Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (16-16) vs. Warriors (18-14) – May 9-11, 2061

The Warriors were fourth in the FL West, but just half a game out of first place, while the Raccoons had just rallied back to .500 after another atrocious start. The opposition was not to be taken lightly, though, the defending division winners of the West sitting in the top four in both runs scored and runs allowed and having a +29 run differential. These teams had last met in ’59 with the Raccoons taking the series, two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (2-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. Alex Dominguez (2-2, 2.23 ERA)
Chance Fox (2-1, 2.27 ERA) vs. Jonathan Vale (2-3, 3.79 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-1, 3.02 ERA) vs. Kelly Donnelly (0-0, 6.48 ERA)

These were all right-handed pitchers.

Nobody needed J.J. Sensabaugh (1-0, 6.10 ERA) anymore, so he was sent back to AAA. Instead we were bringing up left-hander Mike Goldfield, who had gotten slapped every time he had been promoted to the majors in the past, and had been employed as closer by the Alley Cats with mixed success.

Game 1
SFW: 2B DeFusco – SS McColgin – 1B M. Medina – LF Kaniewski – RF Bursley – 3B Barre – CF Jam. Robinson – C F. Rivera – P A. Dominguez
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose

DeRose gave up two singles in the first inning, and another two Warriors were on base in the fourth after a walk to John Kaniewski and Josh Bursley’s single, but Tristan Barre grounded into a fielder’s choice and a K to Jamel Robinson ended the inning. In between, DeRose had also proven worth something on offense, driving in the Critters’ first run in the bottom 3rd when he hit back-to-back leadoff doubles with Nick Fox, then went on to score on a Lonzo single. After Starr walked and Brass struck out, Nick Nye singled to plate Lonzo for a 3-0 lead before Christopher flew out to rightfielder Josh Bursley. Nick Fox hit another double in the inning after that, but then was left stranded by DeRose and Ben Morris. Nick Nye doubled home Brassfield with two outs in the fifth, though, which made it 4-0, before that inning also ended with Christopher grounding out.

Miguel Medina then socked a homer off DeRose in the sixth inning, which was just something that happened to pitchers from time to time, while Nick Fox smacked his third double of the night in the bottom 6th with a drive to center, but this time tore out a limb on the journey and left the game with assistance by the medical team. Fowler replaced him, scoring on another DeRose double (!), and that was the unceremonious end for Dominguez in this game. DeRose completed seven innings of 4-hit ball before Goldfield made his season debut facing the lefty pinch-hitter Jose Garza, and gave up a single, leaving Mike Lane to sort out the rest of the eighth inning. A solid ninth from Bravo ended the ballgame. 5-1 Raccoons. Nye 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; N. Fox 3-3, 3 2B; DeRose 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 BB, W (3-3) and 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

DeRose was now hitting .357 with 6 RBI in just 14 AB on the season. This was not at all in line with his previous hitting exploits; for his career he was a measly .110 hitter with just 7 RBI in his prior seasons.

The Nick Fox injury looked like a whole thing again, but we had no news on Tuesday, so we played the second game four paws short.

Game 2
SFW: 2B DeFusco – 3B Moriel – 1B M. Medina – CF Oldfield – RF Bursley – LF J. Garza – SS Barre – C Manjarrez – P Vale
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – P C. Fox

Both teams had two singles and no runs the first time through, the Coons getting this from Lonzo, who stole his 12th base, and Brass, but Nye popped out to strand them on the corners. Foxie Brown meanwhile drove in the first run of the game like DeRose the day before, though unlike DeRose he did not do so with a hit, but a sac fly after Vale had offered leadoff walks to Christopher and Fuller in the bottom 2nd, and Fowler’s fielder’s choice grounder to short had allowed Joe-Chris to get to third base. Lonzo and Brass then hit doubles in the third inning, which *was* good enough to get a run home, although Brassfield was stranded again.

The lead went belly-up in the fourth inning, because Chance Fox just didn’t have it. Bursley opened the inning with a single, and Fox walked the bases full before arriving at the pitcher with three on and one out, but gave up an RBI single to Vale, which sure soured my mood. Mike DeFusco’s sac fly tied the game at two, and Julio Moriel poked a 3-1 pitch to Lonzo for the third out, leaving a pair on base. The game dragged along from there with no meaningful offensive contributions by the Critters, while Fox nicked Garza to begin the sixth inning before retiring the bottom of the order, but then got plonked for three singles and the go-ahead run on Bursley’s 2-out RBI single in the seventh inning before Garza grounded out to leave more runners on the corners. Brassfield took him off the hook; after the two pairs of hits with Lonzo, he had hit another double in the bottom 5th, but had been left on base. He was next in the box with two outs and nobody on in the bottom 7th and peppered a game-tying homer to left-center against Vale. Nick Nye one-upped him with the go-ahead jack to left!

Ruben Mendez retired the 7-8-9 batters without issue in the eighth inning, but the Raccoons also did not tack on in the bottom 8th against Roberto Navarro, who had been with the Loggers for a while in the late 50s. Walters fell behind 3-1 against DeFusco to begin the ninth, but then got an easy fly to left. Jorge Caballero singled through the left side, however. Medina hit grounder to Lonzo, and with Medina jogging down the line this was as easy a 6-4-3 double play as we’d ever see. 4-3 Furballs! Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Brassfield 4-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Fowler 2-4;

We overtook the Crusaders with this seventh straight win and took second place in the North, two games behind the Indians.

Roster move on Wednesday then, and it was Nick Fox going on the DL with a groin strain. Luis Silva thought that he might be good to return at the start of June. So suddenly there was a need for another third baseman, and David Gonzales was brought back from exile in St. Petersburg where he was hitting .309 at this point. He had batted .218/.269/.248 with the Coons last year, so I was perhaps justified in not expecting a damn thing from him.

Game 3
SFW: 2B DeFusco – 3B Moriel – 1B M. Medina – CF Oldfield – LF Kaniewski – RF Bursley – SS McColgin – C F. Rivera – P Donnelly
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera

The Warriors had the bags full on a Kaniewski single, a Starr error that put Bursley on, and then a walk issued to William McColgin in the second inning, but Bobby Herrera struck out both Felix Rivera and Kelly Donnelly to escape that jam and keep them off the board. That was already most the offensive thrill in the early innings, which saw Ben Morris get on base to begin the bottom 1st until Donnelly picked him right off again. Joel Starr’s homer in the fourth then gave the Coons a 1-0 lead on a 370-footer to left, and hits by Fowler, who was bunted to second by Bobby H., and Morris put a second run together in the bottom 5th. Morris stole second, but Lonzo popped out to Moriel to keep him on base.

Herrera meanwhile needed 85 pitches through five innings, scattering four hits and striking out six, so he wasn’t going to go much deeper. Cory Oldfield fanned to begin the sixth, but Kaniewski singled and was left on first base, but that almost got him to 100. He returned for the seventh, getting a grounder from Rivera that Nye bungled for another error, then received Donnelly’s bunt. He put a K on DeFusco, but was then moved for LaBat with the left-handed Moriel back in the box, who then flew out to Brassfield rather easily.

The score remained 2-0 in the bottom 7th although Donnelly nicked Fowler with two outs and Jon Bean pinch-hit for a single. Morris’ whiff left them on the corners, however, and instead Ruben Mendez blew the lead with a leadoff walk to Medina and a bomb to left-center fired off by Kaniewski, which flattened the score at two-each. The Raccoons failed to do something with Lonzo’s leadoff single in the bottom 8th, then saw Goldfield lit up for two hits by Jamel Robinson and DeFusco in the ninth. Bravo allowed the go-ahead run to score on Medina’s sac fly before Oldfield grounded out against Ricky Herrera, which sure livened up his day so far, 0-4 with a golden sombrero. Southpaw Jon McGinley then ended the Raccoons’ winning streak by retiring Ayala, Perez, and Kozak in order in the bottom 9th… 3-2 Warriors. Morris 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Fowler 2-2; Bean (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K;

Raccoons (18-17) @ Canadiens (12-21) – May 13-15, 2061

At least the damn Elks now had no winning streak to rob us of, which might lessen the pain if the trip north didn’t go so well for the boys. The Elks also had no winning streak themselves, or much of a win recently. They had lost 14 of their last 15 games, and 17 of their last 19, starting with the finale of the 3-game set they won in Portland in April, when, remember, they were first in the division for a while. As of Friday morning, them and their second-worst offense and mediocre pitching – sixth-most runs allowed – were just half a game ahead of the last-place Loggers. Ken Nielsen, Jose Campos, and Steve Scarpa were on the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (2-2, 3.46 ERA) vs. Carlos Torres (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Justin DeRose (3-3, 3.21 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (2-4, 3.65 ERA)
Chance Fox (3-1, 2.51 ERA) vs. Adam Foley (0-3, 4.56 ERA)

Again, only right-handed pitchers. The left-handers had all disappeared deep into the forest. Torres was a 27-year-old Chilean who had been employed by the Elks as spot starter before and who was now filling in for Nielsen, but had actually started the season in AAA Drummondville.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Robinson
VAN: CF D. Garcia – LF Hambrick – RF C. Cardenas – 3B Whittington – SS Corpus – C A. Maldonado – 1B Pierson – 2B Roldan – P C. Torres

Torres nicked Lonzo in the first inning and Lonzo did not approve, stealing second base and then scoring from there on Brass’ single for a quick 1-0 lead. Nye also singled, but Christopher struck out to leave two on. The lead did not last. While Robinson struck out five the first time through, Danny Garcia reached base with a 2-out single in the bottom 3rd, stole second, and then scored leisurely on Christian Hambrick’s homer to right, which actually marked Hambrick’s first RBI’s of the season.

Both teams then fumbled along for a few innings with the Elks kinda desperate to hold their skinny 2-1 lead and end their dire streak, but Nick Nye reached on an error by Thomas Whittington to begin the sixth inning, and while Joe-Chris kept merrily whiffing, Angel Perez finally ran into one and hit the second score-flipping 2-run homer of the game, this one going well over the fence in left. This, too, was short-lived, and straight 2-out singles in the bottom 6th by Alex Corpus, Alex Maldonado, and Preston Pierson tied the game at three before Rafael Roldan struck out to end the inning and Robinson’s outing, too.

The Coons began the seventh with runners on the corners as Morris socked a double to center and Lonzo hit a scratch single. Lonzo was itching to go, but first we’d have Joel Starr have a go. This worked very well one Starr bashed a double into the gap to plate both runners for a 5-3 lead! Brass, not wanting to stand back, drove the nail into Torres with a towering 2-run homer to left, and it was 7-3…!

And then it was 7-6 after LaBat and Barton cobbled together an Elks rally in the bottom 7th that made me queasy back home in Portland. LaBat left Matt Wartella on base from the #9 spot, before Barton walked Hambrick and gave up a 3-piece to Chad Cardenas. Whittington and Corpus made outs after that, and Ricky Herrera had a clean eighth to keep the lead alive. Lonzo then had a leadoff single off Erik Swain in the ninth, and this time he went – and was thrown out. At least we still had Matt Walters. Fernando Chavez popped out against him to begin the bottom 9th, while Damian Moreno and Hambrick went down on strikes. 7-6 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Brassfield 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Perez 2-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Gonzales – CF Ayala – P DeRose
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 1B Wartella – RF C. Cardenas – C A. Maldonado – 3B C. Sullivan – SS Pierson – CF Hambrick – 2B Roldan – P Kozloski

Maybe Joel Starr was finding a groove, but in any case he hit another 3-run homer right in the first inning on Saturday, which meant that both Morris and Lonzo were on base and managed to not be caught stealing or similar shenanigans. Nye also almost hit a homer in the same inning, but had his drive picked at the fence by Danny Garcia. The top 2nd began with Ayala reaching on an error by Chris Sullivan before both DeRose and Lonzo hit infield singles to load the bases. Kozloski tried to lure Starr out of the strike zone, but this ploy failed and he instead walked him to force in the Coons’ fourth run. Brass’ grounder brought in another run, but Nye grounded out to leave two aboard.

While the Raccoons had a 5-0 lead early on, unfortunately DeRose pitched like he had just climbed out of the dumpster with banana peels still sticking out from under his cap. He had one strikeout in five innings, but walked three and allowed three hits. It was *still* 5-0 after five innings, mind, but that was mostly because the Elks hit into two double plays and were not getting anything done in the clutch. Better not tempt fate, though; when DeRose offered another two walks to Maldonado and Sullivan with one out, and gave up a bloop single to Pierson in the bottom 6th, he was yanked with the bases loaded in favor of Mike Lane, who expertly waved all the runners around to score on base hits by Hambrick and Alex Corpus, the latter pinch-hitting for Andy Overy, and it took LaBat to finally get out of the inning…

Three singles by Lonzo, Brass, and Nye off Jim Peterson extended the lead to 6-3 again in the seventh inning. Peterson walked Perez to fill ‘em up, but Jack Kozak grounded out to Roldan in place of Gonzales to keep them loaded. Bottom 7th, Chad Cardenas hit a leadoff single against LaBat, but was then doubled off by Maldonado to keep the Elks at bay. In turn the Raccoons scuppered a leadoff double by Ayala in the eighth before Goldfield allowed two more singles to left-handers in the bottom 8th, but worked his own way outta there, partly because we were constantly short on arms even with EIGHT relievers on the roster, and at some point he’s either learning or sent to the showers crying…

The Elks lost Hambrick to an injury on a defensive play in the ninth inning when he got an Angel Perez drive and had to be replaced with Bobby Needham. Meanwhile Goldfield’s outing counted as a hold once Matt Walters struck out the side in the bottom 9th to put the game in the books. 6-3 Critters! Lavorano 3-5; Starr 1-4, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Nye 2-5, RBI; Fowler 1-1; Ayala 2-5, 2B;

Yes, boys! Sweep them! Sweep the miserable *****!!

If so, without Lonzo, though, please. We were in New York for four games after this, and Lonzo was supposed to be rested for that. Nye was manning short on Sunday, with Jon Bean getting a start at second base.

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – RF Christopher – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P C. Fox
VAN: LF D. Garcia – SS Corpus – RF C. Cardenas – C A. Maldonado – 3B Whittington – 1B Pierson – CF Valencia – 2B Wartella – P Foley

The Raccoons had a lead by the third batter of the game when Brass doubled home Morris, who had singled. Christopher went to third after reaching base by virtue of a fastball to the hindpaw, which hampered his baserunning slightly, so he had to stop at third base, and so he was stranded. Starr struck out, Nye walked, and Perez chucked it into a double play. The 1-0 lead stood the early innings, with Chance Fox seeing the minimum albeit with allowing a leadoff single to Maldonado in the bottom 2nd, who was then doubled off by Preston Pierson’s grounder to Nye. Foxie Brown struck out three of the other seven batters he faced that first time through.

Meanwhile the Elks played scatterhoof defense; Bean reached on an error in the second inning, but was stranded, and Perez and Fowler hit 1-out singles to left in the fourth inning, the second of which was overrun by Garcia for extra bases and Bean to bat with two in scoring – … correction, for Foxie to bat with the bases loaded and one out after the intentional walk. Fox struck out, but Morris singled in a run with a ball into center, which Hambrick replacement Rafael Valencia quickly returned and threw out Fowler at home plate with to end the inning. Joe-Chris doubled to lead off the fifth and was plated by Starr with a 1-out single. Nye hit a pop behind second base that Corpus dropped for another error – although Nye had made an error of his own in the previous half-inning – but Perez’ fly to right was caught and Fowler calmly grounded out to end the inning.

Bottom 5th, and Fox allowed a single to Pierson, a walk to Valencia, and another single to Wartella, and the Elks almost scored but by then Pierson had disappeared from the basepaths with a baserunning blunder and they left two on when Foley grounded out to Starr. The Coons stranded Morris and Christopher in the sixth after they got on with two outs and instead Corpus hit a single off Fox, who then misfielded Cardenas’ grounder for an error, the fifth in total in the game. Maldonado’s grounder moved the runners into scoring position for Whittington to bat with two outs, but Fox prevailed with a K to end the inning. Phew.

Nick Nye socked a solo homer to left in the seventh to extend the lead to 4-0, and Perez right after that didn’t miss a homer by much, hitting a ball off the top of an awkwardly angled section of wall around the visitors’ bullpen from where it bounced into centerfield to give Perez a 1-out triple, but Fowler was walked intentionally and Bean hit into a double play against lefty reliever David Figueroa.

The stupid Elks kept being a pest, though, and Pierson and Valencia went to the corners against Fox to begin the bottom 7th, both hitting a single up the middle. But lefty hitters were up and Fox still had flick in his orange-striped tail, so the Raccoons stuck with him until the Elks would *make* them go to a right-handed reliever, which they never did while Wartella, Sullivan, and Garcia struck out, struck out, and….. struck out…! Lonzo also struck out when he batted for Fox to begin the eighth inning before Morris and Joe-Chris got on again facing righty Aaron Hain, who balked them into scoring position before giving up a 2-run wallbanger double to Brassfield and taking his exit. Righty Brian Doster replaced him, gave up another run on a Starr double, but then got out of the inning. Barton and Goldfield then shook the game home without allowing a run to the smothered Elks, even though Goldfield insisted on walking a pair in the bottom 9th. 7-0 Furballs! Morris 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Christopher 2-3, BB, 2B; Brassfield 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Starr 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Perez 2-5, 3B; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (4-1);

In other news

May 10 – The Miners trade OF Tomokazu Kaneshiro (.233, 0 HR, 6 RBI) to the Capitals for quad-A OF/1B Troy Blake. The 27-year-old Blake hit .267 with 1 HR, 13 RBI with the Caps last year.
May 11 – The Miners beat the Falcons, 3-1 in 20 innings. The two teams combine to strand 30 runners, while seven relievers go at least two innings in relief, and three of them go more than four innings. Miners Rule 5 pick MR Tyler Roe (1-0, 0.77 ERA) goes 4.2 innings with three walks and no strikeouts for the win, brought about by RF/CF Peter Bivens’ (.280, 2 HR, 7 RBI) 2-out, 2-run triple in the top of the 20th inning.
May 14 – Two hits in a 9-6 win against the Thunder give SFB INF/LF Xavier Reyes (.439, 0 HR, 22 RBI) a 20-game hitting streak.

FL Player of the Week: RIC LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.308, 9 HR, 28 RBI), swatting .455 (10-22) with 4 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA INF Miguel Veguilla (.338, 3 HR, 19 RBI), hitting .538 (14-26) with 2 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I don’t know exactly how we lit all their tails on fire, but suddenly we’re winning. 11-3 in May, which is totally sustainable. In just a couple of weeks we’ve gone from bottoms to just two games behind the first-place Indians, and two games ahead of the Crusaders.

Speaking of the Crusaders, we play four games with them starting on Monday, then another three in Tijuana. And because crossing three timezones twice a week is fun, the roadtrip will end next week in Atlanta. Regardless of preparations taken with resting Lonzo before the Crusaders series, the Raccoons would still give a spot start to – probably – Bobby Sneeze in New York.

Gesundheit.

We now have a +15 run differential, although the team is still in the bottom four in batting average and OBP, but we’re slugging like kings and tie for third in stolen bases. Imagine what we could do if we could get Cas off the DL and Nye and Starr and others were actually producing like they did last year…!

Fun Fact: Xavier Reyes not only had a 21-game hitting streak, but also 24 stolen bases in 37 games on the year.

Reyes, who had stolen 45 bags last year and a career-best 60 in 2059, was thus on pace for *105* on the year. That was probably as sustainable as our 11-3 record in May.

Anyway, Reyes looked like an early favorite for the CL stolen base title. He led the race by … much. VAN Danny Garcia was second with 17 bags, and Lonzo was third with 14 bags, which would be enough to led the FL by one over TOP Jose Ambriz, but had him trailing Reyes by ten.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (21-17) @ Crusaders (19-19) – May 16-19, 2061

The Crusaders had loaded up on personnel during the winter, but the mixture had yet to ignite as they were trundling along at a .500 pace, second in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed with a +22 run differential notwithstanding. They had a pretty good rotation, third in ERA, but their bullpen was getting obliterated for a 6.00 ERA and lost them a ton of games. The Crusaders had beaten the Raccoons 11-7 over the course of last year’s 18 games.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (1-1, 2.65 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (7-1, 2.95 ERA)
Bobby Sneeze (0-0) vs. Ryan Musgrave (2-4, 5.53 ERA)
Nick Robinson (3-2, 3.59 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (3-2, 3.04 ERA)
Justin DeRose (4-3, 3.42 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (3-0, 2.17 ERA)

Another set in which we would only face right-handed pitchers. Where had all the lefties gone?

With Aubrey Austin, Ryan Spehar, and Rick Price on the DL, the Crusaders were three infielders short, although Spehar was eligible to come off the DL on Tuesday.

Sneeze – gesundheit! – was not on the roster yet, as the Coons still carried eight relievers.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – C Fuller – P B. Herrera
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – LF J. Acuna – C McLaren – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – 2B Webler – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B R. Wright – P Seiter

The game looked like a pitchers’ duel from the start, and besides a pair of Ben Morris singles there was no meaningful offense in the early innings between Seiter and Bobby H., who retired the first seven Crusaders in order, and then would not take the mound again, standing besides the hill with his glove on the ground and his frontpaws down on his knees as he was bending over. Luis Silva took a look and collected him rather quickly, and the Raccoons would go from a pitchers’ duel straight into a bullpen game.

It still remained a pitchers’ duel though, with Paul Barton retiring all 11 Crusaders batters he faced to get to the end of six innings, at which point the Raccoons also had zero runs on the board and hadn’t done more than a shy Nick Fowler single in the middle innings. Nick Nye then led off the seventh with a soft single over the glove of John Webler and advanced on Christopher’s groundout. When Fowler singled through John Rosenstiel, Nye made for home and scored ahead of the throw of Gold Glover Sean Zeiher. Fuller hit another single, but Kozak and Morris grounded out and the Raccoons settled for that one run. Bottom 7th, Ricky H. grounded out Omar Sanchez to second, then struck out Javier Acuna and Matt McLaren. Ruben Mendez got a pop to third base from Tommy Branch to begin the bottom 8th, and then Zeiher… legged out an infield single that Lonzo knocked down almost at the deep end of the dirt on the left side and had no play on. LaBat then came on for PH Hector Weir, who flew out to right, and Pedro Gonzales grounded out to third base. Matt Walters struck out the side in the ninth inning to put the game away. 1-0 Blighters. Morris 2-4; Fowler 3-4, RBI; B. Herrera 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Barton 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

One bloody infield single away from a combined perfect game…!

Mike Goldfield (0-1, 3.38 ERA) was sent to AAA to make room for Bobby Sneeze at this point. In better news, Bobby Herrera was not expected to miss a start with a tweaked back, so we just might have dodged a whole different bullet there.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Ayala – 1B Kozak – P Sneeze
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – LF J. Acuna – C McLaren – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – 2B Spehar – 1B Weir – 3B Webler – P Musgrave

Speaking of bullets, the Crusaders were hitting them off Sneeze – gesundheit! – right from the start, and Acuna and Branch went to the corners with sharp base knocks before Zeiher singled home a 2-out run in the bottom 1st. Spehar popped out and the Raccoons tied the game with Fowler’s triple to right and Perez’ RBI groundout in the top 2nd, although the Crusaders soon re-took the lead in the bottom 3rd, where they loaded the bases with nobody out on Sanchez and Acuna singles, McLaren drawing a walk, and then scored a run on Tommy Branch’s 6-4-3 double play. Zeiher struck out to leave Acuna on third base. Again, Angel Perez tied the game with a groundout, this time bringing home Nye after the 4-5 Nicks had both hit 1-out singles. Ayala’s groundout left Fowler stranded, though.

John Webler’s 2-run homer restored a 4-2 lead to the New Yorkers in the fourth inning with Sneeze very obviously being awful. He lingered through five innings, but then was removed from the game. The Raccoons began the top 6th with Lonzo singling and advancing on a wild pitch. He reached third base on Brassfield’s soft single, and Webler bungled a Nye bouncer for an error that gave everybody a base. Fowler then singled up the middle on an 0-2 pitch to bring home Brass with the tying run, but then the inning fizzled out. Perez grounded out, Ayala whiffed, and Kozak was walked intentionally. Starr batted for Sneeze, but struck out and left the bases loaded.

It was then the Coons’ pen that fell apart rather than the Crusaders’. McLaren took Bravo deep to right in the seventh, and Branch drew a walk, prompting Bravo’s removal for Mike Lane, who was still bombed to right by Zeiher for a 3-run deficit. The Raccoons never got on base after that. 7-4 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4; Fowler 3-4, 3B, RBI;

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 3B Fowler – C Perez – CF Ayala – 2B Bean – P Robinson
NYC: 1B Konecny – 2B Spehar – SS O. Sanchez – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – LF J. Acuna – C P. Gonzales – 3B Murillo – P Luera

A leadoff walk to Branch, a single by Zeiher that sent him to third base, and a fielder’s choice grounder by Javier Acuna were enough to give the Crusaders the lead in the bottom 2nd on Wednesday, although the Raccoons made up the deficit rather quickly, and with conviction. Nick Robinson hit a 1-out single in the third inning, which was always a sign that trouble was brewing for the opposing pitcher. Morris tripled into the gap to tie the game, while Lonzo was nicked and then stole second base. Joel Starr got ahead 2-0 and instead of just putting him on and seeking the double play grounder from Brassfield, the Crusaders challenged Starr, which ended with a 3-run homer and a 4-1 Raccoons lead. The Crusaders then recreated 2/3 of how the Raccoons took the lead in the bottom 3rd, with Spehar and Sanchez getting on and the latter stealing his ninth base of the year, but Branch flew out to Ben Morris in shallow left and that ended the inning.

Angel Perez’ leadoff jack to left knocked out Luera in the fourth inning, and Lonzo drew a leadoff walk (!) from reliever Michael McLaughlin and was brought around to score by a 2-out Fowler single in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 6-1. At the same time Robinson, who went 3-for-3 at the dish somehow, also ran out of steam in the middle innings and wouldn’t make it past the sixth inning, although the Crusaders also didn’t make it past their one run, so not all was bad. The Coons saved that for the last innings. Bravo was the first guy out of the pen, allowed an unlucky triple to Pedro Gonzales and the runner to score on Alex Murrillo’s grounder for the first out of the inning, but then with two down also cluelessly walked Kelly Konecny on base and then had Spehar on a comebacker until his throw popped out of Joel Starr’s glove for an error. The Raccoons went to Ricky H., who arrived with David Gonzales in a double switch to end Fowler’s day, and he got a cozy grounder to Jon Bean from Sanchez to end the dismal inning. More trouble in the bottom 8th with Herrera’s leadoff walk to Branch and Acuna’s single against Mendez, but this time their bench-warming Gonzales hit into an inning-ending double play to short, but the Coons also left Lonzo and Brass on the corners in the ninth. LaBat at least finished the game in due time. 6-2 Critters. Morris 3-5, 3B, RBI; Robinson 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (4-2) and 3-3;

Well, well, boys! At least a split secured in this series!

Game 4
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – RF Christopher – 3B D. Gonzales – P DeRose
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – LF J. Acuna – C McLaren – CF Branch – RF Zeiher – 2B Spehar – 1B Rosenstiel – 3B Webler – P J. Ortega

Like Sneeze on Tuesday, DeRose was getting slapped all over the place out of the gate on Thursday and allowed a first-inning marker on Sanchez and McLaren hits and Branch’s sac fly before the Raccoons had three on and nobody out in the top 2nd and as it started to rain. The umpires called a rain delay on an 0-2 count to Christopher, and the delay would last an hour, which did not bode too well for our very well worked bullpen. When play resumed, Christopher legged out an infield single to the right side to move everybody up a base and tie the score at one, and David Gonzales did *the same* for a 2-1 lead. DeRose whiffed and the Raccoons only got one more run on Morris’ groundout, with Lonzo’s grounder to Webler ending the inning.

DeRose then was DeBehind a lot, and while he held the 3-1 lead through five, the pen was up and ready by the sixth inning. Acuna hit a leadoff single, but McLaren and Branch made outs in long counts, putting DeRose on 101 pitches, and with Zeiher up, the Raccoons went for Ricky Herrera in another double switch, this time with Bean replacing Nye. Zeiher grounded out to first, ending the bottom 6th. Herrera got Spehar on strikes to begin the seventh, but then allowed a single to Rosenstiel, and then was also consulted by the team trainer and left the game with him. Mendez struck out Webler and Konecny to get out of the inning. When Starr socked a leadoff double off Alex Flores, and the right-hander walked Brass to continue the eighth and thus bring up Mendez’ spot, the reliever was retained to bunt and got those runners into scoring position. Angel Perez’ single up the middle brought home Starr, the first run in the game since the second inning. Christopher walked, and so did Gonzales, forcing in a run in the process before Bean whiffed and Morris popped out to short in a full count, leaving three on base. Mendez struggled in the bottom 8th, though, allowed two singles, and was shanked for LaBat, who got McLaren out, but walked the bags full against Branch. Zeiher’s groundout narrowed the score to 5-2, plating Sanchez, and then Barton replaced him three days after pitching 11 outs in long relief. He would only face Spehar and got a grounder to Lonzo to end the inning and strand a pair on second and third.

When Starr walked and Brass doubled with one down in the ninth, Fowler batted for Barton, but struck out. Instead the runners scored on a wild pitch and a 2-out single by Perez, respectively, before right-hander Kody Mello got a fly to center from Christopher to end the inning. Walters still got the ball in the bottom 9th, more or less because of necessity. The Crusaders went in order still. 7-2 Critters! Starr 2-5, 2B; Brassfield 2-4, BB, 2B; Nye 1-2, BB; Perez 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Gonzales 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; DeRose 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (5-3);

Another Herrera with a back ailment? – Does it run in the family?

Raccoons (24-18) @ Condors (25-17) – May 20-22, 2061

The Condors were in third place in the South in their division title defense season. They were allowing the fewest runs in the CL, but they were also not scoring at all, sitting tenth in runs on the board. It was still good enough for a +31 run differential (Coons: +22). The Raccoons had a 7-year winning streak against the Condors, but it had been a rather close 5-4 call last season.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (4-1, 2.18 ERA) vs. Miguel Batista (4-4, 4.14 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (1-1, 2.54 ERA) vs. Aaron Sloan (4-3, 2.76 ERA)
Bobby Sneeze (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Dan Beare (4-1, 1.52 ERA)

A rare sighting of a left-handed starting pitcher on Saturday.

Bobby Herrera was good to go, but Ricky Herrera was listed as day-to-day and might not pitch again until the middle of next week. We were still debating a DL assignment, although Monday was a day off and we’d have to waste him for more than necessary.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – P C. Fox
TIJ: CF Asencio – LF Alf. Mendez – SS C. Ramsey – 3B Frasher – C Seidman – 1B Sturgeon – RF Churricho – 2B F. Serrano – P M. Batista

The game began with Morris reaching on catcher’s interference and a Lonzo double to left that put a pair in scoring position right away. A wild pitch and Starr’s sac fly to deep center emptied the bags and gave Fox a 2-0 lead when he took the hill. Marco Asencio got him for a leadoff single, but Fox retired the next six before giving up another leadoff single to Franklin Serrano in the third inning. Batista’s bunt and a 2-out single by Alf Mendez brought in the Condors’ first run. Serrano would also hit a leadoff single in the fifth inning, but then was doubled up on a terrible bunt by Batista that got chopped right back where Fox wanted it. With the Raccoons still on two base hits, the score was 2-1 after five.

The Raccoons then hit three straight 2-out singles in the sixth with their 4-5-6 batters, but only managed to load the bases with that and still needed more to gain some on the scoreboard. Impatiently, Joey Christopher swung at the first pitch he got, but lobbed it over Serrano for an RBI single at least. Fowler popped out to Serrano to strand three runners, though.

The Coons then took an emotional hit in the seventh inning when Lonzo legged out a 2-out grounder for an infield single, but collided with Jason Sturgeon on the bag and tweaked his ankle on the next step, hopping on one hindpaw some 40 feet further up the line before stopping and waiting for collection by a resigned looking Luis Silva with a neverending flood of customers. Lonzo came out of the game and was replaced by Gonzales playing third base and Fowler moving to short. Jesus Chacon struck out Starr to make the whole effort moot.

Fox slyly pitched his way into the eighth inning, but then gave up a pinch-hit jack to Chris Thayer, 3-2, and after collecting an out from Asencio also put Mendez and Casey Ramsey on base. Lane replaced him and got Eric Frasher and Mike Seidman out on grounders, with the runners stranded in scoring position. Kozak and Morris hit 2-out singles in the ninth, but Gonzales flew out to left, leaving Walters, who had pitched just because who else was left the day before, with no cushion against the 6-7-8. Dave Roura pinch-hit for a 1-out single, but was then doubled up by Serrano, 6-4-3 style. 3-2 Critters. Lavorano 2-4; Brassfield 2-4; Kozak (PH) 1-1; C. Fox 7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (5-1);

(breathes into paper bag while getting the news from Luis Silva about Lonzo’s bum ankle) – And you promise it’s only two weeks? – You have to promise or I’ll eat the first sketchy looking chili dish down the market there!

With Lonzo gone to the DL, the Raccoons brought up 2B/LF Bernie Ortega, not because he was playing particularly well in AAA, but he was on the 40-man and it was convenient to just move Nick Nye to short for the duration and then have Ortega and Bean bum it out in a terrible platoon at the keystone for the time being.

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – LF Ayala – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Nye – C Fuller – 3B Gonzales – 2B Ortega – P B. Herrera
TIJ: LF Churricho – CF B. Fish – SS C. Ramsey – C Waker – 3B Frasher – RF Alf. Mendez – 1B Thayer – 2B F. Serrano – P Sloan

Ortega hit an RBI single with two outs in the second in his first plate appearance in the majors this year, bringing in Nick Nye from second base. Gonzales and Ortega were stranded when Herrera flew out to Alf Mendez in shallow right. He allowed three singles and struck out three in the first three innings while holding the 1-0 lead.

An error by Frasher put Nye on base to begin the top 4th for Portland, and Nye was running on a grounder by Tim Fuller that escaped Serrano for a single. Nye reached third base, then scored on an RBI double to right that Gonzales hit. Ortega was walked intentionally, Tipsy Bobby popped out, but Sloan then threw a wild pitch to plate Fuller, and then walked Morris onto the open base, which was already his fifth free pass in the game. Felix Ayala could not contain himself though and poked the first pitch he got to Frasher, but the Condors couldn’t quite turn the 5-4-3 double play and Ayala was safe at first base, allowing Gonzales to score, 4-0. Brass then grounded out to short to leave two runners on base. Tipsy Bobby would allow a leadoff single to Tristan Waker in the bottom 4th, but he was doubled off and the fifth was clean. In the sixth, Herrera then hit a deep drive to right that scratched by the good side of the foul pole for his first career home run!

Bobby H. pitched clean through seven innings, but Brass dropped Thayer’s fly to right at the start of the bottom 8th, and the Condors then quickly clipped two singles to get an unearned run on the board. Casey Ramsey drew a 2-out walk, which would bring up Waker as the tying run, and the Raccoons made a move to LaBat to turn the switch-hitting catcher on his weaker side. At 1-2, a big swing and an even bigger miss ended the inning. Barton would then do the ninth inning to put the game away. 5-1 Critters! Gonzales 2-3, BB, 3B, 2B, RBI; B. Herrera 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (2-1) and 1-4, HR, RBI;

Tipsy Bobby, the man! (giggles)

Brassfield was a bit sore on Sunday, so even with the day off on Monday he was not in the lineup to get some extra rest on Sunday. He was available as pinch-hitter or for double-switching though.

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Nye – RF Christopher – LF Kozak – 2B Bean – P Sneeze
TIJ: CF Asencio – LF Churricho – SS C. Ramsey – C Waker – 1B Sturgeon – 3B Fraher – RF B. Fish – 2B F. Serrano – P Beare

A leadoff walk to Jason Sturgeon and a monstrous 2-run homer by Bobby Fish gave the Condors an all too predictable 2-0 lead in the second inning. Two hits and a groundout gave the Condors another run in the third inning, and that was with Jack Kozak running down a drive into the gap to end the inning… Nope, Bobby Sneeze – gesundheit! – was not the answer to a question that revolved around filling that fifth spot in the rotation right now, and probably never.

The Raccoons scattered six hits through five innings without getting on the board, and instead Scott Moore, who had replaced an injured Casey Ramsey in the third inning, doubled home Marco Asencio in the fifth to extend the Condors lead to 4-0. Sneeze at least lasted six, after which a completely overworked LaBat stumbled the bags full with Querubim Churricho, Scott Moore, and Tristan Waker, but was spared any damage to his ERA when Sturgeon hit a comebacker to Mendez for an out at the plate and Frasher popped out to Fouler in fowl ground. Alf Mendez hit a jack off Bravo in the eighth to tack on a run. The Coons never made it to the board, even with a pinch-hit double by Brassfield in the ninth inning… 5-0 Condors. Fowler 2-4, 2B; Nye 3-4; Brassfield (PH) 1-1, 2B;

In other news

May 17 – Seven different players hit a home run in the Canadiens’ 16-8 slugfest win against the Titans, with Vancouver’s Chad Cardenas (.230, 4 HR, 23 RBI) going 4-for-4 with a grand slam and 4 RBI, and 4 runs scored.
May 18 – Aces LF/RF Ken Hummel (.275, 3 HR, 18 RBI) is expected to miss two months at least with a torn groin muscle.
May 19 – The Aces kill the hitting streak of Bayhawks INF/LF Xavier Reyes (.420, 0 HR, 25 RBI) at 24 games, although San Francisco still wins the game, 2-1.
May 19 – Rebels catcher Ramon Lopez (.333, 1 HR, 6 RBI) goes down to an intercostal strain and is expected to miss three weeks.
May 20 – SFW SP Alex Dominguez (3-3, 2.36 ERA) 3-his the Rebels in a 2-0 game.
May 20 – The Thunder beat the Indians, 5-4 in 16 innings. OCT SP Mike Hall (5-3, 4.67 ERA) gets the win with four innings in long relief.
May 20 – The Capitals take a 3-1 lead in the top 10th against the Gold Sox, but closer Ben Lussier (4-4, 7.66 ERA, 6 SV) first fills the bases and then serves up a walkoff double to DEN OF Jose Consuegra (.259, 1 HR, 13 RBI) for a 4-3 Denver win.
May 21 – New York SP Ben Seiter (8-2, 2.40 ERA) throws a 1-hit shutout against the Falcons in a 5-0 game. The lone hit for Charlotte is a seventh-inning double by 2B/SS Joe Hullander (.267, 0 HR, 1 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: SAC RF/CF Will Buras (.309, 6 HR, 30 RBI), batting .407 (11-27) with 4 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND INF Matt Kilday (.432, 1 HR, 19 RBI), slapping .586 (17-29) with 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Another very solid week with a 5-2 tally. Everybody won their starts, but Bobby Sneeze. I think we’re past wishing gesundheit here, and it’s time to tigger on and find a new lukewarm body for the fifth starter’s spot. Tyler Riddle will come off the DL soon, though not soon enough to make it through the #5 spot again next week, since I think Riddle should get a few rehab starts first. He got through just three innings on Opening Day.

Noah Caswell started a rehab assignment in AAA on Wednesday and would rejoin the team perhaps as early as Tuesday with the series opener in Atlanta. Meanwhile, the Sore Back Epidemic of the Herrera family has spread to AAA where Jose Corral would miss at least one week with a sore back himself. The top prospect in the system was hitting .260 with one homer at this point and was not an imminent threat for promotion.

After we will have concluded this ludicrous road trip in Atlanta, the team will be home to play the Falcons… and then head right back on the road again for games in Vegas and Milwaukee. What a schedule.

Fun Fact: Lonzo came within one stolen base of Alex Vasquez for the active lead in career steals before taking to the DL.

That was before Vasquez stole his second base on Friday night. Of the year, that is, not of that game.

1st – Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (HOF) – 708
3rd – Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos (HOF) – 677
5th – Alex Vasquez (active) – 645
6th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 643
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 543
9th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 514
10th – Chris Navarro (active) – 513

Pesky Omar Sanchez of the New Yorkers was on 11 bags this year, while Ceballos had seven and Navarro had taken three. The real long-term threat here was Ceballos, who had made his ABL debut in the same year as Lonzo and Sanchez (2049), but was four years younger than Lonzo (30 vs. 34) and was easily snapping 40 steals in a healthy season. He also hadn’t had a healthy season since ’58.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (26-19) @ Knights (15-29) – May 24-26, 2061

The Knights were off to a horrendous start, sitting at the bottom of the CL South with the fifth-fewest runs scored and second-most runs allowed in the CL, and a -40 run differential. Their rotation was getting ravaged to the tune of a 5.85 ERA, and both Willie Acosta and Marco Nieto were nursing injuries. The Raccoons had won six of nine against Atlanta in 2060.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (4-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (3-3, 6.92 ERA)
Justin DeRose (5-3, 3.23 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (0-5, 5.69 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-1, 2.21 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (5-3, 3.25 ERA)

Harman was the only guy that was not getting bludgeoned on a regular basis in that rotation. All three starters sent up were right-handed.

Noah Caswell was almost ready to return for the Tuesday opener, but was not on the roster yet. Ricky Herrera was still day-to-day and might miss this series as well.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – SS Nye – RF Christopher – C Perez – 2B Bean – P Robinson
ATL: CF K. Fisher – 2B Moya – SS Sowell – 3B R. Wilken – RF Ellwood – C Villafan – LF N. Thayer – 1B C. Rice – P Ratliff

The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the third inning that came about weirdly, with singles by Robinson and Fowler, and then 2-out walks drawn by Starr and Brass to push the pitcher across for the game’s first run, but Nick Nye grounded out to shortstop Ken Sowell to leave three on base. Robinson retired the first seven Knights in order, but gave up singles to Chris Rice and Kyle Fisher in the bottom 3rd, and along with that the 1-0 lead when Rice scored from second on the latter hit. Apart from that, offense was negligible through five innings. The Knights had no other hits, and the Coons only had a Christopher single in addition to their output in the third inning, and neither team was even close to another run. Robinson did it with soft contact galore, which made it so surprising that the Knights suddenly knocked the daylights out of him in the bottom 6th, which he entered with a 2-1 lead after Christopher walked, stole second, and scored on Angel Perez’ single in the top 6th, but left down 4-2 after walking Rice, mishandling Ratliff’s bunt, and getting a grounder from Fisher, but then gave up a sac fly to Joaquin Moya, and with two outs a homer to Randy Wilken, the fourth of the surprise 2059 CL Player of the Year, now 37 years old. Joel Starr hit a solo home run in the seventh that only narrowed the score to 4-3, but the Knights saw Willie Villafan walk, Nick Thayer get plunked, and then a soft RBI groundout from Gabriel Mendez to get an extra run across against Robinson, who shook his head walking to the dugout after the inning, pitching a 3-hitter for seven innings, but giving up five runs somehow. 5-3 Knights. Christopher 1-1, 3 BB;

Willie Acosta, the 3-time CL Player of the Year, was moved to the DL with shoulder tendinitis without appearing on Tuesday. A serial .300 batter, he was hitting only .240 this year with four homers and 17 RBI. Vic Harman was also moved up to the middle game by the Knights, utilizing the common off day on Monday.

The Coons’ roster move was bringing back Noah Caswell from his rehab assignment and put Jack Kozak (.177, 2 HR, 7 RBI) on waivers to make room on the roster.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Fuller – 2B Bean – P DeRose
ATL: CF N. Thayer – 1B C. Rice – C M. Nieto – RF Ellwood – LF Abercrombie – 3B Gallo – SS Moya – 2B Messer – P Harman

The Raccoons were again up 1-0, this time in the first on singles by Christopher and Brassfield, then a wild pitch to bring in Joe-Chris from third base with two outs. The Knights flipped the score right away; DeRose allowed a walk, Fowler made an error, and Bobby Ellwood’s RBI single and ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie’s sac fly flipped it around to 2-1 Atlanta in the bottom 1st, one run being unearned.

The next three innings were calm, with no hits for Atlanta, and no hits for Portland that weren’t immediately doubled up (looks at Brass). The Raccoons then made it to the corners to begin the fifth inning on singles by Nick Nye and Tim Fuller. Jon Bean hit a sac fly to center, which tied the game, but with a bunt, a walk, and a strikeout by Fowler the Raccoons then went down meekly and with leaving Fuller at second base. Fuller then grounded out to leave Brass at second and Nye on first base the inning after that, so things continued coming full circle with this team…

Jon Bean hit another hard ball to center to begin the seventh inning, which this time fell for a leadoff double in the tied game. Ben Morris, who was almost a waste for the bench, batted for DeRose and hit a scratch single that put the Critters back on the corners. Morris tried to steal, but was watched with eagle eyes by Harman, who got Christopher to 1-2, then gave up a gapper for an RBI double and a 3-2 lead for the Portlanders. And then they choked again; Fowler popped out, Starr was walked with intent, and then somebody hit into another double play (looks at Brass, whiskers hanging). Overworked Elijah LaBat had to work around a leadoff single by Abercrombie in the bottom 7th, but managed that task, and the Coons had a 1-out double by Nye to get going in the eighth. Fuller was walked intentionally but Bean had a career day and singled off ex-Coon Alex Rios. Nye tried to score from second, but was thrown out at the plate by Ellwood, keeping the Critters on first and second in a 3-2 game. Ayala batted for LaBat and walked, and Christopher was in a 2-2 count when Rios *drilled* him, which extended the lead to 4-2. Fowler then struck out on what was a rather bleak day for him.

Ruben Mendez then struggled in the bottom 8th, walking Paul Messer and barely getting a force out on a Bill Quinteros grounder. The veteran Indian was hitting just .190 in his new limited role. The Raccoons shrugged and called on Matt Walters for a 5-out save, with four left-handed bats in the top 5 spots in the batting order. He struck out Thayer and grounded out Rice to second to end the bottom 8th, and retired another three in order in the ninth. 4-2 Critters. Christopher 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-5; Nye 2-3, BB, 2B; Bean 2-3, 2B, RBI; Morris (PH) 1-1; DeRose 6.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (6-3); Walters 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (14);

So that was now four hits allowed for the Coons’ starters, and seven runs (six earned) in the two games.

(looks up to the baseball gods, all snickering on a funny looking cloud)

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Perez – 2B Bean – P C. Fox
ATL: CF N. Thayer – C M. Nieto – SS Sowell – 3B Wilken – RF Ellwood – LF Abercrombie – 1B Moya – 2B Messer – P En. Ortiz

The rubber game got out of paw really quickly, with Thayer and Nieto hitting singles through either hole to begin the bottom 1st before Fox issued three 1-out walks to Wilken, Ellwood, and Abercrombie, forcing in two runs, and giving up a third marker on Joaquin Moya’s deep sac fly. Paul Messer grounded out then. Fox remained vintage awful after that, giving up a leadoff single to Ortiz in the bottom 2nd, but Thayer hit into a double play, then walked Nieto. Sowell made the third out, but Wilken hit another leadoff single in the third. Fox made an error in the fourth, and didn’t strike out anybody at all through five while getting supported with more double plays; Wilken had been doubled off in the third inning, and Sowell was doubled off after drawing a leadoff walk (…) in the fifth. Abercrombie became Fox’ sole strikeout in the game in the bottom 6th, after which he was whisked away.

And the offense? Dead on arrival. They managed all of two hits and a walk in seven innings against the formerly fisticuffed Ortiz, and weren’t remotely close to scoring a run all game long. Bravo was just as awful as Fox in the seventh, walking two and giving up an RBI single to Sowell. Lane was just as bad and gave up a run and loaded the bases in the bottom 8th before being rescued by Paul Barton, who got two pops on the infield from Sowell and Wilken to sort out that mess. The offense remained pathetic and was held to two hits by Ortiz and Steve Watson. 5-0 Knights.

Raccoons (27-21) vs. Falcons (21-25) – May 27-29, 2061

After grossly failing to pounce on the last-place Knights in Atlanta, the Raccoons would get a shot at the fifth-place Falcons at home. The Falcons were worst in the CL in hitting homers (just 14 for the entire team), and had allowed the most runs overall with a bottom-quarter rotation *and* bullpen, not that the Raccoons had exactly beaten the living **** out of the worst rotation in the entire league just earlier. We led the Falcons 2-1 this year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (2-1, 2.24 ERA) vs. Andres Lopez (3-5, 4.87 ERA)
Bobby Sneeze (0-1, 6.55 ERA) vs. Hector Gutierrez (1-2, 4.61 ERA)
Nick Robinson (4-3, 3.71 ERA) vs. Esteban Duran (4-4, 3.81 ERA)

The Falcons had been off on Thursday and had leeway to move Phil Baker (6-2, 3.41 ERA) into the series. As scheduled, they would bring up two southpaws in the first two games of the series.

