[Westheim]

Raccoons (83-34) vs. Buffaloes (60-57) – August 13-15, 2047

Final interleague series of the season, not including the World Series of course (cough, cough). The Buffos were in the lead in a tightly packed and/or miserable FL East, scoring the fourth-most runs and barely holding a spot in the top half in runs allowed, which worked out to a +48 run differential for them (Critters: +149). Their rotation was a whole lot better than their bullpen, though, which was ranking in the bottom three in the FL. We had last played them in 2045, taking two out of three games then.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (10-5, 2.91 ERA) vs. Luis Iniguez (5-4, 3.52 ERA)
Sadaharu Okuda (9-6, 2.90 ERA) vs. Kuniyoshi Nagai (10-8, 3.84 ERA)
Jeremy Baker (3-1, 3.65 ERA) vs. Jose Arias (11-5, 3.27 ERA)

Left, right, left. An off day on Monday allowed the Raccoons to skip over the vacant spot in the rotation once more, but we’d need someone by the weekend.

Game 1
TOP: SS A. Chavez – LF Lee – C Banks – 1B Casas – 3B Riario – RF Tabano – CF F. Garcia – 2B Chacon – P Iniguez
POR: SS Adame – CF Pellicano – 1B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – LF Fernandez – 3B Coen – P Wheatley

The Raccoons first made a bid for a 12th straight win in the second inning, when Gonzalez drew a leadoff walk, Matt Waters doubled to right, and Manny Fernandez brought Gonzalez home with a grounder to the right side. Ben Coen lined out to Jose Casas, unfortunately, and Waters was stranded when Wheats made the last out. Wheatley came up again with three on two outs in the bottom 4th, after Toohey, Gonzalez, and Coen had all hit soft singles, but flew out to Fernando Garcia to strand absolutely everybody. Which was *fine* as long as he kept the Buffos off the board. Vittorio Riario, Gary Tabano, and Garcia all hit deep flies in the fifth inning, however. The first two were caught by Toohey and Pellicano, respectively, while Garcia hit a gapper for a 2-out triple. Carlos Chacon went down on strikes to keep the tying run on third base.

The Raccoons continued to lead 1-0 in a tense pitchers’ duel. The Critters got a 2-out double from Waters in the bottom 6th, but Manny could not get him home, while the Buffaloes scattered five hits up to stretch time, but never more than one in an inning, and consequently remained behind. Wheatley bunted Ben Coen to second base in the bottom 7th after Coen reached on a grounder that went through Chacon’s legs for a “single”, after which Alex Adame finally came through, sending a screamer past Alfonso Madrid at third base for an RBI double. Iniguez melted at once, throwing a wild pitch before walking the bases full and was lifted before the reigning CL Player of the Week could do damage to his feelings. Right-hander Adam Haller would face Bryce Toohey instead, got a pop to Garcia in shallow center, and then repeated the feat against Gonzalez, as the Critters stranded a full set for the second time in the 2-0 contest. Wheats pitched another inning, whiffing two in the top 8th, but also got up to 106 pitches and would not be sent back out for the ninth. Haller retired Waters and Manny to begin the bottom 8th, but then gave up a homer to Al Martell, batting for Coen. Gurney hit for Wheatley and singled, but Adame grounded out. Mike Lynn got the lead in the ninth and retired the Buffaloes without major drama. 3-0 Raccoons. Adame 2-5, 2B, RBI; Waters 2-4, 2 2B; Coen 2-3; Martell (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Gurney (PH) 1-1; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, W (11-5);

12 in a row – but I was concerned about Maldo’s deep slump. He was a scary 2-for-28 with a homer and a lone RBI in his last seven games and got another day off on Wednesday.

