[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Thunder’s Ed Soberanes was the big man in the All Star Game, driving in four runs in the CL’s 7-0 win over the FL at Raccoons Ballpark, doing so with an RBI single and a 3-run homer.

Joel Starr started the game at first base, while Noah Caswell and Jesus Martinez appeared as pinch-hitters, then remained in the game. Collectively, those three Raccoons went 0-for-6 in their own den. Bobby Herrera pitched a scoreless third inning, and once I get a hold of the ******* that let Matt Walters pitch THREE INNINGS for the save, I will tear his *** all the way up to his ******* *************.

Lock the gates, Maud! Lock them!!

Raccoons (44-45) vs. Canadiens (37-52) – July 17-20, 2059

Not a lot had changed for the damn Elks since last week in Elk City. Fourth in runs scored, tenth in runs allowed, a -45 run differential, and they had been swept on the weekend before the All Star Game by the Titans, none of the games having been particularly close. We were up 5-3 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (8-3, 4.16 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (7-6, 3.54 ERA)
Justin DeRose (3-5, 3.57 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (5-8, 3.43 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (8-7, 3.13 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (5-8, 5.41 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (2-5, 3.60 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (7-6, 3.95 ERA)

We would only get one of the Elks’ southpaws, and it was Overy right at the beginning of the set.

Game 1
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – CF D. Moreno – 2B Younce – RF Magnussen – C Burnham – SS E. Solano – P Overy
POR: LF Christopher – 2B Ortega – 1B Brassfield – CF Caswell – RF Martinez – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – SS Benitez – P Fox

The Raccoons put their first three batters past the break on base with singles, and – lo! – scored them all with the aid of a 2-run double by Caswell and after Martinez walked a run-scoring 4-6-3 double play by Ojeda. Monaghan whiffed. None of it mattered, since Chance Fox remained atrocious and had all his four limbs plucked from his body in the third inning in which the Elks scored four runs after a leadoff walk drawn by Danny Garcia, a Jose Campos single, and with two outs, Mark Younce’s RBI single and Adam Magnussen’s long, long 3-run homer. While he fooled his way into the sixth inning, giving up nine hits, the Raccoons never got another base knock to add to the four from the first inning. After many an inning of futility, Paul Labonte drew a leadoff walk in the #9 spot in the bottom 8th, was forced out by Christopher, and the runner was then caught stealing. It took all the way to the ninth inning to get Trent Brassfield to hit a leadoff single over Edwin Solano and those change that 4 on the board into a 5. Too bad it was still a 4-3 deficit after scoreless relief from Bravo, Tanizaki, and Sencion. Cas grounded out, Martinez popped out, and Starr grounded out to fritter that away, too. 4-3 Canadiens. Brassfield 2-3, BB;

Game 2
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – CF D. Moreno – 2B Younce – RF Magnussen – C A. Maldonado – SS E. Solano – P Kozloski
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – C Lathers – P DeRose

In the middle of three soggy outs, the Raccoons took a lead in the bottom 1st again with a Labonte triple and Cas’ RBI double, both to right-center, but with DeRose pitching, the tying run was never far away. While the Coons’ starter managed to face the minimum the first time through the Elks’ array of hooves and horrors, Danny Garcia then quickly dispelled the façade of competence and homered well deep to right to begin the top 4th, tying the game at one.

Just like on Thursday, the Raccoons were unable to pull a base hit out between their furry cheeks forever and ever after the first inning, although the Elks decided to tempt fate in the bottom 6th by nicking Christopher to begin the inning. This time he stole second base, then reached third on a wild pitch while Labonte was still in the box. Go-ahead run on third base and nobody out, could we please find some rinky-dink position player to get one to bloop in? That would actually be a yes, because Labonte hit his second gap triple of the game, then scored on a balk. Brass also reached base, but then we began to run out of talent. Somehow, it still was enough. The Elks poked around DeRose’s wet nose for seven innings without getting him to roll on his back and wince for mercy like every other team would, and then had even less going against a pair of southpaws in Ricky Herrera and Matt Walters in the last two innings. 3-1 Coons. Labonte 2-2, BB, 2 3B, RBI; DeRose 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (4-5);

Game 3
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – CF D. Moreno – 2B Younce – C A. Maldonado – RF Aragon – SS E. Solano – P A. Jesus
POR: LF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – P B. Herrera

Thomas Whittington singled, stole second, got another base on Monaghan’s throwing error, and then scored on a sac fly to Martinez while I was plotting how to best throw both our sucking catchers through a solid brick wall with the least amount of effort. The Raccoons responded in their inning of the week, the bottom 1st, which they also ran themselves out of when Christopher and Labonte were on to begin the inning, but Christopher was thrown out in a double steal. Cas then drove home Labonte from second to tie the game and Starr found a double play to roll into.

Now, Bobby Herrera was just off. He had four 3-ball counts (but only one walk) in the second inning, and the fourth was similarly muddled, not least because Alex Maldonado reached second base to begin it with Labonte’s bad throw that skipped past Starr for an error. Both Juan Aragon and Danny Garcia drew walks off Herrera as the inning dragged on, but he struck out Whittington to leave the bases stranded. He was already over 80 innings after just four innings, though. The Coons grabbed him a lead in the bottom 4th on a double by Caswell and Joel Starr’s homer to right, 3-1, then loaded the bases with a mixed bag of Ojeda doubling, Monaghan being walked intentionally, and Herrera hitting a single, all with two outs. Christopher pushed the first pitch he saw through the left side to get up 4-1, but Labonte then flew out to Garcia.

