[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Bub13

Whoever said "April is the cruelest month" clearly wasn't a Raccoons fan in September.

(Tickets bought, though.)

Maud, can we send a gift basket to this kind man? - No? - Why do we not have any gift baskets anymore? - Well, then you should have locked up the closet so no Critter gets in there!

+++

Raccoons (80-69) vs. Falcons (66-83) – September 21-23, 2043

Last games against the CL South this year. (nods confirmingly) The Falcons were fourth in the South, ninth in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed, with a -36 run differential that hinted at them being in fact better than 17 games under .500. The season series was tied at three, and getting two out of three here would be neat for statistical purposes, but would not matter anymore in the standings. Our magic number was six, and we’d probably be extinguished by the weekend.

Projected matchups:
Brent Clark (11-12, 3.82 ERA) vs. Kareem Woods (1-5, 5.80 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-11, 3.21 ERA) vs. Chris Watson (9-3, 2.48 ERA)
Corey Mathers (18-12, 3.46 ERA) vs. Jerry Felix (10-14, 4.37 ERA)

Watson was the sole left-hander to face here, while Woods was a 28-year-old rookie that was washed into the rotation due to injuries to Oscar Flores and Adam Messer. We would not see longtime Critter Bernie Chavez (7-11, 5.01 ERA), who pitched on Sunday. As a creature of habit, he did climb into the dumpster behind the ballpark though.

Game 1
CHA: RF Haertling – 1B Alicea – SS Aparicio – CF Turley – LF Case – C Kokoszka – 3B Mujica – 2B Shay – P K. Woods
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 1B Ayala – CF Maldonado – 3B Jimenez – LF Nettles – C Kilmer – RF Anderson – P Clark

The Falcons batted through the order in the first inning as Brent Clark was mostly behind in the count, loaded the bases on a Ramon Alicea single, a 4-pitch walk to Tony Aparicio, a fastball into Archie Turley’s ribs, and then surrendered three runs on three straight RBI singles to center to Seth Case, Chris Kokoszka, and Frank Mujica. Adam Shay and Woods struck out, and by the way, Ed Haertling says hi.

Woods also was a mess, loading the bases to begin the bottom 2nd on straight walks to Jimenez, Nettles, and Kilmer. Of course, that was three on and nobody out and we were certainly doomed. Actually, Van Anderson and Clark hit singles, each plating a run, and only then the misery started with the people that were expected to do better. Carreno and Ayala both struck out; Waters got the tying run home with a groundout at least, so everybody was even at three after two innings.

Clark pitched four innings for a no-decision. He needed *108* pitches to get through four innings, thanks to extensive use of long counts. He somehow also struck out seven, but apart from that it was quite frustrating. Shuta Yamamoto batted for him in the bottom 4th and doubled home Jeff Kilmer with a wallbanger in right, giving the Raccoons a 4-3 lead, but of course Clark hadn’t gone the required distance for a W. Kareem Woods didn’t make it out of the fourth inning at all, walking Carreno and Ayala around Waters’ groundout, and then walked Maldo with the bases loaded, pushing home a 2-out run. Left-hander Xavier Gomez gave up a 2-run double to Ricky Jimenez, then collected a groundout from Stephon Nettles to end the inning, with Portland up 7-3. Carreno singled home a run in the bottom 5th against Gomez, then hit a leadoff double in the eighth and was driven in by Ayala with a 1-out single for additional runs, while the Raccoons got scoreless relief from Travis Sims (!), Preston Porter, and Steven Johnston. They’d use Seth Green to finish the game. 9-3 Raccoons. Carreno 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Jimenez 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Kilmer 1-1, 3 BB; Yamamoto (PH) 1-1, 2B, RBI; Porter 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K;

Game 2
CHA: 1B Haertling – C Kokoszka – SS Aparicio – CF Turley – 2B Farfan – 3B Mujica – LF Esperanza – RF Quesada – P C. Watson
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – 1B Yamamoto – LF de Wit – RF Casas – P Wheatley

Wheats was no bueno, giving up lots of loud contact early on. Haertling opened the game with a double, but was stranded, however, Jose Farfan and Ruben Esperanza both whacked doubles in the second inning and that put the Falcons on the board, 1-0. Watson even hit a liner that was snatched by Yamamoto to strand Esperanza on third base. Watson also retired the Coons in order the first time through, but then gave up a game-tying leadoff jack to Arturo Carreno to begin the fourth inning.

