[Westheim]

Raccoons (78-52) @ Bayhawks (58-71) – August 28-30, 2028

The Baybirds were buried at the bottom of the Southern Division, owing to a lack of pitching that had seen their fourth-best offense completely undone by a bottom three rotation and a simply crummy bullpen. Their run differential was -32, so their record was probably a bit worse than you’d expect, but on the other hand they were also 4-2 against the Raccoons for the year. But even in 2027 San Fran had been the only team in the South to not lose their season series against Portland. Not that it had gotten them into the playoffs then, either…

Projected matchups:
Dan Delgadillo (5-4, 4.68 ERA) vs. Guillermo Regalado (9-8, 3.92 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (7-7, 4.05 ERA) vs. Gilberto Rendon (8-6, 4.98 ERA)
Rin Nomura (15-5, 2.69 ERA) vs. Matt Huf (9-10, 4.37 ERA)

Three right-handers against us in the final series oft he month – we’d have Thursday off before rosters would expand for the weekend set against Indy.

Game 1
POR: SS Alb. Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – LF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Leal – 3B Nunley – P Delgadillo
SFB: CF Hawthorne – SS M. Martin – 1B Caraballo – RF C. Martinez – LF Orozco – 2B W. White – 3B E. Moreno – C Jai. Jackson – P Regalado

The second inning saw the Critters load the bases on a Gomez single, Leal getting nailed, and Nunley squeezing a 3-2 pitch for a walk, only to bring up Yusneldan with one out. At least he put the ball in play, flying out to Ruben Orozco sufficiently deep to bring in Rafael Gomez for the first run, after which Ramos struck out. That Gomez single was the Coons’ only base hit in the first five innings, and Delgadillo would not hold on to the 1-0 lead forever. The Bayhawks had two singles and as many double plays the first time through the order, but Mike Martin, the DP goat in the bottom 1st, hit a 1-out triple in the bottom 4th, and Delgadillo lacked the stuff to get out of that sticky spot. He lost Tomas Caraballo on balls, then surrendered the tying run on a sac fly before Orozco grounded out to Nunley. The Raccoons took a new lead in the sixth, Rich Hereford singling to center to score Abel Mora from second base, but after Harenberg got four wide ones – the Baybirds had obviously taken note of his exploits the previous week – Rafael Gomez chopped into a double play to end the inning.

Regalado opened the bottom 6th with a single to center, and it was all downhill from there for Delgadillo. After two outs shuffled the tying run to third base, Caraballo plated the pitcher with a ground rule double and Cesar Martinez walked. With nothing but left-handed bats approaching, the Coons pulled the plug on the well-travelled Degladillo and sent Jeff Kearney with two on and two outs. He walked Orozco, then surrendered a big liner to Wade White… right into the maws of Hereford in leftfield, stranding three in a 2-2 game. Kearney somehow made it through the seventh and the bottom of the order without being murdered by either the Bayhawks or his own GM, and the Coons got a good opportunity in the following inning when Ying-hua Ou walked Ramos on four pitches to begin the top 8th. Mora singled to put runners on the corners, and San Fran was in a real pickle now…. Or so you’d be forgiven to think. Stalker grounded out to first, moving up Mora, but not Ramos, and Hereford and Harenberg both popped balls up in the ****tiest way, and nobody scored in the inning. Top 9th, leadoff single by PH Jarod Spencer, then a walk to Leal issued by right-hander Alex Ramos. Nunley’s appearance screamed double play in an agonizingly slow game, but he was a left-hander after all. And struck out, as did Jon Correa in the #9 hole. Ramos put the 0-1 in play, grounder past the aging Wade White for a single, and Spencer was not going to be held and beat out Cesar Martinez’ throw to break the tie. The throw to home plate also allowed the runners to advance further, leading to two more runs when Abel Mora singled cleanly through the left side; Leal from second base would not have scored on that ball, but Ramos from second base had not a lot of trouble. The Raccoons turned to Kevin Surginer for the save eventually, with Ohl having thrown the last two days, and Boles even the last three days. Surginer was *relatively* rested, having thrown three pitches on Saturday (and more on Thursday and Friday…). Kevin loaded the bases in eight pitches, allowing a single to Martinez, nailing Orozco, and walking White in four, but the Raccoons had nobody to go to, except Jonathan Fleischer, and no, not with the bags full already. Tom Hawkins hit a sac fly, Jaiden Jackson hit an RBI single, but PH Jose Pulido struck out. That brought up leadoff man George Hawthorne, who fell to 2-2 before popping a pitch foul that Nunley chased to the sidewall … and caught. 5-4 Coons. Mora 3-5, 2 RBI; Spencer (PH) 1-1;

