[Westheim]

Raccoons (43-31) vs. Thunder (43-32) – June 25-27, 2063

Here were two teams that were at least 11 games over .500 and yet both ranked in the bottom three in runs scored in the league; the Coons were 10th, the Thunder were 11th. In turn, the Thunder allowed the fewest runs in the CL for a +38 run differential, while the Coons were still bumbling around at +5 and looked like frauds entirely. We were up two games to one in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (6-5, 3.64 ERA) vs. Phil Baker (8-2, 2.59 ERA)
Chance Fox (6-3, 2.33 ERA) vs. Jake Frensley (3-6, 5.33 ERA)
Josh Elling (4-6, 3.47 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (8-5, 2.37 ERA)

Only right-handers were coming up in this series.

Game 1
OCT: CF D. Garcia – 1B I. Stone – 2B D. Richardson – C Preston – SS Spehar – RF Meister – 3B Lira – LF B. Fish – P P. Baker
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – P Alba

Both teams lived right up to the hype about their offense and lined up zeroes on the board from the start. Victor Morales hit a 2-out triple but was stranded when Lonzo lined out, and that was about it for the early innings, while the Thunder got 1-out singles from Omar Lira and Bobby Fish in the fifth inning, got them bunted to second by the ex-Coon Baker, and then Danny Garcia struck out, which was the sixth K for Alba in the game against four singles. Alba then bunted badly to force out Arellano when his catcher reached base to begin the bottom 5th. Morris in turn forced out Alba with a grounder to short on which Ryan Spehar twisted his knee and had to leave the game, to be replaced by Mark Younce, but Morris stole second base and then dashed home on Kozak’s 2-out single to left-center for the first run of the game. Starr grounded out to end the inning.

Younce and Lira hit singles in the seventh, but Fish and Baker made poor outs and left them on base to end Alba’s last inning as it took him 106 pitches to get that far. Walters got two outs in the eighth and Murdock got one more, and Baker got through eight without giving up anything else of substance for the Thunder. Carlisle allowed a leadoff double to Steve Preston in the ninth inning, which made me queasy, but struck out Luis Miranda and Zach Meister before Lira grounded out easily. 1-0 Blighters. Morales 1-2, BB, 3B; Bean (PH) 1-1; Alba 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (7-5);

Color me whatever color stands for not surprised about any of this.

Spehar would be off to the DL and miss a month.

Game 2
OCT: C L. Miranda – 2B D. Richardson – 1B I. Stone – SS McNeal – 3B Younce – RF Meister – LF D. Garcia – CF B. Fish – P Frensley
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – 3B Morales – SS Lavorano – C Arellano – P Fox

Fox had one of those other starts on Tuesday. He walked Richardson in the first, then struck out two, but drilled both Younce – already an injury replacement – and Garcia in the second before getting a 4-6-3 double play turned to end the inning. Younce tried to get his revenge with a double to left hit in the fourth inning, but was then let on base by Zach Meister and Garcia; Lonzo also hit a 1-out double in that inning, and fared no better when it came to scoring.

For all his wonkiness, Fox lined up five zeroes before the Raccoons accumulated on base to begin the bottom 5th. Ben Morris singled and stole second, but could only get to third base on a scratch single by Kozak. Starr walked on four pitches, and Monck came up with three on and nobody out. He swung at a 3-1 pitch and flew out to Garcia in deep left – about 30 feet short of a slam – but that at least got Morris home with a sac fly before Corral rumbled into a double play.

Could the Coons scratch out another 1-0 win? Nope. Fox got through six and two thirds innings of shutout ball before falling to three straight singles and the tying run, annoyingly started by a Frensley single, who was sent to second on a Miranda single, and scored on a Richardson single. Ian Stone grounded out to Monck to leave two on base. Fox wasn’t back for the eighth and had to settle for a no-decision while pinch-hits by Justin Savalli (who?), doubling off Carrillo, and Omar Lira, who singled off McDaniel with two outs, gave the Thunder a 2-1 lead. Marco Campos’ pinch-hit single and stolen base in the bottom 8th were good enough for him to get stranded at third base, and in the ninth the Coons were up against righty Dave Lister. Crumble, Fowler, and Morris produced three ******* groundouts and that was that. 2-1 Thunder. Campos (PH) 1-1; Fox 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

Bit of a lineup shuffle for the rubber game, not that there was a whole lot to be done with the roster right now…

Game 3
OCT: CF D. Garcia – 1B I. Stone – C Preston – RF R. Hummel – SS Lira – 3B McNeal – 2B Younce – LF B. Fish – P Aa. Harris
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Crumble – RF Campos – 3B Fowler – C Lawson – P Elling

Right away, Elling fell over the five left-handed bats at the top of that order. He walked Garcia and Ian Stone to begin the game, got Preston on a grounder, but then allowed a 2-run double to Randy Hummel and walked Lira as well before Josh McNeal hit into a 5-4-3 double play. In other words – ballgame.

