[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Federal League won a 7-6 game over the Continental League in the annual All Star Game. The teams were tied at four after regulation, with the CL scoring two runs in the top of the 10th inning, but being outdone for three in the bottom half. Denver’s Ivan Villa (.305, 10 HR, 52 RBI) won MVP honors with three hits, missing the cycle by the double, and an RBI.

The Portland complement did so-so. Armando Herrera and Jesus Maldonado started the game. The former went 0-for-1 with a walk before being double-switched out, while the latter had a 1-for-4 day. Matt Waters pinch-hit without success.

Raccoons (49-37) @ Loggers (28-60) – July 16-19, 2048

Back to the Loggers then, who had scratched a split from the Coons the week before, although we were still up 5-2 on them for the entire season. They were still 11th in runs scored and 12th in runs allowed in the CL and the potential for improvement was like limited.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (5-4, 4.08 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (5-10, 6.00 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-0, 1.42 ERA) vs. Tony Ruiz (4-6, 3.06 ERA)
Victor Merino (7-7, 3.82 ERA) vs. John Morrill (3-13, 5.18 ERA)
Jake Jackson (5-6, 3.93 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (6-3, 3.30 ERA)

Padilla and Ruiz were the left-handers here.

The Raccoons returned Jeremy Baker – their ERA leader, wickedly – to AAA during the All Star break, then went with 1B/LF/RF Evan Van Hoy as roster filler for the weekend. Van Hoy had 3 RBI batting .278 in limited appearances with the Alley Cats, and last year had hit 5-for-17 as a Raccoon. How many first basemen do we need on the roster? Is three gonna be enough?

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – 1B Gurney – P Wheatley
MIL: CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 1B E. Hernandez – 2B R. Espinoza – RF Lovell – LF Reeves – C J. Davis – 3B M. Grant – P V. Padilla

While Wheats dipped his ERA under four with three scoreless to begin the game, allowing only a single to Josh Davis the first time through, the Raccoons scored a run in the top 3rd when Alex Adame tripled and scored on a passed ball. Whatever works! Maybe the staying-calm approach would work again – in the fourth, Padilla loaded the bases exclusively with free passes to Toohey, Waters, and Watt, but with one out Pat Gurney grounded to Mike Grant, who threw out Toohey at home plate. That left the scoring runs to Wheatley … or maybe the Loggers battery, Padilla being called out for a balk at 1-1, which scored Waters automatically. Wheats ended up grounding out to short, then gave up a homer to Ernesto Hernandez to narrow the Loggers-provided lead to 2-1.

Top 6th, Gurney at the plate, three on once more, and one out as well, although this time Toohey had doubled and Ruben Gonzalez had walked rather than Matt Waters. Unlike last time, Gurney garnered an RBI with a sac fly to Bill Reeves, but Wheats grounded out again. Wheatley allowed a single in the sixth, a walk in the seventh, but I … weirdly didn’t *feel* like he was in trouble…? Sometimes it goes fast, though, even in Milwaukee… Besides, the Loggers were out-hitting the Raccoons, 4-3, through seven innings.

Then Gurney batted with three on and one out for the THIRD time in the game, this time with Waters on rather than Gonzalez again. Somehow Victor Padilla was allowed to continue by the grossly negligent Loggers, despite eight walks on his ledger. This time Gurney ended him with a 2-run single to center. The Loggers did away with Wheatley, who ended the inning once more with a double play grounder, in the same inning, Brent Allen drawing a walk with two outs and Zach Suggs singling through the left side. Kuo inherited the runners, allowed an RBI single to Hernandez on the first pitch, and then somehow got Ricky Espinoza to pop out. The Raccoons answered by battering Miguel Herrera; Alex Adame reached on a Suggs error to begin the top 9th, after which the Raccoons hit three straight singles, and Matt Waters hit a homer to right with all three singlers aboard – GRAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!! … 10-2 Raccoons. Toohey 4-4, BB, 2 2B; Watt 0-1, 4 BB; Robinson (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (6-4);

A 10-run game and only two guys in the lineup did anything worth writing home about against the Loggers?

The Loggers!

