[Westheim]

Raccoons (20-37) vs. Crusaders (31-23) – June 8-10, 2066

The Raccoons were a crisp 0-4 against New York this season, and I had little hope of quick improvement, even though the Crusaders had fallen significantly behind the Titans after some early tight battling. They scored the most runs in the CL and were at least third in pitching, so it was hard to figure out why they weren’t winning more games with their +72 run differential (Coons: don’t ask). Perhaps all they needed was a little luck, or facing some listless lowlifes. Here we are.

Projected matchups:
Juan Sanchez (3-6, 3.79 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (6-2, 2.72 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (2-6, 5.63 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (2-3, 6.52 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (3-7, 3.20 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (6-3, 1.95 ERA)

The Crusaders had played three games in the last five days, and on two different days; like the Coons they had enjoyed a previous off day on Thursday, but had suffered a rainout on Saturday in Milwaukee and had played two on Sunday. As a result, none of their three right-handers here was likely to start on anything resembling regular rest.

Game 1
NYC: CF Box – 2B O. Sanchez – 3B B. Wilken – RF Takeuchi – C Reyna – SS Spehar – LF Menchaca – 1B Jose Alvarez – P R. Montoya
POR: LF Spicer – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – 2B Arantes – CF Wilson – P J. Sanchez

Both teams had nothing on offense in the first inning, then hit into an inning-ending double play in the second inning, the Coons’ Joel Starr starting a 3-6-3 on Eddie Menchaca. However, only Sanchez allowed a single to Ricardo Montoya and then a homer to Bryant Box in the third inning. That put the Crusaders up 2-0, although the Raccoons got Leon Arantes on base to begin the bottom 3rd. Jaden Wilson forced him out, but stole second base. Sanchez popped out, but Malcolm Spicer hit an RBI single, then was caught stealing to end the inning.

Montoya hit another single off Sanchez in the fifth inning, but was left on base that time around, while the Raccoons got Jaden Wilson back on base to begin their half of the inning. Neither pitcher was having the high octane, and Montoya saw the tying run bunted to second base, then gave up another RBI knock to Spicer, this time an RBI double to right, and this tied the ballgame! Montoya walked the bags full with Jose Corral and Ramon Lopez, but then battled successfully against Rich Monck, who struck out in a full count, and got Novelo to ground out.

Sanchez battled his way into the seventh, but got stuck with one out and departed after walks to Ryan Spehar and Jose Ambriz. Soriano replaced him against righty pinch-hitter Dave Blackshire, gave up a single, and departed immediately when left-handed batter Jared Allen appeared in place of Montoya. Garvey came in, struck out both Allen and Box, and that stranded three Crusaders on base. Bottom 7th, the Coons got 2-out singles from Wilson and Jamie Colter off twice-a-disaster-in-brown Ryan Harmer, but Spicer was denied a third RBI knock and struck out. It then all fell apart for Ricky McMahan in the eighth as he allowed a leadoff walk to Omar Sanchez, and then was battered around for three hits and two runs, Victor Reyna and Jose Ambriz hitting RBI singles.

Bottom 8th, the Coons loaded the bases with Corral, Monck, and Novelo against three different pitchers, then brought up Starr with one out and facing the fourth pitcher of the inning lefty Pedro Mendoza. Starr fell to 0-2, but then lobbed a clean single over the head of Spehar to shorten the score to 4-3, and then the minor league free agent Leon Arantes singled to center to flip the score to 5-4 Coons. Wilson and Tallent made the outs from there, and the Raccoons brought in Jesse Dover for an out-of-the-blue save attempt. He got two outs, then into trouble; Omar Sanchez hit a single, Ben Wilken worked a walk, but Kazuhide Takeuchi’s grounder to Starr was the final out of the game. 5-4 Raccoons. Spicer 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Novelo 2-4; Arantes 2-4, 2 RBI; Wilson 2-4; Colter (PH) 1-1;

The Crusaders thought they had to suffocate this vague showing of competence in the crib and moved Seiter up to the middle game against DD.

