[Westheim]

Raccoons (41-33) vs. Bayhawks (36-38) – June 29-July 1, 2071

The foundering Raccoons and their 4-game losing streak returned to home to play a set with the Baybirds, who had the fourth-most runs in the CL, and were apart from that rather average. Both teams had a bottom 3 bullpen by ERA, though. We had swept them in the first series played this year.

Projected matchups:
Jimmy Wharton (8-2, 2.74 ERA) vs. Gabe Molina (2-3, 5.82 ERA)
Nick Walla (6-4, 2.45 ERA) vs. Jarod Morris (4-5, 4.66 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (3-7, 3.72 ERA) vs. Billy Thompson (5-3, 3.01 ERA)

Molina was the only left-hander in the Bayhawks’ rotation.

Game 1
SFB: 2B Ma. Flores – 1B Catano – RF J. Ward – CF Redding – C H. Valdez – SS Bruce – LF Solares – 3B K. Ball – P G. Molina
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 1B Olivares – 3B Hernandez – C Rivas – RF Hamel – P J. Wharton

The Coons scored first by getting Katz on with a 2-out walk in the bottom 1st, and around on a pair of singles by Tyler Wharton and Olivares, before Hernandez flew out to right. Jordan Hernandez would leave another pair on base with a similar fly ball in his second attempt in the third inning. But the lead lasted zero outs before Ryan Redding tripled off Jimmy Wharton and scored on a single to right by Hugo Valdez in the top 2nd. The Bayhawks continued to get the leadoff batter on base in every inning, which eventually was bound to give them the lead, and they took it in the fifth on Keith Ball’s leadoff single, Molina bunting, and then another single by Mario Flores.

Humph now tied the game immediately with a leadoff jack to left in the bottom 5th, and also tied Katz for the team lead in homers with a puny ten just before the midpoint of the season. Jimmyboy could NOT get a ******* leadoff batter out, and Redding doubled to left to begin the sixth, got a base on a wild pitch, and scored again on Valdez’ single, now to left. Jimmy then retired the next three as usual, but was down 3-2 again.

Bottom 6th, and the Coons loaded the bags with Olivares, Hernandez, and Gabe Rivas, which already required a clumsy error on Flores’ part on Rivas’ grounder. And oh, nobody out. Jack Hamel promptly fell to 0-2, but narrowly avoided being the first top 5 pick to be released by the Raccoons before being brought back and back and again and again for five years, by slapping an RBI single through the left side and tying the game. Jimmy popped out, Humph’s sac fly made it 4-3 Coons, and Yocum was nicked, but Katz’ clutch had remained on the DL and he flew out to Tony Solares without drama. At least Jimmy pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh.

Reliever Juan Betancourt struck out Big Cheque Wharton in the bottom 7th before allowing singles to Olivares and Hernandez, and nicking Rivas to load the bases again. Colter batted for Hamel against the right-hander, but popped foul behind the dish, and Woodley batted for Little Cheque Wharton and flew out to center, scoring nothing and nobody. Holzmeister got paws on the ball and immediately allowed a double to Jake Ward in the eighth, but Ward held on a grounder from Redding to Katz for the first out, and that prevented him from scoring on Valdez’ long fly out to Colter in right. Ryan Bruce’s groundout ended the inning. Humphries put his leadoff tush on base in the bottom 8th, but was forced out by Yocum, and Yocum was left on first base. The 4-3 lead passed to Pedro Valentin, who got two outs from Brett Haus and Keith Ball before giving up a pair of singles to PH Josh Kovach and Mario Flores. At 2-2, Jose Catano hit a foul pop on the third base side, near the stands. Hernandez climbed onto the tarp and fell into the laps of a pair of gigging busty ladies in the first row – BUT HE MADE THE CATCH!! … 4-3 Critters. Olivares 3-3, BB, RBI; Hernandez 2-4;

The Crusaders began the week with a day off, while the Titans won their opener, playing the Aces, so the Titans took over sole possession of second place, a game and a half back (and on the way to Portland).

