[Westheim]

Raccoons (27-16) @ Bayhawks (19-23) – May 21-23, 2063

The Baybirds had a +3 run differential with the fifth-most runs scored and also fifth-most runs allowed on their stat sheets, which was remarkably close to phony first-place Raccoons, who had a run differential of all of +5 while being 11 games over .500; In San Francisco they were really good at hitting home runs (second in the CL), and had a strong bullpen that put up a sub-3 ERA, but they were smitten with a middling rotation, terrible defense, and two different shortstops you never heard of (Alex Murillo, Dustin Cox) on the DL. Last year’s season series had gone to the Raccoons, 6-3.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (4-0, 2.89 ERA) vs. Joe Chalmers (6-3, 3.21 ERA)
Angel Alba (4-2, 2.76 ERA) vs. Alex Cruzado (3-4, 4.96 ERA)
Chance Fox (4-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. Jon Mendosa (3-1, 3.60 ERA)

The Bayhawks had only righty starters, and had also only played two games in the last four days thanks to a day off on Thursday and a rainout on Sunday. They had another day off coming on Thursday – same for the Raccoons, who however had played 14 straight games coming in, losing only three of those.

Jose Corral was not in the lineup on Monday due to general soreness. Those young ‘uns!

Game 1
POR: CF Kozak – 2B White – 1B Starr – SS Monck – 3B Morales – LF Gonzalez – RF Campos – C Arellano – P Riddle
SFB: RF Paez – C Mathews – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Laws – 3B D. Sandoval – 1B Escalera – SS Leitch – P Chalmers

Riddle made a convincing bid for his first L of the season in the first inning, walking Kyle Mathews, allowing a single to Grant Anker, and then getting thrashed for a 3-run homer to left by professional widowmaker Armando Montoya. The monster Montoya, who had a career OPS+ of 131 while playing a conservatively defensive position, would be up with runners on the corners again in the fifth inning, but then hit into an inning-ending double play to waste a chance with Juan Paez reaching on a Monck error and Grant Anker hitting a shy single to get him there in the first place.

In the meantime, the Raccoons had stacked up four hits in five innings, three of them by leadoff man du jour Jack Kozak, who hit a single in the first and was stranded, a solo homer in the third, and then an RBI single to plate Arellano from second base in the fifth inning and thus single-pawedly got the Raccoons back into a 3-2 game. Tying it up seemed like it was too much to ask, though. They had nothing in the sixth, and in the seventh got Arellano on base with two outs, then batted Corral for Riddle, but Corral struck out to end the inning. Kozak popped out to begin the eighth, which was already a bit of a bummer, and while Jim White hit a scratch single, the 3-4 batters were to be of no particular help. The 3-2 score was maintained by Carrillo and Walters in the seventh and eighth innings, and the Baybirds gave the Raccoons additional help by putting routinely sketchy Steve Watson into the game in the ninth – but the Raccoons went in order. 3-2 Bayhawks. Kozak 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Arellano 2-3;

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – CF Kozak – 1B Starr – SS Monck – LF Crumble – 3B Morales – 2B Bean – C Lawson – P Alba
SFB: RF Paez – CF Laws – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – C L. Marquez – 1B Echols – SS Leitch – P Cruzado

The Bayhawks took a first-inning lead again on Tuesday as Juan Paez doubled to center on an 0-2 pitch to begin Alba’s day and was brought in with a single by Scott Laws. Anker forced out the runner with a grounder, stole second, but was stranded when Montoya grounded out and Dan Sandoval flew out to Corral. The only Critter to reach the first time through was Alba with a 2-out single in the third inning. In exchange for having hit a single, he didn’t strike out anybody in the early innings, but at least was taken off the hook for the moment on Rich Monck’s solo homer to right-center in the fourth inning, tying the game at one.

Morales’ leadoff single in the fifth inning led nowhere, while Alba walked a pair in the bottom 5th but somehow buggered outta there when Monck made a leaping grab on a liner Laws launched at him. Corral walked and Starr singled in the sixth, but Monck and Crumble both flew out rather easily to Anker.