Nick Derks pitched the eighth and got the W. He went 18 appearances without a decision before now taking W’s in back-to-back relief outings.

The Titans beat the Thunder, 9-3, to keep the distance at 8 1/2.

Game 2
POR: SS Alb. Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – LF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – P Anderson
SFB: CF Hawthorne – 3B Hawkins – 1B Caraballo – RF C. Martinez – LF Orozco – 2B W. White – SS Pulido – C Jai. Jackson – P G. Rendon

The Raccoons bopped their former farmhand Rendon for four runs in the opening inning, all with two outs. Stalker singled, stole second, got a running mate when Hereford walked, then came home on Harenberg’s single to right. Rafael Gomez’ 3-piece to left then reunited everybody in the dugout, even though the inning didn’t end until after a Tovias single when Nunley grounded out. However, the Baybirds would be on Kyle Anderson’s neck right away; there was a leadoff single by Hawthorne, then a clumsy walk to Martinez with two outs, and then Orozco gave the fans some life with a 3-run homer of his own. The middle of the order would go on to fail the Raccoons big time in the following innings. They loaded the bases only to have Harenberg ground out harmlessly to strand three in the top 2nd, then had Hereford fly out harmlessly to strand Ramos and Mora in the fourth … although those latter runs would have been unearned, with Ramos only reaching on a White error. He did steal his 34th base though, inching in closer to the league leaders. None of this helped Anderson a lot, who conceded the lead finally in the bottom 4th when the Bayhawks’ Orozco, White, and Jackson all singled to center to tie the score at four. They did also hit for their pitcher, Gilberto Rendon, in the inning, sending out pinch-hitter Edwin Rendon. No relation, and also no further offense as Anderson struck out both the Replacement Rendon and Hawthorne to strand a pair.

With Tovias on base after a 2-out single, the Coons went on to pinch-hit for Matt Nunley in the fifth, but Danny Morales popped out against southpaw Mike Cavallin. In turn the bottom 5th saw Hawkins lead off with a double, Caraballo went yard to right-center, and twobatters later Orozco homered to left to extinguish a horrendous Anderson, buried under seven runs in 4.1 innings. It would get worse for the Raccoons, who brought up the tying run in the seventh inning, but Tovias grounded out to strand two, and that was after Tim Stalker doubled and left the game with obvious discomfort, replaced by Jarod Spencer, all for nought. The Bayhawks added two runs in a smothering of Nick Derks in the bottom 8th, while the Raccoons entirely feebly and never scored after the 4-run first. 9-4 Bayhawks. Stalker 2-4, 2B; Tovias 2-4; Fleischer 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

If we lose Tim Stalker for the season, I will throw myself into the Bay. But right now, the Druid was still buying all sorts of candles and had no diagnosis prepared before the rubber game.

But there were planes going from Portland to San Francisco all the time. I could still throw myself into the Bay later on…

Game 3
POR: SS Alb. Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Tovias – LF Correa – P Nomura
SFB: CF Hawthorne – SS M. Martin – 1B Caraballo – RF C. Martinez – C J. Ramirez – LF E. Rendon – 2B Pulido – 3B Hawkins – P Huf

This time the Bayhawks scored the four runs in the opening inning, swatting Nomura left and right including a 3-piece by Edwin Rendon. And despite the vibrant dysfunction between Ramos and Spencer, who hit into a double play in the first, the Coons scratched their way back into the game when Nomura temporarily stopped the hemorrhage and instead Portland scored some runs. Ramos tripled and (barely) came home on Spencer’s sac fly in the third, and the fourth saw Hereford reach on a Pulido error before Harenberg went yard to cut the gap to 4-3. Tovias singled, Correa walked, but between Nomura and Ramos the Raccoons failed to find the game-tying base hit.

