[Westheim]

Raccoons (25-26) vs. Knights (23-28) – June 2-4, 2054

The Raccoons started a new 2-week homestand on Tuesday by facing the Knights, who sat in fifth place in the South and were giving up the most runs in the Continental League, almost five per game. Seventh in runs scored, they had a -38 run differential. The bullpen and defense were especially rotten, but they led the CL in home runs. Preston Visser and Josh Jackson were notable absences for them, while the Raccoons were still without Anton Venegas for at least the opener. The Knights had won two of three from the Coons in the first series between these teams in April.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (1-7, 4.92 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (4-3, 4.72 ERA)
He Shui (3-5, 3.06 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (4-2, 4.37 ERA)
Arthur Pickett (4-2, 4.68 ERA) vs. Joe Byrd (3-5, 3.33 ERA)

We expected two left-handers to begin the series, after which Atlanta would have nothing but right-handers left.

Game 1
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – RF Worden – 3B Villacorta – LF D. Wright – 2B H. Acosta – P Malla
POR: CF de Lemos – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – P Wheatley

Malla was gravely maltreated by the Coons in the first inning, being scorched for five runs, starting with a Lonzo triple to center. Gowin singled home the run, and the bags filled with another single by Ken Crum and a walk to Matt Cox. Brobeck worked another walk to push home a run, Pucks hit a sac fly, and Waters doubled in two more before the inning ended with Wheatley grounding out. In better times, giving Wheats a 5-spot in the first inning would have been an automatic W, but nothing was ever that easy in 2054. While he did strike out five Knights the first time through the order, he also did so quite a bit in full counts and needed 42 pitches the first time through. Jon Alade then hit a 2-out double, but Pedro Almaguer flew out to Dave de Lemos to end the inning. Wheatley had a 1-2-3 fourth, then a leadoff single in the bottom of that inning, which ended up with him standing around the base paths for another five batters, with the Coons filling the bases, but stranding Wheats on third base along with everybody else that had bothered to reach base.

Wheats hit another single in the bottom 5th off righty Jeff Frank, that one with two outs and Pucks on second base. The struggling breakout star of the far away land of ’53 scored easily to extend the lead to 6-0, which was also Wheats’ first RBI of the year. Frank and Wheats met again in the top 6th, with a K on the Knights reliever, and the bottom 7th, when Wheatley hit *another* single, also sending Matt Waters from first to second with one out. Suzuki and Lonzo made outs from there and nobody scored, and while Wheats returned to the mound for the eighth, he was already on 97 pitches. Leo Villacorta kindly popped out on the first pitch, but then Dylan Wright singled and Hugo Acosta walked in a full count, and that was it for Wheatley in this game. Against Pat Stipp and Jon Alade, Hyun-soo Bak would strand Wheats’ runners to keep his ledger clean. Reynaldo Bravo made his major league debut in the ninth inning with a 7-0 lead after Chris Gowin had taken Sam Geren deep in the bottom 8th. Things derailed fast; Almaguer grounded out, but then four straight Knights reached base against him, with one run in and three runners on base. Lillis replaced him and got a K from Wright, but with two outs continued to **** up. Hugo Acosta singled home a run, as did Chris Kirkwood. Jon Alade walked. Kevin Hitchcock then got the ball against Almaguer, now with the tying runs on base. Almaguer grounded out to Waters on the first pitch. 7-4 Coons. Lavorano 2-5, 3B; Gowin 4-5, HR, 2 RBI; Crum 2-5; Waters 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (2-7) and 3-4, RBI;

There’s no comfortable game with this bunch. Ever. They almost ruined a vintage Wheats performance…!

Nice 108.00 ERA on the debutee. Bravo, Reynaldo Bravo, bravo.

