[Westheim]

The week for the Raccoons began with an off day and transit to Siberia, where they could remain for all I cared. But Marcos Arellano was moved to the DL with a sprained ankle that would cost him about a month, so the Coons were now stuck with a pair of catchers holding a total of eight at-bats’ worth of experience in the majors. Rich Read was recalled from St. Pete to make up the numbers in the pen – we had been on six relievers and three catchers at the end of last week.

Raccoons (61-64) @ Canadiens (67-56) – August 22-24, 2062

The Elks were up 7-5 in the season series on the Critters and needed more wins because at six games out they still had a non-trivial chance to make the playoffs here. This was despite a mediocre offense, half-decent pitching, and a -4 run differential. Starter Rafael Mendoza and infielder Kenny Graves were on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (8-11, 3.12 ERA) vs. Ken Nielsen (13-10, 3.03 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-9, 3.65 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (8-11, 4.73 ERA)
Jose Rosa (0-3, 7.09 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (9-9, 4.01 ERA)

Fitzgibbon was the resident left-handed starter in Elk City.

Miguel Guinea, who did not have a major-league at-bat yet, but was a left-handed batter, would get his first start and second appearance as backstop in the opener.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Crumble – 3B Fowler – 2B White – RF Corral – C Guinea – P Alba
VAN: 2B A. Castillo – LF D. Garcia – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Richardson – CF B. Campbell – 3B C. Sullivan – C A. Maldonado – SS Pierson – P Nielsen

Ken Nielsen was perhaps the most runnable-against pitcher in the league and Lonzo wasted no time when he reached on Preston Pierson’s error in the first inning and scooped #40 on the year and the 714th of his career, seven shy of Pablo Sanchez’s career mark. Starr walked behind him, but somebody Crumbled into a double play and that was the inning. While Alba allowed one base hit through four innings, the Raccoons had Miguel Guinea hit leadoff singles in his first two at-bats, beginning the third and fifth innings. He was left on third base the first time out and about, but in the fifth inning he was on the corners with Ben Morris and two outs when Joel Starr buried a ball in the gap for a 2-run double, the first markers on the board. Crumble grounded out to short to end the inning. The Elks continued to fire blanks against Alba, who reached the stretch on six strikeouts and a 2-hitter, then walked Chris Richardson out of the gate in the bottom 7th. Brent Campbell’s comebacker was taken for a 1-6-3 double play, though, and Chris Sullivan flew out easily to Crumble to complete another inning, with Alba on 86 pitches. The Elks got him over 100 with a 2-out at-bat that ended in a single for Rafael Roldan in the bottom 8th and Alex Castillo’s following groundout. With the way the pen was going right now, Alba would get the ball again in the ninth, though, regardless of further offensive output by the Critters, of which there was none against Brian Doster in the late innings. Alba began the ninth with a full count against Danny Garcia, who then hit a high F7 near the line for Crumble for the first out on Alba’s 108th pitch. Jose Campos flew out to center, but Chris Richardson thumped a homer to break up the shutout, the DASTARDLY FIEND!! Campbell’s fly to center sent Morris back then, but the catch was made and Alba settled for a complete-game 3-hitter. 2-1 Blighters. Starr 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Guinea 2-4; Alba 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, W (9-11);

Clean donuts were restored to Angel Alba and Joel Starr for giving it to the damn Elks, although they hadn’t appeared to mind the ones on the floor last week at all.

Game 2
POR: CF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B White – LF Kozak – RF Moreno – 3B N. Fox – C Robertson – P C. Fox
VAN: 2B A. Castillo – LF D. Garcia – 1B J. Campos – CF B. Campbell – RF C. Cardenas – 3B C. Sullivan – SS Spalding – C Orphanos – P Fitzgibbon

Fitzgibbon issued walks to Lonzo and Jim White in the first inning, but nobody could buy a hit and they were left stranded. Lonzo was on base again with one out in the third inning, then on a single. Starr also singled, and Jim White jumped on a hanger and belted a 3-run homer to left to break the ice in the frozen hellhole up North. Kozak singled to right after that, but got doubled up by Jorge Moreno’s grounder to end the inning. Chance Fox then had an inning from hell himself in the bottom 3rd. He retired the first eight Elks for no base hits, but then surrendered back-to-back 1-out doubles to Fitzgibbon (…) and Castillo. Nick Fox’ error put Danny Garcia on base and the tying runs on the corners. Campos’ sac fly narrowed the score to 3-2, while Campbell’s single moved the tying run to third base, where it remained when Chad Cardenas lined out to Nick Fox. Chance Fox needed 60 pitches to get through just three innings.

