[Westheim]

Raccoons (89-53) vs. Canadiens (66-76) – September 13-16, 2055

The damn Elks themselves posed no threat to the Raccoons anymore, although they could still let us stumble into the maws of the Arrowheads. Yes yes, the lead was tremendous, and the magic number tiny… but I was a natural born pessimist. The Elks were third in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, and the season series was even at seven games apiece. So this alone made a split in this series mandatory – wouldn’t want to lose the season series, boys, huh??

Projected matchups:
Craig Kniep (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Hyuma Hitomi (4-15, 4.77 ERA)
He Shui (19-5, 2.81 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (11-9, 4.24 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-8, 3.66 ERA) vs. Terry Herman (11-9, 3.71 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (6-1, 2.59 ERA) vs. Jesse Lausch (7-9, 4.98 ERA)

We’d only come up against right-handed hurlers here.

Danny Munn was finally back in the lineup on Monday.

Game 1
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 3B Adame – 1B Wheeler – RF A. Walker – 2B K. Hawkins – C Waker – LF Magnussen – SS Mullen – P Hitomi
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – 3B Venegas – C Philipps – P Kniep

Munn returned with an RBI single in the bottom 1st, driving in Pucks for an unearned run after Aaron Walker had completely sailed past his 2-out fly ball. Walker was probably excused by his antlered manager, given that he had pounded a 2-run homer in the guest half of the inning, driving in Jeff Wheeler against the rookie Kniep in his second career start. The Coons would flip the score in the bottom 2nd, which took four singles from Venegas, Philipps, Brassfield, and Lonzo. The latter two were stranded, and then the sad play from the top 1st repeated in the next half inning, as Kniep walked Wheeler and was then blasted again by Aaron Walker for the next deficit, 4-3.

Kniep pitched only five busy innings, but at least didn’t allow another run and avoided an L when Rams opened the bottom 3rd with a double to right-center and brought home the tying run on two productive outs. THAT play also repeated itself two innings later, then with a leadoff double by Danny Fun, and him getting plated on two more productive outs, which gave the Coons a 5-4 lead and the Elks a reason to go to the pen in lieu of continued engagement of Hyuma Hitomi, who was now in line for his 16th loss of the year.

Tyler Philipps’ home run in the bottom 6th extended our lead to 6-4, but Kniep’s first career W went but in the seventh inning with Zorizuki on the mound. The right-hander walked Damian Moreno, gave up a hit to Wheeler, walked Aaron, and then fudged the tying run across in what was already a 6-5 game when he dropped Ramsay’s throw at first base, which if caught would have made Tristan Waker the third out of the inning. Instead, Wheeler scored, and Adam Magnussen hit an RBI single to center to put Elk City in front. I sighed annoyingly for the rest of the game. The Raccoons couldn’t get the offense unclogged in the seventh or eighth innings, before Lonzo struck out against Ruben Mendez to begin the bottom 9th, and then Pucks wasn’t even in the game anymore, having been removed in a double switch. Ed Crispin pinch-hit for Colby Bowen, grounded to Kyle Hawkins, and Hawkins bobbled the ball, putting the tying run on base. Munn grounded out, Ramsay hit a scratch single, and the tying and winning runs were on the corners for Matt Waters with two down. Mendez punched him out, and I punched a pillow in anger. 7-6 Canadiens. Brassfield 2-5, RBI; Munn 2-5, 2B, RBI; Ramsay 3-5, 2B; Philipps 2-3, BB, HR, RBI;

The Arrowheads had a game scheduled with the Titans, but that was rained out. The magic number remained at 12, but Indy would play two tomorrow, weather permitting.