The Coons needed one more start from Bobby Sneeze – gesundheit! – and then could go without a fifth starter and thus wait out Tyler Riddle’s return until June 11.

Game 1
CHA: LF Snyder – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – 3B D. Espinosa – SS Hullander – CF M. Estrada – P An. Lopez
POR: LF Ayala – SS Nye – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Caswell – 2B Ortega – 3B Gonzales – P B. Herrera

The Raccoons got up 2-0 in the second inning on the second career homer by Bernie Ortega, who socked one over the fence in left with Angel Perez on base. The score got opened further in the third inning; Ayala got on base thanks to an error by Danny Espinosa to begin the inning and was driven in by Brassfield with a hit to left-center. Lopez nicked Starr, and Perez singled home Brassfield then, 4-0, with Joel Starr rushing to third base and one out. Cas struck out and Ortega grounded to Espinosa for … Espinosa’s second error of the inning! That one allowed Starr to score, and brought up David Gonzales, who grounded out to actually end the inning this time.

There were few complaints about Bobby Herrera’s pitching in the game. He pitched well with a 0-0 score and also with a 5-0 score, although the Falcons got two singles with one out in the sixth, and Brendan Snyder would first go to third base on Jesus Valcarcel’s hit, then scored on Danny Ceballos’ grounder to reduce the lead to 5-1. Danny Espinosa then took Tipsy Bobby deep to right in the seventh, although he finished the inning with a 5-2 lead, and after the stretch the Mets had three on and nobody out with a Brass double to left, Star walking, and Perez reaching on an error by Takuro Yoshikawa. Cas lobbed a single to center on which everybody moved up 90 feet, and Jordan Ramos walked in a run against Ortega before being yanked for Matt Malone, the left-hander. David Gonzales hit another RBI single to left against him. Fowler hit a sac fly in Bobby H.’s spot, and Ayala hit a single that restocked the bases, from where Nick Nye knobbed ‘nother sac fly before Brass’ 2-out single brought in the sixth run of the inning, three-and-counting of which were unearned. Starr also clubbed in one more run, and then Perez’ grounder to Yoshikawa ended the inning with a 7-spot. Brass and Nye then got the rest of the game off, replaced by Joe-Chris and Bean.

Mike Lane had another terrible outing in the eighth, allowing two walks and two RBI singles to Valcarcel and Danny Ceballos. Barton then finished the game in the ninth inning without further waste of pitches. 12-4 Raccoons! Ayala 2-5; Brassfield 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Starr 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Caswell 2-5, RBI; Ortega 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (3-1);

Joel Starr got a very rare day off against the second lefty in a row here.

Game 2
CHA: LF Snyder – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – 3B D. Espinosa – SS Hullander – CF Tomko – P H. Gutierrez
POR: RF Ayala – SS Nye – 1B Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – LF Morris – 2B Ortega – 3B Gonzales – P Sneeze

Caswell raced down an Espinosa drive to end the first inning with runners all over, but nobody actually scoring off Sneeze, then scored the game’s first run himself in the bottom 2nd with a leadoff single against Gutierrez, who walked Perez, and gave up an RBI double to Morris. Perez scored on Gonzales’ groundout, but Morris was left on base, and the score was 2-0 after the second inning. Ayala opened the third inning with a double, but was also left stranded.

The Falcons had the bags full again in the fourth inning, then with one out. Espinosa had begun the inning with a lineout to Brass, but then Joe Hullander walked, Chris Tomko singled, and Bobby S. sneezed on Gutierrez’ bunt, then had it glitch out of his paw for an error. Morris then caught a Brendan Snyder fly to left on a 3-2 pitch. Hullander went for home, Morris’ throw was wild, and the trailing runners advanced on the throwing error, then scored both on a Valcarcel single to left that flipped the score to 3-2 Charlotte. Ceballos popped out to end the inning. All runs were unearned.

Sneeze (wipes nose) didn’t give up an earned run through the 6.1 innings he pitched, but left trailing 3-2 for Ricky Herrera to rise from the dead and face Ceballos in the seventh inning, getting a pop to shallow left and a groundout from Luis Miranda. Bottom 7th, David Gonzales strung a leadoff single to left to put his bum on base as the tying run. Starr then batted for Ricky H., but had to lay off the garbage and drew a walk rather than doing big damage. But the Falcons hung with Gutierrez, who hung one to Ayala that got dished down the line for an RBI double, and the game was tied, with two Critters in scoring position. Nick Nye was walked intentionally, Brass hit into a force at home plate to Espinosa, but Gutierrez then lost the zone and walked in the go-ahead run against Cas. Lefty Steve White relieved Gutierrez, who was still charged with another run on Perez’ sac fly to center, but the inning ended when Morris grounded out. Ruben Mendez struck out two in a quick top 8th, and the Coons tacked on with Bernie Ortega’s double and a pinch-hit RBI single by Tim Fuller against White in the bottom of the inning. Ayala singled, Nye walked, and Brass found another inning-murdering double play to hit into. Walters then struck out two in the ninth, only briefly being bothered by Brendan Snyder’s 2-out infield single. 6-3 Raccoons. Ayala 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; Nye 2-3, 2 BB, 2B; Morris 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Fuller (PH) 1-1, RBI;

This was the first W that Ricky Herrera snuck this year after piling up 19 wins between the last two seasons.

Bobby Sneeze (0-1, 4.15 ERA) didn’t allow an earned run, but still was woeful in this game and was sent back to the Alley Cats at this point. Not really knowing who to bring up right now and not needing an extra reliever at the moment, the Raccoons brought up C/1B Marcos Arellano, who was hitting just .245 with two homers in AAA. Not sure how that would translate into winning even more, though.

The Raccoons were half a game out of first place on Sunday morning.

Game 3
CHA: LF Snyder – 1B Valcarcel – RF D. Ceballos – C L. Miranda – 2B Yoshikawa – 3B D. Espinosa – CF M. Estrada – SS Hullander – P E. Duran
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Fuller – 2B Bean – P Robinson

Ceballos singled and Miranda doubled, and the Falcons got a first-inning run off Robinson, but then Fowler singled and Starr doubled, and the Raccoons… were only in scoring position at that point, but tied it up on Brass’ groundout, then took a lead on Cas’ 2-out single, 2-1. Nye then hit another double, but Cas held at third base after a slow start – did he *really* look fresh and recovered…? Honeypaws was shaking his head, too! – and both were stranded on Fuller’s groundout. Bottom 2nd, Jon Bean singled and Robinson’s bunt was bungled by Duran, allowing the Raccoons to score another run with two productive outs from their 1-2 batters before Starr was punched out by Duran, who opened the next half-inning with a looping single to center, but Robinson struck out the Falcons’ 1-2 and got a fly to center from Ceballos.

Robinson then wobbled into a bases-loaded situation in the fourth inning. Miranda and Yoshikawa drew leadoff walks and Mario Estrada hit a 1-out single. Hullander had to wait out a pep talk by the pitching coach on the hill, then grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice to Nye. Duran made the third out, leaving the Falcons a run short at 3-2. The fifth was almost as laborious with four long at-bats, even if only Valcarcel reached with a single and was left on first base. At this stage, the Indians had lost their Sunday game and the Raccoons looked at first place to finish the week if they could hold on and complete the sweep. Robinson got two more outs, the last of which was nearly a homer or wallbanger for extra bases by Espinosa to right, at which point we went to Bravo. Estrada reached on an error by Bean, but Hullander went down on strikes and the inning gracefully ended after all. Bravo returned in the seventh, walked Snyder with one out, but would face Valcarcel before the lefty .365 stick of Ceballos loomed. Bravo would not face Ceballos in any case, but Valcarcel smacked into a 6-4-3 double play to have Bravo removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom 7th anyway. Morris walked in that spot after Bean’s 1-out double had put a runner in scoring position. But Duran struck out Christopher and Jeff McFadden got a fly to center from Fowler, and we left the runners on base again…

LaBat faced only Ceballos to begin the eighth, gave up a double, and walked to the dugout in shame. Mendez took over, struck out Miranda, but Yoshikawa bounced a ball past Fowler for a game-tying single. Mendez finished the inning, holding the 3-3 tie. Starr and Brass then began the bottom 8th with singles against McFadden. Cas hit a liner over Yoshikawa for another single, and Starr wanted to turn third base but was stopped by the coach there at the last second, and probably for the better because Ceballos was already unleashing a rocket to home plate. Three on, nobody out! Nick Nye next, the Falcons hoped for the double play, but instead were harmed by a bases-clearing triple that went over Ceballos’ reaching glove and into the right-center gap!! Portlaaaaand!! (tosses Honeypaws in the air and catches him again) Three pinch-hitters followed. Ortega walked before McFadden was replaced with lefty Yoshinari Kuroiwa. Angel Perez flew out, but Ayala lobbed an RBI double to tack on a run. Arellano made his Coons debut batting for Christopher and hit a sac fly. Fowler grounded out to end the 5-run assault. Paul Barton retired the Falcons in order in the ninth…! 8-3 Critters! Starr 2-4, 2B; Caswell 2-4, RBI; Nye 2-4, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI; Bean 2-3, 2B; Ayala (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI;

In other news

May 23 – Crusaders 2B/SS Ryan Spehar (.227, 0 HR, 14 RBI) could miss three months to have his torn rotator cuff fixed.
May 26 – Dallas SP Brian Fuqua (2-1, 3.78 ERA) could be out for a full year with a plus-sized tear in his rotator cuff.
May 27 – The Blue Sox trade OF Elmer Maldonado (.323, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to the Condors for three prospects.
May 28 – WAS SP Trevor Justesen (2-4, 4.13 ERA) could be out for the season; the 24-year-old sophomore was down with a pretty bad case of shoulder inflammation.
May 28 – The Warriors slap the Miners, 15-0. Every starting position players on the Warriors has at least one hit and scores at least one run. Only C Felix Rivera (.306, 2 HR, 17 RBI) doesn’t get an RBI, while CF/LF Cory Oldfield (.236, 4 HR, 32 RBI) leads the team with four RBI while hitting nothing more than a single.

FL Player of the Week: NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.326, 15 HR, 36 RBI), batting .474 (9-19) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT 2B/3B Ian Woodrome (.317, 6 HR, 23 RBI), bashing .650 (13-20) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

First place!! The Raccoons were in last place on April 27, but rose somewhat steadily from there on a tremendous 22-7 run to the top of the CL North. But it looks like the Crusaders are now also waking up, making their first pronounced foray above .500 at 27-24.

Meanwhile we still struggle to find a leadoff man, and I’d very much like to refill our infield with Nick Fox and Lonzo. Both should come off the DL next week, although Fox might do a few games’ worth of rehab.

Speaking of injuries, Tyler Riddle was sent on a rehab assignment on Thursday. Also new in AAA was Jack Kozak, who cleared waivers and was assigned to the Alley Cats on Saturday.

Platinum prospect Jose Corral, hitting .266 with a homer in AAA, will miss at least a month with a rotator cuff strain, threatening to close the door on an age 20 debut with the big league team.

We have a road trip to Vegas and Milwaukee next week. After that Loggers series we will stay west of the mountains for a month with the furthest trip being a series in San Francisco.

Fun Fact: Grant Anker of the Bayhawks has 52 RBI in 50 games, with nobody within a quarter of that tally.

Anker, a #1 pick and #1 prospect, made his debut in 2056 and still won’t turn 25 until after this season. He has played in 575 games so far, batting .278/.340/.491 with 625 hits, of which 123 were doubles, 38 triples, and 94 homers – or 41% of his hit total have gone for extra bases. In 2059 he managed to lead the league in doubles (41) *and* triples (18) at the same time, and still socked 19 homers for a total of 78 extra-base knocks. That year he hit .297 and won his only accolades so far, an All Star nomination and a Platinum Stick.

[Westheim]

2061 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

The Raccoons had the #21 and #34 picks (and then a whole lot more after that supplemental round selection) in the 2061 draft after finishing a very distant third in the North the year before and getting a compensation draft pick over the winter.

And more youthful prospects were always welcome to work the field on our farm!

So, the draft pool had been thoroughly sieved and 130 prospect had remained and had made it to the shortlist, and of course there was also a hotlist with the most desirable boys on the list (*high school players):

SP Mark Fitzthum (14/15/13) – BNN #8
SP Tom Kies (14/13/10) – BNN #4
SP Tim Henderson (13/13/10)
SP Randy Rautenstrauch (13/13/8) – BNN #10
SP B.J. Butrico (13/14/8) * – BNN #5
SP/CL John Faughnan (15/12/11)

CL Daniel Richmond (15/11/10)

C Jake Flowe (11/12/16) *

1B John Myers (11/18/15) *
3B Rick Healey (12/11/12)
2B Ryan Bonner (16/1/10) *

OF Rick Atkins (12/11/11)
OF/1B Brady Terrell (12/11/10)
OF Justin Donaldson (11/9/15) *

First, Randy Rautenstrauch was some name. We are still looking for a non-X-rated translation from German.

Second, we were quite a ways away from the BNN top 10 this year, which was filled with a lot more pitchers and a catcher that made the shortlist, but really didn’t get near the hotlist. Funnily enough we might actually get one of those with our not so lofty #21 pick, like the top two BNN ranks, right-handers Adam Dochterman and Cris Hernandez, both of whom were very much looking for a third pitch that worked right now, as was Faughnan on the list above, but Faughnan’s curveball was so nasty that he could still make out a backend reliever/closer if that whole starting thing didn’t work out.

For curiosity, the draft pool also contained a left-handed pitcher named Nick Brown, no relation to the other Nick Brown, and this Nick Brown’s scouting profile was just as unassuming as that other Nick Brown’s was at this point in 1995.

And really deep in the anecdotes of franchise history we had former Raccoons outfielder Juan Magallanes, who appeared for the Raccoons as a regular irregular from 2025 through 2031 and thus nicked two rings while batting .247/.341/.275 with 221 career hits and one homer along with 59 RBI. Magallanes was drafted out of mildly obsure Yeshiva Rambam High in New York. There was another student from there in the draft pool, INF John Jackson. Who knows how funny we will feel like when the ninth round rolls around. I mean, the school’s athletic teams name is the Yeshiva Rambam Scrolls. What’s not to like?

[Westheim]

Raccoons (30-21) @ Aces (31-20) – May 30-June 1, 2061

The Raccoons were in first place and the Aces were close, just 3 1/2 games out in the South. They had already won a series from the Portland Browns this year, two games to one, and ranked third in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed in the Continental League, but aside from the second-best rated defense they weren’t in the top three in any major statistical category.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (6-3, 3.05 ERA) vs. Jesus Aquino (3-3, 5.16 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-2, 2.42 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (2-5, 5.43 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (3-1, 2.27 ERA) vs. Dan Graham (1-2, 3.23 ERA)

This was the soft end of their rotation with two battered right-handers followed by a sophomore southpaw swingman.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Perez – 2B Ortega – P DeRose
LVA: 2B M. Roberts – LF Laws – RF J. Evans – 3B A. Alfaro – SS Veguilla – CF Jad. Wilson – C Burgio – 1B Echols – P J. Aquino

DeRose allowed a single to Mike Roberts to begin the bottom 1st, but kept the runner on base and retired the next nine batters in order while also stirring it up on offense, driving in the game’s first run with an RBI single in the third inning, plating Angel Perez, who had strung a double up the leftfield line to begin the inning. DeRose would then score on Fowler’s 2-out double for a 2-0 lead. Starr walked, but Brass whiffed, leaving two on base. The fourth began with straight singles by the 5-6-7 batters, loading the bags with nobody out and Bernie Ortega up. Ortega hit into a double play, and while a run scored, I found the experience deflating, as deflating as not having Lonzo in the lineup instead in the first place. DeRose then lined out to Miguel Veguilla, then gave up the Aces’ first run on Scott Laws’ leadoff single and Jake Evans’ RBI double in the bottom 4th, but then got three stingy outs to keep Evans on base at least. Casey Burgio hit another leadoff single the inning after, but was stranded, while Trent Brassfield socked a leadoff jack in the sixth to restore a 3-run lead, 4-1. That inning continued with 2-out action as Perez and Ortega got on base ahead of DeRose, who for the second time in the game hit an RBI single to bring his battery mate home. Ben Morris grounded out, leaving two on base.

The Coons seemed in control here, with DeRose having a very manageable pitch count through six innings, and the offense kept poking in the seventh. Aquino nicked Fowler to start off that frame, then was yanked for Ryan Creviston, who gave up singles to Starr and Brass, and with the latter also the starters’ run as Fowler scored from second base. Cas grounded out, but Nye’s sac fly ran the score to 7-1 before Perez whiffed to bring on the stretch. In turn DeRose stumbled with two outs in the bottom 7th, but Burgio and Jonathan Echols on base with hits, and then gave up another single and a run on PH Jim Fusselman’s single. Roberts then made the third out on a fly. Evans hit a 1-out single in the bottom 8th, but was doubled up by Alex Alfaro’s grounder to second base, and that was it for DeRose in this game. The Coons clawed another run back in the ninth with Fowler’s leadoff double and productive outs for Starr and Brass, the latter hitting a sac fly to the warning track to get Fowler home from third base. Ricky Herrera held the Aces short in the home half of the ninth. 8-2 Raccoons. Fowler 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Brassfield 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Perez 2-3, BB, 2B; DeRose 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (7-3) and 2-4, 2 RBI;

Nick Fox started a rehab assignment on this Monday. Him and Lonzo were both expected to join the team on the weekend. Lonzo actually started with baseball activities on Tuesday, but would have to sit out the remainder of his 15-day assignment. The earliest he could come off would be Saturday.

Game 2
POR: RF Christopher – LF Morris – 1B Starr – SS Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P C. Fox
LVA: 2B M. Roberts – LF Laws – RF J. Evans – 3B A. Alfaro – SS Veguilla – CF Jad. Wilson – C Mathews – 1B Echols – P Robbins

While DeRose was starting to morph into a slugger, Foxie Brown was 0-for-20 on the season and then was also whacked around by the Aces for three sharp hits and two runs in the first inning. Kris Robbins faced the minimum the first time through, but did allow Ben Morris on base in the fourth, who stole second and then scored on two soft 2-out singles by Nye and Cas to at least narrow the gap down to one run before Angel Perez grounded out. Not much else happened until Jake Evans hit a leadoff double off a middling Fox in the bottom 6th and then scored on Alfaro’s grounder and Veguilla’s sac fly. Fox lasted seven innings before leaving down 3-1. Jon Bean singled ahead of his spot in the eighth, but Brass flew out to center coming off the bench, and the inning didn’t lead anywhere nice. The tying run was back in the box to begin the ninth, though, once Morris singled to center against right-hander Jason Harding. Starr struck a single to right-center, with Morris going to third base, but Nye popped out and Cas’ sac fly to left didn’t particularly help. A hitless Perez was hit for with Bernie Ortega, but the fly to Scott Laws ended the game. 3-2 Aces. Morris 2-4; Bean 2-3;

Some notes on the flip of the month: Justin DeRose was named Pitcher of the Month in the CL, which certainly wasn’t on my bingo card, while the Aces’ Jaden Wilson was Rookie of the Month for May.

The Aces also made a trade acquiring 1B Dustin Williams (.344, 5 HR, 30 RBI) and a prospect from the Baybirds for the outfielder Scott Laws (.375, 0 HR, 3 RBI).

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – SS Nye – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Ayala – 2B Ortega – 3B Gonzales – P B. Herrera
LVA: 2B M. Roberts – 1B D. Williams – 3B A. Alfaro – RF J. Evans – CF Jad. Wilson – SS Veguilla – C Burgio – LF Plancarte – P D. Graham

Three batters and three singles into the game, it was three on and nobody out for Joel Starr, who struck out, while Perez and Ayala both popped out. I felt tired. Starr also struck out after Brass’ 2-out triple in the fourth inning, at which point the Raccoons trailed 1-0 on the strength of a solo jack of Jake Evans, but homering apparently wasn’t our mojo anymore… The Coons would not exploit a 2-base throwing error by Alex Alfaro in the fifth inning, either, which put Tipsy Bobby on second base with one out. Christopher walked, Nye grounded out, and Brass flew out to Juan Plancarte, Scott Laws’ replacement. Instead, Miguel Veguilla singled and Casey Burgio homered off Herrera in the bottom 5th to extend the Aces’ lead to 3-0.

The innings came and went, but the Raccoons couldn’t score, while Herrera lacked stuff and in both the sixth and seventh had a runner on base with a single, then got a double play grounder turned behind him. The eighth began with a hit for Brassfield before Graham walked Starr, which put the tying run in the box with nobody out. Perez grounded out, Ayala’s sac fly was not actually advancing our cause, and Ortega drew a walk from reliever Justin Rocco, who was immediately replaced with a right-hander, Steve Slye, against David Gonzales, with Caswell batting for the third baseman instead with two on and two out, and striking out. Mike Lane pitched a scoreless bottom 8th, also with a double play turned by the infielders, after which Harding got the ball for the ninth again. Fowler, Christopher, and Nye made straight outs to lose the series and first place. 3-1 Aces. Christopher 2-4, BB; Brassfield 3-4, 3B;

Raccoons (31-23) @ Loggers (14-38) – June 3-5, 2061

The Loggers were in a state of active dissolution after a 7-16 April worsened into a 6-22 May. They were bottoms in many offensive categories, scoring just 3.4 runs per game, and were giving up the fifth-most runs for a rather unhealthy -78 run differential after not even a third of the games in the schedule. They also had injuries, with Ernesto Culver, Girolamo Pizzichini, and Bob Ruggiero all out of a decimated rotation, and Corey Garmon and Roberto Arcos missing on the batting side. And yet, the Coons were merely 3-3 against the Loggers this year…

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (4-3, 3.66 ERA) vs. Oliver Graham (1-2, 4.78 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-3, 2.96 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (0-0, 3.21 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-3, 2.55 ERA) vs. Julian Dunn (3-4, 4.63 ERA)

Those would be three right-handers, although the Loggers were also using southpaw Sansao Tyson (1-5, 5.67 ERA) according to their most recent mood swing, and he was rested, so might just as well appear in this series.

Game 1
POR: RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – SS Nye – C Perez – 2B Bean – P Robinson
MIL: CF Franks – RF D. Wright – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C M. Chavez – LF Milian – 3B D. Miller – 2B Loftis – P O. Graham

The worst offense in the league by many measures began with Scott Franks and Dave Wright singles and a double steal in the bottom 1st, then struck out twice and popped out once to keep the runners in scoring position. Instead the Raccoons made the first entry on the scoreboard with a Cas single and a Nick Nye knock over the fence for a 2-0 lead in the top 2nd. The Loggers didn’t reach base again until ex-Coon Marcos Chavez, batting a paltry .192 in the #5 hole, drew a 2-out walk in the fourth, but was left on by David Milian. Robinson nicked Danny Miller to begin the fifth, but struck out Jeremy Loftis, handled the bunt, and then got a pop on the infield from Franks, and I was beginning to understand how they were scoring 3.4 runs a game. Not that the Coons were any better. It was still a 2-0 game, and f.e. in the sixth inning Joel Starr dished a leadoff double to centerfield and was then stranded on second base…

The Loggers then twitched in the bottom 6th, which Dave Wright opened with a leadoff walk. Dave Robles and Fidel Carrera hit soft singles to make it three on with nobody out, but Chavez grounded into a double play, albeit with Wright scoring, 2-1, and Milian’s single on a 3-2 pitch tied the game before Robinson could regain control. The Loggers took the lead in the next inning, with Barton’s leadoff walk to Ralph Lange, a soft single by Phil Reder (who?), and then, against LaBat, a sorry blooper between Brass, Cas, and Nye for the go-ahead single, and on an 0-2 pitch, AND … by ex-Coon Harry Ramsay… Ralph Lange socked a 2-out, 2-run homer off Lane in the eighth inning to increase the humiliation. The Raccoons got Cas and Perez on base against Randy Birnbaum in the ninth inning, but then choked yet again. Tim Fuller hit a sac fly, which again didn’t help, and Bernie Ortega struck out to end the game. 5-3 Loggers. Caswell 2-4; Perez 2-4, 2B;

Ugh.

Bernie Ortega (.250, 1 HR, 4 RBI) was then sent back to AAA after this game as Lonzo came off the DL, although the smart money was on Jon Bean not being far behind with Nick Fox also on the cusp of returning.

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Arellano – P DeRose
MIL: CF Franks – 3B D. Miller – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – RF Millian – C M. Reed – LF Reder – 2B Loftis – P L. Wilson

Lonzo hit a third-inning triple that was followed by Starr grounding out and the game remained scoreless in the middle of the third inning. The Loggers had four singles in the first three innings against DeRose, including two by Franks and Robles in the bottom 3rd, taking a 1-0 lead on the latter with two outs. They had another pair on base in the fourth, then scored a pair of runs in the fifth on Fidel Carrera’s 2-out homer to right after Danny Miller had singled, stolen second, and taken third on a wild pitch. DeRose then failed the bases full with a walk, a single, and another walk, and was yanked, ending his 6-game winning streak. Reynaldo Bravo came in and could not have been more useless, walking in a run against the .179 hitting Loftis, then gave up a 2-run single to the ******* opposing pitcher. Franks made the final out in the 5-run fifth, and Bravo returned for the sixth, giving up a single to Miller and a homer to Robles, 8-0.

The Raccoons only scored when there was no reason to waste good runs anymore, with RBI knocks for Arellano – his first as a Coon – and Morris in the seventh inning, but in the same frame the Loggers knocked Paul Barton around with Loftis and Franks hits for another run. Portland answered with loading the bases and Nick Fowler accepting a bases-loaded walk from Wilson, who was then dumped, in the top 8th, then had Arellano hit into an inning-ending double play with the bags still loaded. Things were pointless, but Matt Walters pitched the bottom 8th, just to see whether he still had a pulse (he had, whiffing two). 9-3 Loggers. Lavorano 2-5, 3B;

Roster moves, and not only because we lost four in a row. Nick Fox and Forbes Tomlin joined the team, the latter just as filler, while Jon Bean (.242, 0 HR, 3 RBI) and Marcos Arellano (.250, 0 HR, 2 RBI) returned to the Alley Cats. Tomlin wore #38 since his previous #16 had been given to Tim Fuller in the meantime.

Please don’t get swept by the Loggers?

The Loggers…!

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P C. Fox
MIL: CF Franks – RF D. Wright – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C M. Chavez – LF Milian – 3B D. Miller – 2B Lange – P Dunn

Chance Fox batted before he pitched, striking out to end a 4-run first on Sunday, which was certainly a nice start. Morris and Lonzo led off with singles and a double steal, then scored on Starr’s sac fly and a Brass hit, respectively. Cas hit an RBI double, and with two outs Fuller walked and Nick Fox hit an RBI single after going 8-for-16 in St. Pete on rehab. Up 4-0, and with Chance Fox being relatively steady so far this year … the Loggers would surely not whack him for five hits and three runs in the bottom 1st and have the tying run thrown out at the plate by Brassfield, right? No, that was exactly what happened. Franks and Wright both singled and each stole second base, and it was very much downhill from there, with 2-out RBI doubles by Chavez and Milian, who was thrown out by Brass on Danny Miller’s single to left. The Loggers then slapped Fox for three hits by the 8-9-1 batters to begin the bottom 2nd, giving them seven hits the first time through, and took a 5-4 lead on Franks’ single and a run-scoring groundout by Robles in the inning. When Chavez opened the bottom 3rd with another single, Fox was yanked and disposed of in the nearest woods.

Bravo got out of the inning, then bunted into a double play after Nick Fox drew a leadoff walk from Dunn to begin the fourth. The only way he wasn’t pelted right away after the outing was him also getting through the fourth inning. Lane walked a pair in the fifth, and the two of them remained absolute menaces to their own ballclub with terrible WHIPs, although the Loggers failed to tack on and were still ahead “only” 5-4.

The Coons did their darndest not to score again, like Lonzo hitting a leadoff single and getting forced out by Starr in the fifth inning, before Fuller and the Fox that didn’t suck the fun out of a 4-0 lead smashed back-to-back leadoff doubles against Dunn in the sixth inning, tying the game at five. Lange’s error then put Nick Fowler on base in the #9 spot, and an infield roller by Ben Morris died a hero and while Fox held at third base the Raccoons got another runner on base and now had three on with nobody ou- … ah, ****. Lonzo’s grounder to third base saw Fox thrown out at the plate, and Starr poked a 3-1 pitch into a 6-4-3 double play.

What an incredibly annoying and ******* stupid team.

Ricky Herrera then right away fell behind against Scott Franks singling, stealing two bases, and coming home on a groundout, and the Coons remained ******** in the seventh and eighth, the latter of which Fuller led off with another double before being completely ignored in scoring position. Franks also went on to single off LaBat in the bottom 8th and stole second base again, then went for home on Dave Wright’s 2-out single to left. There, he was thrown out by Morris to end the inning. Randy Birnbaum retired Lonzo and Starr before allowing a 2-out single to Brass in the ninth. Caswell then lined out to Carrera on a 3-1 pitch. 6-5 Loggers. Morris 2-5; Lavorano 2-5; Brassfield 2-5, RBI; Fuller 2-3, BB, 2 2B; N. Fox 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI;

In other news

May 30 – SFB LF Grant Anker (.281, 14 HR, 56 RBI) hits for the cycle in a 5-hit effort with an extra single and four RBI in a 15-11 slugfest win against the Loggers. This is the third cycle in four seasons against the Loggers, as Anker joins the Crusaders’ Gunner Epperson and Kelly Konecny.
May 30 – The Stars beat the Buffaloes, 6-4 in 14 innings, on a walkoff home run by OF Tyler Wharton (.338, 8 HR, 32 RBI).
June 3 – A home run by BOS INF Diego Mendoza (.269, 7 HR, 31 RBI) brings about the only run in the Titans’ 1-0 win against the Indians.
June 4 – Rebels 3B Bobby Anderson (.175, 3 HR, 17 RBI) wasn’t what he once was at age 37, but he reached 2,000 career hits in a 10-4 loss to the Blue Sox with a first-inning single. Anderson was the 2047 CL Rookie of the Year and won four All Star nominations and three Platinum Sticks, most with the Indians. He was a .266/.358/.400 hitter with 172 HR and 1,080 RBI for his career.
June 5 – LAP SP Ivan Torres (2-5, 3.28 ERA) 2-hits the Wolves in a 4-0 shutout.

FL Player of the Week: DAL OF Tyler Wharton (.350, 10 HR, 39 RBI), batting .417 (10-24) with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN 3B Chris Sullivan (.316, 3 HR, 26 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS OF/1B Tony Roman (.333, 16 HR, 40 RBI), swatting .354 with 10 HR, 26 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: SFB INF/LF Xavier Reyes (.420, 0 HR, 32 RBI), poking .420 with 20 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT SP Mike Chartrand (5-3, 3.13 ERA), going 4-1 with a 1.60 ERA, 28 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: POR SP Justin DeRose (7-3, 2.96 ERA), going a perfect 6-0 with 1.89 ERA, 26 K
FL Rookie of the Month: TOP RF/LF/1B Danny Hernandez (.330, 4 HR, 28 RBI), hitting .306 with 3 HR, 14 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: LVA OF Jaden Wilson (.269, 1 HR, 15 RBI), hitting .347 with 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Loggers…!

I want a divorce. This team…

So what ARE their real faces now? Because I don’t ******* know. They reeled off a 23-7 run to the top of the division, only to immediately **** the bed and lose five in a row, including getting swept in the Loggers camp. What the…!?

Monday would be Tyler Riddle’s turn to start on regular rest, but A) the Coons were off, and B) he issued too many walks in his first rehab starts and we wanted him to do one more before bringing him back. The good news was that he could still make it back to the rotation in time for when we needed a fifth starter again.

Oh, who needs fifth starters? They couldn’t hit their way out of a grocery bag if their furry lives depended on it. Why get emotionally invested… But regardless, if you want to see them suck in person, we’ll be at home playing the Arrowheads (tee-hee…) and the Cyclones next week. The team will never be far away from home after that, with road series in Salem and Elk City, interspersed with a home set against the Crusaders (uff…) coming up immediately afterwards.

Fun Fact: Lonzo tied Alex Vasquez for the active lead in stolen bases with two thefts in two days since coming off the DL.

645 each.

Unfortunately the 5-game losing streak has made me numb and I must keep shoveling this cream pie into my face instead of writing a 20-line poem about how much we all love Lonzo.

[Westheim]

I’m off work this week to catch the early Euro games, which also means I have more time for fuzzy joy. Or whatever it is they give me on any given 5-game losing streak. Since the draft falls between series the week after *this*, this will be a 3-set update, and then there’s gonna be another 3-set update after the draft.

I sure hope you appreciate the amounts I suffer for you lot.

+++

Raccoons (31-26) vs. Indians (31-23) – June 7-9, 2061

The Raccoons-in-disarray crawled home after getting swept by THE LOGGERS, facing the Indians, who led the division despite scoring the third-fewest runs in the CL. They were also giving up the second-fewest runs, though, which really sounded like the Indians teams of old, and were up 3-1 on the Coons this year.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (3-2, 2.41 ERA) vs. Zach Stewart (3-3, 3.76 ERA)
Nick Robinson (4-3, 3.61 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (6-2, 2.06 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-4, 3.52 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (2-4, 4.48 ERA)

Those would be three left-handed starters, although the Indians were also coming off two off days on Monday and the preceding Thursday. The only right-hander in their rotation, Melvin Guerra (8-2, 2.41 ERA), would be next in line.

Game 1
IND: 2B M. Weber – 1B Ewers – SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C Al. Gomez – CF S. Thompson – LF W. Sanchez – 3B Gaxiola – P Stewart
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Caswell – LF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P B. Herrera

Only Kevin Ewers reached base with a first-inning single for either team the first time through the lineups, but the Raccoons would pack the bases in the bottom 4th with 1-out singles by Lonzo and Brassfield, plus Joel Starr drawing a walk. Perez struck out and Cas flew out to Chris Lovins to leave all the precious runners on base. Alex Gomez singled to begin the top 5th, but was left on base. Bobby Herrera pitched very well, striking out six through five innings, plus ex-Coon Stewart to begin the sixth inning, alas, the offense… Lonzo drew a leadoff walk (!) in the bottom 6th, but was swiftly doubled up on Brass’ grounder to short.

Then the Indians got three on with one out in the seventh inning; Chris Lovins singled, Gomez drew a walk, and Steve Thompson singled, knocking out Tipsy Bobby with more left-handed batters at the bottom of the order, but when Ricky H. replaced Bobby H., the Indians answered with Kevin Abel pinch-hitting for Willie Sanchez. Herrera prevailed, though, and struck out both Abel and another pinch-hitter, Vinny Atencio, so the Indians also left all the runners on base. Ricky H. also pitched the eighth inning, keeping the game scoreless, before being hit for by Joey Christopher to begin the bottom 8th, but the Raccoons went down in order against Stewart. Since we felt that we could not afford any more losses, we sent Matt Walters into the top 9th in the scoreless game, which soon was no longer scoreless when the Indians whacked him around for four hits and three runs. Matt Kilday singled and stole second. He scored on Gomez’ 1-out single. Thompson tripled and Abel singled to each add a run before Miguel Morales and Stewart both struck out.

Left-hander Cody Kleidon got the bottom 9th, but allowed Brass on base right away… only for him to be doubled up by Starr… Forbes Tomlin pinch-hit for Perez and doubled to left, followed by a Morales throwing error that conceded Tomlin’s run on Caswell’s grounder. Ayala walked, and Tim Fuller hit an RBI single to left in place of Fox. The Indians changed pitchers to right-hander Cruz Madrid, who met Ben Morris batting for Walters and walked him in a full count, flipping the lineup over to Nick Nye, but he was 0-4 on the day and the Coons changed Nicks and sent Fowler to bat. He grounded out to Mike Weber on the first pitch. 3-2 Indians. Tomlin (PH) 1-1, 2B; Fuller (PH) 1-1, RBI; B. Herrera 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K; R. Herrera 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Arf.

Game 2
IND: 2B M. Weber – 1B R. Alvarez – C Al. Gomez – SS Kilday – LF Abel – RF Lovins – 3B Niles – CF S. Thompson – P DeWitt
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – C Perez – 2B Nye – 1B Tomlin – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson

Three on and one out for Indy it was again in the second inning after Robinson walked Abel, Lovins legged out an infield grounder for a single, and Nathan Niles was bluntly plunked. Steve Thompson’s grounder to first was impossible to turn two on and Abel scored with the game’s first run before DeWitt struck out to end the inning. Double plays were still possible on the Portland infield, though, as the Portland Browns demonstrated in the second (Tomlin) and third (Robinson) innings in this game…

The score remained 1-0 until the sixth when Gomez doubled to left and scored on a Kilday single. Brass’ throw to home plate was off enough to allow Kilday into second base on the play and that in turn allowed him to score on Abel’s following single. Lovins hit into an inning-ending double play, keeping the score at 3-0. Ayala then opened the bottom 6th with a single to right, then was swiftly doubled up by Nick Fox. Robinson struck out ten Arrowheads in a futile outing, in which the Coons barely scratched out a run as DeWitt DesIntegrated in the bottom 7th, walked two and gave up an RBI single to Nye, but that was the amount of the Coons’ rally there. Barton instead gave up another run on two walks and a sac fly to the bottom of the order in the ninth inning, so the Indians looked quite comfy with another 3-run lead for Kleidon in the bottom 9th… but it went just as sticky for the southpaw as it had the day before. Fuller and Lonzo made two outs to begin the inning, but Brass then singled and scored on Perez’ wallbanger double, 4-2. Nye’s sly single and a walk issued to Tomlin then loaded the bases for … well, Felix Ayala. Joel Starr notably had already been used to pinch-hit and was no longer on the plate, and in fact there was no right-handed option left on the bench at all (Cas, though). Ayala batted for himself, and struck out to lose the game for everybody. 4-2 Indians. Perez 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Nye 2-4, RBI; Robinson 7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, L (4-4);

This L dropped the Raccoons behind the rising Crusaders into third place.

Game 3
IND: 2B M. Weber – LF R. Alvarez – SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C Al. Gomez – CF S. Thompson – 3B Niles – 1B Gaxiola – P Sciuto
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Fuller – CF Caswell – LF Ayala – 3B Gonzales 2B – P DeRose

Brassfield homered to right in the first inning for a 1-0 lead that depressingly short-lived as the Indians put Lovins and Gomez on base to begin the second inning against DeRose, who then got a K on Thompson and a grounder from Niles before Robby Gaxiola was put on intentionally to get the pitcher to the plate. Sciuto slapped a 2-out, 2-run single through Starr and the Indians flipped the score right ‘round. DeRose walked Weber and Alvarez was barely contained by the ballpark on a deep fly to right that Brass caught against the fence. It only got worse from here, as Kilday and Lovins went to the corners right away in the third inning. Gomez’ sac fly extended Indy’s lead to 3-1, and more singles by Thompson and Niles, a bases-loaded walk to Gaxiola, and another sac fly for Sciuto ran the tally as high as 5-1 before Weber grounded out. DeRose faced Alvarez and Kilday, who knocked more base hits and went to the corners in the fourth, then was yanked.

Ricky Herrera stifled the Indians’ inning with two strikeouts, while Kilday got himself caught stealing. Thompson then singled off Ricky H. to begin the fifth before Bravo came into the game and fanned the flames with a Niles triple and two walks before the Indians somehow croaked and didn’t turn him inside-out altogether. Mike Lane was then ****** up for another three runs in the sixth inning. The last three innings passed peacefully with the Indians having done their deed and the Raccoons lacking the spine for a rally of any size. 9-1 Indians. Lavorano 2-4; Brassfield 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; Barton 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K;

DeRose might have been the CL Pitcher of the Month in May, but he’ll always be a terrible pitcher and a piece of **** on your shoe……

Heads were rolling after the losing streak reached eight games.

Half the pen was purged between the time the Indians departed and the Cyclones arrives. Reynaldo Bravo (1-2, 4.09 ERA, 1.77 WHIP) and Mike Lane (2-2, 5.87 ERA, 1.83 WHIP) both ended up on waivers, with Lane already making it clear that he was not going to accept an assignment to the minor leagues. Well, **** you, Mike, I’m not accepting you getting another assignment in the brown shirt either!! Paul Barton (1-1, 3.31 ERA) was sent to AAA through no fault of his own but because we needed more fresher arms quicker. He would for sure be back at some point. David Gonzales (.231, 0 HR, 5 RBI) was also returned to the Alley Cats.

These three roster spots were filled with the returning Tyler Riddle, who had a good third rehab start in St. Pete on Monday and would thus slot really neatly into the open spot in our rotation that was up in the middle game against Cincy. Bryan Erickson, Brad Loveless, and Adam Harris would make up the numbers in the bullpen, while Alley Cats left-hander Curt Therien, who pitched briefly with the Coons last year, was also put on waivers to strike him off the 40-man roster after walking 16 batters in 17.2 innings.

The moves briefly gave us FIVE left-handed relievers, but Harris and Loveless were only up as stopgaps. The Cyclones also had a very left-handed lineup, so maybe it wasn’t the worst time to have an extra southpaw.

Or three.

Raccoons (31-29) vs. Cyclones (24-37) – June 10-12, 2061

The Cyclones ranked eighth in runs scored and second-worst in runs allowed in the FL, with a -46 run differential (Coons: +16 and rapidly declining). They were last in the FL East, but we were about to get there, too. There was no major statistical category in which the Cyclones ranked even in the top half in their league, their best mark being a seventh place with a .262 batting average. These teams had played last year, Portland winning two outta three, and two outta three ain’t bad.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (5-3, 3.08 ERA) vs. Jorge Quinones (1-6, 5.81 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (0-1, 15.00 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (3-8, 5.83 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (3-2, 2.23 ERA) vs. Luis Palacios (3-2, 4.02 ERA)

Guess what, more southpaws. The only right-hander for us this week was Shultz on Saturday.

Game 1
CIN: CF Torrence – 2B Onelas – 3B Monck – RF MacDonnell – LF Sauceda – C J. Morales – 1B Saulsberry – SS J. Munoz – P Quinones
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Caswell – 1B Tomlin – LF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P C. Fox

There were six left-handers in that Cyclones lineup, and soon there were seven when Jerry Morales strained an achilles tendon on a double to left and was replaced with Brycen Fink. That was not the only second-inning injury for the Cyclones, who also lost Ethan Torrence – replaced with Jordan Sanchez – on a throw to home plate in the bottom 2nd when Ayala singled with Cas on second base and the Coons, maddened by despair, sent Cas for home. Torrence would later be ruled to be day-to-day with back spams, but since the Cyclones already carried an injured outfielder (Matt DeSando) they were down to just two bench players before the end of the second inning. Sanchez followed Quinones’ leadoff single (…) with a single of his own in the top 3rd, and Quinones would score on Marcos Onelas’ groundout to tie the game against Fox. Onelas would then take Fox deep to left-center to give Cincy a 2-1 lead.

Chance Fox would strike out a dozen Cyclones in seven innings, but still remained on the hook because of the (right-handed) Onelas until he was pinch-hit for in the bottom 7th after a 1-out walk to Nick Fox. Joel Starr was the obvious choice and obviously hit into a double play. LaBat then had a scoreless eighth against a still majority left-handed lineup before Nye grounded out against Quinones. Lonzo then singled, as did Brassfield, and – did I mention despair? – they pulled off a double steal to get into scoring position. Angel Perez popped out to Marquise Saulsberry, and Quinones walked Cas with two outs before being replaced with righty Blake Anderson, who was a curious choice with his 8.36 ERA. With Starr already burned, the Raccoons hit for Tomlin with Ben Morris, who hit a high fly to center… and to Jordan Sanchez.

The ninth saw two outs gathered by Loveless before he walked Jorge Munoz and allowed a bloop single to Danny Soto. Ruben Mendez then retired Sanchez, after which ex-Coon Ivan Ornelas appeared to face the bottom of the order. Christopher batted for Ayala and hit a single to center, but was forced out by Fox’ comebacker to Ornelas. Fowler walked in Mendez’ place, flipping the lineup to Nick Nye, who ran a full count before unloading a losing-streak-shattering 3-run homer to dead center, 432 feet precisely. 4-2 Blighters. Nye 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Brassfield 3-4, 2B; Christopher (PH) 1-1; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 12 K;

A win is a win is a win.

A win is a win is a … (stuffs neck of a Capt’n Coma bottle into his snout)

In better news, both the Stars and Falcons put in claims for Mike Lane (5.87 ERA!) on Friday, so we would not be stuck with the rest of his $1.7M salary at least.

Game 2
CIN: CF Torrence – 2B Onelas – 3B Monck – RF MacDonnell – LF Sauceda – C Heath – 1B Saulsberry – SS J. Munoz – P Shultz
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Riddle

Riddle retired the first five before offering a walk to Josh Heath, but got Saulsberry to ground out. The Raccoons then took the lead in the bottom 2nd on a 3-run blast to right mashed by Nick Fowler. Cas (single) and Nye (walk) had been on base ahead of him. The Cyclones answered with a solo jack to begin the top 3rd by their own #8 hitter Jorge Munoz. That was the only base hit off Riddle in five innings, so I’d give him a passing grade. Besides the walk to Heath, the Cyclones only got on base on a Fowler error, and struck out six times against the recovered Opening Day starter. The other home run whacker, Munoz, also made an error in the bottom 5th, but the Raccoons failed to capitalize and sat on only three hits through five innings themselves.

Rich Monck in the sixth and Marquise Saulsberry in the seventh would hit soft singles off Riddle, but neither made it very far on the base paths. Riddle’s spot was up to lead off the bottom 7th and he was hit for with Christopher, who drew a walk, but was forced out by Morris. Lonzo flew out to right, and Starr drew another walk off Shultz, but Brass bounced out to first base to end the inning.

The Raccoons used three pitchers and more tissues in the eighth inning. Ricky Herrera struck out two, but Erickson walked Onelas in his first assignment since being recalled. From there we went straight to Walters, who got Monck to ground out and end the inning, but then didn’t return for the ninth inning because of a tweak in his back. While I was bawling because the baseball gods were so cruel again, the Raccoons ran up a 4-spot against Jeremy Fetta in the bottom 8th. Nick Fowler drove in a run, and Morris clobbered in three with the Coons’ third 3-run homer in two days. Lavorano 2-5; Caswell 2-3, 2B; Nye 1-2, 2 BB; Fowler 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (1-1);

Matt Walters was expected to miss a week with a sore back, which wasn’t enough to DL him, but enough to wail about it. On the other paw – now there were only four southpaws left in our pen!

Closing duties would be handled between Ricky H. and Mendez in Walters’ absence.

Game 3
CIN: CF Torrence – 2B Onelas – RF MacDonnell – LF Sauceda – 1B Saulsberry – C Fink – 3B D. Soto – SS J. Munoz – P L. Palacios
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 1B Tomlin – CF Morris – LF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P B. Herrera

Bobby Herrera struggled out of the gate, giving up a single to Onelas and a homer to right to John MacDonnell in the first inning for a quick 2-0 deficit, then allowed Manny Sauceda and Marquise Saulsberry on base as well before regaining control. The Coons made up a run right away on Nye’s leadoff double and Brass’ RBI single, but Perez then hit into a double play. Unfortunately, a loud leadoff double by Jorge Munoz in the second inning and two productive outs allowed the Cyclones to get back to a 2-run lead right away in the next half-inning.

Bottom 3rd, and Tipsy Bobby led off with a single to left, followed by Nye dropping one into shallow center. Tipsy Bobby was almost getting himself entangled in a rundown, but the Cyclones bobbled the ball on the infield and by the time Saulsberry retrieved the misplaced ball, the Coons had a pair in scoring position with nobody out. Lonzo got one run home with a groundout, but Brass fanned and Perez grounded out to leave the tying run on third base.

