[Westheim]

Raccoons (26-19) @ Knights (15-29) – May 24-26, 2061

The Knights were off to a horrendous start, sitting at the bottom of the CL South with the fifth-fewest runs scored and second-most runs allowed in the CL, and a -40 run differential. Their rotation was getting ravaged to the tune of a 5.85 ERA, and both Willie Acosta and Marco Nieto were nursing injuries. The Raccoons had won six of nine against Atlanta in 2060.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (4-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (3-3, 6.92 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-3, 3.23 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (0-5, 5.69 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-1, 2.21 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (5-3, 3.25 ERA)

Harman was the only guy that was not getting bludgeoned on a regular basis in that rotation. All three starters sent up were right-handed.

Noah Caswell was almost ready to return for the Tuesday opener, but was not on the roster yet. Ricky Herrera was still day-to-day and might miss this series as well.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – SS Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 2B Bean – P Robinson
ATL: CF K. Fisher – 2B Moya – SS Sowell – 3B R. Wilken – RF Ellwood – C Villafan – LF N. Thayer – 1B C. Rice – P Ratliff

The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the third inning that came about weirdly, with singles by Robinson and Fowler, and then 2-out walks drawn by Starr and Brass to push the pitcher across for the game’s first run, but Nick Nye grounded out to shortstop Ken Sowell to leave three on base. Robinson retired the first seven Knights in order, but gave up singles to Chris Rice and Kyle Fisher in the bottom 3rd, and along with that the 1-0 lead when Rice scored from second on the latter hit. Apart from that, offense was negligible through five innings. The Knights had no other hits, and the Coons only had a Christopher single in addition to their output in the third inning, and neither team was even close to another run. Robinson did it with soft contact galore, which made it so surprising that the Knights suddenly knocked the daylights out of him in the bottom 6th, which he entered with a 2-1 lead after Christopher walked, stole second, and scored on Angel Perez’ single in the top 6th, but left down 4-2 after walking Rice, mishandling Ratliff’s bunt, and getting a grounder from Fisher, but then gave up a sac fly to Joaquin Moya, and with two outs a homer to Randy Wilken, the fourth of the surprise 2059 CL Player of the Year, now 37 years old. Joel Starr hit a solo home run in the seventh that only narrowed the score to 4-3, but the Knights saw Willie Villafan walk, Nick Thayer get plunked, and then a soft RBI groundout from Gabriel Mendez to get an extra run across against Robinson, who shook his head walking to the dugout after the inning, pitching a 3-hitter for seven innings, but giving up five runs somehow. 5-3 Knights. Christopher 1-1, 3 BB;

Willie Acosta, the 3-time CL Player of the Year, was moved to the DL with shoulder tendinitis without appearing on Tuesday. A serial .300 batter, he was hitting only .240 this year with four homers and 17 RBI. Vic Harman was also moved up to the middle game by the Knights, utilizing the common off day on Monday.

The Coons’ roster move was bringing back Noah Caswell from his rehab assignment and put Jack Kozak (.177, 2 HR, 7 RBI) on waivers to make room on the roster.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Fuller – 2B Bean – P DeRose
ATL: CF N. Thayer – 1B C. Rice – C M. Nieto – RF Ellwood – LF Abercrombie – 3B Gallo – SS Moya – 2B Messer – P Harman

The Raccoons were again up 1-0, this time in the first on singles by Christopher and Brassfield, then a wild pitch to bring in Joe-Chris from third base with two outs. The Knights flipped the score right away; DeRose allowed a walk, Fowler made an error, and Bobby Ellwood’s RBI single and ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie’s sac fly flipped it around to 2-1 Atlanta in the bottom 1st, one run being unearned.

