[Westheim]

Raccoons (77-34) vs. Titans (43-68) – August 5-7, 2047

Like the Loggers, who we had swept on the weekend, the Titans had so far offered little resistance against the Critters in 2047. Of the 12 games played, the Raccoons had won all but two. Boston was bottoms in runs scored, failing to scratch even 3.5 runs per game together, while they had pretty sturdy pitching, with the fourth-fewest runs allowed. They also had no injuries to bother about.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (9-7, 3.38 ERA) vs. Brian Jackson (8-7, 2.58 ERA)
Jake Jackson (11-4, 2.89 ERA) vs. David Barel (8-8, 3.60 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (10-5, 2.99 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (6-11, 3.07 ERA)

Two southpaws to open the week, then the righty Turay. The Raccoons were still a man short on Monday, which was the last game of Gene Pellicano’s suspension.

The Coons also entered the week with the mathematical chance to clinch a winning season as early as August 10.

Game 1
BOS: SS C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – RF Ritchey – CF T. Lopez – 1B V. Chavez – 2B Galaz – LF Hampton – 3B Kohr – P B. Jackson
POR: SS Adame – CF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – RF Fernandez – 2B Waters – LF Medina – P Merino

While the Critters had no hits the first time through, Victor Merino delighted himself by pitching mostly behind in the count, which didn’t go well for long. Tony Lopez hit a jack off him to begin the second inning, and a walk to Victor Chavez and a Jeremy Hampton double added another run for Boston before long. Portland only awoke in the fourth, Mercado reaching on a bloop single to begin the inning. Maldo forced him out, and it took two 2-out singles by Gonzalez and Manny to get actually on the board and shorten the deficit to 2-1. Waters hit another 2-out single to load the bases, a soft dinker into center, and then Roberto Medina came up with another one of those in shallow right-center, allowing two runs to score and flip the Raccoons into the lead, 3-2. Merino grounded out to end the inning.

While Merino turned into Steady Eddie in the middle innings and allowed next to nothing to the Titans, he then crumbled away in the seventh. Leadoff walk Gerardo Galaz – but Hampton hit into a double play. Don’t matter – he walked Jason Kohr as well. When Brian Jackson slapped a single, it was time for a pitching change, Nelson Moreno inheriting two on and two out. Chris Jimenez hit a sharp grounder, but right at Waters for the third out. Another grounder and two strikeouts sat down the 2-3-4 in the eighth. Jackson held out into the eighth, where he loaded the bases with two walks to Toohey and Gonzalez, then nicked Waters with two outs. Moreno was in the #8 slot and pinch-hit for with Pat Gurney, who grounded out. Thankfully we had Mike Lynn lined up for the Titans, who didn’t amount to any sort of rally in the ninth…! 3-2 Raccoons. Mercado 2-4; Waters 1-2, BB;

Game 2
BOS: SS C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – 1B V. Chavez – RF Ritchey – CF T. Lopez – 2B Galaz – LF Hampton – 3B Kohr – P Barel
POR: SS Adame – CF Mercado – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – RF Pellicano – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – LF Baskins – P J. Jackson

Jackson’s first pitch was taken into the gap for a double by Chris Jimenez, who was then thrown out at home plate by Pellicano on Ryan Youngquist’s double. The Titans still went up 1-0 on Joe Ritchey’s 2-out double, but the Coons flipped the score in the same inning, getting Adame and Mercado on base, and Toohey to single them home to go up 2-1.

The bottom 3rd began with a Jackson double to left before the 1-2-3 batters collectively flunked out to strand him at second base. Bottom 4th, Toohey hit a leadoff double to left! How about this time, boys!? Ruben Gonzalez hit a 1-out single to put runners on the corners, but Waters rolled a double play grounder – except that Jimenez and Galaz couldn’t turn it cleanly, Waters was safe at first, and Toohey scored from third base to go up 3-1. A Derek Baskins gapper for another double chased home Waters with two outs, 4-1, before Jackson was rung up.

