[Westheim]

Raccoons (13-19) vs. Stars (19-13) – May 11-13, 2065

The Stars would be another tough customer, given how they were allowing the fewest runs in the Federal League and the Raccoons were very much struggling. Dallas was fifth in runs scored and third in the FL West, albeit within half a game of the spot at the sun. These teams last played in 2061, when the Stars won two of three games from the Critters.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (1-4, 4.54 ERA) vs. Alan Deakin (1-4, 7.26 ERA)
Angel Alba (2-4, 4.50 ERA) vs. Jay Everett (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
Jeff Crowley (1-2, 5.67 ERA) vs. Ray Walker (4-3, 3.59 ERA)

The baseball gods worked in mysterious ways, as the Stars only acquired the left-hander Deakin from the Wolves on Monday morning and he was on the bump that same night when they had better starters to send out. Deakin was the only left-hander in the rotation and cost them #54 prospect SP Lupe Chavez.

The Coons activated Randy Tallent from the DL before the series, sending Jamie Colter (.308, 0 HR, 1 RBI) back to AAA.

Game 1
DAL: SS Yocum – 2B Maudlin – RF Ju. De Luna – 1B Fresco – 3B R. Vargas – CF Robichaud – LF T. Pritchard – C Bothe – P Deakin
POR: RF Spicer – 3B Morales – C Burkart – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – SS Serrano – 1B A. Vargas – CF Garmon – P Nakayama

The silly Raccoons got an invitation in the first inning with a four-pitch walk to Morales and Kozak reaching base on a 2-base throwing error by Ricardo Vargas, but Monck’s groundout to Vargas kept the free runners in scoring position. The Stars were less picky about exploiting mistakes; they were already up 1-0 in the second inning on three singles when Burkart also threw Deakin’s bunt away for two bases and another run. Morales drew a leadoff walk in the third and was doubled up by Burkart, while the Raccoons went meekly in entirety in the fourth inning. The Stars neglected bombing Nakayama when he gave them more free passes, then saw Deakin – after allowing one hit in 4.1 innings of work – load the bases with the 9-1-2 batters and three soft singles in the bottom 5th. But again Burkart was up, and again Burkart wobbled into a double play to end the inning.

On the other side Juan de Luna hit into a double play in the third inning and then was doubled up himself by Belchior Fresco after beginning the sixth inning with a single to center. Bottom 6th, the Raccoons got 1-out singles from Monck and Serrano before Deakin’s wild pitch moved the tying runs into scoring position for Alex Vargas, who flew out easily to shallow left and Tommy Pritchard’s waiting glove, and Corey Garmon was walked intentionally. Jose Corral batted for Nakayama, fanned bitterly, and the Raccoons stranded another set of runners. Jesse Dover then opened the bullpen failures for the week, allowing a leadoff hit to Jared Robichaud and a 2-out RBI double to ******* Alan Deakin in the seventh inning. Carrillo walked a pair of Stars in the eighth before having to be rescued by McDaniel, while Deakin pitched a 7-hit shutout against the unsuspecting Coons. 3-0 Stars. Morales 1-2, 2 BB; Serrano 2-4;

Useless.

Game 2
DAL: SS Yocum – 2B Maudlin – CF Wharton – 1B Fresco – LF C. Pritchett – RF T. Pritchard – 3B Robichaud – C Bothe – P R. Walker
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – C Arellano – 1B Kozak – SS Aoki – CF Garmon – P Alba

“Crabman” Walker was moved up to the middle game, presumably to firmly press a pillow on the Coons’ little snouts and a series win. He allowed singles to Morales in the first and Alba in the third inning, whiffed four, and was worse than Alba with that performance as Alba let nobody on base and struck out five Stars the first time through. Adam Yocum singled up the middle to begin the fourth inning, but was quickly 6-4-3’ed by Jeff Maudlin. Chad Pritchett singled and Robichaud got drilled in the fifth inning, but both were left on base when Jason Bothe grounded out. No strikeouts the second time through for Alba, while the Crabman was up to 9 K through six innings against the harmless Critters. Both teams were on two base hits through six, and no runs.

