[Westheim]

Raccoons (8-10) @ Thunder (7-12) – April 24-26, 2057

After an off day on Monday, we were to meet the Thunder for the last three games of the endless road trip – but hey, at least maybe it will have rained itself out in Portland by now! – meeting up with a last-place team that was coughing up even more runs than the Raccoons, which seemed genuinely hard to do. These teams were 10th and 11th in runs allowed in the CL so far, and 7th and 6th in runs scored in turn. The Thunder had already lost key components Matt Cox and Ed Soberanes to injury, too. The Thunder had won the season series last year, 5-4.

Projected matchups:
Craig Kniep (0-1, 5.93 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (1-2, 3.86 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (1-3, 4.07 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (2-1, 3.42 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (1-2, 4.56 ERA) vs. Garrett Guistino (1-3, 5.85 ERA)

Three right-handers lined up from Oklahoma City.

Game 1
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – C Chavez – P Kniep
OCT: SS Lira – C Korfhage – 3B M. Harmon – 1B Worthington – CF H. Thomas – 2B Ban – RF Buras – LF D. Guzman – P A. Harris

Kyle Brobeck was promoted to the cleanup spot and cleaned up right away in the first inning after Abercrombie hit a soft 2-out single, smashing a homer to right to give the Coons a 2-0 lead. Two more runs scored in the second inning, where the Raccoons slapped out five singles, including four straight starting with Allred. Kniep drove in Allred, and Lonzo singled home Chavez with one out to get to 4-0, but Abercrombie grounded into a force at the plate and Brobeck grounded out to first base. Kniep struck out the first three Thunder of the game, and five batters the first time through the order, but also walked Will Buras to begin the bottom 3rd, swiftly followed by Danny Guzman singling. A strikeout by PH Tim Weant, a pop to short by Omar Lira, and Mitch Korfhage’s liner to Allred stranded the two runners, though. The Thunder put two more on in the fourth, including David Worthington getting plunked with a 1-2 pitch, but didn’t score again. Instead, Pucks ran the score to 5-0 with his first homer of the season. That was in the fifth; in the seventh, Pucks followed Brobeck’s left-center gap triple with a soft RBI single of his own, tacking on another run.

Kniep pitched into the eighth inning while maintaining a shutout. There, Korfhage drew a 1-out walk. Kniep hung another K on the left-handed Mike Harmon, then was lifted for Mike Lane, who got Worthington to fly out to right. He’d put down four in a row to finish the game, but in between Pucks had his paws in another run scored in the top 9th, drawing a 2-out walk off Kevin Daley. Brassfield was down 0-4 on the day and Solorzano batted for him against the righty, driving an RBI double to left-center. 7-0 Coons! Brobeck 2-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Solorzano (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Allred 2-5; Kniep 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, W (1-1) and 1-4, RBI;

This W actually gave us a +1 run differential, which was astonishing given that it meant that the offense was managing to out-swat *this* pitching staff…!

Wednesday’s opponent changed to another right-hander, swingman Eric Barnes (1-0, 4.00 ERA). Jonathan Ban (.397, 1 HR, 10 RBI) had left the opener of the series late with a bum shoulder and was ruled out for the rest of the series, so the Thunder were now a guy short on the bench.

Game 2
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – C Chavez – P Adkins
OCT: SS Lira – C Korfhage – 2B London – 1B Worthington – CF H. Thomas – 3B M. Harmon – LF Weant – RF Buras – P E. Barnes

Lonzo doubled in the first, but was left stranded, and then him and Allred *both* made an error behind Adkins in the first inning to concede an unearned run to the Thunder. Lonzo was on base again in the third inning with a 2-out single, but also was caught stealing, putting his success rate this season at a terrible 50%. The Thunder went to the corners in the bottom 3rd, but Adkins got a K in on Harley Thomas to end that inning. Allred drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and was caught stealing, too, and apart from that, offense was most miniscule for both teams. Both sides scattered four hits through six innings, and the Thunder still remained up 1-0.

