[Westheim]

The Coons’ week began with moving Jim White to the DL due to a case of back soreness, which for 34-year-old infielders could turn into a real problem. We brought back Victor Morales and Rich Monck would now see most of his playing time at second base.

Raccoons (37-25) @ Rebels (31-31) – June 11-13, 2063

There was a whole lot of average about the Rebels’ rankings; seventh in runs scored, fourth in runs allowed. Middling rotation, average in homers, stolen bases etc.; the only exception was a stingy defense that was ranked second in the Federal League. The Coons had half a Gold Sox trauma against the Rebels, having failed to win an interleague series against them in almost a decade, last sweeping them in 2054. Since then we had lost three series, most recently two games to one in ’61.

Projected matchups:
Josh Elling (3-6, 3.91 ERA) vs. Goffredo Merlin (6-6, 3.99 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (5-1, 3.32 ERA) vs. Luis Olvera (7-3, 3.39 ERA)
Angel Alba (5-4, 3.35 ERA) vs. Dan Garicia (2-5, 3.34 ERA)

The Rebels would rock up a full set of right-handed pitchers. After the series would be an off day, and then three games in Indy on the weekend, plus the draft on Friday in New York.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – P Elling
RIC: C J. Aguilar – 1B Cofield – SS J. Turner – LF Vaughn – 2B R. Cox – CF Griffith – RF Goll – 3B D. Espinosa – P Merlin

Victor Morales returned with a go-ahead RBI groundout in the second inning after Monck and Corral had hit an infield single (!) and a double to center, respectively, to park themselves in scoring position. Lonzo also hit an RBI groundout, and the Coons were up 2-0 behind Elling, and were now just waiting for him to bobble it like he bobbled everything at roughly $220k a bobble. Almost on cue, he walked two batters the first time through the order. Jason Turner was excusable, but Merlin was not; at least he got a comebacker from the latter’s battery mate Justin Aguilar and turned that into a 1-6-3 double play. The Rebs didn’t get a hit until Robby Cox slapped a double to left leading off the bottom 5th, and Wade Griffith added a shy single immediately after. Vince Goll whiffed, Griffith was caught stealing, but Danny Espinosa found another single to get at least one run home in the inning before Merlin popped out. In the sixth, the Coons overcame an Aguilar single to right and a throwing error by Morales – what was going on?? – to somehow strand runners on the corners in the skinny 2-1 game.

The Raccoons’ offense was at the dinner table, presumably, because they remained stuck on three hits and their two early RBI groundouts while Elling gave up a leadoff double to Aguilar and walked PH Tristan Michaux to begin the bottom 8th. Turner struck out before we went to Walters for the left-handed Nick Vaughn. The Rebs had other ideas and sent Ramon Lopez, a right-handed singles slapper, that slapped into a double … play, 6-4-3, to kill that inning. Cox hit a long fly to left that challenged Kozak, but he made the catch, to begin the bottom 9th against Carlisle, who then struck out Griffith and Goll to squeeze the game into the W column. 2-1 Blighters. Corral 2-3, 2B; Elling 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (4-6);

Corral’s two hits and Monck’s single were the only offense produced aside from a walk drawn by Starr. Jesus Christ at an office party, why could they sometimes not even hold the bats right side up??

They had a hole day to figure out the issues, because persistent rain precluded an attempt to play on Tuesday, and we got a double header scheduled for Wednesday instead. Oh well, maybe we’d finally use Paul Barton who had been on the roster for almost a full week by now without seeing action.

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Fowler – C Arellano – P Riddle
RIC: C R. Lopez – RF Ellwood – SS J. Turner – 2B R. Cox – LF Vaughn – 1B Cofield – CF Goll – 3B J. Ochoa – P Olvera

Riddle got flattened for three runs right away in the bottom 1st as Ramon Lopez, Bobby Ellwood, and Robby Cox all hit good hard singles. He walked Vaughn, balked in a second run – one had scored on Cox’ single – and allowed another one to score on Cofield’s sac fly before Goll struck out. That looked like a pretty solid lead once the Coons went hitless the first time through, finding two walks and a double play to hit into. Kozak hit a single in the fourth, was doubled up by Starr, and Monck hit another single to center, but Corral whiffed.