Danny Soto doubled in the fourth inning, but was thrown out by Brassfield as he tried to reach third base, but overall this very much wasn’t Bobby H.’s day and with the roster laden with lefties there was a temptation to bat for him in the bottom 4th after a Tomlin single, Morris walking, and an RBI double by Fox – the last two in full counts – tied the game and put runners on second and third with one out again. Then again, Walters was creating dead weight on the roster for a week and the next off day was far away. Intentionally putting more innings on a short-pawed pen seemed like a bad idea. He batted for himself, fell to 1-2, and then sliced a low liner over the glove of a leaping Onelas into shallow right-center for an RBI single, giving himself a 4-3 lead! Nick Nye then ended Palacios’ suffering with the Coons’ fourth 3-run homer of the series, 7-3! Righty Alex Diaz took over, walked Lonzo, who stole his 20th base, and then gave up another longshot to Brassfield, capping a 7-spot. Diaz would do garbage duty until giving up an RBI double to Forbes Tomlin in the bottom 6th, which got the Coons into double digits. Johnny Doolin then walked the bags full with two outs, but got Nick Fox to ground out.

Bobby Herrera meanwhile pitched a bit better with the big lead and then actually made it to the stretch with seven spotty innings, while also hitting 3-for-3 against the unsuspecting Cyclones. Loveless croaked in the eighth inning, offering two hits and two walks to the Cyclones, who scored a run before Ruben Mendez got Munoz to fly out to strand the bases loaded. Adam Harris had less trouble in the ninth inning. 10-4 Raccoons. Nye 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Brassfield 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Tomlin 2-5, 2B, RBI; N. Fox 2-4, 2B, RBI; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (4-2) and 3-3, RBI;

Raccoons (34-29) @ Wolves (21-41) – June 13-15, 2061

‘nother last-place team! We were 3-3 against those in the last two weeks… The Wolves had troubles with … everything. They were bottoms in runs scored and second from the bottom in runs allowed in the FL, with a grim -93 run differential. They had the worst rotation, the fewest homers, and the lowest batting average. Somehow they led the FL in stolen bases, however. This was the *sixth* straight year that we’d cross swords, and the Wolves had won the last three meetings with a sweep in 2058 and two 2-1 series in the last two years.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (4-4, 3.62 ERA) vs. Jon Mendosa (1-4, 4.70 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-5, 3.98 ERA) vs. Cameron Argenziano (2-6, 4.68 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-3, 3.04 ERA) vs. Sean Guice (1-3, 4.05 ERA)

Well-familiar Cam Argenziano was the only southpaw in their rotation. He had been 20-17 with a 3.78 ERA in spotty quad-A service with the Raccoons throughout the 2050s. Meanwhile first-rounder and former #88 prospect Guice (pronounced: Geese) was an interesting right-handed sophomore who should pitch better according to his scouting report, but had issued as many walks as strikeouts (58) in 98.2 innings last year, and was repeating the same feat this year with 34 each through 66.2 innings.

The Wolves’ lineup was tilted to the right side, so the Raccoons made another roster move and sent Brad Loveless (0-0, 4.15 ERA) back to AAA in exchange for Rich Read, who had been taken by the Buffos in the Rule 5 draft last December, but returned at the start of the season. He was walking 18 in 19 innings in AAA, but we were in the “any warm body counts” phase of bullpen construction, and he was a right-hander, and nobody wanted to see J.J. Sensabaugh, Bobby Sneeze – gesundheit! – or Colby Bowen ever again.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson
SAL: RF J. Mendoza – 2B Park – 1B Fresco – C Newman – SS Buss – LF Bingham – 3B Ochoa – CF Griffin – P Mendosa

Fowler and Starr singled, but Brass’ double play grounder ruined the first inning. Portland went up 1-0 on a Caswell jack to begin the second inning then. Nye followed up with a double, but was stranded, and in the fourth hit a single and stole second, and … was stranded. The 1-0 score was true through five innings. While Robinson scattered a few hits early on, the Wolves left the runners on base, although they worked him for a few full counts and Robinson expended 75 pitches in five shutout innings. This worked until it didn’t; Jose Mendoza led the Wolves in steals with 15 and hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th. Myung-joo Park bunted him to second, and Ben Newman’s 2-out single brought him around to score and tied the game at one, and the Wolves scratched out a 2-1 lead in the bottom 7th when Jared McLaughlin pinch-hit and reached on an uncaught third strike to begin that inning. Sergio Ochoa forced him out, but gained a base on a wild pitch. Ricky Herrera replaced Robinson, but surrendered the run on PH Jon Trotter’s single, with Trotter eventually stranded on second base.

Nick Fox opened the eighth with a double to center, so the tying run was in scoring position immediately. Joey Christopher pinch-hit and was plunked, but Morris’ fly to deep center was caught by Jim Whitman, and Fox had to be content with moving to third base on the play. Nick Fowler then hit another rocket to right, and this one banged off the of the fence just as Jose Mendoza jumped against the wall, but missed the ball, which then caromed back towards the infield while Mendoza fell to the ground and took precious seconds to pick himself up. Fox scored to tie, Christopher scored to go ahead, and Fowler rushed all the way to third base for a score-flipping triple! Starr walked and was run for by Lonzo, who was caught stealing, and Brass whiffed to leave Fowler on third base… The Raccoons then blew the 3-2 lead as quickly as they had gotten it; Ruben Mendez allowed two 2-out singles in the bottom 8th, and LaBat upon replacing him conceded the game-tying hase hit to Whitman before Ochoa flew out to Morris. LaBat allowed another two singles in the ninth, including one to good old Pucks, hitting just .156 in limited action entering the game, but Pucks was doubled up by Masahiro Niwa, and Jose Mendoza’s 2-out single was left on base when Park grounded out to Nye, and this sent the game to extras, with only scraps left in the Coons’ pen.

So SOMEBODY might have a save opportunity in the bottom 10th that did not merit it since the three remaining “sturdy” relievers all had been used already, and the Critters took a 4-3 lead against righty James Murdock with a Morris single and stolen base, and then Fowler’s RBI single. Tomlin came out to laBat for the pitcher in Starr’s deserted spot, but struck out, and Brass and Cas were no more helpful than that. Erickson got the ball then despite his 8.31 ERA. Belchior Fresco and Ben Newman hit fly balls for outs before Jeff Buss legged out an infield single. Whitman grounded out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game. 4-3 Critters. Fowler 3-5, 3B, 3 RBI; Nye 2-4, 2B;

First career save for Erickson, unsurprisingly.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Caswell – LF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose
SAL: RF J. Mendoza – 2B Park – 1B Fresco – SS Buss – LF Bingham – 3B Ochoa – C Niwa – CF Whitman – P Argenziano

Mendoza tripled and scored on a sac fly to Caswell hit by Park for the Wolves taking a really quick 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st. Perez hit a double that led nowhere in the second, and Fox and Nye got on base with a single and a walk in the third inning. Lonzo’s groundout advanced them both into scoring position, but that was already the second out of the inning, and Brass flew out to Zach Bingham to keep them in scoring position… The Raccoons remained that competent. Ayala hit a leadoff single in the fifth and was stranded, and Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the sixth and was doubled off by Brass when he couldn’t get a steal off quick enough.

The Wolves had only two base hits in five innings, but Cam Argenziano singled off DeRose to begin the bottom 6th. Mendoza grounded out and moved him to second, and Park struck out, the first K at all for DeRose in the game. Belchior Fresco hit a hard single to right. The Wolves were just as desperate as the Coons and sent their pitcher around from second base, but he was thrown out quite clearly at the plate by Brassfield to end the inning.

The silly Coons made it to the corners in the seventh with Ayala and Tomlin singles, the latter in place of DeRose, but Nye grounded out meekly to strand another pair of runners… Rich Read then made his major league debut in the bottom 7th because he had to. He allowed a single to Jeff Buss, walked Jared McLaughlin, and then served up a raucous 3-run homer to Pucks, and I didn’t know whether I should now cry or laugh, or both. At this point it was time to shrug and burn Read to get the last six outs any which way, while the Raccoons then actually did score a ******* run in the eighth when Lonzo singled again, stole second, and eventually came home on a Starr sac fly. That was it for offensive heroics, though. 4-1 Wolves. Lavorano 2-4; Ayala 2-4; N. Fox 2-4, 2B; Tomlin (PH) 1-1;

(sigh!)

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P C. Fox
SAL: RF J. Mendoza – 2B Park – 1B Fresco – C Newman – SS Buss – LF Bingham – 3B Ochoa – CF Griffin – P Guice

The Coons got a leadoff walk from Morris, who stole second, and then was left there by the 2-3-4 batters in the first inning, and were right off to the races again. Both teams were just useless for three innings before the Raccoons wobbled the bags full with two outs, packing them with their 5-6-7 batters on two soft singles and a walk. Guice walked in a run against Nick Fox, but struck out hitless Chance Fox to leave three on base anyway, and Chance Fox then walked right into a buzzsaw in the bottom 4th. Fresco and Newman bashed singles, Bingham doubled off the wall to flip the score around, and then scored himself on a wild pitch and Ochoa’s sac fly, 3-1 Wolves, wouldn’t you know…

Guice walked another two batters, Morris and Starr, in the fifth for which nobody would punish him, while Fox failed the bases full again in the bottom 5th, then barely escaped when Newman hacked out and Lonzo snatched a Buss skimmer and flicked it to Nye on second base while in the process of faceplanting for the third out of the inning. Nye walked to begin the sixth, but was doubled up by Fuller, and I was considering a $1,000 fine for every walk drawn that wasn’t with the bases loaded and even then only my prior written permission. WHACK THE BASEBALL, YOU ********!!!

As usual, yelling helped, and Morris knocked out Guice with a 1-out double in the seventh inning. Hiromichi Saito gave up an RBI triple to Lonzo to narrow the score to 3-2 and put the tying run just 90 feet away. There he was left to rot on a ****** groundout by Starr and Brass whiffing. Erickson had a scoreless seventh before the Raccoons used up both of their auxiliary closers just to stay within a run in the bottom 8th as Mendez allowed hits to Newman and McLaughlin before Ricky Herrera game in, walked Trotter to fill the bags with one out, popped up Jake Griffin on the infield, and survived a deep fly out to right by Niwa that ended the ******* inning. The Coons then went in order against Dave Lister anyway in the ninth… 3-2 Wolves. Fuller 2-4;

In other news

June 6 – DEN 2B/SS Je-ju Seul (.268, 6 HR, 42 RBI) will miss the rest of the season after breaking a kneecap.
June 6 – It takes 11 innings for the Capitals to beat the Blue Sox, 1-0. The winning run scores in the top of the 11th on a sac fly by WAS C/1B Esteban Sanches (.150, 0 HR, 3 RBI).
June 7 – Cyclones INF Rich Monck (.350, 7 HR, 31 RBI) pounds the Miners for five hits, two homers, and five RBI in an 11-inning, 10-8 win for Cincy.
June 7 – The Aces blow a 9-1 lead they hold at the stretch against the Knights and lose 10-9 in regulation.
June 11 – DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.293, 6 HR, 36 RBI) has hit in 20 straight games thanks to a first-inning single in a 6-5 win against the Loggers.
June 11 – The Indians swamp the Capitals, 18-6, with the charge led by IND 2B Mike Weber (.255, 9 HR, 27 RBI), who swats three home runs and drives in six runs. He is the sixth Indian to hit three homers in a game, and the first since Bill Quinteros did so in 2052.
June 12 – The hitting streak of DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.290, 6 HR, 36 RBI) ends right away at 20 games when he walks three times but otherwise posts an 0-for-2 line in a 1-0 win against the Loggers.
June 13 – TOP SP Pablo Lara (9-2, 2.45 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Loggers for an 8-0 win.
June 14 – Nashville OF/1B Tony Roman (.323, 19 HR, 48 RBI) will miss two weeks after being struck in the foot by an errant fastball thrown by Vancouver right-hander Aaron Hain (1-5, 9.39 ERA, 1 SV). Roman goes unretired on merit in the game with a hit and two walks otherwise, and the Blue Sox win that game, 6-0.
June 15 – The Blue Sox lose OF/3B/1B Fernando Aracena (.277, 0 HR, 32 RBI) for at least a month due to a broken foot. The 21-year-old was *also* hit by a Canadiens pitcher, SP Jeff Kozloski (5-8, 3.80 ERA), who gives up six runs in a 9-1 Blue Sox win.

FL Player of the Week: PIT C/1B Nick Dingman (.268, 14 HR, 47 RBI), batting .370 (10-27) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT C Bruce Burkart (.329, 8 HR, 24 RBI), swatting .500 (10-20) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

(looks grumpy)

The Loggers, after sweeping the Raccoons the previous weekend, won another game against the Elks and then seamlessly plunged into another 7-game losing streak before canning their manager and GM on Tuesday. Both had been there for over a decade, but apparently even the Loggers ownership at some point had enough of all the losing.

Lonzo took sole possession of the active lead in career stolen bases despite a trying time against all these left-handed starting pitchers, which allowed him only three bags in the last nine games. But Alex Vasquez seems to have misplaced his legs entirely and remains on two stolen bases for the year, and so Lonzo now leads him 648 to 645.

While the Falcons picked Mike Lane off waivers and thus assumed the roughly $1M left on that contract, Reynaldo Bravo and Curt Therien cleared waivers and were re-assigned to the Alley Cats. I mean, it didn’t make the bullpen any better, it just gave me a way to vent harder. There is no fixing this mess, and we still don’t have the budget room to make bold moves to fix up the roster.

Cristiano, I want to hear nothing about the team needing to draw more walks. **** OBP! The next walk I’ll celebrate is when you get up from your wheelchair and stagger to the ******* feeding trough!

The tone is getting rougher around here.

The draft was up and after that the Raccoons had another home series against the Crusaders before going on a 6-game road trip to Elk City and the Bay of Tears.

Fun Fact: Sweeping the Cyclones reduced the number of teams the Raccoons had an all-time losing record against to three. (ignoring playoffs)

All of them were Federal League teams.

We were now 68-67 against Cincy in the regular season, but 67-68 against the Stars, 59-61 against the Gold Sox, and 52-56 against the Warriors. We had already won two of three from the Warriors this year. The Stars were on the schedule in August, but we would not see the Gold Sox this year.

[Westheim]

2061 AMATEUR DRAFT

The draft was upon us and the Raccoons would try to get something nice with their #21 and #34 picks at the top of the board (or near it) although infinite ***** and giggles like SP Randy Rautenstrauch were probably not in the picture with those.

Here was the traditional hotlist again (*high school players):

SP Mark Fitzthum (14/15/13) – BNN #8
SP Tom Kies (14/13/10) – BNN #4
SP Tim Henderson (13/13/10)
SP Randy Rautenstrauch (13/13/8) – BNN #10
SP B.J. Butrico (13/14/8) * – BNN #5
SP/CL John Faughnan (15/12/11)

CL Daniel Richmond (15/11/10)

C Jake Flowe (11/12/16) *

1B John Myers (11/18/15) *
3B Rick Healey (12/11/12)
2B Ryan Bonner (16/1/10) *

OF Rick Atkins (12/11/11)
OF/1B Brady Terrell (12/11/10)
OF Justin Donaldson (11/9/15) *

Not mentioned and not even on the 130-boy shortlist were the not-Nick Brown Nick Brown and the Yeshiva Rambam kid John Jackson, both of whom fell under the “once it no longer matters…” blanket.

Tops of our starting pitchers bracket on the hotlist and tops to go in the draft with the Miners’ #1 pick was Mark Fitzthum, followed by the Pacific Northwest contingent picking Rick Atkins at #2 (Elks) and B.J. Butrico at #3 (Wolves). The Aces used their #4 pick on Tim Henderson, the Falcons selected Tom Kies at #5, and the nasty, filthy, no-good Cyclones picked Rautenstrauch with the #6 pick.

After that, as if the baseball gods were out to tease me, nobody selected another hotlist boy until the Cyclones used their compensation #13 pick on the last available SP, John Faughnan. Brady Terrell then went immediately after at #14 to the Rebs. The Pacifics took Daniel Richmond at #16, and Justin Donaldson went #18 to the Gold Sox.

When our #21 pick came around, there were only four hotlist players left, all position players around in the infield: C Jake Flowe, 1B John Myers, 3B Rick Healey, and 2B Ryan Bonner. We were suckers for power, and we were terrible at developing first basemen, which made me squeamish about John Myers through no fault of his own. Healey looked a bit like a Matt Nunley type, except that he didn’t have the best arm and might actually be served better at second base. His range would allow for it. But there was more power to be had from the catcher and first-sacker, and the Raccoons hadn’t gotten burned on a first-round catcher for a while, so why not?

Rick Healey fell to #27 and the Falcons, and the very next pick was used by the Thunder to take John Myers. Ryan Bonner fell to the Raccoons and their #34 pick and was the obvious choice at that point.

Later on in the draft, the Raccoons waited too long on John Jackson, who went #226 to the Blue Sox, while not-Nick Brown Nick Brown was planned to be the Nick Brown Memorial Pick,

+++

Round 1 (#21) – C Jake Flowe, 18, from Monroe, WI – left-handed catcher with generous power potential and at least average defense; barely made it through high school with a lack of book smarts, but he’s an honest, hard worker and is considered very much baseball smart.
Supp. Round (#34) – 2B Ryan Bonner, 18, from Warminster Heights, PA – not the best defensive second baseman, and there was no power in that swing, but he could hit singles around your ears all day long and had some speed to turn them into doubles, too
Round 2 (#60) – SP Brian Moraski, 21, from Madison, FL – right-hander with six usable pitches, which doesn’t mean he’ll throw it dead straight half the time, so yes, he was a flyball pitcher; control was pretty good though, but that might be a byproduct of just aiming for the middle of the strike zone and coming dead straight.
Round 3 (#84) – SP Dusty Lockaby, 22, from Lincoln Beach, OR – left-hander with a cutter, slider, and changeup, and not throwing over 90mph; he was going to nibble the corners for a living.
Round 4 (#108) – RF Jeremy Gelber, 17, from Fairfield, AL – this one was a bit of a whiff with the eyes closed; Gelber had good power potential, but was also very eager to hack and didn’t offer much on defense, even with his arm, so he should probably shift over to leftfield or first base.
Round 5 (#132) – C/1B Tony Spink, 22, from Brooklyn, NY – catcher and first baseman, batting right-handed with a balanced batting profile and some power; his throwing arm wasn’t the best, so he was probably more of a first base prospect.
Round 6 (#156) – INF Justice Carson, 18, from Hilo, HI – very good defensive infielder that can handle all three positions left of first base well, but shouldn’t be expected to hit for power; he might have a future if he leans into the patience path and starts drawing walks.
Round 7 (#180) – MR Warren Tyler, 22, from Oakland, CA – three quality pitches on this left-hander, who unfortunately lacks stamina to be a productive starting pitcher
Round 8 (#204) – CL Tristan Luter, 20, from Bakersfield, CA – another stamina-less (and even more dramatically so) pitcher with fine offerings from Cali; this right-hander had a 91mph fastball and a nice changeup.
Round 9 (#228) – SP Danny Walls, 20, from Chicago, IL – nice changeup on this right-hander, but unfortunately the fastball wasn’t topping 89mph.
Round 10 (#252) – UT Dave Bale, 17, from Elk City, Canada – carries many gloves, but not a lot of stick, and was taken mostly to deny the damn Elks to draft a hometown kid as a feelgood story in the late rounds, because I am *that* petty.
Round 11 (#276) – SP Nick W. Brown*, 20, from West Hempstead, NY – left-hander, fastball, forkball; hardly outlegs the lefty with a slider taken in this spot in the 1995 draft, but why not be open to surprises?
Round 12 (#300) – CL Rocky Bailey, 20, from Fort Wayne, IN – fastball, changeup, slider, with control issues *and* giving up a prodigious amount of homers; probably best suited to throw batting practice…
Round 13 (#324) – SP Jimmy Wieand, 18, from Indio, CA – throws 86, has a slider that does nothing, doesn’t know where it’s going, but he can do that act all day long…!

+++

New players also mean goodbyes were said, and the Raccoons cleaned out the upper minors. With regret I have to announce that the Raccoons released 32-year-old hangers-on Colby Bowen, who couldn’t get anybody out in AAA anymore. Bowen had a 21.00 ERA in seven games. He had been the running gag tenth-string reliever / long man / spot starter for the Raccoons for the last six seasons, making a total of 58 appearances (2 starts), but never won a game, going 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA and one save.

We were really clamping down on relievers too old for their current level and with terrible BB/9 numbers. For the same reason we also axed Curt Therien (0-1, 4.00 ERA with Portland last year), the fourth-rounder in ’55, as well as AA left-handers Raul Gonzalez (who cost $51k to sign in July 2054) Chris Fishburn, the 2056 Nick Brown Memorial Pick; plus John Stephan, the seventh-rounder from 2059, in Aumsville.

There were a few batters released as well, all in the low minors, and of those the most “prominent” were 2B Ricardo Manzaranez and Frank Vasquez, who each cost all of $32k as a July IFA, and 2B/SS Mike Williams, the 2059 sixth-rounder who was pretty close to a negative batting average in Aumsville, a place none of those three had ever made it out of.

+++

* The W. stands for Winner of course. Or Wombat. Or Whatever. I added that manually so just in case he makes the majors, it’s not messing up the pitchers register.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-31) vs. Crusaders (36-30) – June 17-19, 2061

The Crusaders had overtaken the Raccoons after our recent slip and faceplant. New York came in second in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed with a +53 run differential. They had no speed, but they had a top 3 rotation and defense. We had a 3-1 lead in the season series that was surely going to survive this series…

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (1-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (11-2, 2.10 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (4-2, 2.36 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (4-6, 5.29 ERA)
Nick Robinson (4-4, 3.56 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (4-5, 3.76 ERA)

Only right-handers coming up against us in this series.

Even after the Friday off day the Raccoons were mum about whether Matt Walters was available or not to begin the series, as if we’d hold a lead going into the ninth…

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – CF Konecny – 1B Austin – LF Branch – RF Zeiher – C P. Gonzales – 2B R. Price – 3B Webler – P Seiter
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Riddle

Joel Starr wasn’t in the best of form, but hit an RBI double to plate Lonzo in the bottom 1st after Seiter had heinously plunked the best active base stealer in the league with a fastball. Starr also had the Raccoons’ second hit of the game, a third-inning single that led absolutely nowhere. The Crusaders opened with Omar Sanchez and Aubrey Austin singles against Riddle in the first inning, but Tommy Branch cracked a bouncer into a 5-4-3 double play to end that inning, and they did not get on base again until Austin drew a walk in the fourth, also to be left on first base, but in the fifth Rick Price drew a 1-out walk from Riddle, who got through John Webler, but then gave up a gapper and a 2-out RBI double to, yes, Seiter. (opens bottle of Capt’n Coma)

Joel Starr was on a mission, though; Morris whiffed and Lonzo grounded out in the bottom 5th, but Starr brashed a ball over the wall in right to grab the lead right back, and was now a triple shy of the cycle (career cycles: 6, none this year). Robinson held that through 6.1 innings before leaving after 107 pitches. Erickson got Webler and Seiter to complete the seventh inning. Nick Fowler’s leadoff double to left off Seiter in the bottom 7th gave the Raccoons a rousing chance for a tack-on run, but Forbes Tomlin grounded out to short in place of Erickson. Seiter lost Morris in a full count, then gave up a single to left-center to Lonzo. Fowler got a good read and raced around to score, but Branch’s throw home also allowed the trailing runners to both get into scoring position. Unfortunately, this took the stick away from Starr, who was walked intentionally to fill them up. Brass’ sac fly made it 4-1, but Cas grounded out to short to end the inning.

The eighth began with Omar Sanchez singling against LaBat, who then struck out Kelly Konecny. The Raccoons, sure short on right-handed talent in that pen, tried to squeeze through with Rich Read against Austin and Branch, which was bold, but he gave up another single before striking out Branch. Now, a double switch was called, with Ricky Herrera and Joey Christopher entering and Brass sitting down – and at that point it was pretty clear that the Raccoons still had NO Matt Walters available for the ninth inning and now banked on Ricky H. to get this one over the line. Cas going back to catch a Sean Zeiher drive at least ended the Crusaders’ threat in this eighth inning. The Coons loaded the bases in the bottom 8th against Seiter and Alex Flores, but Lonzo grounded out to leave them loaded; however, Ricky H. struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth to nail the save down. 4-1 Raccoons. Starr 3-3, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Christopher 1-1; Riddle 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-1); R. Herrera 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, SV (2);

By the next day, Alex Flores (3-0, 5.89 ERA), who got the last two outs in the eighth inning, was on the DL with a partially torn labrum and his season was probably over.

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – 1B Austin – RF Zeiher – LF Branch – CF Konecny – 2B R. Price – 3B Webler – P Musgrave
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera

Omar Sanchez hit another game-opening single, because he was just that annoying, but this time the Raccoons could not turn an inning-ending double play on Austin, and instead Sean Zeiher walloped a ball over the wall for a quick 2-0 lead for New York. It looked like this might be it, because through four innings, the Coons were held to a Caswell single that was immediately turned into thin air by Nye’s 6-4-3 double play grounder. Musgrave offered a 1-out walk to Nye in the bottom 5th, though, and then allowed soft singles to Perez and Fowler to load the bases, but with the caveat that it brought up Bobby Herrera with three on and one down. Musgrave fell to 2-0 against him, but Herrera then hit a fly to shallow right that Zeiher caught moving in, and there was no chance to score from there. Morris, though, sliced a single to center that got one run home, although Perez had to stop at third base. Lonzo then struck out swinging to end the inning.

Herrera pitched to the stretch, whiffing eight without allowing another run after the early assault, but was still trailing 2-1. Fowler walked with one out in the bottom 7th and Christopher singled to center in place of Bobby H., and Ben Morris hit another ball to center that wasn’t caught by Konecny, this time of the deeper variety for an RBI double and a tied ballgame. Christopher scored on a wild pitch after that, and Morris came home on Lonzo’s sac fly to Branch in the left-center gap, 4-2.

The Critters then tried to piece the eighth together with different paws again in the eighth, though with less success than they had enjoyed on Friday. Adam Harris allowed a hit to Matt McLaren, and Ruben Mendez conceded the run on a 2-out double to left by Zeiher, who had all the Crusaders’ RBI’s in the game. So this still did not look like Matt Walters was going to be available, but when the ninth inning dawned, there he was, trying to save the 4-3 game. He walked John Rosenstiel to begin the inning, the first of four pinch-hitters thrown at him by the Crusaders. Pedro Gonzales and Hector Weir both struck out after that, and Armando Caban popped out in foul ground. 4-3 Raccoons. Morris 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Fowler 1-2, BB; Christopher (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (5-2);

With Walters back in place, the Raccoons finally were as healthy again as they were gonna get this season (or at least until September), with Ryan Sullivan always going to miss most or all of the season.

Much the contrary for the Crusaders, who learned on Sunday that SP Milt Cantrell (3-5, 3.52 ERA), who had left his last start with an injury, would miss the rest of the season with a torn rotator cuff.

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – CF Konecny – 1B Austin – LF Branch – RF Zeiher – C P. Gonzales – 2B R. Price – 3B Webler – P Luera
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson

The weather forecast for Sunday was grim, but the game started on time. Unfortunately, no one on the brown team seemed up to the challenge; there was no meaningful offense for Portland in the early going, while the Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the second on an unearned run, sponsored in huge part by Joel Starr’s 2-base throwing error, which they added to in the third inning with a solo jack by Tommy Branch, then in the fifth with three singles – including Luera’s – and another run against Robinson, who tried hard, but lacked stuff and wasn’t fooling anybody.

Bottom 5th, and the Raccoons got runners to second and third with one out; Nick Nye singled and Tim Fuller doubled to center to achieve this, but this brought up Nicks Fox and Robinson in the 8-9 spots. Fox lined out to John Webler, and the Raccoons then chose aggression and sent Ben Morris to bat for Robinson, but he grounded out to Sanchez. Nobody scored, and Rich Read then took the hill, so that was probably gonna be that. He struck out Gonzales but then walked Price and Webler in the top 6th. Luera though fell to 0-2 with bunt attempts, then was told to swing away, hitting straight into a double play. Starr doubled and was stranded in the bottom 6th, while Konecny homered off Adam Harris in the following half-inning to extend the New York lead to 4-0.

At this point it was raining and quite steadily, and the seventh-inning stretch extended into a half-hour rain delay, and I had no illusions that we’d play enough baseball from here to make up the deficit and tended to drinking (hick!) and roster management with my most trusted advisors – Slappy and Honeypaws while Cristiano was looking on annoyedly. When play did resume, Nye was hit by Luera and stole a base, then was singled home by Fuller, but the catcher was doubled up by Nick Fox to end the inning.

When the Raccoons brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom 8th, the inning should have been long over. Ayala grounded out in the pitcher’s spot before both Christopher and Lonzo reached on errors by infielders, knocking out Luera and bringing in ex-Coon Seisaku Taki, who struck out Starr before the bullpen door flung open again and Kody Mello came in to get an inning-ending grounder from Brassfield. Jason Rhodes axed the Coons in order in the bottom 9th. 4-1 Crusaders. Fuller 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Raccoons (37-32) @ Canadiens (31-37) – June 20-22, 2061

It was goodbye for me at the start of the next week then, because the Critters were off to Elk City for a 3-game series there. We had a 4-2 lead in the season series against the league’s #5 offense and #7 pitching. The Elks had started well, crashed violently, but now were 14-9 for their last 23 games and trying to piece their season back together. Adam Foley and Steve Scarpa were on the DL for them.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (7-6, 3.79 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (5-8, 3.80 ERA)
Chance Fox (5-4, 3.13 ERA) vs. Martyn Polaco (3-3, 5.20 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (2-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (4-6, 4.17 ERA)

Polaco was a left-handed starter to contend against … if the Elks didn’t bypass him here.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C A. Perez – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B C. Sullivan – 1B J. Campos – CF D. Moreno – C A. Maldonado – 2B Wartella – RF Hambrick – SS Pierson – P Kozloski

DeRose’s DeRotten run threatened to continue with an unearned run on him right in the first inning as Danny Garcia singled, stole second, and scored on Nick Fox’ throwing error, but the Raccoons at least tied the game back up right away with Brass and Nye doubles to left in the second inning. Morris singled and stole second in the third inning, but was left on, and Nye and Perez hit 1-out singles to go to the corners in the fourth, but Fox popped out to Alex Maldonado behind the dish on a 3-1 pitch (sigh!) and DeRose struck out to end the inning. DeRose was pitching solidly all the while here, then actually did get a lead in the fifth inning. Morris and Lonzo led off with singles, then a double steal when Kozloski paid them no mind, but Starr’s fly out to Christian Hambrick in right was too shallow for Morris to try and make it home. There was no need to rush – Brass would dump a single into left-center six pitches later that allowed both of them to score easily, 3-1. Cas walked in a full count and Nye singled on the very next pitch to load them up then, but again one pitch later Angel Perez jammed into a 4-6-3 double play and that killed the inning.

Both Starr and Cas narrowly missed home runs and had their deep flies caught at the fence in right and left, respectively, in the seventh inning to keep the score at 3-1. DeRose had only allowed two hits through six, but was almost at 100 pitches because there had been a lot of long counts in there, too. He got two more outs from Matt Wartella and Hambrick in the bottom 7th before being lifted for Ricky H. in a double switch that put Tomlin at first base instead of Starr. Herrera struggled, though; Preston Pierson hit a fly out to the fence in right to end the seventh, but Chad Cardenas singled and he walked Danny Garcia to begin the eighth before getting a double play grounder from Chris Sullivan. Erickson came in and walked Jose Campos, and from there we went straight to Walters in another double switch, now with Fowler replacing Fox at third base. Damian Moreno flew out to Morris on the first pitch Walters threw to end the inning. Morris drew a walk from Carson Miller and stole his third base of the game in the top 9th, but couldn’t find anybody that would move him across. Thankfully, Walters struck out the side in the bottom of the inning. 3-1 Critters. Morris 2-2, 3 BB; Brassfield 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Nye 3-4, 2B, RBI; DeRose 6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (8-6); Walters 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (17);

At this point the top 3 in the North were all just a game apart.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C A. Perez – 1B Tomlin – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – LF Morris – P C. Fox
VAN: CF D. Garcia – LF Hambrick – 1B J. Campos – 3B Whittington – C A. Maldonado – SS Pierson – RF D. Moreno – 2B Roldan – P Polaco

Chance Fox didn’t have a great outing, with the Elks whizzing singles by both his fuzzy ears relentlessly. Five base knocks in the first three innings, including Rafael Roldan driving in Thomas Whittington from third base with a 2-out knock in the bottom 2nd with not one, but two bases open, but Roldan was a soft-poke lefty batter and there had been a reason to expect Fox to get him. That was the only run early on mostly because the Raccoons were hitless against the left-handed Polaco, not breaking into the H column until Tomlin singled with two outs in the fourth, of which nothing came at all. The middle innings were not much different to the early ones, though. No Coons offense, and Fox kept getting slapped around. He would pitch six messy innings, giving up nine hits for two runs, the second one occurring on a 2-out single by Campos that drove in… (deep sigh) …the opposing pitcher, who had also knocked a single to begin that inning. The game then was completely blown out of the water in the seventh, in which the Elks put up a 5-spot on the fourth-string relief muppets the Raccoons ran out there. Erickson faced three batters, departing after Jose Campos romped a 3-run homer off him, while Adam Harris died a slow death, giving up four singles and two runs while facing five batters, to the extent where Ruben Mendez was brought into a total wreck of a game just to get two strikeouts and end the hemorrhage. The Elks nevertheless ravaged Rich Read for two more runs in the bottom 8th. 9-0 Canadiens.

Forbes Tomlin’s fourth-inning single was the only hit the Raccoons got against seven innings’ worth of Polaco and two more by former starter Jim Peterson.

Unsurprisingly, the Raccoons culled the bullpen for the second time this month. Bryan Erickson (1-0, 7.71 ERA, 1 SV), Adam Harris (0-0, 9.82 ERA), and Rich Read (0-0, 10.38 ERA) were all axed at once. Things were bad enough that we put in a waiver claim for the Aces’ righty Mike Abrams, who had all of 105 ABL appearances at 33 years old, just to get a warm body in there, but his waiver period would last through the rubber game here, and we had to go back to the poisoned well in AAA instead. Up came nothing exciting: Paul Barton had been at least decent, but Brad Loveless and J.J. Sensabaugh were just more time wasters at this point…

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P Riddle
VAN: LF D. Garcia – LF Hambrick – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – 3B Whittington – C A. Maldonado – SS Wartella – 2B Roldan – P Brink

The Wednesday series finale got off to a bumpy start, besides the Coons going down 1-2-3 in the top 1st. Nye fumbled Garcia’s grounder for an error, Hambrick walked on four pitches, and I sunk deeper into my couch at home in Portland, but then Campos hit a comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play and Cardenas went down flailing to get Riddle through the bottom 1st. Riddle wiggled his way outta there, and then had the Coons’ first hit with a 2-out single in the third inning after Tan Brink had disappeared the first eight Critters that dared step into the box against him. That was as good as it got for Brink, who left the game in the fourth inning with a stiff neck.

Mike Perez replaced Riddle and pitched the Elks through the sixth inning without allowing anybody on base, while Riddle held a 2-hitter against the Elks through six, and the game remained scoreless. Noah Caswell’s 2-out solo jack in the seventh *did* wake me up though, coming off Jim Peterson, who had pitched two innings the previous night. Nye and Fuller followed up with singles, but Fox flew out to left to keep them on base. Riddle walked Whittington in the bottom 7th, but got an inning-ending double play grounder from the catcher Maldonado to bugger outta there, and with his spot leading off the eighth inning, that was also the end of his outing. Joe-Chris singled to center in his spot, then rushed to third base when Morris singled over a jumping Rafael Roldan, but he crashed quite badly into Whittington at third base and remained on the ground, rolled into a furry ball on top of the third base bag until whisked away by Luis Silva. Ayala pinch-ran for the pinch-hitter now, while Lonzo batted with runners on the corners and nobody out, but Ayala had to hold no his grounder, and only Morris moved to second base. Starr whiffed altogether against the left-handed Peterson. The Elks then brought a new left-hander, Jeremy Garvey, who promptly gave up a 2-run double to right to Brassfield, 3-0. Cas grounded out to end the top 8th, with Ayala then staying in centerfield in his place.

Ricky Herrera then had his worst outing as a Raccoon ever in the bottom 8th, giving up two triples to left-handed batters to completely blow the 3-0 lead among other damage done. Wartella led off with a triple, was singled home by Roldan, and Garcia walked with one out. Damian Moreno then pinch-hit for Hambrick and socked a game-tying triple. Barton then replaced Herrera and managed to keep the go-ahead run on base with two soft groundouts from Campos and Cardenas. Nick Fox got on and stole his first Critters base against Erik Swain in the ninth and was unceremoniously stranded, while the Coons threw Loveless into the bottom 9th just to get to their off day, but he retired three in a row and the game was sent to extras, where the Coons still didn’t do ******* anything, and Loveless allowed a leadoff single to Chris Sullivan in the #8 spot, then got two groundouts from Bobby Needham and Danny Garcia. Preston Pierson, pinch-hitting for the pitcher and emptying the bench, grounded to Nye, who fed the ball to Starr, who dropped the ball and lost the game. 4-3 Canadiens. Christopher (PH) 1-1; Riddle 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K;

(stares blankly)

“All the guys back together” – (hits himself on the snout) Me and my big – … (looks at Honeypaws) Can you hit at least .200, Honeypaws?

Interlude: waiver claim

The Raccoons were awarded the minimum contract of righty Mike Abrams (2-1, 5.21 ERA, 1 SV) on Thursday, and the rather unimpressive quad-A reliever remained awaiting designation because the Raccoons wanted a diagnosis on Joey Christopher before making any roster moves. There was only administrative dealings on Thursday, like giving Abrams the #40 most recently worn by C Cortez Chavez, who was still hanging out in St. Petersburg.

There was also no diagnosis on Friday though, at which point Abrams was activated after all as Brad Loveless (0-1, 3.48 ERA) was handed back to the Alley Cats.

Raccoons (38-34) @ Bayhawks (46-26) – June 24-26, 2061

The Bayhawks were half a game out in second place in the South and had swept the Raccoons already once this year, AND nothing good ever happened by the Bay, so I had justifiably no hopes for this series. Led by Grant Anker (.292, 19 HR, 78 RBI) they were scoring the most runs in the CL (just over SIX per game!!), which was enough to out-smash an average rotation and a rather brittle bullpen that was in the bottom three by ERA. They had a +99 run differential (Coons: +20). There were injuries to the Bayhawks, though, with starter Hector Montenegro and position players Jose Escalera, Aaron Walker on the DL, Xavier Reyes dealing with an intercostal strain, but not being on the DL, and Scott Laws had left their game on Wednesday with an injury, but was also still on the roster, so they only had a 3-man bench compared to the Coons’ 4-man bench to begin this series and quite a few holes in that murder lineup.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (5-2, 2.37 ERA) vs. Joe Chalmers (7-0, 3.54 ERA)
Nick Robinson (4-5, 3.56 ERA) vs. Bill Grau (5-0, 1.07 ERA)
Justin DeRose (8-6, 3.50 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (2-4, 6.52 ERA)

Grau was a southpaw. Neither him nor Chalmers had been beaten yet this year, although Grau had also made seven starts in AAA Baton Rouge, so who knows how much of his bulletproofness was actually down to the offense…

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – P B. Herrera
SFB: SS Huddleston – CF Redfern – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – RF Alade – C Cantu – 1B O. Gonzalez – P Chalmers

No, leaving all hopes at home had been the right move. The Bayhawks went up 1-0 in the first on a single by Grant Anker and a triple by Armando Montoya, then turned Tipsy Bobby inside-out in the second inning, which started with a single by Jon Alade and a Jose Cantu homer. Omar Gonzalez popped out, but Chalmers singled (…), Phil Huddleston singled, and after a Keith Redfern groundout, Anker doubled in a pair and scored on a Montoya single. Sandoval grounded out, but it was now 6-0. The Coons would drag Herrera through two more innings, but the Baybirds kept hitting the ball hard and the was ultimately dumped after the fourth, still down by a margin because the Raccoons were on three hits after four innings, although Cas had driven home Starr for a token run in the fourth.

The Coons got three outs from Elijah LaBat, and after Lonzo singled in the top 6th, could not get a steal off, and was then doubled up by Starr to end the inning, a leadoff walk to Cantu in the bottom 6th. Sensabaugh was brought in at that point as the Critters raised the white flag for good. He got a double play grounder from Gonzalez and found out of the inning, but allowed a run on a walk to Redfern and a Montoya hit in the seventh. Felix Ayala hit a jack to left in Sensabaugh’s spot in the eighth inning, not that it mattered. Abrams made his Coons debut in the eighth, allowing a hit to Jon Alade, but getting out of the inning. 7-2 Bayhawks. Lavorano 2-4; Nye 2-4; Fowler (PH) 1-1, 2B; Ayala (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI;

(sigh)

Joey Christopher was then shoveled to the DL with a strained medial collateral ligament on Saturday, which was … some thing or other in the leg, I assume. I’m not a doctor.

The Coons would have loved to call up a genuine outfielder, but were already down to just Jorge Moreno, Todd Oley, and (cough) Jack Kozak in St. Petersburg and had to settle for Jon Bean as poor man’s super utility player.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C A. Perez – 1B Tomlin – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – LF Morris – P Robinson
SFB: SS Huddleston – 1B O. Gonzalez – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – RF Kissler – CF Alade – 3B Sostre – C Redfern – P Grau

Anker singled and scored on a Montoya triple against Bobby Her- … no, Robinson in the first inning, but boy, did it give me flashbacks. Bill Sostre’s homer doubled the Bayhawks lead in the bottom 2nd, but the Coons pulled a run back after Grau retired the first seven batters. Ben Morris then hit a triple into the gap and scored on Robinson’s grounder to second base to narrow the score to 2-1, and the game became tied in the next inning through little to no doing of the Raccoons. To start the fourth, Lonzo grounded out to continue a dim week, followed by Brass drawing a walk on a borderline 3-2 pitch. He advanced on a wild pitch, but Perez walked as well. Tomlin then grounded to Sostre, who looked to second, reconsidered, then lost his grip and had to hurry the throw to first, which was then late, off-line, and glanced off Tomlin’s back into foul ground, allowing Brass to score from second and the remaining runners to reach scoring position with one out. Ayala’s poor groundout was no help, but Nick Fox socked a liner to right for a 2-out, 2-run double that gave Portland a 4-2 lead. Morris was walked intentionally to get a K on Robinson to end the inning.

The Baybirds had a leadoff double from Alade in the bottom 4th but the 7-8-9 swamped that runner on third base, while both teams got a leadoff single in the fifth, soon followed by a double play (Lonzo…) on both sides. Ayala singled in the sixth and was caught stealing. Morris drew a walk from Grau in the seventh, was itching to steal, but didn’t go until Robinson bunted him to second base. Then, with two down, Nick Nye nudged one of the fence in left for his seventh homer of the year, extending the lead to 6-2, although Robinson would give up one of those runs in the bottom 7th on hits by Redfern and Huddleston…

Travis Davis, left-hander, offered a leadoff walk to Brass in the eighth. Perez and Tomlin made poor outs, and Ayala only reached on an error by Sostre, but Nick Fox’ single to right-center allowed Brass to score from second base, 7-3. Morris singled to right as well, Aaron Kissler overran the ball, and the Coons got another run on another error. Right-hander Jorge Solis came in at that weird point, met Joel Starr batting for Robinson, and gave up a ringing 2-run double before the inning ended on Nye’s groundout. Lonzo’s slump was deep enough for Jon Bean to bat for him in the ninth, draw a walk, and go to third base on Brass’ single to left, all still against Solis, and then scored on Cas’ pinch-hit sac fly, the only run in that top 9th. On the pitching side, the Raccoons got four outs from LaBat and two from Barton to get the game to its conclusion. 11-3 Raccoons. Nye 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; N. Fox 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Morris 2-2, 2 BB, 3B, RBI; Starr (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI;

Nevertheless our season ended on this day with the Crusaders assuming the lead in the North and the Coons an unrecoverable 1 1/2 games back.

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – 2B Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – SS Bean – P DeRose
SFB: SS Huddleston – C Cantu – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – CF Alade – 1B H. Munoz – RF Grewe – P Hollis

The rubber game saw the struggle bus back in town, with the Raccoons getting a walk and reaching on an error, but failing to get a hit off 36-year-old Noah Hollis, who had last been good at 32. DeRose didn’t strike anybody out in the early going and until Alade went down in a full count in the fourth, but held the Baybirds to two hits and kept the board empty through five innings at least.

Alade would track down a Brassfield drive to center to end the top 6th, though, after Morris and Starr had drawn walks. Cantu drew a leadoff walk from DeRose in the bottom 6th, was replaced by Montoya on a fielder’s choice, and Cas tracked down deep flies by both Anker and Dan Sandoval in that inning as the score remained zip-zilch, but Cas broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff single to center in the top 7th. Well, well, a whole base hit for the Portland Pathetics, who woulda thunk!? Fuller’s pop to Montoya and Fowler’s double play grounder to Montoya then made sure nothing actually upsetting happened to vulnerable Bayhawks fans, who after the stretch got to celebrate back-to-back homers by Alade (inside the park!) and Hugo Munoz (outside the park, lame), and DeRose getting roughed up for Huddleston and Cantu singles before being yanked with two outs. Ricky H. came on and got a fly to Brass from Anker, which was about as much as one could ask for against the CL leader in bombs and RBI’s. Morris hit a single in the eighth, but Herrera was taken deep by Alade (now outside the park).

The Baybirds continued with Hollis still on an unlikely 2-hitter in the ninth inning, which was defensible until he walked Starr and allowed a double to Brassfield. Cas was up as the tying run. The Bayhawks were fast asleep, and Hollis fell to 3-1 against Cas before giving up a 427-footer that tied up the whole ******* ballgame. He was yoinked after *that*. Ryan Dow allowed a single to Fuller, who was ran for with Lonzo while Angel Perez batted for Herrera in the #7 spot. Lonzo stole second, reached third base on Perez’ grounder to second base, and then was stranded as Bean fanned and Nick Fox flew out to center. ******* wonderful.

Mendez pitched the game to extras with a 1-2-3 ninth, in which Lonzo had remained in the game at short. Dow began the tenth with allowing a single to Morris on the first pitch, and Morris stole second on the next pitch to Nye, who grounded out to Sandoval, which kept Morris pinned. Starr was walked intentionally to get to Brass, but Brass slung a skipper through the left side on 2-1, putting the Coons up 4-3 with the RBI single. Cas flew out to right, Lonzo walked with two outs, and Perez grounded out to Monto- no! He threw it away! The ball pulled Huddleston off first base, and Starr scored, and all paws were safe…! Tomlin batted for Mendez against new righty Zach Johnson and crashed a ball into left-center gap for a bases-clearing double, Nick Fox barreled an RBI double to right, and Ayala batted for Morris to empty the bench and walked. Nye hit an RBI single, and Starr flew out to the warning track in left to end a 7-run slaughter! The deflated Baybirds then disappeared in order against Abrams in the bottom 10th. 10-3 Blighters! Morris 2-4, BB; Starr 0-2, 4 BB; Brassfield 2-5, RBI; Caswell 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Tomlin (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI;

Nye and Cas were the only people in the lineup that finished the game, AND in the position they started it in.

In other news

June 19 – 37-year-old OCT 3B Ed Soberanes (.239, 4 HR, 30 RBI) will miss at least a month with a strained hammy.
June 20 – The Condors put up a 10-run rally in the eighth inning to beat the Aces, 15-8. TIJ OF Marco Asencio (.297, 2 HR, 30 RBI) from the leadoff spot has four hits with a homer and a double and drives in five RBI to lead the team.
June 21 – MIL OF Scott Franks (.324, 1 HR, 21 RBI) misses a cycle by the homer in a 5-for-6 day with one RBI in the Loggers’ 11-10 loss in 11 innings against the Titans.
June 21 – The Stars beat the Pacifics, 6-2 in 10 innings, on a walkoff grand slam by 21-year-old OF Carlos Bautista (.600, 1 HR, 4 RBI). This was Bautista’s fifth career at-bat in the majors.
June 22 – OCT 3B/SS Stephen Medlock (.368, 2 HR, 14 RBI) goes 5-for-6 with a double and an RBI in a 13-inning, 6-5 loss to the Bayhawks. The game is tied in five after five innings, after which it takes eight innings for San Francisco to scratch out a walkoff.

