[Westheim]

Raccoons (87-63) vs. Bayhawks (68-81) – September 21-23, 2054

The Coons took a 2 1/2 game lead into their final homestand of the season, facing the Baybirds for three games starting on Monday. San Francisco had a 4-2 lead in the season series despite being rather rotten overall, merely ninth in runs scored and giving up the most runs overall in the Continental League for a -86 run differential. They had the third-worst rotation and the worst bullpen by ERA, despite being named the second-best defense in the league, which refused to make any sense.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (12-9, 3.89 ERA) vs. Josh Doyle (1-4, 5.77 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (5-4, 3.73 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (13-10, 3.84 ERA)
He Shui (16-8, 2.58 ERA) vs. Tony Martinez (4-6, 2.88 ERA)

We were scheduled a left-hander on Wednesday in the 34-year-old Martinez.

Game 1
SFB: RF Felix – 3B Hoogendoorn – 2B A. Montoya – 1B W. Gutierrez – C J. Ortiz – SS Peltier – LF M. Brown – CF Caban – P Doyle
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – CF Puckeridge – 3B Venegas – RF Cox – 2B Knight – P Wheatley

Wheats bled hits, didn’t get a K the first time through, and instead gave up a run in the third inning on Jorge Felix’ triple and Adam Hoogendoorn’s single to center, and then a solo homer to Jorge Ortiz in the fourth inning. It didn’t get any better in the fifth inning with a leadoff walk to the opposing pitcher, and then an RBI triple in the left-center gap for Hoogendoorn. The Raccoons had absolutely nothing. Venegas’ single the first time through was the only hit through five innings, and they couldn’t score with walks issued to Venegas and Cox in the fifth inning, either. Lonzo hit a leadoff single in the bottom 6th, but was doubled off by Ramsay. Portland had another Venegas single in the seventh, and the Baybirds had two home runs in the eighth; solo shots by Ortiz off Sather, and Adam Peltier off Luke Ostler. 5-0 Bayhawks. Venegas 2-2;

The Elks beat the Aces, 3-2, reducing the gap to a game and a half. I remained calm and built a pillow fort to defend our first place with my life and Honeypaws’ if necessary.

Game 2
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 3B Hoogendoorn – LF Munn – 2B A. Montoya – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – 1B Witherspoon – CF M. Brown – P Koga
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Suzuki – C Philipps – 2B Boese – P de la Cruz

Raffy was taken deep by Jorge Felix and Sam Witherspoon, back-to-back, in the second inning for a quick 2-0 deficit, although the Raccoons made up a run by accident in the bottom of the inning when Hoogendoorn threw away a groundball by Venegas and Mikio Suzuki doubled him home… and then was stranded in scoring position on three miserable outs from the bottom of the order. Hoogendoorn made amends right away, singling in the third inning before stealing second, moving up on Danny Munn’s groundout, and then scored on a wild pitch, because nothing wanted to work anymore for these Raccoons.

Maybe the Baybirds could be unhorsed by their own errors. Ken Crum hit a single in the bottom 3rd, and Armando Montoya added Ramsay to the bases on a 1-out error. Those were the tying runs, and they moved into scoring position on Trent Brassfield’s single to left. Venegas was next, hit a sharp grounder at 1-1, but right at the six, and Xavier Reyes started an inning-ending double play. Not that the Bayhawks were sound – that with the #2 defense should be taken with a grain of salt, because when Suzuki erred his way to third base in the bottom 5th, Ortiz let him across home plate by losing a 2-out, 0-1 pitch to de la Cruz and was charged with a passed ball.

Raffy was then beaten out of the fifth inning. Leadoff single to Xavier Reyes, who scored on Danny Munn’s double, and then Montoya cranked a homer, 6-2. That was the end for de la Cruz, having been brutalized for nine hits and a walk in 4.1 innings. Harmer pitched in the sixth inning, retired the first two batters, then put Reyes and Hoogendoorn on the corners with more singles, and those runners were then chased home on Munn’s double past Brassfield. Bottom 6th, Philipps and Tenazes were on base with two outs when Lonzo grounded one over to Hoogendoorn, who committed another throwing error for two bases and one run. Koga walked Ramsay, and with the bases loaded, Trent Brassfield whacked … a pop to Montoya to end the inning. Tyler Philipps hit his first home run of the season in the seventh inning, a solo job, and a little too late, and a little too little. Pucks’ pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning inched the team back to three runs back, which they’d have to negotiate with righty Patrick Jones in the bottom 9th. Brassfield flew out to left. Venegas and Suzuki flew out to center. 8-5 Bayhawks. Crum 2-4; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1, HR, RBI; Tenazes (PH) 1-1; Baker 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Half a game. The Elks rushed the Aces, 11-5, and things were getting more intense.

