[Westheim]

Raccoons (81-55) vs. Titans (73-65) – September 4-6, 2028

Nine games out, the Titans were still the nearest chasers of the Raccoons in early September, which again meant that even just one win in the 3-game set would already have to count as a success for us. Just don’t get swept, boys! The Titans were scoring fewer runs than the Critters, sitting in seventh in the CL, while having conceded the third-fewest runs. Those were not really the numbers of a team that would have good chances to win it all, and the Raccoons would try to make sure they wouldn't win as much as the division. The season series stood at 7-5 in the Critters’ favor.

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (15-5, 2.81 ERA) vs. Lorenzo Viamontes (8-11, 3.64 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (7-8, 4.47 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (2-4, 2.96 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (10-7, 2.53 ERA) vs. Jeremy Waite (10-10, 2.91 ERA)

The Raccoons would lead off with Nomura rather than Anderson, switching the two around, to break up the three left-handers again on one paw, but more importantly to not lead off with the currently weakest member of the rotation to artificially maybe create a pressure situation. Each game promised to feature opposite-handed starting pitchers, with Wingo the only lefty Titan on offer.

Game 1
BOS: LF W. Vega – RF Kuramoto – 1B B. Lloyd – SS Spataro – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – CF Reichardt – C Skinner – P Viamontes
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – RF Hereford – C Leal – LF Correa – 2B Spencer – 3B Nunley – P Nomura

Rin Nomura expertly created artificially maybe a pressure situation with a terrible 33-pitch opening inning in which the Titans ticked him for three singles, a walk, a wild pitch, but only one run with Jon Correa taking Bob Lloyd’s long drive at the fence to at least prevent even further early damage. Of all people, Adrian Reichardt grounded out with the bases loaded to end the top of the first. Oh well, at least Viamontes did way, way worse in the first. Ramos led off with a single but could not get a steal off before Kevin Harenberg’s renaissance continued with a 2-piece to right-center. Not to take a seat back, Rich Hereford homered to center, and before Viamontes could shake that one off, Leal hit a single and Correa went deep to left-center to procure a 5-1 lead on three bombs.

Before long, it rained on the parade – literally. Typical Portland September weather led to a 1-hour rain delay in the third inning, and Nomura was only worse afterwards. He did not get out of the fourth inning, offering a single to Reichardt, three walks, a wild pitch, and two runs were already across with Yasuhiro Kuramoto and Bob Lloyd on base after 2-out walks as the tying runs. Kevin Surginer came on, but blew the game for good. He walked Keith Spataro, after which Adam Corder legged out a run-scoring infield single. A single to right-center off Rhett West’s bat plated two and flipped the score for Boston, 6-5, before Reichardt again grounded out to end the inning. Both teams now had a 5-spot, and neither still had their starting pitcher in the game. The Raccoons would just keep coming apart. There was a Leal throwing error in the fifth that somehow did not lead to a run, but Nick Derks got trampled in the sixth inning with back-to-back walks to Lloyd and Spataro to start the inning, another wild pitch, then Rhett West’s next 2-run single up the middle. Despiritingly, the Raccoons showed next to no rally. They did literally zero in the middle innings, then got leadoff singles in the seventh (Nunley) and eighth (Mora). They either hit into a double play or three pathetic soft flies, and never got a man to second base. Ryan Corkum then issued a leadoff walk to Correa in the ninth, but Spencer grounded to short for a fielder’s choice. Nunley then grounded back to the mound to allow Corkum to turn a 1-6-3 game-ender. 8-5 Titans. Ramos 2-4;

This looks like your run-of-the-mill oh-they-scored-some-more-than-us loss, but it was actually devastating. I am crushed inside …!

