[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Federal League beats the Continental League, 5-2, in the All Star Game. Offense is supplied by Nashville’s Kris DiPrimio with three singles and an RBI, and by Cyclone Roberto Soto, who goes 2-for-2 with an RBI. Jason Brenize takes the loss for the CL by allowing two runs in the first inning, a deficit never overcome by the rest of the CL boys. Blue Sox pitcher Tony Marquez gets the W for the FL.

Raccoons (36-52) vs. Loggers (36-53) – July 15-18, 2066

The last-place playoffs continued with four games in Portland and the Loggers now 5-3 ahead in the season series, but still half a game behind in the standings. The Loggers ranked second in runs scored and worst in runs allowed, and had lost four games in a row, including the last one of last week’s four-game set in Milwaukee. Nick Waldron was now the only player on the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (9-5, 3.46 ERA) vs. Girolamo Pizzichini (6-8, 5.07 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (5-9, 3.59 ERA) vs. Ignazio Flores (2-7, 3.40 ERA)
Juan Sanchez (5-8, 3.91 ERA) vs. Jonathan Vale (4-7, 4.94 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (0-1, 5.00 ERA) vs. Luis Palacios (5-4, 4.10 ERA)

Right, left. Right, left.

Game 1
MIL: LF Franks – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – RF C. Dominguez – 2B Goss – 3B Reber – C Guitreau – P Pizzichini
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Arantes – LF Spicer – 2B Caballero – P Walla

Jonathan Merrill drew a four-pitch walk from Walla before being caught stealing in the top 1st of the Thursday opener, while Cesar Ramirez and Fidel Carrera then dropped in singles. Ramirez went to third base on Carrera’s single to right, and once Jose Corral airmailed the ball over Rich Monck’s head and into foul territory, for home to score. Carlos Dominguez grounded out to leave Carrera on second. Ramon Lopez tied the game in the bottom 1st with a homer to left, but Walla allowed more singles to Kyle Reber and Tommy Guitreau, and then a go-ahead sac fly to “Pizza”.

The Coons had a pair of walks drawn by Walla and Wilson in the third inning, but they were left on base, and then had Monck and Starr reach base in the fourth before Leon Arantes crashed into a double play. Walla had a tough old go at the Loggers and ran up his pitch count early and consistently. He needed 105 pitches through six innings, holding them to their two early runs, and thanks to no Raccoons offense, also remaining on the hook until he got his pat on the tush. Garvey handled the seventh nicely with plenty of left-handed bats to put him against, and the Raccoons then rallied with Arantes … reaching on an error…? That was with one out in the bottom 7th. Spicer was useless, but Caballero hit a double off the base of the wall in left, from where Scott Franks got a favorable bounce while the despaired Critters waved Arantes around third and towards home plate, where he was then thrown out to end the inning.

Sean Thomas, after sitting on the roster doing nothing for eight days, then made his big league debut against the 4-5-6 batters in the eighth inning. He walked Carrera on straight balls, gave up a double, another walk, and another double, and two runs in the inning before it finally ended… Still beat Josh C appearing in the ninth inning and issuing THREE walks around two doubles and getting torched for FOUR runs. 8-1 Loggers. Caballero 2-3, 2B;

Will we ever have something vaguely resembling a functional bullpen again?

Game 2
MIL: LF Franks – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – 2B Goss – 3B Reber – RF D. Wright – C Guitreau – P I. Flores
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Caballero – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Branch – RF Tallent – SS Gardner – 1B Spink – P Nakayama

The only player to reach base for either team the first time through the lineups on Friday was Randy Tallent, who drew a walk and was duly stranded on first base. Nakayama retired the first ten Loggers in order before walking Merrill and Ramirez in the fourth, but Carrera and Tim Goss both flew out harmlessly. Things continued nicely enough for him until Dave Wright struck a home run to left for the Loggers’ first base hit, to which they swiftly added a Guitreau double to right, a Flores RBI double to left, and an RBI single for Franks, jumping the score to 3-0 before Nakayama found his mojo again and got out of the bloody inning.

Nakayama went seven innings, allowing five hits, four of them bunched together for a big lead. The Raccoons didn’t get a base hit until Tony Spink singled in the fifth, and then brought up that spot again in the bottom 7th with one out and Branch, Tallent, and Gardner all crowding the bases. Joel Starr batted for Spink, but struck out, and Leon Arantes batted for Nakayama and cranked a bases-clearing, 2-out triple into the rightfield corner, thus tying the game, but Wilson grounded out to third base to keep him and the go-ahead run stranded.

