[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Continental League runs in circles around in the Federal League in an unusual 13-5 win. 37-year-old New Yorker Aubrey Austin goes 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI for MVP honors. Milwaukee’s Fidel Carrera and Indy’s Matt Kilday both drive in four runs.

For Portland, Rich Monck goes 2-for-5 with a solo home run off Washington’s Justin Round, while Juan Carrillo posts a scoreless fifth inning during the pitching procession.

Raccoons (51-37) vs. Titans (49-38) – July 12-15, 2063

The Titans were another three-of-four series away from taking the lead in the division and were on a 6-game winning streak. Overall they were now up 4-3 on the Raccoons for the year. They were top three in runs scored and runs allowed, and the Raccoons were making an honest bid for scoring the fewest runs in the league at this point. It was unlikely that three days off reset the offense.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (8-5, 3.34 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (4-6, 4.10 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-3, 2.30 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (7-5, 4.35 ERA)
Josh Elling (5-6, 3.03 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (7-6, 3.40 ERA)
Jeff Applegate (0-0, 1.24 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (9-5, 1.53 ERA)

The Titans only had right-handed starters still.

Game 1
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 2B W. de Leon – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – RF A. Lee – 3B D. Mendoza – 1B Dorey – SS Sowell – P M. Bell
POR: CF Morris – RF Corral – 2B Monck – LF Crumble – 1B Starr – C Arellano – 3B Morales – SS Fowler – P Alba

Morris singled in the Coons’ first at-bat in four days, stole his 15th base, and came home on two shy singles by Monck and Crumble before Starr whiffed and Arellano grounded out to Willie de Leon. Not much happened after that for a while as Alba was *on* and the Titans had only one single and a walk against six strikeouts in the first four innings before the Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom 4th, putting all their 6-7-8 batters on base with one down and Alba batting next. The shine was a bit off on Alba, who had scattered singles all over the place and was still batting .317 for the season after pushing an oddball .500 in April, but he hit a fly to right that was caught by Andy Lee, yet was deep enough to bring in battery mate Arellano with a sac fly, 2-0. Morris flew out to Steve Humphries on the next pitch to strand a pair. Bill Dorey walked and was doubled up by Ken Sowell in the fifth, and Humphries hit an infield single, but was stranded in the sixth against Alba, who then saw the lead enlarged by Joel Starr’s solo shot off Tony Castellanos in the bottom 6th – Bell had been hit for after just five innings. Arellano then singled and scored on Nick Fowler’s double to tack on another run.

Boston got to Alba in the seventh when he offered a leadoff walk to Jorge Arviso, Diego Mendoza doubled and Dorey went to considerably deep right for a sac fly, but Sowell grounded out to keep Mendoza on base. Alba completed eight strong innings on 111 pitches. Arviso took Carlisle deep for a solo home run in the ninth, but that was not enough to get back into the game for the Titans. 4-2 Raccoons. Monck 2-4; Arellano 2-4; Fowler 2-3, 2B, RBI; Alba 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (9-5);

Game 2
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 2B W. de Leon – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – 3B D. Mendoza – RF A. Lee – SS Sowell – P Glaude
POR: CF Morris – RF Corral – SS Monck – LF Crumble – 1B Starr – C Arellano – 3B Morales – 2B Bean – P Fox

Fox hung one for Eddie Marcotte’s 23rd homer of the season, a solo shot to left in the first inning, a deficit that was made up with singles from Morris and Monck, plus a passed ball charged to Arviso in the same inning. Foxie Brown struck out five in the first three innings, but also got his pitch count to 49, which was far from ideal.

The Coons were on the corners again with Morris and Monck in the bottom 3rd, and again with one out. Morris this time had been nicked and had stolen second base, while Monck had a scratch single. Malik Crumble gave the Coons a 2-1 lead with his groundout behind second base, on which Monck moved to second, from where he scored on Starr’s single to left-center. Starr was left on, while the Titans got a double from Manny Rubin, an infield single from Mendoza, and a sac fly from Andy Lee in the top 4th before Sowell drew a walk in a full count. Glaude’s groundout ended the inning, but by then Fox had thrown another 26 pitches in the 3-2 game. He had a quick fifth, but then fell to a leadoff single by Arviso, a Rubin double, and a sac fly by Mendoza that tied the game. Andy Lee popped out in another endless full count, and Fox was removed after 103 pitches with the go-ahead run on second base and two outs. Murdock got a first-pitch pop to short from Sowell to end the inning.

