rotation now beside the thought that he should be reintegrated to make his first start back from rehab on his regular 5-day turn, which would be Friday against the Crusaders.

Not that Wolinsky had been *great* on rehab (5.08 ERA), but he also hadn’t gotten any help (.359 BABIP) with the Alley Cats…

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Martell – C Prow – LF Baskins – RF Glodowski – P Wheatley
SAL: LF S. Petersen – CF Krall – C J. Ortiz – 3B R. Jimenez – RF N. Duncan – 2B Arnold – 1B Ito – SS Jo. Jackson – P Butler

Wheatley popped out to strand a full set of runners in the second inning after the 6-7-8 batters had all reached base ahead of him with two outs, then almost immediately had to sit out a 40-minute rain delay on getaway day (not that we had to get away all that far). He held the Wolves to precious little in the early innings, though, but the same was true for Gabe Butler. The Coons did get Adame and Herrera on with one out in the fifth, but when Maldo singled to right, Adame dashed through the stop sign and was thrown out by Nick Duncan at home plate; the Raccoons would not score in that inning, either, and the game remained scoreless a few minutes longer until Butler, of all people, doubled home Josh Jackson for the game’s first run in the bottom 5th. And with two outs…!!

Leadoff singles by Martell and Prow in the sixth were met with a collective blackout by the bottom of the order, so the Coons tried again right away, with two more leadoff singles jabbed by Adame and Herrera in the seventh. Maldo popped out, Toohey whiffed, Martell whiffed even worse, and I was getting headaches. For what it was worth, Matt Glodowski placed his first major league hit into shallow center with two outs in the eighth, but that single didn’t lead anywhere, either, Matt Waters making the third out in Wheatley’s place. A scoreless bottom 8th by Jake Bonnie brought Ben Arner back for the ninth inning, with the Raccoons having piled up nine hits and no runs so far. Adame grounded to Jimenez, who threw the ball away (shock!) for a 2-base error, but I had seen runners in scoring position with nobody out approximately six-hundred-umpty-seven times in this game and I wasn’t gonna get worked up anymore. Herrera grounded out, advancing the runner, and Maldo grounded out, infuriatingly not advancing the runner. Down to Toohey with two outs, the Raccoons still needed a single, a wild pitch, or a different sort of miracle – they got the first one, a clean-as-a-whistle single to left that tied the score with the Coons down to their last wheeze. The game still ended after nine; Toohey was left on, and Bob Ibold gave up a leadoff double to Ryan Johnson in the bottom 9th, from which he didn’t recover. Jackson ended the game with a sac fly. 2-1 Wolves. Adame 2-5; Prow 2-4, 2B; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (33-29) vs. Crusaders (28-37) – June 18-21, 2048

Oh well, maybe we could stop losing against the Crusaders, who had swept the Raccoons in the first 3-game meeting of the season? They came in bottoms in runs scored in the CL, plating barely 3.2 markers per game played. Their pitching ranked eighth by ERA, with the rotation much weaker than the bullpen. The defense was also towards the bottom of the league.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-5, 4.46 ERA) vs. Luke Moses (2-8, 5.47 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (0-0) vs. Mike Zeigler (5-2, 4.35 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-5, 4.28 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (3-6, 4.52 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (5-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Jim White (4-6, 3.51 ERA)

Right, left, left, right. They had two position players on the DL, with Bob Nelson and Kevin Burch on the mend, but the pitching was the best they had available.