Game 2
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 3B Adame – 1B Wheeler – C Waker – 2B K. Hawkins – LF Magnussen – RF A. Walker – SS Mullen – P A. Jesus
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – 2B Waters – 3B Crispin – P Shui

Shui was bidding for his 20th W of the season, but would be impeded by the lovely Oregon weather that would throw some rain and a 35-minute rain delay after he had thrown four scoreless innings (hitless the first time through the order) against the damn Elks. The Raccoons in that time scattered five base hits, and scratched out a lone run in the bottom 3rd with a Lonzo single, his 63rd stolen base, and eventually Danny Fun’s RBI single. Shui returned for the fifth inning on 58 pitches after the sizable, but not extremely long delay, and retired the 6-7-8 batters without much fuss. With that, he also got the sixth, gave up a leadoff single to Jesus, and then got pops from Moreno and Alex Adame. The latter went into shallow right-center, but Munn made a sliding catch. Jesus thought he wouldn’t be in a position to throw to third base quickly and went, but was thrown out by a quickly-popping Munn, and it wasn’t close – about two strides – and ended the inning.

Six would be the limit for Shui, however; Brett Lillis jr. offered a scoreless seventh inning, and after the stretch the Raccoons, still facing Jesus, drew leadoff walks with Brass and Lonzo. The pair was in scoring position when with two outs Ramsay dropped a ball between Moreno and Walker for a 2-out, 2-run single.

Up 3-0, Lillis and Bak conceded three eighth-inning singles to Magnussen, Mullen, and with two outs, Moreno. Magnussen tried to score from second base, but was now thrown out at home by Danny Fun, who was completely raking the Elks. This, too, ended the inning. No outfield assists in support of Kevin Hitchcock in the ninth inning, but he also didn’t allow the Elks to get very far on the bases. 3-0 Critters. Gowin 2-4, 2B; Espinoza (PH) 1-1; Shui 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (20-5);

The Arrowheads and Titans split their double-header, so the Raccoons managed to scratch two games off the magic number and get it down to 10.

Game 3
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 3B Adame – 1B Wheeler – 2B K. Hawkins – LF Magnussen – RF A. Walker – C Julio Diaz – SS Mullen – P Herman
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 3B Brobeck – C Gowin – CF Solorzano – 2B Knight – P Taki

The first eight Elks batters didn’t get a base hit off Seisaku Taki, but Terry Herman did notch a single in the third inning. And Moreno singled. And Adame singled. And Wheeler singled. And Hawkins tripled even. And I sobbed. And Magnussen popped out, but Walker hit another single. All in all, Taki was sledgehammered for six hits, five runs, and it made me despair, because apparently we had no reliable starter beyond He Shui anymore. The Knights were surely looking forward to October. Taki would pitch through five innings, never allowing a base hit outside the thick third inning, and then was hit for when Brobeck (on an error) and Matt Knight erred on base with two outs in the bottom 5th, but Harry Ramsay grounded out in his spot to kill the slightest shred of a rally in the 5-0 game.

Ryan Harmer and Eloy Sencion combined for two scoreless innings to reach the stretch, after which the bottom 7th saw some light crowding of Herman by both teams: Gowin hit a single, while Hawkins stared into the sun without finding Solorzano’s pop that dinked in for a 1-out error. Matt Knight’s gap double in left-center then scored both runners, 5-2. Groundouts by Venegas and Brassfield stranded Knight in scoring position and left me dismayed. The Elks would get those two runs back in the eighth inning anyway. Geoff Sather remained completely useless, offered a leadoff walk to Magnussen and a single to Aaron Walker, and when he was replaced with Bravo and then Lillis, the Raccoons still could not get out of the inning. One run scored on a wild pitch, the other on a pinch-hit double by Tim Turner…

For counterproposals where it came to 2-spots, Danny Fun found Pucks on base in the bottom 8th, and took right-hander Ben Arner well deep to right to shorten the score to 7-4 on his 24th longball of the season. The Elks shrugged and scored another run against Hyun-soo Bak, who seemed to not be able to retire ANYBODY anymore, but Bernardino Risso also didn’t have much joy in the bottom 9th. Prospero Tenazes opened the inning with a single against him, batting for Solorzano, while Matt Knight wasn’t hit for and instead belted another 2-run homer to left, his first of the year. Ruben Mendez replaced Risso, and Crispin batted for Bak. He struck out, and that was the first of three straight outs logged by Mendez… 8-6 Canadiens. Puckeridge 2-3; Tenazes (PH) 1-1; Knight 3-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI;

While the level of non-pitching was becoming a bit of a concern, at least the Indians were non-scoring and were squeezed out by Boston, 3-1. That reduced our magic number to nine.

