[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Archelirion

Westheim you poor thing. Only your Coons can go a month with absolutely turd hitting, out of nowhere score 17 in a game, and STILL have you sweating into extras.

When that 14-6 lead was melting away on Sunday, I actually considered nailing them to a tree in the forest and abandoning them there.

+++

Raccoons (62-75) vs. Indians (62-74) – September 6-8, 2050

With last-place playoffs still in full swing in the CL North, the Raccoons were to host the Indians for three games starting on Tuesday. The Arrowheads were very average, seventh in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. Eighth in homers, fourth in sacks, sixth in defense. A very kind of “oh well” roster. The season series was, oh well, even at six.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (9-9, 3.99 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (10-10, 3.63 ERA)
Victor Merino (5-16, 4.29 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (6-12, 5.02 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (5-13, 4.29 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (12-9, 2.91 ERA)

They only had righty starters hanging around.

Game 1
IND: CF A. Mendez – 2B H. Acosta – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – LF R. White – 1B M. Gilmore – SS de Castro – P Brink
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – RF Lamotta – LF Watt – C Jimenez – P Wheatley

The Coons carried all their sucky momentum across the end of the week AND an off day into Tuesday, on which Lonzo opened the bottom 1st with a double to left and then was steadfastly stranded on third base. Maldo walked, but Crispin, Waters, and Puckeridge all made weak outs. With Wheats pitching fine, but not exactly in dominating fashion, the early innings were scoreless and the ice wasn’t broken until the fourth inning, which Puckeridge opened with a single to right. Ricky Lamotta doubled to left, and Matt Watt’s grounder brought home a run. Never mind the battery then stranding Lamotta on third.

Wheats pitched to the stretch with only one Arrowhead reaching third base, scattering three hits, two walks, and getting around a Lonzo error while whiffing seven. His turn was up in the bottom 7th, with Juan Jimenez hitting a 1-out double just ahead of him. Having lost all trust in the pen on Sunday at the very latest, we were ready to embrace an “every man for himself” mentality here. Wheats remained in the game and hit a shy single that put the runners on the corners for Lonzo, who managed to shove a ball into a double play from there, ending the inning. Wheats went on to retire Angel Mendez with a K, Hugo Acosta with a grounder, and had Bill Quinteros at 0-2 in the eighth, the nicked him ever so slightly. Bobby Anderson grounded out after that, but the extra pitches got Wheats to 105 for the day, and into “eeeeh…!” territory for getting back out there with a 1-0 lead. The Coons’ 2-3-4 went in order against Brink in the bottom 8th. Oh well. Wheats? You want the ball? – Fine. – You have to take it out of your snout though, so you can actually pitch.

There he went for the ninth, with Ray DeFrank leading off. He lifted the 1-0 to center for an easy out for Pucks. Rusty White grounded out to Waters on three pitches. And then? Then Aaron Brayboy pinch-hit, at which point I knew that it had all been for the bum, and that we were all forsa- no! Strikeout! Shutout! Hu-wheee!! 1-0 Blighters! Lamotta 2-3, 2B; Wheatley 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K, W (10-9) and 1-3;

Seventh career shutout for Wheats, and the first this year, as well as the first against the Indians. Also the first time he had got as close as three hits since he shut out the Loggers almost precisely five years ago.

Yes, Slappy, I’m gonna put down a tenner that this will be our highlight of September.

Game 2
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – LF Hare – 1B R. White – 2B N. Fernandez – P Serio
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Glodowski– P Merino

Waters and Gonzalez went to the corners with second-inning singles, but Watt whiffed and Glodowski hit his patented pop to shortstop Alex de Castro to get out of the inning without putting a run on the board. Angel Mendez had opened the game with a single, but had been doubled off by de Castro, and Merino faced the minimum through three innings, whiffing three batters, but I had no doubt he’d still make a solid case for his 17th loss in front of a crowd announced as 15,394, but looking more like 5,394.

To begin the fourth, the 1-2 batters for Indy hit singles to reach the corners, but de Castro was then thrown out trying to steal second. Quinteros’ sac fly to center made it a 1-0 game, and Bobby Anderson whacking a homer to left upped the score to 2-0. Merino went on to strike out DeFrank, and then solidly pitched his way through six, while the Raccoons… Yeah, well, the Raccoons didn’t have another hit until Ed Crispin snipped a 1-out single to center in the bottom 6th. Maldo flew out, but Waters hit a soft single. A wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position, and a Pucks single to center got them both home to tie the game…! Pucks stole second, but Gonzalez lined out to a rushing Josh Hare in shallow center to end the inning.