The Coons made a roster move, optioning Glodowski (.125, 0 HR, 0 RBI) back to AAA and activating Bubba Wolinsky from his rehab stint. Baker remained on the roster, however, until we could figure out a smarter solution. Both him and Kevin Hitchcock had options, we just weren’t willing to send either of the two away…

Game 1
NYC: 3B Critzer – LF Garris – SS Gates – 1B C. Cortes – RF Rogers – C Bayless – 2B R. Martinez – CF E. Baker – P Moses
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – P Merino

The Coons had Adame, Herrera, and Toohey on with a single and two walks in the first inning, but failed to score. Merino kept the Crusaders to a Brad Critzer double and nothing else in the first three innings, then was spotted a 3-0 lead in the bottom 3rd. Maldo hit a 1-out single, soon followed by a Toohey double. Ricardo Martinez’ fumble of Waters’ grounder allowed the first run to score, and while Pat Gurney popped out, Ruben Gonzalez singled home a pair after Waters stole second base. Baskins also singled, but the inning ended with Merino, who didn’t strike out any batters until Phil Rogers hacked out in a full count in the seventh inning. That was with the score still at 3-0; the Raccoons had gone right back to bed after putting up that three-run third. Merino had a 2-hitter on just 67 pitches through seven innings, so eight relievers in the pen be damned, they’re not coming in yet! Eddie Baker hit a 2-out single in the eighth, but Merino hung his second K on pinch-hitter David MacLeod to extricate himself from that situation. He batted for himself in the bottom 8th, a 1-2-3 turnaway by Jeff Frank, then came back to face the top of the order. Critzer flew out Baskins on the first pitch, but Josh Garris grounded to first, Gurney knocked down the ball and flipped it to Merino, and Merino… dropped it. And now what? He got a pep talk in a mound conference, put his mean face back on, then went after Prince Gates, who grounded up the middle at 0-2, which did him no good. Adame snatched the ball, flicked it to Waters, to Gurney – ballgame! 3-0 Raccoons! Adame 2-4; Baskins 1-2, 2 BB; Merino 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (6-5);

And that was a 3-hit shutout! Also, the third career shutout for Merino, and a shutout for three straight seasons, the last two of which came against the Crusaders after a 1-hitter last July.

And now we hold our breath for Bubba Wolinsky’s return.

Game 2
NYC: 3B Critzer – LF Garris – SS Gates – 1B C. Cortes – C Bayless – 2B Rico – RF Cannizzard – CF E. Baker – P Zeigler
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – P Wolinsky

It went … not so good. In the sense of “Wolinsky limped off the field in the first inning”. He walked Critzer to begin the game, then lunged after a Prince Gates grounder with one out, landing awkwardly on his right foot, then immediately made for the sideline. The comeback had lasted 15 pitches and two outs (Toohey made the play on Gates, somehow). Hitchcock replaced Wolinsky, balked in the Crusaders’ runner, then struck out the next three batters. He maintained a weird sort of no-hitter through three messy innings, but Danny Rico singled against Bob Ibold in the fourth to quickly dismiss that notion. The Raccoons went on to strand the tying run on third base in the first and fourth innings, and were content with doing nothing in the others through the completion of six.

Ibold handed in two innings, followed by single frames from Lynn and Bonnie to reach stretch time, at which point the Crusaders were out-hit 4-1, but still up 1-0. Zeigler then found a tight spot of his own in the bottom 7th. Toohey hit a leadoff single to left, after which a Rico error added Waters to the basepaths and Herrera was nicked. But that of course made it three on with nobody out, a situation in which the long-term Raccoons slash line was negative .095/.138/.189 … Cristiano, I will ask for the ACTUAL line if and when I want to know!! – … Ruben Gonzalez was next, waited out a struggling Zeigler, and pushed home the tying run with a 5-pitch walk. Whatever works! Manny then hit a comebacker for a force at home, and Al Martell had pinch-hit and remained in the game over Adame earlier, *and* we had the short bench and the only righty pinch-hitter would be the double-play-prone Prow… Swing away, Al! Swinging away he did, hitting a sac fly to Tim Cannizzard before Watt grounded out to end the inning with a 2-1 lead.