The Raccoons had two hits in the seventh inning, singles by Pucks and Brass, but the former was caught stealing before the latter got a turn on the plate, which put the Raccoons at 0-for-3 in the thievery game against Korfhage. Adkins was still pitching in the bottom 7th, retired Tim Weant and Will Buras, then had Brobeck throw away Barnes’ grounder for a 2-base error, which was also the third of its kind for Portland in this game. Adkins hung around for Omar Lira, another lefty stick, gave up an RBI double, then was removed. Mancilla replaced him, walked Korfhage, gave up an RBI single to Mike London, and then finally had Worthington pop out. Top 8th, hits sent Chavez and Callaia to the corners. Lonzo hit a sac fly to Weant, but that was the only run the Raccoons got from that situation as Abercrombie then grounded out. Kevin Daley retired Brobeck and Pucks to begin the ninth inning, then offered 2-out walks to Brassfield and Allred, placing the tying runs on base in a 3-1 game. Chavez, however, struck out. 3-1 Thunder. Lavorano 2-3, 2B, RBI; Allred 1-2, 2 BB; Adkins 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, L (1-4);

All runs were unearned. Yaaay. (hangs fuzzy ears)

Game 3
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – LF Abercrombie – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – 2B Bribiesca – CF Solorzano – C Zamora – P Taki
OCT: SS Lira – C M. Castillo – 1B Worthington – RF D. Guzman – 2B London – LF Weant – CF Buras – 3B H. Thomas – P Brink

Lonzo was caught stealing *again* in the first inning of the rubber game, and somehow the Thunder seemed to know before the Raccoons runners were to go before they themselves did…! The Raccoons struggled on from there; drawing two leadoff walks in the fourth inning got them nowhere with three meager outs following, none of them advancing the runners Abercrombie and Brobeck. Taki in turn didn’t allow a hit for the first 11 outs registered, but when he did, quickly gave up not only a double to right to Danny Guzman, but also an RBI single to center to London and fell behind 1-0. After the Coons failed to score Callaia (walk) and Lonzo (nailed) with two outs in the fifth, Will Buras knocked a leadoff triple in the bottom half of the inning, and scored quickly on Thomas’ groundout, 2-0…

The tying runs were on base right away in the sixth as Brobeck singled and Pucks drew another walk off an all-over-the-damn-place Tan Brink, who was now on five free passes and six strikeouts. Bribiesca hit into a fielder’s choice on a 3-1 pitch, which wasn’t great, and the only run scoring in the top 6th did so on a wild pitch by Brink… The Coons had Lonzo on base again in the seventh inning with a 2-out single, and called the hit-and-run with Brobeck. Brobeck flailed and missed, and Lonzo was thrown out at second base AGAIN.

Taki would complete eight innings on 110 pitches without allowing any more permanent damage, and the Raccoons had just one run to make up in the ninth inning to take him off the hook. Thing was, they’d have to get the bottom of the order on base against lefty Tim Abraham. Pinch-hitters Royer, Espinoza, and Brassfield made straight outs. 2-1 Thunder. Lavorano 2-3; Taki 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, L (1-3);

I would like to retract my statement about the offense being able to out-swat this pitching staff.

Raccoons (9-12) vs. Indians (9-12) – April 27-29, 2057

These teams tied for last place in the North at the end of April, which was perhaps not the thing I had expected from the Raccoons at least. Indy was second from the bottom in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed. Their -28 run differential hinted at them probably going to sink deeper rather quick, but they had won two of three games from the Critters to start the season.

Projected matchups:
Sean Sweeton (3-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (1-1, 2.83 ERA)
Roberto Oyola (0-3, 8.82 ERA) vs. Jeremy Fetta (2-0, 1.96 ERA)
Craig Kniep (1-1, 3.80 ERA) vs. Fernando Salazar (0-3, 9.00 ERA)

The Indians had been off on Thursday, so changes were possible. We were guaranteed the lefty Fitzgibbon to start the series, though. No Bill Quinteros – he’d be out for another week, which took pretty much all the sting out of the lineup. Antonio Rios (.341, 1 HR, 13 RBI) was still there… and that was about *it*.

