[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-37) @ Titans (60-31) – July 20-22, 2027

The writing was on the wall for this do-or-die series, which I could have done without with at this time, and which could kill off the Coons for the year very easily. The Titans had an impressive +123 run differential with the third-most runs scored and the fewest runs conceded; another tough nut to crack for a Raccoons team that did better against actual nuts with their bare teeth than most starting pitchers when armed with a wooden club. The season series stood at 5-4 in our favor, but for how much longer?

Projected matchups:
George James (0-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (8-6, 3.86 ERA)
Mark Roberts (9-3, 2.80 ERA) vs. Greg Gannon (11-4, 3.20 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (6-8, 3.91 ERA) vs. Morgan Shepherd (11-4, 2.59 ERA)

Three right-handers are likely here, although with the off day on Monday and the All Star Game the previous week they would have no trouble maneuvering Dustin Wingo (9-3, 1.88 ERA) and his left arm of doom into the series at their whim.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – LF Carmona – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – P James
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF W. Vega – 1B Good – RF Braun – C Leonard – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – SS Spataro – P Waite

The Raccoons tallied four walks before getting any sort of base hit, which sounds better on paper than it was on the field. Jeremy Waite walked three in a row with one out in the opening frame before Mora popped out and Spencer grounded out to Keith Spataro, who made a nifty play to his right to beat the speedy Spencer. Jarod would later be the first Coon to get on with a base knock, a fourth-inning double, which would have been put to better use his previous time at the plate, but, well, spilled milk is spilled milk. By that point, the Titans had scratched out a 2-0 lead largely on the merits of Adrian "Coonskinner" Reichardt, who led off the bottom 1st with a single, stole two bases, and came home on a groundout, and then also hit a third-inning single shifting Spataro from second to third, after which Willie Vega's sac fly brought him home. Spataro had also been the leadoff man, and the Titans' leadoff men reached with disturbing regularity against George James, who nevertheless hit a leadoff single in the fifth inning. Tim Stalker walked, then was forced out on Cookie's grounder. Rafael Gomez came through, though, splitting Reichardt and Adam Braun for a game-tying 2-run triple, then scored on Mora's sac fly after an intentional walk to Harenberg (why do they still bother?) to give the Raccoons an unexpected 3-2 lead.

That lead barely survived a 1-out double by the unavoidable Reichardt in the bottom 5th, with him stranded at third base, but James got stuck for good in the sixth inning. Rhett West hit a 2-out single, he lost Adam Corder on balls, and then Surginer replaced him for the .306 batter Spataro, who the Titans could allow themselves to bat eighth despite a .753 OPS – those are problems I would like to have for once. Spataro grounded out to Stalker on Surginer's first pitch, ending that inning with the 3-2 lead still alive. Bottom 7th, Surginer struck out Justin Perkins, then lost Reichardt to a single. Argh. Kearney came in, walked the resulting right-handed pinch-hitter, Yasuhiro Kuramoto, then left replaced by Jonathan Snyder, the recently disgraced closer, when the Titans sent right-handed batter Gus Gasso to hit for Matt Good. He got him to pop out, then walked Braun. Josh Boles became the fourth Coons reliever of the inning, ran a full count against Keith Leonard, and then Nunley handled Leonard's slow grounder for the third out, stranding a full set of runners. These were Boston's final runners; Josh Boles retired the side in order in the bottom 8th, as did Ricky Ohl in the ninth, finishing up with a K to Kuramoto. 3-2 Critters. Gomez 1-2, 2 BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Boles 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

We never had another base hit after that Gomez triple. Ah, what shall I say? A win is a win is a win, but I now have to treat my irregular heartbeat, so please excuse me.

(unscrews a cheap bottle of wine while lying in his Boston hotel bed)

Game 2
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Magallanes – 3B Nunley – C Rocha – P Roberts
BOS: LF W. Vega – 1B Gasso – RF Braun – CF Reichardt – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – SS Spataro – C A. Arias – P Wingo

Neither team managed to score an earned run in the early innings, although the Titans scored an unearned run in the bottom 3rd, where Vega walked with one down, stole second and reached third on Rocha's throwing error, then came home when Gasso grounded out to Nunley's left. Nunley also had the Coons' only base hit, a leadoff single in the top 3rd, although Rocha had hit into a double play and the southpaw Wingo was still facing the minimum. While Tim Stalker's leadoff double removed the minimum tally from Wingo's ledger, it didn't lead to a run owing to three ****ty outs, and meanwhile Adrian Reichardt was 2-for-2 by the bottom 4th (and 6-for-7 in the series) with his second single of the day against Mark Roberts, although this time Corder smacked into a double play to get him off the bags.

