[Westheim]

Raccoons (85-57) @ Indians (62-81) – September 15-18, 2014

Last dance with the Indians, in this case a 4-game set in Indy, to solve the season series, which so far stood at 8-6 in favor of the Furballs. The Indians had dropped four straight games, and overall ranked 11th in runs scored and third in runs allowed in the CL. Pitching sure was not everything. You might remember the Raccoons being 11th in runs scored for the longest time. They were now 10th, one single run ahead of the Arrowheads.

Projected matchups:
Nick Brown (13-6, 2.83 ERA) vs. Tom Weise (10-9, 4.04 ERA)
Bill Conway (11-4, 2.28 ERA) vs. Dan Lambert (6-13, 5.05 ERA)
Hector Santos (15-7, 2.86 ERA) vs. Tristan Broun (9-11, 4.00 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (14-6, 2.61 ERA) vs. Alejandro Mendez (10-12, 3.23 ERA)

We get one of their two southpaws, Broun, while missing Chester Graham (9-9, 3.29 ERA).

From 2005 through 2013, the games between these teams have been split exactly 50:50. If the Raccoons win at least two in this set (sounds doable, but …), they will have a winning decade against a team that was thoroughly middling to awful for most of the last ten years.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – SS Taylor – P Brown
IND: CF J. Wilson – SS Matias – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – LF M. Pruitt – RF G. Morán – C Malone – 3B Dawson – P Weise

The Coons loaded the bases in the first inning on Sandy getting nicked, a Richards double, and a Murphy walk, only for Alexander to hit hard to Ryan Dawson for a double play. The Indians also loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd without getting anything. Matt Pruitt singled in a 1-2 count, Gonzalo Morán was hit in an 0-2 count, and Dawson walked before Weise hoppled out to Murphy to end proceedings. Brown struck out nobody the first time through and didn’t look like he was gonna get one today.

Top 4th. Murphy led off with a single to left before D-Alex hit a hard one to deep right, but the fence held onto it: the ball hit less than six inches below the top of the wall, holding Alexander to a double, but the Coons had runners in scoring position with nobody out. Nunley got a disinterested 4-pitch walk to load the bases and set up a double play which Palmer Taylor would hit into after Bednarski’s fly to left at least scored Murphy for the first run of the game. The lead, which should have been that much bigger, didn’t hold up, as Matt Pruitt homered off Brown in the bottom of the inning, but the 1-1 tie in turn was also soon broken. Brown hit a leadoff single to right in the fifth, Sandy singled, and Richards doubled to center to plate his pitcher, 2-1. Murphy’s usual pathetic grounder to a middle infielder was not played well by Kym, who was in discomfort still and officially listed as day-to-day, and all paws were safe for an RBI infield single. D-Alex had an RBI single, 4-1, but Nunley struck out and Bednarski grounded to third, where Dawson threw the ball well past Santiago Guerra for a run-scoring error. First base was open to put on Taylor, bringing up Brown, who had opened the inning with a single, with the bases loaded and two outs. He grounded up the middle, past the immobile Kym, and into center for another run – that one knocked out Weise. Brown was a mere shadow of olden times, and mainly made it to the eighth because he generated poor contact with his sinking stuff, but he hardly fooled anybody. The Indians got two on in the eighth which was the call to remove him. Entwistle held on. 6-1 Brownies! Richards 3-4, 2 2B, RBI; Murphy 2-4, BB, RBI; Alexander 2-5, 2B, RBI; Brown 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (14-6) and 2-4, RBI; Entwistle 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Ricardo Carmona had a ghastly 0-for-5, putting him three points behind Martin Ortíz.