…which apart from one Cox single already described the extent of the offense for either team all the way to the stretch, where the Rebs were still up a comfy 3-0. The Coons wrung out Riddle for 107 pitches and seven complete innings, while Olvera just kept trudging along, and was on only 85 pitches with a 2-hitter through eight innings after retiring the 6-7-8 in order in the top 8th. He started the ninth with a groundout from Jon Bean, then hung one to Morris that was walloped over the fence and came as quite a surprise. The Rebels scrambled for closer Mike Gunter, who struck out Kozak, but allowed a 2-out single to Starr. Monck popped out to third base to end the game. 3-1 Rebels.

Dismal, but at least done in 2:16…

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – LF Crumble – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – RF Corral – SS Lavorano – 2B Bean – C Lawson – P Alba
RIC: RF Ellwood – 1B Cofield – SS J. Turner – LF Vaughn – 2B R. Cox – CF Goll – 3B J. Ochoa – C J. Aguilar – P Garicia

Both starters struck out five batters the first time through the order, and both allowed one base hit, a single. For Richmond, that single was Cox’, and he was doubled up by Goll immediately afterwards, while Alba (!) hit the single for Portland with two outs in the third and was then stranded by Ben Morris’ grounding out to first base.

While I was still wondering what the **** was going on now, Malik Crumble socked a leadoff triple to center in the fourth inning which almost looked like a chance to ******* score. Garicia lost Starr to a walk in a full count, and Monck hit a poor grounder to first base, which wasn’t gonna get a run home until it somehow got through Dylan Cofield’s O-shaped legs for an error. Now Crumble scored, and the Coons still had two on with nobody out. Corral then fired an RBI single to center, and a walk to Lonzo loaded the bases with nobody out. Jon Bean stunned with a 2-run single to center, and Lawson’s walk refilled the bases before Garicia actually struck out the offensive troublemaker – batting .387 even after the K – Alba. However, Ben Morris drove in two more runs with a double to left, and the Rebels pulled the plug on Garicia at that point. Righty Justin Cullum replaced him, but allowed another two runs to score on a hit to center. Starr and Monck then made the last two outs after a breathtaking 8-spot (seven earned) on Garicia.

Alba went on to hit a single off Cullum in the sixth inning. With two outs, Crumble walked and Starr singled home his pitcher to extend the lead to 9-0, but Monck grounded out. On the hill, Alba maintained a stranglehold on the Rebs’ bats and ran up ten strikeouts with a K on Cox in the bottom 7th. His pitch count reached 100 through seven innings, though, and he would not be sent for a complete-game shutout at this stage. Morris, Starr, and Monck were removed from the game after the top 8th (in which Crumble and Starr put a run together with a pair of doubles), while Alba went to the hill once more, struck out Aguilar, then was lifted for McDaniel, who had nothing better to do than to put two lefty batters on base. Pohlmann had to clean up behind the southpaw, while Barton finally was used in the bottom 9th. His very first pitch of the season was romped 420 feet by Vaughn before the Rebs were kind enough to make three outs against him anyway. 10-1 Raccoons. Crumble 3-4, BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Starr 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Corral 3-5, RBI; Bean 3-5, 2 RBI; Alba 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K, W (6-4) and 2-4;

Raccoons (39-26) @ Indians (36-30) – June 15-17, 2063

The Indians were second to the Coons in the North at this stage and out of reach to sweep us outta first place on this weekend. They were probably banking on their +43 run differential being more substantial than ours, which was at least positive (barely) at this stage. They were second in scoring runs, but the pitching was rather average as far as the rotation was concerned and the bullpen was rather flammable. The Raccoons were up on them this year, 3-1. With Matt Martin and Edwin Ortiz, they had two infielders on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (5-2, 2.79 ERA) vs. Kelly Whitney (3-6, 5.23 ERA)
Jeff Applegate (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (11-1, 1.63 ERA)
Josh Elling (4-6, 3.68 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (5-2, 3.03 ERA)

DeWitt was the only southpaw coming up here, and quite scary by the numbers, whiffing 11 batters per nine innings. He was undefeated since losing to the Titans on Opening Day, having claimed 11 wins from 13 games. Notably, though, one of his two no-decisions had come against the Raccoons in May (although that was the game Indy ended up winning after all).

