[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-57) @ Loggers (62-62) – August 25-27, 2064

The Loggers had been well in contention until going on an active 5-game losing streak, but I guess that was what the Raccoons were in town for now. They ranked second in runs scored, but also gave up the second-most runs, for a +4 run differential. They had the third-worst rotation and the very worst bullpen in the CL, despite average defending, and the Raccoons tried to hold on to a 7-5 lead in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (12-8, 2.69 ERA) vs. Girolamo Pizzichini (5-6, 4.79 ERA)
Chance Fox (9-8, 4.34 ERA) vs. Larry Colwell (4-3, 3.94 ERA)
Angel Alba (9-10, 4.33 ERA) vs. Tony Espinosa (10-9, 3.84 ERA)

No reunion with Tipsy Bobby, who had pitched on Sunday, but we’d get a southpaw on Wednesday.

Game 1
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – C Burkart – SS Aoki – CF Tallent – P Riddle
MIL: RF D. Wright – LF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – 2B F. Carrera – 3B D. Miller – C Jack – CF Franks – SS Reber – P Pizzichini

The weather threatened to become an issue on Monday, so the Raccoons went out and took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Kozak doubled home Corral in the first inning. “Pizza” then walked the bags full, but Bruce Burkart grounded into an inning-murdering double play. Both teams would bungle chances in the early innings, and the Loggers ended up not only loading the bases, but also leaving them loaded without scoring in the third inning when J.P. Jack popped out to Rich Monck with Cesar Ramirez, Dave Robles, and Danny Miller all on base. The Raccoons then rapped off straight 1-out singles from Tallent, Riddle (after fail-bunting his way down to 0-2), and Corral in the top 4th. Corral plated Tallent for a 2-0 lead, but Morales grounded out and Kozak struck out in a full count to keep it right there, and the Loggers finally figured out that putting-hits-together thing and got a run of their own in the bottom 4th on hits by Scott Franks and Dave Wright.

Rain then came and went, knocking out the starters after five innings. The sixth was calm, while Kozak and Monck hit singles off Randy Birnbaum in the seventh, but that came with two outs and without Joel Starr continuing the chain. The Raccoons put innings together with McDaniel and Carrillo before the Coons accumulated on base again facing Birnbaum to begin the eighth. Aoki singled, Tallent singled, and then Rafael Valencia showed up, having entered in a double switch in the previous half-inning (Starr was done for the day). Valencia so far had failed his way through 80 at-bats on the season, but now cranked a 3-run homer to left to significantly expand the lead to 5-1. The Loggers replaced Birnbaum with ex-Coon Kevin Hitchcock, who allowed another single to Corral, a gap double to Vic Morales, and then plated another run with a wild pitch at 1-2 to Kozak, who ended up hitting a sac fly, 7-1. Out with Hitchcock and in with Hironobu Hanzawa, the Loggers conceded another run on a Monck single and Burkart’s RBI double strung down the rightfield line. Aoki drew a walk before the inning ended with a fly out by Tallent. The 6-run inning sucked the air out of the Loggers, who went down meekly for their last six outs. 8-1 Raccoons. Corral 3-4, BB, RBI; Novelo (PH) 1-1; Arellano (PH) 1-1; Monck 2-4, BB; Starr 2-2, 2 BB; Tallent 3-5; Valencia 1-2, HR, 3 RBI; Riddle 5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (13-8) and 1-1;

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – 1B Starr – C Burkart – SS Aoki – CF Maldonado – P Fox
MIL: RF D. Wright – LF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – 2B F. Carrera – C Guitreau – 3B D. Miller – CF Merrill – SS Reber – P Colwell

The bases were loaded four batters into the the middle game, with a Morales single, Kozak walking, and Monck lucking on base when Fidel Carrera flubbed the throw to Kyle Reber on his grounder to second that might have been two otherwise. Runs ended up scoring on a wild pitch and Starr groundout, making it 2-0 before Chance Fox touched a ball. Morales singled home Maldonado with two outs in the second to extend the lead to 3-0, but Jonathan Merrill conquered Fox for a solo jack in the bottom of the inning to get the Loggers back to 3-1, and they got another run the inning after when Fox walked leadoff man Wright and the Loggers got him around with a grounder and a Robles RBI single. So, no, Chance Fox did not have a good game, not at all, and the Loggers tore him to bits in the fourth inning. He got one more out while getting ****** for five hits and four runs; basically everybody but Colwell raked a line drive that fell somewhere against him, three singles and two doubles, and he was disposed of while I double-facepawed. That was even before Alex Cruzado – the next useless piece of **** in a long string of useless pieces of **** in that cursed bullpen – came in and walked the first three batters he faced. The Loggers got two more runs in total against Cruzado; Tommy Guitreau drew a bases-loaded walk while Danny Miller hit a sac fly to Corral. Merrill’s fly to Maldonado ended a 6-run inning with the Loggers now up 8-3.