Game 2
SFB: SS Kovach – 2B Bruce – RF J. Ward – CF Redding – LF Haus – C H. Valdez – 1B Catano – 3B K. Ball – P Jar. Morris
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 1B Olivares – C Brown – 3B Hernandez – RF Colter – P Walla

Walla’s doldrums continued with a shoddy second inning in which he allowed a single to Redding, a wild pitch, a walk to Valdez, an RBI single to Catano, and then nicked Jarod Morris with two outs before Kovach flew out to Colter to strand a full set of runners. Kovach and Bruce had already flown out deep to right to Colter in the first inning. Singles by Wharton, Brown, and Hernandez, who got the RBI, tied the game back up immediately in the bottom 2nd, but just as quickly Ward took Walla deep to left in the third inning for a 2-1 San Fran lead. Walla then immediately allowed two singles and threw another wild pitch, and somehow didn’t allow a run in the inning as the Bayhawks made poor outs after that. Morris singled in the fourth and was out on a baserunning blunder on Bruce’s 2-out single, conveniently ending the inning, but there was no arguing around the fact that Walla looked DREADFUL. He allowed a run on another hit batter (…!) and Valdez’ RBI single in the fifth inning, and then was replaced with Vinny Morales. Hey-ho…

Morales gave up a 2-run homer to Bruce before long in the sixth inning, and the Raccoons hadn’t been seen in a good while, but then appeared on the bases in the bottom 6th against reliever Kerry Sheats, who followed Morris. Katz singled and Sheats walked the bags full for nobody out in the inning, bringing up Sam Brown as the tying run. He struck out, Hernandez hit a sac fly, and Colter bounced out, but the Bayhawks crapped another two runs onto the board against Morales in the seventh.

It looked like the Raccoons would silently trundle towards another incompetent loss, but the bottom 9th began with Aaron McClair and Brian McFarland hitting a leadoff single off the lefty, pinch-hitting for Colter. Rivas and Humphries reached with walks, and suddenly the bases were loaded again with nobody out (doom!) in a 5-run game. Brad Yoxall replaced McClair, offering a right-hander to the Raccoons’ limp-sticked middle of the order. Yocum kept the line moving with an RBI single on 2-2 up the middle, and Katz was now the tying run – and smashed into a 3-6-3 double play. A run scored, but **** that run. And Wharton flew out to center anyway. 7-4 Bayhawks. Yocum 2-5, RBI; Brown 2-4; McFarland (PH) 1-1;

The pitching was rancid, the offense was rancid, and the Titans were already within half a game, and virtually guaranteed to lead the division on Sunday night.

Katz and Humph got a day off on Wednesday to have them at full strength for the Titans series coming up. Not that we weren’t doomed either way.

Game 3
SFB: SS Kovach – 2B Bruce – CF Redding – RF J. Ward – LF Haus – C H. Valdez – 1B Catano – 3B Ma. Flores – P B. Thompson
POR: RF Colter – 2B Yocum – 1B Olivares – CF T. Wharton – 3B Hernandez – C Brown – SS McFarland – LF Guerrero – P Gaytan

Lo and behold, Tyler Wharton hit a homer for the first run of the game, leading off the home half of the second inning…! The Coons even got a second run in the inning when McFarland walked with two outs, got a base on a wild pitch, and then was driven in by Guerrero with a single. Guerrero stole second, but Gaytan struck out, but kept the Bayhawks away, and the Coons then began with three on and nobody out in the bottom 3rd again. Wharton drove in Colter and his leadoff walk with a sharp single to left. Hernandez’ sac fly made it 4-0, and Sam Brown drew a walk, but K’s to the 7-8 batters ended the inning.

