[Westheim]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Happy birthday to the Raccoons! Thanks for years of enjoyable OOTP content!

Thanks for enduring my pointless dribble without reporting me to the appropriate authorities.

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Raccoons (55-44) vs. Condors (42-55) – July 28-30, 2054

The Condors had the fewest runs scored in the Continental League, and were barely average in runs allowed, and that with a very porous bullpen that had a 4.49 ERA. They were bottoms in home runs, but their defense was decent. The Raccoons would hope to repeat the result of the first meeting this year, when we swept all three games from them.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (8-7, 3.85 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (7-8, 4.24 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (1-3, 5.18 ERA) vs. Victor Scott (7-9, 4.52 ERA)
He Shui (9-7, 2.39 ERA) vs. Aaron Erwin (6-5, 2.91 ERA)

Vic Scott was pitching left-handed.

Game 1
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – RF I. Jaramillo – CF Briggs – SS Medlock – P Colwell
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – 2B Allred – P Wheatley

Lonzo forced out Venegas with a grounder, but scored on Gowin’s 2-out single for an early 1-0 lead. At that point, Wheats had rung up every batter he faced (all of three), but had to settle for three non-K outs in the second inning. In the bottom of that, the Coons began with a Brassfield single, and the rookie stole second base before being doubled home by Matt Cox. Ryan Allred slapped an RBI single, and after being bunted to second by Wheats, scored on Venegas’ single for a 4-0 lead. Wheatley would wave off the first nine Condors, but then gave up a Domingo Mercado single to center in the fourth. A wild pitch moved the runner to second base, but from there he tried to score on a Jon Mittleider single to center – Pucks said no, and threw him out at the plate, keeping Wheats’ ledger clean… for one more inning. Stephen Medlock singled home Ismael Jaramillo with a run in the fifth inning, but the lead remained slam-sized, thanks to a Matt Cox homer in the bottom 4th. The Medlock-sponsored run was the only one the Condors got off Wheats for eight innings, as he held them to four base hits. The Coons had a few silent innings, but in the bottom 8th got going against left-hander Gabe Hill, at least with two outs, when Trent Brassfield coaxed a walk and Matt Cox banged a double to right. Matt Knight batted for Allred, the Condors stuck to Hill, and paid with two runs, clipped home on the first pitch with a single over the head of Luis Chapa at third base. The ninth went to Antonio Alfaro; he walked Chapa, plonked Mittleider, and while Tim Duncan’s fly to left was picked by Brassfield, Elias Rodriguez found the gap for a 2-run triple. The Raccoons begrudgingly moved on to Hyun-soo Bak, who surrendered the third run on a sac fly, but ended the game eventually… 7-4 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB; Cox 3-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Knight (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (9-7);

The Condors swung a deal with the Crusaders between games, trading reliever Ramon Montes de Oca (2-5, 7.26 ERA, 3 SV) to New York for a prospect.

And when where the Coons gonna swing a deal? …?

(blows)

Game 2
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – CF Briggs – RF Groom – SS Medlock – P V. Scott
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – 1B Ramsay – LF Brassfield – RF Cox – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz

The struggles continued; Raffy threw 33 pitches in the first inning, and while he struck out three, there was a pile of noise in between, including a walk to Luis Chapa, and singles for Mittleider and Rodriguez, the latter plating Chapa with the game’s first run. After a fruitless bottom 1st, in which Lonzo was on and caught stealing, the Raccoons got singles from Rams and Brassfield, then a walk issued to Cox to fill the bases with nobody out. Only one run scored on Tenazes’ grounder to short, which was taken to second for a fielder’s choice. Knight popped out, and Raffy grounded out to keep the game tied at one. Back-to-back doubles by Lonzo and Gowin made it a 2-1 lead in the third inning, but after Rams walked, Brassfield blundered into a double play that ended the inning.