Game 2
TOP: SS A. Chavez – 1B J. Casas – 3B Riario – C Banks – LF Lee – 2B A. Madrid – RF Angeletti – CF F. Garcia – P Nagai
POR: SS Adame – CF Baskins – 2B Waters – 1B Toohey – LF Fernandez – RF Pellicano – 3B Martell – C Morales – P Okuda

Toohey had not done much in the opener, but doubled home Derek Baskins, who had been hit by Nagai, for a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st. The Buffos flipped the score quickly, though, getting four hits off Okuda in the second inning. Brett Banks homered the game tied, while three more singles gave them a 2-1 lead with the bottom of the order. The Coons came back in the third inning, which Okuda began with a single before being forced out by Adame, who made up for the blunder by stealing second base and scurrying home on Baskins’ double to right. The next pitch by Nagai was also taken to right by Waters and stayed away from J.P. Angeletti long enough for a go-ahead RBI single. Angeletti threw home, but could not get Baskins, instead allowing Waters to reach second base. Nagai walked Toohey, while Manny and Pellicano both flew out to end the inning.

The 3-2 lead didn’t hold, not even an inning; Madrid, Garcia, and Adriano Chavez all whacked Okuda for doubles in the fourth inning, taking a 4-3 lead for the Kansanites, which Okuda would take away again himself with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning, bringing home Al Martell, only to give up another RBI double himself to Dave Lee in the fifth inning. Garcia hit a leadoff single off Okuda in the sixth, who was then yanked from the 5-4 game. Bob Ibold got out of the inning, barely, with assistance from Manny Fernandez, who threw out Garcia at home plate on a Chavez single with two outs. Nagai went on yet, giving up 1-out singles to Martell and Morales in the bottom 6th to put the tying and go-ahead runs on the corners. Pat Gurney pinch-hit, right into a double play… The winning streak went out of the window entirely when Josh Rella was taken deep not once, but twice in the seventh inning, both times to leftfield. Brett Banks’ 2-piece was followed by a solo deed by Madrid. A throwing error by Chavez would allow a late run to Portland, but Preston Porter also gave one back in the ninth inning as the Raccoons had their winning streak quite violently ended to the tune of 18 hits and 33 total bases… 9-5 Buffaloes. Toohey 1-2, 3 BB, 2B, RBI; Martell 3-4, 2B;

(mopes) *

Game 3
TOP: SS A. Chavez – 1B J. Casas – 3B Riario – C Banks – LF Lee – 2B A. Madrid – RF Tabano – CF F. Garcia – P Arias
POR: SS Adame – CF Pellicano – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – C Gonzalez – LF Baskins – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – P Baker

Baker ached the first time through the order on 41 pitches, allowing two walks (amidst more long counts) and a Garcia double, but at least no runs. He walked Casas in the third, but got a double play from Vittorio Riario, had a clean fourth, then saw Gary Tabano reach base with a leadoff single in the fifth. With one out, Arias, who held the Coons to two base hits so far, swung away and found Waters for a 4-6-3 double play. Baker hit a single in the bottom 5th, but with nobody on and two outs. Adame walked, but Pellicano popped out to keep the game scoreless.

Baker was yanked with nobody out in the seventh, allowing a leadoff walk to Brett Banks and a single to Dave Lee. Moreno inherited that unhappy situation, only to be encountered by a lefty pinch-hitter in Matt O’Reilly rather than Madrid, then Angeletti instead of Tabano (ditto). The former grounded out, but the latter whacked a 2-run double to left. While Angeletti was stranded, the Raccoons kept firing blanks at Arias, who was still on a 3-hitter when he walked Pellicano in the bottom 8th and was lifted with two outs in the inning. Brian Grohoski had Maldo at 0-2 before giving up a single, but struck out Toohey to quell the threat. After the Buffos stranded two in scoring position against Curl and Ibold in the top 9th, the Raccoons brought the tying run back to the plate once righty Trent O’Sullivan walked Baskins with one out in the bottom 9th. Waters shoved an 0-1 pitch through Casas for a double, which advanced the tying runs into scoring position! Gurney flew out to shallow left on a 3-1 pitch, which made me take a big gulp from a new bottle of Capt’n Coma, before Manny Fernandez batted for Ibold, popping out to Riario. 2-0 Buffaloes. Maldonado 2-4;

And now?

