Raccoons (97-58) vs. Crusaders (79-76) – September 27-30, 2055
We were even for the year with the Crusaders, who ranked right in the middle of the CL in both runs scored and runs allowed, with a +2 run differential. The games literally didn’t matter – just keep all the limbs attached, boys…!
Projected matchups:
Phil Baker (1-2, 3.10 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (11-12, 3.91 ERA)
Seisaku Taki (9-9, 3.89 ERA) vs. Jose Ortega (5-0, 3.12 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (7-2, 2.91 ERA) vs. Neal Hamann (7-7, 4.31 ERA)
He Shui (20-6, 2.68 ERA) vs. Edwin Sopena (15-11, 3.48 ERA)
One left-hander cropping up here, which would be Hamann.
These would be the last starts for Taki, Argenziano, and Shui. Don’t ask how Argenziano made the postseason rotation, it’s just sad. The weekend set would feature Brobeck, Kniep, and Baker again. Position players would continue to rotate in some form.
Game 1
NYC: CF O. Sanchez – 3B Gates – SS Z. Suggs – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – LF Culp – C Seidman – 2B Russ – P Seiter
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – RF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 3B Venegas – CF Solorzano – C Philipps – P Baker
Baker was awful, walked two in the second inning, but only got smoked for runs in the third inning when Omar Sanchez singled with one out, and eventually stole second base – his 60th of the year – despite several throws to first base by Baker. Zach Suggs drew a 2-out walk, and RBI singles by both Danny Rivera and Raul Sevilla gave the New Yorkers a 2-0 lead before Nate Culp flew out to Pucks. Baker went on to walk Andrew Russ (gnashes teeth) and Sanchez in the fourth inning, but Prince Gates was rung up to end the inning. That was five walks in four innings, though, and more than 80 pitches, hardly something he’d want to put on his CV for his playoff roster application… He was batted for in the fifth inning after Solorzano and Philipps found ways on base with two outs, but Danny Munn popped out to end the inning, which fit right in with the previous battery on display for the home team, which had three base hits and two double plays hit into (Brass, Pucks) through five innings.
Pucks did single home the Critters’ first run though in the bottom 6th. The run was scored by Lonzo, who had singled and stolen his 71st base. 76 – the all-time record – was still on his mind apparently. Lonzo was caught stealing after another single in the eighth inning. That CS ended the inning, but it wasn’t like we had an abundance of chances and with the way things were going, his hindpaws had been our best bet to get a bum into scoring position. The Crusaders were then bold enough to try and ruin eight sturdy innings by Ben Seiter with one by ex-Coon Willie Cruz. He walked Pucks to begin the bottom 9th, putting the tying run on base. Matt Waters then belted a double to put even the winning run into scoring position. Ed Crispin batted for a hitless Anton Venegas and at least tied the game with a sac fly to Culp in left. Solorzano grounded out, moving Waters to third base. And Philipps singled to center, moving the winning run across home plate…! 3-2 Blighters. Lavorano 2-4; Ramsay 2-4; Philipps 1-2, 2 BB, RBI;
Eloy Sencion got the win, our 98th of the year and his third, for one out in the ninth inning after Reynaldo Bravo got into a bit of a mess.
Game 2
NYC: CF O. Sanchez – 3B Gates – SS Z. Suggs – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – LF Culp – C Seidman – 2B E. Stevens – P J. Ortega
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – 3B Crispin – CF Solorzano – 2B Knight – P Taki
Taki had a 12.75 ERA in his last three starts, which wasn’t precisely playoff form, either. He retired the first eight in order before giving up a double to Ortega, so I didn’t yet know whether to laugh, cry, or drink. Probably the latter, since Matt Knight’s single to begin the third inning was the Coons’ only hit the first time through the lineup, and they scored no runs, which meant the Crusaders went up 1-0 in the fourth when Taki put runners on the corners with singles conceded to Zach Suggs and Danny Rivera, then a wild pitch with two outs to allow Suggs to score, which sugged. Culp ended up drawing a 2-out walk and I saw a big inning building, but Mike Seidman grounded out to Lonzo on the first pitch he saw, stranding a pair.
But Taki kept ******* up in the fifth, allowed another hit to the ******* pitcher, walked Sanchez, conceded another single to Prince Gates, and even after getting yelled at and then subsequently a pop to Knight from Suggs, a 2-run single by Danny Rivera to extend the score to 3-0. In lieu of nice pitching, Taki hit a sac fly in the bottom 5th after Crispin and Knight went to the corners, which at least got the team on the board. Brassfield’s 2-out single put the tying run on base. Lonzo flew out to center though and stayed off base quite hard in this game, which wasn’t helping with the pursuit of the all-time single-season steals record.
