[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Federal League beat the Continental League, 7-2, in this year’s All Star Game. Dallas’ Tylor Cecil went 2-for-2 with a walk and 3 RBI to claim MVP honors. The CL’s scoring solely consisted of solo homers by Vancouver’s Jerry Outram and Portland’s Jesus Maldonado – e.g. the last waltz before the ship is swallowed by the waves.

Maldo went 1-for-3 with a walk in total. Matt Waters pinch-hit and struck out.

Raccoons (44-45) vs. Loggers (31-58) – July 15-18, 2049

The back half of the season started with the back half of the Loggers four-and-four. We were now up 5-3 in the season series, and they were still outlandishly horrible. Second from the bottom in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a -101 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (6-6, 3.37 ERA) vs. Victor Padilla (7-10, 5.24 ERA)
Dave Hils (8-4, 4.50 ERA) vs. Gabe Butler (5-9, 4.78 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (6-6, 4.79 ERA) vs. John Morrill (6-7, 4.10 ERA)
Victor Salcido (1-6, 4.53 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (5-9, 4.37 ERA)

Two left, two right.

The Coons also had made an acquisition over the break, bringing in a new intern in some young lady named Autumn that Cristiano Carmona had hired. She was doing some sort of business degree or something. I hadn’t really listened. All I could do was look at the roster and wonder where it had all gone wrong so badly.

Game 1
MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 1B E. Hernandez – C T. Sanchez – 3B N. Jackson – RF de Lemos – 2B Barrington – P V. Padilla
POR: CF Watt – RF Avila – 1B Maldonado – SS Waters – LF Preble – 3B Luna – C Gonzalez – 2B Seymour – P Wheatley

Brent Allen singled, Zach Suggs homered, and the Loggers were up 2-0 on Wheats in the first inning, which sugged. Matt Waters, however, homered to left in the bottom 1st with Maldo on base, having drawn a 2-out walk, and tied the game. Things then got stuck there for a while, with a drizzle coming from above, and with Padilla hitting a leadoff single in the third inning. Jose Delgado also singled, but Wheats retired the next three to bugger out of the inning, then got a 4-2 lead in the bottom 4th, soggy as he was, when Ruben Gonzalez doubled to center with Preble and Luna on base to begin the inning. Seymour grounded out, and then the tarp came on to my great annoyance. After 40 minutes, the game resumed with Wheats batting for himself, plating Gonzalez with another groundout, 5-2, then went back to the mound, having thrown 56 pitches before the rain delay. He threw 16 more in the fifth, but went 1-2-3 on the Loggers, as chewy as it was, then was not seen afterwards.

The bottom 5th began with celebrations, as Jesus Maldonado and Mike Preble hit singles – for the former it was his 2,000th base knock in the majors! We took a minute for some fireworks on the scoreboards with some neat flashback clips, and then the inning went on. Eddy Luna grounded to Jack Barrington with two outs, which oughta have ended the inning, but Barrington threw the ball away for two bases and a run. Ruben Gonzalez then grounded out to third base to actually end the fifth. Norris had a clean sixth, while O’Higgins put on Dave de Lemos and Barrington with two outs, but got a groundout from Mike Grant to bail out. O’Higgins continued in the eighth, but retired nobody, facing three and giving up two runs on a Suggs single, which sugged. Lynn came on, got a double play grounder from Ernesto Hernandez and hung a K on Tony Sanchez to restore order. Moreno went 1-2-3 in the ninth to seal the deal and get the Critters back to .500 as if that meant something good. 6-4 Coons. Preble 2-4; Gonzalez 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Adame (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
MIL: LF J. Delgado – 3B N. Jackson – SS Z. Suggs – 1B E. Hernandez – RF McIntyre – C T. Sanchez – RF de Lemos – 2B Barrington – P G. Butler
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Preble – RF Avila – 3B Luna – C Gonzalez – P Hils

Jose Delgado opened with an infield single, stole second, and scored eventually on a Hernandez groundout, having reached third on Nick Jackson’s single, so again the Loggers were up early. The Coons got to the corners in the bottom 1st, but Preble popped out to keep Watt and Waters (who forced out Maldo, who hit #2,001) stranded. Instead, Eddy Luna tied the game with a homer in the bottom 2nd instead, and an inning later, Maldo landed hit #2,002 and his fifth homer of the year to grab a 2-1 lead…!