Yeah, right…

Raccoons (84-36) vs. Canadiens (62-59) – August 16-18, 2047

Second in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed, +30 run differential. That was the skinny on the foul-stenched Elks, who came in for the second-to-last series of the season. The Raccoons were up 8-3 in the season series, which looked like a correction was due, just *because*, and then there was still the thing with the all-time .500 mark. Currently we were one game under (635-636), so I was entirely convinced that we would lose at least two of the games here… While the Coons had their injuries, the Elks were also without key personnel, with Jerry Outram – out for the year – certainly topping the list. Tim Phillips, Oscar Aguirre, and David Farris were also on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (11-7, 3.30 ERA) vs. Bill McMichael (10-8, 4.01 ERA)
Jeremy Chaney (0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. Juan Ramos (9-3, 4.53 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (11-5, 2.76 ERA) vs. Brad Blankenship (7-10, 4.52 ERA)

We’d draw another southpaw to begin the series, then probably two right-handers. Elk City had been off on Thursday and could skip lefty Mario de Anda (7-8, 4.16 ERA) into the series just as well.

Chaney took the roster spot of Sean Marucci, who ended up on waivers once more.

Game 1
VAN: CF Escobido – RF E. Moreno – 1B Delagrange – 2B Mancini – C Ebner – SS R. Price – LF I. Jaramillo – P McMichael – 3B C. Rose
POR: SS Adame – CF Pellicano – 3B Maldonado – 1B Toohey – C Gonzalez – 2B Waters – RF Fernandez – LF Medina – P Merino

The Raccoons put pairs on base in the first two innings, but Gonzalez popped out to strand Pellicano and Toohey, while Waters and Merino went by way of an Adame fly out to Israel Jaramillo, who then opened the top 3rd with a single. Merino retired the pitcher, who was frivolously batting eighth, and Chris Rose, but walked Angel Escobido and fell to a 2-run double by Eddie Moreno before Chris Delagrange grounded out to end the inning. The Coons responded with another two on base to begin the bottom 3rd, Pellicano singling and Maldo drawing a walk. I was sure a double play would happen soon, since there was no way we’d win to get to .500 against the stupid Elks. Toohey hit an RBI single in a full count, barely beating out Rose’s reach, while Gonzalez grounded out to advance the runners. Waters hit a sac fly to center to tie the score at two, but Toohey was left on when Manny popped out to short.

Merino was not holding up, though; Rick Price in the fourth and Eddie Moreno in the fifth tagged him for solo homers, giving the Elks a 4-2 lead, and I was becoming both inebriated and insufferable, cursing out the baseball gods, but Maud and Cristiano failed to wrestle the Capt’n Coma from my grasp. Bottom 5th, Pellicano opened with a double to right, while Maldo’s grounder to short was thrown away for a 2-base error by Price, which allowed Pellicano to score, with the tying run on second base and nobody out. Toohey singled to left again, moving Maldo to third base, and he scored one pitch later when Sean Ebner lost courtesy of McMichael’s breaking ball to Ruben Gonzalez. Toohey scurried to second on the passed ball, then third on Gonzalez’ groundout. Waters’ groundout was too weak to allow him to score, and Manny rolled over to Bob Mancini – who bungled the ball for an error, making the resulting 5-4 doubly-unearned. Roberto Medina popped out to end the inning.

Merino pitched another inning before being hit for with Ben Coen in the bottom 6th. Coen singled, then was picked off first by McMichael, which was one way to not score a tack-on run. Porter, Curl, and Moreno put six outs together from there to protect the 5-4 lead through eight, and with no offensive successes whatsoever from the home team, Mike Lynn appeared in the ninth without a cushion. Felix Rojas, pinch-hitting in the #8 slot, singled up the middle right away, but Chris Rose grounded to Adame for a double play, 6-4-3. Angel Escobido found Adame as well, ending the game. 5-4 Critters. Pellicano 3-4, 2B; Toohey 2-3, RBI; Coen (PH) 1-1;

Yeah, well, Maud, they’ll just lose the next two games all the harder! You’ll see!