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – P Fox
IND: 2B Kilday – 3B McConnell – C A. Gomez – 1B Starwalt – LF Brassfield – CF E. Ramirez – RF Abel – SS Cirelli – P Whitney

At least I was a time zone away and didn’t see how quickly the series opener exploded… in person. Chance Fox was behind every batter in the first inning, but only allowed a single to Alex Gomez. In the second, he struck out Brass before Eddy Ramirez reached on ANOTHER ERROR by Morales. Kevin Abel singled, but Eric Cirelli flew out and things looked liked we’d dodge one, but we ******* didn’t. Whitney bashed a 2-run double into the right-center gap with the first pitch he saw, and Fox allowed an RBI single to Matt Kilday, drilled and injured Blake McConnell out of the game – he was replaced with Bryan Johnston – and then allowed on the very next pitch a 2-run triple to Gomez before Danny Starwalt whiffed. Five runs, all with two outs, all unearned, and the problem spots were easily identified.

Not that it got easier after that. Ramirez and Abel singles and a Monck error (for variety!) loaded the bases in the bottom 3rd before Fox balked home another unearned run with Whitney batting. The opposing pitcher whiffed this time and Kilday popped out to Lonzo, so it was 6-0 Indians after three, and Fox’ bloody ERA was still going down. All the while the Coons didn’t have a base hit until the fifth, where Whitney plunked *our* third baseman surely not in retaliation or anything, and the Lonzo briefly stopped being comatose and hit a double to left. Arellano’s sac fly brought in a run, but Crumble’s pinch-hit groundout did not, and Morris also left Lonzo in scoring position. Starr hit a solo jack in the sixth to narrow the score to 6-2, but after that Whitney was bidding to go the distance and would get to two outs in the ninth inning with that. Monck had led off the ninth with a double before Corral and Morales made meek outs. Lonzo knocked out the Indians hurler with an RBI single to left, and instead the game ended with Cody Kleidon striking out Arellano. 6-3 Indians. Lavorano 2-4, 2B, RBI; Barton 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K;

The abject horror. Combining his AAA and ABL stats, Victor Morales now had TWENTY errors in 475 innings at the hot corner. This was not a sustainable rate, I’d claim, because if he kept doing that I’d not leave him enough oxygen with my bare paws on his fuzzy neck to sustain himself any longer.

The Indians sent McConnell to the DL with a bruised wrist after the game, opening a hole for 35-year-old ex-Coons quad-A infielder Dave Blackshire to sneak through.

I still didn’t get to see the Critters play in front of me on Saturday thanks to bad weather throughout the day, and instead we got another double header scheduled for Sunday. At this point we moved Elling to the first game rather than the rookie Applegate, who got the second game with the leftover pitching. If we got that far – the weather on Sunday was still dreary looking…

Game 2
POR: CF Kozak – LF Crumble – 2B Monck – C Arellano – 1B Starr – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – RF Campos – P Elling
IND: 2B Kilday – 3B Blackshire – 1B Starwalt – C Atencio – LF Brassfield – CF E. Ramirez – RF Lovins – SS Cirelli – P DeWitt

The early innings saw DeWitt hit Morales and Lonzo with pitches back-to-back in the second, but Campos fly to left was run down by Brass, while Elling twice walked a batter and then got a double play turned, 5-4-3 style in the second inning on Eddy Ramirez, to bugger outta there. Neither pitcher allowed a base hit through three innings.

