[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-28) @ Rebels (35-28) – June 13-15, 2067

The Raccoons had won two of three from the Rebs the last time these teams had met, which had been in 2063. Richmond was second in the FL East, and just a game and a half behind first. They scored the third-most runs in the Federal League and gave up the fifth-fewest. This was the #2 lineup in the FL for home runs, and they also had the second-best rotation by ERA, though they were frequently undone by bad defense and their bullpen.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (5-3, 3.00 ERA) vs. Pedro Acebedo (7-2, 2.71 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (6-4, 4.37 ERA) vs. Luis Olvera (5-4, 2.91 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (3-5, 3.97 ERA) vs. Adam Molloy (3-2, 4.01 ERA)

The Raccoons evaded southpaws still, facing another slate of only right-handed starters in this series.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Walla
RIC: LF Ospina – LF J. Jenkins – CF Laybolt – C Vaillancourt – 1B M. Ford – SS J. Turner – 3B Rubio – 2B Bonilla – P Acebedo

Offense was largely absent in the Monday opener, in which the Raccoons had a Joel Starr single in the second inning and a single by Pablo Novelo in the fifth, and nothing in between. The Rebs did; they got a leadoff double from Jeremy Jenkins in the fourth inning, and productive outs Darby Laybolt and John Vaillancourt would bring him around to score. The Rebels had only the Jenkins double for base hits through six innings against Walla, whiffing five times, while Acebedo rung up seven through six frames. He got Starr for #8 to conclude the top 7th after Monck singled and was doubled up by Dowsey’s grounder to Alberto Bonilla. Laybolt hit a leadoff double to left against Walla in the bottom of the inning and reached third on another productive Vaillancourt groundout, but Walla reached back and struck out both Matt Ford and Jason Turner to keep the extra run on base.

The Raccoons then tied the game in the eighth on singles by Roberts, who was bunted to second by Walla, and Jaden Wilson, who got the 2-out RBI, but then was caught stealing. Walla got around a walk to Bonilla in the bottom 8th by striking out another two to end the inning, and that put him at 110 pitches, which we’d deem enough. He got a no-decision for his bothers, and the Rebels got two singles from Tristan Michaux and Laybolt to begin the bottom 9th against Josh C, setting up camp on the corners. Michaux went for home when Willie Romero flew out to Wilson in center – but was thrown out to keep the game going! However, Laybolt moved up to second base with the new winning run, and when Alvey replaced Carrington against the lefty PH Jerry Morejon, he gave up a walkoff single through the left side regardless… 2-1 Rebels. Walla 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;

Great, the comatose offense was back. We were already back down to seventh in runs scored among CL teams (though still first in bombs away).

Game 2
POR: RF Corral – 1B Starr – C Lopez – 3B Monck – SS Novelo – CF Matas – LF Early – 2B Roberts – P Rios
RIC: RF Ospina – SS J. Turner – CF Laybolt – 1B M. Ford – LF J. Jenkins – 3B Rubio – C W. Romero – 2B Bonilla – P Olvera

The first inning was calm, but Monck started the second with a double off the centerfield wall that would have been out of most parts of most ballparks in the league. He at least came around to score on a Matas single, but Matas and Roberts, who drew a 2-out walk, were stranded on base when Rios hacked himself out on pitches that weren’t even strikes, then went back out and got lit up. With Jenkins on base, Sergio Rubio clubbed a 2-run homer to put the Rebs on top, and Rios also put Romero and Olvera on, the latter with a 2-out walk… Willie Ospina grounded out to Roberts to keep a pair on base in the 2-1 game.

More Coons runners were caught stealing in this game, as both Matas and Roberts were thrown out trying to take second base against the arm of Willie Romero, which helped to further suffocate an already anemic offense. Which was a real shame, since Rios had by now recovered from his shaky start and held the Rebels relatively short from the third through the sixth inning, as the 2-1 score remained on the board. He was then knocked out by getting beaten by Olvera again, this time with a 1-out single in the bottom 7th. Holzmeister came in and struck out righty PH Brad McLaughlin and Turner (!) to get out of the inning. Ford and Vaillancourt got on base, each hitting a single off McMahan and Yamauchi, respectively, in the eighth, but were ultimately stranded, but the Raccoons had been 3-hit through eight innings by Luis Olvera, who was replaced with righty Allen Tinsley for the ninth inning, with Starr leading off. He grounded out to second base, Lopez whiffed, and Monck drew a walk to at least put the tying run on base. With Dowsey having already been used (for no gains) an inning earlier, Jaden Wilson batted for Novelo and struck out to end the game. 2-1 Rebels.

Oh dear.

Thankfully, Draft Day falling on the series finale prevented me from watching more oxygen-deprived flailing at baseballs, and I was off to New York.

