[Westheim]

Raccoons (2-3) vs. Thunder (4-3) – April 10-13, 2056

The Thunder had plated the fourth-most runs and allowed the seventh-most in their first week, but had also played two more games than the Critter bunch. Their rotation also had a combined ERA well over five after the first week, so perhaps we could suffer together for a bit. Last year, after losing the regular season series (not: CLCS) for eight straight years, the Raccoons had bopped Oklahoma City eight games out of nine.

Projected matchups:
He Shui (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (0-0, 7.94 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (1-0, 3.38 ERA)
Sean Sweeton (1-0, 4.26 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (0-1, 9.64 ERA)

We’d see our first two left-handers in this series, which were the two fellas with the bloated ERA’s. The Thunder had three of them, the last one being Bubba Wolinsky (1-1, 4.09 ERA), but he had gone on Sunday and would watch from the bench in this series.

Game 1
OCT: SS Almadanim – 3B Soberanes – LF Weant – CF M. Harmon – 2B Ban – 1B Triplett – C Burnham – RF Ransford – P Zeigler
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Puckeridge – LF Caballero – 3B Brobeck – C Philipps – CF Royer – P Shui

The Thunder burst out of the gates with a single for Hélder Almadanim (what a name made out of leftover Scrabble letters…) and a bomb to left from Ed Soberanes, so the Raccoons were trailing right away. Tim Weant also hit a single before Shui got himself under control. After the Raccoons then put up two innings with a single and a double play blundered into, Lonzo and Brobeck being the guilty parties, Shui dumped a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd before Trent Brassfield rocked his first homer of the year, tying the game at two. Shui also retired *15* batters in a row after the first three Thunder of the game all landed hits, then doled out two walks in the sixth inning to get into some rather unnecessary danger, but Pucks caught a liner smacked by Jonathan Ban on an 0-2 pitch with two outs to end that top 6th. The Raccoons were smitten with a three on, no outs chance in the bottom 6th, getting singles from Brass and Lonzo and then Waters drew ball four in a full count. And this time we actually scored! Pucks drew another walk for a 3-2 lead, Caballero hit a sac fly, one run scored on a wild pitch, and then Philipps plated a fourth run with a groundout, going up 6-2 before the inning slowly faded away.

Also fading was Shui, walking another pair of runners in the seventh inning and this time he also didn’t pitch his way out of it. With two out and Dustin Ransford and Pat Stipp on base, Eloy Sencion came in to face Almadanim. Strike three at the knees settled the argument, but Sencion put his own pair on base in the eighth inning, conceding a 2-out double to Mike Harmon and a walk to the always tricky switch-hitter Jonathan Ban. Mike Lane got the ball, ahead 0-2 on Doug Triplett, and then still gave up a fly to deep center, but Steve Royer was there to make the catch. Reynaldo Bravo got through the ninth without help. He allowed a single, but never allowed the Thunder to rally the inning into a save opportunity, although for sure Matt Walters was standing by. 6-2 Raccoons. Brassfield 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Caballero 2-3, RBI;

Game 2
OCT: SS Almadanim – 3B Soberanes – LF Weant – CF M. Harmon – C Korfhage – 2B Ban – 1B Triplett – RF Barton – P A. Harris
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – C Fiore – 2B Waters – CF Royer – 3B Venegas – P Taki

Taki used to be crap in the first inning, but by now had evolved to where he could be crap in any inning. This time around it was the top 2nd where he was torn a new one, starting with a leadoff walk to Harmon. Wild pitch, infield single for Mitch Korfhage, and a good inning was in progress. Ban hit a sac fly for a 1-0 lead, and Danny Barton hit a ringing 3-run homer for early depression and to fire Taki’s ERA well into double digits. The Coons had no hits the first time through, then found a pair of singles between Brass and Lonzo in the bottom 3rd. The pair did the double steal again, but Pucks struck out and, two down, Ramsay grounded out on a 3-0 count which gave me more rage than depression.