The lead didn’t last, because Raffy just couldn’t put it all together. Medlock and Scott (!) hit leadoff singles in the fifth, and Luis Chapa drove home a run with a double to right. Tim Duncan walked. Three on, two outs in the top 5th, and with Elias Rodriguez, a lefty hitting .233 up, there was a real question about whether to send a lefty reliever to clean up the mess – but Honeypaws said no, and after a pep talk on the hill Raffy struck out the batter to bail out of the mess. And then Chris Briggs homered to right to begin the sixth anyway. Micah Groom walked, Scott reached on an error by Matt Knight, and that was the end for poor Raffy… Bak came into this mess, too, got a fly to right from Mercado, and after a walk to Chapa struck out Mittleider to have the Condors strand another full set. Bak and Lillis retired Tijuana in order in the seventh, and after the stretch Scott was met rudely with a triple into the corner smashed by Prospero Tenazes. Would they get that run home? Knight popped out, which didn’t help, and Pucks – who had entered with Lillis in a double switch over Cox – walked, which was neat, but not helping right now. Venegas came through, however, dropping a single between Medlock and Tim Duncan to tie the game at three. After a double steal, Lonzo zinged a single to left-center for the two go-ahead runs, stole second off reliever Jeff Crowley, and then scored himself on Ramsay’s whistling liner to center for an RBI single. Brassfield grounded out to short to end the inning, but the Condors were done for; Lillis and Daley each logged three outs to complete the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ramsay 2-3, BB, RBI;

…and that’s a season series taken in just five games!

Meanwhile it was Juan Juarez (7-8, 2.74 ERA), a different right-hander, for the Thursday game.

Game 3
TIJ: 2B D. Mercado – 3B Chapa – C Mittleider – LF T. Duncan – 1B E. Rodriguez – RF I. Jaramillo – CF Briggs – SS Medlock – P J. Juarez
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Shui

Mercado drew a game-commencing walk and stole two bases, but was left on third because the three guys behind him couldn’t find a single productive out between them. The Raccoons answered with two stolen bases as well, but did it in one scoop after Juarez walked Venegas by almost hitting him, and then actually hit Lonzo; it was the 40th bag of the year for the latter. Rams’ sac fly was the only run the Coons got, even when Chris Gowin was *also* nicked by Juarez. Pucks and Cox both flew out easily. Suzuki and Allred singles in the bottom 2nd also led to only one run on Venegas’ groundout, while Mercado singled in the third inning and was lusting for more, but this time was caught stealing by Gowin. Pucks’ homer in the third inning made it three straight innings with a score, but the Condors now answered with a leadoff double for Luis Chapa and RBI single hit by Duncan.

Bottom 5th, and the Raccoons put their two slowest runners, Ramsay and Gowin, in scoring position with a pair of 1-out hits, a single and double. Pucks brought in a run with a grounder to Mercado, which drew polite applause, but was not comparable to the raucous cheers when Cox mashed a 2-run homer to right-center right afterwards, 6-1. Another 2-out run was tacked on the next inning when Lonzo singled, stole second again, and was singled home to left-center by Ramsay.

With cruising distance definitely established for the Raccoons and He Shui, it then started to rain in the seventh inning. Shui was still on course to finish the game on his own, with 87 pitches through seven, but there was a 35-minute rain delay before the eighth inning and he didn’t get the chance after that. The ball went to Brobeck after that, expecting him to pitch two innings without giving up a 6-spot. He didn’t even pitch one inning, giving up a homer to Briggs right away. A Venegas error put on Medlock, the bases filled with walks, and Duncan singled home a run… Elias Rodriguez was the tying run at the plate with two outs, and the Coons sent Eloy Sencion, along with Knight in a double switch (the #9 spot was leading off the bottom 8th): Rodriguez rolled a dead grounder for an RBI infield single but Jaramillo went out to Ramsay to end the ******* inning. That was all Sencion did; with no runs scored in the bottom 8th, the Raccoons went back to Daley, who got through the ninth inning on four pitches for three weak outs. 7-4 Raccoons. Ramsay 2-3, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Suzuki 3-3, BB; Knight 1-1; Shui 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (10-7);

Sweep!