Wheatley was then chewed to pieces in the fifth inning, which Watson opened with a single, and it was straight into the dumpster from there. Haertling walked, Tony Aparicio singled in the go-ahead run with one out, and Turley was nailed to fill the bases. Wheatley could not get strike three past anybody, but the Falcons could get balls past the infielders. Farfan singled home a run, Mujica popped out, Esperanza singled home another run, and then Antonio Quesada grounded to Jimenez, who fumbled the ball for an error. Watson grounded out to Yamamoto to end the damn inning, which turned out to be the last one for Wheatley, down 5-1. Sal Ayala batted for him with Kilmer and Yamamoto in scoring position and two outs in the bottom 5th, chucked an RBI single past Farfan, 5-2, moved to second when Carreno walked to fill the bases, and then was stranded along with everybody else when Matt Waters grounded out poorly.

In the sixth, Maldo got on and Jeff Kilmer went yard to left-center, reducing the Falcons’ lead to one, and the tying run was put on base by Watson to begin the bottom 7th when he nailed Jose Casas, but Casas ended up caught stealing. Moreno, Jones, Marucci, Johnston (who retired nobody), and Ramirez gave the Raccoons scoreless relief through regulation, but when Waters drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 8th, Jimenez hit into a double play, and the bottom of the order dawned for the ninth against righty Mike Gutierrez. Yamamoto and de Wit made outs before Stephon Nettles hit a single to right. Van Anderson pinch-hit after that, but grounded out. 5-4 Falcons. Kilmer 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Nettles (PH) 1-1; Ayala (PH) 1-1, RBI;

I’m calm.

Game 3
CHA: 1B Haertling – 3B Mujica – CF Turley – 2B Farfan – LF Case – C Alicea – SS M. Estrada – RF Quesada – P Felix
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 3B Jimenez – 1B Maldonado – RF Nettles – C Sieber – CF Anderson – LF Gonzalez – P Mathers

Wednesday brought another leadoff jack by Carreno, this one in the first inning and to take the lead, 1-0! No other scoring occurred through five innings, with both teams scattering three hits in very inefficient manner in this largely meaningless rubber game. Mathers looked miles better than recently – both compared to himself and to his predecessors in the series – or at least he did until he hung a thing to Archie Turley with two outs in the sixth, and that baseball was never seen again, hit all the way to Mount St. ******* Helens, tying the game at one.

Waters hit a leadoff single in the sixth, but was doubled up by Jimenez. Maldo then doubled, all four naught, with Nettles grounding out. Mathers added a scoreless seventh, then saw the bases fill up in the bottom 7th with Sieber, Anderson, and Gonzalez as Felix started to lose it. Three on, nobody out was bad enough, but we couldn’t give up an out with the pitcher here. Sal Ayala hit for him, grinded out a walk against the melting Felix, and that gave Mathers a posthumous potential W. Carreno added a sac fly, but Waters grounded out and Jimenez popped out to end the inning. Chuck Jones retired the Falcons in order in the eighth, but Rella allowed 1-out singles to Farfan and Esperanza in the ninth inning after Turley grounded out to begin the ninth. Alicea hit a screamer through Jimenez for an RBI double. And Adam Shay banged a ball off the right foul pole for a major collapse becoming official. And there went Corey Mathers’ 19th win. Zack Kelly replaced Rella, got the last two outs, and then the deflated Critters had to get back in there against Mike Gutierrez. Jordan Gonzalez opened with a single to center, but Gutierrez then retired de Wit and Carreno before Waters hit a liner to center that fell for a 2-out RBI double…! And then Jimenez struck out. 5-4 Falcons. Waters 2-5, 2B, RBI; Sieber 3-4; Gonzalez 3-4; Ayala (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Mathers 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

The series loss dropped the Raccoons a further game out behind the damn Elks and Crusaders, who kept 2 1/2 behind. None of the three teams in question played on Thursday, but a Coons loss and an Elks win could secure mathematical elimination by Friday.

