[Westheim]

Ron Richards’ season was indeed over with an ankle sprain, so playing time in the last week would be pretty much shuffled.

Raccoons (92-63) @ Canadiens (86-69) – September 29-October 2, 2014

There were four more left with the ugly Elks, whom we were 8-6 ahead of this season, and against whom we had won the season series the last five straight years. They ranked sixth in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed in the league, with a +56 run differential that was just not enough to compete even against “normal” teams like the Raccoons, without even getting into whatever it was the Crusaders were.

Projected matchups:
Hector Santos (17-7, 2.85 ERA) vs. Samuel McMullen (14-7, 3.40 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (16-6, 2.39 ERA) vs. Rod Taylor (13-13, 3.70 ERA)
Graham Wasserman (0-0, 16.88 ERA) vs. Dustin Burke (7-13, 4.35 ERA)
Nick Brown (14-7, 2.64 ERA) vs. Hunter Park (12-8, 2.90 ERA)

McMullen is their only southpaw and he goes in the opener. Unless the Titans find a beggar with raw talent somewhere between now and Friday, McMullen will be the last southpaw starter the Raccoons see this year – of just 24, not even one per week.

No more Dickerson in 2014. Bill Conway will start the Titans series afterwards, and Santos and Toner will go again. None of them is even at 200 innings yet, so it’s not like we’re burning them. The only Raccoon that is already over 200 innings in 2014 is Nick Brown (218.1).

After the Crusaders series we have a pretty badly beaten bullpen, but we would not call on reinforcements. Santos was expected to make it at least to the seventh, and we can patch from there.

Game 1
POR: CF Sambrano – 3B Merritt – 1B Murphy – RF Bednarski – LF Fucito – C Margolis – SS Howell – 2B Bergquist – P Santos
VAN: SS Lawrence – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 2B Madison – 3B Suzuki – CF Luxton – C M. Torres – P McMullen

In an odd and oddly disturbing game, the Coons took a 1-0 lead in the top 1st on Stan Murphy’s 21st home run, but the Elks tore up Hector Santos for five runs in the first two innings, and all driven in by the top two guys in their order. Jaylin Lawrence had a single in the first and scored on Enrique Garcia’s home run, and in the bottom 2nd there was a man on with McMullen to bat and two out, McMullen singled, and Lawrence wrecked another sub-par and non-fooling Santos pitch for a 3-run homer, both Elk shots going to right and well outta here. So, Santos very much wasn’t going to make it seven, but at least he kept the Raccoons within slam range through five while they did absolutely nothing. Top 6th, there were singles by Fucito and Margolis before Rob Howell reached on Ray Gilbert’s error, and all that with two outs. Bergquist was the tying run – you might wish for different personnel in that spot – and somehow managed to draw a bases-loaded walk that shoved home a run. Santos was quickly hit for, but Matt Nunley grounded out on the first pitch and the generously offered chance was blatantly wasted, like so many this season. Too many to count, too many to cry over every single one of them. The Raccoons never mattered again, and lost a real silent one. 5-2 Canadiens. Fucito 2-4;

Our top two drove in nobody and went 0-for-9.

Martin Ortíz had a 5-hit day against the ridiculous Loggers, smashing two doubles and three singles for four RBI in a 14-run rout. It’s not just us, but Cookie can kiss the batting title goodbye, now down eight points.

Game 2
POR: 3B Nunley – CF Seeley – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – LF Sambrano – 2B Bergquist – SS Hudman – P Toner
VAN: SS Lawrence – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 2B Madison – 3B Suzuki – CF J. Medina – C Dunn – P R. Taylor

Rod Taylor came in with 263 strikeouts for the season, dwarfing really everybody on the Raccoons roster, and yet in the first two innings he issued five walks and struck out none. The Raccoons, **** as they are, managed to score one run only, and that was initially an unearned one when Sandy took a leadoff walk in the second, stole a base but made it to third on Melvin Dunn’s misdirected throw to center, then came home on Brock Hudman’s groundout. Only then did Taylor embark on a walk spree, issuing free bases to Toner, Nunley, and Seeley, before he found some idiot to hit at a pitch. That was of course Bednarski, grounding out in a 2-0 count.

