[Westheim]

Raccoons (38-44) @ Crusaders (43-39) – July 4-7, 2050

The two teams were a combined 32 teams out at the start of the second half of the season and had no reason to harbor any hopes for the rest of the year. We’d nevertheless play eight against another over the next two weeks, after splitting a 4-game set earlier in May. New York was second from the bottom in runs scored, but also conceded only the fourth-fewest runs, but that worked out for a -1 run differential (Coons: -36).

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-8, 3.91 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (5-7, 3.23 ERA)
Victor Salcido (7-2, 3.20 ERA) vs. Yataro Tanabe (3-0, 2.98 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (4-7, 4.70 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (5-6, 5.12 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-8, 4.24 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (12-2, 1.75 ERA)

Two southpaws sandwiched in between two right-handers. The Crusaders had a bunch of injuries; f.e. there was no Ed Haertling, no Andrew Russ (grins fiendishly), Ryan Fentress, or Jim White.

The Coons meanwhile disposed of Evan Van Hoy (.211, 0 HR, 7 RBI) to begin the week and brought back Mikio Suzuki (.261, 0 HR, 3 RBI) from a rehab assignment. Maybe he’d stay on the field this time!

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Crispin – P Merino
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – 3B Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF Bent – CF Ceballos – RF Garris – C O. Ramirez – P Sopena

Merino was the first player to land a hit this week, squeezing out a 1-out single in the third inning against Sopena, which was soon imitated by Matt Watt and Lonzo behind him, with three singles filling the bags in a hurry for Maldo, who flew out to Josh Garris in right. Merino went for home and was thrown out, ending the inning. Merino singled again in the fifth inning, but was entirely ignored that time around. Instead, a Mario Ceballos single to left, a stolen base, and a 2-out single past Maldonado chipped by Omar Ramirez gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead in the bottom 5th. That would be the only run against Merino in eight innings, but also enough to give him an L, since the Raccoons just couldn’t put anything together. Lonzo hit another single in the eighth, but was caught stealing, and that was all the rally effort before the middle of the order came up against Melvin Lucero in the ninth inning. Maldo singled to right, but was forced out on a Waters grounder to Prince Gates. Gonzalez whiffed, but Alan Puckeridge singled to right on a 3-2 pitch, sending Waters and the tying run to third base with two outs. Up came Suzuki, also ran a full count, bashed a liner to right … and Garris caught that one. 1-0 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-3; Puckeridge 2-4; Merino 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, L (5-9) and 2-3;

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Samples – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Lamotta – LF Puckeridge – C Jimenez – 3B Luna – P Salcido
NYC: 2B Haney – RF Garris – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – SS E. Zuniga – CF Ceballos – P Tanabe

Three batters in, the Raccoons were up 3-0 as Lonzo drew a leadoff walk (!!), Adam Samples singled, and Jesus Maldonado cranked one over the fence in left for his rousing, team-leading sixth homer of the season. That wasn’t even all in the first inning, with Juan Jimenez doubling home Alan Puckeridge with two outs before all was said and done. Salcido then sparkled with four balls straight to Mark Haney to begin his day, with Omar Ramirez singling home that run with two outs to shorten the lead to 4-1 right away. Salcido hit a single in the top 2nd and was joined on base by Lonzo and Maldo to give Waters a slam chance with one out, but all we got was a grounder to Edwin Zuniga for an inning-murdering double play.

Maldo grabbed a fourth RBI (re-tying Lonzo’s stolen base total with 37) when he singled home Lonzo from second base in the fourth. Lonzo had hit a leadoff single and had taken second on an errant pickoff attempt by Tanabe. And Salcido? Went down in flames in the bottom of the inning. Two walks, a Prince Gates triple, a Randy Anton double, and the tying run was on second base with nobody out already. Zuniga walked, and only Ceballos finally grounded out for anything at all. PH Dave Hernandez flipped the score with a single through the left side, and Salcido was yanked. ******* useless. They’re all ******* useless…….

Ponce got out of the fourth, but Danny Landeta got romped for three more runs in the fifth, putting this game into the books as another dispiriting, soul-bleaching loss. Eddy Luna singled home a run against Neil Hamann in the seventh, but Randy Anton countered with a homer off Kevin Hitchcock in the same inning to maintain slam range for New York. That was about it for this sad Tuesday in New York. 10-6 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4, BB; Maldonado 3-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B; Jimenez 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Sometimes … no, we couldn’t even have won that one in Portland. Can’t have a game shortened to four innings by floods….

