[Westheim]

Raccoons (57-80) vs. Indians (56-79) – September 8-10, 2065

Penultimate misery round in the CL North this year, with the Raccoons up 9-3 in the season series against the Arrowheads, without which they’d be solidly in last place. Indy ranked bottoms in runs scored with middle pitching and a -81 run differential. The Raccoons clocked in eighth in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed, and with a -86 run differential. Can it just end, please?

Projected matchups:
Jeff Crowley (1-4, 5.20 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (3-18, 4.62 ERA)
Chance Fox (8-8, 4.12 ERA) vs. Josh Barcellona (11-10, 3.86 ERA)
Angel Alba (7-14, 4.18 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (9-4, 1.92 ERA)

Not sure what was more impressive, DeWitt’s sub-2 ERA or ex-Coon Ramon Carreno’s 18 losses, even outdoing Shoma Nakayama, who might yet be spared 20 losses in his rookie season thanks to the Coons going to a 6-man rotation with the return of Jeff Crowley. DeWitt was the only left-hander we saw coming here, although Roberto Ponce de Leon (5-3, 6.24 ERA) was a possibility as a fill-in in the rotation for DL’ed starters Keith Thompson and Raul Ontiveros.

Game 1
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 3B A. Mendez – 1B Starwalt – C Atencio – RF T. Torres – LF M. Martin – SS DeRosia – 2B Ellis – P Carreno
POR: SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – C Burkart – RF Corral – 2B Bonner – CF Matas – P Crowley

Crowley returned to big league action by giving up a triple to Eddy Ramirez, whom he then plated with a wild pitch. Danny Starwalt drew a 4-pitch walk after that, but Vinny Atencio hit into a double play to end the top of the first. Matt Martin hit a ball into the gap that kept running away from Spicer and Matas and became an inside-the-park homer in the second inning, and Crowley added two more runners after that before somehow getting out of the inning. He was consistently behind in the count, and the bullpen was up in the third once Starwalt hit a leadoff jack. Crowley continued to suck, put on Tony Torres and Philip DeRosia, and then allowed a 2-out, 2-run knock to Ben Ellis. Carreno struck out to end the inning, but the Indians were up 5-0 and Crowley wasn’t seen again.

The Coons had their first real threat in the bottom 3rd with singles for Matas and Novelo before Carreno nicked Spicer to fill them up with one out for Vic Morales, who whiffed, and Joel Starr, who grounded out to second. Things got better in the fourth, which Bruce Burkart led off with a double. Corral was walked by Carreno, and Ryan Bonner’s double to left and Carlos Matas’ single to center brought in a total of three runs. John Nesbitt, who was in for garbage relief, bunted into a double play before Novelo reached base on balls with two down, and scored on a Spicer double in the right-center gap. Spicer then took the tying run across the plate on a Morales single to left-center, and at once the Coons had erased their 5-0 deficit. Starr struck out to end the rally. Nesbitt went on to pitch three strong innings – nobody knew where that might have come from – followed by a scoreless seventh from Ricky Baca.

Bottom 7th, Spicer led off with a single to center against Melvin Guerra and was immediately off to the races, stealing his 46th base before Morales grounded out to short to keep him at second for the moment. Starr walked, and then Spicer took off again with Starr in his wake – and Atencio didn’t get a throw off at all. Unfortunately, Burkart whiffed and Corral grounded out, and the Coons couldn’t break the tie even with three stolen bases in the inning. Instead Dover got the eighth, was bombarded with lefty pinch-hitters, walked Darby Laybolt with two outs, and when Sansao Tyson replaced him to face the fourth lefty pinch-hitter of the inning, Steve Thompson, Laybolt stole second and Tyson gave up the go-ahead RBI single to Thompson. The Raccoons had their own chance in the bottom 8th with pinch-hit 1-out singles from the 8-9 spots by Tallent and Bentley against righty Hector Estevez. Novelo struck out – here we go again! – but Spicer then clipped a single past second-sacker Miguel Falcon to tie the score at six…! Joe Gardner pinch-ran for Bentley at second base with two outs to put some speed there, but Morales flew out to right.

