[Westheim]

Raccoons (28-41) @ Canadiens (32-36) – June 21-23, 2066

The damn Elks had so far won four of six games from the Raccoons, but were also struggling to score runs and … everything else, too. They were in the bottom four in both runs scored and runs allowed, didn’t rank better than sixth in any major category, and 11th in team defense. SP Jose Villegas was on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Jeff Applegate (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Ray Rath (2-6, 3.75 ERA)
Nick Walla (7-5, 3.89 ERA) vs. Dallas Samson (8-2, 3.36 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (3-8, 3.50 ERA) vs. Martyn Polaco (3-7, 5.87 ERA)

Polaco was the only left-hander in that trio of Elks starting pitchers.

The Monday opener was then immediately rained out. The Raccoons would go on and adjust their rotation to have Walla go first on Tuesday for the double header that was scheduled. The Elks stuck with Rath as the first guy up.

Game 1
POR: RF Corral – LF Spicer – SS Novelo – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – CF J. Wilson – 2B Arredondo – C Spink – P Walla
VAN: SS C. Castro – 2B Kilday – LF Whetstine – CF R. Atkins – RF Lozada – 1B N. Vaughn – C Varner – 3B Yue – P Rath

Nick Walla had runner(s) on base in every one of the first five innings, with the Elks stranding runners on the corners right in the first inning, and that wasn’t the last time that happened. There were two double plays turned and Spicer made two crucial running catches to somehow remain on top of the seven hits and two walks that Walla gave up inside the first five innings. In effect, the Elks did not score, although they sure ran up Walla’s pitch count, while a third-inning Jose Corral homer gave the Raccoons, who didn’t have much going besides that once again, a skinny 1-0 lead.

Rath walked Novelo and gave up a single to Rich Monck in the top 6th, putting runners on the corners with two outs and departing for lefty Jesse Connors, who got a grounder from Joel Starr, but the grounder died halfway to Hsi-Chuen Yue, and Starr legged it out for an infield single, plating Novelo from third base, 2-0. Jaden Wilson ended the inning with a strikeout, while Walla finally had a clean sixth, but then departed after Chris Richardson’s pinch-hit, 1-out single in the bottom 7th. McMahan gave up another single to Carlos Castro upon replacing him, but then got outs from Matt Kilday and Chad Whetstine to keep the Elks away. Josh Carrington got the ball for the eighth and had a scoreless inning, and the 2-0 lead was Dover’s in the ninth. He was gonna have a 1-2-3 ninth for a clean save until Novelo dropped Rico Cordero’s 2-out pop to short, and that brought Castro to the plate as the tying run. Dover lost him in a full count, but Arrendondo then got a grounder from Kilday that he handled for the final out. 2-0 Blighters. Walla 6.1 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (8-5);

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – CF Wilson – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – 2B Arantes – LF Branch – SS Caballero – P Applegate
VAN: 3B C. Castro – SS Kilday – CF R. Atkins – RF Lozada – LF Whetstine – 1B R. Cordero – C Orphanos – 2B Yue – P Samson

Whatever Applecore had found in his last start he seemed to have left in Salem, since he had the bases full just 19 pitches in after allowing a hit and two walks, but then Rico Cordero was nice enough to swing at every piece of garbage that came his way and the Critters’ tenth-string starter bowed out of a jam that way. The Elks then lost Whetstine to injury on a defensive play in the second inning, and Tyler Chenette replaced him. Still a better fate than Applecore, who walked FIVE batters in the bottom 2nd, including Rick Atkins and Roberto Lozada with the bases already walked full and two outs. Chenette then grounded out by foolishly poking. Applecore then walked Cordero to begin the third inning, which already tied him with the Raccoons franchise record for free passes issued by a starter that *wasn’t* shot afterwards. He then walked Castro to begin the fourth, allowed a single to Kilday, and was yanked. Sensabaugh surrendered one of his runners on a Lozada single, but at least got out of the inning with a 3-0 deficit, somehow.