Spencer's 1-out single in the sixth was the next low-key attempt to do anything about the 1-0 deficit, but he was caught stealing before Abel Mora could single up the middle. The bad baserunning proved costly once Rafael Gomez hit a game-tying triple into the leftfield corner, which could have been a go-ahead triple if Spencer had still been around. The Coons failed to take the lead, Harenberg being walked halfheartedly and Magallanes grounding out to short.

Roberts gave the Coons seven innings, whiffed nine, but was totally toasted after throwing 119 pitches in the effort that still wouldn't reward him with his 10th win of the season, because the Coons couldn't break through Wingo at all. But the Titans would readily eat up Dan McLin, who needed only 11 pitches in the bottom 8th to load the bases, and THAT brought up Reichardt, in other words, the Coons were ****ed. Surginer replaced McLin, held Reichardt to a go-ahead sac fly (yay, what success!), then secured a fly out from Corder, and THEN we had to sit through a half-hour rain delay in a sudden shower while the Titans were nagging the umpires to call the game. The game continued, the Coons carting up their 4-5-6 batters against Julio San Pedro in the ninth. Gomez grounded out to short, Harenberg walked on four pitches but was forced out by Cookie's grounder, and Nunley was rung up to end this terrible game. 2-1 Titans. Roberts 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K;

I wonder why the liquor shop with the stuff that gives you the most spin in this damn town closed up. I bought piles of booze three times a year, and I would like to do so again, because this hotel champagne was only running up the bill, and did nothing to erase pictures.

Game 3
POR: SS Stalker – LF Carmona – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 2B Spencer – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – P Gutierrez
BOS: LF W. Vega – 1B Gasso – RF Braun – CF Reichardt – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – SS Spataro – C A. Arias – P Gannon

In things that were new, the Coons scored first, Cookie drawing a third-inning walk and scampering home on singles by Gomez and Harenberg, while Rico Gutierrez allowed an infield single to the first batter he faced, Willie Vega, but Gasso hit into a double play and even REICHARDT was retired the first time around, grounding out, and then was RUNG UP in the bottom 4th with Adam Braun on second after a 1-out double to right. Alas, the Titans had more than that one steak knife to stuck up your back – Adam Corder tied the game with a single, Rico lost Rhett West on balls, shoving Corder to second, and Spataro plated him with another 2-out single to put the Titans 2-1 ahead.

While the Coons kept flailing and failing away at Greg Gannon, the Titans got runners to the corners from about nothing in the bottom 6th. Stalker threw away a Braun grounder to put him on second base to begin the frame, and then Reichardt legged out a sorry chopper near the third base line for an infield single. Rico somehow held the Titans to a West sac fly, but that still extended their lead to 3-1 when you could not reasonably expect the Coons to make up even ONE run with three innings left. Which was all a shame really, since Tim Stalker led off the seventh inning with a fly ball near the leftfield line. Vega hustled over and tried the perpendicular flying approach on the ball, but missed it and instead ate some dirt and chalk after a rough landing in no man's land. The ball in turn merrily bounced its way into the corner, where it rolled to a dead stop. Reichardt had to hustle over with Vega dazed and coughing up dirt in foul territory, and Tim Stalker was minding his own business, which here amounted to 360 feet of dashing for an inside-the-park home run! And then they made three pathetic outs to remain 3-2 behind. Gutierrez was gone after 6.1 innings and remained on the hook while Snyder and Kearney barely avoided making it even worse through eight. Braun doubled off the fence against the former in the eighth, then was barely stranded against the latter when Mora made a running grab in the gap on PH Keith Leonard. Top 9th, Matt Rosenthal pitching. Nunley pushed an 0-2 pitch into right for a leadoff single, then was run for by Bullock while Trey Rock batted in the pitcher's place. The Brazilian Bulldozer (?, might want to rethink that one) reached third base on Rock's 0-1 single to left, and there was still nobody out! Stalker's single tied the game, the go-ahead run was on second base…… and then Cookie lined out to Rhett West and Gomez chucked the ball into a double play.

