[Westheim]

Raccoons (23-27) vs. Condors (27-22) – May 27-29, 2069

The Inepticoons returned home to find the first-place Condors there, lusting for freshly deceased meat and free wins. Tijuana was only eighth in runs scored, but they were conceding the fewest runs in the CL this year, and were up 2-1 on the Coons this year. I think we can just skip the bottoms of innings here. Nothing good is gonna happen. The Condors had one predicament though: both catchers from their Opening Day roster were on the DL as neither Mike Brann nor Randy Lippert were available at this point. Third- and fourth-stringers it was behind the plate for them.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (4-4, 3.51 ERA) vs. Phil Nelson (3-5, 6.27 ERA)
Victor Chavez (0-1, 15.43 ERA) vs. Tony Castellanos (3-5, 4.06 ERA)
Cody Childress (2-6, 3.31 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (8-0, 1.58 ERA)

Brenize’s back, baby, and those were also all right-handed.

Game 1
TIJ: RF J. Elliott – LF M. Campos – 1B D. Cline – 2B Pinault – CF Rugar – 3B Vidrio – SS D. Cox – C F. Gomez – P P. Nelson
POR: SS Duhe – 1B Fumero – CF Otal – LF van Otterdijk – C Flowe – 2B Mireles – 3B Gallo – RF Corral – P Morales

Nelson walked Duhe and van Otterdijk around a soft Fumero single in the first inning and the bases were loaded, and against expectations the Raccoons unloaded: Jake Flowe singled up the middle to get two runs home, Nelson lost another batter (Josh Mireles) on balls, and then J.P. Gallo cranked his first homer since April – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAMMMMMMM!!!

Unsurprisingly, the Raccoons were done with scoring (and probably for the series) after going up 6-0, and thankfully Vinny Morales was having quite the competent day. The Condors didn’t score, nor get more than one body on base at any one point against him in the first five innings, which included David Cline getting picked off first base by Flowe after drawing a leadoff walk in the fourth inning. Morales didn’t D.Cline until the sixth inning, when the Condors’ #3 batter drove in Jake Elliott with a 2-out RBI single. Mike Pinault flew out to left to end the inning, but the seventh began with a Josh Rugar double and singles from Emilio Vidrio and Dustin Cox, who got the RBI for plating Rugar. Freddy Gomez grounded into a double play, and Morales rung up PH Corey Vazquez in a full count to end the inning, and then added a scoreless eighth around a Marco Campos single before bumping into 101 pitches and being tush-patted out of the game. Nava collected the final three outs for Portland. 6-2 Coons. Van Otterdijk 2-3, BB; Gallo 1-2, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Corral 3-3; Morales 8.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (5-4);

A whole TWO-GAME WINNING STREAK!!!

Game 2
TIJ: RF J. Elliott – LF M. Campos – 1B D. Cline – 2B Pinault – 3B Monck – CF Rugar – SS C. Vazquez – C M. Watson – P Castellanos
POR: SS Duhe – 1B Fumero – CF Otal – C Marquez – RF Corral – 3B Gallo – 2B Mireles – LF Hamel – P Chavez

While the Raccoons got a single from Fumero in the first and Gallo in the second, and saw both of them left stranded on second base, Chavez, who had been bombed out quite thoroughly in his ABL debut the week before, retired the Condors in order in the first three innings, but then saw Elliott reach on an infield single. Campos forced him out, but stole his way to third base while the #3 batter D.Clined to do anything with that precious runner and struck out. Pinault walked with two outs, but Rich Monck, aiming for familiar fences, was caught looking at a pitch accidentally dotting the corner for strike three.

The first scoring in the game came from a first-time RBI producer, as Corral and Gallo reached base with two outs in the bottom 4th and were then both driven in when Josh Mireles stuck a double into the leftfield corner (the ball actually stopped dead in there), before the Condors walked Jack Hamel – RBI-less so far – intentionally and then got the third out from Chavez. They also got a Josh Rugar homer in the fifth to cut the score in half, 2-1, but Fumero doubled to left and scored on Otal’s single to left in the bottom 5th to get the run back. Otal stole second, but was eventually left on third base.