The next three innings were calm, with no hits for Atlanta, and no hits for Portland that weren’t immediately doubled up (looks at Brass). The Raccoons then made it to the corners to begin the fifth inning on singles by Nick Nye and Tim Fuller. Jon Bean hit a sac fly to center, which tied the game, but with a bunt, a walk, and a strikeout by Fowler the Raccoons then went down meekly and with leaving Fuller at second base. Fuller then grounded out to leave Brass at second and Nye on first base the inning after that, so things continued coming full circle with this team…

Jon Bean hit another hard ball to center to begin the seventh inning, which this time fell for a leadoff double in the tied game. Ben Morris, who was almost a waste for the bench, batted for DeRose and hit a scratch single that put the Critters back on the corners. Morris tried to steal, but was watched with eagle eyes by Harman, who got Christopher to 1-2, then gave up a gapper for an RBI double and a 3-2 lead for the Portlanders. And then they choked again; Fowler popped out, Starr was walked with intent, and then somebody hit into another double play (looks at Brass, whiskers hanging). Overworked Elijah LaBat had to work around a leadoff single by Abercrombie in the bottom 7th, but managed that task, and the Coons had a 1-out double by Nye to get going in the eighth. Fuller was walked intentionally but Bean had a career day and singled off ex-Coon Alex Rios. Nye tried to score from second, but was thrown out at the plate by Ellwood, keeping the Critters on first and second in a 3-2 game. Ayala batted for LaBat and walked, and Christopher was in a 2-2 count when Rios *drilled* him, which extended the lead to 4-2. Fowler then struck out on what was a rather bleak day for him.

Ruben Mendez then struggled in the bottom 8th, walking Paul Messer and barely getting a force out on a Bill Quinteros grounder. The veteran Indian was hitting just .190 in his new limited role. The Raccoons shrugged and called on Matt Walters for a 5-out save, with four left-handed bats in the top 5 spots in the batting order. He struck out Thayer and grounded out Rice to second to end the bottom 8th, and retired another three in order in the ninth. 4-2 Critters. Christopher 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-5; Nye 2-3, BB, 2B; Bean 2-3, 2B, RBI; Morris (PH) 1-1; DeRose 6.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (6-3); Walters 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (14);

So that was now four hits allowed for the Coons’ starters, and seven runs (six earned) in the two games.

(looks up to the baseball gods, all snickering on a funny looking cloud)

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Perez – 2B Bean – P C. Fox
ATL: CF N. Thayer – C M. Nieto – SS Sowell – 3B Wilken – RF Ellwood – LF Abercrombie – 1B Moya – 2B Messer – P En. Ortiz

The rubber game got out of paw really quickly, with Thayer and Nieto hitting singles through either hole to begin the bottom 1st before Fox issued three 1-out walks to Wilken, Ellwood, and Abercrombie, forcing in two runs, and giving up a third marker on Joaquin Moya’s deep sac fly. Paul Messer grounded out then. Fox remained vintage awful after that, giving up a leadoff single to Ortiz in the bottom 2nd, but Thayer hit into a double play, then walked Nieto. Sowell made the third out, but Wilken hit another leadoff single in the third. Fox made an error in the fourth, and didn’t strike out anybody at all through five while getting supported with more double plays; Wilken had been doubled off in the third inning, and Sowell was doubled off after drawing a leadoff walk (…) in the fifth. Abercrombie became Fox’ sole strikeout in the game in the bottom 6th, after which he was whisked away.

And the offense? Dead on arrival. They managed all of two hits and a walk in seven innings against the formerly fisticuffed Ortiz, and weren’t remotely close to scoring a run all game long. Bravo was just as awful as Fox in the seventh, walking two and giving up an RBI single to Sowell. Lane was just as bad and gave up a run and loaded the bases in the bottom 8th before being rescued by Paul Barton, who got two pops on the infield from Sowell and Wilken to sort out that mess. The offense remained pathetic and was held to two hits by Ortiz and Steve Watson. 5-0 Knights.

Raccoons (27-21) vs. Falcons (21-25) – May 27-29, 2061

After grossly failing to pounce on the last-place Knights in Atlanta, the Raccoons would get a shot at the fifth-place Falcons at home. The Falcons were worst in the CL in hitting homers (just 14 for the entire team), and had allowed the most runs overall with a bottom-quarter rotation *and* bullpen, not that the Raccoons had exactly beaten the living **** out of the worst rotation in the entire league just earlier. We led the Falcons 2-1 this year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (2-1, 2.24 ERA) vs. Andres Lopez (3-5, 4.87 ERA)
Bobby Sneeze (0-1, 6.55 ERA) vs. Hector Gutierrez (1-2, 4.61 ERA)
Nick Robinson (4-3, 3.71 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (4-4, 3.81 ERA)

The Falcons had been off on Thursday and had leeway to move Phil Baker (6-2, 3.41 ERA) into the series. As scheduled, they would bring up two southpaws in the first two games of the series.