(shakes while trying to unscrew a bottle of Capt’n Coma)

Game 3
SFB: SS X. Reyes – 3B Hoogendoorn – LF Munn – 2B A. Montoya – 1B W. Gutierrez – C J. Ortiz – RF Felix – CF Caban – P T. Martinez
POR: LF Venegas – SS Lavorano – 1B Crum – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Brobeck – CF Tenazes – 2B Knight – P Shui

The Coons needed a gem from Shui; they got a Xavier Reyes double to left to open Wednesday’s series finale, but then three stingy outs and the runner being stranded on third base. The Coons scored first instead, putting Gowin (double) and Brassfield (walk) on base to begin the bottom 2nd before making two sucky outs again. Matt Knight filed a new application for another oxygen ration with an RBI single to right. Shui tried to pop out in foul ground to Willie Gutierrez once, but Gutierrez dropped the ball, but then flew out to Munn anyway to strand a pair. Venegas got on to start the bottom 3rd, and Ken Crum’s homer jumped the score to 3-0! While Shui did not allow runners to reach base at this stage of the game, Crum drove home Venegas again in the fifth inning, then with a 2-out double to left. Martinez was gone after that, while long man David Barnes became the first Baybird since Reyes at the start of the game to get a base knock off Shui, a 1-out single in the sixth, but he was stranded on base. Shui found Brassfield and Knight on the corners in the bottom of the sixth inning and hit a first-pitch RBI single off Barnes, 5-0, but Venegas then struck out to strand a pair.

Armando Caban hit a 2-out triple for the third Bayhawks hit, but a K to PH Sam Witherspoon ended that inning with San Francisco still shut out. He Shui returned for the ninth, but on 99 pitches, so time would be of the essence against the top of the order. Reyes and Munn hit singles, and that put Shui on 111 pitches with the end of the game not in sight. Hitchcock was brought on, but gave up an RBI single to Montoya that zinged over Lonzo into shallow left. Willie Gutierrez grounded to Naughty Joe at second base, and the Raccoons ended the game with a double play. 5-1 Critters. Venegas 2-4; Crum 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Gowin 2-4, 2B; Knight 1-2, BB, RBI; Shui 8.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, W (17-8) and 1-4, RBI;

The Elks completed a sweep of the Aces, though, so the Raccoons remained up by only half a game. They needed to win the weekend series against the damn Elks to stay afloat. While the two perpetual enemies in the Northwest were half a game apart, both the Crusaders and Loggers were three games away from being eliminated now. They were both on 72 losses to the Coons’ 88 wins. In fact, with this constellation at the top, they were automatically no further than two games from being eliminated, since the worst the division leader could tally in wins on Sunday night was 89 W’s.

Raccoons (88-65) vs. Canadiens (87-65) – September 25-27, 2054

I was filled with much foreboding. The Elks were first in runs scored, first in batting, first in OBP, and third in starters’ ERA. After that it got spotty. Fifth-most runs allowed, in the bottom three even in defense, bullpen ERA, and stolen bases. No Adam Magnussen, no Damian Moreno, no Jesse Bulas (all no the DL), but they led the season series 8-7.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (9-10, 3.47 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (8-6, 3.79 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (12-10, 3.90 ERA) vs. Andy Overy (16-6, 3.20 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (5-5, 4.12 ERA) vs. Adam Middleton (5-9, 4.44 ERA)

Overy was the sole left-hander available to Elk City.

And Capt’n Coma was the sole assistance available to me to not go insane during the inevitable meltdown here.

Game 1
VAN: 3B F. Marquez – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – LF T. Turner – CF Burkhart – P A. Jesus
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P Taki

Taki gave up three singles in the first inning, but Dan Mullen’s grounder to Venegas erased Felix Marquez’ infield single in double play fashion and Tony Aparicio and Tristan Waker were stranded with a K to Aaron Walker. Taki was one of two Critters to reach base the first time through, singling to right in the third inning, but was also left on base. Not so for Trent Brassfield, who in the bottom 2nd made for the first score of the game with a solo jack to left…!