Top 9th, Kody Mello got the ball for Portland. He got Justin Dowsey to ground out before Starwalt singled. Vinny Atencio whiffed, but Falcon cranked a homer, his first of the year, to left to break the tie again. Cody Kleidon put the tying runs on base in the bottom 9th with 1-out singles for Burkart and Corral. At this point hitting for Ryan Bonner woulda been nice, but the Coons were out of real options there, only having third-string catcher Miguel Guinea and an injured Corey Garmon on the bench, and the pitcher three spots away. Bonner flew out easily and Tallent grounded out to end the game. 8-6 Indians. Spicer 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Burkart 3-5, 2 2B; Matas 2-3, RBI; Tallent (PH) 1-2; Bentley (PH) 1-1; Nesbitt 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K;

This game mathematically eliminated the Raccoons from the playoffs.

Jamie Colter was called up to add another stick to the bench. He had batted .284 with a homer in 30 games earlier this year before being squeezed out compared to John Bentley, who was now in a deep slump.

Game 2
IND: CF E. Ramirez – 2B Falcon – 1B Starwalt – RF B. Johnston – 3B A. Mendez – LF Laybolt – SS Ellis – C A. Monroe – P Barcellona
POR: SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – C Burkart – RF Corral – 2B Bonner – CF Matas – P Fox

Spicer singled and was doubled home by Morales for a 1-0 lead in the first before things deteriorated again. Starr walked, Burkart popped out, and Corral grounded out on a 3-0 pitch… Fox then held the lead for zero outs, giving up a leadoff jack to Alex Mendez in the top 2nd. Same inning, the Portlanders got Ryan Bonner on with a leadoff single. He stole second, while Barcellona walked the bags full with Fox (!) and Spicer, but Morales then grounded out easily to Falcon to keep everybody stranded. Bonner then hit into a double play in the third inning.

It was then Vic Morales’ ****** defense that put the Indians on top, putting Andre Monroe on base with one out in the top 5th. Barcellona, who would have been the third out in line, instead bunted the free runner to second base, and the Indians knocked consecutive unearned runs home with Eddy Ramirez and Falcon to go up 3-1. Starwalt whiffed to end the inning, and this time the Coons made the instant comeback against Barcellona with a homer mashed by Joel Starr in the bottom 5th, after Morales had already reached with one out.

Fox reached the stretch with two quick innings, but could not get support and had to settle for a no-decision. Carrington replaced him for the eighth, making his third appearance in the majors. He got two outs from lefty pinch-hitters before walking Starwalt. Garvey replaced him and struck out the pinch-hitting Dowsey, then pooled together with Carrillo for a scoreless top 9th. Everybody was just waiting now for the Coons to squeeze out a run, but lefty Bob West retired Tallent, Vargas, and Novelo without much fuss in the bottom 9th, sending the game to extras.

Chris Lovins and Starwalt reached with two outs against Juan Soriano in the tenth inning, but Dowsey then flew out to Tallent in centerfield. Cody Kleidon pitched two innings for the Indians, allowing nothing but a single to Bonner in the 11th, and he didn’t get off first base. Rich Read also pitched two scoreless innings (!!) for the Coons between the 11th and 12th, before Bentley batted for him and singled to begin the bottom 12th against Brian McLaughlin. Novelo struck out, Spicer grounded out, and now Gardner ran for Bentley again at second base with Morales batting. This time Morales got the 2-out single, but it was to left, right in Dowsey’s wheelhouse, and Gardner was stopped at third base. Starr flew out to center, and the game dragged yet on.

Tyson got the 13th and while I briefly nodded off there with Honeypaws on my face he got a double play grounder from Laybolt after allowing hits to Starwalt and Mendez, and the game remained tied. Burkart drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 13th and was run for with Arellano, who was a speedster by catcher standards. Corral was drowning on dry land, so Colter hit for him and struck out. Bonner popped out, but McLaughlin walked the bags full with Tallent and Gardner, bringing up Pablo Novelo with nowhere to put another runner. Novelo solved this by grounding out to Willie Valenzuela (who?) at short. Valenzuela opened the 14th with another single off Tyson, but was doubled off just the same and the Coons sent Angel Alba, Thursday’s scheduled starter, to the pen to warm up at that point. Melvin Guerra pitched the bottom 14th, allowing a leadoff single to Spicer, who was caught stealing. Garmon batted for Tyson in Morales’ deserted spot, leaving only Guinea on the bench, got drilled to give him something else to hurt him besides his back, then saw Starr pop out on the infield. Guerra allowed a 2-out single to Arellano, threw a wild pitch to fall to 3-0 on Colter, who was then walked intentionally, and came up on Bonner, for another out-or-lose situation for the Arrowheads. Bonner took ball one – and then the game ended on a walkoff balk called on Guerra. 4-3 Blighters. Spicer 2-6, BB; Morales 3-6, 2B, RBI; Arellano 1-1; Bonner 2-6; Bentley (PH) 1-1; Fox 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Read 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Tyson 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, W (4-2);

Whatever works.