FL Player of the Week (11): DAL OF/1B Tommy Pritchard (.325, 1 HR, 29 RBI), clipping .706 (12-17) with 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week (11): BOS LF/RF Bill Ramires (.258, 3 HR, 20 RBI), batting .545 (12-22) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

FL Player of the Week (12): DAL 2B/SS Trevor Niemiec (.208, 6 HR, 26 RBI), selectively slugging at .538 (7-13) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week (12): SFB OF/1B Jon Alade (.307, 7 HR, 17 RBI), whacking .476 (10-21) with 3 HR, 3 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The team’s generous use of the handbrake remains annoying, especially when they then go on and score ten runs inside five outs as they did on Sunday. Like, seriously, boys, is there no middle ground??

So it’s been stop-go for several weeks now and we are only close to first place because neither the Indians nor the Crusaders can make up their mind about whether they wanna win the bloody thing or nah.

And just like that we’re into the string of games with no off days before the All Star Game. We will be at home to play the Condors and Indians next week, and then on the road to visit the Titans and Loggers before the All Star break, after which the Titans will be in Portland to start the following homestand.

Fun Fact: Joel Starr became the first Raccoon to draw four walks in a game on Sunday since Jesus Martinez drew five walks in a game almost exactly three years ago.

Martinez’ five walks are the only instance of a Critter ever doing that. And, really, **** walks. (sad Cristiano noises)

I want dingers!!

[Westheim]

Raccoons (40-35) vs. Condors (49-27) – June 27-29, 2061

The Condors led the CL South, which wasn’t something that could be said all that often. They were allowing the fewest runs in the Continental League and were scoring the fifth-most, but they had lost two of three games to the Critters so far this year, and with Jason Sturgeon and Bobby Fish had two important batters on the DL, plus starter Miguel Batista.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (5-5, 3.13 ERA) vs. Edgar Mauricio (9-2, 2.18 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (2-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Dan Beare (8-1, 2.05 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (5-3, 2.81 ERA) vs. Vince Ellison (3-2, 2.57 ERA)

Those were three tough right-handers!

Game 1
TIJ: CF Asencio – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – 3B Frasher – C Seidman – 1B Churricho – LF E. Maldonado – 2B Serrano – P E. Mauricio
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – P C. Fox

By the top of the fourth inning on Monday, the Raccoons had a Tim Fuller single and three errors on the board, two of them by Ben Morris, who dropped Scott Moore’s fly to left in the first inning and then overran an Eric Frasher single in the fourth for an extra base. Querubim Churricho also singled in the inning, but his steal of second base prompted an intentional walk to Franklin Serrano with two outs and then Fox whiffed the pitcher Mauricio to leave the bases loaded in a scoreless game. Fox held out in the fifth before getting a lead in the bottom 5th on singles by Nye and Fuller, who went to the corners, and then Nick Fowler’s sac fly that put Portland on top. Fox remained hitless for the year, however, and struck out. Fox was done after six innings thanks to all the extra pitches for the pile of errors behind him, but the Raccoons at least also piled on the bases in the bottom 6th. Morris and Lonzo singled, and Starr and Brass both walked, which forced home Morris with a run, 2-0. Cas’ grounder to second and Nye’s sac fly to right both brought in another run. Fuller singled with two outs, but Fowler flew out to end the 3-run inning. The pen went about the 4-0 lead responsibly; between Abrams, Barton, and Ricky H., only one Condor was allowed to reach base, and nobody reached scoring position. 4-0 Critters. Nye 1-2, BB, RBI; Fuller 2-4; Fowler 1-2, RBI; C. Fox 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, W (6-5);

Game 2
TIJ: CF Asencio – 1B Churricho – SS C. Ramsey – 3B Frasher – LF Alf. Mendez – C Seidman – RF E. Maldonado – 2B Serrano – P Beare
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – P Riddle

The Coons’ first six batters all went down on Tuesday, but Perez and Nick Fox hit singles to begin the bottom 3rd. Riddle’s bunting into a double play and Morris’ groundout assured that no runs were scored, however. The Condors were not on the board, either, having stranded a pair in the first inning and then wasted a Mike Seidman double to begin the second inning. Before anybody scored anything, the Raccoons lost Noah Caswell to yet another injury. This time it looked like an intercostal strain, and he left the game in the fourth inning to be replace with Felix Ayala batting fifth, while Morris switched to centerfield. Ayala then drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 5th and reached third base on Nick Nye’s following single. Angel Perez cleaned up with a run-scoring, 6-4-3 grounder, and Fox’ groundout ended the inning rather briskly, even though the Coons were now at least 1-0 ahead.

The Condors tried to counter in the top 6th, getting to the corners with precious little: an infield single by Casey Ramsey leading off, and then a Fox error that added Frasher to the bases. Alf Mendez’ deep fly to left was caught by Ayala, but Ramsey moved to third base. Seidman had the chance to tie the game, but hit a grounder to Lonzo for a 6-3 double play to kill the inning. Elmer Maldonado would then single to begin the seventh against Riddle, but Serrano grounded out and Beare and PH Dave Roura both fanned against Riddle to keep him on second base. Churricho would whiff against Riddle in the eighth before we went to Ruben Mendez. Ramsey struck out and Frasher grounded out to second to complete the inning. The Raccoons had only four hits through eight innings, then entrusted the baseball to Matt Walters against PH Scott Moore in the #5 hole, who whiffed to begin the ninth inning. Seidman grounded out to Lonzo, and Maldonado whiffed in a full count. 1-0 Blighters. Ayala 1-1, BB; Riddle 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (3-1);

Caswell went back to his natural habitat, the DL, where he would probably spend all of July. The Raccoons, stretched mighty thin for even semi-capable outfielders, brought back Jack Kozak, who was hitting .231 in AAA, but he still had his two legs on…

Game 3
TIJ: CF Asencio – LF Churricho – SS C. Ramsey – C Waker – 1B C. Thayer – 3B Frasher – RF Alf. Mendez – 2B Serrano – P Ellison
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – LF Kozak – P B. Herrera

Nick Fox singled home Nick Nye for a 2-out run in the bottom 2nd, and Bobby Herrera put up three zeroes before hitting a leadoff single to center in the bottom 3rd. A wild pitch and Morris’ single moved him to third base with nobody out, but after Morris stole his 20th base of the season the inning almost ended with nothing on the board. Lonzo popped out, and Starr’s fly out to center was not very deep, but Bobby H. went home anyway – and scored because the throw was cut off. Nye grounded out to leave Morris on third base.

The middle innings were rather uneventful. Both teams excelled in getting a single in any given inning, and then immediately croaked, every time. Bobby Herrera was still pitching a shutout with five scattered singles at the stretch, and with a manageable 84 pitches on the counter, and the Condors went in order in the eighth as well, seeing only nine pitches. Despite the close score (still 2-0, because Coons), Bobby H. returned for the ninth inning, which began with Churricho in the #2 spot. He struck out, and Ramsey flew out to Kozak on the first pitch. Tristan Waker fanned as well, and that completed the 5-hit shutout. 2-0 Furballs. Morris 2-4; Brassfield 2-3; B. Herrera 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, W (6-3) and 1-3;

This was the fifth career shutout for Bobby Herrera, the first this year. He had one or two in every season in the ABL so far.

This was also the first time in a long old while that the Raccoons brushed off an opponent without allowing a single run for an entire series!

Raccoons (43-35) vs. Indians (41-35) – June 30-July 3, 2061

We should have saved that 29-inning scoreless streak for this series against the Indians, who had now slipped to third place behind the Critters and the Crusaders, who led the division by one game over Portland. Indy was fifth in runs scored and tied for third in runs allowed with a +55 run differential (Portland: +37). This was not a good matchup for us this year. The Arrowheads were up a whopping 6-1 in the season series…

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (5-5, 3.58 ERA) vs. Aaron Sciuto (3-6, 4.25 ERA)
Justin DeRose (8-6, 3.45 ERA) vs. Melvin Guerra (9-5, 3.12 ERA)
Chance Fox (6-5, 2.94 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (3-3, 4.23 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (3-1, 2.05 ERA) vs. Zach Stewart (4-6, 4.74 ERA)

Three southpaws were coming up here, with the only exception being Guerra. The Raccoons were 10-12 against southpaws this year, as opposed to 33-23 against right-handers. We could however now put together an entirely righty-batting lineup, including switch-hitting Nick Fox.

Game 1
IND: 2B M. Weber – 1B R. Alvarez – C Al. Gomez – SS Kilday – CF Abel – RF Lovins – 3B Niles – CF S. Thompson – P Sciuto
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Ayala – 1B Tomlin – 3B N. Fox – LF Kozak – P Robinson

Two scoreless innings extended our unscored-upon streak to 31 innings, and then Forbes Tomlin hit his first career dinger, a 3-run bomb with Perez and Ayala on base, in the bottom 2nd to give Robinson a 3-0 lead.

Chris Lovins would then end the Raccoons’ invincibility after 32 innings and small change, hitting the last of three singles in the top 4th that put a run across against Robinson, who was also singled off by Alex Gomez and Kevin Abel, while Matt Kilday scored the run after forcing out Gomez with his grounder. Things would get dimmer from there, with Robinson already conversing with the trainer Luis Silva after the fifth inning, going back out for the sixth and getting a grounder from Gomez, but then waving Silva out and eventually leaving the game with what was soon identified as a back issue. At this point we remembered that we had a bullpen, too, and brought in LaBat, who retired the next two batters to get out of the inning. Bottom 6th, Lonzo tried to break a slump with a double to left-center. Brass walked, and Perez singled to left. Abel threw the ball away in a (hopeless) bid to get Lonzo at home plate, and the remaining runners moved into scoring position. From there, Ayala popped out, Tomlin walked, and only Fox got a sac fly in to scratch out another run. Kozak also walked, which saw the Arrowheads replace Sciuto with righty Jarod Morris, and the Raccoons dropped LaBat for Joel Starr to bat with the bags full and two outs. He hit a fly to the warnings track – but Lovins caught it and the inning ended.

Barton held the Indians away in the seventh, but Ricky Herrera offered a leadoff walk to PH Willie Sanchez in the eighth and conceded the run on a single by Ricardo Alvarez before Ruben Mendez finished the inning for him against Gomez and Matt Kilday. Walters had fewer issues with them; he struck out a pair and got a grounder from Nathan Niles to end the game. 5-2 Coons. Perez 3-4, RBI; Tomlin 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Robinson 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (6-5) and 1-2;

Problem: Nick Robinson had a creaky back, but Luis Silva opined he could fix him in less than 15 days, but not in 5 days. Part of that injury duration would be the All Star break, so it wouldn’t be *that* bad. Robinson’s spot in the rotation was the last one that would come up twice more before the break, though. I was tempted to keep him on the roster, throw away his next turn with Sensabaugh, and then put him back in when ready before the All Star Game.

Game 2
IND: 2B M. Weber – 1B R. Alvarez – SS Kilday – RF Lovins – C Al. Gomez – 3B Niles – CF Abel – LF O. Ramos – P M. Guerra
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – LF Kozak – 2B Bean – P DeRose

Portland scored early on Friday, getting singles from Lonzo, who stole second, and walks from Starr and Brassfield before Tim Fuller’s clean single to center got Lonzo across home plate. Fowler clipped an RBI single to right on a 3-1 pitch, which made Honeypaws and me squeal at first, but even the beleaguered Kozak managed to lob an RBI single over a reaching Mike Weber to extend the lead to 3-0. Jon Bean hit a ball to right-center that brought in two runs, but Bean stopped at first base for the fourth straight single. DeRose was used to bunt, but Ben Morris flew out to end the 5-run inning. DeRose then immediately got pummeled on his return to the hill – what else was new? – and gave up a homer to Lovins, a double to Gomez, threw a wild pitch, and walked Niles before somebody went out there and tried to slap him back to normal performance. Both Abel and Orlando Ramos hit RBI singles, and Steve Thompson batted for Guerra and brought in a run with a sac fly. DeRose barely made it out of the inning against the top of the order, with the lead scrubbed down to 5-4… In the third, DeRose walked on the tying run and with two outs balked him across. Bloody ******* window-licking *******.

DeRose was hit for when righty Cruz Madrid put Kozak and Bean on base with two outs in the bottom 3rd. Forbes Tomlin whacked a 3-run homer, giving Portland an 8-5 lead. Both teams were now emptying the shallow side of their pen, with the Raccoons facing their own former prospect Travis Glovinsky, who was the Indians’ Rule 5 trophy, and we brought in Sensabaugh to pitch a few innings. He put up two scoreless before hitting himself a single in the fifth inning and scoring on a Lonzo triple in left-center to extend the lead to 9-5. Sensabaugh went on to pitch four hitless (!!) innings against the Indians, who just didn’t know how to hit his goose eggs, apparently. This took him under 50 pitches, so he could still be used as a spot starter (shivers!) on Tuesday.

There were only four outs left to get for the Portland Browns. LaBat collected two from Kilday and Lovins in the eighth, and the rest was assigned to Mike Abrams, who retired the next four Indians in order to put the game into the books. 9-5 Critters. Lavorano 2-5, 3B, RBI; Fuller 3-4, BB, RBI; Kozak 2-4, 2B, RBI; Bean 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Tomlin (PH) 1-1, HR, 3 RBI; Sensabaugh 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (2-0) and 1-1;

J.J. what?

I know, Honeypaws, I know, he was not completely ***** today. He can gobble his food bowl at the table with the others tonight. – What do you mean “what food bowl?”, are we not giving him one?

Maybe we should.

Game 3
IND: 2B M. Weber – 1B R. Alvarez – C Al. Gomez – SS Kilday – CF Abel – RF Lovins – 3B Niles – CF O. Ramos – P Fitzgibbon
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Perez – CF Ayala – 1B Tomlin – 3B N. Fox – LF Kozak – P C. Fox

Lonzo in the first and Tomlin in the second hit into double plays to derail offensive attempts by the Critters, while Fox gave up a double to Abel in the first inning and some hard contact after that before the Indians finally took the lead in the third inning when Orlando Ramos led off with a drag bunt single, was bunted to second base by Fitzgibbon, and scored on Mike Weber’s single. Lovins hit one over the fence in right the inning after to up the lead to 2-0. And the Coons? Brass drew a walk in the fourth and was doubled up by Perez, and I was starting to get the hint that the most recent winning streak was ending at seven games.

The Coons finally reached the board in the bottom 5th – and thus after I had reached for the bottle and gallon bucket of ice cream to sink the snout into – when Felix Ayala led off with a triple to center and scored on Tomlin’s soft single to center, 2-1. Fox singled and Kozak walked, which got us to three on and nobody out, and which made it very tempting to bat for Foxie Brown, who was 0-for-30 on the season, but so many left-handed Indy batters, and … uh … hnnnghh… analysis paralysis, Fox went to bat, struck out, and so did Nick Nye, and it was all coming crashing down until Lonzo lobbed a ball over Kilday and into shallow left-center for a score-flipping, 2-out, 2-run single…! Lonzooo!! ….and Kozak was then thrown out trying to get to third base, but at least we were up 3-2 now!

Fox allowed a leadoff single to Kilday in the sixth, but he was doubled up by Abel’s grounder to short. Lovins walked, but Niles popped out on the first pitch to end the inning. Fox had a less stressful seventh, then was hit for with Joel Starr in the bottom 7th when the Coons had Tomlin on third base and two outs against Fitzgibbon, but Starr grounded out and nobody scored. Mendez came out for the eighth and Ricardo Alvarez right away singled up the middle to put his bum on base as the tying run. Gomez and Kilday only got the runner to second base with outs before Willie Sanchez batted for Abel, prompting a move to Ricky Herrera, who allowed a sharp grounder up the middle that Lonzo lunged for, nipped, and managed to zing to first base just in time to end the inning…! The Indians got another leadoff single against Walters in the ninth when Lovins ticked a ball up the middle, but then was immediately doubled off 6-4-3 by Niles. The game ended – after Steve Thompson pressed out a walk in a full count – a K on another pinch-hitter, Vinny Atencio. 3-2 Critters. Lavorano 2-4, 2 RBI; Ayala 1-2, BB, 3B; Tomlin 2-3, RBI; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (7-5);

Eight in a row!

Game 4
IND: 2B M. Weber – 1B R. Alvarez – C Al. Gomez – SS Kilday – LF Abel – RF Lovins – 3B Niles – CF S. Thompson – P Stewart
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 1B Starr – LF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P Riddle

Both teams wasted a double – by Alex Gomez and Nick Fox, respectively – in the first two innings without scoring, but Brass also singled in the first and was left on base by Nick Nye. He hit another single with two outs in the bottom 3rd, and this time Nye was up to the task and hit a double into the rightfield corner that allowed Brass to score from first base for the game’s first run. Fuller whiffed to end the inning, while Riddle has struck out six Arrowheads in the first three innings. Kilday hit a 1-out single off him in the fourth, but was immediately doubled off again by Kevin Abel. Niles got hit by the pitch, but then was also doubled up by Thompson with a grounder to Nye, 4-6-3 style.

Tim Fuller went deep in the sixth to double the lead to 2-0. Slumping Joel Starr got a double in after that, but was stranded when Ayala grounded out easily. That remained the score through eight innings. Tyler Riddle struck out nine batters for just three hits and a walk, but also got up to 103 pitches, and he didn’t have the highest stamina. The ninth would begin with Mike Weber and Ricardo Alvarez, two lefty hitters, and while Walters was available, the Raccoons stuck with Riddle at least to see how the Indians would empty the bench. Weber grounded out to first on one pitch, but Alvarez ran a full count – then struck out. Alright, Alex Gomez couldn’t break our 2-0 lead on all his lonesome, so Riddle would get one more shot, and if he couldn’t get Gomez, we’d send Walters after Matt Kilday. And he couldn’t, Gomez ticking a 1-0 pitch up the middle for a single. The move was made, Walters struck out Kilday, and the Raccoons had swept the Indians and the entire week! 2-0 Critters! Brassfield 2-4; Ayala 2-3, 2B; Riddle 8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K, W (4-1);

In other news

June 27 – Season over for NYC SP Ryan Musgrave (4-7, 5.21 ERA) who has been diagnosed with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
June 27 – The Thunder beat the Indians, 10-7 in 13 innings, with the game being tied at five after 12 innings. OCT RF/LF Eric Whitlow (.223, 6 HR, 31 RBI) hits two home runs with four RBI, including the 3-run walkoff blast. For Indy, C/1B Alex Gomez (.301, 9 HR, 43 RBI) goes 5-for-7 with a home run, a double, and two RBI.
June 29 – The Stars beat the Cyclones, 9-8 in 16 innings, but the only player with four hits in the game – four singles – is CIN 1B Marquise Saulsberry (.323, 5 HR, 28 RBI).
June 30 – The Crusaders’ final batting inning of the month is an 11-run bottom 8th against the Titans, who get routed 16-0. NYC 1B John Rosenstiel (.263, 1 HR, 9 RBI) is unretired in the game with a single and five walks drawn, scoring three times.
July 3 – Buffaloes CF/LF Jose Ambriz (.289, 3 HR, 19 RBI) could miss three weeks with chronic back soreness.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.260, 13 HR, 59 RBI), batting .542 (13-42) with 2 HR, 13 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND RF/LF/1B Chris Lovins (.301, 8 HR, 32 RBI), hitting .429 (12-28) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL OF Tyler Wharton (.359, 14 HR, 55 RBI), batting .393 with 6 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: SFB OF/1B Jon Alade (.307, 9 HR, 24 RBI), batting .341 with 7 HR, 19 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: TOP SP Pablo Lara (10-2, 2.52 ERA), posting a 4-0 mark with 2.04 ERA, 2 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC CL Jason Rhodes (3-3, 3.31 ERA, 20 SV), going 2-0 with a zilch ERA and 9 SV in 14 innings, whiffing 11.
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Kris DiPrimio (.297, 9 HR, 44 RBI), hitting .280 with 3 HR, 14 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: LVA OF Jaden Wilson (.281, 1 HR, 31 RBI), poking .303 with 16 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Nine wins in a row! – and now you wonder when they pull the handbrake again and post another 7-game losing streak. The Crusaders lost their last two games of the week, however, so the Raccoons ended Sunday night in first place!

It was on the pitchers, of course, to put that 7-0 week together. The offense did barely enough to make it happen, scoring under four runs per game (26 runs total). The starting pitchers however – with one notable exception that shall not be named – did an awesome job. Foxie Brown, Bobby H., Riddle, and Robinson pooled six very good to great starts together and went 43.1 innings for a 6-0 record and an 0.62 ERA. Even including that *other* start in there, it’s 46.1 innings for a 6-0 record and a 1.55 ERA.

The offense? (blows) Nobody on the team is hot, unless you buy into the first two career homers by Forbes Tomlin, a pair of 3-pieces. Lonzo and Starr are having slumps, though, and nobody else is particularly hot. Or warm. Meanwhile, Chris Lovins went “just” 5-for-13 against the Raccoons on his way to a Player of the Week honor, but that was with two homers. And also quite the most anybody did against them this week.

It doesn’t look like Nick Robinson will be recovered enough to take his scheduled start on Tuesday. The Raccoons will use Sensabaugh in his place, and then slot in Robinson when he’s ready, so that will be two more starts for Bobby H. before the All Star Game, and five total for the other four starters plus Sensabaugh, who will have a hard time topping his long relief outing behind Player To Be Named Later on Friday.

The July IFA window has opened as well and the Raccoons are currently bidding on five players, a pitcher and four position players. Even the initial bids at $1.05M far exceeded the soft cap of $784k, but it looks like we’ll only sign one of the two most expensive outfielders, if any. The budget squeeze is real and we might have to add a stick or an arm in July and need to pay for that, too.

Road trip to Boston and Milwaukee coming up, and the Raccoons had a stunning case of brain diarrhea whenever they were up against the Loggers this year…

Fun Fact: Lonzo had – slump here, slump there – built a bit of a lead on Alex Vasquez already in terms of career steals.

Vasquez stole NOTHING in the last six weeks, while Lonzo nipped ten bases despite being on the DL for a week-plus. It was not outlandish to expect Lonzo to get to Berto’s mark of 677 by the end of the year, and if things went REALLY well (unsure paw movement) maybe even Obando.

1st – Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (HOF) – 708
3rd – Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos (HOF) – 677
5th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 653
6th – Alex Vasquez (active) – 645
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 549
9th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 516
10th – Chris Navarro (active) – 515

Further behind Omar Sanchez stole six bags, with just two each for Ceballos and Navarro. However – Ceballos had missed several weeks with a broken thumb and was just about to return to action. In the very long term, he was probably the most likely to grab the career lead in steals.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (47-35) @ Titans (40-42) – July 4-7, 2061

The Critters took their 9-game winning streak to Boston, where nothing good ever happened, although so far this year we were up 3-1 on the Titans. Boston ranked fifth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed in the CL, with a -25 run differential that hinted that they probably were not a huge threat for the division. Their rotation was holding rather firm, fourth in ERA, but their bullpen was a never-ending tire fire with an ERA over five. You just had to get there in the first place. Jonathan Watson was their only notable injury case.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (6-3, 2.58 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (5-5, 2.98 ERA)
Nick Robinson (6-5, 3.48 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (5-7, 3.15 ERA)
Justin DeRose (8-6, 3.80 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (5-8, 4.19 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-5, 2.92 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (8-4, 4.78 ERA)

The Titans only had right-handers lined up here. And truth be told, this Raccoons lineup was maybe a lie – we didn’t know still whether Robinson was good to go on Tuesday. If he wasn’t, J.J. Sensabaugh (2-0, 4.41 ERA) would take the spot start. Lonzo and Brassfield needed a day off at some point this week, and since Brenize watched base runners like a hawk, Lonzo got the bench assignment right on Monday.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Nye – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Ayala – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Ramires – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – SS Lloyd – 2B D. Mendoza – 3B Bratlien – P Brenize

Brass hit an RBI double to plate Nye in the first inning, but Nye had forced out Ben Morris to reach base in the first place. Brenize had a bit of a history of getting knocked around by the Raccoons, but extricated himself from the inning and then got back into a 1-1 tie when Jorge Arviso homered off Tipsy Bobby in the bottom 1st. Things went increasingly more pear-shaped in the bottom 2nd, which Herrera began with two walks, then continued by misfielding Brenize’s bunt for an error. Eddie Marcotte struck out, but Bill Ramires socked in two runs with a double in left-center before Arviso popped out and Manny Rubin struck out to end the inning. Andy Lee’s leadoff single and Ted Lloyd’s homer then increased the score to 5-1 in the third inning.

The Raccoons got back on the board in the fourth inning with Brass and Perez getting on to begin the frame, followed by an RBI single for Nick Fowler. With the tying run at the dish, Felix Ayala, Jon Bean, and Bobby Herrera struck out, struck out, and… struck out. I struck the 9-game winning streak off the list of things I loved at around that point, then crumpled up the now empty paper and tossed it in the nearest bin.

The Titans added a run against Mike Abrams in the bottom 6th, with Forbes Tomlin homering when he pinch-hit for Abrams in the seventh, 6-3. That was as close as the Raccoons would come, however, with no Critter showing up in scoring position anymore in the last three innings. Brenize went eight, and was decidedly not getting knocked around by the Raccoons this time. 6-3 Titans. Tomlin (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Barton 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Welp.

Brass then had Tuesday off. With only three true outfielders – but three first baseman!? – on the roster, the Raccoons plonked down Jack Kozak in rightfield, which he had never seen up close before. We did however pry Nick Robinson off the stretcher just in time to take this start!

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – LF Ayala – RF Kozak – P Robinson
BOS: SS Bratlien – CF Ma. Gilmore – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – 2B D. Mendoza – RF Lloyd – CF A. Lee – 3B W. de Leon – P M. Bell

Nothing good ever happens in Boston, Part MCCLXXIV – Robinson had a steady-ish first, but then nicked Diego Mendoza with an 0-2 pitch to begin the bottom 2nd of a scoreless game. Lloyd whiffed, but Andy Lee hit a wallbanger double and both runners scored on Willie de Leon’s single. Bell then swung away and hit an RBI single for a quick 3-0 lead before Jacob Bratlien and Matt Gilmore went down. The bottom of the order would produce another run in the fourth inning with hits for Lloyd and de Leon, and Bell’s run-scoring groundout on which the Raccoons failed to turn two, which would have ended the inning. Bell, the Terror from Walnut Creek, CA, would hit another RBI single off LaBat in the sixth inning, which then put the score up to 6-0 Boston. He drove in Lee, who had driven home Mendoza, the last runner that went on Robinson’s unhappy ledger. LaBat also allowed Matt Gilmore on base in the bottom 7th, then yielded for Sensabaugh to appear in this game after all, although he did nothing but throw more kindling into the raging flames, allowing two walks and two hits, and another three runs to the Titans. Sensabaugh put up another two walks in the bottom 8th, but the Raccoons finally turned a double play to get out of that inning. Offensively, the Raccoons couldn’t have been more useless if all their four paws had been bound together behind their backs. Bell pitched a 3-hitter through eight innings, and they only scored an unearned run with two outs in the ninth inning when Bratlien bungled a Brassfield bouncer in Sensabaugh’s spot that allowed Lonzo to come home from third base. Tomlin then struck out batting for Ayala. 9-1 Titans. Kozak 1-2, BB;

Useless.

The Raccoons made two roster moves on Wednesday, sensibly sending Sensabaugh (2-0, 5.00 ERA) back to AAA along with Jack Kozak (.187, 2 HR, 8 RBI). We irresponsibly started the clock on 20-year-old RF/LF Jose Corral, who was just off the minor league DL, while a new left-hander joined the bullpen.

Interlude: Trade

The Raccoons and Aces flipped left-handed relievers on Wednesday, with Portland acquiring the Aces’ closer Justin Rocco (5-1, 1.79 ERA, 17 SV) and parting in turn with Mike Goldfield (0-1, 3.38 ERA). The 30-year-old Rocco and his fastball/cutter combo were perhaps a bit overvalued as closer, but after some early-career beatings, he had developed into a nice control pitcher in the last few years, even though his 4.12 career ERA wasn’t too pretty.

Not sure why they parted with him, but I had no doubt we’d find out soon…

This did not open a spot on the 40-man roster for Jose Corral, though. Bobby Sneeze – gesundheit! – was placed on waivers to free up a spot.

Raccoons (47-35) @ Titans (40-42) – July 4-7, 2061

The wonderkid made his debut right on Wednesday at 20 years, 203 days of age, batting sixth behind Nick Nye.

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – RF Corral – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Ramires – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – SS Lloyd – 2B D. Mendoza – RF Ma. Gilmore – 3B Bratlien – P Craddock

Jose Corral’s first at-bat came right in the first inning on Wednesday after the 3-4-5 batters had loaded the bases with a walk and two singles, and there were two outs. And he struck out… DeRose bunted into a double play to kill the top 2nd then, and I eagerly awaited his weekly scheduled beating, but the Titans couldn’t hit his garbage for some reason. After that cluttered top 1st, offense was minimal; the Raccoons had four hits through five innings and the Titans only had two, and included in that total were singles for Lonzo and Mendoza, both of whom were caught stealing. Neither team scored through five.

The bases were loaded for Corral again in the sixth inning, which must have been one of those cruel jokes that made baseball gods giggle like schoolgirls, but Lonzo singled, Starr walked, and Nye singled to fill them up, now with one out for the debutant, who hit a 1-0 pitch to sufficiently deep center to get Lonzo home for a 1-0 lead and his first career RBI. Fuller then grounded out, and Lonzo threw away Craddock’s grounder for two bases to begin the bottom 6th to nearly give me an aneurysm. Eddie Marcotte walked, but Bill Ramires popped out and Arviso found the catcher’s best friend, a double play, to end the inning.

Starr reached base but was forced out by Brassfield in the eighth inning. Brass tried to steal second with two outs, but couldn’t get the jump while the count ran full on Nye, who then yoinked one over the fence in left for his team-leading (…) eighth homer of the year, and an extension to the lead, which was now 3-0. Josh Carlisle then struck out Corral to end the inning. DeRose had pitched seven shutout innings, but Justin Rocco gave his Raccoons debut in the eighth against the left-handed bottom of the order. Willie de Leon hit a 2-out single in the #9 spot, but Marcotte struck out. Top 9th, Fuller singled off Carlisle, who then foxed Nick, putting another runner on base. Tomlin batted for Rocco and socked a mighty RBI double that would surely give the Agitator fodder for more musings why he wasn’t starting over the endlessly slumping Starr by now. The Raccoons would get one more run when Morris walked and Lonzo’s groundout brought in Fox, while Starr then hit into a 7-2 double play with Tomlin thrown out at the plate. The Titans scored a shameful, unearned run off Abrams in the bottom 9th. Bill Dorey hit a single, advanced on a balk and a wild pitch, and scored on Lloyd’s 2-out single that Morris overran for an error. Thankfully Mendoza popped out to short before I could get *actually* angry. 5-1 Raccoons. Starr 2-4, BB; Nye 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Fuller 2-4; Tomlin (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; DeRose 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K;

Corral: 0-for-3 with a sac fly and two strikeouts – not exactly on track for the Hall of Fame, but he’d start the last four games up to the break and then we’d see what we’d do from there.

And no matter how hard I looked into it with Cristiano and Honeypaws, there was no way we could put either Joel Starr or Forbes Tomlin at another position other than first base. They were just too clumsy, they couldn’t throw, and it would be a disaster from beginning to end. And we still had a 1-game lead.

Game 4
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – 1B Tomlin – 2B Nye – RF Corral – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P C. Fox
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Ramires – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – 2B D. Mendoza – SS Bratlien – RF A. Lee – 3B W. de Leon – P MacKinnon

Lonzo doubled and Tomlin singled him home for a quick 1-0 lead in the first and even bigger and bolder headlines in the Agitator at home, while Ramires clonked a fastball off the left foul pole to tie the game almost immediately against Foxie Brown in the bottom 1st, although Fox then ended his 0-for-31 skid with the stick when he hit a 2-out single in the second inning. Morris’ groundout assured that nothing would come of this miracle.

Still tied in the fourth, Jose Corral got his first career hit, a 1-out single to center, and before he could enjoy his time on base too much was doubled off by Perez to end the inning. The tie was only broken when Tomlin brought home Lonzo for the second time in the sixth inning; then Lonzo singled, stole second and reached third base on Arviso’s throwing error, and then came in with a sac fly to deep left. Fox held up this time, and then Corral hit a double to right to begin the seventh innnnnn- … what are they doing down there? And he was ruled out by the first base umpire because he never touched first base. Hnnnggghh!!! (bites into his coonskin cap)

Fox pitched seven innings of 4-hit ball, throwing 107 pitches, then was hit for at the start of the eighth, with MacKinnon still going on a 5-hitter for Boston. Bean, Morris, and Lonzo went in order in the inning. Barton and Ricky H. pieced the bottom 8th together before Matt Walters blew the 2-1 lead with his very first pitch, which Rubin shanked over the fence for a game-tying homer. The next three Titans went down in order to send the game to overtime. Whee. Nicks Fowler and Fox reached the corners with 2-out hits against Jason Posey in the tenth inning, but Morris flew out to leave them on base. Rocco held the game tied after that, with Lonzo getting on base against Carlisle to begin the 11th inning, but was caught stealing. Tomlin socked a 2-out double to center, and Tim Fuller walked when he pinch-hit for the pitcher Rocco in the #5 spot. That brought back the highly unsuccessful (so far!) Corral, who grounded out to first on the first pitch and remained highly unsuccessful (so far!). Ruben Mendez pitched two innings for the Critters from there, before Morris got on base against Carlisle to begin the 13th… and was caught stealing. Lonzo grounded out, but Brass and Tomlin hit singles, again for no greater effect. Ayala batted for Mendez, the last guy off the bench, and popped out to Rubin… The Coons left ANOTHER pair on base in the 14th when Perez doubled and Fowler was walked intentionally, with Fox and Morris croaking after that, but so did the Titans against Mike Abrams, who also went two innings.

At this point, the Raccoons sent Riddle to the pen to warm up, since only LaBat was left in terms of relievers, but Abrams pitched a third inning in relief to get the team to the 16th (whee.) and then was hit for with DeRose, who had the highest batting average amongst our starting pitchers at .222, but who struck out against Art Schaeffer in long relief. Corral drew a 1-out walk, but Perez fooled into another double play. Marcotte hit a leadoff single against LaBat in the bottom 16th, but was doubled up by Ramires at about the time our flight to Milwaukee lifted off. Arviso lined out to Morris and sent the game to the 17th. Nick Fox drew a 1-out walk and then stole second base without Arviso getting a throw off. The Titans walked Morris with intent after that, but Lonzo slapped a liner over Alex Abecassis and into the shallow outfield for a 1-out single. Fox went on contact – and scored! The tie was finally broken! Lonzooooo!!! Marcotte’s throw home allowed the remaining runners to get into scoring position, but the killjoy Titans walked Brass intentionally to set Tomlin up for the double play, except that he struck out instead, which was no help, since the pitcher was batting behind him. LaBat also struck out, stranding three, then took the hill. Rubin grounded out to short. Mendoza grounded out to short. Abecassis struck out. 3-2 Blighters. Lavorano 3-7, BB, 2B, RBI; Tomlin 3-7, 2B, 2 RBI; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 1-2; Mendez 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Abrams 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K; LaBat 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (3-1);

Well, that’s gonna kill a bullpen… Every set of paws on the roster was used in this game, except for the three starters due up against the Loggers; Riddle, Bobby H., and Robinson.

Raccoons (49-37) @ Loggers (29-57) – July 8-10, 2061

What better time than to beat up on the bottom-feeding Loggers and take a few more wins off them? Or maybe any wins at all because the Loggers still led the season series over the Raccoons, 6-3, for reasons that were beyond my capacity of understanding. They were last in runs scored and fourth-worst in runs allowed, with a -108 run differential (Coons: +41).

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (4-1, 1.60 ERA) vs. Larry Wilson (1-2, 3.54 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (6-4, 2.85 ERA) vs. Bob Ruggiero (3-7, 4.48 ERA)
Nick Robinson (6-6, 3.73 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (4-7, 3.47 ERA)

Pritchard appeared to be the only southpaw on offer here, but their whole pitching staff was in a state of flux. This week they had already traded SP Ernesto Culver (3-7, 4.74 ERA) to the Stingers for two prospects, and swingman Sansao Tyson (1-8, 5.22 ERA, 11 SV) to the Rebs for another prospect (non ranked). There was a pair of ex-Coons starters on the roster – Julian Dunn (4-6, 5.31 ERA) and He Shui (5-4, 5.14 ERA) – that looked well enough to take string starts for a team bidding for well over 100 losses.

Only Abrams and Rocco had pitched two days in a row for the Raccoons, and while Mendez and LaBat had pitched multiple innings they had done so with just over 20 pitches each, so were not ruled out of the Friday opener and no roster moves were made, but if Riddle was knocked out early for any reason then we’d have to get creative going forwards.

Game 1
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – 1B Tomlin – 2B Nye – RF Corral – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – P Riddle
MIL: CF Franks – 3B D. Miller – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C M. Chavez – RF Milian – LF Arcos – 2B Lange – P L. Wilson

Lonzo doubled and Brass hit a scratch single and stole second, but a Tomlin whiff and Nye’s groundout prevented any runs from being scored in the first inning. A Fowler double in the second also led nowhere nice, and Morris drew a leadoff walk in the third. Lonzo whiffed, but Morris stole second, then reached third base on Brass’ second single of the game that didn’t reach the outfield grass. Tomlin and Nye again made meek outs to keep the pair stranded. Top 4th, Corral drew the leadoff walk and stole second, then reached third on Fowler’s soft single to right. Riddle whiffed, which was excusable, but Morris rolled a soft single through the right side to FINALLY get a ******* run on the board…! Lonzo hit another RBI single to left, the pair on base did the double steal, but then Brass actually hit a ball hard and then right at Fidel Carrera to end the inning. Another (unearned) pair was stranded in the fifth inning, and even before Riddle then exploded in the bottom 5th I was already breathing into a paper bag.

The bottom 5th saw David Milian lead off with a single, which was only the second Loggers hit in the game. Roberto Arcos struck out, but Ralph Lange worked a walk, putting the tying run on base in the 2-0 affair. Harry Ramsay (waves hi) struck out in place of Wilson. Scott Franks then strung a ball down the leftfield line and into the corner for a 2-run double, then scored when Danny Miller plonked one of those ****** 2-out RBI singles over the head of the second baseman. A disheveled Riddle walked Dave Robles on four pitches before Carrera grounded out to short to end the spook, but now with the Loggers up 3-2.

Riddle reached base on an error by Lange to begin the sixth inning, after which southpaw Vincent Hernandez walked the sacks full with Morris and Lonzo. Three on and nobody out, oh goody goodness! (pats his claw tips together with fake excitement and a painful grin) Brass pulled through, however, taking a 2-2 pitch to left for a score-flipping, 2-run single, putting Portland up 4-3 again. Tomlin whiffed and Nye flew out, but Corral got an RBI single to center, his first RBI hit after that sac fly in his debut. Ricky Pippin then ended the inning, getting Fuller to ground out.

Riddle lasted seven, while Ryan Rigby racked up a full complement of runners in the top 8th with walks to Brass and Corral around a Nye single. Fuller batted with one out, shoved a zinger through Danny Miller, and the Raccoons added two on his resulting double up the line, 7-3. Fowler struck out, and Starr lined out to Carrera to leave two runners in scoring position, but Barton and Ricky H. each put up a scoreless innings to not make us rue any more missed opportunities. 7-3 Critters. Morris 3-4, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Lavorano 2-5, BB, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 3-4, BB, 2 RBI; Nye 2-5, 2B; Fowler 2-5, 2B; Riddle 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 9 K, W (5-1);

Ben Morris stole three bases in this game and the team took six as a whole. We also had 14 hits, six walks, and … stranded 14 runners on base. Yikes.

Tomlin? 0-for-6 with three strikeouts. I think I can sneak Joel Starr into the lineup here without drawing anymore journalist ire.

Game 2
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – C Perez – RF Corral – CF Ayala – 3B Fowler – P B. Herrera
MIL: CF Franks – 2B Garmon – SS F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – RF Milian – C M. Reed – LF Reder – 3B D. Miller – P Ruggiero

Tipsy Bobby had been badly beaten by the Loggers the last time he faced them and they didn’t make an exception this time, either. He retired three in a row to begin the game, but then Starr fumbled a throw by Fowler to put Robles on base to begin the bottom 2nd. Milian walked in a full count, Mark Reed singled, and **** fell apart from there. Phil Reder hit a sac fly, Danny Miller bashed home a pair with a triple, and Ruggiero added an RBI double to left, immediately followed with another one smacked by Franks. 5-0 Loggers after two. What the **** was happening.

It didn’t get any better in the bottom 3rd with another two hits on Herrera’s first two pitches, as Milian singled and Reed doubled. Reder hit another sac fly, 6-0, and while Miller whiffed, Ruggiero drew a walk that brought the axe down. Rocco got a groundout from Franks to end the ******* inning.

The Raccoons drew leadoff walks from Ruggiero with Starr and Brass in the fourth inning, then actually got their first hit on Angel Perez’ shy single to left. Three on and nobody out went rather well this time, though, as Ruggiero walked in a run against Corral and then gave up a 2-run double to Ayala, but then rallied and struck out Fowler, Rocco, and Nye in order. So that cut the 6-0 deficit in half, but unfortunately nothing much came after that. Brass doubled in the fifth and was stranded. Corral and Nick Fox hit singles in the sixth and were left on the corners when Nye grounded out. After that Perez reached by being hit with a Rigby pitch in the eighth, but was then doubled up by Corral. Nye singled when there was nobody on base and two outs against Randy Birnbaum in the ninth inning, and Lonzo’s fly to right ended the game. 6-3 Loggers. Perez 1-2, BB; N. Fox (PH) 1-1; Rocco 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

Abrams and LaBat also both pitched an inning and small change in getting this game over with. However, a Crusaders loss to the damn Elks would keep the Raccoons in sole possession of first place through the All Star Game.

The Raccoons would have four All Stars, but Nick Robinson was not included, nor was anybody else that needed particular preservation measures on this Southpaw Sunday.

Game 3
POR: 2B Nye – SS Lavorano – LF Brassfield – 1B Tomlin – C Fuller – CF Ayala – RF Corral – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson
MIL: CF Franks – LF Garmon – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C M. Chavez – RF Milian – 3B D. Miller – 2B Lange – P R. Pritchard

On Sunday, the Loggers ran up a 5-spot on Robinson in the *first* inning, four earned. Garmon singled, Robles walked, and Nye fudged Carrera’s grounder before Robinson walked in a run against ex-Coon Marcos Chavez and gave up a pair of 2-run knocks to Milian and Miller. (shouts skywards at the baseball gods) Why!!?? WHHHYYYY????? [confused looks from innocent bystanders]

Tomlin and Fuller singles, an RBI double by Ayala and Corral’s run-scoring groundout shortened the deficit to 5-2 in the third inning, but Fox whiffed and Robinson did the same to leave a precious runner at third base, and Robinson then ****** another run right on the board with singles allowed to Garmon and Carrera, and a nice little wild pitch in between.

The 4-5-6 batters were at it again in the fourth inning. Tomlin reached on a throwing error by Miller, and Fuller’s single put runners on the corners. Ayala singled to center, bringing in a run and the tying run to the plate in … well, Corral, who popped out. Fox loaded the bags with a single, and the Raccoons yoinked the battered Robinson for Joel Starr. Pritchard fell behind in the count, then in the score as Starr unloaded a 386-footer to rightfield – GRAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!

Julian Dunn replaced Pritchard after that thunderous slam, which put Portland up 7-6, so both starters were out in the top 4th, not that we knew how to pitch another six innings with our bloody pen unless we were bold enough to toss in DeRose for some relief on three days’ rest. For the time being, Barton got the ball, allowed hits to Franks and Garmon in the bottom 4th, but they were left in scoring position by Robles and Carrera. The Coons instead tacked on in the fifth with Brass’ leadoff double off ex-Critter Dunn, and Fuller’s 1-out RBI single after Tomlin was robbed of extra bases when Garmon caught his drive to deep left while caroming his 200 pounds off the wall. Dunn walked the bags full with 3-2 balls to Ayla and Corral before a clumsy move by Chavez let the first pitch to Nick Fox get away for a passed ball and another run. Fox grounded out, allowing another run to score. Barton batted for himself in a 10-6 game in which the Raccoons needed length, length, and length, and flew out to Milian, then put another pair in scoring position with a Chavez single and a walk to Miller in the bottom 5th. Lange’s groundout advanced them before lefty PH Phil Reder drew LaBat out of the pen, but smacked a 2-out, 2-run single anyway, 10-8……

Nye and Lonzo singles to begin the sixth led nowhere, but Corral doubled off Ricky Pippin and then scored when Fox lobbed another double over the head of Franks against new righty Danny Houghton in the top 7th. Bean and Nye left Fox in scoring position. Lonzo strung a triple into the gap against Houghton to begin the eighth inning, but then had to play the waiting game as Brass walked, Tomlin lined out to short, and finally Fuller hit a fly to left-center that was good enough for Lonzo to waggle home, 12-8. Ayala flew out to end the inning. The Raccoons pieced it together after LaBat with Abrams, Mendez, and Ricky H., then Walters in a non-save situation in the ninth, where he allowed three singles and a run to the Loggers, but at least got the damn game over with. 12-9 Critters. Lavorano 4-5, 3B; Fuller 3-4, 2 RBI; Ayala 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; N. Fox 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Starr (PH) 1-1, HR, 4 RBI;

Corey Garmon had five hits for the Loggers, but never drove in a run in this game.

In other news

July 5 – Warriors closer Jon McGinley (2-2, 3.00 ERA, 22 SV) will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with ulnar nerve irritation.
July 6 – 33-year-old SFW 3B Julio Moriel (.279, 0 HR, 21 RBI) finds his 2,500th career hit in a 3-2 loss to the Stars in the first game of a double-header in which the Warriors get swept. Moriel, who goes 4-for-5 on the day, is unretired in the opener, going 3-for-3 from the leadoff spot. The milestone is a fifth-inning single against Dallas rookie SP Ian Peters (2-0, 2.17 ERA).
July 6 – SFB SP Noah Hollis (4-4, 5.08 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout against the Knights, only the second shutout of the 37-year-old veteran’s career.
July 6 – VAN SP Jeff Kozloski (7-9, 3.59 ERA) pitches a 3-hit shutout to beat the Indians, 8-0.
July 7 – The Scorpions also acquire infielder Nick Kelly (.217, 0 HR, 9 RBI) from the Blue Sox for another prospect, #114 OF Alex Ovalle.
July 7 – NAS C David Johnson (.275, 12 HR, 56 RBI) lands five hits, including three doubles, and drives in five runs in a 9-3 win against the Cyclones.
July 7 – TOP 1B David Worthington (.283, 10 HR, 56 RBI) hits an 11th-inning home run for the only score in the Buffaloes’ 1-0 win against the Caps.
July 9 – For the second time this week, the Buffaloes get to the 11th inning of a scoreless game before winning by the longball, this time a 3-run walkoff shot mashed by INF Zach Suggs (.315, 15 HR, 51 RBI) to beat the Miners, 3-0.
July 10 – The Titans acquire 2B/3B Ian Woodrome (.292, 9 HR, 37 RBI) from the Thunder for three prospects. The package includes #83 prospect CL Ricky Baca.
July 10 – The Knights beat the Thunder, 2-1 in 10 innings. All runs score in the 10th inning.

FL Player of the Week: NAS C David Johnson (.290, 15 HR, 63 RBI), whacking .552 (16-29) with 4 HR, 15 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT INF/LF/RF Omar Lira (.294, 6 HR, 41 RBI), hitting .440 (11-25) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Raccoons had four All Stars – all pitchers – and I wasn’t sure whether we should take credit for Justin Rocco, who only came on board this week. Bobby H., his Saturday blowup notwithstanding, and Chance Fox were nominated to go as well as Matt Walters, who ALSO ****** up a game and gave us eight extra innings this week. What a wonderful bunch we were!

This was the second All Star Game for Tipsy Bobby (after 2059), the fifth – and third in a row – for Matt Walters, and the first ones for Rocco and Foxie Brown.

The verdict on Corral was probably “too soon”, and he was reassigned to the Alley Cats on Sunday night to not fudge any more service time for the moment. It was looking more likely that he’d make a run at Rookie of the Year in ’62 than spend the second half of the season with us now, even though we still had to bridge a couple of weeks until we would get Cas back from the DL, and Joe-Chris was even farther off.

