Portland Raccoons (ABL)

[Westheim]

Raccoons (74-56) vs. Knights (65-64) – August 28-30, 2051

The Knights were second in runs scored and eighth in runs allowed in our league and held a 4-2 lead over the Coons, although they had a worse run differential (+16) than the Critters (+29), who also entered the week with a 6-game winning streak and inexplicably an 8-game lead in the division.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (15-6, 2.75 ERA) vs. Kodai Koga (10-10, 3.50 ERA)
Victor Salcido (6-7, 3.82 ERA) vs. Sam Geren (9-8, 3.43 ERA)
Juan Mercado (8-5, 3.61 ERA) vs. Joe Byrd (8-15, 4.89 ERA)

There was a disturbing lack of left-handers in the Knights rotation. Also, a lack of Israel Mendoza, Bobby Thibault, and Tyler Cass, all of whom were on the DL.

Game 1
ATL: 2B S. Turner – 3B Del Vecchio – RF Alade – LF Kirkwood – CF Royer – C Almaguer – SS Housey – 1B de Luna – P Koga
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – RF Suzuki – 3B Kaufman – C Raczka – P Wheatley

Wheats entered the week just 16 points behind the CL ERA lead, although the competition was numerous. Putting up a few zeroes to begin the week was thus a sound strategy in a bid for a second ERA title, and the Raccoons also gave him a bit of a lead early. Twice, in the first and third innings, the Raccoons put out three straight singles; the 2-3-4 hitters did so first, with Nick DeMarco driving home a run, and then the 1-2-3 hitters later on, this time with an RBI for Alan Puckeridge … and another one for old Maldo with a sac fly to Jon Alade in rightfield. The Knights found the board in the fourth, but not in a way that hurt Wheatley’s ERA. While Chris Kirkwood hit a single off him, he only scored on *two* errors by Jeff Raczka, who made his season debut, and Nick DeMarco. Brian Kaufman countered with his first Raccoons homer after five months on the roster, a leadoff jack in the bottom 4th, 4-1, and the inning after, Lonzo was scored on singles by himself and Pucks, plus a balk by Koga. Again an inning later, Lonzo tripled over the head of Alade in the gap to drive home Waters, who had forced out Wheats, who had only reached on an error, and was then stranded by Pucks’ pop to Steve Royer in shallow center.

So Wheats was up by five, but Wheats had also started to give up LOUD contact in the sixth inning, but then recovered for a brisk seventh against the bottom of the order, including a K to Matt Housey. Bottom 7th, the Coons hit three straight singles for the third time in the game, again scoring a run on the 5-6-7 batters’ sequence against Sebastien Parham. Wheats batted for himself and grounded out to end the inning, then notched two outs at the top of the eighth inning and order, but was not sent back out against Jon Alade, who was hitting .353 with 13 homers from the left side, with Wheats on 106 pitches. Lillis got that out, and O’Higgins got three more in the ninth, with no runners allowed. 7-1 Coons! Waters 2-5; Lavorano 3-4, BB, 3B, RBI; Puckeridge 3-4, RBI; Medina (PH) 1-1; Kaufman 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, W (16-6);

Second-half Wheatley!!

Game 2
ATL: 2B S. Turner – 3B Del Vecchio – RF Alade – LF Kirkwood – CF Royer – C Almaguer – SS Housey – 1B de Luna – P Geren
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – RF Suzuki – 3B Kaufman – C Philipps – P Salcido

Nick Valdes came to visit on Tuesday on the way to a conference by the world’s leading misanthropists in Boise, Idaho. I never figured out whether he was just an attendee or an actual speaker, but he had heard that the Raccoons were suddenly leading by a lot, and couldn’t explain to himself how they did it. Which was funny, because neither could I.

Regardless of the inexplicability of it all, the Coons packed four runs on Geren in the first inning. The 1-2-3 reached base, two on walks and one on a single, and while DeMarco made a weak out, Maldo’s sac fly, Suzuki’s 2-run double, and Kaufman’s RBI single put the big number together. Valdes squealed giddily, and also loudly mused whether Salcido could throw another no-hitter for him.

He couldn’t Chris Kirkwood slung a single to center right away in the top 2nd, and Royer homered to right to cut the lead in half, and immediately I had a hunch that the team would bottle the game completely. When Maldo homered to make it 5-2 in the bottom 3rd, Valdes was amused again, and told Slappy about how Maldo had been his favorite player even when he had still been a kid and had only been able to see the Coons on TV. I tried to explain to him that Maldo wasn’t *that* old, but it didn’t help, and besides, Salcido was brittling and telling nonsense to the poor people around the office at least distracted him from that.

Maldo came to bat for the third time in the fifth, and for the third time got an RBI. DeMarco had doubled to left ahead of him, and a single to center was good enough to score the runner and make it 6-2, half the RBI’s being on Maldo’s ledger. Nick opined that this wasn’t a bad performance for a 52-year-old, and I tripped over that and said that he had to be mistaking him for somebody. Valdes disagreed and asked me who that would be, as if I could answer that. He could be confusing with ANYBODY – right-handed or left-handed batter, outfielder or infielder, black or white, tall or small, or even a ******* relief pitcher, or for crying out loud, Cristiano Carmona.

Maldo’s fifth-inning RBI single was his last RBI for the day … or for anybody. The Coons didn’t get another hit at all, and while the Knights scattered a few more, they couldn’t get Salcido out of the game until after the eighth inning. Waldo did allow two hits in the ninth, but Rich de Luna made a weak final out against Kevin Hitchcock to end the game. 6-2 Furballs! J. Maldonado 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Salcido 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, W (7-7);

Speaking of Cristiano Carmona, Nick Valdes also shook his paw and wished him all the best and that he’d adapt to the wheelchair eventually, and told him that he had prayed for him every day since hearing about his accident. Cristiano, unable to walk from birth, blinked confused, before stupidly trying to correct him, but I gave him a smack in the head with a rolled up Agitator, and he instead thanked Nick profusely before I shoved our beloved owner out of the door.

Careful, too, Cristiano. You don’t know who or what he’s praying to. – Since he’s going to attend a misanthropist conference, it’s unlikely he’s praying to a benevolent entity, don’t you think?

Unrelated, with the Titans opening the week with two losses, the Coons now led the North by double digits…!

The Knights sent a right-handed spot starter for the Wednesday game with Jesus Sanchez (1-1, 4.62 ERA), a 36-year-old Miners veteran, who had been a regular in the rotation until 2049, so he was used to the business. This would be his 179th start in the majors, but only the fifth as a member of a CL team.

Game 3
ATL: 2B S. Turner – 3B Del Vecchio – RF Alade – LF Kirkwood – CF Royer – C Almaguer – SS Housey – 1B de Luna – P J. Sanchez
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – 3B Crispin – RF Glodowski – C Raczka – P Mercado

Kirkwood singled and Royer homered in the second – AGAIN. I almost freaked out and checked under every pillow whether I was caught in a temporal loop and would forever relive a day with ******* Nick Valdes, but then Maud reminded me that the Coons hadn’t scored in the bottom 1st this time, and that, in fact, Mercado kept getting on the snout after the homer. Pedro Almaguer singled, de Luna doubled him home, and it was 3-0 Knights when the inning finally fizzled out. He gave up another run in the third inning, which sounds bad until you realize that in that inning Kirkwood lined into a double play, and it could have been well, well worse!

The Coons only scored a run in the fourth, singled home by Maldo yet again with Pucks and DeMarco on board. Ed Crispin walked to fill the bases, but Glodowski, the useless pelt, found an inning-ending double play. The next inning, Jeff Raczka opened with a single. Two outs later, Lonzo drew a walk from Sanchez, and Pucks hit an RBI single before DeMarco dished a double down the rightfield line to tie the score at four. Maldo’s fourth RBI single in two days gave the Coons a 5-4 lead. Crispin and Glodowski added more singles and another run, ending Sanchez’ day, before Raczka was retired by Jay Carroll.

Mercado didn’t pitch long with the lead; he had dragged himself through five innings, didn’t deserve much of a lead anyway, and was gone after putting the tying runs on base with Almaguer and Housey singles and two outs in the sixth. Willie Cruz entered in a double switch with Medina (exiting Glodowski, the useless pelt), and got a grounder to second from de Luna to strand the runners. That dispelled the final threat to the Coons’ sweep and season series win. Cruz got five outs across three innings, Sencion completed the eighth, and Hitchcock struck out the side in the ninth inning. 6-4 Raccoons. DeMarco 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; J. Maldonado 2-4, 2 RBI; Crispin 1-2, BB;

The Coons *did* have to take a loss, however, as Ed Crispin left the game late after making a weird stretch on a defensive play. He was soon ruled day-to-day for a week or so, but then again there was no shortage of mediocre third basemen on the roster, and this had also been the final game before rosters would expand.

Raccoons (77-56) vs. Titans (66-67) – September 1-3, 2051

The Coons had doubled their lead in August from five to eleven games, and now had to survive a trip to Boston, where nothing good had ever happened. The Titans had lost four in a row, as opposed to nine straight wins for the Critters, and sat 11th in runs scored (behind us!!) and fifth in runs allowed in the league. We were a touch ahead in the season series, with a 6-5 score in our favor.

Projected matchups:
Rafael de la Cruz (6-5, 4.47 ERA) vs. Thomas Turpeau (11-8, 3.37 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (13-9, 3.58 ERA) vs. Steve Miles (10-8, 3.41 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (16-6, 2.63 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (10-7, 3.50 ERA)

Turpeau was the sole southpaw on offer this week. Both teams had been off on Friday.

And with that, we also bolstered the roster a bit. No third catcher so far, but Ruben Gonzalez would come off the DL in just a few more days. But Bryan Lenderink, Eric Reese, and Matt Dixon were brought up to stuff out the pen; Dixon was a third-rounder from 2046 that had pretty much turned into a failed starter, was already 26, and was probably not good for much besides mop-up duty in September. Sean Suggs was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster. Lenderink was assigned #58 after his old number (#52) had been given to Mercado.

We were a bit limited with batters and our stuffed 40-man roster, but added 2B Rich Seymour to the roster for the time being.

Game 1
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – 3B Sivertson – RF Glodowski – C Philipps – P de la Cruz
BOS: CF M. Martinez – C Salas – SS Thatcher – RF T. Lopez – 2B Galaz – 1B Ruano – LF S. Lewis – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Turpeau

Raul Salas, John Thatcher, and Manny Ruano all made their first appearance for the Titans this year in this game (although none of them were debutees), and while Salas grounded into a double play after Miguel Martinez opened the first with a single to left, Thatcher then knelled a homer to put Boston in front, 1-0, and singled home Turpeau with two outs in the bottom 3rd for the game’s second run.

The Coons didn’t get on base until Lonzo was brushed in the fourth, only to be doubled up by Pucks, 4-6-3 style, and had to wait for a Maldo single in the fifth to get a hit, but oculdn’t score then either. Lonzo and Sivertson found singles the third time through the order, but Turpeau kept the Coons shut out through seven. Raffy didn’t return after the stretch, having been worked up between six hits and four walks (one intentional). O’Higgins and Sencion held the Titans away in that inning, and then a leadoff walk drawn by Kaufman and a Waters single off Bill Flattery put the tying runs on base to begin the eighth inning. But Lonzo flew out to Martinez and left-hander David Barnes got another double play from Pucks, ending that inning, too. Jordan Ramos allowed no runners in the ninth and thus killed the Coons’ winning streak. 2-0 Titans. Glodowski 1-2, BB; Kaufman (PH) 1-1;

Tough to win with only four hits on the board. Although last month we won one with just one.

Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – 3B DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – CF Suzuki – LF Medina – C Raczka – P Wolinsky
BOS: CF M. Martinez – LF L. Estrada – SS Thatcher – RF T. Lopez – 1B van der Zanden – C I. Davison – 2B J. Ramos – 3B Mayfield – P Ratliff

Waters walked, moved up on an errant pickoff attempt, Pucks singled, and DeMarco hit a long sac fly to get an early run home, while Wolinsky’s bottom 1st amounted to a drilled batter (Leo Estrada) and two 2-out walks before somehow getting Pucks to snatch an Ian Davison clout on the run to end the dismal inning. The Coons’ next run would be just as unearned in the sixth inning – not that the Titans scored at all in between, although Wolinsky kept inviting them – and was put together mostly by Lonzo. He couldn’t steal first, but stole second and third, then scored, barely, on a Ratliff error on Suzuki’s 2-out grounder. Medina grounded out to end the inning instead.

Jeff Raczka hit a casual homer to right to begin the seventh inning, 3-0, and giving the Coons a pair of afterthought catchers that couldn’t hit a lick between them, but both had a homer on the year now. A bit of a showboater, he then drove home Maldo with two outs in the eighth inning by looping a single over the head of Mark Mayfield. Wolinsky batted for himself, struck out, and then retired nobody in the bottom 8th as Elias Rodriguez and Miguel Martinez both reached on soft singles, and Estrada then whacked a double play, putting the tying run in the box. Willie Cruz came on, overseeing a Thatcher grounder to DeMarco, and DeMarco’s crass throwing error over Maldo’s head for two runs, and the tying run to go to second base. Cruz struck out Tony Lopez, but Arnout van der Zanden’s groundout and a Davison single tied the score at four. Lillis would get out of the inning after that…

Jordan Ramos and Willie Maldonado pitched the teams into overtime then, where the Coons could not score and then sent out Paul Miles for distance. He didn’t gain any distance at all, or many outs. Single, single, Manny Ruano sac fly went the Titans to walk it off. 5-4 Titans. Lavorano 2-5; Puckeridge 2-5; Raczka 3-4, HR, 2 RBI;

Ruben Gonzalez returned from the DL for the Sunday game.

Game 3
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – 1B Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – LF Sivertson – 3B Kaufman – P Wheatley
BOS: CF M. Martinez – C Salas – SS Thatcher – RF T. Lopez – 2B Galaz – LF L. Estrada – 1B Ruano – 3B J. Rodriguez – P S. Miles

This time, Wheats entered second in ERA in the league, and only two points behind the leader, Thunder Victor Marquez. And… it didn’t go… *great*? The Titans hit a leadoff single in each of the first three innings; Martinez in the first, Gerardo Galaz in the second, and Miles (…) in the third. None of them scored, nor did the Coons, despite a leadoff single by Sivertson in the top 3rd. He went home on a Kaufman single, but was thrown out by Estrada, and then Wheats found a double play.

Matt Waters drew a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, then stole second base and reached third on Lonzo’s scratch single. From there, the Coons barely got Waters home on a DeMarco sac fly. Pucks forced out Lonzo with a grounder to second, then was thrown out by Martinez and Galaz when he tried to score from first base on Mikio Suzuki’s double to center… Meanwhile, nobody reached for Boston in the bottom 4th, but then Estrada whacked a jack off Wheats to begin the fifth, and that one counted in terms of ERA…

Top 6th, and singles by Waters, Pucks, and DeMarco gave the Coons a new lead right away, 2-1. The inning fizzled out fast with Suzuki and Gonzalez, while Wheats issued his first walk of the day to Salas with one gone in the bottom half of the frame. Thatcher then beat DeMarco for a double, and I began to wonder what he was doing in ******* AAA all year. Wheats, however, pulled his hat down tighter, and sawed off both Tony Lopez and Gerardo Galaz for bat-shattering pops to second base, thus stranding the runners. That was nice! He’d add one more inning, but then left on 111 pitches, but with a fine line to look at.

…but he didn’t get the win, because Willie Cruz blew it, loudly. Martinez hit another leadoff single in the bottom 8th, was bunted over by Salas, and reached third on a Nate Oden grounder. Tony Lopez required being pitched to tactfully, which Cruz interpreted as lame and right down broadway, resulting in a score-flipping homer to left on the 2-1 pitch. Vic Scott retired the Coons in order in the ninth, and thus completed the second sweep we were involved in this week. 3-2 Titans. Waters 2-3, BB; Puckeridge 2-4; Kaufman 1-2, 2 BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K;

In other news

August 28 – In the second leg of a double-header the Buffaloes would sweep, TOP SP Jon Craig (11-9, 4.21 ERA) 1-hits the Warriors in a 9-0 shutout. The sole Warriors hit is an early single by Warriors spot starter Adam Johnson (2-2, 4.22 ERA).
August 28 – Shoulder inflammation ends the year of ATL SP Israel Mendoza (8-12, 4.01 ERA).
August 29 – Season over as well for PIT OF Matt Cox (.252, 15 HR, 60 RBI), who is down with shoulder soreness.
August 31 – Young LAP SP Jim Reynolds (7-4, 2.77 ERA) is expected to take six months to recover from a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.
September 1 – CHA SP Andy Overy (13-5, 3.55 ERA) takes a no-hitter against the Condors into the ninth inning, where it is immediately broken up with a single by 2B/SS Chris Navarro (.296, 3 HR, 50 RBI). Overy is removed and Charlotte’s Leo Iniguez (0-0, 0.49 ERA, 11 SV) retires the next three for a combined 2-0, 1-hit shutout.
September 3 – The Crusaders beat the Indians, 4-3 in 10 innings. All the runs score in the 10th inning, and beyond that, IND SP Enrique Ortiz (11-6, 3.40 ERA) pitched a no-hitter against New York through nine innings. After the Indians went up 3-0 in the top 10th, Ortiz came back, but with one out walked Ed Haertling (.259, 8 HR, 58 RBI) and gave up a single to Prince Gates (.286, 12 HR, 66 RBI) before being relieved. Indy’s Heath Turner (0-5, 2.30 ERA, 13 SV) gets rolled for two more hits and concedes three runs, but the winning run for New York scores on a throwing error September call-up 3B Jon Werre (no at-bats).
September 3 – A hip strain ends the season of Rebels LF/RF/1B Alex Marquez (.306, 12 HR, 50 RBI).

FL Player of the Week: TOP SS/2B Tony Aparicio (.322, 15 HR, 66 RBI), hitting .500 (15-30) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB RF/CF Mike Roberts (.261, 4 HR, 25 RBI), batting .481 (13-27) with 1 HR, 5 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: DEN 1B Raul Sevilla (.301, 12 HR, 94 RBI), batting .316 with 5 HR, 28 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: IND LF/RF/1B Bill Quinteros (.286, 23 HR, 68 RBI), hitting .333 with 7 HR, 17 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN SP Gary Perrone (15-6, 2.54 ERA), going unbeaten at 5-0 with 1.06 ERA, 29 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Mike Zeigler (9-8, 3.39 ERA), tossing for a 4-1 record with 1.02 ERA, 31 K
FL Rookie of the Month: LAP LF/RF/1B Salvatore Rodrigues (.254, 6 HR, 54 RBI), hitting .360 with 1 HR, 15 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: LVA INF/RF Jim White (.272, 2 HR, 15 RBI), hitting .297 with 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Wheats pitched his way into the ERA lead in the CL with a string of strong results. How strong? Oh just 5-1 with a tiny 0.79 ERA across his last eight starts. He has not allowed more than one earned run in any of them, but also didn’t complete seven innings three times (once weather-related). He shaved off a full three quarters of a run off his ERA, which is hard to do in the second half.

Also, since we’re in September now, there’s a pennant chase to report on, with two teams nominally in contention:

POR (77-59) – MIL (7), BOS (4), CHA (3), IND (3), LVA (3), NYC (3), VAN (3) – .474 – 98.4%
BOS (69-67) – NYC (6), POR (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), IND (3), MIL (3), TIJ (3) – .486 – 1.1%
NYC (69-68) – BOS (6), SFB (4), POR (3), IND (3), MIL (3), OCT (3), VAN (3) – .501 – 0.5%

The Loggers and Indians will be on the menu next week, and we won’t have an off day until the 18th, with the four Titans games coming at home from the 11th through 14th. All seven Loggers games are in Milwaukee, with the only other remaining road set being a weekend trip to Vegas.

Thankfully, we only have four more games with the Titans, so they have to pick up the other four games somewhere else… Saturday’s extra-inning loss was, by the way, the 5,800th regular season defeat for the Coons. Congrats, Paul Miles.

This year’s #8 pick Matt Walters started well enough into his pro career that he was moved to AA with the September call-up shuffles. He had gone out 13 times for the single-A Beagles, going 5-4 with a 2.94 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 95 innings.

New to AAA is Cullen Tortora, who at one point was supposed to be of some sort of use on offense, but tore his labrum on April 18 and has been on the shelf ever since (and batted .179 even before that…). He will do a rehab assignment for at least one week, but probably until the AAA season ends. Ken Crum is also out for about one more week.

Fun Fact: Sunday could have seen Jason Wheatley tie his season-high in wins with 17.