(is handed a bottle of Capt’n Coma by Slappy)

Game 2
BOS: CF Reichardt – LF W. Vega – 1B B. Lloyd – RF Good – C Leonard – 2B R. West – 3B Corder – SS Spataro – P Wingo
POR: SS Ramos – LF Morales – CF Mora – 2B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Tovias – 3B Gerster – P Anderson

Portland again scored in the first on Ramos’ leadoff double, a stolen base (third, in this case), and eventually Hereford’s productive groundout. Mora had also reached base to allow for that. Kyle Anderson responded in depressing fashion with two leadoff walks to Keith Leonard and Rhett West in the top 2nd, then conceded a soft single to Corder to put three on with nobody out. It would not get better. Anderson lost Spataro to a game-tying walk, and then the Coons could not turn two on Dustin Wingo’s grounder to Hereford, falling 2-1 behind. Runners on the corners for Reichardt, who grounded back to the mound, and AGAIN no double play; the Coons were just too slow to turn them. At least Corder remained pinned at third base and Willie Vega came up still with runners on the corners and two out. On the third pitch he saw, Elias Tovias had a smart idea and tried to pick Reichardt off first base. Unfortunately, he threw the ball past Harenberg and Corder scored on the error, and Reichardt moved to second and scored on Vega’s single to left. Bob Lloyd would end the inning with a strikeout, but to be fair to him, he could not stop laughing and had no chance of hitting any of the garbage Anderson was tossing his way. The Titans were up 4-1, and the Raccoons looked like they were routed already.

Butch Gerster homered in the bottom 2nd for some weird touch to the game, but the horror show continued unabated. Leonard hit a 1-out single in the third, went for third on Rhett West’s single to right, but scored on Rafael Gomez’ horrendous throwing error. Amazingly, the Raccoons – despite all the sucking – stayed close. Rich Hereford’s 2-run blast in the bottom 3rd, which plated Morales, surely helped. With that, it was 5-4 Titans after three innings. Too bad that the Coons kept trotting Anderson out there. Top 4th, leadoff single by Reichardt, a pop by Vega, then a POP by Bob Lloyd, some 410 feet to left, 7-4. That was it for Anderson, but the Raccoons now actually had to worry that they would not have enough garbage time pitchers. That Jeff Kearney would not retire ANY left-handed batter he was assigned surely didn’t help. He put the next three Titans on base, then escaped unharmed when the Critters finally turned a double play on Corder (decidedly not a left-handed batter) to end the top 4th. Portland loaded them up in the bottom of the inning on a Tovias double, followed by walks to Gerster and Jon Correa, bringing up Ramos with one out. Alberto made sure that Wingo would not get the W, either, firing a liner up the rightfield line to plate two on a double. The Titans had seen enough, bringing righty Armando Gonzales as replacement, meaning that both pitchers had lasted 3.1 innings and had bled for a combined 13 runs. Err, make that 15 after Abel Mora’s score-flipping 2-out single to right. Hereford hit a double after that, but Harenberg fouled out to strand two in scoring position in an 8-7 game through four innings. The madness.

There was just the slight problem that the Raccoons would have to protect that lead for five innings with an already battered bullpen. They got through the fifth between Fleischer (two outs) and Jeremy Moesker (one out), but the sixth inning would see a completely wacko game rise to its next fever pitch. The Raccoons hoped to get Moesker through the inning against the 3-4-5 batters, right-hander Bob Lloyd followed by two southpaws. Moesker walked Lloyd, got Matt Good to pop out, but then also walked Keith Leonard. Crisis. And it did not look like any salvation was to be born any time soon. Maybe a double play from – nope, he walked Rhett West. I screamed like a horrified little girl, clutching Honeypaws in my right hand and a bottle of booze in my left. Three on, one out, the Coons hoped for a strikeout or two from Ricky Ohl who entered along with Jarod Spencer in a double switch (that saw Hereford move to left) as well as more rain that quickly got worse. Ohl fell 2-0 behind Corder, who hit a drive to leftfield, where Hereford had been supplanted in the double switch, but the ball turned barely foul before it could become a bases-clearing double. With that, the home field umpire jumped out, soaked, behind home plate and waved for the grounds crew. Oh great, just when we went to our least-flammable right-handed reliever! The tarp came onto the field as the skies tried to drain man and mouse, and every other critter in the city. It never stopped dousing from above, and the game was fantastically called after two hours of delay. 8-7 Coons!? Ramos 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Mora 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Hereford 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Gerster 1-2, BB, HR, RBI;

I had lost consciousness from all the screaming after some point, but after the game was called Maud woke me up. What are you talking about, Maud? We won?? – But the writing was on the wall all game long…!