Boys. Can we PLEASE not lose the season series??

Game 4
VAN: CF D. Moreno – 3B Adame – 1B Wheeler – RF A. Walker – C Waker – LF Magnussen – 2B Uranga – SS Mullen – P Lausch
POR: LF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – 3B Venegas – 2B Waters – CF Monson – P Argenziano

I filled myself with cookies (and had the Capt’n Coma within reach) and the Raccoons filled the bases in the bottom 1st with a pair of singles by the 1-2 batters, then a walk drawn in a full count by Danny Munn. Pops by Rams to short and Venegas to shallow right plated absolutely nobody and stranded the full set. Before long, Argenziano, who scattered runners generously all around the bases, gave up a third-inning, 2-run homer to Jeff Wheeler, and the Raccoons railed once more.

Bottom 3rd, Pucks’ leadoff jack cut the deficit in half, and while the Elks had a leadoff single in both the fourth and fifth innings, they couldn’t get any of the runners across thanks to a caught-stealing and a double play turned by the Critters. Argenziano hit a 1-out single in the bottom 5th to make himself the tying run on base, and Pucks was then plunked by Lausch to move the lead runner to second base. Lonzo ran a full count before driving a ball to deep left for a double. Argenziano scored from second, and Pucks might have scored if there hadn’t been a pitcher ahead of him, but he had to be held at third base with the go-ahead run. He would score on Gowin’s groundout for a 3-2 lead, after which he bags filled with a scratch hit and a walk. Venegas was batting with three on and two outs. His budding slump continued with a weak grounder to Jeff Wheeler that left three Coons stranded for the second time in the game.

Argenziano went to the stretch, maintaining the 3-2 lead in a game in which both teams had seven base knocks per side. Bottom 7th, Ben Arner walked Pucks, and Pucks stole second base. Little did he know he had already been in scoring position because Chris Gowin hit a mighty blast in the bottom 7th to extend our lead to 5-2. The Raccoons got two outs for an Aaron Walker single from Zucchini in the top 8th, but Matt Walters got the final out of the inning from Magnussen. Walters remained on the hill for the ninth with plenty of left-handed batters still in reach. Jorge Uranga, Dan Mullen, and Tim Turner all grounded out against him, and the Raccoons got away with a split against the damn Elks. 5-2 Coons. Puckeridge 2-3, BB, HR, RBI; Lavorano 2-4, RBI; Munn 1-2, 2 BB; Ramsay 2-4; Argenziano 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (7-1) and 1-3;

The 9-9 split secured, I ran into the Elks’ GM on the way out of the ballpark after the game. We shared a mutual sneer, but then he extended one of his cloven hoofs and bugled something about seeing each other again, next year. I slammed the door in his face, and yelled – AND STAY OUT!!*

I’m such a charm.

The Indians lost three of four in Boston, which reduced the magic number to seven now. They had to play the Thunder on the weekend (including a Friday double header), while we had the Falcons coming up. Both had similar records, and neither had realistic chances to still catch the Knights.

Raccoons (91-55) @ Falcons (74-72) – September 17-19, 2055

Ninth in offense and sixth in pitching, the Falcons and their +5 run differential weren’t particularly scary … but they held a 4-2 lead in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (7-8, 4.61 ERA) vs. Joe Thomlison (6-2, 3.83 ERA)
Craig Kniep (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (9-11, 3.77 ERA)
He Shui (20-5, 2.73 ERA) vs. Josh Clem (8-13, 3.82 ERA)

No southpaw to see this week.