No, he’s not one of the guys I think about as sucking up all the run support, ever. He won 17 in 2046, going 17-4 with a 3.16 ERA, but actually won the Pitcher of the Year award the year before with a 15-8 mark and 2.37 ERA.

Or in other words: despite being a damn fine pitcher, 2046 and (so far) this season are the only ones in his career where he won at least 50% of his starts.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (77-59) @ Loggers (54-80) – September 4-7, 2051

Four games in Milwaukee – what’s the worst that can happen here…? The Loggers were well out, giving up the most runs in the CL once again, and had a -139 run differential. Worst rotation, second-worst pen, worst defense, but they stole the most bases. Nick Jackson and Gaudencio Callaia were on the DL, and the Coons led the season series so far, 8-3.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (7-7, 3.74 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (10-7, 3.84 ERA)
Juan Mercado (9-5, 3.74 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (7-18, 6.25 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (6-6, 4.38 ERA) vs. John Morrill (6-11, 4.77 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (13-9, 3.59 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (6-5, 4.07 ERA)

Only righty opposition coming up in this series; what were we holding right-handed batters for anyway?

Game 1
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – 3B Kaufman – P Salcido
MIL: CF de Lemos – LF Sayre – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – RF McIntyre – 1B C. Lowe – 3B Barrington – P Costello

Both sides had three hits in the first inning. The Coons scored one run from a Lonzo triple and singles by Pucks and Maldo, but the Loggers got three singles, including a 2-out, 2-run score-flipper after Craig Sayre and Zach Suggs had pulled off a double steal, which sugged. Portland had Lonzo caught stealing in the third and Maldo and Suzuki left on the corners in the fourth, but in the fifth pulled through on a bevvy of singles after Lonzo reached on Suggs’ 1-out error. Pucks, DeMarco, and Maldo all hit singles, with DeMarco tying the game, and Suzuki brought in the go-ahead run with a groundout before Gonzalez struck out hacking to end the inning.

Jack Barrington in the fifth and Chris Thomas in the sixth were left in scoring position as the tying runs as Salcido merrily kept putting runners on base, but the Loggers weren’t nearly as prolific in driving them home. Costello kept shedding hits, as well. Lonzo tripled to open the seventh, Pucks was walked intentionally, and DeMarco singled to right for a 4-2 lead. Maldo’s double play grounder to short and Suzuki’s grounder to third base then ended that inning without the Coons zooming away. Salcido got through the seventh inning, but was replaced for the eighth. Eric Reese got a grounder from Craig Sayre, then left for Polibio O’Higgins, and wasn’t that righty ever the kid with matches? He walked Suggs and Ricky Lopez, which sugged, then was yanked for Eloy Sencion, who walked Thomas and thus the bags full in a 4-2 game. Will McIntyre then found a 5-4-3 double play to kill the inning, but that had been quite the rally invitation by the second string in the pen… Sencion retired Chris Lowe to begin the ninth, but the rest was then handled by Hitchcock, and even without funny accidents. 4-2 Raccoons. Lavorano 3-5, 2 3B; Puckeridge 2-4, BB, RBI; DeMarco 2-4, 2 RBI; J. Maldonado 3-4; Kaufman 2-4; Salcido 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, W (8-7);

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – RF Puckeridge – 3B DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – LF Sivertson – C Raczka – 2B Seymour – P Mercado
MIL: CF de Lemos – RF McIntyre – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – 1B Lovell – LF C. Lowe – C Cadena – 3B Barrington – P Hollis

Top 2nd, DeMarco singled, Maldo doubled, nobody out and two in scoring position, and who’d get an RBI here…? Nobody. Hollis waved one across with a wild pitch, and that was that. The inning after, Mikio Suzuki singled and stole TWO bases, then was thrown out at home plate on DeMarco’s fly to Mcintyre for a 9-2 double play. But that wasn’t the only half of the staff that showed ineptitude; Mercado was even worse. He got through the first two innings without giving up runs, but even then the Loggers hit rockets off him. It just got way worse in the bottom 3rd. Dave de Lemos doubled to left, and McIntyre tied the game with a strong single. Suggs whacked another double, which sugged, and Pat Lovell’s sac fly gave the Loggers the lead before Chris Lowe tacked on a 2-out RBI single. Mercado returned for the fourth, and on three pitches gave up a Jack Barrington single, a popped up bunt for a pathetic first out, and a de Lemos double, then was yanked with two in scoring position. Lenderink replaced him, allowed Suggs to single home the runs, then gave up a 2-run blast to Ricky Lopez. So that was that game…

Matt Dixon made his ABL debut in garbage relief and pitched two innings, giving up a run in the process, but we were past counting at that point, especially with Hollis shaking off all the losing and holding the Coons to four hits in eight innings. Ryan Clements gave up a run in the ninth, but it wasn’t like even the guys on NWSN were getting their voices up anymore… 8-2 Loggers. DeMarco 2-4, 2B; Gonzalez (PH) 1-1, RBI;

Game 3
POR: 2B Waters – RF Suzuki – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – SS Kaufman – 3B Crispin – C Gonzalez – P de la Cruz
MIL: CF de Lemos – LF Sayre – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – RF McIntyre – 1B C. Lowe – 3B Barrington – P Morrill

Wednesday brought yet another bullpen day, but not for reasons of the pitcher blowing up. Instead, Raffy pitched a scoreless inning, and no more, tweaking his ankle on a defensive play on Zach Suggs’ grounder, which sugged – hard. The Coons went to O’Higgins, presumably surrendering a yet scoreless game, and indeed it didn’t remain scoreless for much longer. McIntyre whacked a triple in the bottom 2nd, but was stranded by Lowe. Then O’HIGGINS whacked a triple himself, burying a 1-drive in the right-center gap for a triple in his second major-league at-bat, the other having been a strikeout. Waters promptly struck out, but Suzuki singled him home for a 1-0 lead.

O’Higgins’ spot came up again with Maldo (single), Crispin (error), and Gonzalez (walk) on base and two outs in the fourth inning, but even with the expanded roster, the Coons had used their other two real garbage relievers (Miles being the second one) on Tuesday and wouldn’t be mad about O’Higgins pitching another inning or six. In the end, he made it to the bottom of the 6th and got two outs, but looked gassed on 58 pitches and was lifted when Craig Sayre, a lefty, was back in the box. Lillis and Sivertson entered in a double switch, Crispin departing, and Sayre grounded out to keep it 1-0 through six. Top 7th, and Sivertson reached on a Barrington error, who tried to get two on a bouncer when one would have been plenty, and got none between Sivertson and Gonzalez, who had shoved a leadoff single to center. Waters’ single filled the bases, dreadfully with nobody out. Suzuki promptly shot a bouncer at Ricky Lopez, who fired it home to kill off Sivertson. Morrill got to 1-2 on Puckeridge – but no further. Puckeridge got pretty far with a drive to right-center, though, 419 feet just to the left of the 411’ sign – GRAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!

Lonzo put a run together in the eighth, stealing a base while otherwise advancing on not one, but two Loggers errors, which gave them four on the day (and they’d reach five by game’s end). The game was lopsided enough by then to give the ball to Bryan Lenderink, who finished it without putting a scratch on the combined 3-hitter. 6-0 Raccoons. Waters 2-5; Puckeridge 2-4, HR, 4 RBI; O’Higgins 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, W (1-1) and 1-2, 3B; Lenderink 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K;

As a rule of thumb, if your team sees O’Higgins and Lenderink for 6.2 innings (Lillis pitched in between those two), and you produce that amount of nothing, maybe you should go home for the winter.

De la Cruz wasn’t seriously hurting, but he might have to miss his next start. Paul Miles was tabbed as potential replacement on Monday.

Game 4
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – CF Suzuki – 1B Puckeridge – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – 3B Crispin – LF Medina – P Wolinsky
MIL: CF de Lemos – RF McIntyre – SS Z. Suggs – 2B R. Lopez – C C. Thomas – 1B Lovell – LF J. Delgado – 3B Barrington – P Oyola

The triples continued to fly into the box score in this series, with the Loggers taking the lead on one by Ricky Lopez in the bottom 1st on getaway day. He drove home de Lemos to make it 1-0 for the home squad, but was stranded by Thomas. While the Coons put up 12 batters in four innings, hitting into double plays twice, they also got closer to their third straight bullpen day when rain halted play in the bottom 3rd. Wolinsky resumed pitching after a 40-minute interruption, but gave up Suggs’ 20th homer of the year, which sugged, and two more runs in a mess of a fourth inning, in which Oyola doubled home Barrington for a 4-0 score. The Coons made up half the deficit in the fifth; Pucks singled, scored from second on Glodowski’s single, and Crispin hit a double; Roberto Medina’s sac fly to left got Glodowski home, but Wolinsky made the last out. Pucks almost hit a 2-out, game-tying homer in the sixth, but the ball clanked off the fence and sprung right back to McIntyre, prompting a late stop sign to be thrown on Suzuki at third base; and then Gonzalez flew out to Jose Delgado…

Wolinsky and everybody invested in his fortunes suffered through six innings, but he was hit for when Medina’s 2-out single off Oyola in the seventh brought up the #9 spot. Maldo pinch-hit, crashed a curveball into the gap for an RBI triple, but was stranded with the tying run. Waters was nicked, but Lonzo lined out to Delgado… Then Matt Dixon kept the Loggers in place in the seventh, but Sencion gave up a leadoff double to Ricky Lopez in the bottom 8th, and that runner scored against him and Willie Cruz to give the Loggers some insurance. Top 9th, Jeremy Mayhall put Glodowski on with a leadoff walk, but Crispin forced him out. Medina popped out. DeMarco batted as the tying run in the #9 hole and sent a high drive to left…! …but not long enough, John Wieczorek camping on the track to make the final play of the game. 5-3 Loggers. Puckeridge 2-4, 2B; Crispin 2-4, 2B; J. Maldonado (PH) 1-1, 3B, RBI;

So after that split against the Loggers (!), the Coons were still up by eight games, but now over the Crusaders rather than the Titans, who were half a game further back. Next up were the Arrowheads, though, and they weren’t even within single digits anymore.

Raccoons (79-61) vs. Indians (66-74) – September 8-10, 2051

Ninth in runs scored, seventh in runs allowed, and a whole lot of mediocrity. Power was very much a weak spot for them with the second-lowest total in the CL at 67 bombs, 23 of them by Bill Quinteros. The Coons were up 9-6 for the year against Indy.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (16-6, 2.58 ERA) vs. Martino Barbiusa (6-6, 3.19 ERA)
Victor Salcido (8-7, 3.69 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (11-5, 3.28 ERA)
Juan Mercado (9-6, 4.00 ERA) vs. Alfredo Llamas (12-14, 3.85 ERA)

Brink and Llamas had pitched on the same day, so could be flipped; anyway, all their starting pitchers were right-handers. One notable absence from their roster was 3B Bobby Anderson, who was out for the season after elbow surgery.

Game 1
IND: 1B M. Gilmore – 2B Arguello – RF B. Quinteros – LF R. White – C Poindexter – CF Kokel – 3B Ed. Ortiz – SS Clover – P Barbiusa
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 1B J. Maldonado – 3B Crispin – RF Glodowski – C Raczka – P Wheatley

Wheats entered in second place in the league’s ERA ranking, behind Victor Marquez again by three points. Giving up two runs in the third inning thus didn’t help. Not only did it erase the first-inning lead resulting from Pucks and DeMarco doubles, and put the Indians in front, but it also shoved him back to nine points out just when he had got withing cuddling distance of Marquez. I was dismayed. Wheats was just as well. Edwin Ortiz singled and Chase Clover walked, and after the bunt and an RBI groundout by Mike Gilmore, Danny Arguello snuck another RBI single to do the damage.

Maldo did plenty of damage in the bottom 3rd. After Waters singled, stole second, and scored on a Pucks single, DeMarco forced out his neighbor in the outfield, but came around to score when Maldo buried a ball in the gap for a go-ahead RBI double, 3-2. He did however arrive at second base visibly hurting, hopping on one hindleg, and then had to hold on a reluctant Clover to not fall over. Dr. Padilla collected him with what looked like quite a bad injury, and he barely managed to hop off the field with DeMarco and Padilla for support. – Cristiano, what’s in AAA for first base? – If you say “Evan Van Hoy”, I’ll coat your push rims with glue.

Sivertson pinch-ran and scored on Ed Crispin’s jack after the injury break, extending the score to 5-2, then took over leftfield with Pucks moving in to first base. Wheats had a scoreless fourth, then hit back-to-back singles with Waters and one out in the bottom of that frame. Lonzo grounded to short to get Waters forced out at second base, but then took off for second base. Manny Poindexter threw the ball away, allowing Wheats to score from third, 6-2, but Puckeridge grounded out to end the inning. The Coons got another error-infused run in the fifth, though, when Sivertson and Crispin hit back-to-back singles off Hisami Furuya; Quinteros tried to throw out Sivertson going to third base on Ed’s crisp single, but missed Ed Ortiz and Sivertson just turned left and paraded home, 7-2. Chaos continued unabated; Glodowski struck out, but the Indians walked Jeff Raczka to get to Wheats, whom Furuya had a 2-2 before giving up Wheats’ second single of the game. Crispin scored on the drop into right-center, but Raczka was caught in a rundown and the inning ended.

Chaos ended along with it; Wheats retired another nine batters without much fuss, but would not come back out for the ninth; that put him short of taking the lead in the ERA table again, but he was on almost 100 pitches, leading off the bottom 8th, and the all-left-handed 3-4-5 batters were up in the ninth, AND the Coons led by six runs. Why blunder into that trap? Lillis retired the Indians in order instead after Pucks had tacked in two more runs with a homer off Cesar Suarez. 10-2 Furballs! Waters 2-4; Puckeridge 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; J. Maldonado 1-2, 2B, RBI; Crispin 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Kaufman (PH) 1-1, 2B; Wheatley 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, W (17-6) and 2-3, RBI;

Wheats finished two points behind Marquez for the ERA lead, but the Coons would also finish the year without Maldo. Torn quad – he was done for the season and went to the 60-day DL. No player was called up – we’d need the spot for Tortora, and Ken Crum wasn’t that far away, either. Both were valid first base options. We’d patch it with Tyler Philipps for the next two or three days.

Game 2
IND: 2B N. Fernandez – 3B A. Mendez – RF B. Quinteros – LF R. White – C Poindexter – CF Kokel – 1B M. Gilmore – SS Clover – P Brink
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – 1B Philipps – P Salcido

While Rusty White doubled home Nick Fernandez to give indy a 1-0 lead in the first, the Raccoons would have six base runners, three stolen bases… and no runs in the first three innings. They struck out four times, including three times after Waters and Lonzo initially reached base in the bottom 1st and pulled off a double steal. Crispin also stole a base, was stranded, then lined out to White with three aboard for the third out in the third. The Indians added a run on three singles in the fourth, while Waters’ double in the fourth led nowhere, and when DeMarco went for home from second base on a 2-out single by Gonzalez in the bottom of the fifth, he was thrown out by Rusty White. One of *those* games…!

Tyler Philipps walked with one out in the bottom 6th, which was a rare occurrence. Kaufman batted for Salcido, but hit into a fielder’s choice. The Coons then slowly loaded the bags with Waters and Lonzo, then had Pucks ground out to Mike Gilmore to strand everybody yet again. Once more, with passion!

The Coons’ pen did a solid job to put up three scoreless innings afterwards, but the offense didn’t put up much of anything. A Pucks single to right in the bottom 9th did bring the tying run to the dish once more, though, then with one gone against lefty Heath Turner. DeMarco forced him out with a grounder to Fernandez, Glodowski walked when he batted for Suzuki, but Ruben Gonzalez grounded out. 2-0 Indians. Waters 2-4, 2B; DeMarco 2-5; Gonzalez 2-5;

We left FIFTEEN on base.

That’s A LOT.

Game 3
IND: 2B R. White – SS Clover – CF Kokel – RF B. Quinteros – 3B A. Mendez – C M. Gilmore – 1B Ed. Ortiz – LF Hare – P Llamas
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – 1B Philipps – P Mercado

Mercado was at most marginally better than on Tuesday, although he didn’t give up any runs in the early innings; it still wasn’t a quality outing, because the writing was on the wall that the Indians would get to him sooner or later. The fourth inning was it, then – Quinteros walked, Mendez singled, Gilmore singled to drive in Quinteros for the first run of the game, and Edwin Ortiz hit a sac fly. A Waters error, Mercado nailing the ******* opposing pitcher, and then a four-pitch walk to Clover pushed home another run before Chaz Kokel finally popped out to shallow left to strand three in a 3-0 game. Six laborious innings were all Mercado had in him on this Sunday, but there was still a chance for him to get a win for it. The Coons made up one run in the fourth on hits by Suzuki and Philipps, then had the tying runs in scoring position when Gonzalez and Crispin hit a single and double, respectively, with one gone in the bottom 6th. The Arrowheads walked Philipps intentionally, despite Mercado being just over 100 pitches. Glodowski pinch-hit, popped out, the useless pelt, and Waters flew out to right to strand another full set…

And that was the final chance to score in the game. O’Higgins took over the hill, but allowed a single to Clover and got Quinteros to pop out, but that was it then, with rain sending the game into a delay in the top 7th. The Coons hoped for a continuation of course, but the rain never let up and the game went in the books with only six innings completed and an L for the home team. 3-1 Indians. Lavorano 3-3; Gonzalez 3-3, 2B; Philipps 1-2, RBI;

In other news

September 9 – The Loggers deal SP Roberto Oyola (7-5, 4.02 ERA) to the Pacifics for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.282, 24 HR, 82 RBI), batting .435 (10-23) with 4 HR, 7 RBI
CL Player of the Week: ATL LF/RF Chris Kirkwood (.298, 5 HR, 34 RBI), hitting .563 (9-16) with 1 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Victor Marquez pitched eight innings of 1-run ball for a W over the Bayhawks on Thursday, but also was announced to have left the game with an injury rather than on his or the manager’s volition afterwards. This was significant as that game allowed him to retake the CL ERA lead with a 2.55 mark, ahead of Wheats in second place and then the Falcons’ Chris Jones. Marquez had enough innings to qualify for the title, should his injury turn out to be season-ending.

The Crusaders came closer this week, marginally:

POR (80-63) – BOS (4), CHA (3), LVA (3), MIL (3), NYC (3), VAN (3) – .487 – 97.4% (-1.0)
NYC (73-70) – SFB (4), BOS (3), IND (3), MIL (3), OCT (3), POR (3) – .504 – 2.5% (+2.0)
BOS (70-72) – POR (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), IND (3), NYC (3), TIJ (3) – .498 – 0.2% (-0.9)

The Titans went 1-5, which didn’t aid them much at all in their pursuit. But they’d now get to play four with the Coons in Portland, and we had not been all that stellar either in the last couple of weeks. The Aces were on the program for the coming weekend.

Ken Crum would go on a rehab assignment to St. Pete for a few days starting on Monday. Rafael de la Cruz would not make the start on Monday, so Miles was lined up for that.

Fun Fact: Lonzo leads the CL in stolen bases, but not by much.

Omar Sanchez of New York has 55 bags, two behind Lonzo, and Chris Navarro of the Condors has 54. Danny Ceballos was fourth with 45, and then the gap dropped the rest of the field so hard that Pucks with his 33 bags was in fact *fifth* in the league.

The FL had an even worse contrast between teammates. Alex Vasquez led all of the ABL with 61 stolen bases. CIN Juan Ojeda and SFW Julio Moriel had 46 and 45, respectively, and fourth-place Victor Corrales, a Miner like Vasquez, has just 25 stolen bases.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (80-63) vs. Titans (70-72) – September 11-14, 2051

The Titans had lost five in a row at a point in the season where they needed wins, and they never needed them more than in this upcoming four-game tilt, the last meeting between those two teams for the year. The Coons led the Titans by 9 1/2, but were down 8-6 on the year against them. Oh well, at least we had dumped the golden plunger for having the fewest runs scored in the league onto them. Which still beats the golden toilet for ALLOWING the most runs…

Projected matchups:
Paul Miles (4-3, 4.09 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (12-10, 3.50 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (13-10, 3.67 ERA) vs. Thomas Turpeau (12-9, 3.31 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (17-6, 2.57 ERA) vs. Troy Ratliff (10-8, 3.31 ERA)
Victor Salcido (8-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Steve Miles (11-9, 3.55 ERA)

The Coons kept avoiding lefty David Barel (16-8, 2.69 ERA), who had made back-to-back appearance against Portland in the four-and-four at the All Star Game, but apart from that always fell outside this series in 2051. Turpeau was the only southpaw we were scheduled to come up against in this series.

