[Westheim]

Raccoons (64-79) vs. Crusaders (71-71) – September 12-15, 2067

The Crusaders were in town to mop up the remains of the season series they had already won, 10-4. The rest of their season had been a disappointment for sure, being 20 games behind the Loggers and all. They were around average in many categories, although the rotation ranked third in terms of ERA, and they had a +27 run differential. Eric Frasher was the only DL occupant for New York.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (8-9, 3.43 ERA) vs. Jerry Washington (12-6, 2.76 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (9-14, 3.78 ERA) vs. Erik Lee (12-12, 4.04 ERA)
Shoma Nakayama (11-11, 3.66 ERA) vs. Jarod Nesbit (6-8, 4.11 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (9-12, 4.25 ERA) vs. Ramon Carreno (8-5, 3.93 ERA)

Another set of only right-handed starters. We still had to talk about injuries, though. Randy Tallent went to the DL on Monday with a knee sprain and would probably miss two of the last three weeks. Matt Schmieder remained on the roster, day-to-day with a calf strain that would keep him away from anything but 17th innings for at least a few days. And the Raccoons were another arm short with Jason Holzmeister out with a sinus infection, which would also take at least a few days to sort out. The Coons would pad out that pen with the addition of Paul Barton, who was almost 32 years old, surplus to requirements in general, and not particularly useful to even the Alley Cats.

Game 1
NYC: CF Box – 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – RF Takeuchi – LF Ambriz – 3B Aoki – SS O. Vera – P Jer. Washington
POR: CF Wilson – C Lopez – 1B Starr – 3B Monck – LF Dowsey – RF Milian – 2B Gutierrez – SS Novelo – P Walla

New York went up 1-0 with an unearned run chiefly to be blamed on Novelo’s 2-base throwing error that put the speedy Omar Sanchez into scoring position, from where David Johnson plated him with a 2-out single to center, so the Raccoons, barely scratching .250 for their last 41 games, were once again a-trailing. Dowsey did something about that, dingering to right in the second inning to tie the game at one; and Ramon Lopez also went yard an inning later to give Walla a 2-1 lead that he’d surely find a way to fritter away before long.

The Coons actually extended their lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning when Dowsey got nicked and scored on a 2-out triple to center hit by Carlos Gutierrez, but Gutierrez was stranded and then Walla as expected laid another egg against the bottom of the order in the top 5th, allowing a leadoff double to ex-Coon Yukio Aoki, and then nicked Omar Vera. Washington struck out bunting, but a walk to Bryant Box filled the bases, and a single by Omar Sanchez and a passed ball on Lopez tied the game at three before Danny Starwalt and Johnson somehow made outs to keep another pair of runners in scoring position, popping out and flying out to left, respectively.

But Rich Monck got the lead back in unearned fashion in the bottom 5th, Wilson reaching on an error to begin the frame before stealing his 34th base of the year. Starr walked with one out, and Monck then singled to center to get Wilson in to score, 4-3. Dowsey grounded out to second, advancing the runners, but David Milian, much maligned originally, but now actually hitting, cashed the longtime Critters from scoring position with a 2-out single to right-center. That was the end of Washington, who was replaced with lefty Ed Nadeau, who got Gutierrez out to end the 3-spot.

Walla continued – only one of the three runs on him was earned – and got an inning-ending pickoff on Aoki in the sixth inning, and he would complete seven innings to reach the stretch. By then the Crusaders had lost Nadeau to an apparent injury, while the Raccoons used Yamauchi to hold the 6-3 lead in the eighth and then actually went to Evan Alvey in the ninth, where New York had four left-handed bats lined up starting with Kazuhide Takeuchi, who was also the first of three straight Japanese players there, Natsu Nakamura having replaced Jose Ambriz earlier; and McMahan had pitched two days in a row and was not going to be bothered. Alvey allowed a 1-out double to Nakamura, but got the other two Japanese sticks and also Omar Vera, who grounded out to Monck to end the game. 6-3 Raccoons. Walla 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, W (9-9);

Tuesday’s game was then rained out and we got another double header stuffed down our throats, when we had really played enough of those this year…

Gaytan remained the lead starter for the Wednesday double-header, never mind that the weather was still icky.