Game 2
NYC: LF Jose Alvarez – 2B O. Sanchez – CF Box – RF Takeuchi – 3B B. Wilken – C Reyna – SS Spehar – 1B J. Allen – P Seiter
POR: LF Spicer – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – 2B Arantes – CF Wilson – P Damasceno

The Crusaders immediately gave DD a few on the snout in the first inning, as Jose Alvarez worked a walk and was immediately doubled home by Omar Sanchez, who would also score on two groundouts. Like on Tuesday, the Raccoons made up one run immediately, as Corral doubled himself in the bottom of the inning and then scored on Lopez’ groundout and a wild pitch. Spicer, though – he doubled home Jaden Wilson in the bottom 3rd to tie the game at two, and he was suddenly the most effective hitter on the team. Seiter walked Corral, but then got Lopez to rumble into a double play to end the inning. The Raccoons went on and loaded the bases in the bottom 4th on Novelo and Arantes singles surrounding Starr walking. Wilson hit a comebacker for an out at the plate, and DD struck out, and thus nobody scored.

The Crusaders then knocked out Damasceno after five; they had run up his pitch count with lots of long at-bats to 75 in just three innings, and then had him cooked two frames later. On the way out, they put him on the hook again when Bryant Box singled in Jose Alvarez with the go-ahead run in the top 5th. DD walked four and struck out only one batter in a trying outing.

The Coons turned that around really fast, though; Seiter allowed a leadoff single to Spicer in the bottom 5th, then a double to Corral. Spicer had to hold at third base, since Takeuchi and Box got close to that fly ball, but it dropped between them for the double. Lopez kept the string going and singled to left-center, flipping the score by driving in both runners, 4-3. Seiter met his grisly end with a walk to Monck and Novelo’s RBI single, to be replaced with lefty Jorge Quinones. Arantes grounded to first, where Allen ****** the play for a run-scoring error, Quinones threw a wild pitch, leading to an intentional walk to Wilson, and then Colter hit a sac fly in DD’s spot before Spicer grounded out to end the inning, Portland up by a slam.

The Raccoons then absolutely stole eight outs with Steven Hudson, first against the three righty batters up in the sixth, and then just kept him going until he hit a log jam, which was with two outs in the eighth and singles hit by Wilken and Reyna, ironically the first two right-handed batters he had retired smoothly earlier. The Raccoons went to Dover again with Spehar up and Allen being the tying run in the on-deck circle. Dover had nothing, walked both of them to force in a run, and then was yanked for Garvey, who struck out Menchaca to get out of the inning. Garvey would go on to retire the Crusaders’ top of the order without much fuss in the ninth. 7-4 Critters! Spicer 2-4, 2B, RBI; Corral 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Novelo 3-4, RBI; Hudson 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Garvey 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (5);

Wow! Wins!

Game 3
NYC: SS Spehar – 2B O. Sanchez – CF Box – RF Takeuchi – 3B B. Wilken – C Reyna – LF Menchaca – 1B J. Allen – P Kozloski
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Colter – 2B Arantes – SS Arredondo – P Nakayama

Of course disaster had to strike in the final game of the series. Not only did the Crusaders take another quick 2-0 lead on Box’ 2-out walk, a Takeuchi RBI double, and a Wilken RBI single, but Nakayama then also would not return to the mound for the second inning, having been sent down the tunnel by Luis Silva with elbow discomfort. At that point there wasn’t much to do but to insert Sensabaugh for long relief and chalk the game off a loss, and hope that Nakayama’s arm wasn’t gonna come off.

Sensabaugh did what was asked of him, pitching four innings while giving up one run on a Jared Allen homer in the fifth until he was chased by rain resulting in a 90-minute rain delay, as if we didn’t have any other problems. The Raccoons scored a run in between when Jamie Colter singled home Ramon Lopez in the bottom 4th, but apart from that were rather silent and were down 3-1 when play resumed after the rain delay, now with Soriano thrown in and allowed singles to Sanchez and Box, then a sac fly to Takeuchi for New York to extend their lead to 4-1. Soriano was certainly not a long relief guy, but he managed to give the Raccoons two innings when they really needed it, seeing Allen reach in the seventh, but doubled up by Dave Blackshire.