We were not yet sure where to re-insert Rafael de la Cruz (6-6, 4.33 ERA) into the rotation, but we couldn’t make his scheduled start on Monday with a sore hindpaw.

Game 1
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – C R. Salas – CF M. Martinez – RF T. Lopez – SS Thatcher – 2B Galaz – LF Ruano – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Turay
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – 1B Philipps – P P. Miles

The Blue Sox had gangbanged Miles pretty good in his only prior spot start of the year in May, but things got better this time, despite Boston taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning; a throwing error by Ed Crispin helped them with that, too, and the run was unearned. Matt Waters erased the deficit with a leadoff jack in the bottom 1st, then scored along with Lonzo on a 2-run double over the head of Miguel Martinez that Pucks smacked in the third inning for a 3-1 lead. Miles seemed to hold up pretty good until Jose Rodriguez homered off him in the fifth, and the bases filled up after that, but John Thatcher popped out to strand all the runners and keep the Coons 3-2 ahead. Miles’ sixth was without complaints, and the seventh would begin with the opposing pitcher and a lefty, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, for starters, Turay zinging a triple into the corner? Miles got Elias Rodriguez, but then was lifted for Willie Cruz, who tried his ******* best to blow the lead. He walked Raul Salas, then ran full counts to Martinez, who lined out to a lunging Lonzo, and Tony Lopez, perhaps the most credible batter in the lineup here. Lopez sent a drive to center, but Nick DeMarco went back to grab it and strand runners on the corners. Waldo and Sencion each walked a batter, but somehow wound their way through the eighth inning, and Kevin Hitchcock got two quick outs in the ninth before Miguel Martinez inevitably singled and brought Lopez back to the plate… but Lopez grounded out calmly to Lonzo. 3-2 Coons. Waters 3-4, HR, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; DeMarco 3-4, 2B; Miles 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (5-3);

This W mathematically eliminated the Loggers, who’d be watching October baseball from the couch for the 29th time in the last 30 seasons.

Game 2
BOS: 1B E. Rodriguez – C R. Salas – CF M. Martinez – RF T. Lopez – SS Thatcher – LF L. Estrada – 2B M. Castillo – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Turpeau
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – RF Glodowski – 3B Kaufman – C Gonzalez – 1B Philipps – P Wolinsky

As with Miles on Monday, Bubba fell behind on an unearned run; two errors, one by each catcher in the lineup, absolutely forced Leo Estrada around the bases in the second inning to make it 1-0 Boston. And since Wolinsky had already committed an error in the first inning, the Coons were already on three for the day, wheeee…!! Bottom 2nd, though: walk, double, walk, and the bags were full with nobody out (uh-oh) for Tyler Philipps. Oh for ***** sake. Astonishingly, he didn’t hit into a triple play, though, but singled up the middle for a run and a 1-1 score, bettering his batting average all the way to .156. Bubba held still rather than do something stupid and took the K, which gave him a 2-1 lead on Waters’ sac fly to Lopez, but that was as good as it got, with Lonzo also flying out.

Bubba celebrated by promptly walking three Titans, Elias Rodriguez, Martinez, and Lopez, in the top 3rd. Rodriguez was caught stealing third base, though, and Thatcher hacked himself out to strand the other two. Wolinsky couldn’t take off the clown shoes in the middle innings, either; he nailed Turpeau with a 2-2 pitch and two outs in the fourth, and conceded a run after Manny Castillo tripled in the sixth inning – although a Ruben Gonzalez homer in the fourth had given the Coons an extra tally and thus Wolinsky left after six innings with a 3-2 lead, albeit on 106 often messy pitches.

The lead went bust in the seventh though; Eric Reese was brought in solely to retire Elias Rodriguez, got him to 0-2, and then gave up a double to center. Waldo tried, but couldn’t keep the runner on base, and Martinez’ sac fly tied the game. So there we were, in a 3-3 tie, and trying to get the offense refired, which didn’t work in the seventh or eighth innings at all. Lillis and Hitchcock kept the Titans from scoring, though, so in the bottom 9th a single run off Jordan Ramos would still do. Mikio Suzuki struck out in the #9 spot to begin the inning, but Matt Waters had enough of the whole charade and cracked a walkoff homer to right! 4-3 Coons! Waters 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-4; Gonzalez 2-3, BB, HR, RBI;

When Wheats heard that Victor Marquez had not only overcome a sore thumb, but had also casually tossed a shutout against the Knights on Tuesday, he packed an extra four ounces of bacon on his breakfast footlong sandwich. It was *on* now!

He did enter Wednesday 14 points behind now, though, so giving up runs was not advised even if he didn’t go nine innings. Meanwhile, the Coons also announced that Raffy would start in the series finale on Thursday.

Game 3
BOS: CF M. Martinez – C R. Salas – 1B E. Rodriguez – RF T. Lopez – LF L. Estrada – 2B Galaz – SS J. Ramos – 3B J. Rodriguez – P Ratliff
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – 3B Crispin – LF Medina – C Raczka – 1B Philipps – P Wheatley

For the second time in the series, a walk-double-walk sequence loaded the bags with Critters and nobody out, and this time right at the start of the first inning. DeMarco whiffed and Crispin popped out to sap a considerable amount of confidence from my shriveled-up little black heart, before the 6-7-8-9 batters unleashed a flurry of liners, three of which fell for hits and four runs in the bottom 1st, and then Wheats lined out to Gerardo Galaz to end the inning.

On the plus side, Wheats allowed only two hits through five innings to the Titans. On the other paw, one of those hits was a solo homer by Jose Rodriguez, so his ERA didn’t drop by all that much in those five innings. The sixth was tedious with two Titans singles, but also two long-count strikeouts, yet no runs; however, a 2-run homer by Tyler Philipps in the bottom 6th brought in Jeff Raczka and extended the lead to 6-1, so things looked decently good for Wheats’ first-ever 18th win in a season. He pitched one more inning, retiring the 7-8-9 in order in the seventh, but also reached 100 pitches and small change in the process and wouldn’t be brought back, ending his day with a 2.53 ERA, ten points behind Marquez… *and* in the W column, with the shallow end of the pen getting six outs – two each by O’Higgins, Reese, and Lenderink – to put the game away. 6-1 Wheaties! Medina 2-4, 2 RBI; Raczka 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Philipps 2-3, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (18-6);

First time ever the 6-7-8-9 batters and only them make the post-game shoutout? Especially with three of them being clearly afterthoughts, mild-at-best prospects, and AAA hangers-on?

Don’t hiss, Wheats, you’re obviously the fourth one. – Don’t stare at me. Have your food. – There. – (nudges food bowl a little closer) – Come on, Wheats. Eat. – Eat. – Stop staring please. – It’s your favorite – an omelette from 15 eggs and the whole chicken, too. – (nudges food bowl)

(nudges food bowl)

Game 4
BOS: CF M. Martinez – C R. Salas – 1B E. Rodriguez – SS Thatcher – LF L. Estrada – 2B Galaz – 3B J. Rodriguez – P S. Miles
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Kaufman – 1B Puckeridge – 3B DeMarco – C Gonzalez – CF Suzuki – LF Medina – RF Glodowski – P de la Cruz

Medina kept sumlimely raking, tripling home Suzuki for a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Thursday, but while Raffy was well the first time through, the struggles started the second time through the order and the beatings by the third, although technically the Titans already tied it when Steve Miles doubled home Gerardo Galaz with two outs in the fifth, evening the score at one. The Coons fell behind the inning after, which saw Raul Salas draw a leadoff walk, a single by Elias Rodriguez, which sent Salas to third and allowed Rodriguez to steal second, and an RBI single for Tony Lopez, followed by Thatcher’s sac fly, 3-1 Boston. Raffy threw another inning, scorelessly, but departed as potential loser, also because the Raccoons made it their new national sport to hit into double plays. Gonzalez, Glodowski, and finally also Medina hit into a two-for-one, all three to end innings with two men aboard. Dixon and Cruz offered scoreless relief to complete nine, but the Coons could never solve Steve Miles without stumbling over their own paws, and Jordan Ramos shot down the 2-3-4 batters in the ninth to end the Titans’ season-soiling losing spill at eight games. 3-1 Titans. Medina 2-3, 3B, RBI;

With three of four in this series, the Coons had distanced the Titans far enough to potentially eliminate them along with the Indians and Elks on the weekend; only the Crusaders remained as sorta-serious competition, 7 1/2 behind after taking two of three from the Arrowheads, and with only three games left against the Critters.

Raccoons (83-64) @ Aces (62-83) – September 15-17, 2051

The Aces were last in the South with their sixth-best offense and the second-most runs conceded in the league. Their rotation had an ERA just under five, and the pen one just over five. The defense was also shoddy, but they were whacking homers at a prolific rate, second in the CL. The season series, which the Coons hadn’t won in any of the last three seasons, stood at 3-3.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (8-8, 3.67 ERA) vs. Josh Wilson (10-10, 4.45 ERA)
Juan Mercado (9-7, 3.96 ERA) vs. Medardo Regueir (6-6, 3.82 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (13-10, 3.60 ERA) vs. Chris Cornelius (14-13, 4.14 ERA)

The only left-hander due up here was Medardo Regir- … Redu- … Emu- … That guy.

Friday was the last day without Ken Crum and Cullen Tortora, who’d hang with the Alley Cats on rehab assignements until today’s AAA season finale and then join the Coons with another pitcher or two.

Game 1
POR: 2B Waters – SS Sivertson – LF Puckeridge – CF DeMarco – RF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – 1B Philipps – P Salcido
LVA: 2B J. White – LF Austin – CF Cramer – SS Welter – C Weese – 1B van Eijk – RF J. Harris – 3B V. Fernandez – P Jo. Wilson

After two innings of precious little, Tyler Philipps drew a leadoff walk in the third on Friday. Salcido’s bunt was mishandled for an error by Victor Fernandez, and while Waters popped out to Jeremy Welter, Sivertson got a blooper behind the shortstop for a bases-filling single. Pucks popped out, unfortunately, and DeMarco’s single to right brought in the only run of the inning before Suzuki flew out to Aubrey Austin. …all of which was still better than the Aces, who got five hits and a walk off Salcido and an error of Waters, all in five innings, but also hit into three double plays and got absolutely nowhere on offense, but Salcido also found a double play on offense when Crispin singled and stole second, and Philipps walked in the sixth inning. With one out, Salcido faked a bunt, then slapped a grounder at Welter for a 6-4-3 inning-killer.

Austin and Welter hit singles in the sixth, but Kevin Weese grounded to Crispin for a force at third base and Govaart van Eijk struck out to flush that one down the toilet. Salcido went on for seven and two thirds before Brent Cramer beckoned as the tying run and Salcido having already thrown 104 pitches. Eloy Sencion was brought in, got a groundout to third base, and then remained in the game to begin the ninth, retiring PH Dan Martin, but then Weese singled and the left-handed van Eijk was removed for PH Steve Holbrook. Hitchcock got the call, two more outs, and the Coons squeezed out another 1-0 win. 1-0 Blighters. DeMarco 2-4, RBI; Crispin 2-4; Philipps 1-2, 2 BB; Salcido 7.2 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, W (9-8);

And with that – reinforcements! Nine games up, and now the Coons got Ken Crum and Cullen Tortora back, with just 14 games to play. What could even go wrong now??

Also included in the package of call-ups on this Saturday was SP Kyle Brobeck, who’d be slipped another start or two down the line, and right-hander Mike Snyder also returned.

Pucks and DeMarco got the day off on Saturday, open spots to be taken by the returnees. If anything, it was now about not breaking more players…

Game 2
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Crum – 1B Tortora – C Gonzalez – 3B Kaufman – RF Glodowski – CF Suzuki – P Mercado
LVA: 2B Hager – RF Austin – LF D. Martin – C Weese – CF J. Harris – 1B M. Colon – SS Holbrook – 3B Rand – P Regueir

Ken Crum returned with a bang … or at least a sac fly in the first inning, bringing in Waters, who had walked and stolen a base earlier. Mercado however soon turned it into a game of having as much traffic as possible, and was promptly slapped on the paws by the Aces, who scored two runs on three singles and a walk in the bottom 1st. That remained the score until the fourth, when things turned slightly chaotic. Mercado had Matt Rand at 1-2 to begin the bottom 4th, then nailed him good. Remou- … Reinde- … That Guy then swung on the first pitch offered, a fastball down the middle, and singled to center. Rand went for third base, and while he arrived safely, he also took a mouthful of Brian Kaufman’s glove to the face and left the game, dazed and confused. Victor Fernandez replaced him as pinch-runner and went for home when Brenton Hager flew out to Crum, who shot a rocket to home plate and saw Gonzalez slap out Fernandez for a 7-2 double play. That Guy moved up to second, but was stranded when Aubrey Austin grounded out to first base.

Suzuki put the tying run on base with a leadoff single in the fifth, then removed it again by being caught stealing. When Ruben Gonzalez hit another leadoff single in the seventh, it was only the Coons’ fourth hit off Rio- … Reo- … That Guy. Gonzalez got as far as third base, but then was resolutely stranded.

Oh, to heck, with all of you! I want Ken Crum back at the plate! My wish was granted in the eighth, where Waters got on base with one out, but was forced out by Lonzo, who stole second base – his second theft in the game and 60th for the year – and then was singled home by Ken Crum to tie the game! Tortora struck out, moving things to the bottom 8th, where Willie Cruz put Kevin Weese on base, but Brett Lillis jr. stranded him at third base when he struck out Welter, pinch-hitting for Holbrook. The game ended up in extras after closer David Fox and Lillis and O’Higgins refused to let any runner reach base in the ninth.

Top 10th, DeMarco pinch-hit for Suzuki against lefty Dave Saldivar, and on the second pitch clonked a double off the fence in leftfield. Rich Seymour – any righty batter, please? – pinch-hit for O’Higgins, whiffed, but hold on – the ball is loose! Seymour took off and reached base on the uncaught third strike, and DeMarco boogie-woogied over to third base while an aggravated Kevin Weese punched himself in the chest protector. From there, Waters struck out (groans!), and Lonzo fell to 1-2 before Saldivar hung one – and even Lonzo could drive that one outta state, and all the way to ******* Arizona – a 3-run homer!! Hitchcock kept order in the bottom 10th to put the Aces away on three batters. 5-2 Coons! Crum 2-4, 2 RBI; DeMarco (PH) 1-1, 2B;

The Indians were mathematically eliminated with this win, while the Crusaders remained nine behind.

Game 3
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – CF DeMarco – RF Tortora – 3B Crispin – C Raczka – P Wolinsky
LVA: SS J. White – RF Austin – LF D. Martin – C Weese – CF J. Harris – 1B M. Colon – 2B R. Ramos – 3B Welter – P Cornelius

Catcher’s spot aside, this was probably the lineup the Raccoons would cart up against a righty pitcher come playtime in October. So they’d should probably put out a few runs on Cornelius here! … Well. Ironically it was Raczka to drive in the Coons’ first run, singling to score DeMarco and get us even again, 1-1 in the fourth inning after stranding Waters and Lonzo on the corners in the third and little else. The #8 batter had also garnered the RBI for Vegas, Welter singling home Jonathan Harris in the bottom 2nd for them to take the lead. When Welter reappeared at the plate in the bottom 4th, it was with two in scoring position and two outs, so he got four wide ones, and Wolinsky was to go after Cornelius, who went after Wolinsky instead and swatted a 2-run single through the right side and gave himself a 3-1 lead. White popped out and since a Crispin error had put Miguel Colon aboard earlier, both runs were unearned, but I would be lying if I said I was pleased with how things were going against this free-for-all, last-place team.

Crispin tried to make amends and homered in the sixth to narrow the gap to 3-2, but Bubba continued to founder, walked Jonathan Harris to get the bottom 6th underway, and then conceded the run on singles by Rafael Ramos and Welter before being lifted. Waldo retired Jim White to exit the inning. When the Coons got a run back again, it was already the eighth and the run was unearned when Ken Crum chugged home on Rafael Ramos’ 2-out throwing error on a Crispin grounder. Dixon and Miles kept the Aces to their four runs in the late innings, and then Brian Kaufman belted a gapper off Luis Villagomez to begin the ninth inning that went all the way to the fence, while Kaufman went all the way to third base. Waters walked, which brought up … the pitcher’s spot. Suzuki batted in what would have been Lonzo’s place, but singled home the guy that had replaced him after pinch-hitting, getting Kaufman home with a ball over White’s head to knot the score at four…! Pucks singled just barely over the glove of Ramos to load the bases – with nobody out – for Crum, who with the 2-1 pitch found the hole up the middle for a go-ahead RBI single! Efrain Estrada came in and sawed off DeMarco, but lost Cullen Tortora in a full count, giving the alleged impact offseason addition his third RBI on the year, and the first since April. The meltdown for the Aces continued with a run-scoring groundout for Crispin and another RBI single for Raczka before Kaufman made the third out. Jim White homered off Lenderink in the bottom 9th, but that wasn’t enough to get the Aces back in the game. 8-5 Raccoons! Lavorano 2-4; Suzuki (PH) 1-1, RBI; Crum 2-5, 2B, RBI; Raczka 2-5, 2 RBI;

Paul Miles picked up his second W of the week, this one in relief after winning on Monday as a starter.

In other news

September 11 – TOP 1B Mark Cahill (.243, 21 HR, 68 RBI) hits three home runs in a day and drives in six as the Buffaloes sweep a double header from the Cyclones, 12-6 and 5-4. Included in the triplet of homers is a 10th-inning walkoff shot to close out the nightcap.
September 11 – The Canadiens’ CL Bernardino Risso (5-7, 3.37 ERA, 15 SV) is out for the year with bone spurs in his elbow needing removal.
September 12 – OCT SP Victor Marquez (16-5, 2.43 ERA), not worse for wear after recovering from a sore thumb, throws a 3-hit shutout against the Knights in his bid for the CL ERA title. The Thunder win 7-0.
September 12 – The Aces put 11 runs on the Bayhawks in the sixth inning alone on the way to a 15-3 rout. Vegas’ Jim White (.265, 3 HR, 20 RBI) has three hits with a homer and four RBI from the leadoff spot.
September 12 – A torn labrum will keep CIN SP Nick Young (7-8, 4.64 ERA) on the shelf until next summer.
September 13 – The Gold Sox beat the Wolves, 1-0, but it takes 12 innings and a passed ball charged to the Wolves’ catcher Jose Ortiz (.280, 9 HR, 43 RBI) to bring in Denver catcher Justin Brooks (.269, 1 HR, 13 RBI) for the deciding run.
September 14 – VAN RF Jerry Outram (.236, 12 HR, 49 RBI) hits his 300th home run, a solo shot, in a 6-4 win over the Loggers. The career Canadien, now age 37, is a .324/.442/.506 hitter for his career with 1,182 RBI on 2,324 hits. Five times he was the CL Player of the Year, and his pile of honors included 11 All Star nominations and 10 Platinum Sticks, too.
September 15 – NAS SP Jason Palladino (9-14, 4.54 ERA) is out for the year and questionable for Opening Day after suffering a tear in his rotator cuff.

FL Player of the Week: TOP 1B Mark Cahill (.246, 21 HR, 70 RBI), hitting .455 (10-22) with 3 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: SFB 3B/1B Ramon Sifuentes (.284, 9 HR, 51 RBI), batting .571 (12-21) with 1 HR, 8 RBI

Complaints and stuff

300 homers – good for Outram. He beat us often, he beat us where it hurt. I can accept getting beaten by the best.

Getting beaten by little **** weasels like Andrew Russ, that is where the blood starts to boil… or Aaron Brayboy…! Oh for ***** sake, Aaron Brayboy!! (gets so enraged that he beats Cristiano with a pillow)

The good news – we got our offensive reinforcements, we eliminated the Elks by the numbers rather than just spiritually with a ninth-inning comeback on Sunday, and no one died! Whee! The lead is ten, the magic number is three, and not even the old GM here believes in a meltdown anymore.

He also doesn’t believe in a whiff of a chance against the Thunder in the CLCS but that’s on another plate entirely for the time being. First we have to reach the CLCS in one piece. Mostly. Maldolessly. Which suggs.

Next week: Falcons and Elks to open the final regular season homestand, which will also have the Crusaders in for what will by then probably be a pointless series. We finish the year in Milwaukee though.

On the individual titles front, Lonzo leads “Tiny” Navarro by one bag, and Wheats’ deficit in the ERA race is down to five points after the Elks were kind enough to stuff four runs (three earned) into Victor Marquez on Sunday. Curiously, Wheats is also just one W behind the CL (and ABL) leader Hiroyuki Takagi (19-8, 2.91 ERA), who will be in Portland with the Falcons next week… and they MAY even face each other…!