But maybe this could be one of those games where a run would be enough because Jonny Toner would tell the Elks to fork the hell off. He drilled Enrique Garcia in the first inning, so that was not a good sign, but in fact the next Elk to reach didn’t get on until the fifth inning, and then it was Mitsuhide Suzuki getting brushed by another pitch. The Coons would load the bases again in the sixth inning, and again starting with nobody on and two out. Hudman singled to right, Toner singled to center, and Nunley singled to right again – Taylor had not issued a walk since that to Seeley in the second inning, but had struck out three, and next it was Seeley. Jason lined a pitch over Steve Madison into right center and deep enough for two runs to score on the single. Bednarski came up, and for once also through. Taylor’s 0-1 was tattooed and drilled to left, high, deep, gone – the Coons were up by half a dozen.

Just in time to cut down on any remote joyful emotion, not only did the Elks break up Toner’s no-hitter right out of the gate in the bottom of the sixth, no, they also had to knock three straight hits off him, plating a run, with the second run in form of Jaylin Lawrence cut down at home plate by Bednarski when Garcia singled to right. Garcia was caught stealing, and Toner got out of a mess with only one run conceded. Toner would make it into the eighth, in which he retired Juan Medina and Melvin Dunn with no fuss, but when the Elks sent a left-handed pinch-hitter in Chris Pali, Toner was relieved by George Youngblood in a 7-1 game. There would be two more lefties after that (Lawrence and Garcia at the top of the order) and Youngblood removed them all, plus Ray Gilbert to end the game. 8-1 Raccoons. Bednarski 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Murphy 3-5; Sambrano 3-4, BB; Toner 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (17-6) and 1-3, BB;

Unless Jonny Toner allows about nine earned runs in no innings pitched in the season-ender on Sunday, he should have the ERA title wrapped up, so we get at least that. Also, the win assures the Raccoons of second place in the North in 2014.

Game 3
POR: 3B Nunley – CF Seeley – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – 2B Sambrano – LF Chisholm – SS Canning – P Wasserman
VAN: CF K. Evans – RF E. Garcia – 1B Gilbert – LF Cameron – 3B Suzuki – SS Lawrence – 2B Tellez – C M. Torres – P D. Burke

The Coons pounced on Burke for four runs in the first inning. The first three Critters all singled, Murphy walked to force home the first run, Miguel Torres helped out with a run-scoring passed ball, and Sandy brought home the last two with a single to right center before Keith Chisholm in his first major league start hit into the inning-ending double play. That was the signal – we were off to the races: which pitcher could melt down faster? Because Wasserman soon was victimized by the Elks as well, with Kurt Evans hitting a hard leadoff double in the bottom 1st before Garcia hit a real moonshot to cut the 4-0 gap in half. Top 2nd, the Raccoons had Nunley on with a 2-out walk, Seeley hit an RBI double, and Bednarski drove home Seeley with a single, 6-2, but the Elks pulled those two runs back in the bottom of the inning. Those two runs were unearned after Nunley’s shocking throwing error against Burke’s bunt, but circus wasn’t over yet. The Coons had Sandy on to start the third inning, and he stole second base, his third bag in the series. Chisholm singled, putting runners on the corners, before Canning and Wasserman both struck out. Nunley grounded to short, but there was Lawrence missing the ball completely for a run-scoring error. That was it for poor Burke, who was removed for D.J. Fulgieri, who got a pop to short from Seeley to end the inning at 7-4. It didn’t take long for Wasserman to follow him to the showers. He was bailed out of the third with a double play, but in the fourth the Elks would just keep hitting away at him relentlessly and tied the game with ease.

The Coons took an 8-7 lead in the fifth inning on Frank Yeager’s wild pitch, which chased home Canning. It was not the first pitch astray thrown by Yeager, who had already beaned PH Tom McNeela, who had to be run for with Rob Howell after getting obliterated by a fastball. The Raccoons left runners on the corners before Constantino came in for the bottom 5th and retired absolutely nobody. He walked Mitsuhide Suzuki, allowed singles to Lawrence and Cesar Tellez, threw a wild pitch, walked Miguel Torres, and then was victimized by useless Walt Canning when he couldn’t get to an easy grounder by Eric Paull. Two runs in, bases loaded, nobody out, and down 9-8. All runs scored against Manobu Sugano, with Kurt Evans hitting an RBI single, and Ray Gilbert plating two with another single, 12-8. The next inning saw no Raccoons on base, but another wild throwing error by Nunley, leading to another unearned run with Josh Gibson trying to just get this ****ing game over with. The Elks were also having fun with Nunley; Chris Spindler drilled him to start the eighth inning, but Jason Seeley soon punished him with an RBI triple to center. He scored on Murphy’s groundout, but it was too late to gain momentum. Or any self-respect. 13-10 Canadiens. Seeley 3-4, BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Bednarski 3-5, RBI; Gibson 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K;

Four more games. Only four more games. Only four more games and I will be able to lay down and not move for six months. Only four more games.

