[Westheim]

Raccoons (59-65) @ Titans (76-47) – August 22-24, 2067

The Titans were four games behind the Loggers and performance against the Raccoons played a part in that, as Boston was only 6-6 when playing the Critters this year. Their pitching led the league, but the offense was only average, with a +106 run differential. They had also just buried closer Cody Kleidon for the season with a partially torn labrum; he joined Bryce Wallace, Josh Carlisle, and Andy Lee on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (7-12, 3.46 ERA) vs. Matt Taylor (8-6, 3.96 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (9-10, 4.51 ERA) vs. Ricardo Montoya (5-8, 4.49 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (9-9, 4.49 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (14-5, 3.05 ERA)

No southpaw and no Brenize, as both him and Tyler Riddle had pitched the two most recent games for Boston.

The Coons arrived without Carlos Gutierrez, who had been put on the DL for an abdominal strain. The callup went out to Gary Gates to make his major league debut. He had a .350 OBP in St. Petersburg and otherwise had a singles bat. He could play third base and the middle infield positions rather well. He was 24, and had arrived from Denver along with Tommy Branch in December of 2065 when the Raccoons had disposed of a host of unwanted pitching.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – RF Corral – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – LF Dowsey – SS Novelo – 2B Bonner – P Gaytan
BOS: LF S. Humphries – RF Joe Washington – CF Marcotte – C Arviso – 2B Jer. White – 1B Joyner – SS Onelas – 3B I. Berrios – P Ma. Taylor

Jaden Wilson finally stole his 30th base after weeks of trying, taking second base after opening the game with a single to right-center. He came around to score on groundouts by Lopez and Corral, but Steve Humphries and Jorge Arviso singles would be enough for Boston to tie the game right back in the bottom 1st. The Raccoons reclaimed the lead on straight singles by the 3-4-5-6 batters in the third inning as both Starr and Dowsey drove in a run, and Taylor was flogged for two more runs in the fourth inning as Wilson singled, Ramon Lopez struck a triple into the rightfield corner, and then scored on a single by Jose Corral, 5-1. The Titans would let him pitch into the fifth inning, but when Tony Gaytan doubled home Ryan Bonner with two outs to make it 6-1, they had seen enough and yanked him.

And Gaytan wasn’t pitching a *great* game… the Titans were readily able to make contact early in counts, and when the counts ran longer in the early innings, they usually went in their favor – not that they were able to beat the defense much, and they got only one walk in the first four innings. Gaytan did commit a brain cramp in the bottom 5th though, allowing a single to reliever and former Critter Sansao Tyson, Corral flubbed the pickup in shallow right, and Joe Washington would drive Tyson in from second base with two outs…

Doubles by Corral and Starr reclaimed that run in the sixth, 7-2, but Gaytan offered leadoff walks in both the sixth and seventh innings. Nothing happened the first time round, but in the latter instance the free runner Ivan Berrios was soon joined when Tony Rodriquez knocked out a base hit, and with one out Joe Washington cranked a 3-run homer to right, and suddenly we had a ballgame again at 7-5. Gaytan struck out the right-handed Eddie Marcotte before being ushered away, and we then got three outs from Evan Alvey.

At that late stage, Gary Gates made his ABL debut as a defensive replacement for Rich Monck, coming into the game with Jesse Dover, who was asked for a 4-out save, but right away got himself taken deep by Marcos Onelas on an 0-2 pitch to erase the last bit of cushion. Berrios whiffed to end the inning, the Coons wasted a leadoff walk to Joel Starr in the ninth inning, but Dover then managed to finish the game. He retired Willie Acosta and Steve Humphries on grounders to begin the ninth, then pitched with care to Joe Washington, walking him. The game ended with Marcotte, a right-handed batter, whom Dover sliced up for a game-ending strikeout. 7-6 Raccoons. Wilson 2-4, BB; Corral 2-3, 2 BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Monck 2-5; Starr 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

Gates did not come to bat in the ninth inning, but he would start the middle game on second base on Tuesday.

