[Westheim]

Originally Posted by progen

Clawed your way back to .500. Twenty-one games out though, ouch!

That's more of a feel-good achievement, though. Ain't no actual prizes for that.

Besides another #13 pick.

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Lonzo being hurt this early and missing the rest of the season is quite possibly the worst thing for us fans! And the first series with him officially out is a trip to face the Elks? I don't like where this is going...

His teammates need to pick up the slack!

Given that most of the remaining infield options have the real skill set of actual sludge sweepers, this should not be too much of a problem. (looks at the stat sheet) Or so you'd think.

+++

Raccoons (18-14) vs. Stars (9-22) – May 12-14, 2059

It was a free-for-all for everybody playing against the Stars, who gave up almost six runs per game with the most troubled and troublesome pitching staff in the league, and scored merely modestly themselves while playing in the FL’s tiniest shoebox. This series took place in Portland, though, so we had every chance to be shut out three times against a team rocking a -57 run differential in the middle of May. From what lineup they had they were also missing CL veterans Rick Price and Kevin Weese. The Raccoons had lost the last two series against Dallas, two games to one each, those having been played in 2054 and 2056.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (3-0, 3.49 ERA) vs. Ray Walker (0-2, 5.71 ERA)
Justin DeRose (2-1, 3.68 ERA) vs. Bobby Shenk (2-4, 5.19 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (3-2, 3.00 ERA) vs. Brian Fuqua (0-3, 5.53 ERA)

The only competent pitcher on the roster by ERA was Alex Quevedo (2-2, 1.71 ERA), but he wasn’t rested for this series, having pitched on Saturday. All their starters were right-handed anyway.

The Coons meanwhile were still without Paul Labonte as of Monday, and Takenori Tanizaki had left Sunday’s game with a blister that might yet cause further trouble, but for now we tried to make it through this series without sending him to the DL for it. But we started this series with a 23-man roster.

Game 1
DAL: RF Almanza – LF Pritchett – SS Niemiec – CF Wharton – 2B Criddle – 3B D. Sandoval – C Dickerson – 1B Lettner – P R. Walker
POR: 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – 2B Gonzales – C Monaghan – SS Bribiesca – P Fox

So of course the Raccoons were dominated by Ray Walker for an unappreciable amount of time, amounting to just two base hits and five strikeouts in five innings, while Foxie Brown flashed some stuff, but also gave up some runs. Isaiah Dickerson both doubled home Dan Sandoval, whom Fox had drilled, with two outs in the fourth, and then hit a sac fly to score Tyler Wharton in the sixth inning. The latter was unearned, but the error leading to the run had been made by Fox… In a true mixed bag, he also struck out seven batters, but gave up a number of ringing doubles and a triple to Roberto Almanza in the fifth, although that runner was held on base with Chad Pritchett’s grounder to Starr and a K on Trevor Niemiec.

The Raccoons actually vaguely threatened in the bottom 6th when they got Ojeda, Cas, and Brass all on base with one out against Walker, but then again, the only real chance to score something was already in the box in Jesus Martinez, because after that the lineup fell flat on its stripey face. Martinez duly tied the game with a 2-run single to left-center, while Gonzales popped out for the second out. Walker walked (tee-hee) Monaghan, but Bribiesca got carved up for a strikeout to leave the bases loaded. The Stars responded by slapping three leadoff singles against Fox – beginning with Ray Walker – in the seventh inning to knock him out of the game. One run was already in when Reynaldo Bravo took over and got scorched some more for all the runners to score thanks to Tyler Wharton’s double to left. The Raccoons showed no discernible reaction, got only one more single from Brassfield, and he was immediately doubled up by Martinez… 5-2 Stars. Brassfield 3-4; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Of ******* course.

There was a roster move on Tuesday as Todd Oley came off the DL. Joey Christopher (.188, 0 HR, 1 RBI) was shunted back to St. Petersburg.

