[Westheim]

Raccoons (20-24) @ Knights (23-21) – May 20-22, 2058

The Raccoons came in having gotten swept by the Aces, who were now somehow near the top of the CL South, while the Knights had lost five straight games (including three in a row to the Crusaders, who like the Coons had been through an “interesting” last week) to drop away from the same spot in the division. They had the second-most runs on the board in the CL … while allowing the most runs overall, but still carried a +13 run differential. Their bullpen, interestingly, had the best ERA in the CL… roughly half that of their 5.49 ERA rotation. The Raccoons had won the season series for two years in a row, both times by 6-3 marks.

Projected matchups:
J.J. Sensabaugh (3-4, 5.65 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (4-3, 5.34 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (4-2, 3.21 ERA) vs. Joe Napier (4-3, 3.58 ERA)
Zach Stewart (4-4, 2.47 ERA) vs. Morgan Aben (2-4, 5.93 ERA)

Only right-handers for this series.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 1B Royer – C Chavez – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – CF Christopher – 3B Bribiesca – P Sensabaugh
ATL: C M. Nieto – 1B Wheeler – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – RF Wada – CF Nork – P En. Ortiz

The Raccoons put two quick runs together to begin the week, getting Labonte and Lonzo on the corners with opening base knocks against Ortiz, a double and a single, and then scored them with Royer’s groundout and Pucks’ 2-out single, respectively. Similar story in the second, with leadoff singles by Bribiesca and Sensabaugh – only after failing to bunt repeatedly and two strikes – and a wild pitch and Lonzo’s 1-out single. Royer reached on Doug Triplett’s error, but Chavez and Pucks made poor outs afterwards. But be beware of the pitcher; Sensabaugh had two walks in the bottom 2nd, putting Triplett and Nick Fox on base, then allowed runs on Jushiro Wada’s single and a wild pitch himself. 4-2 after two innings, and this one promised to be far from over in terms of scoring…

Sensabaugh failed the bags full with a Marco Nieto single, a walk to Willie Acosta, and nicking Triplett in the bottom 3rd, but Fox then popped out to Lonzo to end the inning without an Atlanta run. He outlasted Ortiz, but not by much; the Knights pitcher was hit for in the bottom 4th, in which Wada walked and Nieto bopped a 2-run homer, tying the score at four. Sensabaugh completed five innings… on a whopping 105 pitches. At least he held the tie, but the Coons had no comforting amount of relief available, then had Reynaldo Bravo cough up a couple of walks in the bottom 6th before Jeff Wheeler’s RBI single gave Atlanta the 5-4 lead.

The Raccoons had been silent on offense for all of the middle innings, but Labonte and Lonzo began the seventh by reaching base again. However, Royer hit into a fielder’s choice, and then Chavez and Pucks did even worse, and the tying and go-ahead runs were stranded on the corners against Chris Jones. That turned out to be their last rally attempt in a game that got increasingly soggy as the weather worsened along with my mood. The last two innings were played in considerable rain. Bravo was abused for two innings by the Coons, and Tanizaki pitched the eighth, all in vain. 5-4 Knights. Labonte 2-4, 2B; Lavorano 3-4, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bribiesca 2-4;

Sensabaugh (3-4, 5.81 ERA) was purged the same evening, now finally with more walks than strikeouts on his ledger again. Due to the off day on Thursday, no starter was brought up right away, and instead we helped us to an extra reliever in righty Alex Rios, who didn’t have a run allowed in St. Pete this year.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – C Chavez – 1B Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – P B. Herrera
ATL: C M. Nieto – 1B Wheeler – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – RF Wada – CF Nork – P Napier

Three straight singles gave the Knights a run before they made an out on Acosta’s pop and Triplett doubled up the rest of the runners, but perhaps it was too much to expect Bobby Herrera to pitch a nice game once in a while for four bloody million bucks a year. Triplett singled home Nieto and his leadoff double with two outs in the bottom 3rd instead, while the Raccoons had zero base hits and only a double play hit into by Pucks the first time through against Napier. The Knights’ starter retired 11 for 11 batters before Steve Royer singled with two outs in the fourth inning. Chavez walked, and Pucks hit another single to load the bases, after which Brobeck and Brassfield tied the game by just holding still while Napier kept melting, drawing a pair of bases-loaded walks. Jesus Martinez, the expensive fool, then of course had to poke at a 2-0 pitch and flew out to Wada, leaving the bases loaded.