Cullum pitched the top 8th without problems, but the Raccoons were thin enough now – both Dover and Garvey had been out two days in a row against the Crusaders – that Pablo Novelo was tossing in the bullpen in the bottom 8th, but then Rich Monck took Ryan Harmer deep in the bottom 8th, 4-2, Harmer also walked Starr, and when lefty Nate Nilson replaced him, the Coons sent Tallent to bat in place of Colter, and Tallent bashed another oddball homer to tie the ballgame! Arantes singled, but Arredondo grounded out. The Raccoons left Cullum in now for a tie in the ninth, and he gave the Critters another scoreless inning. Ex-Coon and right-hander James Murdock came out for the bottom 9th. Corral batted for Cullum, drew a 4-pitch walk, but Wilson and Spicer popped out on the infield before Murdock threw a wild pitch to get the winning run into scoring position; …and just in time for Ramon Lopez to knell a walkoff double into the rightfield corner…! 5-4 Furballs!! Lopez 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Starr 1-2, 2 BB; Tallent (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Arantes 2-4; Sensabaugh 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K; Cullum 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-1);

Tell you, I did have a sweep on my mind, but not quite like this…

Shoma Nakayama was day-to-day with a sore elbow, but it looked like he would not be able to make his next start, so the problems with juggling the rotation would continue unabated…

Carlos Matas and his 0-for-6 bat were sent back to St. Pete ahead of the Buffaloes series, as Tommy Branch and his much more formidable 12-for-87 stick returned from the DL.

Raccoons (23-37) vs. Buffaloes (32-29) – June 11-13, 2066

The Buffos had lost five in a row and were seventh in runs scored and third in runs allowed in the Federal League. They had neither speed nor power in any great abundance, but the pitching as a whole was very balanced with a stingy defense behind the hurlers. They did have a bunch of injuries, including starter Goffredo Merlin, closer Justin Round, who had just gone down this week, and also Grant MacKinnon and Wade Griffith.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (6-4, 3.38 ERA) vs. Antonio Santelices (3-1, 4.60 ERA)
Vinny Morales (0-2, 7.30 ERA) vs. Justin Kent (7-4, 2.46 ERA)
Juan Sanchez (3-6, 3.71 ERA) vs. Preston Young (1-4, 4.34 ERA)

Left-hander on Friday, left-hander on Saturday, and … no left-hander on Sunday, as Coby Strutz (2-6, 3.12 ERA) had pitched on Wednesday and would not be rested enough to give the Critters a full slate of southpaws. While being terrible against all teams regardless of the pitching involved, the Coons had struggled against southpaws especially this year, going 3-10 in the 13 times they had faced a lefty starter.

Game 1
TOP: 2B A. Rodriguez – 1B R. Guzman – 3B A. de los Santos – RF MacDonnell – C Jack – CF T. Lopez – LF Cowan – SS Flug – P Santelices
POR: 2B Arantes – SS Novelo – C R. Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Branch – RF Tallent – 1B Spink – CF Wilson – P Walla

The first Raccoons hit on Friday was a 2-run double for Randy Tallent with the bases loaded and two outs, as Santelices had walked Novelo and Branch while nicking Monck in between. Tony Spink grounded out, leaving two on base. That was the only early scoring; Walla allowed just one hit, a single, to the second batter he faced, Rafael Guzman, and otherwise had the Buffaloes under control, although it was mostly on weak contact rather than strikeouts. The Raccoons had only a few hits, but ran up an erratic Santelices’ pitch count, who walked four and was in many more long counts before Rich Monck singled on his 98th pitch with one out in the bottom 5th and the Buffos pulled him for righty Allan Bergerud, who quickly got out of the inning.

