[Westheim]

Raccoons (16-16) vs. Warriors (18-14) – May 9-11, 2061

The Warriors were fourth in the FL West, but just half a game out of first place, while the Raccoons had just rallied back to .500 after another atrocious start. The opposition was not to be taken lightly, though, the defending division winners of the West sitting in the top four in both runs scored and runs allowed and having a +29 run differential. These teams had last met in ’59 with the Raccoons taking the series, two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (2-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. Alex Dominguez (2-2, 2.23 ERA)
Chance Fox (2-1, 2.27 ERA) vs. Jonathan Vale (2-3, 3.79 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-1, 3.02 ERA) vs. Kelly Donnelly (0-0, 6.48 ERA)

These were all right-handed pitchers.

Nobody needed J.J. Sensabaugh (1-0, 6.10 ERA) anymore, so he was sent back to AAA. Instead we were bringing up left-hander Mike Goldfield, who had gotten slapped every time he had been promoted to the majors in the past, and had been employed as closer by the Alley Cats with mixed success.

Game 1
SFW: 2B DeFusco – SS McColgin – 1B M. Medina – LF Kaniewski – RF Bursley – 3B Barre – CF Jam. Robinson – C F. Rivera – P A. Dominguez
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose

DeRose gave up two singles in the first inning, and another two Warriors were on base in the fourth after a walk to John Kaniewski and Josh Bursley’s single, but Tristan Barre grounded into a fielder’s choice and a K to Jamel Robinson ended the inning. In between, DeRose had also proven worth something on offense, driving in the Critters’ first run in the bottom 3rd when he hit back-to-back leadoff doubles with Nick Fox, then went on to score on a Lonzo single. After Starr walked and Brass struck out, Nick Nye singled to plate Lonzo for a 3-0 lead before Christopher flew out to rightfielder Josh Bursley. Nick Fox hit another double in the inning after that, but then was left stranded by DeRose and Ben Morris. Nick Nye doubled home Brassfield with two outs in the fifth, though, which made it 4-0, before that inning also ended with Christopher grounding out.

Miguel Medina then socked a homer off DeRose in the sixth inning, which was just something that happened to pitchers from time to time, while Nick Fox smacked his third double of the night in the bottom 6th with a drive to center, but this time tore out a limb on the journey and left the game with assistance by the medical team. Fowler replaced him, scoring on another DeRose double (!), and that was the unceremonious end for Dominguez in this game. DeRose completed seven innings of 4-hit ball before Goldfield made his season debut facing the lefty pinch-hitter Jose Garza, and gave up a single, leaving Mike Lane to sort out the rest of the eighth inning. A solid ninth from Bravo ended the ballgame. 5-1 Raccoons. Nye 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; N. Fox 3-3, 3 2B; DeRose 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 BB, W (3-3) and 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

DeRose was now hitting .357 with 6 RBI in just 14 AB on the season. This was not at all in line with his previous hitting exploits; for his career he was a measly .110 hitter with just 7 RBI in his prior seasons.

The Nick Fox injury looked like a whole thing again, but we had no news on Tuesday, so we played the second game four paws short.

Game 2
SFW: 2B DeFusco – 3B Moriel – 1B M. Medina – CF Oldfield – RF Bursley – LF J. Garza – SS Barre – C Manjarrez – P Vale
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – P C. Fox

Both teams had two singles and no runs the first time through, the Coons getting this from Lonzo, who stole his 12th base, and Brass, but Nye popped out to strand them on the corners. Foxie Brown meanwhile drove in the first run of the game like DeRose the day before, though unlike DeRose he did not do so with a hit, but a sac fly after Vale had offered leadoff walks to Christopher and Fuller in the bottom 2nd, and Fowler’s fielder’s choice grounder to short had allowed Joe-Chris to get to third base. Lonzo and Brass then hit doubles in the third inning, which *was* good enough to get a run home, although Brassfield was stranded again.