Game 2
VAN: LF F. Rojas – C Julio Diaz – 2B Mancini – RF E. Moreno – SS R. Price – 1B Delagrange – CF Escobido – P Ju. Ramos – 3B C. Rose
POR: CF Pellicano – SS Waters – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 2B Martell – LF Fernandez – 1B Gurney – C Morales – P Chaney

Chaney was certainly a good starting point for a loss, offering a leadoff walk to Rojas to begin the game, and while the damn Elks didn’t take him apart right there, and Toohey singled home Pellicano to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom 1st, Chaney was whacked around by the second. Delagrange singled, Maldo committed an error on an Escobido grounder – which would make the following pile of runs unearned – and Chris Rose singled home the tying run. Rojas then crashed a 3-run homer to make it 4-1 Elk City. Chaney leaked two more singles before Eddie Moreno grounded out.

The Coons loaded the bases without the benefit of a base hit in the bottom 3rd. Pellicano drew a leadoff walk before the next two hitters both forced out the lead runner with a grounder. Toohey and Martell then also drew walks off Juan Ramos, but Manny foul-tipped strike three and the tying runs were stranded. Chaney got a little less unwatchable in the middle innings, and the Raccoons had the tying run in the box again in the fifth after leadoff singles to center by both Waters and Maldo; Toohey struck out, Martell hit into a fielder’s choice, and Manny grounded out to again not score any runs whatsoever. The Raccoons then exploded for good in the seventh; Chaney began it, but a single and another error by Maldonado knocked him out. Jake Bonnie was then absolutely no help whatsoever, getting whomped for three hits, all hard, and four runs. It took another pitcher – Rella – and Pellicano’s throw to home plate to throw out Moreno on a Delagrange double to end the inning… Moreno would overcompensate for that with a 2-run homer off Bob Ibold in the ninth as the Raccoons got routed by the stupid, stinking Elks… 10-1 Canadiens. Waters 2-5; Baskins (PH) 1-1;

No, Slappy, I knew it. I just don’t know how close we’re allowed to get by the baseball gods. But certainly not over .500!

Game 3
VAN: LF F. Rojas – C Julio Diaz – 2B Mancini – RF E. Moreno – SS R. Price – 1B Delagrange – CF I. Jaramillo – P Blankenship – 3B C. Rose
POR: SS Adame – 2B Martell – 3B Maldonado – RF Toohey – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – LF Fernandez – CF Baskins – P Wheatley

Thanks to Saturday’s blowout, “over .500” was not on the table on Sunday, with precisely .500 being the best that Wheats could achieve in his second start of the week. Unfortunately he put the first two batters on base with a walk and a single, and Rojas even stole third base, but then there were also straight strikeouts to the 3-4-5 batters for Wheats to bail out of a tense top 1st… The second began just as ****** as the first, with a single and a walk, but then no strikeouts – instead Wheats bent and stretched, which got the attention of Dr. Padilla and sent me into a screaming fit in utter terror. Some back issue or other removed Wheats from the game with three outs on the board, and Jake Bonnie conceded his runners without much of a fuss on a Chris Rose liner to left for a 2-run single. Bonnie, the utter disaster, allowed another two runs of his own on three hits in the third, then hit a single for the first Coons base knock in the bottom 3rd. Adame also singled, but Martell lined out to end the inning. Maldo and Toohey opened the fourth with singles, but Gurney popped out and Gonzalez found a double play. It was utterly ******* hopeless.