Then the injury bug struck again, and precisely where it hurt most – centerfield. The Raccoons got Adame on with a leadoff single, and Mercado when he walked, to begin the bottom 5th. Maldo grounded to short then. Jimenez flipped high to Galaz, who had to leap, and while he caught the ball he came down on Mercado’s left foot with his own left hoof. Mercado had to hobble off the field with a foot contusion, while – adding insult to injury – also being called out, somehow. The Coons continued with Baskins in center and Manny in leftfield and batting second, as well as Toohey hitting into an actual 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Not that we were done with injuries – Jackson took himself out of the game with two outs in the sixth.

The game continued anyhow, despite me having a mild crisis and weeping behind the trusty old brown couch. Bob Ibold got out of the sixth, but Josh Rella got bombed by Jeremy Hampton for a 2-run homer in the seventh, narrowing the score to 4-3, while the Coons stranded pairs in the sixth and seventh without scoring. Vic Chavez hit a single off Curl in the eighth, but misread the play and thought he had a double, only to be thrown out at second base by Manny Fernandez. Was an insurance run in the cards? Facing lefty Ricky Contreras in the bottom 8th, the Raccoons put Baskins and Al Martell on with singles, before Adame walked, all with two outs, bringing up Manny, who flew out to Tony Lopez… And the ninth? Both Moreno and Lynn had been out two days in a row. With two injuries incurred in the damn game already, the Raccoons preferred a rested righty against the 5-6-7 batters and sent Preston Porter. He struck out two of the first three, but Galaz hit a single to left. PH Leo Estrada ended the game with a groundout to second, though. 4-3 Raccoons. Adame 2-4, BB; Mercado 0-1, 2 BB; Toohey 2-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Baskins 2-4, 2B, RBI; Martell (PH) 1-1; Jackson 5.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (12-4) and 1-2, 2B;

Yes, Cristiano, I see it too. Our pitchers fall over as soon as they reach 12 wins. Which is a problem.

Maybe we should have picked up a pitcher at the deadline after all…!

By Wednesday, only Nelson Mercado was diagnosed – his squished foot would require a minimum-duration stay on the DL, which made for three DL’ed centerfield options between him, Herrera, and Mills. Options in AAA were nearly non-existent. We called up Ben Coen for a righty bench bat instead, since Gurney, Toohey, and Maldo all were corner options and we could scrape by with only four nominal outfielders for a while. For centerfield, however, only Baskins and Pellicano were left.

Game 3
BOS: SS C. Jimenez – C Youngquist – 1B V. Chavez – RF Ritchey – CF T. Lopez – 2B Galaz – LF Hampton – 3B Kohr – P Turay
POR: SS Adame – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – C Morales – P Wheatley

I began this game with a gallon-sized bucket of vanilla ice cream to gobble through. It felt like something I needed for comfort. As usual, Boston scored first, although this time it took them to the fifth inning, and then it was Turay to single home Hampton with two outs… Wheats had allowed only two hits in the first four innings, the same amount the Raccoons had scratched out against Turay. The inning ended with a Jimenez groundout, while Wheats offered a leadoff walk to Youngquist in the sixth. Chavez hit into a double play, though.

Wheats held the Titans to five hits and one run through seven, still getting no support from his own team up to the seventh-inning stretch. The 6-7-8 were retired in order in the bottom 7th to keep him on the hook, and it didn’t get any better in the eighth. Moreno allowed a pair of 2-out singles in the ninth, but got the K against Estrada pinch-hitting in the #9 spot to bail out, before the Titans removed Turay, who had suffocated the Raccoons to the tune of three hits in eight innings, bringing righty Ben Arner against the 3-4-5 batters. Maldo grounded out, but Toohey thumped a homer to left to tie the game with two outs to go. Waters singled to left, then was caught stealing to put the tying run on base and immediately remove it again. Two outs, Manny batting, and I was almost at the bottom of my vanilla soup in the gallon canister. I nearly made a mess when Manny rocked a jack over the fence in right, barely managing to plonk the bucket on the table before jumping around like a moron. 2-1 Blighters. Adame 2-4, 2B; Fernandez 1-4, HR, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K;