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – 3B Nunley – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – LF Seeley – 2B Bergquist – SS Taylor – P Conway
IND: CF J. Wilson – RF Tanner – 2B Kym – C Padilla – 3B Mathews – 1B Shank – LF Phillip – 3B Dawson – P Lambert

The miserable Indians sure didn’t know how to treat a league ERA leader with respect. John Wilson opened with a solo homer in the first inning, and that was only a mild taste of what was to come for Conway, who would go on to face 11 batters in an ERA- and moral-crippling third inning that opened with Ryan Dawson singling on an 0-2 pitch, a bunt, two walks to load the bases, and then single upon single upon single until Lambert finally made the third out with seven runs across in the inning, six earned – Mr. Alexander had found it necessary to contribute with a passed ball. The Raccoons had yet to log a hit in the game, which Nunley and Richards did with singles to start the fourth inning. Murphy walked to load them up. This time they scored the three runs that were on with singles by Alexander and Seeley, plus a Bergquist sac fly. Conway was hit for with McNeela with two down, and his potential ERA title was now very much in question.

Not in question at all was the outcome of this hell of a game. While Chris Mathis did some nice to look at long relief and the Coons got another run in the fifth inning, they then stalled. Josh Gibson was ripped for two runs in the seventh, putting the game well out of reach, and run-scoring hits by Nunley and Richards in the top of the ninth of course came well too late. 10-6 Indians. Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Richards 3-4, 2 RBI; Fucito (PH) 1-1; Mathis 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

Cookie had another oh-fer, only drawing a walk and stealing his 49th base en route to scoring in the fifth inning. I decreed a day off for him on Wednesday against Tristan Broun to get him mentally reset.

The CL ERA thing is a real race now with Conway just two points ahead of horse number two, Jonny Toner, and another two points ahead of Jorge Silva. Also in the mix, Curtis Tobitt, ten points behind, and theoretically, although no one dared to watch him much by now, Nick Brown, 18 points off in fifth place.

Game 3
POR: CF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – LF Fucito – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – SS Canning – P Santos
IND: CF J. Wilson – RF Tanner – 2B Kym – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – 3B Mathews – LF A. Chavez – SS Bowers – P Broun

Broun wouldn’t see a batter in the left-handed batters’ box in this game, and for the longest time couldn’t care less. Early on, the Raccoons’ hitting display was nothing but pathetic, and the Indians in turn took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on another John Wilson homer, his 21st. Maybe they should not bat him leadoff. Tom Bowers had drawn a walk ahead of the dinger. Like Brown on Monday, Santos couldn’t strike anybody out, and merely lingered in the game.

The Furballs were in something remotely resembling action in the top of the sixth then. When Murphy singled and Fucito doubled, they had the tying runs in scoring position with nobody out, but would be casually limited to Danny Margolis’ RBI groundout before Bergquist failed, Canning was ignored, and Santos struck out, the seventh coontail on Broun’s belt. Santos only had one through five innings and managed to get to four strikeouts over seven, the end of the line for him. He was still eligible for a win however, depending on the Raccoons’ performance in the top 8th. Fucito drew a leadoff walk that got Broun removed from the game, with Joel Davis, a right-hander, allowing a single to Margolis. Ron Richards hit for Bergquist, prompting an appearance from lefty Anthony Bryant, who got Richards on an easy fly to center. The Indians then sent right-hander Jason Clements after Canning, but the Raccoons had long arranged for Nunley to bat – and strike out. D-Alex hit for Santos, faced lefty Kyle Lamb, and singled to left, but not well enough to score Fucito. Bases loaded, two outs, full count on Sandy, who then ticked a ball to left, and it escaped between Bowers and Dawson! Single to left, Fucito scored, Margolis scored, score flipped! Merritt lined out hard to Dawson, but the Coons were up 3-2. Sakellaris and Thrasher teamed up for a perfect eighth, and the plan had been to leave Thrasher in to face the first guy in the bottom 9th, lefty Rowan Tanner, but Morán hit for him, a right-hander, so Angel Casas got into the ninth from the start. Morán grounded out to Angel. Jong-beom Kym ran a full count before grounding out to Brock Hudman at second base, and Guerra went down swinging. 3-2 Critters. Hudman 1-1; Margolis 2-5, RBI; Alexander (PH) 1-1; Santos 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (16-7) and 1-3;

By the very tip of their claws…… The Coons out-hit the Indians 11-2 in a near-fiasco.