The innings then passed quickly. Gaytan made it to the stretch allowing only two base hits and getting a double play grounder and five strikeouts on a very manageable pitch count, and the Coons though they were good on a 4-run lead or whatever was going on at any given time in those peanut-sized brains. But the shutout was taken off in the eighth on a Valdez double and Flores’ RBI single, and Gaytan then walked PH Daniel Aguilar before extricating himself on a pop to Brown in foul ground off the bat of Kovach. The Coons didn’t score in their half of the eighth and the Coons figured that Gaytan could at least put a guy on before we’d bother the pen ahead of a 4-game set with the Titans. No bothering was ever done as the Bayhawks went down on two groundouts and a K to Ward. 4-1 Raccoons. T. Wharton 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Gaytan 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (4-7);

Boston lost to finish that Aces series of theirs (despite out-hitting Vegas 12-4, they went down 4-2), so the gap remained a game and a half (the Crusaders lost their first two games and were sagging).

Raccoons (43-34) vs. Titans (42-36) – July 2-5, 2071

Portland was narrowly ahead in the season series, 4-3, and would have to continue to do so in order to keep the lead by the end of the week (although 1-2 with a rainout in the series would technically work, we’d like to not operate under premises that sketchy). Boston was sixth in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed, had a -24 run differential (Portland: +47), and … what was going on here? They also had a pile of injuries, including Ryan Musgrave, Tyler Gleaason, Vic Lorenzo, and Eddie Marcotte, and were bottoms in steals AND defense even in the best of times. Had the most homers in the CL, though.

Projected matchups:
Gabriel Rios (3-7, 4.32 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (4-2, 3.41 ERA)
Harrison Hunt (0-2, 9.82 ERA) vs. Tyler Riddle (5-7, 7.30 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (9-2, 2.82 ERA) vs. Adam McDonald (7-6, 4.60 ERA)
Nick Walla (6-5, 2.58 ERA) vs. Jesse Cruise (4-4, 4.09 ERA)

More southpaws awaited on Friday, which looked like bloodsports would break out by those ERA’s, and Sunday, hooray…! The Coons also had three southpaw starters lined up in a row at this point, but had no wiggle room for switcheroos until after the All Star Game, and the Titans were bringing a heavily right-handed lineup. Oh goodness!

Game 1
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – LF M. Garcia – 3B D. Miller – C Goodwin – 1B H. Moreno – RF M. Ford – CF R. Moreno – 2B Jer. White – P M. Bell
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 1B Olivares – C Rivas – 3B Hernandez – RF Colter – P Rios

Rios struck out five batters in the first three innings… and also gave up five runs as the series IMMEDIATELY tilted in Boston’s favor. Hector Moreno hit homers in the second – a solo job – and the third – a 2-piece with two gone – and in between Curt Goodwin had already doubled home a pair in a third inning that started with a single hit by the pitcher Bell. If there were any bright sides to be had after that beginning it was that Rios pitched another three innings without accidents, somehow struck out nine, and then was still down by five because Bell was shutting down the Raccoons hard – at least for six innings.

Tyler Wharton led off the bottom 7th with a single to center. Olivares singled to right, and Rivas singled to center again, plating Wharton for the brown team’s first run of the game. It looked a little late, and after Hernandez crashed into a 6-4-3 double play, it looked a little too late, and too little. Bell mishandled Colter’s comebacker for an error, though conceding an unearned run. Woodley pinch-hit and doubled, but the pair in scoring position was left over on a running catch by Raul Moreno on Humph’s fly to right-center. Bell went eight innings, was hit for against Dan Graham in the ninth for no gains, and Jerry Washington got the ball in the ninth against the 5-6-7 hitters. Olivares struck out in a full count, but Rivas singled to left. Brown pinch-hit and grounded out. Colter slapped a scratch single that brought up … well, a pinch-hitter as the tying run, and Woodley had already been used, so we were left with the weeds, in this case Jack Hamel. He flew out lazily to left to end the game. 5-2 Titans. Yocum 2-3, BB; Olivares 2-4; Rivas 2-4, RBI; Colter 2-4; Woodley (PH) 1-1, 2B;

The Woodley double was the only extra base hit for the Coons, while the Titans were banging out doubles and homers.

