[Westheim]

Raccoons (14-17) vs. Gold Sox (10-21) – May 8-10, 2068

Last-place teams met in Portland beginning on Tuesday, as the Raccoons hosted the worst offensive team from the Federal League (just 3.5 runs per game). The Gold Sox’ pitching was mediocre, held together mostly by a strong defense. They were reaching base at just a .296 clip, which was embarrassing even to our fuzzy ears. Outfielder Matt Little was their most notable injury; when not on the DL with a forearm strain he was always good for 15 homers and a solid batting average. These two teams had met last season, when the Raccoons had won two of three games.

Projected matchups:
Alex Dominguez (3-2, 3.82 ERA) vs. Juan Ybarra (2-4, 2.45 ERA)
Vinny Morales (0-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Jon Cuadrado (1-4, 7.45 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (2-3, 5.79 ERA) vs. John Bollinger (1-2, 3.58 ERA)

Among those three right-handers was the same John Bollinger that had made 28 largely forgettable starts for the Raccoons early in the decade, then had disappeared from view for a while before resurfacing in the majors with the Sox in late ’66. His starts, though, were still largely forgettable. He had made 34 (52 total appearances) for Denver since returning to the majors after years in AAA.

Game 1
DEN: LF N. Chapman – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF M. Sandoval – CF Tuck – C R. Rogers – 3B Stockton – SS Gonzilez – 2B L. Palacios – P Ybarra
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – RF Corral – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Hills – 3B Mendoza – P Dominguez

The Raccoons only got Brian Hills on base the first time through, while Dominguez struck out three – all in full counts that accelerated his limited pitch count – while allowing a single to Chris Tuck and a home run to Ryan Rogers in the second inning for a quick deficit. Marquise Early would hit a home run in the fourth inning to get the teams even again, that one coming with Joel Starr having reached base with a 2-out walk. Offense was rather limited outside of the two dingers; Dominguez ramped up the strikeouts to eight through five innings, but was near 80 with his pitch count, while the Raccoons began the bottom 5th with a walk drawn by Hills and then Diego Mendoza singled to left. Both runners were bunted onwards by Dominguez, and Hills scored on Duhe’s grounder up the middle – but Alex Gonzilez also spiked the throw to Juan Gutierrez, who could not contain the ball, and had to chase it into foul ground. Mendoza held at third base, though, and the Coons were up 3-2 with runners on the corners. Wilson added an RBI single, but Corral and Starr made soft outs to keep a pair on base. Dominguez held the 4-2 lead through the sixth before Early’s leadoff walk in the bottom 6th was followed by another Sox error, this time Luis Palacios throwing a ball entirely past Gutierrez. Early and Flowe reached scoring position with nobody out. After Hills popped out easily, the Sox walked Diego Mendoza with intent, which sounded rather foolish, then brought a right-hander, Eric Matthews, for Dominguez, who was on 91 pitches and hit for with Jamie Colter – but the move didn’t pay off when Colter lined out to Norm Chapman in shallow left, and the runners held. There was no holding back with two outs though: Jared Duhe drew a bases-loaded walk, and both Wilson and Corral clubbed hits that plated two runs each before Starr grounded out. (casual high-fives with Slappy)

For Denver, the air was then out of the game. They would be held to a total of five hits in the game, and went down mostly meekly against competent relief from Hall, Yamauchi, and Holzmeister. The Raccoons loaded the bases with their 7-8-9 batters in the bottom 7th, but Duhe flew out and Wilson grounded out to prevent any runs from scoring in that inning. We had, however, scored enough already for a solid win. 9-2 Raccoons. Wilson 2-5, 3 RBI; Mendoza 2-3, BB; Dominguez 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (4-2);

Denver’s Luis Palacios left the game late with a shoulder strain and ended up on the DL.

Game 2
DEN: LF N. Chapman – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF M. Sandoval – CF Tuck – C R. Rogers – 3B Stockton – SS Gonzilez – 2B Proffitt – P Cuadrado
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – RF Corral – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Hills – 3B Mendoza – P Morales

Fine, I sneered when the Gold Sox walked Diego Mendoza intentionally on Tuesday, but when they did not do it on Wednesday, with Marquise Early on second base and two outs in the bottom 2nd, he hit an RBI single to left-center to drive in the game’s first run. Offense was slow again to begin the middle game of the series, but while Morales was nominally on a 1-hitter through four innings it was to be noted that the Sox were really good at hitting balls quite hard, but right at people. Things got interesting in the fifth inning, when Dallas Stockton led off with a single and got himself caught stealing. Gonzilez then hit the next single right away, advanced on Justin Proffitt’s groundout, and then scored when Morales had the pitcher at 0-2, and for a lack of stuff couldn’t put him away and gave up an RBI single in the same spot where Mendoza had hit his earlier in the game, which was now tied at one. Chapman popped out to Wilson in shallow center to end the inning.

