[Westheim]

Raccoons (65-53) vs. Miners (58-59) – August 14-16, 2068

This was the final interleague series of the year for any team not winning a pennant, as the Raccoons were up against the Miners, who had the #7 offense and #9 pitching in the Federal League, and a -19 run differential. They were largely average throughout, and didn’t rank in the top three or bottom three in any major team stat in the FL. The most ridiculous stat around was that the Raccoons had won the last TEN series against the Miners, going back into the early 2050s, including two outta three last season.

Projected matchups:
Girolamo Pizzichini (4-6, 4.04 ERA) vs. Ben Peterson (8-9, 4.09 ERA)
Nick Walla (10-9, 2.25 ERA) vs. Steven Fenstermacher (15-4, 3.33 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (7-8, 4.53 ERA) vs. Kerry Sheats (5-10, 6.05 ERA)

Peterson was one of the two left-handers in the Miners’ rotation, the other being Chris Hale (8-8, 4.01 ERA), who they could skip into the series over Sheats.

The Raccoons used the off day on Monday to move Walla in between the two trouble children in the rotation. Joel Starr was not ready for the opener, but might be back as early as Wednesday.

Game 1
PIT: 3B E. Gonzales – RF Ellwood – C N. Dingman – 1B M. White – 2B Hood – SS R. Ortiz – LF A. Romero – CF McNamee – P B. Peterson
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – LF Early – RF Corral – 2B Archuleta – 3B Gates – C D’Alessandro – 1B Tallent – P Pizzichini

Bobby Ellwood and Mike White hit scorchers off Pizza for hits in the first inning, a triple and RBI single, respectively. The Raccoons then loaded the bases with nobody out, which they did frequently these days, but without ever putting up a huge number. Peterson ran all full counts against Duhe, Ramirez, and Early, but lost the first two on ball four and the third on a single clanking off Robert Ortiz’ glove, costing Peterson 24 pitches for no outs. Jose Corral singled in two runs to center, Archuleta singled the bases full again, and Gary Gates hit into a fielder’s choice for the third run. D’Alessandro popped out and Randy Tallent grounded out to end the inning.

Peterson wasn’t long for this game, throwing 95 pitches in 3.1 innings, and ended up laden with six runs once Eddy Ramirez yanked a 3-run homer to left in the fourth inning. Pizza had reached on a single, and Duhe had drawn another walk to provide on-base fodder. Up 6-1, Pizza had thrown 60 pitches so far, allowing five hits in total through four. He then retired the Miners in order in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, only issuing a leadoff walk to pinch-hitter J.D. Johnson in the eighth, but Edgar Gonzales hit into a double play on Pizza’s 99th pitch. He walked Bobby Ellwood – those were the only walks he issued in the game – and then was replaced with Kehoe in a double switch. Kehoe nailed Nick Ding(er)man, then had Mike White line out to Tallent at first base to end the inning. The Miners then went in order in the ninth against Kehoe. 6-1 Raccoons. Ramirez 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Corral 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Pizzichini 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (5-6) and 1-3;

No, the Raccoons did nothing in the last four innings they batted in, either.

Joel Starr was indeed back on Wednesday. The Raccoons did not send Randy Tallent away *yet*, although there were not a lot of applications for a 1-for-21 hitter.

Game 2
PIT: 3B E. Gonzales – RF Ellwood – C N. Dingman – 1B M. White – 2B Hood – SS R. Ortiz – LF A. Romero – CF McNamee – P Fenstermacher
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – 3B Novelo – P Walla

No, Steven Fenstermacher’s name did not translate into Widowmaker; it was rather the more boring Windowmaker. Missed chance right there, Germans. Anyway, he nearly stuck the dagger into Nick Walla in the first inning, when Walla had an inning from the bottom reaches of hell itself, starting with a wallbanger double by Gonzales, and swiftly progressing after a K to Ellwood. Nick Ding(er)man singled in the runner, and then a White single and Roland Hood’s 3-run bomb made it 4-0, and he managed to fail another run on the board with a Robert Ortiz single, a walk to Alex Romero, a wild pitch, and then allowed the fifth run to score on a Wi(n)dowmaker single. That’s not how you win an ERA title.

