[Westheim]

Raccoons (62-68) vs. Thunder (68-61) – August 26-28, 2058

Next up against the stomping Raccoons and their 6-game winning streak were the Thunder, second in the South and just half a game out of the CLCS right now. Since a meeting of these two teams in October was unlikely (20 GB for the Critters, cough, cough), maybe the Raccoons could ruin the Thunder’s playoff aspirations right here and now. The opposition had lost four games in a row, too, and was fifth in runs scored and runs allowed in the CL, with a mere +9 run differential. Oklahoma City was nevertheless up 4-2 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Ramon Carreno (6-12, 4.34 ERA) vs. Aaron Harris (15-7, 2.92 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (6-1, 2.68 ERA) vs. Juan Juarez (9-8, 3.81 ERA)
Chance Fox (3-6, 4.83 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (11-11, 4.94 ERA)

We were in one of those odd stretches where we didn’t meet a left-handed pitcher at all. Nor starters Jorge Quinones and Thomas Turpeau, tucked away on the DL, or outfielder Mike Harmon, dealing with an oblique thing, but not actually on the DL, so the Thunder were a guy short.

Game 1
OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – CF D. Guzman – RF J. Mendoza – 1B C. Santiago – C Burnham – LF Weant – 2B F. Martinez – P Aa. Harris
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Brobeck – P Carreno

Carreno wasted no time throwing the winning streak under the nearest bus, giving up four straight 2-out hits in the first inning; three were singles, but there was also the odd 3-run homer by Cesar Santiago in there… Jose Mendoza doubled home Danny Guzman on two more hits in the third inning, erasing the Raccoons’ “rally” in the bottom 2nd that consisted of loading the bases with Chavez (double), Pucks (infield single), and Starr (walk), and then having Brobeck single to center to score Chavez, but Pucks was thrown out at the plate, and Carreno was easy third-out fodder for Harris. Carreno didn’t get any better, but the defense got hold of more balls in the middle innings. Bottom 5th then, and the Coons got Brobeck and Labonte to the corners with not one, but two Thunder errors committed by Felix Martinez and Santiago, respectively. Lonzo was batting in the doubly-unearned situation as the tying run with one out, but grounded to Ed Soberanes for a fielder’s choice at second base. Brobeck scored, but Caswell popped out over home plate to end the inning as he descended ever deeper into a slump. The following inning the tying run reached base with Chavez and Brass singles, but Starr whiffed for the second out. Brobeck came up and slugged a ball to deep right, where Jose Mendoza took an awkward route and then didn’t catch up with the ball as it tailed into the gap for a 2-out, 2-run double, tying the score at four. Steve Royer batted for Carreno, but popped out, giving the struggling sophomore a no-decision.

A lead was not in the cards, at least not for the Raccoons. While Ricky Herrera had a scoreless seventh inning, Luke Burnham took Reynaldo Bravo deep for a solo shot in the eighth, which restored the Thunder to a 5-4 lead. That lead proved to be transient, however; Oklahoma’s Cody Lovett gave up a leadoff double to Pucks in the bottom 8th, and Brass then singled in the tying run against Eric Barnes. Starr walked, and Brobeck just kept on raking, doubling in the go-ahead run with a line-hugger to right. The Coons batted all the way ‘round in the inning. Jesus Martinez walked the bags full, Lonzo hit an RBI single, Caswell got a sac fly, and Chavez drew a bases-loaded walk for a total of four runs before Pucks flew out to Mendoza to end the inning. Matt Walters got rid of the Thunder in seven pitches in the ninth inning. 8-5 Raccoons. M. Chavez 2-4, BB, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B; Brassfield 2-4, RBI; Brobeck 3-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI;

Seven!

Game 2
OCT: RF J. Mendoza – 3B Soberanes – 1B F. Martinez – 2B C. Jimenez – LF Weant – SS Lira – C R. Zamora – CF D. Guzman – P J. Juarez
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – C M. Chavez – RF Puckeridge – LF Brassfield – 1B Starr – 3B Brobeck – P Argenziano

Argenziano also found his place on the struggle bus, offering a 1-out walk to Ed Soberanes in the first inning. The veteran stole second base, and three singles by Felix Martinez, Tim Weant, and Omar Lira gave the Thunder a brisk 2-0 lead again. Bottom 1st, Labonte drew a leadoff walk and stole second base, then reached third base on a Lonzo single, and Lonzo also stole second against former teammate Ruben Zamora. Noah Caswell dutifully doubled in the tying runs, then scored on a Pucks single to flip the score to 3-2 Coons before Brass hit into a double play.