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – RF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – CF Samples – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – 2B Castner – P Wheatley
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – RF Garris – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – 1B Anton – 2B Bent – CF Ceballos – P Malla

The Coons casually barfed a 6-spot onto the board in the first inning on Wednesday, with Samples singling home a pair, Crispin adding one, and John Castner mashing a 3-piece, all with two outs. We then very very carefully gave the baseball to Wheats in his final start before the All Star Game. He walked Garris in the first, but struck out Danny Rivera and got out of the inning unharmed, while the Coons got an unearned run home in the top 2nd on singles by Lonzo and Maldo, and a throwing error by Mario Ceballos when Lonzo went to third base, allowing the rookie to scamper home, 7-0. Randy Anton and Art Bent had base hits in the bottom 2nd, but Ceballos found his way into an inning-ending double play, and the Crusaders stranded another two hits in the third before Ruben Gonzalez doubled home Lamotta and Maldo in the fourth, 9-0.

…and while Wheats was not *great*, he kept the Crusaders off the board. The Coons loaded the bags again in the fifth, assisted by a Sanchez error, although with three on and no outs, both Lamotta and Maldo struck out against Xavier Gomez. Adam Samples did as well, but Ramirez fumbled that ball away and everybody circled onwards on the uncaught third strike, with Wheats scoring to make it 10-0. Gonzalez singled home another pair, and then Ed Crispin legged out an infield single to refill the bases, but collided with Randy Anton at first base and left the game with a bruised paw, Luna taking over. Castner then struck out to end the inning on the fourth K hung on a Critter in the top 5th.

Maldo was lifted from the game after a single in the seventh, at which point the Crusaders had gotten a run off Wheats after all when Wheats plunked Gates in the bottom 6th, he stole a base, and was singled in by Anton. Puckeridge replaced Maldo, while multiply-ringed Derek Baskins pinch-hit for the Crusaders in the bottom 7th, but hurt himself in breaking up a double play grounder and was gone in a flash. Wheats completed seven decent innings, with Waters hitting a single in his place. Castner had singled ahead of them and scored after a balk and a Watt groundout, before Lonzo took Matthew Owen deep for a 2-run homer. Yes, the rout remained very much on, and Preston Porter kept the knee on the Crusaders’ throats with two scoreless innings to finish out the game. 15-1 Furballs! Lavorano 2-6, HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-5; Gonzalez 3-6, 2B, 4 RBI; Crispin 2-4, RBI; Castner 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Waters (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (5-7) and 1-3;

Crispin would be day-to-day for the rest of the week, probably, giving more playing time to Eddy Luna.

Game 4
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – C Gonzalez – RF Puckeridge – CF Suzuki – 3B Luna – P Wolinsky
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – 3B Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – RF D. Rivera – LF Bent – CF Arens – C A. Lara – P J. Johnson

Former Indians terror Danny Rivera hit a leadoff double off Wolinsky in the bottom 2nd and scored on two productive outs to give the New Yorkers a 1-0 lead, and wouldn’t that be fitting, to lose 1-0 or 2-1 after pouring out 15 runs the day before? The Coons didn’t have a hit the first time through, but Lonzo stuffed a leadoff triple into the gap in left-center to begin the fourth inning. Maldo singled him home right away to tie the game, but that was also all the Coons got in the inning, and Wolinsky then imploded spectacularly in the bottom 4th, much like Salcido on Tuesday. Gates singled, Hernandez doubled, Rivera singled both of them home, 3-1, before Wolinsky walked the bags full. Still nobody out, yay! Angel Lara lined out on a 3-2 pitch, but Jeff Johnson broke the game open with a bases-clearing double through a diving Eddy Luna. Sanchez popped out, but Mark Haney RBI-doubled Wolinsky off the mound, and Danny Landeta had nothing better to do than to give up two more runs on a Gates double and a Hernandez single. Rivera struck out to complete a jaw-dropping 8-spot.

Waters’ pointless solo homer in the top 6th was countered in the bottom 6th when the ******* opposing pitcher reached on an uncaught third strike (glares at Gonzalez), Bob Ibold walked the bags full, and gave up a sac fly to Dave Hernandez. That was the last run in a game in which Willie Cruz got his only appearance in the series when he pitched mop-up in the eighth inning… 10-2 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5, 3B; Waters 2-4, HR, RBI; Luna 1-2, 2 BB, 2B;

Raccoons (39-47) @ Indians (38-47) – July 8-10, 2050

Two meaningless teams in a battle for a meaningless fourth place ahead of the All Star Game. The Indians had a 5-4 edge in the season series and sat sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +4 run differential. They were remarkably average, the only major stat in which they were in the bottom or top three in the league being home runs, where they tied for tenth. Not that the Coons were shining there; the outburst on Wednesday had merely lifted us to ninth in the league in bombs.