Dodged a BIG BULLET here. Needless to say, the Titans were furious, but the rulebook was what it was…

Rico, how about some GOOD PITCHING now?

Game 3
BOS: LF W. Vega – RF Kuramoto – 1B B. Lloyd – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – CF Reichardt – SS S. Williams – C A. Arias – P Waite
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – 2B Hereford – RF Gomez – C Tovias – LF Correa – 3B Nunley – P Gutierrez

By the first inning the Raccoons were on five wild pitches in the series, but Yasuhiro Kuramoto, who reached on an infield single, would be stranded at second when Corder grounded out. Nobody scored in the early innings; the Critters loaded the bags in the second inning, but only with two outs and then brought up Rico, who hit a fly to left that was no challenge at all for Vega. Hereford drew a leadoff walk in the fourth but didn’t advance until Jon Correa legged out an infield single with two outs. Nunley came up and turned a 2-2 pitch around into shallow center for a single. Reichardt had played a wee bit deeper and the Coons sent Hereford around third base to prevent another three on, two outs for Rico, which worked out with Hereford beating the throw to home plate by about two steps, scoring the first run in the game. Then Rico even singled, loading the bases for Ramos, who unfortunately flew out to Reichardt to keep it 1-0.

Rico looked totally fine through five, then allowed a leadoff double to Waite in the sixth, one of the cardinal sins for pitchers. Vega flew out to shallow center, no chance for Waite to advance, so we had still a shot at getting out of the inning. Kuramoto popped out to Nunley, Lloyd grounded out to Ramos, and Rico Gutierrez still nursed a 3-hit shutout through six. But his pitch count was elevated (88 through a quick seventh) and it was a 1-0 game and I was not inclined in such a pivotal contest… Gomez and Tovias opened the bottom 6th with singles, but Nunley would kill the effort with a double play, and add-on offense seemed nigh impossible to come by. Mora hit a double in the seventh that led nowhere, but we had not hit for Rico, either, who faced the bottom of the order in the top 8th. Stephen Williams hit a vicious fly to right that Rafael Gomez would catch while bumping into the fence, but the fence would look worse for wear afterwards. Alex Arias and Waite grounded out easily, putting Rico at 96 pitches. Now, if the Coons could burst out in the bottom 8th, then Rico could still – well, did one run qualify as burst? Gomez hit a 1-out double, then came around on Leal singling in Correa’s place. That was 2-0, but was that enough for Rico to face the top of the order? No, the win was more important than personal glory – the Raccoons sent Josh Boles. Our closer got two outs, then walked the bases full. Portland Panic at its finest, the Coons catapulted Ricky Ohl forth from the bullpen. He would face Reichardt – but, no, Keith Leonard pinch-hitting now to counter the righty! The count ran full, Leonard cracked the 3-2 to the right side! Harenberg lunging and knocking it down! Ohl over to first, the toss, IN TIME!! 2-0 Furballs!! Gomez 2-4, 2B; Tovias 2-4; Correa 2-3; Leal (PH) 1-1, RBI; Gutierrez 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, W (11-7) and 1-3;

GASP…!!!

This was Rico’s first W in almost a month. He had most recently beaten the Loggers in a rain-blighted, five-inning outing on August 9 in Portland.

Raccoons (83-56) @ Loggers (59-80) – September 8-10, 2028

The Loggers were a series loss away from another losing season, their fifth straight and six in seven seasons after their only championship in 2021. They were in the bottom three in runs scored, near the bottom three in runs allowed, but would still hope for an upset to get out of the cellar. This was the last series of the year with Milwaukee, but the Coons had already taken the season series (as usual), having taken 10 of 15 prior games.