The Elks answered before long, getting three straight hits from Waker, Walker, and Jeff Wheeler, making me weep with a single, double, and 2-run single to take the lead in the fourth inning. Harry Ramsay answered with a leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, tying the game at two. That 2-2 lead would be held by Taki through seven innings, despite scattering eight hits overall. He also struck out nine and got two double plays to help clean up the perpetual mess on the basepaths.

Trent Brassfield was a double shy of the cycle after he zinged a 1-out triple into the leftfield corner in the bottom 7th, and by the way, this was the go-ahead run in scoring position with less than two outs. Venegas flew out to Tim Burkhart, but Brassfield made for home and narrowly slid around the tag by Waker to give the Coons a 3-2 lead. Kevin Hitchcock got two outs in the top 8th before Lillis was brought in to face the switch-hitting Waker – and was taken well deep to left on the first pitch he threw, tying the game again. Walker, well, walked after that, but Jeff Wheeler made the third out. The Coons needed to find another run, but could not get past a 2-out walk drawn by Crum in the bottom 8th. Kevin Daley had the ninth, allowed a leadoff single to PH Bill Sostre, but cobbled three outs together from the next three batters to allow for one run sufficing for a walkoff in the bottom 9th, but Ruben Mendez retired Ramsay, Gowin, and Brassfield in order to send the game to extras, where in the 10th Daley gave up a leadoff double to Dan Mullen before getting two weak outs from the Elks. Walker grounded to Knight, who fudged the ball, and runners were on the corners with the error. Jeff Wheeler struck out, and the Coons dodged one there. Pucks singled in the bottom 10th, but remained at first base. Matt Walters retired the 7-8-9 part of the lineup in the 11th to keep the game tied, while the Elks sent Bernardino Risso, southpaw, for the bottom 11th, and the 1-2-3 disappeared without much noise.

Top 12th, Hyun-soo Bak got the ball. He walked Felix Marquez. He walked Tony Aparicio. Tristan Waker singled. The bases were loaded with one out. And now what? All the good relievers had already been burned. The Coons tried it with a pep talk, and Aaron Walker tried to hit a hole into Lonzo’s chest, but his spanked bouncer was gloved and turned into a 6-4-3 double play to bugger the hell out of the inning. Risso nailed Gowin to begin the bottom 12th, but instead of doubling, completing the cycle, and allowing the team to walk off, Brassfield grounded to short for a double play of our own. Bak and Sencion stumbled through the 13th inning without giving up a run, stranding a pair, while the Coons put a pair on the corners themselves with a 1-out double by Knight and a single in front of leftfielder Juan Aragon by Suzuki. The winning run was 90 feet away for Ken Crum against right-hander Dan Lawrence, Crum went up 3-1, poked, flew out to shallow left, and … and Knight had to hold, because he had no hope of scoring. Lonzo grounded out to third base, and nobody had any hope of scoring anymore…

The Coons arrived at the part of their bullpen that was full of Harmers and Ostlers and Blowers and Botchers, and instead went to Kyle Brobeck. He allowed a single to Aparicio, a walk to Waker, and then a 1-out scorcher that Walker lined right into Knight’s mitten for the second out. Wheeler singled to right, pinch-runner Jose Uranga was sent around third base – and thrown out by Brassfield to end the top 14th. When neither Ramsay nor Gowin could get on base against Lawrence in the bottom 14th, that gave Brassfield a third chance to find that double required for the cycle, but he failed in the pursuit. He just hit the ball too hard – all the way over the ******* fence…!! 4-3 Blighters! Brassfield 4-6, 2 HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Taki 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K and 1-2; Daley 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

(gasp!)

The Loggers beat the Indians, 7-4, which put their magic number at two, while the Crusaders lost to the Titans, 4-2, to go to one game from elimination.

Okay, careful, boys, they probably didn’t like that one, they’d be twice as nasty and stinky in the next game, if that was even possible.