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – RF Corral – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Gates – LF Matas – P Rios
BOS: LF S. Humphries – 1B Joyner – CF Marcotte – 2B Jer. White – 3B I. Berrios – C L. Marquez – RF Kaniewski – SS Onelas – P R. Montoya

Rios held the Titans hitless the first time through, but Eddie Marcotte’s triple over the head of Wilson and a groundout by Jeremy White would not only give them a hit, but also the game’s first run in the fourth inning. By then the Coons had scattered three singles and had yet to put a paw on third base. Novelo had hit into a double play in the second inning, but then opened the fifth with a single – only to get doubled off himself by Gary Gates. How’d’ya like them apples??

Onelas and Humphries doubles gave Boston another run in the bottom 5th, 2-0, and they now had four hits, all for extra bases (Berrios had hit a 2-out double in the fourth before being stranded). They got another run in the sixth as Rios threatened to come unglued: Marcotte led off with a single, White walked and was forced out on Berrios’ grounder, and then Lorenzo Marquez hit an RBI single to make it 3-0. The bags filled with another four-pitch walk to John Kaniewski before Onelas hit into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.

The Raccoons tried to answer with leadoff singles by Corral and Monck, both in 1-2 counts, against Montoya in the seventh inning. Starr and Novelo then both flew out harmlessly, bringing up Gates. The debutant not only got his first hit, but also his first RBI with a clean single to left-center that sent Corral home from second base, and Matas added another RBI single to get back to 3-2 before David Milian pinch-hit and grounded out to Bill Joyner, stranding a pair. Holzmeister got the ball in the bottom 7th, which turned out not to be the smartest move, as he immediately gave up a walk, a single, and ultimately a sac fly to Marcotte. White then grounded out, leaving an extra runner on base. Top 8th, Wilson reached on an error by Joyner, but was doubled up on a Lopez grounder to short. The Titans would send Tyler Gleason to get the save in the ninth inning. The left-hander put Starr on base with a 1-out single, but Novelo then involved himself in his third double play of the game, this a 6-4-3 that ended it. 4-2 Titans. Corral 2-4; Monck 2-4; Starr 2-4;

The Raccoons had nine hits in this game, all singles. The Titans had seven hits, the majority for extra bases…

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Dowsey – 3B Monck – RF Milian – SS Novelo – 2B Gates – LF Matas – P Musgrave
BOS: LF S. Humphries – RF Joe Washington – CF Marcotte – 2B Jer. White – 1B Joyner – SS Onelas – C L. Marquez – 3B I. Berrios – P M. Bell

Boston began batting with a homer by Humphries over the leftfield wall against Musgrave in the rubber game, and that wasn’t the last blast off the veteran right-hander, who was taken quite well deep by Jeremy White for two runs with two gone in the bottom 3rd, Joe Washington being on base as well. That made it a 3-0 hole for the Coons against Bell, who faced the minimum in the first three innings – although Matas singled and was caught stealing, so there was no bid going – and then retired another four batters before a 1-out single to left by David Milian in the fifth inning. Novelo singled to center and Gates reached on an error by Onelas to fill the bases. Carlos Matas whiffed bigly, upon which Joel Starr batted for Musgrave, who was getting whacked anyway, and … also struck out.

Chance Fox then came in and pitched two garbage innings, getting smacked around for three more runs even as the Raccoons put up a 2-run sixth of their own with a Wilson single, Lopez triple, and Dowsey double – all with nobody out – before the 4-5-6 batters collectively croaked and left Dowsey on base. Bell went eight innings and struck out as many while holding the 6-2 lead rather well after the brief hiccup in the middle innings. Tony Castellanos got the ball for the ninth, but allowed a walk to Milian and a single to PH Justin Aguilar with one out and was replaced with Gleason, who saw Gates string a ball into the leftfield corner for a 2-run triple, suddenly putting the tying run in the batter’s box. Matas popped out, however, and the Coons were down to Randy Tallent for pinch-hitting purposes (Corral having been used one turn earlier) and he flew out to Humphries to end the game. 6-4 Titans. Aguilar (PH) 1-1;

We were off on Thursday and traveling back to Portland.

