[Westheim]

Raccoons (33-23) @ Loggers (37-20) – June 6-9, 2067

The Loggers were still in second place in the North, but were now two-and-a-half games out of first place. Very much first in runs scored, their fifth-place pitching allowed them to run along with a +81 run differential. They had scored 5.7 runs per game for the season, although their run rate in the last ten games was a paltry 2.7 runs/game. We also caught them without outfielders Jonathan Merrill and Phil Reder, and with Girolamo “Pizza” Pizzichini having left his last start with an undiagnosed injury. The season series was even at two.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (4-3, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jose Lugo (3-2, 3.11 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (6-2, 2.41 ERA) vs. Julio Robles (3-4, 5.50 ERA)
Nick Walla (5-2, 3.00 ERA) vs. Matt Crist (5-5, 4.82 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (6-3, 4.24 ERA) vs. Nick Waldron (8-0, 3.16 ERA)

Our hosts had only right-handed starters to offer up.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Nakayama
MIL: CF Goss – SS Reber – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – RF C. Dominguez – LF Alaniz – C Guitreau – 3B R. Murcia – P J. Lugo

After a Tim Goss double off the wall to begin the Loggers’ half of the first inning and him getting stranded on three poor outs, the early innings turned into a whole lot of nothing before the Raccoons loaded the bases in the fourth inning, albeit with the 6-7-8 batters, one out, and the pitcher coming to the plate. Nakayama lived up to the .083 batting average by not even striking out, but by hitting into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning altogether. He then allowed leadoff singles to Fidel Carrera and Carlos Dominguez in full counts in the bottom 4th, they went to the corners, and while Mario Alaniz popped out, Tommy Guitreau hit a sac fly to center for the game’s first run. Without Jose Corral homers the Raccoons offense looked pretty dim and instead it was Alaniz to drive in the next run of the game, a 2-out double plating Carrera from second base in the sixth inning before Guitreau’s grounder left him in scoring position. In fact, when the Raccoons did tie the game in the seventh inning, they did so quite suddenly after a leadoff single by Roberts. He was bunted over and gained another base on Wilson’s groundout, before with two outs Corral cracked an RBI double through Cesar Ramirez and then scored on Ramon Lopez’ single into right-center, getting us even at two. Left-hander Nick Walters replaced Lugo and struck out Monck for stretch time, on the other end of which Matt Gilmore and Tim Goss went to the corners against Nakayama, who got a pop from Dave Wright in the #2 hole, but then left for McMahan, who struck out Ramirez to end that inning.

Nick Walters didn’t have a great top of the eighth inning. He walked Dowsey, and then gave up a single to Starr, threw a pitch in the dirt that got away from Guitreau for a passed ball, and then allowed another single through the left side to Novelo. Dowsey scored, and the Raccoons had their first lead of the game. It was also the only run they got in the inning, with poor outs from Roberts and Wilson following, while McMahan was retained to bunt with the prospect of much of the all-left-handed 3-4-5 barrage of the Loggers lineup still to come in the bottom 8th. The ploy didn’t work in more ways than one, as Carrera still singled off McMahan, stole a base, and scored on a pinch-hit sac fly by the pinch-hitting Ian Lulich in the #6 hole. We were tied again, and the Raccoons went in order against Vincent Hernandez in the ninth inning, even though Monck hit a fly to the warning track, but also Carlos Dominguez’ mitten. Bob West got the ball in the bottom 9th and got two outs before Lopez threw away a grounder in front of the plate poked by Ron Brantly for two bases. Cesar Ramirez then didn’t have any time to waste and singled to left, walking off the team when Brantly scored from second with his unearned run. 4-3 Loggers. Starr 2-4; Novelo 3-4, RBI; Roberts 2-3, BB;

Tuesday’s game was rained out then for a double header on Wednesday. It was one of three CL games rained out on Tuesday, along with scheduled games in Indianapolis and … Tijuana??

End times.