The Coons did nothing of higher value until at least putting runners on the corners in the fourth inning through 2-out singles by Crumble and Campos, then kept hitting to everybody’s surprise. Both Fowler and Lawson hit an RBI single past either side of Mark Younce, and that tied the game at two before Elling struck out. He would strike out four batters for six more outs from there, but then was done after six very busy innings, walking four and whiffing nine for over 100 pitches. He also was left with a no-decision, since the only “offense” the Coons produced in the fifth and sixth was Campos reaching on an error by Lira.

Matt Walters put up a scoreless seventh against the bottom half of the Thunder order, then was hit for with Kozak in the bottom 7th. Kozak hit a 1-out single off Harris, then made it to third base on a Morris double to left, presenting Lonzo with a great scoring opportunity with runners on second and third and one out. Lonzo plinked a loopy single over the head of Lira to bring in Kozak and took a 3-2 lead, but Morris had to freeze initially and then only made it to third base. Starr’s grounder to second forced out Lonzo, but the Thunder didn’t turn two and Morris scored there. Harris hit Monck, but Crumble couldn’t hit Harris and the inning ended with a fly to center. Up 4-2, Murdock then allowed a single to Luis Miranda in the #9 hole to begin the eighth inning before being immediately yoinked for McDaniel, who decimated the 1-2-3 batters accordingly and quickly enough to give us thoughts about him going for a 6-out save. He came back in the ninth, struck out Hummel, got Lira out to short, and faced Richardson, even though Richardson batted righty. Richardson flew out to left on the first pitch. 4-2 Coons. Crumble 2-4; Lawson 2-4, RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-2; McDaniel 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (1);

Raccoons (45-32) vs. Loggers (37-41) – June 28-July 1, 2063

The Loggers were scoring like heck – at least compared to the Critters – with the third-most runs put out in the CL, and with their fourth-worst pitching still managed a positive run differential of +5. The season series was at 4-3 Coons, but we had struggled mightily against the Loggers for a few years now. Their only meaningful injury was to Dave Wright.

Projected matchups:
Jeff Applegate (0-0, 1.27 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (5-8, 3.86 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (6-2, 3.09 ERA) vs. Tony Espinosa (5-4, 4.12 ERA)
Angel Alba (7-5, 3.40 ERA) vs. Vincent Hernandez (7-4, 3.61 ERA)
Chance Fox (6-3, 2.24 ERA) vs. Girolamo Pizzichini (2-4, 5.45 ERA)

The middle two starters the Loggers had lined up here were left-handers, which prompted an off day to Lonzo on Thursday.

…and then everybody got a day off thanks to persistent rain. Yaaay, more double headers…!

We flipped Riddle into the first leg of the Friday double header, while cramming every available lefty bat into the lineup against Larry Wilson

Game 1
MIL: LF Franks – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C Guitreau – 3B D. Miller – CF Merrill – 2B C. Sullivan – P L. Wilson
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – 1B Starr – SS Monck – RF Corral – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – C Arellano – P Riddle

Scott Franks opened the Friday proceedings with a single, stole his way to third base, and scored on a wild pitch. Yay. The Raccoons produced three innings of nothingness while Riddle continued to pitch rather uncleanly, with a hit batter and a balk scattered into the next few innings before the Loggers’ 4-5-6 hitters all reached base to begin the fourth inning on a walk and two singles. Milwaukee produced two sac flies from having the bases loaded with nobody out to extend their lead to 3-0.