Bottom 6th, still tied, and Corral singled to begin the inning. Starr flew out to deep left, but Early walked, moving Corral to second base. Flowe’s pop did not help a whole lot, but Hills with two outs dished a ball through Juan Gutierrez at first base and up the line for an RBI double. This time the Gold Sox did walk Mendoza again, and the Raccoons lifted their starter for Jamie Colter for the second day in a row. Cuadrado walked him on straight balls to force in a run, 3-1, and then was yanked for lefty ex-Coon Ricky Baca. Duhe grounded out, leaving the bags packed. Off to the pen we went, with McMahan giving up a single to Stockton, but keeping the Gold Sox away from scoring in the seventh inning, which was followed by Dover with a 1-2-3 eighth, but Valentin then ran into a spot of bother in the ninth inning. The score was still 3-1 when Miguel Sandoval flicked an 0-2 pitch into shallow center for a leadoff single. Tuck popped out, but Rogers drove a ball past Pablo Novelo at second base and into right-center for a double, parking the tying runs in scoring position. Despite left-handed bats coming up, the Raccoons hung with Valentin, who then popped out Stockton on the infield. After a ball to Gonzilez, the Sox’ batter popped up the second pitch behind home plate. Flowe tossed his mask and rushed back to the netting and managed to grab the ball before it could hit the backstop, ending the game…! 3-1 Raccoons. Corral 2-3, BB; Early 1-2, 2 BB; Mendoza 1-2, BB, RBI; Colter (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Morales 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Ramon Archuleta came off the DL for the series finale, and Brian Hills was hitting, so Manny Arredondo (.115, 0 HR, 1 RBI) was off the roster.

Game 3
DEN: LF N. Chapman – 1B J. Gutierrez – RF M. Sandoval – CF Tuck – C R. Rogers – SS Gonzilez – 3B B. Wilken – 2B Proffitt – P Bollinger
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – RF Corral – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Gaytan

Denver scored first on Thursday, plating a stupid run with doubles from Bollinger and Gutierrez; Gaytan had retired seven of eight before allowing the first hit to the opposing pitcher… He tried to make up with a leadoff single to left in the bottom 3rd, and Duhe followed with a double, putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position right away in the inning. However, Wilson whiffed, and the Raccoons only got a run on Corral’s groundout before Archuleta flew out to Sandoval to keep the go-ahead run on third base.

They tried again in the bottom 5th with *another* leadoff single flicked to left by Gaytan. Duhe walked in a full count this time around, and Wilson’s single to right loaded the bases with nobody out. Corral hit a long fly to right that was caught by Sandoval on the warning track, but Gaytan jogged home to give himself a 2-1 lead on the sac fly. Duhe moved to third on the play, and Wilson desired second base and made a bid for a steal. Rogers’ throw hit the sliding Wilson’s furry tush and bounced away, and the Raccoons were off to the races as Wilson went to third base and Duhe scored. Archuleta then sent Wilson home with another sac fly, 4-1. Starr singled and knocked out Bollinger, but Early whiffed to end the inning.

Gaytan meanwhile looked less awful than he had for most of April. He allowed two hits and struck out five through five innings, and on just 59 pitches, had a 1-2-3 sixth… and then things came crashing down again. Tuck, Rogers, and Gonzilez clipped straight hits to begin the seventh inning, bringing in a run, and Gaytan walked Chad Whetstine to load the bases before getting yanked. McMahan came in to fan the flames, allowing a run on Proffitt’s groundout before ringing up Justin Donaldson – but then conceded the tying and go-ahead runs on a Chapman double to center. Gutierrez strung another single, but the inning ended with Chapman thrown out at the plate by Jaden Wilson…

At least the loss didn’t stick to Gaytan. The Raccoons did little in the bottom 7th, but Kehoe kept the Sox to their 5-4 lead in the top 8th before a parade of relievers put Starr on base with a 1-out walk in the bottom 8th, and then right-hander Mike Penaranda gave up a booming, score-flipping 2-run homer to Jake Flowe…! – …but then Valentin blew the lead in the ninth on a single by Dallas Stockton and Brycen Fink’s 2-out RBI double into the rightfield corner…… (dismayed groan) … Left-hander Danny Eisinger then sent the game to overtime; Eddy Ramirez hit a 2-out single in place of Wilson, but was stranded when Corral fanned.