Game 2
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – LF M. Garcia – 3B D. Miller – C Goodwin – 1B H. Moreno – RF M. Ford – CF R. Moreno – 2B Jer. White – P Riddle
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 1B Olivares – 3B Hernandez – C Brown – RF Hamel – P Hunt

The Coons scored first on an unearned run in the first inning as Humph got on base with a walk and Katz on Danny Miller’s error. Wharton’s groundout plated Humph, but the inning went nowhere from there. While the 39-year-old ex-Coon Riddle was all over the place and fighting his own body half the time, and nicked Sam Brown in the bottom 2nd, not that we went anywhere nice from there, Hunt retired the Titans in order the first time through … but not without some long flies that were shagged by Wharton and Hamel. It looked like the Coons could get a bigger lead here, and Yocum and Katz hit 1-out singles in the bottom 3rd. Yocum went to third on the Katz hit, and when he drew an ill-advised throw from Matt Ford, Katz zoomied into second base behind him. Wharton very helpfully and majestically popped out to Miller, and Riddle plunked Olivares to fill the bags for Hernandez, who was down in a 2-2 count before barreling a ball to deep center, over the glove of Raul Moreno, and cashed a bases-clearing double for a 4-0 lead! Brown fanned to end the inning, and Hunt nicked Miller after retiring 11 in a row, but got Goodwin on a grounder to stay clean on the scoreboard.

A Ford double and Raul Moreno’s RBI single got Boston on the board and took the no-hitter away in the fifth inning, not that I had expectations with Hunt. Tyler Wharton humped a homer in return in the bottom 5th, re-establishing slam distance immediately. Edgar Gonzales in the sixth, and Curt Goodwin in the seventh, then hit leadoff singles against Hunt, but both ended up being doubled off. Humph drew a leadoff walk against Dave Parra in the bottom 7th and was doubled to third base by Katz after a pop by Yocum. Wharton tacked on another run with a sac fly, but Katz was stranded by Olivares. Harrison Hunt went eight innings, allowing six hits in the end, and the Coons sat down Humphries and Yocum before the ninth inning, because what could go wrong with a 5-run lead?

Well, Jason Holzmeister happened, and three singles to load the bags with Goodwin, Ford, and Raul Moreno, before three outs were made. Valentin came in with two outs, struck out Jeremy White, and the Coons barely got away with that one. 6-1 Critters. Katzman 2-4, 2B; Hunt 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (1-2);

Game 3
BOS: CF R. Moreno – LF M. Garcia – 3B D. Miller – C Goodwin – 1B H. Moreno – RF M. Ford – SS Jordan – 2B Jer. White – P McDonald
POR: RF Humphries – 2B Yocum – SS Katzman – CF T. Wharton – 1B Olivares – C Brown – 3B Colter – LF Guerrero – P J. Wharton

Raul Moreno opened the game with a single, but was stranded on third base after three mediocre outs, and nothing much else happened until Jesus Guerrero broke out a solo homer to left for the Coons’ first base hit and the first run in the contest in the bottom 3rd. This remained the Coons’ only hit for a good old while; at the same time Wharton had another one of those games where the leadoff man seemed to be on base all the ******* time, and in the fifth the Titans finally came through and tied the game with hits from Steve Jordan and Raul Moreno.

The damn Coons weren’t hitting, and the damn Titans were continuing to get on base, as in the seventh with a leadoff double by Jordan. They didn’t waste anybody’s time then, and Jeremy White doubled home the go-ahead run, then scored on another Raul Moreno RBI single to give Boston a 3-1 lead. McDonald made it 6.1 innings before giving up a second hit, as Olivares singled sharply to left. Brown found the hole on the right side for another single. Colter and Guerrero both flew out to Raul Moreno to kill the inning…