The lead went belly-up in the fourth inning, because Chance Fox just didn’t have it. Bursley opened the inning with a single, and Fox walked the bases full before arriving at the pitcher with three on and one out, but gave up an RBI single to Vale, which sure soured my mood. Mike DeFusco’s sac fly tied the game at two, and Julio Moriel poked a 3-1 pitch to Lonzo for the third out, leaving a pair on base. The game dragged along from there with no meaningful offensive contributions by the Critters, while Fox nicked Garza to begin the sixth inning before retiring the bottom of the order, but then got plonked for three singles and the go-ahead run on Bursley’s 2-out RBI single in the seventh inning before Garza grounded out to leave more runners on the corners. Brassfield took him off the hook; after the two pairs of hits with Lonzo, he had hit another double in the bottom 5th, but had been left on base. He was next in the box with two outs and nobody on in the bottom 7th and peppered a game-tying homer to left-center against Vale. Nick Nye one-upped him with the go-ahead jack to left!

Ruben Mendez retired the 7-8-9 batters without issue in the eighth inning, but the Raccoons also did not tack on in the bottom 8th against Roberto Navarro, who had been with the Loggers for a while in the late 50s. Walters fell behind 3-1 against DeFusco to begin the ninth, but then got an easy fly to left. Jorge Caballero singled through the left side, however. Medina hit grounder to Lonzo, and with Medina jogging down the line this was as easy a 6-4-3 double play as we’d ever see. 4-3 Furballs! Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Brassfield 4-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4;

We overtook the Crusaders with this seventh straight win and took second place in the North, two games behind the Indians.

Roster move on Wednesday then, and it was Nick Fox going on the DL with a groin strain. Luis Silva thought that he might be good to return at the start of June. So suddenly there was a need for another third baseman, and David Gonzales was brought back from exile in St. Petersburg where he was hitting .309 at this point. He had batted .218/.269/.248 with the Coons last year, so I was perhaps justified in not expecting a damn thing from him.

Game 3
SFW: 2B DeFusco – 3B Moriel – 1B M. Medina – CF Oldfield – LF Kaniewski – RF Bursley – SS McColgin – C F. Rivera – P Donnelly
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera

The Warriors had the bags full on a Kaniewski single, a Starr error that put Bursley on, and then a walk issued to William McColgin in the second inning, but Bobby Herrera struck out both Felix Rivera and Kelly Donnelly to escape that jam and keep them off the board. That was already most the offensive thrill in the early innings, which saw Ben Morris get on base to begin the bottom 1st until Donnelly picked him right off again. Joel Starr’s homer in the fourth then gave the Coons a 1-0 lead on a 370-footer to left, and hits by Fowler, who was bunted to second by Bobby H., and Morris put a second run together in the bottom 5th. Morris stole second, but Lonzo popped out to Moriel to keep him on base.

Herrera meanwhile needed 85 pitches through five innings, scattering four hits and striking out six, so he wasn’t going to go much deeper. Cory Oldfield fanned to begin the sixth, but Kaniewski singled and was left on first base, but that almost got him to 100. He returned for the seventh, getting a grounder from Rivera that Nye bungled for another error, then received Donnelly’s bunt. He put a K on DeFusco, but was then moved for LaBat with the left-handed Moriel back in the box, who then flew out to Brassfield rather easily.

The score remained 2-0 in the bottom 7th although Donnelly nicked Fowler with two outs and Jon Bean pinch-hit for a single. Morris’ whiff left them on the corners, however, and instead Ruben Mendez blew the lead with a leadoff walk to Medina and a bomb to left-center fired off by Kaniewski, which flattened the score at two-each. The Raccoons failed to do something with Lonzo’s leadoff single in the bottom 8th, then saw Goldfield lit up for two hits by Jamel Robinson and DeFusco in the ninth. Bravo allowed the go-ahead run to score on Medina’s sac fly before Oldfield grounded out against Ricky Herrera, which sure livened up his day so far, 0-4 with a golden sombrero. Southpaw Jon McGinley then ended the Raccoons’ winning streak by retiring Ayala, Perez, and Kozak in order in the bottom 9th… 3-2 Warriors. Morris 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Fowler 2-2; Bean (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K;