No, the 1-1 tie was broken in the most unlikely way, with Jon Bean hitting a 1-out single to center against Cruzado before Scott Lawson – who had already hit a long fly to Anker his last time up – this time hit a gapper to left-center that fell for a double. Bean swung the hindpaws and scored from first base to break the tie. Lefty Travis Davis replaced Cruzado, getting Alba on a pop before Jim White batted for Corral and drew a 2-out walk in a full count. Kozak then dinked the next pitch into center for a single. Lawson going on contact scored from second base, 3-1. The remaining runners reached scoring position on a passed ball charged to Lorenzo Marquez before Davis walked Starr anyway to fill the bases, but Rich Monck struck out to leave them like that.

Bottom 7th, and Marquez hit a jack on the first pitch to narrow the score to 3-2. Alba put Jonathan Echols on as well before getting Alan Leitch to fly out. When lefty Pat Fowler pinch-hit in the pitcher’s hole, the Raccoons brought in the left-handed Yokoyama, who issued a walk, and then was right away replaced with Pohlmann, who got rid of Paez, but then walked the bags full against Scott Laws. With Anker up, the Raccoons made the third pitching exchange of the inning and brought McDaniel, who grabbed a K on three pitches – so both teams left the bases loaded on a whiff by one of their prime sluggers in the seventh. McDaniel would go on to collect three groundouts in the eighth inning, while the Coons’ offense failed to tack on – Lawson singled but was doubled off by Campos in the top 9th – and the ball went to Carlisle against the bottom of the order in the ninth inning. PH Dave Roura singled, Leitch flew out, and another pinch-hitter, Kyle Hawkins of former Elks’ “fame”, hit into a fielder’s choice to keep the tying run at first base as the lineup flipped over to Paez, who ended the game with a fly to Campos in right. 3-2 Critters. Lawson 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Scott Lawson put up his third career multi-hit game just in time before being sent home to Dallas, getting the ol’ batting average back over .200.

Instead, the Raccoons deleted Tony Gonzalez (.194, 2 HR, 7 RBI), who was trapped in a 2-for-24 rut. We needed another left-handed outfiel- … oh, look, it’s Todd Oley.

Sigh!

Game 3
POR: RF Corral – CF Kozak – 1B Starr – SS Monck – 2B White – 3B Morales – LF Crumble – C Arellano – P Fox
SFB: RF Paez – C Mathews – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Laws – 3B D. Sandoval – 1B Escalera – SS Leitch – P Mendosa

Starr and Monck had hits in the first, but were stranded on Jim White’s fly to right, and Monck flubbed a grounder by Paez to put a guy on base for San Francisco in the bottom 1st, but then turned a 6-4-3 double play against Mathews to clean up behind Chance Fox, who pitched behind in the count a lot, and in the bottom 2nd walked Laws on four pitches before being taken deep to right by Dan Sandoval, and thus the Raccoons trailed yet again, 2-0. After Jim White stranded Starr and Monck on the corners again in the third inning, this time popping out over home plate, while Fox stumbled over the same part of the lineup again in the fourth. Laws walked again and Sandoval was drilled by Fox before Jose Escalera hit an RBI single to right-center on which Sandoval was caught in a rundown between second and third to gain a crucial out. Alan Leitch’s pop to Corral then ended the inning.

No, Foxie Brown was no good in this game, but at least the lineup appeared to wake up in the fifth inning. Kozak drew a leadoff walk from Mendosa before Starr stuck an RBI double into the leftfield corner, 3-1. Monck grounded out sharply, and Jim White overcame his struggles with Starr in scoring position and looped an RBI single to right-center. Mendosa drilled Victor Morales to move White’s tying run to second base, but Crumble’s grounder to first ended the inning.

