[Westheim]

Raccoons (72-65) vs. Indians (66-70) – September 9-11, 2059

The string began with the Indians on Tuesday, who were in for the penultimate set of the season. The Coons were up 7-5 against Indy, with the Arrowheads in the bottom three in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed. They had a flurry of injuries, with Roberto Oyola, Orlando Ramos, Kevin Abel, Steven Thompson, Blake McConnell, and some fringe personnel all out on the DL.

Projected matchups:
Justin DeRose (6-10, 3.72 ERA) vs. Marcos Rivera (13-9, 2.93 ERA)
Bobby Herrera (10-11, 3.03 ERA) vs. Josh Barbieri (4-7, 4.46 ERA)
J.J. Sensabaugh (1-0, 1.13 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (11-11, 3.28 ERA)

Well, at least a look at some southpaws, in this case Rivera and Fitzgibbon.

Well, yes, Maud, I lack enthusiasm for these games. – How did you know? – (looks at the mentioned basket with donuts that sits untouched right next to him) Oh Maud. Why bother with sugary treats anymore, when all we’re made to be is to wither and die…..

Game 1
IND: 2B Kilday – CF Ewers – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – 3B Niles – LF Chilelli – P M. Rivera
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – C Perez – CF Caswell – 1B Brassfield – LF Kozak – RF Cooke – SS Benitez – P DeRose

Jack Kozak flubbed a fly ball for an error *and* struck out to leave the bases loaded all in the first inning, which was exactly a great advertisement for future considerations. Nobody scored in the inning, but the Raccoons went up 1-0 on an unearned run in the bottom 2nd. Manny Cooke drew a leadoff walk, Tony Benitez reached on a 2-base throwing error by Nathan Niles, and with a pair in scoring position and nobody out we could barely get one run in with DeRose’s grounder before the O-O pair atop the lineup produced two pop outs. The O-O’s would go on to go to the corners with a pair of 2-out singles in the bottom 4th, leading to a run on a wild pitch by Rivera, but Angel Perez then grounded out. Cas and Brass meanwhile were on base in the third, where they were stranded, and again in the fifth inning, then with a leadoff single and Brass getting plunked by Rivera, who was then removed from the game. Dave Corrao allowed a single to right to Kozak that filled the bases with nobody out. Surprisingly, the Raccoons turned this into a 4-run inning, with both Manny Cooke (!) and Bernie Ortega driving in two runs on a base knock. Benitez and Ortega were still in scoring position with one out in the inning before Ojeda popped out and Perez grounded out to Niles. The Raccoons kept putting them on base against Indians relievers, though. Benitez, DeRose, and Ojeda loaded the sacks with one gone against Randy Slocum in the seventh inning. Perez singled to center to bring home Benitez before Slocum walked in a run against Caswell, Juan Vasquez walked in another run against Trent Brassfield, and then Kozak and Starr hit pops to leave the bases loaded.

And nothing has been said about DeRose pitching so far, and that because there was nothing to complain about. If anything it was that he held the Indians not quite hitless, but certainly witless for eight innings, scattering three singles and a walk without ever being in real danger, even when Kozak flubbed that ball early on; he didn’t last nine innings, though, being tired after eight. Brad Loveless got the last three outs from the top of the Indians order on just six pitches. 9-0 Raccoons. Ortega 4-6, 2 RBI; Ojeda 2-6; Caswell 2-4, BB, RBI; Brassfield 1-1, 3 BB, 2B, RBI; DeRose 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (7-10);

Game 2
IND: 2B Kilday – CF Ewers – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – 3B Niles – LF Chilelli – P Barbieri
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – 3B Ojeda – SS Gonzales – P B. Herrera

