[Westheim]

Raccoons (59-53) vs. Canadiens (47-65) – August 11-13, 2059

The Raccoons were up 8-4 on the damn Elks this year, which didn’t man they smelled any more or less of the sewers than they always did. Their mere presence was always revolting! They also had the #3 offense in the Continental League, which usually only worked out for being 18 games under .500 by having your pitching entirely delivered from sweat shop in a run-down warehouse on the interstate, and the Elks were no exception, giving up the second-most runs, with the very worst bullpen anywhere around. The rotation was ninth by ERA, so not exactly innocent.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (9-4, 3.67 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (9-8, 4.26 ERA)
Bobby Sneeze (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (8-9, 4.25 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-8, 3.53 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (6-11, 3.92 ERA)

Just in time to prevent anybody from asking questions whether southpaws existed, Andy Overy would present himself on Tuesday. Apart from that, righties. The Elks arrived without regular third baseman Thomas Whittington, who was on the DL with a bone bruise in his wrist.

Game 1
VAN: LF D. Garcia – CF Scarpa – 1B J. Campos – 2B Younce – C L. Burnham – 3B Hopper – RF Needham – SS E. Solano – P B. Lawrence
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – P Fox

Foxie Brown struck out three around a Steve Scarpa single in the first inning, then got spotted a 2-0 lead when Joe-Chris singled to open the bottom 1st and Noah Caswell hit a 2-run homer to right, his 16th of the year, tying Jesus Martinez’ Portland output. The Elks got three more singles off Fox in the top 2nd, though, all with two outs and through Bobby Needham, Edwin Solano, and Bill Lawrence. Thankfully for Fox, Needham already scored on Solano’s single after having stolen second base, much like Scarpa stole second base in the prior inning. Fox at least got a K on Lawrence when it mattered with two outs in the fourth, when the Elks had Luke Burnham and Solano on the corners with another single and a 2-out walk, respectively. Before that, in the bottom 3rd, the Raccoons had loaded the bases on 2-out walks drawn by their 4-5-6 batters, but Jon Bean had then flown out harmlessly to right on an 0-2 pitch. The bags were fulla Coons again in the bottom 4th; Ojeda led off with a single, Christopher singled him to third base, and Labonte walked in a full count. Cas brought in a run with a groundout, but Brass flew out to center to keep it at that, and the score was 3-1 after four.

Fox was done after five and a third innings and 105 pitches. He got increasingly into long counts from the third inning and by the fifth was almost exclusively in full counts. Worse, Danny Garcia drew a leadoff walk and scored on Scarpa’s double to narrow the score to 3-2, and Burnham also drew a walk in a full count in the inning before Chris Hopper stranded a pair with a fly to Caswell. He got Needham to begin the sixth, then was replaced in a double switch with Alex Rios, with David Gonzales replacing Ojeda at third base. Lawrence also was gone after 5.1 innings, allowing a single to Christopher on the way out. Joe-Chris stole second against Carlos Torres, then reached third base on Hopper’s error that put Labonte on. This time Cas didn’t get the job done, whiffing in a full count, but Brass got a 2-out RBI single against Torres, 4-2, before Starr grounded out to Jose Campos. Angel Perez, who entered with a 13-game hitting streak (!), socked a leadoff jack in the seventh, and that inning continued with Gonzales singling and Joe-Chris walking with two outs, followed by Labonte sticking a ball into the leftfield corner for a 2-run double, which marked the endpoint for offense in the game. Jim Woods then restored order for the Elks, while the Raccoons got 3.2 scoreless innings from Rios and Loveless on the way to a W in the series opener. 7-2 Raccoons. Christopher 2-3, 2 BB; Perez 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Ojeda 2-3; Loveless 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
VAN: LF D. Garcia – CF Scarpa – RF D. Moreno – 1B J. Campos – 2B Younce – C A. Maldonado – 3B Hopper – SS E. Solano – P Overy
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Ortega – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – SS Gonzales – CF Cooke – P Sneeze

The Raccoons went up 1-0 in the first when Overy packed the bases with the first three batters on a walk, single, walk sequence, and then Starr rumbled into a double play, which counted for a run but wasn’t ideal, and Ojeda flew out to center. After that, there were a lot of strikeouts, with Sneeze ringing up half a dozen – gesundheit! – in just four innings while also allowing some meaty base hits and fly outs. Overy whiffed four before entering the bottom 4th before having another lapse. Ojeda singled and Monaghan walked, then advanced on Gonzales’ groundout, which marked the second out of the inning. Manny Cooke had not gotten a base knock since being acquired from the Wolves, but was walked intentionally anyway, and then Overy most embarrassingly fell to 3-1 against Sneeze, and the scratch starter flicked a 2-run single over Mark Younce to extend the lead to 3-0. Christopher then flew out to center on the very next pitch.

