[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-24) @ Condors (20-31) – June 2-4, 2059

The Condors were in last place once again and playing not particularly badly in any way – they were ninth in both runs scored and runs allowed – but were just mediocre across the board. The only major stat in which they brought up the actual rear of the CL was OBP, with a .313 mark, but then the Raccoons were only five points better than that. We had swept them in the first encounter with them this year, and now they were without three regulars from the lineup with Bobby Fish and Luis Chapa on the DL and Tim Duncan had left the Sunday game with an ailment and was not going to be in the lineup on Monday at the very least.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (4-1, 3.73 ERA) vs. Mario Clemente (4-4, 3.00 ERA)
Justin DeRose (3-2, 3.50 ERA) vs. Mike Hall (3-3, 3.63 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (5-4, 2.10 ERA) vs. Jay Everett (2-3, 3.54 ERA)

Right, left, right, as far as the starters were concerned for Tijuana.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – RF J. Martinez – C Monaghan – SS Bribiesca – P Fox
TIJ: RF S. Moore – 1B Schaack – LF Reina – C Samuel – 3B Frasher – SS C. Ramsey – CF A. Mendez – 2B N. Cross – P M. Clemente

Offense was at a premium through four innings, in which the teams combined for a total of four base hits. One of those was a monstrous home run to right by Jesus Martinez, his tenth of the year, and gave Portland a 1-0 lead that stood up until the fifth inning when the Coons put Martinez on with a leadoff walk, Monaghan singled, Labonte walked with two outs, and Ojeda popped out to short to fritter it all away, then blatantly missed the pickup on a throw from Caswell (who got the error for some reason) on the second straight single between Alfredo Mendez and Nigel Cross with one out in the bottom 5th. As the ball went into foul ground, Mendez chugged through third base and scored the tying run, Cross went to second base, stole third base while Clemente was batting, and then scored the go-ahead run on the pitcher’s sac fly. Scott Moore and Jason Schaack hit two more singles, but Juan Reina then grounded out to Bribiesca.

Portland had the bases loaded for the second consecutive inning in the top 6th. Cas singled, Starr doubled to right, and Martinez walked with one out, bringing all .175 of Eric Monaghan to the plate. He popped out to the catcher, but Clemente lost Bribiesca on balls to force home the tying run before Fox fanned the Coons out of the inning. He held up in the bottom 6th despite a leadoff single from Nick Samuel, and Labonte opened the seventh with a triple into the rightfield corner before scoring on a wild pitch by Clemente before Noah Caswell hit his tenth homer of the season as well, a stunning 457-footer to center, 4-2. Clemente was chased when Joel Starr dropped in a single, and Hector Montenegro was not an effective replacement, getting blasted by Martinez for a 2-run homer straightaway.

Foxie Brown pitched into the eighth inning before Juan Reina chased him with a 1-out triple, but Bravo struck out Samuel before walking Eric Frasher, and LaBat got a groundout from Craig Sayre to escape the inning without that run scoring. The rookie then won the opportunity for his first career save by virtue of getting the last out with two on in a 6-2 game in the bottom 8th, but put two on himself with singles by Cross and Ramon Archuleta and had to make way for Matt Walters, who struck out Scott Moore and got Schaack out to Bribiesca to end the game, still without a run scoring. 6-2 Raccoons. Caswell 4-5, HR, 3B, RBI; Starr 2-4, BB, 2B; Martinez 2-3, 2 BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Fox 7.1 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-1);

Let’s not talk about how Noah Caswell hit a leadoff triple in the ninth and wasn’t scored. He still remained a double shy of the cycle. Martinez meanwhile now held the lead in the CL in homers by himself, and tied with Nashville’s Nick Nye for the ABL lead with 11 bombs.

Game 2
POR: SS Bribiesca – 3B Ojeda – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C Monaghan – 2B Hudalla – P DeRose
TIJ: RF S. Moore – CF A. Mendez – SS C. Ramsey – LF Sayre – C Waker – 1B Schaack – 3B Frasher – 2B N. Cross – P M. Hall