Game 2
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B Villacorta – 2B H. Acosta – P J. Baker
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Crum – RF Cox – 3B Brobeck – 2B Waters – CF de Lemos – P Shui

Shui offered a hit and a walk in the first and second innings. Actually he went one worse in the second; with Matt Worden on second and Leo Villacorta on first, he allowed a 2-out single to center to ex-Coon Jeremy Baker. Worden went for home plate, but was thrown out by de Lemos to end the inning. While again deficient in pitchcraft, Shui would score the game’s first run, hitting a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd. Venegas hit a double after that, and there was a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Lonzo popped out to the catcher, which was not very helpful, but Gowin whacked a sac fly to center for a 1-0 lead, which was the score by inning’s end, with Ken Crum grounding out.

Both teams made an out on the base paths in the fourth. Matt Worden was caught stealing second with runners on the corners to derail the inning for Atlanta, while the Coons had Cox and Brobeck on the corners when Waters flew out to right. Cox went for home, and was thrown out by Worden in turn.

The Coons did tack on in the fifth; Lonzo only reached on an error by Villacorta, but then stole second base and came around easily on a Gowin single to left-center, 2-0. And people continued to get on base: Crum hit a double, Cox was walked intentionally, and Brobeck drew his second bases-loaded walk of the week, 3-0, before Waters killed the inning with a 6-4-3 double play grounder.

Like Wheatley on Tuesday, Shui pitched 6.2 shutout innings and was lifted after a walk was issued, that one to Almaguer, although there had been A LOT more traffic on the bases for Shui, who allowed eight hits and four walks and somehow didn’t get pummeled for it. Sencion replaced him and got Willie Acosta out, then was hit for in the bottom 7th when the inning ran long against righty Leonardo Ramos. Crum, Brobeck, and Waters reached base and Sencion’s spot came up with two outs and a full buffet of runners. Harry Ramsay grabbed a stick, crushed a 440-footer, and that was that. GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMM!!!!

The game was over as a contest with that. Terrell pitched the eighth, Crum tacked on a run with a sac fly in the bottom of the inning, and then the Raccoons sent Bravo right back out. He had managed to give up the four runs on just 14 pitches the day before, so there was no reason to not get more abuse in this ninth inning. He struck out Villacorta, Hugo Acosta grounded out, and then… Dylan Wright singled, Alade and Almaguer hit back-to-back bombs, and Willie Acosta hit another single. The Raccoons actually had to bother Bak to get the final out of the game. 8-3 Raccoons. Venegas 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, 2B; Gowin 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Crum 3-4, 2B; Brobeck 2-3, BB, RBI; Philipps (PH) 1-1; Ramsay (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Shui 6.2 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K, W (4-5);

Bravo was found barfing prolifically after the game. Fair – if I did a job like that, I’d try to turn my body inside out as well. We waited for him to stop emptying all his dinners into his toilet of choice, then kicked him on the bus to the airport along with his 63.00 ERA.

How about a dose of last year’s breathtaking disappointment, Valentino Prada? Then he had a 13.50 ERA, and now he had a 5.49 ERA in AAA, but we just needed somebody to eat some dead innings.

Game 3
ATL: CF Alade – C Almaguer – SS W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B Villacorta – 2B H. Acosta – P Weber
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – CF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – C Philipps – P Pickett

The Raccoons got Matt Weber (4-3, 3.91 ERA) to square off against on Thursday. He scattered three hits but no runs the first time through the Coons’ order, with leadoff singles and no actual gains by Rams and Pucks in the bottom 2nd particularly annoying. Pickett held out for three shutout innings, but then had Willie Acosta and Jay Rogers on the corners with a leadoff double to right and a single to left in the fourth inning. Chris Kirkwood’s sac fly broke the tie, Worden worked another double, but pops by Villacorta and Hugo Acosta stranded the two runners in scoring position. Matt Cox then walloped a ball over the rightfield fence to tie the game at one as soon as the bottom 4th broke, but Weber retired the next two before Waters singled to center. Waters tried to steal second, but couldn’t get a jump, then advanced on a balk after all. The Knights walked Philipps with intent to get to Pickett. A kingdom for a horse! – or at least an RBI single, but Pickett grounded out to Villacorta and that ended the fourth.

