[Westheim]

Nope, this is not the announced hiatus yet. But the last three days were 'not in the zone', 'came home and fell asleep', and 'no time'.

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Raccoons (68-68) @ Indians (54-83) – September 3-5, 2024

The Arrowheads had already secured a losing record for the season and had a pretty good grasp on sixth place at this point. They ranked bottoms in the Continental League in runs scored AND runs allowed, so their .394 mark was probably still kind to them. Their run differential was a raw -220 with a month to spare. Yet, despite them being completely wretched, the Raccoons hadn't managed to gain games against them – the season series was level at six.

Projected matchups:
Jack Sander (8-7, 4.21 ERA) vs. Sam Kramer (9-5, 3.12 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (7-13, 4.20 ERA) vs. Fernando Marron (1-12, 5.63 ERA)
Mark Roberts (9-8, 3.47 ERA) vs. Alvin Smith (6-8, 5.38 ERA)

Right, left, right, and the left-hander was neither Tom Shumway (11-10, 3.31 ERA) or Tristan Broun (DL), nor had he won a bushel so far this year…

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – C Tovias – RF Kopp – 1B Gonzalez – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – LF Carmona – CF Borg – P Sander
IND: 2B Stevenson – SS Folk – RF Staebell – 1B M. Rucker – LF D. Morales – CF Linnell – C T. Perez – 3B Duling – P Kramer

Coons scored first, two unearned runs in the third inning which began with Greg Borg singling between Brody Folk and Mike Duling. Borg had hit all of .143 last season, so every single was progress. After Sander bunted the runner to second, Spencer reached on an error, and the Coons plated their runs on Tovias' sac fly and a Terry Kopp double over the head of a meandering Danny Morales. There were more runs to plate in the fourth inning, and these were also unearned. Nunley walked, Stalker got drilled, and Jack Sander hit a brain fart between the converging middle infielders for a 2-out single that filled the bags for Spencer, who ran a full count before grounding over to short, albeit Brody Folk's throw to first was high and out of Mike Rucker's reach, caromed off the front of the first base dugout's roof and caused some havoc amongst the Indians' bench players. Two runs scored on the old Elk's error, two more scored on Tovias' dying swan of a single to left-center, and another two when Terry Kopp walloped a Pablo Correa fastball over the rightfield fence. That made it 8-0 Coons and closed Sam Kramer's line at 3.2 innings, seven runs, and none of them earned. This was now a so far steady Sander's to drop into a gutter, but he didn't actually allow a base hit until the fifth inning, when Richard Linnell singled to center with one out, but ended up caught stealing to end the inning after Tony Perez was retired on a fly. An unearned run would also find its way onto Sander's ledger eventually, courtesy of a leadoff walk to Duling in the bottom 6th, a stolen base and connected throwing error by Tovias, and then Folk's 2-out RBI single to center. Portland added single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, usually combining the additional counters with an out made, except for Terry Kopp's RBI double in the eighth inning. Sander went eight before running out of breath at 110 pitches, with Jimmy Lee finishing the game in a 10-run rout. 11-1 Coons! Spencer 2-6; Tovias 2-4, 4 RBI; Kopp 3-4, BB, HR, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Stalker 1-2, BB, 3B; Borg 2-5, 3B; Sander 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (9-7) and 1-2, BB;

Abel Mora came off the DL by Wednesday. There was also a change of pitcher for the Wednesday contest by the Indians, with Manny Estrella, a right-hander, to make his first appearance of the season. Estrella, 26, had made three relief appearances between 2022 and 2023 for the Indians, allowing three earned runs in 7.2 innings.