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – 1B Gurney – P Wolinsky
MIL: CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Espinoza – 1B E. Hernandez – C J. Davis – LF Reeves – RF McIntyre – 3B M. Grant – P T. Ruiz

Doubles by Espinoza and Hernandez up either line gave the Loggers a 1-0 lead in the first, after which Bubba ran four straight 3-ball counts in the bottom of the second inning, ending up issuing 2-out walks to Mike Grant and the pitcher before Brent Allen grounded out to Adame. His control remained off after that; while the Raccoons did nothing on offense, the Loggers kept getting on base. Davis began the fourth with a single, and Reeves drew another walk. Will McIntyre singled to left, and everybody tried to gain the extra base, but Matt Watt’s perfect throw killed off Davis at home plate. A trickler near the third base line by Grant kept the runners pinned in scoring position while Maldo got the second out on it, and Ruiz popped out foul to end the inning without a run scoring, somehow. The exact same combo – Davis single, Reeves walk, McIntyre single – WOULD yield a Loggers run in the sixth, however, and Wolinsky was ground to dust by the end of it, having thrown 98 pitches, most of them wayward.

The Raccoons were down 2-0 on three hits, but got Maldonado on base to begin the seventh when Hernandez committed an error. Toohey whiffed. Ruiz walked Waters to put the tying run aboard, then issued another walk to Gonzalez. And then Watt hit into a double play to end the inning… The Loggers doubled their lead against Bob Ibold in the seventh; Allen walked, Espinoza homered, and the game was officially in the bin. Tony Ruiz completed a 3-hit shutout. 4-0 Loggers.

To say that we had nothing would be an overstatement. Also, this damn ballpark sells only beer, no hard liquor. Granted, it’s 26 different brands of beer, but you can’t numb the pain with beer…!!

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Robinson – SS Martell – C Prow – P Merino
MIL: CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – RF Lovell – 2B R. Espinoza – C J. Davis – LF Reeves – 1B McIntyre – 3B M. Grant – P Morrill

Here was Merino, and there was a lineup without a lefty bat in it. I feared the worst, and indeed Merino did the baseball equivalent of beer: awful. He got poked for four singles by the first five batters, Maldo chipped in an error, and Merino also walked Grant on his way to give up three first-inning runs, of which only one was earned, somehow. Morrill grounded out with the bases loaded to short-circuit the Loggers’ stomping of Merino, who threw 38 pitches in that ********* first inning, then came back for more. Espinoza hit a leadoff double in the bottom 3rd and scored on two groundouts, 4-0, as the Raccoons again didn’t remember how to hit for the early innings. Morrill then helped them out, allowing a single to Toohey in the fourth, walked Waters, and then gave up a crusher to Chris Robinson, 451 feet, and his first blast on the Critters.

Merino got wackoed for ten hits in five innings, some of them quite loud, but the Loggers failed to score more on him and it was a 4-3 game, in which even the Raccoons had a chance to come back, given that the Loggers were also working with a certified arsonist on the mound. Alas, the inertia was so much to overcome… Maldo had a single in the fifth, which ended with a double play grounder by Robinson. Prow hit a single in the sixth, which led precisely nowhere. Maldo hit a single again in the seventh, and this time Toohey and Waters joined him, loading the bases with two more 1-out singles. But there was Robinson again, with another double play grounder….. Morrill was somehow still in the game in the eighth, allowing a 1-out, ground-rule double to Kevin Prow (although if I had to manage the Loggers’ pen, I would also do so by exclusion…); Baskins flew out, Gurney struck out, and the Raccoons didn’t score ******* YET AGAIN. Reeves’ leadoff triple off Mike Lynn in the bottom 8th led to a tack-on run for Milwaukee then. Their response to holding a 5-3 lead after eight was to send Miguel Herrera, who had retired nobody on Thursday. Herrera whiffed. Maldo singled, bringing up the tying run. Toohey hit a ****** infield roller, but Grant had to come in too far and all paws were safe. Waters grounded out, advancing the runners, which conveniently meant that there were two outs and Robinson could not possibly complete the double play trifecta. So he flew out to Reeves. 5-3 Loggers. Maldonado 3-5; Toohey 2-4, BB; Waters 2-4, BB; Martell 2-4; Prow 3-4, 2 2B;

Maud? – Yes, Maud. Listen. I have only two 10-dollar coins for this payphone. You need to send some Capt’n Coma by express to Milwaukee. – No, there is no hard liquor anywhere here, only *beer*! – But I can’t numb the pain with *beer*! – Well, have you SEEN them play?? – Maud? – Maud? – Hello? – Hello??

My life is horror.

