Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-20) vs. Canadiens (30-25) – June 4-7, 2018

Tied for second in the North, five games behind the Raccoons, the Elks were in a splendid position to do some damage to us after we had just ended our 10-game winning streak on Sunday in a hard to explain Jonny-xplosion. This would be a set of four games, with the Elks longing to extend their own, still living winning streak of five games. They were third in runs scored, but only seventh in runs allowed in the Continental League, and the Raccoons had taken two of three games from them in the first series between the two teams.

Projected matchups:
Damani Knight (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Juan Ortega (3-3, 3.82 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-2, 2.33 ERA) vs. Michael Colvard (0-0, 2.53 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (4-3, 4.19 ERA) vs. R.J. Lloyd (5-3, 4.44 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (2-0, 4.70 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (4-4, 3.51 ERA)

Looks like we’re gonna dance around their only left-hander; C.J. Fishel (5-3, 4.72 ERA) pitched on Sunday. The Elks just placed their closer, Juan Jimenez (3-3, 2.45 ERA, 12 SV) on the DL. The 34-year old lefty was suffering from radial nerve compression and would not be back until September at the earliest. But if you can just go back to Pedro Alvarado (1-1, 1.17 ERA, 1 SV) to close… the 39-year old Puerto Rican still knows how to deal it. He’s in his *21st* season with the Elks, and at 585 career saves looks like a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame one day.

Matt Nunley felt completely fine on Monday morning after leaving Sunday’s game early, and was in the lineup.

Game 1
VAN: 3B J. Gutierrez – 2B Rinehart – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – SS Grooms – LF K. Evans – P J. Ortega
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – P Knight

The Critters scored an unearned run in the first inning, exploiting a throwing error by Jose Gutierrez that placed Duarte on second base with one out. DeWeese’s 2-out single scored him, but Damani Knight allowed hard contact ‘round the clock and Mario Rocha’s leadoff double in the top of the second quickly led to the tying run. Cookie opened the bottom 3rd in a 1-1 game with a single and swiped second base right away on a poor throw by Dave Padilla, his 16th stolen base for the year, one off Matt Good’s mark that led the CL. Duarte singled to center with ample time for Cookie to score the go-ahead run, after which two walks loaded the bases with nobody out on Ortega’s watch. Ortega, 32, who had spent most of his career with the Buffaloes, was a gross 31 games under .500 for his career record, and needed all the unclutchiness the Raccoons could muster to get out of this one. McKnight struck out right away, but Walter’s RBI single and Nunley’s RBI groundout at least put two more runs onto the board for a 4-1 lead before Margolis was bypassed and Ortega sniffed out Knight, but Damani would return the favor right in the top of the fourth with runners then on the corners, whiffing Ortega to end the threat and the inning. Ortega would not get out of the bottom 4th, which was started by Cookie singling and Duarte doubling. Both runners scored after a grounder to short by the Tiger and then a McKnight single to right, the latter knocking Ortega from the game. While Damani Knight had been at least as shaky in the early innings, he got better when Ortega was already showering. The Elks only put him in the wringer once more, placing runners on the corners with nobody out in the seventh inning. At that point, Jose Gutierrez kinda was Knight’s last batter, but grounded into a double play. While that scored a run, the Coons remained up by four, and Knight would retire another four Elks to pitch eight innings for the second time in three starts since being called up. The score bloomed in the bottom 8th, which saw ancient Iemitsu Rin walk a pair before falling to a 2-out, 3-run homer by ex-Elk Brian Petracek, which made me chuckle. Chun finished the ninth without much in terms of trouble. 9-2 Furballs! Carmona 2-5; Duarte 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Petracek 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Walter 4-4, RBI; Knight 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

When Monday tumbled over into Tuesday, Chet Cummings cleared waivers for a lack of claimants. He accepted his assignment to the Alley Cats.

Game 2
VAN: SS C. Alexander – 2B Rinehart – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 3B J. Gutierrez – LF Cameron – P Colvard
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 2B Walter – 3B Nunley – C Denny – P Santos

With dark clouds overhead, Santos had a tumultuous first inning, with Jeff Rinehart splintering his bat, but the looper passed over the jumping Tiger into shallow right and Rinehart ended up with a double when the ball made an escape from Cookie into foul ground. Ezra Branch popped up the 2-2 in foul ground, where Nunley was under it, yet dropped it for an error, and Santos ended up walking Branch, but with two odd runners on base, Santos struck out Rocha and got a pop from Padilla that was not dropped into some gutter. It started to rain as early as the second inning, which saw Colvard pile them up on the bases with nobody out after McKnight and Walter singled, and Nunley drew a walk in a full count. While Mike Denny hit an RBI single to left, Santos struck out, and then the consistently slumping Cookie hit into a double play to end the inning. The lone run was threatened quickly with Chris Alexander’s leadoff single in the third, and Santos’ pickoff attempt was wild and eluded Mendoza, sending the runner to second. Thankfully, the Elks didn’t get another ball to fall in, and Alexander was stranded at third base.

The game dragged itself through the innings. There was the on-and-off drizzle that kept everybody moist, and Santos was on-and-off with his control as well. While he walked only one, he needed 78 pitches through five shutout innings, which sent the bullpen casually stretching by the bottom of the fifth. Colvard threw 74 pitches in just four innings, but the Coons were still stuck to the lone run drive in by Denny. Santos ended up being done after six innings and exactly 100 pitches, and due to Jeff Rinehart’s leadoff double and well-placed outs he also was no longer in the lead. When Joey Mathews hit for Santos in the bottom 6th, there was still a chance for a W for Hector in there. Walter and Denny had both singled and were on second and first with two outs, but Mathews’ slow roller to first was not going to get things done. Jesus Ramirez picked it up to end the inning.

Wade Davis came in for the seventh, but allowed two singles right away to Jose Gutierrez and Don Cameron, the latter legging out a drag bunt against a confused Coons infield. Kurt Evans hit for Colvard, but bounced it back to Davis for a double play. With left-hander Manlio Varone pinch-hitting for Alexander, Thrasher was broken from the pen and struck Varone out in no time to strand Gutierrez at third. The Raccoons would then come unnervingly close to leaving Cookie Carmona on third base after a leadoff triple in the bottom of the inning. Duarte and DeWeese both struck out, with the Tiger not even being pitched to by Scott Hanson. Ronnie McKnight then trickled a 1-0 pitch up the middle and through into centerfield to claim a 2-1 lead. Walter grounded out to leave runners on the corners. Thrasher got two outs in the top 8th before Rocha singled to center, and the Coons moved on to Alex Ramirez for a 4-out save that he blew before getting even one out. Dave Padilla singled, sending Rocha to second, and Ramirez singled to score him, 2-2. Nunley reached on an error to start the bottom of the inning and was bunted over by Denny. Eddie Jackson drew a walk that made the bunt a bit moot, and when Cookie lined to center, Rocha retired him with a tumbling spill, holding on to the ball just barely. Duarte got a 3-1 pitch from Hanson and grounded it to short, and Chris Grooms’ throw was so bad that the first baseman Ramirez never attempted to lunge after it. The 2-base throwing error plated Nunley from second base and moved two runners to scoring position. With first base open, two outs, and Alex Ramirez behind Mendoza after a double switch, the Elks still pitched to the Tiger. Sadly, he grounded out to Rinehart. Up 3-2, Alex Ramirez got another shot at putting the game away, and the Elks went down in order, but not without some extra effort by the defense. 3-2 Coons. McKnight 2-4, RBI; Walter 1-2, 2 BB; Denny 2-3, RBI; Santos 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K;

It was also time to sprinkle in some off days. Shane Walter had not started on Sunday, so he was excluded for the moment. Of the other regulars, nobody was particularly hot right now. Matt Nunley and R.J. DeWeese got to hit the bench for some second dinner first, being left out of Wednesday’s lineup, but ultimately we’d cycle out all our guys over the next four games. This was only a 13-game stretch, but I keep telling myself that it helps keeping guys fresh.

Game 3
VAN: SS C. Alexander – 2B Rinehart – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 3B J. Gutierrez – LF Cameron – P Lloyd
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Walter – SS McKnight – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P R. Mendoza

Two K to Rocha and Padilla saved Ricky Mendoza’s bacon after a walk to Rinehart and a Branch double in the first inning. Cookie opened the bottom 1st with a single, but was gunned down by Padilla before the next three Raccoons all appeared on base one way or another. Walter grounded hard to first for an odd 3-6 double play, and that was that. More disappointments followed as Mendoza committed another boo-boo in the second inning, walking Ramirez to start the inning and then surrendering a homer to Jose Gutierrez right away. Down 2-0 the Coons again had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom 2nd, with Chris Alexander’s throwing error putting Mathews on base. Denny singled, Ricky Mendoza walked, and Cookie came up, ripping a pitch to right for an RBI single. Duarte struck out, but the Tiger lined to left, up the line. Cameron cut it off before it could get past him, which kept Cookie from scoring, but two runs did score and gave the Coons the lead, 3-2, before Jackson’s fly to center ended the inning. Little would get better for Ricky Mendoza, who stranded four runners over the next three innings to pitch the five innings required for a win, but needed a depressing 99 pitches to get there, spilling seven hits and two walks, and that was in no way indicative of the amount of 3-ball counts he nursed. He needed another nine pitches to get Gutierrez on a fly to right that opened the sixth, and that was it for him.

Offensively, the Coons didn’t threaten after their 3-spot in the second until Shane Walter doubled to right to open the bottom 6th. McKnight’s groundout sent him to third, from where he scored on Mathews’ single to left. Lloyd was yanked after allowing that fourth run, with Robert Parsons, the former Crusaders, replacing him. He threw one pitch for a double play from Denny, ending the sixth. Against Chun and Kaiser, the Elks would put the tying runs into scoring position thanks to singles by Alexander and Branch in the top 7th. Two outs, first base open with Padilla up, there was the option to give him four wide ones to bring up the lefty Ramirez, who had actually the better stats, which didn’t sound like a potentially rewarding move. Instead, Chris Mathis was called on, entering in a double switch that removed Mathews for Hudman. While Padilla hit the 2-2 pitch high to right, it was in no way deep, and Jackson made an easy catch to end the inning. Hudman grounded out to open the bottom 7th, but Cookie doubled to left. Duarte grounded out, moving him to third, and the Tiger got only junk and walked. Runners on the corners, Parsons was broken up on back-to-back singles to center from Jackson and Walter, both scoring a run and running the score to 6-2. Mathis got three more outs for four total in the eighth, and Wade Davis worked around a Chris Alexander single in the ninth to end the game. 6-2 Furballs! Carmona 3-4, 3B, 2B, RBI; H. Mendoza 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Walter 2-4, 2B, RBI; Mathis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

While the Elks and everybody else kept sinking away from the streaking Critters, the Crusaders remained in the picture. They had been off on Monday, but had won twice since and were now 5 1/2 back.

The rest carrousel would keep spinning in the meantime. The Tiger and McKnight would get a day off on Thursday in the series finale. These two (along with Nunley and Cookie) have appeared in every game so far this season, and they are the two with the most starting assignments, too, cropping up in the lineup in all but – now – four games this year.

Game 4
VAN: LF Cameron – 2B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 3B Grooms – CF Rinehart – SS Roundtree – P Bartels
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – LF DeWeese – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – C Margolis – 1B Petracek – P Nielson

Ryan Nielson whiffed five in four no-hit innings to start this game, with the Raccoons having two hits somewhere, but I sure didn’t notice them. Jesus Ramirez chugged a ball to centerfield and all the way past it to start the fifth inning to not only break up the no-hit bid (though he had no chance of completing it, using up 61 pitches through four innings), but to also give the Elks a 1-0 lead. The Elks got two more hits in the inning, singles by Rinehart and Bartels, but left the runners on and also lost Rinehart to injury when he sprained his thumb in a futile slide into second base on a grounder by Steve Roundtree that forced him. The Coons had Margolis on with a 2-out single in the bottom 5th, but that hit was soon forgotten as well. Petracek was walked intentionally once Bartels balked Margolis to second, and Nielson readily made the third out, then issued two walks to start the sixth inning. Padilla singled to load the bases with nobody down, although Nielson struck out Ramirez after that. Grooms was a switch-hitter, but weaker against lefties, and grounded an 0-1 pitch back to the mound. Nielson threw home to get Gutierrez, and Margolis knocked out Grooms at first to end the inning with no damage incurred!

Cookie singled on a 3-0 pitch to start the bottom 6th. Duarte was at 3-1, then grounded to short. Roundtree only got Cookie, but Duarte recovered by dashing to third base when Padilla threw the ball away on his stolen base attempt. Then Walter flew to center, Rocha caught the ball, Duarte went – and was thrown out. Two were on in the bottom 7th after Nunley and Margolis singled, but Petracek feebly whiffed. Chun and Kaiser coughed up a run in the top 8th, putting the Coons into a 2-0 hole, and their inability to put a fork into Bartels, who had lasted four starts as a Raccoon in 2016 before getting shafted, was infuriating, to say the least. Bartels was still diddling along in the bottom 8th, got two outs from McKnight and Cookie before Duarte singled and Walter doubled. DeWeese couldn’t be trusted and we had to send the Tiger to bat for him. The Elks did NOT walk him intentionally, but instead he grounded out to first base. As he slumped back to the dugout, two stripes fell off. Alvarado faced the Coons in the bottom 9th and the tying run came up with nobody out once Nunley singled to center. Mathews walked, and this was developing well until Margolis hit into a double play. Jackson batted for Petracek and popped out. 2-0 Canadiens. Duarte 2-4; Nunley 3-4; Margolis 2-4;

Yes, I still hate sending a lefty for a lefty. Ramirez bats left-handed, so Nielson stayed in the game.

Also, that Bartels escaped completely ticks me off. You lot better not look at me now! – (gets accidentally looked at by Alex Duarte) – …! – (takes a deep breath before…)

§%(/&§%&/(!!!

Raccoons (38-21) vs. Pacifics (35-25) – June 8-10, 2018

We had played and swept the Pacifics last season and I was certainly hoping for another such development. But they were a powerful team again, ranking first in runs scored with exactly 300, which worked out to precisely five runs per game, where the Raccoons didn’t even reach 4.2 runs per game. They were fourth in runs allowed, with their rotation in the top three, but a bullpen that was full of holes. There was an Angel in that pen that had a 4.84 ERA and was not alone in failing to replicate success of years past…

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (8-2, 2.46 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (4-2, 2.45 ERA)
Damani Knight (1-0, 4.12 ERA) vs. Ozzie Pereira (0-3, 8.22 ERA)
Hector Santos (4-2, 2.27 ERA) vs. Brad Smith (6-4, 2.80 ERA)

Pereira is a likely skip candidate here as their off day on Thursday allows for it. This would be double-bad for the Raccoons, because it would move Fred O’Quinn into the series, a left-hander with a 6-3 record and 1.78 ERA. Their other starters were all right-handers.

Alex Duarte stopped crying in time to take his spot on the bench for the opener, which was his scheduled off day. Cookie got planned in for Saturday to have a day off, and we’d see whether Walter needed another one after sitting out last Sunday.

Game 1
LAP: RF M. Thompson – 3B C. Martinez – 1B D. McCormick – CF J. Roberts – C Spears – SS Getchell – LF Webb – 2B R. Mendez – P R. Taylor
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – C Denny – P Toner

A balk and a wild pitch were required for the Raccoons to get Shane Walter home after his first-inning double, but sometimes even guys like Rod Taylor like to shovel their own grave. Somehow, pretty soon neither team appeared very smart or like a winning team anymore. After the Pacifics had gone down 1-2-3 in the first, Jimmy Roberts ran a 3-0 count against Toner to start the second inning, then fouled out behind home plate. The bottom 2nd saw McKnight with a leadoff single and get caught stealing by former Gold Glover Errol Spears. That was before the next three Coons all reached base: Nunley singled, and Taylor walked both Denny AND Toner, the latter on four pitches, and then Cookie Carmona hit into the second inning-ending double play of the week. Both teams were really equally infuriating early on.

While Jonny allowed only two base runners in four innings, the Raccoons had another thick chance in the bottom 4th, with back-to-back singles by McKnight and Nunley to start the inning, and this time without anybody falling off the edge of the table in the meantime (yay!). Taylor came roaring back with three strikeouts to Denny, Toner, and Carmona, and things remained tense, even more so when Errol Spears hit a leadoff double in the fifth, but hurt his knee and had to leave the game. Backup catcher Jesus Martinez was on third base with two outs and Rich Mendez batting; Mendez had doubled off Toner in the third, and was batting .370 in left-handed fashion in limited appearances. We twitched, Jonny had to put him on intentionally, then had an ANGRY strikeout against poor Rod Taylor. The odd pitching duel continued until the bottom 7th. Jonny struck out the side in the top 7th following a solo home run by McKnight in the previous inning that had DOUBLED the Raccoons’ output. Taylor was done after walking Mendoza with one out, and when Edwin Balandran replaced him, he walked Jackson right away. But Balandran was not in the game for Jackson, he was in for the left-handers behind Jackson. We had none of that, with Duarte pinch-hitting for a once more 0-for-3 DeWeese, but rolled right into a double play.

Toner arrived in the ninth inning with a 3-hit shutout, a dozen whiffs, and Alex Ramirez was a turd. 101 pitches on the clock, but **** those, Jonny’s gonna rip himself a shutout now! He faced the top of the order, nominally, but Carlos Martinez had been replaced earlier and Balandran still sat in the #2 hole. Left-hander John Gartner hit for him after Marc Thompson drew a 9-pitch leadoff walk. Gartner walked as well, and I couldn’t cope anymore and went into hiding in the liquor cabinet. Toner struck out Dave McCormick before walking Roberts, which filled the bags and ended his day for good. The turd came in, struck out Jesus Martinez, and then Mike Getchell grounded sloooowly past the mound. Shane Walter hustled in, picked it bare-handed and flung the ball to first without looking much – OUT! But just barely. 2-0 Critters. H. Mendoza 1-2, 2 BB; McKnight 3-4, HR, RBI; Nunley 2-4; Toner 8.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 13 K, W (9-2); Ramirez 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (16);

Much to my amazement, the Pacifics would NOT skip Ozzie Pereira, so it looks like we would bypass yet another southpaw.

Game 2
LAP: RF M. Thompson – SS R. Irvin – CF J. Roberts – 1B D. McCormick – 3B C. Martinez – LF J. Garcia – C Ford – 2B R. Mendez – P Pereira
POR: CF Duarte – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – P Knight

Ozzie Pereira’s third-inning infield single(!) was the first hit for anybody in the game, and while Knight walked Marc Thompson to place a second runner on base, the Pacifics didn’t score when both Ross Irvin and Jimmy Roberts hit easy grounders. Errol Spears’ replacement Mikey Ford hit a 2-run homer off Knight in the fourth inning, at a point where Pereira and his 8+ ERA were still pitching a perfect game – and could there be ANY OTHER WAY FOR THIS TO BE?? Rich Mendez doubled, ****ing Pereira hit an RBI single (a proper one this time), and the Raccoons continued to look pathetic for the third straight game. While Hugo Mendoza’s 2-out single in the bottom 4th ended Pereira’s ridiculous bid, the Raccoons didn’t score after Jackson grounded out to short. The Pacifics continued to make abundant hard contact against Knight, who was stomped for another two runs in the fifth inning and allowed nine hits, most of them hard, in 5.2 innings before being relieved by Matt Schroeder in a hopeless game. Not only did Schroeder log four outs quite quickly, nope, he was also the first ****ing Critter to hit a ****ing extra-base hit off Pereira, a 2-out double in the bottom of the seventh. Nothing came of that, of course. Pereira’s day ended after seven-plus innings when Cookie Carmona hit for Denny to lead off the bottom 8th and tripled to center. He scored on Joey Mathews’ sac fly, and that was largely it for the Raccoons… 5-1 Pacifics. Duarte 2-4; H. Mendoza 2-4; Hudman (PH) 1-1; Carmona (PH) 1-1, 3B; Mathews 1-2, RBI; Schroeder 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K and 1-1, 2B; Davis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

To further dampen the mood, Eddie Jackson came away with a sore shoulder from this game. He hurt himself on a throw and was subbed out in the middle innings in favor of Petracek. The Druid doesn’t consider it serious, but he will be listed as day-to-day and might just linger on the roster for the next week or so.

Game 3
LAP: RF M. Thompson – SS R. Irvin – CF J. Roberts – 1B D. McCormick – 3B C. Martinez – C J. Martinez – LF Gartner – 2B Bergquist – P B. Smith
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – P Santos

A Margolis throwing error when Marc Thompson tried to steal second base after hitting a leadoff single allowed Thompson to move to third and score on Jimmy Roberts’ sac fly for an unearned run on Santos in the first inning. For the Coons, Cookie hit a single and stole second base in the first inning before being abandoned, and they did not get another base hit until Walter blooped a single into shallow right to start the bottom 4th. The only other base runner in between was Margolis, who walked. With the tying run on, we would have appreciated a swipe by Hugo Mendoza, but he hit a roller for about 35 feet. Brad Smith – who led the FL in strikeouts – and Jesus Martinez got into another’s personal space trying to play it and all hands were safe; two on, no outs for Portland, McKnight fouled out on the first pitch. Nunley ran a full count before drawing a walk, although that was primarily because Brad Smith didn’t get the call on strike three on the corner. Bases loaded, and then … DeWeese. He had five hits in the last three weeks, and Margolis wasn’t that much better, so this was going to be another sad inning. Except that DeWeese knocked the first pitch into the gap between Roberts and Thompson, Nunley was held at third, but the Coons took the lead on the 2-run double! Margolis was not pitched to by the Pacifics, with Smith in all-out collapse mode and walking Santos with the bases loaded, 3-1. When Cookie lined a 3-2 pitch to Bergquist (who batted .215), Santos was caught mindlessly off first base and was doubled off… Bergquist hit a leadoff double off Santos in the top 5th, and Ross Irvin’s 2-out homer tied the game. It was all so frustrating again…

Sadness continued relentlessly, with Duarte drawing a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th, only for Walter to ground to Bergquist for yet another double play. DeWeese was hit and Margolis singled with two outs in the bottom 6th, but Mathews struck out batting for Santos, who was left with yet another no-decision and that was TOTALLY HIS FAULT!! Moremisery in the eighth inning, in which Chris Mathis hit two batters to create a jam. With Roberts and Carlos Martinez on and only one out, Wade Davis replaced Mathis and struck out his only batter, Jesus Martinez. Thrasher came on for Gartner, but the Pacifics sent Mikey Ford instead, a right-handed batter, who fouled out on the first pitch. Bottom 8th, McKnight’s 1-out single chased Smith, with Angel Casas replacing him. Angel had already gotten an out in the series opener, now faced Nunley, who was the real danger here ahead of DeWeese. Angel had 36 K in 22.2 innings, but threw a wild pitch at 1-0, and McKnight moved to third on Nunley’s groundout. DeWeese didn’t strike out again, but his drive to right ended up with Thompson. Pesky Bergquist hit a leadoff double off Thrasher in the top of the ninth, but the Pacifics also stranded the go-ahead run on third base after Jaime Garcia’s fly out and consecutive K’s against Thompson and Irvin. Bottom 9th, Angel issued a leadoff walk to Margolis, who was run for by Petracek, while Denny batted for Thrasher. Things suddenly looked good – Denny singled to center, and Petracek made it to third base with nobody out and Cookie batting… who struck out. As did Duarte. Walter rolled out… to Bergquist.

This was as good a point as any to get hopelessly drunk. While I was picking through my bottles, the two closers went at another in the 10th and then 11th innings. Ramirez held Los Angeles away for two innings before Petracek hit a leadoff double off Arturo Lopez in the bottom 11th. Lopez left the game with an apparent injury, leaving things to Dusty Balzer and his 68 career saves (although this was not a save opportunity, not by far). Balzer threw only two pitches, the second of which was rammed off the rightfield wall by Mike Denny – Petracek scored to claim the series. 4-3 Raccoons. Margolis 1-1, 3 BB; Petracek 1-1, 2B; Denny (PH) 2-2, 2B, RBI; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Ramirez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (6-1);

Yup, this game was one by the runts of the litter. That’s four games like glue in a row, hopefully not a new trend.

In other news

June 4 – Bayhawks phenom OF Dave Garcia (.314, 13 HR, 35 RBI) has sprained an ankle and will miss two to three weeks.
June 4 – The Warriors’ RF/LF Mike Bednarski (.355, 5 HR, 24 RBI) will be out until the All Star Game with a fractured finger.
June 4 – TIJ SP Casey Hally (5-2, 3.15 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 6-0 shutout.
June 5 – NYC INF Sergio Valdez (.282, 5 HR, 25 RBI) is out for three weeks with a hamstring strain.
June 6 – With an 8-5 lead already blown and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, the Loggers’ Carlos Michel throws a 2-2 wild pitch to allow Roberto Hernandez to score as the Crusaders cash in a come-from-behind victory, 9-8.
June 7 – With the bases drunk in the bottom of the 10th inning, Pittsburgh’s John Watson drills pinch-hitter Justin Nickel (.237, 0 HR, 3 RBI) to hand the Buffaloes a 4-3 walkoff win.
June 8 – Atlanta deals SP Shaun Yoder (3-5, 4.50 ERA) to Dallas for 24-year old AAA SP David Jimenez, who is unranked currently but was up to #93 in prior years.
June 8 – More injury worries for the Bayhawks, as RF/1B Will McIntyre (.310, 4 HR, 19 RBI) will be out for three weeks at least with a herniated disc.
June 9 – Not one, but two blinding routs occur during interleague play as the Stars crush the Canadiens, 16-1, which is nothing at all against the 27-4 raping the Aces deal to the Buffaloes. The Aces, who have a 9-run and an 8-run inning, knock 23 hits and draw 16 walks.
June 10 – NAS 3B/2B Tony Fuentes (.321, 2 HR, 23 RBI) has broken his thumb and might be out for six weeks.
June 10 – The Bayhawks out-hit the Rebels, nine hits to three, but still suffer a 3-2 loss. Two of the Rebels’ three hits are home runs, while the Bayhawks hit seven singles.

Complaints and stuff

Despite a dull 25 runs in seven games this week, the Coons leeched away five wins from the taxing endeavor. Nope, they weren’t pretty to look at, and the offense continues to rank a sad eighth in the CL.

Ron Thrasher’s first earned run of the season thus came on June 5, and it was Alex Ramirez’ fault. Oh wonder.

Next week we’ll have series in Topeka and Indy sandwiched around the amateur draft. Indy is a curious case. They have lost 11 of their last 15 games, suffering from a case of not-hitting similar to the one that continued to afflict the Critters. In their dreadful spell, the Indians had scored precisely three runs per game, and that was including a 13-8 loss to the Falcons right at the start of the 15-game string.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-22) @ Buffaloes (27-35) – June 11-13, 2018

15 games out in the FL East, the Buffaloes were struggling with their pitching staff. They had the second-worst rotation in the Federal League, and the bullpen was not that much better, giving them the fourth-most runs allowed in the FL, while their offense could not make up for the damage. They were only eighth in runs scored, last in home runs, but first in stolen bases – if they ever got on base (11th in OBP, they were quite dangerous). The Raccoons had been swept the last time those two teams had faced another in 2015.

Projected matchups:
Ricky Mendoza (5-3, 4.12 ERA) vs. Mike Baker (5-2, 3.77 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (2-1, 3.80 ERA) vs. Alberto Molina (5-5, 4.06 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (9-2, 2.24 ERA) vs. Frank Guggenheim (2-4, 4.71 ERA)

They only have right-handed starters, so that’s that, but we should hurry up with the runs. They have three left-handed pitchers in the bullpen, including Luis Beltran (0-1, 3.81 ERA), who was a Raccoon from 2007 through 2011, although there’s only one full season in that string. He’s now 38, not having made his major league debut until 27 years of age. He was sent to Washington in the reliever flip integrated in the Cookie Carmona trade.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – SS McKnight – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – P R. Mendoza
TOP: 2B Hernandes – C J. Rodriguez – LF B. Adams – CF Sanborn – RF Piepoli – SS Gray – 1B Traylor – 3B Weber – P Baker

Back-to-back doubles by Tyler Gray and Zack Traylor to start the bottom of the second inning erased the run that the Raccoons had stumbled into in the top of the same frame, when DeWeese had reached base on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and scurried home from there when the Buffaloes figured that with two strikes on Denny and two outs, everything would be fine. Denny singled, but the lead was not forever. Nunley’s flyout to left stranded a full set of runners in the top 3rd, and in the bottom of the inning Ricky Mendoza also had the bases loaded, but with one out, having walked a pair for four walks total in the game. So much for the Buffaloes struggling to reach base… Gray bounced a ball back to the mound for Mendoza to get an out at home, but the inning continued when Gray beat out the throw to first. Zack Traylor found the gap with a liner into left center that became a bases-clearing double, and the Raccoons were 4-1 in arrears, which was nowhere near the final tally. Mendoza was stampeded for another four runs in the bottom of the fourth, with Saverio Piepoli’s 3-run bomb to left the final nail in his coffin.

In a twist, Mike Baker would not qualify for the win, getting hopelessly stuck in the fifth inning. He blew through 100 pitches as he loaded the bases with two outs, eventually issuing four walks of his own. Dave Flores replaced him, threw a wild pitch and walked DeWeese, but Denny rolled out to Gray at short to once again strand a full set of runners. They had another situation with the bases loaded in the seventh, this one with no outs after a Mendoza single and two walks issued by southpaw Bobby Dean. The score at that point was 9-2, so largely irrelevant, and Joey Mathews had replaced Ronnie McKnight at short for a mysterious injury the shortstop had suffered. DeWeese struck out (Jackson did not pinch-hit for him since he would not be able to take the field afterwards), but Denny singled to right center for two runs to score. They scored two more in the eighth on a Matt Nunley double, and that still wasn’t enough to get even reasonably close to the Buffaloes anymore. 9-6 Buffaloes. Walter 2-5, 2B; H. Mendoza 1-2, 3 BB; McKnight 2-3; Mathews 1-1, BB; Denny 2-5, 3 RBI; Schroeder 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

If Hugo Mendoza draws many more walks, I will choke him to death and collect insurance. Guy drives me absolutely nuts. Does he even know he’s in the middle of the order? Does he ever feel the urge to swing!? It is almost a month since his last home run!! His last dinger came on May 18!!

Continuing his season-long futility was also Cookie Carmona, who got six at-bats in the game and struck out, struck out, struck out, popped out, grounded out, and finally grounded out to end the game. At this point, we might have to consider the market for chopped-up pieces of him covered in chocolate.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P Nielson
TOP: 2B Hernandes – 1B Madrid – C Salas – RF Piepoli – CF Sanborn – LF Nickel – SS Humphres – 3B Weber – P Molina

Cookie and Duarte opened the game with singles to go to the corners, with Cookie scoring on Shane Walter’s grounder to first that was taken to second for a fielder’s choice by Willie Madrid. Mendoza then hit into a double play, staying useless at all cost. A Joey Mathews triple in the second came with two outs and found no takers, while the Buffaloes were on top of Nielson in the second inning. Robby Humphres’ single to left plated Piepoli with one out. Piepoli had hit a leadoff double to center, and Nielson had walked Justin Nickel. The inning ended on a K and a pop, but I had a bad feeling about this 1-1 contest… and within reason. Just like Mendoza the day before, Nielson managed to be 4-1 behind after three innings, courtesy of three more base hits including a 2-out, 2-run double by Justin Nickel, and the Buffaloes would just keep adding to that tally of theirs. Todd Sanborn was the only left-handed bat opposing Nielson, but raked a leadoff double off him in the fifth, and Nielson didn’t help himself by moving Sanborn to third with a wild pitch – his second such pitch on the day. That run scored, and another run scored in the sixth, although that was unearned after a Nunley error, which would not stay the only such error in the inning…….

Nope, this was not a fun game. I knocked myself out with some cheap fuel-based booze that made your stomach burn, your eyes wet, but erased all memories, while DeWeese just barely caught up with Nickel’s drive to left to end the bottom 6th with two men left on. Normal teams would create excitement by ripping three straight base hits off the opposing starter to begin the seventh inning, but while the Coons had two in scoring position and no outs, with the tying run at the plate after Mathews’ RBI double, that was DENNY at the plate, and the entire lineup was stuffed with DENNYS. Nickel could not catch up with Denny’s soft line to left, which fell for an RBI single, 6-4, runners on the corners, no outs. Margolis batted for Kaiser with the bench picked thin and hit a sac fly, 6-5. When Cookie stepped in, the skies opened. It had drizzled earlier in the second and third innings, but now it poured, and the tarp came onto the infield while the game went into an hourlong delay until that storm passed through. When play resumed, Cookie grounded out, Duarte doubled off Beau Barnaby, but Walter grounded to second for the last out, stranding runners in scoring position. The Buffaloes loaded the bases in both of the next two innings, first against Chun, then against Thrasher, and never scored an insurance run, which was absolutely BEGGING for a ninth-inning comeback, with the Coons unfortunately sending the bottom of the order against right-hander Lawrence Rivers and his 4.02 ERA. Mathews grounded out, Denny struck out, Eddie Jackson fouled out. 6-5 Buffaloes. Carmona 2-4; Duarte 2-4, 2B; Mathews 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Here would be a salty comment, but due to benzene poisoning I don’t feel like moving and might burst into flames any second. Let the games continue!

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 2B Petracek – P Toner
TOP: 2B Hernandes – 1B Madrid – LF B. Adams – RF Piepoli – C J. Rodriguez – CF Nickel – SS Humphres – 3B Weber – P Guggenheim

Duarte singled, stole second base, and scored on Mendoza’s triple to right in the first inning, as the Raccoons took the 1-0 lead for the third time in the series. So far they had held on to zero of those leads, and they needed Jonny Toner dearly to save them from yet another sweep at the hands of the Buffaloes. But… oh well. Marco Hernandes singled on Toner’s first pitch, stole second and reached third on Margolis’ ****ing up the throw which had to be contained by Duarte in center, and Willie Madrid’s single tied the game right away. Bill Adams also singled, with the go-ahead run scoring on a groundout by Piepoli. Toner threw a wild pitch before the nightmare was over, and the Raccoons now trailed even after the first inning, and trailed 4-1 an inning earlier than in the other games in the series. Toner walked a pair in the bottom 2nd, then allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Madrid and Adams. Bottom 3rd: Rodriguez singled, Nickel walked, Humphres singled, three on base and nobody out. Toner struck out Henry Weber before Guggenheim grounded into a double play, but WHAT THE **** WAS GOING ON???

With 64 pitches thrown through three absolutely terrible innings, Toner wasn’t going to get very far in this game, nor was his performance anybody wanted to witness for longer than absolutely necessary. There was an off day after this game, I was sure the bullpen would find a way to recover somehow from the four to six innings they had to pitch EVERY ****ING DAY. Top 5th, Petracek drew a leadoff walk. Toner bunted him over, but Cookie’s liner to right ended up with Piepoli. Then Duarte singled to score the runner, and Walter drew a walk. Two outs and the tying runs on for Mendoza, who was getting mighty close to a homerless month, but his absolutely morbid performance continued. He drew another one of his ****ing walks, and it was left to Nunley to fly out to Nickel in center to end the inning with three men stranded. By contrast, the Buffaloes bowled over the sorry remains of Toner in the bottom of the inning, starting with a Piepoli single and a Jose Rodriguez double. Both scored, and with Weber on first and two outs, even Guggenheim hit a single, the 11th of Toner on the day. That was the final straw to yank him. Wade Davis inherited runners on the corners, served up a 2-run double to left to Hernandes, and the score bloomed to 8-2. The Raccoons only managed six hits the entire game and were completely swept under the rug in a crushing sweep. 8-2 Buffaloes. Duarte 4-5, RBI;

Coming into the series, the Raccoons’ catchers – while having no other credentials at all – had thrown out runners at a 39% (Denny) and *60%* (Margolis) success rate. The Buffaloes took four bases from Denny on Tuesday, and Margolis had his own issues in this game, and were never thrown out even once.

The good news also just kept coming. The Druid left a note for me at the hotel reception in Indianapolis on Thursday night, not daring to tell me in person that Ronnie McKnight was out for the season with a torn back muscle.

We sent for Ricky Moya, a versatile defender, to join us from St. Petersburg, where he had hit absolutely nothing so far this season, while McKnight was terminally shunted to the DL, and I had a hunch that this also terminally shunted our entire season onto a dead track.

Raccoons (40-25) @ Indians (33-33) – June 15-17, 2018

The Indians weren’t quite over their recent spill and certainly weren’t scoring any run, so the potential for a series of 2-1 ballgames was high. Or maybe the Raccoons would get blown out 7-0 three times, because slowly but surely, all their tools seemed to disappear. They were ninth in runs scored (Coons: 8th, four runs ahead), and fourth in runs allowed (Coons: 1st, but for how much longer?). Indy also had a top 3 rotation since midweek when the Raccoons’ starters had imploded in absolutely every game against the Buffaloes and had dropped their starters’ ERA to fourth in the CL. The Raccoons so far had a paw up in the season series, which stood 3-1 in their favor.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (4-2, 2.32 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (4-4, 3.34 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (5-4, 4.92 ERA) vs. Felipe Ramirez (3-5, 4.57 ERA)
Damani Knight (1-1, 4.97 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (6-3, 1.66 ERA)

Broun was a left-hander, so Sunday could be written off for a multitude of reasons.

The Coons are not the only CL North team with a flock of injuries to starters. We had Abe, Brownie, and McKnight down, while they were long-term without John Wilson, Jong-beom Kym, and Aaron Nelson. The first two’s absence from the lineup was definitely felt, but we were only beginning to explore a Ronnie-less lineup for ourselves. Not to ignore the defensive impacts. We could certainly cover short, but we had nobody with the sterling glove that he possessed. Shane Walter was probably the starter at short, although Ricky Moya figured to get some playing time and if he hit at least .200, he could make a case for the job… Yup, standards are dropping. ANY guy that hits ANYTHING can have a job right now.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – LF DeWeese – C Denny – P Santos
IND: 1B O. Torres – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – C Garner – 2B Eason – 3B Dahlke – P Lambert

When Mathews hit a 3-2 pitch through the right side of the infield in the second inning, it scored Hugo Mendoza from second base. The Clawless Kitten had been hit by a pitch, and not actually hit a ball, but the Coons scored the first run of the game for the fourth time this week. So far they were 0-3, but here they went 3-0 when R.J. DeWeese cranked a homer to right on a 1-2 pitch by Lambert, his first dinger in almost two weeks (but Mendoza was going on four…). The lead was immediately cracked with Santos allowing hard contact more or less constantly. Randy Garner hit a single in the bottom 2nd, and Kym’s replacement Bobby Eason whacked a shot to left for a 2-run homer, 3-2. It only got worse after that. Nunley struck out to strand runners in scoring position in the top 3rd, an inning that had started with Carmona popping out on a 3-1 pitch. Santos also started facing the top of the order and simply didn’t retire anybody. He walked Oliver Torres, then allowed a single to Danny Morales, a double to Lowell Genge, and a single to Nick Gilmor, which gave the Indians a 4-3 lead with runners on the corners. Nunley took Raul Matias’ grounder for a double play, but that still scored another run. Santos sadistically hit a 2-out single in the top 4th to give the Coons runners on the corners with Mathews on third base, but Cookie grounded out to first on an 0-2 pitch.