This game also mathematically eliminated the Arrowheads from the playoffs.

Game 3
IND: 3B A. Mendez – CF M. Martin – LF Dowsey – C Atencio – SS Sowell – RF Lovins – 1B M. Rogers – 2B DeRosia – P R. Ponce de Leon
POR: SS Novelo – CF Tallent – 3B Morales – C Arellano – 1B Vargas – LF Spicer – 2B Bonner – RF Colter – P Alba

Nobody scoring remained a topic in the rubber game as Alba put up zeroes despite nicking Ken Sowell to lead off the top 2nd and then allowing a single to Lovins. Sowell dashed to third and dragged up Lovins behind him, but the pair were stranded in scoring position on a pop and two strikeouts from the 7-8-9 batters. In the fourth, Atencio smacked a gap double leading off, but was stranded on second base. The Coons had yet to take place, while the Indians got another leadoff double from DeRosia to the base of the leftfield fence in the top 5th. Ponce de Leon bunted him to third, but Mendez lined out to Bonner and it looked like Alba might escape again – but he did not. Matt Martin chucked a triple, and Dowsey slammed a double off the fence in left, and the Indians went up 2-0 before Atencio grounded out to end the inning.

Bottom 5th, the Coons made up a run when Tallent doubled home Colter and his leadoff single, but was then stranded on Morales foul pop to Matt Rogers. Arellano then singled to begin the bottom 6th to put the tying run on base before Vargas and Spicer disappeared on easy flies on consecutive pitches by Ponce de Leon. Bonner then was more patient and drew a walk on five pitches, before Jamie Colter drilled a double into the gap in left-center. With two outs, both Arellano and Bonner scored, and the score was flipped in the Coons’ favor, 3-2. Alba then was easy pickings for the third out, then gave up a first-pitch monster homer to DeRosia to throw the lead away immediately in the top of the seventh… Alba got two outs, but Novelo made an error that put Martin on base, and Garvey was brought in to get out of the inning. Garvey got four outs in total and Dover got the ball in the ninth in a 3-3 tie, getting three outs from three pinch-hitters in just five pitches. Bottom 9th, righty McLaughlin was in there again. Corral batted for Bonner and drew a four-pitch walk to begin the inning. Colter singled to center. Starr batted for the pitcher, hit another single, but it was too soft and Corral had to hit the brakes, giving the Coons three on and nobody out. Novelo was 0-for-4 and hit for with Burkart, who laid off enough garbage to draw a five-pitch walk and end the ballgame. 4-3 Critters. Colter 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Starr (PH) 1-1;

A walkoff balk, followed by a walkoff walk!

And now, shoo! Get outta town! Before Maud’s muffins are done!

Raccoons (59-81) @ Canadiens (63-76) – September 11-13, 2065

The damn Elks were in the middle of nowhere – geographically as well as in the standings – and had already taken the season series from the Critters, 10-5, so I was not entirely sure why the team made the trip up there anyway just to catch more frostbite… Elk City ranked seventh in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed, but their rotation was the worst by ERA in the Continental League.

Projected matchups:
Juan Sanchez (10-13, 4.62 ERA) vs. Jose Villegas (10-9, 3.82 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (7-17, 3.91 ERA) vs. Martyn Polaco (3-5, 5.47 ERA)
Nick Walla (6-8, 3.99 ERA) vs. Ken Nielsen (9-2, 2.13 ERA)

The Elks had been rained out on Thursday in Boston and had been regularly off on Monday, so there was a lot of play in that rotation. Villegas and Polaco were both lefties, as was Ed Nadeau (5-16, 5.26 ERA), who could pitch on Sunday.