Raccoons (81-71) vs. Loggers (80-72) – September 25-27, 2043

Down 8-7 in the season series, we had to play three more with the Loggers, who were also surging again and trying to get into third place in the division still. They were scoring the most runs in the Continental League, but gave up the fourth-most, which was still enough for a +59 run differential (Critters: +40). But their bullpen had a 4.65 ERA, second-worst in the CL, and that was definitely something that needed urgent tackling if they wanted to compete going forwards. The Loggers were without Jared Paul, who was on the DL, but all the annoying ********* that kept ruining the Raccoons would be available.

Projected matchups:
Jake Jackson (11-12, 4.34 ERA) vs. Matt Peterson (12-8, 3.29 ERA)
Victor Merino (0-0) vs. Jose de Lucio (12-11, 3.65 ERA)
Brent Clark (11-12, 3.88 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (8-16, 5.45 ERA)

The Venezuelan southpaw Merino, who had cost roughly a quarter million in the 2039 July IFA period, and who would be 23 next Opening Day, would make his debut after an abbreviated – on account of injuries – AAA season. He had not been *amazing*, but we were eager for a look and would give him the last two starts that otherwise would have gone to Sauerkraut (8-3, 3.75 ERA in 41 games, 10 starts, 98.1 innings). Merino was the #55 prospect, but had been as high as #45 in the past.

The Loggers offered up only right-handers.

Game 1
MIL: CF Reeves – SS Del Vecchio – 1B Brayboy – LF Hertenstein – C F. Gomez – 3B Simon – RF Serad – 2B J. Cruz – P M. Peterson
POR: 2B Carreno – 1B Ayala – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – RF Nettles – LF de Wit – SS Nickas – P Jackson

Bill Reeves hit a game-opening homer to right, the 23rd of the year for him. Felipe Gomez hit another one of those in the second inning, which already made it 2-0 Loggers, but the Raccoons loaded the bases with Kilmer, Nettles, and de Wit in the bottom 2nd to bring up, with one out, uh, Steve Nickas and the pitcher. Oh well, maybe tomorrow! But, funny story – those two combined to give the Coons (and partially themselves) the lead. Nickas grounded out to first, bringing home the team’s first run, and Nettles and de Wit both scored as Jackson socked a single to right, flipping the score to 3-2 Critters! Carreno singled after that, but Ayala popped out to end the inning.

Jackson’s struggles continued, and he gave up a run to tie the game in the fourth. Aaron Brayboy walked, Daniel Hertenstein and Brad Simon singled, and we only parachuted out of the inning after an intentional walk to Jose Cruz and a K to the .046 hitter Peterson. Jackson then went on to give himself the lead *a second time*: Nettles led off with a single in the bottom 4th, then stole second base. De Wit popped out, but Nickas walked. When bunting failed, Jackson swung away at 0-2, and flicked another single to right, chasing home Nettles from second base to take a 4-3 lead…! That also put Jackson at 10 RBI, a rarity for a pitcher. Carreno hit a dying quail into no man’s land in shallow right-center which was fumbled by T.J. Serad, giving everybody an extra base, with Nickas scoring. A confused and suffering-looking Peterson walked Ayala, gave up a 2-run single to Jimenez, then was yanked. Two deep fly outs off Mackenzie O’Toole ended the inning, with Portland up 7-3. Bottom 5th, Nickas doubled (!) with two outs, then was sent around when Jackson singled to right AGAIN, but was thrown out at the plate by Serad.

That was the offensive heroics for Jackson, who did not get another at-bat, with the Coons’ seventh stopping with Nickas, and him only retiring Ted ******* Del Vecchio to begin the eighth before yielding for a left-hander, who turned out to be Angelo Montano, who got whacked around a bit and gave up a run on a hard single by Brad Simon before somehow waggling out of the inning. The Raccoons had another run thrown out at home plate in the bottom 8th, Carreno being struck down on a mighty toss by Bill Reeves as he tried to score from first on an Ayala double. Josh Rella pitched a successful ninth this time around, though… 7-4 Raccoons. Carreno 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Ayala 2-4, BB, 2 2B; Jimenez 2-5, 2 RBI; Jackson 7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (12-12) and 3-3, 3 RBI;

The damn Elks beat the Crusaders, putting the Raccoons into the elimination zone even if we won on Saturday. Our magic number was down to one. We had eliminated the Loggers with this Friday win.