Game 2
DAL: RF Almanza – LF Pritchett – CF Wharton – 3B D. Sandoval – C Bothe – 2B Ban – SS Criddle – 1B C. Miranda – P Shenk
POR: 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – C Monaghan – SS Gonzales – P DeRose

DeRose kept applying for termination by filling the bags without getting an out, allowing singles to Almanza and Pritchett before walking Wharton, which was admittedly better than getting the 21-year-old to whack a 3-run homer. The Stars scored a run on Sandoval’s sac fly, but then meek-outed their way out of the inning. Ojeda walked, stole second, and was driven in by Brass in the bottom of the same frame, so the Coons tied it up immediately. The 1-1 score lingered a bit; while the Stars were busy whacking DeRose for hits, they also found their way into two inning-ending double plays with runners on the corners in the third and fourth innings, while Jesus Martinez found the batter’s eye for a 2-run homer with Joel Starr conveniently on base to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom 4th, but the two RBI knocks were the Coons’ only base hits so far. The Stars had six hits off DeRose through five innings, plus the two walks, while the Raccoons mixed up the pattern a little bit in the bottom 5th, which saw Paul Labonte leg out a 1-out triple to center and then be scored on Ojeda’s groundout, 4-1.

Ian Criddle found a 2-out gap double in right-center with Sandoval on base for the Stars in the sixth inning. Sandoval came around to score, but Criddle overshot second base and was slapped out by David Gonzales on his attempt to retreat, which ended the inning and somehow dragged a very punchable looking DeRose through six. Cortez Miranda hit a leadoff single off him in the seventh, though, and Dickerson’s groundout advanced the runner. Since Tanizaki was unavailable, the Raccoons were a bit strung for right-handed relief and had to resort to the not exactly bullet-proof Bryan Roper for the top of the order now. Almanza flew out, he walked Pritchett, but then struck out Wharton to bugger out of the inning. Ricky Herrera got around a leadoff walk to Sandoval in the eighth, in the bottom of which the Raccoons first made two outs against ex-Critter Hyun-soo Bak, then got two walks drawn by Cas and Brass before Starr reached on veteran Jonathan Ban’s error. Martinez popped out to Miranda in foul ground, though, and so Matt Walters got the ninth inning after all. Not only did Jason Lettner hit a single off him, Walters also *walked* his first batter of the year, losing Pritchett with two outs and in a full count. That rat bastard!! Wharton whiffed, however, and all was well in the final box score. 4-1 Raccoons. Brassfield 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

Game 3
DAL: RF Almanza – LF Pritchett – CF Wharton – 3B D. Sandoval – C Bothe – 2B Ban – SS Criddle – 1B C. Miranda – P Fuqua
POR: 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – C Monaghan – SS Hudalla – P B. Herrera

Don’t you think about the offense finally coming out in the rubber game. They didn’t. They had six hits in five innings against Fuqua, but stranded all the runners relentlessly, either through bad contact, or bad timing, like when three singles loaded the bases in the fourth inning, but then came Bobby Herrera’s spot and there were already two outs, and he grounded out to Ban. Bother! On the hill, Herrera did better – sort of. He retired the Stars in order with three strikeouts the first time through, but then allowed a leadoff single to left to Almanza in the fourth, and conceded the run on Sandoval’s 2-out single to center. He kept at it, and held the Stars to precious little thereafter, but the ******* offense couldn’t do ******* anything, even when Bobby opened the bottom 7th with a single to left. Three piss-poor outs followed and he was left on second base. Herrera went the full nine innings on 110 pitches, and when he got his pat on the bum for an ostensibly complete-game 5-hitter, the Raccoons were still shut out on eight hits, and were bringing up the rank bottom of the order against right-hander Jon Dominguez and his 8.03 ERA in the bottom 9th. Monaghan and Konecny grounded out before Todd Oley singled in Herrera’s spot. Labonte hit another 2-out single that sent Oley to third base with the tying run. This was also the tenth Raccoons hit in the game. It was also the last one, as Ojeda flew out readily to Pritchett in leftfield. 1-0 Stars. Labonte 2-5; Ojeda 3-5; Oley (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (3-3) and 1-3;

(puts the bloody black hat back on)

Raccoons (19-16) @ Loggers (15-18) – May 16-18, 2059

The Raccoons were up 2-1 on the Loggers this year, but right now had a bit of a mood… Milwaukee sat tenth in runs scored in the CL, a position we were racing towards ourselves, while allowing the fifth-fewest runs for a -9 run differential. They led the league in stolen bases, but had the second-worst OBP.

