[Westheim]

Raccoons (83-67) vs. Knights (69-80) – September 22-24, 2025

Playing out the string with the Knights, who had a much worse record than us, but were actually less far behind the leaders in their division. The season series was even at three apiece, while the Knights sat in the middle of the league in many categories. They actually had a +9 run differential despite molding 11 games under .500, and sat sixth in both runs scored and runs allowed in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (2-3, 5.06 ERA) vs. Brian Cope (8-11, 4.23 ERA)
Jack Sander (9-11, 4.10 ERA) vs. Mario Rosas (5-11, 4.29 ERA)
Lance Legleiter (2-3, 3.12 ERA) vs. Leon Hernandez (17-6, 3.71 ERA)

Two right-handers were sandwiching the left-handed rookie swingman Rosas, who had made 36 appearances (16 starts) this season, pitching 147 innings in total. He had already made his major league debut last year, facing a single batter and conceding a base hit.

Game 1
ATL: RF M. Walker – 1B J. Gutierrez – SS Showalter – C Luna – LF J. Correa – 2B T. Jimenez – CF Cobb – 3B V. Ramirez – P Cope
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Ramos – C Tovias – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – LF Gerace – CF Metts – P Delgadillo

The Raccoons jumped onto the board immediately, loading the bases with nobody out thanks to Spencer and Tovias singles on either end of Andrew Showalter's no-good throw on Alberto Ramos' grounder. Jon Gonzalez flew out to shallow center, keeping even Spencer pinned, but Terry Kopp brought in a run with a groundout, and Nunley drove in two with a double past Mark Walker in rightfield before Justin Gerace flew out to Nick Cobb. Delgadillo looked in the zone as he tallied strikeouts early in the game, but inexplicably started to throw batting practice as early as the third inning, in which the Knights tied the score on solo home runs by Vinny Ramirez, Jose Gutierrez, and Andrew Showalter. It would get worse indeed, with Showalter blasting another one, this one counting for two runs, in the fifth inning. Things getting worse would work for both sides, however, because Brian Cope retired absolutely nobody as his half of the fifth inning began. Sitting up 5-3, he allowed a leadoff single to Spencer, then an RBI double in the left-center gap to Ramos. Tovias singled up the middle to tie the score, Jon Gonzalez singled to send Tovias to third, and Terry Kopp sent him across home plate with a single to right, 6-5. The Knights would get out of the inning after consecutive deep flies to Jon Correa by Nunley and Gerace plated Gonzalez, and Javy Vasquez – on in relief – struck out Metts to keep the score at 7-5 after five innings. Delgadillo came out for the sixth, but amounted only to a leadoff walk to Correa before being replaced by Will West, who navigated his way out of the inning against the bottom of the order.

The game was far from over with the Knights scratching out an unearned run in the seventh inning to get back within one marker; it was the rookie Mark Walker who singled as the only batter left-hander Matt Wilson faced, then with Jimmy Lee on the watchtower took off for second base. He took it, and also third base on Tovias' errant throw, eventually scoring on a Jon Correa single. Portland wouldn't amount to much except a pinch-hit double by Brett O'Dell in these late innings, eventually sending in Jonathan Snyder for the ninth, who blew another save in style, walking Andrew Showalter before serving up Ruben Luna's 28th bomb of the season. The Coons got a paw back into the game with Jarrod Morrison's leadoff walk to Alberto Ramos in the bottom 9th, but Tovias expertly knocked the ball at Drew Greene at the keystone for a mood-killing double play and things ended quickly from there… 8-7 Knights. Spencer 3-5; Tovias 2-5, RBI; Nunley 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; O'Dell (PH) 1-1, 2B;

Game 2
ATL: RF M. Walker – 1B J. Gutierrez – SS Showalter – C Luna – CF Houghtaling – 2B T. Jimenez – CF Cobb – 3B V. Ramirez – P Rosas
POR: LF Spencer – 3B Bullock – 2B Otis – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – CF Borg – SS Stalker – C Delgado – P Sander