Taki went six, five of which were scoreless, but the one really really rancid one was enough to doom him, since the Raccoons managed only one base knock in the middle innings, a Ramsay single that ended up leading nowhere pretty whatsoever. Bottom 7th, there were faint outlines of a rally as Matt Waters began the inning with a leadoff single, and then Royer’s grounder to Ban was bobbled for an error. Venegas then lined out to Ban and Waters was caught off second base and doubled up. That was a 4-6 double play, and Ramsay hit into a 4-6-3 double play the inning after, following Lonzo and Pucks getting on base. That, too, brought the Coons’ time at-bat to an end. Lillis, Salazar, and Bravo pitched scoreless relief for the Critters, all in vain, since no rally ever came together without somebody opening the hatch while the submarine was submerged… 4-0 Thunder. Brassfield 2-4;

One step forward, one step back, and as Ruthie Billings from the annual barn dance back home knows, I’m a terrible dancer…

Game 3
OCT: SS Almadanim – 3B Soberanes – LF Weant – CF M. Harmon – C Korfhage – 2B Ban – 1B Triplett – RF Stipp – P V. Marquez
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – CF Caballero – 1B Ramsay – LF Venegas – C Philipps – 3B Chavez – P Sweeton

The rubber game started with a few zeroes on the board, f.e. Ramsay popping out to first baseman Doug Triplett with Brass and Caballero on the corners in the first inning to end the same, before the top 3rd became rather ridiculous. Sweeton saw Pat Stipp reach when Lonzo botched his grounder for an error, but Marquez bunted the ball back to Sweeton and he got the force at second base. Then he walked Almadanim to put a guy into scoring position anyway, and threw a wild pitch to make it a pair. He also struck out Soberanes and Weant to bugger out of the inning unharmed. Three shutout innings, it just wasn’t easy on the old nerves.

The game’s only run through five innings came together in the most unfathomable way, with a 2-out double to left for Philipps and an RBI single to center by Adriano Chavez. Whatever works, boys! Unfortunately, one run was not enough to make Sweeton a winner, since the Thunder scratched out one of their own in the seventh inning on singles by Stipp and Almadanim, interspersed with a Marquez bunt. Sweeton would pitch another inning, though, holding the 1-1 tie through the middle of the eighth inning, matching six scattered hits with as many strikeouts. It wasn’t enough to get a W, though, despite a pinch-hit double by Steve Royer in the bottom 8th. Venegas popped out to short after him, and the Raccoons left Waters and Royer with the go-ahead runs in scoring position. Instead, the top 9th saw Tanizaki put Ban and Triplett on base, and when Lillis came on to face the annoying Almadanim with two outs, he gave up a tie-breaking single in a full count, nicked Soberanes, and gave up two more RBI singles to left-handed batters before the Thunder actually ran themselves out of the inning. The home run Tyler Philipps then hit off Kevin Daley (snort!) in the bottom 9th was in itself rather pointless… 4-2 Thunder. Waters 2-3, BB; Royer (PH) 1-1, 2B; Philipps 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Sweeton 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K;

Tanizaki for his career? Now a proud 0-8!

Raccoons (3-5) vs. Titans (2-7) – April 14-17, 2056

The Coons had yet to win a series this year, but here were the Titans, who had gotten smothered 16-2 by the Raccoons the previous year. The early going hadn’t been exactly great for Boston. They had lost five straight, and were bottoms in runs scored with 25 runs from nine games. On the other hand, they were allowing 55 runs, tenth in the CL, which meant that they were scoring 3.33 runs fewer than the opposition on a per-game basis. What a chance for the Coons to get rolling!

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Jim Peterson (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (0-0, 1.15 ERA)
He Shui (2-0, 1.42 ERA) vs. Kenneth Spencer (0-1, 21.94 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (1-1, 5.25 ERA)

Peterson and Spencer were left-handed, and Spencer was a former Coons farmhand, who was not having a good time.

The Raccoons would give their middle infielders a day off in the opener, just because it was the first long stretch of games (ten in a row) and it seemed like a wise thing to do from time to time, according to this book I was reading “Managing Baseball Teams for Dummies”.