On the one paw, Bobby Sneeze would only go six (shutout!) innings in this game, but on the other paw he rung up *11* Elks, which seemed implausible after he had struck out just four in his prior three outings (two starts). One of those 11 strikeouts reached base when Eric Monaghan fumbled the ball away, but nobody scored for the Elks on Sneeze’s watch. No need for tissues!

The bottom 6th then saw the end of Manny Cooke’s persistent futility; following a Gonzales single, he lobbed apparently effortlessly a 2-run homer over the fence in right, 5-0. The Raccoons meanwhile saw Sencion trying to lay another egg with two walks in the seventh. Bravo replaced him, got out of the inning, and pitched the eighth, while Matt Walters got a non-save situation in the ninth inning and retired the Elks in order, since after two extra-inning games to end last week and two shorter outings by starters to begin this week, the Raccoons were getting a bit thin in the bullpen. 5-0 Critters. Gonzales 2-4; Sneeze 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K, W (1-2) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

This was the first game of the season in which Noah Caswell did not appear. He was in the on-deck circle to pinch-hit for Bravo in the bottom 8th, but Cooke grounded out to end the inning.

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

The sky looked cloudy to begin the game, but the weather forecast said that there was totally not gonna be rain on Wednesday, so of course it rained by the end of the first inning and by the middle of the second inning we had a rain delay of over a ******* hour. Both starters continued – DeRose had thrown 20 pitches for six outs – and nobody reached base for either team the first time through the order. The first base runner of any sort was Damian Moreno with a 2-out single in the fourth inning, but he was left on with Jose Campos whiffing. Joe-Chris hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th, but that runner never got off first base, either.

DeRose looked increasingly gassed by the middle innings, though, and was removed from the game after just 76 pitches and five innings of 2-hit ball – the good old Portland summer weather! Ricky Herrera replaced him in the sixth; the old wins lecher had a scoreless inning, then got the lead again in the bottom 6th. Bernie Ortega’s pinch-hit leadoff single ended Kozloski’s day, and Ortega scored on Christopher’s gap double in right-center against Carlos Torres. Christopher advanced on a groundout by Labonte, then scored on Cas’ sac fly to Scarpa. Brass singled, stole second, and then scored on a Starr single, 3-0, before Jim Woods got a groundout from Angel Perez to end the inning.

The Elks made the board in the seventh with Alex Maldonado’s home run off Ivan Ornelas, but there was nobody on base for that, and Eloy Sencion had a 1-2-3 inning against the same part of the lineup that deeply troubled him the day before. Since the Raccoons didn’t find a way to tack on, Walters now pitched in a save situation in the ninth inning and removed the Elks in order, finishing the swep with a strikeout on Mark Younce. 3-1 Critters. Christopher 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-2; DeRose 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Ricky Herrera improved his record to 9-3, just one win behind Chance Fox and Bobby Herrera.

Starters, y’know.

Raccoons (62-53) @ Wolves (56-57) – August 15-17, 2059

Both teams were roughly ten games out, but had a winning streak going, with four straight for the Wolves and six straight for the Critters. The Wolves had the worst batting average in the FL, and scored the fourth-fewest runs, and showed up with utterly solid pitching, but still had a -9 run differential (Coons: +58). They also didn’t steal bases at all. This was the fourth straight year in which we crossed paths, with last year’s series having been a sweep of the Raccoons by our southern neighbors.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (10-8, 3.03 ERA) vs. Gabriel Casanova (4-7, 3.86 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (4-6, 3.62 ERA) vs. Dave Robinson (9-8, 3.89 ERA)
Chance Fox (10-4, 3.66 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (8-8, 3.92 ERA)

Not one, but two left-handers lined up to begin this series!