By contrast, on Wednesday, Bobby Herrera plainly sucked. The Indians had a leadoff base hit in each of the first three innings, and all three runners came around to score; Matt Kilday tripled in the first and came home on Kevin Ewers’ sac fly. Chris Lovins hit a leadoff double in the second and scored on a 2-out single by Nate Chilelli. And Kilday had another hit, a single, leading off the top 3rd, stole his way to third base, and scored on a groundout. Now the Raccoons were the ones that had *nothing* going. Herrera was a little less terrible in the middle innings and got a few strikeouts, but was knocked out on a single by Ricardo Vargas, Chilelli doubling, and then a run-scoring groundout by Barbieri in the sixth. Elijah LaBat got a fly to left from Kilday to end the inning, with the Raccoons down 4-0 and hitless against Barbieri, who walked three, but did not allow a base knock until Trent Brassfield snuck a grounder up the middle in the bottom of the seventh inning. That hit also led absolutely nowhere, just like scoreless relief by Rios, Harris, Bowen, and Sencion in the last three innings. Barbieri didn’t finish the shutout, though; Labonte and Brass hit soft singles in the bottom 9th, the latter with two outs, and the Indians had no faith left in anybody on the roster and sent Rich Morrall to replace Barbieri. Morrall got Starr to ground out to Kilday to close out the game. 4-0 Indians. Brassfield 2-4;

Game 3
IND: 2B Kilday – CF Ewers – 1B B. Quinteros – C A. Gomez – RF Lovins – SS R. Vargas – 3B Niles – LF D. Salas – P Fitzgibbon
POR: 2B Ortega – 3B Ojeda – C Perez – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – LF Kozak – SS Benitez – CF Morris – P Sensabaugh

The Raccoons started with O-O singles in the first inning, barely scored a run on two productive groundouts, and then went into hibernation, while Sensabaugh’s vague competence in relief turned into some tense innings in the second and fourth, when he shoveled the bases full every time, but then came up against the opposing pitcher, and Fitzgibbon ended the top 2nd with a sharp grounder to Starr and the fourth with a line out to Tony Benitez. Ewers hit a 1-out single in the fifth, but Bill Quinteros also lined out and Alex Gomez’ fly to deep left was caught by Kozak. In the sixth, it was again Fitzgibbon that came up in the big spot after Sensabaugh walked Vargas and allowed a double to Danny Salas. The pair was in scoring position with two outs, and Fitzgibbon flew out to Kozak.

The Coons got scoreless innings from Ricky Herrera and Alex Rios in the seventh and eighth, respectively, but the offense remained completely paralyzed, which left the 1-0 lead to be handed off to Matt Walters, facing the bottom of the order in the ninth inning. Niles flew out to left, Willie Villafan fanned, and Victor Cruz grounded out to short. 1-0 Blighters. Ojeda 2-3; Sensabaugh 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, W (2-0);

Raccoons (74-66) @ Canadiens (60-79) – September 12-14, 2059

At least I got the kits out of my sight for the weekend, as they waggled off to the frozen wasteland of Elk City, somewhere up that arctic circle. The damn Elks were fifth in the division, mathematically eliminated, and combined the #3 offense with the #11 pitching for no great success. The Raccoons had already clinched the season series, 11-4. These were the final three games to be played.

Projected matchups:
Duarte Damasceno (5-6, 3.97 ERA) vs. Jeff Kozloski (8-12, 3.63 ERA)
Chance Fox (12-4, 3.77 ERA) vs. Anton Jesus (10-11, 4.67 ERA)
Justin DeRose (7-10, 3.54 ERA) vs. Bill Lawrence (9-10, 4.40 ERA)

The menu was three right-handers. Booooring.

Game 1
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – SS Bean – 3B Ojeda – C Monaghan – P Damasceno
VAN: LF D. Garcia – CF Scarpa – RF D. Moreno – 1B J. Campos – 3B Whittington – 2B Younce – C S. Contreras – SS E. Solano – P Kozloski

Despite making two outs to begin their half of the first inning, the Elks batted through the order in the bottom 1st, thanks to getting five straight base knocks with RBI’s for Jose Campos, Mark Younce, and Santiago Contreras, before a walk to Edwin Solano loaded the bases and Kozloski then grounded out to leave them loaded in the 3-0 game. A rare Eric Monaghan homer with two outs and Joel Starr on base made up two of those runs in the next half-inning, but Damasceno just kept getting whacked, giving up a sharp RBI single to Damian Moreno in the bottom 2nd after Danny Garcia had drawn a leadoff walk and stolen second base.