Raccoons (60-67) vs. Bayhawks (42-83) – August 26-28, 2067

The horrendous Bayhawks were so horrendous, they had yet to win a game against the Raccoons this year. Tenth in runs scored, bottoms in runs allowed, and with a -208 run differential, they were the unchallenged runts of the litter in the Continental League these days. There was hardly a stat in which they were not reaching for the bottom of the barrel, the exception being home runs, in which they ranked fifth in the CL. This was the final series between these two teams.

Projected matchups:
Shoma Nakayama (10-8, 3.71 ERA) vs. Juan Sanchez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Nick Walla (8-7, 3.09 ERA) vs. Adam Gardner (8-12, 4.48 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (8-12, 3.60 ERA) vs. Vince Vandiver (3-13, 6.44 ERA)

Sanchez had been with the Critters last year. Him getting hurt two innings into his first start of the year had signalled the horns for a collapse for the team – although they were surely enough culprits to be found besides him. Gardner and Sanchez were left-handed; Sanchez had also just rejoined from a rehab assignment, so there was plenty of wiggle room to get other starters involved, f.e. right-hander Paul Egley (5-15, 5.42 ERA).

Game 1
SFB: RF J. Ward – SS O. Aredondo – LF Streng – 2B A. Montoya – C Goodwin – 1B Navarre – CF Parrish – 3B K. Ball – P Ju. Sanchez
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 3B Monck – RF Milian – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – 2B Gates – LF Tallent – P Nakayama

Nakayama issued walks to Jake Ward and Armando Montoya (his poor soul!) in the first inning, but wiggled around that with Curt Goodwin’s infield pop, and then had a better grasp on what was on offer from the second inning onwards, also pitching with a lead. The Coons made two outs to begin the game, but the 3-4-5 then loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom 1st and then Novelo drove in two runs before Sanchez rung up Gates. Milian would single home Ramon Lopez in the third inning, which also saw Portland loading the bags when Starr and Novelo reached as well, but Gates hit into an inning-ending double play. Milian then brought in Lopez again in the fifth inning, extending the lead to 4-0 with an RBI groundout after Sanchez nicked Lopez and he went to third base on a Monck single over Montoya’s head. Monck was left on base, but it was 4-0 through five innings.

Nakayama had yet to allow a base hit, but was also on 66 pitches through five. The Bayhawks surrendered easily in the sixth, but Goodwin dropped an uncatchable single into no man’s land with two outs in the seventh inning, and the bid was gone, seven outs shy of completion. Nate Navarre then made an easy third out. The Coons tacked on a run in the bottom 7th as Wilson tripled to center to begin the inning. Lopez popped out, but Monck hit a sac fly to John Parrish, 5-0, although Parrish exacted revenge with a leadoff jack to right in the top 8th, taking the shutout away, too. Nakayama would be done after eight innings and 99 pitches, and Holzmeister 1-2-3’ed the Baybirds on six pitches to put the game away for good. 5-1 Raccoons. Monck 3-3, RBI; Starr 2-4; Novelo 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Nakayama 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (11-8);

Game 2
SFB: RF J. Ward – SS O. Aredondo – LF Streng – 2B A. Montoya – C Goodwin – 1B Navarre – CF Blackham – 3B K. Ball – P A. Gardner
POR: C Lopez – 1B Starr – RF Milian – 3B Monck – SS Novelo – LF Tallent – 2B Bonner – CF Matas – P Walla

Oscar Aredondo took Walla deep as the second batter of Saturday’s ballgame, so there went the shutout and all the pretending followed when Nate Navarre got on base with an infield single in the second inning. He stole second, and Keith Ball drove him in with a 2-out double. Worse yet, Adam Gardner’s single to center made it 3-0. An already disoriented Walla was then visibly shaken once he broke Armando Montoya’s old man wrist with a fastball, the veteran screaming as he flung the bat away and made a bee line for the clubhouse. Curt Enos replaced him. Enos stole second, scored on Goodwin’s single, and then Navarre cranked a 2-run homer, 6-0. So much for winning out the season series.