Then the weather came and brought a 50-minute rain delay in the fourth inning. The break did not rejuvenate the Raccoons’ offense, which remained hitless through five, while Starwalt in the fourth and Lovins in the fifth found singles against Elling, but didn’t get around to score. A throwing error by Rich Monck put Kilday on second base to begin the bottom 6th, which was not ideal. Blackshire grounded out, moving the runner to third base, and Starwalt walked in a full count before Vinny Atencio hit a grounder at Lonzo for another double play, ending the inning.

The Raccoons were still hitless and kept making quick outs throughout the sixth, seventh, and eighth, which after the rain delay was a great help to the indefatigable DeWitt, who spent 86 pitches through eight no-hit innings. Elling was done after seven innings and 101 pitches, but Walters retired the 8-9-1 batters in order in the bottom 8th. Ben Morris batted in his spot to begin the ninth against DeWitt and whiffed, but DeWitt then lost Kozak in a full count that put him up at 99 pitches – more so, Jack Kozak was the first Raccoon to reach base in the bloody game without getting bruised with a fastball. To the cheers of the crowd, however, Malik Crumbled into a 6-4-3 double play after that, and now the Indians needed a run in the bottom 9th to complete the no-hitter. James Murdock got the ball, facing the 2-3-4 batters. Blackshire and Starwalt walked in full counts, which was a GREAT start. Atencio popped out, and Brassfield poked a shy single that wasn’t good enough to score Blackshire from second base. Bryan Johnston pinch-hit for Ramirez, lining up a string of lefty bats, so the Coons went to McDaniel, who secured a pop in foul ground to Arellano. Alex Gomez batted for Lovins, bringing up a righty stick with three on and two outs. The count ran full, McDaniel brought the high heat – and Gomez swung through it. No walkoff, no no-no, instead extras!

At which point the Indians and DeWitt in particular cranked the depression up to a solid 12/10 when he retired the bloody Critters’ 3-4-5 batters in order with a grounder and two sad-sack pops in the TENTH inning. McDaniel walked Cirelli to begin the hot half for the home hopefuls, but DeWitt messed up the bunt, got the runner forced out, and then Kilday blundered into a double play, 6-4-3. And DeWitt yet came out AGAIN to pitch in the 11th. He threw one pitch, Morales singled to center, and the Indians yoinked him at once after 113 pitches. Kleidon shut down the “rally” and went through the 12th with the Coons on Carrillo, who singled in the 12th and was then ignored, and by now serious pitching concerns for the second leg of the double header – unless the rain that was setting in again had a say about *that*. Starr led off the 13th with a single against Melvin Guerra, but was stranded, while Carrillo saw Kilday reach on a bloop single to left to begin the Indy half of the inning. Blackshire grounded out, advancing the runner, and then Starwalt singled firmly to right. The Indians sent Kilday – surely a fast runner! – around from second base, but Marco Campos hammered him out at the plate and the ******* game yet continued!! Atencio’s groundout sent everybody to the 14th as wet as they were. There, Paul Barton bottled it in due time, allowing a leadoff double to Brassfield, who advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Johnston’s single through the right side. 1-0 Indians. Elling 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K; Carrillo 3.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K and 1-1;

(looks unhappy)

The Raccoons had made no preparations for backup pitchers to stand by in case of trouble, so we had to soldier through the second game with Applegate, Pohlmann, Carlisle, Barton (who threw 12 pitches for the L and who nobody cared for anyway) and a fresh roll of duct tape.

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Fowler – C Lawson – P Applegate
IND: 2B Kilday – RF B. Johnston – C A. Gomez – 1B Starwalt – LF Brassfield – CF E. Ramirez – 3B Blackshire – SS Cirelli – P Carreno

The Raccoons found a hit in the first inning when Kozak singled – yay! – and also a double play sponsored by Starr – boo – and then Morales found another one of those in the second inning. At least Applegate appeared stingy out of the gates and got quickly through the opening innings for two singles and 27 pitches in three frames.

