[Westheim]

Fell out of bed at 5 today. So. There you have it.

I need to go for another ... (yawwwwwn) ... round of... (blinks) ... closed-eyes...... -.-

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Raccoons (45-54) vs. Knights (51-48) – July 23-25, 2058

The Knights were struggling to get their stuff together. While they were scoring the most runs in the CL – just one marker shy of five runs per game – they were giving up even more and were rocking up with a -2 run differential (Coons: -23). They were tops in batting average and OBP, middle of the pack in home runs, and absolute bottom in stolen bases, their entire team just barely out-stealing Lonzo. Their rotation was the worst by ERA, reaching nearly five in that category, too. We lost two of three games to them in our first meeting of the year.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (7-8, 3.06 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (8-7, 4.87 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (3-9, 4.40 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (8-8, 4.82 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (5-1, 2.32 ERA) vs. Jeremy Fetta (5-6, 3.59 ERA)

Three right-handers, and no southpaws in their rotation to begin with. I mean, we were pretty steady in losing games to anybody, regardless of handedness…

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

Lonzo added a stolen base, #36, in his quest of out-stealing the Knights (39) right in the first inning, nipping second to make up for forcing out Pucks, who reached base on balls to begin the bottom 1st. Caswell, the sole actually functioning batter in that bloody lineup, hit an RBI single to drive him home, and for the 53098232th game in a row – I counted, Maud! – the Raccoons scored first.

As usual, it didn’t last, mostly because Stewart was all over the place and piled up 68 pitches in just three innings. He walked four, hit a batter, and somehow gave up only one run on two hits, on an RBI double by Jon Alade with two outs in the top 3rd specifically. That tied the game, driving home Marco Nieto, who had earlier hit into a fielders choice that was mostly enabled by Jeff Wheeler hurting his hammy halfway between first and second base. He left the game for Eric Miller and was off to the DL by the time we finished up losing this week’s Tuesday opener.

Stewart exasperated himself through five innings, giving the Knights a 2-1 lead in his last frame with a Nieto single and an RBI double by ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie, who was batting .303 with seven homers and now 64 RBI, in other words, he looked quite usable in our soggy lineup. Nick Fox’ leadoff triple and Harman’s sac fly added a run off Reynaldo Bravo in the sixth, on which Hamann and Siwik followed up with scoreless appearances that just didn’t seem to matter because the Raccoons’ offense was – after some early success – being completely suffocated by Harman, who had gotten into a right groove. The Critters had four hits through five innings, and nothing thereafter as he went eight innings. Miller and Nieto singles and a wild pitch of his own saw Tanizaki concede a fourth run in the ninth inning, Ruben Mendez was brought in by the Nights for the kninth, and Marcos Chavez at least drew a leadoff walk. Brobeck grounded out, advancing the (useless in itself) runner, Tyrese Sheilds popped out in what was now the pitcher’s spot, and Labonte snuck an RBI single up the middle that actually did get the tying run and Jesus Martinez to the plate with two outs. He grounded out to Doug Triplett. 4-2 Knights. Labonte 2-3, BB, RBI;

Game 2
ATL: C M. Nieto – CF Nork – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – RF Alade – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – 1B Wada – P En. Ortiz
POR: RF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – 2B Labonte – P Carreno

Lonzo again scored the game’s first run in the first inning, this time without the benefit of a stolen base, but a single of his own. Caswell’s grounder moved him to second this time, after which the Raccoons hit three straight 2-out singles for two runs before Toushi grounded out. Labonte’s double to left and Pucks’ RBI single to right added a third run to the Coons’ tally in the second inning. It also made Pucks the first Critter to reach *40* RBI this year, near the end of ******* July.