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – LF Kopp – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – SS Bullock – P Chavez
IND: 2B Stevenson – SS Folk – RF Staebell – 1B M. Rucker – LF D. Morales – CF Linnell – C T. Perez – 3B J. Jackson – P Estrella

The Indians took the early lead on John Staebell's solo shot in the bottom 1st, clocking a hapless fastball squarely in the middle of the zone. It was only the third home run this year for Staebell, but everybody and their grandma could have hit that one 400 feet. The Indians continued to crowd Chavez, putting runners in scoring position in the second, with Nunley securing a quick bouncer by Estrella for the third out. Chavez remained adrift, allowing a solo home run to Brody Folk in the third, then walked Staebell and Rucker back-to-back before Daniel Bullock got hold off Danny Morales' bouncer to turn two and end the inning. While Chavez hung around a while longer, so did the rest of the team, loitering aimlessly near home plate for no discernible reason against the maiden starter. They had a few base this here and there. They never reached third base, and never hit a ball that smelled like an extra-base hit off the bat. Chavez lumbered into the sixth before walking Linnell with two outs. Tony Perez fly was dropped by Abel Mora as it began to rain, putting runners in scoring position. Vince Devereaux replaced Chavez and struck out Justin Jackson to keep the game nominally close at 2-0.

Estrella would not log an out in the seventh, undone by a leadoff walk to Nunley, ex-Coon Josh Stevenson's error on Alfaro's probable two-for-one, and then a 32-minute rain delay. Right-hander Eric Davidson replaced him after the delay and went on to blow Estrella's lead with two outs. Following Bullock hitting into a fielder's choice that removed Alfaro, and Graves popping out foul, Jarod Spencer, Elias Tovias, and Abel Mora singled in order. Spencer plated Nunley, and Mora scored two, flipping the score in the Raccoons' favor at 3-2. Once Jon Gonzalez grounded out to end the inning, the Coons were in trouble. Josh Stevenson doubled off Kevin Surginer with one out in the bottom 7th, after which Folk struck out. Billy Brotman came in for the left-handed Staebell, who was then pinch-hit for by right-handed batter Justin Calhoun. Brotman – without throwing a pitch – sneezed with the foot on the rubber, moving Stevenson to third base on the balk, but Calhoun eventually struck out to leave him there. Brotman also issued a leadoff walk to Mike Rucker in the bottom 8th, on straight balls even, but that one would come undone for the Indians on a double play grounder. Snyder would get the ninth with an insurance run to work with, which Tim Stalker scored on a wild pitch. Stalker had been the pinch-runner for Bullock, who hit a double and hurt himself in the same go, requiring replacement. In a special quirk to this game, Snyder would get the save, throwing a single pitch. Justin Jackson grounded out to Spencer on that one, and then the rain that had hung around after the initial delay got bad enough to send the contest to delay again, and this time it never continued. The Indians were unhappy, the Raccoons weren't bloody quite. 4-2 Raccoons. Tovias 2-5; Bullock 3-4, 2B; Carmona (PH) 1-1;

The Druid was in trance that night and we couldn't get a diagnosis on Bullock right away, but still sent for a replacement infielder from St. Pete, as stripped for personnel as they were down there. Sam Armetta rejoined the team.

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – C Delgado – 3B Grigsby – LF Gerace – P Roberts
IND: SS Duling – 3B J. Jackson – C T. Perez – 2B Folk – CF Stevenson – RF Faulk – LF Coffman – 1B Linnell – P Marron

Marron had managed to take 12 losses in just 78.1 innings this year, which was somewhat of a record pace, and while he retired the first four Raccoons in the game, the next umpteen Raccoons made him suffer. Omar Alfaro lightened up his consistent struggles with a solo homer in the second inning, after which Delgado and Grigsby reached with base hits, and Justin Gerace walked onto the open base with one out. Roberts fouled out for the second retirement of the inning, but Jarod Spencer's stick remained a-glow, and he singled to right-center to plate a pair, 3-0. Marron added another run for the Coons on not playing Tim Stalker's short groundball to any kind of result – leaving Stalker with an infield single that reloaded the bags – then threw a wild pitch to cash Gerace for the fourth and final run of the inning. The third inning offered a brief flashback to the second, with Omar Alfaro hitting another 1-out solo shot to left, but nobody else reached in what was now a 5-0 game, at least until Roberts coughed up a run in the bottom 3rd on a leadoff walk to Linnell and then an RBI single by Duling.