Projected matchups:
Mark Roberts (15-4, 2.96 ERA) vs. Francisco Colmenarez (7-13, 4.69 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (6-4, 4.73 ERA) vs. Alex Contreras (7-11, 4.30 ERA)
Rin Nomura (15-5, 2.99 ERA) vs. Philip Rogers (8-5, 3.35 ERA)

Southpaw, then two non-southpaws.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – LF Morales – RF Gomez – 2B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – 3B Gerster – CF Magallanes – P Roberts
MIL: RF V. Diaz – SS Ferrer – CF W. Trevino – 1B S. Garcia – 3B Holder – LF Schorsch – 2B Dresch – C J. Salazar – P Colmenarez

While Tom Schorsch put the Loggers in front with a solo shot in the second inning, the Raccoons’ first two hits belonged both to Rafael Gomez, a 2-out single in the first and a leadoff double in the fourth. The latter at least had promise, but Hereford flew out to Vinny Diaz, Harenberg grounded out to Manny Ferrer, and Tovias struck out altogether, stranding Gomez at third base. The Loggers responded with a dumb move; Steve Garcia’s leadoff double and a Kaleb Holder single had put runners on the corners with nobody out in the fourth. Schorsch struck out, and with Corey Dresch at the plate Holder suddenly took off and was thrown out with plenty of daylight between himself and second base. Dresch then grounded out to end the inning. The Raccoons responded with runners on the corners and no outs in the fifth after a pair of leadoff singles from Butch Gerster and Juan Magallanes. That did bring up the pitcher, who was not asked to bunt and struck out instead. Ramos popped out to Ferrer, which would not helped either way, but the Coons might have taken the lead on Danny Morales’ 2-out single to right had Roberts gotten the bunt down. Morales could only tie the game now, but Rafael Gomez also rammed a grounder past Dresch for another 2-out single, and that one got Magallanes across to claim a 2-1 lead. Hereford hit a deep fly to left, but had it caught to end the inning.

The lead would not last. Roberts was searching for his good stuff in the middle innings, didn’t find it, and instead gave up a run on back-to-back doubles to left by Ferrer and Willie Trevino in the sixth inning. He led off the top 7th with a single off Colmenarez though, and the situation became interesting when Ramos dropped a blooper near the rigthfield line that took Vinny Diaz forever to get to, allowing Ramos to reach second base on a double even with the lead-footed pitcher ahead of him. Two in scoring position, no outs in a tied game. Get ‘em, boys! After Morales lined out, the Loggers baffled themselves with an intentional walk to Gomez. True, Rafael was 3-for-3 in the game, but that was Rich Hereford stepping in with the bases full and one out, looking to add to his 121 RBI. Colmenarez did his best, almost fooled Rich, but he dug out a low ball for a floater over the head of the lunging Ferrer for an RBI single, putting Portland back in front, 3-2. The Loggers yanked Colmenarez for right-hander Mike Tandy against Harenberg, and Ferrer was removed alongside in a double switch for Jason Rauser. Harenberg popped out (oh, the clutch!), but Tovias singled cleanly to left to make it 4-2 as Ramos came across. Mora batted for Gerster to counter the righty Tandy, but struck out. And Roberts? Still no stuff. The Loggers rallied on Hereford’s error that put Dresch on base to begin the bottom 7th, after which Roberts nailed Diaz with two outs, then allowed an RBI single to PH Wilson Aquino. The Coons sent for Ricky Ohl, the Loggers brought Alexis Rueda as counter to that move, and the left-hander prevailed, singling past Harenberg into right. Diaz scored, but the Coons ended the inning when they caught Aquino in a rundown between second and third and got him for the third out, but the game was tied again, four-each the score.

