Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Then the part of the offseason began where the Raccoons would routinely tumble over one stepping stone after the other. The first obstacle to my grand plans for a team that was winning AND pleasing to watch were the Indians, who were not at all willing to trade Danny Rivera for anything I was willing to offer. And I mean it: not at all.

With that door closed, the Raccoons attached themselves to the heels of Bryce Toohey more closely. At this stage it was the beginning of November and the Condors had already signed him to a $930k contract for 2044, which was *fair*. At least no 6-year, $20M moloch to inherit (which was something attached to Rivera going into the future).

While I was haggling with the Condors about this and that prospect, we hit an unexpected roadblock in our bid to resign Chuck Jones, who had gotten it into his head that he was worth 6-yr, $7.8M as a left-handed specialist, which was not something the Raccoons would choose to engage with. I had thought of two years, maybe three, at something like $750k. There was a certain gap in our price points and it was not bridged so easily.

Funnily enough, the Condors were interested in Jeff Kilmer, which was not at all a spin I had expected. On the other paw, Ruben Gonzalez wasn’t ready, and Sean Sieber had only hit anything because pretty much every ball he had put in play had become a base hit. We were not in the part of the rebuilding curve where dumping contracts was a priority – at least not if you couldn’t replace the dumped player with equal production at cheaper cost. Ruben Gonzalez would be cheaper. He just wasn’t ready.

While all that was going wrong, the Raccoons signed 1-year extensions with Nelson Moreno ($380k), Alex Ramirez ($900k), and Jon Craig ($460k).

And Jones? There were several rounds of talks, and even more hissing, until we could get to a general understanding here. Maud had a lot of work carting in more and more donuts, until Chuck Jones and the Coons finally arrived at a deal that both parties would put their paw print under: a 3-year-deal worth $3.41M; $1.27M in the first year, and $1.07M in the two after that. No options. We both signed it, but we were both about equally unhappy with it.

+++

November 2 – The Raccoons acquire 28-year-old RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey (.273, 52 HR, 193 RBI) from the Condors in a package deal for #60 prospect SP Generos de Leon, #90 prospect SP Sean Belisle, and RF Justin Waltz (.192, 0 HR, 12 RBI), all last active in AAA.
November 14 – The Raccoons swing a 6-player deal with the Buffaloes, sending #41 prospect RF/1B/LF Jose Casas (.209, 4 HR, 32 RBI), #115 prospect SP Jose Arias, 1B Shuta Yamamoto (.223, 13 HR, 64 RBI), and A SP Rich Haynes to Topeka to acquire two 27-year-old players in LF/CF Derek Baskins (.292, 39 HR, 400 RBI) and MR Nate Norris (11-16, 4.71 ERA, 18 SV).
November 15 – The Loggers send C Valentino Sicco (.260, 16 HR, 104 RBI) to the Cyclones for 39-year-old MR Josh Boles (71-84, 2.93 ERA, 502 SV) and a prospect.

+++

Now it’s an outfield again! No longer Manny and Maldo and Misery du Jour!

Toohey was a corner outfielder / first baseman who would hit .260 with occasional power bursts – he hit 22 bombs in ’43, his first full season – while Baskins was a strong defensive leftfielder / centerfielder, who had a contact bat and speed, and should have no problem replacing whatever Stephon Nettles and Jordan Gonzalez had produced in tandem, and then some more. With these additions the Raccoons have five good+ players for four positions including first base. There is some wiggle room with handedness; Manny, Baskins, and Ayala were left-handers while Maldo and Toohey hit righty; and Maldonado can spill over into the infield as before, should the need arise. The fifth outfield spot can either be someone who plays all three positions reasonably well (Van Anderson) or we find a solid righty bat that can also play center competently. A righty bat would help some more against left-handed pitching, if that was something we wanted to go for.

The additions weren’t outrageously expensive; Baskins made $1.56M in 2044, but would get $2.68M in the two years after that. Nate Norris, a fine right-handed reliever that would probably do good things if he could get an offense behind him (his career BABIP was .312, with single seasons as high as .360!), would sure find a spot in the bullpen. He had closed 14 games for the Buffos this year, but while nobody quite knew how Josh Rella made it all work, we’d stick with Rella for the time being.

At this point we can also confirm, that only Chuck Jones was retained among the free agents-to-be, so Sauerkraut would not be retained, and Seth Green and Travis Sims were also being non-tendered (as was Steve Nickas), trimming things around the lardy end of the bullpen. With Rella, Ramirez, Craig, Kelly, and Jones, five of the carriers would be retained. Then there was Norris, and Nelson Moreno is still here, even though his injury-bombed 2043 season saw him pitch only 14.1 innings.

There is enough money for a 1-year deal on a starting pitcher if we don’t fancy our luck with Merino in the #5 spot this soon. Bullpens can always be improved, and we also have to look at backup infielders (de Wit, Gutierrez being the current personnel).

Even with just the two trades, Cristiano Carmona was beside himself, wheelieing up and down the hallway telling everybody interested and everybody not interested how the Raccoons had already gained almost 7 WAR with their two trades. I don’t care about the WAR. I am just glad we got two bats.

Also snorting at Cristiano’s weird fascination with WAR was our new head scout, a grizzled veteran at 72 years old, and with over 30 years’ experience as head scout, Josh Busing. He already told me some grim truths about some of our players, but he did it tactfully! So we’re two old farts from yesteryear and basically already best friends.

(sits on the table with Busing and Maud having coffee with the fine china being broken out by Maud)

(Maud rolls her eyes as both Busing and the GM pour a tiny bottle of booze they had kept in a pocket into their respective coffees)

+++

2043 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: RIC LF/RF Pablo Gonzalez (.371, 27 HR, 95 RBI) and OCT C Jesus Adames (.331, 28 HR, 83 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: LAP SP Mike LeMasters (23-5, 2.81 ERA) and NYC SP Dave Hils (16-13, 2.64 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: SFW RF Matt Diskin (.290, 28 HR, 109 RBI) and POR 3B Ricky Jimenez (.271, 18 HR, 92 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: NAS CL Chris Henry (6-2, 1.38 ERA, 42 SV) and ATL MR Gualter Cymbron (7-2, 1.79 ERA, 1 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): P LAP Mike LeMasters – C PIT Giampaolo Petroni – 1B RIC Manny Liberos – 2B DAL Hugo Acosta – 3B RIC Josh Frazier – SS NAS Billy Bouldin – LF RIC Pablo Gonzalez – CF SAC Alfonso Cedillo – RF LAP Juan Benavides
Platinum Sticks (CL): P OCT Jimmy Driver – C OCT Jesus Adames – 1B NYC Mario Briones – 2B VAN Dan Schneller – 3B IND Dan Hutson – SS CHA Tony Aparicio – LF TIJ Bryce Toohey – CF VAN Jerry Outram – RF TIJ Willie Ojeda
Gold Gloves (FL): P LAP Joe Feltman – C RIC Kyle Duncan – 1B NAS Alejandro Ramos – 2B NAS Felix Marquez – 3B NAS Brad Critzer – SS WAS Chris O’Keefe – LF NAS Ethan Watson – CF NAS Jim Price – RF CIN Celio Umbreiro
Gold Gloves (CL): P POR Brent Clark – C ATL Adam Horner – 1B MIL Aaron Brayboy – 2B NAS Randolph Nash – 3B ATL Dave Myers – SS IND Andrew Russ – LF IND Danny Rivera – CF ATL Brian Oliver – RF CHA Archie Turley

One of the bats even brought a Platinum Stick along!

[Westheim]

November 21 – The Raccoons acquire OF Jonathan Dustal (.264, 29 HR, 129 RBI) from the Aces in exchange for AAA SP Jake White (1-7, 5.73 ERA).
November 27 – The Bayhawks sign ex-NYC CL Andy Hyden (77-73, 2.81 ERA, 498 SV) to a 2-yr, $4.88M contract.
November 27 – The Crusaders console themselves with Miners departure SP Rich Willett (157-105, 3.09 ERA), inking the 34-year-old right-hander for two years and $9.28M.
November 29 – The Blue Sox sign right-hander Ricardo Ordas (80-84, 3.89 ERA, 96 SV) to a 3-yr, $6.72M contract. The 32-year-old was last with the Scorpions, and has both started and closed in his career. The Blue Sox are expected to use him as closer.
November 30 – San Francisco tacks on with the addition of ex-SAL SP Eric Weitz (184-129, 3.35 ERA). The 35-year-old righty will make $12.12M over three years.

+++

The two signings on November 27 both affected type A free agents, and both caused the same draft pick, #17, to be moved twice within three hours. The Bayhawks gave it to New York at 2pm. The Crusaders shifted it to Pittsburgh just before dinner; their own top pick in the 2044 draft was #21.

Dustal is a bit of a ho-hum outfielder, but a marked improvement over Misery du Jour (Van Anderson and consorts), and will be the fifth outfielder. Our quest there is done, thus. He is a switch-hitter that has hit both .224 in a full season and .302 in partial seasons in the last three years. He has considerable speed, while his defense is nothing out of the ordinary, but he can handle all the outfield positions.

At first we were after Nick Crocker of the Indians, but they were pretty much giving me three options: Wheats, Waters, or **** off. Well, I ****** off.

Since Sean Sieber seemed set to stick around, that only left the infield to tinker with. Josh Busing opined that Matt Waters was not 100% developed, and would never hit for an award anyway, but he was a very good defensive middle infielder (even though better at second than at short), potential speed demon, and he would draw his walks. For now, somebody had to bat eighth, too. Waters would be better at second, but Carreno threw like a girl and couldn’t possibly fill it at short, so the only orientation possible between the two youngsters up the middle was with Waters at short.

Ricky Jimenez was undisputed at the hot corner after clinching the Rookie of the Year crown, so it was all about the backups. The only personnel on the extended roster that qualified as backup infielders were Omar Gutierrez and Jay de Wit, a left-handed and switch hitter, respectively. Carreno hit righty, and Waters was also a switch-hitter. There was an argument to keep both Gutierrez or de Wit around, or even both of them, or none of them. The latter mainly build on them hitting for a .610 and .548 OPS, respectively, in 2043. De Wit was actually challenging Nick Lando and Yoshi Yamada now for worst Raccoons hitters of all times. Gutierrez being what he was, we’d look for a right-handed bat here.

In the rotation, Busing wasn’t convinced of Merino – yet. We would thus set out for a competent, low-key option that wouldn’t break the bank and could be disposed off after a year, or in July. With the curse on Opening Day starters and #5 starters pretty well alive in this town, we’d try to keep Merino (2 starts to his career) a bit out of harm’s way and in AAA to start the season.

Then there were still another 11 pitchers lingering around the extended roster. There was an argument to be made that our bullpen was already complete with Josh Rella closing, and Alex Ramirez, Nelson Moreno, Jon Craig, Nate Norris relieving from the right, and Zack Kelly and Chuck “Millionaire” Jones doing the same from the left. The remaining bums on the extended roster – besides Merino – were Sean Marucci, Preston Porter (from the right), Steven Johnston, and Angelo Montano (from the left). The first three all made late-season debuts that were degrees of successful. The righties for sure, and while Johnston got shoved around a bit, his numbers were not *that* bad. He pitched only five innings in any case. Those three were all assigned back to AAA in late November, since they were not in the plans for April. Angelo Montano of course was a certified bum and would have to clear waivers at some point or be turned into a bag of baseballs in a last-page deal with a second-division FL team in February. I didn’t particularly care at this point. We were throwing out starting pitchers liberally at this point, and Montano figured into absolutely nobody’s plans.

Speaking of starting pitchers that were in nobody’s plans, besides throwing out Jake White we still had a Cory Lambert in AAA that was not added back to the 40-man roster ahead of the Rule 5 draft. Open spots on the 40-man instead went to SP Adam Capone and 1B Ricardo Bejarano, who was now thoroughly blocked, but would likely be grabbed in the pick parade. Tony Negrete, the only other hot starting pitcher prospect left in AAA, was not yet eligible for the Rule 5 draft and thus remained off the 40-man. Ruben Gonzalez was also not yet eligible.

+++

December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 14 players are selected in total, while the Raccoons draft 24-year-old AA INF Brad Johnson off the Gold Sox.
December 3 – The Blue Sox add ex-TOP 1B Chris Delagrange (.267, 226 HR, 910 RBI) for $9.16M and two years.
December 3 – The Thunder shore up the bullpen with the addition of right-hander Jesse Allison (50-50, 4.22 ERA, 127 SV), a 33-year-old former Pacific. Allison will make $6M over three years.
December 4 – Ex-PIT SP Roberto Pruneda (152-117, 3.70 ERA) hooks up with the Pacifics on a 2-yr, $8.96M contract.
December 4 – The Bayhawks add ex-NAS/TOP 1B/C Jeff Wilson (.271, 83 HR, 397 RBI) for two years and $3.64M.

+++

Johnson was a quirky switch-hitter that was very agile, and would be aided in his career if he had a stronger arm. He had a keen eye at the plate, but no power to speak of. He had never progressed past the AA level, so it was a bit of a bold pick, but we could always send him back with a box of donuts and a sorry note. He had been a fourth-round pick in the 2040 draft.

He was assigned #35, while Matt Waters, who had worn the number in September, was given #6.

At this stage we had five switch-hitters on the extended roster, although neither Jordan Gonzalez nor Jay de Wit looked like they’d make to April.

What’s left? The Hall of Fame ballot! See whether you can spot the ex-Coons on there…!

[DD Martin]

On paper this team is looking like a real contender for next season.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

On paper this team is looking like a real contender for next season.

Now, where did I hear that before?

[alexsimon99]

I don't want to get overly excited, but I am really digging these moves and think you've built quite the solid group of position players.

Now, if you could just get one pitcher to fall into your lap....

[Westheim]

December 9 – The Raccoons ink 28-year-old left-handed Japanese free agent SP Sadaharu Okuda to a 3-yr, $3M contract.
December 10 – Tijuana acquires SP Matt Schwartz (14-17, 4.38 ERA) from the Falcons in exchange for two prospects.
December 10 – The Crusaders acquire SP/MR Justin Salerno (5-5, 3.60 ERA, 1 SV) from the Scorpions for a prospect.
December 11 – 29-year-old OF/1B Rich de Luna (.305, 30 HR, 495 RBI) is sent from the Capitals to the Rebels for 2B/3B Jon Loyola (.240, 51 HR, 253 RBI) and a prospect.
December 13 – The Indians send SP Luke Moses (21-31, 4.17 ERA) to the Falcons for two prospects.
December 19 – RF Troy Greenway (.278, 213 HR, 716 RBI) had split time between Topeka and Nashville in 2043, and will continue his tour of the FL East with a new 2-yr, $6.24M contract from the Miners.
December 21 – Left-handed SP Brian Buttress, age 27, who spent all his life in Korea, signs a 7-yr, $27.48M contract with the Knights.
December 22 – Ex-Scorpion SP Danny Orozco (70-92, 4.14 ERA) inks a 3-yr, $9.72M contract with the Miners.
December 25 – Former Bayhawks OF Mike Hall (.289, 48 HR, 506 RBI) brings his World Series ring to Topeka for $20M over seven years.
December 29 – The Blue Sox add ex-DAL CL Chris Henry (74-89, 2.90 ERA, 458 SV) on a 3-year deal worth $8.64M.
January 3 – The Gold Sox snatch former Titans right-hander Ryan Kinner (49-56, 3.93 ERA) on a 2-yr, $2.68M deal.
January 5 – The Blue Sox get more pitching, trading for the Aces’ SP Tim Steinbach (11-25, 4.30 ERA), parting with two prospects.

+++

Okuda was a very nice steady left-hander from Japan that should seamlessly fit in with the rest of the rotation. Perhaps we didn’t have a true ace (but hey, claws crossed on Wheats, huh?), but we had five good to strong starters, and a bullpen that promised to be incredibly stingy. Couple all of that with a very good defense, and hopefully enough offense to maybe outscore our own shadows…

Merino was reassigned to AAA for seasoning and would probably be first in line should ill things befall one of the five starters. That left Angelo Montano as the only spare pitcher on the extended roster.

Other Raccoons with new dens: Travis Sims got 2-yr, $648k from the Gold Sox (bless them); Terry Garrigan goes to Boston for $368k; the Buffaloes sent Matt Kilgallen an invitation worth $356k;

+++

2044 HALL OF FAME BALLOT

Nobody was elected to the Hall of Fame this year, although first-ballot candidate SP Mark Roberts scratched past induction by just a handful of votes, landing at 73.6%.

??? SP Mark Roberts – 1st – 73.6
MIL SP Chris Sinkhorn – 6th – 35.3
TIJ SP Jeff Little – 2nd – 29.5
SFW SS Jamie Wilson – 9th – 17.9
??? C Mike Burgess – 1st – 15.2
SFW CF Pedro Cisneros – 1st – 13.7
PIT C J.J. Henley – 4th – 10.6
??? Kevin Harenberg – 2nd – 7.0
TOP CL Mike Baker – 7th – 6.7
BOS MR Julio San Pedro – 1st – 6.7
OCT SS Alex Serrato – 2nd – 5.2
WAS C David Lessman – 3rd – 4.0 – DROPPED
NYC CL Travis Giordano – 1st – 3.0 – DROPPED
NYC 3B Andy Schmit – 2nd – 2.7 – DROPPED
ATL SP Mario Rosas – 2nd – 2.4 – DROPPED
??? MR Adam Moran – 1st – 2.4 – DROPPED
TOP SP Nick Danieley – 1st – 2.1 – DROPPED
DEN C Jeremiah Brooks – 1st – 0.3 – DROPPED

[Bub13]

"RACCOONS SIGN SADAHARU O...kuda!"

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Bub13

"RACCOONS SIGN SADAHARU O...kuda!"

Something along those lines is about 83% of why we signed O...

...kuda.

[DD Martin]

Shine up the trophy it’s finally coming back to Camp Valdez

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by DD Martin

Shine up the trophy it’s finally coming back to Camp Valdez

I like some confidence around here. Good that you have that covered!

+++

A left-handed hitting third baseman – that wouldn’t be so bad. That was the main thought in January. Thing is, left-handed hitting third basemen weren’t exactly a dime a dozen. I bugged the Thunder for Al Martell for a while, which led nowhere nice, and Jose Farfan of the Falcons looked like a good option – except for the huge contract they had given him at one point and for which he was hitting for a .675 OPS. The Loggers were willing to talk about Brad Simon, but he was 25, expected to get better, and they scaled their requests accordingly. Jason Wheatley f.e. would be a starter to the conversation, not the end of it.

So none of that worked. At this point I gave up on trading for the upgrade and instead started to pursue a former Logger for some veteran savvy on the infield. 36-year-old Jose Cruz’ best days were behind him, but he was playing a serviceable third base still. He was also advertised as a second baseman, but Cristiano and Busing both told me nah. But we’d probably keep Omar Gutierrez around anyway, so that was not the main problem. Our main alternative to Ricky Jimenez was Jay de Wit, on whom our passion had cooled a bit, and Maldonado, who was usually needed elsewhere. Cruz, who won a Platinum Stick before Maldonado was a rookie and when Jimenez was still in the Cuban equivalent of middle school, hit .306 in 113 games for Milwaukee last year, and usually in the high .200s for some years prior to that. He brought neither power nor speed – but he’d bring veteran savvy!

Other teams brought amusement, too, with the Crusaders at one point in January offering catcher Fernando Alba to us. The requested return was rather modest, a package containing Maldonado, Josh Rella, Tony Negrete, and as cherry on top minor league catcher Bobby Christenbury.

The first three, alright – but not Christenbury!!

+++

January 11 – The Raccoons acquire 30-year-old C Jose Zarate (.302, 6 HR, 27 RBI) from the Scorpions for a pair of third-rate prospects, 25-yr old AAA SP Tony Cristobal and 23-yr old AA OF Jorge Velasco.
January 21 – The Raccoons also secure 36-year-old 3B/2B Jose Cruz (.285, 97 HR, 892 RBI) for one year and $1.55M.
January 30 – SP Josh Long (179-156, 3.47 ERA), pitching for the Condors and Gold Sox in 2043, signs a 1-yr, $1.54M deal with the Miners.
February 2 – The Canadiens invest $5.04M over two years into defensively-challenged ex-RIC RF/LF Chris Robinson (.280, 53 HR, 232 RBI).
February 5 – Oklahoma picks up LF/CF/1B Mal Phinazee (.229, 54 HR, 250 RBI) from the Condors, who receive 1B Alex Zacarias (.250, 112 HR, 521 RBI) and $700k in cash.
February 15 – RF/LF Jose Platero (.234, 68 HR, 325 RBI) inks a 3-yr, $4.34M contract with the Bayhawks. The 28-year-old spent the last three years with the Crusaders.

+++

Zarate rotted in AAA with the Loggers forever, despite hitting well and playing a good glorified backstop. He played second fiddle for Sacramento last year. We had a guy hitting quite a bit in Sean Sieber, but he did so with a BABIP suggesting unrepeatability. Zarate’s was also just a bit over .300, but not quite that much above .300. And we like a catcher that is wise and calls a good game, especially with a pile of youngsters in the rotation. The two minor leaguers you have never heard of and will never hear of again. Sieber has options and will provide a valid third-string catcher in AAA, certainly an upgrade over Chris Lancaster (who left the organization), and overall we’re waiting for Ruben Gonzalez to show up with a thump.

We entered the bidding war late on Cruz after the trades fell through, and by then the price was already quite a way up. But the Raccoons were sort of blessed, despite the odd bad contract (Kilmer, Jackson?) on the team. Our rotation cost less than $5M. Our pen cost just under $4M. Ricky Jimenez made $3M alone, and Kilmer made $2M. Our entire outfield / first base complex came in at around $9.5M. And the middle infielders all made the minimum ($245k per pair of whiskers). Despite having a sub-standard budget, the Raccoons were still at liberty to blow a million and a half on a bench bat for maybe 200 at-bats.

With Cruz secured, the Raccoons returned Rule 5er Brad Johnson to the Gold Sox.

And at that point we settled down – the 40-man roster was almost full, with only one spot open, although more openings were expected by Opening Day when f.e. Angelo Montano would have to be passed through waivers for the 75th time.

Other ex-Coons with new occupations: Jesse Stedham took a sleek $1M from the Pacifics; Cosmo Trevino joined the champion Bayhawks for $1.6M; the Gold Sox give $980k to Drew Johnson;

[DD Martin]

(Once the season starts) A long 7 years have gone by without winning the North, 9 years since winning the CL and 16 long hard years since winning the World Series. When I make my trek to Vega$ I am putting a boatload on the Raccoons to break out and win the whole thing. It's time to cash in all the chips of the mediocre last decade and WIN!