But fear not – because the Raccoons would get *another* 2-out triple to score a run in the bottom of the eighth inning! Tommy Branch found Lopez on base and drilled a ball into the left-center gap to bring in the go-ahead run! …and to then also be stranded by the next guy up, Tallent, who ran out of such and popped out to Kyle Reber. That made for a 4-3 lead which was then swiftly blown by Rich Monck throwing away Reber’s grounder to begin the ninth inning, and then Jesse Dover was taken *deep* by Guitreau to flip the score… The Raccoons got a double from Starr in the bottom of the ninth against Vincent Hernandez, but couldn’t figure out what to do with that stupid runner and instead just lost the game… 5-4 Loggers. Tallent 1-2, 2 BB; Arantes (PH) 1-1, BB, 3B, 3 RBI;

Game 3
MIL: 3B Reber – CF Merrill – LF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – RF C. Dominguez – SS F. Carrera – 2B Goss – C Guitreau – P Vale
POR: CF Wilson – LF Spicer – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Colter – SS Arantes – 2B Tallent – P Sanchez

The Loggers made two outs before putting four straight batters on base and getting RBI knocks from Dominguez and Carrera for a 2-0 lead. Goss then flew out to Colter to leave the pair on base. The Raccoons did precious little once more until Juan Sanchez reached on an error by Goss with one gone in the bottom 3rd, and Wilson singled. Spicer hit a sac fly, but Sanchez gave that run right back by nailing Goss and throwing away Vale’s bunt for two bases in the top of the fourth. He walked the bags full with Reber, gave up an RBI single to Merrill, and then somehow got a double play grounder from Ramirez to get out of the mess. Starr hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, 3-2, but then also right away ****** another run on the board for the Loggers in the next half-inning, dropping a throw from Monck that would have ended the inning, but instead allowed Carlos Dominguez to score from third base. Sanchez then struck out Vale, but was also done after five drawn-out and frankly awful innings.

You could see why these two teams were at the bottom of the league, because the stupid crap just kept on raging unabated. Caballero batted for Sanchez in the bottom 5th and reached when Merrill dropped his fly to center. Vale threw a wild pitch, walked Wilson, and then Spicer banged into a 4-6-3 double play to make it all not matter anymore.

Schmieder pitched a scoreless sixth before Monck doubled to right and Colter tied the game with a homer coughing just barely over the wall in left with two outs in the bottom 6th, which knotted the score at four. Arantes added a single and was stranded, and Corral singled in place of the pitcher to begin the seventh, but was also stranded. Thomas and Cullum held on to the tie while Randy Birnbaum put Starr and Colter on base with one out in the bottom 8th, but they fell victim to the double play that Arantes hit into… Garvey turned away the Loggers on nine pitches in the ninth inning, which made it four straight Raccoons relievers that had entered a game and left it again without worsening the score on the board, which had to be a record in the mid-60s. However, Birnbaum did away with Tallent, Corral, and Wilson in seven pitches in the bottom 9th and sent the game to extras.

Garvey then ran out of juice in the tenth, got one out from Carrera, but then saw Goss reach on a single before being taken well deep by Guitreau. Carrington got out of the inning, with the damage already done. Tommy Branch then led off the bottom 10th in the #2 spot, popping out against Vincent Hernandez. Lopez singled to center, and Monck socked an RBI double to right. Monck gained 90 feet on Starr’s groundout, and then another 90 feet to score when Colter singles and the teams were even at six! Oliver Graham replaced Hernandez and got rid of Arantes to extend the game further into the 11th, where Cesar Ramirez drew another walk off confused Josh C, but was doubled off by Dominguez, which was highly unusual and also ended the inning. McMahan was in for the 12th, but allowed straight hits to Carrera, Goss, and Guitreau, all singles, to allow the go-ahead run to score again. Graham was a free out in the #9 hole and Reber popped out to Tallent to strand a pair in scoring position. The Coons did not have an answer this time as Graham retired the 3-4-5 batters in order to put the game away. 7-6 Loggers. Spink (PH) 1-1; Monck 2-6, 2 2B, RBI; Starr 2-6, HR, RBI; Colter 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI;

No, Slappy, I have a better idea. Even the holes in the donuts would make for better baseball players. And there’s LITERALLY NOTHING THERE.

