[Westheim]

Raccoons (73-75) vs. Knights (70-79) – September 20-22, 2049

I had Maud inquire at League HQ, and apparently these last two weeks had to be played out for real, no exceptions, even though the games were sooo meaningless. (sigh!) Well then. The Knights were fourth in runs scored, bottoms in runs allowed and bleeding so many runs that even our soggy offense might get going for once, and even more games out of first place in their division than we were. We were also up 4-2 on them.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (10-13, 5.10 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (12-14, 4.47 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (11-11, 3.72 ERA) vs. Kyle DuPlessis (2-1, 3.25 ERA)
Dave Hils (13-6, 3.61 ERA) vs. Joe Byrd (1-4, 6.94 ERA)

Didn’t look like a lefty was coming up here, nor any of the regular starters Brian Buttress, Steve Huffman, or Adam Capone, who were all stashed away on the DL, along with catcher Tyler Cass (.349, 6 HR, 90 RBI), the latter giving his teammate Anton Venegas (.360, 3 HR, 60 RBI) a free lane towards the batting title.

Bryan Lenderink returned from the DL in time for this series.

Game 1
ATL: 2B S. Turner – RF van der Zanden – SS A. Venegas – CF Alade – 3B Hertenstein – LF Hester – C Whitley – 1B Swift – P Koga
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Herrera – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – RF Nigro – 2B Rogers – P Merino

Merino had another first-inning meltdown, misfielding a potential inning-ender by Jon Alade to instead put him and Arnout van der Zanden (shows pointy teeth) on the corners, only to – of course – allow a 2-out, 2-run double to center to Daniel Hertenstein (hiss!). It didn’t get any better after that, with Merino beaten to death on the scoreboard by the Knights in the third inning. With one run across already, T.J. Swift hit a 2-out, 3-run homer to center, and then Merino put ANOTHER THREE RUNNERS on base, including the ******* opposing pitcher. After van der Zanden’s RBI double to center he was yanked. Polibio O’Higgins got a fly to center from Venegas to end the inning with a 7-0 score, then got raped just as badly in the fourth. Jon Alade singled, Hertenstein doubled, and Billy Hester raked a 2-run triple. While Koga was still no-hitting the useless pelts in the brown shirts at this point, a Swift sac fly swiftly made it 10-0.

Straight hits by the Coons’ 4-5-6 batters to open the bottom 5th eventually led to two runs, and Lonzo hit a leadoff jack in the bottom 6th, the first of his career, but I was beyond ecstasy about even that by then. All I saw was a roster with almost 20 pitchers on it – all of them useless. How to fix THAT? Gonzalez doubled home Gurney in the bottom 6th as well, 10-4, and that remained the score until the ninth inning while the Lillis, Cancel et. al. Brigade pitched five innings of shutout relief that were entirely ******* useless to both man- and coonkind. The Raccoons emptied their bench against the stunningly resilient Koga in the bottom 9th, with Matt Watt drawing a leadoff walk. With two outs, John Castner hit a pinch-hit single from the #9 hole, bringing Lonzo back to the plate. To some celebration, he snuck a single up the middle to bring in Watt for his 10th career RBI, while a Herrera single loaded the bases and FINALLY knocked out Koga. With the tying run in the on-deck circle, righty David Hardaway replaced him against Preble, who flew out to Alade. 10-5 Knights. Lavorano 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Castner (PH) 1-1;

Alex Adame was as good as new on Tuesday, Dr. Padilla announced.

Game 2
ATL: 3B S. Turner – 2B J. Lopez – SS A. Venegas – CF Alade – RF Hester – C Whitley – LF Worden – 1B Swift – P J. Byrd
POR: CF Watt – 2B Lavorano – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Adame – RF Avila – C Gardner – P Wheatley

Gurney’s sac fly with Watt and Preble on the corners in the bottom 1st gave Wheats a 1-0 lead, and Wheats tried to make a run for it with just that, allowing two hits against three strikeouts in the first five innings, and certainly no run, nor a runner at third base, then extended his lead himself with an RBI single in the bottom 5th. He drove in Eduardo Avila, who had virtually disappeared in the depths of the roster, but in this game reached in his first two plate appearances, stole second base both times, and now was actually converted into the 2-0 run by Wheats, who himself came around to score after further 2-out singles by Lonzo and Preble, the latter scratching out his 94th RBI as he extended the lead to 3-0.