Game 4
POR: CF Carmona – SS Sambrano – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 2B Bergquist – P Toner
IND: CF J. Wilson – RF Tanner – 1B S. Guerra – C Padilla – LF M. Pruitt – 3B Mathews – 2B Preto – SS Bowers – P A. Mendez

Always red-faced Mendez had reason to be mad at his team. Through six he allowed solo home runs to Alexander in the second inning and Murphy in the fourth inning, but also managed to strand whole flocks of Raccoons, three in the fourth (when Toner came up with two outs and grounded out to Joey Mathews) and two more in the fifth, with a double play in the sixth. But his team was not really helpful in trying to stave off defeat, netting only two hits off Jonny Toner in the same stretch of innings, and one of those was a 2-out triple for Mendez himself in the third inning. Their third hit was a 2-out single by Dave Padilla in the bottom 7th – on Toner’s *60th* pitch! Matt Pruitt singled on the very next pitch, putting the tying runs onto the corners, but Toner struck out Mathews to end the inning. Bottom 8th, leadoff triple by Silvestre Preto, defeating Bednarski and his circuitous approach. Toner was unimpressed, got Tom Bowers on a hard grounder to third, Clint Phillip on a foul pop, and took John Wilson’s grounder himself. Toner batted for himself in the ninth to enter the bottom of the inning on 83 pitches, with Tanner up first. He grounded out to Murphy, Guerra whiffed, and Padilla rolled out to Nunley – the Indians were dealt with in 92 pitches! 2-0 Raccoons! Carmona 2-5; Murphy 2-4, HR, RBI; Alexander 2-4, HR, RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2B; Toner 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (15-6) and 1-4;

That is the unbelievable FIFTH shutout this season for Jonny Toner!

Raccoons (88-58) @ Condors (71-75) – September 19-21, 2014

The Condors had nursed a winning record for a while but recently had fallen back. They were much the polar opposite of the Indians and the Raccoons, ranking in the top 3 in offense in the CL, but also in the bottom 3 in pitching, with a mediocre defense. They had a good core in the middle of the order with Will Newman, Ezra Branch, and Ryan Feldmann, all 27 or younger, and all with about 20 homers now, and had run the Raccoons around a bit this year, holding a 4-2 edge in the season series. Unless we can sweep them, we will lose the season series for the first time since 2004!

Projected matchups:
Daniel Dickerson (8-7, 4.54 ERA) vs. Michael Colvard (5-14, 4.21 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-6, 2.77 ERA) vs. Blaine Barnard (13-9, 3.86 ERA)
Bill Conway (11-5, 2.59 ERA) vs. Ethan Knight (4-4, 5.12 ERA)

Another southpaw lurking on Sunday in Ethan Knight, a 27-year old rookie who’s been up and down this year. He already started against the Coons in the Condors’ 9-1 rout on May 27, but only lasted four innings after walking everybody and their mother. Not that it helped the Raccoons ANY.

If Dickerson fails again, Graham Wasserman will be recalled from the job in the fish sticks factory he had to take up to not starve in the offseason, and get his remaining turns. Not that I expect much from Wasserman, who just won’t pan out as hoped, but it’s not wrong to give the kid a look.

