[Westheim]

The Coons were off on Monday, which meant we had ample time to bury John Katzman and the hope for a halfway decent finish to the season.

The AAA season had ended on the weekend and the Alley Cats had finished well beaten and in last place. We brought up another arm, but decided against Noah Newhard. How delighted would you be with some more of Matt Schmieder? We also called up a spare infielder in Manny Arredondo while waiving reliever Mike Davis, who was out with a torn labrum anyway, to make room on the 40-man roster. Arredondo, going on 29, had gotten a singular at-bat with Portland in ’69, and would ride the bench, since Josh Mireles would take the starts at short. Like, all of them. MAYBE some for Murcia.

Monday was also where the Loggers quietly eliminated half of the CL North from mathematical playoff consideration by beating the Crusaders, 3-2. This put not only New York, but also the Critters and the Indians in a wooden box for 2070.

Raccoons (65-79) @ Titans (71-72) – September 16-18, 2070

The Titans held a 9-6 lead in the season series, and were fifth in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed. They had a +14 run differential. Starter Aiden Shaw was the only injury case. They ranked second in homers and second from the bottom in stolen bases, but I was confident we’d give up plenty of each.

Projected matchups:
Vinny Morales (7-11, 3.95 ERA) vs. Matt Nelson (8-10, 4.73 ERA)
Gabriel Rios (7-2, 2.88 ERA) vs. Mike Bell (15-6, 3.13 ERA)
Val Centeno (2-5, 7.38 ERA) vs. Jesse Cruise (5-6, 4.34 ERA)

Cruise was a left-hander, while Centeno was speculated by the Agitator to only get another start because of the Jimmy Wharton malaise.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – RF Corral – CF T. Wharton – SS Mireles – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – 1B D. Gomez – P Morales
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – RF M. Garcia – 2B Jer. White – LF McInnis – 3B D. Miller – 1B Starwalt – P M. Nelson

The Raccoons didn’t do anything with a Yocum double in the first inning, then loaded the bases with the 5-6-7 batters on straight singles to begin the second. Dan Gomez’ sac fly was as good as got as Morales fanned and Humphries lobbed one over for Edgar Gonzales to catch. While Vinny Morales struck out four in a row in the first two innings and allowed no base runners, the Coons got another Yocum double to begin the top 3rd. A wild pitch moved him to third before Corral walked. Wharton came through with a rousing RBI single, Mireles popped out, but J.P. Gallo found a hole on the left side to push an RBI single through. Jake Flowe knocked a 2-run double down the rightfield line, 5-0, Gomez walked, Morales flew out easily, Humphries drew another walk, and Yocum ended Nelson’s day with a 2-out, 2-run single with the bases loaded. Kyle Houck walked Corral, but Wharton then grounded out to short. Vinny didn’t allow a runner in the third inning, then slapped his own 2-out, 2-run single to drive in Flowe and Gomez in the fourth inning for a 9-0 lead. Humphries walked again and Yocum hit an RBI single to get to 10-0 and also rid of Houck.

The 14th hit of the game was the first the Titans landed, and it was a ****** infield roller that Manuel Garcia legged out for a base hit to begin the bottom 5th. Yocum then chipped in an error on Matt McInnis, Danny Miller hit another single, and they got an unearned run on Danny Starwalt’s groundout before PH Jared Robichaud popped out to leave two in scoring position. The Titans had another single in each of the next two innings but didn’t remotely qualify as a threat in either, and went quietly in the eighth, at the end of which complete-game-less Vinny Morales, Duke of the Low Stamina, was on 94 pitches, and still up by nine – or ten, once Steve Humphries hit his first Coons homer off Tyler Gleason in the ninth inning. Vinny then returned for the bottom 9th and got a first-pitch groundout from Garcia. Jeremy White flew out to Humphries on four pitches. McInnis was then kind enough to ground out on the very next pitch. 11-1 Raccoons. Yocum 4-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Gallo 3-5, RBI; Flowe 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; D. Gomez 3-4, 2B, RBI; Morales 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, W (8-11) and 1-5, 2 RBI;

And there it was, Vinny Morales’ first career complete game, on exactly 100 pitches.