And then there remained the curious case of Nomura absolutely not getting strikeouts in situations that were screaming out for them. Pulido on first, two outs, Nomura got the opposing pitcher to 0-2 in the bottom 4th, then still managed to surrender a double to Huf, swiftly advancing to surrender a hard grounder to left to Hawthorne. Ramos had to lunge to his right, scrambled deep on the dirt and fired a blast to first base that SOMEHOW beat out Hawthorne to end the inning. That looked like an infield single the whole time … and Ramos somehow still got him.

Top 6th, Tovias’ 1-out single brought up the former Baybird Jon Correa, whose acquisition we by now had chalked up another the category of “we meant well, but it wasn’t meant to be”. He was hardly batting .220 as a Raccoon with only four homers. He would not go yard here, either… but he still beat Cesar Martinez with a fly that fell for a double and provided a great scoring opportunity. With Nomura pitching more badly than in recent memory, the Coons pinch-hit right here, sending Danny Morales, who popped out uselessly, but then Alberto Ramos came through with a double up the rightfield line that flipped the score (giving Nomura an optional W) and put him a homer shy of the cycle. And Spencer? Spencer looked at strike three… That stranded Ramos at second, one inning before Correa flew out to Martinez to strand a full set of runners. Surginer and Ohl exploded in the bottom 7th then; Kevin had pitched the sixth, but put on Hawkins (walk) and Omar Millan (single) to begin the seventh. When Ricky Ohl replaced him, he surrendered a score-flipping triple to Hawthorne right away. Somehow, THAT runner remained on base despite arriving at third with nobody out… Cavallin and Armando Pena did away with the Coons in the eighth before Alex Ramos came out for the ninth. Abel Mora led off with a single, which promised not a whole lot with Hereford having been muted for most of the series and 0-for-4 in this game. He struck out. Harenberg flew out to Hawthorne in center, but Gomez got a ball over the head of Mike Martin for a single. Mora dashed for third base, bringing up Tovias, who was 4-for-4 and could not possibly have another single in his bat. He didn’t. On a 3-1 pitch, he popped out to short… 6-5 Bayhawks. Ramos 3-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Gomez 2-5; Tovias 4-5, 2B;

Maybe, instead of drowning myself in the Bay, I should drown Elias Tovias in the Bay. That would release a lot of frustration.

The Titans won two of three from the Thunder, moving in to 7 1/2. The Coons were idle on Thursday, but the Titans started a 4-game set with the Crusaders, in fourth place and 11 games out, on Thursday and lost the opener against Doug Moffatt, putting our lead as the calendar flipped to September at eight games compared to Boston, ten over the damn Elks, and 10 1/2 over New York.

Also, by Friday morning I found out that Tim Stalker had a broken foot. Off he was to the DL, but there was a solid chance he would be available for the playoffs.

If we ever made it there, eight ahead with 29 to play.

Raccoons (79-54) vs. Indians (58-75) – September 1-3, 2028

The Indians were last in offense, scoring just 3.5 runs per game, and even though their pitching was solid the combination was never going to amount to a winning team. They did have the best defense in the league though, so something to envy there… The season series stood 7-4 in the Raccoons’ favor.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (10-7, 2.63 ERA) vs. John McInerney (8-9, 2.97 ERA)
Mark Roberts (14-4, 2.94 ERA) vs. David Saccoccio (10-10, 3.16 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (5-4, 4.58 ERA) vs. Mark Matthews (3-5, 3.69 ERA)

McInerney was a southpaw, then two right-handers. We might also see swingman Myles Mood (0-0, 1.52 ERA) in the series. Him and Matthews had both tossed in a double header on Monday.

