[Westheim]

All Star Game

Bayhawks catcher Sean Suggs has two hits with a homer and an RBI to win MVP honors in the All Star Game, but even without being weighed down by any Raccoons, the Continental League drops the game to the Federal League, 4-3. Pittsburgh’s Ed Soberanes hits three singles in the FL win, which goes to Buffos closer Trent O’Sullivan.

Raccoons (41-48) vs. Crusaders (46-43) – July 14-17, 2050

Now down 5-3 in the season series, the Raccoons got to host the Crusaders for four at our own cozy place, which was remarkably empty these days. Still unable to score (unless Bubba Wolinsky could find more blowouts in his arm), still decent pitching.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (5-7, 4.49 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (6-8, 3.29 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (3-9, 4.79 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (5-7, 5.76 ERA)
Victor Salcido (8-3, 3.50 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (4-11, 4.36 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-10, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (13-2, 1.78 ERA)

The series opened with a righty, of which the injury-riddled Crusaders had only two in the rotation right now, the other being Jeff Johnson. For New York, there was no Haertling, no Baskins, no Russ, no White, no Mills, no Fentress, and for me soon no breath… (gasp!)

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

Wheats gave up three hits the first thing after the All Star break, with Danny Rivera singling home Omar Sanchez to get New York on the board right away. The Coons left Matt Watt on third base after his leadoff double in the bottom 1st, and threatened to do the same with Puckeridge on third in the bottom 2nd until Wheats himself shoved a 2-out RBI single up the middle to unhook himself. For naught; Watt flew out, and in the third Wheatley allowed a walk, a single, and with two outs, a 2-run single to center to Prince Gates, 3-1. Randy Anton walked, and only Ron Arens grounded out to Ed Crispin. Bottom 3rd, Lonzo hit a leadoff single. Maldo had a deep fly out, after which Lonzo took second by force for his 40th stolen base. Waters then singled him home, tying Maldo with 39 RBI for the miserable team lead in the Coons’ 90th game. Waters stole second, too, Puckeridge reached on an Omar Sanchez error, and then another runner was wasted at third base when Crispin hit into an inning-ending double play, 4-6-3…

Wheats came apart for good in the fourth, walking Mario Ceballos and Sanchez, giving up a run on a Mark Haney single, and then two more on a gapper by Danny Rivera. The barrage against the Raccoons didn’t end, with Sopena getting a turn in the fifth when he doubled home a run with two outs. Bottom 7th, however, Waters singled home his 40th run with Watt (walk) and Maldo (single) on the corners. An infield single for Puckeridge loaded the bases and brought back Crispin as the tying run. Haney lunged, but missed his shot up the middle for a 2-run single, but Gonzalez and Sopena then made the last two outs. After an uneventful eighth, Bob Ibold pitched around a Ramirez double in the top 9th so that when Maldo lobbed a soft leadoff single in the bottom 9th against Melvin Lucero, the tying run was back in the box in Matt Waters. He grounded out to advance Maldo to second, but Puckeridge socked a drive over the glove of a reaching Ceballos for an RBI double, and now the tying run was just 180 feet away. Make that 90 on a wild pitch to Crispin, and with one out! Except that a poor floater by Crispin and Gonzalez’ fly to Ceballos ended the game to strand yet another fuzzy bum on third base. 7-6 Crusaders. Maldonado 3-5; Waters 2-5, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Crispin 2-5, 2 RBI; Landeta 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
NYC: RF O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – CF Ceballos – C O. Ramirez – P Malla
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Castner – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – C Gonzalez – LF Puckeridge – CF Lamotta – RF Samples – P Wolinsky

The Coons left runners in scoring position in the first, second, third, and fourth inning without scoring in any ******* one of them, but the Crusaders weren’t any better, except that they stranded fewer runners for having fewer runners to begin with. The ice wasn’t broken until the fifth when Malla walked Wolinsky and Castner zinged a 2-out double to drive him in. No, really, that actually happened. Maldo flew out to left, and through five it was 1-0 Critters.