Pucks’ triple to right and Munn’s single to also right narrowed the score to 3-2 in the bottom 6th, after which Ortega quickly walked the bags full, bringing up Solorzano with three on and nobody out. The Raccoons tried their very best to make it one of the usual three-on, no-outs. Ramsay pinch-hit for Solorzano, but grounded into a force at home plate. Knight popped out to Rivera in shallow right. Waters batted for Taki and hit a bouncer to Raul Sevilla, which the first baseman inexplicably missed and kicked into foul territory. With two outs, the Coons were running of course, and Gowin scored from third base while Crispin was waved around from second base and scored ahead of Rivera’s throw to flip the score to 4-3 Coons. Brassfield grounded out to leave a pair on base, though. On top of that, Rukizuki blew the lead in no time in the seventh, conceding a leadoff double to PH Jeff Buss, then an RBI single to Prince Gates, then had to be guided out of the inning by Matt Walters. That didn’t mean we couldn’t find more established relievers to **** up, with Bak in for the eighth inning. He filled the bases with general cluelessness, then walked Gates with two outs to push home the go-ahead run for New York. Ryan ******* Harmer got him out of the inning, getting a fly to center from Zach Suggs to strand three more runners. Before anybody could accuse Harmer of basic competence, however, HE loaded the bases in the ninth inning. Bowen replaced him, gave up an RBI single to Erik Stevens, then a bases-clearing double to §%/)§$)&” Andrew Russ. The two combined for one out and four runs; Geoff Sather collected the remaining outs. 9-4 Crusaders. Brassfield 2-5; Crispin 2-3, BB, 2 2B; Knight 2-4; Waters (PH) 1-1, 2 RBI;
We should just face the Knights without pitchers entirely.
Game 3
NYC: CF O. Sanchez – 2B Russ – SS Z. Suggs – 1B Culp – 3B Gates – C Seidman – RF G. Cabrera – LF Buss – P Hamann
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – LF Venegas – RF Munn – 3B Brobeck – 2B Waters – C Gowin – CF Tenazes – P Argenziano
Argenziano got slaughtered for five runs in the first inning, offering two walks and four hits to the Crusaders, for which there were hardly any words. Lonzo answered with a triple and scored on Venegas’ sac fly to Jeff Buss, which didn’t quite make up for the 5-run thrashing from the top of the inning. Argenziano remained trash, pitched three more innings, but got just whacked around more for another four hits, another walk, and one more run that Prince Gates singled home in the fourth inning. Ghastly. Luke Ostler pitched three scoreless innings after that, which thanks to a genuine lack of offense on the Raccoons’ part led absolutely nowhere nice. Prospero Tenazes hit a sac fly in the eighth inning after Matt Waters had hit a wallbanger double and had advanced on a passed ball. That was about the extent of our rally. 6-2 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4, 3B; Ostler 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;
I hear the Knights are already stitching that pennant which they’ll hang next year.
Game 4
NYC: CF O. Sanchez – 3B Gates – SS Z. Suggs – RF D. Rivera – 1B Sevilla – LF Culp – C Lathers – 2B E. Stevens – P Sopena
POR: LF Brassfield – CF Puckeridge – 1B Ramsay – RF Munn – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – C Raczka – SS Knight – P Shui
The Raccoons loaded the bases in the bottom 1st without the benefit of either a walk or an outfield hit. Brassfield legged out an infield single and both Pucks and Crispin reached on errors by Erik Stevens before Matt Waters pressed a single through the right side for two runs. Jeff Raczka hit an RBI single for a 3-0 lead before Knight flew out to Culp. And I wasn’t sure whether He Shui was still bidding for his 21st win of the year, but he wasn’t pitching like it in any case. He was taken deep by Raul Sevilla for a run in the second, conceded one more on three singles in the third, and then put Sevilla on base by nicking him to begin the fourth, had him doubled off by Culp, and then served up a triple into the rightfield corner to Morgan Lathers (who?), whom Stevens scored with a single to center. That was a lotta hits for what I figured would be our starting pitcher for Games 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the CLCS…