Game 1
BOS: 2B D. Diaz – LF M. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B Witherspoon – C J. Ortiz – CF Tomasello – 3B Garris – SS R. Padilla – P J. Peterson
POR: LF Caballero – RF Brassfield – 1B Puckeridge – CF Royer – P Brobeck – C Philipps – 3B Venegas – 2B Chavez – SS Espinoza

The blue-hatted punks swatted Brobeck for four hits and two runs in the first inning, as Jorge Ortiz and Tyler Tomasello both grabbed a 2-out RBI on a single and double, respectively. Brobeck was left alone with the double he hit in the second inning, then gave up another 2-out run in the top 3rd, surrendering a double to Sam Witherspoon and another RBI single to Ortiz. He wasn’t fooling anybody, and the Titans racked up eight hits through six innings, at which point Brobeck still continued to pitch because the Raccoons had just two singles outside Brobeck’s own double and looked like they could bat all day and not get anywhere near Jim Peterson’s sweet spot. In that manner Brobeck covered eight innings on 102 pitches, then came to the plate in the bottom 8th with two outs and the Coons’ best chance yet, Brass on second, Pucks on first, and himself as the tying run. Brobeck took a single to left, Brass scored from second base, and the team was at least on the damn board. Lonzo pinch-hit for Tyler Philipps and shot a single up the middle. Pucks went for home and scored from second base, 3-2, and the trailing runners advanced into scoring position on Tomasello’s futile throw to the plate. All we needed now was Venegas doing any damn thing to make the $5M+ a year less silly against new lefty pitcher Donovan Little. He flew out, easily, on the first pitch… Eloy Sencion held the Titans close in the ninth inning, but Alex Diaz also retired Chavez, Waters, and Caballero in order in the ninth to put the game away. 3-2 Titans. Puckeridge 2-4; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, RBI; Brobeck 8.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, L (0-1) and 2-4, 2B, RBI;

I’m calm. (calmly unscrews another tiny bottle with laxative pills)

Game 2
BOS: CF Weir – LF M. Gilmore – 1B Witherspoon – C J. Ortiz – 3B Torrence – 2B D. Diaz – RF Tomasello – SS R. Padilla – P Koga
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – C Fiore – 2B Waters – CF Solorzano – 3B Chavez – P de la Cruz

My mood was gloomy from the time I got up on Friday because if Raffy pitched only half as badly as he did on the weekend, we’d have to come up with a solution. The Titans sure tried to end his career with a lineup that had only two righty hitters in the 8-9 spots.

I closed my eyes when Raffy walked Matt Gilmore two batters in, but Gilmore was caught stealing and Raffy ended up throwing just 32 pitches in retiring Boston on the minimum through three innings, whiffing three of them. Okay, tell me more!

It worked for four innings, and then **** hit the fan on the highest setting. Top 5th of a scoreless (…) game, Jorge Ortiz walked, Danny Diaz walked, and Tomasello walked. Rich Padilla walked with the bags full and on four pitches. Koga struck out swinging for the second out. Hector Weir was down 0-2 before flying out to Solorzano. The Titans were still not having a hit (the Coons had ONE), but they had a 1-0 lead. Pucks would go one more inning, but then was complaining of a dead arm after 87 pitches of no-hit, 6-walk, 6-strikeout balls. Rich Padilla would hit a 2-out single off Tanizaki in the seventh inning to get rid of the game’s novelty factor. Now it was just an annoying stinker in which the Coons trailed 1-0, getting a Brass single off Koga and absolutely nothing ******* else. Pucks led off the bottom 7th with a single to right, then was doubled up by Rams immediately. Koga got the first two batters out in the eighth, then allowed singles to Chavez and Caballero, who went to the corners. Brassfield struck out, and I got some April despair. Matt Walters pitched a 1-2-3 ninth mostly because he was bored and hadn’t been used all week so far. Koga was still on the hill for the bottom 9th because he clearly had this. He wasn’t even removed after he walked Ramsay with two outs. Matt Fiore popped out to Ethan Torrence, and that was that. 1-0 Titans. Caballero (PH) 1-1;