Walla was then double-doubled by David Cowan and John Flug in the sixth to put a Buffos run on the board, although this was reclaimed in the same inning when Wilson and Arantes went to the corners with singles and Novelo hit a sac fly to center. Lopez hit another single, but Monck grounded out to Guzman and left two runners on in a 3-1 game. Walla however was completely out of tune now and threw a wild pitch after a leadoff walk to Alex de los Santos, and John MacDonnell and J.P. Jack whacked singles off him to get the runner home and Walla out of the game. McMahan replaced him and was met with pinch-hitters, but handled a comebacker from Jeff Buss for an out at third base, then struck out David Milian. Flug hit a scratch single to load the bases, but Omar Lira struck out to leave the bags full in the 3-2 game.

The lead survived an eighth-inning appearance by Hudson (which should not be misconstrued as a vote of confidence) before Wilson singled his way on base to begin the bottom 8th and was left on. Garvey got the ball for the ninth, struck out MacDonnell, got Jack on a grounder, but then saw the Buffos take the corners with singles by Andy Chairez and Milian. Mound conference to check Garvey’s pulse, but we wanted him to stay in against Flug, who was a switch-hitter, but clearly weaker against left-handers. Garvey got to a 2-2 count before allowing a liner to the left side – but Rich Monck was positioned perfectly and snatched it to end the game. 3-2 Coons! Arantes 2-3, BB; Tallent 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wilson 2-3, BB;

Game 2
TOP: CF T. Lopez – 1B R. Guzman – 3B A. de los Santos – RF MacDonnell – C Jack – 2B O. Lira – LF Buss – SS Flug – P Kent
POR: 2B Arantes – RF Spicer – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – LF Branch – 3B Tallent – C Spink – CF Wilson – P Morales

Vinny Morales continued to not get out of the gates and walked Guzman and was taken deep by Alex de los Santos right in the first inning on Saturday. Jeff Buss added a solo shot in the second, and when Morales wasn’t giving up bombs, he was walking people, like Guzman and de los Santos in the third inning. MacDonnell hit into a 6-4-3 double play on that occasion, ending the inning. Morales had a 1-2-3 fourth, but then got smacked around some more in the fifth and gave up another two runs. The pitcher Kent, hurling a 2-hitter, singled, Tony Lopez doubled, and the runners scored one by one on a Guzman grounder and de los Santos’ single. Morales, completely overmatched, got through the sixth because Omar Lira got himself caught stealing after reaching base, and then was quietly ushered away.

Wilson reached base on Lira’s 2-base throwing error to begin the bottom 6th, which was as far as any Coon had gotten against Kent so far, but Kent came back with K’s on Arredondo and Arantes before Spicer flew out to center. Soriano had a 3-pitch seventh inning before the Coons made it onto the board with leadoff knocks by Novelo and Starr to get to the corners, and a run-scoring groundout for Tommy Branch, but Tallent then struck out. Spink hit a single, but Wilson popped out to end the inning. Kent kept going through eight before Mike Perez got the ball and the 5-1 Buffos lead in the bottom 9th. Novelo struck out, but Starr singled. With the righty up, the Raccoons sent some pinch-hitters, but Monck flew out before Lopez walked. Colter was still on the bench, but he was the last batter available, and the Coons might yet bring up the pitcher in this inning, so Tony Spink had to bat for himself and lazily flew out to Jeff Buss to end the game. 5-1 Buffaloes. Novelo 2-4, 2 2B; Starr 2-4;

Game 3
TOP: 2B A. Rodriguez – LF Milian – RF MacDonnell – 1B Buss – CF T. Lopez – C Wheat – 3B O. Lira – SS Flug – P P. Young
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – C R. Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Corral – SS Novelo – 2B Arredondo – P Sanchez

There was a lot of futile poking to begin the rubber game, with just one single per side the first time through the order. Young was a bit loose with control and ran into trouble in the bottom 4th after a walk to Corral and a Novelo double to right. Corral was held, Arredondo wasn’t serviced, and instead Juan Sanchez got to bat with three on, two out, and lobbed a single into shallow right, near the line and far away from MacDonnell, which allowed Corral and Novelo to score the first runs of the game. Jaden Wilson then cranked a homer off a visibly discombobulated Preston Young, who had now paid with five runs all for failing to get the pitcher out in that situation.