Dan McLin somehow got around a leadoff single by West in the bottom 9th without giving away his second game in the series, and the Coons put Harenberg aboard with a leadoff single against lefty Brent Beene in the top 10th. Mora grounded out, moving Kevin to second, and Spencer walked. The runners advanced on a wild pitch to Elias Tovias, who had yet to do ANYTHING in the series, struck out instead, and Bullock stranded the two Coons in scoring position when he grounded out to Matt Good. That was the last action worth mentioning for about 45 minutes until Kevin Surginer drilled Adam Braun with Reichardt on deck in the bottom of the 13th. Reichardt struck out, falling to 1-for-6 on the day (which was stellar compared to some Coons' lines), and while Good singled, West got also rung up to extend the game into yet another inning I couldn't bear watching. Top 14th, a.k.a. Beene's fifth, although he didn't complete it, not even close. In fact, he retired neither Juan Magallanes, who singled, then stole second, nor Tim Stalker, who also singled to get runners back to the corners with nobody out. Javy Salomon replaced Beene, while Daniel Rocha batted for Surginer in the #2 hole, clubbed a looper to left, and it dropped in front of Kuramoto for an RBI single – the tie was broken! Gomez walked to fill them up for Harenberg, who found new levels of sucking by hitting into a 6-2-3 double play for a change. Mora grounded out, falling to 0-for-7 in the game, but at least we could now get Ricky Ohl involved against the bottom of the Titans' order. Groundout, strikeout, strikeout did the job, the latter K coming against Salomon with the Titans' bench empty. 4-3 Blighters. Stalker 4-7, HR, 2 RBI; Rocha (PH) 1-1, RBI; Harenberg 2-5, 2 BB, RBI; Magallanes 1-2; McLin 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K; Boles 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

This was the first career RBI for Daniel Rocha, who was rewarded by me personally with a big smooch on the cheek, which he did not appreciate as much as I appreciated his lucky single in the 14th.

Get used to it, Rocha! Here in Portland we play with passion!

Raccoons (59-38) @ Condors (49-47) – July 23-25, 2027

With their shady record, the Condors were actually in a virtual tie for the CL South lead, which was just ever so slightly depressing for a team 21 games over .500 that had been chasing after the Titans and had tried to remain within a handful for three months now. Tijuana ranked fifth in runs scored, fourth in runs allowed, had a healthy +49 run differential, but had been swept by the Coons in the teams' first meeting of the season.

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (4-8, 3.22 ERA) vs. Alex Hichez (8-7, 4.08 ERA)
Rin Nomura (12-3, 2.58 ERA) vs. Sean Rigg (2-3, 3.90 ERA)
George James (1-0, 4.24 ERA) vs. Jeff Little (8-3, 1.82 ERA)

Right-right-left, and boy, was that a left. The 26-year-old Little was getting better and better every year. He had posted a 3.66 ERA just two years ago.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – 2B Rock – 3B Nunley – C Rocha – P Delgadillo
TIJ: CF Denzler – RF M. Matias – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – SS Showalter – C Zarate – LF Chaplin – 2B Bross – P Hichez

More o' the same, more o' the same in the early innings. The Raccoons couldn't score a run if you tied a runner to their bellies, or if by chance their pitcher poked for a 1-out single as Delgadillo did in the third inning. Stalker walked, Spencer hit into a double play. At least Yusneldan also held up on the mound, holding the Condors to one hit in the first three innings and the game scoreless overall. Top 4th, Gomez led off with a soft single to left, then was a-runnin' with Harenberg at the plate to stay out of the double play. This was unnecessary, as Kevin launched a 440-footer to put Portland up 2-0, his first homer in July after hitting two in June and three in May. Regress, regress! The same was true for Jarod Spencer, who found Rocha and Stalker on the corners with one out in the fifth and hit into ANOTHER double play. The Condors also threatened for real in the bottom 5th for the first time in the contest, putting them on the corners with two outs and their pitcher approaching. Hichez grounded out, keeping Delgadillo's sheet clean.