The Raccoons would walk the bags full against Ortiz in the third inning, but then brought up Carreno with two outs and the pitcher grounded out, then, as the good host he was, tried to give back that 3-0 lead in the fourth inning. Three straight singles by the 4-5-6 batters plated a run for the Knights before Nick Fox grounded out and Jushiro Wada flew out to left to end the inning with the tying runs left on base. Bottom 5th, Ortiz allowed three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out and Toushi next in line and hitting a comebacker that led to Brass being forced out at the plate by Ortiz, who then walked in a run against Labonte, whiffed Carreno, and finally drowned with another bases-loaded walk issued to Pucks, leading to his removal. Lonzo flew out to Jon Alade against left-hander Jose Villegas to end the inning, but now with a 5-1 lead. Still with Carreno pitching though. Carreno was hardly convincing anybody, but the defense kept picking him up and he made it through seven innings without giving up another run (and without striking out a position player). He was not even hit for in the bottom 7th with Toushi on base, popping out. Jesus Martinez then pinch-hit for Pucks against Mario de Anda and bashed a 2-run homer to add to the lead, 7-1.

Carreno went back out for the eighth and got two more outs before Alade singled and he nicked Triplett with a breaking ball, signaling it was removal time. Eloy Sencion struck out Nick Fox to strand the two runners, and then the Coons tried to have a meltdown. Ornelas got the ball for the ninth inning. Wada singled to right, and Pedro Almaguer walked on four straight balls, which was not a great start. Nieto socked an RBI double to left, and Nork flew out to Martinez in right, with the catcher Almaguer scoring on a throwing error by Martinez. Hamann arrived, gave up Nieto’s run on an Abercrombie grounder, then was taken well deep by Willie Acosta. Exit Hamann, enter Walters, and the ******* game finally ended on Alade’s fly to Caswell. 7-5 Raccoons. Martinez (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Lavorano 2-4, BB; Brassfield 2-5, RBI; M. Chavez 3-4; Brobeck 2-5, RBI; Labonte 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Carreno 7.2 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (4-9);

First W for Ramon Carreno in almost two months. He had most recently beaten the Condors in an 11-2 laugher on May 29.

This was also the final game of RF/LF/1B Jushiro Wada’s quad-A career with the Knights, as he was traded to the Loggers that night, taking his .246 clip with 2 HR, 25 RBI, and #167 prospect OF Kyle Prettyman with him. The Knights received Gaudencio Callaia (.306, 1 HR, 34 RBI) in the deal.

Game 3
ATL: CF Nork – RF Alade – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – LF Abercrombie – 3B Triplett – SS N. Fox – 1B Callaia – P Napier
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Royer – 2B Labonte – C C. Chavez – 3B Sheilds – P Argenziano

The Knights re-arranged their pitching by moving Joe Napier (6-6, 4.45 ERA) into the rubber game instead of Jeremy Fetta. Napier held the Coons at bay for the first three innings, allowing just two base hits, while the Argenziano thing seemed to be wearing off slowly but surely. The Raccoons turned two double plays in the first two innings to erase a pair of runners behind him, but when Pucks overran the second of Alade’s and Nieto’s 1-out singles in the fourth inning it gave the Knights a pair of runners in scoring position. Acosta popped out, but Abercrombie had that killer instinct that wholly and fully and completely absent from the Raccoons’ lineup and singled right through between Royer and Labonte for a 2-out, 2-run single. He also stole second, but Argenziano got the K in on Triplett to bugger out of the inning with a 2-0 deficit. The Raccoons got on the board right afterwards with a leadoff jack by Martinez. Hey, hey, not even August and we have somebody with ten homers!! …

It was still 2-1 when Martinez drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning. Napier walked Royer, too, but Labonte hit into a fielder’s choice, but the bags were full with another walk to Cortez Chavez. All those runners, and we were bringing up Tyrese Sheilds and Cameron Argenziano, the latter batting .182, which was still almost 20 points more than Sheilds, who ran a full count before flying out to Alade in right. Martinez went from third base – and was thrown out at the plate. Ace! (opens bottle of Capt’n Coma to clench his jaws around something other than a table edge)