Top 8th, southpaw Travis Feider was in for Milwaukee with Nunley having already been inserted into the #8 hole after the top 7th, Mora having stayed in the game rather than Magallanes. Nunley grounded out, but Spencer singled in the #9 hole, bringing up Ramos, who found the gap in right-center for extra bases. The Coons waved Spencer around to score and Ramos slid safely into third base for a go-ahead RBI triple! …and was stranded there. Morales grounded out poorly, and Gomez flew out to Jeff Becker in center. But the game would soon get more stupid. Bottom 8th, Nick Derks would face one batter only, Steve Garcia, and walked him. Brotman replaced him, but filled the bags when he walked Schorsch and lost Dresch to an infield single. John Salazar was hitless on the season and got nailed, forcing in the tying run. Rauser flew out to shallow center, Diaz struck out, but the Loggers had tied the game for the third consecutive inning. Pesky bunch! They would not extend that run, for Portland did not score in the top of the ninth. When the Loggers went down in order against Brotman and Surginer, the game went to extras, where Surginer prevailed in the bottom 10th as the Loggers threw every single left-handed batter with two arms and legs they could find at him, but still could not do more than a Dresch walk. Top 11th, Ramos led off with his second triple of the game against Cory Dew. Morales plated him with a sac fly before Gomez hit a double, advanced on a wild pitch, and was brought in by another sac fly, Hereford’s. Josh Boles retired two Loggers in the bottom 11th before waving for the trainer, which was so comforting. He left the game and the last out would hopefully be Ruben Roque retired by Jeff Kearney, who would come out to face the lefty bat. Roque predictably singled, but Kearney hung around for one more against switch-hitter Jeff Becker, who had little power… and grounded out to Ramos. 7-5 Coons. Ramos 3-6, 2 3B, 2B, RBI; Gomez 4-5, 2 2B, RBI; Hereford 2-5, 2 RBI; Spencer (PH) 1-1;

Fact: Abel Mora has zero pinch-hits on the season.

Josh Boles meanwhile had a sore thumb and was ruled out for the rest of the weekend, but should not require life-saving amputation any time soon.

…but a normal, slightly lame 6-1 game that is out of the window early would be some ACTUAL relief right now. This crazy week…!

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – 2B Hereford – RF Gomez – C Tovias – LF Correa – 3B Nunley – P Delgadillo
MIL: 3B V. Diaz – C Canody – LF Cambra – CF W. Trevino – RF Schorsch – 1B W. Aquino – SS J. Becker – 2B Holder – P A. Contreras

Ramos singled, stole second, scored on Harenberg’s double to right to give the Coons a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, which was not likely to last as Delgadillo appeared to seamlessly join the procession of pitchers that were being hit by trains, buses, and falling pianos, or at least did his very best. Taylor Canody hit a single in the bottom 1st, Firmino Cambra walked, and Trevino got nailed. Somehow, Schorsch hacked himself out and Aquino fouled out to Nunley to strand all the precious runners. However, the Loggers amounted to only one more base hit through five innings, while the Coons piled up eight total hits through five, but could only add a run on a Correa homer in the fourth. Nunley hit into a double play in the second, Ramos was stranded at third in the third, and Mora wound up Ramos with a double play in the fifth – it was mildly annoying. Contreras did the Coons a favor in the sixth; Gomez had led off with a single and was on third base with two outs. The Loggers extended an arm to walk Nunley intentionally to bring up Delgadillo, but before Yusneldan could ground out, Contreras balked in Gomez when he flubbed the ball preparing for his windup. The Loggers slowly kept disintegrating; Canody struck out to begin the bottom 6th, then gave the ump an earful and was tossed. John Salazar replaced him.