For a bit, the Coons then again had more double play grounders than runs to their credit when Abel Mora did the honors to end the sixth, but Matt Nunley pulled them back even with a solo shot to left in the seventh inning. Rocha then reached on a throwing error by Andrew Showalter, which opened the door for an unearned 2-out, 2-run homer to left off the bat of Tim Stalker, extending the score to 5-0. At around this time, the contact off Delgadillo was also getting progressively harder. The Condors had made two deep fly outs in the sixth inning, then put Danny Zarate and Mike Chaplin on base with singles in the bottom 7th. Dave Bross hit a 2-out drive to deep left, but Jarod Spencer caught up with it on the warning track to keep the Condors shut out. Ultimately, Delgadillo got only one more out, a Pat Sanford pinch-hit fly to left, before walking Joel Denzler and reaching 100 pitches. Brotman replaced him, swapped the runner to his own when Nunley only got the out at second base on Mike Matias' grounder, walked Shane Sanks, and finally conceded a run on Kevin McGrath's double to center. Showalter struck out to end the inning. While this left the score at 5-1, the Coons still found a way to get their closer involved. Zarate reached against Snyder in the bottom 9th, and Kearney allowed a single to Mike Chaplin. Ricky Ohl appeared with them in scoring position and one out after Bross had grounded out to second. The runners scored, first on Luis Leija's sac fly, then a Denzler single, before Ohl rung up Matias to end the game. 5-3 Coons. Stalker 1-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI; Gomez 3-4; Delgadillo 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (5-8) and 1-3;

Game 2
POR: SS Stalker – LF Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Mora – C Tovias – 2B Rock – 3B Nunley – P Nomura
TIJ: CF Betancourt – 1B McGrath – 3B Sanks – RF M. Matias – SS Showalter – C Zarate – LF Denzler – 2B Bross – P Rigg

Rin Nomura was outrageous, issuing three walks the first time through the order, including to Zarate and Bross in the bottom 2nd, which brought up Sean Rigg with two outs. Nomura still didn't find a groove, gave up a single to center, and the Condors took a 1-0 lead against hitless, listless Coons, of whom Rigg faced the minimum the first time through the order despite walking Harenberg in the top 2nd, thanks to Tovias finding a double play in his tea leaves today. Tovias batted again with three on and two outs after a Gomez double and walks issued to Harenberg and Mora in the fourth inning, but flew out lazily to Danny Betancourt in center. It took until the seventh inning for the Raccoons to get another runner on base, but this time Abel Mora doubled and thus became the tying run in scoring position AND all of that with nobody out in the inning! Oh god, Tovias… at least he grounded to the right side, allowing Mora to move to third. Rock walked, which didn't help at all, and Nunley flew out to center, but deep enough to get the runner across and tie the ballgame. Greg Borg hit for a spent Nomura (99 pitches) and even hit a double to left, but Rock was too slow to score, and Stalker's fly to right was caught by Matias to end the inning.

At least the Condors also failed to convert their chances. Luis Leija hit a pinch-hit double off Dan McLin leading it off in the bottom 7th, but then was stranded when McGrath, Sanks, and PH Mike Chaplin produced three soft outs between them against McLin and Jeff Kearney. The bullpens then murdered the opposition in the eighth and ninth innings, giving the Coons another extra-inning chew. What fun! The Coons, who were increasingly short in their much-molested bullpen, could not compete in another 14-inning game, but they did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING against Pat Selby in his second inning in the 10th. Billy Brotman removed the Condors in the bottom 10th to bring about an 11th inning, which Harenberg led off with a walk drawn against Mike Baker. The right-hander then quickly surrendered a 2-run homer to Abel Mora that couldn't wait to get over the rightfield fence, and NOW we were talking business! Nunley would hit a 2-out single in the inning, Magallanes pinch-walked, but Stalker dropped to 0-for-6 in ending the inning. Ricky Ohl didn't mind – he retired the Condors 1-2-3 in the bottom 11th. 3-1 Blighters. Mora 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Nunley 2-4, RBI; Borg (PH) 1-1, 2B; Boles 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K;

Billy Brotman picked up his sixth win of the season (more than Delgadillo and level with Gutierrez), and the 20th (!) win for a reliever overall in 2027. However, by Sunday, the Coons' pen was burned out quite good. Ohl and Kearney were ruled off limits after appearing in four games already in the last five days. Surginer was the only guy that had not appeared in this series, but that was also a factor of making into every one of the Titans games earlier… in short, we needed a decent outing from George James.