[Westheim]

February 18 – The Loggers trade for the Thunder’s SP Ruben Guzman (24-13, 3.37 ERA), parting with 3B/2B Brad Simon (.273, 6 HR, 61 RBI) and a prospect.
March 10 – The Crusaders pick up veteran 1B Danny Cruz (.273, 353 HR, 1,224 RBI), signing the 37-year-old for just $492k.
March 24 – CHA OF/2B Miguel Martinez (.319, 2 HR, 69 RBI) will miss Opening Day. Developing a somewhat unlucky reputation, the 20-year-old phenom, who won the CL batting title in 2043, was shaking hands with young fans, fell over one’s skateboard and broke his leg. He is expected to miss time until the middle of May.

+++

Cruz is a bit of a steal at that price, because he can still hit quite a bit, but the Raccoons already had Sal Ayala as a player that had to stick to first base. We signed a Cruz anyway!

Not much else was going on in the last seven weeks before the season.

More new employment opportunities for former Furballs: Dave Myers is on the Crusaders for $442k; Ed Hooge wound up in L.A. for $356k; Brad Ledford went to the Condors for just as much; Elliott Thompson went to the Crusaders for $368k; the Stars signed Danny Monge for $406k;

[Westheim]

2044 PORTLAND RACCOONS – Opening Day Roster (first set in parenthesis shows 2043 stats, second set career stats; players with an * are off season acquisitions):

SP Jason Wheatley, 23, B:R, T:R (13-13, 3.23 ERA | 14-16, 3.38 ERA) – a 5-pitch mix that was yet getting better, groundball tendency, and a face ready for fur care advertisement … Portland waited on his debut ever since he landed here in a July trade with the Knights in 2040, and when he made his debut in September, he was … fundamentally alright? He started his first full season throwing for more balsl than strikeouts but slowly turned things around mid-season an was pretty much the best guy on staff in the second half, winning him Opening Day honors. And probably also the Opening Day curse.
SP Corey Mathers, 25, B:R, T:R (18-13, 3.52 ERA | 26-29, 3.55 ERA) – Mix of four pitches, groundballer, 93mph fastball, and quick riser from being the #20 pick in the ’39 draft, and somehow nobody talks about Mathers at all as you know, the young right-hander in the 2042 rotation that actually got people out (most of the time). He looked like he might win 20 games last year, which hasn’t been done on the team in a while, but had a mediocre September and won only one start after August.
SP Brent Clark, 29, B:L, T:L (11-12, 3.85 ERA | 26-26, 3.54 ERA, 11 SV) – after three and a half years in the bullpen with decent success, Clark was a full-time starter for the first time in 2043 and had a few bright spots and a few not so bright spots. Walks were quite high for a starter at 3.9/9 and his K/9 dropped from 10.7 to 7.7, all of which didn’t help.
SP Jake Jackson, 31, B:R, T:R (13-12, 4.10 ERA | 61-77, 3.80 ERA) – groundballer with three good pitches, including a 95mph fastball, who got befallen by our Opening Day starter curse last year and some really rotten outings. But if he’s on he can pitch against the best of them.
SP Sadaharu Okuda *, 28, B:L, T:L (no stats) – Japanese import signed on the cheap and throwing three pitches, including a 92mph fastball and a neat curve. Is expected to have good control and pitch deep into games.

MR Chuck Jones, 32, B:L, T:L (1-0, 2.35 ERA, 3 SV | 23-12, 3.08 ERA, 15 SV) – lefty specialist that should be kept away from right-handers; if handled properly, can get his walks per nine innings under three, when he walked upwards of five in previous employments when he wasn’t handled with care. Was resigned to a rather expensive 3-year deal that will totally not backfire on us.
MR Zack Kelly, 28, B:L, T:L (4-1, 2.34 ERA, 2 SV | 12-3, 2.93 ERA, 5 SV) – left-handed fourth-year pitcher with balanced splits, throws 96 with a nasty curve to complement it. Also has a crummy changeup and made a couple of spot starts, and while he fared alright, he’s not exactly pencilled in for starting pitcher duties in the long run.
MR Alex Ramirez, 35, B:R, T:R (3-2, 3.06 ERA | 13-7, 2.08 ERA, 11 SV) – he missed most of 2042 to injury, then was squeezed off the roster to begin the 2043 season only to immediately return from AAA when Nelson Moreno went down. His walk numbers are up, which is not great for a right-hander…
MR Nate Norris *, 28, B:R, T:R (3-6, 4.48 ERA, 14 SV | 11-16, 4.71 ERA, 18 SV) – acquired from the Buffaloes along with Derek Baskins, Norris throws 94 with a sweet curve and nobody quite knows why he’s not doing better, except for the consistently horrendous BABIP values around him. That should get better here!
MR Jon Craig, 29, B:R, T:R (2-1, 1.80 ERA, 3 SV | 9-6, 3.18 ERA, 8 SV) – right-hander with basic competence that was the Pointless Deadline Acquisition #2 in 2041, when the Coons were *** half-in, *** half-out in the second half of July. He was ho-hum then, but found another two strikeouts per nine innings in 2043 and was one of the more reliable relievers on staff.
SU/SP Nelson Moreno, 25, B:R, T:R (1-1, 1.88 ERA | 31-32, 4.36 ERA) – sic transit gloria mundi; the Raccoons’ previous diamond-grade pitching prospect had a third season that was boundless horror from beginning to end, and was relegated to the bullpen in September 2042, then missed almost all of 2043 with shoulder inflammation. Walked five per nine innings *when* he pitched, but much of that was ailing, so we’re not putting too much stock into it.
CL Josh Rella, 27, B:R, T:R (2-1, 2.72 ERA, 45 SV | 6-3, 2.71 ERA, 62 SV) – look… we also don’t know how he does it with just 41 K in 56.1 innings, but he tied for the most saves in the CL last season and that’s gotta count for something. Groundballer throwing 96 with a slide piece.

C Jeff Kilmer, 32, B:R, T:R (.255, 7 HR, 44 RBI | .256, 69 HR, 333 RBI) – hit for a .801+ OPS from ’38 through ’41, then .573 in ’42. Last year? Decent at .701. Thing is, he’s paid handsomely, rather than just decently. On the plus side, he’s not exactly trouble in any way, shape or form…
C Jose Zarate *, 31, B:R, T:R (.279, 3 HR, 15 RBI | .302, 6 HR, 27 RBI) – strong defensive catcher that was stuck in AAA for the Loggers for all his 20s and didn’t get triple-digit at-bats in a season until last year’s excursion with the Scorpions. Picked up in a minor deal.

1B/LF/RF Salvador Ayala, 32, B:L, T:L (.291, 14 HR, 65 RBI | .271, 81 HR, 489 RBI) – acquired from the Aces halfway through the season, Sal Ayala held down first base well and hit for an .836 OPS as a Raccoon – and did so without anybody really noticing. In the final year of a bigger contract signed a while back.
2B Arturo Carreno, 24, B:R, T:R (.279, 8 HR, 46 RBI | .273, 8 HR, 52 RBI) – third-year player that didn’t do a whole lot in ’42, but was a very steady presence in his first full season, including stealing 39 bases while missing almost a month. Got into a better groove towards the end of the year, so we are confident he can get a lot better than his .755 OPS in ‘43.
3B Ricky Jimenez, 26, B:R, T:R (.271, 18 HR, 92 RBI | .271, 18 HR, 92 RBI) – was signed for a risky $3M a year out of Cuba, came, saw, and conquered the Rookie of the Year title. Strong performance in the field, and after a so-so first half of getting warmed up, he almost led the team in homers with a strong second half. If he can keep doing that, we won’t regret that 5-year deal.
SS/2B Matt Waters, 23, B:S, T:R (.227, 1 HR, 7 RBI | .227, 1 HR, 7 RBI) – serious prospect made his debut in September after lingering a while longer in the minors than Carreno (they played together in single-A), and while he didn’t hit that much in just 18 games, he hit enough that his slick defense will make him a contributor in any case. If he does break out with the stick, could be another Raccoons ROTY.
3B/2B Jose Cruz *, 36, B:S, T:R (.306, 2 HR, 47 RBI | .285, 97 HR, 892 RBI) – backup infielder bringing veteran savvy ™ to the team, which can be really helpful especially on a team with lots of young infielders with only about a season of experience. His defense shows his age, so he will probably not get to play much second base at least, and third base only when grim things happen to Jimenez.
2B/3B/SS/LF Omar Gutierrez, 29, B:L, T:R (.243, 2 HR, 21 RBI | .294, 6 HR, 43 RBI) – versatile lefty-hitting infielder that never made the majors in a stuffed Wolves organization until somehow flopping onto the Raccoons at age 27, and doing well enough to be invited back for a third season of bench-hugging.

LF/RF/CF Manny Fernandez, 34, B:L, T:L (.280, 12 HR, 57 RBI | .285, 159 HR, 895 RBI) – as close to a 5-tool player as the Raccoons could ever find, especially in a draft. 2036 Player of the Year! Also won an RBI title in 2040, which totally saved our season (not). Missed half a season to injuries for the first time in his 11-year career (all with the Coons), and is in a contract year this time around.
1B/RF/3B/LF/SS/CF Jesus Maldonado, 30, B:R, T:R (.328, 22 HR, 109 RBI | .292, 79 HR, 501 RBI) – It’s hard to forget this one: .411/.431/.571 and a 2037 World Series MVP award while playing on the losing team. Well, he came close to that output, finally, as a 29-year-old, six years later, hitting for a .936 OPS and 162 OPS+, doing some heavy carrying that ultimately fell short. The 6.2 WAR from last year were clearly the most in a season for him.
RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey *, 28, B:R, T:R (.267, 22 HR, 90 RBI | .273, 52 HR, 193 RBI) – steady defensive rightfielder that had a power outburst the last two seasons at ages 27/28 and was acquired from the Condors in a trade. We totally expect him to hit for another 63 extra-base hits like he did in 2043.
LF/CF Derek Baskins *, 28, B:L, T:R (.310, 3 HR, 65 RBI | .292, 39 HR, 400 RBI) – strong defender, quick enough to steal a bunch of bases, and hit .300 quite a few times for the Buffos. He combines the skill sets of Stephon Nettles and Jordan Gonzalez into one guy … well, and is hitting more than both of them combined at that. And he’s not even a regular lineup piece …!
LF/RF/CF Jonathan Dustal *, 26, B:S, T:L (.302, 8 HR, 38 RBI | .264, 29 HR, 129 RBI) – adept fifth outfielder picked up from the Aces. Speedy with sure paws, but not that much of a throwing arm.

On disabled list: Nobody.

Otherwise unavailable: Nobody.

Other roster movement:
SP Angelo Montano, 26, B:L, T:L (0-0, 3.72 ERA | 8-19, 5.13 ERA) – waived and DFA’ed; keeps getting called up for garbage duty, does splatter the trash all over the ballpark, then leaves the game and everybody else unhappy. Bad control and a launchpad.
C Sean Sieber, 26, B:R, T:R (.289, 2 HR, 24 RBI | .297, 3 HR, 30 RBI) – optioned to AAA; actually hit for a better OPS than Kilmer last year, but also did so with a BABIP of a million. The Raccoons went for a primarily defensive upgrade.
3B/LF/2B Jay de Wit, 27, B:S, T:R (.231, 1 HR, 23 RBI | .239, 5 HR, 65 RBI) – optioned to AAA; Aruba’s Finest played the whole season with the Critters twice, never hitting for even a .600 OPS, and was as a consequence upgrade upon.
RF/CF/LF Van Anderson, 26, B:L, T:L (.213, 3 HR, 21 RBI | .224, 4 HR, 32 RBI) – optioned to AAA; kind of a ho-hum player, flexible defensively, but not hitting much at all.
LF/CF Jordan Gonzalez, 27, B:S, T:L (.230, 0 HR, 1 RBI | .208, 1 HR, 5 RBI) – waived and DFA’ed; potentially useful outfielder that had the worst cup of coffee we’d seen in a while in ’42, then doubled his time *and* OPS in ’43, and was still horrendous then.

Everybody not mentioned by now has already been waived or reassigned during the offseason.

OPENING DAY LINEUP:

I kinda like our new lineup …!

Vs. RHP: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 3B Jimenez – C Kilmer – SS Waters – P
(Vs. LHP: 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – CF Dustal – SS Waters – P)

The standard lineup against right-handers includes five righty hitters, but there is a lot of subbing-in that can be done with Baskins, Dustal, Cruz, and Gutierrez.

OFF SEASON CHANGES:

BNN says the Raccoons won the offseason with their trades for Baskins and Toohey, with some contributions also coming from the Cruz, Dustal, and Zarate additions. All in all we added 7.7 WAR overall, leading the league. That does not include new pitcher Sadaharu Okuda.

Top 5: Raccoons (+7.7), Crusaders (+7.3), Blue Sox (+6.0), Pacifics (+5.4), Thunder (+3.8)
Bottom 5: Knights (-4.7), Loggers (-5.2), Scorpions (-6.6), Condors (-7.7), Buffaloes (-8.2)

The missing CL North teams rank 8th (IND, +2.1), 9th (VAN, +2.0), an 10th (BOS, +1.3).

Did I ever mention that WAR is a useless stat?

PREDICTION TIME:

Last year I predicted the Raccoons would lose 90 and they almost won 90, going 88-74. Now we have added all the new toys, culled some of the slackers, and should get more out of Matt Waters f.e.; how can the team not rise to the top of the CL North?

I mean, you can always have injuries. And people can regress. And everybody gets the jitters.

But the prediction is that the Raccoons with their solid rotation, then stingy bullpen, strong defense, and all the hitting additions will definitely be a factor in the North this year and might win 95 games.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Now here’s the stunner – last year the Raccoons had 15 ranked prospects and sat second in the farm rankings. Then we went in and traded away some good stuff (more on that in a second), but our ranked prospects count only went down by four to 11, and what’s even more confusing is that we’re now back in first place in the farm rankings, the sixth straight year that the Raccoons have occupied a top spot in the table.

Man, I can’t wait for all the kits to get us some actual wins…!

All the prospects that are no more counting towards our tally? Jason Wheatley (#28) exceeded rookie limits, as did Jose Casas (#41) before sucking his way to Topeka in the winter, and Bakersfield in April. #60 Generos de Leon was traded to fatten up the 25-man roster, as were #90 Sean Belisle and #115 Jose Arias. And yes, we still have the most prospects, somehow.

5th (+2) – ML INF Matt Waters, 23 – 2039 first-round pick by Knights, acquired from Knights with Jason Wheatley for Ryan Bedrosian, Rico Sanchez, Brad Ledford, Willie Morales
15th (new) – AA SP Jeremy Baker, 22 – 2043 first-round pick by Raccoons
16th (-11) – AAA SP Tony Negrete, 21 – 2038 international free agent signed by Raccoons
65th (+1) – AAA SP Adam Capone, 24 – 2040 first-round pick by Raccoons
88th (-12) – AAA C Ruben Gonzalez, 22 – 2038 international free agent by Raccoons
97th (+42) – AAA OF Gene Pellicano, 24 – 2041 first-round pick by Buffaloes, acquired with Bob Ibold for Tony Hunter, Wyatt Hamill

127th (+56) – INT OF Arturo Romero, 18 – 2042 international free agent signed by Raccoons
145th (0) – AA CL Brad Barnes, 23 – 2042 supplemental-round pick by Raccoons
172nd (-13) – AA RF/LF David Sanders, 22 – 2042 supplemental-round pick by Raccoons
184th (new) – AA RF/LF Matt Glodowski, 24 – 2043 second-round pick by Raccoons
197th (new) – A RF/LF Daniel Wright, 19 – 2043 third-round pick by Raccoons

The only real shocker for us here is that Victor Merino, who was the #55 last year and was NOT traded, is no longer ranked. The same fate befell Bubba Wolinsky, #146 last year.

The top 10 overall prospects this year are:

1st (0) – SAC ML SP Mike McCaffrey, 22
2nd (0) – PIT AAA SS/3B/RF Ed Soberanes, 20
3rd (+1) – DEN ML UT Eric Miller, 22
4th (+10) – TIJ AAA SP Kevin Daley, 21
5th (+2) – POR ML INF Matt Waters, 23

6th (+21) – DAL A LF/CF Juan del Toro, 19
7th (+1) – OCT AAA SP Luis Copa, 20
8th (+2) – SFB AAA C Sean Suggs, 21
9th (+4) – WAS AA SP Sean Fowler, 20
10th (+6) – BOS AAA SP Ricky Contreras, 21

The top two remain the same from last year, and there is no player in the top 10 that was not already a ranked prospect in 2043. Quite remarkable also how Sean Suggs hit .371 in his September callup with the champion Bayhawks, and then was sent back to AAA in April.

Last year’s #3 Ivan Villa, #5 Bill Quinteros, and #6 Alejandro Ramos made their debuts with the Gold Sox, Indians, and Blue Sox respectively, and are no longer eligible. Villa was sent back to AAA to begin the new season.

Jeremy Chaney was #9 and with the Knights last year, then was traded with three others for Jerry Banda and is now pitching in AAA for the Capitals. His stock sagged to #43 though.

Next: first pitch.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (0-0) @ Loggers (0-0) – April 5-6, 2044

New year, new success? It was about time. In any case, the Raccoons started the season on Tuesday and with just two games in Milwaukee before they’d head to Portland for a 2-week homestand. That was in the future – for now it was about not getting swept by the Loggers. The Raccoons had last won that season series in 2038, and last year had been an even split.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-0) vs. Sergio Piedra (0-0)
Corey Mathers (0-0) vs. Jose de Lucio (0-0)

Nothing but right-handers to see here.

Game 1
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 3B Jimenez – C Kilmer – SS Waters – P Wheatley
MIL: CF Cannizzard – 3B Paul – 1B Brayboy – LF Reeves – RF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – 2B Davison – P Piedra

Ricky Jimenez hit a single for the Raccoons’ first base runner of the season, but they were otherwise rather quiet early, while Wheats quickly had one of those innings, issuing walks to Daniel Hertenstein and Felipe Gomez in the bottom 2nd, then bobbled Scott Davison’s 1-out grounder for an error. Bases loaded, he fell 2-0 to Sergio Piedra – then got a grounder to Carreno that was spun for a 4-6-3 ticket out of the inning. Top 3rd, Matt Waters whacked a leadoff double to center, and Wheatley got a ball to drop in front of Bill Reeves for a single, but Waters had to hold at third. Carreno popped out foul, which wasn’t great, but Sal Ayala walked, loading the sacks. Alas, the Raccoons had no more forté than the Loggers with three on and one down; Maldonado struck out, and Manny Fernandez flew out to Hertenstein.

Wheats continued to pitch like a deer in the headlights, racking up five walks against no strikeouts through four innings, while Piedra struck out six in the same time, walking none but Ayala in the third. Ayala batted again with Waters and Carreno on the corners and one out in the fifth and grounded to Davison, but the Loggers couldn’t turn two and Matt Waters scored with the season’s first run. Then Maldonado made it three runs with a jack to left. The Coons also stole their first bag of the year in short order; Manny singled after the Maldo bomb, then took second base by force, but the inning ended with Toohey grounding out. Bottom 5th, the Loggers loaded the bases on a throwing error by Jimenez and shy singles by Jared Paul and Aaron Brayboy, the latter tweaking a calf and being replaced by T.J. Serad. Jon Craig replaced Wheatley once he walked in a run against Reeves, but fell to a 2-out, bases-clearing double by ******* ********* Ted Del Vecchio that gave the Loggers a 4-3 lead through five.

Top 7th, the Raccoons loaded the bases with two outs; Manny singled, Toohey was nicked, and Jimenez walked against righty Ron Purcell. Now Jeff Kilmer matched Del Vecchio, finding the gap in right-center for his own bases-clearing double, and thus flipping the score back to the Coons, 6-4…! That was not the last bit of offense – more followed in the eighth against Caleb Martin. Omar Gutierrez and Arturo Carreno reached base, the latter on a Del Vecchio error, and then Ayala crashed a baseball outta the park in right. Tah! 9-4! That would be enough in this game – as cruddily as Wheatley had pitched in the first 4.1 innings, as stellar was the bullpen. Craig, Kelly, Norris, and Moreno pitched 4.2 innings for three hits and no walks, and also no runs for the Loggers. 9-4 Raccoons! Fernandez 2-5; Kilmer 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Waters 2-5, 2 2B; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Moreno 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Everybody in the lineup had a hit, including Wheats. The only bad spot was the six walks on Wheatley, which we’ll have to talk about. Given the early schedule, he’ll have time to think about what he did until Monday…

Game 2
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 3B Jimenez – C Kilmer – SS Waters – P Mathers
MIL: CF Cannizzard – 3B Paul – 1B Brayboy – LF Reeves – RF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – 2B Davison – P de Lucio

Mathers didn’t walk the world, but scattered four hits through three innings, which at least didn’t cause any actual damage in the R column. The Coons again started with a Jimenez single in the second, but this time actually scored him with a Kilmer double up the line. De Lucio went on to load the bases against Waters and Mathers (!), then threw a wild pitch to plate Kilmer for a 2-0 lead, but Carreno lined out to strand the other two.

A Kilmer homer made it 3-0 in the fourth and the Raccoons continued to pick de Lucio apart after that. Carreno reached base, stole another one in the fifth, and a string of Critters reached after him. Ayala walked, Maldo hit an RBI double, Manny an RBI single, and Toohey was nicked to load the bases. Jimenez’ sac fly was the final run of the inning, putting the Raccoons up 6-0. Purcell was then bombed by Ayala for a 2-run homer in the sixth, 8-0, and Toohey wouldn’t want to stand back and hit a solo homer of his own in the seventh, 9-0!

After that, some regulars were subbed out at the stretch to get everybody else some playing time before the early off day on Thursday. Mathers pitched shutout ball through six, but brittled in the seventh inning, giving up four hits in a pile for two runs. Tim Cannizzard and Jared Paul were in scoring position with two outs when Chuck Jones came in and struck out Brayboy for his only action in Milwaukee – totally worth the three million bucks! Portland in any case answered with three in the top 8th, with three singles off Adam Giovenco loading the bases before Derek Baskins drew a bases-loaded walk and Toohey doubled in a pair. The Loggers loaded the bases with no outs against Alex Ramirez in the bottom of the inning, but made up only 20% of their deficit with a 2-run single Jonathan Fleming dinked in front of Jonathan Dustal, and that was all they rallied for. 12-4 Raccoons. Carreno 2-5, BB; Ayala 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Baskins 0-0, BB, RBI; Toohey 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Kilmer 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Zarate (PH) 1-1; Gutierrez (PH) 1-1;

Whee! Offense!!

Raccoons (2-0) vs. Thunder (2-0) – April 8-10, 2044

The two games had each only played two games; the Coons as scheduled, the Thunder when their last one with the Falcons was rained out on Thursday. We had scored 21 runs in the two games, they had landed 18. They had also not given up a single run all season yet. We had lost the season series in ’43, five games to four.

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (0-0) vs. Lachlan Clarke (0-0)
Jake Jackson (0-0) vs. Natanael Abrao (0-0)
Sadaharu Okuda (0-0) vs. Jimmy Driver (0-0)

No left-handed opposition to be found yet …!