Game 1
POR: SS Novelo – RF Spicer – 3B Morales – C Burkart – 1B Starr – CF Tallent – LF Bentley – 2B Gardner – P Sanchez
VAN: SS C. Castro – LF Whetstine – CF Atkins – RF Lozada – C Varner – 1B N. Vaughn – 2B A. Castillo – 3B Spalding – P J. Villegas

Sanchez was all over the place and walked Carlos Castro to begin the bottom 1st. A wild pitch advanced the runner, Rick Atkins singled him home, Roberto Lozada drew a 4-pitch walk, and then Steve Varner did catcher things and hit into a 6-4-3 double play to get Sanchez out of the inning. The Coons were back at three on, nobody out in the top 2nd, getting the 5-6-7 batters on base with a single, a walk, and another single. Joe Gardner hit a comebacker that got Starr thrown out at home, Sanchez popped out to short, and Novelo … actually hit a score-flipping 2-out single to left-center! Two runs scored, but Spicer grounded out to end the inning. The Elks got the lead right back, though; Nick Vaughn singled on the first pitch in the bottom 2nd, and while Sanchez got two outs he then inexplicably gave up an RBI double to Villegas, who swiftly scored on Castro’s single. Chad Whetstine hit another single, Sanchez got yelled at on the mound by the pitching coach, walked Atkins anyway, and then Lozada popped out to first in foul ground to leave the bases teeming. Two innings of work had taken Sanchez 59 pitches, and again the pen was stirring in the third inning, which ended up *relatively* calm.

Bentley and Gardner then got on to begin the fourth and were bunted into scoring position by Sanchez. Novelo grounded to Steven Spalding, who butchered the ball for an error and allowed Bentley to score the tying run. Gardner moved to third, then scored on Spicer’s groundout to Alex Castillo, and the Coons were on top again, 4-3, in a highly erratic game. Morales fanned to keep Novelo stranded on second base in the inning. Sanchez faced three more batters, allowed a single to Castro (who was forced out by Whetstine) and walked Atkins, and then was yanked after 91 pitches, all of them ****. Carrillo allowed a bases-filling single to Lozada, but Varner crapped into another inning-ending double play and the Coons stayed up 4-3.

Carrillo got two more outs in the bottom 5th before putting Castillo and Villegas on base, which was frustrating. Ricky Baca got a groundout from Castro after entering in a double switch, Matas replacing Tallent in centerfield. The Coons added a run in the sixth on Gardner singling, stealing second, and getting plated by Novelo, 5-3, but Whetstine homered deep to right against Baca to lead off the bottom 6th, so that was that. Carrington came on and had his very first pitch belted over the fence in left by Atkins. He then struck out two while loading the bases with Varner, Vaughn, and Spalding, then departed for Garvey against lefty pinch-hitter Andy Friend, who got punched out to keep the game even at five.

The next two innings were quite uneventful. Mello and Soriano put up a zero each, and we hit the ninth inning with short-lived Coons closer Jon McGinley getting the ball in a 5-5 game. McGinley had shaved over a run off the 6.88 ERA he left Portland with, and while he offered a 1-out walk to Novelo, the runner was forced out by Spicer, who was then caught stealing by Varner. Bottom 9th, Rich Read got the ball. Within four batters the bags were full with Ben Newman, Hsi-chuen Yue, and Whetstine, but Atkins then crucially popped out to Starr on the very next pitch. Lozada struck out, and two useless teams chose to bring more misery on the unassuming bystanders by playing extra innings. Both pitchers added a scoreless tenth, Read even after giving up a leadoff double to Varner.

Another lefty ex-Coon, Elijah LaBat, then walked Corral to begin the top 11th. The pitcher was now in the #7 hole, and Arellano batted for Read, singling to left. Vargas batted for Gardner, but smacked into a double play, and Matas flew out easily to Whetstine to waste the opportunity. Dover got the ball for the bottom 11th, and Nakayama got sent to the pen now to warm up because we were all out of arms again. Dover might have remained in the game for the bottom 12th if the Coons had made something out of getting the first two batters in the top 12th on base, but Novelo and Spicer were stranded, and Nakayama made a relief appearance after Alba had dodged the threat in Portland. He kept the game going to the 13th, where Robbie Lingard issued leadoff walks to Corral and Bonner. Nakayama, batting eighth – the fourth spot in the order to hold the Coons pitcher on this day – bunted them into scoring position. Matas and Novelo both struck out as I was becoming audibly annoyed back on the trusty brown couch in Portland. The Elks in the bottom 13th got 1-out singles from Corey Stovall (not the most obscure player in the game by now!) and Kenny Graves, who reached scoring position on Yue’s groundout. Whetstine was walked intentionally to get Nakayama to face the right-handed Atkins instead, who grounded out to Bonner. At this point the Elks had put out 20 base hits to no avail.