Without scoring, the Coons stranded a handful between the first two innings, as soon as one of them was in scoring position making sure their hibernation holes where thoroughly padded with mosses and leaves rather than stirring up some dirt, or the Knights. Before they even came to bat, Sander had surrendered three screaming line drive base hits for two runs in the opening inning. Yes, they tied the game by the fourth inning, but then it was Tony Delgado knocking into a run-scoring double play with the bases loaded, and Showalter's age betraying him on Sander's grounder that eluded for a single to score Greg Borg with two outs in the inning. Greg Borg also scored to tie the game in the sixth, after Sander had allowed an unearned run in the top half of the frame, that one having been induced by Bullock's error. The Raccoons had Borg and Stalker on the corners with one out after a pair of singles in the bottom 6th, with Stalker taking off for second base on the first pitch to Delgado. Ruben Luna fired the ball over the leaping Showalter into centerfield, allowing Borg to score and Stalker to reach third base before Tony Delgado mashed a go-ahead RBI double and Showalter fumbled a Sander grounder for an outright error, somehow bringing up the top of the order with the inning still hot. Spencer grounded up the middle, Tony Jimenez intercepting the ball only deep behind second base and with no play, giving Jarod an RBI infield single. The inning only ended when Bullock grounded to short for a double play, now in a 5-3 score. Unforeseeable after that wild ruckus innings, this was the final tally. Jack Sander went eight against suddenly uncourageous Knights, and Ricky Ohl saved the game without much drama or failure. 5-3 Coons. Spencer 2-4, RBI; Borg 2-4; Stalker 3-3, 2B; Sander 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W (10-11) and 2-3, RBI;

This was Ricky Ohl's first save as a Raccoon, but he had saved a game with the Capitals last season already.

Omar Alfaro was activated from the DL before the rubber game and also the decider of the season series.

Game 3
ATL: RF M. Walker – 2B T. Jimenez – SS Showalter – C Luna – LF J. Correa – CF Houghtaling – 1B M. Mendoza – 3B V. Ramirez – P L. Hernandez
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Ramos – RF Alfaro – 1B Gonzalez – LF Kopp – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – CF Borg – P Legleiter

In a flashback to the series opener, the Coons pooled out a few runs in the early innings, plating two in the bottom 1st which began with Spencer doubling, Ramos singling, and Alfaro returning with a sac fly. Ramos then stole second base and was plated by Gonzalez with a single for his 80th RBI of the year, but Terry Kopp hit into a double play at that point. However, in the bottom 2nd the Coons extended their lead to 3-0 when the Borg assimilated the centerfield fence. Legleiter retired the first 11 batters he faced before Showalter singled in the top 4th, but other than Delgadillo on Monday Legleiter didn't collapse in accelerated fashion and instead got Ruben Luna to fly out easily to Borg in center. Luna would actually be the Knights' next base runner, drawing a 2-out walk in the seventh inning as they were rapidly being retired by Legleiter, but there wouldn't be a shutout in the bag for him this time. The at-bats had been growing longer in the seventh inning, and the Knights finally got him over 100 pitches in the eighth inning when Vinny Ramirez also hit a 2-out single. That was enough for a guy who wasn't built physically to throw 120 pitches; Vince D entered in a double switch and retired pinch-hitter Jon Gilbert on a fly to center. The Coons entered the ninth with a 5-0 lead, having at various points gotten a solo homer from Gonzalez and a run-scoring wild pitch from reliever Efrain Isidoro. Then they blew that 5-0 lead in torrid fashion. Devereaux put on Jimenez with a single and walked Showalter with one out, before being replaced by Billy Brotman, who retired nobody with singles conceded to Ruben Luna and Jon Correa, both plating one run. Ricky Ohl was up next, but only threw three pitches before surrendering a 3-run blast to ****ing ex-Elk Jeremy Houghtaling. The Coons somehow managed to make the inning end before losing it in regulation, put Gonzalez (for whom Bullock would run) and Kopp aboard to begin the bottom 9th, and still choked violently before Kevin Surginer was pelted for three hits, a walk, and two runs in the top 10th. Morrison conceded a leadoff double to Borg in the bottom 10th, Spencer drove him in, but between Ramos and Alfaro the Raccoons got two groundouts to end the inning and lose the season series in ghastly fashion. 7-6 Knights. Spencer 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ramos 2-5; Gonzalez 2-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Borg 2-4, HR, RBI; Legleiter 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

I audibly yearn for a new print of Grant West at the height of his career.