Confused, Bubba then allowed a leadoff single to Haney in the top 6th, then nailed Gates. Dave Hernandez bounced into a 6-4-3, though, and Rivera went down on strikes to strand a Crusader on third base for a change. Art Bent hit another leadoff single to center in the seventh, but was also doubled up by Ceballos. Omar Ramirez singled, Angel Lara struck out, and seven shutout innings would be all the Coons asked for from Wolinsky in this one. The pen got a 1-0 lead; Lonzo stole not one, but TWO bases in the bottom 7th, but was left on third base when Maldo sailed out to Ceballos. The Coons mixed and matched to the best of their abilites in the eighth; Sencion didn’t get his man, with Sanchez reaching on another leadoff single. Hitchcock got the next two before Josh Garris pinch-hit for Hernandez, promoting a move to Ponce, who secured a foul pop to Matt Waters to end the inning. Bottom 8th, Waters blooped a leadoff single, and Jeff Frank walked Puckeridge with one out. Crispin batted for Lamotta and was nicked, loading them up for Eddy Luna, coming on for Adam Samples. He grounded to Haney, but the Crusaders couldn’t turn two, and a puffer run scored. Suzuki then whiffed in Ponce’s place, sending Willie Cruz out with a 2-0 lead. Cruz cocked it up, big time. Leadoff single for Rivera, RBI double for Bent, and then two walks and another RBI single for Omar Sanchez, which tied the game, loaded the bases with two outs, and brought on Preston Porter, who got Gates to bounce out to Crispin at third base.

Right-hander Sean Yates was out for the bottom 9th. The thing was, the 1-2-3 were up, after which Waters had gotten lost in the position shuffle after the pinch-hitting bonanza in the bottom 8th, so the pitcher was in the #4 spot and only Juan Jimenez was left on the bench. The spot never came up in the ninth, as Yates sawed off the 1-2-3 in order, but Porter then had to remain in for the 10th inning. He gave up two runs on a walk to Rivera, a Bent double, and a Ramirez single. Lucero scuffled again in the bottom 10th as well, giving up a 1-out double to Gonzalez, then an RBI single to Puckeridge, which brought the winning run to the plate; and while we were out of bench, there were three lefty hitters lined up against the right-hander Lucero. Puckeridge made second on an errant pickoff when it was already 3-0 to Crispin, who managed to strike out from *there*, while Luna walked. That brought up Suzuki, batting .186, with no lifelines left. He grounded out to Gates. 4-3 Crusaders. Gonzalez 2-5, 2B; Puckeridge 3-4, BB, RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K;

(groans bigly!)

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

A pair of errors and a Samples single somehow got Puckeridge around the bases for a 1-0 lead in the bottom 2nd, which I was of course not going to refuse, but at the same time I’d brace myself with booze and Honeypaws for the inevitable boomerang. Salcido had struggled in the first two innings, with quite a few long counts, but he sat down the next five before Prince Gates missed a homer by inches in the fourth, having to settle for a 2-out double. Randy Anton popped out, keeping the Coons ahead. We also wasted a 2-out double in the fourth, that one hit by Jimenez.

Through six, the Coons out-hit the Crusaders, 10-3, but still only led 1-0. Ramirez and Anton promptly went to the corners in the seventh, but Castner spun an Angel Lara bouncer for an inning-ending double play. The Coons loaded them up with two outs in the bottom 7th as Maldo was nicked, Waters and Puckeridge hit soft singles, and then Ricky Lamotta FINALLY came through for this team, blasting a bases-clearing double over the head of Mario Ceballos to run the score to 4-0…!

Salcido got one more out in the eighth after a leadoff double by Ceballos, after which the lefty top of the order would come back. Sencion entered in a sextuple-switch, with the only defenders not moving or leaving being Maldo, Lonzo, and Jimenez; in short, the pitcher went to the #7 hole and Castner and Samples were gone. Sencion got out of the eighth just fine, but then walked Rivera and gave up an RBI double to Ramirez to begin the game. So here was Cruz again in the ninth. Infield single, passed ball to score a run, and with the tying run in the ******* box, finally a K to Anton and Watt retiring Arens on a sliding catch in shallow left. Ceballos grounded out. 4-2 Coons. Suzuki 1-1; Maldonado 3-3, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4; Lamotta 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Samples 2-4, RBI; Salcido 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (9-3);

Hey, we didn’t blow a game!

Excitement.