Game 1
POR: CF Carmona – 2B Sambrano – LF Richards – 1B Murphy – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – C McNeela – SS Canning – P Dickerson
TIJ: 3B Dasher – SS Eroh – LF W. Newman – RF Branch – CF Feldmann – C Roland – 1B McDermott – 2B Lafon – P Colvard

The Raccoons took a 1-0 lead in the third after Ron Eroh’s throwing error put Dickerson on base and Carmona drove him in with a single to center. However, Dickerson had next to nothing to fool batters and while he survived that nasty middle of the order the first time through, the second time he ran the gauntlet, in the fourth inning, he surrendered a 1-out triple to Ezra Branch, who was then singled in by Ryan Feldmann, tying the score. Cory Roland flew out to center, with Feldmann trying to take second base, but Cookie threw him out there for an unusual 8-5 double play. The top 5th saw the Coons put two on when McNeela legged out an infield single, Canning also found a single somewhere, and Dickerson bunted them over. Then McNeela fell asleep on Carmona’s grounder to Roland Lafon, and once Sambrano struck out, the Coons had stranded another pair in scoring position. Another chance materialized soon to probably get butchered. Richards drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, and Lafon dropped Murphy’s awful pop for an error. Matt Nunley came up, hit a ball to deep center, and past Feldmann by mere inches! That thing was in, the runners went, but because the play was so close, only Ron Richards scored on the double, 2-1. And then Bednarski got four wide ones, McNeela struck out, Seeley batted for Canning and struck out, and Merritt batted for Dickerson and rolled one over to Lafon, who was glad for sure to erase his error with minimal damage.

The Coons then got four outs from Mathis, one from Youngblood, and another one from Sakellaris, who was supposed to also pitch the eighth, but his spot came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning. Murphy had walked, there had been two overly soft singles, and right-hander Jose Sanchez was in a real pickle. D-Alex hit for him, walked, which forced in a run, but Carmona flew out to left to strand three in a 3-1 game. That lead – which once more should have been so much bigger, but had not been enlarged due to the constant and omnipresent dumb****ery on this team – didn’t survive contact with Zack Entwistle, who surrendered a leadoff single to Alfonso Gonzales in the bottom 8th, a double to Craig Dasher, and the runners scored on consecutive sac flies, tying the score.

Top 9th. Dave Shannon grazed Sandy Sambrano in the slightest fashion with his second pitch. At 1-0, Sandy took off in what was supposed to be a hit-and-run, but Ron Richards missed the pitch completely … as did Gonzales behind the dish. Sandy was safe at second, but Richards’ following deep drive to right was caught by Branch, only allowing Sandy to move to third with one out. Of course the Raccoons failed. Of course they did. Murphy got four wide ones, Nunley popped out, and Brock Hudman grounded out to second base. The game went to extras, and the 11th started with Sandy on base to get going again. Again the hit-and-run, and this time Richards singled to right, putting runners on the corners with nobody out against middling Brian Gilbert, a right-hander. He lost Murphy to a 7-pitch walk, loading the bases, and Nunley … struck out. GODDAMN **** IT, YOU ****ING ****HEADS!!!

Brock Hudman’s pointy ears were ringing, and he hit a ball to right center that was caught, but deep enough to allow Sandy to tag and score the go-ahead run. Fucito hit for Tom Constantino, walked, and Seeley grounded to Lafon, ending the inning with another three runners stranded. Angel Casas survived a deep drive to center that Cookie caught before slamming into the wall, and sat them down 1-2-3 in the bottom 11th. 4-3 Blighters. Richards 2-5, BB; Hudman 1-2, RBI; McNeela 2-4; Alexander (PH) 0-0, 2 BB, RBI; Mathis 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Thrasher 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

FIFTEEN MEN LEFT ON BASE. FIFTEEN.

What’s “liquor store” in Spanish??