Walla would continue to pitch after that run through the wringer, going another four innings while allowing just two more hits. Unfortunately the latter was another Hood(lum) homer in the fifth inning, with two outs and nobody on base.

The Coons offense meanwhile loaded the bags in the bottom 1st on Starr and Corral singles, plus Otal getting nicked, but Archuleta flew out to Ellwood to leave everybody on base. Novelo tripled in the second inning, but was stranded. Otal then doubled home Jaden Wilson with two outs in the third inning, but that was the only offense the Raccoons had to offer in a futile attempt to get Walla off a pretty big hook. Instead, Jesse Dover – following Rios and Josh C on the hill in relief – allowed another home run to Roland Hood, his 11th on the year, but the third in this game, in the eighth inning. Nick Ding(er)man hit his 23rd blast of the year, another solo job, off Danny Nava in the ninth. Otal and Archuleta singles and Flowe and Ramirez groundouts plated a pointless run for the Raccoons in the bottom of the ninth, but Wi(n)dowmaker went the distance with an 8-hitter for his 16th win of the year. 8-2 Miners. Corral 2-4; Otal 2-3, 2B, RBI;

That made for three 3-homer games the Raccoons were involved in, in a span of 33 days. Fortunately for Nick Walla, Nate Freeman was beaten up for five runs by the Rebs at the same time, so he remained ahead in the CL ERA race.

Game 3
PIT: 3B E. Gonzales – RF Ellwood – C N. Dingman – 1B M. White – 2B Hood – SS R. Ortiz – LF A. Romero – CF McNamee – P Sheats
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – 2B Archuleta – C Flowe – 3B Novelo – P Gaytan

The Raccoons took the first-inning lead on an unearned run, plated with a sac fly by Starr to center, and on which Kevin McNamee’s arm came off and he had to be replaced with Sean Karch. The runner, Duhe, had reached on a 2-base throwing error by Gonzales. While Gaytan faced the minimum the first time through, allowing a single to White, who was doubled off by Ortiz, the Coons got another leadoff base runner on an error in the bottom 3rd when Novelo got on base when Ortiz misfielded his grounder. Gaytan bunted him to second base, Duhe walked, but Wilson and Starr both popped out and nobody scored. The Coons still didn’t have a hit.

Second time through, Ellwood singled against Gaytan, but was left on base, and that … was that for offense. Wilson drew a 1-out walk in the bottom 6th, but didn’t get a jump and then was doubled off on Starr’s grounder to short. The Miners then tied the game in the seventh, because if the Raccoons *insisted* they would take their first series from the Coons in 20 years; White doubled to right and the Hooded Terror drove him in with a single to get even on Gaytan. Corral at least woke up and dropped a leadoff single into shallow right in the bottom 7th, but two poor outs kept him at first before Flowe hit another single. Novelo fanned, though, and the runners were stranded.

Gaytan pitched nine full innings on 103 pitches, allowing another single to Ding(er)man in the ninth, but pitched around that base hit to reach the nominal distance. Sheats held the Raccoons short for eight innings, then was replaced with righty Chad Brown. The Coons’ Corral, Otal, and Early declined to get on base and the game went to extras, then without Gaytan, who thus also did not get credit for a complete game. McMahan got the ball in the tenth and was useless again, allowing an Ortiz single, a walk to PH Andy Morris, and the tie-breaking RBI single to PH Elmer Maldonado (!) before Gonzales hit into a double play to end the inning. Righty Jason Rhodes then got the save opportunity against the bottom of the order. Flowe grounded out, but Ramirez singled in place of Novelo, and Gates, having entered with McMahan in a double switch, also singled. The Coons tried the double steal, but Ramirez was thrown out at third base by Ding(er)man – however, Duhe tied the score with a single to center, driving in Gates from second base, with the team down to their last out. Duhe then stole second base, just ahead of Jaden Wilson’s single to right-center that sent him around to score from second, and the Raccoons walked off to take an 11th straight series from the Miners…! 3-2 Coons. Duhe 2-4, BB, RBI; Ramirez (PH) 1-1; Gates 1-1; Gaytan 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K;

This would have been Tony Gaytan’s first complete game in this troubled season. He threw four complete games last year – but none of them a shutout.