By the fifth, Portland was on top. Straight 2-out hits by Lonzo (single), Royer (double), and Chavez (2-run single) gave us a 4-2 edge before Pucks grounded out to short on a 3-1 pitch. Herrera needed 79 pitches through five innings (again), while scattering eight hits and getting four strikeouts. He lumbered on into the seventh, once there walking Josh Abercrombie (waves hi) before getting knocked out by Acosta’s 2-out triple well over the head of Royer in deep, deep center. Mike Siwik was no help, either, allowing a game-tying double to Triplett. Nick Fox walked, but Pedro Almaguer lined out to Lonzo to end the bedeviled inning, the score flat at four again.

Royer and Pucks walked against Eli Dupuis in the eighth inning, but nothing good came out of that for a lack of hits, while the tie was broken in the bottom of the inning by Matt Waters. That used to be good news, but it wasn’t anymore, because Matt Waters was no longer a Raccoon, as weird as it felt. Waters bombed Ricky Herrera to left for a tie-breaking homer, pinch-hitting in the #9 spot, and then the Coons went in order against Ruben Mendez in the ninth inning… 5-4 Knights. Royer 2-3, BB, 2B; Chavez 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – RF Puckeridge – 3B Brobeck – LF Brassfield – 1B Imai – C Lathers – P Stewart
ATL: CF Nork – 3B Triplett – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – LF Abercrombie – RF Alade – 1B Wada – SS N. Fox – P Aben

Pucks drew a leadoff walk after an uneventful first inning, then stole his first base of the year. Brobeck singled him to third base, and Brass’ single gave Portland the 1-0 lead on Wednesday. Toushi’s grounder was mishandled by Fox to load the bases, after which Lathers whiffed, Stewart popped out, and – totally alien to the usual way three on, no out situations dissolved for this cursed franchise – Paul Labonte snapped a 2-run single through Triplett to up the lead to 3-0. Lonzo ended the inning with a fly to Abercrombie then. Jon Alade got his first hit of the year with a second-inning single that led nowhere; he had broken his hand like five minutes into the season and was returning only now, making his first appearance back from rehab in Corpus Christi.

The Coons had the bags full without the benefit of a base hit when Aben walked Pucks and Brobeck, then nailed Toushi with two outs in the top 3rd. Lathers’ fly to right left all of them stranded, though. The Knights then erased the 3-0 lead a run at a time; Nick Fox’ leadoff walk was brought around to score in the bottom 3rd, Abercrombie’s double and Wada’s single procured another run in the fourth, and in the fifth it was the pitcher Aben to hit a leadoff single and score on a base hit by Triplett with one out. Jushiro Wada walked in the bottom 6th, but was doubled up by Fox, and Stewart settled for six innings of *that*, having also get plonked around for nine base hits.

Lonzo’s leadoff single off Mario de Anda in the seventh led nowhere as first Royer forced him out and then Pucks hit into a double play altogether, but Ivan Ornelas held the Knights in check in the bottom of the inning, and then we got a SIGN – miracles DID happen! Two were out in the top of the eighth inning when David Hardaway thew a 91mph fastball to Toushi Imai, and Toushi Imai BATTERED the ball over the fence in rightfield for the first major league homer he’d hit in soon FIVE years!!

Would the bloody thing also be good for a W? Ornelas retired Nieto to begin the bottom 8th, but then Sencion allowed a walk to Acosta, a double to Abercrombie on which Acosta was thrown out at the plate by Jesus Martinez, who entered in a double switch with Sencion, and then another walk to Almaguer. Jesus H. Christ in a boat!! Tanizaki replaced Sencion, Wada hit a deep fly to center, but Steve Royer tracked that one down and the inning finally ended. Both the Raccoons and Knights then failed to reach base in the ninth inning, and the Raccoons narrowly ended their own 5-game losing streak. 4-3 Critters. Brobeck 2-3, BB;

Raccoons (21-26) @ Falcons (25-22) – May 20-22, 2058

After an off day, which the team unanimously voted to spend at a regionally renowned all-you-can-eat chicken emporium in Woodruff, SC, which led to more than one restroom break on the last 90-mile leg of the trip to Charlotte, the plan was for a 3-game set against the Falcons, who we had beaten 2-1 in the first series of the year. Charlotte ranked fourth in the South, three games off the lead, with the #5 offense and #6 pitching and a +10 run differential. Two of the top 3 teams in stealing bases in the CL were assembled for the weekend. Travis Edwards and Jayden Ward were notably absent on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (2-4, 4.22 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (4-4, 3.50 ERA)
Justin DeRose (2-5, 5.57 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (4-4, 4.18 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (4-2, 3.45 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (0-3, 6.43 ERA)

Sciuto was the only sciouthpaw we’d meet this week.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – CF Royer – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – RF Martinez – P Carreno
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – SS Hullander – P Schaeffer