Game 2
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – RF Corral – CF T. Wharton – SS Mireles – C Flowe – 3B Murcia – 1B D. Gomez – P Rios
BOS: 2B E. Gonzales – CF Marcotte – 1B Goodwin – RF M. Garcia – 3B D. Miller – C D. Johnson – 2B Jer. White – LF S. Leon – P M. Bell

Tyler Wharton tripled home the game’s first run (Corral) in the first inning, but Mireles whiffed and left him on base. For additional calmth, Gabriel Rios then walked three in the bottom 1st, although Eddie Marcotte was caught stealing before critical mass was achieved on the bases. Instead, Wharton upped the score to 2-0 with a solo homer to left-center, knocking out all the hard parts of a cycle by the fourth inning. Mireles reached on an error and Murcia singled to put Coons on the corners for Dan Gomez, whose 1-out single to center maintained the ”on the corners” status, but now with a 3-0 lead. Rios killed the inning with a 4-6-3 double play grounder, though. Corral added a solo homer with two gone in the fifth, but Wharton then grounded out.

Rios barely pitched five innings before being removed for having thrown 96 pitches. Curt Goodwin got him for a solo homer in the bottom 5th, but aside from that the Titans had left four hits and four walks on base. The Coons covered the next three innings with a mix of Holzmeister, Gabe Gomez, and Nava, who only gave up two singles between them and no Titan reached as far as third base in those three innings, setting up for Pedro Valentin with a 4-1 score. Jeremy White drew a leadoff walk, but Sergio Leon struck out. Robichaud pnch-hit and singled to right, and a throwing error by Corral caused havoc on the infield, allowing White to score while Robichaud stopped at second base. The tying run was now in the box, but Gonzales fanned and Marcotte popped out to end the game. 4-2 Raccoons. T. Wharton 2-4, HR, 3B, 2 RBI;

Four wins in a row to ruin the draft position.

No, at this point there is no result they can achieve that will not make me moan and bicker.

Game 3
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – RF van Otterdijk – CF T. Wharton – SS Mireles – 3B Murcia – 1B Spink – C Jalomo – P Centeno
BOS: SS E. Gonzales – CF Marcotte – C D. Johnson – RF M. Garcia – 2B Jer. White – LF McInnis – 3B D. Miller – 1B Starwalt – P Cruise

Van Otterdijk hit into a double play and Centeno walked two and gave up a run in the first inning, and I wasn’t quite sure which of them to strangle first. Humphries, van Otterdijk, and Wharton then loaded the bases with three singles and one out in the third inning, and the Coons turned the score around on an RBI single by Mireles and Murcia’s sac fly, while Tony Spink popped out to leave two more runners stranded – and Centeno gave up straight 1-out singles to Gonzales, Marcotte, and Johnson in the same inning to get the game tied again, before Manuel Garcia hit into a double play.

Centeno’s uselessness came to a head – after already offering another walk and single in the fourth inning – in the bottom 5th when the top 3 in the Boston lineup strafed him for straight hits to begin the inning, as Gonzales singled, Marcotte hit an RBI double, and Johnson found another single. He then drilled Garcia with a 1-2 pitch to load the bases and was execu- … removed from the game. Victor Ramirez wiggled out of the inning for one more run on White’s double play grounder, then struck out McInnis, but the Raccoons were now 4-2 down.

Otal and Yocum hit a pair of singles in the seventh, but got no help from van Otterdijk and Wharton, who ended the inning after already hitting into a double play in his previous at-bat. The Raccoons went in order in the eighth, but McMahan was taken deep by Danny Miller for a solo home run. 5-2 Titans. Yocum 2-4; van Otterdijk 2-4; Murcia 2-3, RBI; Otal (PH) 1-1;

Raccoons (67-80) @ Bayhawks (57-88) – September 19-21, 2070

The Bayhawks were in last place in the South but had an even record against the Raccoons this year, as we just couldn’t get through against this third-worst offense, worst pitching, and -133 run differential.

