[Westheim]

Raccoons (58-79) vs. Indians (65-69) – September 7-9, 2066

Here was the one team the Raccoons played somehow well against in 2066, as we had won nine of the dozen games played with the Arrowheads so far. The Indians had won five games in a row though so maybe they’d just continue to stomp their way to .500 here. They ranked tenth in runs scored and fifth in runs allowed.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (10-8, 3.79 ERA) vs. Mike DeWitt (10-7, 2.73 ERA)
Evan Alvey (5-3, 3.81 ERA) vs. Joe Napier (9-11, 4.30 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (7-12, 3.89 ERA) vs. Victor Perez (7-8, 4.28 ERA)

DeWitt was the first southpaw the Raccoons would see in a while, and the only one in this series.

Game 1
IND: CF M. Martin – SS O. Aredondo – LF Dowsey – 1B Starwalt – RF T. Torres – 3B P. Weber – C Atencio – 2B Falcon – P DeWitt
POR: CF Wilson – SS Novelo – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 2B Arantes – 1B Spicer – RF Tallent – LF Early – P Walla

Portland scored first, getting two runs across in the second inning, which Arantes and Spicer began with singles, a double steal, and then a run-scoring groundout from Early, and a wild pitch by DeWitt that plated Spicer with two outs, two strikes, and Walla ready to flail himself back to the hill – which he did on the next pitch. There were another two singles for the Critters in the following inning, but Wilson and Lopez were stranded on base.

The Indians didn’t get a hit until the fourth inning when Danny Starwalt singled to left. Walla had already walked a pair and nailed Vinny Atencio by the time he got there, so it wasn’t like he’d been on a cruise up to that point, but the Indians failed to get any run across so far. DeWitt hit a double off Walla in the fifth inning, but also got no support and was stranded as Matt Martin popped out on the infield and Oscar Aredondo flew out to Jaden Wilson in center. Pablo Novelo added a run with a solo homer to left in the bottom 5th, 3-0, and apart from that Walla bravely lumbered into the eighth inning, where he gave up a 2-out solo homer to Starwalt, but then retired Tony Torres to finish the inning and got his pat on the tush. Justin Cullum then sorted out the Indians on eight pitches in the ninth inning. 3-1 Critters. Novelo 2-4, HR, RBI; Lopez 2-4; Walla 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, W (11-8);

The whole affair barely took two hours and a quarter.

Game 2
IND: CF E. Ramirez – C J. Edwards – 3B P. Weber – 1B Starwalt – LF M. Martin – RF Dowsey – 2B O. Aredondo – SS Jim White – P V. Perez
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – 2B Arantes – SS Novelo – LF Bentley – P Alvey

Alvey crashed and burned right in the first inning, which began with Eddy Ramirez doubling and scoring on John Edwards’ single to center. Paul Weber grounded out, but Starwalt walked, Martin double in a run, Justin Dowsey plated another run with a single, as did Oscar Aredondo. Jim White reached when John Bentley dropped his fly to left, allowing Dowsey to score. Aredondo then was caught stealing and Victor Perez was actually retired to end the bloody inning. Jaden Wilson’s homer in the bottom 1st did little to scratch the Indians’ 5-0 lead, and Alvey then unceremoniously walked the bases full, all in 3-2 counts, to begin the top 2nd, and was quietly ushered off the mound. Two runs would score on a Matt Martin single off Manabu Yamauchi, who otherwise struck out two batters on his way out of the inning.

Bottom 3rd, and the Raccoons loaded the bases with nobody out in a 7-1 game. Spicer batted for Yamauchi, singled, stole second, and the bags then filled with a Wilson single and a walk drawn by Jose Corral. One run scored when Ramon Lopez hit a single, and another run scored when Victor Perez hit a Monck. Starr got another run home with a sac fly, 7-4, but Arantes then blundered into an inning-ending double play with a grounder to short.