Merino made another solid bid for the L, though, getting an out from Quinteros to begin the top 7th before walking Anderson, giving up a double to DeFrank, and walking PH Vinny Marin in the latter’s first plate appearance of the year. Rookie Antonio Rios batted for Rusty White, and the Coons went and grabbed Kevin Hitchcock to meet the right-handed threat. A strikeout to Rios and a fly to left from Philip Locke ended the inning and kept Merino from losing a 17th game (yet). Not that a win was in the cards, either for him or the remainder of the Critters. They didn’t score in the bottom 7th, while Eloy Sencion began the eighth by retiring Brayboy. O’Higgins was next, faced four batters, and gave up a stunning four screamers, all for hits, three of them for extra bases, as the Arrowheads went triple, double, single, double. Mike Snyder replaced O’Higgins, kindly walked the bags full, then left for Ponce, who finally ******* got a double play grounder from PH Joe Briscoe to end the ******* inning. Slappy wordlessly handed me a tenner, resigning on the season. Ponce pitched for two more outs in the ninth, but when the righty top of the order with Juan Arguello (who?) came back up, we went to Lenderink to ask his silly bum for ONE out. We got ONE out. After he filled the bags with two hits and a walk, when Bobby Anderson grounded out with the bags stacked. The Raccoons never remotely rallied. 5-2 Indians. Waters 2-4; Raczka (PH) 1-1;

Sigh!

Am I sighing a lot, Maud? – I mean, a-“more than usual”-lot. – Thought so.

Sigh!

Game 3
IND: CF A. Mendez – SS de Castro – RF B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C DeFrank – 1B R. White – LF Ragen – 2B N. Fernandez – P E. Ortiz
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Watt – RF Lamotta – P Wolinsky

A Waters homer and some stingy baserunning by Ricky Lamotta gave Wolinsky a 2-0 lead after three. Waters went yard in the second, while Lamotta opened the third with a single and stole second base before advancing on a grounder by Wolinsky and scoring on Lonzo’s groundout. In between Angel Mendez hit a soft single in the top 3rd, stole two bases, and was yet stranded at third base. The tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out, though, come the top 4th. Bobby Anderson singled, Ray DeFrank doubled, and while Rusty White whiffed, Allen Ragen brought in a run with a groundout. The Coons pitched to .177 batter Nick Fernandez with two outs, Bubba got to two strikes, then gave up a sharp grounder – but Ed Crispin was on it and made the play for the third out, stranding DeFrank.

Pucks singled home Crispin in the sixth inning for an add-on run, 3-1, while Wolinsky gave up a triple to Ragen with one out in the seventh. That brought up Fernandez again, this time with an out to spare, but he was out to Crispin *again*. The runner had to hold, and was stranded once Ortiz struck out. That was it for Wolinsky; Preston Porter narrowed the score to 3-2 in the eighth, giving up a bomb to Alex de Castro, but Ponce got out of the inning. The lead was buried by Willie Cruz in the ninth, and with that I mean it expired non too peacefully. Bombarded with pinch-hitters, he walked Philip Locke, gave up RBI doubles to Brayboy and Acosta, and was probably leaving the mound after that assuming his closing days were over. Danny Landeta finished the inning, but the Raccoons had no rally in them and lost the series in 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom 9th. 4-3 Indians. Crispin 2-4; Lamotta 2-3; Sivertson (PH) 1-1; Wolinsky 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K;

Raccoons (63-77) @ Crusaders (68-72) – September 9-11, 2050

We arrived just as the Crusaders were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, and if they were anything like me they had to take out their frustration on something. Maybe some nice family-owned deli? Please not on the Coons, they’re a wimpy bunch…! Not scoring runs had kept them well outside of actual contention this year; they were 10th in runs scored in the CL, and fifth in runs allowed, with a -33 run differential (Coons: -76). These were our last games with New York this year, with the season series already lost, 10-5. They were without Jeff Johnson and Ryan Fentress as well as a couple of relievers.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (12-7, 3.57 ERA) vs. Jeremy Baker (8-17, 4.12 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (0-0, 5.11 ERA) vs. TBD
Jason Wheatley (10-9, 3.79 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (12-11, 3.10 ERA)

Lefty, whatever, righty – Johnson’s spot would have been Saturday, but he was dealing with a sore elbow and was not likely to take the ball on the weekend.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – RF Glodowski – 2B Castner – C Jimenez – P Salcido
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – 1B Haertling – C A. Lara – RF Mills – CF Ceballos – P J. Baker

Three singles, two stolen bases, a walk in the top 1st for the Coons … and one run. Pucks struck out, Glodowski hit into a double play, and the only run that came home was Lonzo, who took his 54th bag after a dry series against Indy and was then singled home by Lamotta. Ed Haertling scored Danny Rivera with the last of three straight 2-out singles in the bottom 1st, and the lead was quickly gone. Angel Lara grounded out, though.