Raccoons (84-69) vs. Loggers (72-80) – September 26-28, 2025

Final home series of the season! There would be Abel Mora bobbleheads on Saturday, although Mora was on the DL, and there were also the Loggers in town, who had already handed over the season series, which stood at 11-4 in the Critters' favor. Milwaukee sat tenth in runs scored in the CL (still one spot ahead of Portland…) and eighth in runs conceded, so they were actually a team you'd expect ten-ish games under .500.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (19-7, 2.33 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (11-8, 3.47 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (10-7, 2.96 ERA) vs. Vincent Alfaro (13-11, 2.99 ERA)
Jesus Chavez (9-7, 3.65 ERA) vs. Jonathan Toner (9-14, 5.08 ERA)

Three right-handed pitchers, and another sad encounter, probably, with Jonny Toner, although the Loggers had shared our off day on Thursday and could allow themselves to skip somebody.

Also skipping was Roberts, although he kept jumping the line in the Coons' modified 6-man rotation, moving ahead of both Rico and Chavez here. If we would squeeze things, he would start again on Wednesday, and could then make a short-rest start on the season finale if the triple crown was still a possibility at that point. As play began on Friday, Roberts held a comfy lead in ERA (0.38 over Tom Shumway), a narrow lead in K (5 over Morgan Shepherd), and trailed by one win compared to Shepherd, who had lost a stinging 1-0 game to the Condors on Tuesday and would only get two more starts.

Game 1
MIL: 2B Mancia – CF Stevenson – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – C A. Baker – 3B A. Velez – SS Ferrer – LF S. Green – P Villalobos
POR: 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – CF O. Alfaro – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – C Tovias – SS Stalker – LF Mansfield – P Roberts

Mark Roberts' triple crown candidacy appeared shaky from the start, with Danny Mancia and Ron Tadlock landing base hits for a first-inning run, and Roberts not whiffing anybody until he arrived at the pitcher in the third inning. Also, the Coons weren't exactly falling over each other to reach home plate, or base at all. Villalobos retired them in order the first time through, whiffing three, although Nunley and Alfaro hit back-to-back 1-out singles in the bottom 4th to put up a threat with Jon Gonzalez coming up. A homer between him or Kopp would have been swell; the Raccoons got a fly to center and a grounder to the pitcher to end the inning instead.

The Loggers squeezed a second run from Roberts in the sixth inning, mainly due to Mancia's leadoff double past Devin Mansfield. The lack of stuff on Roberts was appalling, however, as he struck out only three batters through six innings. The Critters did make it onto the board in the bottom 6th, although Villalobos helped them out with a wild pitch there, moving Alfaro to second base before Gonzalez' single into left center plated him from there. The game was on in the seventh, though. Villalobos lost Tovias on four pitches for a leadoff walk, placing the exceedingly slow tying run on base. Tovias wasn't run for, maybe a mistake, with Tim Stalker's drive to left center that fell between Sam Green and ex-Coon Josh Stevenson for a double only moving the tying run to third base with the bottom of the order still fully engaged. When Mansfield grounded out despicably to keep the runners pinned, in the name of offense the Coons had to help Roberts by removing him from the game, sending Alberto Ramos to pinch-hit against the right-handed Villalobos. His sac fly tied the score, but Spencer grounded out to Manny Ferrer, and Roberts was denied the win, which was likely to mortally wound his triple crown amibition.

The Raccoons continued to be appalling, failing to score in the eighth inning despite TWO errors by the Loggers, and the game dragged itself into extra innings. Nick Derks pitched two innings in relief before the Coons amounted to something of a threat in the bottom 11th. Terry Kopp was nailed by new pitcher Joey Hopkins to begin the inning, then bunted to second by Tovias as the winning run, from where Dwayne Metts would run for him. The Loggers walked Stalker intentionally to get to the completely hopeless Mansfield, for whom Brett O'Dell would hit, surrendering the platoon advantage to the right-hander Hopkins, but that is how much confidence we had in Mansfield… The move paid off, with O'Dell cracking the first pitch he got to the outfield for a single. Metts was waved around while Stevenson was too late in getting the ball back in, and the Raccoons ended the game as winners after all. 3-2 Blighters. Alfaro 3-5, 2B; O'Dell (PH) 1-1, RBI; Roberts 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; Derks 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0);

Game 2
MIL: 2B Mancia – CF Stevenson – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – C A. Baker – 3B A. Velez – SS Ferrer – LF Feldmann – P V. Alfaro
POR: 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – CF O. Alfaro – 1B Gonzalez – RF Kopp – C Tovias – LF Gerace – SS Bullock – P Gutierrez