Game 2
NYC: CF Box – 3B Aoki – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – RF Takeuchi – LF Ambriz – 2B T. Cummings – SS Masterson – P E. Lee
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Gutierrez – C Lopez – 3B Monck – 1B Starr – RF Milian – LF Early – SS Novelo – P Gaytan

Monck singled home Wilson, who stole another base, once more in the bottom 1st to give Gaytan the early 1-0 lead, but it was blown well immediately with a leadoff walk to Takeuchi and an Ambriz homer in the second… Terry Cummings and Scott Masterson also reached base, and Bryant Box singled home Cummings, 3-1, before Box was caught stealing and Aoki lined out to Monck to end the bloody inning. Bottom 3rd, Wilson was on base again and scored on another Gutierrez triple, this one into the leftfield corner, which put the tying run just 90 feet away with nobody out. Lopez whiffed, but Monck hit another dutiful RBI single to tie the score at three. Starr grounded out, Milian walked, and Early was robbed in the gap by Box to end the inning.

Gaytan lasted only five innings in the 3-3 tie, walking four and whiffing six in an outing that sure had its ups and downs. Another up came in the bottom 5th, and with that I mean a pitch up and in to Rich Monck from Lee that struck him in the wrist. He immediately dropped the bat, squealing, and ran off to the dugout, as if Luis Silva could do anything *now*. Monck left the game, and Silva soon reported that the wrist was broken and his season (and Coons career?) were over. Gary Gates ran for him and then filled in at third base, but was left on base after Starr reached on an error by Masterson and Milian hit into an inning-ending double play.

Soriano got the ball for the sixth, allowed a soft single to Ambriz leading off, and hurt himself reaching for the ball as it got past him, hobbling off with another leg injury. As the pile of bodies got higher, the Raccoons sent Barton into the game for his season debut. He got the 7-8-9 batters out, and with that we were looking at long relief from Chance Fox, who walked Omar Sanchez in Aoki’s spot with one out in the seventh, but then got Starwalt and Johnson out. Portland’s half of the seventh on this sullen late afternoon saw Gutierrez club a 1-out double off Lee, and Lopez walked before being forced out on Gates’ grounder to short. Starr walked, filling the bases for Milian, who was rung up by Ben Peterson, replacing Lee. Fox went into the ninth in the 3-3 tie before walking Alex Silverio and Sanchez and being replaced before those right-handed sluggers could get another shot at him. Dover came in, allowed a sharp single to Starwalt – so sharp the runners could not get an extra base with Wilson all over the ball – and then got a double play grounder, 6-4-3 from Johnson, keeping the game tied.

Bottom 9th, the Coons got another double with one out from Gutierrez, this one to left and off Dave Hyman. New York walked Lopez intentionally to get to Gates, while the Coons thought, screw you, and sent the runners for a successful double steal on the first pitch. THEN Dowsey batted for Gates and was immediately walked to fill the bases for Starr, who struck out, and Milian, who popped out foul. (slams fist on the table!) The first game of a ******* double-header thus went to extras, where Dover was upended by the left-handed Japanese Connection, allowing a single to Takeuchi and a 2-out, pinch-hit homer to Nakamura. Marquise Early led off with a single in the bottom 10th against Hyman, and Novelo was ahead 3-0 when he hit into a double play, the ******* *****. Tony Spink flew out in Dover’s spot to end the game. 5-3 Crusaders. Wilson 3-5; Gutierrez 3-5, 3B, 2 2B, RBI; Monck 2-2, 2 RBI; Early 2-5; Fox 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K;

The word on Soriano was “calf strain” and that he would be day-to-day, but Monck was in a black cast before the second game was due to start, and sat by his locker dejectedly.

I was hiding under the pillows on the brown couch altogether.

The Raccoons were down to 27 full sets of paws for the night game, including just 13 position players (with the third catcher in there).