The Raccoons sorta crept back into semi-contention by the sixth inning when Colwell blatantly hung one that even Yukio Aoki couldn’t miss and deposited for a 2-run homer to right with Burkart on base, shortening the gap to three runs. Both Kozak and Monck came close to homers the inning after, but both had their drives caught on the warning track for no gains, and then Mike Hall got slapped around for two more runs in the bottom 7th, which pretty much put the hallucinations of a comeback away. Monck did get a homer after all in the ninth inning, but by then the Critters were down to their last out and there wasn’t even anybody on base, so even Monck’s 21st bomb of the year still kept the Raccoons down by a slam. A strikeout to Starr kept them right there. 10-6 Loggers. Morales 3-5, RBI; Maldonado 3-4, 2B;

I am not sure Chance Fox will survive the next offseason…

Game 3
POR: 3B Morales – RF Corral – C Burkart – 2B Monck – 1B Kozak – LF Valencia – SS Novelo – CF Tallent – P Alba
MIL: LF Franks – 1B C. Ramirez – C Guitreau – 2B F. Carrera – 3B D. Miller – RF D. Wright – CF Merrill – SS Reber – P T. Espinosa

Offense was down the first time through either lineup, with Alba in fact going perfectly through the Loggers’ order for the first time, but the Raccoons got hits from Burkart and Kozak to put a pair in scoring position with one out in the fourth. Valencia lined out to Espinosa to prevent an advance, but Pablo Novelo managed to double to the wall in left to drive both runners in before being left on by Tallent. Alba then gave up a leadoff single to Franks, walked Cesar Ramirez right after, and while he got two outs from the 3-4 batters, both Miller and Wright clipped more hits with two outs and brought in the tying runs. Merrill popped out to Morales to keep that pair in scoring position.

The Raccoons reclaimed the lead in the top 5th, which Alba began with a ringing double to right. Morales walked, Corral made a weak out, but Burkart made it 3-2 with a double to left. Monck kept the line moving with an RBI single over a jumping Carrera, and Kozak scored Burkart by grounding out to second. Valencia’s grounder to short kept it at 5-2. It didn’t stay there for long, though. Novelo dropped a pop by Vic Velez in the home half of the fifth, and Alba then served up a pair of 2-out RBI doubles to Ramirez and Guitreau for two unearned runs.

After that excitement the Raccoons tried to claw on to their 5-4 lead through the next couple of innings. Eventually, Monck flew to center to begin the eighth. To pitcher Aiden Shaw’s dismay, Merrill dropped that fly for a 2-base error. Kozak and Valencia hit poor groundouts that didn’t help much at all, but with those two gone, Novelo singled to left to get Monck home for an insurance run, unearned as it was. That was it, though, as Maldonado batted for Tallent, but flew out easily. Carrillo held on to the lead in the bottom 8th, and then it was holding on to dear life again with McGinley in the ninth. He faced the bottom of the order though and the Loggers did not manage to pile on him. J.P. Jack had a pinch-hit single with two outs, but Dave Robles batted for Franks and grounded out to short. 6-4 Coons. Burkart 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Novelo 2-4, 3 RBI; Alba 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-10) and 1-3, 2B;

Series win, and we left Milwaukee one full game behind the Titans, which became half a game when they lost the finale of their series in New York on Thursday, 3-1.

Raccoons (69-58) vs. Bayhawks (51-74) – August 29-31, 2064

The Baybirds, who had lost four of six games against the Raccoons so far, were bottoms in the South and awaiting the end of the dreadful season. They had the fewest runs scored and the most runs allowed in the CL. For that record, their -135 run differential looked even kind of tame. There was little to like about that roster except for the few well-known star hitters like Grant Anker (.267, 12 HR, 48 RBI) and Armando Montoya (.270, 10 HR, 41 RBI), both of whom had missed a bunch of games this year with injury and Montoya was also getting deeper into his 30s now. The rest of the roster had been ravaged by injuries, with five pitchers on the DL and catcher Lorenzo Marquez being day-to-day with a balking ankle.