It only got worse. The Raccoons’ lineup sucked, and so did Shui. Gates hit another single off him in the fifth inning, and Rivera belted a homer for the Crusaders to take a 5-3 lead. Now, this was a good time to start drinking senselessly! The ****** Critters had two on and nobody out (Ramsay singled, Munn walked) in the fifth inning, then Pucks and Crispin on with more walks in the seventh inning, and couldn’t get a knock with a runner in scoring position either time. They were just popping out, popping out, and popping out. Bak and Sencion pooled together to allow another run in the eighth, Stevens doubling home Sevilla. When Raczka opened the bottom 8th with a single, Lonzo pinch-ran for him, but Matt Knight doubled to left before he could get a steal off. Bum! This meant the tying run was at the plate, as if that was gonna help the Raccoons any. Chris Gowin batted for Sencion, singled home a run, but then Brassfield popped out. (annoyed sigh!) Pucks’ RBI single narrowed the score to 6-5, and Harry Ramsay hit a zinger to right against Ryan Sullivan. It fell in, and again the Coons only scored because there were two outs as Gowin came home from second base even on Rivera’s murder arm. Tied game – Sullivan threw a wild pitch, then walked Danny Munn intentionally, bringing up Crispin, who singled through the right side to bring in the go-ahead run. Waters found the same hole on the right side for another RBI single, but Lonzo grounded then out to end the 5-run inning. Hitchcock allowed a leadoff single to Omar Sanchez in the ninth, but finished the game with three straight outs from there. 8-6 Raccoons. Ramsay 2-5, RBI; Crispin 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Waters 3-5, 3 RBI; Raczka 2-4, RBI; Gowin (PH) 1-1, RBI;
Two wins this week, and both were grabbed by Eloy Sencion replacing a failed right-hander.
Raccoons (99-60) vs. Titans (67-92) – October 1-3, 2055
Final series of the season, and only three games to play til the CLCS, and we had yet to break any legs and necks. The Titans were just wanting it to be all over, sitting bottoms in the division and having the second-fewest runs scored and the fifth-most runs allowed. We had crushed them so far this season, winning 13 of the previous 15 contests.
Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (8-8, 4.60 ERA) vs. Chad Shultz (13-14, 4.54 ERA)
Craig Kniep (1-0, 6.63 ERA) vs. Noel Groh (2-4, 3.65 ERA)
Phil Baker (1-2, 3.20 ERA) vs. Ryan Musgrave (2-5, 3.56 ERA)
No more southpaws, apparently.
Game 1
BOS: 3B Torrence – LF M. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – CF Weir – C R. Gonzalez – SS M. Navarro – 2B Tamargo – P Shultz
POR: RF Puckeridge – SS Lavorano – 1B Ramsay – C Gowin – P Brobeck – 3B Venegas – LF Tenazes – 2B Knight – CF Solorzano
Brobeck struck out with two on base to end the bottom 1st, but Prospero Tenazes hit his first homer of the season in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. Lonzo meanwhile had yet to steal a base since the one he took on Monday, and was still five shy of the all-time mark of 76 stolen bases. So the Titans probably knew what he was up to when he singled with one out in the bottom 3rd. But Shultz and Lonzo’s old teammate Ruben Gonzalez failed to keep him on first base – or second base! Lonzo swiped his way to third base, putting him at 73 for the year, a new personal single-season best! … From there, he scored on a wild pitch after Shultz walked the bags full with the Coons’ battery, but those two were left on base when Venegas floated out to Hector Weir. Lonzo made an error in the fourth, while Pucks hit into a double play with Knight and Solorzano on base, killing the bottom 4th. He batted again with Venegas and Knight on base and two gone in the bottom 6th, then whiffed. Thankfully he had already won the Batter of the Month award after last night’s game…
Brobeck pitched seven scoreless, which was a shocking amount of competence for ANY Raccoons hurler right now, before Lonzo resumed play after the stretch with a double to center against lefty Jim Peterson. He also couldn’t resist, and made an attempt at third base with a huge lead, but was shooed back to second by the veteran southpaw on the hill. He was stranded on base… Lillis axed the 1-2-3 batters in order in the eighth, but Larry Rodriguez yanked a leadoff triple off Hitchcock to begin the ninth inning. Uh-oh. Weir was the tying run at the plate, but his fly to left only got Rodriguez home while counting for the first out, and Hitchcock didn’t suffer any funny accidents after that. 2-1 Coons. Lavorano 2-5, 2B; Gowin 0-1, 3 BB; Knight 2-3, BB; Solorzano 1-2, 2 BB; Brobeck 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (9-8);
100 wins! And Lonzo needs three more steals!