Projected matchups:
Nick Walla (10-10, 3.81 ERA) vs. Billy Thompson (7-13, 5.47 ERA)
Tony Gaytan (9-13, 3.95 ERA) vs. Ian Lowry (8-11, 4.83 ERA)
Jimmy Wharton (9-10, 4.07 ERA) vs. Liberio Ivo (8-12, 4.01 ERA)

No southpaws in sight here.

Jimmy Wharton was pushed to the end of the series to give him extra time to recover from the oblique strain.

Game 1
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – RF Corral – CF T. Wharton – 3B Gallo – C Flowe – SS Murcia – 1B D. Gomez – P Walla
SFB: SS Bruce – 3B K. Ball – RF J. Ward – CF Redding – LF Whetstine – 2B S. McLaughlin – C H. Valdez – 1B Eaton – P B. Thompson

Nick Walla was 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA in his last five outings, so obviously Ryan Bruce began the bottom 1st with a wallbanger double to left. He advanced on Keith Ball’s grounder and went home when Jake Ward flew out to Wharton, but what the big guy couldn’t tally in homers, he sure tried to make up for in outfield assists, because he shotgunned another runner out at the plate. Gallo doubled and Murcia singled him home for a lead in the top 2nd, and with two outs the Coons continued as Dan Gomez doubled to center, moving a pair into scoring position that Walla then cashed with a solid 2-run single to left-center, giving himself a 3-0 lead. He went to third on Humph’s single to left-center, scored on a wild pitch, and thus was up 4-0 before Yocum grounded out to end the inning. The struggles were not yet over for Walla on the hill though, as he gave up a single to Ryan Redding to begin the bottom 2nd, then nailed Chad Whetstine, but somehow wiggled his way out of that jam as well against the bottom of the order. Even then, he didn’t get a K until the fourth and the pitch count was up early.

By the fourth, the lead was 5-0 as Humph doubled home Murcia in that inning, while Walla allowed no runners in the middle innings, but also only got one more K on reliever Mark Mills, so hardly a reason to celebrate. Jake Ward drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, but remained on base. The pitch count was 87 after seven innings, so a shutout was unlikely, and the eighth inning dragged on after Hugo Valdez led off with a double in a full count. Todd Eaton grounded out, Brett Haus whiffed in a full count, and Bruce flew out to center in another full count, and so Walla was done after eight shutout innings. Manny Arredondo – in his first appearance since getting onto the roster – batted for him in the top of the ninth, then replaced Yocum at second while Holzmeister allowed a hit to Redding, but put the game away without undue drama in the ninth. 5-0 Critters. Humphries 2-5, 2B, RBI; Gallo 2-4, 2B; Walla 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, W (11-10) and 1-3, 2 RBI;

Game 2
POR: LF Humphries – 2B Yocum – 1B Otal – CF T. Wharton – RF Corral – 3B Gallo – SS Mireles – C Brown – P Gaytan
SFB: SS Bruce – 3B K. Ball – RF J. Ward – CF Redding – LF Whetstine – 2B S. McLaughlin – C H. Valdez – 1B Eaton – P Lowry

The Coons batted through the lineup and scored four runs on three hits and three walks despite only having Otal at first and two outs at one point. Wharton and Corral then drew walks to fill the bases, Gallo hit an RBI single, Mireles drew another walk, and Sam Brown singled in a pair before Gaytan flew out to center., Gaytan retired the first seven batters before Eaton hit a single, but was left on base by Lowry and Bruce.

While Lowry caught himself after the early beating, Humphries took another beating on a catch as he dove for a Ward liner to left in the fourth and remained on the ground, ball in glove, until Luis Silva dragged him off the field. Otal replaced him in leftfield, and Tony Spink entered the game batting and playing first. Lowry then began the bottom 4th, and while I was still whimpering by drilling Adam Yocum in the shoulder, and the next expensive toy left the lineup. Mireles moved to second and Murcia entered the game at short in his place.