Projected matchups:
Jarod Morris (8-4, 3.09 ERA) vs. Paul Egley (2-13, 5.11 ERA)
Josh Elling (13-6, 3.68 ERA) vs. Justin Wittman (5-2, 4.20 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (13-8, 2.66 ERA) vs. TBD

Sunday would be Goffredo Merlin (9-8, 3.41 ERA) in turn, but he had left his start on Monday with an injury and was doubtful. Next in line would be Adam Foley (7-6, 2.95 ERA), who would even go on regular rest thanks to the common off day on Thursday. All of these starters were right-handed.

Game 1
SFB: RF Paez – CF Laws – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – SS D. Cox – 1B Navarre – 3B D. Sandoval – C L. Marquez – P Egley
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Kozak – C Burkart – SS Aoki – CF Maldonado – P Morris

Juan Paez opened the weekend series with a single to center, stole second, and then was caught stealing third base. Dustin Cox singled and stole second, but was stranded an inning later. Rich Monck in turn showed what mattered and began the bottom 2nd with a big swat to left for a leadoff homer, extending the 12-game hitting streak he entered with. The Raccoons **** the bed right in the next half-inning, though. Monck bungled a Marquez grounder for an error to begin the top 3rd, and then Starr threw away Egley’s bunt for two bases. Morris tried; Paez popped out and Laws whiffed, but then Grant Anker worked a walk and Armando Montoya singled home a pair of doubly-unearned runs to flip the score. – Maud, may I calmly request you give me the blunderbuss?

Even better was the fifth inning. It began with two outs by Egley and Paez before Laws drew a walk from Morris. Anker homered, Montoya and Cox singled, Morris threw a wild pitch, then walked Nate Navarre, gave up a bases-clearing double to Dan Sandoval, and Marquez then hit another homer. Morris was cast into the nearest deep, dank hole, and the Raccoons had ****** up another huge inning, the Baybirds scoring seven to go up 9-1, e.g. game over. The Coons scratched out a run on Kozak and Burkart doubles in the bottom 5th, as if that was gonna do ******* anything anymore. Corral and Starr reached the following inning before Egley hung a 1-2 to Monck, who hardly needed encouragement and smashed a 3-run homer, which still barely dented the score. Got rid of the 2-13 pitcher that was gonna go up to a lofty 3-13, though…

The next couple of innings didn’t see much happening; Cruzado pitched garbage relief for 13 outs without allowing much to the Baybirds, which was commendable but probably would end up being pointless. The Coons were still down by a slam going into the bottom 9th against the right-hander Brian McLaughlin. Aoki grounded out before McLaughlin walked Maldonado and Valencia. Corral flew out, but Morales singled in a run with the Coons down to their final out, and that brought Starr to the dish as the tying run. He struck out. 9-6 Bayhawks. Starr 2-5; Monck 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Kozak 2-4, 2B; Cruzado 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K and 1-2;

By Saturday the Bayhawks knew that Goffredo Merlin would need surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, which ended his season and might put him in jeopardy for Opening Day. So he was off to the DL and we’d probably see Foley on Sunday.

Game 2
SFB: RF Paez – CF Laws – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – SS D. Cox – 1B Navarre – 3B D. Sandoval – C L. Marquez – P Wittman
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Kozak – C Arellano – SS Aoki – CF Maldonado – P Elling

Paez, Laws, and Montoya hit singles for a Bayhawks run in the first on Saturday, but the Coons made that run up on a Corral single and a 2-out double by Monck in the bottom of the same inning. Elling had nothing, though, and the Bayhawks made substantial contact off him all the time. The Coons had Aoki and Maldonado on base in the second, but got nowhere, but Grant Anker thundered a 2-run homer off a hapless Elling in the third inning to give San Fran a new lead.

Bottom 4th, Kozak flew out, but then Arellano walked and Aoki reached on an error by Sandoval. Both the 8-9 hitters however flew out to Anker and nothing came of it. Wittman offered another walk to Corral to start the bottom 5th, and then got bombed to left by Vic Morales, tying up the score at three! Another walk and another Monck homer then flipped the score around all the way to 5-3 Furballs…! (throws Honeypaws in the air) We love Rich Monck!!