…and no opposition at all on Friday, with the Raccoons’ home opener rained out. We’d instead try and play two on Saturday, weather … (glances upwards) … permitting?

Game 1
OCT: RF Zurita – 2B Simon – C Adames – CF C. Vega – SS Ban – LF E. Moore – 3B Lusk – 1B Phinazee – P Clarke
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – RF Fernandez – 3B Jimenez – LF Baskins – C Kilmer – SS Waters – P Clark

Clark without E issued a leadoff walk to Angelo Zurita, which turned into a run on a Carlos Vega single, but the Raccoons countered in the bottom 1st against Clarke with E, getting Carreno aboard, Carreno forced out on an Ayala grounder, but then Maldonado singled and Manny Fernandez cracked a 3-run shot to right. That lead would stand up through five innings, although Zurita took Clark deep in the fifth to cut it down to one run. The Raccoons scattered the odd hit after taking the lead, but couldn’t really harm Clarke.

Clark began the game with three walks without getting a strikeout, but then struck out seven while issuing just one more walk to complete six innings. And then it came apart rather quickly when the Thunder loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh inning. Clarke (…) began it with a single, Zurita legged out an infield single, and Dan Whitley walked in place of Brad Simon. Jon Craig replaced him Clark, but couldn’t have been less useful than a cow on skates in this spot, conceding three runs on three singles up the middle. Exit Craig, enter Jones, and PH Josh Kalinowski would fly out to Manny Fernandez in right, and Manny then threw the ball away on Jesus Adames’ bid for home plate, allowing the other runners to advance… not that it mattered, with Kyle Lusk drawing a walk, and then Jimmy Kuhn and Zurita both hit more singles, and the whole thing spiraled out of control for eight runs in the inning. The Raccoons had no immediate response except than hoping for better luck in the second game, although Manny Fernandez did hit a useless homer in the eighth inning that did not amount to a rally. 10-4 Thunder. Carreno 2-4; Fernandez 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Kilmer 1-2, 2 BB; Ramirez 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

Yes, Maud, it’s only one loss. But let’s make a compromise. I will just put it on the table for the second game, and then … (plonks down bottle of Capt’n Coma) … we’ll see how it goes?

Game 2
OCT: RF Zurita – SS Ban – 1B Phinazee – CF C. Vega – LF E. Moore – 2B Simon – C Whitley – 3B Lusk – P Abrao
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 3B Cruz – SS Gutierrez – C Zarate – P Jackson

It started just like the first one – clumsy run in the first inning for the Thunder, this one coming together on a Zurita single and Mal Phinazee doubling, and then the Critters took the lead in the bottom half of the frame with a homer, in this case a 2-piece by Sal Ayala. Then there was a dispute in the bottom 2nd, which the Critters began with hits from the bench troupe of Cruz (single) and Gutierrez (double). With two in scoring position, Jose Zarate flew out to center, with Cruz sliding home whiskers ahead of Carlos Vega’s throw. He was called safe, the Thunder vividly disputed the call, but it stood nevertheless, and it was 3-1 Coons. Gutierrez was stranded on groundouts by Jackson and Carreno. Jackson struggled with five left-handers in the lineup, gave up a run on two hits by Phinazee and Vega in the top 3rd, and I found things looking rather bleak, but wouldn’t touch the Capt’n as long as we led, if only to please Maud.

That lead, too, held up through five, and with the same 3-2 score even than in the first game. Like the 3-2 lead in the first game, it didn’t last for much longer than that, though. Vega opened the sixth with a clean single to center, and was almost immediately doubled in by Ethan Moore, tying the game at three. Somehow, Moore was stranded on second base, including an intentional walk to Lusk so Abrao would strike out to end the inning. It was the worst possible timing to blow the lead – it also started to rain just as the Thunder tied the game, the rain got worse and worse in the bottom of the inning, and the game went to a rain delay from which it didn’t emerge until Sunday.

Technically, both starting pitchers were still in the game for the resumption of the game, with a 1-1 count on Maldonado and nobody out in the bottom 6th.

Game 2 (continued)
OCT: RF Zurita – SS Ban – 1B Phinazee – CF C. Vega – LF E. Moore – 2B Simon – C Whitley – 3B Lusk – P Abrao
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 3B Cruz – SS Gutierrez – C Zarate – P Jackson

We went down in order in the bottom 6th eventually, while Kyle Lusk left the game with a bum shoulder after that inning, replaced with Jimmy Kuhn. The Coons replaced Toohey with Jonathan Dustal in a double switch in the top 7th, putting Nelson Moreno in the #5 hole to pitch long and well, hopefully. He walked Zurita to begin the top 7th, and gave up the go-ahead run on a triple through Sal Ayala with two outs. Moore than struck out. But it was time for the Capt’n Coma. (unscrews bottle)

That was the only run Moreno gave up in three innings to complete regulation, but it also seemed like it was gonna be enough to defeat the Critters. Carreno reached base in the eighth, but was caught stealing, and that was about it for runners before the ninth inning on Sunday. Right-hander Jesse Allison would be on the hill for the Thunder in the bottom 9th, the inning started with Manny, who drew a 4-pitch walk. Derek Baskins batted for Moreno, but flew out to Zurita in right-center. Jose Cruz had more luck, hitting a fly into left-center that fell for a double, but crucially was cut off by Ethan Moore before it reached the warning track, forcing Manny to be held at third base with one out. Ricky Jimenez would bat for Omar Gutierrez – forfeiting the platoon advantage – and hit a sac fly to pretty deep right, but into an out. Oh well, the game was at least tied, and the winning run was still in scoring position for Jose Zarate, who hit Allison’s very first pitch to the right side, where it went through, and Cruz raced around third base to score well ahead of Zurita’s throw …! 5-4 Critters! Ayala 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Cruz 2-4, 2B; Moreno 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

That left a full game left to play on Sunday … (glances skywards again) … maybe. The Raccoons would be up against Juan Ramos (1-0, 0.00 ERA).

Game 3
OCT: RF Zurita – 3B Lusk – C Adames – CF C. Vega – SS Ban – LF E. Moore – 2B Kuhn – 1B Phinazee – P J. Ramos
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 3B Jimenez – CF Baskins – C Kilmer – P Okuda

To fit in well with the wacky week they were having, the Raccoons went up 2-0 without the benefit of a base hit in the first inning. Carreno walked, Waters reached on an error by Phinazee, and a Maldonado groundout and Fernandez’ sac fly both brought in a run. Then Bryce Toohey reached on an error by Jonathan Ban. Jimenez – not warm yet and struggling to hit anything – grounded out, ending the inning. Okuda struck out Zurita for his first two ABL strikeouts in the first and third innings, and allowed little in between, although Jesus Adames tagged him with a leadoff jack to center in the fourth inning, narrowing the score to 2-1.

There was not a whole lot more Okuda allowed through six; he scattered four hits and a walk, while Matt Waters made an inconsequential error behind him. But the Raccoons had a hard time hitting Ramos, finding only two base hits through five innings, and reaching base mostly by other means, f.e. Waters’ leadoff walk in the bottom 6th, and Maldonado getting nicked. They pulled off a double steal with Adames simultaneously asleep, but Manny struck out for the first retirement of the inning. Toohey took a strike before a wayward pitch almost took off one of his legs, and scored Waters from third base, 3-1. Toohey and Jimenez both struck out – stranding Maldonado at third base. None of the two hits on the team came in support of the three runs at this point, but I’d buy it if it meant a W.

Okuda threw 98 pitches through seven, maintaining a 4-hit, 1-run pace, and would have done more (he was used to throwing 125+ in Japan), but his spot came up with Derek Baskins having stolen his way to second base with one out in the bottom 7th. Ayala hit for him, but ended up walking, then was doubled up on a perfectly-suited grounder Carreno served to Kuhn, ending the inning. Nate Norris responded by scratching off the 1-2-3 hitters in that order in the eighth inning, then handed it off to Rella when the Raccoons went in order just the same against Ramos in the eighth. Vega lined out to Ayala at first base to begin the ninth. Jonathan Ban grounded out to Waters. Moore walked, Whitley walked, and the tying runs were aboard, and .471 hitter Mal Phinazee was in the box, a lefty hitter. I didn’t like it one bit. But then the pitcher Ramos was next, certainly to be hit for – and we didn’t want to bring Chuck Jones when they could then send Kalinowski – the only right-hander on the bench – against him. I’d rather trust in Phinazee not homering, coaxing them into bringing a lefty bat, and THEN throwing Jones against them. The latter thing never happened – Rella got Phinazee to ground out to Waters. 3-1 Critters. Baskins 2-3; Okuda 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

In other news

April 4 – Richmond 3B Josh Frazier (.167, 1 HR, 4 RBI) hits a walkoff grand slam in the 13th inning to beat the Buffaloes, 12-8, on Opening Day.
April 5 – BOS OF/1B Cullen Tortora (.143, 0 HR, 1 RBI) is hit with a pitch by New York’s Luis Villagomez (0-1, 1.57 ERA) with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to walk off the Titans, 6-5.
April 6 – The Thunder destroy the Falcons, 16-0, with OF/2B Carlos Vega (9-for-9, 1 HR, 3 RBI) dropping six hits and falling a double shy of the cycle while driving two runs. It is the second-ever 6-hit day for a Thunder. In 1990 Alejandro Olvera also dropped six hits on the Falcons. Back then the Thunder won 9-8.
April 7 – The Gold Sox make a late signing in ex-TIJ SP Edward Flinn (88-96, 4.30 ERA), who inks a 2-yr, $4.88M contract.
April 8 – The Pacifics take an early hit with news that OF Juan Benavides (.300, 0 HR, 2 RBI) will miss a month with a strained posterior cruciate ligament.
April 10 – 36-year-old VAN 2B Dan Schneller (.360, 2 HR, 8 RBI) reaches 2,500 career hits with two base knocks in a 6-2 loss to the Knights. The 2037 Player of the Year an 11-time All Star gets the milestone hit off left-hander Aaron Curl (0-0, 0.00 ERA) in the eighth inning.
April 10 – SFW C/1B Ken Wiersma (.364, 2 HR, 9 RBI) drives in six runs in the Warriors’ 15-4 trouncing of the Buffaloes, landing three hits and three walks.

FL Player of the Week: SAC LF/RF Mike Preble (.500, 2 HR, 6 RBI)
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF/2B Carlos Vega (.682, 1 HR, 8 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

Not a bad first week! The offense looks potent (but not necessarily every day, but maybe a regular groove will help), and I don’t think we’ll see too many 8-run meltdowns, so, oh well.

Also, if you play only 3 2/3 games through Saturday night and somehow end the week in first place, it’s already a screamer. We also lead the CL in both stolen bases and home runs (both in ties with 8 each), so that’s something!

The homestand will continue with games against the Aces, Titans, and Elks, ten games total (four against Boston).

Fun Fact: Of all the 6-hit games in league history, Carlos Vega’s is the earliest one has occurred in a calendar year.

He beat the mark by Scorpions third baseman Jason LaCombe set on April 10, 2015 against the Rebels.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (4-1) vs. Aces (3-4) – April 11-13, 2044

The homestand continued with three games against the Aces, who had scored a CL-leading 33 runs – tied with the Coons – in the first week, but had also given up 29 runs and had managed to lose four of their seven games on that performance. These two teams were also tied for first in stolen bases with eight each. While the Raccoons’ pen had been brittle in the first week, the Aces’ had been steady, with some wobbles in the rotation instead. We had won the season series 6-3 in 2041 and 2043, but had been swept for the full year in 2042…

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Steve Huffman (1-0, 6.35 ERA)
Corey Mathers (1-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Raymond Pearce (0-0, 1.13 ERA)
Brent Clark (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. Josh Henneberry (0-0, 3.68 ERA)

Still no left-handed opponent this year – ex-Coon Josh Brown (2-0, 3.38 ERA) had pitched on Sunday and was their only southpaw.

Game 1
LVA: SS B. Owen – 3B Montes de Oca – RF Gurney – 2B D. Richardson – C Prow – CF M. Roberts – LF Fox – 1B Speth – P Huffman
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – 3B Jimenez – RF Dustal – SS Waters – C Zarate – P Wheatley

Wheatley had walked six in his first start on Opening Day, not living through the fifth inning. Ill control was not that much of a problem on Monday, but he allowed a single to Doug Richardson and hit Mike Roberts with a pitch in the second inning. Brian Fox then buried a triple behind Maldonado that led to three runs in total, adding in Tim Speth’s following sac fly. The Raccoons got a triple of their own from Matt Waters in the same inning, but that scored only Dustal, while Jose Zarate drove in Waters with a single, leaving us 3-2 behind after two.

Wheatley remained hittable, conceding another run in the fourth on a Roberts double and Fox single. At least he didn’t walk anybody through five innings, instead whiffed five, and now we needed just the offense to pick him up, which didn’t happen with some bleak middle innings following. Wheats pitched seven innings with as many strikeouts before being pinch-hit for after Zarate drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 7th. Huffman was still around, but also walked Bryce Toohey to put the tying run on base. Carreno’s grounder to Doug Richardson forced out Toohey at second base, which did not help all that much, and Ayala grounded out to Tim Speth. At least Zarate now scored, narrowing the gap to 4-3. Maldonado, hitting only .130 after a slow start, grounded out to short to strand the tying run at second base. Vegas came back with Pat Gurney hitting a ball off the right foul pole against Nate Norris in the eighth, re-upping to a 2-run lead, and Roberts and Speth tagged Zack Kelly for a ninth-inning run. This game was running away from the Portlanders, who saw right-hander David Williams get a groundout from Zarate to begin the bottom 9th. Toohey then doubled, which counted for *something*, and Carreno’s single through the left side put the tying run into the box. At least until Carreno was caught stealing. The bright side? Sal Ayala’s grounder to short would have ended the game one way or another. 6-3 Aces. Ayala 2-5, RBI; Dustal 2-3, BB; Toohey (PH) 1-1, BB, 2B;

Game 2
LVA: SS B. Owen – 3B Montes de Oca – CF Kinder – RF Gurney – 2B D. Richardson – LF Montana – C Prow – 1B J. Byrd – P Pearce
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – 3B Cruz – SS Waters – P Mathers

Hits by Ayala and Manny, Toohey getting nicked, and Kilmer batted with the bases loaded in the bottom 1st, but flew out to Gurney, who then turned around and mashed a leadoff jack, the fourth for him in ’44, to put the Aces on top. More Coons hits in the bottom 2nd: Jose Cruz hit a leadoff single, getting another start for an also struggling Ricky Jimenez, and advanced on Waters’ groundout. Mathers hit a soft dinker for a single, moving Cruz to third base. Carreno clubbed a liner to left that ran up the line far enough for a game-tying RBI double, and Ayala made it 2-1 Critters with a sac fly to center. Maldonado grounded out, dropping his average to .115 … (reaches for the Capt’n Coma, but is slapped on the paw by Maud)

All was quite well for Corey Mathers through four innings – he allowed only that Gurney homer for base hits. Unfortunately, it then started to rain and we quickly had a 50-minute rain delay. For the time being, Waters hit a homer to center when pay resumed in the bottom 4th, extending the lead to 3-1. Mathers was not yet batted for, having thrown 50 pitches prior to the ill weather. He completed the top 5th on just four pitches, getting three pops from Doug Richardson, Bob Montana, and Kevin Prow. Kilmer singled home Manny in the bottom 5th to make it 4-1 Portland instead. Mathers came back for the sixth, conceded singles to Pearce (…), Brandon Owen, and Matt Kinder, and that brought a run across, with Gurney back in the box and the tying runs aboard. Chuck Jones got that assignment, got a grounder to first that Ayala flubbed, and the error loaded the bases. Out with Jones, in with Jon Craig in a double switch that yoinked Cruz, and all for Richardson to single up the middle with two outs and two strikes on him, plating the tying runs. Montana then popped out, but we were even at four, and I was frustrated, and that was before Prow took Craig deep in the seventh, 5-4 Aces…

Maldonado found a leadoff single in the bottom 7th, and gained an extra base when Kinder overran the ball in center. Fernandez’ groundout moved him to third, and Toohey slapped an RBI single to get us back even at five runs per side. Pearce walked Kilmer, but got Baskins to fly out to left. Waters batted with two outs, fired a liner to left that Montana cut off in front of the warning track, but Toohey scored and Kilmer was sent around and …! …thrown out. Alex Ramirez held the fort in the eighth inning. The Raccoons also didn’t get a tack-on run, so Josh Rella had no cushion in the ninth inning. He was hit with a barrage of pinch-hitters, none of them right-handed. Mike Roberts and Brian Fox reached with a single and a walk, respectively, but Tim Speth and Chris Whalen made outs in between. Owen, switch-hitter, was the first batter Rella faced that did not just enter the game, drew another walk, and now the bags were full for .139 hitter Angel Montes de Oca. The count ran full, the 3-2 was wide, and the game was tied. When Matt Kinder hit a pop in foul ground on the left side, it was dropped by Manny Fernandez for an error, and things just kept falling apart. Kinder struck out eventually, but the damage was done and the Raccoons now had to face right-hander Mike Nett in an attempt to walk off before the game would run into overtime. Maldo, Manny, and Toohey made outs in order.

Zack Kelly was inserted into the 10th. Richardson walked, but didn’t get into scoring position, while in the bottom of the inning the Critters got Dustal on base, and then saw him caught stealing. Kelly also got the 11th, retired Fox and Nett (no pinch-hitters left), but Owen singled. Norris came on and whiffed Montes to get out of the inning after Owen stole his way into scoring position. Norris also put away the Aces in the 12th. His spot was up with Maldo (leadoff single) on second base and one out in the bottom 12th. Omar Gutierrez batted for him, but popped out. Kilmer hit a scratch single, but it wasn’t enough to get Maldonado around from second base. Dustal popped out, and the game continued with Nelson Moreno on the mound for the 13th. Nels retired the Aces en masse, while the Raccoons stranded the winning run in scoring position again in the bottom 13th before not reaching base at all in the 14th. Bottom 15th, Waters whacked a 1-out double to left against ex-Coon Jake White. The Aces walked Jimenez (.095) with intent, then Carreno without intent. Three on, one down for Ayala, who hit into a double play…. The Aces finally broke through Moreno in the top 16th, getting hits from Speth and … Jake White (……) to score the tie-breaker. The Coons went down in order against White in the bottom 16th… 7-6 Aces. Kilmer 3-6, BB, RBI; Waters 3-7, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Moreno 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (1-1);

Sal Ayala became the first Raccoon to 10 RBI, needing only until the team’s seventh game of the season. How unusual!

Apart from that, stranding 15 runners on base was not ideal.

Also not ideal: not having much bullpen left at all for the Wednesday game.

Game 3
LVA: SS Montes de Oca – 2B B. Owen – CF Kinder – 3B D. Richardson – RF Gurney – LF Montana – 1B J. Byrd – C Lunde – P Henneberry
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – CF Baskins – 3B Jimenez – SS Waters – C Zarate – P Clark

The Coons needed a stingy performance from Clark on Wednesday. He allowed no hits in the first two innings, then got a 1-0 lead when Baskins and Jimenez drew leadoff walks in the bottom 2nd, and at least Derek Baskins was moved around with two groundouts. Clark’s final grounder stranded Jimenez at third base, then blew up in the top of the third. John Lunde singled, as did Montes to tie the game after Henneberry had bunted the runner to second base. Clark walked the bases full, Richardson doubled in two, and Gurney’s groundout made it 4-1.

While I was curled up into a ball on the trusty brown couch, the Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom 4th. Baskins and Jimenez reached under their own power, while Waters had a grounder to short that Montes threw into Owen’s feet for an error. Three on, but also nobody out, so things would without a doubt to badly. I covered by stripey face with a pillow while Jose Zarate stepped in to bat. He grounded up the middle, Montes had that one, and they turned two while conceding a run. Clark popped out. He pitched through seven innings without incurring more damage, but arguably a sufficient amount of damage had already been done. Ramirez pitched two scoreless behind him, but the Raccoons were still down 4-2. Derek Baskins doubled in the eighth, but was stranded, and in the ninth Zarate, Maldonado, and Carreno grounded out in order to complete the sweep. 4-2 Aces. Toohey 2-4; Baskins 2-3, BB, 2B; Ramirez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Raccoons (4-4) vs. Titans (4-5) – April 14-17, 2044

The ruffled Raccoons would next have four games against the Titans, which at least didn’t take place in Boston. The visitors were fourth in runs scored, seventh in runs allowed, and couldn’t wait to upset us. We had won the season series last year, 12-6.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Ignacio del Rio (1-0, 3.24 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Chris Turner (0-1, 12.46 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (0-1, 3.18 ERA) vs. Emanuel Caceiro (1-0, 2.08 ERA)
Corey Mathers (1-0, 2.92 ERA) vs. Nick Myers (0-1, 0.71 ERA)

Finally some southpaws to face, two of them to be precise, sandwiched into the middle of the series.

Game 1
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – C D. Phillips – 1B C. Cortes – CF Tortora – 3B I. Lugo – 2B Lira – LF Bottino – P del Rio
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – 3B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – CF Baskins – C Kilmer – SS Gutierrez – P Jackson

The losing didn’t seem to stop any time soon, with Oscar Aguirre socking a leadoff triple and Jackson walking the bases full before conceding a total of three runs on hits by Cullen Tortora and Ivan Lugo. Tony Lira popped out and Rob Bottino whiffed to prevent an even bigger beating in the first inning. But that didn’t mean the Titans wouldn’t pile on in the second inning. del Rio reached on a Gutierrez error, and Devin Phillips hit a huge homer to left, extending the score to 5-0.

Jackson would be dragged through five innings because there was no point in emptying the bullpen entirely yet again in a game that was – as you’d realize when you saw them poking away futilely against del Rio – already lost. Perversely, Jackson would double home a run in the fourth inning, and with two outs. Another run scored on a Fernandez groundout, before Kilmer began the bottom 6th with a leadoff walk. Gutierrez forced him out, but stole second. Jonathan Dustal struck out after replacing Baskins in a double switch to have Jon Craig pitch multiple innings. Carreno raked a 2-out double on the first pitch to get the score to 5-3, and then Ayala evened the score with a big homer to right …!