Fox went seven innings without whiffing a position player, which was sort of an achievement in itself, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks. White hit a double in the top 7th, but with nobody on and was stranded in turn, and similarly Grant Anker hit a 2-out triple off Murdock with nobody on and Montoya not getting him home in the eighth inning. Thusly, the Coons arrived in the ninth against Watson again, as the series threatened to have all its games ending with 3-2 scores. Corral grounded out, Kozak whiffed, and Starr hit a fly to deep left, but Anker got back and made the pick on the warning track. 3-2 Bayhawks. Starr 2-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Monck 2-4; White 2-4, 2B, RBI; Fowler (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (28-18) @ Falcons (12-34) – May 25-27, 2063

The Falcons were … quite simply rancid. Second from the bottom in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed, they had racked up a -56 run differential in 46 games and didn’t look like a big threat to stop burning any time soon. Already 18 games out in the CL South, they nevertheless had won one of three games against the Coons earlier this year. Right now they were on a 5-16 May.

Projected matchups:
John Bollinger (0-2, 4.74 ERA) vs. Mark Jacobs (1-4, 5.25 ERA)
Josh Elling (3-5, 4.19 ERA) vs. John Marshell (2-3, 3.35 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (4-1, 3.05 ERA) vs. Ivan Rodriguez (1-5, 4.31 ERA)

Two southpaws coming up – and neither of them on the Sunday. Boo!

If Bollinger couldn’t grab a win here, he probably couldn’t grab one anywhere.

Game 1
POR: CF Kozak – 2B White – SS Monck – LF Crumble – 1B Starr – 3B Morales – C Arellano – RF Campos – P Bollinger
CHA: CF Pinault – LF Padgett – RF Washington – 3B Healey – SS T. Taylor – 1B Yniguez – C Ayon – 2B Duhe – P Ma. Jacobs

A non-aggression pact was signed between these two teams before the series, because that was the only explanation for the early innings on Friday. The Raccoons amassed a grand total of three singles against Mark Jacobs in five innings, and each time immediately hit into a double play to clean up. Rich Monck did so in the first inning, and Joel Starr did it *twice*. The Falcons had even less offense. Jared Duhe hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd and was stranded on third base, and they had two walks drawn off Bollinger, one to Joe Washington – who had put together a 3-homer game earlier this month and had all of six bombs for the season – leading off the bottom 4th, but also found two double plays to kill any enthusiasm.

When Arellano opened the sixth with a single to right-center, Campos tried to follow the path trampled by the lefty big bats and grounded to short, but Trent Taylor bungled the play for an error. Bollinger bunted the pair on base into scoring position, and the Raccoons went ahead on a clean single to center by Kozak, plating a run, as did White with a single to right. Monck’s scratch single filled the bases, and Crumble flew out to center for a sac fly, 3-0, before Starr’s pop to Taylor ended the inning, but unabashedly continued a rotten day for the first-sacker. Two of the runs were unearned, as was the run the Coons tacked on an inning later when Morales reached on a throwing error by Taylor and scored on a sac fly by Campos to Washington. Kozak opened the eighth with a single, but was doubled up on White’s grounder to third baseman Rick Healey.

Bollinger pitched into the eighth, where he got two more outs before being lifted for Yokoyama, who allowed a single to Washington before popping out Healey. Trent Taylor – a Gold Glove-winning rookie in 2062! – made his third error in a wretched game for himself (he made only one error all year before this cursed Friday) to put Crumble on base in the ninth inning. Nothing came of that as Jacobs finished a complete-game 8-hitter on the losing end, as Carrillo finished the game without issues. 4-0 Raccoons. Kozak 2-4, RBI; White 2-4, RBI; Crumble 2-3, RBI; Bollinger 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (1-2);

Quite a nice performance for Bollinger and finally grabbing a W.

Now try it against a real team!

Game 2
POR: 1B Kozak – 2B White – SS Monck – LF Crumble – 3B Morales – RF Corral – C Arellano – CF Campos – P Elling
CHA: CF Pinault – LF Padgett – RF Washington – 3B Healey – SS T. Taylor – C Ayon – 1B Valcarcel – 2B Duhe – P Marshell

The Coons hit liners in the first two innings and got nobody on base, then resorted to Arellano waiting out a leadoff walk in the third followed by a soft single to right-center by Campos on which Mike Pinault and Joe Washington got into each other’s comfort zone and allowed the runners to paw it into scoring position. Marshell lost Elling on balls to load the bags with nobody out, but got out for only one run on Kozak’s double-play grounder before White popped out to Jesus Valcarcel in foul territory to end the inning.