Joel Starr tickled the foul pole in right with a rocket leading off the fourth inning, shortening the score to 4-3. Jon Bean then doubled… but the bottom of the order croaked entirely and he was left on third base. That was also the score Damasceno left the game in after just five innings of nonstop busy baseball, offering up seven hits and four walks for four runs (but also seven strikeouts) for just over 100 pitches…

Bean walked in the sixth, and Labonte singled in the seventh, but the Raccoons just couldn’t get that tying run anywhere nice before the Elks tacked on an unearned insurance run in the bottom 7th, where Thomas Whittington drew a 1-out walk from LaBat, stole second, and then scored on a throwing error by Monaghan. Kozloski would go eight innings of 8-hit ball, and Aaron Hain retired the Critters in order in the ninth to put the game away. 5-3 Canadiens. Morris 2-5; Starr 2-4, HR, RBI; Bean 1-2, 2 BB; Monaghan 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – RF Brassfield – 1B Starr – C Perez – SS Bean – 3B Gonzales – P Fox
VAN: LF D. Garcia – CF Scarpa – 1B J. Campos – 2B Younce – 3B Whittington – C Burnham – RF Hambrick – SS E. Solano – P A. Jesus

Beleaguered Ben Morris drew a leadoff walk, gained two bags on Cas’ single, and then scored no a sac fly to left-center by Brassfield for a quick 1-0 lead. Starr grounded out, while Mark Younce committed a throwing error to begin the second inning, putting Angel Perez on second base for nothing. And it was for nothing indeed, since the bottom of the order couldn’t even get him to third base, let alone home plate. Chance Fox, problem child, meanwhile retired the first seven Elks before abruptly walking the bags full in the bottom 3rd, but Edwin Solano, Danny Garcia, and Steve Scarpa were stranded when Jose Campos flew out to Morris in left.

Angel Perez’ third career homer extended the Coons’ lead to 3-0 in the top 4th, coming as it did after Starr’s leadoff single to right in the inning. Fox singled with two outs in the inning, but that didn’t develop into anything much, while the Coons loaded the bases with Labonte, Brass, and Starr (the first and last of whom drew walks) and one out in the fifth, bringing back Perez. He hit another hard fly, but this to the wrong end of the park, and Scarpa caught it at the edge of the warning track in centerfield. Still good enough for a sac fly and a 4-0 lead, however. Bean popped out to leave two, while Fox drilled Solano and gave up a 2-out RBI single to Danny Garcia in the bottom 5th as he continued his wobble from mess to mess.

Fox didn’t issue another walk after the three in the third inning, at least for a while, before walking Whittington and Luke Burnham in the bottom 6th with two outs, ruining plans to maybe get him through seven. We barely got him through six with a K on Christian Hambrick, a 24-year-old outfielder that was in the starting lineup for the first time in his career on this Saturday.

Brad Loveless nicked Adam Magnussen and allowed a single to Garcia in the bottom 7th instead, but also got a double play from Scarpa to end the inning. Top 8th, and a couple o’ hits; Jon Bean hit a 1-out double and was on third base after a grounder by Gonzales. Kozak then pinch-hit and was drilled, while Ben Morris got his first career RBI in 72 plate appearances with a single to center, 5-1. The inning ended with Labonte, but with the 4-run lead we went to Bobby Sneeze (gesundheit!) and would stick with him until serious trouble (e.g. save situation) would arise. None ever did, and Sneeze got six outs from seven batters to finish out the game. 5-1 Raccoons. Caswell 2-5, 2B; Perez 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Sneeze 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K;

Game 3
POR: LF Morris – 2B Labonte – CF Caswell – 1B Starr – 3B Ojeda – RF Konecny – SS Bean – C Monaghan – P DeRose
VAN: LF D. Garcia – 3B Whittington – 1B J. Campos – CF Scarpa – 2B Younce – C A. Maldonado – RF C. Cardenas – SS E. Solano – P B. Lawrence

There was another early lead with a Labonte double and him scoring on Starr’s scratch single with two outs in the first inning. DeRose put a pair on the corners with a Whittington single and a Campos walk in the bottom 1st, but worked his way out of that with Scarpa and Younce fly outs, and the Raccoons somehow tacked on in the third; Morris hit a 1-out single, but Labonte flew out. Caswell then reached on an error by Whittington, and Lawrence filled the bags up with a walk to Starr, then also walked Juan Ojeda for good measure, pushing in the game’s second run. Konecny grounded out to third base, stranding the full selection of runners.