Game 2
POR: CF Carmona – SS Sambrano – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – 3B Nunley – LF Seeley – C Alexander – 2B Hudman – P Brown
TIJ: 3B Dasher – 2B Lafon – RF Branch – CF Feldmann – LF W. Newman – C Roland – 1B Jaeger – SS Eroh – P Barnard

Brown continued to get to two strikes rather frequently, but couldn’t remove any batter the first time through. The first Condor to strike out ended up Dasher, ending the third inning. Offensively, things remained dull for the Critters, the early highlight being Nick Brown’s 1-out double in the third inning that didn’t lead to anything. Things didn’t get better in the middle innings, with Carmona caught stealing in the sixth after reaching on an infield single, which cost the Coons the go-ahead run when Ron Richards TRIPLED, only to be stranded by the hideous Murphy and his grounder to short. Bottom 6th, the ground opened. Blaine Barnard grounded to short, where Sambrano bungled the ball and put the pitcher on with an error. When Dasher bounced to Brown, he tried to turn two, but nobody could come up with his throw, and the Condors had two on after two errors. Lafon walked in a full count, loading the bases, and now the big bats were coming up. The Condors scored two unearned runs on Ezra Branch’s single past Murphy and Feldmann’s sac fly before Newman hit into a double play. The Raccoons failed their way to the conclusion of the game, never threatening again. 2-0 Condors. Carmona 2-4; Richards 2-3, 3B; Brown 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, L (14-7) and 1-2, 2B;

This was Brownie’s first loss since July 30 against the – wait for it – Condors. I gotta get back to my old ways of handling this kind of ****. I gotta start randomly shooting some of the suckers.

Cookie remains three points behind Martin Ortíz as neither of them has a good week, but Cookie’s is certainly worse.

Game 3
POR: CF Carmona – SS Sambrano – RF Richards – 1B Murphy – LF Fucito – 3B Merritt – C Margolis – 2B Bergquist – P Conway
TIJ: 3B Dasher – 1B M. Herrera – LF W. Newman – RF Branch – CF Feldmann – C Roland – 2B Lafon – SS Valles – P Knight

Cookie reached 50 stolen bases with a leadoff single to left center and a successful swipe, but was also stranded at second base. Conway however continued his implosion with a ****ing bloop single by Dasher to start the bottom 1st, followed by a triple by Mike Herrera, who had his first plate appearance of the year. Newman hit a sac fly, and not only was Conway down 2-0 after one, but he was also as good as out of the ERA race. Conway allowed another run in the third inning, negating the run scratched out by Cookie with another soft single and Ron Richards’ 2-out double in the top of the same inning. The top of the fourth inning started with Jimmy Fucito hitting a single and Merritt walked. Danny Margolis hit a soft line to right, over Lafon, and his single loaded the bases with nobody out. Bergquist, who more and more did not appear like being the second baseman of the future, or even near-present, hit one hard to Lafon, who elected to fire home for one out. This sounded good, really, for the Condors, given that Conway was batting .051 and was a guaranteed out, and then the Coons would make two outs by the time he was gone, without a run scoring. Unfortunately, Knight spoiled the plan – he lost Conway in a full count, pushing home the Coons’ second run! Cookie was up with the bases loaded and one out, grounded to Melvin Valles, and only his speed bailed him out as he out-ran the return throw and stayed out of the double play by two whiskers. The tying run scored. Sambrano grounded out to Valles, ending the inning.

The Coons stranded two more in the sixth against Troy McCaskill before Conway was torn open by Branch, who hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning, giving the Condors a new lead, 5-3. Conway walked Feldmann and was yanked. Josh Gibson found out of that inning, then found trouble in the seventh, which Sugano relieved. Sugano faced three batters, issued a walk in the eighth, and got two double plays, one to end the seventh, and another one in the eighth. And yet, it was all for nought. The inept offense failed to produce anything, and the Raccoons went down almost silently. They had the tying run up in the ninth after a pinch-hit single by Walt Canning, but Scott Vigil struck out Ron Richards to end the game. 5-3 Condors. Carmona 2-5, RBI; Canning (PH) 1-1; Richards 2-5, 2B, RBI; Margolis 2-4;