Raccoons relief then was surprisingly scoreless for another inning of Soriano and two of Vinny Morales, but the offense failed to provide more rally through six innings. Josh Carrington had another scoreless seventh, allowing two hits and striking out as many. Bottom 7th, and Wilson singled his way on against Ignazio Flores. Tallent batted for Corral, but still whiffed against the southpaw; however, Ramon Lopez thundered a homer to left, and now we were in a 7-6 game. The Indians went to Justin Esch, whose first pitch struck a ducking Rich Monck in the shoulder, and at that point it was *on*. Monck peppered his helmet at Esch and stormed out there, getting a grasp of Esch’s shirt before being tackled by Paul Weber, and a bit of a melee ensued, at the end of which both Esch and Monck were ejected and the Raccoons brought in Manny Arredondo to pinch-run. He made it – with the tying run – to third base on a Starr double off Melvin Guerra, and there was still only one out. Arantes tied the game with a sac fly, but Starr was left on base when Novelo whiffed. Arantes then went to third base with his glove, and Arrendondo took over second.

Pedro Mendoza held the tie in the eighth and Dover had a 1-2-3 ninth in the 7-7 tie, but the Raccoons couldn’t get a paw up against the Indians’ pen now either. Arredondo was walked by Cody Kleidon in the bottom 9th, but Starr flew out to left to sent the game to extras. McMahan ached through the tenth, walking a pair, but also getting strikeouts where needed against PH Willie Valenzuela and Edwards to end the inning. Arredondo would hit a 2-out single against Victor Ramirez in the bottom 11th, but was caught stealing, while Paul Barton was employed for two innings, in the latter allowing a hit to Vinny Atencio, who was forced out by Jose Hilario. The quick runner Hilario stole second base and eventually went on to score with two outs… on a wild pitch by Barton… Joel Starr hit a leadoff single off Ramirez in the bottom of the 12th inning, but didn’t get any meaningful help from Arantes, Novelo, and Bentley behind him, and was stranded to end the game. 8-7 Indians. Wilson 3-6, HR, RBI; Lopez 2-6, HR, 3 RBI; Arredondo 1-1, BB; Starr 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Spicer (PH) 1-1; Colter (PH) 1-1; Yamauchi 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; Morales 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Rich Monck was thus on the penalty bench for the rest of the week. The Raccoons were tempted to get Jamie Colter’s bat in the lineup by including him at third base, although his arm was kinda crap for that position.

Game 3
IND: CF M. Martin – SS O. Aredondo – LF Dowsey – 1B Starwalt – 3B P. Weber – C Atencio – RF Wil Martinez – 2B Jim White – P Napier
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Colter – 2B Arantes – SS Novelo – LF Spicer – P Nakayama

While Nakayama faced the minimum the first time through in the rubber game, walking Wil Martinez before getting him doubled up by Jim White, the Raccoons grabbed an early 2-0 lead on a Lopez homer – but apart from those two runners, including Jaden Wilson, also only brought up the minimum against Napier. Matt Martin then singled up the middle to open the fourth inning, but was also immediately doubled up by Aredondo’s grounder to short. Starwalt drew a leadoff walk in the fifth – and the Indians hit into a double play for the third straight inning. Jim White became their first runner to not get wrapped up in a two-for-one, singling in the sixth inning, and was instead stranded on first base as Napier popped up a bunt and Martin flew out to center.

Ramon Lopez singled and stole second in the bottom 6th before the bags filled up behind him with walks to Colter and Arantes, bringing up Novelo with one out. The shortstop dropped a ball in front of Justin Dowsey for an easy RBI single and a 3-0 lead, but Spicer grounded sharply to Aredondo, who threw out Colter at home plate, and Nakayama whiffed to end the inning.

Starwalt and Weber doubles then got the Indians on the board in the seventh inning, narrowing the lead to 3-1, but the Raccoons were on the corners to begin the bottom 7th, as Napier issued his sixth walk of the day to Wilson leading off the inning, and Corral then singled to left-center. Ramon Lopez then crashed a 3-run homer to put Napier to bed, and extend the lead to 6-1 again. Nakayama added a scoreless eighth before Spicer singled his way on in the bottom 8th, stole second, and was thrown out trying to steal third base as well… Nakayama then returned to the hill on 92 pitches, but the pen was standing by ready. Their help (?) was not required as whilst Aredondo singled his way on base, Dowsey then flew out easily, and the Indians then found one more double play in their hearts on their way outta town, and Starwalt’s 4-6-3 grounder ended the game. 6-1 Critters. Lopez 3-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Novelo 3-4, RBI; Nakayama 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (8-12);

Nakayama’s complete-game 6-hitter took care of mathematically eliminating the Indians from postseason consideration. Only the Crusaders were left with a 12-game gap to the Titans, since the Elks had mathematically bowed out on Wednesday already.