Chavez then ran outta luck in the sixth with a leadoff infield single from Elliott, whom Campos doubled home immediately. Cline walked, and Pinault popped out, but the Raccoons went to McMahan for Monck this time, double switching him in with Carlos Matas replacing Jose Corral. It was the lefty socker Monck that almost hit a 3-run homer to right, Matas making a catch right against the wall, but the right-handed slugger Rugar, who had 11 homers on the year already, struck out meekly against the southpaw, leaving runners on the corners in a 3-2 game. Vazquez’ leadoff single to left in the top 7th was overrun by .105 batter Jack Hamel for an extra base, but McMahan and Schmieder then stingily retired the next three batters in order *and* kept the tying run on base. This included Castellanos, who then put Duhe and Otal on the corners with one gone in the bottom 7th. Lorenzo Marquez popped out, and the Raccoons tried with another catcher after that as Jake Flowe pinch-hit for Schmieder. Flowe slapped an RBI single through the right side, 4-2, but Rugar then tracked down a long fly from Gallo to center to keep two on base.

The Raccoons went to Dover for the eighth, but the right-hander walked Pinault ahead of Monck with two outs and another move was made to Rios. Like the previous left-hander engaged, Rios did rather mediocre against Monck, allowing a 2-out single, but then struck out Rakin’ Rugar to get out of the jam. Pedro Valentin made easy pickings out of the bottom of the order to extend the Coons’ winning streak to three. 4-2 Raccoons. Fumero 2-4, 2B; Otal 2-4, RBI; Corral 2-3; Flowe (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
TIJ: RF J. Elliott – LF M. Campos – 1B D. Cline – 2B Pinault – 3B Monck – CF Rugar – SS D. Cox – C M. Watson – P Brenize
POR: SS Duhe – 1B Fumero – CF Otal – 3B Gallo – RF Corral – C Flowe – 2B Mireles – LF Hamel – P Childress

Childress was constantly getting buried in runners on Wednesday, allowing his first run in the second inning when he walked Cox and allowed singles to Mitch Watson and Jake Elliott to get the free runner home. Josh Rugar homered with Pinault on base in the top 3rd, although Gallo answered with a 2-run homer of his own against Brenize in the bottom of the fourth. Somehow both teams had six hits after five innings, although Brenize struck out six and walked nobody, and Childress split those numbers evenly down the middle with three in each box.

Childress departed after allowing a pair of singles to Campos and Cline to begin the seventh inning and was replaced with Schmieder, who conceded a run on Rich Monck’s sac fly to give the Condors a 4-2 lead. Soriano got the ball for the eighth inning, also allowed two 1-out singles to Brenize and Elliott, but Campos popped out to Mireles on the infield, and then Gabriel Rios entered and struck out Cline, keeping the runners stranded. Brenize was still going, retiring the first two in the bottom 8th before Benito Otal tripled over a meandering Rugar in centerfield and came in to score on a Gallo single, 4-3. Corral, however, whiffed, and the tying run remained on base. The ninth inning saw Rios retire the 4-5-6 batters in order before left-hander Chris Thompson was sent after the Raccoons. Marquez batted for Flowe and singled to right, and Thompson walked Mireles to also put the winning run on base, but then rung up Hamel. Leggett batted for the pitcher – van Otterdijk had sadly already been used – and flew out to Elliott on a 3-1 pitch. Duhe struck out. 4-3 Condors. Otal 2-4, 3B; Gallo 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Flowe 2-3; Marquez (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (25-28) vs. Loggers (29-22) – May 31-June 2, 2069