In other news

September 15 – Vancouver’s SP Rod Taylor (13-11, 3.64 ERA) erases 16 Loggers via the strikeout and shuts them out on three hits in a 5-0 Canadiens victory.
September 16 – SFW INF Jamie Wilson (.306, 15 HR, 66 RBI) will miss up to two weeks with hamstring tendinitis.
September 17 – SFW LF/RF Jose “Dingus” Morales (.348, 23 HR, 72 RBI) has a field day in the Warriors’ 8-1 rout of the Gold Sox, going 5-for-5 with 5 RBI, including an RBI triple and a grand slam. He lacks the double for the cycle.
September 18 – Heading for Tommy John surgery, PIT SP Miguel Rodriguez (17-6, 3.52 ERA) figures to be out until late in the 2015 season.
September 19 – OCT 1B Oliver Torres (.284, 0 HR, 53 RB) has his 2,000th career base hit in a 5-2 Thunder win over the Indians. Torres has a pair of doubles off Chester Graham in the game, the first one being the milestone. The 37-year old Torres spent most of his career between the Aces and Warriors, and won batting titles with the former in 2003 and 2005, leading the CL in OPS in both years despite hitting single-digit home runs. 52 doubles and 172 walks in 2003 perhaps did help. For his career, he’s a .307/.437/.419 batter with 38 HR and 718 RBI, plus 155 SB.
September 19 – MIL RF/LF Zach Knowling (.265, 8 HR, 46 RBI) requires surgery to fix a tear in his labrum and is out for the season. He might be available come Opening Day.
September 20 – Another milestone is reached, as LAP 1B/3B Dennis Berman (.283, 17 HR, 84 RBI) swats his 300th career home run, a solo shot in a 7-6 loss to the Capitals. The homer comes off Colin Baldwin. The 38-year old Berman, who has spent his entire career in the Federal League, mostly for the Cyclones, is a .283/.366/.443 batter with 1,427 RBI to accompany the 300 home runs, but has never led the league in home runs. He led the league in doubles in 2007.
September 20 – The Warriors claim the FL West with a 4-1 win over the Rebels (which also eliminates the Rebels in the East), ranking a whopping 15 games ahead of the Scorpions. It will be the eighth playoff appearance for Sioux Falls, and the second consecutive since an 11-year drought that started in 2002.
September 20 – Overtime is logged in Denver, as the Cyclones and Gold Sox take 16 innings to determine a winner. Three hits off Denver’s Rick Gillespie in the 16th help the Cyclones to a 4-3 win.
September 21 – ATL 1B Gil Rockwell (.301, 43 HR, 102 RBI) breaks the single-season home run mark by Raúl Vázquez with a solo homer off the Canadiens’ Dustin Burke.

Complaints and stuff

Only one pitcher has ever thrown more than five shutouts in a single season, and he did it twice. David Burke, who also leads the career shutout category with 35, tossed six shutouts in 1977 and another eight in 1982. 35 shutouts are a word. Kisho Saito and Nick Brown COMBINED only amount to 34. Still, Burke is not in the Hall of Fame, because the second half of his career was … not so good.

As we’re on pitchers, Bill Conway’s sudden demise has left only two horses in the CL ERA race for the Coons, and one is the unlikely Nick Brown, who by now solely survives on generating poor contact. That is a legit survival pack, but it’s prone to just give out at times. He’s third with his 2.68 ERA, trailing OCT Curtis Tobitt (2.60), and of course Jonny Toner (2.48), who is just a gold nugget to hold onto.

Cookie has the stolen base title bagged with Mike Rivera in a deep slump and down by a dozen, but Cookie had his own struggles this week, batting a paltry 7-for-29. Yes, for some guys, .241 is considered paltry. One walk, one strikeout. Two bases to reach 50 for the year.

Make sure to attend Saturday's game against the Crusaders, who by then will have won the division at a 99% probability, because we have Nick Brown Bobbleheads ready to go for *everybody* in attendance. It might be Conway or Santos on the mound, but don't miss out on this great opportunity! Nick Brown's career might be winding down, but this figurine will bobble on your shelf forever!

Maud makes me do those pitches from time to time. I'm no good at selling stuff. I had to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy with my lemonade stand when I was eight.