DeRose then got on the snout a bit in the bottom 4th, in which the damn Elks hit two triples; Scarpa hit one to begin the inning and scored on Younce’s single, but Younce was then caught stealing. Chad Cardenas whacked a 2-out triple to right-center, but Solano whiffed to leave him on base. That cut the lead in half, and after Ben Morris reached on an infield single and was caught stealing for no greater gains in the top 5th, DeRose fudged up the rest of the lead in the bottom 5th, allowing a leadoff single to Lawrence, forcing out that runner on Garcia’s grounder, but then allowed a single to Whittington, a groundout to Jose Campos to move the tying run to third base, and then painfully balked the tying run across… Scarpa grounded out to leave the go-ahead run on third base…

DeRose finally got on the hook he so craved in the bottom 6th with leadoff singles by Younce, who stole second, and Alex Maldonado, who drove in the lead runner to put the revolting Elks up 3-2. Cardenas drew a walk as well, and eventually Ricky Herrera had to get out of the inning, stranding two runners on base, and he stranded another two runners following two infield singles by the damn Elks in the bottom 7th. Bravo and Loveless fudged together an insurance run for the stupid Elks in the eighth, but it wasn’t like the Raccoons had been on base in the two innings prior anyway. Lawrence went seven, three different pitchers pieced together the eighth for the pink team, and then Aaron Hain got the ball in the 4-2 game in the ninth. Konecny drawing a 1-out walk was as good as it got. 4-2 Canadiens. Morris 2-4;

In other news

September 8 – The season of Bayhawks closer Brett Lillis jr. (4-8, 3.81 ERA, 27 SV) ends with a ruptured finger tendon.
September 8 – The Canadiens smother the Titans, 13-1, on the strength of a 10-run third inning.
September 9 – The Aces’ SP Ray Benner (9-4, 4.72 ERA) is done for the year due to a torn labrum.
September 9 – The Buffaloes walk off on the Capitals, 5-4 in 10 innings. TOP SS (.299, 2 HR, 22 RBI) draws the fourth of four free passes to get the winning run home in the bottom of the 10th inning, which is par for the course for this game, in which the Buffos are out-hit 11-3, and yet still win.
September 9 – The Condors beat the Thunder, 8-7 in 14 innings. The walkoff RBI double by TIJ OF Marco Asencio (.229, 2 HR, 19 RBI) marks the only run in the second half of those 14 innings.
September 9 – Denver puts ten runs on Dallas in the first inning and then coasts to an 11-5 win.
September 12 – Knights SP Enrique Ortiz (6-8, 4.11 ERA) throws a 3-hit shutout with ten strikeouts in an 8-0 win against the Condors.
September 13 – September call-up LVA OF/1B Dusty Gray (.400, 3 HR, 7 RBI) makes a splash with three home runs and six RBI in a 14-10 football score against the Thunder.
September 13 – Pacifics OF/1B/2B Jimmy Hartgrove (.298, 2 HR, 18 RBI) hits a home run for the only score in the Pacifics’ 1-0 win against the Warriors.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 3B/SS Alex de los Santos (.273, 21 HR, 93 RBI), hitting .500 (11-22) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: TIJ SS Casey Ramsey (.298, 9 HR, 70 RBI), batting .500 (14-28) with 2 HR, 7 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Meh week, but they’ve been meh for a month, so why would I expect better? Not only is the top of the order limp, but the big three in the middle have all cooled off now and aren’t producing anything of value. In one stat, we’re scoring 3.15 runs a game in September. For comparison, it was still 4.3 in July, after we started the year with a flat 5.0 in April.

Meanwhile in the rotation, we’re back to J.J. Sensabaugh. Yaaay.

Final homestand coming up with three series against the Crusaders, Falcons, and Thunder. So Monday will be off, and then we get bashed for another three games at least.

Fun Fact: The last three 3-homer games have occurred in the last three Septembers.

Randy Wilken hit three bombs on September 10, 2057 with the Pacifics against the Warriors. The Warriors then got three wallops from Miguel Medina against the Scorpions on September 25, 2058. And now on Saturday, the CL got involved with three-time September call-up Dusty Gray thumping the Thunder.