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Musgrave
MIL: CF Goss – SS Reber – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – RF C. Dominguez – LF Alaniz – C Guitreau – 3B R. Murcia – P J. Robles

Carlos Dominguez hit a homer to center to give the Loggers a 1-0 lead in the second inning. While the Raccoons had just one hit in the early innings, the Loggers than whacked Musgrave around for another four hits and two runs in the third inning. Apparently the groundballing thing and just phasing through the opposing lineups didn’t work for him against the Loggers; and they got another run in the fourth inning with a Guitreau double and a 2-out RBI single from the pitcher Robles…

Five innings passed in full before the Raccoons found their sticks. Wilson lobbed a 1-out double over Tim Goss in the sixth, and then Jose Corral thumped another 2-run homer to right, heyyy…! Robles got two outs from Lopez and Monck, then put Dowsey and Starr on base to start the seventh. Novelo flew out to right, but Roberts hit into a double play. Wilson hit into another double play after Randy Tallent legged out an infield single to begin the eighth. While Musgrave was gone after six, Chance Fox put up two scoreless innings to hold the 4-2 line, but that wasn’t good enough when Vincent Hernandez turned the Raccoons away for nothing but a pinch-hit single by Marquise Early in the ninth inning. 4-2 Loggers. Corral 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Early (PH) 1-1; Starr 1-2, BB; Tallent 1-1; Fox 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The Loggers offense was not churning on full beans, but neither was ours…

Game 3
POR: SS Novelo – RF Corral – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – C Aguilar – CF Matas – LF Early – 2B Tallent – P Walla
MIL: CF Goss – SS Reber – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – RF C. Dominguez – LF Alaniz – C Lulich – 3B R. Murcia – P Crist

Later that night, the Raccoons started without having a hit in the first three innings, but their starter was beaten around in the third inning again. Nick Walla allowed a leadoff double to the opposing pitcher, which was always a good way to eventually stick the snout into a bear trap, walked Kyle Reber with one out, and while Ramirez popped out on the infield, Carrera singled to fill the bases, and Dominguez singled in two runs with a zipper up the middle. Alaniz ran a 3-1 count before flying out to Corral.

Walla would also go six innings of 2-run ball, allowing seven hits like Nakayama, and hardly got any strikeouts against the tough Loggers lineup. Worse though was the no-hit bid that Crist was still running into the seventh inning, having walked two batters, Starr and Aguilar once each, and also striking out only two Critters, which meant that his pitch count was 64 and very well manageable. Starr flew out to left to begin the seventh, but then Monck broke up the no-hitter with a grounder that got through between Reber and Carrera and into centerfield for a single. Aguilar struck out, and Matas’ grounder to third was bumbled by Rafael Murcia for an error. Early’s groundout to short then stranded the unearned tying runs on base. Instead the Loggers tacked on two (one earned) with straight singles by their 3-4-5 boppers and a Corral throwing error on top against Bob West in the bottom 7th. Josh C got out of the inning and Holzmeister had a scoreless eighth, but the Raccoons never got on base again in the late innings against Crist, who pitched a 1-hit shutout on 94 pitches. 4-0 Loggers.

Yikes.

Game 4
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Tallent – 2B Roberts – P Rios
MIL: 2B Goss – CF Merrill – RF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – 3B Reber – C Guitreau – LF Ma. Gilmore – P Waldron

Jonathan Merrill’s .390 bat returned in time for the series finale, but Jaden Wilson hit a game-opening jack to right-center to give Portland the early lead. That wasn’t even his biggest hit in the first two innings of the Thursday contest, as the Raccoons found a way to load the bases with two outs and the bottom of the order in the second inning and brought up Wilson with three aboard. He found the gap in right-center, short of the wall, but also short of a defender, and emptied the bases with a double. 4-0, and all the RBI’s were Wilson’s. Him getting thrown out by Dominguez on Corral’s single to right ensured it stayed that way for the moment.