The Coons had no rally in them for a very long time. We had three hits through five innings, and managed to hit into double plays with Bonner and Monck at different times. Yamauchi and Alvey followed Walla, who was yanked after 3.1 ****** innings, and got the game through six without allowing even more damage before the bottom 6th opened with a Matas single. Jaden Wilson batted for Alvey and doubled, but with runners on second and third and nobody out we sure found ways to croak; Lopez whiffed, Starr hit an RBI single to left, but Wilson was thrown out at the plate trying to steal as well, and then Milian grounded out, and it was still 6-1 after six innings. Rich Monck homered to lead off the seventh, but that merely got the team into slam range, and for the rest of the inning only got Bonner on when Keith Ball threw his grounder away. After that it was time for the very lowly rated show of “Close Your Eyes with Chance Fox”! He walked two in a gruesome eighth inning, then somehow managed to escape his own mess when the Baybirds didn’t bother batting for Gardner with two outs, and Gardner looked at a pitiful 3-2 strike called barely brushing the corner of the zone.

And YET … Milian batted as the tying run in the bottom 8th, with nobody out, after Gates, who entered in a double switch with Fox, and Lopez had singled, and Starr drew a walk, the first one issued by Gardner. Milian, a rather unsuccessful July trade addition, dropped his Coons batting average back to .226 (75 points under his Stingers clip) with a run-scoring 6-4-3 double play grounder, but Monck hit a 2-out RBI single past Aredondo. He was stranded on Novelo’s pop to first.

Bottom 9th, and Roland Wiser got the ball for a save opportunity. The Coons sent Corral and Dowsey to bat for Tallent and Fox, and both singled, bringing the winning run to the plate with nobody out – but the bench was down to Justin Aguilar. Matas’ sharp grounder was almost taken for two outs, but Matas beat out the relay throw on the 5-4-3 attempt, giving Corners runners at the gates. He, too, narrowly legged out the return throw on a double play attempt after grounding to short, and Corral scored from third base. Lopez’ fly out to David Blackham ended the game. 6-5 Bayhawks. Starr 2-3, BB, RBI; Monck 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Corral (PH) 1-1; Dowsey (PH) 1-1; Wilson (PH) 1-1; Gates 1-2, RBI;

This was perhaps the worst we had seen Walla in a long time.

The season of Armando Montoya (.269, 17 HR, 71 RBI) was over after Walla crunched his wrist real good with that heater.

Paul Egley then was put up for the Sunday start.

Game 3
SFB: CF Parrish – 2B O. Aredondo – LF Streng – RF J. Ward – C Goodwin – 1B McEwan – SS Yniguez – 3B K. Ball – P Egley
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – RF Corral – 2B Gates – C Aguilar – P Gaytan

Parrish, Aredondo, and Ward all hit incredibly hard balls against Gaytan in the first inning, but only Parrish got a double to fall in and then was left on third base after some good outs were made by Corral and Wilson in the depths of the outfield. Rich Monck opened the scoring with a leadoff jack to right in the bottom 2nd, but just like Walla on Saturday, Gaytan looked well off. Jim McEwan hit a single in the second and was left on, and Ball and Parrish went to the corners with a walk and a single in the third inning, but were also stranded when suddenly more poor outs were made.