(thousand-yard stare)

Game 3
BOS: CF Weir – LF M. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – C J. Ortiz – 3B Torrence – 2B D. Diaz – 1B Tomasello – SS R. Padilla – P Spencer
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 2B Waters – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – C Fiore – LF Venegas – P Shui

Hits for Hector Weir and Jose Ortiz gave the Titans a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Alan Puckeridge’s 2-out, 2-run homer in the bottom 1st flipped the score in the Coons’ favor. The 5-6-7 batters then filled the bases against Spencer after that, but Venegas flailed over a 2-2 pitch as he was hitting a dreadful .120 to start the season. Lonzo was having a lean week, too, but when he forced out Brass with a grounder in the bottom 2nd he at least stole second base (#399!) and then scored quickly on a Waters single for a 3-1 lead.

After the bumpy first inning, Shui dealt for four hitless innings, nursing the 3-1 lead through five innings with one walk and four strikeouts on his ledger, then abruptly stopped retiring batters in the sixth inning. Weir singled, Gilmore walked, Whitlow hit an RBI double, and Ortiz also walked. Torrence fell into a 1-2 hole, then hit a game-tying single anyway. Five down in the inning, none retired, and Shui was yanked. The go-ahead run scored for Boston when Danny Diaz grounded out to first against Lillis, who got a pop from Tomasello, nailed Padilla quite good, and then struck out Spencer to end the ******* inning.

While I was still breathing into a paper bag, the Raccoons knocked out Spencer with 1-out singles by Venegas and Chavez in the bottom 6th. Left-hander Adam Gardner struck out Brassfield and Lonzo to wave the threat away. Waters and Pucks opened the seventh with singles against Gardner, however, and while Brobeck popped out, Steve Royer tied up the game with a single dinking into center in front of Weir. But Fiore and Venegas both flew out to left, and the misery continued, now in a game that was four-all. And that didn’t last long either: Bravo was still in from the seventh inning, but gave up a leadoff triple to Torrence and walked Diaz in the eighth inning. Witherspoon grounded out, moving Diaz to second base, and then Mike Lane came in. He struck out Padilla, then got PH Josh Garris to 0-2… and then gave up a 2-run single up the middle. And that was the ballgame. 6-4 Titans. Waters 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; Royer 2-4, BB, RBI; Chavez (PH) 1-1;

(looks pale)

The Coons had 14 base hits in this game. The Titans had eight. And yet…

Game 4
BOS: CF Weir – LF M. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B Witherspoon – 3B Torrence – 2B D. Diaz – C Burkart – SS R. Padilla – P Shultz
POR: RF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – C Fiore – 2B Waters – CF Royer – 3B Espinoza – P Taki

The weather was sketchy and so was what the brown team showed in the first few innings, with a crass Lonzo throwing error in the first inning and general wildness from Taki, who needed over 50 innings for three scoreless innings, to the offense being its usual hapless through two before Steve Royer whacked a leadoff triple in the bottom 3rd. Espinoza struck out, making me yearn for a lefty backup infielder, but then Taki ticked one to center for the game’s first run. Brassfield found another single to add to the bases, and Shultz ran a full count with Lonzo before leaving a pitch right in the bullseye part of the zone, and Lonzo wasn’t missing it. A *belter* to left, and into the stands with hurrah for a 3-run homer…!!