Raccoons (18-17) @ Canadiens (12-21) – May 13-15, 2061

At least the damn Elks now had no winning streak to rob us of, which might lessen the pain if the trip north didn’t go so well for the boys. The Elks also had no winning streak themselves, or much of a win recently. They had lost 14 of their last 15 games, and 17 of their last 19, starting with the finale of the 3-game set they won in Portland in April, when, remember, they were first in the division for a while. As of Friday morning, them and their second-worst offense and mediocre pitching – sixth-most runs allowed – were just half a game ahead of the last-place Loggers. Ken Nielsen, Jose Campos, and Steve Scarpa were on the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (2-2, 3.46 ERA) vs. Carlos Torres (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Justin DeRose (3-3, 3.21 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (2-4, 3.65 ERA)
Chance Fox (3-1, 2.51 ERA) vs. Adam Foley (0-3, 4.56 ERA)

Again, only right-handed pitchers. The left-handers had all disappeared deep into the forest. Torres was a 27-year-old Chilean who had been employed by the Elks as spot starter before and who was now filling in for Nielsen, but had actually started the season in AAA Drummondville.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Robinson
VAN: CF D. Garcia – LF Hambrick – RF C. Cardenas – 3B Whittington – SS Corpus – C A. Maldonado – 1B Pierson – 2B Roldan – P C. Torres

Torres nicked Lonzo in the first inning and Lonzo did not approve, stealing second base and then scoring from there on Brass’ single for a quick 1-0 lead. Nye also singled, but Christopher struck out to leave two on. The lead did not last. While Robinson struck out five the first time through, Danny Garcia reached base with a 2-out single in the bottom 3rd, stole second, and then scored leisurely on Christian Hambrick’s homer to right, which actually marked Hambrick’s first RBI’s of the season.

Both teams then fumbled along for a few innings with the Elks kinda desperate to hold their skinny 2-1 lead and end their dire streak, but Nick Nye reached on an error by Thomas Whittington to begin the sixth inning, and while Joe-Chris kept merrily whiffing, Angel Perez finally ran into one and hit the second score-flipping 2-run homer of the game, this one going well over the fence in left. This, too, was short-lived, and straight 2-out singles in the bottom 6th by Alex Corpus, Alex Maldonado, and Preston Pierson tied the game at three before Rafael Roldan struck out to end the inning and Robinson’s outing, too.

The Coons began the seventh with runners on the corners as Morris socked a double to center and Lonzo hit a scratch single. Lonzo was itching to go, but first we’d have Joel Starr have a go. This worked very well one Starr bashed a double into the gap to plate both runners for a 5-3 lead! Brass, not wanting to stand back, drove the nail into Torres with a towering 2-run homer to left, and it was 7-3…!

And then it was 7-6 after LaBat and Barton cobbled together an Elks rally in the bottom 7th that made me queasy back home in Portland. LaBat left Matt Wartella on base from the #9 spot, before Barton walked Hambrick and gave up a 3-piece to Chad Cardenas. Whittington and Corpus made outs after that, and Ricky Herrera had a clean eighth to keep the lead alive. Lonzo then had a leadoff single off Erik Swain in the ninth, and this time he went – and was thrown out. At least we still had Matt Walters. Fernando Chavez popped out against him to begin the bottom 9th, while Damian Moreno and Hambrick went down on strikes. 7-6 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Brassfield 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Perez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Gonzales – CF Ayala – P DeRose
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 1B Wartella – RF C. Cardenas – C A. Maldonado – 3B C. Sullivan – SS Pierson – CF Hambrick – 2B Roldan – P Kozloski

Maybe Joel Starr was finding a groove, but in any case he hit another 3-run homer right in the first inning on Saturday, which meant that both Morris and Lonzo were on base and managed to not be caught stealing or similar shenanigans. Nye also almost hit a homer in the same inning, but had his drive picked at the fence by Danny Garcia. The top 2nd began with Ayala reaching on an error by Chris Sullivan before both DeRose and Lonzo hit infield singles to load the bases. Kozloski tried to lure Starr out of the strike zone, but this ploy failed and he instead walked him to force in the Coons’ fourth run. Brass’ grounder brought in another run, but Nye grounded out to leave two aboard.