Santos fudged his way through five, then was hit for in the sixth inning with Eddie Jackson, who had DeWeese on second and Denny on first with one out; both had hit singles off Lambert. Jackson got him beat as well as Morales in center with a long drive hit on 1-0 that reached the warning track and bounced off the wall for a double. Morales got a good bounce and Denny had to he stopped at third, bringing up an ice-cold Ricardo Carmona with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. It was certainly time for him to come through in any way – and he did! Lambert’s 112th pitch, a 1-0, was lined hard to shallow center, Denny scored, Jackson scored, and the Raccoons were up, 6-5! Jason Clements replaced Lambert, but the ground swallowed him whole. Duarte and the Tiger both hit RBI doubles, and Nunley’s bouncer eluded Eason for a single to right, with Mendoza scoring from second, completing a 6-run comeback for the Coons, who held a 9-5 lead, but had to find 12 outs from their constantly pestered bullpen. Matt Schroeder got only two outs while putting two men on, and Ron Thrasher got an early appearance with pinch-hitting switch-hitter Marcos Garza appearing in the #9 hole. Thrasher handled the seventh, but allowed a leadoff double to Nick Gilmor in the bottom 8th, his last scheduled batter anyway. Mathis replaced him and axed away the next three batters on a pop, a grounder, and a strikeout. Although this was not a save situation (and the Coons had not added anything in the late innings), the ball went to Ramirez in the bottom 9th, since he was the last vaguely rested guy in the pen. He held the Indians to a Danny Young single in the inning, thanks to the defense kindly helping out in form of Cookie’s mad dash after Tom Dahlke’s drive, and Nunley made a strong play on Morales’ quick bouncer to end the game. 9-5 Furballs. Carmona 2-5, 2 RBI; Duarte 2-5, 2B, RBI; Walter 2-5; H. Mendoza 2-4, 2B, RBI; Mathews 2-4, BB, RBI; DeWeese 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-3, 2B, RBI; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

There was a shakeup in the Indians rotation. Tristan Broun was moved up into the middle game, evicting Ramirez from there.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Walter – 2B Mathews – SS Moya – C Denny – P R. Mendoza
IND: 1B O. Torres – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – C Garner – 2B Eason – 3B Dahlke – P Broun

The Coons did NOT score the first run of the game! Matias hit a leadoff jack off Ricky Mendoza in the bottom 2nd to put the Indians 1-0 ahead, and Mendoza allowed two singles right after that, but a few poor pops kept the Indians in check and only 1-0 in front. With the Raccoons largely soul-searching against the tough Broun, Mendoza allowed two singles to Danny Morales and Lowell Genge to start the third, then threw a wild one past Denny in his bid to be absolutely no help whatsoever. Somehow, the Arrowheads got only one run out of runners on second and third with no outs, Gilmor’s sac fly to left plating that, before Matias flew out to center and Garner struck out. Bobby Eason’s homer made it 3-0 in the fourth while the Raccoons netted three hits, all singles in the first five innings against the dominant Broun. The nominal Tiger came up as the tying run in the sixth after a Cookie single and an error by Matias (gotta take what you gonna get), but struck out to end the inning. Somehow, the other Mendoza was even less embarrassing in his quest to get blown out, which he never accomplished. The Indians had runners on the corners in the bottom 7th with one out, and right-hander Danny Morales – embedded between left-handed batters – was Mendoza’s last man for sure. Morales’ hard grounder went right to Ricky Moya at short, and from there to second and first for an inning-ending double play, leaving Ricky Mendoza with a mildly palatable final result of three runs in seven innings, although he had deserved to be bled some more. Denny hit a leadoff single in the eighth, but Broun kept that run on first base the entire inning. Helio Maggessi replaced him in a save situation in the ninth inning. DeWeese batted for Jackson to start the inning and was the first of three very poor and very quick outs. 3-0 Indians. H. Mendoza 2-4;

Five hits, all singles. No Raccoon ever touched third base. I saw that coming, by the way.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – P Knight
IND: 1B O. Torres – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – C Garner – 2B Eason – 3B Dahlke – P F. Ramirez

Cookie singled, stole second, then was left to die in the first inning. Genge also tried to swipe a bag after walking in the bottom of the inning, but Margolis threw him out, giving him seven skulls of runners to hang on his belt out of the dozen that had run on him this season. The top of the third would see the Raccoons reach third base (yay!), despite the inning beginning badly with Duarte’s hard liner to center being caught by Morales. Walter then singled to right and Felipe Ramirez walked the next two to fill the bags for Mathews, who struck out, but DeWeese hit a liner to right center for a 2-run single. Damani Knight made the last out with a grounder to Eason after Margolis was walked intentionally, but he also made it through three innings with only one hit allowed, a Dahlke single, and the Raccoons were in business again in the top of the fourth. Cookie had another leadoff single, stole second again for 20 bags on the season, and went to third on Duarte’s infield single. Walter’s blooper to right fell in front of Gilmor, Cookie scored, 3-0, but the Kitten struck out. Nunley grounded out to first, moving the runners into scoring position for Mathews, who this time came through, splitting Morales and Gilmor with a liner for a 2-run double! Ramirez struck out DeWeese, but that was the last out he got. He was yanked after Margolis’ hard leadoff single to left in the fifth inning. Replacement Pablo Sanchez surrendered the run on a Cookie double, 6-0 in the middle of the fifth, which also as far as Damani Knight had a really good game. That ended in the bottom 5th with leadoff singles by Garner and Eason and a walk issued to Dahlke. Three on, nobody out, switch-hitter Marcos Garza in the box. Kid, ya gotta find a way outta there. We can’t have the pen pitch another half a game. DID YOU JUST WALK GARZA?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU LITTLE ****???

With that run shoved in, the pen went scurrying, but things actually improved when Oliver Torres sent a hard liner to left. DeWeese caught that, the Indians sent Eason, and DeWeese hammered him out at home plate, two outs in one go. And the inning WOULD have been over – if some Mendoza idiot at first hadn’t bumbled Morales’ grounder for an error. Two more runs ended scoring; one on the error itself, and another one on Genge’s single to right, before Gilmor flew out to center, the once formidable lead soiled down to 6-3, two runs unearned. Torres would then drop Eason’s throw on Mendoza’s grounder to start the top 6th with a free runner for Portland, as things descended into Little League ball, or worse than that. Mendoza stole second base and ended up scoring on Mathews’ single to center with one out, 7-3. Knight made it through a quick sixth, then put Dahlke on with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, but Domingo Ortega cleaned up with a grounder to short, 6-4-3. Knight then crapped out for good, issuing consecutive walks to Torres and Morales, and with the big left-handers coming up, Ron Thrasher was bothered and had to put down his comic book to do some work. The count on Lowell Genge ran full, but Genge froze on a 3-2 pitch at the knees and got rung up – inning over. Turned out, the Indians did not get another base runner. Thrasher struck out Gilmor to start the eighth before Chun got two outs. He would have gotten the ninth as well, but his spot came up to bat with Moya on base and two outs in the top 9th. Jackson struck out for him, but Chris Mathis retired the Indians in order in the bottom of the ninth. 7-3 Critters. Carmona 3-5, 2B, RBI; Walter 2-5, RBI; Mathews 2-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Moya (PH) 1-1;

Should Damani Knight be mentioned in the postgame dispatch? He went six and two thirds, and allowed only one earned run. The two unearned runs don’t score if Morales gets his **** together. However, he allowed five hits and five walks, and struck out none. He was covered in lucky clover leaves for this one.

In other news

June 12 – Sacramento’s 2B Ricky Luna (.283, 6 HR, 27 RBI) runs a hitting streak to 20 games with two hits in a 5-3 win over the Falcons.
June 12 – LAP CL Arturo Lopez (1-0, 0.81 ERA, 12 SV) is out for a year with a torn rotator cuff.
June 12 – The Crusaders-Wolves game sees both teams put up a 6-run inning, with the Crusaders also plating nine runs in the eighth inning to crush the Wolves, 19-8.
June 14 – The hitting streak of SAC 2B Ricky Luna (.280, 6 HR, 27 RBI) ends with a hitless day in a 3-2 defeat to the Wolves. Luna had hit in 20 straight games.
June 14 – After knocking another for nine runs each in the first seven innings, Canadiens and Loggers then hold still for the next seven innings. Sean McDermott’s (.211, 1 HR, 10 RBI) walkoff double hands the Loggers a 10-9 win in 15 innings.
June 14 – The Loggers send two minor leaguers to Atlanta to acquire RF Jimmy Raupp (.183, 5 HR, 18 RBI).
June 16 – Knights LF/CF Marty Reyes (.265, 9 HR, 37 RBI) is out for three weeks with torn ankle ligaments.
June 16 – For odd reasons, the Falcons suffer an 8-0 shutout at the hands of the Aces despite out-hitting them 9-6. Even weirder, the Aces score all their runs in the seventh inning, which sees them draw four walks in addition to four base hits.
June 17 – SFB INF Zach Ingraham (.283, 5 HR, 26 RBI) is bound to miss a month with a knee sprain.
June 17 – The Thunder trade SP Fernando Estrada (5-3, 3.23 ERA) to the Gold Sox for two prospects.

Complaints and stuff

Sean McDermott, who had that 15th-inning walkoff double against the Elks on Thursday, was Player of the Week in the CL, batting 14-for-30 with that lone RBI. For the season, he is batting a miserable .232, so perhaps there is some kind of thawing progress involved here.

Unpleasant week. The Buffaloes series was a complete blow to morale and my sanity. At least we recovered against the Indians, and the Crusaders went only 3-3, so the damage was limited. Next week the damage could be much more substantial as we return home for a 3-game set against the … Crusaders. Things will have to click then! I don’t expect a sweep, but we should take two of three to keep them off our backs.

Problem is, right now you don’t even know which Jonny Toner is going to show up. He has three games without allowing a run in his last six starts. Problem is, he also allowed 16 runs in the other three games combined. Wednesday was a real stinker…

The McKnight injury is a terrible blow and we can not cover for that loss. Even moving Shane Walter to short and Mathews to start at second, you lose both offense and defense. Moya is not even that great a defensive shortstop, but better than Walter. There aren’t any other strong options. The thing is, trading for a strong defensive shortstop will be impossible given our lack of prospects, and we have other holes on the roster, too. Might try and see whether Eddie Jackson is worth anything, because that’s the only piece I can see us cutting loose right now and it not immediately crushing us. The original plan was to trade for a starting pitcher given that three out of five of our starters right now are more or less duds, and that’s not a rate at which a playoff team can go at.

Uh boy, that’s gonna be a long summer…

[Westheim]

2018 AMATEUR DRAFT

Before you know it, the tears have got to be dried, because it is time for the draft. The Raccoons had the #21 pick in every round, plus a supplemental round pick.

We had already gone into the lack of interesting position players in the upcoming draft. There was a flock of pitching available, and we would probably pick a rather interesting pitcher at #21 than another dud outfielder we had no confidence in to begin with, and our track record in developing position players was grim, to say the least. The last meaningful position player to come out of the draft for the Coons had been Matt Nunley, a fourth round pick in 2010, #132 overall, so it was more of a lucky draw than skilled scoutie-pickie, and before that it was – heck I don’t know. Danny Sharp? Sounds about right.

We will only draft third basemen this year!

Here is our hotlist again, with * indicating high school players:

SP Antonio Moreno (12/12/12) *
SP Adam Garrett (12/15/15) *
SP Jimmy Jackson (12/15/9) * - BNN #5
SP Mark Morrison (12/12/13) *
SP Pete Molina (11/14/14) *
SP Markus Bates (14/12/11) *
SP Travis Giordano (13/12/11) *

INF Guillermo Obando (17/6/12) * - BNN #7
1B Lee Breidenbach (11/14/11)
INF Jeff Christiansen (14/8/9)

LF/RF/1B Luke Gross (5/15/15) * - BNN #3

The Titans opened the draft by selecting outfielder Adrian Reichardt, one of those top two that we didn’t have on our hotlist. The Wolves selected the extremely risky Luke Gross at #2, and Guillermo Obando went to the Capitals at #3, before the Buffaloes picked BNN #1 selection Chris Hollar, another outfielder at #4. The first pitcher wasn’t taken until #5, when the Stars selected Adam Garrett.

None of the four position players on our hotlist survived until our top pick (and it wasn’t particularly close). Only three pitchers remained: Moreno, Molina, and Bates. Gabriel Martinez considered the third pitches for both Moreno and Bates to be very much a work in progress, but Molina had a repertoire of four pitches and ended up his clear favorite. So be it! The Bayhawks would take Moreno right after us at #22, but Bates hung around for our supplemental round pick.

+++

2018 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#21) – SP Pete Molina, 19, from Ridgeland, MS – “Bad Moon” Molina is a right-hander throwing 92, but still filling out his frame. Fork, slider, and changeup are all usable, with the most potential on the changeup probably. Had good stamina and impressive control for a high school senior.
Supp. Round (#34) – SP Markus Bates, 18, from Bourbonnais, IL – mean slider, but this right-hander’s changeup is still very much a work in progress, and whether he can actually remain a starter remains to be seen.
Round 2 (#60) – CF/RF Dan McCoy, 17, from West Helena, AR – very agile contact hitter with the ability to find the gaps; very eager to find the gaps, to be honest, and he tends to swing at everything.
Round 3 (#84) – 1B John O’Quinn, 18, from Lake Worth, FL – here’s an oddity: a right-handed batting first baseman that is a base-stealing threat and also has power, but still can’t really field in a way that would help his team
Round 4 (#108) – OF Adrian Vandenburgh, 18, from Texas City, TX – agile outfielder with decent defense and a solid contact bat, but unfortunately no power, and whether his defense will be enough to be a worthwhile defensive centerfielder is doubtful at least
Round 5 (#132) – INF Randy Russell, 18, from Chantilly, VA – scouring the old 1862 battlefield for memorabilia for years as a teenager has left Randy with a keen eye and a lot of patience, which give him a high on-base percentage. Versatile defender, but his stick isn’t exactly a 20-pounder.
Round 6 (#156) – CL Marty Woodard, 20, from Chicago, IL – right-hander with a very good curveball that is a bit compromised (some might say wasted) by the straight 92mph heater.
Round 7 (#180) – INF John Morris, 18, from South San Francisco, CA – doesn’t have the strongest of arms, so realistically he might be a second baseman only, and even then the bat doesn’t impress a whole lot. Keeps missing, and doesn’t hit for power.
Round 8 (#204) – LF Cameron Allison, 18, from Downey, CA – another corner outfielder with not a lot of pop in the bat, and this one also doesn’t have the nice defense or speed that made Vandenburgh a valid pick in the fourth round…
Round 9 (#228) – C Lee Henkel, 21, from Henderson, NV – we could use another catcher in Aumsville.
Round 10 (#252) – SP Eddie Briggs, 19, from Mt. Venon, NY – things are getting thin down here; Eddie throws 89mph, mostly straight, and gets mostly forked himself by his fork…
Round 11 (#276) – CL Joe Nelson, 21, from Scotch Plains, NJ – southpaw throws three pitches, some of them sometimes for strikes; a 89mph fastball, a curve and a slider, and that might be enough to close in some beer league.
Round 12 (#300) – 2B/LF/RF/3B Kearney Lennon, 18, from Brighton, AL – versatile, I guess, but not excelling anywhere; some speed, but not too much; no power… if you wanted to say anything nice, then he really doesn’t strike out a lot and has a decent eye. It’s the left one.
Round 13 (#324) – SP Kris Mattingly, 19, from Oak Park, IL – another left-hander; throws 87, which is also about the distance in miles that the average fastball is hit for; if he could make the changeup that he is toying with work in some capacity, he might one day be good enough to throw batting practice … in instruction league.

This time, it was even hard to make a Nick Brown Memorial Pick in the 11th round.

All draftees were assigned to the Aumsville Beagles.

We also cleaned house once more. We already released Tom McNeela a few weeks ago to end that sad chapter in Raccoons lore, and now a few more former demi-prospects were cut to make room in the minors. Released were a sixth-rounder (MR Adan Nelson, 2014), two 11th-rounders (OF Tim Willey, 2013; MR Andy Trexler, 2016), and a 12th-rounder (OF John McGrew, 2017); also a few international signings (C Carlos Rosario, 2011, $10k; C Daniel Maynez, 2014, $15k) and a few nameless, faceless international discoveries. Even with that, we still have 94 players between the three minor league teams, excluding another three on the minor league DL.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (42-26) vs. Crusaders (37-32) – June 18-20, 2018

The Crusaders were in second place in the North and it would be in our best interest to not pull a Buffalo here, however, looking at their statistics you had to wonder why they were in second place at all. Both in runs scored and runs allowed they were barely better than average (we will ignore for the sake of argument that the Raccoons are nowhere near average in runs scored). Their run differential was only +21, which was not exactly impressive (Coons: +51). They were second in home runs (Coons: 11th -.-), but hardly ever stole a base (Coons: t-7th). The season series stood at 4-2 in favor of the Brownshirts.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (9-3, 2.88 ERA) vs. Hwa-pyung Choe (4-6, 4.99 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (2-2, 4.72 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (7-4, 2.90 ERA)
Hector Santos (5-2, 2.69 ERA) vs. Ted McKenzie (6-5, 3.86 ERA)

Looks like we might steer well clear of “Midnight” Martin (5-4, 2.04 ERA), who is the unluckiest sod in the league judging by his record, taking that title from serial winner Hector Santos. The Crusaders also had a number of DL cases, most prominently William Waggoner, who had gone down after only ten games to a knee injury, but would be back before the end of the month, and Sergio Valdez, the Cuban hotshot that was the #1 candidate for ROTY honors. The infielder would miss another week with a strained hammy.

All their starters are right-handers, so maybe another Tristan Broun-sized misadventure can be averted.

Game 1
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – 1B Gilbert – C Roland – RF Richards – SS M. Salinas – CF Brissett – 2B Casillas – P Choe
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Moya – P Toner

Four batters in, and Jonny Toner was about ready to get an apple stuffed in his mouth and get roasted. Jens Carroll hit a hard single to right, Ray Gilbert hit a hard double to left, and Cory Roland came up with a hard single to center – Martin Ortíz had struck out. That gave the Crusaders a run and runners on the corners. Ron Richards also whacked the ball hard, but right to Shane Walter, who turned the double play. So far the damage wasn’t permanent; while the Coons’ top of the order was still snoozing, Matt Nunley’s solo home run in the second inning tied the game, but you couldn’t help but notice that Jonny Toner really didn’t pitch like Jonny Toner for the second straight game and three out of four. He walked Ortíz in the third, and in the fourth allowed a leadoff single to Roland, threw a wild pitch, and walked Miguel Salinas before Amari Brissett (batting a grim .097) grounded to Walter for another double play. Maybe the Coons could do something on offense? Mendoza led off the bottom 4th with a single to right, then stole second base, giving him four bags for the year. Nunley grounded to the side of the mound, where Choe knocked it down, but stumbled, and the Crusaders had no play on anybody as Nunley was safe with an infield single and the runners were on the corners. DeWeese struck out, but Mike Denny hit a soft line over Ray Gilbert for an RBI single, taking the lead, and while Moya failed, Jonny Toner ripped a 3-2 pitch to right center for a 2-out RBI single before Cookie grounded out poorly to keep it at 3-1. The bottom of the order held more surprises in the bottom 6th, with Nunley drawing a leadoff walk, DeWeese coming up with a single, and then Denny lined up the leftfield line for an RBI double. With first base open, but no outs, Ricky Moya was walked intentionally to pull up Toner, who had not allowed a base runner in the last two innings and still had some mileage allowance before being brought in for mandatory service, so he batted damn sure. He hit a mighty deep fly off a 2-2 pitch by Choe, pretty deep to center – but Brissett caught up with it. Still, it was a sac fly, moving the score to 5-1. Cookie walked, but Duarte grounded into a force at home and Walter rolled out to Tony Casillas to end the inning. Jonny completed seven despite a walk to Ron Richards in that last inning. The Coons’ pen conceded a run in the eighth, which was started by Wade Davis, who got two outs before Ortíz rolled a single through the right side. Mathis replaced him, but surrendered a huge RBI double to ****ing Ray Gilbert before Roland grounded out to Nunley, but Alex Ramirez retired the side in the ninth on three grounders to second base. 5-2 Furballs! Nunley 3-3, BB, HR, RBI; Denny 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (10-3) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

Okay, it ended up like a Jonny start, but it sure didn’t start like one. The first four innings were borderline maddening, but he allowed only that Richards walk in the last three frames. Double-digit winner in June!

It is now exactly one month since Hugo Mendoza hit a home run…

Game 2
NYC: 2B Casillas – SS M. Salinas – 1B Gilbert – C Pino – 3B P. Cruz – RF R. Hernandez – LF Richards – CF S. Young – P Weise
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Hudman – P Nielson

The Crusaders sat Martin Ortíz against the tough left-hander the Coons had found in the budget bin at the penny market, and they were rewarded with three straight 2-out singles in the first inning, giving them another instant 1-0 lead. It only got worse for Nielson, who walked Richards to start the second inning, and never got on track. Sean Young singled, Weise bunted successfully, and Casillas’ single to right scored a pair before another single and another walk loaded the bases. They weren’t loaded for long; Nielson’s first pitch to Bartholomeu Pino was wild, plating Casillas. Two pitches later, Pino flew out to right, Salinas went for home, but was thrown out by Cookie, ending the inning with a 4-0 deficit. DeWeese’s 2-run homer in the bottom 2nd kept the Coons close, and they actually loaded the bases with straight 2-out singles by Hudman, Nielson(!), and Cookie, but Duarte flew out to Roberto Hernandez to leave the full set stranded.

Nielson ended up making it through five, though mostly on defense. Brock Hudman turned him a direly needed double play in the third, and Nunley had a strong grab and wonderful in-turn throw to get a key out in the fifth. Offensively, Nunley was one of several Raccoons (including Walter and Mendoza) that fell just short of homers between the third and fifth – all had their drives caught on the track. Cookie hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 5th, but was thrown out at home by Hernandez on Duarte’s pop to shallow right. After a few calm innings, Mendoza was the tying run at the plate in the bottom 8th as he batted against Weise with one out. Walter was on first after a single, and Mendoza missed a homer narrowly again, but this time the ball fell into depths of centerfield, having outdistanced Sean Young out there. Mendoza had a double and the tying runs were in scoring position for Nunley, who had been perfect on Monday, but was batting zip in this game. He ended up with a 4-pitch walk, bringing up DeWeese, but the Crusaders still stuck to Weise rather than sending a left-hander. DeWeese hit the first pitch hard … to Casillas, to Salinas, to Gilbert. Inning over, and Adam Riddle quickly ended the game in the ninth. 4-2 Crusaders. Carmona 2-4, 3B; Walter 2-4, 2B; Jackson (PH) 1-1; Hudman 2-4;

Nielson lasted five and two thirds after that horrible start, which saved his bacon from demotion. Although, to be fair, I don’t know where to find another starting pitcher. Our next-best option might be that 29-year old career washout, Charlie Cooper. – What is that, Maud? – COOPER, COGGER, WHO GIVES A ****?? – No, Maud, I am just… it’s… I am bad with names.

Is Maud’s name actually Maud? We’ll never know. Next up, Henrique Santiago.

Game 3
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – 1B Gilbert – C Roland – RF Richards – SS M. Salinas – CF R. Hernandez – 2B Casillas – P McKenzie
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P Santos

Although Santos created a mess of his own in the first inning, walking Ortíz and then putting Gilbert on with his own throwing error, the Crusaders didn’t score after a pop by Roland and Richards’ grounder to first. Gilbert then committed a wild throwing error that put Cookie on second base to start the bottom 1st, prime scoring opportunity here, and Duarte immediately cashed in with a single to right. McKenzie walked the bases full before Nunley flew to Richards in right. Now, we knew Richards’ mighty arm quite well, but the pop took him back a bit, and thus Duarte was send. That ball came in real fast however and Roland got served with Duarte still ten feet away. A violent collision knocked Roland on his back, the ball rolled out of his glove, and Duarte was ruled safe. After DeWeese’s pop to short, Mathews and Denny hit back-to-back 2-out doubles to pump up the volume on McKenzie, who sat in a 5-0 hole, THEN couldn’t dig out Santos’ grounder that the clubfooted pitcher ran out for an infield single. Cookie found the gap with a liner to right center for an RBI double, and he would have had a triple if not for the clubfooted pitcher ahead of him that had a great future in a second career as roadblock. Merciless Alex Duarte singled hard to right and up the line. Richards held him to a single, but the two runs scored. When Walter grounded out, the Coons had routed McKenzie for an 8-spot (with seven unearned runs), and now the cruising could begin!

Unfortunately panic arose as early as the third inning, when the Crusaders had the bags full and nobody out thanks to Pedro Cruz’ pinch-hit single, a walk to Jens Carroll, and Ortíz getting plunked. The Purple Poopers managed to score three on three RBI singles by Gilbert, Richards, and Salinas, spilling spots of concern over the party that had just started. With the Raccoons complacent and managing one hit from the second through the fifth inning, at least Santos reeled himself in and delivered scoreless middle innings before reaching 100 pitches during Carroll’s at-bat, which ended with a strikeout that ended the sixth. Duarte hit a 1-out single in the bottom 6th, moved up on Walter’s groundout, but Mendoza’s liner to left was caught on the run by Ortíz. Yet, the pen should be able to collect nine outs before blowing five runs, right? What’s that noise? Oh, Martin Ortíz just went deep off Seung-mo Chun to start the seventh. While Chun, Thrasher, and Schroeder eventually got two outs apiece to complete eight, the Raccoons had men on in the bottom 7th and 8th with chances to get the game over with, but both times hit into double plays, DeWeese and Duarte the culprits. Jason Kaiser ended the game with a quick ninth to prevent hard feelings from cooking up. 8-4 Critters. Carmona 3-5, 2B, RBI; Duarte 3-5, 3 RBI;

This series win propped the Coons up by 6 1/2 in the North over the Crusaders. The rest of the division was huddled tightly together, between 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 back as of Wednesday night.

Jimmy Oatmeal passed Mendoza for the CL RBI lead on Wednesday. Maybe, Hugo, you should hit one of those… ugh, how are they called again? Dome sun? Something like that. I don’t know anymore because you haven’t hit one since the day the music died.

Raccoons (44-27) @ Falcons (23-50) – June 22-24, 2018

Now, there was miserable team. Third from the bottom in runs scored, and right at the bottom in runs allowed, the Falcons had some major issues, like most .315 teams have. Their rotation was getting absolutely shelled, running a by far league-worst 5.88 ERA. Even a semi-decent bullpen wasn’t going to help them any. However, despite being horrible and having a -123 run differential in June, the Falcons had taken two of three from the Coons in their first series of the year, so we were warned…

Projected matchups:
Ricky Mendoza (5-5, 4.83 ERA) vs. Victor Arevalo (2-11, 6.72 ERA)
Damani Knight (2-1, 4.22 ERA) vs. Bobby Guerrero (7-7, 3.92 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (10-3, 2.77 ERA) vs. Alex Vallejo (4-10, 6.94 ERA)

First, they only had right-handers. Second, Vallejo actually shut out the Bayhawks on six hits on Monday. And his ERA is still almost seven.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P R. Mendoza
CHA: SS Good – LF Huibregtse – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 2B B. Reyes – RF Pearcy – 3B R. Martinez – P Arevalo

Arevalo had 60 walks in 83 innings pitched, and danced around disaster in the first inning. Cookie singled and got washed up on Duarte’s double play to Matt Good before Walter singled, Hugo Mendoza got whacked, and Nunley walked on four pitches, only for DeWeese to pop out to Bob Reyes, and Reyes also handled Walter’s grounder that stranded another three runners without scoring success in the second inning. The Coons went on to have the bases ****ing loaded again in the third inning with no ****ing outs. Mendoza had reached on Reyes’ error, Nunley had hit an infield single, and DeWeese had properly singled to center. I would suggest scoring now before the Agitator goes into print. Two runs ended up coming in; Joey Mathews walked in a full count, and Denny hit a sac fly to Erik Pearcy in right. Mendoza popped out, and Cookie rolled it over to Reyes. The lead was blown right away by Nunley, who made an error that allowed Ricardo Martinez (yeah, that one) on base to start the bottom 3rd, and then Arevalo hit a ****ING TRIPLE to leftfield, and scored on Good’s groundout to short to knot the score. The Falcons were way closer to toppling Ricky Mendoza by the fourth inning than the Coons were to any run, and they had two on thanks to leadoff singles by Pat Fowlkes and Reyes, but somehow found a way to not score. Pearcy popped up in the critical spot with nobody out.

R.J. DeWeese had enough of the bases-loaded bull****. He drew a leadoff walk in the fifth (Arevalo’s fifth against no strikeouts) and moved to second when Mathews was plunked. When Denny singled to center, DeWeese ignored the stop sign at third base and scored because Ryan Feldmann actually thought he would stop and didn’t throw the ball in with vigor. Ricky Mendoza bunted the runners to scoring position for Cookie, who bounced one back to the mound on the first pitch. At least Duarte still was productive, sometimes, and hit an RBI single to left. Walter flew out, but the lead was restored at 4-2. At least until Ricky Mendoza walked the bases full with nobody out in the bottom of the inning. Good news: the Falcons were even more inept than the Coons when it came to three on, no outs. Feldmann hit an RBI single to center, but that was it. Fowlkes struck out, and Reyes hit into a double play, leaving the Coons up 4-3. Top 6th, bases loaded for Denny with one out (which had been Hugo Mendoza whiffing to open the frame). Nunley had walked, and two singles had filled the sacks for the catcher, who was unretired on the day, but grounded to third. Martinez’ only play was at first base, but the Falcons should be glad he made ANY play. One run scored, 5-3, and Arevalo was yanked after that. With right-hander Blake Parr relieving him, Ricky Mendoza’s day was just as over. Eddie Jackson hit for him, and the Raccoons would tear in Parr in half before the inning was over. Jackson hit a grounder right through Ricardo Martinez, who had been a defensive liability even ten years ago and that had not gotten better in the meantime. Two runs scored before Cookie singled and Parr threw a wild pitch to Duarte, moving the runners to scoring position again. Fowlkes missed Duarte’s grounder to right, and another two runs scored. Walter grounded out, but the lead was now substantial, 9-3. Wade Davis was brought in, hoping for a good long outing, but while he pitched a clean sixth, the Falcons rapped him for two runs in the seventh and Mathis had to dig him outta there. On the topic of outta there, outta there, Hugo Mendoza hit a deep drive to right in the top of the seventh, but Pearcy caught it against the fence.

Himself, Pearcy hit a leadoff triple off Mathis in the bottom 8th and scored on Martinez’ groundout. This moved the Falcons back into save range, and Thrasher retired the left-handed Chris Puckett and Matt Good to put an end to the inning. The top 9th began with Duarte grounding out against Jose Cappelletti in his second inning of work, but then the Coons flocked onto the bags again. Walter singled to right, Mendoza walked. Margolis hit for Thrasher as the pitcher’s spot had arrive in the #5 hole vacated by Nunley after two double switches (Cookie had been removed earlier in a 9-3 game) and sent a looper up the leftfield line that Puckett couldn’t catch up with for an RBI single that put the Coons into double digits. DeWeese walked, bringing up Mathews with the bases loaded once more. He ripped Cappelletti’s first pitch to deep right and into the corner, clearing the bases with a triple. Jackson ended up plating Mathews with a 2-out single to center, the final note in this rout that saw the Raccoons put up two separate 5-spots. 14-6 Raccoons! Carmona 2-5; Duarte 3-5, BB, 3 RBI; Walter 2-6; Margolis (PH) 1-1, RBI; DeWeese 2-4, 2 BB; Mathews 4-4, BB, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI; Jackson (PH) 2-3, 3 RBI;

This eventually entertaining, but initially irritating game saw the most runs scored by the Coons in a game this season. They had put up 10 and 11 runs once each previously, with both games also seeing crummy pitching. They had beaten the Stars 10-9 in early May, and the Crusaders 11-8 in a game in April.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 2B Mathews – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Moya – P Knight
CHA: SS Good – LF Huibregtse – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 2B B. Reyes – RF Pearcy – 3B R. Martinez – P B. Guerrero

The Falcons rallied for four hits and two runs off Damani Knight in the first inning. Matt Good initially reached on an infield single, while the other three hits were all liners to the outfield. The Coons didn’t get a hit until Moya’s leadoff single in the third. He scored on Cookie’s triple to center, but Cookie was then stranded on third when Duarte rolled out to first and Walter struck out. The Coons flipped the score when Hugo Mendoza (who was not worthy of the nickname Tiger) reached on an infield single, which set up Mathews to do the slugging thing, and he mashed a 2-run shot to right that was no doubt outta here, outta here. The joy was short-lived. While DeWeese walked, he never got off first, and Damani Knight was blown up in the bottom of the inning. The only out he logged was Guerrero’s bunt, and that came after four straight hits to start the inning, and three runs to give the Falcons a 5-3 lead. Ricardo Martinez had the go-ahead, 2-run single, which hurt especially. Jason Kaiser replaced him, walked Good, and conceded Martinez on Huibregtse’s fly to left, 6-3.

The tying run was up in the sixth, aided by a Martinez error, with Denny batting with one out and the Coons on first (DeWeese) and second (Mathews). While Denny hit one pretty high to center, Feldmann had no problem to catch that, and Moya popped out to short. Walter led off the eighth with a crisp single to center, bringing up Mendoza against the left-hander Johnny Watson. Oh well, so he strikes out, so what. A resounding thump sent a 1-2 pitch soaring to right center, up, up, up it goes, UP AND OUTTA HERE!!! While that still left the Coons short by a run, perhaps Mendoza enjoyed the experience and would hit one like that more often now. The Falcons now recycled their bullpen at accelerated speed. Blake Parr was in for one batter, with a walk issued to Mathews, and then Jimmy Van Meter came out for DeWeese. This was another southpaw, and Eddie Jackson hit for DeWeese and struck out. Mitch Onley replaced Van Meter right away, with Nunley unfortunately already spent. Petracek hit for Denny in a mad bid to counter their pitchers, also struck out, and Moya didn’t fare any better. Alex Ramirez needed work and was put into the bottom 8th, which he instantly lost control over. He walked Pearcy, who got forced on a bad bunt by Martinez, and Puckett flew out, but with two outs the Falcons raked him for three hits and two runs, those scoring on Adrian Quebell’s pinch-hit 2-run double to center. 8-5 Falcons. H. Mendoza 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Mathews 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; DeWeese 1-2, BB; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

It had been a maddening 34 days. I don’t have to say more, you know what took 34 days to happen.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – SS Mathews – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 2B Hudman – P Toner
CHA: SS Good – LF Huibregtse – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – 1B Fowlkes – 2B B. Reyes – RF Pearcy – 3B R. Martinez – P Vallejo

Cookie stole second base after being plunked to open the contest, but was stranded by the middle of the order. He drew a 1-out walk in the third, stole second base again, Duarte rolled out to first, and Nunley missed twice against Vallejo before he didn’t miss and fired a 2-run homer to right for the first runs of the game. This came after both Holliman and Reyes had narrowly missed home runs off Toner in the first two innings. DeWeese also missed a round-tripper rather narrowly, having to settle for an RBI double in the fourth that rammed off the wall and scored Mathews after his leadoff single to left, but DeWeese was no scored. Margolis fouled out, Hudman flew out to shallow center, and while Toner walked, Fowlkes barely knocked down Cookie’s bouncer to first and scrambled to the bag just in time to end the inning. A Hudman error created a tight spot for Toner in the bottom 4th, with two on and one out, but he exited the inning on two well-placed grounders.

Top 5th, Nunley and Mendoza came up with 1-out singles and moved to scoring position on a wild pitch. Mathews’ fly to center was good enough for a sac fly, running the score to 4-0, and the Coons reached 5-0 when Danny Margolis homered to left off Vallejo in the sixth inning. Toner’s shutout bid ended when Good tripled into the rightfield corner to start the bottom of the sixth. Huibregtse grounded out to short, but that was good enough to plate Good, 5-1. Toner struck out Holliman to get through 5 2/3 on 70 pitches before he somehow lost it between batters. He walked Feldmann, threw a wild pitch at 2-1 to Fowlkes, walked him, and then exited on Bob Reyes’ grounder to third, but he then had a calm seventh. Still up by four, Mathews opened the eighth with a bloop double to left off Cappelletti. DeWeese was walked intentionally to get to Margolis, who – did they remember? – had homered in his previous at-bat. He fell 0-2 behind before sending a drive to center, Feldmann missed it, and it fell in for an RBI double, 6-1. Hudman’s grounder and Toner’s fly to left both scored the remaining runners. Toner didn’t finish the bottom 8th, striking Holliman hard in the arm with two outs. That plate appearance moved him over 100 pitches and Wade Davis broke from the pen to hopefully get four outs in an 8-1 game. Feldmann grounded out to at least ended this inning, and he got two outs in the ninth before he walked Pearcy. Martinez sent a deep drive to left, but DeWeese was alert and got to the track in time to end the game. 8-1 Raccoons! Nunley 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Mathews 3-4, 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Toner 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (11-3) and 0-2, BB, RBI; Davis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

In other news

June 18 – The Blue Sox open their game with the Buffaloes with a 9-spot in the first inning and never let up, claiming a 16-3 victory. NAS LF Roger Allen (.247, 2 HR, 14 RBI) has four hits in the game, including a double and leading all participants, plates two and scores three times.
June 19 – A wild pitch by the Cyclones Dave Walk plates Pittsburgh’s Joe Chappelle in the top of the 13th inning. It is the first run of the game, and a triple by PIT SS Tom McWhorter (.274, 9 HR, 35 RBI) and a single by Travis Bahner will eventually hand the Miners a 3-0 win in 13 innings.
June 22 – PIT SP Miguel Rodriguez (2-3, 5.13 ERA) is out for the season with a stretched elbow ligament.
June 23 – BOS 1B Steve Butler (.260, 9 HR, 43 RBI) chips a single in a 13-pitch battle against the Aces’ Juan Valdevez for his 2,000th career base hit. Butler, 33, is a 4-time All Star and spent most of his career with the Miners until coming over to Boston in 2015. He led the FL in base hits and home runs twice (in different seasons) and is a career .312/.376/.499 batter with 237 HR and 1,033 RBI.
June 23 – The Cyclones’ LF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.341, 18 HR, 44 RBI) will miss a week with a mild hamstring strain.
June 23 – A double by ATL OF Jeffrey Walrath (.222, 3 HR, 11 RBI) allows Gil Rockwell to score the first run of the Knights’ game with the Indians, giving the Knights a 1-0 walkoff in the bottom of the 14th inning.
June 23 – Despite leading the Miners 11-0 in the middle of the fourth, the Warriors almost melt away at the end. The Miners plate two in the fourth, three in the sixth, and six in the eighth, and end up beaten by a tack-on run the Warriors score in the fifth inning, 12-11. Despite 23 runs on 39 hits, no player on either side reaches four hits, RBI, or runs scored.
June 24 – LAP SP Fred O’Quinn (7-3, 2.15 ERA) dominates the Rebels, conceding just two hits in an 11-0 rout.
June 24 – The Canadiens walk off against the Condors, 6-5, after trailing heading into the bottom of the ninth when Brian Gilbert throws a wild pitch that allows Jose Gutierrez to score.

Complaints and stuff

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The offense was certainly surging this week, as the guys plated 42 runs to mostly out-do mostly crummy pitching (25 runs allowed), and it looks like Joey Mathews is trying to make the most of the opening created by McKnight’s unfortunate demise. He batted .643 (9-for-14) with 1 HR and 9 RBI (!!) this week to be anointed Player of the Week in the CL.

Hugo Mendoza reclaimed the RBI lead with the home run on Saturday, his first since time immemorial. Seeing Jimmy Oatmeal lead the league in anything makes me feel uneasy. There was one batting prospect that we cut too early. Okay, it took him forever to develop into a factor in the lineup, but … hmmz!!

Paws up if you’re sick of Ryan Nielson and Damani Knight. – Thought so. Well, too bad, because they’re sticking.

I tried trading for a serviceable starting pitcher to shore up the rotation, but we really don’t have the buying power to get anybody that isn’t of the Ricky Mendoza mold. Our farm is completely empty thanks to the Arguello injury, and we don’t have a good spare-anything just tumbling around the 25-man roster waiting to be dealt. Like I said, Eddie Jackson is the one thing we could readily part with, but he’s not attracting attention. Looked at NAS Diego Mendoza Jr. (which would give us three Mendozas on the roster), MIL Michael Foreman, CIN Gavin French and Brian Doumas, and WAS Cole Pierson – no chance to get any of those, and none of them are exactly challenging for Pitcher of the Year honors.

You might wonder what offseason acquisition Tim Prince is doing. After batting .179 early on in the season and being demoted to St. Petersburg, Prince has batted .220 there in an attempt to get a chance to be released and enroll at his local community college to become an accountant sooner rather than later. He was placed on the DL this week with an intercostal strain, but this should not take longer than two weeks to heal.

We have begun the usual long string of games before the All Star break, with 17 games without an off day looming. We will return home now to play the Thunder and Elks. The week before the All Star Game we’ll be on the road again, facing the Loggers and Titans. The Loggers are our four-and-four partners and we’ll face them at home after the All Star Game. This is a very comfortable stretch of games, with no team currently over .500 by a meaningful amount. It would be nice to pad the lead before the middle of July.

Also mind the 2007 Coons that led by 10 1/2 games on June 26 and were passive onlookers when October rolled around.

Note: I only worked on Monday and will be at home straight through Easter Monday, and there should be time for a daily update unless things turn south real hard, or this thing here swallows me whole without me even noticing: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/ultim...ral-civil-war/

Bare with me.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (46-28) vs. Thunder (28-47) – June 25-27, 2018

There was another horrendous sub-.400 team from the South, but the overall numbers weren’t quite as grim for the Thunder as they had been for the Falcons. Yeah well, they had the fewest runs scored in the Continental League, but their pitching was almost decent, and they had a really good bullpen. And those least runs scored had a certain factor of being unlucky to them, because they actually weren’t near the bottom of the league in any one major batting category, f.e. they were ninth in average and seventh in home runs. They hit more dingers than the Critters! Those Critters held a 2-1 advantage in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Nielson (2-3, 4.73 ERA) vs. Brian Furst (6-9, 5.59 ERA)
Hector Santos (6-2, 2.80 ERA) vs. Brendan Teasdale (3-11, 4.94 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (6-5, 4.75 ERA) vs. Jorge Gine (4-6, 3.35 ERA)

That’s three more right-handed pitchers to contend with, and so far the chances look also in favor of avoiding the Elks’ C.J. Fishel on the weekend.

Like I said earlier, we’re in the 17-game string ahead of the All Star Game. There will be mandatory days of rest as we get closer to the end of this week, except for Nunley and Walter, who had already a day off on the weekend. However, as I’m trying to weave in Ricky Moya to see whether he can bat his weight (which so far is not the case), there might be a few more off days sprinkled around our starting infielders anyway, especially with Joey Mathews swinging a hot stick recently.

Game 1
OCT: CF J. Stevenson – 2B Farias – LF Cisneros – 1B Manfull – 3B Ruggeri – SS Janes – C Kizziar – RF Hiscock – P Furst
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 2B Mathews – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – P Nielson

Erik Janes livened up a miserable season of batting .211 with no home runs when he dingered off Nielson in the second inning for the first run of the game. Both teams had stranded a man on second base in the first, but no such thing happened in the second inning. The Coons took a 2-1 lead in the bottom 2nd on a pair of solo home runs by Nunley and Denny, and in the bottom of the third their 1-2-3 guys opened with 1-2-3 singles, loading the bases with no outs. Given that Hugo Mendoza came up with another single for an RBI right away, Furst eventually got off easy, retiring Mathews on a foul pop before allowing another run on Nunley’s single to right center. DeWeese struck out, Denny grounded out to short, leaving the score at 4-1. While Nielson struck out the side in the top of the fourth and hit a leadoff double and scored in the bottom of the same inning, we found the 5-1 lead to still be leaving things to be desired. F.e. it was not Nielson-proof. Bill Hiscock hit a leadoff single in the fifth, but Nielson forced him on a bad bunt by Furst. With one out and a runner on first, things collapsed rapidly for Nielson, who plated the first run with another single and a wild pitch, then walked Javy Cisneros, and fell to a bombastic line drive by B.J. Manfull to centerfield that rammed off the wall for a 2-run double. D.J. Ruggeri singled him in to tie the game. Janes’ single led to Nielson eviction, with Wade Davis replacing him and striking out Eric Kizziar to finally end the goddamn inning.