Game 2
VAN: 3B F. Marquez – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – CF K. Hawkins – LF T. Turner – P Overy
POR: 1B Crum – SS Lavorano – RF Brassfield – C Gowin – 3B Brobeck – LF Venegas – CF de Lemos – 2B Knight – P Wheatley

Wheats’ first three pitches were all put in play for outs, but once the Elks took better aim, they started to get some hits… and the Raccoons’ defense fell apart to boot. Waker singled to right to begin the top 2nd, and Walker reached on Brobeck’s error. Wheeler flew out, but Kyle Hawkins hit a single to right, and Brassfield’s throw to home plate went over a leaping Gowin, then bounced hard off the backstop and into no man’s land, allowing both Elks runners to score. Two hits, two errors, two runs for the stinking hoof bearers. Chris Gowin drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 2nd, but was picked off to end the inning after two meek outs, then came back to the dish in the fourth inning with Crum and Brassfield on the corners and runs direly needed. He singled through the left side to get Crum in, 2-1, and Brobeck’s infield single that went off a diving Mullen’s glove filled the bases for Venegas. His groundout to Aparicio tied the game, and de Lemos’ pop to Aparicio left two in scoring position.

Matt Knight would long have been sold to the first caravan passing the ballpark if he wasn’t the least useless of our wholly useless replacement second-sackers, but he opened the fifth inning with a double over Hawkins to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Wheats, who was not flashy at all, but managed to pitch to weak contact after the stuttering start, singled sharply up the middle, but Knight at first shied back thinking Mullen would make a play and might throw him out at third base, thus advancing no further than third when then ball went through. He scored on Crum’s firm single to center, 3-2, and Lonzo, who was 0-for-8 in the series, got drilled to fill the bases … with nobody out. Brassfield brought in a run with a groundout, which wasn’t the first of outcomes, but I preferred Chris Gowin walloping one over the fence in left for a 3-piece, and a 7-2 lead…!

If only we knew how to blow that most efficiently. Wheats had a 1-2-3 sixth, but Walker and Wheeler hit full-count singles to begin the seventh inning and that was it for him. Sencion replaced him, got the next three guys out, although Tim Turner’s sac fly plated the lead runner, 7-3. The Coons clawed the run back with Lonzo’s leadoff walk and a Gowin single off Leo Iniguez in the bottom 7th, although neither of those two figured in the actual run-scoring event, thanks to two fielder’s choices hit into by Brassfield and Brobeck, the latter getting the RBI. Three singles off Baker and Hitchcock had the Elks answer for a run in the top 8th, but it was still a slam between those two teams. Geoff Sather got the ball for the ninth against the left-handed Hawkins and Turner, with no particularly clever ideas for how to proceed after that, but after both of those two flew out to de Lemos, the Elks were kind enough to send another left-handed batter, Julio Diaz, to pinch-hit for Iniguez. He grounded over to Venegas at third base, and Venegas – botched the play. Sather would hang around for one more batter, and then we’d bother Daley after two innings on Friday – but it didn’t come that far. Marquez struck out in a full count, and the Coons took the second game of the series as well…! 8-4 Furballs! Crum 4-4, 2 2B, RBI; Gowin 3-3, BB, HR, 4 RBI; Wheatley 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (13-10) and 1-3;

Not stellar, but sometimes steady does it – and now the 2 1/2 game lead from Monday morning was restored in all its glory. Also, the Loggers and Crusaders were both eliminated with losses of their own, so it was even mathematically down to these two teams now. The Elks needed a win on Sunday, bitterly.

Game 3
VAN: 3B F. Marquez – SS Mullen – 2B Aparicio – C Waker – RF A. Walker – 1B Wheeler – CF K. Hawkins – LF T. Turner – P Middleton
POR: LF Crum – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – RF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – CF Puckeridge – 2B Knight – P de la Cruz

Waker and Knight hit into inning-ending double plays with two aboard each the first time through the order as both teams frittered away scoring opportunities as if there was some silly concept by which the second-place team would also make the playoffs. Lonzo was also on base twice, took off for second base both times, but only made it there alive once. The Elks made two errors in the Coons’ first three innings, neither of which was punished, and lost Tony Aparicio to injury on a double to left in the third inning, but fumbled that noble sacrifice as well. Bill Sostre replaced him at the keystone.

The Raccoons burst through in the bottom 4th with three straight doubles to left or left-center by their 4-5-6 hitters. Pucks drew a walk off Middleton, and Knight popped out, but Raffy poked a 2-out RBI single through the right side to extend the just-begotten lead to 3-0 before Crum grounded out crummily to strand a pair.