Then the Loggers got real, and Tommy Guitreau drew a leadoff walk off Rios in the bottom 3rd. Gilmore struck out, and Waldron’s bunt was thrown away by Lopez, putting a pair in scoring position. Rios added Goss with another walk, then gave up a sac fly to Merrill, an RBI single to Dominguez, and a 3-run bomb by Ramirez, and that made it 5-4 Loggers. All runs were unearned on Rios, which was such a comfort…

Waldron was hit for in the fourth inning, so he didn’t get the W, while Rios hung around for the bottom 5th, only to give up a walk and two singles, along with a run, and was yanked for Alvey. Carrera flew out to right for the second out of the inning, but Reber hit a soft single, and Guitreau raked a grand slam to *really* explode the score, 10-4 after two 5-spots inside three innings. The Loggers continued to roll over Yamauchi for two runs in the seventh, but the Raccoons never got the sticks up again and just meandered towards a completion of the sweep through the late innings. 12-4 Loggers. Wilson 3-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Aguilar (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (33-27) vs. Gold Sox (33-26) – June 10-12, 2067

The Raccoons had to contend with another second-place team on the weekend, hosting the Gold Sox for three games when they were a game and a half out in the FL West. They ranked ninth in offense, and sixth in pitching, with a -15 run differential, so who knew what to expect at this point… They did not rank very highly in any major category, except defense. These teams had most recently played in 2063, when the Raccoons swept the series.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (3-5, 3.93 ERA) vs. Matt Asplund (6-2, 1.75 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (4-3, 3.76 ERA) vs. Tom Delaney (6-4, 2.83 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (6-3, 2.69 ERA) vs. Ernesto Culver (4-3, 5.55 ERA)

Another set of only right-handed opponents.

Game 1
DEN: LF D. Wilson – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Tuck – CF Little – C R. Rogers – 3B Stockton – 2B M. Weber – SS L. Palacios – P Asplund
POR: CF J. Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Gaytan

While Gaytan held the fort in the early innings, the Raccoons had Jaden Wilson on base and caught stealing in the first, but Dowsey and Starr getting on base with one out in the second inning also led nowhere thanks to Novelo hitting into a 6-4-3 double play. Wilson reached base again with two outs in the third inning, contained himself on the bases, and Corral joined with an infield single. Ramon Lopez then cranked a 3-run homer, and the Raccoons had another substantial early lead to blow now! In fact, Gaytan blew it very quickly and efficiently, giving up a leadoff bomb to Ryan Rogers in the fourth, put Mike Weber on base, and then was taken deep once more by Luis Palacios, which got rid of all the 3-0 lead.

Bottom 4th, and with two outs the Raccoons loaded the bases with the 7-8-9 batters as Novelo singled, Roberts walked, and Gaytan singled. Wilson flew out to Matt Little, though, and nobody scored. The fifth was calm, while the sixth inning saw Weber hit a single off Gaytan, who then struck out Asplund for the third ou- … no, Lopez bumbled the ball, Asplund reached base on the uncaught third strike, and then Dusty Wilson hit a single to left. Weber was sent from second base, Dowsey fired a rocket home – and the runner was out, and the inning ended that way!

Teams then poked away at each other without seeming to have a concept or even a vague plan on how to break a 3-3 tie, with the Coons mixing McMahan, Holzmeister, and Dover after Gaytan was done after six innings, having tossed 102 times. That combo of relievers somehow kept the game tied, but the offense was shambolic and couldn’t put the go-ahead or winning run in scoring position until there were two outs in the ninth inning when Jaden Wilson singled, stole second, and reached third thanks to Rogers dropping the ball, then throwing to second in great haste, and that was not becoming of his aim. Wilson was left on third base on Bill Goda’s K to Corral, and the game went to extra innings. Alvey had a 1-2-3 tenth before Lopez reached on an error by third baseman Chris Blasey. He was itching to steal, but didn’t get a jump, and when Monck singled on a 1-2 pitch, he only made it to second base. Goda popped up Dowsey, but Starr hit a single to right – but Lopez was now stopped at third base in deference to Ted Lloyd’s arm in right. Novelo batted with the bags full and one out, singled up the middle, and the Raccoons snapped a 5-game losing streak. 4-3 Coons. Wilson 2-4, BB; Lopez 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Dowsey 2-5; Starr 2-5; Novelo 2-5, RBI;

By now we were nine games out though, so maybe I shouldn’t bin all the prospects for veteran help towards the deadline…?