Thursday was off, but even by Friday and with the help of all the tubes and scanners and hologram machines at Buttweiser Memorial Hospital in downtown Portland the Raccoons had not found out what was ailing Jake Jackson, who remained in Portland (and would not have been up to pitch in Denver anyway).

Raccoons (80-34) @ Gold Sox (68-43) – August 9-11, 2047

Here was a rematch of last year’s World Series, which the Raccoons, as I like to point out from time to time, had somehow won in six games. The Sox were only second in the FL West this time around, trailing the Stars by 2 1/2 games. Their pitching was sublime, allowing only 3.6 runs per game, by far best in the FL, but their offense was struggling, sitting seventh in runs scored. That still worked out to a +107 run differential (Coons: +143), but they had looked scarier the year before… We also had played the Sox in the regular season last year, then dropping two of the three games. But, eh, we won four when it counted!

Projected matchups:
Sadaharu Okuda (9-6, 2.81 ERA) vs. Josh Vercher (9-9, 3.69 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (3-1, 3.38 ERA) vs. Josh Brown (9-2, 2.91 ERA)
Victor Merino (10-7, 3.34 ERA) vs. Israel Mendoza (7-10, 3.65 ERA)

Ex-Critter Josh Brown would be another southpaw to contend with.

Game 1
POR: SS Adame – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – LF Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – C Morales – P Okuda
DEN: LF Haertling – 1B Willie Ojeda – SS R. Thompson – 2B I. Villa – CF A.L. Herrera – 3B Bass – C Kuehn – RF Bator – P Vercher

Okuda had … nothing. A leadoff walk to Ed Haertling was followed by three hits for two runs in the first inning, and the Sox had another three hits in the second, only to leave the bases loaded. Brian Bass was hit by a 1-2 pitch with one out in the bottom 3rd then. Paul Kuehn singled, Justin Bator walked, and Vercher got home Bass with a groundout to go up 3-0. Haertling popped out to Maldonado then, stranding a pair, while the Raccoons had stranded three runners already without scoring, getting three hits to lead off the top 2nd f.e.; but Toohey was thrown out at third base on his leadoff double – not: triple – and the singles by Waters and Manny were met with indifference and two more outs between Gurney and Morales.

Toohey then had another extra-base hit to begin the fourth, this time a solo homer that saw him retake sole possession of the team lead with 19 bombs. Maldo was not too pleased and hit his own 19th homer at the next-best opportunity, leading off the sixth and shortening the gap to 3-2. Not that Okuda had pitched better in the fourth and fifth – his final inning – but the Gold Sox just didn’t hit with runners in scoring position… Toohey tried to get up on Maldonado again, lined out in the sixth, the homered to left in the eighth – another solo shot, but enough to tie the score at three while a succession of Bonnie, Rella, and Curl held the Sox to what they already had.

The Critters went on to put their two catchers on base in the top 9th. Facing lefty Alex Lewis, Tony Morales drew a walk, while Ruben Gonzalez singled batting for Aaron Curl, at which point Roberto Medina replaced Morales as pinch-runner and go-ahead run. The move turned out to be unnecessary – there was ample time to score for anybody on the triple Alex Adame crammed into the corner on a 1-2 pitch, plating even Gonzalez from first base. Baskins’ sac fly brought in another run, but the 6-3 lead was in danger in the bottom 9th. Mike Lynn walked Armando Luis Herrera with one out, then fudged Bass’ bouncer that came back to him for an error. Kuehn became the tying run in the box, but popped out foul to Gonzalez, and the game ended on Fernando Alba’s grounder to Waters. 6-3 Raccoons. Adame 2-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI; Toohey 3-4, 2 HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Waters 3-4; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1;

While that assured us of a .500 season even if we lost all of our last 47 games, the hammer still came down with news from Portland that Jake Jackson was out with shoulder inflammation and his return to the rotation this year was questionable.