Projected matchups:
Zach Stewart (1-3, 3.22 ERA) vs. Adam Foley (0-5, 5.36 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (2-1, 4.56 ERA) vs. Ernesto Culver (2-3, 5.06 ERA)
Chance Fox (3-1, 3.83 ERA) vs. Cory Ellis (4-1, 2.82 ERA)

Great. More 5+ ERA pitchers… All three offerings were right-handed.

The Raccoons made a roster move, switching 26-year-old thoroughly not exciting infielders Vernon Hudalla (.231, 0 HR, 0 RBI) and Tony Benitez. The latter was hitting .240 with four homers in AAA, not like that was going to give us anything nice. Benitez was a .178 hitter in 73 major-league at-bats.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – C Monaghan – SS Benitez – P Stewart
MIL: LF Garmon – SS D. Miller – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – CF Monson – 3B Lindauer – 2B N. Roseto – P Foley

Labonte doubled and scored on Brass’ single in the top 1st, but the Loggers turned the score around immediately on a Zach Stewart that appeared **** outta whack, walked three batters in the first inning, and gave up runs on Perry Pigman’s double to left and Chris Maresh’ groundout. The next few innings were slightly less disastrous and Stewart lived to see the Raccoons flip the score again on back-to-back homers by Brass and Starr in the fourth inning. Martinez, Benitez, and Labonte loaded the bases thereafter, but Ojeda grounded out to third base to leave everybody stranded in the 3-2 game. Starr singled his way on with two outs in the fifth then, and now Martinez found a loud one and bashed a 2-run homer to left.

Stewart sucked a little less in the middle innings, but was knocked out after a leadoff double mashed to right by Nick Roseto in the bottom 7th. Reynaldo Bravo came on and escalated another counterattack by the opposing team, allowing with two outs a single to Danny Miller that scored Stewart’s run, 5-3, a walk to Pigman in a full count, and then another RBI single to Dave Robles before being shanked for Ornelas in a double switch of Konecny replacing Martinez, with the long man striking out Maresh to end the inning, but then blew the lead altogether on a Monson homer to right in the bottom 8th. (shrugs emphatically!)

The Raccoons had been mum about whether Tanizaki was available again with that blister thing resolved or nah, but everybody got their answer when he warmed up besides Eloy Sencion in the pen as the top of the ninth began. Or was it still a decoy? Perhaps we’d never know; the Loggers started the inning with Brett Lillis jr., who got Labonte, but also caught an injury bug and was replaced with Josh Costello. Ojeda singled, Caswell homered, and the tie was broken again. The Coons’ pen changed tack, the two tossing guys sat down, and they were replaced by Walters and Roper. Since Brass’ single off Roberto Alvarado was not met with more offensive enthusiasm, the Coons ended up with Walters in the bottom 9th, who nicked Corey Garmon, but then retired the next three in a row, closing out with a K on Robles. 7-5 Critters. Caswell 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Brassfield 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-5, HR, RBI; Martinez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

The Loggers traded away MR Roberto Navarro (1-2, 3.27 ERA, 1 SV) to the Stars on Saturday, receiving two prospects in the mail.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – SS Benitez – C Beard – P Argenziano
MIL: LF Garmon – SS D. Miller – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Lindauer – CF Monson – 2B N. Roseto – P E. Culver