Projected matchups:
Elijah Powell (5-8, 5.40 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (8-5, 3.25 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-9, 3.70 ERA) vs. Paul Medvec (4-6, 4.35 ERA)
Victor Salcido (7-3, 3.66 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (6-7, 3.58 ERA)

Only right-handers for this series – with Tan Brink going on short rest after a double header on Monday.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – CF Suzuki – C Jimenez – P Powell
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – RF Locke – C Gilmore – 2B R. White – P Brink

Both teams only brought up the minimum through three innings, despite landing a base hit each. But Juan Jimenez hit into a double play, and Alex de Castro was caught stealing, thus removing either team’s base hit from the bases again. De Castro was actually caught stealing *again* in the fourth inning, leading to some dismay in his dugout. The Indians finally went up 1-0 in the fifth when Aaron Brayboy hit a leadoff double, and was on the corners with Mark Gilmore when the Coons couldn’t turn two on Rusty White’s grounder to short. Brayboy scored thus, while Brink struck out to leave White on first.

The Indians continued to run on Jimenez, and continued to be thrown out. Angel Mendez singled and was caught stealing in the sixth, and Philip Locke getting hammered out in the seventh. That was 4-for-4 for Jimenez with the rocket launcher, and 2-for-3 with the poke stick, which was not a horrendous day at all. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was collectively doing absolutely nothing.

Top 8th, finally some movement. Brink walked Watt to begin the inning, and Lonzo singled over the head of de Castro, moving the tying run to second base. Maldo popped out. Waters struck out. But Puckeridge came through – doubling to right to tie the game. Lonzo didn’t score mainly for stumbling around second base, which was not conducive to taking a lead here, although we still had .362 wonder John Castner stepping up to bat against righty reliever Bill Quinn. He shot the first pitch to right, a whizzer past Rusty White, and a 2-run single to take the lead, 3-1! John ******* Castner! Quinn walked Suzuki, but Jimenez grounded out to short to end the inning. Once in the lead, the Raccoons got the eighth pieced together by Eloy Sencion and Preston Porter, and Willie Cruz did the rest in the ninth, all without major accidents. 3-1 Coons. Watt 1-2, 3 BB; Lavorano 2-5; Castner 2-4, 2 RBI; Jimenez 2-4; Powell 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, W (6-8);

John Castner, a career sucker, is batting .371/.421/.529 in his age 29 season, and in only 70 at-bats. Surely he’s not for real – career OPS still at .633 – but we’ll slide a few more starts his way until he sucks himself to the point where the Agitator puts the pitchfork down again.

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Merino
IND: RF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – C Gilmore – CF R. White – 2B N. Fernandez – P Medvec

Merino avoided giving up runs on both Angel Mendez’ leadoff double in the first and Mike Gilmore’s 1-out double in the second, although following a Rusty White single, the latter required some outfield assistance from Matt Watt, throwing out Gilmore at the plate on Nick Fernandez’ flyout for a 7-2 double play to end the inning. But the Coons had no hits the first time through, and the Indians kept plinking away at Merino, with success by the bottom 3rd. Mendez singled, stole second, and was singled home by Bill Quinteros, and then Bobby Anderson crashed a homer to left, 3-0. Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the fourth, but was left on, and in the fifth Castner was nicked and Merino singled with two outs before Watt lined out to the shortstop to end the inning.

A Mendez triple and de Castro’s groundout made it 4-0 on Merino in the bottom 5th, while the Coons needed an error to get Lonzo aboard again in the sixth. He stole second, but Maldo grounded out, and Waters popped out on a 3-1 pitch. And that was precisely why our RBI lead at the end of the year would be a ******* 69!! IF THAT!! Puckeridge hit a 2-out single through the right side to get the Coons on the board at all, only the third Portland hit against ten for Indy in this game, but Castner grounded out to end the inning. Merino was gone without retiring a batter in the bottom 6th, walking Gilmore and seeing White reach on an infield single. Bob Ibold at least got out of the inning on five pitches, getting two pops from Fernandez and Medvec, then a grounder to short from Mendez. Hitchcock and Ponce held the Indians in place after that, but the Raccoons never got untracked and never got another base hit. 4-1 Indians.