Kozak stirred again with a 1-out double to left in the fourth inning. Starr made a poor out, but Rich Monck socked his first homer past smothering the Loggers last week, and #17 on the year, to give the Coons a 2-0 lead! Better yet, Morales and Fowler went to the corners with a pair of leadoff singles in the fifth, then waited out the battery being of no use at all before Morales jogged home on Ben Morris’ 2-out single to center. Kozak hit a fly to deep center, but couldn’t beat Eddy Ramirez’ range and left a pair on base.

Bottom 5th, and trouble on the horizon. Ramirez led off with a single to left, and Blackshire reached when Morris dropped his fly for an error. Cirelli hit another shy single to load them up with Indians and nobody out, but Carreno thumped a comebacker on the bounce to Applegate, who never hesitated, went home, and the Coons turned a 1-6-3 double play before Kilday ended the inning with another comebacker to Applegate…! The Indians finally scored in the sixth on Eddy Ramirez’ 2-out RBI single, which brought in Johnston and the latter’s leadoff single and reduced the gap to 3-1. Applegate continued into the eighth, but there walked Johnston leading off and then Starwalt with one out, which put the tying runs on base. Pohlmann and Crumble were double-switched into the game, with Crumble in left and Kozak to first (Starr was done), and the Indians answered with Lovins to bat for Brassfield. Those three then produced a high and long, but not long enough fly to Crumble that moved Johnston up to third base. Atencio then batted for Ramirez, Pohlmann threw a wild pitch to plate Johnston, and then gave up a game-breaking homer to left. (bangs head against nearest post)

Top 9th, Kleidon working overtime, and after Morales grounded out the Raccoons emptied their bench of righty bats. Campos singled. Lonzo singled. Campos went to third on that one, and outfielder Steve Thompson threw the ball away. Campos quickly turned the corner and went home, scoring the tying run SOMEHOW while Lonzo chucked it up to second base. Crumble was walked intentionally, Morris was walked unintentionally, and Kozak’s grounder to third saw Blackshire throw out Lonzo at the plate to keep the ******* game tied. Arellano batted for Pohlmann with three on and two outs, and flew the **** out to Thompson in center. The Raccoons then brought Barton as a white flag, but the Indians went in order and we went to extra innings for the second time on the day. Barton pitched two scoreless in the #7 spot before Bean batted for him leading off the 11th, which emptied the bench, and only Carlisle was visible in the Coons’ pen. Facing Melvin Guerra – also out for the second time on Sunday – Bean hit a single up the middle, then was hit by Lonzo’s batted ball halfway between first and second. Lonzo went for second in a rather obvious move, had it stolen, and Cirelli couldn’t reach Gomez’ throw and Lonzo eluded to third base with one out, then scored on Crumble’s sac fly to right. Morris hit another single but Kozak whiffed, and then it was Carlisle and an absolute lack of a plan for how to continue if he allowed precisely one run in the bottom 11th. He walked Lovins, which was such a great start. Lovins was bunted to second by Thompson. Then Blackshire was plunked. Jesus Christ in a convenience store! FINISH THE ********** GAME!!! Cirelli hit a mighty fly to left, but that came down with Crumble on the edge of the warning track for the second out. Kevin Abel batted for the pitcher there, hit a grounder to third base, and there was Morales, who …

I swear it happened at real speed, but I saw Morales throw that ball in slow motion, at perhaps 1/10 speed to first base. Kozak had his hindpaw on the base. He reached. His big black googly eyes widened. Panic. Terror. He reached harder. He fell off the base, and still couldn’t catch the ball. Error. Two bases. Tying run scored. Winning run at third. Terror. Horror. Morales biting his glove. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t hear. I had pretty solid PTSD. Kilday flew out to Morris. The game continued with blatant disregard for this poor old GM only being able to see in black and white anymore.