But Argenziano finally found his quad-A form and pitched more like Arsenziano; many long counts, quite a few hard-hit balls, and how we made it through four with a 3-2 lead was quite miraculous, but we sure didn’t make it through five with it, thanks to leadoff walks to Soberanes and Martinez that the Thunder wouldn’t be shy about converting into the tying – Tim Weant doubled – and go-ahead – Omar Lira singled – runs. Argenziano was pinch-hit for in the bottom 5th, having thrown nearly 100 pitches in mostly futile manner, but the Raccoons went in order between Bribiesca, Labonte, and Lonzo, and he remained on the hook.

The hook only got sharper in the sixth when Siwik allowed 2-out singles to Mendoza, who stole second base, and Soberanes, who grabbed another clutch RBI. The Raccoons didn’t get another base hit until Caswell singled Juarez out of the game with two outs in the bottom 8th. Barnes allowed another single to Chavez, but John Taylor struck out Pucks to quell the threat. The 7-game winning streak looked in grave danger, but Hamann and Tanizaki didn’t allow any more runs to the Thunder in the eighth and ninth, and then Brass lobbed a leadoff single to left against Patrick Jones. The right-hander struck out Royer next, then ran a full count against Brobeck, but missed with his 95mph fastball… but he didn’t miss outside, he missed right down the middle, and Brobeck could whack that pitch 405 feet and tied the game at five…!!

The game went to extras from there, with Eloy Sencion getting bombarded with right-handed pinch-hitters. Burnham doubled and Josh McNeal walked, but Zamora then found a double play to hit into and the Thunder didn’t score in the inning, but the Coons also just grounded out against Garrett Giustino in the bottom 10th. Sencion was back for the 11th, struck out Guzman and Giustino, but then walked Mendoza and Soberanes and fell over Felix Martinez’ 2-out, 2-strike RBI single to center before Santiago whiffed, while Giustino remained immaculate and claimed the win with three scoreless innings. 6-5 Thunder. Lavorano 2-5; Caswell 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Tanizaki 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

(looks grumpy)

Game 3
OCT: SS Lira – 3B Soberanes – 1B F. Martinez – RF Whitlow – 2B C. Jimenez – C Burnham – LF Weant – CF D. Guzman – P Brink
POR: 1B Royer – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Puckeridge – RF J. Martinez – 3B Brobeck – C C. Chavez – 2B Bribiesca – P Fox

Rubber game fireworks were provided by the Raccoons with no fewer than three solo jacks in the first three innings, hit by Brobeck in the second and Cas and Pucks in the third inning, while Royer chipped in a pair of knocks and scored on a balk and Lonzo’s grounder the second time ‘round for a 4-0 lead. None of this was supposed to mean that Chance Fox pitched “well” or even “neatly”. Through three, two leadoff walks, a double, couple of assorted drives, and somehow no Thunder runs. SOMEHOW. That luck ran out in the fourth for sure, where the Thunder started with an Eric Whitlow double and spanked the rookie for four straight hits and two runs before the defense somehow got hold of balls again, Guzman grounded out to Royer with runners on the corners, Brink’s comebacker was taken to second by Fox for a fielder’s choice, and Lira grounded out to Lonzo, none of which allowed Luke Burnham to score a third run from third base.

The Raccoons then hung with Fox longer than advisable (but this was after an 11-inning game and before roster expansion, so pitching was not infinite…). He got around a walk to Whitlow in the fifth, then saw Burnham and Josh McNeal go to the corners with more hits in the sixth inning. Omar Lira with two outs was his last batter no matter what, and at least the shortstop grounded out to Bribiesca to complete six mostly woeful (7 H, 4 BB) innings for Fox, only superficially decent with the 4-2 lead still in one piece. Bravo wasn’t any better in the seventh; Martinez hit a 1-out single, Chris Jimenez walked with two outs, and Burnham’s sharp grounder that was knocked down by a diving Lonzo only became the third out because it was a senior-citizen catcher that was now ambling to first base.