Fiore and Royer were on in the fourth inning for Espinoza, who remained hitless with a grounder to second that forced out Royer at second base. Taki batted with two outs and got his second RBI single of the game, slapping a 1-2 pitch to the left side of the mound, where it died a hero, as Fiore scored and Torrence, who had played back, not hustling in to make a play in time. Brass struck out, but we were up 5-0 through four innings. Shultz was not beaten to death yet and hit a leadoff single in the top 5th, but was also stranded on third base as the 1-2-3 went down in order against Taki, who would pitch another two innings for a Danny Diaz single and nothing else, piling up seven shutout innings, but thanks to the early long innings he was out of the game after that. The eighth was serviced 1-2-3 by Tanizaki, and Mike Lane did no worse in the ninth. 5-0 Coons. Solorzano (PH) 1-1; Royer 2-3, 3B; Taki 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (1-2) and 2-2, 2 RBI;

In other news

April 11 – The Falcons unload on the Canadiens for 12 runs in the second inning and then immediately give seven runs back. They hold on to win, though, 13-9.
April 11 – The Cyclones ravage the Stars for 28 base hits in a 15-9 win that nevertheless takes 16 innings to come together. Both teams are even after seven innings, then score a run each in the eighth, eleventh, and fifteenth innings before the Stars run out of pitching. Four players have 4-hit games, all on the Cincy side, of which 3B/SS Stephen Medlock (.310, 0 HR, 7 RBI) has the best day, going 4-for-8 with 3 RBI.
April 12 – Rebels RF/LF Willie Sanchez (.289, 3 HR, 5 RBI) burns the Warriors for a cycle, going 5-6 with a homer and 2 RBI in the Rebs’ 13-9 win. Sanchez also collects the four sorts of hits in descending order for a rare reverse-natural cycle.
April 12 – LVA 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.424, 3 HR, 10 RBI) goes ham on the Loggers, pounding out five hits and five RBI, including a grand slam, in the Aces’ 15-5 win over Milwaukee.
April 12 – Atlanta would miss OF Jon Alade (.194, 0 HR, 5 RBI) for a month; the 30-year-old was down with a sprained ankle.
April 13 – The Gold Sox might be without OF Bill Ramires (.286, 1 HR, 3 RBI) for half a season following the 27-year-old undergoing surgery for a small tear in his rotator cuff.
April 14 – Falcons RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.548, 3 HR, 17 RBI) has put a two-season, 20-game hitting streak together with a fifth-inning single in a 5-1 win against the Condors.
April 14 – VAN OF Kyle Hawkins (.441, 0 HR, 6 RBI) chops five hits for one RBI in the Canadiens’ 15-inning, 9-5 win over the Crusaders.
April 14 – LAP RF Matt Diskin (.429, 0 HR, 6 RBI) will miss three months with a torn hammy.
April 15 – Aces infielder Jeremy Welter (.241, 2 HR, 5 RBI) will miss at least three months after tearing ankle ligaments.
April 15 – ATL C Pedro Almaguer (.333, 1 HR, 6 RBI) draws a bases-loaded walk from OCT CL Kevin Daley (0-1, 3.38 ERA, 3 SV) to push in the winning a run in a 10th-inning, 1-0 walkoff.
April 16 – In another long game, the Rebels beat the Blue Sox, 6-5 in 15 innings.

FL Player of the Week: CIN LF/CF Juan del Toro (.412, 1 HR, 6 RBI), batting .469 (15-32), 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.385, 4 HR, 12 RBI), hitting .469 (15-32), 4 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I don’t know what to do with Raffy. I need expert advice. (looks at Honeypaws)

This was not a great week at all. We have yet to win a series, and losing three in a row to the Titans throws up a few question. The lineup has not had a good time so far, and we’re scoring just a scratch over three runs per game, second-worst in the league, and just a bit ahead of the Titans. The rotation actually reeled itself in this week and we got a few decent starts. Batting .243/.294/.327 as a team won’t do in the long run, though…

Two weeks on the road coming up: Indy, Vegas, Falcons, and New York on the schedule.

Fun Fact: Wednesday’s reverse cycle by Willie Sanchez was the first such occurrence in the league in 18 years.

The last batters to do it were Vegas’ Mike Hall against the Knights in 2038, and in an unlikely back-to-back occurrence, the Elks’ Jesse Lejeune against the Loggers in 2037 before that. Nobody has lined up the four hits the “right” natural way for even longer, going back to Dean Thompson of the Warriors against the Miners in ’32.