Raccoons (60-80) @ Loggers (58-82) – September 10-12, 2066

The Loggers were already assured a losing season, while the Raccoons were still resisting. However, the Loggers had been a tough lot for us in recent years, including this time around, where they had already won the season series, 10-5 with these three games to spare. They continued to lead the CL in runs scored – and also in runs allowed, for a -61 run differential, as every day in Loggerland was basically an open house, free-for-all on the pitching staff; they were allowing 5.55 runs a game. Starter Nick Waldron remained on the DL and would remain there for the rest of the year, but apart from that they were healthy.

Projected matchups:
Tony Gaytan (4-5, 4.22 ERA) vs. Julio Robles (5-7, 5.32 ERA)
Juan Sanchez (7-8, 3.41 ERA) vs. Tony Espinosa (3-7, 5.26 ERA)
Nick Walla (11-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Aiden Shaw (4-4, 5.05 ERA)

Another left-hander was spotted on Saturday for the middle game.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – 3B Colter – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – C Flowe – 2B Tallent – LF Spicer – P Gaytan
MIL: RF D. Wright – 2B Goss – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – LF C. Dominguez – CF Merrill – 3B Reber – C Guitreau – P J. Robles

For the third time this week the Raccoons would put up a 2-spot by the second inning to draw first blood. This time Starr singled and Novelo doubled to lead off the second inning, from where they scored on a Flowe sac fly and Spicer’s 2-out single. Spicer stole another base after that, his 39th this year, but Gaytan struck out. Himself he struck out four batters the first time through the Loggers’ order, but the second time through Tim Goss singled and Cesar Ramirez doubled him home to get a run in for Milwaukee with two outs in the third inning. Things got even tighter in the fourth as Jonathan Merrill and Kyle Reber got on base with one out, but Gaytan then managed to dazzle the Loggers battery with a pair of full-count strikeouts.

While he was doing *fine*, he was also on a numbing 92 pitches through five innings in the 2-1 game before Corral and Colter put a tack-on run together with a pair of doubles in the top of the sixth. Gaytan got another inning in with a walk to Merrill included, but that would be it for him. The Coons scored another run in the seventh as Tallent and Spicer got on base to begin the inning, and Tallent scored on two grounders to the right side by Arantes and Wilson, while Spicer was left on base when Corral bounced out to Cesar Ramirez. From there, the bullpen took over affairs, and allowed precious little to the Loggers; Cullum had a quick seventh, McMahan allowed a single in the eighth and got the first out in the ninth, and Juan Soriano then finished off the game while navigating around an error by Colter. 4-1 Coons. Early (PH) 1-1; Spicer 2-3, RBI;

Colter was by then in rightfield, though, so it was not a third base thing for him.

Game 2
POR: SS Novelo – RF Corral – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Arantes – CF Tallent – LF Early – 2B Bonner – P Sanchez
MIL: 3B Reber – 2B Goss – LF C. Ramirez – 1B D. Robles – RF C. Dominguez – SS F. Carrera – CF Merrill – C Guitreau – P T. Espinosa

Portland went up in the second inning again on Saturday, and in a peculiar way, with a Tallent double and a Ryan Bonner triple, both to center and over the head of Merrill. Bonner’s hit came with two outs and saw him stranded when Sanchez went down to Espinosa, who returned the favor with a K to end the bottom 2nd against Espinosa with Carlos Dominguez and Tommy Guitreau on base after hitting a pair of singles. Funnily enough the Raccoons had another triple and another run in the third inning. Novelo did the three-bagger honors, while Corral whiffed and Lopez plated him with a groundout.