Game 3
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – LF Magallanes – CF Borg – 3B Nunley – P James
TIJ: CF Denzler – RF M. Matias – 3B Sanks – 1B McGrath – SS Showalter – C Zarate – LF Chaplin – 2B Bross – P Little

James retired the first seven Condors he faced before Dave Bross hit a single, but Tijuana didn't pounce on that in a game that was not seeing much offensive action. Both teams had two measly singles through four innings, and the Raccoons were largely dominated by Jeff Little, as had been expected. By the fifth inning, however, Greg Borg hit a ball over Shane Sanks that bounced fair just once before making its way into foul ground where Chaplin had to dig it out from next to the rolled up tarp (what where they keeping a tarp for in Tijuana??), and Greg Borg slid in with a 1-out triple. That put the pressure on Nunley, who was in a month-long slump and had struck out feebly his first time up against Little. This time he poked an 0-1 pitch in play, but grounded to the left side, where Borg stayed put and was stranded once Little was done disemboweling George James. Top 6th, Stalker with an infield single, Spencer with a single to center, runners on the corners with nobody out; but now, boys! NOW, boys! Now they had Gomez strike out and Harenberg grounded to Bross for a 4-6-3 double play. AAAAARRRGGGHH!!

Buried under all the detritus of sucking the leather off the balls was the fact that George James splendidly kept pace with Jeff Little and even outlasted him. Little was gone after seven innings, while James went into the eighth… and there he walked a pair and surrendered a deadly 2-out RBI single to Joel Denzler. And the Coons were just done… 1-0 Condors. Magallanes 1-2, BB; James 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, L (1-1);

In other news

July 20 – Back soreness forces LAP OF Justin Fowler (.306, 17 HR, 76 RBI) to the DL, with the Pacifics hoping that 15 days will be enough for him to heal up.
July 21 – The Knights' C Ruben Luna (.212, 12 HR, 43 RBI) walks off his team the hard way for a 6-5 win over the Condors, getting nailed by MR Mike Baker (2-2, 1.12 ERA, 2 SV) with the bases loaded in the bottom 9th.
July 22 – The Warriors take the Pacifics apart in a 16-2 mauling, with four of their players chipping in 3-hit games. Of those, OF Josh Stevenson (.284, 0 HR, 17 RBI) has the most RBI with four.
July 23 – BOS SP Guillermo Regalado (6-6, 3.80 ERA) 2-hits the unsuspecting Falcons in an 8-0 Titans shutout.
July 23 – CIN SS Frank Eisenberg (.294, 0 HR, 25 RBI) is expected to miss a month with a torn meniscus.
July 25 – SFB INF Pat Pick (.252, 6 HR, 38 RBI) is traded to the Capitals along with #66 prospect SP/MR Dennis Wheeler for SP Danny Arguello (9-9, 4.33 ERA).
July 25 – Pacifics and Blue Sox play 11 innings before any of the teams scores on a walkoff single by LAP INF Robby Soto (.260, 2 HR, 20 RBI), giving L.A. a 1-0 win.

Complaints and stuff

Sunday's crummy loss was were I was shining most as a manager and motivator. I pulled over George James, who had pitched his heart out, all FOR NOTHING, and gave him some wisdom I had learned in my decades of suffering. "Listen, George. You did very well today. But life is full of horrors, and you will never win. Now go cry in the shower."

They are disgusting. Not talking about the pitching right now, which endured 59 innings this week and allowed only 12 runs. That was still almost not enough to even secure a winning week since the miserable sucker offense only scored 16 times, and two of those were unearned. Raccoons pitching had only allowed two games of more than three runs since the All Star break, yet they were merely 7-3. Elias Tovias couldn't break glass. Jarod Spencer had surely been abducted by aliens and the anal probe was bothering him. Trey Rock, finally, couldn't have been more useless if he had been covered in chocolate. They were a burden to watch, fail and fail and fail again, every single ****ing day.

Don't think I am not trying to find offensive support on the trade market, but our lack of prospects is a real issue here… I tried to reunite the Coons with Indy's Matt Jamieson, which didn't work, and I also couldn't ice Dan Dalton off the Rebels' roster.

And thusly, the Coons' gap behind the Titans perpetually remained 3 1/2 games…

Fun Fact: Matt Nunley is second among active players in grounding into double plays, having achieved that special feat 287 times in his career.

The leader among active players? Well, who could have been more useless for an entire career than Mike Bednarski with 330 double plays smacked into? Bednarski has been so useless as a clutch guy, he's even in the career top 10 and even has the second fewest extra-base hits among the circle:

CAREER ABL LEADERS IN DOUBLE PLAYS

1st – Ray Gilbert – 422
2nd – Antonio Esquivel – 404
3rd – Alberto Rodriguez – 401
4th – Stanley Murphy – 377
5th – Jimmy Roberts – 366
6th – Steve Butler – 337
7th – Mike Bednarski – 330
8th – Mark Dawson – 329
9th – Hector Garcia – 304
10th – Gabriel Ortíz – 299

**** Ray Gilbert. **** him forever.