[Westheim]

Rosters expanded on Monday, and the Raccoons loaded up on players. Scott Lawson returned for third catcher duties along with excitement-free outfielders Marco Campos and Jorge Moreno.

And don’t you think it would get any better for pitchers. We added Sensabaugh, Herrera, Nesbitt, and Read, some of them against our own better judgment.

Raccoons (71-59) vs. Aces (61-69) – September 1-3, 2064

Losers of six in a row, the Aces came to Raccoons Ballpark with not a whole to play for anymore. They had done the Raccoons quite well so far this year, though, winning five of the six games played with their #7 offense and #7 pitching. Maybe the problem was us? The Aces were not healthy, with Ubaldo Piteira and Wally Leggett on the DL, and Alex Alfaro and Steve Hawkins day-to-day but on the roster, however, with the roster expansion they had enough warm bodies to compensate if required.

Projected matchups:
Chance Fox (9-9, 4.68 ERA) vs. Justin Reif (3-4, 4.20 ERA)
Angel Alba (10-10, 4.25 ERA) vs. Adam Edge (7-8, 3.80 ERA)
Jarod Morris (8-5, 3.44 ERA) vs. Dan Graham (14-9, 3.61 ERA)

We’d come up against two right-handers and the southpaw Graham.

Game 1
LVA: RF D. Lewis – SS Stuebe – LF Lorenzo – CF Jad. Wilson – 1B A. Alfaro – 2B M. Roberts – C M. Reed – 3B C. Pena – P Reif
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Kozak – C Burkart – CF Maldonado – SS Aoki – P Fox

The day off on Sunday did Jack Kozak good, because he hit a 2-run homer in the first inning, coming right after Rich Monck kept raking with a RBI single to right, plating Vic Morales. So then the waiting game begun how Chance Fox would **** this particular 3-0 lead, but Fox would not even allow a base hit to the Aces through three, four, five innings. The Raccoons also did not tack on to their early lead, which is why the sixth inning became such a skullcrushing experience again. Leadoff walk to Cesar Pena, bunt by the pitcher, so far so well (sorta). Pena then stole third base and scored when Burkart’s throw got away from Morales, but Don Lewis popped out on the infield, so there were two outs and Fox looked like he’d escape with an unearned run on his ledger… until Dave Stuebe doubled, Vic Lorenzo singled, Jaden Wilson tripled, and Alex Alfaro doubled, at least. By then, four earned runs were in, and Maldonado tracked down Mike Roberts’ drive to prevent even worse damage from occurring.

Fox was disposed of in disgrace once more when his spot in the lineup came up in the bottom 6th, with Burkart and Maldonado on with a 1-out single and Aoki having drawn a walk. Both Rafael Valencia and Jose Corral would ground out to Roberts from here. Valencia’s grounder at least tied the game, while Corral only stranded the go-ahead runs in scoring position. Hall and Dover then pitched around an Aoki error in the seventh inning before Jaden Wilson took Victor Herrera well deep in the eighth to break the 4-4 tie.

The Coons got Kozak on base to begin the bottom 8th, but he was caught stealing. Burkart then singled and Maldonado reached on an error by rookie third baseman Danny Sanchez. Against lefty Ryan Hogues, Novelo batted for Aoki, but hit one right into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. The Aces did not score in the ninth against Alex Cruzado, for whom Randy Tallent then batted to begin the bottom 9th, firing a string to deep center against lefty Willie Mendoza that Jaden Wilson could not catch up to. The ball fell for a leadoff triple, and now the tying run was 90 feet away for the top of the order. So of course the next five minutes became excruciating. Corral popped out to short, which sucked. Morales grounded out to first, which prevented any advance for Tallent. And Starr grounded out to short, which ended the game. 5-4 Aces. Aoki 1-1, 2 BB; Tallent (PH) 1-1, 3B;

Ran out of ******* Tallent again…

Meanwhile the Titans made two outs in the ninth before getting three good at-bats together to walk off against the Thunder, 1-0.

Game 2
LVA: RF D. Lewis – C Wheat – CF Jad. Wilson – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B M. Davis – 2B M. Roberts – LF Marazzo – SS C. Pena – P Edge
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – CF Kozak – C Burkart – LF Valencia – SS Novelo – P Alba

The Aces drew two walks in the first, had two singles in the second, the Coons had nothing going through three, and in the fourth Alba leaked another two walks and then gave up a 2-run single to Adam Edge after Nate Marazzo and Pena pulled off a double steal. I was reaching new levels of depression, and it was only Tuesday. Somehow the Raccoons woke up, though, and in the bottom 4th got a leadoff double from Morales, an RBI single from Monck, and an RBI double from Kozak, who then overran second base and was tagged out after tying the ballgame.