Monday was an off day, allowing the Coons to delay adding a fifth starter until the next weekend, so for the time being we added a bullpen arm, not having any other smart ideas. Sean Marucci returned for a third stint. Maybe he’d get into more than one game this time.

The Sox moved right-hander Israel Mendoza up to the middle game.

Game 2
POR: SS Adame – CF Baskins – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – C Gonzalez – LF Medina – P Baker
DEN: LF Haertling – 1B Willie Ojeda – SS R. Thompson – 2B I. Villa – CF A.L. Herrera – 3B Bass – C Kuehn – RF Bator – P I. Mendoza

Baker was a mess just like Ojeda had been the day before. He gave up a run on Haertling and Ojeda doubles in the first, then walked the first two batters and gave up an infield single, all with nobody out, to the 6-7-8 batters in the second inning. Mendoza and Haertling struck out, Ojeda grounded out to Waters, but Denver still got a run… on a wild pitch. Ronnie Thompson and Herrera landed base hits for another run in the third, before Baker finally put up a zero in the fourth. The Raccoons had put up nothing but zeroes by that point, but got a leadoff single from Toohey in the top 5th. Waters singled to right after that, but Manny’s grounder forced him out at second base. Now Mendoza threw a wild pitch to bring in Toohey from third base, then almost gave up a homer to Ruben Gonzalez, but the ball died and fell into Bator’s glove on the warning track. Medina singled home Manny with two outs, 3-2, while Baker struck out to end the inning.

Like Okuda, Baker lasted only five innings, but like Okuda, he was taken off the hook with a solo homer that tied the game at three. This time Manny Fernandez was the hero, going deep to right in the seventh inning to get us even. Bonnie held the tie with a 1-2-3 bottom 7th before Medina opened the eighth with a double to left. Gurney grounded out as pinch-hitter, but Adame slapped a single off Mendoza to get the go-ahead run across, 4-3. Moreno held on in the eighth, while the ninth saw a leadoff single by Toohey, an infield single for Manny, and the Gonzalez reaching when Bator dropped his fly to right for an error. Three on, nobody out, insurance runs welcome. Medina popped out, Morales grounded out to second, and no insurance run came about. Lynn thus had to protect a 4-3 lead. Fernando Alba was out easily to begin the bottom 9th, but Paul Kuehn singled up the middle before taking an elbow to the head on Bator’s comebacker, which the Coons tried to turn for a 1-4-3 double play, but Waters was discombobulated when he struck Kuehn and Bator was safe at first base. Unfazed, Lynn rung up Ryan Meyer to end the game. 4-3 Raccoons. Adame 2-4, RBI; Toohey 2-4; Waters 2-4; Fernandez 2-4, HR, RBI; Medina 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Ten in a row!

Sunday, we got a southpaw, but not Brown – John Kennedy (11-4, 2.68 ERA) go the ball instead.

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – CF Pellicano – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – 2B Waters – 3B Coen – P Merino
DEN: LF Haertling – 1B Willie Ojeda – SS R. Thompson – 2B I. Villa – C K. Morris – 3B Bass – CF A.L. Herrera – RF Bator – P Kennedy

The Sox loaded the bases in the bottom 1st, but Kevin Morris hit into a double play to incinerate two soft singles and a walk offered by Merino, while Toohey drew a leadoff walk in the top 2nd, just to get doubled up by Gonzalez. Kennedy faced the minimum the first time through, with Portland not getting a hit until Adame singled to open the fourth in a scoreless game. He was then swiftly caught stealing. Pellicano singled to right, Toohey homered to left, and the Coons still went up 2-0. Gonzalez then went back-to-back with Toohey to extend the lead to 3-0, but the Gold Sox made up a run in the bottom 4th. Ivan Villa singled, stole second, and scored on a 2-out wild pitch to Brian Bass… Another 2-out run came around in the bottom 5th, Haertling singling home Herrera, whom Merino had given an extra base with a balk…