Lonzo and Caswell went to the corners in the bottom 7th, but with two outs and preceding Pucks whiffing against left-hander Jeff Boyce. Less wistful Neal Hamann served up a homer to lefty batter Tim Weant in the eighth, narrowing the lead to a single skinny run, and was then rescued by Tanizaki. No answer was found against Boyce in the bottom 8th, and Walters entered the game with no cushion in the ninth. Soberanes grounded out, but Felix Martinez worked a walk before rendered out at second base by Whitlow’s grounder to Lonzo. The game ended without another official pitch; Whitlow as the tying run tried to gain a huge lead, and Walters as a left-hander played ignorant until snapping a sudden throw to Royer that saw Whitlow tagged out by the tiniest fraction of an inch between his hand and the base. 4-3 Coons! Royer 2-3, BB, 2 2B; Caswell 3-4, HR, RBI;

Raccoons (64-69) @ Crusaders (84-49) – August 30-September 1, 2058

Last chance to give those Crusaders a good stumble! Well, they were 14 1/2 games ahead of the Titans now, so all those regular season games left were just exercise for them, and hoping that nobody got hurt. We knew the deal… They had also recovered from that opening 4-game sweep we had handed them in their own ballpark, having won six of seven games against the Critters since. They ranked first run runs allowed and third in runs scored with an impressive +154 run differential (Coons: -12), and right now their only injury was infielder Juan Ojeda.

Projected matchups:
Bobby Herrera (11-8, 3.23 ERA) vs. Joel Luera (14-5, 3.40 ERA)
Zach Stewart (10-11, 3.03 ERA) vs. Seisaku Taki (10-6, 3.08 ERA)
Ramon Carreno (6-12, 4.41 ERA) vs. Ben Seiter (18-5, 3.11 ERA)

Another series without lefty opposition!

Rosters would expand on Sunday, but at least from our side there was no reason to bypass Carreno right now. It wasn’t like we had any impressive hot-shot prospects in AAA just waiting for a turn.

Game 1
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Caswell – LF Brassfield – RF Puckeridge – C M. Chavez – 1B Starr – 3B Anderson – P B. Herrera
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – 1B Sevilla – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 3B Ale. Silva – P Luera

Lonzo singled and stole a base, but was mostly alone with offensive heroics in the first inning and stranded at third base, while Bobby Herrera walked Omar Sanchez on four straight balls to begin the bottom 1st, and while Sanchez did not steal a base – Zach Suggs was thrown out at second in an attempted Crusaders double steal, Sean Zeiher’s RBI single nevertheless gave them a lead right out of the gates. Since Suggs had reached on a Caswell error, that run was unearned, as was the run Omar Sanchez doubled home in the second inning, since there Mike Seidman had reached on Anderson’s error, and what was Richard Anderson’s claim to third base again…? Caswell then had a hard impact with the ground on a headlong catch of Raul Sevilla’s drive to center in the third inning and left the game with Luis Silva. Steve Royer took the position.

It didn’t get any better for Portland, as Bobby Herrera was roughed up for five hits and three (earned) runs in the fourth inning, which pretty much put the game away for New York with a 5-0 lead. Herrera got another inning in, but then was hit for in the sixth, with Brobeck taking over the mound and putting up a zero in the bottom 6th. The Coons were putting up a lot of zeroes, and Joel Starr had a zero for home runs on his major league record despite hitting 15 bombs with the Alley Cats in the first half of the season, and while his drive to deep left with two outs in the seventh and Marcos Chavez on first *looked* good for a while, it still hit off the top of the fence and Starr had to settle for a double. Worse yet, Chavez had also started celebrating halfway to second base, and then couldn’t score when the ball didn’t ******* go out, stopping at third base. Both were stranded in scoring position when Anderson flew out easily to Gunner Epperson. Brobeck would pitch two scoreless innings, but Neal Hamann got plonked with Mike Seidman’s single and Alejandro Silva’s homer in the eighth, while the Raccoons remained feckless all the way to the end. 7-0 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4; Brobeck 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

The Crusaders then rudely skipped Taki to go right for the throat with Ben Seiter. The Raccoons had no news on Noah Caswell so far and would be a set of paws short for the Saturday game.

Game 2
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – CF Royer – 1B Brassfield – LF Puckeridge – C M. Chavez – RF Martinez – 3B Anderson – P Stewart
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – SS Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – C Seidman – 1B Sevilla – CF O. Caballero – 3B Ale. Silva – P Seiter

The Raccoons pulled off the first-inning double steal after getting Labonte and Lonzo on with a walk and an error, respectively, but almost didn’t get them home with soggy outs from Royer (pop) and Brass (K), until Pucks narrowly hit a ball over the leaping Zach Suggs’ glove for a 2-out, 2-run single. Martinez and Anderson singles and a bunt by Stewart put another pair in scoring position with one out in the top 2nd, but Labonte’s poor grounder didn’t get anybody home as Seidman took control of the ball and Seiter hurried to cover home, but Martinez didn’t even try. Suggs then tried again valiantly, diving for a Lonzo grounder with two outs, but the ball went through and the Coons had another scratch 2-out, 2-run single and a 4-0 lead even before Lonzo had himself another stolen base against the usually alert Seiter. Seidman even threw the ball past Suggs’ reach and Lonzo reached third base on the play, but Royer grounded out and left him there.