At least Argenziano never batted again in the game, putting Triplett and Fox on base and getting removed for Tanizaki, who retired pinch-hitters Pedro Almaguer and Danny Munn to get out of the inning still with a 2-1 score on the board. Bribiesca batted for him at the start of the bottom 7th against Chris Jones, finding the gap for a pinch-hit triple…! *And* - for once the Raccoons got that damn run home without drama as Pucks singled through the right side to tie the game. Lonzo and Caswell made poor outs without major gains, but, oh, Martinez! Long drive to left, and outta here, and the Raccoons had the lead…! Royer went back-to-back with a shot to right-center, and Labonte got on against Mario de Anda after Jones’ disposal, but Chavez popped out to end the 4-run inning that turned out to be decisive – Bravo and Walters didn’t allow any more baserunners to the Knights in the last two innings and the Raccoons took the series. 5-2 Furballs! Puckeridge 3-4, RBI; Martinez 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Royer 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1, 3B;

Raccoons (47-55) vs. Condors (41-58) – July 26-28, 2058

The Condors lingered in last place in the South, but had just swept the folding Titans. They ranked ninth in runs scored and runs allowed, with a -61 run differential. Their problem zones were defense and the bullpen, the latter posting a cruddy 4.55 ERA. The season series was even at three.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (1-4, 6.43 ERA) vs. Mario Clemente (5-4, 3.35 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (8-6, 3.17 ERA) vs. Edgar Mauricio (4-6, 4.45 ERA)
Zach Stewart (7-9, 3.08 ERA) vs. Miguel Batista (3-3, 4.58 ERA)

We’d see three more right-handers in this series. The Condors didn’t have a southpaw in their rotation, and only one in their pen.

Game 1
TIJ: C J. Morales – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – LF T. Duncan – RF J. Harmon – 3B Frasher – 1B H. Ramsay – 2B Chapa – P M. Clemente
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – C M. Chavez – 3B Brobeck – 1B Imai – 2B Bribiesca – P Fox

Fox gave up a second-inning run with hits by Jamie Harmon and Luis Chapa, then hit a 2-out single himself in the bottom 2nd that loaded the bases for Pucks to do some real dam- … or ground out to second and the Raccoons wouldn’t score. Jerry Morales drew a leadoff walk from Fox in the third inning, but was stranded on three poor outs, while the Raccoons got a 1-out single from Cas, who stole second base. Martinez popped out, and Chavez flew out to lef- oh, no, Tim Duncan had the ball sludge through his glove and hand and behind him for a pretty gross run-scoring error, and the game was tied. Brobeck grounded out to Chapa, though, before more substantial damage could be done.

No game was tied for long with Fox around, though, and he issued walks to Chapa to begin the top 5th, and Morales to continue it. Bobby Fish strung a single into center to plate Chapa from second and give the Condors a 2-1 lead. Casey Ramsey popped out, and Duncan whiffed, after the pitching coach had a good yelling at Fox following the Fish single. Fox continued to have his moments, including a 1-2-3 sixth inning in which he struck out Jamie Harmon and Eric Frasher, giving him 6 K for the game, which would be fine if not for the four walks. And then he had a moment of the third kind in the seventh, giving up a bloop single to Morales and a pinch-hit wallbanger double to Tim Burkhart with two outs that put two Condors in scoring position. Siwik came in to face Ramsey, who grounded out to second base on the first pitch he saw. Could we get a rally going to take Fox off the hook? Lonzo tried, bashing a 1-out double to left in the bottom 7th. Clemente got a grounder from Caswell that moved Lonzo to third, then walked Martinez. Clemente fell to 3-1 against Marcos Chavez, but Chavez then chose to ground out to short and strand the tying and go-ahead runs on the corners…

Instead, Siwik walked Duncan, and Sencion walked Frasher, and then Sencion gave up a 2-out, 2-run single narrowly by Bribiesca to significantly widen the score to 4-1 in the eighth inning. Brobeck singled off Mike Hall to begin the bottom 8th, then was doubled up by Toushi, and that inning ended in another big goose egg on the board. Brobeck pitched the ninth inning, allowing Burkhart on base with a single, but he was then caught stealing. Burkhart went on rob Paul Labonte of potential extra bases out of the #9 hole to begin the bottom of the ninth and the whole damn ballgame ended with Lonzo forcing out Pucks, who had drawn a 1-out walk from Corey Leonard, and then getting caught stealing. 4-1 Condors.