Top 10th, and Dover drilled Miguel Sandoval with one out, but then struck out Tuck and got Rogers to ground out to short. Eisinger was still around and walked Archuleta to begin the bottom of the inning. Arch reached second base on a hit-and-run on which Joel Starr grounded out to short, but now the Sox walked Early intentionally to get to Flowe. The Raccoons got cute and called the double steal, but Archuleta was thrown out at third base by Rogers. “Just let me hit!”, begged Jake Flowe, then strung a walkoff single through the right side, plating Marquise Early from second base with it…! 7-6 Furballs! Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Flowe 4-5, HR, 3 RBI;

Raccoons (17-17) @ Loggers (20-14) – May 11-13, 2068

The Raccoons had handed the red lantern to the Titans on Thursday, while the Loggers had lost first place to the Crusaders, so things were developing in the CL North. But this was still the #1 offense in the league, and yes, they were still scoring over six runs a game, which was not something our pitching staff could generally cope with. Their pitching was mediocre, but a +38 run differential in early May was always playing. With Tim Goss and Mario Alaniz there were at least two of the sticks from the lineup missing, although they were noe exactly the ones you feared most and they still rocked up with FIVE qualifying .300 hitters… Milwaukee was up 2-1 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (1-1, 4.11 ERA) vs. B.J. Butrico (4-2, 2.54 ERA)
Nick Walla (1-3, 2.93 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (2-3, 5.40 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (4-2, 3.70 ERA) vs. Matt Crist (1-2, 4.61 ERA)

Butrico was the only Loggers starter with an ERA better than four. All of them were right-handed.

Game 1
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – RF Corral – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – LF Early – 3B Hills – C D’Alessandro – P Pizzichini
MIL: RF D. Wright – CF Merrill – LF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – SS Reber – C Guitreau – 3B Murcia – P Butrico

Despite the array of deadly weapons in that Loggers lineup, the Raccoons scored first when Joel Starr homered to left for a 2-0 lead in the top 2nd. An error by Fidel Carrera had put Ramon Archuleta on base to begin the inning. Early and Hills continued with a pair of singles before the battery struck out collectively, but Butrico made a mistake to Duhe with two outs and paid for it with an (unearned) 3-run homer to left-center. Butrico then got four more outs before being hit for. Phil Reder singled in his place in the bottom 3rd, but the Loggers were turned away for two singles and no runs by Pizza in the first round of orders. The Loggers got closer to scoring in the fourth inning then, getting Cesar Ramirez and Kyle Reber to the corners with a pair of sharp singles before Tommy Guitreau lined out to Duhe for the third out in the inning. The Coons would also waste a pair of singles by Wilson and Corral in the following half-inning.

Pizza got around a leadoff walk to Rafael Murcia in the bottom 5th, but then ran out of luck with Carlos Dominguez beginning the sixth with a single. Ramirez walked, Carrera hit an RBI single, and while Reber struck out, Guitreau drew another walk to load the bases and Pizza was served with a replacement order. Yamauchi gave up a sac fly to Murcia, 5-2, then got a groundout from PH Tony Mendez to end the inning. He got another out to begin the seventh before the Raccoons went to Mike Hall in a double switch against the four left-handed torture sticks that were still there, with Colter replacing Starr at first base. Hall got Merrill out, but then gave up three straight hits and was yanked with a run in and Ramirez and Carrera representing the tying runs in scoring position. Kehoe replaced Hall, gave up the tying runs on Kyle Reber’s single, allowed another single to Guitreau, and then Murcia finally ******* popped out, and the game was tied at five.

When Kehoe then gave up a leadoff jack to Yoslan Valdez in the bottom 8th to give Milwaukee the lead, he was made to wear it when the Loggers beat him up for another three singles and another run. Tetsu Kurihara offered a leadoff walk to Duhe in the ninth inning, putting the tying run back in the box, but between Wilson, Corral, and Archuleta the Raccoons got absolutely nothing out of that. 7-5 Loggers. Wilson 2-4, 2B; Early 2-4; Hills 2-4, 2B;

The Loggers had four hits through five innings, then exploded for 11 hits in the next three innings.