However, the Raccoons made a roster move on Wednesday and put Bob West (1-2, 6.45 ERA, 1 SV) on waivers after he refused a demotion to St. Petersburg. We brought up Ryan Bonner, hitting .372 for the Alley Cats. Any spark would do.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Dowsey – 2B Bonner – SS Novelo – LF Early – P Gaytan
RIC: LF Ospina – LF J. Jenkins – CF Laybolt – C Vaillancourt – 1B M. Ford – SS J. Turner – 3B Rubio – 2B Bonilla – P Molloy

Richmond took the lead inside the first three batters, of whom Jenkins singled and stole second, and Laybolt hit an RBI single to left-center. However, the Raccoons’ despair move for Bonner worked for a 1-out single in the top 2nd, and he scored on a 2-out base knock by Marquise Early to tie the game at one. The Raccoons then even took the lead in the third – albeit in unearned fashion. Wilson reached base and stole second to begin the inning, and then came home on a 1-out single by Ramon Lopez. Wilson’s bid for the plate drew a late throw, allowing Lopez to second base, but he made no attempt to score on Ospina’s arm on Monck’s single to right, and then Dowsey hit into another double play to end the inning. Gaytan pitched responsibly with the lead, while the Raccoons then put a pair in scoring position on a Novelo single and Early double to left-center, but Early left the game with the trainer Luis Silva with some discomfort in his core. Matas ran for him and was stranded along with Novelo as Gaytan K’ed and Wilson popped out to Rubio…

Laybolt laced a triple to left-center to begin the bottom 4th then and the Raccoons saw the lead slip away. Gaytan even struck out the next two batters, and then gave up straight singles to Turner, Rubio, and Bonilla with two outs to not only blow the lead, but also fall 3-2 behind, before ringing up Molloy… The following inning, Willie Ospina stuck a leadoff double into the leftfield corner, had the audacity to steal third base, and scored on Jenkins’ sac fly, 4-2.

Gaytan was not seen after the fifth inning, having thrown just 76 pitches, but few of them had been inspiring. Holzmeister and Fox added scoreless innings, but the Raccoons lacked offensive spark until Lopez and Monck went to the corners leading off the eighth inning against Brad Walker and Jorge Quinones, who struck out Dowsey, but Raul Salas then allowed an RBI single to Bonner, 4-3. However, both Novelo and Matas whiffed against the right-hander after that, and the tying and go-ahead runs remained on base… Chance Fox put a pair on base, but got out of the mess himself in the bottom 8th, then was hit for with Starr, who drew a leadoff walk into the ninth inning against Tinsley. Wilson popped out in a full count then, and Corral grounded out, moving the tying run to second base. Tinsley ran another full count against Ramon Lopez, but then remained on top with a high fastball that Lopez chased to strike out… 4-3 Rebels. Monck 2-4; Bonner 3-4, RBI; Early 2-2, 2B, RBI; Fox 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Raccoons (35-31) vs. Crusaders (34-31) – June 17-19, 2067

Here were two teams just over .500 that both hadn’t expected to be there, but for different reasons. The season series was tied at two, and the Crusaders hoped to use their #5 offense and #4 pitching to get going against the Critters, but both teams were on 4-game losing streaks entering the weekend series. The Crusaders did not rank in the top 3 in any major stat, and they had shed SP Ben Peterson and outfielders Bryant Box, the CL stolen base leader, and Oscar Rivera onto the DL. And if you brought up the loss of Ben Seiter to the Thunder around New York fans or their GM, they’d either break into tears or punch you right out. (holds blood-soaked napkin against his pointy black nose)

Or maybe it was that I smuggled myself onto their charter flight to Portland by posing as an old muff to maybe gain some intel on their plans going forwards, and was quickly found out when the old muff started to plunder the cart with desserts…

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (5-3, 3.44 ERA) vs. Jarod Nesbit (1-3, 3.60 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (6-4, 2.79 ERA) vs. Ed Nadeau (3-3, 4.97 ERA)
Nick Walla (5-3, 2.82 ERA) vs. Jerry Washington (6-3, 3.21 ERA)

Nadeau would be the first southpaw to face the Coons in quite a while.

Marquise Early was day-to-day for the entire weekend with a mild abdominal strain, and perhaps into the next week, and we were tempted to replace him with another player, but the options in AAA were not exactly blowing me over with excitement at this point. Only Jamie Colter was on the 40-man, and he was batting from the wrong side.