The Raccoons pulled out of the bidding for young Dominican outfielder Alfredo Rosado at the lowly price of $500k this week; he then signed with the Aces. We instead signed three of the other players we were after for a total of $284k, while the bidding for Dutch Antillean outfielder George van Otterdijk was still going on. Yes, that name alone was worth $250k!

After the All Star Game, we will have the Titans and Elks in at home, then go on a road trip to Oklahoma and Atlanta.

Fun Fact: Julio Moriel has spent his entire career with the Warriors.

The Dominican third-sacker was signed for $362k in the 2044 July IFA free agent window and made his ABL debut merely two years later at age 18, playing half the season then. He has been the go-to guy for the Warriors at the hot corner ever since. In his 16th season, Moriel is a .315/.378/.388 batter with 28 homers and 699 RBI, and has stolen 318 bases. He was an All Star twice and won a Platinum Stick in 2052. Last year, he won his first batting title in the Federal League with a .325 batting average.

[Westheim]

All Star Game

The Federal League hits four home runs on the way to a 5-1 win in the All Star Game, with Dallas’ Tyler Wharton and Chad Pritchett, Topeka’s Zach Suggs, and Pittsburgh’s Nick Dingman doing the honors. Suggs is the only one to hit a home run with a runner on base, a 2-piece off Portland’s Bobby Herrera, who takes the loss.

In fact, ALL home runs are hit off Raccoons. Chance Fox gives up the Dallas pair’s dingers, and Dingman clonkers one off Matt Walters. Only Justin Rocco escapes the carnage unharmed.

Raccoons (51-38) vs. Titans (44-45) – July 14-17, 2061

The Titans were now 5-3 behind the Raccoons in the season series after a series split in Boston a week ago. They were now carrying a -16 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (5-1, 1.94 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (5-9, 4.02 ERA)
Nick Robinson (6-6, 4.03 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (8-4, 4.48 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (6-5, 3.17 ERA) vs. Will Glaude (7-5, 2.81 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-5, 2.82 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (7-7, 2.90 ERA)

No southpaws were expected to be brought up here from Boston.

The Raccoons had optioned Jose Corral on Sunday and had spent the break with just 24 players on the roster. Todd Oley was then brought up to begin the Boston series, which hadn’t done anything for the Coons the last ten times this sentence had been said, but maybe we were really, *truly* out of ideas here…

Game 1
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Ramires – RF Lloyd – SS Bratlien – P Craddock
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – LF Bean – P Riddle

The Coons burst out of the gates with a 3-spot in the first inning. Ben Morris walked and Lonzo doubled, and both scored on groundouts up the middle by Starr and Brassfield before Nye’s double to left and Perez’ RBI single put another run together. Tyler Riddle wasn’t too sharp and gave up a single here and a drilled Bill Ramires there, but the Titans did a good job in hitting into a double play when things got too tight, but when Riddle came to the plate with Nye and Bean on the corners and two outs in the bottom 4th, he sent a ball through the right side of the infield and plate Nye for a 4-0 lead, leaving ending the inning to Morris. The Titans answered with a leadoff single by Ted Lloyd – not their first such leadoff runner on the day – but then stumbled again as Jacob Bratlien grounded out and Alex Abecassis whiffed. Riddle lost Eddie Marcotte to a walk in a full count, but Ian Woodrome then lined out softly to Nye to leave the pair on base.

Lonzo hit another double to begin the bottom 5th, but got a bad read on Starr’s single to left and had to hold at third base on the play. No issue, though, since Brass brought him home with another single to left-center. Reliever Adam Gardner then entered and cleaned up, getting a double play from Nye and a fly to center from Perez. Riddle took his 4-hit shutout to the seventh-inning stretch, but being generally inefficient meant that he was already on 102 pitches and would go no further. In turn, the Raccoons added a pair against Mike Pohlmann in the bottom 7th with 2-out RBI knocks for Perez and Fowler, although both runs were unearned on Pohlmann because Nick Nye only reached on a throwing error by Bratlien to begin with. The Titans only got a run across against Mike Abrams in the ninth inning. Diego Mendoza led off with a double to left-center and Abrams failed to contain that runner, who scored on Bratlien’s 2-out single. 7-1 Critters. Lavorano 2-4, 2 2B; Starr 2-4, RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (6-1) and 2-3, RBI;

Game 2
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Ramires – RF Lloyd – SS Bratlien – P MacKinnon
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – LF Ayala – P Robinson

Nick Robinson was the only Raccoon to start on regular rest in this series and got a sizable lead handed to him quite early as the Raccoons again came out swinging and spanked MacKinnon for five runs in the bottom 1st. Morris doubled and scored on Lonzo’s single. Starr singled, but was forced out by Nye after Brass had already whiffed. Tim Fuller clipped an RBI single, however, and Nick Fowler cranked a 2-out, 3-run homer to right for a 5-0 score. MacKinnon was hit for the first chance the Titans got to dump him, and Robinson walked Abecassis and Eddie Marcotte back-to-back, but then got a double play grounder to end the inning from Ian Woodrome.

Bottom 4th, and the Raccoons loaded the bases with one out. Morris reached on a throwing error by Woodrome, while left-hander Gabe Hill issued 1-out walks to Starr and Brass. Nye dropped a soft RBI single behind Woodrome, while Jorge Arviso then lost the 0-1 pitch to Fuller and conceded another run on the passed ball. Fuller’s groundout added the third and last run of the inning, 8-0, before Fowler flew out to left.

Despite some inaccuracies and four walks given up, Robinson went a strong eight innings with a single misstep that ended up mattering when he served up a solo home run to Marcotte in the sixth inning. Paul Barton gave up a 2-run homer to Diego Mendoza in the ninth, however, while the Raccoons tacked on a run in the bottom 8th with another Lonzo double and Brass’ RBI single. 9-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nye 3-4, RBI; Fuller 2-4, 2 RBI; Robinson 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, W (7-6) and 1-4;

Game 3
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Ramires – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – SS Lloyd – 2B D. Mendoza – 3B Woodrome – P Glaude
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – LF Ayala – P B. Herrera

Bobby Herrera was not up to snuff after getting whacked for the L in the All Star Game. He issued a walk in the first, another in the second, and two in the third, which would be the inning when the Titans would come home to roost. Before that, however, Nick Nye homered for a 1-0 lead in the bottom 2nd before Ayala reached base on a Diego Mendoza throwing error and scored on a 2-out RBI single by … Tipsy Bobby! The joy was short-lived though because the 2-0 lead went bust in that 2-walk top 3rd. In addition to the two walks, the Titans also had two hits. Herrera walked Jorge Arviso with one out and the bases loaded, then gave up a sac fly to center to Manny Rubin. Andy Lee popped out to Lonzo to strand a pair. The Titans then scored two more runs in the fourth inning, although those were less on Herrera, who gave up an RBI single to Woodrome, and more on Tim Fuller, who made not one, but *two* 2-base throwing errors on rollers by Lloyd to begin the inning, and then Glaude to bring in Woodrome with the second run.

The Coons stranded pairs in the third and fourth inning, with Lonzo lining out *hard* to Lloyd with runners on the corners to end the effort. Joel Starr then led off the bottom 5th with a jack to right, 4-3, and while Brass flew out to Ramires, Nye and Fuller went to the corners with singles to left. Nick Fox’ grounder up the middle was knocked down by Lloyd, but he dropped the ball standing up and had no play, while Nye scored with the tying run – all even at four. Fox was given an infield hit by the hometown scorer. Glaude lost Ayala on balls to fill the bases, but Forbes Tomlin batted for Herrera and spanked the ball into a 6-4-3 double play…

Lonzo hit into another double play in the sixth to erase Morris, while Ruben Mendez serving up a homer to Marcotte in the seventh meant that the Titans had a new 5-4 lead. Fox tied that one, too, coming up with Brass on second and Fuller on first in the bottom 7th and dishing a low liner to right that Andy Lee caught on the slide – but it popped out of his glove again and rolled behind him. The ump signaled no catch, and the Raccoons turned it into a game-tying RBI double while the Titans were bitterly protesting. Ayala doled a 2-run double to right to give the lead back to the Brownshirts. The Coons got a fourth run in the inning and an 8-5 lead after Morris drew a 2-out walk and they started stealing. Arviso threw the ball away, allowing Ayala to score. Lonzo grounded out to second to end the inning, then. Barton and Walters then did not mess around, each having a 1-2-3 inning and Walters finishing with a pair of strikeouts to Ramires and Arviso. 8-5 Coons! Morris 2-3, BB; Starr 2-5, HR, RBI; Nye 3-5, HR, RBI; N. Fox 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI;

Can we make it four, boys?

Game 4
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Ramires – RF Lloyd – SS Bratlien – P M. Bell
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – RF Oley – P C. Fox

Like Herrera, Chance Fox had had a poor All Star outing, and it continued against the Titans. He walked three and issued a wild pitch in the first run through the lineup, with that wild pitch plating Woodrome for the only run he allowed in the first two innings. Morris homered to right to tie it right away in the bottom 1st, but Manny Rubin answered with a solo jack in the third inning to put Boston back on top, 2-1. Fox would make it through six innings, walking four in total, and getting only a single strikeout, but he held the Titans to four hits and their two runs.

The Coons then got stingy relief to keep the game close, with three outs from Abrams, two from Rocco, and one from Mendez to get through eight, but the Raccoons’ offense just wasn’t coming on. Morris would draw a leadoff walk from Bell in the bottom 8th, but none of the 2-3-4 batters couldn’t get a hit to fall in and Morris was left on second base. Mendez collected three straight outs in the ninth to still keep the Titans within reach with Jason Posey coming in for a save opportunity in the bottom 9th. Nye and Perez grounded out weakly before Fowler singled. Nick Fox batted for Oley, but grounded out to end the game. 2-1 Titans. Fowler 2-4;

In other news

July 15 – Blue Sox RF Austin Gordon (.292, 8 HR, 41 RBI) is expected to miss three weeks with a thumb sprain.
July 15 – The Indians rush the Canadiens in a 19-1 blowout. Honors are distributed evenly throughout the team, though, and the best day is probably had by 3-for-3, 3-walk, 3-RBI Steve Thompson (.243, 7 HR, 42 RBI).
July 15 – The Scorpions beat the Wolves, 6-5 in 10 innings. The game was tied at two after nine innings. SAC LF Tim Duncan (.240, 4 HR, 26 RBI) cranks a 2-out, pinch-hit grand slam in the top 10th for the winning knock.
July 16 – The Falcons trade SP Andres Lopez (4-12, 4.98 ERA) to the Warriors for AAA 3B Chad O’Donnell.
July 16 – Crusaders INF/LF John Webler (.260, 7 HR, 34 RBI) goes 5-for-8 with all singles and no RBI’s, but scores the winning run in New York’s 17-inning, 4-3 win against the Loggers.
July 17 – The Aces put up two separate 7-run innings in a 15-2 rout of the Thunder. LVA C Casey Burgio (.254, 5 HR, 39 RBI) drives in a team-high five runs from the #8 slot with a grand slam and an RBI double.
July 17 – SFB OF/1B Jon Alade (.301, 10 HR, 27 RBI) hits a 2-run walkoff homer for the only scoring in a 2-0 win against the Knights.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 1B Kris DiPrimio (.290, 12 HR, 49 RBI), hitting .500 (7-14) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR INF Nick Nye (.291, 9 HR, 40 RBI), batting .500 (8-16) with 1 HR, 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Good series against the Titans, shame we couldn’t eek out that one or two more runs at the end against Bell. We have three more with the Elks at home, then a day off, and then visit the Thunder and Knights, with another day off in between those two series.

David Gonzales was waived and DFA’ed to make room for Todd Oley (yaaay) on the 40-man roster, but was not claimed and then re-assigned to the Alley Cats on Sunday.

Our bid for George van Otterdijk is up to $616k. This is the most we can bid for the kid without sliding into the highest penalty bracket for signing players in next year’s July IFA window, so I can currently neither confirm nor deny whether we will make another bid after that. The enemy is always watching. (holds his cards closer to his striped face, and peeks over the top edge of them, but the left ear twitches conspicuously)

Fun Fact: Jose Corral is the third-youngest player to have been on an ABL roster so far this year.

He is just two months older than Dallas’ INF Adam Yocum (.262, 0 HR, 10 RBI) and MIL UT Kyle Reber (.143, 0 HR, 0 RBI).

[Westheim]

Raccoons (54-39) vs. Canadiens (46-46) – July 18-20, 2061

The Raccoons had a narrow 5-4 lead against the Elks this season. The pink specters from the frozen North had lost three games in a row after rallying back to relevance with a 13-3 run in late June and early July. They ranked eighth in runs scored and were sixth in runs allowed in the CL. Starter Adam Foley and outfielders Damian Moreno and Steve Scarpa were on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (9-6, 3.55 ERA) vs. Martyn Polaco (5-3, 4.09 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (6-1, 1.69 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (8-9, 3.47 ERA)
Nick Robinson (7-6, 3.84 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (5-8, 4.49 ERA)

The week started with a left-handed opposing hurler, followed by two right-handers.

Game 1
VAN: LF D. Garcia – CF Hambrick – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – C A. Maldonado – 3B C. Sullivan – SS Pierson – 2B Roldan – P Polaco
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Fuller – 1B Tomlin – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose

The damn Elks took a 3-2 lead, but added another injured outfielder to their pile when Danny Garcia hurt himself chasing down Forbes Tomlin’s drive to left to end the bottom 1st. For starters, DeRose got battered for 12 total bases in the first inning, giving up a triple to Christian Hambrick and homers to Jose Campos and Chad Cardenas, plus another single later on. The Raccoons got their first four batters all on base one way or another, with an RBI single for Brassfield, but Tim Fuller got home a run with a double-play grounder and Tomlin then left Nick Nye on third base as the tying run, but at least broke Garcia instead…

Fox and Morris hit soft singles and were left on base in the second inning, while DeRose gave up three more singles and another run in the top 3rd, with Preston Pierson driving home Jose Campos to get the Elks up 4-2. The Coons got runners to the corners in the bottom 3rd and 5th, stranded them in the first case and following a Brassfield triple and a walk drawn by Nye, had Fuller rumble into another 6-4-3 double play, this time to end the inning altogether. (moves bottle of Capt’n Coma a little closer)

DeRose was dismissed after six innings and giving up another solo homer to Rafael Roldan that upped the tally to 5-2, and the Raccoons looked ill inclined to do anything against Polaco, ever. The Raccoons got scoreless relief from Abrams, Ricky H., and Barton, although the latter walked a pair in the ninth inning. The offense only got the odd runner to first base in the innings leading up to the bottom 9th, which Angel Perez began with a pinch-hit single to right against left-hander Jim Peterson. Morris popped out, Lonzo hit into a double play, and that was that. 5-2 Canadiens. Brassfield 3-4, 3B, RBI; Perez (PH) 1-1;

Well, that was not a great game.

Noah Caswell started a rehab assignment in AAA once again on Tuesday.

Game 2
VAN: CF Valencia – SS Corpus – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – 3B Whittington – LF Hambrick – C A. Maldonado – 2B Roldan – P Kozloski
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – RF Oley – P Riddle

Morris hit a leadoff single, stole second, advanced on Lonzo’s groundout, and after Starr walked, scored on Brass’ sac fly to center to give the Coons an early 1-0 lead. It also went bust early, as the Elks got a 2-out single from Rafael Valencia in the third inning. The runner stole second, then came home on Alex Corpus’ single through Nick Fowler. The Raccoons in turn got Morris on again in the bottom 3rd. He also stole second base, but was then thrown out by Hambrick on Starr’s 2-out single to left…

Bottom 4th, and Brass opened it with legging out an infield single. Nye hit another single to right immediately afterwards, and Brass made it to third base. When the Elks fumbled the ball on the infield, Nye even advanced to second base, all with nobody out, and before Perez struck out, Fowler walked, and I wondered whether it was just another tease by the baseball gods. It wasn’t – Todd Oley grounded to Roldan, but stayed out of the double play (although Fowler was out at second base), while Brass scored, and with runners on the corners Riddle slapped a single to center to get Nye home from third base. Morris was rung up to end the inning. Oley would bat again with two on in the sixth, but this time found the double play he was trying to hit into and ended the inning.

Riddle was still going strong in the later innings. Chad Cardenas hit a single in the seventh, but was caught stealing, and Riddle batted for himself to lead off the bottom 7th, hitting his third single on the day before being doubled up by Morris. Lonzo hit a 2-out single, but was stranded by Starr. Riddle went into the eighth and retired Alex Maldonado and Rafael Roldan without issue before giving up a single to Kozloski with two outs, then got burned on Rafael Valencia’s RBI double into the corner, narrowing the score to 3-2. Corpus grounded out to Fowler to end the inning. The Coons regained their insurance run in the bottom 8th, though, when Nye sunk a triple in the right-center gap and scored on Perez’ sac fly. Matt Walters then made short work of the Elks in the ninth and retired them in order. 4-2 Coons. Nye 2-4, 3B; Fowler 1-2, BB; Riddle 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (7-1) and 3-3, RBI;

Game 3
VAN: CF Valencia – SS Corpus – 1B J. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – 3B Whittington – LF Hambrick – C F. Chavez – 2B Roldan – P Brink
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – LF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – 3B Fowler – RF Oley – P Robinson

Robinson was unmolested by runners the first time through, striking out five Elks, while the Raccoons almost went up 2-0 on a Brassfield homer in the bottom 1st, but Cardenas, the stinking bugger, picked the ball off the top of the fence to end the inning instead. Instead, Valencia would break into the H and R columns at the same time in the top 4th with a leadoff jack to left. The Raccoons did not actually get a base hit until Angel Perez hit a leadoff single to left in the bottom 5th, and Tan Brink suffered an awkward fall trying to lunge for a ball he clearly couldn’t reach, and then left the game with the Elks’ trainer. Peterson took the ball, flew out Fowler, and got another double play grounder from Oley.

After one hit in five innings, the Raccoons got three hits to begin the sixth inning and load the bases as Robinson, Morris, and Lonzo all dropped soft singles on Peterson. Three on and nobody out for Starr, who struck out, but Brass was to the rescue and dealt a 3-2 pitch to center for a score-flipping, 2-run single. From there, though, Nye drew a walk and Perez hit into another double play. It was just one of *those* weeks…

Cardenas’ double to right and Hambrick’s single to left were enough to tie the game back up against Robinson in the seventh inning, all even at two then. Aaron Hain had the ball in the bottom 7th and gave up a leadoff walk to Fowler. Oley remained useless and popped out, but Forbes Tomlin singled in place of Robinson, moving Fowler to second base, which turned out to be plenty far on Morris’ single that was cracked by a diving Jose Campos on the very next pitch. Fowler scored and the Raccoons were up 3-2. Lonzo and Starr then grounded out… but there was a wild pitch in between and then Hain could not handle Roldan’s feed on Starr’s grounder and fumbled the ball for an error, allowing Tomlin to score from third base. Brass flew out to Valencia, stranding a pair on the corners in a 4-2 game. Justin Rocco then pitched around his own error to put a runner on base in the eighth inning, while Walters allowed a leadoff single to Campos in the ninth inning, but then got a 4-6-3 double play turned on Cardenas’ grounder. Thomas Whittington popped out to give the series to the Critters. 4-2 Critters. Morris 2-4, RBI; Tomlin (PH) 1-1; Robinson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (8-6) and 1-1, BB;

Raccoons (56-40) @ Thunder (44-51) – July 22-24, 2061

The Thunder were 17 games out in the South and were just playing out their days at this point, but they had a potent offense that was putting up the fourth-most runs in the league. Their pitching and defense on the other paw was rather awful. They were ranked worst on D, and both starters and relievers were in the bottom three in the CL by ERA. Overall they were giving up the second-most runs and had a -65 run differential. The Coons led the season series, 2-1. They had four players on the DL, most notably outfielders Eric Whitlow and Danny Guzman.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (6-5, 3.18 ERA) vs. Mike Hall (6-4, 5.14 ERA)
Chance Fox (7-6, 2.83 ERA) vs. Isaiah Dunn (3-9, 4.84 ERA)
Justin DeRose (9-7, 3.76 ERA) vs. Willie Valdez (1-2, 3.99 ERA)

Another series that would be started by the only southpaw on staff.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Perez – 1B Tomlin – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P B. Herrera
OCT: CF Martaranha – LF R. Hummel – RF C. Santiago – 1B Metz – SS Lira – 2B D. Richardson – C Preston – 3B Spalding – P M. Hall

Nye singled home Morris with the game’s first run in the top 1st. Morris had walked and Lonzo had singled before getting forced out at second base by Brassfield. Perez flew out to center and Tomlin grounded out to strand a pair. It didn’t stand up – Bernaldin Martaranha legged out an infield single, Tipsy Bobby tipsily nicked Randy Hummel, and with another soft single by Cesar Santiago the Thunder had the bags full, and Herrera was probably lucky he got out of this for only one run on Andy Metz’ fielder’s choice grounder before Omar Lira tumbled into a 4-6-3 inning-ender. The Thunder didn’t fuss around that long with him in the next inning. Daniel Richardson drew a walk and Steve Preston socked a homer to give them a 3-1 lead.

The Coons made up one run when Lonzo reached on an error by Steven Spalding and advanced on a wild pitch, then scored on Nye’s 2-out single in the top 3rd, but Perez grounded out after that to end the inning. The Raccoons then left another runner on base in the fourth, and made two outs to begin the fifth, although Hall then gave up a string of 2-out singles to the 3-4-5-6 batters in the fifth, and Perez successfully brought home Brass with the tying run, while Tomlin turned a 1-2 pitch around and flicked it to left for the go-ahead RBI single. Ayala popped out on the first pitch, however, and the bottom 5th began with Nye making an error on Hall’s grounder to give the Thunder a free runner ahead of the return to the top of the order that had already shackled Tipsy Bobby before in this game… but this time Martaranha found the double play to clean up the bases and the Coons remained 4-3 ahead.

Herrera tipsied on until the bottom 7th and Preston’s double off the wall in left with one gone. The Thunder then sent left-handed Ian Stone to bat for Spalding, and the Raccoons dove into their wealth of lefty relief. LaBat came in and was LaBattered, walking Mario Ceballos in the pitcher’s spot before giving up a booming 3-run homer to Kyle Hawkins batting for Martaranha (but both were left-handed batters…). The Raccoons made five outs with the sticks before getting on base again when Brass hit a 2-out single off Jerry Washington, soon followed by another single for Nye, so the tying runs were on base. Perez’ pop to first ended the game, though… 6-4 Thunder. Nye 4-4, 2 RBI; Tomlin 2-4, RBI; Ayala 2-4;

Game 2
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Fuller – LF Bean – P C. Fox
OCT: 2B Lira – C Burkart – 3B Spalding – SS McNeal – CF M. Ceballos – RF R. Hummel – LF Martaranha – 1B I. Stone – P I. Dunn

Hummel homered off Fox the first time through, while the Raccoons had Ben Morris plunked by Isaiah Dunn … in both of his first two plate appearances! He went nowhere the first time, while the second time, to begin the third inning, Lonzo followed up with a fly to right that Hummel dropped for an error. Whatever works, boys, keep going…! Starr singled to load them up, but Brass couldn’t get more than a game-tying sac fly on a deep fly to center. Nye singled to right, which gave him a 12-game hitting streak and an RBI when Lonzo circled around to score and put Portland up 2-1. Hummel’s throw missed the cutoff man and everybody else as well, allowing the remaining runners to scoot up into scoring position with one gone. Fowler hit an RBI single to center, Fuller lined out to short (which beat another 6-4-3 by miles), and Jon Bean scratched out a 2-out RBI single to center. Fox struck out, then took the 4-1 lead back to the hill, then immediately fudged it into a 4-2 lead by – with two outs in the bottom 3rd – drilling Bruce Burkart with an 0-2 pitch, balking him to second, and giving up a clean RBI single to Spalding before finally getting the third ******* out from Josh McNeal, grounding out to Lonzo.

Brass singled in the fifth for a 13-game hitting streak, but was forced out by Nye. Fowler popped out, Nye stole second base with two outs, and then scored on a Fuller single, who with no double play available shrugged and did the next-best thing and drive in a run, 5-2. Fox had to labor hard in the middle innings, because he allowed a leadoff single in the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, then always had to contend with the runner on base – none of whom scored, by the way, but his pitch count went up quite steeply with a few full counts there, too.

Tim Fuller’s 2-out, 2-run double in the seventh drove in Starr and Fowler against right-hander Gabe Ortega and extended the score to 7-2. The Thunder changed righties to Kyle Haislip, who allowed a soft single to Bean. Fox batted for himself and grounded out, but then pitched another inning despite already sitting on 96 pitches. He needed just eleven more to get through Ian Stone, Kyle Hawkins (who singled), and Omar Lira, who hit into a double play to end the Thunder’s seventh. Top 8th, Morris got on and stole a base off Amando Estevens, who served up a 2-run homer to Brassfield with two outs. That was the first longball of the week for the Portlanders, who put the last two innings together with Abrams and Rocco, neither of whom allowed a base runner. 9-2 Critters. Starr 2-5; Brassfield 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Fuller 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Bean 2-4, RBI; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (8-6);

Game 3
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – 3B Fowler – C Fuller – LF Bean – P DeRose
OCT: CF Martaranha – LF R. Hummel – 1B Metz – SS Lira – C Burkart – 2B D. Richardson – RF K. Hawkins – 3B Spalding – P W. Valdez

Like on Monday, DeRose was just getting whacked around; Burkart homered off him in the second inning to send the Thunder up 1-0, and he had two outs in the third inning before allowing a single to Hummel, a walk to Andy Metz, and an RBI single to Omar Lira, before Burkart was barely kept in the park and retired by Brassfield. Richardson then got on leading off the fourth inning and was brought around to score. At the same time, Valdez, a 30-year-old FL veteran of swingman duty, who entered the game offering 48 hits and 42 walks in 56.1 innings of work, held the Raccoons to nearly nothing, and especially only one base hit in five innings, a Jon Bean single, and also no runs. The Coons did not get Valdez out of the game until he walked Morris with two outs in the eighth inning, his fourth free pass issued in the game, and then Lonzo grounded out against George Youngblood. A second base hit had to wait another inning until Nye hit a 2-out triple to center against Jerry Washington. The game ended with Fowler’s pop to short. 3-0 Thunder.

In other news

July 18 – NAS SP Marshall Ward (4-7, 4.29 ERA) is going to miss a full year with a torn UCL.
July 20 – Rebels LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.279, 23 HR, 74 RBI) swats three home runs in a crazy 18-13 shootout win against the Capitals. Vaughn hits a grand slam, two 2-run home runs, and draws a bases-loaded walk for a total of 9 RBI.
July 20 – The Bayhawks deal OF/1B Jon Alade (.301, 10 HR, 27 RBI) to the Rebels for INF Miguel Portillo (.297, 6 HR, 30 RBI) and a prospect.
July 20 – The Titans pick up MR Kyle Zanni (3-0, 2.75 ERA, 2 SV) from the Buffaloes along with #63 prospect OF Jose Ortiz for C Isaiah Dickerson (.284, 0 HR, 9 RBI).
July 20 – The Thunder beat the Bayhawks, 1-0 in 11 innings, on a walkoff sac fly by 3B/SS Steven Spalding (.321, 1 HR, 6 RBI), the Thunder’s third third baseman on the day.
July 22 – Season over for CIN RF/LF/1B John MacDonnell (.276, 15 HR, 54 RBI), who has been diagnosed with a torn labrum.
July 23 – Rebels LF/RF Nick Vaughn (.280, 23 HR, 76 RBI) will now miss three weeks at least with a case of chronic back soreness, perhaps from too much homering.
July 24 – San Francisco acquires SP Kyle Turay (5-6, 4.40 ERA) from the Falcons for INF Bill Sostre (.311, 2 HR, 13 RBI) and a prospect.
July 24 – The Wolves beat the Rebels, 5-4 in 16 innings after only tying the game in the ninth inning on a pinch-hit 3-run homer by 1B/LF/RF Alan Puckeridge (.183, 4 HR, 14 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF/1B Jesus Espinoza (.279, 12 HR, 41 RBI), batting .565 (13-23) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ SS Casey Ramsey (.309, 6 HR, 50 RBI), batting .538 (14-26) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Mixed week, literally, at 3-3 against average competition. The Crusaders had a losing week though and except for the woeful Loggers the entire division is congregating now about a pawful games’ worth behind us.

The offense remains very spotty. Sunday’s sputtering noises ended Brass’ hitting streak at 13 games, although Nye’s survived (literally on the last out of the game) and stands now at 13 games.

And in a perfect world I would find an impact stick that can really get the offense going, but in reality we will have to console us with another return of Noah Caswell from rehab next week. The money just isn’t there anymore.

Money is also the issue while the Raccoons will lose the bidding craze for George van Otterdijk. Which makes me very, very sad.

No, I won’t miss a chance to point out whenever Pucks does anything good these days. It’s not happening that often…

The month will finish with a series in Atlanta and a set against the Aces at home, all after a day off on Monday ahead of 16 straight games without another one.

Fun Fact: Chance Fox is sixth in ERA in the CL.

Which feels odd because I keep complaining about him. He is actually half a run better than his FIP, which is also filling me with much foreboding.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-42) @ Knights (36-60) – July 26-28, 2061

Atlanta ranked ninth in runs scored and runs allowed in the CL, along with a -70 run differential, but led the Coons 2-1 after one meeting. They had the second-worst defense and the worst starters’ ERA (5.30), but no injuries. They had hit 63 homers on the year, one third of them coming off the bat of Ken Sowell (.259, 21 HR, 73 RBI), who had more than double the dingers of any other player on either roster.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (7-1, 1.76 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (2-7, 6.69 ERA)
Nick Robinson (8-6, 3.77 ERA) vs. Jose Villegas (5-5, 5.56 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (6-5, 3.31 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (7-11, 3.44 ERA)

Harman had gone 18-7 with a 2.55 ERA and the Pitcher of the Year award last year – and his trajectory was the least horrendous on the team. Every other starter had an ERA over five. Villegas was the only southpaw we’d see in the series.

The Raccoons began the week with Noah Caswell rising from the dead and a rehab assignment once more and Todd Oley (.077, 0 HR, 1 RBI) getting dropped back onto the poor Alley Cats.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Riddle
ATL: C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – CF K. Fisher – RF Ellwood – 3B A. Duncan – LF Abercrombie – 1B Yamamoto – P Sparks

Riddle wasn’t nearly as sharp in this game and quickly fumbled a 1-0 lead he got from a Lonzo triple and Starr’s sac fly in the top of the first inning. The Raccoons had depressingly little offense otherwise, even after Josh Abercrombie and Shuta Yamamoto hit singles off Riddle with one out in the bottom 2nd, were bunted onwards by Sparks, and while they were a combined 75 years old they then went on to score on Marco Nieto’s single to right, which flipped the score to 2-1 Knights, which also remained the score into the later innings. A leadoff walk Ruben Mendez issued to Willie Acosta, who stole second base, also became an insurance run for the Knights in the bottom 7th after Bobby Ellwood roped a 2-out RBI double against Justin Rocco.

The eighth inning began with Morris singling up the middle against Sparks, who then drilled Lonzo in the knee. Lonzo sunk onto his furry tush in the batter’s box and held the mangled limb. After a lengthy visit by Luis Silva he was able to get up and walk off the field on his own power, which was at least *something*… maybe… Jon Bean ran for him as the tying run, although Starr lined out to Adam Duncan and Brass hit into a double play to **** the inning to bits. Steve Watson retired the Coons in order in the ninth inning. 3-1 Knights.

Steve Watson!!

I wonder how old I’ll have to get to witness the damn team sticking six runs into a pitcher with an ERA over six, even ONCE.

Lonzo was down with a bruised knee. He was probably going to miss the rest of the week, but not longer. We’d play this one by ear and play one set of paws short for the moment.

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – 3B N. Fox – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – C Fuller – CF Caswell – 1B Tomlin – SS Fowler – P Robinson
ATL: C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – CF K. Fisher – RF Ellwood – 3B A. Duncan – LF Abercrombie – 1B Yamamoto – P J. Villegas

All four Nicks were in the lineup for this game, which surely could not go well. The game was low-scoring again and none of the Nicks nicked Villegas for a whole lot inside the first five innings, after which the Raccoons had a 2-0 lead on solo homers by Tomlin in the third and Morris in the fifth. In between, Caswell and Tomlin also had back-to-back 2-out singles in the fourth inning, but Fowler popped out to end the inning. Robinson allowed just two hits and two walks, but also got two double plays from the Knights in five innings and didn’t allow anything of substance to the scoreboard.

A Nick nicked one finally in the sixth inning, which Nick Nye led off with a homer to left, extending the lead to 3-0 and finally put some warm body on the roster with double-digit homers, for which it wasn’t too soon in late July… Nye was also batting when the Raccoons finally scored without the longball in the seventh inning. Nick Fox knocked out Villegas with a single, after which ex-Coon Alex Rios allowed another single to Brassfield, then a 2-run gap double to Nye, 5-0. Fuller grounded out, after which Cas was walked with intent to bring up Tomlin against the right-handed Rios when the previous time through Tomlin had been walked intentionally so he would not build on his 2-for-2, HR, RBI day against Villegas. Tomlin, batting with two outs, flicked a 1-2 pitch past Duncan into left for an RBI single before new reliever Matt Pickel got Fowler to fly out and end the 3-spot.

Robinson went eight innings, but expended 104 pitches and had no juice to go any further than that. The Coons upped the lead to 7-0 in the ninth against Dan Bell. Brass and Bean hit singles, and Cas brought in a run with a groundout. Paul Barton retired the Knights’ 1-2-3 in order in the ninth inning to put the game to bed. 7-0 Critters. Nye 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Bean (PH) 1-1; Tomlin 3-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Robinson 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W (9-6);

The Knights did not send Vic Harman into the rubber game, but instead handed the ball to Enrique Ortiz (2-10, 5.11 ERA). I was inclined to thank them profusely, but maybe let’s see whether the boys can actually hit him…

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – 3B Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – SS Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
ATL: SS Sowell – 1B C. Rice – 2B W. Acosta – C M. Nieto – RF Ellwood – LF Abercrombie – CF N. Thayer – 3B A. Duncan – P En. Ortiz

Tipsy Bobby had a chewy first time through the order, throwing 50 pitches for just two innings, walking two batters and hosting four full counts along the way. No runs scored, nor did any score for the Coons when they put four guys on base in the top 3rd. Bean got on and was caught stealing. Herrera singled and was thrown out trying to get a double. Morris and Fowler then went to the corners, but were stranded on Starr’s flyout to Ellwood…

The Knights scored first when Nick Thayer tripled and scored on Duncan’s sac fly in the bottom 4th, which Bobby H. concluded with his pitch count up to a whopping 81. At least the Raccoons rallied from his terrible bunt that forced out Bean at second base in the top 5th then. Morris and Fowler hit 2-out singles to tie the game, and Starr beat the range of Thayer in center for a 2-run double to give the Coons a 3-1 lead before being left on by Brass.

Herrera went only 5.1 gluelike innings before arriving at the all-lefty 5-6-7 area of the Knights lineup once more and getting lifted. Cas went out with him in a double switch for LaBat and Ayala. Brass dropped Ellwood’s fly for an error when it hit off his wrist rather than the bespoke glove he had for catching the damn baseball, but at least the former Critter Abercrombie hit into a double play to end the inning. The seventh was quite, while the eighth saw Brass and Nye knock out Ortiz with singles. The Knights sent Ryan Hogues, and the Raccoons had Tomlin pinch-hit for LaBat, who had collected five outs. Tomlin struck out, as did Perez. After Mendez’ quick bottom 8th, the Coons painstakingly loaded the bases in the ninth. Jon Bean and Felix Ayala hit singles on just two pitches by Hogues, who was then lifted for Watson. Ayala was caught stealing, but Watson walked the bags full with Morris and Starr, while whiffing Fowler. Brass arrived in a 3-2 count, then stopped his swing on a low pitch – and it was correctly called ball four, allowing the Raccoons to push home an insurance run. Watson walked Nye, too, then gave up a bases-clearing double to Tim Fuller before being yoinked from the game. Joe Napier got Perez to ground out and end the inning. Ricky Herrera then put the game away without allowing a run in the bottom 9th despite an infield single by Nieto leading off. 8-1 Raccoons. Fowler 2-5, RBI; Fuller (PH) 1-1, 2B, 3 RBI;

Raccoons (59-43) vs. Aces (56-44) – July 29-31, 2061

Things hadn’t gone well for the Raccoons against the Aces recently, with season series losses the last two years, and it didn’t look good this year either, as Vegas was up 4-2 before this final 3-game set of the season. They trailed by eight games in the South, while sitting second in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. They had a +46 run differential, compared to the Raccoons’ +74 mark. They were missing outfielder Ken Hummel and Jonathan Echols as well as pitchers Roberto Oyola and Jason Harding on the DL, though.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (8-6, 2.81 ERA) vs. Jesus Aquino (6-9, 5.01 ERA)
Justin DeRose (9-8, 3.83 ERA) vs. Kris Robbins (7-7, 5.11 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (7-2, 1.87 ERA) vs. Scott Evans (9-2, 3.50 ERA)

The Aces had two southpaws – none of which would show up in this series.

The Raccoons still had Lonzo on the roster, although the newest estimate was that he would not return until the middle of next week. Putting him on the DL would however also rule him out for the Crusaders series on the next weekend, and I didn’t like that prospect so much.

Game 1
LVA: CF Jad. Wilson – 2B Villarreal – RF J. Evans – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B D. Williams – SS Veguilla – LF Plancarte – C Mathews – P J. Aquino
POR: LF Morris – SS Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P C. Fox

Nick Nye extended his still ongoing hitting streak to 17 games with a single his first time up, leading off the bottom 2nd after the Coons had already done nothing with a leadoff double by Morris in the first. Aquino then hit Cas with a pitch to put another runner on base, and a walk to Fuller made it three on, nobody out, and had me reach for not only the nearest bottle of Capt’n Coma, but also Slappy’s hand for comfort. It could have come worse; Nick Fox drew a bases-loaded walk, but Chance Fox struck out. Morris and Fowler both hit deep flies that were caught. Morris’ was good for a sac fly and a 2-0 lead, but Fowler being caught by Julio Plancarte ended the inning. Joel Starr then pumped a homer to right to begin the bottom 3rd, his tenth of the year. Brassfield walked and Nye reached on an error, but Cas’ double play grounder derailed that inning.

Foxie Brown retired the Aces in order the first time through, but only got a K on the pitcher, while Jaden Wilson lined out to Morris to begin the fourth, followed by two infield groundouts before the budding bid was butchered with Alex Alfaro’s inning-opening wallbanger double. Fox retired the next three in a row, and with Miguel Veguilla’s groundout to third base he even kept Alfaro on base without the benefit of a strikeout. In fact, he struck out nobody the second time through the Aces lineup, but then got Wilson to end the sixth. In between in the bottom 5th, Starr reached on a throwing error by Alfaro, then scored on Brass’ double to left-center, 4-0, and Aquino caught a 2-out battering in the inning after, allowing doubles to Morris and Fowler, and another RBI single to Starr before being lifted from the game. Fox would go eight innings in the game, including a really gooey top 8th in which he allowed a single to Plancarte and a full-count walk to Kyle Mathews before getting a K from Mike Roberts and a pop from Wilson, also in long counts, to get out of it himself. 6-0 Coons. Morris 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; Starr 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Nye 2-4; Caswell 1-2, BB, 2B; C. Fox 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (9-6);

The Aces traded infielder Andy Chairez (.298, 1 HR, 31 RBI), who had not appeared in this game, to the Stars for a prospect, #97 INF Cesar Pena, between games.

Game 2
LVA: 2B M. Roberts – CF Jad. Wilson – 3B A. Alfaro – LF J. Evans – SS Veguilla – 1B D. Williams – RF Villarreal – C Burgio – P Robbins
POR: LF Morris – SS Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose

The rested bullpen after the last few good starts would come in handy on Saturday, which began with DeRose hitting Jaden Wilson and giving up a 2-piece to Alex Alfaro in the first inning, after which he rather quickly disappeared underneath a speeding bus entirely. The Aces got a single from Jake Evans after the homer, left him on, then put a pair on base without scoring in the second inning, but then plonked him with two walks and two RBI knocks by Dustin Williams and Tony Villarreal in the third to go up 4-0. While the Raccoons did not get a single base hit the first time through, DeRose was shaken and stirred for nine hits in 4.2 innings. Nye started 4-6-3 double play behind him in both the fourth and fifth innings, but even after Veguilla erased Evans’ leadoff single in the fifth inning that way, DeRose still managed to put another pair on base with 2-out singles served up to Williams and Villarreal, then was culled. Rocco came on and got a groundout from Casey Burgio, but then gave up a screaming double to Robbins and a Wilson triple in the sixth inning along with one, then two runs when he plated Wilson with a wild pitch.

Mike Abrams *also* allowed a triple to Veguilla in the seventh inning, then plated that runner with another wild pitch. It was truly one of those games. Villarreal reached on an infield single after that, but was left on base. The Raccoons were held to one hit through six and couldn’t have been further from the scoreboard, but Brass socked a leadoff jack in the bottom 7th that came a bit unexpected, although it also barely made a dent into the Aces’ now-7-1 lead. Nye singled after the homer, keeping the hitting streak alive, but was forced out by Caswell almost immediately. Alfaro responded by hitting a dinger off Ricky H. in the eighth. 8-1 Aces. Nye 1-2, BB;

The Aces had 15 hits in the game, and the Raccoons had three. Nick Nye, with the 18-game hitting streak, would have Sunday off.

Game 3
LVA: 2B M. Roberts – SS Veguilla – LF J. Evans – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B D. Williams – CF Jad. Wilson – C Mathews – RF Plancarte – P S. Evans
POR: LF Morris – SS Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – CF Ayala – 2B Bean – P Riddle

Back to decency with the starting on Sunday, as Riddle – like Chance Fox on Friday – allowed no runners in the first three innings and whiffed three. Not that the Coons were more successful with the sticks; Morris hit a leadoff single in the first inning, stole second, and was blatantly stranded there. Nick Fox hit a double in the second, and was also left on. Even leadoff walks to Riddle (!) and Morris in the third inning led absolutely nowhere. Scott Evans struck out Starr and Brass after Fowler hit into a fielder’s choice. Roberts then began the fourth inning with a single to center and gained bases on a wild pitch, then a balk, but the Aces also couldn’t get the damn runner across home plate.

Offense got worse instead of better from there. Nobody else reached base until Jon Bean legged out an infield single with two outs in the *seventh*, and then was stranded when Riddle fanned. The Aces then got a free chance to win tossed into their lap when Angel Perez threw away a grounder by Jaden Wilson for two bases in the eighth inning, but Kyle Mathews, Jim Fusselman, and Scott Evans all made poor outs and Wilson was stranded at third base. Scoreless into the ninth, the Coons then fell apart. Riddle got two more outs, but then ran out of steam, walked Jake Evans and gave up a single to Villarreal before departing. Ruben Mendez allowed the first run of the game to score on Williams’ single, then balked a second run across before Jaden Wilson could fly out to left.

For reasons best known to them, the Aces then brought in Mike Goldfield, who they had received in the Justin Rocco trade some weeks back, into the bottom 9th. He blew the 2-0 lead in no time, allowing a single to Brassfield and a game-tying blast to Angel Perez. The next three Critters went down in order. Matt Walters got the ball for the tenth, showed a little rust – he had not been used for *ten* days – and allowed two singles, but crucially managed to keep Mathews and Oscar Vega on base without giving up a run. Tomlin and Fowler hit singles against Goldfield in the bottom 10th, but Morris, Starr, and Brass all struck out and the game continued. Barton had a 1-2-3 inning in the 11th, but LaBat labored in the 12th, putting two on base before getting a pop from lefty reliever Jose Cintora to short that ended the inning – the Aces’ bench was empty. The Coons still had people on the bench, including Nye, although we were hesitant to kill his hitting streak *now*. Even worse was sending out LaBat for a second inning. He gave up a hit, three walks (…), and then a bases-clearing double to Fusselman (who?) on the way to lose the game. Bottom 13th, Fowler led off by getting nicked by Cintora, who was in his third inning, but forced out by Fuller, who LaBatted for LaBat. Brass popped out, but Perez doubled, and then Nick Fox whacked another double to bring in two runs, plus the tying run to the plate. Ayala grounded out, though. 6-4 Aces. Perez 2-6, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; N. Fox 2-6, 2B, 2 RBI; Tomlin (PH) 1-2; Riddle 8.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ERA, 1 BB, 9 K;

In other news

July 25 – The Wolves send SP Josh Elling (4-9, 4.37 ERA) to the Scorpions and grab four prospects in the process. The only top 200 prospect in the deal is SP Danny Kurtz, the #43 talent in the league.
July 25 – The Miners trade SS/3B Adam Duncan (.269, 2 HR, 22 RBI) to the Knights for a prospect.
July 26 – Pittsburgh also deals SP Mike Chartrand (10-6, 3.11 ERA) to the Scorpions for three prospects including a pair of ranked relievers, #185 Erik Bithell and #186 Matt Cline.
July 26 – The Indians beat the Condors, 4-3 in 16 innings.
July 27 – The Crusaders acquire two relievers, bringing in CL Dave Lister (1-5, 4.53 ERA, 19 SV), #43 prospect CL Danny Kurtz, and dosh from the Wolves for RF/LF Javier Acuna (.273, 6 HR, 27 RBI); as well as MR Eric Mathews (3-0, 2.64 ERA, 3 SV) from the Rebels for three prospects.
July 28 – Loggers OF Scott Franks (.315, 1 HR, 33 RBI) could miss six weeks with a strained rotator cuff.
July 29 – Just acquired by the Wolves, RF/LF Javier Acuna (.287, 6 HR, 30 RBI) hits a walkoff double against the Capitals to give Salem a 6-5 win in the 15th inning.
July 31 – Pacifics OF/1B Jesus Espinoza (.286, 12 HR, 46 RBI) would miss six weeks after suffering a knee sprain.

FL Player of the Week: LAP OF/1B Jesus Martinez (.282, 15 HR, 61 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 3 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: CHA INF Bill Sostre (.363, 4 HR, 21 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 2 HR, 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DAL OF Tyler Wharton (.370, 23 HR, 76 RBI), smashing .404 with 9 HR, 21 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: POR INF Nick Nye (.306, 10 HR, 47 RBI), splashing .380 with 3 HR, 12 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: LAP SP Josh Clem (13-5, 3.02 ERA), going 5-0 in 6 starts with 1.39 ERA, 21 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: POR SP Tyler Riddle (7-2, 1.89 ERA), posting a 4-1 mark in 6 starts with 1.79 ERA, 44 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Kris DiPrimio (.299, 14 HR, 55 RBI), hitting .304 with 5 HR, 11 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: LVA OF Jaden Wilson (.293, 5 HR, 52 RBI), batting .326 with 4 HR, 21 RBI

Complaints and stuff

No trade was made at the deadline. We lacked the funds to bring in some actual sticks I looked at. The Warriors did offer to send Ricardo Montoya in a trade, which would have shifted DeRose to the pen, but they also wanted Nick Nye and prospects, and I wasn’t having that. The pitching was *fine*. We needed to score more runs.

However – we’re into the upper half in runs now! Look at us go! About four and a half markers per game! Will wonders ever cease!?

George van Otterdijk signed with the Thunder for $850k and I am very, very sad. In the end the Raccoons ended the July IFA period with three much less interesting signings for $284k.

While Lonzo was expected to miss another day or two with the bum knee, Joey Christopher started a rehab assignment with the Alley Cats on Sunday.

The Raccoons would drop to San Fran for a 3-game series starting on Monday, then host the Crusaders for four and the Titans for three at home.

Fun Fact: 28 years ago today, Tijuana’s Willie Ojeda hit three home runs to beat the Titans, 9-1.

Ojeda spent most of his 20-year career with the Condors, debuting at age 18 in 2030. A career .320/.372/.469 batter with 2,922 hits, 218 homers, and 1,269 RBI, plus 332 stolen bases, Ojeda won two batting titles in 2037 and 2039, and led the CL in doubles one and triples twice. He also once led the CL in RBI. Traded to the Stars in ’44, he was less spectacular in his last years, but hit .300 all the way up to his age 36 season.