The Raccoons, who had not done a whole lot so far, then loaded the bases in the fifth with Branch and Caballero singles and Corral being nicked after Sensabaugh’s bunt. Wilson batted with one out, and at once tied the game with a bases-clearing triple well over the head of Atkins in center! Of course after that Lopez had to whiff and Monck lined out to Castro, and the go-ahead run was stranded. Instead, Sensabaugh gave up a leadoff homer to .138 hitter Mike Orphanos to start off the bottom 5th…

Sensabaugh was beaten through four innings and held the Elks to their 4-3 lead while striking out six, which was still a commendable effort for an old quad-A pitcher, even though the loss was now hanging on him. The Raccoons got a leadoff walk to Wilson in the eighth, but then couldn’t do anything with that besides Ramon Lopez hitting into a double play. Last-year Critters southpaw Jon McGinley then got the save opportunity in the ninth inning. Starr struck out in a full count, and Leon Arantes and Tommy Branch both grounded out to Kilday at short… 4-3 Canadiens.

The Coons would need a fifth starter again next week, but it wasn’t gonna be Applecore (1-0, 2.45 ERA), who was sent right back to AAA. Tony Gaytan’s debut was leading at the bookies, but to get through the rest of the week, the Coons had to give in to the indignity of recalling Rich Read again.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 1B Starr – RF Tallent – 3B Arantes – LF Branch – 2B Caballero – P Nakayama
VAN: SS C. Castro – 2B Kilday – CF R. Atkins – RF Lozada – C Varner – 1B N. Vaughn – LF Chenette – 3B Spalding – P Polaco

Ramon Lopez’ home run put the Coons up 1-0 in the first, and Joel Starr would add a 2-piece with Wilson on base to make it 3-0 with two outs in the third inning. That was an amount of offense that Nakayama better not take for granted and gamble responsibly with. Nakayama was generous with the pitches with a pitch count that rose early, allowed two hits in the second inning, but managed to get around that and held the Elks scoreless on four hits through five innings. Branch and Caballero then got on base with one out in the top 6th and Nakayama hit a sac fly to center, giving him his first RBI of the year, and Wilson singled home Caballero, who had stolen second base in the meantime. Novelo struck out to end the inning, but now in a 5-0 game.

Nakayama was then in a whole spot of bother to begin the bottom 6th as he nicked Kilday, walked Atkins, and gave up a single to Lozada. Three on, nobody out, Steve Varner popped out in foul territory to a hustling Starr, and then Nick Vaughn spanked a grounder at Caballero, on which the Raccoons turned two to dispel the threat. Top 7th, and Lopez led off with a double to center, his second extra-base bash of the day. Starr struck out against lefty ex-Coon Josh Mayo, but Tallent walked. Leon Arantes then singled through the right side; Lopez went for home and Tallent for third, and Lozada tried to get the trail runner, but threw the ball into no man’s land somewhere north-by-northwest of third base. While Steven Spalding had to scamper after that egg, Tallent also turned third base and scored, 7-0, and Arantes went to second base. Mayo walked Branch before being replaced with right-hander Mike Spire, who allowed a single to Caballero to fill the bases again. However, Nakayama whiffed and Wilson grounded out to end the inning.

The Raccoons pressed eight shutout innings on 108 pitches out of Nakayama before letting go. Southpaw Paul Wolk walked Branch with two outs in the ninth inning and Rich Monck pinch-hit for Caballero, socking a double to center for a ninth-inning run. Rich Read then finished the game and the series with a quick ninth inning. 8-0 Furballs! Wilson 2-5, RBI; Lopez 3-5, HR, 2B, RBI; Starr 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Tallent 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Monck (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Nakayama 8.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-8) and 1-3, RBI;

Raccoons (30-42) @ Knights (30-42) – June 25-27, 2066

On to Atlanta, where the Knights were sitting 11th in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, and how were we constantly facing the next-worst team in scoring? Their pen was the worst in the league, and they had the second-lowest batting average and OBP … outsucked only by the Coons, of course, whom they had beaten two outta three earlier in the season. No injuries on the Knights right now.