Game 1
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Ambriz – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – RF Takeuchi – 3B Frasher – SS Labonte – CF Z. Cooper – P Nesbit
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Bonner – P Nakayama

Friday’s game began by instantly careening off the rails and into the nearest orphanage, as Omar Sanchez drew a walk, Jose Ambriz got nicked by Nakayama, and then Danny Starwalt and David Johnson socked back-to-back homers to put the Crusaders up 4-0 right away. Nakayama wasn’t long for this game; he walked another two batters in the third inning, and Omar Sanchez in the fourth as well, although the Crusaders left the pair on base and Sanchez was caught stealing, but Nakayama threw nearly 100 pitches in four ****** innings. He was knocked out after four-and-a-third, after giving up a double to right to Starwalt. Yamauchi would replace him and get out of the inning without conceding another run.

The Raccoons were very good at playing dead, getting a Lopez double in the first, and nada thereafter, until after Evan Alvey threw two similarly inefficient innings, allowing a fifth run to the Crusaders, before Novelo hit a 1-out double to left in the bottom 7th and then scored on a Ryan Bonner single to center. Matas then hit into a double play to stop those rally shenanigans. Alvey got two more outs while putting two on base in the eighth, then was replaced with Dover, who walked Ambriz to fill the bases before he got Starwalt to ground out to Monck, as the Crusaders left another three runners on base. Nesbit ran a 3-hitter into the ninth inning, but here was the funny thing: he never got a strikeout against any Critter for the entire game… or the 8.1 innings he lasted. He got Monck to begin the ninth, then walked Dowsey, who gained a base on a wild pitch, and then was singled in to score by Joel Starr. Dave Hyman replaced Nesbit at that point, secured the second out on a fielder’s choice grounder from Novelo, and then got a groundout from Aguilar to end the game. 5-2 Crusaders. Starr 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;

Jerry Washington was moved up to Saturday, which hopefully gave us a Southpaw Sunday at least.

Game 2
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Ambriz – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – RF Takeuchi – 3B Frasher – SS Labonte – CF Z. Cooper – P Jer. Washington
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Roberts – P Musgrave

Another day, another rusty piece of rebar to the Raccoons starter’s face in the first inning. The Crusaders went up 4-0 in five batters, which meant they were letting up compared to Friday, but Musgrave allowed a single to Sanchez, an RBI double to Ambriz, another RBI double to Johnson, and a 2-run homer to Kazuhide Takeuchi. Paul Labonte hit another single in the inning, but was left on base. The Coons got a run on a Monck single and Starr’s RBI double in the bottom 2nd, but the Crusaders battered Musgrave further for another three hits and two runs in the third inning, and had him knocked out after that; Marquise Early batted for him leading off the bottom 3rd, grounded out gingerly in a 1-2-3 disappearance, and then the 6-1 garbage score went to Chance Fox. He oversaw two scoreless innings, in which the Raccoons reduced the gap down to two runs; Starr homered to left in the fourth inning with Lopez on base to make it 6-3, and then Roberts got on base to begin the fifth, stole second, and scored on a Wilson single to center, but Wilson was then caught stealing and the inning fizzled out. The Crusaders then turned on Fox and thrashed him for his own 4-run meltdown with back-to-back bombs by Starwalt and Johnson, and he was yanked when Eric Frasher singled on his 66th pitch, which was barely good enough for eight outs.

Holzmeister collected four outs before being hit for with Randy Tallent in the bottom 7th, who walked with two outs against right-hander Christopher Tinari, who had given up a double to Starr – three extra-base hits in the game! – to begin the inning and was still on base. Wilson hit a shy single that loaded the bases, and Corral then stopped the suck briefly for a 2-out, 2-run single to right, 10-6. Mike Hall replaced Tinari and struck out Lopez to end the nonsense. Starr added a 2-out single to his ledger, but would remain wanting for a triple to complete the cycle, and while Novelo hit another single after him, both were left on base. Tallent reached base in the ninth, but no substantial rally materialized from there. 10-6 Crusaders. Wilson 2-5, RBI; Starr 4-4, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Tallent (PH) 1-1, BB;

Southpaw Sunday duly arrived, and maybe that could break the Raccoons out of their recent funk! Although a scoreless first by Nick Walla would be a nice start regardless of the opposite pitcher’s handedness…

Game 3
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Ambriz – 1B Starwalt – RF Takeuchi – 3B Frasher – SS Labonte – C Reyna – CF Z. Cooper – P Nadeau
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 1B Starr – LF Dowsey – RF Tallent – 2B Bonner – 3B Roberts – P Walla

That would be a no, by the way, as Walla leaked a four-pitch walk to Sanchez, who went on to score on Starwalt and Takeuchi singles, but at least nobody hit a bunch of homers in the damn inning and Walla retired Frasher and Labonte on strikes to get outta there. Walla continued to find 3-ball counts that then ran full and escalated his pitch count, while the Raccoons at least managed to tie the game when Novelo singled home Roberts in the third inning. Roberts had reached with a walk, and through five the Raccoons had only the Novelo hit and another single from Tallent for base knocks against Nadeau, while the Crusaders had five hits off Walla, who needed 78 pitches to get through five – but that already made him the furthest-in starter the Raccoons had managed to put up on the bloody weekend…!