Hils kept his crap together in these innings, holding the Loggers to four hits total through five innings, then slapped a soft 1-out single in the bottom 5th to spark a little something. Watt also singled up the middle, while Adame found the gap in left-center for an RBI double, 3-1. Unfortunately, runners were then left in scoring position on a Maldo comebacker and a K to Waters… Instead, Zach Suggs hit a homer in the sixth, 3-2. The Raccoons loaded them up in the bottom 6th; Luna hit a 2-out single, stole second, and Milwaukee then walked Gonzalez intentionally, only for Butler to plunk Hils and lose Watt to ball four in a full count, forcing home a run. Adame’s next fly to left-center was tracked down by Delgado, ending the inning.

Hils pitched seven and two thirds innings of very fine ball, then was knocked out by a Delgado single, bringing back the tying run in lefty Nick Jackson. Ponce appeared, got a pop behind home plate, and that ended the Loggers’ eighth. Bottom 8th, Chris Kaye filled the bases with nobody out, putting on Gonzalez, Nigro, and Watt in order. Adame flew out to Delgado again, but Gonzalez went home and scored on a terrible throw, on which Delgado also hurt himself quite visibly and was replaced with Tony Ferrusquia. Maldo singled then to fill the bases again for Waters, who drew a bases-loaded walk, 6-2. Preble added one more run with a grounder to first before the Loggers dumped Kaye for Julian Villarreal, who retired Pat Gurney to end the inning. With a 5-run lead, Brett Lillis jr. got the ninth, allowed a leadoff single to Zach Suggs, but then retired the next three in order to finish the contest. 7-2 Coons. Watt 1-2, 3 BB, RBI; Maldonado 3-5, HR, RBI; Luna 2-4, HR, RBI; Nigro (PH) 1-1; Hils 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (9-4) and 1-2;

Shoulder strain’s the word on Delgado and he’s out for at least a week.

That comes from improper workout routines, Autumn, as I explained to her the next morning when the Raccoons were working out on the field by having a hot dog eating contest, followed by a group nap on lawn chairs. – No no, Autumn, I don’t want to hear any of your nutritional heresies. Some of these guys won five pennants and three rings with this Saturday regime, before their bodies crapped out at age 33…!

(freezes, lecturing index claw still raised, and stares into the distance, pondering)

Game 3
MIL: LF de Lemos – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – RF McIntyre – C T. Sanchez – 2B Barrington – 1B Lovell – 3B N. Jackson – P Morrill
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Gurney – RF Luna – 3B Crispin – C Gardner – P Wolinsky

Third day, third time the Loggers scored first, but for the first time in unearned fashion. Pat Lovell singled home Tony Sanchez in the top 2nd, with Sanchez having reached scoring position on a particularly gross throwing error by Ed Crispin, which made me open the Capt’n Coma a bit earlier than usual. – Yes, Autumn, this is the point where I try to do something against the pain. – Well, isn’t that sorry to hear that your father and uncle and grandfather all drank themselves to death. – No no, you see, I know when to stop. I stop exactly when the game is over and I can go home for the night. – Yes, sometimes I just fall asleep on the couch and litter the office overnight. Your point?

Not unearned: the run that Dave de Lemos plated by singling home Jackson with two outs in the fifth inning. That made it 2-0, with the Raccoons having done little of value in between. Crispin, the scapegoat in the second, struck out with two aboard to end the bottom 4th for additional tickets in the “who goes back to Florida” lottery. We had only two hits total through five and I saw an L coming, but Maldo had something against that defeatist attitude, found Adame on base to begin the bottom 6th, and cranked a game-tying homer to left, leveling us at two! MALDOOOO!!! The Coons went on to load the bases in the same inning with a Gurney double, Luna walk, and Crispin single, bringing up Wade Gardner with one out. More lottery tickets were doled out with a 5-4-3 double play that wrecked the inning. God ******* damnit!!! – No, Autumn. Where you *really* get in trouble is when you use the name of the *baseball gods* in vain. (looks upwards) I didn’t say anything, Igor! Put that lightning bolt away!