Game 3
NYC: CF Box – 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Starwalt – RF Takeuchi – LF Ambriz – 3B Aoki – C Reyna – SS T. Cummings – P Nesbit
POR: SS Gutierrez – 2B Bonner – 1B Starr – RF Dowsey – LF Early – CF Matas – C Aguilar – 3B Gates – P Nakayama

Nakayama DRILLED Starwalt in the first inning, which didn’t look like a coincidence at all, but the Crusaders didn’t score on the occasion. They did get four singles and two runs in the second inning, though, as Ambriz and Aoki led off the inning with singles, and then Nesbit (…) and Box each brought in a run with a 2-out knock. Nakayama then feigned competence for three innings, while Nesbit was 2-hitting the Coons through five innings, but then didn’t retire any of the first FIVE batters he faced in the sixth, going single, walk, single, walk, single, with two runs in and nobody out, before striking out Nesbit and then disappeared into the tunnel, getting yanked in favor of McMahan. The left-hander allowed a 2-run single to Box, an infield RBI single to Sanchez, and then a 3-run homer to Starwalt as the Crusaders escalated for an 8-spot, 10-0.

Down 10-0, the 1-2-3 batters reached base with nobody out in the bottom 6th, as if anyone cared anymore. They also didn’t ******* score, as Dowsey’s comebacker was taken for an out at home by Nesbit, Early popped out to first, and Matas flew out to left. Cameron Bridges got the ball, hopefully for the balance of the game, in the seventh, but immediately gave up a single to Victor Reyna and then the first career home run of Terry Cummings. By then, rain was taking hold and we had a rain delay of 20 minutes in the bottom 7th. Somehow the umps thought though that there was more pain to be had from this 12-0 blowout, and play resumed.

Nesbit didn’t buckle until the bottom 8th, where Starr and Dowsey began with groundouts, but then Early drew a 2-out walk, Ramon Lopez singled in place of Bridges, and Aguilar hit an RBI double. A walk to Gates ended Nesbit’s night, but replacement Aiden Shaw then gave up a grand slam to center to Jaden Wilson in the #9 hole. Yes, no all-caps screaming for a slam when you’re down by double digits when it’s hit. Silverio answered with a homer off the returning Schmieder in the ninth inning, and the Coons somehow managed to end the game by getting Bonner and Dowsey on base in the ninth and Marquise Early then lining into a 3-U double play. 13-5 Crusaders. Gutierrez 2-5; Bonner 2-5; Lopez (PH) 1-1; Gates 1-2, 2 BB; Wilson 1-2, HR, 4 RBI;

The Raccoons called up an extra warm body in Jamie Colter – even though the Alley Cats with two games to go were not actually eliminated yet.

Game 4
NYC: CF Box – 2B O. Sanchez – 1B Starwalt – C D. Johnson – RF Takeuchi – LF Ambriz – 3B Aoki – SS Masterson – P Carreno
POR: CF Wilson – SS Gutierrez – C Lopez – 1B Dowsey – RF Milian – LF Matas – 3B Gates – 2B Bonner – P Rios

While David Johnson took Rios deep to left for a 1-0 score in the second inning, Rios singled with two outs in the bottom 3rd to prevent Carreno from seeing the minimum the first time through against his long-ago team. Wilson left him on base, but Gutierrez and Lopez began the bottom 4th with soft singles to put on a threat, at least until Dowsey crashed into a double play and Milian rolled over to leave the tying run at third base…

New York didn’t tack on a second run until the sixth, the second straight frame in which they got a single and walk out of Rios. Takeuchi brought in Sanchez with a sac fly to double the score to 2-0. Bottom 6th, Wilson doubled and Gutierrez singled with one out to put the tying runs on the corners. The Crusaders failed to turn two on Lopez’ grounder to short, so Wilson scored, but Dowsey then also grounded out to leave at least the tying run stranded. Rios went seven innings on 100 pitches exactly, holding on to the 2-1 score, and after Milian and Matas reached to begin the bottom 7th, Gates popped out and Bonner bombed with another double play grounder to kill the inning…

Yamauchi and Alvey would go on and hold the score through the last two innings of regulation, while Carreno went eight innings of 7-hit ball before Hyman replaced him again. Dowsey got on base with a 1-out walk and was run for with Early, but the runner never made it off first base as Milian lined out to Tony Villarreal at third base, and Starr batted for Matas, but also grounded out. 2-1 Crusaders. Gutierrez 2-4;

By Thursday night, the Loggers were 7 1/2 games up in the North, not looking brilliant against the Indians, but at least they didn’t pull a Titans move and suffered three walkoff losses in a four-game set in Elk City.