The Loggers were scoring the most runs in the Continental League, still, putting up over 5.6 marker per game, while the Raccoons were second-worst and scoring just 3.6 runs a game. In turn, Milwaukee still had no functioning pitching staff, giving up the second-most runs (not that I felt encouraged), had the second-worst defense, and the worst bullpen by ERA. Fidel Carrera was in his usual spot on the DL and starter Curt Green was also out. Milwaukee was up 3-2 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (4-4, 5.34 ERA) vs. Danny Ortiz (5-3, 3.91 ERA)
Nick Walla (3-6, 3.58 ERA) vs. Matt Crist (5-2, 4.09 ERA)
Vinny Morales (5-4, 3.36 ERA) vs. Jorge Quinones (1-1, 6.16 ERA)

Southpaw Sunday. And probably also bitter tears.

Game 1
MIL: 2B Van Leeuwen – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – C M. Rodriguez – LF C. Dominguez – RF D. Wright – SS Reber – 3B R. Murcia – P D. Ortiz
POR: SS Duhe – 1B Fumero – CF Otal – LF van Otterdijk – 3B Gallo – RF Corral – C Flowe – 2B Leggett – P Gaytan

Tony Gaytan’s day began quite rough; while Jonathan Merrill hit into a double play to get rid of a game-opening single up the middle by Sean Van Leeuwen, the Loggers were all over him in the second inning and scored a run on three singles. However, the Raccoons made up the difference in the following inning, which began with Jake Flowe singling to center and getting forced out by Wally Leggett. However, Leggett stole second base and then scored when Gaytan slapped a ball down the leftfield line for an RBI double…! The Coons of course left their pitcher on base, but Gaytan pitched a few calmer innings and then was back at the plate in the bottom 5th with Flowe on second, Leggett on first, and nobody out. This time he was asked to bunt and rolled a ball in front of the plate that Manuel Rodriguez threw to third base – but not in time to beat Flowe there, and now the bases were loaded with nobody out for the top of the order. Duhe promptly popped out on a 3-1 pitch, which gave me heartburn, and Fumero barely hit a sac fly to get Flowe in before Otal grounded out to second…

The 2-1 lead promptly met its maker on a throwing error by Leggett that put Merrill on base in the top 6th, and then Rodriguez’ score-flipping homer that made it 3-2 Loggers. Van Otterdijk then grounded out on a 3-0 pitch to lead off the bottom 6th, which possibly ended up costing the tying run when Corral and Flowe later reached with two outs, and Leggett grounded out to leave them on…

Gaytan somehow pitched to the stretch, and then still batted for himself, given that he was hitting .350 and we were a bit out of ideas. He singled. When Duhe hit another single, Carlos Matas ran for Gaytan at second base, but the Raccoons made three ****** outs and he never advanced any further than that… Flowe and Leggett got on base with two outs in the eighth and were stranded when Jack Hamel flew out to Dave Wright. Instead, Danny Nava allowed an insurance run on three more singles in the ninth inning, and whilst Jared Duhe hit a leadoff single against Victor Ramirez in the bottom 9th, he was then forced out on a fielder’s choice grounder by Fumero, and Otal and van Otterdijk both popped out, the former on a 3-1 pitch… 4-2 Loggers. Duhe 2-5; van Otterdijk 2-5, 2B; Flowe 4-4; Leggett 2-4; Gaytan 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, L (4-5) and 2-2, 2B, RBI;

Roster move on Saturday, as A.C. Stebbins came off the DL and the Raccoons returned Victor Chavez (1-1, 9.00 ERA) to the minor leagues. Stebbins would however only make his next start on Monday.