Game 2
MIL: LF Reeves – CF Cannizzard – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – 2B J. Cruz – C Bayless – 3B Ju. Flores – P de Lucio
POR: SS Waters – 1B Ayala – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – LF Nettles – C Sieber – 2B Gutierrez – RF Casas – P Merino

Three pitches, three groundouts for Merino in the first inning, which we chalked up as success and not as fooling nobody whatsoever. Waters opened the bottom 1st with a single up the middle, then stole his first base in the majors, but was stranded. Jose Cruz was the first batter to reach base against Merino, hitting a single in the top 2nd, and also was left on base when Scott Bayless popped out. By the third, the Loggers put the first run on Merino. Juan Flores singled to center, was advanced on the bunt, and scored on Reeves’ single to left-center.

The game was tied in the fourth when Maldonado rocked a leadoff jack to center, his 21st homer of the year and putting him into triple digits in terms of RBI, the third CL player to reach those lofty heights in ’43. Nettles walked after that, stole his 30th base, and Jose Casas was walked intentionally with two outs, bringing up Merino with the go-ahead run still on second base. He singled through the left side, barely beating the reach of Del Vecchio, and Nettles flashed around to score and give Merino a 2-1 lead. De Lucio then rung up Waters to end the fourth. It didn’t last, though – an Ayala error cost the tying (unearned) run in the fifth, but Merino did contribute with a walk to Reeves and a wild pitch… In a back-and-forth game, Jimenez and Maldo reached in the bottom 5th against de Lucio, and Sean Sieber clipped a clean RBI single to left-center to put Portland up 3-2. Omar Gutierrez fouled out to strand runners on the corners, but Merino held up in the sixth despite a Jose Cruz single, striking out two in the inning.

Matt Waters had another single and stolen base in the bottom 6th, but with two outs. Somehow Ayala legged out an infield roller for a single, though, putting them on the corners for Jimenez, who struck out. Merino would retire another five batters in order – all left-handers or switch-hitters – before getting a nice applause upon removal with two outs in the eighth inning and right-hander Ted Del Vecchio lusting for a piece of the debutee, but not getting it. Instead, the little sewer rat doubled off Jon Craig. Exit Craig, enter Chuck Jones, induce a pop from PH Jonathan Fleming to escape with the 3-2 lead intact. Portland went 1-2-3 in the eighth, so Josh Rella had no cushion against the 7-8-9 batters. His first pitch was wrapped around the good – foul – side of the right foul pole by PH Valentino Sicco. After Sicco popped out in a full count, Ricky Payne and Brad Simon went quickly, though. 3-2 Coons. Waters 2-4, BB; Ayala 2-4; Maldonado 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Merino 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (1-0) and 1-3, RBI;

Precisely 100 pitches for Merino in his debut, which I will dare to call an all-out success! He also assured us a tie in the season series against Milwaukee for the first time since ’38.

The damn Elks beat New York again, which also meant we got that dreaded “e” assigned ahead of “Portland” in the standings in the Agitator.

They always seemed to print the “e” a little thicker for the Raccoons…

Game 3
MIL: LF Reeves – CF Cannizzard – 1B Brayboy – RF Hertenstein – SS Del Vecchio – C Payne – 2B Davison – 3B Simon – P S. Chavez
POR: 2B Carreno – SS Waters – 3B Jimenez – CF Maldonado – C Kilmer – RF Nettles – 1B Yamamoto – LF Gonzalez – P Clark