Of course merely thinking about something as not being completely horrible, was absolutely going to ruin the thing and make it completely horrible, and Walla allowed a leadoff single to Ambriz and a 2-run homer to Starwalt in the sixth inning. Labonte and Victor Reyna reached with two outs before Zack Cooper popped out, and that was all Walla could do in this soggy start.

Into the eighth, the Coons looked completely beaten and swept. Down 3-1, Monck batted for Alvey to lead off and singled to left, where Ambriz overran the ball. Nadeau was lifted and replaced with Mike Hall, who got a fly out from Wilson, but then was replaced with righty Jason Fick, whom Novelo took to center for an RBI double, and now the tying run was in scoring position. There it remained as Lopez and Starr both flew out to Cooper without seriously challenging him. Monck remained in the game to play third base in place of Roberts while Dover held the Crusaders to what they already had with a 1-2-3 ninth. Dave Hyman was up against the 5-6-7 batters, then the pitcher’s spot in #8, which meant Jose Corral for sure, and then Monck yearning to break out of a funk. Except that the 5-6-7 batters all grounded out, and all did so while being ahead in the ******* count. 3-2 Crusaders. Novelo 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Monck (PH) 1-1;

In other news

June 14 – Blue Sox RF Austin Gordon (.309, 13 HR, 46 RBI) fires three home runs in an 11-0 rout of the Falcons and drives in seven runs in the effort, which marks the second 3-homer game in the league this month (after Portland’s Jose Corral on the 4th), and the third time in 25 months that the Falcons had given up three home runs to the same player (SFW Miguel Medina, ATL Nick Nye).
June 14 – LAP SP Melvin Lebron (7-3, 4.50 ERA) has a 3-hit shutout against the Condors, striking out nine for a 3-0 win.
June 14 – MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.409, 8 HR, 46 RBI) gets a single in the eighth inning of a 4-2 win against Washington, marking a 20-game hitting streak.
June 15 – One day later, the streak is over, as Dominguez (.402, 8 HR, 46 RBI) goes 0-for-4 in a 9-8 loss to the Caps.
June 15 – The Aces beat the Gold Sox, 4-0 in 11 innings. LVA C/1B Chris Haynes (.269, 2 HR, 28 RBI) has the biggest knock in the top of the 11th inning with a 3-run homer.
June 16 – The Warriors take a nasty blow with the news that SP Alex Dominguez (7-2, 2.30 ERA) is done for the year and questionable for Opening Day in ’68 with a shredded flexor tendon in his elbow.
June 16 – Milwaukee RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.414, 8 HR, 48 RBI) remains prominent with a 5-hit day, incluing a double and two RBI, in a 12-7 slog win against the Capitals.
June 17 – Condors OF/2B/SS Mike Pinault (.263, 8 HR, 30 RBI) was going to be out for a month after suffering a separating shoulder.
June 18 – DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.305, 19 HR, 67 RBI) would be out for at least a week with a case of wrist tendinitis.
June 18 – The Wolves wheeze out a 1-0 win against the Gold Sox in *16* innings. SAL LF/RF Kyle Grulke (.225, 2 HR, 16 RBI) does not enter the game until the ninth inning and goes 1-for-4, but the “1” is the much desired walkoff single in the game’s 105th and final at-bat. SAL MR Jesse Connors (0-1, 4.13 ERA, 1 SV) pitches 5.1 innings of 1-hit relief in the game.

FL Player of the Week: CIN RF/LF Roberto Soto (.258, 10 HR, 37 RBI), batting .500 (10-20) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Tyler Chenette (.238, 4 HR, 14 RBI), clipping .500 (10-20) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

This year’s June is shaping up to be last year’s May when the Raccoons couldn’t get anybody out, couldn’t score a ******* run, and went 5-24 for the month. Right now, June is a 5-12 mess, coming from a 5-5 start to the month. And the Titans are next, so you can’t expect things to improve on Monday.

Bob West cleared waivers, still refused an assignment to St. Petersburg, and was released on Saturday.

#4 draft pick Jimmy Wharton struck out nine and walked five in his first start for Ham Lake. So far, this could go either way.

Like I said earlier, the Titans are in for three games starting on Monday. We then have a day off, and then go on a 10-game road trip to Atlanta, San Francisco, and Milwaukee.

Fun Fact: The Coons are still first in home runs in the CL … but tied … with those Titans.

That’s not gonna be a good series.