Carrillo put in a scoreless inning before the Raccoons were on the corners again facing righty Roberto Navarro in the seventh. Corral walked, then reached on Monck’s single, all with nobody out. Crumble popped out, Starr walked, and Arellano looked primed to hit into a double play, but Navarro came up with a hanger, Arellano flicked his tail once, and then BOMBED the ball outta sight – GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!

Raccoons pitching threatened to answer with a pitching meltdown as three relievers – Carrillo, Walters, Barton – each put a runner on base in the eighth inning, but Marcotte, Rubin, and Lee were all stranded and nobody scored when Sowell grounded out to short against Barton, against all odds. Bottom 8th, Marco Campos batted leading off in Barton’s spot, singled, stole second against Jason Posey, and then jogged home on Jack Kozak’s pinch-hit homer to right, which was the final fancily colored box in that night’s scorecard. 9-3 Raccoons. Kozak (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Monck 4-5, 2B; Starr 1-1, 3 BB, RBI; Arellano 1-4, HR, 4 RBI; Campos (PH) 1-1;

No division lead for the Titans on Sunday night after that result! (high-paws it with Slappy)

Jim White started a rehab assignment in AAA on Saturday. Him and Lonzo were both expected to rejoin the team early next week.

Game 3
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 2B W. de Leon – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – 3B D. Mendoza – SS Sowell – P MacKinnon
POR: CF Morris – LF Kozak – SS Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – 3B Morales – 2B Gardner – C Lawson – P Elling

Morris singled and stole second again in the first inning, and Rich Monck found the stands in right for his 19th homer of the year – 20 if you included the one in the All Star Game on Tuesday. Joel Starr narrowly missed a home run and had to settle for a wallbanger double, then scored on a right-center gap double by Jose Corral, 3-0. Joe Gardner got his first career RBI with a 2-out single to right, then was left on by Lawson. The Coons then loaded them up when the 2-3-4 batters all reached with two outs in the bottom 2nd, but they were also all left on base when Corral popped out in foul ground.

Elling briefly dipped his ERA under three before being getting taken deep by Sowell to begin the third inning, 4-1. Morales’ leadoff single in the bottom of the inning saw him forced out by Lawson a grounder for the second out – Gardner had flown out to center – before Elling was down 1-2 and hit a pop on the foul side of third base which Diego Mendoza dropped for an error. Elling then singled on the next pitch – only his second hit all year long – and then Morris added an RBI single to right-center that was surely upsetting for the Titans. It only got worse with Kozak’s 2-out, 2-run double. That was the end for MacKinnon; Andy Younge got a groundout from Monck to end the inning after three unearned runs. Elling then slithered into pointless-long-counts territory and also gave up a leadoff triple to Marcotte in the fourth that Arviso immediately converted into a run with a sac fly, 7-2. He did however pile up some strikeouts in the middle innings, too, except for that 2-out at-bat with Arviso in the sixth inning on which Arviso hit a fly to shallow center that Morris caught with a headlong dive, but jammed his non-glove paw under his body and left the game with a throbbing thumb in favor of Campos.

Elling completed seven innings, striking out 11 Titans. He had already gotten pats on the furry tush when Scott Lawson doubled in extra runners against Tony Castellanos in the bottom 7th, plating Morales and Gardner with a ball to the base of the leftfield wall. Crumble batted for Elling and singled Lawson to third base, and Campos brought him in with a sac fly to Lee, reaching double digits. That was also the last Critters run, but the Titans would put two more runs on the board against Barton in the ninth inning. Barton put on a pair, left with two outs before things could pick up pace, but Pohlmann and Lawson put together a run-scoring passed ball and another Sowell RBI single before finally putting the game to bed. 10-4 Furballs. Morris 2-4, RBI; Kozak 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Monck 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Starr 2-4, BB, 2B; Morales 2-4; Crumble (PH) 1-1; Elling 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, W (6-6) and 2-3;

Two roster moves were made after this game. Ben Morris (.256, 2 HR, 19 RBI) went back to the DL (big sigh!) and Paul Barton (1-1, 5.63 ERA) was once more disposed of to AAA.

We brought up Rich Read for the bullpen and Todd Oley to keep the bench coach company.