Marron lasted only 4.1 innings, two outs less than Roberts, although Roberts was done in by the weather rather than by bats. The sky had been gray at game time, but the forecast had called for a dry afternoon. Well, the forecast had been wrong, and both teams were in their pen by the sixth inning of a 5-1 game. The Indians were not out of it, however. They put two men on in the sixth – Lee walking both eventually stranded runners – and then again in the eighth, Duling and Tony Perez reaching the corners on two singles, with one out in the frame. Brody Folk popped out, and I was totally expecting Mike Rucker to pinch-hit at some point now, as he had sat with most other left-handed regulars against Roberts, but he was nowhere to be seen, at least not with a bat. Josh Stevenson struck out, quelling this threat. The Coons tacked on in the ninth on Abel Mora's 2-piece off Tony Lino, but failed to get Omar Alfaro to the plate again for a third bid for a third longball. There *was* another longball in the game, but that was A.J. Faulk's leadoff jack off Hector Morales in the bottom of the ninth. It was also the Indians' last runner in getting swept at home. 7-2 Raccoons! Spencer 2-5, 2 RBI; Alfaro 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Grigsby 2-4, 2 2B; Carmona (PH) 1-1; Roberts 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (10-8);

Raccoons (71-68) @ Titans (79-62) – September 6-8, 2024

For the Titans, this could probably the division – win this series and win the division, for all intents and purposes. The Crusaders had hit a rough spot and were now tied for second with the Coons, both sitting seven games out the Titans. The Loggers were technically a thing, 9 1/2 away, but only because the September schedule always favored in-division matchups. But if the Titans could deny the Raccoons here and win at least a pair in this weekend 3-set, then the North would probably be won with three weeks to spare. Recent events offered no encouragement, as the Coons were still playing .333 against the Titans since the start of the 2022 season, even if they were 7-8 this year.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (14-6, 2.86 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (15-11, 3.63 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (9-9, 3.80 ERA) vs. Alberto Molina (9-8, 3.41 ERA)
Jack Sander (9-7, 3.98 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (10-4, 3.16 ERA)

Starting with a left-hander here, after which the Titans have only righties on offer anymore, or in other words, starters' handedness would match for all games in the series.

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – C Tovias – LF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – CF Borg – P Gutierrez
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF M. Owen – RF Braun – 2B R. West – 1B Elder – 3B Corder – C Arias – SS Spataro – P Wingo

Alfaro kept dealing, cashing Tovias with an RBI double right in the first inning. Nunley hit a single along the rightfield line to plate both Mora and Alfaro, putting the Coons up 3-0 rather quickly in the series opener. Rico however faced an all-right-handed lineup (minus Wingo), so this was going to be a tough cookie regardless. Rico struck out the side in the first, but things were going to be volatile for him – he walked the bags full in the third inning in stark contrast. Alex Arias, Kevin Spataro, and Adrian Reichardt drew the free passes, two of them even of the 4-pitch variety, and then the Titans deflated when Matt Owen jocked a quick one to Matt Nunley, who started an inning-ending double play. Nunley started *another one* the next inning on Continental League batting race leader Rhett West following Adam Braun's leadoff single to right.

But Gutierrez labored himself into narrower and narrower spots until he got stuck in the sixth inning. Adrian Reichardt and Adam Braun hit doubles off him (and not cheap ones), and with two outs Jay Elder turned a 2-1 pitch into a RBI single to bring up the go-ahead run in Adam Corder. The Coons had seen enough and sent Kevin Surginer to face the right-hander, whom he walked, but struck out Arias after that to maintain a shallow 3-2 lead. Bottom 7th, Vince D allowed a leadoff double to Spataro, so the trouble was real until Dustin Wingo bunted badly, Vince had Spataro dead at third, and the tying run was set back 90 feet and robbed of a couple of miles an hour. And there was the first left-handed pinch-hitter: Jamie Wilson hit for Adrian Reichardt, always an odd move considering Reichardt was batting .962 all time against the Coons, and Brett Lillis replaced Devereaux and got a double play grounder from Wilson. The Coons, who hadn't figured much in offensive proceedings since the first inning, lost a leadoff single on the bases in the eighth when Elias Tovias tried to stretch his drop to right-center into a double, which it really wasn't as Braun showed him soon enough. Lillis remained in for the bottom 8th, because there were only so many pitchers available and the Titans could send another left-handed pinch-hitter any second. So by having Lillis face right-handers, we were really showing them! … or something like that.