The 5-5 tie was somehow held together by Craig, who walked three batters in 2.1 innings, and Jones, who also had to face right-handers in the eighth with the tie-breaking run on base. The Titans stranded that go-ahead run on third base in both the seventh and eighth innings, both times on strikeouts. Instead, the Raccoons went up 6-5 on a leadoff jack ripped by none other than Omar Gutierrez off Guillermo Vinales in the bottom 8th …! Ayala hit a 2-out single that went nowhere anymore, but Josh Rella kept his **** together this time and the Raccoons ended their losing spill, *somehow* …! 6-5 Critters. Ayala 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-4; Toohey 2-4; Gutierrez 2-4, HR, RBI;

(blinks)

Game 2
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – 1B Zuazo – LF C. Cortes – 3B I. Lugo – C D. Phillips – 2B Lira – CF Tortora – P C. Turner
POR: 2B Carreno – C Kilmer – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – 3B Jimenez – SS Waters – CF Dustal – P Okuda

Maldo found back to the .200 mark with a first-inning solo shot to right, putting the Raccoons 1-0 in front against “Tuba” Turner. Manny also hit a deep drive, but had it caught by Tortora. There was not much else to see in the early going until the top of the fourth saw Carlos Cortes single off Okuda with one out. Ivan Lugo whiffed, the fifth victim for Okuda in his second ABL start, but Devin Phillips got hold of the first pitch he saw and raked a double to right. Cortes, though, was a former Raccoon, if but briefly, and we were surprised to see him being waved around for home plate. Surprised, but not stunned – Carreno got a perfect feed from Toohey and threw him out on the relay, ending the inning.

Bottom 5th, Waters drew a leadoff walk from Turner, then stumbled around second base when Dustal doubled to center, which prevented him from scoring on the play. Instead, he was cashed by Okuda, who slapped a single up the middle for the first two RBI on his ledger, extending his lead to 3-0. That was all for that inning, but in the sixth Manny reached with a leadoff double before Turner walked the bags full. Three on, no outs for Waters, who looked at strike three in a full count, and then Dustal rolled into a 4-6-3 to Tony Lira to piss the rest of the inning away.

Okuda was strong through six, but ran only 3-ball counts in the seventh. Lira reached base on a Jimenez error, and Tortora walked in a full count. After Turner’s bunt put them in scoring position, Okuda was lifted after 6.2 innings and 106 pitches. The Coons went to Norris in a double switch (Baskins replacing Dustal in center), who got the third out from Aguirre, a cozy grounder on the first pitch. Carreno battled out a 1-out walk in the bottom 7th, and Kilmer hit a shy single. Carreno went to second on that play, then took off and stole third base on the first pitch to Maldonado, and Kilmer alertly scooted up to second after Phillips went to third base with the ball. The Titans responded with an intentional walk to Maldonado, then conceded an RBI single to Manny. Another run scored on Toohey’s groundout before lefty Gabe Butler got out of the inning, walking Jimenez and getting Waters to ground out. Then Norris came apart, loading the bases on a hit and two walks in the top 8th before walking in a run against Lira with two outs. (turns to Slappy) Have you ever seen a team trying to lose this badly, day in, day out? – Thought so. … In the event, Chuck Jones came on to face Tortora and got a cozy fly to Manny in shallow left, stranding three. Kelly would retire the Titans in order in the ninth. 5-1 Raccoons. Fernandez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Toohey 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Okuda 6.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 K, W (2-0) and 1-1, 2 RBI;

At this point, the Raccoons were somehow the only winning team in the CL North. The Indians and Crusaders were at .500, and everybody else was below it. In the South, the Condors were the only team under .500; things were almost mirrored in the Federal League; the Cyclones were the only team with a winning record in the East, an only the Warriors were under .500 in the West.

Game 3
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – C D. Phillips – 1B C. Cortes – CF Tortora – 3B I. Lugo – 2B Lira – LF Liceaga – P Caceiro
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Baskins – 3B Jimenez – SS Waters – C Zarate – P Wheatley

Wheats struck out *six* the first time through, but two of those he didn’t whiff, reached base; Lira on a Carreno error, and Cortes with a leadoff jack in the second inning. The Raccoons though turned that around quickly, plating three runs on Caceiro in the bottom 2nd, all around Waters’ 1-out, 2-run triple into the leftfield corner that chased home Toohey and Baskins. Zarate added a sac fly to cash Waters. Two calm innings followed before Zarate led off with a double to center in the bottom 5th. Wheats had piled up nine strikeouts against three hits and no walks at this point, and grounded out to move Zarate to third base. Carreno also grounded out, but now scored Zarate, 4-1. Top 6th, Phillips hit a double with one out. Cortes popped out before Wheats lost Tortora in a full count, his first walk in the game. Ivan Lugo ran another full count to ruin Wheats’ pitch count mostly for good, but at least had the decency to ground out to Carreno to end the inning. Wheats began the seventh on 91 pitches, walked Lira, then got a force at second from Danny Liceaga and a fly to center from Zuazo. The pitching coach felt his pulse, which was still there, but he walked Aguirre and was then yanked without more questions asked. Ramirez got a groundout from Joe Ritchey to strand another pair of runners.

Waters reached base against Terry Garrigan in the bottom 7th, stole second, and scored on a Zarate single, adding to the Coons’ lead. Ramirez bunted into a double play, which was not so great, then put Phillips and Cortes aboard to begin the eighth. The Coons went to Kelly, who struck out Tortora, then got a 6-4-3 grounder from Lugo. Then the wonderful Portland spring struck again, giving us an hourlong rain delay in the bottom 8th that was sat out by the umpires. When play resumed, the Raccoons did not reach base, but Nelson Moreno delivered a 1-2-3 ninth to put the game into the W column. 5-1 Critters. Waters 2-3, 3B, 2 RBI; Zarate 2-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (1-1) and 1-2;

With this win, the third in a row, the Raccoons had secured a share of first place by Sunday night. Only the Indians at 6-5 were within reach of the 7-4 Coons.

Game 4
BOS: SS O. Aguirre – RF Ritchey – 1B C. Cortes – CF Tortora – 3B I. Lugo – 2B Lira – C A. Graham – LF Liceaga – P N. Myers
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 3B Cruz – 2B Gutierrez – RF Dustal – P Mathers

First, the weather wasn’t great – it was drizzling on and off, and would do so the entire day. Mathers held the Titans out of the R column early on, then had to bat with Kilmer, Cruz, and Dustal all aboard and one down in the bottom 2nd, smacking a 1-1 pitch into a double play, and nobody scored. Instead, the Titans went up 1-0 in the third inning, hitting three singles, the first of which slapped by Myers… Cortes and Tortora landed singles to get the 2-out run. I sighed and reached for the Capt’n Coma to soak the butter cake Maud had baked in it.

Waters opened the bottom 3rd with a double over Tortora, then scooted up when Ayala reached on a Lira fumble. Maldonado, starved for success early on, then ran a 3-0 count, indicating that three on, no outs, sadness was soon to be upon us again. Maldo was a good boy though – he ripped away at Myers’ 3-0 pitch, dished it to right-center, and it fell for an RBI double …! The game tied, the Coons made a lead out of it on Manny’s infield single up the middle. Lira cut it off, but had no play. Kilmer hit a proper RBI single to center, 3-1, and Jose Cruz brought in three more with a homer to right – Cruuuz!

With Myers dismembered and soon disappeared, the Raccoons were within reach of a 4-game sweep of the Bostonians, if the pitching could hold up – and if anything had been the issue early on, it was the pitching not holding up often enough. Mathers was *fine* through five innings, allowing five hits and two walks for the one run, but was also up to 79 pitches, which was not so great. He also barely finished the sixth, getting whacked for three runs on a Tortora double, Lugo RBI single, and a 2-out homer by Liceaga…

Bottom 6th, Gabe Butler walked the bags full without retiring anybody, and bringing up Manny with three on and … (sigh) … no outs. His grounder to right was picked by Cortes, but the groundout moved up everybody and scored Waters. Kilmer struck out, Cruz grounded out. Norris handled the seventh, in which the Coons themselves went down 1-2-3, but took 90 minutes to do so on account of another rain delay steadfastly sat out. Jon Craig then got the eighth, put Lugo and Lira on board, but then got a double play grounder from Andy Graham to Waters to escape the jam. Bottom 8th, Waters hit a leadoff single against Vinales, stole second, then had Ayala walk behind him. Maldo popped out, Manny hit into a double play, and nobody tacked on a run. But at least Rella got another double play after a leadoff single by Thomas Greeley, and that helped him end the game and complete the second sweep the Raccoons were involved in this week. 7-4 Critters! Waters 2-4, BB, 2B; Maldonado 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Kilmer 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Cruz 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI;

In other news

April 12 – SFB CL Andy Hyden (2-1, 1.59 ERA, 2 SV) saves his 500th career game in a 2-1 win over the Loggers. Hyden, with a 79-74 career record and 2.81 ERA, was the Reliever of the Year in 2036, and an All Star seven times.
April 13 – The Crusaders trade SP Dave Hils (1-0, 2.25 ERA) to the Stars for 1B Dan Riley (.421, 1 HR, 6 RBI) and #98 prospect SP Taylor Stabile.
April 14 – Pacifics INF Brian Bowman (.314, 0 HR, 4 RBI) draws a bases-loaded walk to literally walk off the Pacifics in the 15th inning of a 5-4 win over the Gold Sox. Denver’s Ryan Kinner (0-1, 2.25 ERA) walks five batters in an inning-plus to take the loss.
April 15 – CIN 3B Jesus Burgos (.286, 0 HR, 6 RBI) lands two hits in a 6-1 win over the Rebels for a 20-game hitting streak that began in 2043.
April 16 – The Canadiens blow a 9-0 lead against the Loggers before somehow still winning in regulation, 13-12. Nobody on either team has more than two RBI. Milwaukee’s Sergio Pena (.345, 1 HR, 2 RBI) goes 4-for-4 with no RBI at all.
April 17 – Serial Player of the Year VAN OF Jerry Outram (.341, 2 HR, 9 RBI) will be out for two weeks at least with a badly sore ankle.
April 17 – DAL OF/1B/3B Ricky Correa (.366, 0 HR, 4 RBI) would miss a month with a back strain.
April 17 – Indians OF/1B Jon Sullivan (.135, 1 HR, 2 RBI) hits a home run for the sole offense in a 1-0 win over the Crusaders.

FL Player of the Week: CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.396, 3 HR, 11 RBI), hitting .452 (14-31) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Jerry Outram (.341, 2 HR, 9 RBI), batting .440 (11-25) with 1 HR, 6 RBI before going down to injury

Complaints and stuff

The Outram injury will mean the Raccoons will not get tortured by him starting Monday, so I give thumbs up on that. They still have six other hydra heads to bite us with, and Outram’s injury will cause another two to grow by Monday morning…

We are in the top 3 in every meaningful offensive category, except walks drawn, where we are merely fourth. Most runs scored in total, so the bottom line is certainly right here. Then, the other side of the column – not so pretty. Too many walks (53, 11th in CL), and the defense is still a bit creaky. There might have been a bit of bad luck with big innings, but we really need to ease up on the free passes. We’re only fourth in hits allowed, seventh in homers conceded, and tied for sixth in runs given up, so some ERA’s look rough right now, but there’s promise.

For now I choose to bask in the radiating light of a first-place offense.

Next week, three with the damn Elks to conclude the homestand, then it’s off on a 6-game road trip to the southeast, playing the Falcons on the weekend and the Knights starting the Monday after. We’ll finish the month at home against the Loggers.

Fun Fact: No-hitters were tossed in consecutive years on this day, April 17, 2027 and 2028.

The first was spun by Condor George Griffin against the Aces in a 9-0 win. The later one was spun by Denver’s Robby Gonzalez against the Scorpions in a 6-0 game.

Griffin spent almost all of his career – 18 of 19 seasons – with the Condors, amassing 188 wins against 155 losses, a 3.38 ERA, and 2,525 strikeouts. He won a Gold Glove, was an All Star twice, and of course partook in the 2029 championship the Condors took home to Mexico. He will be on the Hall of Fame ballot next year.

Gonzalez won’t be although he last pitched in ’39 like Griffin; the 17-year veteran was a journeyman, pitching for eight different teams with two stints in Dallas. At times he slipped into the bullpen, and did not make a start after his age 34 season. He ended up 99-160 with a 4.40 ERA and three saves. He struck out 1,123.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (8-4) vs. Canadiens (6-7) – April 18-20, 2044

Being bereft of Jerry Outram didn’t mean that the damn Elks didn’t have teeth to show, but Dan Schneller also turned out to be unable to play with a hip ailment, and Victor Vazquez was also on the DL, which was a number of early flesh wounds for the damn Elks, but they were still second in runs scored in the CL, yet they had also given up *the most* runs in the first two weeks. Now, they had also played the most games, but that had to be at least an orange flag for the brass up there in Elktown. The rotation had been meh with an ERA of 4.41; the pen had been worse by another run and small change. We had lost the season series in ’43, eight games to ten.

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (0-2, 6.23 ERA) vs. Alexander Lewis (0-2, 12.19 ERA)
Jake Jackson (0-0, 4.91 ERA) vs. Brandon Nickerson (1-1, 6.75 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (2-0, 0.66 ERA) vs. Matt Sealock (1-1, 1.54 ERA)

We’d open the week with a southpaw in Lewis, then get right-handers because they would not be able to give us any other southpaw.

Game 1
VAN: 2B Malkus – SS Price – C Clemente – RF C. Robinson – LF Jorgensen – CF Mann – 1B van der Zanden – 3B R. Ashley – P A. Lewis
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 1B Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – CF Dustal – P Clark

Brent Clark continued to be awful, walking three Elks the first time through, including Jeremy Mann and Arnout van der Zanden in the top 2nd after a leadoff double by Steve Jorgensen, loading the bases. Ray Ashley flew out to Manny Fernandez, who threw out Jorgensen at home plate, but Clark fell to a 2-run single by Lewis, who was then caught in a rundown between first and second. This erased the 2-0 lead the Raccoons had gotten in unearned fashion in the bottom 1st, Kilmer singling home Waters (walk) and Maldo (Travis Malkus fumble) with two outs. In the third, Malkus had a 1-out single before Clark walked the bases full *again*. Jorgensen popped out, Mann grounded out to short, and all three runners were stranded in that case, but I was getting headaches over Clark, who had been sagging late in ’43, and now had 13 walks in 16 innings for the year…

He had a new lead after the bottom 3rd, in which Bryce Toohey doubled home Manny Fernandez with two outs, and then actually put up two strong innings before walking Jorgensen with one down in the top 6th. Mann hit a comebacker, which Clark took for a force at second base, but Mann stole second, Clark glitched van der Zanden on base on his seventh walk of the contest, and then was yanked. Nate Norris came on, gave up a score-flipping double to Ashley on the first pitch, and then an RBI single to the opposing pitcher, too. In my furious frustration I grabbed a pillow and whacked Cristiano Carmona with it until Maud wrestled it from me.

The Coons seemed ill-inclined to rally, and instead shed Manny Fernandez in the eighth inning when the veteran tweaked a hammy on a defensive play and had to be replaced with Derek Baskins. That didn’t help the offense in any way – after Lewis had conceded the go-ahead run in the third inning he had retired 16 Raccoons in a row, and Sebastian Parham did not stand back in the ninth inning, making Baskins, Toohey, and Kilmer go down in order. 5-3 Canadiens.

The final 19 Coons retired in order, and Manny day-to-day for the rest of the week. I’ll better skip by the rope store on the way home…

Game 2
VAN: SS Price – CF Riquenes – C Ju. Diaz – RF C. Robinson – 2B Malkus – LF Mann – 1B J. Lopez – 3B R. Ashley – P Nickerson
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Baskins – 3B Cruz – 2B Gutierrez – C Zarate – P Jackson

The Raccoons ran their total to 22 straight retired with a 1-2-3 bottom 1st by Nickerson, but then Toohey singled to begin the bottom 2nd of a scoreless game, but the inning yielded no run, as the Toohey single was followed by three grounders changed up only by Omar Gutierrez drawing a 2-out walk. Neither team had any offense cooking – the Elks only got a Nickerson single the first time through, then a Johnny Lopez single in the fifth, while Jackson struck out seven through five innings. The Toohey single from the second stood alone for the Raccoons through five, while Nickerson whiffed six.

Rick Price singled in the sixth for no greater gain and was forced out by Sergio Riquenes, who was stranded on Julio Diaz’ fly to center. Thus when the Raccoons drew walks through Ayala and Toohey and had two on with one out in the bottom 6th it already counted as the biggest offensive outburst of the night. Nothing came of it, with Derek Baskins grounding into a 4-6-3 double play. Jackson rung up nine in seven innings, but also needed 107 pitches to get that far and would not be back. Zarate drew a 2-out walk in the bottom 7th to allow the Critters to send Manny Fernandez to pinch-hit, but he lined out to Riquenes. Top 8th, Ramirez allowed a single to PH Timóteo Clemente, and Riquenes clipped a 2-out single off Zack Kelly, but Kelly also rung up Diaz on an unhittable curve to end the inning. Maldonado doubled off John Roeder with two outs in the eighth, but Toohey struck out. It was one big exercise in futility in Raccoons Ballpark …! Kelly and Rella held the damn Elks shut out through regulation, but we still needed one measly run to actually make a W out of it. Baskins flew out to begin the bottom 9th, but Jose Cruz singled off Roeder with one out. Carreno hit for Gutierrez against the lefty and singled past the reach of Ashley, moving the winning run to second base. Zarate coaxing a walk made it third base. Jonathan Dustal was already in the #9 spot after a double switch, and the Raccoons could not reasonably bat for him. He got his first Raccoons RBI to end the game, grounding to the left side; Price lunged and knocked the ball down, but couldn’t get up in time to have any play, and the game ended on the infield single …! 1-0 Blighters! Carreno (PH) 1-1; Dustal 1-1, RBI; Jackson 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K;

I would really, really like to win the series, but we’re up against Matt Sealock on Wednesday, and the way the last two games had gone…

Game 3
VAN: 2B Malkus – LF J. Becker – 1B M. Hernandez – C Clemente – CF Riquenes – SS Price – RF van der Zanden – 3B R. Ashley – P Sealock
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Baskins – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – SS Waters – P Okuda

To my great surprise, the Raccoons jumped out to an early lead. Ayala and Maldo hit singles through the right side in the bottom 1st, and while Toohey struck out, Derek Baskins found right-center for an RBI single. Jeff Kilmer found even more, crushing a 400-footer to left-center for a 3-piece and a 4-0 lead …! I leapt up and smooched Cristiano on the cheek, not knowing where to go otherwise with the joy. A struggling Arturo Carreno reached the .200 mark again with a homer in the bottom 2nd, upping to 5-0. Maldo hit a double in the same inning, but that led nowhere.

So, up by five, it was all eyes on Okuda, who retired the Elks in order in the early innings before walking van der Zanden to begin the top 3rd. That run was stranded on three poor outs. Okuda then had to run the bases after a bad bunt got Kilmer forced out at third base in the bottom 3rd. The inning, with two outs, continued with Carreno and Ayala both singling, bringing in Jimenez with a sixth, unearned run – Jimenez had reached on a Price error. Maldo grounded out to Price, still looking for hit groove in ’44.

Okuda allowed no hits through four, but then gave up singles to Riquenes and Price to begin the fifth. Van der Zanden’s groundout advanced the runners, and Ashley hit a sac fly to Toohey to get the Elks on the board. Jorgensen grounded out to end the inning, though. Lazaro Cavazos, former Raccoons farmhand, came on to pitch in the bottom 5th and nicked Jimenez. Matt Waters objected and fired a homer to right, 8-1, and that one put the game away for good. The Raccoons would get another late run on a Maldonado groundout in the eighth, and Okuda would not yield the ball even when he gave up two hits to begin the ninth inning. With runners on the corners he got a run-scoring double play from Riquenes, then managed t get Price to fly out to center to end the game. 9-2 Raccoons! Carreno 3-5, HR, RBI; Ayala 2-5, RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2B, RBI; Baskins 2-5, RBI; Kilmer 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Okuda 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (3-0) and 2-5;

Raccoons (10-5) @ Falcons (7-7) – April 22-24, 2044

The Falcons were in fourth place in the South, three games out. They were 10th in runs scored, but fifth in runs allowed, and already had a -10 run differential (Critters: +22). Phenom Miguel Martinez, who broke his leg in March falling over a kid’s skateboard, was still on the DL, but they still had a flurry of .300 hitters that had gotten hot starts in Archie Turley, Jose Farfan, and Joe Besaw. Last year we had lost the season series, 5-4 for Charlotte; it was the sixth straight year the season series ended 5-4 for either team.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (1-1, 2.50 ERA) vs. Andy Messer (0-3, 3.43 ERA)
Corey Mathers (2-0, 3.93 ERA) vs. Oscar Flores (0-3, 7.41 ERA)
Brent Clark (0-3, 6.27 ERA) vs. Jerry Felix (3-0, 1.50 ERA)

Only right-handers to catch in this series. Manny was still listed as day-to-day to begin the series and not in the lineup on Friday.

Game 1
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – RF Toohey – LF Baskins – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – SS Waters – P Wheatley
CHA: 1B Haertling – C Kokoszka – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – RF Turley – 3B Farfan – CF Case – 2B Shay – P Messer

Wheatley fell behind early on a Besaw solo homer in the first and an RBI double by Seth Case, driving home Jose Farfan in the bottom 2nd. It was also drizzling with a short rain delay between those two at-bats that gave the Falcons their second run. The Raccoons scattered four hits early, hitting into double plays with Waters in the second and Baskins in the fourth to make sure they’d get nowhere. Instead, Charlotte rushed Wheatley for a 3-run homer by Adam Shay in the bottom 4th, zooming out to 5-0 to likely put the game in the books. Turley had singled and Case had drawn a walk ahead of the 2-out blast.

The Raccoons wouldn’t reach the board until the sixth inning, at which point they had also shed Maldonado to injury on a defensive play. Dustal replaced him and reached on one of two errors by Shay in the sixth, scoring on a 2-base throwing error on Baskins’ grounder. Kilmer walked, but Jimenez flew out as his rut continued. Charlotte would pull that run back in the bottom 6th; Tony Aparicio hit a leadoff single off Wheats, who soon departed. Jones gave up a double to Farfan, and Case hit a sac fly to re-establish the 5-run gap. Norris and Craig kept the Falcons from adding more runs afterwards, but the Raccoons also couldn’t get a paw up against Messer and the Falcons pen, until the ninth inning began with Luke Moses offering walks to both Jimenez and Waters. Manny batted for Craig, but hit into a fielder’s choice. Carreno singled to center, though, getting a run home and bringing on Kyle Conner for a save opportunity. The right-hander walked Sal Ayala, promoting the tying run to the plate in… Dustal. He scored a run with a groundout, but this time that didn’t help in the bigger picture. Toohey’s RBI single to right put the tying runs on the corners, though. Baskins was next, and he ripped a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right-center. Archie Turley had already made a number of good defensive plays in this game, but he didn’t get this one! It was in for extra-bases! One run in to score, and Toohey was coming around, and he scored, and Baskins to third base with a game-tying triple!!! The riot continued with Kilmer’s double to center, doing away with another pitcher and bringing in Marcus Goode, who ended proceedings with a Jimenez lineout to Shay. Rella stalked around a double by Farfan in the bottom 9th to put the stunning upset win away. 7-6 Critters!! Carreno 2-4, BB, RBI; Maldonado 1-2; Toohey 2-5, RBI; Baskins 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI;

The Raccoons went up to 11-5 with this comeback victory, and with nobody in the division having a winning record besides them, they had a very early 3-game lead.

