[Westheim]

Raccoons (26-29) @ Indians (24-31) – June 4-7, 2068

The Raccoons were off to Indianapolis for last-place battles with the Indians, who were ninth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed. These were the two absolute worst bullpens in the league. Their run differential was -20 (Coons: -35), and they had two pitcher injuries with Justin Esch and John Nesbitt down for a while. The Raccoons had won two of three games from Indy so far this year.

Projected matchups:
Alex Dominguez (8-2, 3.42 ERA) vs. Tony Lira (2-4, 5.54 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (1-2, 3.95 ERA) vs. Jorge Flores (4-4, 5.28 ERA)
Vinny Morales (2-1, 1.32 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (5-4, 2.27 ERA)
Nick Walla (2-7, 3.26 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (4-1, 3.24 ERA)

DeWitt was still the only left-handed starter on this team.

Game 1
POR: 2B Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – SS Hills – C Flowe – 3B Gates – P Dominguez
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS Baxley – LF Spicer – P T. Lira

The Indians went up quickly after both teams squandered a single by Joel Starr and Jose Hilario, respectively, in the first inning, when Matt Martin singled, Paul Weber tripled, and Dominguez conceded a walk to John Baxley, a run on Malcolm Spicer’s groundout, and another walk to the opposing pitcher before Hilario was kind enough to fly out to center and end the inning with two on after two came in. Dominguez then singled himself in the third inning, but was doubled up by Jared Duhe. Wilson and Corral hit singles in the fourth, but were also left on base when Dowsey whiffed and Hills grounded out. Lira hit a double off Dominguez his next time around, but was also stranded, and we still were trailing 2-0 through five innings.

The Raccoons merrily kept failing at the plate. Joel Starr got on in the sixth and was left on to end the sixth by Corral, and Dowsey hit a single in the seventh and was doubled off by Brian Hills… Dominguez held the line through seven before being hit for with Marquise Early, who drew a leadoff walk from Lira in the eighth. Diego Mendoza batted for a chronically successless Duhe, but made an out just as meekly, but then a Wilson single put runners on the corners. Starr grounded to short, but John Baxley had to rush in and flubbed the pickup, and that error was the Coons’ big break in the game; Early scored, and the tying run went to second with Wilson, who then scored on Corral’s single to center off reliever Garrett Napolitano, who had come in after the error, tying the game at two. Starr went to third base on that one, then scored on Dowsey’s groundout to Wil Mejia at second base, giving Portland a heavily unearned lead that Brian Hills extended with a 2-out RBI single to center, 4-2. Flowe cranked an RBI double to pile on, before Novelo pinch-hit and walked, and Early batted for the second time in the inning, but lined out to Matt Martin to end it. After the Coons pieced the eighth together with Thomas and Kehoe, Napolitano loaded the bases with the 2-3-4 batters and one out in the ninth inning before getting yanked. Brian McLaughlin struck out Dowsey and lucked into a lineout from Hills to end the inning without a run scoring. Pedro Valentin retired the Indians in order for the save. 5-2 Blighters. Wilson 3-5; Corral 3-5, RBI; Flowe 2-4, 2B, RBI; Dominguez 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (9-2) and 1-2;

Jared Duhe, batting a frustrating .217, got Tuesday off…

Game 2
POR: SS Hills – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – 2B Novelo – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Pizzichini
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS Baxley – LF Menchaca – P Jo. Flores

Alex Gomez and Justin Dowsey exchanged early solo home runs for a 1-1 score on Tuesday, but other than that the early innings were calm, with only a single on top of the home run for either team. The Raccoons drew walks with Corral and Dowsey to begin the fourth inning, but Novelo hit into a double play and Flowe flew one out to center to end the inning. Baxley also hit into a double play in the inning… but not until after the inning had started with a Tony Torres homer to break the tie, and the Indians had put two more on base, before Paul Weber’s RBI single gave them a 3-1 lead. Eddie Menchaca’s leadoff single in the bottom 5th was overrun by Dowsey in leftfield for an extra base, which turned into an extra (unearned) run with Flores’ bunt and Hilario’s well-placed groundout.