Game 1
POR: LF Brassfield – 3B Venegas – 1B Ramsay – RF Munn – P Brobeck – 2B Waters – CF Solorzano – C Raczka – SS Knight
CHA: CF Conner – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – LF Kulak – 2B J. Sanchez – 3B Sanders – P Thomlison

The first runs on Friday came on a 3-run homer Matt Waters raked over the fence in right. This came with nobody out in the second inning after Munn was nicked and Brobeck singled through between Jordan Sanchez and Jason Schaack. Danny Munn would collect Anton Venegas with a 2-run bomb to right-center the inning after for a quick 5-0 lead, and things could have been dandy if Kyle Brobeck had pitched any less like a saboteur. He needed over 70 pitches through three scoreless innings, offering three hits, four walks, and … and they didn’t score off him?? HOW?? … Thomlison was lifted after the Munn homer, while Brobeck walked Cory Sanders on straight balls to begin the bottom 4th, then fired away reliever Jim Hackl’s bunt for a 2-base throwing error. Doug Conner popped out, Ian Woodrome grounded out to Ramsay, and then Danny Ceballos finally broke through with a 2-run single to center. Jason Schaack drove home Ceballos from second base, which he reached on Solorzano’s ill-advised throw to the plate in a failed bit to throw out the running pitcher, and all of a sudden the lead was scrubbed down to 5-3, and Brobeck was on almost 100 pitches.

A leadoff single by Munn, a walk drawn by Waters, and a 2-out RBI single for Jeff Raczka added on a run again in the top 5th, but Brobeck gave up a two screamers to put William Kulak and Jordan Sanchez on the corners right at the start of the home half of the same inning and was unceremoniously yanked. Colby Bowen entered, gave up the lead runner on a sac fly by Sanders, received Hackl’s bunt, and then gave up an RBI single to Conner, who stole second, and another RBI single to Woodrome. Tied ballgame, and I was once more strangling a handrail just to wrap my bloodthirsty paws around SOMETHING.

The southpaw Hackl continued to pitch in the sixth inning, but loaded the bases with the 1-2-3 batters on two hits and a walk surrendered. From there, it took the Coons two outs until Matt Waters drew a walk off fresh right-hander John Scott to get the go-ahead-again run across the ******* plate. Solorzano, though, drove in two with a single to center, and Raczka at least sent Conner back in making the third out of the inning. One of those runs was given back by Reynaldo Bravo in the bottom 7th, putting the first two Falcons on base and then needing rescue by Matt Walters. ****** up relief continued in the bottom 8th with Zakilaki, who was torched for four singles and three runs, flipping the score. Pinch-hitter Matt Sharp drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with one out in the inning… Instead of having a lead which they saved Hitchcock for in the ninth inning, the Coons had a deficit against Steve Watson, needing one to tie and two for a lead. Solorzano and Raczka made meek outs before Pucks drew a 2-out walk. Brassfield whiffed. 10-9 Falcons. Venegas 2-4, BB; Munn 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Waters 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Raczka 2-5, RBI;

Red alert.

The Raccoons sent for Phil Baker (0-2, 3.86 ERA) from AAA to make two starts for form evaluation as we trundled towards the playoffs. He had however pitched on Wednesday and would not get a turn this week. We also recalled Luke Ostler, because we desperately needed more right-handed reliever to fling at the wall and see whether they’d stick.

The Indians also swept their double header with the Thunder so the lead was down to nine with a magic number of still seven.