Merino shook and wobbled, but got through seven innings of 6-hit, 2-run ball on 100 pitches despite the odd glitch here and there. Some tack-on offense would have been welcome, but the Raccoons hardly reached base after their fourth-inning outbreak. But in the eighth, Toohey struck again! Pellicano singled with one out, and while Maldo flew out to right to continue a mellow week, Toohey romped another 2-piece outta leftfield to extend the lead to three runs! Merino returned for the bottom 8th, which opened with left-handed Willie Ojeda, getting another K before yielding for Bob Ibold, who conceded a run on back-to-back doubles by Ivan Villa and Kevin Morris, but at least remained up 5-3. Moreno got the ninth – we did not consider it worthwhile to use Lynn three days in a row in an interleague series. The bottom of the order had little to offer for Denver, and the Raccoons completed another sweep and their 11th win in a row. 5-3 Raccoons! Adame 2-4; Toohey 2-3, BB, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Merino 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (11-7);

In other news

August 6 – SAL SP Justin Roberts (8-9, 4.48 ERA) is out for the year, being diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.
August 7 – The Bayhawks’ SP Kevin Nolte (12-4, 2.53 ERA) 3-hits the Aces in a 1-0 shutout. Nolte, who posted a 6.13 ERA last season, whiffs seven in the game. The only run comes on a home run by INF Ted Del Vecchio (.260, 5 HR, 20 RBI).
August 7 – The Indians suffer a double injury to key batters; INF Andrew Russ (.298, 2 HR, 44 RBI), who leads the CL with 29 stolen bases, will miss a month with an oblique strain, while OF/1B Bill Quinteros (.239, 7 HR, 35 RBI) is expected to be out three weeks with a sprained elbow.
August 9 – The Wolves beat the Crusaders, 9-5 in 10 innings, on a walkoff grand slam by SAL RF/LF Jose Platero (.283, 15 HR, 60 RBI), who played for the Crusaders from 2040 through 2043.
August 10 – The Wolves beat the Crusaders on a home run again, this time *only* a home run by OF David Vasquez (.283, 5 HR, 26 RBI) for a 1-0 victory.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF Mario Villa (.376, 8 HR, 77 RBI), batting .483 (14-29) with 1 HR, 12 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey (.271, 22 HR, 77 RBI), crushing .500 (10-20) with 5 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

August 10 was when the 2047 Raccoons clinched a winning record with their umpteenth comeback, 1-run win of the week. Doing the bare minimum to win, which is still better than the bare minimum.

Bryce Toohey had gone nine games with only one multi-hit effort before suddenly lighting on fire this Tuesday. He batted 10-for-17 with 5 homers in 5 games (in 6 days), which is bonkers. The first one on Sunday was his 100th home run for the franchise, not completely awful for a fourth-year player (on the Coons, not overall). For his career, Toohey has 153 homers, including 52 with the Condors.

Next week: home stint begins with 3-game sets against the Buffos and damn Elks. Maybe I’ll also figure out what to do with the rotation by then.

…and Sean Marucci has yet to get into a game, too.

Fun Fact: The 1996 Raccoons clinched their 82nd win on August 18.

They were 82-41 at that point, beating the Indians 5-1 away behind Jason Turner on a Sunday afternoon, and were thus right on pace for their .667 finish.

The lineup that day?

2B David Brewer
3B Ben O’Morrissey (grrrr!)
CF Neil Reece
1B Liam Wedemeyer
SS Marvin Ingall (Ingall single!!)
LF Vern Kinnear
RF Luke Newton
C David Vinson
P Jason Turner