With the Raccoons’ lineup thus perfectly castrated, the Bayhawks just needed to wait for some defensive stupidity, like Sam Brown’s clumsy fielding error in the bottom 6th to get a runner on base and maneuver him around to score an unearned run. The runner was Bruce, leading off, stole a base, and came home on Ward’s single. Gaytan kept pitching undeterred, and in the ninth batted for himself, somehow flunking his way on base when walked by Brad Yoxall. Otal and Wharton joined to fill the bases with two outs, and Corral drew another walk to push Gaytan across home plate. After Gallo grounded out, he finished the game with three quick outs from Ball, Ward, and Redding. 5-1 Raccoons. Gallo 2-5, RBI; Mireles 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Gaytan 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, W (10-13);

Adam Yocum’s shoulder was all the hues of blacks and blues on Sunday morning and he was listed as day-to-day, probably well into next week. That was still better than Steve Humphries’ sprained ankle, that put him out for the year and overall held him to a pathetic 52 games for the year. He went on the DL. Jesus Guerrero got a late replacement call-up.

Oh, that Sunday lineup. Oh, god. Oh, god.

Game 3
POR: SS Murcia – LF Otal – RF Corral – CF T. Wharton – C Flowe – 3B Gallo – 2B Mireles – 1B D. Gomez – P J. Wharton
SFB: SS Bruce – C M. Lopez – RF J. Ward – CF Redding – LF Whetstine – 2B S. McLaughlin – 3B Katz – 1B Eaton – P Ivo

Murcia flew out to Ward to begin the game, but Ward took a bad tumble on the turf and also left the game with an injury, being right away replaced with Dave Sturm, who made his second appearance of the season at age 27. The Coons took a 2-0 lead in the second when Flowe walked and Gallo homered, then left Mireles and Jimmyboy and a pair of singles on base. Jimmy allowed straight singles to Whetstine, Sean McLaughlin, and Calvin Katz in the bottom 2nd, but the bags remained loaded with a K on Eaton and Ivo’s groundout.

The score went up to 3-0 in the third on Corral’s and Big Wharton’s hits, and Flowe’s run-scoring groundout before Gallo chased a big strike three for the last out of the inning. Lil’ Wharton allowed another two singles to Bruce and Sturm in the inning, but Redding’s lineout to Gallo saved his bacon from extra bases and run(s). But the singles kept coming and eventually the Baybirds broke through when Bruce drove home Katz and Eaton with the third single of the bottom 4th and narrowed the score to 3-2. Mario Lopez worked a walk, but Mireles handled Sturm’s groundout to keep two stranded. Whetstine’s single and McLaughlin’s homer then flipped the score in the fifth, Jimmy Wharton put two more runners on base and eventually was disposed of rather early, now on the hook. All in all the Baybirds got him for *11* hits.

The Coons had the bases loaded with Gallo, who reached on an Eaton error, Mireles (single), and Colter, who was brutally drilled in the chest by Ivo with two outs. Murcia took the next pitch up the middle for a 2-run single and flipped the score back to 5-4 Portland, and also knocked out Ivo. Otal raked a 2-run double off Ricardo Orta, 7-4, scored on a Corral single, and Wharton also singled, but the inning ended with Flowe grounding out after five runs were scored in total.

Gutierrez pitched a scoreless inning before the Coons brought in Gabe Gomez for the seventh, but the left-handed tosser just put Whetstine and Katz on the corners for only one out and then was yanked and replaced with Sullivan, who got out of the inning, but conceded the lead runner, 8-5. Colter went deep to right off Yoxall to begin the top 8th, 9-5, and hits by Murcia, Otal, and Flowe added another run. Gallo grounded out, stranding two. Dan Gomez doubled with one gone in the ninth, then scored when Sturm dropped Colter’s fly for a 2-base error. Murcia flew out, and Guerrero batted for Otal and slapped an RBI single off Alan Deakin. Schmieder got the ball for the ninth and began with two long, long, long fly outs by Whetstine and McLaughlin before Katz shanked a triple into the right-center gap. He wasn’t missing the middle of the plate at all, except when he beaned Todd Eaton on base next. Hugo Valdez then pinch-hit and slapped an RBI single – but Eaton managed to get himself thrown out running the bases, and that completed the sweep. 12-6 Furballs. Murcia 2-6, 2 RBI; Otal 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Guerrero (PH) 1-1, RBI; Corral 2-4, RBI; T. Wharton 2-5, 2B; Mireles 2-5; D. Gomez 2-5, 2B; Colter 1-2, HR, RBI;