Raccoons (65-82) @ Falcons (73-73) – September 16-18, 2067

Putting pants on was hard at this point of the season and I didn’t join the team in Charlotte. I felt more like lying down and waiting for the end. We had already taken the season series from the Falcons, 5-1, and they were second in the South, but 11 games out and needn’t bother anymore. Their #8 offense and #3 pitching had proven to be not nearly enough to tackle the Thunder.

Projected matchups:
Cody Childress (0-1, 12.96 ERA) vs. Jason Morea (2-4, 4.54 ERA)
Nick Walla (9-9, 3.35 ERA) vs. Edgar Mauricio (10-11, 3.00 ERA)
Ryan Musgrave (9-11, 4.61 ERA) vs. Tony Lira (13-7, 3.82 ERA)

More right-handers!

Childress got another start there, because maybe the third time was the charm, even though Ryan Musgrave came off the DL for this series, and we also regained Holzmeister and Soriano for the weekend. The Alley Cats were still alive on Friday ahead of the regular season finale – but there were FOUR teams that were trying to have a tie for their division at that point. We could use another infielder, but no more moves were made at this point.

Game 1
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Gutierrez – C R. Lopez – 1B Dowsey – RF Milian – LF Matas – 3B Gates – SS Novelo – P Childress
CHA: 2B Schmidt – SS Tr. Taylor – C O. Matos – LF T. Lopez – 3B D. Mendoza – CF Fountain – 1B Meza – RF Asencio – P Morea

Childress retired the first six before giving up a single to Mike Meza, who remained on base in the third inning, which was surely a trend upwards from his previous outings. The Raccoons also started slow before taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Lopez and Dowsey reached base to begin the inning and then at least one run was brought in on straight groundouts by Milian, Matas, and Gates… Childress got around a leadoff walk to Trent Taylor, even though the runner stole second base in the bottom 4th, and walked Meza and threw a wild pitch in the fifth, but then recovered with strikeouts to Mario Asencio and the pitcher. When Taylor hit a 1-out double to left in the sixth inning, Childress struck out Oscar Matos and then got a pop to short from Tony Lopez.

Gates was nicked to begin the seventh, then took off to steal his first base. When the bouncing ball got away from John Schmidt, Gates scampered on to third base with nobody out. The run came home when Diego Mendoza bungled Novelo’s grounder for another error, 2-0. Childress bunted the runner to second, and Novelo was thrown out at the plate by Asencio on a Wilson single to right. Gutierrez’ pop to second stranded Wilson, while Childress gave up a wallbanger leadoff double to Mendoza and then lost Elijah Fountain on straight balls before being replaced with Alvey. It didn’t end well. PH Jose Consuegra’s grounder advanced the runners, and Matas then overran Chad Cardwell’s single to left, allowing both runners to score and tie the game. John Schmidt’s 2-out RBI single gave the Falcons a 3-2 lead. The bullpen kept melting in the eighth, allowing another two runs between Matos’ leadoff double off Alvey, two walks issued by Josh C, and a 2-run single with two outs by Dave Robles. Jeff Dutcher flew out to leave two on base. 5-2 Falcons. Wilson 2-4; Lopez 1-2, BB;

You might be Dutch, but Jeff is Dutcher.

I’m sorry, I got nothing left. I’m but a husk.