And of course, rosters expanded, so while the Raccoons shed Tim Stalker onto the DL, they still brought up a number of replacements, some familiar.

Jaden Booker had been mostly useless even in AAA, but we were paying his sorry bum and would try to get something, anything out of it in September. We also added Butch Gerster again (badly necessary with Stalker gone) and opted for another middle infielder in German Sanchez. Daniel Rocha took the job of catcher #3. Bullpen reinforcements came via the inevitable Steve Costilow and left-hander Jeremy Moesker, who was the only one in the crowd to not have already appeared for the Raccoons this season, but had made eight relief appearances last year for a 6.35 ERA.

Game 1
IND: SS Pizano – 2B T. Johnson – C Kennett – CF Suhay – LF Plunkett – RF Ryder – 3B C. Castro – 1B Aleman – P McInerney
POR: SS Ramos – LF Morales – RF Gomez – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – 2B G. Sanchez – P Gutierrez

Rico was in no hurry in this game; he needed 44 pitches to get through the Indians’ lineup once and ran five full counts while doing so. While the Indians did not get a hit or run, this was not the most efficient way to keep an only slightly enlarged bullpen engaged… At least the Critters had pulled out a run in the bottom 1st, with Ramos walking and coming around on a pair of singles by Morales and Gomez before Hereford stuck a dagger into the inning with a double play grounder before Harenberg struck out for good. The Indians’ first hit would then flip the score, a 2-run homer by Alex Aleman that came with two outs in the fifth and was also unearned. Mike Plunkett had reached base on a German Sanchez error. The Critters got even in the bottom 5th on some 2-out rally that saw Ramos single, Morales walk, and Gomez hit a wicked bouncer over the glove of Mario Pizano to bring Ramos around. Pizano got revenge on Hereford then, shagging his dying bloop while racing for the outfield to end the inning, the hit a double to lead off the top 6th, but he would also make the third out at third base, tagging up on Elliott Kennett’s fly to center, only to get thrown out by Magallanes, who hit a 2-out single in the bottom 6th. Jon Correa batted for Sanchez, hit a single to right to put runners on the corners, and that ended both starting pitchers’ day. The Indians yanked McInerney for right-hander Manny Estrella, while the Raccoons used men on the corners with two outs to remove Rico and his “advanced” pitch count. Abel Mora came, walked, and loaded the bases for Ramos, who flew out to Zachary Ryder, and three more Coons were left stranded… The game then got away in a hurry from Kevin Surginer, who got rocked in the top 7th for a Mike Plunkett homer, a Ryder triple, and then Manny Sanchez’ run-scoring groundout. Gomez and Hereford hit singles in the bottom 7th, and Harenberg hit into a double play to kill the effort. Eliott Kennett added a 2-run homer off Costilow in the eighth for the final tally. 6-2 Indians. Gomez 3-5, 2 RBI; Correa (PH) 1-1; Spencer 1-1; Nunley (PH) 1-1;

How nervous a 3-game losing streak against really bad teams makes me right now?

There are five spilled cups of coffee (with Capt’n Coma; okay mainly Capt’n Coma) on and under the desk and you still ask stuff like that?

But, ah, it gets better. For Saturday we had Angel Casas bobbleheads and also a small number retiring ceremony for our newest Hall of Fame closer. That also meant that there was media interest, everybody wanted a piece of the action… and so Nick Valdes was not going to be far from Portland, either… and that with us having dropped three straight to beaten teams.