Game 1
IND: 3B A. Rios – SS Mullen – 1B K. Price – CF Oldfield – C Villafan – LF Perry – RF Briggs – 2B Bahena – P Fitzgibbon
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – LF Abercrombie – 2B Bribiesca – CF Royer – C Chavez – 3B Espinoza – P Sweeton

While Trent Brassfield tried to hit himself out of a slump with a first-inning solo jack to right, the Indians took a 3-1 lead in the third inning. Sweeton walked three batters, and Dan Mullen, the old Elks foe, hit a 3-run homer to left somewhere in between. Brassfield had another RBI his second time up, driving in Callaia and his earlier double with a 2-out single in the bottom 3rd, shortening the gap to 3-2, but Abercrombie then grounded out. The score got tied the inning after; Bribiesca hit a gap triple leading off, and while Royer failed while popping out foul, Marcos Chavez singled to center to get us even at three.

Lonzo was on base in the fifth inning, but him and Brass managed to end the inning in strike-‘em-out-throw-‘em-out fashion, at which point I was wondering whether Lonzo was somehow tipping off batteries when he was about to make a dash for it, but I rewatched some video with Cristiano during the sixth, and we didn’t see anything special: before every attempt, he’d clap his frontpaws together twice, yell “ho!”, and then count to three before running – same as the last seven years!!

The Indians retook the lead, 5-3, in the sixth inning with four singles off Sweeton, who was selectively terrible in those two miserable innings, but allowed only two base runners in the other four innings he pitched. Maybe the Coons could string some hits together as well, though. Bottom 7th, Fitzgibbon allowed a 1-out single to Espinoza. Brobeck pinch-hit for Tanizaki and singled, and then Callaia looped a single over Antonio Rios to drive in Espinoza from second base. The tying run was now at second with Brobeck, but Lonzo grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play… It was Abercrombie who tied the game, smacking a game-tying homer off Bill Dewan in the bottom 8th. Ivan Ornelas had logged the last out in the top 8th and hung around in the ninth, but allowed a leadoff single to Kevin Abel. Two outs later, the go-ahead run was at third base. Matt Walters came in at that point against the left-handed Kevin Price, but gave up an RBI double to right before popping out PH Juan Llampallas… Bottom 9th, the Raccoons faced righty Randy Slocum. Chavez singled to left leading off, then was run for with Solorzano, who stole second while Espinoza struck out – the first successful theft of the week. Allred struck out, Callaia grounded out. 6-5 Indians. Callaia 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Chavez 2-4, RBI; Brobeck (PH) 1-1;

(bites lip)

Game 2
IND: 3B A. Rios – SS Mullen – 1B K. Price – LF Abel – RF McIntyre – C Villafan – CF Briggs – 2B Bahena – P Fetta
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Lavorano – CF Abercrombie – 3B Brobeck – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 2B Allred – C Chavez – P Oyola

Rios’ double and Kevin Price’s RBI single scored a quick run off Oyola, but the Raccoons answered with a Callaia single, an Abercrombie RBI triple over the head of Chris Briggs, and the go-ahead run came home on Brobeck’s groundout. Pucks and Brass went to the corners with another pair of 2-out singles, but Allred popped out to Dan Mullen to strand them. Abercrombie and Brobeck would then take the corners with a pair of leadoff singles in the third inning. Pucks got an RBI with a sac fly, and Brassfield got two with his team-leading third home run of the year, 5-1.