In the 5-5 tie, enter Matt Nunley, who led off the bottom of the fifth and ripped another homer to right to give the Coons a new lead, 6-5. The following inning, Furst’s replacement was left-hander Nick Lombardo, who allowed a leadoff single to Cookie, who got forced when Duarte grounded to short. Walter singled, Mendoza walked on four pitches, and the bags were full for Mathews, who was hitless so far in the game. Josh Stephenson caught his drive to deep center, but while it was enough for a sac fly, it was the only run for the Coons in the inning. Nunley walked, and Jackson, hitting for DeWeese, flew out to Stevenson as well. While Wade Davis and Jason Kaiser both logged five scoreless outs against the Thunder, the Coons almost let a leadoff triple by Alex Duarte in the eighth get away. Walter grounded out to third, Mendoza struck out. It took Danny Margolis pinch-hitting for Kaiser in the #5 hole to get the run in with a 2-out single to center. That run came pretty damn close to being worth Margolis’ weight in gold, as while Alex Ramirez retired Stephenson to start the ninth, he then walked Emilio Farias on four pitches and Javy Cisneros hit a HUGE fly to left. Cookie had slotted over after DeWeese’s removal and made a mad dash for it, catching the ball right against the wall. The game ended when Manfull grounded out to Walter at second base. 8-5 Raccoons. Carmona 3-5; Duarte 2-5, 3B, RBI; Walter 3-5, 2B; Margolis (PH) 1-1, RBI; Nunley 3-4, BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Davis 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-1); Kaiser 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

That rotation… exclude Toner and Santos for a moment, and then you have the staff of a last-place team trying desperately not to fold before August. Nielson and Damani Knight now had matching 5.35 ERA’s, and Mendoza would get a chance to catch up in this very series. The question whether Charlie Cooper would be called up anytime soon was not that hard to answer, the actual question was which of the skunks would be dumped.

By the way, did you realize that Alex Ramirez tied for second place in wins on this team?

Game 2
OCT: CF J. Stevenson – 2B Farias – LF Cisneros – 1B Manfull – C Parks – RF Struck – 3B Ruggeri – SS Read – P Teasdale
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 2B Mathews – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – P Santos

Seven innings of 2-run ball was all I hoped for from Santos, although with Brenda opposing him and that weird thing where former third-rate ex-Raccoons work some unholy magic against the Raccoons years and years and years later could well mean that that would still net the Coons a 2-1 loss. That particular scenario didn’t happen, fortunately, because while Santos sat down the Thunder in order the first time through, the Coons got a 3-0 lead on two homers, a solo shot by Shane Walter in the first, and then a 2-piece by Alex Duarte in the third inning. Two more runs scored in the bottom 4th. DeWeese initially singled, moved up on Denny’s groundout, and Santos struck out. Cookie’s 2-out single plated DeWeese, Duarte also singled, and Walter hit another single to center to plate Cookie, 5-0. Inexplicably, the Thunder did not hit for Brenda when her spot came up in the fifth inning with two down and the bags packed. Manfull’s single to center had been the first instance of anybody reaching against Santos after 12 straight outs to start the game, and he had then walked Jalen Parks and allowed a 2-out single to Howard Read. Predictably, this didn’t end well for the Thunder, with Teasdale easily flying out to DeWeese in left. Santos’ spot also came up with two outs and then two on in the bottom of the inning. He singled to left off Teasdale, loading the bases, and Brenda’s suffering wasn’t over until after an RBI single by Cookie and bases-loaded walk issued to Duarte. Jose Medina relieved Teasdale, got a grounder from Walter to second base, but it was real slow one, and Farias couldn’t make a play. RBI infield single, 8-0, and then – predictably! – Mendoza struck out, finally ending the Thunder’s ordeal.

Bad blood arose when Santos, still up 8-0, beaned Jalen Parks to start the seventh inning. The catcher had to leave the game, replaced by Kizziar. Geoff Struck hit an ANGRY double right after that, but with runners in scoring position Santos dialed it up and struck out Ruggeri, Read, and pinch-hitter Paul Osterman in order to thwart the Thunder. The bottom 7th brought another old Raccoon into the game, as the Thunder turned to 33-year old Pat Slayton, wo appeared with an ERA north of 10, but delivered a scoreless inning against the Raccoons. Santos ended up pitching seven and two thirds before bumping against 100 pitches, and the two outs he logged in the eighth were already exercises for the outfielders. Schroeder finished the game. When the Thunder put runners on second and third in the ninth inning, he struck out Ruggeri and Read to again kill them just short of the scoreboard. 8-0 Critters! Carmona 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Duarte 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Walter 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; DeWeese 2-4, BB, 2B; Santos 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, W (7-2) and 1-4;

Pat Slayton’s career ERA is 3.73 now, which still sounds decent, but note that he was mostly amazing from 2010 through 2013 for the Coons after being picked in the rule 5 draft. He ran a 6.16 ERA for L.A. in 2015, a 7.02 ERA for Denver last year, and this year, oh well, maybe he should look into a career as homemaker now.

Concussion tests for Jalen Parks came back negative, but the Thunder also lost Manfull to injury on a play at second base. He was undiagnosed as of Wednesday, and had only batted .235 with six homers, but dang, they sure didn’t improve in this series…

Joey Mathews had hit for two goose eggs in the series, and I needed at-bats for Ricky Moya, so there was a change for the third game of the set, in which the Raccoons could claim the season series if Ricky Mendoza wouldn’t sabotage them.

Game 3
OCT: CF J. Stevenson – 2B Farias – 1B Osterman – C Parks – RF Struck – 3B Ruggeri – LF Hiscock – SS Janes – P Gine
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – SS Moya – P R. Mendoza

Cookie was thrown out at home by Bill Hiscock on Duarte’s single to left after initially singling and stealing second base. Duarte reached second on the throw and scored on Shane Walter’s double, but the Raccoons still lost a run on what would have been two in the first inning. Partial compensation for that was the RBI single that Ricky Mendoza hit in the bottom of the second inning, which was not something he normally did – it was his first RBI of the year. He had sat down the Thunder in order in the first two innings (something else he didn’t usually do…), but issued a leadoff walk to Hiscock in the third, and Erik Janes reached on an infield single. However, Gine’s bunt was so bad that there was ample time for Mendoza to nail Hiscock at third, AND the dawdling Gine was thrown out at first by Nunley’s rocket launcher for a common 1-5-3 double play. Josh Stephenson struck out to end the inning.

While the Thunder weren’t doing much to threaten the home team, the Coons scored another run in the bottom 3rd after Walter’s leadoff double. Nunley singled, DeWeese grounded out, but plated Walter. The bottom 5th of the 3-0 game saw a curious chain of events. Shane Walter reached with one out after being nicked by a pitch, then got to second base when Gine balked. With first base open, the Thunder walked the ice-cold Mendoza intentionally to get to Nunley, who had dingered them twice on Monday. At least they got a just punishment; Nunley romped an 0-1 pitch to right, high, deep, gone, and the score bloomed to 6-0. The Thunder did eventually get on the board against Ricky Mendoza in the sixth, plating a run with two outs partially helped by a throwing error by Cookie Carmona, but Cookie made up for it in the bottom of the inning, knocking a 1-out RBI double to plate Ricky Moya, who had drawn a leadoff walk. Top 7th, Walter’s bad throw put Jalen Parks on base. Parks played with some headache after the beaning the day before, but soldiered through it, scoring after a Struck double and a Ruggeri groundout. Mendoza looked like he had reached the end of his useful life cycle, and was replaced by Thrasher, who kept the second runner at third base while ending the inning, and the score remained 7-2. The bottom 7th saw the bases loaded on a hard single to center by ‘Tiger’ Mendoza, Nunley’s walk, and a blooper by DeWeese that fell between Janes and Stevenson. No outs, but the Coons only got one when Margolis hit into a run-scoring double play to short. When Moya also grounded there, the inning ended, but the Coons got to see Pat Slayton again in the bottom of the eighth, and I was half happy, half sad when they tore him open top to bottom for four runs. 12-2 Furballs! Carmona 3-5, 2B, RBI; Duarte 2-5; Walter 3-4, 3 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-3, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI; DeWeese 3-4, 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-5, 2 RBI; R. Mendoza 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (7-5) and 1-2, RBI;

Raccoons (49-28) vs. Canadiens (40-38) – June 28-July 1, 2018

The sudden offensive outbursts of the last week-plus had seen the Raccoons jump all the way to third place in runs scored in the CL, and they were still first in runs allowed, closing in on a +100 run differential rather quickly now. By contrast, the Elks had a winning record, but they were only seventh in runs scored and t-9th in runs allowed, with a -15 run differential. There was not any one thing they did particularly well with the bats, but they did have a terrible rotation that overburdened a normally strong bullpen. The former was in the bottom three in the league, the latter in the top three, and actually second only to the Raccoons’. The Coons held the advantage in the season series, 5-2 entering this series.

Projected matchups:
Damani Knight (2-2, 5.35 ERA) vs. C.J. Fishel (7-4, 4.11 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (11-3, 2.66 ERA) vs. Juan Ortega (3-5, 5.38 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (2-3, 5.35 ERA) vs. Bill King (4-6, 5.78 ERA)
Hector Santos (7-2, 2.60 ERA) vs. R.J. Lloyd (5-7, 5.29 ERA)

That’s a lot of 5’s for two winning teams…

Avoiding Fishel did not shake out as we had hoped for, but oh well, he was the first southpaw in some time, and it gave us a chance to rest some chronic stragglers *cough* Mendoza *cough*. DeWeese was also not starting against the left-hander. They also had their closer, Juan Jimenez on the DL, although replacement (and long-long-loooong-time closer) Pedro Alvarado wasn’t doing particularly badly with an 0.66 ERA…

Game 1
VAN: 2B Rinehart – SS J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – CF Rocha – 1B J. Ramirez – LF Cameron – C Pace – 3B C. Alexander – P Fishel
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – C Denny – SS Moya – 1B Petracek – P Knight

Although the Elks had no hits through three innings, Knight was in constant distress thanks to two walks and a hit batter. Eventually, two double plays bailed him out of early trouble, while the Coons did have three hits in three innings, but also found ways to ruin that mild success with a Duarte double play washing up Cookie in the first and Petracek getting caught stealing in the third. Ezra Branch hit a leadoff single in the fourth to which the Elks soon added two more by Jesus Ramirez and Don Cameron, bringing up Tim Pace with two outs. As it started to rain, Pace drew a bases-loaded walk for the first run of the game, and Chris Alexander plated two with a hard single to center before Fishel popped out. Jeff Rinehart hit a leadoff single in the fifth, stole second base, and with two outs Knight cocked up a moonshot to Mario Rocha that more or less put the game away as the Raccoons found themselves in a 5-0 deficit and not hitting against the southpaw. Wade Davis got rocked for four hits and two runs in the sixth inning before admitting to pitching with a tight back. Oh, you couldn’t say that earlier!? In the context of the game, these things didn’t matter. Fishel scattered five hits in the first six innings, then retired the Coons without intermission in the seventh and eighth, arriving in the ninth with a 7-0 shutout on only 83 pitches. Duarte led off there, struck out, Jackson flew out to left, and Margolis, hitting for Nunley, also fanned to end the game. 7-0 Canadiens. Schroeder 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

Fishel whiffed only six total, walked none, and tossed his first career shutout since 2012. And that’s why I didn’t wanted to see that ****er!

This was the first game of the season in which Hugo Mendoza did not appear. Cookie and Nunley are now the last two Critters to have featured in some capacity in every contest.

Oh well, boys. Shake it off, only mediocre right-handers from here to the end of the series!

There was going to be roster change, though, and it had to do with Wade Davis’ back. The Druid prescribed him two weeks of rest, which neatly coincided with a trip to the 15-day DL. We called up Adam Cowen, a former 10th-round pick by the Canadiens whom we had picked off the street as minor league free agent in 2016. He was closing in St. Pete right now. A 96mph heater paired with a fairly impressive splitter brought this 23-year old right-hander to the majors for the first time.

Game 2
VAN: 3B J. Gutierrez – 2B Rinehart – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – SS Roundtree – LF Cameron – P J. Ortega
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Hudman – P Toner

Toner walked two in the first inning and allowed a 2-out run on Dave Padilla’s single to left center, but the Coons flipped the score in the bottom of the same inning. Cookie and Duarte opened with singles, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Mendoza’s double to left center. Nunley’s single and DeWeese’s walk loaded the bases. Ezra Branch blatantly robbed Mike Denny of extra bases with a really good play (this is some very grudging acceptance here) in deep right, but it was still a sac fly, plating the third run of the inning. The output ended up doubled as Brock Hudman, Jonny, and Cookie all hit RBI singles with two down, putting six on Ortega in the first inning.

But Jonny struggled, badly. The Elks wrung him for over 50 pitches in three innings, getting three hits, two walks, and a hit batter, but not encroaching on the scoreboard any further at least. Also, Jonny knocked in another run in the bottom 3rd, plating Hudman with a single. Hudman himself had singled and stolen second base. That run came back onto the board in the top of the fourth due to very imprecise pitching by Toner, who threw a wild pitch to move Don Cameron to third base, from where Jose Gutierrez scored him with a 2-out bloop to shallow right, and in the fifth a crossed-up battery conceded another run on a passed ball charged to Denny. It was a real mess to be honest, but the Coons also kept scoring due to a Brock Hudman RBI double off Dan Moon, who was pitching long relief for the Elks and had been a supplemental round pick for the Raccoons in 2010. Toner ended up lasting six and a third in a confused 8-3 game, exiting after exactly 100 pitches after Rinehart’s groundout to first. Chun replaced him and retired absolutely nobody, allowing a single to Branch, a triple to Rocha, and a double to Padilla. Kaiser replaced him, Ramirez grounded out, and Kaiser threw a wild pitch to score the third Elks run of the inning, 8-6. That inning ended at some point, but the Elks had the tying run in the box right away after Mathis allowed a leadoff double to Pace in the eighth, Gutierrez struck out, and Thrasher came in to face the left-handers, with Rinehart grounding out to Mendoza and Branch flying easily to Cookie to end the inning with Pace on third base. When the Coons stranded Hugo Mendoza on third base in the eighth (after leaving Cookie on second in the seventh), Thrasher started the ninth inning against Rocha, a switch-hitter with somewhat better success against right-handed pitching, but allowed a leadoff single that put Ramirez into a bad spot. Padilla struck out before Ramirez grounded to short, but Walter only got the lead runner. Ramirez was safe at first, and left-hander Kurt Evans hit for Steve Roundtree, with another left-hander after that in Don Cameron, but it didn’t matter – we had no left-handed pitchers left over. This was Ramirez’ all the way. Evans and Cameron both singled hard to center, plating a run and putting the tying run 90 feet away, with left-hander Manlio Varone pinch-hitting in the #9 hole. He struck out. 8-7 Critters. Carmona 3-5, RBI; Walter 2-5; H. Mendoza 2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 3-5; Hudman 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Pitching, huh?

Game 3
VAN: 3B C. Alexander – 2B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – LF Cameron – CF Rinehart – SS Grooms – P Bi. King
POR: CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P Nielson

Dave Padilla’s 2-out, 2-run home run put the Elks up in the first inning, and sent me sifting through Gregslist again in search of a serviceable starting pitcher. The Elks put up another 2-spot in the third after all their hissing liners were caught by outfielders in the second inning, and that 2-spot came even after Chris Alexander was caught stealing by Denny to begin with. Alexander reached base after being struck by an 0-2 pitch to begin the inning. The Raccoons didn’t really manage to mount a threat until the fourth inning when Mendoza and Nunley opened with singles to go to the corners. Even then, they were held to one run on Jackson’s sac fly, which Padilla effortlessly put back on the board, plus change, in the top 5th, mauling another helpless Nielson pitch for another 2-run homer. Nielson was gone after five substantially damaging innings. When Mendoza hit a solo shot off King in the bottom 6th, it was only the third hit of the game for the Critters. Nunley then singled and Jackson whacked one to left center that escaped the contrapments of the field for a 2-run shot, and suddenly things looked a little less desperate with the score shortened to 6-4. When Mendoza came up again there were two outs and two on base in the bottom 7th against left-hander Jose Flores, but his fly to right was considerably underpowered and ended up easily with Branch to end the inning.

Bottom 8th, still down 6-4, Nunley opened with a single to center off Flores, with the Elks shifting to Scott Hanson to face Jackson, but Hanson lost him to a walk. This pulled up DeWeese as the go-ahead run, but the Elks liked their chances with the right-handed Hanson (1.75 ERA) better than with the left-handed veteran Iemitsu Rin, who was getting shelled to a 6.43 ERA. That of course was well for us, because even against Rin I would rather send Danny Margolis to bat for DeWeese, who had NO base hits against lefties this season. Hitless on the day, DeWeese hit the first pitch to left, but it was no trouble for Kurt Evans to defuse. Cookie, despite carrying a 10-game hitting streak, had to bat for the pitcher (Chun) in the #7 hole now, because the game was on the line. His grounder to Chris Grooms ended up removing Jackson on a fielder’s choice, Denny hit an RBI single, but Hudman grounded out to leave the Critters a run short. They remained short; Adam Cowen’s major league debut yielded a run for the Elks in the top 9th, and in the bottom 9th they didn’t get past first base against Alvarado. 7-5 Canadiens. Walter 3-5; Nunley 3-5; Jackson 1-2, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Schroeder 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Um, wild thought here, but … offense here, offense there, but conceding seven runs every game might not be a sustainable style of play. For a first-place team at least.

Game 4
VAN: SS C. Alexander – 2B Rinehart – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 3B J. Gutierrez – LF K. Evans – P Lloyd
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – SS Moya – P Santos

Once more, seven innings of 2-run ball was all I was longing for from Santos, who had two very laborious innings to start the game, costing over 40 pitches and a run on Jesus Ramirez’ solo shot. The Coons had things going in both of the first two innings as well, but Walter and Margolis hit into double plays to erase all efforts. Neither team mounted anything much after that through five, which to complete took Santos 75 pitches, so the bullpen wasn’t going to get the rest it bitterly needed unless the next two innings would go a little quicker. Santos threw 13 pitches in the sixth, then only ten in the seventh, which constituted a job well done, allowing only three hits and a walk for a run, but also had a dark loss looming over him. Lloyd was pitching a 2-hitter through six, then issued his third walk of the game to the leadoff man in the bottom 7th, Matt Nunley. Jackson popped out and DeWeese grounded to Rinehart, who messed up the play for his second error of the game. The go-ahead run was on for Margolis, who flew out to left. Duarte hit for the useless Moya against brand-new reliever Robert Parsons and struck out, stranding the precious runners. The Elks shook the abused Jason Kaiser for two walks, a hit, and a run in the eighth, and the Raccoons were heading for a bitter third loss in the series. After a no-show against Parsons in the eighth, they faced the unbeatable Alvarado (0.64 ERA) again in the ninth inning, down by two. When Mendoza hit a leadoff single to left, it was only their THIRD hit in the game. Nunley also had knocked one earlier, and now hit a 1-0 pitch up the rightfield line! Branch cut it off before it could reach the corner, but Nunley still had a double! No outs, and the tying runs in scoring position for Jackson! And then the snake bites came again. Jackson lined to right, but Branch caught it. DeWeese lined one as well, but it was spoiled by Steve Roundtree. The runners were still parked in scoring position as Alvarado lost Margolis to a 4-pitch walk. Bases loaded for Joey Mathews, last week’s Player of the Week, who this week was an insane 0-for-12. There were only living strikeouts (Denny, Petracek) left on the bench, so we might as well send Mathews to bat and make a crushing final out. He took the first pitch to poke at, rolled it over to third base, and Jose Gutierrez zinged to first to beat him by 30 feet. 2-0 Canadiens. Nunley 2-3, BB, 2B; Santos 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (7-3);

If you will excuse be now, I have to chew on the edge of my desk.

In other news

June 25 – PIT LF/RF Dave Carter (.268, 9 HR, 32 RBI) goes down with a quad strain and will be out until the end of July, while his teammate 3B Travis Bahner (.171, 3 HR, 10 RBI) has suffered a concussion and has no set timetable for his return right now, but could be out for the season.
June 26 – SAL RF/LF Nate Ellis (.276, 7 HR, 39 RBI) has stitched together a 20-game hitting streak with one base hit in the Wolves’ 11-7 win over the Rebels.
June 26 – A strained medial collateral ligament will put BOS 3B Tom Thomas (.305, 2 HR, 31 RBI) out of action until early August.
June 27 – Condors southpaw SP Luis Flores (5-6, 3.58 ERA) 1-hits the Titans in a 6-0 shutout, whiffing nine and walking one. David Lawson’s fifth-inning single saves the Titans from getting no-hit.
June 27 – The Canadiens beat the Aces 4-3 on the subtle strength of four solo home runs. Ezra Branch (.290, 11 HR, 41 RBI) chips in a pair of dingers.
June 27 – LAP LF Jimmy Roberts (.358, 17 HR, 57 RBI) hits a ninth-inning home run for the only tally in the Pacifics’ 1-0 win over the Blue Sox.
June 28 – The hitting streak of SAL RF/LF Nate Ellis (.281, 8 HR, 41 RBI) dies at 21 games after an 0-for-4 appearance in the Wolves’ 10-0 defeat to the Warriors.
June 29 – The Blue Sox rout the Capitals, 12-0, despite only out-hitting them 10-7. A 9-run eighth inning does the trick. It is one of four shutouts in the Federal League on this day, with the other two games both ending with come-from-behind 3-2 wins for the home team.
June 30 – DAL 3B/2B Hector Garcia (.282, 4 HR, 31 RBI) is out for the season. The 38-year old has suffered a fractured fibula.
July 1 – Indians and Titans engage in a 19-inning marathon that sees 12 consecutive scoreless innings before Boston’s Eric Rasmussen gets laid for four hits and two runs in the top of the 19th. Indians win, 5-3.

Complaints and stuff

The Crusaders and Falcons played a 3-game set midweek in which every game saw one team claim victory by scoring exactly 11 runs. The Falcons won 11-1 on Monday, but the other two games ended in Crusaders routs.

Jonny won a dozen by the end of June, but he’s never had an ERA that bad (2.75 – ‘bad’ – first world problems) in a qualifying season. He had a 3.40 ERA in his debut year in 2013, when he pitched in only 12 games. Since then, the worst was 2016, when he made 25 starts and had a 2.67 ERA.

After wandering the .270 desert for half the season, Cookie had a really mad week and reached the .300 level on Friday after hitting in ten straight games, including seven multi-hit games, and that including four 3-hit games. He also had three hits in a game immediately before the 10-game hitting streak, and jumped his average by 30 points in two weeks. Cookie ended the week 0-for-5, however, and the Player of the Week award went to Matt Nunley, who swung a hot bat as the Thunder will attest to readily. He hit .519 (14-for-27) with 3 HR and 6 RBI. He also walked five times and whiffed only twice, gaining 25 points of batting average in a week, as well as 29 points of OBP and 49 points of slugging.

Dan Moon had never panned out in the minors and had always struggled with insanely high walk totals. We had included him in the 2014 trade with the Aces for Ron Richards and Zack Entwistle, which was the starting signal for Moon to change teams four times in less than nine months. The Stars claimed him in the rule 5 draft, then traded him to the Knights in a deal for Johnny Crum 11 days later. The following April he was sent to the Condors in a package for Bill Bedinghaus, but he still didn’t make his major league debut before becoming a minor league free agent after the 2016 season and signing with the Elks halfway through 2017. He had a 15.88 ERA in four games in ’17, but this year was in the 3-range after some 30 innings.

Finally, the international singing window opened, but the Raccoons are actually a bit cash-strapped and won’t be able to dish out the really big bucks. The soft cap this season is $393k, which is more or less what is left of our budget, and we can’t really blow it all, because we need a little wiggle room to perhaps still make a trade somewhere. As a result of this, we won’t even bother with the guys that are likely to make substantial six-figure deals, and will try to pick something from between the cushions.

The Raccoons made official offers to five players, three 16-year old Dominicans, a 16-year old Mexican, and a 17-year old Australian, with $181k offered in total. The biggest offer was to Domincan outfielder Wilson Rodriguez, $70k to get started.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (50-31) @ Loggers (41-39) – July 2-5, 2018

The Loggers were a tad over .500, which was no small thing for them given that they had no budget and no players, and they were actually better than average (a bit at least) in both runs scored and runs allowed with a +33 run differential, so they should have an even better record. Meanwhile, they didn’t really have any young stars to carry them. Chris LeMoine had 15 homers and Victor Hodgers was batting .358 (in 43 games), but that was largely it. The rest of the lineup was stuffed with role players, and they had found a spot to imploy old Coons farmhand G.G. Williams in the rotation, but they had to be doing SOMETHING right. They were 2-1 against Portland in 2018.

Projected matchups:
Ricky Mendoza (7-5, 4.52 ERA) vs. Jason McDonald (5-5, 4.92 ERA)
Damani Knight (2-3, 5.80 ERA) vs. G.G. Williams (3-4, 3.72 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (12-3, 2.75 ERA) vs. Michael Foreman (8-4, 2.20 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (2-4, 6.00 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (5-3, 3.51 ERA)

Williams is the left-hander here, and it’s also the spot where they keep rotating personnel through. Starter Troy McCaskill has been moved to close games for them, since they also have no money for a closer. Williams pitched in relief as late as Saturday, so this could be interesting.

I appreciate a road trip right now. If the starting pitching craps out again, we have one less inning to plug with our maliciously overworked bullpen…

This might well be the last start for Nielson. Knight will get another start on Sunday (unless he loses an arm or something). Whoever ends up with the worse ERA after that will definitely get dumped for Charlie Cooper or some other tramp we get to pick up. Yes, Maud, I know that’s not his name.

Also having an eye on Moya. Batting 2-for-23 is an uh-uh even when you can play good defense. Petracek might also not hit any ball, but at least he is a defensive cushion for virtually everybody in the lineup.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 2B Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Moya – P R. Mendoza
MIL: RF Hodgers – SS Burns – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 1B Betancourt – LF Cooper – CF Gore – 2B Krueger – P McDonald

The Coons scratched themselves a run in the top of the first when Duarte came home on Mendoza’s well-placed dying bloop to left, close to the line, where nobody could play it. Ricky Mendoza had a quick first, then had an atrocious second inning. Despite getting two outs, he then allowed a single to left to Andrew Cooper and in full counts walked both Brad Gore and Gene Krueger before finally striking out Jason McDonald. The Loggers didn’t tie the game until the third when Kyle Burns lined into the rightfield corner and Orlando Castillo singled him in with two outs.

The Coons had plenty of hits and runners, but struggled to drive them in. The fifth opened with Cookie walking, but the Loggers got both him and Alex Duarte on a strike-em-out-throw-em-out. Walter singled to right, Mendoza singled to center, bringing up Nunley, who’s grounder when it eluded David Betancourt was the Critters’ ninth base hit on the day. Victor Hodgers contained the ball in shallow right, but Walter was sent around third base, and Hodgers had a great arm – but not great enough for this one. Walter scored, barely safe, and the Coons took a 2-1 lead, DeWeese struck out, but made up for it in the bottom of the inning when he made a great play on a double-bound deep fly by Betancourt, hit off a 3-1 pitch with two out and two on base against the shaky Ricky Mendoza, who needed 90 pitches through five inning. He ended up completing the sixth on only nine pitches, end still held on to the 2-1 advantage. While the Raccoons managed only two more hits in regulation after Nunley’s RBI single and didn’t get another run, they also had to further exploit their ravaged bullpen. Chris Mathis somehow got five outs on 17 pitches before Thrasher took over and got a strikeout against Cooper to end the eighth. Both were out for the fourth time in six days. Thrasher also would have pitched to Brad Gore to start the ninth, but the Loggers pinch-hit for him with right-handed Jimmy Raupp, and Alex Ramirez was assigned the full inning. Raupp, batting .181 with five homers, led off with a flare to right that dropped well in front of Eddie Jackson (who had replaced DeWeese in a double switch, with Cookie in left). Krueger bunted the tying run to second, and Chris LeMoine batted on his day off but popped out foul. That brought up Hodgers, who got four wide ones to bring up Kyle Burns, batting .263 with five homers, but was a right-handed batter as opposed to the left-handed Hodgers. Burns singled to center, the decently-fast Raupp scored, and the fragile lead was blown once again by Ramirez. An Alberto Velez groundout later, the game went to extras.

Adam Cowen was thrown in for long relief (which he was suited for with high stamina), removing Walter for Hudman in a double switch to prevent Cowen from coming up with a man on and two outs in the 10th (which didn’t happen anyway), while the Loggers drew a 1-out walk off him in the bottom 10th, with Ian Coleman then stealing second base off a tardy Denny, but being caught stealing by the same Denny at third base, one pitch later. Naughty boy! The Loggers reached third base in the bottom 11th with 2-out singles by LeMoine and Hodgers, as well as a wild pitch, but Hudman snagged Burns’ liner to end the inning. Cowen’s turn to bat came up with two outs in the 12th, with Cookie parked on first base. Cowen ripped one to right for a single, unexpectedly, which gave Mendoza a chance against the miserable right-hander Luis Calderon (7.42 ERA), but he hit a miserable hobbler right back to the pitcher for the third out. Like Cowen in the top 12th, Calderon hit a 2-out single with a man on first in the bottom 12th, which brought up Raupp again. His liner up the leftfield line ended the game with a walkoff RBI single. 3-2 Loggers. Carmona 3-5, BB; Walter 2-5; H. Mendoza 3-6, RBI; Nunley 2-5, RBI; R. Mendoza 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K; Mathis 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

13 hits – all singles. Also: Alex Ramirez. Much cost. No use.

Moya went 1-for-5, and we decided to give more at-bats to Mathews instead, who has in an 0-for-14 hole since being anointed Player of the Week.

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Denny – SS Walter – 2B Mathews – P Knight
MIL: RF Hodgers – SS Burns – LF LeMoine – 3B Velez – CF Coleman – 1B Betancourt – C Almond – 2B Krueger – P G.G. Williams

Through three innings, a Cookie single in the third was the only base hit in the game. The Loggers didn’t get one until Coleman doubled to center with two outs in the fourth, but Damani struck out Betancourt to keep him pinned, and we had an oddly-shaped pitching duel early on. Things went pear-shaped for Knight quickly after that. Brian Almond led off the fifth with a double to right. He walked Krueger, and then G.G. Williams, rather than bunting, unleashed another double to right, giving the Loggers a 1-0 lead. With two in scoring position, the Loggers flunked out completely, with Hodgers grounding out to first, Burns striking out, and Leoine popping one to Mathews. Back-to-back base hits by Jackson and Nunley with two outs in the sixth tied us up again, but there was the problem of a) Damani Knight pitching, and b) Damani Knight not going to pitch forever, which seems contradictory, but we had at best four relievers available for this game, with Mathis, Ramirez, and Cowen gassed and only wearing their uniform because they had to. Mathis’ had tomato stains on it.

Knight threw 97 pitches through six innings of 1-run ball, which generally had to constitute a successful outing for him. He would not be of much use, but when Walter and Mathews hit leadoff singles in the top 7th, he was retained to bunt to get them into scoring position for the recently hottened Cookie. He hit a fly high to left, but not really all that deep. However, LeMoine had to go back two steps at the last second, and that took energy away from his throw, allowing the Coons to send Walter, who scored with the go-ahead run. Duarte hit the most terrible grounder up the middle, but it somehow eluded both Burns and Krueger for a really, really slow RBI single as Mathews scored from second base. Knight went out for the bottom 7th after another poor show by Hugo Mendoza, but allowed a leadoff single to the bedamned Williams, and then Hodgers doubled. Burns’ RBI groundout ended his day. A breathless Thrasher came in and narrowly managed to strand the tying run at third base, leaving the Coons up 3-2 after seven.

Those Coons had the bases loaded with nobody out in the eighth. Jackson singled, Nunley doubled, and Denny got four wide ones so Williams could pitch to the left-hander Shane Walter. He hit a sac fly, Mathews grounded out, and that finally ended the day for Williams. Right-hander Julio San Pedro came out, and that was just the right spot for DeWeese to pinch-hit for Thrasher with two outs and runners in scoring position. Aaaand he struck out. Of course he did. The best idea we had to save a 4-2 game with six outs to collect was to send Schroeder for the eighth and preserve Chun for the ninth, which sounded bad on paper, but Matt Schroeder had an ERA of zip despite being abused constantly for 17.2 innings since coming up. He mowed down the Loggers on six pitches in the eighth. The Coons stole three bases in the top 9th, but didn’t score; Cookie opened with a single, stole second on a pitchout on Almond’s soft arm, and when Mendoza was walked intentionally, both took off for a double steal. Yet, Jackson hit a poor grounder to left that kept them on, and Nunley’s drive to center was caught by Andrew Cooper. Bottom 9th, the Loggers got free tying runs by Chun, who walked the first two batters he faced, Gore and Hodgers. Burns bunted them over, but LeMoine had earlier been pinch-hit for with Raupp (for odd reasons) and popped up for the second out that Nunley hauled in in foul ground. Alberto Velez hit a huge drive to center that sent Duarte racing back, back, back, back – had it. 4-2 Raccoons. Carmona 2-4, RBI; Jackson 2-4, BB; Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Knight 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, W (3-3);

I’m giving Damani a sticker here, because that second run was mainly the fault of the mangled bullpen, which led me to try and squeeze him through another inning. If the pen is more or less sound at this point, he doesn’t even bunt in the top 7th. The ball is now in Nielson’s court, but before we get to that, first it’s Jonny Time. Thrasher will be off limits for that game after throwing only 46 pitches in five days, but throwing those dispersed across four outings, however: everybody else should be available.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P Toner
MIL: 1B Betancourt – SS Burns – LF LeMoine – CF Coleman – C O. Castillo – RF Cooper – 3B I. Reed – 2B Krueger – P Foreman

Hugo Mendoza’s leadoff jack in the second inning gave the Coons a 1-0 lead that stood for a while, while they stranded runners at third base in the second (Mathews tripled), fourth (Walter doubled), and at second bsae in the fifth (Denny reached on a gruesome Cooper error). Jonny struck out seven through four, but had numerous full counts and walked two, a bit reminiscent of Nick Brown at a certain point in his career, running up 68 pitches through four. He still had a 1-hitter through six innings, ending the sixth with a K to LeMoine, his tenth on the day, but also was just shy of 100 pitches, so the pen got stirring in what was still a 1-0 game. We encountered a conundrum in the seventh when Mathews hit a 1-out single to right and Denny followed him in that direction, but hit a double past Cooper. That brought up Jonny with runners on second and third and one out, and we always say that he’s a good batter, and he was batting .220 with 7 RBI for the season, and the heck why not. He whiffed, Cookie flew out to Coleman, and nobody scored. Castillo hit a 1-out single in the bottom 7th, but Andrew Cooper popped one up, and Toner blistered Isiah Reed for a dozen strikeouts, but it was also the end of the line for him in this game, crossing over 110 pitches with no chance to finish the job. The ‘Tiger’ gave him a nice farewell with his second home run of the game, another solo shot with two outs in the eighth, which gave the pen at least a slight cushion. That cushion would be tested soon, with Mathis putting Gore and Betancourt on base with back-to-back 1-out singles. He struck out Kyle Burns, but that brought up LeMoine. Thrasher was still a no-go, and Jason Kaiser came out for this one, and AGAIN Raupp batted for him. Down 0-2, he grounded to short, where Walter took care of the final out. Alex Ramirez got the 2-0 lead in the ninth, and would face three left-handed bats in the first four men up. Oh come on, Alex! You’re ****ing getting paid closer’s money, so close this **** out!! Ironically, the right-handed batter, Castillo, was the only one that reached, hitting a 1-out single before Cooper popped out and Reed struck out. 2-0 Coons! H. Mendoza 3-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Mathews 2-4, 3B; Jackson (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 12 K, W (13-3);

Game 4
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 2B Mathews – C Margolis – SS Moya – P Nielson
MIL: 1B Betancourt – SS Burns – RF Gore – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – CF Hodgers – LF Cooper – 2B Krueger – P Cope

Cookie opened with a single, advanced on Duarte’s grounder to first, and scored when Nunley narrowly missed a homer in center, hitting a ball off the fence. Mendoza singled, moving Nunley to third, but Jackson, who gave the horrendously cold DeWeese another day off, grounded to short to end the inning. In a light drizzle, Cookie hit a leadoff double in the third and scored on Duarte’s single this time, 2-0, but now it was Nunley to hit into the double play. Mendoza walked, Jackson doubled, but Mathews grounded out to second base, and the inning ended with another runner starved on third base. Well, boys. This is Nielson pitching. Stranding runners at third is a bad idea!

A Cooper error gave Margolis two bases on a single to left in the fourth inning. He moved up on Moya’s groundout, Nielson struck out, but Cookie came through with a single to right, 3-0. That was how it’s done! Nielson was actually decent the first time through and only walked a pair with two outs in the fourth for a tight spot. Cooper sent a soft fly to left center, where the wet grass helped Cookie immensely in making a sliding catch. The Coons added a run in the fifth when Mathews stayed out of the inning-ending double play, legging out the return throw after grounding to Krueger with Mendoza and Jackson on the corners. Mendoza scored, Margolis hit another single, but Moya unhelpfully popped out over the mound. After five shutout innings, the Loggers finally got to Nielson in the bottom 6th, which soon became a quagmire of futility. Kyle Burns led off with an infield single before Brad Gore grounded to right and off Mathews’ glove. Jackson hauled in the ball and tried to get Burns at third base, which was never going to happen in the first place, but his throw was WAY up the leftfield line and eluded Nunley, allowing Burns to score and Gore to go to second. A Castillo single to right sent Gore to third base, and when Nielson lost Cooper to a full-count walk, the bases were loaded and the go-ahead run came up in right-hander Gene Krueger, who was batting .149. Yeah, well, no. Chris Mathis came in, threw one pitch only, and Krueger grounded out to Mathews to keep this a 4-1 lead for the furry team. Cope ended up allowing 14 hits(!) in 6.1 innings, ending his day with a 2-run homer by Eddie Jackson to left center.

The Critters gave the ball to Cowen for the seventh, but he was whacked for three hits by four batters with a run already in. Chun came out again, which was not necessarily going to defuse the situation, and he allowed an RBI double to Velez and an RBI single to Castillo. Thrasher replaced the ineffective Chun to face Hodgers and Cooper, the left-handers, but the Loggers sent Raupp to hit for a left-hander once more. He grounded out, scoring Velez from third, but Cooper also grounded out, which at least maintained a 6-5 lead for the Coons after that complete bullpen cock-up.

DeWeese pinch-hit against San Pedro for the second time in the series and this time got hit with one out in the eighth. Cookie walked, Duarte popped out, but Nunley grounded hard through Velez at third base. While Ian Coleman was on the ball really quick and held Nunley to a single, DeWeese scored, 7-5, before Mendoza sent a hard ball through the other corner infielder, Betancourt, to plate Cookie, 8-5. Jackson was a triple shy of the cycle, but Velez contained his grounder and got the third out. After a quick inning by Schroeder, the Coons got Mathews on with a leadoff double in the ninth. Margolis was walked intentionally as the Loggers drooled to get the .094 batter Moya up. He didn’t hit, though. He had to give his stick to Shane Walter and then was sent straight to grab his **** and pack his suitcase. Walter and Denny, also pinch-hitting, both flew out to left, and Cookie grounded out to Krueger. There were only two guys left in the pen, Ramirez and Kaiser, and with no add-on runs, Ramirez came out with the 3-run lead. He ended the game quickly. 8-5 Raccoons! Carmona 3-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Jackson 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Mathews 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-4, BB;

Moya was banished back to AAA. There was the thing that his defense was superior to Hudman’s, but at least Hudman hit a ball occasionally. Actually, Moya was waived and designated for assignment in an attempt to get a team to bite on him and pay his meal money for the rest of the year, but at least he’d get off the 40-man roster. We brought up Danny Ochoa as an extra bat on the bench for the next few days, as he was batting .290/.395/.478 with eight home runs in AAA, but this was only a placeholder move while I was dealing on the side with other things.

Raccoons (53-32) @ Titans (41-46) – July 6-8, 2018

The Titans were 11th in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, which was also the rank their starting pitchers held in terms of ERA. Their pen was actually pretty good, ranking fourth in the CL. Nothing of that had helped them so far against Portland in the 2018 season, losing seven of nine games to the Raccoons.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (7-3, 2.51 ERA) vs. Jose Fuentes (5-7, 4.86 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (7-5, 4.33 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (4-10, 4.32 ERA)
Damani Knight (3-3, 5.40 ERA) vs. Rick Ling (6-6, 3.78 ERA)

Damani Knight goes up against the southpaw for the second straight series.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – 3B Petracek – P Santos
BOS: CF Mata – C Galan – 1B S. Butler – LF Almanza – 3B Lawson – SS M. Rivera – RF X. Williams – 2B F. Reyes – P J. Fuentes

The Coons had a chance for a big spot right in the first inning when Cookie singled and Fuentes walked the bags full, but had to settle for two on a pair of run-scoring groundouts by Mendoza and DeWeese. The big spot was instead put up by the Titans. Alex Mata hit a single to right on the third pitch, and Santos’ next four pitches were all put into play. Armando Galan popped out, but Steve Butler and Chris Almanza singled, cutting the lead to 2-1, and then David Lawson popped a pitch some 400 feet to left with a huge swing, putting the Titans 4-2 ahead, with seven pitches thrown by Santos, who got blasted for another pair of runs in the second inning. Alex Mata tripled, scored on Galan’s single to center, and Almanza’s double put runners on second and third with two outs, at which point Santos decided it was time for a wild pitch. Santos was yanked after Xavier Williams’ 1-out single in the third, and Cowen took over in what looked like a loss anyway to take his 11.25 ERA for a walk. He walked Frank Reyes, a 23-year old Dominican rookie, but Fuentes then bunted into a double play, closing the curtains on Santos’ misfigured line of 2.1 innings pitched and six runs allowed on nine hits. The Titans found the double play to ruin their fourth as well, Almanza ending the inning with a grounder to Walter with runners on the corners, although to be fair to Cowen, the lead runner had reached on Walter’s error. For the Furballs, Cookie had twice made the final out in the second and fourth, stranding a total of three runners, before they got runners to the corners in the fifth entirely on the Titans defense. Mendoza reached on an error by Reyes, and DeWeese reached on an uncaught third strike (which was a better way to reach for him than actually trying to get a base knock!). Mathews walked, loading them up for Denny with two outs, but Denny struck out, at which point I put this one into the loss column for good. Cowen ended up being abused for 3.2 scoreless innings, and the Coons weren’t getting close to threatening until the eighth inning, where Denny hit a fluke triple on which not one, but two Titans outfielders presumably fell down and the third one got abducted by aliens mid-play. Petracek hit a sac fly, 6-3, but well, eh. Jackson hit a 2-out double, Cookie singled, and suddenly the tying run was up as the Titans rapidly emptied their pen. Brett Dill came out to face Duarte, who was hitless and replaced with Nunley, who bounced out to Reyes, but Jason Kaiser was charged with two runs in the bottom of the inning after retiring basically nobody and Chun again was no big help, and this one indeed ended up in the loss column. 8-3 Titans. Carmona 3-5; Denny 2-4, 3B; Jackson (PH) 1-1; Cowen 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Plenty of guys were sore at the tail end of the long streak of games. Walter and Nunley had already gotten another off day apiece, and Cookie needed another day off by Saturday, remarking on the morning off the middle game that he could feel every joint in his body. Given that his body was made of glass coated with the stuff that these brittle ceramic knifes are made off, he got to sit in the dugout.

