[Westheim]

Raccoons (30-27) vs. Titans (26-28) – June 10-12, 2059

There was a lot of mediocrity about the Titans’ stats. Tenth in runs scored, fourth in runs against, and seventh in batting average, homers, starters’ ERA… and bottoms in the entire league with all of 11 stolen bases in 54 games. The Coons had won three of four games from them earlier in the season.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (6-4, 2.04 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (3-3, 3.80 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (0-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. Mike Pohlmann (4-3, 5.98 ERA)
Chance Fox (6-1, 3.43 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (2-5, 4.54 ERA)

All the Titans starters were right-handed. The off day on Monday allowed them to skip Jason Brenize (2-7, 4.60 ERA) into the series, although I wasn’t sure why they would, since it wasn’t going particularly well for the former top prospect, still.

Morgan Lathers was available again on Tuesday. Deshawn Beard was returned to AAA without having gotten into a game, and the Raccoons brought up Joey Christopher in a misguided attempt to generate offense from the top of the order. Joe-Chris had a .436 OBP in St. Pete. The Coons right now would be happy with as little as .336 …

Game 1
BOS: CF Weir – 2B D. Mendoza – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF Y. Valdez – 3B Wilken – LF Ma. Gilmore – SS Leitch – P Glaude
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Lathers – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – P B. Herrera

The ploy worked at least the first time round as Christopher drew a leadoff walk. While Labonte forced him out rather quickly, an error by Diego Mendoza, a balk by Glaude, and singles by Brass and Starr somehow did lead to two first-inning runs after all before Lathers found the inevitable double play. One run was unearned, and the Coons added another unearned run in the second inning, again thanks to a Mendoza error, who threw away Juan Ojeda’s grounder for two bases. Christopher singled him home with two outs, then was caught stealing. Because all of this was going much too well, Bobby Herrera then had an inning from hell in the top 3rd. Not having allowed a hit through the first two frames, he started the third with a double served up to Alan Leitch. Hector Weir socked an RBI triple, Mendoza singled, Jorge Arviso singled, and finally Yoslan Valdez bashed a 2-out, 3-run homer to put Boston up 5-3. Those runs were all earned. Same for the three that scored on Mendoza’s 3-run homer the inning after. Tipsy Bobby had walked Leitch and Weir, and was apparently out of sorts in some way, and didn’t come back after that spectacular implosion.

That didn’t mean the tying run didn’t come back into the box, though. David Gonzales hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth and was brought in on productive outs by Oley and Christopher while LaBat and Loveless held the Titans to the eight runs they already had. The bottom 6th then saw Will Glaude unhorsed after Mendoza made his third error on the day, followed by Brass and Starr singles to get that unearned run home as well. Morgan Lathers was that tying run, batting in an 8-5 game with two on and nobody out against Mike Bell, and he singled to right to … load the bases with nobody out. Oh, shambles! Ojeda bumbled into a run-scoring double play immediately, and Gonzales made a soggy third out to derail the inning.

Maybe the Titans could *force* the Raccoons to win, though. Bell was still around in the bottom 7th, which started with a pinch-hit single by Kelly Konecny in place of Loveless. Christopher was nicked, Labonte whiffed, and Caswell dropped a roller in front of home plate that Arviso kindly flung away for two bases, allowing Konecny to score and shoveling the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position with one out. Bell walked Brass, but Starr popped out. There was no point in wasting a perfectly good home run crown challenger on the bench, so Jesus Martinez batted for Lathers… and also popped out. Three runners were left stranded and the Titans remained ahead, 8-7. Tanizaki readily ****** a run on the board in the eighth inning with leadoff singles by Randy Wilken and Matt Gilmore, and no ******* stuff to get a strikeout afterwards, either, while Juan Ojeda’s leadoff single in the bottom 8th was simply ignored by Gonzales, Monaghan, and Christopher. Bravo held the score where it was in the ninth, with Josh Carlisle coming in against the 2-3-4 batters for Boston. Labonte struck a double to right on the third pitch of the inning, presenting Caswell as the tying run. Cas ran a full count, then rushed another double to right, bringing up Brass as the winning run. Weir caught Brass’ deep fly to center, but at least Cas went to third base. Starr whiffed, which made my face go asleep. With two outs and the tying run at third base, the only remaining option for the pitcher in the #6 hole was Bribiesca.