Up 3-0, the question was how long Raffy would hold out, given his spotty start to the game, but the middle innings were rather spotless and the Elks were still being 3-hit through six innings. They got another hit in the seventh, in the worst way, when Raffy walked Wheeler to begin the inning, and with the pen scrambling, Hawkins technically singled to right, but in reality the ball hit Wheeler on a bounce and the lead runner was called out. Hawkins reached second base on an errant pickoff attempt, and the pen scrambled a little faster. Tim Turner’s walk ended Raffy’s day. Lillis faced PH Dan Riley, who grounded out, advancing Hawkins and Turner. Hitchcock was sent into the game for the third straight day but got a HUGE strikeout from Marquez, and that would be all he did in this game. Bottom 7th, right-hander Jesse Lausch gave up a leadoff single to Suzuki and a double to Cox, both pinch-hitting in the 8-9 spots. The runners were stranded on a K to Crum, a Lonzo pop, and Rams’ fly to left…

Where to find enough right-handed relief now? Bak was still there, so he got the eighth. Mullen flew out, after which Sostre doubled to center. Waker singled. Walker singled in a run. Oh for ***** sake. Jeff Wheeler punched a 3-run homer, but he might as well have punched me straight in the kisser. ******* *********. And that was before Walters and Daley melted down for another three runs in the ninth inning. 7-3 Canadiens. Brassfield 2-4, 2B, RBI; Venegas 2-4, 2B, RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Cox (PH) 1-2, 2B; de la Cruz 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 5 K and 1-2, RBI;

In other news

September 21 – CHA SP Art Schaeffer (14-11, 3.57 ERA) 2-hits the Loggers in an 8-0 shutout.
September 23 – Condors LF Tim Duncan (.244, 14 HR, 50 RBI) ends his season early with a strained hamstring.
September 23 – The Rebels tie their game with the Warriors with a run in the ninth inning, then beat the Warriors, 2-1 in 20 innings. There are 31 hits and 29 runners left on base in the game.
September 26 – 33-year-old NAS CL Tommy Gardner (8-8, 2.49 ERA, 35 SV) notches his 400th career save in a 4-3 win over the Miners. The two-time Reliever of the Year is the 31st pitcher to reach that milestone.
September 27 – The Thunder rout the Falcons, 18-7, with 3B/1B Ed Soberanes (.291, 16 HR, 61 RBI) knocking five hits and driving home four runs.

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.326, 14 HR, 76 RBI), cracking .481 (13-27) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL INF Zach Suggs (.296, 21 HR, 96 RBI), hitting .522 (12-23) with 4 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Shambolic. We were two innings from a 3 1/2 game lead as opposed to a 1 1/2 game lead, and then **** hit all the fans at once again. I could drown them all in the Willamette, playoffs or not…!

POR (90-66) – MIL (3), NYC (3) – .524 – 83.4% (-4.7%)
VAN (88-67) – IND (4), NYC (3) – .460 – 16.6% (+4.9%)

Probably not, given our very mediocre performance against the Loggers especially this year.

I am filled with much foreboding…

Fun Fact: Guys with 400 saves this league has had like candy, but only eight of them reached 500 saves for their career.

And half of them have a connection to the Raccoons:

1st – Andres Ramirez – 770 – HOF
2nd – Angel Casas – 641 – HOF
3rd – Pedro Alvarado – 624 – HOF
4th – Lawson Steward – 593 – HOF
5th – Andy Hyden – 538 – HOF
6th – Grant West – 522 – HOF
7th – Jim Durden – 519
8th – Josh Boles – 508

Grant West was a career Coon and never wound up for a different team, doing the baseball gods’ work for us from 1980 through 1995. He retired second to Ramirez in saves. Ramirez was the other guy that was on top of our hotlist for the very first amateur draft in 1977, but we ended up taking Daniel Hall instead, who didn’t make the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the Hall of Fame of our Hearts, and had his number retired just like West and Angel Casas, who spent his first 12 seasons in Portland and led the CL in saves four times in that stretch. The fourth Critter on the list is Josh Boles, who was been on the Hall of Fame ballot for a while. He began his career with the Coons as well, led the CL in saves twice, but departed for the Buffaloes in a terrible trade after just six seasons.

For what it’s worth, the #9 in career saves, Salvadaro Soure with 499 saves, was also a Raccoon … in the minors. He was traded to the Bayhawks to acquire Ramiro Cavazos, who lasted one season in Portland during the Decade of Darkness.

The trades I do.