And Elling? His rotten run continued without interruption. While he put up three shutout innings to begin the game, that already cost him over 50 pitches before he spent another 35 pitches in a fourth inning in which Taylor and Danny Ayon tied the game with back-to-back doubles before slowly and painfully walking the bases full with Duhe and Marshell (!) with two outs, finally getting a grounder to short from Pinault to end the inning and stay in a 1-1 tie. He barely made it through five innings, getting a no-decision for his troubles.

Back-to-back 1-out singles by Morales and Corral in the seventh inning doubled the Coons’ hit output heretofore in this game. The Falcons couldn’t turn two on Arellano’s grounder to short, and a walk to Campos filled the bases with two outs for pinch-hitter Joel Starr, who struck out. Bottom 7th, Padgett struck a leadoff double against McDaniel, but Adan Yniguez and Rick Healey made poor outs before Pohlmann entered the game in McDaniel’s stead and got a pop to second from Taylor to strand the go-ahead run on second base. Marshell hung on into the eighth before offering a leadoff walk to Kozak and being removed. Gary Ponds then retired the next three Critters without fuzz. The Raccoons remained inept in the ninth, while Matt Walters allowed a leadoff single to Joey Opsahl in the #9 spot before Pinault flew out to left. Padgett spanked a ball past a diving Kozak for a double, but the lead runner was the only available catcher for Charlotte and couldn’t turn the bases fast enough to score ahead of Jose Corral’s arm – but the Falcons had runners on second and third with one out. Finally, Walters found something: he struck out Danny Ceballos, and he struck out Healey to send the game to extras.

Yokoyama in the bottom 10th hit PH Collin Garner and walked Valcarcel on four pitches before two nifty plays by Campos in center spoiled drives by Duhe and Opsahl and the game kept going. Right-hander Travis Julien got the ball in the top 11th for the Falcons and allowed sharp leadoff singles to Monck and Crumble. Morales hit into a fielder’s choice at second, but the go-ahead run made it to third base for Corral, who hit into the next ******* double play. In his second inning of work, the Coons FINALLY broke through… somehow. Arellano hit a single, Campos was useless, and Todd Oley (…) pinch-hit and grounded to Duhe for a force at second. He then stole second base one pitch ahead of Kozak’s single to right-center. Oley held nothing back, dashed around third base, and came around to score. White walked, but Monck grounded out, sending the game to Carlisle, who had seen enough to want outta this place and into his bed, and retired the Falcons on eight pitches, finishing with a K on Dan Geiger. 2-1 Blighters. Campos 2-4, BB; Bean (PH) 1-1; Yokoyama 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

I’ve had teeth pulled while feeling less agony.

Game 3
POR: RF Corral – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – SS Fowler – CF Campos – 2B Bean – C Lawson – P Riddle
CHA: CF Pinault – LF Padgett – RF Washington – 3B Healey – SS T. Taylor – 1B Yniguez – 2B Duhe – C Ayon – P I. Rodriguez

Offensive diarrhea continued with full force for the Raccoons on Sunday. Corral walked and Kozak singled to begin the game against Rodriguez, but Starr whiffed and Monck found another double play to blunder into before the team didn’t do anything for a long while after that. The Falcons calmly took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Danny Ayon led off with a double to right-center against Riddle, and while Rodriguez popped out on a bunt attempt, Padgett would bring in the game’s first run with a 2-out single to right.

The Coons got a leadoff man to second base in the sixth inning when Lawson hit a single to center and Pinault misfielded it for an extra base. Riddle flew out to right, Corral struck out, and Kozak popped out to leave Lawson exactly there. Instead the Falcons tacked on a run with back-to-back singles for Padgett and Washington in the bottom 6th, and a sac fly to Kozak hit by Healey. Starr’s leadoff single in the seventh led to ANOTHER ******* DOUBLE PLAY by Monck, who instead ****** an Ayon grounder for an error in the bottom 7th that put runners on second (Duhe, single) and first with one gone. Lawson then fired Rodriguez’ bunt away for a 2-base, run-scoring error, and Pinault cashed another very unearned run with a groundout, by which time the Falcons had enough runs to beat the feckless Coons four times over.

