[Westheim]

Raccoons (31-18) @ Condors (31-18) – May 28-30, 2063

First-place teams clashed in this series and I sure hoped the Coons had found their baseballing abilities again after a rather uninspired sweep of the bottom-dwelling Falcons on the weekend, because that sort of performance wouldn’t beat the CL’s #5 offense and #2 pitching. We had a 2-1 lead in the season series, but the Condors had a +50 run differential, five times exactly that of the Critters. Outfielder Querubim Churricho, a bit of a pest in the first series we played this year, was off on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (5-2, 2.77 ERA) vs. Brett Bebout (3-3, 4.29 ERA)
Chance Fox (4-2, 2.68 ERA) vs. Vince Ellison (6-0, 2.04 ERA)
John Bollinger (1-2, 3.94 ERA) vs. Marco Clemente (6-1, 2.88 ERA)

Three right-handed opponents lined up by the Condors.

The Raccoons made two roster moves ahead of the series, optioning INF/RF Victor Morales (.250, 1 HR, 11 RBI) and MR Hachiro Yokoyama (1-0, 0.00 ERA) back to the Alley Cats to bring up veteran presence Lonzo from a month less one day on the sidelines with a shoulder injury, and right-handed reliever slash failed starter Daniel Benitez, who had a nice 2.13 ERA in St. Pete. Benitez had made two appearances (one start) for the Coons in ’62 for a 6.75 ERA. He had then worn #53, since assigned to Josh Elling, and now rocked #40.

Game 1
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – 2B White – RF Corral – LF Crumble – C Arellano – P Alba
TIJ: RF Asencio – LF Alf. Mendez – 1B Metz – SS C. Ramsey – 3B Frasher – 2B Serrano – C Fuller – CF E. Maldonado – P Bebout

The Monday opener breezed by with breathtaking pace. One reason for that was the Raccoons’ utter lack of offense, scattering two hits through seven innings, while Alba allowed five hits in the same stretch and relied on his defense quite a lot. Four hits were plonked about by the Condors for no runs in the first three frames, but ex-Coons backstop Tim Fuller lifted a homer to left in the fourth to give them a 1-0 lead. Things looked a bit over going into the late innings, with Bebout still dealing (7 K through seven innings), but Arellano poked a leadoff single and was bunted to second base by Alba. Kozak whiffed, and Lonzo’s grounder up the middle was intercepted, but bungled by Casey Ramsey, putting runners on the corners for Starr. His drive to center ended up with Elmer Maldonado, ending the inning. Alba retired two more in the bottom 8th before fudging the bags full with Alf Mendez, who singled, then walks to Andy Metz and Ramsey. Murdock replaced him and got a groundout to Jim White from Eric Frasher to kill the threat, before the Coons disappeared orderly against Jose Lugo in the ninth. 1-0 Condors. Alba 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, L (5-3);

Game 2
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – LF Campos – 3B Fowler – C Arellano – P Fox
TIJ: RF Asencio – LF Alf. Mendez – SS C. Ramsey – C Brann – 1B Metz – 3B Frasher – CF Cardwell – 2B Serrano – P Ellison

Lonzo was hitting .169 after a fruitless return from the DL on Monday, but raked a 2-run homer following a Kozak single to begin the Tuesday affair, which filled my tummy with goody goodness and raised his average to, well, .179 … The strafing of Ellison continued with a Starr double to center, and productive outs to bring him around on Corral’s sac fly to right for a 3-0 score after the top 1st. More chances to score came afterwards; Kozak nearly hit a homer to left in the second inning with two outs and Fowler on base, but the ball was caught at the fence by Alf Mendez, and Kozak came up with three on and two outs in the fourth and then popped out to Serrano, who in between had hit a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd and had been doubled home by Marco Asencio to cut into the Raccoons’ lead. The rest of that lead Fox would blow in the sixth inning. A 1-out walk to Mike Brann, a Metz single on a 1-2 pitch, a wild pitch, Frasher’s RBI groundout and a booming RBI double off the wall in left crashed by Chad Cardwell evened the score for the Condors before Serrano flew out to Kozak in deep center to end the miserable inning.