Game 2
POR: SS Walter – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF H. Mendoza – 2B Mathews – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 1B Petracek – P R. Mendoza
BOS: CF Mata – C Galan – 1B S. Butler – LF Almanza – RF Blake – 3B Lawson – SS M. Rivera – 2B F. Reyes – P Boyer

The Coons got two runs in the first with Mathews drawing a bases-loaded walk before Denny’s incredibly slow grounder escaped between Steve Butler and Frank Reyes for an RBI single. DeWeese flew out to shallow left, Petracek struck out to end the inning. Unfortunately the Titans were right on top of our replacement level pitching, with Mata hitting a leadoff single in the first. That one dissolved on a double play, but in the second Almanza led off with a single and Jonathan Blake doubled. Runner in scoring position, no outs, the Titans were held to a run on Rivera’s sac fly after Lawson struck out. Reyes was walked intentionally to get Boyer to ground out, maintaining a 2-1 lead. Nunley hit a leadoff double in the third, beating Almanza’s range in left, and scored in unearned fashion when Mendoza reached on an error and Mathews hit into a run-scoring double play. Denny walked, but DeWeese fouled out, but Petracek hit a leadoff jack to right center in the fourth for a 4-1 lead. Meanwhile, Ricky Mendoza was happily issuing leadoff walks. He gave out one in the fourth, which didn’t come around to score, but also another one to Reyes in the fifth, and that one did come around after Boyer’s bunt and Mata’s single to center. Galan and Butler grounded out, the Coons stranded a pair when Hugo Mendoza struck out feebly in the top 6th, but Mendoza pitched a quick bottom 6th, maintaining a 4-2 lead despite being wonky and had needed only 71 pitches, somehow, and still didn’t get out of the seventh. Reyes ripped a 1-out homer, getting the Titans back to 4-3, and then Xavier Williams singled to center in the #9 hole. Kaiser was called from the pen, but the Titans had their ways of countering that, and Tim Robinson’s pinch-hit double off the rightfield fence allowed Williams to score from first base, narrowly ahead of Mendoza’s throw. Kaiser allowed a double to Blake in the eighth, and when Mathis replaced him right away he walked Lawson. A passed ball was charged to Denny on a pitch to Rivera, who would pop out to shallow left, but to make a wholesale cluster**** complete, the scrappy rookie Reyes, who had to be scouted on the fly midweek because he had not been on anybody’s radar, beat Mathis with a single to left that plated the winning runs. 6-4 Titans. Walter 2-5, 2B; H. Mendoza 2-5; Denny 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Petracek 2-4, HR, RBI;

Well, I don’t know. Maybe we just used up our wins and clutch hits and whatever.

Intermission: waiver claim

Danny Ochoa had gone 0-for-2 and was reassigned to St. Petersburg after the middle game of the series, as the Raccoons executed a waiver claim in which they picked up 34-year old INF/LF Tom Dahlke off waivers by the Indians. Batting .234 with four homers on the year, Dahlke had never been a guy to produce a lot of offense and maybe it was for the better that we didn’t get him from the Aces roughly a decade ago. His best season had been 2015 with the Wolves, batting .265/.333/.441 with 16 homers, and that was already a sad point. His career numbers were a .232/.308/.384 slash with 149 HR and 640 RBI. He bats right-handed and is definitely an offensive upgrade over Moya, while remaining a versatile defender with good value at second, third, and short. He has never played first base, and he hasn’t started in the outfield since 2014.

That much is well. We don’t need him in the outfield. We need him to shore up the infield when things go wild and for pinch-hitting services.

Raccoons (53-32) @ Titans (41-46) – July 6-8, 2018

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – 2B Walter – C Margolis – SS Dahlke – P Knight
BOS: CF Mata – C Galan – 1B S. Butler – LF Almanza – RF Blake – SS M. Rivera – 3B Sambrano – 2B F. Reyes – P Ling

If any one thing worked really well for the Coons right now it was Cookie singling, stealing, scoring. That’s how they got a run in the first, with Mendoza hitting a soft single to center to get him home from third base actually, because Galan’s throw on the steal went to centerfield. Knight got the first five Titans out before hitting Rivera. Sandy Sambrano was batting merely .162 but worked a walk while Rivera stole second base, only his eighth on the year, no comparison to the days of old for him. That brought up the snappy Reyes with two outs and two on base, and this kid came out of nowhere to bat .400 in his first 30 at-bats. He flew out to center to end the inning. Damani drew a leadoff walk on four pitches off Ling in the third, which had the unfortunate side effect of blocking Cookie’s path after he followed up with a single to right. Anyway, he wouldn’t have scored on the single to right that Eddie Jackson hit after Duarte and Mendoza had flailed out, but Knight – somehow – did, 2-0, before Nunley lined out hard to the shortstop. Rick Ling singled off Knight to start the bottom 3rd, but never got off first base thanks to two splendid defensive plays by Cookie, who hustled in on Mata’s soft fly to shallow left, and Nunley, who spoiled a Galan liner. Four scoreless served to dip Knight’s ERA under five, and he maintained a 1-hit shutout through five!

His spot came up with three on (Walter and Margolis singled, Dahlke was smacked) and nobody out in the sixth inning, but of course he wasn’t going to be hit for now. Ling ran a full count on him before getting a pop to shallow center – and nobody got there to play it! The ball fell between Mata and Rivera, and the Raccoons were up 3-0 on the RBI single! And that was all they got. Cookie and Duarte struck out, and Mendoza flew out to left on a 3-1 pitch. Any joy is always punished swiftly in baseball, and so Alex Mata hit a leadoff single off Knight in the bottom 6th, and Damani went on to drill Armando Galan. A single by Almanza scored a run before Blake grounded out and Rivera flew out to center, stranding the tying runs in scoring position. The tying runs were right back on base in the bottom 7th after a leadoff walk to Sandy and Reyes singling off the glove off the lunging Nunley. Knight was yanked, Mathis came on and struck out PH Tim Robinson (whatever happened to banish him to the bench for Galan?) and when Thrasher came in to face Mata, the Titans hit a lefty for a lefty in Williams, and Sandy was caught stealing third base by the rocket-armed Margolis. Williams struck out, ending the inning. Thrasher then actually batted in the top 8th because he hadn’t cleared the left-handed batters as anticipated. He came up with nobody on following a double play that Dahlke had hit into, and was struck out by Brett Dill, but returned that favor to Galan in the bottom 8th and blitzed through Butler and Almanza. With Blake and Rivera also left-handed, he would also start the ninth! Before that could happen, Sandy’s throwing error put Cookie on second base to start the top of the inning. Duarte grounded out to move him to third, and Mendoza was walked intentionally. With the right-hander Dill still in, DeWeese now hit for Jackson, which had the potential to become a really, really, really bad mistake, but DeWeese hit a sac fly, and that was fine right now. Nunley livened up an 0-for-4 with a 2-out RBI double to deep right, then scored on Walter’s single to center. Dill didn’t get out of the inning; Kanichiro Miura came on and struck out Margolis to get things over with. Thrasher didn’t get through the bottom 9th after a leadoff single by Blake and worked himself up in two long at-bats with Rivera and Sambrano, the latter remaining on first base after a fielder’s choice. Cowen came on with two outs to see to Reyes, whose grounder to short ended the game. 6-1 Coons. Carmona 2-5; H. Mendoza 2-4, BB, RBI; Jackson 2-4, RBI; Walter 2-5, RBI; Margolis 2-5; Knight 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (4-3) and 1-2, BB, RBI; Thrasher 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

In other news

July 2 – At 33 years old, LAP SP Brad “Topper” Smith (9-4, 2.95 ERA) tops the Wolves in a 9-8 wrangler, narrowly clinching his 200th major league victory. His 107 career losses pale in comparison. He has a 3.06 ERA and has 2,701 career strikeouts. The career Pacific led the Federal League in strikeouts each of the last three years, led it in ERA three times, and in wins once. He is a 5-time Pitcher of the Year, and was also the 2012 FLCS MVP.
July 2 – The Crusaders and Indians play for 19 innings after reaching a 3-3 tie in the seventh. The game ends on a bases-loaded, walkoff walk issued by New York’s Tom Nelson to IND INF Domingo Ortega (.164, 1 HR, 9 RBI), giving Indy a 4-3 win.
July 4 – The are only six scoreless half-innings, three for each team, in the Rebels’ 8-7 win over the Miners. The Rebels score in each of the last six innings, including single runs in each of the last four, while the Miners try to rally again and again, and scored single runs in each of the last three innings.
July 5 – The Rebels acquire LF/CF/2B Jeff Rinehart (.230, 2 HR, 24 RBI) from the Canadiens, sending 2B/SS Matt Otis (.265, 0 HR, 20 RBI) and a third-rate prospect to Vancouver.
July 6 – The Thunder send SP Jorge Gine (5-7, 3.73 ERA) to the Condors in exchange for four prospects, including #90 INF/CF Jeff Becker.
July 7 – The Cyclones lead the Buffaloes pitching staff around the park firmly secured with nose rings and bull staffs, clobbering them for 20 runs, including ten of those in the fifth inning, for a 20-7 rout. CIN C Tony Avila has two hits, including a home run, and drives in five.

Complaints and stuff

And thus we arrive at the All Star break. Nope, still no pitching reinforcements. Also, Charlie Something got slaughtered in his last few outings in AAA, so there’s that.

The Raccoons will send SIX players to the All Star Game! Four of those are pitchers, which is probably fair, given that three of them are relievers. Jonny Toner, Chris Mathis, Ron Thrasher, and Alex Ramirez have all been selected. They are complemented by two outfielders, Hugo Mendoza and Cookie Carmona.

Can you believe this is not only the first All Star appearance for Mathis and Thrasher, but also for COOKIE?? He has never gotten any love in the selection process. Okay, he was flatout hurt a few times. But still. This is the sixth time he was on the Opening Day roster, and the .313 batting average he has now is his career-worst.

Mendoza (4th selection) and Ramirez (3rd selection) are multi-All Stars, but go as Coons for the first time. Finally, there’s Jonny, who is selected for the fifth year in a row. Side note: I know I once did a complete list of all Raccoons selected to the All Star Game, but blimey I can’t find it anymore… I don’t think anybody has more than Brownie, who was selected eight times in his career…

… and can we give a round of love to Matt Schroeder, who came out of the pitch black darkness and now has 20.2 scoreless innings in his major league career?

D-Alex signed a 2-year extension worth $6.12M with the Bayhawks this week. He has really steadied himself batting around .280 with 15 homers now. If not for his completely terrible 2015 season with us, we might have tried to hold on to him.

The Raccoons signed their first international player as early as Tuesday, inking Australian shortstop Charles Newton for $15,000. During the remainder of the week, we also added Dominican right-hander Rogelio Bonilla for $11,000, Dominican outfielder Wilson Rodriguez for $81,000, and Mexican shortstop Hugo Ochoa for $41,000. Remember, this is the second string of players. No huge hopes here. We remain on the heels of another pitcher.

[Westheim]

Found it! The…

Comprehensive and Complete (I hope) Portland Raccoons All Stars Compendium

1977 (3) – Jose Flores, Pedro Sánz, Ben Simon
1978 (1) – Ben Simon (2)
1979 (1) – Ben Simon (3)
1980 (2) – Stephano Bocci, Ben Simon (4)
1981 (1) – Ralph Nixon
1982 (1) – Daniel Hall
1983 (4) – Mark Dawson, Kinji Kan, Enrique Sanchez, Grant West
1984 (3) – Daniel Hall (2), Kisho Saito*, Grant West (2)
1985 (3) – Tetsu Osanai*, Vicente Ruiz, Grant West (3)
1986 (4) – Dimian Barrios, Carlos Gonzalez, Tetsu Osanai (2), Grant West (4)
1987 (2) – Tetsu Osanai (3), Armando Sanchez
1988 (3) – Mark Dawson (2), Tetsu Osanai (4), Armando Sanchez (2)
1989 (4) – Sam Dadswell, Tetsu Osanai (5), Kisho Saito (2), Scott Wade
1990 (none)
1991 (3) – Neil Reece, Kisho Saito (3), Jason Turner
1992 (4) – Daniel Hall (3), Ben O’Morrissey, Kisho Saito (4), Scott Wade (2)
1993 (3) – Miguel Lopez, Ben O’Morrissey (2), Neil Reece (2)
1994 (none)
1995 (6) – David Brewer, Ben O’Morrissey (3), Neil Reece (3), Kisho Saito (5), Jorge Salazar, Jason Turner (2)
1996 (4) – Tzu-jao Ban, David Brewer (2), Antonio Donis, Royce Green
1997 (1) – David Brewer (3)
1998 (1) – Manuel Movonda
1999 (1) – Conceicao Guerin
2000 (none)
2001 (3) – Conceicao Guerin (2), Albert Martin, Jesus Palacios
2002 (3) – Ralph Ford, Albert Martin (2), Jesus Palacios (2)
2003 (1) – Albert Martin (3)
2004 (1) – Nick Brown
2005 (1) – Nick Brown (2)
2006 (none)
2007 (4) – Angel Casas, Tomas Castro, Victor Flores, Kelvin Yates
2008 (6) – Luke Black, Craig Bowen, Nick Brown (3), Angel Casas (2), Tomas Castro (2), Adrian Quebell
2009 (4) – Ron Alston, Nick Brown (4), Angel Casas (3), Adrian Quebell (2)
2010 (3) – Ron Alston (2), Nick Brown (5), Adrian Quebell (3)
2011 (3) – Angel Casas (4), Jose Morales, Ieyoshi Nomura
2012 (1) – Nick Brown (6)
2013 (1) – Dylan Alexander
2014 (4) – Dylan Alexander (2), Nick Brown (7), Hector Santos, Jonathan Toner
2015 (3) – Angel Casas (5), Hector Santos (2), Jonathan Toner (2)
2016 (5) – Nick Brown (8), Ronnie McKnight, Matt Nunley, Hector Santos (3), Jonathan Toner (3)
2017 (2) – Jonathan Toner (4), Shane Walter
2018 (6) – Ricardo Carmona, Chris Mathis, Hugo Mendoza, Alex Ramirez, Ron Thrasher, Jonathan Toner (5)

*acquired mid-season before the All Star Game

+++

I also found this gem from July 2011:

After signing SP Ricky Martinez for $260k last week, already using up most of the international signing allotment, the Raccoons continued to sign Dominican C Carlos Rosario on Monday for $7k. Well, okay, that’s not the biggest news, but the biggest remaining talent was weighing its options. Unfortunately, we ultimately ran out of money, not because the league wouldn’t allow us to throw millions at the offspring of banana pickers in the Caribbean, but because … budget. The 100% luxury tax on signings over $300k prohibited us from making another offer to outfielder Dave Garcia, who signed with the Bayhawks after turning down our $415k offer (with a $382k tax attachment).

Dave Garcia is that phenom that debuted at 19, and at 23 already has 593 career hits and 94 homers. So if we hadn’t signed Ricky Martinez, we could have signed Dave Garcia. That probably means no Hugo Mendoza trade, but let’s ignore that for a moment and let’s look at what we got instead of Garcia.

Ricky Martinez is a 23-year old left-hander that throws 97 and gets groundballs. Alright, so far that sounds a bit like Brownie.

Ricky Martinez also is a 23-year old left-hander that after all these years is stuck in AA Ham Lake, pitching to a 4-8 record and a 5.36 ERA, with 69 strikeouts barely outnumbering 58 walks in 92.1 innings. Last year, his ERA was a lot better (4.15), but he lost a staggering 21 of 29 starts. Aside of the fastball, he has little to offer. Decent curve. The changeup sucks. Why, oh why…

For comparison, Nick Brown started in Ham Lake as a 23-year old after missing most of his age 22 season to Tommy John surgery. He went 1-5 with a 3.96 ERA, 19 walks, 61 strikeouts in St. Petersburg at age 22. The following year, he blitzed AA batting for five games, striking out 39 in 33.1 innings, then moved up to St. Pete for 16 games, 9-5 with a 2.40 ERA, 156 strikeouts in 105 innings(!), then debuted in the Bigs for eight games at the end of the season, seven starts, 2-3 with a 4.54 ERA and 50 K in 41.2 innings.

Yeah, well, no comparison to Brownie. (turns up the volume on Sinead O’Connor) NOTHING COMPARES… TO YOUUU-UU-UUU…!!

[Westheim]

All Star Game

Jose “Dingus” Morales was named MVP of the All Star Game that was played in New York on Tuesday. The Warrior hit two home runs, including a 3-run shot off a certain Jonathan Toner, to plate four in total in the Federal League’s 8-4 win.

Toner, the CL starter soaked the loss. Chris Mathis also allowed a run in his appearance, while Thrasher and Ramirez had scoreless innings. Cookie Carmona went hitless as the centerfield starter and batting leadoff, while Hugo Mendoza started in right and batted fifth, going 1-for-2 with an RBI double.

Alright, that was shabby, onwards to the second half of the season, please!

Raccoons (54-34) vs. Loggers (43-44) – July 12-15, 2018

The Loggers came to town for the back end of the four-and-four that was tradition in the schedule. They were now sixth in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed… not much change there. What had changed however was the edge in the season series. Taking three of four in Milwaukee had put the Raccoons into the lead there, 4-3 over the Loggers as the series began.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (7-4, 2.94 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (4-6, 3.05 ERA)
Damani Knight (4-3, 4.96 ERA) vs. TBD
Jonathan Toner (13-3, 2.59 ERA) vs. TBD
Ricky Mendoza (7-5, 4.41 ERA) vs. TBD

The righty Prevost aside, the Loggers hadn’t made up their mind about the rotation yet. Lefty G.G. Williams (4-5, 3.80 ERA) would pitch on regular rest if going on Friday, and there were also the right-handers Jason McDonald (5-6, 4.81 ERA), Brian Cope (5-4, 3.80 ERA), and Michael Foreman (8-5, 2.20 ERA) in the pool. Foreman had pitched in the All Star Game, but the Loggers would probably not give him four days’ rest, either, just like we did with Jonny Toner.

Knight goes second because he will be on regular rest there, and I like to keep disruptions down, and because I want to send Toner no sooner than Saturday while keeping the two biggest holes in the barrel (Knight, Nielson) apart. Nielson was probably worse right now, but I still didn’t know where to get a replacement from.

Game 1
MIL: 1B Betancourt – SS Burns – LF LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – RF Coleman – CF Cooper – 2B Krueger – P Prevost
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – LF DeWeese – C Denny – P Santos

The Coons got off to a blistering start while Prevost got hardly a strike past anybody in the opening inning. Cookie, Duarte, and Walter all had hits to center to start the game, with Cookie already scoring, and Nunley plated two with his 1-out single after Mendoza grounded out to third base. DeWeese added an RBI single for an early 4-spot in support of Santos, who tried to bounce back from the rough wooing he had received by the Titans the previous weekend. After two clean innings he allowed leadoff singles in the third (Gene Krueger) and fourth (Chris LeMoine), but Krueger was starved on third base and LeMoine never reached second, while the Raccoons had doubles by Nunley in the third and Denny in the fourth and didn’t manage to score on those, either. Nunley hit an RBI single in the fifth for an unearned run; Walter had reached second base on Alberto Velez’ 17th error of the season, a gruesome throw past David Betancourt, who came really close to a leadoff jack in the top 6th, but ended up caught on the track by DeWeese, who opened the bottom of the inning with a single to right off reliever Allen Harris. Denny singled to center, after which Santos was to bunt, but ended up safe at first when Betancourt mishandled the ball and was assessed an error for it. Bases loaded, no outs for Cookie, who lined to center, but Andrew Cooper caught the ball, holding him to a sacrifice fly, 6-0. Duarte grounded to third, where Velez tapped the bag to force Denny, but his throw to first was late. Harris got Walter to ground out, but injured himself in the process.

Santos only got one more out before getting struck after three singles in the seventh inning, and Cookie already limited the damage, throwing out Velez trying to go first-to-third on Orlando Castillo’s single, the second of the inning. Ian Coleman’s infield single ended Santos’ day after 97 pitches. Kaiser replaced him, struck out Cooper, then yielded for Chun, who got Krueger to ground out. Chun also dealt with the eighth before Matt Schroeder came in for the ninth in a 6-0 game. Castillo singled, Cooper walked, and Krueger ended his scoreless innings parade to start a career at 21.1 frames when he hit a double into the leftfield corner, plating both runners. Brad Gore’s grounder to Mathews ought to have ended the game, but Mathews threw the ball away, plating a third run for the Loggers. Alex Ramirez replaced him and struck out Betancourt to finally end the game… 6-3 Coons. Nunley 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI; DeWeese 2-4, RBI; Denny 2-4, 2B; Santos 6.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (8-4);

Wade Davis came off the DL in time for the Friday contest. Adam Cowen (5.63 ERA) was sent back to St. Pete.

Game 2
MIL: RF Hodgers – SS Burns – CF Gore – LF LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 1B Betancourt – 2B Krueger – P McDonald
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 2B Hudman – P Knight

After two scoreless, Knight got into serious trouble when Victor Hodgers hit a leadoff single in the third inning and Shane Walter threw away Kyle Burns’ potential double play grounder. When Brad Gore grounded to Hudman, no double play was turned again with only Burns removed at second base, leaving them on the corners for LeMoine, who also grounded to Hudman rather than killing Knight outright, but again the Coons didn’t turn the double play when Gore mowed down Walter to break it up. Hodgers scored, putting the Loggers up 1-0. When a double play was turned eventually, it was on the Coons in the bottom 4th, Nunley getting Walter removed in a 6-4-3 cleaner. The Coons had only two hits through four innings and found themselves 2-0 behind in the fifth inning when Burns hit a solo home run to left. DeWeese would answer that with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the fifth, but that was really all the Raccoons did in support of Knight, two pitched seven totally decent, even borderline good innings. When Mendoza reached on an error to start the bottom 7th, this could have created an opening, but Mendoza never moved his tying-run-carrying butt to second as Nunley (F9), Denny (K), and DeWeese (F9) went down in silence. Mathews’ pinch-hit single in the bottom of the eighth was an isolated occurrence as well. In the top 9th, Chris Mathis issued two walks to Velez and Jimmy Raupp, who were on the corners with one out and Isiah Reed pinch-hitting in the #8 hole. Mathis ran a full count before Reed swung over a high pitch with the runners going hard. Denny shot up and struck down Raupp with a murderous throw at second base, ending the inning and keeping the Coons one tiny run short of tying the game and taking an undeserved loss away from Damani Knight. And they remained that one run short as Walter grounded out against Troy McCaskill, who then struck out Mendoza and Nunley. 2-1 Loggers. Walter 2-4; Mathews (PH) 1-1; Knight 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (4-4);

Well, four base hits won’t cut it on most (K)nights…

Game 3
MIL: RF Hodgers – SS Burns – CF Gore – LF LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 1B Betancourt – 2B Krueger – P Cope
POR: CF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 2B Dahlke – P Toner

The Loggers got an early lead again thanks to a first-inning triple by Kyle Burns, who scored on Gore’s grounder to short. Another Velez error put Eddie Jackson on second base to start the bottom 2nd, and DeWeese’s single moved him to third. Margolis struck out, and Tom Dahlke also found himself with two strikes really fast before rallying and hitting a 2-2 pitch to deep center for an RBI double. Toner beat the opposing pitcher with a hard RBI single to left, too hard for Dahlke to score, but DeWeese marched home with the go-ahead run, just before Cookie fouled out on the first pitch and Walter flew out easily to Victor Hodgers. Brad Gore took away doubles from both Mendoza and DeWeese in the next inning, keeping the game tight at 2-1. Toner spooled off strikeouts in the middle innings, reaching ten of those buggers in a 2-hit shutout through six, but the Coons offense was entirely absent and thus when LeMoine homered to start the seventh inning it tied the game at two. It was the 16th shot of the season for LeMoine, who made the minimum, while the Raccoons paid millions and millions and millions to players that weren’t reasonably close…

Toner’s spot was up to start the bottom 7th and Mathews hit for him, grounding out to Krueger, but Cookie would hit a 1-out single to center. He was in motion for a hit-and-run with Shane Walter when the makeshift shortstop sent a fly to deep left that wasn’t spoiled by the admittedly awesome defensive outfield the Loggers had, and rammed off the wall for a double. Since Cookie had gotten the early start, he scored handily with the go-ahead run, putting Toner in line for the W again. Lefty Carlos Michel replaced Cope and kept Walter stranded on base against Nunley, who grounded out, and Mendoza, who flew out to left. Chris Mathis was out for the eighth again and again found himself in a homemade mess, walking Brian Almond in the #9 hole before allowing singles to Hodgers and Burns that loaded the bases. Thrasher came out to see after Gore, but the Loggers sent their custom terrible bench piece in Jimmy Raupp to hit for him. Still batting .183 only, Raupp struck out on six pitches, which brought up the main prize in LeMoine – who struck out in five! ****, YEAH, you got THRASHERED!!!

No offense came forth at all in the bottom 8th, so Ramirez had to keep the 5-6-7 batters away with a 3-2 lead. Actually, the #6 hole was occupied by the pitcher, with Andrew Cooper hitting in there once Velez had grounded out. Cooper whiffed, with another lefty, Reed, batting for Betancourt. Reed walked in a full count, pulling up Krueger, who was still not batting his weight, even after sending a double to right. Jackson got to the ball, his throw home was never going to be enough, Dahlke cut it off trying to get Krueger at third, which was also a nope, and Toner’s win had been blown with tremendous precision by the ****head Ramirez, who needed one out from two batters hitting a combined .160 and got none. Once Almond grounded out to end the miserable inning, the Coons loaded the bases with one out against Julio San Pedro due to singles by Duarte and Cookie and a walk drawn by Walter. Nunley came up, and he really had to do it because Mendoza was just… uah! The count on Nunley ran full before he chipped a ball to left and almost fell down in the box. The ball fell in, Duarte came in to score and Nunley had to hurry to pick himself up and hustle to first, but got there well in time. 4-3 Raccoons. Carmona 2-5; Nunley 2-4, BB, RBI; DeWeese 1-2, BB; Duarte 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 11 K and 1-1, RBI;

By the way, Alex Duarte didn’t start not for health concerns (always a topic round here…), but for being on a hits diet. He has hit only .083 in July prior to this game…

Game 4
MIL: RF Hodgers – SS Burns – CF Gore – LF LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 1B Betancourt – 2B Krueger – P G.G. Williams
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – 2B Mathews – C Denny – SS Hudman – P R. Mendoza

Hodgers led off with a bloop single to left and reached third base with Brad Gore still in the on-deck circle, swiping second base and advancing to third on Denny’s throwing error. Regardless, the Loggers didn’t score when Burns and Gore fouled out in succession and LeMoine finally struck out, a remarkable development indeed. Mendoza’s stupid luck soon ran out and he loaded the bases in the top 2nd on a single and two walks with nobody out. ****ing Gene Krueger hit a 2-run single to center, and Hodgers eventually did the same, stole third base on Denny sleeping, and scored on Burns’ sac fly for a horrendous 5-spot in the second inning. To add salt to the wounds, outside of Hugo Mendoza getting hit the Coons didn’t make it onto base until Ricky Mendoza singled in the bottom 3rd. Duarte also singled, and then Hugo Mendoza was hit AGAIN by G.G. Williams! That cried for revenge! When Eddie Jackson flew out to LeMoine to end the inning, revenge had to be gotten in different ways. When LeMoine came back up in the fifth inning, Mendoza had pretty clear instructions what to do and smacked him as hard as he could. LeMoine kneed in the box for a while after getting drummed in the upper arm, then trudged to first, glaring at the pitcher. Gore, who had walked, moved to second base, and at the same time, we went to the bullpen, bringing up Schroeder who ended the inning without a run scoring, but not without loading the bases with a 2-out walk to Castillo.

Hugo Mendoza left the game after five innings with a sore thumb – one of Williams’ pitches had struck him in the hand – and was replaced by Petracek, but it didn’t really matter. The Raccoons hadn’t been expected to hit against the left-hander, and for the very most part didn’t. Mike Denny drove in a run at some point, and no one really noticed. The Raccoons never got the scruffy Williams out of the game, and he just kept pitching a complete game on seven scattered hits, striking out three and surviving on contact a six-year-old girl would find embarrassing. 5-1 Loggers. H. Mendoza 1-1; Schroeder 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Davis 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

BUT…! Williams came to the plate four times and flailed for a golden sombrero! Hah! We kinda, maybe, beat him in that regard.

No we didn’t, shut up and go cry behind the couch.

In other news

July 9 – The Blue Sox trade CL Logan Sloan (0-3, 2.67 ERA, 16 SV) to the Scorpions for two prospects.
July 10 – Two prospects also land the Bayhawks the services of SAC SP Graham Wasserman (2-2, 3.57 ERA).
July 12 – The Knights trade 2B Josh Downing (.239, 7 HR, 31 RBI) to the Capitals for the services of SS Edwin Patino (.246, 0 HR, 16 RBI) and a low-caliber prospect.
July 12 – Shoulder tendinitis puts NAS SS Andrew Showalter (.311, 15 HR, 53 RBI) on the shelf for the next six weeks.
July 13 – The Indians take on C/3B Hideaki “Quasimodo” Suda (.297, 2 HR, 11 RBI) from the Knights in exchange for 1B/2B Marcos Garza (.236, 1 HR, 4 RBI). Both players are in the dusk of their careers, with Suda already 41 years old.
July 13 – NAS INF John Muller (.326, 4 HR, 35 RBI) plates the only run in the Blue Sox’ 1-0 win over the Cylcones with a walkoff single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
July 14 – The Crusaders send 3B Miguel Salinas (.318, 12 HR, 46 RBI) to the Stars in a trade for SP Brian Benjamin (7-11, 3.72 ERA).
July 14 – The Condors rout the Falcons in Charlotte, beating them up to a 16-4 tune. Josh Rawlings, Craig Dasher, Matt Pruitt, and Matt Jamieson all have four hits apiece. Dasher (.262, 4 HR, 36 RBI) and Jamieson (.370, 0 HR, 9 RBI) also drive in five runners each.
July 15 – The Sioux Falls and Los Angeles teams both score routs on the road, and both hit four home runs in their games. The Warriors romp the Scorpions, 16-5, with Gil Gross (.256, 12 HR, 42 RBI) going deep twice, while the Pacifics brush aside the Wolves, 18-8, with Jim Webb (.274, 7 HR, 27 RBI) throwing a grand slam into the pool.

Complaints and stuff

**** Alex Ramirez. **** him a thousand times. That’s how the ****er gets all his ****ing wins, by blowing other people’s hard earned and deserved wins. He has a blown save for every ****ing win of his. **** Alex Ramirez, just **** that ***hole.

Next year in the draft, we will take the best closer there is. We took Grant West in the 1979 draft, and never looked back. Well, okay, for 15 years.

Hugo Mendoza was diagnosed with a thumb contusion that will keep him out of the Crusaders series that is coming up, but it’s okay, he wasn’t hitting anything anyway.

Ricky Moya got through waivers and was assigned to the Alley Cats again. Nobody likes an almost 28-year old career .120 batter. We also removed Brandon Johnson from the 40-man roster without dire consequences.

A few more minor leaguers were released this week, including LF Wes McPoland (2012, 2nd Rd.), 2B Francisco Diaz (2015, 5th Rd.), RF/LF Devin Anderson (2015, 12th Rd.).

If anybody has bought / is playing Ultimate General: Civil War, which is very playable despite being in 0.79 alpha – I had no crashes in 38 hours of play – and you’re not tired of my endless, distorted sabbling yet, I have just started an AAR over on that games’ Steam forums about a Union campaign run. Yes, this might eat a bit into the Raccoons’ time allotment. No, I can’t do anything about that, I was burning to do the Civil War thing.

[pgjocki]

I spent 4 hours at Gettysburg on Tuesday so I can understand getting sucked into that game.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[Westheim]

Raccoons (56-36) @ Crusaders (50-43) – July 16-18, 2018

The Raccoons held a 6-3 edge over the Crusaders over the 2018 season series, which was something they should cherish and at best hang on to. The Crusaders were second in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, with a marginal run differential of +28. Their rotation was better than ours, but their bullpen had some enormous Francisquo Bocanegra-sized holes in it. Their offense was composed almost entirely around the dinger, a category in which they were second in the league, although nobody had even hit ten for them. They had a handful of guys with eight or nine, however.

Projected matchups:
Ryan Nielson (3-4, 5.48 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (8-6, 3.28 ERA)
Hector Santos (8-4, 2.78 ERA) vs. Bob King (9-4, 2.89 ERA)
Damani Knight (4-4, 4.53 ERA) vs. Brian Benjamin (7-11, 3.72 ERA)

With their recent deal for Benjamin, the Crusaders had shafted Hwa-pyung Choe (4-8, 5.04 ERA) to the pen. One unfortunate side result of this was that their first two guys in the series would go on short rest. King and Benjamin had both pitched on Friday, and which way around the Crusaders would spin this was an unknown at this point. These little things aside, all their starters in the series would be right-handed.

The Crusaders started the series with C Cory Roland (.261, 5 HR, 20 RBI) on the DL with a fractured finger, but the Raccoons would not have the services of Hugo Mendoza (disappointing stats go here) available at least for the first two games.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – RF Jackson – 2B Mathews – C Denny – 1B Petracek – P Nielson
NYC: LF M. Ortíz – SS Casillas – 1B Gilbert – C Pino – 3B P. Cruz – 2B S. Valdez – RF R. Hernandez – CF S. Young – P Weise

Cookie opened with a double, but if not for a wild pitch by Tom Weise would not have scored. The Raccoons’ second run, which came in the third inning, also saw nobody rewarded with an RBI. Nielson, who allowed two hits in the first two innings, but no runs, hit a leadoff double into right center and made to third when Cookie singled. Shane Walter’s grounder to Sergio Valdez was a perfect double play ball, and the rookie executed flawlessly, while Nielson was allowed to score. Nielson struck out the side, including the venerable Martin Ortíz, in the bottom of the third inning, then opened the fourth with a pair of walks. Pedro Cruz grounded into a fielder’s choice, leaving runners on the corners for Valdez, who flew out to Cookie in center. Ray Gilbert tried to score from third, but found himself tagged out by the fraction of an inch at home plate after another ravenous throw by Cookie from centerfield! YEAH, **** YOU, GILBERT!! YOU - … ARSE… CAKE!!

While the fifth and sixth were mostly uneventful with one hit for each side only – Gilbert singled in the sixth after DeWeese had doubled in the previous half-inning when it didn’t count – five scoreless innings had pushed Nielson’s once-battered ERA to under five and into tolerable territory. In the bottom 7th, we were faced with a dilemma. We had already used Nielson to strike out readily in the top 7th to have him pitch to the two left-handed batters in the bottom part of the Crusaders’ order, Valdez and Sean Young, in the bottom 7th. He got those two, but he didn’t get Roberto Hernandez, who singled, stole second, and reached third on Young’s groundout. With two outs, right-hander Jens Carroll pinch-hit for Weise, with the left-hander Martin Ortíz behind that guy. This was an awful choice. Ortíz had looked bad against Nielson the entire game, so there was the option to walk Carroll intentionally, although Ortíz would be the go-ahead run. Nope, not gonna risk it. Seung-mo Chun came on, allowed a bloop double to right to Carroll, which scored a run, Ortíz was walked intentionally, and Tony Casillas’ single to center tied the game. Chris Mathis had to replace the ineffective (and that is the mildest word I could come up with) Chun and ended the inning with Gilbert grounding out to Nunley. The Coons got the go-ahead run to second base with nobody out in the eighth when Shane Walter singled to left off Colin Sabatino and Ortíz overran the ball for an error. Nunley singled, moving Walter to third, after which DeWeese popped out, Jackson whiffed, and Mathews popped out – except that Valdez dropped Mathews’ pop and the run DID score after all. 3-2 for the Critters, and still no RBI for them. Denny struck out to end the miserable inning for good. To nobody’s surprise at all, after Mathis and Kaiser had dealt with the eighth inning, Ramirez ****ed up the save in the ninth, allowing hits to Ron Richards and Drew Lowe to start the inning. The Crusaders used Ortíz to bunt(!), and Casillas’ grounder to short plated William Waggoner, as one ex-Coon ran for another to screw the Coons, and once Gilbert struck out to strand Lowe on third with the winning run, the game went to extra innings.

Top 10th, facing another ex-Critter in Adam Riddle, a Hernandez error put Nunley on base with one out. DeWeese singled to right, and Margolis, hitting for Ramirez in the spot vacated by Eddie Jackson, grounded to the mound, but nobody could be bothered to make a play. Bases loaded for Mathews, the infielder struck out to get to 0-for-5 on the day, bringing up Denny, whose grounder to left eluded Casillas and made it to the outfield for a 2-run single. Heeey, RBI’s…! Left with little in terms of bullpen, the Raccoons sent Wade Davis into the bottom of the inning, which started with Bartholomeu Pino, who struck out, before Pedro Cruz drew a walk. Valdez hit into a fielder’s choice before Hernandez hit an RBI double trying to make up his error from the top of the inning. With the tying run on second and two outs, Waggoner grounded to Walter, who did not fudge up and got the final out. 5-4 Blighters. Carmona 3-5, 2B; DeWeese 2-5, 2B; Margolis (PH) 1-1; Denny 2-5, 2 RBI; Nielson 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K and 1-3;

In this cluster**** game, the Raccoons scored zero earned runs for which they got an RBI. Guess who got the W. ****ing Alex Ramirez.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – LF DeWeese – C Denny – CF Duarte – 2B Mathews – 1B Hudman – P Santos
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – 1B Gilbert – 2B S. Valdez – RF Richards – C Lowe – SS Casillas – CF Waggoner – P Bo. King

With pitching dominant in the early innings, Shane Walter’s leadoff double in the fourth presented the first scoring opportunity for either team, and when Drew Lowe was charged a passed ball on the 0-1 to Nunley, Walter moved to third and scoring him became mandatory. They did so, albeit just barely; Nunley struck out, and DeWeese’s grounder to right just so did the job of putting the Coons ahead, 1-0. Offense kept being few and far between. Derek Lowe hit a single in the bottom 5th, but Casillas hit into a double play. Cookie singled in the sixth, but was caught stealing. Nunley hit a leadoff single in the seventh, but Denny found his way into a double play. Valdez singled in the bottom 7th, but was then himself caught stealing by Denny.

The Crusaders would finally put Santos in the wringer in the bottom 8th. Lowe walked with one out, and when Casillas hit a single to right center, Lowe made to third with the tying run. Waggoner appeared in the box, and Santos had struck out only three the entire game. We’d try our luck with thrashering the opposition, but the Crusaders weren’t that dumb and pinch-hit Bartholomeu Pino for Waggoner. While both had a batting average around a sad .200, Pino was a right-hander and was not to be whiffed. He hit the 1-1 to shallow right, Cookie hustled in and caught the high pop on the run. Hauling full speed to the infield, there was no way for Lowe to be sent against Cookie, who had already murdered a Crusader at home on Monday. For reasons best known to themselves, the Crusaders sent Bob King to bat for himself, which could still be a terrible ruse if his head popped off and revealed the death robot underneath that would laser all the Coons on the field to ashes once Thrasher got to two strikes… yet nothing like that happened. Thrasher struck out King, and the inning was over. The Coons had a leadoff single via Petracek in the top 9th, but left their insurance run on third base, with Thrasher still in the game for the bottom 9th. No more Ramirez for me today! Thrasher would have the ball for this inning, having thrown only seven pitches in the previous frame. He killed the Crusaders in order. 1-0 Critters! Walter 2-4; Petracek (PH) 1-1; Santos 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (9-4); Thrasher 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (5);

Wheeze!

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 2B Dahlke – P Knight
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – 1B Gilbert – 2B S. Valdez – RF Richards – C Lowe – SS Casillas – CF Waggoner – P Benjamin

Gilbert’s double play was very helpful in dissolving an early mess for Damani Knight in the first inning. Carroll had hit a leadoff single on 2-0, and Ortíz had drawn a 4-pitch walk, but the double play and Valdez’ easy fly to Duarte afterwards ended the inning with no runs for the Crusaders. Hugo Mendoza hit a double in his first at-bat after missing two games with the bad thumb, and DeWeese and Dahlke both added another double in the inning to get Knight an early 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, Damani struggled with the left-handers all over their lineup and got whacked for four hits and two runs in the bottom of the inning, tying the game right away. The Raccoons stranded DeWeese on second base after a double in the fourth and left Dahlke on third after a leadoff single in the fifth, while Knight still had a claw on the 2-2 tie, but had Jens Carroll reach with a leadoff single in the bottom 5th. Ortíz bunted once more, which was a disturbing image, but Gilbert struck out. However, this got Knight to the 4-5-6 batters, all left-handed, and they had all been on top of him the entire game. The pitching coach reminded Knight to stay low in the zone for Valdez, but Knight threw him an 0-1 chest high and Valdez didn’t miss it, ripping the ball to left for an RBI single, placing the Crusaders in the lead, 3-2.