Thankfully, Dr. Padilla came back with decent news on Maldonado by Saturday: a very mild shoulder strain, barely a strain, more like soreness. He recommended a 15-day trip to the DL, which should put him back to 100%. I sighed, but obliged. Van Anderson was pulled up as roster filler despite hitting not a whole lot in AAA.

Game 2
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Baskins – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – CF Dustal – P Mathers
CHA: 1B Haertling – C Kokoszka – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – RF Turley – 3B Farfan – CF Case – 2B Shay – P O. Flores

The Raccoons scattered three hits the first time through on Saturday, while the Falcons got two walks and an uncaught third strike off the Coons’ battery, but neither team actually pushed something relevant across home plate until Bryce Toohey whacked a leadoff jack in the fourth inning. Flores gave up a single to left to Baskins, then nailed Kilmer with a 3-0 pitch. Jimenez flew out easily, but Dustal’s fly to right-center fell for an RBI double. Mathers struck out with two aboard for the second time in the game, but Carreno lined a ball over Aparicio’s glove for a 2-out, 2-run single …! 4-0 Critters!

Charlotte didn’t get a hit off Mathers until the fifth, Shay whacking a 1-out double to center. The run scored on a Haertling hit, narrowing the score to 4-1, but Chris Kokoszka struck out, ending the inning. Besaw flew out to right to begin the sixth, and Aparicio lined out to Waters – but the rookie limped off after landing from his high jump and was eventually removed after a consultation with Dr. Padilla on the field. Omar Gutierrez came on, but at least Waters walked off the field under his own power, and Gutierrez handled a Turley grounder to end the sixth inning, but that was the third regular going down to injury this week…

Mathers pitched into the eighth before running out of gunk, conceding two hits to Ruben Esperanza and Haertling. Kokoszka grounded out for the first man down in the inning, but plated Esperanza from third base. Besaw grounded out to second. Mathers reached 101 pitches at that point, and with the dangerous Tony Aparicio up, the Raccoons opted for Alex Ramirez. He got a grounder to Gutierrez, stranding a runner in scoring position. Top 9th, Marcus Goode allowed Dustal on base with a 2-out single. Manny hit for Ramirez, flew to left, and Besaw dropped the ball for two bases. Carreno popped out to strand the runners. Rella then came on for the 5-6-7 batters. Strikeout, groundout, flyout – ballgame! 4-2 Raccoons. Ayala 2-4, 2B; Baskins 2-4; Dustal 2-4, 2B, RBI; Mathers 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, W (3-0) and 1-3;

The next pyrrhic victory saw the Raccoons with a shortstop with a mild ankle sprain. He was also day-to-day for up to a week, but Dr. Padilla thought that he might only be really bothered for a few days. Waters was left out of the lineup on Sunday, but at least Manny was back in there for the first time since Monday.

Game 3
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – 3B Jimenez – C Zarate – SS Gutierrez – CF Anderson – P Clark
CHA: 1B Haertling – C Kokoszka – LF Besaw – SS Aparicio – RF Turley – CF Case – 3B Farfan – 2B Shay – P Felix

No, Brent Clark had not been magically fixed in the meantime; the most-recent Coons hurler to lose a baseball game, he was soon enough in arrears again, this time walking the leadoff man in the first and second innings. Nothing happened in the first thanks to a double play, but the second devolved into an intentional walk to Shay to load the bases with two outs and the pitcher stepping in. That pitcher whacked a 2-run single to right, and those runs would be the only markers on the board through five innings. The Raccoons had three hits, none of them with somebody on base, and Clark also didn’t help with the stick, bunting into a double play to erase a Van Anderson single in the fifth… Toohey singled in the sixth, and then Manny found the shortstop for a two-for-one.

The game ended as far as Raccoons ambitions were concerned in the bottom 6th, in which Clark faced four batters, beginning with a leadoff walk to Kokoszka, and retired none. Single, walk, single, *yoink!*. Moreno inherited a 4-0 loss, and runners in scoring position with nobody out, gave up the inherited runners on the first pitch with a Seth Case screamer that only stopped at the base of the fence for a double, and that was that. Top 7th, Zarate, Gutierrez, and Anderson somehow loaded the bases with one out. Derek Baskins pinch-hit and struck out, but Carreno clipped a 2-run single, after which the inning fizzled out. But the Falcons pulled a run back against Chuck Jones, after which the Raccoons disappeared quietly onto the road to Atlanta… 7-2 Falcons. Gutierrez 2-3, BB, 2B; Anderson 1-2, 2 BB;

In other news

April 18 – SAC SP Craig Czyszczon (2-0, 2.82 ERA) is likely out for the season with a torn rotator cuff.
April 19 – The Wolves put 15 runs on the Scorpions, all in the first five innings, for a 15-5 win. SAL SS/3B Josh Jackson (.143, 0 HR, 5 RBI) breaks out with four RBI on two hits and a walk.
April 20 – Two weeks on the DL are likely for RIC 1B Manny Liberos (.192, 2 HR, 11 RBI), who has suffered an elbow contusion.
April 21 – Cincy 3B Jesus Burgos (.286, 0 HR, 7 RBI) extends his multi-season hitting streak to 25 games with two hits in a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh.
April 21 – Led by four hits and three RBI by C Jesus Adames (.250, 1 HR, 7 RBI), the Thunder rout the Bayhawks, 18-2.
April 23 – BOS 3B Ivan Lugo (.309, 1 HR, 11 RBI) hits a walkoff triple to end a 16-inning marathon with the Thunder with a 4-3 Boston win. The Titans’ Oscar Aguirre (.315, 0 HR, 10 RBI) has five singles in the same game.
April 23 – The Warriors beat the Rebels, 3-2, in 17 innings after the teams traded zeroes for ten consecutive frames.
April 24 – NYC OF/3B Joe Graf (.231, 1 HR, 3 RBI) will miss at least three months with a badly broken ankle.
April 24 – The Canadiens and Bayhawks slog it out for 16 innings before the San Francisco team collapses and concedes seven runs at once. Vancouver wins, 11-4.

FL Player of the Week: DAL 2B Hugo Acosta (.462, 2 HR, 22 RBI), slapping at a .538 (14-26) rate with 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.354, 1 HR, 7 RBI), hitting .519 (14-27) with 1 HR, 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Two losses this week, both on Brent Clark, who keeps being utterly tragic on the mound. He’s so bad, we shall take a casual glance at the options in AAA. Victor Merino’s ERA was near five. Adam Capone was a mess with 10 walks in 15 innings. Angelo Montano walked everything with legs, and without. Tony Negrete had 13 walks in 18 innings. Danny Vargas had 12 walks in 12 innings.

(glances over to Nelson Moreno, who’s stuffing his snout from the manifold contents of his food bowl, then feels watched and instinctively pats into his food with both front paws, looking around alertly)

Apart from that, we had a few injuries this week. It was not *horrendous*, and they will all live, but we are thin up the middle now with Waters day-to-day. Might exchange Anderson for a middle infielder instead.

Jeff Kilmer subtly has snuck into the lead in the batting race in the CL, hitting a sly .391; nobody else is above .354 after three weeks. In the FL, .391 doesn’t even get you into the top 5 right now.

Then there’s Ricky Jimenez, hitting .106/.254/.106, which is a perverse slash line after three weeks. He’s also obviously cursed with a .116 BABIP. Considering that he’s the Rookie of the Year and hit .271/.352/.422 with 18 homers and 92 RBI last season, that suggests he ran over some gypsy kids with his car in the offseason and those curses are really hard to shake off… Maybe Jose Cruz will start a few games early next week to reset Jimenez. That is literally the only idea I have right now.

But we’re second in runs scored, fourth in runs allowed, and the only glaring issue is the pile of walks doled out. We’re up to 74 walks issued, second-worst in the CL.

We’ll be in Atlanta starting on Monday. After that, 6-game homestand with the Loggers and Arrowheads, an then it’s into the Federal League for the first time.

Fun Fact: Jeff Kilmer leads the CL in OPS, too, with a 1.130 mark, ahead even of Jerry Outram.

Not bad for a guy that was basically acquired for two bums in a garbage deal with the Thunder after the 2036 season and is now somehow in his eighth year on the staff without really attracting much attention. He’s hit both for a .949 OPS and a .573 OPS in a season in which he appeared in at least 100 games. He has never qualified for the batting title, partially owing to sharing duties with Tony Morales for about half his time here.

Overall he’s a solid .259/.347/.401 hitter with 71 HR and 346 RBI. He was an All Star once, in 2039.

Service announcement: I have this coming week off, and while I’m in the process of buying a new slightly used car from three counties over, there should be ample time for the Raccoons. Let’s realistically aim for six updates from Monday through Sunday. This may or may not include the draft pool scouring.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (12-6) @ Knights (13-6) – April 25-27, 2044

The Raccoons played in a series with two division leaders, which I think means we’re leading a division, which was something new. Oh well, maybe the Knights could end this weird division-leading state we were in. They had won three in a row, and were hard to score on, conceding under three runs per game in the first three weeks of the year. They had scored a hair over four runs, ranking seventh in that regard. Time to get cracking on a rotation with a 2.40 ERA, I guess. Last year, the Raccoons had won six of nine games against Atlanta.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (0-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. David Farris (3-0, 0.90 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (3-0, 1.19 ERA) vs. Jerry Banda (1-2, 4.88 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-1, 4.24 ERA) vs. Kurt Olson (2-0, 1.80 ERA)

Only right-handed opposition coming up. The Raccoons had Maldo on the DL and Matt Waters day-to-day; the Knights were without regulars Adam Horner and Brian Oliver, plus Paul Laughren and reliever Jon Pereira.

Game 1
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Baskins – 3B Jimenez – SS Gutierrez – P Jackson
ATL: 2B J. Simmons – RF Hester – 1B Levis – SS Crim – LF C. Walker – CF Melendez – 3B McKoy – C J. Herrera – P Farris

Farris struck out the side in the first inning, but gave up a double to the unstoppable Jeff Kilmer in the second inning. Unfortunately only Jeff Kilmer was currently unstoppable and the Raccoons did not get a run out of the situation. Instead, Chris Walker and Bill Melendez hit singles in the bottom 2nd, and Juan Herrera hit a 3-run homer to right. While the Raccoons did absolutely nothing against Farris (6 K through four innings), the Knights’ bottom of the order tore up Jackson for good in the fourth. Herrera doubled in a run, but conveniently also tore out a leg doing so and was replaced with Zachary Krumholz. Farris doubled in a run, and Justin Simmons hit an RBI triple. That was the end for Jackson in this game, which was long over as a contest. Simmons was stranded by Nate Norris, getting a pop from Billy Hester and another easy fly from Doug Levis, not that it mattered. Neither did the run the Knights scored on three 2-out singles off Norris in the fifth. That was far from the last Knights offense. The Raccoons bullpen croaked again, with Ramirez giving up a run in the seventh, and Jon Craig being serviced for another 3-run enema in the eighth inning. In between Farris had lost control and had walked the bases full in the seventh inning, but besides a few run-scoring groundouts and sac flies and the odd wild pitch the Raccoons did not get a base hit with some furry bum in scoring position then or later. 11-4 Knights. Carreno 2-5; Kilmer 2-3, BB, 2B; Cruz (PH) 1-1;

Hey, Jake Jackson has finally gotten a decision!

Arf.

Game 2
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Baskins – 3B Cruz – SS Gutierrez – P Okuda
ATL: CF Melendez – 3B L. Duarte – SS Crim – 1B Levis – 2B Sanderfer – RF Levy – LF J. Simmons – C Krumholz – P Banda

Okuda got hit with a fully right-handed lineup, and the catcher especially, with Krumholz’ 2-out RBI double plating Simmons for the first marker on the board in the bottom of the second inning. The Raccoons at that point had merely wasted an Ayala single, a Manny walk, and a leadoff double by Derek Baskins. Ayala and Toohey reached base with one out in the third, but Manny found his way into a 3-6-3 double play. Overall, the Raccoons frittered away five hits and two walks in the first five innings and fell behind 2-0 in the bottom 5th in which the Knights hit three singles, two of which didn’t leave the infield…

The bottom 6th only made it worse. Alex Sanderfer singled and scored on a Simmons double. Krumholz hit an RBI single. The ******* opposing pitcher hit an RBI single. Okuda hit the hay. Nelson Moreno replaced him, but didn’t quite qualify for the spirit of “relief”, conceding one run on a Melendez double, then two on a 2-out single to left by Joe Crim. Levis then hit a homer, just to rub it in, the game disappearing in a 7-run explosion. That was the final inning in which runs were scored on Tuesday. The Knights had enough, and the Raccoons had nothing. 9-0 Knights. Cruz 2-4; Zarate (PH) 1-1; Craig 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

We have given up 33 hits in the last two games combined. Waters! Get back in there! I don’t want to hear anything about a sore hindpaw!

Game 3
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – 3B Cruz – SS Waters – CF Dustal – P Wheatley
ATL: 3B L. Duarte – RF Hester – 1B Levis – SS Crim – CF Melendez – 2B McKoy – LF N. Velez – C Krumholz – P K. Olson

By the second inning on Wednesday, the Raccoons led 1-0 on a Manny Fernandez jack, and had also shed another centerfielder to injury, Jonathan Dustal leaving the game with an oblique tweak. Van Anderson took over. Manny drove in a 2-out run in the top 3rd then, singling home Carreno, who had stolen a base after a leadoff single, his eighth of the season. Manny stole his second base, but was stranded when Kilmer’s fly to left was snatched on the warning track by Nelson Velez. Wheats had retired the side in order in the first two innings, but then shed three singles in the bottom of the third; Velez, Krumholz (rapidly ascending my personal “**** you” list), and a sac fly by Lorenzo Duarte procured the run; Billy Hester’s single put runners on the corners, but Levis flew out.

While Krumholz was 6-for-8 in the series by the end of five, Wheats had held on to the 2-1 lead, although I’d very much welcome the odd insurance run or six. The Raccoons though seemed closer to solving food crises in Africa than to rumbling into another run, not getting a runners on base before two outs again until Jose Cruz slapped a leadoff single to left in the seventh. He was on the move on the 2-1 to Matt Waters, which the rookie shortstop slapped through Levis and all the way into the corner for an RBI double. He reached third on Anderson’s grounder, then scored when Wheats singled past Crim, 4-1 …! Tyler McKoy hit a 1-out double in the bottom of the inning, and Wheats faced Krumholz with two outs. He was walked half-intentionally, to see whether the Knights would send a pinch-hitter, and with Chuck Jones cocked and loaded in the bullpen. They DID send a pinch-hitter, but it was a right-hander, Sanderfer. Mound conference, pep talk, then a 2-run triple in the gap in left-center, and a game-tying single by Duarte. Exit Wheatley, enter Jones, who retired Hester – he only lefty hitter in sight – with a pop. The inning ended – too late.

The eighth was uneventful, and it didn’t get better for the Raccoons in the ninth inning. Cruz was on base, but that was about it. Alex Ramirez got the ball in the ninth, and was immediately stabbed in the back by Cruz, who threw away Simmons’ leadoff grounder for a 2-base error. Velez’ comebacker and Krumholz’ fly were not good enough to get that winning run across for the Knights, but Chris Levy’s single to left-center was. 5-4 Knights. Fernandez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Cruz 1-2, 2 BB;

Smitten.

Smothered.

Smushed.

Raccoons (12-9) vs. Loggers (8-12) – April 29-May 1, 2044

Thankfully my mood was immediately rebuilt by a visit our beloved dear owner paid us on Friday. Nick Valdes had heard concerning news about the Raccoons getting walloped in Atlanta, and decided to investigate for himself. He arrived along with the Loggers, who had swept the Falcons during the week, scoring 29 runs in three games after scoring only 14 in the previous seven. I prepared some Capt’n Coma and a box of Kleenexes, and took a pawful of sedatives as soon as I saw Valdes’ ebony car in front of the ballpark – it’s an actual ebony bodywork, not just the color.

The Loggers were still in sixth place, but were now up to eighth in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed – all things the Raccoons had a recipe for. They had the worst rotation in the Continental League. We were making a run for that at least… We had taken two games from them to start the season.

Projected matchups:
Corey Mathers (3-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. Ruben Guzman (2-1, 4.32 ERA)
Brent Clark (0-4, 7.23 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (0-2, 7.64 ERA)
Jake Jackson (0-1, 5.06 ERA) vs. Sergio Piedra (2-2, 3.99 ERA)

Only more right-handers.

The original plan had been to skip Clark after his rotten start to the season, but … well, look at them all. We also put Dustal on the DL, and called up RF/LF Juan Rosario, who was hitting .250 with no homers in AAA. The 26-year-old had been a waiver claim off the Gold Sox in March 2043, but had never played in the majors so far.

Game 1
MIL: CF Cannizzard – 2B S. Pena – LF Reeves – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C F. Gomez – 3B Paul – P R. Guzman
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Baskins – 3B Jimenez – SS Waters – P Mathers

The Critters gave Valdes reasons to nag early, getting Carreno on with a fastball to the bum, and Toohey with a walk after Carreno stole second base. Then Manny lined out to despicable Aaron Brayboy, with Toohey having made for second base and easily being doubled off, 3-unassisted. Instead the Loggers went up 1-0 in the third inning. Felipe Gomez singled, Jared Paul walked, and while Guzman bunted badly into a force at third base, Tim Cannizzard grounded into a fielder’s choice, Sergio Pena hit a hard double off the wall in rightfield for the first run of the game. The ball caromed back to Toohey so hard, in fact, as to save a run, Cannizzard being stopped at third base at the last second by the coach, and Bill Reeves flew out easily to Toohey. Guzman walked Waters and Carreno in the third inning, but nobody could find a damn base hit, and the runners were stranded.

The Raccoons had no base hits through six innings and a rain delay, and while Mathers was in the game. He was knocked out by a Jonathan Fleming double in the seventh, which put resentworthy Ted Del Vecchio and Fleming into scoring position with two outs. The Loggers went to Jim Hill, a left-handed pinch-hitter, for Guzman (on an active no-hitter!), and the Raccoons went to Chuck Jones in a double switch that removed Toohey for Anderson. The strikeout ended the inning. Right-hander Cesar Perez retired the 4-5-6 hitters in order in the bottom 7th, two of them on foul pops, and Valdes snarkily remarked that maybe I should have invested all his money into hitters, and not batters. Maud went between us before I could stuff Honeypaws down his throat.

Cannizzard’s homer of Jones in the eighth extended the Loggers’ lead to 2-0, and Ricky Jimenez hit a deep fly to center to begin the bottom 8th, but it was intercepted by Daniel Hertenstein. Waters and Anderson were no more successful, and the Loggers maintained their 2-0 combined no-hitter into the bottom of the ninth, bringing up none other than former Raccoon Josh Boles against the top of the order. Carreno flew out to Hertenstein. Cruz batted for Ayala and grounded out to short. Jose Zarate hit for Alex Ramirez in the #3 slot. He grounded out. 2-0 Loggers.

Nick, they dance around down there because they pitched a combined no-hitter. – Yes, Nick, that means the Raccoons had no hits. – No, hit-by-pitches don’t count as hits. – MAUD, LET ME GO, I MUST STRANGLE HIM!!

Nick Valdes departed after that disaster of a game, declaring the Raccoons not worth his time and attention. Well, the same was true for me, but what else would I do with my life…

Cristiano, can you get a few offers for millstones for me? And some way to strap the damn thing to my neck. Thank you.

Game 2
MIL: LF Reeves – 2B S. Pena – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – 3B Paul – SS Del Vecchio – C Payne – CF Cannizzard – P M. Peterson
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – CF Baskins – SS Waters – 3B Jimenez – C Zarate – P Clark

After an Ayala walk in the first inning, the Raccoons’ pusillanimous approach at the plate ended with a Bryce Toohey single up the middle. After a foul pop by Manny, Derek Baskins even doubled in a run TO TAKE A LEAD …! Let that one sink in! And then Waters stranded a pair with a piss poor grounder to second base. The Loggers flipped the score soon enough on Ricky Payne’s payneful 2-out, 2-run homer, scoring the dastardly devious Del Vecchio, in the top 2nd…

Manny tied the game, singling home Toohey and his double in the bottom 3rd, but the Loggers sure enough made a run out of Aaron Brayboy getting hit by Clark to begin the fourth inning. Walking Hertenstein for another free runner immediately after didn’t help, either. Bill Reeves’ homer in the fifth stretched their lead to 4-2, after which an hourlong rain delay ended Brent Clark’s miserable existence. I spent the full hour stuffing my snout with chocolate cookies, which numbed none of the pain. Afterwards, the Raccoons couldn’t ******* score a Derek Baskins triple with one out in the bottom 6th, but Cannizzard took Zack Kelly deep in the seventh, 5-2. Zarate reached base on a 2-base throwing error by Jared Paul in the bottom 7th… and was stranded. Instead Toohey dropped a 2-out fly to right by Cannizzard in the eighth, allowing Paul to score another victory lap run. 6-2 Loggers. Toohey 2-4; Baskins 2-3, 3B, 2B, RBI;

By now the entire division had accordioned to be only 1 1/2 games apart. Somehow we were still in first place.

Oh well, that will fix itself…

Game 3
MIL: C Payne – 2B S. Pena – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – 3B Paul – SS Del Vecchio – LF Serad – CF Cannizzard – P Piedra
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Baskins – SS Waters – 3B Cruz – P Jackson

Carreno legged out an infield single, stole second, and somehow dabbled around to score on a 2-out single by Manny, in the best Berto/Cosmo impression he could muster. It was his 10th stolen bag of the year. Manny also stole a base, Kilmer walked, but Baskins was retired on a lunge by Del Vecchio to end the inning. That infield roller by Carreno was also the only base knock the Raccoons would muster through five innings.

At least Jackson didn’t burst into flames at first sight, which was something new; he allowed no hits the first time through the order, and then a single to Pena in the fourth. Piedra annoyingly got a single off him in the sixth, but then managed to get struck by a Pena grounder for the third out of the inning. The Raccoons remained inept at the plate, and the defense tried to hold the game together. Toohey made a lunging catch on a Brayboy drive to begin the seventh, and the Loggers were retired in order in the inning, with Jackson on 77 pitches through seven, whiffing four. The Raccoons then also found another base hit, a 1-out single by Baskins in the bottom 7th. This ball also did not leave the infield. Waters grounded out, Cruz whiffed, and Baskins was stranded.