Rich Monck had a day off on Saturday.

Game 2
DEN: LF D. Wilson – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Tuck – CF Little – C R. Rogers – 3B Stockton – 2B M. Weber – SS L. Palacios – P Delaney
POR: CF J. Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – 3B Tallent – P Nakayama

Nakayama walked a pair in the first inning, but managed to strand Juan Gutierrez and Chris Tuck on base by not giving up any hits, and then the Coons went up 1-0 on a Novelo homer to left in the second inning. There were no Gold Sox hits in the first three innings, but Rogers followed a walk issued to Little with one out in the fourth inning by singling up the middle. Again, though, Denver failed to put a run together by making two meek outs after that.

Through six, a Corral single extended the Coons’ hit total to a whopping two, matching what the Gold Sox reached after Tuck’s infield single in the top 6th. Nakayama was yet holding on to the skinny 1-0 lead, putting up seven shutout innings, which included a heroic sliding catch each by Dowsey and Wilson at different points. Novelo singled with two outs in the home half of the seventh inning, not that anything came of that, and when Blasey batted for Delaney to begin the eighth inning, and there were now all sorts of lefty batters lined up, the Raccoons moved to McMahan, who got two outs, then nicked Gutierrez with an 0-2 pitch. Tuck singled the tying run to third base, and right-handed Ted Lloyd batted for Little, prompting the Raccoons to break out Carrington – and he struck out Lloyd to keep the Coons ahead!

Jaden Wilson singled and stole second base with two outs in the bottom 8th, but Corral popped out as his homer surge had obviously subsided at this point. Carrington remained in the game to begin the ninth, getting an easy fly from Rogers to Jaden Wilson, but then continued to face the lefty hitting Dallas Amarillo Fort Stockton, who worked a walk in a full count. Mike Weber struck out on three pitches, while Carrington’s first pitch to Luis Palacios was wild and advanced the tying run. Only to second base, though, and there he remained when Palacios grounded out to Roberts on the 2-1 pitch. 1-0 Blighters! Novelo 2-3, HR, RBI; Nakayama 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (5-3);

Game 3
DEN: 2B Cervantez – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF Tuck – CF M. Little – C R. Rogers – 3B Stockton – LF N. Chapman – SS Lloyd – P E. Culver
POR: CF J. Wilson – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – 3B Monck – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – C Aguilar – 2B Roberts – P Musgrave

The Raccoons struggled to make Culver sweat on Sunday, while Musgrave struggled to keep them off base, which in fact he didn’t manage in any inning. The Gold Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second on a double by .114 hitter Norm Chapman and Ted Lloyd’s RBI single, then dropped another single-double combo between Gutierrez and Tuck with one out in the third inning, but the runners remained stranded thanks to a comebacker hit by Little and Rogers grounding out. Ryan Rogers later hit a solo homer in the sixth inning to extend Denver’s lead to 2-0. Despite the relatively low score the Raccoons looked accepting of defeat, but then Jose Corral cranked his 15th homer of the season to lead off the bottom 6th! Novelo hit a double in the same inning, but with two outs on the board and without getting any love from Joel Starr behind him.