Damani struck out Gilbert once more to end the seventh inning. Gilbert’s spot only came up when Ortíz reached with two outs on a Mendoza error, so that was that, and after all it was not a terrible job that Knight delivered in this start, holding the Crusaders and their still potent lineup to three runs in seven innings. Unfortunately the offense had yet to pick him up; Jackson singling in his spot to start the eighth was a great start for sure, and when Cookie bounced back to the mound, Benjamin first looked to second base, then decided against that, but as he turned to first, Cookie was already standing there, waving and smiling at him. A befuddled Benjamin lost Walter to a walk, loading the bases with no outs for the heart of the order. Nunley was hitless on the day, hit the first pitch hard and right to Valdez for a double play, home and first, and Mendoza grounded out to Gilbert to score zero runs from the opportunity, and leaving Knight to soak the loss. 3-2 Crusaders. H. Mendoza 2-4, 2B; DeWeese 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Dahlke 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-1;

While two out of three ain’t bad, the way they let the third slip away is once again infuriating…

Raccoons (58-37) @ Bayhawks (55-39) – July 20-22, 2018

This was our second series with the Bayhawks, whom we had swept in the first matchup in April. Raccoons pitching had allowed only five runs in that series, which was nothing completely out of the ordinary with the Bayhawks given their offensive struggles this year. They ranked only eighth in runs scored, but had the third-least runs allowed which kept them afloat in the South.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (13-3, 2.59 ERA) vs. Graham Wasserman (3-2, 3.04 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (7-6, 4.66 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (10-6, 2.54 ERA)
Ryan Nielson (3-4, 4.97 ERA) vs. Manuel Rojas (10-7, 3.53 ERA)

Joo would be a southpaw.

The Bayhawks were without outfield regular Will McIntyre (.298, 6 HR, 26 RBI) for this series. The 28-year old was out with a thumb contusion – the same injury that held Hugo Mendoza out of two games in the Crusaders series.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 2B Mathews – P Toner
SFB: RF Sarabia – 2B Ingraham – C D. Alexander – CF D. Garcia – SS Claros – LF Matthews – 3B R. Vasquez – 1B J. Rodriguez – P Wasserman

Cookie was caught stealing for the second time this week after drawing a 4-pitch walk to start the game, but the Raccoons grabbed a lead in the second inning. Denny hit a leadoff single before DeWeese mashed a homer to right center for an early 2-0 advantage. Toner had a few lapses early on, dropping a feed from Mendoza at first base for an error that prolonged the bottom 2nd before retiring Javy Rodriguez to end the inning, then opened the third with a 3-ball count to Wasserman, who also ended up retired via groundout. While the Baybirds only managed one hit through four innings, they ran a number of 3-ball counts and elevated Toner’s pitch count pretty well and pretty soon. The best pitcher in the league remained a fairly decent batter and opened the fifth inning with a single to left and reached third base when Cookie singled to right center. The Coons had already put Mendoza on third base after a triple in the third inning, but that had come with two outs and had been rendered useless by Denny’s strikeout. Here, Shane Walter killed the inning with a run-scoring double play, 3-0.

Six shutout innings took Toner 95 pitches to complete, so he wasn’t going to stick around forever, and his spot was up in the seventh, but he lined up neatly with Duarte and Mathews in rolling a grounder right to a middle infielder as the former Raccoons farmhand Wasserman got through that inning quickly. Jeffrey Matthews wrung a leadoff walk from Toner in the bottom 7th, who stood amidst a sea of left-handed batters. Robby Vasquez flew out to center, Javy Rodriguez whiffed, and the Baybirds still had more where those came from, sending Jonathan Pruitt – Matt’s cousin – to pinch-hit. By then Matthews was on second after a pickoff throw by Denny that had found Mendoza snoozing more than the runner. Pruitt struck out, and this was it for Toner after 112 pitches. After Thrasher had a 1-2-3 eighth, we put Ramirez into the ninth of a 3-0 game despite obviously knowing better. Dave Garcia hit a leadoff single to right, and that was he only right-handed batter Ramirez could hope to face. Raul Claros grounded slowly up the third base line where Nunley made a daring bare-handed play to JUST BARELY get the runner at first base. Matthews drilled a pitch to center where Duarte flung his paws wildly to catch up with the ball and made it just ahead of the warning track. Vasquez’ RBI single to center only hurt Ramirez’ track record – Toner’s W this time remained undisturbed as Rodriguez flew out softly to Duarte to end the game. 3-1 Raccoons. Denny 2-4, 2B; Toner 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, W (14-3) and 1-3;

Game 2
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Walter – 2B Mathews – SS Dahlke – C Margolis – P R. Mendoza
SFB: RF Sarabia – 2B Ingraham – C D. Alexander – CF D. Garcia – SS Claros – LF Matthews – 3B R. Vasquez – 1B J. Rodriguez – P Joo

Dave Garcia’s 20th longball of the season put the Bayhawks in the lead in the bottom 2nd, 1-0, but that lead was in danger in the top of the third as the Raccoons loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Ricky Mendoza and Duarte, with Cookie getting drilled in between, then delivered one of their trademark choke jobs as Matthews ran down Hugo Mendoza’s decent fly to left center – scoring the other Mendoza for a sac fly – before Jackson struck out and Walter popped out to Victor Sarabia in shallow right. Zach Ingraham’s homer in the bottom 4th restored the Baybirds’ lead, but Alex Duarte tried to tell the slump to **** off; with Cookie on first in the fifth inning and nobody out, he crushed a ball to center that vanished behind the fence for a score-flipping 2-run shot!

The two homers off Ricky Mendoza were the Baybirds’ only hits off him in six innings while he struck out seven. Unfortunately, not much add-on offense seemed to come forward. Mathews hit a leadoff double in the top of the sixth, but was stranded. Cookie and Duarte made outs to start the seventh, the latter being retired for the first time on the day, before Hugo Mendoza snipped a single somewhere where they weren’t. Eddie Jackson came up as we called a hit-and-run, Mendoza ran, Jackson hit, and hit it A TON. That one was soaring up and up and up to left and all the way outta here, giving the Raccoons the 5-2 lead. An infield single by Raul Claros knocked out a so far very good Ricky Mendoza in the bottom 7th. It was only a 2-out single, but remember the sea of left-handed bats. Mathews vanished along with him in a double switch that brought in Jason Kaiser to pitch, with Nunley appearing at third base and batting ninth. Kaiser walked Jeffrey Matthews, but then got his bacon saved by Cookie, who hustled in on Vasquez’ bloop to left and caught it on the run, ending the inning. Kaiser then got two outs in the eighth before Sarabia singled to left, which was also the last lefty in the string. Ingraham and Garcia were the only right-handers in the lineup, and we brought Alex Ramirez for a 4-out save if things worked out, and to get yanked for Thrasher if they didn’t. There was technically a third option for this to shake out: a big spot in the top 9th that would render a closer’s services moot. Cookie opened with a double against Ray Kelley, who had fallen from grace after his wonder year in ’17, and when Duarte hit a slow roller, Vasquez threw that away for a run-scoring 2-base error. Hugo Mendoza was walked intentionally, with DeWeese batting for Jackson against the right-hander. He rolled into a fielder’s choice, moving Duarte to third, from where he scored on Walter’s sac fly to center. That brought up Ramirez’ spot with two outs and a runner on first, and Denny hit for him, lining out to short. Wade Davis got the 5-run lead for the bottom 9th, since you couldn’t trust Chun with anything ball- or bat-related. The Birds went down in order, with strikeouts on D-Alex and Claros. 7-2 Critters. Carmona 2-4, 2B; Duarte 3-5, HR, 2 RBI; R. Mendoza 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (8-6) and 1-3;

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Hudman – P Nielson
SFB: RF Sarabia – 2B Ingraham – C D. Alexander – CF D. Garcia – 3B Claros – LF Matthews – SS R. Vasquez – 1B Hilderbrand – P M. Rojas

“Doom” Rojas allowed a 1-out single to Walter in the first, then somehow forgot about the strike zone and walked the next three batters straight before LUCKILY arriving at a sure strikeout in DeWeese and getting Denny to ground out, holding the Coons to a run on one hit and three walks. Rojas wasn’t going to pitch for long at the rate he was going at. When Nunley hit a leadoff double in the third, Rojas walked Mendoza, struck out a pair, then walked Denny to load the bags for – oh, Hudman. Ech. Hudman bounced out to Ingraham, ending the inning, with Rojas over 70 pitches thanks to two hits, five walks, and four strikeouts. At least the Bayhawks tied the game for him in the bottom of the inning on Ingraham’s RBI double, and T.J. Hilderbrand would hit a go-ahead, 2-out RBI double in the bottom of the fourth after the Raccoons, with Raul Claros on second base, refused to give an intentional walk to a .154 batting right-hander to bring up a .125 batting right-hander (Rojas)…

The fifth inning saw the third straight inning with an RBI double for the Bayhawks, this one hit by D-Alex, who also hurt himself on the bases and was replaced by backup Aaron Case. Although Rojas had gotten a terrible start to the game, he outlived Nielson, who was removed with two outs in the bottom 6th, while Rojas completed six (on two hits, six walks, and seven strikeouts), but also attempted to keep going in the seventh, still with a 3-1 lead. After a leadoff triple by Cookie and Walter’s RBI single it occurred to the Bayhawks that it might be wise to turn to the bullpen, but it was already too late. Jeff Boynton faced DeWeese with two outs after Mendoza got hit, and a hitless DeWeese finally met a ball and RAMMED it to right for a 3-run homer that flipped the score back the Coons’ way, 5-3! The Birds had the tying runs on base in the bottom of the seventh until D-Alex’ replacement Case hit into a double play to save Kaiser and Mathis. Thrasher was in for the eighth, allowed singles to Dave Garcia leading off and Ryan Miller pinch-hitting, but then got a double play grounder from Vasquez to escape the inning. After the Coons stranded an insurance run on second base in the ninth, Ramirez was at it again in the bottom of the inning and allowed a leadoff single to Hilderbrand right away. Up came Cousin Jonathan, grounded to Hudman – another double play! Sarabia fouled out to end the game. 5-3 Furballs!! Walter 3-5, RBI; H. Mendoza 0-1, 3 BB;

The Critters managed only six hits compared to the Bayhawks’ dozen, and stole one here. San Fran is now 0-6 against Portland this year!

In other news

July 17 – TIJ SP Andrew “Doughboy” Gudeman (8-6, 2.64 ERA) spins the first no-hitter in Condors history, keeping the Aces starved for base knocks in a 3-0 victory in Tijuana! A walk drawn by Jimmy Hubbard and an error by Armando Rodriguez are the only lapses in what is otherwise a flawless start for the 24-year old Gudeman. This is the 38th no-hitter in league history, and the second this season after MIL Michael Foreman’s no-no in April. For the first time since 1997, several no-hitters have been thrown for a second consecutive year.
July 17 – 38-year old RIC LF/RF Luis Reya (.306, 4 HR, 23 RBI) finds his 2,000th career base hit mostly ignored in the light Gudeman’s exploits. Reya hits an RBI double off Washington’s Elliott Rosner to reach the 2,000 hits mark. Reya, who has played in all divisions and for six different teams in his career, is a career .295 batter with 138 HR and 950 RBI, but was never handed a major award and was never sent to the All Star Game. He picked up World Series rings with the 2005 Falcons and 2017 Rebels.
July 17 – The Loggers plate eight in the first inning to get off to a hot start against the Titans, eventually beating them 13-2.
July 18 – SAC OF Ray Meade (.290, 15 HR, 66 RBI) is out for up to four weeks with a torn meniscus.
July 18 – The Titans send MR Matt Branch (5-4, 4.22 ERA, 8 SV) to the Cyclones for two prospects.
July 20 – Given a chance to start, SAC SP John Korb (9-6, 4.16 ERA) sparkles and throws a 2-hit shutout against the Gold Sox. The Scorpions win 4-0.
July 20 – The Titans manage only one hit in a 3-0 loss to the Thunder’s Brian Furst (8-12, 5.47 ERA), who pitches eight innings, and Barry MacDonald (2-5, 2.72 ERA, 15 SV). Mike Rivera’s single keeps the Titans from getting no-hit.
July 20 – The Rebels acquire INF Antonio Frajio (.315, 3 HR, 32 RBI) from the Rebels, parting with recent milestone hitter LF/RF Luis Reya (.306, 5 HR, 26 RBI) and defensive shortstop prospect Eddie Ledford, who is unranked.
July 22 – A hitting legend already, PIT LF Victorino Sanchez (.267, 2 HR, 36 RBI) becomes the first ABL player ever to reach 4,000 career base hits! Sanchez singles off L.A.’s Brad Smith to open the fifth inning to reach the vaunted and heretofore unreached mark, but gets swiftly caught up in a double play grounder by Howard Jones once everybody’s done cuddling him. The Miners go on to lose, 1-0. The 39-year old Sanchez, who still plays every day in leftfield, is a career .350 hitter with 220 HR and 1,494 RBI as well as 188 SB. Sanchez’ manifold honors and exploits are too numerous to list exhaustively, but his ten batting titles (including six consecutive and nine in ten years from 2002-07 and 2009-11) and three Player of the Year awards (2000, 2002, 2005) speak for themselves. Despite all the accolades, Sanchez, who played for the Capitals, Thunder, Gold Sox, Stars, and now Miners in his career, carries around with him the disappointment of never having won the World Series.
July 22 – In the follow-up start to his no-hitter on Tuesday, TIJ SP Andrew Gudeman (9-6, 2.47 ERA) ‘merely’ throws a 3-hit shutout at the Indians, taking the 4-0 win.

Complaints and stuff

After a few so-so weeks, we jumped back to the top of the power rankings after going 5-1 the last seven days and conceding only 13 runs compared to 23 counters scored. And I sure hope we face the Bayhawks in the CLCS again, because 1) that means we are in the playoffs, 2) they suck against us this year, 3) REVENGE! BLOODY ****ING REVENGE!!

ABL CAREER HITS LEADERS (*active)

1st – Victorino Sanchez* – 4,000
2nd – Dale Wales (HOF) – 3,673
3rd – Cristo Ramirez (HOF) – 3,625
4th – Jeffery Brown (HOF) – 3,582
5th – Sonny Reece – 3,294
6th – Martin Ortíz* – 3,111
7th – Dennis Berman* – 3,097
8th – Dan Morris (HOF) – 3,030
9th – Vonne Calzado (HOF) – 3,027
10th – Paul Connolly (HOF) – 3,023

Paws up if after all these years still think Vonne Calzado can be ordered in your favorite pizza place. Sonny Reece is not yet eligible for Hall of Fame considerations (but will be this fall, unless I am completely off the rolls), as is the only other player with 3,000 hits, Will Bailey (3,010), who retired after the 2017 season.

Further down the list you can find among others the following non-trivial ex-Raccoons:

13th – Ron Alston* – 2,981
14th – Juan Barrón – 2,937
34th – David Brewer (HOF) – 2,529
56th – Ben O’Morrissey – 2,338
60th – Stanley Murphy* – 2,306
t-69th – Jose Morales* – 2,261
81st – Armando Sanchez – 2,158
84th – Jorge Salazar – 2,137
88th – Ieyoshi Nomura* – 2,087
89th – Jon Merritt* – 2,079
91st – Tetsu Osanai (HOF) – 2,069
100th – Neil Reece (HOF) – 1,989

Among current Raccoons, nobody is even close to the top 100 for years and years down the road, but these are the four-digit guys:

Hugo Mendoza – 1,242
R.J. DeWeese – 1,182
Ricardo Carmona – 1,075
Tom Dahlke – 1,059

Regarding one of our more serious disappointments of the season, I can report that Tim Prince has a torn ligament in his thumb and has been placed on the minor league DL, where he will remain until the first half of August. Bless him, not having to fail for the next three weeks.

We signed the last international free agent we were after this week, spending $122k – about twice the initial offer – on 16-year old Dominican pitcher Nelson Verduzco. This brought our total expenses in the international free agent period to $270k, well below the soft cap of $393k:

SP Nelson Verduzco - $122,000 - SIGNED
CF Wilson Rodriguez - $81,000 - SIGNED
SS Hugo Ochoa - $41,000 - SIGNED
SS Charles Newton - $15,000 - SIGNED
SP Rogelio Bonilla - $11,000 - SIGNED

TOTAL – $270,000 OFFERED – $270,000 SIGNED

[Westheim]

Raccoons (61-37) vs. Condors (57-42) – July 23-25, 2018

The Coons had taken two of three from the Condors in 2018 so far, and this was actually the second series in a row the Raccoons played against the CL South leaders after sweeping the Baybirds out of the top spot over the previous weekend. The Condors were living off their starting pitching, which was the best in the league with a 2.97 ERA for the rotation, while their offense was middling about, plating the fifth-most runs. They conceded the second-least runs, right behind the Coons, who were sixth in runs scored at this junction.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (9-4, 2.62 ERA) vs. Casey Hally (9-4, 2.97 ERA)
Damani Knight (4-5, 4.46 ERA) vs. Zach Hughes (8-7, 2.60 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (14-3, 2.46 ERA) vs. Jorge Gine (7-7, 3.99 ERA)

We’d avoid both their left-hander, Luis Flores (7-6, 3.40 ERA) and last week’s Player of the Week, Andrew Gudeman (9-6, 2.47 ERA), both of which is stellar news. The Condors had a few players on the DL, most critical for their efforts being Jimmy Oatmeal (.255, 15 HR, 55 RBI), who had missed a couple of weeks with a strained hammy now, but could return any minute…

Game 1
TIJ: SS Konrath – 3B Dasher – 1B Tsung – LF Rawlings – C J. Vargas – RF Abraham – 2B Koka – CF Jamieson – P Hally
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 2B Mathews – C Margolis – P Santos

Santos walked a pair and threw 31 pitches in the first inning, so this one was definitely not starting well. Cookie walked but was caught stealing in the bottom of the inning, and then Craig Abraham reached with an infield single that Santos couldn’t dig out in the top 2nd. Matt Jamieson’s walk pushed Abraham to second and both pulled off a double steal, allowing Hally to drive in the first run with a sac fly to center. So far, Santos had zero strikeouts, and while DeWeese tied the game with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, Santos allowed a leadoff single to Craig Dasher and a double to Mun-wah Tsung in the top 3rd, putting runners in scoring position with no outs. A pop over the infield by Josh Rawlings, finally a K to Jose Vargas, and Abraham’s grounder to third kept the runners where they were until the inning ended. Santos remained a mess for the most part and barely squeezed through six innings, but not without allowing the go-ahead run on a Rawlings dinger in the sixth, while the Raccoons had hit into double plays in promising spots in both the third and fourth innings. Dahlke batted for Santos to lead off the bottom 6th, walked, and Cookie’s single to left put two on with no outs, although that was not the first time this had happened in the game, and it had never ended well so far. Walter’s single to right loaded the bases, with no outs – the most dreaded of all base/out states around these often unfriendly confines! Nunley ran a full count and struck out, Mendoza ran a full count and walked on a pitch that was disputably not all that much out of the strike zone, but it pushed the tying run across and that was all we cared about. DeWeese didn’t get a chance at the go-ahead run because Jose Vargas lost a Hally pitch early in the at-bat and it hobbled away for a passed ball that allowed Cookie to race home, 3-2 Coons. With first base open, DeWeese was walked intentionally, and the Coons finally made two more outs, Duarte to shallow right and Mathews with a strikeout.

Davis and Thrasher put the Condors’ top of the order away in the seventh, and the bottom of that inning saw straight 1-out singles from Petracek, Cookie, and Walter, the latter being grossly misfielded by Jamison in center for an extra base, allowing Petracek to score and moving the other runners to scoring position with one out. Unfortunately, no more runs came to be, with Nunley bouncing out to first, Mendoza walking onto the open base, and DeWeese striking out. Thrasher got Rawlings with a K to start the top 8th. With the left-handed bats gone for now, Chris Mathis came in for a 5-out save with Ramirez unavailable. Vargas singled to center, but Abraham bounced into a double play to end the eighth, Duarte hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 8th but was stranded, but the Condors didn’t even get on base in the ninth, as the Coons won their fourth straight game. 4-2 Critters. Carmona 2-4, BB; Walter 2-4, RBI; Mathis 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (4);

Interlude: Trade

The Raccoons managed to strike a deal after all on July 24, acquiring 28-year old SP Bobby Guerrero (10-10, 3.59 ERA) from the Falcons for 2015 first-rounder AA 1B Michael Wilkerson and 2014 tenth-rounder AAA SP J.J. Rodd.

The right-hander Guerrero throws 95mph and has four pitches, including a cutting version of the fastball, a slider, and a best-sparsely-used changeup. He’s been known to contract some nagging injuries, but the one time the 28-year old, who signed as free agent with the Thunder in 2006 originally, missed significant time in the Bigs was due to a knee injury in 2017. For his career, he is 43-47 with a 4.42 ERA.

Rodd was only in AAA because injuries had thinned out the corps there and had been roughed up for a 6.39 ERA, while Wilkerson was hitting a little, but wasn’t exciting us as a 22-year old in Ham Lake.

Guerrero replaced Nielson in the rotation, who was sent back to St. Petersburg. We now have an all-right-handed rotation.

Raccoons (61-37) vs. Condors (57-42) – July 23-25, 2018

Game 2
TIJ: SS Konrath – 3B Dasher – 1B Tsung – LF Eichelkraut – RF Abraham – 2B Koka – C A. Gonzales – CF Jamieson – P Hughes
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – CF Duarte – 2B Mathews – C Denny – P D. Knight

Knight started just like Santos with two walks in the first, but somehow made it through that mess. Cameron Konrath would hit a 1-out single in the third, got caught stealing, and yet somehow Knight managed to allow three more hits with two down and concede the first run of the game on Jimmy Oatmeal’s single into right. Bottom 3rd, the Raccoons were in a terrible spot again after Dasher’s wild throwing error put Denny on second to start the inning. Knight walked, and Cookie singled, loading the bases with no outs. Well, at least they took the lead; Walter singled to center for one run, and Nunley hit a sac fly before the guys that were paid like royal sluggers and had 13 meager homers apiece made two royally poor outs. The 2-1 lead was insufficient to keep Knight afloat, as the Condors were landing hits left and right against him. Konrath hit a 2-out, 2-run triple, plating Joey Koka and Matt Jamieson in the top 4th, which flipped the lead right back their way, 3-2. Knight was knocked out in the fifth after the Condors rapped him for three more hits without him getting an out. Matt Schroeder inherited runners on the corners and no outs and at least allowed only one more run to score, closing Knights’ line at four innings, ten hits, and five runs.

While the Condors had ten hits through five innings, the Coons only had three off Zach Hughes and were in no shape or form to make up a 5-2 deficit. DeWeese hit a 2-out single in the sixth that led nowhere nice, and it took Hughes to be removed after seven for them to amount to anything vaguely resembling a threat. Cookie hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th off right-hander Brian Gilbert, who then walked Walter and got yanked. Lefty Ethan Knight replaced him with the tying run in the box and no outs. Nunley hit a ball to fairly deep center, where it was caught by Jamieson, and Mendoza and DeWeese made their trademark pathetic outs. Nobody scored, and the Raccoons lost. 5-2 Condors. Carmona 2-4; Jackson (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Game 3
TIJ: SS Konrath – 3B Dasher – 1B Tsung – LF Eichelkraut – C J. Vargas – RF Abraham – 2B Koka – CF Jamieson – P Gine
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – 2B Dahlke – C Denny – P Toner

Jonny had seven interesting pitches in the first inning. Konrath singled on the first, and the second bored in on Dasher to put two on base. Tsung flew out to deep right, moving Konrath to third base on the third pitch, and Dasher tried to steal second base, but was thrown out on the fourth pitch before Jimmy Oatmeal ended up striking out three pitches later, leaving Konrath on third. The first three Coons would all hit extra-base knocks in the bottom 1st, with Cookie and Nunely tripling while Walter settled for a double; two runs scored, but Nunley, who reached third base with nobody out, was left stranded…

Toner needed almost 80 pitches through five innings despite that quick first frame, striking out eight along the way, but he also struggled with Joey Koka, whom he never retired, and had another few 3-ball counts. The Condors remained off the board, though, while the Coons had added a run in the bottom of the third when Walter doubled, Nunley singled, and Mendoza hit a groundout that would have been a double play if Nunley hadn’t taken out Konrath at second base. The top of the sixth saw Toner walk Tsung on four pitches to start off, and when Tsung made for second base, Denny’s throwing error donated him third base with nobody out. Oatmeal popped out, Vargas whiffed, but Abraham came through with an RBI double to left before Koka finally bowed out with a strikeout, Toner’s 11th in the game. Gine didn’t make it through six, being replaced by Ethan Knight after Denny’s 2-out single. Toner remained in the game despite being close to 100 pitches and singled to center, putting them on the corners for Cookie. After Cookie walked, Walter struck out, and the Coons left the bases full…

Toner struck out two more in a clean seventh, but that was it for him, having thrown 111 pitches and the finish line still a bunch away. Bottom 7th, Duarte had a 2-out double before – with Knight still pitching – Jackson batted for DeWeese and was struck by a 3-2 offering. Dahlke flew out to center, and at some point all those stranded runners had to come back to bite us in the furry bums. Actually, that point was the eighth inning, in which Chris Mathis threw six pitches, enough for Dasher, Tsung, and Jimmy Oatmeal to all hit singles and load the bases with no outs. Bases loaded was always a bad spot for Ron Thrasher, but … what are the choices? Jose Vargas hit a grounder in front of home plate. Denny hustled out, but Dasher was already rumpling down that line hard – Denny instead went to second, Walter zinged to first – double play, and a run scored, with Tsung remaining on third base with two outs, and right-hander Alfredo Gonzales pinch-hit – AND STRUCK OUT!! While I was mulling whether we should have Thrasher pitch the ninth, Maud remarked that the clouds looked pretty dark overhead… and just as she said it, they broke and doused the park in a tremendous shower that didn’t last long, but caused enough havoc with the field and mound, which were soaked before the groundskeepers got the tarp on, that the game was delayed for 70 minutes. Delayed, but not called – the bottom 8th had to be played (with no offensive success) just as the top of the ninth, with Ramirez out to face the bottom of the order. Koka struck out before lefty Josh Rawlings pinch-hit and grounded a ball hard to the right side. Dahlke knocked it down pretty deep at second, shot up and fired to first base – JUST IN TIME!! The final out had to be taken from Matt Pruitt, who was batting .309 and pinch-hitting in the #9 hole. He sent Ramirez’ first pitch to pretty darn deep center, but Duarte was alert and able to get there. 3-2 Coons! Walter 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nunley 2-4, 3B, RBI; Mathews (PH) 1-1; Toner 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K, W (15-3) and 2-3; Thrasher 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

GODDAMN ****ING DAMN IT, AM I GLAD WE HAVE RON THRASHER!!

… even though putting him in with all the bases drunk can end in havoc.

Raccoons (63-38) vs. Knights (50-51) – July 27-29, 2018

The Knights had the most runs scored in the Continental League, but still next to no pitching, allowing the third-most runs in the CL, and undoing most of the good things their offense did. The rotation ranked ninth, the pen even 11th by ERA. They had lost four of six games against the Raccoons in 2018, and unless they swept the Critters in this weekend set would lose the season series for the sixth straight season.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (10-10, 3.59 ERA) vs. Jared D’Attilo (4-8, 3.73 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (8-6, 4.54 ERA) vs. Stephen Quirion (5-6, 5.06 ERA)
Hector Santos (10-4, 2.64 ERA) vs. Leon Hernandez (3-3, 4.29 ERA)

They only have right-handed starters. Their offense is obviously built around the home run, with Gil Rockwell leading the CL with 26 bombs and 70 RBI.

For the Raccoons, this begins a series of 20 games without an off day, starting with two series against the CL South and then back-to-back 4-game sets against the Indians and Loggers.

Game 1
ATL: SS Patino – 2B Hibbard – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 1B M. Rucker – 3B W. White – CF Walrath – RF Lyle – P D’Attilo
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Mathews – P Guerrero

Bobby Guerrero’s Raccoons debut didn’t go according to plan. Ruben Luna homered in the first, but the run was made up when Cookie doubled and scored on Walter’s single. In the second inning, however, a walk to Wade White and Jeffrey Walrath’s double put two men in scoring position with one out. While Guerrero struck out Jonathan Lyle for the second out, D’Attilo dumped him with a 2-run single to center. That was all the runs that Guerrero ended up allowing in six innings, but sure was enough to put the Raccoons into a dark hole. D’Attilo generated mostly poor contact, which allowed a few scattered singles to the Raccoons through the innings, but they couldn’t get a real hold of him. They had two men on with one out in the fourth, but DeWeese popped out and Denny struck out. The tying runs were on base again after singles by Nunley and Mendoza in the sixth inning, and then with nobody out. Duarte took the first pitch and hit it into a double play, 5-4-3, and DeWeese flew out to right to end that inning in usual pathetic fashion. Top 7th, Chun came out in relief of Guerrero, although it was more like ‘relief’. He walked D’Attilo on four pitches to start the inning, threw a wild pitch, also walked Devin Hibbard, and somehow got the 41 combined home runs of Ruben Luna and Gil Rockwell to pop out over the infield to escape some major harm to his whiskers. Kaiser and Schroeder kept the Knights where they were offensively after that, with the tying run coming to the plate with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth when Alex Duarte found the gap in left center for a double. With closer Quinn McCarthy being a southpaw, DeWeese was outta here and hit for by Eddie Jackson, who popped out over the plate, and Denny grounded out poorly. Margolis batted for the badly slumping Mathews, took an 0-1 pitch and deposited it behind the centerfield wall to get the Critters even when they were down to their last out!

At this point, there was only one batter left on the bench (Petracek), and the pitcher’s spot was up with Matt Schroeder in it. Since he had gotten only one out in the top 9th and it was unlikely that we would get anything started with the season-long terrible Petracek, Schroeder was allowed to bat to actually end the inning here and then pitch the tenth. Unfortunately, that tenth inning derailed right away when Schroeder drilled Luna, then allowed a true bomb to Rockwell that restored the Knights’ 2-run lead in a hurry. However, McCarthy wasn’t much better the second time around, either. Cookie and Walter opened the bottom 10th with singles, but Nunley’s fly to left next to the line was caught by Rockwell. The absolutely useless Mendoza struck out, and Duarte’s fly to right ended up with Lyle, ending the game. 5-3 Knights. Carmona 3-5, 2B; Walter 2-5, RBI; Nunley 3-5; Margolis (PH) 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Kaiser 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

We are now on about our seventh second baseman and we can’t find one who hits. Mathews is dead ever since getting the Player of the Week nod. This is of course only Ronnie McKnight’s fault for getting hurt and tearing a hole into the lineup. Second baseman trade incoming?

In better news, Cookie has a 12-game hitting streak.

Game 2
ATL: CF M. Reyes – 2B Hibbard – C Luna – LF Rockwell – 1B M. Rucker – 3B W. White – SS Patino – RF Lyle – P Quirion
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Petracek – P R. Mendoza

The Raccoons seemingly rolled over and died as early as the third inning. After getting no runners and striking out three times against the miserable Quirion in their first two offensive innings, the Raccoons’ Ricky Mendoza got laid in the third. Starting with the miserable Quirion, the Knights hat three straight singles to load them up. Luna hit a sac fly, Rucker walked to restock the bags, and then Wade White, perhaps the least powerful batter in the lineup, hit a grand slam to right, giving Atlanta a 5-0 lead. It came as a bit of a surprise when the Raccoons were close to taking the lead in the fourth…

Denny opened the third inning with a triple, which was already unusual, and scored on Petracek’s groundout to make up one run, but the damage wasn’t done until the bottom of the fourth. Walter doubled to right before Nunley whiffed and Mendoza rolled out pitifully. Duarte then singled to center, plating Walter, 5-2, DeWeese singled to right, and two more singles by Denny and Petracek scored a run each, bringing up Ricky Mendoza with runners on first and second and two outs. We longed to roll the dice, Jackson batted for Mendoza – and struck out. Cookie drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th, took his 28th base of the year via the steal, but then was stranded due to the gross amount of non-hitting behind him. After getting THIS close to a comeback twice, the Raccoons suffered a regrettable bullpen explosion in the seventh inning, and Chris Mathis was right in the middle of it, but Wade Davis started things by inexcusably walking the pitcher Quirion. He got Marty Reyes on a groundout, before Mathis replaced him. Hibbard made the second out over the infield, before Luna was walked intentionally to get Mathis to face the right-handed Rockwell, who singled to center, plating a run, and then they just kept rolling over Mathis, forwards, backwards, and forwards again until three runs had scored in the now 8-4 contest. When the bottom 7th rolled around and Quirion loaded the bases to bring up Hugo Mendoza with two outs, it was as good a time as any to head for the booze cabinet, because you weren’t going to witness any greatness. In a full count, Mendoza fouled out. That was the last act for the Coons, who surrendered an unearned run to the Knights in the top of the ninth, courtesy of a walk and two singles allowed by Chun and an error by DeWeese. 9-4 Knights. Walter 2-5, 2B; Duarte 2-4, RBI; Denny 2-4, 3B, RBI; Petracek 2-4, 2 RBI; Davis 2.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K;

Cookie’s hitting streak ended right away with a grim 0-for-4 performance.

Also, guys, we came in 4-2 and needed only one win to extend our string of season series taken from the Knights. Can we … please?

But before we could get to the Sunday game, the Knights pulled two moves on Saturday night that were a bit puzzling. First, they sent 1B Mike Rucker (.234, 7 HR, 33 RBI), who had been injured for a bunch of the season, to the Warriors for INF Gary Rice (.308, 4 HR, 18 RBI), a veteran of 37 years of age, and #4 prospect OF Adrian Feliz; then dealt Saturday’s winner, SP Stephen Quirion (6-6, 5.07 ERA) to the Aces for two more prospects.

The Knights ended up making a change in the rotation after the trades, but we still ended up seeing a right-hander in Drew King (8-6, 4.18 ERA).

Game 3
ATL: LF M. Reyes – 3B W. White – 1B Rockwell – C Luna – 2B Hibbard – RF Lyle – CF Walrath – 3B G. Rice – P D. King
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – SS Walter – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – C Margolis – 2B Petracek – P Santos

Again, the Knights scored first. Gary Rice hit a double to right center in his first at-bat as a Knight, coming at the start of the third inning. King struck out bunting, Reyes struck out properly, but Wade White flipped a 3-2 pitch into leftfield and Rice, while old, was running all the way and scored before Rockwell struck out to end the inning. Following a leadoff walk by Luna in the fourth, Devin Hibbard homered, running the score to 3-0 against Santos and more or less ending the 5-year run of beating the Knights over the season, since the lineup was doing no great things at all early on against King, and this was a mild understatement. By the time Santos left the game after five and a third messy innings, only one Raccoon had been on base: Matt Nunley, twice, with a single and a walk, and the latter time he had been mopped right up by Margolis’ double play. There were also only three strikeouts on King’s ledger, but two of those on ****ing Hugo Mendoza…

Out of the blue, the tying run came up after all in the bottom 6th. Cookie’s 2-out walk brought up Duarte, who was batting second not for his bat being found again, but with Jackson in the lineup I didn’t want all the lefties in the top half and the righties in the bottom half, and so Duarte was flicked up, and here he singled with two outs to bring up Walter as the tying run. Walter fell to two strikes before lining a 2-2 pitch to right center and onto the grass, Cookie scored, RBI single, and – oh ****. Mendoza was up again. The death of all offense grounded out to short. King issued back-to-back walks to Nunley and Margolis with one out in the bottom 7th, bringing up Petracek, who while relatively effective recently, was still only batting .205 with two homers, and yes, he’s been here all year, and no, he wasn’t hurt or lost in the woods or stuck in the fridge, or whatever. He smoked a pitch up the middle, but not past Hibbard, whose only play was on first base. DeWeese batted with the tying runs in scoring position and two outs, the Knights left King in to face him, but King really didn’t feed him anything that could be driven and DeWeese walked, the third free pass in the inning. That brought up Cookie.

Cookie, seriously. If you clear the bases here, I’ll buy you a Ferrari in any ****ing color you want. Just, clear the bases, okay? When he flew to shallow right, Devin Hibbard and Jonathan Lyle almost took another out, but Lyle made the catch, and the inning ended. After slumbering through the middle innings, the Knights put two on against Davis in the top 8th, and Thrasher came in and came pretty close to defusing the mess once more, until Margolis monstrously threw away a 2-out grounder by PH Mike Wittner that would have ended the inning if played nicely. Thrasher’s mind unraveled after that and the allowed another RBI single to Gary Rice, with three runs scoring in total, all unearned. Another run, earned, scored on the dip**** Alex Ramirez in the ninth inning. In because the bullpen had managed to completely blow itself up in just three days, he allowed a leadoff single to Marty Reyes, who stole second and moved around to score on Ruben Luna’s 2-out single. The Knights would have gotten him for two at least and who knows how many more if Duarte hadn’t thrown out the lumbering Luna at the plate on Hibbard’s double to center. 7-1 Knights. Walter 2-4, RBI; Nunley 2-2, 2 BB;

In other news

July 23 – VAN RF Ezra Branch (.311, 15 HR, 53 RBI) has quite the day in a 5-3 win over the Knights, banging out five hits, including two doubles and two homers, and drives three runs in the victory.
July 23 – SAC 3B Jason LaCombe (.329, 2 HR, 37 RBI) is out for a month with an oblique strain.
July 24 – Fresh off the DL, SFB RF/1B Will McIntyre (.298, 6 HR, 26 RBI) is sent to the Blue Sox for 3B Wes Ladd (.300, 2 HR, 15 RBI) and unranked prospect INF/LF/CF Saverio Carafa.
July 25 – IND SP Dan Lambert (9-6, 3.36 ERA) 3-hits the Thunder in a 5-0 shutout.
July 26 – While the 13-0 rout the suffered at the hands of the Thunder was certainly stinging the Indians already, they had to be even more upset by the fact that they were in fact NO-HIT by OCT SP Brian Furst (9-12, 5.13 ERA), with a walk drawn by Raul Matias everything that stood between Furst and a perfect game. This is Furst’s second no-hitter, joining Henry Selph as the only pitchers to achieve the feat twice. The ABL’s 39th no-hitter comes nine days after the previous one by Tijuana’s Andrew Gudeman, the quickest that no-hitters have ever followed upon another, beating the span of 14 days between the no-hitters of RIC Roger Weaver and NYC Edwin Edmonstone in 1984. This is the third no-hitter for Oklahoma City, with Alex Lindsey in 2008 throwing the only one not belonging to Furst.
July 26 – The Bayhawks have to shut down C Dylan Alexander (.273, 11 HR, 53 RBI) with chronic back soreness. The 33-year old backstop will be idle for a month before resuming baseball activities.
July 26 – San Francisco is also not idle on the trade front, sending CL Ray Kelley (4-4, 4.28 ERA, 29 SV) and prospect Saverio Carafa – just acquired two days earlier – to the Blue Sox for LF Roger Allen (.232, 5 HR, 27 RBI).
July 26 – The Condors send LF Matt Pruitt (.306, 2 HR, 17 RBI) and a prospect to the Capitals for LF/RF Danny Munn (.294, 4 HR, 23 RBI).
July 27 – SFB OF Dave Garcia (.342, 22 HR, 60 RBI) flattens the opposing Crusaders almost on his own with four hits in five trips to the plate, driving in five. What’s more is that Garcia actually hits for the CYCLE in the game, collecting one of each type of base hit in the Bayhawks’ 14-0 mauling of the Crusaders. The 62nd ABL cycle is the second in Bayhawks history, coming over 20 years after the previous cycle for the team by Antonio Rodriguez in 1997.
July 27 – 28-year old RF/3B/CF/2B Rich Arrieta (.344, 4 HR, 25 RBI) is traded from Las Vegas to Denver in exchange for two prospects, including SP Vic Mercado, who was ranked as high as #15 three years ago, but is not ranked anymore.
July 28 – The Aces acquire RF/LF Saverio Piepoli (.295, 11 HR, 51 RBI) from the Buffaloes in exchange for two prospects, including #8 prospect CL Gregg Bell.
July 28 – In another trade, the Bayhawks pick up LF/CF/SS John Harris (.333, 2 HR, 28 RBI) from the Capitals for three prospects.
July 28 – The Cyclones win a 1-0 game from the Pacifics thanks to Jose “Dingus” Morales’ (.343, 24 HR, 61 RBI) solo home run in the fifth inning.
July 29 – Another NO-HITTER! Pittsburgh’s John Key (5-10, 5.01 ERA) nixes the Wolves in a 4-0 game, allowing only three walks, but no base hits. This is the 40th no-hitter in ABL history, and the third of the month, something that had never happened before. It is the fourth no-hitter in Miners history, as Key follows in the steps of Wilson Cordova (1989), Leland Lewis (1993), and Fred Dugo (2014).
July 29 – The Falcons take a 4-3 game in 17 innings from the Titans. They collect only nine hits in the 17 innings.

Complaints and stuff

Busy week!

Dan Lambert was the other guy I tried to trade for, but the Indians had none of it, at least not for the offerings I could make them. So Guerrero it is. I mean, the required level of excellence is not terribly high. Be better than Nielson. That’s it. And Nielson was pretty darn wonky.

Vic Mercado was of course a Raccoons prospect that was sent to Vegas in the ill-advised deal for Ron Richards and Zack Entwistle in 2014.