A leadoff walk to demonic Del Vecchio in the eighth ended Jackson’s day at once, especially with Fleming pinch-hitting for T.J. Serad. Chuck Jones sprung into action, struck out two, then was almost taken deep by switch-hitting Bill Reeves, but Manny made the catch at the fence. By the bottom 8th, the Raccoons actually found a single that made it to the outfield, a 2-out pinch-hit single by Ricky Jimenez in place of Ayala, facing lefty Chris Lulay. The ball was overrun in the outfield, and Jimenez reached second base. Toohey was walked with intent to get Manny’s lefty stick to the plate. A wild pitch advanced the runners, but Manny struck out eventually. It was then Rella and the top of the order in the ninth inning and no cushion with a 1-0 lead; Josh Rella had pitched a meaningless inning on Saturday after being left picking his pokey black nose all week. He walked Payne to get the inning underway as paynefully as possible. Pena was used to bunt the tying run to second base, but critically and uncharacteristically, Brayboy struck out. There was temptation to walk the switch-hitting Hertenstein intentionally, but Jared Paul was at .333 and why tempt the baseball gods? Hertenstein popped out to Waters on the first pitch, ending a miserable week with a miserable win. 1-0 Raccoons. Jimenez (PH) 1-1; Jackson 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-1);

In other news

April 27 – It’s a 30-game hitting streak for CIN 3B Jesus Burgos (.269, 1 HR, 11 RBI), who finds a fifth-inning single in a 7-6 loss against the Stars.
April 28 – The hitting streak of CIN 3B Jesus Burgos (.258, 1 HR, 11 RBI) ends in a 3-0 loss to the Stars as he goes 0-for-4, but a 20-game hitting streak is born for his teammate, rookie CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.409, 4 HR, 17 RBI) in the same game.
April 29 – No more hitting streaks – the Capitals hold CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.400, 4 HR, 17 RBI) dry in a 5-3 win over the Cyclones, ending his hitting streak at 20 games.
April 29 – SAC 1B/3B Sebastian Copeland (.289, 2 HR, 11 RBI) will be out for a month with an intercostal strain.
April 30 – Boston reliever Guillermo Vinales (0-2, 4.91 ERA) could miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum.
May 1 – A stretched elbow ligament puts OCT SP Lachlan Clarke (3-2, 3.58 ERA) out for the season.

FL Player of the Week: RIC LF/RF Pablo Gonzalez (.438, 8 HR, 34 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT OF Ethan Moore (.298, 3 HR, 16 RBI), batting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: RIC LF/RF Pablo Gonzalez (.451, 8 HR, 34 RBI)
CL Hitter of the Month: SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.380, 3 HR, 13 RBI)
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN SP Edward Flinn (5-0, 2.58 ERA)
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Alan Fleming (5-0, 1.59 ERA)
FL Rookie of the Month: CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.394, 4 HR, 17 RBI)
CL Rookie of the Month: OCT SS/2B Jonathan Ban (.273, 0 HR, 11 RBI)

Complaints and stuff

This is fine.

(pours from a bottle clearly marked with skulls and bones into a beaker with an already bubbling blue liquid)

The good news is – no one died. The bad news is – (glances into bubbling beaker) … I don’t think this is gonna do the job either.

Next week we’ll fudge up six games against the Indians and Miners.

Fun Fact: The Loggers pitched the first combined no-hitter in 13 years on Friday.

Back then it was Condors’ George Griffin, Ray Andrews, Steve Gowan, Pat Selby, and Erik David against the Wolves.

And Josh Boles was never before involved in a combined no-hitter, but Desi Bowles was (BOS vs. SFW, 2022).

And I am definitely going to visit that goddamn rope store soon…!

[Westheim]

Still shellshocked by last week’s implosion and 5-game losing streak, I wandered into the office in my old man pyjamas on Monday, promptly meeting a confused representatives from BOLOX Industries, one of our dearest sponsors. I shook his hand, then immediately broke into tears, weeping and clamoring that it was all horrible.

Raccoons (13-11) vs. Indians (11-13) – May 2-4, 2044

Also here, the Arrowheads. Last year’s season series had been split right down the middle after we had taken it three years in a row. They couldn’t score for their dear lives, still, with 3.1 runs per game to their credit, the worst mark in the Continental League. The pitching was average, and they allowed the fifth-fewest runs, but that still made for a rather unhealthy -24 run differential after only the month of April (Coons: -2).

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (3-1, 2.89 ERA) vs. Ayden Cobb (0-2, 5.79 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (1-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Bill Drury (4-1, 1.88 ERA)
Corey Mathers (3-1, 3.03 ERA) vs. Casey Pinter (1-3, 5.65 ERA)

Right, right, left from the Indians. Drury was 24 and had pitched to a 4.17 ERA with 20 losses in ’43. Whack ‘em, boys! – The Indians were without 3B Dan Hutson, who had wound up on the DL with elbow soreness, was reportedly healed up now, but was not eligible to come off the DL until after this series.

Game 1
IND: CF N. Galvan – SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – C Ebner – 2B E. Vargas – RF J. Sullivan – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B Round – P A. Cobb
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Baskins – 2B Gutierrez – 3B Jimenez – P Okuda

First time through, nobody but the pitchers reached under their own power, so it was immediately one of *those* games. Cobb singled off Okuda to be the first baserunner overall, Nelson Galvan also singled to left, but Manny Fernandez had Andrew Russ’ easy fly to left. Omar Gutierrez got on base on an error by Enrique Vargas, then was immediately doubled off by Ricky Jimenez, who must have had a big gulp from that poisoned well behind the ballpark, and there was no other logical explanation left. Okuda then walked, but was left stranded by Matt Waters… Sal Ayala opened the bottom 4th with a single, and was doubled off by Bryce Toohey. Yup, one of *those* games…

Baskins hit a triple in the fifth that saw him stranded, Waters got on to begin the sixth and was caught stealing, and when Ayala walked, Toohey hit into another double play; meanwhile Okuda whiffed eight through six innings, but also started to scatter more singles in the middle innings. Top 7th, Vargas whipped a leadoff double down the line in leftfield, but had to hold on a poor grounder by Jon Sullivan. Okuda lost Bill Quinteros on balls, then threw a wild pitch on which Kilmer also didn’t look great. Jim Round then hit the 2-1 pitch to center. Derek Baskins had it, Vargas went for home plate – and was thrown out! BOOM! Derek Baskins!!

And the Coons? Manny hit a leadoff single to center in the bottom 7th, swiftly followed by a speedy grounder to short off the bat of Kilmer, which Andrew Russ turned … into an error! Oh come on boys! But now! Baskins grounded out, advancing the runners at least, Gutierrez popped out to first, and Jimenez’ fly to left was easily caught by Danny Rivera. I was screaming into one of the pillows. Okuda then finally leaked a run in the eighth inning. Jason Rose hit a leadoff single in the #9 hole, was forced out by Galvan, but both Galvan and, after an infield single that cost me intense abdominal pain, Andrew Russ stole second base in the inning, and when Rivera flew out to center, Baskins could not throw out Galvan at home plate. Okuda was lifted after that, with Sean Ebner whiffed by Ramirez, but the Raccoons had booked their loss. They had nothing, absolutely nothing. The Indians had a ninth-inning homer by Quinteros off Norris. 2-0 Indians. Ayala 1-2, 2 BB; Okuda 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, L (3-2);

The damn Elks took the lead in the division on this Monday, beating the Crusaders 5-0. Probably for the remainder of the season again.

Absolutely ******* devastating.

Game 2
IND: SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – 1B B. Quinteros – RF Crocker – C J. Rose – 2B A. Avila – CF D. Diaz – 3B Round – P Drury
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – CF Baskins – 3B Cruz – SS Waters – C Zarate – P Wheatley

Three singles scored a run for Indy in the first inning, Rose getting the RBI with two outs. Ballgame! – I declared emphatically while dramatically extending both arms, and immediately got confirmation from Toohey hitting into ANOTHER ******* DOUBLE PLAY in the bottom 1st. The Coons loaded them up in the bottom 2nd, Manny hitting a leadoff single and Drury issuing walks to Baskins and Waters. Jose Zarate was up next, grounded to short for the next doub- no, Russ ****** that one up, too. The throwing error advanced everybody a base and tied the game, and Cristiano insisted that Russ had won a Gold Glove at one point, and I insisted that it could only have been in the Blind People’s League. Wheats gave himself the 2-1 lead with a grounder to the right side, and Carreno flew out to Nick Crocker to strand a pair in scoring position.

By the bottom 3rd on a Tuesday night, the Raccoons were desperate enough to hit-and-run once Sal Ayala was on first base and Toohey was wiggling the stick in the box. He grounded to short again, but this time Ayala was safe at second. Manny hit a single into the maws of Crocker, Ayala holding at third base, and runners were on the corners for Derek Baskins with one out, who slapped a ball past diving Quinteroses and Avilas on the right side for an RBI single, sending Manny to third base. Cruz grounded to Russ for a fielder’s choice, scoring a run, 4-1, and Drury walked Waters, the fifth free pass he had doled out in the game. Zarate came through with two outs, ramming a ball into the leftfield corner for a 2-out, 2-run triple …! Wheats then killed off Drury for good with an RBI single to center, extending his own lead to 7-1. Carreno flew out to Crocker again, but now it was solely on the sophomore to keep his **** together.

And he largely did! His pitch economy wasn’t *great*, and he was done after 111 pitches and 6.2 innings, but he shed only one run from the big outburst to his removal, and that was deemed totally acceptable (while the Raccoons went mostly meekly in the middle innings). Chuck Jones came on in a double switch that lifted Manny to pitch to the three lefty bats after Russ, and did so… but put the first two aboard and only retired Crocker, so the double switch turned out a bit moot. Jon Craig also shuffled the first two batters aboard in the eighth inning, then somehow wiggled out of his own mess. Zack Kelly did a little better, only parking the leadoff man on first in the ninth inning. The Raccoons never scored again, but at least held on to their early lead… 7-2 Critters. Fernandez 2-4; Baskins 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Waters 1-2, 2 BB; Wheatley 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (2-1) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

Game 3
IND: SS Russ – LF D. Rivera – 1B B. Quinteros – C J. Rose – CF J. Sullivan – RF N. Galvan – 2B Huber – 3B Round – P Pinter
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – CF Baskins – 3B Jimenez – RF Rosario – P Mathers

Two errors, a walk, two stolen bases, and an infield single into the bottom 1st, the Raccoons had gotten no farther than loading the bags with nobody out to shovel their own little graves. Carreno had reached on a Russ error, stole second and reached third on Rose’s bad throw. Waters walked, stole second, and Toohey rolled a ball near third base that kept the runners pinned, but also wasn’t played for an out at first base. Of course, the Raccoons all-time run expectancy with three on and no outs was negative a run and a half, so there was that. Manny hit a sac fly to right, which was at least the first run in the game. Kilmer then cleaned up the bases – with a homer to left! 4-0 Critters! Ricky Jimenez hit his first homer of the year with two outs, advancing his batting average all the way to .129, and Juan Rosario hit a dunker after that, getting his first major league hit after a few futile pinch-hitting assignments. The inning then ended with Mathers, who pitched rather well and held the Indians to two hits and a walk in the first four innings. The Indians meanwhile made errors in each of the three innings after the 5-run outburst, giving them FIVE errors by the end of the fourth. The Raccoons, always polite when food was not directly involved, declined to score on any of the free chances, and I was immediately filled with foreboding and reached for Slappy’s hand for some comfort. He handed me a bottle of booze instead, which was also *fine*.

The Coons tacked on a run without the aid of an error in the bottom 5th, with Kilmer and Jimenez getting hits, Rosario getting intentionally walked, and Mathers hitting a sac fly with the bases loaded. Carreno once more made the final out. No shutout for Corey Mathers materialized, though, since he started to get into longer counts by about the fifth inning, and then ran up a pitch count of 104 through seven innings and was not brought back afterwards. Moreno, Kelly, and Ramirez handled the last six outs, while doubles by Cruz and Toohey added one more run in the eighth inning. 7-0 Raccoons. Toohey 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Kilmer 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Jimenez 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Cruz (PH) 1-1, 2B; Mathers 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (4-1) and 0-2, RBI;

Raccoons (15-12) @ Miners (14-14) – May 6-8, 2044

A weekend trip to Pittsburgh, against whom the Raccoons had lost the last two meetings, two games to one each time. They were three games out in the FL East, eighth in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed, and dragged around a rotation with a collective 5.87 ERA.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (1-1, 3.81 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (1-3, 6.49 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (3-2, 2.52 ERA) vs. Josh Long (2-2, 4.73 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (2-1, 4.17 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (4-1, 4.57 ERA)

The set started with a left-hander, and then we’d see two righties.

The Raccoons skipped Brent Clark (0-5, 7.14 ERA), this time for real, and would try their luck with the bugger again later on. We’d also get Jesus Maldonado off the DL on Saturday, which made for another farewell assignment in the #8 hole for Juan Rosario.

Game 1
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 1B Toohey – C Kilmer – LF Baskins – 3B Jimenez – CF Anderson – RF Rosario – P Jackson
PIT: CF F. Rojas – 1B Santillano – RF Greenway – LF Marz – C Petroni – SS F. Vazquez – 3B Iverson – 2B M. Colon – P McMichael

And then it came otherwise – Van Anderson was knocked up in an on-base collision in the second inning and ended up subbed out and eventually headed to the DL with back stiffness. The Raccoons brought in Sal Ayala and realigned their outfield Rosario-Baskins-Toohey from left to right, preferring to get a slow Manny Fernandez the day off. The team failed to score despite a couple of early chances, like Carreno reaching second base to lead off the third inning on an error by Jonathan Iverson. Jackson retired Pittsburgh in order the first time through, but got no help from the other bums in the early innings.

Top 5th, leadoff walk for Carreno, who stole his 13th bag of the year, and then McMichael walked Waters behind him. Toohey struck out, but Kilmer drew the third walk of the inning and the fourth off the southpaw in the game. Baskins grounded to the right side, where Mario Colon tried for two, but only got Kilmer at second base, with Carreno scoring to put the Critters up 1-0. Jimenez, persistently foundering, grounded out to short, stranding a pair on the corners.

Jackson pitched a no-hitter into the sixth before Felix Rojas and Hall of Famer-in-waiting Danny Santillano poked soft singles to begin the bottom 6th and reached the corners. Former cometic, then cosmetic, Raccoon Troy Greenway hit a fly to center, and Baskins murdered another runner at home plate, throwing out Rojas with utmost precision. Santillano scooted his old bum over to second base on the play, but John Marz, better known on the Thunder in the CL, popped out to short. Baskins went on to single home Kilmer with two outs in the seventh inning, putting a ball into rightfield off Jay Coats, who had just replaced McMichael after Kilmer’s double to center. Jimenez popped out, and I wondered what the postage would be to send him back to Cuba.

The Raccoons rode Jackson for 7.2 innings and 96 pitches before the left-handed top of the order reappeared in the box. Chuck Jones had the potential for a 4-out save here, and got Rojas to fly out to left for a start. The Raccoons then got their hopefully final turns at-bat against recent Raccoon Tim Hale, who retired Carreno and Waters before we poured out the bench. Manny hit for Toohey and walked. He then scored on Jose Cruz’ double to left before Baskins flew out. The run was window dressing – while Jones walked Santillano to begin the bottom 9th, the Miners never got solid contact off him and made three quick outs after that. 3-0 Raccoons. Cruz (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Anderson 1-1; Jackson 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-1) and 1-4;

As indicated, Dr. Padilla diagnosed Van Anderson with back soreness and he was shifted onto the DL, which spared Rosario, batting 1-for-10, demotion to AAA as Jesus Maldonado came off the DL for the Saturday contest.

Game 2
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – 3B Jimenez – 2B Gutierrez – P Okuda
PIT: 2B Iverson – SS F. Vazquez – C Mercado – RF Marz – 1B Santillano – CF Burch – LF N. Duncan – 3B Liedtke – P J. Long

Maldonado *almost* hit a 3-run homer right off the DL, but was retired at the fence by Nick Duncan with Waters (walk) and Ayala (nicked) aboard in the top 1st. Manny hit an RBI single to left-center, but Toohey kept engorging himself with grounders to short and ended the inning in 6-4-3 fashion. The Raccoons would soon blow the lead in a collective meltdown in the second inning. Gutierrez’ error put Santillano on base to begin the inning, and Okuda walked Kevin Burch. Nick Duncan grounded out, while Toohey misplayed Keith Liedtke’s fly into a 2-run triple. Okuda then plated Liedtke with a wild pitch. 3-1 Miners, and my jaws were locked around the nearest handrail.

After another Jimenez bobble led to Santillano’s second infield single of the day in the fourth, I gave up on the game, even before Burch hit a homer to left that made it 5-1 on Okuda. Both pitchers exited in the top 5th, Okuda being hit for with Baskins who made the final out, and Long getting lifted by the Miners’ trainer after grimacing after releasing that final pitch of the inning. Not that it helped the Raccoons to get rid of the starting pitcher. Marty Madera pitched a scoreless sixth with Maldonado hitting into a double play, while Nelson Moreno bled a run on a single, a walk, and Felix Vazquez’ 2-out double. Manny hit a leadoff single against Madera in the seventh, then was doubled off by Toohey. What a clown show… And despite all the sucking, the Raccoons still got the tying run into the on-deck circle in the ninth inning, if only with two outs against Rich Kappel. The right-hander walked Maldo and Kilmer, with a Manny single in between. Jose Cruz batted for Jimenez, singling home a run in leftfield. Gutierrez struck out to end the game anyway. 6-2 Miners. Fernandez 3-4, RBI; Cruz (PH) 1-1, RBI;

We’ll just claim that was one of the 54 games you lose anyway…

Game 3
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – RF Fernandez – LF Baskins – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – C Zarate – P Wheatley
PIT: CF F. Rojas – 1B Santillano – RF Greenway – LF Marz – C Petroni – SS F. Vazquez – 3B Liedtke – 2B M. Colon – P I. Mendoza

There was little cooking for two innings in the rubber game on Sunday, but then Zarate opened the top 3rd with a double to left and Wheats singled to center, putting runners on the corners. Mendoza and Waters battled it out in a full count that ended up with Waters walking on a disputed call that got the Miners’ pitching coach ejected from the game for chirping. Of course, with three on and nobody out, the Miners had the Raccoons right where they wanted them, doomed. Ayala hit a sac fly to left, and Maldonado hit into another stinking double play. Wheats allowed one hit and struck out four the first time through the Pittsburgh lineup, which was fine indeed, then fell to 10 total bases by three consecutive hitters in the bottom 4th. Greenway homered to right. Marz doubled to right. Giampaolo Petroni homered to right.

Wheats’ little head appeared gone after that, too, with long counts and the defense keeping him alive, while the Raccoons’ no-luck streak continued. With Ayala on board in the sixth, Maldonado sent a 1-out drive to deep left that hit off the top of the fence – the very top! – but bounced back into play for merely a double instead of tying the game. Manny hit a sac fly to right, 3-2. Mendoza lost Baskins on balls, and then Carreno grounded to right, and barely through the reaching Colon’s turf. Maldo made angrily for home plate from second base, and was safe merely on Greenway’s mediocre throw that pulled Petroni off the bag. The game was tied indeed, somehow. Jimenez singled to left for a 4-3 lead, and Zarate hit another 2-out RBI single to center. Wheatley, on 71 pitches and somewhat discombobulated, was not batted for, struck out, but got through the bottom 6th on nothing more than a clean 2-out single by Keith Liedtke.

Mendoza was knocked out in the seventh on Maldo’s RBI double to right, cashing in Ayala, 6-3. Manny and Baskins made outs, while Wheats struck out Devon Ponto to begin the bottom of the inning, then was lifted for Chuck Jones before the left-handed top of the order could do harm to him. Jones came in with a double switch that replaced Manny with Toohey in right. He still couldn’t get rid of Santillano, but the old Miner’s single dissipated between a Rojas K and Greenway’s groundout. The Raccoons crowded Marty Madera for a run in the eighth, Ayala bringing home Carreno, moving out to a 4-run lead. Josh Rella nevertheless had to be bothered in the bottom of the ninth after Colon and Rojas hit singles off Jon Craig, coming on with one out and staring at Santillano right away. Somehow, Santillano became the last batter in the game, spanking a 2-2 pitch at Ricky Jimenez for a 5-4-3 double play. 7-3 Raccoons. Ayala 3-4, 2 RBI; Maldonado 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Carreno 2-4, BB, RBI; Jimenez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Zarate 2-4, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 3 – A new hitting streak reaches 20 games in the Federal League, with DAL 2B Hugo Acosta (.435, 2 HR, 27 RBI) reaching the mark with a first-inning single in a 4-2 win over the Warriors.
May 4 – Season over for INF/RF Ted Del Vecchio (.275, 1 HR, 9 RBI), who suffered a major concussion in a nasty on-base collision with BOS 3B Ivan Lugo (.295, 1 HR, 16 RBI) on Monday. Del Vecchio fell into the path of the sliding Lugo, reaching for a feed by pitcher Jose de Lucio (2-3, 4.01 ERA), and got inadvertently struck in the head by Lugo’s knee. The Loggers rallied for a late win in the game, 5-4.
May 4 – 40-year-old VAN SP Brandon Nickerson (2-1, 4.94 ERA) is headed for major elbow surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon and is out for a full 12 months at least.
May 4 – NYC 1B/2B Mario Briones (.290, 2 HR, 15 RBI) goes 5-for-5 with a homer, a double, and 3 RBI, but the Crusaders lose to the Canadiens, 8-6.
May 4 – The only scoring in the Falcons’ 2-0 win over the Bayhawks is procured by CHA SS Tony Aparicio (.231, 3 HR, 11 RBI) hitting a walkoff home run.
May 4 – Titans and Loggers play 12 scoreless innings before the Bostonians break out for three runs in the top of the 13th inning, holding on to win 3-0 in the end. The teams land a grand total of nine hits in the game.
May 5 – The Wolves walk off in both ends of a double header with the Gold Sox, winning 3-2 in 13 innings in the first game, and 5-4 in regulation in the second.
May 6 – CIN SP Willie Gallardo (3-1, 4.54 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Titans for a 5-0 win.
May 8 – DAL 2B Hugo Acosta (.415, 2 HR, 33 RBI) runs his hitting streak to 25 games. He collects three hits in an 11-4 rush of the Canadiens.

FL Player of the Week: NAS C Jorge Santa Cruz (.336, 5 HR, 23 RBI), splattering .556 (15-27) with 2 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT C Jesus Adames (.278, 7 HR, 19 RBI), barraging .370 (10-27) with 5 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

A couple of BABIP’s to pull all your fur out:
Ayala .263
Carreno .253
Maldonado .226
Manny .225
Waters .186

I wonder what it is with Matt Waters – besides a particularly strong gypsy curse. It had already been this bad a few years ago in Ham Lake and it wasn’t getting any better either…

The standings show the damn Elks behind us again after they briefly took the lead on Monday. I am already weary of their proximity and it won’t get much better in the near future, with the Critters having to go to Elk City on the weekend. We’ll stop over to play the Gold Sox at home in between. The schedule will not make much sense beyond that either, going from Elk City to New York, then home to play the Condors, and then out to San Francisco for three games. We’ll also have a single-series road trip down I-5 to L.A. in June.

