[Westheim]

Raccoons (59-60) vs. Miners (57-61) – August 14-16, 2062

The Miners were 8 1/2 games back in the FL East and probably done with contending for the year. They ranked in the bottom half in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Federal League. They had the third-lowest batting average, and the second-fewest stolen bases. The Raccoons had swept the Miners in a meeting last season.

Projected matchups:
John Bollinger (5-3, 3.81 ERA) vs. Mark Fitzthum (8-7, 4.69 ERA)
Angel Alba (8-10, 3.10 ERA) vs. Sean Sweeton (9-8, 3.27 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-9, 3.70 ERA) vs. Cory Ritter (8-9, 5.09 ERA)

Again an all right-handed set. Ritter had the worst ERA, but the most strikeouts of the Miners starters.

Game 1
PIT: CF Blake – LF Winger – 1B M. Velazquez – C Dingman – RF Angulo – 3B Villalba – 2B Hullander – SS Medlock – P Fitzthum
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Crumble – 3B Fowler – 2B White – RF Corral – C Robertson – P Bollinger

Nick Dingman hit a scratch over .300 with 33 dingers to his name, with only 21 home runs for the rest of the Miners lineup combined. As a matter of fact, there were only 31 homers in the Raccoons’ lineup as well to begin this day… It was 32 after Malik Crumble’s 2-piece with Starr on base in the third inning, which was the first scoring of the day, although the Miners would make up one of the runs as soon as Bollinger walked Angel Angulo and gave up a double to Joe Hullander in the top 4th. That was about all the excitement before the stretch, with the exception of Lonzo hitting a single and stealing #712 before being left on base in the fifth inning. Dingman dingled, uh, singled off Rocco in the eighth inning but was doubled up on Angulo’s grounder to Jim White, and after the Raccoons couldn’t tack on, they sent in Walters for the ninth. I closed my eyes, but he struck out Raul Villalba and Hullander before Stephen Medlock lined out softly to Lonzo. 2-1 Blighters. Starr 1-2, 2 BB; Crumble 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Bollinger 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (6-3);

Joe Robertson had a single in his first ABL at-bat, then made two more outs after that.

Game 2
PIT: CF Blake – 3B Villalba – C Dingman – 2B Hullander – 1B Winger – RF A. Cruz – LF W. Sanchez – SS Medlock – P Sweeton
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Crumble – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – RF Corral – C Arellano – P Alba

Alba retired the first eight before clipping Sweeton, which led to an angry single by Troy Blake and then a hack for a strikeout on Villalba. Lonzo and Nick Fox had singles for Portland the first time through, and one of them went for it and was caught trying to steal a base – and it wasn’t Lonzo! (blinks) Maud, is this real life…!?

Nick Fox made up for the shenanigans in the fourth inning by singling in the game’s first run with two outs, bringing in Starr and his 1-out double. Bean flew out to leftfielder Willie Sanchez, but Corral led off the bottom 5th with a double to right, briefly rejuvenating that .149 average that had him on demotion watch. Morris would plate him with another 2-out single, then was also caught stealing to end the inning.

Alba in the fourth allowed 2-out singles to Curtis Winger and Antonio Cruz before getting Sanchez to pop out. Winger was at the front of the offense again in the seventh, hitting a single to lead off before Medlock and Sweeton (…) with two outs also lobbed soft singles to get him around to score and cut the lead in half. Mike Velazquez then pinch-hit and popped out foul behind the plate, bringing on the stretch. Corral and Arellano got on base in the bottom of the inning, but both Alba and Morris struck out. Alba returned to the hill to issue a leadoff walk to Villalba before Dingman ran into his 34th homer to flip the score with a blaster to left-center. Alba got through the inning, but had another L cemented for him when Paul Barton went out for the ninth inning, got splattered all around the ballpark for four hits and as many runs once Joe Hullander parked one in the leftfield stands, but the Raccoons weren’t gonna score again for him anyway… 7-2 Miners. Starr 2-3, BB, 2B; N. Fox 2-3, BB, RBI; Alba 8.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (8-11);

Game 3
PIT: CF Blake – 3B Villalba – C Dingman – SS Medlock – 2B Hullander – RF N. Daniels – 1B Angulo – LF Winger – P Ritter
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B White – 3B N. Fox – LF Kozak – RF Corral – C Arellano – P C. Fox