Ramos led off the seventh with his fourth base hit, an infield single, then stole his third base on new catcher Salazar and new pitcher Travis Feider. Mora walked, and the Coons had a chance to break through here with the middle of the order coming up… while Ramos just kept stirring the dirt. Both runners took off and pulled off a double steal on the fumbling Salazar, which took away the double play from Harenberg, who popped out instead. Hereford was walked by Feider, who then left the game after consultation with the Loggers’ trainer, replaced by Mike Tandy, who got out of the jam at the cost of one run on Gomez’ sac fly before whiffing Tovias. Delgadillo held up for seven shutout innings, but got his pitch count over 100 and was pinch-hit for in the top 8th, with Daniel Rocha drawing a 2-out walk in his spot. Ramos went ahead and singled off Tandy, who then had his skull slugged in for three runs on consecutive doubles by Mora and Harenberg, extending the gap to 7-0. Moesker and Kearney would finish the game without allowing another base knock. 7-0 Furballs! Ramos 5-5; Harenberg 3-4, 3 2B, 2 RBI; Delgadillo 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W (7-4);

That counts as relief.

Rich Hereford would get a day off on Sunday. No particular reason other than us trying to not lose any more players to unnecessary injuries in garbage games. Ramos, Mora, and Gomez also qualify for additional games off, but we are still not resting all of them in the same game.

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – LF Correa – 3B Nunley – 2B Spencer – P Nomura
MIL: RF V. Diaz – 3B Parten – LF Cambra – CF W. Trevino – 2B J. Becker – 1B S. Garcia – SS Holder – C Canody – P Rogers

Ramos walked, advanced on Mora’s infield single, and scored after consecutive groundouts by Gomez and Harenberg to give the Coons the early edge, but Nomura remained shoddy and surrendered the lead before he logged an out. Vinny Diaz doubled to left, Jason Parten singled to right, and Diaz made it around right then and there. The Critters reclaimed the lead in unearned fashion in the second inning; Spencer hit a 2-out single, Nomura’s grounder was mishandled for an error by Becker, and then Ramos hit an RBI single. Mora was robbed in left by Firmino Cambra, stranding two, and that 2-1 tally was still valid when it started to drizzle in the bottom of the fourth. Nomura walked Trevino as soon as he felt the first drops, but nifty plays by Spencer and Nunley kept him from scoring in the inning. Rin did not actually strike out anybody that far into the game, but rung up Holder and Rogers in a clean fifth.

Those were his final batters; rains got worse in the top 6th and put the game into an hour-long rain delay, and after Monday’s disaster after the sizable break, the Coons did not get back to their starter at all. Fleischer came out for the sixth and blew the lead with a Cambra double and Trevino’s RBI single, all with two outs. Brotman got through the seventh, and the top 8th saw Ramos hit a leadoff single off righty Zach Weaver, remaining unretired for the second game in a row. He then also stole second against Canody’s formidable arm, and moved to third when Mora grounded out. There he was stranded on account of ****ty groundouts by Gomez and Harenberg. The tie remained into the bottom 9th, where Jeremy Moesker crapped out with leadoff walks to Roque and Ferrer before he also allowed a 1-out single to Corey Dresch. The bases were loaded and we sent Nick Derks with a knack for strikeouts (11.9/9) and blow-ups for PH John Salazar, still hitless. Well, this was already in the process of blowing up, so Derks could come in regardless! He threw a single pitch, Salazar buried it in the gap, and the Loggers walked off. 3-2 Loggers. Ramos 3-3, BB, RBI; Nomura 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K;

Ramos was LITERALLY more than half our offense in this game. Three more singles, no walks for the rest of the crowd.

In other news

September 5 – The Loggers hold off the Indians in a wild 15-11 win, with MIL C/1B Steve Garcia (.336, 2 HR, 14 RBI) leading all players involved with four base hits. He drives in a pair and scores twice.
September 8 – SAC SP Jesse Koerner (7-13, 5.06 ERA) 2-hits the Warriors in a 6-0 shutout, notching eight strikeouts.
September 9 – The Warriors get revenge with a combined 1-hitter led by SFW SP Scott Soviero (15-7, 2.91 ERA) in a 12-0 rout of the Scorpions. A second-inning single by 1B Luis Moreira (.232, 10 HR, 57 RBI) is the only base hit for Sacramento.
September 9 – LAP SP Mario Alva (3-2, 9.35 ERA) 3-hits the Wolves in a 12-0 rout.
September 10 – SFW C Mike Thompson (.297, 18 HR, 77 RBI) is probably out for the season with an oblique strain suffered while running the bases.