June will be a tough month; we’ll only play eight home games, never getting consecutive home series. Oh well, at least I won’t run into Nick Valdes as much then…

Fun Fact: 30 years ago today, two players both hit three home runs in a game.

That was SFW Jamie Wilson landing three in an 11-2 rout of the Scorpions on May 8, 2014, and future Raccoon Gil Rockwell, on the Knights, against the Bayhawks. Atlanta lost that game, 6-5.

Rockwell’s game was the only instance between Liam Wedemeyer in 1995 (also a future Raccoon) and Tim Stackhouse in 2037 in which a player hit three home runs in a game, his team lost the game, and the Raccoons were not involved.

Pat Sanford of the Condors hit three homers against us on May 28, 2024, but we beat them, 9-8. Carlos de la Riva of these Miners repeated the feat on June 17, 2027, but we prevailed again, 10-9.

But we lost all those games where a stinking Elk went deep three times in the 2020s… Alex Torres, John Calfee, Brian Wojnarowski – all losses for Portland.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (17-13) vs. Gold Sox (17-15) – May 9-11, 2044

The Gold Sox had their own 5-game losing streak at this point, something the Raccoons had suffered two weeks ago. They were sixth in runs scored, with a team that had the third-lowest OBP in the Federal League, but stole the most bases, somehow; and they allowed the fewest runs in the FL, which was kind of wicked for a team based on a mountaintop. We had not lost a series to the Gold Sox since 2030, but had played them only four times, either. The last series win was in 2042, two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Corey Mathers (4-1, 2.50 ERA) vs. Matt Hose (2-1, 3.30 ERA)
Brent Clark (0-5, 7.14 ERA) vs. Edward Flinn (5-0, 2.53 ERA)
Jake Jackson (2-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Brad Quintero (4-2, 3.33 ERA)

The Sox had two left-handed starters, and somehow we’d not face any of them.

Game 1
DEN: 3B Hornig – RF J. Gomez – 2B R. Thompson – CF S. Castillo – C R. Rodriguez – 1B J. Robinson – LF Napoles – SS Malfati – P Hose
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Mathers

Through three innings, both teams had three hits, a 50-minute rain delay, and a guy thrown out on the bases; Waters was caught stealing for Portland, while Hose was thrown out at home plate by Maldonado on Ronnie Thompson’s fly to center with one out and runners on the corners in the top 3rd. Nobody scored, but everybody was wet thanks to the typical Portland weather, regardless of season. Mathers looked pretty good despite the rain and all until he didn’t anymore. Top 5th, Lopo Malfati led off with a single to center and was bunted to second. Jeremy Hornig singled, and Jose Gomez hit another single to right to put the Gold Sox on top. Hornig went to third, but Gomez was caught stealing trying to nip second base before Ronnie Thompson legged out an infield single to get Hornig across. All in all, four singles got two runs across in the inning. For Portland, even a leadoff double by Ricky Jimenez in the bottom 5th wasn’t good enough to score anything… and the same **** repeated in the seventh inning when Kilmer socked a leadoff double, and was also stranded thanks to ****** hitting through and through.

The bullpen held up for the time being, whatever that was good for, and the 2-0 game saw the tying runs getting on base with one out in the bottom 8th, Ayala and Maldo reaching. Manny grounded into a fielder’s choice to remove Maldo from the basepaths, which helped nothing, and Toohey’s grounder to short was absolutely no better, except that Malfati fumbled that one, and Ayala scored on the error. Hose hung in there against Kilmer, who got ahead 2-1 and then got a fat pitch that he disappeared into the gap in right-center. Sandy Castillo had to chase it all the way to the fence, and the tying and go-ahead runs scored in a stunning development. Gutierrez hit for Carreno and lined out to right, which gave the ball back to Alex Ramirez, who had gotten the last out in the top of the eighth, with Josh Rella having thrown two days in a row. Chuck Jones would be in reserve. He entered the game after David Pinedo flew out in the #9 hole and Tim Turner, a lefty hitter, came out in place of Hornig. Jones got a grounder to short, then faced another pinch-hitter, right-hander Justin Bator. Oh well, he’s got no power, what’s the worst that can… y’know…? Slappy, say something, I need confirmation. Chuck Jones gave me the confirmation, getting a pop to Gutierrez at second base to end the game. 3-2 Raccoons. Waters 2-4; Kilmer 2-3, BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI;

All our runs were unearned.

Sigh.

Game 2
DEN: LF J. Gomez – 1B Napoles – 2B R. Thompson – CF S. Castillo – C R. Rodriguez – 3B Hornig – RF T. Turner – SS Malfati – P Flinn
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – C Kilmer – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – CF Baskins – 2B Gutierrez – 3B Jimenez – P Clark

Brent Clark, skipped the last time through, spent over 30 pitches on the first inning, delivering another clunker with three full counts, a walk to Alfredo Napoles, a Ronnie Thompson single, and then a 2-out, 2-run double whacked by Ricky Rodriguez; somewhere in between, a wild pitch. It was gross. It was also a problem we hadn’t foreseen when building this roster. The second was less ****, but in the third he loaded the bases again with two hits and a walk and then was rescued by Manny Fernandez and a running grab on Hornig’s drive in left-center that ended the inning. Turner drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, but was doubled up by Malfati.

After five innings of ********, Brent Clark was hit for in the bottom 5th with Gutierrez (walk) and Jimenez (nicked) on base and one gone. The same situation had yielded a Bryce Toohey 4-6-3 in the bottom 4th, ending that inning, and now Jose Cruz batted, popped out, and Waters whiffed to piss another chance away. The Gold Sox loaded the bags against Norris in the sixth, but didn’t score when Gomez flew out to center. Ricky Rodriguez hit a 2-run homer off Zack Kelly in the seventh, which I doubted would matter much in the end, given that the Raccoons couldn’t hit a ******* thing.

Of course I was wrong about that, too. After seven innings of 3-hit ball Flinn began to melt in the eighth inning. Waters hit a 1-out single to right, followed by back-to-back RBI doubles by Ayala (to center) and Kilmer (to right). Manny Fernandez singled through Thompson to put the tying runs on the corners for “Double Play” Toohey, who popped out, and Baskins grounded out… The ninth was no better… 4-2 Gold Sox. Kilmer 2-3, 2B, RBI; Fernandez 2-4;

Game 3
DEN: RF N. Mercado – LF T. Turner – 2B R. Thompson – CF S. Castillo – 1B J. Robinson – 3B Hornig – C Pinedo – SS Napoles – P B. Quintero
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Zarate – 3B Cruz – 2B Carreno – RF Rosario – P Jackson

Jackson shed a single to Thompson in the first, but the Raccoons had the bases loaded in the inning, with walks drawn by Waters and Manny, while Sal Ayala hit a single. Quintero fell to 3-1 against Zarate, who then swung at the next pitch, while I screamed in terror, only to open my eyes to the sight of Tim Turner tracking down a double in leftfield, and two runs scoring. Jose Cruz brought in another run with a groundout, with Carreno rolling out to end the inning.

The Sox had the leadoff man on in the next two innings, the guy – first Jason Robinson, then Nelson Mercado – stole second base, and yet was stranded both times. Hornig and Napoles then hit singles off Jackson in the fourth, bringing up the pitcher with two aboard and two down for the second time in the game. Quintero had struck out to end the bottom 2nd, but this time lobbed a single to center. Hornig was sent around third base – and thrown out by Maldonado. Bottom of the inning, Carreno hit a leadoff single, then stole his 15th base of the year. Juan Rosario remained useless, but Jackson came through with a soft RBI single into no man’s land in right-center, getting Carreno around from second base for a 4-0 lead. Waters singled to shallow center after that, and Ayala hit a gapper for a 2-run triple that ended Quintero’s day, 6-0. Maldo grounded out to third baseman Jeremy Hornig against Gabe McGill, but that was only the second out, and Manny instead closed Quintero’s line at 3.1 IP, 7 ER with a single to left, the last blip in the 4-run fourth.

With that it was about nursing Jackson, who had somehow thrown 78 pitches in four shutout innings, which was decidedly not great. He walked Thompson in the fifth, and needed 21 more pitches to get through the inning, putting him at 99 for the day. He still batted for himself in the bottom 5th, the Raccoons desiring another out or two if possible at all. He got two, then nailed Pinedo with pitch #109, and was sent for the showers. Ramirez conceded the run on a Napoles double before ringing up Bator to end the sixth, up by six. Manny Fernandez countered with a 2-run homer off Adrien Calabresi in the bottom of the inning. Rosario hit a single in the seventh, then made an error in the eighth that led to an unearned run on Jon Craig, but apart from that the Raccoons shook the game home without any more pains. 9-2 Raccoons! Waters 2-4, BB, 2B; Ayala 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Fernandez 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Carreno 2-4, 2B;

With that the Raccoons arrived at an off day, which Juan Rosario used to travel to St. Pete again, hitting .133 in his time here. Jonathan Dustal came off the DL for the weekend.

Where’s the weekend set, Maud?

Oh.

Raccoons (19-14) @ Canadiens (18-17) – May 13-15, 2044

The Raccoons saw the damn Elks lose to the Blue Sox on Thursday, the Raccoons’ day off, and thus drop to two games out, meaning winning only one game would be enough to maintain sole possession of first place by Sunday night. They were first in runs scored, and first from the bottom in runs allowed, which I still found inexplicable. Their run differential was -13. Rotation, pen, defense – all rancid. They had no speed, but were first in OBP in the Continental League. We had missed Jerry Outram (.357, 4 HR, 14 RBI) and Dan Schneller (.318, 3 HR, 17 RBI) in the series in Portland, in which we won two out of three to begin the season series, but they were now back. Their only injury was pitcher Brandon Nickerson, who was lost for the year.

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (3-3, 2.95 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (2-0, 2.66 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-1, 4.19 ERA) vs. Paul Mevec (1-6, 8.84 ERA)
Corey Mathers (4-1, 2.56 ERA) vs. David Arias (1-2, 3.29 ERA)

Again no southpaw, which would have been Alex Lewis (3-2, 5.08 ERA) in this case.

Game 1
POR: 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – SS Waters – 3B Jimenez – 2B Carreno – P Okuda
VAN: 3B Malkus – C Clemente – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – RF C. Robinson – 1B J. Lopez – LF V. Vazquez – SS Riquenes – P Godinez

Both teams had the leadoff man on base in the first and third innings, and nobody scored. The Raccoons had a leadoff single from Ayala in the first, a leadoff walk (!) drawn by Okuda in the third, and it was all for naught. Maldonado rolled a leadoff single in the fourth, stole second base, and reached third when Waters poked at a 3-1 pitch and legged out the resulting infield grounder. That single also got Waters over the .200 mark for the season. Waters could not get a good jump, but reached second base anyway when Ricky Jimenez, batting a sturdy .157, drew a walk. Oh god, three on, no outs. Having had to stay behind on the trusty brown couch and snuggling up to Honeypaws by default, and to Slappy once it got dicey with Okuda, who had lost three straight decisions, I feared the worst – no runs – again. Nothing to worry, though. Carreno flew out to right, and Maldonado went for home. Chris Robinson would have had him dead at the plate, but the throw was short, bounced off Timóteo Clemente, and Maldo slid in safe, the remaining runners advancing behind him. Okuda struck out, Ayala flew out, holding the damage to one run.

Okuda nursed the 1-0 through five innings. The fifth ended with a deep fly out to left by Travis Malkus, with Okuda on both three hits and strikeouts. A leadoff walk to Clemente was not the greatest beginning to the sixth, and kindly asked, Outram singled to right. Dan Schneller popped out. Robinson flew out to Maldonado, with Clemente zigging it to third base. Waters handled Johnny Lopez’ grounder to end the inning, though. Okuda then retired Vazquez, Sergio Riquenes, and Arnout van der Zanden in order in the bottom 7th, ending up over 100 pitches, but still with a 1-0 shutout. The Raccoons then fired off three straight 2-out hits off John Roeder in the eighth, doubles by Manny and Maldo, followed by an RBI single from Waters, to extend the lead to 3-0 and allowing me to unclench myself from Slappy’s upper arm.

Then the Elks put the first two batters aboard against Jon Craig in the bottom 8th, on a Malkus single and Carreno error, making me re-clench Slappy’s arm immediately. Chuck Jones came on for Outram, gave up an RBI single, nailed Schneller, and struck out Robinson. Ramirez then replaced him, struck out PH Julio Diaz, and got a cozy fly to center from Vazquez to boogie out of the damn inning while still up 3-1. Top 9th, Carreno singled with one out. Cruz grounded out, advancing him. Roeder put on Zarate, hitting for Ayala, then was yanked for Sebastian Parham. When Bryce Toohey doubled home a pair beating Outram’s range in center, the Coons were up 5-1, and I was able to get off Slappy’s lap again. Derek Baskins hit for Kilmer, 0-for-4 in the game, and singled to right for another run. Manny struck out, handing the ball to Moreno, who got around a 2-hit by Malkus to win the game. 6-1 Coons!! Ayala 2-4; Baskins (PH) 1-1, RBI; Maldonado 2-4, 2B, RBI; Waters 4-4, RBI; Okuda 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-3);

Very nice! (high-fives with Cristiano, Slappy, and Honeypaws)

First place was safe through the weekend, and once more we were the only team above .500 in this division. The Elks were at .500, even with the Titans, and everybody else was at least four games under .500 at this point.

Game 2
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – RF Toohey – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – C Zarate – 3B Cruz – 2B Carreno – P Wheatley
VAN: LF van der Zanden – RF C. Robinson – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Ju. Diaz – 1B M. Hernandez – 3B Malkus – SS Price – P Medvec

The Elks lineup grinded Wheatley to dust from the start. Many long counts, right from the get-go, and he needed almost 50 pitches just ONCE through the order. No runs, scored, mind, but the bases were in the process of filling up with third-inning hits by Rick Price and Paul Medvec, and then a 1-out walk to Arnout van der Zanden. Chris Robinson struck out swinging in a full count, but that still brought up Outram, the monster, who had hit into a double play his first time up. No luck this time – Outram singled in two with a liner to right, Schneller hit an RBI single to left, and the damn Elks were up 3-0, because of course the Raccoons did not do **** to a pitcher with an 8+ ERA, neither early, nor later. They didn’t have a HIT until Manny dropped a single in the fourth, moving Ayala to second base with two outs. Maldonado of course struck out. After Wheats struck out the side in anger in the bottom 4th, Zarate and Cruz opened the fifth with hits, bringing the tying run to the plate again, and with nobody out. Carreno struck out, Wheatley hit into a double play, then gave up a leadoff double to Medvec in the bottom of the inning, and conceding the run on Robinson’s sac fly. (angrily throws empty bottle of booze against the wall, making a new stain)

The sixth, two more Critters on base to begin the inning. Waters walked, Ayala doubled to right. The runs scored this time – on a 2-base throwing error by Price on Toohey’s grounder. WHATEVER ******* WORKS. Manny and Maldo didn’t, remaining mired in the muck in May. Jose Zarate, though, homered to left with two outs, tying the ******* game all on ******* unearned runs against a ******* tosser who STILL had a 7.68 ERA after 5.2 innings of no-earned-runs ball against the Stumblecoons.

Then Schneller socked a leadoff jack off Wheatley in the bottom 6th. Two more singles knocked out the pitcher, with Zack Kelly inching out of the inning. The Raccoons kept teasing though, now facing left-hander Juan Vela. Carreno singled to left to begin the seventh, and Waters singled with one out. There was no stealing on Vela, who had one of the best moves in the league. The Raccoons called a hit-and-run anyway with Ayala at the plate. The boldness of it all shocked even the Elks, Diaz looking on befuddledly after Ayala swung and miss, and with the tying and go-ahead runs now in scoring position. Ayala hit a shy single to the right side that Schneller tipped and deadened, but had to scamper after and had no play on – that one tied the game. Toohey and Manny made poor outs, though, and the go-ahead run was stranded. (groans!)

Instead, Jon Craig was shaken up for another two hits in the bottom 8th, and conceded the go-ahead run on Clemente’s pinch-hit sac fly. I was barking at the TV with very foul words, but that didn’t help – it was still Parham with a 1-run lead in the ninth. Baskins led off in the #9 hole, hitting for Jimenez, who had gotten in there in a double switch earlier. He grounded out, but at least he made contact. Waters and Ayala didn’t. 6-5 Canadiens. Ayala 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Zarate 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Dustal (PH) 1-1;

…!

Game 3
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – C Kilmer – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – 3B Cruz – 2B Carreno – RF Dustal – P Mathers
VAN: LF van der Zanden – RF C. Robinson – CF Outram – 2B Schneller – C Ju. Diaz – 1B M. Hernandez – 3B Malkus – SS Price – P D. Arias

Waters struck out to begin the game, but walks to the next two batters and a shy infield single by Maldonado loaded the bases eventually. Cruz fell behind 1-2 before whacking away at the next pitch and sending a deep fly to – GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!

After I helped Cristiano back into his wheelchair after I had exaltedly thrown him out of it with a too enthusiastic puff on the upper arm, I had to agonize over Mathers, who allowed hits to Robinson and Outram in the bottom 1st, then conceded a run on a wild pitch. Not great, and that Manny Fernandez threw out Malkus at home plate on a 2-out double by Arias in the second inning was also not – well, the throw was, but the situation in itself was not so much… Mathers also got to touch second base a bit later, though, reaching it on a throwing error by Diaz in the fourth inning, following Dustal’s 1-out single to center. He was then doubled off second base when Waters lined out to Price, and Mathers was caught off his spot, which also ended the inning. At this stage, Mathers also liked to give up loud contact, which made me sit on Slappy’s lap and holding onto his neck with both arms again.

But Portland scratched out another run in the fifth, with Kilmer getting nicked, advancing on a wild pitch, and scoring on Maldo’s 2-out single. Now Schneller threw away a Cruz grounder for two bases, putting a pair in scoring position. Arturo Carreno pounced, pushed a 2-2 pitch through the left side for a 2-out, 2-run single, and Arias got the axe for the day, down 7-1, five runs being earned. With Lazaro Cavazos on the mound, Carreno stole second, then scored on Dustal’s single, 8-1. Mathers flew out – but we were now hoping for some more lengths. He had thrown 50 pitches through four innings. He’d throw 44 more, but only reached one out in the seventh. Outram homered off him in the sixth (after a bevvy of hits had given the Raccoons three more runs in the top of the inning), and Malkus opened the bottom 7th with a leadoff triple to left. Price walked, and Justin Becker hit a scary-deep sac fly to get rid of Mathers. Chuck Jones got out of the inning, while Maldonado hit a 2-run homer off Ryan McConnell to continue the utter rout in progress, now at 13-3. That was the final scoring event in the game – with the damn Elks laying down their weapons and passing under the yoke … for now. 13-3 Furballs!! Gutierrez 1-1; Fernandez 3-5, RBI; Maldonado 4-5, HR, 3 RBI; Cruz 2-4, BB, HR, 6 RBI; Dustal 3-5, RBI;

In other news

May 10 – DAL 2B Hugo Acosta (.406, 2 HR, 33 RBI) goes hitless in three tries against the Condors, ending his hitting streak at 25 games. The rest of the Stars are not quite as unproductive and win the game, 5-1.
May 10 – Wolves and Loggers play 14 innings before the visiting Wolves scratch out a 6-5 lead. The Loggers had led 5-1 after five before slowly, slooowly eroding away.
May 12 – The Thunder send C Dan Whitley (.405, 1 HR, 3 RBI) to the Titans, and pick up OF/1B Cullen Tortora (.229, 1 HR, 10 RBI) and a prospect.
May 13 – The Falcons beat the Cyclones, 3-0, on only two base hits, one of which is a 3-run homer by 1B/LF/RF Ed Haertling (.205, 4 HR, 13 RBI).
May 13 – BOS SP Jamal Barrow (2-4, 2.91 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Indians, ringing up nine for a 3-0 win.
May 14 – The Stars beat the Pacifics, 1-0 in 10 innings. SS Jon Ramos (.365, 0 HR, 6 RBI) singles home the game’s only run and goes 2-for-2 off the bench.

FL Player of the Week: SAC 1B/LF/RF Eddie Moreno (.349, 11 HR, 28 RBI), hitting .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 1B/RF/LF Aaron Brayboy (.266, 5 HR, 20 RBI), batting .481 (13-27) with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Hah!! **** THE ELKS!! Bums!! (giggles)

I know, I know, Maud. The baseball gods can hear me. – Yes, the neighbors, too.

What do with Brent Clark, who shaved half a run off his ERA on Tuesday, but … eh… ya. He will be skipped again with a day off on Monday (after that: Crusaders, Condors), and who knows what happens by the weekend.

Courtesy report on AAA starting pitching: Merino, Montano, Lambert, and Vargas all had ERA’s at or over five. Tony Negrete had a 3.79 ERA with 34 walks in 40.1 innings. Adam Capone was the brightest spot yet with a 2.23 ERA, but he was also walking 4.7 per nine innings and was bailed out by a .248 BABIP. Merino might still be the best bet with a 5.40 ERA, although the individual numbers were not *that* bad. 3.7 BB/9, 6.7 K/9 (all better than Capone). BABIP of .302, which was not bad my any means. How he wound up with a 5.40 ERA then? No real explanation. Four good starts, three clunkers with 6+ runs. So, Clark will continue to fumble games? He’s lost every game he’s started, and that with a .260 BABIP…

There’s also no real offense on that team. Ruben Gonzalez is coming along fine, and there is some hitting done by Jay de Wit and Brian Snyder, but apart from that it’s mostly gruesome there. Appropriately, the Alley Cats are a dim 9-22. Our lower-level teams have winning records (marginally) at this stage.

The Warriors fired most of their front office and manager on Friday the 13th, which is superb timing for a then 12-23 team.

Fun Fact: Jose Cruz has almost twice Ricky Jimenez’ OPS, but is only half as efficient in the field.

That pairing at third base will give me headaches going forwards…

[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-15) @ Crusaders (16-21) – May 17-19, 2044

After an off day on Monday, it was time for the first meeting of the year with the Crusaders, who were eighth in both runs scored and runs allowed, who couldn’t hit for power (bottoms in homers, extra-base hits and slugging percentage), but had a stingy pitching staff that did not yield walks and kept it in the ballpark. The defense on the other hand… We had beaten them to years in a row, 10-8 each time.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (3-1, 2.81 ERA) vs. Rich Willett (2-4, 4.11 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (4-3, 2.51 ERA) vs. Aaron Hickey (2-3, 3.03 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (3-1, 4.66 ERA) vs. Ernie Quintero (3-4, 3.91 ERA)

Only right-handers expected here. But things soon enough got complicated when it rained all of Tuesday, giving us a double-header on Wednesday, while behind us the Titans won two from the damn Elks to begin the week, moving to within one game by Tuesday night. The Raccoons stuck to their rotation as originally scheduled, but we’d have to get creative by the weekend.