Game 2
MIL: 2B Van Leeuwen – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – C M. Rodriguez – LF C. Dominguez – RF D. Wright – SS Reber – 3B R. Murcia – P Crist
POR: SS Duhe – 1B Fumero – CF Otal – LF van Otterdijk – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – RF Matas – 2B Mireles – P Walla

The Loggers did not get on base in the first couple of innings, but the Raccoons already wasted hits by Otal and van Otterdijk in the first inning when Gallo struck out. Flowe began the bottom 2nd with another single, and then Crist struck Matas on the funny bone and made him leave the game, replaced by Corral. Mireles made another meek out, Walla worked a walk to fill the bases, and then the game’s first run scored on a wild pitch. Duhe’s K and Fumero’s groundout to short ensured that it was the only run in the inning. Walla struck out five the first time through the order, including the entire side in the third inning. He got 11 Loggers to begin the game, then saw Cesar Ramirez and Manuel Rodriguez hit their way to the corners with two outs in the fourth, but Carlos Dominguez grounded out to Mireles, and that was the inning.

The Portlanders stranded pairs of runners in each of the first three innings, then had Duhe double off Walla when the pitcher foolishly singled to try to get something going. Otal singled and was caught stealing in the fifth, and Walla managed to get beaten by a Merrill single and a Ramirez homer in the sixth. He finished seven innings, then was hit for with Marquez after Mireles had actually hit a leadoff single. Marquez went to right-center for a double, putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for the top of the order. (hugs Honeypaws a little tighter) Crist walked Duhe on four pitches, making it the dreadful three on, nobody out, and Fumero immediately popped out on the first pitch, leaving me fumero as well. Otal’s groundout tied the game, but that was the best the little stinkers could actually do for their best pitcher, as van Otterdijk hit another ******* pop-up, and left another ******** pair of runners on base.

Scoreless innings by Rios and Valentin followed before Jack Hamel singled as pinch-hitter in the #9 hole to lead off the bottom 9th against Crist, but he was then caught stealing and the game silently and depressingly went to extra innings. The actual win went to Danny Nava for a scoreless tenth, followed by Otal reaching on an error by Vince Shapiro at second base, and then George van Otterdijk popped the most unseen of wonders in this ballpark, a walkoff home run…! 4-2 Critters. Otal 2-5, RBI; van Otterdijk 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Flowe 2-4; Marquez (PH) 1-1, 2B; Hamel (PH) 1-1; Walla 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K and 1-1, BB;

One day, Nick Walla might be on a team that deserves him.

Carlos Matas wasn’t seriously injured, and was already shoveling his snout with both paws by the time the game ended.

The Coons tied for last in runs scored (with the Crusaders, of all people) by now.

Also, no Southpaw Sunday, as the Loggers used the common off day on Thursday to skip right-hander Julio Robles (4-3, 4.74 ERA) into the rubber game instead.

Game 3
MIL: 2B Van Leeuwen – CF Merrill – 1B C. Ramirez – C M. Rodriguez – LF C. Dominguez – RF D. Wright – SS Reber – 3B Shapiro – P Ju. Robles
POR: SS Duhe – 1B Fumero – CF Otal – LF van Otterdijk – C Marquez – RF Corral – 2B Mireles – 3B Leggett – P Morales

Van Otterdijk and Marquez hit singles to begin the bottom 2nd, but a K to Corral and Mireles’ double play ruined the inning. Leggett reached to lead off the bottom 3rd and was bunted onwards by Morales. Duhe was no help, but Fumero zinged a double to left and drove in the runner, which marked the first run on the board on Sunday. Otal’s scratch single was followed by another RBI double by van Otterdijk, this one to right, but then Marquez left two in scoring position with a soft liner to Ramirez at first. Morales had scattered three hits so far and was yet to be scored on, while coming to bat in the fourth with Mireles and Leggett on the corners and one out. He hit a fly to Dave Wright that was *just* deep enough to get Mireles home with a sac fly, 3-0.