Dun-dun-duuuuuh!

Fun Fact: There are no triple crowns in play this year, anywhere.

Wheats not, because he’s 72 strikeouts behind Indy’s Enrique Ortiz, who in turn won only 13 games. Ed Soberanes of the Thunder leads the league in homers and RBI, but is 42 points behind Jon Alade of Atlanta for the batting title.

In the FL, Ivan Villa has 33 homers, five more than anybody else (Dario Martinez), but is over 50 points behind Pacifics prodigy Joshua Shaw for the batting title. Villa’s Denver teammate Gary Perrone might well nip the wins and ERA titles, but his 176 strikeouts disappear against Scorpions ace Mike McCaffrey’s output of 267 strikeouts. McCaffrey was two wins behind Perrone, and fourth in ERA … but that gap was almost two thirds of a run compared to Perrone.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (86-64) vs. Falcons (88-61) – September 19-21, 2051

The Falcons were three games behind the Thunder in the CL South, and needed the wins. The Coons were up 4-2 against them, so ironically it might be in the Coons’ interest to lose this series? Because we had no whiffs against the Thunder (1-8 this year). But I had a hunch the baseball gods would not like any shenanigans, so we’d play it fair and square, despite our lead over the Crusaders allowing for some sloppy losses. The Crusaders had beaten the Thunder on Monday, keeping the magic number at three.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (18-6, 2.53 ERA) vs. Hiroyuki Takagi (19-8, 2.91 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (6-7, 4.30 ERA) vs. Chris Jones (14-11, 3.04 ERA)
Victor Salcido (9-8, 3.51 ERA) vs. Art Schaeffer (8-11, 3.44 ERA)

Only right-handers… and a deathmatch between the main contenders for the CL crown in wins in the opener on Tuesday…!

Game 1
CHA: CF Caballero – 2B E. Stevens – LF Ceballos – SS Woodrome – C M. Castillo – RF Allegood – 3B Fish – 1B E. Miller – P Takagi
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – CF DeMarco – RF Tortora – C Gonzalez – 3B Crispin – P Wheatley

Things could have started better, with back-to-back doubles by Danny Ceballos and Ian Woodrome giving Charlotte a 2-out run in the first inning, and that was before Manny Castillo reached on an error by Ken Crum. Mike Allegood grounded out to strand runners on the corners. But the Coons responded with four straight 2-out singles in the bottom 1st, which also counted for something, as Nick DeMarco brought home Alan Puckeridge to tie the game, and Cullen Tortora took a lead by getting Ken Crum across; Crum later hit a solo homer in the third inning for a 3-1 lead. All the while, Wheats entered beast mode – after the two doubles in the first inning, he allowed only one more base hit through five, and rung up seven Falcons, although some counts were quite long and his pitch count escalated readily. Crum’s sac fly with Lonzo and Pucks on the corners in the bottom 5th extended the lead to 4-1, but Pucks was then caught stealing.

Top 6th, and a conundrum. Danny Ceballos reached on an infield single, and Woodrome drew the first walk off Wheats in this game. They advanced on a double steal, but Castillo grounded out poorly for the second out, but that still brought up another left-handed batter in Allegood, who was hitting .290 with 17 homers. Rich Fish behind him, by contrast, was a right-hander hitting .233 with no homers. The Coons sent Allegood to first, and Fish flew out – high! …but short – to DeMarco in center, getting Wheats out of the inning unharmed.

And while the ERA lead was no longer in reach on this day, Wheats ticked all the boxes he could: he got Takagi out of the game by the top of the 7th, maintained the 4-1 lead, and then was hit for when his spot led off the bottom 7th. Cruz and Sencion felled the 2-3-4 batters in the eighth inning, and Sencion continued with a 3-run lead in the ninth, because there were still two left-handers up to serve. He might even finish the game if the Falcons didn’t hit for Allegood and the didn’t put anybody on. But he put somebody on. Castillo singled, Allegood whacked an RBI triple, and the tying run was in the box with nobody out. He popped up Chris Gowin to short, but conceded another run on a pinch-hit single to Eric Miller. Tony Alvarez also popped out to Lonzo, and then Caballero went down on strikes…! 4-3 Raccoons! Puckeridge 2-4; Crum 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; DeMarco 2-3, RBI; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, W (19-6);

Tied now for the league lead in wins, and only one point and smaller change behind Victor Marquez in ERA!

Also, the Crusaders lost, so the magic number was already down to one.

Game 2
CHA: CF Caballero – 2B E. Stevens – LF Ceballos – SS Woodrome – 3B Wilken – C M. Castillo – RF Allegood – 1B E. Miller – P C. Jones
POR: 2B Waters – SS Lavorano – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 3B DeMarco – RF Tortora – CF Suzuki – C Philipps – P de la Cruz

The division was up for grabs, but so was Matt Waters’ thigh as he legged out an infield single in the first inning and then left the game right way in discomfort. I resorted to Capt’n Coma, while the team preferred Rich Seymour as replacement. He scored on Ken Crum’s homer for an early 2-0 lead, then drove in Tortora and Suzuki with a 2-out single to center in the second, 4-0, but I was whimpering regardless. Raffy was lights out in the potential clincher for four innings, whiffing eight against nothing but an Eric Miller single. And then came the fifth. A walk here, two doubles there, and just like that the Falcons were back to a 4-2 score and looking dangerous. He reached 10 strikeouts in the game with a K on Manny Castillo in the seventh inning and held the scoreline to the stretch, though, so maybe it had been worth all the undone deals while he was the hottest prospect in our system. Him, Seymour, and Lonzo also all hit singles in the bottom 7th to load the bases with two outs… but Pucks struck out. He departed with 11 K and the tying runs on the corners in Chris Gowin (double) and PR Curtis Scholl, in for Erik Stevens and his 2-out walk in the top 8th, Lillis being called on to face Danny Ceballos. He got the strikeout, the 12th on a Falcons batter in this game, but Hitchcock struck out nobody in the ninth inning. Much the contrary; Ian Woodrome singled, Randy Wilken walked, and I sighed deeply. Now, thanks to a Crispin sac fly in the bottom 8th that only put the tying run in the box, and Castillo removed it from even there when he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Allegood then popped out to Lonzo to end the game, and with the catch, the Coons clinched the old division…! 5-2 Coons! Waters 1-1; Seymour 2-3, 2 RBI; Suzuki 2-3, BB; de la Cruz 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, W (7-7) and 1-3;

(high-fives with Slappy, then continues drinking and waiting to hear from Dr. Padilla)

Game 3
CHA: CF Caballero – 2B E. Stevens – LF Ceballos – SS Woodrome – 3B Wilken – C M. Castillo – RF Allegood – 1B E. Miller – P Schaeffer
POR: SS Lavorano – CF DeMarco – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – C Gonzalez – RF Tortora – 3B Crispin – 2B Kaufman – P Salcido

The Coons scored first again, but not in the second inning when they had the bags full with one out and Brian Kaufman batting, because Kaufman hit a bouncer quite perfectly to Ian Woodrome for an inning-ending double play. Instead, Salcido opened the third with a double, and the bags filled up for Crum and one out. Schaeffer plated a run with a wild pitch and another one scored on Ken Crum’s sac fly, 2-0. Gonzalez grounded out, though.

The Falcons had one hit in five innings against Salcido, or in other worse, half as many as Salcido had. He also hit a single in the bottom 5th, but that time was doubled off by Lonzo. Walks to Crum and Tortora, plus a Crispin single added a run in the sixth inning, 3-0, but all the offense died with Kaufman in this game, who grounded back to Schaeffer for an easy 1-3 putout.

Allegood’s leadoff single in the eighth was only the second Falcons hit in the game (other than a Castillo single). Salcido got Miller in a lengthy battle, but then left the game on over 100 pitches. Matt Dixon walked Gowin, but found a way out of the inning after all. Bottom 8th, the bags were loaded once again against Armando Romero, with Kaufman coming up and one out, and just … no. Suzuki hit a sac fly in his spot, and Roberto Medina grounded out to end the inning. With the extra run, the ninth inning went to Eric Reese, who offered a walk to Erik Stevens, but ended the inning before it could get painful. 4-0 Raccoons. Crum 1-1, 2 BB, RBI; Tortora 1-2, 2 BB; Crispin 1-2, BB, RBI; Salcido 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (10-8) and 2-3, 2B;

From here on, the Raccoons would rest a regular or three in most games (even if it was against the Elks) – except for Wheats’ last two starts. He was going for league titles and would get full support.

Raccoons (89-64) vs. Canadiens (74-78) – September 22-24, 2051

The Coons had won six in a row, the damn Elks three. The Coons had clinched the division, the Elks had clinched not coming bottoms. They were fourth in runs scored, ninth in runs allowed, had crummy defense, lots of injuries, and not even 2/3 as many stolen bases as a team as Lonzo had for the full season. The Coons had already taken the season series, 10-5.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (3-5, 5.12 ERA) vs. Frederico Purificao (3-0, 4.74 ERA)
Juan Mercado (9-7, 3.91 ERA) vs. Danny Orozco (16-11, 3.97 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (19-6, 2.49 ERA) vs. Mario Godinez (6-15, 5.63 ERA)

Southpaw on Saturday! The 24-year-old Venezuelan Purificao was a rookie that was up for his fifth ABL start. He had been a scouting discovery and had signed for the promise of daily warm meals.

With the insertion of Kyle Brobeck into the rotation, the Coons went back to a sorta-six-man rotation. Wheats would pitch again on Friday anyway, to have him all ready for Game 1 of the futile CLCS. Meanwhile, still no Matt Waters, or a Dr. Padilla in sight.

Game 1
VAN: C Julio Diaz – 1B Wheeler – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – LF Burkhart – 2B Nicholson – P Purificao
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – CF DeMarco – 1B Crum – C Gonzalez – LF Tortora – RF Glodowski – 2B Seymour – P Brobeck

While Purificao purified five Raccoons with strikeouts in the first three innings, Brobeck didn’t allow a hit, but walked a bunch instead. When the Elks did find two singles by Jesus Burgos and Damian Moreno in the fourth inning, they quickly went to the corners and scored on Dan Mullen’s groundout. Ken Crum homered to center to tie the game in the fourth, and, well, the one nice quality about Brobeck had been that he could hit a bit. Well, in the fifth, he hit a bit – about 390 feet of “it”, and gave himself a 2-1 lead with his first homer of the year, and second of his albeit brief career. But on the mound, he ached through six innings, then gave up a loud leadoff double to Brian Nicholson in the seventh that put the tying run back in scoring position. With Fernando Alba pinch-hitting for Purificao, the Coons went to Brett Lillis, who gave up a single past Crum. Runners on first and third, no outs, in a 2-1 game. Yikes. But Lillis wiggled out of it, striking out Julio Diaz and getting a 6-4-3 double play from Jeff Wheeler to reach the stretch!

…and then it fell apart. Jerry Outram hit a leadoff single in the eighth against Paul Miles, and before long we were at Willie Cruz with pinch-runner Alex Soto stealing second base. With two outs, Cruz got rocked for three hits, two RBI doubles and an RBI single, by Dan Mullen, Tim Burkhart, and Hugo Acosta, and that more than just flipped the score. What the heck was loose with Cruz?? The Coons didn’t react in the bottom 8th, but at least Mike Snyder kept the distance at two – which was what the Coons put into scoring position with their first two batters in the bottom 9th against righty Lazaro Ochoa. Crum walked, Gonzalez doubled, and the threat was on. Cullen Tortora shoved a single through the left side to narrow the score to 4-3, but Glodowski, the useless pelt, grounded out weakly, barely advancing Tortora to second base – but that was the winning run, *and* we had Pucks sitting around on the bench. He batted for Rich Seymour… and struck out. Suzuki hit for Snyder, grounded hard to right, but Bill Sostre lunged and made a game-ending play, which if it had been done by Waters, would have had me beaming for days… 4-3 Canadiens. Crum 2-3, BB, HR, 2B, RBI; Tortora 2-4, RBI;

Speaking of Matt Waters – Dr. Padilla slid a note under the door on Saturday morning that he was out for the year with a torn groin muscle.

I sobbed, badly.

This sugged.

Game 2
VAN: LF Escobido – 2B Nicholson – 1B Wheeler – 3B Burgos – CF Burkhart – SS Mullen – RF A. Walker – C L. Miranda – P Orozco
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Kaufman – CF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – RF Glodowski – 3B Sivertson – LF Medina – C Philipps – P Mercado

The Elks found an all-righty lineup (minus the pitcher) for Mercado to face, but didn’t generate much meaningful offense in the first three innings – but nor did the Coons. Aaron Walker’s double and a Luis Miranda single with two outs in the fourth got the Elks on board in a heretofore scoreless game, but Pucks clawed the Coons back into a tie with a homer in the bottom of the frame. And with that, the stalemate resumed with nary a runner to break up the drudgery. Mercado went seven innings of 5-hit ball, then was hit for with DeMarco to no measurable success, and settled for a no-decision. The Coons boldly blundered into giving the ball to Polibio O’Higgins, who was right away hit with Jerry Outram batting for Wheeler and drawing a walk, then got to call it a day in favor of pinch-runner Alex Soto, who very narrowly was forced out at second base on a bold play by Lonzo on Jesus Burgos’ grounder. Burgos was then doubled up when Julio Diaz hit into a double play in place of Burkhart.

At that point our managing staff apparently fell asleep because they let O’Higgins also pitch the ninth, which he completed with no damage, or runners, and on six pitches. Orozco hung around in the bottom 9th, facing the 5-6-7 part of the lineup. Tortora grounded out, but Sivertson legged out an infield single. Two more pinch-hitter, Gonzalez and Suzuki, only made more outs, giving us more innings. Waldo appeared for the tenth, his first appearance of the week, and promptly gave up a leadoff single to Bill Sostre, then an RBI single with two outs to Alba. Lazaro Ochoa saw the Coons in the bottom 10th, and got Crispin on a grounder, but Lonzo singled his way on – and then stole second base! Kaufman struck out, but Pucks singled up the middle, Lonzo dazzled home, and the game was tied again…! After that, Sencion and Cruz doled out scoreless innings. The Coons had nothing in the 11th, and in the 12th got on base only with a walk drawn by Jeff Raczka in Cruz’ spot. Lonzo’s grounder moved him to second base with the second out of the inning – and then he went for home, do or die mode, when Kaufman singled to right. Brendon Eaton’s throw was off, and Raczka scored to end the game…! 3-2 Critters. Kaufman 2-6, RBI; Puckeridge 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; Sivertson 2-5; Philipps 1-2, BB, 2B; Mercado 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; O’Higgins 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

The Elks ended up sending Terry Herman (16-13, 4.19 ERA), another righty, into the rubber game against Wheats.

Game 3
VAN: LF Escobido – 1B Wheeler – RF Outram – 3B Burgos – CF D. Moreno – SS Mullen – C Julio Diaz – 2B Nicholson – P Herman
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – CF DeMarco – RF Tortora – C Gonzalez – 2B Kaufman – P Wheatley

Victor Marquez had not allowed a run in six innings between Wheats starts, lowering his ERA to 2.41, or eight points ahead of Wheatley, who got a quick 2-0 lead spotted by Pucks’ homer to right in the first inning, which also brought in Lonzo, who had singled and stolen second base. Wheats had two scoreless, but then bunted badly in the bottom 2nd, forced out Brian Kaufman, and stumbled over the bag to eat a bit of dirt behind first base, which didn’t help him on his return to the mound, still with brown smears on his white facial stripes. He walked Julio Diaz, Brian Nicholson singled, and while Herman and Escobido made outs, Jeff Wheeler drove a single to right-center to tie the game and more or less bury Wheats’ ERA ambitions. Outram then also singled, but Wheeler was caught in a rundown between second and third to end the silly inning.

But they didn’t get any less silly. Nicholson drove home Burgos with two outs in the fourth, and Damian Moreno singled home another run in a busy fifth, and Wheats just wasn’t pulling clear anymore. He pitched another inning, but that was it – six innings, four runs, and losing … everything was falling apart. Except for the Coons’ pen. Snyder, Reese, Dixon, and Lillis weren’t exactly the first suit, but they combined for three shutout innings after Wheats had fumbled all the titles away. The Raccoons never put another offensive threat together either, and lost rather listlessly. 4-2 Canadiens. Lavorano 2-5; Tortora 2-4;

In other news

September 18 – The Gold Sox clinch the FL West with a 12-7 win over the Cyclones.
September 22 – The Aces score ten in the sixth inning to down the Thunder, 12-6.
September 23 – The Miners shut down outfielder Eddie Moreno (270, 20 HR, 94 RBI) for the season with a bad case of shoulder inflammation not receptive to injections.
September 24 – Often-injured Titans 2B/OF Miguel Martinez (.292, 2 HR, 37 RBI) has broken his kneecap and is questionable for a return in time for Opening Day.
September 24 – PIT 1B/C David Alvardo (.250, 0 HR, 1 RBI) draws a bases-loaded walk in the 16th inning for a 3-2 walkoff win over the Rebels. It’s only the second appearance of the year for the 38-year-old veteran.

FL Player of the Week: CIN OF Chad Williams (.351, 15 HR, 75 RBI), batting .423 (11-26) with 2 HR, 9 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT SS/1B/LF Ryan Cox (.285, 25 HR, 84 RBI), swatting .450 (9-20) with 3 HR, 11 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Wheats’ winning the wins column is not perdu yet – Hiroyuki Takagi lost to the Bayhawks, 3-1, on Sunday, so the CL lead remained at 19 between those two. David Barel of Boston and Victor Marquez both have 18 wins now, but only Barel has two games remaining. Marquez, Takagi, and Wheats all only have one more start, realistically.

And Lonzo? 64 stolen bases now for the pesky bugger, which is three ahead of Chris Navarro and five of everybody else.

Only two series remaining with the Crusaders and Loggers. And then the elimination by the Thunder most likely. Losing Matt Waters was not what the Coons, already bereft of Maldo and Sean Suggs, needed with the playoffs coming up. If only Lonzo drew more walks…! But we really have no leadoff hitter anymore now.

Not that I’d classify Matt Waters as prototypical leadoff hitter…. We have to work on that area of the lineup this winter.

Fun Fact: The league is two Wolves wins, plus four each by the Loggers and Aces, away from having all teams win at least 70 games.

This happened before – once. In 2013 the Gold Sox were the worst team in the league with a 70-92 record. A full ten teams that year had between 70 and 75 wins, with half of them at 74-88.

Couple close calls, f.e. in 1982, the Gold Sox and Aces came up worst in the ABL with mutual 69-93 records. And in 1993, 23 teams in the league won 72 or more games. The sole exception were the Blue Sox at 63-99.

[Westheim]

Raccoons (90-66) vs. Crusaders (78-78) – September 25-27, 2051

Just six games left, and hopefully no more broken little legs and necks. Three games were with the Crusaders, who had limped to eighth place in runs scored and sixth in runs allowed. They did lead the season series, however, 9-6 over the Critters.

Projected matchups:
Bubba Wolinsky (13-10, 3.59 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (5-11, 2.93 ERA)
Rafael de la Cruz (7-7, 4.17 ERA) vs. Carlos Malla (8-10, 3.43 ERA)
Victor Salcido (10-8, 3.38 ERA) vs. Jim White (17-10, 3.48 ERA)

Southpaw on Tuesday in Carlos Malla. The best news about this set was already that Andrew Russ was on the DL and could not aggravate me anymore this year.

Game 1
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – 2B Haney – RF Magnussen – LF D. Rivera – 3B Gates – 1B D. Hernandez – CF Ceballos – C O. Ramirez – P J. Johnson
POR: 3B Crispin – RF Tortora – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – CF Suzuki – 2B Kaufman – C Raczka – SS Sivertson – P Wolinsky

The Coons took a 2-0 lead in the opening inning when Cullen Tortora walked and Alan Puckeridge sent a fastball over the fence in leftfield, but they also literally didn’t hit anything else, and the Crusaders, while being held to one base hit the first time through by Bubba, unpacked four hits in the fourth inning. Mark Haney doubled, and singles by Adam Magnussen and Danny Rivera, all with nobody out, created a bit of a crisis. Weak outs from Prince Gates and Dave Hernandez kept it a 2-1 game, but only until Mario Ceballos doubled home Magnussen to tie the score at two. Omar Ramirez popped out, and the game remained tied at two until the bottom 6th arrived with a leadoff double for Tortora, an infield single for Pucks, and a fastball to the ribcage for Ken Crum, who was not amused. Three on, no outs, and then two strikeouts around a lone sac fly for Brian Kaufman for a 3-2 lead… When Ceballos and Ramirez reached base to begin the seventh, Jeff Johnson bunted them into scoring position. Omar Sanchez popped out, but Waldo was brought in with two outs against the right-handed Haney, only to instead draw left-handed Josh Garris, who singled up the middle and flipped the score.