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Ortega – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Ojeda – 1B Starr – SS Gonzales – P B. Herrera
SAL: 2B E. Stevens – CF Kokel – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Newman – LF K. Hawkins – RF Bumpus – 3B Crist – P Casanova

Getting taken deep by Jeff Buss for a solo jack in the first inning was one thing, but Bobby Herrera found ways to actively annoy me going forwards, like a pair of leadoff walks to Tom Crist in the third and fifth innings. Crist would come around to score twice, first on a Chaz Kokel single, and then in a true meltdown of the entire battery. First Angel Perez threw away Casanova’s bunt to put a pair of runners in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 5th, and then Tipsy Bobby, after getting a foul pop for an out from Erik Stevens, threw a wild pitch to plate Crist, and then saw Casanova score on another Kokel groundout. It was 4-0 Wolves at that point, with the Raccoons on four hits, and a double play and six-hundred-fifty-two fielder’s choices hit into. I counted.

Ortega and Brassfield found leadoff hits, a single and a double, in the top 6th to score on a pair of productive outs at least, which gut the gap in half. Joel Starr had a single in the seventh, but was stranded, while Herrera completed seven innings of weirdly effective 3-hit ball from the Wolves’ side, who still held a 4-2 lead despite being out-hit more than two-to-one. Caswell was nicked by lefty Bob West in the eighth inning, but that with two outs and Raul Medrano retiring Perez in due order. Right-hander Jason Posey entered the ninth inning with a miniscule ERA of 0.67, so hopes were marginal. Ojeda, Starr, and Gonzales were retired in order accordingly. 4-2 Wolves.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Ojeda – 1B Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 2B Labonte – SS Gonzales – LF Cooke – P Damasceno
SAL: 2B E. Stevens – CF Kokel – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – C Newman – LF K. Hawkins – RF Bumpus – 3B Crist – P D. Robinson

Stevens, Buss, and Ben Newman loaded the bases in the bottom 1st against a wobbly Damasceno, who offered first two singles, then a walk to the catcher, but got Manny Cooke to catch Kyle Hawkins’ fly to left and nobody scored. Cooke then singled in the top 2nd to fill the bases with Coons after Labonte and Gonzales had already reached base ahead of him. That brought up the pitcher with one out, but DD managed to sneak a ball through the left side, just past a reaching Jeff Buss’ glove, and drove home the middle infielders for a 2-0 lead. Christopher however blundered into a double play to end the inning.

The Wolves then created a chance out of truly nothing in the bottom of the second inning. Labonte’s throwing error put Adam Bumpus on base before Damasceno walked the opposing pitcher to make my fur turn even grayer. Somehow the Wolves failed to exploit this; Stevens hit into a fielder’s choice to Starr, who took an aggressive out at second base, and Kokel grounded out to Labonte. On to the top of the fourth, where the Raccoons again loaded the bases with the 6-7-8 batters and one out, although this time Cooke only got on thanks to an error by Robinson on a bouncer that could have ended the inning, 1-6-3, if handled correctly. Damasceno this time grounded over to Stevens, the Gold Glover bungled the ball, and the Raccoons managed to all move up a base. It was 3-0, with 3 RBI for the furry pitcher. Not that the Wolves were quite done ******* up yet; Christopher hit a fly to left that Hawkins caught near the line. Gonzales went for home from third base and looked as dead as disco on a decent throw, but Hawkins’ throw was way off line and Newman had to scurry after it while Gonzales slid in unmolested. This was the fifth error in the game, the fourth for the Wolves, and it wasn’t even halftime yet. To really rub it in good, Juan Ojeda chose exactly *this* moment to hit his first home run as a Critter, bombing poor Dave Robinson for a 3-piece to left.

Robinson was gone after the inning, but Damasceno didn’t last much longer with his persistent urge to fill the bases. In the bottom 5th he allowed a leadoff double to relief pitcher Jonathon Scales, which in itself merited corporal punishment, but then also allowed a few more drives. Kokel, Belchior Fresco, and Newman all found sharp base hits, and two runs scored for the Wolves before the inning ended on Hawkins’ deep fly to Christopher. That was also the last inning for Damasceno. The game then calmed down A LOT with the two starting troublemakers gone, and the Raccoons used Ornelas for two innings and Loveless and Rios for one inning each while holding the 7-2 lead. The Wolves’ pen was similarly effective. 7-2 Raccoons. Ojeda 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Labonte 2-4; Ornelas 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Ojeda made an error in the late innings for a total of six errors in the game. All but one of the seven runs on Robinson were unearned, but Damasceno actually deserved everything he got.