It’s not a big mark, but with his start against the Condors, Jonny jumped over the 1,200 K mark this week, reaching exactly 1,209 strikeouts. Yup, he’s still 27.

Raccoons’ longest streak of season series wins against individual CL teams:

8 – Condors (2006-2013)
6 – Bayhawks (1989-1994)
6 – Thunder (1989-1994)
6 – Crusaders (1991-1996)
6 – Knights (2006-2011)
6 – Canadiens (2009-2014)
5 – Titans (1986-1990)
5 – Thunder (2004-2008)
5 – Titans (2008-2012)
5 – Knights (2013-2017)

[UltimateAverageGuy]

I'm not even exaggerating when I say this is as good an "ongoing novel" I've ever read. This thread has made a lot of long train rides home more tolerable and I thank you for your incredible work. If you have a PayPal to donate to I'll be more than happy to give.

One question, do you write as you play? What is your exact method?

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by UltimateAverageGuy

I'm not even exaggerating when I say this is as good an "ongoing novel" I've ever read. This thread has made a lot of long train rides home more tolerable and I thank you for your incredible work. If you have a PayPal to donate to I'll be more than happy to give.

Aw, you really shouldn't support my absolutely reprehensible behavior in here.

Yet... If you must insist on dropping a coin into my jar, shoot me a PM.

Originally Posted by UltimateAverageGuy

One question, do you write as you play? What is your exact method?

The main part of each week with the games is basically written top to bottom, with few exceptions when I realized I missed some particular thing in the introduction to a series, as each game is unfolding. I usually play a few innings in to get a feel for things, especially if pitching is dominant.

The news section gets filled as articles pop up (although I ignore most, f.e. all shutouts which are worse than a 3-hitter, except for special circumstances like back-to-back shutouts, which are really rare), and I skim over the line scores of the week right at the end to not get completely out of the game-to-game rhythm. I only look at the boy score if the line score looks interesting.

The complaints section gets filled as things crop up. "That guy did this and that, oh that reminds me, back in 1999 blubber-blubber-blubber." Sometimes nothing crops up, then I complain about the offense. It's worked for two score and change, which sounds a lot like a Raccoons box score.

Which now actually DOES remind me of something that came up in the office today, when I was doing accounting for a client and came across an invoice from a company that sounded vaguely like "Pooky". Being the freak that I am (honestly, you should see the office walls, raccoon pictures everywhere), I was reminded of Raimundo Beato of course, and then wasn't sure anymore when exactly he played for the Raccoons, but it was the early 90s. Guessed 90-94, which was wrong, he didn't come over until '92 (good timing!). Which actually brings me to the point, because I then found out that he was the return in the discard trade of Raúl Castillo. The three games that Castillo played as a Raccoon were the infamous reward for the Hall of Fame career of Dennis Fried we traded to the Blue Sox a year earlier.

Of course, it also helps that I'm - I don't know whether any of you ever noticed - in an advanced stage of nuts.

+++

Update shall come tomorrow. There was no real game on today, so I bothered about other stuff I can't couple with a real game.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (63-41) @ Falcons (35-71) – July 30-August 1, 2018

The absolutely horrendous Falcons were last in runs allowed and third from the bottom in runs scored, giving them an outrageous -170 run differential before July was even over. We should be cautious though given that we’ve lost three in a row and have only played 3-3 against them so far in 2018…

Projected matchups:
Damani Knight (4-6, 4.71 ERA) vs. Kevin Clayton (5-13, 4.97 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (15-3, 2.40 ERA) vs. Alex Vallejo (5-13, 6.05 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (10-10, 3.62 ERA) vs. Sean Balzer (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

That Balzer kid had been the #2 overall pick in 2015, and was a 23-year old right-hander that had made his major league debut in 2017 already, but had been promoted back to the big league rotation after the Falcons had traded Guerrero to us. He would oppose Balzer in the Wednesday game, his second start for the Raccoons and after having drawn a no-decision in his first outing. All their starters to oppose us in this series were right-handed.

The Raccoons have another 17 straight games before arriving at another off day. I don’t know quite how this will ultimately shake out, but everybody might get two days off in this string, especially the brittle faction. Yeah, looking at you Cookie! You’re always making a mess and crumble all over the floor. (works carpet with a hand-held vacuum cleaner) Go eat your muffin outside, for crying out loud!

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Dahlke – P Knight
CHA: SS Good – LF Huibregtse – CF Feldmann – 1B Quebell – RF Pearcy – 2B J. Estrada – C Vanderzee – 3B R. Martinez – P Clayton

While Clayton walked Cookie at the start of the game, but then struck out six on his way the first time through the order after that, Damani Knight spilled two singles in the first inning, but sure as heck got a double play grounder from Adrian Quebell, because some things never change. Knight would not make it out of the third inning, thoroughly ravaged by the Falcons, who opened with a Ricardo Martinez double to left. After a bunt by the pitcher, Knight walked Matt Good, who stole second base and made it to third with Martinez scoring when Mike Denny unleashed a throw into centerfield. Knight walked the bases full, then allowed three consecutive doubles to Quebell (so some things eventually DO change), Erik Pearcy and Juan Estrada. Jason Kaiser replaced Knight, allowed another RBI double to Matt Vanderzee, which made for four straight doubles, five in the inning, and seven runs on the board, a single to Martinez and finally Clayton came up and hit into a double play, which loaded him with all three outs in the inning.

The Coons entered the fourth inning without as much of a base hit while trailing by seven runs. Clayton walked Shane Walter to start the inning before Nunley grounded to right where Juan Estrada made a full-length dive to stop the ball and took his precious time to get it out of his glove – too late, Nunley was safe with an infield single. Mendoza singled, loaded them up for Alex Duarte, who tried to break the slump with a long shot to right, and outta here. GRAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!! Before long, the bases were loaded again. Denny had a hit, Dahlke walked, Jason Kaiser was retained to bunt, but Clayton messed up trying to get Denny at third base and got nobody. Just now, with a great situation and the top of the order up, Clayton rediscovered his pitching skills and struck out Cookie and Walter back-to-back to end the inning, reaching 9 K on the day. Kaiser threw 2.2 innings before issuing a leadoff walk to Vanderzee in the sixth inning. Schroeder replaced him, but while Vanderzee ended forced on a poor bunt in the inning, Schroeder still conceded the run on two singles, putting the Falcons 8-4 ahead. The Raccoons faced Jose Cappelletti, who was really struggling with the walks, in the seventh inning, but ended up loading the bases on three singles after an initial foul pop by Joey Mathews, who had replaced Dahlke in a double switch. Mendoza was the tying run in the box with one out. His last home runs had come on July 4, so the Falcons had nothing to worry about. Cappelletti lost him to a walk, but Duarte grounded his 1-0 pitch into a double play, leaving the Coons with one run and back down by three, where they remained silently in the last two frames. 8-5 Falcons. Nunley 2-4; Kaiser 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Are you really going to lose the season series to a .330 team? Really?

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Petracek – P Toner
CHA: SS Good – 2B B. Reyes – C Holliman – CF Feldmann – 1B Quebell – RF Pearcy – LF Huibregtse – 3B R. Martinez – P Vallejo

In major news, Hugo Mendoza DID manage to hit another home run in July, knocking a 2-piece in the first inning that collected Walter, who had walked. Walking people was not alien to Vallejo, who had more walks than strikeouts, and also threw a wild pitch to move Walter to second base even before the home run. Mendoza even hit another one his next time up, belting a solo shot to center that put the Coons up 4-0. They had already scored a run in the inning after Cookie had tripled and come home on Walter’s sac fly. By contrast, the Falcons’ Bob Reyes had tripled in the bottom 1st, but had been left stranded when Toner double-whiffed the double-Ryans in the heart of the order. Vallejo got some kind of Damani Knight treatment, although rather than allowing seven runs in 2.1 innings, he allowed six in five innings eventually, with two more home runs hit off him by DeWeese and Denny going yard back-to-back in the fourth inning, staking Toner to a 6-0 lead. The Coons put up another 2-spot in the sixth inning, their fourth on the day. Toner singled with two outs and only Petracek on first base after forcing Denny, and then Cookie walked to fill them up. Walter hit a 2-out, 2-run single off Cappelletti to lengthen the score to 8-0. The inning ended with Quebell’s nifty play on Nunley’s quick bouncer. Jonny was shutting out the Falcons on two hits through five innings, but was already over 70 pitches again, having an especially wasteful bottom of the fourth in which he pitched in four 3-ball counts. He wasn’t going to get through this game safe for divine intervention – and that happened. The Raccoons were batting against Cappelletti in the top of the eighth when Cookie hit a single after Toner had made the second out. Walter doubled into the gap in right center, plating Cookie for a 9-0 score, and then Matt Nunley broke up an 0-for-4 doldrum with a huge swing and the team’s fifth dinger in the game, a huge shot to left. Just as the ball broke the plane over the fence, a colossal thunder sound cracked right over the park – a summer storm had quietly crept up on the city. It immediately started to rain and poured within a minute. The groundscrew scampered to get the tarp onto the field, but for nought. The rest of the game was drowned out and Toner wound up with a shutout on merits of ill weather. 11-0 Furballs. Carmona 2-4, BB, 3B; Walter 3-3, BB, 2B, 4 RBI; H. Mendoza 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Duarte 2-3, BB; Denny 2-4, HR, RBI; Toner 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, W (16-3) and 1-4;

Can you believe? This was the first complete game for ANY Raccoons starter this season, although it would never have been one if not for the weather!

The game did move Toner into the top 3 in ERA though, trailing IND Tristan Broun by 18 points and MIL Michael Foreman by nine. The Raccoons would face both of these pitchers in the two series coming after business would be finished in Charlotte, hopefully with a W to stave off the shame of dropping the season series to them.

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Mathews – P Guerrero
CHA: SS Good – 2B B. Reyes – C Holliman – 1B Fowlkes – RF Pearcy – LF Huibregtse – CF Je. Stephenson – 3B R. Martinez – P Balzer

Balzer had walked seven batters in five and a third innings in his season debut. While he issued a free pass in each of the first two innings, the first damage of the game was done to Bobby Guerrero, who allowed the leadoff man Erik Pearcy on base to start the bottom 2nd and with two outs got blasted by Ricardo Martinez for a homer to left. After Cookie struck out to open the third inning, Walter got hit by Balzer, and the Coons loaded the bases on an error and a walk, bringing up Duarte with one out. His fly to right was initially reminiscent of his slam on Monday, but was caught by Pearcy, deep enough to allow Walter to scamper home from third base, though. Nunley scored on DeWeese’s hard single up the middle and into center, tying the score, after which Balzer kept messing up, walking Denny to load the bases with two down, and then walking Mathews with the bases already full. Mendoza came home with the go-ahead run, with Guerrero flailing out to end the inning. The bags were full again with two outs in the top 4th, with Balzer walking a pair this time, but pulling up DeWeese, The Great Deflater. He flew out to right. The Falcons tied the game in the bottom of the inning an two simple singles by Pearcy, who stole second base unopposed by Denny, and Jeremy Stephenson, leaving the score flat at three after four.

Suddenly, offense stopped. After Mathews’ 1-out single in the top of the fifth, the Falcons had seen enough of Balzer, who was replaced by Jimmy Van Meter, who sawed the Coons right off. The Falcons had two men on in the bottom 5th against Guerrero, but let him off the hook, and Guerrero wound up pitching seven innings on 100 pitches before his spot to bat was due to lead off the eighth inning against new reliever Johnny Watson, a left-hander. Dahlke hit for him, knocked the second pitch to left and that ball just kept rolling into the corner after narrowly avoiding a hustling Huibregtse’s glove. Dahlke slid in with a leadoff triple, with the Critters intentionally walking an 0-for-4 Cookie to set up a double play. It didn’t work. Walter hit a ball to center where it was caught by Stephenson, but was deep enough to score Dahlke for the 4-3 lead. Nunley then hit a blooper into shallow right with Cookie going aggro to third base, but had to hold when Mendoza grounded out. Duarte walked, with Jackson batting for DeWeese with the bags full and two down. Watson and Jackson battled for seven pitches in a full count before Jackson knocked a hard grounder to left, and the left side of the infield was the porous one with Ricardo Martinez holding onto third base so as to not fall over. The ball got through, two runs scored, and after Mathis pitched a scoreless eighth despite allowing two hits, the Raccoons put two more runs on a crumbling Falcons pen in the ninth, finally taking the season series. 8-3 Coons. Walter 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, RBI; DeWeese 2-4, RBI; Jackson (PH) 1-2, 2 RBI; Mathews 2-3, 2 BB, RBI; Dahlke (PH) 1-1; Hudman (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (65-42) vs. Indians (50-58) – August 2-5, 2018

How exactly were the Indians in last place in the North? They were eight games under .500, yet only four runs under .500, having plated 432 runs (9th in CL) against 436 runs allowed (5th). Their starters and relievers were both a bit better than average. They had one of the strongest defenses in the Continental League… this was really not a last place team! The Raccoons, who held a 5-2 lead in the season series, better watch out!

Projected matchups:
Ricky Mendoza (8-7, 4.77 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (9-7, 2.11 ERA)
Hector Santos (10-5, 2.73 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (1-0, 4.39 ERA)
Damani Knight (4-7, 5.42 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (9-7, 3.60 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (16-3, 2.29 ERA) vs. Felipe Ramirez (4-9, 5.76 ERA)

The Indians had put Alejandro “Ant” Mendez (8-11, 3.26 ERA) on the DL with a mild oblique strain at the start of this week, moving Kyle Lamb, a regular starter in prior years, back to the rotation to fill in while Mendez was down. This gave the Indians two left-handers back-to-back at the start of this 4-game weekend set, which for us was not a desirable spot. DeWeese would make neither start, that much was clear. We would also cycle out most of our remaining left-handers for one game or the other while we were at it.

Game 1
IND: 1B O. Torres – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – 3B Suda – C Mancuso – 2B Eason – P Broun
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – 3B Walter – C Margolis – SS Dahlke – 2B Petracek – P R. Mendoza

We already knew that scoring would be kinda hard against Broun, but Ricky Mendoza proved to be absolutely no help at all in trying to maintain a 9 1/2 game lead, allowing three home runs in three innings and four runs total. July’s CL Rookie of the Month took him deep first as Danny Morales homered in the first inning, followed by a Lowell Genge triple and Nick Gilmor’s sac fly. G&G went deep back-to-back in the third. The Critters had only one hit by Margolis to show for after two innings, but Petracek got a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, stole second base, and came home on Duarte’s 2-out single to get back to 4-1. Jackson’s leadoff double again put the team in a good spot, although it took an error by Raul Matias on Margolis’ grounder to short to plate him, 4-2, the run being unearned. With one out and a runner on first, Tom Dahlke romped his first Raccoons home run to left, tying the score at four after four. In a twist, Broun would face only one more batter afterwards, retiring Cookie on a pop to shallow left before he kept rotating his shoulder on the mound, which sent the Indians’ trainer and pitching coach out there. They hauled him in right away, dipping Indy into their pen in the fifth of the tied game. Left-hander Pat Kling came into the game, and immediately put on Duarte with a double to left. Mendoza singled on a bloop, putting Critters onto the corners for Jackson, who doubled to center to break the tie. Duarte scored, Mendoza was sent and thrown out, and Jackson was stranded on second base when Walter popped out, leaving it at 5-4, and the team wrung another run from Kling in the sixth before Cookie stranded a pair when he fouled out, extending a hitless streak to 11 at-bats.

Mendoza had been hit for in the inning, with Mathews producing the run-scoring groundout that moved the score to 6-4. Wade Davis struck out Bobby Eason to start the seventh, his only batter before left-hander Danny Young pinch-hit for Kling and put four left-handed bats in a string of five batters. With a 2-run lead, this was a case for Ron Thrasher. He got four of them before Nick Gilmor hit a 2-out single to left in the eighth. With the lead still at 6-4, we didn’t bother with middlemen any longer, and Alex Ramirez was right out there to earn his lunch money, retiring Matias on a grounder to third before also sitting down the Indians in order in the ninth. 6-4 Furballs! Duarte 2-4, 2B, RBI; Jackson 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-4, 2B, RBI; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Ramirez 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (26);

Shane Walter has a 12-game hitting streak, which he will nurse on the bench in the second game, getting the day off with Nunley back on the hot corner. This was the first game all year in which Nunley did not appear, leaving only Cookie Carmona (!) to appear in all games, but Cookie also got the next game off.

Three of the runs on Broun were earned, dropping him (2.23 ERA) right between Foreman (2.17) and Toner (2.29) into second place in the ERA race. The injury turned out to not be too serious, a mild case of shoulder soreness. He might miss one start, two if the Indians decided to put him on the DL. A season-ending injury would have eliminated him from ERA title considerations since he only had 149 innings pitched on the year.

Game 2
IND: C Garner – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – 3B Suda – 1B Eaton – 2B D. Ortega – P Lamb
POR: CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – LF H. Mendoza – C Denny – 2B Mathews – SS Dahlke – 1B Petracek – P Santos

Hector Santos was perfect the first time through the Arrowheads’ lineup, whiffing a pair, but Lamb wasn’t that far off, facing only one over the minimum. But while Santos remained on track in the fourth, in the bottom of the inning Lamb loaded the bases on a single and two walks with nobody out and Denny appearing in the box. He hit a fly to right, not too deep, which Gilmor caught, then threw out Nunley trying to score. Mathews walked to reload the bases, but Dahlke popped out on a 3-1 pitch to end the inning. Gilmor then singled on the first pitch in the fifth inning, a clean line shot to center, Santos walked Matias on four pitches, and this ship went down quicker than the Titanic. After “Quasimodo” Suda popped out to shallow center, Santos was set alight by Pat Eaton’s RBI double, a run-scoring wild pitch he had himself to blame for, and then a 2-out RBI single by Lamb before Randy Garner’s K ended the inning. Santos didn’t even make it through another inning, getting whipped for another three hits and two runs while getting only one out. Chun replaced him to face Suda, who flew out to center in a full count, then struck out Eaton, but the damage had been done and was staggering; perfect in four innings, then charged five runs on six hits in 1.1 innings. The Coons were then left to mostly empty their entire pen despite Chun getting five outs on 15 pitches and only six outs left to get in a horrendous losing cause, in which the Raccoons had collected a meaningless run somewhere, but nowhere in particular, while Hugo Mendoza had unleashed pathetic groundouts with two on and two outs two times in the game. That was before we ran out of the budget arms, with Matt Schroeder being charged three runs in a horrendous top of the ninth, with some damage kindly waved around by Chris Mathis. The Raccoons ended up wiped, landing only five hits in total. 8-1 Indians. Jackson 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Chun 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Five hits, and three by the semi-regular Jackson. DeWeese pinch-hit and whiffed in the ninth. Walter did not appear, the 12-game hitting streak still in one piece.

Game 3
IND: 1B O. Torres – CF D. Morales – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – 3B Suda – C Garner – LF C. Martinez – 2B Nelson – P Lambert
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – CF Duarte – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Mathews – P Knight

The Coons got a run in the first inning on singles by Cookie and Nunley, but Cesar Martinez’ homer tied the game in the second – the first home run in the 23-year old’s career – and it didn’t take long for Knight’s inept pitching to leave him overtaken. He walked Oliver Torres to lead off the third, Morales singled, and Gilmor walked to give the Arrowheads the bases loaded with no outs. By some kind of miracle, the Indians scored only one run on Matias’ sac fly that Cookie caught headlong and ignoring all warnings to not break his neck, but he remained in one piece despite hitting the ground hard and getting one paw caught under his body. Suda flew out to left, and when Garner walked, Martinez grounded sharply to short, but Walter was on top of the play and got the final out. Down 2-1, when Denny and Mathews hit 2-out singles in the bottom 4th the temptation to yank Knight and piece the rest of the game together with the pen was definitely there, but we also had another 11 games to play after that and the pen had already had a hard night on Friday. Damani hit for himself, grounded to short, and two men were stranded.

Bottom 5th, Cookie led off with a single to center and took second base by force, his 29th base of the season. Walter’s groundout moved him to third, but Nunley flew out to shallow right and we had seen enough of Gilmor’s arm in this series, thank you. That left things to Mendoza. The chronic loser grounded to short, Matias with the throw to first – oh, the throw was poor, short-hopped Torres, and went off his glove and into the air. Mendoza was safe, Cookie was safe, the game was tied on Matias’ error, 2-2. The Indians had the tying run on third base with two outs in the top 6th and also didn’t hit for Lambert, whom Knight struck out to end the inning. After a scoreless seventh, Seung-mo Chun was in the game for the eighth inning. Matias hit a leadoff single before Suda chugged a homer to right, putting the Indians up 4-2 and the Raccoons into Calamity Valley yet once again. I couldn’t tell for sure whether they even tried, but the result was pathetic. After going down, they would not put another runner on base at all. 4-2 Indians. Carmona 2-4; Nunley 2-4, RBI;

Shane Walter’s hitting streak ended, just like my will to live. Hugo Mendoza was not in the lineup on Sunday. Call it rest, or call it that I hate his ****ing loser’s face, he was not in there. I hate that scumbag, worst trade ever. EVER!

Game 4
IND: 1B O. Torres – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – SS Matias – 3B Suda – C Garner – RF C. Martinez – 2B Nelson – P F. Ramirez
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 1B Walter – 3B Nunley – C Denny – LF DeWeese – SS Dahlke – 2B Hudman – P Toner

The first loud thud of that game was again off Suda’s bat, but Cookie caught up with that drive on the warning track. Nope, it was the Critters to take an early lead on power as DeWeese and Dahlke smoked back-to-back solo shots in the bottom of the second inning to give Jonny a 2-0 lead. Walter did his best to start a new hitting streak, lining a double into the right centerfield gap in the third inning, but left the game right afterwards after having felt a tweak during the swing. Petracek replaced him since I couldn’t stand Mendoza’s loser face anymore. Nunley grounded out to end the inning. Jonny Toner meanwhile had reached 200 K for the season after blasting away the side in the third inning, ending with Oliver Torres, and had allowed only a walk to Lowell Genge so far. His no-hit bid ended with Randy Garner’s 1-out single in the fifth inning, and now it was paramount to not pull a Santos here and get routed in a hurry. The Raccoons led 3-0 at this point, scoring another run when they loaded the bases with no outs on a wild Ramirez again in the bottom 4th, but didn’t get any further than Brock Hudman’s sac fly to center. Cesar Martinez reached on an infield single to bring up the tying run, but Aaron Nelson’s groundout to Hudman and the eighth K of the day hung on Ramirez ended the inning before it could hurt. Danny Morales’ 1-out single in the sixth brought up Genge, who hit a forceful double to right that scored the runner, then stole third base. Toner reached back and struck out Matias and Suda, but suddenly looked really hittable… Good thing DeWeese hit a leadoff jack in the bottom of the inning, restoring the 3-run gap with a 4-1 score. The Indians had the tying run up after Nelson and Danny Young hit singles with two outs in the seventh, but Torres struck out, Toner’s 11th on the day, but it also put him over 100 pitches. But with the last two contests having been real diarrhea contests we at least had Thrasher and Ramirez rested and ready, and Thrasher was throwing in the pen as Toner came back out for the eighth inning, entering on 101 pitches. Danny Morales led off, a right-hander, and Genge was the only lefty currently visible, but they still had Nick Gilmor ready to spring off the bench as second left-handed bat. Thrasher’s services were not required as Toner blitzed the Indians on eight pitches, including strikeouts to Genge and Matias. He was not going to be back for the ninth, however; this was Ramirez’ job, facing the 5-6-7 batters with a 3-run lead. Suda struck out, but Duarte lost his cap and almost a few teeth making a wild tumbling catch on Randy Garner’s drive in the gap in right center. He held on to the ball as well as all integral body parts and was alive and well to witness Ramirez’ whiff on Cesar Martinez that salvaged a split in the series. 4-1 Raccoons. Walter 1-2, 2B; H. Mendoza (PH) 1-1; DeWeese 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Dahlke 2-4, HR, RBI; Toner 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, W (17-3);

In other news

July 30 – The Loggers trade AAA MR Tony Harrell to the Cyclones for #94 prospect SP James Silmon.
July 30 – The Pacifics will be without SP Bruce Mark (9-8, 4.54 ERA) for a month after the 33-year old right-hander has suffered a strained biceps.
July 30 – Crusaders and Thunder both score 13 hits in their Monday game in Oklahoma City, but the Thunder also make four errors on the way to a gruesome 13-4 defeat. Eight of the 13 runs on them are unearned. For the Crusaders, 3B Jens Carroll (.292, 2 HR, 29 RBI) has two hits and drives in five.
July 30 – The Buffaloes get skinned by the Scorpions in a 13-1 rout in which six of the Scorpions’ starters have multi-hit games.
July 31 – DEN SS Piet Oosterom (.243, 2 HR, 20 RBI) will also miss a month while suffering from shoulder inflammation.
July 31 – The Scorpions enter the bottom of the ninth with a 4-0 lead over the Buffaloes, then go on to blow it. The Buffaloes walk off on two singles, a double, a walk, and another pair of doubles, the final knock for the 5-4 walkoff delivered by 32-year old 1B Rafael Moreno (.333, 0 HR, 4 RBI in 12 AB), who has just over 700 career bat-bats, and only 140 of those in the last six years.
August 1 – VAN CL Pedro Alvarado (3-3, 1.52 ERA, 16 SV) saves a 2-0 win for the Canadiens for his 600th career save. The 39-year old has spent his entire career with the Vancouver team, gobbling up an 88-79 record with a 2.39 ERA and 1,708 strikeouts. He has been a Reliever of the Year four times and Pitcher of the Year once in 2005.
August 1 – IND SP Josh Riley (7-6, 3.87 ERA) flings a 3-hit shutout at the Knights, who go down 5-0.
August 1 – All runs in the Capitals’ 2-1 win over the Gold Sox are scored in the 10th inning.
August 3 – The Thunder get smashed by the Bayhawks in a 14-2 blowout.
August 4 – Richmond’s SP Josh Knupp (10-7, 3.41 ERA) shines against the Buffaloes, shutting them out on two hits in an 8-0 win.
August 5 – LAP C Errol Spears (.285, 8 HR, 51 RBI) has pieced a 20-game hitting streak together with one hit in the Pacifics’ 6-4 win over the Stars.

Complaints and stuff

Not only did Jonny Toner pitch the team’s first complete game (and shutout) of the year in that rain-shortened game in Charlotte on July 31, nope, he also picked up the Pitcher of the Month award right afterwards. He went 4-0 with an 0.77 ERA in July, striking out 53 in 35 innings. That is no typo.

There was just no way to unearth another proper bat at the deadline. If at least half the lineup would do anything, it wouldn’t be all that bad, because honestly we haven’t had an all-out decent lineup the entire year.

Shane Walter will miss a week with a lat strain, which is double-bad. First, he’s out and the most active bat is on the shelf. Second, he’s the most productive bat, so we can’t DL him and have to play a man short for the next week. I hate that. The only thing worse than playing a man short is having all the players’ wives unsupervised in one room, gossiping.

At least the teams we’ll get until the next off day rolls around the corner don’t have good records; the Loggers (55-55) are actually the best of the bunch as the following interleague bonanza puts us up against the Gold Sox and the Miners.

[Questdog]

"I hate that scumbag, worst trade ever. EVER!" - says the General Manager of the Portland Raccoons, but we at the Portland Agitator can think of at least 10 trades off the top of our heads that were much worse than that one and could probably come up with another dozen at least if we bothered to look up his trade record, which we will not do, as our own Personnel Department forbids us from compelling our employees to accomplish tasks that would be detrimental to their emotional health. It is common knowledge that we have been critical of the Raccoons' GM over the years and have continually been dumbfounded as to the methods he utilizes to retain his employment and also that there is no love lost between his staff and ours. However, we would like to commend him on this occasion for his honesty in acknowledging that he is the perpetrator of the the worst trade of all time, even if we cannot agree on which particular trade deserves that distinction.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (67-44) vs. Loggers (55-55) – August 6-9, 2018

The Loggers were holding on to a .500 record this season with pitching and an offense both roughly average, but with a +31 run differential that hinted at even better potential. Most promising was their second-best starters’ ERA (but we would get to that in a minute!). Despite that, they entered the 4-game set trailing 6-5 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (11-10, 3.63 ERA) vs. G.G. Williams (7-6, 3.33 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (9-7, 4.83 ERA) vs. Troy McCaskill (5-6, 4.24 ERA)
Hector Santos (10-6, 2.94 ERA) vs. Ian Prevost (5-9, 3.07 ERA)
Damani Knight (4-7, 5.24 ERA) vs. Jason McDonald (7-9, 4.42 ERA)

In first page news, the Loggers announced that Continental League ERA leader Michael Foreman (10-6, 2.17 ERA) was heading for Tommy John surgery, immediately removing him from ERA title considerations, having pitched only 153 1/3 innings this season – he would not qualify by the end of the season. While a nasty blow for the Loggers, and sad in general (I just don’t like good pitchers getting hurt, even if they are NOT my own…), this was great news for Mr. Toner in his pursuit of that elusive pitching triple crown.

G.G. Williams was the Loggers’ lone left-hander, while McCaskill was moving back to the rotation due to the Foreman injury. They nominated the murky Julio San Pedro, a 23-year old Panamaian rookie with a 3.93 ERA and almost equal walks and strikeouts, as their new closer. This was their weak spot: their bullpen ranked in the bottom three in the Continental League…

Alex Duarte was the only player that had not gotten a day off so far, with half the 20-game stretch behind us. But with the series opening featuring the lefty Williams, he was in the lineup on Monday, and would get Tuesday off. Also remember that the Raccoons were without Shane Walter, and our middle infield would resemble a worn-down tunnel of horror this week.

Game 1
MIL: LF Hodgers – CF Coleman – RF Gore – 1B LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 2B Betancourt – SS Tadlock – P G.G. Williams
POR: LF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Margolis – SS Dahlke – 2B Hudman – P Guerrero

A Hudman error put leadoff man Victor Hodgers on base to start the game. Hodgers stole a base and quickly scored on Brad Gore’s single. LeMoine also singled and Guerrero walked Alberto Velez to produce a bases-loaded situation before striking out Orlando Castillo and getting David Betancourt on a grounder to short. The Raccoons also had the bases loaded, that spot coming with nobody out in the bottom of the first after a Duarte walk sandwiched between two singles, yet Williams struck out both Jackson and Mendoza in full counts and got Margolis on a pathetic grounder. 21-year old Loggers shortstop Ron Tadlock made his major league debut and led off the second inning with a drag bunt single, but was ultimately stranded. While Cookie held further damage away from Guerrero with a great play in the third and another one in the fourth, taking extra-base hits away from the Loggers, the Raccoons came up with their second three on, no outs situation in the bottom of the fourth inning, which started with a Mendoza walk and then two singles. This was a bad spot to have the bases loaded, given that Hudman hadn’t hit a ball in ages and Guerrero was the pitcher anyway. Hudman hit an 0-1 pitch to left, fairly hard, but Hodgers had no problems to get there. Mendoza tagged and went, Hodgers fired the ball back in, but it was terrible and past everybody and their mother. Mendoza scored (and wouldn’t have with a precise laser beam) to tie the game, while everybody else moved up. Guerrero then helped himself with a drive up the rightfield line and past Gore for a tie-breaking 2-run double! While Cookie reached on an infield single, that was the last run in the inning, and when Guerrero came back up with three on and two outs in the bottom 5th he popped out to Tadlock to keep the score at 3-1.

Guerrero went six and a third, striking out Tadlock to end his outing still ahead 3-1. The Loggers sent left-hander Andrew Cooper to bat for Williams and together with the top four of the lineup this gave them five consecutive left-handed batters. Cooper singled off him, but was left on second base in the seventh, but in the eighth Gore hit a leadoff single. Thrasher struck out LeMoine and retired the switch-hitter Velez on a fly to center, with Gore tagging and moving to second base against Duarte’s not-that-bad arm. Alex Ramirez came in and struck out Castillo to end the inning, but then went on to blow the save in the ninth. Betancourt hit a leadoff single and the Loggers came up with doubles by PH Isiah Reed and then Victor Hodgers to get even with the Raccoons, before putting three runs on a miserable Wade Davis in the tenth inning. The Raccoons looked entirely disinterested in doing any more work, a pinch-hit single by Mike Denny in the bottom of the inning aside. Cookie batted with two outs and poked at a 3-0 pitch by San Pedro, grounding out to second base. 6-3 Loggers. Margolis 2-5; Dahlke 2-3, BB; Denny (PH) 1-1; Guerrero 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K and 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI;

The pain is real.

Meanwhile, in telling signs that I have no hope left regarding him, Hugo Mendoza was double-switched out in a tied game after going 0-for-4.

Game 2
MIL: LF Hodgers – CF Coleman – RF Gore – 1B LeMoine – 3B Velez – C O. Castillo – 2B Betancourt – SS Tadlock – P McCaskill
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – SS Dahlke – 2B Mathews – P R. Mendoza

While our battery was not on the same page with another right from the start, leading to wildness and pitched that weren’t where Denny wanted them with base stealers on base, which led to two stolen bases early and a run directly resulting from one of the stolen bases that LeMoine drove in, the Raccoons continued to not to anything good in relation to baseball. McCaskill no-hit them through the first three innings, despite issuing a leadoff walk to Mathews in the third and misfielding Mendoza’s bunt to put two on. Cookie hit into a fielder’s choice, then was caught stealing, and Tadlock didn’t have to move to catch Nunley’s soft liner to end the inning. The fourth started with an Orlando Castillo single, and the catcher, not a base-stealing threat, advanced on a wild pitch and eventually scored on McCaskill’s 2-out single, hard to left.

Down 2-0, the Coons didn’t get a hit until the fifth, and then it was an infield single by Dahlke. Mathews reached on McCaskill’s second error of the game, bringing up Ricky Mendoza with one out. Since Cookie could not be relied on for good things anymore, either, Mendoza batted and promptly struck out. Cookie then dumped a single to center, plating Dahlke, and Mathews scored on Nunley’s single to right, tying the score at two before Jackson grounded out to Betancourt. The following inning, the Coons loaded the bases with no outs again, getting three singles of increasing softness from Hugo Mendoza, Denny, and DeWeese, but – you know the deal – three on and no outs carries a run expectancy of zero runs for Portland. Dahlke hit the first pitch to the short side of second base, Tadlock came over and missed it by mere inches, with the ball escaping to centerfield for an RBI single, giving the Coons a 3-2 lead. Mathews’ fly to deep left was caught by Hodgers, but was good enough for a sac fly, after which Duarte hit for the pitcher, flew out to left on 3-1, and when Cookie reloaded the bases with a single, Nunley grounded out to first to end the inning. After this, the Coons pen made it through eight in much the same pattern as on Monday: Schroeder was used for one out only before a left-hander hit in the #9 hole and Kaiser came out for the long string of monotony. He allowed but one single and collected five outs (so even better than Thrasher), and the Coons had a great chance for some insurance in the bottom 8th with DeWeese reaching with a leadoff single. Tadlock was charged an error when he misplayed Dahlke’s grounder, but Mathews grounded into a fielder’s choice, leaving runners on the corners with one out; Margolis batted for Kaiser, ran a full count and walked to load them up for Cookie, who grounded to first, but that got at least DeWeese home with LeMoine only getting the out on the batter. Nunley’s RBI single moved the score out of save range, and so Chun got the ball rather than Mathis in the ninth inning and retired Castillo, Betancourt, and Tadlock in order. 6-2 Critters. Carmona 2-5, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-5, 2 RBI; DeWeese 2-3, BB; Dahlke 2-4, RBI; R. Mendoza 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (10-7); Kaiser 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 3
MIL: LF Hodgers – CF Coleman – RF Gore – 1B LeMoine – C O. Castillo – 2B Betancourt – 3B I. Reed – SS Burns – P Prevost
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Dahlke – 2B Petracek – P Santos

Denny and Santos were no less of a mess than Denny and Mendoza the day before. Denny couldn’t keep the dazzling Loggers on their currently assigned base, and Santos threw two wild pitches in the first two innings, one of which was plating Hodgers with the first run of the game with two outs in the top 1st. Santos also bunted into a double play and the Raccoons could only score one run in five innings under the greatest pains, at least as far as Castillo was concerned, who was bowled over by Eddie Jackson whom Brad Gore had beat at home after DeWeese’s 1-out fly to right. Castillo lost the ball and some dignity, tearing his pants in the groin area in the process, while the tying run was across the plate.

Santos threw seven innings with four scattered hits, but when Duarte hit for him in the bottom 7th, the game was still tied. Duarte singled to center, which also chased Dahlke to second base, and then it was Prevost’s time to throw a wild one, moving the runners into scoring position with one out and Cookie batting. Cookie – I’m serious. If you don’t get that run in, there will be no good-night-pie for you! He grounded out to second base, and Dahlke twitched and retreated to the base, which was just mind-blowing… Nunley flew out to Ian Coleman to end the inning. Thrasher had a clean eighth, but Ramirez put them on the corners with one out in the ninth and was only saved his bacon by Nunley, who started a wonderful double play on pinch-hitter Brian Almond. In the bottom 9th, Duarte drew a 2-out walk against Luis Calderon, who threw a wild pitch, walked Mathews (batting for Ramirez in the #1 hole), and then Castillo was booked for a passed ball with Nunley at the plate. Nunley grounded out to first, and the game continued into extras, regrettably.

Calderon then hit a leadoff single (!!) off Mathis in the tenth, but ended up in a double play, then allowed a leadoff single to Jackson in the bottom 10th. Mendoza kept fudging up, and DeWeese reached only on a throwing error by Calderon, moving Jackson to second for Denny, who had a completely black day behind the plate, but loaded the bases with a single. DAHLKE!! I’M SERIOUS AS ****!! Dahlke grounded the first pitch to Tadlock at short, who threw home to kill Jackson and somehow the Loggers still found time to get Dahlke out at first base to end the inning. Top 11th, LeMoine led off with a single against Mathis, stole second base – the 29th stolen base for the Loggers in this game, and the 172nd in the series – then was erased in a pretty normal 8-5 double play when Castillo flew out to Duarte in center, who told LeMoine ‘oh no, you WON’T’ and killed him at third base. The Loggers lost Gore to injury in the bottom 11th, forcing them to play reliever Toby Wood in rightfield. Not even that was gonna help the Coons any time soon. Bottom 13th, Dahlke led off with a single, but Petracek’s bunt was taken by San Pedro to get the lead runner. At that point the scream of a crazy person was clearly audible across the murmur of a thinned-out and annoyed crowd. Petracek stole second base, kind of mitigating his **** bunt, but Duarte struck out. Batting first in the order by now was Danny Margolis, and he couldn’t be removed (and Hudman was the last man on the bench, so yeah, keep me Dannyboy battin’ away!). San Pedro ran a 3-1 count before Margolis chipped a ball into play that went through San Pedro’s legs, bounced funnily on the backside of the mound and then took up speed as it eluded the middle infielders and hushed into center, with Petracek dashing around the bases to score the winning run… 2-1 Blighters. Carmona 2-4; Margolis 1-2, RBI; Jackson 3-6, 2B; Denny 2-4, BB; Dahlke 3-6; Duarte (PH) 2-3, BB; Santos 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K; Mathis 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Davis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (2-2);

Sooo… Cookie didn’t get the run home, but only because Dahlke is an idiot. How does that relate to pie?

Ah, the boys shall figure that out for themselves. This will either get them talking or murdering each other, and by now I am fine with both as long as they leave Jonny Toner alone. Everybody else can go to heck.

Margolis got the nod for catching Damani Knight (not a pleasure anyway) in the last game of the set, not because he got the walkoff knock in a soul-draining 13-inning game, but because the Loggers went 8-for-8 in stealing bases off Denny in the last two games, and I’d try my luck with Margolis (who didn’t throw out any of the two base stealers on Monday, either) again.

Game 4
MIL: C O. Castillo – SS Burns – LF LeMoine – CF Cooper – 3B Velez – 1B J. Ortíz – RF Coleman – 2B I. Reed – P McDonald
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – 2B Mathews – SS Dahlke – P Knight

Damani Knight put the first two batters on base with a walk and a single before the Loggers somehow failed to strike him where it hurt the most, his huge ERA. The Coons saw Cookie retired to start the bottom 1st, but then loaded the bases on an error and two singles, the latter – Mendoza’s – of the infield variety. He hit a 2-1 pitch to right, close to the line, and it fell in, and Ian Coleman grossly misplayed it, having a bouncer glance off his glove to give the runners an extra base, and two runs came onto the board. Portland ended up scoring three runs in the inning, the last run coming home on Margolis’ groundout, and all runs were really hard unearned. Damani Knight allowed only two more singles through five innings after the shaky start, both by left-handed batters in the bottom third of the order, Isiah Reed in the second and Ian Coleman in the fourth, and drove in another run himself in the bottom of the fourth inning, lining a 2-out single to left to score Joey Mathews, who had reached base on his own with a double, but had gained an extra base with a wild pitch, so while that run on McDonald was earned, it was probably still not deserved for the Critters…

While those undeserving Critters tacked on a fifth run in the fifth inning on a 1-out RBI double by DeWeese, they then had Margolis fly out to center. Mendoza was on third base, tagged, and was thrown out at home. Knight returned to the mound after that, allowed a leadoff single to LeMoine, and in quick succession the Loggers also got Velez and Juan Ortíz on base. With one run already in and runners in scoring position, Ian Coleman sent a drive to center that bounced off the base of the wall. Duarte fell down when the carom almost struck him in the face, and the ball bounced back to the grass. It took forever for anybody to get over their and make a play, and by then it was well too late, Coleman had a 3-run inside-the-park home run. The score was closed to 5-4, and the home crowd was hissing.