The Alley Cats lost their last game to the Toledo Discoverers, ending their season. The Raccoons reacted swiftly and brought up another FOUR players. Jake Flowe moved up to the majors (hopefully to stay) after ending his AAA season batting .287 with ten homers in 104 games, and infielders Manny Arredondo and Jacob Davis were brought up to bolster the numbers on the diamond. Arredondo had been up last year, but Davis would make his debut, a 25-year-old fifth-rounder from 2064 that had batted .279 with five homers in half a season with St. Pete. One more pitcher was added in left-hander Sean Thomas, who had already been up last year as well.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Thomas and Davis, Tony Spink was waived and DFA’ed after batting 0-for-5 in four games, and Leon Arantes was moved to the 60-day DL. Manny Arredondo wore #55 after having #50 since taken by Milian last year.

Game 2
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Gutierrez – C R. Lopez – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – RF Colter – 3B Gates – SS Novelo – P Walla
CHA: 2B Schmidt – SS Tr. Taylor – C O. Matos – 1B D. Robles – LF T. Lopez – 3B D. Mendoza – CF Fountain – RF Asencio – P E. Mauricio

The Coons had runners on second and third with one out in both of the first two innings, once with Wilson walking and Lopez doubling, and then with Colter walking and Novelo doubling. Both times no further hits followed; Dowsey got in a run with a groundout in the first inning, but Walla whiffed, and neither Starr nor Wilson did anything nice between those two innings. In the top 3rd, Gutierrez grounded out, but then Lopez and Dowsey hit singles. Lopez went to third base and drew a wild throw from Asencio, which then allowed him to score and Dowsey to boogie into second base while Diego Mendoza recovered the ball. Dowsey was left on regardless, though.

Portland then finally put up a bigger inning in the fourth after Gutierrez hit a 2-out single to plate Novelo from second base, and then Ramon Lopez’ tenth homer extended Walla’s lead to 5-0. Dowsey singled again, but Starr popped out to end the inning. Walla meanwhile had a pretty good game going before suddenly lightning flashed after he had logged 3.1 innings, and play went into a weather delay for over 40 minutes. Walla returned on the other end, and appeared to still be sharp, continuing with a 2-hitter through five innings on just 50 pitches, but now the stuff seemed to be gone.

Next to be gone was Lopez, who hit a double in the sixth, but twisted his knee sliding into second base and was collected by a stoic Luis Silva. Arredondo made his season debut as pinch-runner, but was left on base when Dowsey grounded out. Since Flowe arrived having caught several games in a row, Justin Aguilar then rook over behind the dish. The sixth inning was also the last for Walla, who was giving up loud noises and was held together only by the defense, including a long Taylor fly out to Wilson in center, and a HARD grounder on a 3-0 pitch by Matos to Gutierrez that ended the inning. Milian batted for him with Colter and Gates on the corners and two outs, but grounded out to Taylor at short…

Soriano issued two leadoff walks in the bottom 7th, a mess that was then left for McMahan to sort out against the bottom of the order, while the Coons after an Aguilar double and Dowsey walking with two outs left another pair stranded when Starr popped out to Mendoza in foul ground to end the top 8th. Bridges pitched the last two innings, but not without blowing the shutout with two outs to go when he was taken deep by Dave Robles. 5-1 Raccoons. Gutierrez 2-5, 2B, RBI; Lopez 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Aguilar (PH) 1-1, 2B; Dowsey 2-4, BB, RBI; Novelo 3-5, 2 2B; Walla 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (10-9);

(deep sigh)

Ramon Lopez was off to the DL for the rest of the year with knee tendinitis. That made for another expensive free agent that had his season end early, batting .256 with ten homers and 57 RBI. The RBI tally actually tied him for second on a team that had a hard time getting runs home and was bottoms in offense.