Game 4
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 3B Maldonado – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – RF Robinson – 2B Martell – LF Baskins – P Jackson
MIL: CF B. Allen – C J. Davis – 1B E. Hernandez – 2B R. Espinoza – RF Lovell – LF Reeves – SS R. Lopez – 3B M. Grant – P Ru. Guzman

Facing mostly only right-handed bats helped Jake Jackson nothing; he drowned with two outs in the bottom 1st. Single, double, walk, single – two runs scored before Ricky Lopez struck out in a full count with some gentle help by the umpire. The second was even worse. Mike Grant singled, Jackson fudged Allen’s comebacker for an error, and Hernandez doubled in the pair of them, then scored on an Espinoza single. Pat Lovell grounded out, but it was already 5-0 and I wanted to go home and cry. The Raccoons would go on to score, under their own power even, in the fourth inning (better late than never), when Adame led off with a double and was singled home by Maldonado. Yay, 5-1. Guzman walked Gurney, then Gonzalez, gluttoning up the bases for Robinson, the master of the double play grounder. Down 2-2, he chopped a looper into shallow left-center for a 2-run single, which was miles better, but the inning then died with the bottom of the order, and the Raccoons stranded the tying runs in a 5-3 game.

Guzman issued leadoff walks in the fifth and sixth innings; Watt was ineptly doubled off by Adame, while Gurney was just as ineptly stranded by the next three guys in line. Matt Waters entered in a double switch in the middle of the sixth, then hit a single off Guzman in the seventh. Then he was ineptly doubled off by Watt. At about that point I was on my eighth quarter-gallon of $35 beer, and felt a slight urge to pee, but no relief.

The Raccoons didn’t get Guzman out of the game until the eighth when Maldo singled, advanced on a groundout, and scored on Gonzalez’ single to left with two outs. Robinson grounded out, leaving the tying run aboard, and then Miguel Herrera, who walked twice as many as he struck out and had an ERA of 12.07, came in for another save opportunity, just to mock us. Herrera struck out. Baskins struck out. Waters… oh, Waters…! Waters… grounded out. 5-4 Loggers. Gurney 1-2, 2 BB; Hitchcock 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

In other news

July 14 – The Blue Sox send OF/1B Mike Harmon (.275, 2 HR, 13 RBI) to the Cyclones for 3B/SS David Reid (.245, 7 HR, 41 RBI), a prospect, and cash.
July 14 – The Loggers trade SP Walt Wright (3-8, 4.42 ERA) to the Warriors for a prospect.
July 16 – The Cyclones appear still on break, getting 1-hit by WAS SP Cory Ellis (5-7, 3.85 ERA) in a 3-0 shutout. CIN 2B/SS Joe Tindle (.252, 1 HR, 22 RBI) has the lone base hit for Cincy, a single in the fourth inning.
July 17 – The Canadiens get INF/CF Nick DeMarco (.271, 3 HR, 28 RBI) from the Thunder in exchange for OF Mike Allen (.242, 4 HR, 19 RBI).
July 18 – RIC 2B/SS Lance Harrison (.340, 14 HR, 42 RBI) decides the Rebels’ game against the Blue Sox with a solo home run; Richmond wins 1-0.
July 19 – After a bout with rotator cuff inflammation, SFB CL John Steuer (0-0, 1.35 ERA, 4 SV) will now miss the rest of the season with shoulder inflammation.
July 19 – DEN LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.328, 10 HR, 61 RBI) might miss a month with a sprained ankle.

FL Player of the Week: DEN INF Ivan Villa (.318, 10 HR, 54 RBI), hitting .611 (11-18) with 1 HR, 3 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.332, 19 HR, 61 RBI), batting .591 (13-22) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

There are no words, once again. There is no fixing this, as usual. They were unspeakably bad, again.

Losing three of four (and five of eight) to the Loggers should automatically disqualify them from postseason discussion, except that the division is the worst in baseball. Every other division has not one, but two teams with better records than the Critters, and it’s usually not close. And don’t you tell me that we technically outscored the Loggers for the series. Runs matter, but wins matter more.

I just… I just don’t know which screw to turn here…

That 5-team homestand will come up next. The Blue Sox are already giddy, getting to travel out here for ONE game in between series in Richmond and at home.

The Coons have expended $124k on international amateurs this year, signing four players in total. I don’t have a great urge to tell you about any of them, except that we signed 16-year-old Dominican Elias Diaz. You might remember former Raccoons catcher Elias (Matias) Tovias (Diaz). The younger Diaz, full name Elias Tobias Diaz Urias, is a nephew of Tovias on his mother’s side. He’s listed as a shortstop, but Pat Degenhardt says he moves more like a catcher. That might run in the family. *

Fun Fact: The Raccoons don’t need their 25th roster spot.

Ask Evan Van Hoy.

Also, if you got a clumsy fat kid with zero baseball talent that wants to be a major leaguer for a day, give us a call.

Meals included.

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*I didn’t plan for that, but they’re both from Santo Domingo, and then I couldn’t resist. This is the quality content you are subscribed to.