…and he singled up the middle! That tied the game, ejected Carlisle from the proceedings for left-hander Dave Parra, and sent the game to extras, where we suddenly had neither bench players nor much in terms of relief anymore. Ricky Herrera got around a single by Jim Auld to keep the Titans in the tie in the tenth, and the Coons were on the corners with nobody out after two line drive singles by Gonzales and Monaghan to begin the bottom 10th. The game ended on a full-count single slashed up the middle by Christopher! 10-9 Critters. Christopher 2-4, BB, 3 RBI; Labonte 2-5, 2B; Brassfield 2-4, BB, RBI; Starr 2-5, 2 RBI; Bribiesca (PH) 1-1, RBI; Gonzales 2-5, 2B; Konecny (PH) 1-1; Loveless 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

We out-hit the Titans 16-9 and they made four errors, so I am a bit relieved we somehow managed to fudge this into a W…

Hector Weir (.277, 1 HR, 24 RBI) was no longer a Titan on Wednesday, having been traded to the Gold Sox for ex-Coon Mike Lane (4-1, 2.31 ERA, 10 SV) and a prospect, #149 CL Alex Gomez.

Game 2
BOS: LF Ma. Gilmore – 2B D. Mendoza – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF Y. Valdez – 3B Wilken – CF Lloyd – SS Leitch – P Pohlmann
POR: LF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – 1B Brassfield – RF Martinez– C Lathers – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – P Damasceno

Like Bobby Herrera the day before, Duarte Damasceno had the providence to give up first walks, then hit(s), allowing a first-inning run on free passes to Arviso and Rubin before Yoslan Valdez singled home a run, and a base-running gaffe by Rubin that saw him killed off in a rundown meant that the Coons got off for just one run there. They then scored two in the bottom 1st, putting their first three batters on base before Brass popped out. A wild pitch tied the game (…) and Martinez’ sac fly made it 2-1, but Lathers’ fire had cooled off and he left a pair on base.

Damasceno remained a menace and a nuisance. He walked seven batters in 4.1 innings, somehow without seeing the Titans score another run on him until after he was yanked and Ricky Herrera cocked up the – extended with a Brass homer – 3-1 lead by filling the bases and giving up a 2-run single to Yoslan Valdez, then a 4-3 lead to Boston on Wilken’s groundout.

Ornelas was inserted for long relief, but only pitched the sixth inning; his spot came up with two outs and Martinez and Gonzales on the corners in the bottom 6th. Kelly Konecny was brought in to pinch-hit, and got the job done with a clean single to right-center, scoring Martinez to knot the score at four. Gonzales raced for third base, but injured himself on the slide into the bag – but was somehow still safe. Bribiesca pinch-ran for him, but the inning ended with Christopher’s fly to left.

There were three innings to go (at least) in a 4-4 game, and the Raccoons ran out of players already. There were no infielders (outside of Starr) left on the bench, and the relief options looked dim. LaBat got the ball in the seventh and promptly croaked with a leadoff walk to Arviso, nicking Rubin, and while PH Bruce Burkart hit into a double play, Wilken gave Boston a new lead with an RBI double to left on two outs, 5-4. Lloyd walked, but Leitch grounded out to Bribiesca, ending the spook. Nevertheless, two more outs were squeezed out of the rookie southpaw in the eighth before Tanizaki was employed for four outs, which covered regulation, and without even more “funny accidents”. The Raccoons did nothing special in the seventh and eighth, then looked at former teammate Mike Lane in the bottom 9th. Starr, Christopher, and Labonte went down in order. 5-4 Titans. Gonzales 3-3, 2B; Konecny (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Next roster move. David Gonzales was not diagnosed by Thursday, but we couldn’t go with just three infielders of the zippy sort. Elijah Labat (0-1, 1.00 ERA) was handed back to AAA, and Vernon Hudalla was brought back.

Game 3
BOS: CF Torrence – RF Y. Valdez – 1B M. Rubin – 3B Wilken – 2B D. Mendoza – C Burkart – SS Leitch – LF Ma. Gilmore – P Musgrave
POR: LF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – SS Bribiesca – P Fox