Juan Sanchez then melted down in the bottom 3rd, running no fewer than five 3-ball counts. Kyle Reber led off with a single but was forced out by Tim Goss’ grounder to second. Sanchez then walked the bags full and allowed an RBI single to right to Dominguez. Carrera whiffed, and Merrill hit a comebacker to Sanchez, which he ****** for an error and allowed the tying run to score. And then he walked Guitreau to force a 3-2 lead onto the Loggers. Espinosa then flew out on a 3-1 count. The Raccoons answered in the fourth with straight singles from their 5-6-7 hitters, who filled the bases before Bonner lined out to Carrera and Sanchez hit into a double play. Oh boy!

The score flipped back to Portland in the fifth as Lopez tripled (!) home Novelo and scored on Arantes’ sac fly after Starr got an intentional walk, which put us up 4-3 again. Sanchez qualified for the win by crawling through five innings, and not one batter more. An extra run was gained in the top 6th on singles by Bentley and Corral, and then immediately surrendered by Yamauchi in the home half of the inning when he also allowed two hits to the Loggers, and then needed to be rescued by Quinones, who got another two outs in the seventh before walking Carrera and being replaced with Paul Barton, who got the last out there. Novelo then knocked a 2-run homer off Luis Palacios in the eighth, finding Ryan Bonner on base for the extra damage, 7-4.

The Loggers made those two runs up in unearned fashion against Carrington and McMahan in the bottom 8th. Guitreau singled leading off against the righty, who then misfielded Devin Willoughby’s bouncer for an error. Reber hit into a fielder’s choice before McMahan came in and gave up a 2-out, 2-run triple to Ramirez, of all people. Dave Robles popped out to short to keep the Loggers one run behind. The Raccoons failed to tack on in the ninth inning, but Jesse Dover slammed the door on the Loggers despite walking Dominguez to begin the bottom of the ninth inning. Pat Fowler, Mario Alaniz, and Guitreau then made straight outs to end the game. 7-6 Raccoons. Novelo 2-5, HR, 3B, 2 RBI; Lopez 2-4, BB, 3B, 2 RBI; Tallent 2-3, 2B; Bonner 2-4, 3B, RBI; Bentley (PH) 1-1;

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – RF Corral – 3B Colter – 1B Starr – SS Novelo – C Flowe – 2B Bonner – LF Spicer – P Walla
MIL: RF D. Wright – 2B Goss – 1B C. Ramirez – SS F. Carrera – LF C. Dominguez – CF Merrill – 3B Reber – C Guitreau – P A. Shaw

Portland scored first again, this time on a pair of walks and Novelo’s dumb-lucky 2-out infield single that chased Corral home with a run before Jake Flowe could ground out to leave a pair on base; the Loggers were a bit more thorough in the bottom 1st and shredded Walla for three runs right away. The first four batters all reached base by a single, walk, and two more singles, and Merrill added another single after a K to Dominguez. Reber and Guitreau made outs, but three runs were in for Milwaukee. The Coons made up one run in the second when Spicer was drilled by Shaw, stole his 40th base, and was singled home by Walla, but on the hill the right-hander remained extremely useless. The second and third innings were busy, and in the fourth inning the sky entirely fell again on him. Guitreau led off with a single and was doubled home by Wright, after which Tim Goss reached on a 2-base throwing error by Novelo, plating Wright, 5-2, and Ramirez hit another single. That was curtains for Walla, who left with runners on the corners after allowing eight hits and two walks in just 3.1 innings. Quinones came in and picked up the pieces, but then – after Starr drove in Corral to make up a run in the top 5th – got shackled in the fifth instead, facing five more batters and giving up two singles, a double, a triple, and three runs. Sean Thomas replaced him, walked the bags full, and allowed three singles for another four runs before being purged without logging an out. Barton replaced him and gave up a 3-run homer to Reber, and another homer to Guitreau, at which point the score was 16-3, the Loggers had ****** the Coons for ELEVEN runs in the inning, and had only made ONE ******* OUT FOR IT.