Weber would not complete a dragging bottom 5th. Venegas hit a leadoff single, and Cox and Ramsay both drew walks in full counts to fill the bases behind him with two gone. Righty Bill Quinn and his 6.33 ERA would come on to face Pucks. To get a hit or not to get a hit, that was the question – but, alas, Pucks’ slump was too deep and while he had picked up a stick against the sea of troubles, he grounded out to short and all the runners were stranded. Willie Acosta’s single and Jay Rogers’ home run in the top 6th then gave Atlanta a 3-1 lead, and Pickett got stuck for good in the seventh, allowing a pinch-hit single to Pat Stipp before Alade reached on a throwing error by Tyler Philipps. Even then, Pickett oversaw Almaguer grounding out to third base, which kept the runners pinned, before Sencion got a pop from Willie Acosta and struck out Rogers to keep them runners stranded.

The Raccoons also had a pair in scoring position and nobody out in the bottom 8th. Cox drew a walk from Leonardo Ramos, while Ramsay doubled off Jeff Frank. With the tying runs aboard, left-hander Amari Walker, who had a 9.00 ERA, came in to face Pucks. The Coons moved to Chris Gowin, who hit a ball to deep center, but had it caught – good for a sac fly, but Ramsay didn’t dare going for third base, so the tying run remained at second. Dave Hils then replaced Walker as the Knights rapidly emptied their pen, but he struck out both Waters and Philipps, so what the **** did I know? Prada got the ninth, walked two, and somehow got around his own ineptitude without allowing a run, so the Raccoons arrived in the bottom 9th against David Hardaway with one run needed to tie, and two to win. Mikio Suzuki led off in the #9 spot, but grounded out. So did Venegas. And Lonzo… too. 3-2 Knights. Cox 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ramsay 2-3, BB, 2B;

Sigh. All that glitters is not gold, it seems.

Now, bring in the first-place Loggers. Something’s rotten in the state of the CL North…!

Raccoons (27-27) vs. Loggers (33-18) – June 5-7, 2054

The Loggers – the Loggers! – had won nine straight games and had a 2-game lead over the Elks. What was more, they were already 5-1 against the Coons this year. Things were really out of order here…! All this while being only at a +16 run differential. They were giving up the third-fewest runs, but were mediocre in runs scored. While they ranked fourth in homers and had the most stolen bases in the league, they were well in the bottom half in batting average and on-base percentage. Perry Pigman and Bryant Law were on the DL, further weakening the lineup.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (3-2, 4.39 ERA) vs. Angelo Munoz (6-2, 3.24 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (5-4, 4.77 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (3-0, 3.68 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-7, 4.39 ERA) vs. John Morrill (6-4, 4.60 ERA)

There had been a double-header on Tuesday, and Sunday would either be Morrill or Jeff Fox (6-2, 5.52 ERA), who was the only left-hander for the Loggers.

Game 1
MIL: LF Gragg – RF Archer – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – 3B T. Edwards – P A. Munoz
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Brobeck

Brobeck allowed four hits and a walk in the first three innings without allowing a run, which was more down to defensive heroics as any good pitches made by him. He was at the plate in the bottom 3rd with Waters on first and one out. The Coons went for the bunt, which went up the third base line, and which was then thrown away for a 2-base error by Travis Edwards. The inning went on with Venegas drawing a walk in a full count, and Lonzo hitting into a very depressing double play that killed the entire thing. Nobody else reached base until Waters and Pucks went to the corners with a pair of 1-out singles in the bottom 5th. This time Brobeck swung away, but hit a squibbler back to the mound. Munoz took it to first, with Pucks moving up, but Waters had to stay at third base. There he remained when Gaudencio Callaia snatched a foul pop by Venegas…