The Raccoons had only three hits through five innings, but Joel Starr drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and then Corral doubled to left, putting a pair of runners in scoring position with nobody out. Dowsey whiffed, Novelo hit a pathetic comebacker for no gains, but Jake Flowe whacked a 2-run double finally. The Indians walked Mendoza intentionally, then gave up an infield single to Pizza to load the bases, but Hills couldn’t get a fly ball to fall in and the Coons left the bases loaded. But while the game was now close again, it wasn’t for long. Pizza walked Gomez to begin the bottom 6th, then nicked Rogers. Paul Weber’s 3-run homer made it 7-3 and got the pen involved… Thomas came in, walked Menchaca with two outs and gave up a run on a pinch-hit triple by Wil Mejia as the Indians piled on. Hilario grounded out to Mendoza as the sixth inning concluded with an 8-3 score.

The Raccoons didn’t seem to have much rally in them, but that didn’t mean the Indians didn’t have room to tack on. Josh C was pitching in the bottom 8th, gave up a leadoff double to Weber, and then a pinch-hit, 2-out, 2-run homer to … Malcolm Spicer, of all people. That gave the Indians double digits, while the Coons began the ninth inning with a triple into the rightfield corner by Brian Hills, who also pulled something and was run for with Duhe… Wilson was nicked by Juan Pera, while Starr popped out. The pitcher was in Corral’s deserted spot, and D’Alessandro pinch-hit and struck out. Dowsey, down 0-2, doubled down the rightfield line to do some late and pointless damage, but the game ended with Novelo. 10-5 Indians. Bills 2-5, 3B; Dowsey 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Flowe 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

No word on Hills immediately, so the Coons played a set of paws short on Wednesday against DeWitt, where chances were slim anyway.

Game 3
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – RF Corral – LF Early – 1B Dowsey – 3B Gates – 2B Mendoza – C D’Alessandro – P Morales
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS Baxley – LF Spicer – P DeWitt

Morales gave up a leadoff single to Hilario and then straight 2-out singles to Rogers, Martin, and Weber in the first inning, conceding two runs before Baxley grounded out to Gates. Things didn’t improve noticeably from there, as Spicer led off the bottom 2nd with a triple and scored on a groundout by DeWitt, 3-0. The Coons were again wildly not hitting – they had a single from Eddy Ramirez in the first five innings, and apart from that drew three walks, which they also didn’t do anything with.

While Vinny Morales rallied himself after the early battering and struck out the side in the fifth inning, the Coons couldn’t get the sticks up against DeWitt, who struck out seven to Morales’ six through six innings, but Gates then led off the seventh with a single to center, and Diego Mendoza knocked an RBI double to left – and the Indians yanked DeWitt for Pera immediately. D’Alessandro whiffed before Morales grounded to short where Baxley made another grim error with a wild throw past Matt Rogers for a run-scoring, 2-base throwing error, and the Coons were back to 3-2. Duhe struck out, but Ramirez whacked a double to right with two outs and tied the ballgame…!

The inning ended after Corral walked and Early popped out, but the eighth began with Dowsey and Gates getting on base with soft singles. The Indians went to Napolitano, which hadn’t worked so well on Monday. Joel Starr batted for Mendoza and singled to center, loading the bases with nobody out. D’Alessandro bashed a 2-run double for a 5-3 lead, and Wilson pinch-hit for Morales and hit a sac fly for an extra run. Singles by Duhe and Ramirez got another run home before Corral and Early made the last outs of the 4-run inning. Dover pitched a scoreless eighth, but Yamauchi stumbled in the ninth and Baxley and Spicer reached base. With two outs, McMahan replaced him to face lefty hitter Wil Martinez in the #9 hole. A strikeout against the .128 poker ended the game and gave McMahan a dirt cheap save. 7-3 Coons. Ramirez 3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Gates 2-5; Starr (PH) 1-2;

Luis Silva then brought the grim news that Hills would probably miss the rest of the season with a badly strained hip muscle, which was just what I anted to hear about a 23-year-old batting .316 in a coffee-sized call-up to the majors, so he was off to the DL for the year… The Coons recalled Manny Arredondo to ride the bench.

Game 4
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – 2B Novelo – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Walla
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS Baxley – LF Spicer – P V. Perez

Duhe opened with a single and was doubled off by Starr in the first inning, and aside from Corral robbing Paul Weber of a homer, not a whole lot more happened in the early innings on getaway day. Duhe hit into a double play himself in the third, and Flowe in the fifth, and was this pain ever gonna end?