In other news

September 15 – CHA 1B Andy Metz (.278, 21 HR, 75 RBI) gets two hits in an 8-3 win against the Aces to reach 2,000 career hits. Metz also has a Rookie of the Year title, 322 career home runs, 1,199 RBI, and a pair of World Series rings to his name. In 2060 he led the CL in home runs despite only being traded from the Blue Sox to the Thunder in May.
September 15 – In the same game, a single gives LVA OF Josh Phelps (.299, 14 HR, 56 RBI) a 20-game hitting streak.
September 16 – TIJ SP Jason Brenize (13-7, 2.19 ERA) twirls 8.2 innings of a no-hitter against the Knights before giving up a 2-out double to ATL OF Jorge Soto (.291, 6 HR, 41 RBI), then has to settle for a 1-hit shutout.
September 17 – SAL OF Chris Bauer (.329, 17 HR, 84 RBI) is trying, knocking out five hits including a home run and a double, and drives in two runs, but the Wolves fall to the Pacifics, 9-3.
September 20 – Vegas SP Alex Duarte (13-10, 4.45 ERA) spins a 2-hit shutout with six strikeouts *and* hits a 3-run homer to beat the Crusaders, 8-0.
September 20 – Aces OF Victor Lorenzo (.318, 2 HR, 48 RBI) gets to spend the offseason rehabbing a broken elbow.
September 20 – DEN SP Walt Chicas (2-5, 3.67 ERA) will miss all of next season with a frayed flexor tendon in his elbow.

Player of the Week (FL): WAS 1B Armando Curiel (.380, 10 HR, 23 RBI), mashing .483 (14-29) with 4 HR, 9 RBI
Player of the Week (CL): VAN 1B Hector Moreno (.266, 19 HR, 70 RBI), batting .400 (12-30) with 3 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

I am at odds with the baseball gods. What a wicked bunch!! Last week I pointed out that we only had the four prime bats together for 33 games this year… and now we can start the count on Wharton being the last man standing.

Every time I hear Armando Curiel I think “he’s still playing?”, but that’s because I mix him up with Ernesto Curiel, who IS still playing as hangers-on in AAA, and they’re not related, nor even from the same country. The 23-year-old Armando is Cuban, and the 33-year-old Ernesto is Mexican.

The string continues with the last six home games against the Aces and Loggers next week. After that one final mindless road trip to Indy and Elk City awaits.

Fun Fact: Nick Walla became the third Raccoons pitcher to win three 100’s on Friday.

His win was the 7,900th regular season W in franchise history, and he had already claimed #7,500 and #7,800 in earlier years.

The only other pitchers to match this feat of total coincidence are Ralph Ford, who did it during the Decade of Darkness for added difficulty, and Jonny Toner.

Ford beat the Aces on August 26, 2001 for #2,000; the Crusaders on June 6, 2004 for #2,200; and then the Indians on September 3, 2005 for #2,300.

Toner, pitching in noticeably better days one player generation later, got both the rickety franchise’s 3,400th W on April 13, 2018 *and* the 3,600th W on May 5, 2020 against the damn Elks, but the most outstanding of the three wins was the first one he got, #3,300 on October 2, 2016, when he struck out 18 Titans on Closing Day. This remains the most strikeouts by a CL pitcher in any game ever played, and ties the mark set by Washington’s Chris York in 2004. (Playoff record: LAP Brad Smith, 17, in 2016)