After throwing 82 pitches for four innings, Herrera got two more frames done on just 18 more offerings, but that would end his day. The other Herrera, Ricky, gave up a homer to Danny Garcia in the seventh inning to narrow the score to 4-2, but the Coons answered in the bottom half after PH Bernie Ortega reached on a Whittington error and then scored on 1-out singles by Labonte and Caswell, but Jesus then struck out Starr and Jesus … Martinez. Tanizaki had a clean eighth and the 3-run lead lasted into the ninth inning before things got tighty-squeezy. Walters got an out from Garcia to begin the inning, but then Whittington singled, as did Jose Campos. A run scored on Moreno’s groundout, and another run came home on Younce’s RBI single, which put the tying run on base. Luke Burnham’s fly to right was tame, however, and Jesus Martinez had no issue catching it. 5-4 Raccoons. Labonte 2-4; Caswell 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Ojeda 2-4, 2B;

Game 4
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – CF D. Moreno – 2B Younce – RF Magnussen – C A. Maldonado – SS E. Solano – P B. Lawrence
POR: LF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – RF Martinez – SS Bean – 3B Benitez – C Lathers – P Damasceno

Cas kept gobbling up them RBI’s like cupcakes, getting one in the bottom 1st with a well-placed groundout after Christopher had walked, Labonte had singled, and both had advanced into scoring position on an errant pickoff throw by Lawrence. Starr walked, Martinez got an RBI single, and Jon Bean legged out an infield single to load the bases. Lawrence then lost Benitez on straight balls to push in a third run before getting Lathers to hit into a double play to get out of the inning. Two runs were added in the bottom 2nd. The 1-2-3 did the same as the inning before, walking, singling, and grounding out, but now with one out and nobody offering free bases. Joel Starr was alert, though, getting a 2-out, 2-run single to bounce over Younce and extend the lead to 5-0.

Damasceno was very good at not allowing a hit to the Elks, but not so good at not allowing them to reach base by other means. There was a Starr error, but there were especially five walks issued by DD through just that many innings. The Elks were also very good at making stupid outs, hitting into two double plays (which Lathers achieved by himself in just four frames) and having Edwin Solano thrown out trying to steal third base. Jose Campos finally hit a single in the top 6th, but was left on base. In the bottom 6th, though, Benitez walked with one out, and the battery filled the bags with shy singles. Joe-Chris lobbed another single over Younce to extend the lead to 6-0, and after Labonte struck out, Caswell singled to center for another RBI. The Elks brought another reliever, Jim Woods, who walked in a run against Starr, then gave up a bases-clearing double into the leftfield corner to Jesus Martinez, which meant we were now into double digits. Bean’s grounder to second ended the 6-run sixth.

The Elks reached the board in the eighth inning with a doubly-unearned, 2-out, 2-run single by Adam Magnussen after both of the Coons’ middle infielders had fudged a free runner on base behind Sencion and Ornelas, the latter of whom gave up the base knock. Ornelas would allow two walks in the ninth, throw a wild pitch, but consecutive pops to the catcher by Garcia and Whittington prevented the Elks from doing any more damage than absolutely necessary. 11-2 Raccoons. Labonte 2-5; Martinez 2-4, 2B, 4 RBI; Benitez 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Brassfield (PH) 1-1; Damasceno 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 4 K, W (3-5);

In other news

July 16 – PIT C Jorge Ortiz (.231, 3 HR, 16 RBI), whom the Miners claimed just this month on waivers from the Indians, is out for the year with a broken kneecap.
July 20 – Blue Sox RF Austin Gordon (.208, 0 HR, 1 RBI) hits a single for the only Blue Sox hit in a 12-0 defeat to the Buffaloes’ Ben Karst (7-4, 2.51 ERA) and Victor Ramirez (6-2, 2.96 ERA, 1 SV).

FL Player of the Week: PIT LF/RF Elijah Johnson (.333, 5 HR, 44 RBI), batting .500 (9-18) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.365, 8 HR, 41 RBI), hitting .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

You may wonder why Noah Caswell didn’t score a Player of the Week, but he actually had more RBI (7) than hits (6) this week, and topped out at 6-for-17 with no homers. Three doubles, but it wasn’t fancy enough to get past Ceballos.

David Gonzales, the Rule 5er, will come off the DL to begin the new week and will be parked at AAA for a rehab assignment for now. Maybe there will be a roster spot for him again once the trade deadline arrives.

The Raccoons signed six international free agent this month for a total of … uh… $666k. It happened by accident, but now they’re all cursed. Almost half the dosh was brought up for INF/LF/RF Victor Morales, a high-contact, low-K bat with double-digit dinger power. He doesn’t have a lot of speed and doesn’t have much experience at any of his five positions. Since his arm is much better than his range, he’s probably more of a third baseman than anything else. He also already turned 18 this June, so the young Mexican, who hits right-handed, was sent to Aumsville soon after signing.

Six figures each were also paid to right-hander Victor Chavez from Venezuela ($140k) and 2B Carlos Cervantez ($132k) from the Dominican Republic. Those two are only 16 though and won’t be in pro ball any time soon. The remaining three players collected just $69,000 between them.

I’m NOT doing it on purpose, Maud! You look at me like a Puritan from the Mayflower!

We host the Loggers next week, then travel to the Southeast for bouts with the Knights and Falcons. Those are the only remaining games before the trade deadline.

Fun Fact: The All Star Game is past and the Raccoons team lead for stolen bases is still not in double digits.

I miss Lonzo like ****. It hurts. A lot.