The red stats aside, Ojeda also won seven Platinum Sticks and was sent to the All Star Game 11 times in his career before becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2055.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (60-45) @ Bayhawks (67-38) – August 1-3, 2061

Clash of the first-place teams, with the Raccoons leading the North by five games, which was exactly twice the size of the Bayhawks’ lead in the South. They scored the most runs in the CL, but were also charitable with their pitching, which gave up the fifth-most markers. Their run differential of +120 was nevertheless impressive. The rotation was average, the pen was porous, but they were up 4-2 on the Raccoons this year. Hector Montenegro was their only notable injury.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (9-6, 3.54 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (5-7, 4.88 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (7-5, 3.24 ERA) vs. Jesse Connors (7-6, 3.61 ERA)
Chance Fox (9-6, 2.65 ERA) vs. Bill Grau (9-2, 2.84 ERA)

Southpaws were looming on Tuesday and Wednesday, while the Raccoons started the series with a 23-man roster. Lonzo was still not in the lineup on Monday with the bum knee, and Chance Fox remained at the hotel with a nasty migraine. I hear there was non-oversugared barfing involved. He was not yet questionable for his Wednesday start.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Fowler – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Laws – RF A. Walker – 3B Portillo – C Redfern – P Turay

Xavier Reyes hit a single off Robinson in the bottom 1st and then stole his 49th base in a bid to smash the single-season record for stolen bases. He was left on base, however, while the Raccoons got back-to-back bombs and a 2-0 lead from Nye and Caswell going deep in the top 2nd. Nye extended his hitting streak to 19 games. Struggling Joel Starr narrowly missed a homer the inning after, settling for a wallbanger double and getting stranded when Brassfield grounded out to end the inning. Brass would hit a sac fly however with Morris and Starr on the corners in the fifth inning; Morris singled and stole his 32nd base of the year (now leading Lonzo by three on his own team) while Starr was walked intentionally after Fowler’s groundout that shifted Morris to third base. Brass cashed Morris, 3-0, but Starr was left on base by Nye.

Robinson retired 11 in a row before Aaron Walker legged out an infield single to begin the bottom 5th and Miguel Portillo immediately drew a walk after that, but catchers would be catchers and Keith Redfern found a 5-4-3 double play to roll into. Unfortunately, that made for only two outs, and Robinson then got dinged by Turay for a clean RBI single to center… Reyes grounded out to first to end the bottom 5th instead. That was the only run off Robinson in seven innings of work, and he only allowed one more runner when Portillo drew another walk off him in the seventh. Rocco had the eighth and gave up a 2-out triple to right-center to Grant Anker, but then secured a groundout from Armando Montoya, the two main threats in that lineup, to escape without being charged a run.

Matt Walters, though, got a bit on the snout in the ninth inning. Entering with a 3-1 lead, he had Scott Laws ground out, but then allowed singles to Aaron Walker to left and Portillo to center. Worse was Redfern’s RBI double to right-center, which put the tying run at third and the winning run at second base with only one out. Aaron Kissler pinch-hit for the Baybirds’ pitcher, but struck out, looping the lineup back to Reyes and his .375 right-handed clip. The Raccoons were not interested. He got directions to first and we’d try our luck with Jose Escalera’s .326 lefty stick. He poked a ****** roller onto the infield that nobody could do anything with and the Baybirds gigglingly tied the game at three. Visibly upset with the universe, Walters then threw one more pitch to Grant Anker. It was last seen crossing the Bay into Oakland. 7-3 Bayhawks. Morris 2-5; Caswell 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI; N. Fox 1-2, BB; Robinson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K;

(cries)

That was 100 RBI for Grant Anker this year. The Coons lead was held by Brassfield. 54.

54!

(catatonic expression)

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – 1B Tomlin – C Fuller – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P B. Herrera
SFB: SS X. Reyes – CF Laws – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – 3B D. Sandoval – 1B Escalera – C Cantu – RF A. Walker – P Connors

Tuesday began with Matt Walters sitting motionless in the bullpen, trying to hide his shame by wearing the plus-sized tub of chocolate ice cream he had emptied during the night as a hat that rested on his shoulders, and also with the Bayhawks getting an early run when Aaron Walker singling home Dan Sandoval in the bottom 2nd to give the Baybirds a 1-0 lead against Tipsy Bobby, who allowed three hits in that inning, but only four total through five innings. He nevertheless kept trailing 1-0 while the Raccoons did precious little. They had three hits through five, one of them a Herrera single. Lonzo hit a single off Connors to begin the sixth, but was doubled off by Brassfield.

Herrera went seven inning of 5-hit, 1-run ball and remained on the hook when he was hit for with Caswell to begin the eighth, an inning in which the Raccoons disappeared 1-2-3 on six pitches against Connors. Mendez and Ricky H. pooled resources together in the bottom 8th to get around a leadoff single by Portillo, who hit for Connors. Righty Ryan Dow was then up for the ninth against the 3-4-5 batters. Brass grounded out to Dan Sandoval. Nye grounded out to Dan Sandoval. Starr batted for Tomlin and … struck out. 1-0 Bayhawks. Tomlin 1-2; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (7-6) and 1-2;

Besides my will to live, the Baybirds also decapitated Nick Nye’s 19-game hitting streak.

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – 1B Tomlin – C Perez – CF Ayala – 3B N. Fox – P C. Fox
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 1B Escalera – LF Anker – 2B A. Montoya – CF Laws – 3B D. Sandoval – RF A. Walker – C Redfern – P Grau

The Raccoons had three runners in the first inning, but Morris was caught stealing right away after drawing a leadoff walk and Lonzo and Brass hit singles, but were stranded with a Nye grounder and Tomlin whiffing. The Baybirds also got three singles off Fox in the bottom 1st by Reyes, Montoya, and Scott Laws, and they of course scored a run… Sandoval popped out to Nick Fox to end the inning with a pair left on base. Aaron Walker led off the bottom 2nd with an infield single, Redfern singled to center, and Grau bunted the pair into scoring position. Chance Fox got Reyes to grounded out quickly to Nick Fox, which pinned the runners, then got another vanilla groundout from Escalera to Nye to deNye the Bayhawks more run(s).

Next he deNyed them the lead with a 2-run homer in the fourth, hitting a 380-footer to left after Brass worked a full count for a leadoff walk against Grau, which put the Coons up 2-1. Grau walked the next two, Ayala grounded out to advance them, and one Fox was then walked intentionally to bring up the other Fox, the one that was hitting 1-for-44 on the season, the most defensible intentional walk of a .245 hitter ever. Grau fell 3-1 to Chance Fox, who then fell to the animalistic urge to swing the bat and fell over not one but two coffee tables for a 6-4-3 double play.

Walker in the bottom 4th and Perez in the top 6th hit into double plays to keep offense low and the score tight in the following innings, but the bottom 6th began with an Anker single to center before Fox lost Montoya in a full count. Laws then legged out an infield single, and the Baybirds had three on with nobody out. Fox got a pop from the left-handed Sandoval that Nye caught, but then was yoinked after just 67 pitches for Ruben Mendez to face the 7-8 batters and hopefully keep it at least tied. He struck out Walker, but Redfern slapped a 2-out, 2-run single to left-center that flipped the score, and everything was ***** again. Grau made the last out of the inning before Fowler batted for Mendez to begin the seventh, but grounded out. Morris singled, Lonzo flew out to right, and Brass singled to right-center with two outs. Morris chased to third base, and Aaron Walker unleashed a terrible throw there that missed Sandoval entirely, and allowed Morris to hustle home to tie the bloody ballgame.

Forbes Tomlin hit a leadoff single off Grau in the eighth inning, but the next two Critters made outs. Fox walked, and Tim Fuller’s pinch-hit single loaded the bases with two outs before Morris cracked a hellacious line drive – right into Montoya’s mitten to end the inning. Brass and Starr hit singles in the ninth against Dow, but couldn’t get further than second base with that, but Justin Rocco put up scoreless eighth and ninth innings to send the game to overtime.

The fact that the pitcher’s spot was still in the #9 hole and was to come up in the top 10th against Dow then allowed Felix Ayala to try and be the hero with a leadoff jack to left, because we held back Cas to pinch-hit for Rocco instead, but the Raccoons went down in order after the Ayala homer. Matt Walters then slouched out of the pen for the bottom 10th still wearing the ice tub until reminded by the umpire that it constituted illegal equipment and it was taken away. He then first faced the guy that had given him (and his GM) major depression on Monday, Grant Anker, and walked him in a full count. Montoya hit a comebacker, but Walters threw wild to second and pulled Lonzo off the base, allowing the winning run on base with the error. He then also walked Laws, but struck out Portillo with three on and nobody out and me gasping. Josh Wall pinch-hit in the #7 spot and hit a fly to right that was gonna tie the game, but the way you imagined, because Brass **** on the ball and dropped it for an error, allowing EVERYBODY to advance and putting Montoya with the game-winner at third base. Redfern’s deep fly to left was caught by Ayala, but ended the game anyway since Morris couldn’t throw it home from there. 5-4 Bayhawks. Morris 2-6, 2B; Brassfield 4-4, BB; Tomlin 2-3, BB; Starr (PH) 1-1; Ayala 2-5, HR, RBI; Fuller (PH) 1-1; Rocco 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

I hate this ******* place. I hope climate change kicks it into fifth gear and drowns this ******* den first of all places. **** this ballpark.

**** this ballpark.

Oh, god-bloody-damnit, the Crusaders are next…!! (cries in despair)

Raccoons (60-48) vs. Crusaders (58-51) – August 4-7, 2061

The Crusaders had zoomed in to 2 1/2 games behind after winning three of four (including a make-up game for an earlier postponement) in Atlanta. The Raccoons needed to win one game in this series to stay afloat, and two to keep their distance. And I was not confident despite leading the season series, 5-2. New York was third in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed with a +75 run differential (Coons: +65). They had a slew of injuries to deal with, including starters Ryan Musgrave and Milt Cantrell on the DL *and* the irresistible Ben Seiter having left his start in Atlanta with an apparent injury that was yet to be revealed to the world. Reliever Alex Flores and position players Kelly Konecny and Ryan Spehar were also on the DL, and Rick Price was dealing with a crappy hammy.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (9-9, 3.99 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (6-6, 2.48 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (7-2, 1.89 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (5-1, 2.60 ERA)
Nick Robinson (9-6, 3.43 ERA) vs. Austin Wilcox (6-6, 3.67 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (7-6, 3.15 ERA) vs. TBD

Ortega had pitched long relief after the Seiter (15-4, 2.62 ERA) injury on Monday. Lee or the 39-year-old Wilcox might have to go on short rest. Joel Luera (7-7, 3.77 ERA) already went on short rest on Wednesday. All of these guys were right-handers.

Look at you, baseball gods. Teasing me with a tiny straw of hope, and then we get swept again…

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – LF Branch – CF Zeiher – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B R. Price – 3B Webler – P J. Ortega
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – P DeRose

Aubrey Austin and Tommy Branch were the only righty hitters in that lineup, which wasn’t gonna help the struggling DeRose, but it was the Raccoons to score first when Nye got on base to begin the bottom 2nd and Caswell cranked a homer to right for a 2-0 lead. The inning went on with Fuller flying out before Fowler singled and Ortega threw away DeRose’s bunt for two bases. Morris plated a run with a groundout, and Lonzo brought in a run with a 2-out single to center, then stole his first base since coming back from getting struck in the knee last Monday, but was left on base by Starr. DeRose had pairs on base in the second and fourth innings, but extricated himself orderly both times, but got taken deep by John Webler for a home run in the fifth inning, narrowing the score to 4-1. Omar Sanchez singled his way on base in the same inning, but was caught stealing by Fuller to end the inning. He was and remained on 18 bags for the year.

There were a few silent half-innings after the Webler homer. The Coons then put on Starr with a 2-out walk and Brass with a double against Eric Matthews in the bottom 7th, but Nye grounded out to Webler to keep them stranded and the score at 4-1. DeRose continued to get a groundout from Armando Caban in the #9 hole to begin the eighth inning, then was lifted for LaBat, who faced Sanchez and McLaren, who reached on a single and an error by Starr, respectively. Abrams came on, but Austin socked an RBI double to right, and the tying runs were now in scoring position with one out, although Branch whiffed. The Raccoons didn’t see Matt Walters as available after being out three of four days (including Sunday), and getting smothered in long innings in two of those. Ricky Herrera and Jon Bean entered in a double switch that sat down Nye, but the Crusaders countered with Pedro Gonzales to bat for Sean Zeiher to get a righty stick up. Ricky H. got a *huge* strikeout anyway, which ended the inning. Fowler and Bean would reach with two outs in the bottom 8th, but new pitcher Dave Lister got Morris out to defuse the situation. Herrera remained on the hill for the ninth. Alex Murillo flew out to deep center, while Rick Price flew out easily to Morris in left. Webler grounded out to Fowler, and the Raccoons assured themselves of first place by Sunday night. 4-2 Critters. Brassfield 2-3, BB, 2B; Fowler 3-4; DeRose 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, W (10-9); R. Herrera 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (3);

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C P. Gonzales – RF Austin – CF Zeiher – 1B Weir – 2B R. Price – LF Deeley – 3B Webler – P E. Lee
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – 2B Nye – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – P Riddle

Offense was mostly absent in the first three innings. Lonzo hit a double in the first, but was left on base, and that was about it. Zeiher took Riddle deep in the fourth for a 1-0 Crusaders lead, and they doubled that by plonking Riddle for another three singles with Hector Weir, Chris Deeley, and Webler, before Lee went down to graciously end the inning. That woke up the sleepy Critters, through; Nye and Cas went to the corners with 1-out hits in the bottom 4th, and then Angel Perez – who was now down to roughly 50% of the time behind the dish as he was losing the fight against Tim Fuller – cranked a 3-run homer to right to flip the damn thing around! (tosses Honeypaws in the air) Wheeee!

Riddle nicked Omar Sanchez to begin the fifth, but Gonzales popped out and Riddle kept a close eye on Sanchez, who had to hug first base and then was doubled up on Aubrey Austin’s grounder to short. Lonzo and Starr made outs in 3-ball counts to begin the bottom 5th before Brass got on base with a single. Nye hit a double to right, but also hurt himself and left the game with Luis Silva, which wasn’t great. Jon Bean would replace him. At least his sacrifice was not entirely in vain as Caswell fell 1-2 behind Lee, but then peppered a 3-run homer for the second consecutive inning to extend the lead to 6-2!

Cas was then out in a double switch in the sixth when Riddle lost cohesion, walked Rick Price with two outs, and left the game after 99 pitches. Barton and Ayala entered. Deeley worked another walk, but Webler popped out to short to end the inning. Barton gave up a run in the seventh on hits by Sanchez, who stole a base, and Gonzales, who plated Sanchez from second, before Austin found another double play. The Crusaders had two on against Rocco in the eighth, Price and Deeley reaching with 2-out singles, but Webler went down swinging as the tying run. The Coons tried to tack on in the bottom 8th against Kody Mello; Perez hit a double to center and Fowler singled to right, putting them on the corners. Ayala’s liner to Webler and Morris’ pop behind the plate did nothing to score any of them, but Lonzo came through the left side with a 2-out RBI single (which also took the save off and gave Walters a chance to fester for another day). Starr grounded out, and Ricky H. pitched another competent ninth. 7-3 Coons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B, RBI; Nye 2-3, 2 2B; Caswell 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Perez 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI;

No word on Nick Nye on Saturday, but rumor had it that Ben Seiter had a balking back, had gotten an injection on Friday, and was gonna pitch on Sunday. For the third game, though, it was the semi-scheduled Wilcox as the Crusaders were dragging themselves from day to day with their battered pitching staff.

Game 3
NYC: 2B R. Price – C P. Gonzales – RF Austin – LF Branch – CF Zeiher – 1B Weir – SS A. Murillo – 3B Webler – P A. Wilcox
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P Robinson

The Coons got out to the early lead despite making two outs to begin the bottom 1st. Starr then walked, Brassfield hit an RBI double, and Cas added an RBI single to center for a 2-0 lead. Robinson was solid the first time through despite making a bit of a mess for himself in the third inning, where Webler got on with a single, and Robinson fumbled Wilcox’ 1-out bunt for an error. Price hit into a double play to Nick Fox, though, and all was well. Morris began the bottom 3rd with a double. Lonzo’s grounder and Starr’s scratch single got him around to score, 3-0, but while another Purple Pooper – Branch – hit into a double play in the fourth inning, he did so with Gonzales (leadoff walk) and Austin (single) on the corners, and the Crusaders got on the board with the 6-4-3 grounder.

A 3-run lead was restored in the bottom 5th with Wilcox walking Starr and giving up a 2-out gapper to Caswell for an RBI double, 4-1. Perez walked as well, but Nick Fox grounded out to leave two on. Wilcox was then hit for in the sixth inning, but the New Yorkers got nothing in that inning, although the Crusaders got one back with Branch stringing a leadoff triple to left-center in the seventh. Zeiher struck out, but Weir singled in the run to get back to 4-2.

Southpaw Michael McLaughlin was pitching in the bottom 7th when the Raccoons got – in unearned fashion thanks to a Webler error – to three on and two outs, having their 5-6-7 batters on base. Forbes Tomlin pinch-hit for Bean hoping for a knockout blow, but flew out easily to Branch to leave everybody stranded. Fowler then manned second base after that, while Robinson got another two outs before Mendez replaced him against the 2-3-4 batting right-handers. He struck out Gonzales to end the eighth; Ayala, who entered with him in a double switch that sat down Cas once again (the only other batter left on the bench was Fuller, though), drew a leadoff walk from Lister to begin the bottom 8th and Morris’ double put a pair in scoring position. Lister brushed Lonzo to make it three on with nobody out, then *also* hit Starr to push home a run. After Brass popped out, annoyingly Mendez came up and the Raccoons chose violence and sent Fuller. He grounded out, but a run came home, and Perez grounded out to end the inning. Abrams then got the ball with a 4-run lead, not having pitched all week. He threw two pitches that Austin and Branch singled on, then was yanked for Walters as things got interesting in a real hurry and all the wrong ways. But Walters got back on the horse with a double play grounder hit by Zeiher, and Hector Weir flew out to center to end the game. 6-2 Critters! Morris 2-5, 2 2B; Starr 2-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Caswell 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Robinson 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-6);

Cooooooons!

Aw, shucks – that was a terrible mistake. I showed enjoyment, and the baseball gods brought out the big hammer.

Luis Silva reported that Nick Nye had a tear in his medial collateral ligament, whatever the **** that was and what it might be good for. He was out for the rest of the season and it would be tight for him to even get back by Opening Day next season.

Great.

Just what I needed after three wins against the Purple Poopers, Luis!!

Nye was off to the 60-day DL, and the Raccoons needed to fill second base once again. Bernie Ortega was called up to (with Bean) re-form the most useless second-base platoon known to man or beast.

So, Nye was lost, but Seiter was injected to the hill on Sunday. A couple of Critters could use a day off at this point, like Morris, Brass, Cas, and Lonzo, and we’d be busy on Monday, but games against the Crusaders were currently more important than games against the Titans. Everybody still on two hindpaws was crammed into the lineup on Sunday.

Game 4
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – LF Branch – CF Zeiher – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B R. Price – 3B A. Murillo – P Seiter
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – 3B Fowler – C Fuller – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera

Another game against New York, another early 2-0 lead! Seiter walked Morris to begin the bottom 1st, then saw Lonzo stuff a triple into the leftfield corner and score on Starr’s groundout. Tipsy Bobby did not allow a hit the first time through, but his only K came when Seiter bunted foul in a 1-2 count after Rick Price drew a leadoff walk in the third inning. This start could still go either way for him, and it threatened to go *that* way in the fourth. Matt McLaren led off with a homer to dead center, which was never great, and Austin socked a double right after that, but then the inning fizzled out rather briskly for the New Yorkers, who left the tying run on second base. Bobby H. made up for the pitching shortcomings by dinging a 2-out RBI single to plate Nick Fowler in the same inning, 3-1, after which Seiter walked Morris again, but Lonzo’s fly into the gap was rushed down by Branch.

Seiter tried to soldier on, but he was just not right. He issued four walks by the fifth inning including one to Brass in the bottom 5th. Fowler also got on, and then Tim Fuller cranked a huge 3-run homer to left to extend the score to 6-1 and knock out Seiter, who shook his head and muttered into his glove while walking to the dugout. Bobby H. would follow not *that* far behind. He went 6.1 innings, but walked Zeiher to start the seventh and got a groundout from John Rosenstiel, but then was lifted after 106 pitches. Only two hits against him, but just a lot of long counts. LaBat unfortunately kept melting and surrendered Herrera’s left-behind runner on a 2-out single by Murillo, 6-2. Armando Caban then grounded out to Lonzo to bring on the stretch. Sanchez (single) and McLaren (walk) then got on to start the eighth. Barton came on, rung up Austin, but allowed an RBI single to left to Branch. More arms! Rocco entered the game with Zeiher up as the tying run, got to 2-2, but Zeiher whacked a ball to deep right – NO! STAY IN!! And it stayed in, and was caught by Brassfield, six feet from the wall. (one big black googly eye is noticeably bigger and googlier than the other) Rosenstiel grounded out to Starr to put the inning away.

Bottom 8th, Fuller grounded out against Eric Matthews, who then allowed singles to pinch-hitters Ortega and Tomlin, then drilled Morris to fill the bases for Lonzo, but then unfilled them with a wild 0-1 pitch that got an insurance run home. That was all we got as Lonzo lined out to Sanchez and Starr popped out to Murillo… Abrams then came into another 4-run game in the ninth inning, and Walters was very much throwing in the pen behind him again. This time he got the first two guys out before Hector Weir hit a pinch-hit double with two outs. Sanchez grounded out to end the game and complete the deed for the sweep! 7-3 Furballs! Morris 1-2, 2 BB; Ortega (PH) 1-1; Tomlin (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (8-6);

Huzzah!!!

In other news

August 1 – There is not one, but TWO 6-run rallies capped by a walkoff grand slam for a 7-3 win in the league on this Monday. While SFB LF Grant Anker (.291, 23 HR, 100 RBI) murders the Raccoons in San Francisco, the Cyclones pull the very same trick for the same score against the Pacifics, the heroics being done by CIN CF/LF Ethan Torrence (.284, 1 HR, 30 RBI), whose walkoff slam is his first homer of the season.
August 1 – The Aces have a 9-run rally in the eighth inning to beat the Indians, 14-10.
August 4 – RIC 1B/RF/LF Chris Jimenez (.219, 3 HR, 22 RBI) lands three hits in a 6-3 win against the Cyclones, the first of which is the 2,000th of the 38-year-old’s career. A career .261 hitter with 103 homers and 863 RBI, Jimenez was an All Star once as a 2050 Titan, but spent the longest time with the Miners.
August 4 – A flayed UCL will cost WAS SP Vince Vandiver (9-7, 4.39 ERA) the rest of this and potentially all of next season.
August 5 – Pacifics SP Josh Clem (14-5, 2.85 ERA) shuts out the Warriors on three hits in a 1-0 game.

FL Player of the Week: DAL RF/LF/1B Tommy Pritchard (.347, 1 HR, 48 RBI), batting .526 (10-19) with 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: IND OF/1B Ricardo Alvarez (.282, 5 HR, 32 RBI), hitting .500 (13-26) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

That thumping and tumbling noise you just heard were the Crusaders falling down the stairs and hitting their heads on every single step all the way to the ground floor and the dumpsters with the persistent munching noises emanating from them. Now THAT was a sweep! After a terrible disaster series in San Francisco (where nothing good ever happens and which I hope will one day be swallowed whole by an earthquake), the Raccoons bleached the Crusaders in a 4-game set, winning three of the games by four runs. That helped us establish a 6 1/2 game lead, the biggest we’ve held so far this season.

And no more Baybirds to play! …at least this side of September 30.

Losing Nick Nye for the season is a terrible blow, however, and now we again have a spot in the lineup that is filled with outs. It’s also too late to trade for some sort of competence. You can play Nicks Fox or Fowler there, but they lack experience there and Fox is more of a hot corner guy anyway. Coupled with Lonzo being 34 – not terrible, just 34 – that opens holes up the middle… Ortega and Bean can’t hit a lick between them, but they can at least defend. Somebody’s gotta bat eighth, y’know.

The only other real second base option in AAA was David Gonzales, clipping singles, but I was kinda tired of David Gonzales. Same for Ortega and Bean and Bribiesca and all the other 28+ guys playing infield at AAA…

Speaking of AAA, Joey Christopher played seven games of rehab down there and will come back early next week. He had a .517 OBP in those seven games.

Three more games at home with the Titans, then a day off, a weekend trip to Dallas, and another day off ahead of a 2-week homestand.

Fun Fact: Ben Morris has the most WAR (3.3) among Portland position players.

And he had not even been penciled in as a starter to begin the season! He pounced instead when Cas went on the DL for the first time in mid-April.

Brass (2.7) and Nye (2.5 and down and out) are the only other batters on staff to be over the 2 WAR mark. Caswell (1.8) might yet get there if he can finally stay on the ******* field.

For comparison, the entire rotation minus DeRose (1.5) has at least 3 WAR at this point, if you give Riddle credit for missed time. Riddle has 2.3 WAR in half as many starts as the other guys. From there on up it’s Foxie Brown with 3.3, Tipsy Bobby with 3.8, and Robinson leading with quiet competence and 4.4 WAR.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-48) vs. Titans (56-56) – August 8-10, 2061

The Raccoons had the Titans in, against whom they had an 8-4 advantage on the year. The Titans were right around the middle of the Continental League in both runs scored and runs allowed, but overall had a -16 run differential (Coons: +79). Boston had the second-lowest team batting average and the third-fewest stolen bases in the CL, but hit the second-most dingers.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (9-6, 2.74 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (10-8, 2.61 ERA)
Justin DeRose (10-9, 3.83 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (6-5, 2.69 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (8-2, 1.98 ERA) vs. Jayden Craddock (6-12, 4.24 ERA)

Boston had only right-handers to bring up. They did not have position players Jonathan Watson and Andy Lee to bring up, though, who were both on the DL.

The Raccoons had to sprinkle some off days; Morris and Lonzo were both not in the lineup on Monday. Joey Christopher was ready to return from a rehab assignment, but right now I was struggling for a roster spot for him…

Game 1
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Ramires – RF Y. Valdez – SS Bratlien – P M. Bell
POR: 2B Ortega – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Fowler – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – LF Bean – P C. Fox

Bernie Ortega began the bottom 1st with a single to right and getting thrown out by Yoslan Valdez trying to make it a double, but the Raccoons still managed to score in the inning, getting a 2-out rally going when Brass (also bitterly needing a day off) singled, Starr walked, and Fowler hit an RBI single through the right side. Perez popped out to end the inning, while the Titans got singles from Jorge Arviso and Valdez in the top 2nd, but Jacob Bratlien struck out to keep them on the corners. Foxie Brown then hit a single in the bottom 2nd, his second knock of the season, but was stranded, while Bell got him for a leadoff single in the top 3rd and then scored on Eddie Marcotte’s sixth homer of the year, which also flipped the score to 2-1 Titans.

Foxie struck out with two on and two out to conclude the bottom 4th, then ran into trouble with leadoff singles by Bratlien and Bell (…) in the fifth inning, at least until Marcotte hit another hard ball, but spanked it right at Nick Fox at third base. Fox snatched, tapped the bag, threw to Ortega for two, and they *almost* got Marcotte at first for a triple play, but had to settle for the 6-4 double play and getting Ian Woodrome to strike out in a full count afterwards. The Coons again put two (Ortega, Brass) on with singles in the bottom 5th, and then had a pop to short and an easy fly to left to not score anybody… When Perez hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, but was forced out on Nick Fox’ grounder, and Fox went to third base on Bean’s single, the Raccoons sent Ben Morris to bat for Chance Fox. He hit into a fielder’s choice, but at least it tied the game and took Foxie Brown off the hook. Morris stole second, but Ortega fanned and the inning ended with the game tied at two.

From there, the Raccoons did allow precious little through the rest of regulation. Rocco got four outs, Barton three, and Ricky Herrera chipped in two, with only two Titans reaching base, and one of them, Bill Ramires, got himself caught stealing against Rocco. Unfortunately, the Coons offense was just as tame as the Titans’ and the best we could do was getting Bernie Ortega to second base in the bottom 9th on a single and wild pitch by lefty Gabe Hill before Caswell grounded out. Matt Walters was brought out for extras and punched out two in a 1-2-3 tenth inning, which brought the meat of the order to the plate against righty closer Jason Posey, deployed in a 2-2 tie. Or, actually, just Brass and Starr. One hit a soft single, and the other walloped a ball over the fence to end the game. 4-2 Coons! Brassfield 4-5; Bean 2-3; C. Fox 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K and 1-2;

4-for-5 here, 4-for-5 there, Brass needed a day off, and he wouldn’t make it to the scheduled day off on Thursday.

Game 2
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – RF Lloyd – LF Y. Valdez – SS Bratlien – P Brenize
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – C Perez – CF Caswell – 3B Fowler – RF Ayala – 2B Bean – P DeRose

DeRose was generous with the free passes, putting Ted Lloyd on base in the second inning with four balls, but Yoslan Valdez lined into a 3-U double play to end the inning. The Titans scored a run in the third inning, however, in which DeRose walked *three* and gave up a soft RBI single to Ian Woodrome in the process. After being yelled at with three on and one out, he struck out Arviso and got a pop from Diego Mendoza, however, keeping the damage limited. Nevertheless, Valdez socked a double and scored on Brenize’s 2-out RBI single in the fourth inning to double the score to 2-0…

The Coons were done with in order the first time through by Brenize, who then walked Morris to begin the bottom 4th. Lonzo singled to right, and the two stole a pair of bases to force the issue. The Coons got only one run on Starr’s groundout, though. Lonzo was stranded as Perez walked, Cas lined out to Woodrome, and Fowler grounded out meekly.

DeRose got stuck in the sixth inning and was yanked after allowing leadoff singles to Valdez and Bratlien, and following Fowler being aggro on Brenize’s bunt and getting the out at second base. Mendez then replaced the stuck starter, struck out Marcotte, and got a groundout from Woodrome to strand the Bostonians on the corners. Bottom 6th, and Lonzo led off with a single. Starr walked, moving the tying run to second base. Angel Perez then had to toss another spanner in the gears with a 6-4-3 double play grounder, but Caswell came through with a double to left to finally score Lonzo and tie the game. Fowler then fell to 0-2 against Brenize before flicking a wailer to shallow right-center for a go-ahead RBI single…! Brenize was done after six, and Josh Carlisle gave up an insurance run with two outs in the seventh. Morris doubled and was singled home by a re-energized Lonzo.

Boston filled the bases with two soft singles and a 2-out walk drawn by Bill Dorey against LaBat in the eighth inning, but Manny Rubin then went down flailing before he could do damage to the Coons’ 4-2 lead. Matt Walters then struck out the side in the ninth inning… give or take a terrible bloop single by Diego Mendoza with one out… 4-2 Critters. Lavorano 3-4, RBI; Ayala 2-4; Mendez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (5-0);

Ruben Mendez is the new Ricky Herrera.

Game 3
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Ramires – RF Y. Valdez – SS Bratlien – P Craddock
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – 2B Ortega – P Riddle

Riddle didn’t allow anything in the first inning, but Ben Morris took Craddock deep to right just two pitches into the Boston righty’s day, and the Coons tacked on two more; Starr walked, Brass singled, and both advanced on a wild pitch at the 1-1 to Caswell, who ended up hitting a sac fly to center. Tim Fuller added an RBI single to center to make it 3-0 before Fowler grounded out to Rubin. The next four innings then brought a light on-and-off ran threatening to knock out Riddle while he gave up five singles and got two double plays from the Titans, who did not score any runs by the time he completed the five-inning requirement for qualifying for a W, while the Raccoons had only two more hits after the 3-run first, and from those Lonzo was caught stealing to reduce the traffic on the base paths even further.

The Titans made two outs before Diego Mendoza hit a double to center in the sixth, but Bill Ramires grounded out on a 3-1 pitch to end the inning. Lonzo in turn led off the Coons’ half of the sixth with a double to left. Starr walked, and while Brass flew out ineffectively, Caswell singled to left-center to send Lonzo around to score, 4-0. Poor outs by Fuller and Fowler kept the other runners on base, though. The rain returned at the same time, and this time picked up in intensity. By the seventh-inning stretch it got bad enough to send the game to a rain delay that lasted nearly an hour and ended both starters’ outings. LaBat and Ricky H. would complete the game for the Critters; both put a runner on base, but neither allowed a run to the Titans to complete the sweep (and a perfect homestand!) either. 4-0 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Caswell 1-2, 2 RBI; Fuller 2-3, RBI; Riddle 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (9-2);

Raccoons (67-48) @ Stars (63-51) – August 12-14, 2061

The Stars were chasing the top of the FL West, but had recently stumbled with four straight losses. They had the highest batting average in the FL while playing in their little shoebox, but were overall just seventh in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. Tyler Wharton (.363, 25 HR, 81 RBI) was going berserk with the stick, but nobody else on the team was in double digits in dingers for some reason. These teams had played each other in both of the last two years, both taking home a 2-1 series victory, with the Coons taking the 2060 series like that.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (10-6, 3.38 ERA) vs. Evan Stanley (5-10, 4.75 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (8-6, 3.13 ERA) vs. Keith Trail (5-10, 6.17 ERA)
Chance Fox (9-6, 2.75 ERA) vs. Alex Quevedo (10-6, 3.93 ERA)

Trail was a 25-year-old sophomore left-hander – the only southpaw in their rotation – that was being dinged around for a .343 BABIP, which surely would undergo a correction for the better right on this Saturday. ALL the 6+ ERA pitchers just begged and prayed to come up against the Raccoons to always get a correction for the better!

The Raccoons returned Forbes Tomlin (.330, 4 HR, 18 RBI) to the Alley Cats to begin the series and activated Joey Christopher from his rehab assignment.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P Robinson
DAL: RF Almanza – 3B R. Vargas – CF Wharton – LF Pritchett – LF T. Pritchard – SS Yocum – C D’Alessandro – 2B Chairez – P Stanley

Lonzo found the tiny gap in the shoebox for a triple in the first inning and was brought in with a groundout by Starr to give the Critters an early 1-0 lead. Both teams left a pair on the corners in the second inning, with Stanley offering two walks to Caswell and Fuller, but Robinson was having a tough time against a lineup stuffed with right-handed hitters, including the switch-hitting Ricardo Vargas and pitcher. The Stars ran a lot of full counts, three of them alone in the bottom 4th in which they finally smacked Robinson around for a 3-spot. Wharton struck out in a full count, but Chad Pritchett hit a 3-2 single, then stole second base. Tommy Pritchard also singled, tying the game by scoring Pritchett, then was forced out by Adam Yocum, who stole second base himself before Chris D’Alessandro found Lonzo’s miniscule gap in left-center for an inside-the-park home run, of all the things in the world.

Robinson ached through another inning, walking a pair of Stars, but was then out of it, departing in a 3-1 deficit. The Raccoons were stuck on two base hits through five innings, which didn’t get better in the sixth inning, either. Abrams managed to give up a single to Tommy Pritchard, then a 2-out RBI triple in that left-center gap to Andy Chairez, and I considered asking League HQ for an investigation for the black hole out there. At least Stanley made the last out of the inning…

Christopher made his return to big-league ball by hitting for Rocco to begin the eighth inning, drew a walk, and then was doubled off by Morris’ grounder to Chairez as the Raccoons continued to be stuck on two base hits. Now, the good news was that the Critters would add four hits in the ninth inning; Starr singled and Brass homered off Willie Mendoza to make up two runs, and Nick Fox singled and scored on a Bean double against Alfredo Llamas for a fourth run. The bad news was that in between the bottom 8th had seen Paul Barton getting completely gobsmacked for four hits, a walk, and four runs to still make the Raccoons lose by a slam. 8-4 Stars. N. Fox (PH) 1-1;

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – CF Ayala – 2B Ortega – P B. Herrera
DAL: RF Almanza – 3B R. Vargas – CF Wharton – LF Pritchett – 1B Callaia – C Bothe – SS Yocum – 2B Chairez – P Trail

The Stars went back on top right in the first inning with Roberto Almanza singling through the left side on Tipsy Bobby’s second pitch, advancing on a rather inconvenient wild pitch to Ricardo Vargas, and then scoring on two productive outs by Vargas and Wharton. Top 2nd, and Perez and Nick Fox went right to the corners with a pair of singles off Keith Trail, who soon trailed when he threw a run-scoring wild pitch, and then himself gave up the second run on two productive outs by Ayala and Ortega. Not that the lead lasted long – Jason Bothe took Herrera deep to left in the bottom 2nd, tying the game at two.

That was it for offense through five, with two hits and two runs per side. Lonzo singled to left to begin the sixth. Brass and Starr made easy outs, but Angel Perez doubled to center to bring him around to score for a new 3-2 lead. Fox socked another double to right for a 4-2 lead, but Ayala’s fly was caught to end the inning. The Stars got singles from Vargas and Wharton with one out in the bottom 6th, but Herrera also struck out the other three batters coming up in this inning. Trail lacked the strikeout powers on display here, and instead allowed a leadoff single to Jon Bean in the seventh. Herrera bunted, Morris popped out, but Lonzo went into the Bermuda Triangle gap again for an RBI double, 5-2. Trail, who got Brass to ground out to Vargas to end the eighth inning, actually pitched deeper into the game as Bobby H. did. The latter was lifted after seven solid innings, while Trail was kept around to use up his pitch capacity for eight innings. Mendez had a scoreless eighth, which was the extent of the good news. Matt Walters entered the ninth inning, gave up the 26th homer of Tyler Wharton, and then departed with an injury concern right away. Ricky H. was then brought in as injury replacement to finish out the game with a bitter tasting W… 5-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-3, 2B, RBI; Perez 2-4, 2B, RBI; N. Fox 2-4, 2B, RBI; Christopher (PH) 1-1, 2B; Caswell (PH) 1-1; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (9-6);

No news on Walters so quickly on Sunday; for the time being Justin Rocco was probably the replacement closer until we could get some clarity.

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P C. Fox
DAL: RF Almanza – 3B R. Vargas – CF Wharton – LF Pritchett – 1B Callaia – C Bothe – SS Yocum – 2B Chairez – P Quevedo

The Coons rocked up with another left-hander against this lineup, but at least they gave Chance Fox a 3-0 lead before he took to the hill as the top 1st saw Morris double to right, Lonzo single softly to left, and Starr getting another single through the left side for a 1-0 lead. Lonzo stole third base with Starr advancing in his wake ahead of Caswell’s 2-run single to left before Fuller and Fowler saw out the end of the inning with easy outs again. Fox gave up doubles to Wharton in the first and Yocum in the second innings, but both came with two outs and the next batter both times ended the inning. He was less lucky with the leadoff single he allowed to Quevedo in the third inning, though. Almanza forced out the pitcher, but then stole second, his 38th base of the year. Vargas hit a scratch single to put them on the corners, but at least Wharton was contained to a sac fly to Morris before Chad Pritchett popped out and the Coons remained ahead 3-1.

The knocks off the bat were getting louder, though. Almanza smacked a hard liner for a single to left in the fifth inning, and losing Vargas on balls was not the very worst thing that Fox could have done, but it was pretty close. Tyler Wharton then knocked the daylights out of a baseball – but was slightly under it and flew out to Caswell in deep center. Pritchett still knocked in a run with a 2-out, 2-strike single to center before Pritchard struck out to leave two on in a 3-2 game. Fox barely made it through six innings with the lead, with the Raccoons offense concerningly silent. After the rapid first inning they landed only three more base this until the seventh-inning stretch…

That was before Paul Barton, the **** ****, suffered another ERA adjustment by a right-handed lineup in the bottom 7th. Displaying peak uselessness, he hit Almanza with his first pitch, then gave up another stolen base. Vargas singled, Wharton singled to tie the game, a wild pitch gave Dallas the lead, and Pritchett then also drove in Wharton, 5-3. The Coons never got another base hit off Willie Mendoza and Jon Dominguez and lost the series. 5-3 Stars. Morris 2-4, 2B;

In other news

August 8 – Shoulder inflammation ends the season of OCT SP Eric Barnes (10-6, 4.21 ERA).
August 8 – The Gold Sox beat the Pacifics, 3-2 in 15 innings.
August 9 – It’s also season over for Indians SP Melvin Guerra (13-6, 3.51 ERA), who had a torn rotator cuff to take care of.
August 13 – The Capitals put 12 runs on the Knights in the first two innings before coasting away for a 15-4 win. WAS C Chris Gowin (.218, 6 HR, 27 RBI) hits two home runs from the #8 spot and drives in seven runs on three total hits and two walks.

FL Player of the Week: WAS LF/RF David Flores (.327, 5 HR, 21 RBI), batting .500 (10-20) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 2B/LF Armando Montoya (.283, 14 HR, 86 RBI), poking .483 (14-29) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Judgment of how well the week went will be reserved for after the point where Luis Silva is done with tugging around on Matt Walters in his room of horrors. (looks upwards to the baseball gods) Please no?

Why was Forbes Tomlin demoted when he was hitting so much better than Joel Starr? Maybe the fact that his BABIP was *140 points* better than Starr’s had something to do with it. It would surely get adjusted to normalcy by giving him 20 straight games.

Strangely enough, giving 20 straight games (or 120…) to Starr was not helping his .230 BABIP at all. It had been just over .300 in his previous seasons.

After demotion to St. Pete, Reynaldo Bravo went through another 22 appearances for a 5.00 ERA before finally being diagnosed with elbow inflammation and being shut down for the season.

The team will return now for a 2-week homestand with the Rebs, Arrowheads, damn Elks, and Condors.

Fun Fact: If Tyler Riddle had enough innings, he would lead the league with his 1.83 ERA.

Not just the CL – the entire ABL. As it is, Mike DeWitt leads it with a 1.88 ERA for the Indians. Nobody in the entire FL was under 2.80, a mark held by LAP Josh Clem. However, Riddle qualifying would require him to pitch another 73.1 innings, which sounded like a tall ask with 44 team games remaining, of which he wasn’t gonna start more than maybe ten.

[Westheim]

The Raccoons dodged a cannonball-sized bullet when Matt Walters’ horrendous injury from the weekend turned out to be a sore thumb. He would be day-to-day for a few more days but Luis Silva assured me that amputation was not required, nor planned.

Raccoons (68-50) vs. Rebels (57-60) – August 16-18, 2061

The final interleague opponent of the year, barring a World Series ticket, were the fourth-place Rebels, ranking seventh in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed in the Federal League. They played the longball, had the worst defense in the FL, and their starters had a third-worst collective ERA. Injuries had further decimated the talent pool, with five players out and unavailable, foremost team home run leader Nick Vaughn (23 bombs), infielder Jimmy Hartgrove, and ex-Coons reliever Antonio Alfaro. The Coons hadn’t won a series from the Rebs since 2054. The most recent meeting had been a 1-2 series loss in ’59.

Projected matchups:
Tyler Riddle (9-2, 1.83 ERA) vs. Dan Garicia (6-11, 4.66 ERA)
Nick Robinson (10-7, 3.44 ERA) vs. Goffredo Merlin (13-7, 4.00 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (9-6, 3.11 ERA) vs. Josh Atkins (4-12, 6.22 ERA)

The Coons used the mutual off day on Monday to skip Justin DeRose (10-9, 3.81 ERA), and of course the Rebels also had the chance to skip somebody. As it was, Atkins was the only scheduled left-hander to appear in this series. Skipping DeRose also added an extra arm to the pen, which had to cover for the absence of Walters at the back end.

Game 1
RIC: RF Alade – 3B B. Anderson – 1B DiPrimio – SS J. Turner – CF del Toro – LF Goll – C Maresh – 2B Willoughby – P Garicia
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P Riddle

Riddle gave up a leadoff walk to Jon Alade on four pitches, but former Indians menace Bobby Anderson hit into a double play … as did Joel Starr on a 3-1 pitch to erase Ben Morris from he base paths in the bottom 1st. The second inning started with Jason Turner’s grounder being missed by Nick Fowler for an error, which Juan del Toro immediately jumped on and smashed a homer over the fence in right for a 2-0 Rebels lead. Vince Goll and Chris Maresh then also reached base, but were left on the corners by Riddle with some stingy grounders. Brass smashed a homer to left to cut the gap to 2-1 at the start of the bottom 2nd, and Fowler and Bean reached with 2-out singles, but were left on base when Riddle struck out.

The Rebels kept whacking Riddle around, though. Anderson and Kris DiPrimio hit soft singles to start the third inning and del Toro socked another homer, this time over the wall in left, to make it 5-1. This was del Toro’s *fifth* homer in 349 at-bats this year. The Rebels disposed of Riddle for good when DiPrimio hit his 18th homer of the year in the fifth inning, 6-1. Replacement Mike Abrams fared no better, offering a walk to del Toro before getting smashed for two runs on back-to-back doubles by Vince Goll and ex-Critter Chris Maresh, then another run on three hits in the seventh inning. For the Raccoons, Lonzo drove in a meaningless run in the eighth inning after Morris reached base on a fielder’s choice and stole second base, then scored on Lonzo’s single. It wasn’t quite a rally, nor was the ninth inning’s run put together between a single by Ayala, a single by Ortega, and TWO wild pitches by Sansao Tyson… 9-3 Rebels. Ayala (PH) 1-1; Ortega (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 2
RIC: C R. Lopez – 3B B. Anderson – 1B DiPrimio – SS J. Turner – CF del Toro – RF Alade – LF C. Jimenez – 2B Willoughby – P Merlin
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 2B Fowler – 3B N. Fox – P Robinson

Homering was left to Joel Starr on Wednesday, as he gave the Coons a 1-0 lead with his 12th dinger of the season, a solo piece in the fourth inning. It was only the fourth base hit in total in the game up to that point as neither team could get a leg up, or put a foot on third base so far. Jon Alade opened the fifth inning with a single off Robinson, but was doubled up to end the inning on Devin Willoughby’s grounder to short. Ramon Lopez answered with a solo jack in the top 6th to tie the game, but Starr scored another go-ahead run in the same inning, which he began with a single to center. Brass walked behind him and was forced out by Caswell’s grounder to Willoughby, which moved Starr to third base. Angel Perez’ fly to right was caught by Alade, but just deep enough for Starr to make it home for a go-ahead sac fly. Jason Turner socked a leadoff double to left in the seventh, but Robinson struck out the next two batters and kept him on base to bring on the stretch.

Bernie Ortega batted for Robinson in the bottom 7th after Nick Fox opened the inning with a single that also knocked out Merlin. Sansao Tyson allowed an infield single to Ortega, but got Morris to pop out, Lonzo to ground into a fielder’s choice, and Starr to whiff altogether, stranding runners on the corners. That left it a 2-1 game, and that soon turned out to be wildly not good enough when Ruben Mendez entered the eighth inning, gave up a dinker to Mario Delgadillo, another blooper to Bobby Anderson, and finally a 3-run carom off the left foul pole to DiPrimio. Even extended charity by a parade of Rebels relievers in the bottom 8th could not help the Raccoons to recover from that below. With Brass brushed and Perez walked, they still barely scratched out one run on a Fowler hit before Fox popped out and Fuller flew out to Goll in leftfield. With a pair stranded in scoring position, the Rebels instead cranked it up against Rocco in the ninth inning. Goll mashed a leadoff jack, and the Rebels whacked Rocco around for another three hits and one more run in adding to their lead, which needed no adding to with Curt Rosato retiring the Raccoons in order in the bottom 9th. 6-3 Rebels. Starr 2-5, HR, RBI; Perez 1-2, BB, RBI; Ortega (PH) 1-1; Robinson 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K;

(watches the Indians come closer in the standings)

This is not gonna end well.

Game 3
RIC: C R. Lopez – RF Alade – 1B DiPrimio – SS J. Turner – CF del Toro – 3B B. Anderson – LF Goll – 2B Willoughby – P J. Atkins
POR: 2B Ortega – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Fuller – CF Caswell – 3B N. Fox – LF Ayala – P B. Herrera

Ramon Lopez drew a leadoff walk to begin the Thursday game, then stole his 14th bag of the year, which was not exactly vanilla for a catcher. Of course the Rebs also got two productive outs from Alade and DiPrimio and took a 1-0 lead quite readily as Herrera couldn’t put batters away with two strikes. Ortega drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 1st, but was doubled up by Lonzo, while the bottom 2nd brought a leadoff single for Starr, a double by Fuller, and barely the tying run to score on Cas’ sac fly before Fox and Ayala made shambolic outs to keep Fuller on third base.