Single, single, double went the Titans right out of the gate, and scored three runs in the first inning off Fox, who was completely overmatched in the game and got relentlessly on snout. Two runs scored on Rubin’s double, and two nice-enough outs also got Rubin home. Fox would concede a second 3-spot in the fifth inning with some more inept tossing, then with a 2-run double by Bruce Burkart. When he wasn’t busy getting bludgeoned to death with base hits, of which he allowed seven, Fox also walked four. He was dragged through six innings just because he still had a pulse, not because I was keen on seeing more. The Coons had a Caswell single in the first, and then absolutely bloody nothing until Starr hit a single in the seventh. Brass hit a single when he pinch-hit for Sencion with two outs and nobody on base (duh) in the bottom 8th. Christopher found another single, but then Labonte made a meek out to the shortstop Alan Leitch. Joel Starr hit a double in the bottom of the ninth, but Ojeda rolled over to Randy Wilken and that completed a 5-hit shutout for Ryan Musgrave. 6-0 Titans. Starr 2-4, 2B; Brassfield (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (31-29) vs. Blue Sox (28-33) – June 13-15, 2059

How was the Blue Sox’ second consecutive title defense going? – (sharply draws in air between his teeth) … They were ninth in runs scored and third in runs allowed with very solid pitching and the best D in the Federal League, so the problem was an offensive one. Nick Nye (.294, 11 HR, 31 RBI) was the only regular hitting better than .260-ish. The team was second from the bottom in batting average, but led the FL in home runs with 52. The Raccoons, while also racing towards the bottom in average and OBP, also still led their league in homers, having mashed 45. Both teams had a better run differential than their record would hint at; it was +24 for the Coons and +5 for the Sox. These teams had last met two years ago, with a 2-1 series win for Nashville.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (3-4, 3.36 ERA) vs. Levi Harre (5-2, 3.99 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (2-3, 5.23 ERA) vs. Travis Baker (6-3, 3.23 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (6-4, 2.73 ERA) vs. Coby Strutz (2-4, 4.18 ERA)

Right, left, left. Harre was also going on short rest. The Sox had also played a double header on Thursday, splitting two with the Rebs, one game going extra innings, and actually missed their charter flight outta Nashville when the airport closed down at night. They had to travel in the morning and arrived at the ballpark only a few hours before game time, so maybe they were at least tuckered out and the Coons could sneak one that way.

I’d miss Southpaw Sunday, meanwhile, to attend the draft in New York.

David Gonzales (.234, 0 HR, 8 RBI) would miss the entire series and then some with a broken paw, and was placed on the DL. He was not expected back before August. Brad Loveless (3.1 IP, 3 BB, 3 K) was also optioned back to St. Pete to get new players onto the roster as we brought up Alex Rios and J.J. Sensabaugh. The third roster move involved putting Todd Oley (.206, 0 HR, 4 RBI) on waivers and designate him for assignment to get another bum infielder on the roster. As a sign that things were getting more desperate, the Raccoons brought up Jon Bean, a 24-year-old super utility, hitting .308 as a backup in AAA. He had been taken in the *12th* round of the 2055 draft and somehow had failed his way upwards. He was a left-handed batter.

Game 1
NAS: CF Sheridan – 1B Metz – SS Nye – LF Roman – C D. Johnson – 2B R. Cox – 3B Bratlien – RF Grewe – P Harre
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Lathers – SS Bribiesca – 3B Hudalla – P DeRose

First, what’s that lineup?? Second, Hudalla got his first Raccoons RBI with a 2-out single to right in the, well, second, plating Brassfield and his leadoff walk. Bribiesca had also drawn a walk. DeRose struck out, leaving on two, but at least has he kept his own bases clean, I didn’t mind. He gave up two hits and a walk the first time through, but the Sox also hit into two double plays and didn’t score. The Raccoons extended the lead to 3-0 in the third inning when Brass tripled home Labonte (single to center) and Caswell (walk). Levi Harre loved walking guys – he entered with 49 walks in 67.2 innings and the BB/9 only went up from here with five free passes in five innings – while DeRose could barely contain himself. Although, just when Rosie got three strikeouts in a row and looked semi-competent once more, Nick Nye got him with a solo home run in the sixth inning to reduce the lead to two runs.