But it would flip once more. Lonzo forced out Sivertson, but stole second base in the bottom 7th before being caught stealing. No shenanigans for Pucks, when he got on base – he held still in the bottom 8th until Ken Crum hit a homer off Johnson to right-center, putting the Coons up 5-4. A walk drawn by a pinch-hitting Glodowski and Mitch Sivertson’s 2-out double even tacked on an insurance run! When Hitchcock went out in the top 9th then he allowed a single to Omar Sanchez – but also struck out three to end the game. 6-4 Raccoons. Puckeridge 3-4, HR, 2 RBI; Crum 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Sivertson 3-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 2
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – LF Magnussen – 3B Gates – RF D. Rivera – CF P. Leal – 2B Haney – C O. Ramirez – 1B Haertling – P Malla
POR: SS Lavorano – 2B Kaufman – CF Tortora – 1B Crum – 3B Sivertson – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – LF Medina – P de la Cruz

Rafael de la Cruz got on the snout in his final start of the year, with five hits rocked off him the first time through the order, and then Kaufman even tossed Malla’s grounder away after that. That scored New York’s third run in the game, after an RBI triple by Prince Gates had already done much to lift a 2-run first inning for the Crusaders. The error scored Ramirez and put Ed Haertling and Malla on the corners with no outs. Malla was forced out by Sanchez, who stole his 61st base in an attempt to catch Lonzo (65 SB). Magnussen popped out, but Gates singled home two more with a dart to center, 5-0, and only a K to Danny Rivera stopped the bleeding temporarily.

Lonzo stole his 66th base after singling home Glodowski (leadoff double) in the bottom 3rd, but that wasn’t bloody quite enough to save Raffy, who was yanked in the fourth after a sharp 1-out single by Malla and a walk to Sanchez. Lillis came in, gave up two singles to Magnussen and Gates and a run as well, then somehow got Rivera and Pedro Leal on strikes, but it was 6-1 now. The Coons went to Bryan Lenderink by the fifth inning, which was the white flag of white flags – but then the Coons suddenly sparked. Roberto Medina singled to left, Ed Crispin doubled to center, Lonzo singled softly, and Brian Kaufman hit a 2-run homer to right-center to make up four runs and get back to 6-5 in just a 12-pitch span by a visibly confused Carlos Malla.

But don’t you worry – Lenderink was blasted for homers by Gates and Rivera and three runs total in the sixth, and order was restored, 9-5. Matt Dixon gave up another run in the ninth inning. The Coons also scored a run with straight 2-out singles by Pucks, Lonzo, and Kaufman in the bottom 9th, but by then the ballpark was already emptying. 10-6 Crusaders. Lavorano 4-5, 2 RBI; Kaufman 2-5, HR, 3 RBI; Crum 3-4; DeMarco (PH) 1-1; Puckeridge (PH) 1-1; Reese 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K;

Prince Gates was a double short of the cycle and drove in six runs. It hurt watching.

The Thunder clinched the South with a 6-5 win over the Falcons on this Tuesday, and were one game away from also clinching home field against the Coons, so there was not much point in getting worked up about that.

Game 3
NYC: SS O. Sanchez – LF Magnussen – 3B Gates – RF D. Rivera – CF P. Leal – 2B Haney – C O. Ramirez – 1B Haertling – P J. White
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 1B Puckeridge – 2B DeMarco – RF Tortora – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – LF Sivertson – P Salcido

Singles by Sanchez, Gates, and Leal scored a run for New York in the first, and they got one more in the third, then with the 2-3-4 hitters; Salcido walked Magnussen, Gates doubled to left, and Danny Rivera hit a sac fly before Leal grounded out to Pucks. Worse yet was the endless string of endless counts that Salcido ached through, which made it a pain to watch him pitch, and which also got him out of the game in the sixth inning after a 1-out single by Haney. That made only for five hits and two walks by New York, but *111* pitches by Salcido. Eloy Sencion took over, and struck five batters – three of them out, and two with actual baseballs. Cruz and Miles also pitched to get the Coons through eight, and, well, what was the Coons’ offense doing?

Nothing, quite literally, until somehow Tyler Philipps, who had entered in the #9 hole in a double switch, and Lonzo reached the corners with leadoff hits in the bottom 8th. Although the game had *felt* way worse, these were the tying runs on the corners with nobody out. Crispin singled in a run, but then Lonzo was caught stealing third base, and the inning fizzled out depressingly, with Crispin left by Pucks and DeMarco… Taylor Stabile retired Tortora, Suzuki, and Crum in order in the ninth. 2-1 Crusaders. Lavorano 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B; Philipps 1-1, 2B;

Raccoons (91-68) @ Loggers (69-90) – September 28-October 1, 2051

The Loggers had logged up last place already and only had more legs to break, so hopefully they’d go easy on the Critters in this last set of the regular season. They were third in runs scored (!), but 11th in runs allowed in the CL, and mostly woeful. We had already taken the season series, 10-5.

Projected matchups:
Jason Wheatley (19-7, 2.58 ERA) vs. Josh Costello (12-9, 3.54 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (3-5, 4.78 ERA) vs. Noah Hollis (8-18, 5.56 ERA)
Juan Mercado (9-7, 3.79 ERA) vs. Ryan Clements (2-1, 4.30 ERA)

Only right-handers left to face.

As far as Wheats was concerned, he had fallen to third place in ERA (behind David Barel), but Victor Marquez had also finished his regular season by getting stuffed four runs by the Falcons (while still winning). His ERA was roughly 2.50866 – for Wheats to beat him with shutout ball, Wheats had to pitch 6.2 scoreless innings or better. A 1-run complete game would not be enough – and none of this accounted for Barel.

In the W column, Boston’s Barel had joined the 19-wins tie with Wheats, Marquez, and Charlotte’s Takagi. All but Marquez had another start.

Game 1
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – RF Tortora – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley
MIL: CF de Lemos – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – 2B Ri. Lopez – RF McIntyre – C Cadena – LF J. Delgado – 3B Barrington – P Costello

Ricky Lopez’ and Will McIntyre’s singles to open the bottom 2nd didn’t fill me with much confidence. Jose Cadena was kind enough to ground into a double play, and Suzuki snagged Jose Delgado’s liner to center, though, so Lopez was stranded at third base. Only four and two thirds to go! – that’s the spirit apparently now.

Jack Barrington singled in the third, and McIntyre singled again in the fourth, but then was caught stealing, and neither of them reached third base. The Coons had a struggle reaching even second base, with just two hits off Costello through five innings. Barrington matched their hits total with a 2-out single in the bottom 5th, but Wheats rung up Costello to get through that one as well.

Things then almost went pear-shaped in the most Raccoonish and cartoonish way possible. With the offense still dead from the hips up through six, Wheats got Dave de Lemos on a grounder to begin the bottom 6th, then struck out Gaudencio Callaia… except for Ruben Gonzalez sticking his glove into Callaia’s swing path on the 2-2 and the Loggers rookie being sent to first base for compensation. He stole second, but Zach Suggs struck out, the eighth K for Wheats, before Ricky Lopez hit a fly to right that looked like no trouble until Cullen Tortora stumbled and almost ate dirt, but righted himself just in time to make a heart-attack-inducing catch to close the bottom 6th. A fly by Craig Sayre in the bottom 7th that ended up with Suzuki and Jose Cadena’s grounder made for two outs. And now? The game was scoreless. He wouldn’t get the win. And the ERA title hinged on David Barel not matching his feat. Also, lefty threat Ernesto Hernandez pinch-hit for Delgado.

Mound conference. Wheats claimed he could get another ten of them suckers. He was on 92 pitches. But the Coons chickened out. The pitching coach raised his left arm to the pen, Wheats hissed, but had to surrender the ball. Sencion then gave up a single, a walk, and somehow got Costello out…

The Coons’ 7-8-9 with Sivertson pinch-hitting at the bottom didn’t score in the eighth either, so I felt we had made the right move there. Costello only came apart in the ninth, nicking Lonzo, who stole #67, and walked Crispin and Pucks before being yanked. Three on, no outs. Great. Between Crum, DeMarco, and Tortora, the Coons managed a 3-2 force at home, a sac fly (yey!), and a soggy 5-3 groundout for a sketchy 1-0 lead… but one that Hitchcock held in the bottom 9th. 1-0 Wheaties. Wheatley 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K;

If Delgado had remained in the game, a fairly weak righty hitter, we would have left Wheats in there for the extra out – not that it would have helped him get the 20th win. Hiroyuki Takagi did get his 20th win on Friday, so that title was off the books. David Barel wasn’t due to pitch until Closing Day. Wheats was six points ahead.

That was also the last game with the most potent lineup (COUGH! COUGH!); we’d play the last two with a healthy dose of bench bums. Lonzo was still going for two things, though: the stolen base crown (two ahead currently), and to appear in all the games in the regular season!

Game 2
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – 2B DeMarco – 1B Crum – CF Suzuki – RF Glodowski – C Raczka – LF Medina – P Brobeck
MIL: CF de Lemos – 1B Callaia – 2B Ri. Lopez – C C. Thomas – LF Sayre – SS Wieczorek – RF C. Lowe – 3B Frits – P Hollis

Lonzo dumped an 0-2 pitch into shallow left for a leadoff single, stole second, and then was silently stranded in scoring position in the first inning on Saturday. Brobeck had to drive in his own lead, doing so by turning a 1-2 pitch around and over the glove of Ricky Lopez to chase home Glodowski with two outs in the second inning. Lonzo then singled home Medina, who had been walked intentionally, and then the pair on base got a bit hysterical, and with the pitcher in the lead (!) embarked on a double steal. Chris Thomas was mildly caught off guard, threw badly to third base, and past Doug Frits for an error. Brobeck scored, and Lonzo jiggered to third base with his 69th stolen base of the season. Crispin grounded out to strand him again, while Brobeck gave up a run on three singles in the bottom of the inning. Crum countered with a solo homer to right in the top 3rd, 4-1, a feat soon enough matched by Gaudencio Callaia, 4-2.

For further amusement(?) of the home crows (which was thin), Brobeck hit another single and scored again in the fourth, being driven home by Crispin with a 2-out single. The Coons added an unearned run in the fifth, Medina getting the RBI with a bases-loaded groundout, but Brobeck left on a pair by rolling over to Callaia, also soiling his .440 batting average. He finished six innings in this start, whiffing nine against three walks, which was a nice reversal of fortunes for him.

Ken Crum whacked another solo shot to open the seventh against Nick Johns, which gave him two in the game, and Lonzo swiped second base with two outs in the eighth for a third theft on the day. He also got stranded by Crispin for the third time. Snyder, Reese, and Lenderink followed Brobeck to put the game in the books with no further runs conceded to the Loggers. 7-2 Coons. Lavorano 3-5, RBI; Crum 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Glodowski 2-3, BB; Brobeck 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, W (4-5) and 2-3, RBI;

Lonzo gained a 5-bags lead with this effort, and thus was not in the lineup on Sunday, but he would pinch-hit at the first opportunity to get that perfect attendance record.

Game 3
POR: 3B Crispin – SS Kaufman – 1B Puckeridge – 2B DeMarco – CF Tortora – RF Glodowski – LF Sivertson – C Philipps – P Mercado
MIL: CF de Lemos – 1B Callaia – SS Z. Suggs – C C. Thomas – LF C. Lowe – 2B Frits – RF Lovell – 3B Barrington – P Clements

Since the Loggers didn’t have a roof (nor any player I’d desire), Lonzo’s pinch-hitting turn might come quite early indeed, but the weather didn’t look too shabby to begin the regular season finale. Mercado did, though, giving up four hits for one run in the bottom 2nd, with the Loggers running themselves out of the inning after Barrington’s sac fly gave them a 1-0 lead. The Coons tied that in the fourth, when Clements drilled DeMarco, and gave up singles to Tortora and Sivertson, who brought home the runner from second base. Philipps’ single then made it 2-1, and even Mercado singled off Clements, 3-1…! Crispin flew out to left, however, apparently allergic to RBI’s.

Five were completed with the Coons up 3-2 after Crispin and Sivertson errors cost an unearned run on Mercado in the bottom 5th, waving Jack Barrington all the way around the bases. Lonzo batted for Philipps in the top 6th, with two outs and nobody on. He beat Barrington’s poor pick for an infield single, then stole second before failing to hide a bright grin at second base. Jeff Raczka took over the dish for Mercado once the latter finished the inning by grounding out.

Three doubles by Crispin, Kaufman, and Glodowski gave the Coons three tack-on runs in the seventh – Tortora had also drawn a walk to stretch the inning and score on Glodowski’s gapper. Mercado meanwhile kept pitching into the eighth, where the Loggers suddenly drummed him. The first four batters – Callaia through Chris Lowe – all reached base one way or another, and he was chased with the tying runs all aboard in a 6-3 game. Waldo entered, and struck out two pinch-hitters, but gave up an RBI single to Craig Sayre in between. When another lefty pinch-hit with two outs in Nick Abrego, Sencion got the ball and gave up a first-pitch howler to deep left. Sivertson back, Sivertson reaching, and jumping … and he made the catch!! Three stranded, and the Coons still up by two! The sweep was completed in 1-2-3 fashion by Hitchcock in the ninth. 6-4 Raccoons! Crispin 2-5, 2B; Tortora 2-5; Philipps 2-2, RBI; Lavorano (PH) 1-1;

In other news

September 25 – DAL SP Tony Martinez (15-13, 3.44 ERA) 3-hits the Wolves in a 2-0 shutout – which is more than the two hits given up by Salem’s Blake Sparks (12-14, 3.49 ERA) and Zach Stewart (1-3, 3.07 ERA, 2 SV).
September 26 – The Thunder beat the last remaining competition for the CL South title, the Falcons, 6-5, to clinch the division.
September 27 – The Miners’ RF/LF/1B Bryce Toohey (.243, 14 HR, 74 RBI) scores on a walkoff double by INF/CF/RF Jimmy Reed (.375, 0 HR, 1 RBI) to beat the Cyclones, 9-8 in 10 innings. Jimmy Reed, 25, not only clinches his first career RBI, but also the entire FL East for the Miners.
September 27 – Denver loses LF/CF Sandy Castillo (.312, 20 HR, 69 RBI) for the playoffs when then 31-year-old lands on the DL with a bad case of shoulder soreness.
September 28 – TOP SP Mike LeMasters (15-11, 3.58 ERA) 3-hits the Rebels in spinning a 6-0 shutout.
September 29 – VAN 3B Jesus Burgos (.313, 6 HR, 77 RBI) bashes the Indians for six hits, four singles and two doubles, and three RBI in an 11-inning, 5-4 Canadiens win. He is the first ABL player to land six base hits in a baseball game in over four years.
September 30 – The Miners lose SP Jerry Cruz (16-11, 3.65 ERA) to a partial tear in his UCL, requiring surgery and the 28-year-old to miss the playoffs and the first half of the next season.

FL Hitter of the Month: NAS 1B Alejandro Ramos (.290, 26 HR, 91 RBI), hitting .389 with 9 HR, 23 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: NYC RF/LF Adam Magnussen (.250, 8 HR, 57 RBI), batting .365 with 2 HR, 11 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: DEN SP Gary Perrone (20-6, 2.15 ERA), going 5-0 in six games with 0.57 ERA, 37 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: OCT SP Victor Marquez (19-5, 2.51 ERA), hurling for a perfect 6-0 mark with 2.05 ERA, 23 K
FL Rookie of the Month: CIN 1B Gabriel Brown (.322, 10 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .321 with 5 HR, 19 RBI
CL Rookie of the Month: TIJ INF Nathan Whitehurst (.287, 9 HR, 79 RBI), swatting .352 with 2 HR, 17 RBI

Complaints and stuff

All hail our champs: Lonzo, who led the entire ABL with 71 stolen bases… AND WHEATS! David Barel gave up two runs in the first on Sunday against the Crusaders, and the air was out of it after that. He also took the L, which means Takagi remains sole wins leader with 20 victories in the CL (Perrone also won 20 for the Goldisocks).

Somehow, this rinky-dink team won 94 games. The baseball historians will one day have fun picking that one apart.

Honorable mentions to Brett Lillis jr., who was almost written off as AAAA reliever, and finished the year with 20 appearances without allowing an earned run. To Pucks, the sole qualifying hitter that spent the entire year with the team and posted an OPS+ over 100. And to Juan Mercado, who was brought up to temporarily plug a spill and never went away again, pitching 24 games with decent stats despite a slightly elevated .319 BABIP.

Next stop: Oklahoma City.

Fun Fact: The most recent player before Jesus Burgos to land six base hits in a game was a current Raccoon: Nick DeMarco.

He did so for the Thunder, though and before tingling through Elk City, sticking six hits into the Loggers in a 16-6 rout on May 18, 2047.

Fun Fact – Bonus Round: The most recent Raccoon to appear in all 162 games in the regular season wassss….

Going backwards, these were the team leaders in games played:

2050 – Matt Waters – 161
2049 – Pat Gurney – 154
2048 – Jesus Maldonado – 156
2047 – Jesus Maldonado – 151
2046 – Jesus Maldonado – 157
2045 – Jesus Maldonado – 158
2044 – Bryce Toohey – 154
2043 – Jesus Maldonado – 159
2042 – Manny Fernandez – 158
2041 – Manny Fernandez – 146
2040 – Manny Fernandez – 156
2039 – Manny Fernandez – 156
2038 – Jesus Maldonado – 155
2037 – Manny Fernandez – 158
2036 – Manny Fernandez – 160
2035 – Alberto Ramos – 157
2034 – Alberto Ramos – 158
2033 – Travis Zitzner – 162

Travis ******* Zitzner!

I’ll give you a fiddy if you had a Travis in your breakfast Wheaties for this one…

Who else played 162 games in a season for the Coonie Coons?

2031 – Alberto Ramos
2023 – Matt Nunley
2020 – Hugo Mendoza (163 games including a tie-breaker!)
1999 – Cesar Gonzalez
1999 – Marvin Ingall
1992 – Tetsu Osanai
1991 – Tetsu Osanai
1990 – Tetsu Osanai
1989 – Tetsu Osanai
1988 – Tetsu Osanai
1987 – Tetsu Osanai
1986 – Tetsu Osanai
1984 – Matt Workman
1983 – Matt Workman
1981 – Ben Simon
1980 – Ben Simon
1979 – Ben Simon
1979 – Wyatt Johnston
1978 – Ben Simon
1977 – Ben Simon
1977 – Wyatt Johnston

In case you forgot that Ben Simon appeared in all 810 games the Raccoons played during his tenure – he buggered off to Salem for 1982 – or that Tetsu Osanai played 1,253 consecutive STARTS at first base.

Bizarre, how Marv was the inventor of the Ingall Single, but couldn’t get sole position of first place in games played for the team in ’99…

[Westheim]

2051 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (99-63)

No, I didn’t know what had happened, either, and how the damn Coons had won 94 games, or 11 more than any other stupid team in their division. But here we were, against the Thunder in the CLCS.

There was little reason to be filled with confidence. While the CLCS history between these two teams was voluminous, and a 1995 sweep by the Thunder aside had *always* seen the Raccoons win the pennant over the Thunder (six times in total and three in a row from 2045 through 2047), the teams were … a little apart in terms of brilliance and sparkle.

The Raccoons had ranked bottoms in runs scored and had led the division with a negative run differential for months on end, but had ended up with the ninth-most runs scored, the second-fewest runs allowed, and a +64 run differential in the end, mostly on the strength of a rabid August. We had the strongest pen in the CL, and the only real weakness (apart from being unable to score runs at will) was our third-worst OBP, but the team also had only batted .257 as a whole for the year. They had only hit 89 homers, but had stolen more than a base per game, 167 in all, 71 of which had been taken by Lonzo and another 35 by Pucks with the remainder mostly sprinkled aside from 22 for Matt Waters, who was not going to be available.

The same was true for Jesus Maldonado, the old valiant, or Sean Suggs, the backstop import that didn’t hit anything after coming here, which had sugged.