One more by Brownie!

Game 4
POR: 3B Nunley – CF Seeley – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – 2B Sambrano – SS Taylor – LF Chisholm – P Brown
VAN: CF K. Evans – 3B Suzuki – 1B Gilbert – SS Madison – C M. Torres – RF J. Medina – LF E. Garcia – 2B Lawrence – P Park

Matt Nunley jacked on the first pitch of the game, his first home run after the All Star break. For the Coons, **** luck definitely continued as the Elks would get their first three batters in the game on base on two bloop singles and a full count walk, but were held to one run once Steve Madison struck out and Miguel Torres hit into a double play. Fortunately, Nick Brown was around for long enough to know that he had to take care of **** himself if he wanted to end the season with a W. Sandy led off the second inning with a single, stole his 30th base, Chisholm walked, and then Brown was not asked to bunt with one out. He singled cleanly to left, plating Sandy with the go-ahead run. Nunley singled to load the bases, Seeley failed, but Bednarski managed to single in two for a 4-1 lead in the second inning. Much of that was Brownie’s merit, but the baseball gods shrugged and if they couldn’t starve him in a 1-1 game forever, they would just send rain. That rain started in the third inning and quickly picked up the pace, forcing a delay of over 45 minutes before the inning was out. Brown had thrown only 38 pitches beforehand, so was of course continuing and might even make it through five if things wouldn’t –

For the time being, the Coons knocked out Park in the fourth inning, adding two muddled runs with sloppy play by the Elks, a wild pitch, another hit batter… but of course one thing was constant: with a man on third (Bednarski after an RBI double and the wild pitch) and one out, Murphy would not get a runner home. He grounded out to Suzuki at the hot corner. Bottom 4th, leadoff single up the middle by Gilbert. Madison walked, uh-oh. Passed ball charged to Dylan Alexander. Uh-oh. Brown struck out Torres and Medina, had Garcia at 2-2, and then the miserable butcher lined a 2-2 pitch up the leftfield line for a 2-run double. Brown buckled, but didn’t break. He retired the next four Elks to qualify for a win, pending insufficient incompetence by the bullpen this time around.

Chris Mathis’ second pitch to Ray Gilbert was almost a homer in the bottom 6th, but Seeley made the catch on the warning track. Bit too high, not deep enough, also a crosswind that didn’t help. Nine outs to get – and this was also for the sixth straight season series! And the Critters tagged on – even if they were unearned – some runs in the seventh. A Suzuki error got them rolling, putting on Jon Merritt, Nunley singled, Jason Bergquist hit for Seeley against left-hander Beau Barnaby and hit an RBI single to left, and then Bednarski hit a double to plate another run. Here came a former Raccoon to replace Barnaby, left-hander Luis Beltran, not-so-proud owner of a 5.81 ERA, and gave up the two Critters still on base on a hard hit by Stan Murphy. The last few innings would be uneventful, with Youngblood, Sakellaris, and Casas turning in scoreless innings. 10-3 Brownies! Nunley 4-5, BB, HR, RBI; Bergquist (PH) 1-2, RBI; Bednarski 4-5, BB, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Murphy 2-5, 2 RBI; Sambrano 3-5, BB, RBI;

Raccoons (94-65) vs. Titans (70-89) – October 3-5, 2014

The Titans were 40 games out by now and trying to stave off the Indians to at least save fourth place in the league. The offense, that had supposed to be the stronger part of the roster, had failed them completely and just a few days ago had even fallen behind the Raccoons’ (so the Coons were not in the bottom three anymore), while their pitching had amounted to barely league average. But they had kept the Raccoons at an arm’s length, dominating the season series at a 9-6 rate, so a tie was the best the Raccoons could still achieve.

Projected matchups:
Bill Conway (11-7, 3.03 ERA) vs. Ramón Jimenez (7-15, 4.79 ERA)
Hector Santos (17-8, 3.01 ERA) vs. Melvin Andrade (6-13, 4.76 ERA)
Jonathan Toner (17-6, 2.34 ERA) vs. Paul Kirkland (9-12, 3.51 ERA)

We would not get to see John Alexander in this series, who was on the DL with a sprained thumb.