Game 1
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – C Kilmer – LF Fernandez – CF Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Jackson
NYC: SS Adame – 1B Riley – C Alba – 2B Briones – LF A. Montes – RF J. Davis – CF Salek – 3B Riario – P Willett

The team that didn’t hit for extra bases or for homers, hit for both of them right in the first inning, which saw Jackson shuffle the bases full with a double by Alex Adame, a Dan Riley single, a walk to Fernando Alba, and then saw them emptied by a Mario Briones blast to left. That was four runs in a stroke, and I stoically marked an L in my pocket schedule… Maldonado pulled a run back with a solo homer in the second inning, but the Crusaders waffled Jackson for four hits and two runs in the bottom 2nd. At that point, the aforementioned creativity kicked in. Jackson, the dumb ****, was to lead off the top 3rd at the plate, but was hit for with Omar Gutierrez, while Brent Clark was sent down to the pen to warm up as quickly as possible, while we’d waste Nate Norris in a holding pattern move.

It didn’t get much better, though; Rich Willett, ex-Coon, hit Maldonado in the paw with a pitch, and Maldonado tried to cure the searing pain with excessive shaking. At least Willett seemed to be genuinely sorry for mauling Maldo, but he still had to come out of the game in favor of Derek Baskins, who was stranded on base. The fifth inning, however, began with a Jimenez double to center. Clark popped out, but Matt Waters hit a jack to get the Coons back to 6-3. Ayala singled, Kilmer walked, and suddenly the tying run was at the plate. Manny dropped a bloop single to load the bases before Willett balked in a run at 2-1 to Baskins, who hit a single on the next pitch, narrowing the gap to 6-5 with Manny at third base as the tying run. “D.P.” Toohey was at the plate, though – but we had already gone through two bench players, so pinch-hitting was utterly not an option, plus it was the middle of May, not Game 7. Toohey hit a liner to left for a game-tying double, knocking out Willett, and I was sort of stunned by it all. Right-hander Jeff Frank however stalled the remaining runners, getting a pop from Carreno an a fly to left from Jimenez.

The game got more … bizarre? …stupid? …when the Raccoons kept Clark around in the vain hopes he might actually retire somebody without a heroic play on defense, he was still pitching in the bottom 6th with Alba on base after a 1-out single. Clark went on to loudly bean Mario Briones, who went down at once, and remained down for five minutes before being picked up and walked off slowly by the trainer. With concussions being a thing, Jared Kahn ran for him, while the Raccoons had seen enough of Clark (six runners in 2.1 innings), and went to Zack Kelly, who conceded the go-ahead run on an Andy Montes double to right. Kahn was thrown out at home plate by Toohey, aiding the Critters out of the inning, then hit a leadoff jack off Mike Lynn, left-hander, to tie the game in the eighth. Carreno singled, Jimenez singled, and PH Jose Cruz drew a full-count walk off Lynn. Three on, no outs, a deep sigh by the Raccoons GM, who was soon treated to sharply spanked grounder by Matt Waters to Vittorio Riario. Carreno was out at home, and Waters stumbled out of the box and was out at first base. Ayala walked. Kilmer struck out. Nobody scored.

How about extra innings? The Coons stranded Baskins and his 1-out double in the ninth inning (Toohey was walked intentionally), and Jon Craig pitched two flawless if futile innings to extend a 7-7 tie into overtime. Jose Zarate batted for Craig to begin the 10th, was nailed by Luis Villagomez, then bunted to second by Waters, from where Jonathan Dustal would run for him… or rather stand around until the Raccoons made enough ****** outs to end the inning. Alex Ramirez got the ball in the bottom 10th, retiring Salek and Riario before giving up a single to Villagomez, reliever by day, and stepping stone at night. Ramirez got rightly undressed for that misdeed and the two walks he issued to Adame and Riley after that. Elliott Thompson ended the game with a ******* duck snort behind Carreno for a walkoff single. 8-7 Crusaders. Ayala 2-4, 2 BB; Maldonado 1-1, HR, RBI; Baskins 2-3, 2B, RBI; Toohey 3-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Jimenez 2-5, 2B; Craig 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Well, wasn’t that a delightfully **** game?

Ups and downs: down – we have to play another one before sunrise. Down – we’ll play it without Maldo, who was cooling his paw (but might be available for pinch-hitting later on… or the paw might fall off, knowing our luck…). Down – we had obviously ******* lost. And down: we only had three relievers left (Rella, Jones, Moreno).

Also down: another loss would hand first place to Boston, with the Titans winning three straight from the faltering Elks.

Sorry, no ups. Nothing here was ever up.

Game 2
POR: SS Waters – 3B Cruz – 1B Ayala – LF Fernandez – CF Dustal – RF Toohey – C Zarate – 2B Gutierrez – P Okuda
NYC: 3B Riario – SS Adame – 2B Kahn – LF D. Martinez – RF J. Davis – 1B Riley – C E. Thompson – CF Salek – P Hickey

New York went up in the first again, getting leadoff singles from Riario and Adame, then a sac fly from Kahn. When the Raccoons got two leadoff singles from Manny and Dustal in the top 2nd, they also got another double play from Toohey, and didn’t score.

The first two Fritt- … Critters were on base again in the fourth inning, Cruz and Ayala in that case. Manny ran a 3-1 count against Hickey, which I loathed, because three on, no outs, no runs was creeping up on me again, raising the fur on my back. But Manny swung at three-and-one, and hit a ball to left-center for an RBI double, tying the game at one. Dustal was out on a pop in shallow left, but Toohey found a hole for a 2-run single, with a 2-out grounder not readily available, getting the Coons up 3-1. An extra run would be driven in by Ayala the inning after, bringing in Waters, who had forced out Okuda (leadoff single), then had stolen second base, with two outs, 4-1. Manny singled, but Dustal grounded out, ending the inning.

Okuda did not get a walk or strikeout through three innings, then piled up a bunch of both in the middle innings, running up his pitch count. He got through six with only the one run on the board, though, which was already halfway decent considering the scant relief available yet. Also – Okuda was used to pitch all day from Japan. He retired the 6-7-8 in order in the bottom 7th, and got over 100 pitches in the process, but claimed to have plenty left in the tank. He got two outs on two pitches in the bottom 8th before walking Adame in a full count. Kahn grounded out, leaving only three outs to be collected. Okuda was pinch-hit for to begin the ninth, but Jimenez grounded out in his spot. With two outs, Maldonado batted for Cruz indeed and walked, then was run for by Baskins to prevent him from jamming his paw into a base. An Ayala K ended the inning anyway. Thus it was Rella with a 3-run lead in the bottom 9th. Dave Martinez and John Davis both struck out before Riley drew a 2-out walk. Elliott Thompson, who had ended the first game of the double-header, also ended this one – with a K. 4-1 Raccoons. Cruz 2-4; Ayala 3-5, RBI; Fernandez 3-4, 2B, RBI; Toohey 2-4, 2 RBI; Okuda 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, W (5-3) and 1-3;

Thus, first place was retained, and some pen was left over for Thursday. Only Craig and Kelly had thrown more than one inning among the fulltime relievers on Tuesday, so five pen dwellers were available no questions asked. And then there was Brent Clark (0-6, 6.44 ERA) – too many questions needing answering here.

Maldonado got one day off on Thursday to rest the paw, but was available for pinch-hitting again. Baskins was plugged into centerfield for the rubber game.

Game 3
POR: SS Waters – CF Baskins – 1B Ayala – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Toohey – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Wheatley
NYC: SS Adame – 1B Riley – C Alba – RF A. Montes – 3B Riario – CF Salek – LF J. Davis – 2B D. Myers – P Paris

While Wheats pitched opposite right-hander Paul Paris (3-0, 4.74 ERA), Derek Baskins hit a solo jack in the first for an early lead that was immediately blown when Adame and Riley hit singles and Montes found a sac fly in the bottom 1st. It was 3-1 New York the following inning, both runs unearned thanks to Jimenez fudging a grounder by Rich Salek to begin the inning. Salek stole second, and hits by ex-Coon Dave Myers and Alex Adame both drove in a run in the inning. Wheats hit a double in the top 3rd, but was stranded, before the top 4th began with Ayala walking and Manny lining a double to right. The tying runs were in scoring position, and we still had a few guys coming up that were actually able to hit a baseball. Kilmer shoved the first pitch he got through the hole on the left side for an RBI single, 3-2. Toohey did basically the same, tying the score. Carreno became the third Critter in a row to hit a single through between Riario and Adame, loading the bases with nobody – oh, ****. Jimenez shook things up by singling to center (!), bringing in Kilmer with the go-ahead run. Wheats struck out (excusable), Waters lined out to short (bad luck), but Baskins landed a 2-run single with two outs before Ayala fouled out to end the inning – a 5-spot for a 6-3 lead. Now Wheats just had to keep his stripes sorted.

Well, there were two ends to that… one being Jimenez throwing away Davis’ grounder in the bottom 4th for two bases, and Wheats conceding the run on a base hit, narrowing the score to 6-4 again, with now three New York runs unearned. Jimenez was now dangerously close to being left in New York, but scrambled for a 2-out RBI single to score Kilmer in the fifth, 7-4. And yet – there would be no W for Wheats. Alba hit a 1-out jack to right in the bottom 5th, and then Riario hit a 2-out triple to center. Salek flew to left, Manny dropped that ball, and that was the end for Wheats, somehow, 4.2 innings on 106 pitches and endlessly sabotaged by the eight mooks behind him – the only consolation being that he could not be hung a ****** loss, leaving with a 7-6 lead and “only” Salek aboard. Norris came in and struck out Davis to end the damn inning.

The game calmed down after that, when both teams found competent relief, and the Raccoons’ left side of the defense stopped ******* up for more than five minutes at a time. Norris, Kelly, and Moreno navigated the 7-6 lead through the end of eight innings. Maldonado batted again with two outs in the ninth, and with Kilmer and Carreno on the corners against lefty Mike Lynn. He grounded to Myers, Myers through the ball past Dan Riley, and now the Raccoons got an unearned run. Waters grounded out, sending Rella to the mound. Jimenez handled a very difficult grounder by Adame for a first out. Riley struck out, but Alba singled on a 2-2 pitch, extending the game. Again, that was all the New Yorkers got, Dave Martinez going down on strikes. 8-6 Raccoons. Baskins 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Kilmer 2-4, BB, RBI; Toohey 3-5, RBI; Carreno 2-5; Jimenez 2-5, 2 RBI;

Sheesh!

Raccoons (23-16) vs. Condors (13-27) – May 20-22, 2044

This looked like a sweep … for Tijuana. We had lost the season series two years in a row, 3-6 each time, while they were busy losing 92 games on average. Don’t be fooled by their record – they had won four games in a row. Yes, they were in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed and had a -57 run differential in May, but we all know the Raccoons’ talent in fumbling this sort of series.

Projected matchups:
Corey Mathers (5-1, 2.77 ERA) vs. Tommy Kubik (1-5, 6.40 ERA)
Brent Clark (0-6, 6.44 ERA) vs. Ryan Porter (2-6, 4.58 ERA)
Jake Jackson (3-1, 3.92 ERA) vs. Adam Howell (1-2, 4.82 ERA)

“Kitten” Kubik looked like he was on Clark’s career trajectory… he was also the only southpaw we expected to see in this set and week.

Clark and Jackson had thrown only 93 pitches between them in the ghastly Wednesday opener. If Clark had another bad outing, he was likely going to meet his maker. Or at least get sent somewhere silent, like St. Petersburg…

Game 1
TIJ: LF Rossi – 1B A. Zacarias – RF Willie Ojeda – SS Espinoza – CF Reidinger – 2B Cothern – 3B C. Rose – C Pasko – P Kubik
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – C Kilmer – RF Toohey – SS Waters – 3B Jimenez – P Mathers

Mathers started off awfully, behind to every batter, and conceded a run on a Nate Rossi single, a walk to Alex Zacarias, and finally a sac fly for Ricky Espinoza. Marty Reidinger also walked before the damn inning ended with Travis Cothern’s grounder to short. Mathers kept conceding an absurd amount of runners, three in the second, one in the third, and three more in the fourth, in which Zacarias broke through with a 2-out, 2-run double to left to score Chris Rose and Mark Pasko. The Raccoons? Five hits through three, no runs, but two double plays. They were just boilerplate annoying again. They also loaded the bases in the bottom 4th on a single and two walks, bringing up Jimenez in that spot, batting with one out. He got in a run with a groundout, Mathers ending the inning with a fly to Willie Ojeda.

The Condors romped Mathers for another four hits and two runs in the fifth inning, which was the end of the road for him. Down 5-1 at that point, I looked over to Maud without saying anything with my snout, but my black googly eyes told her “told you so, this will be a sweep”. She rolled her eyes. The rest of the team rolled over and conceded the game, stopping any offensive attempts after the abortive fifth inning. Even a 2-base throwing error by Espinoza, which put Jimenez on second base with nobody out in the bottom 7th, didn’t come close to amounting to a run. Chuck Jones conceded an extra run in the top 9th, mainly by hitting people, and then the Raccoons in their persistently pestering ways loaded the bases against Ricardo Marquez in the bottom of the ninth. Toohey walked, Waters singled, Jimenez walked. Right-hander Andy Pedraza came into the careless save situation, which meant Derek Baskins batted for Jones. He also struck out. Carreno plated a useless run with a groundout. Ayala singled for another run, and only now did the tying run make it to the plate in Maldonado, 0-for-4 in his first lineup assignment since getting hit in the paw. He hit a pop to shallow right, near the line that neither Zacarias nor Jerry Aguilar managed to meander to, and the stupid baseball fell for an RBI single. Manny was the winning run now, but flew out to Nate Rossi. 6-4 Condors. Carreno 3-5, RBI; Ayala 2-5, RBI; Toohey 2-3, BB;

(hits head against doorframe) (hits head against doorframe) (hits head against doorframe) (hits head against doorframe) (hits head against doorframe) (hits head against doorframe) (hits head against doorframe) (hits head against doorframe)

Game 2
TIJ: C J. Guerra – 1B A. Zacarias – RF Willie Ojeda – SS Espinoza – LF Rossi – 2B J. Matos – CF J. Aguilar – 3B C. Rose – P R. Porter
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Zarate – 3B Jimenez – SS Gutierrez – P Clark

Three on, nobody out in the bottom 2nd, and that with Clark at the plate, so at least there was no temptation to even get excited. Ryan Porter still managed to walk him on four pitches, which pushed home the game’s first run. After that, Carreno singled home a pair with a ball to left, Ayala found a double play, and Maldo scored Clark with a single to center, stole second base, but was left on when Manny grounded out to first base. So, that was a 4-0 lead for Clark, who had not allowed a hit and only one walk in the first two innings. I still felt the need to embrace Honeypaws as tight as possible while he was on the mound, even though he didn’t allow a hit until Espinoza singled with two gone in the fourth inning and Rossi struck out after that. He drilled Jerry Aguilar out of the game in the fifth, which was not great, but got through the inning without blowing up.

Given that Clark was on two days’ rest after an abortive relief appearance, we were going to be very cautious with him here; plus, better bank a basic good outing before it turns into an extended crummy one. Nevertheless, he was sent back out for the sixth, and in quick succession allowed two hits and an Ojeda sac fly. Craig and Dustal came into the game in a double switch that also sent Bryce Toohey to the showers, and Craig got out of the inning with a soft liner to Jimenez and a foul pop, still up 4-1. Craig collected five outs in total before his spot was up with Maldo and Manny on second and first, respectively, and one gone in the bottom 7th. Baskins grounded out to first, but that advanced the runners, and Jose Zarate hit a single to left-center that plated the both of them…! The Condors went to the pen, brought in left-hander Tim Abraham, and by the third pitch he had hung one to Jimenez that was mashed into the stands in leftfield, 8-1. Another run was tacked on in the eighth, Matt Waters bringing it home with a pinch-hit groundout. The bullpen never allowed a run, bringing this one home gracefully. 9-1 Raccoons. Carreno 2-5, 2 RBI; Ayala 2-4, BB; Maldonado 2-4, BB, RBI; Jimenez 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 3-4; Clark 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (1-6); Craig 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

This set, too, saw the opposition bring a different pitcher for the rubber game, in this case right-hander Marc Hubbard (1-5, 5.49 ERA).

Game 3
TIJ: CF Reidinger – 2B J. Matos – RF Willie Ojeda – SS Espinoza – 1B Gibbs – C Pasko – LF Cothern – 3B C. Rose – P Hubbard
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – LF Fernandez – RF Toohey – C Kilmer – 2B Carreno – 3B Jimenez – P Jackson

The rubber game got off to a GREAT start! Just GREAT. Just … just … (stands at the big windows and shakes fist and yells at the brown-clad players on the field below) … Jackson conceded hits to Reidinger and Matos to begin the game, putting both in scoring position. From there they scored on errors by Maldonado and Manny Fernandez, and Kilmer managed to mix in a passed ball that sent Ojeda to third base, from where he scored on Ron Gibbs’ sac fly. That made for a 3-0 lead for Tijuana, on two hits and literally nothing else. The runs were unearned on Jackson, who from there pitched almost flawlessly until Ojeda singled in the sixth, with two outs, and he walked Espinoza. Gibbs struck out. The score was still 3-0, with a Maldonado single and nothing else in the Raccoons’ side of the box score.

Pitching on short rest, Jackson was lifted when his spot led off the bottom 6th, him having thrown 79 pitches. Baskins singled to left in his place, Waters struck out, Baskins was picked off, Ayala walked, and Maldo… struck out. Both Moreno in the seventh and Jones in the eighth struck out every batter they faced for no greater good. Jimenez hit a single in the bottom 8th. Cruz ended the inning with a pinch-hit 6-4-3 special. Rella pitched a scoreless ninth that was a combined case of “everybody else could use a day off” and “you have yet to earn your salary this week”; while Hubbard was back out there for the bottom 9th, entering on 104 pitches and facing the top of the order. Waters grounded out to second, but Ayala singled to left. Maldo singled to center. The Condors had endless faith in Hubbard, with Manny being the tying run at the plate. He also struck out. Toohey ran a full count, then walked – and that was finally the end for Hubbard, replaced with Pedraza with the whole thing mighty close to collapsing. Jeff Kilmer was the batter with the tying runs on and two down. He struck out. 3-0 Condors. Maldonado 2-4; Baskins (PH) 1-1; Jackson 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (3-2);

In other news

May 16 – TIJ SP Adam Howell (1-2, 4.82 ERA) and MR Ricardo Marquez (1-1, 3.52 ERA) pitch a combined 1-hitter against the Falcons or a 6-0 Condors win. CHA LF/CF Joe Besaw (.288, 2 HR, 13 RBI) hits a single off Howell, but that is all for Charlotte.
May 17 – IND SP Sal Chavez (4-4, 4.03 ERA) 2-hits his former team, the Loggers, in a 3-0 shutout that only takes him six innings of effort on account of bad weather bringing the tarp on in the middle of the sixth.
May 17 – The Condors beat the Falcons, 12-11 in 16 innings, in a wicked see-saw battle during regulation, then no scoring until both teams get a run in the 15th. The Condors walk off in the 16th on a single by OF Nate Rossi (.209, 3 HR, 18 RBI), who goes 3-for-9 in the game. Despite the extended length of the contest, no player lands four base hits.
May 17 – Blue Sox SP Rick Haugh (0-4, 5.23 ERA) is out for the season, suffering from shoulder inflammation.
May 19 – Salem’s INF/RF Frank Mujica (.305, 1 HR, 14 RBI) and SS/3B Josh Jackson (.248, 2 HR, 20 RBI) both go 4-for-6 with 5 RBI in a 13-2 rout of the Stars.
May 19 – OCT SP Juan Ramos (3-6, 3.92 ERA) has a sore wrist in his throwing arm, which might bother him for a few more weeks. The Thunder have yet to put him on the DL, listing him day-to-day.
May 20 – The Loggers acquire swingman Jordan Calderon (0-2, 4.85 ERA) from the Rebels for two meager prospects.
May 21 – ATL INF/RF Joe Crim (.319, 4 HR, 26 RBI) both reaches a 20-game hitting streak and has it end on the same day in a double-header against the Crusaders. The day overall is also a split, with the Knights taking the first game, 8-0, before falling in the nightcap, 3-1.
May 21 – Sacramento will be without LF/RF Mike Preble (.346, 8 HR, 25 RBI) for a few weeks; the 30-year-old was out with a fracture in his foot.
May 21 – Walkoff balk! Pittsburgh’s Rich Kappel (1-2, 2.40 ERA, 9 SV) commits the ultimate sin, bringing home L.A.’s OF Ed Hooge (.270, 0 HR, 4 RBI) for a 2-1 Pacifics walkoff in the 10th inning.
May 22 – The Miners’ #3 spot goes 3-for-3 with three walks, two home runs and 8 RBI in 16-4 rout of the Pacifics. Troy Greenway (.252, 5 HR, 22 RBI) has all the walks and a home run with 3 RBI before being injured on the basepath. Rusty Dirks (3-for-6, 1 HR, 5 RBI) finishes out the day for him, going 2-for-2 with a home run and 5 RBI.

FL Player of the Week: WAS SS Chris O’Keefe (.259, 2 HR, 17 RBI), hitting .591 (13-22) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey (.301, 3 HR, 19 RBI), slashing .524 (11-21) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(lies rolled up on the tallest cupboard in the office) If you’re not stupid yet, this team will help you get there.

After a very exhausting week in which we more or less treaded water, but at least gained ground on everybody relevant but the Titans (4-3), the Raccoons look at a potentially tear-jerking trip to San Fran next week, then a homestand featuring the Aces and Falcons after that. And then it will be June already. Isn’t time flying?

No, Maud, I will not admit that life is beautiful. – No, Maud, I will also not come down from the tall cupboard. – Well, I can’t! I’m scared, and I’m not sure how I got up here in the first place. You’ll have to get the fire brigade.

What else? Starting pitching is wonky, although Okuda leads the CL in ERA now. The offense picks its days. But it’s hard to find quick improvements. We already went over the AAA starting pitching, which leaves lots to be desired, and besides a few infielders that can both hit and field I don’t know a lot of instant fixes… Carreno was leading the CL in stolen bases, though, despite hitting for the lowest OPS+ on the club.

We’ll play it by ear for the next few series and then see whether we need to make trades in June. Meanwhile, Van Anderson came off the DL, but was sent right back to St. Pete.

Fun Fact: Yoshi Yamada hit for a 41 OPS+ while running away with the CL stolen base crown in 2005.

That was the “oh shucks, let’s just have a Double Yoshi middle infield” of Year 9 of the Decade of Darkness. Yoshi Nomura made the Hall of Fame, while Yamada only made the trivia column. He stole 54 bags in 76 attempts, reaching base safely only 135 times. It was the only full season of his career; as the Raccoons trended upwards in 2006, he was quickly sieved out and never caught up anywhere else, either. For his career, he hit .198/.231/.252 with 3 HR, 39 RBI, and stole 68 bases.

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Stats page taken on Monday, because I’m crap