Top 4th, Nick Fox flew out to begin the inning before Robertson singled. Chance Fox’ bunt was thrown away by Mike Orphanos, though, and there was now a pair in scoring position. Crumble’s strikeout and Lonzo’s grounder to Chris Sullivan left them exactly there. Crumble struck out again with Nick Fox in scoring position to end the sixth, while Chance Fox would go six innings on 98 pitches, allowing just one more hit to the Elks and whiffing eight in total before getting relieved. Pohlmann saw off the bottom of the order in the seventh, then allowed a leadoff hit to Castillo in the eighth. Garcia double to right-center, with Castillo thrown out at home by Jorge Moreno, with Garcia now carrying the tying run to third base. The Coons went to Murdock, who struck out Campos, and when left-hooved Damian Moreno pinch-hit for Campbell, Rocco, but Rocco gave up a sharp RBI single and the lead was gone. Erik Swain silenced the already silent Critters in the ninth inning while Rich Read gave up a leadoff walk to Sullivan, who was bunted to second base and scored on a pinch-hit, 2-out RBI single by Preston Pierson… 4-3 Canadiens. Kozak 2-4;

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Crumble – 3B Fowler – 2B White – RF Corral – C Robertson – P Rosa
VAN: 2B A. Castillo – C A. Maldonado – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Richardson – CF B. Campbell – 3B C. Sullivan – LF C. Cardenas – SS Spalding – P Kozloski

Rosa retired the first five batters he faced, but to make up for that display of semi competence then got stomped on for five straight 2-out hits and four runs to derail the rubber game quite early. Cardenas drove in two runs with a homer, while Kozloski and Castillo plated a guy each. Leadoff hits by Campos and Richardson and Campbell’s sac fly added an Elks run in the third inning, at which point Rosa’s ERA was over eight again and he had punched his ticket to St. Pete. He was used up through five innings, getting battered for a grand total of eleven base hits and seven runs, the Elks tacking on one more marker in each inning, including Richardson going yard in the fifth. Kozloski in the meantime allowed one hit through five innings in a proper no-contest, which continued with Paul Barton getting socked for two hits, two walks, and two runs in the sixth inning. Rich Read walked a pair, but didn’t give up a run (!) in the seventh. Ricky Herrera also didn’t allow a run in the eighth inning… but allowed leadoff singles to Richardson and Campbell before walking Steven Spalding with two outs, and never mind Cardenas’ deep drive to left that was caught on the warning track in between there… The Elks aimed for the 3-hit shutout held by Kozloski at this point and allowed him to bat, striking out to leave the bases loaded. Starr hit another single in the ninth inning, but Kozloski finished his shutout with strikeouts against Guinea and Fowler. 9-0 Canadiens. N. Fox (PH) 1-1;

Of seven games played on Thursday, this was the only one that was not a 1-run game, so the Raccoons got beaten worse than all other teams got beaten by on Thursday COMBINED.

Jose Rosa (0-4, 7.96 ERA) had company from Paul Barton (0-0, 6.75 ERA) on the bus to St. Petersburg. I had my eyes on a 25-year-old no-good starter in AAA to give us a few innings down the stretch, but he wasn’t gonna pitch until next week and was not brought up quite yet. We instead picked two garbage relievers. Have you heard of our saviors, Bryan Erickson and J.J. Sensabaugh?

I know, I know…

Raccoons (62-66) vs. Knights (52-75) – August 25-27, 2062

The fifth-place Knights were about twice as far off the pace in the South as the fifth-place Coons in the North, although both were just looking forward to October and some time off by now. The Knights had won four straight games, but overall were getting waffled for the second-most runs surrendered. Combined with a middling offense, that gave them a -89 run differential (Coons: +14). The Raccoons had already claimed the season series, 5-1.

Projected matchups:
Freddy Castillo (2-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (8-11, 5.46 ERA)
John Bollinger (6-3, 3.63 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (6-13, 4.60 ERA)
Angel Alba (9-11, 2.99 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (8-9, 4.08 ERA)

Mediocre right-handers was all the Knights had.