The Monck homer ended Wittman’s day, but it didn’t fix Elling, who gave up another run on some rockets hit around his fuzzy ears in the sixth inning, Marquez singling home a run with two outs to narrow the score to 5-4 again. Elling was hit for after John Steele walked Maldonado to begin the bottom 6th. Joe Gardner drew another walk in his spot, and the Coons pulled off a double steal, a trick they rarely showed off this year. Corral was walked intentionally to plunge the Coons into a three on, no outs dilemma, and they surely delivered. Morales struck out, Starr hit a sac fly, and Monck’s fly to center was caught by Scott Laws, holding the Coons to one run and a 6-4 lead.

That didn’t mean the lead was beyond blowing it. McDaniel couldn’t handle the seventh, departing with two on and two out, courtesy of an Aoki error and a walk to Anker. Dover came in for Armando Montoya, gave up a long fly to center, but Maldonado ran that bloody thing down to end the inning. The Coons had singles from Kozak (forced out by Arellano) and Aoki in the bottom of the same inning, but meek outs by Maldonado and Novelo kept them on base. The ******* pen then blew the lead in the eighth. Carrillo got two outs, then walked Sandoval. Marquez and Todd Eaton socked consecutive RBI doubles to tie the game, and then Carrillo slipped another free pass to Paez. Hall came for Laws, who popped out to Monck to finally end the ******* inning. Hall instead shoveled Montoya and Cox on base in the ninth, but Maldonado managed to catch another missile without breaking his little neck to at least keep the Critters in the tie. Left-hander Josh Atkins then allowed a leadoff single to Monck in the bottom 9th. Tallent ran for Monck with the winning run and made it to third base on a Kozak single. 90 feet away and still two outs to play with! Arellano used one of it for a long fly to center that Laws caught, but it was too deep to prevent Tallent from ending the game. 7-6 Critters. Monck 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Kozak 2-5; Aoki 2-4;

What a ******* ********!

And yet that ******** might yet make it to the playoffs if the Titans run into another 3-10 spill. The gap was a game and a half again by now.

Kozak was struggling right now and got a day off on Sunday. Apart from that, except for Starr against southpaws, we had run out the top five in the lineup for about two weeks straight without change.

Game 3
SFB: RF Paez – CF Laws – 2B A. Montoya – 3B Anker – LF Navarre – SS D. Cox – C Eaton – 1B Escalera – P Foley
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – C Burkart – LF Valencia – CF Maldonado – SS Gardner – P Riddle

Paez bunted his way on base with an infield single to begin the rubber game, and Riddle walked Laws on four pitches, but then the stalwarts failed the Bayhawks as Montoya whiffed and Anker hit into a 4-6-3 double play. The Coons in turn got Corral and Starr on base with singles and Morales reached on an error by Anker, somewhat misplaced at third base, to begin the bottom 1st, presenting Rich Monck with three on and nobody out. Again, the curse struck; Monck got a run home with a double play grounder, but that was the only marker the Coons got by the time Burkart flew out to Laws. Bottom 2nd, the Critters were right again on the corners with Valencia and Maldonado singles. Gardner hit a sac fly, 2-0, but Maldonado was left on base. Those two were on the corners with a pair of singles to begin the fourth inning, with Nate Navarre having given Maldonado an extra base by overrunning his ball. Gardner however singled to Paez’ feet and Maldonado was held against that murderous throwing arm, but sent when Riddle flew out to Navarre in deep left. He scored, giving Riddle ten RBI for the season, which wasn’t that common for pitchers. Gardner then stole second base, which was a moot move given that Corral walloped a ball over the fence one pitch later, 5-0.

The Bayhawks had not shown up for a couple of innings, but Montoya hit a leadoff double off Riddle in the sixth inning to signal that they were still trying. Though they tried, they couldn’t get Montoya home in the inning, however, with him and Navarre stranded on the corners eventually on pop outs by Cox and Eaton. Riddle was in turn then stranded himself after hitting a double to right in the next half-inning.