Meanwhile, Chris D’Alessandro hit for a golden sombrero.

Game 2
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – RF Corral – 2B Archuleta – 1B Starr – LF Early – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Walla
MIL: RF D. Wright – CF Merrill – LF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – SS Reber – C Guitreau – 3B Murcia – P Carreno

Walla’s day began with a walk to Wright, an infield single by Merrill, and Dominguez getting brushed, at which point I marked an L in the pocket schedule. Ramirez’ double-play grounder plated Wright, but Carrera made an easy third out on the ground, and the Loggers got only the one run, but in this constellation it was never too early to throw in the towel. Starr tied the game with a homer in the top 2nd, but Walla had nothing, gave up hits to Reber and Murcia, and then a homer to Wright in the bottom 2nd to fall into a 4-1 hole.

A quickfire home run round followed, all solo pieces: first Starr, then Dominguez, followed by Archuleta, and then Dave Wright – the latter to lead off the bottom 5th, give the Loggers a 6-3 lead, and finally knock out Walla. Holzmeister was sent in to get abused and then probably sent back to AAA for another victim after the game.

Corral, Starr, and Early loaded the bases in the sixth inning with one out to put the tying runs on base. Flowe grounded up the middle, Carrera got the ball, but they only had an out on Early while a run scored. Mendoza hit an RBI single, 6-5, and there were still two on with two out for Holzmeister – and the Raccoons flinched. When Julio Robles replaced Carreno, Hills batted for Holzmeister – but struck out. And now what? Dover came in and got four outs from Reber to Reder in the #9 hole, but then was taken deep by Wright, which was Dave Wright’s third homer in the game and the fifth of the season… Hall got the last five outs, including the 2-3-4-5 henchmen in a row, but the Raccoons’ offense was shut up well by the Loggers’ pen and never amounted to a rally in the last three innings. 7-5 Loggers. Starr 2-4, HR, RBI;

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – LF Early – RF Colter – 3B Novelo – P A. Dominguez
MIL: RF D. Wright – CF Merrill – LF C. Dominguez – 1B C. Ramirez – 2B F. Carrera – SS Reber – C Guitreau – 3B Murcia – P Crist

The Raccoons galloped all over Matt Crist in the opening inning with Duhe and Starr singles putting them on the corners, and then Archuleta hit an RBI double, Flowe got an RBI single, Early got a sac fly, and Colter snapped an RBI single. That was a 4-0 lead once Novelo made the third out, or in other words, an average Loggers inning to get even again. The left-handed killing squad got Dominguez for a Merrill triple and a run on Dominguez’ groundout before Cesar Ramirez hit a single to right. Carrera lifted a ball into the left-center gap, but it was rushed down by Early on the run to end the inning.

Top 3rd, Archuleta got on, and then off again when Flowe’s grounder forced him out. But with one out, Early walked, and then Colter landed an RBI single in left-center, 5-1. Novelo’s RBI double in the gap ended Crist’s presence in the game. Vincent Hernandez allowed a sac fly to Dominguez, 7-1, but Duhe grounded out to send the Milwaukee Chuckers back to work. Wright led off the bottom 3rd with a groundout before Dominguez retired NONE of the left-handed batters. Two singles, a walk to Ramirez, and then Carrera hit an RBI single up the middle. Merrill scored, but Dominguez was thrown out by Wilson trying, and then Reber grounded out to short to leave two on in a 7-2 game. Yes, 7-2, but the cracks were showing.

The saving grace for Dominguez was that he at least got the bottom half of the order out, but that assault brigade tended to come back around… The Coons tacked on a run in the fifth when Novelo drove in Flowe with a single, 8-2, and then Dominguez got the 1-2-3 in order in the bottom 5th, which was a whole new concept of approaching this lineup. Dominguez plunked Ramirez with an 0-2 pitch to begin the sixth, but Carrera then hit into a double play – and then script flipped when Reber doubled, Guitreau singled, Dominguez plated Reber with a wild pitch, and conceded another run on a pinch-hit single by Phil Reder. This lineup…!!!