Game 2
BOS: SS M. Navarro – LF M. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – C R. Gonzalez – CF Weir – 3B Ro. Jimenez – 2B Tamargo – P Groh
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – 2B Waters – C Raczka – P Kniep
Lonzo didn’t get on his first time up, but Munn did with a single to right, and then scored on Ramsay’s homer to dead central, giving the Raccoons a 2-0 lead in the final start of the year for rookie Craig Kniep, who needed a good result, although he wasn’t even a serious candidate for the playoff roster. He faced the minimum the first time through, allowing a single to Rocky Jimenez, who was doubled up by Oscar Tamargo, and struck out a pair otherwise. Matt Gilmore doubled to left in the fourth for Boston, but a K to Eric Whitlow and a fly to Brassfield off Rodriguez’ bat ended the inning. Bottom 4th, singles by Munn, Rams, and Raczka added a run to the lead, 3-0, but that lead was in danger in the fifth inning. Weir doubled off Kniep, and the rookie walked the bases full with Tamargo and Will McIntyre, batting for Groh, who was out with an injury. Two outs, the count on Mario Navarro ran full, but Navarro then swung through a gutsy 70mph curveball to stab the inning very dead.
Boston made the board in the sixth with another double from Gilmore, now leading off, although despite a walk to Gonzalez Kniep seemed to have the inning dealt with, hanging a K on Weir to end the inn- … except that the ball got away from Raczka and everybody managed to advance a base. Kniep then struck out Jimenez, for reals though. Bottom 6th, Munn and Crispin and Waters loaded the bases with singles off David Barnes, but Tenazes hit into a double play while batting for Raczka. That killed that inning …
Kniep offered another double to Israel Santiago and another walk to Navarro in the seventh. He struck out Dave Gonzalez batting for Gilmore for the second out, but would not face Whitlow, a rather dangerous right-hander. The Raccoons sent Zakitori and Venegas for a double switch, the Titans sent left-handed Yoslan Valdez to pinch-hit, but the rookie outfielder grounded out to Waters to end the inning. The 3-1 score held into the ninth inning, where Hitchcock put the leadoff man on for the third time this week, but for the third time this week didn’t add anybody else afterwards, and put the game into the books. 3-1 Coons. Espinoza (PH) 1-1; Munn 3-4; Ramsay 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Raczka 1-2, RBI; Kniep 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, W (2-0);
Sadly, Lonzo went 0-for-4 and never put a paw on base in an offensive manner. He’d be in the lineup on Sunday, but hope was not exactly high now.
…and then, a left-hander in the finale after all! Yay, Southpaw Sunday with Mario de Anda (8-11, 4.34 ERA)!
Game 3
BOS: 3B Torrence – LF M. Gilmore – RF Whitlow – 1B L. Rodriguez – CF Weir – C R. Gonzalez – SS M. Navarro – 2B Tamargo – P de Anda
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – RF Munn – C Gowin – LF Puckeridge – 2B Waters – 3B Espinoza – CF Monson – P Baker
Danny Munn’s solo shot in the first inning gave him 28 for the year, but he’d need to tie Craig Bowen for bombs in a game to catch up with Eddie Moreno now. Baker added a second run for himself in the bottom 2nd, hitting a 2-out RBI single to right with Pucks and Waters in scoring position. Both tried to score, but only one made it before Whitlow’s rocket arrived and Waters was slapped out to end the inning.
Baker had a nice time the first run through the Titans order, but then wobbled the bases full in the fourth, offering a single and two walks before Tamargo grounded sharply to right with two outs. Waters lunged and knocked the ball down, but had no play, and Rodriguez scored with Boston’s first run of the game. Baker hung a K on de Anda to bugger out of the inning then. The Raccoons also had the bases full with their 7-8-9 batters in the bottom 4th, who with two outs reached on a throwing error, an intentional walk, and another error. Not that glorious, nor was Brassfield striking out then. Although he didn’t do that until after de Anda plated a run with a wild pitch… Bottom 5th, de Anda walked the bags full with Munn, Pucks, and Waters, before Espinoza grounded to Navarro, who threw to Tamargo for one, and Tamargo threw short of first and the ball bounced off Rodriguez’ wrist for a third Titans error and another unearned Critters run… Jason Monson, who had been completely and utterly useless since coming over in July, then dropped a 2-run single into shallow center to run up the score. De Anda was disposed of, and Baker grounded out to end the inning after all.