Labonte singled and was caught stealing to nix the chances for a run in the top 1st, and the Raccoons would not get much more from the next bushel of singles they hit. Pucks’ with two outs in the second inning went nowhere, while Martinez and Labonte hit singles to take to the corners in the third inning. Lonzo flew out to Danny Ceballos, who threw out Martinez at the plate for a double play to end the inning. Pucks would do that trick to the Falcons in the same inning – after five straight Falcons had reached against Carreno. The game had started really, really well for Carreno, who retired the first six batters in a row, but the bottom 3rd began with Luis Miranda and Joe Hullander singles, and then he ****** up Schaeffer’s bunt to load the bases. Jose Rodriguez and Kyle Fisher hit RBI singles to give Charlotte a 2-0 lead, but Ceballos’ fly to left was then converted into the 7-2 double play on Schaeffer. Jason Schaack grounded out to Labonte, stranding two on base.

Carreno then suffered along with everybody else, walking two in the bottom 4th, which ended with the bags full and Martinez running down a Rodriguez fly ball in right-center to keep everybody stranded. The Coons got another three quick innings from their starter after that, with two toilet breaks in between, and he didn’t return from the ******* when his turn to bat came up in the top of the eighth and had to be removed from the game. It wasn’t like any sort of rally was taking place; the Raccoons had one base hit from the fifth through the eighth innings, a Brobeck single, and Pucks doubled up that runner right away. Hamann and Siwik held the Falcons to what they already had in the bottom 8th, while Schaeffer was still stirring in the ninth inning. Lonzo opened with a single to left, then was immediately doubled up by Chavez. Royer grounded out. 2-0 Falcons. Labonte 2-4; Carreno 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, L (2-5) and 1-1;

(knocks on bathroom door) Ramon, are you done? – Ramon? – Ramo-hon! – (waves for janitor) No, I can still hear him hacking, but let’s open the door with your master key.

Sigh.

Game 2
POR: 2B Bribiesca – SS Lavorano – C Chavez – 3B Brobeck – CF Royer – RF Martinez – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – P DeRose
CHA: CF J. Rodriguez – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – C L. Miranda – 1B J. Caballero – SS Hullander – P Sciuto

Marcos Chavez stole his first career base by accident in the first inning on Saturday, misunderstanding a sign that told Lonzo to go from second base, but Chavez went along with him, which was not at all expected by the Falcons, who tried and failed to nip Lonzo at third base, leaving the Coons with a double steal. Brobeck hit an RBI single, Royer a sac fly, and Martinez singled after that, and Brassfield drew some more blood with a 2-run double to left-center before Pucks lined out to short to end the inning. 4-0 Coons, which felt like 1-0 with DeRose pitching. Or 0-0. The ******* dimwit didn’t even get the 4-run lead through ONE ******* inning, as Rodriguez and Ceballos singled, Bobby Anderson walked, and with two outs Luis Miranda cracked a bases-clearing double. Jorge Caballero added a game-tying RBI single. My rage could not even be contained by him hitting a leadoff single in the top 2nd. Bribiesca also singled, Lonzo hit an RBI double, and Chavez added a run with a groundout, 6-4, and Sciuto was yanked when his spot led off the bottom 2nd, with Doug Conner singling and getting doubled off by Rodriguez. Ceballos drew a leadoff walk the inning after, and Anderson then homered the game tied. Woodrome and Miranda reached, and DeRose was yanked after that and purged from the roster while the game was still going, which was technically against league rules, but Maud made the call to New York anyway after my call to Portland with her ended when I tore the payphone out of the ballpark wall in my fit of rage.

Siwik wiggled out of the inning to keep the score even at six, but fell behind in the bottom 4th on two singles and a Bobby Anderson sac fly. That Falcons lead was erased without making an out in the top 5th as Royer drew a leadoff walk from Franklin Mendoza and then scored right away on Jesus Martinez’ double to left-center. Brass walked and Pucks singled to right to load the bags with nobody out, and the Coons took the lead on Toushi’s pinch-hit sac fly to center, but the 1-2 batters then made soggy outs. The Coons then held that 8-7 lead with two scoreless innings by Alex Rios of all people, which felt like a cheat code nobody had found so far, while a tack-on run was added in the seventh when Pucks hit a homer off the remains of Raffy de la Cruz. Stingy relief by Ricky Herrera and Tanizaki followed, getting the Coons and their 9-7 lead through eight innings, but the bottom 9th began with Pucks dropping Alex Gomez’ fly for an error, and then Sencion walked Rich Fish and the tying runs were on base with nobody out. Kyle Fisher grounded to third base, Brobeck getting Fish out at second, but a double play wasn’t in the cards. Sencion had Ceballos at 0-2 before the slugger grounded to Bribiesca. Again the out was made at second base, but a second out wasn’t feasible, and the unearned run scored. Still, all we needed was an out on Bobby Anderson to end the game. A grounder to Lonzo did the trick. 9-8 Coons. Bribiesca 2-4, BB; Brassfield 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, HR, RBI; Rios 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

DeRose was BeGone, taking his 2-5 record and 6.34 ERA with him to St. Pete. Remarkably, we didn’t have a plan beyond Monday at this point; Bobby Herrera had the rubber game (on regular rest), and we had Stewart on Monday, and perhaps we could get rain on Tuesday to make things work out?