Top 12th, 1-out singles put Monck and Corral on the corners against Jarod Morris, starter by trade. Speaking of starters, Angel Alba had made his way out to the pen between innings, but right now it was Matt Walters stretching out there. For now it was bloody Vic Morales batting with runners on the corners, and his ******* tush halfway on the overland bus to St. Petersburg, hitting a fly to right-center. Johnston ran it down, but for the second straight extra inning the Coons took the lead on a sac fly. There was nobody on the bench, so Carlisle batted for himself and whiffed, then gave that ending-the-game **** another go in the bottom 12th against the 2-3-4 batters. Johnston walked. Singles by Gomez and Starwalt hit singles to fill ‘em up. I tried to scream, but my snout wouldn’t open. Lovins’ grounder to second tied the game, and the Coons couldn’t turn two either, but Thompson popped out with runners on the corners for the second out. Blackshire flew out to Morris and the band played yet on.

The Raccoons were in rabid mode now. Lonzo grounded out, but Crumble singled off Morris in the 13th and swiftly stole second. The Indians walked Morris intentionally, but the Raccoons shrugged and sent the runners on a double steal, with Gomez’ throw to third nowhere near beating Crumble. After Kozak got directions to first base, Arellano looked like a good bet for a double play, but he had already caught 18 ******* innings on the day and wanted to go the **** home, so he strung a bases-clearing double into the leftfield corner. Indy walked Monck with intent, then brought left-hander Bob West, who got a double play from Corral. Matt Walters then got the ball for the bottom 13th, also pitching for the second time on the day. Cirelli grounded out to Lonzo, but West singled up the middle. I wanted to bury my face in my paws, but I still couldn’t move. Kilday grounded out, moving West to second, but Johnston’s grounder to first ended the game. 9-6 Blighters. Morris 2-5, 2 BB, RBI; Kozak 2-6, BB, 2B; Monck 4-6, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Morales 2-5, RBI; Campos (PH) 1-1; Bean (PH) 1-1; Lavorano (PH) 2-3; Crumble 1-1, BB, RBI; Barton 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

June 12 – The Titans flip outfielder Ted Lloyd (.265, 4 HR, 14 RBI) to the Buffaloes for 2B/SS Ken Sowell (.202, 4 HR, 12 RBI) and #60 prospect CL Bryan Abbey.
June 14 – A broken foot will keep NAS C David Johnson (.330, 12 HR, 36 RBI) on the sidelines for at least a month.
June 15 – The Aces put six runs on the Thunder in the tenth inning for a 10-4 win after both teams scored their regulation runs in 2’s.
June 17 – Falcons SP Mark Jacobs (3-7, 4.06 ERA) shuts out the Knights on two hits in a 6-0 game.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF/1B Tommy Pritchard (.320, 4 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .480 (12-25) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS LF/CF Eddie Marcotte (.288, 17 HR, 49 RBI), thrashing .462 (12-26) with 4 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(Chad comes in wearing the mascot costume, holding a set of cards, the first of which reads “The boss is having a lie-down”, which he discards after swinging the hips from side to side a few times; the second card reads “Maybe I’ll get a chance to pitch on Monday!”, which he shows, then covers the mascot mouth with a paw, giggling; he then drops that and shows the last card stating “tickets still available for Monday against the Canadiens!”, then tosses that too, spins around, cranks up the hip swings and starts making the tail spin in a vertical circle much to Maud’s embarrassment)

Fun Fact: Dave Blackshire did backup infield duties for the Buffaloes for five seasons after being wrapped up in the Kennedy Adkins trade in ’54.

After doing that duty from 2055 to 2059 he was out of the majors until he resurfaced as injury backup with Indy last year. Somehow he’s won three rings with three teams: the 2054 Coons, 2059 Buffos, and 2062 Arrowheads;

The thing that he showed in Portland, where he was always a bit close to batting league average but never quite really, and it was a bit annoying continued merrily ever after. A career .235/.343/.319 batter, Blackshire had an 86 OPS+ for his career, and his single best season value of any body of work was a 103 with the 2053 Coons in just 46 games.

Defensively he might still be worth considering over Morales at third base though…