Raccoons (67-54) vs. Indians (54-67) – August 17-19, 2068

The Indians were still bottoms in the division by a mile, but were recovering a bit as they were 10-5 in August. They ranked seventh in runs scored and second-worst in pitching in the Continental League, with a -55 run differential. They had the worst defense and bullpen – worse even than the Coons, who were not that far away, though. The only Indians injury was John Nesbitt, and the Raccoons had an 8-3 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Alex Dominguez (15-3, 2.93 ERA) vs. Justin Esch (4-4, 3.92 ERA)
Vinny Morales (7-3, 2.91 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (9-4, 3.79 ERA)
Girolamo Pizzichini (5-6, 3.88 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (11-6, 2.97 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday!

Game 1
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS G. Lujan – LF Spicer – P Esch
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Early – C Flowe – 2B Novelo – 3B Gates – P Dominguez

Dominguez allowed two leadoff singles to Jose Hilario in the first and Matt Martin in the second inning. Hilario stole second, Martin was thrown out trying, and Dominguez struck out five and didn’t allow a run in the first three innings. The Raccoons were not much better, only getting two hits themselves, including a Dominguez double that annoyingly didn’t lead to a run. Bottom 4th, Joel Starr hit a leadoff single to right and advanced on Corral’s groundout. Early singled, but Starr was held at third base in deference to Tony Torres’ arm in right. Jake Flowe grounded up the middle, with Guillermo Lujan intercepting the ball, but the double play was not on, and the Indians barely got Flowe at first while Starr scored the game’s first run. Novelo then grounded out to end the inning.

The Indians didn’t reach base again until Hilario drew a 2-out walk in the sixth, after which Torres scorched a liner aimed right at Dominguez’ pokey black nose, and he barely got the glove up to save his snout – and log the third out simultaneously. He returned for the seventh with a change of pants, retiring the Indians on a pop and two strikeouts – except that the K on Martin got away from Flowe and Martin reached first base on the uncaught third strike. PH Eddie Menchaca grounded out instead.

Bottom 7th, the Coons got leadoff singles from Early and Flowe before Novelo’s fly to deep right was caught by Torres on the track; Early buggered to third base on that play. Gary Gates drove in a run with a clean single to center, 2-0, and Benito Otal batted for Dominguez, who was in line for his 16th W, which became more likely with another RBI single to center from Otal. Duhe grounded out, Wilson walked, and Starr came up with the bags full and two outs and a chance to put the game away – and he probably did with a singed liner to right, up the line, and into the corner for a bases-clearing double, giving Starr 90 RBI on the season! Tallent ran for him, but Corral struck out to end the 5-run inning. The Coons then asked Rios for some outs, which led to a single by Malcolm Spicer, a Hilario homer, and another single for Torres, and his dismissal after just two thirds of an inning. Josh C entered, walked Alex Gomez, but then got Matt Rogers to ground out, keeping Portland up by four. Carrington would get the last three outs in the ninth without being blown over, and the Raccoons took the opener. 6-2 Critters. Wilson 0-1, 3 BB; Starr 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Early 4-4; Otal (PH) 1-1, RBI; Dominguez 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (16-3) and 1-2, 2B;

This fine outing moved Dominguez to third place on the ERA table, three tenths of a run behind Walla, with Freeman in between.

Regardless, Vinny Morales would replace him in third place with 5.1 shutout innings on Saturday – which would just get him to the minimum threshold for overnight representation in the ERA table.