Top 14th. Spicer led off with a single to center against Lingard, but Morales grounded to Stovall, who coulda had two, but dropped the ball and got none. An 0-for-6 Burkart was asked to bunt and popped that one up for the first out. Starr popped out in foul ground to Ray De Giacomo (I was convinced at that point that the Elks were cheating by bolstering the ranks with random woodchucks from the stands), but Lingard failed to remove Corral with two strikes, the struggling rightfielder singled through the right side, and Spicer scored easily from second base to break a string of 14 consecutive zeroes between both teams. Bonner grounded out. Nakayama remained in the game for the bottom 14th, got three straight outs, and put the bloody game to bed. 6-5 Coons. Novelo 3-6, BB, 4 RBI; Spicer 3-7, RBI; Corral (PH) 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Bentley 3-4; Arellano (PH) 1-1; Read 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Nakayama 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, W (8-17);

46 total players knocked out 34 hits and drew 14 walks in this game, and 33 total runners were stranded in almost five hours of blighted baseball.

All the Coons’ 14 hits were singles.

Nakayama was now of course no longer in the running for a start this weekend. Nick Walla and (shivers) Jeff Crowley moved up accordingly. He still faced Nielsen, who was given the ball for Saturday.

Game 2
POR: SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – 1B Starr – RF Corral – 2B Tallent – CF Matas – C Guinea – P Walla
VAN: SS C. Castro – C Varner – CF Atkins – RF N. Vaughn – 1B R. Cordero – 2B A. Castillo – LF Friend – 3B Spalding – P Nielsen

Straight singles by the 3-4-5 batters gave the Coons a 1-0 lead before Tallent grounded out, but Walla kept disintegrating and retired none of the first four batters, who went walk, single, RBI double, walk against him. Rico Cordero brought in the go-ahead run with a 6-4-3 double play, and Castillo struck out. Andy Friend hit a leadoff single in the second, stole second, and came around to score on productive outs, 3-1. The Coons needed innings from Walla, and he just wasn’t giving them to them. Varner hit another leadoff single in the bottom 3rd, Walla allowed another single and two more walks, and somehow the Elks contained themselves after one run before Spalding hacked himself out with Cordero, Castillo, and Friend on base. By then, Walla had thrown 78 pitches. Even Nielsen hit a leadoff single against Walla in the fourth, although the Elks then made three quick outs. At this point and even with an expanded roster he just had to suck it, just like watching him SUCKED.

Walla ended up throwing 114 pitches, but with the last 36 then covered three more shutout innings to at least get the team – which was being 3-hit by Nielsen and still down 4-1 – through six innings, which was almost worth half a star for effort. Almost. Nesbitt and Garmon then replaced him and Matas in a double switch after the stretch, although Nesbitt got only one out after three shutout innings in garbage relief on Tuesday. This time he walked the bags full, then gave up back-to-back 2-run doubles to Chris Richardson and Andy Friend before getting purged. Carrington picked up the pieces in the bottom 7th, and Novelo took the ball for *real* garbage relief in the eighth. He filled the bases between the first four batters he faced, then struck out Lozada for the second out, but walked in a run against De Giacomo, before Friend grounded out on a 3-2 pitch. 9-1 Canadiens. Starr 1-2, 2 BB;

The Coons drew the southpaw Polaco on Sunday.

Game 3
POR: SS Novelo – LF Spicer – 3B Morales – C Burkart – RF Tallent – 1B Vargas – CF Garmon – 2B Bonner – P Crowley
VAN: SS C. Castro – C Varner – CF Atkins – RF N. Vaughn – 1B R. Cordero – 2B A. Castillo – LF Lozada – 3B Spalding – P Polaco

Crowley struck out four Elks the first time through the lineup, but also walked a guy, nailed a guy, gave up a hit, was almost taken deep by Rick Atkins, and somehow didn’t allow a run. He continued that for a whole three innings before getting thrashed in the bottom 4th. Nick Vaughn led off with a single, but two outs were made before the Elks unleashed a Lozada single, Spalding tripled into the rightfield corner, Polaco annoyingly got an RBI single, and even Castro singled, before Varner struck out to keep the score at 3-0. While the Coons amounted to one (1) hit through five innings, the Elks sent Crowley packing with ten hits and six runs, and after two outs in the bottom 5th. Vaughn and Lozada hit big homers to right – for Vaughn it was #20 on the year – and then he still put Spalding and Polaco on base with more singles before getting hooked. Soriano replaced him, gave up another run on a sharp Castro single, walked Varner, conceded two more runs on a single spanked by Atkins, and then Vaughn struck out…