Game 2
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – C C. Gowin – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – CF Monson – P Kniep
CHA: 2B J. Sanchez – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – CF Burr – LF M. Sharp – 3B Sanders – P Schaeffer

Hits for Brassfield and Lonzo and a 2-run single by Gowin gave Kniep an early lead in his third career start, but the Falcons loaded the bases on just seven pitches in the bottom 1st, and without making an out. It was quite early for a mound conference, but not too late, hopefully. After the pep talk, Kniep gave up a run on Schaack’s sac fly to Brassfield, but got a double play grounder from Luis Miranda, 6-4-3, to strand the other two. Not that it stopped being dicey there; leadoff walk to Mike Burr in the bottom 2nd, a single for Sharp, and a stolen base later the tying and go-ahead runs were in scoring position. Kniep rung up the 8-9 batters, then got a groundout from Sanchez to bail out and save his tender tush. He would have a clean third inning, but then doled out three more walks in the two frames after and somehow was held together by the defense. He was gone after five AWFUL innings, the 2-1 lead he held be damned. It didn’t get much more relaxed with the pen; Bak was out for the sixth, allowed a leadoff single to Burr, walked Sharp, and I was ready to despair, but then the Falcons made three weak outs to strand another pair of runners and stayed 2-1 behind.

In terms of “and here it gets worse”, Schaeffer then drilled Chris Gowin in the elbow to begin the seventh inning. Gowin collapsed in the box and rolled around before Luis Silva collected him with a lavender-soaked towel. Tenazes ran for him, but was forced out on Rams’ grounder. The Coons filled the bases with a Crispin single and a walk drawn by Waters. Jason Monson wasn’t hitting a damn lick, but still batted because he was the best defensive centerfielder we had. Schaeffer helped out by plunking him as well, which forced in Ramsay with the first run since the first inning, 3-1. Munn whiffed, Brass popped out to strand three runners, and it was all awful. Sencion and Philipps were the new battery after the stretch. Ian Woodrome hit a leadoff single, but was doubled off 6-4-3 style on Schaack’s grounder to end the inning.

The Coons had Lonzo and Ramsay singles in the eighth, but didn’t score. Crispin grounded out to end the inning, but at least made a nifty play in the bottom of the inning to cover for our bold decision to patch the inning with Harmer and Sather, hardly Hall of Famers. Hitchcock sawed off the Falcons in order in the ninth inning at least… 3-1 Critters. Brassfield 3-4, 2B; Lavorano 2-4; Gowin 1-2, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-4;

The Thunder beat the Arrowheads, 6-1, reducing the magic number to five.

The magic number was not my chief concern – Chris Gowin’s elbow was. Luis Silva said he had a contusion and would be missing at least a few games, and probably a week, but we’d get him back before the end of the regular season.

Due to push and shove on the 40-man roster, the Raccoons could not bring up another catcher, so it was just Philipps and Raczka for now.

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – 3B Venegas – 2B Waters – C Raczka – P Shui
CHA: CF Conner – SS Woodrome – RF D. Ceballos – 1B Schaack – C L. Miranda – LF Kulak – 2B J. Sanchez – 3B Sanders – P Clem

In pursuit of his 21st win of the year, He Shui drove in the game’s first run with a double into the leftfield corner in the second inning. This came after Rams had hit a leadoff single, Raczka had drawn a walk with two outs, and gave us a 1-0 lead and the battery in scoring position for Brassfield, who fanned quite miserably. There was loud noise aplenty in the third inning, however. After Lonzo grounded out, Pucks hit a homer for a 2-0 lead, and then Munn and Rams smacked back-to-back doubles over Conner in centerfield for a 3-0 lead. Shui didn’t allow a hit the first time through except a single to Clem, which was such an annoyance. The Falcons got singles from Ceballos and Schaack to begin the fourth inning, but Miranda popped out and Kulak, who had hit a fly to the warning track in the second inning, found Waters for an inning-snapping double play.