Caswell’s RBI groundout brought in the game’s first run after Bribiesca and Ojeda had opened Tuesday proceedings with a pair of base hits against Mike Hall, but Alf Mendez tied the game with a home run in the same inning. DeRose then failed the bags full in the bottom 2nd with two walks and a single to the 6-7-8 batters, then had Starr make the Play of the Week, racing in on Hall poking at the first pitch, picking the ball on the run and slashing it home to Monaghan in time to force out Schaack, and Moore then grounded out to Ojeda to leave the bases loaded for good in the inning. Neither team put together a whole lot for several innings after that. Martinez hit a double to the deep part of the park that could have been #12 in either corner, but was left for litter in the fourth inning, while the Condors scratched a run together finally with Moore and Sayre singles in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead after they had hit a couple of balls to the warning track for outs against DeRose in the previous innings. Even when trailing, the Raccoons remained apathetic; Ojeda got on base with two outs in the eighth inning, but Brass grounded out rather easily. The score was still 2-1 in the ninth inning with right-hander Cory Leonard in to face the 4-5-6 batters. Leonard had more walks than strikeouts on the season, but rung up Cas and Martinez before Starr flew out to Sayre. 2-1 Condors. DeRose 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, L (3-3);

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – LF Konecny – C Lathers – SS Gonzales – P B. Herrera
TIJ: RF S. Moore – CF A. Mendez – SS C. Ramsey – LF Sayre – C Waker – 1B Schaack – 3B Frasher – 2B N. Cross – P Everett

Singles by Lathers and Gonzales brought home Kelly Konecny and his 1-out walk in the second inning before Herrera hit into a double play to keep the lead to 1-0, but the Raccoons were right back on the corners in the third inning as Labonte doubled off the wall in leftfield and Ojeda reached base when Sayre ambled confusedly under his pop near the leftfield line until he finally dropped it. Of course nobody got another hit to keep this run going. Cas’ sac fly to left-center was as good as it got. Martinez walked, but the next two went down on strikes, stranding a pair.

Meanwhile, Tipsy Bobby didn’t do *great*. While he shut out the Condors through five innings, whiffing as many, he also scattered six singles. It felt like fewer because the Condors also found a pair of double plays to hit into, but he didn’t have all his tools available, and the Condors were just waiting to pounce. Another run or two for cushion would have been most welcome, but the Raccoons just couldn’t put anything together in the middle innings, even when Eric Frasher’s 2-base throwing error gave them a free Jesus Martinez in scoring position to begin the top 6th. Three woeful outs followed, and Martinez was stranded right there at second base… Instead, Tristan Waker whacked a solo homer to right in the bottom 6th, cutting the lead in half. It was then Herrera, of all people, to start something with a 1-out single to center in the top 7th. Labonte and Caswell hit two more singles to center, the latter scoring Herrera to restore the 2-run lead, but Martinez fly to deep left was caught by Sayre and the Raccoons couldn’t add on further.

Starr and Lathers hit a pair of singles against Dan Lawrence in the eighth innings, presenting another pair on the corners for what turned out to be the spare outfielders. When Todd Oley popped out miserably in place of Gonzales, Herrera’s day ended on 96 pitches in favor of Brassfield, who flew out to Alf Mendez on the first pitch. Bravo and Sencion combined for a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth at least, protecting that 3-1 lead for Walters to take over. Even when Labonte opened the ninth with a single against Lawrence, then stole second base, Walters never stopped tossing in the pen, because everybody rightfully deduced that Labonte would be stranded in scoring position. So Walters it was against an army of switch-hitters in the 5-6-7 spots. He struck out Waker, then walked Schaack in a full count, then felt something and called for Luis Silva. I blacked out immediately. I only learned later that Ricky Herrera got the last two outs of the game without drama. 3-1 Coons. Labonte 4-5, 2B; Caswell 2-4, 2 RBI; Lathers 2-4; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (6-4);

Any *more* drama I should say.

Raccoons (29-25) @ Indians (28-24) – June 6-8, 2059

In a virtual tie for second place, but already seven games behind New York each, these teams met for the third time this year. The Coons were up 4-2 on the CL’s best offense (!!) and fifth-best pitching. We had identical +29 run differentials. And we both had lots of injuries to whinge about. The Indians were without Roberto Oyola, Randy Slocum, Orlando Ramos, and since the start of the week also Bill Quinteros. The former #1 pick, career Indian, and 17-year veteran was down with a quad strain.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (0-0, 1.04 ERA) vs. Alberto Cuellar (3-5, 4.60 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (6-2, 2.96 ERA)
Justin DeRose (3-3, 3.39 ERA) vs. Marcos Rivera (7-3, 2.79 ERA)

Those two left-handers we’d get on Saturday and Sunday were powering the entire otherwise lousy Indians rotation. A bit like Bobby Herrera and Zach Stewart had done for Portland before the latter’s demise onto the DL…