Dingman dished a double in the first, then a sharp single in the third off Chance Fox, but never had somebody to drive in on the base paths and then was promptly stranded. The Coons again showed no offense to speak of. Arellano was nicked on base to begin the bottom 3rd, but didn’t progress much after Chance Fox failed to bunt him onwards, while in the bottom 4th the Coons loaded them up with Kozak, Corral, and Arellano all with two outs before arriving at Foxie Brown’s spot again. It was way too early and didn’t matter nearly enough to pinch-hit for the pitcher in this situation, and Fox’ pop to short ended the inning and kept the game scoreless. Fox then got upended by the top half of the Miners lineup in the fifth inning. Blake hit a 2-out single and stole second, while Villalba walked. Dingman and Medlock both hit sharp RBI singles before Hullander grounded out to Nick Fox to end the shambles. To anybody’s surprise and certainly mine and Honeypaws’, the Raccoons then tied the game in the bottom 5th on a Starr single and Jim White’s 2-run homer.

Nathan Daniels opened the sixth with a single, but was forced out by Angulo, who was then doubled up on Winger’s grounder. Not sure why Curtis Winger wasn’t hitting flyballs. Not too bothered by it, though. The Raccoons put Kozak and Arellano on base, but after Fox’ bunt Morris grounded out meekly and the game remained tied at two. Fox reached the stretch on 105 pitches and by retiring Villalba – he wouldn’t have gotten Dingman again, who had gone unretired by him. Pohlmann didn’t have any luck either in the eighth, allowing another single to Dingman, who was then suffering the Daniels fate from two innings earlier as the Miners went down on a fielder’s choice and a double play with their 4-5 batters. Walters got around a leadoff walk to Danny Wallet in the ninth inning, giving the Raccoons a chance to walk it off, if only they could actually wake the **** up now. Justin Round retired Arellano, Crumble, and Morris in order, sending the game to extras.

Murdock was out for the tenth, gave up a leadoff single to Blake, and then the loudest knock that Dingman hat dinged yet in the game, but he got under it and after waiting forever for it to be beaten by gravity, Jose Corral made the catch on the edge of the warning track. Blake was left on base, while Round returned for Pittsburgh in the bottom 10th and ran a full count to Lonzo, who grounded out, then ran more full counts to Starr, White, and Nick Fox – all of whom walked to fill the bases for Kozak with one out. Kozak, the despicable fool, poked at a 1-1 pitch, and only escaped getting yelled at because he actually singled to center to end the game. 3-2 Blighters. Starr 2-4, BB; Kozak 3-5, RBI; Arellano 1-2, BB; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

This was Murdock’s first decision of the year!

Raccoons (61-61) @ Indians (70-51) – August 18-20, 2062

The Indians held a 1-game lead entering the weekend and needed to get up on the Raccoons, who held a 6-6 tie in the season series so far. The Indians brought the #2 offense and #6 pitching with a +80 run differential. Their rotation as middling, but they had a very good pen and defense.

Projected matchups:
Jose Rosa (0-3, 7.66 ERA) vs. Antonio Pichardo (11-10, 4.15 ERA)
Freddy Castillo (2-1, 2.61 ERA) vs. Justin DeRose (2-2, 5.64 ERA)
John Bollinger (6-3, 3.52 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (10-9, 3.12 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday!

That’s all the excitement we have left.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Crumble – 3B Fowler – 2B White – RF Corral – C Arellano – P Rosa
IND: 2B Kilday – LF Brassfield – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – CF S. Thompson – 3B Blackshire – SS Cirelli – P Pichardo

Brassfield was hitting .293 with 3 homers since being traded to Indy and had a pair of leadoff singles with Matt Kilday in the bottom 1st. Danny Starwalt would pop out, while the runners went on a 2-2 to Alex Gomez, who whiffed, and the inning died with Brassfield being thrown out at second base, which also kept Lonzo a notch ahead of Kilday, 38 stolen bases to 37 on the year. Fowler led off the top 2nd with a single, but White flew out. Jose Corral also flew out – to a kiddo in the seventh row up in the rightfield stands! FIRST CAREER HOMER!! ******* FINALLY!!!