Jimmy put Miller as the leadoff man (…) on base in the eighth and departed. Brad Fails gave up a homer to Hector Moreno to put the game to bed. Or so we wished. McDonald entered the bottom 8th, but after McFarland pinch-hit and grounded out, gave up 1-out singles to Humphries and Yocum. Katz struck a double to left, driving in a run, and McDonald from the game – but also came up limp and also left the game with Luis Silva. (facepaws deeply) Hamel ran for him, while Tyler Wharton was batting as the tying run against righty Juan Dominguez. He hit a grounder to short that got a run home, but that wasn’t really helping at this point. Olivares’ RBI single did put the tying run on base at least, but the Titans sent lefty ex-Coon Juan Sanchez against Brown. Hernandez pinch-hit, fell behind 1-2, and then sent a grounder to Jordan at short to end … no, he threw it away, and the ball went into the dugout for two bases! The tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position … but the Coons had no more right-handed sticks to hit for Colter with. He flew out to Manuel Garcia, and the Coons got a scoreless inning on nothing but full counts from McMahan to keep the game tight. Jerry Washington got Rivas and McFarland out to begin the bottom 9th, but then walked Humph. Yocum singled in a full count to left-center and Humph hustled the tying run to third base…… buuuut with Jack Hamel batting in Katz’ spot. He flew out to right…… 5-4 Titans. Humphries 1-2, 3 BB; Yocum 3-5; Olivares 2-4, RBI;

Katz hit the DL with an oblique strain on Sunday, and was likely to miss the entire ******* month. I confided to Honeypaws that I had no hope for the Raccoons to somehow win the division from here.

Needing a middle infielder quite badly, the Raccoons fell back on 26-year-old 2B/1B Wout Sleutjes. The Aruban had signed for $32k during the *2061* July IFA window. Ten years of lingering in the minors, he was now up as Plan G or something. I think the pronunciation guide says “wowed s-loo-chess”, which was a thing in itself. Dan Gomez ended up being placed on waivers and DFA’ed to make room on the 40-man roster this time.

Game 4
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – LF M. Garcia – C N. Dingman – 1B H. Moreno – RF M. Ford – 3B D. Miller – 2B Jer. White – CF J. Hawkins – P Cruise
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – 1B Olivares – CF T. Wharton – 3B Hernandez – C Rivas – RF Hamel – SS McFarland – P Walla

Hamel klotzed Hector Moreno’s fly to right for a 2-base error instead of the third out, and the Titans got a pair of runners (Nick Ding(er)man included) in scoring position ahead of Matt Ford rushing a gap double for an early unearned 2-0 lead in the Boston bid to take first place on the way outta town. But Walla wasn’t helping either and kept giving up doubles, conceding another run on extra-base hits by Garcia and Miller in the third inning. That one counted on the old ERA… Jeff Hawkins hit another double to lead off the fourth inning and was brought around to score on two productive outs by Cruise and Gonzales… and then Garcia hit a homer to left. That made it 5-0 against the witless Raccoons, who had collected one lonely single the first time through the feckless lineup. That one had come from Olivares, and him and Yocum hit a pair of singles to begin the bottom 4th, but then Wharton whiffed again. Hernandez slapped an RBI single to right, 5-1, and Rivas flew out to right. Olivares scored on a sac fly on which Ford appeared to tear up his arm; he left the game and was replaced with Justin Beck. Hamel grounded out.

Walla needed over 80 pitches through five rancid innings, then hit an infield single with one out in the bottom 5th. Cruise walked Humph, bringing up Yocum as the tying run. He grounded into a force at second, but the Titans didn’t get two, and Cruise lost Olivares on four pitches, loading the bags for Wharton, who, well… struck the **** out.

Walla retired the bottom of the order in the sixth and looked done for the day, while Hernandez and Rivas put out singles against Cruise to begin the home half of the inning, and that also brought the tying run back to the plate once more. Hamel grounded underneath a reaching Cruise, over the mound, and behind the second base bag, where the Gold Glover Gonzales intercepted the ball on the dive – but had no play, as Hamel rushed up the line for an RBI infield single. When McFarland popped out it was time to bat for Walla. Unfortunately the bench was just pathetic at this point. Sam Brown was perhaps the best option, but we didn’t want to use the second catcher so early, and ended up going with Guerrero instead. And Guerrero gunned it into a double play.