Tipsy Bobby got an actual base hit with a leadoff single in the bottom 3rd before he allowed a base knock to the Rebs, which was a thing, and then additional singles by the 1-2 batters made it three on with nobody out in a 1-1 game, which almost a guarantee to not lead to a run, especially with a tardy-pawed runner on third base. This time, all the runners scored, though – Brass hit a sac fly to the warning track, which was deep enough even for the pitcher to get home to score, and while Starr grounded out, Fuller put a 2-out, 2-run single by Turner to extend the lead to 4-1. Cas got another hit, but Fox grounded out to Turner to strand a pair.

Herrera then struck out a bushel of runners in the fourth and fifth innings in an apparent improvement in fortunes, but that was a nasty trick by the baseball gods to sucker me into believing we could win a game from the lowly Rebels. The no-hitter ended with one out in the sixth on a Chris Jimenez homer in place of Atkins, narrowing the score to 4-2, and things did not get better after that. Lopez singled, was even caught stealing, but Alade drew a 3-2 walk, DiPrimio socked a double, and Turner cranked a 3-run homer to flip the score, which I somehow had seen before in this ******* series. The last thing about this game that I particularly remembered was sticking the neck of a bottle of Capt’n Coma down my own while the two Herreras gave up another run in the top 7th on a Willoughby double and a pinch-hit RBI single by Delgadillo, while the bottom 8th was already well beyond me with its Brass leadoff single and then four pitchers being used to fill the bases with a 2-out single by Cas and a walk to Morris, before righty Chance Crawford also offered a bases-loaded walk to PH Angel Perez. Fowler then flew out, leaving the tying run on third base and a couple more all over the place. The bottom 9th of the 1-run game began with Joey Christopher walking on four pitches against Rosato before Lonzo hit a single over Turner. The two then picked the 1-0 pitch for a double steal, moving the winning run to scoring position as well. Brass whiffed, but Joel Starr smashed a walkoff, 3-run homer over the fence in left to salvage one game in the series, but by then I was fast a-snooze. 8-6 Critters. Lavorano 3-5; Starr 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Fuller 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Caswell 2-3, 2B, RBI; Perez (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI;

(hangs around the desk and holds onto a big cup of de-boozing coffee with both frontpaws while browsing through the Agitator with a hindpaw on Friday morning)

Did I miss anything, Maud?

Raccoons (69-52) vs. Indians (64-56) – August 19-21, 2061

The Indians lost to Topeka on Thursday, meaning they were well far enough away to not overtake the Coons in this weekend series, entering town with a 4 1/2 game deficit, and without starter Mel Guerra and outfielder Orlando Ramos, both on the DL. They brought was remained of the CL’s #4 offense with the most stolen bases despite Morris’ and Lonzo’s best efforts. They were third in runs allowed with a +59 run differential (Coons: +76). They had a 6-5 edge in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (9-6, 2.76 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (14-5, 1.88 ERA)
Justin DeRose (10-9, 3.81 ERA) vs. Antonio Pichardo (1-0, 0.53 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (9-3, 2.23 ERA) vs. Zach Stewart (6-10, 4.40 ERA)

Now the bad news: both DeWitt and Stewart were left-handers, and the Raccoons struggled to beat up on those, mightily. The 24-year-old (almost 25) right-hander Pichardo was a former supplemental round pick that was up for his fourth start in his third cup of coffee.

Game 1
IND: 2B M. Weber – LF Abel – SS Kilday – C A. Gomez – 1B Starwalt – RF Lovins – 3B Niles – CF S. Thompson – P DeWitt
POR: 2B Ortega – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Fuller – CF Caswell – 3B N. Fox – LF Ayala – P C. Fox

Chance Fox made an error in the first inning that put Kevin Abel on base, but then struck out Matt Kilday and Alex Gomez to recover, then hit into a double play to kill the bottom 2nd after Nick Fox and Ayala hit soft 1-out singles. The Indians then also frittered away three singles in the next two innings, before the Coons’ Ortega began the bottom 3rd with a soft single to right. Two outs moved him to third base, while Starr drew a 2-out walk. Fuller was to end the inning with a grounder in front of the plate, but DeWitt’s throw was poor and the bounce got past Danny Starwalt for a 2-base error, Ortega scoring from third base for the first run of the game. Cas grounded out to Starwalt to end the inning then. The Indians came right back and tied the game on Chris Lovins’ double and Steve Thompson’s 2-out RBI single against Fox in the fourth inning – both being left-handed batters; Foxie would not have pitched to a right-hander in this situation…

Double Fox doubles gave the lead back to the Coons as both Nick *and* Chance landed two-base hits in the bottom 4th, one into the right-center gap and the other up the leftfield line, which bumped his batting average all the way to .059 for the year with 2 RBI, and now a 2-1 lead. Fox held that lead through six innings – but the Indians worked him well in those middle innings with many a long count, and he reached just over 100 pitches by the end of the sixth and was hit for in the same inning, which Nick Fox began with another leadoff knock, this time a single through the left side. Joe-Chris walked in that spot against Ben Akman, who popped out Ortega for the second out, but couldn’t quite get Lonzo out. Lonzo lobbed a single over Mike Weber and drove home Nick Fox from second base, 3-1, but then was caught trying to steal second base, which ended the inning. LaBat and Mendez held the score in the next two innings while everybody wondered whether Matt Walters was available yet – but he was indeed warming up by the eighth inning. He got one additional run of cushion when Ben Morris smacked a pinch-hit homer in place of Ayala against righty Juan Carrillo in the bottom 8th. Indy then went down in order – but without a strikeout. 4-1 Raccoons. Brassfield 2-4; Starr 0-1, 3 BB; N. Fox 3-4, 2B; Morris (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; C. Fox 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (10-6) and 1-2, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
IND: 2B M. Weber – LF R. Alvarez – SS Kilday – 1B Starwalt – RF Lovins – C A. Gomez – CF S. Thompson – 3B Niles – P Pichardo
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – CF Caswell – C Perez – RF Christopher – 2B Fowler – 3B N. Fox – P DeRose

DeRose was useless once more, retired none of the first five Indians hitters in the Saturday game, and after three hits by Weber, Ricardo Alvarez, and Kilday, then a walk to Starwalt, gave up a grand slam to Chris Lovins that put the Raccoons into an instant 5-0 hole with no outs recorded. The Indians’ 6-7-8 would go down in order, but Pichardo opened the second inning with a double off DeHosed, and scored on a Kilday single to up the score to 6-0. Morris found a 2-out, 2-run single that scored Christopher and Nick Fox in the bottom 2nd, but the offense stalled after that and the game looked like a certain L. It didn’t get any better when Starwalt homered to left against Ricky H. in the fifth inning, extending the score to 7-2 again. Herrera would pitch two innings in the budding blowout.

The Raccoons inched closer again in the bottom 6th. After three innings of nearly nothing, Cas opened that inning with a triple to left off Pichardo, which Angel Perez then improved on with a no-doubt, 2-run homer to left. Christopher struck out, but Nick Fowler then smashed another homer to reduce the gap to two runs and the Indians yoinked Pichardo for Shane Fitzgibbon, who had been relegated to the pen after walking more than he struck out in a hundred innings plus change this year. Morris and Lonzo went down to begin the Portland seventh before Starr singled and Cas reached on an error by Starwalt. Angel Perez hit a fly to deep right that briefly gave us hope, but sunk too soon and settled for clanking off the base of the wall for an RBI double; the tying run moved to third base with Caswell and was stranded when Christopher struck out – unfortunately, Brass had already batted for Ricky H. the last time through. The Indians used three relievers in the bottom 8th, allowing singles to Fox and Bean before Cruz Madrid got the last two outs of the inning from Morris, who flew out to left, and Lonzo, who lined out to Robby Gaxiola at second.

LaBat had pitched two innings, like Ricky Herrera, without allowing a run, unlike Ricky Herrera; and Paul Barton delivered a 1-2-3 ninth to keep the Raccoons within one into the bottom 9th against left-hander Cody Kleidon. Starr grounded out, but Cas singled to right, and Perez held out for a 3-2 walk, moving the tying run to second base. Ayala batted for Christopher, grounding out and moving the runners into scoring position. Fowler was next, but the Raccoons had only one more bat on the bench – Fuller – and the pitcher was also coming up soon. However, worst case was the pitcher batting in a tied game with two outs if Fuller was used *here*. But Fuller could end the game before we could get to that unhappy place. Fuller ended the game indeed … by grounding out to Nathan Niles on the first pitch. 7-6 Indians. Caswell 2-4, BB, 3B; Perez 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; N. Fox 3-4, 2B; Bean (PH) 1-1; LaBat 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

DeRose is really trying his best to get dumped to the pen when rosters expand in ten days…

Game 3
IND: 2B M. Weber – LF Abel – SS Kilday – C A. Gomez – 1B Starwalt – RF Lovins – 3B Niles – CF S. Thompson – P Z. Stewart
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Ortega – LF Ayala – P Riddle

Tyler Riddle struck out five Indians in the first three innings, but also managed to fall behind in the first inning by allowing Kilday to stick a triple into the rightfield corner and conceding the run on a Gomez single to center. Apart from that the Indians didn’t do much early, and the Raccoons had Starr and Perez on base with an infield single and walk to begin the bottom 2nd, but then Fox hit into a double play and Starr was left on third base by Bernie Ortega. Bottom 3rd, Ayala began the inning with a soft single, and Riddle struggled to bunt, fouling off two pitches from Stewart. The Coons called the hit-and-run at 1-2, Ayala ran, and Riddle hit – smashing a 410-footer over the fence in right-center that left his former teammate Stewart stunned while watching the score-flipper disappearing into the far end of the rightfield bleachers.

The score didn’t budge in the middle innings, and there was not a lot of offense to fuzz over. The Indians and Raccoons each had just one base hit from the fourth through the sixth, and neither team put a foot on third base. The Indians at least managed to work Riddle’s pitch count to 93 through six innings, striking out eight times in the process. Starwalt and Lovins both grounded out to short against Riddle in the seventh, but worked him to 105 pitches, and that was deemed enough. Abrams was brought in to get a pop from the right-hander Niles, who was struggling with the .200 mark, ending the inning. Bottom 7th, Ayala walked and Christopher singled against Stewart, but Morris lined out to Steve Thompson in center. Lonzo also hit a liner, that one to right-center. Lovins came a-running, but missed it narrowly, and that opened the floodgates as the ball went all the way into the gap and Lonzo legged out a 2-run triple to extend the score to 4-1, then 5-1 after Brass walked and Starr singled to knock out Stewart, yielding for another ex-Coon, Hyun-soo Bak, who allowed a bags-filling single to Perez. Nick Fox’ sac fly made it 6-1, and Ortega flew out to left.

The bottom 8th began like the bottom 7th; Ayala and Christopher got on base against Travis Glovinsky, the Rule 5 loot the Indians had nipped off the Raccoons last winter, and then Morris flew out. Lonzo also came through again, this time with an RBI single to left. Brass’ slow infield roller was merely picked up by Niles with no play available and the bags were loaded for … well, a pinch-hitter since Starr had left the game in some defensive shuffling after the last inning. Jon Bean popped out in that spot, but Perez hit a 2-run single before the inning fizzled out against Fitzgibbon. Barton got the last three outs on seven pitches. 9-1 Furballs! Lavorano 2-5, 3B, 3 RBI; Starr 2-4, RBI; Perez 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI; Ayala 1-2, 2 BB; Christopher (PH) 2-2; Riddle 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB; 8 K, W (10-3) and 1-2, HR, 2 RBI;

In other news

August 15 – The Stars beat the Falcons, 3-0, in a rain-shortened seven-and-a-half innings game.
August 17 – In a 19-5 creaming of the Cyclones, New York sees Rick Price (.248, 4 HR, 45 RBI) hits three doubles and drive in two while Tommy Branch (.221, 15 HR, 73 RBI) misses the cycle by the double while racking up four hits and eight RBI. On the other side, Cincy’s Manny Sauceda (.280, 6 HR, 43 RBI) lacks the home run for the cycle, going 5-for-5 with a triple, a double, and three RBI.
August 18 – The Loggers beat the Blue Sox, 12-11 in 12 innings. Both teams score two runs in both ends of the 11th and 12th innings before MIL 1B Dave Robles (.283, 27 HR, 79 RBI) adds one more RBI single for the 12-11 walkoff.
August 20 – WAS SP Adam Freedman (6-2, 3.48 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout in a 1-0 squeezer against the Blue Sox.
August 21 – The Bayhawks fire off a 6-run rally in the bottom of the ninth to erase a 10-4 deficit against the Falcons, then out-do the Falcons’ 10th-inning run with two of their own for a 12-11 walkoff win.
August 21 – The Gold Sox lose their game against the Stars, 4-3 in 14 innings, on a walkoff throwing error by RF/CF Chris Lauterbach (.276, 14 HR, 75 RBI). In total the two teams put together 18 hits and seven errors.

FL Player of the Week: NAS RF Austin Gordon (.304, 9 HR, 56 RBI), batting .440 (11-25) with 1 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL OF/2B Corey Garmon (.263, 0 HR, 39 RBI), clipping .583 (14-24) with 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Another *eeeeeh* week, 3-3, but at least we kept our lead compared to the Indians, although the Crusaders got a game closer, and I refuse to count the Crusaders out until their magic number is zero.

I doubt there is much that DeRose can do anymore to not get banished to the bullpen in September. Angel Alba has his ERA under two in St. Petersburg and he’s gonna come the **** up on the first, if not sooner. The 24-year-old had eight starts in the majors so far, all with grim results. He had a 4-5 record with 7.01 ERA with the Coons so far, but he had made big strides since most recently getting waffled by the Aces in April. As far as AAA starters were concerned, Brett Cotton also had a nice ERA in the 2’s, but that was quite literally the only stat that was nice with him…

Ryan Sullivan will start a rehab assignment in St. Pete this coming week after having missed almost a full year with a torn rotator cuff. He will not be recalled on September 1 yet, but should offer some bullpen help in the last few weeks of the season. Injuries, injuries… but at least Matt Walters’ arm hasn’t come off…!

Homestand continues with – after a day off – series against the international competition, the damn Elks and the Condors.

Fun Fact: Lonzo had a slow quarter of a season, stealing only nine bases amidst injury and slumping woes.

While Alex Vasquez stole a few bases finally, he did not gain ground on Lonzo anymore. Lonzo is now 15 bags behind club legend Berto Ramos for fourth all time, which could still be done today… but only if he can find a groove here in the last six weeks of the season, and he hasn’t really found one all year long.

1st – Pablo Sanchez (HOF) – 721
2nd – Enrique “Cosmo” Trevino (HOF) – 708
3rd – Guillermo Obando (HOF) – 686
4th – Alberto “Berto” Ramos (HOF) – 677
5th – Lorenzo Lavorano (active) – 662
6th – Alex Vasquez (active) – 649
7th – Rich de Luna – 570
8th – Omar Sanchez (active) – 552
9th – Danny Ceballos (active) – 524
10th – Chris Navarro (active) – 516

[Westheim]

Raccoons (71-53) vs. Canadiens (57-67) – August 23-25, 2061

The last full week before roster expansion began with an off day, one last sunrise and sunset before the return of the Vancouver Bad Smells. The Raccoons led the season series 7-5 with six to play. They were 14 games behind the Raccoons in the division, and ranked eighth in both runs scored and runs allowed. Their team was decimated with Tan Brink, Adam Foley, Danny Garcia, Steve Scarpa, and Alex Maldonado all on the disabled list.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (10-7, 3.35 ERA) vs. Ken Nielsen (7-5, 3.03 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (9-6, 3.31 ERA) vs. Carlos Torres (7-6, 3.47 ERA)
Chance Fox (10-6, 2.71 ERA) vs. Martyn Polaco (7-5, 4.39 ERA)

Right, right, left, and don’t you dare to breathe in for three days…

Game 1
VAN: CF Valencia – SS Corpus – 1B A. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – 3B Whittington – C S. Contreras – LF Needham – 2B Wartella – P Nielsen
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P Robinson

The week began in earnest with a strikeout on Rafael Valencia… and him reaching first base when Angel Perez didn’t catch, then failed to coral, and eventually chased the ball towards the dugout. Three meek outs after that kept Valencia on base, though. The Raccoons would go up 1-0 in the bottom 3rd when Ben Morris singled his way on base, stole second against perhaps the most disinterested pitcher in holding runners – the Coons’ scouting report gave him a very blunt 1 in that category – and eventually came in to score after a scratch single for Lonzo and Starr’s groundout. Brass flew out to Valencia to keep Lonzo stranded. Three straight singles by the Critters’ 5-6-7 batters, all to left or left-center, then made it three on with nobody out and all of Jon Bean and the pitcher Robinson coming to bat next… Bean hit a sac fly to Bobby Needham, but Robinson hit into a 4-6-3 double play… However, another Morris single, stolen base, and then two groundouts by Lonzo and Starr added another run in the fifth, 3-0.

Robinson allowed two hits and had two strikeouts in five innings, throwing just 46 baseballs to make it that far. The Elks added 20 to that total in the sixth, though, beginning with singles from Valencia and Alex Corpus before it went south, although they did get a run home on Chad Cardenas’ sac fly. Thomas Whittington ended the inning with a K in a full count. The seventh was calmer, except for Lonzo’s 2-out triple off Jim Peterson; however, there was nobody on base and Starr struck out to keep him stranded. The eighth was uneventful, but that also meant that Robinson had to hand the ball over to Walters in the ninth despite having thrown only 84 pitches up to that point. Walters at least nailed the save down without major problems. 3-1 Raccoons. Morris 2-4; Lavorano 2-4, 3B; Caswell 2-3, BB; Robinson 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, W (11-7);

Game 2
VAN: LF Valencia – SS Corpus – 1B A. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – CF D. Moreno – 3B C. Sullivan – 2B Roldan – C S. Contreras – P C. Torres
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera

Valencia reached base in the top 1st by sticking his elbow into a Bobby Herrera pitch, which I hoped smarted good. The Elks also got Jose Campos on base in the first inning, but Cardenas struck out (as Corpus had), and Damian Moreno flew out to left. The Raccoons went up in the bottom 2nd on Cas’ leadoff double and an RBI single by Fox, while Valencia hit a leadoff single in a full count in the third inning, but was left on base. The Elks did not score, but they worked Tipsy Bobby for just over 50 pitches inside three innings anyway. He then stumbled over the left-handed array in the second half of the Elks’ order in the fourth, allowing a sharp single to Chris Sullivan and a 2-out RBI double to deep right to Santiago Contreras to get the game tied.

Tipsy Bobby was running out of pitches in his allotment by the fourth, and then came to bat after Carlos Torres had walked the bags full with Cas, Fuller (non-intentionally) and Bean (intentionally), and two outs in the bottom 4th. This was not the time, place, and level of despair to bat for Bobby Herrera in the fourth inning, though. It wouldn’t be the first time we left the bases loaded this season… but we didn’t! Bobby H. slapped a single to center, Moreno botched the pickup, and two runs scored on the single and error, and two more scored on Morris’ knock to right-center that followed! While Morris was caught stealing to end the inning, Herrera made it to end of five on a whopping 93 pitches, so the pen was going by the start of the sixth. In between, though, Lonzo slapped a leadoff triple to left-center in the bottom 5th, which gave him a 13-game hitting streak, and double-digit triples in a season for the first time since 2054. It also gave him a good view of Joel Starr socking his 14th homer of the season, extending the score to 7-1.

Bobby H. managed to complete six innings despite putting Rafael Roldan and Matt Wartella on the corners, but ended his day with a K to Valencia on his 109th pitch. Messy outing, but at least he gave up only the one run. Mike Abrams, with the sparkle thoroughly off the waiver claim by now, also gave up one run in the seventh, getting taken very deep by Alex Campos for a solo piece. The Coons matched the output after the stretch, although in a different way, with Morris and Lonzo getting on and stealing a total of three bases before Brass’ sac fly to right brought in the only run of the half-inning. LaBat and Rocco added scoreless innings after that to get the game into the books. 8-2 Raccoons. Morris 2-4, 2 RBI; Bean 2-3, BB;

The Raccoons would be able to lock up the season series if they completed the sweep on Thursday! Also, in more important news, the Indians had lost their first two in the new week and our lead was now up to 7 1/2 over both them and the Crusaders.

Game 3
VAN: CF Valencia – SS Corpus – 1B A. Campos – RF C. Cardenas – LF D. Moreno – 3B Whittington – C S. Contreras – 2B Roldan – P Polaco
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Ortega – LF Ayala – P C. Fox

Jose Campos smashed his 24th home run of the year to give the damn Elks a 1-0 lead in the first, though, and the Coons left Lonzo and Starr on the corners in response, because that was gonna teach’em! Whittington hit a solo homer on an 0-2 pitch in the second, and the struggles never stopped for Chance Fox in this game. The Elks got into scoring position in the third, and the fourth saw Damian Moreno hit a leadoff single, and Whittington’s fly to center was dropped by Morris for an error and a pair in scoring position. Contreras lined out to Bernie Ortega, Roldan drew a half-arsed walk, and Polaco hit a sharp grounder at Joel Starr that the Raccoons somehow turned for a 3-6-3 double play to kill the inning without another run going on Fox’ ledger.

The Coons didn’t get a base hit until Brass hit a leadoff single in the bottom 4th. Starr then walked in a full count, and Perez hit a ball to left-center that fell between Moreno and Valencia for an RBI double, 2-1. Then they tried their royal best to choke their way out of the inning as Nick Fox popped out to Roldan, Ortega grounded out to Whittington, and with the runners still in scoring position and two outs, Ayala got the four-fingered salute and was sent to first base to get the .058 hitter to the plate. The .058 hitter then crammed a 2-run single through between Corpus and Roldan to flip the score in his favor, because baseball was a black box of neverending surprises, few of them good. Morris struck out to end the inning.

The Elks then came back with a vengeance, leaving grisly hoof marks all over the Foxes. After Valencia whiffed to begin the top 5th, Corpus singled and advanced on a groundout. The inning should have ended on Chad Cardenas’ grounder to third, but Nick Fox butchered that ball and the inning continued. Damian Moreno tied the game with a single to center, and Whittington then crushed a 430-footer on the very next pitch to give the damn Elks a 6-3 lead, all their runs in the inning unearned on Chance Fox, but blamed on Nick Fox.

Neither Fox was in the game by the seventh-inning stretch, with the pitcher relieved and the position player double-switched out in the top 7th, even though Ricky H., subbed in with Nick Fowler, gave up a double to Moreno to try and concede a run that would be charged to Barton, but the inning ended with Ayala throwing out Cardenas at home plate. The score was still 6-3 to begin the bottom 9th. Erik Swain allowed a leadoff double to left to Angel Perez, with Joe-Chris then batting for Abrams in the #6 spot. He struck out, and Caswell grounded out batting for Ortega. Ayala then popped out to first. 6-3 Canadiens. Perez 2-4, 2 2B, RBI;

Lonzo went 0-for-4 in this game, ending his 13-game hitting streak.

Raccoons (73-54) vs. Condors (75-52) – August 26-28, 2061

The Condors were second in the South, but nine games behind the Bayhawks, who looked like they were getting away with it. The Condors were the stingiest teams with giving up runs, allowing under 3.4 runs per contest played, but they also had a hard time scoring and were third from the bottom in runs made, which still gave them a +94 run differential… it just wasn’t *enough*. The Coons had also already taken this season series with five wins in the first six games played.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (10-10, 4.09 ERA) vs. Aaron Sloan (9-9, 3.60 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (10-3, 2.17 ERA) vs. Edgar Mauricio (11-6, 2.98 ERA)
Nick Robinson (11-7, 3.24 ERA) vs. Dan Beare (10-4, 2.58 ERA)

Sloan was the only left-hander in their rotation.

Game 1
TIJ: CF Asencio – 1B Sturgeon – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – C Waker – 3B Frasher – LF B. Fish – 2B Palmieri – P Sloan
POR: 2B Ortega – SS Lavorano – 1B Brassfield – C Perez – CF Caswell – 3B N. Fox – LF Ayala – RF Christopher – P DeRose

The thing the Condors offense needed was facing DeRose, who was DeToast before long. Starting with a Jason Sturgeon single in the first inning, they put three straight batters on base as Scott Moore walked and Casey Ramsey hit an RBI single, with two more runs singled home by Eric Frasher after Tristan Waker’s groundout. When Bobby Fish flew out to end the inning, Bob Palmieri and Sloan went to the corners with yet more singles to begin the second inning. Asencio doubled, Sturgeon singled, Moore grounded out, and all three brought in another run to rush the score to 6-0. At that point, DeRose had lost all value to a team trying to make it to the playoffs and was left in the game merely to soak up as many outs as the Condors could be bothered to blunder into while spooning his own soup. He would only complete four innings, three of which the Condors put up a 3-spot in, and departed in a shambolic 9-1 deficit, the only Coons run coming on a Lonzo RBI single in the third inning.

Amazingly, the team managed to **** the bed even worse than that in the sixth inning. Paul Barton had the ball after a scoreless fifth by Ricky H. and allowed a single to Marco Asencio, who was caught stealing before Sturgeon grounded to second and Ortega fudged that ball for an error. Sturgeon bid for second base next, stole it, and Perez in fact threw the ball away and allowed him to third base before Barton completed a walk to Scott Moore. Ramsey’s sac fly made it 10-1, but Barton also walked Waker, then gave up a 3-piece to Frasher. Bobby Fish hit another single and was caught stealing to end the inning, which, if you’re counting, was four runs in the inning, all unearned, with two Coons errors, and two of the three outs coming from Condors runners being caught stealing. What a ******* ********!

Two more runs were put on Ruben Mendez in the eighth inning. Ramsey singled his way on, then stole second with a 12-run lead. Mendez drilled Frasher in protest, then gave up a pair of 2-out RBI singles to Elmer Maldonado and Palmieri as the Condors sneered at him. 15-2 Condors. Ortega 2-5; Perez 2-3, BB; Caswell 2-4;

Hey, look, Honeypaws! We cured the Condors’ inability to score! Next we’ll sort out cancer…!

The bad news is that DeRose’s spot comes up once more before rosters expand and I don’t want to option anybody to AAA here just to get Angel Alba up early.

Maybe a broken leg or two can sort us out, though. Lonzo had a day off on Saturday just so it wouldn’t be him to draw the short straw.

Game 2
TIJ: CF Asencio – RF S. Moore – SS C. Ramsey – 3B Frasher – C Seidman – 1B Sturgeon – LF Churricho – 2B Palmieri – P E. Mauricio
POR: LF Morris – 3B N. Fox – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – SS Fowler – 2B Bean – P Riddle

Turns out, there was enough **** left on the fan for Riddle to come and get some on Saturday. He walked Moore in the first inning, then was tardy on Ramsey’s comebacker and couldn’t start a double play. Frasher then answered with a 2-out RBI double and the Condors took the reins from there, adding on a 3-spot in the second inning with Sturgeon and Mauricio (…) singles, the latter with two outs and driving in the first-sacker. Asencio struck out, except that Perez ****** the play up AGAIN and Asencio reached base on the uncaught third strike, leading to two more runs on Moore’s double into the left-center gap. Riddle would give up another homer to Frasher in the fifth inning for a fifth run on his ledger, and otherwise gutted it out for 6.1 innings in a miserable outing. While all that pummeling went on, the Raccoons amounted to two hits and one run, Perez doubling and scoring on Fowler’s single in the bottom 2nd, and that was that. Abrams took over the seventh and fudged the bags full with a walk to Ramsey, a Frasher single, and nailing Mike Seidman, before Sturgeon struck out in a full count and Querubim Churricho grounded out to Starr to leave the bags full. The collective diarrhea continued with LaBat, who was churned for four hits and two runs in the eighth inning. The Raccoons never got a hit after the second inning. 7-1 Condors.

What the actual **** was going on…?

The Condors changed pitchers for Sunday’s game, bringing in right-hander Vince Ellison (9-6, 2.95 ERA).

Game 3
TIJ: CF Asencio – LF Churricho – SS C. Ramsey – 3B Frasher – C Seidman – 1B Sturgeon – RF B. Fish – 2B Palmieri – P Ellison
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P Robinson

Robinson didn’t explode as soon as he put his shoes on, which was a big step up from the last couple of days. Bobby Fish got him for a double in the third inning, but was left on base, however, the Raccoons had also already frittered away a double by Perez, so things were very even still. Robinson opened the bottom 3rd with a single to right, but the inning led nowhere despite Starr hitting a 2-out single, with Brass then popping out, so in essence Robinson stood around the bases for ten minutes for no good reason whatsoever. That completely ruined him. He fell to 3-1 on Churricho leading off the top 4th before the leftfielder socked a longball – but foul. He still dinked a single to center at 3-2, and after Ramsey flew out, both Frasher and Seidman drew walks from Robinson. Sturgeon’s grounder found Lonzo for a 6-4-3 double play to kill the inning, but I was already coming to accept the sweep as I licked the inside of the bottleneck of a depleted Capt’n Coma bottle so as to not waste a drop like the Critters were wasting a 7 1/2 game lead.

The bottom of the order went down without noise in the fifth while Bean hit a leadoff single and Morris walked, but they were stranded on groundouts by Lonzo and Starr in the bottom 5th, keeping the game scoreless. Robinson fought his way to the stretch in the scoreless game, but that would be it for him after 103 pitches. Morris was on again and stole his 42nd base in the bottom 7th, but was left on when Lonzo flew out to Elmer Maldonado in right. The eighth was uneventful with LaBat pitching for Portland, and Walters got the 3-4-5 batters to deal with in the ninth inning. He struck out two before Seidman slapped a single on an 0-2 pitch, but Sturgeon popped out to Bean. Ellison was still going in the bottom 9th, with Perez first in the box for Portland. He singled to left, knocking out Ellison for lefty Joe Cash, but was then forced out by Nick Fox, batting for Fowler. Bean made a useless out, and then Tim Fuller pinch-hit and singled to left, sending Fox to third base with the tying run. Morris floated one out for Asencio to catch on 3-2, though, and the game went to overtime.

Ricky H. got the ball with four lefty sticks and the pitcher in the #2 spot being lined up ahead of him, but, overworked after this week, almost foundered. Elmer Maldonado came close to a homer, but was caught by Cas in very deep center, and he allowed a single to Palmieri before Scott Moore hit into a double play, sharply, to end the top 10th. Lonzo was also doubled up after hitting a leadoff single off Cash in the bottom 10th. Asencio’s leadoff single off Ricky H. was met with another double play grounder, 4-6-3, off the bat of Chris Thayer. Ramsey struck out then. The Coons remained inept, and Ruben Mendez had a quick top 12th before Jon Bean singled off right-hander Jose Lugo and past Sturgeon to begin the home half of the 12th inning. Mendez was the next-best thing to a reliever that had another couple of innings in him, so the Coons used him to bunt Bean to second despite Ayala and Ortega still sitting on the bench. Morris was walked intentionally to get to Lonzo, but Lonzo didn’t appreciate such slights and ended the game with a well-placed single in left-center. 1-0 Blighters. Lavorano 2-6, RBI; Caswell 2-5; Perez 2-5, 2B; Fuller (PH) 1-1; Robinson 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K; R. Herrera 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

August 22 – Buffaloes INF Zach Suggs (.322, 24 HR, 75 RBI) might miss the rest of the season with a broken cheekbone after being hit in the face with a pitch by ill-fated spot Indians spot starter Jarod Morris (5-5, 2.18 ERA) the week before.
August 22 – The Titans beat the Loggers, 8-4 in 16 innings. BOS RF/LF Andy Lee (.284, 13 HR, 56 RBI) hits a huge go-ahead 3-run home run in the top of the 16th inning to bring on the decision.
August 22 – The Scorpions take 15 innings to beat the Warriors, 7-4.
August 25 – The season of Aces outfielder and ROTY contender Jaden Wilson (.290, 5 HR, 59 RBI) ends with a broken hand.
August 25 – SFB OF Scott Laws (.344, 1 HR, 25 RBI) is out for the year after breaking his elbow.
August 26 – The Knights beat the Loggers, 7-3, with a ninth-inning, pinch-hit, walkoff grand slam by OF Dan Nork (4-for-8, 1 HR, 5 RBI), who hasn’t started a major league game since 2059.
August 27 – TOP INF/LF/RF Adam Peltier (.291, 10 HR, 48 RBI) is expected to miss three weeks with a strained oblique.
August 28 – Falcons southpaw Hector Gutierrez (3-4, 3.49 ERA) throws a 1-hitter to beat the Crusaders, 2-0. NYC C/1B Pedro Gonzales (.250, 4 HR, 20 RBI) staves off the no-hitter with a single.

FL Player of the Week: PIT RF/1B/LF Will McIntyre (.312, 7 HR, 36 RBI), batting .625 (10-16) with 1 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB RF/LF/1B Jose Escalera (.329, 7 HR, 60 RBI), poking .600 (12-20) with 1 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Rumbling along here, the Raccoons completed a 6-6 homestand in which they gave up 61 runs, and thus ten more than they scored. We’re only 14-11 for the month, which is somehow better than both the Indians and Crusaders, but only by whiskers.

And it’s not like we’re gonna get an abundance of help from roster expansion. There’ll be Angel Alba, but outside of that and more first basemen we don’t need, we won’t be able to add a lot. Right-handed relief is sorta dire in AAA, and for outfield help there might not be anything but the 17th coming of Todd Oley.

We’ll witness roster expansion on the road, with a 7-game trip to Oklahoma and New York Cities coming up. We have seven games total left with the Crusaders, four with the Indians, and three with the Titans, who were a 22-10 finish and a Raccoons collapse away from having a chance at the top spot in the division. The Elks were spiritually eliminated, and the Loggers might be mathematically eliminated by the end of next week.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons have five starters with 10+ wins for the second straight year.

It was Bobby H. (14), Foxie Brown (14), Riddle (13), Zach Stewart (11), and DeRose (10) last year. Never mind that DeRose is days away from being reassigned to the garbage can division.

The last time before the 2060-61 seasons that the Raccoons had five double-digit winners was 2047 with Sadaharu Okuda (14), Victor Merino (14), Jason Wheatley (13), Jake Jackson (12), and Bubba Wolinsky (12). Furthermore:

2037 – Bryce Sparkes (14), Bernie Chavez (13), Raffaello Sabre (11), Jared Ottinger (11), Josh Weeks (10)
2034 – Bernie Chavez (16), Pat Okrasinski (13), Ignacio del Rio (12), Raffaello Sabre (12), Gilberto Rendon (11)
1996 – Kisho Saito (19), Jose Rivera (14), Jason Turner (14), Scott Wade (14), Antonio Donis (12)
1995 – Jason Turner (20), Miguel Lopez (16), Robert Vazquez (14), Scott Wade (11), Kisho Saito (10)
1993 – Miguel Lopez (17), Scott Wade (12), Raimundo Beato (11), Kisho Saito (10), Jason Turner (10)
1992 – Jason Turner (16), Robert Vazquez (15), Kisho Saito (12), Scott Wade (11), Raimundo Beato (10)

That is FOUR times that Saito-sama, Jason Turner, and the two-pitch wonder Wade formed the core of a pawful of ten-game winners. They also all put up 10 W seasons as a triplet in 1989, 1991, and 1994, but then lacked the supporting cast to make this particular list. Saito and Wade also did it as a pair in 1987, 1988, and 1990 (Turner being too young in the first two and hurt in the latter).

And since we’re on it, there was ONE season in which NO starting pitcher reached ten wins for the Critters:

2022 – Rico Gutierrez, “Tragic” Travis Garrett, and Jonny Toner all petered out at 8 W’s, but none of them made more than 20 starts: Rico only made his debut some months into the season, Tragic Travis put up an ERA near six and was dumped on the Alley Cats for half the year, and Jonny Toner was in the part of his career where he was mostly injured and rarely excellent anymore. The only starter to last the entire season was Bobby Guerrero, who went a strong 6-18.

There’s nothing special about having four or one starter(s) with 10+ wins. Both have happened a bunch of times. Brownie alone was the sole double-digit winner on the team three times, and Randy Farley twice, all within the Decade of Darkness, plus one year where they formed a pair of 10-game winners on the roster.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (74-56) @ Thunder (64-65) – August 29-31, 2061

The Thunder were more or less done for the year, trailing the Baybirds by more than 20 games at the end of August. Turns out, the #5 offense and #9 pitching is not enough to be a factor. The season series with the Coons was even heading into these final three games.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (10-6, 3.25 ERA) vs. Willie Valdez (4-3, 3.21 ERA)
Chance Fox (10-7, 2.72 ERA) vs. Mike Hall (7-5, 4.47 ERA)
Justin DeRose (10-11, 4.55 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (9-10, 3.69 ERA)

Hall was the only left-hander that we expected to face in this series.

I couldn’t find my way around starting DeRose again even though I didn’t want to. Of all the personnel on the roster, I wasn’t keen on demoting any of them and lose them as an option for the playoffs. Which somehow even included De*******Rose as garbage man. And who knew whether Angel Alba was gonna be any good this time…?

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
OCT: SS Lira – 1B Metz – RF Whitlow – C Preston – CF D. Guzman – 2B D. Richardson – LF C. Santiago – 3B Spalding – P W. Valdez

Tipsy Bobby was ranging free again and gave up a homer to Eric Whitlow in the first inning for a quick 1-0 deficit, and even after that the Thunder constantly had somebody on base that Herrera had to pitch around. A double play here and a runner caught stealing by Angel Perez there also helped tremendously, while the Raccoons were rather disappointing on offense once more. They struck out five times in the first three innings against Willie Valdez, who then gave up a leadoff double to Joel Starr in the fourth, but Starr overran second base and was tagged out by Omar Lira trying to return there. Brass walked and Perez doubled *after* that, but were stranded on Nick Fowler’s groundout to Steven Spalding. Another pair was left in scoring position in the fifth when Herrera singled, Morris walked, Lonzo moved them to second and third, and Starr left them there with a grounder to Daniel Richardson. Lira hit a single off Herrera in the bottom 5th, but was picked off first by Bobby to end the inning, which was about the first time in the game that he looked like he knew what he was doing out there…

The Coons tied the game in the sixth, finally, and ran into the third out in the same breath. Perez and Fowler were on second and first with two outs and Jon Bean batting. The fourth-choice second-sacker singled to center and Perez came around and stomped home plate to score, but Fowler was tagged out at third base a twitch of a whisker later to end the inning. Herrera then struck out the 3-4-5 batters in the bottom 6th, which came a bit outta nowhere, and then singled to center to begin the top 7th, but was doubled up by Morris’ grounder to Richardson. Bottom 7th, Ed Soberanes batted for Richardson and beat out the defense for an infield single, as well as his own 38-year-old leg in which he pulled something. Ian Stone ran for him, reaching third base on an 0-2 bloop single by Cesar Santiago, which was then followed by the go-ahead single by Spalding, to center, also on an 0-2 pitch. Randy Hummel hit ANOTHER 0-2 single, and Herrera was yanked. Ricky Herrera replaced him and retired ******* nobody between a pinch-hit, 2-run single by Brian Gillum, a walk to Andy Metz, and Whitlow’s 3-run homer to left. Steve Preston then hit ANOTHER single. The Coons pen had just seen too much **** and collapsed right there and then, because when Barton replaced the second Herrera to have gotten on the snout, he promptly gave up a 2-run homer to Danny Guzman; and Barton and Mendez got shanked for another four runs in the eighth. 13-1 Thunder. Caswell 2-4; Perez 2-4, 2B;

Jesus Christ in a pawn shop…

Game 2
POR: 2B Ortega – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Fuller – CF Caswell – 3B N. Fox – LF Ayala – P C. Fox
OCT: 2B Lira – SS D. Richardson – C Burkart – RF Whitlow – LF Gillum – 1B I. Stone – 3B Spalding – CF D. Guzman – P M. Hall

The Thunder gained a 1-0 lead in the second inning on back-to-back triples to right by Spalding and Guzman, but lost Spalding on a defensive play an inning later. The 26-year-old left the game with a sore back, and with Soberanes also hurt and on the roster, the Thunder were starting to run out of personnel.

Unfortunately the Raccoons were extremely harmless with the sticks again and didn’t appear in scoring position with less than two outs until the seventh inning when Caswell hit a leadoff double. From there, Nick Fox drew a walk, Ayala flew out easily, and Chance Fox and Bernie Ortega both struck out… The reward for not giving Foxie Brown the boot for a pinch-hitter there was then that he gave up a run on Guzman and Lira singles in the bottom 7th, 2-0. The Thunder then went to the pen after seven splendid innings from Hall, and the pen immediately stepped on the nearest rake. Lonzo doubled, Brass doubled, Starr walked – off three different relievers! – and the inning looked in full swing … but … no, Fuller out, and Cas out, and Nick Fox walked to fill the bases with two outs, but Ben Morris floated one out to Guzman to end the ******* inning with the Thunder still leading 2-1.

Fox gave up another run in the bottom 8th on Steve Preston’s 2-out RBI double that plated Whitlow, whom Fox had hit with a pitch, on his way to a complete-game loss. The top of the ninth began with Jerry Washington allowing a single to Christopher on Fox’ place, another single to Ortega, and then Lonzo’s double play grounder to short was snorted on by Richardson and the Coons instead had three on and nobody out in a 3-1 game. Washington got the count to 2-2 against Brass, then gave up an RBI single through the left side, and Starr hit a game-tying dinker to center on which everybody gained 90 feet again, costing Chance Fox his complete game. They didn’t give him a win, either; Fowler batted for Fuller and fanned, and Caswell hit into a double play to kill the ******* inning. Danny Guzman then strung a leadoff triple to right against Justin Rocco and the Thunder soon won on a walkoff single by Omar Lira. 4-3 Thunder. Ortega 2-5; Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Brassfield 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Caswell 2-5, 2B; Christopher (PH) 1-1;

(frozen expression)

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P DeRose
OCT: SS Lira – 1B Metz – LF R. Hummel – C Preston – CF D. Guzman – RF C. Santiago – 2B Gillum – 3B Spalding – P Aa. Harris

Morris was caught stealing in the first, Perez hit into a double play in the second, and DeRose ****** away four hits, a balk, and three runs in the bottom 2nd to hit the turbo button on a series sweep, then couldn’t get the bunt down and instead hit a single on 0-2 in the third inning. Nick Fowler was ahead of him and Morris was soon behind him after drawing a 1-out walk to fill the bags for Lonzo, who hit a clean RBI single to center. Starr popped out, but Brass hit another RBI single to shorten the gap to 3-2 before Cas floated another one out to Guzman to leave the bases loaded. DeRose then served up a homer to Guzman and a wallbanger double to Cesar Santiago in the bottom 3rd and had his useless tush yanked after just eight outs. Mike Abrams got the ball, ten outs in garbage relief, and stuffed for another two runs along the way. One scored after Omar Lira tripled and scored on Metz’ groundout in the bottom 4th, and another when Aaron Harris led off the bottom 6th with a double to left and came around to score, which was a special kind of joy. The Raccoons scored a run on a Perez double and Jon Bean’s RBI single in the fourth, but Bean would instead kill the sixth after Perez and Fowler led off with singles by hitting into a double play, leaving Abrams to strike out.

The game was in the eighth inning when the Raccoons cobbled three soft singles together between Brass, Fowler, and Bean, and against different relievers again, to load the bases with the tying runs and two outs. Joey Christopher batted against new right-hander Alex Lopez and drew a walk to force in a run. Morris, though, grounded out to Gillum to end the inning. LaBat held the Thunder to their 2-run lead in the eighth, but Pablo Paez retired the Coons’ 2-3-4 in order to complete the month and the sweep. 6-4 Thunder. Brassfield 3-5, RBI; Caswell 2-4; Fowler 2-3, BB; Bean 2-4, RBI;

Oh dear.

And now the Crusaders come knocking…

Also, the rosters expanded, allowing us to load up on even more shoddy talent. Angel Alba, Bryan Erickson, and J.J. Sensabaugh were all recalled as right-handed pitchers. No southpaw was strictly needed, but Adam Harris came back anyway. On the batting side, Marcos Arellano returned as third catcher, along with Forbes Tomlin and Jack Kozak as right-handed batters, which felt like all the pain I could possibly take.

Raccoons (74-59) @ Crusaders (70-64) – September 1-4, 2061

The best news were that the Crusaders could not get ahead in this weekend set as the Raccoons were still up by 4 1/2 to begin the series. They were second in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed. Their +86 run differential was a far cry from last year, but I wasn’t willing to count them out, and I wasn’t willing to mark the season series – 9-2 for the Coons! – as a success until we got at least one more in the books. Looking at the standings though, a series split would be very nice indeed…

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (2-3, 8.72 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (6-4, 3.24 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (10-4, 2.46 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (8-9, 2.56 ERA)
Nick Robinson (11-7, 3.11 ERA) vs. Austin Wilcox (9-7, 3.61 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-7, 3.34 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (16-6, 2.92 ERA)

Tipsy Bobby and Seiter just always find each other, huh? This would be their third matchup this year. The Coons had crunched Seiter in the last meeting in early August, six runs in 4.2 innings. All Crusaders hurlers were right-handed.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P Alba
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – CF Branch – 1B Rosenstiel – SS V. Velez – LF Weir – 3B Kozick – P E. Lee

Angel Alba batted before he pitched in a top 1st that began with a Morris single and Lonzo double, then the pair looking on with big black googly eyes in scoring position as Starr popped out and Brass whiffed. Cas then hit a 2-run single, the bags filled up with Perez, reaching on an error by Victor Velez, and Nick Fox, before Jon Bean hit an RBI single. Alba grounded out, then took the mound, but threw only 16 pitches for four outs before being interrupted by a sudden thunderstorm and a 45-minute lightning delay.

Offense was non-existent from the end of the Coons’ game-opening 3-spot to the end of five, with New York getting only two hits off Alba and no runs. The Raccoons did not get another hit to drop in until Brass legged out an infield single to begin the top 6th, only to be forced out by Cas and the inning going nowhere. Alba singled in the seventh, then was forced out by Morris, but Morris stole second base and scored on Lonzo’s single to left-center, 4-0.

Alba went into the bottom 8th, but gave up a leadoff single to John Rosenstiel, then a scary deep fly out to left to Velez, then was lifted. Hector Weir reached against Rocco on a Lonzo error, but a grounder by D.C. Kozick for an out at second base, and a pop on the infield from ex-Coon Kelly Konecny ended the inning without a run for the New Yorkers, but that changed in the bottom 9th. Ricky Herrera continued to founder, giving up singles to Omar Sanchez and Matt McLaren before departing with duties unfulfilled. Matt Walters got a double play grounder from Aubrey Austin, but then issued a walk, a wild pitch, and an RBI single before stumbling out of the game with a groundout by Velez… 4-2 Raccoons. Morris 2-5; Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Alba 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (3-3) and 1-3;

A win is a win is a win. Especially against the second-place team in September.

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Tomlin – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P Riddle
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – CF Branch – LF Zeiher – SS V. Velez – 1B Weir – 3B Kozick – P J. Ortega

Teams pooled six hits together in, but hardly a runner was left on base between a couple of double plays (Forbes Tomlin finding one on the brown side of the box score in the top 2nd), and Omar Sanchez being caught stealing, and neither team scored through four… or five… The Raccoons then got Jon Bean on with a leadoff single in the sixth inning and Riddle got the bunt down to move him to second base. Ben Morris singled to center, and Bean went full blowers on for home plate, narrowly beating the throw by Tommy Branch to score the first run of the game. Morris was left on base, and Omar Sanchez doubled to right to begin the bottom 6th and scored on a grounder by McLaren and Austin’s sac fly to tie the score right away.