Arellano got on base after the Corral homer, but was left on third base. The third inning was uneventful even for Rosa, while Jim White led off the fourth with a single to right-center. He was running when Corral slapped a single to left-center, making it to third base, ahead of Marcos Arellano, who also mashed the first home run of his season, a no-doubt 3-piece to left that saw Pichardo exit for right-hander Tim Moore, with Indy down 5-0.

Rosa follied his way into the fifth, then allowed a leadoff hit to Steve Thompson before walking Eric Cirelli and Mike Weber with one down. Clean RBI singles by Kilday and Brass got Rosa yanked two outs shy of completing five innings. Murdock inherited the ball with the tying runs aboard in a 5-2 game, gave up a real spanker to Danny Starwalt, but it went right at Fowler at third base, who picked, tapped, and fired to first for a 5-3 double play to boogie out of the inning. The Coons then tried to make ends meet from the pen. Murdock got one more out in the sixth after bunting and reaching on an error in between before Ricky H. got four outs, then gave up two singles and was replaced with Pohlmann, who gave up an RBI single to Brass, 5-3, and walked Starwalt in the seventh before Alex Gomez kindly grounded out to leave the bases loaded. The trouble didn’t stop with Rocco in the eighth either as both Thompson and Cirelli reached base and were left stranded eventually. It was instead left to Walters to blow the rest of the lead in the ninth inning, allowing a leadoff single to Kilday and then a homer to – of course! – Brassfield. Starwalt also reached base, but the Indians then twice hit into fielder’s choices and this game, too, slipped to extras. It didn’t remain in extras for long. The Coons went in order against Cody Kleidon in the 10th inning, while Corey Barrett started off with a four-pitch walk to Dave Blackshire, another ex-Coon. Cirelli bunted the winning run to second, Bryan Johnston had a pinch-hit single to left, and when Kilday hit a fly to Moreno in right, Blackshire went for home, beat the throw, bowled over Arellano, who went flying, and scored the winning run. 6-5 Indians. Starr 3-5, 2B; Corral 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Arellano 3-3, HR, 3 RBI;

Arellano was hurting on Saturday and was unable to play. The Raccoons optioned the useless Barrett (0-1, 5.00 ERA) and brought up another cannon fodder catcher in 22-year-old Miguel Guinea, a ninth-rounder from four years back, who was hitting all of .217 in St. Pete. We only had 22-year-olds or Cortez Chavez left, and Cortez Chavez wasn’t gonna be it anymore.

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Crumble – 3B Fowler – 2B White – RF Corral – C Robertson – P Castillo
IND: 2B Kilday – RF B. Johnston – C A. Gomez – 1B Starwalt – LF Brassfield – CF S. Thompson – 3B Blackshire – SS Cirelli – P DeRose

The Arrowheads had stuck DeRose in their rotation, where he had gone 1-2 with a 9.36 ERA in five games. Good move! Of course he was gonna pitch a shutout against the Coons.

Through four the Coons had one hit, so that was going GREAT, while the Indians put pairs on base in the first and second, and also left them on base against Castillo, who had a clean third, then allowed a leadoff single to Brass, a double to Thompson, a sac fly to Blackshire, and a 2-out RBI single to DeRose to fall 2-0 behind in the inning. (facepaws audibly)

Castillo did not allow much else through seven innings, but perhaps he had already allowed enough, because the ******* Raccoons couldn’t hold a ******* candle to Justin DeRose, let alone a baseball bat. They were stuck on one hit until the seventh inning when Crumble and Fowler hit 2-out singles, but White grounded out and the effort was moot. The eighth was just pain from Corral, Nick Fox, and Kozak, and it got worse when the Indians, leading 2-0 still, sent DeRose out again for the ninth inning. Morris made a very loud lineout to Kilday, at which point they came to their senses and sent Kleidon, who got the last two outs from Lonzo and Starr. 2-0 Indians.