Now, the cynic in me would say that this helped our pitching. Maldo had still hit decently for a 73-year-old, but his defense even at first base was nothing to aid the team anymore. Waters being out opened second base for Elks import Nick DeMarco, while Ken Crum would take over first base. This moved Pucks to left, Suzuki to center (probably even against left-handed starters) and allowed us to platoon Cullen Tortora (who hit nothing, before or after his 4 1/2 month DL stint) and Matt Glodowski’s useless pelt in rightfield. Another platoon was at third base between Ed Crispin and Brian Kaufman. The only guy really doing what he had done all season long (literally) and continuing to do so would be Lonzo at short.

No injuries on the pitching side, and we could bring out the best we had there. The back end of the pen had been surprisingly solid for being built out of three packs of cards and some duct tape, and the rotation was headed by CL ERA champ Wheats with a solid support cast. Unfortunately we had to pick between Juan Mercado and Rafael de la Cruz over the final spot behind Wheats, Wolinsky, and Salcido. While the Thunder would run up a balanced lineup with right-handers and left-handers mixed nearly evenly, it was important to note that their big damage dealers in the middle of the order were all right-handers. We thusly turned over the #4 start to Raffy, despite him having the worse numbers compared to Mercado, the southpaw, both in their rookie seasons.

The Thunder had the second-fewest steals and middling defense. And that was where the good news ended. They had led the league batting .269 with a .351 OBP. Their 146 homers topped the CL. Their 821 runs scored topped the CL. Fifth in runs allowed still gave them a +189 run differential, almost triple the Coons’. Their rotation had stumbled here and there, but had often been caught by the second-best pen in the league.

As indicated just earlier, their big damage dealers were all right-handers – or Ryan Cox (.283, 25 HR, 84 RBI), who was switch-hitting. But Ed Soberanes (.300, 31 HR, 122 RBI), David Worthington (.308, 26 HR, 106 RBI), and Jesus Adames (.284, 25 HR, 111 RBI) were not to be taken lightly, and it wasn’t like we had never been burned by Jonathan Ban (.305, 5 HR, 67 RBI), squirrely switch-hitting middle infielder, before. The bottom of the order tended to be comparably soft, although that still included a Maldo equivalent in grizzled veteran Juan Benavides, batting .265 with 11 homers. Unavailable for them were ex-Coon Alex Adame and reliever Justin Johns, at least the latter not a huge loss. Other ex-Coons on their roster were closer Mike Lynn and centerfielder Armando Herrera, the latter one of the triple-ringed Coons from the 2040s. – Lynn had won two rings with those teams, Adame one.

Looked like Victor Marquez, narrowly beaten by Wheats for the ERA crown would head the rotation with a 19-5 mark and 2.51 ERA, and they might reasonably clash in Game 1 in Oklahoma. J.J. Hendrix (17-9, 3.25 ERA) was also a force, although the rest of the crew was in the 4+ ERA region. Two righties and two lefties was a real possibility.

Which gets us to the playoff roster for the Coons.

Simple accounting gave us 26 players eligible for the playoff roster. The 25-man roster from September 1, less Maldo and Waters, but plus the guys that returned in September: Ken Crum, Cullen Tortora, and Ruben Gonzalez – but the Maldo and Waters injuries also gave us two free picks.

So the pitching part was more straightforward. 12 players were eligible, and those would be on the roster: Wheats, Wolinsky, Salcido, de la Cruz; and Mercado, Cruz (without de la), Lillis, Waldo, Miles, O’Higgins (!), Sencion, and Hitchcock. See, that was easy.

The remaining 14 no-strings-pulled eligible players included three catchers: Ruben Gonzalez, Tyler Philipps, and Jeff Raczka. The latter two didn’t have to be on the roster at the same time, and while Raczka was left-handed we wouldn’t start him over Gonzalez against right-handers anyway. Philipps had hit slightly better and got the nod for the playoff roster.

Five infielders were basically eligible: Nick DeMarco, Ed Crispin, Brian Kaufman, Lonzo, and Mitch Sivertson. All were on the roster. This did not include Ken Crum, normally an outfielder, who would hold down first base for the playoffs. Five more outfielders remained with Pucks, Matt Glodowski, Cullen Tortora, Mikio Suzuki, and Roberto Medina. There was no reason to carry Medina if we could find something else on the active roster which was perhaps of more use as that 25th man.

What was really left over? Kyle Brobeck, Matt Dixon, Bryan Lenderink, Eric Reese, and Mike Snyder on the pitching side; Reese had done really well as a left-hander, but it wasn’t like we were starved for lefty bullpen options. If anything a good right-hander would be an interesting option, of which this list included none. The only batter still available at this point was Rich Seymour. Since second base already had multiple options, we politely declined and added Roberto Medina to the roster after all. A 29-year-old switch-hitter with middling defense and 201 career at-bats in the Bigs, batting .239/.265/.313. Fear us…!

Did I mention that the regular season ended up the Thunder beating the Coons eight out of nine? – Oh, Maud, sorry, I shouldn’t have. – Yes, saps the energy. – Sorry, really.

50-20 in terms of runs (in favor of the Thunder, in case you weren’t sure). The only Coons W had been on July 31 in the seventh game, when Victor Marquez had been assaulted in an endless first inning and Wheats had held up that 4-spot, barely, for a 5-3 win.

+++

Actual games will only come later; I regrettably have stuff to do… -.-

[Westheim]

Service announcement: I moved somebody's furniture all day, 42 steps down, 63 steps up, in like 15°F, and I ... I kinda don't feel my paws anymore. Or my face.

The CLCS is delayed until tomorrow.

If I choose to wake up tomorrow.

Boy, I suck

[Westheim]

2051 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (99-63)

The series started in Oklahoma City and with a surprise when the Thunder did not send up ace Victor Marquez in the opener, but went with fellow left-hander Mike Zeigler instead.

Enjoy the clean country air here, boys. We’ll not be back…

Game 1 – Jason Wheatley (19-7, 2.51 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (10-12, 4.18 ERA)

Zeigler had been acquired from the Warriors mid-season and had not faced the Coons this year (but of course had faced them often in his Crusaders days f.e.). Wheats had pitched twice against the Thunder, going 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA.

Man, how’s Matt Glodowski’s useless pelt starting Game 1 of a CLCS…?

POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Kaufman – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Suzuki – P Wheatley
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – CF M. Allen – 3B Harmon – RF Benavides – P Zeigler

The first hit of the series went to Ruben Gonzalez in singles fashion, but by then Nick DeMarco had already doubled up Ken Crum, 6-4-3 style, after Crum had reached bas on an error by Mike Harmon. Wheats had walked Jonathan Ban in the first inning, but found substantially more trouble in the second inning. Jesus Adames opened it by singling up the middle, and Mike Allen doubled to left, which put a pair in scoring position right away. Wheats rung up Harmon, while Juan Benavides grounded to first base. Crum fed the ball to Wheats – who dropped it for an error, and Adames scored. Zeigler then made the second out in bunt fashion, but Ryan Cox raked a 3-run homer to right that made it 4-0 Thunder. All runs were unearned, but I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t miffed with Wheats.

Top 4th, Zeigler lost Pucks to a leadoff walk. The runner tried to steal a base, which made Zeigler quick-pitch his own catcher, and the ball rolled away for a wild pitch. Ken Crum then fired an RBI double to left, and Gonzalez singled home Crum to erase half the deficit. Glodowski singled, Suzuki singled. Three on, one out. The Coons did not pinch-hit for Wheatley, who then crunched a grounder right at the shortstop Ed Soberanes, who turned a double play to kill the inning.

The bottom 4th and the fifth innings were uneventful, but Zeigler leaked another leadoff walk to Ken Crum in the sixth, so maybe that could get the Coons somewhere. Well, yes – more shame. DeMarco forced out Crum, and then DeMarco went on the 3-2 to Ruben Gonzalez. The catcher whiffed, and the other catcher threw out the runner to end the inning.

Wheats went five and a third ho-hum innings on 86 pitches, then was lifted for a southpaw with the bottom of the order coming up. Lillis gave up two singles, and only escaped with a K against Zeigler, keeping the score 4-2. Glodowski whacked a long ball to begin the seventh inning – but to the bad side of the right foul pole. He went on to whiff. Useless pelt.

The tying run only got back in the box after a scoreless inning by Willie Cruz, when Brian Kaufman singled to center with one gone in the eighth. Zeigler walked Pucks, then gave up a long drive to Crum. It went about 410 feet … in front of the part of the wall that read 423’. Allen made the catch, and while Kaufman moved himself to third base, DeMarco grounded out to David Worthington to end the inning with the tying runs stranded on the corners. It was still 4-2 when Mike Lynn came up in the ninth inning. He had saved 43 games in the regular season. The southpaw retired the right-handed Gonzalez and Glodowski before losing Cullen Tortora on a 2-out walk. Ed Crispin batted for Paul Miles – the only righty pinch-hitter left was Tyler Philipps, and we’d rather not – but his sharp grounder was gobbled up by Soberanes and a soft toss to Hélder Almadanim (who?) at second base ended the game.

Thunder 4, Raccoons 2 – Thunder lead series 1-0

Gonzalez 2-4, RBI; Suzuki 1-2, BB;

Eh! One outta ten ain’t bad! (kicks away some pebbles)

Game 2 – Bubba Wolinsky (13-10, 3.65 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (17-9, 3.25 ERA)

Hendrix had logged two easy wins against the Coons in as many attempts this year, while Bubba had gone up against the Thunder three times and had lost three times, sometimes badly. In fact, his worst start of the year had come against the Thunder in June, giving up eight runs in 3.2 innings. He wasn’t only 0-3, he was 0-3 with a 10.05 ERA against them.

Yay?

POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – RF Tortora – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – RF Benavides – CF A. Herrera – 3B Harmon – P Hendrix

Lonzo opened the game with a bang, tripling into the left-center gap, and the rest of the team almost stranded him. Crispin popped out, Pucks walked; Crum popped out, and DeMarco narrowly got a single to drop between Soberanes and Armando Herrera for a 1-0 lead.

Bubba looked like trouble from the start; Soberanes hit a hard double and Worthington walked in the first, but Adames grounded out to Crum at first base. He also walked Harmon in the second inning, and gave up a sharp single to Ban in the third, but Soberanes then fed a grounder to Lonzo for an inning-ending double play.

Juan Benavides nearly hit a homer to right in the fourth, but Tortora made the catch against the wall, and the Coons nearly got a base hit the second time through the lineup, but mostly disappeared most meekly. Lonzo hit a single in the fifth and was caught stealing. Hendrix hit a single in the fifth as well, and didn’t try, but was left on by Cox’ groundout anyway.

It was still 1-0 in this game to begin the seventh inning. DeMarco hit a soft single off Hendrix to begin the inning, then advanced on another Thunder wild pitch. He reached third on Tortora’s sharp single, but held there. Corners, no outs! …and the bottom of the order up. Mikio Suzuki fell to 1-2, then grounded out the left side. DeMarco froze, Tortora moved up, and Suzuki was out on the throw to first base, which at least took away the double play. Gonzalez struck out, which meant they no longer needed a double play, anyway. With a pair in scoring position and a skinny 1-0 lead, the Coons chose violence and sent Brian Kaufman to pinch-hit for Wolinsky, but he easily flew out to Cox to end the inning.

The Coons’ pen took over; Armando Herrera and Luke Burnham right-handedly whacked back-to-back 1-out singles off Eloy Sencion in the bottom 7th before being replaced with Waldo and another pinch-hitter, Bobby Schmitt, grounded to Lonzo for an inning-killing double play. With Dale Mrazek pitching, Lonzo singled and was caught stealing again in the top 8th, while Waldo worked around a Ban single and a Crispin error to turn away the Thunder in the bottom 8th. Oh, the intensity…!

The Coons continued to scratch in the ninth. Glodowski batted for a luckless DeMarco with one out against Mrazek and drew a walk. Tortora popped out, but Suzuki singled softly, moving the lead runner to second base. Ruben Gonzalez, however, found Soberanes again, and the inning ended all too easily. Fine. Bring Hitchcock! 1-0 lead, 6-7-8 batters up for the Thunder. Benavides grounded out to Sivertson, who was now at second base. Mike Allen pinch-hit and grounded up the middle. Sivertson got paws on it, but too late to have a play at first – infield single. Almadanim, a 20-year-old Venezuelan hotshot, grounded into a force at second base. Right-hander Alvin Aguilera finally pinch-hit for Mrazek. Hitchcock got ahead 1-2, but then gave up a liner anyway. It went to short, Lonzo reached, Lonzo caught, and the Coons weren’t gonna be swept!

Raccoons 1, Thunder 0 – series tied 1-1

Lavorano 3-4, 3B; DeMarco 2-3, RBI; Wolinsky 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, W (1-0);

Tee-hee! (giggles all the way back to Portland)

[Westheim]

2051 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (99-63)

By virtue of squeezing one out in Game 2, the Raccoons had assured themselves a full slate of games at home. Which was still the way I was thinking about this series. There was no way we’d eventually upend the Thunder. Yeah, yeah, it was now basically a best-of-five, and the further you whittled that down, the better your chances as the outsider, all the way to a hypothetical Game 7.

The fact of the matter was however that still the Coons had a .182 winning percentage against the Thunder this year.

Game 3 – Victor Salcido (10-9, 3.38 ERA) vs. Victor Marquez (19-5, 2.51 ERA)

Two Victors would enter, only one would leave – at most. Marquez was of course the only pitcher to lose to the Coons (Wheats specifically) in the regular season, posting a 3.00 ERA overall. Salcido had pitched against the Thunder only once, getting a no-decision in August for 5.1 innings of 2-run ball in an eventual loss (duh!).

The Coons went back to the Game 1 lineup against the left-handed Marquez.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Jim “Blowhard” Butterworth, bandleader of the famous The Dalles Trombone Troupe of nationwide renown. While Butterworth lost his straw hat on lobbing an almost-strike to Ryan Philipps, the rest of the trombone octet gave their all behind the mound, playing an adaptation of Sousa’s “The Thunderer”, which I was hysterically co-conducting from the office’s big window overlooking the field.

Give ‘em Thunder thunder, boys!!

OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – CF M. Allen – 3B Harmon – RF Benavides – P V. Marquez
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Kaufman – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Suzuki – P Salcido

Salcido went out and retired the first ten Thunder in a row before giving up a single to Ban in the fourth, although nothing much came of that. The Coons scattered four singles as inefficiently as possible in their first run through the lineup, which included Allen tracking down a DeMarco drive with two aboard in the first, and Ruben Gonzalez getting picked off first in the second inning.

By the bottom 4th, leadoff singles by Pucks and Crum put runners on the corners with nobody out, which made scoring sort of imperative. DeMarco grounded hard to the right side. Ban knocked the ball down and managed to just in time shovel it to Worthington for an out, but the runners advanced and the Coons went up 1-0. Gonzalez flew out to Benavides in deep right, and Harmon snatched a Glodowski liner to strand Crum in scoring position.

Salcido worked his way around brushing Adames onto first base to lead off the fifth inning – Allen forced him out and then was stranded on first himself – but gave up singles to Ban and Soberanes in the sixth. Worthington managed to hit a lob down 1-2 with two outs in the inning, but DeMarco ambled back and made the catch to turn the Thunder away.

But more trouble brewed in the seventh, when Adames again reached base leading off, but this time it was second base, and on an error charged to Crum when he could not contain a spiked throw by Lonzo. The ball glanced off Crum’s glove and in a high loop flew into the stands for the mandatory 2-base error. Salcido glared rather than despaired, and struck out the next two, before the Coons pretended to be clever and put Benavides on base intentionally. The Thunder did NOT hit for Marquez, who popped out to Lonzo on the first pitch, and we arrived at the stretch still up 1-0…!

Two two-out walks in the top 8th created yet more trouble and got Salcido out of the game. Soberanes and Worthington were waiting on good things from Adames, who was 1-for-10 in the series, but had already found his way on base a couple of times in this game. The Coons went to Willie Cruz, but Sencion was lined up right behind him for the all-lefty bottom of the order. He came in once Cruz blew the lead by giving up an RBI double to Adames. The Thunder sent Burnham to pinch-hit again, but he grounded out to DeMarco. After a Kaufman single in the bottom 8th led nowhere, Sencion also held out in the ninth inning while getting bombarded with pinch-hitters, mostly right-handers. Armando Herrera drew a 1-out walk, but Sencion survived the ordeal with the game still tied and now we had almost emptied the Thunder’s bench!

Oklahoma went to Mike Lynn for the bottom 9th despite not holding a lead and despite three righty batters coming up for Portland. DeMarco singled over Soberanes, and then stole second base! Gonzalez’ grounder to short kept him there, though, and Glodowski was now walked with intent. Sivertson batted for Suzuki, grounded up the middle, but Soberanes got hold of the ball and the Thunder got an out at second base. With the winning run 90 feet away and no outs to spare, Cullen Tortora batted for Sencion … but flew out to Ryan Cox.

Extra innings! Hitchcock retired the 2-3-4 batters in order in the 10th, while Lynn walked Kaufman with one gone in the bottom of the inning, but again the Coons couldn’t do anything with that runner, which never got into scoring position. Hitchcock gave up a leadoff single to the pesky Adames in the 11th then, but got out of the inning with three straight strikeouts, after which Mrazek reappeared for the Thunder. Roberto Medina hit a 2-out single in Glodowski’s place against him, but when Crispin batted for Hitchcock, he grounded out meekly.

The Coons tried their luck with Polibio O’Higgins in the 12th inning, but quickly found themselves running out of it. Cox hit a 1-out double; a Ban single put runners on the corners. Soberanes popped out to DeMarco, but Worthington made it all worth the wait for the Thunder with a 3-run homer (and on a 1-2 pitch) to left-center. The Coons went in order against Mrazek to give away Game 3 for good.

Thunder 4, Raccoons 1 (12) – Thunder lead series 2-1

Crum 2-4, BB; Medina (PH) 1-1; Salcido 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Ow.

Game 4 – Rafael de la Cruz (7-8, 4.36 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (10-12, 4.18 ERA)

From here, the Thunder chose the quick turn-around and started Zeigler on short rest in Game 4. The Coons, despite having their fuzzy behinds against the wall already, didn’t choose to match that pace. Raffy had lost his only start to the Thunder, which had been the second major league start of his career, in June, giving up four runs (three earned) in 5.2 innings. He had whiffed nine, though, a mark he didn’t reach again until August, when he struck out 13 Crusaders.

We stuck to our lefty lineup, despite not getting more than four runs in 30 innings of this series. Their were only so many magic tricks to pull, really.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Portland-born magician Stella, who appeared to toss the ball to Ruben Gonzalez, but it just disappeared from view. She then encouraged the bystanding Lonzo to look for the ball under his cap, where it was promptly found. Both Lonzo and Gonzalez stared at her like they’d just seen a ghost, and with that level of discomfort we’d go into Game 4…!

OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – CF M. Allen – 3B Harmon – RF Benavides – P Zeigler
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Kaufman – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – C Gonzalez – RF Glodowski – CF Suzuki – P de la Cruz

Soberanes and Worthington drew walks in the first, but the Thunder didn’t score when Adames struck out, but trouble was already brewing again with Raffy there. But it was then the Coons that burst out – the first four Critters all landed hits off Zeigler, going single, double, single, double, and then Glodowski added a 2-run homer with two outs! One inning, and FIVE runs off Mike Zeigler…!

Now, if only Raffy had been up to the task… but he wasn’t. He walked another pair in the second inning, and Benavides singled home Mike Harmon to make up a run, although that was it for them in that inning. With the long men already stirring in the Coons pen in the third inning, Raffy then put in two more collected innings, but walked Cox to begin the fifth, but before the long relievers could start firing in earnest, Ban found DeMarco for a double play grounder. And then – another walk to Soberanes, the sixth of the game for Rafael de la Cruz. The runner stole second, but he struck out Worthington, aching a 5-1 lead through five innings. The Thunder only got two hits off him, but six walks were bad enough on their own.

De la Cruz was hit for to begin the bottom 5th. Sivertson made an out, but Lonzo walked and Kaufman was nicked; the middle of the order didn’t come through for a knockout blow, though, with calm outs by Pucks and Crum ending the inning.

The Coons went on to pluck half the remaining 12 outs with Paul Miles, giving the back end of the pen some more breathing room after the 12-inning drama the night before. Sivertson hit a single to begin the bottom 7th, but was doubled up by Lonzo lining out to Soberanes, failing to return to first base after an early start. Willie Cruz was in for the eighth, facing the 3-4-5 batters. Soberanes and Worthington went K-pop, but Adames, ever pesky, singled to right. The Coons moved to Lillis, who got a fly to center from Allen and thus out of the inning. The Coons never tacked on, but were also still up by a slam, and Lillis remained in the game to begin the ninth inning. Harmon grounded out, Benavides struck out, and the persistent righty pinch-hitter Burnham wasn’t going to draw a new reliever on his own, either. He flew out to Suzuki to even the series.