While Alba kept merrily filling the bases at every opportunity, and the defense did its royal best, the Raccoons had Valencia on base in the bottom 5th after drawing a walk. He stole second, then was stranded. Joel Starr broke the tie in the sixth, though, hitting a homer to right! Alba departed in the seventh after an error by Morales; Mike Hall replaced him for Wilson, the Aces pinch-hit with Ken Hummel from the right side, but Hummel hit into a double play to erase the unearned runner. Same inning, Valencia singled, stole another base, advanced on a groundout by Novelo, and then scored when Jorge Moreno came up with a pinch-hit sac fly. Carrillo came on for the eighth, worked painstakingly around a leadoff walk to Alfaro, and somehow got the inning over with before he blew the 4-2 lead (although Mike Roberts’ fly to left was uncomfortably deep and was caught by Valencia on the warning track). McGinley then struck out the first two batters in the ninth before Don Lewis legged out an infield single. Tom Wheat easily grounded out to Monck, though. 4-2 Coons. Valencia 1-2, BB;

Game 3
LVA: LF Lorenzo – C Wheat – CF Jad. Wilson – 3B A. Alfaro – 1B M. Davis – 2B M. Roberts – RF Marazzo – SS C. Pena – P D. Graham
POR: 3B Morales – SS Novelo – 1B Kozak – 2B Monck – C Arellano – LF Valencia – RF Tallent – CF Campos – P Morris

Morris pitched one inning before his arm fell off, which was rather unfortunate for him and probably everybody else near the ballpark, because now J.J. Sensabaugh would get the ball for long relief. He had a scoreless second though, while Monck and Arellano got on base to begin the bottom 2nd. Valencia’s grounder advanced them into scoring position and Tallent’s ball to left-center fell for a 2-run single, the first markers on the board. Campos walked, the two runners pulled off a double steal, and then Graham lost Sensabaugh on balls as well. He held Morales to a sac fly, but Novelo clipped a 2-out RBI single, 4-0, before Jack Kozak emptied the bases and the mound with a 3-run homer. David Gaither replaced Graham, so both pitchers were gone before the end of the second inning.

Sensabaugh then threw three more innings, each worse than the one before. The Aces scored three runs off him by the time five innings were complete, with Nate Marazzo landing the biggest blow with a 2-run homer. Marazzo also doubled against Nesbitt in the seventh, but neither Nesbitt nor Herrera in the prior inning allowed more runs and nursed the 7-3 lead while the Raccoons were doing nothing at all against the parade of Aces relievers until some oddball lefty, Gabe Molina, nicked consecutive batters, Arellano and Valencia, on his way to give up a 3-run homer to Marco Campos, which in itself should be enough to disqualify him from ever touching a baseball again. McDaniel and Harmer rounded out the pitching assignments for the day. 10-3 Raccoons. Arellano 2-3;

We arrived back at 1 1/2 games of deficit by Wednesday night before the boys would travel to Elk City. The Titans started their weekend set with Indy on Thursday, though, because they had to play an additional game in that one. The opener went to Indy, 3-1, so now the Raccoons started the weekend set just one game back.

Raccoons (73-60) @ Canadiens (65-68) – September 5-7, 2064

Why were we constantly playing in Elk City? Like the Aces, the Elks were highly mediocre with the #7 offense and #9 pitching in the CL, but the Raccoons couldn’t figure out how to beat them. The stinkin’ Elks were up 7-4 in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Josh Elling (13-6, 3.77 ERA) vs. Johnny Doolin (13-10, 3.84 ERA)
Tyler Riddle (14-8, 2.62 ERA) vs. Shane Fitzgibbon (10-6, 3.81 ERA)
Chance Fox (9-9, 4.73 ERA) vs. Carson Miller (10-13, 3.98 ERA)

Another southpaw awaited us on Saturday.

Game 1
POR: RF Corral – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – 2B Monck – LF Kozak – C Burkart – CF Maldonado – SS Aoki – P Elling
VAN: SS C. Castro – 2B A. Castillo – CF Atkins – LF Whetstine – RF B. Campbell – 1B P. Fowler – C Varner – 3B Spalding – P Doolin

Elling struck out five in the first three innings while also scattering three singles and a walk, but the Elks didn’t score. The Raccoons were sat down in order by Doolin until Morales hit a single with one out in the fourth. He scored on 2-out hits by Monck and Kozak, but Burkart flew out to Brent Campbell to strand a pair on base. The Elks came back though, with three more hits off a very hittable Elling. Chad Whetstine and Campbell began the bottom 4th with singles, and Steve Varner doubled home a run before Steven Spalding popped out and Doolin struck out to keep them in scoring position.