(looks like he’s about to murder)

Game 3
POR: LF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 1B Kozak – 2B White – RF Moreno – 3B N. Fox – CF Morris – C Robertson – P Bollinger
IND: 2B Kilday – LF Brassfield – 1B Starwalt – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – CF S. Thompson – 3B Blackshire – SS Cirelli – P DeWitt

Nick Fox had a single and apart from that DeWitt mowed down the Raccoons for eight strikeouts in five innings. Bollinger didn’t allow *any* hits through five innings, whiffing four, but both were near 70 pitches already with lots of busy counts. Joe Robertson hit a leadoff single in the sixth only to be doubled off on a ***** bunt by Bollinger, and then Crumble whiffed to give DeWitt nine strikeouts. DeWitt then also took the no-hitter away with a 1-out single to right in the bottom 6th, then scored on a wallbanger double by Brass with two outs. Bollinger lost Starwalt on balls, then gave up another double for two runs to Alex Gomez before being dismissed. Ricky H. got the last out on a Chris Lovins grounder, while Lonzo drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, stole a base, and then came around on two productive outs for a pity run, 3-1. Herrera would get five outs across three innings without getting annihilated for something novel, while Pohlmann then got the last two outs in the bottom 8th. The Raccoons were up against right-hander Melvin Guerra in the ninth inning. Corral grounded out, but the top of the order got the tying runs aboard with 1-out singles by Crumble and Lonzo. Starr batted for Kozak, and soon had the runners in scoring position on account of a wild pitch by Guerra. Guerra then fell to 3-1, gave up a sharp single up the middle, and both runners scored to tie the game at three…! Hyun-soo Bak replaced Guerra (they had MORE ex-Coons??), allowing a single to White, but Moreno whiffed and Fox grounded out to end the inning before Pohlmann in the #7 spot would have been hit for. He returned for the bottom 9th, much to the delight of Chris Lovins, who waited out a Gomez single and then cranked a walkoff homer to right-center. 5-3 Indians. Starr (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;

In other news

August 15 – Blue Sox OF/3B/1B Fernando Aracena (.281, 0 HR, 38 RBI) will miss a month after suffering a strained hammy.
August 15 – Both SS Jason Turner (.272, 14 HR, 65 RBI) and LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.261, 22 HR, 68 RBI) churn the Loggers for five base hits in a 17-6 rout that is mostly on the board after a 10-run third inning. Vaughn hits only singles for three RBI, while Turner hits a 3-run homer and drives in four runs total.
August 17 – The Wolves score seven runs on seven hits, all seven runs coming in the seventh inning on the 17th of the month, to beat Sacramento, 7-4.
August 19 – SFW 1B Raul Sevilla (.282, 2 HR, 8 RBI) reaches 2,000 base hits in his part time role in a 6-5 win against the Stars. The milestone is the front piece in a 2-for-4 day, a fourth-inning single against DAL SP Ian Peters (11-7, 3.61 ERA).
August 19 – Thunder SP Jake Frensley (11-7, 3.32 ERA) 3-hits the Knights for a 5-0 shutout.
August 19 – The Buffaloes’ 2B/SS Ken Sowell (.244, 22 HR, 86 RBI) goes deep for a 1-0 win against the Capitals.
August 20 – The Crusaders have three separate innings of 5+ runs in a 17-4 rush of the Loggers. New York gets 12 hits and 12 walks from the Loggers staff.

FL Player of the Week: RIC LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.263, 23 HR, 70 RBI), batting .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA OF Ken Hummel (.303, 14 HR, 58 RBI), hitting .560 (14-25) with 1 HR, 1 RBI

Complaints and stuff

**** week. Lonzo taking two bases was the second-best part of it. The best part should be obvious, allowing me to finally go all “told you so!” on Cristiano Carmona.

Miguel Guinea is already the fifth catcher to suit up for the Raccoons this year, appearing as defensive replacement after Robertson (who?) was hit for on Saturday, catching one inning. Arellano is still being processed by Luis Silva, and we might get a third catcher up in 12 more days, so there’s potential for yet more catching… talent?

Nope, sorry, still not over Justin DeRose getting within two outs of a complete-game shutout against the Raccoons. (swipes all the boxes with donuts off the table in the clubhouse) NO SWEETS FOR SUCKERS!!! – (watches with frustration how the Critters just keep nomming the donuts on the ground) … Sometimes I forget that they’re just plus-sized rats, really.

Monday is off, and then the team will travel home by Elk City. After that there’s a 10-game homestand with the Knights, Thunder, and Titans that will bring us straight into September.

Fun Fact: Jose Corral’s first career homer came on his 113th at-bat.

He then quickly went another 1-for-7 from there to the end of the week.

The .229 BABIP is the only thing keeping him alive. And that homer of course.