Wright singled to begin the seventh, and Wilson overran the ball for an error, which was the end for Dominguez. McMahan and Corral arrived in a double switch replacing him and Colter, but McMahan was behind everybody. Merrill popped out on a 3-0 pitch, while Dominguez drew the walk. Ramirez and Carrera both flew out to strand a pair. The trouble didn’t end there either. Yamauchi was in for the eighth, got two outs, then struck Murcia with a ball. Valdez hit a single, and Wright then hit a gapper for a 2-run triple – and Merrill came up as the tying run. The Coons went for Valentin in the 8-6 game, with Mendoza replacing Duhe in a double switch (Novelo went to short), and Valentin rung up Merrill to get out of the inning. The Coons had Archuleta and Early on against Jimmy Ding(er)man in the top 9th, but didn’t do anything with the runners, and it remained a 2-run game for Valentin to sort out. Dominguez grounded out, Ramirez flew out to left, and Carrera struck out. 8-6 Raccoons. Duhe 2-4, BB; Starr 2-5; Archuleta 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Colter 3-4, 2 RBI; Novelo 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Valentin 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (11);

In other news

May 8 – The Thunder win 1-0 in ten innings against the Capitals. OCT LF Grant Anker (.250, 2 HR, 9 RBI) drives in the winning run with a walkoff single.
May 9 – The Aces thrash the Miners, 12-0, while LVA SP Gabe Molina (3-1, 3.28 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout. Aces OF Victor Lorenzo (.326, 0 HR, 12 RBI) goes 5-or-5 with a double and two RBI in the game.
May 9 – VAN RF/LF Roberto Lozada (.331, 2 HR, 23 RBI) hits a walkoff grand slam to beat the Wolves, 6-2 in 12 innings.
May 10 – Thunder SP Ben Seiter (3-4, 6.94 ERA) wins his 250th game with seven innings of 3-hit, 10-K ball against the Capitals for a 5-1 OKC win. Of course, 236 of the 38-year-old right-hander and 2-time Pitcher of the Year game with the Crusaders.
May 11 – WAS CL Steve Keller (4-0, 1.89 ERA, 9 SV) was off to surgery for a torn flexor tendon in his elbow and was expected to miss at least a full year.
May 11 – PIT C/1B Nick Dingman (.255, 4 HR, 15 RBI) is day-to-day with a back strain that might bother him for two weeks. Since Dingman hit 40 homers last season, the Miners might be tempted to still have him play through it.
May 11 – The Capitals beat the Miners, 7-6 in 14 innings, despite getting out-hit 17-11 by Pittsburgh.
May 12 – Cincy loses closer John Faughnan (1-1, 2.04 ERA, 10 SV) for a month with a shoulder strain.
May 12 – The Titans break out in the top of the 13th inning to beat the Indians, 8-4.
May 13 – BOS SP Mike Bell (4-1, 2.97 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Indians while being in control of a 10-0 game.

FL Player of the Week: NAS RF Austin Gordon (.342, 13 HR, 38 RBI), smashing .400 (10-25) with 5 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.373, 5 HR, 27 RBI), cracking .542 (13-24) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

It’s a bit frustrating when you give up 6+ runs every game to a team, but for the Loggers, that’s AVERAGE. We also can’t complain about our own offense, which served the Loggers almost as well as ours got shredded… Almost. Still lost two of three.

The Coons are in last place, but only four games out in a tight division. We give up the most runs in the CL, more than 5.1 per game (don’t dare to act surprised), and the offense is seventh in runs scored solely on dingers. We’re tops with 35 home runs, and bottoms with 13 stolen bases. The Lonzo days are over.

We might bring up Matt Schmieder, who is doing fine in AAA, and Josh Carrington also has pieced himself back together, walking two and whiffing seven in 6.1 innings in St. Petersburg since being excised.

Lower down the Raccoons began to make some room in single-A, even with the draft over a month away. Some players were released, including 2064 eighth-rounder Scott Cole, who four years after getting drafted was still poking around in single-A … until now at least.

We’ll have the next two Mondays off, framing a 6-game homestand against the Canadiens and Condors.

Fun Fact: Ben Seiter led the CL in wins five years in a row from 2057 through 2061.

This coincided with the era when the Crusaders won two rings in 2056 and 2060. Seiter led the league in ERA in ’56, the year in which he won the first of his two consecutive Pitcher of the Year awards. In ’57 he also led the CL in strikeouts, the only time he achieved that feat.

The next big number for Seiter was probably not far away – although his terrible ERA was down to a loss of command this year (and with a year to spare on his contract!), as his walk numbers had DOUBLED compared to last season. Nevertheless, in 3,736 career innings he had now struck out 2,985 batters, and 15 more should be able to come around at some point.

(checks whether he was in line to face the Coons any time soon) Nah, we’ll only play them again in June.