Top 6th, Wheatley walked Venegas and nailed Alade with two outs, but rung up Billy Hester to dispel what looked like a problem building up. Instead he found Crispin (leadoff double) and Gardner (intentional walk) on base with two outs in the bottom of the inning, and shoved another RBI single through between Venegas and Sam Turner, 4-0. The Knights went 1-2-3 in the seventh, but Wheats also reached 92 pitches in the course of that inning. He struck out Hertenstein and Turner in the eighth, while Jon Lopez grounded out. The 3-4-5 were thus up in the ninth, with Wheats on 106 pitches already. Venegas promptly blooped in a single on the first pitch, and then Alade grounded out a walk, and that ended Wheats’ shutout bid. Mike Lynn rung up Hester, but walked Dan Whitley, then was replaced with Moreno, with PH Chris Kirkwood representing the tying run. He popped out, but then van der Zanden – a lefty – pinch-hit. This sounded like a sure-as-heck grand slam. Nah, Moreno walked in a run instead! Sean Green (who?) pinch-hit in the #9 hole and singled in a pair, and as I despaired, Sam Turner struck out swinging anyway. 4-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4; Preble 2-4, RBI; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (12-11) and 2-4, 2 RBI;

Wheeeeeats! ……and lots of assorted agony…

Game 3
ATL: 3B S. Turner – 2B J. Lopez – SS A. Venegas – CF Alade – C Whitley – LF Kirkwood – RF Worden – 1B Swift – P DuPlessis
POR: CF Watt – 2B Lavorano – LF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – SS Adame – C Gonzalez – RF Nigro – P Hils

Neither team managed to send more than one batter over the minimum to the plate in the first three innings, but the Raccoons broke through in the bottom 4th, getting hits from their first four batters. Lonzo doubled, Preble singled, Gurney drove an RBI double down the rightfield line, and Ed Crispin had a soft RBI single. Adame’s double play grounder brought in Gurney, if nothing else, for a 3-0 lead. The inning after, Hils, Watt, and Lonzo loaded the bases with one out, but Preble whiffed and Gurney grounded out to Jon Lopez. The Knights got on the board in the sixth on… pretty much nothing. Hils drilled Sam Turner to begin the inning, Lopez bunted him to second, Turner stole third, and then came home on Venegas’ groundout. Top 7th, Chris Kirkwood led off with… getting drilled as well. This time though Matt Worden struck out and Kirkwood was thrown out at second by Matt Watt when he tried to tag and advance on T.J. Swift’s fly to center for a curious 8-6 double play. Lonzo doubled home Brian Nigro in the bottom 7th instead, 4-1, and with two outs Preble walked and Gurney hit an RBI single to center. Crispin grounded out to Swift to end the inning. Billy Hester took Julian Ponce deep in the eighth to restore the 3-run gap, which was then blown in the ninth inning by Preston Porter. Jon Alade welcomed him with a homer, 5-3, and Dan Whitley and van der Zanden reached base real soon, too. Worden popped out, but Swift rammed a ball off the wall for a game-tying double. Bob Ibold replaced Porter, and another four runs scored as he walked Hertenstein, gave up a 2-run double to Sam Green, another walk, another 2-run double…. Bottom 9th, Matt Simmons came in with a 4-run lead, put Lonzo and Preble on the corners, and disappeared without getting an out. Hardaway took over, got two outs, then conceded runs on RBI singles to Adame, Gonzalez, and Nigro, narrowing the score to 9-8. At this point John Castner ran for Gonzalez at second base, while Eddy Luna batted for Ibold… and flew out to Alade on the first pitch. 9-8 Knights. Lavorano 3-4, BB, 2 2B, RBI; Preble 2-4; Gurney 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Adame 3-5, RBI; Gonzalez 3-5, RBI; Nigro 3-5, RBI; Hils 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K and 1-1;

Dave, I know, I know. Next time the pitching coach or manager tries to take the ball from you, hit him in the snout and just throw 135 pitches. – Yes, Dave, Dave, listen. I have a huge sack on order from the fibernet, and we’ll use that to drown the bullpen in the Willamette. Yes, the whole ******* lot of them.