Game 2
IND: SS Pizano – 3B E. Sosa – C Kennett – CF Suhay – RF Ryder – LF M. Cowan – 2B Wagner – 1B Aleman – P Saccoccio
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – 2B Hereford – RF Gomez – C Leal – 3B Nunley – LF Booker – P Roberts

Roberts allowed rockets right from the start and before long bled for two runs on Ryder’s 2-out double in the top of the first. The Raccoons loaded them up in the bottom of the inning, but could only get a sac fly by Gomez, plating Ramos, before Leal flew out to right. But to remain fair to Saccoccio – at least he tried to help out the weirdly hesitating Raccoons and hit back-to-back batters, Gomez and Leal, to begin the bottom of the fourth. Tying and go-ahead runs aboard, the Critters had the chance to shine! Nunley’s single loaded the bases with nobody out for .180 menace Jaden Booker, who struck out in all his futility, when even Mark Roberts managed to lob a fly to center deep enough to get Gomez home and tie the score. Ramos fired a liner to center that fooled Ben Suhay bad enough to fall for a 2-out, 2-run triple, and we could have done more if Abel Mora had not struck out to keep the score at 4-2.

Alex Aleman hit a leadoff single in the fifth, but Roberts struck out the next three, including Todd Johnson as he batted for Saccoccio on the losing end now. The Indians went to Estrella again, and the Critters’ Kevin Harenberg went into the gap for a leadoff double in the bottom 5th. The Indians walked Hereford intentionally to set up the double play, a really mean strategy that oughta be forbidden! Gomez struck out before Curt Wagner missed Leal’s grounder for a bases-loading single. Three on, one out for Nunley, who held still long enough to draw ball four, and even Booker got in a run with a sac fly, stretching the score to 6-2. After the early onslaught, Roberts cruised until the eighth when Kennett got him for a 2-out solo home run, but that still had the Raccoons up by three with a now well-rested Josh Boles eager for murder… and then Rich Hereford took the chance away from him with a 2-out single in the bottom 8th, plating Butch Gerster, who had opened the frame with a pinch-hit single in Roberts’ spot. Instead, the Raccoons sent Derks into the ninth, which sounded a lot like begging for trouble, but he did away with the Indians in six pitches to even the series and set up a rubber game for Sunday. 7-3 Raccoons. Ramos 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Harenberg 2-4, BB, 2B; Leal 2-3; Gerster (PH) 1-1; Roberts 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, W (15-4) and 0-1, RBI;

This re-tied Roberts for the lead in wins, and he led the strikeout table by an even dozen, but unfortunately his ERA was constantly on the rise and still roughly half a run behind the new leader, Mike Rutkowski.

Game 3
IND: SS Pizano – C Dear – 1B Jon Gonzalez – CF Suhay – LF Plunkett – 2B E. Sosa – 3B T. Johnson – RF Aleman – P Mood
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – RF Gomez – C Tovias – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – P Delgadillo

Swingman Mood did end up facing the Raccoons, as well as a 2-0 deficit after the first inning. Mora had doubled, scored on Harenberg’s roller through Jon Gonzalez, then had allowed another double to Hereford and finally a sac fly to Rafael Gomez. The Indians got on the board in the third with Matt Dear singling in Pizano after a 2-out double. The Raccoons had an answer to that, right away, and it had substance: Ramos led off with a walk in the bottom 3rd, stole second, then scored on Mora’s single to right. Harenberg walked, Hereford advanced the runners with a groundout, Gomez plated Mora with another grounder, and then Tovias fired a 2-run shot on the first offering from Mood, staking Delgadillo to a 6-1 lead. Suhay pulled one back with a leadoff jack, but Hereford drew a bases-loaded walk against Alberto Molina in the bottom of the fourth to extend the gap to five again. The next time Hereford came up the Raccoons had Ramos on second after a walk and a stolen base, Harenberg on first with another walk shed by Molina, and Hereford broke through with a 3-run homer to right-center to bury the Indians two slams deep, 10-2. After this sixth inning, the Raccoons removed (almost) every piece of value from the lineup; only Gomez (moved in to first base) and the bottom three remained by the top of the 7th, and Delgadillo was gone before the seventh inning stretch, too, allowing Plunkett and Elias Sosa on base to begin the inning, then giving up an RBI single to Mike Roesler in the #9 hole. Surginer came in, walked Pizano, then gave up a bases-celaring double to Matt Dear before Jon Gonzalez grounded out. Suddenly I wished our sluggers back into a 10-6 game… Fleischer got rid of the Indians in speedy fashion in the eighth, and for the ninth they brought up the bottom of the order and we were sure we could risk getting Steve Costilow engaged despite his 9.00 ERA. Ah, small sample size (4 innings)! Todd Johnson popped out foul, Alex Aleman grounded out to short, and Costilow fielded Manny Sanchez’ roller himself for the final out. 10-6 Raccoons! Mora 3-4, 2B, RBI; Harenberg 1-2, BB, 2B, RBI; Hereford 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Nunley 2-4;