This remained the score through the middle innings, with the Raccoons’ outfielders doing some fine work when Morales got no strikeouts in the middle frames and the majority of the Loggers hit fly balls. All were tracked down, somehow, and the green team didn’t reach base in those innings, but Morales’ line looked better than himself on screen. Manuel Rodriguez hit another deep fly out to left to begin the seventh, and then Duhe threw away Dominguez’ grounder for two bases, and that kicked the door a mile wide open. Dave Wright immediately drove a truck through it with an RBI single to center, and when Morales lost Reber on balls, he was yanked. McMahan came into the game in a double switch (Gallo for Leggett) and got an inning-ending double play from PH Roberto Soto, keeping a 3-1 lead intact. It was to get worse, though. McMahan allowed a bloop single to the opposing pitcher to begin the eighth, and then a Gallo error put Van Leeuwen on base with the tying run. McMahan got a pop from PH Mario Alaniz, struck out Ramirez, and because Dover was so wonky with the homers, we sent Schmieder in to face Rodriguez, who then hit a 3-run homer… Robles pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and Jake Flowe hit a pinch-hit single to begin the bottom 9th to put the tying run on base, but was then entirely ignored and ended the game still standing on first base after poor outs by Matas, Gallo, and Hamel. 4-3 Loggers. Fumero 2-3, 2B, RBI; van Otterdijk 2-4, 2B, RBI; Flowe (PH) 1-1; Leggett 2-3; Morales 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K;

In other news

May 28 – The Loggers put up a 6-spot against the Knights in the first inning before proceeding with five in the second, four in the third, and three in the fourth on the way to a 20-4 rout of Atlanta. The Loggers’ #8 hitter 3B/2B Rafael Murcia (.283, 3 HR, 26 RBI) hits a 3-run homer and a bases-clearing double to lead the team with six RBI.
May 29 – The Scorpions and Miners play a 20-inning game in Sacramento that ends in a 6-5 walkoff single by SAC RF/LF Alex Barnes (.280, 11 HR, 32 RBI), who goes 3-for-9 with a triple in the game, while teammate LF/RF/1B Steve Giles (.269, 5 HR, 15 RBI) and Miners leadoff man OF Norm Chapman (.237, 5 HR, 17 RBI) both post blighted 0-for-10 lines.
May 31 – BOS SP Mike Bell (6-1, 1.98 ERA) might miss at least one start after suffering a mild oblique strain.
June 2 – TOP SP Aiden Shaw (5-3, 3.48 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout to beat the Miners, 6-0.
June 2 – PIT SP Aldomiro Campion (2-4, 2.27 ERA) was going to miss three months with a forearm strain.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Juan Gutierrez (.297, 9 HR, 28 RBI), batting .480 (12-25) with 4 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND 1B Matt Rogers (.326, 18 HR, 46 RBI), smashing .542 (13-24) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SAC RF/LF Alex Barnes (.291, 12 HR, 34 RBI), socking .443 with 8 HR, 20 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: MIL 1B/RF/LF Cesar Ramirez (.354, 8 HR, 46 RBI), slapping .366 with 5 HR, 32 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: NAS SP Tomas Restrepo (6-1, 2.27 ERA), going 4-0 with a 1.41 ERA, 22 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: TIJ SP Jason Brenize (9-0, 1.74 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 record with 2.20 ERA, 43 K
FL Rookie of the Month: DEN RF/LF Steve Millen (.332, 7 HR, 35 RBI), batting .313 with 3 HR, 21 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: MIL INF Sean Van Leeuwen (.382, 0 HR, 21 RBI), clipping .392 with 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Nothing new to see here. The team accidentally scored six runs on Monday, which is two more than they have scored than in any other game since May 10. That’s over three weeks’ worth of scoring 2.32 runs per game… The Raccoons have allowed 4.36 runs per game in that same span, which is nearly twice as many.

Tyler Wharton will probably go for a round of AAA rehab at the end of next week, which means he still won’t be *here* for another week. We’re really missing that .288 stick with four homers…

The Raccoons would without much doubt continue their deplorable ways next week with four games in Boston (oh dear) and then have the Stars at home on the weekend. The Stars…

Fun Fact: The Stars are second in runs scored in the Federal League.

…without Tyler Wharton!

But rest well tonight, because I’m sure we can achieve some other feat soon and be LAST in runs scored WITH Wharton…! Hah!