Game 2
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS G. Lujan – LF Spicer – P V. Perez
POR: SS Duhe – CF Wilson – 1B Starr – RF Corral – LF Otal – C Flowe – 2B Novelo – 3B Gates – P Morales

Paul Weber threw a wrench in the gears with a 2-run homer in the second inning, which were the first runs in the ballgame. Contact off Morales was fairly loud from the start, and he looked like he was in trouble to even get through five innings. But for the moment, the Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd on straight 1-out hits by Flowe, who doubled, Novelo (single), and then an infield single by Gates that rolled in front of home plate and prevented Flowe from going home. Morales batted and hit a sac fly out to Torres, 2-1. A walk to Duhe filled the bags again, but Wilson grounded out on a 3-2 pitch and left everybody stranded.

Morales was then back on the hill and the whacking continued. Hilario led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a Gomez double to deep center. Rogers and Martin filled the bags with one out, but Weber hit into a double play to let Morales get away. It didn’t get better; he barely got around a leadoff single by Lujan in the fourth, and Torres hit another leadoff single in the fifth, but was forced out by Gomez, and the slow runner then choked the Indians out of that inning. Morales only completed six innings, which made him a qualifier for a night, but nowhere near the top 3 in ERA. The Critters went to McMahan, while not having done anything offensively in the middle innings. McMahan continued to decompose with his arm, allowing Wil Mejia on base, batting for Perez, but Hilario forced him out and then was picked off by McMahan, so at least that throw was good…

It was 3-1 Indians at the stretch, and a Duhe single off Garrett Napolitano in the bottom 7th led nowhere. Dover had a scoreless eighth to keep the Arrowheads close, after which Corral reached base on an error by Rogers. Early batted for Otal against lefty Pablo Apodaca, singled to right, and ex-Coon Rafael Valencia overran that ball for ANOTHER error, and suddenly the tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out. Flowe hit a clean RBI single to right, 3-2, and righty Shamar King replaced the listless Apodaca, but the tying run scored on a Novelo single. Tallent ran for Flowe at that point, carrying the go-ahead run at second base. Gates’ grounder advanced the runners, D’Alessandro batted for Dover, but grounded out to Matt Martin at third, and the runners had to hold. Fret not, because Duhe was up to snuff and shot a 2-run single into left-center, giving Portland the lead! Wilson walked, but Starr fanned, and the ball went to Valentin against the (left-handed) bottom of the order. He axed Lujan, Spicer, and Valencia in order and the Coons took the season series with five games to spare. 5-3 Critters! Duhe 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Early (PH) 1-1; Flowe 3-4, 2B, RBI; Novelo 2-4, RBI;

Something else the Critters took in this game? A share of first place, as the Titans lost their game against the damn Elks (and by a lot), and the teams were now even at 69-54.

Game 3
IND: CF Hilario – RF T. Torres – C A. Gomez – 1B M. Rogers – 3B Ma. Martin – 2B P. Weber – SS G. Lujan – LF Menchaca – P DeWitt
POR: SS Duhe – CF Ramirez – 1B Starr – LF Early – RF Corral – 3B Gates – 2B Archuleta – C D’Alessandro – P Pizzichini

Matt Martin hit a triple in the second inning and was brought in on a sac fly by Lujan, and then singled home Matt Rogers after his leadoff double in the fourth inning to give a 2-0 lead to DeWitt, which looked like more than plenty for the left-hander, who had the pillow on the Raccoons’ faces right out of the gate and was no-hitting them through five innings. DeWitt struck out Pizza and Duhe in the sixth before Ramirez flew out to Torres, then struck out the side in the seventh inning to get to 10 K on the day. Pizza had six strikeouts through seven, then lost Hilario to a leadoff walk on nine pitches in the eighth and was removed. Rios came in and nailed Torres before somehow getting two outs, and Josh C got a groundout from Martin to end the inning.