The hometown lineup was remarkably calm against Stewart in the meantime; two scoreless innings brought his ERA back under three, and the Crusaders didn’t get much done after that, either. Through five innings, they had two hits and not even close to a run, although Stewart also only struck out two batters. Plenty of pop-ups, though. Royer also popped one, but all the way outta centerfield for a solo jack in the fifth inning, extending the lead to 5-0. Seiter was not seen again after that inning, with Kyle Turay instead giving up a sixth run in the sixth inning on Chavez and Martinez doubles.

Through 5.1 innings all was dandy with Zach Stewart. Then he walked the 1-2-3 batters in order. Sean Zeiher bashed a bases-clearing double into right-center, Stewart offered another walk to Seidman and a single to Raul Sevilla, and then left with the tying runs on the corners and me pulling the last bits of fur out of my skull. Tanizaki struck out ex-Coon Oscar Caballero and grounded Silva to short to escape the meltdown, but the lead had now been burned down to 6-4. Ricky Herrera got the seventh, an out from Dale Haracz, and then allowed singles to Sanchez (still third in the SB race in the CL with 40 to Lonzo’s 49) and Tony Rodriquez. Again the Crusaders tried the double steal, and again they had the trailing runner, the absolutely lead-footed Rodriquez, thrown out at second base. Suggs then grounded out to short, leaving Sanchez at third base.

And the ******* Raccoons STILL managed to blow the game in the eighth inning. Herrera allowed a leadoff single to Zeiher, a left-handed batter, and when Siwik replaced him, Seidman doubled to put the tying runs in scoring position. Sevilla popped out to Lonzo, while PH Aaron Kissler popped out to a nerdy-looking 12-year old kid in the seventh row up from the 382’ sign in rightfield, flipping the score to 7-6 New York before the Critters disappeared in seven pitches in their last shot at redemption. 7-6 Crusaders. Martinez 2-4, 2B, RBI;

I have a ringing in my fuzzy ears…

At least the roster expansion allowed for more quad-A talent with misguided choices for their occupation to be invited and new creative ways to lose ballgames. The Coons brought back SP Justin DeRose (2.81 ERA in AAA) and all the relievers from St. Pete that were already on the 40-man roster: Adam Harris, Alex Rios, and good ol’ Colby Bowen. The latter two had already helped out for a few days with the big league team this year, but the southpaw Harris had not. We had also hoped for the premiere of Elijah LaBat, but he had as many walks as strikeouts in AAA and that wasn’t gonna work out.

For a third catcher we added Matt Stanton and not Morgan Lathers, who was batting all of .200 in St. Pete. Tony Benitez and Todd Oley were the only other batters added at this point.

Game 3
POR: 2B Labonte – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Brassfield – RF Martinez – CF Oley – 3B Brobeck – C C. Chavez – P Carreno
NYC: 2B O. Sanchez – LF Rodriquez – 3B Z. Suggs – RF Zeiher – CF Epperson – C Seidman – 1B Makino – SS Lemke – P Taki

Carreno wasted no time getting casually decimated by the Crusaders, who got three runs in one swipe by Sean Zeiher in the first inning, and two more runs in the second on three hits, including the first career home run of 28-year-old infielder Bruce Lemke, who had just arrived from AAA. The next home run was Lonzo’s leadoff jack in the fourth inning that actually got the Critters on the board against their former hurler Taki. Speaking of Japanese players; the other recent arrival from AAA Lexington, corner guy Mamoru Makino, hit his *second* career home run off Carreno to begin the bottom 4th, who was disposed of after the inning, trailing 6-1.

After a neat inning from Adam Harris, the Coons got a run on singles by Benitez, Lonzo, and Pucks in the sixth inning, but of course that was not rally pace and Brass grounding out and Martinez whiffing to leave a pair in scoring position just wouldn’t stop the Crusaders from sweeping the series. Nor did continuing to send pitchers out there to get mauled. Ricky Herrera allowed a single to Seidman and drilled Lemke in the bottom 6th. When Danny Ramirez appeared as right-handed pinch-hitter for Taki with two outs, the move was made to Siwik, who turned out to still have exploding to do and gave up a howling 3-run homer to left. Siwik at least ended the inning against Sanchez, and Hamann and Bowen picked up the pieces in the seventh and eighth.