Happy homers, two for the price of one! Perry Pigman launched a moonshot right in the first inning and right after a clumsy walk to Danny Miller to put the Loggers up 2-0, and Monson fired another home run in the second inning, giving him eight for the season with ten RBI (!?), but the Raccoons were not entirely idle and picking their noses. Labonte hit a home run in the third inning, and on either side of that Brass was involved in a run being scored, once being driven in by Joel Starr after hitting a double in the second inning, and then plating Caswell’s double with an RBI single himself in the fourth. Then Joel Starr went well yard to right-center and the Raccoons had a 5-3 lead. How jumpy was the baseball? Deshawn Beard almost got one out in the same inning, flying out to the very wall in rightfield to end the inning.

Culver wasn’t back for the fifth, but the Coons scored another run anyway as Caswell doubled home Labonte with two outs to extend the lead to 6-3 against Jesus Aquino. Argenziano was a problem, though, gave up leadoff singles to Miller and Pigman, both of whom stole second base, and a sac fly to Robles in the bottom 5th, and was yanked after just 13 outs. Maresh’s groundout against Tanizaki scored Pigman and narrowed the score to 6-5 again. The rest of the lead went bust in the seventh with Pigman’s homer off Ricky Herrera, and everybody was back to square one.

Not for long, though. While the Raccoons disappeared in order in the eighth inning, Bryan Roper, who got the last out in the seventh, was obliterated by the Loggers in the eighth. Monson doubled, Nick Roseto reached on an error by Benitez (…), his second of the game (…!), and then Marcos Chavez (remember him?) slapped a 3-run homer from the pitcher’s spot. Roper was done with in Portland at this point, but was abused to finish the inning any which way, which included another two walks, two hits, and two runs. 11-6 Loggers. Labonte 2-4, HR, RBI; Caswell 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, 2B, RBI; Starr 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

Roper (0-1, 9.00 ERA) was disposed of in due time. The Rule 5 pick was returned to the Blue Sox after 14 abortive innings with 11 walks and three bombs.

I resisted the urge to call up Colby Bowen. Instead we declared Elijah LaBat major-league ready. The #36 pick from 2056 was a left-hander, but it’s not like we were getting anybody out regardless of paw properties. He was already 25 years old and this year finally got the walks down in AAA, even though the strikeouts hadn’t gone up.

We had a busy series in New York coming up on Monday, so Sunday was declared a rest day for everybody that could reasonably be rested. The lineup looked like I had a bet on the Loggers.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – CF Konecny – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Monaghan – RF Oley – 3B Gonzales – SS Benitez – P Fox
MIL: LF Garmon – SS D. Miller – RF Pigman – 1B D. Robles – C Maresh – 3B Lindauer – CF Monson – 2B N. Roseto – P C. Ellis

Konecny singled and stole second base in the opening frame, which for a long time was as good as it got with the Raccoons’ plundered lineup, but also threw away an easy ball in the fourth inning that allowed Nick Roseto to score on a 2-out single by the pitcher Ellis. Lots of red flags in that sentence. That particular play put the Loggers up 2-0; they had previously scored in the third inning on a leadoff walk to Corey Garmon and then singles by Pigman and Robles, who incessantly carved chunks of ham out of every Coons hurler’s buttocks they came across.

Perhaps miraculously, that wasn’t the end of the story, because Ellis offered a leadoff walk to Starr in the sixth inning and then Brass found the gap for an RBI triple. He scored on Oley’s infield single (whatever works) with one out, tying the score at two. Oley stole second base, but the Loggers ended up walking Benitez intentionally and rung up Fox to end the inning.

Fox got a no-decision after six busy innings, and Bravo barely didn’t end up on the short end of the stick in the seventh, which began with Garmon reaching on a 2-base throwing error by the last Rule 5er on the roster, David Gonzales. For once, neither Pigman nor Robles got a base knock, though Pigman walked, and the Loggers ended up stranding a pair in scoring position once Maresh grounded out to Gonzales, who didn’t dare throw away another whilst we already had the guillotine set up.