Of course, a 4-run lead with Oyola around was like a 2-run lead with anybody else. Oyola scattered four hits and a walk through three innings, and had two double plays turned in 4-6-3 fashion behind him to clean up the bases for him. Willie Villafan’s single and Chris Briggs’ double put a pair in scoring position with two outs in the fourth, and normally we’d walked Bernie Bahena intentionally now, but Fetta was ripe for pinch-hitting. Oyola got to 0-2 on Bahena, then gave up a scorcher – but right at Lonzo to end the inning. Singles by reliever Jeff Caldwell (…) and Antonio Rios made it 4-for-the-last-5 for the Indians in the top 5th, and Oyola got a stern talking-to on the hill. Somehow that worked; Mullen flew out to Brass in shallow left and the pitcher at third base didn’t dare to go, and then Kevin Price smacked into the third 4-6-3 of the day. Oyola continued with a 1-2-3 sixth inning (!!!!), came back for the seventh, gave up a single to Briggs, struck out Bahena, and then was removed when left-handed Cory Oldfield pinch-hit in the #9 spot. Herrera and Mancilla each got one out to get to stretch time.

Mancilla pitched a clean eighth, while the Coons loaded the bases in the same inning with Chavez, Bribiesca, and Abercrombie, but Brobeck then flew out to left to end the inning. The Coons then sent Brobeck to the hill for the ninth. He allowed a double to Will McIntyre, then walked Villafan. Exit Brobeck, enter Walters – strikeout, strikeout, and a flare to left from Jason Perry that Abercrombie caught. 5-1 Raccoons. Bribiesca (PH) 1-1; Abercrombie 3-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Brassfield 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Allred 2-4; Chavez 2-3, BB, 2B;

The Indians sent righty Bill Lawrence (1-2, 7.11 ERA) into the rubber game. The 29-year-old was mostly used as reliever at the major league level, but had made 32 starts for the Aces in 2055, and 15 for the Indians between this year and last.

Lonzo, 0-for-4 on Saturday, looked like he could use a day off. With seven games next week, everybody was scheduled for a day off at some point or other anyway, and – to heck with it – Lonzo got his turn first. We’d see two left-handers against the Titans next week, so Callaia, Abercrombie, and Pucks were all expecting a day off then.

Game 3
IND: 2B Kilday – SS Mullen – 1B K. Price – 3B A. Rios – RF McIntyre – C Villafan – LF Bahena – CF Oldfield – P B. Lawrence
POR: 1B Callaia – SS Bribiesca – CF Abercrombie – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – 2B Allred – 3B Espinoza – C Zamora – P Kniep

Kniep had a scoreless first with a strikeout before Callaia reached on a Rios error, Bribiesca singled, and Abercrombie walked, filling the bases with nobody out in the bottom 1st. The Raccoons’ 4-5 pair each got home a run with a grounder and a sac fly, respectively, but Allred grounded out to leave Abercrombie stranded. A 2-0 lead, and here came Kniep – he walked one, he walked two, he walked three in the top of the second, and then Bernie Bahena emptied the bases with a double off the wall in right-center. Lawrence would drive in Bahena for a fourth run in the inning, and I was despairing of our rotation once more. Even Honeypaws was covering his eyes with his tail!

At least the offense tried to out-hit the shambles on the hill on this particular day. Bribiesca singled in the bottom 3rd, Abercrombie forced him out, but Brassfield walked, and then both Pucks and Allred socked 2-out RBI knocks, a single and double, respectively. There was a pair in scoring position in the 4-4 game with Espinoza at the plate – who had no RBI on the year, and didn’t get one here either, for Lawrence drilled him in the ribs. Espinoza dragged himself to first base, bringing up Ruben Zamora, batting .100 with 1 RBI, and grounding out to short.