Brobeck had a perfect set of middle innings, but then had Chris Thomas lob a leadoff single over Waters’ head to begin the seventh. Dale Haracz walked, but Dennis Starnes grounded into a force play at third base, nicely handled by Venegas, and Edwards found Waters for an inning-ending double play. Brobeck went into the eighth, gave up a single to Joe Gragg, and left with the runner on second and two outs when Callaia was back at the dish. Lillis struck out the lefty hitter and the game remained scoreless. The ice was not broken until the ninth inning, when Kevin Daley had the baseball and was taken deep to left by pinch-hitter Jose Cadena for a solo shot. Munoz was still on the hill in the bottom 9th, facing the 3-4-5 batters. Weirdly, when Gowin grounded out to Edwards, the Loggers went and got Dave Lister from the bullpen after all. Crum lined out to short, while Cox grounded out to Edwards as well. 1-0 Loggers. Lavorano 2-4; Waters 2-3; Brobeck 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

(looks on glumly)

Game 2
MIL: LF Gragg – RF Archer – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – 3B T. Edwards – P Costello
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – LF Crum – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – P Taki

Saturday’s game began with a Ramsay error, dropping Joe Gragg’s grounder on the transfer to get the Loggers’ leadoff man on base. Gaudencio Callaia then took him off base with a 2-run homer to left. Swell. The Coons would not get a hit the first time through, but at least Taki kept the score close with a few zeroes on the board. The tying run was at the dish to begin the bottom 4th after Lonzo singled to left-center… at least until he was caught stealing. Ramsay, Waters, and Puckeridge hit straight 1-out singles in the bottom 5th to load the bases, but Taki struck out and Venegas grounded out to the pitcher. Maybe it was time to put Honeypaw in the lineup. Or Maud. She … (watches as Maud solemnly picks up four empty bottles on and around the table and puts the fifth bottle on a coaster, all while saying nothing) … She’d bat cleanup.

Lonzo batted for another single in the sixth, then was doubled up by Gowin, which also didn’t help to make up any sort of deficit. Taki lined up zeroes before getting stuck in the seventh. Ricky Lopez doubled, Edwards singled, and when Costello bunted, Taki took the ball to second base – late. The Loggers had the bags full, one out, and Dale Haracz batted for Gragg. The Coons went to Sencion for a K, then Hitchcock against Kelton Archer, and got another K.

After all that, the Raccoons actually took Taki off the hook after all, which wasn’t a bad look in my book. Costello walked Cox at the start of the bottom 7th, and then Ramsay whacked a homer to get the score even at two. Waters singled and advanced on Pucks’ groundout. The Coons actually had Hitchcock bat for himself to get him back in the top 8th in a tied game (at least tied at least) – and in fact he’d pitch with a lead once Anton Venegas hit a zinger up the leftfield line to replace Waters at second base with an RBI double, 3-2. Lonzo would work out a walk, but Gowin grounded out to short to end the inning. Hitchcock retired the meat of the order in the top of the eighth without much noise, while Matt Cox hit a home run in the bottom 8th to send Costello to bed and give the Coons a 2-run lead for the ninth. Daley sat down Lopez, Starnes, and Edwards in order, not needing the extra run after all. 4-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-3, BB; Cox 1-2, 2 BB, HR, RBI; Ramsay 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Waters 2-4; Taki 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Hitchcock 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (4-0);

Game 3
MIL: LF Gragg – RF Archer – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – 2B R. Lopez – CF Starnes – 3B T. Edwards – P Morrill
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Cox – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – 3B Crispin – P Wheatley

The Loggers waffled Wheatley for four hits and two runs in the second inning. Zach Suggs’ leadoff jack was followed by three singles, depressingly the last one being a 2-out RBI knock by the opposing pitcher Morrill, at which point I deeply regretted not having gotten the lefty Fox for this rubber game. The Raccoons had a guy on base in both the first inning, but Crum was caught stealing, and the second, but Ramsay doubled up Cox, then started with Pucks drawing a leadoff walk in the bottom 3rd. Ed Crispin forced him out, but stole second base. Wheats grounded out to short, while Crum drew another walk. Lonzo then lifted a single over a reaching Zach Suggs, allowing Crispin to score and narrow the score to 2-1. Suggs had no issues with handling Gowin’s grounder after that, though, and the inning ended. More men on for Morrill in the bottom 4th: Cox singled up the middle, Ramsay walked, and then Waters flew out to left and Pucks found another ******* double play.