Projected matchups:
Juan Sanchez (4-6, 3.73 ERA) vs. Sean Sweeton (8-4, 2.90 ERA)
Duarte Damasceno (4-6, 5.11 ERA) vs. Adam Lunn (5-8, 4.96 ERA)
Nick Walla (8-5, 3.61 ERA) vs. Steve Hunter (0-1, 7.71 ERA)

Both teams had been rained out on Monday, had played two on Tuesday, but only the Coons had been off on Thursday. We’d face one right-handed ex-Coon (Sweeton), miss another in Angel Alba (1-11, 6.53; yikes!), and would also miss the foremost Wonder of the Ancient World, Kodai Koga (5-7, 3.26 ERA). Righty Lunn and lefty Hunter had pitched in the double-header; putting them in this order was wishful thinking for a Southpaw Sunday.

Game 1
POR: RF Corral – CF J. Wilson – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 2B Arredondo – P Sanchez
ATL: CF Fumero – C Hart – 1B M. Medina – RF J. Evans – SS C. Ramsey – LF J. Austin – 2B M. Weber – 3B Baxley – P Sweeton

Portland scored first in the Friday opener, as Monck, Starr, and Novelo landed straight hits to begin the top 2nd, two singles following a Monck double to left, and Novelo got the RBI for driving home the leadoff man, but the remaining runners were left on base by the bottom of the order, and Jake Evans shrugged and tripled into the leftfield corner to begin the bottom 2nd. Casey Ramsey struck out, but John Austin’s groundout tied the game, while Mike Weber’s homer to right then flipped the score to 2-1 Atlanta.

Right around that time it also began to rain, and the intensity of that rain varied a bit until the fourth – it got briefly quite hard when Monck hit into a double play to kill the top 3rd after Wilson and Lopez had reached base, but that coulda been my tears – before a rain delay was called in the top 4th and lasted for over an hour. Both pitchers had offered just over 40 pitches at that point and tried to continue, and both made it through five full innings just fine. Sanchez was however hit for after a 2-out Spicer double and intentional walk to Manny Arredondo in the sixth inning; however, Arantes flew out easily to Evans and the Raccoons remained behind.

Cullum remained clean in the bottom 6th, but the Rule 5er Steven Hudson and rookie Josh Carrington were beaten around for three runs in the bottom 7th as the game got away; all the runs were on Hudson, who allowed two hits and two walks before Carrington waved the remining runners home with two outs, and was becoming harder to explain why we kept taking Hudson on trips. The Coons offense was dormant until the ninth inning when Spicer singled leading off, stole second, and an infield single for Caballero put runners on the corners and the tying run in the on-deck circle. Tommy Branch batted for Garvey, who had gotten the last out in the eighth, but struck out. Corral singled over Weber, cleanly, brought in Spicer, and Wilson to the plate as the tying run with one down. Closer Brad Fales allowed another single, filling the bases, but then escaped when Lopez smashed into a double play, 6-4-3, to end the game. 5-2 Knights. Wilson 3-5; Spicer 3-4, 2B; Caballero (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – CF J. Wilson – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 2B Arantes – P Damasceno
ATL: RF V.D. Morales – C Hart – CF J. Evans – SS C. Ramsey – LF Consuegra – 1B M. Medina – 2B Fumero – P Lunn – 3B Baxley

DD struck out with the bases loaded and two outs in the top 2nd, then went to the hill and threw eight straight balls to Jose Consuegra and Miguel Medina to start the bottom 2nd on Saturday. Carlos Fumero’s grounder to short was bungled by Novelo, the error filling the bases, and DD uncorked a wild pitch before walking the pitcher Lunn. John Baxley hit a 2-run single to left, 3-0, before the top of the order made three meek outs to let Damasceno out of the inning at all, but by now he was on a staggering 57 pitches after having seen only 12 batters.