The Coons scored a run in the fifth inning on straight 2-out singles by Arellano, Riddle (!), and Morris, but Riddle also got himself tagged out in a rundown between second and third to fritter away a bigger inning. Riddle offered one more inning, but the Loggers squeezed him out for over 100 pitches in six innings, and that was gonna be that. Carrillo pitched a scoreless seventh. Wilson allowed a 2-out single to Jon Bean in the bottom 7th, then walked Arellano, which brought up Malik Crumble to bat for Carrillo with the tying runs on base. Wilson got to 1-2 before making a mistake and had a double crammed into the rightfield corner that allowed even Arellano to score from first base as the Critters tied the game up at three, and then they even went up 4-3 when Morris bounced a ball through between Dave Robles and Chris Sullivan for an RBI single. We had thought of finishing the last two innings with Sensabaugh, but now wisely reconsidered and got a clean eighth from Pohlmann instead. Bottom 8th, Randy Birnbaum walked Starr and Corral before giving up an RBI double to right to Fowler, then an RBI single to Bean before being yanked for Hector Estevez, who did him one better with a 2-run double served up to Arellano. Lonzo batted for Pohlmann, but popped out, and Morris made the last out, after which Murdock got the last three outs from the Loggers. 8-3 Raccoons. Morris 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Bean 2-4, RBI; Arellano 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Crumble (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Runs!!??

Game 2
MIL: LF Franks – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – 3B D. Miller – CF Merrill – C Jack – 2B Garmon – P T. Espinosa
POR: CF Morris – 1B Kozak – LF Crumble – 2B Monck – 3B Morales – RF Campos – SS Lavorano – C Lawson – P Applegate

Singles by Danny Miller and J.P. Jack gave the Loggers a 1-0 lead in the second inning against an as of yet undecided Jeff Applegate. The Raccoons went in order in the first but then got leadoff singles from Monck and Morales in the second inning. Monck went to third, drew a throw, and allowed Morales to alertly move up behind him. Campos’ soft RBI single and Lonzo’s sac fly to center brought in that pair, but Espinosa struck out the battery to get out of the inning.

The third was uneventful, while Fidel Carrera hit a single and was caught stealing in the fourth. Applegate held out in the fifth, but was taken deep to right by Cesar Ramirez in the sixth inning, and that got rid of the 2-1 lead. Tony Espinosa responded by nicking Morris to begin the home half of the sixth, but the Raccoons just didn’t know what to do with a free runner and Morris was first forced out, and then Crumble ended up stranded at second base. Applegate walked two in the seventh, then Guitreau in Ramirez’ spot to begin the eighth, but got a comebacker from Robles for a double play, then a Carrera fly to right to complete eight innings before being hit for with Corral in the bottom 8th, but Corral, Morris, and Kozak made outs in order to give him his fourth no-decision in four starts.

Somehow, the Coons went to Sensabaugh in the ninth. Jonathan Merrill hit a double with one gone, but was stranded with a grounder to third and a strikeout from Jack and Chris Sullivan, respectively. Sensabaugh got more work when the Raccoons’ 3-4-5 did absolutely nothing in the bottom 9th, and ended up going three shutout innings before being hit for to lead off the bottom 11th against Brad Walker, right-hander. Joel Starr drew a leadoff walk, then dashed to third base on a Morris single to right-center, all with nobody out. Kozak’s fly to center was caught by Merrill, but he had nothing to stop Starr from scoring. 3-2 Blighters. Morales 2-4; Applegate 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 K; Sensabaugh 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

Somehow – anyhow – they keep on winning.

I don’t exactly know how they do it though.

Game 3
MIL: LF Franks – 1B C. Ramirez – C Guitreau – SS F. Carrera – 3B D. Miller – CF Merrill – RF Milian – 2B Garmon – P V. Hernandez
POR: CF Kozak – LF Crumble – 1B Starr – 3B Morales – C Arellano – RF Campos – SS Lavorano – 2B Bean – P Alba

Franks got on base to begin the game, but was doubled up by Guitreau, while Carrera’s leadoff single saw him advance on a grounder, then getting caught stealing third base in the second inning. For Portland Kozak hit an infield single in the first, then was Crumbled up in a double play. A Carrera error put Morales on base to begin the bottom 2nd. Arellano popped out before Campos doubled to left, giving Lonzo a pair in scoring position. He popped out on a 1-2 pitch, but Jon Bean came through with a single to right and scored Morales’ unearned run. Alba was an easy third out.