Critzer’s 1-out single chased Bonnie in the eighth, bringing on Preston Porter when Martinez pinch-hit for the left-handed Garris. Porter entered in the Coons’ second double switch of the game, with Porter in the #1 slot and Baskins replacing Watt in leftfield. He struck out Martinez, and Gates popped out to end the inning. No insurance came forth in the bottom 8th, and Moreno inherited a 2-1 lead for the ninth, which lefty pinch-hitter Angel Lara opened, striking out. Scott Bayless worked a walk, but Rico flew out easily to Baskins. Cannizzard flew out to Herrera, and that put this game away. 2-1 Blighters. Adame 2-3; Toohey 2-3, BB; Hitchcock 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K; Ibold 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

This W saw the Raccoons take back first place in the North from the Indians, who were struggling against the Loggers.

The Loggers!

Meanwhile, word on Wolinsky was that amputation was not necessary and Dr. Padilla opined that we might have another go in five days. No structural damage on the ankle, maybe a bit on his psyche…

Game 3
NYC: 3B Critzer – LF Garris – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – RF C. Cortes – C A. Lara – CF Rogers – 2B Rico – P Malla
POR: LF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – C Prow – P Jackson

Jackson had nothing on Saturday, getting easily singled to death by the New Yorkers, who got started with Malla in the third inning, who knocked the first of three straight singles, which combined with Gates’ sac fly to center gave the Crusaders two runs. The inning after, Carlos Cortes whacked a leadoff triple and scored on a Lara sac fly for a 3-0 gap while the Raccoons had no runs, no hits, and no clue through four.

Nevertheless, we somehow got the tying run to the plate in the bottom 6th after a walk to Watt and a double by Adame, pulling up a badly struggling Maldonado, who by now had sagged to the .290 mark, but for a second stopped the ageing process and socked a 2-run double to center to make it sort-of-a-ballgame again, Portland down 3-2, but was also stranded by Toohey and Waters. Then somebody gave the ball back to Jackson, and Brad Critzer whacked a double and that of course became a run, and I was feeling dying-dynasty sadness to the n-th degree. Martell hit a leadoff single in the eighth for no gains, and instead Joy-shan Kuo was slapped for two doubles by Cortes and Rico in the ninth for another New York run. …and yet, we STILL brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom 9th, somehow, despite a K hung on Toohey by Julian Ponce to begin the frame. Waters singled to right, Herrera singled to left, and Gurney could tie it up with one swipe – AND HE ******* DID!! 2-0 pitch by Ponce, la-di-dah down the middle, and POUNDED over the ******* fence in right into a crowd ready to escalate in case of a near-future walkoff…!

Well, not in regulation! New right-hander Dan Minelli retired Prow and Manny, and the game went to extras, where Mike Lynn hit Gates with two outs, but Gates was caught stealing by Prow to deny the Crusaders. However, the Coons also could not get past a 2-out single by Maldonado in the bottom 10th, then squeezed another inning out of Lynn. Minelli was still in the game in the bottom 11th, walked Waters to get going, and Waters didn’t wait for long before stealing second base. Herrera was walked with intent, more for the double play opportunity than another chance to face Gurney. The first-sacker hit a grounder to Dave Hernandez that would be one out at best, but became no outs when Hernandez fumbled the ball for an error. Three on, no outs. – Yes, Honeypaws, we’ll sit here all night until they lose in the 19th…! … Prow was next, and behind him was the pitcher’s spot; Baskins and Gonzalez were left on the bench, but neither would bat for Prow, who grounded to Critzer, who had to fire home and got Waters to keep the game going. Baskins struck out then, and Watt grounded to Rico. – I glared at Maud, who kept knitting, not saying a word.

After that shameful development, memory got a bit hazy, for which I blamed Capt’n Coma. Ibold survived two singles in the top 12th without allowing a run, with New York going to righty Ryan Fentress, a 26-year-old sophomore of 27 appearances. The Coons, too, hit two singles before choking, when Herrera grounded out to short to strand Maldo and Waters. Ibold came back for more in the 13th, which meant mostly more runners on two singles and a walk. Porter had to dig him out, but allowed a run on a sac fly. The Raccoons had nothing in the bottom of the inning, and took a bitter loss. 6-5 Crusaders. Maldonado 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Waters 2-4, 2 BB; Gurney 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Lynn 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Bitter.