After Owen singled and Braun walked, the crisis was real – Jonathan Synder was thrown into a 6-out save situation with the winning run for the Titans aboard, which was a recipe for disaster if there ever was one, and THERE was the left-handed batter, Keith Leonard hitting for Rhett West, and singling to right in a full count. Alfaro's strong arm kept the Titans from tying the game here, but the bases were now full with nobody out. Mike Kane, another lefty, pinch-hit for Elder, the count ran full, and Kane struck out. Corder was not hit for, fell to 0-2, then hit a fly to right that was Alfaro's, but was also deep enough to score the tying run. Arias grounded out to short. Top 9th, Omar Alfaro hit a LONG fly off Edwin Balandran to deep right, but it was just that, a fly, and an out, too. The Coons made three against Balandran in as many attempts, and Adam St. Germaine walked off the Titans in the bottom of the inning, his pinch-hit single to center off David Kipple scoring Jose Duran from second base. 4-3 Titans. Tovias 2-4; Nunley 2-4, 2 RBI;

New York lost as well to the Elks, so the Titans were now eight ahead of anybody else.

The Raccoons meanwhile put Daniel Bullock on the shelf with a ruptured medial collateral ligament, which was fancy doctor speak for "he ****ed up his knee pretty good". Recovery was probably going to take a while and he was unlikely to get back to baseballing for the first few months of the 2025 season.

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – LF Kopp – RF Alfaro – 3B Nunley – SS Stalker – P Delgadillo
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – RF Braun – SS Jam. Wilson – 2B Kane – LF St. Germaine – 1B Cornejo – 3B Corder – P A. Molina

The Titans burst right out of the gate while the Coons conceded two runs in a team effort in the first inning. Delgadillo walked Leonard, allowed a single to Wilson, then had Mike Kane ground one to Spencer, who threw the ball to Jon Gonzalez' off-side and Gonzalez looked bad trying to compensate for that – he didn't. The error plated the first run, Delgadillo plated the second one with a wild pitch, and this game was tumbling towards the river fast until Adam St. Germaine grounded out to short. And I don't want to blame it all on the rookie, but Delgadillo really wasn't up to snuff mentally. When he surrendered two hits in the third inning he went on to balk in a run, and surrendered the other one as well eventually. That was a 4-0 hole that the Raccoons weren't likely to emerge from again, having landed only one base hit against Molina in the first three innings.

Delgadillo didn't last five, but not because he was murdered by the Titans along the way – nope, he was the newest injury victim on the team and the Druid was barely keeping up with things. Molina for the Titans missed few beats. Elias Tovias hit a leadoff jack off him in the fourth inning; and that was the Coons' only base hit in the middle innings. They didn't get another one until Mora singled to begin the seventh, which moved the tying run to the on-deck circle, technically, although it also brought up Jon Gonzalez, who was in a slump that was now in its second month. He lined to short, Wilson missed it, and the tying run came up to bat in Terry Kopp, who struck out. Zach Graves pinch-hit in the #6 hole for Hector Morales, who had taken over mound duties after the Delgadillo injury and had not allowed another run, and Zach came extremely close to making this a brand-new ballgame, driving a 2-1 pitch to deep center and past Reichardt who usually displayed unnatural vacuum cleaner abilities out there. The ball went all the way to the track, with Graves scoring a standup 2-run triple and closed the score to 4-3. However, Nunley flew out to left, and Stalker grounded back to the mound as the Coons stranded the tying run 90 feet away. The Titans answered in the bottom of the inning; Leonard hit a 450-footer off Ryan Corkum that was impressive but still only counted for one run. Corkum walked Braun, made way for Brotman, and Billy worked his way out of the inning.