Lara did bring in a run in the bottom 3rd with a groundout, Rivera scoring after earlier gaining a base with a Salcido balk. That already made it a 3-1 game. Omar Sanchez had singled in Mario Ceballos in the second, and Salcido bled runners quite profusely. He came to bat in the fourth with the 6-7-8 batters all just having reached with one out. Bags full, Salcido hit a comebacker that Baker fumbled for an error, and all paws were safe while a run scored. Lonzo then tied it up at three with a looping RBI single to shallow right. A Lamotta sac fly made it 4-3, but Maldo grounded out to end the inning after having hit a triple in his previous appearance, only to get stranded.

Salcido went five, but blew the lead on a Haertling triple in the bottom 5th, which brought in the perpetual Danny Rivera again. The tie would be broken in the seventh when Pucks singled home Lamotta with two outs as the Raccoons put three singles together again; those two and Maldo hit them, but Maldo was forced out by Waters’ fielder’s choice grounder. Glodowski, ever useless, grounded out to short to strand two runners in a 5-4 game.

Josh Garris’ 3-run homer flipped the score in the bottom 7th. It came off hopeless Brett Lillis jr., but Miles and O’Higgins both shared in the runs that scored, with the right-hander having different issues altogether, having been hauled in by Dr. Padilla after moving his hindleg weirdly between pitches to Pedro Leal. Mike Snyder gave up another run in the eighth. 8-5 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Lamotta 2-3, 2 RBI; Maldonado 3-5, 3B; Castner 2-4;

O’Higgins was off to the DL afterwards with a tweaked hamstring. He was unlikely to return this season. No replacement – the Alley Cats had another six game to play and we’d probably add another two or three guys after that. There were still ten bums in that pen as it was.

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Maldonado – 2B Waters – CF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – LF Sivertson – RF Samples – P Brobeck
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 1B Haertling – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – 2B Haney – C A. Lara – RF P. Leal – CF Ceballos – P Sopena

Sopena went on short rest and not for very long. Ruben Gonzalez doubled home Waters and Puckeridge in the second, while Lonzo and Crispin reached base in the third, did the double steal, and then scored on separate groundouts by Maldo and Waters to go up 4-0. Not that all was splendid with Brobeck, who loaded the bags with the first three batters he faced, but got out on pops and a grounder at Maldo. New York scored on him in the bottom 3rd when he issued a leadoff walk to Ed Haertling, who was then doubled home by Prince Gates, 4-1.

Lonzo reached again in the fifth, stole another bag, and was singled home by Matt Waters with two gone to restore slam range, but made an error to begin the bottom of that inning, in which feces soon hit the fan. Brobeck again walked Haertling, gave up two straight RBI singles, 5-3, but then got a double play grounder from Mark Haney. Lara flew out to Mitch Sivertson to end a shudderworthy inning. Brobeck got Leal out to begin the sixth, but was yanked after hitting Ceballos. Lillis came on and actually got two outs, beginning with PH Josh Garris, off lefties (far from a given) to stall the Crusaders out. Lillis got two more outs in the seventh, and Porter and Sencion would pitch the lead through eight, although the lefty walked a pair before escaping on a K to PH Randy Anton. So who’d it be for the ninth? Cruz or Hitchcock!? First it was the Critters batting, though. Matt Watt pinch-hit for Sivertson to lead off the ninth against Taylor Stabile and whacked a jack to right to extend the lead to 6-3. That was all though, and then it was indeed Hitchcock to get the ball for a 3-run save. He walked Omar Sanchez to begin the bottom 9th, but retired the next three without the runner reaching scoring position. 6-3 Raccoons. Lavorano 2-4, BB; Waters 2-4, 2 RBI; Watt (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Castner (PH) 1-1;

So this was the first career win for Kyle Brobeck, who pitched muddily, has twice as many walks as strikeouts, but still hasn’t suffered an actual loss in the majors.

The Crusaders were kind enough to arrange a Southpaw Sunday then, with Carlos Malla (5-11, 5.13 ERA) being sent up against Wheats.

Game 3
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Lamotta – 1B Maldonado – 3B Waters – LF Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – 2B Castner – RF Samples – P Wheatley
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – LF D. Rivera – C O. Ramirez – 3B Gates – RF Garris – 1B Haertling – CF P. Leal – P Malla

Wheats had made it nine without allowing a run on Tuesday, but couldn’t even make it through one on Sunday. He nailed Omar Sanchez right away, allowed a single to Russ, the persistent pest, and conceded a run on Ramirez’ single. A Castner error filled the bags with Gates before Garris and Haertling were both rung up to end the inning. Gates and Garris added a run with back-to-back doubles in the third, 2-0, while the Coons had yet to reach base. Lamotta hit a single, but was doubled up by Maldo in the fourth, in the bottom of which Russ, the ********** ******, singled home Sanchez for another run, 3-0.