For Sunday, no special All Star rest this year – it’s simply not required…

Game 3
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 2B Castner – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Salcido
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – LF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – 1B Brayboy – RF Locke – C Poindexter – 2B R. White – P E. Ortiz

Lonzo singled, stole second, and Maldo singled him home, then stole his first base of the year himself. When Puckeridge singled to right, Maldo was sent from second, but was thrown out by Philip Locke to end the inning. The Coons left Gonzalez and Salcido on the corners in the second, but Waters zinged a 2-run homer to center in the third inning after the Indians’ hurler nicked Maldonado, thus extending the lead to 3-0. Salcido seemed recovered from his waffling on Tuesday; he walked one, but struck out four and allowed no hits the first time through against the Arrowheads. Aaron Brayboy, the disgusting little brat, would get Indy into the H column with a leadoff single in the bottom 5th, and then a Lonzo error put the tying run in the box right away, but Merino retired Manny Poindexter, White, and Ortiz in order without allowing Brayboy as far as third base. The shutout went in the sixth though, when Bobby Anderson drove home Mendez with two outs, 3-1. Brayboy then disgustingly doubled, but Anderson was thrown out at home plate by Suzuki to end the inning.

The Raccoons got Maldo and Waters on base with leadoff singles in the eighth inning, but failed to tack on runs when the next three sods made soddy outs. Salcido had thrown 98 pitches through seven and was not back for the bottom 8th. Sencion and Porter retired the 9-1-2 batters in order. Still in a 2-run game, Willie Cruz was a strike away from closing it out when Brayboy, the ******* ********* **** *************, snuck a single through the right side. Nick Fernandez ran for him, and Joe Briscoe pinch-hit for the pitcher in the #6 spot, batting .187, and shedding two points by grounding out to Lonzo after all. 3-1 Coons. Maldonado 2-3, RBI; Waters 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4; Gonzalez 1-2, BB; Salcido 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (8-3) and 1-3;


In other news

July 4 – SFB SS/2B Todd Dau (.212, 6 HR, 25 RBI) connects all the dots in a 16-2 rout of the Knights and collects all types of hit exactly once while driving in five runs. He thus hits for the 111th cycle in ABL history, and the first since 2048, as well as the first for a home team since Jerry Outram did that with the Canadiens in 2044.
July 4 – The Pacifics beat the Stars, 7-4, and kill the hitting streak of DAL OF/1B Omar Gonzalez (.340, 3 HR, 47 RBI) at 25 games in one swoop.
July 4 – The Scorpions acquire CF Clay Krabbe (.278, 3 HR, 18 RBI) from the Warriors for 1B Dale Haracz (.200, 2 HR, 4 RBI), who has yet to start an ABL game, and a prospect.
July 5 – OCT SP Ben Lehman (12-3, 3.16 ERA) 2-hits the Falcons in a 7-0 shutout.
July 6 – The Cyclones beat the Rebels, 12-11 in 12 innings, in a see-saw battle with five homers and as many blown leads. RIC C Dan Whitley (.299, 3 HR, 6 RBI) leads all players with four RBI and missing the cycle by the triple.
July 8 – The Warriors’ SP Mike Zeigler (7-3, 2.45 ERA) 1-hits the Wolves in a 2-0 win. Only OF Angelo Zurita (.258, 1 HR, 21 RBI) finds a single for Salem in the game.
July 8 – The Crusaders acquire SP Jeremy Baker (4-10, 4.34 ERA) from the Pacifics for two prospects.
July 8 – The Titans send SP Jim Cushing (8-5, 3.66 ERA, 1 SV) to the Gold Sox for two prospects.
July 9 – In a full count and with the bases just as full, LAP OF Joshua Shaw (.342, 3 HR, 27 RBI) draws a walk from SAC SP C.J. Harney (7-8, 3.28 ERA), pressed into service in overtime, to walk off the Pacifics, 4-3 in 14 innings.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 3B Jon Elkins (.220, 3 HR, 24 RBI), hitting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.354, 1 HR, 32 RBI), slapping .577 (15-26) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

No Portland All Stars this year. Are dismayed? Sure. Surprised? Nah. Just… Just look at the bunch. Just look at them.

In fact, not only did we not have an All Star – we didn’t have ANY player even in the top 3 in voting at ANY position, or in the top 5 for pitchers. NONE. You can’t get rejected much harder than that, and I must know; I was once rejected by the girl two farms down the road, who instead made off with the family’s price-winning pig…

Salcido took the team’s 5,700th regular season loss in blowout fashion on Tuesday. Our overall record is now 6,215-5,702 (.52152).

EVERYBODY now has three days off, and then we’ll host the Crusaders and Titans in Portland. The rest of the month will be spent with the CL South, starting with a trip to Atlanta and Vegas.

Fun Fact: The last time a Raccoons team ended the season all-time under .500 was in 2008.

The 2009 team missed the playoffs, but flicked the all-time winning percentage to .501 and it’s never dropped below .500 afterwards. And given that we’re now 513 games over .500 I guess we’ll never drop below .500 again, either.

(looks skywards)

Maybe I shouldn’t tease Igor, the littlest and meanest of all the baseball gods, all that hard……