It was all too clear that the game was likely to be decided by a silly run at this point, and while Walker struck out Kozak for #10 in the seventh inning, he then stumbled over Angel Alba again in the bottom 8th. Aoki had drawn a 1-out walk and advanced on a Garmon groundout, and then Alba flopped a 2-out single over the head of Yocum and into left-center, at which point you didn’t have to ask Aoki twice to swing those paws and make for home. The Coons scored the game’s first run, and Walker finished the inning against the top of the order, after which Angel Alba returned to the hill on 93 pitches for the ninth inning, because who in their right mind would give that 1-0 game to Jon McGinley?? Ben Marmie grounded out to second in Walker’s spot. Yocum grounded out to short. And Maudlin sent another grounder to short, Aoki was on it, and this squeezer went the Raccoons’ way…! 1-0 Blighters! Aoki 0-1, 2 BB; Alba 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (3-4) and 2-3, RBI;

Alba! He was not only all the pitching, but he also was two thirds of the hitting aside from that Morales single in the first!

This was Angel’s second career shutout after a 2-hitter he threw against the damn Elks in June of ’62.

Game 3
DAL: SS Yocum – 2B Maudlin – CF Wharton – RF Ju. De Luna – 1B Fresco – LF C. Pritchett – 3B R. Vargas – C Bothe – P Peters
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – C Burkart – 1B Kozak – SS Aoki – CF Tallent – P Crowley

Dallas put right-hander Ian Peters (3-0, 3.61 ERA) into the rubber game, where Crowley walked Fresco in the second inning and then was immediately taken deep by Chad Pritchett for a quick 2-0 deficit. Tyler Wharton, who entered the series hitting .320 with five homers, had the day off on Monday and a very silent Tuesday, then socked a huge solo jack in the third inning to tack on another run for the Stars. Peters then lost both Tallent and Corral on balls in the bottom 3rd before giving up a 2-out run on a Morales single, but the Raccoons couldn’t connect for the big blow. Tallent hit a leadoff single his next time up in the bottom 5th, but was then very much ignored by the top of the order after getting bunted to second by Crowley and the Raccoons remained 3-1 down.

Crowley was done after six busy innings and 110 pitches, after which Cruz Madrid came into the seventh inning, faced five batters, gave up four hits and two runs, and then was quietly disposed of again as the bullpen despairs only deepened.

Peters took a 3-hitter into the bottom 8th before giving up leadoff singles to Corral and Spicer. Morales flew out easily, and Monck hit a comebacker for a double play to end the inning before the Raccoons could even qualify as an official threat. Peters kept going until he was knocked out in with one down in the bottom 9th when Aoki doubled home Burkart to shorten the score to 5-2. Novelo struck out and Arellano grounded out to end the inning. 5-2 Stars. Morales 2-4, RBI; Tallent 1-1, 2 BB;

(sigh!!)

Thursday was off and mostly spent weeping under a blanket, and then it was time to head to Loggerland.

Raccoons (14-21) @ Loggers (15-18) – May 15-17, 2065

The Loggers had lost five games in a row but had swept the Raccoons over three games the first time they encountered their lifeless husks this year, so this series could still go either way. In stats, Milwaukee was eighth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed. Their pitching staff was rivalling the Coons’ in terms of futility, as they were in the bottom three in the CL in both starters’ and bullpen ERA. They were without regulars Cesar Ramirez and Jonathan Merrill, both on the DL with injuries.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (0-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Bobby Herrera (3-2, 2.92 ERA)
Josh Elling (4-2, 2.62 ERA) vs. TBD
Shoma Nakayama (1-5, 4.12 ERA) vs. Carlos Rodriguez (3-2, 2.88 ERA)

Those were two right-handers and a question mark where Nick Waldron (1-5, 8.17 ERA) would be, who had left his last starts with a forearm strain.

Game 1
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – C Burkart – 1B Kozak – SS Aoki – CF Garmon – P Walla
MIL: CF Franks – RF D. Wright – 2B F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – LF C. Dominguez – C Guitreau – SS Reber – 3B V. Velez – P B. Herrera

Futility Friday saw the Raccoons fall behind 1-0 rather quickly in the bottom 1st on hits by Scott Franks and Dave Wright and not a lot else, while they themselves kept finding creative ways to strand runners. The highlight was probably the fifth inning when Walla singled and Corral walked with one out and the Spicer lined out to Dave Robles, who caught Corral too far off the bag and ended the inning with a 3-U double play. The score remained a tantalizingly close 1-0 through five innings, and Bruce Burkart hit a 2-out double to left in the sixth, but then Kozak struck out to further stink his batting average deeper under .200 …