The Raccoons kept hitting the ball hard, but too often found the outfielders. They ripped four sharp balls off Ellison to begin the seventh inning. White – batting for Fox – and Kozak dished singles, but Lonzo and Starr flew out to Mendez, and Monck struck out to leave the runners on base. The Raccoons kept being bitten by tough luck in those later innings just like that, while Matt Walters gave up three straight 2-out singles to the 6-7-8 batters to allow the Condors to claim a 4-3 lead in the bottom 8th. Left-hander Joe Cash attempted the save in the ninth inning. Arellano grounded out, but Malik Crumble pinch-hit and struck a game-tying homer to center! This helped send the game to extras; a Lonzo single with two outs went unused, and Pohlmann retired Tijuana in order in the bottom 9th. In extras, Cash continued and hit Jose Corral with one out in the tenth inning. Campos grounder advanced him to second base, and Corral scored on Fowler’s 2-out single into right to break the 4-4 tie. Arellano grounded out, but then guided Carlisle to a 1-2-3 tenth inning to grab the game and put it into the W column. 5-4 Raccoons. Kozak 2-5; Lavorano 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-5, 2B; Fowler 2-5, RBI; White (PH) 1-1; Crumble (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

Game 3
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – LF Crumble – 3B Fowler – C Arellano – P Bollinger
TIJ: RF Asencio – LF Alf. Mendez – C Brann – 1B Metz – SS C. Ramsey – 3B Frasher – 2B Serrano – CF Cardwell – P M. Clemente

The Raccoons’ offense remained mostly mute in the rubber game, as the Condors took a brisk 2-0 lead in the first inning against a wobbly Bollinger and then appeared to be cruising. Asencio singled, Brann walked, and a Metz single and Ramsey’s sac fly got in the two runners for the Condors.

The Coons didn’t mount an actual threat until the sixth inning when Lonzo and Starr clipped 1-out singles and went to the corners as the tying runs. Rich Monck, in a bit of a slump at this stage, popped out to short, but Corral singled in a run with two outs, dropping a base hit into shallow right. Clemente plunked Crumble with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases, but Fowler calmly flew out to Cardwell to leave them that way. In turn, Bollinger offered a leadoff walk to Brann, then singles to Metz and Ramsey to begin the bottom 6th. He was yanked after walking in a run against Frasher. The good news was that Murdock would get out of the inning on three strikeouts. The bad news was that the last K didn’t come until Mendez in the #2 spot, and by then the Condors had a 4-spot on the board as Murdock walked in another run against Serrano and allowed a 2-out, 2-run single to Asencio.

Portland frittered away another two runners in the seventh, then put in Daniel Benitez for garbage relief. Garbage he was indeed, getting roughed up for five hits and three runs in the last two offensive innings by the Condors. The Raccoons disappeared from the game silently. 9-1 Condors. Lavorano 2-4; Oley (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B;

I don’t think we’re gonna find a happy spot with Bollinger any time soon…

Raccoons (32-20) @ Crusaders (29-23) – June 1-3, 2063

The Crusaders had a +59 run differential (Coons: +2…) while scoring the second-most runs and allowing the fifth-fewest runs in the CL. They were tops in batting average and OBP, and had the second-most homers. We had … we had … uh. Tied our shoes correctly, for the most part, recently? We were down 4-2 in the season series against New York, and they were rising from a bad start to the season, spending much of April in last place in the North (whenever it hadn’t been held by the Coons). The Raccoons came in after a day off, while the Crusaders had played in the only CL game on Thursday, beating the Knights 8-1.

Projected matchups:
Josh Elling (3-5, 4.01 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (8-2, 2.81 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (4-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Nate Mickler (3-3, 4.75 ERA)
Angel Alba (5-3, 2.61 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (3-5, 4.87 ERA)

We’d be getting three right-handers, perpetual Seiter and the two weak links in the Crusaders’ rotation. Maybe that would help staving off a sweep… Mickler was spotting the injured Jeff Kozloski, while with Aubrey Austin there was also one of the teeth from the lineup on the DL.