The Coons needed one more start from Bobby Sneeze – gesundheit! – and then could go without a fifth starter and thus wait out Tyler Riddle’s return until June 11.

Game 1
CHA: LF Snyder – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – 3B D. Espinosa – SS Hullander – CF M. Estrada – P An. Lopez
POR: LF Ayala – SS Nye – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Caswell – 2B Ortega – 3B Gonzales – P B. Herrera

The Raccoons got up 2-0 in the second inning on the second career homer by Bernie Ortega, who socked one over the fence in left with Angel Perez on base. The score got opened further in the third inning; Ayala got on base thanks to an error by Danny Espinosa to begin the inning and was driven in by Brassfield with a hit to left-center. Lopez nicked Starr, and Perez singled home Brassfield then, 4-0, with Joel Starr rushing to third base and one out. Cas struck out and Ortega grounded to Espinosa for … Espinosa’s second error of the inning! That one allowed Starr to score, and brought up David Gonzales, who grounded out to actually end the inning this time.

There were few complaints about Bobby Herrera’s pitching in the game. He pitched well with a 0-0 score and also with a 5-0 score, although the Falcons got two singles with one out in the sixth, and Brendan Snyder would first go to third base on Jesus Valcarcel’s hit, then scored on Danny Ceballos’ grounder to reduce the lead to 5-1. Danny Espinosa then took Tipsy Bobby deep to right in the seventh, although he finished the inning with a 5-2 lead, and after the stretch the Mets had three on and nobody out with a Brass double to left, Star walking, and Perez reaching on an error by Takuro Yoshikawa. Cas lobbed a single to center on which everybody moved up 90 feet, and Jordan Ramos walked in a run against Ortega before being yanked for Matt Malone, the left-hander. David Gonzales hit another RBI single to left against him. Fowler hit a sac fly in Bobby H.’s spot, and Ayala hit a single that restocked the bases, from where Nick Nye knobbed ‘nother sac fly before Brass’ 2-out single brought in the sixth run of the inning, three-and-counting of which were unearned. Starr also clubbed in one more run, and then Perez’ grounder to Yoshikawa ended the inning with a 7-spot. Brass and Nye then got the rest of the game off, replaced by Joe-Chris and Bean.

Mike Lane had another terrible outing in the eighth, allowing two walks and two RBI singles to Valcarcel and Danny Ceballos. Barton then finished the game in the ninth inning without further waste of pitches. 12-4 Raccoons! Ayala 2-5; Brassfield 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Starr 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Caswell 2-5, RBI; Ortega 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-1);

Joel Starr got a very rare day off against the second lefty in a row here.

Game 2
CHA: LF Snyder – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – 3B D. Espinosa – SS Hullander – CF Tomko – P H. Gutierrez
POR: RF Ayala – SS Nye – 1B Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – LF Morris – 2B Ortega – 3B Gonzales – P Sneeze

Caswell raced down an Espinosa drive to end the first inning with runners all over, but nobody actually scoring off Sneeze, then scored the game’s first run himself in the bottom 2nd with a leadoff single against Gutierrez, who walked Perez, and gave up an RBI double to Morris. Perez scored on Gonzales’ groundout, but Morris was left on base, and the score was 2-0 after the second inning. Ayala opened the third inning with a double, but was also left stranded.

The Falcons had the bags full again in the fourth inning, then with one out. Espinosa had begun the inning with a lineout to Brass, but then Joe Hullander walked, Chris Tomko singled, and Bobby S. sneezed on Gutierrez’ bunt, then had it glitch out of his paw for an error. Morris then caught a Brendan Snyder fly to left on a 3-2 pitch. Hullander went for home, Morris’ throw was wild, and the trailing runners advanced on the throwing error, then scored both on a Valcarcel single to left that flipped the score to 3-2 Charlotte. Ceballos popped out to end the inning. All runs were unearned.