The Coons skipped Cameron Argenziano (2-3, 5.23 ERA) to have an extra arm in the pen. This decision was made even before the Walters injury, which Luis Silva had yet to sort out. We had another off day on Monday as well, so a fifth starter wasn’t needed again until the following weekend.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – C Lathers – SS Gonzales – 3B Hudalla – P Damasceno
IND: SS Kilday – 2B Ewers – RF Lovins – CF Oldfield – LF Abel – 3B R. Vargas – 1B V. Cruz – C J. Ortiz – P Cuellar

Through three innings on Friday, Damasceno himself, Paul Labonte, and Chris Lovins each had a single and that was about that as no runs were scored until Brass whacked a leadoff jack for a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Lovins tried to answer with another single in the bottom 4th, but couldn’t get any support from his team as Damasceno was very consistent about feeding balls to the middle infielders until he wasn’t. Victor Cruz hit a single well over Labonte’s head in the bottom 5th, immediately followed by a long score-flipping home run by the #8 batter Jorge Ortiz. Cory Oldfield added a solo jack the inning after for a 3-1 Indians lead, while the Raccoons were glued to three base hits all the way to the stretch. Ricardo Vargas knocked the Coons’ starter out with a leadoff single to center in the bottom 7th, but LaBat then retired three in a row at the bottom of the order to keep that run stranded.

Todd Oley singled and stole a base out of that #9 spot in the eighth inning, but again was left in scoring position because the team collectively had forgotten how to ******* hit the baseball. Ricky Herrera had a scoreless eighth for Portland, and Ben Akman had a six-pitch ninth inning against the 3-4-5 batters to smother the Critters for good. 3-1 Indians. Oley (PH) 1-1;

The Raccoons then placed Matt Walters on the DL on Saturday with a diagnosis of biceps tendinitis, which A) sucked, but B) could have been much worse. He would perhaps be back before the end of the month, but surely before the All Star Game. Closing would in all likelihood be done by committee in Walters’ absence. Sencion for left-handers, and either Tanizaki or Bravo against right-handers?

We would have called up Alex Rios, but Rios had pitched four of five days before Saturday and wouldn’t be usable on the weekend anyway. We instead called up – and perk your fuzzy ears, everybody – the 2054 Nick Brown Memorial pick, #279 selection, Brad Loveless, age 24, from Solana Beach, Cali. He wasn’t anything special. He hardly pitched so far this year (just four outings). But we needed an arm for two days and he was rested.

Zach Stewart was shifted to the 60-day DL to make room on the otherwise full 40-man roster.

Game 2
POR: SS Bribiesca – 3B Ojeda – 1B Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – C Monaghan – LF Konecny – 2B Hudalla – P Fox
IND: SS Kilday – 2B Ewers – LF Abel – CF Oldfield – C J. Ortiz – 3B Niles – RF S. Thompson – 1B Bodkin – P Fitzgibbon

The game began with the skies ominously overcast, and a smart team would have taken a quick lead, but the Raccoons right now couldn’t hit their way out of a bag of chips, so I had no confidence in that regard. Matt Kilday’s double and Kevin Abel’s single gave Indy a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st after the Coons went 1-2-3 in the top 1st, but then Cas singled and Martinez doubled him home to begin the top 2nd and the game was at least tied. Monaghan walked, but then the bottom three croaked noisily and the Chance was wasted. Misery continued in the third inning when Ojeda singled and was then promptly picked off by the southpaw. Brass drew a walk, though, and then Caswell cranked one outta sight in left-center for Portland to go up 3-1. And Fitzgibbon couldn’t get anybody out; Martinez walked, then scored on singles to center by Monaghan and Konecny. Only Vernon Hudalla flew out to left to end the inning.

The two pitchers then singled off each other in the bottom 3rd and top 4th, respectively, but only Fox came in to score, and that only thanks to an error by Kevin Ewers with the bases loaded and Caswell batting. The second-sacker flubbed the 1-out grounder for a free run, but then did his part when Martinez chopped into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Fitzgibbon was hit for in the fifth inning, while Fox’ day ended with the rain that everybody had been expecting since the start of proceedings. He got in six innings of 4-hit ball on 70 pitches, so he could have given us quite a bit more if weather had permitted. LaBat instead put runners on the corners in the bottom 7th, but was then dug out by Ivan Ornelas, who got a double play grounder from Ben Bodkin, the first batter he faced this week. Brad Loveless then made his major league debut in the bottom 8th, facing PH Chris Lovins in the #9 spot and Kilday at the top of the lineup unless the Indians would employ the bench some more. Loveless rung up Lovins – what a lovely pair! – but allowed a single to Kilday. Tanizaki rung up Ewers and Abel to keep the debutee’s ledger clean. The Coons couldn’t help themselves and stink some more in the top 9th, first getting Brass and Cas to the corners with two quick hits against right-hander Tim Jacoby, and then made three stinking pathetic outs that prevented even one run from scoring. Eloy Sencion finished the game for Portland, although this was not a save situation with a 4-run lead. 5-1 Critters. Caswell 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Martinez 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Konecny 2-5, RBI; Fox 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (6-1) and 1-3;