Game 1
ATL: RF K. Fisher – C M. Nieto – CF C. Mata – 1B McIntyre – 3B J. Ojeda – 2B Moya – LF Andon – SS Gallo – P Harman
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – 3B Fowler – 2B White – RF Corral – C Guinea – P Castillo

The Knights made two errors before Lonzo swung a bat, with Ben Morris reaching on a fumble by Joaquin Moya, then stealing second and reaching third on Marco Nieto’s throwing error. When Lonzo *did* swing, he singled to center for a 1-0 lead. Harman hit Starr, who was forced out on Kozak’s grounder, then walked Fowler to fill the bases. Jim White struck out, but Corral poked an 0-2 pitch over Moya’s reaching glove for a 2-out RBI single. The Coons battery then both poked RBI singles to left, 4-0, before Morris held out for ball four in a full count to force in another run. The inning ended with Lonzo flying out to ex-Coon Carlos Mata on the 50th pitch thrown by Harman, who returned for the second, filled the bases again, but buggered out when Guinea lined out to Moya to leave everybody stranded. Josh Abercrombie batted for him in the third inning, singled to center, and Castillo walked Kyle Fisher, threw a wild pitch, and allowed two runs on a Nieto single to get the Knights on the board.

The game remained a mess. Bottom 3rd, Hironobu Hanzawa retired Castillo on a pop before nailing both Morris and Lonzo. The runners took off in protest, and Nieto threw away another baseball, conceding #715 and a run as Morris scored and Lonzo went to third base. Starr then sent Hanzawa to bed with a homer to left. Justin DeJarnatt (who?) got Atlanta out of the inning, after which Castillo allowed a walk to Will McIntyre to begin the fourth, a single to ex-Coon Juan Ojeda, and then got taken well deep by Sal Andon, which made it 8-5 Portland in the fourth. Also: first career home run for the 22-year-old rookie Andon in his third ABL game. The joy is too much for me, I’ll have to numb that with some Capt’n Coma. Castillo allowed another single to J.P. Gallo and an RBI double to Kyle Fisher, then was yanked before inning was over, having gotten bombed for six runs in 3.2 innings. Pohlmann replaced him, left Fisher on base, but was taken deep by Mata to lead off the fifth to narrow the score to 8-7. Three more singles in the sixth allowed Nieto to tie the ******* ballgame at eight runs a side.

Bottom 6th, and Fowler doubled off DeJarnatt to put the go-ahead run (…) into scoring position. White walked, and Corral grounded out to advance the runners. Guinea struck out, but Jorge Moreno got his first Coons RBI’s with a 2-out, 2-run single to right-center, 10-8. Isaac McDaniel replaced DeJarnatt and got Morris out to end the inning. McDaniel then also found himself in a situation with runners on second and third and only one out after Starr singled and Kozak doubled in the seventh. He walked Fowler to fill them up, but White popped out foul and Corral whiffed to end the inning.

The Coons got five outs from Murdock in the seventh and eighth before – with Gallo on base – he beaned Fisher out of the game. Johnny Parker appeared as pinch-runner, and Rocco appeared to get a groundout from Nieto before things could get entirely out of paw again. Bottom 8th, Curt Crater got Guinea and Moreno out before Crumble socked a pinch-hit double in the pitcher’s spot where Morris had once been. Lonzo walked, and another double steal saw Nieto NOT throw the ball away for once, but he also didn’t get Crumble at third base. This was #716 for Lonzo. Starr ended up being walked intentionally then, and Kozak grounded out, leaving a 2-run lead to Matt Walters. Mata flew out to right, and McIntyre flew out to left… entirely out of the park for a 1-out homer, that was. 10-9. Walk to Ojeda, a Moya single. Another single by Andon to center, and Moreno overran the ball for an error. Ojeda scored unimpeded from second base. Gallo grounded out poorly and PH Chris Ziegler popped out to Lonzo, but the ******* game was tied and we were nearly out of relievers already. The Knights tried to help out by sending Takenori Tanizaki, but the Raccoons made two outs before Corral and Guinea hit singles to go to the corners in the bottom 9th. Moreno lined out to short and the game went to extras, where Walters still hung around for no good reason other than a shortage of arms, and then allowed a leadoff bloop single to Parker, but then got a pop and a double play grounder to bugger outta there. The Coons again made two outs against Tanizaki before doing anything in the bottom 10th. Starr singled, and Nick Fox batted for Walters and chugged a double to right. Starr was trying to end the game once and for all, but was thrown out at the plate by Parker.