Game 4
NYC: RF O. Sanchez – CF Ceballos – SS Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – LF D. Rivera – 3B Bent – C O. Ramirez – 2B E. Zuniga – P J. Johnson
POR: LF Watt – SS Lavorano – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – RF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – P Merino

Johnson flew out into a 9-2 double play after a Ramirez single and an Edwin Zuniga double had put New Yorkers in scoring position to begin the top 3rd. In a kind, loving world, Merino would then have gotten out of the inning, but no, Omar Sanchez singled home Zuniga with a run anyway, the first in the game. While that was pretty much it for the Crusaders for the first six innings against Merino, the Coons had only two hits in five innings against Jeff Johnson, who was nearly untouchable as whole for this season. Matt Watt was the first Coon to even reach third base in the bottom 6th, drawing a leadoff walk before getting inevitably stranded.

Merino went through eight on 96 pitches, allowing just two hits outside the befuddled third, while Matt Watt hit a soft single to begin the bottom 8th, but the next three hitters all made poor outs and he went back to the dugout from first base. Merino then came back for the ninth with two lefty batters leading off, walking Ed Haertling, just off the DL, and throwing a wild pitch before Rivera’s grounder moved the insurance run to third base. Ibold gave up a sac fly to Art Bent, but the Coons got handled well by Lucero anyway… 2-0 Crusaders. Gonzalez 1-2, BB; Merino 8.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L (5-11);

In other news

July 13 – The Falcons acquire UT Eric Miller (.255, 8 HR, 40 RBI) from the Gold Sox for 1B Raul Sevilla (.270, 14 HR, 54 RBI). The Falcons also get a prospect.
July 16 – The Blue Sox acquire the Warriors’ closer Ralph Needham (3-3, 3.29 ERA, 23 SV) for a prospect.
July 16 – The Pacifics score a lazy nine runs in the 11th inning to beat the Stars, 12-3. LAP 1B Larry Rodriguez (.238, 13 HR, 48 RBI) keeps the fire burning with a grand slam in the 11th, his only contribution in the game.
July 16 – TIJ 1B/C Jon Mittleider (.327, 1 HR, 48 RBI) is expected to miss a month with a hip strain.
July 17 – Cyclones 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.307, 19 HR, 67 RBI) hits a 2-run homer off RIC SP Steve Miles (3-4, 4.82 ERA) in a 10-2 Cincy win for his 300th career home run. The 31-year-old won three home run titles with the Scorpions in his 20s and is batting .278/.347/.486 for his career with 995 RBI to his name. He was the 2044 FL Player of the Year.
July 17 – The Thunder lose OF Juan Benavides (.275, 11 HR, 57 RBI) for three weeks with a torn thumb ligament.

FL Player of the Week: DAL INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.226, 3 HR, 26 RBI), batting .526 (10-19) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB C Sean Suggs (.320, 13 HR, 47 RBI), zinging .529 (9-17) with 1 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Coons had another bad week. What else is new?

Let’s instead reach into the mailbag, where we answer questions that weigh on the minds of our dear fans, all three of them. Here is a question from Herschel, age 13, from The Dalles: “Dear Raccoons; I have had my pet raccoon Stinky since the first championship won by the 2040s dynasty. I got it for Christmas! But lately, Stinky has been very sleepy and tired, and sometimes won’t even touch what’s in his food bowl. I wonder whether he will live to see another Raccoons championship…! Kind regards, Herschel, age 13.”

(puts down the letter) Well, Herschel… let me put it – No.

That aside, we signed 16-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Juan Nava this week for $240k, which will also be our second and final signing this July. Groundballer, interesting changeup. Could be tossing harder, only 87 at the peak right now.

This year’s pool never excited me, and so there was no point to blow millions and a chance to get anybody worth the oxygen next year…

Titans, Knights next week.

Fun Fact: Except for Elijah Powell, all Raccoons starters have a FIP at least 0.4 runs better than their ERA.

That’s about where the Victors are at. Bubba is just over 0.5, and for Wheats it’s almost a whole ******* run. His ERA bloomed back to 4.85 this week with another shellacking, but his FIP remains down-ish at 3.96 … which *is* the worst it’s been since his age 22 season, a.k.a. his first full year in the majors, but that is little consolation when he just gets whacked around for whatever reason…