Look at Foxie Brown, suddenly at six-and-one!

There was a roster move on Sunday, when the Raccoons barely managed to fly in a replacement catcher. Morgan Lathers woke up with a high fever and had to remain in bed. Vernon Hudalla (.143, 0 HR, 0 RBI) took the fall to make room for Deshawn Beard on such short notice.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – 3B Ojeda – LF Brassfield – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C Monaghan – CF Konecny – SS Gonzales – P DeRose
IND: SS Kilday – 2B Ewers – RF Lovins – LF Abel – 3B R. Vargas – 1B V. Cruz – CF S. Thompson – C J. Ortiz – P M. Rivera

Both teams hit into a double play in the first inning, with Joel Starr doing so to kill the inning after the 2-3-4 batters had steadily loaded the bases. No run was scored until the bottom 3rd when Jorge Ortiz hit a leadoff single, but was forced out on a bad bunt by Rivera. The Raccoons un-recovered from that nice break when Brass slid for a Kilday looper that he couldn’t reach and played a single into an RBI double. Ewers whiffed and Lovins grounded out to end that inning.

Jesus Martinez’ leadoff double to left-center in the fourth inning was met with stubborn ineptitude and he was stranded on that very second base. In the sixth, Ojeda drew a leadoff walk and Brass singled to left, only for Martinez to now bozo his way into a 6-4-3 double play. Joel Starr came through with a knock to left-center, though, and at least drove in Ojeda with the ******* tying run, but Monaghan flew out to Lovins.

Ricardo Vargas knocked out another starter with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th. DeRose had done just *fine* up to here, but we had an army of left-handed relievers and there would not be a right-handed batter coming up any time soon (potentially Ewers). Except that once Ricky Herrera was in the game, Nathan Niles replaced Victor Cruz, singled, and things unraveled from there. Jorge Ortiz singled in a run, and Mitch Korfhage pinch-hit for a sac fly to get Indy up 3-1. The Raccoons began the top 8th against Rich Morrall with leadoff singles and Labonte and Ojeda going to the corners. Okay, boys, but *now*…! No, they ******* didn’t. Brass brought in a run in the most useless way with another 6-4-3 double play, Martinez walked, but Starr grounded out haplessly. Ornelas got two outs to begin the bottom 8th, then allowed singles to Abel and Vargas. Sencion replaced him, walked Oldfield… and then escaped the bases-loaded jam when Steve Thompson flew out to Brassfield. The Raccoons were then faced with Akman again and this time brought the 6-7-8 batters and their collective .203 batting average to bear. Except that we didn’t. Oley batted for Monaghan, but grounded out. Konecny grounded out on a 3-0 pitch, which almost gave me an aneurysm, with Cas batting for Gonzales and grounding out on the first pitch. 3-2 Indians. Ojeda 2-3, BB; Brassfield 2-4; Martinez 2-3, BB, 2B;

(bites into his paw)

In other news

June 2 – SAC SP C.J. Harney (4-7, 3.56 ERA) shuts out the Rebels on two base hits to claim a 5-0 victory.
June 4 – Falcons CL Jose Arias (2-3, 6.43 ERA, 9 SV) gets axed from the roster and moved to the DL to get a partial tear in his UCL repaired. He’s out for the season.
June 5 – NAS 1B Andy Metz (.244, 11 HR, 33 RBI) hits three home runs over the course of a double header sweep of the Stars. The Blue Sox win 7-3 and 7-4, while Metz drives in four runs, three in the first (on two homers) and one in the second game (with a jack).
June 6 – Titans closer Josh Carlisle (3-0, 1.86 ERA, 11 SV) pitches two innings in relief, then drives home C Bruce Burkart (.240, 3 HR, 12 RBI) for the only run in a 12-inning, 1-0 Titans win against the Canadiens.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF/RF John Kaniewski (.295, 2 HR, 17 RBI), hitting .500 (10-20) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND INF Matt Kilday (.347, 2 HR, 21 RBI), poking .462 (12-26) with 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Three homers on Monday, then barely three hits a game the rest of the week. They were just horrendous.