At this point Bob Ibold had a 14.40 ERA and was walking 10.8 per nine innings. Yes, there was a .412 BABIP, but *10.8 BB/9*! Also two homers in five innings.

Also, 19 base hits and no W for the brown team.

And despair.

Raccoons (74-77) @ Loggers (50-102) – September 23, 2049

This was a single makeup game played at noon on our way to New York. The Loggers were safely tucked away in last place, and we had long ago secured the season series at 13-4. We sent Bubba Wolinsky (13-9, 4.25 ERA) against right-hander John Morrill (9-14, 4.55 ERA).

POR: 2B Lavorano – CF Herrera – SS Luna – 1B Gurney – RF Nigro – LF Avila – 3B Rogers – C Brooks – P Wolinsky
MIL: LF J. Delgado – CF Lamotta – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lovell – RF McIntyre – 3B Kohr – C Nagel – P Morrill

Zach Suggs hit a solo jack in the bottom 1st, his 13th of the year, 15 of which had come against the Coons, which sugged. Avila’s groundout cashed in Nigro and his 1-out triple in the top 2nd to even the score, 1-1, at least until David Nagel doubled home Pat Lovell with two outs in the bottom of the same inning. Another 2-out run scored in the bottom 4th on a passed ball charged to Brooks, the useless pelt… although Jason Kohr would have hit a single to score the runner Ricky Lopez anyway afterwards. Yey. 3-1.

Somehow, after seven innings of 3-hit futility, the Raccoons got the tying runs into scoring position with nobody out in the eighth inning. Tim Rogers singled, Justin Brooks doubled, and the valiant but so far futile Wolinsky was hit for with Preble, who was making precious little progress in his bid for 100 RBI, a mark he had reached but once with the 2040 Scorpions. He flew out to Will McIntyre here, but at least got a sac fly for his 95th RBI. Herrera then doubled home Brooks with the tying run with two outs, evening the score at three. Luna’s following groundout left Bubba with a no-decision. Polibio O’Higgins somehow kept the game tied amidst a leadoff walk to Craig Sayre, a wild pitch, and a 2-out walk to Suggs in the bottom 8th. Hitchcock extended the game to extras with a scoreless ninth, only for Nate Norris to get blipped to ******* death with singles by Jack Barrington, Chris Lowe, and Zach Suggs, which, yes, SUGGED. 4-3 Loggers. Brooks 3-4, 2B;

Raccoons (74-78) @ Crusaders (68-85) – September 24-26, 2049

While the Raccoons were still trying to stave off a winning record (I like to tell myself at least), the Crusaders had already notched that. They were sixth in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed, with a -49 run differential (Coons: -14). Jim White, Chris Robinson, and a few others were on the DL for them. We were up 8-7 in the season series, which thus was still up for grabs.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (5-9, 4.04 ERA) vs. Sal Chavez (10-16, 4.75 ERA)
Andrew Clarke (0-0, 0.82 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (2-4, 3.14 ERA)
Victor Merino (10-14, 5.29 ERA) vs. Ryan Fentress (5-7, 4.42 ERA)

Only right-handers here, either.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Luna – RF Preble – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – SS Adame – 2B Castner – P Salcido
NYC: 1B Haertling – 3B Haney – C O. Ramirez – SS Gates – LF Garris – CF Ceballos – RF Foss – 2B O. Sanchez – P S. Chavez

The Coons stuck Chavez a 4-spot in the opening inning, built with a Crispin sac fly and a Gonzalez 3-piece after the 2-3-4 batters initially reached base in order. Salcido reached 100 K and a sub-4 ERA in the second inning, then hit a double and was singled home by Matt Watt in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 5-0. On the mound Salcido looked like he had it all under control until he didn’t, when Josh Garris took him deep for a 2-piece in the bottom 6th. He was then lifted after a pair of walks to Aaron Foss and Jon Werre in the bottom 7th. The runners were in scoring position with two outs when Lynn came in to face PH Angel Lara, gave up an RBI single, so there went Salcido’s sub-4 ERA again, and then somehow got Preble to catch a drive by Omar Ramirez to end the damn inning. Lynn had a scoreless eighth, and Moreno had a scoreless ninth after all the agony of a leadoff walk to Foss and a Randy Anton single. Dave Hernandez hit into a fielder’s choice, Ed Haertling popped out, and David MacLeod bounced out to Luna to end the game with runners stuck on the corners. 5-3 Raccoons. Watt 2-4, BB, RBI; Herrera 2-4, BB, 2B; Crispin 0-1, 2 BB, RBI; Salcido 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (6-9) and 1-3, 2B;