DD went through five awful innings, offering more walks to Casey Ramsey in the third and Justin Hart in the fifth, and then those two were both doubled off by the next respective batter in line, and Damasceno still almost filled 100 pitches in five innings. The Coons were actually out-hitting the Knights through five, a mere 3-2, but didn’t have a run, and hadn’t been close to one since Damasceno had whiffed with Novelo, Spicer, and Arantes on base in the second.

Jose Corral then led off the sixth with a double to right. Wilson walked, but Lopez flew out to left, and Monck hit into another double play before making an error behind Sensabaugh that led to an unearned run for Atlanta in the bottom 6th. Spicer singling and stealing second put a runner in scoring position against Lunn in the seventh, and Leon Arantes finally came through with an RBI single to right, putting Portland on the board. Branch batted for Sensabaugh and smacked an RBI double into the left-center gap, but Lunn struck out Corral and that ended the inning. Cullum got the ball in a 4-2 game, did away with the Knights on seven pitches in the home half of the seventh, which was a stark contrast to Rich Read filling the bases, as clueless as ever, in the eighth. Ricky McMahan had to come in to strike out Matt McLaren and strand a whole set of Knights. Fales was then back with the 2-run lead in the ninth, facing the 5-6-7 batters, and those went down in order, and fast. 4-2 Knights. Corral 2-4, 2B; Spicer 2-4; Arantes 1-2, BB, RBI; Branch (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

The Raccoons asked “but what if we put ALL right-handed bats in there?” for their Sunday lineup, and ended up with Tommy Branch batting fourth, which automatically made them deserve the loss and sweep.

Game 3
POR: SS Novelo – RF Arantes – 3B Monck – LF Branch – 1B Starr – CF Tallent – 2B Caballero – C Spink – P Walla
ATL: RF V.D. Morales – C Hart – CF J. Evans – SS C. Ramsey – LF Consuegra – 1B M. Medina – 2B Fumero – P S. Hunter – 3B Baxley

The crammed all-right-handed approach (well, minus Monck and Starr…) didn’t work on offense, and then not at all once Pablo Novelo came up limping after a 1-out double in the third inning. It was the weirdest play, following a walk to Walla, who went first-to-third, while it was Victor David Morales, who caromed hard off the wall in pursuit of Novelo’s fly ball, but picked himself up and was good to go. Arredondo would take over at short, getting stranded on second base on Arantes’ sac fly and Monck’s groundout. This left the Coons down 2-1, as the Knights’ 4-5-6 batters had clipped straight singles off Walla in the bottom 2nd, going to the corners before Medina drove in the game’s first run, while Consuegra scored on Fumero’s double play grounder.

In the fourth, the Coons followed a Branch single and a walk to Starr with three straight strikeouts. Walla didn’t strike out *anybody* through four innings, but then opened the top 5th with a Walla-banger and a double against the southpaw Hunter. Arredondo dropped in a duck snort for a single behind the shortstop, moving Walla and the tying run to third base. Arantes (seriously, who are these people, and why are they begging *me* for snacks all the time??) grounded up the middle, where Ramsey contained the ball behind the bag, but had no play, and that infield single tied the game at two. Those two scrubs then did a double steal, allowing Monck to get his 40th RBI on a sac fly to right, which was also the go-ahead RBI. Branch walked, Starr whiffed, and then Tallent knocked out Hunter with a 2-out, 2-run double into the rightfield corner, 5-2. Josh Doyle walked Caballero, Tony Spink slapped an RBI single to center, and the 5-run inning ended with a K to Walla, who had nevertheless sparked that rally.