Matt Nunley left the game in the opening inning, hitting first base awkwardly after a base hit to deep center. He reached second base on the play, but then turned around with the trainer and a bum knee. Matt Otis replaced him batting second and playing short, while Bullock moved to third base. While Rico Gutierrez had to labor considerably with a lineup devoid of left-handed batters, but usually came out on top, the Raccoons scored the odd run here and there on Vincent Alfaro, beginning with a 2-run homer by Justin Gerace in the second inning. Tovias scored a run on a groundout in the third, and Terry Kopp drove in a fourth marker in the fifth inning. An at-bat that didn't matter initially despite the roar it sent through the park was Rico Gutierrez' 2-out triple in the bottom 2nd. You didn't see pitchers tripling very often, and Gutierrez was not of the Jonny Toner ilk in that he was any sort of quick, let alone quick enough to steal bases. Thus it was the more stunning when Rico found Daniel Bullock on second base in the bottom 5th, and unleashed ANOTHER triple, this one making Josh Stevenson look very bad indeed in centerfield. Also stunning – how the Coons almost left Gutierrez on third base with nobody out. Spencer and Otis both popped out, but Omar Alfaro came through with a single to right, extending the lead to 6-0 after all. Rico went on to retire the side in the seventh inning, which was his final frame in the game, just like everybody else's. Fall was upon us, and with that consistent cloud cover over Raccoons Ballpark. Those clouds unexpectedly broke in the bottom of the seventh and eventually sent the game to a rain delay from which it did not emerge. 6-0 Raccoons. Nunley 1-1, 2B; Alfaro 3-4, 2B, RBI; Kopp 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Bullock 1-2, BB, 2B; Gutierrez 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (11-7) and 2-3, 2 3B, RBI;

Though rain-shortened, this was Rico's fifth career shutout, and the third this season, as well as his seventh complete game ever.

Matt Nunley was out of order with a knee sprain, but would probably only miss a few games. Nevertheless the Raccoons sent an urgent order for Mike Grigsby to interrupt his holidays and appear in Portland instantly to collect a few more at-bats. Grigsby had already made it into 12 games during Nunley's DL stint earlier this season, batting .233 with two homers then.

Game 3
MIL: LF Mancia – CF Stevenson – 1B Tadlock – RF W. Trevino – C A. Baker – 3B A. Velez – 2B S. Green – SS Ferrer – P Toner
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Ramos – RF Alfaro – 1B Gonzalez – LF Gerace – C Tovias – CF Borg – 3B Grigsby – P Chavez

With a single up the middle, only Jonny Toner reached base for the Loggers the first time through, while the Raccoons had a few more men on, but weren't running him out of the park right away. Toner did however issue a leadoff walk to Chavez in the bottom 3rd, which was just such a no-no… Spencer grounded to Manny Ferrer, who could have gotten two with a quick move, but got nobody with a bad move, throwing the ball past Sam Green for an error. The Raccoons would score their runners, but not until after Ramos flew out to right and Alfaro popped out. Jon Gonzalez knocked a grounder through Ron Tadlock and got it past Willie Trevino and all the way into the corner for a 2-out, 2-run triple, making the runs unearned on Toner. The Loggers' run in the fourth was earned though, Adam Baker singling to left and then scoring on Alberto Velez' double with two outs in the inning.

After some dull middle innings during which Greg Borg left the game with an injury suffered in the field and was replaced by Dwayne Metts, the Loggers flipped the score in the seventh inning. Sam Green hit a single, Ivan Flores pinch-hit for Ferrer and knocked a homer to right, getting Toner into a 3-2 lead. Jonny retired the Coons in order in the bottom 7th, then got an insurance run on base hits by Tadlock and Trevino in the top 8th off Chavez, who had to be helped out of the inning by Ricky Ohl. Toner made it through eight with four walks and five strikeouts, and no earned runs on his ledger, and he soon enough had his tenth win of the season when Joe Moore killed off the Coons in the bottom of the ninth for him. 4-2 Loggers. Gonzalez 2-3, BB, 3B, 2 RBI;

In other news

September 24 – After laboring all season on a torn flexor tendon in his elbow and retearing it during rehab, 24-year-old NAS SP Josh Bell (8-7, 3.72 ERA in his career) has to retire from baseball altogether. He had been the 41st pick in the 2021 draft and had ranked as high as #64 on the ABL prospect chart.
September 26 – Big blow for the Capitals as they lose their versatile offensive stalwart Dave Menth (.252, 21 HR, 80 RBI) to a torn labrum. Menth is expected to miss the first half of the 2026 season with the injury.
September 27 – SAC SP Michael Foreman (9-4, 3.92 ERA) has new offseason plans, as the 35-year-old will spend the winter rehabbing ulnar nerve irritation.