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – SS Bean – C Monaghan – P Fox
SAL: 2B E. Stevens – RF Bumpus – SS Buss – 1B Fresco – LF Kokel – CF K. Hawkins – C Fiore – 3B Crist – P Sparks

Chance Fox looked very hittable again, and the Wolves would put three singles into the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Crist, Buss, and Fresco did the honors, although the 1-out to Stevens also aided them. Kokel was then only retired on a sliding catch by Christopher in rightfield. The Raccoons hadn’t done much the first time through, but then got Labonte on base with a leadoff triple in the fourth inning, and the runner scored right away (!!) on a Caswell single. Caswell was running on a sharp grounder by Brassfield up the middle that Buss first intercepted, then managed to awkwardly fling into centerfield while taking it out of his glove, which allowed the tying runner, Cas, to reach third base with nobody out. Joel Starr obliged and dropped a clean single into right-center, and we were even at two. Ojeda then hit into a 6-4-3, but Jon Bean suddenly showed a pulse again and hit the go-ahead RBI single into center, then was caught stealing to end the inning. Another error by Labonte put Hawkins on base in the bottom 4th, and I started to wonder what was in the water in this bloody town. (sniffs his bottle) The *wine* smelled and tasted nice enough…

The Raccoons scored more messy runs in the top 5th; Monaghan hit a single, which in itself was wicked, was bunted to second, and reached third on a passed ball before Christopher inched out an 8-pitch walk. Labonte then grounded to second for an out on Christopher, but Monaghan ambled home from third base, 4-2. Sparks balked Labonte into scoring position, then gave up an RBI single to Caswell on the next pitch.

Almost as infuriating as the Wolves’ approach to defense was that Chance Fox then had the guts to fail the bags full with a hit and two walks in the bottom 5th. Those were the tying runs with one out, but Chaz Kokel flicked a ball right at Ojeda, who started a 5-4-3 double play to bugger outta there. The sixth saw Monaghan hit into a double play (sigh) and Tom Crist took a Fox fastball over the wall in left to narrow the score to 5-3.

And then the Raccoons managed to lose the game after all, with a prior announcement, a big run-up and no defensive shenanigans involved. The Wolves saw 44 pitches in the bottom 8th, none of them helpful. Ricky Herrera allowed a leadoff single to Kokel, but Hawkins flew out. Matt Fiore then walked in a full count, and Crist hit an RBI single, 5-4, in another full count. Rios replaced Herrera, got a first-pitch out from Danny Ramirez, but then blew the lead on Stevens’ single, 5-all. He then got Bumpus to 0-2 before having three 0-2’s fouled off. The fourth 0-2 ended up in the right-center gap for a 2-run triple, and four balls to Jeff Buss later, he was yanked as well. Eloy Sencion then needed just two pitches to give up a loud 3-run homer to Belchior Fresco. 10-5 Wolves. Christopher 1-2, 3 BB; Caswell 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Starr 2-4, 2B, RBI; Solorzano (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 12 – Season over, due to a torn labrum, for CHA SP Art Schaeffer (9-4, 3.04 ERA).
August 14 – 36-year-old SAC 1B/LF/RF Omar Gonzalez (.220, 0 HR, 9 RBI) finds his 2,500th base hit in a 2-for-3 day as the Scorpions beat the Gold Sox, 3-2. DEN SP Juan Mercado (7-7, 3.67 ERA) gives up the milestone on a single. Gonzalez, while relegated to reserve duties this year, is a former batting champ and three times led the FL in triples, while also grabbing five Gold Gloves and a ring with the 2048 Stars. He is a career .300 hitter with 70 HR, 841 RBI, and 493 SB.
August 14 – The scoreboard won’t stop flashing in the Blue Sox’ game against the Buffaloes, which features 39 base hits and 33 runs, and ends with a 20-13 Blue Sox win. Both of Nashville’s OF Elmer Maldonado (.275, 8 HR, 40 RBI) and INF Nick Nye (.316, 22 HR, 63 RBI) get five base hits – Nye with a homer and Maldonado with a double and triple – to lead all players, while Maldonado drives in six runs from the leadoff spot.
August 17 – Blue Sox OF Tim Burkhart (1-for-9, 0 HR, 1 RBI) retires from baseball due to complications from surgery to repair a torn labrum. The 35-year-old Burkhart appeared in only 18 games, mostly as defensive replacement, this year. The former #8 pick batted .244 with 54 HR and 309 RBI for his 12-year career.
August 17 – CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.346, 9 HR, 53 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with an oblique strain. It’s the 2057 CL Player of the Year’s third and likely final trip to the DL this season.
August 17 – Bayhawks swingman Joe Byrd (4-3, 4.32 ERA, 1 SV) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Cyclones, who go down 4-0.
August 17 – Even with ten base hits per side, it takes 12 innings to score a single run in the Thunder-Capitals game. The Caps then walk off on a leadoff single by OF/1B Gunner Epperson (.299, 11 HR, 53 RBI) and then three walks, the last of them to C Jose Luna (.253, 5 HR, 16 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: NAS INF Nick Nye (.317, 23 HR, 65 RBI), hitting .467 (14-30) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS OF/1B Matt Gilmore (.295, 7 HR, 39 RBI), batting .560 (14-25) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Fourth straight season series win against the damn Elks, and with a set to spare! (giggles) I don’t care whether the team loses all remaining games – beating THE DAMN ELKS is always worth turning up for!