Bottom 3rd, and the Raccoons had runners on second and third with nobody out, and even on merit. Hernandez walked Kozak, and Crumble doubled to center to make that happen. They scored on Starr’s sac fly to deep left and Morales’ groundout, respectively, and made it 3-0, but Milwaukee answered with leadoff hits for Franks and Ramirez in the fourth, although they only got one run on Carrera’s groundout before Miller whiffed to leave Ramirez on third. The Coons’ reply was a Campos double to left to begin the bottom 4th, and immediately Lonzo singled him home. Lonzo stole second, but was stranded by the next three batters, including Alba, who in turn gave up a 2-out run with an RBI single by the opposing pitcher in the fifth, Hernandez driving in Merrill. Crumble and Morales in turn got on base for the Coons, but were stranded, and the score remained 4-2 through five.

Both starters were pinch-hit for after six innings – although both were around 100 pitches – and neither team made something of that move. Walters got four outs for the Critters, while Murdock got only one before Carrera singled off him with two outs in the eighth. Kozak overran that ball for an error, and Lonzo threw away Miller’s grounder for two bases, a second error, and a run. Murdock walked Merrill, at which point the go-ahead run was on base and the Coons double-switched Carlisle and Fowler into the game, with Fowler replacing Morales at third base. Carlisle fanned up David Milian to end the slow bleed. Bottom 8th, Campos hit another double off Ricky Pippin with one out. Monck batted for Lonzo at that point, but the Loggers wanted no part of him and directed him to first base right away. Bean’s grounder was then knocked down but not played for an out by Carrera behind second base, loading them up for Fowler. A knock would have been great, but we settled for a sac fly to center, 5-3. Ben Morris took Kozak’s place then as well as his 11-game hitting streak and singled to center, plating Monck and extending his streak to 12 games. Crumble popped out and Carlisle came back with a 3-run lead. Garmon hit a leadoff single, but was doubled off by James Wilks, and the game ended with Franks flying out. 6-3 Coons. Morris (PH) 1-1, RBI; Crumble 2-5, 2B; Campos 3-4, 3 2B; Bean 2-4, RBI; Corral (PH) 1-1;

Game 4
MIL: LF Franks – RF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C Guitreau – 3B D. Miller – CF Merrill – 2B Garmon – P Pizzichini
POR: CF Morris – C Arellano – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – RF Corral – LF Crumble – SS Lavorano – 3B Morales – P Fox

The Coons heard “pizza” rather than Pizzichini and were then quite mopey when the assumed pizza didn’t show up at the first pitch. Fox scattered a bunch of singles early on, but didn’t allow a run, while the Raccoons had Arellano on base in the first, then picked off base, before Starr and Monck put out a pair of singles that might have amounted to something otherwise, but now they just were stranded on Corral’s groundout. Down to the bottom 4th, Pizza walked Monck before giving up a 1-out double to Corral. Three long at-bats later against K-rumble, Lonzo (who walked), and Morales, who flew out to Franks, the Coons left the bases loaded.

The next thing we saw off Lonzo was him making a tumbling grab on a Robles liner in the sixth inning on which he somehow twisted his knee. He came out of the game and was replaced by Fowler. Fox then did a Fox, drilled Carrera, walked Guitreau, and then reconsidered and struck out the next two batters to dally out of the inning… Bottom of the inning, Starr and Corral walked against Pizza, but he also got two miserly outs from the next two batters and nothing came of it.

Pinch-hitter Jim Fusselman and Cesar Ramirez hit singles off Fox in the seventh. Ramirez’ single was to right with two outs and Fusselman made a bid for third base, but was firmly denied and thrown out by Corral to keep the game scoreless at the stretch. The Loggers went to Hector Estevez in the bottom 7th, who gave up a leadoff single to Morales before Fox bunted the runner to second base. Morris was then walked intentionally when he still had to extend his hitting streak. A double steal attempted ended with Morales thrown out at third base. It was a bit of a panic move given Arellano standing at the plate in a FAT double play scenario. Funnily enough, Arellano then slapped a 2-out RBI double to right-center for the game’s first run, then was left on base by Starr’s fly to left.

Fox came back for the eighth, allowed a single to Robles and a homer to Carrera, and then departed again, angrily punching his own glove on the way off the field. Pohlmann struck out two on his way out of the inning, while Monck opened the bottom 8th with a single to center which Wilks overran for an error and the tying run going to second base. The Loggers went to lefty Francisco Leyba, the Coons answered with Kozak, but his grounder to short kept Monck pinned. Ricky Pippin then came on, but allowed an RBI single to center to Crumble, because sometimes matchups just make no sense. Crumble even advanced to second base on Wilks’ throw home, then scored on a Fowler single to left-center. Bean pinch-hit into a fielder’s choice, while Lawson batted for Pohlmann and found a 2-out single, which brought Morris back to the dish after all, but he grounded out and stranded a pair.