With this win, the Raccoons squeezed past the damn Elks into second place, one game behind the Loggers. The Crusaders could not be written off either, back seven games, which was, fun fact, fewer than what they rallied from later in the year last season. (sour look)

Raccoons (58-44) vs. Knights (55-48) – July 31-August 2, 2054

The last day for a regular trade was also the beginning of the final set with the Knights this year… maybe. They were third in the South, only 2 1/2 games behind both the Thunder and Falcons (who we’d see next week). Fourth in runs scored, sixth in runs allowed, they had a +30 run differential, which wasn’t a whole lot, not that the Critters (+59) were running away in that category. Carlos Malla was the most notable player on the DL for them, while starter Matt Weber and infielder Leo Villacorta were both day-to-day with minor ailments. The season series was flat, 3-3.

Projected matchups:
Arthur Pickett (7-7, 4.36 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (5-7, 2.23 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (7-7, 3.42 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (9-5, 3.52 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (9-7, 3.68 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (4-10, 3.56 ERA)

A few weird ERA and record combos here, the only normal one, Baker, was also the only left-hander we expected to see.

Game 1
ATL: SS Gaxiola – C Almaguer – 2B W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – CF Alade – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B VIllacorta – P Hils
POR: CF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Cox – LF Brassfield – 3B Crispin – C Philipps – 2B Knight – P Pickett

Jon Alade’s single stood alone as Pickett struck out four otherwise the first time through while getting a second-inning run out of Cox drawing a walk, a Crispin single sending him to third base, and then a sac fly for Tyler Philipps. Second time through, Jay Rogers hit a double in the fourth, Matt Worden singled in the fifth, and the Knights didn’t score either. The Raccoons had the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth after a Knight single and walks to Pickett (!) and Pucks, but Lonzo flew out to Worden in shallow right and nobody scored.

It was a bit of a dull game until the sixth inning; Willie Acosta drew a 2-out walk for Atlanta, and then Rogers hit a deep drive to left, right up the line and near the sidewall. Brassfield hustled over, went into a slide, made the catch!! …but didn’t have enough anchors to throw before he crushed both his knees into the sidewall. The inning was over, but Brassfield couldn’t get up, and I sighed, then got up to dial 999. With Brassfield out of the game, Pucks went to left and Suzuki went into centerfield and batted third in the bottom 6th, but the Coons went in order. The Knights very much didn’t in the seventh, putting Kirkwood and Worden on the corners, and then Villacorta hit a fly to deep left that Pucks caught, but that was good enough for Kirkwood to score for a game-tying sac fly. The Raccoons would not counter in the home half of the seventh, and Pickett and the Knights had to settle on the status quo ante bellum in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Lillis opened the eighth, but put two on, and Hitchcock, who hadn’t appeared in the Condors series at all, walked Jon Alade with two outs to fill the bags. It was Pucks who drove in the dustcart, hauling in Kirkwood’s fly to left to keep the bases loaded. Pucks reached base to begin the bottom 8th, but remained littered at second base after stealing his way there. Hitchcock held the tie in the top 9th, while righty Leonardo Ramos got the bottom 9th. Crispin would hit a single, but that was all the Raccoons got before the game went to extras. Alfaro would go two scoreless for the Critters after being notably less successful in his other outings since being recalled. Against David Hardaway in the bottom 11th, Crispin hit a 2-out single, then moved to second base when Philipps walked. Knight popped out, however, and the inning ended, while the game threatened to reach the duration of Queen Victoria’s reign. Bak had a scoreless 12th, then was right away batted for with Venegas in the bottom of the inning, but Venegas flew out to left. Pucks drew a walk off Hardaway, and Lonzo ended an 0-for-5 day with a single to center. Ramsay struck out, reaching 0-5 himself, and Cox grounded out to Jushiro Wada at first base to fritter the chance away. Sencion’s scoreless 13th was followed by right-hander Bill Quinn giving up a leadoff walk to Suzuki, then a 1-out single to Philipps, with Suzuki to third base with the winning run. The Coons couldn’t hit for Knight, because they’d need their last bench bat – Gowin – to hit for Sencion in the next spot. While Brobeck was still around, we’d not have enough infielders other than first-sackers left if we batted for Knight, who fell to 0-2, and then beat the reach of Dan Meyer in right for a walkoff base hit. 2-1 Blighters. Brassfield 1-2; Crispin 3-6; Knight 3-6, 2B, RBI; Pickett 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Hitchcock 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Alfaro 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

The Loggers lost, many hours before the Coons won, and the Raccoons thus entered a virtual tie for first place with them, although I was too tired to dance around by then.