DeWitt’s no-hitter and day ended on a bloop single by Gary Gates to lead off the bottom 8th, with Indy immediately replacing him with Brian McLaughlin, a right-hander. Archuleta hit into a fielder’s choice, then stole second. D’Alessandro grounded out on a 3-1 pitch before Otal singled off Napolitano, but Archuleta had to park it at third base. The tying runs were thus on the corners with two gone for Duhe, but his fly to deep center was caught by Hilario racing back, and the inning ended. Kehoe then entered for the ninth, was taken deep by Weber right away, and at that point the Raccoons looked at the lefty bats coming up, how the game had gone, and what was up next (the Loggers’ left-handed terror brigade), and decided that this one was Kehoe’s to figure out, rather than throwing McMahan into a 3-0 loss in the ninth. The Indians got a 2-out, pinch-hit single from Wil Mejia, but Hilario left him on base, and then Tony Lira got the ball for the bottom 9th. Wilson and Starr made outs before Early singled and Corral walked, bringing up Gates as the tying run – but the Raccoons opted for Jake Flowe instead. He singled to right-center and the runners were in motion. Early scored from second base and Corral went for third base – and that was a fatal error, as he was thrown out by Hilario there to end the game. 3-1 Indians. Flowe (PH) 1-1, RBI; Otal (PH) 1-1; Pizzichini 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, L (5-7);

In other news

August 13 – Crusaders reliever Jon Dominguez (3-3, 2.90 ERA, 8 SV) saves his 300th career game in a 6-4 win against the Blue Sox.
August 14 – TIJ SP Colt Long (4-4, 3.27 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout to beat the Gold Sox, 4-0.
August 14 – Thunder OF Coby Thore (.287, 5 HR, 50 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with an abdominal strain.
August 14 – The Loggers win a 13-12 ruckus game against the Capitals with a 4-run bottom of the ninth, capped with a 3-run walkoff homer by RF/LF Carlos Dominguez (.341, 9 HR, 69 RBI).
August 16 – Denver 3B/SS Ben Wilken (.286, 3 HR, 27 RBI) hits for the cycle with a 4-for-4 day and just the token one RBI in a 7-2 win against the Wolves.
August 16 – The Loggers beat the Capitals, 12-11 in 11 innings, in true walk-off fashion, drawing four walks from two different pitchers to force an end to the ballgame.
August 19 – OCT 1B Ian Stone (.302, 17 HR, 62 RBI) has five hits, including a double, and drives in a run in an 8-1 win against the Aces.

FL Player of the Week: SFW OF Jordan Lopez (.297, 11 HR, 73 RBI), bashing .458 (11-24) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT SS/2B Jose Palominos (.300, 19 HR, 69 RBI), clubbing .455 (10-22) with 4 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons tied for first place for only a day, and then the Titans won on Sunday to move us back down to second. The real test is coming now, though, with the Loggers, lusting for more blood of the innocent, coming to Raccoons Ballpark to finish off the homestand. After that, Thursday will be off, and then we will be away for six games with the Condors and Falcons.

Forget what I said about the Gold Sox’ cycled-against string last week.

This year’s #6 draft pick Kyle Markovich was moved to Ham Lake after 54 games of hitting .281 with six homers in Aumsville. That brings me to the #5 pick from two years ago, Jack Hamel, who moved to St. Pete at the start of August and was hitting .347 with no homers in 14 games there. Yeah, I think we need some more at-bats on that ledger before we can get excited.

Where has Diego Mendoza been? He is hitting .136 in a rehab assignment in AAA that isn’t gonna get any prettier. He will replace Randy Tallent on the roster again on Monday, but between him and Archuleta we have two infielders expecting to play that aren’t hitting a ******* thing. There’s outfielders in AAA that might be able to help, but we are not looking for offense from outfielders…

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have been involved in three 3-homer games in 33 days.

Joel Starr crushed three against the Crusaders on July 13, while Cesar Ramirez on July 19 and Roland Hood on August 15 ran laps around Raccoons pitchers.

Throwback to 2024, when the Raccoons were also involved in three 3-homer games – but then only had to watch other people go yard, as Tijuana’s Pat Sanford and the damn Elks’ Alex Torres and John Calfee all ran around in circles within a span of 106 days.

Amazingly, no other team has ever been involved in three 3-homer games within even a 12-month span.