Wholly and completely atrocious.

Saturday first and foremost brought roster moves. After four months, the Raccoons disposed of their Rule 5 picks, both at once. Tyrese Sheilds (.160, 0 HR, 8 RBI) had been spectacularly useless and was returned to the Condors, while Toushi Imai (.220, 5 HR, 21 RBI) had clubbed some good homers, but overall just wasn’t hitting a damn thing, and we had somebody to bring up from AAA, who was also batting left-handed. If not for Joel Starr batting .319 with 20 homers across the full 12 months since he’d been acquired from the Miners with the Alley Cats, Toushi perhaps would have lasted the season, but Starr was 25 and needed to be tried out *now*, and they weren’t both gonna fit on the roster. Tony Benitez, who had batted .244 in some limited action last year, would take over covering the left side of the infield.

Sheilds had of course been taken from the Condors, but was not assigned before the Saturday game.

Game 2
TIJ: RF J. Harmon – 2B Chapa – SS C. Ramsey – LF T. Duncan – C Waker – 1B H. Ramsay – 3B Frasher – CF B. Fish – P Mauricio
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C M. Chavez – 2B Labonte – 3B Benitez – P B. Herrera

Pucks hit a jack on Mauricio’s second pitch of the game for a 1-0 Coons lead, but the team didn’t pile on despite Mauricio nicking Caswell and walking Starr in the inning, then saw Bobby Herrera glitch the bases full with a leadoff walk to Duncan, a Tristan Waker double, and another walk to Harry Ramsay. Frasher whiffed and Fish got put in a 4-6-3 sandwich to defuse the situation and keep the 1-0 lead alive, but Jesus H. Christ at a truck stop, can we ever get somebody to pitch a nice game???

The 1-0 score stood for a bit, while Caswell was hit again by Mauricio in the bottom 3rd. Waker was then drummed by Herrera in the fourth, and certainly there was absolutely no connection between those two. (stands at the big window overlooking the field and holds up a sign reading “GOOD JOB” in blood-red)

More calm ensued; Pucks’ homer, the Waker double, and another single by Pucks in the middle innings were the only base hits in the entire game through six innings, but Waker sure gave a ball a ride to begin the seventh inning, having to get back at Herrera. The drive had homer length, but not direction, and was picked by a rushing Caswell in deep center for the first out. The Condors remained off the bases, while Martinez and Starr slapped back-to-back singles in the bottom 7th, only to get stranded. The pen was up, but stirred in earnest after Fish’s leadoff single to center in the eighth, but Jerry Morales pinch-hit for a double play grounder to Lonzo to clean the bases, and Jamie Harmon flew out to center to complete eight for Herrera, who had a pitch count best described as “up there”. The Coons loaded the bases with the 3-4-5 batters and two down in the bottom 8th against righty Blake Lewis, but the Caswell double and two walks ended up being for naught when Chavez popped out to short on the first pitch. Herrera, on 105 pitches and with the skinniest of leads, did not return for the ninth inning. Matt Walters did a fine job, though, striking out two and removing the Condors’ 2-3-4 batters in order. 1-0 Blighters. Puckeridge 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Caswell 1-2, 2B; Starr 1-2, BB; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, W (9-6);

First career hit for Joel Starr, who made one appearance with the Miners before being traded last year, but went 0-for-3 in that.