Top 5th, Maldonado led off with a single, then stole second. Aoki’s soft single put them on the corners, while Elling’s grounder to third base only advanced Aoki. Corral came through with a double to center, though, plating both runners for a 3-1 lead! Corral was stranded, and Elling then right away gave up another leadoff single to Carlos Castro and another slow inning ensued with a walk to Whetstine with two outs and finally Kozak running down a Campbell drive in the gap to strand another pair of stinky Elks. I was already surprised that the Elks let him get away with it, then was even more surprised when he managed to pitch two 1-2-3 innings after that, including striking out the side in the bottom 7th before finally departing from a busy day out. In between, he hit a single in the top 7th that moved Aoki to third base, allowing Morales to hit a sac fly to tack on a run. The late innings then saw Duarte Damasceno walk the bags full in the top 8th without the Critters scoring – Arellano pinch-hit and flew out to left to end the inning – and another two runners were stranded on base in the top 9th when Morales and Starr reached. All of this led to a very obvious implosion in the bottom 9th where McGinley couldn’t retire ******* anybody, and McDaniel couldn’t turn the tide when he was purged. Varner singled and was forced out before Roberto Lozada doubled and Chad Cardenas singled off the bench. Alex Castillo and Rick Atkins walked, the latter with the bases loaded, before the pitching change was made. McDaniel rung up Whetstine, but Campbell hit a 2-out, 2-run walkoff single… Corral 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Aoki 2-3, BB; Elling 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K and 1-3;

Dimwits.

Meanwhile, Jarod Morris, who had limped off the field on Wednesday after just one inning of work, was found to not have any structural defects in his bothersome ankle and might be able to make his next start.

Game 2
POR: 3B Morales – SS Novelo – 1B Kozak – 2B Monck – C Burkart – LF Valencia – RF Tallent – CF Moreno – P Riddle
VAN: SS C. Castro – 2B A. Castill – CF Atkins – RF B. Campbell – C Varner – LF Lozada – 1B K. Graves – 3B Spalding – P Fitzgibbon

Riddle walked Castro and Rick Atkins whopped one out right in the first inning for a quick 2-0 hole on Saturday. The Coons made up a run on back-to-back triples by the pair of guys they had claimed off waivers from the Elks when the season began, Valencia and Tallent, but Moreno then struck out to keep Tallent and the tying run on third base. Kenny Graves and Steven Spalding also re-established the 2-run gap with leadoff knocks against a useless looking Riddle in the bottom 2nd, Graves eventually scoring on a sac fly. It didn’t end there. First, it started to rain – an aggressive, bitterly cold rain – and there was a rain delay for 30 minutes in the middle of the third inning. When play resumed, Riddle walked Atkins, gave up an RBI double to Campbell, and another single to Varner, and then was unceremoniously disposed of after two-plus ****** innings. Hall replaced him, and sucked all the runners home with more hits allowed to Lozada and Graves. By the end of the third inning, the Coons were down 7-1.

That remained the score while the Coons cycled through a few more scuffed-up relievers, but the top of the sixth suddenly saw straight hits by the 3-4-5-6 batters to get RBI’s for Monck and Valencia, but then Tallent struck out. Moreno scratched out a single to load the bases, but Jose Corral pinch-hit and grounded out to short as the tying run, killing the inning. Instead, Cruzado would give up another run in relief, and the game slipped away for good. 8-3 Canadiens. Kozak 2-4; Valencia 3-3, 3B; Lawson 1-1;

******* awful.

Thing is, the only presumed joker we have left in AAA is Malcolm Spicer and he’s not exactly… he slaps singles and tries to make a living off that. There is no pitching help anywhere near.

After two losses, the Titans got a shutout from Will Glaude on Saturday, giving them a 2-game lead and the assurance that the Raccoons would stay at a distance by week’s end.

The Elks changed pitching assignments on Sunday, giving us a southpaw (yay!) in Martyn Polaco, who was making his first big league appearance since ’62. To be fair, he had missed most of the previous two seasons to injury. This year, he was 10-14 with a 5.28 ERA for AAA Drummondville.

Game 3
POR: 3B Morales – SS Novelo – LF Kozak – 2B Monck – C Arellano – 1B Starr – RF Tallent – CF Campos – P Fox
VAN: SS C. Castro – 2B A. Castillo – CF Atkins – LF Whetstine – C Varner – 1B P. Fowler – RF Lozada – 3B Spalding – P Polaco

The Coons went in order in the first, but Rich Monck socked a gap double to left-center to begin the second inning and Arellano singled him to third base. Starr’s RBI double to left made it 1-0. The bottom of the order however managed to **** up runners on second and third with nobody out utterly and completely, as Tallent popped out, Campos whiffed, and Fox lined out softly to Alex Castillo, then ****** up straight singles to the 4-5-6 batters to begin the bottom 2nd. Lozada hit into a game-tying 5-4-3 double play and Spalding popped out leaving Varner stranded, so the damn Elks were only marginally less awful.