While the Raccoons had a 5-0 lead early on, unfortunately DeRose pitched like he had just climbed out of the dumpster with banana peels still sticking out from under his cap. He had one strikeout in five innings, but walked three and allowed three hits. It was *still* 5-0 after five innings, mind, but that was mostly because the Elks hit into two double plays and were not getting anything done in the clutch. Better not tempt fate, though; when DeRose offered another two walks to Maldonado and Sullivan with one out, and gave up a bloop single to Pierson in the bottom 6th, he was yanked with the bases loaded in favor of Mike Lane, who expertly waved all the runners around to score on base hits by Hambrick and Alex Corpus, the latter pinch-hitting for Andy Overy, and it took LaBat to finally get out of the inning…

Three singles by Lonzo, Brass, and Nye off Jim Peterson extended the lead to 6-3 again in the seventh inning. Peterson walked Perez to fill ‘em up, but Jack Kozak grounded out to Roldan in place of Gonzales to keep them loaded. Bottom 7th, Chad Cardenas hit a leadoff single against LaBat, but was then doubled off by Maldonado to keep the Elks at bay. In turn the Raccoons scuppered a leadoff double by Ayala in the eighth before Goldfield allowed two more singles to left-handers in the bottom 8th, but worked his own way outta there, partly because we were constantly short on arms even with EIGHT relievers on the roster, and at some point he’s either learning or sent to the showers crying…

The Elks lost Hambrick to an injury on a defensive play in the ninth inning when he got an Angel Perez drive and had to be replaced with Bobby Needham. Meanwhile Goldfield’s outing counted as a hold once Matt Walters struck out the side in the bottom 9th to put the game in the books. 6-3 Critters! Lavorano 3-5; Starr 1-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Nye 2-5, RBI; Fowler 1-1; Ayala 2-5, 2B;

Yes, boys! Sweep them! Sweep the miserable *****!!

If so, without Lonzo, though, please. We were in New York for four games after this, and Lonzo was supposed to be rested for that. Nye was manning short on Sunday, with Jon Bean getting a start at second base.

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P C. Fox
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Corpus – RF C. Cardenas – C A. Maldonado – 3B Whittington – 1B Pierson – CF Valencia – 2B Wartella – P Foley

The Raccoons had a lead by the third batter of the game when Brass doubled home Morris, who had singled. Christopher went to third after reaching base by virtue of a fastball to the hindpaw, which hampered his baserunning slightly, so he had to stop at third base, and so he was stranded. Starr struck out, Nye walked, and Perez chucked it into a double play. The 1-0 lead stood the early innings, with Chance Fox seeing the minimum albeit with allowing a leadoff single to Maldonado in the bottom 2nd, who was then doubled off by Preston Pierson’s grounder to Nye. Foxie Brown struck out three of the other seven batters he faced that first time through.

Meanwhile the Elks played scatterhoof defense; Bean reached on an error in the second inning, but was stranded, and Perez and Fowler hit 1-out singles to left in the fourth inning, the second of which was overrun by Garcia for extra bases and Bean to bat with two in scoring – … correction, for Foxie to bat with the bases loaded and one out after the intentional walk. Fox struck out, but Morris singled in a run with a ball into center, which Hambrick replacement Rafael Valencia quickly returned and threw out Fowler at home plate with to end the inning. Joe-Chris doubled to lead off the fifth and was plated by Starr with a 1-out single. Nye hit a pop behind second base that Corpus dropped for another error – although Nye had made an error of his own in the previous half-inning – but Perez’ fly to right was caught and Fowler calmly grounded out to end the inning.

Bottom 5th, and Fox allowed a single to Pierson, a walk to Valencia, and another single to Wartella, and the Elks almost scored but by then Pierson had disappeared from the basepaths with a baserunning blunder and they left two on when Foley grounded out to Starr. The Coons stranded Morris and Christopher in the sixth after they got on with two outs and instead Corpus hit a single off Fox, who then misfielded Cardenas’ grounder for an error, the fifth in total in the game. Maldonado’s grounder moved the runners into scoring position for Whittington to bat with two outs, but Fox prevailed with a K to end the inning. Phew.