Bitter. Bitter. Bitter.

Game 4
NYC: 3B Critzer – 2B Rico – SS Gates – 1B C. Cortes – RF Rogers – C Bayless – LF MacLeod – CF E. Baker – P J. White
POR: CF Watt – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – 2B Martell – LF Fernandez – P Okuda

Okuda reached a new level of sucking on Sunday, walking four batters in the first inning, in which the Crusaders scored as many runs, also with the aid of two hits by Rico and Cortes; Bayless and MacLeod drew bases-loaded walks, though. From there, we were in for a bitter game; Okuda somehow lingered through five innings, allowing one more walk and run each, while the Raccoons did absolutely ******* nothing. Waters hit a leadoff double in the fourth, in which Toohey was plunked with one out, and Gurney flew out to Eddie Baker in non-too-deep center. Waters, from third base, went for it – and was thrown out. Thee inning after, with two outs, Manny Fernandez doubled to center, but also had an arm, a leg, and his tail fall off halfway between first and second, requiring replacement and reassembly by Dr. Padilla. Baskins ran for him and took over leftfield, while Herrera batted for the stinking Okuda and grounded out, ending the miserable inning.

At which point we arrived at Jeremy Baker in long relief – so that roster spot wasn’t going entirely to ******* waste! – and also the third straight inning with a Coons leadoff double, this one whacked by Matt Watt in the bottom 6th. He advanced on a Waters grounder, then scored on Maldo’s grounder to short to get the Coons on the board, down 5-1. Three scoreless by Baker were followed by a Baskins leadoff double in the eighth, then Prow singling for the pitcher. Watt struck out. Waters struck out. Maldo struck out. White stalked off still up 5-1, and I threw myself face-first into the cushions to cry like a bitch. The ninth brought no relief, either. 5-1 Crusaders. Baskins 1-1, 2B; Prow (PH) 1-1; Baker 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

In other news

June 15 – The Canadiens fleece the Condors for two prospects for nothing more than MR Tim Abraham (4-0, 0.64 ERA, 1 SV) and cash.
June 16 – TIJ SS Tony Aparicio (.310, 7 HR, 31 RBI) was out with shoulder tendinitis, and probably not back until after the All Star Game.
June 17 – Sacramento acquires SP Paul Paris (3-5, 4.17 ERA) from the Blue Sox in exchange for a rather unremarkable prospect.
June 18 – Rookie 3B Reed Ottinger (.254, 4 HR, 16 RBI) is a triple away from the cycle in a 4-hit, 4-RBI performance as his Condors down the Falcons, 13-4.
June 21 – A torn back muscle puts CIN SP John Gano (1-2, 4.82 ERA) on the DL for the rest of the year.

FL Player of the Week: SAC 3B Mike Crenshaw (.308, 10 HR, 39 RBI), hitting .481 (13-27) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL 3B/SS/LF/CF Anton Venegas (.345, 3 HR, 30 RBI), batting .500 (13-26) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Oh boy.

Nominally a winning week (4-3 after all…), it surely didn’t feel like one, especially with the choker on Saturday in there and more inefficient pitching. Then Wolinsky tweaked his paw again, and then Manny tore who-knows-what… Dr. Padilla so far surely doesn’t know. We will have to make SOME roster move on Monday, because we can’t go with a 3-man bench and it’s off to Boston right away without a day off.

Okuda finally lost a game, just when I thought he was immune to sucking his tail off.

What else? Maldo can’t hit the baseball no more, Toohey never really hit them all season. Maybe Martell should bat cleanup for a change, what do I know…?

Well, I at least know the schedule. It’s grim. 4-city road trip, tingling through three countries. Only US stops next week, though, with the Titans and Knights up for grabs.

Fun Fact: Nothing of interest on the waiver wire.

Yes, that’s how far we’re into the 2029 phase of this dynasty.