The eighth started with a Cookie single to right from the #9 hole, putting the Raccoons' once-upon-a-time leadoff batter at .250 for the first time since probably April, if he hit it by accident back then. He was then parked there as Spencer and Tovias made unhelpful outs. Mora turned on a 1-2 pitch, drilled it to center, and Reichardt couldn't reach that one, too. Mora had an RBI double, and then Jon Gonzalez ripped Molina for another 2-out RBI double up the rightfield line, and this game was tied! Javy Salomon replaced Molina and retired Kopp, but now we had a tie, and Vince D seemed to have runners on the corners almost immediately in the bottom of the eighth. He walked Rhett West in the #6 hole, then allowed a pinch-hit single to Trent Herlihy. Corder flew out to Abel Mora, now in rightfield and catching this one shallow, and West didn't dare to. Matt Owen was the next pinch-hitter, smacked one at Spencer, and the Coons turned a double play to bail out of the mess… only for the mess to re-appear in the ninth. Reichardt singled, Leonard singled, sending Reichardt to third base, and the Raccoons were now one snort away from ending their season. Here, Adam Braun popped out in foul ground for the first out, after which we sent Lillis to contend with the left-handers, alas, Jay Elder pinch-hit and that would be a right-hander. He cracked a 2-2 pitch to left, no chance for Cookie, and it was over. 6-5 Titans. Tovias 2-4, HR, RBI; Mora 2-4, 2B, RBI; Gonzalez 2-4, 2B, RBI; Graves (PH) 1-1, 3B, 2 RBI;

Oh well.

(sigh)

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – C Tovias – CF Mora – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – SS Armetta – P Sander
BOS: CF Reichardt – C Leonard – 1B R. Amador – RF Braun – SS Jam. Wilson – 2B Kane – LF St. Germaine – 3B Corder – P Waite

Spencer singled, stole, and scored on Tovias' single in the first inning, giving the Coons the early lead against Waite, the 1998 Ugliest Baby Boy Born in New York State. For a wee while, Jack Sander appeared to run with it, facing the minimum in the first three innings, which included a Corder single, and Corder getting caught stealing by Tovias for the second out. In the next inning, Corder made the third out, already hinting at things turning well south for Sander, who started the inning with a walk to Reichardt, then allowed singles to Leonard and Roberto Amador, with more base hits eventually chipped in by Jamie Wilson and Adam St. Germaine, giving the Titans a 3-1 lead. Waite kept the Raccoons in such short supply of base hits or other opportunities to spawn a runner that they didn't reach even SECOND base into the late innings. In the seventh, Nunley singled to center, but that was already with two outs and Cookie's fly to center was contained by Reichardt easily.

To Sander's credit, he at least struggled his way into the seventh before being taken apart on Kane's leadoff single and Corder's 1-out RBI double that extended the Titans to a 4-1 lead as their fans had a pretty obnoxious dance-off in the stands. Surginer replaced Sander after the Corder double and kept the runner on base with a groundout and a strikeout, while the eighth saw Hector Morales whiff Alex Arias to begin the inning, with Arias visibly unhappy and snapping at the umpire, who swiftly tossed him. Yay, we got their catcher out of the game – now get them! Morales pitched a perfect inning, but even more perfect was Julio San Pedro in the ninth. He retired Tovias, Mora, and Gonzalez on only seven pitches to complete the sweep. 4-1 Titans.