Sneeze (wipes nose) didn’t give up an earned run through the 6.1 innings he pitched, but left trailing 3-2 for Ricky Herrera to rise from the dead and face Ceballos in the seventh inning, getting a pop to shallow left and a groundout from Luis Miranda. Bottom 7th, David Gonzales strung a leadoff single to left to put his bum on base as the tying run. Starr then batted for Ricky H., but had to lay off the garbage and drew a walk rather than doing big damage. But the Falcons hung with Gutierrez, who hung one to Ayala that got dished down the line for an RBI double, and the game was tied, with two Critters in scoring position. Nick Nye was walked intentionally, Brass hit into a force at home plate to Espinosa, but Gutierrez then lost the zone and walked in the go-ahead run against Cas. Lefty Steve White relieved Gutierrez, who was still charged with another run on Perez’ sac fly to center, but the inning ended when Morris grounded out. Ruben Mendez struck out two in a quick top 8th, and the Coons tacked on with Bernie Ortega’s double and a pinch-hit RBI single by Tim Fuller against White in the bottom of the inning. Ayala singled, Nye walked, and Brass found another inning-murdering double play to hit into. Walters then struck out two in the ninth, only briefly being bothered by Brendan Snyder’s 2-out infield single. 6-3 Raccoons. Ayala 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Nye 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Morris 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Fuller (PH) 1-1, RBI;

This was the first W that Ricky Herrera snuck this year after piling up 19 wins between the last two seasons.

Bobby Sneeze (0-1, 4.15 ERA) didn’t allow an earned run, but still was woeful in this game and was sent back to the Alley Cats at this point. Not really knowing who to bring up right now and not needing an extra reliever at the moment, the Raccoons brought up C/1B Marcos Arellano, who was hitting just .245 with two homers in AAA. Not sure how that would translate into winning even more, though.

The Raccoons were half a game out of first place on Sunday morning.

Game 3
CHA: LF Snyder – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – 3B D. Espinosa – CF M. Estrada – SS Hullander – P E. Duran
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Fuller – 2B Bean – P Robinson

Ceballos singled and Miranda doubled, and the Falcons got a first-inning run off Robinson, but then Fowler singled and Starr doubled, and the Raccoons… were only in scoring position at that point, but tied it up on Brass’ groundout, then took a lead on Cas’ 2-out single, 2-1. Nye then hit another double, but Cas held at third base after a slow start – did he *really* look fresh and recovered…? Honeypaws was shaking his head, too! – and both were stranded on Fuller’s groundout. Bottom 2nd, Jon Bean singled and Robinson’s bunt was bungled by Duran, allowing the Raccoons to score another run with two productive outs from their 1-2 batters before Starr was punched out by Duran, who opened the next half-inning with a looping single to center, but Robinson struck out the Falcons’ 1-2 and got a fly to center from Ceballos.

Robinson then wobbled into a bases-loaded situation in the fourth inning. Miranda and Yoshikawa drew leadoff walks and Mario Estrada hit a 1-out single. Hullander had to wait out a pep talk by the pitching coach on the hill, then grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice to Nye. Duran made the third out, leaving the Falcons a run short at 3-2. The fifth was almost as laborious with four long at-bats, even if only Valcarcel reached with a single and was left on first base. At this stage, the Indians had lost their Sunday game and the Raccoons looked at first place to finish the week if they could hold on and complete the sweep. Robinson got two more outs, the last of which was nearly a homer or wallbanger for extra bases by Espinosa to right, at which point we went to Bravo. Estrada reached on an error by Bean, but Hullander went down on strikes and the inning gracefully ended after all. Bravo returned in the seventh, walked Snyder with one out, but would face Valcarcel before the lefty .365 stick of Ceballos loomed. Bravo would not face Ceballos in any case, but Valcarcel smacked into a 6-4-3 double play to have Bravo removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom 7th anyway. Morris walked in that spot after Bean’s 1-out double had put a runner in scoring position. But Duran struck out Christopher and Jeff McFadden got a fly to center from Fowler, and we left the runners on base again…