Walla issued a walk and two singles in the bottom 6th, but the Loggers ran themselves out of the inning with Robles getting thrown out on an attempt to get first-to-third on Carlos Dominguez’ single. Eventually Dominguez and Tommy Guitreau were stranded when Kyle Reber popped out to short. Top 7th, and Garmon reached with one out on a shy single. Walla popped up the bunt attempt for the second out (after earlier bunting into a force at second base), but Tipsy Bobby then threw a wild pitch and gave up a game-tying double to Jose Corral, batting all of .171, with two outs. Spicer grounded out to second, keeping the game tied at one, at least until Walla in the bottom 7th walked Vic Velez and gave up a 2-out RBI double to the opposing rightfielder of his own to Dave Wright… Both Walla and Bobby H. would go eight innings, and Vincent Hernandez then retired the Coons’ 6-7-8 batters in order to finish out the game… 2-1 Loggers. Corral 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Monck 2-4; Garmon 2-4; Walla 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (0-1) and 1-3;

Just three career starts and already a tough **** complete-game loss on the books for Nick Walla, who was probably born to be a Raccoons pitcher……

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – C Burkart – 1B Vargas – SS Aoki – CF Garmon – P Elling
MIL: CF Franks – RF D. Wright – 2B F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – C Guitreau – SS Reber – LF Reder – 3B V. Velez – P C. Rodriguez

Carlos Rodriguez was sent on short rest into the middle game, in which the Loggers again went up 1-0 in the first inning, this time on a Wright double, a balk, and a wild pitch, and all that out of Josh Elling, who had been the last guy left on that pitching staff that I didn’t have the urge to slam face first into the nearest wall every time I passed him in the clubhouse.

While Elling spent the next few innings reigning himself in, the Coons had little going between episodes of Spicer getting on base in the first and fourth innings, stealing second, and then things got complicated. Spicer was caught stealing third base in the first, but held off in the fourth and instead scored on a knock by Vic Morales to tie the game. Rich Monck did it one better, homering over the wall in left for a 3-1 Coons lead. I didn’t know we still had bats that could homer! I also didn’t know Bruce Burkart could steal bases, which he did in the same inning after signals got mixed up and he just took off, which took both teams by surprise. He remained on base, though. Elling then struck Dave Robles in the knee to get him out of the game, to be replaced by Matt Ruskin, who began a Loggers rally in the bottom 6th with a single to center. Elling then walked Guitreau, Kyle Reber singled, and a passed ball and Phil Reder’s groundout tied the game. Elling was purged after another walk to Velez, with Dover just about retiring PH Tyler Gilliam and Scott Franks while keeping the go-ahead runs on base.

Rodriguez also didn’t get through six, and Aiden Shaw was pitching in the seventh inning. Reber’s error put Spicer on base, but the Raccoons only got a greater advance with two outs as Monck and Burkart put together a pair of singles to get the youngster around to score the go-ahead run, 4-3. Vargas’ groundout stranded a pair, while Dover allowed a first-pitch single to Wright in the bottom 7th. McDaniel replaced him to **** up the game, as Fidel Carrera singled the tying run to third base, Ruskin hit a sac fly, and Tommy Guitreau then blew the doors open with a 2-run homer to left-center, 6-4.

The eighth inning was uneventful while the ninth looked just like it with Randy Birnbaum retiring Corral on a grounder and Spicer on a pop… and then he walked the bags full with the 3-4-5 batters. Hoping for a swipe, the Raccoons sent Kozak to bat for Vargas, and while the grand slam was not in the cards, Kozak singled up the middle – still under .200 though – to drive in the tying runs with the Coons down to their final out. Novelo batted for Aoki as left-hander Tony Espinosa replaced Birnbaum, but struck out to end the inning. Sansao Tyson drilled Carrera in the bottom 9th, but the Loggers otherwise made three outs and the game went to extras, where Chance Fox made his first pitching appearance in over a week when he was called on for long relief, retiring the Loggers in order in the tenth inning to get underway.

Espinosa was still pitching for the Loggers in the 11th, which began with a Spicer out before consecutive bad picks by J.P. Jack at first base and Carrera at second put Morales and Monck on base through errors. Burkart singled to center, but Morales was thrown out at the plate by Franks. Kozak also singled to center, but Monck didn’t even try to go for home from second base. Novelo then flew out to Wright to strand doubly-unearned piles of runners on base. That was the only scoring opportunity the Raccoons got in extra innings before Fox los the game with a Guitreau double and Reber RBI single in the bottom 12th… 7-6 Loggers. Morales 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Monck 3-5, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Burkart 3-5, BB, RBI; Kozak (PH) 2-2, 2 RBI;

(expressionless stare)