Game 1
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Crumble – RF Corral – 2B White – C Arellano – P Elling
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 3B V. Velez – RF Zeiher – C McLaren – 2B Onelas – LF Cline – CF J. Alvarez – 1B R. Wright – P Seiter

Elling remained a source of frustration, walking Omar Sanchez and Sean Zeiher in the first inning before giving up an RBI double to Marcos Onelas with two outs, and somehow getting the final out on a fly to center by Jake Cline. The paid-like-an-ace Elling then had another 3-0 count against Jesus Alvarez to begin the bottom 2nd, but Alvarez popped out there and the Crusaders went in order. Seiter instead put White (single) and Arellano (nicked) on base to begin the top 3rd and Elling bunted them into scoring position before Kozak fanned. However, Seiter’s wild pitch to Lonzo tied the game, and Lonzo gave Portland a 2-1 lead with a single to center! Starr grounded out to end the inning, while Elling, the fool, had nothing better to do than offer another leadoff walk to Omar Sanchez and his 16 steals on the season, then tip-claw around him for the next three batters before stranding him on second base.

Back-to-back doubles by Monck and Crumble extended the lead to 3-1 at the start of the fourth inning, with two groundouts by Corral and White just good enough to get Crumble home as well for the fourth run. Arellano hit a wallbanger double, but was stranded by Elling, however, Joel Starr’s solo jack in the fifth would tack on a run for the Coons against a strangely slapable Seiter.

Seiter was gone after the fifth, and Elling only lasted six, finishing oddly strong with three strikeouts to the Crusaders’ 3-4-5 batters after a throwing error by Rich Monck had put Vic Velez on base to begin the bottom of the sixth. The runner didn’t score, and the Raccoons remained on top 5-1. The bullpen got involved in the seventh and almost exploded the whole ******* ballgame. Pohlmann put runners on the corners with a pair of singles allowed to Alvarez and PH Alex Romero. McDaniel came on and nicked Sanchez to load the bases with two outs, then walked in a run against Velez, which was not helpful. Mike Seidman, right-handed batter, would go into the box in place of Zeiher, left-handed batter, with the tying runs all on base and the Raccoons scrambled for Murdock, who ran a full count, and then got him to fly out to Crumble near the warning track. And then Murdock didn’t ******* retire anybody to begin the bottom 8th…! Walk to Matt McLaren, Onelas single, Cline single, and a bases-loaded walk to Alvarez. (buries face in paws) Walters replaced him, ran a full count against Tristan Waker, who grounded to short, and Lonzo threw the ball past White for an error rather than a double play. Aaron Walker snickered as he smashed a pinch-hit grand slam after that. Walters continued to get beaten to pulp with Sanchez and McLaren doubles, an Onelas single, and then was yanked for Benitez, and that little twat walked the bags full, then gave up two more runs on Alvarez and Waker singles before the ******* inning finally ended against Walker, who flew out. All in all, it was a 9-spot (five earned), and I was sulking. 11-5 Crusaders. Campos (PH) 1-1;

What a pile of useless little *****.

Game 2
POR: CF Kozak – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Crumble – RF Corral – 2B White – C Arellano – P Riddle
NYC: CF J. Alvarez – RF A. Romero – SS O. Sanchez – LF Cline – 2B Onelas – 3B V. Velez – C Waker – 1B Callaia – P Mickler

Riddle got spanked around for four singles and two runs in the first inning, so there went any hope for a decent outing. While the Coons had a bit of a 2-out rally in the second inning with a Corral single, White walking, and Arellano hitting an RBI double, Riddle struck out to end that. Two more outs were made to begin the third inning by Kozak and Lonzo before Starr singled to center and then Monck emptied a fastball into the rightfield bleachers to flip the score to 3-2 Portland – although Riddle would then need two pitches to Jesus Alvarez in the bottom 3rd to give up a game-tying homer himself…

It didn’t get any better for Raccoons pitching. The Crusaders loaded them up in the bottom 4th as Onelas and Gaudencio Callaia hit singles up the middle around a walk drawn by Velez. The only saving grace was Mickler hitting a comebacker to Riddle that was taken for a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning. The Coons left a runner in scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings, then had leadoff hits from White and Arellano in the sixth. Riddle bunted them to second and third, and Kozak singled to center to give the team a 4-3 lead before Alvarez threw out Arellano, who barreled through the stop sign at third base and was out by a mile. Lonzo was hit by a pitch before Starr grounded out to strand two more runners.