Baker completed six, allowing another run on a Weir double and Gonzalez’ RBI single for a 6-2 lead. Sencion and Bowen combined for the seventh, which also saw Monson single home another RBI single, collecting Waters, who had whacked a double. Geoff Sather retired three in a row in the eighth inning, in which the Coons scored another two unearned runs with three singles and an Ethan Torrence error. Knight and Waters got the RBI’s. Ryan Harmer would get three more outs without accident in the ninth inning to complete the sweep! 9-2 Raccoons! Munn 2-4, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-3, BB; Waters 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, RBI; Monson 2-3, BB, 3 RBI;
Sadly, another oh-fer for Lonzo, who thus finished the season rather anticlimactically in a slump…
In other news
September 27 – NAS INF Nick Nye (.303, 16 HR, 122 RBI) will miss the rest of the season after hitting his head on his garage door in the morning.
September 30 – The Gold Sox secure the final playoff spot with a 4-1 win over the Scorpions.
October 2 – SFW 1B Eddie de la Roca (.292, 6 HR, 15 RBI), a rookie on the Warriors, has quite a game with two homers and three singles, and two RBI in a 10-5 loss to the Pacifics.
October 2 – DAL 1B Jay Rogers (.276, 23 HR, 67 RBI) misses the cycle by the double in a 5-hit effort with two homers and four RBI as the Stars lose to the Scorpions, 9-6.
FL Hitter of the Month: TOP C Matt McLaren (.298, 25 HR, 78 RBI), hitting .387 with 4 HR, 19 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: POR OF/1B Alan Puckeridge (.302, 16 HR, 78 RBI), slapping .374 with 6 HR, 22 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: TOP SP Angelo Munoz (20-4, 2.40 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 mark with 2.13 ERA, 32 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: IND SP Enrique Ortiz (19-6, 2.87 ERA), throwing for a 4-0 record with 2.51 ERA, 28 K
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP OF/1B Jesus Espinoza (.391, 4 HR, 22 RBI), batting .478 with 1 HR, 14 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: CHA 2B/SS Jordan Sanchez (.233, 4 HR, 17 RBI), hitting .327 with 2 HR, 7 RBI
Complaints and stuff
Pucks!
So, nobody got hurt in the last week, we just kept pitching horrendously. I don’t even know who should join He Shui and Seisaku Taki in the playoff rotation. It’s just … all… blargh.
Shui won the wins title with 20, despite not winning any of his last three starts. Adkins had the ERA title locked away, and won it by almost a full run over Tan Brink.
Fun Fact: The 73 bases stolen by Lonzo this year are t-5th all time, and 2nd-most for a Raccoon in a season.
Alberto Ramos stole 74 bases in 2030, which tanks t-2nd all-time. Nobody to touch Hugo Acosta’s 76 in a year still.
Which brings us to the last glimpse on the career stolen bags title this season. Lonzo scratched *16* bases in the last four weeks, which even got him past the elusive Chris Navarro, who got only five bags nipped this month. Andrew Russ didn’t get anywhere this month, not even against the Critters.
19th – Cristo Ramirez – 424 – HOF
20th – Daniel Silva – 417
21st – Danny Flores – 413
22nd – Ronnie Thompson – 409 – active
23rd – Jose Rivas – 406 – active
24th – Lorenzo Lavorano – 395 – active
t-25th – Piet Oosterom – 393
t-25th – Andrew Russ – 393 – active
27th – Javier Rodriguez – 391
28th – Chris Navarro – 386 – active
Thompson, 37, stole only three bases all year, but would surely slaughter the Raccoons in the CLCS with the rest of the Knights.
Danny Flores stole 402 of his 413 bases with the Rebels from 2011 to 2022. He led the FL in thefts five times from 2013 through 2017.
Daniel Silva was one of those annoying middle infielders, light-hitting, stingy on defense (five Gold Gloves), that basically just existed to make the Coons suffer; he spent 16 years from 1994 to 2009 with the Titans, and then bounced around a bit longer. He led the CL in steals six times in a row from 1996 through 2001.
Cristo Ramirez finally was one of the key pieces for the first Loggers crew that amounted to more than to padding the other CL North team’s stats. He won two Player of the Year awards, two Gold Gloves, three batting titles, and led the CL in hits five times, doubles twice, and triples seven times. Never in homers OR steals, but sometimes having a 24-year career (1989-2012) would allow for some stats padding. He never stole more than 34 bases in a year, but stole double digits as late as his age 37 season. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot with a 95.3% approval rating.
+++
The Thunder and Aces finished the year with 163 games in the standings. I was a bit confused and stirred around, and found that their monthly records only added to 162 games. I changed the final results to those records in Paint.
I found a glitched box score in the middle of the season with a game between those two where there are only a few batters and pitchers listed with incomplete records. SOMETHING was double-counted there (a Thunder win), but I can't for the life of me find out more about it.
I hope this save isn't digging itself a shallow grave ... 