Game 3
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 2B Monck – 1B Vargas – C Arellano – CF Kozak – SS Novelo – P Nakayama
MIL: CF Franks – RF D. Wright – 2B F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – LF C. Dominguez – C Guitreau – SS Reber – 3B V. Velez – P Waldron

The Raccoons struggled to stink up to more or less one-armed Nick Waldron for the first few innings before Novelo hit an infield single to begin the third inning and was bunted to second. Corral drove in the runner with a single for the game’s first run, Spicer doubled, and then Morales popped out and Monck grounded out to leave a fat juicy pair of runners in scoring position… Nakayama had yet to blow up, so the Raccoons’ trio of singles from Vargas, Kozak, and Novelo extended the lead to 2-0 in the fourth, although Corral whiffed after having the runners moved to scoring position, stranding them there. Carrera and Robles hits rung off Nakayama’s numb ears in the bottom 4th got the Loggers on the board for a run, 2-1.

Neither team got close to touching the other’s tosser for the next few innings, even though I was convinced if someone gave me a stick I could whack a double off Waldron. No such thing happened for the time being, but the Raccoons at least managed to put two singles together for a tack-on run in the top 8th when Morales got a hit, advanced on Monck’s groundout, and then was driven in with two outs by Alex Vargas. Arellano and Kozak added two more singles and another run, and now Waldron seemed empty and the Loggers had snoozed past the point to lift him. Waldron walked Novelo, then Nakayama with the bases loaded, and Corral slapped a 2-run double to finally knock him out of the game. Oliver Graham popped out Spicer to end the 5-run inning. That sounded like a big enough lead to bring in Cruz Madrid in the ninth inning, but for the second time this week he faced five batters and retired just one of them as Dominguez hit into a double play after a Carrera single and Robles walk. Another walk and an RBI single later, he was purged for Carrillo, who got the final out from Velez. 7-2 Coons. Corral 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Vargas 2-4, BB, RBI; Arellano 2-5; Kozak 2-4, RBI; Novelo 2-3, BB, RBI; Nakayama 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (2-5);

In other news

May 12 – Boston 1B Bill Joyner (.325, 5 HR, 27 RBI) connects for a 2-run homer against DEN SP Scott Evans (1-4, 8.04 ERA), which aids the Titans in winning the game, 5-4, and also amounts to his 2,000th career base hit. Joyner, who was a Gold Sock for most of his career, was a career .324 hitter with 176 homers and 939 RBI, and also brought two Platinum Sticks and four Gold gloves to the table.
May 14 – The season of LVA SP Matthew May (4-1, 2.61 ERA) ends with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
May 16 – TIJ SP Marco Clemente (2-3, 3.20 ERA) shows up for a 3-hit shutout to beat the Falcons, 8-0.
May 16 – DAL RF/LF Juan de Luna (.230, 5 HR, 18 RBI) breaks up a Gold Sox shutout in the ninth inning and ends the game with a walkoff grand slam off DEN CL Danny Nava (2-2, 4.80 ERA, 8 SV) as the Stars win 4-3.
May 17 – VAN OF/1B Chad Whetstine (.299, 4 HR, 16 RBI) is shut down for at least three weeks after suffering a concussion.
May 17 – The Crusaders beat the Titans, 1-0, on a single base hit, a leadoff triple for OF Bryant Box (.273, 3 HR, 13 RBI) right in the first inning. He scores for the game’s only run, too.

FL Player of the Week: LAP 3B/2B Ralph Lange (.347, 6 HR, 27 RBI), hitting .545 (12-22) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS 1B Bill Joyner (.338, 6 HR, 30 RBI), bashing .500 (12-24) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

It doesn’t look like the pain is gonna end any time soon. If anyone wonders how the season is going, we’re now 1-5 against the Loggers.

The Loggers…!

I toy with the thought of releasing the entire bullpen and just start from scratch with random waiver claims. Because no waiver claim can be worse than $3M’s worth of Cruz Madrid retiring one in five ******* batters every time he puts pants on, and posting a 9.00 ERA in the middle of ******* May. And don’t even get me started on McGinley…

The road trip remains rough with stations in New York for four games, Tijuana, and Vegas. 124 games to play out the string.

Fun Fact: Elijah LaBat leads the CL in saves as a damn Elk.

Why exactly did we not keep LaBat around? He’s only 31! He looks like he’s not completely toast!?

My sources tell me we sent him to Denver with Noah Caswell and others for Jim White and Adam Middleton. Adam who??? And Jim White had two nice seasons in the Coons’ middle infield, but not *that* nice…!

******* depressing.