LaBat faced only Ceballos to begin the eighth, gave up a double, and walked to the dugout in shame. Mendez took over, struck out Miranda, but Yoshikawa bounced a ball past Fowler for a game-tying single. Mendez finished the inning, holding the 3-3 tie. Starr and Brass then began the bottom 8th with singles against McFadden. Cas hit a liner over Yoshikawa for another single, and Starr wanted to turn third base but was stopped by the coach there at the last second, and probably for the better because Ceballos was already unleashing a rocket to home plate. Three on, nobody out! Nick Nye next, the Falcons hoped for the double play, but instead were harmed by a bases-clearing triple that went over Ceballos’ reaching glove and into the right-center gap!! Portlaaaaand!! (tosses Honeypaws in the air and catches him again) Three pinch-hitters followed. Ortega walked before McFadden was replaced with lefty Yoshinari Kuroiwa. Angel Perez flew out, but Ayala lobbed an RBI double to tack on a run. Arellano made his Coons debut batting for Christopher and hit a sac fly. Fowler grounded out to end the 5-run assault. Paul Barton retired the Falcons in order in the ninth…! 8-3 Critters! Starr 2-4, 2B; Caswell 2-4, RBI; Nye 2-4, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Bean 2-3, 2B; Ayala (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 23 – Crusaders 2B/SS Ryan Spehar (.227, 0 HR, 14 RBI) could miss three months to have his torn rotator cuff fixed.
May 26 – Dallas SP Brian Fuqua (2-1, 3.78 ERA) could be out for a full year with a plus-sized tear in his rotator cuff.
May 27 – The Blue Sox trade OF Elmer Maldonado (.323, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to the Condors for three prospects.
May 28 – WAS SP Trevor Justesen (2-4, 4.13 ERA) could be out for the season; the 24-year-old sophomore was down with a pretty bad case of shoulder inflammation.
May 28 – The Warriors slap the Miners, 15-0. Every starting position players on the Warriors has at least one hit and scores at least one run. Only C Felix Rivera (.306, 2 HR, 17 RBI) doesn’t get an RBI, while CF/LF Cory Oldfield (.236, 4 HR, 32 RBI) leads the team with four RBI while hitting nothing more than a single.

FL Player of the Week: NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.326, 15 HR, 36 RBI), batting .474 (9-19) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 2B/3B Ian Woodrome (.317, 6 HR, 23 RBI), bashing .650 (13-20) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

First place!! The Raccoons were in last place on April 27, but rose somewhat steadily from there on a tremendous 22-7 run to the top of the CL North. But it looks like the Crusaders are now also waking up, making their first pronounced foray above .500 at 27-24.

Meanwhile we still struggle to find a leadoff man, and I’d very much like to refill our infield with Nick Fox and Lonzo. Both should come off the DL next week, although Fox might do a few games’ worth of rehab.

Speaking of injuries, Tyler Riddle was sent on a rehab assignment on Thursday. Also new in AAA was Jack Kozak, who cleared waivers and was assigned to the Alley Cats on Saturday.

Platinum prospect Jose Corral, hitting .266 with a homer in AAA, will miss at least a month with a rotator cuff strain, threatening to close the door on an age 20 debut with the big league team.

We have a road trip to Vegas and Milwaukee next week. After that Loggers series we will stay west of the mountains for a month with the furthest trip being a series in San Francisco.

Fun Fact: Grant Anker of the Bayhawks has 52 RBI in 50 games, with nobody within a quarter of that tally.

Anker, a #1 pick and #1 prospect, made his debut in 2056 and still won’t turn 25 until after this season. He has played in 575 games so far, batting .278/.340/.491 with 625 hits, of which 123 were doubles, 38 triples, and 94 homers – or 41% of his hit total have gone for extra bases. In 2059 he managed to lead the league in doubles (41) *and* triples (18) at the same time, and still socked 19 homers for a total of 78 extra-base knocks. That year he hit .297 and won his only accolades so far, an All Star nomination and a Platinum Stick.