I wonder how far this team could go with a few proper hitters on the infield (or Lonzo!), because Christopher’s .404 OBP plays nice enough atop the order, and Lonzo would still slide in nicely at #2. Cas, Brass, and Starr are all doing well, and they are all signed or under team control through at least 2062. That is a sturdy core, now it’s about finding a rotation that’s not completely hunchbacked, and those two additional bats. And, well, pitchers, because the pitching staff, which has Tipsy Bobby on one end and Matt Walters on the other, both also signed through at least ’62, can use a lot of filling out.

Eh, at least we still have Cam Argenziano and Colby Bowen as jokers with the Alley Cats… (opens another bottle of Capt’n Coma)

Yes, Cristiano, Joey Christopher is doing nice. – He has 1.5 WAR, fifth among batters on the team despite only playing half the games? – My, isn’t that nice for him. – No, I am not discussing Lonzo batting second again next year.

Four-team homestand coming up now against the Caps, Titans, Loggers, and Aces to finish out the month. Both Mondays will be off.

Fun Fact: Only one Raccoons reliever has won more games in a season than Ricky Herrera has with six weeks to spare this year.

Nate Norris won ten games in his first year with the Raccoons in 2044. Norris, a righty, had two separate stints with the Critters, with three years in Denver in between. He went 20-7 as a whole with the team and 51-36 for his career while never making a start.

Norris is also notable for being acquired with Derek Baskins from the Buffaloes 16 winters ago for – among others – Shuta Yamamoto, who is still torturing us whenever he comes across us…

The full list of relievers that got at least eight wins in a season with their record that year (only as a Raccoon, obviously) is below. Only occasional spot starts (marked *) are allowed; the final parenthesis shows the pitchers rank amongst all pitchers on the team that year if at least tied for fifth):

Nate Norris (2044) … 10-3 (t-4th)

Marcos Bruno (2008) … 9-0 (5th)
Juan Martinez (1992) … 9-1
Kevin Hitchcock (2055) … 9-1 (t-3rd)
Antonio Alfaro (2053) … 9-2 (5th) ***
Lawrence “Law” Rockburn (2009) … 9-3 (5th)
Ricky Herrera (2059) … 9-4 (3rd)
Wally Gaston (1984) … 9-5 (2nd)
Kevin Surginer (2026) … 9-6 (t-5th)

Alex Ramirez (2018) … 8-1 (4th) ^
Noah “Bloody” Bricker (2022) … 8-1 (t-1st)
Takenori Tanizaki (2057) … 8-1 (4th)
Lawrence “Law” Rockburn (2008) … 8-3
Ricardo Huerta (2005) … 8-4 (t-2nd)
Ron Thrasher (2012) … 8-4 (4th)
Casey Moore (2036) … 8-4 (t-3rd)
Nelson Moreno (2044) … 8-4
Jackie Lagarde (1991) … 8-5 (5th)
Richard Cunningham (1985) … 8-6 (5th)

Law Rockburn is the only pitcher on the list twice, and Marcos Bruno is the only reliever to do the deed while undefeated. They’re also one of two pairs of relievers to achieved the feat in the same season (2008) along with Nate Norris and Nelson Moreno in 2044.

“Bloody” Bricker tied with three different starters, none of whom made more than 20 starts, as Jonny Tonner was felled by injury, Rico Gutierrez only made his debut that year mid-season, and “Tragic” Travis Garrett was … just that. The Raccoons had nine different starters make 10+ starts that year.

^ That is the first Alex Ramirez, the righty closer that was on the team for the three years from 2017 to 2019 that we always won the division and went out in the CLCS. He was from New Jersey. In the 2040s we had another Alex Ramirez, an international free agent from Cuba, also right-handed, that didn’t close games, though, and never won more than five in a year.