Riddle remained useless gave up a 1-out walk to Onelas, then singles to Velez and Waker in the bottom 6th to blow that lead, too before being disposed of. Even more useless: Isaac McDaniel, who ****** the bags full with a walk to Callaia, then walked Zeiher with the bases already loaded to force in the go-ahead run for New York. Alvarez then found a double play to hit into. McDaniel, like a real piece of ****, offered leadoff walks to Romero and Sanchez in the seventh, too, and had to be shoveled out of his own mess by Carrillo, who then singled in the eighth ahead of Lonzo’s 2-out single and a walk drawn by Starr, all against right-hander Kody Mello, who got Monck to 0-2 … and then nailed him to tie the game at five.

If anything, both teams should be excluded from playoff consideration at this point.

Crumble grounded out (of course) to leave the bases loaded. Closer Jason Rhodes got the ball in the ninth, gave up a leadoff single to Corral, and then saw White unable to get a bunt down … and then gave up a 2-strike single to center. Arellano struck out and Fowler grounded to Ryan Wright – an injury replacement for Onelas at second base – for a double play that wasn’t turned when Wright flicked the ball past Omar Sanchez, and instead the bases were loaded. Instead, Kozak hit into that double play we were so desperately seeking. Worse yet, the Crusaders didn’t score against Pohlmann in the bottom 9th and this misery continued for everyone to see until Wright launched a walkoff homer to right in the tenth inning… 6-5 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5; Monck 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Crumble 2-5; Corral 2-4; White 2-4, BB; Arellano 2-4, 2B RBI;

The miserable ***** put out 15 hits and still couldn’t get in front of the ******* Crusaders, with 14 runners left on base (New York: eight).

Roster move prior to the Sunday game, as Ben Morris also rejoined from a rehab assignment and took the spot of Todd Oley (.500, 0 HR, 1 RBI).

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – RF Corral – LF Campos – 2B Bean – C Lawson – P Alba
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – CF A. Romero – 1B McLaughlin – C McLaren – 2B Cline – RF Zeiher – 3B R. Wright – LF Callaia – P E. Lee

Another day, another beating. Alba gave up two singles in the first inning, still stepped around that, but then inexplicably walked Zeiher and Wright to begin the bottom 2nd before getting loudly bombed by Gaudencio Callaia for a 3-spot. To add insult to injury, he allowed a single to Lee, who scored on a 2-out single to center by Jared McLaughlin to make it 4-0. That was the last inning Alba finished before getting torn another wholly new tush hole in the third inning. Cline doubled and Zeiher homered, and then Wright doubled and Lee (…) hit an RBI triple, and that was it. The ball went to Benitez, who served a single to Sanchez, then a 2-run homer to Alex Romero. That made it ten-zip, and my face was wet.

Rich Monck briefly interrupted the evisceration with a 2-run homer in the fourth inning, as if anyone still cared. Actually, Lee did, because Lee soon suffered the infernal shame of getting spotted a 10-run lead and not qualifying for the W when he was knocked out in the fifth inning after giving up a bases-clearing double to Monck after somehow fudging the bags full with a team that tried its darndest to roll into a ball and somehow hush on the bus to the airport unseen. Cory Leonard replaced Lee, gave up an RBI double to Corral, then a homer to Marco Campos, at which point we had a 10-8 game going.