The Coons also never managed to make a trade that would have made sense without adding years of 8-figure commitments, and thus stayed put at the deadline…

Oh boy.

Well, one roster move was made on Saturday. Trent Brassfield was off to the DL after starting his career 6-for-15, having suffered contusions in both knees. He was young though, and Dr. Padilla assured me that amputations were not required, and that he could potentially be back in two weeks even.

Yes, Dr. Padilla, but what until then…!? … That was not his business, of course. The Raccoons had to cope as best as possible, and called up … well, Geoff Sather, a 24-year-old left-hander in AAA, who had missed some time with an injury and had pitched only 16.2 innings for a 3.24 ERA in St. Pete, and who probably would have been a September callup. He would likely only be around for a few days, and then we’d summon an outfielder from… somewhere.

Game 2
ATL: SS Gaxiola – C Almaguer – 2B W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – CF Alade – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B VIllacorta – P J. Baker
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Cox – 1B Philipps – LF Puckeridge – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Taki

The lineup was getting thinner, and while the Knights took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on little more than a walk drawn by Villacorta and then a 2-out RBI single for Robby Gaxiola, Seisaku Taki whacked a 1-out double in the bottom 3rd and was stranded on second base.

Taki then took a few in the snout in the fourth inning. Pedro Almaguer singled sharply, then scored on a Jay Rogers double. Jon Alade bested that, too, with a 2-run homer to left, 4-0. It didn’t get better after that; Baker singled in the fifth, was driven home on Willie Acosta’s 2-out double, and then Rogers singled home a sixth run – that was the end for Taki. Lillis got out of the inning and also pitched the sixth, but the Raccoons remained shut out and on just three hits off Baker through six innings and with that, the freshest call-up got to make his debut in a garbage situation. He struck out his first big league batter, although that was Baker, but also got out his first big league *batter*, Gaxiola. Pedro Almaguer doubled, but was stranded on Acosta’s fly to right. That was it; Pucks was at third base with two outs in the bottom 7th, so Ramsay batted for Sather, but rolled out. After that, we asked Brobeck for two inning again. This time he obliged… but it also didn’t matter. The Raccoons scored a token run off Jeff Frank in the bottom of the ninth as Cox opened the inning with a double and came home on two productive outs, but that was that. 6-1 Knights. Brobeck 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

…and just like that, we were out of a tie for first again…!

Game 3
ATL: SS Gaxiola – C Almaguer – 2B W. Acosta – 1B J. Rogers – CF Alade – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 3B VIllacorta – P E. Duran
POR: 3B Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – RF Cox – CF Suzuki – 2B Allred – P Wheatley

Almaguer and Acosta hit singles in the first, but Rogers found a double play to get Wheats out of there. The Coons scored first on Ryan Allred’s 2-out single to left, which came with Gowin and Cox on the corners, before Wheatley grounded out to Acosta to strand two. The lead didn’t last; Duran and Gaxiola hit singles off Wheats, who then with two outs lost Acosta on balls… and also Rogers to force in the tying run before Alade grounded out to Lonzo to strand a full set.

A new lead was attained with doubles whacked either side past Matt Worden by Venegas and Ramsay in the bottom 3rd, and that was before Worden’s awful rout on a Gowin liner led to the ball bouncing through between his legs, he fell down, and that allowed Gowin to race it out for a 1-out RBI triple, but was stranded with Pucks lining out and Cox striking out…