Top 9th, Brass opened with a single against Zachariah Alldred, who was being sent for a 3-inning save just out of spite, but loaded the bases with nobody out nicking PH Joel Starr and giving up another single to Oley. Brobeck popped out to second. Marcos Chavez batted for Cortez Chavez and barely hit a sac fly to left, and Bribiesca miserably popped out on the infield to end the game. 9-3 Crusaders. Lavorano 3-4, HR, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, RBI; Benitez (PH) 1-1;

In other news

August 26 – In his 15th career start, 27-year-old DAL 2B/SS Ian Criddle (.500, 0 HR, 4 RBI) puts five singles and three RBI in the box score in a 10-4 win against the Capitals.
August 26 – The season of ATL OF/1B Jon Alade (.253, 7 HR, 39 RBI) ends with a hit to the head and a substantial concussion.
August 27 – A badly broken elbow ends the season of Warriors 3B/SS Julio Moriel (.356, 1 HR, 28 RBI) and calls into question whether the 30-year-old would be ready for next Opening Day.
August 29 – WAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.239, 14 HR, 54 RBI) hits his 300th career home run at age 38 in a 4-3 win against the Cyclones. The 3-run blast comes against CIN SP Brian Fuqua (4-7, 4.46 ERA). Ramos, a career FL East veteran for the Blue Sox and Caps, was the 2052 FL Player of the Year, and has been a steady home run producer, but never actually wore the FL home run crown. His career slash line was .280/.413/.443 with 2,303 hits, 1,166 RBI, and his further precious medal-ware included three Gold Gloves.
August 31 – The Knights go 2-for-2 in losing players to concussions this week, with INF/RF Nick Fox (.297, 7 HR, 65 RBI) also out for the season with a concussion.
August 31 – BOS CL Alex Mancilla (3-1, 3.05 ERA, 18 SV) will miss the rest of the season to cure out some shoulder inflammation.
September 1 – The Thunder run circles around the Bayhawks in an 18-1 rout, which marks the ABL debut of LF/RF/2B/SS Brian Gillum, who goes 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, and 5 RBI. Third catcher Travis Anderson gets no RBI in his season debut, but goes 5-for-6 with two doubles and three singles for Oklahoma City.
September 1 – Blue Sox LF/CF Malik Crumble (.253, 13 HR, 62 RBI) socks a homer and two doubles and drives in five runs as the Sox beat the Rebels, 11-2.
September 1 – SFW SP Ed Nadeau (8-11, 4.08 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Wolves in a 6-0 Warriors win.

FL Player of the Week: WAS RF/LF Willie Sanchez (.279, 15 HR, 72 RBI), hitting .433 (13-30) with 2 HR, 3 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB LF Grant Anker (.284, 24 HR, 71 RBI), bashing .409 (9-22) with 3 HR, 6 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: RIC 1B Mario Delgadillo (.355, 28 HR, 87 RBI), raking .357 with 11 HR, 27 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: LVA 3B/1B/RF Alex Alfaro (.319, 19 HR, 79 RBI), bashing .337 with 11 HR, 26 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: PIT SP Kodai Koga (12-10, 4.41 ERA), going 4-0 with a 1.07 ERA, 28 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: NYC CL Ben Lussier (5-6, 3.49 ERA, 26 SV), going 5-0 with 0.96 ERA, 4 SV in 16 outings in relief
FL “Rookie” of the Month: WAS 2B Joo-chan Lee (.324, 2 HR, 45 RBI), hitting .368 with 1 HR, 15 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: VAN INF Manny Saunders (.356, 1 HR, 22 RBI), batting .443 with 15 RBI

Complaints and stuff

All hail the team RBI leader, renowned slugger Lorenzo “Lonzo” Lavorano with his awesome pile of 55 RBI, a staggering number only exceeded by his 77 OPS+. For those still counting, Lonzo was also the team *runs* leader with 66, which was enough multiples of 11 to get thoroughly dizzy.* Must be all those three homers he hit!

(despairs)

The Coons had three road series left this year; one in Atlanta and two in Elk City, the first of which was upon them to begin the next week. We’d then host the Crusaders and Titans at home in the next and simultaneously penultimate homestand of the year.

Fun Fact: The August Rookies of the Month were a combined 64 years and 20 days old as of September 1.

That’s what the Caps get for signing and importing a 34-year-old Korean second-sacker that even the Raccoons passed on despite obvious hitting qualifications.

+++

These monodigits are called Schnapszahlen (lit. liquor numbers) in German, and there’s a variety of drinking games around them. Which makes perfect sense, since the 2058 Raccoons can only be survived while intoxicated…