Game 3
TIJ: C J. Morales – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – LF T. Duncan – RF J. Harmon – 3B Frasher – 1B H. Ramsay – 2B Chapa – P M. Batista
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – 3B Brobeck – 2B Labonte – C C. Chavez – P Stewart

Cortez Chavez kept driving in runs in pairs with a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom 2nd that plated Starr and Labonte for the first runs on Sunday, and the inning even continued with 2-out singles for Stewart and Pucks, the latter allowing Chavez to score for a 3-0 lead before Lonzo grounded out to end the inning. Chavez broke out of his habit in the fourth inning, however, hitting a sac fly after a Labonte triple to right-center to make it a 4-0 game. Stewart was looking really well early on, not allowing a base hit until Fish singled in the fourth inning. He nicked Ramsay in the fifth, but got around that, and kept breezing along with his own 1-hit bid until Frasher drilled a 2-out double through Brobeck in the seventh inning. Ramsay grounded out to Labonte, which was right how I remembered him in the brown shirt, absolutely useless with runners in scoring position; never mind that he had 39 RBI to go with a .272 clip and seven homers right now and would absolutely contend for the Raccoons lead in RBI …

The shutout didn’t happen, however, because Stewart grinded out eight innings, but needed 110 pitches to get that far, and shrugged and told the pitching coach after the top 8th that he had nothing left in that left flapper. The score was still 4-0 because the Raccoons had more or less stopped bothering to exchange their plate of cake and fork for bats when it was their turn in the box ever since the tack-on run in the fourth, but the Raccoons managed to finish off the game just fine. Hamann got a groundout from Fish, and Tanizaki retired the two right-handers after that to complete the game. 4-0 Raccoons. Labonte 2-3, 3B; C. Chavez 1-2, 2B, 3 RBI; Stewart 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, W (8-9) and 1-3;

In other news

July 22 – The Cyclones acquire SP/MR Brian Fuqua (2-3, 4.24 ERA) and cash from the Wolves in exchange for infielder Jon Elkins (.232, 3 HR, 16 RBI) and a prospect.
July 24 – The Bayhawks receive 37-yr old reliever David Williams (6-3, 2.15 ERA) and a prospect from the Capitals for INF Jamie Sherrick (.284, 1 HR, 28 RBI).
July 25 – A torn flexor tendon could mean a full year on the sidelines for 23-year-old Falcons SP Aaron Sciuto (8-8, 4.08 ERA).
July 26 – The Loggers might be without 1B Dave Robles (.288, 16 HR, 70 RBI) until September after the 25-year-old broke his wrist.
July 27 – Washington acquires LF/RF Willie Sanchez (.271, 12 HR, 54 RBI) from the Rebels for three prospects.
July 28 – The Canadiens keep disbursing players, with C Kevin Weese (.313, 5 HR, 19 RBI) going to the Gold Sox for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: SAL C Ben Newman (.263, 18 HR, 64 RBI), swatting .368 (7-19) with 5 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.398, 1 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .600 (15-25) with 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Shutting out the Condors for the last 19 innings played on the weekend allowed the Raccoons to just narrowly zip in front of them and win the season series for a fifth year in a row, and the 13th time in the last 14 years.

Pucks generated some interest in the loosest sense of the word in that there were a couple other teams out there that liked to take him on (and maybe seven figures in cash to balance their books) in exchange for an assortment of personnel, f.e. whatever was left of 38-year-old, former-Critter-for-half-a-year Wade Gardner.

The Rule 5’s are gone, but I don’t see much else changing, because nobody wants the veterans on expiring contracts – so Royer and Hamann and the like will stick for another two months – and the few players that do generate interest I don’t fancy trading. Like, we have Bobby Herrera and Caswell tied up for another five years, why would I shill them off *now* for some second-rate prospect? They are the guys to build a new team around.

And Caswell might well be the ONLY batter left on that team from here. Okay, Lonzo was free reign here at least as long as he’s a serviceable shortstop defensively, but apart from that…

2-week road trip beckoning now. We’ll tour the country going from Cali (San Fran) to New England (New York and Boston) and back to Cali (Sacramento) before returning home again in the middle of August. We’ll actually fly out to New York twice this month; it’s both the first and last series on our August schedule.

Fun Fact: Ramon Carreno’s W on Wednesday was the 6,900th regular season win for the Raccoons.

And, well, he’s a sucker!