Raccoons 5, Thunder 1 – series tied 2-2

Lavorano 2-4; Glodowski 1-2, BB, HR, 2 RBI; Miles 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

Game 5 – Jason Wheatley (19-7, 2.51 ERA) vs. Zach Boyer (10-16, 4.64 ERA)

And then it was a best-of-three. The Coons got back Wheats on normal rest, while the Thunder got right-hander Zach Boyer, who had been acquired from the Buffos in July. He had gone seven innings of 3-run ball in his only start against the Critters this year.

We went back to the Game 2 anti-righty lineup that hadn’t produced much (but a W anyway).

The ceremonial first toss was delivered by former Raccoons outfielder Brad Ledford, a fourth outfielder with two productive years in 2038-39 when the Coons didn’t go anywhere in particular. He airmailed the throw over Philipps, scattering the assorted photographers, dignitaries and social media scum.

OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – CF M. Allen – 3B Harmon – RF Benavides – P Boyer
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – RF Tortora – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley

Worthington doubled home Ban in the first inning, which was the fifth run off Wheatley in the series … and the fifth that was unearned; DeMarco had put Ban on base with a 2-base throwing error. Adames eeked out a walk, because he was that annoying, but Mike Allen soared out to Tortora rather comfortably to get out of the inning.

For Portland, Ed Crispin singled in the bottom 1st, but was left on. Tortora walked in the bottom 2nd, was caught stealing before Suzuki also walked, and then Gonzalez popped out. Wheats reached base to begin the bottom 3rd when Soberanes bobbled his grounder. Lonzo grounded up the middle to get Wheats forced out, but then stole second base (his first in three attempts in the series), and when Adames’ throw bounced away from Ban also took third base. Crispin whiffed, threatening to strand him, but Pucks came through with a game-tying single over the head of Ban, getting us even at one. The inning ended with Pucks being caught stealing.

The Thunder also retook the lead immediately when Worthington socked a leadoff jack in the fourth. Wheats retired the next seven in a row (although the Coons also didn’t reach in either the fourth or fifth), but leaked Soberanes and Worthington on base in the bottom 5th. Adames’ groundout and Allen’s pop to DeMarco kept the Coons close in the 2-1 game.

Pucks doubled in the sixth, and Harmon doubled in the seventh – neither one scored, and the score remained 2-1 Thunder, but Wheats was now also done after 100 pitches. Bottom 7th, was there a W in the cards for Wheatley? That would have required two runs. Tortora singled to right to begin the inning, but was forced out by Suzuki’s grounder. A passed ball on Adames advanced the runner, but Gonzalez whiffed. Kaufman batted for Wheats, hit a meaty fly to deep right – but it came down on the warning track for Benavides to catch. On the contrary, Worthington socked his third homer of the series off Waldo in the top 8th, extending the score to 3-1. Crispin hit another one of those 1-out doubles with nobody on in the bottom 8th that ended up with one being left on in the inning, and it was… Crispin. Pucks flew out, Crum grounded out.

Sencion got four outs to close out the Thunder in regulation, but for that to matter, the Raccoons had to make up two runs at the very least against Lynn in the bottom 9th, starting with DeMarco, who grounded out to Soberanes. Tortora was unretired in the game and hit for himself, striking out against the southpaw. Glodowski batted for Suzuki … and struck out all the same.

Thunder 3, Raccoons 1 – Thunder lead series 3-2

Crispin 2-4, 2B; Puckeridge 2-4, 2B, RBI; Tortora 1-2, 2 BB; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, L (0-2);

0-2 with an 0.73 ERA that is. Let’s not get into the gazillion of unearned runs while the wounds are still oozing.

[Westheim]

2051 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (99-63)

Game 6 was a rematch of Game 2, which Bubba Wolinsky had decided for himself with stingy pitching and the minimum of offense necessary for a win. The Thunder were also back with Hendrix, both on five days’ rest thusly. Which also meant that the Thunder saved Victor Marquez for Game 7, when the Coons would have to counter with Victor Salcido.

Game 6 – Bubba Wolinsky (13-10, 3.65 ERA) vs. J.J. Hendrix (17-9, 3.25 ERA)

The Coons dropped Suzuki, batting .200 with three singles and no RBI, and moved Tortora to center. Glodowski got the start against the right-hander. This was the first time any team deviated from its lineup used in the first instance of an opposing pitcher of a particular handedness.

The Thunder, who had the Coons right where they wanted (although later than they would have hoped), were unfazed by such bothers and returned to their Game 2 lineup unaltered.

POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – CF Tortora – RF Glodowski – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – RF Benavides – CF A. Herrera – 3B Harmon – P Hendrix

Crispin hit another one of those universally ignored 1-out doubles in the top 1st, while Wolinsky walked Ryan Cox to begin the bottom 1st. Ban flew out, Soberanes hit into a 5-4-3 double play, and that would do fine for me.

Portland scored first and before making an out in the second inning. DeMarco singled to right and was in motion when Cullen Tortora hit a gapper for an RBI double. Obviously Tortora was then stranded at second base as the 7-8-9 batters stepped all over each other in attempts to make the weakest out. Bottom 2nd, pesky Jesus Adames singled to center, but he, too, was doubled up, by Benavides, and the Thunder ended up presenting merely the minimum the first time through.

When Ken Crum doubled to left-center to begin the fourth inning, it gave the Raccoons a set of 1-2-3-4 hitters all batting .250 with no homers and an average of one RBI in this series, which was part of the problem. DeMarco’s scratch single put the pair on the corners, though, and Tortora hit at least a sac fly to Cox for a 2-0 lead, at which point we had a string of 3-4-5-6-7-8 batters all with 2 RBI precisely. Glodowski approved and hit into a double play to keep it that way. At least he also made a nice running catch on a Cox floater in the bottom of the inning.

Ruben Gonzalez’ leadoff jack ruined the string of 2 RBI hitters, but put the Coons up 3-0 in the fifth. Bubba singled after that, but was stranded, with Pucks’ 2-out drive into the gap miraculously run down by the ancient Benavides to end the inning. Worthington and Adames then opened the bottom 5th with sharp singles, but Benavides equally sharply spanked a ball into a double play, 4-6-3. Trouble seemed to be drawing up for Wolinsky, who got a pep talk in a huge mound conference attended by all infielders, the catcher, the pitching coach, and even Chad in the mascot costume, who gave Wolinsky a good old pat on the back. It didn’t help – ex-Furball Armando Herrera singled to center to get Oklahoma on the board. Harmon lined a shot to left – but Crispin caught it!! Oh, what a lunge!! Inning over!

The sixth was uneventful. Bubba was hit for in the seventh, since the chances of him getting through that meat of the order again unharmed were slim anyway. Willie Cruz got the ball for the bottom 7th, walked Soberanes, who stole second, and gave up the run on another Adames single. It got complicated now. The Coons went to Sencion for Benavides, but Burnham pinch-hit as usual and drew the walk this time. Herrera grounded out, advancing the runners. When Alvin Aguilera pinch-hit for Harmon with two outs, the Coons sent Waldo to counter the righty hitter. Aguilera chopped a slow roller on the infield on the very first pitch, Waldo pounced on it, thought about going home, but then went to first, and then it was already too late. Infield single, tied game, and still two runners aboard, although Mike Allen flew out to Pucks when he batted for Hendrix.

So, brand new ballgame, huh?

Lonzo grounded out against Mrazek to begin the eighth, but Crispin and Pucks lined singles to get on base. Crum found Ban for a force at second base, and DeMarco sent a fly to deep left, but Cox leapt the fence and made – NO! The ball was loose and bouncing back to the infield! Crispin scored! Ken Crum scored! A 2-out, 2-run double for DeMarco…!! The Coons had a 5-3 lead again! …and also Tortora float out easily to leave DeMarco on base.

Waldo continued to pitch in the bottom 8th, at least until Ryan Cox homered to left properly at the start of the inning, before aggressively stomping around the bases. Bring Hitchcock for a 6-out save! He got the first two without issue, but then lost Worthington in a full count, which brought up Adames as the go-ahead run, which was not what I had envisioned, but he grounded out to DeMarco this time. Mike Lynn axed Glodowski, Gonzalez, and Suzuki in order in the top of the ninth, with the 6-7-8 up against Hitchcock in the bottom 9th. Hélder Abracadabra-something grounded to Crum for the first out. Herrera singled to left, but was forced out on Aguilera’s grounder to Crum. Bobby Schmitt pinch-hit for Lynn. He laid off one pitch, then drove the next a good 400 feet … but that one also went to the 423’ part of the ballpark, and Mikio Suzuki raced back there to make the catch.

Raccoons 5, Thunder 4 – series tied 3-3

Crispin 2-4, 2B; DeMarco 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wolinsky 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K and 1-2; Hitchcock 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, SV (2);

(makes big black googly eyes)

[Westheim]

But before we go to Game 7, here’s a review of the by-now-concluded FLCS, which started a day earlier!

Facing each other were the 99-63 Gold Sox and 89-73 Miners.

The Denver team had won its division by 16 games, while leading the Federal League in runs scored, and sitting third in runs allowed for a +161 run differential. Despite an average defense, their starters and relievers both ranked in the top 3 in the league by ERA. Their offense relied on power, with their 154 homers leading the league. Ivan Villa (.303, 38 HR, 111 RBI) had stormed away with the home run crown in the league, and they had another .300 hitter with power in Rick Price (.317, 14 HR, 87 RBI), while Raul Sevilla (.296, 14 HR, 107 RBI) had also driven in over 100 runs. Unfortunately for them, two more .300+, 10+ HR hitters had fallen by the wayside with neither Sandy Castillo nor Tylor Cecil available for the playoffs. Gary Perrone (20-6, 2.15 ERA) was undeniably the chief of staff, with the rotation falling off quite a bit behind him. In the pen, 25-year-old Jason Posey (.5-, 3.19 ERA, 45 SV) was doing impressive work for a second-year closer.

The Miners had won the division by five games, and had done so with a quite balanced approach. They led the FL in stolen bases with 166, but that was the only major category in which they topped the FL. But they also didn’t rank lower than fourth in ANY category. Fourth in runs scored, second in runs allowed, with a +117 run differential. Solid defense, sturdy pen – they had shopped well (and in the premium aisle) in the offseason! If only the team had not been taken apart by injuries down the stretch. Starters Matt Sealock, Brian Buttress, Jerry Cruz had all fallen by the wayside in addition to outfielders Eddie Moreno and Matt Cox and some other spare parts. While they still had a strong middle of the order with Victor Corrales (.307, 20 HR, 125 RBI) and Alex Abecassis (.239, 22 HR, 77 RBI), Moreno’s 20 homers and 94 RBI were hard to replace and the bottom half of the lineup looked thin.

This was the 16th playoff appearance for the Miners and the fourth in five years, but they had never won the title. The Gold Sox made their tenth playoff appearance, the third in a row, and the sixth in eight years. They had won the World Series four times, including both of the last two seasons. The teams had met each other twice in the FLCS, and both times (1985, 2050), the Gold Sox eventually went on to win the World Series.

+++

PIT @ DEN … 2-7 … (Gold Sox lead 1-0) … PIT Victor Corrales 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; DEN Ryan Thompson 2-3, BB, 2 RBI; DEN Rick Price 2-4, 3B, 2B, 3 RBI;

PIT @ DEN … 5-6 … (Gold Sox lead 2-0) … PIT Alejandro Venegas 3-4, RBI; DEN Rick Price 2-4, HR, 3 RBI;

DEN @ PIT … 6-9 … (Gold Sox lead 2-1) … DEN Ivan Villa 5-5, 2B, 3 RBI; PIT Victor Corrales 2-5, HR, 2 RBI; PIT Alex Abecassis 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; PIT Tyler Tomasello 3-4, 2 RBI;

The Miners blow out Dave Hils with a 7-run first inning… and that’s barely enough to survive the relentless onslaught of the Gold Sox’ offense.

DEN @ PIT … 9-3 … (Gold Sox lead 3-1) … DEN Ryan Thompson 3-5, BB, 2B, RBI; DEN Ivan Villa 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI; DEN Mike Preble 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; DEN Bill Ramires 4-4, 3B, 3 RBI; DEN John Kennedy 8.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, W (1-0);

DEN @ PIT … 4-5 … (Gold Sox lead 3-2) … DEN Ivan Villa 2-3, RBI;

Gary Perrone (1-1, 5.25 ERA) gets under the wheels early for the Gold Sox and again the Denver team almost gets back into the game, but Kevin Nolte (1-1, 5.40 ERA), Marcos Nabo, and Sam Gibson hold the line for the Miners.

PIT @ DEN … 3-6 … (Gold Sox win 4-2) … DEN Rick Price 2-5, 2 2B, RBI; DEN Raul Sevilla 3-4, HR, 2B, RBI;

Pittsburgh’s Bobby Freels (1-1, 8.49 ERA) is roughed up for five early runs, and the Gold Sox cruise to the pennant from there.

[Westheim]

2051 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (99-63)

******* hell, a Game 7! This was already miles deeper into the playoffs than I had ever imagined us going, and I would have expected us to have a rematch of Game 3. Salcido and Marquez had fought each other to a draw, with the Coons losing in the 12th inning when they ill-advisedly went to Polibio O’Higgins.

Reminder: Don’t go to Polibio O’Higgins!

Game 7 – Victor Salcido (10-9, 3.38 ERA) vs. Mike Zeigler (10-12, 4.18 ERA)

But no! The Thunder went with Mike Zeigler for the third time, the same Zeigler that had managed to lose Game 4 all in the first inning…! I’d assume they had a developed severe PTSD by now for all the previous CLCS failures against the Raccoons and couldn’t help themselves but to lose again in the most severe way possible.

…which was a dangerous thought. Were we somehow suddenly confident that this was our game to lose??

The Thunder flipped Benavides and Harmon in their lineup against right-handers for this series-deciding game.

POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Kaufman – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – RF Glodowski – CF Tortora – C Gonzalez – P Salcido
OCT: LF R. Cox – 2B Ban – SS Soberanes – 1B Worthington – C Adames – CF M. Allen – RF Benavides – 3B Harmon – P Zeigler

Soberanes got himself caught stealing in the first inning, which made Worthington’s leadoff double in the second momentarily hurt less, although a wild pitch soon moved him to third base with nobody out. Adames popped out, but Salcido walked Allen. Benavides popped out, too! Harmon grounded out to Lonzo to kill the inning after the promising start, which sounded like the Coons had suddenly donned the home whites here…

Salcido bunting into a double play to follow up Gonzalez’ leadoff walk in the top 3rd set things mostly straight again, though. Offense remained low until Salcido walked Soberanes in the bottom 4th, and then made a terrible pitch down Broadway to Worthington, who mashed his fourth homer in the series, a no-doubter to left, putting the Thunder up 2-0. It looked like Salcido’s pitch had not been planned entirely. He kept shaking his arm, and Dr. Padilla, curious as ever, went out there to finger his elbow and shoulder joints. When Dr. Padilla retreated back to the dugout, he took Salcido with him, the latter screaming obscenities into his cap.

And there we were. Paul Miles was inserted at this point, cleared the array of lefty hitters at the bottom of the order, and the Coons put DeMarco and Tortora on base in the top 5th as rain began to fall and intensified rapidly. Ruben Gonzalez got in an RBI double to left-center before the snap, and before the tarp came onto the field. 2-1 Thunder, runners in scoring position, one out, and a 90-minute rain delay to think about the meaning of life.

When play resumed, righty Angel Velasquez replaced Zeigler, who could not get back into the game after that long a delay. The Coons were going to restart with a pinch-hitter anyway and sent Crispin, who grounded to third base. Harmon’s throw to first glanced off Worthington’s glove for an error, the game was tied, and there were still two aboard. Lonzo slashed a clean RBI single to left on the next pitch by Velasquez, and then the runners went for a double steal! Adames was taken by surprise and couldn’t beat Crispin at third, and the Coons had a pair in scoring position again! Kaufman sloshed the very next pitch to center, and it was obviously gonna dink in, and Crispin and Lonzo both scored!! 5-2! And as the Thunder pen collapsed, the Coons added three more singles by Pucks, Crum, and Glodowski, for one more run before Tortora flew out to Cox in leftfield to strand three.

Now we just had to find 15 outs without blowing a 6-2 lead! Two innings from Waldo would be *really* nice, or at least getting all the way from #9 to #5 in the Thunder order. Crispin stayed in the game at third, Kaufman went to second, DeMarco went to center, and Tortora was out of the game, with the pitcher going in the #7 spot.

And then Maldo retired none of the first three batters. Walk to Aguilera, and to Cox, and Ban hit an infield single. Oh bother. Soberanes brought in a run with a groundout. Worthington knocked home two with a screaming single. Adames flew out, and instead of six outs, Waldo had gotten exactly two. Lillis replaced him, getting a groundout from Allen to escape the nightmare inning. A Lonzo single and an error by Soberanes put two Coons aboard in the top 6th, but Pucks grounded out too easily to end the inning. Lillis allowed a single with two outs to Hélder Something in the bottom of that inning, but the runner got himself caught stealing to end the inning.

Lillis hung around to put the tying run on second base in the bottom 7th when Cox doubled to left off him. Willie Cruz came into the game. Burnham pinch-hit for the pitcher in the #2 hole and grounded out, but then Cruz fell afoul of Soberanes, who was hitting .087 in the series, and gave up a score-flipping blast to left-center… I tumbled, and almost crashed into the nearest hot dog stand. Worthington singled, was doubled up on an Adames grounder, and that ended the seventh inning, but, oh, the carnage!

The tying run was on base to begin the eighth inning against Dale Mrazek, via a pinch-hit single by Mitch Sivertson, who was then caught stealing by the annoying Adames. Gonzalez struck out before Crispin doubled to left off lefty Tom Spencer. Righty Brian Grohoski, who had not been seen in this series yet, replaced Spencer immediately. Lonzo put an 0-2 into play, but grounded out to Harmon at third base.

After Eloy Sencion faced the minimum in the bottom 8th, the Coons came back with the 2-3-4 hitters against Lynn. One to avoid elimination. Two to take a lead. Suzuki batted for Kaufman and singles to right-center on the very first pitch…! Lynn fell to 2-1 against Pucks, who got hold of a breaking pitch and barfed it down the rightfield line. Benavides cut off the ball against the sidewall, but Suzuki went to third base anyway; with Benavides’ throw going into no man’s land, Pucks scampered to second base behind him! The noise in the ballpark was deafening as the capacity crowd tried to egg on Lynn to strike out Ken Crum, who had been a foe of theirs with the Bayhawks before being traded to the Coons. The 1-0 pitch went up the middle, and past Soberanes! We were tied!

Two full counts followed. DeMarco struck out, but Glodowski walked, bringing up the pitcher’s spot. The options were Philipps and Medina, and we went with the proper righty as everybody else had already been used up, and it looked like he’d been used up before long. One strike, two strikes, but then, a fly to center! Oh, that was good! Herrera had to go back a bit, and had no chance on Pucks at home, who scored to give the Coons an 8-7 lead! Crum to third base, but a K to Gonzalez ended the inning.

Suzuki stayed in center, and DeMarco went back to second base for the bottom 9th, and there was Hitchcock, who had thrown *40* pitches the night before. Hélder Almadanim led off the inning in the #9 spot. He dinked a blooper into shallow right for a leadoff single. I could see my heart beating through my ******* shirt. A Cox groundout advanced the tying run. Herrera’s fly to Suzuki did not. Soberanes was next, and we REALLY didn’t want to get to Worthington, .440 with 4 HR and 10 RBI in the series. No, we’d rather not.

We’d reeeeeally, reeeeeeally rather not!

And we didn’t. Ball outside. Then a called strike on the corner. Soberanes missed a high fastball with a rake then, falling to 1-2. Hitchcock went right back there, only managed 94 after the grueling outing in Game 6 – but Soberanes swung and missed again…!!! Pandemonium!!

Raccoons 8, Thunder 7 – Raccoons win series 4-3

Lavorano 2-5, RBI; Suzuki (PH) 1-1; Puckeridge 2-5; Crum 2-5, RBI; DeMarco 2-5; Sivertson (PH) 1-1;

4:45 of madness.

I need a shower.

WITH ******* CHAMPAGNE!!

[ayaghmour2]

What a series! Who would have thought this team would have turned into a pennant winner? Next stop, a title!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

What a series! Who would have thought this team would have turned into a pennant winner?

Not me!

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

Next stop, a title!

Last time the Coons met the Gold Sox in the World Series, we arrived without a rotation and somehow hoaxed our way to the title in six games.