Game 2
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – RF Preble – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – SS Adame – 2B Castner – P Clarke
NYC: 1B Haertling – 3B Haney – C O. Ramirez – SS Gates – LF Garris – CF Ceballos – RF Foss – 2B Nash – P Sopena

Crispin drove in the first run again, and in the top of the first inning, too, this time with a 2-out single while Herrera and Gurney were on the corners. It was the only run in the inning, and the lead stood up for 2.2 innings with Clarke pitching and walking a batter per inning. He eluded twice, but in the bottom 3rd gave up back-to-back 2-out homers to Omar Ramirez and Prince Gates to fall 3-1 behind. Clarke answered in his own way – coming to bat with two outs in the top 4th and Ruben Gonzalez on second base, he based a home run of his own to left-center, tying the score at three…!

The joy – like all joys – was short-lived and perished in the bottom of the same inning. Mario Ceballos and Aaron Foss opened with singles, the latter of which was mishandled by Preble for a run-scoring error. A full count to Randolph Nash ended with a walk, and Edwin Sopena’s bunt was taken for an out at least. Ed Haertling reached on an error by Castner, and then Clarke walked in a run against Mark Haney, then was yanked, down 5-3 with the bags full and one out, while having issued five free passes already. Ponce got the Coons out of the inning without allowing another run, handling a comebacker from Ramirez for an out at the plate, and got a pop to short from Gates. Preble opened the fifth with a jack to right, 5-4, and Sopena walked Gurney before giving up a hit to Crispin through the right side. Gurney went for third, the ball went lost in translation, and both runners ended up in scoring position with nobody out. Gonzalez whiffed, Adame legged out an infield grounder, but the runners remained pinned by Haney’s conscious play, but John Castner, that bum, flipped the score with a 2-run single up the leftfield line. Sopena was gone for Kyle Conner, Ponce bunted on the runners for the second out, Watt walked, and then Conner plated a run with a wild pitch. Herrera grounded out, ending a full run through the order for a very confused 4-spot and a 7-5 lead.

A Gurney error put a runner on base in the bottom 5th, that Ibold then conceded on a Nash single with two outs, 7-6, but Preble hit his second leadoff jack in a row off Matt Fries, 8-6 to begin the top 6th, and Ruben Gonzalez added a solo homer of his own before the inning was out. Bob Ibold then effortlessly filled the base with two sharp singles, a walk, and nobody out in the bottom 6th. Gates popped out, then the ball went to Richardson, who had nothing ******* better to do than to give up a grand slam – a mere 438 feet – to Josh Garris. Score flipped, again.

Fries loaded them up with one out in the seventh, Nigro, Watt, and Herrera all getting on. Had Preble one more in his quiver? Wait – first Fries tied the game with a bouncer that got away from Omar Ramirez for a “passed ball”, tying the ******* score at a ******* ten apiece. Preble ended up walking to restock the bags, and the Crusaders took out Fries to kick him down some staircase or other. Sean Yates replaced him, gave up a sac fly to Gurney, so, uh, the Coons were now up again? …and then a single to Crispin with two outs. Herrera scored, the ball got away from Foss, prompting Preble to go to third, and here was the throw – WAY over Mark Haney, and Preble went for home and scored…! Gonzalez grounded out to end the inning; a crisp 13-10 contest at the stretch.

After a scoreless bottom 7th from Lillis and his black devil magic, the Coons got another run off Yates with an Adame single, a stolen base, and a pinch-hit RBI single from Wade Gardner. Lenderink then added a scoreless bottom 8th!? But Nate Norris wouldn’t be Nate Norris (at least the sucky 2049 version) if he didn’t make it a save situation in the bottom of the ninth, allowing singles to Foss and David MacLeod. Moreno came out, Haertling grounded out, ballgame. 14-10 Critters. Preble 2-3, 3 BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Crispin 3-6, 2 RBI; Gonzalez 2-5, HR, RBI; Adame 3-5; Nigro (PH) 1-1; Gardner (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Slow day at the eggball stadium?