Then suddenly, the Bayhawks made very quick outs for the next couple of innings, which coupled with Portland’s inability to tack on meant the score remained 1-0. Gaytan then lost Aredondo to a leadoff walk in the sixth, but Ian Streng grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Jake Ward also walked, stole second … and was left on when Goodwin fanned. However, it was too good to be true. McEwan whiffed to begin the seventh, but then Adan Yniguez singled. Ball struck out, but Egley (!) singled, Parrish tied the game with a single, and Navarre singled home two more. Gaytan was yanked, everybody was sad, and then Navarre was caught stealing with Josh C on the hill, ending the bloody inning.

Bottom 7th, a Dowsey double, a Corral single, and the tying runs were on the corners with nobody out against Egley. Gates hit a roller next to the mound that Egley greedily pounced on and threw well past Curt Enos at second base, getting not two outs, not one, but none, and a run scored. Aguilar then reached on a Blackham error, and the bags were loaded with nobody out. Carrington was hit for with Milian after throwing a single pitch, and the huge disappointment kept getting disappointinglier with a grounder to first or a force out at the plate, and Wilson then ****** into a 4-6-3 double play, keeping Egley 3-2 ahead. Egley added another inning, but Wiser was out for the ninth in the 3-2 game, with Dowsey up first against the right-hander. Both him and Corral flew out easily to Parrish before Matas batted for Gates and hit a double to right-center. The game ended with Aguilar grounding out instead. 3-2 Bayhawks. Matas (PH) 1-1;

Useless.

One of those instances where you then end up with Ramon Lopez left in the on-deck circle…

In other news

August 24 – The Loggers flatten the Canadiens, 16-3 in a 20-hit barrage. Honors are spread out in the lineup, but MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.379, 16 HR, 80 RBI) is a triple away from the cycle on three hits and drives in four runs.
August 26 – Crusaders outfielder Bryant Box (.297, 2 HR, 32 RBI) would miss three weeks with a badly lacerated hand, suffered when he got it caught in someone else’s cleats on the base paths.
August 27 – The Loggers get some of their own medicine in a 16-6 defeat against the Thunder. Oklahoma INF Daniel Richardson (.292, 3 HR, 42 RBI) has three doubles and three RBI in the game.

FL Player of the Week: NAS CF/RF/1B Fernando Aracena (.325, 2 HR, 43 RBI), clipping .542 (13-24) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 2B/SS Jose Palominos (.288, 14 HR, 81 RBI), driving .481 (13-27) with 2 HR, 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Cruddy week! Losing a series to the Bayhawks should normally void all contracts on the team and leave them to look for waiting jobs!!

Not that it really matters. We’re probably gonna have a protected first-round pick again anyway. Right now we’re in line for a #6 pick, which is surprisingly good for being still at .469; but there’s plenty of teams between us and right-around-.500, so I don’t put it past these klutzes to plonk down a .600 September and end up with a #14 pick again…

Meanwhile, the teams that *are* worse than us in terms of games won and lost are mostly VERY FAR behind us. Only four games ahead of the Arrowheads for last in the North now, though…

Rich Monck hit two homers in the two Baybirds losses and is now at 27, third-best in the league, but tops in the CL, and five ahead of Ian Stone of Oklahoma.

Speaking of Oklahoma, they’re in to complete the month of August, starting on Monday. We will be off and travelling on the first of September, and then play seven games on the road against the Crusaders and damn Elks. We have only four road series left this year – two of them in Elk City, somehow.

Fun Fact: Since Wednesday night, the Loggers offense is on pace for 997 or 998 runs for the full season.

At that point they had played four straight series with at least one game in which they scored 10+ runs, and five of seven on the month; only the Titans had resisted (while getting swept), along with the Condors (who scratched out one win on August 1).

July 31 and August 1 were also the most-recent consecutive losses for the Loggers (the former against the Aces) until they were handed back-to-back beatings by the Thunder on Saturday and Sunday. Well, they still scored 18 runs in that 3-game set, but they were thrashed for 34…