Sanchez paid for the excitement of running the bases with a derailment of his own in the fifth inning and loaded the bases with nobody out, admittedly starting with an infield single by Omar Lira. The Buffos got a run on Alex Rodriguez’ sac fly and then another one on a 2-out single by MacDonnell, but Buss struck out as the tying run to end the troublesome frame, but it only got worse in the sixth. Tony Lopez drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a passed ball, and Tom Wheat’s RBI single and John Flug’s RBI double narrowed the score to 5-4. Sanchez was yanked, Cullum and Colter entered in a double switch that ended Corral’s day, and the right-hander found his way out of the inning without conceding the tying run.

Cullum and Garvey got the Coons through the seventh before the ball ended up with Hudson again in the eighth – which was still not a vote of confidence, but more a necessary Evil. Capital E, because he not only blew the lead, but first walked Wheat and then was taken *deep* by light-hitting Lira for a score-flipping homer, 6-5 Topeka.

Brian Burkey walked Arredondo and Colter in the bottom 8th, but neither Wilson nor Spicer could get a hit in against the right-hander, and so the tying and go-ahead runs were left on the corners in the inning. Hudson, still crap, and Wilson, who fudged Flug’s leadoff single in the ninth for an error, then conspired to give the Buffaloes an insurance run in the ninth inning. The Coons got only a Starr single in the ninth against Mike Perez and went down in defeat. 7-5 Buffaloes. Starr 2-4, BB;

In other news

June 7 – The hitting streak of Aces OF Victor Lorenzo (.364, 3 HR, 21 RBI) ends at 24 games with an 0-for-5 in an 8-3 loss to the Bayhawks.
June 7 – A torn triceps might rob the Buffaloes of their closer Justin Round (1-1, 2.90 ERA, 16 SV) for the rest of the season.
June 8 – Dallas CF Tyler Wharton (.323, 12 HR, 43 RBI) is suffering from knee tendinitis and will be shut down for a month.
June 8 – The Loggers acquire SP Jonathan Vale (3-4, 4.48 ERA) from the Capitals in exchange for SS/2B Tyler Gilliam (.258, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and a prospect.
June 9 – CIN OF Melvin Avila (.344, 7 HR, 40 RBI) might miss two weeks with a bruised neck.
June 10 – Ruptured finger tendons threaten to end the season of DAL SP Ray “Crabman” Walker (7-3, 3.92 ERA), who will miss at least three months on the DL.
June 11 – The Bayhawks walk off on the Miners, 9-5 in ten innings, on a walkoff grand slam by RF/LF Juan Paez (.319, 4 HR, 26 RBI) off 23-year-old sophomore MR George Christensen (1-1, 4.11 ERA).
June 11 – The Knights beat the Warriors, 3-2 in 14 innings.
June 13 – 42-year-old Knights SP Kodai Koga (5-5, 3.18 ERA) 3-hits the Warriors and strikes out eight batters in a 7-0 shutout.
June 13 – The Stars acquire infielder Tony Villarreal (.330, 1 HR, 16 RBI) and $2M in cash from the Gold Sox for three prospects.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Chad Pritchett (.327, 19 HR, 67 RBI), bashing .286 (8-28) with 4 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 1B Ian Stone (.291, 7 HR, 36 RBI), hitting .429 (12-28) with 2 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

4-2 week with a surprise sweep of the Crusaders (they didn’t see it coming, either) but still without the offense getting back on track even though we actually broke the lofty four runs per game mark … this week. Not for the season. No, no. Far away from that. 200 runs in 63 games. Brrr!

With Nakayama having the barking elbow, the Raccoons will need another spot starter on Tuesday. Looks like it will be Applecore in his first appearance this year, and he walks more than he strikes out in AAA for jolly goodness. My sole consolation is that the team will be in Salem that day and I will be in New York for the draft and won’t have to see *any* of it.

The Raccoons have that 3-game set against the Wolves starting on Monday, a day off on Thursday, and then a home set against Boston. Nakayama was hoped to be available for that weekend set.

Fun Fact: By June 10, the Raccoons had cashed more wins on the month than in all of May.

The bar was not unreasonably high. In fact, going under that bar would have been the real challenge.