Nick Nye socked a solo homer to left in the seventh to extend the lead to 4-0, and Perez right after that didn’t miss a homer by much, hitting a ball off the top of an awkwardly angled section of wall around the visitors’ bullpen from where it bounced into centerfield to give Perez a 1-out triple, but Fowler was walked intentionally and Bean hit into a double play against lefty reliever David Figueroa.

The stupid Elks kept being a pest, though, and Pierson and Valencia went to the corners against Fox to begin the bottom 7th, both hitting a single up the middle. But lefty hitters were up and Fox still had flick in his orange-striped tail, so the Raccoons stuck with him until the Elks would *make* them go to a right-handed reliever, which they never did while Wartella, Sullivan, and Garcia struck out, struck out, and….. struck out…! Lonzo also struck out when he batted for Fox to begin the eighth inning before Morris and Joe-Chris got on again facing righty Aaron Hain, who balked them into scoring position before giving up a 2-run wallbanger double to Brassfield and taking his exit. Righty Brian Doster replaced him, gave up another run on a Starr double, but then got out of the inning. Barton and Goldfield then shook the game home without allowing a run to the smothered Elks, even though Goldfield insisted on walking a pair in the bottom 9th. 7-0 Furballs! Morris 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Christopher 2-3, BB, 2B; Brassfield 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Starr 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Perez 2-5, 3B; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (4-1);

In other news

May 10 – The Miners trade OF Tomokazu Kaneshiro (.233, 0 HR, 6 RBI) to the Capitals for quad-A OF/1B Troy Blake. The 27-year-old Blake hit .267 with 1 HR, 13 RBI with the Caps last year.
May 11 – The Miners beat the Falcons, 3-1 in 20 innings. The two teams combine to strand 30 runners, while seven relievers go at least two innings in relief, and three of them go more than four innings. Miners Rule 5 pick MR Tyler Roe (1-0, 0.77 ERA) goes 4.2 innings with three walks and no strikeouts for the win, brought about by RF/CF Peter Bivens’ (.280, 2 HR, 7 RBI) 2-out, 2-run triple in the top of the 20th inning.
May 14 – Two hits in a 9-6 win against the Thunder give SFB INF/LF Xavier Reyes (.439, 0 HR, 22 RBI) a 20-game hitting streak.

FL Player of the Week: RIC LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.308, 9 HR, 28 RBI), swatting .455 (10-22) with 4 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA INF Miguel Veguilla (.338, 3 HR, 19 RBI), hitting .538 (14-26) with 2 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I don’t know exactly how we lit all their tails on fire, but suddenly we’re winning. 11-3 in May, which is totally sustainable. In just a couple of weeks we’ve gone from bottoms to just two games behind the first-place Indians, and two games ahead of the Crusaders.

Speaking of the Crusaders, we play four games with them starting on Monday, then another three in Tijuana. And because crossing three timezones twice a week is fun, the roadtrip will end next week in Atlanta. Regardless of preparations taken with resting Lonzo before the Crusaders series, the Raccoons would still give a spot start to – probably – Bobby Sneeze in New York.

Gesundheit.

We now have a +15 run differential, although the team is still in the bottom four in batting average and OBP, but we’re slugging like kings and tie for third in stolen bases. Imagine what we could do if we could get Cas off the DL and Nye and Starr and others were actually producing like they did last year…!

Fun Fact: Xavier Reyes not only had a 21-game hitting streak, but also 24 stolen bases in 37 games on the year.

Reyes, who had stolen 45 bags last year and a career-best 60 in 2059, was thus on pace for *105* on the year. That was probably as sustainable as our 11-3 record in May.

Anyway, Reyes looked like an early favorite for the CL stolen base title. He led the race by … much. VAN Danny Garcia was second with 17 bags, and Lonzo was third with 14 bags, which would be enough to led the FL by one over TOP Jose Ambriz, but had him trailing Reyes by ten.