The lead was retaken by Jack Kozak’s 2-run homer in the third inning, 3-1 thanks to Novelo on base, before Tallent and Campos got on base too begin the top 4th, the latter by getting viciously drilled by the left-hander who had been away for two-plus years while getting every surgery in the book. Chance Fox shone with a clean RBI single to right, 4-1, a walk to Morales filled the bases, but now Novelo cracked into a run-scoring double play. Polaco then plated Fox with a wild pitch. He was yanked after walking Kozak, who was picked off first by his replacement, Carlos Torres.

Fox would go six innings of 2-run ball while being grossly inefficient for most of the journey; the second run for the home team came in the fifth on hits by Castillo and Atkins. The 5-run lead was restored while Fox’ name was still on the scoreboard when the Raccoons went to work on Raffy de la Cruz in the top 7th. Novelo walked, and hits by Kozak and Arellano got him across, while Monck narrowly missed a home run in between. Starr grounded out to strand a pair, while Campos was nailed *again* by Mike Perez in the eighth, then scored on a 2-out single by Vic Morales. Rich Read bunted Campos to second base in that inning after getting the last out in the seventh. He then got no outs in the eighth, walking two and allowing an RBI single to Varner before being yanked for Hall, who got three outs from three batters, but not without conceding a second run. At least employing Ryan Harmer in the ninth didn’t lead to another meltdown… 8-4 Coons. Kozak 2-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Monck 2-4, 2B; Burkart (PH) 1-1; Arellano 2-5, RBI;

In other news

September 1 – PIT SP Chris Hale (7-2, 2.19 ERA, 1 SV) throws a 3-hit shutout in a 5-0 win against the Wolves.
September 2 – Rebels OF Jeremy Jenkins (.310, 25 HR, 87 RBI) was not only having a breakout year, he now also added a cycle to his track record, going 4-for-5 with 5 RBI while getting all the required pieces together in a 14-9 win against the Scorpions.
September 2 – The Condors rally for seven runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Indians, 11-9. The game ends on a walkoff grand slam by RF/LF Matt Ewig (.238, 12 HR, 53 RBI).
September 5 – LAP SP Scott Evans (4-14, 6.28 ERA) throws a 2-hit shutout against the Wolves for a 2-0 win, which proves that everybody can do it against the Wolves.
September 6 – LAP SP Francisco Tello (9-9, 3.59 ERA) can, too, and throws a 5-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts against the Wolves, taking an 8-0 win.
September 6 – Boston SP Will Glaude (9-11, 4.00 ERA) allows two hits and whiffs six in a 5-0 shutout against the Indians.
September 7 – The Falcons beat the Knights, 4-3 in 15 innings.

FL Player of the Week: DAL CF Tyler Wharton (.370, 24 HR, 101 RBI), packing .483 (14-29) with 2 HR, 5 RBI
CL Player of the Week: VAN OF Rick Atkins (.310, 16 HR, 84 RBI), punching .520 (13-25) with 3 HR, 15 RBI

Complaints and stuff

What a dismal week. Two mediocre teams that both had been fooling the Raccoons all year long, and right now we were a combined 8-15 against the Aces and Elks, with four more chances to look silly against the latter group later on. We had our worst season performance against any team in the two CL divisions against those two ballclubs.

The pennant chase is still populated, claims BNN (with strength of schedule and playoff odds):
BOS (77-61) – VAN (6), IND (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), POR (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3) – .494 – 80.5%
POR (74-62) – NYC (7), VAN (4), ATL (3), BOS (3), IND (3), MIL (3), OCT (3) – .517 – 18.3%
IND (70-67) – MIL (6), NYC (4), BOS (3), CHA (3), LVA (3), POR (3), VAN (3) – .505 – 1.1%
MIL (67-68) – IND (6), NYC (4), VAN (4), BOS (3), POR (3), SFB (3), TIJ (3) – .503 – 0.1%
NYC (67-68) – POR (7), IND (4), MIL (4), ATL (3), BOS (3), OCT (3), VAN (3) – .529 – 0.1%

Triple crown watch? Eh. Rich Monck had a decent week, but lacked homers. Right now he only led the RBI table anymore, one scratch up on Casey Ramsey. Eddie Marcotte socked three homers this week and was now well ahead with 27, and Fidel Carrera got up to 26, while the batting title would now go to a Logger… Scott Franks, batting three points more than Monck.

Malcolm Spicer is hitting .335 for the Alley Cats.

We are in New York for four games starting on Monday before returning home to play the Indians and yet more of the dumb damn Elks.

Fun Fact: Eddy Ramirez of the Indians is leading the stolen base race with 41 trophies.

The Raccoons need to put their five best base stealers together to match that total: Aoki (12), Maldonado (11), Campos (9), Tallent (6), and either Kozak or Monck (4 each) give 42.

Oh to still have Lonzo!