More insult was added in the seventh when Jaden Wilson hit a leadoff single and then immediately was picked off first base in a 13-run deficit. Cesar Ramirez would reach 100 RBI for the season with a 2-run homer off Soriano in the bottom 8th; the right-hander Soriano walked three batters in the inning, the last two of which were somehow stranded. Aiden Shaw pitched a complete-game 9-hitter for the Loggers… 18-3 Loggers. Bonner 2-4; Arantes (PH) 1-1;

In other news

September 7 – The Condors lose catcher Mike Brann (.242, 9 HR, 36 RBI) for the rest of the year; the 28-year-old is out with a broken thumb.
September 8 – ATL SP Kodai Koga (12-10, 3.25 ERA) claims his 250th career win at age 42 in a 14-2 rout of the Titans. Koga makes it a complete-game 6-hitter for extra flair points.
September 8 – A broken finger might cost Thunder outfielder Coby Thore (.273, 7 HR, 27 RBI) not only the rest of the regular season, but also the playoffs.
September 9 – Lots of held breaths in Dallas right now, as star CF Tyler Wharton (.338, 24 HR, 88 RBI) goes on the DL with a strained rib cage muscle, but is expected to return before the end of the regular season.
September 10 – Condors 3B/2B Ralph Lange (.219, 5 HR, 35 RBI) goes deep for the only run in a 1-0 win against the Thunder.
September 11 – The Caps’ SP Danny Ortiz (9-12, 3.72 ERA) throws a 1-hit shutout against the Rebels for an 8-0 win. The only Rebs hit is a single by LF/CF/2B Darby Laybolt (.278, 7 HR, 29 RBI) in the fourth inning.
September 12 – Fans in Pittsburgh get treated to a 19-13 win of the Miners against the Buffaloes, with Pittsburgh’s 2B Roland Hood (.322, 14 HR, 78 RBI) driving in seven runs on three hits, including a first-inning grand slam. The Miners also score multiple runs in every inning but the sixth, in which they do not score at all.

FL Player of the Week: CIN C/1B Jonathan Contreras (.306, 8 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .714 (10-14) with 1 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: POR C Ramon Lopez (.278, 13 HR, 68 RBI), socking .500 (9-18) with 3 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Ramon Lopez played only in four games, but they were all multi-hit games and in addition to the homers he also had a triple. His OPS jumped 38 points this week, which isn’t nothing in September.

For some of these pitchers, the death penalty would still be too good…

Malcolm Spicer now ties for the lead in steals in the ABL again, and leads the CL by three. And yet he’s costing us another 1.2 wins according to BNN’s WAR nonsense. Shut up and just look at him go…!

Cruz Madrid joined the Alley Cats for rehab this week. This is quite unexpected, as we thought he’d miss the entire season on his way to free agency. He will now remain with St. Pete for the rest of the AAA season – the team was already eliminated from playoff contention – and will then probably wind up on the Raccoons for the last couple of weeks.

In fact, none of the Raccoons’ minor league teams made the playoffs this year, and the Panthers and Beagles even finished last. Oh, oh, oh…

The string continues with the last homestand of the season, which will see nine games being played against the Titans, Baybirds, and Thunder. The last three series of the year will all take place on the road.

Fun Fact: Kodai Koga’s 250th win was also his 500th decision, as he had already made it to 250 losses before that.

He was now 250-250 with a 3.70 ERA across 4,511 innings and with 2,819 strikeouts in his career.

So what would his Hall of Fame chances be, considering that he had only a Gold Glove and two All Star nominations for silverware, and the only thing he ever led the league in was in 2056 with the Titans, where he simultaneously and confusingly topped the CL in both WHIP and losses with a 13-15 season for a 3.09 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.

Koga was not in the top 10 for career wins yet, sitting 11th with his 250 wins. The top 10 were as follows – and all of these pitchers were in the Hall of Fame; in fact, the only one of them to have pitched in the ABL in Koga’s already impressively long lifetime was #7 Jose Lerma:

1st – Tony Hamlyn – 308
2nd – Martin Garcia – 292
3rd – Aaron Anderson – 286
4th – Woody Roberts – 279
t-5th – Juan Correa – 272
t-5th – Craig Hansen – 272
7th – Jose Lerma – 270
8th – Bastyao Caixinha – 262
9th – Javier Cruz – 256
10th – Brad Smith – 254
11th – Kodai Koga – 250 (active)

Other active pitchers in the top 100 all-time included #23 Ben Seiter (235), #35 Sean Sweeton (214), and #95 Ricardo Montoya (180).