Game 4
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 2B W. de Leon – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – 3B D. Mendoza – RF A. Lee – SS Sowell – P Brenize
3POR: RF Corral – CF Kozak – SS Monck – 1B Starr – C Arellano – 3B Fowler – LF Crumble – 2B Bean – P Applegate

Kozak hit into the Coons’ first double play of the series (!!) in the first inning after Corral’s leadoff single looped behind Mendoza. Arviso’s leadoff single in the second also led to a double play that Rubin hit into, 6-4-3 style, and Marcotte got the same done in the fourth after de Leon’s leadoff single. Brenize also singled off Applegate, while the Raccoons were still employing mostly guesswork against the Titans’ ace. Andy Lee found *another* double play in the fifth after Mendoza reached base being brushed with a breaking ball. Brenize opened the sixth with *another* leadoff single off Applegate, who then blundered on Humphries’ comebacker, which he tried to turn for two, but in fact got nobody out with that ambitious play. De Leon hit a single to center, with the Titans trying to score with Brenize from second, but he was thrown out at the plate. The other runners moved up into scoring position. They finally got on the board with a sac fly to center hit by Marcotte. Arviso drew a 2-out walk, but Rubin flew out to Crumble to leave runners on the corners.

Come the bottom 6th, Brenize walked Corral with two outs and then nicked Kozak, but the Raccoons could not get a hit in that situation and Monck popped out to leave them on base. Pohlmann replaced Applegate with another two Titans on base in the seventh inning, but gave up 2-out singles to Humphries and de Leon to concede the runners left behind by Applegate. Brenize racked up ten strikeouts before giving up an eighth-inning run when Corral doubled home Crumble with two outs. Nick Leigh got the ball for the bottom 9th against the meat of the order. Monck grounded out, but Starr doubled to center, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Arellano and Fowler whiffed back-to-back for 13 total strikeouts for the Raccoons on Sunday. 3-1 Titans. Corral 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI;

In other news

July 11 – The Crusaders acquire reliever Travis Davis (1-2, 3.53 ERA, 2 SV) from the Bayhawks, along with cash, for two prospects.
July 12 – The Rebels acquire SP Cory Ritter (5-10, 3.88 ERA) from the Miners for three prospects including #71 INF/LF/RF Frank Lopez.
July 12 – The Thunder rally out of a 6-0 hole with a 7-run ninth inning for a 7-6 walkoff over the Falcons, with the cherry on top being C Steve Preston’s (.244, 7 HR, 42 RBI) walkoff grand slam.
July 14 – Rebs SS Jason Turner (.257, 10 HR, 46 RBI) has a 20-game hitting streak going after a first-inning single in a 15-inning, 5-4 loss to the Buffaloes in which he adds only hitless at-bats afterwards.
July 15 – The Loggers acquire SP Alex Cruzado (6-7, 5.28 ERA) and cash from the Bayhawks for #101 prospect OF Jimmy Poe.

FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/LF Roberto Almanza (.331, 1 HR, 44 RBI), hitting .556 (10-18) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR INF Rich Monck (.288, 19 HR, 63 RBI), hitting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Monck’s heroics include his All Star Game performance, so he actually hit over .500 (9-17) with the Critters this week.

Jeff Applegate finally got a decision by running into Jason Brenize and being rather mediocre on Sunday, so it was not exactly the kind of decision that we were looking for… Brenize now had a 1.51 ERA, which was kinda mental… as was his 10-5 record to go with it.

Morris won’t be back until August with a torn thumb ligament. Can’t be a bad tear though if Luis Silva expects him to be back in three weeks. That means he’ll probably be back on the DL in six weeks. What a rotten couple of seasons he’s been having. He missed 46 games last year due to injuries, and this year he’s already missed 36 games and will likely add another 20 for this ****.

I still don’t know which part of the roster to tinker with to get any effect out of it. Relief looks like an option, but we also get little production from our middle infielders outside of Monck. Then again, Lonzo and White will return early next week, so a trade will only jam the roster. I don’t know. I’m clueless.

The Raccoons will be on the road next week, playing gigs in Elk City and Vegas.

Fun Fact: His lack of wins might cost Jason Brenize the triple crown this year.

Guy’s leading in ERA (by 14 points over Mike DeWitt) and in strikeouts (by 14 K over Mike DeWitt), but he’s three wins behind a gaggle of pitchers (including Mike DeWitt) in the victory category.

Last year Brenize topped everybody by four wins, 57 points of ERA, and 40 strikeouts. DeWitt finished second in that last category.