Things quite predictably had to derail for DeRose at some point, which was the seventh inning, when he nailed not only Robby Cox, but also Bobby Grewe, and in between Jacob Bratlien whacked a single past Labonte. That gave the Sox the bases loaded with right-handed Sam Burchell batting for the pitcher with one out. The Coons’ only hope was Bravo, who gave up a sac fly to the pinch-hitter… and then 2-out RBI single to J.P. Sheridan to get the game tied again. Bravo, Bravo…!! The Raccoons just couldn’t get on the damn bases anymore, so we were now just waiting for the next bullpen screw-up to give the Sox the lead and W, which occurred in the ninth inning. Alex Rios had pitched a 1-2-3 eighth in his season debut, then allowed a leadoff single to Cox. Eloy Sencion replaced him, got a force at second from Bratlien, and then got taken deep to left by Grewe. The Raccoons brought out the pinch-hitters for the bottom third of the lineup against Jimmy Dingman in the bottom 9th. Jon Bean on debut and Juan Ojeda hit 1-out singles in the 7-8 spots, and then Jesus Martinez batted for Sencion in the #9 hole and slammed into a double play. 5-3 Blue Sox. Bean (PH) 1-1; Ojeda (PH) 1-1;

This game slipped the Raccoons to a double-digit deficit compared to the Crusaders, not that we had been in any sort of competition for some weeks now.

Game 2
NAS: CF Sheridan – 2B R. Cox – SS Nye – LF Roman – C D. Johnson – 1B Metz – RF Grewe – 3B Bratlien – P T. Baker
POR: SS Bribiesca – 3B Ojeda – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C Monaghan – 2B Labonte – P Argenziano

Portland was a bad environment for Travises, so Baker ran into a wall face-first in the third inning. Shockingly a big inning was started by a Raccoons starter (that’s where the name comes from??) and Argenziano’s 1-out single kicked off a bit of an assault. Bribiesca doubled, and Ojeda plated the both of them with a single to left-center. Brass hit another single, Cas whacked an RBI double, and Martinez brought in Brass with a groundout before the inning ended with another grounder from Joel Starr. Four runs on the board, all in the Portland line, with Argenziano, who hadn’t pitched in 13 days, starting the game a bit like DeRose had on Friday, constantly having a guy on, but getting the occasional double play, which kept the Sox under control, at least until Nick Nye homered off him as well. That was a 2-run shot to left in the sixth inning, #13 for Nye and plating Jose Gutierrez, a pinch-runner for an injured J.P. Sheridan that had hobbled all the way to second base on a double into the corner earlier in the inning. Jesus Martinez answered with his 12th home run off Goffredo Merlin, a leadoff jack in the bottom 6th, 5-2.

Argenziano also went into the seventh besides landing another base hit on the way, although that came with two outs, nobody on, and no reaction from Bribiesca or anybody else. Grewe and Bratlien, the chief troublemakers on Friday, knocked him out with a pair of 1-out singles, but Burchell then rumbled into a 4-6-3 double play against Ivan Ornelas, who then allowed his own pair of singles to Cox and Nye in the eighth inning. Ricky Herrera got Tony Roman to pop out to Labonte, while the Coons then boldly proclaimed that Tanizaki could get them a 4-out save. He entered in a double switch with Konecny for Brass, and David Johnson immediately flew out to the replacement outfielder to end the inning.

But remember the troublemakers? Bobby Grewe homered with one out in the ninth to narrow the score to 5-3, and Bratlien drew a walk. Chris Kirkwood, former Raccoon, popped out for the second out, however, so maybe we’d be fine after – *SMACK!!* – and that big old thunderclap you just heard was not the famously wonderful Portland weather suddenly turning sour, but a game-tying homer by Jose Gutierrez (NOT the ex-Coon Jose Gutierrez). The Raccoons still won the game in the bottom of the inning when right-hander Matt Pickel walked Monaghan, dropped Metz’ feed to allow Konecny on base, and then served up a walkoff knock to Bribiesca, but dear heavens, they were terrible…!! 6-5 Raccoons. Bribiesca 3-5, 2B, RBI; Ojeda 2-4, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-4; Martinez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Argenziano 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB and 2-3;

Anybody remember that I have been trying to trade Tanizaki for a while now?

Wonder why nobody ever offers more than well wishes?

I was outta town on Sunday then, and told everybody that Chad was in charge. No outsider would genuinely be surprised by this particular baseball team being run by the glue sniffing twenty-something in the fuzzy mascot costume.

Chad promptly sent Tony Benitez on a rehab assignment to St. Petersburg that wasn’t strictly necessary.