While Riddle was done after seven meh innings, Rodriguez was pitching into the ninth inning, but gave up a leadoff single to Corral and another single to Starr. The Falcons went to another lefty, Yoshinari Kuroiwa, with “Double Play” Monck at the plate, but this time he hit a single to center, loading the bases and bringing the tying run to the dish. White batted for Fowler and kept the line moving by chipping a soft single to center on an 0-2 pitch, driving in Corral with the team’s first run in the game. Campos rather uselessly popped out before Morales batted for Bean, sticking a 2-run single through the left side of the infield, moving the tying run (White) to second base. Against all reason, Lawson got him home with a single to right, and suddenly the ******* game was tied! Kuroiwa was gone, replaced with Ponds, who gave up yet another RBI single against all reason to PH Todd ******* Oley. Corral walked, but Kozak struck out in a full count to end the inning and strand three on base after the team had poured out five runs. Carlisle got the ball against the 6-7-8 batters with five defensive positions changing faces behind and around him for the bottom 9th. Corral remained in place and caught a fly by Yniguez. Duhe walked, but Ayon struck out. Valcarcel pinch-hit for the pitcher, lifted a fly to left, and Campos was there to make the grab. 5-4 Blighters. Starr 2-4; White (PH) 1-1, RBI; Morales (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI; Lawson 2-4, RBI; Oley (PH) 1-1, RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

In other news

May 21 – The Aces would be without OF Jaden Wilson (.288, 2 HR, 12 RBI) for at least three weeks thanks to a case of shoulder tendinitis.
May 21 – SAL LF/RF Kyle Grulke (.263, 9 HR, 29 RBI) hits a jack to beat the Cyclones, 1-0. Only 13 runs total are scored across the four games played on that Monday.
May 23 – Scorpion 2B/SS Justin Finnegan (.255, 1 HR, 23 RBI) slaps a triple and five singles for six hits total and drives in one run in an 11-8 win against the Rebels, the team that drafted him with the #18 pick in 2057.
May 24 – The Gold Sox and Buffaloes have a 9-9 game through eight innings suspended by heavy rain. The game will not be concluded until September.
May 25 – Indians LF/RF/1B Trent Brassfield (.268, 4 HR, 26 RBI) puts out five hits, including a double, and drives in two runs as the Indians down the Knights, 14-5. IND C Vinny Atencio (.242, 3 HR, 18 RBI) leads the team with six RBI on three hits including a home run.
May 27 – The Crusaders beat the Condors, 9-5 in 15 innings. NYC INF/LF/RF Jake Cline (.288, 2 HR, 19 RBI) drives in four runs on as many hits.

FL Player of the Week: RIC INF/RF Robby Cox (.330, 9 HR, 34 RBI), batting .370 (10-27) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS INF Diego Mendoza (.298, 4 HR, 25 RBI), poking .542 (13-24) with 2 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I think we have a new frontrunner for most depressing sweep ever – and we were on the winning side!

Offensive changes are coming though. While Morales saved the game on Sunday, his form had been pointing steeply downhill and he’d be returned to AAA on Monday to get Lonzo back from a rehab assignment. (Ben Morris had yet to start his) Monck would go back to third base, and I wasn’t sure whether we could A) find an improvement for White, and B) would be willing to pay the price.

On the bright paw – the pitching has been a lot better these last few weeks! Our pen suddenly has an ERA in the top 3 in the CL, and our defense is ranked tops for some reason. – Let’s see how reuniting our 70-year-old middle infield messes with that. (Cristiano Carmona makes gargling noises in the corner)

More road games coming in Tijuana and New York before we’re getting back home for a week, but there will be not one, but two more East Coast road trips in June. Sometimes I wonder who makes these schedules.

Fun Fact: Tyler Riddle was one out away from claiming the 6,666th regular season loss in franchise history.

It would have been one of the worst!

Beating “Keith Ayers – out at home!” in terms of desolation if not magnitude.