After a silent seventh, Nick Fox dropped a soft leadoff single over Sanchez’s head in the eighth, then advanced on a wild pitch by Ortega. Bean struck out against Ortega, and Joel Starr batted for Riddle, but was bypassed intentionally with first base open to get to Ben Morris, which didn’t really work out for the Crusaders once Morris blasted a 3-run homer over the fence in dead center, his 11th of the year, and it gave the Coons a 4-1 lead. Rocco then got the ball in the bottom 8th, got Sanchez on a grounder but walked McLaren before being replaced with Ruben Mendez, who got a double play grounder from Austin to end the inning and set up Walters, who came in after a top 9th in which Jack Kozak socked a pinch-hit triple, but there was nobody on base when he did, and nobody to drive him home afterwards. Walters walked a batter, but did away with the Crusaders before it got really dicey… 4-1 Critters. Morris 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; Kozak (PH) 1-1, 3B; Riddle 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (11-4) and 1-1;

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Ortega – P Robinson
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – C McLaren – RF Austin – LF Zeiher – SS V. Velez – CF Weir – 1B P. Gonzales – 3B Kozick – P A. Wilcox

Morris singled and stole #45 for the year before being driven home with a Cas single and one out for another quick lead. Wilcox then filled the bags with walks to Brass and Starr, who just couldn’t get on track for the entirety of the season, giving Perez three on and one down. Perez singled home a pair on a 3-2 pitch into left-center, and while Fowler grounded out, Ortega and Robinson – who also batted before he pitched – added soft RBI singles before Morris legged out an infield single to reload the bases. A K on Lonzo meant that he made the first and third outs of the 5-run inning. Wilcox never batted, being hit for in the bottom 3rd, which was also the first inning the Crusaders got on base, with Kozick doubling to left, but couldn’t get on the board.

The Coons hit four singles off Rafael Flores in the fourth inning; Lonzo was caught stealing, and the team settled for one run on Perez’ 2-out RBI single. Robinson held the Crusaders off the board through six innings in the 6-0 game, but the counts got long in the last couple of innings, especially in the bottom 6th, in which McLaren and Austin hit singles to go to the corners with one out, and Austin, Sean Zeiher, and Velez all ran full counts against him, but Zeiher popped out to second and Velez flew out to center to keep the runners stranded. It ran Robinson’s pitch count to nearly 100, though, and he would not be back with ample of warm bodies in the bullpen.

Before the pen got involved, Kozak pinch-hit in the seventh and grounded out to Kozick, which we set up just for ***** and giggles. Barton then came in, allowed a single to Weir, a walk to Pedro Gonzales, and was yanked after a sharp lineout by Kozick and with Konecny pinch-hitting. LaBat retired him and Sanchez to get out of the seventh, but then allowed two singles to McLaren and Austin to begin the eighth and was charged with a run on Zeiher’s fielder’s choice grounder before being replaced with Erickson, who got out of the inning. Putting Sensabaugh into the bottom 9th of a 5-run game however… nearly a disaster. Two hits, a walk, a balk, and then Ruben Mendez got his first save of the year in picking up the pieces. 6-3 Coons. Morris 2-3, BB; Starr 2-4, BB; Perez 4-5, 3 RBI; Ortega 3-5, RBI; Robinson 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (12-7) and 1-1, RBI;

(raises bushy eyebrow)

Game 4
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – C Arellano – P B. Herrera
NYC: SS V. Velez – C McLaren – RF Austin – CF Branch – LF Zeiher – 1B Rosenstiel – 2B Webler – 3B Kozick – P Seiter

Velez took Tipsy Bobby deep on his second pitch of the game, so that was a quick 1-0 deficit for the Raccoons, who got Morris on, but not around, in the top 1st. Bean then threw away McLaren’s grounder, but Herrera got around that. The leadoff hitters kept getting on; Rosenstiel walked in the second and was stranded, and Velez hit a leadoff single in the third and was thrown out in a strike-em-out-throw-em-out with McLaren, but the Crusaders then got two more base hits in full count for Branch to drive in Austin to extend the score to 2-0 before Zeiher grounded out. The Raccoons responded in the fourth with a run scored from Starr’s walk and Fowler and Bean singles – despite Fowler being picked off first base after singling Starr to third.

Bottom 4th, and Rosenstiel hit another 3-2 leadoff single, as this game was just not going to go on Herrera’s good side of the ledger, especially once he surrendered the additional run on a triple. A 2-out triple. Hit by Seiter… Velez at least flew out to Brassfield to keep the pitcher on base… Herrera went six, didn’t allow another leadoff runner, but an unearned run in the bottom 6th when Bean threw away Rosenstiel’s grounder for two bases and Kozick hit a 2-out RBI single. That made it 4-2 on the Coons, who had scored a run in the fifth on Lonzo’s single and Cas’ 2-out RBI double.

Top 7th, Arellano led off with a single and Seiter walked Christopher in the #9 spot to put the tying runs on base. Morris whiffed, but Lonzo singled to left and loaded the bases for Cas, who held out for a bases-loaded walk from Seiter, who then threw the very next pitch to Brassfield *very far* outside to send McLaren scampering after it in vain as Christopher came home with the tying run. Brass then ended up walking and Seiter was yanked, but Joel Starr bashed a bases-clearing triple to empty another bucket of refuse over Seiter’s head this year. Fowler walked, Tomlin hit an RBI single, Arellano an RBI double, and Christopher walked to fill the bases again with one out against lefty Michael McLaughlin as the Crusaders exploded very noisily. Ayala batted for Morris and grounded to second base, but stayed out of the double play with a quick dash to first, allowing another runner – Tomlin – to score. Lonzo added another RBI single for the ninth and final run of the inning and an 11-4 score before Cas struck out to send the game to the stretch after all.

Only four of the starters remained after the stretch, with Lonzo getting the rest of the day off and three new infielders around Fowler at short, and with Ayala remaining in the game in left, and Abrams got the baseball. Fowler handled two grounders in the bottom 7th, then hit a double to left in the top 8th and scored on a Tomlin single to pile it on. Tomlin would also score, coming around after an Arellano single when a McLaughlin pitch was mishandled for a passed ball by McLaren. Adam Harris was battered around for four hits and three runs in the bottom 8th in exchange. Badly struggling Ricky Herrera had the ninth, walked the bases full, but got a double play grounder from Rosenstiel to end the game just before it could get *really* ugly. 13-7 Furballs! Lavorano 4-5, RBI; Fowler 2-4, BB, 2B; Tomlin (PH) 2-2, 2 RBI; Arellano 3-5, 2B, RBI; Christopher (PH) 0-0, 2 BB; N. Fox 1-1;

In other news

August 31 – IND SP Zach Stewart (7-12, 4.35 ERA) 2-hits the Knights in an 8-0 shutout.
September 1 – Knights 2B/SS Willie Acosta (.240, 9 HR, 37 RBI) could miss two weeks with wrist soreness.
September 3 – The walkoff shot fired by TOP LF Dan Martin (.287, 21 HR, 85 RBI) is the only scoring event in their 3-0 win against the Blue Sox.
September 4 – The Thunder trade 3B/SS Steven Spalding (.313, 2 HR, 23 RBI) to the Canadiens in a weird waiver deal, receiving AAA INF Mark Younce, who had not appeared in the majors all year.

FL Player of the Week: TOP C Sam Burchell (.243, 11 HR, 68 RBI), mashing .611 (11-18) with 2 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: LVA LF/RF Ken Hummel (.300, 6 HR, 33 RBI), hitting .458 (11-24) with 3 HR, 8 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: RIC 1B Kris DiPrimio (.305, 23 HR, 79 RBI), hitting .327 with 9 HR, 24 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: IND INF Matt Kilday (.390, 1 HR, 59 RBI), batting .430 with 19 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP Luis Olvera (17-6, 3.16 ERA), going 5-0 with a 1.33 ERA and 28 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: SFB CL Ryan Dow (9-7, 3.04 ERA, 36 SV), going 4-1 with 5 SV, a 2.70 ERA and 11 K
FL Rookie of the Month: RIC 1B Kris DiPrimio (.305, 23 HR, 79 RBI), hitting .327 with 9 HR, 24 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: OCT 3B/SS Steven Spalding (.308, 2 HR, 23 RBI), batting .315 with 12 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I don’t know how we’re dumping the Crusaders like this (11-2), and why we can’t beat the Loggers.

The Loggers…!

The rotation is holding it just about together, but the bullpen is becoming more unhinged by the week. Now Ricky H. is no longer reliable, and Walters has also been a bit wobbly the last few weeks. Nevermind that there are just no usable reinforcements from AAA any which way… the only thing we are still going to add, probably, is Ryan Sullivan, who will probably return from rehab after another week down there.

However, that’s all whiny noises when for the moment we have an 8-game lead in the division with four weeks to play. These are the top four in the division and their remaining games, strength of schedule, and playoff odds according to BNN:

POR (78-59) – MIL (6), IND (4), ATL (3), BOS (3), CHA (3), NYC (3), VAN (3) – .432 – 98.6%
IND (69-66) – BOS (7), MIL (4), POR (4), NYC (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – .516 – 1.0%
NYC (70-68) – VAN (6), BOS (3), IND (3), MIL (3), LVA (3), OCT (3), POR (3) – .496 – 0.4%
BOS (68-68) – IND (7), VAN (4), MIL (3), NYC (3), POR (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3) – .519 – 0.1%

Kind reminder that we’re 5-7 against the Loggers. Also, off day on Monday, and then it’s the Loggers with their magic number of one and the Titans before another off day the Monday after.

Fun Fact: The Raccoons had won 13 games from the Crusaders this year, the most they have taken from them in a season in 25 years!

With a series to spare! oO

[Westheim]

Raccoons (78-59) vs. Loggers (52-84) – September 6-8, 2061

The most dangerous animal in the CL North, the Loggers entered Raccoons Ballpark to feast on the Raccoons again and build on their dominating 7-5 lead in the sason series. They were a real threat with their fewest runs scored and second-most runs allowed in the CL, and we didn’t know how to possibly tame them.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (10-7, 2.75 ERA) vs. Bob Ruggiero (9-9, 4.31 ERA)
Angel Alba (3-3, 6.52 ERA) vs. Roger Pritchard (6-9, 3.61 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (11-4, 2.39 ERA) vs. Oliver Graham (2-8, 4.91 ERA)

Look at these monsters! – and Pritchard was a left-hander.

Game 1
MIL: RF D. Wright – LF Garmon – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – 3B D. Miller – C M. Chavez – CF Reder – 2B Loftis – P Ruggiero
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Starr – RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P C. Fox

The Loggers didn’t wait around and battered Chance Fox almost as soon as he poked his knobbly black nose out of his den. Dave Robles doubled, Fidel Carrera singled, and Danny Miller homered for a 3-run first inning, and that was probably gonna be that. They were closer to adding on before the Raccoons got somebody in scoring position when Corey Garmon opened the third inning with a triple to right-center. Fox, though, got a K on Robles, a pop to short from Carrera, and a grounder to second from Miller to stall the extra run at third base. After those heroics, Fox insisted on laying another egg in the fourth inning, offering walks to Phil Reder and Dave Wright, while for good measure also nicking Bob Ruggerio with two outs, loading the bases before perhaps undeservedly getting an easy groundout to Joel Starr from Garmon to strand everybody on base. He got less lucky in the fifth, with a hit for Miller and a 2-run homer by ex-Coon Marcos Chavez. Fox would linger into the sixth inning, but left on a 5-0 hook when the lineup turned over once more. At that point, the Coons had put one runner into scoring position, and then had immediately seen Fowler hit into a double play.

Bottom 6th, Ruggiero offered a leadoff walk to Caswell, while an error by Danny Miller put Perez on base. Starr flew out to deep left and Christopher legged out an infield single near the third base line to fill the bases. Fowler popped out to short, and Brassfield batted for Jon Bean, but struck out to leave the bases loaded. So it was *that* level of being forsaken, huh? (looks skywards to the baseball gods)

DeRose in garbage relief and Abrams held the Loggers to 5-0 after Fox ingloriously departed and the Raccoons got a new sniff at the Loggers once Ruggiero departed after seven innings. Cas and Starr got on base in the bottom 8th before Joey Christopher socked a 3-run homer to right off once-upon-a-time Raccoons reliever Raul Medrano. Bryan Erickson’s scoreless ninth kept the Loggers within reach before they took to the box against Randy Birnbaum in the bottom 9th, starting with Nick Fox pinch-hitting in the #9 spot. He drew a walk in a full count and Ben Morris singled two pitches later, putting the tying runs on base in a 5-3 game. Lonzo struck out in a full count… and then Cas hit into a game-ending double play. 5-3 Loggers. Morris 2-4, BB; Starr 2-4; Christopher 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI;

Cursed.

Game 2
MIL: RF Lock – 2B Garmon – SS F. Carrera – 1B D. Robles – LF Milian – CF Reder – 3B D. Miller – C M. Reed – P Ro. Pritchard
POR: 2B Ortega – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Fuller – 1B Tomlin – 3B N. Fox – CF Ayala – LF Kozak – P Alba

Rain was expected at some point on Wednesday, so Fidel Carrera wasted no precious time and took Alba deep to center for a 1-0 lead in the top 1st, to which Phil Reder added his own solo homer for a 2-0 score in the second. It started to rain lightly as early as the third inning, while the Raccoons needed help from Carrera to make an error and put Tim Fuller on second base with a terrible throw in the bottom 4th to get anywhere with the scoreboard, as Nick Fox found the left-center gap with two outs for an RBI double. Ayala’s grounder to Miller ended the inning though, leaving Fox on second as the tying run.

Jack Kozak began the bottom 5th by drawing a walk, and Alba celebrated by bunting foul until he had finally struck out, and Kozak ended up stranded on first base in the inning. By that time the rain was picking up, and Alba put Carrera (double) and David Milian (walk) on base in the top 6th before it became too heavy and a rain delay was called. After almost an hour, play resumed, though with LaBat pitching for the Raccoons and getting an inning-ending double play from Phil Reder to keep the score at 2-1.

Bottom 6th, Brass opened with a double against Pritchard, who was then replaced with righty Ricky Pippin. Tim Fuller walked, but Tomlin and Fox made meek outs, only managing to advance the runners into scoring position by the time there were two outs. Felix Ayala came through this time, though, hit a single to right-center off Pippin, and flipped the score to 3-2 Coons. Kozak grounded out to end the inning, while LaBat and Barton kept the Loggers at bay in the seventh. Rocco nursed the eighth, in which the Coons also saw Medrano again. Brass hit a leadoff single in the bottom 8th, but Fuller fanned. Joel Starr batted for an 0-for-3 Tomlin against the right-hander and smacked a double to center, parking two insurance runs in scoring position with one out, but both Nick Fox and Ben Morris hit poor grounders and Fox couldn’t even get the lead runner home. Walters got the 3-2 lead in the ninth and retired the Loggers on eight pitches to get the game over the line. 3-2 Raccoons. Brassfield 2-4, 2B; Starr (PH) 1-1, 2B;

This game eliminated the Loggers from mathematical playoff contention.

That’ll teach ‘em!

Game 3
MIL: CF Reder – LF Garmon – 1B D. Robles – SS F. Carrera – C M. Chavez – RF Milian – 3B Lange – 2B Loftis – P Houghton
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P Riddle

The Loggers sent swingman Danny Houghton (1-3, 2.41 ERA) into the rubber game, which didn’t mean that the Raccoons were finally getting to take some swings – they were just as inept offensively as they had been in the first two games of the set. Riddle meanwhile struggled, with Milwaukee loading the bases with nobody out and their 5-6-7 batters in the top 2nd on a walk and two infield singles, but also didn’t score since Jeremy Loftis popped out, Houghton whiffed, and Phil Reder grounded out. Riddle got to feel the revenge of Houghton in the fourth, however, as Houghton then came up with Milian and Ralph Lange on base and hit a 2-out RBI single to right to drive in the first run of the game as well as his first this season.

The Coons knotted the score in the bottom 4th with a leadoff single by Brassfield, who was running when Starr grounded out to second, which was what kept the Coons out of the double play. Brass also ran aggressively when Perez singled to center and scored ahead of Reder’s throw home. Perez was left on base, and the Coons wasted a single by Riddle the inning after. Riddle pitched six innings, but needed 101 pitches to get that far, with a lot of full counts along the way, and four full counts in the last two frames alone. Angel Perez socked a 2-out solo jack in the bottom 6th for a last-ditch effort to give Riddle a W, as it put the Coons 2-1 ahead.

Ricky H. held the Loggers in check with a 1-2-3 seventh inning before the Raccoons found soft singles from Bean’s and Tomlin’s sticks to put two on against Houghton to begin the bottom 7th. Morris popped out, but Lonzo ended the right-hander’s outing with a gapper in left-center that he legged out for a 2-run triple. This was the decider – while Lonzo was left on base, the Raccoons now had a 3-run lead, and this was never in danger as neither Ruben Mendez nor Matt Walters allowed a runner on base in the last two innings to take an unexpected series win. 4-1 Critters! Lavorano 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Perez 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Tomlin (PH) 1-1;

So it’s not going well with the stolen bases for Lonzo right now, but he’s whacking triples instead. No homers since April though!

The Indians took three of four games from the Titans in the meantime, which got Indy to 7 1/2 games out, but the Titans slipped into double digits, as did the Crusaders, who were swept in three close games in Elk City.

With in-division play and four teams vaguely in contention for the division, there always had to be (at least) one direct matchup, and it would be the Critters and Titans on the weekend.

Raccoons (80-60) @ Titans (69-71) – September 9-11, 2061

The Titans were not keen to see the Coons again, who had already taken 11 games from them this year compared to four wins for Boston. They ranked seventh in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed, and had a -7 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Nick Robinson (12-7, 3.01 ERA) vs. Grant MacKinnon (11-6, 4.12 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (11-7, 3.38 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (11-10, 2.87 ERA)
Chance Fox (10-8, 2.92 ERA) vs. Jason Brenize (8-7, 2.84 ERA)

All right-handers in this one!

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Ortega – P Robinson
BOS: CF Marcotte – 2B Woodrome – 1B M. Rubin – 3B D. Mendoza – LF Ramires – RF Lloyd – C S. Moreno – SS Mena – P MacKinnon

Robinson allowed one hit the first time through the order amidst four strikeouts, but it was a solo homer by Ted Lloyd that gave Boston the lead. Eddie Marcotte and Ian Woodrome hit 2-out singles to go to the corners in the bottom 3rd, but Cas snatched Manny Rubin’s looper to shallow center to keep them on base, while the Raccoons had another snoozy start to a ballgame. Fowler hit a double to begin the top 3rd and was stranded, but Lonzo reached on an error by Juan Mena in the fourth and then stole his first base in 15 days (!) before scored on Cas’ single to left-center. The bags would fill up with a walk to Brass and a soft Perez single with one out. Fowler hit a solid RBI single to center, claiming a 2-1 lead for the Coons as everybody advanced one station. Bernie Ortega’s sac fly extended the score to 3-1 before Robinson flew out, then gave up leadoff singles to Diego Mendoza and Bill Ramires to begin the home half of the inning – which also made for four singles inside five batters against him – but Lloyd flew out to left and Sandy Moreno, who played in his first game of the year, hit into a double play to end the inning.

Nothing else that would ooh and awe somebody occurred in the following three innings, as both pitchers worked very well to maintain the status quo in the 3-1 game, but neither of them would work in the eighth inning. The Coons still did nothing against Kyle Zanni in the eighth, while Paul Barton put Marcotte and Mendoza on base before the Titans sent Andy Lee to pinch-hit for Bill Ramires with two outs, drawing Justin Rocco out of the pen to face the left-hander … and erase him on three pitches with a strikeout that kept the tying runs stranded. Rocco then remained in the game in the ninth inning since Walters had been out two straight days, and Rocco was already here. Mendez was actually behind him in the pen with right-handers at the bottom of the order up. Lloyd and Moreno grounded out before Mena hit a soft single, but then the Titans sent a lefty batter in the pitcher’s spot, and Alex Abecassis grounded out easily to Ortega. 3-1 Coons. Fowler 3-4, 2B, RBI; Robinson 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (13-7) and 1-3; Rocco 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, SV (18);

Fowler had half our hits in this game.

18th save on the year for Rocco, but the first as a Critter.

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C Perez – 1B Tomlin – RF Christopher – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera
BOS: CF Marcotte – LF Ramires – C Arviso – 1B M. Rubin – RF A. Lee – SS Lloyd – 2B D. Mendoza – 3B Bratlien – P M. Bell

Lonzo singled and was caught stealing in an attempt to take second base, and Eddie Marcotte doubled and was caught stealing in an attempt to third base, and nobody scored in the first inning. The Raccoons couldn’t score after Jon Bean hit a leadoff double in the third inning, while Bobby H. made it the first time through without allowing another base runner and whiffing five, including the 6-through-9 batters in order. Marcotte then drew a leadoff walk off Tipsy Bobby in the bottom 4th, but this time remained on base all the way to the end of the inning.

A base was actually stolen by Joey Christopher right after his leadoff single in the fifth inning of a scoreless game. He advanced on Fox’ groundout and then scored on Bean’s light single to shallow right for the game’s first run. Bean was then caught stealing (…) before Bobby singled, Ben Morris walked, and Lonzo flew out to strand two.

By the sixth inning, Eddie Marcotte was on base for the third time against Herrera, drawing a 2-out walk this time. He was in fact the only Titan to reach base up to this point, although only for a minute until Ramires singled to right-center. He did become, however, the first player in recent memory to make a first and a third out at third base in the same game, trying to stretch it on the Ramires single and being told the **** off by Christopher, who threw him out. Andy Lee hit a 2-out double in the seventh, but was also left on base. Jacob Bratlien hit a single in the eighth against Bobby Herrera, was hit for with Hector Chavez, but Abecassis pinch-hit again and killed the inning with a 4-6-3 double play. That would be all for Herrera, not because of the skinny 1-0 lead, but because he was already on 105 pitches through eight. Marcotte struck out and the Titans went in order against Matt Walters to get the squeaker over the line. 1-0 Blighters. Bean 2-3, RBI; B. Herrera 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, W (12-7) and 1-3;

Game 3
POR: RF Christopher – 3B N. Fox – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Fuller – SS Bean – 2B Ortega – P C. Fox
BOS: CF Marcotte – RF Lloyd – 1B M. Rubin – C Arviso – 3B D. Mendoza – 2B Bratlien – LF A. Lee – SS Mena – P Brenize

The Coons went up 1-0 in the third inning when Brenize walked Christopher, who gained a base on Nick Fox’ groundout and then scored on Cas’ 2-out RBI single, while Chance Fox retired the Titans in order the first time through and struck out three of the Blueshirts. Christopher struck out, however, to leave the bases loaded with Starr (double), Ortega (intentional walk), and Chance Fox (walk) in the fourth. Marcotte singled to left to begin the bottom 4th, so that was that, but was left on base by the 2-3-4 batters as offense remained elusive on either side of the Critters’ box scores this week, although Nick Fox got on base to begin the top 5th and Cas reached on an error by Mena before being forced out by Brass’ grounder to short. Joel Starr then smashed his second double of the game, again to rightfield, which drove in Fox and sent Brass to third base. Portland got to 3-0 on Fuller’s sac fly to left, but Bean struck out to leave Starr on base again.

Andy Lee drew a walk in the bottom 5th with two outs, which didn’t look serious at the time, but Chance Fox then nicked Mena with an 0-2 pitch that should have ended the inning, then also hit the pinch-hitter Bill Dorey to load the bases and bring the raging hot Marcotte back to the dish. If there ever was a spot for a mound conference it was this one, but it failed to calm Fox down and he fell to 3-1 against Marcotte before giving up extra bases in left-center. Lee scored, Mena scored, and Dorey was thrown out at home as he tried to tie the game, which instead ended the inning with Portland still up 3-2, and Chance Fox bit into his glove as he walked off the field.

Fox held out for seven innings despite the odd speed bump along the way. The Titans went in order in the sixth, but Bratlien hit another single off him in the seventh and was run for by Hector Chavez again as the tying run. The inning ended again with a PH appearance by Abecassis, who struck out once more to kill what was supposed to be a rally. Kyle Zanni struck out Bean, Ortega, and Kozak in the eighth inning before there was a sudden rain shower and an hourlong delay in the middle of the eighth. Mendez and Ricky H. pieced the bottom 8th together eventually after Marcotte’s leadoff single off Mendez. He was left on base again. Rocco then got the ball again in the ninth as Matt Walters had been such a frequent flyer this week and retired the Titans in order to complete the sweep. 3-2 Critters. Caswell 2-4, RBI; Starr 2-4, 2 2B, RBI; C. Fox 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (11-8);

In other news

September 5 – The Stars beat the Scorpions, 4-3 in 15 innings.
September 6 – The Warriors’ 14-5 win over the Gold Sox is mostly engineered by three players that hog 14 of the team’s 17 base hits in the game: 3B/SS Ben Wilken (.306, 0 HR, 18 RBI) has five hits and two RBI, 1B Miguel Medina (.291, 28 HR, 110 RBI) has four hits with two homers and six RBI, and RF/LF/1B Josh Bursley (.283, 16 HR, 71 RBI) smacks five hits with two doubles and drives in two.
September 7 – SAC SP Mark Jacobs (7-14, 5.37 ERA) is out for the year with a tear in a back muscle.
September 10 – SAC SP Mike Chartrand (11-10, 3.34 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Wolves to claim a 9-0 win.
September 10 – The Aces rally for six runs in the ninth inning against the Bayhawks, but fall a run short and lose 8-7.
September 11 – Thunder SP Aaron Harris (12-10, 3.53 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Aces for a 6-0 victory.
September 11 – The Condors clobber the Falcons in a 20-0 rout. TIJ OF Alf Mendez (.337, 7 HR, 50 RBI) has a bases-clearing triple, a bases-clearing double, and seven total RBI in the game.

FL Player of the Week: SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.294, 29 HR, 115 RBI), bashing .500 (10-20) with 3 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT SP Aaron Harris (12-10, 3.53 ERA) for going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, 14 K

Complaints and stuff

Is it happening? After ending August with a 1-6 spill, the Raccoons are now 9-1 in September. The Titans exploded this week and the Crusaders also fell on their face and the .500 mark again, and BNN only barely bothered to even post playoff odds for the CL North anymore with the Indians now 9 1/2 games back of the Raccoons, and even then the Indians’ chances were rounded down to zilch.

POR (83-60) – IND (4), ATL (3), CHA (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), VAN (3) – .432 – 100.0% (+1.4%)
IND (73-69) – MIL (4), POR (4), BOS (3), NYC (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3) – .524 – 0.0% (-1.0%)

Not gonna cry winner yet, but I can’t deny it looks promising. Casual reminder though that we only have the fifth-best record in the league and that the rest of the division is just really, really cruddy. The Indians are currently in line for the #14 pick, f.e.;

The offense still needs to pick it up, though. We had a 5-1 week while failing to score even three runs per game on average, which says a thing or two about the roster.

The Raccoons will have their final homestand now, hosting the Crusaders, Knights, and Falcons for nine total games before the last three series will all be on the road with a 10-game road trip. We won’t see the Indians until the last week of the season. The magic number is 11, so it’s not inconceivable that the division will be decided while we’re still home. But if we don’t clinch before the final week, I see us actually losing it, giving we’re to play the Indians and the menacing Loggers then.

The Loggers…!

Fun Fact: 31 years ago today, Dave “Mad Dog” Garcia hit three home runs in the Thunder’s 12-2 win against the Falcons.

Garcia hit 29 homers that year, his age 35 season, which marked the only time he won the home run crown. It was also his final season with an OPS+ over 100. He led the CL in slugging, 12 years after having done so as a Bayhawk in a season in which he hit 35 dingers, but didn’t win the home run crown, but had to settle for the batting title with a .342 average.

So, yes, the gist is that Garcia was an offensive force for mostly his entire career. He hit .287/.353/.478 with 2,450 hits, 338 homers, 1,320 RBI, and 184 stolen bases in his career, taking two Player of the Year awards, five Platinum Sticks, and a Gold Glove as a 20-year-old centerfielder.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (83-60) vs. Crusaders (72-72) – September 13-15, 2061

The Crusaders arrived in Portland for one last drubbing, probably, given the Coons’ 13-2 (!) edge in the season series. The league’s #3 offense and #4 pitching also arrived without Sean Zeiher (.273, 17 HR, 84 RBI), who had been placed on the DL on Monday and was out for the year with a back complaint, as well as Rick Price and pitchers Milt Cantrell, Ryan Musgrave, and Alex Flores, which together with Austin Wilcox being listed as day-to-day meant they were half a rotation down at this point.

Projected matchups:
Angel Alba (3-3, 6.03 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (8-9, 4.18 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (12-4, 2.34 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (8-11, 2.78 ERA)
Nick Robinson (13-7, 2.95 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (17-7, 3.21 ERA)

Only right-handers to see here.

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – LF Weir – RF Austin – CF Branch – C McLaren – 2B Spehar – 1B P. Gonzales – 3B V. Velez – P Luera
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – C Arellano – P Alba

Alba continued to try and paint over that ghastly ERA with three scoreless innings and five strikeouts to begin the Tuesday opener, with only Ryan Spehar getting on with a single up the middle. The Raccoons were pretty listless the first time through themselves, but Ben Morris struck a 2-out double in the bottom 3rd and then scored when Lonzo dropped in a 3-2 bloop single, giving Portland a 1-0 lead. Lonzo stole his 39th base then, but was left on when Caswell made the third out to Pedro Gonzales. Alba then walked left-handers Hector Weir and Matt McLaren in a gooey, chewy fourth inning, but the Crusaders didn’t get a base knock and the runners were stranded.

The Raccoons added single runs in the fourth on Brass and Fowler doubles, then the fifth when Morris got on base, stole his 46th bag of the year, and then came around on productive outs by Lonzo and Cas, who this time got a sac fly in. The 3-0 lead came in handy in the sixth inning; Alba’s control in the middle innings was nowhere near what it had been at the start, and he would end up walking five batters in total, including Weir and McLaren again in the sixth inning. He ran a full count on Spehar, who then dunked in a shoddy single between Lonzo and Morris, who then botched the pickup, allowing the Crusaders an extra base and an unearned run to score before Pedro Gonzales left the tying runs in scoring position with a groundout to Starr. That was the end for Alba, though, who with three long counts at the end needed 117 pitches to get through six. Bottom 6th, Fowler opened with a double to center off new Crusaders reliever Erik Mathews, who right away left with an injury concern after a visit by their team trainer. Lefty Michael McLaughlin came in and on his second pitch gave up a blooper to left to Jon Bean. Weir tried the sliding catch, missed, and the ball disappeared into the gap for an RBI triple. Bean was then also stranded as Arellano walked, but Kozak and Morris struck out and Lonzo grounded out to third base…

Nevertheless, the 4-1 lead proved to be enough. The Raccoons would get a scoreless inning each from Erickson, Barton, and Walters, with the Crusaders held to one last 2-out single off the closer in the ninth inning, pushed by Pedro Gonzales, with Victor Velez ending the game by striking out. 4-1 Raccoons. Morris 2-5, 2B; Brassfield 2-4, 2B; Fowler 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Alba 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, W (4-3);

14-2! The mind boggles.

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – RF Austin – CF Branch – C McLaren – 3B V. Velez – 1B Konecny – LF J. Alvarez – P J. Ortega
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Brassfield – RF Christopher – C Perez – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P Riddle

In a major stunner, Tyler Riddle was beaten around so badly by the Crusaders that he didn’t finish two innings. Eight singles for five outs and five runs; that included one run on straight singles by the 3-4-5 batters in the first inning, and then in the second the roof caved in, which did include a throwing error by Nick Fowler that made all but three runs unearned. Abrams came in and struck out Velez to finally end the second inning and the Raccoons, who hadn’t scored five runs in a game in well over a week, looked like they’d finally take an L against the Crusaders. Trent Brassfield socked a leadoff homer in the bottom 2nd to reduce the gap to 5-1, but Adam Harris also allowed another run in the third inning in a bid to get yoinked off the 40-man roster to make room for another AAA southpaw, doing so by walking Kelly Konecny to begin the inning and then conceding the run on a 2-out RBI single by Sanchez.

While J.J. Sensabaugh was normally in the same glove compartment as Harris, he did put three scoreless innings together after Harris departed, even though the infielders helped out with two double plays. Through six, the Brass homer was still the only hit the Coons had off Ortega, who walked Starr and Morris back-to-back in the bottom 6th, but then Lonzo found a double play to blunder into, and that ended the inning. DeRose took the ball in the seventh and put the game away for good, being taken deep by McLaren and then walking Velez before giving up a 2-out RBI triple to Jose Alvarez to fall seven behind. Ortega never allowed another run, but was lifted after eight innings for Dave Lister, who issued a leadoff walk to Felix Ayala in the #9 hole. The runner stole second, then scored when Morris lobbed an RBI single into shallow right-center. Lonzo reached on catcher’s interference, but Cas grounded out. Brass then walked onto the open base. At this point the tying run was on the dugout steps, promoting to the on-deck circle when Lister walked in a run against Joe-Chris, then got yanked for Jason Rhodes. Nick Fox batted for Perez to try and avoid a double play, grounded to short, and avoided the double play by stomping up to first base in time, as another run scored. Fowler lined out to Konecny to end the game, though. 8-4 Crusaders. Sensabaugh 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K;

We were out-hit 15-2 in this game, and I was becoming a bit worried about the offense…

Ryan Sullivan rejoined the team on Thursday from his rehab assignment, having posted an 0.93 ERA with the Alley Cats. He had not pitched for the Coons all year long.

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Spehar – RF Austin – CF Branch – C McLaren – 3B V. Velez – 1B Weir – LF Deeley – P Seiter
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – C Perez – RF Christopher – 3B Fowler – 2B Bean – P Robinson

Robinson struck out five Crusaders the first time through, but also fell behind 1-0 on Tommy Branch’s 18th homer of the year to lead off the second inning. The top 3rd then was extended needlessly with a 3-2 bloop single with two outs by Omar Sanchez, then Christopher fumbling a fly by Spehar for an error. Aubrey Austin grounded out to Lonzo to leave two aboard. Morris reached on an error in the bottom 3rd, but was stranded, while Robinson ran two more full counts and allowed singles to McLaren and Weir in the fourth inning. Those two were also stranded, but Robinson’s pitch count was escalating at frightening pace and he was up to 81 pitches in just four innings.

For the moment, Joel Starr tied the game with a leadoff jack to left in the bottom 4th, and then Nick Fowler socked a 2-out homer in the same inning to give Robinson a 2-1 lead. Robinson had a quick fifth, but when he went out for the sixth he gave up singles to Austin and Branch and a 3-run homer to McLaren in quick succession and was yanked with a 4-2 deficit. Barton replaced him and gave up an infield single to Velez, then was immediately replaced with LaBat, who gave up ANOTHER infield single to Weir, and then another 3-run homer to Chris Deeley. Things went from wicked to ugly when he then nailed Seiter with a 1-2 pitch that clearly not intentional, but Seiter took exception and stormed the mound, where a brawl broke out when the two pitchers tried to feverishly slap each other while looking away and squinting from their own carnage. Both were ejected. The Coons went to Erickson, who FINALLY GOT AN OUT IN THE BLOODY INNING when Sanchez grounded out, but then allowed a homer to Spehar (his first of the year!) and put Austin and Branch on base before also getting yanked. The Coons had to go to Justin Rocco to get out of the ******* inning, in which the Crusaders put up an 8-spot and the Raccoons had no hope for a comeback.

Adam Harris gave up another run in the seventh, with a single hit by Chris Deeley, who then stole TWO bases like a ******* **** and scored on another single. Harris also did the eighth in the lost game, before Ryan Sullivan got the ball in the ninth to ease back into it. He struck out Weir, Deeley, the ****, grounded out, and then Mark Seeley, Omar Sanchez, and Ryan Spehar still managed to plonk Sullivan for a tack-on run before Armando Caban grounded out to end the inning. There were no results cosmetics either, this time. 11-2 Crusaders. Tomlin (PH) 1-1;

Rated A for Atrocious.

Both Ben Seiter and Elijah LaBat got 10-game suspensions – five for fighting, and five for silliness and how ridiculous it looked when they tried to puppy-paw each other. Fair assessment.

Both the Indians (against the Loggers) and the Titans (against the damn Elks) won three out of four in the meantime, which had the Indians eight games back now with a magic number of nine. The magic numbers for the Crusaders (six) and Titans (four) were in elimination range on the weekend.

Raccoons (84-62) vs. Knights (55-91) – September 16-18, 2061

The Knights were longing for October, but in a different way than the Critters. Despite their awful .377 winning percentage, they were not even in last place in the South, though, and they had a chance to take the season series, which was even at three so far. They were ranked tenth in both runs scored and runs allowed this year, with a -117 run differential. The Coons’ was +68, having suffered considerably in the last couple of days…

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (12-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Vic Harman (10-15, 3.25 ERA)
Chance Fox (11-8, 2.90 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (7-11, 5.17 ERA)
Angel Alba (4-3, 5.36 ERA) vs. Blake Sparks (5-9, 5.49 ERA)

More right-handers coming!

I’d like a neat start from Tipsy Bobby now.

Game 1
ATL: CF J. Parker – LF Abercrombie – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – RF Ellwood – 1B Moya – C Villafan – 3B A. Duncan – P Harman
POR: CF Morris – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – RF Brassfield – C Fuller – 3B N. Fox – LF Kozak – 2B Bean – P B. Herrera

Bobby H. had five strikeouts the first time through, but we had seen that before this week and then saw it go all wrong. Johnny Parker then promptly hit a soft 1-out single, and ex-Coon Josh Abercrombie reached base when Tipsy Bobby dropped Starr’s feed at first base for an error. Uh-oh. Willie Acosta struck out and Ken Sowell flew out calmly to keep them on base, though. The Knights still took a lead in the fourth, which Bobby Ellwood opened with a triple to right-center and came home on Joaquin Moya’s groundout, and since the Raccoons’ offense was still comatose, that was a 1-0 lead. Brass and Fox hit singles in the bottom 4th, but Kozak flew out to center and that was that inning. Jon Bean hit a leadoff single to left-center in the fifth, and then Adam Duncan, normally a great defender at third base, threw Herrera’s bunt away for two bases, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Harman lost Morris to ball four in a full count, which degraded our situation to three on and nobody out. Bother! (reaches for the Capt’n Coma) Lonzo didn’t wait around and sliced the first pitch he saw through the hole on the left side, tying the game with an RBI single. Starr didn’t get much to hit and ended up bringing in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk. It call came crashing down for Harman, who next gave up a bases-clearing triple in left-center to Trent Brassfield, and was yanked after walking Tim Fuller. Matt Pickel conceded Brass’ run on Nick Fox’ groundout, but walked Kozak and allowed a single to Bean to reload the bases for, well, Bobby H., who hit a 2-0 pitch through the left side for a 2-run single. Blimey! Pickel then finally ended the 8-run inning by flying out Morris and Lonzo.

Bobby Herrera retook the hill after an endless inning in which he ran the bases twice, so we were going to be cautious. He walked Ellwood, but got through the inning, however, the sharpness seemed off, and while he got through the seventh as well, that would be all for him then. Bottom 7th, Fox and Kozak went to the corners against Josh Barbieri with leadoff hits, and Jon Bean extended the lead to 9-1 with a sac fly. Christopher doubled before the ever-present 1-2 batters got the last innings off and were hit for with Ayala and Tomlin. The former flew out to Abercrombie in shallow left, but Tomlin cracked a 2-out, 2-run double to left to pile on. Arellano batted for Starr, but flew out. Brass was also removed from the game after the seventh inning, removing the entire top four. The Knights only made up one run in the late innings. Adam Duncan singled it in with two outs in the ninth against Abrams, although the runner was Ricky Herrera’s, who couldn’t get out of his second-half funk… 11-2 Raccoons. Tomlin (PH) 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Brassfield 2-3, BB, 3B, 3 RBI; Fowler 1-1; N. Fox 2-5, 2B, RBI; Bean 2-3, RBI; Christopher (PH) 1-1, 2B; B. Herrera 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (13-7) and 1-2, 2 RBI;

Game 2
ATL: C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – CF K. Fisher – RF Ellwood – 3B A. Duncan – LF Nork – 1B Moya – P Ratliff
POR: RF Christopher – SS Lavorano – 1B Starr – CF Caswell – C Perez – 3B N. Fox – 2B Bean – LF Ayala – P C. Fox

Chance Fox had to labor on Saturday, allowing two singles to Marco Nieto and Willie Acosta to begin the game and having to stalk around them, then glitched straight 2-out walks to Moya, Ratliff (…!), and Nieto in the second inning before Acosta was so kind to ground out to Lonzo. Nobody scored for Atlanta yet, but the Raccoons managed to get Perez and Bean to the corners and a go-ahead sac fly from Felix Ayala in the bottom 2nd for a 1-0 lead. Foxie Brown allowed a leadoff single to Ken Sowell in the third, at which point he had expended 55 pitches for six outs, but not only kept Sowell on first base throughout the inning, but also retired nine in a row to complete five before crashing into the 100 pitches mark. He came back for the sixth with a 1-0 lead after the Coons got a single from Joe-Chris and walks from Lonzo and Starr in the bottom 5th, but Cas grounded out to strand them all. Kyle Fisher hit a leadoff single over Lonzo’s head to begin the sixth. Fox struck out Ellwood, then was lifted for Barton, who got through Adam Duncan and Dan Nork to keep Fox’ ledger clean at least in the runs department.

Ratliff also didn’t finish six, and didn’t get anybody out in the inning while walking Perez and giving up a double to Nick Fox, departing with a pair in scoring position and nobody out, with Curt Carter taking over. The righty popped out Bean, whiffed Ayala, and grounded out Ben Morris to keep the runners on base… The 1-0 run made it through the seventh with Rocco, but Willie Acosta socked a leadoff jack off the southpaw to tied it up in the eighth before Ruben Mendez had to battle through an assortment of left-handed pinch-hitters.

The Raccoons slooowly loaded the bases against ex-Coon Alex Rios in the bottom 8th. Cas singled, Nick Fox walked, Bean hit a scratch single, and there were three on with one out. Brass batted for Ayala and laid off Rios’ usual garbage to draw a bases-loaded walk, which worked well enough to take a 2-1 lead, and Nick Fowler batted for Mendez and brought in insurance with a groundout before Joe-Chris drew a walk to fill the bases once more. Lonzo whiffed against Ryan Hogues to end the inning, then was replaced with Fowler as Walters would attempt the save from the #2 spot. Walters got the job done in seven pitches, retiring Willie Villafan, Dan Nork, and Joaquin Moya in order. 3-1 Coons. N. Fox 1-2, 2 BB, 2B; Bean 2-4;

Game 3
ATL: RF Ellwood – C M. Nieto – 2B W. Acosta – SS Sowell – CF J. Parker – 1B Moya – LF K. Fisher – 3B A. Duncan – P Sparks
POR: LF Morris – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Tomlin – 3B Fowler – C Fuller – 2B Ortega – P Alba

Brass’ sac fly in the first brought home Morris with an unearned run; he had only reached because Johnny Parker dropped and kicked his fly to center into a 2-base error. Alba looked fine in the first two innings before offering two walks to Duncan and Ellwood and a balk, but managed to strike out Marco Nieto and got Willie Acosta to ground out to Lonzo to end the inning with the runners still in scoring position. The Coons tacked on instead in the same inning; Lonzo hit a 2-out single, stole second base, and was driven in by Caswell with a single to left-center. Brass also singled, but Forbes Tomlin grounded out to end the inning.

Alba kept laboring hard with two more runners on base in the fourth. Parker singled and stole second and Moya walked, but again he got a crucial K on Kyle Fisher for the second out and then also rung up Duncan. The pitch count, however… Sparks then hit an 0-2 pitch for a leadoff single in the fifth, but ended up stranded when the 1-2-3 batters couldn’t put anything together. Sowell grounded out on a 3-0 pitch to begin the sixth, and that was deemed enough for Alba, who threw 88 pitches in the game, all of them a mess. Ricky H. finished the inning, while the Coons tacked on in the bottom 6th. Cas drew a leadoff walk, Brass grounded out to move him to second, and Tomlin collected an RBI single to left, 3-0.

After Abrams kept it together in the seventh, Ryan Sullivan got the eighth and was … awful. He walked Nieto to lead off, threw a wild pitch, and then nicked Sowell before being ushered away with one out and the tying run coming up. Rocco came in, struck out Parker in a full count, but allowed an RBI single on a 1-2 pitch to Moya. Fisher then struck out to end the inning.

And then Walters blew the save… Duncan and Villafan struck him for a pair of doubles right away, reducing the score to 3-2 with nobody out. Ellwood struck out, Nieto popped out, but Acosta snuck a soft single up the middle for an RBI single to extend the game. Nork grounded out to keep it tied. The Knights were nice enough to offer us a good chance for four walks to walk it off when they brought in Steve Watson against the bottom of the order. Fuller grounded out, but Ortega singled and moved to second on Christopher’s groundout. Walters was in the #1 spot and hit for with Nick Fox, who ended the game with a liner to right-center for a walkoff single. 4-3 Raccoons. N. Fox (PH) 1-1, RBI; Caswell 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Brassfield 1-2, BB, RBI;

In other news

September 12 – The Rebels’ switch-hitting catcher Justin Aguilar (.268, 4 HR, 21 RBI) would miss the rest of the season with a ruptured medial collateral ligament.
September 15 – NAS SP Juan Sanchez (14-8, 3.00 ERA) throws a 1-hit shutout with six strikeouts against the Buffaloes. He loses the no-hitter in the stupidest way with two outs in the ninth inning. After hitting INF Jose Contreras (.258, 0 HR, 7 RBI) and seeing CF/LF Jose Ambriz (.269, 5 HR, 36 RBI) reach on an error by NAS 2B/SS Paul Labonte (.288, 5 HR, 44 RBI), rookie INF/LF Alex Rodriguez (.324, 1 HR, 10 RBI) singles on a 1-2 pitch, but the game also ends with the runner from second base being thrown out at home plate to complete the Blue Sox’ 4-0 win.
September 16 – The Crusaders’ Erik Lee (7-5, 3.00 ERA) and Jason Rhodes (5-8, 4.40 ERA, 28 SV) put a combined 1-hitter together in a 3-0 win against the Aces, who only get a single from 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.282, 18 HR, 79 RBI).
September 16 – The Rebs shackled the Pacifics, 15-2, with six runs driven in by RIC SS Jason Turner (.243, 14 HR, 71 RBI) and five more by OF/1B Vince Goll (.310, 1 HR, 22 RBI).
September 17 – Condors C/1B Mike Brann (.375, 2 HR, 5 RBI), age 23 and in his first September call-up, hits a walkoff home run for the only score in their 2-0 win against the Indians.

FL Player of the Week: SAC C Nate Danis (.298, 14 HR, 63 RBI), batting .500 (12-24) with 1 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC C Matt McLaren (.268, 14 HR, 48 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

So-so week with some pitching woes in addition to next-to-no offense. The Raccoons have played 16 games in September. Their four highest run tallies are in order: 13, 11, 6, 4; four…!! – On the plus side, we haven’t been shut out, scored one run only once (and won that game against Boston), and the pitching has been good enough to work with 4.5 runs per game (those 13- and 11-run games were doing some heavy lifting here) for a 13-3 record.

Ruben Mendez won the Coons’ 7,200th regular season W in relief of Chance Fox on Saturday after Rocco blew Foxie Brown’s 1-0 lead.

The Indians lost twice to the Condors on Saturday and Sunday, scoring one run between those two games, falling to a nice, round ten games out. The Titans were mathematically eliminated on the weekend, and the Crusaders’ magic number was down to one. It was four for the Indians.

POR (87-62) – IND (4), CHA (3), MIL (3), VAN (3) – .435 – 100.0%
IND (77-72) – POR (4), BOS (3), NYC (3), SFB (3) – .553 – 0.0%

Yup, I think it’s happening! The Coons will finish off with the Falcons at home starting on Monday, then have almost two weeks to clean all the stains and chocolate paw prints off the ballpark in time for the first postseason including the Critters since 2055, when the Raccoons were eliminated in the CLCS by the Knights. The last ten games are on the road, visiting the Elks, Indians, and Loggers in that order.

Fun Fact: Steve Watson took his 13th loss on Sunday.

That’s tied for seventh in the CL. He is a RELIEVER.

He’s saved 29 games and blown eight saves. He previously blew nine saves for the Falcons a few years ago. He’s a completely unhinged right-handed missile that was never able to find the zone in any form – the COONS were smart enough to give up on him after just 18 outings in which he walked 15 batters in 18 innings, and he hasn’t been able to reduce that 7.5 BB/9 by much since. And yet he always finds some dimwitted CL South team ready to put him into a position right next to the red buttons.

For his career he now was 43-57 with 209 saves and a 3.94 ERA, with 683 strikeouts in 560 innings… and also 424 walks.