The Knights hit rockets off Ricky H. in the 11th for no greater gains, and the Knights held on to Tanizaki in the bottom 11th for a lack of great options. Fowler hit a leadoff single to right-center, and White legged out an infield single. Out with Tanizaki, in with Ben Lussier, of all people. Corral hit a soft single in a 3-2 count to load the bases with nobody out for Robertson, who batted for Guinea against the left-handed Lussier. He struck out anyway, but Moreno took another walk to end the game in walkoff fashion. 11-10 Critters. Lavorano 2-5, BB, RBI; Starr 3-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Kozak 2-6, 2B; N. Fox (PH) 1-1, 2B; Fowler 2-4, 3 BB, 2B; White 2-6, BB, 2B; Corral 4-7, RBI; Guinea 2-6, RBI; Moreno (PH) 1-3, BB, 3 RBI;

(fur stands up in all directions)

Lonzo got a day off on Saturday.

Game 2
ATL: 2B A. Vasquez – C M. Nieto – CF J. Parker – LF Abercrombie – 1B C. Rice – SS Moya – 3B Gallo – P Sparks – RF Mata
POR: CF Morris – 2B White – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – RF Corral – 3B N. Fox – SS Bean – C Robertson – P Bollinger

Morris hit a jack on the first pitch offered by Blake Sparks, but the Knights would flip that tally with three unearned runs in the third inning. Kozak dropped a fly by J.P. Gallo after Bollinger had retired the first six. Gallo stole second, was bunted to third by Sparks, illegally batting eighth, and then scored on Mata’s sac fly. A single for Alex Vasquez, once the active stolen base leader before out-ageing Lonzo (he had 14 steals on the year) hit a single, and Marco Nieto went yard to left for a 3-1 Atlanta lead after his really, really bleak Friday. Morris led off the bottom 3rd with a single, but the Knights used White-out for a 6-4-3 double play. Kozak then reached on a Moya error to start the fourth inning. He twice advanced on a productive out, then scored on Sparks’ balk to narrow the score to 3-2.

The Raccoons offered a counter-meltdown in the fifth inning, which began with Sparks grounding out. Mata then struck out, except that Robertson fudged the ball and Mata reached on the uncaught third strike. Bollinger walked Vasquez, and when Nieto grounded to third base, Nick Fox capitally threw that ball away for a run-scoring 2-base error. After a mound conference to calm everybody the **** down, Parker hit a sac fly to left and Abercrombie flew out to center to end the inning. Bollinger was now down 5-2, all runs against him being unearned. It got wickeder yet. Bollinger reached on a 1-out error by Gallo in the bottom 5th and Sparks walked Morris. White grounded out, but Starr strung a single to left to drive in two unearned runs for the brown team. Kozak grounded out to end the inning. (counts on all claws) 5-4 through five innings, and ONE of the nine runs was earned…!?

The Coons then made it yet worse in the sixth, hitting three singles off Sparks and making two outs on the base paths; Corral was caught stealing on a butchered hit-and-run, and Nick Fox was thrown out for the last out trying to go first-to-third on a Robertson single to which Johnny Parker said no. Erickson pitched a 1-2-3 seventh (!), then was hit for with Crumble, who hit a leadoff single to begin the bottom 7th. Curt Crater replaced Sparks, walked White, and gave up a 2-out infield single to Kozak that loaded the bases. For the second time this week then, Jose Corral was up in a fat scoring position with two outs, fell 0-2 behind, and then flicked a single to right-center, this time bringing in two runs to flip the score…! Fox grounded out, and the ball went to Rocco for the eighth, with no concept or plan in general who’d pitch the ninth. With Crumble replacing Kozak in left, Rocco went in the #4 spot, so a 2-inning save was not out of the question. A Parker double and with two outs a screaming Mata liner to center that Morris caught on the slide almost made it no save at all right there in the eighth inning… The Coons did not tack on in the eighth, and Rocco was back out for the ninth. Andon and Gallo were sat down before Chris Ziegler dropped a pinch-hit single with two outs. Carlos Mata singled to right, and Ziegler as the tying run aimed for third base, but got Nick Foxed by Jose Corral, who fired a zinger from rightfield to Fox, who tagged out the runner to end a completely messed up ballgame. 6-5 Critters. Morris 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Corral 2-4, 2 RBI; Bollinger 6.0 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; Rocco 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (13);

Game 3
ATL: 2B A. Vasquez – C M. Nieto – RF J. Parker – LF Abercrombie – 1B C. Rice – SS Moya – 3B Gallo – P A. Jesus – RF Mata
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Crumble – RF Corral – 3B Fowler – C Guinea – 2B Bean – P Alba

Alba retired the Knights on 14 pitches with four first-pitch outs and no runners in the first two innings, then got a 1-0 lead when Corral unloaded a homer to right. Fowler singled, Bean singled, and with two outs Alba singled to left-center as well, driving in Fowler for a second run. Morris’ grounder ended the inning with runners on the corners, though. Starr chipped in a homer to left in the third to extend the lead to 3-0.