Nick “What’s a run support?” Walla was pitching finely through five innings, allowing two hits against three strikeouts, all while maintaining a scoreless tie. Him and Mendoza made outs to begin the sixth against Perez, who then put Duhe and Wilson on base and gave up a 3-run blast to Joel Starr, his ninth of the season. Hilario singled and was caught stealing in the bottom 6th, with Walla maintaining shutout pace until all the horse manure in the world hit the fan all at once again in the seventh inning. Granted, with leadoff walks to Gomez and Rogers, it was mostly Walla’s own fault, although he then struck out Matt Martin and popped out Weber to first. Baxley’s grounder was then thrown away by Flowe for an error and a run, and Spicer tied the game with a spicy 2-run singles to right, blowing the once-upon-a-time 3-0 lead all to hell. Menchaca struck out, but Walla had now reached 100 pitches and was out of the game. The Coons went in order in the eighth, so Winless Walla was again left … well, winless, and wandering the wilderness. All runs on him were unearned.

Kehoe held the game tied in the eighth before McLaughlin got two outs from Portland before allowing a single to Dowsey in the ninth. Early batted for Novelo and singled, but Flowe’s drive to deep right was contained by both the ballpark and Tony Torres and ended the inning. Weber and Baxley hit singles off Josh C in the bottom 9th, but Spicer’s fielder’s choice and Wil Martinez’ fly to center prevented them from scoring the winning run, and the game went into overtime. The Coons kept doing nothing of great value, and the Indians walked off without making an out in the bottom 10th against McMahan when Hilario reached with a drag single, stole second, and was doubled home by Torres lobbing a ball over the head of Marquise Early in leftfield. 4-3 Indians. Duhe 2-5; Early (PH) 1-1; Walla 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K;

Winless Walla was now 2-7 with a 2.99 ERA.

(hollers upwards at the baseball gods) MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!

Raccoons (28-31) vs. Warriors (34-26) – June 8-10, 2068

After failing along against the last-place Native Americans, why not get pierced with arrows and scalped by the first-place Native Americans? Oddly enough they were leading the FL West while scoring the *fewest* runs in the Federal League, and also *fewer runs than the RACCOONS*; of course they were also giving up the fewest runs to make up for that, just over 3.5 per game, and the Raccoons would never score against them. No homers, but they led the FL in stolen bases, starters’ ERA, defense, and a few other things that were generally pretty useful to run a winning ballclub, not that we knew anything about that. These teams had not met since 2062, and the Raccoons had won four straight series from the Warriors, each by two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (2-5, 5.68 ERA) vs. Alex Diez (6-4, 3.14 ERA)
Alex Dominguez (9-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Tim Cropp (3-4, 3.73 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (1-3, 4.62 ERA) vs. Luis Olvera (7-4, 3.08 ERA)

Only right-handers here. Dominguez had won his last seven starts in a row, but now came up against the team that knew everything about him. Meanwhile with Gaytan and Pizza you were wondering whether they knew anything about their own stuff at all, so anything but getting swept would *shock* me…

Game 1
SFW: SS Guangorena – 2B R. Jimenes – LF D. Perez – RF Jo. Lopez – 3B B. Metz – CF A. Campbell – C Rivas – 1B J. Allen – P Diez
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Early – 2B Novelo – C Flowe – 3B Mendoza – P Gaytan

The Raccoons scored first on Friday, getting Corral on with a leadoff single against Diez in the bottom 2nd. Early walked, Novelo whiffed, Flowe flew out, and then Mendoza snapped an RBI single to get ahead. Gaytan then was carved up for strikes. Gabe Rivas then opened the top 3rd with a single after Gaytan had sat down the first six. Jared Allen grounded out, and Diez was down 0-2 before Gaytan plunked him, which was such a … (waves paws around in despair) … Tomas Guangorena – now that’s a *name*! – flew out to Early, and Ramon Jimenes singled the bags full before Danny Perez popped out to shallow left, leaving everybody on base.