In other news

August 29 – VAN SP Leon Hernandez (10-7, 3.46 ERA) is discovered to have a partial tear in his UCL and is out for the season. The Canadiens will have him try and rehab the injury rather than go for Tommy John surgery.
August 30 – The Canadiens run over the Falcons in a 14-1 thrashing, with VAN LF/CF Alex Torres (.279, 19 HR, 93 RBI) plating six runs on three hits from the leadoff spot.
August 30 – The Titans’ only base hit in a 4-2 loss to the Thunder is a 2-run home run by 1B Bob Lloyd (.274, 21 HR, 82 RBI) off OCT SP Jeff Dykstra (15-9, 3.38 ERA).

Complaints and stuff

Stalker and the Druid were not very subtle about the broken foot. I found Stalker with a leg cast on my couch as I crawled into the office on Friday. At least his cast was Raccoons brown, not like Nunley’s earlier in the year.

Ricky Ohl will keep wearing #28 for the rest of the season and switch to a new number next season. He has already joked that once he will have won his second ring, he will go to #38 and just keep counting.

Rich Hereford did not a have a great week until he broke out for 4 RBI on Sunday, but still managed to zoom up the franchise leaderboard for RBI in a single season. Tying for tenth before this week, he moved up to a tie for seventh:

PORTLAND RACCOONS – SINGLE SEASON RBI LEADERS
1st – Tetsu Osanai (1989) – 140
2nd – Hugo Mendoza (2020) – 133
t-3rd – Tetsu Osanai (1986) – 121
t-3rd – Tetsu Osanai (1990) – 121
5th – Luke Black (2008) – 120
6th – Mark Dawson (1983) – 119
t-7th – Albert Martin (2003) – 117
t-7th – Rich Hereford (2028) – 117
9th – Mark Dawson (1988) – 115
t-10th – several players – 111

We will start the next week with a crucial 3-game set against the Titans, who lost three of four over the weekend against New York, a GREAT result for the Raccoons! In fact, the Titans would have been swept if they had not rallied for a 5-run ninth on Saturday to pull out a 7-6 win in walkoff fashion. We are also far enough ahead that even winning only one of three games against them could be considered a moral victory for us, because we’d still reduce the magic number by two that way. Just don’t get swept…!

Here is the remainder of the road for the competitors in the North for the final four weeks. We will include the Crusaders and Elks… they are all on top of one another, and if the Raccoons went on a losing spree, any of those three could grab second and chase us down. List includes the playoff chance as per BNN:

POR (81-55) – BOS (6), IND (4), VAN (4), LVA (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), TIJ (3) – 98.1%
BOS (73-65) – POR (6), ATL (3), IND (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), SFB (3), VAN (3) – 1.8%
NYC (71-66) – VAN (6), MIL (4), BOS (3), IND (3), LVA (3), TIJ (3), VAN (3) – 0.0%
VAN (70-66) – NYC (6), MIL (4), POR (4), ATL (3), IND (3), NYC (3), SFB (3) – 0.0%

The Condors, up by 8 1/2 in the South, also have a playoff chance of roughly 98%.

Fun Fact: With his bases loaded walk drawn on Saturday, Matt Nunley took sole possession of third place in career RBI for the Raccoons.

Nunley has plated 870 runners in his Coons career (so, all of his career). He still trails Neil Reece (905) and Daniel Hall (980) and does not look like he has much of a shot at least at the latter, but he is also still under contract for 2029. He had been tied with Mark Dawson, who had however plated his 869 RBI in more than 2,000 fewer plate appearances as a Raccoon.