Ten straight Knights went down before Nieto drew a walk in a full count in the fourth. Parker then singled, sending Nieto to third base, where he slid in awkwardly and left the game with a bum knee, to be replaced with Chris Ziegler. Alba walked the bags full with a free pass to Abercrombie, then got some counseling on the mound, and after that a Chris Rice grounder to Lonzo for a room service 6-4-3 double play that kept the Knights off the board, but while Fowler homered in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to 4-0, the Knights had the bags full yet again with one out in the fifth. Gallo and Ojeda singled, and Mata was nicked by Alba to fill ‘em up. Straight walked to Vasquez and Ziegler plated two runs, Parker grounded out to score another runner, and Abercrombie’s 2-out single flipped the score to 5-4 Atlanta. Alba was not brought back after that meltdown, but the Raccoons at least stirred up Hanzawa some more in the bottom 5th. Morris walked, Lonzo legged out an infield single, and Starr dropped a single near the line in left and drove in Morris from second base to tie the score at five before the Coons Crumbled into a double play and Corral popped out to waste the effort.

The 5-5 tie somehow survived two busy innings from J.J. Sensabaugh. Past the stretch, Lonzo hit a 1-out single off McDaniel in the bottom 7th and stole another base, inching to within four of Pablo Sanchez. Starr flew out to a hustling Parker in the gap, Crumble was walked intentionally, and Corral popped out to short to leave him on base with the go-ahead run, though. Murdock got four outs and Walters got two to keep the Knights from scoring for the rest of regulation, while the Knights kept rolling the dice with Tanizaki, who had a scoreless eighth and faced Nick Fox in the #9 hole to begin the bottom 9th – Fox having entered with Walters in a double switch. Fox struck out, but Morris singled. And Lonzo found a double play to send the game to overtime, where Walters nicked Abercrombie and allowed a single to Moya, but somehow wobbled through there and came out unharmed on the other side. He was hit for with two outs and Crumble having doubled his way to second base against Tanizaki in the bottom 10th, but the Knights walked Kozak intentionally in that spot and then went to Lussier again. The Raccoons countered with Jorge Moreno to pinch-hit for the lefty-poking Guinea, and got the game to end with a sharp single to left-center that sent Crumble scurrying home from second base. 6-5 Coons. Lavorano 2-5; Starr 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Moreno (PH) 1-1, RBI; Bean 2-4; Sensabaugh 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

August 26 – The Aces beat the Canadiens, 4-3 in 14 innings. Both teams score all but one of their runs in the 14th inning.

FL Player of the Week: NAS RF Austin Gordon (.344, 33 HR, 92 RBI), punching .522 (12-23) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB RF/LF/1B Jose Escalera (.317, 6 HR, 55 RBI), batting .474 (9-19) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

While the Agitator is clamoring for him, no, the new starter brought up for the Tuesday game will not be recent acquisition Jeff Applegate, who had a decent month in St. Pete, but we don’t see him up here quite yet to be honest. The call will go out to Malik Padgitt, a 25-year-old fourth-rounder from 2058. He’s a left-hander with awful control, but he just has to suck less vigorously than Jose Rosa to hold the assignment to the end of the season… So we started the season with four Nicks, and might finish it with two Maliks. Maybe I can find some more on the waiver wire!

Lonzo has by now triggered his vesting option for 2063, so he’ll be back for another $1.25M next year. Yay, 36-year-old shortstop!

Everybody bickers about that old fart we keep running out there, but that old fart is now leading the CL in stolen bases this year (by one over Xavier Reyes) and is just one off the ABL lead Jose Ambriz on the Buffos.

Tyler Riddle should start a rehab assignment with the Alley Cats next week and will probably make three starts there before the end of the AAA season, and then a few more for the Raccoons to end the year.

Seven more games with the Thunder and Titans on this homestand. Rosters will expand on Friday, allowing us to bring up even more lint nobody wants to see in the majors…!

Fun Fact: Matt Walters has a 5.78 FIP.

The worst FIP he ever posted in a season in his career was a 3.01 mark in 2058. That was the year he broke his leg in preseason and then debuted late and was kinda outta shape for the entire season.

And now he’s pitching like he’s on TWO broken legs.