For the seventh, the Raccoons tried to do something that had worked great twice in the series. A right-hander (Kyle Burns) was leading off, with a score of left-handed bats behind that. Chun was selected to get the out from Burns, who doubled, and then we went to Thrasher in vain hope of getting out of this hole that was filled to the brim with pig poo. Jimmy Raupp hit for LeMoine, but the questionable strategy worked out when Raupp walked. He got forced on Cooper’s grounder to short, leaving runners on the corners, with Thrasher plating the tying run with a wild pitch. Now, where had I seen that before? He walked Velez in a full count before striking out Ortíz, and getting an exit grounder from Coleman, but the 5-0 lead was blown in just two completely ****ed up innings. After Cookie hit a leadoff single in the bottom 7th and was stranded on third base by the dip**** Mendoza, Matt Schroeder got the ball in the eighth. Since his 20-some scoreless innings, Schroeder had gotten whacked to an ERA over seven in his last ten innings and allowed hard contact for an entire inning; however, an entire inning was a finite length of game, and despite getting shaken, Schroeder kept the Coons in the tie, or let’s say Cookie’s and Nunley’s defense did, which would be more accurate, but grief in baseball always works both ways. Both teams hit into inning-ending double plays to the third baseman in the eighth inning, with the Coons having had two men on before Dahlke crapped out. Schroeder kept pitching in the ninth but only allowed two singles, and Jason Kaiser couldn’t clean up his mess, conceding the go-ahead run on a 1-out single by Albert Velez. Bottom 9th, San Pedro put leadoff man Eddie Jackson on first on four straight balls before Cookie singled in a full count, putting the winning run where you could see it. Not that it helped the team any. Duarte popped out, and Nunley grounded to short for a casual 6-4-3 double play. 6-5 Loggers. Carmona 2-5; Nunley 2-5; H. Mendoza 3-5;

There was a nasty encounter with Matt Nunley at the airport after the game when he encountered me as I lifelessly dragged a trolley with my suitcase (which really only contained a good piece of rope and a ceramic knife that wouldn’t light up on the scanner) behind me to the check-in and tried to offer me some peanuts. According to the police protocol, I didn’t even let him finish his sentence that started with ‘Hey boss, you want some peanu-‘ before howling, yelling ‘GET THE **** OUT OF MY SORE EYES!!’ and hurling the suitcase along with the trolley after him. I ended up missing Nunley, but destroyed a quite huge and expensive LED display at the check-in, and it took four hours to extract Nunley, scared to death and rightfully so, from the conveyor belt system in the baggage claim area. Somebody had also yelled ‘terrorists!’ and in the end a hundred people had to be screened from top to bottom. No terrorists were found, neither was my knife, instilling more confidence into our future well-being in me. Nevertheless, our flight was delayed by eight hours and we didn’t land in Denver until three in the morning…

Raccoons (69-46) @ Gold Sox (54-59) – August 10-12, 2018

The Gold Sox were 11 games out in the West, and overall didn’t look all that bad, ranking fifth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed in the Federal League, with a +6 run differential. They worked the other way round compared to the Loggers, however, with a decent bullpen outdone by a morbidly inept rotation. Somehow this was the seventh straight year for these teams to play another. The previous six years had not seen any team sweep the other, and the total record came out to 9-9, but the Gold Sox had won the last two series.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (17-3, 2.24 ERA) vs. Mo Robinson (7-6, 4.10 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (11-10, 3.49 ERA) vs. Bryant Roberts (8-9, 4.17 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (10-7, 4.74 ERA) vs. Frank Kelly (2-7, 5.38 ERA)

We’d get three right-handers here, and while we were still without Shane Walter, Ronnie McKnight and a bunch of pitching, the Gold Sox also had two regulars on the DL in C Pat Walston and SS Piet Oosterom.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – C Denny – SS Dahlke – P Toner
DEN: SS Bean – 1B Murphy – LF Bellows – RF Candela – CF Reese – 3B Z. Brown – 2B Saunders – C Ayala – P M. Robinson

The Critters burst out for three runs in the first inning, which opened with a Cookie single – his 150th base hit this season – and eventually saw an RBI single from Mendoza – his first RBI this month… – before DeWeese reached on Matt Saunders’ error and Joey Mathews drove them in with a 2-run triple. Jonny struck out the first three batters he faced, which didn’t end the first inning because ex-Coon Stan Murphy reached on the third strike bouncing away from Denny, then hit a 1-out single in the top 2nd. Cookie doubled, and the Coons got another run on Duarte’s sac fly, 4-0, and by the fourth inning the Gold Sox had seen enough of Senor Carmona and put him on with Dahlke on second and two outs, with Mo Robinson getting a K from Duarte to exit that inning. Jonny had a 2-hit shutout with seven strikeouts through five innings, but the Gold Sox had, if nothing else, at least worked the counts and had pushed him up to 85 pitches, so this would again not be a shutout unless we could find rain somewhere. No rain came forth with Jonny needing 16 pitches for a scoreless sixth and being removed with his spot due to lead off in the seventh. Brock Hudman’s pinch-hit single was the first of three consecutive to load the bases with nobody out, Robinson remained in the game to see Nunley, but it wasn’t gonna end well. Nunley found the gap in left center and scored two, but stumbled over first base and had to stay there with a single. Reliever Tommy Weintraub struck out Mendoza before DeWeese creamed him with a line drive over the fence in right, a 3-run homer that ran the score to 9-0. The Critters added another two runs in the eighth, while the Gold Sox reached third base in both the seventh and eighth innings before they got to see Matt Schroeder in the ninth. He allowed a single to Julio Candela and then a bomb to Tom Reese, and that before he loaded the bases with another three runners, and we actually had to bother Chris Mathis to bail him out of there. Mathis struck out Tim Bean, who flailed for a golden sombrero, and Murphy flew out to left to end the game. 11-2 Raccoons. Carmona 4-4, BB, 2B; Nunley 2-5, 3 RBI; H. Mendoza 3-5, 2 RBI; Hudman (PH) 2-3, 3B; Toner 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (18-3) and 1-1;

Jonny Toner claimed the lead in all triple crown categories with this W, leading BOS Chris Klein by three wins, NYC “Midnight” Martin by 47 K, and IND Tristan Broun by .05 in ERA. Technically, Milwaukee’s Foreman is still between him and Broun, but his case is dead, as we have established.

Schroeder was demoted after the game. He had been very good for a filler for a very long time, but he had allowed nine runs in 7.2 innings since July 27 and was just getting whacked and slammed and raked, all at the same time.

Chet Cummings rejoined the Raccoons, having pitched to a 4.50 ERA in 16 games with them early in the season, and to a 1.96 ERA in AAA since then. To get him onto the 40-man roster, 28-year old Keith Chisholm was DFA’ed. Chisholm had batted .381 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in limited cups of coffee in 2014 and 2015 (42 total AB), but by now was moonlighting in Ham Lake.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Denny – SS Dahlke – 2B Hudman – P Guerrero
DEN: SS Bean – 1B Murphy – LF Bellows – RF Candela – CF Reese – 3B Z. Brown – 2B Saunders – C Ayala – P M. B. Roberts

Cookie led off with a single, stole second, but was caught trying to nab third. The Raccoons still plated a run with Duarte walking, Nunley reaching on an infield single, and a run-scoring groundout by Mendoza, but it could have been better. The Gold Sox stranded a man on third in the second inning, then got a leadoff single from Victor Ayala in the bottom 3rd, and Guerrero lost Tim Bean to a walk. One out and two on, Stan Murphy appeared in the box, and wouldn’t you know it, hit right into a double play. The Raccoons got a run in the fourth on a 2-out RBI single to center by Tom Dahlke. Hudman also singled into that space, loading the bases, but Guerrero struck out to leave three men stranded in what was now a 2-0 game. Top 5th, Cookie grounded out before Duarte doubled. Nunley walked to remain unretired in the game, and Mendoza also found shallow center for an RBI single, 3-0. DeWeese ran a full count and looked at a ball at the knees – he knew he had just struck out for the 400th time this season, but the umpire didn’t say anything. While DeWeese hurriedly flung the bat away and weaseled to first base, which filled them up, half the Gold Sox team were in the umpire’s face right there for the first time, and again when Mike Denny hit a bases-clearing double into the leftfield corner – on an 0-2 pitch! – to blow up the lead to 6-0. Nobody was ejected, but it sure came close to it…

With the embiggened lead and a much more economical approach to pitching than Jonny Toner had, Guerrero was ready to shoot for the stars and pitch a shutout. The Gold Sox were still left off the board after six innings of 3-hit ball, but while Jonny had needed 101 pitches to get there, Guerrero reached this point after a paltry 57! The Gold Sox reached first base in the sixth and seventh, but hit into double plays both times, while in between DeWeese belted a solo homer in the top 7th. Ex-Crusader Winston Jones threatened with a 2-out double as a pinch-hitter in the bottom 8th, but Bean struck out once more to mitigate this hit, only the Sox’ fourth in the game. Murphy was to lead off the bottom 9th, with Guerrero on only 79 pitches. Pitch #80 was hit quite hard past the lunging Hudman into right for a single, but Murphy was soon forced on Justin Bellows’ grounder. Candela lined out to first before Reese, Friday’s spoiler, singled to right, sending Bellows to third base. With two outs, Ramon Luna pinch-hit for Zach Brown, ran a full count, and – struck out. 7-0 Raccoons! Carmona 2-5; Nunley 3-4, BB; Guerrero 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (12-10);

There it is! The first (for a starting pitcher’s personal resume) nine-inning shutout of the season! And by a guy that wasn’t even in the organization less than four weeks ago. Will wonders ever cease?

Game 3
POR: RF Carmona – CF Duarte – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – SS Mathews – C Margolis – 2B Hudman – P R. Mendoza
DEN: SS Bean – 1B Murphy – LF Bellows – RF Candela – CF Reese – 3B Z. Brown – 2B Saunders – C Glasgow – P Kelly

The continuous strikeout that was Tim Bean actually put a bat squarely to a ball in the Sunday game. In a scoreless affair in the third inning, the Sox had Chris Glasgow on second base and two outs when Bean drilled a 2-2 pitch to the deepest part of centerfield. Unfortunately for him, he still didn’t get any credit for it since Alex Duarte warped back to the track and made an unbelievable catch to retire Bean for the third out of the inning. Duarte came to bat in the Coons’ first meaningful scoring opportunity, one that sadly was started by Ricky Mendoza’s 2-out double in the top of the fifth inning, when the Gold Sox continued to want no part of Cookie Carmona at the plate and walked him intentionally for the second time in the series. Duarte grounded out to Saunders, and the board remained empty until the other Mendoza, Henry or whatever his name was, and what was the nickname again, some impressive animal, ‘Penguin’ Mendoza? … until the other Mendoza came up with a bombastic solo homer to rightfield in the sixth inning. After DeWeese singled and stole second base, the Sox walked Mathews intentionally, which was even odder than walking Carmona, since Mathews had batted a mere .227 in August, and although Margolis had struck out in his first two at-bats in the game, he would not strike out in every at-bat for the rest of his life. He well didn’t and hit an 0-1 pitch to rightfield for a single, and the sufficiently quick DeWeese scored from second base, 2-0. Hudman and Ricky Mendoza then both lined out to end the inning.

Also a first in the sixth inning: Mendoza struck out Glasgow, the only Goldilock to reach base on his own merit in the game, to start the bottom of the inning, his first K in the game. He found joy in the experience and went on to strike out the side, including the hapless and probably suicidal Bean. Julio Candela’s 2-out single in the seventh was not going to hurt the Raccoons, nor did Ricky Mendoza get unraveled by Margolis’ throwing error that put Zach Brown on second base to start the bottom of the eighth. Saunders popped out, Glasgow flew out to center (more on that later), and PH Winston Jones flew out to Cookie in right. However, shutout here, shutout there, this time around the lead was only 2-0 for the Critters, and Ricky Mendoza was not the kind of guy you wanted the face the top of the order in a tight game in the ninth inning. Honestly, Guerrero wasn’t either, but with a well-rested back end of the pen – neither Thrasher nor Ramirez had seen service in the series – we would probably try our luck with them. Jackson batted for Mendoza in the top of the ninth and struck out in the middle of Fernando Hernandez jr. sitting down the Coons 1-2-3. Ramirez appeared in the bottom of the inning and told the Gold Sox where to stick their 1-2-3 inning. 2-0 Furballs! R. Mendoza 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (11-7) and 1-3;

Now to the bad news: when Alex Duarte caught Glasgow’s fly in the eighth, he – and we sure as heck don’t know how he did it! – suffered a broken finger on the hand that was actually in the glove! This freak injury is surely not something that will advance the Raccoons’ bid for the playoffs, especially with the Crusaders not hanging back.

In other news

August 6 – Veteran LAP 1B Dave McCormick (.296, 10 HR, 61 RBI) is done for the season after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament.
August 7 – The hitting streak of LAP C Errol Spears (.280, 8 HR, 52 RBI) ends after 21 games as he goes hitless in the Pacifics’ 6-1 loss to the Salem Wolves.
August 9 – ATL SP Bruce Morrison (7-6, 4.55 ERA) is out for the 2018 season with a torn labrum.

Complaints and stuff

The bickering in the clubhouse is back. Looks like it is not only DeWeese, but everybody is on everybody’s throats. Cookie came complaining to me while we were still in Portland, and Seung-mo Chun met me at the hotel bar in Denver after the Friday game and warned me that the volcano was about to spew some molten rocks. Those Japanese and their flowery language.

I don’t think this is a chicken-and-egg problem. Everything was silent while the team was winning clearly more than they lost and the offense was still humming. That’s been a thing of the past, with the last few weeks, and really, ever since the start of July, being a real slog, and now the demons come out again. The slog was first, and then came the volcano.

Bobby Guerrero is 2-0 with a 1.91 ERA in four starts since coming over from the Falcons. Early dividends are there, we’ll talk again when Michael Wilkerson has his first MVP title.

In the same game in which Guerrero shut out the Gold Sox, the Coons also jumped to a positive three-digit run differential. Also, we swept the Gold Sox for the first time since 1992. Everybody knows what happened in 1992.

Shane Walter never reached the point where he could safely be put into the starting lineup this week, but we think that Monday might be the day. He already took batting practice Saturday and Sunday while in Denver. Meanwhile Duarte is now out for the entire month and maybe a wee bit longer, and we will have to come up with a centerfield solution that will not wear out Cookie’s body.

Actually, I think we have a solution, though not a brilliant one. We have the 35th pick from the 2013 draft, OF Andy Bareford with the AAA Alley Cats. He is an excellent defensive centerfielder, but not all that much of a batter. He is hitting .286/.345/.362 with 2 HR and 36 RBI in AAA this year, which is a bit worse than what he did in 2017. He is speedy on the bases however, so should he ever get lucky and reach base… Bareford will turn 24 in September, but will likely make his major league debut and play most days in center until Duarte can return, starting on Monday.

This should have been yesterday’s update, but I started late, and the Loggers series took forever, so rather than playing until 1am I wisely went to bed to lay wide awake while the fair carousel in my head was turning. It stands in complete darkness, but is beautifully lit, and once I close my eyes, someone switches the light on. Then it starts turning and the music starts playing. Ree-de-dedele-dele-de-dee-de, ree-de-dedele-dele-de-dee-de… uhm, well, yeah. That’s about it for today, I think.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-46) vs. Miners (51-67) – August 13-15, 2018

The Coons had swept the Miners in the last two meetings between the teams, in 2014 and 2017. The Coons also had the best all-time record against the Miners, a crisp .711 (32-13) winning percentage that was probably not sustainable until the heat death of the universe, but I would like myself a winning streak here. The Miners were pretty crummy, ranking in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a -88 run differential. They had the lowest batting average and the worst defense in the Federal League, which was not really a dress for success…

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (10-6, 2.87 ERA) vs. John Key (5-11, 4.86 ERA)
Damani Knight (4-7, 5.29 ERA) vs. Tim Dunn (9-9, 4.80 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (18-3, 2.16 ERA) vs. Ed Michaels (5-11, 5.23 ERA)

After the right-hander Key it would be back-to-back southpaws for us with the constantly red-faced Tim Dunn, who really looked like he had a serious medical condition but claimed to have no such thing, and then ex-Thunder Ed Michaels. That is not all; if we’d stick around we would also have a chance for a third left-handed starter out of their rotation, Cody Zimmerman (12-8, 4.44 ERA).

Game 1
PIT: 2B T. Stewart – C R. Hernandez – RF D. Carter – SS McWhorter – 3B Chappelle – LF Enriquez – CF A. Ruiz – 1B H. Jones – P Key
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 2B Dahlke – P Santos

Through five innings, Santos was facing the minimum despite giving up a single each to Antonio Ruiz in the second inning, but Ruiz got caught stealing, and to Tom McWhorter in the fifth, but he was washed up in a double play that Victor Enriquez hit into. The Raccoons held a 1-0 lead, driven by Mendoza in the first inning with a single to center. Cookie scored with the unearned run, having reached on an error by Howard Jones (yes, that Howard Jones), and it remained the only run through five. Mendoza came up three times in that span with two men on, and the next two times made a poor out, and Denny came up three times with two men on base, and struck out every single ****ing time. Santos, who faced an all-right-handed lineup, maintained his minimum pace until issuing a walk to Dave Carter with two outs in the seventh inning. Carter was not going to be removed by his own mistake, and Santos had to pitch to McWhorter, who blasted the 2-2 offering from Santos over the leftfield fence, flipping the score in the Miners’ favor at 2-1. After being a miserable failure the entire game, Denny hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th. Petracek ran for him and was caught stealing, and thus vanished the Raccoons’ last base runner of the game. 2-1 Miners. Nunley 3-3, 2B; Dahlke 2-4; Santos 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, L (10-7);

What the heck!? Oh well, so much for the hitting streak.

Andy Bareford in his debut fit right in and went 0-for-3 with a walk, striking out twice.

Game 2
PIT: 2B T. Stewart – CF Holland – RF D. Carter – SS McWhorter – LF V. Sanchez – 3B Chappelle – C J. Ramirez – 1B H. Jones – P Dunn
POR: LF Carmona – SS Walter – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Margolis – 3B Nunley – CF Bareford – 2B Hudman – P Knight

Bareford had his first hard-hit ball in the second inning, sending a drive to right that, if not caught by Carter, would have scored Matt Nunley for the first run of the game. Instead, the Coons took a 1-0 lead in the third, with Walter starting from first on Eddie Jackson’s 2-out double to deep left. With the chronically unreliable Mendoza (who would pop out to short in due time) up, the third base coach made a fanatic windmill to wave Walter ‘round third base and he scored just barely ahead of McWhorter’s relay. Damani Knight pitched five scoreless, though we’d seen that before, and he really had to thank the defense. Only one inning was 1-2-3, the third, and in three of the other four the inning ended on a stellar play by a corner outfielder, including the second, which Cookie ended by catching a liner by Tim Dunn(!) going full steam ahead.

Damani would throw 105 pitches in seven shutout innings, which were aided by a double play turned by Walter and Hudman in the sixth that erased a leadoff walk, and then ended when Walter jumped higher than humans oughta jump to snag a liner by Tyler Stewart to end the seventh. While he pitched his heart out and was this close to getting his usual dire results, but was continuously bailed out by the defense, the same personnel did the absolute bare minimum on offense. Through seven innings, they logged three hits off Dunn, and one walk. Walter got a fourth hit with two outs in the eighth, a single to center, but Jackson worked no more wonders. Kaiser and Mathis had combined for the eighth, and Ramirez was in for the ninth, which started with Victorino Sanchez, the only ABL player ever to reach 4,000 base hits. Sanchez hit a 3-1 pitch up the middle, and Walter didn’t get to hit until he was well past the centerfield edge of the bag, but he still got a throw off that beat Sanchez. Ten years earlier, Sanchez would have been safe. Joe Chappelle (to center) and Jose Ramirez (to fairly deep right) flew out to end the game. 1-0 Blighters. Walter 2-3; Jackson 1-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Knight 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, W (5-7)

Damani wins a 1-0 game. Now I’ve seen everything. All the wonders in the world – I’m through with them.

Game 3
PIT: 2B T. Stewart – C R. Hernandez – SS McWhorter – LF V. Sanchez – CF Holland – RF A. Ruiz – 3B Correia – 1B H. Jones – P Michaels
POR: LF Carmona – 3B Walter – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – SS Mathews – C Denny – CF Bareford – 2B Dahlke – P Toner

Toner allowed a run in the first on doubles by Raúl Hernandez and Victorino Sanchez, but the Coons had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the inning. Joey Mathews lined to short, where McWhorter jumped and grabbed the ball, then dropped it, and then accidentally kicked it into the infield. A sad sight in general, the Coons got a run on the error and continued to have the bases full for Denny, who was the offense’s death on Monday, but in a full count singled to left for the go-ahead run to score. Bareford came up, lined to center, and two runs scored on the kid’s first major-league hit! The inning ended when Dahlke grounded sharply to Josh Correia at third base for a double play, but Michaels was just off the rolls and walked Toner on four pitches to start the bottom 2nd. Cookie, 0-for-9 in the series, tripled into the rightfield corner to move the score to 5-1, and Cookie scored on Jackson’s sac fly, 6-1 for Toner after two innings, which would normally mean that win number nineteen was a sure thing.

In the fourth, Sanchez reached with an infield single, which was news in itself, because Walter couldn’t get to his snail pace grounder. That was to lead off the inning, and then Toner walked Ross Holland, the former Elk. Antonio Ruiz came up and hit a blast to right that hit the top of the fence before bouncing back past Jackson for a 2-run triple, and suddenly things didn’t look that great. Toner got Correia on a grounder to first, but Howard Jones hit the ball to right for a sac fly, putting the score at 6-4. Chris Munroe appeared for long relief for the Miners, having a 2.04 ERA in 52.2 innings this season. He retired five in a row before any Coon reached, which turned out to be Denny with a double, but Bareford struck out to end the bottom 5th. Jonny was right at 100 pitches through five, so he was not going to be of much more use in this game, but he DID manage to grit the teeth and got through the sixth alright in what was still a pretty substandard start for him.

Wade Davis pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to creep the Critters closer to the curtains, after which Jackson led off with a double off Kyle Williams in the bottom of the inning. Hugo Mendoza was walked intentionally, with Joey Mathews’ single to center loading the bases. Here, Nunley hit for Denny, who had already hit into a double play in the game. Hitting into a double play he didn’t. Williams missed low twice, then had to elevate, and he elevated right into Nunley’s wheelhouse. Nunley pilfered a pitch high and deep to dead center, and was it gonna…? It was gonna…! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAMMM!!!!

Up 10-4, Davis started the eighth, but brushed McWhorter ever so slightly with his first pitch there. With two left-handed bats drawing up, we went back to Kaiser, who got a double play from Sanchez and struck out Holland. With a 6-run lead, we entrusted the ninth inning and the bottom of the order to Chet Cummings, recently recalled from the depths of AAA baseball. He got a foul pop from Ruiz, then loaded the bases with a Correia walk, a Jones double, and an Enriquez walk. Whoah, slow there! Chris Mathis to the rescue! He got two grounders to short. Mathews got Tyler Stewart at first on the first of those, but mishandled Hernandez’ for an error. Out with Mathis, in with Ramirez, who allowed a single to center to McWhorter, which brought the Miners to 10-7 and the tying run into the box in the veteran Sanchez. Ron Thrasher was broken out of the pen, and here was a first-pitch grounder to short, Mathews was on it, spiked the throw that hopped just in front of Mendoza, who swiped in agony – and had it. Just barely. 10-7 Raccoons. Carmona 2-4, 2B, RBI; Mathews 2-4, RBI; Denny 2-3, 2B, RBI; Nunley (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI; Bareford 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

When you need four pitchers to finish the ninth inning with a 6-run lead, something has gone gravely wrong. Oh right, we used Cummings. Oh my bad, I thought there was a NEW problem.

Raccoons (74-47) @ Canadiens (60-61) – August 17-19, 2018

The Canadiens were already playing out the string, trying to come up with a solution to their pitching problems. Their rotation was third-worst in the Continental League, and they allowed the third-most runs, which was perhaps the biggest problem for them, but then there was also a lame-duck offense that was scoring less than league average. With a -39 run differential it was a bit of an achievement for them to be right at .500; they were also one game under .500 in the season series with the Raccoons, who had a 6-5 advantage there, but this is Vancouver, were the wicked things happen.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (12-10, 3.31 ERA) vs. Scott Spears (2-2, 2.91 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (11-7, 4.47 ERA) vs. R.J. Lloyd (9-10, 5.13 ERA)
Hector Santos (10-7, 2.84 ERA) vs. A.J. Bartels (12-8, 3.57 ERA)

Among these three right-handed pitchers, Lloyd was the only one that did not provoke bad memories to burst out of the suppressed part of my brain.

Has Hector Santos ever gotten the run support he deserved? He has a career 3.16 ERA, and his record is 90-67. So, no.

Game 1
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 2B Mathews – P Guerrero
VAN: 3B C. Alexander – 2B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – CF Rocha – 1B J. Ramirez – LF Cameron – C Pace – SS Otis – P Spears

While DeWeese struck out to strand three runners in the first inning, and Denny struck out to strand a pair in the third, the Elks turned Guerrero into a pretzel by plating four runs on two hits in three innings. Three of the runs reached via the walk, of which Guerrero issued two in the bottom 1st before Jesus Ramirez hit a 2-run double, and another one in the third before Mario Rocha homered. Guerrero hit Spears with a 1-2 pitch in the fourth, but the worst offenders continued to be Denny and DeWeese, although Cookie contributed his share to the general misery of this particular Friday game when he hit a leadoff single in the top 5th, then was thrown out by the weak-armed Tim Pace when he tried to steal second base. The Coons put Walter and Mendoza on after that, with Denny snipping a grounder through between Chris Alexander and Matt Otis on the left side to plate Walter for the team’s first run of the game. DeWeese then made yet another poor out.

Guerrero faced four more batters in the bottom of the fifth inning, and retired none. Ezra Branch walked, Rocha and Ramirez both singled, and Don Cameron drew a bases-loaded walk. Wade Davis replaced him, but this one was heading for a blowout. Pace was down 0-2 in the first at-bat for Davis, then hit a sorry blooper to left center for a single. Rocha scored, Ramirez tried to, but was thrown out by DeWeese for the first out, finally, of the inning. Davis bailed out of the mess on back-to-back grounders to Mathews, but the Coons were down 6-1 (while out-hitting the Elks 7-5…) and were not radiating confidence. Cummings, now with a 5.24 ERA after Wednesday’s disaster, was back on the mound in the bottom 6th, and this time it didn’t really matter, we just wanted length. Top 7th, Walter led off with a single, and Nunley was hit by Spears, who then ran a 3-1 count to Mendoza, in which the wannabe-slugger popped out to third. That was Spears’ final at-bat, and if I hadn’t been banned from travel to Canada, it would also have been Mendoza’s final at-bat – EVER!!

Iemitsu Rin – long past his best-before date – appeared in relief and allowed an RBI double to Denny, an RBI groundout to DeWeese, and an RBI single to Bareford. If Mendoza hadn’t fudged up, the Raccoons might have done more good, but they eventually ran out of outs, Eddie Jackson hitting for Cummings with runners on the corners and popping out to short to end the inning with the Critters still down 6-4. Chun came in to pitch two innings with the team behind, but the top 8th saw the rally continue. Cookie led off with a single, stole second this time, and scored on Walter’s single off Scott Hanson, who then lost Nunley to a walk. Mendoza continued to **** up and grounded to short, getting Nunley forced, but after Denny worked a full-count walk, the bases were loaded for DeWeese, who was still in there after batting against the left-hander Rin the last time around, which was so out of the ordinary. One rip, R.J., one rip. He grounded up the middle, Jose Gutierrez cut off the ball deep behind second base, and SOMEHOW the Elks got the snoozing Denny at second base, but the tying run scored, leaving Bobby Guerrero undefeated as a Raccoon. Bareford popped out to short to strand men on the corners, and Chun got badly struck in the bottom 8th. He put Kurt Evans on with a leadoff single, but Manlio Varone grounded into a double play. Dave Padilla was the third pinch-hitter in the inning and singled to right, after which Chun walked Gutierrez. Enough! Bring Thrasher! Branch got thrashered in three pitches, and Thrasher also put the game into extra innings. The Coons had leadoff singles in both the ninth and tenth innings, never did anything with them, and then fell to the Elks in ten when Kaiser allowed a leadoff single to Evans in the bottom 10th, Varone forced him with a grounder, but then stole second and dashed home on Chris Groom’s walkoff liner to center that Bareford couldn’t get to. 7-6 Canadiens. Carmona 2-6; Walter 4-6, RBI; H. Mendoza 2-6; Denny 2-4, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Margolis (PH) 1-1; Mathews 4-5; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Them: 10 hits. Us: 17 hits. Denny’s double was the only one that carried them past first base. While the Elks had only two extra-base hits, they refrained from stranding FIFTEEN base runners.

Game 2
POR: RF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 2B Mathews – P R. Mendoza
VAN: 3B C. Alexander – 2B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – LF Cameron – SS Otis – P Lloyd

The Raccoons had Cookie on third, Walter on second, nobody out, yet somehow managed to not score in the first inning. Nunley bounced to the pitcher, Mendoza walked when he was supposed to swing, and Denny and DeWeese struck out in tandem. Consolation was on the way, as Ricky Mendoza held the Elks at bay until the Coons broke out a 3-spot in the third inning. Cookie singled, stole, scored on Walter’s single. Nunley doubled, Mendoza hit for a sac fly to center, and Denny’s single moved Nunley to third, from where he scored when DeWeese rolled a ball slowly up the first base line and basically gave himself up in prominent position to prevent Ramirez from firing home, which was pretty close to interference, but was not ruled as such. Matt Otis hit a leadoff triple in the bottom 3rd, but was stranded when Lloyd grounded back to the mound, Alexander whiffed, and Gutierrez popped out easily to Bareford in center. The Elks went on to strand runners on the corners in the fourth after back-to-back 2-out singles by Padilla and Ramirez in the fourth. Mendoza was just the right kind of shaky, getting the big outs when it counted, at least until he didn’t, and that was in the fifth. First, the Coons scored two runs, one earned, in the top 5th when Nunley reached on an error and Mendoza and DeWeese both came up with RBI base hits, which was an oddity to begin with. In the bottom of the inning, nothing worked for Mendoza anymore, who put on Otis and Varone, and then allowed a 1-out, 2-run single right over the second base bag to Gutierrez. Rocha got on, and Padilla rammed a pitch off the leftfield fence. Gutierrez scored from second, Rocha tried to score from first, but DeWeese murdered him at home plate, ending the inning and keeping the score at 5-3.

After Mendoza got through the sixth inning alright and got a tack-on run on Denny’s solo shot to left in the seventh, he started the bottom 7th. Chris Grooms opened with a double, and Mendoza faced two more batters, with Alexander and Gutierrez both hitting deep flies to center. Bareford caught both, but Grooms scored on the latter sac fly. Kaiser replaced Mendoza for Ezra Branch and struck him out, keeping the lead at 6-4 after seven. That lead arrived at Mathis in the bottom 8th, who put the Elks away 1-2-3, then handed it over to Ramirez, who faced the bottom of the lineup. He had Cameron at two strikes before the leftfielder hit a sharp grounder to second, but Mathews handled it for the first out. Otis struck out in a full count before Kurt Evans pinch-hit and hit a ball to center. No trouble for Bareford, he had it, game over, series even. 6-4 Furballs. Carmona 3-5; Walter 3-5, 2B, RBI; Denny 2-4, HR, RBI;

Ricky Mendoza allowed ten hits and struck out only two, but somehow he pulled through for a W, his 12th on the season, and with that he is clearly #2 on the team. Who would have thought?

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – RF Petracek – P Santos
VAN: LF Cameron – 2B J. Gutierrez – RF Branch – CF Rocha – C Padilla – 1B J. Ramirez – 3B Grooms – SS Otis – P Bartels

Cookie singled, stole, scored, this time on Nunley’s groundout, but the Coons actually got another run when Mendoza singled, was running when Denny singled and reached third base, and from there scored on a wild pitch to give Santos more support in the first inning than in his entire start on Monday. Santos went on to have an odd second inning. He hit a 2-out single in the top of the inning, and reached second when Bartels tried to throw a ball right through Cookie’s ribcage, which knocked our favorite outfielder flat on his back, gasping for air. It took three minutes to put him back on his feet and drag him to first base, but he remained in the game. Walter made the third out, while in the bottom of the inning, Santos made an error that put Jesus Ramirez on base, then allowed a real bomb to Grooms, which knotted the score. Santos then allowed nothing but hard drives in the third. Gutierrez singled, Branch homered, and Cookie slammed into the ground on a leaping grab on Rocha’s drive and this time remained lying down until carted off on a stretcher. Bareford replaced him.

Santos was only a bit over 80 pitches through six, but that had been enough to allow about ten hard drives to all fields. The Elks hadn’t scored since the third, and the Raccoons’ most recent impression was a bloody smear in centerfield, as they continued to be down 4-2, with Hudman hitting for Santos starting the seventh against Bartels. He grounded out, which remained the Coons’ best effort in the seventh. After Cummings allowed a run in the bottom 7th, the Coons put Denny on with a 2-out single off left-hander Jose Flores, then another single by the pinch-hitting Eddie Jackson of the right-hander Robert Parsons, but Mathews floated harmlessly out to center. In turn, Cummings loaded the bases with sheer ineptness in the bottom 8th, and when Davis replaced him with two outs, he allowed a first-pitch, 2-run single to Don Cameron, the final note in a thoroughly sad symphony. 7-2 Canadiens. Carmona 1-1; H. Mendoza 2-4; Denny 2-4;

In other news

August 13 – ATL LF Marty Reyes (.273, 14 HR, 51 RBI) will miss the rest of August with a strained hamstring.
August 15 – TOP LF/RF Dan Brown (.238, 6 HR, 31 RBI) hits a solo home run for the lone run in the Aces’ 1-0 win over the Gold Sox.
August 16 – The Thunder get crushed by the Stars in a 15-1 thrashing, with DAL RF Stephen St. George (.266, 7 HR, 59 RBI) contributing three extra base hits and 5 RBI.
August 16 – In San Francisco, three Aces have 4-hit games in a 14-2 battering they hand to the Bayhawks, with C Bobby Diersing (.420, 3 HR, 20 RBI) and LF/RF/1B Matt Hamilton (.289, 22 HR, 80 RBI) also driving in four runs each.
August 17 – Milwaukee’s G.G. Williams (9-6, 3.14 ERA) stops the Crusaders on three hits in a 6-0 shutout.
August 18 – The Knights hit five home runs in a 15-10 slugfest against the Falcons. ATL 1B Josh Gotto (.389, 2 HR, 3 RBI) hits a pair, the first two of his career.
August 18 – The Rebels ride an 11-run sixth inning to romp the Cyclones, 14-2.
August 19 – PIT SS Tom McWhorter (.253, 16 HR, 64 RBI) will miss a week with a sore elbow.

Complaints and stuff

(points to the Cookie-bearing stretcher next to the brown couch he is sitting on) Well, we have a mild problem here. Cookie? – Cookie? – Can you hear me? … I don’t know whether you can hear it, but he is very barely wincing. – Mena! – Mena!! – Can you check the drip? You’re oily concoction doesn’t seem to go in, but he’s bleeding from the access!

Well, while we have this mess on our hands, we also have a 9-game lead in the North. Even without Cookie, it should be possible to hold on to that. With Cookie would be better, of course, but at any given time some things are, and some things aren’t. And I don’t think he’s batting too soon. Of course I blame Bareford. If he hit more than fits on the speedometer of a low-budget family van, we don’t move him out of the Sunday game and Cookie doesn’t play center. Then there was Santos trying to set a record for home runs allowed in an ABL game, which also contributed ghastily. And then- wait. Cookie? – Cookie? – Are you moaning? - … - Cookie? - … MENA, GET YOUR ****ING *** IN HERE!!!

The recent developments mean that Bareford can bat what he ****ing wants because we’re not really having any other centerfielders. There’s Petracek, but he’s batting the same and doesn’t offer the superior defense. Petracek is an adequate third-string backup that is now the second string. Eddie Jackson figures to get regular playing time now, so he’s happy at least.

I am not happy. And I am not okay.

I am so not okay.

[Westheim]

Monday was off again for the Raccoons. While Cookie was lying around semi-consciously with the ghastly IV that the Druid had made him and I didn’t know whether he’d make it or not, by Tuesday morning he was wide awake and actually felt better. So that Venezuelan male witch does know a thing or two about medicine after all! Not bloody quite Western medicine, but I’m inclined to take any straw of hope right now…

Cookie was diagnosed with a herniated disc, of all things, and was placed on the disabled list to give his neck time to get realigned. The Druid was of the firm opinion that a minimum stay of 15 days would be wholly sufficient to get him back to strength. He joined Duarte, Abe, Brownie, and McKnight on the DL and would be the first one to come off.

The Raccoons can’t possibly blow a 9-game lead in 15 days, can they?

Raccoons (75-49) @ Crusaders (66-58) – August 21-23, 2018

The Crusaders ranked second in offense in the CL, but only eighth in runs allowed, with a seriously cranky bullpen that was in the bottom three with a ghastly 4.11 ERA. And while they were scoring more than 4.7 runs per game, they hadn’t really played that card against the Coons in 2018, hanging only 3.6 runs onto the Critters in each of the 12 contests played so far, of which they had lost eight. The Raccoons had taken the season series from them for three straight years, and could do so again with a series win.

Projected matchups:
Jonathan Toner (19-3, 2.29 ERA) vs. Ted McKenzie (9-10, 5.23 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (12-10, 3.54 ERA) vs. Jaylen Martin (13-6, 2.47 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (12-7, 4.51 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (10-9, 3.87 ERA)

These are three right-handed pitchers, and the Crusaders have nothing else to offer. They also don’t have anybody on the DL, going on full strength, whatever that meant when Ron Richards was your home run leader with 14 bombs and also led the team with 63 RBI. Ray Gilbert had only nine dingers, and Martin Ortíz, clearly on the slippery slope on the back end of a great player’s career, had ten, and had almost as many strikeouts as R.J. DeWeese!

We skipped Damani Knight on the off day, because yes, he had pitched seven scoreless in his last start, but no, it was not his fault, if that makes sense. This time all the scorched balls might well fall in, and I don’t want to see them fall in against the Crusaders, when all the games count twice as much.

We also had to make a roster move to fill the spot vacated by Cookie moving to the DL. 27-year old (…) LF/RF/1B Chris Thomson was called up from St. Petersburg. Once a ninth-round pick in 2012 that had instilled mild hope on a late-round wonder for a few years around 2014/2015, he was by now a low-quality quad-A player that would see major league action for the first time after dingling around in AAA for five years. In 111 games with the Alley Cats this year he was batting .317/.376/.457 with eight home runs. He had absolutely no strengths in particular.

We batted Andy Bareford seventh for his first week in the Bigs, because I wanted him to get pitched to… which is no longer the case. Kid bats eighth, hopefully Denny doubles and he doesn’t see any pitch within 10 feet of the zone.

Game 1
POR: SS Walter – 2B Mathews – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – C Denny – CF Bareford – P Toner
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – SS Casillas – 1B Gilbert – 2B S. Valdez – C Roland – RF Richards – LF Ro. Hernandez – CF S. Young – P McKenzie

Jonny was bidding for his 20th victory of the season, but had a first inning right from one of my nightmares. Tony Casillas singled, stole second, and scored on Sergio Valdez liner into shallow left, after which Toner loaded the bases with a single by Cory Roland and a walk issued to Ron Richards. Roberto Hernandez ran a full count before swiping over a pitch below the knees, ending the frame. While the Coons picked him up in the top 2nd, plating two runs off McKenzie who walked three batters, including Denny with the bases loaded to tie the game, with the second run scoring on Bareford’s sac fly (though he hit that at 3-1…), Toner’s 30-pitch ordeal was unfortunately symptomatic of most of his recent outings. The results were usually pretty, but how he got there very much wasn’t, and this usually led to him not going far into the game. The Crusaders got runners to the corners with two outs in the bottom 2nd after a throwing error by Matt Nunley, his 17th on the season, but ****ing Ray Gilbert grounded out casually to Toner himself to end the inning. Jonny walked Valdez at the start of the third, but that runner was erased by Denny on the same 3-2 pitch that nipped Cory Roland on strikes as Valdez tried to take second base by force. He was the last base runner for New York through five innings, which took Jonny 89 pitches to complete…

The Raccoons managed only three hits through six innings, so were in general no help to Toner’s cause as he started the bottom 6th. Valdez led off with a single to right, but Roland struck out again. That was far as two runs would carry Toner, who’s 99th pitch was bombed outta rightfield by Ron Richards, his 15th shot of the season. Toner finished the inning, but hung on the hook with little prospect to get off. Brian Page sawed off the Coons in the seventh before they actually got hits from Nunley and Jackson in the eighth, but the Crusaders threw four pitchers at them in an all-out min-max effort that paid off when DeWeese flew out to Richards to end the inning. Still down 3-2 in the ninth, they faced Colin Sabatino in the save situation. With an ERA of almost three and less than 9 K/9 he surely was not incinvible, but when Denny grounded out on a 3-1 pitch to start the inning I was already close to murdering somebody yet again. Tom Dahlke hit for the insufferable Bareford (.120) and lined a pitch to left and past Roberto Hernandez for a 1-out double, putting the tying run in scoring position for Margolis, who batted for Kaiser in the pitcher’s spot. He grounded out, sending Dahlke to third and leaving things to Shane Walter, who hopefully had to offer something other than leading the batting race! Or maybe he’d just roll one over to Valdez for the final out. 3-2 Crusaders. Jackson 2-3, BB; Dahlke (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Chris Thomson hit for Toner in the seventh to make his major league debut and grounded out harmlessly.

This was Jonny Toner’s first loss since June 13, more than two months ago! Back then he got ripped for eight runs by the Buffaloes. He has not logged an out in the seventh inning in three consecutive starts.

Yes I am in panic mode. WHY YOU ASKING???