Wheats went seven innings, didn’t allow any more runs, and whiffed nine batters by the end of it, all in vain. The Raccoons managed all of three base hits and certainly no runs through seven innings. The eighth began though with the tying run in the box and no outs against right-hander Jeff Frank. Gonzalez singled, Castner singled. Watt batted in place of Samples in that spot, and coaxed a walk to fill the bags… with nobody out. Crispin batted for Wheats, drew left-hander Neil Hamann, and struck out. After that it was right back to a righty, Brett Graham, who made his third ABL appearance against Lonzo, and gave up a quick RBI single, 3-1. Lamotta grounded out, plating another run. Maldo grounded out, which ended the inning… Bottom 8th, Sencion put a pair on base again, Gates with a single and Haney with a pinch-walk. When Art Bet pinch-hit for Leal, the Coons went to Hitchcock, who got the K to keep them just a run away. And the start to the ninth was quick. Waters single to center, Puckeridge single to right, sending Waters and the tying run to third base against Melvin Lucero, with nobody out. Gonzalez grounded out to short, with Waters holding, while Pucks moved up. The pitcher was in the #7 hole at this point, so we went to our secret weapon – Evan Van Hoy! He popped out shyly to right, the bum, and Watt flew out to left to strand the runners in scoring position. 3-2 Crusaders. Waters 2-4; Puckeridge 2-4; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, L (10-10);

In other news

September 5 – With an RBI single in a 4-3 loss to the Crusaders, VAN SS/3B Dan Mullen (.344, 2 HR, 63 RBI) extends his hitting streak to 20 games.
September 5 – The Blue Sox drown the Miners, 20-5, with a handful of RBI each from the Blue Sox’ Alejandro Ramos (.299, 27 HR, 101 RBI) and Jose Cantu (.264, 17 HR, 79 RBI).
September 6 – Stars standout LF/CF Juan del Toro (.355, 21 HR, 99 RBI) breaks his elbow and is out for the season.
September 6 – PIT SS/2B Tony Aparicio (.336, 7 HR, 67 RBI) will miss the rest of the regular season at least with a separated shoulder.
September 6 – The Crusaders beat the Canadiens, 6-2, and this time also leave Dan Mullen (.342, 2 HR, 63 RBI) dry to kill his 20-game hitting streak.
September 7 – WAS SP Bruce Mark jr. (9-14, 3.11 ERA) is out for the season after suffering a strained hamstring.
September 10 – TOP RF/CF J.P. Angeletti (.248, 12 HR, 71 RBI) is out for the year and questionable for Opening Day after snapping his achilles tendon.
September 10 – The Stars-Pacifics game enters the 11th inning tied at three before Dallas puts it away with a 10-spot in the road half. L.A. doesn’t bother to respond, and the Stars win 13-3.

FL Player of the Week: TOP C Brett Banks (.247, 16 HR, 69 RBI), hitting .500 (10-20) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC INF Prince Gates (.305, 3 HR, 53 RBI), batting .414 (12-29) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Five years ago we had a roster that would have easily flipped the score in the ninth on Sunday, and then would have scored a few runs to go to last us on the off day on Monday. And now? Now we’re hoping for Evan Van Bombs A-Hoy…!

Three weeks left. I really don’t want to finish last in the division, especially when that’s nowhere near a #1 pick. Right now we’d be the #6 pick, and just half a game ahead of the Caps for that. Three more teams within a game and a half, and even more within five games. I have a hunch we’ll play us into a #13 pick again. Yey.

No Rafael de la Cruz this year – he needs more time to adjust to AAA and there’s no point to throw him into the flames up here now, even though he has to go on the 40-man roster in the fall.

Simple scheduling from here. We have one more 3-team homestand against the Loggers, Aces, and Thunder. The rest of the year is on the road, in Boston, Elk City, and Indy; so Raccoons Ballpark gets shuttered as early as the 21st this year.

Fun Fact: Matt Watt and Preston Porter are pretty much the biggest upcoming free agents on this roster.

There’s also Landeta, who was dead weight taken on to make the Lynn/Adame deal with the Thunder work, in which we got prospects Prospero Tenazes and Adam Peltier. Both did well in AA this year; only Tenazes moved up to AAA late in the season, struggled, and neither will make cameos for the Coons down the stretch. Beyond that our upcoming free agents are limited to two cup of coffee guys (Alcala, Shedd), and a bevvy of failed starting pitchers from c.2044…

That also means no compensation picks of course.

Sigh!