Sunday might be the last game of 38-year old Jon Merritt’s career, and he will get the start at third base then, even though there’s no left-hander anywhere close for the Titans.

Game 1
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B T. Ramos – C Suda – 3B Holley – RF R. Lopez – CF S. Stevens – LF Thurman – P R. Jimenez
POR: CF Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – 2B Bergquist – LF Chisholm – SS Hudman – P Conway

Conway’s September had been about as bad as can be, and after retiring the first five Titans in this game, he allowed a single to Rodrigo Lopez, then walked Simon Stevens. Zachary Thurman had him in a 3-0 count, then grounded out to Nunley to end the second inning. Conway was hit by Jimenez in the bottom 2nd, which was probably not going to make him any better, then issued a leadoff walk to Jimenez in the third, which was also about the point the rain from Vancouver reached here. Quickly we were under a rain delay that lasted an hour and change.

The Raccoons didn’t matter until the fourth inning, which Bergquist led off with a double to deep left. Chisholm walked, and then Hudman lined a ball over Mike Rivera, who had stolen his 40th base of the season off Conway before the rain delay. The ball found the gap for an RBI double, the first run in the game. There was something in batting Conway with runners in scoring position and nobody out that I didn’t like. His .050 average this season and .110 career average probably had something to do with that. But he had not looked worse after the rain delay than before, so maybe he had five in him as well. But before we could check on that, Conway struck out, Sandy walked, and Nunley hit into a ****ing two-piece. Conway in fact got through five, then even started the sixth – and collapsed. Tony Ramos singled, he walked “Quasimodo” Suda, and there was a mess in progress. Zack Entwistle replaced him and extinguished the Titans in blazing fashion, striking out Rob Holley and Simon Stevens around Lopez’ soft fly to left that was right to Chisholm. Conway still wouldn’t get the W, which was thrown away by Nunley, who committed his third 2-base throwing error of the week, this one in the seventh inning on Jose Gutierrez’ grounder with two outs that should have stranded Thurman on second base against Chris Mathis – but didn’t. Youngblood struck out Ramos to at least keep the game tied at one, and while the Coons only amounted to a hit batter (Murphy) and a double play (D-Alex) in the bottom 7th, the Titans had two on again versus Sakellaris in the top of the eighth. Thrasher came into the dire spot and struck out Xavier Williams to end the inning. Chisholm singled in the bottom 8th, Taylor hit for Hudman – and into a double play. So much ineptitude led to extra innings, where Thrasher was on 4 K when Suda took him deep in the top of the 10th. Murphy drew a 1-out walk against Valentim Innocentes in his second inning in the bottom 10th, but Fucito hit a high bouncer to third – but the Titans just barely missed ANOTHER double play. Fucito remained on first and was the tying run with two outs. Bergquist singled, moving him to second base, which brought up Chisholm, who was a left-hander countering Innocentes and was unretired in the game. First pitch, hit to right, hard grounder, past Bob Hall and here comes Bergquist to score – we’re tied!

Of course Palmer Taylor was of no greater use than a stapler and popped out, and Angel Casas had to work around a Murphy error to survive the top 11th. Danny Margolis had come into the game in a double switch earlier and had been close to walking off the Coons in the ninth with a drive to deep right that had however ended up the first out. He also made the first out in the 11th, before Sandy grounded to 41-year old Bob Hall at second base, and Hall pulled a Nunley and threw the ball away, sending the winning run to second base. The pitcher was Toshiro Uenohara, a.k.a. the Titans’ Opening Day starter. Uenohara dug in, got Nunley on a grounder to short and Bednarski on a crap fly to right.

Rob Holley’s 2-run homer put Angel Casas on the hook in the top 12th, despite striking out six in his two innings. Uenohara was still around in the bottom 12th, issuing walks to Murphy and Merritt to start the inning. The Coons didn’t advance further until Uenohara drilled the useless Taylor to load the bases with two outs for Margolis. That count ran full and was Uenohara perhaps due to be replaced? He lost Margolis, forcing home a run and bringing up an 0-for-4 Sandy Sambrano, who didn’t wait around when the Titans stuck with Uenohara and chipped the first pitch to center. It’s in! It’s in and we’re tied! And now it gets by Marcos Baez! An error by Baez! The Raccoons walk off!! 5-4 Blighters. Bergquist 2-6, 2B; Chisholm 3-4, 2 BB, RBI;

Oh dear.