Wheats held the 2-1 line through six, but had a few long innings here and there and took over 100 pitches to get through those six innings; he wasn’t going to be back, but could the Raccoons at least spare him another loss? Turns out yes – but a W was not in the books; the team didn’t reach base in the sixth, but Pucks’ single in the seventh put the tying run on base with one out. Crispin came through with a gapper in right-center, which he ran out for an RBI triple, then scored when Suzuki – who had entered in a double switch – grounded to Ricky Lopez, who butchered the play to allow Suzuki on base on the error, but Opie, the official scorer and a hopeless homer, ruled that Crispin would have scored anyway and gave Suzuki an RBI for the 4-3 lead. Crum’s single put runners on the corners, and Lonzo brought home Suzuki with a sac fly. The Loggers kept hitting against Morrill. Gowin doubled, and Cox singled home two runs to knock the righty from the game. Next was Lillis, who had entered earlier in the top 7th with Suzuki and batted for himself as well, jabbing a single to right. Waters finally flew out to end the inning, up 6-2. Lillis got two more outs in the eighth, then yielded for Prada. Ricky Lopez singled. Dennis Starnes homered. Valentino Prada better have reflexes out there. (wrestles with Maud for the blunderbuss) Edwards popped out eventually, while the Raccoons could not find any more runs in the bottom 8th against the Loggers pen. Hitchcock got the ball for the ninth. Nick Carr singled from the #9 hole, but then was doubled up by Dale Haracz. The game ended with K-elton Archer. 6-4 Coons. Crum 3-4, BB; Cox 2-4, 2 RBI;

In other news

June 1 – The Stars win a 6-5 game against the Cyclones that is shortened to just over seven innings by rain; that was still enough time for Dallas’ OF Chad Pritchett (.285, 3 HR, 14 RBI) to hit for the cycle, going 4-for-4 with 3 RBI. The 22-year-old sophomore completes the feat by the sixth inning.
June 2 – The Rebels beat the Gold Sox, 5-4 in 14 innings.
June 3 – The Crusaders get CL Ryan Dow (5-0, 1.55 ERA, 16 SV) and a prospect from the Capitals for nothing other than infielder Jesus Nunez (.097, 0 HR, 1 RBI).
June 6 – A torn UCL ends the season of DEN SP Gary Perrone (4-4, 2.70 ERA).

FL Player of the Week: LAP LF/RF/1B Salvatore Rodrigues (.365, 6 HR, 36 RBI), batting .609 (14-23) with 1 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.306, 5 HR, 19 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Third straight winning week for the Critterfolk, although the whole wagon moves with a wheel wobbling and the odd hole in the covering. As usual I claim that all will be well once we get back Rafael de la Cruz. (looks at Raffy’s stats in AAA) Or maybe not!

We face the Crusaders and Gold Sox next week, and there’s only an off day on the following Monday, so there’ll be some more rotating to be done with the lineup.

One drawback of finally winning a series against the Loggers? The damn Elks now tie for first place in the division.

Fun Fact: 62 years ago today, Indy’s Larry Davis threw a no-hitter against the Crusaders.

It was the second no-hitter for the Indians after the one Salah Brunet threw against the Condors in 1977. The Texan right-hander David was a #27 draft pick and made the Indians rotation in 1991 after two cups of coffee in the years before. He would stay there for five seasons without ever posting a winning record, coming as close as 11-12 with a 3.71 ERA in 1992, the year of his no-no. A control pitcher that occasionally would lose control, he would sometimes walk more batters than he struck out.

Davis made only one start in 1996, then hung on another five years with odd pitching jobs for the Falcons, Thunder, and Rebels. He went 7-5 with a 4.02 ERA in 26 games (16 starts) between the Falcons and Thunder in 1998, the only winning record of his career. Overall he finished 66-98 with a 4.50 ERA and one save, and 644 strikeouts in 1,373.1 innings.