Complaints and stuff

This week made me age about seven months and four days. It was weird, wicked, bewildering, almost every game the brain child of an easily excitable seven-year-old with no concept of the beauty of the game. But I’m still glad we got that Titans game called on accounts of the apocalypse when they had three on and the Coons were out of pitchers…

Alberto Ramos won Player of the Week honors with a .600 (15-for-25) tear, no homers, but 4 RBI. Never mind the six stolen bases and seven runs scored. He was in a *bit* of a slump in late August… but “slump” in this case means no multi-hit game for 13 consecutive days. He still had eight hits in that period for a .211 average. Also: *11* walks. If that constitutes a slump for you, ya gotta be pretty good!

Ramos’ 5-hit game on Saturday put him over 100 knocks for the season (102 exactly) in just 80 games. Oh, the raw talent, the genius, the brittle body…! A bit more subtly, he also tied the franchise and CL record with four sacks taken in the game. It was the first time in 16 years that a Critter reached the mark and only the third time ever. Sandy Sambrano and Cookie Carmona had been the only other Raccoons to swipe four in a single game. The serial theft also tied him with Joel Denzler for second in the CL with 42 sacks, only one behind the leader Mario Pizano (who also stole a base on Sunday, so Ramos is still one behind), and may I point out again that those two missed less than two handful of games between them, while Alberto has missed *61*? Let that kid be healthy for a single season and he might smash all sorts of records…! Yoshi Yamada’s franchise record of 54 stolen bases in a season? He could STILL break that, THIS year…!

THE EXCITEMENT.

That should be his nickname.

I am serious. Kid is 22, but already sixth in stolen bases for the franchise with 132. Health permitting he could get as high as third place by the end of 2029! Concie Guerin holds that spot with 193 bags. Ahead of him are only Matt Higgins (220; also the only Critter to steal as many as 40 in a single season in the prior millennium) and of course Cookie with 428.

By the way, Cookie’s season ended with a knee sprain this week. He batted .227/.227/.227 in limited action for the Cyclones. He was not penciled into the lineup even once. Also: no stolen bases.

With Mike Rutkowski and Peter “Graveyard” Gill suffering floggings this week, Rico Gutierrez suddenly has a sizable lead for the ERA title. It is 0.3 runs for the CL title, and 0.27 runs for all of the ABL compared to WAS Eric Williams.

And what about the playoffs? The Titans swept the Elks over the weekend, so that removes Vancouver for good. The Crusaders are probably dead, but there are still six games they have against the top two. Have them win all, the Coons getting swept by the Titans in the final set, and suddenly they are only 4 1/2 out for the other 13 games. Weirder things have happened.

POR (85-57) – IND (4), VAN (4), BOS (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), TIJ (3) – 99.7% (+1.6%)
BOS (77-67) – ATL (3), IND (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), POR (3), SFB (3) – 0.3% (-1.5%)
NYC (75-68) – MIL (4), BOS (3), LVA (3), TIJ (3), POR (3), VAN (3) – 0.0%

Fun Fact: In the 51 prior ABL seasons, the Loggers amounted to a winning record only 15 times, including ten times in a row from 1994 through 2003. They also had two 81-81 seasons, including 2004.

No other team is really remotely as routinely lousy – except for the Aces (15 winning seasons and three .500 efforts) and Wolves. The latter also have only 17 non-losing seasons, but have 16 prior winning seasons and one 81-81 campaign (not counting this year, which is still up for debate).

The Wolves also have but one championship, too, but we will not ever talk about that again.

(clutches Honeypaws and quivers as the Glenn Johnston-drops-Ed Parrell’s-fly movie begins unspooling in his brains)