The game effectively ended when Rismiller got into the seventh, put the first two batters on base and then gave up a booming 3-run homer to Hector Moreno. The Coons got a run on a groundout by Hernandez in the same inning, but that was it for heroics and rallies, and being in first place. 8-4 Titans. Yocum 2-5; Olivares 3-4, BB; Hernandez 3-4, 2 RBI;

In other news

June 30 – The Crusaders pick up SP Colt Long (6-3, 3.88 ERA) from the Loggers for a prospect.
June 30 – Torn ligaments in his thumb would keep Vegas INF Koji Hatakeyama (.303, 1 HR, 33 RBI) off the field for at least two months.
July 1 – CIN OF Fernando Cruz (.351, 8 HR, 22 RBI) celebrates his FL Hitter of the Month award by hitting a home run for a 1-0 win against the Wolves. Cincy only has two hits in the game.
July 1 – ATL SP Adam Lunn (8-5, 2.62 ERA) is going to miss at least a month with a PCL strain.
July 1 – Rebs closer George Kehoe (1-4, 3.34 ERA, 19 SV) is out for the season, suffering from radial nerve compression.
July 2 – MIL 1B/RF/LF Cesar Ramirez (.305, 5 HR, 19 RBI) was going to miss a month with a strained hammy.
July 2 – The Loggers acquire MR Javier Arocho (1-3, 4.17 ERA) from the Capitals for two prospects.
July 3 – WAS 1B Armando Curiel (.322, 12 HR, 36 RBI) is taken out for the rest of the month with a strained hip muscle.
July 4 – CIN SP Blake Anderson (7-0, 2.85 ERA) will miss the rest of the season after tearing a back muscle.
July 4 – Cincy picks up Thunder CL Steve Keller (2-2, 1.54 ERA, 14 SV) for four prospects, including #19 SP Josh Olsen.
July 4 – The Crusaders beat the Canadiens, 5-4 in 14 innings.

Player of the Week (FL): PIT 2B Matthew Selep (.323, 4 HR, 47 RBI), squirreling .517 (15-29) with 5 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): BOS 1B Hector Moreno (.304, 14 HR, 38 RBI), bashing .407 (11-27) with 5 HR, 13 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: CIN OF Fernando Cruz (.354, 7 HR, 21 RBI), batting .374 with 4 HR, 16 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: LVA C/1B Chris Haynes (.327, 19 HR, 62 RBI), thundering .402 with 8 HR, 29 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: SFW SP Harry Poteat (11-2, 2.15 ERA), going 5-0 with a 1.65 ERA, 43 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Mike DeWitt (7-2, 1.93 ERA), dominating at 5-0 with an 0.21 ERA, 35 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SAL INF/LF/CF Ray Olin (.270, 3 HR, 28 RBI), poking .243 with 8 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: SFB 1B Jose Catano (.324, 2 HR, 25 RBI), batting .337 with 1 HR, 16 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I could cry some more now about our horrible pitching and our horrible hitting, but Honeypaws is all wet already, and it’s not gonna get any better. Katz going back on the DL after merely 13 days on the roster drives the dagger in. The rest of the team just can’t do anything. There was also no depth to begin with, and we’re now digging through upper-20s Aruban infielders just to fill the bench.

Cursed, doomed, dead.

Thanks to blowing millions on SP Jose Espino, who had debuted to a 1.69 ERA in two starts in Aumsville at this point, the Raccoons had maximum restrictions on signing international free agents this summer, not being allowed to sign any Latin-American (mostly) teenager for more than $75k. We’re thus not likely to land many gems, but we’re bidding on a couple. So far we managed to sign Australian outfielder Marco Renshaw for a cute $32k.

Our journey to .500 and beyond will continue with 14 more games in division, including a 7-game road trip to New York and Indy ahead of the All Star Game, and of course four more with New York right afterwards.

Fun Fact: It’s been ten years since the Raccoons went to the postseason.

And it’s gonna be ten more with this roster.