Garbage relief by Benitez only got the team through five innings before Benitez was put on a bus to a completely different airport. Walters allowed a homer to Cline in the sixth, which gave the Crusaders a 3-run lead again. Top 7th, Kevin Hitchcock appeared for New York, but loaded the bases with straight singles to the 4-5-6 batters immediately. Jon Bean cluelessly rumbled into a run-scoring, 4-6-3 double play, but Lawson chipped a 2-out RBI single to narrow the score to 11-10. Crumble grounded out batting for Walters.

Bottom 7th, and the Crusaders pulled another run back with back-to-back singles by Romero and McLaughlin against Carrillo. The latter single was to right and saw Romero dash to third base. Corral’s throw was way off the line and everything, and allowed Romero to score, 12-10. The Coons made *that* run back up in the eighth with Lonzo singling and stealing second against Alex Flores, and scoring on Monck’s 2-out RBI single, but Corral made the last out there with a grounder. New York finally shut their pie holes in their half-inning, and the Raccoons were up against Rhodes, who had pitched two innings on Saturday, albeit bringing up the bottom of the order, although Campos led off striking a double to right. Fowler batted for Bean and grounded out. Lawson flew out to Zeiher in right. Jim White batted for the pitcher in the #9 hole with the team down to their last out. He grounded out to Wright. 12-11 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Monck 4-5, HR, 2B, 6 RBI; Corral 2-5, 2B, RBI; Campos 4-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

**** my whiskers.

First career home run of Marco Campos in 141 at-bats.

In other news

May 28 – The Rebels beat the Pacifics, 3-0 in 12 innings. L.A. amounts to just four hits in a dozen frames.
May 30 – The Scorpions put an 8-spot on the Miners in the second inning and yet manage to lose the game, 12-11. Miners catcher Nick Dingman (.308, 15 HR, 42 RBI) has a homer, a double, and 5 RBI in the rally.
June 1 – Indy CF Eddy Ramirez (.211 2 HR, 9 RBI) hits a longball to beat the Titans, 1-0. Both teams have only two hits apiece in the game.
June 1 – The Loggers beat the Canadiens, 3-2 in 14 innings.
June 2 – Dallas picks up SP Sean Guice (0-4, 5.33 ERA) from the Scorpions for #149 prospect SP Raul Salas.
June 2 – Aces and Bayhawks play 17 innings before Vegas pulls in front for a 4-1 win.

FL Player of the Week: SAC SS/3B Zach Suggs (.277, 9 HR, 33 RBI), hitting .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC OF Sean Zeiher (.270, 7 HR, 46 RBI), batting .421 (8-19) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS RF Austin Gordon (.358, 11 HR, 35 RBI), hitting .371 with 8 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: IND 1B Danny Starwalt (.247, 12 HR, 35 RBI), mashing .276 with 7 HR, 17 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DAL SP Alex Quevedo (6-1, 2.44 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 record with 1.24 ERA, 41 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: TIJ SP Marco Clemente (7-1, 2.67 ERA), going 4-0 in 6 games, with a 2.25 ERA, 28 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL LF/CF Paul Adams (.236, 3 HR, 7 RBI), poking .228 with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: CHA 3B Rick Healey (.272, 4 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .248 with 2 HR, 13 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Rich Monck had 9 RBI this week, all in the last two games, and the Raccoons lost both of them. No, he was not a threat to win Player of the Week after going 1-for-13 in Tijuana.

Lonzo returns and the team immediately goes into a 1-5 tailspin. I feel like that will give me a good old butt chewing by Cristiano Carmona once we’re back in Portland…

He batted .333 this week though!

I have a hard time figuring out whether the pitching half or the hitting half of the roster pissed me off more this week. Why not pack ALL of them into a bag and throw them into the Willamette!? The group that sinks last is innocent!

Cyclones GM Chris Abernathy, who was kind enough to insist the Raccoons take Rich Monck off the sinking riverboat, was fired on Wednesday along with the rest of the management group with that team at 14-38 and absolutely buried in the standings.

Homestand coming against the Loggers and Gold Sox.

Fun Fact: Almost half the team’s games are 1-run games, and they have a .680 record in them (17-8).

Doesn’t include this week, though. I wonder how they’re even that good considering that they constantly blow up whenever somebody in a brown cap is on the hill…