Complaints and stuff

What a week. Like I had needed more reminders why the team had been a dozen games out, plus change, already.

But we ended 13-5 against the Loggers this season, the first time we had won more than 12 against them since 2014, the year they won only twice against us.

Overall, a 90-win season is still possible for us if we can win four from the Indians and Crusaders next week. Despite a week's worth of games left, we have already secured second place in the division, at least in tie form, which the Crusaders can get into if they go 7-0 and we go 0-6 in the final week. We currently have the fifth-best record and while there are many teams within a win or two of us we will not get a great draft pick next season despite being so far out in our division. Damn Titans!

Morgan Shepherd lost a 3-0 game to the Crusaders on Sunday, sending him to 0-2 on the week despite allowing only three runs in 13.1 innings. Mark Roberts still remains only one game out in the win column (and nobody else has 19 and can reasonably reach 21), and maintains leads in the strikeout race (3 ahead of Shepherd) and ERA competition (.38 runs ahead of Shumway). Rico Gutierrez as an aside is now up to third place in the ERA table! Roberts will face the Indians on Wednesday, while Shepherd's final start will probably be on Friday in Vancouver. The possibility to start Roberts on short rest on Sunday in New York remains; but we will only do it if it is required and possible for him to grab the triple crown, f.e. if he is still one win behind Shepherd on Sunday morning.

Jarod Spencer stole two bases this week to get to 44 for the year, while New York's Lance Douglas remains stuck at 39, and nobody else is closer than 35. However, since the Coons still play the Crusaders…….

Although Alberto Ramos is the future, we have to use him sparingly for the rest of the year to keep his rookie status intact for next season. Tim Stalker probably knows his time is in fact up. In four years as the starting shortstop around here, Stalker amounted to a .756 OPS in '23, but that was his only season with an OPS+ over 100. Yes, there was good value to his defense, where he probably had the edge over Ramos, but we had every reason to believe that Ramos could form a torrent 1-2 sting with Jarod Spencer at the top of the order that could suffocate opposing teams with singles and steals right from the get-go. Stalker was a .248 batter, wasn't walking nearly enough to be a productive top-of-the-lineup batter, and was probably not more than a backup in the future.

This put free-agent-to-be Matt Otis out the front door, too, because between two middle infielders roughly around a .700 OPS I would always pick the 27-year-old rather than the 37-year-old.

Omar Alfaro came off the DL this week. As far as ostensible starting outfielders in a variety of scenarios went, Abel Mora was definitely not coming back this year, but we might get Cookie back for a cameo on the final weekend. With Mora on the DL and Greg Borg being hurt on Sunday, we were running out of centerfielders. Omar Alfaro was not a great solution out there, and Dwayne Metts was not great, period. We are running out of centerfielders, honestly.

Hmmmmmm. There is this Colombian kid in AAA …….

Fun Fact: Jonny Toner reached double-digit wins in a season for the first time since 2021 when he went 17-10 for the Raccoons.

At age 34, he is now 172-86 with a 2.83 ERA and 2,415 strikeouts. This year he has whiffed 140, but has also walked 117 batters, which used to be two seasons' worth for him, and then with more innings pitched.

Bonus Fun Fact: Rico Gutierrez became only the second Raccoon in a decade to hit two triples in a single game, the other having been Tim Stalker.

Two triples in a game is not quite a Raccoons specialty. The franchise has only done this 14 times overall in almost 49 seasons (and never in the playoffs). Jon Merritt is the only player to achieve the double triple three times, and the only one to do it twice in the same season (2010). Neil Reece and Conceicao Guerin both did it twice, and Rico Gutierrez joins Ben O'Morrissey, Jose Carlos Crespo, Luke Black, Logan Taylor, Cookie Carmona, and Tim Stalker as Raccoons to move 270 feet from home in one stroke repeatedly in one game.