Jaylen “Midnight” Martin tossed a 4-hit shutout to end his regular season, ending the campaign with a 2.60 ERA. Brownie was ruffled on Thursday and will not function as a buffer anymore, so we gotta pull Toner on Sunday before he gets close to that 2.60 mark.

Also, the Raccoons were assured the #22 pick in next year’s draft after this game.

Game 2
BOS: SS M. Rivera – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B T. Ramos – 3B Holley – RF R. Lopez – C T. Robinson – CF E. Mathews – LF X. Williams – P Andrade
POR: SS Sambrano – 3B Nunley – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – CF Seeley – C Margolis – LF Chisholm – 2B Bergquist – P Santos

Santos definitely looked like the tank was empty after 200 innings, which he reached when Rob Holley made the second out in the third inning, but which came after a huge 2-run homer by Tony Ramos. Bednarski returned the favor in the bottom of the inning with his 23rd dinger of the season, but Santos soon coughed up another one, a solo shot by Eddie Mathews – the first career homer for the 26-year old September callup. Santos reached 200 K by erasing Andrade to end that inning.

With the Pacific winter at the doorstep, we had the third straight day with a rain delay once the skies opened in the fifth inning. Santos returned after a delay over 45 minutes, and got out of the inning with two 1-pitch at-bats, but he was clearly toast … and the third consecutive starting pitcher for the Coons killed off by nature without logging an out in the sixth inning in as many games. Santos remained on a 2-1 hook, with the Raccoons plainly refusing to be even remotely useful. They did get two on in the bottom 6th when Murphy doubled and Seeley walked, but Margolis grounded out and Chisholm whiffed against Aurelio Hernandez to keep them in scoring position. Bergquist then came up with a leadoff single in the bottom 7th. Constantino had already tossed two innings and bunted him over, Sambrano grounded out to short, but Nunley found a hole on the right side for a game-tying RBI single. Hernandez remained in the game, Rob Holley put on Bednarski with an error, and then Murphy grounded a 1-2 pitch up the middle and through between Rivera and Gutierrez to drive home Nunley with a single, the go-ahead run was in! Merritt hit for Seeley, but grounded out, keeping it at 4-3.

That lead stood up for about five minutes. Constantino surrendered a leadoff single to Gutierrez in the top 8th and was instantly yanked for Sugano, but the Titans countered with Suda hitting for Ramos. Suda grounded a 1-1 pitch to third, Nunley to first … and well past first. His FOURTH atrocious throwing error for two bases in a week … and it was only Saturday. Just when I was at a point where I had almost forgotten Ricardo Martinez…

Bottom 9th, Sandy hit a 1-out single to right, then stole second base, just barely outpacing Nunley’s errors with his sack output this week. And Nunley came up with Uenohara on the mound again. Of course he countered him well enough to be expected to be of some use. A walk was not necessarily within the definition of usefulness, and ****ING BEDNARSKI hit into a double play to send the game to extras, where Josh Gibson hit the leadoff batter in the 10th AND the 11th inning(!!) and STILL escaped punishment. But the pitching situation by now was so bad, the Raccoons had to send Daniel Dickerson to the pen to warm up with the 11th just having begun and got his first relief appearance since 2005. And a Nunley error, this time of the clumsy variant, in the top 12th. Howell, somehow having arrived at short, made an error in the 13th as the team collectively failed to lose the game, but Dickerson somehow snuck through on groundballs. Things got worse for the Coons, who brought Dickerson up with runners on second and first and one out in the bottom 13th. There was almost no bullpen left behind Dickerson, and Sandy was in a slump and could not be counted on to get a hit with two outs. Nope, let Dickerson swing and hope for - … oh, a double play. Well, that’s new at least. Murphy made an error in the 14th that still didn’t lead to all-out collapse. In fact, Dickerson went FIVE SHUTOUT INNINGS while continuously being sabotaged, and it JUST WASN’T ENOUGH TO GET A ****ING WIN.