Brent Clark pitched into the second inning before grimacing and being removed by Dr. Padilla in short order. No Logger had reached base against him, and we went to Nelson Moreno after some deliberation, although the Loggers’ lineup was balanced and no major advantage was to be gained from the move. Moreno sucked, putting two on in the inning without getting scored upon, and then putting even more aboard in the third with plenty of scoring. Reeves drew a 1-out walk, then scored after singles by Tim Cannizzard and Aaron Brayboy. Hertenstein was hit by the pitch to load the bases, and while Del Vecchio popped out (!), Ricky Payne shoved in two runs with a single to left-center. Sean Marucci replaced Moreno, got a groundout from Scott Davison, then was immediately pinch-hit for, while Sauerkraut was tabbed for another attempt at long relief. This one went better, with two scoreless innings to his name before he also broke his 0-for-21 spell at the plate with a single in the bottom 5th. Like the Coons’ other three hits in the first five innings, this one was isolated and went for nothing. Sauerkraut pitched into the seventh before getting docked for a run by the top of the order and requiring retrieval by Craig,. The Coons continued to do nothing, and trailed 4-0 at the seventh inning stretch. Porter and Johnston pitched scoreless ball in the last two innings, Johnston facing only Cannizzard, but getting an inning-ending double play from him, but the Raccoons faced being shut out by a 5+ ERA pitcher once again, with Sal Chavez staggering into the bottom 9th on 114 pitches, but still on a 4-hitter. Kilmer struck out. Nettles got struck, which, hey, was at least a ******* base-runner. Ayala popped out. De Wit grounded out. 4-0 Loggers. Becker 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K and 1-1;

In other news

September 21 – SAC SP Raul Cornejo (6-10, 4.83 ERA) 3-hits the Miners in a 4-0 shutout.
September 23 – The season of SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.280, 21 HR, 88 RBI) ends with an oblique strain, with the Bayhawks leading the CL South by a handful at this time.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 2B/SS Billy Bouldin (.354, 3 HR, 92 RBI), batting .480 (12-25) with 12 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC C Fernando Alba (.306, 20 HR, 62 RBI), hitting .600 (9-15) with 2 HR, 5 RBI

Complaints and stuff

For the first time in five years we didn’t lose the season series to the Loggers, which I’ll take. And we can still stave off another lost season series against the damn Elks if we sweep them at the end of the season! (giggles) We didn’t even sweep the Loggers, and had to settle for a 9-9 there, so I have little hope.

Manny Fernandez is currently not expected to make a return at the end of the season. When I asked him, Dr. Padilla looked over the rim of his glasses like I was kidding, then continued to try and unfurl the rolled-up pitching paw of a whimpering Brent Clark. Only good things can come out of that one, I’m sure. If Brent Clark can’t go on the weekend, we’ll probably send Angelo Montano in, just to get some free fireworks on Friday.

Maud informed me that I neglected to mention that Jake Jackson claimed the team’s 5,600th regular season win last Saturday. In my defense I was sad and my snout was crammed full with cookies.

Also cookie dough.

4-game trip to Boston and the home set against the damn Elks is all that’s left. The Elks are given 93.7% to win the division by BNN.

Fun Fact: The last Raccoons pitcher to drive in 10+ runs in a season was Jared Ottinger in 2037, and only one pitcher has done it more than once.

He hit .328 with two homers and 10 RBI. Wasn’t that some promise for a 24-year-old hurler? We already dreamed of having another Jonny Toner!

Man, were we silly.

The complete compendium of 10+ RBI seasons by Raccoons pitchers in a single season:

t-1st – Robert Vazquez (1991) – 14
t-1st – Jonathan Toner (2020) – 14
t-3rd – Carl Bean (2002) – 12
t-3rd – Mark Roberts (2024) – 12
t-5th – Carlos Gonzalez (1986) – 11
t-5th – Kisho Saito (1986) – 11
t-5th – Scott Wade (1992) – 11
t-5th – Nick Brown (2004) – 11
t-9th – Kisho Saito (1988) – 10
t-9th – Jared Ottinger (2037) – 10
t-9th – Jake Jackson (2043) – 10 *

So Kisho Saito *was* the Master, in every regard!

I miss Kisho. He used to keep a very low profile after his pitching days and returned to Japan to tend to a garden on the mountainside, but he always used to send a congratulatory note on fine paper, with the text in both English and Kanji, when the Raccoons won something big.

No note has arrived in a long time.