The Raccoons need a right-handed outfield bat in the very worst way. It’s so bad that for a moment this weekend I was toying with the thought of bringing up last year’s #13 pick, OF Isaiah Birth, from Ham Lake. Birth had started the year in single-A Aumsville, batting .280 with two homers (although power was not really his game) in 30 games, and then was hitting .298 with no homers in 24 games in AA Ham Lake. He had 16 stolen bases between those two stations. This was at the time we moved Walters to the DL. The only thing that kept me from bringing him up was that we needed a bench piece, because right now there was no way we’d sit down any between Cas, Brass, and Martinez (or Starr) for him since those were the only guys in the lineup hitting ******* anything. We certainly took note of Birth doing the baseball gods’ good work, though.

And who knows, maybe we have everyday openings in the lineup by the end of July………..

It’s so bad that right now the crushed rotation is the least of my concerns.

The Coons return home to face the Titans and Blue Sox starting on Monday.

Fun Fact: Brad Loveless (picked in 2054) is the first Nick Brown Memorial pick to pitch in the majors since in over a decade.

Going backwards from Loveless, we have to go all the way to Bruce Bowhay to even find an 11th-rounder that made it out of single-A ball for either the Raccoons or another team. Bowhay did six games in Ham Lake before washing out. Xavier Brown (2046) pitched in Ham Lake for five years before being dismissed the year Loveless was drafted. There are a couple more of these in the years before that, but none that even reached AAA until you arrive in 2037.

In 2037, the Raccoons took Matt Seltzer with the #278 pick. He made it up to Ham Lake as a starter, but then was included in a package of four players to acquire Josh Brown from the Crusaders in the winter of ‘40/’41. He pitched in AAA Lexington for a while before obtaining minor league free agency after the 2043 season. The Aces signed him to a minor league deal the following May, but he then ended up having Tommy John surgery right afterwards. The Aces hung on to him, though, and he ended up in the majors the following year, and two years after that… not for long, they were only cups of coffee, 11 games in total, all in relief. No decisions, no saves, but a 3.45 ERA in 15.2 innings. He retired in 2051 after another four years exclusively in the minors.

In 2030, Jon Hass was the #273 pick, but was released five years later after subpar results between Ham Lake and St. Pete. The Loggers and Gold Sox took swings at him the next two years, and then he was actually back with the Alley Cats for three years as a swingman, but never called up to the Raccoons. Obtaining minor league free agency after 2040, he signed with the Thunder, and finally got his 15 minutes in the big leagues with them, going 0-0 with an 0.90 ERA in seven outings and across ten innings. That was his major league career. He retired in 2045.

Honorable mention to 2019’s selection Joe Dale… who wasn’t technically a Nick Brown Memorial Pick. The tradition was still new at that point (started a bit by accident in 2014), and the Raccoons kinda bumbled their way into having to pick a catcher before they ran out before the 12th round selection. Dale made the majors, however, hitting .203 in 54 games between 2026 and 2027 for the Indians. He had actually been released by the Raccoons and made it to Indy by Sacramento.

But perhaps the most *we* ever got out an 11th-rounder. Jason Gurney was our #274 pick in 2026 and would spend his entire 11-year pro career in the organization. He reached the majors against the odds by 2030, making six starts that year. He was a regular in the rotation for the next two seasons on two cruddy teams, posting a winning record in ’31 with a 10-8 mark and 3.51 ERA. He is infamous though because of his 2032 season. The entire team was wretched that year, but Gurney stood out, but nevertheless made 29 starts for a 6-13 record and 6.29 ERA. He was notably removed early from his final start so that he would not complete 162 innings and put that ghastly ERA into our record books. He pitched 161.2 innings that year. Gurney got some odd callups the last two years, but then fizzled out in AAA. For his career, he went 19-28 with a 4.99 ERA in 78 games (65 starts), pitching 391.1 innings. He struck out 186.

And that is the entire list, now including Loveless, whose lone out collected on Saturday marked the 100th big league appearance of any left-handed pitcher selection made in the half-a-century-ish tradition of the Nick Brown Memorial Pick.

And we’ll pick another southpaw in the 11th round next week! Because I’m that level of stubborn.