Game 3
POR: CF Wilson – 2B Gutierrez – LF Dowsey – 1B Starr – RF Milian – C Flowe – SS Arredondo – 3B Davis – P Musgrave
CHA: 2B Schmidt – SS Tr. Taylor – C O. Matos – 1B D. Robles – LF T. Lopez – 3B D. Mendoza – CF Fountain – RF Asencio – P T. Lira

While I was still wondering what this lineup had become, Ryan Musgrave effortlessly gave up two runs on three sharp hits in the bottom 2nd to blow an unearned 1-0 lead the Coons had gotten from Starr reaching on a throwing error by John Schmidt in the top 2nd and scoring on Milian’s groundout and Flowe’s sac fly to center. The Falcons kept teeing off of Musgrave, who fooled nobody, but hit into a double play in the third base and ended the fourth on a baserunning blunder by Elijah Fountain, who tried to go first-to-third on Milian on Asencio’s 2-out single to right, but was well thrown out to end the inning.

Jacob Davis, making his ABL debut, grounded out in his first at-bat, but doubled to left in the fifth inning for his first mantelpiece item in the Bigs. He was also stranded on base, because he was already a valued member of the team. Musgrave kept giving up rockets, with hits for Lira leading off the bottom 5th, but being forced out by Schmidt, and then Matos dishing a 2-out RBI single. The Coons had seen enough and went to Holzmeister, who walked Robles, but then had Tony Lopez ground out to end the inning. Holzmeister got another out in the sixth, followed by two outs from Sean Thomas, who made his season debut, and then walked Lira to begin the seventh inning. Schmieder replaced him and got three easy outs from the Falcons.

Lira, besides being an offensive terror, was still pitching a 2-hitter entering the eighth, having given up the two hits to the 7-8 batters, both of whom had gotten the first hit of their season. They led off in the eighth; Arredondo struck out, but Davis singled to center, at which point we remembered that – hey! – with a runner on base, we have the tying run at the plate! Matas flew out to center, Wilson drew a 2-out walk, but Gutierrez popped out foul to Mendoza, and that was that inning… We then shooed Jesse Dover off his lazy tush to do something in the bottom 8th. He got two outs, and got ****** up for three runs on four hits and a walk before being replaced with Carrington, who gave up more RBI singles to Taylor and Matos before Robles finally grounded the **** out, and now it was a beating, even when Starr and Milian hit a pair of RBI doubles against Orazio Cecere in the ninth inning. Jason Stine soon put an end to those shenanigans. 8-3 Falcons. Davis 2-4, 2B;

In other news

September 16 – The Stars clinch the FL West with a 6-0 win against the Buffaloes, 17 games up on the opposition.
September 18 – A single by 1B Alex Mendez (.346, 8 HR, 56 RBI) is all that spares the Capitals from getting no-hit in a 4-1 loss against the Scorpions, who have SP Jay Williams (11-14, 4.29 ERA) and CL Tony Torres (3-6, 3.46 ERA, 32 SV) combine for the effort.

FL Player of the Week: SFW OF Danny Perez (.306, 23 HR, 100 RBI), raking .552 (16-29) with 4 HR, 11 RBI
CL Player of the Week: MIL 2B/SS Fidel Carrera (.310, 26 HR, 124 RBI), pushing .476 (10-21) with 2 HR, 6 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Useless. They’re all useless.

13-35 now for their last 48 games, which is technically an improvement with a 2-5 week. I can barely contain the excitement.

As the injuries continue to pile up now, the Raccoons had no interest to add Andrew Farlow as a third catcher, the 20-year-old having just moved to AAA a month-and-a-half ago, and Tony Spink was on waivers right now, and maybe we’d just finish the year with two catchers… Works in May, why wouldn’t it work in September…

Rich Monck hit his 27th and final homer of the season on August 28 before going on a drought, and before having his wrist broken by the ******* **** Erik Lee. He finished the year with a .293 average, 27 homers, and 88 RBI. This was his fifth season in Portland, and the last on his contract.

Quo vadis, Rich Monck? Quo vadis, Ramon Lopez? Quo vadis, Raccoons?

Monday was a day off, and then we’d have our final homestand of the season, nine games with the Aces, Titans, and Loggers, who may or may not have clinched the division by then. We’d play three in Elk City at the tail end of the year, so I will spend the final four weeks of the season exclusively curled up on Portland couches.

Fun Fact: Suddenly, we’re up to 41 players used this season.

Including some I could have done without.