But anybody remember Colby Bowen?

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – 3B Brobeck – LF Puckeridge – RF Martinez – 1B Imai – CF Christopher – C Lathers – P B. Herrera
CHA: C L. Miranda – LF K. Fisher – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – 3B B. Anderson – 2B Woodrome – CF Conner – SS Hullander – P Doyle

Miranda doubled to right and Ceballos’ single to center drove him in for a 1-0 Falcons lead against the routinely disappointing Herrera, who allowed more hits to those two in the third inning, walked Anderson too, and then was dealt another 2-run single by Woodrome with two outs. In that inning alone he reached four 2-strike counts, and didn’t whiff ******* anybody. The Falcons clubbed him for nine base hits in 96 pitches through five ****** innings, while the Raccoons didn’t do ANYTHING against a guy with a 6+ ERA. Herrera’s return for the bottom 6th yielded two singles and a Miranda sac fly before he was disposed of. Bravo finished that inning.

Down 4-0, the Raccoons had looked dead from the waist up for the entirety of six innings, but then the Falcons decided they had chanced their luck enough with Doyle and went to right-hander Adam Eutsler. Two blinks later, Lathers, Brass, and Labonte were on base with one out and Lonzo was batting as the tying run. He hit no more than a sac fly, but Eutsler then issued another eight straight balls to Brobeck and Pucks, forcing in a second run, before being yanked for ex-Coon Justin Johns, who was met by Royer batting for Martinez, but Royer grounded out calmly to Woodrome and that ended the inning. Hamann held the Falcons to their 4-2 lead in the seventh, but Colby Bowen allowed a single to Conner, nailed Hullander, and after Alex Gomez bashed into a double play conceded a run on Miranda’s 2-out RBI single. Colby Bowen things anyway (shrugs). 5-2 Falcons. Puckeridge 0-1, 3 BB, RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1; Sheilds (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 22 – The Condors lose SP Jay Everett (2-7, 4.71 ERA) for the season; the 25-year-old is down with a torn labrum.
May 22 – Five games across the league end in walkoffs on Wednesday, but the only one of those that goes extra innings is the Capitals’ 6-5, 12-inning win against the Pacifics, which ends on a home run by OF/3B Bryant Law (.215, 4 HR, 23 RBI).
May 23 – The Capitals walk off, 6-5 again, in regulation against the Pacifics on Thursday, this time on an error by Pacifics 1B Chris Rice (.331, 2 HR, 17 RBI).
May 25 – New York OF Oscar Caballero (.370, 3 HR, 8 RBI) hits a home run for the only scoring in the Crusaders’ 2-0 win over the Condors, who get their only base hit from their debutee pitcher, 24-year-old SP Mike Hall (0-1, 2.70 ERA).
May 26 – Thunder southpaw SP Thomas Turpeau (4-3, 4.93 ERA) faces 12 months on the sidelines with a torn UCL.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.358, 7 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF/1B Mike Harmon (.268, 9 HR, 23 RBI), batting .368 (7-19) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Coons baseball. Yaaay.

It sure felt like the journey to Nowhere began in earnest this week with the disposal of half the rotation. Carreno could go on regular rest on Wednesday, and Thursday was off, so we needed at least one starting pitcher to fill up the rotation for next week. Ryan Wade was the likely replacement for the culled numbnuts DeRose and Sensabaugh, and beyond that… (expressive shrug!)

This weekend, Matt Walters started a rehab assignment with the Alley Cats. We think he should be good to return after four or five outings, maybe a week from now.

Home week against West Coast teams coming up, with both the Condors and damn Elks flocking to Portland.

Fun Fact: Matt Waters has yet to make it into the lineup for the Knights this year.

By now he’s 37 years old and coming exclusively off the bench. At least he’s having success with that, hitting .333 with four homers and 12 RBI in those very limited appearances.

Last year Waters hit just .219 with the Caps, with 8 homers and 30 RBI in 84 games (half of them starts). He’s a career .262/.344/.428 hitter with 1,708 hits, 245 homers, and 960 RBI, plus 210 stolen bases. Most of this as a Critter, of course, including his two home run crowns in 2048 and 2053, and the FOUR rings!