Meanwhile, Matt Waters rejoined the team for hopefully all of the last eight games this year.

Game 3
POR: CF Watt – SS Lavorano – LF Preble – 2B Waters – 1B Gurney – 3B Crispin – RF Nigro – C Brooks – P Merino
NYC: LF Haertling – 3B Haney – SS Gates – C O. Ramirez – RF Garris – 1B Tinoco – CF Foss – 2B Nash – P Fentress

Washed-up Merino was washed for three runs (one earned) in the bottom 2nd. Yes, Lonzo made an error, but Merino also gave up two sharp hits and walked a guy to give himself the bags full with one out once Lonzo made the error. Nash drove in two with a the second hit then, and Fentress added a third run with a groundout. The Coons didn’t have a hit through three, but Preble singled home Lonzo, who had forced out Watt with a grounder and had stolen second base, for the team’s first knock and marker on the board – and his 98th RBI for the year.

It remained 3-1 through five although Merino, the baseball gods sure knew, tried to give up more runs with stunts like a 4-pitch walk to Fentress in the bottom 5th. The sixth though began with Watt getting nicked and Lonzo dashing down the line for an infield single on a roller between the battery members to put on the tying runs with nobody out. The runners took off at once with Preble batting, Ramirez threw the ball past Haney, a run scored, and the tying run went to third base for Preble, who crunched a game-tying single through between Gold Glovers Nash and Gates. Gurney and Nigro would also melt on base against Fentress, and then Brooks dropped in a 2-out, 2-run single to give the Coons a 5-3 lead. Merino hit another single to refill the bases, and Fentress was yanked after walking in a run against Watt. Neal Hamann got Lonzo to ground out then, ending the inning. Hamann was torn up by the meat of the order in the seventh, however, putting on Preble (double) and Waters (walk) before getting taken deep by Gurney for a 3-run homer. Merino went eight innings after all, throwing 103 pitches, with the Crusaders folding in the latter half of his outing. Richardson chipped in a 1-2-3 ninth. 9-3 Coons. Preble 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Nigro 2-4; Merino 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (11-14) and 1-4;

In other news

September 21 – CHA SP Ray Thune (7-8, 4.74 ERA) spins a 1-hitter against the Canadiens, who are held to a single by INF/CF Nick DeMarco (.284, 12 HR, 68 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: SFW LF Mario Villa (.378, 23 HR, 104 RBI), mashing .480 (12-25) with 2 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: BOS 1B/2B Jeff Wheeler (.325, 8 HR, 76 RBI), hitting .524 (11-21) with 1 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I thought we could trade Nelson Moreno and Mike Lynn for prospects or at least useful bits this winter and then piece the ninth together between Preston Porter and Bob Ibold or something for the next year or two until an actual candidate would emerge in the minors, but their combined 7-spot in the ninth on Wednesday taught me otherwise.

I must drown them. All of them. Indeed, the whole ******* lot of them.

Titans, Indians, then we’re done and can start cleaning house.

…all while mostly sitting Lonzo, the most interesting thing on the roster now, so he can go for ROTY in ’50. Lonzo, Crispin, Waters, Maldo as the new infield? Yeah, Crispin is not hitting a whole lot, but he is an above-average defender and won’t turn 23 until November, he still has room to grow. I have NO idea what the outfield will look like next year. Herrera could even be tradable, and the rest will probably disappear via free agency.

And yes, the pen needs to be wholesale dissolved in acid.

Fun Fact: Armando Herrera singled once in five attempts on Thursday, reaching 2,500 base hits for his career.

The nature of the season, which nobody can await to end, and the rushed nature of our arrival and departure around a hastily rescheduled game in Milwaukee also meant that there were no extended congratulations on the field, which already had 179 losses assembled at this time, and the Coons had missed both breakfast on the plane and lunch at the ballpark and were just starving their way to another sad-sack loss.

Herrera, 35 these days, is in his 14th season with Oregon teams, and the fifth with the Coons. He’s signed through next year. The 2042 FL batting champ has four rings and nine Gold Gloves among other accolades, and at that point sat at a .313/.366/.402 clip with 36 HR and 791 RBI, plus 228 SB. He looks like he has a few more years of baseball in him, so 3,000 hits are not impossible.