Pucks singled and Munn whacked another double to begin the fifth inning for Portland, and Clem continued to yield contact and hits. Rams extended the lead to 4-0 with a single between Kulak and Woodrome, and Venegas hit a sac fly, which knocked out Clem. Andres Lopez then got Charlotte out of the inning. And just when you thought all was well with Shui and the world, the bottom 5th began with a Sanchez single, Sanders getting nicked, and another single by Eiji Kinoshiita. Bags full, nobody out, Conner flew to Brassfield – and Brassfield clonkered it for a 2-base error, falling over his own tail rather than making a play. Woodrome added a sac fly, 5-3, before Shui regained control with a Ceballos pop and then Schaack grounding out to Ramsay, leaving Conner stranded. All three runs were unearned.

An earned run followed in the seventh inning when Shui – after allowing two runners in the sixth inning – put Conner and Woodrome on the corners with nobody out. Danny Ceballos’ grounder to Waters was good for two outs, but also the run that narrowed the score to 5-4. Colby Bowen replaced him, threw one pitch to Jason Schaack, and served up a tremendous bomb to tie the game. No 21st win for Shui, and no lunch money for Bowen for the rest of the year. ****.

I was mad and foaming all through the eighth inning, in which no runs were scored and Lillis retired three straight Falcons for a confusing change. The ninth began with Lonzo grounding to the left against Steve Watson. Sanders lunged and stopped the ball, but had no play – infield single. Lonzo was in motion on the first pitch to Pucks, and Pucks buried the damn thing in the right-center gap. Lonzo never stopped running until he was in the dugout, and Pucks slid into third base with a go-ahead RBI triple! Munn then whiffed, Rams walked, and Ed Crispin pinch-hit and grounded out, but got the tack-on run home from third base before the inning could fizzle out. Matt Walters got another save opportunity with left-handed batters coming up. He struck out three of them – with a Doug Conner single in between. 7-5 Coons. Lavorano 2-5; Puckeridge 3-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Munn 2-5, 2 2B; Ramsay 4-4, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI;

In other news

September 15 – The Thunder’s 3B/SS/RF Ed Soberanes (.266, 4 HR, 14 RBI) is out for the season with a strained hamstring.
September 15 – WAS SP Larry Colwell (15-10, 3.26 ERA) throws nine shutout innings, but not for a prize, in a game against the Blue Sox. The game takes 12 innings to complete, the Capitals notching the 1-0 win after all.
September 16 – Shredded posterior cruciate ligaments will keep RIC OF/2B Manny Cooke (.242, 12 HR, 55 RBI) out not only for the rest of this season, but probably also the first two months of next season.
September 17 – Gold Sox and Blue Sox play 18 innings until the former walk off for a 6-5 win on … a wild pitch by NAS MR Ernie Gomes (0-1, 9.00 ERA).
September 19 – IND 1B/RF/LF Bill Quinteros (.288, 23 HR, 93 RBI) could miss the rest of the season with back soreness.

FL Player of the Week: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.319, 25 HR, 73 RBI), hitting .333 (11-33) with 3 HR, 10 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL 1B Pat Fowler (.317, 16 HR, 54 RBI), batting .462 (12-26) with 3 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

BNN doesn’t bother to print a pennant race table for the CL North anymore, as the week ends with the Coons leading by 11 games and a magic number of three. The Indians were battered by two pawsful on Sunday to lose both of their series this week as their second-half collapse continued without mercy or respite. The Coons? Still had a chance for 100 wins despite all the issues.

The biggest issue? The Knights would not be impressed by our postseason rotation at all. Right now Argenziano looks like the #3 starter. ARGENZIANO.

Chris Gowin could miss all of our next series in Tijuana. We’ll be in Milwaukee on the weekend.

Fun Fact: Harry Ramsay, who was stowed away in St. Pete as recently as August 10, is now batting .300.

Still no power to speak of, but since being recalled he has batted .374 with six doubles and four homers, driving in 23 runs. That makes even Lonzo blush! Ramsay is batting .279/.338/.427 for his career. I just wonder where the power went that gave him 20 bombs in 2053 and 14 in 2054.

+++

*Don’t ask how long it took to find the correct terminology here.