That 5-spot also dulled the Knights’ lances and they went down rather meekly against Walla in the next four innings, with only one eyebrow-raising play made by Branch behind the pitcher; nothing more was needed anymore to get through eight innings on exactly 100 pitches. Top 9th, and southpaw Ed Nadeau put Arredondo and Branch on the corners, allowing a double and a 2-out walk, respectively. Starr was hitless and lifted for Ramon Lopez, who cracked a 2-run double into the leftfield corner. When right-hander Larry Wilson replaced the pitcher, Jaden Wilson batted for Tallent and won the battle of the Wilsons with a single to center, although Lopez stopped at third base. Caballero fanned to leave them on base, while Hudson got the ball in the bottom 9th, was two thirds on his way to load the bases again, but then Fumero hit into a double play to end the game. 8-2 Raccoons. Novelo 1-2, 2B; Arredondo 2-3, 2B; Arantes 2-4, 2 RBI; Lopez (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Wilson (PH) 1-1; Walla 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (9-5) and 1-3, BB, 2B;

In other news

June 21 – SAL SP Ian Lowry (4-6, 3.72 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts to beat the Pacifics, 5-0. Both Pacifics hits are doubles off the bat of 1B Alejandro Olivares (.304, 8 HR, 30 RBI).
June 22 – San Francisco gets 31-year-old 3B Chad O’Donnell (.421, 1 HR, 8 RBI) from the Falcons while trading away 25-year-old INF Tony Gaines (.235, 2 HR, 37 RBI) and #94 prospect SP Jason Holzmeister. The whole transaction was hard to explain.
June 24 – CIN SP John Steele (6-5, 4.38 ERA) shuts out the Rebels on three hits in a 9-0 game.
June 27 – The Loggers rout the Falcons, 13-3, in the second game of a double-header, with five hits – three singles and two doubles – and four RBI coming from 24-year-old OF/2B Tim Goss (.298, 3 HR, 31 RBI). The Loggers also sweep the entire day, having taken the first game by a score of 3-2 and with another two hits and an RBI from Goss.
June 27 – Indians CF/LF/1B/3B Matt Martin (.279, 5 HR, 39 RBI) is expected to be out for a month with a broken foot.
June 27 – The Thunder beat the Indians, 4-3 in 15 innings. The deciding runs in the 15th are preceded by nine innings of nothingness.

FL Player of the Week: DAL 3B/SS/LF Xavier Reyes (.338, 2 HR, 23 RBI), clipping .560 (14-25) with 2 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC SP Jerry Washington (9-2, 3.35 ERA), going 2-0 with 12 K across 15 innings pitched

Complaints and stuff

Yes, I am very proud of Walla-banger. I’ll keep it.

There were no news about Novelo’s injury available by Sunday night. Why not pack more nameless infielders on the roster with him going down…!? (pulls fur) It would not be Carlos Gutierrez, who was banished to AAA last month, had been highly unproductive there, and was now down for two months with a strained hammy of his own. What a season!

The open spot in the Coons rotation is for Tuesday now, with no more off days until the All Star Game. Is that gonna be Tony Gaytan’s time? The 22-year-old (23 in July) #98 prospect was 6-5 with a 3.46 ERA, and 83 strikeouts to 32 walks in 104 innings in AAA.

Reliever Juan Soriano cleared waivers and was assigned to AAA.

The consecutive string of games until the All Star Game would consist of a home week against the Condors and Crusaders, then a road week against the Loggers and Indians. We would then also see the Loggers to complete the four-and-four on the other side of the All Star break.

Fun Fact: We all lived long enough to witness a Raccoons starter walk nine batters in a game.

What an achievement for Applecore!

Gone was the old record of eight walks held jointly by (deep breath) … Jose Berrios (1980), Román Ocasio (1981), Logan Evans (1981), Nick Brown (2002), Chris Brown (2015), “Tragic” Travis Garrett (2024), Darren Brown (2034), Jared Ottinger (2038), Jesus Guzman (2055), and Craig Kniep (2056)!

Aren’t we proud…