The Sox also shrugged and hit three straight singles with their 1-2-3 batters in the seventh to put that run that Corral had taken off back on the board, and Musgrave disappeared somewhat dispirited after giving up ten hits in seven innings of a 3-1 game. Bob West got the ball in the eighth inning, gave up a leadoff single to Stockton, and then a 2-out RBI single to Culver, which somewhat infuriated me, but Culver also struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth, so why burst a blood vessel *now*…? Chance Fox made another oddball appearance in the ninth, retiring the 2-3-4 batters in good order and with two strikeouts, but Ricky Baca also turned away Monck, Novelo, and Starr in the bottom 9th. 4-1 Gold Sox. Corral 2-4, HR, RBI; Novelo 2-4, 2B;

In other news

June 6 – A 2-hit shutout is pitched by WAS SP Joe Chalmers (6-5, 4.56 ERA) against the Miners, the Capitals winning 7-0, and Chalmers whiffs nine Pittsburgh batters.
June 6 – BOS SP Jason Brenize (10-2, 1.99 ERA) fires a 3-hit shutout and strikes out nine Crusaders in a 7-0 win against New York.
June 6 – San Francisco sends C/1B Chris Haynes (.262, 1 HR, 23 RBI) to the Aces for two prospects, also catchers.
June 7 – Dallas 3B/LF Xavier Reyes (.354, 1 HR, 28 RBI) finds his 2,500th career hit in a 6-1 win against the Wolves, an RBI single off SAL SP Josh Jackson (1-8, 6.20 ERA). The 32-year-old Reyes had a solid shot at 3,000 career hits, batting .317 with 43 homers and 759 RBI for his career. He had also stolen 544 bases and had won the FL batting title in 2066.
June 11 – A single by Condors C Randy Lippert (.333, 0 HR,4 RBI) marks their only hit in a combined 1-hitter by CIN SP Jose Aguilar (7-1, 1.88 ERA) and two relievers, which the Cyclones win 8-0.
June 12 – The Knights put up a 10-spot in the sixth inning to answer a 6-run sixth by the Capitals on the way to a 16-9 win. Atlanta catcher Justin Hart (.262, 2 HR, 27 RBI) leads all players with four base hits, including a double, and drives in three runs.

FL Player of the Week: CIN OF Melvin Avila (.326, 3 HR, 26 RBI), batting .481 (13-27) with 1 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL RF/LF Javier Acuna (.347, 10 HR, 50 RBI), slapping .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Loggers belly flop this week was quite depressing to watch, and the offense failed to put up more than four runs in any game this week. I also liked Jose Corral better last week, although he still hit two more bombs this week, although the Coons also lost both of those games… and while Rich Monck basically didn’t take place this week, the pair was still 1-2 on the homer board in the CL. Jorge Arviso and Danny Starwalt each had 11, and there was a whole host of players with 10.

Realistically, the Raccoons were not contenders this year (but we did not expect anything of the sort before the season, so I am not particularly mellow about it), so the question is whether the odd stick can be turned into a better future yet. And it’s not gonna be Starr, because we’re stuck with that contract until the bitter end.

The Raccoons had the Rebels and Crusaders on their plates next week, and the annual draft would take place on Wednesday, too, where I had a chance to throw a #4 pick away in glorious fashion.

Fun Fact: Jose Corral is on pace for 38 1/2 home runs this year.

Only once has a player hit more than 38 home runs for the Raccoons, and that was Troy Greenway batting .289 with a wild 42 bombs and 132 RBI in 2038. He won both the home run and RBI crowns with that performance, and that was the only time he achieved either feat in a 16-year career.

A #3 pick by the Stingers in 2030, Greenway debuted for them in ’33 before arriving in Portland in a trade for former Coons closer Chris Wise and three prospects, none of which amounted to much glory later on, in the 2037 drive for the playoffs. Greenway plunged steeply to 23 homers in ’39 and then just eight before being traded on to Salem midway through the 2040 season for prospect Sandy Casaus, an outfielder that hit zero home runs for the Raccoons and just 18 for all other teams combined by the time he washed out of quad-A fame in ‘51.

Greenway then played for another five FL teams for the rest of his career, batting .276 with 266 home runs, 901 RBI, and 1,581 hits in total.