Game 4
MIL: LF Franks – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – 2B Goss – 3B Reber – RF D. Wright – C Guitreau – P L. Palacios
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Arantes – LF Branch – 1B Starr – RF Tallent – 3B Monck – SS Gardner – C Spink – P Gaytan

A Cesar Ramirez homer again put the Raccoons in a 1-0 hole in the first inning, although a Wilson double and Branch’s RBI single tied the game at one just minutes later. Things just kept not working out for Gaytan, though. While the Loggers did not have a hit besides the Ramirez homer the first time through, they made up for that in the fourth inning by putting five hits all at once on Gaytan, including four in a row between a Merrill homer and three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out afterwards. Reber hit into a 5-4-3 double play that scored a run, and Wright drove in another, 4-1, with the fifth hit of the inning. When Monck and Joe Gardner then began the bottom of the same inning with a pair of singles, the Raccoons quickly devolved into a strikeout orgy to leave them on base. Gaytan ached through six innings of 9-hit ball, the score unchanged when he was done with his misery.

For the rest of everybody in attendance – paid to do so or paying to do so – the misery was far from over. The Raccoons got a scoreless inning out of Schmieder in the seventh before Thomas was cut to size with three sharp hits by the all-lefty 3-4-5 batters in the eighth. Cullum replaced him, but gave up two more hits to Reber and Wright for five straight and three runs on Thomas’ already ghastly ledger. Bottom 8th and mild excitement as Starr and Tallent hit 2-out singles, but Monck’s drive to center was tracked down and snared by Merrill. Yay, what a rally!

Things were bad enough for Joel Starr to make another pitching appearance in the ninth inning. He fooled nobody, but got three outs to Spicer in left and Wilson in center on four pitches. Spicer hit an RBI triple from the #9 spot in the ninth inning, plating Ramon Lopez, but that couldn’t prevent Palacios from pitching a… a complete-game 11-hitter??? 7-2 Loggers. Branch 2-4, RBI; Starr 2-4; Monck 2-4; Lopez (PH) 1-1; Spicer 1-1, 3B, RBI;

In other news

July 15 – Rebels OF Jeremy Jenkins (.270, 10 HR, 32 RBI) could be out for a month after suffering a strained rib cage muscle.
July 16 – The Warriors trade veteran 2B/SS Jim White (.323, 2 HR, 24 RBI) to the Indians for a pair of prospects.
July 18 – Dallas’ CF Tyler Wharton (.331, 13 HR, 49 RBI) shines in a 9-8 win against Sacramento. Wharton has five hits and five RBI from four singles and one grand slam.
July 18 – CHA 1B Manny Rubin (.275, 15 HR, 65 RBI) also has five RBI on just one hit, a 3-run homer, in a 16-6 creaming of the Aces.
July 18 – SP Preston Young (4-4, 3.70 ERA) goes from the Buffaloes to the Aces in exchange for infielder Wally Leggett (.277, 1 HR, 12 RBI) and #115 prospect INF/RF Dave Cisneros.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 1B Kris DiPrimio (.319, 10 HR, 40 RBI), hitting .556 (10-18) with 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN RF/LF Roberto Lozada (.295, 7 HR, 51 RBI), clipping .438 (7-16) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Swept by the Loggers, the Raccoons had the worst record in the CL again. There were however no fewer than FOUR teams in the FL with marginally worse records. We were just two-and-a-half games away from absolute rock bottom though.

An alphabetical list of players currently injured and/or on the DLs in the system:
Paul Barton
John Bentley
Ryan Bonner
Nick W. Brown
Marco Campos
Victor Chavez
Crispino D’Urso
Marquise Early
Chance Fox
Gary Gates
Carlos Gutierrez
Victor Herrera
Barrett Krumland
Cruz Madrid
Josh Mireles
Pablo Novelo
Sandy Pineda
Pat Reynolds
George van Otterdijk

Not that all of these would be options, but when you look at what we’re treating like options, you never really know. The waiver wire is also giving me little hope, and nobody on this team is doing nearly well enough to be turned into a pair of prospects. We can’t trade Nakayama or any starting pitcher, unless you want to see the house of cards burst into flames entirely.

Next week: Elks, Falcons, Tears.

Fun Fact: Elijah LaBat led the FL with 25 saves for the Capitals.

If we had all those “he ain’t working out” relievers back now that they’re actually not sucking anymore, we might actually be a remotely decent team.

LaBat was with the Critters from 2059 through 2061, appearing in 135 games to a 3.04 ERA, but always with the usual complaints of “walks too many” and “doesn’t strike out a lot”. Somehow he started to strike out people in Denver, and now he’s actually good.

(mopes)