In other news

September 2 – The Loggers put eight on VAN SP Bryce Sudar (13-10, 5.09 ERA) and 13 on the Elks in general in just four innings and cruise to a 14-1 victory, with the Canadiens amounting to only two base hits. MIL 3B Alberto Velez (.227, 13 HR, 57 RBI) is retired only once on a 1-for-2 day with a walk, and hits a grand slam off Sudar in the third inning.
September 3 – LVA RF/LF Justin Dally (.302, 16 HR, 65 RBI) becomes a member of the 300 HR club, knocking the milestone over the fence against Tijuana's Jose Menendez (12-12, 3.43 ERA) in a game the Aces eventually lose, 5-4.
September 4 – VAN SP Andy Purdy (2-3, 4.88 ERA) is out for the season with a torn labrum.
September 6 – No-hitter!! The trundling Indians are dismantled by MIL SP Jorge Villalobos (11-7, 2.85 ERA), who allows a walk, no hits, and strikes out 10 in the Loggers' 3-0 win over Indianapolis. This is the third no-hitter in Loggers history after those pitched by Bill Warren (1980, and against Indy as well) and Michael Foreman (2018).
September 7 – TIJ C Pat Sanford (.223, 16 HR, 60 RBI) is done in by a torn posterior cruciate ligament and figures to be off the field for up to ten months.
September 8 – Major history is made in Richmond as WAS SP Eric Williams (15-8, 2.99 ERA) sees 27 batters, and retires 27 batters in order for the first no-hitter in Capitals history, and the second PERFECT GAME in ABL history! Williams strikes out five in his team's 4-0 win, joining CIN Juan Garcia (2008) as only artists of a perfecto in the league annals.
September 8 – WAS C David Lessman (.315, 9 HR, 49 RBI) figures to miss the rest of the regular season with knee tendinitis, and with the Capitals 9 1/2 games out that might also be the end of his season altogether.

Complaints and stuff

Richard Linnell was the sole Indian to reach base safely in the Villalobos no-hitter on Friday, but there was also an error by Ron Tadlock that put Tony Ruiz on base in the eighth inning. Linnell stole a base after walking in the fifth, was left on, while Ruiz was collected in A.J. Faulk's double play grounder.

In sweeping the Indians midweek, the Raccoons matched their win total from 2022, which thus remains the nadir of this fall from contention (unless we manage to finish the year with a 23-game losing streak). I hesitate to call this season for the Coons as being *in contention* because they were semi-comatose on the sidelines for months while neither the Titans nor the Crusaders could make their mind up about winning games in regular fashion. Being around .500 is certainly better than losing 90 (more or less) for consecutive seasons), but there is certainly room to grow for this team.

I say that even as most of the "youngsters" are no longer actually young. Spencer and Stalker are already 26, for example. Tovias is still 24 and has a shot as being the Raccoons' first long-term catching solution since the 1990s (and that was only hanging onto David Vinson's limp body for more years than was advisable), and Alfaro is 24 as well, and yet already has nearly 1,000 at-bats of decidedly below-league-average batting. He could be a super-2 arbitration case this fall, for what it's worth…

All the while I am having serious flashbacks to 1998-ish when we had all that young talent in Newton and Brady and Farley and Ford and they would quite definitely click at some point, just a little while longer, any minute now, well maybe next year, nope we're still losing, has it really been seven years since the Raccoons won more than they lost, maybe we should just relocate to Sheboygan where no one notices when you fail.

Fun Fact: Juan Garcia, the author of the ABL's first perfect game on May 19, 2008, finished his 14-year career with a losing record, 128-139, and a 4.44 ERA.

…which doesn't mean his career was shabby by any standard. He was an All Star (once, 2013), he got a Platinum Stick (once, 2007), and he took home a ring, once, too!

(cough) 2010. (cough)

He won Game 2 in that World Series, opposing Jong-Hoo Umberger, which is all I'm gonna say. He also made about $12m in his career, which is more than I have earned in almost 50 years at the helm, thanks to most meager paychecks wired from Mexico. Steve from Accounting says if I want to reach $12m in salaries from the Mexican Prick ever, I need to make it through about the 2062 season and should really change my lifestyle. I will contemplate this once I have washed down all the pills I stole from our injured players with some Capt'n Coma.

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True fact: there is a brand of rum being sold in some discounters over here named Captain Comark. So there is that.