The Warriors eventually flipped the score though as Gaytan gave up three hits and two runs in the fifth. Rivas singled to lead off the inning, and a Guangorena double and Jimenes single with two outs each brought in a run to turn the thing around. The Coons took the lead right back in the same inning, though, with a 2-out, 2-run homer by Jaden Wilson, however, the runner on base was Gary Gates, running for Diego Mendoza, who legged out an infield single, but then called for attention from the dugout, conversed with the coaches and trainer Luis Silva for nearly five minutes, and then eventually left the game.

Gaytan then tip-toed himself to the seventh-inning stretch despite giving up a leadoff single to Adam Campbell in the seventh. Rivas grounded out, Jared Allen popped out, and Devon Franks struck out, stranding the tying run on second base. Bottom 7th, Gates led off with an infield single and was caught stealing; Dowsey walked in place of Gaytan and was forced out by Duhe; and then Wilson popped out to short to end the inning… The Raccoons then dispatched of the top of the order in the eighth; Yamauchi threw a single pitch that Guangorena popped out on, and then Sean Thomas came in and struck out the left-handed Jimenes and Danny Perez. No tack-on runs being provided by the Coons’ offense, we decided to get cute and have Thomas in to begin the ninth against another lefty stick, Jordan Lopez, and THEN go to Valentin. Lopez singled, and Valentin had to deal with a base runner, so that was that. Beau Metz lined out softly to Duhe, Campbell grounded out and advanced the runner, and then Duhe dove for a low liner by Rivas – and caught it to end the ballgame…! 3-2 Critters! Mendoza 2-2, RBI; Gates 1-1; Gaytan 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (3-5);

Diego Mendoza was day-to-day with back tightness and would not be in the lineup for the rest of the weekend, it looked like. Might be available to pinch-hit.

Game 2
SFW: SS Guangorena – 2B R. Jimenes – C J. Clark – RF Jo. Lopez – 3B B. Metz – CF A. Campbell – LF Griffin – 1B J. Allen – P Cropp
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Dowsey – 3B Gates – C Flowe – 2B Novelo – P Dominguez

After a calm start to the game and no runs in the first two frames, both pitchers committed a balk in the third inning, but only Dominguez did so with Jared Allen on third base and thus waved in the game’s first run. Cropp balked with Starr on first and two outs, then walked Corral, but Dowsey was slumping and made a poor third out. The following two innings were even chewier for Dominguez, who worked himself into two jams, but escaped without allowing a run both times. In the fourth, Beau Metz singled to lead off before Campbell and Tony Griffin went whiffin’, and Allen doubled off the wall in right. Cropp then struck out. Guangorena was then hit with a 1-2 pitch to begin the fifth, Jimenes’ bunt was misfielded for an extra runner by Gates, and Jamie Clark flew out to let. The runners pulled off a double steal before Dominguez rung down Jordan Lopez for a 9-pitch strikeout, and then also struck out Metz. It was a heroic battle, but also the end of it, since Dominguez was already about to blast through the 100 pitch mark. His W streak ended when Cropp retired the Coons’ 1-2-3 in order in the bottom 5th.

The Raccoons would go to Kehoe in the hope of getting multiple innings, while the bottom 6th began with Corral reaching on an error by Allen. Dowsey singled, but Gates whiffed. Flowe walked in a full count, which put a runner on every base. Novelo then slapped a 1-0 pitch unceremoniously through the left side to flip the score, bringing in Corral and Dowsey for a 2-1 Coons lead. With Griffin’s throw home, the Raccoons’ trailing runners both advanced into scoring position; however we also still longed for more length from Kehoe, who then batted for himself, whiffed, and then Duhe grounded out to Guangorena, who then singled off Kehoe with one out in the top 7th following a K to Devon Franks, which turned out to be the last out Kehoe recorded before he got bombed with a pair of homers by Rivas and Clark, then allowed another hit to Lopez, and then Gates ****** a grounder by Metz for an error. Dover replaced him and got out of the inning, but Portland was now down 4-2.

Thomas and Yamauchi got beaten around for another run charged to the lefty in the eighth inning, while the Racoons struggled to get going against the Warriors pen once Cropp was lifted in the bottom 7th. Hector Estevez, Neil Mongillo, and Lorenzo Lucatero didn’t allow another base hit to the Critters on the way to level the series. 5-2 Warriors. Dowsey 2-4;

Off days for Corral and Flowe on Sunday, and Mendoza was still ailing.