Maybe Carlisle and Monck could offer him respite, combining for a leadoff walk to Wilks, an error on Franks’ grounder, and Ramirez’ game-tying RBI single in the ninth inning before there was an out on the board. Carlisle then retired the next three on two strikeouts around a Carrera pop, but that didn’t give us the ******* lead back. Pippin was still messing around in the bottom 9th; Arellano grounded out but he walked Starr and Monck singled the winning run to third base. Kozak whiffed and Campos flew out to send the game to extras, where the game immediately went to ******* hell when Matt Walters offered a walk and then got bombed for three runs on three doubles by the Loggers. The Coons in the bottom 10th saw Fowler and Bean retired by Walker, then were out of bench players when Carrillo in the pitcher’s spot came up and had to send Angel Alba on the pretense that he’d do something with his .342 clip so far this season. He grounded out to Carrera. 6-3 Loggers. Arellano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Monck 3-4, BB; Lawson (PH) 1-1;

In other news

June 25 – CHA 3B Rick Healey (.288, 8 HR, 44 RBI) puts out five singles in regulation and an RBI double in overtime for six hits and two RBI in total in the Falcons’ 10-inning, 10-9 win against the Loggers.
June 25 – Shoulder inflammation ends the season of LAP SP Ivan Torres (7-2, 4.97 ERA).
June 25 – The Warriors’ SP Alex Dominguez (5-8, 4.80 ERA) is expected to miss a month with a strained hammy.
June 26 – Blue Sox SP Josh Rivera (8-2, 3.15 ERA) strikes out ten Gold Sox in a 2-hit shutout for a 6-0 win.
June 26 – NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.218, 3 HR, 10 RBI) will miss three weeks minimum with a broken foot.
June 27 – SFB RF/LF Juan Paez (.299, 5 HR, 24 RBI) might be out until the end of July after separating his shoulder.
June 28 – The Knights acquire UT Rafael Roldan (.265, 7 HR, 30 RBI) and a prospect from the Canadiens for SP Roger Pritchard (8-5, 2.78 ERA).
June 30 – VAN RF Chris Richardson (.202, 5 HR, 9 RBI) goes yard in the second inning to beat the Titans, 1-0.

FL Player of the Week: RIC INF/RF Robby Cox (.310, 13 HR, 54 RBI), batting .387 (12-31) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA INF John Schmidt (.328, 0 HR, 2 RBI), hitting .538 (14-26) with 1 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS RF Austin Gordon (.355, 22 HR, 65 RBI), socking .350 with 11 HR, 30 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL SS/2B Fidel Carrera (.304, 17 HR, 65 RBI), churning .403 with 7 HR, 35 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: WAS CL Justin Round (8-1, 2.45 ERA, 18 SV), going 5-1 with a 0.56 ERA, 7 SV, 12 K in 15 games
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Mike DeWitt (12-2, 1.54 ERA), going 4-1 with 0.69 ERA, 38 K in six starts
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN OF J.D. Johnson (.252, 6 HR, 24 RBI), batting .253 with 4 HR, 12 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: ATL UT Carlos Fumero (.324, 1 HR, 29 RBI), clipping .373 with 1 HR, 16 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Bad news on Lonzo, who would miss two weeks at least with a knee contusion. Old men have old men pains, I guess.

That Schmidt kid? That’s the first overall pick from the draft. The Falcons sent the 21-year-old straight to the majors and so far he’s been clipping singles.

I wonder whether we ever saw two teams before that were at least ten games over .500, but in the bottom three in runs scored, and then did only the most miniscule pokes against each other. The entire Thunder series saw only ten runs scored – for both teams combined! At the end of it we were still 10th and 11th in runs scored, with the last-place Falcons almost on top of the two teams.

We need a spot starter on Tuesday, since I don’t feel like bringing back either Elling or Applegate on short rest. I don’t know how we’re gonna do it, although one option would be to throw away a game to the Titans by starting Sensabaugh and then flipping him back to AAA right after the game for fresh blood.

Four in Boston, three in New York, and then it’ll be the All Star Game.

The international free agent pool has also opened up on Sunday, so maybe we can fling some dosh at those players. We do not have signing restrictions in place this year.

Fun Fact: The Portland Softsticks did not hit a home run all week long.

That after Monck whacked five against the Loggers on his own last time ‘round.