Bubba went seven and held the tie, then was batted for with Brian Nigro to begin the bottom 7th. Nigro walked and stole second, although Morrill walked Watt anyway after that. Adame grounded to short, Suggs fumbled the ball for an error rather than two, which sugged for the Loggers, and that made it three on, no outs, which would surely soon sugg for the Coons, too. Maldo was next and slapped the first pitch he saw up the middle. Suggs missed it narrowly, and Maldo cashed another two RBI with a single to center! Waters grounded out, but Gurney singled up the middle as well for another run, 5-2. The Loggers’ staff now fell apart as a whole, yielding more RBI hits to Luna and Crispin, and Gardner singled to fill the bases again, bringing Nigro to the plate for the second time in the inning, now with three on and one out and Kyle McRay pitching. Nigro walked *again*, pushing home another run. McRay walked in another run against Watt, then gave up an RBI single to Adame, which made it double digits, 10-2, and brought back suddenly scalding hot Jesus Maldonado, who drew *another* bases-loaded walk. Waters, who had made the first out in the inning, made the second out as well, bringing home Watt as he grounded out to first. Gurney then struck out. We then looked for O’Higgins to pitch at least one, maybe two innings. He pitched two outs, and was wrecked for four hits and three runs, ending with a 2-run double by McIntyre. Preston Porter K’ed Tony Sanchez to end the eighth, then spit the ninth with Lillis. 12-5 Furballs. Watt 2-4, 2 BB, RBI; Adame 2-6, RBI; Maldonado 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 5 RBI; Gurney 3-5, 2B, RBI; Luna 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Crispin 2-5, RBI; Gardner 2-5; Nigro (PH) 0-1, 2 BB, RBI; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, W (7-6);

Romp!

Game 4
MIL: LF de Lemos – CF B. Allen – SS Z. Suggs – 1B E. Hernandez – C T. Sanchez – 3B N. Jackson – RF Lovell – 2B Barrington – P Hollis
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – LF Gurney – RF Nigro – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P Salcido

Salcido had lost six of his last eight starts, with his only W of the season coming on June 5 in the first game after permanent promotion to the major league rotation. He had been blown up by these very same Loggers the week before and was closer to St. Pete than anybody might have thought at this point. He did not allow a runner of his own in the first two innings, although Waters made an error, before the Coons loaded the bags with the 5-6-7 batters and nobody out in the bottom 2nd. Ruben Gonzalez whiffed, but Salcido gave himself a lead with a sac fly to Brent Allen, and then it again got somewhat ugly for Milwaukee; Matt Watt singled home Nigro, and then Adame singled to right, scoring Ed Crispin. Jack Barrington ended the inning with lunge and flip on a Maldo grounder for the third out, Portland up 3-0. – See, Autumn, primitive heads might now think that we’re gonna sweep them, but I’ve seen **** before, and thus I need to unscrew my booze now before it actually gets so bad I need it. You live, you learn!

Salcido struck out four the first time through the Loggers’ order, then gave up his first hit, a Dave de Lemos single with two outs in the third. He walked Allen, and I felt confirmation, but then Suggs grounded out to short to end the frame. Instead the Coons kept scoring in the bottom 3rd. Waters walked, stole second, and came home on a Gurney knock, 4-0. The inning ended at 5-0 with a Crispin single bringing home Gurney, and before Salcido could complete five innings, there was another 40-minute rain delay. (looks skywards) Igor! I didn’t say anything!!! ******* ******** *********!!