The Coons got leadoff singles from the pinch-hitting Corral and Novelo in the sixth and left them on first and second base against Polaco, while the Elks ****** up Rich Read for a tenth run in the bottom 6th, Rico Cordero leading off with a ground-rule double and being brought in with a Castillo single right away before Read gradually filled the bases and then still somehow got two more outs. The Coons only reached the board in the eighth inning for a singular run. Ryan Bonner led off the inning with a double to left and was brought around on non-awful outs by Colter and Novelo. 10-1 Canadiens. Corral (PH) 1-1;

In other news

September 8 – SAC SP Phil Nelson (13-9, 3.90 ERA) goes eight-and-two-thirds with a no-hitter intact against the Gold Sox before allowing a single to Denver’s Luis Palacios (.283, 2 HR, 17 RBI) and getting removed from an 8-0 game. SAC MR Dan Lawrence (2-2, 3.61 ERA, 2 SV) gets the final out in the game.
September 9 – ATL SP Danny Ortiz (14-11, 4.00 ERA) 3-hits the Falcons, 2-0, while striking out six batters.
September 9 – Dallas CF Tyler Wharton (.363, 29 HR, 109 RBI) is back with another hitting streak of 20 games following two knocks in a 7-2 loss to the Pacifics. Wharton drives in the Stars’ only two runs in the game.
September 10 – Washington crushes the Blue Sox, 21-4, including a 10-spot in the fourth and a 6-spot in the sixth. Six different Capitals hitters go deep, and a trio of them has four RBI each: C Jonathan Gutierrez (.278, 12 HR, 55 RBI), OF Isaiah Birth (.222, 10 HR, 57 RBI), and OF Brent Campbell (.251, 8 HR, 47 RBI);
September 13 – NYC SP Shane Fitzgibbon (8-3, 3.27 ERA) 3-hits his old team, the Indians, in a 6-0 shutout.
September 13 – SFW 1B Miguel Medina (.292, 19 HR, 75 RBI) ends his season by breaking his kneecap, which will render him questionable for Opening Day in ’66.

FL Player of the Week: TOP INF/LF Alex Rodriguez (.276, 5 HR, 40 RBI), batting .519 (14-27) with 1 HR, 4 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB RF/LF Juan Paez (.311, 11 HR, 62 RBI), hitting .579 (11-19) with 2 HR, 2 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Awful, awful, awful week. Yes, I know we went 3-3, but even going 3-3 can get you strangled by your enraged GM regardless. Two long extra-inning games, several blowouts, awful pitching, awful hitting, and the cherry on top another stupid error by Vic Morales.

Spicer saw his lead in the stolen base race narrow to five this week, 47-42, as Vic Lorenzo got back on the horse and stole four bases for Vegas this week. Lorenzo’s first bag since August 19 only came on Thursday, September 9 against the Thunder, though. Funnily both are on teams that might yet finish last in their divisions.

Rich Monck was sent on a rehab assignment with the Alley Cats on Sunday. He would get just a few days there to warm up before rejoining the Furballs in the middle of the week. Our AAA team still had six games left on its schedule at that point and were leading the Loggers’ affiliate, the Lubbock Flame, by two games for the division title. The Panthers and Beagles both were finishing their season well under .500.

The final homestand of the season was beckoning now, with nine games against the Crusaders, Aces, and Knights, the whole thing framed by our last two off days. It would be the Loggers, Titans, and Indians on the road to finish the season after that.

Fun Fact: Speaking of last-place teams, the Indians’ Mike DeWitt (9-4, 1.94 ERA) had the best ERA in the league by almost three quarters of a run.

The second-best ERA in the league? That would be Bobby Herrera of the Loggers. Old Tipsy Bobby (age 35) had of course kicked the bucket for the season, but before he went down to injury had put up enough innings to lock in his 2.60 ERA – it was the first time in his career that he finished a season with a sub-3 ERA! He had been consistently in the low 3’s with the Raccoons, with a best mark of 3.08 in his sophomore season.

At this point, Tipsy Bobby was 108-85 with a 3.21 for his career, which had of course started late at age 28 after he had made it over from Cuba. DeWitt was 28 years old now. He had already won an ERA title with the Indians in ’63, and was 73-48 with a 2.56 ERA for his career. He was worth all your prospects and ours, too, and signed to the dead-in-the-water Arrowheads for two more seasons.

…

Roster screenshot was taken on Monday, because I’m stupid