Game 2
POR: SS Walter – 2B Mathews – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – RF Jackson – LF DeWeese – C Denny – CF Bareford – P Guerrero
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – 1B Gilbert – 2B S. Valdez – C Roland – RF Richards – SS Casillas – CF Waggoner – P J. Martin

A Bareford single was all that the Coons could put on their scorecard in the first three innings, aside of Walter drawing a leadoff walk in the first and getting doubled off by Mathews instantly. The Crusaders scored a run in the bottom 1st after Martin Ortíz tripled and scored on Gilbert’s groundout, then put Jens Carroll (single) and Ortíz (walk) on base to start the bottom 3rd. Gilbert and Valdez were retired on strong defensive efforts by DeWeese and Mathews, respectively, but when Cory Roland hit a 410-footer to left there was no defending that. Down 4-0 against “Midnight” Martin, the Coons were pretty much done with this Wednesday game. The Critters didn’t get a second hit onto their ledger until Walter singled with one out in the sixth. Mathews grounded to Valdez, who only got the out at second, but “Midnight” shrugged and picked Mathews off first to end the inning. Guerrero walked Roland to start the bottom 6th, his fifth free pass in the game, and was relieved by Wade Davis, who managed to keep the run from scoring, but allowed a double to Carroll in the seventh and that run would come in to score after a single by Martin Ortíz and then Gilbert’s sac fly to plenty deep center. In a 5-0 hole in the eighth the Raccoons got their very best scoring opportunity yet when Mike Denny hit a leadoff single past Carroll into left and Martin walked Bareford, his fifth free pass on the day as well. This meant that the Critters had reached second base for the first time in the ****ing game! Dahlke hit in the pitcher’s spot, hit into a fielder’s choice at second base, Walter fouled out, and Mathews grounded out pathetically to leave the runners stranded. 5-0 Crusaders. Bareford 1-2, BB;

Matt Nunley ended an 11-game hitting streak in this unholy contest. Also, you know that the baseball gods are toying with you when Chet Cummings comes into a lost contest like this wretched affair and strikes out the side in the bottom 8th…

Game 3
POR: SS Walter – RF Jackson – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Denny – 2B Hudman – CF Bareford – P R. Mendoza
NYC: 3B J. Carroll – LF M. Ortíz – 1B Gilbert – 2B S. Valdez – C Roland – RF Richards – SS Casillas – CF Waggoner – P Weise

In a rerun of Wednesday Night’s game, the Raccoons kept hitting into double plays (DeWeese in the second erasing Mendoza’s leadoff single) and had no pitching to speak of, too. Ricky Mendoza allowed a walk in the first, although Ortíz would get caught stealing by Denny, then walked two more in the second before Ron Richards blasted another 3-run shot to put the Crusaders on the best of routes to a series sweep. While Tom Weise allowed two hits and struck out six in five innings, Mendoza never finished five. ****ing Ray Gilbert homered off him in the bottom 3rd to put the Crusaders up 4-0, and in the fifth he allowed singles to Gilbert and Roland, threw a wild pitch, and then got tagged with a 2-out, 2-run single to center by Richards who became increasingly unpopular on my card. At 6-0, Chet Cummings entered in a double switch that replaced Hudman with Petracek, and somehow got out of the inning. When Andy Bareford hit a leadoff jack for his first major league home run in the sixth inning, nobody was in the mood to celebrate because the sweep was looming.

Nunley opened the seventh with a single to center, with Mendoza then dropping one into shallow left to put two on. The tying run was far from approaching in a 6-1 game, especially with DeWeese striking out as usual in a big spot. Denny hit a ball up the rightfield line that eluded Richards, who bounced off the sidewall after a vain attempt to cut off the bugger, which instead reached the corner. Denny, certainly not fleet of foot, exploited Richards’ misplay for a 2-run triple, and suddenly things didn’t look so glum anymore. Cummings remained in the game to bat and hit a sac fly, 6-4, before Bareford grounded out, but leaving Cummings in was a mistake anyway. The Crusaders got a leadoff single in the bottom 7th from Ortíz before Gilbert hit into a double play to Walter. Valdez singled, Roland walked, and only now did Cummings get removed. Thrasher appeared, threw a wild pitch, and then conceded the runs on a single by pinch-hitter Bartholomeu Pino before also putting Casillas on with an error of his own. Waggoner grounded out, but the Crusaders were up by a slam again, and the Raccoons did not recover from that return blow anymore. Tom Weise finished the game despite allowing four runs, finishing with six hits allowed and nine strikeouts, sitting down the last eight Coons in order. 8-4 Crusaders. H. Mendoza 2-4; Denny 2-3, 3B, 2 RBI;

Let’s just call this the Mother of all Sweeps, and don’t make any noises on the way to the airport. That includes breathing.

Raccoons (75-52) @ Thunder (45-83) – August 24-26, 2018

The Thunder were one of two teams in total shambles in the South, the other being the Falcons. We had no more games left with the latter, and this was the last series against the former, with the Raccoons so far having taken five of six games from them. They had lost their last four games (but who around here hadn’t?) and were generally awful in offense (u-hum!), ranking last in runs scored, and also in pitching, ranking second-to-last in runs allowed. Their run differential was an unpleasant -143. There was nothing to like on that roster, really… Even their defense was in the worst three of the league.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (10-8, 2.90 ERA) vs. Brendan Teasdale (4-20, 5.61 ERA)
Damani Knight (5-7, 4.89 ERA) vs. Wes Yates (5-5, 4.47 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (19-4, 2.36 ERA) vs. Jim Bryant (1-11, 5.82 ERA)

I was almost feeling sorry for Brenda here. Almost. Yates should be the only left-handed pitcher we get in this set, although they have another one in Nick Lombardo (6-4, 3.60 ERA).

Game 1
POR: SS Walter – 2B Mathews – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – LF DeWeese – C Margolis – CF Bareford – RF Thomson – P Santos
OCT: CF Stevenson – SS Janes – 1B Manfull – C Parks – LF Cisneros – 3B Ruggeri – 2B Read – RF Hiscock – P Teasdale

Walter opened the game with a single and Mathews hit right into another double play. I was damn close to eating my hat until Hugo Mendoza led off the second with a homer to left center. DeWeese and Margolis hit singles, but the good start was largely derailed by the rookies in the bottom of the order, whose presence was entirely undesired. Bareford hit a sac fly, but Thomson hit into a fielder’s choice, and the inning fizzled out at 2-0. Santos would soon start to have his moments, issuing a leadoff walk to Howard Read in the bottom 3rd before throwing a wild pitch past the poor Margolis. Bill Hiscock singled, putting them on the corners, before Brenda’s poor bunt got Hiscock forced at second and kept the double play in order. Said double play never came; Josh Stevenson struck out, and Erik Janes hit a pop to left center that nevertheless neither DeWeese nor Bareford could catch up with and Janes had an RBI double. B.J. Manfull popped out to short to strand a pair in scoring position in a 2-1 game. DeWeese would however make a strong catch an inning later when Hiscock sent a drive to deep left with two outs and two on that held Santos’ wonky effort in one piece.

When Walter hit another leadoff single in the fifth, the bedeviled Mathews hit a grounder to second yet the **** again, but this time the defense couldn’t turn the gift for a double play. Mathews remained at first, then made to third when Nunley doubled to center. With first base open, the Thunder elected to walk Hugo Mendoza intentionally to bring up DeWeese with the bags full and one out. While DeWeese unleashed a tremendous drive to center, Stevenson caught that one, holding the luxuriously paid leftfielder to a sac fly, which turned out to be the Coons’ only run in the inning once Margolis grounded out to Manfull to keep things at 3-1. Santos held on to that for as long as he went in the game, which turned out to be seven innings with nine strikeouts. While Hugo Mendoza hit a leadoff single in the eighth and stole second base, nobody bothered to drive him in. Davis and Thrasher combined for the bottom of the inning, before Chris Thomson knocked his first major league hit leading off the top of the ninth with a single off Brenda, who was somehow still not routed from the contest. This also did not lead to a run, which put Alex Ramirez into the bottom 9th with only one run of cushion against the 4-5-6 batters, of which Jalen Parks and D.J. Ruggeri were switch-hitters with 19 homers between them. Parks and Javy Cisneros led off with sharply hit singles to put the tying runs on base with nobody out, bringing up Ruggeri, who hit a ball that bounced once back right into Ramirez’ glove. Ramirez started the double play, 1-6-3, leaving Parks at third with left-hander Howard Read batting and singling hard to center. When Ramirez lost left-hander Bill Hiscock to a 4-pitch walk and the Thunder sent another left-hander to pinch-hit in Nate Brown, **** got personal and the pitching coach dragged Ramirez off the mound by his ear. Jason Kaiser came into a real mess to counter Brown, who bounced a ball sharply to first, but Hugo Mendoza was not undone by it and made the play himself to end the game. 3-2 Blighters. Walter 2-5; H. Mendoza 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; DeWeese 2-3, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (11-8);

Game 2
POR: 3B Walter – SS Dahlke – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – CF Bareford – LF DeWeese – 2B Petracek – P Knight
OCT: CF Stevenson – SS Janes – 1B Manfull – C Parks – LF Cisneros – 3B Ruggeri – 2B Read – RF Hiscock – P W. Yates

Walter opened with a single, and Dahlke, who was in there because Mathews hit into too many double plays for my sanity, hit into a double play. Dahlke, fearing for his tail, did better the next time around, with Petracek and Walter on the corners and one out in the third of a scoreless game. He hit a ball into the gap in left center that wasn’t cut off until just short of the track, and the Coons took the 1-0 lead on the double. Unfortunately, with runners on second and third and still only one out, the Raccoons did the most miserably they could as Jackson popped out on an 0-2 pitch, Mendoza got hit by a pitch, and Denny fouled out over home plate on the very first pitch he got with the bases loaded, and in the bottom of the inning Josh Stevenson reached on a bunt single, stole second, and when Dahlke tried to make a difficult play on Erik Janes’ grounder, he strained his forearm and had to leave the game. Walter moved over, Nunley entered at third, and somehow Damani Knight was not obliterated by the middle of the order, continuing to nurse the 1-0 lead – at least until Wes Yates knotted the score with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom 4th, plating Howard Read even after Hiscock had been walked intentionally.

The Thunder had the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom 5th after a leadoff single by Emilio Farias. Parks also singled, but in between B.J. Manfull reached when Petracek dropped his easy pop, and Petracek was not in a position to get away with **** like that. Cisneros fouled out, but after that Knight got thumped for three runs on a pair of singles by D.J. Ruggeri and Howard Read, both coming on 2-strike counts. Knight didn’t make it out of the sixth and the Coons sat in a 4-1 hole and looked definitely lost again even when DeWeese blooped a leadoff single into shallow right to start the seventh inning. Petracek, playing for his dear life after noticing me, far up above the field, banging with both hands against the windows of my suite and mouthing ‘I’M GONNA ****ING KILL YOU’ down at him, romped a 2-run shot to extreme left, just inside the foul pole, which put the Coons back into the game, down 4-3. Yates sat down Mathews and Walter before Nunley doubled, but Jackson – useless ever since inheriting Cookie’s starting spot – grounded out to the catcher, which was actually a thing with these terrible Raccoons. Mathis allowed a 1-out single to Read in the bottom 7th, who moved up on Hiscock’s groundout and scored when Nate Brown and Josh Stevenson hit consecutive 2-out infield singles, because that ALSO was a thing with these TERRIBLE RACCOONS. Kaiser allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth that didn’t matter, because the entire lineup was inept and sucked and judging by their fat asses were eating every baseball they could get their clumsy little paws on rather than hitting them for any measureable distance. 6-3 Thunder. Walter 2-5; Petracek 3-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI;

Tom Dahlke was added to the considerable list of broken players, although the Druid listed him as day-to-day. He was probably not suited for taking the field, but was available to pinch-hit.

Like it matters who hits where and when among this collection of losers.

Game 3
POR: SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – RF Jackson – 2B Hudman – CF Bareford – P Toner
OCT: CF Stevenson – 2B Farias – 1B Manfull – C Parks – LF Cisneros – 3B Ruggeri – SS Janes – RF Alston – P Bryant

The Raccoons had two hits in the first inning, but scored three runs, starting with Nunley getting a hit and Mendoza getting *hit*. Denny’s drive to center was caught by Stevenson for the second out before DeWeese walked, and when Jackson ran a 3-1 count with the bases loaded I was screaming for him to hold the **** still. He did and walked, pushing in the first run before Brock Hudman singled up the middle to plate two more. Bareford grounded out to Farias to end the inning. Stevenson and Farias made outs in the bottom 1st before Manfull and Parks both singled to right. Toner was 2-2 on Javy Cisneros before he conceded a drive to deep right that eluded Jackson and became a 2-out, 2-run double. So much for early offense, and a triple crown.

Toner drew a leadoff walk in the second, but was doubled up by Walter grounding to Farias, because some things are just in our DNA. The Raccoons did get a fourth run the next inning, but that came on a throwing error by Ron Alston, who was 39, made $3.6M this year, and had under 80 at-bats with his body basically telling him NO as soon as he bent down to tie his shoes. In the sixth, DeWeese led off with getting drilled real hard – it really seemed like nobody liked him on any team – before Jackson tried to get Jim Bryant to turn a double play, but Bryant’s throw to second on Jackson’s sorry 3-1 bouncer was wild and past Janes into centerfield. Two on, no outs, and also no hitting merits so far, with the shambles end of the lineup coming up, although Brock Hudman did hit another fast grounder up the middle and into center to plate DeWeese on the single, 5-2. Bareford popped out, Toner struck out, and Walter popped out after that. Speaking of Toner, when he walked Manfull with two outs in the bottom 6th, that was the Thunder’s first base runner since Cisneros’ dreadful double in the first inning. Parks struck out to leave him right where he was. Toner made it through eight innings for a change, but struck out less batters than he had innings pitched, with the two things maybe related. His spot was up at the start of the ninth inning against ex-Coon Pat Slayton, with Thomson fouling out in his spot. No Coon reached base in the inning, and Alex Ramirez got another 2-run lead to mess with. Be cautious, Alex! This is for Toner’s 20th W. If you make another mess on the floor, you’ll be wearing a diaper henceforth – OVER your uniform! Manfull struck out in a full count to get things moving. Parks grounded a 1-2 pitch to Mendoza for the second out, and he was the only Thunder to put the ball in play; Cisneros struck out to end the game. 5-3 Critters. Hudman 3-4, 3 RBI; Toner 8.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (20-4);

In other news

August 21 – TIJ SP Andrew Gudeman (11-8, 2.48 ERA), author of a no-hitter this season, is placed on the DL by the Condors with a torn rotator cuff. He is not only out for 2018, but might also miss the start of the 2019 campaign.
August 22 – In a tightly contested 1-0 game the Wolves suddenly blow the Stars away with nine runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, claiming a 10-0 victory.
August 26 – MIL OF/1B Chris LeMoine (.281, 24 HR, 85 RBI) has five hits in the Loggers’ 11-1 rout of the Knights, including a home run and a double, and drives in three.

Complaints and stuff

This was not a good week. There. I said it.

Finding offense becomes increasingly harder around these parts, with McKnight, Duarte, and Cookie all down by now. While Tadasu Abe would already be a tremendous gain off the DL to get rid of Damani Knight, it’s offense more than anything else we need. The team has dropped to seventh in runs scored again, and over the last 13 games they’ve barely managed more than 3.5 runs per game. For the whole month, it’s a flat 100 runs in 24 games. Still not great, but that was before Duarte and Cookie dropped off the ledge.

I don’t blame Andy Bareford, who seems to get every single at-bat with a brown stripe at the back of his pants that only gets bigger and bigger the longer the game goes, nah. I blame Mendoza. He is TERRIBLE. He is not terrible compared to his teammates, but he is TERRIBLE compared to his track record. He has only one full season worse than his current .838 OPS, which came in 2013, when he was 22 and hit .279/.323/.488 for an .811 OPS. His worst since then? .947 in ’15. Oh and of course his wretched half-season with the Coons in 2017 was also worse than that, but still strong at a .927 OPS.

Looking at the money, because that is what I am paid to do, Mendoza and DeWeese are owed another $27.365M combined. That’s a lot of money for not driving in runs and not hitting home runs like they oughta do.

With Toner’s pair of sub-par outings this week, he’s dropped a bit off the lead in the ERA race, which is now led by “Midnight” Martin, who had no struggles whatsoever in nixing the Coons on Wednesday. Again, this excludes Michael Foreman from consideration, who actually still leads the ERA race by 20 points, but won’t be able to qualify at the end of the season. Toner is only four points behind Martin, with IND Tristan Broun wedged in between. There is a good chance we see Tristan Broun next Sunday.

Matt Nunley made his 17th error this week, which gives him 17+ errors in four of his five full seasons. Yet, I’m not freaking out about it this time. The difference between Nunley and more or less every other error-prone third baseman we ever had is his great range and a real killer arm. He makes tons of plays that other third basemen never make. The advanced-stat eggheads give him ravenous zone ratings. With his range alone, they claim, he wins his team an additional game (more or less) every season. **** the odd additional error every other week. In fact, going back in time, the Raccoons’ only other significant third baseman with great range was Ben O’Morrissey way back in the 90s, and he also made up to 20 errors per season. Back then, I think, I didn’t really appreciate his range that much. But what I really did not appreciate was him being the first rat to jump off the 1997 ship.

Odd stat: Matt Nunley has played almost 6,000 defensive innings in the majors and never played a single inning anywhere but at the hot corner.

There have now been 544 Critters in franchise history. There has never been a Thomson before, but of course everybody still remembers Winston Thompson, who was picked up from the dump prior to the 1983 season and became the Coons’ everyday second baseman for half a decade.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (77-53) @ Bayhawks (72-57) – August 27-29, 2018

The Bayhawks had yet to win a game this year against the Raccoons, having gotten swept in each of the first two series, plus, last time they had gotten swept, the Bayhawks had lost first place in the South to the Condors. This could happen again – if the Raccoons would find a way to score the odd run or two. Scoring was normally not an issue for the Baybirds, who ranked third in runs scored with the highest team batting average, while their pitching was merely serviceable, putting them seventh in terms of runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Guerrero (12-11, 3.64 ERA) vs. Joao Joo (11-9, 3.17 ERA)
Ricky Mendoza (12-8, 4.73 ERA) vs. Manuel Rojas (13-10, 4.14 ERA)
Hector Santos (11-8, 2.83 ERA) vs. Milt Beauchamp (10-13, 4.70 ERA)

Joo would be another one of those tough left-handers that had a habit of choking furry woodland creatures. After that it would be the right-handers “Doom” Rojas and Beauchamp.

Game 1
POR: SS Walter – 3B Nunley – LF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – CF Bareford – 2B Hudman – RF Petracek – P Guerrero
SFB: LF R. Allen – 2B Ingraham – SS Claros – CF D. Garcia – RF Sarabia – 3B Ladd – C Case – 1B J. Rodriguez – P Joo

Three runs were slapped over Guerrero’s head right in the first inning, courtesy of putting the first three batters on base with a walk to Roger Allen, Zach Ingraham’s single, and Raul Claros’ RBI double. The last two runs scored on a pair of sac flies. The two hits the Birds picked up in the inning would be their only ones for a long time, but for an equally long time the Raccoons failed to make up a 3-run deficit. Guerrero issued three leadoff walks in the game overall, but the Bayhawks hit into double plays in their other opportunities. The Raccoons had basically nothing cooking for four innings until Brock Hudman led off the fifth inning with a double to left. Walter doubled him in with two outs, plating the Critters’ first run. They had a pair of doubles in the sixth by Jackson and Denny to get a second run, but despite having the tying run on second base with one out, the Coons could not make any more contact. Despite out-hitting the Birds 7-2 through six, they still trailed, 3-2. Guerrero was hit for in the top 7th, with Dahlke striking out in his spot, but Wade Davis kept the Bayhawks where they were, too, and both halves of the eighth went by in 1-2-3 fashion, Mathis doing the honors. That put the Raccoons’ 6-7-8 up against left-hander Mike Stank in the ninth inning, and it could hardly come worse for them. Mathews hit for Bareford and singled, put was swiftly forced on Hudman’s grounder. Petracek struck out, with Margolis taking a stick in Mathis’ place, grounding softly up the third base line and being thrown out by Wes Ladd by a good margin. 3-2 Bayhawks. Walter 2-4, 2B, RBI; Denny 2-4, 2B, RBI; Mathews (PH) 1-1;

Alright, alright, we’re not gonna make the playoffs…

Game 2
POR: SS Walter – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – 2B Mathews – RF Thomson – CF Bareford – P R. Mendoza
SFB: LF R. Allen – RF Sarabia – CF D. Garcia – C D. Alexander – SS Claros – 2B Ingraham – 3B Ladd – 1B J. Rodriguez – P Rojas

Roger Allen romped a leadoff jack in the first inning to get the Bayhawks into the front seat again instantly. The Coons’ first seven batters racked up five strikeouts against “Doom” Rojas, but a Mathews and Bareford found singles in the top of the second. With two down, Ricky Mendoza grounded up the middle and past Claros, and with the early start Mathews scored the tying run from second base. Walter walked to load them up afterwards, but Nunley grounded out to Javy Rodriguez. The bases were loaded again with one out in the third after Denny doubled, DeWeese singled, and Mathews walked. Thomson wisely held still when Rojas fell behind him and drew a go-ahead, run-scoring walk, after which Bareford did not hold still and struck out. Mendoza came up with a 2-out single for the second time in as many at-bats, this one plating another run, and then Walter singled hard to right for two runs to score, although the inning also ended when Hugo Mendoza was caught in a run-down between second and third and tagged out by Ladd – but the Raccoons were up 5-1, and now they just needed Ricky Mendoza to not blow it. He got through five innings okay, allowing only one hit, but got stuck in the sixth, with the Raccoons having gone down 1-2-3 three times in the meantime. Victor Sarabia hit a leadoff single to left in the bottom 6th, and was on second base with two outs. Mendoza’s effort turned south abruptly as he drilled Claros, then walked Ingraham. With the tying run coming up, Chris Mathis entered as Mendoza exited. Ladd grounded a 1-2 to the left side, Nunley made the play, no panic, and the inning fizzled out for San Francisco, but Mathis allowed a leadoff double to Javy Rodriguez in the seventh. He got two outs before we arrived at the left-hander Sarabia, for whom Kaiser came out. Sarabia singled, the run scored, 5-2, and Kaiser stuck around for Dave Garcia, a right-handed batter, who promptly crashed a BIG home run to get the Birds to back within a run. D-Alex grounded out to end the inning, but good grief…

The Critters didn’t make it back on base after their 4-run third inning until Mathews hit a 1-out double to left in the eighth inning off Jeff Boynton, who went on to concede the run on a single by Chris Thomson. Bareford continued to make himself most unpopular by hitting into a double play. Wade Davis put up a 1-2-3 eighth inning to keep the Bayhawks down by two runs, and the ninth went to Alex Ramirez, with Ron Thrasher getting ready if Ramirez would get into the lefty-heavy part of the lineup. But a groundout by Rodriguez and strikeouts by Aaron Case and Roger Allen ended the game before it got to that, as the Coons evened the series. 6-4 Critters. Mathews 2-3, BB, 2B; R. Mendoza 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (13-8) and 2-3, 2 RBI;

This is one rare instance in which his batting puts the starting pitcher into the honor roll at the end of the game. Also, this Mendoza went 2-for-3 and was perfectly well before the Bayhawks piled all they had into one inning (just like Monday!), but the other Mendoza went 0-for-4 and struck out twice before being double-switched out when Kaiser came in.

Game 3
POR: SS Walter – 2B Mathews – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – RF Thomson – CF Petracek – P Santos
SFB: LF R. Allen – RF Sarabia – CF D. Garcia – C D. Alexander – SS Claros – 2B Ingraham – 3B Ladd – 1B J. Harris – P Beauchamp

The Critters hit into double plays in the first (Nunley) and second (Denny), before Santos drew a 2-out walk in the third, Walter singled, and Mathews hit a hard drive to deep right that nevertheless wound up with Sarabia. Santos allowed no hits the first time through, but Sarabia opened the bottom 4th with a single to right, only to have Dave Garcia hit into the double play this time. Petracek walked and stole a base, but was left on third base when Walter flew out to center in the fifth inning, after which the game was still scoreless. A fluke single by Beauchamp leading off the bottom 6th also did not do much to break the scoring drought, and the Raccoons arrived at a real dilemma in the seventh inning, having Thomson on second, Petracek on first, and Santos batting with one out. He was taming the Bayhawks, so removing him after six was not a great option. He was sent to bunt, did that well, and when Walter came up with runners in scoring position, he cracked a 1-1 pitch to left, a liner over Ladd’s head that was not catchable by a common human, and fell in for a 2-run single. Santos remained strong through seven, then crashed in the eighth. Ladd singled up the middle and he walked John Harris, putting the tying runs on with nobody out. With left-hander Jonathan Pruitt in the #9 hole after a double switch, Thrasher was called from the pen. The Bayhawks actually hit a different left-hander for Matt Pruitt’s cousin, but Aaron Case hit into a 1-5-3 double play, leaving only Harris on second base. Allen was a right-hander, but the pitcher’s spot was behind him, so Thrasher remained in the game and got a grounder to Nunley for the third out. However, Thrasher was no longer around for the ninth, having been hit for in a successless top of the ninth. Ramirez was on his own in the bottom 9th, facing left-handed pinch-hitter Robby Vasquez, who singled, and after that things went as well as you might imagine. Garcia doubled in Vasquez, D-Alex sent a drive to left that DeWeese intercepted, but DeWeese had zero chance on Claros drive to deep left that fell in for a game-tying double. With the winning run on second base, the Bayhawks’ Ingraham popped out to first, and Ladd rolled out to first, sending the game to extras, and Ramirez to the Chamber of Nobody Will Hear Your Screaming.

The next frequent dip**** ruined the tenth inning, which saw Mathews on with an error, Nunley on with a single, nobody out, and then Hugo Mendoza hit into a double play. Denny popped out to short. The Bayhawks also left the winning run in scoring position in the bottom 10th, with Jeffrey Matthews doubling off Chun and taking third on a wild pitch, but being left on when Javy Rodriguez flew out to Thomson, who was in a big spot in the 11th after DeWeese’s leadoff walk. The hit-and-run was called, DeWeese ran, Thomson hit, a single to right, and the Coons had them on the corners with nobody out against worn-out former starter Chae-ku Lee. Petracek popped out to second, Margolis hit a 3-1 pitch right into Lee’s glove, and Walter grounded out to Ingraham to score zero runs. After two scoreless innings by Chun and a Coons no-show in the top 12th, we basically gave up in the game, or it looked like that; Chet Cummings appeared for the bottom 12th, and this just could not end well. The Birds actually went down in order in the 12th, but Ladd’s liner to left was just barely inside DeWeese’s comfort zone and could have been a double had it been just ten feet further towards the gap. To anybody’s surprise, the Coons were still alive in the 14th, which opened with Margolis pulling a leadoff walk. Walter hit a looper to right that fell in ahead of the rushing Matthews, who got the ball to strike the bill of his cap, knocking it off, and fell down before scurrying after the ball that was still hobbling towards deeper right. The runners got to scoring position, with nobody out and the middle of the order on the approach. I swear, if you ****ers don’t score… Mathews popped out to get to a crisp 0-for-7 for the game, and I had a sudden stinging sensation in the left chest and arm. Nunley took a ball before slapping a pitch to short, a soft line that BARELY made it over Claros’ raised glove, and into left for an RBI single! William Raven replaced Lee, but balked in Walter before Hugo Mendoza got a chance to hit into a double play, and instead he chose the coward’s approach and took a walk to first when Raven wasn’t giving him likely longballs. Bareford batted for Cummings, singled to right to plate Nunley, who drew a late throw, moving the other runners to scoring position. DeWeese got four very wide ones, but Raven then drilled Thomson, shoving in another run, the fourth in the inning. Petracek and Margolis both hit drives to center, both were caught, but at least Petracek plated another run with the sac fly. There wasn’t much left in the pen, but then there was a 7-2 lead. We had only Davis, Mathis, and Kaiser left – all had pitched in the middle game, and Kaiser was the only one to not have pitched in all games of the series so far, and with two left-handers in the first three up in the bottom 14th, he got the ball, and ended the Bayhawks on ten pitches. 7-2 Raccoons! Walter 4-7, 2 RBI; Nunley 4-7, RBI; Bareford (PH) 1-1, RBI; Thomson 2-6, RBI; Santos 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K; Chun 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Cummings 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (2-1);

That… was Ramirez’ tenth blown save this year. TEN! TEN BLOWN SAVES!!

Thanks, Alex. Thanks. Don’t expect a Christmas card.

Raccoons (79-54) vs. Indians (66-67) – August 31-September 2, 2018

Ninth in runs scored, third in runs allowed, the Indians had certainly expected more out of this season, but not only were they more or less at .500, their run differential was almost zero at +3, and with a +3 RD you weren’t going to make the playoffs. They had a decent rotation, fifth by ERA, and a top three bullpen, but against the Raccoons they were 4-7 on the year.

Projected matchups:
Damani Knight (5-8, 4.90 ERA) vs. Kyle Lamb (2-1, 4.82 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (20-4, 2.41 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (12-7, 3.68 ERA)
Bobby Guerrero (12-12, 3.67 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (9-10, 2.45 ERA)

This was going to be a tough pitching series, featuring southpaws for Indy on either end of their probables. But at least we would get a chance to rough up Broun, who was one of a bunch of competitors of Jonny Toner for the ERA title and thus the triple crown.

Game 1
IND: 2B Eason – CF D. Morales – LF Genge – RF Gilmor – SS Matias – C Garner – 1B Eaton – 3B Nelson – P Lamb
POR: SS Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 2B Hudman – P Knight

Knight came out wonky, walked Bobby Eason on four pitches, and allowed a double to Danny Morales. Both runs scored on sac flies to give the Indians a quick and unwelcome 2-0 lead. Brock Hudman would get the Raccoons on the board with a solo homer in the third, but Randy Garner ripped Knight for a 2-run shot in the top of the fourth, as the gap only got bigger. The Raccoons managed only two soft singles outside of Hudman’s dinger through six, and Knight was knocked out after a leadoff walk to Pat Eaton in the top of the seventh. Chun replaced him, got a foul pop from Aaron Nelson and forced Eaton on a poor bunt by Kyle Lamb, but then threw a wild pitch and conceded the run anyway on Bobby Eason’s 3-2 liner up the leftfield line, putting the Indians 5-1 ahead, although the run was on him rather than Knight by then. The Raccoons really got nothing done; Tom Dahlke had a pinch-hit single with one out in the eighth against Joel Davis, but Walter and Nunley didn’t even get the ball out of the infield, and while Joey Mathews drew a walk in the ninth, the Raccoons didn’t get past first base then, either. 5-1 Indians. Dahlke (PH) 1-1;

Goddamnit, we’re so ****ed. But now it’s September and we can get up all our hot and juicy prospects that will really fire up the lineup!

(crazed laughter)

Okay, seriously. We called up some bodies. But none of them will help a lot. Matt Schroeder and Nick Lester were brought up to lengthen the pen, both pitching to ERA’s in the low 3’s in AAA, and of course Schroeder had appeared in 28 games for the Raccoons already with a 3.06 ERA. The mandatory third catcher would be a trash heap signing from two winters ago, 25-year old Edwin Prieto. The 25-year old Dominican was a defensive catcher foremost and was batting .224 with one homer in AAA. He was a right-handed batter. Tim Prince came up again, having batted .251 with two homers in 73 AAA games. Finally, Danny Ochoa, left-handed corner outfielder. That was it, but of course the Raccoons were expecting more important reinforcements from the DL, and it was not unlikely that some of the call-ups would be sent back to AAA when Duarte and Cookie would return. Looking especially at Ochoa, but also Bareford, who was un-bare-able, and for Cookie his DL stint was almost up.

Game 2
IND: C Garner – CF D. Morales – SS Matias – LF Genge – RF C. Martinez – 3B Suda – 1B Landeros – 2B D. Ortega – P Lambert
POR: SS Walter – 2B Mathews – 3B Nunley – 1B H. Mendoza – C Denny – LF DeWeese – RF Jackson – CF Bareford – P Toner

Ruben Landeros drawing a walk off Toner, who otherwise struck out five, was the only base runner in the first three innings. Danny Morales led off the fourth with a soft liner to right center that nobody seemed to be able to get to, had a double, then scored on Raul Matias’ single to left center. DeWeese threw home, way too late, Matias moved to second, was balked to third by Toner, and scored on a groundout in one truly ****ed up inning. Dan Lambert tossed 4 2/3 perfect innings before DeWeese ripped a double to right, which was the first of three straight hits for Portland. Jackson singled and plated DeWeese, 2-1, and Bareford also singled, but Toner’s fly to shallow right was caught by Cesar Martinez. Walter led off the sixth with a double to right, but Mathews struck out. Nunley grounded to Domingo Ortega, whose throw to first was dropped by Landeros, putting runners on the corners with one out for Mend-…oh. He actually hit a good liner to right, but Martinez caught it, sliding, but could not get up and fire home in time to nip Walter, who scored the tying run on the sac fly. The Indians had the go-ahead run on base right away in the seventh when Martinez singled to center. He stole second off a sluggish Denny while the Indians threw every left-handed batter they could find at Toner. The left-handers weren’t the issue. Toner struck out Nick Gilmor and Oliver Torres, but also threw two wild pitches to plate the runner. Danny Young, another pinch-hitter, also struck out, but the damage was once more done.

The dismal Critters managed to put Bareford on base with a 2-out walk in the bottom 7th, which was as much rage as they could generate, but Margolis, batting for Toner, flew out to center. Eason singled off Mathis, pinch-hitting to start the eighth inning, but was caught up in a double play. The Coons brought up the top of the order for the bottom 8th against righty Jarrod Morrison. Only Walter made contact, and that only for about 60 feet. They did not get another base-runner until DeWeese snipped a 2-out single to shallow right in the ninth against right-hander Helio Maggessi, whose numbers were so much better than Ramirez’. When Jackson grounded a 1-2 pitch past Ryan Georges into leftfield, DeWeese dashed to third base, and Tom Dahlke hit for Bareford. And he grounded out. 3-2 Indians. DeWeese 2-4, 2B; Jackson 2-4, RBI;

Game 3
IND: 1B O. Torres – CF D. Morales – SS Matias – LF Genge – RF C. Martinez – 3B Suda – C Mancuso – 2B Eason – P Broun
POR: SS Walter – 3B Nunley – RF Jackson – 1B H. Mendoza – C Margolis – LF DeWeese – CF Bareford – 2B Prince – P Guerrero

And once more the Raccoons were completely out of the game after half an inning as Oliver Torres singled to center, scored on Lowell Genge’s screaming triple into the rightfield corner, and if not for a stellar play by Nunley, going to his left and making a spinning throw to first just barely in time to nip Cesar Martinez, the Indians would probably have scored a dozen. The Coons were close to doing absolutely nothing the first time through before the runts of the litter reached on a single (Bareford) and walk (Prince) to start the bottom of the third. Bobby Guerrero bunted into a double play, Walter struck out, and it was just not going to stop, wasn’t it? Guerrero continued to sabotage the entire effort, dropping a Hugo Mendoza feed at first base for an error that put Martinez on in the fourth inning, after which “Quasimodo” Suda, that ancient, hunch-backed sucker, hit a single to right, putting runners on the corner. Once more, Nunley save the team from tremendous damage, taking Nolan Mancuso’s sharp grounder for an inning-ending double play, 5-4-3.

Guerrero struck out eight in the seven innings he pitched, and thanks to Nunley allowed no other runs. But, well, Tristan Broun was still making the very most of the sole run he had been given, and was piching a 4-hit shout through six innings, while actually facing only one batter over the minimum thanks to two more double plays that DeWeese rolled into and Bareford getting caught stealing in the sixth. Bottom 7th, Nunley drew a 4-pitch walk to get the inning started. Jackson was in no unsure signs (pointed index finger, level left lower arm, two fists, pointed index finger) to bunt, which pretty much never happened, but the Raccoons by conventional means would NEVER score against Broun, who made his fourth start against them this year, and so far this was the third one in which he didn’t allow a run… Jackson bunted, albeit badly. Broun picked it and threw to second, albeit badly, with the ball bouncing well in front of Raul Matias, who almost fell asleep waiting for the ball. Nunley was safe, Jackson was safe and got a single for whatever reason, and the assumed End of All Pitching appeared in the box. Broun’s 2-0 was low and went through Mancuso’s legs for a wild pitch, but that only served to put Mendoza on first base eventually. Bases loaded, no outs, we were never going to score. Margolis was 2-for-2 in the game, both in hits and in getting-written-off-in-****ing-DeWeese’s-double-plays. He grounded the 0-1 pitch to right, Domingo Ortega oughta have that one and turn – NO!! It gets through! Margolis with a single! The tying run comes home!!

The park was all up now, nobody was sitting down anymore, except for the wheelchair users in the handicapped section. Mike Denny batted for DeWeese, who had done enough damage to his own team in this game. The Indians stuck to Broun. COME ON DENNY!! KILL THE ****ER!!! The 1-0, hit to center, high and deep, but not deep enough. No, Morales has it. But Jackson tagged, Jackson scored, 2-1 Raccoons. Bareford with a grounder to left, through the immobile Suda and into left for an RBI single, 3-1! Tim Prince walked, with Broun still going as Dahlke pinch-hit for Guerrero, grounded the first pitch up the middle, Matias has it behind second base, can’t get Prince! Can he get Dahlke at first – NO!! DAHLKE IS SAFE!! ANOTHER RUN SCORES!!

That was it. Broun struck out Walter, and Nunley grounded out to short, but four runs scored and the Coons had thoroughly ruined Broun’s ERA after all, running it up to 2.55! The Indians had the air knocked out of them. Matias got a hit off Wade Davis with two outs in the eighth, but that was the only runner. Ramirez surely tried, but the Indians couldn’t hang his 11th blown save on him as the Coons salvaged a game in this rotten series. 4-1 Raccoons. Margolis 3-4, RBI; Bareford 3-4, RBI; Prince 0-1, 2 BB; Dahlke (PH) 1-1, RBI; Guerrero 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (13-12);

In other news

September 1 – DEN SP Willis Sanguino (9-12, 4.14 ERA) is expected to miss nine months with radial nerve compression.
September 1 – Vegas swingman Jason Clements (7-5, 4.15 ERA), acquired earlier in the year from the Indians, is out for the year with shoulder inflammation.
September 1 – The Condors win a 1-0 game against the Knights on TIJ C Jose Vargas’ (.295, 14 HR, 51 RBI) ninth-inning home run.
September 2 – The Blue Sox get crushed by the Miners in a 17-1 blasting. The Miners have 22 hits, including four each from Tyler Stewart (.302, 1 HR, 30 RBI) and Dave Carter (.289, 15 HR, 50 RBI) who plates three and scores five times.

Complaints and stuff

First off, the ****ing offense is gonna kill me before the playoffs, even if they make them. It’s just a gigantic ****ed up mess. They are so super annoying, they probably have no clue how ****ing annoying they are. Speaks for the rest of the pitching that we’ve been able to run out Damani Knight for three months, Ryan Nielson for two months, and Ricky Mendoza for the full year and we are STILL IN ****ING FIRST PLACE. GODDAMN **** IT SCORE SOME ****ING RUNS YOU ****ING ****S!!

(phew)

It’s okay, Maud, I was just looking at the offensive stats. – Yes, again. – No, I won’t do it again. – Yes, I promise. – Oh, you have sponsors over there. – Loud and clear? – What do you mean, they’re gone now?

Regardless! That one had to go out of my system. I just… I … hnngggh!

Most important, timetables. Cookie will come off the DL as good as new on Monday. That is a BIG plus. Since Jackson hasn’t done anything recently, Cookie goes back to right and Bareford gets a few more games. Duarte and Brownie (still alive!) would probably be able to return about next weekend. Brownie would go to AAA for rehab after missing most of the season, and would return after the end of the minor-league season, then would probably pitch out of the pen unless I have murdered Damani Knight by then. Tadasu Abe would not get back until the middle of the month, probably after the end of the AAA season. Ronnie McKnight, unfortunately, will not make it back this year.

We beat the Bayhawks 8-1 over a season once before in 1986, which is these days remembered for absolutely nothing. I think ’86 was the year I really got into hating the Elks real hard, and that was probably also the year where Scott Wade carried a no-hitter through seven against them and eventually lost a 1-0 game on a one-hitter.

We had Thursday off and had some news for the fans, announcing that Matt Nunley had signed a 4-year, $4.2M contract extension with the Raccoons! The 27-year old left-hander will have his last year of arbitration and three years of free agency bought out by the deal. Nunley will make $850k next year, $1.05M in ’20, and $1.15M in the last two years.

I wanted him for five years, but he wasn’t biting. I consider the price okay, inching towards a team-friendly contract. Everybody knows that WAR sucks, but he was worth more than five WAR (including defense) in 2017, and should be worth up to five this year. He is relatively robust, appearing in 146 or more games in all of his full seasons (pre-2018 of course, since we’re not at that many games yet). He had that one poor offensive season in there, but overall I’m totally fine with that fourth-round pick.

I hope I can get McKnight for a similar deal next year. He’s got one less year of major league experience compared to Nunley, and of course they were back-to-back Rookies of the Year.

Finally, strength of schedule from here on out:

POR has games left with: BOS (6), IND (4), VAN (4), MIL (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), TIJ (3) - .503
NYC has games left with: VAN (6), MIL (4), BOS (3), IND (3), LVA (3), POR (3), TIJ (3) - .517

These are almost identical! Well, we play another once more, and we have the same South teams left, and three against every other North team at least, so the difference is really just seven games that flip one way or another right now. The eggheads give the Raccoons a 97.6% playoff chance. The South is probably more interesting to watch, with four teams still in the thick of things. The Condors get 36.3% odds there although I don’t see why exactly that would be…

[Papi]

You gotta get Brownie in for one more home game. Let him get that, "Walk off the mound to a standing ovation" moment. Make it happen, the fans demand it!