Kniep didn’t go deep, walking five in six innings before being excused further embarrassment. Eloy Sencion got the seventh, striking out two and getting a double play turned behind him to clean up Matt Kilday, who reached base when Zamora couldn’t hold on to that strike three, and also retired Price on a fly to rightfield to begin the eighth inning, still in a 4-4 tie. Rios singled off Tanizaki with one out, but was stranded by McIntyre and Villafan. The Raccoons put the go-ahead run on base to begin the bottom 8th against Lawrence as Brassfield singled to center. Pucks chomped a 3-2 pitch in the ground near the plate, but it rolled into no man’s land between home, hill, and third base, and Pucks legged out an infield single. Here, Indy brought Bill Dewan for Allred, but the Raccoons sent Kyle Brobeck to pinch-hit. He fell to 0-2, then flicked a blooper over the head of Kilday and in front of McIntyre’s feet, but since it was a close play, Brassfield had to be cautious and could not make an attempt for the plate. Three on, nobody out, and the no-ribs part of the lineup approaching – swell! Espinoza grounded a 2-1 pitch to Llampallas, and the shortstop fired home to kill off Brass, keeping the game tied. Lonzo batted for Zamora – and that was the correct move! Lonzo hit a ball into the right-center gap for a 2-run double, and the Coons took the lead! Chavez added a sac fly when hitting for Tanizaki, and Callaia drew a 2-out walk off right-hander Tim Jacoby, but Bribiesca then grounded out, sending the game to Walters – except, no, the Coons, who never used him, now had already used him two days in a row, and that looked fishy to us. Lane got the ball against the bottom of the order. Llampallas hit a 2-out single in the #9 hole, but Lane struck out three to put the game away. 7-4 Critters. Bribiesca 2-5; Puckeridge 2-3, 2 RBI; Brobeck (PH) 1-1; Lavorano (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

In other news

April 25 – NYC SP Ben Seiter (3-1, 1.98 ERA) strikes out 11 Aces in a 4-hit shutout to claim an 8-0 Crusaders win.
April 25 – The Condors fall to the Indians, 3-2 in 15 innings. TIJ 1B Harry Ramsay (.377, 1 HR, 10 RBI) pokes five singles, including one for the go-ahead run to score in the top 15th, but the Indians come back for two runs in the bottom 15th to render the effort moot.
April 26 – The Scorpions trade SS/2B Matt Knight (.351, 1 HR, 4 RBI) to the Rebels for RF/LF Andres Velasco (.219, 0 HR, 4 RBI) and a prospect.
April 27 – The Condors trade right-hander Bill Quinn (1-1, 2.73 ERA, 1 SV) to the Thunder for three prospects, including #172 RF/CF Tom Straub.
April 28 – CHA 3B Bobby Anderson (.262, 2 HR, 14 RBI) homers for the only run in the Falcons’ 1-0 win over San Francisco.
April 29 – The Pacifics would be without CL Jason Posey (2-1, 1.10 ERA, 7 SV) for a month, as the 31-year-old was laboring on shoulder soreness.
April 29 – TOP INF/RF/LF Eric Miller (.260, 1 HR, 8 RBI) is expected to miss four months after fracturing his ankle.

FL Player of the Week: NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.321, 4 HR, 11 RBI), hitting .429 (9-21) with 4 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB LF Grant Anker (.333, 6 HR, 15 RBI), batting .500 (12-24) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The fun part of the Anker award is that by the time the league announced the honors on Sunday night, Anker had already been reassigned to AAA Baton Rouge.

The Portland So-Sos remain … so-so, and it will be interesting to see what will happen first – will the offense die or will the pitching finally get its crap together? In any case, I feel like we need a right-handed outfield stick and Caballero is out for another month at least. And if possible, don’t let it be Prospero Tenazes, who at age 30 was still hanging out in St. Pete, because apparently he had no other home.

Also not offering any production for the Alley Cats: the catchers; so Ruben Zamora wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. SP Ryan Wade however was now 3-0 with a 3.52 ERA and 31 K against nine walks. (looks at Oyola) Just sayin’.

Four with the Titans next week, then three games with the Warriors on a brief road trip. We will then have a 2-week homestand starting on the Tuesday after.

Fun Fact: Raffy de la Cruz is a Chesapeake Wanderer now.

That’s the Falcons’ AAA team. We traded him to the Wolves after he refused a minor league assignment, but he did the same to them and ended up being released. The Falcons signed him to a minor league deal with a $250k bonus later in the offseason, and even briefly promoted him to the majors again. In three games he walked five and struck out two across 4.2 innings, then was handed back to the AAA Wanderers.

My heart bleeds.