While the Coons failed to pin any run on Blankenship in his seven innings of work, Bonnie pitched 3.1 innings of garbage relief, followed by five outs collected by Porter (including cleaning up a mess left behind by Bonnie in the fifth). Curl got a clean seventh in before Rella leaked a tack-on run in the eighth on hits by Moreno and Jaramillo. Mike Lynn struck out the side in a wasted ninth. 5-0 Canadiens. Maldonado 2-4;

In other news

August 14 – Sacramento SP Craig Czyszczon (10-10, 3.45 ERA) is out for the year after suffering a torn labrum.
August 14 – The Rebels scatter 12 hits without scoring in a 4-0 regulation loss to the Titans. All hits are singles, except for a lone Gil Cabrera (.259, 6 HR, 44 RBI) double.
August 15 – CIN INF/LF Chris Delgado (.272, 10 HR, 53 RBI) will miss a month with an oblique strain.
August 16 – CHA OF Jordan Marroguin (.259, 7 HR, 48 RBI) hits for the cycle during a 4-for-5 day in an 8-7 win over the Condors. Marroguin gets one hit from each category and drives in two runs in the sixth cycle in Falcons franchise lore, coming almost three years after the previous one by Tony Aparicio.
August 17 – ATL 3B/LF/SS/CF Anton Venegas (.268, 3 HR, 46 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with a strained hamstring.
August 17 – The Knights beat the Aces, 5-4 in 16 innings, with a walkoff home run by 1B/3B Ryan Lorensen (.291, 4 HR, 25 RBI).
August 17 – Rebels RF Chris Morris (.304, 4 HR, 37 RBI) does the Knights one better, hitting a walkoff home run to beat the Miners, 4-3, in *17* innings.
August 17 – Meanwhile in Salem, nobody scores until the 11th inning and a walkoff single by SAL 3B/SS Roderick Neil (.272, 4 HR, 26 RBI), plating OF/1B Joey Krall (.221, 9 HR, 44 RBI) for the 1-0 win over the Scorpions.
August 18 – MIL 2B Sergio Pena (.227, 2 HR, 22 RBI) hits a home run in the top of the 10th to beat the Indians, 1-0.

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF Mario Villa (.383, 10 HR, 85 RBI), batting .481 (13-27) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN LF/1B/RF Eddie Moreno (.355, 12 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .474 (9-22) with 4 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

First off, Dr. Padilla was quick to report that Wheats seemed to have slept wrong and that was the reason for the back discomfort. But he had already done some additional harm to himself with that one inning pitched and would definitely feel the back for all of next week. The timing is not great – while we have Thursday off, allowing us to skip him next week, there is that stupid double header with the Baybirds coming up the Monday after, and we can’t play double headers with a pitcher that can’t pitch (or should not) on the roster. It’s unlikely that Wheats recovers in time to pitch on that 26th, so he will probably go to the DL for the rest of the month and we’ll bring up the next bum in line.

We’re out of Jeremies, though, so it will have to be a non-Jeremy bum.

The Titans were eliminated on Sunday at 40 games out, which was one day after the Loggers were mathematically eliminated on Saturday.

The Loggers! (shakes head) … The two “e-“ teams will start a series of the forsaken on Monday.

The Raccoons lost Sean Marucci on waivers on Sunday. He was claimed by the Buffaloes. Always the eighth, ninth, tenth man in our bullpen, the 27-year-old righty got only into 56 games in five years, posting a 4-2 record with 3.36 ERA.

Shedding players left, right, and center – especially center! – but say, Dr. Padilla, when are we getting anybody back?? – Mercado? – Next week? – You promise?

Well, for sure we’d get the Crusaders and Falcons next week…

Fun Fact: In 1999, the Falcons put up consecutive cycles in the ABL.

Hubsie Green did the honors to the Raccoons on June 3, followed by Joe Morton, cycling against the Aces on September 2.

* There’s a Steam achievement that I lack for this game, for a 15-game winning streak. About once a decade they get close, but they never nibble on that cigar…