The Coons then took a lead in the top 8th through some scrappy singles from the bottom of the order. Oley got on base, advanced on Gonzales’ groundout, then scored on Benitez’ 1-out single. Caswell singled batting for Bravo, but while Danny Zepeda threw a wild pitch to move runners into scoring position, both Labonte and Konecny struck out. It was enough, however. Neither Tanizaki in the eighth nor Walters in the ninth allowed another Logger on base and the Raccoons dilly-dallied out of town with a series win. 3-2 Coons. Konecny 2-5; Oley 2-4, RBI; Benitez 2-2, 2 BB, RBI; Caswell (PH) 1-1;

In other news

May 12 – A torn labrum ends the season of Gold Sox SP Raul Ontiveros (1-2, 2.86 ERA).
May 13 – The Buffaloes send LF/RF John Kaniewski (.267, 4 HR, 12 RBI) and $1.4M in cash to the Warriors for OF/1B Raimundo Bagoim (.348, 1 HR, 17 RBI) and a prospect.
May 15 – A broken elbow means that Gold Sox CF/RF Chris Lauterbach (.218, 0 HR, 5 RBI) is likely to miss the rest of the season as well.
May 16 – The Pacifics’ OF/1B Jesus Espinoza (.395, 0 HR, 22 RBI) has put together a 20-game hitting streak. The 25-year-old reached that mark in style (though in vain) with no fewer than four singles in a 9-5 loss to the Stars. That loss doesn’t occur until the bottom of the 10th inning on a walkoff grand slam by DAL 3B Joe Freet (.188, 1 HR, 4 RBI).
May 17 – The Canadiens trade OF Kyle Hawkins (.234, 1 HR, 2 RBI) to the Wolves for 1B Jose Campos (.207, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and a prospect.
May 18 – Brazilian 1B Belchior Fresco (.288, 5 HR, 13 RBI) goes yard for the only run in the Wolves’ 1-0 win in Sacramento.

FL Player of the Week: SAC RF/CF Will Buras (.358, 5 HR, 23 RBI), batting .500 (12-24) with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ OF Alfredo Mendez (.294, 3 HR, 15 RBI), slapping .435 (10-23) with 1 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Not a lot to say this week, the issues are the same as the last six weeks. We have a great set of hitters in the outfield and several serviceable infielders, but the bench is dry, there’s no production from catcher or short, the bullpen is a disaster, and the rotation could use three arms. The only nice things we have is still leading the CL in homers and the defense being among the best in the league.

I am currently sniffing around a starting shortstop on a losing team, but they want one decent young player or other and I am not inclined to sell that high. The Condors should be more reasonable!

There is a flurry of injuries on the farm, which limits our rich selection of more soft-hitting infielders to parade through the soggy regions of the lineup. Richard Anderson ended his season with a busted kneecap this week after hitting .207 with four homers in AAA, which sounds like he could have held down a regular job on the Coons for at least a couple of weeks. Daniel Amburn was also still down in AAA, and there were even more injuries in the lower minors. On Sunday we had 11 minor leaguers on the DL (and a couple more ailing), which was *a lot* for this time of the year.

Three more stations to the road trip. Next week we play four in New York, then three in Vegas, then it’s back out east to the Falcons for another three games before we finally get to go home again for all of three days. It’s not a pleasant part of the schedule.

Fun Fact: Jason Monson hit two home runs in 38 games as a Raccoon, while hitting .183.

That was in 2055 after he was acquired at the deadline for “Naughty” Joe Boese. He already hadn’t hit with the Crusaders before that, and we were his third ABL team that season. He was granted free agency after the season. Overall he has played for eight different teams now.

He *is* a power hitter, launching 103 bombs while hitting all of .228 in his 12-year career in which he was regular only occasionally, like on the 2050 Titans or 2052 Capitals. Mostly it’s been bench duty. Which is why it is the more surprising that he’s now batting .341 with 8 homers in just *16* games and is tied with Jesus Martinez for the CL lead in bombs.