[UltimateAverageGuy]

Next to the Game of Thrones books this is the best read I've had in years. I really love this crazy world.

Denver in 5

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by UltimateAverageGuy

Next to the Game of Thrones books this is the best read I've had in years. I really love this crazy world.

Sir, you are too kind.

Originally Posted by UltimateAverageGuy

Denver in 5

Yes, make them angry! Then they'll show you! I told them all year that they suck and won't get anywhere, and now...!

[Westheim]

2051 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Denver Gold Sox (99-63)

Against all reason or anything that was holy, the Raccoons had made it to the World Series for the sixth time in eight seasons, although this World Series roster had next to nothing in common with the one that faced the Gold Sox in 2046 and beat them in six games. Ruben Gonzalez and Kevin Hitchcock were the only connections, but that was with injuries wiping out mainstays like Jason Wheatley, Matt Waters, or Jesus Maldonado in one season or the other.

The Raccoons and their ninth-best offense in the CL, that had barely scored in excess of four runs per game in the regular season, and hardly over three runs per game in the CLCS, and had advanced anyway on stingy pitching, which had allowed the second fewest runs in the league, met the Gold Sox, who had been first in the FL in runs scored and third in runs allowed, with a +161 run differential.

Their team was all power, a modicum of speed, and average defense behind a relentless offense with nearly a full lineup of .270+ hitters, and five guys with 13+ home runs, with Ivan Villa (.303, 38 HR, 111 RBI) being the centerpiece of it all in his age 29 season. Don’t enter the series assuming a fair fight – they had four switch-hitters on the roster and were ready to use them, to the point where the handedness of your own pitching hardly mattered anymore. This included Villa as well as Raul Sevilla (.296, 14 HR, 107 RBI) and ex-Coon Mike Preble (.280, 15 HR, 53 RBI). The lineup could have been even more lethal, but the Gold Sox had dropped two dangerous outfielders during the regular season, with neither Sandy Castillo nor Tylor Cecil, who both hit .307+ with a total of 34 homers, on the DL. Maybe that was a weakness – the bottom of their order was rather pedestrian, and the bench was also far from impressive.

(looks at Roberto Medina) Oh well.

On the pitching side, Gary Perrone (20-6, 2.15 ERA) was a true ace for the Gold Sox, but the supporting cast in the rotation was not quite as flashy. They had a strong young closer in Jason Posey (5-6, 3.19 ERA, 45 SV) and a good supporting cast in the pen, though, including a former Critter in Tony Negrete, who was one of two southpaws in the pen, and one more was expected in the rotation in the venerable 39-year-old John Kennedy (10-14, 4.19 ERA).

Combined, these two teams had won five of the last seven World Series – the Gold Sox taking the crown in the two most recent seasons, while the Coons had won it all in 2044, 2046, and 2047.

So, what about the Raccoons? No reinforcements from the DL – but Victor Salcido was added to that with a rotator cuff strain. That moved Juan Mercado, who hadn’t pitched in the CLCS at all as eighth reliever, back to the rotation, while we got to make an addition from the active roster.

Three of the Gold Sox’ switch-hitters (Villa, Sevilla, Bill Ramires) were weaker against southpaws – the only opposing case was Preble. So while we already carried three lefty relievers, maybe we wanted to add another one? Nah. That felt like too much. We were also back to two lefty starters, and my absolute phobia of replacing one southpaw with another meant that we’d have to replace each of those with a right-hander first. Even a garbage righty felt like a better option than a strong lefty (not that “strong” was an option from what was left on the expanded roster).

So, hello Mike Snyder.

[Westheim]

2051 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) @ Denver Gold Sox (99-63)

Whether the Gold Sox still remembered that they had already been cheated out of a title by the Raccoons once before? Maybe! In any case, when we arrived in Denver for the series opener, we were met with grim news – the Gold Sox had activated Tylor Cecil from the DL after all. That was another .307, 14 HR, 57 RBI bat (in 89 games) to be concerned about.

Suddenly that lineup didn’t look so thin at the bottom anymore.

Game 1 – Jason Wheatley (19-7, 2.51 ERA) vs. Gary Perrone (20-6, 2.15 ERA)

The Coons did, though. Perrone was a right-hander, and we’d pick up the shovel and shovel the same pile of **** all over again with the Game 6 lineup that had beaten J.J. Hendrix for a second time in Oklahoma City.

The two teams had not faced each other in the regular season, so there was no recent history to go back to. Well, except for the LCS, where Perrone had gone 1-1 with a 5.25 ERA. Wheats had lost both his starts, but had allowed only one earned run in 12.1 innings … let’s just not get into the unearned runs.

POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – CF Tortora – RF Glodowski – C Gonzalez – P Wheatley
DEN: 3B R. Thompson – SS R. Price – 2B I. Villa – 1B Sevilla – RF Cecil – C Mickle – LF Ayres – CF B. Ramires – P Perrone

Ivan Villa had batted a modest .542 in the FLCS and upped that with a solo homer to left right in the first inning. This came after Rick Price doubled up Ronnie Thompson and his leadoff single, and also after Pucks had doubled in the top 1st, only to be stranded. That was the only inning in which Wheats looked halfway decent, and that was not an understatement. Vic Ayres and Bill Ramires both reached in 3-1 counts with two outs in the bottom 2nd before Perrone grounded out. In the third inning, the Gold Sox went through the order. Thompson walked in a full count and scored on a Price triple over the head of Tortora. Villa singled him in, and Raul Sevilla also singled. Tylor Cecil singled home a run, and Blake Mickle loaded the bags with another single. Vic Ayres’ sac fly was followed by yet another single for Ramires, and then Wheats walked in a run against Perrone and was shanked. Waldo walked in another run before getting a double play grounder from Price, which ended the dismal inning.

The Gold Sox had put up six in the inning and led 7-0, so the game was mostly over, and that was before Willie Maldonado was whacked for another four runs on four more hits, crowned by a Ramires homer, in the bottom 4th.

Which didn’t mean the drubbing was over. Far from that. While Ruben Gonzalez hit a second hit, all of a single, for the Coons in the sixth inning, Mike Snyder walked five Sox in the bottom 6th, and when Brett Lillis jr. replaced him, he had nothing better to do than to give up a 2-out bases-clearing double to Villa.

Nobody was counting runs at this point. In fact, I was already on the way back to the hotel. I had crying to do. The sort of crying you do in private.

The Coons still had innings to pitch and turned the ball over for the last two to Polibio O’Higgins, who was also told that the pen closed behind him and he was on his ******* own. Ayres singled, Ramires doubled, Thompson walked, and Price reached on a Crispin error in a 2-run seventh. The eighth was better. Sevilla and Cecil singled on his first two pitches before Mickle and Ayres both flew out to Pucks in rightfield. Then Ramires singled.

Then Sean Lassley singled. Sevilla scored. Cecil scored.

Thompson singled. Ramires scored.

Price singled. Lassley scored.

Villa walked, and Sevilla somehow grounded out to a miffed Ken Crum to end the game’s fourth inning of four or more runs for the Gold Sox.

The Coons didn’t even get four batters to the plate against Tony Negrete in the ninth inning.

Gold Sox 23, Raccoons 0 – Gold Sox lead series 1-0

…

(cusses heavy-tongued, lying on the hotel bed with loosened tie and pants) Gold Sox, Gold Sox! Goldilocks! … Gold … Gold … Gold Sox! -higgs!- F… F…. F…….. (throws empty bottle of plus-rated hotel-priced booze against the nearest wall where it shatters into a million shards)

**** the Gold *****!!!

Game 2 – Bubba Wolinsky (13-10, 3.65 ERA) vs. Jim Cushing (10-5, 3.55 ERA)

Would the Raccoons even show up for Game 2 after the mother of all playoff drubbings?

Well, yes. I had Maud check our obligations with League HQ while I was stirring an ounce of honey into some cup of tea the hotel bartender claimed would get rid of the power hammers going off in my head at 10 on the next morning. I would have preferred Capt’n Coma.

Or an actual coma.

POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – RF Tortora – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P Wolinsky
DEN: 3B R. Thompson – SS R. Price – 2B I. Villa – 1B Sevilla – C Mickle – LF Cecil – CF B. Ramires – RF Ayres – P Cushing

Pucks hit a single in the first and was left on base again, which gave me a bit of a flashback to the day before. But Bubba pitched a scoreless bottom 1st, so maybe it was a new day after all. DeMarco singled to left and reached second base when Cecil, likely rusty after three months on the shelf, overran the ball, but was nevertheless stranded at third base in that inning.

Things looked halfway decent until Wolinsky gave up a leadoff single to Cushing in the bottom 3rd, then walked Ronnie Thompson right away, both of them in full counts. Price popped out, but Ivan Villa hit an RBI single on a 3-1 pitch and a misplay on the infield allowed the runners to reach scoring position behind Cushing, who scored to give Denver a 1-0 lead. Wolinsky then got to an 0-2 count on Sevilla… and then it all collapsed again.

Sevilla singled, and two runs scored. Mickle singled. Cecil singled in a run. Ramires singled in a run. Ayres singled in a run. Only the pitcher batting eventually and Ramires being caught stealing ended this particular 6-run inning for the Gold Sox.

By the fourth inning, Paul Miles was pitching mop-up for the Coons, turning in three scoreless innings, somehow. Not that it helped any. The offense was completely nixed for the second time in a row, with three hits scattered through seven innings against the well-cushioned Cushing.

Willie Cruz and Eloy Sencion added pointless innings in every sense imaginable, while the Coons finally had their first at-bat of the series with TWO batters on base. In the ninth inning. With two outs. DeMarco and Tortora hit back-to-back singles off Brian Shan when Kaufman batted for Suzuki. He struck out. And that was that.

Gold Sox 6, Raccoons 0 – Gold Sox lead series 2-0

Puckeridge 2-4; DeMarco 2-3; Miles 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K;

[Westheim]

2051 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Denver Gold Sox (99-63)

Maud? Maud? – What are all these people doing in my ballpark? – All those cameras and things, and I already had three microphones stuffed into my pokey black nose. – The World Series? – Here?

Why?

I still wasn’t quite grasping it. Or maybe it was irreversible brain damage for having spent the better part of three days completely busted on booze and/or banging my head against the nearest door frame. At least I had to sense to save on money and cancelled the postgame fireworks at the last moment. The Gold Sox were here, what other fireworks did the people need?

Game 3 – Rafael de la Cruz (7-8, 4.36 ERA) vs. Dave Hils (12-14, 4.29 ERA)

Hils – another former Critter – had pitched one inning and had allowed seven runs in the FLCS, which made him ideally qualified to join the Raccoons bullpen. What did the Raccoons have to offer? A rookie that had struggled against the Loggers and so on in the regular season. A precious rookie at that.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by 2051 Willamette Institute for the Limbless and the Blind alumnus Corey Wilkins, who drove the baseball from the mound to the confused looking Tyler Philipps with his power wheelchair – and which also indicated that the Raccoons had NEVER planned to play baseball at this point of the year and that all the professional gigs had long ago found something better to do on this cold Tuesday night.

A rarity for me, avoiding people wherever I could, I was actually in the dugout during pregame ceremonies. When it was time for Raffy to go out for the last few warm-up tosses from the mound before the top of the first, I held him back on the dugout steps and told him that it would be rough.

With the club-wielding Gold Sox in plain sight, I gave him one last kiss.

DEN: 3B R. Thompson – SS R. Price – 2B I. Villa – 1B Sevilla – RF Cecil – C Mickle – LF Ayres – CF B. Ramires – P Hils
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Crispin – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – RF Tortora – CF Suzuki – C Gonzalez – P de la Cruz

The Gold Sox arrested him immediately. Thompson walked, Price singled to center, and Villa again walked. Raul Sevilla snuck an RBI single past DeMarco before Cecil actually hit a comebacker to the mound for a 1-2-3 double play. Blake Mickle still hit another RBI single. I just couldn’t figure out how the Gold Sox were hitting every single ******* pitch for a base hit…!

Pucks hit a single in the first inning again, as if that had worked at all the last two times he landed a hit in the first, while Bill Ramires hit a homer off Raffy in the second inning to get the Gold Sox up 3-0 already.

Bottom 2nd, DeMarco singled, as did Suzuki, but the latter was forced out on a grounder to second base by Ruben Gonzalez. Raffy batted with two outs and rolled a single past Ivan Villa to score DeMarco from third base for the team’s first ******* run of the series, 3-1. Hils then threw a wild pitch before leaving a curveball on a stick for Lonzo to dish into leftfield for a game-tying single. Lonzo stole second, scored on a Crispin single, and all of a sudden the Coons had a 4-3 lead…!?

But please remain calm everybody, it didn’t even last an inning. Villa whacked a leadoff double in the third, and Blake Mickle flipped the score with a homer to left. And I wondered whether we should have taken more mop-up relievers.

Crispin tied the game at five in the bottom of the fourth inning, though, finding Gonzalez and Lonzo on the corners, and barely staying out of an inning-ending double play when he grounded to Rick Price at short. Gonzalez came home while the first base ump awarded the bang-bang play on Villa’s return throw to the Raccoons, narrowly.

Due to the lack of mop-up relievers on the badly constructed slaughter roster, Raffy was even still pitching at this point, getting the Gold Sox removed 1-2-3 in the fifth, which gave him a claim for the win (snort!) on a comedy of errors in the bottom 5th. Crum hit a leadoff single and went for third base when DeMarco also singled to right. Cecil’s throw was bad and allowed both runners to reach scoring position, and when Tortora singled to center, Ramires overran the ball for an extra base for everybody, as two runs scored, 7-5. Hils was yanked at that point, with former Critter Nelson Moreno getting the ball and walking Suzuki before regaining control of the inning despite another walk to fill the bases.

Raffy pitched into the seventh inning, somehow, and wasn’t lifted until Thompson singled with two outs on his 109th pitch. Eloy Sencion entered at this point, but gave up a 2-2 double to Price. Villa had the tying runs in scoring position, but grounded out poorly to Brian Kaufman, who had taken over second base from DeMarco in the double switch that had just introduced Sencion.

But the tying runs were in scoring position again in the eighth. Sevilla walked, Cecil singled, and Mickle’s groundout advanced them. Mike Preble, weirdly absent from the lineup, pinch-hit and drew Willie Cruz, who swiftly blew the game, giving up an RBI single to Preble, and a 3-run homer to Ramires, coyly hitting .500 with 3 HR, 11 RBI in the #8 spot.

The bottom 9th eventually arrived and we actually got a glimpse at Jason Posey, who walked Crum to begin the inning, thus provoking the tying run into the box, even though it as only Mitch Sivertson batting for Brett Lillis jr. He grounded to short for a force at second. Glodowski struck out. Suzuki grounded out to Villa.

Gold Sox 9, Raccoons 7 – Gold Sox lead series 3-0

Lavorano 2-5, 2 RBI; Crispin 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Puckeridge 2-5; DeMarco 2-4;

Game 4 – Juan Mercado (10-7, 3.79 ERA) vs. John Kennedy (10-14, 4.19 ERA)

Rumor on the morning of Game 4 was that the Gold Sox would rush Perrone, but they were not quite that stupid. They had three match balls, and there was no need to publicly shame Kennedy, who had dutifully served the team since being acquired from the Buffos in July of 2043 and had twice won the FL ERA with them. This was his 17th major league season overall.

The Coons meanwhile brought up Juan Mercado, who 17 years ago, when Kennedy had been a Warriors rookie, had just started second grade in Puerto Rico. Not sure how much I liked our chances there. But three righties in a row hadn’t fooled the Gold Sox lineup, so maybe a southpaw could do it.

The final ceremonial first pitch of the season was delivered by Jason Ruff, founder and CEO of Portland-based Canine Solutions Inc., which I had always thought was a disposal company for surplus dogs, but apparently they had actually found a way and had developed a doggy litter box that removed the need to clean up after your slightly diarrhetic German Shepherd with a hard to handle plastic bag in public. Caesar would now go in the box in your hallway, from where it could easily be shoveled away.

“And your dog – would love it, too!”

Okay, okay, Maud. I’m convinced. – Can we…

Can we get one for *our* hallway?

No?

DEN: 3B R. Thompson – SS R. Price – 2B I. Villa – 1B Sevilla – C Mickle – LF Cecil – CF B. Ramires – RF Ayres – P Cushing
POR: SS Lavorano – 3B Kaufman – LF Puckeridge – 1B Crum – 2B DeMarco – C Gonzalez – CF Tortora – RF Glodowski – P Mercado

Speaking of slightly diarrhetic, the Raccoons showed up again to get coonhandled one final time by the Big Bad Sox. The Gold Sox didn’t quite actually pick up Mercado by the tail and fling him around the ballpark, but they scored on Mickle and Ramires singled, a wild pitch, and well played Ayres groundout to go up 1-0 in the second, and the 5-6-7 batters all reached base on a hit and two walks in the fourth before Ayres dropped in a 1-out RBI single. Kennedy struck out, and Thompson grounded out to DeMarco, but 2-0 was 2-0.

And it was 2-0 indeed. Pucks admirably continued to try and brave the storm in a skiff made wholly out of futility with another first-inning single, and was just as ignored as the last three times he tried. In fact, he was the ONLY Critter to reach base in ANY of the first innings in the series. After him, DeMarco and Glodowski also reached base the first time through, but both were doubled up by the next batter in line, respectively, and the Raccoons couldn’t have been much farther away from scoring a run by the middle of the fourth. Maybe if they had sat in the first row up the line with the merrily knitting players’ wives…

Pucks singled again in the fourth, this time after Kaufman had drawn a leadoff walk. Two on base, at once! Whoah! Ken Crum immediately turned a 0-1 pitch into a bouncer to Price, and the two Gold Glovers up the middle turned a 6-4-3. While Kennedy karved up DeMarko, I was busy screaming into the nearest pillow. Or what I thought was a pillow, but was actually the sleeve of Slappy’s puffy jacket.

Mercado pitched respectably, reaching the sixth inning before **** hit an industrial-size fan. Cecil singled, but was forced out by Ramires, the little pest. Two outs, what was the worst that could happen? Well, maybe another Ayres walk. Kennedy with two outs lined to DeMarco, who also had a Gold Glove on his resume, but dropped the ball to load the bases. Waldo replaced him, walked in a run against Ronnie Thompson, and somehow Price grounded out to leave three aboard in the 3-0 game.

The Coons disappeared in order in the sixth, but Pucks hit another leadoff single in the seventh inning. He was gonna get a ******* medal printed out of the ghastly remains of Ken Crum after the series, since Crum hit into another crummy double play.

Lillis allowed a leadoff single to the old man Kennedy in the eighth inning, and of course that was a run that came around to score with two more hits off Snyder after that. Kennedy axed Gonzalez, Tortora, and Glodowski, the useless pelt, in order in the eighth inning, but was not brought back for the ninth, when the 4-run lead went to southpaw Brian Shan. Suzuki batted in the #9 hole to lead off and reached on a throwing error by Price, going all the way to second base. Lonzo grounded out. Kaufman grounded out. Pucks, who was my new favorite boy, remained unretired in the game by drawing a walk, putting runners on the corners for Crum, with no double play possible for a lack of outs. The Gold Sox for some weird reason panicked and called on Posey. He got Crum to 1-2, but he then hit a sharp grounder… at another middle infielder. Villa, no Se, to Villa, with Se, and the Gold Sox won three in a row.

Gold Sox 4, Raccoons 0 – Gold Sox win series 4-0

Puckeridge 3-3, BB;

+++

2051 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
Denver Gold Sox
(5th title)

[Westheim]

All the World Series sweeps in league history, by runs scored:

1977: Cyclones 27, Bayhawks 18
1986: Blue Sox 21, Knights 13
1999: Bayhawks 28, Warriors 9
2016: Pacifics 14, Condors 3
2021: Loggers 19, Blue Sox 11
2022: Titans 26, Capitals 20
2023: Titans 23, Capitals 14
2025: Titans 18, Cyclones 8
2028: Raccoons 21, Buffaloes 8
2032: Pacifics 19, Titans 9
2033: Warriors 23, Titans 10
2040: Wolves 15, Knights 7
2042: Wolves 28, Thunder 17
2044: Raccoons 19, Cyclones 7
2045: Rebels 29, Raccoons 21
2049: Gold Sox 23, Canadiens 13
2051: Gold Sox 42, Raccoons 7

Bottom 5 teams swept in a World Series in league history, by runs share:

2051 Raccoons – 14.29%
2016 Condors – 17.65%
1999 Warriors – 24.32%
2044 Cyclones – 26.92%
2028 Buffaloes – 27.59%