Riddle then got stuck in the top of the seventh, running a few long counts and putting PH David Blackham on base before being lifted for Harmer, who did little besides loading the bases. McDaniel then gave up a two runs on an Anker single to right before striking out Navarre as the tying run to end the inning. At least McDaniel got three outs in the eighth without further complications… and McGinley retired the Bayhawks in order to win the game and the series. 5-2 Coons. Corral 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4; Gardner 1-2, BB, RBI;

In other news

August 27 – Falcons INF John Schmidt (.242, 0 HR, 24 RBI) will be out for three weeks with a case of biceps tendinitis.
August 28 – The Canadiens beat the Indians, 8-4 in ten innings, with the deciding whack coming in the top of the tenth inning on a grand slam by OF/1B Chad Whetstine (.290, 11 HR, 62 RBI).
August 29 – MIL SP Bobby Herrera (10-14, 3.46 ERA) shines with a 2-hit shutout against the Falcons, claiming a 6-0 victory.
August 30 – The Condors beat the Crusaders, 1-0, although it takes them 12 innings to mount all of that offense.

FL Player of the Week: NAS C David Johnson (.315, 27 HR, 89 RBI), socking .444 (12-27) with 4 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA OF/2B/SS Mike Pinault (.218, 4 HR, 25 RBI), clipping .450 (9-20) with 3 HR, 13 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS C David Johnston (.315, 27 HR, 89 RBI), hitting .394 with 9 HR, 20 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: POR INF Rich Monck (.320, 24 HR, 92 RBI), raking .362 with 8 HR, 29 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: LAP SP Joel Luera (10-5, 2.78 ERA), going 4-1 in six starts, with a 1.16 ERA, 24 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: BOS SP Jason Brenize (12-5, 1.64 ERA), an unbeaten 4-0 with 1.49 ERA, 49 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Jerry Morejon (.303, 5 HR, 29 RBI), batting .327 with 2 HR, 20 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN OF Rick Atkins (.299, 13 HR, 69 RBI), poking .273 with 7 HR, 22 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Rich Monck – who ended a 14-game hitting streak with an 0-for-4 on Sunday – slugged his way into a batting triple crown position on Saturday night. Hitting .323 with 24 homers and 92 RBI put him tops in all categories, nine points up on Scott Franks in batting average, one RBI ahead of Tijuana’s Casey Ramsey, and tied with Fidel Carrera and Eddie Marcotte in homers. This of course blissfully ignored that Carrera was currently not qualifying for the batting title, although he also didn’t have a good week and the gap to Monck narrowed a bit. All of this was still true on Sunday night, despite that oh-fer.

Our bumbling pursuit of the division title continues here on Monday with a 3-game set against the Aces before we will have a 7-game road trip to Elk City and New York coming. The team actually has to go to New York twice more this year, also finishing the regular season there on the final weekend. Our remaining three games with the Titans won’t take place until the final week of the regular season, either.

Tune in again on Monday to see whether the Raccoons actually bring up hot prospect Malcolm Spicer, clipping .327 in AAA!

Fun Fact: The last Raccoon to win Player of the Year honors was Manny Fernandez in 2036.

Manny went .326 with 19 homers that year, driving in 90 runs while leading the league with 211 hits. He also stole a career-high 31 bases and posted 7.6 WAR that season. The only other time he led the league in something would be RBI in 2040, then driving in 105.

For his career, Manny went .280/.335/.421 with 2,122 hits, 198 homers, and 1,110 RBI, along with 189 stolen bases, a Gold Glove, and a sack full of Platinum Sticks. Somehow I managed to schmooze him into the Hall of Fame, too!

Right now Rich Monck sits at two Player of the Month awards – Manny was Player of the Month in August of his 2036 season – but only 5.3 WAR, maybe because he’s not necessarily a Gold Glove defender at his position. His .874 OPS would be better than the .862 mark that Manny won the accolade with. The competition from Carrera and Marcotte is rather fierce, though…

The dearth of Player of the Year winners from this team is staggering; for comparison, since Manny took that award, the Coons have put out four Pitchers of the Year (and four different ones at that: Wheats, Taki, He Shui, and Kennedy Adkins), three Rookies of the Year (Taki, Shui, and Matt Walters), and five Relievers of the Year (Mike Lynn, Kevin Daley, and three times Walters).

Yes, even the Rookies of the Year were all pitchers (and then you could say that only Walters was a *real* rookie, not an established pitcher coming from Asia). Most of the winners from other teams were batters, although there were half a dozen pitchers from them as well: Jeff Johnson (NYC), Brian Buttress (ATL), David Barel (BOS), Larry Colwell (ATL), Thomas Turpeau (BOS), and Aaron Harris (OCT);

The last Portland Rookie of the Year that was a position player? Berto, in 2026.