While Salcido walked two and was held together by the infielders in the fourth, Gurney tripled home a pair to knock out Hollis in a 7-0 game. Salcido walked de Lemos, but completed the fifth on 77 pitches, which would be all for him, given the rain delay and all. The Coons got two innings from Nate Norris for the cost of a run after Salcido’s departure, but the Coons answered with three pinch-hit RBI’s off the Loggers’ pen in the bottom 7th. Avila batted for Nigro and doubled home two, and Gardner hit for the pitcher Norris and brought in Avila for a 2-out run, 10-1. Ponce conceded a run on three singles in the eighth, while the ninth came from Moreno, with Monday off and all. He completed the sweep. 10-2 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, BB, RBI; Adame 3-5, RBI; Gurney 3-4, BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Nigro 1-2, BB; Avila (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Crispin 3-4, RBI; Gardner (PH) 1-1, RBI; Salcido 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, W (2-6);

In other news

July 12 – DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.345, 12 HR 55 RBI) will miss the rest of July with shoulder tendinitis.
July 12 – It will be two months on the sidelines for SFB MR Jeremy Mayhall (4-1, 3.99 ERA, 5 SV), who needs to have bone chips removed from his elbow.
July 15 – Fresh off ASG MVP honors, Dallas’ Tylor Cecil (.347, 18 HR, 77 RBI) cranks three homers and plates *eight* runs in a 13-5 mauling of the Scorpions. This is the third 3-homer day of the season, and it comes only five business days (excluding the break) after Jose Cantu did it with the Blue Sox.
July 17 – The Canadiens crush the Titans, 19-1, with a full dozen runs scored in the third inning alone. Vancouver’s Bob Mancini (.317, 8 HR, 40 RBI) leads the team with three hits and five RBI.
July 18 – SFB C David Alvardo (.321, 2 HR, 7 RBI) breaks a 14th-inning tie with a 2-run homer, giving the Bayhawks an 8-6 win over the Thunder.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.278, 15 HR, 46 RBI), batting .500 (8-16) with 3 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF Juan Benavides (.311, 7 HR, 34 RBI), whooping .632 (12-19) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Oh well, it’s the Loggers. They’re hardly the same species. – Autumn, how am I possibly disrespecting them? Have you seen their stats?? – No, Autumn. Not ALL life is precious…!

Over the break, I shopped some pieces, including our two back-end relivers. No great offers came in, and no offers at all for Mike Lynn. Nelson Moreno got *some* interest, but teams weren’t exactly piling over each other for him.

Maldo won’t go anywhere anyway, and with his big 5-RBI game on Saturday he got within a hundo of the career mark for RBI by franchise leader Manny Fernandez, who retired at 1,110 RBI. That makes Maldo third overall for the Coons with 1,013 RBI, with only Matt Nunley (1,053) in between.

We continue our homestand on Tuesday with the Crusaders and Thunder still to come in before we hit the road for the rest of the month.

We have yet to sign a July free agent, and we’re actually only bidding for one anymore, 18-year-old Dominican hurler Duarte Damasceno. We were in it for three initially, but dropped out of the bidding for Manuel Portillo (who signed with Indy) and Lorenzo Ugalde (who is still out there) when he hit the soft cap each time. None of the three was worth taking a penalty for next year.

Fun Fact: Zach Suggs is the most cost-efficient player on the Loggers, compiling 2.9 WAR so far this year.

He does this on a minimum salary, so that’s $92,068 per win above replacement. Just behind would be Jose Delgado, after which it goes dark for them rather quickly. They have 11 players with less than $1M per WAR, which is not a function of their high payroll (they are bottoms by a lot in team payroll), but more of having so many players with 0.1 to 0.4 WAR. If that.

The Raccoons have nobody with that much cost efficiency, but then again, beyond Salcido we also don’t have a minimum player with more than 0.3 WAR, which somehow is Ed Crispin, who is one of only SEVEN Coons coming in at less than $1M/WAR (top 10 shown):

Player – WAR – Salary – $/WAR
Matt Watt – 2.4 – 550k – 229k
Eddy Luna – 2.3 – 740k – 322k
Victor Salcido – 0.7 – min – 381k
Victor Merino – 1.1 – 660k – 600k
Brian Nigro – 1.0 – 640k – 640k
Matt Waters – 2.2 – 1.43M – 650k
Ed Crispin – 0.3 – min – 890k
Kevin Hitchcock – 0.2 – min – 1.34M
Jason Wheatley – 2.2 – 3.5M – 1.59M
Nelson Moreno – 0.9 – 1.49M – 1.66M

Maldo? 0.5 WAR @ $5.5M. You can do that math yourself. I refuse to do it.

Cristiano – burn this report good. If Nick sees it, I might be in actual trouble for once…..