Game 3
SFW: SS Guangorena – 2B R. Jimenes – C J. Clark – RF Jo. Lopez – 3B B. Metz – CF A. Campbell – LF Griffin – 1B J. Allen – P Olvera
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Dowsey – 3B Gates – 2B Novelo – C D’Alessandro – P Pizzichini

Guangorena singled, stole second, gained a base on a wild pitch when Pizza dropped some more or less fresh tomatoes, and eventually scored on a groundout by Clark for an early Warriors lead in the rubber game. By contrast, Duhe led off the bottom 1st with a double to left and was stranded, because the Raccoons were just incompetent fraudsters who had their baseballing licences from the back of a Crunchies box…

Pizza continued to SUCK, giving up leadoff hits to Metz and Campbell in the second inning. Both runners would score – after Pizza balked not once, but TWICE in the ******* inning…! A Dowsey double off the wall to lead off the bottom 2nd, meanwhile, again did not lead to a run, since Olvera rung up all of the 6-7-8 batters. Both teams then had a triple in the fourth inning. Griffin tripled with one out and scored on an Allen groundout, 4-0, while Dowsey tripled with two outs and nobody on and was of course also left on base by Gates, who popped out in foul territory. At this point I was raging and screaming into a pillow on the brown couch that had seen too much already in its life.

With the gap slam-sized and the offense playing el ******o again, damage control would consist of having Pizza go as long as possible to at least absorb innings. He got into a tight spot in the sixth with leadoff knocks by Lopez and Metz, but Campbell hit into a double play and Griffin grounded out to get him through, and he was still around for the seventh, entering on 87 pitches, getting three more groundouts from the 8-9-1 batters to end his day. McMahan and Josh C got the last six outs from the Warriors, split 1:2 between them, while Olvera took a 4-hit shutout into the bottom 9th. Wilson singled to left with one out, but Starr popped out and Corral flew out to end the game and give Olvera a 5-hitter. 4-0 Warriors. Dowsey 2-3, 3B, 2B;

In other news

June 6 – The Aces are obliterated by the Thunder, 16-0, while Thunder SP Danny Baca (1-0, 3.09 ERA) fires a 2-hit shutout and drives in four runs on three hits himself. The four RBI’s lead the team in the blowout.
June 9 – The Thunder beat the Stars, 6-5 in 13 innings, the game ending on a walkoff homer by OCT C Travis Anderson (.156, 2 HR, 5 RBI). Both teams had scored two runs in the 12th inning.
June 9 – The Knights rally for a 5-run bottom of the ninth to walk off against the Capitals, 6-5.

FL Player of the Week: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.343, 13 HR, 55 RBI), raking .414 (12-29) with 4 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL LF/RF Javier Acuna (.361, 10 HR, 33 RBI), batting .417 (10-24) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

After a mild revival to begin the week, the Raccoons then quickly resumed not scoring. We’re at 2.6 runs per game for the month of June, with three shutouts, and only one game where we scored more than five runs. There’s nobody in AAA that could help out here, and it’s just gonna be like this for another one-hundred games…

The 7-game winning streak of Alex Dominguez ended against his old team on Saturday, but since the Raccoons took the lead for about 3.5 seconds in that game after he left, he got off the hook and still has a 9-game unbeaten streak to go around now.

Mike Hall cleared waivers, refused an assignment to St. Petersburg, and was unceremoniously released. The Crusaders were probably snickering.

Very much not looking forward to this Richmond, Elk City, Milwaukee road trip. Although given that the draft is on the weekend and I can’t get into Canada anyway, I can also visit a couple of old Civil War battlefields around the draft in New York on Friday. I’ve seen this staff getting slaughtered so bad, there’s no sunken lane in Maryland or stone wall on a hill above the Rappahannock left that can still strike fear and awe into my black old heart…

Fun Fact: Nick Walla (2-7, 2.99 ERA) is getting 2.75 runs of support per start.

I don’t think it’s enough…

Dominguez (9-2, 3.25 ERA) meanwhile was the ONLY pitcher with nine wins in the entire league on Sunday night, and he was getting 5.31 runs of support per start. Not on Saturday, though…