Game 3
NAS: CF J. Gutierrez – 1B Metz – SS Nye – LF Roman – C D. Johnson – 2B R. Cox – 3B Bratlien – RF Grewe – P Strutz
POR: SS Bribiesca – 3B Ojeda – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 1B Starr – C Monaghan – 2B Labonte – P B. Herrera

Bobby Herrera obviously hadn’t finished being terrible on Tuesday and gave up a homer to David Johnson in the second inning, although Joel Starr matched the feat in the home half of the second and the score was tied again. The Raccoons then had leadoff singles from Bribiesca and Ojeda in the bottom 3rd, which sent the odd 1-2 pair to the corners with nobody out. Brass’ whiff and Cas’ sac fly and Martinez’ non-sac fly barely got Bribiesca home with the go-ahead run, but Ojeda remained glued to first base. The Coons were back on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 4th. Starr singled, then stole second base, which he did so rarely that nobody ever paid attention to him. This was his fourth steal of the season in four attempts. Monaghan then scratched out a soft single to move him to third base. Labonte whiffed, Herrera hit into a double play, and the Raccoons didn’t get a run for their bothers.

Like the last few pitchers, Bobby Herrera went into the seventh inning, got one out, and then stuck. Johnson singled and Cox doubled to park the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for Nashville. Sencion came in, but was met with Burchell batting for Bratlien and surrendered the lead on a sac fly. Rios then struck out Grewe for a 2-2 tie at the stretch. Coby Strutz completed seven innings without issues, and the Raccoons wound up with garbage pitcher J.J. Sensabaugh pitching in a tied game in the eighth inning, since Rios had been hit for (and would Rios *really* have been so much better?). Gutierrez walked and Metz singled with one down. Nye grounded out, moving them to scoring position, but Ricky Herrera got Tony Roman out to Cas and the score remained locked at two.

Martinez unpacked the power in the bottom 8th; finding Cas on base and Jimmy Dingman pitching, he walloped a fastball over the fence in right for a 4-2 lead. The Raccoons ended up with Bravo in the ninth inning then, since we needed a right-hander and Tanizaki had already fudged up on the weekend. The alternative would have been Ornelas, which exhausted the list of relievers still in the pen. Johnson popped out, and then Bravo struck out Cox and Ricky Carbajal to end the game! 4-2 Raccoons. Ojeda 2-4; Caswell 1-2, BB, RBI; Monaghan 1-2, BB; Bean (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

First career save in 157 games for Reynaldo Bravo.

In other news

June 9 – The Wolves’ INF/RF/LF Jeff Buss (.320, 7 HR, 34 RBI) is out for the rest of the month at least after suffering an oblique strain.
June 11 – Nashville sends INF/LF John Webler (.211, 2 HR, 9 RBI) to the Capitals for two prospects.
June 15 – OCT OF/1B Mike Harmon (.253, 5 HR, 29 RBI) was going to miss a month with an oblique strain.

FL Player of the Week: SAL OF Chaz Kokel (.240, 3 HR, 17 RBI), batting .516 (16-31) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.285, 13 HR, 50 RBI), bashing .346 (9-26) with 3 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Just treading water now, really.

Joey Christopher’s week (makes unsure paw movement) as leadoff batter saw him hit .250/.368/.313, which was hardly inspiring, but he’d get more exposure against right-handed pitchers while we staggered around the .500 mark, dazed and confused.

I wouldn’t be shocked if one of the big bats is traded for The Future ™ before the All Star Game… Certainly not for a *now* pitcher, because you can’t fix … (moves paws around the stat sheet) … THIS with just one trade or two.

Next week: Warriors and Crusaders, which might end any conversation about October baseball rather nicely.

Fun Fact: The Jose Gutierrez that is not the Jose Gutierrez on the Blue Sox now played for the Raccoons more than 50 years ago.

2007 and 2008, which was the first exposure of the infielder to the majors. He hit .215 with no homers and 15 RBI.

He would hang on until 2029, for the most part in journeyman fashion, and collected 2,336 hits in those 23 seasons. He played for a full half of the ABL teams (including the Blue Sox for 80 games). He never won anything in a career of faithful duty but no peaks of any kind, batting .293/.357/.367 with 43 HR and 800 RBI.

There was that one year where he hit .343, and that was precisely the year he split between the Titans and Blue Sox and thus between the two leagues. He hit .336 in the CL and .349 in the FL. Still, none of those two performances would have won him a batting title in either league, but he would have been within ten points of both batting titles. The CL’s batting champ that year? Cookie Carmona, batting .344! Matt Nunley was third with a .319 clip, and in between was an ex-Coon, Adrian Quebell, then on the Condors, hitting .329. *Another* ex-Coon finished third in the FL, Yoshi Nomura hitting .342 for the Cyclones.

Ah, Honeypaws. Remember the time when we had boys that could swing the stick?