Ron Thrasher was in for the 17th, walked the bases loaded and somehow escaped when Tom McNerney grounded out to Rob Howell. Howell was also asked to bunt in the 18th and moved Murphy to second base while making the first out. There was not much in terms of pinch-runners left on a once-long bench, but Danny Margolis wore an 0-for-7 yoke and Torruellas hit for him against right-hander Ricardo Rocha. Torruellas was batting .130 and had mostly been forgotten until McNeela had been bruised earlier in the week and he had moved back up to be the #3 catcher (of 3…). He singled to right, but Murphy had had a bad read and had to halt at third base, giving the Coons runners on the corners with one out and another green rookie up in Chisholm. Chisholm clanked a 2-1 pitch to right. Uh, that’s a nice fly there. Going, going, GONE!!!! 7-4 Blighters. Murphy 3-7, BB, 2B, RBI; Torruellas (PH) 1-1; Chisholm 2-7, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Constantino 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K; Entwistle 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; Gibson 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K; Dickerson 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K;

(wakes up in the middle of the night) Are they - … are they still playing? … Nah. It’s dark in the park.

Thank goodness.

The South was still undecided, with the Bayhawks 1 1/2 gams up on the Thunder. Huh? The Bayhawks have a makeup game with the Aces left which has been scheduled for Monday. Given that, the season might actually stretch until Tuesday, should it come to a game #163.

Game 3
BOS: CF S. Stevens – 2B J. Gutierrez – 1B T. Ramos – C Suda – 3B Holley – RF R. Lopez – SS Rentz – LF X. Williams – P Kirkland
POR: SS Sambrano – 3B Merritt – RF Bednarski – 1B Murphy – C Alexander – CF Seeley – LF Chisholm – 2B Bergquist – P Toner

The grand finale! For the season in general, Jon Merritt in particular, and listen dearly, you little ****s: whatever you do, do it the **** in regulation!

Toner had two runners on base in the first inning after singles by Stevens and Ramos, but wiggled out of that when Suda popped out and Holley whiffed. Sandy and Merritt got on base with a walk and single, respectively, in the bottom 1st and Murphy’s groundout brought home at least the lead runner for a 1-0 lead. Like Santos before, Toner logged his 200th K of the season when he struck out the opposing pitcher, which happened to end the top of the second. Keith Chisholm continued his unlikely heroics from last night (late, late night) with a 2-run homer in the bottom 2nd, and the Raccoons scratched out another run after that when Bergquist hit a bloop single, stole second base, advanced on a passed ball, and scored on Sandy’s groundout; 4-0 after two!

Toner wasn’t exactly dominant and had a wild bout or two early on, which raced up his pitch count. In the sixth inning, bad luck was added to the mix and the Titans strafed him for three hits and two runs, the latter being scored on a 2-out double by Tommy Rentz. Toner finished the inning, but that was it for him this season, the pitch count exceeding 110 in the last at-bat with Marcos Baez. When the pen took over in the seventh it initially looked a lot like an instant meltdown would take place. George Youngblood appeared to face PH Mike Rivera, who singled on the first pitch, also the only pitch Youngblood was allowed to throw in the game. Sakellaris replaced him and the Coons pulled off a double play in strike-out-throw-out fashion when Stevens swung over a 3-2 fastball and D-Alex gunned down Mike Rivera (a paltry 40 stolen bases!). Instead, it was the Titans’ pen to go up in flames in a 5-run seventh inning for the home team. Ricardo Rocha came already into the game with a 6.57 ERA and was savagely abused by the Coons, starting with a leadoff walk by Jon Merritt. Bednarski singled, Murphy singled, Merritt scored and drew an ill-advised throw, moving the trail runners to scoring position. D-Alex whiffed, and then the Titans walked Seeley intentionally to get to Chisholm. Before Rocha could get that saving double play, he balked in a run, then fell to Chisholm’s single to right. Aurelio Hernandez kept crumbling upon replacing Rocha, with Jimmy Fucito also driving in a run as well as Sandy. The inning ended when the Titans tagged out Fucito at third base on that single.

A 7-run lead wasn’t enough to just put in Tom Constantino and wait for the outs to fall. Nope, Constantino allowed a leadoff single to Ramos, who was bundled up in Suda’s double play, and then Constantino still managed to load the bases with a Rob Holley single and two walks to Lopez and Rentz. Sugano had to come in and got Marcos Baez to foul out to Murphy, ending this nightmare inning. Instead, Chris Mathis would throw the final pitches of the season, retiring the side in order. The park closed for the winter once Jose Gutierrez flew out to Keith Chisholm. 9-2 Critters. Sambrano 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Merritt 2-4, BB; Bednarski 2-4; Canning 1-1; Seeley 2-3, 2 2B; Fucito (PH) 1-1, RBI; Toner 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, W (18-6) and 1-2;

(hums) Jonny-Jonny To-ner …! We’re gonna have so much fun with that kid!