It just wasn’t Wheatley’s day, though. He had the defense drag him through the fourth, but after a walk to Villacorta in the fifth, Suzuki couldn’t catch up with an Almaguer drive and the Knights narrowed the score to 3-2 on the double. Acosta struck out and Rogers grounded out to get Wheats through five, but even that took 88 pitches. He returned for the sixth, then up 4-2 after Pucks had doubled home Gowin in between, and in 12 pitches managed to walk Alade and get a double play grounder from Kirkwood. That was all then – Sencion got the third out from Worden. He was intended to be batted for in the bottom 6th, but was sent to bunt when Suzuki and Allred reached against Duran to begin the inning. He moved the runners over successfully, but Venegas and Lonzo grounded out in order, and the Raccoons got only one run on a groundout. Villacorta shot a double to left off Sencion to begin the seventh, but he got two outs before Hitchcock came in to face Almaguer, getting a groundout to strand another runner, then also did a 1-2-3 eighth.

…and then, the ninth. Up 5-2, the ball went to Daley, and the disaster began immediately to unravel. Dan Meyer was nicked with a 1-2 pitch, and Worden legged out an infield single. Villacorta walked, putting the tying runs on base. Dylan Wright, for positives, flew out to Cox, but Cox tried to throw out Meyer at the plate, and fired the ball halfway to Salem in the attempt. One run scored, and the tying runs were in scoring position with one out. Pat Stipp pinch-hit for Gaxiola, and hit a screamer to center. It fell in front of Suzuki, Worden scored, and Villacorta tried to follow, but was thrown out at home plate after all…! That kept the tying run at second base with Almaguer batting… and five pitches in, he struck out. 5-4 Raccoons. Gowin 3-4, 3B, RBI;

In other news

July 27 – VAN SP Jesse Bulas (7-5, 4.25 ERA) could be done for the year after being diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.
July 28 – The Loggers trade SP Jamie Kempf (7-7, 3.87 ERA) to the Falcons for… an unranked prospect?
July 28 – In a separate deal, the Loggers trade MR Noel Groh (2-3, 4.09 ERA) to the Titans for outfielder Eric Cobb (.238, 5 HR, 31 RBI).
July 29 – Thunder 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.295, 13 HR, 42 RBI) will miss at least two weeks with a knee contusion.
July 30 – The Thunder send OF Mike Allen (.247, 5 HR, 18 RBI) to the Buffaloes for MR Josh Rella (1-1, 4.34 ERA) and a prospect.
August 2 – A broken kneecap ends the season of NYC 3B/2B Ronnie Thompson (.261, 0 HR, 26 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: WAS INF Alejandro Silva (.254, 5 HR, 47 RBI), poking .438 (14-32) with 1 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 1B David Worthington (.271, 18 HR, 81 RBI), mashing .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC 1B Steve Wyatt (.327, 17 HR, 53 RBI), batting .355 with 9 HR, 18 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT 1B David Worthington (.268, 18 HR, 81 RBI), bashing .347 with 7 HR, 20 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT CL Ross Mitchell (9-1, 2.21 ERA, 28 SV), going 2-0 with a 1.26 ERA, 10 SV, 21 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: MIL CL Dave Lister (5-4, 3.51 ERA, 32 SV), posting a 4-1 record with 1.80 ERA, 5 SV, 11 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.294, 19 HR, 62 RBI), hitting .323 with 7 HR, 22 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN C Tristan Waker (.322, 9 HR, 62 RBI), clipping .333 with 3 HR, 20 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Never gets boring with Kevin Daley, does it?

Three-way tie for the division lead, with the Crusaders creeping ever closer, too, now five games behind. The Raccoons didn’t make any trade at the deadline, and I will just brush complaints aside by proclaiming that our reinforcements will come off the DL instead. Like, uh, f.e. first up… Dave de Lemos.

I didn’t say we’d necessarily get *better* with said reinforcements.

Ten more games without a day off, and all on the road. We’ll be in Charlotte and Indy next week.

Fun Fact: Jason Wheatley has won ten straight decisions after starting the season a rotten 0-7.

Doesn’t quite come close to Scott Wade’s *start* to the season in 1989 a staggering 15-0 (in 16 games!) with a 3.23 ERA. Okay, Scotty also only went 6-6 from there to end the season, but it’s the thought that counts.

What is it, Mr. Pickett? – Yes, where you come from they’re called earls. – Wait, what?