Until his arm falls off.

In other news

September 30 – Atlanta’s Jimmy Raupp (.295, 22 HR, 69 RBI) really has an enjoyable day, figuring big in the Knights’ 20-5 rout of the Falcons. He has five hits and a walk, with two homers, two doubles, and eight runs batted in. In the same game, INF Wade White (.331, 4 HR, 39 RBI), who had come over to the Knights from the Aces mid-season, has two hits for a 20-game hitting streak.
October 1 – Capitals and Blue Sox play 15 innings in Washington. The Blue Sox score two in the top 14th, but the Capitals come back with an equal amount before walking off in the next inning on outfielder Tommy Ward’s single.
October 3 – WAS CL Juan Jimenez (1-5, 4.53 ERA, 23 SV) blows a 7-5 lead against the Miners, who score three runs in the top 9th and then hold on to an 8-7 win to clinch the FL East over the same Capitals. It will be the Miners’ fifth playoff appearance, with the most recent one in 2012.
October 4 – ATL INF Wade White (.332, 4 HR, 39 RBI) has his hitting streak killed off at 23 games with a hitless game against the Aces – his former team.
October 4 – SFW CL Arturo Lopez (6-7, 2.34 ERA, 44 SV) saves his 300th game in a 3-2 win over the Stars.
October 5 – The Bayhawks rout the Condors, 10-3, to seal the South against the Thunder. This will be the fifth playoff appearance for the Bayhawks and their first trip to the postseason in this millennium after winning the World Series in 1999.
October 6 – RIC SP Shaun Babineau (5-9, 4.58 ERA) will miss a significant bunch of the 2015 season rehabbing a torn ACL. He might not make it back before the All Star game.

Complaints and stuff

Teams by regular season wins (* = won World Series):

117 – 2004 Titans *
113 – 1991 Capitals *
112 – 2001 Warriors
112 – 2014 Crusaders
110 – 2012 Thunder
108 – 1996 Raccoons
108 – 2000 Thunder *
108 – 2001 Thunder
107 – 1986 Stars
107 – 2003 Titans
106 – 1979 Cyclones
106 – 1990 Capitals *
106 – 2002 Titans *

This is the Raccoons’ tenth second-place finish in the North, the third in four years, and the fifth in eight years, which encompasses one playoff appearance. We haven’t finished in the second division since 2006, the last year of our 10-year journey through darkness, which was preceded by 12 straight years of finishing in the first division from 1985 through 1996.

Above I mentioned that the Titans came to Portland 40 games out; did you know that the Raccoons have NEVER finished 40 games out in the North? There’ve been miserable teams, but none finished 40 games out. We did get up to 39, though. Twice.

Also, the last two years we finished 15 games behind the Crusaders both times. That’s more games behind than we were in 2006, when a 77-85 record was only good enough for fifth place, but also only 13 games behind the 90-72 Indians, who went to the World Series (and got massacred).

567 runs allowed is out second-lowest total ever, behind only the 2009 team, which conceded only 558 runs, but also couldn’t push Keith Ayers across home plate.

Sandy stole five bags this final week to tie Craig Dasher for third place in the Continental League. The Raccoons wound up leading the league in stolen bases with 99. It was the only offensive category in which they even broke the top 4, except for strikeouts.

There was a player development update filed by Calderón this week. Let’s just say every fifth day we’ll play a very expensive and very useless $3.2M banana next year, because Dickerson’s latest impression look like whatever condition he has now, it’s terminal.

There were better news about Nick Brown, who Calderón found was making better use of the fringes of the strike zone after he had lost velocity and had much better control over the slightly cooled off heat. Mathis, Margolis, and Nunley all were certified of having made some progress in some areas, and Margolis might be the backup catcher come Opening Day. Jeff Magnotta got a thumb up in terms of control. In turn, 2013 top pick Andy Bareford had his potential slashed to pieces.

Like that comes as a surprise; a position player taken by the Coons in the first round that becomes an accountant by the time he’s 30. You know Steve from Accounting? Second-round pick in ‘88.